The Professor’s Notes

Drew, at his blog “Notes from Off-center” wrote, in criticizing the current Bush Administration that “Just like Reagan, Bush II has taken a balanced budget and screwed it up.” I suppose everyone is entitled to a little bit of re-writing history, but to argue that Reagan started with a government that had a balanced [...]

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Far be it for me to attack Obama. Hey, he’s the one Democratic candidate I have liked so far. But I have to go after what is quite honestly either the sloppiest math I have seen, or the most disingenuous campaign rhetoric to cross through this campaign cycle.
I was reading the blog over [...]

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For those not practicing the fine art of Ostrich-ing (hiding your head in the sand), you will note that the dollar is performing poorly against most (all?) international currencies at this time. Of course, the media is reporting this as yet another indicator that times are tough.
Alas, all is not as clear when assessing [...]

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Rarely do I write these short postings but…
It struck me today that “tax day” is perfectly placed for politicians.  Far enough ahead of election day that we forget the pain, and far enough after election day that we aren’t thinking about the pain quite yet.
Coincidence?

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To follow-up on a previous posting (in re “I can’t pay my mortgage and I won’t move out“) I note the newest wrinkle: banks bribing squatters not to trash the house during an eviction.
To review the bidding, socio-politico-economic forces led us into a situation where pretty much everyone was happy with people buying homes [...]

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I recently received an email, containing an article entitled Less Money, More Pain — The Bonfire of Capital By Mike Whitney. The comment sent with the article was “This tells me that 2008 will be a very bad year for everyone.”  Wow.  Must be a compelling article, well researched, and written by [...]

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Now, for those of you that wonder when, if ever, I will talk about Supply Chain issues on this blog, let’s make this more of an ongoing discussion.
Obviously I have had an interest lately in fuel economy, and alternatives to the status quo. These are not driven simply by an altruistic vision of the [...]

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Even the few of you that actually know me probably didn’t know that at one point I was the Public Speaking winner at my state’s FFA (still Future Farmers of America, then) convention, back in the early, EARLY 80s. That contest is a “prepared speech” contest, and for that speech, I chose to talk [...]

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I have to admit, I am a water junky. I drink most likely gallons of water a day. I have all but abandoned sodas, and only drink coffee in the morning. Otherwise, it’s all water. Of course, having such a water addiction means that I, like most junkies, want my “fix” all [...]

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After writing the last post, I realized I had not tackled the big question:  How could Apple have practiced price discrimination that would have enabled the “big spenders” to still feel good about themselves, rather than feeling like they were robbed?
Thankfully, others have taken on this task.  Specifically, Seth Godin (you know, the “All Marketers [...]

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