Category: Capitalism

FCC F-bombed 4,377 Times

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

FCC F-bombed 4,377 Times

p0106-image
FCC F-bombed 4,377 Times

I, too, am unhappy with the recent decisions of the FCC. However, I did not use the F word or any obscenities in my written comments to the regulatory commission. Whether or not this is an effective means of persuasion in this case remains to be seen. But ladies and gentlemen do not use this word outside of the bedroom or during exciting events like a car accident. So, I would counsel my dear readers to avoid such melodramatic choices when writing to the Commission.

In total, there were 1.1 million comments made to the FCC on this topic. According the web site, Tech Crunch, the main topics of the comments were “free speech, ISP’s and anger.”

The website, SingleHop, has what they call “A Neutral Guide to Net Neutrality.” I prefer hotter blood when writing but it is an accurate view of the facts and if you are a student writing on the subject, it would be a good starting point if only for the good references.

I can’t but believe that this is a major business ethics issue. Giving an oligarchy of companies the ability to charge for different speeds is unfair. And as a practical matter, it makes it more profitable to not expand internet speed and band width. The United States is 12th in the world in internet speed. I have complete confidence that with the end of net neutrality we can descend down the ladder a long ways.

At this moment, a free market absolutist is reading this and thinking, “That ridiculous, if anything it is an incentive to increase services. This author is a crude leftist with no understanding of economics.” How about a little history of market manipulation? Here, here, and here, are examples of electric utilities cutting supply to push up prices. For simple price manipulation, I can easily pull up hundreds of citations. I believe in the lessons of history. If historically people have limited supply to make more money, it will be done again. The only way to stop that kind of exploitation is through regulation and in this case, that regulation’s name is net neutrality.

James Pilant

Are Vitamins Useless?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism14 Comments
Are Vitamins Useless?
Are Vitamins Useless?

Are Vitamins Useless?

Are vitamin pills even necessary? – The Week

A recent long-term study of more than 400,000 people concluded that “most vitamin supplements [have] no clear benefit” and warned that excess vitamin E and beta-carotene may actually weaken the immune system’s ability to kill cancer cells. “The case is closed,” the study authors wrote. “Enough is enough.”

via Are vitamin pills even necessary? – The Week.

Is it ethical to sell a product which is in general a simple placebo?

In the Wizard of Oz, the fake wizard gives the Cowardly Lion, a horrible tasting concoction. He tells the lion that this “formula” will give him courage. The lion drinks the horrible drink and the wizard asks him how he feels. The lion replies, “Full of courage.”

So, we who spend from a few to hundreds of dollars on vitamins may also be said to be full of it.

How did a literate modern population fall into the same black hole of ignorance that afflicted Americans during the golden age of patent medicine, when laudanum and alcohol laden brews were sold to the masses for incredible profits?

During the nineteenth century, “entrepeneurs” like Lidya E. Pinkham sold millions of dollars of a useless product and established the science of  modern advertising. And she was just one of countless thousands of sellers. In the first half of the twentieth century, John R. Brinkley, Medical Charlatan, sold vials of colored water apparently to boost virility. He had other means of increasing virility which I will happily pass on discussing but if you want to look it up, I can’t stop you. How about “Dr. Isaac Thompson’s Celebrated Eye Water?” It sold for almost two hundred years. When the Food and Drug Act was passed, it was discovered what was in it – opium, alcohol and zinc sulphate. 

But did we learn anything from this as a culture? How come we still hope that some spurious product will make us all better? Is the need for medicine, in a real sense, magic, a human craving?

I’m uncomfortable writing about this. So many people have bragged to me about the vitamins they take and the benefits they experienced. How do you argue with people who experienced real progress because they believed? Placebo effects are in a sense real, in that confidence often has us acting in our own behalf when otherwise we might not.

But is encouraging a placebo effect, a ethical rationale for selling an otherwise useless product?

The Rational Consumer?

In economics, we have the idea of the rational buyer, the human who bases his purchases on knowledge, facts. The idea is that this paragon will always choose the best product. I make fun of this concept all the time since it disregards the very real irrationality that afflicts humanity. But assuming the theory has validity how does the rational human choose the best product when there is an absence of knowledge? – A deliberate absence of knowledge in this case.

The FDA’s permission is not required for the sale of supplements. The Food and Drug Administration can and does regulate the products after they have entered the market. However, the agency has limited resources and is essentially playing the game of “whack a mole” with the sellers.

Let me give you an idea of the problems the FDA uncovers with these products –

FDA Warning on Dietary Supplements for Weight Loss

U.S. Marshals seize unapproved and misbranded drug products at Missouri distributor

Standard Process Recalls Cataplex ACP, Cataplex C, Pancreatrophin PMG (Product number 6650) Lot 114

How is a consumer supposed to understand the dangers of these products when there are literally thousands of them and the regulators can only react to problems?

The vitamin industry sells 12 billion dollars worth of product to Americans each year. The advertisements are everywhere. But no matter how clever the ads, the claims of benefits so convincing, and the assurances of “science,” the majority of these products are useless.

It is wrong to sell products that do not live up to their claims. It’s lying and fraud.

Let’s regulate the industry fully and find out what few items work and throw the rest to the wind.

James Pilant

Obama Lied About Net Neutrality

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

Obama Lied About Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is a business ethics issue. Are a handful of cable companies able by skillful lobbying and enormous campaign contributions going to be able to end the open internet? The question is one of basic fairness. Will the government allow the regulations to be changed so that small players on the internet (like me) can be placed on the slow track to oblivion while large companies like Netflix have priority for internet use? If the regulations are changed as planned, my tiny voice and millions of others will probably disappear because who wants to wait around while our content loads?

This problem was not supposed to happen. In fact this situation is supposed to be impossible because the President of the United States said it wouldn’t happen.

Many people in the United States, literally millions of them, believed that they elected as President, a man committed to net neutrality. For he did not imply that he was in favor of an open internet, he loudly proclaimed his support and said he would not appoint an FCC commissioner opposed to net neutrality. You can hear that direct statement in one of the You Tube video’s below.

If Obama had been defeated in 2008 or 2012, I would have expected a challenge to net neutrality. It is appalling that after all his honeyed words, his dramatic phrases, net neutrality is on the chopping block.

James Pilant

 

Watch Obama Lie About Net Neutrality Three Times Below

(I can get you more – do you really need them?)

In the one below he says he is a big believer in net neutrality.

In this one, in 2007, the President says he will take a back seat to no one when it come to net neutrality.

In this one, an interview on MTV, he is asked if he will support net neutrality and pledge not to appoint someone to the FCC who will oppose it.

Doug McMillon, Just Another Associate?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism
Just Another Associate?
Just Another Associate?

Doug McMillon, Just Another Associate?

McMillon, Wal-Mart’s CEO was at a conference last week and gave the audience an opportunity to ask questions. They asked what he planned to do for his workers, in Wal-Mart speak, associates. Whereupon, he told the assembled multitude that he too was an associate – Ich bin ein Berliner. 

Corporate executives spouting PR points as if they were a revered truth have long been a part of the American scene. Generally, they aren’t actually lying, they are exaggerating, emphasizing certain aspects of a situation, trying to persuade the public that their actions are legal or righteous in some sense. But this one tests the limits of credulity.

McMillon did at one point work for Wal-Mart in their warehouse. He could have said with perfect truth that he had once been an associate, a telling point in an argument, that he is speaking from direct experience. But no, his PR staff undoubtedly explained to him that It would be far more convincing if he could persuade an audience that his company was one big family struggling together against a cruel world of which he was but one insignificant player among many.

But he’s not an associate and only his PR flacks and he find it credible to claim otherwise.

What’s the business ethics of claiming to be just another employee? What’s the business ethics of being a multimillionaire and claiming the mantle of those a bare step above a minimum wage? This is both an organizational and a personal business ethics problem. There can be little doubt that McMillan did not construct the “millionaire CEO as regular worker” ploy. It has too much PR built into it, it feels like an ad campaign. But while both McMillan and an associate are both Wal-Mart employees, there is just too much distance in status and renumeration to make this a viable claim. On the personal ethics level, that McMillon said this knowing that most people would consider it a lie does not speak well of his judgement either.

It seems to me that when your resort to this kind of hollow argument, that you must be flailing around looking for something that might work because what worked in the past, doesn’t sell anymore.

James Pilant
McMillan, Walmart’s CEO Says He’s Just Another Associate—Except He Makes $9.56 Million a Year

Walmart’s CEO made about $10 million last year, but he’s just another “associate,” he says.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2014/06/05/doug_mcmillon_walmart_s_ceo_insists_he_s_no_different_from_associates_making.html

From Around the Web.

http://walmart1percent.org/boardofdirectors/doug-mcmillon/

McMillon is said to be close to the Walton family and reportedly was their choice for Duke’s successor.

Is Google Evil?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

 

Is Google Evil?
Is Google Evil?

Is Google Evil?

I’m Getting Discouraged

Writing is a pleasure for me and a need. I have to write to get some things out. There are things I want to say that I believe are important.  I’ve been doing blogging on regular basis for about five years, more on some sites than others.

It is now pretty obvious that Google has penalized me repeatedly and thoroughly. With the changes Google made in 2012 and 2013, I have been reduced from more than a hundred hits a day to my current average (and falling) of 34 hits a day.

So, I’ve been looking at Google and “Search Engine Optimization.” To say the rules are Byzantine would be a dramatic understatement. What’s more Google changes the rules whenever it feels like and in anyway it feels like.

I want to write. I don’t want to spend hours doing SEO. I like to think I have a life, and the implication of having a life is that you are experiencing it and don’t have time for nonsense. I envision the great authors of history trying to navigate through Google and spending hours on SEO. It was only funny the first time.

What’s getting me in trouble? One thing is my lengthy quotes. I like to talk up my friends’ Blogs, Dan Bodine, Steven Mintz and my colleague, Chris MacDonald and many others. I love telling people about new blogs. I write a paragraph introduction, include two or three paragraphs of one of their articles followed by a direct link (usually I link to both the individual post and their full web site). Google considers this duplicate material and penalizes me heavily for it. So, I’m going through my posts, 2,210 of them, trying to get the quotes reduced to “snippets,” which I’m not sure exactly what is, but am assuming it is a sentence or two with a “…” at the end. I’m told a snippet will not draw unfavorable attention.

There appears to be a bunch of other things I do that were okay in 2012, that are Google penalized now. I am trying to learn the rules. I’m pretty upset. After all, you might think that my 2,210 posts would get me some kind of credit in the first place but no, sometimes I don’t stay on topic, my “brand.” When I talk about a favorite movie or mention something that happened or talk about criminal justice (which I teach), their diabolical rating system says “NOT BUSINESS ETHICS.” And I get penalized. So, I’ve been killing posts that aren’t directly on subject.

I can’t help but believe that I want to write about the important issues of the day and instead I’m playing a maniacal time-eating,role-playing game in which the rules make little sense and change while you are trying to play the game.

Is Google Evil?

I hope not. Maybe all this horrible, horrible things they have done is just an aberration and once I work through it, I will get some search results for all my work. I don’t expect to be treated fairly because Google isn’t going to do that, but a little, tiny bit of fairness is not too much to hope for.

James Pilant

From Around the Web.

From Evil Google to WordPress

Google recently revealed the pitch-black nature of its evil heart …

http://vanshardware.com/2010/02/from-evil-google-to-wordpress/

Why This Site?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

076A2032Why This Site?

Why should you read my site and subscribe to it? What makes me different?

Business ethics is usually interpreted in a limited fashion. We talk about “on the job” ethics, that is, personal ethics. We talk about corporate ethics, that is, organizational ethics. And we discuss the ethics of economic systems.

That’s where I live – economic systems. That is where the big crises are.

1. Multinational corporations are on the attack on national sovereignty. They want to be independent of the nations where they exist and want the power to sue and overrule laws.

2. Businesses are continually, often successfully turning public resources into private money.

3. Free market fundamentalists are invading every sphere of endeavor with a doctrine as oppressive and odious as any totalitarian government.

Those are the big issues. They are hard to talk about.

It’s not popular. You don’t get hired as a consultant when you imply that businesses are unpatriotic, that they don’t have a right to public resources and that the free market is not the cure for all that ails society.

But I’m not going to shut up.

Join me – read my stuff. Join me in the struggle for justice and fairness.

James Alan Pilant

Free Market Logic?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

hmlbr23Free Market Logic?

I constantly hear talk of the “free market” by politicians and other public figures. Being well-educated in business (law degree, corporate specialty) I am quite understanding of how their understanding of free markets has little to do with actual competition. What’s worse is that the model is disastrous for many fields of endeavor in our society. Do we want fireman and policeman to be profit oriented? – Much less teachers and ministers.  I teach criminal justice courses. Policing for profit changes police priorities to crimes where they can confiscate property or money. The feds are particularly prone to law enforcement confiscations of goodies. It doesn’t make for good law enforcement but it is in a bizarre and disastrous sense a “free market.”

Teaching is another field where the profit motive has questionable results. While it is vaguely possible to measure some salary outcomes for education, that is only one purpose of education. We in the teaching field are also supposed to produce good citizens, critical thinkers, civilized human beings who can appreciate art and culture as well as professionals. Those things are hard to measure no matter how much multi-nationals like Pearson insist on numbers.

Numbers are a tool, and a limited one. If you’ve read David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest, you are well aware that according to the numbers we won that war decisively. To use numbers capably, they have actually to provide an accurate and useful measure of what’s happening.

How many of you can remember industries and businesses whose numbers were wonderful and then they were gone? Enron ring any bells? If businesses with so many aspects measurable by numbers and with so much experience using them for everything from hiring to stock prices can’t generate accurate and useful information, shouldn’t that call into question the application of this kind of number crunching to softer less money oriented fields?

I don’t mind my students desiring successful careers. But I do constantly emphasize the value of honor, honesty and patriotism. Can you measure the success of my teaching in those aspects with numbers? I think not.

James Pilant

“If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?” | Academe Blog

Money, the goal of all goals, today is ruining both education and government. When money becomes, as it has, our only measure of value, structures protecting anything else melt before it. As the “business model” is most keenly attuned to profit, it has become the one model for all of our endeavors.

In my first “real” job out of college, I worked as a counselor in a Department of Education funded program at a small Midwestern college. Our target was students from disadvantaged backgrounds; the one I remember best was a Vietnam vet (this was 1974) who had completed two tours as a side-door gunner in the air cavalry. What he needed was someone to listen as he tried to process his experiences. In all cases, our task was to discover the needs of each individual student and try to develop means of meeting them.

Even then, however, government was bowing to free-market “logic” claiming business methods are the best and most effective in any environment. The DoE had become enamored by a business management concept called “Management by Objectives” and had decided that even small programs like ours needed to comply. We counselors spend a great deal of time on this nonsense, time we could have better spent working directly with students.

via “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?” | Academe Blog.

From Around the Web.

From the web site, The Road Upward.

http://roadupward.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/the-secret-power-of-political-myths/

The Secret Power of Political Myths

Posted by ⋅ April 16, 2014 ⋅ Leave a comment
Filed Under  , , , ,

Rome was founded by twin boys named Romulus and Remus, who were suckled by a she-wolf. Germans were descended from demigods who had once inhabited Atlantis before it sadly sank beneath the waves. The emperor of Japan is a direct descendant of Ameratsu, the sun goddess. The population of Britain is actually made up of the ten lost tribes of Israel and members of the royal family are direct descendants of King David.

“What silliness,” rational types will exclaim. These fairy tales should be ignored by intelligent, enlightened people such as us. And ignore them policy-makers do, much to their own peril, because these stories operate powerfully in the underground chambers of our minds. Even the most rational, calculating types at the Chicago School of Economics have a myth: the Invisible Hand guides mankind to prosperity if only we mortals give it free reign. To try to rein in the Invisible Hand of the Free Market is a sin punishable by the curse of low living standards, falling profits and enslavement by the devil (played by the government in this drama.)

The Chicago School of Economics, unaware that their magic numbers are a throwback to that cult leader Pythagorus and the Caballah, continue to fill blackboards and student’s heads with these dogmas. That they don’t work is no hindrance-as soon as we repent of blasphemous usurpation of the Free Market they will work, dang it.

Net Neutrality and Strange Bedfellows?

On By southwerkIn Capitalism2 Comments

hmlbr52Net Neutrality and Strange Bedfellows?

It is a trite statement: “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” However overused the expression, it is quite accurate.

In the struggle over net neutrality a number of corporations have joined the side of the angels. Why?

When the subject is net neutrality we are talking about access. Without net neutrality major players, that is, those with millions or more commonly billions of dollars, will own the prime real estate, the highest internet speeds while the rest of us will live in a ghetto of diminished speed and low expectations.

Obviously, bloggers and activists need net neutrality so their sites can be effective, but so do small businesses and corporations. Some corporations have large internet operations that offer only a limited opportunity for profit. Buying internet speed is not economical for some users. Further, if you have a startup, like Facebook was at one time, you will not be able to afford the extra cost of the speed that might make your business a success.

Think of the attacks on net neutrality not as a corporate assault on equal privileges of use – think of it as specific corporations making that assault. It is not hard to figure out which ones. The other corporations will be in the same boat with the rest of us, unable to get high internet speeds without paying a premium.

Thus, we have a probably temporary but workable alliance between social activists, some businesses and corporations and independent bloggers (like me).

We’re like ill-funded insurgents often enemies with each other in a common cause against a formally trained, experienced and huge army. Let’s see what our ragged band of fighters can do?

James Pilant

Net neutrality has done the impossible: Align leftist and corporate interests

http://qz.com/209029/net-neutrality-has-done-the-impossible-align-leftist-and-corporate-interests/

By Yitz Jordan May 14, 2014

Welcome to Occupy Inc.

+

US Federal Communications Commission chair Tom Wheeler’s proposals last week against “net neutrality”—the principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally regardless of source—created a wave of internet traffic in its own right. Wheeler’s new proposal, that internet service providers can prioritize some sites’ traffic over others by allowing bandwidth-guzzling sites such as Netflix to pay a premium for optimal speed (but not restrict access to lawful sites altogether), is a virtual about-face from the FCC’s 2009′s edict that ISPs “must treat lawful content, applications, and services in a nondiscriminatory manner.” The FCC’s inconsistency has not gone unnoticed—with companies ranging from web behemoths like Facebook and eBay joining forces with social responsibility titans like CREDO Mobile and a myriad of startups to oppose the new FCC ruling. Critics say that such the FCC’s two-tiered “fast lane” framework—where the haves stream video in HD and the have-nots are relegated to slower speeds—would make it virtually impossible for Netflix-esque startups to take shape – “…if deep-pocketed players can pay for a faster, more reliable service, then small startups face a crushing disadvantage,” says one venture capitalist.

+

And with one government statement, net neutrality has become the new income inequality, the cause celebre of the progressive activist — and for the first time, the offices of Big Technology are allied with the tents of Occupy.

+

Last week saw the birth of the #OccupyTheFCC movement and a protest movement began camping on on the steps of the FCC’s Washington, DC headquarters. True to Occupy form, daily (and nightly) “actions” have punctuated the FCC’s daily operations since last Wednesday. From banners and greeting workers daily with a “human firewall” outside of the front entrance, to citywide awareness-driving PSA campaigns, to highway overpass signs, the movement is picking up steam heading into day eight. They’re “not going away anytime soon.” Its organizers, Fight for the Future, are no strangers to online protest, having risen to prominence in 2011 through the viral anti-SOPA “blackout” widget, was adopted by everyone from Google to Wikipedia in a coordinated effort against the unpopular “anti-piracy” legislation. …

From Around the Web.

From the web site, Vergaranomics.

http://vergaranomics.com/2014/05/17/fine-bright-like-a-diamond-the-financial-story-of-shiny-rocks-the-future-of-the-21st-century-economy-and-that-one-disney-movie-i-havent-seen-in-ages/

Fine Bright Like a Diamond: The Financial Story of Shiny Rocks, the Future of the 21st Century Economy, and that One Disney Movie I Haven’t Seen in Ages

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to open debate to a restructuring of net neutrality laws. Nothing is set in stone yet, but there is a lot at stake that could have ripples from the direction of our economy to the existence of this blog and much more.

A useful place to start before diving into the world of economic shift and corporate interests it to start with the basics: what is net neutrality? Coined by Columbia media law professor Tim Wu in his 2003 publication, the term “net neutrality” is the idea that ISPs (Internet service providers, such as Verizon or Comcast) should treat all data available on the Internet in a fair and equal manner, with no discrimination towards access, content, website, application, or the users accessing said data. Such an environment is amenable to both consumers and producers, because it’s relatively cheap to buy a site and a domain and begin producing your own product in a matter of hours. This proliferation of producers and products makes the market awash in competition and thereby keeps prices down for us consumers.

So, what’s the catch? The FCC is entertaining a motion to discuss the possibility of “paid prioritization,” meaning that ISPs could charge content providers higher premiums to maintain quality service. Though the FCC has rigorously denied any claims of such “lanes,” this would create a two-tier system: a “regular” lane being slower and lower quality than prioritized ones. Consider it being analogous to the tollways that run concurrently with highways, with the exception that the owners of the tollways are launching missiles at a few highway underpasses every few weeks. These prices get passed down to us, the consumers, as ISPs will no longer have incentive to expand and update their pipes when they can simply charge more for usage of existing infrastructure. Suddenly, fast Internet becomes a commodity.

In economics, we call this artificial scarcity. Consider the Disney Vault. Every few years, a commercial fervor grows as yet another Disney movie that I haven’t seen in eons is re-released on VHS, then to DVD, then to Blu-Ray, available only for a few weeks before “returning to the vault,” only to be released again 10 years later, remastered and in Gold Edition. Disney is artificially creating demand by limiting the supply of said re-released film for an allotted amount of time. It’s not that these movies are especially rare: a trip to a Goodwill will nab you some classics and a VCR for thirty bucks. Rather, Disney is creating scarcity by returning that re-released film back to the Vault. …

(Please visit the above site and read the whole entry – it’s a good post and deserves your full attention. jp)

We’re All in This Economics Thing Together

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

051We’re All in This Economics Thing Together

One of my relatives was at a family reunion and he proudly stated firmly and unequivocally that all of his success was due to his hard work. There was chorus of disapproval and anger. The family had sacrificed for him to stay in school and then to go to college. There were times when he struggled in his career and again his family provided support. It caused a breach in the family that never quite healed.
I know where he got this idea. Popular culture. The idea of the lone wolf struggling against all odds, the lone man facing fate along, and all that other crap. It’s very romantic, Ayn Randian stuff. Of course, we are, in a sense, alone but really we are creatures of our culture and our time. We stand on the shoulders of giants ever dependent on the philosophies and ideas generated by our ancestors and our endeavors are smoothed by the cooperation of our fellow citizens.

I suppose I should be beguiled by the idea of myself as a lone hero, a Western style avenger fighting for right. But the fact is, there is a certain pleasure in coming from Locust Grove, Oklahoma, and by some measurement having made good. I remember where I came from and the many kindnesses extended to me and the occasional cruelties as well.

I don’t understand the “I did it all” mentality. When I drive to work, I realize that I didn’t pay for the road save in some small share. My car is constructed in accordance with federal regulations which means unlike vehicles in the 1950’s and before, my little vehicle will enable me to survive most crashes. I work in a state institution, a cooperative endeavor financed over time by millions of citizens. Etc.

I don’t like the “I did it all” mentality. It seems to me that it inevitably leads to evading responsibility to help others and to be part of the community – the state and the nation will take a back seat to self interest. Self interest has its place but it’s not the only thing to take into consideration. I am a patriot and I believe in my fellow Americans. We like to think we all are but the fact is the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship to evade taxes is growing every year. They are traitors to their country.

Please read the article below, the author eloquently explains that lone wolf scientist is really a figment of the fiction writer’s agile mind rather than a real character.

James Pilant

Iron Man and the Myth of the Lone Entrepreneur

Posted on May 12, 2014 by

A popular misconception we’re often confronted with is the idea that successful business people somehow made it through their own hard work, graft and smarts.  While it can take immense perseverance, skill and acumen to build business empires, it is a fallacy to believe that ultimate success is down to the individual entrepreneur.  Yes they may be the important component, but a lone effort it certainly is not.  Maybe one can better think of them as the star strikers in football – great show and talent but completely useless without the backup of mid-fielders, defenders, trainers, coaches, managers, family, promoters, ad-men, agents, supporters and so on.

Popular films like the Iron Man series portray a fantasy world where a supremely gifted and arrogant engineer single-handedly builds a complete semi-autonomous robot exoskeleton with over-unity power source. Anyone with an actual real-world technical background (or half a brain) would tell you that in reality he’d have needed a team of ten to write and test the code for the control mechanism of the little finger on the left-hand glove.

So the team of scientists, engineers and project managers would need to be absolutely massive.  And who would have trained them?  Did Robert Downey Jr. recruit a bunch of uneducated kids and teach them maths, physics, computing, etc, from scratch?  Not likely especially given the amount of time he spends partying and getting pissed.  No he did it on the back of the education system of multiple countries (engineers move around).  Who pays for that education?  The public does, either through taxes or fees, both of which require people to earn something in order to pay. And then Tony Stark made his fortune selling weapons to Uncle Sam and other military forces, all of whom are for a large part funded by tax payers money.   …

http://formerdundeeman.org/2014/05/12/iron-man-myth-lone-entrepreneur/

From Around the Web.

From the web site, Philip Valdes.

http://philipvaldes.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/the-lean-startup-how-todays-entrepreneurs-use-continuous-innovation/

Why do so many startups fail? The business myth says: A lone entrepreneur – beavering away in a lab or a garage somewhere – through hard work, grit and sheer perseverance develops a great product which then becomes a blockbuster hit. That sounds appealing but the reality is most startups tend to burn through their resources and then disappear because they never get around to seeing what their potential customers think of what they’re developing. They worry about the product first and assume customer demand will be there automatically.To succeed with a startup, you’ve got to manage it differently. Instead of developing a business plan, find ways to accelerate your learning and validate customers demand.

The best way to do this is to build a prototype (with minimal features) and sell it to some early adopters. Then change the product repeatedly – daily if necessary – and keep supplying your customers with the new and improved versions. Listen to their feedback and use those ideas to make a better version and then get more feedback on that. Keep iterating until you get a fully featured product which your customers love. Click here to find out who is Phillip Valdes.

In other words, go through the Build-Measure-Learn loop as often as you can. If you make validated learning the real aim of your startup, you stand a better chance of success. Focus on what customers want, utilize an extremely fast cycle time and take a scientific approach to making decisions. That’s the essence of the Lean Startup approach.

Oh, BTW, Crushing Student Debt is a Huge Drag on the Economy

On By southwerkIn Capitalism

021!!@@#dddddd444I would suggest that it is unethical to burden students with the costs of their education. Education is a society wide benefit, and we should all share the burden.

Irv Lefberg's avatarPage Seven

The Long Road to Solvency The Long Road to Solvency

The outstanding debt held in student loans, estimated at over one trillion dollars, is now the second largest class of debt held by consumers — second only to home mortgages. The dangers posed by this debt may not be as great as the mortgage debt and its role in the ensuing financial system crash of 2008. But it is consequential for the economy, not to mention it’s devastating personal effects.  You can read about the dimensions and find the relevant data here.

While this news isn’t “buried,” in the sense I’ve been using the term here in Page Seven, it does not receive the attention it deserves by economists or business writers as a major factor in the sluggish recovery, or in the prospects for long term growth. Nor is it prominent in the scripts and talking points of the two major ideological…

View original post 602 more words