Capitalism 2.0

The challenge of abundance

by Michel Bauwens

I'm a little of an outsider in this crowd, but I reacted to Randolph's invitation and thought I would have a go at challenging not just capitalism 1.0, but capitalism as such. And not from a capitalism 2.0 point of view, but from a capitalism 3.0 point of view, as outlined by Peter Barnes in the book of the same name.

What I would like to do in the next few weeks is to point to a few 'challenges' that current technological affordances are creating for the system as is, such as the challenge of abundance, of openness, of the demands for participation, and from commons-oriented approaches.

Let's start with the challenge of abundance.

Capitalism 2.0, version 2.0

I'm currently in the process of redesigning Capitalism 2.0.  You may see a couple of different designs as we experiment with look & feel.  This thread will have some polls if you're interested in voting for looks you like.

Blog Traffic Patterns

Capitalism 2.0 community traffic patterns for the year.

Real Estate Investment in Possible Non Bubble Areas

By Randolph

According to the 2006 HSBC report, A Froth-Finding Mission, Detecting US Housing Bubbles and associated spreadsheet model, not all local real estate bubbles are created equal.  In fact, the Case Shiller Index reveals that a handful of metro markets may well be seeing price recoveries.  Denver, for example, looks to be one of those on the leading edge of the recovery, having potentially already come through the worst of it.  Others, such as my own San Francisco, have yet to really even start into an honest correction cycle (another CSI view of superbubble San Francisco).

Is it time to start investing, or at least preparing to invest in non-bubbly metro areas?

(Topic suggested by a reader)

Every Breath Ben Bernanke Takes

By Randolph

Ironically, this video spoof is even more relevant today than when the kids at Columbia Business School put it together over a year ago.

We can only dream of what the Fed would have been like under Dean Hubbard, sadly.

Call for Authors

Capitalism 2.0 is currently looking for blog authors.  We're looking for folks with interesting things to write in line with the central theme of this blog:  Capitalism, version 2.0.  What that really means is sort of up to you to describe, and for others to read.  Above all else, we believe that direct publishing of mature, intellectually grounded information is rapidly becoming a fundamental force shaping our modern society, and ultimately changing the economic landscape.

General themes which tend to come up are economics, social implications of economic policy, financial markets, the role of technology, and geopolitics.  But things aren't always heavy and dry.  We like to ground our lofty ideas and heady analyses in stories about stuff we observe in the real world. 

This is no academic journal, there are plenty of those already.  Nor is this a ranting political soap box, there are even more of those.  This is a place for mature, intellectual adults to converse about stuff that matters.

Topics in the past have ranged from:

• Grass roots analysis of the largest real estate asset bubble in US history, particularly in light of the stunning silence and denial that a bubble or any problems at all existed.
• Analysis of the wildly popular virtual world Second Life and the associated, almost entirely unverified and consequently largely false media hype.
• Discussions about the falling US dollar and rising metals prices, and how that was causing everyday US coins to become worth more than their face value.
• Hypothetical discussions about advanced networks modeling group behaviors during bubbles and crashes.
• Explorations of how online computer games could be used by terrorists and organized criminals to launder money.
• Why quarterly earnings estimates should be eliminated and why financial analysts are all but useless.

...but there's more!  That's where you come in.  Write about anything you want, so long as it's mature, informed, intellectual, and relevant.  How and why it is relevant, is really up to you...

If you're interested drop me an email.

Random Observations on Iceland

By Astrid

(This is going to be the first of my two posts on my recent trip to Iceland. This post will focus on Iceland the country. The second post will focus on Iceland the travel destination.)  Link to the pictures.

Iceland is a small Nordic country in the middle of the North Atlantic, halfway between Europe and North America. Aside from the climate (more on that in the second post), I found Iceland to be a thoroughly pleasant and progressive country that will warm the heart of Bay Area folks who love to proclaim "it's different here." The people I meet were well scrubbed, pleasant and English speaking. I found Icelanders on average to be on par with physically attractive than the residents of your typical upper middle class coastal bedroom community, but less tanned and more confident.