Apple Beats Numbers and it isn't Just IPhones Alone

It seems that Apple is hitting on all cylinders while the rest of the tech industry flounders.

The company, which recently welcomed CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs back from a six-month medical leave, said earnings in the quarter that ended June 27 rose to $1.23 billion, or $1.35 per share. Apple's profit was $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per share, in the same period last year. Sales increased 12 percent to $8.34 billion from $7.46 billion in the year-ago quarter, which is the third in Apple's fiscal calendar.

Apple beat Wall Street's forecast on both counts. Analysts were expecting Apple to earn $1.17 per share on $8.20 billion in revenue, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.

It seems that some electronic gadgets are just recession-proof:

Apple said it sold more than 5.2 million iPhones in the quarter, more than seven times what it sold in the 2008 quarter, thanks to a newly released version of the device.

Apple's Mac computers also bolstered results. Apple sold 4 percent more Mac computers than a year ago. Meanwhile, researchers recently reported a 3 percent to 5 percent decline for the overall worldwide PC market in the same period.

It seems that the only two kinds of computers that are growing are Macs and Netbooks.

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The Speed is starting to Eat at Obama�s Policies

I have to agree with this assessment that the speed of these changes are starting to ware Americans down.

But the public understands that he wants to rush, rush, rush, and voters told the RNC researchers that they were tired of the pressure. �Repeatedly,� the Republican strategist says, �we�d hear, �Wait a second. We had to do the stimulus in the dead of night, we had to do cap and trade without anybody reading the bill, we had to move quickly on a multitrillion-dollar budget without any serious public debate, and now we�ve got to get health care done in two weeks?� �

I think Americans are understanding that when you rush things you end up with crap like the Stimulus Bill that has strait-up failed to deliver. I also agree that the hard-sell is starting to alienate people as well. Why does this need to be done by August 7th? LBJ took a year and a half to get Medicare passed. I remember Clinton's Health care revamp went on for quite a few months as well. I think the hard-sell and the rush-job is going to backfire on Obama going forward.

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I Hope You Like the Public Plan because It Will Be Forced on You

One of the things Obama keeps saying is this:

�If you have health insurance, and you like it, and you have a doctor that you like, then you can keep it. Period.�

The problem is that Congress doesn't care about what Obama says or that they make him a liar with their stupid scheme. According to this it seems that millions of people will be forced off of the their private plan onto the public plan. So you might like your doctor or your insurance but that doesn't matter when you are forced to take the government plan.

• Approximately 103 million people would be covered under the new public plan and, as a consequence, about 83.4 million people would lose their private insurance. This would represent a 48.4 percent reduction in the number of people with private coverage.
• About 88.1 million workers would see their current private, employer-sponsored health plan go away and would be shifted to the public plan.
• Yearly premiums for the typical American with private coverage could go up by as much as $460 per privately-insured person, as a result of increased cost-shifting stemming from a public plan modeled on Medicare.

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Leading Indicators Inch Up

Finally, some good news on the economy.

The index rose 0.7 percent last month. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a gain of 0.4 percent. May's reading was revised up to a gain of 1.3 percent from 1.2 percent, while April was scaled back to 1 percent growth from 1.1 percent.

The group also said activity in the six-month period through June rose 2 percent, with an annual growth rate of 4.1 percent. That's the strongest rate since the first quarter of 2006.

The only bad thing is this will probably be a jobless recovery due to the failure of the stimulus bill and with Cap-and-Tax and ObamaCare killing even more jobs. I am just surprised that there is any positive leading indicators at all with Washington trying like mad to kill any green shoots.

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Now the Mayo Clinic Blasts ObamaCare

I think they are just piling on now. But these guys are the gold standard in medicine and they should know what they are talking about.

In general, the proposals under discussion are not patient focused or results oriented. Lawmakers have failed to use a fundamental lever � a change in Medicare payment policy � to help drive necessary improvements in American health care. Unless legislators create payment systems that pay for good patient results at reasonable costs, the promise of transformation in American health care will wither. The real losers will be the citizens of the United States.

I think there should be a cap on malpractice lawsuits built into this thing somewhere. That way doctors won't have to run a 100 tests just to cover their ass so they don't get sued. I like how Mayo separates health insurance from health care. Insurance just pays for the procedure but people like Mayo Clinics are the ones running the show.

The problem with ObamaCare is that some ass in Washington will be telling the Mayo Clinic what will be covered or not no matter what happens to the patient. I still would rather have one doctor from the Mayo Clinic rather than 10,000 Washington bean-counters any day.

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Americans Turn on ObamaCare

It seems the more Americans hear about ObamaCare the worse it sounds.

Those concerns may be having an impact on the public, according to the poll, which showed 49 percent of respondents approving of Obama's stand on the issue compared to 57 percent in April.

Those saying they disapproved rose to 44 percent from 29 percent during the same period.

I think this is just more of the case of liking the man but hating his policies. The problem I am having now is this asinine statement during today's health insurance hard-sell.

And over the past decade, premiums have doubled in America. Out- of-pocket costs have shot up by a third. Deductibles have continued to climb. And yet even as America's families have been battered by spiraling health care costs, health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.

I hope he knows that health insurance operating margins are an average of 4.16%. He does know that software companies usually have operating margins in the 30% range. Does that mean they are "reaping windfall profits" and the US Government should be providing OSs, Office Productivity Software, and Search services? Of course not that would be idiotic.

The idea of providing health insurance for 47 million people to the tune of $1 trillion just because health insurance companies are making a profit is just laughable. Just reform their industry and provide incentive for them to cover that 47 million and we aren't out another $1 trillion+ and it should be okay.

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What the Hell is Google Mobile?

On looking at some Google earnings I came across some analysts talking about something called a Google Mobile service. So I delved a little further and came across this.

There is a new Google mobile service that Google doesn�t want you to know about. We�re not sure why they would keep it from you; it�s actually pretty cool. Google mobile "LCB" was uncovered by picking apart a publicly available file containing a list of all pages that crawlers shouldn�t be able to see. Essentially, LCB is an interesting move away from Google�s typical offerings. A "searchless search" in a sense, it allows the user to input a location and then browse through seven predefined categories such as Food / Restaurant and Entertainment to find a business listing. Once a desired result is listed, users can quickly and easily map the address and surrounding area.

This sounds a lot like a "Where should I eat" app that is tied to the GPS in your phone. I can see this as a great way for Google to collect local advertising money as restaurants and such sign up to push themselves higher up in the search results.

I would download this service in a heartbeat because sometimes I am in an area and I want to eat a plate lunch or something. I could just run this thing and it can tell me the closest plate lunch place and maybe pull up some reviews as well. Hell, you could have the thing pop up with the closest McDonalds and have it automatically text you a coupon as well if you check an opt-in box.

I think the idea is to get Google in front of as many eyes as possible and this Google Mobile is a very interesting new way to do it. I can see this service making money right out of the box and tie Googles growth right into the growth of smart-phones.

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Googles Numbers Dissapoint; Although They Might Make Money from YouTube

It seems that ad spending is still sluggish even though they had a record quarter but this part seems pretty promising though.

Google also defended its YouTube video service. Critics have pointed out that the company spends an estimated $500 million a year on YouTube, without getting much in return. But company executives said advertising, such as pre-roll ads, were gaining traction and could soon pull the video business out of the red ink and into profits, Google executives said.

I can see those pre-roll ads as quite a lucrative commodity especially when some web videos have millions of hits. It would especially be cool if they can be targeted so that a funny cat running around is preceded by a Friskies ad or something.

I mean Hulu does it and it is not very intrusive at all. The only problem with Hulu is that the ads are exactly the same over and over. Maybe Google can change up the ads so you see a Friskies ad then a PetCo ad then a Purina ad right after it. As long as there is only one ad people won't be too put off by them.

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Rafsanjani Comes Out With Pro-Protest Sermon

It seems that Rafsanjani has now picked his side and has come out forcefully behind the protesters by taking their grievances to the Friday sermon airwaves.

The cleric got tears in his eyes as he spoke of how Islam's Prophet Muhammad "respected the rights" of his people. He said the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, "would always say that if the system is not backed by the people, nothing would stand."

For Iranians listening across the country, the weekly Friday sermon in Tehran is the voice of the leadership and a symbol of its backing by God.

This part is especially telling and should be pushed forward by anyone who is opposed to Iranian nukes.

Inside the prayers, worshippers traded competing chants with some hard-liners in the congregation. When the hard-liners chanted "death to America," Mousavi supporters countered with "death to Russia" and "death to China," a reference to Ahmadinejad's alliance with both countries.

A truly democratic Iran allied with the West will prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It is just that simple. I think it might be time for Obama to throw his weight behind a reformer like Rafsanjani rather then Khomeini and Almadinijoke.

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Holy Crap! ObamaCare Bill Will Make It So You Can't Change Your Individual Health Insurance Carrier?

Yup it sure seems that way according to this. This comes from page 16 of the bill that probably no one has read yet.

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised � with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

So if you own your own business and buy individual coverage I hope you like it because you are stuck with it. So what happens if Humana changes some of the rules on you or raises your co-pay or something. You can't take your business to Blue Cross/Blue Shield because you are stuck with Humana by law.

Or you can simply enter the public plan and be at the whim of the same people that gave your the DMV and the Post Office. It is such a sneaky little way to get people into the public plan that it is ingenious. Freeze people in their insurance carrier and then force them to either sign up for the government plan or pay a 3.5% penalty for not having insurance. This one paragraph is a dagger aimed right at the heart of the private contractor industry.

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Americans Don't Want to Pay To Fight Global Warming

I could have told you this.

With the climate change bill narrowly passing in the House, a new poll released by Rasmussen Reports shows that a majority of Americans - 56 percent - are unwilling to pay more to support the fight against global warming. Only 14 percent of Americans are willing to pay more than $100 a year to fund the cap and trade measure.

It seems that only politicians care about cap-and-tax. While Americans don't want to pay higher taxes on everything they buy just to maybe reduce temperature by a minuscule amount 20 years from now.

"Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Mainstream Americans say they are not willing to pay higher taxes and utility costs to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming, compared to only 17% of the Political Class," reported Rasmussen Reports.

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National Black Chamber of Congress CEO Goes After Senator Boxer For Playing the Race Card

I sure wish more people testifying before Congress would tell it like it is like Harry C. Alford did. This is regarding Cap-and-Tax as well.

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University of Texas Physicists Figure Out How to Recycle Nuclear Waste

Well, I think it might be time for Mike Kotschenreuther, Swadesh Mahajan and Prashant Valanju, of the IFS, and Erich Schneider of the Department of Mechanical Engineering to win the Nobel Prize for Physics because they may have solved one of the only drawbacks left to nuclear power. Here's how they did it.

First, 75 percent of the original reactor waste is destroyed in standard, relatively inexpensive LWRs. This step produces energy, but it does not destroy highly radiotoxic, transuranic, long-lived waste, what the scientists call "sludge."

In the second step, the sludge would be destroyed in a CFNS-based fusion-fission hybrid. The hybrid's potential lies in its ability to burn this hazardous sludge, which cannot be stably burnt in conventional systems.

"To burn this really hard to burn sludge, you really need to hit it with a sledgehammer, and that's what we have invented here," says Kotschenreuther.

One hybrid would be needed to destroy the waste produced by 10 to 15 LWRs.

You could even make these hybrid reactors a part of the system so the act of destroying the waste will actually generate power as well. Now that is a cool deal. I wonder how they will be getting the sludge to the hybrid reactor though? I guess in barrels in the back of a truck or something. Either way these Physicists just earned themselves $1.5 million dollars and may have solved the global warming problem in one fell swoop. Hook 'Em Horns!

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Republican Stimulus Plan Provides Immediate Relief

Unlike the Dem Plan which is all about the pork-barrel and $500 next year sometime. Here is the highlight of the GOP plan.

McConnell also said Republicans favor cutting the two lowest tax brackets as a way to " put money back in people's hands directly." If adopted, that would reduce the tax rate from 10 percent to 5 percent for the first $8,350 in individual income for the current year, and $16,700 for couples. The tax rate would be lowered from 15 percent to 10 percent on income between $8,351 and $33,950 for individuals and between $16,001 and $67,900 for couples.

So that means they will start getting more money in their next paycheck and not next year after we are already recovering from the recession. Nobody can argue against receiving more money each paycheck. The other part of the plan tackles mortgages:

The goal was to have banks lower the interest rate to 4 percent or 4.5 percent on 30-year fixed rate loans for many primary residences, by directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the mortgages.

In other words the US Government will provide a low interest/fixed interest loan that is below the rates other mortgage brokers charge. That means Uncle Sam has become a mortgage market monopoly that will funnel all new mortgages into government controlled Fannie and Freddie. In other words nationalizing the mortgage industry in the US. Let's hope the cure is not more destructive then the cause.

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Pork and Eugenics in Stimulus Bill?

That may be the case according to this CNN article. Here is the pork:

I'd settle for removing more of the ridiculous items that House Democrats slipped into the legislation to advance their sociopolitical agenda. Like $350 million for child care on military bases. Or $335 million to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Here is the creepy eugenics part which amounts to $200 million for birth control funding to stimulate the economy.

When ABC's George Stephanopolous asked Pelosi to explain how birth control helps the economy, here's what the speaker said: "The family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now, and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those -- one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

You know the nation's cupboard is bare when politicians propose limiting the number of births as a way of improving the economy. That's a conversation we shouldn't be having.

The bad part is that the people with higher birthrates are usually Latino or Black. So Pelosi pretty much said she wanted to lower the birthrates of minorities in order for "states to meet their financial needs." Pelosi must really be losing it when she considers reducing the number of future Latinos and Blacks as a way to "reduce costs."

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