Showing posts with label Economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economics. Show all posts

Friday, July 6, 2018

Tariffs

Via the CS7000 Yahoo Group:
"Today the US government starts charging a 25% import duty for radios from China. Almost all the DMR radios are made in China. We will honor the pre tariff price as long as we have stock of radios we bought before we have to pay extra for the radios. That applies to the CS580, CS800D, CS750, CS800, and CS801. The AnyTone price is set by AnyTone and they have not indicated how the tariff is going to affect the price. I would expert the AnyTone MAP to go beyond the $169 so now would be a good time to get one from us before we are forced to raise our price.

Jerry Wanger KK6LFS
Connect Systems Inc."

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Software substitution

Bill Gates talks about the future of jobs and how technology may reduce the number of jobs for people with only a basic skill set. He calls it "software substitution."
"When people say we should raise the minimum wage. I worry about what that does to job creation ... potentially damping demand in the part of the labor spectrum that I’m most worried about."
Raising the minimum wage will simply accelerate the payback period for buying that robot or automated software tool. Image trying to lower the minimum wage in the future to make hiring people more attractive coupled with any amount of inflation - good luck unringing that bell.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Math Must Work

Verizon won't waive a $30 fee, so they lose the long term revenue stream worth much more than that. On the face of it, this makes no sense. I can only assume for every person that leaves Verizon there are more than enough people that will just pay the $30 to offset the other lose. It is tough being one of the few that want to fight against silly policies that are not logical, but may make financial sense to Gigantic Corps.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Happy Thought of the Day

My buddy, Slim, always likes to be the ray of sunshine on otherwise gray days...

The Keynesian School of Economics Leads to Violence:
The problem is that eventually the socialist/Keynesian school runs out of other people’s money to spend. They can’t raise taxes high enough, and the market forces them to pay ever higher interest rates to access public markets. When governments increase spending, businesses cut back. The net present value tables always catch up to them.
At this point in the cycle, they generally have created a situation where there are haves and have nots. Forced to cut spending on the people that receive a government check, those people riot.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Stratfor Hacked

I occasionally see some of the Stratfor articles - thanks to a friend. They provide a good analysis of what is going on in the world and draw conclusions for what this might mean. Apparently, anonymous decided that meant they were the "bad guys" and therefore hacked the Stratfor site - including e-mails, a list of clients, and credit card information.

What I found very interesting was the response to the hacking on Slashdot. Generally, Slashdot has a liberal lean with a good measure of conspiracy theory tossed in along with an air of superiority stemming for the users' mad computer skillz. I was surprised how they (for the most part) vilified anonymous while defending Stratfor. There may be hope for humanity yet.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

No Guarantee

The Dwindling Power of a College Degree - it was never a guarantee. The last line strikes me as something we should always do: prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
"The increasingly vicious battle between left and right is, at the most basic level, a dispute over how to respond to these new rules. Republicans largely claim that the new rules will make the country richer and, in the long run, will be beneficial to everyone willing to put in the hard work. Few Democrats call for a return to record high taxes and trade barriers — after all, the free flow of cheap goods has helped many, particularly the poor. But many do want a return to the spirit of the old rules, when the government sought to make life more equal, more stable and, for some, less rewarding. The rest of us, meanwhile, should go to school, learn some skills and prepare for a rocky road."

And I'm not sure that I think it is a problem that the best nurse, plumber, or truck driver make a lot more money than the worst nurse, plumber, or truck driver.



Via:
andrewchen The Dwindling Power of a College Degree - NYTimes.com nyti.ms/vNsgnFWed, Nov 30 15:49:07 from Timely by Demandforce


Sunday, November 13, 2011

Occupy Ham Radio

A funny thread popped up on the UV-3R group about the merits of buying the radio in the US versus direct from Asia: Occupy Ham Radio, Buy Cheapest, Save Money

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

I'm a Deadbeat!

From the NY Times article:
"In particular, people who pay the full balance on their cards each month – lenders call such customers “convenience users” or, more colorfully, “deadbeats,” because they do not pay interest and therefore are less profitable — may not regard that balance as “true” debt, and therefore choose not to report it. The industry, however, simply reports the total volume of outstanding loans. "
And I'm proud of it. Thirty days to use someone else's money. No fees. And even a little cash back.

Via:

ramit Look how Americans don't even realize how much they owe. http://t.co/RvKeueZB From a psychological standpoint, how would you address this?Tue, Oct 25 05:51:03 from Timely by Demandforce

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Dave Ramsey on #OWS

I think Dave gives good advice:
"So to summarize, I’m not very impressed at the moment. I’m not impressed by your temper fit. I’m not impressed at your lack of goals and focus. I’m not impressed by the fact that the only thing I see about your movement is ignorance, immaturity and envy. Grow up—and get a job."
The whole article is here.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Occupy Herbstreit

Funny, funny stuff at Occupy Herbstreit

Meineke Car Care Bowl is not a living wage!!!!!!!!


Via:
ClayTravisBGID These are outstanding. RT @andrewbrink Occupy Wall Street? Don't forget to Occupy Herbstreit. http://t.co/KUKwTvHuThu, Oct 13 11:20:36 from web

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Unicorns on Facebook

The following image is making the rounds on Facebook. It comes from a PDF of several slides at Connect the Dots USA.

From Society

If you don't like that you don't have as much money as someone else, do something about it... and I don't mean whine and cry until someone gives you a hand out. Maybe you should protest.