Gadget Users Hardly Use Tech Support

I was kind of surprised by the numbers from this recent survey.

However, for all the talk about online communities, the Pew survey showed only about 2 percent of people solved their technology problem online.

About 38 percent of respondents called customer service, 28 percent fixed the problem themselves and 15 percent got help from friends or relatives.

The rest � about 15 percent � gave up.

15% is a pretty high percentage that just threw the thing in a box and forgot about the problem. I would be willing to bet you that those people might never use a product from a company that they gave up on again.

I can also tell you that the 38% that called customer service probably dreaded the experience. I think the outsourcing of tech help has gone a long way toward making these numbers so low. Most gadget owners figure that they could fix the problem themselves or get a tech savvy person to do it rather then talk to some guy named "James" from Mumbai.

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The Myanmar Junta Has a Friend in Beijing

It seems that the Chinese are going to step in and back up the Junta in their slow response to their crisis.

Other countries must show ``due respect'' to Myanmar, said Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, at a briefing yesterday. ``Myanmar is a sovereign country. In the end, rescue and relief work will have to rely on the Myanmar government and people.''

That "due respect" is going to doom 100,000 or more people to death by starvation and disease. The Chinese don't want to jeopardize that natural gas coming in from the Junta. And they accuse the US of looking at the dollars and cents over lives? This looks like just another case of the world watching while people are dying by the thousands.

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Petrobras Tries to Corner the Deepwater Rig Market

Well they are pretty close to it since they are hiring 80% of the 21 of the rigs that can drill in 9,800 feet of water.

Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based company is known, is hiring rigs that can drill in at least 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) of water, Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli said in an interview last week. The world has 21 such vessels, according to Rigzone.com, which tracks the offshore drilling industry.

The day rates on these things are outrageous as well. They are going for $600K a day and Petrobras is driving the prices up to get at that Tupi discovery. Some people are saying that the Tupi discovery with its 12-30 billion barrels of oil may be as big or bigger than the 18.75 billion barrels in the Gulf of Mexico.

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McCain is Right on Talking to Iran

I think it is Obama who is "naive and irresponsible" when he believes that he can jawbone Iran without preconditions.

McCain rejected the naive comment, saying Obama should have known better, and added: "Talking, not even with soaring rhetoric, in unconditional meetings with the man who calls Israel 'a stinking corpse,' and arms terrorists who kill Americans, will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless. It is reckless to suggest that unconditional neetings will advance our interests."

The trick that Obama needs to learn is you have to have a "stern public face to Iran" while acting behind the scenes through covert back channels. He should know that you give legitimacy a regime that wants to destroy our ally by meeting them with your public face and with no preconditions. It also ties the hands of your back channel people and freezes out other nations that have better standing with the rogue regime.

Also with any meeting that goes badly you have the potential to look weak when only strength is respected. Obama just needs to adjust the preconditions and state them clearly through the back channel. If Iran turns down the "destroy Israel" language and then proves that the nuclear program is peaceful then we will sit down and hash out a deal together. This is the Khadaffi method. Or the US could simply wait for the Mullahs to die of old age (or be ousted) and then we sit down and hash out a deal with the future leaders of Iran in a decade or so. This is the Arafat method.

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Blackstone Group says "Signs of Recovery" in economy

Hmm, it seems that the huge buyout firm is starting to think the economy is on the mend.

``Markets have stabilized and we have seen signs of recovery,'' Schwarzman said today on a conference call with investors. ``We don't think we're completely through it, but we're seeing signs of improvement.''

Hmm, I think the Bear Stearns bailout may have been the height of the crisis. Things were on the edge of a cliff at that time and could easily fall either way. It was either backwards into the grass or forward into the ravine. The FED was there to stabilize the markets and may get some broad new powers out of the deal. We see now that inflation at a low point and even an modest expansion of consumer spending. If oil drops back down then the recovery might be truly on the way. I guess the Dems will have to go back to the Iraq War as their tent pole issue since the economy may be right on track by October.

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Yahoo Rebuffs Ichans Offer

I think the execs at Yahoo are living in a dream world rebuffing another offer to sell.

``The board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft,'' said Icahn, 72. ``I sincerely hope you heed the wishes of your shareholders and move expeditiously to negotiate a merger with Microsoft, thereby making a proxy fight unnecessary.''

It looks like they might go to either a proxy fight or maybe Microsoft will come back with a raised offer. I do think that the "vote no" campaign will go a long way to either ousting their board or booting Yang though.

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Farm Bill May Hit Ethanol Producers

I was looking at the new Farm Bill passed by the Senate and this part was interesting.

_Increase loan rates for sugar producers.

_Urge the government to buy surplus sugar and sell it to ethanol producers for use in a mixture with corn.

_Cut a per-gallon ethanol tax credit for refiners from 51 cents to 45 cents. The credit supports the blending of fuel with the corn-based additive. More money would go to cellulosic ethanol, made from plant matter.

I wonder how this change will affect corn and sugar prices. Much of the high price of corn is due to its use as fuel for ethanol. Also I wonder if sugar prices will rise now that it might be used to fuel cars and not just to make Americans fat. That 3rd thing may be a terrible blow to some of the ethanol refiners that are right on the bubble as well. I think you might see some consolidation and bankruptcies in that industry in the near future.

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Sweden a Bad Example for US on Carbon Tax

Although I agree with some of the message of this article on why gas prices should stay high to help the economy. I take issue with using Sweden as a model for the US to follow.

Is there a model for a carbon tax? Yes, Sweden has had one since 1991. While it has not been perfectly implemented, the Nordic nation of 9.2 million people has seen a 9 percent drop in carbon dioxide emissions � more than required under the Kyoto treaty � while maintaining a healthy economy and becoming a "clean tech" leader. A German environmental group finds Sweden has done the most of all countries to protect the climate. It also helps that the country relies on nuclear and hydro power for all its electricity.

The US has 301 million people living in it and has a landmass that is quite a bit larger then the California sized Sweden. It would be fairly easy to implement a system that taxes carbon emissions when so few people are affected by it. Also with a landmass so small there is hardly any need for interstate trucking or huge railroad networks. If you think about it the Swedes hardly have much of a need for a domestic airline industry as well. A "carbon tax" would decimate these industries in the US because there is no alternative to filling up a train or a truck with non-carbon emission producing forms of energy just yet.

This tax would hurt just about every American since all of these industries would just jack up their prices to cover these new taxes. If you thought food was expensive now wait until the railroad or truck that ships the food to your supermarket gets taxed merely for for the act of moving.

However I think the idea of a Green Marshall Plan where the government throws billions of dollars into green research is the way to go. The government should create a GARPA (Green Advanced Research Projects Agency) and fund it to the hilt and draw the best scientists from all over the world to work in Seattle or someplace and have them concentrate on reducing the need for fossil fuels and provide plans to reduce carbon emissions.

Also there should be a plan in place to replace every coal fired power plant in the US with a nuclear power plant. We should have like 70% of our energy provided by nuclear power by 2020 or some other arbitrary date. That should cut emissions by millions of tons per year. Environmentalists that stand in the way of nuclear power are actually part of the global warming problem since they are just encouraging coal plants to continue on.

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Weird Ants Overrun Houston

Now this is a strange story about something called crazy rasberry ants and how they seem to be terrorizing Houston residents.

Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists.

They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner's gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA's Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven't caused any major problems there yet.

I wonder why these ants are attracted to electricity like this. Perhaps it is related to the chemical control network that gets ants to behave in colonies and take care of their queen. Or maybe there is some frequency given off by these devices that the ants pick up on their antennae. It is just strange that an ant would eat a non-food object just because there is electricity flowing through it.

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Now Carl Ichan May Lauch a Proxy Fight for Yahoo?

This saga is getting stranger and stranger.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is considering launching a proxy fight at Yahoo, according to people who have spoken with Icahn.

Icahn has declined to comment.

Late last week, Icahn began building a significant position in Yahoo that may be as much as 50 million shares, these sources said.

That is some serious money he has invested in Yahoo. Ichan must have been the big investor that was propping up the price at $25 a share last week. I wonder if he can pull off the proxy fight before Thursday when the offer expires?

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Why US Broadband Sucks

This is an interesting article about why US broadband sucks in comparison to foreign broadband.

Despite the repeated claims of the current administration that our "broadband policy" is working, the US actually has no broadband policy and no aggressive and inspiring goals (think "moon shot"). The EDUCAUSE model suggests investing $100 billion (a third comes from the feds, a third from the states, and a third from companies) to roll out fiber to every home in the country. Whether the particular proposal has merit or not, it at least has the great virtue of being an ambitious policy that recognizes the broad economic and social benefits from fast broadband.

It seems like part of the problem is the big US broadband carriers have no real reason to offer better service for a cheaper price. There is just not enough competition to spur the companies to offer a Japan like price per Mb. If consumers are willing to pay $45 a month for 5Mbs download, 1Mbs upload with almost no alternatives then that is what companies will charge you for it. It seems that only government intervention would either drop the price or raise the speed.

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Circuit City Opens their Books to Blockbuster

It seems that Circuit City is going to let Blockbuster do their due diligence to narrow down their bid.

Shares of Circuit City Stores Inc. rose on Friday, after the consumer electronics retailer said it would allow Blockbuster to review its books.
Also, the Blockbuster's largest shareholder, Carl Icahn, said he would buy the company on its own if Blockbuster doesn't find financing.

I think it is positive for the stock that Icahn will backstop the deal if it falls through. I am still sceptical this tie up though. I think if people get used to visting a Blockbuster that would be inside of a Circuit City store then maybe it could work. I know Blockbuster will be able to close some stores and that would provide a nice bump in same store sales.

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Democratic Consumer-First Energy Act is a Joke

The Democrats are going after Big Oil again. Here is my opinion on their plan point by point:

Roll Back Tax Breaks for Oil Companies and Invest in Renewable Energy � In 2004 and 2005, the Big Oil companies received tax breaks worth $17 billion over 10 years. The Consumer-First Energy Act will roll back $17 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas companies and instead invest those taxpayer dollars to improve consumer price protection, renewable energy development and energy efficiency technology through a designated Energy Independence and Security Trust Fund.

I think this may be a good idea as long as those tax breaks go back in if the price of oil drops back to $40 a barrel like it was a few years ago. Of course the Dems are going to stick the money in some Trust Fund that will probably be raided for an earmark or for some Senators pet project. However, $17 billion in tax breaks for Solar companies or fuel cells or other renewable energy would be a good idea (and boost their stocks.)

Force Big Oil to Pay Their Fair Share through a Windfall Profits Tax � Since the Bush Administration came into office, the five biggest oil companies have made over half a trillion dollars in profit. The Consumer-First Energy Act creates a 25 percent windfall profits tax on companies that fail to invest in increased capacity and renewable energy sources. This provision would not apply to the profits those companies reinvested in clean, affordable, domestically produced renewable fuels, expanding refinery capacity and utilization, or renewable electricity production. The proceeds of the tax will be invested in consumer price protection, renewable energy development and energy efficiency technologies through a designated Energy Independence and Security Trust Fund.

This is an absolutely dumb idea that I guarantee would have unintended consequences. The Dems are purposing a 25% tax on top of the 43.41% tax rate that Exxon is already paying? This Windfall Tax would have resulted in $10 billion extra that would be taken from Exxon, $4.5 billion taken from Chevron, and $3.6 billion taken from ConocoPhillips in 2007. Of course these companies would either cut production or slow their exploration to make up for this sudden shortfall. Cutting production would raise the price of oil since it would crimp supply and slowing exploration would make oil prices even higher in the future once oil starts to run down. So this bill would actually raise the price of oil while insuring there will be higher prices for the next decade. Good work Dems!

Also what do they mean by "5 biggest oil companies?" Would this be only US oil companies because the 5 biggest Integrated Oil Companies by by Market Cap includes PetroChina, Royal Dutch Shell, and BP? After all PetroChina made $21 billion, Royal Dutch Shell made $31 billion, and BP made $22 billion in 2007. Why do these foreign oil companies get out of paying an extra 25% tax on their earnings? I mean BP for instance is only paying 34% taxes compared to the 43% taxes that Exxon is paying. So the Dems actually think that Exxon would just grin and bear it and pay nearly 68% of their income in taxes while their competitor pays only 34%? Is that any way to stay globally competitive?

Halt Government Purchases of Oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve � The Administration continues to place between 70,000 and 80,000 barrels of oil a day underground in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which is 97 percent full. The Consumer-First Energy Act calls for suspending through December 2008 oil purchases for the SPR. Filling could resume when the 90 day average price of crude oil recedes to $75 or less. Energy officials have stated that by halting purchases for the SPR, the price of gasoline can be reduced 2 to 5 cents per gallon.

Wow, this is one smart thing in this whole mess. The SPR should not be filled with $123 oil by any stretch of the imagination. This past week it looks like they are slowing down the purchasing since it went from 701,339,000 barrels to 701,331,000 barrels. At least some bean counter in Washington is waiting a few weeks for prices to drop before they commence buying again.

Protect Consumers from Price Gouging � The Federal government�s authority and enforcement actions are inadequate to protect consumers from artificially created spikes in retail gas prices are inadequate. The Consumer-First Energy Act would give the President the authority to declare an energy emergency should there be a shortage, disruption or significant pricing anomalies in the oil market. Once an emergency is declared, setting an �unconscionably excessive price� during such an emergency would be deemed unlawful and subject to civil penalties.

This sounds unconstitutional for some reason. It would effectively give the President pricing power over gasoline. For instance if gas hits $4.00 a gallon he can declare an energy emergency due to pricing anomalies in oil markets (whatever the hell that means) and then immediately drop the price of gas to $2.00 a gallon since anything higher would be "unconscionably excessive." It just sounds like the kind of power that the Politburo would have and not the President of the United States. Also aren't there laws on the books already dealing with price gouging?

The Administration�s failure to regulate the oil futures market has lead to exorbitant speculation. The Consumer-First Energy Act establishes two key limitations on speculation. First, the bill prevents traders of U.S. crude oil from routing transactions through off-shore markets to evade speculative limits and sets forth reporting requirements. The bill also requires the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to set a substantial increase in the margin requirement for all oil futures trades, contracts or transactions. Recently, one oil company executive indicated crude oil prices could be inflated due to speculation in the futures market.

I wonder if Congress knows that crude oil futures are an international business and is only denominated in US dollars? Setting limits on US traders and not international traders again puts our country at a disadvantage. Also making traders have larger margin requirements is like putting a tax on those traders. They also need to know that forcing the biggest oil company in the world, Exxon, to cut their production to avoid paying 68% in taxes would really be something the long side speculators would love. I mean after all these speculators spun nonsense like fog in the Gulf of Mexico into a supply reduction that justifies $123 a barrel oil.

Stand Up to OPEC � OPEC�s near-monopolistic control over oil prices has lead to record oil prices which have driven up the cost Americans pay at the pump. The Consumer-First Energy Act allows the U.S. Attorney General to bring an enforcement action against any country or company that is colluding to set the price of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product. Enacting this provision will make it clear to nations that participate in the oil cartel that engaging in conduct designed to fix the price of oil is illegal under U.S. law. As such, nations concerned with maintaining good diplomatic relations with the U.S. will likely be reluctant to blatantly act in a way that is counter to U.S. law.

So the Dems want to sue OPEC? That is idiotic. What happens if they retaliate and cut production due to "pipeline improvements" or something like that. We might see some $300 a barrel oil if we get into a shouting match with OPEC. I guess there are some Dems that are nostalgic for those Carter oil shock years.

Also are the Dems really thinking of souring relations with Saudi Arabia or Nigeria simply because they want cheaper oil? I thought the GOP were supposed to be the avaricious oil grabbers. The Congress does know that protecting the price was exactly what OPEC was formed to do right? OPEC controls the supply spigot and thus as a result of their cutting and raising production they control the price lever as well. I think the Dems need to go back and take Economics 101.

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Niger Delta Rebels Want Jimmy Carter?

Okay I guess it seems like a pretty good deal for oil prices anyway. Carter also mediated in 1999 but it didn't solve any of the problems. I guess Carter is turning into the go-to guy for terrorist organizations all over the world.

The rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose campaign of violence helped lift oil prices to a new record on Tuesday, said Carter had accepted its offer to mediate in the conflict "on the condition that the Nigerian government and any other relevant stake holder invites him."

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Yahoo Shareholder Revolt

It seems that spurning Microsoft's sweetened offer may create some real ire among shareholders to boot Yahoo's board.

In my opinion, they all need to go. Sunday, I launched a "withhold" campaign aimed at Yahoo!'s board. I'm asking all Yahoo! shareholders, whether you're Gordy Crawford or Bill Miller or John Doe Investor, to mark the "against" box on the Yahoo! proxy, which you will receive in the coming weeks, ahead of the July 3 Yahoo! annual meeting.

Also this article pointed out some really sad attitudes from Yahoo as well.

People close to Yahoo said that the chief executive, Jerry Yang, and his team, who told Microsoft they would not sell for less than $37 a share, greeted Microsoft�s decision as a victory. High-fives were exchanged Saturday afternoon when they learned Microsoft was backing down.

Yup they pretty much celebrated that they thumbed their noses in the faces of the Evil Empire from Redmond even to the detriment of their own stock. I think if Yahoo had a CEO that was looking out for the shareholders then they would have pulled the trigger on the sweetened deal or maybe even agreed to $34 a share. It is sad to see billions of dollars in investors money wiped out to further an anti-Microsoft agenda.

My prediction is Yang and the board will be out on their ear come that July 3rd shareholder meeting. A bunch of "Abstains" or "Against" votes from shareholders that have lost faith in the leadership at Yahoo (and have lost millions each) will doom them.

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