Ken at The Seventh Sense reports on the new unemployment numbers and links to Robert Reich's piece on TPM where Reich says we're in a depression. The unemployment numbers are definitely depressing but are we actually in a depression?
Mark Cuban has written an excellent blog post about executive compensation and layoffs. In a nutshell he's simply asking why we don't reward executives who bust their butts to avoid laying people off. It's a good read, and love him or hate him, I think you have to admit he makes a great point. The first paragraph gives you a taste:
I have a simple question. Why are profitable companies laying off people ? I can see if a company’s survival is at stake. If payroll can’t be met. If debt can’t be paid. Then layoffs are a necessary evil. Even if companies have created cash flow deficits through their own mistakes, that’s the nature of business. Mistakes are made. What I have a problem with is that discussion of executive pay never includes whether or not the executive has been good enough to pre empt or prevent layoffs.
One of the things I love about this blog is that I often hear from people with different viewpoints and who really get me thinking with their comments or emails sent in response to something I've posted. Dwight Defee sent me an email about my Revaluation post from March 29 and I liked it so much I asked his permission to post it here. He graciously said yes so here it is:
This is response to your post of March 29, 2009.
Jon.
I can’t say that I disagree with you about annual appraisals: However, if that happens you and I had better be prepared for higher tax valuations and higher taxes annually. Even though annual valuations would reflect more accurate property values, who’s going to pay for the additional cost associated with such an accelerated project? We will, of course, because we are property owners and we are asking for additional services provided by the County Tax Assessor. In North Carolina, Counties are considered a political subdivision of the State. The State requires Counties to revalue Property every eight years but permits more frequent valuations.
Quite a number of years ago ( I was a county employee at the time) the Tax assessor, Harvey Pardue, recommended that the County move from an eight year valuation cycle to a four year valuation cycle. He was hailed as a hero by the Utilities and Business communities and as a demon by residential property owners. The reason for this, as I understand, is that utility and business property was valued annually and residential property was valued every eight years. Since this was a period of growth for our County, Utilities and Businesses were clearly paying more than their “fair share” of the tax burden. When Harvey retired, his assistant, Jack Sprinkle, continued the quadrennial valuation schedule but was able to reduce costs with technological advances. After Jack’s retirement, Pete Roda took the reins as Tax Assessor/Collector and in my opinion has done a good job. As a former associate of Harvey, Jack, and Pete, I say unequivocally that I have the utmost respect and admiration for the job that they performed for the County.
Now if you can convince the County Commissioners to provide for annual valuations, I’m sure Pete can handle the job…BUT…you and I had better be ready to help foot the bill for more employees (think salary & benefits), more space and equipment (think office space, desk, computer, etc), Transportation (some of these people have to visit property sites across the County), and other employee expenses that I can’t enumerate at this time.
Sorry to be so verbose but I needed to respond to a person quick to criticize professionals employed by public entities which are governed by officials elected by the likes of you and I.
Dwight Defee
Former Personnel Director
Forsyth County, NC
Here's part of my reply to Dwight that explained a little better (I hope) what I'm thinking when I say that annual revaluations would be better than every four years:
Dwight,
Thanks very much for the email. I think you make very good points and I have to say that I agree with you. I thought about the extra staff too but I figure that it will be paid for by the extra revenue the county would see.In retrospect one of my errors is that I came across as thinking that I blame Mr. Roda or the other folks doing the work. I don't. I always assumed that they were working within boindaries set by the
legislature. In other words if they calculate the property values using a formula it is one they've been given and they do the best they can. But that's not how I said it and that's my fault.I actually think that if the revaluations were done annually it would work out best for everyone, just like I believe that a flat income tax of 10% on everyone without any deductions would be better for everyone and meet the country's needs (but that's a whole other topic). I also agree with you that we'd have to be prepared to closely watch our commissioners and the tax rates they apply to us.
The news story from Davidson County is one of those "stupid criminal" stories we get fairly regularly; a woman tried to pay her bail with counterfeit money. Here's the part that gives it that distinct North Carolina flair: she was arrested at her home on Nascar Fan Alley.
Well my post about the Time Warner's move to charge variable rates for high speed internet garnered more comments in a few minutes than I ever typically get on any post. Lots of good points were made and questions asked in those comments, the most obvious of which is how customers are supposed to tell how much data they're pushing through Time Warner's "tubes". Ben offers some excellent tips for how to track your internet usage here. I'm sure there will be much more on this story to follow.
So ER ends tonight after 15 seasons. Personally I don't think I've watched it in at least 10 years, but when it first started airing Celeste and I would watch it every week. I have fond memories of watching the show in its early years because our kids were toddlers at the time and we had no social life. We were living in the first place we'd ever purchased and we didn't have two nickels to rub together, so our entertainment was limited to whatever we could find on the tube. Even though we knew the show offered a portrayal of emergency medicine that was as accurate as CSI Miami's portrayal of police crime scene work we still found it a nice change of pace from everything else that was on the tube at the time. BTW Law & Order was another staple of our viewing week and that show's still going strong and it's one we still watch fairly regularly.
Time Warner announced that they're going to start charging customers for high speed internet access based on the amount of data they transfer each month and if customers exceed their designated amount of data they'll be charged extra. From the piece on WXII's website:
Customers will select from plans that cost between $29.95 to $54.90 a month and will be charged overage fees when they exceed their monthly allotted amount, according to an article in BusinessWeek.
The company is planning to offer four levels at 5, 10, 20 and 40 gigabytes (GB) respectively. Time Warner said customers will be charged $1 for each gigabyte downloaded that exceeds their plan's cap.
Sounds like a Verizon Wireless plan doesn't it?
Authorities in Germany thought they were chasing a female serial killer all over the country for 16 years based on DNA evidence found at scores of crime scenes. Ends up all the DNA was found on the cotton swabs used by technicians and those swabs were apparently contaminated by a woman working at the manufacturer's facility. Take that, CSI.
If you've visited a doctor that was outside your insurance company's network you may want to look into how much they charged. From an Associated Press article about health insurance companies being investigated and hit with fines:
Rockefeller and other congressmen, along with doctors and consumer groups, say that more accountability and transparency are needed in how insurance companies determine out-of-network rates, and that patients need to understand how it's done to avoid sticker shock when they get their medical bills.Typically, health plans will pay a set percentage, say 70 percent, for an out-of-network visit.
But unknown to many consumers, when patients go out of network, their plan doesn't actually pay 70 percent of the doctor's visit cost. It pays 70 percent of what it determines is the "usual, customary and reasonable" cost for the procedure or doctor's visit in question.
Insurance companies determine that cost themselves or use figures from a database of their choosing, and there's scant regulation or oversight of how they do it.
Don't you love it? This is akin to me saying to you, "Hey look, if you pay me $50 a month I'll agree to pay for 90% of any repair you need to have to your car as long as you take it to one of the following garages. But if you're stuck on the road and need to use another garage I'll pay 70% of what I think are reasonable charges. Now I have this wonderful database of what is reasonable to charge for any car repair so don't you worry about it." Then when you get the oil changed at a garage outside the network and they charge you $25 but my database tells me a reasonable price is $5 then I'll pay 70% of the $5 bill and stick you with the rest. But here's the kicker: I won't ever tell you what my "reasonable" rates are so you'll just have to live with it and when you're stuck on the road you'll just have to hope and pray that the nearest garage's rates are within shouting distance of my "reasonable" rates.
Befuddled 