Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world, talks with Charlie Rose for almost an hour about the current financial crisis. This is a must watch for anyone who really wants to cut through the rhetoric and figure out what is going on. Long story short, Warren warned about this looming problem for years, however, he thinks the bailout is definitely needed at this point. He also talks about what got us here, his view on taxation and many other great financial principles.
Great quote from Mr. Buffett:
“the capital gains tax is 15% now, so I sit there in my office and I make a lot of money by capital gains and I pay my 15% tax and I pay no payroll tax on it. The women who comes in to change the waste basket she’s paying 15.3%, or whatever it is, just in payroll tax alone. I mean, it is, I’ve never had it so good. I think It’s terrible for people to, in effect say, that income from investments should be taxed at a much lower rate than income from labor.“
By the way, he supports Obama. He also thinks he should be taxed more.
Michiganders please vote “YES” on Proposal 1 - “A LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE TO PERMIT THE USE AND CULTIVATION OF MARIJUANA FOR SPECIFIED MEDICAL CONDITIONS” (Bill Text) As many of you know, my mother has multiple sclerosis.
I hope that you will also consider supporting Proposal 2 - “A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION TO ADDRESS HUMAN EMBRYO AND HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH IN MICHIGAN” (Bill Text)
However you feel on these issues, please, just vote.
In Michigan the deadline to register is Oct 6th. My birthday is Oct 9. You registering to vote would be a great birthday gift to me, I’m just saying…
It amazes me that E-bay can continue to get worse. (look at the stock price) I had a shitty experience with a lying user when I sold my jet-ski and now with the mixer I sold on E-bay last week. I’ve sold over 20 items in the past 4 years and have received 100% positive feedback. In the past I sold the item, the buyer pays through paypal w/in 24 hours, the money is deposited into my account and I use the money to pay for shipping the product out. After receiving the payment quickly, I leave the buyer positive feedback. After he receives my awesome product, he leaves me positive feedback. All are happy.
That is not how it works anymore.
For some reason after receiving the money, paypal (also an ebay company) said they were “holding it” for 21 days. It said if I uploaded tracking information for the package, and after it was confirmed delivered, I would be eligible to have the funds released.
This “hold” sucks. I have to pay for shipping the product out of my own pocket now, and how do I know if the money is ever going to arrive? I’m shipping out a valuable product, to someone I don’t know, without any money in hand, and paying for shipping myself. It’s bullshit.
So after shipping out the product I upload the tracking information but still haven’t received the money, even though the buyers already received it! Now they are saying that I have to wait a few more days and hope that the buyer liked my product.
The problem is, as I stated clearly in my e-Bay posting, I haven’t used the mixing board in several years and I sold it it “as is” - “best for parts”. What if this dude claims that it’s broken now? There’s no way I’m going to get the money, even though he bought it KNOWING that would be a possibility.
Ebay has also removed the ability for me to leave feedback on a buyer. This buyer didn’t pay within the 24 time period and I can’t leave any feedback about it… Stupid.
I had to put in a ticket to paypal to ask about the hold on my account. They sent me back an auto-response email w/out addressing my question. Horrible customer service.
The reason my account gets a “hold” now, according to their customer service is: “Have received fewer than 20 Detailed Seller Ratings in 12 months” —- I suppose I understand the security risk, maybe? However, what is the marketing affect of this? This means that people that haven’t sold something on E-bay in a year but want to come back and use it (maybe they were using Craigslist, or Facebook Market Place, or classifieds, etc) they will be put through additional hoops, have their money withheld, and essentially be treated as a security threat. This is not how you should treat returning customers with a history of positive reviews, profit for the company and verified bank accounts.
Marketing lesson #1. You should make it easy for a customer to return.
I just found out something that shocked me, college students that are 100% capable of working using welfare (food-stamps) to avoid getting a student-job. There is even a facebook group for college students who aren’t ashamed to be on food-stamps!
Here’s how it works, the student signs up for classes and uses financial aid/student loans to pay for books, housing, food, tuition and much more. Then the student starts going to class and doesn’t want to get a part time job on campus so instead they go down to the welfare office and sign up for food-stamps. After jumping through a few quick hoops they get a few hundred bucks a month to spend on food while squirreling away money for beer and bong’s.
I don’t think this is what welfare should be used for…
AIG made some horrible decisions. They invested in mortgage backed securities that were comprised of mortgages that were given to people who wouldn’t be able to afford them. AIG knew what they were doing but they figured the risk was small because the housing market was doing so well for so long. They were wrong.
Now our federal government is preparing to give AIG a $85B bridge loan to recover. Essentially, removing the risk from AIG. The big question to me is, who assumed the risk in AIG? Is the former CEO of AIG, Martin Sullivan, returning his $26.7 million 2006 salary? Are the other executives giving back their last 5 years of profits? Are they giving back their bonuses? The Sales people that bet on these mortgage backed securities and made huge commissions (not to mention the rating agencies) are they giving back their commissions?
Why must we the people (the federal government) and the workers of AIG assume the risk of some shitty fucking bankers while the bankers walk away with millions of dollars? Fuck that.
This is not capitalism.
(video: Milton Friedman discussing free markets)
Point of irony:
The banks, especially the mortgage industry, lobbied hard for deregulation of the lending industry. They wanted to loan money w/ greater ease and assume the risk w/ huge adjustable interest rates. The government wouldn’t allow this practice historically, but through conservative lobbying for free markets, they were able to deregulate. This deregulation is largely responsible for this collapse. Ironic eh?
Point of fear:
The collapse of the banking industry will result in a greater amount of shitty government regulations that add more costs than benefits. (See: Sarbanes-Oxley Act)
Here are a few of the reasons why, although I favor low taxation and freedom, I will NOT be voting for McCain/Palin.
- I vocally objected to the invasion of Iraq and I firmly believe our presence there will continue to cause unrest and violence. (McPalin believe it’s possible to invade and occupy a country through illegal war and have the population love you)
- I firmly believe in civil liberties and all rights guaranteed by the constitution. I do NOT believe I need to trade freedom for security. (McPalin are willing to give up a LOT of freedom for a little potential security)
- I believe the security of the world is more important than the security of our country. (McPalin believe our country is ultimately the only one that matters. Even the Georgian battle is more about protecting our oil supply.)
- I believe a qualification for vice president should include world travel experience. (Besides Canada/Mexico, Palin’s only been out of the country once)
- I believe Iran does not pose a serious nuclear threat. (McPalin does, despite the vast amount of evidence against their opinion)
- I believe the internet should be free and net neutrality should be protected. (McPalin don’t know what this is and take Comcast’s definition)
- I believe the West Bank got a raw deal after WWII and shouldn’t have more of their land stolen. (McPalin supports “anything Israel see’s as necessary”)
- I believe women have a choice and I certainly believe rape and incest victims deserve a choice (McCain / Palin do not)
- I believe in the theory of evolution (Theory used in the scientific way, not the creationist way)
- I believe the polar bears need to be protected (Palin does not)
- I believe the insurance companies obscene profits are largely responsible for our health care problems (McCain’s plan gives more power to the insurance companies)
- I believe we live in a very safe country and that 9/11, while sad, was not all that bad in the context of world tragedies. I don’t buy into the fear mongering. (McCain/Palin believe we can win a war with religious extremists.)
- I believe honest sex education should include teaching of masturbation, birth control, std prevention and reality. (McPalin believe abstinence is the only option)
- I don’t believe any book should be banned, ever. (Palin has banned books)
- I don’t agree with the extreme religious right like Liberty University, Pastor Hagee or Jerry Falwell. (McCain didn’t, but in 08, does)
- I believe in science and education. (For McPalin, religion trumps science and education)
- I believe our existing gun laws work. (McPalin wants to eliminate many existing gun laws)
- I believe research in Solar, geo-thermal, wind and battery technology are much better investments than offshore/artic drilling. (McPalin believes in drilling everywhere)
- I am against all alcohol and drug prohibition. (McPalin are for continued prohibition and wasted police resources)
- I am against bailing out GM, Fannie May, Freddie Mac, BearSterns and any other private company that spends more time lobbying than innovating. Free markets have to work BOTH WAYS! (McPalin believes in free markets when they produce profits and corporate bailouts when the companies executives need help w/ a gold parachute)
- I believe intelligence is the primary determining factor for president, not “whom I would like to have a beer with”.
- I believe man is impacting the global environment and we have the capability to correct it. (McPalin do not believe any solutions currently exist)
- I believe our dependence on oil has been the primary cause of war for the past 30 years. (McPalin believe we are spreading democracy)
- I believe our dependence on oil is our primary national security threat. (McPalin think oil consumption is the American way of life and it should be defended)
- I am atheist. (McPalin believe the Iraq war was a “task from god”)
- I have plenty more reasons but that should get you started.
With all that said, I still think McPalin will win because sadly these are not the issues that we will be discussing in this election. The only things we’ll be hearing is rhetoric about Lip Stick, Change, “more of the same” and “experience”.
I encourage debate on these issues.
For poops and giggles, the Charlie Gibson and Sarah Palin interview on ABC.
I don’t understand how the race can be “neck and neck” according to traditional polling, yet all of the online tracking indicates that Obama has a much greater following. (I suppose the same thing was true of Ron Paul.) Take a look at the difference in size of their respective Facebook groups and the difference in traffic to their websites based on Google Website trends. How is this possible?
“John McCain and Barack Obama head into the fall campaign neck and neck…… The national poll finds Republican McCain with the support of 46 percent of registered voters and Democrat Obama with 45 percent. The survey has an error margin of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.” McClatchy Poll 9/11/08
Arguments against traditional polling:
Traditional polls typically only sample a very small group via home telephone (precluded from calling cell phones) and ask a few (usually biased) questions.
Problems with online data:
Only a subset (the richer and smarter portion statistically) of the United State population uses the internet and computers on a regular basis. This would mean that the sample isn’t a true sample of the US population and leaves the online data a little misleading.
My question is, why do we believe the traditional polls when the online polls are equally biased? If we believed every online poll, Obama would lead by several percentage points.
Which poll do you think is more accurate?
I’m willing to bet $10 McCain wins this bullshit election…
(by the way, a close race goes to the republicans… See video for more details)
How George W Bush Stole his Election- BBC
One of the nice things about having data centers in Michigan is that we are far from hurricanes. One of our competitors, ThePlanet, have a Houston based data center that was struck by an explosion last year and is now in the path of Hurricane Ike. Below is what their hosting evangelist has to say about their preparations. Good luck guys!
Ike is heading our direction, but similar to our preparation for Gustav, we’ve gone through quite a bit of additional work to ensure we are ready for what appears to be a more direct severe weather impact.
In our Houston data center facilities, we’ve secured all exterior windows and doors and taken precautions to check the roofs, exterior boundaries and the surrounding areas for loose objects and equipment that could be affected by hurricane-force winds. For reference, the actual computer rooms in our data centers do not have exterior windows, as you would expect.
For data center power, we have confirmed our fuel levels and have brought in an additional 10,000 gallons as backup. Backup generators at both data centers and our Houston headquarters are prepared to shoulder the power needs of the data centers and our downtown offices. We pay premium fees year-round with several providers to guarantee that we are at the front of the line if we need additional fuel. With our current fuel supply, we can continuously power our facilities for up to a week without any required backup.
On the customer support side, we have transferred many of our Houston-based staff members to our Dallas offices to continue service and support availability throughout the weekend should that be required … these departments include technical support, billing care and network operations. In addition, our Houston data centers will be fully-staffed and have plenty of food and water provisions for employees to remain in place for several days.
Our facilities staff will remain onsite at all of our locations for the duration of the severe weather threat, so we will be able to respond immediately to any hurricane-related events or problems.
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-Kevin Hazard
Web Hosting Evangelist
How Fast Is Your Network?
