[No other comments are possible. This speaks volumes to those who have been ripped off by Time Warner price increases - see last post - and I will, in wonderful unending laughter, be glad to be rid of FOX. -k]
Time Warner email spam to customers 12/28/09:
"Don’t Let Them Hold Your TV Hostage"
"At midnight New Year’s Eve, FOX has threatened to pull the plug on Time Warner Cable customers – withholding their programming unless we pay massive price increases.
"We think they’re going too far – especially in today’s economy – and we’re glad you agree. Over 600,000 of you have gone to RollOverOrGetTough.com. And, the overwhelming response has been to ‘Get Tough.’ With your support, we’re standing up to the TV networks to hold down the cost of cable TV.
"We apologize in advance for any inconvenience and remind you to visit RollOverOrGetTough.com for the latest information on which channels may no longer be available as of January 1, 2010, as not all FOX programming is at risk in all areas. There you’ll also find a helpful guide to alternative sources for programming – so you can continue to watch many of your favorite shows.
"Pay Our Price or You'll Never See FOX Again
"Time Warner Cable is working hard to reach an agreement. We’ve offered FOX a reasonable price increase that protects our customers’ pocketbooks. But we are not giving in to excessive demands.
"Don’t let them hold your TV hostage. Click here to visit RollOverOrGetTough.com now or call 1-877-267-1844 to learn more. Together, we can hold the line on TV prices."
- k :)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
We Can't Save for Losing
Sorry This Post is So Long But I Know You Will Not Read It
Like me, a typical sensible person on a decreasing income, you have probably checked all your monthly bills and decided to cut back some services that you don't really need. For example, who needs that home phone when every family member has a cell phone? And why keep paying so much for those premium movie channels on cable - because they have more series than movies these days? Bet you also turned down the thermostat this winter, started leaving fewer lights on, maxed out the dishwasher every time, and YELLED "TOILET" whenever someone did not jiggle the handle correctly to save on the water bill. Ahh, yes, you are happy and proud of yourself for the work you put into lowering that energy bill (oops - I meant proud of yourself to have contributed to the glorious fight against global warming).
I am too - proud that is - of minimizing my usage of anything and everything (not the global warming part which is scientifically incompleat in my non-humble scientific mind).
But I'm not really saving much money! What happened here? Cable bill keeps getting higher. Phone bill too. They passed another increase in electricity rates. Upped the garbage/sewar fees. Water usage costs have gone up. And there's more - higher home insurance premiums, higher car and house property taxes, higher interest rates on those college loans for parents (how can they friggin' do that when US interest rates are almost zero?) Am I going nuts or are you going nuts too?
It's actually very scientific - the more we save, the more we lose. Just ask the Japanese about their economy for the last decade or so. Because individual Japanese citizens save huge amounts of money, there practically is no economy in Japan. (Here, 'economy' means buying and selling lots of unnecessary stuff to each other within your own country). Okay, the problems with the Japanese economy might not be a familiar subject in the USA so, although the analogy is accurate, it can be simplified.
Science is still science. The more we save, the more we lose. And when *everyone* saves more, we really really lose. Example: Power plants were built and designed to supply a specific, usually large, amount of electricity in a geographical area. But now residents like you and me aren't using as much electricity, those who lost their house are using no electricity, *and* every business - manufacturing, stores, gas stations, you-name-it - in the geographic area has cut back their energy use even more! Yet it costs the power plant companies just as much money and, in their opinion, more money than ever before to keep running *because* everyone decided to take their business away. Don't ask why - it's all rather economistic involving governing boards agreeing to rate hikes for the power company to pay off increasing debt at increasing interest rates because their income (our payments) have quit coming and they'd like to keep ahead of global warming.
Think of it this way. If you owned a good business but suddenly your business was bringing in 25% less money than before and your business has to pay its bills, you would increase your prices, right? Makes sense to the power companies and the public governing boards which always allow rate hikes (it's in their contract - to be on a 'public' governing board of a utility, you must misunderstand economically all the massive paper provided by the power company in its efforts to help the world's forests - er, I meant its efforts to "stay in business" because "it's too big to fail").
Of course, your attempt to increase prices in your own business would fail miserably as people would buy even less from you until you spiral down into bankruptcy because your company is too small to save. As a typical, fairly normal businessperson, you would indeed say that raising prices is the wrong approach when sales are declining rapidly. Maybe you would advertise more, mix up your product line, look at different consumer segments to add to the business, lower costs (yeah - try lowering that electric bill and see what happens!) etc. Your goal right now is to stay in business, not drive off your customers further. But you're not a 'public' utility/service or even a monopoly. You are sensible and base decisions on proven basic economic principles to keep your company going.
Public utilities and services, plus local monopolies, get to operate in their own economic stratosphere (do we still have one? I forget, maybe cause I'm freezing cold right now. Hey - what happened to global warming?) When the income for these businesses or operations go down, they raise prices to keep making money. Sometimes it is admittedly reasonable such as increasing the price I pay for garbage collection because there are 25% fewer homeowners paying for garbage service. And heck, it's hard to pay someone less for such an odorous job or find other cost-saving measures, especially as my home state keeps garbage cheaply, in landfills. And, unless you want to become Californian, those property taxes need to go up - again, since there are fewer homeowners and car owners here and our governor hates DC but loves Argentina, thereby already whacking off lots of public services along with other unmentionables.)
Power companies and water-supplying-whatever companies usually need to get the rates they charge customers approved by a public governing board. You would think these governing boards would be filled with atypical, mathematical-scientifical people who could weigh the pros and cons of, lets say, shutting down one power plant instead of increasing rates or maybe they'd ask the utilities for options on cost-cutting. But both the utilities and governing boards understand the game of rubber-stamping. Because, you know what? Those on the governing boards are actually typical and proly don't want to read that 500-page report. So your electric bill *will* go up along with your water bill and every other bill from a 'public' utility. (Though it's strange that some of these public utilities, especially power, are companies with stock for sale, etc., and don't seem very 'public' though my understanding of the word may be off).
Monopolies, on the other hand, live in heaven. I am absolutely enthralled by this one: the government broke up AT&T into little parts because AT&T had a monopoly on phone bills and charged customers whatever it wanted. The government thought that competition would lower phone bills. In my area, here comes Cingular - our premier cell phone company. And I am so happy to finally get rid of AT&T & just go cellular with Cingular. Next thing I know, Cingular has disappeared & my bills again leap higher because AT&T has taken over Cingular! Whatever happened to the original non-monopolistic plan? Watch out Sprint - you must be next cause I'm transitioning my cell phones over to you. And AT&T was born to be a monopoly.
Cable companies, including internet service connectors (I can't call them providers cause I really don't see them providing anything on the internet except the connection) also live in economic heaven. They will do anything to maintain their geographic dominance and increase prices to save money. Here's an actual Time Warner advertisement: Free HD upgrade for only $9.95 per month. How the heck can it be "free" if it costs $10 more a month? How can anyone allow this blatantly false ad to continue for months on end? Must be the television companies are sorely in need of money. Here's another Time Warner ploy: the promotional period for your plan has ended so the new price is $$$. Can someone explain to me how a plan I've had for 15 years suddenly became promotional?
So we can't save for losing, especially since we are all saving, thereby losing. When will this change? Maybe when "made in the USA" is the cheapest label globally (i.e., never). Hopefully, China will continue to buy our debt (misnomered "treasuries") so we can keep saving and losing at a rate that's somewhat bearable. We can also hope that global warming increases enough this winter to continue decreasing our electric/natgas/heating oil bills in advance of the public governing board meetings. Our only true solution is to become proud Americans again - spend as much as possible, buy houses!!!, save a tiny bit - to get not just our economy, but the world's economy, bustling again. Nothing else makes sense when you've made sense of it already.
-k (actually written 12/27)
Like me, a typical sensible person on a decreasing income, you have probably checked all your monthly bills and decided to cut back some services that you don't really need. For example, who needs that home phone when every family member has a cell phone? And why keep paying so much for those premium movie channels on cable - because they have more series than movies these days? Bet you also turned down the thermostat this winter, started leaving fewer lights on, maxed out the dishwasher every time, and YELLED "TOILET" whenever someone did not jiggle the handle correctly to save on the water bill. Ahh, yes, you are happy and proud of yourself for the work you put into lowering that energy bill (oops - I meant proud of yourself to have contributed to the glorious fight against global warming).
I am too - proud that is - of minimizing my usage of anything and everything (not the global warming part which is scientifically incompleat in my non-humble scientific mind).
But I'm not really saving much money! What happened here? Cable bill keeps getting higher. Phone bill too. They passed another increase in electricity rates. Upped the garbage/sewar fees. Water usage costs have gone up. And there's more - higher home insurance premiums, higher car and house property taxes, higher interest rates on those college loans for parents (how can they friggin' do that when US interest rates are almost zero?) Am I going nuts or are you going nuts too?
It's actually very scientific - the more we save, the more we lose. Just ask the Japanese about their economy for the last decade or so. Because individual Japanese citizens save huge amounts of money, there practically is no economy in Japan. (Here, 'economy' means buying and selling lots of unnecessary stuff to each other within your own country). Okay, the problems with the Japanese economy might not be a familiar subject in the USA so, although the analogy is accurate, it can be simplified.
Science is still science. The more we save, the more we lose. And when *everyone* saves more, we really really lose. Example: Power plants were built and designed to supply a specific, usually large, amount of electricity in a geographical area. But now residents like you and me aren't using as much electricity, those who lost their house are using no electricity, *and* every business - manufacturing, stores, gas stations, you-name-it - in the geographic area has cut back their energy use even more! Yet it costs the power plant companies just as much money and, in their opinion, more money than ever before to keep running *because* everyone decided to take their business away. Don't ask why - it's all rather economistic involving governing boards agreeing to rate hikes for the power company to pay off increasing debt at increasing interest rates because their income (our payments) have quit coming and they'd like to keep ahead of global warming.
Think of it this way. If you owned a good business but suddenly your business was bringing in 25% less money than before and your business has to pay its bills, you would increase your prices, right? Makes sense to the power companies and the public governing boards which always allow rate hikes (it's in their contract - to be on a 'public' governing board of a utility, you must misunderstand economically all the massive paper provided by the power company in its efforts to help the world's forests - er, I meant its efforts to "stay in business" because "it's too big to fail").
Of course, your attempt to increase prices in your own business would fail miserably as people would buy even less from you until you spiral down into bankruptcy because your company is too small to save. As a typical, fairly normal businessperson, you would indeed say that raising prices is the wrong approach when sales are declining rapidly. Maybe you would advertise more, mix up your product line, look at different consumer segments to add to the business, lower costs (yeah - try lowering that electric bill and see what happens!) etc. Your goal right now is to stay in business, not drive off your customers further. But you're not a 'public' utility/service or even a monopoly. You are sensible and base decisions on proven basic economic principles to keep your company going.
Public utilities and services, plus local monopolies, get to operate in their own economic stratosphere (do we still have one? I forget, maybe cause I'm freezing cold right now. Hey - what happened to global warming?) When the income for these businesses or operations go down, they raise prices to keep making money. Sometimes it is admittedly reasonable such as increasing the price I pay for garbage collection because there are 25% fewer homeowners paying for garbage service. And heck, it's hard to pay someone less for such an odorous job or find other cost-saving measures, especially as my home state keeps garbage cheaply, in landfills. And, unless you want to become Californian, those property taxes need to go up - again, since there are fewer homeowners and car owners here and our governor hates DC but loves Argentina, thereby already whacking off lots of public services along with other unmentionables.)
Power companies and water-supplying-whatever companies usually need to get the rates they charge customers approved by a public governing board. You would think these governing boards would be filled with atypical, mathematical-scientifical people who could weigh the pros and cons of, lets say, shutting down one power plant instead of increasing rates or maybe they'd ask the utilities for options on cost-cutting. But both the utilities and governing boards understand the game of rubber-stamping. Because, you know what? Those on the governing boards are actually typical and proly don't want to read that 500-page report. So your electric bill *will* go up along with your water bill and every other bill from a 'public' utility. (Though it's strange that some of these public utilities, especially power, are companies with stock for sale, etc., and don't seem very 'public' though my understanding of the word may be off).
Monopolies, on the other hand, live in heaven. I am absolutely enthralled by this one: the government broke up AT&T into little parts because AT&T had a monopoly on phone bills and charged customers whatever it wanted. The government thought that competition would lower phone bills. In my area, here comes Cingular - our premier cell phone company. And I am so happy to finally get rid of AT&T & just go cellular with Cingular. Next thing I know, Cingular has disappeared & my bills again leap higher because AT&T has taken over Cingular! Whatever happened to the original non-monopolistic plan? Watch out Sprint - you must be next cause I'm transitioning my cell phones over to you. And AT&T was born to be a monopoly.
Cable companies, including internet service connectors (I can't call them providers cause I really don't see them providing anything on the internet except the connection) also live in economic heaven. They will do anything to maintain their geographic dominance and increase prices to save money. Here's an actual Time Warner advertisement: Free HD upgrade for only $9.95 per month. How the heck can it be "free" if it costs $10 more a month? How can anyone allow this blatantly false ad to continue for months on end? Must be the television companies are sorely in need of money. Here's another Time Warner ploy: the promotional period for your plan has ended so the new price is $$$. Can someone explain to me how a plan I've had for 15 years suddenly became promotional?
So we can't save for losing, especially since we are all saving, thereby losing. When will this change? Maybe when "made in the USA" is the cheapest label globally (i.e., never). Hopefully, China will continue to buy our debt (misnomered "treasuries") so we can keep saving and losing at a rate that's somewhat bearable. We can also hope that global warming increases enough this winter to continue decreasing our electric/natgas/heating oil bills in advance of the public governing board meetings. Our only true solution is to become proud Americans again - spend as much as possible, buy houses!!!, save a tiny bit - to get not just our economy, but the world's economy, bustling again. Nothing else makes sense when you've made sense of it already.
-k (actually written 12/27)
Updating Computer Software Kills Computers
Updating computer software, especially operating system software, is more likely to degrade the functionality of the computer over time as compared to refusing all updates. Reasoning: (1) majority of computer replacement purchases are made because the computer has lost sufficient functionality (it's become too slow, DVD drive doesn't work, old software not working, won't wake up after hibernating, etc) rather than being motivated by getting the "latest & greatest" (although that adds some incentive) *plus* (2) upgraded operating system software inherently cannot account for all the tiny programming details in the myriad of computer devices & older software already on the computer & thereby creating, at the least, unresolvable conflicts. I would like to see the true impact of upgrading software vs. supposed benefits of upgrading (especially the obnoxious "security hole" or "security patch"). Additional proof (maybe): Older computers that have been automatically updated can still run great - once they are disconnected - forever - from the internet & repurposed for non-internet use such as playing DVDs or CDs or gaming for the youngest in the house.
-k
-k
I Am Typical, Why Aren't You?
I trade stocks and options regularly. My primary stock-trading hypothesis is that I am a typical person and can, by observing my own behavior, predict company earnings (although the earnings may not be reflected in the stock price). [And there are exceptions I make for certain company stocks that lend themselves to good chart or technical analysis instead of 'reality.'] Has worked well for me before, during and after this financial mess. Why do people assume that others are not at all like them and are going to behave differently?
Didn't you cut back the amount of money you spent this holiday compared to say 2005-2007? If so, why invest in company stocks that need the middle- to upper-class overspending to continue to meet and exceed company earnings expectations? Was your Walmart basket as large as usual when you left the store? Or did you search out the lowest-priced stores like Ross and strategize buying from the 80% off rack at Kohl's using a 30% coupon on top of that?
As to earning money in stock trading, your guess is as good as mine as long as you are self-aware. And you have to check my stock trading blog at
http://kathesstocktrading.blogspot.com/
to find out how I trade off being typical. (Don't worry - it's free, no sign-up required - I have proven myself completely unable to profit off other human beings using my specialized knowledge of any sort.) As a typical human being, I also forget to post things for days and I am utterably & completely not responsible for anything I write that you would possibly believe or act upon. I am typical, aren't I?
-k
Didn't you cut back the amount of money you spent this holiday compared to say 2005-2007? If so, why invest in company stocks that need the middle- to upper-class overspending to continue to meet and exceed company earnings expectations? Was your Walmart basket as large as usual when you left the store? Or did you search out the lowest-priced stores like Ross and strategize buying from the 80% off rack at Kohl's using a 30% coupon on top of that?
As to earning money in stock trading, your guess is as good as mine as long as you are self-aware. And you have to check my stock trading blog at
http://kathesstocktrading.blogspot.com/
to find out how I trade off being typical. (Don't worry - it's free, no sign-up required - I have proven myself completely unable to profit off other human beings using my specialized knowledge of any sort.) As a typical human being, I also forget to post things for days and I am utterably & completely not responsible for anything I write that you would possibly believe or act upon. I am typical, aren't I?
-k
Migraines, Medications & the Unscience of It All
You Can Experiment on Yourself
Belief: Migraines & headaches are not related to atmospheric pressure. Problems with studies conducted to date: (1) Using average pressure for the time (usually a day) and the geographical area (usually an airport miles away); (2) pressure not actually measured at location of person. Results -> no scientific research into pressure-based remedies for migraine sufferers, mucho $$$ for drug companies, little relief for migraine sufferers due to both cost of medicine and limitations on quantity of medicine imposed by health-care plans, and time lost by debilitating migraines. My experiment: Proved migraines caused by extreme pressures (low or high) when using hourly atmospheric pressure. Unique me - Left side of head does not drain (sinus or ear). Proved draining left side (with very cheap nasal spray) eliminated left-side migraines. Proved draining right side does not work at all. Hypothesis: My left side is completely blocked since it suddenly went deaf at age 14; I believe but cannot prove that a key drainage passage on my left side is blocked & I've never been able to get a doctor to investigate it. Another experiment: Proved elevating head well above the body while sleeping helps eliminate those wake-up migraines. Worked with either sleeping in a lazy-boy chair or using 2-3 fluffy pillows in bed. Also proved: not all migraines can be eliminated without the medications; instead, these experiments were done to eliminate/minimize some migraines due to limited quantity of medication on hand.
-k
Belief: Migraines & headaches are not related to atmospheric pressure. Problems with studies conducted to date: (1) Using average pressure for the time (usually a day) and the geographical area (usually an airport miles away); (2) pressure not actually measured at location of person. Results -> no scientific research into pressure-based remedies for migraine sufferers, mucho $$$ for drug companies, little relief for migraine sufferers due to both cost of medicine and limitations on quantity of medicine imposed by health-care plans, and time lost by debilitating migraines. My experiment: Proved migraines caused by extreme pressures (low or high) when using hourly atmospheric pressure. Unique me - Left side of head does not drain (sinus or ear). Proved draining left side (with very cheap nasal spray) eliminated left-side migraines. Proved draining right side does not work at all. Hypothesis: My left side is completely blocked since it suddenly went deaf at age 14; I believe but cannot prove that a key drainage passage on my left side is blocked & I've never been able to get a doctor to investigate it. Another experiment: Proved elevating head well above the body while sleeping helps eliminate those wake-up migraines. Worked with either sleeping in a lazy-boy chair or using 2-3 fluffy pillows in bed. Also proved: not all migraines can be eliminated without the medications; instead, these experiments were done to eliminate/minimize some migraines due to limited quantity of medication on hand.
-k
Weight Loss Myths
There's More than One Way to Lose a Pound But They Haven't Told You About It Yet
- Belief: Eating breakfast starts the process whereby you lose weight. Breakfast may start the digestive process for the day but digestion is not the same as losing weight. In my experience, eating breakfast (or lunch) makes me hungry for more food.
- Belief: Exercise is required to lose weight. I just lost 31 pounds in 2 months on a self-named "no activity" diet. And I literally mean *no activity* except using the computer, occasional errands, TV & reading (taking advantage of first months of "empty nest" syndrome). Based on simple scientific equation: Weight loss = calories eaten minus calories used.
- In fact, exercise may increase hunger &/or a person's perception of the amount of calories burned during exercise, resulting in gaining weight rather than losing weight. Also, the focus on exercise is a psychological/costly/time-consuming barrier to starting a weight loss program and may distract a person who should be counting calories.
- Belief: Weighing yourself regularly on a scale hurts your weight loss program. Think this has already been proven to be false. What better incentive than to visually see the results of your weight loss program? Also, I would like to see data on women's weight loss results over the winter compared to the summer. Hypothesis: It's easier to weigh yourself naked in the summer and trust the results of your weight loss program shown on the scale. Example: When I told my kids I had lost another 5 pounds, they said that I made up for it in added sweaters. (Sweet kids, aren't they.)
- Belief: Eating right before sleeping increases weight gain. Sorry, it's still weight loss = calories eaten minus calories used. Scientifically inaccurate myth.
I would love to see an experiment where group 1 eats the number of calories for their goal weight and is told they are *not allowed* to exercise. Compare that with group 2 who is told to lower their calories by exercise (any which way they want) every day, eating "right," etc to attain the same goal weight.
Hypothesis: Focusing on a single goal, namely fewer calories, will give group 1 the 'focus' a person needs to meet a specific goal and, therefore, group 1 will lose more weight than group 2, whereas group 2 will be subjected to our culture's belief in exercise, digestion, timing, etc that make weight-loss goals unattainable by simply lacking 'focus.'
-k
- Belief: Eating breakfast starts the process whereby you lose weight. Breakfast may start the digestive process for the day but digestion is not the same as losing weight. In my experience, eating breakfast (or lunch) makes me hungry for more food.
- Belief: Exercise is required to lose weight. I just lost 31 pounds in 2 months on a self-named "no activity" diet. And I literally mean *no activity* except using the computer, occasional errands, TV & reading (taking advantage of first months of "empty nest" syndrome). Based on simple scientific equation: Weight loss = calories eaten minus calories used.
- In fact, exercise may increase hunger &/or a person's perception of the amount of calories burned during exercise, resulting in gaining weight rather than losing weight. Also, the focus on exercise is a psychological/costly/time-consuming barrier to starting a weight loss program and may distract a person who should be counting calories.
- Belief: Weighing yourself regularly on a scale hurts your weight loss program. Think this has already been proven to be false. What better incentive than to visually see the results of your weight loss program? Also, I would like to see data on women's weight loss results over the winter compared to the summer. Hypothesis: It's easier to weigh yourself naked in the summer and trust the results of your weight loss program shown on the scale. Example: When I told my kids I had lost another 5 pounds, they said that I made up for it in added sweaters. (Sweet kids, aren't they.)
- Belief: Eating right before sleeping increases weight gain. Sorry, it's still weight loss = calories eaten minus calories used. Scientifically inaccurate myth.
I would love to see an experiment where group 1 eats the number of calories for their goal weight and is told they are *not allowed* to exercise. Compare that with group 2 who is told to lower their calories by exercise (any which way they want) every day, eating "right," etc to attain the same goal weight.
Hypothesis: Focusing on a single goal, namely fewer calories, will give group 1 the 'focus' a person needs to meet a specific goal and, therefore, group 1 will lose more weight than group 2, whereas group 2 will be subjected to our culture's belief in exercise, digestion, timing, etc that make weight-loss goals unattainable by simply lacking 'focus.'
-k
Nicotine is Not a Vice
In 30 Years, Medical Nicotine Approved in California
Nicotine is a self-medicating drug, highly used worldwide by those with mental illness because it works! (Caffeine works too but caffeine is not interchangeable with nicotine - they have different effects). I am interested in whether lung cancer in mental illness smokers exceeds damage caused by self-harm, harm to others, & basic cost to the community. Wonder if we can relate the higher-and-higher "sin tax" imposed on cigarettes to measurable impact(s) on those with a clear mental illness diagnosis. May be a difficult analysis in the midst of a recession. Note that there are many people self-medicating with nicotine, caffeine and alcohol throughout the world who have never been diagnosed with a mental illness. Also have read that not one person has died from second-hand smoke. And, indeed, I will never forget the psychiatrist's talk to a large group (>60 people) where he said, "Nicotine is not the problem. Nicotine is a great medicine. It's the delivery system - pulling tar and crap into the lungs - that is the problem."
-k
Nicotine is a self-medicating drug, highly used worldwide by those with mental illness because it works! (Caffeine works too but caffeine is not interchangeable with nicotine - they have different effects). I am interested in whether lung cancer in mental illness smokers exceeds damage caused by self-harm, harm to others, & basic cost to the community. Wonder if we can relate the higher-and-higher "sin tax" imposed on cigarettes to measurable impact(s) on those with a clear mental illness diagnosis. May be a difficult analysis in the midst of a recession. Note that there are many people self-medicating with nicotine, caffeine and alcohol throughout the world who have never been diagnosed with a mental illness. Also have read that not one person has died from second-hand smoke. And, indeed, I will never forget the psychiatrist's talk to a large group (>60 people) where he said, "Nicotine is not the problem. Nicotine is a great medicine. It's the delivery system - pulling tar and crap into the lungs - that is the problem."
-k
The Rich & Upper-Class & How They Got There
The Rich & Upper-Class & How They Stay There
Belief: Many "rich" people have more assets ("wealth") due to excessively high income. Maybe or maybe not. But it is certainly more complicated than people believe! Actually, the rich and upper-middle-class often spend their money more wisely on large items (buy a house early for the tax advantage, pick a house in a neighborhood that will hold its value, buy slightly-used cars, etc), save the max in their IRA & 401K from day 1 of work, pay credit cards off monthly while still gaining bonuses from the credit card company, invest wisely or at least look at their financial statements occasionally, research high-priced items before buying... Splurge when times are good with great vacations, eating out more, spending on their kids.. But, MOST IMPORTANT, cut back spending (23% - Business Week) in both obvious (cheaper or no vacations) and analytical ways (minimizing cable & phone bills, insulating house, lowering thermostat, checking for better auto and home insurance rates, putting off health & auto care) when times are bad. So they KEEP more of their assets (wealth) during the rough times. And consequently become relatively richer during economic downturns!
NOTE: The reverse is not true - poverty does not come from overspending. On the contrary, the above examples of spending and saving only apply to those who have disposable income (I'm thinking middle-class and above for a decent analysis).
-k
Belief: Many "rich" people have more assets ("wealth") due to excessively high income. Maybe or maybe not. But it is certainly more complicated than people believe! Actually, the rich and upper-middle-class often spend their money more wisely on large items (buy a house early for the tax advantage, pick a house in a neighborhood that will hold its value, buy slightly-used cars, etc), save the max in their IRA & 401K from day 1 of work, pay credit cards off monthly while still gaining bonuses from the credit card company, invest wisely or at least look at their financial statements occasionally, research high-priced items before buying... Splurge when times are good with great vacations, eating out more, spending on their kids.. But, MOST IMPORTANT, cut back spending (23% - Business Week) in both obvious (cheaper or no vacations) and analytical ways (minimizing cable & phone bills, insulating house, lowering thermostat, checking for better auto and home insurance rates, putting off health & auto care) when times are bad. So they KEEP more of their assets (wealth) during the rough times. And consequently become relatively richer during economic downturns!
NOTE: The reverse is not true - poverty does not come from overspending. On the contrary, the above examples of spending and saving only apply to those who have disposable income (I'm thinking middle-class and above for a decent analysis).
-k
Mental Illness and Violent Crime
Prevailing view is that mental illness increases violent crimes. Frontline example. Grrrr. Also wrote about this in 2003(?) using facts. Frankly, it is well-known in the mental health community that those with a mental illness are likely to be jailed for very minor, individual crimes; that most violent crimes are committed by those with no mental illness; and the violent crimes that are committed by those with mental illness are most likely to involve another person with mental illness (violence-on-violence). No one bothers to correct the myth - maybe because it helps get more funding and services for those with a mental illness! Good example of prevailing belief leading to *positive* unintended consequences.
-k
-k
Violent Profit-Making Begets Positive Consequences
Two Hundred Years of Unintended Safety
DuPont, the original gunpowder manufacturer in the US, made "safety" a core company belief/goal simply because it would lose experienced workers during gunpowder explosions. To this day, monthly safety meetings, counting seat-belt usage entering or exiting the plant, rewarding safety, & numerous other safety measures have kept DuPont a global leader in both on- and off-the-job safety records. Long denigrated for its roots in gunpowder manufacturing, the resulting enormous economic impact of safety on the company, its employees & local communities should be quantified and analyzed as a great example of win-win behavior.
[Note for compleat science: Certainly the gunpowder killed people in shootouts, crime and war at the time. But, whereas gunpowder manufacturing was discarded long ago by DuPont, the benefits of it's emphasis on safety continue to accumulate.]
-k
DuPont, the original gunpowder manufacturer in the US, made "safety" a core company belief/goal simply because it would lose experienced workers during gunpowder explosions. To this day, monthly safety meetings, counting seat-belt usage entering or exiting the plant, rewarding safety, & numerous other safety measures have kept DuPont a global leader in both on- and off-the-job safety records. Long denigrated for its roots in gunpowder manufacturing, the resulting enormous economic impact of safety on the company, its employees & local communities should be quantified and analyzed as a great example of win-win behavior.
[Note for compleat science: Certainly the gunpowder killed people in shootouts, crime and war at the time. But, whereas gunpowder manufacturing was discarded long ago by DuPont, the benefits of it's emphasis on safety continue to accumulate.]
-k
Happy Chaos or Brain Dump on Parenting, ed 1 12/22/09
Happy Chaos or Brain Dump on Parenting, edition 1
12/22/09
This was supposed to be in response to a dear old friend's Facebook message wishing me & my kids a happy holiday. But facebook said it was too long :< so it's a blog post instead. And I'm not adding disclaimers like "sorry if this sounds preachy" because I know you'll read it and understand the joy that underlies the hours I spent remembering, writing and creating it the last couple days. And I had no idea "this" would come out of my keyboard.
I laugh when I write & I write when I laugh. Such is magic.
Happy Chaos! (But Beware - Brain Dump on Parenting is Here)
Have fun with the little kids... Spoil them rotten while you can. By middle school, they'll be training you that you have no control whatsoever - except not doing those 50-presents-under-the-tree any more! Then plant seeds of independence & accountability with stories they'll never forget but will get irritated at you repeating. And yes, indeed, you walked 5 miles to school every day in five feet of snow - uphill - both ways. You became a florist at a young age just to have enough money to eat. Bought a junk car and fixed it yourself to keep it running. Only went to college out-of-state because you earned scholarships & spending money to afford it (keep secret the college savings you're building for them - more motivating if your child wants to escape their home state – while maxing out your retirement savings). Made sure you majored in something that would pay a salary after college because, sorry, kids aren't allowed to move home again. (Hey, even my ex-physics, now English-major kid, is supporting himself & my ex-psychology, now another English-major kid, is starting to support herself too.)
But this holiday let chaos reign and be a kid - get down on the floor, build trains, pretend you're a superhero (or the bad guy), lose at checkers and tic-tac-toe, have the kids use their intuition to figure out the rules of a new board game - be happy making up rules instead of boring them with actually reading the rules, spend hours doing puzzles and gluing them to hang on the wall forever, take millions of pix (which seem to last forever compared to video formats), build forts with all your furniture (yes, the furniture will be destroyed and need replacing in a few years - even an antique piano!), build doll houses and train tunnels with the kids, play with DOLLS with both boys and girls and play with CAR TRACKS with both boys and girls, eat uncooked cookie dough instead of baking it, plan on losing weight only *after* they all move out & the goodies are gone, make a mess and clean later - much later - like once a year, use a broom or rake to move their toys to the corner & let every toy lose pieces, eat candy canes and m&ms and fruitcake made from fermented fruit, sing carols all day, dance & dance more, get excited whenever they are excited, keep "facts" to yourself but never really lie, jump in piles of leaves even if they're full of dog poop, let them have animals of all kinds until everyone's older and the "wilder" animals like rabbits, turtles, & iguanas just walk off on their own; give funerals – candles and weeping when recalling the happiness of the loved one's life – immediately after the death of a beloved animal; play electronic games with the kids & become an expert (that's allowed - they'll be proud of you; I got the highest guitar-hero score for a first-timer in an entire college dorm and my son is damn proud of it still!); buy all the best and latest movies & games to attract their friends - video gaming does *not* affect their intelligence; never lose at Scrabble (let them show off their genius parents); buy things you don't need like complicated put-together-yourself furniture - desks with a million pieces for the budding engineer to build - they don't want instructions & it keeps them busy; give them books and more books and more books even if you have a great library; teach yourself to think about other things (dissociate) while reading several books to them before bed; let them paint their room black & get pierced & act goth because they won't be doing it when they're 30; forget teaching or insisting on healthy eating - kids like junk food, their friends like junk food, and yet they'll broaden their tastes way beyond you expect when they're older - I *hate* sushi though two kids love it but, on the good side, I now have a child who's a fellow cook/lover of East European & Russian cabbage & other hearty dishes - can't wait til he gets home for the holiday. forget making them do chores - it's just an endless cycle of arguments; make your house the one that all their friends want to visit including overnights every weekend - you'll actually *be* the best parents ever & your kid-friendly house continues to attract the high school, college and post-college friends so you know what they're doing & you will have great communication with your kids & their friends; keep rules to a maximum of 5 as in "I only have 5 rules and that's one of them;" put yourself in “time out” & tell the kids you're "putting yourself in time out” when you're angry & take extra time enjoying it (works great!); keep a sense of humor and calm regardless of the situation; try not to laugh when meeting with the elementary school principal because your child convinced 6 other children to beat on a bully while your child did not even touch the bully; buy a large box of condoms for each of the kids at age 12 - preferably when you have your son with a friend and, separately, your daughter with a friend - it's hilarious but you're actually taking care of your kids & letting your kids help their own friends when their parents won't, be a *DAD* they can talk to by doing the condom thing with both the boys and the girls without mom around - just this once - it's your only chance to get involved with both sexes about sex; give girls birth control pills as soon as possible because "birth control pills truly help PMS, cramps, etc"; encourage and train your kids to prioritize who they should talk to as in (1) you (parents), (2) lawyer, (3) you, (4) no one else until you figure it out and (5) never the cops unless/until you say so; find the absolute best child/adolescent psychiatrist (he/she will actually talk back to them as in "you're lying and we all know it so what is really happening") and start annual mental health checkups about age 10-12: if anyone objects just start going on-and-on about a friend who had children with problems but they had no one to talk to so they didn't know what to do; go out to fancy restaurants with the kids to create a family atmosphere of talking in an enjoyable neutral place that will never disappear - just bring a bunch of wind-up toys to play with at the table while waiting for food & they'll talk and behave at the same time; keep “eating out” a luxury item you'll pay for even during the worst recession as you've created “eating out” the most comfortable way for kid(s) to talk to parent(s) individually or all together and anywhere in the country; take your kid's current best friend on vacation with you to keep them busy and happy regardless of the cost; create family traditions that match your own sense of fun such as an endless game of monopoly during rainy vacations, appetizers (junk food) for New Years Eve and the Superbowl; be 'the place' to have an end-of-school pool (?) party, July 4th party, back-to-school party, spring break party, high school reunions, your kids' friends' birthday parties (heard yesterday, “By the way, Dom's birthday party is here on Tuesday”) ..., move all family birthdays to weekends and party at home just to have the most fun and interaction; make Mother's Day the day when mom can pretend she has no kids; do tell your kids that you are proud of them for “the thing they just did” while ignoring *all* parental advice from books and expert 'doctors' and especially your own parents and maybe me too; apologize to your kids for everything they think you did wrong to them as a child but only after they're 21 and feel like they have to complain to you; understand and sincerely accept your faults as a parent & share them with the kids after their rebellious years instead of waiting 50 years like my mother did.
But, most importantly, treat your wife – who's both your partner and your kids' mother - like a queen in every way possible; forget work as soon as you get home & get down on the floor with the kids to let mom take a rest – every day; let mom's rules be the law; always make mom more important than your own mother, especially on Mother's Day; take the kids – one or both, with or without their friends – to business conventions with you once they know how to eat in a good restaurant & handle a credit card and room key (ages 12-15): the kids will enjoy this rather weird experience, including looking at science/business display rooms & meeting your friends from far away even if your child is very shy, while their mom gets a much-needed escape from “kidness;” create chaos with the kids to eliminate chaos (weird but true); look at the household scientifically, using that big brain of yours, and make small but many ways to use yourself and kids combined to eliminate parts of the mess that are stressful to mom; think dispassionately, but apply passionately, your understanding and respect for mom in this most demanding job of all; and do let mom know that you & I have only talked – ever – and just enjoy prattling on about things sometimes.
You've heard the rather recent adage that you must take care of yourself first (put yourself first) before you can help others in your life, including your kids & their mom. But there's a misunderstanding here. People take it “globally” instead of rationally. It's right to put your basic mental and physical health first before becoming a good parent. That's equivalent to not allowing domestic violence of any sort. But most adults now take it to mean that controlling kids' behavior is the best way to take care of themselves. Examples abound but here's some I probably tried at one point or another – putting the kids in their room too early at night to get more “alone time” for myself; insisting on controlling the TV remote-control; making kids become scouts & join too many clubs the kids didn't want so I could get some free time; not letting kids keep toys in at least one living area of the house; making them clean up after themselves; etc. The best thing I ever did was to buy this “multi-area” house when the kids were 3, 5 & 7 – enough rooms/areas to have separate places of their own outside the bedroom. Yes, they trashed the areas they used. But ironically they also learned that leaving food out will attract ants and cockroaches that they have to take care of themselves; dirty dishes keep piling up until there is nothing to eat on, especially since mom started putting their dirty dishes back on their desk; clothes do not clean themselves & mom won't either because they're all over the floor; things left on the floor will be destroyed by the dogs and things left on their desk will be knocked off and broken by the cats; mom only buys things once regardless of their claim that the cat couldn't possibly have knocked that computer screen on the floor; it may be better to take care of their latest animal instead of watching it stink or die right where they play; and on-and-on. Mmmm – sounds like they learned responsibility and independence in the midst of chaos! And, you know what? They're damned proud of their own maturity once they see how clueless their college roommates are & they immediately become leaders in their dorm just because they know how to take care of themselves. Just wait – the stories coming back from college (and sometimes earlier in high school) – will be enormously entertaining and very satisfying.
So, instead of wishing you and your family a happy holiday, I am wishing you Happy Chaos.
And thanks to you for allowing me this opportunity for a brain dump before I start losing my memory again. Grrrrr – have to stop my memory-aide medicine due to unbearable side effects. Don't be surprised if it ends up in one of my blogs either. It may be the only place I can keep things I write instead of losing my thoughts – every time.
Happy Chaos!
-k
12/22/09
This was supposed to be in response to a dear old friend's Facebook message wishing me & my kids a happy holiday. But facebook said it was too long :< so it's a blog post instead. And I'm not adding disclaimers like "sorry if this sounds preachy" because I know you'll read it and understand the joy that underlies the hours I spent remembering, writing and creating it the last couple days. And I had no idea "this" would come out of my keyboard.
I laugh when I write & I write when I laugh. Such is magic.
Happy Chaos! (But Beware - Brain Dump on Parenting is Here)
Have fun with the little kids... Spoil them rotten while you can. By middle school, they'll be training you that you have no control whatsoever - except not doing those 50-presents-under-the-tree any more! Then plant seeds of independence & accountability with stories they'll never forget but will get irritated at you repeating. And yes, indeed, you walked 5 miles to school every day in five feet of snow - uphill - both ways. You became a florist at a young age just to have enough money to eat. Bought a junk car and fixed it yourself to keep it running. Only went to college out-of-state because you earned scholarships & spending money to afford it (keep secret the college savings you're building for them - more motivating if your child wants to escape their home state – while maxing out your retirement savings). Made sure you majored in something that would pay a salary after college because, sorry, kids aren't allowed to move home again. (Hey, even my ex-physics, now English-major kid, is supporting himself & my ex-psychology, now another English-major kid, is starting to support herself too.)
But this holiday let chaos reign and be a kid - get down on the floor, build trains, pretend you're a superhero (or the bad guy), lose at checkers and tic-tac-toe, have the kids use their intuition to figure out the rules of a new board game - be happy making up rules instead of boring them with actually reading the rules, spend hours doing puzzles and gluing them to hang on the wall forever, take millions of pix (which seem to last forever compared to video formats), build forts with all your furniture (yes, the furniture will be destroyed and need replacing in a few years - even an antique piano!), build doll houses and train tunnels with the kids, play with DOLLS with both boys and girls and play with CAR TRACKS with both boys and girls, eat uncooked cookie dough instead of baking it, plan on losing weight only *after* they all move out & the goodies are gone, make a mess and clean later - much later - like once a year, use a broom or rake to move their toys to the corner & let every toy lose pieces, eat candy canes and m&ms and fruitcake made from fermented fruit, sing carols all day, dance & dance more, get excited whenever they are excited, keep "facts" to yourself but never really lie, jump in piles of leaves even if they're full of dog poop, let them have animals of all kinds until everyone's older and the "wilder" animals like rabbits, turtles, & iguanas just walk off on their own; give funerals – candles and weeping when recalling the happiness of the loved one's life – immediately after the death of a beloved animal; play electronic games with the kids & become an expert (that's allowed - they'll be proud of you; I got the highest guitar-hero score for a first-timer in an entire college dorm and my son is damn proud of it still!); buy all the best and latest movies & games to attract their friends - video gaming does *not* affect their intelligence; never lose at Scrabble (let them show off their genius parents); buy things you don't need like complicated put-together-yourself furniture - desks with a million pieces for the budding engineer to build - they don't want instructions & it keeps them busy; give them books and more books and more books even if you have a great library; teach yourself to think about other things (dissociate) while reading several books to them before bed; let them paint their room black & get pierced & act goth because they won't be doing it when they're 30; forget teaching or insisting on healthy eating - kids like junk food, their friends like junk food, and yet they'll broaden their tastes way beyond you expect when they're older - I *hate* sushi though two kids love it but, on the good side, I now have a child who's a fellow cook/lover of East European & Russian cabbage & other hearty dishes - can't wait til he gets home for the holiday. forget making them do chores - it's just an endless cycle of arguments; make your house the one that all their friends want to visit including overnights every weekend - you'll actually *be* the best parents ever & your kid-friendly house continues to attract the high school, college and post-college friends so you know what they're doing & you will have great communication with your kids & their friends; keep rules to a maximum of 5 as in "I only have 5 rules and that's one of them;" put yourself in “time out” & tell the kids you're "putting yourself in time out” when you're angry & take extra time enjoying it (works great!); keep a sense of humor and calm regardless of the situation; try not to laugh when meeting with the elementary school principal because your child convinced 6 other children to beat on a bully while your child did not even touch the bully; buy a large box of condoms for each of the kids at age 12 - preferably when you have your son with a friend and, separately, your daughter with a friend - it's hilarious but you're actually taking care of your kids & letting your kids help their own friends when their parents won't, be a *DAD* they can talk to by doing the condom thing with both the boys and the girls without mom around - just this once - it's your only chance to get involved with both sexes about sex; give girls birth control pills as soon as possible because "birth control pills truly help PMS, cramps, etc"; encourage and train your kids to prioritize who they should talk to as in (1) you (parents), (2) lawyer, (3) you, (4) no one else until you figure it out and (5) never the cops unless/until you say so; find the absolute best child/adolescent psychiatrist (he/she will actually talk back to them as in "you're lying and we all know it so what is really happening") and start annual mental health checkups about age 10-12: if anyone objects just start going on-and-on about a friend who had children with problems but they had no one to talk to so they didn't know what to do; go out to fancy restaurants with the kids to create a family atmosphere of talking in an enjoyable neutral place that will never disappear - just bring a bunch of wind-up toys to play with at the table while waiting for food & they'll talk and behave at the same time; keep “eating out” a luxury item you'll pay for even during the worst recession as you've created “eating out” the most comfortable way for kid(s) to talk to parent(s) individually or all together and anywhere in the country; take your kid's current best friend on vacation with you to keep them busy and happy regardless of the cost; create family traditions that match your own sense of fun such as an endless game of monopoly during rainy vacations, appetizers (junk food) for New Years Eve and the Superbowl; be 'the place' to have an end-of-school pool (?) party, July 4th party, back-to-school party, spring break party, high school reunions, your kids' friends' birthday parties (heard yesterday, “By the way, Dom's birthday party is here on Tuesday”) ..., move all family birthdays to weekends and party at home just to have the most fun and interaction; make Mother's Day the day when mom can pretend she has no kids; do tell your kids that you are proud of them for “the thing they just did” while ignoring *all* parental advice from books and expert 'doctors' and especially your own parents and maybe me too; apologize to your kids for everything they think you did wrong to them as a child but only after they're 21 and feel like they have to complain to you; understand and sincerely accept your faults as a parent & share them with the kids after their rebellious years instead of waiting 50 years like my mother did.
But, most importantly, treat your wife – who's both your partner and your kids' mother - like a queen in every way possible; forget work as soon as you get home & get down on the floor with the kids to let mom take a rest – every day; let mom's rules be the law; always make mom more important than your own mother, especially on Mother's Day; take the kids – one or both, with or without their friends – to business conventions with you once they know how to eat in a good restaurant & handle a credit card and room key (ages 12-15): the kids will enjoy this rather weird experience, including looking at science/business display rooms & meeting your friends from far away even if your child is very shy, while their mom gets a much-needed escape from “kidness;” create chaos with the kids to eliminate chaos (weird but true); look at the household scientifically, using that big brain of yours, and make small but many ways to use yourself and kids combined to eliminate parts of the mess that are stressful to mom; think dispassionately, but apply passionately, your understanding and respect for mom in this most demanding job of all; and do let mom know that you & I have only talked – ever – and just enjoy prattling on about things sometimes.
You've heard the rather recent adage that you must take care of yourself first (put yourself first) before you can help others in your life, including your kids & their mom. But there's a misunderstanding here. People take it “globally” instead of rationally. It's right to put your basic mental and physical health first before becoming a good parent. That's equivalent to not allowing domestic violence of any sort. But most adults now take it to mean that controlling kids' behavior is the best way to take care of themselves. Examples abound but here's some I probably tried at one point or another – putting the kids in their room too early at night to get more “alone time” for myself; insisting on controlling the TV remote-control; making kids become scouts & join too many clubs the kids didn't want so I could get some free time; not letting kids keep toys in at least one living area of the house; making them clean up after themselves; etc. The best thing I ever did was to buy this “multi-area” house when the kids were 3, 5 & 7 – enough rooms/areas to have separate places of their own outside the bedroom. Yes, they trashed the areas they used. But ironically they also learned that leaving food out will attract ants and cockroaches that they have to take care of themselves; dirty dishes keep piling up until there is nothing to eat on, especially since mom started putting their dirty dishes back on their desk; clothes do not clean themselves & mom won't either because they're all over the floor; things left on the floor will be destroyed by the dogs and things left on their desk will be knocked off and broken by the cats; mom only buys things once regardless of their claim that the cat couldn't possibly have knocked that computer screen on the floor; it may be better to take care of their latest animal instead of watching it stink or die right where they play; and on-and-on. Mmmm – sounds like they learned responsibility and independence in the midst of chaos! And, you know what? They're damned proud of their own maturity once they see how clueless their college roommates are & they immediately become leaders in their dorm just because they know how to take care of themselves. Just wait – the stories coming back from college (and sometimes earlier in high school) – will be enormously entertaining and very satisfying.
So, instead of wishing you and your family a happy holiday, I am wishing you Happy Chaos.
And thanks to you for allowing me this opportunity for a brain dump before I start losing my memory again. Grrrrr – have to stop my memory-aide medicine due to unbearable side effects. Don't be surprised if it ends up in one of my blogs either. It may be the only place I can keep things I write instead of losing my thoughts – every time.
Happy Chaos!
-k
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