InterviewStream Database Lets You Practice Interviewing

Here's a new database - InterviewStream - that records an interview, plays it back and then gives you feedback on your communication and nonverbal communication. Select a question set, watch expert commentary on interviewing, how to answer certain questions and more.

After a quick and free signup, it's ready to go!

Best Introductions to Foreign Countries

There are two great ways to get a quick but thorough overview of a foreign country's economy and history. These reports are more than just population numbers and dates of independence; there's some good detail about economics.

I recommend Europa and Marketline Advantage.

Europa is intuitive to use.

With Marketline Advantage, you can simply search the name of your country and scroll down to view your report (select the countries tab at the tab - see picture below).

Or

You can click 1) Geographies and then choose 2) the blue tab marked Countries at the top.

And read yer report.





Written to be highly informative about history and that country's economic picture.

Make sure you open the PDF report! Otherwise you just get a statistical overview.

Future Factories in Your House: 3D Printing and Mini-Factories

As globalization winds down due to high transportation and energy costs, plus political conflict,do-it-yourself manufacturing looks like it could take off.

There's 3D printing. A machine builds up an actual object one layer at a time using a plastic like material.

Need something stronger or more complex than plastic? Get a factory in a box. This company makes fairly complex factories that fit in a 20-foot shipping container.

By the way, as unemployment remains high, this is a promising way to make a life outside the system.

The implications for manufacturing and design are staggering.

BitCoin Heist

You knew this was coming: Hackers have stolen some bitcoins.

Bitcoins (which I previously discussed here) are private units of currency completely stored and traded on a computer. They were invented as a response to the weakening of fiat currency during the current financial crisis.

Supposedly they were completely secure and could not be counterfeited.  Well, it didn't take long to discover that what one monkey can create another monkey can steal.

Anyone who believes in the sanctity of digital-only info is naive.

This is why it's so dangerous to digitize property records - as we discussed here.

Free Economic Inquiry Under Attack Worldwide

Freedom of speech regarding debt, economics and national solvency is under international assault. 

Here's a great overview of the situation in Europe. If you recall, independent ratings agencies (like Fitch) evaluate the quality of debt. Using that rating, central banks, insurance companies, pensions and other organizations make investment decisions based on that rating. These agencies, using tried and true methods, are downgrading debt (there's too much of it and not enough growth, making payback less likely) and this is upsetting people. 

For example, Italian police raided the office of a rating agency that downgraded Italian on a minor pretext (that story is in article link above).


The European Central Bank is also contemplating rating the quality of its own debt and is making noises about limiting the ability of others to comment on the bank's solvency.


In America, Egan Jones (a mid-sized rating firm) was lowered its ratings on American debt.  Immediately following this downgrade, the SEC coincidentally(?) started a harsh investigation of Egan Jones based on a minor technicality and threatened to revoke its ability to issue ratings on government debt.

Not government debt per se, but on the subject of free commentary on economics:

In Argentina, the government has threatened to exorbitantly fine economists who question official inflation numbers.

Read the articles and decide what this means for yourself.

Book Review: Other People's Money

Louis Brandeis's Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It is a classic critique of the power Wall Street and financiers can wield.

The populist lawyer and later Supreme Court justice often critiqued and identified concentrated power as harmful to democracy.

In Other People's Money, Brandeis lays out his argument against the banks and Wall Street.

Brandeis claims that a small number of bankers use the people's own money deposits as the basis to control industry and finance. This power is then used to create non-competitive oligarchies that stifle creativity, competition and thus lower prices. In addition, many businesses run by financiers are not run as operational businesses producing goods and services, but more as cash cows to be mined, stripped and then discarded.


As evidence, Brandeis examines the connections of shell and dummy corporations, together with massive amounts of capital stock, that allow a small number of people to control so much wealth and direct activity.

His solution is creating financial institutions and marketplaces controlled by the people - credit unions and cooperatives.

While presenting one perspective to be sure, Other People's Money will be a much needed re-introduction to America's sometimes sordid financial past.

Analysis Reports in Passport GMID and Marketline Advantage

We previously discussed industry reports available in our databases.

But there's also analysis of situations, demographic economic behavior, and reactions to economic developments.

Located in Passport GMID.and Marketline Advantage. You'd select out analysis instead of industry reports.

Here are some examples of typical reports: