Nate Anderson at Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/authors/nate-anderson/) informs us that “One California couple used their wedding registry to highlight the realities of entrepreneurial life, and to build a bit of buzz for the new company” (full article at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/marriage-silicon-valley-style-cake-ring-web-startup.ars).
I start from the assumption that everyone is free to decide the ifs and hows of own wedding.
Despite this principle, form me, I think is something of bad taste and, in some ways, the mirror of how in current times, everything is reduced to a mere economic rational.
While I’m not a (too much) romantic person, wedding is something, for me, something very important that cannot be money only.
This post as a comment also at http://digg.com/tech_news/Marriage_Silicon_Valley_style_cake_ring_Web_startup
The New York Times is reporting about early indications that the US government is turning a profit on the 2008 financial system bailout. Apparently, the government is $4 billion ahead in profit, with a lot of money still outstanding and final returns still to be determined.
Aside from being premature, there is also some talk of the government having paid too much, and taxpayers having gotten too little:
A Congressional oversight panel concluded in February that the Treasury paid an average of 34 percent more than the estimated fair value of the assets it received.
Of course, many finance experts suggest that the comparison is academic at best, because there is no way to know what might have become of the banks or the financial system as a whole had the government not acted…
A more direct comparison of profits can be made with the investment performance of other governments that poured money into ailing banks last fall.
The Swiss government, for example, said last week that it had pulled in a handsome profit for taxpayers on a $5.6 billion bailout it gave to UBS, the troubled Swiss bank, at the height of the financial crisis in October. The government netted $1 billion on its investment, a gain equal to a 32 percent annual return.
Yes, the Republican-led US government believes in markets, but was it only when it ran against government interests? By overpaying for the bailouts, the government assumed a lot of risk for apparently more limited profit. There was no reason for governments not to pay cut-rate prices for troubled assets. After all, if markets transmit value well, then why not accept the prices afforded by the all-wise market mechanism? Indeed, if banks were going to fail, they could have bought entire banks at next-to-nothing prices and sat on them for a year while the markets panicked and subsided.
If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, just 25% of voters nationwide would keep the current batch of legislators.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure how they would vote.
Overall, these numbers are little changed since last October. When Congress was passing the unpopular $700-billion bailout plan in the heat of a presidential campaign and a seeming financial industry meltdown, 59% wanted to throw them all out. At that time, just 17% wanted to keep them.
This recession has dished out huge helpings of pain. Business models have cracked and jobs once thought secure have vanished in a flash. The question on millions of people’s minds: “What now?”
Now for the good news: Amid all the tumult, a new crop of courageous (if thinly capitalized) entrepreneurs will strike out on their own. For many in the information age, that means setting up shop on the Web.
I know a lot about making that transition. In 2005, after spending 15 years as a marketing professional for big media companies like Universal, DreamWorks and Clear Channel, I decided to pursue my dreams full time as an online entrepreneur.
Four years later I’ve launched more than 60 educationally focused Web sites that generate a variety of revenue streams (advertising revenues, membership fees and product sales). A majority turn a profit, while others are still incubating. The company is entirely bootstrapped–meaning there are no outside investors, which also means a lot fewer headaches.
I’ve taken plenty of lumps too, which is why I know that new entrepreneurs need a helping hand. (Truth be told, they need about 10 of them.) My new column, “Company of One,” will address the challenges of starting an online business with minimal resources while getting maximum results.
There’s a lot of noise out there about how to go about this. I’m going to filter it and give you what you need based on real-world experience–not fancy theories chocked with empty consultant-speak. My goal: to save you cash, time and energy.
Here’s why I know it’s a great time to start an online business:
–The start-up costs are low, and with advances in technology, getting lower all the time.
–Worldwide demand is huge: There are now 1.6 billion people on the Internet (nearly one out of every four people on the planet).
–The Web is infinitely scalable: You can add as many store fronts (Web sites) as you like at minimal marginal cost.
–Search engines are only getting better, meaning that getting your message out will only get easier.
I’m going break down this world for you, from soup to server. Future columns will cover site design, e-mail marketing, customer-conversion strategies–everything you need to get started on and make money with the Web.
You can fear the future or you can sprint toward it–online, and on your own terms.
Darren Scott Monroe is the founder of Learn Entrepreneurship Online
Matt Hartley at Lockergnome writes an aricle on possible scenarios of Microsoft and Yahoo integration (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/08/24/doj-says-no-to-yahoosoft/).
Seems to me that an integration between the two companies will be more a financial and opportuinistic make up than a real “industrial” integration.
Microsoft will benefits achieving a search engine (which Yahoo has been and is, despite its CEO opinion) with some market and financial problems.
Yahoo will benefit by getting fresh new cash.
That will be drained by Microsoft.
And that’s why in my opinion, Dow Jones is scared.
This comment also as a post at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/08/24/doj-says-no-to-yahoosoft/#comment-154037
i spent the last few days scouting out various spots where items from the zionist entity are being sold in los angeles. last week i went with a friend from the boycott campaign to a beauty supply shop at the northridge mall. she scoped it out beforehand and saw ahava dead sea products in the window. when we went they were pushed to the back of the store. we went with some materials from code pink, though as i have written before, their concept of what occupied palestine consists of is terribly limiting. for instance, all we had at the time were flyers that they made to hand out to customers and managers to educate them about the issue. here is the front and back image of the flyer:
because of the limitations of the code pink rhetoric, another member of the boycott collective who is amazing with altering images and doing guerrilla ad campaigns. here is what we are hoping to use to put some teeth into the ahava boycott project:
in any case, we spoke to the russian woman who managed the beauty store. we gave her the materials, but it was obvious that whatever stories she’s heard about palestine–and they were quite the tall tales, i might add–were very clearly those distorted versions of the facts from local zionists she knows. i’m not sure that we did any good in the end, but it seemed that my first-hand experiences of zionist terrorist colonists in palestine made her at least doubt some of the propaganda she’s been fed.
my next mission was with tamara who came to visit me this week. i had been wanting to drive down to hawaiian gardens to see the irving moskowitz bingo club that funds colonies for zionist terrorists who live on stolen palestinian land. the place is called simply “the bingo club” and it’s a pretty bland place. very simple building outside, and inside very simple–just a set of tables with some video monitors and booths in the back and front for people to pay for their bingo cards and get their cash pay out should they win. we warrived at around 3:30 pm, which apparently was too early. it doesn’t open until 4 pm. so we walked around the perimeter of the place to take some photographs. there are entrances on all sides and there are security cameras everywhere–the same kind they have all over places like the old city of al quds. there were also plenty of people lined up or waiting in their cars for the doors to open. the crowd was a mixture of white trash and people of color. they were mostly older, and many were handicapped. we talked to two women who were waiting. one was african american, the other samoan. we asked them if they know where the money was going when they played bingo here. one of the women asked questions and wanted to know, but then she just said: “why does everyone hate the jews?” by “everyone” she meant iranians as she then went into her ignorant questioning based on zionist propaganda about iran. when we explained to her that it was not that “everyone” or even iran that hates jews, but rather people hate colonists who steal land and massacre palestinians she seemed a bit more clear. but only a bit. the other woman couldn’t give a shit. she said she doesn’t care who gets the money. she said, “i’m just here to have fun.”
generally speaking, i find casinos and gambling places depressing. i don’t like the use of brown colors, dark light, and the lack of clocks designed to keep people from seeing what time it is so they stay longer and lose more money. but i also find it depressing when i see places like this one where the people are so obviously working class or barely hanging on to that middle class thread going to the casino to waste their hard earned money. it is a spectacle of over-consumption that epitomizes the things i hate about the u.s. while we were scouting out the place and talking to these women, security obviously saw us taking photos from their security cameras everywhere. they came over to us and told us that we were not allowed to take photographs. of course, i didn’t listen to them. but they came over twice to tell us we couldn’t take photographs. they seem highly paranoid. and understandably so.
i found a website called “stop moskowitz” that looks like it has not been updated in a while, but it has a number of useful materials on it related to the campaign to stop the casino and its support of zionist terrorist colonialism. but it also has uncovered some important points about the community of hawaiian gardens and moskowitz’s treatment of workers as well. for instance, here is what they say about how the bingo parlor affects the local community:
Over the years, the bingo club has netted dozens of millions of dollars and, rather than using the money to benefit Hawaiian Gardens, Moskowitz has funneled the bulk of it to extremist Israeli causes (see the information on
Jerusalem below). By contrast, his use of bingo funds in Hawaiian Gardens has been strategically stingy, directed mostly to the hospital he owns and the food bank he and his family control. Yes, you will see some old news stories discussing how Moskowitz’s bingo supported the Hawaiian Gardens government.
But that was from 1995 to 1997, while he campaigned for approval of his casino. In 1999 his total giving to the city was $35,000! Moskowitz’s bingo operation takes advantage of a state law requiring that bingo be a charity run by volunteers. His Moskowitz Foundation has no members, so he staffs the bingo with immigrant “volunteers” who work only for tips – no wages or benefits. MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, is suing the Moskowitz bingo on behalf of 24 unpaid bingo workers.
of course i wrote about this here and here if you want to see other linked articles about how the casino affects palestinians, especially the video on youtube that i posted earlier.
inside the bingo hall
the stop moskowitz website does a good job of linking local issues affecting the working class and people of color who live in this area. but the people going to the bingo hall don’t seem to get it. or they don’t want to. and this is also what i loathe about the u.s. people want to be fat and happy. they just want to mindlessly consume. and i think it is degenerative. i don’t mind on some level as once the u.s. implodes on itself the rest of the planet will finally be able to breathe freely. but it still depresses me to see people who would rather just sit on their butts, with their pile of snacks in their cooler, their special little cushions they bring to sit on, their bingo gear (apparently one needs special tools to mark out their letter choices on the cards) than think about how their supposedly simple act of “wanting to have fun” has a direct impact on their own community and on palestinians.
moskowitz bingo menu
tamara and i also went to trader joe’s to check out if there was any wine from the zionist entity the other night. i wanted to check it out since the article i posted the other day said that it’s becoming a popular export. fortunately, we found none. but we did find a wine that recommended people go to the cheese aisle and purchase cheese from the zionist entity to go with that particular wine (see photos below).
trader joe's promoting cheese from the zionist entity
zionist terrorist colonist cheese at trader joe's
one last little adventure tamara and i had. we went to the campaign to end israeli apartheid southern california meeting the other night. the meeting was a sorry state of affiars. just a handful of people, most of them older, most of them jewish. i wondered where all the young activists were. i wondered why there were no members of students for justice in palestine present. that said, there new project is going to target los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa’s project to work with mekorot, the zionist entity’s national water company (which i wrote about the other day too). they handed out an impressive overview of the issue of stolen water in palestine more generally and then on this local angle more specifically. they don’t have it up on their website yet, but there are some links to how the zionist entity creates a system of water apartheid. and they also have a few good links on boycott for americans:
Be extra vigilant about purchasing anything off of mall kiosks:
I’m really excited that my MacBook Pro will be getting an OS upgrade. Snow Leopard is on it’s way! As I was trying to order the $29 upgrade from the Apple store, I saw the tagline for the box set that has the OS, iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09 for $169. So I thought that I would go ahead and upgrade it all. Makes sense right? Spend $169 now or spend close to $500 later. Hmmmm. In this economy, let me think about this for a minute.
So as I was trying to order the Box set, I checked out MacMall on pricing. Good thing I did. I just got the Box set for $149 plus $3 shipping. Better than the Apple store. Whoo Hoo! Apple would have cost me $169 + $12 in tax (free shipping). Hmmmm. Let me think about that again.
Shop around folks. You never know what deals you’ll find, especially with this economy. Every penny saved can add up quick!
Clear and present danger is a term used by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in the unanimous opinion for the case Schenck v. United States, concerning the ability of the government to regulate speech against the draft during World War I: “ The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that the United States Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree. When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight, and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right.
Obama doesn’t want it??? Really??? Okay….that is transparent even for me!
What Holder, etal, are doing is without any doubt in my mind considered a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER!!
Did those commi-fools forget we are at WAR and have TROOPS in danger zones!!!!!!!! Politics be damned and those that are doing this TREASONOUS ACT be damned also!
If Holder wants to try a REAL case and show us REAL justice, how about those “black panther wanna-be’s” at the voting booth in Philly holding the nightsticks??????
“Black Panthers” at voting poll with nightsticks
Holder drops charges against “Black Panthers”
Obama lists the Black Panthers on his Web Site
New Black Panther are Nationalist and Anti-Americans (They need to get away from the oppressive Democrat party to find true freedom)
A true patriot has passed away but his and his family’s legacy live on!!!! Ask not what your Country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your Country!! If each of us does 1/8th of what this family has done for our Nation, we would all be much better off.
Here is a good NY Times article about Mr. Kennedy:
Read More: Bloomberg, Emergency-Loan-Program, Federal Reserve, Foia, Business News
The Federal Reserve has been ordered to reveal the names of companies that received emergency loans during the financial crisis, after losing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Bloomberg News. (Check out Bloomberg’s full story here.)
Here are the crucial details of Bloomberg’s report from earlier this morning:
“The Fed has refused to name the financial firms it lent to or disclose the amounts or the assets put up as collateral under 11 programs, most put in place during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression, saying that doing so might set off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders. “
Of the approximately $2 trillion in Fed assets as of last September, it’s unclear just how much of that amount went to the Fed’s emergency loan program, which marked an unprecedented entry by the Fed into the mortgage-backed security market. Here’s more from Bloomberg:
“The Fed’s balance sheet about doubled after lending standards were relaxed in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Sept. 15, 2008. For the week ended Aug. 19, Fed assets rose 2.3 percent to $2.06 trillion as it continued to buy mortgage-backed securities under a program allowing the central bank to purchase non-government securities for the first time.”
The Federal Reserve has not announced whether it will appeal the decision. Matthew Goldstein at Reuters, however, doesn’t expect that we’ll see the details any time soon. Here’s Goldstein:
“Remember, the Fed fought against releasing the names of the banks that got an indirect bailout from the federal government’s rescue of American International Group. And the Fed has been less then forthcoming in providing information about the $30 billion in ailing assets it took on from Bear Stearns as part of the forced sale of the failing investment bank to JPMorgan Chase.”
READ yesterday’s ruling. Notice anything interesting in the below document? Let us know in the comments section.
From Lake Chatuge on the state line between Hiawassee, GA and Hayesville, NC
By J.W. ELPHINSTONE
The Associated Press
9:25 a.m. Tuesday, August 25, 2009 NEW YORK — Home prices posted their first quarterly increase in three years, signaling the housing market has turned a corner.
The Standard&Poor’s/Case-Shiller’s U.S. National Home Price Index released Tuesday rose nearly 3 percent from the first quarter to 133, though that reading is still down almost 15 percent from the second quarter last year.
Home prices are at levels not seen since early 2003. Prices have fallen 30 percent from the peak in the second quarter of 2006.
The monthly index of 20 major cities increased 1.4 percent from May to June to 142, the second straight month the index registered a gain. All but two cities, Las Vegas and Detroit, saw home prices rise, and Dallas and Denver clocked their fourth-straight monthly increase.
Prices, however, have a long way to go to recover completely. Every metro showed annual declines, with fifteen reporting double-digit drops.
The Case-Shiller index is a composite of home price indexes for the nine U.S. census divisions. The 20-city index measures home price increases and decreases relative to prices in January 2000. The base reading is 100; so a reading of 150 would mean that home prices increased 50 percent since the beginning of the index.
