What if the fundamental rules under which our global capitalist economy functions were changed for a day? Say there was no price on the menu because you, the buyer, decides how much to pay for a service you received or a product that you bought. The seller has to accept your price as long as it is above zero. Money and prices are still around. Money has to be exchanged and prices have to be set. The catch is that the seller does not set the prices anymore! (read more)

I've never flown on a private jet but I got these thoughts from reading Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope". On pages 137-138 he describes his first-time he had to take a private jet flight as a senator. I quote "Most of the time I fly commercial and sit in coach..but there are times when I need to get to another city after the last commercial flight has left..under Senate rules, a senator or candidate could travel on someone else's jet and just pay the equivalent of a first-class airfare" (read more)

With so much talk going on about how to save capitalism from the global economic crisis, I like to use radical thinking and toy with totally unheard-of thoughts in my mind. Here's a recent one that's been toying my head.

We know of shareholder capitalism. Shareholders buy stocks and own a company. Shareholders make a profit (or loss) when they sell the stock or when the company pays dividends out of profits. (read more)

When it's the government, the lender of last resort, bailing out a big company without asking it to file for Chapter 11 first and re-organize, isn't that the same as putting a patient who has no chance to recover on life support? Direct government bailout of banks and car companies in the US is the equivalent of asking them to file for chapter elevEnd instead. It means the patient stays alive so long as someone doesn't pull the plug. Chapter 11nd means that since no one has the moral right to pull the plug, everyone is praying for a power cut whereby life support goes off and the patient downgrades to Chapter 7nd...

Length of study becomes same as college. If all MBAs were 4-years, I bet most people would choose to do an undergrad degree instead of an MBA. Only those really interested in management would go through an MBA. We face a crisis that calls for transforming our economy. People will retool better if they study a new subject than do an MBA. I have in mind business and finance majors who recently lost their jobs.

Car rental companies charge ridiculously high prices per-gallon if the customer doesn't return the car full tank. Makes profit, sure, but also makes customers unhappy. Why not give small discounts (say $5-$10) to all customers who return the car full tank and charge a progressive flat fee (say $1-$10) on empty tanks based on the amount that has to be refilled? Customers on empty tanks will be penalized less than if they had to pay on a per-gallon basis and everyone gets the incentive to return the car full tank. The discount can also help lure more customers to the company.

Here's the skinny. The guy gives tons of loans to people who can't afford them and sets the stage for the sub-prime crisis. The crisis erupts. He buys the loans back from the government ridiculously cheaper than the government bought them from the banks using taxpayers money. As a result he can afford to lower the interest homeowners pay on those loans and still make a 20% profit from them. Desperate to keep their houses, homeowners will gladly say thank you to him for helping them keep their houses. (read more)

I was thinking, why doesn't it make sense to keep money under our mattresses? That's because it's inconvenient and not safe in the event of house theft. That's one reason we have banks. Since many banks were taken over by governments to survive the crisis, I figured there must be a way to deal with the inconvenience of having banks and the safety issue of keeping all our money with us be it under the mattress, inside it or over it. I mean, if we really wanted to do it, we could. Here's my thinking: (read more)

Do you think it's a good idea to require that all white-collar criminals (Madoff, Jeff Skilling of Enron) give, as part of their jail sentences, lectures at business schools on corporate ethics? I assume that even if these guys haven't regretted their actions by then, seeing how a former high-paid executive who conducted fraud ended his career and how he justifies his actions years later can be a powerful lesson to students of business. Just out of curiosity, why are all white-collar corporate criminals men? Is it because the field is male dominated or is the nature of women to be honest when they run a company?

I empathize with the sense of fairness that propels people to desire a more equal distribution of wealth and resources. Should we all get the same pay and privileges? Sure. But then, why shouldn't we all get the same love and respect, the same health and happiness, the same cute little butt and big boobs? Why don't we desire more of that as well? To be equally loved and appreciated. Why does life have to be such a capitalist bitch if its goal is to teach us 'communistically' that finding meaning in life is common to all, yet it should be defined individually?