Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ-Life Links (052206)

Free Links:

• Let a million foreclosures bloom? Moderate Mainstream has caught what has to be seen as an ugly, and predicted, downside of the “Bankruptcy Reform” law BizzyBlog opposed last year — foreclosures are skyrocketing. Update: In a related item also caught by Moderate Mainstream, Meredith Whitney, a CIBC World Markets official speaking at a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation conference, stated her belief that 10% of the economy will experience a “segmented recession” over the next 24 months. Ms. Whitney’s terminology is a bit too clever (only whole economies can be in a recession), but many overleveraged borrowers are very vulnerable.
• A tribute to …..Wal-Mart (HT Don Luskin via Greg Mankiw) — It and similar big-box stores may be responsible for as much as 75% of the growth in productivity.
• An outfit called Diamond.com just sold its business for $9.5 mil (HT Techdirt); if that doesn’t raise eyebrows, the fact that $7.5 million of the value was in the domain name should. If this ever comes to pass, it may be one of the bigger wastes of $7.5 million ever.
• Apple just celebrated the five-year anniversary of its entry into the retail store arena, which has to be seen as a stunning success. Update: But am I really supposed to believe that to get a “student discount” the student has to physically be in the store (this was a requirement at Apple’s Kenwood store, which lost a sale as a result)? What if the computer is a gift, you dingalings?
• Japan’s first quarter 2006 economic growth was 1.9%, so zero interest rates (you read that right) may be ending.
• Read this, and you’ll quickly conclude that the “Culture of Corruption” is not linked to only one of the two major parties.. You’ll also see that this one literally does involve cold, hard cash.
• John McCain was subjected to heckling at his New School commencement speech last Friday — even before he could say something supposedly offensive. Imagine if a genuine conservative had been selected instead.
• Here’s an interesting concept — “Fair Use” may even include the use of copyrighted material in a for-profit setting.
• I guess they should really call them “portable desktops” (HT Techdirt) — Apple says you shouldn’t use their new MacBook laptop computers on your, uh, lap, unless you want to risk “discomfort and potentially a burn.”