Richter Scale

Another Crisis Looms Right Around the Corner

On Nov 24 11:50 AM Mr. Big wrote:
"In my honest opinion, the only reason we don't have a full blown revolt right now is because this fraud is just way too complicated for the average person to comprehend."

What we need is a way to organize all factions to march on Washington and Wall St. and DEMAND that they stop robbing us blind. Next, we need to vote out everyone from office and start over. This fraud is not complicated: Wall St. & Congress (which, I hear, is made up of almost 50% millionaires) has set up a zero sum game so that they win, no matter what happens to the rest of us.

Newspapers: The Opportunity of Bankruptcy

Step right up, folks. Get yer free news and businesses...all on the WEB! Yep, that's right. Nobody has to pay er, I mean nobody has to get paid. Oh yeah. There's a business model that will last. Ya get what ya pay for. Since nobody wants to pay for anything, that's what we'll end up with...nothing worthwhile. Especially jobs.

Last Man Standing: New York Times and Wall Street Journal Move on Metro Markets

"The Wall Street Journal...is unbiased". That's pretty funny. Only if their bias is your bias. There's no such thing as unbiased journalism anyway. Pick your poison.

4 Dividend Stocks to Hedge Against Social Security Failure

This is one major point that right-wing nuts seem to forget. As if the U.S. economic mess began with Obama. This stew has been brewing since the '70s. Both parties are to blame and so are citizens who vote in politicians that do NOT have their interests at heart despite evidence to the contrary.

Where's the leadership & balls necessary to reduce military spending and divert money into useful, long-term growth programs that will generate well-paying jobs? It's hard to find while our gov't leaders are bought & sold by corporate interests. Nobody seems to know how to fix this skewing of power.


On Aug 25 02:54 PM merlynp wrote:

> It was LBJ who dissolved the SS Trust Fund. It was at a time when
> all agreed there was so much money in the fund, no one would ever
> be able to spend it; so, it was used to pay for the Vietnam War,
> The Great Society, and the Moon Shot. One success out of three is
> not bad… in baseball.
>
> Later, when we hit a deficit that was greater than all the gold reserves
> (evidently the SS Trust Fund was not large enough to pay for Vietnam,
> The GS, and the Moon Landing), Richard Nixon took us off of the Gold
> Standard, allowing our currency to float against all others, so that
> we would be able to expand the money supply.
>
> Both parties have treasonously mismanaged our country. During my
> lifetime, we have constantly ridiculed dictators, socialists, and
> communists; yet, we are altogether as corrupt as they.
>
> We have only had crisis management. There has never been an interest,
> or ability, to manage for the long term, for our grandchildren’s
> future. Ours is NOT a democracy; it is a Plutocracy!
>
> For instance, during the last “gas crisis” of 1973, had we begun
> to use (seekingalpha.com/symbo...) Compressed Natural Gas
> as a truck fuel, we would not have gotten into our current dependency
> on foreign oil. Our environment would have been cleaner, our costs
> less, and the fuel would have come from the US. This is 1950s technology
> that works very, very well. Why don’t we use it?
>
> We have had decades, over many administrations, to correct the SS
> fund. Nothing has been attempted! The United States is, in fact,
> bankrupt!

Could Movies, Books and Music Be Amazon's Achilles Heel?

I agree with Joyful Alternative. You never own the book. The technology becomes obsolete. It's too expensive. You can buy a lot of used books for less than the e-version and without buying the Kindle and still resell it when you're done, if you want to.

If I lose or damage a book, so what? I can get another one, cheaply. I think books will be around for a long time. When they come out with affordable, flexible, color OLED's with sound and WiFi, then you might see significant changes in reading habits.

Both Tech Titans and Media Giants Are Doomed

The growth of Internet-based commerce and making stuff available for "free" on the Web, doesn't bode well for creating companies that need lots of employees. The stimulus bill, at best, will take lots of time to create new-economy jobs. Nope, not reassuring at all.

Judge Posner's Dangerous Thinking on Links and the Future of News

You're Kidding: Libraries exist because of 2 factors, that come to mind: 1) they're supported by tax money & 2) the content creators, that provide the "media" that the libraries make available to the public, make money by selling through traditional sales outlets. So, in your view, all content creators will gladly spend their time, for free, creating the media of the future? If the entire world becomes "open source", who will pay our housing, food, health, etc. bills?

A Newspaper Publisher Lies

Jeff-yeah, you're doom and gloom but you're correct "every time a dealer and an agent goes out of business, newspapers lose more business". Let's not even mention the loss of classifieds. Right now, the only "big client" ads we're seeing are cell-phone companies. After that, it's Amish heaters and gutter cleaning contractors. Sad.

News Corp.'s MySpace Is in Real Trouble if Page View Declines Don't Reverse

Here today, gone tomorrow. That's the reality of the next-big-thing Website economy.

Here We Go Again. No, Micropayments Won't Save Journalism

Whichever "organization" has the most established credibility and can present original news/information in a compelling way, will make money.

Will Newsweek's Reinvention Succeed?

What else do we really need in print, on a weekly basis, anymore? There's The Week and The Economist. Oh, and Star. hee, hee

How Kindle Will Kill the Book Star

It'll be interesting to see how "content creators" manage to earn a living in the digital age. People are getting used to downloading anything that can be digitized for free or low cost. Does this business model seem sustainable to anyone?

Buffett: I Wouldn't Buy Newspapers 'At Any Price'

I think there's still a market for newsprint, alongside electronic "news". Bottom line: create compelling content and the readers will come. Problem is: newspaper companies are not populated with visionaries ready to take real, creative chances to wow over the customer. They think they're trying something new but, to be honest, they still employ old-school thinking. By cutting and cutting more, they've decimated the content.

If He Asks: My Testimony to Sen. Kerry on Failing Newspapers

When the only thing that matters is next quarter's profit, no company is going to last in the long term. All that aside, the Internet has created an environment which actually destroys many businesses and jobs. Sure, there are lots of opportunities to profit on the Web, but the industrial/corporate infrastructure that has provided jobs, in the past, is falling apart because so many services can be had, for free, off of the Web.

Newspapers Can't Compete with 'Us'

The thing to remember about newspapers, is that, obviously, they are NOT connected to the Internet. It's still nice to have a digest of the news & entertainment, in your lap, while you're not connected to a "device". Lots of people might still value that, imho.