Is Bernanke Keeping too much Money in the Economy for too Long?

The Fed’s main job is to keep the dollar strong with conservative RGDP growth and to keep inflation down. With this in mind, the Fed injected billions of dollars into the American economy to maintain a certain amount of stability. Nearly everyone and their sister was able to receive help from the Fed when the economy was at its worst - and it did keep damage to a minimum (although it can be argued that future Americans will be paying for it.)

Now that it seems consumer confidence is returning, and the American economy is making somewhat of a rebound, Bernanke should consider taking money back out of the economy now. If he waits until a full recovery, the American dollar will see a great amount of inflation. He did mention that in Q1 2010, he will slowly begin to raise interest rates. So far Bernanke’s track record has been a bit lacking, but now that he has been reinstated for four more years of what will hopefully be a recovering economy, he has the opportunity to recover his image.

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Prostate Cancer Vaccine May Be Very Beneficial

A new vaccine by Dendreon Corporation has shown increased living time for men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. This would be the first vaccine to specifically help treat the disease that over 186,000 men get each year.

Unlike most vaccines (like MMR or rabies), the prostate cancer vaccine does not prevent disease; it actually trains the immune system to recognize tumor cells and attack them, which is a very useful strategy. To test the vaccine, Dendreon Corp. performed a study using 127 men.

In this study, men with advanced prostate cancer who took the vaccine lived a median of 26 months, or 4.5 months longer than men without it. Even better, 34% of men who got the vaccine were alive 3 years afterward, compared to only 11% of men who didn't get the vaccine. The study was not large enough for FDA approval, but Dendreon Corp. recently ran a study with 512 men involved. The results seen in this study were found to be very similar and should get more attention from the FDA.

This vaccine appears to be a great step forward, but I don't believe the effects are worth the cost for most people. It is a very expensive vaccine because each vaccine is customized for the patients own cells. USA Today predicts that the cost for the vaccine will be around $10,000 per month. Most families will not be able to afford this option, especially with the current recession.

This vaccine is a giant leap forward in the medical field, but until prices become substantially lower, it will be out of reach for most patients. Currently, the best and cheapest way to prevent prostate cancer is to get routine screenings so surgery/chemo can be performed before the disease gets out of hand. This way, advanced prostate cancer medications like the vaccine will not be necessary.

Pirate Problems

This pirate problem is getting out of hand. Today it was announced that the American captain that was captured by the Somali pirates was just rescued. Now Pentagon officials are deciding a course of action. With Obama saying that he will “halt the rise of piracy”, what exactly needs to be debated?

These pirates are not the long bearded English drunks with hook hands; they are teenagers on speed boats with guns. They are the mafia of the Indian Ocean. Right now there are about 270 crew members of different ships from around the world that are being held captive by these Somali pirates. One of the fears of letting the navy blast the pirates off the globe is that the shipping lanes will be disrupted - this is a problem. Disrupting the shipping lanes means that all trades that go through the Suez Canal would have to stop until the dispute was resolved. This could happen… or we could approach the issue globally. Yes, shipping would be slowed, but with global help and understanding, the canal could be monitored and watched carefully.

Why does America have to be the only one to address and resolve this issue? This is almost the text book example of why the United Nations was created. The only way these organized teens can be stopped is if we can come together - globally - in understanding of the goal. Then, after the Suez Canal gets cleaned up, these pirates need to be attacked and wiped out at their source: Somalia.  

The First Lady of Fashion

In these past few days I have been noticing how the media has been portraying Michelle Obama as a fashion icon. I normally do not pick up, and or care, about these types of news stories but after seeing it on the news multiple times, I could not avoid the topic.

I would first off like to announce that I know very little about fashion. “Brown shoes, brown belt; black shoes, black belt” is about the extent of my knowledge. To me, Michelle Obama looks appropriate at each function, but does she have good fashion? I don’t know. Last week during the G20 meetings, her outfits and fashion of each day could have been found on: Yahoo News, CBS News, CNN, The Examiner, Fox News, New York Times, Google News and probably every other news source known to man. Many times, she has also been referred to as the first, First Lady of Fashion. Yes, they are saying that no other first lady in the history of the United States was fashionable. Has the media forgotten about Nancy Reagan, the actress and first lady of Ronald Reagan? Has the media forgotten about Jackie Kennedy?

I am just curious as to why the media is constantly telling me about how great of a choice Michelle’s dress was. What is their motivation? Is there really nothing else to report on about Mrs. Obama? I am very sure that there is much more to Michelle Obama than her wardrobe, and I find it extremely shallow of the media to report only on her fashion. Leave fashion to E! 

iTunes Switches to Tiered Pricing: Walmart and Amazon Follow

iTunes recently modified the cost of songs to $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29 with their new "variable pricing" strategy. At first it may sound like an okay deal, but with 12 of the top 20 downloaded songs priced at $1.29, I would have to disagree. Many new releases and popular songs are at the high price point so iTunes can capitalize on their popularity.

Trying to ignore this annoyance, I looked around to see what songs I could find for $0.69. I couldn't find any... I tried to search on Google to see if anyone had found songs for $0.69, and after several tries I found a few. All of the songs priced at $0.69 appear to be Rhythm and Blues from the 60s, most of which I have never heard of. If you happen to be and R&B fan from the 60s, congratulations! For everyone else, it appears that iTunes will be demanding $1.29 for the current popular songs. This pricing increase is not just happening on iTunes, however.

Walmart and Amazon have just announced that they will be using a platform similar to iTunes. I don't think it is a smart move to instantly increase the price of hits by 30%. iTunes (and Amazon/Walmart for that matter) would have been smarter to increase the price to $1.19, which is a much more modest increase. This 30% hike is just too much, and it will definitely push away many music buyers from purchasing as many songs as before the price increase.

Ford Lowers Debt by Almost 10 Billion

Unlike its fellow counterparts GM and Chrysler, Ford Motor Company stated on Monday that they have been able to lower automotive debt by $9.9 billion, down to $15.9 billion from almost $26 billion at the end of last year. With this announcement today, Ford stock rose to 3.77 (up 16%). This announcement has greatly improved my confidence in Ford Motor Company.

Ford was able to achieve this milestone because of several different reasons. Ford made an agreement with the United Automobile Workers Union that would cut payments on health care for retired workers, a main factor in their present debt. In addition, Ford has bought out many of their higher-paid hourly workers and halted payments to executives.

Ford's platform should be a model for GM and Chrysler, who have yet to make an agreement with the United Automobile Workers Union. Ford's effort to reduce automotive debt during poor economic times is a step in the right direction for the American automobile manufacturer. It is unfortunate that cuts in retiree benefits were initiated, but steps like this must be taken to survive poor car sales during the current recession.

N. Korea – A Child with Matches

In every elementary class room across the world, there sits a child that constantly seeks attention. Attention from teachers, from peers, from his elders and his juniors. When they do not get the attention they want, they do more drastic things. It starts with something small, but if the issue is never addressed, it can turn into something huge. These children can become rebellious; they can become bullies; they can be a danger to themselves or others. As you have probably guessed, North Korea is this attention obsessed child.

A Los Angeles Times headline stated: “As North Korea readies rocket launch, U.S. turns up pressure”. Are we surprised? It seems like every week N. Korea is doing something to instill the world of fear. This week they are “readying” rocket launches, last week they are threatening the world about something that is now irrelevant. Just like the elementary child, N. Korea is insecure. Just as an example, North Korea has been working on a Hotel project to bring in tourism since 1987. Shortly after the building’s skeleton was complete the project ran out of money and construction was put to a halt. For 16 years the building sat there uncompleted. To this day, over 20 years later it is still considered “under construction”.

North Korea cannot be ignored. It does have threatening capabilities, but instead of publishing their “goals” (which we have seen is not a reliable source of information) in our daily papers, why not put them in their place? Not in an aggressive war-like way, that’s what they would want, but in a intellectual way, such as trade. This North Korean situation is getting old; I predict that next week, N. Korea does something to try and intimidate the world. The worst thing the world could do is actually let N.  Korea think they have control over people’s fear. 

The Dismal Trend in Audio Quality

Music appreciation has been increasing over the last 10 years, mostly due to popularity of portable music players including iPods. It seems like almost everybody owns an iPod, from young girls with Hannah Montana iPod cases to the Queen of England, thanks to President Obama.

Technology has allowed a wide range of music to be accessible to many different types of people. Because of this trend in technology, it would naturally seem that audio quality has improved as well. Unfortunately, this is definitely not the case.

Over 90% of the time that I see a person listening to an iPod, they are listening with the included headphones. If you have not heard these headphones, they sound worse than a clock radio from the '70s. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

I don't see how a person can spend $300 on a fancy audio player, just to listen to headphones that sound like neanderthal speakers (such as these). This would be similar to a mom buying a Ferrari only so she can take her kids to school.

I'm sorry if I have offended you, but all I ask is for consumers to spend $50 or more on a good set of headphones (Sennheiser, Grado, Bose, AKG). I promise it will be worth it, and $50 isn't much after dropping $300 on an iPod. Your ears will thank you.

President Obama at G-20 Meeting!

A Simple Understanding: G-20

In these past few days, the topic of many front page headlines has been the G-20 meeting (it also was the subject of my article "Consumer Power"). Everyone talks about G-20 as if it is common knowledge, when in reality, most people have no idea what G-20 is or means.

G-20 is a group of central bank governors from 20 of the most powerful economies of the world. They meet once a year to discuss, announce, study and review global finance. The goal of a G-20 meeting is to balance and maintain the global economy. Each year the meeting takes place in a different country, for instance this year the meeting is to be held in London.

The G-20 meeting this year is getting so much attention due to the fact of the global recession, which is the number one subject. They will look at and discuss many alternatives on how to solve this global mess.

Official Frog Domain Desktop Wallpaper Released!

Frog Domain has teamed up with desktop Wallpaper site Zeus Wallpapers to release the official Frog Domain wallpaper. It is available in two different resolutions: 1680x1050 and 1280x1024. Click here to download.

Hats off for Obama

For those of you that have read some of my past articles, you know that I have had many disagreements with president Obama. This current GM situation that has arisen, could have given Obama one more reason for me to disagree with him. He could have, once again, decided to bailout the automakers with a few hundred billion dollars, but in all honesty, I must say that I agree with him.

Obama did two things right: 1) He said that a  “pre-packaged” bankruptcy is the best conclusion for GM. The details of “pre-packaged” are not yet clear. 2) Wagoner was forced out. This situation, and quite frankly, my opinion, might offend many Americans. Many people may lose their jobs, and many more people may lose money in stocks, but we need to remember our values as Americans. Companies take risks, when a company like GM fails, all of America feels it, but we cannot let private companies become “risk-free”. A “risk-free” company is a nationalized company. We will understand more once “pre-packaged” bankruptcy is defined.

Wagoner needed to step down. Obama asked him to come up with a plan-of-attack and Wagoner could not do so. Any CEO that can no longer lead the company should step down. Thanks for your honesty Wagoner.

As of right now, Obama’s intentions are not yet clear. We do know that respect for capitalism is probably not the reason he chose not to bailout GM, but we do know he made a correct decision. I respect Obama for his decision today and hopefully it is for the right intentions tomorrow. 

Amazon Mechanical Turk: It Just Makes Cents

It seems like many internet users are looking for great ways to make money online. Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) might be the solution to that problem... Maybe...

AMT is a service provided by Amazon that provides work opportunities for internet users. A user must sign up to participate, and payments are issued through direct deposits into bank accounts or by Amazon gift cards if you don't trust posting your bank account online (like me).

So what type of work can be done on AMT? Basically different clients of Amazon post online jobs (called hits) that they desire for their site that a robot cannot do. These hits require human input (such as choosing a picture that matches a topic) and do not require much skill.

About 75% of the hits are extremely simple and provide payouts of about 10 cents per job (not much, I know). There are hits that pay much higher (I've seen up to $10), but these require a HUGE amount of effort and are not worth the rewards.

As you can probably see above, AMT is not a job that you can do full time and make minimum wage. The best time to do a hit would be during times of extreme boredom. It is not worth the time if you have better things to be doing. Over time, these small hits can add up to, say, a free DVD on Amazon or some money off a purchase.

Amazon Mechanical Turk is a great idea because it benefits users and Amazon clients. It is also one of the few sites online where users can legitimately make money, even though it is not much. If you have some free time and do not care about making a large amount of money, try Amazon Mechanical Turk. If not, I don't blame you.

Karate Obama Strikes again!

Review: HowStuffWorks - The Answer to Life's Questions

I find it extremely hard to find a good site on the internet that provides an in-depth answer of a question that I have. Most sites such as WikiAnswers and Yahoo! Answers answer basic questions by providing a short, quick answer to a question. Unfortunately, they do not have the ability to answer a question that has a long, complex answer.

HowStuffWorks is extremely different from these sites. It thouroughly describes topics that cannot be summarized in one sentence. HowStuffWorks answers questions like "What causes rigor mortis?" and "How do solar panels work?" with several pages of valuable information covering the topic. It also provides answers in many interesting technological areas such as how computers, cell phones, and GPS systems work, as well as almost any other topic you can think of.

Hours can easily be spent looking through what appears to be endless information on HowStuffWorks. It is one of the few websites I have seen that actually benefits society by improving user knowledge. The site looks very clean, and it is easy to search for a specific area of inquiry. For questions about processeses or to learn about how things work, I highly recommend HowStuffWorks.

Consumer Power

It has taken many years for America to transform from a producing nation, to a consumer nation. We now produce nearly nothing. America strives on innovation and intellect instead of labor. In other words: 1) Americans have ideas. 2) These ideas are produced in other countries. 3) Americans buy. It’s a circle that has somehow existed for quite some time.

The problem is that due to this current economic downturn, Americans are no longer buying. Without anyone buying, production in other countries is beginning to slow at an extremely fast pace. The “Big 3”, are no longer the only ones hurting; Toyota has nearly hit a brick wall. Producing countries, such as China, are putting pressure on the American Economic system. America was the anchor to the world economy, and it has slipped.  

Obama is planning his first overseas trip as president to discuss economics in London. He will be faced with an immense amount of pressure. American economics, as we know it, will be put to the test. Government intervention seems to be Obama’s personal belief when it comes to solving economic problems. This, Geithner’s “Newer Deal” and the G-20 meeting this Tuesday sounds like a recipe for economic change.

What are we to expect, not just from this upcoming meeting, but in the near future? The world’s goal will be to minimize the effects of American capitalism (if we can still call it that) upon the world. In fact, many countries would love to see a total nationalization of America’s largest banks. Obama will most likely have to defend as to why a complete nationalization did not take place. One of China’s many goals is to make sure their investments in American loans do not go unpaid. China spent the entire Bush administration buying up old American debts. This will be a large focus for the Chinese. America’s goals, according to what Obama has been preaching, will be to become less reliant on others and bring jobs back to America. These goals will be accomplished by trade tariffs.

Most likely, this meeting will be an over announced and over rated exchange of pleasantries in a room full of demagogues. Get excited. 

Political Spotlight: Timothy Geithner

Geithner, as of right now, has one of the most stressful jobs in the country. Previously he was the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but president Obama nominated him for the Treasury Secretary position in January.

Although it may seem as if Geithner is rather new to the job, he has been working on this financial mess for quite some time. One year ago, he organized the rescue and sale of Bear Stearns. Giethner also played key roles into organizing the AIG bailout, and deciding not to bailout Lehman Brothers. Obama has mentioned many times that he would not accept Mr. Geithner’s resignation if he offered.

Thursday Geithner asked lawmakers to enact the most revised and comprehensive changes to the financial market since the New Deal. He also is in control of $340 billion dollars of the bailout that he can use in any way he feels would benefit the economy the most. According to the WSJ, there are four aspects of Geithner’s plan: “limiting risks that could threaten the broader economy, enhancing protections for investors and consumers, closing gaps in regulatory oversight, and coordinating any actions globally.”

Nearly everyone has disagreed with him on one issue or another, but he is someone that is not afraid to get things done. Government regulation and control seem to the theme of this “Newer Deal”. FDR would be proud of Geithner’s work, whether this is a good thing is your opinion. 

Introducing... The Tesla Model S

Tesla Motors, headquartered in San Carlos, California, has been a major player in the electric car business for several years with the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car capable of reaching 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds. The performance-rich Roadster is base priced at a not-so-modest $100,000. This high price tag has discouraged many buyers from purchasing Tesla vehicles, but this trend may soon be shot down courtesy of the Tesla Model S.

The Model S, an electric four door sedan, is base priced at just under $50,000. It can travel 150 miles on a single charge (300 miles on the premium model), which is not bad for a car that can be charged in 45 minutes using a high voltage jack or overnight with a standard electrical plug. A full charge ends up costing only 4 dollars, which is impressive for the 150 mile driving range.

The Model S can reach 0-60 mph in just under 6 seconds, but the premium model is predicted to hit 60 mph in less than 5 seconds, with a top speed predicted to be around 120 mph. The engine, being electric, has a single-speed transmission, so the car accelerates without ever shifting a gear.

Aside from the impressive engine performance, I found one of the more intriguing aspects of the Model S to be the 17-inch "infotainment" touchscreen. This touchscreen is equipped with 3G internet access for the use of Google Maps or Pandora Radio. This screen is a very stylish way to do away with less-attractive buttons and dials on the center console.

With all of these features priced at less than $50,000, Tesla has made a step in the right direction. The Model S is not just a benchmark for more affordable electric cars, but also a technological showcase intimidating the likes of Mercedes and BMW, as well. It will not be released until 2011, but Tesla is already taking reservations for the much-anticipated Model S.

Gore's New Book is to come out in Novermber

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/gore-to-revisit-climate-crisis-in-new-book/?hp

Will Consumer Electronics Innovation Reach a Plateau?

In the age of consumer electronics where cell phones, computers, and televisions have dominated the market for the last 10 years, I have but one question: In what direction will consumer electronics go in the future?

The trend over the last 5 years with televisions has been increasing the resolution to high definition and most currently having a thinner display. LCD televisions are becoming extremely popular, with the future being even thinner OLED displays. The future for movies looks to be downloadable content through services like Slingbox, which use the internet for movie/TV show viewing. DVDs and Blu-Ray discs will slowly fade out to downloadable content, similar to the way that CD sales have diminished. Home entertainment will all be administered through a television (most likely thinner than your wallet) that has all of these capabilities combined.

Computer innovation has been stagnant for the last 10-15 years. Windows Vista is organized the exact same way as Windows 95, except it is more visually appealing. Laptops have not changed much in the last 10 years either, except being thinner with a nicer screen, and touch screen laptops (AKA tablet PCs) have yet to catch on. This trend of thinner, lighter, and prettier laptops will continue without any major changes to laptop design.

The cell phone innovation throughout the last 5 years started off with the thinner the better. The original Motorola RAZR was instantly popular because of its thin appearance, but recently touch screen cell phones have increased in popularity. These phones have taken a step backwards, however, because of their poor touch functionality and clunky appearance. The next step for phones will be touch screen phones that have better design and perfected touch screen controls. They will also decrease in thickness as well. The cell phone interface will not change significantly, with internet and GPS already included with many phones, but internet service will be much faster than current cell phone internet.

After stating my believed technological advances for the future, there will never be a plateau with electronic innovation, but the rate of technological advancements will drastically decrease. Most improvements to electronic devices will occur slowly over time (no large leaps) so that businesses can make more money. Apple's iPod has been a prime example of this strategy. Each iPod has typically had just one more "major" feature than the last, so Apple can market the product and make more money. There will be no significant "breakthroughs" in computers in the foreseeable future, with most changes being with cell phone appearance. These cell phone advances won't be major, and that is okay with me. Technology has already increased laziness in America and around the world. If everything a person needs can be accessed from the couch (pizza orders, online shopping), physical activity in America will continue to decline. Great...

March Madness

#1 Killer of Economies: Emotion

The AIG fiasco has angered everyone. Dems and Repubs have come together, reaching across the aisle, to legislate something in honor of the AIG executives. Yes, like everyone else, I was pissed. How could these execs steal from the American tax-payer in this time of trouble? Was it immoral? Yes.

Before we address the rest of the AIG situation, let’s looks at a different perspective. When Obama and his team were doling out the $840 billion, did they not think someone somewhere would skim off the top? Of course they knew it would happen. About $167m was assigned to the AIG execs, that comes to about .0019% of the total bailout. Could the government possibly be blowing this whole situation out of proportion to keep the spotlight off themselves? I am not saying the AIG executives were being ethical, but is this really something we need to jump straight into legislation? As I said we were all mad, but we cannot legislate due to our emotions.

The contracts for the exec bonuses were made one year ago. Bernanke knew of the contracts as well. This issue should have been dealt with one year ago, but procrastination seems to be the American way. This emotional decision making needs to stop. Ask any successful company president, CEO, etc if they use emotion to direct their companies. America needs to be run as if it were a company. A profit seeking company not a bureaucracy. 

The Poor Economy Affects Every Business

Customize Your Own Internet Ads?

The internet's leading advertiser, Google, has just launched a new advertising program called "interest" advertising through Google Ads Preferences, which allows users to enter their interests so Google can provide specialized advertising. Google has also added tracker cookies to detect sites that users have recently visited, which promote advertisements from those visited sites.

This new advertising program is a smart move by Google, but am I the only person who thinks this is really creepy? Google does allow users to opt out of the tracking cookies (which can be done through the link above), but 99% of internet users won't even think twice about performing this action.

On one hand, I don't know why Google hasn't been doing this for years. On the other, I would have to think that this has to be getting pretty close to violating internet privacy laws. Just thinking about Google storing users' webpage history for their own monetary gain seems nerve-wracking, however, Google claims this information is kept confedential.

The video below is Google's take on their new advertising platform.

Official Stimulus Drink of the White House

The Invisible Backhand

In his masterpiece The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith explains and describes many different economic theories. One theory, and arguably his most famous, is known as the Invisible Hand Theory. This is the idea that in a free market society, everything will balance out on its own. For instance a producer will produce only the amount of goods consumers are willing to consume. The alternative idea is that the government will set a number of how much a producer must/can produce. This idea will cause either a shortage or an excess of the good.

The Invisible Hand can be applied to many situations. The stock market is another, more raw, and easily track-able example of where the invisible hand can be applied. According to performance of the industry / company / country / sales / accounting / etc, stock prices vary. For many years, the stock market was being artificially inflated, causing the market to seem to be striving. The Invisible Hand, as Smith described it, is constantly trying to keep things at “equilibrium point”. An inflated market obliviously means that the numbers are above the equilibrium point.

So, all of this introduction for what?

All of this present stock market fluctuation is due to the markets trying to find the balance. It is nearly impossible for any market to be at a balance point because of the many calculations that have to be considered. Nearly everyone has noticed that the Dow Jones has lost over 50% of its points from its all time high of about 14,000. When the market began to fall, a snowball effect took place.

I believe the snowball effect brought the market below the equilibrium point. Many economists believe that the markets will keep tumbling through 2009, but I believe this summer we will begin to see a slight recovery. With this recovery there will be an incline in gas prices as well. But as of right now, we are in a deflated stage. We are being kept artificially below the balance from things such as bailouts and other governmental decisions. This snowball effect will cause a huge loss on money for many corporations, it will slow down growth and development, and it will ruin many retirement portfolios. There will be a recovery as long as free markets will be able to take place.

Free Antibiotics - A Stupid Decision

According to the New York Times, several smaller retail pharmacies around the country such as Wegman's Food Market, Publix, and ShopRite are offering free antibiotics this winter to compete with larger chains such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and CVS Pharmacy. This tactic has lured more patients to the smaller pharmacies, but the long term consequences of offering free antibiotics could harm the public much more than it helps.

Because of this, many patients have demanded that doctors give them a prescription for an antibiotic when it is not necessary. Antibiotics only work against bacterial infections, and patients that have a virus, such as influenza, might actually be hurting themselves by using them when it is not needed. Overusage of antibiotics increases drug resistance in humans. This decreases the effectiveness of the antibiotic in the future, when it may actually be needed.

Another major problem with increasing antibiotic resistance is the fact that most drug companies do not spend very much research and development in antibiotics. Being in a capitalist society, drug companies try to make as much money as possible. Why would a company create a new antibiotic that is used for 10 days when they could be developing a cholesterol lowering drug that patients would buy 30 days a month, 12 months a year?

Either doctors need to be much more strict in prescribing medications, or drug companies should focus more on the development of antibiotics. The only problem is that doctors want to keep patients happy so they will return, and drug companies want to choose the more lucrative option. This problem will probably not be solved soon, but doctor's must take responsibility and not hand out antibiotics like Jehovah's Witnesses leaflets.

Same Old

Stocks are down. Detroit wants a bailout. Banks are going under. The housing market is a mess. Some old guy ripped off the country for a billion dollars. Obama wants universal health care. Bernanke blames someone else. Japan’s stock market is falling. The dollar is weak. Clinton is making deals overseas. China is doing well. Wal-Mart is doing well. The Euro weakens.

Have you noticed that the news has not changed in a month? Every day, the same exact stories, written by someone else, with a different title. I understand that these are very important topics, but it seems to me that America is in limbo right now. We cannot seem to get out of this rut. We seem to be sitting right on the edge of total economic collapse, and possibly starting to recover.

Answers are out there, there are people smart enough to solve these problems. Politicians are not the answers to these problems. Bernanke, a man who I once believed in, has turned out to be another politician. People smart enough to solve these problems, are smart enough to stay out of politics. Politicians will push us into total economic collapse; the American people will be the recovery.

McDonalds Has a New Dollar Menu!

Review: StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a browser add-on that allows members to visit user-submitted sites. A user can click "Stumble" in their browser, and they are sent to a site that another user has recommended. It is a great way to find new sites and a fun tool to use when you are bored.

In addition to visiting a submitted page, StumbleUpon allows the user to give the page a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." This tells StumbleUpon whether the user liked the site or not, and giving a site a thumbs down eliminates the user from ever finding that site again through "Stumbling." A thumbs up increases the chance that the user will Stumble on similar sites in the future.

StumbleUpon also offers users the ability to Stumble favorite sites of friends, images, videos, and news items. This specificity of Stumbing options is also a great feature included in the StumbleUpon browswer add-on.

StumbleUpon is not the most productive internet tool out there, but when boredom knocks on the door, it is a great way to find new sites for entertainment and hobbies. I would definitely recommend using StumbleUpon.

Newspeak

For anyone that has read the book 1984, they know the definition of newspeak. For those of you that don’t know, newspeak is the transformation of a language into the governments molding and complete control. The idea is that if the government can control/manipulate how much a person can communicate with his fellow comrades, there would be no uprising or free thinking.

I understand that languages are constantly changing. Just by reading a verse from a King James Bible, I can see that we speak much differently today. I may just be “old school”, but it seems as if we are adopting some newspeak. Did you know that the word “capitalist” did not always mean “greedy, heartless, selfish pig?” Definitions of once, well defined words, now have a completely different meanings.

When some people think “capitalist”, their minds automatically think of the crooks on Wall Street. Let me tell you now, because I have not heard it anywhere else: “THE THIEVES OF WALL STREET ARE NOT CAPITALISTS!” Bernie Madoff is NOT a capitalist. Ken Lay is NOT a capitalist. Bernard Ebbers is NOT a capitalist. Capitalism respects the private property of others. Stealing from people, even if it is through corporate fraud, is not capitalism. It is easy for people to relate capitalism to large corporations, since, in a way, that is the American Dream.

Capitalism stands on three pillars: individualism, free markets and private property. No, thievery is not one of the pillars. This corporate power over the government is a step back from capitalism, back to the mercantilist days of a half century ago.

There is no “perfect” economic system. There will never be a perfect economic system but we cannot fix these present problems by taking steps backwards. Every day, Americans are being spoon fed the idea that “socialism is the key”. “No one deserves to be sick, let’s universalize health care!” In philosophy it is called: ‘an appeal to pity’. We are being told that by not wanting universal health care, we are greedy, we are selfish, we are capitalists.

Newspeak? Don’t let it fool you. Do not be ashamed of the beliefs America was built on. If only there was one moral person in the government that was not in it for power, one person that could lead our country back to sanity. But to expect that person to exist in the American government is a bit too much to ask.

Harvard Medical School Fails to Control Drug Industry Money

Arguably the top medical school in the country, Harvard Medical School received an "F" by the American Medical Student Association in monitoring drug industry money contributed to the university. This is a major problem because drug companies could be slipping money under the table to professors who promote their medication. This unethical behavior should not be tolerated by a prestigious school like Harvard.

The New York Times reported that earlier today Senator Grassley wrote a letter to Harvard asking for details about payments made to over 100 faculty members at Harvard Medical School. In the article, Grassley talks about how three Harvard psychiatrists failed to report at least $4.2 million in payments between 2000-2007.

It is a scary situation to think that professors are getting incentives by drug companies to promote their product, especially with an industry leader like Harvard at fault. This further proves the large extent of control that major pharmaceutical manufacturers have in the health care field. Hopefully Harvard will be able to get all of this straightened out within the next couple years, or its status as a prestigious medical institution could go down the drain.

Book Review: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand

The objectivist philosopher/writer Ayn Rand seems very relevant today. As we go through this recession, it seems as if socialism is the only alternative, and nationalization is the only cure. In the book “Atlas Shrugged” Rand shows what a society would look like if the government took control over private property and corporate leaders went on strike.

Do not let the book intimidate you. It is rather large novel with about 1200-1300 pages depending on what edition you get. Each page brings a new surprise, and you will find yourself not wanting to put the book down. I would recommend this book to any mature readers especially if you are interested in philosophy.

Rand has a different take on life, she was born in Russia and migrated to the United states as a teen. She spent much time writing about the cons of a totalitarian dictatorship. If you are looking for a an oldie, but a goodie, Atlas Shrugged is Awesome.

LG Recalls Spyder Cell Phone Because of Poor 911 Connections

Engadget has reported that 30,000 LG Spyder cell phones are being recalled for having poor quality when dialing 911. Bad connection and unsatisfactory voice quality during 911 calls prompted the cell phone giant to recall 30,000 phones. This is actually pretty scary because this was the main reason people started buying cell phones in the 90's, even though today I'm guessing most people would rather have access to texting than 911, which is sad...

This isn't the first problem for LG, who pleaded guily for price fixing LCD screens between 2001 and 2006. The price fixing cost them a $400 million fine. This was extremely unethical, and I am personally glad I have never owned an LG phone.

Back to the 911 problem... Engadget reported that LG was very active with the recall and that they only had a single report of poor 911 connection and no deaths. This is a step in the right direction, but LG still has a record of being very unethical and I would not recommend purchasing an LG product.

When I grow up.

Compare and Contrast

In the quarterly report to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffet stated that he expects the U.S. economy to stay in shambles through 2009. His profits in the forth quarter fell by 96% down to $117m. This is the 5th straight quarter of falling profits for the Wall Street giant. The price of Berkshire stocks has fallen 44% this year. In this economic crisis, everyone is being affected. From your billionaires to your first time home buyers, people are feeling the effects.

Constantly people are comparing this economic disaster with the ‘Great Depression’, but one thing needs to be clear. What we are going through now is nothing like the Great Depression of the 30’s. Yes, there are some similarities: It’s hard to find jobs, the stock market is down, housing market is almost a joke and banks are closing, but what we need to remember is that we are a much richer society than we ever were in the 30’s.

There is almost no way our society today could ever get to where we were in the 30’s unless there was a complete collapse of the American Government. Today, we might have to go a few months without our direct TV, in the 30’s they went months without an income. Today we are producing things relatively cheaper than 80 years ago. Also another great difference between then and now, communication is so much faster. I can call or email anyone in the world, and it’s instant. People are not loading up everything they own into vans and driving around the country looking for jobs. We are so much wealthier now, that even our low class is rich compared to the low class of the 30’s.

Be thankful that we are not pulling our kids from school so they can work in factories. History repeats itself? Not quite. We are much better off than back then. Compare, contrast and learn from the 30’s, but what our grandparents and great grandparents went through was much more than we’ll ever know.

Movie Review: Pulp Fiction

Ranked number 5 on IMDB's top 250 movies, Pulp Fiction is known as one of the best pictures of all time. It was released in 1994, a year that included other movie greats such as Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction has an "A" list of actors including Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, and Uma Thurman.

Pulp Fiction is the story about how four different person's lives intertwine with violence and mob activity. The movie shows glimpses from each individual's viewpoint and brings it all together towards the end. When viewing the movie, the viewer can feel the uniqueness of it's directing style, which is very intriguing.

I laughed out loud when I first saw John Travola as a mobster, knowing him from movies such as Grease and Hairspray, but he fit his part extremely well. Samuel L. Jackson was very entertaining through his "bad-ass" attitude towards the other characters with amusing punchlines in almost every scene. I also enjoyed that Pulp Fiction included 3 or 4 main characters, not focusing on one specific person.

By using great actors as well as impressive directing, Quentin Tarantino did a fantastic job with Pulp Fiction. I recommend this movie to everyone except children because of the use of vulgar language and frequent gore. This movie offers much more than just explaining why a quarter-pounder with cheese in France is called a royale with cheese. Go see it!

Front Page News?

Yesterday, I was skimming the paper and the headlines when I ran across something that made me stop. On the front page of the Wall Street Journal was an article at the bottom named: “Silencing the Lambs: Scientists Target Sheep Belching to Cut Methane”.

You might ask yourself, “Why would scientists care about stopping sheep from belching?” I know that I asked myself that question. Well it turns out that sheep methane is a large cause to “global-warming”. Then I thought, “This is front page news? It really must have been a slow day for you Wall Street Journal!” Was there no other news in the entire world that could have been slightly more interesting? Personally, I do not even want to hear that scientists are being paid to figure out how to keep sheep from belching.

After noticing the article, my first instinct was to laugh. “Is this article a joke?” For the sake of my sanity, I am going to say that this article wasn’t even true. Wall Street Journal, you have let me down.

Obama's Gameplan

Forest Laboratories Accused of Fraud

The manufacturer of Celexa and Lexapro, Forest Laboratories, is in deep trouble with the US government by failing to report the negative side-effects of their drugs on children. Their studies showed that the drugs were not very effective in children and that they could lead to suicidal feelings as well.

By hiding these facts, Forest did not adequately inform the health care industry about the detrimental effects of their drugs, which is illegal. This led to doctors prescribing drugs that they did not know the whole truth about; therefore, the government is suing Forest for 3 times the amount of federal money spent on all pediatric prescriptions for Lexapro and Celexa.

In addition, Forest also used incentives such as gift certificates to restaurants and paid vacation to entice doctors to prescribe their medications. When Celexa’s active ingredient became generic in 2002 (citalopram), they marketed Lexapro, which is a different version of citalopram, an anti-depressant.

An article in the New York Times suggested that this is a common situation with many antidepressant manufacturers. Antidepressant makers try to hide the negative symptoms to further promote their drug. Most antidepressants can have negative side-effects, so doctors should take extra care when prescribing them.

Many doctors require a check up with patients several weeks to a month after prescribing the antidepressant to verify that the drug is doing its job. This is the best way to approach the problem because it minimizes potential problems caused by antidepressants. The healthcare industry is a lucrative business, but patient care must continue to be the highest priority for doctor’s in order to further benefit the health of our nation.

Our Slump (Part 2)

Our Slump (Part 2)

Here is a short list of a few elements that put us in this economic crisis:

Housing Industry,
Mortgage Crisis, --> Today’s Topic
Banking Decisions,
The fall of the Dollar.

The people blame the lenders for allowing their loan, the lenders blame the government for not restricting the loan, and the government blames the people for lying about the loan. I call this the tri-fecta-of-unethics. While everyone is sitting around rationalizing reasons as to why they were actually the ethical ones, in reality the correct answer is that all of them are to blame.

People making $30,000 a year were walking into banks and getting approved for $500,000 houses. How? They lied. The banks did not think twice about the family’s income, instead they said: “Have you heard about the adjustable rate mortgage?” Both parties sitting in the office, knowing that they can’t afford a $500,000 house. Everyone knew this was going on, including the government. Is it not the government’s job to protect the citizens, even if it is from themselves? It did not take long till people could not pay, and loans were going bad. To make matters worse, banks were selling and buying bad loans back and forth for years. Ethical?

So the plan is take the tax payers money, give it back to the banks (the same ones that made all these bad loans), because we do not want them to go out of business. On top of that, since the government is giving them tax payer money, they want to own a portion of the bank. Nationalizing the banks is not the way to go about solving this problem.

People say: “The banks shouldn’t go under!?!”

So here is the solution: People should be able to make a ‘tax-free’ private donation to the bank that they feel shouldn’t go under. I bet less people would donate if its money from their pockets, but what these people don’t understand is: taxes do come from their pockets. Theirs. Ours. Mine. Yours. Let me keep MY money that I have worked for. If I do not want to help a bank, I should not have to help a bank. My money and your money, is going to make an investment that will never pay us back! Our taxes are going to help private (although, possibly not much longer) organizations.

To sum everything up: the lender, the government and the lying home buyer are all guilty.

The Bailout!

Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

After winning 8 Oscars and 63 other movie awards, Slumdog Millionaire has had a very successful year. Winning best picture at the Oscars has put it up with likes of Schindler’s List (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), and The Godfather (1973). Slumdog Millionaire, however, does not deliver the same level of perfection as past winners, and viewing it does not give a feeling of “this is the best picture of the year.”

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of young Jamal Malik, a teen from Mumbai that gets chosen to be on India’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” He does not have much education, but he answers many questions correctly based on life experiences. When a question is asked, the movie flashes back to the past to reveal why he knows the answer for that particular question.

Director Danny Boyle did do a good job with presenting the movie in a fresh way, but it did not have the expertise of a typical “best picture.” The story is fairly interesting, but there are not any surprises with the story’s direction, therefore the story is predictable for most of the movie. Best pictures should show audiences fresh and unpredictable stories, but Slumdog Millionaire does not. A question is presented when the movie first starts, and it is answered at the very end. The way this was designed, and the question itself for that matter, seemed tacky and irritating as well.

Flaws aside, Slumdog Millionaire is a good movie. I do recommend seeing it even though I do not believe it is best picture material. When it is released on DVD, rent it and decide for yourself.