Category: Business

Google: Slip Slidin’ Away

Bam!

A Landmark anti-trust court decision has dropped the hammer on Google.

Let’s look at the decision and what it could mean….

In a seismic decision that could shake up the internet and hobble one of the world’s best-known companies, a judge ruled Monday that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation. The highly anticipated decision issued by US District Judge Amit Mehta comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century, the AP reports. After reviewing reams of evidence that included testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft, and Apple during last year’s 10-week trial, Mehta issued his potentially market-shifting decision three months after the two sides presented their closing arguments in early May.

  • Major setback for Google. The decision represents a major setback for Google and its parent, Alphabet Inc., which had steadfastly argued that its popularity stemmed from consumers’ overwhelming desire to use a search engine so good at what it does that it has become synonymous with looking things up online.
  • Appeal is almost certain. Google will almost certainly appeal the decision in a process that may ultimately land in the US Supreme Court. For now, the decision vindicates antitrust regulators at the Justice Department, which filed its lawsuit nearly four years ago while Donald Trump was still president, and has been escalating its efforts to rein in Big Tech’s power during President Biden’s administration.
  • Google depicted as bully. The case depicted Google as a technological bully that methodically has thwarted competition to protect a search engine that has become the centerpiece of a digital advertising machine that generated nearly $240 billion in revenue last year. Justice Department lawyers argued that Google’s monopoly enabled it to charge advertisers artificially high prices while also enjoying the luxury of having to invest more time and money into improving the quality of its search engine—a lax approach that hurt consumers.
  • Next steps. Mehta’s conclusion that Google has been running an illegal monopoly sets up another legal phase to determine what sorts of changes or penalties should be imposed to reverse the damage done and restore a more competitive landscape. The potential outcome could result in a wide-ranging order requiring Google to dismantle some of the pillars of its internet empire or prevent it from shelling out more than $20 billion annually to ensure its search engine automatically answers queries on the iPhone and other internet-connected devices. It’s also possible that the judge could conclude only modest changes are required to level the playing field.

Whatcha think?

Will this change anything or not?

Will Zuck be next?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Who’s The Boss?

Nope not some nostalgic look back at some sitcom from the 80s.

I recently had a conversation about the who was more important to business, the CEO or the work force.

I say the workforce but not many conservs will agree….they hang on to the outdated idea that the CEO creates the wealth with their leadership and ideas.

Of course I cannot agree with that assessment.

Could AI replace CEOs and save a butt-load of money for the corporations?

CEOs better start endearing themselves to their employees real quick, because oh boy: the case for replacing them with AI just keeps mounting.

“Some people like the social aspects of having a human boss,” Phoebe Moore, professor of management and the futures of work at the University of Essex Business School, told The New York Times. “But after COVID, many are also fine with not having one.”

The idea of subbing bosses for bots is the flipside to all those fears about AI causing widespread job destruction, which often focus on the fact — quite justifiably — that it’ll be regular grunts being shown the door in favor of intelligent automation.

But since c-suite execs tend to command high salaries, there’s ample financial incentive to replace them, too.

“My first instinct is they would say, ‘Replace all the employees but not me,'” former director of MIT’s Computer Science and AI Lab Anant Agarwal told the newspaper. “But I thought more deeply and would say 80 percent of the work that a CEO does can be replaced by AI.”

To a degree, and sorry to all the head honchos out there, the idea makes sense.

Part of the role of a CEO is being a leader, yes — and one imagines that a bot would be ill-suited at rallying the troops — but they’re also decision-makers. And decisions these days are often data-driven.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/ceos-easily-replaced-with-ai

Just think of all that saved profit and the damage it could do to our economy and nation.

No more massive bonuses. no more Congressional hearings to embarrass the CEOs….just blame the program and grin.

Since greed is what corporations are all about these days this could make it more and more acceptable…..the dreams of dollar signs.

But is there a chance that AI will kill capitalism?

These four AI outcomes pose a real threat to capitalism:

  • Disrupting supply and demand further
  • Eliminating wealth creation distribution
  • Dissolving value of human labour
  • Outsourcing management to smart contracts

In the age of rapid technological advancement, artificial intelligence (AI) stands at the forefront of shaping our future economy. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into various sectors, it prompts a crucial question: Could the rise of AI render traditional economic structures like capitalism or socialism obsolete? This article delves into how AI’s influence on work might spur the evolution of new economic systems, the pace at which these changes could occur, the role of Universal Basic Income (UBI), and the potential cultural shifts in a world increasingly governed by AI.

View at Medium.com

AI wins again!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Have You Heard It All?

Well here is one for you to add to that list…..

A new vending machine…..it dispenses ammo for rifle, pistol and shotgun.

And no I am not making this shit up!

Gun owners in three US states can now buy bullets from vending machines in grocery shops, after a company launched automated kiosks to make ammunition “more available”.

Some shops in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas now allow customers to scan their ID on a device similar to a drinks vending machine, and walk away with rounds for their weapons.

American Rounds, the company that manufactures the machines, says they are as easy to use as an ATM.

“Our automated ammo dispensers are accessible 24/7, ensuring that you can buy ammunition on your own schedule, free from the constraints of store hours and long lines,” it says on its website.

The machines use “built-in AI technology, card scanning capability and facial recognition software” to match a buyer’s ID to their face and ensure they are over 18 years old.

Customers select the ammunition they would like to buy on a touchscreen, scan their ID and collect it from a hole in the bottom of the machine.

The company says it will continue the roll out of the devices in states where hunting is popular, including Louisiana and Colorado.

A promotional video for the machines shows a customer moving through a shop using the vending machines on a motorised wheelchair, before raising her fist in the air and shouting: “It’s ammo? Whoo!”

Alabama has the fourth-highest rate of gun deaths in the US, according to the latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

In 2022, there were 25.5 deaths from firearms in the state per 100,000 people, with a total of 1,278 fatalities.

The Biden administration has declared gun safety to be a public health crisis, and is pushing states to adopt tougher laws on firearm ownership.

Grant Magers, the American Rounds CEO, said the company had received more than 200 requests to install the machines and that number was “growing daily”.

He told Newsweek that the company supported “law-abiding, responsible gun ownership”.

The machines are legal and store records of the transactions are kept to comply with regulations in some states.

(telegraph.co.uk)

I know there will be a wealth of opinions on this deal….

But I ask if this is a good idea.

What could be next?

Will there soon be a vending machine to buy your favorite firearm?

This is crazy….I mean what could go wrong?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Boeing Dodges A Bullet

Who does the government work for?

Any ideas?

After hundreds of deaths, shoddy safety measures, lousy construction and let’s not forget the whistleblowers that mysteriously dead after coming forward, Boeing was set to face a trial for their actions or are they?

Last week federal prosecutors recommended the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Boeing over its failure to keep the terms of an agreement sparing the company from legal action in 737 Max crashes that killed a combined 346 people. A lawyer for the families of those crash victims say what’s in the works is a “sweetheart plea deal.”

Reuters reports the DOJ plans to criminally charge Boeing, with sources saying the company can go to trial or take the deal, which is said to include a $487.2 million fine (Boeing would be credited for a previous settlement and only pay half) and the assignment of an independent monitor to audit the company’s safety practices for a three-year period. The DOJ is said to have briefed victims’ relatives on Sunday. More:

  • Standout lines: “The memory of 346 innocents killed by Boeing demands more justice than this,” victims’ lawyer Paul Cassell tells the BBC, saying the “families will strenuously object to this plea deal.” He adds, “The deal will not acknowledge, in any way, that Boeing’s crime killed 346 people. It also appears to rest on the idea that Boeing did not harm any victim.”
  • What the families want: Per a letter Cassell sent to the DOJ in June, the families of victims of the October 2018 Lion Air and March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crashes wanted to see Boeing’s then-top executives prosecuted and a $24.8 billion fine levied.
  • Next steps: USA Today reports that should Boeing accept the plea offer, US District Judge Reed O’Connor of Texas will be the one to decide whether to accept the plea agreement in the public interest. Lawyers say victims’ families plan to fly in from around the world to attend any hearing and voice their opposition.
  • The timeline: CNN explains that the DOJ in June let Boeing know that the safety failures it has racked up lately put the company in breach of the 2021 agreement through which Boeing avoided criminal charges (specifically, criminal conspiracy charge to commit fraud) related to the 737 Max crashes. The DOJ said that meant Boeing is subject to criminal prosecution, but it had not announced whether it planned to prosecute the case. The DOJ has a July 7 deadline to file charges, so Boeing will have until week’s end to decide whether to accept the plea deal.
  • Side note: Reuters reports it’s atypical for the DOJ to loop in third parties (in this case, the victims’ families) about its plans prior to alerting the company it intends to charge. Reuters sees the shift as a reaction to the relatives’ outcry over the original 2021 agreement, which they learned about after it had been reached.
  • The anger: The Guardian reports that “on a conference call on Sunday, one official is said to have been asked by a family member how he sleeps at night.”

You realize this will go to the Supreme Court and we know how that will work out with the political hacks on the court, right?

Chevron gets pass, dark money gets a pass, so forth and so on….

The court has become a huge joke….those people have NO business using the Constitution and law has toilet paper.

Impeach all of them and start over without political hacks…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–29Mar24

By now most everyone knows about the trouble with the pesticide known as Roundup….but did you know that the maker of this pesticide is the aspirin people, Bayer? (Think about that for a moment)

Bayer is fighting in most states to stop all the lawsuits against it and its product Roundup….as a public service I want to pass on what this company is up to in your state.

On TikTok, Iowa State Representative Megan Srinivas is angry.

“To me,” she says, pointing at herself with both hands, her eyebrows raised, “Iowa’s farmers matter more than corporate interests.”

Srinivas, a Democrat, posted the video on February 7 to draw attention to a bill that was just starting to make its way through the statehouse. If passed, the legislation could prevent individuals who use pesticides from suing manufacturers based on the argument that the manufacturer should have warned them the products could cause cancer or another illness.

Srinivas is a physician, and one specific concern added to her outrage. Less than a year earlier, the Iowa Cancer Registry released data showing Iowa now has the second highest cancer rate in the country, after Kentucky, and is the only state where rates significantly increased between 2015 and 2019. For the first time, researchers at the Iowa Cancer Consortium have a plan to evaluate whether the incredible volume of weed- and bug-killers used in the state is a contributing factor (although an annual report released at the end of February focused more on high rates of binge drinking).

However, while other states have seen a flurry of more than 100,000 lawsuits brought by individuals claiming Roundup—the most widely used commercial product that contains the weedkiller glyphosate—had caused their cancers, Iowa stands apart. Especially in agriculture, most people trust the safety of pesticides, locals say, and Roundup is the most common and coveted.

Inside Bayer’s State-by-State Efforts to Stop Pesticide Lawsuits

Check with your state rep to see just what Bayer is up to in your state.

I am sure that money will be the answer to their problems….after all there are elections come up…..and soon.

Have a wonderful weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–19Mar24

I live on the Gulf Coast and part of our economy is that of seafood….the industry down here has taken many hits in the past twenty years….Katrina crapped on our seafood, then came Deepwater Horizon oil spill another dump on our seafood….then there is the Spillway that when opened screws our oyster industry then there is the influx of foreign seafood flooded the markets….like I said many hits and then came one last shot at killing our seafood industry……

A new report from researchers at the Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey suggests that necrotizing fasciitis may no longer be as rare as previously assumed, no thanks to climate change and global warming

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rapid-spreading, life-threatening bacterial disease that destroys the fascia, the tissue under the skin surrounding muscles, fats, and blood vessels. It is caused by a species of bacteria known as Group A streptococcus, also called “flesh-eating bacteria”, and Vibrio vulnificus. These bacteria thrive in warm salt and brackish waters, alternatively entering the body through open wounds or oral ingestion. 

Recent statistics show that necrotizing fasciitis affects about 1 in every 250,000 people in the United States per year [2]. In some other parts of the world where the climate is warmer, it may affect as much as 1 in every 100,000 per year. NF has been termed a “very rare” disease due to these low frequencies of occurrence, but global warming may be causing the increase. 

This recent report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that those statistics may be on the verge of going higher as world waters are getting warmer [3]. Flesh-eating bacteria species (especially Vibrio) thrive in unusually warm waters, and according to the report from the CUH, the few cases of necrotizing fasciitis studied have mostly arisen from the Southeastern U.S coast, the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. 

Experts Warn That ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria May Be Spreading To Seafood, Beaches Due To Climate Change

It just does not pay to be a fisherman on the Gulf Coast anymore….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That TikTok Ban

Let’s talk about this piece of brilliant BS.

There is a major story going on right now about the social media site, TikTok….and Congress gets involved….

A bill that could see TikTok banned in the US if its Chinese owner doesn’t sell the app passed the House as expected on Wednesday, with a vote of 352-65. It now goes to the Senate, where its fate is less certain; Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t yet committed to taking the bill to the floor. President Biden has said he’ll sign the bill if it makes it through Congress. Nearly half of all Americans use TikTok, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese firm ByteDance. If the bill were to pass and be signed into law, ByteDance would have 165 days to divest from the social media app or see it banned in US app stores and by web hosting services.

The AP describes lawmakers’ concerns: “that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the US any time it wants. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.” Standout quotes from the bill’s passage:

  • From GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: “We have given TikTok a clear choice. Separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP [the Chinese Communist Party], and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok’s.”
  • From Democrat Nancy Pelosi, per NBC News: This is “not an attempt to ban TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe—a winner, a winner.”
  • From Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, per the Guardian: “I have more insight than most into the online threats posed by our adversaries. But one of the key differences between us and those adversaries is the fact that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms. We do not. We trust our citizens to be worthy of their democracy.”

This has been a nagging subject for some time now….back and forth….but all of a sudden it is a major problem that needs fixing.

What’s the rush?

The purported threat of TikTok to U.S. national security has inflated into a hysteria of Chinese spy balloon proportions, but the official record tells a different story: U.S. intelligence has produced no evidence that the popular social media site has ever coordinated with Beijing. That fact hasn’t stopped many in Congress and even President Joe Biden from touting legislation that would force the sale of the app, as the TikTok frenzy fills the news pages with empty conjecture and innuendo.

In interviews and testimony to Congress about TikTok, leaders of the FBI, CIA, and the director of national intelligence have in fact been careful to qualify the national security threat posed by TikTok as purely hypothetical. With access to much of the government’s most sensitive intelligence, they are well placed to know.

The basic charge is that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, a Chinese company, could be compelled by the government in Beijing to use their app in targeted operations to manipulate public opinion, collect mass data on Americans, and even spy on individual users.

TikTok Threat Is Purely Hypothetical, U.S. Intelligence Admits

It seems to me that Biden was getting lost of bad press because of his handling of the Middle East situation and he needed a diversion from his bad policies and what better way to do this than come up with a ‘national security’ problem?

Timing is everything.

Is this TikTok thing truly a problem?

Is this a first amendment thing?

I need not worry about my data for I do not use TikTok for anything….other than a post.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Four Day Workweek?

Something that I have been thinking about for some years now. Where I worked the Summers are oppressive and the humidity hangs around 90+% daily…..making for your day to be long and miserable….your body is shot by 10 am if you work outside. I think that a 4 day workweek would benefit everyone.

It is good to see the Bernie is still pushing for a better work experience.

The four-day workweek is gaining momentum in Congress: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced legislation Wednesday that would reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours without a pay cut.

The act would shorten the standard workweek over four years by mandating that overtime pay kicks in after 32 hours worked in a week, down from the current 40. Those who work more than 8 hours in a day would get overtime pay at time-and-a-half, and those who work more than 12 hours in a day would be entitled to double their regular pay.

Today’s 40-hour workweek has been federal law since 1940 following the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Proponents of a shorter workweek say advances in technology have made workers more productive, but have not resulted in higher wages or time back.

“The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street,” Sanders said in a press release introducing the bill.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/14/sen-bernie-sanders-introduces-4-day-workweek-legislation.html

I think it is a great idea….but you can bet the big business Repubs just don’t see it….

GOP lawmakers pushed back against Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) new proposal for a 32-hour workweek during a committee hearing Thursday, saying such a mandate would hurt workers and crush small businesses. 

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Sanders chairs, met to discuss “new technology and increased productivity” and focused on the possibility of a standard four-day work week. 

“In reality, there is no free lunch,” Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said of the proposal. 

“Workers will be the ones who would pay — not get paid extra. The government mandating a 32-hour workweek requiring businesses to increase pay at least an extra 25 percent per hour, would frankly destroy some employers.” 

Sanders introduced a bill Wednesday that would lower the threshold required for overtime pay from 40 hours to 32 hours over four years, arguing the shortened workweek would increase productivity.

Cassidy said many jobs would be shipped overseas or replaced with automation, or businesses would be incentivized to hire more part-time employees to avoid penalties associated with requirements for full-time workers.

“If this policy is implemented, it would threaten millions of small businesses operating on a razor-thin margin because they’re unable to find enough workers,” Cassidy said. “Now they’ve got the same workers, but only for three-quarters of the time, and they have to hire more.”

Republicans pan Sanders’s 32-hour workweek bill

This will go nowhere because business has lots of cash to influence Congress and they are not afraid to use it but are afraid to pay workers better.

Go figure!

That is it for me for this week….I hope everyone has a good and productive weekend.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Why Inflation?

We are told weekly if not daily that inflation is down then why does my wallet look and feel lighter?

If inflation is so low and manageable then why are my eggs a dollar more than a year ago?

There are many excuses these days…..price of gas….death of chickens….labor strikes….we could on and on but why bother….you get the picture.

One another side of this story….we give deep tax cuts to corporations which makes them more profitable and do they do the right thing and reward us peasants with lower prices?

What the Hell is going on?

Inflation has eased over the last two years, and with supply chains no longer struggling to keep up with demand and companies’ business costs stabilizing, an analysis out Thursday asks: Why haven’t American households seen the benefits of a more secure economy, with the prices of consumer goods and services falling?

The answer, said economic justice think tank Groundwork Collaborative, is that high prices linked to the coronavirus pandemic were never just the result of higher labor and production costs—but were partially caused by corporations’ deliberate price gouging.

When the pandemic upended the U.S. economy, said the group, “businesses jumped on the opportunity to pass these costs on to consumers—and added a little extra to pad their profits.”

“The worst part?” said the group. “They’re still doing it.”

Groundwork analyzed corporate earnings reports starting in 2021, focusing on numerous industries in which consumers were facing sky-high prices.

“This research revealed CEOs openly bragging to their shareholders about their ability to raise prices beyond their rising costs to increase profits,” said Groundwork. “To justify these moves, CEOs hid behind the cover of supply chain issues and the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/corporate-profits-inflation

After lying for decades to the American people some are starting to wake up…..they are told that corporations need tax cuts to be competitive and in doing so would take the price of stuff down…..if you have been keeping track of your spending you know it is all so much bullsh*t.

Corporate tax cuts do nothing for you and increases their profits as they smoke those god awful smelling cigars.

You want lower prices?

Then do what must be done!

Corporations are the problem then elect people that will fix the problem.  (I know they are hard to find because most candidates owe corporations their political lives)

We will continue to see prices rise until someone finds a way to repair this system.

I am done preaching.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Brand That Just Keeps Giving

That brand would be the Trump brand….we have had Trump steaks, water, vodka, wine, university and on and on and now we have….wait for it….sneakers!

As he closes in on the Republican nomination, former President Trump made a highly unusual stop Saturday, hawking new Trump-branded sneakers at “Sneaker Con,” a gathering that bills itself as the “The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth.” Trump was met with cheers as well as boos at the Philadelphia Convention Center as he introduced what he called the first official Trump footwear, per the AP. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” he told the crowd, per NBC News. Details:

  • The shoes, gold lamé high-tops with an American flag detail on the back, are being sold as “Never Surrender High-Tops” for $399 on a new website—GetTrumpSneakers.com—that also sells Trump-branded “Victory47” cologne and perfume for $99 a bottle. He’d be the 47th president if elected again.
  • The website says it is run by CIC Ventures LLC, a company that Trump reported owning in his 2023 financial disclosure. A similarly named company, CIC Digital LLC, owns Trump’s digital trading card NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. The website states the new venture “is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.”
  • Need a sneaker review? “Trump’s shoe is more Hulk Hogan than (Michael) Jordan, with gold paneling all the way around and an American flag hugging the upper heel,” writes Jacob Gallagher at the Wall Street Journal. “It is adorned on the side with a gigundo T,” he notes. “A poised Nike this sneaker is not.”
  • This isn’t the first money-making venture Trump has announced since launching his third campaign for the White House in 2022. Trump last year reported making between $100,000 and $1 million for a series of digital trading cards that portrayed him, through photo editing, in a series of cartoon-like images, including an astronaut, a cowboy, and a superhero.

I guess this is a good time to offer these after all he, Trump, just got nailed with a with a $350 million ruling in a civil fraud case.

“There’s a sucker born every minute”

How many suckers will buy the sneakers?  (Kinda sounds like a country song)

Any griping thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo” or should it be “cognito ergo conturbo”