Monday, August 17, 2009
If Profits are High, Ur Doin' It Wrong
Overhead the morning C[orporate] NBC financial talking heads while smoking an Oliva G maduro cigar(*) and writing code at Barklay-Rex (I took the bus in today, and stopped in the city to hang out and code for a bit): they were a bit confused about what it meant that the GDP and corporate profits were approaching pre-reccession levels (cue GOoPers claiming that the media has a liberal bias for claiming Obama fixed the recession ... indeed, the reporters were squarely --citing Reuters -- blaming Bush & CO for the ression, which will just add fuel to the liberal media meme without actually helping the progressive cause ... how is it that media types consistently say just the right things to "betray" their "liberal bias" all while, when all is said an done, putting forward a very GOP friendly message, so that "even the liberal media supports the GOP"?).
Of course, we can't expect much from so-called financial reporters not understanding how a stronger dollar isn't being well received by the stock market (lower exports anyone? -- who's educating the financial correspondents around here? I'm a biophysical chemist, and I know more about finance than these yahoos!). But still, do they not understand that if corporate profits are high yet we are still feeling a bad recession that means there is something wrong with our recovery? Maybe the reason why big business and even big finance are happy but we aren't has something to do with who's on Team Obama? Perhaps things would be better if Obama had people on his team who actually were right about the recession rather than people who helped cause it (and cause economic problems world wide for the benefit of the economic powers that be as part of the World Bank/IMF), things would be different? Maybe we should have listened to the K-man about Obama? After all, the K-man didn't get a Nobel Prize for nothin' ...
Anyway, this isn't the only thing Team Obama just doesn't get. Why the hell are they dropping the public option? Let's go to the tape: GOP (via the tea baggers) push against a public option with scare tactics, Dems. cave, due to a lack of public options, everything the GOP 'warned' us would happen does, so the GOP rides to victory. How is this any different than the GOP's tried and true strategy of push Mayor Quimby to release Side Show Bob from jail then run against Mayor Quimby for being soft on crime and even releasing Side Show Bob? Why is Obama still playing 10 dimensional chess in a football game? As I keep saying, the Dems. need to just catch the football rather than fumbling it and breaking their fingers in the process. Of course it doesn't help that any time some Dems. try to catch the football, "even the liberal media" tars and feathers "extremist Dems" even as they have a record of ignoring or treating as marginal ("of course the liberal media would declare the GOP base to be marginal") similar movements amonst the GOoPers?
BTW -- doesn't the title reflect the free market in general? If the free market really worked as advertised, so to speak, if a company was making a lot of profit, a competitor would emerge and be able to sell the same product/service for cheaper (i.e. with lower profits) and drive the price and profits down? Don't high profits indicate a lack of efficiency in the market? Or am I thinking too much like a physical chemist here in how I conceptualize efficiency? I guess the question is "efficient at what?" ...
***
* you'll have to pardon how nicotine addled this post is. I did write it whilst smoking. Anyway, here are the tasting notes:
Oliva Serie G maduro (robusto?)
Cigar a bit dry
Initial taste on wetting tip: spicy
Bland on match building up slowly with woody, grassy and sharp tannic notes
Changing about half-way through to alcoholic and tarragon
Nettle flavor comes in about 2/3rds way through in addition to (slightly faded) tarragon and alcohol
Approaching nub, tarragon and alcohol notes fade away under the nettle flavor
At very end, slight kumquat-tar and astringent grainy and nutty notes appear along with nettle flavor
This cigar certainly was a much appreciated change of pace from what I usually smoke, but it hardly is a "new favorite". It does leave a nice, almost fruity (and certainly complementary to sun lotion) smell on my clothes. I wonder if anyone'll notice?
Of course, we can't expect much from so-called financial reporters not understanding how a stronger dollar isn't being well received by the stock market (lower exports anyone? -- who's educating the financial correspondents around here? I'm a biophysical chemist, and I know more about finance than these yahoos!). But still, do they not understand that if corporate profits are high yet we are still feeling a bad recession that means there is something wrong with our recovery? Maybe the reason why big business and even big finance are happy but we aren't has something to do with who's on Team Obama? Perhaps things would be better if Obama had people on his team who actually were right about the recession rather than people who helped cause it (and cause economic problems world wide for the benefit of the economic powers that be as part of the World Bank/IMF), things would be different? Maybe we should have listened to the K-man about Obama? After all, the K-man didn't get a Nobel Prize for nothin' ...
Anyway, this isn't the only thing Team Obama just doesn't get. Why the hell are they dropping the public option? Let's go to the tape: GOP (via the tea baggers) push against a public option with scare tactics, Dems. cave, due to a lack of public options, everything the GOP 'warned' us would happen does, so the GOP rides to victory. How is this any different than the GOP's tried and true strategy of push Mayor Quimby to release Side Show Bob from jail then run against Mayor Quimby for being soft on crime and even releasing Side Show Bob? Why is Obama still playing 10 dimensional chess in a football game? As I keep saying, the Dems. need to just catch the football rather than fumbling it and breaking their fingers in the process. Of course it doesn't help that any time some Dems. try to catch the football, "even the liberal media" tars and feathers "extremist Dems" even as they have a record of ignoring or treating as marginal ("of course the liberal media would declare the GOP base to be marginal") similar movements amonst the GOoPers?
BTW -- doesn't the title reflect the free market in general? If the free market really worked as advertised, so to speak, if a company was making a lot of profit, a competitor would emerge and be able to sell the same product/service for cheaper (i.e. with lower profits) and drive the price and profits down? Don't high profits indicate a lack of efficiency in the market? Or am I thinking too much like a physical chemist here in how I conceptualize efficiency? I guess the question is "efficient at what?" ...
***
* you'll have to pardon how nicotine addled this post is. I did write it whilst smoking. Anyway, here are the tasting notes:
Oliva Serie G maduro (robusto?)
Cigar a bit dry
Initial taste on wetting tip: spicy
Bland on match building up slowly with woody, grassy and sharp tannic notes
Changing about half-way through to alcoholic and tarragon
Nettle flavor comes in about 2/3rds way through in addition to (slightly faded) tarragon and alcohol
Approaching nub, tarragon and alcohol notes fade away under the nettle flavor
At very end, slight kumquat-tar and astringent grainy and nutty notes appear along with nettle flavor
This cigar certainly was a much appreciated change of pace from what I usually smoke, but it hardly is a "new favorite". It does leave a nice, almost fruity (and certainly complementary to sun lotion) smell on my clothes. I wonder if anyone'll notice?
# posted by alberich @ 12:10 PM 
