Economist-Niall Ferguson

Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson was born on April 18 1964, in Glasgow, Scotland. He is a British historian who specializes in financial and economic history as well as the history of colonialism. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Adminsitration at Harvard Business School. He was educated at the private Glasgow Academy in Scotland, and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He is praised for his revisionist views rehabilitationg imperialism and colonialism. In 2008, he published his most recent book, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. At Harvard he teaches a popular undergraduate class entitled "Western Ascendancy: The Mainsprings of Global Power from 1600 to the Present.

In 2007, Ferguson was appointed as an Investment Management Consultant by GLG Partners, focusing on geopolitical risk as well as current structural issues in economic behaviour relating to investment decisions.

He also has prospered as a commentator in his established career. In October 2007, Niall Ferguson left the Sunday Telegraph and joined the Finacial Times, where he currently is a contributing editor. Ferguson believes the European Union is a disaster waiting to happen, and has criticized President Vladimir Putin of Russia for authoritarianism. In Ferguson's belief, Putin's policies stand to lead Russia to catastrophes equivalent to those that affected Germany during te Nazi era.

After attending the Glasgow Academy, he recieved a Demyship at Magdalen College, graduating with a first class honours degree in History in 1985. He is married to journalist Susan Douglas, whom he met in 1987 when she was his editor at the Daily Mail, they have three children together. In February 2010 the Daily Mail reported that Ferguson had left his wift for former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

His most well known books include; The Ascent of Money, The Cash Nexus, Colossus and Empire, and War of the World.

Unemployment-NBA Coaching Carousel Spinning Faster Than Ever

In a staggering display of upheaval and dwindling job security, more than a fifth of the NBA's coaching experimentswill change hands before the start of 2010-11. Seven clubs have been in the market for a sideline since the regular season's end, though jobs have come off the board at a dizzying pace in recent days. Recent coaching changes and hirings include former Portland assistant Monty Williams who joined the New Orleans Hornets, in an attempt to regain their franchise status as a playoff contender. Former coach of the year Avery Johnson has agreed to join Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in New Jersey after spending the last two years as an ESPN commentator. The Nets were the worst team in the league last year with only 12 wins in total on the 82 game season, this hiring is an example of hiring a new established coach in an attempt to change the culture to winning ways. He taking the job from the mainstay coach named Lawrence Frank who has been with the team for the six years, this firing was to send a message that a 12 win season will result in plenty of changes and upheaval in a franchise. Boston defensive guru Tom Thibodeau has also verbally agreed to take the coaching duties in Chicago after the NBA finals conclude. He is replacing Vinny Del Negro who was fired for not taking the young Bulls past the first round for two consecutive years.

An intriguing coach change and opportunity takes place in Cleveland. As heavily advertised the Cavaliers superstar Lebron James is facing free agency in a couple weeks, the Cavs are ready to make huge changes with the franchise as they fired coach Mike Brown, who took the team to the finals and has had major playoff success with the team for the last 6 years. General Manager Danny Ferry has also resigned from his general manager duties. The Cavs have question marks surrounding their franchise on every level. The firing of Mike Brown displays my reasoning that coaches are the first to exit when a team does not meet expectations. With the talented team Cleveland had this year they were kicked out in the second round by the Celtics, this shows that the team expected to have a dynasty with Lebron still in his prime but have not produced anything but unexpected playoff losses.

Coaches are glorified when the team is having success but are critcized the most when the team underachieved. The coach of the year award is a mystique as many coaches who have recieced the award have been fired shortly after being at the top of their class. Raptors coach Sam Mitchell is a prime example, after a breakout year for the Raptors with a 47-35 record, Atlantic Division title Sam got the award and everyone was praising the Raptors as an up and coming team. The next year the Raptors stuggled out of the gate and he was fired at the start of the season. Avery Johnson fits as well as his Mavericks had great playoff runs but could not win a championship, he won the award and was shortly fired. Mike Brown of the Cavaliers is the largest example of coaches reaching sky high and dropping to rock bottom after winning the coach of the year award.

Competition- Battle of Detroit Sports Powers

In a clash between metro Detroit's two giant sports empires, Palace Sports & Entertainment, owners of the Detroit Pistons, is suing Olympia Entertainment, owners of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings, alleging former Palace employees stole confidential information when they left to work for Olympia earlier this year.

The lawsuit names nine former key employees who followed Tom Wilson; the former CEO of Palace Sports and Entertainment, who recently shifted to Olympia beginning in February. These nine employees included sales and marketing executives. The lawsuit describes that the nine employees stole customer databases which included e-mails of ticket buyers, and that one of the former employees tried to hack into a Palace Sports & Entertainment database from his Olympia computer. The lawsuit demands the Olympia employees from using any confidential information obtained from Palace Sports, unspecified damages and the return of all electronic data, documents and computer hard drives, that previously belonged to Palace Sports.

This lawsuit is surrouned around Tom Wilson because he has recently shifted across town to help out the Illitch's and they believe he stole confidential data to fill seats and suites at Joe Louis Arena and unlawfully compete for sponsors, advertisers, concessionaires and vendors.

At stake are thousands, perhaps millions of dollars, in entertainment-industry related funds coveted by Palace Sports and also Olympia. Palace Sports owns and operates the Detroit Pistons, The Palace, Meadow Brook Music Hall and DTE Energy Theatre. Olympia owns and operates the Fox Theatre and books and operates Joe Louis Arena, Comercia Park, Cobo Arena, Masonic Temple Theatre and City Theatre. Olympia is a division of Illitch Holdings that includes the Detroit Red Wings Detroit Tigers, Little Caesars Pizza and more.