My university education was in economics at the University of Texas in Austin.  My work experience has ranged from business development for internet start ups, to corporate recruiting, mortgage lending and real estate.  My post university education has focused on self study, concentrating on a range of thinkers that include Nietzsche, Marx, McLuhan, Debord, Baudrillard, Battaille, among others. 

Jean Baudrillard (perhaps best known as the inspiration for the Matrix movie series), in particular, is a major influence in many of my posted articles and proposals.  His cross disciplanary approach draws from anthropology, semiotics, psychology, and economics to provide a fresh and unique view of our contemporary world.  Increasingly, it is objects and things that determine not only our social position but our state of mind, reversing the former position of persons giving objects their standing and the orgin of thought with the self.

A chief interest of mine is in a new models of economic behavior and businesses that serve social purposes.  The read / write web is rapidly facilitating new socioeconomic relations.  Transaction costs are greatly reduced, changing the traditional roles of producers and consumers.  New strategies are explored in a number of my Google Knol's to include: 1. Cooperative and Group production / consumption  2. Social or Cause Based Brands and Logos.

A number Knol's are expansions of postmodernist narratives of socioeconomic relations in what may be characterized as the post industrial order.  Other Knols may relate to semiotics or may be disconntected from everything else.  They remain works in progress.  Please take some time to browse around. (some of the articles are slow to load because of other media files included - i.e. Powerpoints).  

• A Film, Video, and Internet Narrative of Modern History

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  Published version: 74Edited: Oct 28, 2009 1:59 PM
• GREENmail: A New Approach to Ethical Investment

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  Published version: 61Edited: Oct 26, 2009 8:38 AM

  
• Group Buying: Power in Numbers

  Views: 2000

  Comments: 3

  Published version: 66Edited: Oct 26, 2009 7:49 AM

  
• The Case for Space: The Astronaunt and The Athlete

  Views: 300

  Published version: 50Edited: Oct 26, 2009 7:45 AM
• Social Brands: Cause Based Brands

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  Comments: 2

  Published version: 216Edited: Oct 26, 2009 7:33 AM

  

  

  
• Empowering Collective Action through Tipping Points

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  Published version: 120Edited: Sep 27, 2009 9:11 PM
• The Consumption of Status and Signs

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  Published version: 108Edited: Sep 24, 2009 12:29 AM

  

  
• Spectacality: Pledge Allegiance to the Image

  Views: 900

  Published version: 92Edited: Sep 20, 2009 12:54 PM
• James Pruett

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  Comments: 1

  Published version: 61Edited: Sep 19, 2009 5:51 AM

  
• Semiotic Evolution: The Fourth Phase of the Sign

  Views: 700

  Published version: 61Edited: Sep 2, 2009 6:39 AM
• Group Buying Direct: Beating the Brands

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  Published version: 46Edited: Sep 2, 2009 6:31 AM

  
• An Alternative Approach to Buying a Home or Investing in Real Estate

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  Comments: 1

  Published version: 154Edited: Sep 2, 2009 6:23 AM

  

  

  
• The Virtual World of Derivatives: The Art of Gaming the U.S. Financial System

  Views: 3000

  Comments: 4

  Published version: 185Edited: Aug 26, 2009 3:03 AM

  

  

  
• Celebrity Vs. Heroic Brands

  Views: 700

  Published version: 37Edited: Jun 15, 2009 11:00 AM
• Semiotics of Investment: The Wall Street Fashion System

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  Comments: 5

  Published version: 126Edited: Feb 26, 2009 7:24 PM

  

  

  
• Licensing Social Causes Via Internet Ad Delivery

  Views: 1000

  Published version: 59Edited: Jan 7, 2009 5:13 AM
• Fractional Ownership

  Views: 900

  Published version: 12Edited: Aug 2, 2008 4:36 AM

  

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  Untitled

  byJames Pruett

  Thanks for the feedback and tip on the home exchange site. They have a lot of inventory to choose from.

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Sep 3, 2009 1:14 PM
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  This is a great resource

  byJames Pruett

  Tim. You have done a great job with this list and appear to me as a great resource on the digital world in China.

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Dec 19, 2008 5:45 AM
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  byJames Pruett

  You are correct to point out lax monetary policy and easy credit as origins to our current crisis. And certainly, investme...

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Nov 30, 2008 9:23 AM
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  Untitled

  byJames Pruett

  Gaming is the model for Derivatives, not art (see chart). The are not more abstract than art but the may be more speculati...

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Oct 31, 2008 8:54 AM
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  Untitled

  byJames Pruett

  That is just it. "Real" economic terminology does not sufficiently exist to approach the problem. Value has been divorce...

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Oct 10, 2008 3:02 PM
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  Untitled

  byJames Pruett

  Andrew, your comment is on target. CDO's, unwinding of the carry trade, zero regulation. Why doesn't Dan mention any of ...

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Oct 9, 2008 8:29 PM
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  Untitled

  byJames Pruett

  I like the idea of letting markets work. But I am in favor of look a qualitative look at the ways the price is being affe...

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Oct 9, 2008 10:25 AM
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  Market forces are different than the past. Conclusion is overly simplistic.

  byJames Pruett

  While I tend to agree with much of the authors analysis of the negative impact of the government bailout, the government i...

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Oct 9, 2008 10:23 AM
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  Untitled

  byJames Pruett

  I would not call Hazlitt's Economics obsolete, only dated.

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Oct 8, 2008 6:24 PM
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  Untitled

  byJames Pruett

  "Unrigging" is a must. Wall Street analysts and credit agencies need to be independent. Just as real estate appraisers ...

  Published version: 1

  Edited: Oct 8, 2008 1:29 PM