Assorted Links

  1. The New York Times on the next Federal Reserve Chairman.  I’ve had the opportunity to meet with Janet Yellen on several occasions.  She is insightful and extremely pleasant. She is definitely a “small lady with a large I.Q.”
  2. During the first two years of the nation’s economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while it dropped by 4% for the bottom 93% of households.  Influenced by equity market ownership.  Read more here.
  3. SquareTrade’s New Breakability Score is a pretty awesome new take on traditionally scoring products.
  4. The well-educated and the well-off are more likely than others to participate in civic life online — just as they have always been more likely to be active in politics and community affairs offline. Read more here.
  5. BlackBerry’s CEO Thorsten Heins questions entire future of tablets.  While I’m not yet convince the market disappears completely within 5 years, I do think growth begins slowing this year.
  6. with about 75 percent of companies having reported earnings for Q1 2013, the S&P 500 is set to post the highest operating earnings in history. I don’t think it is sustainable.
  7. Continued signs of slowing in China – China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index decreased slightly in April and remained narrowly in expansion range.
  8. Apple’s $17 billion bond deal is the biggest nonbank corporate-bond deal ever. Bids for the bonds exceeded $50 billion, more than three times the amount offered.
  9. Nearly half of all entertainment devices are connected to the web.