Wow, long time no post. Been workin my tail off on QuickPix (an iphone app), which you can learn more about here.
In any case, I had to take a moment to talk about college in this country. It's driving me nuts.
First, as a culture, we strongly encourage, even coerce, nearly every high school graduate in America to run off and attend college immediately after high school. For many, this means moving out of the house, amassing large student and consumer debt, and becoming somehow "educated" by the academic machinery of America. Lessons include: binge drinking, drug use, promiscuity, athletics and a few classes sprinkled in between for good measure (and to justify the price of admission).
In these times, few college graduates are able to find jobs. It's no wonder. The jobs that most grads are qualified for range from frat party coordinator to entry-level drug dealer all the way up to professional alcoholic and surf bum. There are exceptions, of course, there always are. . . .
To top it all off, upon leaving college many students are left with tens of thousands of dollars in debt with no means to repay. Even if they DO get a job - a GOOD job - right out of the gate they start on the American treadmill of life: Go to work to repay a bank loan (or 6). Don't forget you'll need a new car to get to that job, and we know just the bank to loan you the money!
College is a good investment in your future. Just ask the banks (with their record profits) and the Universities (with their skyrocketing revenues and double-digit annual increases). College grads make more money than non-grads. Look at the research!
So who does the research? The same people doing virtually all of the research in this country - the Universities. Enlightened self-interest? You be the judge.
The most valuable lesson to be taught in this country is fiscal responsibility. Millions are made by the likes of Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, Robert Kiyosaki and countless other financial geniuses (no offense - I've read them all). Their message is overwhelmingly the same: That all debt is bad and that to be free, one must cast off the shackles of debt.
So what do we teach our kids? At age 18, we show them the enlightened path that we know best as a country: Borrow money you don't have to invest in something that you can't afford the risk of investing in. We do it with everything - real estate, transportation, stocks, bonds, options, and now "education". It's the American Way. Might as well get started as soon as possible.
30 years later, with a mountain of debt, "investments" tied up in inaccessible or prohibitively expensive accounts (IRA/401k), and virtually no asset base, we, as adults, turn to the financial experts. What do we want to know? How we can get get OUT from under the debt we've accumulated and not work until the day we die. We call it "retirement", and less and less of us have any real hope of getting there anytime soon.
What are we teaching our kids by saddling them with debt before they even get their first job? Our culture of debt-financing and unrealistic expectations are a major contributor to so many of our cultural problems. It nearly defines the difference between rich and poor, income disparity, the drain on our public treasury. If the good, hard-working people of this country could stop buying shit they can't afford with money they don't have, perhaps they would save a buck or two, or even invest in income-producing assets over the course of their working lives. Such a thing could lead to the unthinkable: reduced reliance on government-mismanaged systems like Social Security, Medicare, & Medicaid.
The good news is that we're all on the same page. The government does it, most Americans do it, and we teach it to our kids. That many people just can't be wrong . . . can they?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Reviewers Love QuickCam Before it Hits the App Store
Over the past week, we were able to get several influential reviewers to beta test QuickCam. I must say the response has been overwhelming. This is a tough crowd, not at all shy about telling app developers what they really think about the app. We're so excited about the responses, that I thought I'd share a few of them here, even though we're still waiting on Apple to approve the app. At this point, I can't share the names or websites of the reviewers, but the response has been incredibly positive. Here are a few quotes from the feedback we have received so far:
Stay tuned for more updates. We've still got more reviewers looking and approval should come any day now.
Cheers!
"the camera speed is definitely quicker, it's replaced my default camera app"
"it's replaced my default camera"
"It's fast. It really is."
"have to say, I'm impressed with the apps speed"
"it's quite fast. you should think about licensing this out to other photo apps"
"Cool app :)"
And our personal favorite:
"seems to work pretty good for me – I like the feature of being able to take snapshots while filming video. This is going to take my porndirector career to the next level."
I can't wait to announce general availability in the app store, but the Apple Gods have determined that we're going to have to wait a little longer.Stay tuned for more updates. We've still got more reviewers looking and approval should come any day now.
Cheers!
Monday, March 7, 2011
New iPhone App Coming Soon - QuickCam
A friend and I have been working on a kickass new app for your iPhone since January. It's about the hit the App Store and change the way you take photos and video on your iPhone forever.
QuickCam is the app, and like the name suggests, this thing is fast.
Instead of waiting 3 seconds for the stock camera to launch, QuickCam fires up in less than a second on the iPhone 4. Faster on the iPod Touch.
No more waiting to switch to "video" or "photo" mode either. Buttons are right at your fingertips to start up a video or take a photo with a single tap.
Oh, and the really fun part - you don't have to stop taking a video to snap a photo. That's right, for the first time ever, you can take photos and video at the same time.
All this and a few other hidden gems make QuickCam the perfect replacement for your stock camera. I mean really, faster is always better.
We're currently looking for reviewers, bloggers and podcasters to test out the beta. Be among the first to see QuickCam in action.
QuickCam is the app, and like the name suggests, this thing is fast.
Instead of waiting 3 seconds for the stock camera to launch, QuickCam fires up in less than a second on the iPhone 4. Faster on the iPod Touch.
No more waiting to switch to "video" or "photo" mode either. Buttons are right at your fingertips to start up a video or take a photo with a single tap.
Hold down the photo button for the fastest full-resolution rapid-fire camera available for iOS. Instantly take 2.5 full-size photos per second at the touch of a button with QuickCam
Oh, and the really fun part - you don't have to stop taking a video to snap a photo. That's right, for the first time ever, you can take photos and video at the same time.
All this and a few other hidden gems make QuickCam the perfect replacement for your stock camera. I mean really, faster is always better.
We're currently looking for reviewers, bloggers and podcasters to test out the beta. Be among the first to see QuickCam in action.
Monday, February 28, 2011
History I Missed in School - US Confiscates Gold from its People
Ok, I have the right to be random, it's my blog.
Anyway, I got a history lesson tonight that blew my mind. Took me quite a while to verify this with many sources, but all accounts point to the unthinkable.
In 1933, during the great depression, our government decided it was in the "public interest" to confiscate all of the privately-held gold of US citizens in exchange for paper dollars. Immediately after paying out $20.65 per ounce of gold to the people, the government arbitrarily changed the value of gold to $35 /oz. This resulted in the immediate asset devaluation of 40% to the people - and a 40% profit to the government.
Oh, forgot to mention that this came after FDR shut down the banks and forbade them from honoring their commitments to their depositors. FDR ordered that the banks cease redeeming dollars for gold because of this "national emergency". So, it goes like this:
Banks: you can't give out any more gold to the people you owe it to.
People: give us all your gold - or else.
Slight pause . . . . .
Oh, sorry, gold is worth a lot more now, too bad you don't have any. And those paper dollars we forced you to trade your gold for? They're worth a lot less. Now run along now and spend your paper.
Talk about a raw deal. I turn in my gold for your dollars, and you turn around and arbitrarily set the value of those dollars to 60% of what they were worth when we made the trade -- overnight!
I could not believe that the US government would so damage its citizens in one fell swoop. The truth is that it did happen, exactly as described, by executive order 6102. Issued by Franklin D Roosevelt, this illegal, unprecedented violation of the personal property rights of the citizens illustrates the grim reality that our government will stop at nothing to preserve itself in an "emergency". Subsequent executive orders modified the confiscation provisions, however they retained the general premises that owning gold was not permitted, and acquiring gold was something only the Federal Reserve was authorized to do.
It remained illegal for private citizens to own gold in any significant quantity until 1974. Yes, 40 years later. You would think that gold is a drug in this country the way it is so actively controlled and guarded by the economic powers that be.
We are on a perilous path. Our dollars are worth nothing physical or tangible. The value of the dollar is actively manipulated by a small handful of academics in a board room (Federal Reserve). The debt is staggering. Soon will come the day when the US is not able to meet its financial obligations to the countries around the world who are lending us trillions of dollars to fund our excess. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you can't spend more than you make every year and never have to face the music.
When (not if) the dollar faces total collapse due to our inability to fund the debt and entitlements our government has promised, there will be little of real value other than gold. Just don't let the government find out you have it. If they want it, they obviously are willing to take it from you.
People need to wake up in this country. We need to teach our kids the real lessons of history, how governments throughout history have mistreated the public, mishandled the economy and driven the people into unimaginable debt. Stop pretending that it can't happen again.
Anyway, I got a history lesson tonight that blew my mind. Took me quite a while to verify this with many sources, but all accounts point to the unthinkable.
In 1933, during the great depression, our government decided it was in the "public interest" to confiscate all of the privately-held gold of US citizens in exchange for paper dollars. Immediately after paying out $20.65 per ounce of gold to the people, the government arbitrarily changed the value of gold to $35 /oz. This resulted in the immediate asset devaluation of 40% to the people - and a 40% profit to the government.
Oh, forgot to mention that this came after FDR shut down the banks and forbade them from honoring their commitments to their depositors. FDR ordered that the banks cease redeeming dollars for gold because of this "national emergency". So, it goes like this:
Banks: you can't give out any more gold to the people you owe it to.
People: give us all your gold - or else.
Slight pause . . . . .
Oh, sorry, gold is worth a lot more now, too bad you don't have any. And those paper dollars we forced you to trade your gold for? They're worth a lot less. Now run along now and spend your paper.
Talk about a raw deal. I turn in my gold for your dollars, and you turn around and arbitrarily set the value of those dollars to 60% of what they were worth when we made the trade -- overnight!
An interesting aside - Gold is currently trading around $1,400 USD per ounce. In 1933, it was bought by the government from the people at $20.65 per ounce. That is a simple annualized rate of return in excess of 84% over the past 80 years, or a cumulative ROI of more than 6,500%. Too bad home values didn't go up 84% per year for the past 80 years, eh? Coincidence?
I could not believe that the US government would so damage its citizens in one fell swoop. The truth is that it did happen, exactly as described, by executive order 6102. Issued by Franklin D Roosevelt, this illegal, unprecedented violation of the personal property rights of the citizens illustrates the grim reality that our government will stop at nothing to preserve itself in an "emergency". Subsequent executive orders modified the confiscation provisions, however they retained the general premises that owning gold was not permitted, and acquiring gold was something only the Federal Reserve was authorized to do.
It remained illegal for private citizens to own gold in any significant quantity until 1974. Yes, 40 years later. You would think that gold is a drug in this country the way it is so actively controlled and guarded by the economic powers that be.
We are on a perilous path. Our dollars are worth nothing physical or tangible. The value of the dollar is actively manipulated by a small handful of academics in a board room (Federal Reserve). The debt is staggering. Soon will come the day when the US is not able to meet its financial obligations to the countries around the world who are lending us trillions of dollars to fund our excess. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you can't spend more than you make every year and never have to face the music.
When (not if) the dollar faces total collapse due to our inability to fund the debt and entitlements our government has promised, there will be little of real value other than gold. Just don't let the government find out you have it. If they want it, they obviously are willing to take it from you.
People need to wake up in this country. We need to teach our kids the real lessons of history, how governments throughout history have mistreated the public, mishandled the economy and driven the people into unimaginable debt. Stop pretending that it can't happen again.
Friday, February 25, 2011
David Letterman is an Idiot
How did I get on this economics kick?
Anyway, David Letterman had Senator Rand Paul on the program last night. Other than being outright rude, condescending and dismissive, Dave said some things that were outright moronic.
I was appalled.
Firing off comments like "Those numbers just don't seem right to me". Well, Dave, they don't seem right to me either, but they are facts. Just because you don't like the facts doesn't mean they can be dismissed out of hand with an "I don't know why, but they just don't seem right" remark. Yes, Dave, it is true that the top 1% of taxpayers pay nearly 1/2 (actually between 38 and 40% from 2006-2008) of all of the income taxes received by the treasury.
Oh, another funny number that doesn't seem right. 32% of tax filers had zero income tax liability in 2006. But I digress.
Nobody likes the idea of cutting federal spending if it means laying off teachers, firefighters, police or other middle-class public employees. Let's face it, though, the United States can only afford about 1/2 of what it spends annually. The proposed 2011 budget is $3.69 trillion in spending with a projected deficit (difference between income and expense) of $1.65 trillion. That's exactly like spending $37,000 per year on a salary of $16,500. How long can this possibly last?
Dave's solution is a popular one - tax the rich. I mean, they don't need the money anyway.
For reference, the top 1% of income earners includes those with an annual household income greater than about $380,000 (2008).
So the top 1%, paying roughly 40% of all income tax collected breaks down like this:
Total income tax collected by the Treasury: 1.455 Trillion
40% of total income tax collected: $582 billion
Total households in America: ~115 million
1% of households in america: ~1.15 million
So, on average, a top 1% household currently pays $582b / 1.15m, or $506,086 dollars in federal income tax.
Seems fair.
So now, on to Dave's solution - fill the budget deficit by taxing the rich.
Total deficit: $1.65 Trillion (1,650 billion)
1% of households: 1.15 Million (0.00115 billion)
Additional taxes paid by the wealthiest 1% annually to fill the deficit per household: $1,434,782.
Add that to the $506,086 they already pay on average for an annual tax liability of $1.94 million.
Simple. If you make over $380,000, we quadruple your average income tax liability. Of course, there is also Social Security, Medicare, and State tax you also need to pay. We can probably leave those alone though, until we recognize that they are insolvent. With this simple quadrupling of the income tax on the richest 1% of Americans, we can afford to pay for our government - this year.
I wonder how many jobs this new tax policy will create. . .
Don't get me wrong, I'm a long way from being in the top 1%, and I don't think it's time to cut taxes on the rich. The point here is that the hole in the budget is just too large to fill by taxing the rich. We need to address the issue from both sides - revenue (taxes) and spending. The problem is too big to tackle from either side alone. Just as many businesses and households have had to adjust to their own financial crises, our government needs to do the same. Cut spending & increase income. It's the only way out.
Even if we can solve the giant financial hole in our annual spending, that doesn't even begin to start reducing into our national debt, which is approaching $18 Trillion. This amounts to about $90,000 per household in America. The only larger debt most Americans will ever know is their mortgage - but that is the subject of another post.
If you believe in the philosophy that the debtor is servant to the creditor (as I very much do), you will be happy to know that at least 25% of our national debt is owned by foreign countries.
Chief among our creditors are: China, Japan, the UK and Oil Exporting countries (Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Ecuador, Indonesia, Algeria, Gabon, and Nigeria).
Sweet dreams!
Anyway, David Letterman had Senator Rand Paul on the program last night. Other than being outright rude, condescending and dismissive, Dave said some things that were outright moronic.
I was appalled.
Firing off comments like "Those numbers just don't seem right to me". Well, Dave, they don't seem right to me either, but they are facts. Just because you don't like the facts doesn't mean they can be dismissed out of hand with an "I don't know why, but they just don't seem right" remark. Yes, Dave, it is true that the top 1% of taxpayers pay nearly 1/2 (actually between 38 and 40% from 2006-2008) of all of the income taxes received by the treasury.
Oh, another funny number that doesn't seem right. 32% of tax filers had zero income tax liability in 2006. But I digress.
Nobody likes the idea of cutting federal spending if it means laying off teachers, firefighters, police or other middle-class public employees. Let's face it, though, the United States can only afford about 1/2 of what it spends annually. The proposed 2011 budget is $3.69 trillion in spending with a projected deficit (difference between income and expense) of $1.65 trillion. That's exactly like spending $37,000 per year on a salary of $16,500. How long can this possibly last?
This is not political, it's simple economics. Budgeting 101. The stuff you should know as a prerequisite for graduating high school. You can't borrow your way to prosperity. Even Carlton Sheets should know that at this point, after the housing bubble collapsed.
Dave's solution is a popular one - tax the rich. I mean, they don't need the money anyway.
For reference, the top 1% of income earners includes those with an annual household income greater than about $380,000 (2008).
So the top 1%, paying roughly 40% of all income tax collected breaks down like this:
Total income tax collected by the Treasury: 1.455 Trillion
40% of total income tax collected: $582 billion
Total households in America: ~115 million
1% of households in america: ~1.15 million
So, on average, a top 1% household currently pays $582b / 1.15m, or $506,086 dollars in federal income tax.
Seems fair.
So now, on to Dave's solution - fill the budget deficit by taxing the rich.
Total deficit: $1.65 Trillion (1,650 billion)
1% of households: 1.15 Million (0.00115 billion)
Additional taxes paid by the wealthiest 1% annually to fill the deficit per household: $1,434,782.
Add that to the $506,086 they already pay on average for an annual tax liability of $1.94 million.
Simple. If you make over $380,000, we quadruple your average income tax liability. Of course, there is also Social Security, Medicare, and State tax you also need to pay. We can probably leave those alone though, until we recognize that they are insolvent. With this simple quadrupling of the income tax on the richest 1% of Americans, we can afford to pay for our government - this year.
I wonder how many jobs this new tax policy will create. . .
Don't get me wrong, I'm a long way from being in the top 1%, and I don't think it's time to cut taxes on the rich. The point here is that the hole in the budget is just too large to fill by taxing the rich. We need to address the issue from both sides - revenue (taxes) and spending. The problem is too big to tackle from either side alone. Just as many businesses and households have had to adjust to their own financial crises, our government needs to do the same. Cut spending & increase income. It's the only way out.
Even if we can solve the giant financial hole in our annual spending, that doesn't even begin to start reducing into our national debt, which is approaching $18 Trillion. This amounts to about $90,000 per household in America. The only larger debt most Americans will ever know is their mortgage - but that is the subject of another post.
If you believe in the philosophy that the debtor is servant to the creditor (as I very much do), you will be happy to know that at least 25% of our national debt is owned by foreign countries.
Chief among our creditors are: China, Japan, the UK and Oil Exporting countries (Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Ecuador, Indonesia, Algeria, Gabon, and Nigeria).
Sweet dreams!
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