Businesses behaving badly
In past posts, I have explained actions that businesses–usually large corporations–have taken that are decidedly contrary to the interests of the general public. For this, commentors have claimed that I’m anti-business, that I’m using scare tactics, I’m just a socialist, or some combination thereof. However, in the news over the past month or so we [...]
For MetLife and Rhode Island, size matters
In the brouhaha about MetLife leaving, I did see and hear people try to blame this on the too-high RI taxes. Of course; it’s always about the taxes, isn’t it? I would like to make one point about that. For 2012, MetLife reported $1.4 Bn of operating earnings. In comparison, the $80-90 Mn of tax [...]
Will ‘Moving the Needle’ Help Rhode Island?
So, yesterday was the day when Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed threw down 25 bills that she hopes will “improve Rhode Island’s business climate and its position on national business-friendliness surveys.” After years of bad decisions and then paralysis, the General Assembly now has a collection of bills to review that stem from the recommendations [...]
RBS Settlement Ingites Call For Citizens Bank Sale
Citizens Bank parent company RBS Scotland agreed to a “$612 million settlement with American and British authorities over accusations that it manipulated interest rates,” reports the New York Times this morning. Meanwhile, across the pond, the political magazine NewStatesman is calling on the British government to force RBS to sell off its asset in the [...]
Labor vs. Management
Full disclosure: I grew up in a time and an environment that accepted an adversarial relationship between labor and management. I still agree with that belief. Everything I have experienced in the last 30 years has convinced me, over and over again that this is the fundamental relationship between the workers and the bosses. More, [...]
Pharmaceutical Company Asks EDC for Tax Break
Complain all you want about Rhode Island’s comparatively high corporate tax rate – at 9 percent we are one percentage point higher than Massachusetts and two higher than Connecticut – but our state tax code also has some built-in benefits for businesses that actually create jobs. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, which now employs almost 200 people in [...]
Where Goodness Runs Up Against Freedom
On Monday I took a walk to the bank to deposit a couple of checks. On my way I watched two men in a pickup truck stare for longer than is decent as a female jogger ran by. That classic no-blink, head following the jogger’s movement kind of stare. I’m pretty sure everyone knows it. [...]
Income Inequality and Entry Level Wages
Evidence shows that real wages for college grads fell in 2011. More: real wages for college grads are down from 2000, and real wages for college grads are down from 2004, the trough of the Bush recession. These wages did go up–sharply–in 2005, and then began a long, not-so-slow slide from which they have not [...]
Who Protects Our Freedom
“What do they have supremacy over?” “…I’m assuming you’re familiar with natural rights? Everyone has a natural right to life, liberty and property. Whether a gov’t exists to suppress those rights doesn’t invalidate them….” While reviewing the comment thread from a previous post, I came across the comment above. I was thunderstruck. This is an [...]
Summer Is Here and So Are the Sailboats
Right on cue, Summer Solstice arrived on June 20 and ushered in temps well into the 90′s, providing the first blast of real heat for Southern New England this year. It was about time too, the choruses of “When is it going to warm up?” were getting a little stale. Well, warm up it did. [...]
An Autopsy of RIEDC
As the dust slowly settles on the carcass of 38 Studios, plenty of questions remain, and you can bet the entrails will be picked over thoroughly. Some of the most entertaining questions are about how the debacle happened, since it’s such a delicious tale of arrogant insiders getting their comeuppance. (Of course it would be [...]
Libertarianism and the Efficiency of Free Markets
There are two intellectual positions with which I have serious problems. The first is the whole idea that markets are efficient; the second is libertarianism as a legitimate school of thought. First, markets, since some of libertarianism (from what I can gather) is based on the idea that markets should be utterly unfettered (I paraphrase). [...]
May 5, 1886: The Bay View Massacre in Milwaukie, Wisc.
One topic that has been on my mind lately is the attempt to kill the 8-hour workday. In many places in the private sector, anything less than a 10-hour day is derisively referred to as working ”half-a-day”. Purely by accident, I learned the May 5 is the anniversary of what is called the Bay View [...]
Post-Script to TEDx PVD
Several hundred people (including professionals, academics and students) gathered at the Rhode Island School of Design’s Metcalfe Auditorium and witnessed the first-ever TEDx Providence event in the Ocean State on April 15. But at the end of the day, what does it really mean? One day after the historic event, I asked myself that very [...]
CVS Fined for Dumping Hazardous Waste in CA
A California judge has ordered Rhode Island-based CVS to pay $13.75 million in fines to 45 cities and towns in the Golden State for improper dumping of hazardous materials and hypodermic needles. “The Rhode Island-based chain came under investigation two years ago after allegations that it mishandled medical, pharmaceutical and photographic waste at California stores [...]
Laid Off: A 21st Century Career in Print Journalism
I tried telling myself I was just being paranoid. There were any number of reasons I could’ve been called down to my publisher’s office at Southern R.I. Newspapers’ Wakefield headquarters at 9:30 a.m. on a March Friday morning. It could’ve involved some major changes at the East Greenwich Pendulum, the weekly newspaper for which I [...]
Tedx Conference Comes to Providence on April 15
TedxProvidence co-founders, Tino Chow (left) and Peter Haas (right). Tedx is coming to Providence on April 15. I recently met with one of its co-founders, Peter Haas, to discuss the upcoming event. What is TEDX? TEDx is an independently organized TED style event operated under a license from TED. According to TED: “TEDx was created [...]
First Providence Maker Monday Tonight
AS220 Labs and KippKits are hosting Providence’s first Maker Monday Meet-Up on April 2 from 7pm-10pm. Led by Brown Professor, Kipp Bradford, this is a family-friendly event which helps to turn on the maker switch that lives inside most of us! Here’s more: “Get Made Monthly!” Drinks and demos meet-up for Rhode Island Makers who design and build for fun [...]
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s Decent Start
If you’re not much of a follower of gaming news, you might’ve missed that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning sold roughly 330,000 copies in parts of the North American market in February, according to Joystiq. This puts the game by Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios as #4 among all games sold last month. At a $59.99 price [...]
Why the Projo Has Nobody to Blame But Themselves
By Frymaster on May 5, 2012
Over on the Facebook, dude of awesomeness Peter Hocking shared Ted Nesi’s blog post about the continuing deterioration in the Projo’s circulation. Surprisingly, their web traffic is also down and down hard. Call it 30%. You know me; I wrote a snarky comment about how newspapers have nobody but themselves to blame for their predicament. That [...]
Posted in Business & Tech, Featured | Tagged comments on newspaper websites, david brauer, linda borg, media, newspaper websites, newspapers, peter hocking, web 2.0 | 8 Responses