Economics

Cuban Disses Detroit

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A very useful new website entitled the Libertarian Blog Aggregator points us to a funny little rant from the always-interesting dot-com billionaire/reviled sports owner/Ayn Rand fanatic/accused inside trader Mark Cuban, who is none too happy that Chrysler executives took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal thanking us, the little people with no say in the matter, for bailing their flabby asses out.

Is there anything more idiotic than spending more than 100k dollars on a full page "thanks for letting me waste your money" ad ? […]

For those in Detroit who have never operated a lemonade stand, or any other business, the way profits are generated is by making products at a price people want to buy them for, and then producing them, with all costs allocated, for less than you are selling them for. It's not apparent that this is a principle that Detroit understands.

And while you are at it, when you spend marketing money, spend it to sell cars, not on Bullshit ads that accomplish nothing.

Whole thing here. Reason on Cuban here, and please do check out our Bailout page.

Some bonus Cubanism from his eminently readable blog:

* Why XBRL, a financial-reporting program required of large publicly traded companies, "is here and ready, but our government isnt using it for anything it does. Tracking the bailout would be a perfect application for XBRL."

* Why "we don't need an uptick rule," and shouldn't blame its absence for the financial crisis.

* Why the SEC might want to bury this particular investigation.