Not An MBA

The best satire comes at a specific point in time.

It comes at the point when the outsiders realize the shark has been jumped but the insiders still (strongly) believe the idea/trend/movement still has legs. Ironically, it’s the insiders who author the best satire.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus broadly lampooned British culture at about the midpoint of decolonization and decline following World War II. The show’s continued popularity reflects the fact that for an empire, jumping the shark can be a decades long process.

Economic sociologist, Neil Fligstein, suggests that periods in American business over the last 120 years can be characterized by the executive style that defines them:

1. Monopolistic 1890-1920
2. Manufacturing 1920-1950
3. Marketing 1950-1980
4. Finance 1980-????

We are in the Finance period. Rather, we are at the end of the Finance period.

I’ve been reading Long or Short Capital for a long time. For me, it is the bellwether of the end of the Finance period. It is a brilliantly satirical jab to the kidneys of the spent, greedy, soulless financial thinking and decision making that brought us Enron, HealthSouth, and the entire sub-prime fiasco… Thank you very fucking much!

My quick picks:

• The Llama of Lame
  A must-read if you suspect the Fed might be somehow behind this mess. Or at least unable or unwilling to do anything about it (that doesn’t include the words “bail out”).
• Four Simple Steps to Becoming a Thousandaire
  It’s easier than it looks.
• Vertizontal Consolidation
  Sick, therefore funny.

- Bandit