Is it Time for Steve Ballmer to Go?
Famous hedge fund manager and Greenlight Capital, Inc. President David Einhorn this week sounded the rallying cry for the ouster of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, under whose watch Microsoft has fallen to competitors across an eyebrow raising span of categories. As the new big kids on the block, Apple (which admittedly isn’t “new” but is newly big) and Google, launch innovative cloud technologies combined with new mobile operating systems and tablets, the PC market continues to experience a downward spiral in sales. Demand for Microsoft’s flagship operating system, Windows, continues to go downhill as consumers increasingly find iOS, Android, Mac OS X (and soon, Google’s Chrome OS) to be more fun. Another factor contributing to this could be a recent upsurge in the interest of common users in alternative and open source operating systems such a Linux, with its host of customized distributions and low cost.
Blatant Hacking Group Highlights Arrest
The pale, unassuming 19 year old Ryan Cleary was arrested by British Police and transported to New York, where he his bail application was postponed until police could do further investigating into the scope of Mr. Cleary’s crimes. It seems obvious that his hacking skills will have a wide territory to scan, but it remains to be seen how much the police will actually be able to find that will stick, largely due to the advanced hacking skills used to cover up tracks as well.
Argentinean Lessons For A Greek Default
As we look towards a Greek default sometime in the near future, it might be useful to yield to past examples to determine whether or not a default is really necessary, or even beneficial at all. Looking at the Argentina 2001 default, they were even in a much better position than Greece, and are still feeling the devastating effects of their 2001 default every single day. They still have $9 billion in debt to pay off to the Paris Club, and several more billion tied up with other private interests, though the country has already paid off its largest debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But Argentina still can’t get back on the borrowing markets to borrow again without having to swallow an interest rate double its South American neighbors. As Jamie Abut, a business consultant in Rosario, said about the Argentinean default, “A default is not free. You have to pay the consequences and for a long time. Argentina is no longer considered a serious country.”
UK Refuses to Bail Greece Out
In the most recent news concerning the ever-widening Greek credit crisis, the United Kingdom has refused to provide bailout funds in a euro zone package designed to give the bleeding country more money to get back on its feet. Great Britain contributed funds to the last bailout as part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but has been weary of contributing to financial assistance in other areas. This partly has to do with the country’s public opinion, which, in addition to having a very strong anti-euro-zone sentiment, is concerned with how this second bailout will even help any, considering the lack of progress the first Greek bailout received. Many people believe that there’s no amount of money that could be thrown at the situation to alleviate the Greeks’ pain, and that another bailout is a waste of money that won’t address or accomplish the restructuring that needs to be done within the country.
