Andy Kessler

WSJ: The Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy

2013-04-10T11:54:08-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324100904578403213835796062.html It has been said that an actuary is someone who really wanted to be an accountant but didn't have the personality for it. See who's laughing now. Things are starting to get very interesting, actuarially-speaking. Federal bankruptcy judge Christopher...

WSJ: Want to Change the World? How About a Billion-Dollar Prize

2013-03-13T01:35:00-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323628804578348002211277908.html Last month 11 scientists were awarded $3 million each as winners of the first annual Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. The awards—funded by Google's Sergey Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan,...

WSJ: When Interest Rates Rise, Watch Out

2013-02-22T01:52:00-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324048904578318372831147906.html Can Ben Bernanke fly us through a needle's eye? Minutes released this week from the last Federal Reserve policy meeting suggest evaluations are taking place that "might well lead the Committee to taper or end its purchases before it...

WSJ Weekend Interview - Uber CEO Travis Kalanick: The Transportation Trustbuster

2013-01-27T08:57:14-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324235104578244231122376480.html I walk to the security desk in the lobby of what could be any of this city's downtown office buildings filled with lawyers, architects and finance firms. "I'm here to see Travis Kalanick at Uber." "You'll have to email...

WSJ: In the Privacy Wars, It's iSpy vs. gSpy

2013-01-04T01:55:00-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323984704578206063994711952.html Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Mark, thinks she's got problems? Last week she complained that a family photo posted to Facebook had been circulated on Twitter without her authorization. Well, over a few hours around town that day I counted...

Weekly Standard: We've Been ZIRPed

2012-12-15T14:36:41-08:00

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/we-ve-been-zirped_666600.html Father-son talks are always difficult, but it was time to teach my teenager about how things work. I dragged him to our local branch of Wells Fargo and opened a checking account with ATM card privileges and a savings...

WSJ: Obama Needs to 'Pull a Rubin'

2012-11-24T01:44:00-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323353204578128720204387356.html Facing stubbornly high unemployment and slow growth, swelling deficits and a divided Congress, President Obama is surely scrambling for an economic elixir. He has often cited the economy of the 1990s during the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Bill...

WSJ: Get Your Daily-Deal Stocks-75% Off!

2012-10-31T09:29:29-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203335504578086643047833844.html That didn't take long. In December 2010, Amazon invested $175 million for a minority stake in daily-deal site LivingSocial, right around the time rival Groupon turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google. The next big thing in...

CNBC: Is College a Waste?

2012-10-04T13:42:42-07:00

Weekly Standard: Our 19th Century Curriculum

2012-10-01T10:20:44-07:00

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/our-19th-century-curriculum_653241.html?nopager=1 Going off to college or, like me, sending your child? Suckers! Why? Because after paying average private college tuition and room and board of $28,500 a year (Harvard is now $54,500), over half of college graduates with bachelor degrees...

FBN and WSJ TV: Job Growth

2012-09-22T09:43:38-07:00

Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Video streaming by Ustream

WSJ: The U.S. Needs More i-Side Economics

2012-09-19T11:11:09-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444100404577641280041366306.html No jobs? No wonder, given what passes for economic thought these days. In his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C., this month, President Obama said, "We believe that when a CEO pays his auto workers enough...

Bull market 30 years old today

2012-08-13T12:16:33-07:00

The Bull market started 30 years ago today. Yes, it’s been interrupted by a few brief technical down 20% Bear markets, but move from a Dow Jones closing at 777 on August 12, 1982 through 13,161 today is an era...

WSJ: The Incredible Jobs Machine

2012-07-17T01:52:00-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303740704577527200796292034.html Did Mitt Romney and Bain Capital help office-supply retailer Staples create 88,000 jobs? 43,000? 252? Actually, Staples probably destroyed 100,000 jobs while creating millions of new ones. Since 1986, Staples has opened 2,000 stores, eliminating the jobs of distributors...

WSJ Weekend Interview - Sebastian Thrun: What's Next for Silicon Valley?

2012-06-16T18:38:05-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303807404577434891291657730.html Hewlett-Packard is laying off 27,000 people. Yahoo is treading water. Facebook IPO shares got flipped and then flopped. Has Silicon Valley reached the end of the line? Will everyone just develop me-too iPhone apps? I knew just the guy...

Why I wrote KAWS

2012-06-06T01:17:00-07:00

My oldest son just finished his sophomore year in colllege. On a visit a month or so ago, I met a bunch of his fraternity brothers, all great guys, and many of them who were seniors and graduating were, to...

First Chapter of Kick Ass on Wall Street

2012-06-06T01:12:00-07:00

All right! You got a job on Wall Street. Way to go. Welcome aboard. If history is any guide, you’re wicked smart, a great athlete and know somebody. Or any combo of the above. Don’t matter. You got the job....

New e-book: How to Kick Ass on Wall Street

2012-06-05T16:40:50-07:00

Just starting on Wall Street or trying to figure out how to get ahead? This survival guide to the rough and tumble world of Wall Street and high finance is for you. Andy Kessler, a Wall Street insider for over...

Russian Campus-Online magazine May issue

2012-06-04T16:04:09-07:00

I gave a talk in Moscow one morning (via Skype from a startup enclave in town) and it turned into this article. Always wondered about my name in Cyrillic. http://www.campus-online.ru/?c=article&id=291 Fun to read the Russian to English Translation. Can't vouch...

WSJ: Patent Trolls vs. Progress

2012-04-13T01:22:00-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577336483746932506.html Microsoft announced this week that it's paying America Online $1.1 billion in cash for 800 of its patents. This comes just nine months after Apple, Microsoft and others beat out Google and Intel for control of Nortel Networks' 6,000...

Dunya (Istanbul Turkey) response to Newsweek 'Merkel Uber Alles' piece

2012-03-27T15:33:10-07:00

Google Translate needs some work (let alone their dream of a universal translator.) I'm not sure what this guy from the newspaper Dunya in Instanbul really thinks... http://www.dunya.com/almanya-ekonomik-gucunu-nasil-surdurebilir-147833yy.htm Crisis in the European Union is trying to quit. More precisely, Germany,...

WSJ: How Much Is Apple Worth?

2012-03-15T16:51:00-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304692804577281340088197580.html Apple is a juggernaut. Its stock touched $600 on Thursday, which represents $560 billion in market capitalization. Compare this to Exxon Mobil, with a market cap of $400 billion, IBM's $240 billion and Wal-Mart's $210 billion. Can Apple really...

Newsweek: Merkel Uber Alles

2012-03-09T10:17:06-08:00

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/03/04/a-bailed-out-eurozone-could-restore-germany-to-greatness.html It's clear what Germany is up to. Let the rest of Europe wallow in their own red ink. Let riots in the streets cause regime change. Dangle as bailout bait a "fiscal union" with countries giving up sovereign control...

WSJ: When Will Social Media Elect a President?

2012-03-01T00:30:00-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203960804577244961842322348.html The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 took place over seven venues, with 10,000-20,000 attendees and no microphones. One candidate would speak for an hour, followed by a 90-minute rebuttal and then a half-hour response from the original speaker (which alternated...

WSJ Video: Obama Hearts Twitter

2012-03-01T00:02:00-08:00

CNBC clip today talking about Facebook

2012-02-07T13:51:54-08:00

WSJ: The Button That Made Facebook Billions

2012-02-02T01:12:00-08:00

As bizarre as this sounds, one of the most valuable innovations in technology over the last several decades is Facebook's "Like" button. That's what has propelled the company to a galaxy-orbit valuation for its forthcoming initial public offering, filed Wednesday....

Eat People makes 800CEOREAD short list for 2011 Business Book Awards

2012-01-04T14:14:53-08:00

Entrepreneurship & Small Business (1 of 8 categories) Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs by Andy Kessler published by Portfolio The Entrepreneur Equation: Evaluating the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Having Your Own Business by Carol Roth...

WSJ: The Rise of Consumption Equality

2012-01-03T02:03:00-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204632204577128230588463516.html It used to be so cool to be wealthy—an elite education, exclusive mobile communications, a private screening room, a table at Annabel's on London's Berkeley Square. Now it's hard to swing a cat without hitting yet another diatribe against...

WSJ: In San Francisco, There Are Many Ways to Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-22T10:43:28-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204485304576640962366762204.html I figured before heading out I would wait for the fog to lift to shine some light on the Occupy San Francisco annex of Occupy Wall Street. I'm not sure it ever did. What many refer to as the...

WSJ: How Wilson Greatbatch 'Gave Back'

2011-09-30T01:36:00-07:00

He invented the pacemaker. Wasn't he a benefactor of humanity even before he paid his taxes? Wilson Greatbatch, 92, died this week a wealthy man. Investing $2,000 of his own money way back in 1958 and tending a garden to...

Obama Jobs Speech Score-At-Home Scorecard

2011-09-06T16:05:25-07:00

I've written a few pieces on suggestions for job creation. One focused on the stimulus: December 25, 2009 - WSJ: Put Down That Shovel and another focused on opportunity: August 8, 2011 - WSJ: Five Ideas to Kick-Start Job Creation...

WSJ: How Steve Jobs Changed the World

2011-08-26T01:07:00-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904875404576530460630468114.html If you want to know the secret of Steve Jobs, recall his advice to inventor Dean Kamen upon seeing the original version of the Segway scooter: "I think it sucks," he said. "Its shape is not innovative, it's not...

WSJ: Five Ideas to Kick-Start Job Creation

2011-08-08T07:04:00-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903366504576490064002634754.html Now that the debt-ceiling gyrations are over, the Obama administration is "pivoting" to its biggest problem—jobs. Unemployment ticked down to 9.1% in July, but the real unemployment rate, including discouraged workers, is still 16.1%. The stock market is not...

Audio version of How We Got Here available for free download

2011-07-06T17:17:07-07:00

Assistive Media, Inc. is providing a free download of my book How We Got Here from their webiste: http://www.assistivemedia.org/HWGH/HWGH.zip Be warned, it's a 415 MB zip file that expands into 18 mp3 files covering the 5 main sections of the...

WSJ: The 'Brady Bond' Solution for Greek Debt

2011-06-29T02:10:00-07:00

How much for the island of Mykonos? The Mexican standoff between European banks owning Greek debt and Greek taxpayers needs fresh thinking. I'm convinced that the only way out of Europe's financial crisis is for Germany to essentially own Greece....

NPR: Examining The Process Of An Initial Public Offering

2011-06-13T08:38:39-07:00

WSJ: Easy Money and the IPO Boom

2011-05-27T01:14:00-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576345740316053266.html It's no coincidence that last week, as the minutes from April's Federal Reserve meeting suggested interest rates won't go up for months or even years, Web professional network company LinkedIn went public at $45 a share. Its stock zoomed...

Moving to Twitter for email notifications

2011-05-03T16:04:17-07:00

I've been using Feedburner for years to provide email notifications of blog posts. I am canceling that service and going to use Twitter to send out notifications. Click the twitter button to follow. Thanks.

WSJ: Make Way for the Virtual Exchange

2011-04-29T16:07:00-07:00

http://on.wsj.com/j6JDf4 Should we care who owns the renowned New York Stock Exchange? Not really. Right now, the Germans want it. In February, Deutsche Börse bid $9.5 billion for NYSE Euronext, only to be topped on April 1 by a combined...

Stock Market and Oil vs. Monetary Base

2011-03-25T12:40:10-07:00

A picture is worth a thousand printed dollars! The Dow Jones vs. Monetary Base: Oil (West Texas Intermediate) vs. Monetary Base:

WSJ: Raise Rates to Boost the Economy

2011-03-21T01:39:00-07:00

The chairman of the Federal Reserve is stuck between a rock and a hard place—well, more like a house and a gas tank. How to escape? Mr. Bernanke, raise interest rates now. In order to the save bank balance sheets...

Mises.org Douglas French review of Eat People

2011-02-21T19:33:39-08:00

http://mises.org/daily/5047/Commerce-Is-a-Peoples-Revolution-Daily The big-box book business has begun to crumble with the bankruptcy filing of book-selling behemoth Borders. The Chapter 11 filing indicates the company is looking to restructure its debts and continue on. But as in the case of bankrupt...

WSJ: Dave Kansas review of Eat People

2011-02-18T02:09:00-08:00

Early in "Eat People," a business-advice book for "game-changing entrepreneurs," former hedge-fund manager Andy Kessler casts his mind back to 10th-grade chemistry to muse on the "highly reactive" nature of atoms and molecules called free radicals. Because free radicals have...

WSJ: Is Your Job an Endangered Species?

2011-02-17T01:21:00-08:00

Technology is eating jobs—and not just obvious ones like toll takers and phone operators. Lawyers and doctors are at risk as well So where the heck are all the jobs? Eight-hundred billion in stimulus and $2 trillion in dollar-printing and...

Investor Insight Outside the Box

2011-02-15T14:11:58-08:00

This week’s Outside the Box is a little unusual, even for me. But it will be fun, informative, and thought-provoking. My friend Andy Kessler has written another irreverent, gonzo book called Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs....

American Express Open Forum - Matthew May Guru, Review

2011-02-15T14:08:08-08:00

Now, a book on entrepreneurial wealth creation written by a Wall Streeter and former hedge fund manager might, at first blush, seem like one the average business reader would easily pass on. After all, wasn't it Wall Street and its...

Washington Post Express: Ready, Set, Start-Up

2011-02-14T12:54:30-08:00

Don't worry: Andy Kessler's not encouraging cannibalism. In his provocatively titled new book, "Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs" ($25.95, Portfolio/Penguin), the one-time stock analyst, investment banker, hedge-fund manager and venture capitalist shares what he's discovered to...

Response to WNYC Brian Lehrer interview

2011-02-12T09:32:47-08:00

from the blog Emancipation Propagation: Andy Kessler points out that to build an iphone in 1972 would have cost 100 billion dollars; one bit of memory in 1972 cost one dollar, and today's iphone comes with 32 gigs or roughly...

Mitchell York entrepreneurs.about.com review and questions

2011-02-12T09:20:00-08:00

Andy Kessler, former hedge fund manager and Silicon Alley investor, has published a book, Eat People, that every entrepreneur needs to read as a reality check on her business. In Kessler's book, entrepreneurs will find a yardstick to measure the...