Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

If HFT Algo’s Were People They’d Be Perp Walked

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Suddenly the world is a buzz with the revelations that High Frequency Trading (HFT) may be doing more than actually harming the markets, it might be destroying the illusion they still are markets.

This past Sunday the world at large was introduced that maybe, just maybe, something was amiss in the financial markets. However, anyone with more than a passing interest in business, finance, and a little common sense could feel in their gut that something just wasn’t copacetic.

Between the Federal Reserves massive QE experiment amplified by the arms race of algorithmic technologies (aka HFT) to shave off a piece of that pie for themselves has been nothing more than breathtaking. (more…)

The Facebook Effect

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Nothing conjures up visions of grandeur today faster than anything related to social media. No not0330-fb using it, that’s for the uninformed.  The real place one wants to focus their eyeballs is in the mad rush to develop something that sounds as if it can make money. then, don’t try selling it to users first. No, first things first. Sell it to the most highly coveted customers known in tech today: the investors.

Get this group on board first and customers be damned for we’re talking cha-ching here. Actual customers or users are secondary to today’s silicon valley mindset. You just need the “story” of users or customers to sell the idea first, not the other way around. (more…)

The Bull On Bossy

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Maybe you haven’t noticed but there seems to now be a new war on words, that word today is “bossy.” Now before I start, let me make this declarative statement that’s now a near prerequisite when one states an opinion on what the “opinion police” will declare as off-limits territory.

I understand words have impact, I understand whole heartily words can both hurt as well as lift up. However, I am also adult enough to understand mixed messaging, good intentions gone awry, and out right hypocrisy when I see it. And this latest campaign seems to reek of not only the aforementioned, but quite possibly be sending exactly the wrong message rather than the right one. (more…)

The More Things Change…

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As readers who’ve been with me for a while are well aware; I’ve made no bones about my feelings of many of today’s Wall Street darlings such as Facebook®, Twitter®, and so forth.

Although I criticize them, it doesn’t mean, nor should it be misconstrued that I’m belittling their original products or services. I believe now as I did when introduced the ability to connect or rapidly deploy information is groundbreaking. How these companies are suddenly worth Billions if not tens of Billions of dollars, while hardly generating any revenue let alone profit – is quite another. (more…)