MONEY Magazine and Salary.com researched hundreds of jobs, considering their growth, pay, stress-levels and other factors. These careers ranked highest
How Successful People Remain Successful
When James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras wrote their hugely popular 1994 book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, they began by stating clearly that they did not mean to write about visionary leaders. Their goal was to find visionary companies — the crown jewels of their industries — and discover what made them extraordinary. Then questions arose about the extent to which the principles of Built to Last might apply to individuals. That sparked another investigation that has now led to a follow-up book, Success Built to Last, which will be published by Wharton School Publishing later this year.
Earth Dinner
To the extent that’s possible, try to find foods that are locally produced, seasonal, fresh and flavorful! If they are organically grown—that’s even better! If it’s not local, that’s okay. It’s a chance to celebrate the farmers from other regions or countries. If your having a potluck dinner, remember to ask your guests to do their best to find out about the origins of food they bring to share and how it was grown.
via Kristian Knutsen.
Oil Price History
35 Years of crude prices, via the Wall Street Journal and Barry Ritholtz.
Corporate “Risk Taking” and the Ford Mustang
So what happened to Theodore? Promoted, given new projects, made a product spokesman like GM’s Bob Lutz? Theodore was, as they say, “eased out.” Making great cars, even making great cars that make money, are not qualifications for longevity in Ford’s corporate community. Break the rules and you’re out the door.
The Ghost of Tax Day Future
Closing the spending gap shown us by the Ghost of Tax Day Future with tax increases would eventually require all taxes on average to increase by more than 50%. Such a tax increase is not simply a larger check made out to “U.S. Treasury.” Economic research suggests that larger governments are associated, all else equal, with slower economic growth because of the tax and regulatory burdens associated with a larger state. Using the estimate of Eric Engen of the Federal Reserve Board and Jonathan Skinner of Dartmouth College, meeting our entitlement spending wave through tax increases would ultimately depress our annual rate of economic growth by about a full percentage point.
That such tax increases would build up over many years does not dull the observation that tax increases of this magnitude would carry serious consequences for our future living standards. Their sheer size would restrain incentives for innovation and flexibility, and the entrepreneurship and productivity growth that have characterized relatively strong U.S. economic performance. Indeed, the “tax increase” shadow could ultimately crowd out about as much of the rate of growth as the productivity growth boom of the past decade has contributed.
Group: Yahoo Assisted China a 3rd Time
Yahoo Inc. turned over a draft e-mail from one of its users to Chinese authorities, who used the information to jail the man on subversion charges, according to the verdict from his 2003 trial released Wednesday by a rights group.
It was the third time the U.S.-based Internet company has been accused of helping put a Chinese user in prison.
Jiang Lijun, 39, was sentenced to four years in prison in November 2003 for subversive activities aimed at overthrowing the ruling Communist Party.
Hong Kong-based Yahoo Holdings Ltd., a unit of Yahoo Inc., gave authorities a draft e-mail that had been saved on Jiang’s account, Reporters Without Borders said, citing the verdict by the Beijing No. 2 People’s Court. The Paris-based group provided a copy of the verdict, which it said it obtained this week
Chihuly Victimized by His Own Success
But at age 64, he’s where he never wanted to be, in court. He’s suing two glass blowers for copyright infringement, contending they’re imitating his work. They’re threatening to sue him back, questioning whether Chihuly is the creative intelligence behind the art bearing his signature. And a former dealer is attacking him with a gusto rare in the art world. If that’s not enough, his feet hurt.
Emotionally, he has been through the wringer.
Since 2001, a significant number of the people closest to him have died, some without warning. Partially because both his brother and father died in quick succession in his teens, he tends to experience each death as a blow to the body.
Last year he sank into a depression from which he is now recovering. Friends who haven’t seen him in many months are being invited over for dinner.
Chihuly’s work lights up the Kohl Center’s entrance – adding color to an emotionless sea of grey.
Steal this Newspaper
ABOUT a month ago, The Star Tribune in Minneapolis let it be known that, as a cost-cutting effort, free copies of the newspaper would no longer be broadly available around the newsroom.
Instead, the staff was offered an electronic edition of the paper — “an exact digital reproduction of the printed version,” no less — that they could access online. Those who insisted on seeing the fruits of the their labors in its physical form were told that they could purchase copies for 25 cents, half the retail cost, from boxes around the office. (This change in policy was first reported by City Pages in Minneapolis.)
So far, so weird. Journalism is not jammed with perks — well, not at most newspapers, anyway — but it was always assumed that you could grab a gratis sports section on the way to lunch.
Judge Presses Companies that Cut Off Legal Fees
Federal judges are beginning to question why companies are cutting off legal fees to their executives when they become caught up in criminal investigations.
The judge in the tax-shelter trial of former tax professionals at KPMG last week ordered a hearing to determine whether prosecutors had improperly put pressure on the accounting firm to stop paying the defendants’ legal bills. Last month, a federal judge in New Hampshire granted five former executives of Enterasys Networks a three-month reprieve in their trial after he questioned whether there was undue influence to cut off their legal payments. (The company has since restored them.)
The questions have emerged as other companies, including Symbol Technologies and HealthSouth, have stopped paying former executives’ bills for lawyers.