Economics
Goldman Sachs About to Ditch its Golden Flack… for a bad PR strategy?
Monday, December 7th, 2009No one seems to be dancing to Goldman's tune these days. No matter how hard they crank the 'ole gramophone. But they are trying a new approach, actually publishing dance steps to Goldman's Bonus Hustle… a 14-page presentation on why they make so much damned money.
First though… who's getting the blame for Goldman's missteps? According [...]
WordPlay Weekend: Cut “Workers’” Wages?… A Vector of Orthogonal Dimensions
Saturday, December 5th, 2009One of our chief entertainments here at LiteralMayhem is the contortion, manipulation and general abuse of language — primarily at the hands of PR and marketing folks. But sins abound throughout the worlds of business, academia, and politics… and when those worlds collide, watch out.
You're certain to get some truly head-spinning, tongue-teasers like this one:
"We [...]
BS of the Month Award: Why I’m Not Fit For GoldmanFlacks
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009Calling the Goldman Sachs $500 million small business initiative "philanthropy" or "lending" is like saying that frosted Pop Tarts are made with "real fruit filling."
Thankfully most media types called it for what it was: BS, BS, and more BS. But it got me thinking about my career in PR… I know two people who work [...]
Hair on Fire: Banks Fight Consumer Protections (Again)
Sunday, October 11th, 2009Way back in the mists of time… somewhere around the end of the 20th Century… America’s banks were up in arms about pending consumer protection regulations. The issue was ATM safety. And how they handled the issue should be of interest to consumers, legislators, p.r. pros, and banking industry execs alike.
A headline in EFT Report, [...]
Taxpayers Choking on Detroit's Free Market Malarkey
Monday, November 17th, 2008
So Detroit wants a bailout. Wonderful. The question is, why?
Yeah, they’re waving the red flag of economic catastrophe to blackmail taxpayers and steamroll Congress. But let’s take a quick trip down memory lane and review the industry’s recalcitrance over the past few decades before we bite off a big chunk of what they’re now selling.
Detroit [...]
Financial Crisis for Dummies: Lies, Bailouts, and Hank “Fudgie the Whale” Paulson
Sunday, September 21st, 2008The financial crisis that’s convulsing Wall Street and Washington can be offered up as Exhibit A in what we mean when we say “Literal Mayhem.”
The situation is quite literally mayhem: economically and politically.
But there’s a bigger fish to fry here: what we might call mayhem of the literal.
This crisis is, in many respects, the culmination [...]
Bryan Caplan’s Free-Market Malarkey: Why We Should Be Terrified of Economist’s “Rational” Electionomics
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007This is Part I of an ongoing series.
Arguing with an economist is like trying to eat spaghetti with a spoon. It’s slippery, messy and seldom worth the effort.
But occasionally the claims are so outlandish and the affront so egregious that one can’t back away from a confrontation. Such is the case with a screed called [...]