Displaying 241 To 270 Of 1,384 Comments Since I’m part irish on my mother’s side (Kennedy’s from County Armaugh) , I’ve always been interested in Ireland, but don’t know much. Thanks! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 27, 2011 @ 6:41 am “The American Dream…a Cautionary Tale” Cher- Yup! That’s the vision I had in my head when I made the comment. Super article, and well worth the read. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 2:06 pm 2nd, there ya go! Same deal. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 1:07 pm So, let’s see… OrgChart… Empress, then I see how this is going… » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 1:00 pm Abby, I always ask myself a basic question when looking at Presidential candidates: “Would I buy a used car from this person?” Answering that question tells you all you need to know. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:56 pm I see I’m already gathering an entourage! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:45 pm LOL You mean she isn’t already??!?!? » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:35 pm Kewl… I’ll make it happen, and I know who I’d have to listen to and do their bidding! » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:32 pm dey , so did I. 6 years ago living in Westchester County NY, I told a lot of these rich assholes they were paying way too much for their McHomes. They laughed at me. I wonder if they are still laughing. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:30 pm Can I be King? » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:27 pm Unmentioned explicitly but implied in places and critical in this sad tale are the built-in incentives at every step along the way to the people that encouraged these practices. Ordinary people were lured by additional wealth through rising home prices. All you had to do was breathe in and out, and you could make money because you could sell your house for much more than you paid for it. Mortgage brokers get paid on every transaction, up or down. Real estate agents get paid on every sale. I know many that have made 6% on the same home 4 or 5 times in as many years. Banks make their interest and fees on every sale. Individuals in all those companies get bonuses on sales volume. As was stated, local, county, state, and federal governments make out on sales taxes, property taxes, can borrow against property value, and so forth. As in any pyramid scheme, it’s the bottom of the pyramid that not only holds the weight, but bears the brunt of the rubble when it collapses. I think that all the bonuses that people got for pushing paper was as much of the story as anything else. And, sadly, it is still happening. No one has changed a thing concerning incentives for enabling sales. The only thing that HAS changed is that lenders are more cautious, but someday that will change and another boom will happen, I fear. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:00 pm UNEMPLOYMENT…is STILL an issue! 2nd, The reason those commercials are so funny is that everyone has had the experience and can relate. So why do we tolerate it? » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 1:04 pm Abby – that’s what it’s for… I have no real idea if anything like that is viable, but I always like to imagine that there is no “box” to think outside of. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:50 pm “Hello… my name is Peggy..” » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:48 pm Here’s a thought… Eliminate Minimum Wage altogether at the federal and state levels. Gone. Done. Replace it with a Basic Income system. At the age of majority, every citizen, without any other qualification, gets a yearly stipend from the government large enough to meet basic needs. Studies show that increases in Minimum Wage do have a tiny negative effect on job creation. A Basic Income system would not, and studies show it may be cheaper to the economy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income The math: 300MM people, about 70% adults (210MM) $20K per annum Basic Income stipend 20K x 210MM = $4.2T per annum (about 28% of current annual GDP) No modification to current recipients or people eligible for SocSec, Medicare, Medicade, federal retirement pensions, etc., but not available for people in the future. Completely eliminates the need for minimum wage, workers can “sell” their time for what they think it’s worth. Completely fair, rich, poor, male, female, everyone gets the same. Non-taxable. Will allow people to pool their resources and live decently in retirement. Encourages innovation and creativity, since people are no longer tied to the necessity of having to work all day every day. If people want to live like a poor college student or a starving artist and not work, that’s fine. Opens up the workforce for more motivated people. In addition, to reduce the supply of workers, altering the supply and demand equation… Offer a one-time-only deal with Soc Sec. Anyone over 55 can retire with full SocSec benefits right now. Not available in the future. I don’t know how many people would take that deal, but I know I would. Sometimes radical ideas get people thinking… » Posted By PocketWatch On February 25, 2011 @ 12:22 pm Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 10) LG – Ok. Looking forward to it. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 28, 2011 @ 10:25 am 2ccp – You are absolutely correct. There are tons of “black holes” in companies, many of which are completely ignored or brushed under the rug. I want to hit “the high spots” here, mainly because I believe that you attack the largest issues first and work your way down the list using the tools I am outlining. That is not to negate what you are saying in the least, but those issues of customer satisfaction require the right kind of tracking and survey methods that are difficult for a truly small business. There are ways, some of them simple, that owners can do to track customer issues, absolutely. For example, a small business owner can create a slip or a form that has a complaint on it. When used, one of the things that can be done is to classify it… is it quality, or employee attitude, or maybe price. I will be advocating WEEKLY staff meetings to discuss status and progress of the Business Plan, and these issues can be brought up, discussed, and a resolution assigned to the right employee. It should then be followed up at the next meeting, and any changes in the organization of the system that the complaint applies to can be discussed and decided. In ISO companies, this is very formalized, but it can be fairly simple for smaller organizations, and is very important. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 24, 2011 @ 1:57 pm Amen, Abby! Aside from the motivational issues, the financial gains year after year can be substantial. How much does it cost for employee turnover? All of these expenses are “black holes” for money. These expenses create no return, have no benefit of any kind, and suck dollars right off the bottom line. Consider: At a 10% net, you have to sell $10 in goods or services for every $1 wasted, just to get back to break even! If you have employees that know they will share in savings on any of these issues, they will start watching all of it and more like hawks! (And the owner won’t have to!!!) » Posted By PocketWatch On February 24, 2011 @ 12:21 pm The Kochroaches Emerge from the Woodwork It should be mentioned that there is a lot more under the covers in the bill being disputed than the elimination of collective bargaining and union busting, or that Walker himself caused the budget problems through tax breaks to his masters, the Kochs. Contained within that bill is the authority to sell off Wisconsin’s public assets with no bids required, and at a price undetermined. Why? Wisconsin has apparently built several publicly owned geothermal electrical plants, paid for by taxpayers, and they are assets of the state. In addition, as I have stated elsewhere here, the northern half of the state is public land, easily a third of that being state land. All will be on sale to…. the Koch Brothers. As much as the news is all about the unions and the demonstrators, this part is just as bad, if not worse. It is a blatant grab at taxpayer-based assets and rewarding one’s financial backers. » Posted By PocketWatch On February 24, 2011 @ 11:18 am Arab Uprisings: Still Writing History 2nd – don’t know the answers to those questions. What they typically do is to send in a feint – a few aircraft to simulate a strike, getting the SAMS batteries to target them. Missiles are fired from other planes that home in on the radar the SAMS use. Even if the radar is then turned off, the missile remembers the location The bad news? An anti-aircraft SAM battery can be located on the top of an apartment building. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 7:13 pm 2nd – the common wisdom is that the antiaircraft installations on the coast need to be taken out first… so, it’s basically a standoff and missile those sites until they are ineffective, then bomb them to be sure. There are anti-radar missiles that can be used. They home in on the radar that is used for targeting on the SAMS » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 7:02 pm 2nd – I’m with you and Buddy as well… bad idea all around. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 5:33 pm 2nd – I agree wholeheartedly. However, in this particular bikini case, I love it! Consequences can be good or bad. LOL » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 4:13 pm 2nd… I ****LOVE**** the Law of Unintended Consequences! » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 3:59 pm We can outlaw Carnivale, get rid of all those nasty bikinis, and get them speaking English instead of Portuguese… and spread Democracy. As bonus points, we can find all those old Nazis. I’m sure they are all there, just WMDs waiting around to be found! » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 3:48 pm bito – Soooooo…. does this mean we will invading Brazil in a couple of weeks? » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 3:40 pm UN approves a No Fly using “all necessary measures.” » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 3:27 pm I am entirely familiar with metaphor and colorful phraseology. However, that metaphor implies fear and trepidation, cowardice and timidity. I simply don’t see that. Hesitation to embroil the country in another quagmire? Absolutely. I don’t see that as a bad thing. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 12:46 pm Truth – it stems from how classes were structured. Half classroom and half lab work. 75% of grades were practical exercises in troubleshooting broken equipment, and time meant everything. If a particular ‘bug’ took an average of 7 minutes to find (meticulous records were kept over many class cycles), finding it in 7 minutes got you a “C”. So, the technique was to imagine the machine as a series of functional black boxes, mentally eliminating those that had nothing to do with the major fault symptoms, and then focusing only on those that might have the issue. Dividing those in two and proving that one half either did or did not have the ‘bug’, then focusing on the correct half, and then doing that over and over again, all very quickly. What that does is two things… One is to generate a complete overview of the situation, and the other is to quickly focus on the root cause. Both are essential in analyzing any problem. » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 12:38 pm henlopen – “hiding under the bed” is hardly rational discussion. I question ALL authority, all the time. But simply throwing around inflammatory language is not helpful. Perhaps you could start over and explain what that means to you and back it up with some examples? » Posted By PocketWatch On March 17, 2011 @ 12:29 pmComments Posted By PocketWatch
Maggie, then
WickedStepMother, then
Princess, then
King.
How much is spent on excess waste?
How many dollars go out the door in returns or repairs?
How much does it cost for Workers’ Comp when you have had claims due to accidents?
How much is spent on supplies that get wasted or are not shopped for effectively?
How many dollars are spent on late fees and interest on Lines of Credit because of cash flow problems?
batteries.
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