#economics

A micropayments system assumes a solution to the mental accounting problem. If somebody could actually solve the this problem, rather than merely claiming to have solved it via some mysterious means ("intelligent agents", et. al.), the savings would be enormous even in existing business such as long distance and Internet service -- not to mention all the new possibilities possible by lower transaction costs.

Generations ago we traded our ability to support ourselves off the land for the coordinated, collective action known as The State

Generations ago we traded our ability to support ourselves off the land for the coordinated, collective action known as The State

American companies have been pretending to offer a superior product for a superior price while simultaneously cutting costs and cheating customers.

American companies have been pretending to offer a superior product for a superior price while simultaneously cutting costs and cheating customers.

Mitt Romney has said, in effect, “I’m rich and I don’t apologize for it.” Nobody wants you to, Mitt. What some of us want—those who aren’t blinded by a lot of bullshit persiflage thrown up to mask the idea that rich folks want to keep their damn money—is for you to acknowledge that you couldn’t have made it in America without America.

Amendment 1092 to the Defense Authorization Act of 2012 is a well-intentioned but misguided provision outlining measures designed to reduce the prevalance of counterfeit chips in the US military supply chain.

These projects are all very different, but the dynamic is the same. Someone builds a cool, free product, it gets popular, and that popularity attracts a buyer. The new owner shuts the product down and the founders issue a glowing press release about how excited they are about synergies going forward. They are never heard from again. Whether or not this is done in good faith, in practice this kind of 'exit event' is a pump-and-dump scheme. The very popularity that attracts a buyer also makes the project financially unsustainable. The owners cash out, the acquirer gets some good engineers, and the users get screwed.

And for its part, the McRib makes a mockery of this whole terribly labor-intensive system of barbecue, turning it into a capital-intensive one. The patty is assembled by machinery probably babysat by some lone sadsack, and it is shipped to distribution centers by black-beauty-addicted truckers, to be shipped again to franchises by different truckers, to be assembled at the point of sale by someone who McDonald’s corporate hopes can soon be replaced by a robot, and paid for using some form of electronic payment that will eventually render the cashier obsolete.

"This problem is made worse by the fact that actually paying for your health care is a loss from an insurers’ point of view — they actually refer to it as “medical costs.” This means both that insurers try to deny as many claims as possible, and that they try to avoid covering people who are actually likely to need care. Both of these strategies use a lot of resources, which is why private insurance has much higher administrative costs than single-payer systems. And since there’s a widespread sense that our fellow citizens should get the care we need — not everyone agrees, but most do — this means that private insurance basically spends a lot of money on socially destructive activities."

"We all know that there's no fucking way in the world we should have microwave ovens and refrigerators and TV sets and everything else at the prices we're paying for them. There's no way we get all this stuff and everything is done fair and square and everyone gets treated right. ... everything you own, it's all done on the backs of millions of poor people whose lives are so awful you can't even begin to imagine them, people who will do anything to get a life that is a tiny bit better than the shitty one they were born into, people who get exploited and treated like shit and, in the worst of all cases, pay with their lives."

"There should be a clear distinction in public policy between the requirement for essential activities to survive and the continued existence of particular companies engaged in their provision."

"Are we running out of oil? The question seems silly. "Yes" is the obvious answer. Or is it? That there is less oil in the ground today than there was yesterday is true. That there was less oil in the ground yesterday than there was in 1870 is also true. But "running out of oil" is not as much a question of physics as it is one of economics. And economics assures us that we will never run out of oil." So I guess this guy is saying oil will get horrendously expensive before it physically runs out. Isn't that, umm, pretty f'ing horrible too?

"In 1999, former Senator Phil Gramm (who is, incidentally, Senator John McCain's economic adviser and cochairs his presidential campaign) set out to completely gut the Glass-Steagall Act, and did so successfully,"

"But the gaming industry is still growing, dung-hoarding Turd Baron."

"Coffee futures may spike next year because of a looming shortage of green coffee beans caused by growing consumer demand coupled with an off year in Brazil's biennial crop cycle."

"If, as software publishers insist, we don't buy their products but only license them, why are then required to pay property or sales tax as if they were normal purchases? And how should businesses calculate their capital expenses, depreciation, etc. on a