Just looking at consumer photo, digital photography RADICALLY decreased the cost of taking usable pictures. I used to take hundreds of film pictures in a year. The expense was terrific, and you got ten you didnt want for one you did, if even that. Now you can take hundreds of pictures in an afternoon, and you only need to pay to print the ones you want, AND you can send them to friends, include them in documents, reports, etc. Kodak not only failed to cannibalize themselves, they failed to consider the value of this innovation to their CUSTOMERS, and it was only a matter of time before others did.
Archive for the 'protectionism' Category
11
Jan
So Long, Kodak
MAGNIFICENT. Last time, New Hampshire was such a bitter defeat, this time, an incredible vindication;
Watch Ron Pauls Speech After New Hampshire Primary – YouTube.
“…capitalism has been hijacked, and I’m infuriated. For capitalism to work, people who assume risk should reap the rewards of success, but they also must suffer when losses occur.” ~Leland H. Faust
In the 2008 implosion, the banks that were bailed out should have been left to go under – their assets stripped and sold, their officers indicted for fraud or driven out into the street, their profits disgorged, they and their children made outcasts, leaving them in the outer darkness,wailing and gnashing their teeth.
This, after all, is the basic moral logic of capitalism – success is rewarded, failure mercilessly punished. And this is EXACTLY what the politicians prevented from happening – all of them, except Ron Paul, who warned about it, and tried to stop it.
He was strong. He was himself. As Leaonard Read used to say, he didn’t “leak”. And ABC re-ran his best lines coming out of the breaks! MAGNIFICENT;
19
Nov
No Pornoscan, No Way
Michael Chertoff Can Kiss My Fat, Pale, Hairy Ass
In Atlanta yesterday, I “opted out” of the pornotron. An unhappy-looking middle-aged gentleman was summoned to give me my Federally mandated physical. Visibly uncomfortable, he did his ‘job’ such as it was, all the while being coached by a group of apparently low-intelligence, but senior “workers”. I felt sorry for the man.
08
Nov
So Long, American Express
I cancelled my American Express card today. Throughout most of the past eleven-odd years, American Express has always treated me as well as their spendiest platinum-card holder – letting me buy what I wanted, pay the way I wanted, and helping me any time my card was lost, misplaced, etc., anywhere in the world I went. They ran a decent rewards program that I took full advantage of, their annual fee was reasonable, and, grateful, I never failed to give credit where credit was due, pardon the pun.
So what changed? Well, my life, mostly. When I got married, and started having kids, I realized that the life of a “road warrior” was not compatible with the kind of family life I wanted. So I took a job with a LOT less travel, which meant I had much less use for the rewards program, for one thing. Alongside that, tough times in the credit-card business apparently led them to trim back on the rewards, and increase their annual fees. My no-interest “green card” was beginning to lose its lustre.
Then, last September, I was picked to attend the International Occupational Hygiene Association conference in Rome, Italy. Having relatively little available cash, but plenty of credit freeboard on my trusty AMEX card, I embarked on my trip confident that it would render me capable of traveling – if not in style, exactly, then at least relative comfort. Boy was THAT a miscalculation.
I discovered that virtually none of the shops, restaurants, pubs, and other attractions I wanted to attend in Rome would accept the American Express card! Aside from high-street luxury-goods shops (and the ever-present moneychangers), my card, which had served as my little plastic passport for so long, in so many places, had apparently worn out its welcome. I started to feel like a customer at Big Pete’s House of Munch.
To be fair, credit cards of all issuers were slightly less welcome than a bum’s handful of faintly urine-scented euro notes in Rome, the local pastime having become, apparently, the evasion of sales taxes, said pastime being far easier to engage in successfully in cash. But not being able to spend as much as I would have liked on excursions and gifts for the folks at home caused me actual distress. Everywhere I went, the story was the same – ‘we don’t take the card, the fees are too high’. A welcome loan from one of my traveling companions eased my discomfort a bit, and allowed me to enjoy my trip more than otherwise. Traveling with the boss does have its compensations too.
I resisted the urge to cancel the card precipitiously, deciding that one bad experience shouldn’t compromise an otherwise mutually-beneficial relationship. But ultimately I could not let bygones be bygones. So I called today to cancel. The service rep I talked to sounded genuinely sympathetic, but the “member services” person I was transferred to simply tried to sell me a different (revolving interest) card, in which I had no interest, HO HO. She promptly then closed the account with little fanfare.
It’s sad for me personally, and it felt like the passing of an era in travel.
(5/10/2004)
Ugh! Where do I start on this one? The US Congress officially “deplored” Iraqi atrocities by a vote of 365 to 50. Am I to believe that they didn’t feel a need to actually declare war on Iraq but now feel justified in officially feeling bad over the consequences?
Ron Paul (R-TX), by the way, voted against the resolution on the grounds that it is not one of Congress’ enumerated duties so I guess he’ll be ridiculed by his democratic challenger this fall for “condoning” Iraqi atrocities!
http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/votes/?votenum=150&chamber=H&congress=1082&tally=1
I, myself, would like to officially register “disgust” at the whole matter.
A guy named Lloyd J. Hart proposes a list of DEMANDS the Occupy Wall St. protestors might make, assuming they succeed at, well, I’m not exactly sure what they are trying to accomplish, though I sympathize with the impulse. The demands are listed here. Iam going to take the bait and critique each demand;
Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending “Freetrade” by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.
This is actually two or three demands, as far as I can tell. The first demand, a high, protectionist tarriff, has an easy answer – Mr. Smoot, meet Mr. Hawley ( from the US State Department website); “U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade declined by some 66% between 1929 and 1934.” Also a $20 minimum wage, which will have the immediate effect of rendering everyone whose marginal revenue product is less than $20 unemployed and unemployable forever, or at least as long as it takes for the stupidity of said law to become grotesquely apparent.
Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.
Actually, the only effect medical insurance would have in a completely free market for medical care is that people who have uncertainty about the likelihood of future major medical medical expenses purchase inexpensive catastrophic coverage, and the provider of said coverage makes a profit. Otherwise, everyone else enjoys cheap, freely-available healthcare, unburdened by the awful AMA and FDA.
Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.
Extends demand 1A to people who cannot or will not produce a marginal revenue product at all. As if subsidizing unemployment has ever done anything but create more of it.
Demand four: Free college education.
Already done. You can get the very best college education imaginable completely free ,well, almost. You have to have a computer and an internet connection to access MIT’s entire curriculum for free, on line. Beats the hell out of spending $250,000, and six years at a shitty state school, drinking beer and hooking up, doesn’t it?
Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.
Already well underway. The rise in price of fossil fuels (when you tease out Fed inflation) is moving slowly and steadily upward. Or, at least it would be without massive government subsidies to fossil fuel industries such as pollution permits, tax policy, and direct military intervention. Nuclear power has an even worse government subsidy regime. And as for current alternative energy policies, they only serve to subsidize old tech, are economically dubious at best, or, as in the case of Solyndra, ethanol, and other boondoggles cross the line into criminality and fraud.
Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.
Again, mostly done. the Obama Stimulus spent, what, $750 billion on exactly that. And as you can see, all of our pressing infrastructure needs are completely resolved.
Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America’s nuclear power plants.
7a) Give all federal lands back to nature and allow anyone to homestead them. 7b) End the TVA and BPA, here and all other monstrous Federal Dam authorities. 7c) End Price-Anderson, The Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and all state Public Utility Commissions, and make the contractors who built them and the companies that run them fully liable for any damage to persons or property.
Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.
8a) Done, see the 13th amendment. 8b) Tried that, almost passed until women realized what a raw deal it was for them.
Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.
Easy enough. End the Drug War and the Welfare state, or at least put a time threshold on collecting benefits, say 5 years. Then an open border would be welfare-neutral. Small side-effect though – immigrants will work you out of a job, kinda neutralizes Demand 1A.
Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.
Not sure how this helps, when there is no real choice in US elections, but OK, I’ll give you that one.
Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the “Books.” World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the “Books.” And I don’t mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.
11a) Forgiveness of sovereign debt – Well, finally a demand we wholeheartedly agree with! I didn’t consent to any politician running up a debt, I damn sure don’t want me, my children, or my great-great-great-great grandchildren held responsible to pay for Bush’s and Obama’s wars; 11b)Commercial loans already have a forgivenness provision, it’s called BANKRUPTCY; 11c) Ditto for individuals; 11d) I told you you can get a college education for free, why the hell did you take out crushing loans?; 11e) See 11a); 11f) Are you sh!tting me? Letting the BANKS out of their obligations? They have already been bailed out tho the tune of $TRILLIONS. You sound like a corporatist! I assume this was an oversight.
Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.
Tough to do, we do have a thing called the First Amendment.
Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.
DONE. Any worker can sign any paper at any time now. Oh, you mean then that an employer has to recognize said paper as a legal binding obligation on him under penalty of law! Um, that’s going to be difficult to do. There are a lot of unemployed people already who will not likely favor this idea once it becomes apparent that this will make unemployment worse.
These demands will create so many jobs it will be completely impossible to fill them without an open borders policy.
A complete non-sequitur, but OK, let’s see how it pans out.
But come on, people, where is the radicalism? Where are the demands to End the Wars, End the Drug War, and End the Federal Reserve? Too busy grabbing socialist loot I guess.
That’s OK – Ron Paul has got you covered.
So Long, Space Shuttle, and Good Riddance
Much hoopla is being expended over the retirement of Discovery, the last Space Shuttle, with reporters waxing poetic, and senior officials crying over the carcass of the blasted thing, ostensibly because of the heroism and audacity of the world’s most expensive commuter conveyance, but in all likelihood over the loss of a gravy train such an end represents.
Here, as an antidote to all the maudlin, weepy statism, are the real facts. The Space Shuttle was a hideous waste of money. Its technology was obsolete before it ever launched. Its cost per payload pound skyrocketed from $120 to $24,000, and the two disasters killed 14 astronauts entirely needlessly. NASA is nothing more than a covert missile development program coupled to a jingoistic propaganda program. Good bye, Socialist Space Antique, and good riddance.