From The Reformed Broker, an amusing response to the coming demise of Dodd-Frank and the Fiduciary Rule:
The US financial and banking system has gone almost seven full years without experiencing a major crisis. With today’s announcement from the administration that Dodd-Frank regulations are about to be dismantled, this nightmarish period of excessive stability will finally be coming to a close…
This is an important post by Fred Wilson, a top VC…
When the Internet came along in the early 90s, we saw something completely different. Here was a level playing field where anyone could launch a business without permission from anyone.
We had a great run over the last 25 years but I fear it’s coming to an end, brought on by the growing consolidation of market power in the big consumer facing tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, etc, by the constricted distribution mechanisms on mobile devices, and by new leadership at the FCC that is going to tear down the notion that ISPs can’t play the same game cable companies played.
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It is certainly true that consumers, particularly low-income consumers, like getting free or subsidized data plans. There is no doubt about that. But when the subsidies are coming from the big tech companies, who can easily pay them, to buy competitive advantage over that nimble startup that is scaring them, well we know how that movie ends
In NYC today many bodegas shut down from 12-8 today to protest Trump’s immigration ban.
If you aren’t from New York, this may take some explaining. Bodega is a Spanish term (I think it means warehouse) and it refers to the small deli/grocery on many corners in NYC. If I need milk, I could go to the grocery store, but there’s a bodega across the street that has it. You pay a little more, the selection is limited but the convenience rocks. Most have limited deli service so you can get a bagel or an egg sandwich in the morning. Bodegas are a critical part of the NYC experience. But these days they aren’t predominantly Spanish.
We recently had our favorite deli across the street close due to crazy Brooklyn rents (their rent was tripled). This was a Middle Eastern deli and a total local establishment. They knew my daughters, threw in candy for free from time to time, all the things you’d expect from a local joint. There was one older guy who was a strict Muslim and he couldn’t ring me up if I bought beer (they had pretty good beer) because he was devout. To this day my daughters bemoan this place closing.
In NYC this is all totally normal.
So today there was a “Bodega Strike” in NYC. There is a large number of these delis run by immigrants from Yemen. Yemen is a part of the immigration ban so this affects family. They shut down for the day and came to protest at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. A block from my office:
https://twitter.com/benpiven/status/827250318081740800
The flags other than US flags are Yemen flags. There were some other good pictures:
https://twitter.com/timdonnelly/status/827288675453173760
This one amuses me, but also needs explanation if you aren’t from NYC. Google “nyc coffee cup”. For reasons I honestly do not know, there is a common Greek style paper coffee cup used all over the place and the text in the middle is “we are happy to serve you”.
Of course, the picture of Muslims praying is not going over well everywhere:
https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/827270815640981504
Democracy in action…
Glenn Beck and Samantha Bee…
I don’t often agree with the Op/Ed page of the Wall Street Journal, but they don’t often have pieces by the President of MIT.
Scientists are like entrepreneurs: They have an eye for spotting unrealized opportunities. It can be hard to predict where those leads will take them. But as we have seen over decades, basic science leads to the new knowledge that leads all of us to the future, along the way spinning off powerful new tools and educating a new generation of scientific pioneers.
That’s all the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee except Dianne Feinstein.
I read so much commentary saying Trump’s flag burning tweet was a “misdirection”…
Steve Fischer's Random Blog 