Lack of motivation. A talent is irrelevant if a person is not motivated to use it. Motivation may be external (for example, social approval) or internal (satisfaction from a job well-done, for instance). External sources tend to be transient, while internal sources tend to produce more consistent performance.

Full text here.

• Homeowners had more equity in their homes in 2001, before the real estate bubble than today.
• At the peak the enterprise value of US housing was approximately $23.5 trillion. Today, it’s $16.5 trillion, meaning $7 trillion of wealth has been destroyed.
• The average growth rate of nominal house prices is 4.5% which is higher than inflation.
• Since June 2006, national home prices have experienced a cumulative decline of 20%
• In the past year, 41 out of 50 states saw further declines in property values.

Say you think the Lakers are going to lose in the playoffs this year – yes they have a great track record, but after looking at their statistics you believe they are going to lose. To profit of this belief, you have to place a bet against the Lakers, and you’d make this bet through a bookie. The bookie has to take your bet and find someone willing to take the other side of it – someone who believes the Lakers are going to win, and is willing to bet against you. The bookie has just become a market maker, and this is essentially what the SEC is calling fraud.

Irrespective of what Goldman’s internal positions were – whether they were short or long the housing market it doesn’t change the fact that two educated institutional clients who had differing views on the housing market bet against each other. Institutional investors have teams of employees who solely assess the products in which their firms are taking positions, and they make educated decisions on which way they feel the markets are moving. Sometimes they are wrong as IKB Bank was, and sometimes they are right as John Paulson was. However, it’s important to stress, that both firms voluntarily entered into opposite sides of the bet, and Goldman Sachs was simply the market maker.

Making calculated decisions on the direction of markets and taking positions to reduce exposure-hedging– is routine business practice and this is how companies offset risks in everything from currency fluctuations to commodity costs. For firms to hedge the types of risks that are integral to their operations they have to turn to market makers to help them find someone willing to bet against them. Market makers play a crucial role and hedging is routine business practice for large firms. To retroactively try and criminalize standard business practices simply to appease public tempers is a grave mistake.

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.
- Benjamin Franklin

Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a man’s sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself.

He will always be attracted to the woman who reflects his deepest vision of himself, the woman whose surrender permits him to experience—or to fake—a sense of self-esteem. The man who is proudly certain of his own value, will want the highest type of woman he can find, the woman he admires, the strongest, the hardest to conquer—because only the possession of a heroine will give him the sense of an achievement. He does not seek to gain his value, he seeks to express it. There is no conflict between the standards of his mind and the desires of his body.”

Francisco d’Anconia
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

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For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Ashutosh Kadakia and I’m friends with Adam and Shannon from IU.

This is a pretty hard act to follow after all the great toasts we had yesterday, and following in Mr. Hanson’s wake and these lovely maid of honors wake isn’t easy.

But, let me start by apologizing for this awkward presentation – I was going to make it formal, and I had a 717 word speech ready to feed into a teleprompter, but then found out at the last minute that President Obama has gone through so many of them, that teleprompters are in short supply.

No but in seriousness, this was an absolutely perfect weekend and I can’t imagine a bride more beautiful and radiant than Shannon. For those of you that weren’t there yesterday, Shannon’s aunt has a recording of Shannon from when she was 3 ½ asking her what she wanted to become when she grew up – she replied, a lady and a mom. Well Shannom has clearly become a lady.. And well Adam its time start on that second part.

I’m quite used to seeing Adam in grungy sweats, and that dirty tan baseball cap, so seeing him here in a tux is a welcome change – so Shannon thank you for that.

However – I think it’s a great honor to be here as Adam’s best man; we’ve lived together, travelled together, closed out Nick’s and Kilroy’s together, Facebook stalked together, skied together, and even occasionally studied together, and – he has been – and continues to be – a terrific friend.

But, let me hasten to say that the term “Best Man” is a purely a ceremonial title for weddings and not – in any way – an actual intellectual or physical distinction.

However – if any of you single beautiful girls gathered here wish to think “the Best Man” title is an accurate description of my manliness and power, that’s perfectly fine with me.

I think it’s fair to say that I was the first to know – even before Adam knew – that he and Shannon were destined to get married. I broke this rather extraordinary news to Adam as we walked – perhaps staggered is more accurate – back to our dorms while we studied abroad, but in reality the prediction was not that difficult to make.

While we were competing over who could consume the most British pints, all Adam did was talk about Shannon. It was Shannon said this, and Shannon said that, and how bright Shannon is, and how beautiful Shannon is.

But, it was altogether unnecessary, because – truth to tell – I completely agreed, and Erik is a great guy, but I think it was a bit shortsighted of you to not have a sister for me.

Well Shannon thinks I’m and absolutely reckless, awful California driver, who should have his license suspended and when Shannon found out about my being the best man, the first thing she said to Adam was any role he wanted me to play at the wedding is perfectly fine with her, as long it didn’t involve my driving her anywhere.

And, knowing my miserable record for attending classes in college I think she was a bit nervous about me showing up for their wedding, but – not to fear, Shannon, I may have missed half our R305 classes, but I am here.

But, in all seriousness, as I’ve watched Adam and Shannon grow closer, I’m totally certain that they are perfectly matched for each other and there is no doubt in my mind that each has found the perfect soul-mate for life.

And it’s great to be able to say that the couple we just to joke about being the married couple, are now officially the married couple.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses.

To Adam and Shannon Jorgensen:

• May they always have around them the kind of wonderful people who are here to bless their marriage this evening;
• May they comfort each other in the hard times and share in all the good times;

Ladies and gentlemen, to Adam and Shannon Jorgensen.

Yesterday, I bought the Blackberry Curve 8900. I literally went back and forth between the Curve 8900 and the Bold 9000 five to six times, and ended up going with the Curve. I love it.

It’s the perfect shape, quick, takes 16GB external memory, has a vivid display screen, and has phenomenal battery life. I spend about two hours on the phone yesterday, installed tons of apps, browsed internet, and my battery is still at 55% after not charging it overnight.

Yes, the Curve has no 3G, but 3G from all accounts is a battery hog. My dad recharges his Bold every 7-8 hours. It drains battery as the network isn’t as well saturated yet, and the phone constantly jumps between EDGE and 3G causing the drain. Additionally, most places I’m around frequently like work and home have WiFi so 3G is useless. While traveling on the road, 3G isn’t available due to the remoteness of the highways, and the costs of 3G outweighed the benefits.

The Curve is a better phone on most other accounts, better 3.2mp camera (with auto focus), keyboard (a preference thing), larger screen (40 pixels taller), smaller and lighter. The Bold felt clunky and out of proportion to me, but that’s another preference thing.

For all your iPhone fans out there, I understand the appeal, but I’m a blackberry lover for life. It’s simply too good a phone for people that actually work for a living (ha!).

Microsoft Enterprise Exchange Server, Microsoft Outlook, Blackberry Enterprise Server, and a Blackberry device are the perfect combination and I have yet to see a service that can rival how these four play together. Contact, calendars, memos, tasks, emails, settings, speed dial lists, alarm preferences, (even something as meaning less as my ring tones), were automatically synced with my new phone while my old one is somewhere in the bottom of the Atlantic. I can literally throw away my desktop, blackberry, laptop, and still have my data synced with new devices in a matter of minutes.

I initiated a remote wipe on my old phone, just for peace of mind, but I highly doubt underwater sea creatures have mastered the blackberry yet.

I’ve decided to change my homepage from www.google.com to www.bing.com for one week and see how it works out.

Consider this extraordinary fact: The U.S. government is likely putting up to $50 billion in new money to back the company’s bankruptcy reorganization, according to people familiar with the plan.

Most of this is what is known as a “debtor-in-possession” financing made to companies in bankruptcy protection. The sum is also expected to include $6 billion to buyout GM’s secured lenders and another $7.6 billion requested by GM last week to fund ongoing operations.

It’s clear that a large portion of this amount will be secured with the equity of the “new GM.” Why is the government likely to get equity and not, say, debt with interest and a repayment schedule? Because too much debt would apparently make the company unviable. It’s as if the government has devised an SAT exam for GM, and is blatantly funneling the company the answers.

Okay, fine. So what will this equity be worth?

That’s anyone’s guess. By the logic of some of the people who know the company best – its own unionized workforce – the bet is that it won’t be worth much.

Remember that the union just agreed to take a relatively small portion of its health-care trust in GM equity. The rest will be funded via annual payments on preferred stock. In other words, UAW’s view of the future is clear: Cash today over equity value tomorrow.

That comes on top of another $20 billion of existing loans that the government is likely to wipe out as part of the bankruptcy plan.

Put it all together and the government will own an extraordinary 70% of the company. And a large portion of that will have an uncertain value for an uncertain length of time.

President Obama may believe this is necessary to save the industry. But it’s the kind of salvation that only comes with a printing press. What began as a temporary “bridge loan” has become a free-money bonanza with no historic precedent.

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Article from the Deal Journal.