Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Tuesday Morning Links

1. "Manity sizing" comes to the U.K. Stores are labeling trousers up to two inches narrower at the waist than they actually are. 

2. The Post Office is dying.  Reason? We don't need it anymore. (HT: Tim D.)

3. Flashback to July 22, 2007 - "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are riding to the rescue of the subprime lending market. Consumer advocacy groups and politicians have been calling on the agencies to get more involved in guaranteeing subprime loans and creating consumer-friendly mortgages that can be made available to borrowers with blemished credit histories." (HT: Jimmy P.)

4. Freelance Nation: "The Freelance Surge Is the Industrial Revolution of Our Time," a new series in The Atlantic. 

5. China to Overtake Japan in Luxury Demand This Year.  After centuries of communism where private property was not allowed, today's Chinese love to show off a little bling.

32 Comments:

At 9/06/2011 12:34 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

A major reason the Post Office loses money is delivering to rural areas, that no private-sector operator would reasonably serve.

UPS and Federal Express have "black-out" maps of vast rural swaths they do not serve.

Along with the VA, it may be time to shut down the Post Office entirely, and turn operation over to the private sector.

 
At 9/06/2011 1:12 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

Benji is right. If Fed Ex and UPS took over the mail service - the first thing to go would be the rural delivery..... and all those folks would have to get P.O. Boxes...20 miles away... and there would be no daily delivery.. either... probably once a week.

 
At 9/06/2011 1:22 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

bunny-

as ever, you are playing fast and loose with the facts.

UPS does not have "blackout areas". they have a surcharge for rural, just as the USPS should.

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/time/service/eas_download.html

you'd be hard pressed to find a place to which USPS delivers and UPS does not. many rural areas have a post office where delivery takes place. you get a box, and you go pick up your mail. that's actually less expensive per letter than home delivery.

USPS's problem is not rural areas. it's poor pricing structure, bloated costs, reduced usage, and ruinous pensions.

 
At 9/06/2011 1:30 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

I don't disagree with Morg...but would point out that two other items...roads and electricity have similar problems with rural service.

I believe that UPS has those nasty "ruinous" pensions though so Fed Ex would probably become a monopoly.

 
At 9/06/2011 1:46 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

I shipped through FedEx and UPS for years, and there are unserved areas of the nation by those two carriers.

Lately, UPS adds a surcharge on for everything.

The 3600 post offices slated to be closed are mostly rural, and should have been closed eons ago.

The Rural Pink State Empire is floats on a pool of federal alrd.

 
At 9/06/2011 1:53 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

"I shipped through FedEx and UPS for years, and there are unserved areas of the nation by those two carriers"

name one that is also served by USPS.

 
At 9/06/2011 1:58 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

one thing that is no well appreciated is market demographics which is a hybrid operation of the census and the post office.

Whether it's WalMart or a local candidate for office - the granularity of the carrier routes demographics is a very highly sought after data.

Cable and phone companies also rely on this data.

 
At 9/06/2011 3:11 PM, Blogger Che is dead said...

A major reason the Post Office loses money is delivering to rural areas, that no private-sector operator would reasonably serve. -- "Benji"

I agree with morganovich, the cost of rural mail service should be offset by adding a surcharge for mail delivery. Rural communities could then recover this by increasing the price of farm goods shipped to urban parasites.

Rural communities should also be given control of their resources. That way urban dwelling leftists, like "Benji", who insist on living in semi-desert environments, like SoCal, would be forced to pay a more competitive price for the privilege of having access to fresh water.

The era of socialist dirtbags living in urban areas, but controlling rural resources, needs to come to an end.

 
At 9/06/2011 3:19 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

ZOWEE! does that include all those rural-based coal-burning plants so that nasty chimney trash stays away from the urban parasites precious lungs?

:-0

 
At 9/06/2011 3:37 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Che-

You must be a Pink State Socialist.

Actually, if you go to The Tax Foundation website, you will find that rural states are subsidized by urban states, and have been for generations.

This started under dems FDR and then-congressman from TX, LBJ. This socialist legacy is now embraced by all rural Senators and congressmen, although they happen to mostly GOP now.

Not hard to understand: Two Senators from every rural state. Lots of voting clout.

Everything in rural America is pink-federal, from postal service, to water systems, to power systems, to telephone service, to rural free delivery, to rail stops, to roads.

A state like Kentucky or New Mexico gets back $1.50 to $2 for every $1 they send to DC. Across rural America, the state colors are pink, rosey red, and pale rojo.

This is why the GOP never talks about slashing agency spending. They talk about cutting Social Security and Medicare--money that goes back to taxpayers. regardless of where they live.

But agency spending? That money is taxed away from productive citizens, and goes into the black hole of waste, corruption and coprolite that is our federal government, whether the USDA, the VA, Defense, or Labor.

Close down the Post Office, and the VA, and the USDA.

 
At 9/06/2011 3:41 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

Close down the Post Office, and the VA, and the USDA

and the rural electric cooperatives?

remember the "alleged" purpose of taxpayer subsidized rural electrification?

oh..and how about those farm-to-market roads?

 
At 9/06/2011 4:26 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Try gettgin Saturday deliver from UPS--oh, you can...but pay, pay, pay.

Interestingly enough, the US Constitution provides that Congress open post offices and postal roads, and leaves open the question of funding.

The same Constitution requires Congress--

"To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;"

The Founding Fathers evidently had a soft spot for the postal service, but loathed and detested standing armies, much preferring resort to citizen militias--even to repel invasions.

The "strict constructionists" probably never read this part of the Constitution.

 
At 9/06/2011 4:53 PM, Blogger Paul said...

Benji,

"Actually, if you go to The Tax Foundation website, you will find that rural states are subsidized by urban states, and have been for generations."

And, for the thousandth time, the Tax Foundation says the chief reason for the disparity is the progressive income tax. Tell me, Benji boy, who defends the progressive income tax to the last ditch? The GOP? God, you are a douchbag.

"This is why the GOP never talks about slashing agency spending."

Really? I hear GOP Congressmen and candidates talk about slashing agency spending all the time. As usual, you know jack squat about what you're talking about. This is as staggeringly idiotic as your statement the other day that the right-wing never criticizes lawyers.

"They talk about cutting Social Security and Medicare--money that goes back to taxpayers. regardless of where they live."

Translation: Benji's almost to the age of hitting the entitlement jackpot, so leave those ponzi schemes alone!

The heart of Benjinomics: "what's in it for Benji?"

 
At 9/06/2011 5:56 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Paul-

The progressive income tax does raise collections from urban states--and that money should go back to those states.

Why should powerful, market economies in blue states subsidize weakling, knock-kneed, mollycoddled wimp economies in rural pink states?

 
At 9/06/2011 6:18 PM, Blogger Paul said...

Benji,

Your boyfriend champions the progressive income tax, the chief reason for the disparity.

 
At 9/06/2011 7:14 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Actually, I am supporting Mitt Romney at this point.

 
At 9/06/2011 7:15 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Even though all I see when I look at Mitt Romney to Ted Danson the Cheers bartender, also from Boston.

 
At 9/07/2011 3:37 AM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Interestingly enough, the US Constitution provides that Congress open post offices and postal roads, and leaves open the question of funding. "

The last sentence in Article 1 Section 8 covers financing of those post offices and post roads that Congress is empowered to establish.

"To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."

Another example is, when 'providing and maintaining a navy', it might be 'necessary and proper' to authorize funds for buying ships and hiring sailors.

 
At 9/07/2011 5:54 AM, Blogger Larry G said...

"necessary and proper" sure sounds like a phrase that would get litigated, eh?

the same forefathers, by the way, passed mandatory health care:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/01/17/congress-passes-socialized-medicine-and-mandates-health-insurance-in-1798/

same guys that did not put it in the Constitution.

hells bells.. they "violated" their own dang Constitution!

 
At 9/07/2011 12:15 PM, Blogger juandos said...

Sadly Larry G with his usual panache didn't do his homework completely...

So a little follow through from a legal blog, the Volokh Conspiracy: An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen

 
At 9/07/2011 12:25 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

Mark Perry - the link that juandos provided in his 1:15pm post is a malicious web site.

I would suggest that he be given a warning and then permanently banned if he does it again.

look at how he represented the website in his response and then look at the link behind it.

 
At 9/07/2011 2:37 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Mark Perry - the link that juandos provided in his 1:15pm post is a malicious web site."

Have you finally gone completely off your rocker?

I must assume you mean his 12:15 PM post, as 1:15 PM hadn't yet occurred when you raised the alarm.

What led you to believe the well known site "The Volokh Conspiracy" Is a malicious site?

Or, for that matter, why do you think juandos wishes to harm us?

You need to get a grip, Larry boy.

 
At 9/07/2011 2:44 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

the site was tagged as a malicious site... and I double-checked it to make sure.

from now on links from that guy do not get clicked unless and until he explains his actions and I'd recommend to everyone else to be especially wary...of any links he posts.

 
At 9/07/2011 3:39 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"the link that juandos provided in his 1:15pm post is a malicious web site"...

larry g you're either a liar here or an incompetent fool when it comes to using your computer...

There's absolutely nothing malicious about it but then again you're Canadian, right?

"from now on links from that guy do not get clicked unless and until he explains his actions and I'd recommend to everyone else to be especially wary...of any links he posts"...

LMAO! Is that a promise larry g?

 
At 9/07/2011 3:50 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

here's what the URL shortner looks like it points to and has script attributes:

www-gm-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/js/rpc.js?container=gm&nocache=0&debug=0&c=1&v=28f03c0f9cf137433a9cd3bd87a0ab53&sv=7">

now if Juanos or someone else wants to post the actual website...let's see it.

I'm not above saying I was mistaken but at this point - I'm still not convinced and neither is my anti-virus that what Juanos posted was a legitimate website.

so how about some others trying it?

 
At 9/07/2011 3:57 PM, Blogger juandos said...

Well larry g I don't know where you dredged that url up but if you put your mouse pointer over that oh so dangerous link you should actually see something like the following: http://smurl.name/8p4w which would bring you to this: 'An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen'...

Smurl is like Tiny, it contracts down long urls and makes them more manageable for linking...

 
At 9/07/2011 4:06 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

how about you post the original URL without alteration?

 
At 9/07/2011 4:26 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"how about you post the original URL without alteration?"...

I got a couple of better ideas larry g, how about you learn how to use a computer and the internet?

Is it that tough to learn a little html coding?

 
At 9/07/2011 11:02 PM, Blogger Expected Optimism said...

Under point five, I believe "centuries" should be "decades"...

 
At 9/08/2011 4:49 AM, Blogger sethstorm said...


"The Freelance Surge Is the Industrial Revolution of Our Time,"

While there might be a few people that benefit, effectively forcing a mass conversion from secure work to work-by-desperation harms more than it can help.

 
At 9/08/2011 10:37 AM, Blogger morganovich said...

work by desperation?

on what do you base that seth?

every single employee we have is a freelnace.

they (and i) do it for tax reasons. filing as in independent contractor is highly advantageous.

no one here makes under $250k and all have been here for 3 years +.

most employees are far more desperate.

free lance is a reasonable response to a start up culture. most start ups fail. so you free lance with several to mitigate your risk. it provides protection for the freelance, not "desperation".

you have some very strange ideas about work seth.

 
At 9/09/2011 4:37 AM, Blogger sethstorm said...


morganovich said...


Work-by-desperation:
Morton's Fork


As for strange work ideas:
That comes from being around a city with a long history of large and directly hiring employers - some are still here, others have closed or moved. All made a point to treat their employees well.

Secure work and not having to worry if you land the next contract do well to build a solid financial foundation. If there's any room for freelancing - it is for those who actively seek it among other options, not those who have it as their only option.

 

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