Carnival of the Capitalists - CotC at Wordlab

Wordlab welcomes one and all to our special interactive version of the Carnival of the Capitalists, where we turn the tables on the many submissions and recommendations received for our presentation this week. We left no blog post unread in the process of creating a nifty sortable table for your browsing enjoyment.

Here you'll see how the naming and branding gurus and wacky wordsmiths who prepared this table rank the blog names, taglines, headlines, and quotes pulled from the posts submitted to the Carnival of the Capitalists this week. Nowhere in this presentation are we so audacious as to indicate which of these posts are more interesting than others. That's for you, dear readers, to decide for yourselves. To each his own. We do know a thing or two about names and taglines, however, and we recognize a "money quote" when we see one. So, we'd be letting our readers down if we didn't share our opinions on that, at least.

Remember, these are just our opinions, so don't freak out if your submission doesn't end up ranked tops in every category. We could be wrong, and if that's what you were expecting, we probably are. Comments are open. If you've got different preferences, and even if you agree with some of the rankings of the first ten in each category, we'd really like to hear what you think about this presentation of Carnival of the Capitalists.

We managed to find a suitable pull-quote in every submission, so that each writer's own words give some flavor of the post, which you can read in full by clicking on the headline link. All of the headlines of the posts are exactly as presented below. All the blogs have names, as shown, but two have no "tagline" that we could find, so we got creative ourselves and, in the result, those two ranked quite well in the tagline competition. ;-)

This week, the Carnival of the Capitalists is presented in a table showing all the posts received in the order submitted or recommended for CotC at Wordlab. Everybody loves a Top Ten List. If you are curious, you can Sort Names, Sort Taglines, Sort Headlines, or Sort Quotes by clicking on the table headers to see our very subjective preferences for the "Top Ten" in every category. It is technically possible for us to rank in every category the complete list of over fifty posts, but we only had a week to complete this assignment, so we decided to show only the top ten ranked and the balance in each category sorted alphabetically. To reset the table to the order submissions were received, simply refresh your browser.

NAMES	TAGLINES	HEADLINES	QUOTES
99 MyMoneyBlog	10 Personal Finance and Investments Weblog	99 Online Bank Comparison: ING Direct, VirtualBank, Emigrant Direct, and HSBC Direct	99 I have redone my old Online Bank Comparison to drop Presidential Premier Savings and add HSBC Direct instead.
99 Big Picture, Small Office	02 unblogging the drain	99 The Friends and Family Plan	99 "It’s never too late to do something", wrote Carl Sandberg. It is certainly never too late to do the right thing.
99 Jack Yoest	09 Business Sense. Military Precision. Timeless Truth.	06 Follow Ben Franklin's Business/Personal Success Model	03 Except for maybe that "whoring across Europe" part.
99 EconoMeta	99 The economy of stuff about stuff	99 Platforms and web economics 2.0	99 I think that one interesting way to look at this aspect is through the economics of platforms (a great example of an “econometa,” what this blog is supposed to be all about).
08 Political Calculations	04 Interactive Tools for Interactive Politics	05 Your 2006 Paycheck	01 Here at Political Calculations, nothing kicks off a new year quite like figuring out how much money we'll be able to keep after the U.S. government has gotten its dirty, stinking ape paws all over our paychecks.
99 Ashish's Niti	99 Niti in Sanskrit means policy, strategy or vision.	99 Buy Vs Rent in the Bay Area	99 Here is a Excel spreadsheet I created to help me with the Buy vs Rent decision in the Bay Area.
99 The Business of America Is Business	99 mine is teaching it	99 The Dirty Half-Dozen	99 It's the Filthy Rich and Developed (the six countries account for almost half the world's GDP) vs. The Clean and the Green.
99 Marketplace Monitor	99 the marketplace takes center stage	99 Industrial Revolution redux	99 What we are seeing today is very similar to the Industrial Revolution of the 1750's, which began in Britain, but really took hold in America.
99 Free Money Finance	07 Grow Your Net Worth	07 Five Common Tax Filing Mistakes	99 Obviously, when you do your taxes you want to make sure they are accurate.
99 Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist (The F.S.A.)	01 Ingots We Trust	99 Tax Cuts (again with the tax cuts)	99 I've been seeing this news article being posted on left-leaning blogs and some atheist blogs as well.
06 Kicking Over My Traces	99 Pushing back against the age	99 A Little More Analysis, Please	99 At the beginning of the year, I posted on data that I shamelessly copied from BigStockPhoto.com, analyzing the numbers on photographers and how many photographs they uploaded to gain insight on whether the photographers might be depending on the commissions for an appreciable percentage of their living.
04 frugal underground	08 money: saving more, making more, enjoying more, needing less	08 New online personal finance software	99 A first glance at the site was promising: it’s attractive, simple, and provided some enticing information. Top on my list?
99 ETF Investor	99 Strategies & analysis but no buy or sell recommendations.	99 Investing in Korea: 4 Stocks, an iShares ETF and a Closed-End Fund	99 The won’s exchange rate, China’s economic growth rate, Korean exports, and the price of crude oil, are the key variables to watch for the Krazy Korean Kospi index.
99 Seeking Alpha Network	99 Dashboard for the Leading Network of Stock Market and Personal Finance Blogs	99 Earnings Calendar and Conference Call Transcripts	99 Here’s a list of leading companies (about 400) whose conference calls we plan to publish for free on Seeking Alpha this earnings season, listed in order of reporting date.
99 Big Mike's Contrarian Investing Blog	99 Stock market, oil, natural gas, gold, silver, value investing, the economy, anything else investment related.	99 Is Google the most overvalued stock?	04 I have to conclude that Google is ridiculously overpriced and is evidence that the wild animal spirits from the bubble of 1999/2000 haven't fully settled down yet.
99 Below The Beltway	99 Observations on the world from just south of Disneyland on the Potomac	99 The Changing Retirement Landscape	99 While I don't believe that people should be forced to participate in 401k plans if they are eligable for them, I do think that the fact that so many Americans do not plan for their financial future is a significant problem.
99 voluntaryXchange	99 It's as intrinsically human as opposable thumbs!	99 Prices of Liquids by the Barrel	05 That puts the price of a barrel of bull semen at some $3,800,000 for the cheap stuff, $8-12 million for the good stuff, and just under $ 65 million for the cream of the crop.
99 The Picket Line	03 Conscientious Tax Resistance	01 The Ethics of Tax Evasion	99 I’ve mentioned before the many on-line research papers by Robert McGee, who has spent the last dozen years or so examining the international and historical opinions of philosophers and religious scholars about the ethics of tax evasion, and comparing this to the attitudes of people today.
99 Searchlight Crusade	99 Consumer information from those who know the system. And more.	99 Investment Property and Sophisticated Users	99 Some Poor Guy who wants to get in on the American Dream is entitled to significant legal protection against all the sharp and smooth operators out there. But once you get out of the realm of personal use and get into the realm of making money, now you are telling the world that you know something about this (or at least that you should know something).
99 The Skeptical Optimist	99 Skeptic: One who weighs the evidence before deciding, and after. Optimist: One who believes that humans, on net balance, are builders rather than destroyers.	99 The Disappearing Deficit	99 The chart shows that the deficit has been shrinking for the last two years. If (...and it’s a big “if”...) the economy continues to grow at the same robust pace, the deficit will disappear within 3-5 years, depending on how big the Katrina spending effect turns out to be.
99 Crossroads Dispatches	99 The generalist synthesist weblog - quite often about innovations in innovation and marketing.	99 Sanuk, Customers and Friends	99 Reid's next story brings me back. He's the consummate storyteller. I don't need to take notes as the characters and scenes are vividly brought to life with dialogue and impersonations - replete with mannerisms, inflections, accents.
99 The Entrepreneurial Mind	99 ...with Dr. Jeffrey R. Cornwal	99 Economic Growth is Creating Staffing Challenges	99 One of the ways that smaller companies can compete for staff is to make them convenient and flexible places to work by offering perks that employees want.
05 The Coyote Within	99 Adrian Savage's Blog on Business Life	99 Understanding What Life Takes	99 Find something that interests you more, decide on a course of action for this new year to make the necessary changes, and stick at them. Discipline yourself to do what needs to be done, every day, regardless of how you feel. Just do it.
03 Slow Leadership	99 Productivity Plus Humanity: helping leaders reflect on what needs to be done, then give it the time it deserves to do it properly.	99 Lifestyle Managers?	99 That, of course, puts lifestyle management into a fresh category: that of essential services for the busy executive household. Surely no up-and-coming rat in the great organizational race should lack such support. I could see the potential at once.
09 The Opinionated Bastard	99 There's nothing going on in the world that couldn't be made 10 times worse by having the US government involved, 50 times worse by having Europe involved, or 100 times worse by having the UN involved.	99 Interesting Look at the 2005 Stock Market	99 Ron Surz does the second most interesting work in analyzing funds after myself and Marketocracy. Recently, he sent me this interesting write up of what the market did in 2005.
99 Jim Logan	99 Direct Response Marketer	99 Three Tips To Build Rapport And Get A Sales Meeting Underway	99 A reader of this blog, an account rep for a staffing company, recently submitted a question through Ask Jim to solicit ideas in establishing rapport with a prospect.
99 BizInformer	99 The Latest News About Small Business Companies	99 Are Tradeshows Still Relevant?	99 As technology becomes more and more accessible - broadband penetration rates increase and saturates certain markets, tools like blogs, podcasts, and wikis become ubiquitous - and communication between vendors and customers gets closer to a real-time, open, and truly interactive dialogue…does the role, look-n-feel, and objective of tradeshows change?
99 Worker Bees Blog	99 This blog records our day-to-day thoughts on or activities in our business.	99 Does ROI by another name smell as sweet?	99 What is happening here is that people are beginning to see the web as the best channel to achieve existing marketing targets and goals that were formerly being achieved via other channels.
99 HR's Brand New Experience	99 by Regina M. Miller, CEO and Founder of the Seventh SuiteTM	99 7Qs - Kevin Keohane - Enterprise IG	99 I had the pleasure of talking with Kevin Keohane, Director of Brand Engagement at Enterprise IG based in the UK. During our conversation we went off in a few other directions so will add my thoughts and the “bunny trails” in italics.
01 Lip-sticking	05 Smart Marketing to Women Online	99 Jane Does Taxes - NOT!	07 Women, who are big into entrepreneurship, and home-based business, and partnering together to sell innovative products and services, need tax advice.
99 The Boring Made Dull	06 Your Official Magazine of Online Ennui	09 Are Class Action Suits Worthless?	06 I recently received a letter, claiming that the Boring household may be part of the affected class, and may be able to participate in the settlement.
99 ProfessorBainbridge.com	99 An eclectic mix of law, business and economics, Catholicism, politics and current events, dogs, and photography	99 Who Owns the Corporation?	08 It becomes easy to lose sight of the fact that firms aren't things, they are simply a group of people for whom the law has provided an off-the-rack relationship we call the corporation.
99 Going to the Mat	99 Wrestling with Issues and Ideas in politics, the law, education, and other stuff	99 Maryland Goes Anti-Business	99 WARNING: The spin on the new law causes extreme dizziness and nausea.
99 Healthy Concerns	99 Sponsored by eHealthInsurance.com	99 Can't leave this story unmentioned	99 It's been called the Wal*Mart bill, because there are only 4 employers who are affected by this bill in Maryland, and the other three disclose their health care spending and come in at over 8%.
99 InsureBlog	99 The Weblog Awards 2005	99 Unintended Consequences	99 So if the gummint insists that Joe’s employer pay an additional 8 or 10 or 12 percent toward health insurance, that’s 8 or 10 or 12 percent that Joe’s employer won’t be giving him as a raise next year. In fact, it could very easily wind up costing Joe his job altogether: his employer may decide that he’s not worth that extra 8 or 10 or 12 percent.
99 Healthy Policy	99 A journey through policy, progress, and being a patient by Kate Steadman	99 Maryland, Walmart, and Medicaid	99 If we're trying to "fix" health care, to reduce the number of uninsured, we need much broader solutions than demanding large companies demanding 8% of payroll to health insurance.
99 The Information Junkie	99 A blog that allows me to share the voluminous amount of information that crosses my desk daily.	03 "Affluent Beggars" Create Moral Dilemmas Everywhere	09 They have been accused of being poor role models for their children, abusers of the food stamp program, tax evaders, and they have been asked to leave several downtown establishments because shop owners feared that they would draw unneeded attention and drive customers away.
99 Scrivener.net	99 This Page Is Under Construction	10 You thought the 2005 federal budget deficit was $319 billion? How about more than $3 trillion, by the accounting rules the private sector uses.	10 The official $319 billion cash basis deficit excludes a host of accrued liabilities, three of which are really big: Medicare, Social Security, and federal employee/military retirement benefits.
99 Blog Business World	99 Blogs in business, marketing, public relations, and search engine optimization for successful entrepreneurs	99 Marketing plans and goals: Website essentials	99 Think about the goals of your site, and what you hope the site will achieve. After the goals are established, a marketing plan can then be developed to make those goals into reality.
99 Daily Dose of Optimism	99 Fresh Thinking for Investors	99 Robert Chapman and the Origins of the 13-D Letter	99 Although there are a number of humorous anecdotes in this profile, I think the information of greatest interest to readers is that Chapman is the father of the 13-D letter.
99 The Big Picture	99 Macro Perspectives on the Capital Markets, Economy, Geopolitics (With a Dash of Tech, Film & Music)	99 Dow Jones pulls a fast one . . .	99 Who is the customer service genius that thought this nonsense up?
99 Econbrowser	99 Analysis of current economic conditions and policy	99 What's the Fed waiting for?	99 The Fed is likely to stop raising rates soon. What will be the final signal that enough is enough?
99 Business & Technology Reinvention	99 Innovation, Ideas, Advice & Solutions	99 Low Cost Product Ideas	99 I think there is value in this notion for all companies seeking to grow - take your product worldwide by unbundling or narrowing the product or service definition.
99 Personal Finance Advice	99 Bridging the gap between saving money and investing	99 Compound Interest, Manhattan & the Indians	99 A couple of days ago I received an email from a man who said that he didn’t believe this and was sure that the number must be incorrect.
07 Photon Courier	99 Politics, culture, business, and technology	04 A Cool Startup Story	99 Startups like this are vital to the future of the American economy. Remember, every Fortune 100 behemoth was once a startup.
02 Fire Someone Today	99 And Other Surprising Tactics for Making Your Business a Success	99 How clear is your sign?	99 What kind of person buys a live tree each year, has a vehicle that can carry it, and is so cheap that they won't give the scouts $10 for hauling it away?
99 EGO	99 Reason - Egoism - Laissez-Faire Capitalism	99 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and Coffee	99 Here is one thing in the report that I want to have an answer to: Why is Venezuela having the "highest level of early-stage entrepreneurial activity" in the world?
99 Financial Reference	99 Long-term Strategies for Managing Personal Finances	99 Mutual Fund Expenses	99 So, instead of looking at past performance, look at expenses. That is find a fund with low annual expenses, no load, and low turnover. And maybe next time you won’t struggle through selecting a mutual fund. Just look at the relevant data (expenses) and don’t chase the noise (past returns).
99 Financial Methods	99 Investing and capital markets (with occasional forays into music, defense, and politics).	99 A Contrarian Look At 2006	99 A benefit of this time of year is the abundance of market forecasts for the year ahead. A contrarian approach is to compile these forecasts to determine the consensus.
99 Retire At 30	99 A blog about Personal Finance and Investing in your 20's as told through the (insane) attempt to retire at age 30	99 The Stupidity Tax and Flesh Eating Bacteria	99 The expected value of every dollar spent on the lottery is $.50 (or a 50% loss). If that isn't enough to convince people not to waste their time...
99 Gill Blog	99 The popular Blog continues	02 HSBC Projects Avian Flu Absenteeism Rates to top 50%	99 As we start hearing about more cases sprouting up in Europe, we are bound to read more about not only how these numbers might be expected to change, but about what companies are doing to prepare.
99 Interested-Participant	99 Questions, Comments & History	99 Former Neo-Nazi Manages Black Workers	99 Prudent business strategists customarily attempt to avoid such a degree of vulnerability to litigation.
10 BusinessPundit	99 Analysis on corporate strategy, economics, some occasional neuroscience, and anything else that interests me.	99 Reflections on Business Blogging	02 I think my biggest contribution to the blogsphere at this point is to write more original, educational, analytical, in-depth stuff. I'll still link to some stuff I find interesting, but I'm raising the bar on those kind of posts.

Here's how you submit a post to Carnival of the Capitalists, but you can send email to Abnu at Wordlab dot com concerning this edition of CotC at Wordlab. If we messed up your submission by getting the link wrong, or misspelling your name, or mangling your tagline, or even selecting the wrong quote from your post, we'll make reasonable corrections if you email your concerns directly to the guy who screwed it up, at the email address in this paragraph.

CotC at Wordlab has comments open and trackbacks or some way to show who links back to this page, which is a permanent page on the Internet, so go ahead and link to this permalink. Now that this special page is finished, and it's our turn to host CotC, we'll turn on the RSS feed and formally announce our Carnival of the Capitalists from Wordlab, which gets just a ton of traffic.

We'd like to thank Rob May at Business Pundit and Jay Solo at Accidental Verbosity for this opportunity to host Carnival of the Capitalists. It's been a lot of fun and we'd do it again, if we ever got the chance.

In closing, we'd like to give a special shout-out to Ironman at Political Calculations, who's been kind enough to help us code this bugger so it works like his memorable CotC that first introduced us to the beauty of sortable tables. We certainly couldn't have pulled this off without his guidance. Thanks.

Free Advertising - a table with interesting posts from a few more capitalist blogs we favor.

Names	Taglines	Headlines	Quotes
Wordlab	Free Naming and Branding Consultants and Resources	Now With More Truthiness	Stephen will be his insufferable self in his next episode's regular bit "The Wørd" since a panel of linguists has decided the word that best reflects 2005 is "truthiness" a word defined as the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.
Snark Hunting	the naming and branding blog	MTV + Igor = URGE	MTV has just announced the name of their new digital music service, named by Igor.
Igor	Naming and Branding Agency	Landor terror alert	Your branding tax dollars at work, creating an empty vessel.
The Social Customer Manifesto	There are no spectators anymore. Participate.	Explosive Growth	"The number of new bloggers is growing so rapidly that we're seeing a net decrease in the typical individual's understanding of blogging, since the number of newcomers is expanding so wildly." - Stowe

A discussion thread has been added to the Wordlab discussion forum where Wordlabbers can add their comments on this CotC and discuss these names and taglines, etc.