We Will Cooperate

What is most disturbing about this is that no one seems to care. 

Get the Hell Out of Dodge?

I posted this on facebook and deicde to blog on it as well:

In the US, for example, the government does not collect enough tax revenue to cover even the most basic services that society deems sacrosanct: defense [offense], social security, and Medicare.
In 2010, the federal government collected $2.2 trillion in tax revenue and spent north of $2.5 trillion just on those three programs– already $300 billion in the hole. Everything else– the post office, Homeland Security, the FAA, the FDIC, even the light bill at the White House– is funded by debt"

This fact is why I tend toward the pessimistic side of things. It is not too late, but since Republicans and Democrats are in denial, it will take another crisis to force action. What will that crisis be? I would guess an inability to find purchasers for our bonds. If nothing changes, this is 5 to 7 years away. 

The author of the above quote expects chaos and asset seizure. I doubt this. He recommends immigration. I doubt this is a viable option for most people. 

Leave Dodge behind?Do you have the needed linguistic skills? Most Americans do not. Do you have a connection with a foreign country? If you do not, and there is a crisis, the gringo will be the first target. 

While the adventure of foreign living appeals to me, for most Americans this would be worse than just remaining in America and riding the crisis out with the support of friends and family. 

Yes a crisis is coming. But the hard money types have predicted 5 of the last 1 depressions. 

Getting out of debt and building a cash reserve is the best way to prepare for the prolonged crisis I am expecting. 

The Hollywood Mafia

I have been advocating that one should consider "cutting the cable." When you have 100 channels on cable TV, and there is "nothing" on, the conclusion I reach is that there is a lot of bad cable TV. Because of this I have been a big Netflix user. Netflix is a DVD rental-by-mail company with added streaming. It is becoming a movie streaming company with a DVD rental company on the side. I have heard it estimated that 40% of all internet activity is related to Netflix streaming.

Netflix has recently raised its prices for the package I have by 60%. Not long after the price increase we received notification that they planned to split Netflix in two. This will result in a lot more work for me as a consumer as I will have to maintain two different lists of movies I want to watch-very annoying. After writing this Netflick changed their mind and will not split the company in two. 

At first I just assumed that Netflix was being stupid. Now I realize that while this is possible, it seems more likely that something we can not see is going on. Here is one commentator's suggestion:

So here is what I think happened with Netflix’s recent price change (for the record, I have no inside data here, this is just an educated guess). Netflix has for the past several years been negotiating with Hollywood for the digital rights to stream movies and TV series as a single price subscription to users. Their first few deals were simply $X million dollars for one year of rights to stream this particular library of films. As the years passed, the deals became more elaborate, and the studios began to ask for a % of the revenues. This likely started with a “percentage-rake” type discussion, but then evolved into a simple $/user discussion (just like the cable business). Hollywood wanted a price/month/user. 

What this means is that Netflix had to separate the streaming and DVD rental, they had no choice. It would be impossible for them to publicly say that the Movie Studios were racking them over the coals. How could they and still remain on good terms with Hollywood? Both the music industry and the movie industry are doomed because the marginal cost of their product is close to zero. All the expense is in the creation of the product. The marginal cost to the studios is about $1 to make a DVD from the already created product. While there is a cost to streaming, it is very low. 

I am not sure what this means in the long run, but eventually the power of the Hollywood mafia will shift from them to the consumer, and not getting cable is a part of that process. 

I Must Cry Out!

I have blogged in the past about the degeneracy of modern music. Here is a good example. I MUST CRY OUT! If I did not the rocks themselves would-oh, the humanity. 

Political Correctness

I decided to take a little break from my series on the Fall Feasts for the next week beginning with this video. I will return to the series after I observe the festival myself! 

While this is basically an add for FIRE, it is interesting to view the "political correctness" of modern university education.