As IF Times

Source: Chelsea Clinton Gets Another Award, This Time for Handing Out Grapefruits to the Homeless

It may not be for me to cast aspersions on the recent honor conferred upon the former First Daughter, but it’s curious that she is such an award magnet.  For those not enlightened as to the activities of the modern day Mother Theresa, Chelsea has recently collected trophy hardware for her humanitarian work from, surprise,  the Clinton Foundation, who would obviously know of her efforts intimately.  At the moment, I can’t recall the previous year’s winner.  This follows on the heels of a Lifetime Impact award issued by Variety magazine last month.  Now she’s being recognized for helping in the cause of hunger issues in New York by handing out grapefruits.  We don’t know how many grapefruits she passed out, but obviously it was award worthy.

Come to think of it, the whole industry of awarding people for all kinds of spurious accomplishments seems to be in a continuous long term bull market. We recall the former President Obama receiving a Nobel Peace prize even before his hand had left the bible during his swearing in ceremony.

We know that during the year, the entertainment industry loves to hand out awards celebrating any and all permutations of entertainment to participants.  People have become trophy sluts.  Old time Oscars and Emmys are now joined by all manner of coveted awards, from People’s Choice to any of the MTV awards.  No doubt the winning of the top new young male artist in the rap/dance video game theme song genre for Saturday cartoons are coveted prizes for all of the 2 people in the running.

This peculiar fondness for participation trophies has trickled all the way down to the mundane masses and is now part of the school system.  We are all aware of the shunting of outright victory/achievement trophies to the more ubiquitous participation awards.  To paraphrase Oprah, I’m special, you’re special, everyone’s special…and they have awards to show it.  Somehow the advance of society has left in its wake, entire generations of people for whom a trophy or award is tangible manifestation of their self worth.  There is no more glaring example of this than having to witness the breathless, self important speeches of winners at entertainment award shows.

As the usual faux humble line goes, it’s an honor even to be nominated.  For the very small segment of society that didn’t get an award, well, maybe next year.

Source: Uber lost more than $2.8 billion last year despite growth | Daily Mail Online

Whether we like it or not, we have become increasingly used to the irrational antics and bleats of large segments of western society.  What’s particularly alarming is the vapidity of the opinions and sentiments often displayed by the generation of people going through the college process; those that will one day determine the shape of the nation.  Rather than representing any insights into genuine social issues, entire armies of students are expressing naive and illogical views propagated by their academic mentors, who are typically estranged from reality as well.

This gossamer skinned worldview typically bursts once they collide with the realities of living in the actual, non academic virtual world.  When the harsh reality of a theoretical education bumps against the need for practical skills, the resulting shock of having no marketable knowledge becomes horrifying.

The business world has historically been the ultimate reality check for those who had been weaned on fairy dust, since success or failure in business is mercilessly matter of fact, exempt from the wishful thinking of academic theory.  At least that’s how it used to be.

This notion is being put to the test however as quite a number of large scale enterprises have managed to defy the very basic premise of a successful business; that is, that it makes money.  While there have been some notable enterprises that have succeeded on the basis of projected revenues in the face of sizeable startup losses, notably Amazon, apparently the emphasis on projected revenues is dominating in top finance circles as justification for valuations.  Imminent profitability has moved way down the checklist in the valuation exercise.

The accepted wisdom in finance circles appears to be, “if you build it, they will come”. The most marketable metric these days is ‘eyeballs’, or the supposed number of lurkers and app users that will translate into hard dollars once the venture hits its stride.  It’s actually amusing how many of America’s top valued public companies today rely on exactly that model.  Facebook, Snapchat, Netflix, Google, Yahoo and no doubt many other yet to be famous  internet wunder companies waiting in the wings.

Tesla, while not strictly speaking an eyeball driven company, it has nonetheless managed to achieve a valuation larger than venerable auto makers Ford and GM on the premise that their electric car solutions will be the dominant paradigm.  Maybe.  But they still have to make money while making cars, regardless of the idealism of ‘free energy’.  So far, not.

Uber, the ride share company is recognized worldwide for revolutionizing the taxi business;  so much so, that Uber has become a verb in modern day language. While seen as a boon to intoxicated people everywhere, it has only cost them a mere $2.8 billion dollars in losses to be an iconic part of modern culture.  It’s the opposite of the Starbucks model, wherein they overcharge consumers for a commodity product…which is brilliant.

If Uber can stay in business long enough to eventually become solvent, then we really look forward to the day when the airline business goes Uber.  Can’t wait to fly to Hawaii for 12 bucks.