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All the money my cousin got went up his nose and for lawyers to get him out of trouble.

He's broke now.

He's not an outlier. I see this time and time again, children of financially successful people get fucked up. Look at all the entertainment stars' kids who end up in rehab.

It's a well-known phenomenon known as "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in 3 generations."

"THE Chinese have a saying, “Fu bu guo san dai,” or “Wealth never survives three generations.” America has its own version of this saying: “From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” As with most old proverbs, there is a grain of truth to this—and the new rich are searching for ways to avoid history's curse." -- The Economist (likely paywalled)

-Cause stagnation via protectionist policies, then wait for other nations to pass us by on their way to a higher standard of livin and eocnomic vitality?

[Citation Needed]

Citations:

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Protectionism.html
For you Austrian school folks (God, I can't believe I'm linking to Mises to support my position): http://mises.org/rothbard/protectionism.asp
For the interventionists, a counterpiece by Krugman, saying protectionism has a place... provided that other means fail: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/protectionism-and-stimulus-wonkish/
Another piece:http://www.morganstanley.com/views/gef/archive/2007/20070126-Fri.html

In the news, another danger of protectionism (as was seen in the great depression): http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/world/world/general/wto-fears-protectionism-domino-effect/1449424.aspx

The risk is that we adopt protectionist policies, and other nations adopt them against us -- but not with eachother. Thus we get left behind in the expansionary economies the other nations will go through. This is the problem that Krugman misses... protectionism globally will reduce the impact of economic problems in each country on the whole, only if the protectionism is directed to all trading partners. If the EU, for example, raises protective barriers agains the US, but not the rest of the world, we've got problems. Please note that this is in re: protective trade restrictions; subsidies (like the stimulus package) are another form of protectionism, that by nature are partner-agnostic, and I think this form of protectionism is what Krugman refers to.

However, we're discussing labor protectionism, which is a slightly different beast.

Where are you getting your information from? I'm reading everywhere that the housing bubble is worse in Australia than in Europe or America, see this article for example, and that is certainly my own impression too.

In fact I recently left Australia because I couldn't afford a house there, by a long shot.

Note that the real estate bubble is not limited to the United States. In many of the developed (and developing) countries around the world, real estate is significantly overpriced. See this article.

I get sick of the 'standard' backlash every time a Perl article is posted. Why do people have such a problem with Perl? It's an excellent, high-level general purpose programming language with a huge range of extension modules available. I have personally used Perl for many projects, as do TicketMaster, ValueClick, Morgan Stanley and Ryanair and I've also learnt a lot about software engineering and computing through Perl.

Of course you are right. But let's not forget that there are also lots of completely useless Perl projects as well.

Yes, it does include a lot of symbols, but there is payback to learning them, and really most programs won't use much beyond $ % # () [] {}. Unlike some languages, Perl is not what I would describe as a 'bondage' language. If you want to program sloppy, you can program sloppy. That's fine by Perl. And this generousity is what gives Perl its bad reputation. This is funny since I and most knowledgeable Perl programmers can write perfectly clear and maintainable code. The way we do this is no secret--it's just by commenting appropriately, using meaningful identifier names and following the Perl style guidelines.

People can mock Perl all they like, but it is still a widely used powerful programming language and I am more productive in it than any other language. As a parting comment, a Cisco employee once told me (off the record of course!) that "Cisco would fall apart without Perl".

Mobile phone use is about the same in America as it is in Europe.

I don't know if there are statistics about actual mobile phone use (many people in Europa carry their mobile phone around, but don't telephone very often), but there is a big difference in market penetration. 2002 data about mobile phone penetration from http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techres earch/pdfs/2003TMT.pdf
Sweden 89%, Finland 86%, Italy, Portugal and Hong Kong 85%, Spain, Ireland and Czech Republic 84%, Austria and UK 82%, Netherlands 79%, Switzerland 78%, Denmark and Norway 77%, Singapore 73%, Germany 72%, Hungary 68%, South Korea 67%, France 65%, Japan 62%, ...
US 50%

while it seems true that oursourcing and loss of jobs is here to stay for some period, there is at least one thing that's missing from the discussion over the near term/longer term: the us$ is under quite alot of pressure to devalue relative to other currencies. my favorite (bearish) economist, Stephen Roach (morgan stanley) sees at least another 22%. not that that solves the problem.

but face it guys: the world is - or should be - on track for greater equilibrium, which - in the u.s. - means a lower standard of living all around. get your big screen tv's now.

• a the month, represented by an integer, 0-based ordinal, so February would be number 1.
• b the day, represented by an integer, 1-based ordinal.
• c the year, as a four digit interval.
• s the symbol of the stock. Almost all NYSE and NASDAQ symbols are represented. (see below)

Be warned, you'll be hard-pressed to get any stock quotes before the late 1980's through this method. I had to grease a few palms at Morgan Stanley and Wedbush Morgan to complete my list, and boy, is my nose brown and my tongue covered with loose shoe-polish.

Also, for some reason, Yahoo does not list these symbols:

anbprc abnpra abnprb acepra acepri asx aesprc amgpri atgpr agupr seppr seppra alpprn alppro arepra areprb alnprd alepr atpr ambpra aopra aeepre aagprt aeppra axppra afgprt agcprb agcpra acppr anupr anjpr aivprp aivprq aivprr aivprc aivprd aivprg aivprh asnpra asnprd abwpra aecpra civprc avbprd avbprh avapra ekppr bacprw bacprv bacprx sbppra bxspra bwepr oneprj onepru oneprv oneprw oneprt bacpry bgiprt bufprc bcbpr baxpr bbvprb bvgprc cthprb bpcpra bscpry bscpra bscpre bscprg bscprf bscprx bbcpra grpra bgepra btt bkprd bkpre boypra brepra breprb bmypr bsfprf bsfprg bsfprh bsfprj bsfprq csdpra cpepra ccjpr cofprc aceprb cmopra cmoprb ccmpr creprb creprc creprd cbg cblpra cblprb cxwsb cnpwi cntpra cerpr ctlpra chkpr ccppra cqbws chzpra cbpra cinpra cinpri ccwi cihpra cprs cprw cprx cprv cprz cprf cprg cprh cprm cznpr cvepr cveprl cvepru cmsprm cnfprt cgpprt clpr cnbpra clppra clpprc cweprt cmaprz nnnpra riopr cbgprc cagprb edprc edpra cmsprj cmsprb cmsprk cmsprl cmsprn cmspra tcrpr ofcprb ofcpre ofcprf cxwpra cxwprb cpzpra ceipra ceiprb cmmprb cmmprf cmmprg cwnpra cw.b civprd ddrprf ddrprc ddrprd dmgpra dpra dpru dteprb dtepra dukprt dukprq dukpra dukpru dukprv dukprw drepre dreprd drepri ddpra ddprb dqpra dqupra dquprb dquprc dquprd dqupre dquprg egppra eixpra eixprb eppra epprc edspri edeprd ecapra eaipra egspra gsuprb gsuprg gsupre gsuprd lplprb pegprs pegprr eprpra ennpra eopprb eopprc eoppre eopprf eopprg eqrprb eqrprc eqrprl eqrprd eqrprh eqrprg eqrpre esbprb esbpra repra fnmprh fnmprj figpra figprb fjcpra fnmprf fnmprg fnmpri frtpra frtprb freprb freprd freprg freprh freprf fchpra fchprb fiapr fiapra fbaprt fbppra fbpprc fbpprd fbpprb frprc frprd frpre furpra fbcprp fbcpro fbfprj fltprh fltpri fbfprk fbfprl fbfprm fltprg ffs.a fprt fprs fopra fpcpra fplpra fplprb freprm freprl freprq freprp freprn frepro freprr freprk fcxpra fcxprb fcxprc fcxprd fmtpr fmspr fwcpra glrpra glrprb gblpri gabpr gabprb ggtpr gbppra itprb gmtpr gampr ggppra gpepra gpeprw gtypra gty.t glbpra grtprb grmpra gtn.a glpra gxppra gxpprd gxppre gef.b gupprb gupprc hmyws hbcpr higprq higprc higpra hlipra hliprb heprs hcppra hcpprb hcpprc hcnprb hrpra hlprb heprq heprt hei.a hnzpr hpcpra hiwprb hiwprd cnppra hmeprf hptpra hptprb hmtpra hmtprb hmtprc hiprt hiprp hiprx hiprv hiprf hiprh hiprn hiprs hiprg hiprm hipro hiprz hipre hrpprb hrppra hbaprf hbaprd hbapre ias idt.c idt.b ifcprp ifcpro ifcprn npre ndepr ingpra ingprb kpapra ifcprm sfiprb sfiprd sfiprc jypprz jdnpra jyppr jm jpmprj jpmprn jpmprl jpmpra jpmprh ksupr kltprt ksepra kimpra kimprb kimprc krtprd lgpra lqipr lhopra lshpra lxa lehprj lehprc lehpri lehprd lehpre lmc.b lncprz lncprv lncpr ltcpra ltcprb ltv mgaprb mxg krbprc krbpre krbprd krbpra krbprb mkc.v mcnprs

Stephen Roach was one of the speakers at Davos (chief economist at Morgan Stanley) -- he just knocked down his growth estimates for the next few years.

From what I've head from different sources, there's really no reason to be too excited about the economy right now -- we're in a transition, and it's going to take a long time to find a new balence.

disclaimer: I work for Morgan Stanley

Check Netcraft for Confirmation. On another note this article supports an earlier survey here regarding the Enterprise environment and Networking. This is a 29 page PDF report from March. Biggest drivers: Cost and Ease of use. The report is a good read. A look at the source, and not a reporter's digestion of the facts.