The Big Picture

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• Inequality Is Bad For the Economy
• Apple’s Jony Ive on Blue Peter
• Australia: The World’s Biggest Social Media Team
• Fisher: Improving conditions could taper QE this year
• Taking Added Advantage Of Reality
• Designing the McLaren P-1 $1M Supercar
• Colbert Report: Standard & Poor’s Ratings Lawsuit
• 10 Weekend Reads

Inequality Is Bad For the Economy Posted: 23 Feb 2013 04:45 PM PST Who's Who of Prominent Economists Say that Too Much Inequality Causes Economic Downturns A who's-who's of prominent economists in government and academia have all said that runaway inequality can cause financial crises: Robert Shiller Joseph Stiglitz Andrew Berg (IMF economist) Jonathan Ostry (IMF economist) Paul Krugman Robert Reich Mark Thoma Emmanuel Saez Thomas Piketty John Kenneth Galbraith Raghuram Rajan David Moss Kemal Dervi Michael Kumhof Romain Rancière Robert Wade David Ruccio Marriner S. Eccles (Federal Reserve chairman from 1934 to 1948) Indeed, extreme inequality helped cause the Great Depression, the current financial crisis … and the fall of the Roman Empire. It's not just liberal economists who say this … many conservatives say the same thing.

Apple’s Jony Ive on Blue Peter Posted: 23 Feb 2013 01:00 PM PST From 9 to 5 Mac Published on Feb 20, 2013

Australia: The World’s Biggest Social Media Team Posted: 23 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST In 2012, Australia was the most popular travel destination on Facebook, Google+ and Instagram. In 2013, Tourism Australia has an ambitious goal to use the power of social media to make Australia the most talked about holiday destination in the world. There are officially just three people with 'social media' titles at Tourism Australia. Yet look a little more closely and in fact the content shared comes from millions of people who interact and enthusiastically help sell the country. The World's Biggest Social Media Team from TourismAustralia The World’s Biggest Social Media Team by TourismAustralia on Feb 15, 2013

Fisher: Improving conditions could taper QE this year Posted: 23 Feb 2013 10:00 AM PST Feb. 21 – Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher says the Fed’s bond buying program could begin to taper off this year if economic conditions continue to improve.

Taking Added Advantage Of Reality Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:15 AM PST I did a long interview with Wally Forbes where we get into some of the details of how we manage assets and what we currently own. Here’s an excerpt: “We find ourselves fairly fully invested. We pretty much run a 70/30 asset allocation portfolio which is more or less 70% equities, 30% fixed income plus other asset classes [REITs Commodities]. And we're pretty fairly invested and have been for a few months only because reading the charts, looking at the winds, looking at skies, checking the tide tables, looking at the phase of the moon, looking at all these different factors, the Fed is telling you they are going to squeeze equities higher. What I think is best for the country, what I hope happens, what I want to happen – all those things are irrelevant. The bottom line is that the Fed has made it clear that they're not tolerating a drop in equity assets.  And so the Bernanke "put" is alive and well and the way we're participating in that is through a combination of domestic and emerging market equities.  We like growth, we like value – especially Mid-cap growth and large-cap value. We own lots of dividend payers. And we have a decent exposure to energy, healthcare, and biotech, which is a sort of unusual combination because you wouldn't expect all of those things to run at the same time.  But they have been.” You can read the entire interview — including ETF and stock selections that we are currently holding — here. Note that I always talk about what we own, not what you should run out and buy . . .     Source: Taking Added Advantage Of Reality: Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Qualcomm, Visa, Berkshire Hathaway Wallace Forbes Forbes 2/22/2013   http://www.forbes.com/sites/wallaceforbes/2013/02/22/taking-added-advantage-of-reality-johnson-johnson-pfizer-qualcomm-visa-berkshire-hathaway/

Designing the McLaren P-1 $1M Supercar Posted: 23 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST A visit with Frank Stephenson, the design director for McLaren, to discuss the genesis of the million-dollar McLaren P-1.

Colbert Report: Standard & Poor’s Ratings Lawsuit Posted: 23 Feb 2013 04:00 AM PST The government grows a pair and goes after S&P for giving AAA ratings to what they knew were worthless securities. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Lawsuit The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive Thursday February 14, 2013 ~~~~ The New York Times Washington bureau chief discusses S&P’s defense, private bank suits and the AIG bailout. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Lawsuit – David Leonhardt The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

10 Weekend Reads Posted: 23 Feb 2013 03:00 AM PST My longer form, sit down with a cup of joe and get into it weekend reads: • Deep Inside – A Study of 10,000 Porn Stars (Jon Millward) • Can the Republicans Be Saved From Obsolescence? (NYT Mag) • Beat By Dre: The Exclusive Inside Story of How Monster Lost the World (gizmodo) • The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food (NYT) • Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us (Time) • The Futures of Farming (Le Monde diplomatique) • The Evolution of Irregular War (Foreign Affairs) • Is Louis C.K. Our Gogol? (Page Turner) • When Brain Damage Unlocks The Genius Within (POPSCI) • Does Jordan Need to Be No. 1? (WSJ) What’s for brunch, kids?   The Disastrous Outsourcing of the 787 Source: Turtles Can Fly

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