Living the Dream

By one account, Michael Phelps has a net worth of $40 – $50 million. Shawn Johnson has gone from Beijing to Dancing With the Stars winner to millionaire. In comparison, fellow Olympic gold medallist, wrestler Henry Cejudo, got a pat on the back and a bag of chips. Oh sure, there were those charming few minutes with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show and a variety of other brief television appearances, but by now – less than a year later – Henry has faded from the minds of the general public. He definitely has not reaped the financial rewards that many other Olympians have.

No youngster takes up wrestling with the thought that it will one day make him or her wealthy. Most kids try the sport because Dad wrestled – or a big brother – or a cousin – or the next door neighbor. When they first step on the mat there are no dreams of Olympic glory either.

Somewhere along the way something seems to happen to a select group of those kids. They fall in love with the sport. Because wrestling teaches you to do so – they set goals – win a kids’ tournament, then a high school state championship – maybe even four or five of them. For some, nothing less than being the best in the world will suffice. So they sacrifice. They train harder than any other elite athletes (as former USA Wrestling resident freestyle coach, Terry Brands, likes to say, “We do things that would make a billy goat puke.”).

http://www.living-the-dream-medal-fund.com/

Understanding Obama’s Financial Overhaul

In Uncategorized on June 29, 2009 at 7:45 am

Also published on the Atlantic Monthly’s Business Channel.

Joe Nocera has said his peace with respect to Obama’s proposed overhaul of the financial system. And in doing so, he expressed disappointment with several aspects of the proposal. In particular, he is displeased that the proposal “doesn’t attempt to diminish the use of … bespoke derivatives.” That certainly sounds ominous. But it’s also not true.

The proposal calls for increased capital charges on bespoke trades, which is a strong incentive away from them. But frankly, I’m sick of writing about the proposal. So rather than regurgitate and parse the administration’s plans for financial regulation, I’d like to take a moment to get familiar with some of the key concepts at play in the proposal, so that you can read it and come to your own conclusions. The two core areas I focus on here are derivatives and regulatory capital. With an understanding of these two areas, you should be able to get a grasp on what the administration is thinking and what effects the proposal will have in practice.

Once again DD has some solid insight and analysis posted over at the site…