Saturday, October 27, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
From the Captain: Think before you vote
Today's words of wisdom come from my favorite super hero, Captain Capitalist.
"Remember when you vote for more government, you're providing more authority, money, influence and corruption opportunity for politicians and bureaucrats of all parties. Not just your favorite, and not just for one election cycle."
"Remember when you vote for more government, you're providing more authority, money, influence and corruption opportunity for politicians and bureaucrats of all parties. Not just your favorite, and not just for one election cycle."
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Advertising Abuse
All advertisers want to catch people's attention. Online advertisers have an even more difficult time getting people to notice their ads on busy web sites. They use all different kinds of fonts, colors, photos, and animation to get people to pay attention and hopefully, click on their ad. But sometimes advertisers go too far.
The other night I decided to check The Drudge Report before heading home. I was very shocked to see a the mug shot of James Holmes, the dirt bag who shot up the Batman Rises premier in Aurora. Some bone-headed advertiser decided using the photo of a murderer would be a nice way to get people's attention.
The other night I decided to check The Drudge Report before heading home. I was very shocked to see a the mug shot of James Holmes, the dirt bag who shot up the Batman Rises premier in Aurora. Some bone-headed advertiser decided using the photo of a murderer would be a nice way to get people's attention.
Now this horrible ad, while it appeared on The Drudge Report, it was not an ad created by Drudge. It is most likely part of an advertising service that The Drudge Report subscribes to and inserts a number of rotating ads in to the available ad slots placed by Drudge. Fortunately a quick email to the Drudge site and the ad disappeared.
And within a few minutes, new ads that rotated when the page was refreshed replaced the James Holmes image. After repeated page refreshing, the James Holmes ad did not appear.
Big kudos to the Drudge Report for quickly taking down the offensive image. But that still leaves the problem of who created the ad and decided that using the picture of someone who recently killed a bunch of innocent people was a great idea.
Unfortunately I was so focused on sending The Drudge Report an email so they could take the ad down I didn't click on the ad itself to see who was responsible. I am keeping my eye out for a reappearance so I can track down the creator. I would really like to ask them what the hell they were thinking.
If you have to resort to pictures of killers to get people to pay attention to your ad, you need to find a new ad designer or a new line of business. Offending and disgusting people usually isn't the best way to get new customers. Well, unless your target audience is a bunch of dirt bags. While I am not sure how lucrative the dirt bag demographic is, if that isn't your target market, you might not want to use murderers on your ad.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Cities try raising revenue by destroying revenue generating businesses
During the building boom, the Las Vegas Water Authority was bringing in the big bucks with tap fees on new construction. The collected $190 million in 2005 alone. But now, that flood of money has turned in to a tiny trickle with only $3.5 million collected in 2010.
In order to get more revenue in the city coffers, someone came up with the brilliant idea to change the way water bills are calculated. Instead of paying for what you actually use, you are now charged by the size of your meter. With that billing system you could have a small meter and leave your faucet running 24/7 and pay less than a person who has a large meter but hardly uses any water at all. Make sense? Of course not!
This idiotic billing scheme already claimed it's first victim at the end of June 2012 - Larry's Hideaway, a small country bar off the strip.
"The bar has been around for more than 20 years. The bad economy played a role in its closing, but a recent fee by the local water authority, of more than $400 per month, was the straw that broke the camel's back for this bar in the desert oasis." (full story)
In tough economic times, a big hike in utility fees can mean the difference between having a steady base of tax revenue generators or further losses in city income. Considering small businesses employ half of all private sector employees, generated 65% of all new jobs created over the last 17 years, yet spend 36% per employee than large firms trying to comply with federal regulations*, hiking their utility rates is just pouring salt on an open wound.
According to Yelp, Larry's seemed to be a love it or hate it place, garnering some pretty hostile reviews in with the good ones. So the exact role the unexpectedly high water bill played in its closing is not entirely clear. However, small businesses like Larry's are still the economic engine that drives the American economy. If the goal of a government is to generate tax revenue, taking measures to drive revenue generators out of business isn't what I would consider a good plan.
In order to get more revenue in the city coffers, someone came up with the brilliant idea to change the way water bills are calculated. Instead of paying for what you actually use, you are now charged by the size of your meter. With that billing system you could have a small meter and leave your faucet running 24/7 and pay less than a person who has a large meter but hardly uses any water at all. Make sense? Of course not!
This idiotic billing scheme already claimed it's first victim at the end of June 2012 - Larry's Hideaway, a small country bar off the strip.
"The bar has been around for more than 20 years. The bad economy played a role in its closing, but a recent fee by the local water authority, of more than $400 per month, was the straw that broke the camel's back for this bar in the desert oasis." (full story)
In tough economic times, a big hike in utility fees can mean the difference between having a steady base of tax revenue generators or further losses in city income. Considering small businesses employ half of all private sector employees, generated 65% of all new jobs created over the last 17 years, yet spend 36% per employee than large firms trying to comply with federal regulations*, hiking their utility rates is just pouring salt on an open wound.
According to Yelp, Larry's seemed to be a love it or hate it place, garnering some pretty hostile reviews in with the good ones. So the exact role the unexpectedly high water bill played in its closing is not entirely clear. However, small businesses like Larry's are still the economic engine that drives the American economy. If the goal of a government is to generate tax revenue, taking measures to drive revenue generators out of business isn't what I would consider a good plan.
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