The pension issue is hardly isolated to California though. Something like an additional $2.8T across the US, and Illinois has the winner's slot at having over 70% of it's liabilities unfunded.
Prop 13 isn't the cause of the budget issues. Recall why that won the popular vote -- the citizenry revolted due to unbridled squandering of the taxes that were coming in. My own parents saw their property tax bill rise almost 40% over 7 years, which I shouldn't have to point out is a hell of a lot faster than their wages increased. Elderly homeowners were being forced to sell their paid-off homes because they couldn't afford the annual shakedown. Maybe if the state tried to live within its means, it wouldn't have its fiscal problems.
You're overestimating the effect of a dirty bomb. It would be nasty, and would contaminate a few blocks, and some unlucky souls might be poisoned or statistically more likely to experience cancer later in life. But those blocks can be decontaminated, the radioactive material hauled off and entombed, and the city be just dandy in a handful of years.
As Basilbrush points out, they're stuffing the channel to make their quarterly numbers - so yes, they could very well end up sending phones to the landfill (or heavily discounting them) in 2-4 quarters when the retails can't unload them on the public. Many electronics firms do this.
Fandroid.
A) it doesn't matter whether Google or Apple is on top, so long as both have decent market share to foster their own ecosystems. Those are the two competitors we should be talking about.
B) Samsung hasn't reported phone *sales* since mid 2011. They report units shipped. The two are different. References? (http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-brief/57565-samsung-will-no-longer-report-phone-sales-numbers). They're very secretive now about what's sitting in the channel vs in consumer hands.
The Apple v Samsung case is pretty illustrative of why. (http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/08/10/apple-samsung-us-sales-numbers/ and http://www.asymco.com/2012/08/10/samsungs-basis-of-competition/). Apples growth likely has already peaked, at least in the western markets. However, to say that Samsung is wiping the floor with them is disingenuous at best.
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The pension issue is hardly isolated to California though. Something like an additional $2.8T across the US, and Illinois has the winner's slot at having over 70% of it's liabilities unfunded.
Prop 13 isn't the cause of the budget issues. Recall why that won the popular vote -- the citizenry revolted due to unbridled squandering of the taxes that were coming in. My own parents saw their property tax bill rise almost 40% over 7 years, which I shouldn't have to point out is a hell of a lot faster than their wages increased. Elderly homeowners were being forced to sell their paid-off homes because they couldn't afford the annual shakedown. Maybe if the state tried to live within its means, it wouldn't have its fiscal problems.
"which is essentially an immortal ally." Damn, I'd heard their health care was good... I had no idea!
You're overestimating the effect of a dirty bomb. It would be nasty, and would contaminate a few blocks, and some unlucky souls might be poisoned or statistically more likely to experience cancer later in life. But those blocks can be decontaminated, the radioactive material hauled off and entombed, and the city be just dandy in a handful of years.
As Basilbrush points out, they're stuffing the channel to make their quarterly numbers - so yes, they could very well end up sending phones to the landfill (or heavily discounting them) in 2-4 quarters when the retails can't unload them on the public. Many electronics firms do this.
Fandroid. A) it doesn't matter whether Google or Apple is on top, so long as both have decent market share to foster their own ecosystems. Those are the two competitors we should be talking about. B) Samsung hasn't reported phone *sales* since mid 2011. They report units shipped. The two are different. References? (http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-brief/57565-samsung-will-no-longer-report-phone-sales-numbers). They're very secretive now about what's sitting in the channel vs in consumer hands. The Apple v Samsung case is pretty illustrative of why. (http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/08/10/apple-samsung-us-sales-numbers/ and http://www.asymco.com/2012/08/10/samsungs-basis-of-competition/). Apples growth likely has already peaked, at least in the western markets. However, to say that Samsung is wiping the floor with them is disingenuous at best.