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Can America Compete? (Part I)

By Chris Carosa on September 16, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the September 14, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Part One – The Risk-Return Tradeoff

The following is the first in series of two commentaries aimed at presenting a unique approach to determining our nation’s position within the world’s economy. This week is expository, meaning some readers will already be familiar with the concept of the risk-return tradeoff. In the spirit of all mini-series, we save the real interesting part for next week.

Finance professors, like all other professors, find they can enhance their employment options (i.e., get tenured) by coming up with all these fancy dancy theories to describe the real world. They write scholarly articles and intricate textbooks (most of which end up on the “Required Reading” list of the courses they teach). Many of these theories remain in the academic realm (where they can take on a life of their own). Every once in a while, though, a really neat idea escapes the verbosity of pedantic journals and appears in the vernacular of the newsweeklies. (When this happens, the professor generally writes a book for the casual reader, appears on several talk shows and becomes a highly paid consultant.)

One of the more significant investment models developed by the academic industry goes by the name, in generic terms, Modern Portfolio Theory. It attempts to provide a Continue Reading “Can America Compete? (Part I)”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged economy, finance, Modern Portolio Theory, return, risk, Simon School

Surprise! Buffalo Bills Score in Nielsen’s New NFL Ratings

By Chris Carosa on September 14, 2010

When you look for smart business reporting, you look to the Wall Street Journal. Likely to have been Sergeant Friday’s (“just the facts, ma’am”) favorite newspaper, the WSJ sets aside all numbers and focuses squarely on cold, hard numbers. So, when this truly national paper of record offers a story (“Dallas Cowboys Are NFL’s Most Popular Team,” Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2010) spelling out how all 32 NFL teams rank in terms of popularity, you can be sure of one thing – no one gets extra points for rabid enthusiasm. It’s all about the bottom-line. And, unlike Forbes, this bottom-line is more than just money, it’s eyeballs. For the first time ever, Neilsen – of the famous TV ratings – ranks the NFL teams by incorporating both TV coverage and internet buzz.

So, where do you figure the Buffalo Bills – perhaps currently the worst team in the NFL – fall in this survey? It shouldn’t shock you Ralph Wilson’s team doesn’t find itself in the Continue Reading “Surprise! Buffalo Bills Score in Nielsen’s New NFL Ratings”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged Bills, Buffalo, Buffalo Bills, Greater Western New York, NFL, Western New York

A Personal Reflection of A. Bartlett Giamatti

By Chris Carosa on September 9, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the September 7, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

I sat in Woolsey Hall with 1,300 other Freshmen nearly 11 years ago to the day. At the podium stood the newly ordained University President, who’s very pompous pontification my Gates-Chili classmates had earlier warned me to be wary of. “Remember, Chris,” they advised me prior to my departure in early September, “don’t let their fancy words and snobby accents intimidate you. After all, they’re only Continue Reading “A Personal Reflection of A. Bartlett Giamatti”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged family, Gates Chili, Giamatti, Growing Up, Italian, Yale

Rediscovering the Fighter Jock

By Chris Carosa on September 7, 2010

The weatherman had threatened early snow unsuccessfully for more than a week now, so it comes as no surprise when the early morning rain turns to wet snow. Still, the first snow always startles, and I pause in observance before entering my cherry red Z-28. I imagine slippery conditions as I pull from the Camaro from my driveway, but by the time I travel the more than twenty miles to the field, only a faint rain precipitates from the clouds.

The fullness of fall could only mean football, a ritualistic pastime beyond the understanding of most of those who play – and impossible to fathom for those who don’t.

* * *

I can’t remember when self-doubt originally entered my mind. Certainly, years of hard Continue Reading “Rediscovering the Fighter Jock”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life Tagged Bandits, football, quarterback

Has the NFL Provided the Answer to Promoting the Greater Western New York Region?

By Chris Carosa on September 4, 2010

I had lunch with a marketing and advertising professional in Buffalo the other day. When I told him about my crazy idea to promote the greater Western New York region, he told me it was crazy. I expected that. What he told me next I didn’t expect. Yet, I can see why it happened.

A couple of decades or so ago, some members of the Buffalo-Niagara community decided to join forces to promote their two communities. They initial suggested to do so under the banner “Western New York” since the local media commonly used that term to describe the area of Erie and Niagara counties (and sometimes even Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties). The grand poobahs of marketing gathered together and rejected the notion. “Everyone knows Continue Reading “Has the NFL Provided the Answer to Promoting the Greater Western New York Region?”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged Buffalo, Buffalo Bills, NFL, Niagara, Western New York

From a Bachelor’s Cupboard

By Chris Carosa on September 2, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the August 31, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

WARNING: BUTTER IS COMBUSTIBLE.

Such a message never graces the sides of butter packages. As a service to all culinary illiterates (like me), I must urge you: pay heed to this warning! But, more on that story in a moment.

As much as I hate to admit it, everyone has certain limitations. Like a recalcitrant halfwit, I often refuse to abide by such diminished expectations. I have, however, never Continue Reading “From a Bachelor’s Cupboard”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Cooking, family, Growing Up, humor

Why I Got Religion – A Book Review of Philip Plait’s Death from the Skies!

By Chris Carosa on August 31, 2010

I’m normally an optimistic person. I regularly practice a “can-do” philosophy. It’s fun. It’s generated its share of success. It’s something I demand from everyone working with me. I can’t stand the lamentable “first you are born, then you die” way of life found too often among naysayers, doomsdayers and, in general, soothsayers of gloom. “There’s always hope!” I’ll shout from the highest mountain. Give me a “no-win” scenario and I’ll find the loop hole. It’s just the way I am. Deal with it.

So, when I say, “Philip Plait’s Death from the Skies bluntly stripped all hope from me,” you’ll know just how significant a statement that represents. As I turned each page, I could feel the Continue Reading “Why I Got Religion – A Book Review of Philip Plait’s Death from the Skies!”

Posted in Book Reviews Tagged astronomy, Plait, science fiction

What If…?

By Chris Carosa on August 26, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the August 24, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

A Collection of Potent Ponderables:

What if the Cubs and the Orioles both reach the World Series? Who will America’s hearts cheer for? Will they align themselves with the Chicago Cubs, the world’s favorite underdog, who haven’t won a World Series in over 40 years? Or will our nation take hold of the Horatio Alger Story embedded in this rags-to-riches season of the Baltimore Continue Reading “What If…?”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged humor, nostalgia

Is Social Media the Key to a Better Government, a Better New York and a Better Western New York?

By Chris Carosa on August 24, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while – maybe years – but I’ve been too afraid. I’ve been too afraid people would see the idea as crazy. I’ve been too afraid people would fail to believe the problem exists. I’ve been too afraid people would read politics instead of common sense. In a phrase, I’ve been too afraid.

And, I admit, I’m still a little afraid. With today’s culture in the noose of political correctness, it seems any misplaced modifier has the power to send one to ruin. Ruin, I am told, is not a very good place to visit, let alone live in. Perhaps it’s because it rains there every day.

Whatever the case, on the whole, I’d rather be in Philadelphia. Well, maybe not the City of Brotherly Love, for it has become the City of the Blogger Levy. According to the Continue Reading “Is Social Media the Key to a Better Government, a Better New York and a Better Western New York?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, It's a Nerd's World, Western New York State of Mind Tagged business, idea, politics, Western New York

Adiós Opus

By Chris Carosa on August 19, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the August 17, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Something happened to Doonesbury in the late 1970s and maybe the early 1980s. Maybe Mr. Trudeau just plain gave up. Unable, though he tried, to stem the ever growing swell of conservative ideology (particularly among the young), his creative passion dwindled to a fraction of its former self. Of course, he and his surviving brethren may have merely become disenchanted with the unfulfilled promise of their own Continue Reading “Adiós Opus”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1980's, Bloom County, Doonesbury, Reagan

Chris Carosa