JBM, Inc. Overtime Pay Litigation

JBM

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Here is an article I just came across which seeded my brain into yielding some profound thoughts on the matter:

Why Don’t More Americans Believe Climate Change Is Real?

Since you have been inundated with an uncontrollable influx of Global Warming rhetoric, which succeeded the ink-wasting debacle of The Ozone Hole Forthcoming Calamity, I will toss you something you probably have not thought of.

Let us replace the Global Warming slogan with (not “climate control” which is taking over, due to the fact that the globe is measurably cooling) GLOBAL HEAT EXCHANGE.

Lava of several thousand degrees is pouring into the oceans from volcanoes all over the earth.  Periodically scientists discover new, massive volcanoes far beneath the ocean’s surface.  These volcanoes significant.  They release massive amounts of heat from beneath the earth’s crust into the water, and subsequently into the atmosphere.

This process is a convective and conductive process, much like the household oven, or a home’s air circulation.  Heat is transferring around the earth, but this does not mean that new heat is being generated.  The majority of heat that is being generated comes from the sun.  All other heat on earth is existing, or is being converted via a natural or man-made process.
Man converts fossil fuel into heat.  And the heat created by this process needs to be measured and compared with all of the other natural processes. Volcanic heat being released into the oceans and air needs to be measured just the same.   Imagine lava of several thousand degrees pouring into the ocean.  The natural currents carry that heat to the far reaches of the planet.  Some glaciers will melt as a result.  Some climates will see hotter air as a result.

The first step that needs to be taken to begin to understand global temperatures is that volcanic heat must be measured and compared to other heat sources.  Once measured, my theory is that the volcanic heat released on a daily basis far surpasses the heat that mankind creates over a much longer period of time, perhaps a month, six months, or several years.

With a proper investigation, we most likely will determine that man is not a significant factor in global temperature changes.  When basic sleuthing gives us an answer to this question, then we can focus more on a real, measurable  problem, and that is pollution.  Pollution generated by man, including solid waste and gaseous waste, should be continuously minimized through better manufacturing processes, better individual daily habits, and more recycling. Now that the first world has completed a long cycle of industrial evolution, we can use all of our lessons to lower the toxicity being created in China, India, and the rest of the third world, while at the same time allowing these areas to produce their way into a modern, clean, successful economy.

JBM

Joroto – iPod applications, Gift T-shirts for programmers

America, please complete this two second survey. We would like to know if you support waterboarding Bernie Madoff in an attempt to recover the stolen investment money.

[The survey is expired.  Thanks!]

JBM

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Inspiration:

The Best Places to Launch a Career

This BusinessWeek article, from the purveyors of the “Best of” survey, states that Google was in the top 10 places to launch a career last year, and this year declined to participate. Not to pick on Google specifically, but this illustrates the folly of surveys. A survey that has a company at the top one year, and then does not even list the same company the following year is worthless. Imagine the surveys this year from the employees whose friends in the adjoining cube were laid off.  There is no solution to this, except mandating that once a company participates in a “great place to work” type of survey, it must always participate in perpetuity.  Hrm, that would keep the corporations a little more honest methinks.

I encourage the reader to think about this: A company being fantastic one year, and the next year it lays off a significant portion of its workforce. The bottom line is: Millenia 3 Worker make sure and take care of number one, yourself, in your career, because chances are the company will not.

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The following blog post is my inspiration for this post.  A bogus argument, repeated incessantly by many people, including Bill Gates, politicians, and this myopic blogger over at TechCrunch.  I actually wonder if she is this ignorant, or she just wanted to make everyone mad.

Foreigners Attending US Grad Schools Way Down: Wake Up, Xenophobes

To begin with, I am highly offended that because I believe in enforcing immigration limits that someone would call me a xenophobe. People should not throw the “x” term around as if it is candy. It is plainly insulting.

Sarah, for the record, I do not care what anyone’s skin color is, where they came from, nor if they are rich or poor. I always treat everyone with innate kindness, including strangers, employees, peers, and foreigners. My only interest is in improving working conditions here in the United States of America.

Regarding plummeting foreign grad student numbers you said, ” This is a huge blow for the United States, and particularly Silicon Valley.” I read everywhere from so called “experts” or “industry leaders” that we need more skilled immigrants. My response is: Prove It.

For one, understand this:

Job Growth Lacking in the Private Sector

Here one can see there have been no net job gains in the United States for the last ten years. I understand there are various industry sectors, and geographic areas. However, this overall picture illustrates a crushing point for the American worker: The American business sector is now a perpetual employer’s market, with little to no competition for employees. That means wage deflation for workers.

Secondly, real wages in the United States of America are now in a perpetually flat cycle. We should hold our long-term politicians perfectly accountable for this:

Wages and Benefits: Real Wages (1964-2004)

Couple this with tremendous increases in the cost of living, such as health care and the high cost of automobiles. This adds up to a population of middle class Americans stressed to their absolute limits over money.

Regarding the need for technology workers: How can Bill Gates, or anyone say that they need an “expert” in some field in order to perform some average technology-related job function? I mention Bill Gates because he is a big H1-b proponent. The next time Bill Gates is telling an audience that he needs high technology workers from overseas, I would like someone in the audience to ask him exactly what skills he needs. Let us then see if there is a person matching his needs, somewhere in the United States, and willing to work in Seattle. What do you need Mr. Gates? Network engineer? Mathematician? Algol68 or Magma programmers? Let us see if we can try to find that person here in the US first. That will provide the only empirical evidence to these arguments.

I took your suggestion Sarah and checked out the LinkedIn references. Why do you suppose Reid Hoffman thinks he gets one million new users every seventeen days? He talks about LinkedIn having a great deal of recruiter activity. Many of these people are looking for work. Of course, this is especially true in this lousy economy, but it illustrates the point that there is little competition for workers any more in the U.S.

Our government and corporations promote H1-b to get cheaper labor.  Period.  As a solution, I argue that the US should immediately stop all highly educated immigration. Our government should observe and gauge the reactionary forces. Wages and competition for workers should increase. We can then re-evaluage our immigration limits and adjust accordingly for the long term.

Our congress will do no such thing though.  Once, they are paid off by the corporations.  Number two, I now believe the U.S. congress is intentionally flushing the U.S. down the economic drain.  Lest you think this is conspiracy talk, ask yourself if there is any rational explanation whatsoever at the 14 trillion dollar plus debt that D.C. is racking up.  We are heading for disaster, and congress is steering us right into it.

UPDATE August 29, 2009

I agree with the premise of the following article. It mentions that productivity begets new jobs. At this time in U.S. history it is clear that productivity has far outstripped job creation. However, new products and technologies are indeed part of the solution to this morass.

Where Have You Gone, Bell Labs?
How basic research can repair the broken U.S. business model

JBM

Update February 6, 2009

What’s a Degree Really Worth?

I have been waiting for this article.  It uncovers the bloated projections of the earnings of college graduates.  When you read that a bachelor degree or a masters degree will pay you x dollars more in the long run, make sure you understand that those numbers are developed from manufactured projections.  I must note that I would not attempt to convince someone not to gain more education.  My point is that people should serious think about the costs of education and realize the monetary return may not be what they are promised by the establishment.

Update July 25, 2010

Do consider this:  Steve Jobs creates the iPod which quickly became one of the most popular product in all of history.  He manufacturers it in China.  Thus no manufacturing workers in the United States benefit from this invention.  A handful of highly technical people can create a device, the rest of society buys it, but few benefit with wages gained.  This is why the U.S. will never see another post-World War II growth again.  Because most of the businessmen with the serious money only care about their profit margin.  This is very ironic considering the United States consumer built Microsoft, as well as Apple, as well as Ford, as well as all of the U.S. corporations which are now multinational.  I am not suggesting any governemnt mandates to counteract free trade, although tariffs on imports may help solve this problem, but I do want to point out that these people do not care about their country. Plain and simple.

Here are letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal.  In response to a recent story that demonstrated how real wages have plummeted over the years, these readers contradict the argument:

Real Wages Don’t Tell the Whole Compensation Story

These arguments are flawed.    Regarding fringe benefits, if these are government mandates like social security and medicare, the worker may very well prefer cash wages over these mandates.  (I am certainly speaking for myself!)  Considering inflation, while health care has skyrocketed, home prices do fluctuate.  Still in the midst of the 2008 recession, home prices are significantly lower than just a few years ago.  On the other hand, home prices are too tied to actual demand, which is driven by large builders.  If the demand was consumer driven, the increased cost of housing would be within a reasonable margin.  But currently, the housing market is mostly dead, large builders are buying properties at a huge rate.  So a house that is currently work $10.00 according to consumer demand (nil) has again skyrocketed in price.  The bottom line is the consumer is in fact getting creamed by inflation, whether the CPI statistics prove it or not.

Regarding the “knowledge-based economy”, computer programmers today make $30,000 if they can find a job.  As I wrote about above this is due to recruiting fo tech workers from other countries.  So the non-supervisory wage of $30,000 vs. an inflation adjusted rate of $60,000 applies to the workers of this great [sic] , new economy.

Lastly, how do I feel about unionization?  Unions are the other end of the spectrum.  They do not care about the employee, the business, nor the customer.  As such they have destroyed some of the greatest American businesses.  Only a stockholder who has a sense of love of country, ethics, and fairness, would make efforts to create more U.S. jobs when it is easy to offshore work or hire cheap immigrant labor.

Update July 27, 2010

The Great Decoupling Of Corporate Profits From Jobs

Robert Reich is dead on!  The U.S. public corporations have hit the extreme end of profitability.  The workforce cannot work any harder, the companies cannot produce any more widgets, and the profit margin cannot be any higher.  I am not advocating any mandates to reverse this trend, although some of the corporations are monopolies and a congress of yesterday would have broken them up into smaller companies.  I am simply stressing that America has had a fundamental shift to productivity, automation, and outsourcing, and there is zero relief in sight for the jobless.  Hello President Obama and congress, are you listening?

Update August 11, 2010

We must understand the following as it underscores why the U.S. economy will not providing the eighteen million lost jobs.  When the employment rate goes down, it will mostly be due to many people giving up on a job search, and many households resetting to a single income.

23 Occupations That Will Never Recover From The Great Recession

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Alright, so I exaggerate. However, as if the cruise ship industry has not tanked far enough in this economic depression, one of these ships hauled a gigantic stinky dead fish all the way back to the tourist port. See the story here:

Dead Whale Gets Stuck in Cruise Ship Bow

No one knows the circumstance yet, but I am relieved that there is finally a real story where P.I.T.A. can justifiably protest and not look like a bunch of whack jobs. Here is a suggested line of attack for P.I.T.A. to approach the cruse line:

“Didn’t your pilot feel the whale collision? Or did the pilot know the whale was there but not have the correct tools for dislodging a whale body from the ship? Are you prepared to invest in whale-dislodging equipment for your next Caribbean cruise?”

JBM

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Here is a wiki that explains all of the facts:

Tasty Tasty Taco dog

The Taco Bell dog died of a stroke.  The poor dog was heartbroken and in financial ruin after losing her job promoting the fast food chain.  A handful of Hispanic people protested the dog as some sort of racial stereotype  (I still do not get this one)  and killed the dog’s career.

I hope those who protested the Taco Bell commercials understand that they have blood on their hands.  This dog should not have died from a stroke during her golden years, but alas, the stress of the situation just got to her.  Rest In Peace  Gidget.

As for the alternate Taco Bell dog, Dinky, he was spotted with an AK-47, heading straight south at an unprecedented speed.  Dinky is looking to avenge Gidget’s death, and I would not want to be on the receiving end of that one.

JBM

I have a theory that I wish to share with you. It has arisen due to President Obama, Ben Bernanke, and other fearless leaders talking of the recession ending this year, and a recovery happening next year. I do not think the recovery schedule will be that fast.

Everyone and their mother are presuming that the classic American economic growth patterns will take hold and will severely limit the recession.

The experts among us should take a second look. Most people in America already have a washer, a dryer, a radio, a television, and possibly a computer. Our economy is based on the flow of goods, and for the above reason, I do not see a great increase in sales in most sectors for the near future. We would need a post-World War II era manufacturing boom to relieve the country of this severe economic turmoil, and it is not going to happen. Even if it did happen, the United States no longer makes most of our staple household goods, so most profits would flow right back out of the country.   Additionally I think there is little trickle-down effect from the service sector, which comprises a large portion of our economy now.

President Obama’s ratings are going down slightly in some areas, especially those areas hit hard economically. I predict that by the end of this year, when average people see no financial relief in sight, President Obama will become perhaps the earliest lame duck president the country has ever seen. When he campaigned, the words he spoke made it sound like there was great hope on the way. While I hate to be negative, I really do, I write what I think and this is the direction I see: A prolonged U.S. recession and a great deal more suffering for the many people in financial trouble.

If you could prove me very wrong, believe me, I would rather have the good news than believe all of these negative thoughts.

JBM

Joroto – iPod applications, Gift T-shirts for programmers

Question: What is “cancerschnitzel”? How about “tumorworst”?

Definition: The standard hot dog renamed to reflect an anti-meat group’s opinion about the hot dog. Why an anti-meat group is protesting hot dogs is a mystery unto itself.

A non-profit group of vegan members wants hot dogs labelled as cancerous. Here is your reference:

L.A. Times Article

Question: How many people will buy fewer hot dogs if they are labelled as cancerous?

I do not know if a hot dog increases a person’s cancer risk, although I figure that a hot dog is probably dangerous to the human body in ten different ways. However, I do not care as I love a hot dog with lots of onions and mustard, and will eat them until I am no longer able. Since hot dogs are processed ,mushy, and easy to eat even without teeth, I should be able to chow them until the day I die. And I figure the hot dog is the authentically vegan part of my diet.

JBM

Today the senate of the United States of America approved a resolution to apologize to African Americans for slavery and Jim Crow laws.

I understand that people everywhere live more difficult lives due to discrimination. However, people need to educate themselves on history and first put slavery in the United States into perspective.

In the Civil War, more Americans died than in any other war. While the Civil War has many facets, the bottom line is that more Americans died in a battle about slavery than for any other cause. For congress to apologize in 2009 for slavery, congress is self-serving enough to think that their apology is greater than the hundreds of thousands of American lives lost for this same cause. To me, blood was spilled on behalf of African Americans, and this was the seminal event that people need to memorialize.

Since the Civil War the United States has had a slow healing process, and among many individuals, a continued disdain for granting black Americans the same courtesies and rights given to others. Unfortunately, this phenomenon exists everywhere in the world, and most groups of people have experienced the same horrors as black Americans did leading all the way up to the Civil Rights Movement. However, I believe that it is folly for the 2009 congress to apologize to black Americans in 2009 for legal issues that were solved fifty years ago.

Americans must read about the tumult throughout the world, even since World War I, and the horrifying acts that have occurred throughout the world. Yes, the U.S. had some nasty problems in the twentieth century. If one thinks that black Americans have suffered the most, take a week to read the book “Out of this furnace.” This will help one understand that the horror of humanity is universal.

The United States also eliminated our state-sponsored wrongs faster than any nation on the face of the earth. I think this new apology denies the significance of this. How many nations have child abuse, slavery, mass killings, torture and rape going on today. Let us call them all and demand apologies. Many Americans are only one or two generations distant from this barbarous behaviour that is happening to their friends and relatives around the world today. I have news for you though…there will be no apologies from North Korea, China, Indonesia, nor any other country.

In conclusion, with a country that is being completely destroyed financially by the spending in Washington D.C., punitive taxation, and a collapse in various manufacturing sectors, congress has decided to spend their time and energy apologizing to black Americans for events of one hundred and fifty years ago. This is clear evidence that they will not be fixing current problems. Backwards thinking remains the method of the day.

JBM

After adding bits to this for weeks, and never concentrating on organizing and polishing this post, I am going to let it loose now. Feel free to comment on spelling, grammar, anything. We need to start discussing the monumental problems that are building daily in America.

I am an optimist, but one would not know it. I think times are bad for this country. The pockets of success will get slimmer and slimmer and the poor and former middle class are on the edge of revolt. Where is the balance and comfort of yesteryear for the average American? Here goes…

Foreign students are now going back to their home countries to work or start their own businesses. So we let people flood in and get educated here, and now that their countries are going through their industrial revolution, these students will help propel their homelands to be major economic competitors with us.

The good news: Engineering wages should finally go up in this country as the need for engineers increases and the supply decreases. This country needs wage inflation like I need a candy bar, and that is badly.

Taxes and accountants: The IRS code is extremely complicated, and intentionally so. The congress of the United States does not want the citizens to know or understand how much they actually pay in taxes, thus the unbelievably complex tax code. Let us imagine utopia for just one minute. Completely eliminate the IRS code save for one page. That page describes a national sales tax of 10 percent. To get that number I baked two parts of thin air with a sprinkle of realism and a dash of “the Bible states that the church should get ten percent, and what makes the government think they are better than the Almighty himself?” Now that we are all jumping for joy, as we pay zero, count them, zero taxes, unless we go shopping, we must analyze the devastating consequences. Many accountants and attorneys will lose a large portion of their work, the portion where they decipher the tax codes for poor slobs like me. In one fell swoop we eliminated a great deal of overhead from our lives, but it caused great pains for the tax industry. Therein lies the paradox: Spending so much of our resources on deciphering tax codes, estate planning based around tax consequences, and such is all a big waste of our money and time. However it seems impossible to eliminate it because of the people it will put out of work. The final question becomes, is a person’s livelihood really worthwhile if society is better off without creating the job-creating problem in the first place? In making most people’s lives easier, cheaper, and less stressful, we lose jobs, which we desperately need in the U.S.A. I am open to suggestions for solving this paradox!

Major companies are calling this economic slump a once-in-a-lifetime event. Example:

Boeing CEO calls slump ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ event

One must agree with the opinions of the CEO’s who are evaluating the books. However, just because this is the worst economy for much of the country, there is no inherent proof that the U.S. will completely recover. Just because we “recovered many times before” does not mean that it will happen again. Analyzing the Industrial Revolution, the Post WWII economy, and the computer and Internet boom of the 1990′s, can anyone say that there are enough products out there for us to make, and potentially export, to bring the U.S. back to its mountainous success of yesteryear?

I think the U.S. is now relegated to a permanent second-tier status as a result of the new, monumental debt that the federal goverment is amassing in 2009. A month after writing this little blurb, the stories have begun to pop from media everywhere. It is no longer a secret that the U.S. debt is crushing:

The next great crisis: America’s debt

Due to the vast array of video games available, the most people in history are simulating life rather than living the real thing. What does this cost us in health benefits (lack of exercise from sitting in front of a computer or iPod), and lost inventions (playing baseball one is bound to want to improve the game, but playing the video game will not have the same effect on ingenuity).

…jbm

I immediately dismissed American Idol when my coworkers raved about it early in its tenure. It just sounded plainly dumb to me. Then I began watching it. As an amateur musician, the opportunity to critically analyze new talent sucked me right in. The show became an opportunity to analyze these singers based on the lessons that my music teachers taught me.

American Idol is a terrific show. Aside from the sometimes fruity pop austerity it brings to the table, it has a great redeeming quality. American Idol demonstrates the extreme hard work associated with becoming the best a singer can be. In many cases the singers who rise to the top do have quality voices with respect to the standards of pop music singing. Thus the show helps the average person to understand what a good voice sounds like, and what flawed singing sounds like also.

After watching a couple of seasons in a row, 2009 just seemed like a really boring season. Has the show lost its spark? Have I become numb to its overall format? Or were the 2009 contestants just plain boring? I may come back, but for for the short term I would rather surf the web, or do anything but watch Idol. Thanks Idol, though, for teaching us how to achieve supremacy.

I could probably copy most of this post and add the title, “America’s Next Top Model”. How to survive an extreme professional competition when just learning the trade. Tyra, you rock!

JBM

The latest on what should have been a very cool federal appointment:

Google Executive To Become Federal Deputy CTO

The President, in a good move, created the Chief Technology Officer position for the United States. In a bad move, he appointed the Public Policy Chief of Google to the Deputy CTO position.

Google is one of, and possibly the most untrusted name in technology because of its perpetual use of peoples’ personal information. Just search the web for Google + big brother, or Google + trustworthy and read a bit about them.

Google’s montra is “do not evil”, but they do not hesitate to “do things that are unethical” and that has been proven many times over.

America, if you think your personal liberties have been perpetually eroded, whether you know much about the Internet or not, this political appointment should have you quaking in your boots.

JBM

Recently a YouTube video surfaced showing a couple of Domino’s Pizza workers who used poor hygiene methods to create some disgusting pizza pies. It is single actions like this that can completely destroy an otherwise spectacular business.

[Here is the CEO's response.]

The State of Affairs calls on all United States citizens to financially support Domino’s in the near future. We need to show the business that we understand that this is an isolated incident, that teen boys will be teen boys and there is absolutely no way of preventing this sort of behavior. In light of my constant support for country and the people and businesses in it, I am asking you America to go out and buy food at Domino’s. Perhaps you prefer Pizza Hut. Do not do it! For once in your life, even if you have never been there before, go to Domino’s soon, and purchase more food than you normally eat out. Get yourself an extra, super-high margin cola while you are there. Give the waiter a twenty-five percent tip. Do not be your usual, 2009 Economic Collapse Stingy Self. Domino’s needs you, and America needs you. Fill up the Domino’s soon, so that there is a waiting line at every local Domino’s restaurant.

America, you will know that your job is done when you walk into Domino’s, the employees are crying their eyes out, and the staffs’ pockets are overflowing with dollar bills.

When all is said and done, sit back and congratulate yourself on being a good, (full bellied) United States citizen.

JBM

While perusing BusinessWeek, I came across the following article about student loans. I know that student debt is a major problem for many Americans, and was curious about related news during this severe economic downturn.

Asking for Student Loan Forgiveness

Let me first address the issue of the cost of a college education. The education system as a whole in this country is a sham, designed to suck the livelihood from millions of people. Here is how the system works:

A school argues that it cannot compete with other schools due to aging infrastructure or lack of newer resources. It then demolishes perfectly good, but smelly, 100 year old buildings. It replaces the buildings with brand new, state of the art facilities. Tuition is then raised 20% a year for the next 20 years to pay the added costs.

In response to the skyrocketing school costs, government issues more loans and grants to try to ease the burden. Mostly loans though.

Since college students have all of the loans they need, and the school expenses are thus being paid, the school hikes its tuition even more. There is a pattern building here, in case you have not noticed.

A major problem with this cyclic economic torture factory is that many of the schools doing such are public colleges and universities. Such schools are supposed to be easily affordable for average people. If someone is not happy with the facilities, they can always go to a “better” private school.

Additionally, if the cost of public education skyrockets, the private schools must maintain their exclusivity, so their costs will go up just the same. The country ends up with an education system with costs that are ridiculously high. Yes, now being released are news reports about schools laying off significant portions of their staff due to uncontrollable economic factors. The feast is over.

To pile on the criticism, schools in general, both colleges and primary school systems, never work as private sector businesses do. American business has been trimming its fat for years. Many middle class workers spend more time than ever at the office, and one may argue do more work than one person ever did before. Nevertheless, schools pay their way via the slaves of America, and the slaves somehow keep turning over the dough. We need our schools, among other government institutions, to lean out, and significantly reduce the burden on the taxpayers and the paying students.

The Facebook Group Leader Robert Applebaum is a perfect example of how schooling has become a choice with a very poor financial return. For too many years, in too many cities across America, highly educated people like Appplebaum struggle to find a job, any job, to pay the bills. I am hopeful for him, and I think with years of experience, he will be able to bring good business to whatever firm he works at, and eventually gain a piece of the Jurisprudence Pie.

To those of you struggling with your student debt, I have some concerns. If you have graduated, are you working more than one job? One job, especially a low-paying service sector job that is not in your field, is not sufficient. Times are tough. You are (probably) young and have a great deal of energy. If you are in your twenties and struggling financially, you must have more than one job. Sacrifice a few years of your life. Work in the evenings or on the weekends to bring in supplementary income. Even at $7 per hour, this extra job will help ease your burden tremendously. Your new problem will be time and energy. You might wonder, “When will I enjoy life?” Do not worry, that time is coming, but you must pay your dues.

If you are an advocate for student loan forgiveness, I must be honest. You signed a contract to pay certain bills, and you really should pay them and not look for someone else to. Yes, that is easy to say as we watch hordes of people walk away from their homes, or declaring bankruptcy and not paying a dime of their credit card bills. My advice applies to everyone. There is no excuse for taking on debt then not paying it back, or at least making the best effort to pay it back. Again, do whatever you can to make extra money, and put it all into your loans. You will be a better person when you can honestly say you kept your agreements in life.

It is an interesting argument that student loans should not be exempt from bankruptcy protection. I never thought about this, and this article opened my eyes a bit. A car is a voluntary purchase and so is a student loan. Perhaps either consumer should be able to declare bankruptcy. I stand by my point though, as I think the greater issue is that it has been far to easy for anyone to declare bankruptcy in America. Yes, the rules became tougher more recently, and that is a good thing. Also, if Alan Collinge, rather than spending his time as an advocate, were to take my advice about a second (or third) job, he would be able to pay his $38,000 loan off in probably one to two years. I am not saying he should not fight the good fight, as he absolutely should fight for what he believes in. Ironically, he has a great opportunity cost associated with the path he takes.

Applebaum makes a major point of using federal economic stimulus funds to forgive student debt. I will save my tirades for other posts, but basically, the debt that our leaders are incurring is going to bankrupt the United States of America. These “economic stimulus” spending packages are almost pure waste, debts we will never be able to pay back, and debts that enslave our children even more. The current spending, I think, will relegate us to a permanent status as a second-tier nation. That being said, there is no rational argument I can think of for not giving these funds to students over any other scheduled recipient. The cash is being printed at an astounding rate. The governement has already paid off the financial firms for the pure evil that they have done. I have no argument against giving money to students, since it is being spent anyway.

From the article: “‘Sometimes I think going to school is the worst single mistake I’ve ever made,’ says Crow, a member of Applebaum’s Facebook group”…There have been studies done comparing a college education and professional job track to not getting an education and beginning a career in a position that requires no education. In the short term, the latter person will have greater financial success, but in most cases, the educated person will come out ahead in the long term. There are high-paying non-professional jobs too, I am just not sure what percent of the laborforce these represent. If you have any references for such studies, education versus no education, please post them here!

In conclusion, the core problem of schooling is the cost, and schooling costs must come down significantly in the United States. Our manufacturing output has dwindled, and as such exported goods bringing revenue into the country are dwindling. American businesses have shed just about ever last job they can shed. While an education is a good long term financial decision, it can be a devastating short term decision, and its cost needs to come in line with all of the economic factors surrounding us. When costs come down, there will not be the need for a Facebook group of 141,045 members wondering why Wall Street Stockbrokers got the mine, but the students got the shaft.

JBM

I am not even going to comment on this. I do not need to. May the title of this story live in infamy.

Sen. Kerry Urges Asylum for Gay Brazilian Man Who Married in Massachusetts

JBM

In gauging the citizens’ response to bailout recipient AIG’s paying of massive bonuses to employees, I feel the need to say that America needs to understand the congress of the United States better.

Congress handed big hay bales full of cash to large financial institutions. As the financial institutions ran away at full speed with the cash they heisted, congress then said, “Hey, wait, we have some rules you’ll need to foll…Hey! Wait a second!”

If you are broiling mad over this issue, please consider this: Is there anyone out there who thinks congress did not know that if they handed businesses more money than you and I could count in a lifetime, that the businesses would pay some of those funds to their employees?

The bailout institutions were paid off by congress for the evil that they have done, to paraphrase a friend of mine. Congress definitely knows what it is doing, at all times, with large funds that it hands out. For our representatives to pretend that the misuse of money represents new and unpredictable actions, is for congress to simply be the scoundrels that they are.

Do not hold your congressman’s or congresswoman’s dishonesty against him or her. Send them a sympathy card, and state that you understand that they were born with criminal minds, and to call you if they need moral support. (You will need to explain what that means to them.)

Ah, here were go. Senator Dodd admits exempting bonus pay!
Sen. Dodd Admits Adding Bonus Provision to Stimulus Package

AIG, do not give your bonuses back, you rubes! The law excplicitly states that you do not have to!

Yes, I always support the Law of the Land.

JBM

Caught up in the hysteria, my business partners and I wrote a new application for iPhones and iPod Touches. Just search for the game “Trisaic” and you will quickly find it, or use the above link.

What is the iPod / iPhone application hysteria all about? Why is this happening? How can Apple garner so much success, and bring so many developers with it, during a time of economic disaster?

One explanation: Despite being expensive, iPods are on par, or less in cost than home gaming machines. However, they have the great advantage of portability. People can play games at work, in school, on the bus, anywhere they choose.

Secondly, the availability of games is stunning. One can download thousands of free games for their time-killing pleasure. (Trisaic has a free version for you to try out.) Additionally, paying for an iPod game is so easy to do. While most people have to carefully budget for a $50 cartridge for a home game machine, or gaming software for the computer, how does 99 cents, or $1.99, or $2.99 sound? If one finds something fun or interesting they can latch onto, the cost for hours of entertainment can be well worth a few puny dollars.

JBM

The electronic book readers that are hitting the market by storm are very cool. Personally, I love the feel of a real paper book or magazine. I could change my mind someday after using an electronic device, but it just seems like blasphemy to digitize books and rip the paper from our hands.

Here is a warning for authors distributing books via Amazon’s Kindle 2:

Authors Guild irked by text-to-speech on Kindle 2

Authors feel free to chime in on this one. As an ignorant bystander, I would suspect that the audio rights of books are separate and distinct from printed publishing rights. In this case, when an author agrees to allow Amazon to distribute their book electronically, they must also be signing over audio rights to Amazon.

As these electronic readers will allow unknown authors to sell thousands of books, albeit at low prices, I do not anticipate these people complaining about the contrast post-signing. Experienced and published authors, on the other hand, are probably not going to give away publishing rights and audio rights for a low commission. If they have made money from a book previously, then they understand the value of these various rights and will be aggressive in pursuing deserved profits for their works.

JBM

Here is an article referencing the new president’s proposal, which consists of mounds more spending on top of the previous president’s ridiculous budgets:

World worries how U.S. will pay for stimulus

My thoughts:

1) The President of Mexico (of all places) is the first world leader I have read about it who actually “gets it.”

2) With unemployment skyrocketing and manufacturing within U.S. borders at a low level, and even $7 Starbucks jobs flying out the window, we are not collecting the tax revenue to make this viable. There is also no time in sight when we will generate such additional funds again.

3) This proves that all Washington D.C. knows how to do is spend money.

4) There are bridges falling apart all across America because there was zero planning and zero savings for repair of the insfrastructure built in the early 1900’s. Now Washington D.C. calls rebuilding bridges and sewers, that were initially built with labor akin to slave labor, an economy booster? There is very little economic return for repairing the infrastructure. (It will have the intangible effect of SAVING LIVES.) Yet, the president sounds like he is creating an Interstate Highway System that will make the U.S. a superpower all over again.

5) The majority of the country voted for “change”. The president’s cabinet nearly mirrors the Clinton administration’s cabinet. In addition, ridiculous spending is concisely “the same old thing.”

6) I am seriously considering this spending to be the dagger that kills the heart of America. This has the appearance of a concerted effort to relegate the United States to a permanent status of second-class in the world.

JBM

Whatever happened to human decency? For a glimpse of the worst of mankind, I suggest that you google “Obama assassination”. Seriously, you need to know what goes on, even on the vast web of interconnected idiots. Here is the outlandish result of such a Google search:

” Results 1 – 10 of about 2,750,000 for Obama assassination. (0.39 seconds) ”

There are nearly three million results for web pages that at least mention this phrase. OUTRAGEOUS! Millions of web pages, representing whom? I would like to know.

Regarding the alleged assassination plots that have been thwarted by law enforcement: Have there always been so many such plots against presidents of the US? Does it only seem like there are more because of the instant news delivery available from the web?

Here are results for previous presidents:

Results 1 – 10 of about 1,590,000 for carter assassination. (0.20 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 1,420,000 for Nixon assassination. (0.14 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 349,000 for Eisenhower assassination. (0.15 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 2,230,000 for Johnson assassination. (0.16 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 1,390,000 for Reagan assassination. (0.08 seconds)

Most results are not directly relevant to the search topic. For instance, the last search produces many results relating to President Kennedy. Note that the Reagan search has far few results than Obama, although there was an actual attempt on Regan’s life. This is strange. There seems to be more Youtube videos, and certainly racist propaganda information related to Obama. The ultimate question: Do not these sickos have anything better to pursue in life. I am confused by all of this discussion on the Internet. Just when I thought nothing more could truly surprise me in life.

JBM

Purchase Three Classic Cleveland Browns Games

Cleveland is rebuilding, once again. Actually, I think this is part of their long-term planning: Rebuild every couple of years to keep things fresh. I need not describe how Browns fans are feeling as we all know the feeling too well.

The Cleveland Browns completely fell apart in 2008. There are clearly mental issues going on amongst the ranks. We played the Giants and looked like a Super Bowl team. We then proceeded to play the worst professional football every seen, by anyone, in all of history.

Yes, injuries have plagued the team. Even the wondrous Josh Cribbs has not looked the same since his preseason ankle injury. This team clearly needs rest. However, it also needs to hack off its diseased arm: Bralyon Edwards (Pun related to his staff infection intended.) Edwards, in all of his mental brilliance, thinks his bathroom visits do not smell. When Cribbs and Lewis, two first class professionals, and two of the most talented NFL players, allude to teammates not putting in the full effort, they MUST be talking about Edwards.

This is one problem that falls squarely on the shoulders of Romeo Crenel. Some disagree with me, saying that such a highly paid player such as Edwards must be put in the game. I however stated when Edwards dropped the first game critical pass (Help! Name it for me!) Crenel should have put him on the bench. I would have benched him, and put in a third string receiver. At least that person would make efforts to play. However, no changes were made and Edwards proceeded to drop critical passes in nearly every game since. His lack of performance heavily contributed to the Brown’s losses.

Braylon, a bit of advice for you:

1) You are a jerk, and no one owes you anything. If you are lucky enough to be here next year, figure out how to lose the “jerk” part.

2) You are tall and athletic. Any ball that hits your hands, you should catch. Practice catching during the off-season, or change positions. Remember, defensive backs are wide receivers that cannot catch, so there is a possibility for you.

Yes, I am holding Braylon to dad’s standard, that an NFL player should catch anything that hits their hands. Unfortunately, few receivers can comply with this standard. However, the Brown’s coaches should hold Braylon to this standard, with the threat of getting rid of him if he cannot hack it. Despite which outcome comes to fruition, the fans will win.

What else does Cleveland need? Do we need a huge cash influx? Is this now a cash-based game, like baseball?

Bernie Kosar talks about an “offensive offense” in The History of the Cleveland Browns. It is clear, most successful Browns teams had many receivers, including backs, to choose from on a play-by-play basis. I suggest that the coaches rebuild us into a multi-tool team. Back to Edwards – he was thrown to far too many times, and opposing teams easily picked up on that. If injuries take out some of the “hands” people, the coaches need to dynamically change the game play, and make sure that others are included in the passing threat. That means constantly alternating the tight end from a blocker to a receiver and if not handing off to the backs, putting them in passing positions. We do not need to “fool” anyone, we just need to have many players in place to catch the ball. The rest will take care of itself.

What is Bernie doing? Can we hire him as head coach? For once, can we get an offensive head coach? Sam Rutigliano, we miss ya.

JBM

Check it out, interested Google fans:

Google Wants You To Be Its Unpaid Muse

Yes, there are a zillion great ideas. What makes one stand out? EXECUTION. Google, MS, et al of the behemoths have now forgotten how to execute, and to a mind numbing extent.

Putting aside petty jealousy that some of the commenters chide at Slashdot, aka the want to get paid for giving Google ideas, I see Google’s cheapness as very bad from Google’s side.

Google Layoffs – 10,000 Workers Affected

Google did what every lottery winner does, and what most hugely profitable dot coms do: They hired staff to absorb their entire budget. BOY ARE YOU DUMB GOOGLE. They should have kept the spirit of huge success and massive profits via great implementation of simple ideas. Lost are they.

That leads us to this story. If someone gives Google a spectacular idea, Google should drive to the inventor’s house, hand them one million dollars cash, and kiss their feet. After all, anything Google implements will get them 100 million in the end. Like all dumb companies though, they do not understand how expensive a salary is compared to progress.

Google will continue to make great profits for a long time based on their brilliant search engine advertising scheme. However, they seem to be transforming much like any century old Fortune 500 Company – relying on their original products, and continuing to make money despite their daily idiocy.

JBM

The State of Affairs Bonobos Offer

This code gets you 15% off your first order with Bonobos.

JBM

Reference article:

Feds say Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme was worst ever

The former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff ran a spectacular Ponzi scheme, a system where the first participants receive extraordinary payouts, and all of the other participants receive bupkus. I fully support this scheme, without any regret. The reason is that the United States government runs a Ponzi scheme, by definition. If the government can do it, there should be no restrictions on what the citizens can do.

I am of course talking about Social Security. In the Social Security plan, the initial investors reaped the greatest monetary benefits from the plan. On the other hand, benefits are continually scaled back. This is accomplished by making participants wait more years before they can collect the full social security benefits. Since the initial participants receive a much greater benefit than others, this is a Ponzi, or pyramid scheme.

From economist Thomas Sowell (Thank you Wikipedia.)

“Social Security has been a pyramid scheme from the beginning. Those who paid in first received money from those who paid in second — and so on, generation after generation. This was great so long as the small generation when Social Security began was being supported by larger generations resulting from the baby boom.

But, like all pyramid schemes, the whole thing is in big trouble once the pyramid stops growing. When the baby boomers retire, that will be the moment of truth — or of more artful lies. Just like Enron.”

Social Security: The Enron That Politicians Have In the Closet

I hate to be a doomsayer, but the social security crisis of running out of funds has yet to hit. Moreover, if the value of the dollar plummets, years from now people will be lighting cigarettes with their SS checks.

But I digress. Back to the spirit of my support for Madoff: What is the value of lost benefits to those who were not initial participants in the social security plan? The numbers must be staggering, and exponentially greater than the paltry fifty billion dollars that Madoff processed. I hereby state that Madoff should be let go and given a completely clean slate. Either congress can stop the social security pyriamid scheme and give us all our money back, or rule that Ponzi scheme’s are now legal across the land. Either decision would be a fair one.

JBM