A debit of gratitude to Bank of America
Michael Hiltzik for the Los Angeles Times:
The big bank’s move created a consumer furor, with consumer activists proposing boycotts by or mass defections of BofA customers to smaller banks without fees, and the bank itself becoming a popular symbol of the financial industry’s supposed disregard for the average customer.
Unfortunately, because of the lobbying power of the banking industry - in particular the big banks like Bank of America - the smaller banks are finding it difficult to compete even with consumer friendly products.
Mr. Obama, in a bit of political salesmanship, will call his proposal the “Buffett Rule,” in a reference to Warren E. Buffett, the billionaire investor who has complained repeatedly that the richest Americans generally pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than do middle-income workers, because investment gains are taxed at a lower rate than wages.
Obama Tax Plan Would Ask More of Millionaires by Jackie Calmes for the NY Times.
This is merely another Obama proposal for the GOP to refuse to enact regardless of how much it makes sense, simply because Obama is not one of them and they protect their own.
The study found that in 33 of 35 occupations, the government actually paid billions of dollars more to hire contractors than it would have cost government employees to perform comparable services. On average, the study found that contractors charged the federal government more than twice the amount it pays federal workers.
Use of Private Contractors Doesn’t Save Government Money by Ron Nixon for the NY Times.
Is anyone really surprised government workers cost almost half the price of a comparable contractor doing the same type of work?
The only reason the GOP believes government workers are overpaid - and I can tell you first-hand they are not overpaid - is because the GOP is digging deep into the back pockets of these contracting firms (ie. General Dynamics, CSC, SAIC, etc). Most Republicans have a vested interest in ensuring these companies can win high priced government contracts - the very contracts used to pay twice as much for comparable government personnel.
Does it make you feel comfortable to know your taxes are going to good use?
Ben & Jerry’s Introduces ‘Schweddy Balls’ Ice Cream Flavor by Eyder Peralta for NPR.
Yes, it is true. This is a real product and not a joke. It’s not April 1st.
TO SEE how profoundly the book business is changing, watch the shelves. Next month IKEA will introduce a new, deeper version of its ubiquitous “BILLY” bookcase. The flat-pack furniture giant is already promoting glass doors for its bookshelves. The firm reckons customers will increasingly use them for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome—anything, that is, except books that are actually read.
IKEA is redesigning its bookcases because they are increasingly not being used to hold books but other little goodies instead. Sales of physical books are being outpaced by ebooks so true bookshelves are becoming unnecessary.
Why bother continuing to sell a product designed to hold a something whose sales are expected to decline to almost nothing in the relatively near future? It seems physical books will mainly become collectors items rather than the mass-market product they are today. But I digress.
It is kind of sad if you think about it. I have always felt a much stronger emotional attachment to my physical books, especially the hardcover ones, than I ever did to my records, cassette tapes and CD’s, even though I listen to music far more often than I read. I may actually miss physical books after they disappear. (via Dan Frommer)
These people fucked me over. The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country. Now they’re trying to show that they’re not the doofuses that they are.
Why Did Carol Bartz Fail at Yahoo!?
The news of Carol Bartz being fired by Yahoo! caused me to think about why people are unsuccessful at running companies. Not just any person, but someone who has not invested blood, sweat and tears in as one of the founding members of the company. Bartz’s firing after her horrible run as the Yahoo! CEO came as no surprise. About the only thing Bartz has been successful at doing was minimizing the potential of premier Yahoo! properties like Flickr, Delicious and some others. From an outsiders perspective it appeared as if Bartz never had any true love for Yahoo!.
After having an interesting business discussion with some close friends, I started thinking about other successful entrepreneurs. With the recent news of Steve Jobs resigning his CEO post from Apple he was, naturally, the first person who came to mind. I pondered what it was that made Jobs so successful at Apple. Other than creating Apple, was he blessed with an extraordinary key ingredient making him a unique businessman?
I believe one of the reasons, if not the main reason, for Jobs being so successful at Apple was because it was his creation. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple so they all had a vested interest in ensuring the success of the very company they built. This was a baby they conceived, arguably more important to Steve than Woz or Wayne (obviously not so much for the latter since he gave up early on).
Just because a founder stays with the company they created does not automatically guarantee success. However, it is an important variable in that equation. If someone spends a vast amount of time and energy assembling the very company they desire, they will generally work harder to ensure success than a similar person without the emotional attachment.
Simply put: founders are better at ensuring the initial and continued success of their companies than outsiders. Just look at Jobs, Gates, Ellison, Bezos, Zuckerberg and the many others out there. At some point an outsider has to come in; we are all human and only live for a finite period of time. It is ultimately better if the founders nurture the company for the first 30-40 years of its life
Building a successful company is more about the ego boost – being able to say, “hey look, I’m a bad mofo!” – than it is about increasing the size of a personal bank account. While the latter is certainly important, being able to look back and revel in the awesomeness of a creation is a lot more rewarding.
This is why Bartz failed at Yahoo! – she was only in it for the bottom line. She worked for Yahoo! not because she believed in the company and its potential but because she believed the company would provide her with valuable compensation.
So it’s not like they simply publish the Android codebase on the Internet. According to Oracle, they “participate in the design and build of […] handsets”. Can you imagine that a company like Samsung, HTC, LG or Sony could still trust Google in this regard if Google actually competes with them through a subsidiary? If Google already intended to give privileged access to Motorola in the past, how can anyone seriously believe that if the acquisition of Motorola Mobility was closed, a wholly owned Google subsidiary named Motorola Mobility would not enjoy key privileges over its competitors?
Google document proposes giving Motorola time-to-market advantage to build Android “lead devices”.
Is anyone really surprised?
During periods when the very rich took home a larger proportion — as between 1918 and 1933, and in the Great Regression from 1981 to the present day — growth slowed, median wages stagnated and we suffered giant downturns. It’s no mere coincidence that over the last century the top earners’ share of the nation’s total income peaked in 1928 and 2007 — the two years just preceding the biggest downturns.
Jobs Will Follow a Strengthening of the Middle Class.
Excellent and timely article on the current state of wages in America. Make sure to check out the accompanying infographic. Pictures are worth a thousand words. (via Gruber)
During Jobs’s six-month leave in 2009, Apple’s stock under Cook’s leadership rose 67 percent, according to CNN. In fact, Apple’s board of directors—in a move nominated by Steve Jobs himself—rewarded Cook with a $22 million bonus for his work in Jobs’s absence; that works out to about $3.6 million each month he filled in for his boss.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
Resignation letter from Steve Jobs to the Apple Board of Directors. Most people assumed Tim Cook would be Steve’s successor, so it’s comforting to know the board is following that plan. While nobody can replace Steve Jobs, Tim Cook seems to be the right man for the job.
I expect the stock to take a huge hit Thursday morning, while investors speculate Apple’s new, uncharted, Jobs-less future. These are interesting times for Apple; this change in leadership should be more exciting to watch than any time in recent history.
So long Steve and thanks for everything you’ve done for a company that was merely days from sure death. I doubt anyone ever thought Apple would be where it is today. Apple being on top of the world is a testament to your leadership and vision.
I’m not quite there yet but if, or probably more appropriately - when, I need reading glasses then these are all mine. They are stylish enough for my taste, plus they are yet another fine Moleskin product. (via Moleskine Unveils Reading Glasses)
There’s a very simple business reason why Google cares if they have your real name. It means it’s possible to cross-relate your account with your buying behavior with their partners, who might be banks, retailers, supermarkets, hospitals, airlines. To connect with your use of cell phones that might be running their mobile operating system. To provide identity in a commerce-ready way. And to give them information about what you do on the Internet, without obfuscation of pseudonyms. Simply put, a real name is worth more than a fake one.
Why Google cares if you use your real name.
The more you use your real name the more money Google will be able to make thanks to their exceptional data mining capabilities. (via Gruber)
Up in arms about the huge gift the Supreme Court just presented to the powerful and wealthy? Anxious about the future of democracy in the U.S.A.? Worried about how your right to free speech getting drowned in billions of dollars of campaigns ads by the likes of Exxon and the Chamber of Commerce?
When you want to take something out of the Facebook borg — well, that isn’t going to happen. And when you do get access to the data, it is in a limited fashion for a select few companies. I have been around long enough to know that companies have a way of putting on a happy face. Just as I don’t buy into the “do no evil” nonsense from Google, I have been skeptical of Facebook and its friendliness.
Facebook & its double standard on sharing.
This is one of the reasons I am rooting for Google+ to succeed. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Facebook scares me a whole lot more than any other social networking or internet-based company right now.
