Tuesday, January 31, 2012

CNBC's Best Alternative Financial Websites; Strategist News' Best Business Blogs 2011; Business Blogs vs. Financial Blogs

Best Business Blogs 2011

Strategist News presents the Best Business Blogs 2011
This is our third year publishing this ranking. The business blogs field is getting more competitive than ever! Seth Godin continues to dominate the business blogosphere, while Guy Kawasaki and Robert Scoble still rule.

This year we made a major change to our methodology. From this year on, we will only include standalone blogs of individuals. We have excluded all companies, newspapers, brands and groups. Why did we do this? Because we want to celebrate the individual writers. Not corporations. We do not want to be influenced by business models or advertising to skew the results. We just want to rank the best writing, period. So here they are…
Business Blogs vs. Financial Blogs

I came in 14th on the "business blog" list, but have to admit that I never heard of most of the sites selected by Strategist News.

Then again,  the concept of "business blogs" encompasses a broad range of categories including  marketing, careers, work finance, technology, small business, entrepreneurship, personal finance, microfinance, project management, and numerous other categories.

The categories are so broad, I am pleased to be on the list at all. Calculated Risk and Barry Ritholtz (Big Picture) were also on the list, in well-deserved positions of 5 and 8 respectively.

For those not familiar with the columns "Alexa Rank" and "Google Page Rank" in the above link, the general idea is the lower the Alexa number the better, the higher the Google Page Rank Number the better. It is very tough for economic blogs to do better than a "6" in Google Page Rank.

There is much controversy over Alexa and I pay scant attention to it other than occasional curiosity. Certainly, popularity based on those who have an Alexa toolbar installed is skewed at best.

Best Alternative Financial Websites

CNBC has an interesting 20-page slideshow on The Best Alternative Financial Blogs.
Today's Best Money Blogs

So what are the best alternative finance and economic blogs out there?

To assemble our list, we polled our friends, our sources, and our followers on Twitter. We excluded many of the sites we really enjoy because they are associated with major media organizations. So no Felix Salmon, FT Alphaville, or DealBook.

These are the sites that have struck out on their own, untethered to the “mainstream media.” Some of them — like Business Insider or Minyanville — have become so successful that we almost disqualified them as being too mainstream.

On our list you’ll find some representatives of the old school, some of the new school, and hopefully a few that are new to you. There are liberal fraud-busters, Austrian economics free-marketeers, and jaded market cynics on our list.

And now, here’s the best of the web for 2012.

By John Carney
Posted 27 January 2012
In contrast to the Business Blog list, I  have heard of nearly every blog on CNBC's Alternative Financial Website list.


20 Page Slideshow of Best Alternative Blogs

  1. The first slide is the above block quoted (indented)  text.
  2. DealBreaker;
  3. Business Insider
  4. Zero Hedge
  5. The Money Illusion
  6. Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis
  7. Credit Writedowns
  8. Of Two Minds
  9. Naked Capitalism
  10. The Big Picture
  11. Calculated Risk
  12. The Reformed Broker
  13. The Epicurean Dealmaker
  14. Pragmatic Capitalism
  15. Economonitor's Edward Hugh
  16. Ludwig von Mises Institute
  17. Minyanville
  18. Abnormal Returns
  19. Distressed Debt Investing
  20. Slideshow Replay

Each page has a brief discussion about the website chosen. I am Page 6 on CNBC's List with this description and image.
Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

For as long as anyone can remember, Michael Shedlock’s website has been a must-read. When many people were predicting runaway inflation and a declining dollar, “Mish” correctly called deflation and the end to the long “flight from the dollar.”


I did recognize nearly every name on the above list and am pleased with that image and description for four reasons.

  1. My blog was cited as a "must read".
    2.  
  2. I am a deflationist (defined in terms of credit, not necessarily prices) and a gold advocate, as well. The image shown references gold. People still have a misconception that all deflationists hate gold. People still point to rising oil prices as if that proved there was inflation. As I have pointed out many times, it's all in the definition. Bernanke certainly has not been able to stimulate credit and that is why the recovery is extremely weak in terms of GDP and job creation.
    3.  
  3. "Fool in the Shower" is an article written by Caroline Baum, my favorite Bloomberg columnist. I cite Bloomberg more than any other news source for my numbers. I then provide my viewpoint (frequently different) as to what the numbers really mean.
    4.  
  4. Steen Jakobsen is the chief economist for Saxo Bank in Denmark and we see many things much alike. I have recently shared many emails from Steen.


Missing From the List

Some very noteworthy alternative sites are missing from the list. Here are some of them in alphabetical order.


Apologies offered in advance to anyone I missed.

Other Financial Citations

New York Times: NYT 10th Annual Year in Ideas - #1 Idea of the Year 'Do-It-Yourself Macroeconomics'

Time Magazine: Best 25 Financial Blogs

Bloomberg: Financial Blogs: The Best of the Bunch

It is an honor to be named on so many lists.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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