Does Bernie Sanders holiday in Greece? He should. He'd like it there. Residing in a special place for the Left Wing is always great where you can say one thing but live the other way. PB
------
From the Economist.com:
BEFORE Greece’s snap elections in September, the outgoing left-wing government laid out plans for a value-added tax of 23% on private education.
The measure, dreamed up by the governing Syriza party as an alternative to raising tax on beef, featured in their manifesto as a blow against plutocracy.
It looked like a double win that would simultaneously please creditors and demonstrate the government’s commitment to helping the underprivileged.
Unsurprisingly, it did neither.
Some of the country’s reasonably priced private schools were forced to close, leaving staff jobless. Elsewhere, fees rose.
Those affected were not just rich families.
Greece has more than 300 full-time private schools, attended by about 6% of school-age children, many of whom come from middle- and lower-income families.
With tuition fees as low as €2,500 ($2,750) a year, some operate in working-class areas and attract parents who are keen to give their children a leg up.
Those whose parents were unable to pay higher fees moved into the already overwhelmed state system.
At the beginning of term in September, Greek schools were short of some 12,000 teachers, according to the ministry of education.
Some predict the shortfall will soon exceed 20,000...
As in so many areas of Greek life, the dispute has highlighted a gap between theory and practice...
But a gap between ideology and real life is something with which many Greeks seem to live quite contentedly.
Take Mr. Tsipras [prime minister]: despite his professed admiration for state provision, he has enrolled his son in a well-known Athenian private school.
------
Link: http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21677382-left-wing-government-aimed-new-tax-rich-it-hit-poor-instead-greece-reconsiders
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Loss of Big Animal Poop Hurting the Planet
Finally, the Washington Post has highlighted a concern that mindful world citizens have had for years.
It's about time more media attention is given to the matter.
We've all felt the sudden urgency, haven't we?
It's time to do something. Shouldn't we turn to Al Gore, like, now? PB
------
From the Amazon Billionaire Owner's Washington Post online edition:
The world that was once home to mammoths and towering dinosaurs can now barely maintain stable populations of rhinos and whales.
But according to a new study, we've got more to mourn than just the animals themselves.
We've lost their feces, too — and that's a bigger problem than you might think.
Why should we miss steaming piles of dinosaur dung?
According to research published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, megafauna play a greater role in the spread of nutrients across the planet than scientists ever realized...
------
Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/10/26/as-large-animals-disappear-the-loss-of-their-poop-hurts-the-planet/
It's about time more media attention is given to the matter.
We've all felt the sudden urgency, haven't we?
It's time to do something. Shouldn't we turn to Al Gore, like, now? PB
------
From the Amazon Billionaire Owner's Washington Post online edition:
The world that was once home to mammoths and towering dinosaurs can now barely maintain stable populations of rhinos and whales.
But according to a new study, we've got more to mourn than just the animals themselves.
We've lost their feces, too — and that's a bigger problem than you might think.
Why should we miss steaming piles of dinosaur dung?
According to research published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, megafauna play a greater role in the spread of nutrients across the planet than scientists ever realized...
------
Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/10/26/as-large-animals-disappear-the-loss-of-their-poop-hurts-the-planet/
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Robots will work for $1.40 hour - how's that salary re-negotiation working out for you?
I, Robot.
Writer Isaac Asimov published the book in 1950.
Actor Will Smith played in the 2004 movie.
Soon enough, robot workers are coming to a neighborhood near you!
Today in Amazon warehouses, robots make human payrolls smaller.
And when payrolls shrink, what happens?
For Amazon, it worked so well that Amazon just flat out bought the company that made the robots - and then stopped making robots for other companies.
It's no surprise that other robot makers have started up.
An excerpt below is from a news story that concludes warehouse robots can be rented for as little as $1.40 an hour.
$1.40 per hour?
I was paid $1.60 an hour flipping steak burgers at Hardee's one summer in the 1970s. But at least back then I didn't have to work several hours to pay for a value meal.
When robots help make the payrolls shrink, what will today's 35 year old to 65 year old displaced man and woman do: take STEM classes from a unionized teacher? PB
------
From Bloomberg.com:
Fetch Robotics [is] one of a handful of startups working on warehouse robots aimed specifically at e-commerce companies.
With the holiday season approaching, the roboticists are pitching the machines as a way to speed up packing without having to hire extra workers.
As with most things in the world of online retail, Fetch exists because of something Amazon.com did.
In 2012, Amazon paid $775 million for warehouse robot maker Kiva Systems; shortly after, it stopped Kiva from selling its machines to anyone else.
“When Amazon drops nearly $1 billion on something just to keep it out of the hands of competitors, it sends a really strong message to the market,” says Bryce Roberts, managing director of seed investor O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, which has invested in Fetch. “It left a big hole that’s still wide open.”
In stepped companies such as year-old Fetch in San Jose and six-year-old Harvest Automation in Billerica, Mass.
Both say their robots can keep up with a briskly walking person for about eight hours on a fully charged battery. Fetch says its basic models can carry as much as 150 pounds; Harvest, 50.
Tim Barrett, the chief operating officer of shipping company Barrett Distribution Centers, says that with eight Harvest prototypes moving goods around its Massachusetts warehouse, the company didn’t need to install a pricey conveyor belt....
The bottom line: Robot makers are readying warehouse models that they say will rent for as little as $1.40 an hour.
------
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-22/the-robots-chasing-amazon
Writer Isaac Asimov published the book in 1950.
Actor Will Smith played in the 2004 movie.
Soon enough, robot workers are coming to a neighborhood near you!
Today in Amazon warehouses, robots make human payrolls smaller.
And when payrolls shrink, what happens?
For Amazon, it worked so well that Amazon just flat out bought the company that made the robots - and then stopped making robots for other companies.
It's no surprise that other robot makers have started up.
An excerpt below is from a news story that concludes warehouse robots can be rented for as little as $1.40 an hour.
$1.40 per hour?
I was paid $1.60 an hour flipping steak burgers at Hardee's one summer in the 1970s. But at least back then I didn't have to work several hours to pay for a value meal.
When robots help make the payrolls shrink, what will today's 35 year old to 65 year old displaced man and woman do: take STEM classes from a unionized teacher? PB
------
From Bloomberg.com:
Fetch Robotics [is] one of a handful of startups working on warehouse robots aimed specifically at e-commerce companies.
With the holiday season approaching, the roboticists are pitching the machines as a way to speed up packing without having to hire extra workers.
As with most things in the world of online retail, Fetch exists because of something Amazon.com did.
In 2012, Amazon paid $775 million for warehouse robot maker Kiva Systems; shortly after, it stopped Kiva from selling its machines to anyone else.
“When Amazon drops nearly $1 billion on something just to keep it out of the hands of competitors, it sends a really strong message to the market,” says Bryce Roberts, managing director of seed investor O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, which has invested in Fetch. “It left a big hole that’s still wide open.”
In stepped companies such as year-old Fetch in San Jose and six-year-old Harvest Automation in Billerica, Mass.
Both say their robots can keep up with a briskly walking person for about eight hours on a fully charged battery. Fetch says its basic models can carry as much as 150 pounds; Harvest, 50.
Tim Barrett, the chief operating officer of shipping company Barrett Distribution Centers, says that with eight Harvest prototypes moving goods around its Massachusetts warehouse, the company didn’t need to install a pricey conveyor belt....
The bottom line: Robot makers are readying warehouse models that they say will rent for as little as $1.40 an hour.
------
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-22/the-robots-chasing-amazon
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Leaders Lead, Unite, and Inspire others to follow. Paul Ryan wants others to follow first. What?
Why does Washington D.C. attract so many earnest political players with high self regard, yet no inner strength of conviction?
Consider Congressman Paul Ryan who wants to be loved, admired, endorsed and obeyed before he would ascend to the throne of Speaker of the House.
That's not leadership. That's weakness.
Has Ryan been in Washington too long?
Ryan is a man who had a national platform in 2012 as Mitt Romney's running mate on the Republican ticket.
With that kind of background and exposure, Ryan should have already led, convinced and achieved full agreement among the Republican members.
He should have already won support for becoming Speaker through his convictions and skills of leadership.
Instead, Ryan is play acting as a leader. He is asking for assurances that occur in courtship. Something is wrong and what is wrong with Ryan is emblematic of our current crop of political leadership.
The varying robust claims about representing the people is a healthy exercise in Washington D.C. That is what Republicans are doing for their voters.
Paul Ryan is showing something other than leadership.
Yes, Ryan could be something more than the "Paul Putin from Janesville." Just like Vlad, we know Paul likes to show that he likes to stay physically fit.
And he likes to talk about making the federal budget get fiscally fit: mostly about bending the curve of government spending at some point in time years from now. (Yea! That's the winning message: let's reshape our curves.)
But Ryan belongs to a type that is flat and hollow, yet buzzes with a settled sense of self-importance that Washington D.C. imputes to people who want to belong to the elect crowd.
Fix that budget! Attend that conference! Explain that chart!
Ryan is a company man.
He is not an entrepreneur. He is not an independent achiever. He is not a leader. He may become the next Speaker of the House.
But what does that mean for you and me? It's not clear.
PB
Consider Congressman Paul Ryan who wants to be loved, admired, endorsed and obeyed before he would ascend to the throne of Speaker of the House.
That's not leadership. That's weakness.
Has Ryan been in Washington too long?
Ryan is a man who had a national platform in 2012 as Mitt Romney's running mate on the Republican ticket.
With that kind of background and exposure, Ryan should have already led, convinced and achieved full agreement among the Republican members.
He should have already won support for becoming Speaker through his convictions and skills of leadership.
Instead, Ryan is play acting as a leader. He is asking for assurances that occur in courtship. Something is wrong and what is wrong with Ryan is emblematic of our current crop of political leadership.
The varying robust claims about representing the people is a healthy exercise in Washington D.C. That is what Republicans are doing for their voters.
Paul Ryan is showing something other than leadership.
Yes, Ryan could be something more than the "Paul Putin from Janesville." Just like Vlad, we know Paul likes to show that he likes to stay physically fit.
And he likes to talk about making the federal budget get fiscally fit: mostly about bending the curve of government spending at some point in time years from now. (Yea! That's the winning message: let's reshape our curves.)
But Ryan belongs to a type that is flat and hollow, yet buzzes with a settled sense of self-importance that Washington D.C. imputes to people who want to belong to the elect crowd.
Fix that budget! Attend that conference! Explain that chart!
Ryan is a company man.
He is not an entrepreneur. He is not an independent achiever. He is not a leader. He may become the next Speaker of the House.
But what does that mean for you and me? It's not clear.
PB
Saturday, October 17, 2015
We Blame the Great Disconnect: McDonald's Franchisees say Brand is in a 'depression'
McDonald's has been confused, and confusing, for years.
The menu boards are as bloated as the 2nd page of a Prescription Drug advertisement.
Confusion kept new customers from coming back.
The company's Dollar Menu promotion stayed too long.
For many years a customer could buy à la carte and save the markup on the value meal bundle.
Snap Quiz for Ms. & Mr. green MBA: when the customer keeps the markup, guess who knows that sooner than corporate HQ?
Constant cheap pricing eventually damaged the equity of the brand by incentivizing loyal users to rethink price vs. value.
When "24/7 promotional" remains 24/7 at the register, it is no longer a promotion: it is the brand.
What will seal McDonald's ultimate doom and make the headline a reality is the ongoing Great Disconnect between the field and the corporate.
That is what the article excerpted below tells me. And ponder the meaning of it a bit longer than the next sip of your $1 small coffee with free refills and a couple of extra creams.
The worrisome Great Disconnect is everywhere: consider the leadership of our political parties, the politicization of our universities plus the Vatican and Big Protestant churches, and add to the list our union operated public schools.
Confused? Of course.
Hopeful? You choose, and act. PB
------
From www.businessinsider.com:
McDonald's franchisees believe the brand is in a "deep depression" and could be facing its "final days," according to a new survey.
"We are in the throes of a deep depression, and nothing is changing," one franchisee wrote in response to the survey by Nomura analyst Mark Kalinowski.
"Probably 30% of operators are insolvent."
Another wrote, "The CEO is sowing the seeds of our demise. We are a quick-serve fast-food restaurant, not a fast casual like Five Guys or Chipotle. The system may be facing its final days."
More than a dozen franchisees expressed frustration with McDonald's management, saying that CEO Steve Easterbrook's turnaround plan — which includes initiatives like all-day breakfast and a shift to digital ordering kiosks — is a distraction from the core issues of McDonald's, like food quality and customer service.
"The lack of consistent leadership from Oak Brook is frightening, we continue to jump from one failed initiative to another," one franchisee wrote.
A second wrote, "I have been in this business since the early 1970s but have not seen us this leaderless in all my time."
The company's reaction to their frustration, one franchisee claimed, is for operators to "get out of the system" and quit the business...
------
Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-franchisees-say-the-brand-is-in-a-deep-depression-2015-10
The menu boards are as bloated as the 2nd page of a Prescription Drug advertisement.
Confusion kept new customers from coming back.
The company's Dollar Menu promotion stayed too long.
For many years a customer could buy à la carte and save the markup on the value meal bundle.
Snap Quiz for Ms. & Mr. green MBA: when the customer keeps the markup, guess who knows that sooner than corporate HQ?
Constant cheap pricing eventually damaged the equity of the brand by incentivizing loyal users to rethink price vs. value.
When "24/7 promotional" remains 24/7 at the register, it is no longer a promotion: it is the brand.
What will seal McDonald's ultimate doom and make the headline a reality is the ongoing Great Disconnect between the field and the corporate.
That is what the article excerpted below tells me. And ponder the meaning of it a bit longer than the next sip of your $1 small coffee with free refills and a couple of extra creams.
The worrisome Great Disconnect is everywhere: consider the leadership of our political parties, the politicization of our universities plus the Vatican and Big Protestant churches, and add to the list our union operated public schools.
Confused? Of course.
Hopeful? You choose, and act. PB
------
From www.businessinsider.com:
McDonald's franchisees believe the brand is in a "deep depression" and could be facing its "final days," according to a new survey.
"We are in the throes of a deep depression, and nothing is changing," one franchisee wrote in response to the survey by Nomura analyst Mark Kalinowski.
"Probably 30% of operators are insolvent."
Another wrote, "The CEO is sowing the seeds of our demise. We are a quick-serve fast-food restaurant, not a fast casual like Five Guys or Chipotle. The system may be facing its final days."
More than a dozen franchisees expressed frustration with McDonald's management, saying that CEO Steve Easterbrook's turnaround plan — which includes initiatives like all-day breakfast and a shift to digital ordering kiosks — is a distraction from the core issues of McDonald's, like food quality and customer service.
"The lack of consistent leadership from Oak Brook is frightening, we continue to jump from one failed initiative to another," one franchisee wrote.
A second wrote, "I have been in this business since the early 1970s but have not seen us this leaderless in all my time."
The company's reaction to their frustration, one franchisee claimed, is for operators to "get out of the system" and quit the business...
------
Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-franchisees-say-the-brand-is-in-a-deep-depression-2015-10
Friday, October 16, 2015
We Blame George W. Obama
------
Jay Cost writing for the Wall Street Journal online:
The Politics of Distrust
What explains the weird unpredictability of the 2016 presidential race?
An anemic economy that has Americans questioning incumbents, doubting experts and worrying about their own prospects
Since the birth of the modern two-party system in the 1830s, Americans have regularly voted their pocketbooks.
For roughly a half century after World War II, the U.S. economy was like Goldilocks.
Economic growth wasn’t as vigorous as it had been between the Civil War and the Great Depression, but it still averaged an impressive 3.6% a year...
But the picture has darkened since the start of the new millennium.
The recession of 2001 was mild, but the growth that followed it was lackluster.
The recovery from the Great Recession has been weaker still.
All told, the average annual growth rate over the last 14 years has been less than half of its previous postwar average—an anemic 1.7%.
Even the stagflation of the 1970s wasn’t nearly so bad, and it was bookended by strong growth in the 1960s and 1980s.
This difference between 3.7% and 1.7% may not sound like much, but it implies trillions of dollars in unrealized growth.
The middle class has felt its absence keenly.
Average real wages and salaries for private-sector workers have barely improved over the last decade.
And the Census Bureau recently noted that the median American male worker has seen no real wage growth in 40 years.
The slowdown has hit the working class especially hard.
The employment level for those without college degrees has fallen much faster than for those with colleges degrees, and job losses have been particularly acute in manufacturing and construction.
All this suggests an economic bifurcation reminiscent of “A Tale of Two Cities”: Those on the higher end of the socioeconomic scale are doing all right, but those on the lower end cannot get the sorts of jobs that let prior generations rise into the middle class...
------
Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-politics-of-distrust-1445015969
Jay Cost writing for the Wall Street Journal online:
The Politics of Distrust
What explains the weird unpredictability of the 2016 presidential race?
An anemic economy that has Americans questioning incumbents, doubting experts and worrying about their own prospects
Since the birth of the modern two-party system in the 1830s, Americans have regularly voted their pocketbooks.
For roughly a half century after World War II, the U.S. economy was like Goldilocks.
Economic growth wasn’t as vigorous as it had been between the Civil War and the Great Depression, but it still averaged an impressive 3.6% a year...
But the picture has darkened since the start of the new millennium.
The recession of 2001 was mild, but the growth that followed it was lackluster.
The recovery from the Great Recession has been weaker still.
All told, the average annual growth rate over the last 14 years has been less than half of its previous postwar average—an anemic 1.7%.
Even the stagflation of the 1970s wasn’t nearly so bad, and it was bookended by strong growth in the 1960s and 1980s.
This difference between 3.7% and 1.7% may not sound like much, but it implies trillions of dollars in unrealized growth.
The middle class has felt its absence keenly.
Average real wages and salaries for private-sector workers have barely improved over the last decade.
And the Census Bureau recently noted that the median American male worker has seen no real wage growth in 40 years.
The slowdown has hit the working class especially hard.
The employment level for those without college degrees has fallen much faster than for those with colleges degrees, and job losses have been particularly acute in manufacturing and construction.
All this suggests an economic bifurcation reminiscent of “A Tale of Two Cities”: Those on the higher end of the socioeconomic scale are doing all right, but those on the lower end cannot get the sorts of jobs that let prior generations rise into the middle class...
------
Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-politics-of-distrust-1445015969
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Obama’s Tragic Legacy for Black Americans
Jason L. Riley writing at the Wall Street Journal online:
At the urging of labor unions, President Obama has pushed for higher minimum wages that price a disproportionate percentage of blacks out of the labor force.
At the urging of teachers unions, he has fought voucher programs that give ghetto children access to better schools.
Both policies have a lengthy track record of keeping millions of blacks ill-educated and unemployed.
Since the 1970s, when the federal government began tracking the racial achievement gap, black test scores in math, reading and science have on average trailed far behind those of their white classmates.
And minimum-wage mandates have been so effective for so long at keeping blacks out of work that 1930, the last year in which there was no federal minimum-wage law, was also the last year that the black unemployment rate was lower than the white rate.
For the past half-century, black joblessness on average has been double that of whites...
------
Link: http://www.wsj.com/article_email/obamas-tragic-legacy-for-black-americans-1444776773-lMyQjAxMTE1MzExNDIxOTQ4Wj
At the urging of labor unions, President Obama has pushed for higher minimum wages that price a disproportionate percentage of blacks out of the labor force.
At the urging of teachers unions, he has fought voucher programs that give ghetto children access to better schools.
Both policies have a lengthy track record of keeping millions of blacks ill-educated and unemployed.
Since the 1970s, when the federal government began tracking the racial achievement gap, black test scores in math, reading and science have on average trailed far behind those of their white classmates.
And minimum-wage mandates have been so effective for so long at keeping blacks out of work that 1930, the last year in which there was no federal minimum-wage law, was also the last year that the black unemployment rate was lower than the white rate.
For the past half-century, black joblessness on average has been double that of whites...
------
Link: http://www.wsj.com/article_email/obamas-tragic-legacy-for-black-americans-1444776773-lMyQjAxMTE1MzExNDIxOTQ4Wj
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Are they back already? Sheeesh!
First it was Reagan, then Bush, now Trump!
What's a sensitive liberal gonna do? Leave!
Those three devils - Reagan, Bush, Trump - made the poor and humble among us ask the eternally modern question, 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?'
In our memory, Reagan made them do it. Look at the Clash record sleeve. Sheeesh!
Then Bush made them do it. Look at Alec Baldwin and other humble Hollywood types. Sheeesh!
Now Trump has made them do it. Look at Barry Diller. (Who? A White Wealthy Liberal Corporate Very Big Man with Money Behind His Mouth.) Sheeesh!
Darlin' you got to let me know:
Should I stay:
or should I go?
But, we should not be alarmed because, in the end, all Americans know the truth like Geraldine Jones knows the truth.
------
Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Jones_%28character%29
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2015/10/07/20151007_014947.htm
http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/24/alec-baldwin-is-done-with-you-america-again/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Should_I_Stay_or_Should_I_Go
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Geraldine Jones the devil made me do it
What's a sensitive liberal gonna do? Leave!
Those three devils - Reagan, Bush, Trump - made the poor and humble among us ask the eternally modern question, 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?'
In our memory, Reagan made them do it. Look at the Clash record sleeve. Sheeesh!
Then Bush made them do it. Look at Alec Baldwin and other humble Hollywood types. Sheeesh!
Now Trump has made them do it. Look at Barry Diller. (Who? A White Wealthy Liberal Corporate Very Big Man with Money Behind His Mouth.) Sheeesh!
Darlin' you got to let me know:
Should I stay:
or should I go?
But, we should not be alarmed because, in the end, all Americans know the truth like Geraldine Jones knows the truth.
------
Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Jones_%28character%29
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2015/10/07/20151007_014947.htm
http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/24/alec-baldwin-is-done-with-you-america-again/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Should_I_Stay_or_Should_I_Go
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Geraldine Jones the devil made me do it
Friday, October 2, 2015
Why the jobs picture is even worse than you think
From CNBC.com:
Just glancing at the headlines made the September jobs report look bad.
Digging inside the details makes it look even worse.
Wall Street fretted over the usual culprits Friday — the collapsing labor force participation rate, the weak wage growth and just the overall softness in the headline nonfarm payrolls figures.
But there was even less than meets the eye here, suggesting that the jobs market may have found its own "new normal" — a prolonged, secular malaise that indicates American workers will be looking at the job recovery's glory days in the rearview mirror.
"It's going to get a lot worse," said Peter Schiff, head of Euro Pacific Capital, who has been predicting doom for the economy and the likelihood that conditions will keep the Federal Reserve handcuffed when it comes to raising rates.
"Right now we're talking about the economy creating fewer jobs than had been expected. There's a good chance that by next year, we're shedding jobs..."
------
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/02/why-the-jobs-picture-is-even-worse-than-you-think.html
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