Coyote Blog

Welcome to the Carnival of the Capitalists.  Many thanks to Silflay Hraka for starting the Carnival of the Vanities, of which this is a spin-off, to showcase smaller blogs to a wider readership.  Look for future Carnivals of the Capitalists at these sites (you can submit articles here):

While you're here, feel free to look around -- this post will tell you more about what I do at Coyote Blog.

For this week's Carnival, I have decided to take a bit of a risk, and, in true capitalist fashion, I have taken on a sponsor for this week's Carnival:

This Carnival of the Capitalists is Proudly Sponsored by"¦ ACME Maker of fine anvils for over 50 years

Blogging and the Internet

Corporations large and small are trying to figure out what to do about blogging, both officially by the company as well as unofficially by their employees.  BPWrap offers the Canute Business Blogging Barometer for corporations trying to figure out if blogging is an opportunity or a threat.

Resistance is Futile assesses the impact of comment spam on blogs and puts forth the idea of a class-action lawsuit against spammers to recover bloggers' economic and non-economic damages.

New Millennium Minds suggests that the folks from MySimon may have found the application to take on Google.

Barry Ritholtz in the Big Picture explains why the he doesn't trust the social networking sites (like friendster) that he gets invited (2 or 3 times a week) to join.   I never get invited to join any of these - does that make me a loser?  Don't answer that.

VoluntaryXchange calculates the value blog readers get from a blog, based on the value of their time, and comes up with a surprisingly high result.

Ego looks at RSS feeds as a powerful business PR tool

Property Rights

Coyote Blog (yes, thats me) rants this week about property rights and the misuse of eminent domain; or, as New London, Connecticut might say, "All your base are belong to us"

The folks at Freedom's Fidelity are obviously very insightful and discerning folks, since they chose the same topic as I did, though they give more background on eminent domain than I did.  However, they didn't have my nifty photoshop work, so I still feel good about myself.

This Carnival of the Capitalists is Proudly Sponsored by"¦ ACME Escalating crises since 1952

Marketing and Business Success

DAtum discusses the reasons behind Bose's success as a private company, and what CEO Amar Bose is planning next.

The Media Stock Blog discusses the changing business model in TV, where broadcast shows are increasingly a loss leader for DVD sales.

Blog Jones points out that word of mouth advertising cuts both ways, and will punish companies who don't invest in customer service.

Land of Opportunity takes us through the nuts and bolts of putting on a successful trade show, in this case a show highlighting successful small businesses and business issues to state legislators in Arkansas.

Blog Business World gives pointers on that most difficult management task:  Assessing the value of advertising

The Entrepreneurial Mind writes on the secrets to business growth, and for managing that growth.

Retail Store Blog argues that doing good work often leads to good fortune

SMB Trendwire has a downloadable audio post on turning customers into evangelists for your business.

BizzBangBuzz gives several suggestions for checking new trademarks in advance for potential conflicts.

Lip-Sticking demonstrates some ways that women think and work differently, and outlines implications for online merchants

This Carnival of the Capitalists is Proudly Sponsored by"¦ ACME The secret to Glenn Reynolds success

Business Opportunities

The Charlotte Capitalist began this post as advice for parents looking for alternatives to public schools.  He soon realized that what he had also done was post a roadmap for future education entrepreneurs.

Wayne McVicker in Small Business Trends explains why he chose self-publication for his recent book and hands out a lot of good advice on self-publishing a book.

Managing Sales Channels

Photon Courier uses a recent Forbes article as a jumping off point for discussing the issues in matching sales channels to products

Economic Forecasts

Steve Shu of S4 Management Group Perspectives reports highlights from the U. of Chicago Business Forecast 2005 conference featuring Harvey Rosenblum and Robert Aliber

This Carnival of the Capitalists is Proudly Sponsored by"¦ ACME Never be without a date on Friday night

Economic & Business Theory

Chocolate and Gold Coins applies Ed Prescott's "lottery technology" to the problem of end-of-life medical care expenses, and reaches a disturbing result.  Soft of Logan's Run for the 21st century.

Cattalarchy has a humorous idea for combatting the "broken window fallacy" (the oft-repeated idea in the MSM that natural disasters are actually good for the economy). 

Brian Gongol (thanks for hosting the COTC submission page) argues that we should go further than just NAFTA, that the United States should actively seek to co-opt and absorb the best of Latin American culture.

Talking Story outlines seven ways to get more out of your business book reading.

Business Pundit rejects a proposal by some Harvard professors to institute professional licensing for managers.  I would add that as a graduate of Harvard Business School, I agree with Business Pundit and find the notion of professional licensing for managers to be hugely counter-productive and arrogant in a way that I have found Harvard all too often guilty.

Ashish's Niti looks at why the dollar remains the international currency of choice

Management Craft discusses the theory of sensual management

Crossroads Dispatches turns the , and argues that conversations are markets, and in particular, that we all suffer when conversations are not occurring.

Taxes

AnyLetter suggests reforming the tax code by giving taxpayers partial budgetary control, ie some direct say where their money gets spent.

Taxable Talk reviews a North Dakota plan to license Internet gambling sites in-state in order to generate tax revenues, and comes to the conclusion that the state is unlikely to be successful.

The intriguingly named blog Borrow a Trillion Dollars begins the first of a five part series on IRA's and other retirement accounts, with some fairly radical suggestions for the future.

This Carnival of the Capitalists is Proudly Sponsored by"¦ ACME California Dreamin' with Earthquake Pills

Regulation

Tim Worstall is starting to make a career of publicly fisking EU Commissioner Margot Wallstrom's blog.  This week, Tim tears apart Ms. Wallstrom's comments on REACH, the aptly named expansion of EU environmental regulations.

According to Wordlab, both Ivanabitch and Kalashnikov Vodkas are in trouble with US and UK regulators.  And don't even get us started about the pickle.

Abigail's Magic Garden urges the government to enforce the 40 hour work week for all employees to stop greedy corporations from making white collar workers work overtime.  Dang, it looks like I have been exploiting myself again.

Health Care and Malpractice

One of my favorite bloggers, Walter Olson does his usual thorough job of addressing tort-related issues at Point of Law in taking on the New York Times for misreporting on medical malpractice (part 2 here). 

Different River considers Arnold Kling's "event-based" health insurance idea, and concludes that the proposal has some merit in addressing problems in the health insurance system, but that it won't work unless diagnosis costs are addressed as well.

FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog wonders whether the concerns about hackers turning off Grandpa's pacemaker aren't a bit overblown.

Social Issues

Wyatt's Torch suggests the concept of a maternal lien on children, providing financial incentives to eschew abortion and some enforced financial support in old age.

Mad Anthony rebuts a recent article in Slate slamming Walmart and how Walmart pays its employees.

Continuing on the Walmart theme, Interested Participant observes that the tactics of unions trying to organize Walmart deserve a lot more scrutiny than they have gotten to date.

This Carnival of the Capitalists is Proudly Sponsored by"¦ ACME Leader in dehydration technologies

Wall Street & Investing

View from a Height doesn't expect Qwest to prevail in the bidding war for MCI, despite its sweetened offer.

Byrne's MarketView looks at the Choicepoint insider trading allegations and makes a suggestion for an alternative approach that he argues makes much too much sense to ever be accepted.  I would add that his suggestion would get us out of the "Martha Stewart" paradox, where government legal actions to protect shareholders ended up hurting shareholders far worse than Ms. Stewart's actions.

Political Calculations analyzes whether allowing private investments in Social Security accounts will give the stock market a boost.

Capital Chronicle looks at the recent runup in Chinese mining stocks and analyzes whether investors should take profits or ride the wave further.

Internet Stock Blog looks at the high growth in Internet use by wealthy households and comes up with some surprising conclusions for investors

The RFID Weblog reviews the market for RFID-related stocks in the wake of Walmart's big commitment to the technology.

Politics and Other Issues

The Mobile Technology Weblog contrasts the differences in security and inclusiveness between Kennedy's Berlin visit and Bush's recent visit to Mainz.

This Carnival of the Capitalists is Proudly Sponsored by"¦ ACME Escape from it all with the Smoke Screen Bomb

Closing Notes

Thanks to the Original Illustrated Catalog of Acme Products for the advertising copy.  You can find more ACME promotional material here. 

Thanks, its been fun.  I am going to rest for a few weeks before I try it again.