Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

      ...but it is going to last a long time for the rest of us. There is one more activity which is going to further increase the flow of assets from the not-so-rich to the very rich. It is called high-frequency trading (HFT) or “black box trading.” In comparison to the outflow of jobs, government incentives and pension liabilities, it has received relatively little publicity, but it is a one-way conduit for the average small investor's assets.      HFT uses high-speed computers to analyze incoming data and to process a huge volume of transactions at very high speeds. In 2009 only 2% of the 20,000 equity trading firms used HFT, but they accounted for 73% of the volume of transactions.      HFT users are usually hedge funds, and compete primarily with each other. Generally they hold short-term positions in equities, options, futures and other items that pass through the markets in huge lots; thus they do not compete dire...

     I guess I am no different from most other men – I like gadgets. I know there are some wonderful toys that I am missing, but if I am sure I have no use for an iPhone, xBox, and the like, I don't buy them. And I decided that even though the ultimate toy, my car, is 10 model years old, it's in good shape, and I don't need a new one. However, we are driving from Pennsylvania to Texas next week, so I did spring for a GPS, and it's really fascinating.      I downloaded the owner's manual and after perusing it, sort of (owners' manuals are to use when you can't figure it out otherwise), I entered my home address into the instrument. I had to test that, so I drove a couple of miles, turned around, and hit the “Home” button.      I was a bit disappointed in the results: it got me home OK, but it didn't take the shortcuts I would have taken. It did keep saying “recalculating” a few times, and when I got within a block or two of t...

      With 165 security TV cameras blanketing their streets, the people of Lancaster are the most closely watched group of citizens in the country, perhaps in the entire world.       However, this is just one example of how authorities are using technology to crack down on those who think they can ignore the law. A couple of examples follow:       The Associated Press reports that, as in most cities, Riverhead, NY requires citizens to get the usual inspections, permits, etc. before installing a backyard swimming pool. And also as in most cities, some people just don’t like to bother with all that red tape.     Now along comes Google Earth with its photographs of every hamlet, town or city imaginable. And the potential is not lost upon the city fathers. To date the town has located about 250 swimming pools whose owners have not filled out the required paperwork. As a result the city coffers have ...

      President Obama has announced a change in NASA’s mission; he has decided that the agency should bypass the moon, and concentrate instead on developing the necessary equipment for deep space exploration of the solar system.       He has also decided to rely on private contractors to handle near-earth orbit functions – for example, ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station. In this way, NASA can concentrate and what it does best, the application of science to space technology, and beaucoup jobs will hopefully be created in the private sector.       Not surprisingly, opposition to the plan surfaced immediately – Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, criticized the decision; on the other hand, “Buzz Aldrin, the second moonwalker, endorsed it. Congress has yet to weigh in on the plan.       The announcement brings into focus the different styles of planning. ...

Barbara and I just returned from grocery shopping, and as I was pushing the cart down the aisles, I had a thought, “What would Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson say if they could have the opportunity to prowl these aisles?” In order to better understand where these thoughts came from, I am going to adapt a scene from the book which you see illustrated to the right of where you are reading. Speaking about the book, it really is coming soon. It is finished, but the publisher and I can’t seem to get together on the printing of the cover. I swear it is coming soon, and after the problems we have had, I am getting very good at swearing. Anyway, I am going to compare two hypothetical trips to the store – one in 1809 and the other in 2009. A Trip To the Store - 1809 Smith 1 discovered that he needed to go to the store for some salt. Since going to the store was quite a project, he made a list of everything else he needed in order to get it all done in one trip. After selecting the ...

The next time you log on to the internet, or watch DTV, think of Charles Kao. It was his discovery of how to transmit light signals through glass fibers that led to these and other technological marvels in communications. When you use your digital camera the next time, thank Willard Boyle and George Smith for their invention of the camera “eye,” which turns light into electrical signals. As the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences declared upon awarding these three men the Nobel prize in physics, they are “the masters of light” whose work “helped to shape the foundations of today’s networked societies.” We have done some wonderful things with their marvelous achievements: instant messaging and live news reports from anywhere in the world, transoceanic phone calls for pennies, remarkably clear pictures without film and quantum leap advancements in astronomy, to name a few. And of course we have created the dark side: pornography on demand, sexting, résumé-killing MySpace photos...