Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Government Protecting People? Really?
Today, an article written by The Telegraph titled, "Apple iTunes flaw 'allowed government spying for 3 years'" shows whether or not government entities in general are there to protect people. Let's put aside the Apple Inc. for a moment. Let's assume that the Apple is a bad company that didn't protect its consumers from potential security threat. However, here we have a situation where governments knew about this for 3 years since 2008, and government entities used iTune's security flaws to snoop on other people by using the software called FinFisher developed by Gamma International (UK) who sells hacking services to governments. "It is known to be used by British agencies and earlier this year records were discovered in abandoned offices of that showed it had been offered to Egypt’s feared secret police."
So, who is protect who? Government officials always act outraged when they find something like this out.. They want an immediate investigation. Sometimes, they send out letter like when Senator Charles Schumer of NY, USA sent out a letter to Steve Jobs about iPhone's antenna problem.
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8912714/Apple-iTunes-flaw-allowed-government-spying-for-3-years.html
[2] http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10446402-245.html
[3] http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/15/senator-chuck-schumer-writes-open-letter-to-steve-jobs-world-is/
Monday, November 7, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Obama: God backs jobs plan
Government spending crowds the market and takes the money from the market. It causes market dis-allocation... fewer consumer choices.
Universal Health Care raises the cost of doing business. Prices of health care rises not because of pharmaceutical or insurance companies gouging people... Every sector in our life where there is continual inflation of cost of goods and services, there is always a government in the middle. Most of the time, this is due to government sanctioned monopolies - local utilities, energy, pharmaceutical, banking, insurance, health care, licenses, permits, fees, housing, regulation, school, etc... also, note that the government regulations create higher barrier to entry. Try to setup a bank, an energy company, a character school, or a construction company.. see how much government is involved before you make a $1. Or, whether you can even setup a company.
Minimum wage raises the cost of doing business... and this hurts the minority and weak still labor force the most; thus, high unemployment rate among youths and minorities. This is just a repeat... everybody knew this would happen because it happen before many times.
High debt lowers the currency valuation where it creates inflation due to the higher costs of goods and services passed down to consumers. Thus, makes people poorer. This is tax without government levying any new taxes. Most cases, lower income people is hurt the most because their disposable income and delayed spending are much lower. This is how government spending "helps" poor people by incurring huge debt while creating devaluation of their money.
Everything that the President is doing is making people's life worse, a real social oppression. Not those fake kinds where gay people can't get married or people have to pay higher college tuition. A generation of economic depression can last few cycles, thus making a family poor as a unit much longer. In order to counter the distributed negative values, you have to make up the absolute value of that negative plus some - a real drag.
Now that he is clinging to religions, I wonder whether he is going to cling to guns next.
This really isn't attack against the President Obama... The President Obama will be gone in 1 or 5 years. After he is gone, the effects of his creations will be still intact. This is an attack against the idea that some how some government entities or people who are far removed from the actions know more and can make better decisions than people who are doing the actual work. This is an attack against the idea where government is creating long lasting economic damages that creates real and serious social oppression.
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-presses-republicans-bridge-scheme-151914720.html
Occupy now is violent, mob, and riots
Economic depression in itself don't let to violence. Other wise, India would have riots everyday, and Vietnam would have burned to the ground. These puma shoes wearing, over sexed, expensive tents from Academy sleepers, Apple Macbook Pro using, and Latte sipping people aren't oppressed. If this is what they call oppression, they have good things going. Violence now being deployed by these flee baggers were foreseen. You could look at previous G20 or any socialists/communists protests to see how this is going to turn out. And, they compare this to Tea Party movement.
Flea Baggers usually work at a low paying retail stores, go to junior college or university while studying liberal arts degree, probably live with their parents, and do not take care of other people... they probably have problem taking care of themselves. If they do work, they usually work in a government type or none profit. There are exceptions, of course.
Police Tear Gas Oakland Protesters...
Mob Runs Wild in City Streets...
Shut Down Port, Attack WHOLE FOODS, ATMs...
Cops, Protesters Clash in Seattle...
Bloomberg Ready to 'Take Actions'...
Baltimore Cuts Power To Camp...
MN Officials Take Toilets...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
October 2011 Car Sales
Brand/Company Vol. % 11-Oct 10-Oct DSR %* 11-Oct 10-Oct Market Share
Volkswagen 39.55 28,028 20,084 44.92 1,078 744 2.74%
Mini 37.09 5,415 3,950 42.36 208 146 0.53%
Chrysler 28.39 21,244 16,547 33.32 817 613 2.08%
Mercedes-Benz 28.17 24,449 19,076 33.1 940 707 2.39%
Audi 25.8 10,225 8,128 30.64 393 301 1.00%
Jeep 25.47 35,733 28,480 30.29 1,374 1,055 3.50%
Dodge 24.85 33,734 27,020 29.65 1,297 1,001 3.30%
Hyundai 22.85 52,402 42,656 27.57 2,015 1,580 5.13%
Volvo 22.6 4,899 3,996 27.31 188 148 0.48%
Nissan 22.06 75,484 61,843 26.75 2,903 2,290 7.39%
Kia 20.81 37,690 31,199 25.45 1,450 1,156 3.69%
Ram 20.71 21,836 18,090 25.35 840 670 2.14%
BMW 13.5 21,873 19,272 17.86 841 714 2.14%
Ford 12.59 161,709 143,624 16.92 6,220 5,319 15.84%
Land Rover 10.65 3,273 2,958 14.9 126 110 0.32%
Chevrolet 6.04 131,804 124,294 10.12 5,069 4,603 12.91%
Jaguar 2.47 1,327 1,295 6.41 51 48 0.13%
Mazda 1.74 18,326 18,013 5.65 705 667 1.79%
Acura 0.94 11,115 11,011 4.83 428 408 1.09%
Honda -0.66 87,218 87,800 3.16 3,355 3,252 8.54%
GMC -4.61 31,609 33,136 -0.94 1,216 1,227 3.10%
Suzuki -4.7 1,947 2,043 -1.03 75 76 0.19%
Toyota -6.78 115,954 124,383 -3.19 4,460 4,607 11.35%
Buick -7.02 11,687 12,569 -3.44 450 466 1.14%
Lincoln -10.83 6,094 6,834 -7.4 234 253 0.60%
Smart -10.9 327 367 -7.47 13 14 0.03%
Subaru -11.62 20,081 22,720 -8.22 772 841 1.97%
Cadillac -11.93 11,795 13,393 -8.54 454 496 1.16%
Infiniti -13.47 6,862 7,930 -10.14 264 294 0.67%
Lexus -14.22 18,092 21,091 -10.92 696 781 1.77%
Porsche -14.24 2,270 2,647 -10.94 87 98 0.22%
Mitsubishi -14.34 4,378 5,111 -11.05 168 189 0.43%
Saab -54.52 337 741 -52.57 13 27 0.03%
Fiat 1,965 0 76 0 0.19%
1,021,182
COMPANIES
Chrysler Group 27.04 114,512 90,137 31.93 4,404 3,338 11.21%
Nissan NA 18.02 82,346 69,773 22.56 3,167 2,584 8.06%
BMW Group 17.51 27,288 23,222 22.03 1,050 860 2.67%
Ford Mo Co 6.25 167,803 157,935 10.33 6,454 5,849 16.43%
General Motors 1.71 186,895 183,759 5.62 7,188 6,806 18.30%
American Honda -0.48 98,333 98,811 3.34 3,782 3,660 9.63%
Toyota Mo Co -7.86 134,046 145,474 -4.31 5,156 5,388 13.13%
Hyundai/Kia 21.83 90,092 73,855 26.51 3,465 2,736 8.82%
Friday, October 7, 2011
Higher Tax Rate in Chicago
This is on top of Chicago's sales tax that's at 9.75% on sales item and 2.25% on unprocessed food and other items that you don't get taxed in Texas. --- and they say, Texas and any governor who is from Texas sucks.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/chicago/property-tax-bills-anger-cook-county-homeowners-121933118.html?bouchon=602,il
http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/17/average-sales-tax-rate-record-high-shopping-arizona-25-highest-sales-taxes.html
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Nuclear vs Windmill
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Oil & Double Dip Recession
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Let's Leave Children Behind
"No Child Left Behind is broken and we need to fix it now," Duncan said in a statement. "This law has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed."
Duncan said the law has done well in shining a light on achievement gaps among minority and low-income students, as well as those who are still learning English or have disabilities. But he said the law is loose on goals and narrow on how schools get there when it should be the opposite.
"We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible, and focused on the schools and students most at risk," Duncan said.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Lookie, who is expanding the freedom of expression
Wisconsin Protesters Improve the State Budget
“They need a quote from a company that specializes in cleaning historic surfaces,” Curran said."
I hope that these cleaners use eco-friendly stuffs... Because that's cool.
Protesters are planning to do bigger protests in Wisconsin, and protesters in other states are planning to do the same kind of budget improving protests. I am a big fan of these protests. Fantastic...
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/117340918.htmlRiches Inside the Gate
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Mining Death and Comparison.
I was right about the mining accidents and deaths, even when I didn't know the actual numbers. Because, mining related accidents and deaths were obvious to me. If there were a lot of death, media wouldn't talk about it. But, since there are so few, media sensationalizes the mining news as if mining incidents are somehow more worthy news than other news. The fact is, mining accidents are rare, and that’s why the Main Stream Media, ABC/CBS/NBC hype stories up.
MSBNC’s Mining Story by Rachel Maddow
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-PTgbYa58M ].
"… it's really really really important..,” says Rachel Maddow. Everybody knows risk of mining, even with those risks; deaths and injuries are very low compared to other activities. She is merely hyping up the story to make a story for her show. Here, she has no perspectives. Her viewers left to think that mining operators are cruel and they want to kill workers to make extra money, and they violate these safety rules on purpose to save money. This is further from the truth. Mining has gotten safer every year. In 1940s, there were about 1,500 deaths with 70,000 injuries due to mining. In year 2006, there were 69 deaths and 11,800 injuries. Mining industry is doing everything they can to minimize human casualty and loss due to such incidents. Here she is talking about mining operators are some uncaring villain. Mining companies are making work place safer not because they are good people versus bad people. Incidents at work place are like a friction force that needs to be taken out, it’s a simple math. N + Ff = W, Normal Force + Friction Force = Work. Extra work here is a cost in terms of time/effort/energy. Unlike what she is presenting here, the fact says otherwise. You can't have deaths and accidents going down such rate while same time talking about it as if it is a death trap. In fact, mining is safe than most activities. It’s not a pretty job but a lot of jobs aren’t pretty either: Crab fishing, farming, day care, etc..
Comparison
I wonder whether Rachel Maddow has done story about bicycling, alcohol drinking, or sex related deaths and injuries. 240 people die every year due to construction related accidents. Approximately, 700 people die due to recreational bicycle riding every year with 52,000 injuries. Over 20,000 people die over sex related behaviors. Over 100,000 die due to alcohol consumption related accidents. In perspective, mining is far safer than other economic and none economic activities
Here, she cites all these violations, .. then what? These violations are something that happens. People get traffic tickets all the time. Like Fannie and Freddie, all this happened while there were regulations like the BP gulf incidents? After this report, what is Rachel going to do? Nothing... she will go on to another report targeting another company to fill up her stories. Rachel Maddow is being nothing more than a character of the drive-by-media.
What is drive-by-media?
The Drive-By Media. It's a like a drive-by shooter except the microphones are the guns, and they drive into groups of people they report a bunch of totally wrong libelous stuff about people. They create a giant mess. Sometimes people get really harmed. They go out and try to destroy people's careers. Then they get in the convertible, head on down the road and do it all over again.
---
Robbery in convenient stores
[http://www.crimedoctor.com/convenience1.htm]
[http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/173772.pdf]
[http://www.nacsonline.com/NACS/Resources/Research/Pages/ConvenienceStoreSecurity.aspx]
[http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/violence/]
[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_n2_v38/ai_16793706/]
[ homicide : http://www.athenaresearch.com/research/bls_workplace_violence_2006.pdf ]
Construction
[http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/construction/]
Mining
[http://www.msha.gov/mshainfo/factsheets/mshafct2.htm]
[http://www.wvminesafety.org/wvcoalfacts.htm]
Bicycle
[http://www.edgarsnyder.com/bicycle/accident-statistics.html]
[http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/facts/statistics.cfm]
[http://www.anapolschwartz.com/practices/bike/bicycle-accident-statistics.asp]
Alcohol & Sex
[http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30]
[http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_249.pdf]
[nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/RNotes/2006/810686.pdf]
[http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/feb/17/un-warns-rise-alcohol-related-deaths/]
Monday, January 3, 2011
Taxcut and Money Multiplier
In the case of government, it doesn't make money like you and me. They merely transfer money from productive usages to unproductive usage, like paying down the debt. Since, the government doesn't make any money, way they should pay off the debt would be decreasing the spending else where in order to accommodate the gap. When the government takes the money from the productive usages, the government is decreasing the marginal utility by 1000%, thus in a long run, it is decreasing overall pull of money. This also means, they are decreasing overall productivity.
Tax cut doesn't come from the government coffer. It's other way around. Government gets the money from the people to fill up their coffer. You don't want to decrease the productivity to pay off the debt. If the government didn't increase the spending for next 10 years, it would not only pay off the debt but give more back to the people they have taken.
Taxes = regulations.
California will have 725 new laws this year. For example, If we say that the compliance cost for the each law is about $1, every company in California will be paying $725 more this year than last year, that’s after the regulations that they have passed the year before. Every law they pass are taxes. So, every year, California imposes 700+ new laws. In a decade, that’s 7000 new laws. The cost associated them is compounded…. Accumulative compliance cost for last 10 years for this year alone would be $7,320 +/- per company.
I don’t know the accurate number, but let’s suppose that there are about 2.7 million companies in California. For this year, the 2.7 million companies will pay $19.7 billion just to comply with these regulations for last 10 years. They aren’t doing anything productive or useful with these costs. In 2008, California’s GSP was at $1.87 trillion. So, the tax imposed on Californian by this law about 1%. Thus, last 10 years of regulation effectively decreased the productivity of California by 1% at least. Even if these numbers are slightly off, I think the point is that the cost of compliance hurts. If you look at the states where they have the most problems, you will find that they are all states with high taxes, high regulations, and high debts.
Consumers in general didn’t cause this debt or deficit. It’s the politicians increased debt and deficit with ever increasing government regulations and government programs and people who voted these politicians in the first place. About 77% of the government spending is on none defense spending. The state entities like UK and Bangladesh are required by their very existing function to protect their borders, intruders, and at time, go to war. States are not required and created to pay for high school educations, school lunches, bus passes, or health insurance.
In 90s, there were persistent deficit. And during that time, any projected surplus is useless because politicians will find ways to spend them to get votes. That’s how politicians get their votes, with other people’s money. I love how these politicians pat themselves on the back while spending other people’s money. I love how these politicians claim how they solved some nebulous problems after their predecessors who were in same position who passed laws made same victorious claims.
Way to slower and eventually stop the deficit and debt is for the government programs to freeze or decrease, and the politicians stop voting for programs like the Universal HealthCare, the ObamaCare, a Medicare version 2.0. These pages are filled with interfaces/abstracts. Actual Implementation could be in many multiples. If you have a single page law that says a school should not carry any sodas. How many pages would it take to describe the actual implementation of the law? I would say at least several pages if not more than tens of pages. What’s would be the compliance cost for these pages of law/regulation? That’s before anyone receives any harm or benefit. People who passed these laws won’t be around or be responsible for these laws. In fact, they are never ever responsible for what they have passed.