Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
[This article was published in An-Nahar 24 February, 2019] When I worked on Wall Street a few years ago, I could sense that something was wrong in our compensation mechanism. We got huge bonuses if things went well that year, but the downside was always limited. Take a trader who committed firm capital, a bet, if you will, on a certain [...]
Dan Azzi
(Originally published in An-Nahar on December 10, 2018) During the Civil War entertainment options were limited. There was no ABC mall, no Bikfaya peach festival, no Marina, no Achrafieh 2020 carless roads, no organic market in Beirut Souks … no Beirut Souks, period. No Sky Bar or Music Hall or Rodge. As teenagers, Espace 2000 was [...]
Dan Azzi
(First published in An-Nahar October 22, 2018) “Remember, if you believe it, it’s not a lie.” George Costanza Most people don’t know that a tomato is actually a fruit not a vegetable. It took my attending a Botany course at AUB for me to learn this very useful tidbit of information, which comes in handy when I’m short cash and need to [...]
Dan Azzi
(First published in An-Nahar Oct 13, 2018) I was a kid in a small town, Damour, and I’d hear about this terrible disease, when people would make the sign of the cross, whispering solemnly, “Flen has the disease whose name cannot be uttered. May Allah deliver us from it!” In fact, several people, with the complicity of the attending [...]
Dan Azzi
(Originally published in An-Nahar October 2018) Most so-called local economic reports read more like (bad) poetry, rather than providing actionable intelligence. One such report on real estate, from a few years ago, said: [...]
Dan Azzi
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