Wow, That Was a Boring SOTU
Sorry I wasn't more of a live wire last night. Remember, that was four in the morning for me. Or thereabouts. And nothing about that speech so electrified the blood as to counteract the four-in-the-morningness of it.
I think Megan McArdle captured it really well:
Listening to earnings calls means listening to quite a few CEOs in analogous situations. ...
So what do those CEOs do? They spend a lot of time talking about their company's proud history, even if that history only stretches back a few years. They lavish extravagant praise on their awesome, dedicated workforce. And they deftly avoid talking about the big problems, for which they have no solutions, by talking about strategic areas for potential growth ("green jobs"), and going over a laundry list of new initiatives that do nothing to solve any of the core problems. When they are forced to talk about the core problems--and if the company is big enough to attract analyst coverage, they will rudely draw his attention to the problematic areas on the financial statements during the Q&A--he responds in vague generalities that restate the problem as if doing so constituted a solution ...
The absolute favorite tactic, however, is the management reorganization.
- Comment (5)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
Sep '10
Re: Wow, That Was a Boring SOTU
I couldn't bring myself to watch it, and I'm now glad I didn't. I think that what really sealed the deal was the date-night aspect. I must have a sort of political homophobia. Revolting. Makes me want to puke. There, I said it!
Sep '10
Re: Wow, That Was a Boring SOTU
Claire, don't you think that mathematics makes the whole thing irrelevant? We've reached an inflection point in history based on the inexorable pressure of compoud interest tables. Obama can speak all he wants, but our overspending has set the near- and mid-term future in concrete.
Sep '10
Re: Wow, That Was a Boring SOTU
Counsellors are standing by at 1-800 numbers.
Re: Wow, That Was a Boring SOTU
The more dire the situation, the more electrifying a speech has the potential to be. That just didn't happen to be an electrifying speech. Or even one I can now remember.
Sep '10
Re: Wow, That Was a Boring SOTU
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
The more dire the situation, the more electrifying a speech has the potential to be. That just didn't happen to be an electrifying speech. Or even one I can now remember. · Jan 26 at 5:57am
We shall fight on the landing grounds, eh? Well, there's not much of that being talked about. Yet.
Hey, did you see that the interest rates on Japanese government bonds is rising? I wonder what that means. ;-)