Bush Administration forces companies to surrender stock in exchange for loans
Hasn’t anyone noticed that the federal government is taking over industries? Once more the Bush administration is taking advantage of pubic panic to do the unthinkable.
Treasury Secretary Henry Fowler
Last time while the country grieved the losses from 9/11, Bush used the panic to start an ugly war that has cost thousands of American lives. Now, as people lose their homes to bad bank loans, the Bush administration once more under the cover of this new financial panic is taking over companies.
In the 80’s when Chrysler needed a bailout, the government gave the company some generous loans. In 2008 when AIG was on the verge of collapse, the government offered an $85 Billion loan in exchange for 80% of the company’s stock. The headlines screamed “$85 Billion Bailout”, and that’s what the public noticed. What about the fact that Uncle Sam now owns America’s largest insurance company? Now the process is about to repeat with the auto industry. Uncle wants to own GM.
Congress passed a $700 Billion bailout program. The intention was to buy back mortgage-based securities; the so-called “poison” securites, thereby defrosting the frozen financial markets. The Bush team doesn’t want to do that anymore. They want to “give” the money to banks in exchange for stock. That’s right, our conservative Republican administration, you know, the guys who tell us we need less government, is taking over banks.
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November 13th, 2008 | Category: Home | Leave a comment
It’s rare that a truly major breakthrough becomes publically available and absolutely free of charge. Microsoft has done just that with Live Mesh. Most of us use the Internet via a browser. You are reading this article in your browser now. However, the Internet is far more than the world-wide-web. It’s a network that connects your desktop to over a billion other computers. In practice, that boils down to instant messages, web pages, and email for most people. That is about to end.
Got a home PC? A laptop? A smart phone? Are you sitting in front of your office computer now? You probably have three or more devices that are connected to the Internet. How would it be to change your current view from this web site to your home computer’s desktop? Cool. You can do that now. Live Mesh is a new free service from Microsoft. The Live Mesh Web Site provides simple instructions to build your own mesh. You can create your own network of computers that can be accessed from one another’s desk top. It’s all encrypted and secure. The experience is nothing short of amazing. More »
November 12th, 2008 | Category: Home, Technology | Leave a comment
Publishing, particularly newspaper publishing, is a funny business. To get a job as a newspaper writer requires good writing and reporting skills, and sometimes expertise in a subject area. Reporters gain fame and salary dollars by digging up news and reporting it well. These writers, as they age, find themselves doing things they were never trained to handle. Take Walter Mossberg. Here’s a guy, who in 1991 was assigned the technology column of the Wall Street Journal. Mossberg characterized himself as a “non-technology technology reporter.” He fancied himself as the common man’s technology guru.
Walter Mossberg
Over the years, lots of people read and enjoyed his column and as his popularity grew, so did his income. Some say he is the highest paid reporter at the Journal. Wired magazine did an article about him and dubbed him a “technology king-maker.” Clearly this guy is a heavy hitter.
Like many people who find themselves thrust into the role of pundit, Mossberg begain believing his own publicity. This became visible in his writing. In 2000 he started talking about his (young female) assistant’s adventures with various tech toys. Every week, we would read how he gave her an assignment and she would blunder her way through it. It seemd that this was Mossberg’s mid life crisis and his assistant the target of his lust. Of course we can’t know for sure if he actually scored, but very abruptly she disappeared from his Thursday columns. His prose got less purple and he started reviewing products again
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November 7th, 2008 | Tags: apple, macintosh, technology review, walter mossberg | Category: Home | Leave a comment
In 2006 I moved far from home; New York to Seattle. This is my story.
Even though Seattle and New York are on the same continent, in the same country, and share the same language, to a native New Yorker, Seattle is another country. There are the obvious differences: New York has distinct seasons with wide temperature variations. Seattle has seasons but the major variation is the amount of rain. New York has over 200 sunny days a year. Seattle, 40. Both cities have about the same rainfall. New York’s comes down in heavy rain storms. Seattle’s drizzles on and on and on. There are many physical differences. Both cities have a lot of wonderful features. They are different. Very different.
New Yorkers get a bad rap for being impatient, aggressive, and demanding. Certainly visitors to the City can get that impression. The thing is that New Yorkers in New York have some behavioral codes that to outsiders looks like bad behavior.
New Yorkers Are Impatient
Sometimes this is stated as “rude” or “pushy”. Ok, in our own city we have high expectations in terms of service. My theory is that since there is so much of everything in New York, competition for our dollars and attention is fierce. One tactic to do more business is to offer good, fast service. So, it isn’t hard to see why over time people would get used to that level of service. There is another side to this contract. If you expect fast service, you need to supply the information the service-provider needs in concise form to facilitate the transaction. That’s no problem for natives. We know that “regular coffee” means a medium sized cup of coffee with milk and two teaspoons of sugar. If anything else is desired, the request is packed tightly. For example, I like my coffee with no sugar and fat-free milk. My order, “Medium coffee with skim”. No need to discuss sugar if you don’t want any. Note that in new york, fat-free milk is still called by its old name, “skim milk”.
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September 23rd, 2008 | Category: Home | Leave a comment