A little spot of Greece

Okay, I have to first admit something. I’ve always wanted to use this title for something. Anything really, but I didn’t have a good opportunity until Greece got itself into a bit of economic trouble. That line comes from Mel Brook’s movie To Be or Not To Be (about 1:03 into this clip):

Make Money Fast

I would hope nearly all of The Long Run blog’s readers know instinctively the problems with pyramid schemes and their fellow traveler the “multi-level marketing” errr “opportunity”. The Internet is always adapted by the MMF (that is to say the “make money fast”, not “money market fund” or “male/male/female”) types. Back before the web, when USENET was the social media venue of choice for many, the scourge of USENET was the “make money fast” post. Wiki has a pretty good history of it. Cult animator Mike Jitlov did an enduring parody of it called “Big Money Now“. (Be sure to click the “hit space bar” links at the bottom to get the whole uber long work of art.)

Let’s go postal!

One strawman that is often raised when arguing about the efficiency of government bureaucracies is the U.S. Post Office. The GAO just released their assessment of the Postal Service’s financial viability and proposed fixes to the system. Let’s take a look at some postal facts.

The USPS is not profitable. It hasn’t been profitable since 2007.

April Fools on Me

I had dinner with some clients of mine last night. A husband and wife, the three of us spent several hours going over things and having a nice dinner. Then I get the following email today, which admittedly made my heart skip a beat:

Dear Brett:

Thank you for your visit and for dinner last night. We buy next time…

that is, if there is a next time. I must be honest to say that we were both taken aback and shocked, to say the least, by your display of poor judgment, lack of common good taste and appalling lack of appreciation for one of our core and life-centering principles:…

By now, I’m thinking “oh no, what did I do/say/not do or say?”  How in the world could I possibly screw up so bad?  It continues…