Google Buys Contextual Rich News Browsing Startup Apture To Beef Up Chrome | TechCrunch

My blog incorporates Apture. Highlight a word or phrase and Apture will enable you to click on other media sources to increase the richness of the content. It's a really robust service. Google is wise to buy them and incorporate their technology.

 "Apture Highlights allows you to highlight any word or phrase on a page and instantly bring up search results in a window. The startup brings results from 60-plus sources including YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google and more for extra context around content. The browser add-on is available for Chrome, Firefox and Apple’s Safari browsers. In fact, more than a billion pages a month are enhanced with Apture, says Harris.
Apture’s business model also offered publishers a white-label version of Apture Highlights, which is being used by Scribd, The Financial Times, Reuters, Economist.com, ScientificAmerican, BleacherReport.com, and Times of India. Publisher simply insert a line of Javascript code, and readers can then access an HTML-based overlay that acts like a minitiature browser that enables readers to find and explore related multimedia content without leaving the original page"

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The Affordable Housing Scam - Reason Magazine

The Affordable Housing Scam - Reason Magazine:

John McClaughry's excellent review of the recent book, Reckless Endangerment, provides a realistic appraisal of the leaders, groups and  and policies that moved the appealing notion of expanding home ownership as a part of the American Dream to the near-collapse of the banking system and the economy. This is well worth reading for a thumbnail sketch of how the mess unfolded. Good work, John.

 "The thesis of Reckless Endangerment is simple: In a rush to orchestrate affordable home ownership—and generate enormous profits—politicians, government-sponsored enterprises, pusillanimous regulators, greedy mortgage brokers, and profit-chasing Wall Street investment bankers combined to drive the American economy into its worst crisis in 70 years, saddling taxpayers with trillions of dollars of debt and leaving the financial landscape littered with the wreckage of ruined lenders, borrowers, and taxpayers."

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Taking Aim at Internet Rules - NYTimes.com

The New York Times supports more regulation of the Internet pathways that are provided by private companies. Thankfully, they are not owned by the Government. These are not monopolies and the heavy hand of regulation is not needed. The term  'telecommunications services' that they argue includes the Internet is an artifact of a bygone age when voice communications were essentially a monopoly, thus needed regulation.
To bring back this anachronism and support regulation of the Internet is an unnecessary impediment. Should I be surprised given that the NY Times essentially has become a mouthpiece for TeamObama?

 "The Republican approach goes back to 2002, when the F.C.C., under the Bush administration, made the bizarre decision that broadband Internet communications were not, in fact, telecommunication services under the law. Last year, the F.C.C. had the opportunity to redefine broadband as a telecommunications service, which would allow greater regulatory oversight. Regrettably, it chose not to, and instead passed a limited set of rules that did not ban the practice of paying to move content faster and largely exempted wireless broadband services."

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Bailey: Are Super PACs to political parties as asteroids were to dinosaurs?

The fundamental truth in all this is that ‘money is the mother’s milk of politics.’ Always has been and will continue to be. The present system of political parties adds great comfort to the politicians and voters who embrace them. Politicians have a source of ideological and financial support and too many voters are relieved of the responsibility of thinking for themselves.

When information and money are no longer the exclusive domain of the traditional political parties, over time maybe we’ll see the end of partisan and ideological gridlock. Perhaps a new paradigm will emerge truly based on free speech and the money to distribute ideas and positions unhindered by antiquated party machinery. Such an unintended consequence may indeed benefit the Republic.

"We are all aware of the theory of unintended consequences. Most, if not all of us, have had a direct experience with this concept. Generally speaking, unintended consequences can be grouped into three categories:

• Unexpected benefit.
• Unexpected detriment occurring in addition to the desired effect of the policy.
• A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended.

Depending on your perspective, each of the three may be happening due to the 2010 Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United. In short, this decision allows unlimited spending during campaigns as long as that spending is done completely outside of an individual candidate’s campaign or in coordination with the political party that he/she is affiliated with."

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End Bonuses for Bankers - NYTimes.com

I favor less regulation rather than more for most business activity, but the Wall Street bailouts by the Federal government have persuaded me that this has led to yet more severe excesses in the finance sector.


Taleb's simple proposal makes eminently good sense. The bonus excesses, particularly in 2010, simply are not warranted given the bailout these bankers received during the collapse of the risk markets in 2008/2009. 

 "The promise of “no more bailouts,” enshrined in last year’s Wall Street reform law, is just that — a promise. The financiers (and their lawyers) will always stay one step ahead of the regulators. No one really knows what will happen the next time a giant bank goes bust because of its misunderstanding of risk.
Instead, it’s time for a fundamental reform: Any person who works for a company that, regardless of its current financial health, would require a taxpayer-financed bailout if it failed, should not get a bonus, ever. In fact, all pay at systemically important financial institutions — big banks, but also some insurance companies and even huge hedge funds — should be strictly regulated."

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Excerpt: Mike Mayo's Exile on Wall Street - WSJ.com

A recently popular opinion from one of the few analysts who early on called out the banking sector for too-risky investments/activities and was chastised for it before the bottom fell out of bank stocks and the financial crisis precipitated by their house of cards.

"To fix the banking sector, should we rely more on government regulation and oversight or let the market figure it out? Tougher rules or more capitalism? Right now, we have the worst of both worlds. We have a purportedly capitalistic system with a lot of rules that are not strictly enforced, and when things go wrong, the government steps in to protect banks from the market consequences of their own worst decisions. To me, that's not capitalism."

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Milton Friedman on Capitalism and the Nature of Man

Milton Friedman understood the fundamental nature of man and his arguments for the economic/political system they should live under...capitalism... is only rebutted by idealists, who wish for something different, not realists. The argument is really about which worldview one embraces: a.) man is inherently good and with the proper governance, can become better; or b.) man is fundamentally wired to pursue his own self interest.


If the latter, then capitalism is the correct approach (as Russia and China have discovered). If the former, as present Europe situation portrays and the failed Russian and Chinese models have shown (socialism, communism), failure is inevitable, because it (the socialist state) is not affordable and, as history has shown, is doomed to fail.

United States Headed for Massive Decline in Carbon Emissions

This would appear to be good news, but how much of the carbon reduction is from the economic slowdown vs. serious efforts to reduce emissions?

"For a country where oil and coal use have been growing for more than a century, the fall since 2007 is startling. In 2008, oil use dropped 5 percent, coal 1 percent, and carbon emissions by 3 percent. Estimates for 2009, based on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) data for the first nine months, show oil use down by another 5 percent. Coal is set to fall by 10 percent. Carbon emissions from burning all fossil fuels dropped 9 percent over the two years."

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Growing-Gap-Between-Contributions-and-Benefits-for-Social-Security-and-Medicare-August-2011.jpg (809×452)

Despite the facts shown on the chart below, our Vermont Senator Bernie ('Outrageous') Sanders makes outlandish statements like this: "...The truth is that the Social Security Trust Fund has run surpluses for the last quarter century. Today’s $2.5 trillion cushion is projected to grow to $4 trillion in 2023. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, experts in this area, say Social Security will be able to pay every nickel owed to every eligible beneficiary until 2039...."

He implies that the 'Trust Fund' is in good shape neglecting to say that the assets have been loaned to the Government and used for other purposes. The assets are mostly IOUs from the Government. Unless spending is controlled in all areas of Government, the risk increases that these IOUs may not be paid in full because the country may not be able to meet all its obligations. The 'full faith and credit' of the U.S. is not as rock-solid as it was.

Much more here. Sen. Sanders' rhetoric does a disservice to reality.

Here's a link to a great chart on SS prospects in the years ahead from the Washington Post.

State officials say Irene transportation repairs will cost less than half what they anticipated

I have long maintained that Vermont's very high 'transaction costs' (the overheads including regulatory and environmental compliance, permitting, administrative and judicial delays for reviews, appeals, etc.) that are incurred to build anything of consequence in this state add unnecessary delays, expense and increase the costs of doing business here.

The exceptional work done recovering from Irene's damage shows that Vermont could be far more efficient in using tax and private dollars. A wise Legislature would revamp how Vermont does business and set the state on a path of economic growth by reducing the wasteful burden created by a ponderous and expensive process that adds little value to our investments.

"...The dramatic shift brings the overall estimate of Irene damage built into state estimates well below the roughly $900 million mark state officials were citing in mid-October. The new grand total is about $500 million and includes $250 million for new emergency and long-term highway repair costs, $50 million to construct a new Vermont State Hospital, $50 million for stabilizing the old state office complex and renovating or building new space, about $19 million in individual assistance and $140 million in repairs to town roads, bridges and public facilities..."

"...The state also saved millions of dollars by taking short cuts during the post-Irene emergency that normally would be prohibited under state and federal laws. The standard pre-construction procedures for road and bridge repair were abandoned in order to expedite the process, according to Sue Minter, deputy commissioner of the Agency of Transportation. The processes that are normally followed for transportation projects — federal and state permitting, environmental mitigation, design review, planning, right-of-way purchases – went by the wayside..." 

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