Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Zeppy
Freenomics
The birth of a new economic system? Some are arguing that free may be the new price for many goods.
Anderson’s freeconomics thesis is that more and more goods and services are being provided for free and that those businesses that fail to follow suit are likely to go to the wall. “As much as we complain about how expensive things are getting, we’re surrounded by forces that are making them cheaper,” Anderson wrote in a recent article that will form the basis of a book called Free, to be published next year. “Forty years ago, charity was dominated by clothing drives for the poor. Now you can get a T-shirt for less than the price of a cup of coffee, thanks to China and global sourcing. So too for toys, gadgets and commodities of every sort. Even cocaine has pretty much never been cheaper (globalisation works in mysterious ways).”
But freeconomics is hardly a deluded eulogy to global capitalism. Rather, Anderson’s idea is that the internet, by reducing marginal costs, encourages businesses to make their money by offering free goods or services to an extent we have not witnessed before. And that this change in supply alters the nature of demand: free services such as Craigslist, Skype, Freeview, Wikipedia and Google have created a generation that doesn’t just resent paying, but expects stuff to be free. This is the generation that, for example, paid nothing (or next to nothing) for Radiohead’s new album and got Prince’s last CD free with the Mail on Sunday. This is the generation that doesn’t walk into HMV like losers and shell out £15 for a new album, but downloads it for free from one of the many (often legally dubious) filesharing websites.
Making things to where you name the price, or “donation” as the case may be, is a novel concept which is becoming more common. It’ll be interesting to see how far this goes.
Monday, May 05, 2008
No More Taxes, Stupid!
No surprise here, but I love seeing the name Clinton next to the words “200 economists rejected”...
More than 200 economists, including four Nobel prize winners, signed a letter rejecting proposals by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain to offer a summertime gas-tax holiday.
Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin and 2007 Nobel winner Roger Myerson are among those who signed the letter calling proposals to temporarily lift the tax a bad idea. Another is Richard Schmalensee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was member of President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.
The moratorium would mostly benefit oil companies while increasing the federal budget deficit and reducing funding for the government highway maintenance trust fund, the economists said.
Any politician who wants to raise taxes, for any reason, is an imbecile. We already pay too much tax. Increased taxes on goods only gets passed on to the consumer via higher prices. How does that help anyone?
It’s been proven time and again that government and politicians cannot manage money. The more you give them, the more they waste it. Any politician who asks for more tax money is a bad politician. McCain and Clinton both suck. So does Obama who would also waste money. We’re not given any good choices here. But a message needs to be sent to these clowns that they need to lower prices not raise them. Taxes are a solution to nothing.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Soviet Playgrounds
There’s something really messed up about these former Soviet playgrounds. I’ve seen a couple of these first hand so I know they are pretty common. More here.
The New Dark Knight Trailer
We see a lot more of Heath and Harvey Dent in this one. Looks good.
PLUS: The new Indiana Jones Trailer.
Batman vs Iron Man
Ah, Japan
They come up with some unusual stuff. Here’s some pudding for you. (NSFW)
Saturday, May 03, 2008
The Most Annoying Toy Ever
My dad lives in the country next to some ranch that has all these roosters that never seem to shut up. So I can relate.
Asian Horror Movie Posters
Friday, May 02, 2008
Mathematical Art
Copyright © 2008 James D. Hudnall. All Rights Reserved
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