Domain: ft.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to ft.com.
Comments · 760
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Yellowstone
USGS simply can't predict when eruptions of the magnitude that you are talking about will occur. So they are never going to say something as alarmist as "Yellowstone is due to erupt". To draw that conclusion from a mere three data points was extremely irresponsible of whatever journalist was the source of this meme. In fact USGS says this about Yellowstone's potential for a catastrophic eruption (ref)
Thanks for the link. However I'm left wondering how much this was affected by the Bush admin, who has been cited a number tymes for altering science they didn't agree with even though they didn't have the qualifications, suppressing it, or totally ignoring science.
Falcon -
Re:Elections is coming...
What a shame. Heck, let's have supreme lea...errr, strong president then.
"Strong president" is so last year. A week ago they've come up with a new title for our beloved President to assume after his retirement as such - "national leader" who will serve as a "check on all three branches of government ... representing the people as a whole". That comes directly from the ruling pro-President "United Russia" party. They've said that, should they win the parliamentary elections, they will call for a referendum to assemble a "Civil Council" that would then draft the so-called "pact of civil unity" that will establish the "national leader" title for Putin, and which is to be signed by all political forces in the country (including all political parties).More info:
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It's not over yetdid they make more or less profit than what they would have made with the standard sales method? The thing is, Radiohead isn't done making money off this record. They still plan to release it as a regular CD, in stores, with regular record company promotion. The Financial Times went so far as to call the whole scheme "a promotional tactic to boost sales of CDs." I like what they're doing here, but I think slashdot is completely exaggerating how revolutionary this is -- here is a well known band that is going to make money no matter what, and they're putting this online tip jar out there ultimately to promote the sale of more of their traditional market CDs. If you want something a bit more radical check out Niggy Tardust, the collaboration between Saul Williams and Trent Reznor. Download 128 kbps mp3 for free, or pay 5 bucks to download 320 kbps quality. No tip jar encouraging people to give more than that, no record company, and no physical CD. That may not be the best model either, but these guys are taking a much bigger risk than Radiohead.
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The article wasn't clear exactly....why he was being charged with insider trading. I was to say he really botched it if he bought, but he sold because of the numbers not being met according to the prosecution.
It sounds like he thought he was going to get the contracts but the NSA stuck it to him for not helping them spy. Now, the conspiracy theorist in me wants to believe that the NSA not only tanked the contracts, but also put the prosecutors on him to really make an example out of him.
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Where do you get your wrong assertion from?
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/26/education.rankings.reut/index.html
Vietnam is nowhere to be found.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e75e94c0-5df7-11db-82d4-0000779e2340.html
Vietnam is significantly behind the US in every metric listed.
http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/snapshot/sf011210.htm
Again, Vietnam is nowhere to be found.
"It's not exactly PC to point it out but the average person from South Eastern country like Vietnam is light years ahead intellectually compared to the average Pakistani. Or for that matter the average American or English person."
I think that comment reflects your own education (or lack of) more than reality. -
More right wing Ostriching
As to India or China "surpassing" the US, what does that mean? Surpassing the US in what? Manufacturing? Good! That's economic specialization that creates efficiencies for everyone. Not only is talk of "surpassing" mere economic scare-mongering (did we learn nothing from such silliness when the Japanese were supposed to "surpass us" in the 1980s? Where are the Japanese today? Economic stagnation), it makes erroneous straight-line projections that ignore very important long term considerations of demographics and other factors. The US economy will be a large and important factor in the global economy for the foreseeable future. But the global economy continues to grow and evolve and the US economy continues to change from its post-WWII dominance (unsurprising since it was the only intact industrial economy on the planet) to an important player in a dynamic specialized global economy.
1) China is already attacking the United States electronically. They're hacking into our military systems and developing anti-satellite weaponry. An anti-democratic hyperfascist dictatorship that harvests its own prisoners for involuntary organ donations is not the kind of country any sensible person wants to surpass us technologically. Especially when they're attacking us on the sly. Documentation: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9dba9ba2-5a3b-11dc-9bcd-0000779fd2ac.html
2) Japan has surpassed us. Have you seen the high tech gadgets they have, as compared to us? Hello, bullet train? If Japan were to militarize right now, we'd be in a heap of it up to our necks. Oh and let us not also discuss how Japan has utterly gutted America's automobile industry. Japan, surpass America? They did that long ago, economic stagnation or not. Do you need me to provide you documentation on the superiority of the Japanese automobile industry, and the insolvency of America's once dominant counterpart?
3) Go look up China and "sterilization accounts". In short, they are preparing to be able to sell off US debt and dollars without themselves being harmed (whether they'll actually do it or not is another issue). In fact, China has threatened to do just that to America.
Documentation: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/08/07/bcnchina107a.xml&site=1&page=0
If China surpasses the US, they clearly intend to wield their power over us in a very hostile way.
But you being a greedy capitalism-at-all-cost fanatic cannot grasp the concept of national security. Just wait until oil is traded on the Euro. Then you'll understand.. the hard way. -
Re:HypocrisyThat sizeable part is more like the lunatic fringe such as and including, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. There isn't anyone seriously questioning if the US is more credible than Iran. I'm sure you can find protest groups and fringe movements in nearly every country INCLUDING the US but no one is listening to these people or taking them seriously.
I don't know, maybe I'm biased since I live in Europe, but calling whole of Europe a fringe movement doesn't sound fair to me.
Check out this recent survey from the Financial Times
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Who's the daddy?
"In a carefully stage-managed meeting in Beijing with a senior Chinese official, which, unusually, was open to the media, Thomas Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice-president for worldwide operations, read out a prepared text that played down the role of Chinese factories in the recalls."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/99b42156-683a-11dc-b475-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F99b42156-683a-11dc-b475-0000779fd2ac%2Cdwp_uuid%3D9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
So... Who needs who more?
Yeah, China will be on the moon before the USA. -
Re:Incoming calls are free in the UKWhich is pretty much like going to Canada and having to pay $3 a minute roaming charges... Are the roaming charges in Europe as bad as they are here?
Same deal, it's just a matter of geographic scale. US States tend to be on the same scale as European countries.
The EU is due to cap the roaming charges, and many providers have already started cutting the charges in anticipation of the cap. I pay 0.55 euro per minute roaming, which is a lot less than I used to pay and is just inside the cap of 0.49 euro +tax (12.5% in the UK): http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/81ea23c6-0913-11dc-a349-000b5df10621.html. If I step outside the EU, but still in Europe -- well, it depends where I go. If I go into Norway my roaming charges stay the same. If I go to Serbia they jump to 2.42 euro per minute
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Re:The Goose That Laid the Golden EggsI fail to understand why China would be the first to break the status quo, except out of sheer malice They won't. But the oil producers might. They're selling the US oil and getting (soon to be worthless) bits of paper in return, and they basically hate the US anyway for it's continued meddling and interference. If the dollar continues to fall, they'll migrate their reserves (oh so slowly and carefully) into something else instead.
http://business.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4743620 07
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/27/business/do llar.php
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/277471c2-8889-11db-b485-00 00779e2340.html
And so it starts...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/01/09/AR2006010901042_pf.html
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&i d=3436
Even the US's strongest ally, Japan is planning to move away:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&si d=aoJJUD7FH_7Q&refer=home
The question is, will it be a slow, smooth change over decades allowing people to get used to higher inflation and higher interest rates, or will it be a disruptive one, bankrupting millions? With the social consequences of revolution, coups, civil wars, fascist dictatorships. Markets tend towards the latter as a gentle decline turns into freefalling panic... -
Re:Yeah, right.
I smell someone making an argument to get a better deal.
Doubly suspicious since the family friendly Blockbuster Rental stores simply will be stocking mostly Blu-Ray.
"Paramount's move comes weeks after Blockbuster, the DVD rental chain, said it would stock more Blu-ray discs to cope with rising consumer demand."
From the article here;
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e8569e16-4f61-11dc-b485- 0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b 5df10621.html -
Re:Mod Parental Unit Up!
oh and this just in:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/80fa0a2c-49ef-11dc-9ffe-00 00779fd2ac.html -
Would you like to know why this is?
Let me quote an AT&T (SBC, so yes, this represents the Cingular side) executive for you on data:
From the Financial Times:
"We have to figure out who pays for this bigger and bigger IP network," said Mr Whitacre, who was in New York ahead of AT&T's annual presentation to investors and analysts on Tuesday. "We have to show a return on our investments.?
"I think the content providers should be paying for the use of the network, obviously not the piece from the customer to the network, which has already been paid for by the customer in Internet access fees, but for accessing the so-called Internet cloud.". . . . ."They might pass it on to their customers," he says of the fees that he wants to charge the sites.
How does this apply to wireless, and in particular, the iPhone?
Simple. A quote from Ed Whitacre's sucessor (Randall Stepheson, or RS: in the following interview) explains that. From Gigaom :
OM: AT&T is a fearsome company now, with a weight of its legacy. Any first day jitters?
RS: ... The new AT&T is wireless at the core in terms of great new handsets; in terms of enabling true anytime, anywhere mobility that our customers want and in terms of being innovative and service-oriented. If there are any jitters, it's from the excitement running through this company about our prospects.
OM: There are a lot of challenges facing the company. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing AT&T as a company and you personally?
RS: Our biggest challenge as a company is to ensure that our customers really understand what the new AT&T is all about. We are the most complete communications and entertainment provider for the way people live-and that starts with wireless. When people recognize that, we win. It's the same on the business side.
My personal challenge is to make sure that the pieces we've assembled-industry-leading wireless, TV, broadband, global operations and local service work together as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
OM: How vital is iPhone to your company? I have never seen AT&T push something so hard that wasn't developed internally. Why is that?
RS: The iPhone is a radically innovative new device and it only makes sense that AT&T and Apple would partner to bring it to market. This device is very important to us, it's important to Apple and it is going to do very well with customers. It also reinforces with consumers that AT&T is the place to turn for the latest in wireless devices and services.
How do I read this? AT&T feels that content providers (Google, Yahoo, AOL, CBS, etc . . .) should pay for each individual customer's access on a per-usage basis. AT&T also feels that wireless devices are the cornerstone of their future in ALL realms of connectivity, including business and entertainment.
It only follows naturally that being able to account for *every single packet* a customer uses is part of that billing strategy. You aren't going to be billed by AT&T on that basis; they're going to bill Google et al, and you'll get a bill from the content provider. Let me quote Whitacre again: They might pass it on to their customers," he says of the fees that he wants to charge the sites. .
Clear as day. If you don't see this coming a mile away, there's something wrong with you. -
Re:North Korea
Bravo, that is pretty much how most people outside (and maybe/hopefully inside?) the US see the situation. BTW, I think that North Korea has missiles that can reach the US, may need a grain of salt with that article tho.
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Re:...just rememberAnd don't mention it on a job application
Employers in Europe are free to refuse smokers a job, confirming their status as the continent's last pariahs.
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Re:USA tests
so if china does it it's shocking, i wonder what it'd be called if you yanks did it
they already have, back in 1985...
This is probably just to justify the increasing military spendings in the US. If anything, the Americans should be celebrating that the Chinese is around 20 years behind in this field of weaponry.
Please also look at this article I found:
China's destruction of an obsolete weather satellite, similar to past tests conducted by the US and the Soviet Union, exploits this failure. Both China and Russia have for years urged the US to agree to a ban on space weapons and the use of force against satellites, but the US refused to negotiate, instead announcing a policy last year that boldly asserts US national rights in space.
According to Wikipedia, too, China has been trying to negotiate with the US on banning space weapons. Yet the US would rather not do it.
Of course, don't expect any of this to be on your local newspaper... -
Do no Evil...By Any Means NeccesaryFrom The Financial Times online: (link)
Google went over the heads of justice department and state regulators to appeal directly to a federal judge to impose greater restrictions on the software company.
Does skipping steps in the legal process, (steps that the average small company would have to take) count as doing no evil? -
All your phones are belong to the feds'They want to be in contact with them at all times.' 24/7 contact has been perfected since around 1997 -- with cell phones and pagers everyone is pretty much always in contact now unless they specifically choose not to be. So that purpose can't have anything to with the need for "presence technologies" and is most likely a red herring to mislead people from the true purpose of the technology. The surveillance aspect is separate from just contacting employees, and seems to be where the focus really is.
What people don't know is that cell phones already have sophisticated built-in surveillance systems that work even when the phones seem to be off
A 16-year-old girl in Washington state, her mother, aunt, and friends, are going through a nightmare right now with a stalker recording conversations through the cell phone mic and viewing their actions through the cell phone camera even when the phone seemed to be off. Covering the camera lens with tape and taking out the battery from the phone seems to be the only defenses that work.
from the article:According to James M. Atkinson, a Massachusetts-based expert in counterintelligence who has advised the U.S. Congress on security issues, its not that hard to take remote control of a wireless phone. You do not have to have a strong technical background for someone to do this, he said Tuesday. They probably have a technically gifted kid who probably is in their neighborhood.
If cell phone surveillance is so easy to abuse, then our intelligence agencies are probably abusing it.
What would be the best tool to track large numbers of US Citizens ("terrorists?") at once? "Presence Technologies" would make it very easy to abuse whole groups of people at once. The FBI made secret tapes of Martin Luther King to discredit him, then made preparations to promote someone "to assume the role of leadership of the Negro people when King has been completely discredited".
Once the technology is perfected, it won't be any harder to add to all the cell phones in the US than the remote listening capabilities were. Tools like this would reduce the amount of manpower it would need to track many thousands of people at once, and make recordings to privately threaten them with when necessary. Projects like the defunct "Total Information Awareness" demonstrate the desire of the government to know "everything" about it's citizens.
Wired magazine predicted all this in 2001 .
Because if it can be abused, it will. -
Google?A clean energy update
Google pushes 100-mpg car
Google plugs in and goes greenFrankly, I'm surprised this hasn't made it to a
/. article yet. -
Re:Hope...
Certainly Sony knows that the Wii is currently selling because of a combination of price and hype. Hype wasn't mentioned because the question Stringer was asked was about the PS3's price. You'll notice that Sony is trying to combat the hype problem elsewhere, like in their new blog.
BTW, here is a transcript of the interview in question. You'll also notice that Stringer did counterargue the idea that the Wii is selling better because it's more fun.
Rob -
Re:No surprise to those watching ChinaChina has had a massive, documented, and concerted effort to get people of all stripes, from authors to analysts to politicians to government officials to individuals members of societies such as yourself, to believe they are no longer "Communist". Apparently it's working quite well. Right... It's all a big conspiracy. 1000 million Chinese are all in on it!!!!!!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/db3a3248-19be-11dc-99c5-00 0b5df10621.html
It's actually much worse than communism. Now, the whole world is going to have to compete with the chinese. -
a shark attack will probably kill you
but getting in a car accident usually just leaves you with a sore neck
yet by your logic i should freak out every time i'm near the ocean, and never swim in it again, and constantly worry about getting eaten by a shark... but go ahead and drive dui, or drive while chatting on my cell phone, etc., without a second thought
come to think of it, this gives you the typical risk calculating profile of the average joe: unable to compute simple probability versus hysterical sensationalism. this is why people fear airplane rides, but have no problem getting on highways with teen drivers holding emotional conversations with their girlfriends, truckers hopped up on methamphetamine, soccer moms chatting on their cell phone and scolding their children in the rear view mirror, etc. airplane rides are orders of magnitude more safe than driving a car, but a car has the illusion of control: you're behind the steering wheel. on an airplane, you're helpless in your little seat, a piece of cargo. on the highway, even though you can't control the 100 assholes you drive by on a typical trip, you feel like you are safer: your hands on the steering wheel
it's psychological, this illusion, this inability to properly calculate real risk, warped as it is by your sense of control or lack thereof. it explains your weird scenario of men in black randomly framing you with random crimes, versus your relaxed attitude towards a company that can link your identity with your private searches. in one scenario, you feel like you are in control, typing away by choice at your computer, but with your government, you feel helpless in your ability to control a monolithic bureacracy seemingly above any accountability or reason in your paranoid b-level hollywood plot fantasies
the chance of your personal private searches being traced to your identity uniquely and sold and probed by a search engine is orders of magnitude higher than men in black suits deciding to abduct you and stick alien probes up your anus or whatever your paranoid imagination is full of
in other words, maybe you should worry about the damage to your privacy at the hands of google (likely, considering their publicly stated plans) than death at the hands of your government (much worse, but a couple of million times less likely, despite your regular diet of hollywood dreck) -
i've been saying it for a long time nowbut google has a darling reputation with the slashdot crowd, derived from circa 2002 when it was a darling upstart challenge to the dominant players
however, the slashdot crowd, enamored as it with privacy, is beginning to learn that "do no evil" is just a marketing slogan, and that, in fact, in cases like this, as with doubleclick, as with cooperation with authoritarian china, as with data retention of searches, that google isn't really such a darling company any more
it is my prediction that within 5 years, due to google's massive ability to read and retain so much data about our lives that would otherwise be anonymous and private, that you will see google become something hated on slashdot far more than something like microsoft, and approaching the hatred the usual slashdot crowd reserves for the likes of ashcroft or the current neocons in the white house. in 2 years time, this crop of neocons will be long gone. google won't. google will still be growing, feeding on all of our data
mark my words folks, from the left, from the right, you will all come to loathe google, for a myriad of privacy intruding reasons, that are only thickening day by day
google's CEO on record saying google will eventually know more about you than you will know about yourself:Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said gathering more personal data was a key way for Google to expand and the company believes that is the logical extension of its stated mission to organise the world's information.
Asked how Google might look in five years' time, Mr Schmidt said: "We are very early in the total information we have within Google. The algorithms will get better and we will get better at personalisation.
"The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as 'What shall I do tomorrow?' and 'What job shall I take?'"
The race to accumulate the most comprehensive database of individual information has become the new battleground for search engines as it will allow the industry to offer far more personalised advertisements. These are the holy grail for the search industry, as such advertising would command higher rates.
Mr Schmidt told journalists in London: "We cannot even answer the most basic questions because we don't know enough about you. That is the most important aspect of Google's expansion."
if some of you are still worried about microsoft, and haven't redirected your focus on google as basically the most evil thing happening on the Internet/ in the realm of privacy today, you are behind the times, your stereotypes are outdated -
Everybody's missing the point
Did anybody read the last line of the same article on http://www.ft.com/cms/s/51c32f3c-0efc-11dc-b444-0
0 0b5df10621.html and scratch their head?
"Microsoft is either going to have to support this or do something like it," says David Mitchell Smith
Seems to me that Google Gears is merely an answer to Microsoft's ActiveX techlology. This web-to-desktop link concept is not new. Google is guilty of what MS usually does.
1) Copy somebody else's successful idea.
2) Dump several million $$$ into it to integrate it tightly with their platform
3) Call it innovation. -
Re:No Safari or Opera Support
I'm not sure about Safari, but as far as Opera goes, this article says that it supports it.
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Re:Economics
Very true. I just read an article about the world's most successful hedge fund manager (2006 compensation: $1.7 billion), who's a total math geek and hires the same. When you consider the essence of a lot of financial industries is extracting signals from gobs of noisy data, there are all sorts of applied scientists who would be a good fit. Astrophysicists, for example. Made me seriously consider going to grad school for applied math instead of econ.
And don't go into consulting. I've been there, and it sucks. -
mmmmm
now we just need the microsoft google alliance and we can do anything!!!!1one
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c3e49548-088e-11dc-b11e-00 0b5df10621.html -
Sorry, no.
That whole "give away so much that they cannot use all the Data" might have worked back when all was done by humans.
Nowdays, you just buy some more computers to do the datamining and cross-referencing. Dont worry, there are thousands of PHDs working at google to make 1984 a reality.
(Dont believe me? Take a look what googles CEO says here : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c3e49548-088e-11dc-b11e-00 0b5df10621.html . In short, a quote: "The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as 'What shall I do tomorrow?' and 'What job shall I take?'") -
Re:Google already does it...
Well, if you want to know what Google's up to, just see what its two founders are currently talking about . They want to tell you the sort of job you'd be best suited to, and what they think you should do tomorrow. No sir, can't do THAT without Google. Point is, they're actually saying something far creepier than anything MS is saying, if you ask me.
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Oh, please, this is reactionary
It looks like MS is now going to copy everything that Google does. You know, just to stay ahead of the herd.
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So does Slashdot's favorite:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c3e49548-088e-11dc-b11e-0
0 0b5df10621.html
Of course, they will only use it for good. -
Re:Given the gravity and nature of the chargesNo, just the opposite. He's perfect for true justice. Hell yes. That's twice in a month that the British judiciary have "done the right thing" at cost to their own reputation:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9e6f0dae-f4eb-11db-b748-00 0b5df10621.html
(subscription article, but the free first para tells you all you need to know)
Now all that needs to happen is for the expert witnesses to actually BE experts, or at least that where there are differing expert views that they are all presented in court. -
Re:party problem
Ah, but you see, the parties themselves aren't really all that big a problem, and in fact, help to maintain stability of the nation. Face it, there really isn't all that much difference in the long run between a Dem and a Rep (though at this time in history, they are sitting astride one of the greatest ideological gulfs they've ever come across). However, the dominance of these parties, while not to the letter a democratic design, help to maintain a relative consistency in the way the country functions. Just take a look at some of the emerging democracies elsewhere in the world where the outcome of an election may completely change how a country is perceived based upon the ideology of the winner. In the US, the parties keep things relatively status quo. Yes - things change much more slowly, but it TENDS to keep the extremes out of power.
Of course, there are those who would think something extreme might be fun. There are others who generally think whoever is in power is extremely against their own ideology.
Novelist Tom Wolfe said it very nicely,
- "The United States is so stable that political victories consist of minor variations. Our government is like a train on a track, and there are people on the right-hand side and on the left screaming at the train. But the train has no choice: it's on a track! It just keeps going. And it's really quite marvellous how stable that situation is. You can't suddenly have parliament deciding there has to be an election."
0 0b5df10621.html) -
Re:How much do these things cost?
Blue lasers used in Ps3 are 405nm but they don't cost so much as the one above. According to financial times, the price dropped to Y3,000 (25USD) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b0638092-8fc1-11db-9ba3-0
0 00779e2340.html They used to cost from $120 to $180 according to this ieee report http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/mar07/4988/2 "the GaN lasers in these units now account for 20 to 30 percent of the product's retail price of about $600" So there you go, a price fall of $90 to $150 in the cost of the blue laser diode. -
Re:*smack*!I read an article about the report in yesterdays FT. The article suggested to take the report with a grain of salt:
However, Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, said he was "baffled" by the strength of the figures.
"The rise in the ISM index is impossible to square with either the regional surveys released over the past few weeks or our medium-term, yield-driven model," he said. "We think it is quite likely that in their next iterations the ISM will drop sharply."
Full article here
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Re:I'd like about 8 parties.
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Re:A show of hands if you are surprisedHere are a couple of relevant quotes about what was happening from the article: The lawsuits, originally filed by Accenture employee Norman Rille and another whistleblower, accuse the companies of creating alliance relationships with dozens of other vendors, giving each other discounts or rebates on products or work for government contracts. The companies did not pass the rebates on to their government clients, according to a DOJ court filing. So that's "creating alliances between the companies", "giving each other discounts and rebates", and "not passing on rebates to the government". Any rebates vendors receive as part of a U.S. government contract belong to the government, the DOJ said. If that's part of the contract, that the vendor has to pass on rebates to the government, then it looks like the vendors have been pulling a scam. It might seem fair that they could keep the rebates for themselves, unless the rules specifically say they have to give them to the government. The Financial Times says: "that the technology and consulting groups improperly steered government contracts to their so-called "alliance teams" - other companies the groups partnered with on government contracts, from the late 1990s to the present in exchange for improper payments. In some cases, the companies paid kickbacks to win sub-contracts from such partners, the government alleged." And also, "In one case, Sun paid World Wide Technologies, one of its alliance partners, more than $173,000 in return for the group's influence in selling Sun services to the government, the justice department alleged. In another case involving a contract worth tens of millions of dollars with the GSA, a federal agency, Sun made "misleading" disclosures and "false statements" about some of its discounting practices in connection to the contracts." If they were making misleading and false statements about their discounting practices, then that would indicate that they knew they were doing the wrong thing. Looks like it's going to be a long and interesting case.
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Re:Oh Please
"you do know that 79% of the tax burden is carried by the top 20% of income earners, right?"
You mean those folks that hold the vast majority of the assets? Sure just cherry pick a single statistic from a single source and proclaim 'look what I know, you dip shits didn't know this did you, huh, huh?'. Look the issue here is just how out of balance things can get EITHER way before it breaks the system. The balance right now grossly favors those at the top of the economic food chain. If it continues to the point of breakdown just what do you think the fate of the top x% will be? In the end it is in everyones interest to not break the frickin system.
"Maybe for once we should stop being partisan"
Yea, thats rich, considering the drivel to from the "conservative" party I have listened with great restraint, and admittedly often with amusement, for most my life. Can you make a clear argument just using common sense instead of falling back on a single cherry picked statistic form BillO's list of "facts" to throw at a liberal---remember you have to use this word in with a dirty slur pretext or voice. Don't take this to mean I am a just another sheep in the Democratic flock, which in contrast to the Republican flock, is actually more like a herd of cats anyway. I will say I like many others are sick of the "good cop - bad cop" routine the two parties have used so successfully for so many years. So exactly whose drivel is it you like best? Oh thats right you like to quote the "fiducially conservative ones", hehehe, yea.
Wabi-Sabi
Matthew
read...
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2 007/20070206/default.htm
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f5e905ce-69d8-11db-952e-00 00779e2340.html
http://neweconomist.blogs.com/new_economist/povert y_and_inequality/index.html
http://www.chicagofed.org/economic_research_and_da ta/wp_abstract.cfm?pubsID=732
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03may/may03 interviewswolff.html
http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?st ory_id=7055911
http://ideas.repec.org/a/ecj/econjl/v112y2002i478p c68-c73.htm
http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2004/0704tilly .html
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18995
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB11418244330 8492484.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/71954e1a-ad43-11da-9643-00 00779e2340,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http% 3A%2F%2Fnews.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F71954e1a-ad43-11da -9643-0000779e2340.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fne weconomist.blogs.com%2Fnew_economist%2Fpoverty_and _inequality%2Findex.html
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/ -
Re:Oh Please
"you do know that 79% of the tax burden is carried by the top 20% of income earners, right?"
You mean those folks that hold the vast majority of the assets? Sure just cherry pick a single statistic from a single source and proclaim 'look what I know, you dip shits didn't know this did you, huh, huh?'. Look the issue here is just how out of balance things can get EITHER way before it breaks the system. The balance right now grossly favors those at the top of the economic food chain. If it continues to the point of breakdown just what do you think the fate of the top x% will be? In the end it is in everyones interest to not break the frickin system.
"Maybe for once we should stop being partisan"
Yea, thats rich, considering the drivel to from the "conservative" party I have listened with great restraint, and admittedly often with amusement, for most my life. Can you make a clear argument just using common sense instead of falling back on a single cherry picked statistic form BillO's list of "facts" to throw at a liberal---remember you have to use this word in with a dirty slur pretext or voice. Don't take this to mean I am a just another sheep in the Democratic flock, which in contrast to the Republican flock, is actually more like a herd of cats anyway. I will say I like many others are sick of the "good cop - bad cop" routine the two parties have used so successfully for so many years. So exactly whose drivel is it you like best? Oh thats right you like to quote the "fiducially conservative ones", hehehe, yea.
Wabi-Sabi
Matthew
read...
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2 007/20070206/default.htm
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f5e905ce-69d8-11db-952e-00 00779e2340.html
http://neweconomist.blogs.com/new_economist/povert y_and_inequality/index.html
http://www.chicagofed.org/economic_research_and_da ta/wp_abstract.cfm?pubsID=732
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03may/may03 interviewswolff.html
http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?st ory_id=7055911
http://ideas.repec.org/a/ecj/econjl/v112y2002i478p c68-c73.htm
http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2004/0704tilly .html
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18995
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB11418244330 8492484.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/71954e1a-ad43-11da-9643-00 00779e2340,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http% 3A%2F%2Fnews.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F71954e1a-ad43-11da -9643-0000779e2340.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fne weconomist.blogs.com%2Fnew_economist%2Fpoverty_and _inequality%2Findex.html
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/ -
Scooped!
Hmm, fellas - think you've been scooped. By 1.5 years.
From FT, August 2005
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/89ea206a-13f3-11da-af53-00 000e2511c8.html -
Re:It's true!
Here is a link to the original Financial Times article.
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the stock price is not about BUZZ you moron
It's about fundamentals. And yes, I know a lot about the stock market (MBA/Finance, not to brag, just to back it up).
In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine. In the long term, it is a weighing machine. .
This is a well known quote by both Ben Graham AND Warren Buffet.
What you describe is called "pumping" a stock. It's illegal and usually done on pink sheet stocks with low volumes. And it is most certainly not what the stock market is "COMPLETELY" about. Not even close. If you don't know that, then you don't know shit about the stock market so quit talking. Stick with the Mac comments. -
The reason they didn't include HD-DVD
The Financial Times cites an analyst that claims that not including HD-DVD is an acknowledgement by MS that Blu-ray will win the format war against HD-DVD.
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Re:Sweet!
Next we are going to have to send the sheep to public schools. And humans are going to complain that they are taking over our jobs.
Or grant them civil rights -
Bill Gates Solution
Why waste his tax dollars educating a bunch of ungrateful Americans when other countries have more smart people than they know what to do with.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/473893dc-ccde-11db-a938-00 0b5df10621.html
My Dad reckoned there is nothing wrong with this country that a good hard depression would not cure. -
Re:The most silent WHAT?Bush Softens Rhetoric on Iran Relations
WASHINGTON Feb 12, 2007 (AP)-- President Bush on Monday sought to dampen speculation about a U.S. military strike on Iran as the Islamic republic's president softened his tone, too, and said he wanted dialogue rather than confrontation.
Gates says U.S. trying to ease tone in Iran dispute
SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday dismissed suggestions that Washington had raised its rhetoric against Iran, saying the Bush administration was trying to soften the tone as tensions with Tehran climb.
Bush denies preparing attack against Iran
Mr Bush confirmed a report in Friday's Washington Post that he had authorised US troops to shoot and kill Iranian operatives in Iraq, but denied this was a prelude to stronger action. "We believe we can solve our problems with Iran diplomatically," said the US president.
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Dumbass, too dumb to read the fucking papers or even listen to the news.
So how do those new LCD/mirror combo displays work?
Trust me, I'm familiar with what's going on with Iran right now. And in case you've missed, the US is taking pains to ensure that people like you don't interpret everything as a "pretext for war," when it's in fact the entirety of the international community essentially speaking in unison on the Iran situation.
Speaking of reading the news, you might want to do a little reading yourself. Otherwise, I hear Iran has a cure for AIDS that should be very profitable. You may want to invest now, but it could be risky because it's probably being held back by the US and Israel!...
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Re:Why not ads?
It would be interesting for you to reconcile your post with reality. A higher standard of living, if you don't count Eastern Europe (so, can the US only count New England and California, and ignore some of those pesky poor states?). Europe has higher productivity, unless you count the hours worked, and higher income, unless you count the percentage employed. It's fine if you want to enjoy life, and don't want to drive the world economy, but don't act like you are doing both. Not that it matters much, as China and India will eclipse the West eventually. Speaking of Asia, if I were going to emulate a primary education system, it would be from there. They have some of the most efficient in the developed world. I'll keep the US university system though, as I'd say it's doing pretty well still, thank you very much.
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Re:It's not just government
Indeed, that is the danger. It should be noted too that there are reasons why the Nordic countries have been so succsessful with socialism. One, they are quite culturally homogenous, so one never feels that outsiders are leaching off of them. Two, they have a culture of cooperation brought about by extremes of climate. That's my theory, anyway.
While these factors may partially explain why Sweden and other Nordic countries have not crashed as spectacularly as other socialist movements (e.g., Germany, France, New Zealand, etc) to call their model a success would be to ignore its many current problems, its historic economic instability, and what is almost certainly a lack of sustainability of the model.
Sweden's real unemployment is estimated to be between 15 and 20%. Although their official stats count just ~6% as being unemployed, this excludes a lot of people on long-term sick leave (which count as being employed -- 16% of public spending pays for this!), welfare recipients, people that simply give up (e.g., students, early retirees, etc), etc.
What's more, many of those who are actually employed are employed by the government (about 30%). Sweden has created almost no new private sector jobs in 50 years. Only 1 of their 50 largest companies was created after 1970. Many of their biggest companies have left the country (e.g., IKEA) or moved their taxable entities outside recently. Despite having a large highly educated population, it is an unfriendly place for entrepreneurship and creates little of it due to labor laws (v. expensive to sack people), high taxation, very high sales taxes, etc.
Their tax revenues are significantly more than 50% of GDP (their middle class pay a much higher rate of tax than we do here). The Swedish people pay much higher taxes than we do across the board. They don't have a lot of wealthy people so they've been forced to raise taxes on the middle class to sustain these benefits. Some may try to excuse it as simply being a product of a welfare state, but it is a very real economic burden on their economy. For instance, their GDP per capita has fallen dramatically relative to the rest of the OECD since 1950.
Consider, for instance, that the difference in disposable income (after taxes and all social transfers) between the poorer 30 decile of income and the richest 80 decile is just 12K Krona per month (about $1500). This itself represents a small change in lifestyle but consider just how wide that gap is: the entire middle class (from poorest full-time working class and the upper middle class). There is very little incentive to work hard, to risk a stable job for a new one that might pay better, to take a new job if you get laid off (cushy benefits), to show up to work, to take a more stressful job, and to take business risks, etc. What has happened is that people are working less and less (and, ironically, many of those that want to work can't find it), taking more sick leave, etc. In fact, if you look at the number of hours worked in their economy it has fallen dramatically.
To further stress their system, Sweden's retirees is set to increase to roughly 54% of their working age people by 2050, i.e., 1 senior-pensioner for every ~2 working people (much of it happening soon). They've also acquired a significant number of foreign immigrants (many of them no longer of Nordic heritage) -- roughly 10% of the country now (who are heavily unemployed). The system is already showing signs of stress and tax payer unrest (at least 65B in overseas tax avoidance, rising non-market work, etc). Sweden an -
Re:Screw nukes
You jest, but in fact North Korea has been reported to have a hacker and cyberwarfare unit with several hundred members, possibly many more. Given that NK has very little in the way of computer infrastructure, it's likely mostly designed for attack of their main enemies, SK, US and Japan.
Now, whether they have any talent is an open question, but the military seems to be about the only thing that works well there... -
Mars Bar index ..
There is a precedent for this. Some people said the official inflation rate didn't reflect the true historical trends. So they invented the Mars Bar index.
http://specials.ft.com/nicocolchester/FT3XZDJSEIC. html