I get so much junk mail, and so do you. They spend so much on it, and I certainly never read it. There was a time, not so long ago, when the government was set on stopping e-mail spam. Why put so much effort into spam and not into stopping junk mail? Junk mail certainly is more of an ecological burden.
For a typical mailout I bet the price breakdown is something like this:
2 cents for the ad/letter.
47 cents for the postage.
So imagine this. Junkmail served up hot and fresh on a web browser. Each item remains up for One minute and you are compensated 20 cents per view. Everybody wins here. It’s also an opt in system which compensates only those who wish to participate. I might spend an extra 20 minutes a day if it all adds up to an extra mortgage payment. And your investment sure beats the mail that has a one way ticket to my recycle bin.
Ever lost $40 Billion? Citibank has, and now they are trying to fix that. I have to admit though, their efforts seem relatively puny. A stock sale rose only $4.5 Billion and simply will not fill that forty Billion Dollar hole. Does anyone else see a discrepancy here? The word of the day…. Solvency Crises.
Unfortunately Business 2.0 is dead. It really bums me out, that was a great publication and it is hard to duplicate.
There are millions of bloggers, and about a handful of good ones. Within every industry there is room for a consolidation of respectable opinions. Gizmodo, for instance, takes a lot of well respected commentators and rolls them up into one great site that draws tons of influence.
Who are those people in your industry? Why haven’t they joined forces?
When I moved into my new place I decided to opt out of TV service. Most people simply can’t believe that I live without TV, I think it is liberating and allows me to be much more productive. There are certain things that I miss, like History and Military Channels, Football games, HBO, but not that badly. I started buying The Office on DVD, and then I found something fantastic…
Several Months ago I thought Joost was an interesting alternative to my lack of Cable situation. It was a neat idea, but has a lot of room to grow. Then I found HULU. The service streams top notch programs courtesy their agreements with major studios and networks. So now I don’t have to buy the fourth season of The Office. I do, however, have to sit through four or five 15-30 second commericials per episode. No big deal if you ask me. And advertisers certainly know what kind of market they are capturing via this service.
When people look at me like I am crazy for not having a cable box with 400 channels to the tune of $150/month, I just can’t wait for streaming on demand entertainment to dawn on them.
Mars and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway are joining forces on a $23 billion bid for Wrigley. Why the sudden candy craving? During an economic recession there are certain sectors that just don’t seem to lose their taste with consumers. Candy may be one, soft drinks another, and perhaps the best of all is fast food. Most folks will not give up their secret joy’s in life, like candy. It is viewed as a cheap reward/escape which they can treat themselves to.
A few years ago you would have to of been crazy to invest in fast food chains. Healthy eating made itself vogue, and burger box’s were losing money hand over fist. When times are tough though, and money, is tight that dollar menu starts to look like a pretty good deal. On the whole it may also be valid that the consumers who spend on fast food simply do not change their purchasing habits with the dips of the larger economy.
What are some other things that appear recession proof?
I went to the store yesterday with the express intent of loading up on ammunition. It is a task I don’t often take on, so I thought I better do it in bulk while I was there, and I suppose I also knew what I was about to encounter. The price had risen about 60% in one year. The ammunition I was purchasing were 7.62X39 rounds, which are the common round of the AK-47. I was told that there had been five price increases since the beginning of 2008. There are two main reasons for this:
With the AK-47 being the weapon of choice for the majority of the world, the 7.62 is the most common ammunition in the world, and should be the cheapest mass produced round. Over time the manufacturers have shifted their production to the middle east making the 7.62 both hard to find and expensive to buy in the US. The fact that most of the world production is going into the middle east hand over fist is disturbing because IT’S NOT US WHO USE 7.62 ammo.
The second reason for the price increase is a simple factor of commodities. The prices of brass and led are rising, and with them go ammunition.
I went in to buy in bulk and when I saw the price increase over last year I bought a rediculous amount, in fact I bought every single one that the store had. It will be interesting to see what happens to the prices. The AK-47 is a symbol around the world. Everyone knows what it looks like, and that it is the weapon of choice of every enemy the U.S. has had for the last 50 years. Thats one market that doesn’t show any signs of slowing.
Here’s a great video to watch. Notice the Editor of Combat Arms say “when Western Civilization melts down, I want an AK-47″.
Why is it that New York State seems to be a hot bed of zaney tax ideas? Whether its taxing cars in Manhattan or the rich in the state, they are always on the forefront of creating new government revenue.
Well here’s a scary one. They will now tax “large” web retailers a sales tax. This is a dangerous precedent to set. There is no doubt in my mind that once the government gets used to a source of income they will never relinquish it. It’s disheartening. When will it end? When we are effectively taxed at the majority of our income? Where is this money going?
The trend in taxation is out of control. When the governement says that a toll road’s toll will be repealed when the road pays for itself, it never happens. The line must be drawn somewhere… Who will stand up to this.
Factor in all the sales tax you pay with your registration, property tax, state and federal income tax, and you will soon see that 50%+ of your income is going into the governments hands.
I get so much junk mail, and so do you. They spend so much on it, and I certainly never read it. There was a time, not so long ago, when the government was set on stopping e-mail spam. Why put so much effort into spam and not into stopping junk mail? Junk mail certainly is more of an ecological burden.
When I moved into my new place I decided to opt out of TV service. Most people simply can’t believe that I live without TV, I think it is liberating and allows me to be much more productive. There are certain things that I miss, like History and Military Channels, Football games, HBO, but not that badly. I started buying The Office on DVD, and then I found something fantastic…
Mars and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway are joining forces on a