BlindReason

Your question presumes the market determines it no...

2010-03-06T13:20:56.684-08:00

Your question presumes the market determines it now. Congress is the one that set fleet standards much lower than Europe and Japan-- you don't think that has a huge imapact on what our fleet looks like relative to the rest of the world. Also didn't that huge existing regulation keeping standards out of whack with the ROW contribute to the collapse of the auto industry?

Well, wouldn't it be more rational to let the mark...

2010-03-06T12:23:03.164-08:00

Well, wouldn't it be more rational to let the markets decide that? Of course, as long the state manipulates all kinds of prices and transactions in the energy field, Boone needs to call for even more regulations or subsidies to ride his partiular hobby horse. However, neither he nor anyone else has glass bowl and all these shenanigans havedriven the US and other states ever deeper into debt so that after the crisis they are faced with outright bankruptcy (technically the US is already bankrupt, taking into account the unfunded entitlements that are not accounted for – would be a crime in any privae enterprise by the way).

It is utterly amazing how any professor can keep h...

2010-03-02T08:02:21.431-08:00

It is utterly amazing how any professor can keep his tenure, probably even rise to Nobel fame or be charged with running a (central) bank who still believes that the technically already insolvent OECD states will ever be able to repay even one penny of the debt pile which even doesn't account for unfunded entitlements nor probable future risks nt yet detected (there are alwayssome, believe Murphy ...).

Have a good day John. Saxe

2010-02-26T10:31:50.824-08:00

Have a good day John.

Saxe

Well, I like his proposal on health care with resp...

2010-02-26T10:16:43.401-08:00

Well, I like his proposal on health care with respect to offering cash to Americans to buy preventative and other health care. That I think is the correct approach. I don't know if I'd call Mr. Ryan impressive but some of his ideas are very solid from an economic policy standpoint.

John, Whether you agree or disagree with Mr. Ryan...

2010-02-26T09:39:03.508-08:00

John,

Whether you agree or disagree with Mr. Ryan's proposals, he is an impressive man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxMZ1WdINs&feature=player_embedded This clip of him at yesterday summit explains why the biggest problem with these health bills is the deception used to pass them. They tell the American people that it will reduce deficit $137B, but don't telling them how you get to that number.

Socialism has always required lying, cheating and stealing because the only way to get your way is to shove things down people's throats or lie about what you're doing, or in this case, both.

Another example of deception is the way in which they (the President, Waxman, ,Reid and Sebelius) demagogue Wellpoint's Anthem division in CA. If you haven't seen the actual facts, you should take a look.

Regards,
Saxe

Hi John, I agree with you on the consumption tax,...

2010-02-26T09:27:05.522-08:00

Hi John,

I agree with you on the consumption tax, but unfortunately the radicals running the country want a VAT AND the an increased progressive income tax. You know, "spread the wealth around". Unfortunately, as the 20th century proved, spreading the wealth around results in spreading the poverty around.

On an aside, I run a profitable small business and see many tax increases ahead. And any future income tax is essentially a profit tax. As you well know, the more your profit is taxed, the less risk you'll take with the profit left to you. And the less risk you take with the profit remaining, the less you think about expanding and the more you think about hunkering down with your cash and waiting for a more friendly business environment in three years. Wishfully thinking, perhaps.

Hence, that's why there is very little private investment happening right now, whether it's small business or VC.

Regards,
Saxe

Hi Saxe, I love Paul Ryan's ideas generally, --bu...

2010-02-26T08:44:49.553-08:00

Hi Saxe,

I love Paul Ryan's ideas generally, --but I didn't like that piece. Big tax cuts don't work in liquidity traps which we were in then, and were not experiencing during the Reagan years.

Also, thing the right tax reform for the US would be a consumption tax and stop reliance on an income based tax. We'd raise more money and it would be better for the country. Paul Ryan needs to step it up.

"No matter what your political leanings, it's bene...

2010-02-26T08:36:38.510-08:00

"No matter what your political leanings, it's beneficial to have a healthy debate of new ideas. Instead Mr. Ryan falls back on the old--hey just lower the tax rates to 25% and everything will be okay. In a liquidity trap, low marginal tax rates don't do a lot to help anyone."

Are you serious? If this was true, why did revenue to treasury double over Reagan's time in office. Cutting taxes from high to lower raised has historically always generated more revenue to treasury.

Perhaps you're more concerned with ideas being "captivating and bold" rather than ones that actually work in the real world.

Thanks,
Saxe

True, firstly, they can't eat dollars nor will the...

2010-02-24T21:07:31.332-08:00

True, firstly, they can't eat dollars nor will they be of much value once the dollar collapses nor are they themselves financially healthy with all their hard to diagnose cooked books.

I've read Google's privacy page (quite well done, ...

2010-02-23T11:26:18.623-08:00

I've read Google's privacy page (quite well done, read it, I recommend it). I've heard what Eric said about security. I don't understand why everyone is laying this all at his feet.

he said "if you are concerned about your privacy, you shouldn't be doing things you don't want people to know.(sic)" that's a factual statement and not hubris. He's saying that we are naive if we think our stuff is private. What he is NOT saying is that Google will intentionally violate it's stated privacy policies.

Guys and gals, the big thing he IS saying, and you all want to brush it off like it is nothing is that the patriot act, and other laws now in place, prevent Google from stopping the government from accessing your info. You can go to 20 different online companies and spread your info around, and all 20 companies will surrender your info if the FBI shows up with a simple letter demanding such.

Our battle is with our government and the patriot act and warrantless searches.
Our President believes he can access your location by directly interfacing with the phone company and pinging your phone location. He argues in front of a judge and says "citizens do not have an expectation of privacy when using a cell phone." He considers the phone company a public service and your relationship is with the public, not with a private corporation.

The evil is NOT Google, by a LONG shot.

Me again :0) Part of my problem was that I had no ...

2010-02-23T05:45:08.982-08:00

Me again :0) Part of my problem was that I had no idea how it worked. I did try checking before and couldn't find the info but I just looked again and found the instructions etc.

It's not what I thought it was, I thought it posted my online activity to followers - sites I visit etc.

It looks something like twitter/facebook to me only easier to connect with people you've emailed with.

So I am not really seeing what the privacy issue is although I would have liked to have had more information about it from the start and an option to add it rather than an option in a small link at the bottom of gmail to delete it.

It still seems like a funny way to go about it but I'm not seeing it as being any different than the other social network type things unless I'm missing something?

I happen to be a little paranoid, but everyone's f...

2010-02-23T05:38:54.567-08:00

I happen to be a little paranoid, but everyone's freaking out is totally unwarranted. When I set Buzz up, I set up all my privacy settings the way I wanted them. I created a sharing group with my followers, connected only the services I wanted, set up a limited public profile, started sharing on the network PRIVATELY and I watch what I'm typing on others' public posts.

Everything was explained to me the first time I clicked on the new 'Buzz' icon in Gmail. I really dont understand why everyone is freaking out just because a couple people don't understand the security settings. You know all those followers you claim you didnt want? All they could see is anything that was public in the first place!

For that matter, anyone else find this issue a lit...

2010-02-23T04:26:30.366-08:00

For that matter, anyone else find this issue a little convenient - I smell another witch hunt coming on...

http://gizmodo.com/5477367/chinese-hacker-responsible-for-google-attack-code-identified

I have no idea how buzz works, all I know is that ...

2010-02-23T04:21:23.468-08:00

I have no idea how buzz works, all I know is that I now have a list of people following me who I never gave permission to and I'm following people in the buzz button of my gmail. I have no interest in having anyone follow my online activity with or without my permission.

I have nothing to hide, I just don't like to feel I'm being watched.

To be honest, I've been wondering about a lot of things lately concerning the big picture and the state of almost everything right now and google has been one of them.

Seems to me that if someone was in the market to do a lot of snooping, Google would be the perfect set up. What DOESN'T Google have it's tentacles around these days, accessing info in every one of them.

stupid google. I kinda like em, I kinda don't. T...

2010-02-23T00:55:54.837-08:00

stupid google.

I kinda like em, I kinda don't.

They are too high and mighty for my tastes, and I've got dirty hands.

...but if privacy REALLY doesn't matter, I want more than his search history + contacts. I want to see the google search algorithms made public and updated frequently. I want to know what all of their pet projects are. Open it all up to the public.

Naive idiots. I need to remind myself sometimes that there are still human beings behind the monolithic name of "Google" and like all people are prone to hypocrisy.

Pretty much my sentiments. Thank you.

2010-02-22T20:31:57.630-08:00

Pretty much my sentiments. Thank you.

Google using G-mail to give them an unfair advanta...

2010-02-22T18:48:37.530-08:00

Google using G-mail to give them an unfair advantage for Buzz, hmmmm … sounds a little like since you own the operating system, wouldn’t it be great if you built your own productivity apps and browser? I guess you “don’t do evil” until you obliterate the original evil empire and then you well … I think Google will either learn from the past or be destined to repeat it. Everyone’s a democrat until they start making money.

@xedecimal. Thanks for the feedback. Just so you ...

2010-02-22T18:02:11.344-08:00

@xedecimal. Thanks for the feedback. Just so you know, i am not a professional blogger and the only way this works is if I write things fast--and that often means typos especially in a longer piece. I really should put a rep and warranty at the top that says that. Thanks for catching them and the volunteer editing.

You need to replace your smell cehcker. 'Those tha...

2010-02-22T17:52:24.460-08:00

You need to replace your smell cehcker. 'Those that sacrifice essentially liberty' should be 'essential', mis-steps, 'does Google they know that' how about 'do they know that?' ... There's more than that too... I'd suggest against publishing things that you may read later and find embarrassing.

Thank you. It's in Google's interest to address th...

2010-02-22T17:49:35.715-08:00

Thank you. It's in Google's interest to address this effectively. I hope they do.

Very well put. I've never questioned my use of Go...

2010-02-22T17:31:22.661-08:00

Very well put. I've never questioned my use of Google's stuff, being a heavy user of Google Reader and of course the search and now using Gmail pretty much exclusively. Up until the recent issues with Google, I've never really questioned anything being safe. Now I wonder.

I am sensing some subtle sarcasm. I agree that so...

2010-02-22T06:15:58.090-08:00

I am sensing some subtle sarcasm. I agree that something needs to be done to drastically cut costs. My guess is Congress will do that after it has tried everything else.

But what he's not telling the people of California...

2010-02-22T05:34:49.857-08:00

But what he's not telling the people of California or the Union is that he (or any successor of whatever party!) is never going to repay the public debt. And that willlead investors to head for the exit which even more so leads to a credit crunch for a state that sorely needed trust.

I think I prefer to obstruct any change to the cur...

2010-02-22T05:24:01.638-08:00

I think I prefer to obstruct any change to the current system. The status quo is preferable - who cares if our great country breaks under the cost of unaffordable health care? Politics should and will come first!