Recommended Reads, 28 September

Wow, has it really been almost two weeks since I last did one of these? Clearly nothing interesting has been written since then. Well, except my article about investors in emerging markets. To the links, and not the kind the Americans and Europeans are vying for the Ryder Cup on!

Lots of people want to be journalists, but not many people want to pay them to do that. Conveniently, lots of corporations have cash sitting around and want people to write things that seem legitimate, but really just are fluff pieces that promote that corporation. (Financial Times)

Myanmar used to be a closed-off military dictatorship with a bunch of well-connected rich people who couldn't travel to the US or Europe because of sanctions. Now, Myanmar is an increasingly open kind-of military dictatorship with increasingly well-traveled AND well-connected rich people. Now they see all the great shopping through the world and are bringing it to Yangon. This is their story. (WSJ)

You know when you're at a really hip bar or concert and there's an older guy in the corner who is flaunting his money and the connections it bought? Then you're conflicted over whether to envy him or pity him? That is how I felt reading this article about Georgia's ex-President moving to Williamsburg to avoid corruption charges in his home county. Now he buys clocks from hipster street markets and grills with Patraeus and Sarkozy. (NY Times)

These are longer reads, so lose yourself to the narrative and just imagine Georgia's ex-President opening a pop-up couture store of Georgian goods and hiring journalists to write good things about it.