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The Daily Planet, Vol.1 Sunday Edition

Cher – “Framing” is not necessarily lying… It is finding that singular way of saying something that resonates with the emotions you are trying to evoke. Facts and framing do not have to be inconsistant, if I get what you meant by lying. (?)

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 21, 2011 @ 10:16 am

Cher – bringing the discussion about Lakoff up to the top…

I believe we all “spend” our votes, just like we spend dollars. We invest in one side or the other, depending on emotions, not rationality. With that in mind, we are faced with a “free market” (not-so-free it turns out, since we are ALL captured by language from one side or the other and the MSM andother sources) in which to spend our franchise.

I find it strange that liberals and progressives act mainly in an Adam Smith style of more-or-less rationally looking at issues, weighing pros and cons, and coming up with a stance. Conservatives, on the other hand, are, in the main, waiting for that “strong leader” to tell them what to do and think about any given issue… unquestionably, even if what they are told to “spend” their vote on is clearly against their own interests, and all based on emotion rather than fact or analysis.

Yet, it is conservatives and the right which claim to be oh so analytical – the adults in the room. (There is a phrase that is a classic ‘framing’, BTW)

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 21, 2011 @ 9:58 am

Cher – here is the info regarding the “free market” and rationality versus emotions

http://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedaer/y2003iq2p33-41nv.88no.2.html

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 21, 2011 @ 9:48 am

Cher – as to differing world views, we get into a more psychological realm.

I somewhat naively think that the world is divided into two kinds of people… leaders and followers. I cannot count the number of times I’ve asked employees if they would like to become a manager. VERY FEW said yes. They just want to do thier work, get paid, and go home.

I personally think that progressivism is a “thinking man’s” game, even for the rank and file, and that conservatism is for those that simply would rather be led. Plus, some folks just like the “strong leader” style of governing. It makes them comfortable. SO, again, I agree with Lakoff that there are basic and unshakable reasons why conservatives and progressives are different. But we have to win elections to get the society we want, don’t we?

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 21, 2011 @ 9:34 am

Cher – I think Lakoff is right in all regards. He is addressing how the first group I mention above manipulates mostly the second group above. The third group and many Progressives and independents are “captured” by the language along with the MSM, which is why the right has been so successful.

I have said elsewhere on this site that the left needs a good marketing firm, and this is why. Facts as facts are fine, but are not emotional. All decisions are emotional, which is why the Adam Smith school of economics is purely speculative. Studies have shown (I don’t have links, but they are probably out there) that even major decisions like buying a house or a car are ALWAYS emotion-based and not rational, i.e., looking at all options, rating the options, and acting according to the rating devised. Never happens. Even just money decisions are emotional.

Point is, the left HAS to frame issues that get to voters’ gut and not their heads. In short, make it personal.

If that happens, that second group can be heavily lobbied for votes, and the third group has something to chew on. Add those up, and elections can be won easily.

(Again, all opinion, but based on experience and reasoning…)

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 21, 2011 @ 9:29 am

What do conservatives really want?

Depends on the conservative, I think.

You have the “top” guys and strategists, like Karl Rove and so on, who are hired guns and mouthpieces that are truly sociopathic, IMO.

Then there are the ordinary folk who generally just want to be left alone, have no interest in anything outside thier own lives, have less than a normal amount of curiosity, and have a mindset that says that ANYONE that tries to tell them what to do is bad. No thought about all the things that others have provided them, and they do indeed, like thier safety nets. Comfortable in ignorance, easy in their self-centeredness, and smug in knowing they are always right, no matter what the argument. Facts are bothersome things.

Then there are the third type, the thinkers. They have actually thought out their stances and can logically make an argument.

Each group wants different things. The first, power and money. The second, to be left alone by everybody. The third, a simpler government that works well and is easy to understand, and that gives them their money’s worth.

Just guessin’ here…

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 9:57 pm

Invite For Collaboration Part 2:

Truth – no, I didn’t get paid and I wasn’t a party to that class action suit.. didn’t care. I had fun and did a lot of role playing in Red Dragon Inn where I was a host… we were told up front that it was voluntary and non-paying.

When it changed after about 5 years into just another “trolling for sex” area, I just quit and moved on… kinda like HP {spit!}

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 21, 2011 @ 9:11 am

Truth – Been sniffing around today, and in the wiki article on AOL, I found this… and have personal knowledge of this aspect of AOL’s operation, since I was a Room Host at one point…

Community leaders
Prior to mid 2005, AOL used online volunteers called Community Leaders, or CLs, to monitor chatrooms, message boards, and libraries. AOL’s use of remote volunteers dated back to the establishment of its Quantum Link service in 1985. Some community leaders were recruited for content design and maintenance using a proprietary language and interface called RAINMAN, although most content maintenance was performed by partner and internal employees.
In 1999, a class action lawsuit was filed against AOL citing violations of U.S. labor laws in its usage of CLs. The Department of Labor investigated but came to no conclusions, closing their investigation in 2001.[45] AOL began drastically reducing the responsibilities and privileges of its volunteers in 2000. The program was eventually ended on June 8, 2005. Current Community Leaders at the time were offered 12 months of credit on their accounts in thanks for their service.
In February 2010, a settlement was reached in the class action suit. The settlement included a $15 million USD payment divided among more than 7,000 individual former Community Leaders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL

Sound familiar??????

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 21, 2011 @ 7:45 am

Let me see what I can find and if it’s meaningfull at all. Are there deadlines yet?

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 9:59 pm

Truth – You all know I’ve stayed away from this project. I have my own project with the business series going and some other stuff in mind as well. Besides, I don’t share the passion for the subject that many here have on this. I always EXPECT to be hosed by corporate capitalists. I just move on. I am NOT denigrating anyone else’s interest in it, it’s just not me.

Having said that, I am a pretty good editor and proofreader as well, and it may be valuable to have someone look it over from a less interested perspective once it’s whipped into shape, if you know what I mean..

Just a thought, and any answer is ok.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 9:40 pm

ghsts – I wouldn’t put it as ‘noble.’

I have always said I would rather deal with an “honest” crook any day than a dishonest one. At least you know going in what you are dealing with.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 1:09 pm

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 8)

No problem.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 8:26 pm

KB – rant away. I dislike people most of the time myself. I have been accused of the sin of being blunt as well. Vent. It’s ok.

I worked for a woman in NYC for 10 years that was really and actually certifiable. When she went off her meds, she was literally crazy. She threatened to kill me more than once (one time over party planning, of all things!).

I can feel your pain. I learned to just ignore her and all the business dimwits. I worked behind the scenes and in the shadows, leaving no fingerprints or paper trail. I made it fun for me.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 8:15 pm

KB, saw it, no sweat.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 7:45 pm

KB,
It’s a lttle hard work up front, but will save a thousand headaches down the road.

The right way is not easy to set up, but is well worth it!

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 7:17 pm

Wisconsin, what does it really mean?

jdm – Tactics straight from “The Dictators’ Handbook” page 123, Chapter called “Eliminating Free Speach”

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 22, 2011 @ 1:39 pm

Welcome to Libya, Wisconsin!

Madison, Wisconsin (CNN) — A left-leaning website that union supporters used to rally protesters in Wisconsin was partially blocked as demonstrators gathered in the state Capitol over a controversial budget bill.

The website, defendwisconsin.org, could not be accessed on Monday and into Tuesday morning in the Capitol building, where crowds assembled over proposed legislation that would increase the costs of benefits to public employees and curb their collective-bargaining rights.

Wisconsin Democratic Party press secretary Graeme Zielinski blamed Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers — who returned to work Tuesday — for causing the outage.

“In a direct assault on the First Amendment, Scott Walker’s administration is blocking access in the Wisconsin Capitol to opposition websites,” Zielinski said.

The governor’s spokesman, Cullen Werwie, responded Tuesday, calling the accusation “a lie.”

—

The report goes on to say that the site was “being evaluated” before being allowed to go back live online.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 22, 2011 @ 1:07 pm

Back before there was Social Security, welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, and all manner of those dreaded social programs that are now being actively attacked and gutted, we had the following:

Families were responsible for others’ debts. If mom or dad were broke, legally, the creditors could come after the kids or brothers and sisters, anyone. I see that coming back.

There were poor farms, where old people that couldn’t pay thier debts were sentenced to to “work off their debt.” It was backbreaking, humiliating work, little better than prison. Coming soon to an area near you when corporations can buy your debt and make you pay off in any way they choose…

There were company towns, where everything was owned by the company, including the “law” and the “courts” and you were paid in company “scrip” that was only good at the company store, where prices were such that you could never get ahead. Your rental home was company owned.

In a very real sense, you became an indentured servant. We are again close to that now in places.

These and many other things we all thought we thought were behind us are returning, much to the delight of neo-cons, conservatives, and TBaggers who think they – for some unfathomable reason – will be exempt.

They are WRONG!

And it’s all cloaked in the name of “liberty” and “freedom” and “personal responsibility.”

Our once great and prosperous country is being reduced to financial rubble by madmen and fools.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 22, 2011 @ 10:47 am

@Abby – wait ’til I get to pricing… LOL

It’s a mystery to most people, but, as I said before, if you have the honest financial basis, which I just took 8 freakin’ articles to get to (!), it is easy and will generate the correct profit margin every time.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 7:49 pm

@Abby –

This incentive system really works well when applied honestly and is posted and updated. It is based on numbers that everyone can verify.

Another example is a service crew… let’s say a three-man HVAC install crew…

Each job they go out on, the price is based on so many hours to do the job… let’s say 24 man/hours (3 guys, one day).

If they can do it in fewer hours, with the best quality of results (no call backs, no customer complaints, good safety practises), the comapny still gets the fullmoney for the work, and the crew can start another job before the end of the day. The different in man/hours is money to the company. Let’s say they saved 8 man/hours…

That’s maybe $40 an hour (burdened labor) x 8 = $360.

That crew just contributed $180 to the pool in one day. Adds up quick over three months.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 7:36 pm

@Patsy – “…cold, gray, podunky Madison, Wisconsin…”

HEY!!!!

I had some of the best times I’ve ever had in my life on State Street in Madison!

(‘course I was 19 at the time…)

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 4:06 pm

@KQ, jdm, Buddy…

I read your thread concerning small businesses and how they are being run.

I know my business series is a little long, and is getting into financial detail, but there is a reason, and one that goes straight to your points.

The aim is to create a business where each and every employee is a part of an incentive pool based on accountability and performance above and beyond their established metrics in the Job Description.

Let’s say you are a part of a group that makes ball bearings. For your living wage (yes, I consider it a must to pay a living wage), you have certain metrics to meet. So many a day, maintain a certain level of quality, have no safety issues, attendance, etc. All are measurable and understandable. If you are more productive than that, the additional profits are split between the owner and an incentive pool. If you do less or have a quality issue, the loss is posted to the pool. The same with each person on your team. The amount in the pool and why it went up or down is posted for all to see each week. The pool is divided up each fiscal quarter among the team, based on time with the company, attendance record, quarterly evaluation, and sometimes other critical criteria.

Now, this is not classic ‘profit sharing.’ This is entrepreneurship within the company. Slackers on a team are really taking money out of others’ pockets. The team will not like that much. Also, this assumes that the team has some control as to HOW the work is done. If they get creative and are VERY productive (smarter, not harder), they get a proportional award each quarter.

The reason I have gone to such pains to explain the financial part first is to give people the tools to analyze this system and to make owners understand that IT COSTS THEM NOTHING! If they plan for 10% net and the teams bring that to 15% net through innovation and productivity, the owner is now at, say, 12.5% and the workers split the other 2.5%. That 50-50 (or whatever) ratio is determined up front and needs to be adhered to. I’ve had owners say to give the pools 100% of the “extra” profit.

This system WORKS, and works well, and addresses many of the issues you bring up. Stay tuned for the details in my series.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 3:51 pm

I’ve been thinking about numbers (surprise, surprise!) and Wisconsin, so I did a little quick research and math.

Number of 18-75 year olds in Wisconsin: 3,800,000 (possible voters)
Last info on voter percentage: 71% (2008 election, only MN is higher)
Approx. number of state employees: 45,000

That means there are about 2,700,000 voters in WI. I couldn’t easily find out what the 2010 numbers were. With 45,000 state employees, that’s about 1.5% of all probable voters. If you consider that each employee likely has a family, including spouses, children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, etc. that are likely to by sympathetic to a state employee’s condition of employment, I would multiply that 45,000 by 5, coming up with over 200,000 people in the state that are likely not happy with Walker’s crowd and their tactics. 10% of the voting public.

Consider something else… my home county has maybe 50,000 people in it and only one town of any size – 7,500 people. How many jobs and what percentage of that county’s economy depends on state employees and thier paychecks? It IS the county seat with a courthouse and sherrif’s office, attourneys general for the county and state, DNR staff and labs, fish hatcheries, school boards, and so on, not to even speak of admin staff. Turns out, it is likely that the state is one of the major employers in the county. And most northern counties are no different.

I think these guys have bitten off more than they can chew.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 12:14 pm

Balancing Incentives…

2nd – absolutely. Employees need to feel invested in their work, and in control of what they are doing. Responsibility and accountability are very important. “Manna from heaven” once in a while gets nowhere, IMO.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 19, 2011 @ 9:08 pm

Abby… It’s not the NEXT topic, but I’ll be getting there. I have to build into it. Without the financial understanding behind it, it makes no sense otherwise, and actually sounds a little crazy.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 19, 2011 @ 6:19 pm

“…it is appropriate that they should garner for themselves some fraction of the resulting increases in productivity.”

For those following my business series, keep this statement in mind!

THIS is the entire basis for a rational and effective employee incentive plan. There are financial reasons why it works, and the major reason it works for employees is that there are psychological reasons that cause positive feedback chains within employee groups.

That dynamic will be explained once I get there, but remember this quote. It is the core rationale for constructing a business model that allows an owner to get to that dream we talked about all the way back at the beginning in the first installment.

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 19, 2011 @ 6:07 pm

God’s Blog – 2-19-2011

Dawg – Actually, that’s the anteroom to Hell.

Hell itself is having to listen to Sarah Palin INTERPRET what Glenn Beck is saying.

It’s all in the voice…

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 20, 2011 @ 7:52 am

That’s a given, jkk…

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 19, 2011 @ 8:58 pm

AdLib –

Considering all that goes on in the world here, I always figured that God was an angry black Lesbian woman with PMS and a bad attitude.

Am I close?

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 19, 2011 @ 8:57 pm

Employment at Will…what does it mean?

KQ – And OSHA, the BigBadWolf! This is why the idea of “tort reform” keeps coming up, along with defunding OSHA and the EPA.

Can’t imagine why THAT would be an issue with big business!

» Posted By PocketWatch On February 19, 2011 @ 1:27 pm