Mmmmm mergers

As the news breaks that SBC really is going to buy AT&T its a good time to remember that the break up of AT&T into the baby bells was the last significant use of the Sherman anti-trust act. Since then its been a ever growning tide of merger mania. Throughout the 80's and 90's and now into this century corporations have been going at it like crazy. Many of these acquisitions are dismal flops, unless you happen to be an executive that gets a huge bonus or pay-off or an investment banker or lawyer that gets a fat commission check for making it all happen. After the merger its bad news for the employees and customers, and quite often shareholders. Like a cascade of dominoes merger mania either wrecks a path of destruction and waste, or eventually assimilates enough power to collapse internally from its own size.

When all is said and done there should be room for the little guys to sneak through cracks in the pavement and take reguvenate, just like those pesky mammals did after the dinosaurs all went tits up. But what price must we pay for such a chance at renewal and just how long will it take for corporate America to implode all over again? Maybe it's a good time to refresh our memories with tales of robber barons, railroad tycons, and the implosion of the business world of the thirties. If so then you could do worse than read the interview with Thom Hartmann over at BuzzFlash.

A forking liar

It was good to hear the senate committee put Rice through the wringer these past two days. Well, at least half the committee did so and Senators Boxer, Kerry, and Biden certainly turned on the screws extra tight. If Boxer didn't actually call Rice a forking liar, then she certainly implied it yesterday and again this morning. The best quote of the hearings surely came from Biden when he said "Don't listen to Rumsfeld, he doesn't know what the hell he's doing". Its too bad Boxer couldn't have been so candid.

The rest of the committee were mostly wearing their sycophant hats, patting Rice firmly on the back for having made it through another glass ceiling and congratulating her on her "performance" at the hearing. Never mind her past performance, which had been resoundingly dragged through the mud from whence it came these past two days, lets just rubber stamp her for showing up, knowing her party lines, and putting on a good act.

One thing that occurred to me, while the proceedings were just a rubber stamping affair (since Senators rarely break partisan ranks, and the Dems apparently have lost all their balls - except ironically, Sen. Barbara Boxer) it would have been nice to see such debate surround the appointment of a President. The quality, quantity and depth of questioning exceeded anything we ever saw in the Presidential debates by so much it makes me wonder how we can pay so much attention to questioning the puppets, while ignoring the puppet master in chief? Can anyone imagine George Walker Bush surviving even one day of such questioning without completely melting down and then seizing up in terminally goofy paralysis?

As they say, God bless America, 'coz now one else is going to!

Google echoes real life

Thanks to SEC filings it seems that Google employees are getting a glimpse of who is worth what in their company. Previously limited to the executive level, such disclosures are reaching down to the rank and file Google employees. So now hundreds of the employee planned stock sales are appearing in public and hence lots of Google employees now know at least how much their cubicle buddies are worth. Those recent hires who didn't have years to accumulate generous stock handouts are apparently feeling a little tension from the wealth inequity.

I think someone should go to Google and study this effect in detail, it might provide a fascinating glimpse of how the world at large would be if we all knew the wealth, or lack thereof, of our neighbors. I once had occasion to find out the salary and stock grants of every employee in a company I previously worked for (no I wasn't hacking into the finance computers, it was by legitimate means) and I can tell you it was an "enlightening" experience. Think how society would be if everyone knew the wealth and income of everyone else. I think the stark inequity of wealth and income distribution in this country would be thrown into sharp relief and could wreck some havoc. Yes the statistics are there for all to read should they bother, but if you were confronted with this information day in and day out it might rub it in.

There is an argument frequently made by some people about privacy and disclosure of personal information - that what is the harm in it because if you haven't got anything to hide then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. I wonder then why they isn't applied to information about wealth in this country. Those with most to hide seem most interested in hiding that information, something we are frequently reminded of when the wealthy manage to find their way into top positions that require the most disclosure of financial information. What is driving that desire to disclose as little as possible, do they have something to be ashamed of? Gentlemen, why don't you just revel in your wealth and show the world what good you have put it to??? Yeah, as if... :-)

Broadband == democracy?

I just read an article that claims the US isn't so far behind the rest of the world on broadband roll out. I beg to differ with McCullagh's argument about geographic size, just check where Canada is on the list, however the interesting part is his map of broadband access by Zip code in the USA.

Boy that looks awfully familar to me, wasn't it only a couple of months ago we were all staring dumbfounded at this map of Presidential Election 2004 voting by county?

Okay the maps aren't identical, but it does show a high correlation between broadband access and blue voting... One explanation is obvious - cities have the best broadband access and those danged metropolitan and diverse cities are most likely to vote blue. However another explanation might be that those with broadband get the most diverse news about the country and the world (and of course get the most porn on their screens) and generally appreciate freedom of information and freedom speech the most. So much so that they are willing to vote blue to protect it.

Thank the lord for broadband!

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer

The Economist has a great article about America's increasing gap between rich and poor, and the increasingy lack of mobility between rich and poor. This, the article argues, is coming dangerously close to bringing an aristocracy to the USA while its citizens look on both blissfuly ignorant of what is going on and powerless to make a change.

For prior commentary on income inequality see "The Gini Index - how does your inequality measure up?" and "Why the Democrats suck and why being rich doesn't".

2005, year of the personal phonebooth

I'm sure some, or at least one, of my regular readers wish that 2005 really was the year of the personal phonebooth especially with the possibility of mobile phones on airplanes coming dangerously close to reality. For those that want to see what life with a personal phonebooth would look like go no further than Nick Rodrigues performance sculpture " The Portable Cellphone Booth". Its a very clever and funny video, and when you're finished watching it try Automotive Armor, a critique of our auto obsessed culture.

The end is in sight?

I think perhaps an end to the long dark tea-time could be in sight - at least according to Hiroyuki Nishigaki whose book How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?. Thank to the Tin Man for recommending I check out this book, I'm not sure if its the butt and navel clenching exercises that will good-bye the long dark tea-time or the sheer hilarity of reading this book. I have to say I read all the 35 Amazon reviews of the book and I'm feeling much better already. As one reviewer put it "I still randomly open to a page, read it, and feel better about whatever the heck was bringing me down in the first place." and another one said "This book will blow your mind, not to mention your O-ring! I have learned so much control by reading this book. I can now accurately launch cherry stones into my wastebasket; and its not even near my recliner, its on the other side of the room by my catcher's mitt!"

New year salutations

In an unprecedented outbreak of high spirits I'd like to wish all my regular readers and casual interlopers a warm and hearty "Happy New Year!". Agent J and I have just returned from a local party crawl which involved several stops around our 'hood at various parties in unique and cool loft spaces including those of "The Dude" and the recording studio in a loft Pajama Studios who apparently have one of their productions up for a Grammy this year.

Party on!