Be a Hero, Barry

This is the third of three columns on human behavior and systemic problems.  The first column covered in general how our complacency allows us to be taken advantage of, especially when information technology is involved.  The second column, based in part on my friend Ralph’s mortgage problems, showed one example of how a class of investors has been able to keep millions of Americans trapped in high cost mortgages, creating a sort of economic time machine that benefits one group at the expense of the other and the nation. This third column, addressed to President Obama, is about a cure for that specific mortgage problem — a cure that would also […]

Entrepreneurial OCD

I don’t often respond to other bloggers but today I was asked to do so by my friend Dr. Steven Berglas who blogs for Forbes and is quite an expert on executive and entrepreneur psychology. Steve wrote recently about President Obama’s call for shared sacrifice in the current budget fistfight with Congress, claiming this was exactly the wrong message for the President to send to American entrepreneurs, effectively discouraging entrepreneurism. He asked a number of bloggers including me to comment for a follow-up post. My response (Steve’s wrong) ran so long I figured — what the heck — I might as well make a couple bucks from it. So here goes:

Dear Steve,

I don’t […]