Ironically we are launching the Vietnam Startup Blog!
December 24, 2008
Word from Vietnam is that the government is tightening the rules on blogs. Our latest startup blog is from Vietnam (we should be launching in the next couple of days) and I am now a little reluctant to reveal our latest member of the SpringStage crew.
Maybe we need a slowdown?
November 28, 2008
One day after American’s sat down to give thanks, Wal-Mart customers in Long Island trampled employees and pregnant women as the rushed into the store killing one. Hundreds of shoppers knocked the employee down and stepped on him as they fought to get into the store. Even after emergency workers got to the scene and began trying to save the man’s life, shoppers eagerly streamed past the dying man to get into the store. The man was pronounced dead at 6:03AM and the woman was hospitalized for observation.
One employee was quoted, “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed him in front of me. They took me down too…I literally had to fight people off my back.” And another, “They’re savages,” said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. “It’s sad. It’s terrible” Is any deal so good that it is worth killing someone? And after you DO kill someone could you at least stop shopping to render aid? Here are pictures of the tragedy. It makes me sick…
The election is finally over, thank God.
November 5, 2008
Ethan, my seven year old son, and I talked about the election incecently over the past several months. He had scores of questions and some very interesting insights. Yesterday I took him to our polling place and he watched as I voted for John McCain. Ethan, hoping for my approval, voiced his support of John McCain frequently and loudly, sometimes remarking to our friends, “Yo momma can’t afford Obama…” Last night, as we watched the results come in I decided it was time to ’soften the blow’ suggesting that, despite all of our prognostications of gloom and doom if Obama was elected, everything would be fine if in fact he won.
This morning as Ethan and prepared for school I made a point to talk about how important this election was to our country. I tried to explain that Obama’s election was further proof that the American system works. In America, anything is possible. The truth of the matter is that I really believed what I told Ethan. I DO think America is the greatest country in the history of man. What an amazing experiment - an experiment that works. At the end of the day I am proud of our country, I believe in our system and our citizens. God bless America! Now it is time to get back to work. . .
Are you Joe the Plumber?
October 20, 2008
I would argue that most entrepreneurs are just like Joe the Plumber. Perhaps you aren’t as folliclely challenged as Joe, but your dreams are very similar. You dream of having your own business and that it would be successful. You believe in the American Dream, the idea that in America we strive for equality of opportunity and those who have the drive, energy and stamina can succeed.
Americans are not bound by the caste systems of the old world, instead America is where ANYONE can succeed. Joe Wurzelbacher is a simple plumber. He has a dream, perhaps a foolhearty dream, to own his own plumbing company one day. Your dream might be to build the next Google or 37Signals. Joe has seen the American dream work for scores of people from Bill Gates to Warren Buffett to P. Diddy and he hopes someday to have it work for him. His biggest fear is that by the time it is his turn to achieve his dream, the fruits of that dream will be taken from him and given to someone else instead.
As individuals and entrepreneurs the idea that someone would take our hard work and give it to someone else who hasn’t worked as hard or hasn’t yet achieved his own ‘American Dream’ is an anathema to us. As a country it should deeply trouble us if government sought to remove the ‘profit motive’ from our daily lives. If additional productivity and hard work isn’t honored and rewarded it simply won’t occur. Why bother taking risks if those risks have no upside.
To buy his boss’s company, Joe the Plumber would need to raise capital in the form of a loan or equity - this ‘at risk’ capital would then be used to buy the business whereby Joe would either succeed and repay the loan or the equity. If Joe believes the incentive (i.e. the opportunity to make more money) was gone or diminished do you think Joe would be willing to borrow the money necessary to buy the business in the first place? If we continue to demonize capital formation (i.e. getting rich), power and money will tend to consolidate in the hands of a smaller and smaller minority. Joe the Plumber will NEVER get the change to become rich - instead rich people like George Soros and his heirs will grow richer and richer.
On a side note, Joe the Plumber has been demonized and pillaried in the press. Why? He simply admitted that he would like the opportunity to become rich. It turns out he has issues with licenses and taxes. Show me an entrepreneur who doesn’t and I will show you ten who have even bigger issues.
You can’t increase tax revenues by taxing the rich more
October 14, 2008
I first wrote about Hauser’s Law in a post titled, “How to raise taxes on the rich“. Ironically, it is a proven fact that you cannot increase revenues by increasing taxes. No I am not talking about the Laffer Curve (the theory that by lowering taxes you increase revenues), instead I am talking about Kurt Hauser and what is now called Hauser’s Law. Unlike a theory that considers what might happen given a set of future events or circumstances, a law looks backward and relies exclusively on verifiable evidence. David Ranson from the Wall Street Journal wrote about Hauser and coined the term ‘Hauser’s Law’ in an article titled, “You Can’t Soak the Rich.”
Hauser’s Law suggests, “No matter what the tax rates have been, in postwar America tax revenues have remained at about 19.5% of GDP.” See chart below:
This is an amazing discovery that should help policy makers understand what their goal should be. The act of raising taxes has ZERO effect on revenues, while GDP has everything to do with revenues. If you want to raise money you simply need to figure out how to raise GDP. If you can accept the historical fact that no matter what the tax rate is, our government can ONLY collect 19.5% of GDP, you can focus on the real game - raising GDP. So just to be clear, regardless of whether the top tax rate has been 91% or 35% (the current rate) we only collect 19.5% of GDP. Get it?
While Hauser’s Law is relatively new information (most policy makers have never heard of it), almost all economists agree that that higher tax rates reduce GDP and given Hauser’s Law, this will result in lower tax revenues. The ONLY way to raise more money from the rich is to grow GDP. Hauser explains, “Raising taxes encourages taxpayers to shift, hide and under report income. . . . Higher taxes reduce the incentives to work, produce, invest and save, thereby dampening overall economic activity and job creation.”
My advice to Obama, as John F. Kennedy explained in 1963, “As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all boats.” Figure out how to increase GDP instead of figuring out how to raise taxes and all of our boats will be lifted.
Twitter Hates Palin
October 2, 2008
I decided to ‘twitter‘ the Vice Presidential debate this evening and I was very surprised how prevalent the anti-Palin sentiment was - specifically the HATE leveled at her. If Twitter is any measure, our political system is broken - we have lost the ability to respectfully disagree. Ironically, much of the ‘hate’ rhetoric was from women. Twitter was basically a constant stream of ‘I hate Palin’. Really. I am not kidding. Check out a few comments from the twitter-stream this evening:
aa86: Watched the debate and hate Palin even more. I don’t want to hear the word “maverick” for quite some timemarigola: Sarah Palin, you are not like me…you’re one of those fucking idiot Lifetime Channel watching hoes I hate…Najy: dude, everyone and my little brother hate palin. um, me included. dear america: this is what you want? I’m scared.huettman: MAN does my wife HATE Sarah Palin…might be because she keeps winking at me.patzy: Hate Palin. If she keeps it up, they are going to revoke our voting rightsErinaB: I hate palin!!!chucklenugget: Sarah Palin, I hate her hate her hate her hate her hate her….She sounds like a kindergarten school teacherastronomerpants: Sarah Palin I hate you with the fire of a thousand suns.queenjulie: Hate Sarah Palin, but feel sorry for her now–she’s doing a 90-minute debate in stilletos? My feet ache for her.ayearatthewheel: WTF!?!?! you twitter fools, Palin, asking if she can call him Joe is proper and polite… FOOLS - ALL OF YOU! btw I hate Palin types.bloodyscreamo69: i hate palintelevisionarie: oh i just hate sarah palin’s voice and everything else about her so much. so very, very much.bnh: @Phyrdancer ZEITGEIST is some crazy you know what! oh and did I mention I hate palin!RockCandyRags: I hate Palin’s sarcasm,so unattractive & stupid 4 someone trying to convince ppl to vote for her,but hope she lets it spew during VP debate!adamjamess: i hate palinjepowell: What a bitch! http://tinyurl.com/3qfbao (expand) I hate Sarah Palin…
xoxorho: @revmitcz Great blog! I LOVE the Carl Sagan quote. God I hate Palin. Can’t wait for the Thursday night fights!nitetooth: I hate palin :(donnaschubert: @ricksanchezcnn as a professional woman I hate that palin seems to overly rely on her beauty and charisma rather than her on brainsholecomic: @cadrys Oh. No, I don’t really hate either Obama or McCain. But I think that Palin as president would make us a joke. She’s a clown-veep.praxisblog: (The fact that there are countless good reasons to hate Palin is more or less a coincidence, I suspect.)csoto: hate to be harsh but calling sarah palin a tool is an absolute insult to tools…. and elizabeth hasselbeck is a nimrodThe_Norah: I hate stupid women. Stupid men suck, but thats a contained problem. When a woman is stupid, it hurts all women. Ex: Palin, camwhores, etc.PriyaRaju: The reason I hate Palin so much is, she got picked only because she’s an idiotic woman. I sort of feel betrayed by that jackass.themia: i hate women who only want to vote for Palin because she has a vagina. Fuck YOU.ryanrpalkovic: Debates are pointless. They’re both going to ramble off their standard responses. You’re still going to hate palin and love biedengregwool: christ i hate being sick. also, sarah palin.tweelings_en: HATE> I just realized that Palin has made me hate Alaska. I’m sorry Alaska. http://tinyurl.com/3gdtgc (expanddantekgeek: I just realized that Palin has made me hate Alaska. I’m sorry Alaska.EveGrey: ooh, I really hate the name Palin now. It sounds so harsh to my wee ears.NotStyro: I think Biden performed well, while Palin was sloppy and went off-topic to often (and I hate her voice-argh!)LuliB: hate hate hate hate hate palin (there, i’m staying out of politics now)pratikp7368: i hate palinLive_Love_Rock: I hate sarah palin. she makes me ashamed to have my name.alisaharris: Woman next to me to palin: ‘you’ll kill the f–ng polar bears you bitch! We hate you!’lesliebot: crud i hate sarah palinbrittanyc: i really hate palin’s snide little smile. rubs me the wrong way.jp_abello: I really really hate palin. More than any other politician everjamtomorrow: my God I hate Palin’s foksy bullshit.kufflink: I hate Palin’s glasses tonight. Where are those Tina Fey glasses I love so.planethunt: I…I hate Sarah Palin.jenlaughs: hate. palin. so. much.mdh85: I hate Palin so much. So so much.am6290: Sarah Palin is a fucking retard! I can’t believe im watching the vice presidential debate. I hate politics!Dazshia: I hate Palin’s smiling sarcasm. Hate it Hate it!phatduckk: i hate PalinDantcer: RT @verucablue: I hate Palin’s “gosh darn you betcha can I call ya Joe” bull. And if she says reform one more time, I’ll slap her.Leesie: Is it just me, or is Sarah Palin almost posing while she talks. God I hate that woman! Also: Something amazing just happened <3djtanuki: I fucking hate Sarah Palinjamestinsley: Wow I really hate Sarah Palin.. Go at her Joe!smugasarug: god i hate sarah palin’s voicechelseamoylan: stop staring at me palin, i hate chu.jp_abello: I hate palintremorx: @skeet2461 Palin makes the whole country hate hockey momsgsnail: Loving the Palin hate on Twitter. Shame I can’t watch the debate to watch the fail.sofistakit: Sarah Palin, I hate you so much..and yet, I want to hold you.conahan: Man, I hate Palin’s hamburger helper accent.searingblue: Sarah palin: a big folksy ball of bullshit that makes me hate America. Yeah, that’s right, Sarah palin=the downfall of Americablackjew: VP Debate you would really have to hate America to support Sarah PalinBettaSmetta: okay, i can finally say something nice about palin … her suit is beautiful …. but i still hate herOvershee: that was a very short 1:30, but quite good. It only cemented my hate of Palin, I have to say. She’s a cunt. Anyways, biden did a good jobBecco: Wow. I really like Joe Biden a lot. Still hate Palin. Maybe even more than before.sepiamutiny: Mutineer CoffeeFace: “I now hate alaska, bulldogs, and the sound of Sarah Palin’s voice.”s0_fam0us: this just in: I still hate sarah palin.capnjoy: I hate palin more b/c she’s a stupid unqualified woman who is setting feminism back. is that wrong?hatersonlyhate: The filter of the mainstream media?! I hate you, Palin.jewcyjuice: I officially hate the word ‘maverick’ and want to bitch-slap the stupid out of Palin. Dear god.sareeloo2001: I offically hate the word Maverick. McCain is NOT a Maverick. Neither is Palin. She is so full of shit I can smell it from here!!!!!milestonkin: Sarah Palin makes me hate peopleelzombo: “Dog gone it” i hate you Palin.quartertonality: #current Sarah Palin makes me hate America.Afficionados_HH: GOD I HATE PALIN you bimbo Satan Anti-Christ hideous idiot, man and Dinos together I’ve seen evidence you f-wit.dekkerdreyer: Palin reminds me of my elementary school teachers and I hate her for it.grindz145: I fucking hate politics (and palin) what ever happened to punk rock and vigilante justice?NewMonarch: I really hate Palin’s fake perky voice. Very belittling.lyrica42: Sarcasm will get you nowhere Palin, except in my heart with a bit more hate.jzay: jews hate sarah palin, sez the jewess sitting next to mejeffd44: Dear palin, I fucking hate youjesuiseval: I hate Sarah Palin. I hate her shit eating grin and her condescending tone. You NEED to play a drinking game to watch this debate.ben_h: Sarah Palin: I don’t hate many people, but I hate you.dominicdb: Biden is a beast. i’m pro-him. and frankly, though i hate the hell out of her, Palin is killing it on some Palin shit. which sucks.BroomBox: I HATE PALINkristynmarie: I hate Sarah Palin. The woman is a twit!sethgoldstein: my god i hate palin’s accentthatgamergirl: hahahaah, watching as I pack! “Team of Mavericks” Gotta love to hate Palin.hapagirl: Officially hate Palin. It’s Nook-LEE-are, not Nook-YOU-lear. Dammit.RidleyGriff: Very interesting - according to CNN focus group, women HATE Palin and love Biden. #currentDazshia: Sorry but Palin reminds me of some cheesy-bimbo-political cartoonish personna! Plenty of comic material there!!Veronica19: Pakistani President had a fatwa issued on his head for flirting with Palin. Now we know, she winked and he tapped her toosusankirbysmith: Palin is an idiotdswinder: Sarah Palin is just flat out unintelligent.lisahubbert: Palin is still trying to become the Prom Queen. Grow up.cameragrrl: Learned from the debate tonight: I hate Palin more than Dubya.makesmewant: sarah palin makes me want to vomit. her ridiculous grasp of the constitution is just horrific.: sarah palin makes me want to v..Sparky6768: Ugh. I hate Palin SO much.
How much the bailout will cost you!
September 26, 2008
If you have been following the discussions around the proposed $700,000,000,000 bailout (rescue plan, whatever) of Wall Street you may have seen a $2300 cost for every citizen of the US. Of course, only 138 million US citizens pay taxes and the share of taxes is not equal as described in the chart below:
So if you fall into the bottom 50% of taxpayers you will only have to pay 3.5% of the bailout cost - $24 billion spread across 69,000,000 taxpayers - $347.83 each. That isn’t cheap, but it is a far cry from $2300 each. But if you fall into the 25% you will have to pay 83.9% of the bailout cost - $587 billion spread across 34,500,000 taxpayers - $17,014.49 each! Lovely! Of course if you fall into the top 1% of taxpayers you will have to pay 34.4% of the bailout cost or $240 billion spread across 1,380,000 taxpayers - $173,913.04 each. OMG!
So this program isn’t a bailout for the rich, it is a bailout paid for by the rich…
Startups and Obama: radioactive this year!
September 9, 2008
How are you dealing with the presidential race in your startup this year? Are you talking about it? Are you ignoring it? Are you outright hiding from it?
Yesterday I was watching the TechCrunch50 on Ustream and was surprised to see one of the presenters from Dotspot feature his support of Obama so prominently. Last night at our Startup Happy Hour several entrepreneurs commented about how they are having to keep their dislike of Obama or support of McCain secret from their clients and employees. This weekend at my son’s soccer practice one of the Dads was especially outspoken regarding his frustration with Obama and you could see everyone move away from him before he could go on.
I haven’t been secretive about my own political feelings on my blog or on my twitter account, but it has cost me readers, followers and maybe a few friends. I have always enjoyed political debate and in the past the people I debated seemed to enjoy the discourse as well. This year everything seems different. Gauging by the reaction of many Obama supporters, you would think I was supporting genocide or cancer. There isn’t enough oxygen in the room anymore for differing opinions.
In the past it was easy to keep religion and politics out of business. But what if you have a blog? a flickrstream? a facebook or myspace account? The line between your business-persona and your political-persona become blurred. This new social world has the risk of becoming very chilling for ideas, instead of creating more opportunity for debate, many of us are seriously considered muzzling our voices. My advice to early stage founders: keep your mouth shut if you don’t support Obama. Keep your frustration of Obama off your facebook page, don’t blog about your support of McCain or Palin. Don’t argue with anyone. Just keep quiet.
Of course my advice to late stage founders who have had exits: a) send money to McCain and b) explain as clearly as possible why you don’t support Obama. Listen to his supporters, respect their right to a differing opinion, but make your own position well known. Earlier this month I tried just that with my post titled, “My Decision“. With more than 39 comments, the post gets huge traffic. Hopefully my point comes across in a respectful and honest way.
***Warning Political Content***: My Decision
September 4, 2008
It is no secret that I am a conservative, a proud member of the GOP since I worked on Newt Gingrich’s campaign in 1988 as a teenager. From my perspective it has been a long time since a conservative occupied the White House (you may have heard of Reagan). I eagerly voted for George Bush’s first term, but held my nose and reluctantly voted for him a second time. After his first term two things were clear a) he couldn’t put two sentences together without embarrassing himself and b) he wasn’t a conservative on fiscal and government issues (the only thing he seems to be conservative about are his religious beliefs).
Looking back on why Bush was a failed president (at least in my eyes) I find it remarkable that I was surprised. George Bush abused substances from alcohol to illegal drugs throughout his early life. Ultimately he admitted his problem, sought help and turned his life around. It is admirable that he was able to straighten his life out, but perhaps not the sort of life experience we need from our President. We were all distracted by Dan Rather’s document scandal related to Bush’s military service, but the truth of the matter Bush had an opportunity to serve and he decided not to show up. Lots of people took the same path, avoiding combat in Vietnam through ferlows and vacations to Canada. Many of these people grew up and realized their mistakes, but again, perhaps this is not the sort of life experience we need from our President. Honor, integrity, duty - these are traits that are UNCOMMON in most people. We should remember that great Presidents are themselves very UNCOMMON people. We don’t remember the party of great presidents like Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan - we remember their UNCOMMON service to our country.
We can’t keep electing exceptionally flawed people to office, regardless of their party and expect a better result. If we elect someone like George Bush we will deserve at least 4 years of disappointment, again.
This brings me to my decision. From my perspective, both McCain and Obama are equally flawed in their political ideas and plans. I could detail my disagreements issue by issue. I could argue that McCain is hardly a Republican. The truth is I wouldn’t vote for either man based on their politics. This fact has frustrated me since it became clear McCain would win the Republican nomination. But, at the end of the day, we live in a two party system and one of these two men will become our next President.
Obama’s message throughout the campaign has been, CHANGE. I believe Obama will stir things up in Washington, but as with McCain I am fairly sure I won’t like his idea of change. McCain’s message of ‘Country First’ didn’t really hit home until I listened to Fred Thompson talk about McCain’s life story. Of course I am 100% certain McCain will stir things up in Washington and again I am sure I won’t like his idea of change either. But, if history is any predictor of future actions I certain that McCain will put ‘Country First’.
The Top of the Ticket:
McCain, time and time again has put his ideas about what is best for American (many of which I don’t agree with) over his own party. Fighting publicly with the Bush administration time and time again. Walking across the aisle to pass legislation that was unpopular with his own party. McCain is against earmarks and is one of the only members of Congress who has NEVER asked for one. As a Republican McCain pisses me off, but as an American I can’t help but be proud of him. This crazy guy took shrapnel and was burned on the flight deck of the Forstall (he was in the plane that was hit on deck)
and could have gone home with his crew, but instead he volunteered on another ship and began flying again only be shot down over Vietnam. Taken prisoner he could have left early ahead of other prisoners, but refused deciding to wait his turn and not accept the ‘favor’ from his captors. McCain is an UNCOMMON man. Measured against him I fall very short as you would expect from someone who might serve as your President.
Obama, on the other hand, seems like more of the same sort of exceptionally flawed people we have been putting in office. His experience, or lack of experience, reminds me of the resume George Bush had prior to taking office. Respectable, but not exceptional. His abuse of substances mirrors that of George Bush in every way except that Obama has the guts to admit his use of illegal drugs like cocaine. Like George Bush Obama was able to overcome his addiction to drugs (he still drinks, I assume moderately) and hasn’t used them since his 20’s. I admire his candor. In 2007 the New York Times ran a poll asking Americans if they would vote for a president who has ever used cocaine - 74% said they wouldn’t. Scripps Howard and Ohio University did another poll direct related to Obama and determined,
Adults in the survey were equally troubled over prospects of a president who tried cocaine in his youth, something Sen. Barack Obama has admitted. Only 34 percent said they think most Americans would accept this while 58 percent said it would not be acceptable.
Maybe the judgment needed to decide whether or not to use illegal drugs at 16, 18, 21 or 25 is just the sort of judgment that makes the difference between a good leader and a bad leader. Are you a bad person if you took illegal drugs in the past? I don’t think so. Are you the sort of person who we should elect to run the mot powerful country on the planet? I don’t think so. Obama’s mistakes are all to common in our country, perhaps we should expect more from our President. Will Obama put country first? I don’t know, I just don’t know. I am sure, as I am with McCain, that I won’t like his politics.
Bottom of the Ticket:
For me Biden is a mixed bag. He has given a lifetime of service to our country. I even agree with almost every political decision he has made as chairman of the Forgien Relations Committee (ironically this committee decided to buy Alaska back in 1867). Politically I suspect I agree more frequently with Biden than McCain; ironic given his party affiliation. On the other hand Biden was well on his way to being President himself in 1988, the same year I helped get Newt Gingrich elected to Congress. He was forced to drop out of the race when his party learned he had plagiarized campaign speeches from a certain British politican. Around that same time it came to light that he had plagiarized large ‘chunks’ of material for law review articles while he attended Syracuse Law. On Sunday I watched Biden on 60 Minutes apologize explaining that this had happened 20 years ago and he had learned his lesson. His candor was VERY refreshing. I think he paid the price for his transgressions, but I still wonder if this is the sort of person we want as President. At some point he had to decide to take the easy or the right route. He took the easy route - maybe we need a leader who is so UNCOMMON that he wouldn’t even consider taking the easy way out.
Now for Palin. I was so pissed when McCain picked her. Literally ruined my whole weekend. That was before I knew anything about her or learned her story. I still don’t know enough, but what I do know is that she has seriously pissed off the Republicans in Alaska, while achieving an approval rating of over 86%. If she was interested in party or politics should ‘play the game’, instead she seems to be taking a ‘State First’ path similar to the path that McCain has set before himself. Again, there is little about Palin’s politics I agree with, but I believe that she is an honorable person willing to put country first. Palin learned her baby had Down Syndrome and instead of terminating the pregnancy as many doctors recommend, she decided to take the hard path, the right path. She didn’t take the easy way out. If she is elected I think she will be the first person from the middle class to be elected in my lifetime. Perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps the rich guys have been in power too long. I am reminded of Al Pacino’s speech in Scent of a Women:
Obama and Biden made choices in their lives and paid for those choices, but perhaps when we go to the poll in November we should vote for the UNCOMMON man. I will be voting against my own political views and for the man who will put country first.
Big in Japan’s GoCart Android Application Wins!
August 28, 2008
I am pleased and proud to announce that Big in Japan Inc. won Google’s Android Developers Challenge with it’s GoCart™ application. Of course, the credit really should go to Rylan Barnes, GoCart’s developer. Here is the release from Google and the post explaining the contest here. GoCart was built specifically for Google’s Android mobile phone platform. GoCart users can easily scan the barcode of any product using their phone’s built-in camera. Once scanned, GoCart will search the inventories of nearby, local stores using data from the phone’s built-in GPS. Soon we will port GoCart to the iPhone and enable mobile payments.
Over the past year the Big in Japan team has become more and more involved with mobile applications. Our initial focus was the iPhone (applications like iPhoneVote), but quickly we began working on Google’s Android mobile phone building a fun application called SocialTones. Recently we decided to reinvent Big in Japan to focus exclusively on the development of mobile applications. GoCart is our first serious mobile application with a real business model behind it. The newly incorporated company has three co-founders (including me):
Rylan Barnes co-founded Big in Japan and is the developer of GoCart™, one of 50 winners of Google’s Android challenge. Rylan started his career at HP where his work on XML-based frameworks was widely acclaimed. Since then he has worked as a software developer for Vertical Alliance and Software Architects working with AJAX, C# and .NET.
Jason Hudgins co-founded Big in Japan and was on the team that developed Tunewiki, one of the 50 winners of Google’s Android Challenge. Jason has spent the last eight years developing software for companies including Idearc Media, DeviantART and Ariesnet.
Alexander Muse co-founded Big in Japan. Alexander is a serial entrepreneur with more than a decade of startup experience. He served as CEO of Architel, a provider of outsourced information technology services. Previously, he was founder and CEO of LayerOne, a ventured backed telecommunications infrastructure company he started in the late 1990’s.
Learn more about GoCart:
Are we in a recession? or Why definitions matter!
July 31, 2008
In the United States, recessions are defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. During my lifetime (at least the part I can recall) there have been two recessions in the United States (81-82, 90-91). Between November 2001 and November 2002 we had two quarters of alternating decline and weak growth and despite the fact that we never had two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth the NBER classifies it as a recession as well, huh? Whether or not we are in a recession shouldn’t be a subjective measure, instead it is a very well defined term - two quarter of consequitve negative GDP growth, period.
Over the last year I have heard the television news repeat over and over that we are in a recession. Almost all members of Congress suggest we are in a recession. Anyone who dares to suggest we may NOT be in a recession is quickly called an idiot and dismissed. To be clear, I am not arguing that we are not in the midst of the perfect storm as it relates to our economy (oil prices, food prices, inflation, falling housing prices, mortgage meltdown, tanking dollar and so on). I am suggesting that we either a) invent a new term for our current situation or b) agree on a new defition of the word recession.
The recession proponents were dealt a severe blow this morning when the Commerce Department reported that GDP increased at an annual rate of 1.9% in the last quarter (April-to-June). This was an improvement over the first quarter of the year that came in at .9% growth. Nope, we are NOT in a recession according to the definition of the word.
Option One: Perhaps we should conduct large scale national polls each quarter asking Americans if they ‘FEEL’ we are in a recession. We could also have a group of super-delegates (i.e. celebrities, economist and politicians) whose votes would could 10,000x of a normal American (i.e. much like the Democratic Primary). The ‘FEELINGS’ of the nation+super delegates would determine the issue and we could put the whole ‘are we in a recession?’ question to rest. Option Two: Or, on the other hand, we could simply agree the economy sucks and only call it a recession once we have had two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Option Three: Keep up the maddening debate we have been having for the last year. What is your vote (let me know if you are a super-delegate so I can multiply your vote)?
Why can’t we find a leader like this. . .
July 30, 2008
The choice between Obama and McCain makes me sick. Too bad we can’t find someone like this to run our country once again:
One good reason to vote against Obama
June 26, 2008
The Supreme court narrowly (5-4) upheld our right to bear arms in a ruling today. As Ben Winograd explained so eloquently, “It doesn’t take a mathematician to recognize the narrow margin in this case. Replace any one of the five justices in the majority with a more liberal appointment - many of whom will be waiting in line if Barack Obama wins the presidency - and the outcome would have flipped. Americans would have lost the individual right to keep and bear arms. For some, this may be a welcome change, but for many of us, it’s the sort of thought that makes the hairs on the back of our necks stand up. Of course, there’s now precedent going forward, which helps. But this litigation is, as discussed above, only the beginning. Thus, the close margin and ideological division of this decision will likely serve as a reminder that, like it or not, whoever occupies the White House for the next four or eight years will, through his appointments, directly impact Second Amendment rights for perhaps the next century. This will no doubt have at least some effect as Americans cast their ballots in November.”
Voting for McCain makes my skin crawl. We (conservatives), held our breath and voted for Bush and instead of supporting conservative values, he increased the size of government, increased federal bureaucracy and with the help of Congress managed to increase our deficit more than Roosevlet and Reagan did (and they were fighting the Nazis and the Soviets). I just can’t do it again. Of course I had no idea how narrow the margin had become in the Supreme Court - five to four to support a right clearly enunciated in the Constitution? The court has no problem upholding the ’separation of church and state concept’, despite the fact that it isn’t in the Constitution. Ben Winograd explains, “In reading Justice Scalia’s opinion, there is an overwhelming theme that to interpret the Second Amendment as not protecting an individual right would gut the amendment of meaning and defy logic. It is, after all, the Second Amendment, not the two hundredth. This is not an obscure line buried among thousands of pages of text. It is inconceivable that the framers would have given it the priority they did, placing it ahead of so many other critical rights, if they only meant it to apply to militias as the dissenting justices suggest.”
I think the Constitution is important and we need to figure out a way to seat a court that believes in it as much as the founders did. Obama has unequivolcaly indicated he does not support the second amendment and his likely court appointments won’t either. I sure wish I had someone I could vote for, instead of someone to vote against…
Help me draft the Hulk for the Marine Corps
June 25, 2008
UPDATE: I talked to the guys at Marvel and they have agreed to donate TWO Incredible Hulk statues to ship to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (depending on where the Marines/Army wants them). Ask and ye shall receive… Thanks for all your notes and calls. Definitely touch base with Chris if you want to make a direct contribution to his organization Heroes 4 Heroes. Thanks!!!
Yesterday I mentioned that I was able to purchase (via auction) one of the HUGE Incredible Hulk statues you may have seen in major movie theaters. Chris McCoskey commented,
“I have been trying to get one of these for my charity (www.heroes4heroes.org) for months! I can’t believe you won. If your wife hates it and you want to donate to a good cause we would be happen to take it…then auction it for money to ship our packets to soldiers serving in harms way :-)”
I responded that I might be able to get a second one (they cost around $3100) and that I would be willing to ‘donate’ a third of the cost if we could find two other people willing to contribute. I asked Chris to tell me more about his organization and he responded via email,
Heroes4Heroes is an organization I started that sends portable entertainment media to our troops stationed overseas. For the most part we have been sending comic books and DVD’s, but we have sent books and video games too. This year we have shipped over 2,000 packets and we plan on doing another big shipment soon. We put on a live art show every year as our main fundraiser. Check out the website www.heroes4heroes.org for some of the great pictures from soldiers who have gotten our packets, see Gen. Petraeus’s executive staff delivering our packets and even read a letter Gen. Petraeus sent us. I would love your help with the Hulk statue.
Chris is a good guy so I contacted the PR rep I worked with at Marvel to get the original statue and have asked him if he could get Marvel to contribute of the statues (only 200 were made). In the meantime I was hoping I could find a couple of you with deep pockets to agree to go in on simply buying on outright (for the $3100 price). I am in for $1000 so all I need is two of you to contribute the same. What do you say? Will you help me draft the Hulk for service?
Not that it matters, but. . .
June 21, 2008
McCain is making me cringe. Not satisified with simply losing, he is working hard to commit political suicide, read more here.
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