China's currency

China's currency "peg" to the US dollar is causing inflation in China. The problem is, with China's economy still relatively strong, and without the flexibility to let the currency appreciate, what happens is there is internal pressure to push up prices.

What's China's Real Inflation Rate?

The new Al Quaeda

I'm correcting my view about Al Quaeda - I previously thought that the attempted Christmas day bombing couldn't be Al Quaeda, because historically, Al Quaeda launches simultaneous attacks with multiple participants to insure the probability of success. If the attempted Christmas day attack is the new face of Al Quaeda, then we are winning the battle against terrorism.

Market direction

The stock market will continue climbing in 2010 - the Nasdaq will hit 2500, and the S&P 500 will hit 1200. Fixed income investments like CDs are still returning paltry rates, and there is still uncertainty in the housing market, and the growth the stock market has experienced in 2009 will continue to attract inflows of capital.

Wannabe

I don't believe the attempted bombing of the Northwest Airlines flight was part of a Al Quaeda plot. Al Quaeda plots tend to be sophisticated, well-organized plots that involve simultaneous attacks. Here was a bumbling, lone bomber, who really only managed to harm himself. Al Quaeda usually works in pairs or more, to increase the chance of success, and decrease the likelihood of someone having cold feet.

o rly

My nomination for the most overused word of 2009: "really?" As in, "really? Really?"

15 minutes..

It's rare that we see the precise moment when someone's fifteen minutes of fame ends. Today, we witnessed that event when a judge ordered Jon Gosselin to stop making public appearances.

Deadlines

The critics immediately pounced on Obama's proclamation that a draw-down of troops will being in 2011. My contention is, these critics are all wrong. It seems to me time lines serve a useful purpose - it gives urgency to the purpose and it focuses the mission. During the pre-production phase of the projects I worked on, we always list these broad, expansive features. However, when the deadline draws near, we decide what features are essential to the product, and we cut the non-essential items. Although comparing war to business isn't a perfect analogy, it does show the qualities and usefulness of deadlines. Another point is, do we really think these terrorists and insurgents are going to stop fighting just because there's a deadline, and they can "wait it out?" It seems preposterous to me that the enemy will wait it out while our troops are pounding them with bombs and bullets. Plus, the Taliban wants the government to be destabilized - if they basically wait it out for 18 months, doesn't that give stability to the government, allowing them to grow stronger? That would be the last thing the insurgents wanted.