Franscrollow

I just wanted to write about Franscrollow. Baratunde Thurston coined the term which is an amalgamation of Friend+Fan+Subscribe+Follow.  There are so many ways to track favorite people!! Which do you do, or what word do you use to refer? Well Franscrollow is the solution.

I want to thank @Leolaporte, Brian (@schwood), @Baratunde and @Veronica for a great TWiT this week.  Time very well spent.

I must say I am with Brian on the Net Neutrality issue, Yes we need the net to be free of monopolistic or unfair controls, but its worse if the government is regulating it. All they need is one issue to shoehorn their way in and we will be forever lost to worse and worse regulation. The net as it stands is functioning beautifully and beyond expectation. The hive mind I love thee. We should apply anti-competitive laws as they stand , on a case by case basis, and not have some broad restrictive overarching laws with unintended consequences, like all other laws bring.  Anyhoo, Franscrollow me on twitter @Mr_GRE3N

PS Google returns no searches for Franscrollow.NOTE:Nevermind I typed it in wrong.

Update:2 Dudes, not a flood of hits(3 as of writing) but Google ‘Franscrollow’. Also when I tweeted about it @baratunde congratulated me on my non-accomplishment. There would be no post without you Mr Thurston, thank you. I wish you (and Brian for that matter) could be on TWiT every week.

Maybe now it will and I’ll get traffic for this blog. I’ll start writing here again , I promise, Just need to talk about some favorite things. Cooking some Ideas. And to anyone new, a lot of my posts drip in sarcasm that I assume comes across to make my points. (I try to make it obvious when I’m using it, none in this post.. its ok you are safe)

The Fall of The Wall. 20 Years of Liberty

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the day officials of the East German government opened borders for citizens to leave the impoverished communist country. The Berlin Wall, the largest symbol of communist tyranny was overcome that day, and would make the beginning of the end of communism in eastern europe, and the collapse of the soviet union. While to this day more work needs to be done to repair the decades of stagnation and poverty, time will work its magic, its only been 20 years but progress has been made for Europe at least.

I have found a few very nice reads on the subject.

Celebrate in Berlin with world leaders.

Read a little about Reagan’s role in this Time article.

Here is Doug Bandow via CATO, about why and what we celebrate. Also via CATO an Indian perspective about why the wall fell, in regards to freedom by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar. I’ll add that CATO has a bunch of articles related to socialism and communism this week, do check them all out.

I’ll do my best to find some more articles, but for now please enjoy. Mark the day by taking advantage of those freedoms you enjoy.

Another post is in my head for Wednesday, can you guess what it will be about?

Wherever you are goodnight and good luck.

Quote of the day: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall. – Ronald Reagan

Bill at TED

I’ll write more about this later but please enjoy.

Technology Entertainment and Design conference or TED has wrapped this weekend. Throughout the year they will release the videos of most of the speakers.  They posted a good one first, Its Bill Gates, and he always has good things to talk about.

Sorry I can’t embed the video but links here:

Bill’s 18 minute lecture

Q&A with TED bigshot  Chris Anderson

Id like to add that is through people like Gates and other enterprising people that the worlds problems will be solved. Not by large government spending and mismanagement.

Update: I promised I would write a little more.

Well if you were not interested enough to click through i can jsut tell you what
Gates was talking about. he tackles 2 subjects:

1.  The spread of malaria and the efforts and requirments that need to be underway to whipe it off the face of the planet.

2. The need to better education by devising a system to reward the best teachers, and pass those succesful methods on to others.

The second link is a post talk interview with Chris Anderson who I guess runs TED and usualy hogs the best presenters to himself for an extra 10 minutes of their time in order to discuss questions he or others have toward them. Of course as high profile as Bill is its obvious Anderson would get his hooks into him.

I highly recomend this talk , as it shows how free enterprise and free minds will take care of the worlds less fortunate, in contrast to what socialist-eco-commies would tell you.

Over all I love TED and have been a fan for over a year now. Most talks , with exeption to Gore’s, arnt bandwagon jumping, and they open your eyes to science, invention, philosophies and interesting or entertaining stories. As they say Ideas Worth Spreading.

Economic crisis, or Opportunity?

I would like to point out an article written by Lawrence Martin (o f the Globe and Mail) written for the metro-news.

This metro paper has been good to me the past week or so.

He wrote it in part in response to a report by Roger Martin and Richard Florida (summary).

We all know (or should be taught in grade 1) that the free market capitalistic system is cyclic; we experience intervals of growth and prosperity, as well as an eventual collapse. The causes of such collapse are still debated fiercely in the worlds of economics and political and sociological sciences, usually a flaw in the laws or the system goes unforeseen, or some continued stress causes eventual downturn of the economy.

What is also known however is that recessions are times of rebuilding and restructuring, weak firms and poorly run firms or enterprises fail and from the failures lessons are learned. Industries are restructured minds are changed and the pioneers among us endure, they take repeated failure and build upon successes of the past. And after the failures we always end up better off then where we fell from, the history of economic growth trends upwards always.

Want proof? The dot com bubble of the late 90’s. They built an industry financed by venture capital with lots and lots of cash on the basis that eventually a profitable product or service would be produced. Small companies stopped being small companies when they were bought by large ones for inflated prices based on the same promises and ceased to exist. All this cash flying around and nothing real being produced. Eventually the capital dried up, and the hint of a recession caused all the funding to disappear. Almost overnight an entire industry pretty much disappeared. What happens next is case in point. The internet came back in a big way. This time built on an advertising model previously thought impossible at such scale. Large companies sell their products that don’t seem like products at all yet there are billions of dollars and fierce competition surrounding it. What product is that? Search. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft own huge stakes in search and that’s where the money is and it all comes from advertising dollars. On top of that we have content services as well as a cloud of web based applications. All semi–tangible products. The sector was reborn and is undergoing an evolution. Devices are being built and manufactured to take advantage of all these services. Companies such as Apple, Nokia, RIM, Microsoft, and now Palm (seems like it might be back in business with the Pre) are all taking advantage with mobile devices alone. In their wake companies like Google leave an industry that although certainly not immune to this economic downturn are built and structured now to weather the storm.

So back to Martin, Martin and Florida, all of them are basically saying this: That we in Ontario should be focusing our efforts to rebuild
Ontario into a creative services economy.  Almost all government programs, spending and tax and trade policy are geared toward helping the manufacturing and resource sector. L. Martin writes:
Stimulus schemes and handouts, they say, may be necessary to prop up the old economy. “As in all times of economic crisis, there is considerable pressure on governments to protect the past and undertake bail­outs.” That said, “There is a better way.”

He reports that we need to capitalize on the current recession and move off the old industrial economy. Further saying.

Start making the big moves to an idea-driven, creative economy based not on goods, but on services. Put the stress on the development of knowledge workers, on research and development, on innovation.

With the amount of education in this province and across Canada, I don’t see how we can allow this opportunity to pass us by.

The “brain drain” you hear from years past (circa late 90’s) is almost never uttered this day in age, with more people reluctant to move to the USA due to a booming and stable Canadian economy, and with fears of either a totalitarian Bush state or now a Huge Government Obama Nanny state, Canadians probably are feeling more comfortable at home now. Canada’s service sector is already large, and the structuring toward manufacturing is only likely due to a very vocal minority.

Service sector is much more flexible to change then is the manufacturing sector. It’s less susceptible to fluctuations in the dollar or economy. When people might not want to buy cars there is always room for research and innovation, consulting, creative projects, financial services ect ect.

If you take one thing from this, let it be this: Please educate yourselves, please start your own companies be creative, hire creative minds if you aren’t creative. Don’t think that you need to “make” something. Small business is the backbone and the meat and potatoes of an economy. Urge your government to support small creative business, and if you can’t rely on government (which we all know we can’t) rely on each other. Be adventurous, take risks, and support creative enterprises yourselves with your hard earned cash. Build a better Canada

Ok so that was more than one thing. So on that I’m going to Hope for Change , not from some new leftist dream world supported by huge government debt but; but from an economy of the people for the people.

Could such a thing be done? Can we see a better Ontario, a better Canada? One more solid and competitive then most nations on earth? (I’m gunning for France personally)  To quote Mr  Rebadt DeLama

Yes We Can.

Spend money- “Save” Jerbs

Very quick post today. I just wanted to forward a good read.

2 main things I wanted to point out.

Besides the fact that the number of jerbs Rabadt DeLama is promising to “save” has skyrocketed from 1-2million to 3-4, some other things are quite interesting about the Obamailout (that would be Obama Bailout for those of you not on my wavelength)

Despite trying to save jobs by spending the most money in sectors that need it. (Which wouldn’t work anyway) Alot of the bill’s funding is going to government jobs.

Also, in regards to a paper by Mark Zandi , Alan Reynolds (Wall Street Journal) writes

Mr. Zandi’s current estimates have government employment growing by 330,400 over two years as a result of the House bill (compared with 244,000 in Bernstein-Romer paper). Yet even that updated figure still amounts to only 8.3% of total jobs added, even though state and local governments are to receive 39% of the funds ($214.5 billion). Spending $214.5 billion to create or save 330,400 government jobs implies that taxpayers are being asked to spend $646,214 per job.

Say what? $646,214 per job? That’s what it amount to a quarter of the bill going toward growing the government?  More criminals stealing your money, and getting into your business and your home, while flushing tax dollars down the proverbial toilet. You do know this is money we will never see back? Add another Tax Bracket! That will be another piece of skin off our back.  These government jobs will never ever ever go way, they are about as solid and secure as the Canadian Shield, and the US Taxpayer will be paying for it the rest of their lives.

Oh my I seem to have digressed a little.  I get that way when we head farther away from the light of lady liberty.  This brings me to a discussion about the apparent waste of spending the GOP have pointed out earlier this week.

If you ask me only a few things there seemed like they would have any positive residual effect on the economy. If that’s just a list of what politicians think is waste, I wonder what the rest of the spending looks like, I’m sure I could point out a few other fun things of note.

My favourite from this list is $448 Million construction of the Homeland Security HQ. DHS, an already wasteful branch of the government (not Bush’s brightest moment). They already have that department; it’s called DO fucking D! Please tell me why it costs half a billion dollars to construct an office building.  Is it the Pentagon 2.0? Maybe it’s a hexagon.

No wait I change my mind my favourite is the $248 million it costs to furnish the new DHS Octagon. Can’t you buy your desks and tables at Staples?  Who did the quote Brian Gluckstein? (I kid, I love Brian. He is a wonderful example of a successful gay capitalist) Or maybe a better question is, who is getting the skim off money? And which mobster is getting the no-show contract?

I could bitch on forever, so I will stop. I just have to pimp one more thing. (Entertain your selves’ damnit after all this ranting, also Update My friend Chris on: Ashly Judd)

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go look for a secure government job that pays well, I heard there are a few opening south of the border. Now, whose dick do you have to suck to get one of those? Just point me toward the line.

Say What? “Protectionism is like…”

I opened my local free paper they hand out at the bus stations this morning and was delighted with a story the forwarded from Reuters.(another source here)
Dallas federal Reserve president Richard Fisher says
“Protectionism is the crack cocaine of economics” …
“It provides an immediate high that leads to economic death. we cannot afford to go down that route”

He says this in a warning against the “Buy American” provision in the Obama stimulus package. Which do to widespread critisism is being debated in Washington.
This comes after less colourful but just as slighting criticism filed this weekend by the Cato Institute.  They found a whole bunch of economists that don’t agree with Barack and other knee-jerk bureaucrats , and posted a one page ad in the NYT and Washington post as well as others.

I’m sure there are other complaints the past week or so, but these are my favorite.

Buy American.. In America!

Let’s talk about the brilliant idea of the week.

The Dems in the US of A, along with 43rd man to be POTUS (Cleveland was president twice) Mr Rabadt deLama…

ahem…

Sorry, as I was saying, Barack Obama and friends are trying to add a “Buy American” string to the US$ Bajillion (= 8.19×10^11) bailout. I mean…clusterf@ck….wait I mean stimulus package.  Starting with Iron and Steel specifically, this clause, which will inevitably lead to restrictions for more manufacturing inputs(see shovels and cranes), will force US manufacturers bailed out and all projects paid for by the stimulus to use only American produced Iron and Steel.

Let me think. To “Joe American six-pack”, especially those ones shouting. “Go Steelers” this weekend, this would seem like a good thing, a great thing. I mean these people wish they could buy American TVs, or probably have a 40 year one jerry rigged in the basement for prosperity. Ahh such an aside must be put to rest.

My point. They think “Buy American” will create jobs (pronounced Jerbs)

Let me use barnyard animals economic knowledge we all learned in grade 1 to explain why this is a thing that will kill jobs.

Step 1: forcing manufacturers to buy only American inputs, means that even if they could save money buying those inputs abroad (i.e. Canada or Europe) they cannot. End result? Costs go up.

Step 2: If the cost to build a radio tower, or a power grid tower, or a car or a Boeing 747 go up, because the builders must use expensive above market price steel, then they will cut costs where they can, most easily Labour. aka jerbs.

Step 3: on top of the job loss inflicted by cost cutting, the price of goods will likely increase anyway as cutting labour  for profitability can only go so far.  With the price of exported goods increased, American manufacturers will sell less, both domestically and abroad. End result, firms lose money = jerb loss.

Step 4. Alienating the world.  The rest of the world will see impacts, both directly and indirectly and will respond in kind. If Americans can’t buy Canadian steel, 30thousand people in the steel industry and 140 thousand in related industries could face the threat of job loss (jerbs eh?) With similar situations unfolding in the rest of the world, the world cannot buy as many American goods.  End result = even less jerbs

Step 5: I said something about responding in kind.  It’s possible other countries would respond with similar policies, not allowing Americans to purchase cheep goods and services without a price attached (tariffs) another alternative.  The USA gets most of its natural gas and oil from Canada. its cheep to transport (pipes n tubes are cool) and pissed off Canadians governments and firms might say. “You don’t like our steel? Well I guess you don’t like our oil either. Take care, oh… and dont worry about us, we have a few hungry buyers you might have heard of them, Europe and China?”

how yummy a proposition? Actually that is a joke that would Not be a good idea for either country. As we would have to incur greater transportation costs for our oil, but I think Americans would feel most of the pain in this scenario.

Ok so what should I summarize? let’s just say that if you are looking to save jobs, creating temporary jobs for 3 months, only to lose 100 times more in the resulting recession is not a viable Pro American strategy.

Let’s hope that cooler minds prevail. No GOP member has voted for this bailout in congress; and economic minds are meeting in Davos at the world economic forum, discussing the need to avoid using protectionist policy to face this current downturn.

In closing protectionism does not work. It is a tried and failed policy that did not do good things in the 1930’s, in fact it is believed to have extended and worsened the great depression. and caused a 50% drop of foreign trade.  We CAN NOT afford such policies. Let’s hope we can worth things out and get along.

– take care, goodnight and good luck. (for more thoughts on the subject: clancop)

this message was paid for by the steel industry of Canada… (I WISH)