Steve Cotler Steve Cotler

Category: Business/Economics

“Keynesian” Capitalism Bumper Sticker De-Attributed

— 5:31 am · View all 3 comments

During the research for my previous post, I came across a bumper sticker that attributed the quotation in question to John Maynard Keynes. When I informed the purveyor that the quotation was not from Keynes’s oeuvre, they replied:

Well, that is sad. It seems that making things up has been a major accomplishment of the electronic age. We will probably keep the saying but remove the attribution. This seems to be happening a lot more than it used to. Thanks.

Here’s their updated bumper sticker.

A small victory for truth, justice, and scholarship.

*     *     *     *     *

Update 8/13/09: One month later, the bumper sticker is still being sold online with the attribution.

Update 8/20/20: The bumper sticker is no longer available, but several other items with the same quote are: a tee-shirt, a poster, another tee-shirt, a button, and…then I gave up searching for more.

John Maynard Keynes: Capitalism and the “Nastiest/Wickedest of Men”

— 1:28 am · View all 28 comments

Of course you know that not everything on the web is accurate, but what if you find thousands of hits for a quotation, including citations in Wikiquote,  the Washington Post, and the Howard Law Journal (which, in its Vol 48 Issue 1 Fall 2004 issue, blithely quoted the Washington Post article referenced at the end of this post)?

“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all.”

You can find this statement, attributed to economist John Maynard Keynes all over the web. It also appears, somewhat more frequently, in this form:

“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.“

In no case, (even in Moving Forward, a book about capitalism) is the quotation accompanied by a citation Continue reading “John Maynard Keynes: Capitalism and the “Nastiest/Wickedest of Men”” →

Enhanced Geothermal Energy and Man-Made Earthquakes

— 11:29 pm · View all 5 comments

Drill down just a few miles into the earth’s crust, and the temperature will rise substantially. This heat comes from three sources: emissions from radioactive minerals, the compressive force of gravity, and to a lesser extent, solar energy absorbed at the earth’s surface. Although such energy is not truly renewable (radioactive elements do eventually decay to energy-flat states), within any reasonable estimate of mankind’s tenancy on this planet, geothermal power is essentially limitless.

There are several techniques for transducing this energy from underground heat to in-the-grid electricity. One of these, a technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), is currently being tested by Sausalito-based AltaRock Energy only 12 beeline miles from my home in Northern California. Continue reading “Enhanced Geothermal Energy and Man-Made Earthquakes” →

Bank of America’s Bad Marketing

— 10:51 pm · View all 2 comments

Do they even come close to knowing what’s going on?

Today I mailed the letter below to Barbara Desoer, President of Bank of America Home Loans, in Charlotte, NC. According to Money magazine, she received $9.6 million in compensation in  2007, and was one of the 25 highest-paid women in America.

Dear Barbara:

I begin this letter with an intimate salutation, taking a cue from the letter I received from you today, addressed to me and my wife (Stephen and Ann).

I, a Bank of America retiree, was intrigued by the outside of the bright red envelope that contained your letter. “Welcome to Bank of America/Look inside for your new opportunities” it said. At first I thought it had something to do Continue reading “Bank of America’s Bad Marketing” →

The Future of Book Marketing?

— 4:30 pm · View all 3 comments

Movies have previews. Why not books?

Yesterday, the Avon Books division of HarperCollins Publishers released a short promo video for Julia Quinn‘s soon-to-be-released novel, What Happens in London. The promo is so professionally done, I would probably have commented on it even if best-selling novelist Quinn (her last book hit #1 on The New York Times list) were not my daughter.

Ms. Quinn wrote the script. The young actress is Talia Gottlieb, a college senior who grew up in Kenya, the child of international aid workers. Ms. Gottlieb, who auditioned for the part at Ms. Quinn’s suggestion, beat out the other performers based upon her obvious-to-all-who-watch talents…not because she happens to be Ms. Quinn’s second cousin, once removed and my first cousin, twice removed. (Confusing, huh? For a consanguinity chart, click here.)

[youtube QztQ5-VKsYM nolink]

For more about the how and who of the promo, click here.

The Babson Boulders of Dogtown

— 10:13 am · One comment

In his 1905 book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, German economist and sociologist Max Weber theorized that capitalism’s ascendancy owed much to Protestantism’s emphasis on hard work and worldly success. Whether or not Weber was actually right, the term he coined, “Protestant ethic,” has, to many, become accepted as part of our shared American definition.

Continue reading “The Babson Boulders of Dogtown” →

Steve with students at an author event

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