Maxed Out – the movie

On September 28, 2012September 27, 2012 By Rick McIn economics, government, movies, product complaints, things getting worseLeave a comment

Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders (2006) is an independent feature-length documentary film and (2007) book that chronicles abusive practices in the credit card industry.

The main premises of the documentary and book are that banks and other creditors deliberately market to people who are more likely to have problems paying and that the creditors benefit from connections to government, the debt collection industry, and from lawmaker apathy. …

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

How do credit card companies get away with 20% or 30% interest fees?

How can that be legal?

Shouldn’t they be prosecuted as loan sharks?

You can watch it online FREE.

… This business model is unsustainable. Sooner or later they’ll need to switch to a system where everyone pays a small amount for all loans. No more 0% interest if you pay it off by the end of the month.

GOAL — pay off my credit card debt in 2012. 🙂

Apple bungled the Smart Watch

On September 22, 2012September 20, 2012 By Rick McIn Apple, product endorsements, things getting worse1 Comment

… There was a glimmer of hope a year ago, when Apple updated the previous watch-sized iPod nano with new clock displays and even began selling nano watch bands in its retail stores. The nano wasn’t a very good watch, but the potential was blindingly obvious — it was Bluetooth and a connectivity protocol away from being the ultimate iPhone accessory. It felt like a brewing revolution in wearable computing …

… Instead there’s the new iPod nano.

It is a cautious step towards familiar price points and predictable sales numbers down a path of declining revenues, not a risky first step towards a revolutionary new platform. Worst of all, it’s not even a compelling product. Take away the multitouch screen and it might as well be a Samsung Yepp from 2007. It runs a goofy proprietary OS, comes in just one storage size, doesn’t support apps or popular next-generation music services like Spotify or Pandora, and generally makes no case for existing in a world where most teenagers get their music from YouTube. Anyone thinking about spending $149 on the iPod nano should tap-dance on street corners until they make the extra $50 it takes to buy the entry-level iPod touch instead. …

The Verge

I’m going to buy one of the OLD ones just to keep my iPod watch working for another couple of years.

SAMSUNG and others need to jump into the Smart Watch gap.

the future of newspapers

On September 20, 2012September 17, 2012 By Rick McIn blogs, things getting worseLeave a comment

Still murky.

Some will survive. But will you want to read the survivors?

It’s the same story over and over. A market leader — Dell, Nokia, RIM — gets complacent. Doesn’t change with the times. And gets quickly swamped by new rivals — Apple, Apple, Android.

Jeff Jarvis:

… newspapers, no longer monopolies and having lost their pricing power in the face of abundant competition, must be smaller if they have any hope to survive …

They must find new efficiencies through consolidation …, collaboration … , and specialization (do what you do best — in the case of local newspapers, that is being local — and link to the rest). They must reconsider their business models …

None of this is easy. Much of it is unpleasant. But it is necessary.

The news we can afford

on Arab anti-Americanism …

On September 15, 2012 By Rick McIn economics, government, Islam, things getting worseLeave a comment

OK … it’s time to leave the Middle East
.
Cost benefit analysis for the interventions in …

• Iraq
• Afghanistan
• Pakistan

Too much cost. Not enough benefit.

In the so-called, War on Terror, it’s time to bring home all troops from all nations. Phase out financial aid.

Arab Muslim nations find their own way. Sink or swim. They are not ready, collectively, for western style democracy.

If you’ve followed this blog, you know I’ve been a big defender of Islam, so often wrongly demonized.

But I’m pretty pissed off by this.

US ambassador to Libya killed in rocket attack

Chris Stevens was a good guy, legitimately trying to help the Libyan people. His motivation was not to “steal the oil”.

Chris Stevens is only one of hundreds of thousands killed over the past 10yrs. But he’s symbolic of how much of the Middle East is not ready for democracy. Not deserving of help from the West. Not valuing help from the West.

The large number of Iraqi people today preferred Saddam. They will have someone like him returned soon, I predict.

Also, the USA cannot afford to continue as policeman to the world. They don’t have the money.

The West should have no boots on the ground in the War on Terror. Instead use technology, including drones, to protect. The priority must be Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

I feel badly for innocents who will suffer when foreign invaders leave, but they may be better off — long term — than by continuing what we’re doing now.

U.S. National Debt

On September 15, 2012November 7, 2012 By Rick McIn economics, things getting worseLeave a comment

Bernie Sanders on income inequality

On September 2, 2012August 30, 2012 By Rick McIn bad news, economics, government, things getting worse1 Comment

In the USA the rich are getting richer. The poor, poorer.

This can’t continue indefinitely. How will it end? … Civil war in the States? 😦

Bernie evangelizes on the problem forcefully. And powerfully.

Click PLAY or watch his killer speech from 2010 on YouTube.

… “Today,” he said, “the wealthiest 400 individuals own more wealth than the bottom half of America – 150 million people. Today, the six heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune own more wealth than the bottom 30 percent. Today, the top one percent own 40 percent of all wealth, while the bottom sixty percent owns less than 2 percent. Incredibly, the bottom 40 percent of all Americans own just 0.3 percent of the wealth of the country.” …

PolitiFact checked those statistics. Their truth-o-meter finding his numbers true.

Thinking that income inequality can continue indefinitely is like believing the value of your home is going to increase indefinitely.

Bernard “Bernie” Sanders (born September 8, 1941) is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. …

He is the first person elected to the U.S. Senate to identify as a socialist. Sanders caucuses with the Democratic Party and is counted as a Democrat for the purposes of committee assignments, but because he does not belong to a formal political party, he appears as an independent on the ballot. …

I invite Bernie to move to Canada. We’re not perfect. But none of our financial institutions collapsed due to greed in 2008. I don’t know anyone in the Great White North underwater on their home.

Mugabe named U.N. Minister of Tourism

On May 31, 2012 By Rick McIn government, humour, things getting worseLeave a comment

Oh that … The Onion.

Where do they come up with their hilarious spoofs on the News? 🙂

The idea that a possibly insane semi-dictator, who personally ruined one of the richest nations in Africa, might have any connection to tourism is sick.

… wait a minute.

This is a true story:

• Why Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe was named UN ‘tourism envoy’

• The UN’s new International Tourism Ambassador: Robert Mugabe

• Canada quitting UN agency over Mugabe appointment

Note to self — CANCEL my $1 billion donation to the United Nation.

Chagas disease – 10+ million victims

On May 30, 2012 By Rick McIn health & fitness, things getting worse, travel, travel MexicoLeave a comment

Have you heard of Chagas?

Chagas Disease: “The New HIV/AIDS of the Americas”

I hadn’t.

That editorial, published in a journal dedicated to neglected tropical diseases, was picked up by the NY Times, the Daily Mail, and more.

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Chagas disease … is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking “kissing bugs” …

The disease may also be spread through blood transfusion and organ transplantation, ingestion of food contaminated with parasites, and from a mother to her fetus. …

… It is estimated that as many as 8 to 11 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America have Chagas disease, most of whom do not know they are infected. …

American College debt over $1 trillion

On May 16, 2012May 15, 2012 By Rick McIn economics, gymnastics, things getting worseLeave a comment

I normally pay no attention to Mark Cuban. But this post of his got me thinking.

Remember the housing meltdown? Tough to forget isn’t it. The formula for the housing boom and bust was simple. A lot of easy money being lent to buyers who couldn’t afford the money they were borrowing. …

Can someone please explain to me how what is happening in higher education is any different ?

Its far too easy to borrow money for college. Did you know that there is more outstanding debt for student loans than there is for Auto Loans or Credit Card loans ? That’s right. The 37mm holders of student loans have more debt than the 175mm or so credit card owners in this country and more than the all of the debt on cars in this country. While the average student loan debt is about 23k. The median is close to $12,500. And growing. Past 1 TRILLION DOLLARS.

We freak out about the Trillions of dollars in debt our country faces. What about the TRILLION DOLLARs plus in debt college kids are facing? …

The Higher Education Industry is very analogous to the Newspaper industry. By the time they realize they need to change their business model it will be too late. Higher Education’s legacy infrastructure, employee costs /structures and debt costs will keep them from being able to re calibrate to a new generation of competitors. …

The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon

Controversial. Read the many, many comments on that post.

But I think Cuban’s got a good point. In 10-20yrs Universities will be far different than today. What we are doing now is unsustainable.

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN FOR OFFICE

On April 2, 2012April 2, 2012 By Rick McIn economics, government, humour, things getting worseLeave a comment

I’m always complaining about the American Political system where corporate lobbyists write legislation and make decisions.

But the most recent TAL came as a big surprise.

Turns out that many times it’s the politicians hounding the lobbyists to make decisions. And write legislation. Not the other way around.

As always, well worth a listen …

This American Life BROADCAST: MAR-30-12

For anyone who has ever heard the term “Washington insider” and felt outside — we are with you. So this week, we go inside the rooms where the deals get made, to the actual moment that the checks change hands — and we ask the people writing and receiving the checks what, exactly, is the money buying?

Things are getting worse, by the way. Ever since the right leaning Supreme Court ruled on the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision.

They decided that Political action committees (PACs) may accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations (both for profit and not-for-profit) for the purpose of making independent expenditures for and against politicians.

The best commentary on that idiotic decision was by comedian Stephen Colbert. He set up his own SuperPAC. Then had Jon Stewart (his boss) run it. Independently.