If the cell is the basic unit of life – the living tool that forms the organism – then what is it “designed” to do? Well, first it has evolved to be autonomous, to survive as an independent living unit. This autonomy depends, in turn, on organization – on the cell’s interior anatomy. A cell …
We enjoyed a lovely trip to Denmark this summertime. I wanted to share some photos but have been delayed due to some travel detours, etc. We arrived in DK on a trip we planned about a year earlier. We were sad to miss the companionship of friends, who were unable to join due to an …
Over the holiday, I spent time reflecting on my time in the insurance brokerage industry. One interesting area that drew some of my attention was the sale of Zenefits to TriNet Group Inc. I was personally invested into the impacts of Zenefits on our legacy employee benefits brokerage as Zenefits experienced its meteoric rise; The …
This morning, December 13, 2021, the @WSJ posted this article: Parthenon Capital to Buy Kroll Bond Rating Agency in $900 Million Deal. Given my recent blogpost on the debt ratings industry, I thought it would be interesting to delve a bit into this announcement. @WSJ has a good series of articles reviewing the history of …
It is a Sunday morning in State College, PA. I spent time this morning thinking about reading and research I have done over the past weeks about the business of credit ratings. I will share some thoughts. Background The US market for credit rating agencies, also known in SEC parlance as NRSRO, includes nine competing …
I remember times in grammar school when we discussed time capsules. I remember thinking the idea of putting aside contemporary “artifacts” was clever, but I never became excited about them. I wish I could remember the years we engaged in the exercise of choosing the items; Maybe I was in the fifth grade (1989). I …
There is an idea that the value of a brand is measured in the extent to which the consumer associates a relationship with the product or service. There are some distinctly Northern European brands that I feel like I have a relationship with, including Royal Copenhagen, Skovby, Georg Jensen, and Bang & Olufsen (B&O). Notably …
In thinking about the can of worms I opened about this topic, I started jotting notes on directions I might take next. There are so many possilbities. As a matter of inquiry, I found and perused an old copy of Keynes’ General Theory, looked at old international finance lecture notes from Professor Stanley Zin, and …
I developed an interest in distressed finance during my time at NYU-Stern, in part due to a very interesting professor, @restructurings, as well as some very cool and smart classmates, with whom I am blessed to remain connected. I have been rereading @elerianm’s The Only Game In Town over the past week and I have …