John At The Center

I am a capitalist, and believe that market capitalism is the best economic system ever invented. But it must be fair, it must be regulated, and it must be ethical.

via Op-Ed Contributor – Saving American Capitalism – NYTimes.com.

While no single event can be pinpointed as the start of the single cause of these developments, I believe a great deal of this began in the 1980s. Until then, overall corporate activity was still consistent with the evolution of a largely industrial economy, while the consolidation of the financial sector and the rise of institutional investors pointed to a major shift — late 20th Century finance capitalism.

via Op-Ed Contributor – Saving American Capitalism – NYTimes.com.

Given this, services like SharesPost could help start-up workers get some cash while awaiting a distant I.P.O. that might never even get off the ground. Most people won’t be in on the action, though, since these exchanges are only open to a small pool of buyers.

And it’s not clear how much — or how little — stock has changed hands through them. In its short life, Santa Monica, Calif.-based SharesPost said it has executed one $25,000 transaction, while another service, New York-based SecondMarket, said it has completed about 40 transactions in the past year worth about $150 million.

The concept is not entirely new. Nyppex, formed in 1998, facilitates private-company stock trades, and a few companies with similar offerings emerged during the last economic downturn but failed to gather much steam. Among the problems: Determining a fair price for a private company’s stock is tough without much public information.

via Start-Ups Could Sell Their Shares — Privately – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com.

In an effort to improve government transparency and accountability and stimulate development of the digital media industry, New York City is inviting software developers and related professionals this fall to develop applications to help Internet users navigate vast stores of data in areas like citywide events, property sales, recreational facilities and restaurant inspections.

via New York City Starts Contest for Big Apple Apps – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com.

In the battle for the online personal finance market, free has become the status quo. Both startup Mint.com and rival Quicken Online have amassed more than one million members each by charging zilch for their services. Now, though, both companies are seriously exploring charging for some features. Quicken Online GM Todd Stanley (pictured left) says he believes consumers will be willing to ante up to monitor their investments online or to track their finances via their phones. For its part, Mint, which has set hefty revenue goals for itself, says it, too, is considering introducing some premium, fee-based options. One example, according to CEO Aaron Patzer: a service that lets users pull multiple credit reports directly into Mint and then tracks their credit scores (For more on Mint, see this interview we ran with Patzer).

via How The Free vs. Paid Debate Is Playing Out With Personal Finance Online | paidContent.

Most Expensive Real Estate Markets in the World.

China’s Dependency Ratio: As Good As It Gets.

Over the past two years, Wikinvest has become a great resource for researching stocks but some of its most interesting data was hidden away. It is not a daily habit like other finance sites, attracting only about 500,000 unique visitors a month. The redesign aims to change that by putting all of Wikinvest’s industry- and company-specific data front and center. Each stock page has a chart, key metrics, a news feed, wiki analysis, and opinions from bulls and bears.

via Wikinvest Hopes Redesign Will Attract The Yahoo Finance Crowd.

PollyTrade is the result of his work, and it’s currently available in public beta. What it does is link your Twitter account to your E*Trade account (more brokers will be added in the future based on user feedback), and subsequently enable you to do transactions using tweets that start with @pollytrade and include the respective ticker.

via PollyTrade Lets You Trade Stocks Via Twitter.

There are two reasons long-term rates might rise, first more worries about the debt and inflation in the future would drive rates up, and second the prospect of better economic conditions in the future would have the same effect, rates would go up.

via Economist’s View: What’s behind Recent Changes in Long-Term Interst Rates?.