Saturday, March 12, 2016
Those Were The Days
I wish I had some deep thoughts on the latest happenings, but I really don't. I admit I'm not entirely a fan of protesting political rallies. I'd prefer protesting the media outlets that give the Donald nonstop media coverage. But I'm also not a fan of telling The Left what to do. People who won't otherwise be heard need to scream somehow, and there aren't many options. The Donald is deliberately unleashing scary forces. It's WWE, a choreographed battle between Trump fans and his enemies.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Unsurprising
My longtime unproven theory is that one problem with modern chains/franchises is that local managers/owners really have little control over their businesses. The main thing that they control, or at least the main thing they can quantify and write down on the report that gets sent up to HQ, is labor costs. Almost everything else they can claim is beyond their control, whether or not it is. So the incentive to minimize reported labor costs is huge, even if it isn't actually good for revenues and profits. The mother ship basically controls the product and the marketing. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to get that higher wages will likely reduce turnover, which will in turn likely improve service quality.
McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook, who took the helm in 2015, has since moved swiftly, closing hundreds of weak stores, bringing back all-day breakfast, and simplifying the chain’s menu, reducing bottlenecks in serving customers quickly. But improving the customer experience hinges on workers being on board with all these changes, hence the raises.
“It has done what we expected it to—90 day turnover rates are down, our survey scores are up—we have more staff in restaurants,” McDonald’s U.S. president Mike Andres told analysts at a UBS conference on Wednesday. “So far we’re pleased with it—it was a significant investment obviously but it’s working well.”
The move reportedly created friction with franchisees, who hire and pay their own workers, as they felt pressure to match the wage hikes. Still, there are early signs it is paying off: In October, McDonald’s reported its first quarter of comparable sales gains in two years. The company built on that growth with a huge 5.7% increase in the following quarter.
Bankruptcy For Some
There are problems (warning, link has auto on video because the internet hates you).
Investors are facing $19 billion in energy defaults as the worst oil crash in a generation leaves drillers struggling to stay afloat.
The wave could begin within days if Energy XXI Ltd., SandRidge Energy Inc. and Goodrich Petroleum Corp. fail to reach agreements with creditors and shareholders. Those are three of at least eight oil and gas producers that have announced missed debt payments, triggering a countdown to default.
Butterfly Wings
I do hope that this blog manages to convince at least a few people that bombing the shit out of people is not the most cost effective (or effective) way of helping them.
It's the only hammer we have, apparently.
Onward to Davos.
It's the only hammer we have, apparently.
Onward to Davos.
Nukes
All the cool kids like to scoff at dirty hippies who point out that nuclear energy isn't all that safe, even leaving out the unsolved detail of what to do with the waste. We've had two major catastrophic nuclear power plant events in my lifetime. It isn't safe.
Five years after a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck, causing three reactors at Fukushima to melt down, that goal is the focus of a colossal effort at once precarious and routine. A veneer of stability at the plant masks a grueling, day-to-day battle to contain hazardous radiation, which involves a small army of workers, complex technical challenges and vexing safety trade-offs.
Fukushima has become a place where employees arrive on company shuttle buses and shop at their own on-site convenience store, but where they struggle to control radiation-contaminated water and must release it into the sea. Many of the most difficult and dangerous cleanup tasks still lie ahead, and crucial decisions remain unsettled.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
They Make Movies
You might remember Robert Greenwald from such films as Xanadu, Outfoxed, Xanadu, Uncovered, Xanadu, Iraq for Sale, and Xanadu, but he has a new movie.
Also, Xanadu.
Also, Xanadu.
No One Left To Bomb
I do think we've gone without a Hitler of the Week for awhile. I suppose we're just supplying the arms and letting other people do the bombing these days, but I guess that's minor progress.
I'd make some snarky remark about how it'd be nice if we helped people by, you know, helping them, but we can't even come up with a hundred million bucks to save kids from lead poisoning in Flint, so...
I'd make some snarky remark about how it'd be nice if we helped people by, you know, helping them, but we can't even come up with a hundred million bucks to save kids from lead poisoning in Flint, so...
When Did It Ravel
The guy has negative charisma, basically checked out of his Senate job, is known mostly for supporting citizen path legislation that the base hates, and never had any chance of winning this primary. This article is just "if only he'd been good he'd win as pundits said he would!".
I don't like the the theater criticism version of politics, but the entire candidacy of Marco Rubio was premised on the idea that he was a dreamboat. And, you know, he wasn't. He's repulsive.
I don't like the the theater criticism version of politics, but the entire candidacy of Marco Rubio was premised on the idea that he was a dreamboat. And, you know, he wasn't. He's repulsive.
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
Best Not To Have One
Both the Donald and Bernie get shit for supposedly not having appropriate "foreign policy teams." The Foreign Policy Community in DC is really where the Very Serious People live. They're the deep state, and if you say the wrong thing Fred Hiatt will let them plant an op-ed about how unserious you are. They're the nexus of the security state, the military industrial complex, and international oligarchs. Big War, Big Finance, Big Exploitation, Big Tax Avoidance, Big Assholes.
Not saying that one should be ignorant about foreign affairs, just that one should not take advice from the Very Serious People who for some reason are in charge of dispensing it. Not clear they know anything about anything anyway.
Not saying that one should be ignorant about foreign affairs, just that one should not take advice from the Very Serious People who for some reason are in charge of dispensing it. Not clear they know anything about anything anyway.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
The Kids Today just have it so good what with their skinny jeans and their ipods and their hippity hop.
A top official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday said student loan companies are at risk of breaking the law if they place people in default when the co-signer of their loan dies or declares bankruptcy, signaling that the bureau may start legal action.
These “auto defaults” leave borrowers with no choice but to repay the full balance or ruin their credit, making it difficult to purchase a home or car. The practice occurs in the private student loan market, where banks and other financial firms provide education financing with loan contracts that give them the right to trigger a default, even if the loan is being paid on time. Despite asking lenders to strip the clause from their contracts, bureau officials say many have not and are skirting the law by unfairly invoking the clause.
NADER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the narratives being pushed for months is that Sanders voters won't vote for Clinton in the general election. Is this true? I have no idea. Is this true? Nobody has any idea. A few randos on the internet are not data. I thought the PUMAs were funny in 2008 but I didn't think they were actually a nationwide movement. But the broader point of this narrative is that Sanders voters are somehow illegitimate. They are not loyal Democrats. They don't matter.
The important thing is that the responsibility to win elections is on the candidate, not the voters. It's the candidate's job - with the help of hundreds of millions of campaign funds - to get them to the polls and to pull the lever for them. Making excuses for a loss many many months out is really weird. Blaming the voters - which Democrats love to do - is gross. Stop it. Also, too, midterm elections. Every time I say "this is an election about nothing" and then they blame the voters for not showing up. Show up for what?
The important thing is that the responsibility to win elections is on the candidate, not the voters. It's the candidate's job - with the help of hundreds of millions of campaign funds - to get them to the polls and to pull the lever for them. Making excuses for a loss many many months out is really weird. Blaming the voters - which Democrats love to do - is gross. Stop it. Also, too, midterm elections. Every time I say "this is an election about nothing" and then they blame the voters for not showing up. Show up for what?
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Cleaning Up Messes
I know our bothsidesdoit national press corps will never stop pretending to not notice, but there is a pattern of Democrats having to clean up the messes that Republicans left behind.
It's dated now, but my favorite example for awhile was Christie Todd Whitman. She didn't destroy New Jersey, but she cut taxes and deferred pension payments. State pensions are something the press tends to notice when Democrats are in power, because Democrats, but it's often Republican governors who stiff the pension funds and then when Democrats come back into power suddenly it's a major crisis that needs to be addressed. Responsible Republican governance.
It's dated now, but my favorite example for awhile was Christie Todd Whitman. She didn't destroy New Jersey, but she cut taxes and deferred pension payments. State pensions are something the press tends to notice when Democrats are in power, because Democrats, but it's often Republican governors who stiff the pension funds and then when Democrats come back into power suddenly it's a major crisis that needs to be addressed. Responsible Republican governance.
It's Rubio's Moment
I guess there's some more voting and stuff today? Rubio will win by coming in 5th, as usual. His path to the nomination is secure. Like Karl Rove, I have The Math.
Elites
The only reason "elites" give a shit about Trump is that he doesn't kiss their asses. No lunch at the Applebee's salad bar for David Brooks and the Donald!
I'm not saying that's a reason to cheer him on, just that the rebellion by people who think they should and/or do run the country is hilarious.
I'm not saying that's a reason to cheer him on, just that the rebellion by people who think they should and/or do run the country is hilarious.
Elites
Good luck with that.
Hilarious.
Marco Rubio wins Florida. John Kasich wins Ohio. Ted Cruz notches victories in the Midwest and Mountain West. And the results in California and other states are jumbled enough to leave Trump three dozen delegates short of the 1,237 required — forcing a contested convention in Cleveland in July.
The slide show, shared with The Washington Post by two operatives advising one of a handful of anti-Trump super PACs, encapsulates the newly emboldened view of many GOP leaders and donors. They see a clearer path to stopping Trump since his two losses and two narrower-than-expected wins in Saturday’s contests.
Hilarious.
Monday, March 07, 2016
Pam Spaulding Needs Food, Badly
Pam of the late Pam's House Blend has been dealt the triple or quadruple whammy of shit (health problems, job loss due to health problems etc.) and because this is Amerka there's no easy way to climb back up out of that. Consider throwing a few dimes her way.
Progress
I suppose it's undeniable that whatever the reality, the new less criminal approach to drugs is due to the fact that it's increasingly seen as a white people problem. Still, it's progress.
I used to be more stupid about the criminalization of drug use for various reasons. The War On Some People Who Use Some Drugs has been a complete horror show, screwing things up both here and abroad. Just end it. Decriminalize everything. The consequences can't be worse than the current state of affairs.
I used to be more stupid about the criminalization of drug use for various reasons. The War On Some People Who Use Some Drugs has been a complete horror show, screwing things up both here and abroad. Just end it. Decriminalize everything. The consequences can't be worse than the current state of affairs.
Flint
For many years some idiot with a sucky blue blog kept suggesting that contrary to popular delusion, there were many "shovel ready projects." Specifically, you could dig up just about every street in the nation and replace the pipes and it would be a worthwhile project.
In the specific context of the stimulus, there was reason to be focused on "shovel ready projects," but I don't think the people who were focused on them knew what they were doing. This was an obvious one.
In the specific context of the stimulus, there was reason to be focused on "shovel ready projects," but I don't think the people who were focused on them knew what they were doing. This was an obvious one.
Sunday, March 06, 2016
The Great Grift
Just give us lots of money, Marco. You'll be preznit. We promise. No it doesn't require any work or an actual campaign apparatus. Just give us money.
As I've said, there is more information than polling that SAVVY political analysts might be able to use. The fact that Rubio didn't actually run a campaign should have been a clue.
“They have no infrastructure,” said Scott Reed, who is unaffiliated with any campaign but serves as the chief political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “His campaign hasn’t been able to keep up with his candidacy. . . . They don’t have the operation in the states to help him get over the top. He should be a finalist going all the way to California, and he’s not.”
As I've said, there is more information than polling that SAVVY political analysts might be able to use. The fact that Rubio didn't actually run a campaign should have been a clue.
Lazy, Sunny, Sunday Afternoon
I did all my "must do" chores and about 80% of the others. That's enough.
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