Somabus

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:

1. 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.
2. 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 When the governement says that a toll road’s toll will be repealed when the road pays for itself, it never happens.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 mean are you totally kidding me? Microsoft profits sank over 4 billion dollars. And in this same time frame Google’s profits are up as are Apple’s profits. I hate to say I told you so.

I also hate to say Jim Kramer is a total moron. I remember watching Kramer blabber on and on about how MSFT had the cash flow of a small country and why they were such a solid investment. He is a such a moron.

You don’t need a TV show, or a finance degree to know what works, and what is stagnating in 1996. Microsoft is stagnating my friends. They are doomed by their own failure to adapt, to grow beyond their own success. I still look at some programs and wonder why they looks so remarkably like a dos based Windows 3.1. Why do I still have a hyperterminal icon under accessories and communication. I don’t even have a modem built in to this computer, much less would I use this program to dial up a bulliten board like 1996. The icons have never changed. It’s sad.

Emergence Marketing posted a thought about how marketing is not a conversation.

I couldn’t disagree more. If you are getting positive feedback, and responding to that feedback appropriately; you have just created a conversation.

Run with what gets you affirmation in volume. It will always be more profitable in the long term. There are to many other choices on the table for a marketing manager to dictate a one way narrative.

It’s funny to look back at old cell phones and how cool we thought the prior models were. As time has gone on they have become more advanced, faster, more versatile, and most importantly have more memory.

One thing really stands out to me about this equation though. Why hasn’t anyone taken cell phone memory virtual? Its a real pain to pour a drink on your phone and lose all of your contact information. Without my cell phone directory I would have virtually no one to call. Most people do not back up this information in any form.

If one company allows for a hosted virtual database of contact lists and other cell phone functions it would be a great leap in cellular technology. So many phones allow bolt on applications now that this would not be hard to accomplish at all. Imagine never worrying about losing all of your contact information, or being able to access it at any time. Transferring numbers to new phones would never be an issue. In fact, it would be accessible from any phone with an internet connection.

I bet google could handle this task easily, but so could any small start up.