John Budnik

I like this for the Argentinean economy. Less debt equals a stronger economy. However, while this will reduce inflation and increase the purchasing power of ordinary Argentinians, this may make it more difficult to sell Argentinean products abroad. - John Budnik

It sounds as though the facts are starting to support my hypothesis that the lack of available credit would help correct the inflationary trends. I even said that I believed 'the worst was over' regarding inflation, but this has yet to be proven definitively by the markets. - John Budnik

Was this any surprise after the crack down on 'preferred lenders'? - John Budnik

I never met him, but Bernie Mac just seemed like a warm, genuine guy. I'm sorry to hear about his passing. - John Budnik

This is great advice for anyone who has to make presentations, whether in tech or not. - John Budnik

Maybe the Y Combinator model is too messy for a big company like Microsoft, but Google seems to be doing a good job of promoting innovation through their app engine. Google and Amazon (even with the recent challenges with S3) are helping developers reduce the time and cost of bringing new ideas to market. There may be some way for Microsoft to explore creating external pipelines for new ideas that are not as labor intensive as is Y Combinator. - John Budnik

This is a great look at old Las Vegas. What I liked most was the sense of elegance the town exuded. - John Budnik

I have been very disappointed with the TV shows and movies I can get on iTunes. Hulu is better, but I've probably been spoiled by NetFlix, which has just about any program I could want. - John Budnik

China seems to be on the path toward responding to market forces through incremental steps. This means that it had to take gradual steps to increase its valuation. However, the Chinese government can't control market forces and it's currency will respond accordingly regardless of it's "official" valuation. I wouldn't say that their currency is a "sure bet", however. They have started to make credit more liberal (though only 5% more accessible), which will none the less have an inflationary impact on their economy and create a somewhat devalued currency. That doesn't reverse the overriding trend, but it is something to consider as a source of possible instability in the currency. - John Budnik