Lottery tickets
One other remarkable thing that came out of yesterday’s House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets hearing re Sarbanes-Oxley was noted by Francine McKenna in her write-up at MarketWatch:
In a hearing on Tuesday of the House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets, Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio, compared the stock market to buying a ticket to the lottery. “We don’t stop people from spending money on lottery tickets and clearly the risk of losing your capital in the lottery is much greater.”
I’m at a loss for words. This is such a colossally stupid and reckless thing to say, even by a politician’s standards. Retail investors investing in unicorn businesses makes about as much sense as them investing in actual unicorns. “I believe Americans are born with the FREEDOM to invest their hard-earned money in imaginary creatures!”
Based on his statement, I guess we could surmise that Warren Davidson’s constituents would prefer the opportunity to throw their money after the likes of Theranos, Juicero, and Washio rather than parking their money in some index funds.
How’s tax reform coming along?
Well, people still seem to be talking about it, but little else. No matter, Deloitte is optimistic:
“Companies that prepare now may be better positioned to act advantageously if and when tax reform is enacted,” said Deloitte partner Terri LaRae, national leader of Tax Reform Advisory Services at Deloitte Tax LLP, in a statement. “We created Tax Reform Navigator to enhance Deloitte’s tax reform advisory services and give companies the confidence to make informed decisions during uncertain times.”
Yes, uncertain times call for uncertain advisory services that prepare you for the uncertain event that the proposals put forth by POTUS and the House become law. Professional services to the rescue!
Change change change
If there’s one thing that we can all manage to fear, it is change. Or are we supposed to manage our fear of change? I can never tell. In any case, change is a thing that people worry about and managing that change is another thing that people worry about. Well, I’m happy to report that our friends at KPMG have put out a Change Readiness Index that ranks countries’ ability to not be afraid of change (or something).
The 2017 Change Readiness Index (CRI), was released today, ranking 136 countries for their capacity to respond and adapt to significant change, resulting from short-term events, such as natural disasters, and longer-term demographic, economic, social and technological trends.
“More than ever, the welfare of a country’s citizens depends on the ability to cope with and take advantage of change,” says a guy whose title should be the Global Chair of Change, but in reality has a much longer, obscure one.
I can’t help but think that in the future, while the robots are managing all the spreadsheets, lots of professional services in the future will involve solving some abstract problem. I imagine the Change practice will work side-by-side with the Disruption group, which will be supplemented by the Growth & Innovation team. If these are all actually groups within your firm, go ahead and let me know now so I can start working on better material.
Previously, on Going Concern…
The SOx hearing, supra. And in Open Items: A Boston-based career changer has some questions.
In other news:
- Deloitte Thinks Diversity Groups Are Passé
- Why You Should Never Eat Food on Planes, and Other Jet-Set Tips
- Tyrannosaurus rex couldn’t run, but it was a speedy walker
- Did Airbnb Kill the Mountain Town?
- Russian Government Investigating Fidget Spinners, a ‘Political Technology’ That ‘Controls Children’
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