In this podcast for subscribers entitled Toxic Shock Syndrome, we discuss all of the many new developments coming to the site before moving into the main subject - the latest Treasury/FDIC/Fed plan to remove toxic assets from the books of financial companies.
We discuss what that is and its chances for success.
We also discuss the upcoming seminar in Virginia this April and the importance of community.
I agree with your point that it is completely wrong to try to fix a debt problem by throwing more debt at it. In addition, from what I’ve been reading, even if there was some sense to this, it falls apart because noone is taking debt on. The government and the Fed are doing everything they can to get the debt-based growth going again, but it requires takers to work. And I think there just aren’t many takers out there. So it doesn’t make sense even if it was a good idea.
You mention Madoff is the only player that has been brought to task, but remember he turned himself in! They had to do something with him. I wonder what would have happened if his company had simply just blown up (financially) one day. Maybe he would have been bailed out. HA - I bet you stopped for a split second and considered that. That’s how sad it is.
Ok, and a third one: When revamping the site, would it be possible to add spell -check to the comment entry? I’m wearing out my backspace key…
Oh yeah, the flowers and cherries are blooming in Virginia, so it should be real nice when you come on down. On the other hand snowboarding is finished here for the season.
Thanks for more great insight! Also, I agree with SteveS in that if Madoff hadn’t turned himself in, we would have yet one more acronym: TPSARP (The Ponzi Scheme Asset Relief Program). However, I think they should just pool all the bail-out schemes and acronyms into one all-encompassing pool called the Consolidated Relief Asset Program, or C.R.A.P.
I’m really excited about the upcoming changes to the site!
I think there are a lot of people anxious to get their feet on the ground and get connected so people will feel good about taking action in that way - especially those that don’t have friends and family that, yet, reflect their own feelings and concerns.
I also like the idea of building pillars of information - we have a lot of experts in various fields on this site and it would be great to bring those people together so they themselves can broaden and deepen their understanding and help bring along those new but interested in that particular topic. We have a lot of great forums but once they disappear off the list of new forum topics I lose track of them.
I haven’t had much to say to the CM Community lately - just keeping my head down, taking action, and learning as fast as I can (lately I’ve read The Great Turning, Blessed Unrest, Dumbing Us Down, and I’m part way through Illusion by Michael Jacobs (I needed a book on Beliefs after Rowe - if anyone wants a copy of this through Amazon you have to search by its subtitle "A Psychodynamic Interpretation of Thinking and Belief").
Since I’m listing books I may as well put in a plug for books/videos on my favorite topic: monetary theory. I’ve covered so far: The Web of Debt, The Lost Science of Money, the 47 min. video "Money As Debt" (by Paul Grignon), and The Future of Money by Bernard Leitaer (I wish everyone could read this book but it is near impossible to get - at least he has info on his site: http://www.lietaer.com/crisis2008.html and a video interview of him here: http://www.themoneyfix.org/index.php which, as I revisit the site of this documentary The Money Fix that I haven’t yet seen but looks very exciting, will be available for purchase in the next few days (this comment is not dated) and for community licensing for public screenings.
It is fantastic making connections between all these great books and videos - although it is painful peeling away the layers and finding that my formal education didn’t contain much of the knowledge that I’ve now come to value highly.
[quote=admin][quote=SteveS]
Ok, and a third one: When revamping the site, would it be possible to add spell -check to the comment entry? I’m wearing out my backspace key…
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It is already in the next release.
Ron
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Cool, can I add another idea then? It would be nice (uh oh, I always hated hearing that at product development meetings) to be able to search on forum/comment title/subtitle only. If people use the titles and subtitles correctly (and I know I don’t use it to it’s full advantage) it would make searching much more productive.
Well, the search engine on the site fully indexes all posts, and it tends to rank the results based on title matches first. I guess I’m not sure the advantage of having a separate search which limits to just titles, when this is already incorporated? (Also just to make sure since I know occasionally this is missed, you are aware of the search field in the upper right corner of the site?)
Also we are certainly well aware there are limitations to how easily people can find valuable content. There are a number of ways this will be addressed in the future. Search is one method for accomplishing this, but there are others to be considered too.
Sorry, didn’t realize it did that! Once again you are way ahead of me. I suppose a big part of the problem, which you can’t well control, is how people title posts. The title sub-title method is agood method you give us, but it’s not used as well as could be (again, our fault). I know for a few subjects that are not focused on current events authors have added ‘Definitive’. That’s a good idea; maybe it can be codified somehow.
BTW, the site works well and is easy to navigate. It is very well done, and I applaud your efforts to continuously improve it. Some sites are almost hopeless. I heard good things about iTulip, but the site completely confuses me. I have no idea how to use it.
