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I recently read that Borders, having had its stock price fall to .39 cents, is going to have to declare bankruptcy. That's sad news, or is it? A few years ago I was skeptical of eBooks but now, they are more common than the household fly. Libraries prefer digital books as they are 1) much cheaper than large tombs of bound paper and C) cost less to put back on the shelf and store each day. Even our schools are starting to prefer the cheaper cost and easy updatability of e-textbooks. How about the students? They prefer the ease of carrying around an iPad rather than a duffel bag the size of steamer trunk. I know of one school that has mandated every student have an iPad for just this reason (okay, maybe not that reason). So why is Borders failing? Inefficiency. Let me explain.
I recently decided to use some border.com bonus bucks before the company's impending implosion. I went online to borders.com and attempted to log on. I tried my usual array of passwords but alas I couldn't remember the proper one. My account was locked out. Usually, that's not a big deal. You click the "forgot password" icon and a temp password is emailed to you. Not in this case, I had to call their customer support center ... in India. After the polite Indian woman from
"Outsourced" read her script and asked me about my phone number, email address and blood type I was put on hold. After two minutes she came back on the line and told me my account had been reset. She then proceeded to give me a six digit incident report number and wished me a pleasant day. So, to reset a password it cost me about five minutes of time while the company had to pay for me to call someone across the world in India to do it. Talk about inefficient! Granted it is still cheaper than using a US worker as the US Government has yet to lower corporate taxes to compete with other countries or INSTEAD charge the outsourcing corporations that do. And just to let you know, all the money paid to the Indian workers does not go back into the US economy, OUR economy (not that I have anything against Indian workers. The chick below is pretty hot even WITH a microphone on her head).
If a company doesn't even have the brains to allow their customers the ability to reset their accounts themselves online then surely they have no reasonable hope to make a decent profit. Okay, maybe that statement was a "little" bit over the top and doesn't add anything at all to my argument but one day I see eBooks taking over everywhere. The libraries will do little more than house a reading room full of pink cupcakes for children on one side of the building while the other has a huge bank of Commodore 64 computers so the poorest people in America (someday the entire middle class) can access the internet.
First came digital music. Next will be digital movies & tv. And finally, in America, we'll all read eBooks until we run out of fossil fuels that make our power plants function. Personally, I own stock in the ever expanding B & O Railroad, which uses this new invention called a steam engine to power its trains. I can't wait until I can collect rent on all four properties!
"We are under an unsustainable course right now because we made more promises under three main programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security than can be fulfilled at any sensible tax rate. We have a really serious problem and it hasn't been addressed."
I NetFlix streamed the PBS show Frontline: Ten Trillion and Counting (2009) last night. It focused on the U.S.'s ever GROWING DEFICIT and you know what? It scared me. It stated that by the year 2085 that the three unfunded liabilities: Social Security (sorta unfunded), Medicare and Medicaid will consume EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR of the country's budget and that there will be NOTHING left to spend on anything else ... at ALL. Not even a pack of Hubba Bubba.
Does this mean we will have to make major changes to these liabilities? Most definitely. And what changes can we make? Would your prefer that most Americans get screwed by Wall Street if Social Security goes private? Because I know the Wall Street financial advisers would love to rape the American public for a few percent on every dollar in their retirement funds. Or do you think we'll have to make this "Health Care Bill", that everyone seems to hate or love, be actually agreed upon and made to work so it can make health care cheaper? F*ck, I sure hope so.
Want some more good news?! Up until 2002 there was a rule entitled "Pay Go" which meant if you wanted a new spending program you either had to raise taxes or make a spending cut on something else. We couldn't pass a lot of things, such as the Medicare prescription drugs program (Part D) during the Bush Sr and Clinton years, so in my book "Pay Go" was a success as we ended up with a BUDGET SURPLUS leading into little George's first term. Then little George pushed through Medicare Part D program which over time could potentially cost EIGHT trillion dollars (and will cost more than Social Security ever will). We borrow every year to pay for it and it will be more expensive than both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars since those wars could "potentially" end. Medicare part D, although it is a nice service for the elderly (and hopefully I will not ever need it), will never end. EVER.
To conclude, I sure hope we can reduce the cost of health care so we can dig ourselves out of this spiraling, out of control, deficit that Wall Street and little George have caused. Also, you may want to invest in a nice Chinese dictionary. But before all that, watch PBS Frontline: Ten Trillion and Counting. It's thirteen trillion dollars worth of some scary sh*t.
I recently read that Borders, having had its stock price fall to .39 cents, is going to have to declare bankruptcy. That's sad news, or is it? A few years ago I was skeptical of eBooks but now, they are more common than the household fly. Libraries prefer digital books as they are 1) much cheaper than large tombs of bound paper and C) cost less to put back on the shelf and store each day. Even our schools are starting to prefer the cheaper cost and easy updatability of e-textbooks. How about the students? They prefer the ease of carrying around an iPad rather than a duffel bag the size of steamer trunk. I know of one school that has mandated every student have an iPad for just this reason (okay, maybe not that reason). So why is Borders failing? Inefficiency. Let me explain.
"Outsourced" read her script and asked me about my phone number, email address and blood type I was put on hold. After two minutes she came back on the line and told me my account had been reset. She then proceeded to give me a six digit incident report number and wished me a pleasant day. So, to reset a password it cost me about five minutes of time while the company had to pay for me to call someone across the world in India to do it. Talk about inefficient! Granted it is still cheaper than using a US worker as the US Government has yet to lower corporate taxes to compete with other countries or INSTEAD charge the outsourcing corporations that do. And just to let you know, all the money paid to the Indian workers does not go back into the US economy, OUR economy (not that I have anything against Indian workers. The chick below is pretty hot even WITH a microphone on her head).
