What's With Restaurant Service Lately?

In the last few weeks, I've been to several restuarants where the service was severely lacking. I was even forced to not leave a tip on two occasions and only reluctantly left one in another instance.

I like to tip, even though I do not believe tipping should be mandatory. But the service at these places was just atrocious. In one instance, they got the order wrong. Then, they didn't bring out all the food at once but insisted the rest was coming. The food that did come was spicy and my girlfriend was drinking lots of water. Did they come by to fill her glass? No. She ended up drinking my glass. Fifteen minutes later they had still not brought the rest of the order. So I asked again. They hadn't even started on the food so I canceled the order and left hungry.

Now, I can be a pretty patient guy. I can understand if the place was busy then the service might be slower. But seriously, we were there at lunch and there were two other tables of two there! And there were two servers. So two servers, three tables, six guests. Doesn't sound like impossible odds to me. To make matters worse this was a sushi place, you write down your own order. How do you mess up an order when the customer checks what he actually wants? I use to go to this place regularly just because it was conveinent. I won't go back again. It is Woomi Sushi in the Santa Anita Mall. I suggest you don't go there either if you like a restuarant that actually has service.

Expensive Jeans

My one guilty pleasure, the only thing I really waste money on, is designer jeans. Since I have bought my first pair of designer jeans, I have never gone back. The other day I was in the store with my girlfriend and we saw a beautiful pair of jeans from Citizens for Humanity. They were however $200. I don't mind spending $160 but $200 is starting to be a little ridiculous. Still, I was so tempted to buy them. Besides, what is $40 when you are already paying $160

I'm not the only one though. Here is an article about expensive jeans. It seems there are some jeans that retail for $10,000. Makes my $200 seem little in comparison.

Trade Imbalance? Look in the Mirror

I always get a kick when politicians rant about the trade deficit. It's one of those easy political topics that everyone can agree with and the only enemy are those bastard Asians and their cheap products.

I have an idea for America. Why don't you quit blaming other countries low wage workers and look squarely at yourself. There is little doubt that there are some disadvantages that the United States faces when it competes with cheap foreign labor but that is hardly the whole story.

The United States discourages savings. It discourages companies from doing business here and provides foreign competition a tax break. It puts American companies at tremendous disadvantages in the global market. How? By having an absolutely horrendous tax structure.

Want to save money? Good. We will tax you on anything you earn from saving your money.

Want to do business here? Good, we will put a tax on your corporate profits.

A foreign company doing business here? Guess what, you don't have to deal with taxes because the US only taxes corporate and income taxes and you are responsible for neither here.

Are you a U.S. company and want to business abroad? Guess what, you owe the US taxes even if that good was never made or sold here.

All this does is make foreign goods cheaper here and U.S. goods more expensive abroad. You add to the fact that all U.S. goods have income taxes built into them, and you can see why they are more expensive abroad.

America has some of the brightest, hardest-working people around. We have the advantage of higher-education, more capital, and the experience to use all of them. Let's quit whining about how unfair it all is and deal with the reality of the situation. Globalization is here and it isn't going away.

The Greeting Card Industry

This industry must make money hand over fist and yet if you Think About It it isn't very practical.

Americans buy millions of cards in a given year. I went to buy a few cards the other day and they cost me $3.00 each. Seriously, what the hell is that? These are pieces of paper with cute sayings on them but we are willing to pay $3.00 for each one? And these are items whose useful lifespans are approximately 15 seconds. They are read once, and probably never thought of again a majority of the time. And people give cards for so many different occassions. Birthdays, anniversaries, get well, Just-Thinking-of-You, Happy-Second-Tuesday-of-the-Month, etc. This has got to be the industry to get in if you want to make tons of money. Hallmark is privately held and has sales of approximately $4.4 billion (some of that is non card related products). That's a whole lot of happy wishes.

I'm Becoming Psychic

Seriously, something strange is going on. It started a week ago in the Best Buy parking lot. My girlfriend and I play the license plate game. It's a game where you are supposed to call out any out of state plate. She had called out some state, I think it was Arizona. Not wanting to lose, I jokingly called out Kansas. She knew I was joking but as we turned the corner, right in front of us was a Kansas license plate. What are the odds of finding a Kansas State License plate?

While shopping in Brookstone this weekend, I came across a card shuffler with a deck of cards in it. My girlfriend reaches into the deck and pulls out a card. I am about to say something like "10 of clubs" but instead I say, "3 of spades". She looks at me like I'm crazy or something, I think she is joking that I got it right. She proceeds to look at the rest of the deck just to make sure its a real deck, sure enough it was.

Now I can chalk up the license and the cards to random coincidence but the next story is just strange. In an extremely freaky occurrence, I asked her about 3 hours before her GRE if she had read any of the book I recommended, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It's about architecture which is what my girlfriend wants to go to school for. I tell her I like to read another book by Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, before I do something important because it pumps me up. It pumps me up because the book is about celebrating heroes and the greatness of men. Instead of tearing down men who achieve greatness, like our society and the media do, the book celebrates man's ability to achieve. I pointed to how the media took someone like Kobe Bryant, who before his scandal was considered the poster child for what was right with the game, and tore him down for his act of infidelity (which he is amittedly a bastard for doing). They seem to take great pride in blaming him for every little thing from destroying the Lakers to the outbreak of the avian flu even though little had do to with his infidelity. They seem to draw energy in tearing down because he had risen so high.

When she sat down to take the test, the essay question was, "Do you believe our society likes to tear down its heroes?"

I seriously think I need to go buy a lottery ticket.

Happy Thanksgiving 2005

I hope everybody has a happy Turkey Day. I am usually not a very big fan of Thanksgiving even though I do think it is probably good for people to reflect back on their lives and see what is good in it. We spend so much time focusing on the negative that every once in a while it is important to take a step back and realize just how great life can be. I figured it was appropriate to give the reasons I'm thankful this year.

• I am not spending Thanksgiving alone with Bandit and having a Turkey sandwich. (even though I am going to miss the fact I won't be with him)
• I get to spend Thanksgiving with a wonderful girl who complements me in so many different ways.
• I have some great friends who take the time to read my daily ramblings.
• I am happy and healthy in both mind and body.
• One of the biggest things bothering me lately was that I turned down a job offer that would have paid me a lot of money but I still didn't think it was enough. A problem I'm sure plenty of people would love to have.
• I have the courage to finally not buy Christmas gifts this year.
• I have enough extra money that I actually worry about what to do with it rather than worry that I don't have enough.
  
• I have the courage and ability to take charge of my own life and not settle for something less than I want.
• I have the capacity and desire to learn something new every day, even though sometimes I get so preoccupied with it, I feel overwhelmed.
  
• Even though I'm getting older, I still have hopes and dreams as if I were 15.
  

I hope everybody has as many things to be thankful for as I do. Everybody have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving whatever you may be doing!

Xbox 360 Launch

So Microsoft released the Xbox 360 last night at midnight. Thousands of eager gamers waited in the cold and the rain so they would be the first to get one of the coveted machines.

Seriously, don't these people have a life? I mean, I love video games, but is it really necessary to wait in line with all these other people just to be the first to get it? I just don't get this mentality at all. The same thing happened with Harry Potter and I didn't get it then either.

I for one am waiting on getting a next generation console system. I think I'm going to wait until the Sony Playstation 3 comes out (although I'm hesitant to buy any Sony product anymore). I had an Xbox rather than a PS2 and was happy with it but the Playstation 3 is going to have a lot more horepower on it than the Xb0x 360 does. It will output a 1080p signal for an HDTV and it will come with a Blu-Ray DVD player. Blu Ray players are expected to cost a thousand dollars when they first come out but Sony will most likely sell its PS3 as a loss leader for around $400, and you will get to play games to boot.

I was also told by a friend that you really need an HDTV to enjoy an Xbox 360 (he works for a gaming network and got to play with it first hand). Since I don't plan on getting an new TV until sometime next year, I can definitely wait it out if I have to.

GM to Close Plants

GM announced today that it would close a dozen plants and eliminate about 30,000 jobs. This is of course devastating to a lot of workers, their families, and the communities they live in but it is probably the right thing to do.

However, what caught my eye was the UAW's response to the news. They called it, "extremely disappointing, unfair and unfortunate." I'm not sure what the UAW expect to happen. It is quite clear to me that GM, with its huge pension obligations and outdated cars, simply can't compete with the Japanese auto manufacturers. You can hope and pray that Americans want to buy more expensive, less reliable, and less stylish cars in order to keep your business running but in the end, it probably won't help.

No doubt, that management at GM has screwed up in the past and is a major cause of this current contraction but the past is in the past. Is it fair that they got to screw up the business and the workers have to pay for it? Probably not. But there is something I learned when I was eight. Life isn't fair. If GM doesn't have the capacity to support all these plants and workers they simply don't have it. You can't keep running a business at a lost, because sooner or later everyone suffers.

I speak from experience. My company has had to go through several layoffs in the past few years. Each time, it was not the fault of the people getting laid off, just the reality of the business. In fact, if the owner would have just had the foresight to lay people off sooner than he did, he might still have his business and saved the jobs of many people who got laid off at the end.

Cell Phones In the Bathroom

Please, do not use your cell phone in the bathroom. It is disconcerting enough for the other users of the bathroom to hear you chatting away. It certainly can not be any better for the person on the other end of the phone to hear toilets flushing or the sound of pee falling into the urinal. Just don't answer your phone while you are in there. Certainly don't bring a conversation from outside into the bathroom. The call can wait. It's not that important. People spent hundreds of years going to the bathroom without chatting to someone who wasn't there, I'm sure you can survive too.

Paying off the Mortgage: A Bad Idea?

Here is a myth that many Americans believe in that isn't necessarily true. Paying off the Mortgage early is a good idea. It just isn't true. I'm almost sure this is a myth perpetuated by the Banking industry themselves.

Why on earth do I, the ultimate saver, say this? Isn't it safer to pay off your house just in case? In fact, it may be one of the more risky things you do. Why?

Think About It. In times of crisis, the most important thing is to have liquidity. That is, you need to have an easy and fast way to get cash out of whatever investments you own. By paying off your mortgage early, all you are doing is locking your money into the house. I know what you are thinking; can't I just take out a home equity loan against the equity in my house? No, not necessarily.

Let's say you lose your job. Almost no bank will loan you money if you don't have a job, even with your house as collateral. Banks don't want your house, they want to be paid back. If you don't have a job, they can't be paid back. But it gets worse. You still have to pay back your mortgage, even if you have been paying it off early. Banks expect their check every month, and if you start to fall behind banks get nervous. If they foreclose, you are very likely to lose everything, including all that built up equity.

What makes this problem even more insidious is that the bank is more likely to foreclose on you if you have paid off more of your mortgage. Huh? Let's just say the market tanks and interest rates rise so that the bank has a number of foreclosures on its hands. What house are they going to foreclose on first? The house with the smallest amount of debt. Why? Because in all likelihood they will not receive full market value for the house. They will only get up to the value of the mortgage, and all other funds will be directed to other lien holders and then the former owner. They can only recoup the money left on the mortgage and in a depressed market that will only happen to houses with a small debt ratio. In fact, if you have a high ratio they will most likely work with you to delay payments and allow you to live in the house until you can resume payments. Kind of ironic isn't it?

I am not advocating just going out and spending the money you would otherwise use to pay off your mortgage early. Quite the contrary. I highly suggest that people put the money aside in a liquid account and allow the money to earn interest. Given a mortgage rate of about 5.7% and a tax bracket of 25% that means the money cost about 4%. There are plenty of investments that make 4% that are relatively safe. If the time ever comes you can't make a payment you can use the funds built up on your liquid account to make the monthly payment. At worse, if you have to walk away from the house, you still have the money that would have otherwise evaporated when the bank sold your house. When the amount in this side account equals the payoff amount of your mortgage, that is when you should pay it off.

Of course, the above course takes tremendous discipline. Most people don't have the will to be able to put money aside and not touch it. I'm also not saying it is never a good idea to pay off the mortgage early, it just isn't the no-brainer people make it out to be.

WTF is Wrong With Sony?

In case you haven't heard, Sony released a CD that has a rootkit on it. Basically a rootkit is a virus that attempts to mask itself from standard means of detection. It can basically hide from antivirus and malware. It is a truly insidious tactic.

Now there is news that Sony may have lead a price-fixing scheme to charge online retailers more than brick-and-mortar stores. Granted, a few other companies are named and this is only a complaint and not a conviction, but even so Sony isn't making a very good name for itself lately.

I love Sony products. But I don't like companies that do nefarious things. I will have to think long and hard the next time I am going to make a major electronics purchase. Treating your customers like criminals and trying to ensure they can't get a good deal is pretty much a recipe for losing any sort of customer loyalty it took years to cultivate.

Instant Messaging Through a Web Browser

Found a cool site that lets you IM through a web browser. Particularly useful if you are in a location where you can't install IM software or you are behind a firewall that doesn't allow IM protocols through. The site is meebo.com. I've used it at my work because our firewall blocks MSN and a few others. It works pretty well. It's not perfect and doesn't work exactly the same way you would expect an IM client to work but it is at least functional.It's based on AJAX technology (much like Goolge Maps)which is changing the way we interact with the Web.

Stupid Americans: example #5

In a perfect example of what is wrong with this country, I heard a women say on the local news.

"Facts are Facts. You aren't indicted in this country unless you did something wrong."

I don't remember the exact story or what was going on but are you joking me? Are people so stupid to think that this is true? Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Plenty of people get indicted without having done anything wrong. And to call it a fact that you did something wrong just because you are indicted? I just don't know what to say to that.

Nissan to Move It's Headquarters

In one of those stories that gets some coverage but maybe not as much as it should, Nissan announced it would move its North American headquarters from California to the Nashville area. It had been in the Gardena area for over 45 years and hired 1300 people.

Why do I care? Well, this is just one more example of why we in California really need to worry about our economy. The main reason given for the move is lower real estate cost and lower business taxes.

I have harped over and over in this blog about why California is not a good place to do business. It's really a shame because it really does have a tremendous advantage in that it is so close to the budding Asian economy and that it is an attractive place for young people to live.

But California is just too expensive. This point hit very close to home for me. When my company was bought out and one of the recurring themes I heard was how expensive our facility was here compared to the facility in Ohio. They have something on the order of 3x or 4x the square footage for about the same cost as we do. Add on top of that that California has some of the highest taxes in the country to pay for its numerous social programs and the picture gets bleaker.

Then my very successful friends told me how they would probably not move to California. Housing prices are too high for someone just getting started to afford anything decent. And California imposes an average of 7% tax (more on high income individuals) on income compared to many states 0%. These are people who will be earning six-figure incomes and they are telling me it is too expensive to live here?

Terrel Owens is an Idiot

Yesterday, Terrell Owens apologized for being a jerk. For those that don't know, Terrell Owens has been complaining since the beginning of the season about his contract situation. He was in the SECOND year of his SEVEN year contract. A contract that was set to pay him over $49 Million. Yes, you can start crying for him and how awful the contract is. He then made comments deriding the Eagle's quarterback, Donnovan McNabb, and reportedly got into a fight with Hugh Douglas. Late last week, the Eagles had enough and suspended him for the rest of the season. He won't wear an Eagles uniform again.

The Eagles gave T.O. a chance to apologize but he decided that his pride was more important and snubbed the chance. And please, all the T.O supporters. Don't tell me he deserves a second chance. He got his second chance. That's why he is on the Eagles and not the 49ers. And did you see the apology? Both of them? Was there ever a more insincere apology than that?

I hate this guy. I hated him when he played for my team, the 49ers. I hated him when he was traded to the Eagles and demonstrated what an ass he is by calling Jeff Garcia a homosexual. There is no doubt he is a great athlete, and performs on the field. But he causes way too many headaches for his teammates. He just isn't worth it.

You know who he needs to blame? The worst agent in the world, Drew Rosenhaus? It is very clear that he has a conflict of interest with his client. Drew Rosenhaus got T.O. as a client this year. That means, he does not get paid unless TO signs a new contract. Don't you think he is going to push his client to get a new contract?

Why the Income Tax Will Never Work

There is something fundimental that a lot of people don't understand. The income tax will never work. It doesn't matter how much you try and tax the rich; they will find a way to avoid it. You could tax all income over $1 million at 100% and it still wouldn't matter. Case in point. Warren Buffet.

Warren Buffet doesn't earn his wealth the same way most Americans do. He gets an annual salary of $100,000. That is not a typo. That's it. Than how on earth is he the second richest man in America. It's because he earns his wealth differently. He owns approximately 33% of Berkshire Hathaway. When he wants cash, he just cash's in some of his shares. This wealth grew tax deferred for however long he has held the shares, on the order of 40 years in some cases. He then only pays the 15% tax on capital gains rather than the 35% on regular income. Oh but it gets better. He has an advantage even most wealthy investors don't have. Since he controls Berkshire Hathaway, he also controls how and when he receives his money. Berkshire does not pay any dividends, which would trigger a huge tax for Buffet every year. This is a gigantic, and perfectly legal, tax shelter.

You can't blame the rich. Warren Buffet isn't doing anything illegal. Most of the super rich are just taking advantage of the rules the game presents. They just are better at the game and have more resources than most.

Being a Doctor Isn't What It Used to Be

It used to be that if you wanted to become wealthy than becoming a doctor was the way to go. You studied hard, got good grades, went to Med School and some day would be rewarded with great wealth.

Growing up people always assumed I would be a doctor. I was smart and I was Asian, so it was natural that I would be a doctor. I had thought about it but when I got to Princeton and saw just how much studying was involved in Pre-Med is I was a little turned off. Then I started to Think About It and realized it wasn't where I wanted to be. The medical profession was getting commoditized by the HMO's and I didn't see a bright future for doctors.

A few months ago I was talking to a friend of mine who just graduated from a prestigious medical school. He was about to move in to his New York apartment and start his residency. I asked him how much he and his fiancee (also recently graduated) could expect to earn. He replied that he had a base salary of about 45K and his fiancee about 50K (she was in a more lucrative field). Here is another website that confirms this.

Now to me, that is just ridiculous. I've lived in NYC. 45K is not all that much. You put on top of that the hours you need to put in as a MD and the 4 years and great expense of medical school, and I just don't see how it works out. It will take years before they earn anywhere close to a decent salary and even then they will most likely have to work long hours to achieve it. Considering they were in school for four years, all the time I was earning money, and the picture gets bleaker.

Of course many of my friends will wind up having very fine careers and earn lots of money so there is little to feel sorry for. But still, when did it not become as lucrative to be a doctor.

Lakers: Opening Day

Today is opening day for the Lakers. I'm here to give my prediction for the season. They are a very interesting team that may be as bad as most of the experts say or they may end up surprising a lot of people.

Count me in the group that thinks the Lakers will shock a lot of people. I'm predicting 48 wins, and if things go well maybe more.

The Lakers won 34 games last year. Many think it will be just as bad. They look at the Lakers, see that they lost two of their starters, and got back an unproven player, and think it can only get worse. I think they are wrong. Here is why.

Kobe Bryant: I predict a monster year for Kobe, if only because he has such a huge ego and needs to prove to everybody that he is the best player on the planet. There is little arguing that he is a top 5 player in the NBA. It's hard to see how such a talented player can have two horrendous years back to back.

Lamar Odom: His play will make or break the Lakers. He is returning to his more natural position of SF where I believe he will take his game to another level. He also will have primary ball-handling duties which will relieve the pressure off Kobe and allow Kobe to do what he does best, score.

Phil Jackson: Look, can anybody be worse than Rudy Tomjanovich? The guys idea of an offense is run down the floor and chuck up a three as fast as you can. Then, he quits half way through the season. But the Lakers didn't just get anybody, they got the best coach of all time. Phil brings with him 9 championships ring, you better believe he wants the 10th and you better believe he wants to prove to people that he didn't just ride MJ and Shaq's coattails. Phil brings with him the triangle offense which I believe is the perfect fit for this team. It will allow palyers to do what they do best and limit what they can do wrong.

Kwame Brown: This guy is a physical beast. Fast, agile, strong, tall, he has the complete physical package. Problem is he never has been able to be consistent. He had a horrible time under the thumb of MJ and I believe he just needed a change of scenery. The guy has all the tools, and Phil Jackson is just the man to bring him out.

Defense: The Lakers scored last year. The problem was they couldn't stop anybody. This is where the departure of Chucky "the matador" Atkins will be of biggest benefit. The Lakers may miss his scoring ability, but they won't miss all the PGs running wild in the lane. Call it addition by subtraction.

The Bench: Easily the weakest part of the Lakers team. But I think they will surprise a lot of people if only because there are a lot of guys on the last year of their deals. They will play hard if only to get another pay day. Devean George is pivotal off the but but so is Aaron McKie and Brian Cook. It doesn't speak well for your team if you are going to depend on these guys off the bench, but I think there will be some surprises.

Add it all up, and I think there are easily 14 more wins in this team. I just hope the Lakers make me a smart man.

Women Are Too Sensitive

Pete Newell runs a Big Man's camp. It is a camp designed to teach basketball players who play in the front court about foot work, post position, etc. Many famous NBA big men from Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, James Worthy, etc have gone to his camp at one time or another.

Pete also runs a "Tall" Women's camp. I'm assuming they call it "Tall" because they don't want to offend some women by calling them "Big". Come on, isn't that just being a little sensitive? Do women who play either collegiately or play professional basketball for a living really get offended by being called "big"? Look at Margo Dydek, the tallest WNBA player. She is 7'2" for heaven's sake. Let me tell you something, if you are 7'2" you are big whether you are male or female.

Maybe its because I'm a guy and I just don't get why its derogatory to be called "big".

Yes, all my female readers may now tell me how insensitive I am.

Retirement: The Impending Doom

In the spirit of Halloween I thought I would write about something truly scary, the impending retirement crunch.

The first of the Baby Boomers turned 59 1/2 this year. This is a significant age because they are now able to withdraw from their 401K and IRA's without penalty. With the impending retirement of millions of America, do people realize the serious problems our country faces in the next decade or two?

It use to be that Social Security would be enough. We all know that isn't going to be the case. Then there were those who could depend on their employer's Pension plan. But even those promised benefits are now being attacked, thanks in large part to our own government who are not only allowing employers to reneg on their promises, but are in many ways actually encouraging it. Airlines like Delta and Northwest found it easier and advantageous to pass on their plans to the PBCG. Auto parts maker Delphi (and maybe even GM eventually) will likely follow suit. And these are the lucky people. There are those like Joy Whitehouse whose husband died on the job for Pacific Intermountain Express who gets absolutely nothing.

But of course now most American's have 401K plans. After all, your employer can't cut that right? Well, lets forget the fact that the average amount in a 401K plan is only $61,000. It gets even worse if you look at the median which is only $18,000 (meaning there are some with very large accounts. These are the same people who probably don't need the 401K). The problem is that most Americans have no idea how to actually manage their investment portfolio. People are told to diversify and forget it but most don't really even know what this means. Most people don't even know what Asset Allocation is and are thus in for a nasty surprise.

I'm not sure what is going to happen when all these people start retiring, and there just isn't enough to support them. Is the government going to step in and make sure these people are taken care of? This poses a very difficult problem because there will be a lot less workers for a lot more retires. The only thing government can do is start more programs and thus raise more taxes, but that has the effect of driving out business and making the working even poorer. This would feed on itself, causing more to lose their jobs, meaning less workers and tax revenues, and thus a need to raise taxes again.

Sometime soon, we as a country need to stare this problem right in the face and figure out how we are going to solve it. Otherwise, there are going to be a lot more stories like Joy Whitehouse.

Why Some People Will Never Be Rich

I was talking to my girlfriend the other day and she was telling me how she knew someone who was planning a child's birthday party. This person was by no means a wealthy person but planned on spending upwards of $2,000 on the birthday party, complete with a Jump House and all.

I would probably be considered by most to be a wealthy person but I have rarely in my life spent $2,000 on any single thing or event. I have bought my car, and paid for my Lasik surgery, but that's about it. I have had some huge birthday parties myself, with enough alcohol to supply an army, but have never come close to spending that much on a party.

What sense does it make to spend that much money on a child's birthday? What does that teach the child? The problem that most people have is not that they don't make enough money, it is that they spend too much. Even if they made more money, these people would find a way to spend it. They see what the Jonses have and they want it too, even if they can't afford it. (chances are the Jonses can't afford it either). They want their child to "have everything they never did" so they shower gifts and parties on them when the more prudent thing to do would be to save the money. Kids learn by watching their parents and it is a shame that the thing most American's teach their kids is that spending beyond your means is the thing to do.

Thanks A Lot

My girlfriend always teases me that Asian men are destined to be single. The main reason behind it is because the media always portrays Asian men in an unflattering light (when they portray them at all). Asian men are always asexual. They are always the wise old Confucius type or the nerd.

These two Chinese students certainly aren't helping the image. Watch the whole thing. Pay close attention to the facial expressions and the coordination. Thanks for making sure all Chinese men stay celibate.

Wal-Mart: Raise the Minimum Wage

In a page from the "Good PR , really underhanded move" Book, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott will ask Congress to raise the Minimum Wage.

Most of you know that I am not in favor of raising the minimum wage as I believe it actually hurts those it is trying to help. But this move by Wal-Mart is disingenuous at best.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer and the world's largest private-sector employer. It has an effect (but admittedly limited) on the wages in this country. Most of it's employees are low-paid workers. If Wal-Mart wants to raise the standard of living for the poor in this country all it has to do is look in the mirror. If Wal-Mart makes a unilateral move to raise the wages it pays its low-cost workers than the other employers will follow or risk losing their workforce. There is no reason they have to wait for a government fiat to accomplish this.

Now Think About It. Why does Wal-mart really want to do this? I tend to think they have an ulterior motive other than trying to be nice guys. First, like I stated, it is a good PR move. But underneath that there may be something more sinister. This wage hike may put out of business the Mom-and-Pop stores Wal-Mart competes against. The Mom-and-Pop stores already face tremendous price pressures against Wal-Mart. They can't negotiate the same deals with suppliers that Wal-Mart has nor do they have the tremendous infrastructures that helps Wal-Mart keep prices down. Force them to raise their labor cost, and you just might be able to squeeze the very last competition that Wal-Mart faces. Of course, what is Wal-Mart going to do when it doesn't face any more competition?

Ben Bernanke: The New Fed Chair

Bush announced today that Greespan's successor will be Ben Bernanke. I personally think this is a fantastic announcement but for very personal reasons.

Ben Bernanke was chairman of the Princeton Economics department while I attended. Hopefully, being trained as a Princeton Economist under his watch will give me some insight to what he is thinking when he starts messing around with iterest rates. In reality, I'm sure this will mean very little to me but it still is a source of pride.

I never took a class with Professor Bernanke. Several of my friends did of course as he taught one of the introductory Economics course. It's funny. I remember people then talking about him maybe one day becoming Fed chair. I didn't think anything of it at the time but it is funny to see it come true. It makes me kind of wish I took better advantage of Princeton's very liberal open door policy for its professors. I wish I would have taken that opportunity to invite him to lunch and speak with him about his thoughts.

Home Loans: More Regulation

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is about to make it harder for people to qualify for interest-only loans and other exotic mortgages. They still will not admit that this will cause a fall in housing prices but say that there might be a "slowdown or even stop some price appreciation".

Aren't these people a little late to the party? I for one would love to see a precipitous fall in housing prices as I'm not in the market and would love to be. I also would love to see them tighten lending requirements as I don't know if the people who are taking out these loans actually know the inherent risk involved with them. But why now? They keep claiming that this won't hurt the national housing market because these types of loans are most prevalent in the high price housing markets out west.

Are these people just dumb or plain ignorant? I am not saying I know that housing prices will tank. I'm saying that can't be so dumb to think it can't happen if they do what they say they are going to do. Markets that have seen this tremendous growth are fueled by expectations. People now expect housing to continue to appreciate at a 10-20% rate year over year. In California, people's expectations are even higher. Markets like these follow a mob mentality. People see how rich their neighbors are getting and joy in on the fun causing even greater demand. When the slightest sign of problems arise, they will be the first to get scared and run for the exit. This causes the exact opposite problem as people see demand softening and try to cash in on profits before its too late.

So now they want to change the rules mid-game. They don't like what the market is doing and want to "fix it". Where were these people earlier when thousands of Americans jumped into these types of loans in the first place? I swear this feeds right into my conspiracy theory of how the rich get rich and stay that way. I'll have to post about it some other time though.

"Investing" On Faith

To stay on the topic of retirement plans does anyone else worry that I'm the only one in my company who asked to see the prospectus of the mutual funds that are available in our new 401K plan? The company eventually sent out a link to everyone so everyone could read them but if it weren't for me continually asking it would have never happened. I'm certain I will be the only one who actually reads it and contemplates how each investment fits with my retirement goals.

This should worry everybody whether you are invested in the stock market or not? Why? Because I believe this will have really bad consequences down the road for the entire U.S. population. The government decided to make people responsible for their own retirement by allowing IRA and 401k plans. This moved employers from Defined Benefit plans (pensions) to a Defined Contribution plan. The problem was that they didn't teach anybody about investing. You can legislate a plan, but if you don't teach people how to use it becomes a very dangerous weapon. The forced people to invest but they didn't teach anybody to become investors. Don't people see the problem with this?

I liken it to playing basketball. I love basketball. I feel totally comfortable playing with people who know how to play the game. However, any idiot can lace up a pair of sneakers and call himself a "player" but that doesn't mean he actually knows what he is doing. The problem in playing in games like this is that people get hurt. These "players" don't have good body control and don't know what they are doing so they just run into people. The chance of injury skyrockets when these types of players are on the floor.

The same can be said with these retirement plans. People have been blindly told to invest in the plan, save for retirement, etc. but not really taught how to do it. As a perfect example of this, during the 401K meeting an older worker complained about how her portfolio was losing a lot of money. All I could think to myself was, "Why on earth are you in investments that have high volatility?" What happens if the stock market crashes and doesn't recover for 10 more years. It has happened before and it will happen again. What happens to these people? The investment strategies they preach are good if you have a LONG investment horizon (even then there are problems but I won't get into that).

I was further dismayed when I asked during the meeting about moving into a money market account. Everyone at the meeting looked at me like I was crazy. Why would he invest in a money market account? Doesn't he know he needs to be in stocks? There is no return in a Money Market. I can easily say that I was probably the most financially astute person in that room. I know perfectly well why I wanted to be in a money market fund and how it fits into my overall strategy. Nobody else in that room knows my personal situation, financial goals, or my investment strategy yet they are willing to blindly believe I have no idea what I'm doing. This coming from a group of people who have no interest in reading about where they are putting the money that will supposedly secure their future and wouldn't understand what they read even if they did. This is not an indictment on these people. The government created this problem by mandating a program and then not teaching people how to properly use it.

All these people playing a game they have no idea how to play. It's dangerous. It's dangerous for everyone.

The Global Shift

We live in a new world economy. Globalization has produced huge benefits to all making products cheaper, quality better, and taming the beast known as inflation.

That is not to say that individuals have not been hurt by this trend. Many workers, both active and retired, are waking up finding out that they are not worth as much as they thought they were. Just yesterday, GM announced they had reached an agreement with their union to slash health care benefits. GM claims it has a cost of $65 an hour for each hourly worker it employs (when health care, retirement benefits, etc. are factored in). In contrast, Delphi's operations (a fromer subsidiary of GM) in China cost it only $3 an hour per worker. We have moved from the industrial age to the information age and it just isn't cost effective to pay the guy who assembled the widget more than the guy who designed it in the first place.

Here is the reality. You can not depend on any one thing or entitity for your financial security. These people are dependent on the health of American auto industry for their livelihood and they are quickly finding out that the American auto industry simply can't compete. Those that are in retirement are now reliant on GM and Delphi to honor its retirement benefits (which they can shed if they declare bankruptcy). What happens to all these people who are too old to reenter the work force yet the benefits that were promised to them are all of a sudden gone?

Here is a lesson for everyone. Don't put all your eggs in one basket (by the way, I hate this advice when it is given to people and their 401K plans but that is another story). This is your financial well-being we are talking about. Don't plan on the government, your company, or anyone else for that matter to be there when you retire. Heck, I would be wouldn't depend on your 401K either. You need to have a broad comprehensive plan, not just a bunch of hope and prayers.

Real Estate: Oh Crap

I feel like all I speak of is the doom and gloom of the financial markets. Here is another tidbit.

Tom Barrack, one of the wealthiest real estate investor in the world, is getting out of the U.S. market. He states, ""I feel totally safe playing polo on a field full of pros. But when amateurs are all over the field, someone can get killed. They have more guts than brains. They charge after every ball and don't know when to hold back." It's the same with the U.S. real estate market right now: "There's too much money chasing too few good deals, with too much debt and too few brains.""

Seriously folks. The peak has been reached. Get out now. The bubble is about to burst. I wasn't as adament about calling the top before but I am now. When the smartest minds declare its time to get out, you best listen up and pay attention.

Talk Radio - I'm Getting Old

I have found that I almost exclusively listen to talk radio now. First, it was just sports talk radio but lately I've been listening to things like shows about money and health. I'm not sure when this happened, but I use to think that only old people listened to talk radio.

I just find it much more interesting to listen to talk radio, which is always different, than listening to the same 20 songs over and over again on the music stations.

Why Social Security Tax is Evil

I hate Social Security. I hate the idea of the government taking money form me in order to serve my "best" interest in the belief that I'm too stupid to be able to save my own money (Probably true for most Americans but I should not be punished for the actions of stupid people). But this is not what this post is about. This is about the Tax that they take from you every paycheck. It is a truly evil tax.

1. It is the largest tax most people pay - Yes it is, even higher than most people's federal income tax. That's because not only do you have to pitch in your 7.5% but so does your employer, effectively making it a 15% tax. And it isn't a marginal rate. (You have to earn just under $35,000 for it to break even)

2. It's a stealth tax - You probably don't think about the above reason and thus, completely ignore how large the tax really is.

3. Taxing you multiple times - You pay income tax on your contribution to social security yet NEVER see the money. That's right, your social security contribution is not taken away from your taxable income, thus you pay taxes on it even though you never saw the money. Then, when you actually receive your Social Security check, (if you get that old) you are taxed again.

4. It encourages the government to overspend - since the government currently takes in much more in Social Security than it pays out it is an incentive for the federal government to spend more now since the deficits don't look as big as they actually are. Of course all this does is delay the inevitable, taxes must always equal government expenditures either now or later.

5. It's regressive - That's right. It hurts the poor, the very people the program is supposed to help. How can this be? Because there is a cap on the maximum amount you can be taxed on, about $90,000. After that, you stop paying social security tax. That effectively drops your tax rate by 7.5% as soon as you enter this income bracket (even more considering your employer doesn't have to pay his half either)

This system just keeps giving me more reasons to not like it.

The NBA Dress Code

This upcoming year, the NBA is instituting a dress code for its players. Players will be required to wear a suit for all team events which includes travelling with the team. Many NBA players have come out against the dress code. Some of the choicest quotes include:

"It sends a bad message to kids. If you don't have a suit when you go to school, is your teacher going to think you're a bad kid because you don't have a suit on?" - Allen Iverson

"I don't see it happening unless every NBA player is given a stipend to buy clothes," - Marcus Camby

I usually support NBA players and sports athletes in general. Remember, I'm the one who thinks athletes are not overpaid. But the NBA players make it very hard to defend them.

If Allen Iverson thinks that it sends a bad message to a kid because he WEARS a suit he has to get a clue. It's a fact of life. People judge you by the way you look but what kid is going to think to himself, "Gee I don't wear a suit to school. I suck." What? This kid doesn't see other people wearing suits on TV all the time? What is to prevent the kid from feeling bad because Iverson wears $100,000 earings. What about that huge diamond studded necklace he sports? Are kids going to feel bad because they don't wear THAT to school?

But Marcus Camby just takes the cake. This guy is going to make $7 Million this year and about $40 Million over the next 5 years. He thinks the NBA should give him more money to buy clothes? Hello! Get a real job and ask them to give you a stipend to buy some clothes.

Imagine not being able to wear whatever you want to work! In almost every place of work there is a dress code. I can't come to work in tattered clothes or open-toed shoes. I am required to look presentable. My company doesn't compensate me for these clothes. If you really don't like the new NBA policy I suggest you go find another job.

Fewer Can Afford California Homes

A "recent" study shows that fewer and fewer Californians can afford the median California home. (I emphasize "recent" because everyone who lives here has known this for quite some time).

The median price of a California home is now $568,890. To afford a traditional mortgage you would need to earn an income of $133,800. This means that 14% of California households can qualify for a traditional loan. This of course assumes you can put down 20% of the purchase price which amounts to about $115,000. Now how many households have that much cash lying around?

How on earth do people think this can be sustained? When only 14% (if that) can afford to buy a house in an area something is wrong. What I view as the real problem is that the people this really prices out are those that are younger and just entering the job market. This will cause more and more younger families to look elsewhere when deciding where to settle. This will have serious long term effects as the working population will age and the infusion of young (and cheap) talent will erode California's economy.

What Are the Knicks Thinking?

He might just be the stupidest man on earth. What makes him more dangerous is that he wields a huge checkbook.

Yesterday, Isiah Thomas, GM of the New York Knicks, traded for Eddy Curry. In case you don't know, Eddy Curry was formally of the Chicago Bulls. He had a very contentious fight with the Bulls over his heart (not that he has shown any heart in games but that is a different story). Eddy Curry had to miss the playoffs last year because of heart problems. One heart specialist has suggested that Eddy Curry undergo a DNA test to see if he is prone to heart problems. Eddy has steadfastly refused and demanded to be traded. No Insurance company will touch the contract so if any team signs him, they are on the hook for the FULL amount of the contract.

Now, I back Eddy Curry on his refusal to take the test. It all seems like a scene straight out of Gattaca for me, requiring you to take a DNA test to see what your potential (both good and bad) really is. But there is no way I do what Isiah Thomas does. Give a man with a potential heart problem a GUARANTEED 6 Years and 60 million dollars.

In Isiah's small defense, the contract is reportedly only guaranteed for six years if Curry can play for three years. But my real concern is that Eddy Curry is

• Fat
• has a poor work ethic
• He is a horrible rebounder
• He is a horrible defender
  

My concern if I'm Isiah is not that Eddy Curry will have heart problems. It's that Eddy Curry is going to suck and I will have to pay him for six years (The contract only becomes void after three if Curry can't play, not if he sucks). What's worse, Eddy has an out in four years. So if Eddy turns up to be any good he walks after four years. So you take a huge gamble on a guy, it works out, but when you start reaping the benefits the guy can leave you.

But wait, it gets worse. Since Curry's contract is uninsured he is essentially untradeable. No other team is going to take on such a huge contract when insurance won't cover it, the Knicks are the only team with that kind of money. So you are definitely stuck with Curry no matter how bad he is. Add that to the fact that the Knicks essentially traded a bunch of draft picks that will only get better the WORSE Curry is than you have a really bad deal.

Look up idiot, and Isiah Thomas may have a picture there.

I'm Going to Be Rich

I've decided I want to be rich. I'm serious. I made the decision last night.

I know what you are saying. Everyone says they want to be rich. But few people actually understand what it means to be rich and even fewer go out and do anything about it.

I realized something about me. I have an fear of being poor. This fear of being poor is probably holding me back from being rich. Strange huh? But I have almost nothing to be afraid of. I easily take in more in income than I spend. This is due in large part because I have the discipline to control my spending (which by the way is one of the keys to becoming rich but that is a topic for another day). I also have no debt so even if I lose all my savings it's not like they are going to start repossessing my belongings. Even if they did, I wouldn't care since I, unlike most Americans, do not base my happiness on my material possessions.

So why do I hesitate to take risk and go for broke? I have so little to actually fear but we are taught from such a young age to go to school, get a good job, save money, and play it safe. If I stay on the course I am on now I could be moderately wealthy in about 20 years all the while working hard, saving diligently, and not enjoying myself very much. Is that what I really want? How many really rich men got that way by playing it safe? When in life can you be successful without first failing? Sure, I'm going to take my lumps but isn't that what life is about?

Food Portions

I had lunch the other day at Denny's. I'm not a huge fan of the restaurant but it was conveinent to somewhere else I had to go. I ordered the meat lovers special for $5.00. It seriously had enough food to feed 3 as I only ate about 1/3 of it. Two eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausages, hash browns, a slice of ham, and 3 pancakes. That is just way too much food.

How delusioned are we all in the U.S.? For a mere $5 we get a meal with all that food that we couldn't possibly eat. And then I read a story like this which talks about how americans are overweight. Is their any confusion why this is the case? American food portions are just too big.

The problem is that restuarants have a big incentive to overfeed us. The incremental cost of a restuarant to provide more food is small but the incentive to do so is huge because people's ratings of restaurant are due in large part to how satisfied they feel when they leave. Feeling full is one sure way to make the customer feel satsified. So restaurants cater to the greatest common denominator and make sure that the person who can eat the most feels satisfied while someone like me, who can't possibly eat as much, also leaves feeling full.

It isn't the restaurants fault. Americans are taught to finish their plate because there are starving kids in Africa. (as if your food can be boxed up and sent to them) So we dilligently eat all the food that is placed in front of us, even if we have past the point of being hungry. I'm not sure what can be done. I don't expect restaurants to change their policy and I really don't see American's being more concerned about it either.

Online Dating

I have now dated my girlfriend for a little over 5 months and I thought it was time to put down my thoughts on online dating, and specifically the service I used, eharmony.

First let me say that I'm very happy in my relationship. The girl I'm dating is wonderful and we are very compatible. Other than the fact that she is a USC Trojan she is great, but hey, not everyone can be perfect. I'm actually shocked with how well we get along and how much are interest and beliefs match.

I think most can understand that I was a little hesitant to try the whole online dating thing. Even in this day and age I felt it smacked of a little bit of desperation. But I figured that I was a pretty normal person and there must be other normal people contemplating such a move. I just had problems meeting any new people as doing the whole bar thing isn't for me (even though I have a knack for being able to just talk to complete strangers). In the end I reconciled it by just chalking it up to a change in our society that technology has enabled. After all, why is it any better to meet someone in a complete stranger in a bar than to meet a complete stranger through the internet?

So I took the plunge and signed up. The process is long but I suppose better than say Match.com which just feels like a meat market.

So what is the final verdict? I can't recommend it. What? How can that be if I met someone wonderful online? Well I think I was one of the lucky ones. Of all the people I was "matched" with this is the only one that worked out. I talked to a few people and went on a few dates but didn't really feel like I was all that compatible with any of them except for my current girlfriend. Most of my dates' experiences were the same. They weren't really meeting a lot of compatible people. I think for a few of them it made them feel even worse as if they couldn't make it work with someone online, how hopeless must they be?

Also, just like in the real world, you get a lot of fake people. People who say they are looking for one thing, but really aren't. My girlfriend is guilty of this. She put she was open to meeting anyone from anywhere but rejected anyone she met who lived to far away. You have an option to specify how far away someone can live that you would consider dating, so why even put "anywhere in the world" if you really only mean "within 100 miles"? I also found that a lot of women who think they are open minded aren't. Most women don't think they are racist but more than a few women did not want to date me simply because I was Asian.

I also don't like how Eharmony will match you with people who can't respond back to you. I had my account closed for months but still received "request for communication". These request just remain unanswered and you have no idea what is going on on the other end. They do this to maximize the number of matches they provide to people but don't let communication happen unless both sides are paying members. This can be somewhat frustrating.

But I guess it only takes one, and thus far it is working out for me. Dating is a process, and just like anything else, you probably have to have a few failures before you finally have success. So if you set your expectations low, and treat online dating as just one part of your dating strategy, it might work out for you.

The California Fires

If you haven't heard, their are a bunch of fires going on in California. The air is full of ash and you can see the smoke even in Pasadena, which is quite far from where things are actually happening. These are huge fires and several thousand acres have already been burned with only a small percentage of the fires actually contained.

One of the things that crossed my mind was, when can we expect some Federal Aid? How many billions of dollars should California expect to help pay for the fire recovery. Doesn't the federal government pay for everything when we have a natural disaster. Granted, Katrina probably caused 20x the damage these fires are causing but even that would still leave about $3 billion in aid that should be coming this way.

If people don't have fire insurance, can our attorney general sue to make private insurance firms pay for it?

Natural disasters happen. However, these things are best handled by the state and private companies. Having an expectation that the national government will respond to every disaster is ridiculous. Where does one draw the line? When is a disaster not big enough for the federal government to take notice. Wouldn't you be pissed if you fell right under that line?

It's funny to me that everyone complains about the federal governments response after the Katrina disaster but what do people want? More government! It's like in business when there are too many meetings going on for you to actually get work done so what do they do? They have meetings to discuss how to have less meetings!

Flight Attendants ARE Evil

It seems that the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) is upset over how the flight crew in this weekends #1 movie Flightplan was portrayed. I haven't seen the movie yet but even if they are portrayed as baby-snatching, devil-worshiping, cannibals I think the AFA has to get over itself. Seriously, its a movie. I'm sure people are able to separate reality from fiction. Just the other day I saw a movie where a man could stick to walls, I didn't think there actually existed said man. I didn't think Airline attendants were evil before, but after this boycott I may have to change my mind.

If everyone gets their way, at some point their won't be any movies portraying anyone in a bad light. You won't even be able to watch a romantic comedy because at some point the Association of Slimy Singles (ASS) will argue that they put into a negative light those who like to cheat on their significant other.

Heck, if anyone has a right to complain it has got to be the Asian-American man. Please name me just one movie where you see an Asian man just play some character where is "asianness" doesn't come into play. There are none. He either knows kung-fu, is part of the Asian Mafia, or is some computer geek. Maybe I should just start protesting all movies out of principle.

As The Economy Turns

Don't look now, but I think the economy just hit the turn.

At some point the economy is going to retract. It's not a matter of if it is a matter of when. I think it just took a turn for the worse. Here is why.

1. Consumer Confidence has plummeted. This doesn't always translate into consumers spending less but I think this time will be more predictive than past times where consumers kept spending despite their drop in confidence in the economy.

2. Oil prices keep rising - Despite the drop in demand recently, the price of oil is still very high and looks to be rising. Higher energy cost inevitably hits consumers very hard. Not only does it increase what they pay at the pump, it increases their cost across the board for the products they buy.

3. The Yield Curve is almost flat - A flat yield curve is bad. An inverted yield curve is almost always a predictor of an upcoming recession. The Fed will continue to rise short term rates and I don't see the 10 year bond moving any time soon, it has barely budged despite continued hikes by the fed. Within months, the curve could easily invert itself.

4. Home Sales declined - While it is only a month, this had to happen sooner or later and I believe we finally may have reached the point where the bubble is about to burst. You add this to the fact that Greenspan released a report he authored (this is in itself VERY rare as he has only done it TWICE in 18 years) that shows much of the consumer spending of the last few years was based on consumers taking out equity in their home. Consumers can't continue to do this forever so a decline in consumer spending is inevitable.

5. Consumers are stretched too thin - There is a report out today that credit-card deliquencies rose sharply over the last few months. Much of this is attributed to the rise in gas prices. However, this points out a much deeper problem. Americans have saved very little money over the past several years, feeling the wealth effect of rising home prices. However, this is not cash in the bank and therefore, when times get tough, people are stretched too thin. What is even scarier is that the numbers are for April-June only. This does not factor in the Katrina effect and the record price of gas over the last few months.

Maybe I'm just paranoid and overly pessimistic. That's the beauty of the blog. You can come back in a few months and see if I'm an idiot or a genius.

Movie Review: The Wedding Date

I watched the Wedding Date this weekend. I won't give up anything vital to the movie that you probably couldn't already guess but I may put a spoiler in here and there.

First off let me say that I'm not a big fan of Debra Messing. My main reason is appallingly bad. My girlfriend and I always joke around how she has absolutely no chest to speak of but yet still insists on wearing low cut dresses that accentuate her absence of cleavage. Her character on Will and Grace also drives me up the wall.

All that being said, this was a pretty bad movie. The premise is that Debra Messing hires Dermot Mulroney to be her escort to her sister's wedding. She wants a hunky escort because the best man at the wedding happens to be her ex-fiancee.

Through the course of events, it is no surprise that Dermot and Debra end up falling in love. My whole problem with the movie is that there is absolutely no reason for the two to fall in love. Dermot is a professional escort. He goes on dates with women for a living. You must imagine that a man in his position gets a lot of women hitting on him and he must learn to emotionally distance himself from his "dates". However, all of a sudden, for absolutely no reason, he falls for her. I believe that you shouldn't over analyze movies and of course practice "suspension of disbelief" for most, but give me something to work with.

The movie only had one redeeming scene. Dermot Mulroney tells Debra Messing, "Every woman has the exact love life she wants." I couldn't agree more with this statement. Why women don't seem to understand this is beyond me. I know so many women who complain about their love lives but do absolutely nothing about it or continue to engage in behavior that is completely self-destructive.

My Old URL

I'm so embarrassed. If anyone remembers my old URL go visit it. It has turned into a site with a bunch of hardcore links. No, I won't link to it as I try and keep my name out of this blog and I don't want to support hardcore p*rn.

In similar news, the FBI is looking for people to join its P*rn Squad. No joke. It seems that the FBI thinks this is a high priority as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and the Director of the FBI Robert S. Mueller III want to root out all this obscenity.

Can you believe this? I mean it's not like they are going after people who engage in child p*rnography. They are going after everyday p*rn that many Americans watch all the time. P*rn people! One of the largest legal industries in the United States. Two consenting adults engaging in an act everyone does, they just happen to do it in front of a camera.

I'm not advocating everyone go out and watch p*rn. But seriously, do we need the government spending resources to stop this? In the wake of the Katrina disaster, the Iraq war, and ballooning budget deficits, does the FBI really need to waste money trying to stop perfectly legal activities. Here is a clue people. The industry is HUGE. It has revenues estimated to be $57 Billion world wide. That means a lot of people are watching it and paying for it. That means that in all likelihood, your next door neighbor or your best friend watches it. If the FBI wants to hunt down these people, why not just investigate its own agents, because I guarantee you a large percentage of them watch it.

Opera is Now Free

The Opera browser is now free. I'm using it right now and so far it is OK. Blogger doesn't seem to play nice with it as I don't have as many options to help me bold, underline, etc. as I'm used to having under Firefox or IE.

I have heard good things about it in the past because it used to cost $40. So I will give it a whirl and see if I like it. This post will change over time as I have more experience with the browser.

Positives

• Seems to load faster than Firefox but maybe not as fast as IE (which cheats anyway)
  
• Bookmark migration was fast and painless
  
• Nice, clean look
  
• Has a lot more built in tab options (although you can achieve the same effect with Firefox plug ins)
  
• Password manager is more powerful than Firefox
  
• Tells you automatically that a website has a RSS feed and allows you, with one click, to subscribe to it.
  

Negatives

• Doesn't work with some sites very well (Blogger specifically)
  
• Doesn't have a Google Toolbar (but does have a search bar with Google as the default)
  
• I don't like how the buttons are laid out.
  

What I Don't Like About Blockbuster So Far

OK here is a quick list about things I don't like about Blockbuster's online rental system:

1. The Website is flaky to say the least. Often times it pops up a window telling me there is an error.

2. They have a problem with their security. I get messages about "domain name mismatch" all the time that the certificate it is sending me is from someone else. In fact it is from Blockbuster but comes from a different server than their www server. This has to happen to everyone because it happens with every browser I use and everywhere I use it. You would think this would annoy enough people and Blockbuster would do something about it.

3. I can't use my 2 free in-store rentals on games. This is a big blow. I actually kind of signed up for this. I may have to rethink this.

4. For some reason their mail is slower than Netflix. With Netflix, I got pretty consistent 3 day turnarounds (when I wasn't being throttled). Day 1 - Mail DVD, Day 2 - Netflix receives DVD and mails new one, Day 3 - I receive new DVD. This is definitely not the case with Blockbuster where the turnaround is closer to 4 or 5 days.

5. Their queue software is horrible. It moves my movies around randomly and I can't seem to line up the movies I want in the right order sometimes without multiple tries.

6. Related to awful queue software, they often send the movies out in strange order. A movie at the top of my queue will say "Available Now" but they will in fact ship a movie from somewhere else in my queue.

To be fair I thought one cool think Blockbuster did do was send me a 4th DVD. There was no explanation why they did this but I think it was to compensate for the slower than expected service. I never complained to Blockbuster about this so maybe they just did it because they know their service can be spotty.

Is it worse than Netflix? Probably. Netflix doesn't have the above problems so Blockbuster has a ways to go. I will probably stay with Blockbuster for now for the simple reason that they don't seem to throttle the users, their service is just bad for all. But I just feel Netflix's practices are a little deceitful and I prefer to do business with companies that are upfront with their policies.

Insurance For Free

There are jokes about how backwards and parts of the South are. The attorney general of Mississippi isn't helping matters. Friday, he filed suit against five insurance agencies seeking to invalidate provisions of homeowner policies that exclude coverage for water damage.

I can't believe how stupid and idiotic this suit is. One of the proper roles of government in a Capitalistic society is to enforce contracts. Two people make a voluntary agreement, neither should be allowed to break it on a whim. Yet the attorney general wants to turn that tenet on its ear and just tell the insurance companies they need to pay for damage explicitly excluded on the policy.

Don't get me wrong. I feel bad for the people in the Gulf. But that does not mean that insurance agencies should be obligated to pay for claims they did not collect premiums to cover.

Let me give you a quick insurance lesson. Insurance is gambling. You are making a bet that you will have some sort of calamitous event where you will need money that you don't have. You agree to pay small money over time so that MAYBE you will collect a large sum somewhere down the road.

Insurance companies pay, and pay well, people called actuaries whose job is to evaluate risk. They determine how likely an insurance company will have to pay out and then calculate the amount of premiums the insurer needs to collect in order to make a profit. Yes people, a profit. An insurance company wants to make money, not help you out. Evil I know. But think about it. To do this, an insurance company has to take in more in premiums than it pays out in claims. That means, most of the time, people actually pay in more money than they collect. You could do just as well saving that money on your own and investing it wisely than you could by paying an insurance company your monthly premium.

You can't change the rules mid game. It would be like going to Vegas and playing poker. You get a great hand, a Full House, and make bets the entire game knowing you have a great hand. At the end of the game you lay down your cards and believe you beat your neighbor, who has the next highest hand, a straight. As you go to collect your chips, the house informs you that no, indeed for this particular hand, a straight beats a flush, you lose.

In the long run, this would kill the Mississippi economy. Why? If you are an insurer, or really any business, and you know Mississippi is favorable to just rewriting contracts whenever the political climate favors it, what do you do? You don't do business in the state. Now, instead of being able to get home insurance that will cover you in events other than floods, you get NO insurance. Or, at the very least, you get very expensive insurance because there is so little competition among insurers, since most will not take the risk their contract will be invalidated. It isn't just an insurance problem. All businesses will worry that at some point, Mississippi will just turn around and change the rules. It isn't a climate people can profit in. You wouldn't go back to that poker table after they changed the rules on you would you?

Why not just make the insurance companies pay EVERYONE, regardless if they have a claim or not? I mean, who cares if they didn't have a contract before? These people need help, and we all know that need trumps rights.

Comment Spam

Comment Spam just sucks. I really wish Google would find a good way to punish those who engage in comment spam to lower the rankings of such sites until they fall to zero. In the hopes of eliminating the above mentioned comment spam I'm going to try out Blogger's "word verification" comments and see how that works. If this is bothersome to some of my regular commenters let me know.

Airline Bankruptcies: It's Getting Ridiculous

Both Delta and Northwest filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. It's getting a little silly.

Count it now. That is four of the major airlines in the last several years with US Air and United being the other two.

Now I'm no bankruptcy expert, but in my view it is absolutely ludicrous that these huge corporations are allowed to declare bankruptcy, eliminate their debts, and then come back and operate and compete against the other airlines.

If they are going to go out of business, fine, go out of business. In the short term, lots of people will lose jobs, ticket prices will probably go up, and fewer flights will be offered. But in the long term, the overall health of the industry will be a lot better than if we continually prop up failing companies. How is it fair that four of the largest airlines get to continue to operate under bankruptcy protection while the other three get no such privilege. How is it fair that United can default on its Pension obligations, have YOU pick up the tab, and continue to compete against the likes of American and Southwest whose only crime is that they are actually profitable.

Since when is it good to essentialy punish and put at a disadvantage companies that are actually good and can actually turn a profit? If such a system is allowed to continue, it eventually will cause the entire system to come crashing down. It's a simple fact of reality. You can't operate at a loss. It is next to impossible to compete against a competitor who gets subsidized by the government, especially your own government. While this is not a direct subsidy, it is nevertheless a subsidy. Throwing good money at bad business just makes no sense.

Kitty For Sale

I have a kitty for sale. He is a male, three years old, very playful, toilet trained, and will sit on command. If you know a good home for him, please let me know.

This week has not been a good week for me cat-wise. I spent most of my Saturday stuck up a tree, literally. I decided to be a good owner and take Bandit for a walk in the park. When we got there he was a little scared and darted for the nearest tree. Before I could get him he was half way up the tree. If only my problems ended there. He then proceded to keep going up the tree. If you know cats, you know its much easier for them to go up than down.

Try as I might for the next hour or so, Bandit, would not come down. I couldn't leave him there because we were at a park far from home and he has no collar; so if I left, I ran the chance of never seeing him again. So I decided to go up the tree after him. And before you say something, neither the Fire Station, Humane Society, or the Police will come get your cat for you. We called.

By the time I started climbing the tree Bandit was at the highest point in the tree. The branches were much thinner and barely supporting his weight. I am hoping that if I go up the tree Bandit will come down part way, no luck. I am literally 18-20 feet in the air at this point in a very awkward and difficult to hold position but Bandit will not budge. I have to go up the next level of the tree, nothing I'm keen on doing as this is a very thin part of the trunk. Bandit starts motioning toward me but his grip on the tree is precarious at best. Several times, he almost loses his grip. Finally, after about 30-40 minutes in the tree, I'm able to reach out to him and bring him down. You should have seen Bandit, he was very scared until I was able to get him and very grateful as I was brought him down the tree.

But the fun doesn't end there. Yesterday I let Bandit out in the back yard. Big mistake. As I pick him up to bring him in, he isn't too happy. He starts hissing at me. That isn't so bad, I'm use to it, but then he decides to take it a step further. The stupid cat takes both his front paws and swipes at my face; his claws, scratching my face.

So there you have it. If you want a kitty I have one. I'm not asking much so make me an offer.

Americans Are a Bunch of Sheep

Not being a Bush fan, what I'm about to write is going to be very hard.

Four years ago today, in the wake of September 11th, Bush's approval rating was well over 80%. The United States rallied around its leader to form a united front against terrorism. At the time I thought Americans were a bunch of idiots, giving a president, who did little to stop the terrorism in the first place and even less to stop it after the fact, their overwhelming approval.

Now, in the aftermath of Katrina and the anger over soaring gas prices, America has turned the other way, Bush's approval rating has dipped to a low of 39%. And yet I still feel like Americans are a bunch of idiots, or at the very least a bunch of sheep, following whatever the latest trend may be. The latest trend is blaming Bush for every bad thing that happens.

Americans greatly overestimate the influence the President has on their lives. When things are going good, all the praise goes to the President. When things are bad, they all blame him too. The fact is, the President has very little influence on the day to day lives of most Americans. The President has very little influence on the overall direction of the economy. Certainly he sets policy, but he is just one voice, albeit a very loud one, in the very complex machinery that is the United States.

While the federal government has certainly made mistakes over the last few weeks, they can hardly be completely blamed for the devastation that has hit the South. They certainly can't be blamed for the spike in gasoline prices that followed. Yet Americans seem to look to their neighbors to figure out how they should feel. Post 9-11, America was great so Bush was great. Post Katrina, America not so great so Bush is the devil. Believe me, Bush did nothing fantastic that anyone else couldn't have done post 9-11 and he hasn't done anything so heinous recently to suggest the precipitous fall of his approval rating (other than be who he has always been).

Bush is Bush. I feel his policies and politics have remained fairly constant over the course of his Presidency. If you hated him before, you should probably hate him now. If you liked him before, you should probably still like him (but you may want to get your head checked).