Ex-Chief of S.E.C. Says Pension Funds in Danger - New York Times

This is a serious concern to anyone that pays taxes. The tax payers are the ones on the hook for these liabilities. And this is not a low cost easy fix. For some states and large cities, the amounts can bankrupt a a city (see San Diego). There needs to be some new ideas, tighter regulation, and a shift to the defined contribution model. If this is not talked about soon, it will only get worse, much worse.

Notre Dame's Charlie Weis, the worst football coach in the universe. - By Jonathan Chait - Slate Magazine

Ouch! I wonder if he'll last much longer. Maybe plays out the rest of the season and resigns? The Notre Dame hopeful can pray. They are really bad. I had the pleasure of driving on two Saturdays while teams demolished Notre Dame on the radio. It's hard to understand how they could be so bad. It looks like Weiss has fallen under the spell of his own hype. Add to that all the structural problems of being an independent with a tough schedule week in and week out. Add to that the recruiting standards, they'd have a tough go even with the second coming of Knute Rockne. However, they are stuck with a blimp.

Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place - New York Times

This is the funniest article I have read in a long time. The picture says it all.

Low Road to Splitsville

A fantastic story about Richard Scaife and his divorce proceedings. It's not necessarily nice to find joy in someone's divorce, but since the target is so rich and so publicly viscous, it has to be done. It's also funny to see what wealth does to people down the generations. Great article with the right tone.

Why Should Kids Have All the Acne? - New York Times

This is another sign of the coming apocalypse. The quest for perfection is admirable, but when it refers to organic things that decay with age, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment. The marketing behind this is what's brilliant and scary. Basically it makes you feel bad about yourself and offers a solution for a price. Great way to make money; terrible way to make people feel. One more thing about perfection, it's boring.

Can Fox Win Its Frontal Assault Against CNBC? - New York Times

This should be a good fight. I'm no fan of Ailes, but he does know how to build a winner. I'm not too sure that there's a large enough market for two financial network.s If you think about it, the markets with hype and analysis runs from about 7 AM to 7 PM. What do you do with the other 12 hours a day, plus Saturday and Sunday? It looks like they are both in it till the death, but I wouldn't doubt if one of those networks was out of business in five years.

What does the Nobel Peace Prize mean for Gore 2008? - By John Dickerson - Slate Magazine

Why is there such an infatuation with Gore running for President in 2008? He'd be short money, have an ugly fight with Obama and Clinton and take his family through the wringer again. He seems pretty happy doing pretty much what the heck he wants to do. If he does run it will be long into the future. Even then I doubt that. Maybe it's an East Coast thing?

Big Retailers Cutting Prices to Reverse Weak Sales - New York Times

Retail is going down in the market. I think they are in for a bad quarter, but long-term, the luxury department stores are going to be OK. I think the discounters will have a better 4th Quarter than the market thinks. I'm not sure why, but I think it lies with the fact that people will be looking down market this holiday season. The middle will be crazy bad.

Retailers Lower Forecasts After Sales Reports - New York Times

I wonder if Wal-Mart's gains are the true sign of the slowing economy. My logic being that more people would shop at Wal-Mart if the economy was in the tank, increasing sales. However I'm not sure that holds any water since Target, Kohl's and Penny's are also having troubles. Experts are saying Christmas will be difficult. I'm not doubting that, but I think there are some bargains to be had today.

Are Women 'Depreciating Assets'? - News Bloggers

Interesting look at the Manhattan young and rich :) I saw this on Kurtz's column. The reply is funny in an obnoxious college kind of way.

For Mexicans, Little Surprise Over Madrazo’s Shortcut - New York Times

Funny story about the PRI

David Ignatius - Dividing Iraq to Save It - washingtonpost.com

The best rebuttal to Biden. I'm not sure I fully agree with Ignatius, but he does bring up a good point about identity and what that means for the Iraqis. The one thing that I am sure of is that this will not end well.

Why Big Newspapers Applaud Some Declines in Circulation - New York Times

Are newspapers adapting? Where's Chicken Little? This is good news and newspapers will be fine. If they survived radio, TV, movies, regular mail service, telegraph, etc. they will certainly survive the Internet. It will be different, but newspapers will be around for a long time.

Nokia Buys Software Maker for $8.1 Billion - New York Times

I'm not sure I get this purchase. Am I missing something? Nokia makes hardware handsets. Navteq makes software, mainly maps for web sites (like Google Maps) and GPS receivers. Navteq's other customers (and Nokia's competitors) will now have a good reason to find another vendor. Why would Garmin buy stuff from Nokia? This is just like Tele Atlas's purchase by TomTom.

What does Nokia get out of this? A software company that does maps. Is this integrated into phones already? I think if you have a certain smart phone using the Web browser you can pretty much already do the same thing already. Let's say you integrate in record time and get a product out ASAP. How long is that going to take? Is Apple, Samsung, Motorola going to sit on the sidelines and wait for you to come out with a GPS? I don't quite get it.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut - Movies - New York Times

This looks great! It's hard to imagine that this movie is 25 years old. It has been superior to most sci-fi movies, the only thing off the top of head that even comes close is the first Matrix. Hopefully they'll do some screenings.