Destiny Media Update 1.09.09

In a post last summer ("A Conversation with the CFO of Destiny Media Technologies (DSNY.OB)") I mentioned that Destiny Media CFO Fred Vandenberg reiterated his prediction that his company would be profitable in its fiscal 1Q09 (the quarter that ended at the end of November). I called Vandenberg Friday to follow up and he said they would be releasing info about the quarter this week, so we should see soon if his prediction was correct.

The Fed Writes Back

Before writing the post "Reg T and Social Security" a couple of weeks ago, I wrote the Federal Reserve to confirm that it had the power to change margin requirements. Yesterday, the Fed wrote back:

The margin requirements for broker-dealers and other lenders found in Federal Reserve Regulations T and U can be raised or lowered by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The last change, a decrease from 65 to 50 percent, occurred in 1974.

The O.E.D. on "Conversate" and "Aks" versus "Ask"

On his Atlantic blog, Ta-Nehisi Coates transcribes a conversation he had with Jesse Sheidlower, Editor at Large of the Oxford English Dictionary ("Added Bonus: Irregardless of what you think, "conversate" is a word"). English mavens may find this of interest. Here's an excerpt:

TNC: What fuels the notion that certain words aren't really words?

JS: There a lot of different things. People feel that there is a certain kind of language that's appropriate and a certain type that isn't appropriate. And these judgments are based on many things--some may make sense, some might not. People take these things very seriously. People are told things about the language in school that are demonstrably untrue, and they think anyone who doesn't follow along with those beliefs is stupid or wrong.

Let me give you an example, in terms of looking at things historically. At the beginning of this conversation you pronounced the word "ask" as "aks." This is something that people often object to. People say it's the wrong pronunciation, and it's stupid. But if you look at the history of the English language, you can't tell if the correct pronunciation is "aks" or "ask." The "aks" pronunciation goes back 1000 years. It's in Beowulf. It's in Chaucer.

What happened was both were in use. But at some point, the dialect in which the "ask" pronunciation was used became dominant. But both continued and have been in use since then. When you look at America, the "aks" pronunciation is widespread in Southern American English. African-Americans used this because they were in the South--it's not especially African-American, but its Southern.

Now, if you look at other Germanic languages, the "correct" pronunciation is, in fact, "ask"--but you can't tell that looking just at English and it ultimately doesn't matter. If I asked you to name the ordinal number between "second" and "fourth" you'd say, what?

TNC: Third.

JS: Right, third--but the old pronunciation is "thred," it comes from three. But if you were to say thred, you'd be considered a moron--even though it's "correct."

A Clever Promotional Idea

Checking the NY Giants' website for the injury report ahead of Sunday's divisional playoff game versus the Philadelphia Eagles, I came across this clever promotion by Del Monte Foods' Snausages brand dog treats. Snausages came out with a football-shaped treat, and they invited Giants fans to send in photos of their dogs in Giants jerseys and other accouterments. Pictured above is "Sonny", one of the MVPs ("Most Valuable Pooches") from week 6, wearing an Eli Manning Jersey.

Edelheit on the Recent Suicides Related to the Financial Crisis

On his blog, Aaron Edelheit writes about the recent suicides of the German billionaire Adolph Merckle, the French financier bilked by Bernie Madoff Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, and real estate mogul Sheldon Good, "What Happens When Money and Business Define You". Edelheit mentions how his charitable volunteering has kept him grounded during dark periods in his life, and laments that the recently departed didn't consider how they could still be of service to others had they not killed themselves, but it shouldn't be surprising that the decline of a business one has worked decades to build could drive one to depression. In the granddaddy of all self-help books, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning (pictured above), Dr. Frankl wrote that there were three general ways in which people found meaning in their lives: through a relationship, through a life's work (e.g., a business), or through the way in which one handles unavoidable suffering.

The "Sidney Awards"

New York Times columnist David Brooks announced his "Sydney Awards" in a recent column ("The Sidney Awards") for the best long-form journalistic essays of the year. Two of the four winning essays were mentioned previously on this blog. The Atlantic essay by "Professor X", "In the Basement of the Ivory Tower", was mentioned in this post, "The Next Bubble to Burst in the Deleveraging Process: Higher Education?", and the Portfolio essay by Michael Lewis, "The End of Wall Street's Boom", was mentioned in this eponymous post.

The Danish Economic Model

Today's Financial Times interview with Peter Sutherland, chairman of BP and also Goldman Sachs International ("Lunch with the FT: Peter Sutherland") includes this paragraph on the Danish economy:

“Yes, there are questions we should be asking ourselves, especially in the Anglo-Saxon economies. If you look at Denmark as an economy, you have higher marginal rates of tax, lower unemployment, a very high safety net support, and GDP per capita significantly higher than this country’s. This is the social model everyone was moaning about. But maybe it works rather well. What you also have, agreed with the unions, is a flexible labour market. Labour market flexibility is to my mind very, very important – far more important than the ability to earn very large sums of money.”

The labor market flexibility and low unemployment rate Sutherland mentions are key differentiators between Denmark other European countries with high marginal tax rates and generous welfare states; usually, the trade-offs in these countries (e.g., France) include inflexible labor markets (where, since it's difficult for companies to fire workers, they are wary of hiring new workers) and high unemployment. Sutherland's mention of Denmark brought to mind a 2006 Wall Street Journal article on Denmark's labor policies, "For the Danish, A Job Loss Can Be Learning Experience". Below is an excerpt from that article:

Most of Western Europe is fighting to hold on to its traditionally strong job protections while in some cases cutting jobless benefits, as the region struggles to compete in a globalized economy. Denmark has gone the other way.

The government allows liberal hiring and firing as in the U.S. And it has imposed limits on the duration of its high unemployment benefits. But it also invests more than any other country, as a percentage of its gross domestic product, in retraining the jobless -- a combination it calls "flexicurity." Its unusual mix of the free market and big government has helped Denmark cut its unemployment rate in half, from about 10% in the early 1990s to U.S.-style levels of under 5% now. The economy has been relatively robust, growing 3.4% last year. Meanwhile, France and Germany are at or above the Danish jobless rate of a decade ago.

Even though Danes are among the most easily laid-off workers in Europe, polls show the country's workers are the most secure about their future.

Back to the Financial Times interview with Sutherland, which concluded with this paragraph:

Just as I am formulating a response to this [Sutherland's invidious comparison of the "Anglo-Saxon" model to the Danish one], Sutherland takes the words out of my mouth. “I feel somewhat hypocritical because I’ve been a beneficiary of this” – and judging by the well-cut suits around us he is not the only one – “but I don’t think that has interfered with my thinking processes. I do think we need to reflect on a certain culture of excess.”

One could say Sutherland's lunch tab reflects a "certain culture of excess". From the FT:

Wiltons
Jermyn Street, London SW1

1 x wild Scottish smoked salmon £28.00
1 x Lobster bisque Newburg £13.00
1 x seared scallops £28.00
1 x grilled halibut £26.00
2 x spinach £10.00
1 x brussels sprouts £5.00
1 x fresh raspberries £12.00
1 x crème brûlée £10.00
4 x glass Chablis £32.00
2 x double espresso £ 10.00
2 x espresso £9.00
1 x mineral water £5.00

Total (inc. service) £211.50