interested bystander

2 Comments

    • ON: Tue May 13th 10:57 AM
      Commented on:
      Industries to Avoid, Industries to Buy
      Good discussion, minus the rants and insults. Personally, I agree with most of what the author has to say, but there's one issue that has been left out: The oil industry has HUGE barriers to entry! Can anyone name a new player in the refining/oil discovery/ gas retail business? No, there are none. So there goes your free markets. Those who control oil are labeled cartels, rightly so, as pricing behavior is now tantamount to that of a monopoly controlled industry.

      The fact that there are record profits during record prices bears this out. If anyone could enter the market to get a piece of the action, they certainly would. Instead consumers are left to fend for themselves.

      The person who wrote that cars are not necessary items is simply deluding himself. I, like many, live 10 miles from the nearest bus stop or food store. How am I supposed to get to work or feed my family without a vehicle? Or has food and a salary become optional in today's society? (And no, biodiesal is not an option. We just don't eat that many french fries in my house.)

      So, we have a necessary commodity being sold by a monopolyish industry where prices are spiraling out of control. Yes, the markets will eventually deliver us fusion energy and electric cars, but there's a lot of people out there who could lose their homes and families before that happens.

      Those who say the government is useless -- that makes sense to you except in Iraq, right? I spent 11 years in the Air Force, and I know that there are some things the government does really well, and some where it needs to stay clear. The FCC has a pretty good track record for breaking up monopolies (yes they're not perfect). The government should be acting now to provide some defense for the now gas-addicted public until the market sorts things out.

      There've been few decent ideas IMO. The gas tax holiday is preposterous. A windfall profit tax, in and of itself, will not be helpful. The government can and should develop an energy policy (it really has none, now) that includes a system of taxes, credits, and perhaps some regulation to reward behaviour that stimulates alternative energy. There's more need for carrot than stick. Those of us that are paying nearly $4 a gallon are already getting the stick.

      One area in which I would look at direct regulation would be the energy futures markets. These markets were sold to the public on the basis that they would stabilize prices in the long run by allowing large users to hedge their costs. That no longer happens -- look at the airlines, nearly all of whom are minimally hedged, because their pricing models don't anticipate the kind of behaviour we currently see in these markets. Yes, those managements are partly to blame in not realizing that the models have broken down, but a manager should not be required to be clearvoyant to run their business (at least not all the time). The futures markets have become corrupted by the codependant relationship they enjoy with the retailers of energy, and the consumer is left holding the bag. It's not a free market. It's not fair. And it's not in the best interest of our country or economy. Just my 2 (okay 3) cents worth.

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    • ON: Mon Mar 31st 10:35 AM
      Commented on:
      Creating 'Power Offers' in Air Travel
      Mr. Cook,

      You clearly know much about business but less about the airlines and little about TSA security. The airlines have absolutely zero say in creating passenger enhancements to clearing security. The TSA has been entirely intractable in permitting any changes to ease the pain & no matter how much the airlines care, the TSA will do what it wants to do. I am a pilot, entrusted with 200 lives every day I go to work, and though the technology has been available for years there is still no biometric identification program, thus, crew members require the same amount of screener resources (and sometimes more) than the travelling public for lack of a one time cost of perhaps $50 per crew member, but more importantly, lack of willingness to improve.

      The TSA certainly is not going to automatically permit bags with no positive control to board aircraft. What if your millionaire 1st class passenger has some illegal immigrant as his butler or valet? You think he cares about his employees credentials? Even terrorists have half a brain. A hundred terrorists could get jobs with a hundred wealthy morons, and a week later there's a few dozen unscanned bombs on airplanes, and these terrorists are long gone by the time aircraft parts start raining down.

      Instead, here's a thought: Your bag is getting scanned every flight because your putting your laptop in it. Why don't you just carry the thing on board -- you're wealthy, I'm sure you can afford a light computer that won't be tough on your back -- and that way, your luggage is far less likely to be scanned. Yes you have to put a 3 pound bag over your shoulder for maybe an extra 20 minutes that day, but your clothes won't be wrinkled.
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