NBA Salary Woes: The Maynor Trade

Yesterday the NBA's Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder completed a trade that sent guard Eric Maynor and forward Matt Harpring from the Jazz to the Thunder in return for the rights to a German forward who will never play in the NBA. The only reason the Thunder included anything at all is because NBA rules say teams have to trade something tangible. The real benefit that the Jazz received from the Thunder? As John Hollinger's article explains, the Jazz will save more than $10 million dollars by dumping two dead-weight contracts on the Thunder, who are far below the luxury tax threshold.

BusinessWeek on China's Economy

In a long and interesting article, BusinessWeek covers the present and the future of China's economy. As I was reading it I kept thinking back to our World Is Flat discussion and its global implications.

The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman

Last night I started reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman and I went through fifty pages before I could set the book down. I haven't been this invigorated at the prospect of learning new ideas from a book since reading Malcolm Gladwell. He starts with a visit to Bangalore, India, visiting call centers and engineering companies, only to learn that his CPA is outsourcing the tax-preparation to India as well. Technology has allowed for seamless globalization, so that whoever can do a job the most effectively and efficiently will get the job, regardless of the continent on which they reside. Housewives in Salt Lake City or taking reservations for JetBlue, a call center in Colorado is taking your drive-thru order from a McDonald's in Missouri, and Osama bin Laden can coordinate 9/11 without ever leaving the cave.

I don't plan on doing a chapter by chapter breakdown a la Royce, but I will try to share the thoughts it provokes within me.