Brian Gongol
Remember Tiananmen Square
An unknown number of Chinese civilians -- hundreds or perhaps thousands -- died trying to win their natural human rights in June 1989
The most important question: What's the worst that could happen?
A Minnesota auto dealer has gone in just one year from $6.8 billion a year in annual sales to almost a billion dollars in debt and a bankruptcy filing. Meanwhile, places like the Mansfield-Ontario area of Ohio are dealing with General Motors plant closures that are set to take place within a year. For every scale of the automotive industry -- from the individuals working at the plants to the people owning the dealerships to the suppliers now left trying to figure out if the "New GM" will ever buy their products again or pay for those they've already delivered -- the most important question to face is "What's the worst that could happen?" But it's also a question that every firm and household outside the automotive industry ought to ask, too. Thinking about the worst-case scenario, then doing something about it, and then moving on to the second-worst-case scenario and so forth, is an essential step towards building a functioning 100-year business plan. There are undoubtedly many who would say that a century-long business plan is a ridiculous concept. But General Motors is entering bankruptcy in its 101st year, even though anyone who would've claimed in 1959 that the company would go bankrupt within a generation or two would have been laughed right out of the country.
Another institution lost -- and why people care
Radio & Records magazine, which has been a mainstay of the broadcasting and entertainment industry for almost four decades, has abruptly closed up shop. The news has upset some vocal fans of the trade publication, who mourn it as the publication of record for the industry and a victim of the loss of passion for the industry. Their reactions, and others, go to show that people care about their institutions. News about the industry will still be reported -- in many cases, online, but also in sister publications like Billboard. But it was the institution of "R&R" itself that is being mourned. Institutions don't have to be dead and gone to be lamented, though: Just note how painful it is to see mainstream news organizations like NBC turn political coverage into entertainment news.
June 2009 edition of the EconDirectory
A directory of more than 350 sites devoted to money and economics
Pump selection for professionals
Most people probably don't even realize that pumps are the world's second-highest-volume manufactured commodity, right behind electric motors.
Podcast: Twitter, Facebook, and the judgment economy
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Podcast: What Microsoft has to do when it's #2
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