A Stimulating Proposition

From Captain Capitalist
Suppose you're a municipality searching for ways to encourage and enable small business success in your community. What type of incentives should you provide? To whom should you offer them? You can't answer these questions without an understanding of the role of the small business in the economy.

First of all, you have to understand what makes a market. Transactions take place when I have something that is of more value to you than it is to me. For example, I have a marble handled widget polisher. In my opinion it's worth $1.80. In your eyes it's worth $2.20. I offer it at $2.00. A transaction takes place. Difference of opinion in regard to value is what makes a market.

Second you need to understand what types of businesses are necessary for the local economy and how you go about determining "what we need". Too often this is done in meetings or even public forums. Neither of which is more efficient than the market. It has been conventional wisdom that for a business to thrive, it must grow. However, as Doug Tatum points out in his book "No Man's Land", not all business models are conducive to growth. Some work better on a small scale. Indeed there are a number of businesses that have existed for decades that never have had more than a couple of people working them. Are they not valuable? How do you know? The fact that someone is making a living doing something is evidence in and of itself that the activity has value to the community. You cast a vote every time you buy something. You're saying "I like that" "Keep doing it".

Third you must look at how the small business fits into the overall economy. Large businesses need small businesses. Even big call centers need their carpets cleaned, their windows washed, they need phone techs, somewhere for people to eat lunch, office supplies and a host of other support products and services. These things cannot always be efficiently provided by other large businesses. In addition, the small business market offers a place for employees of large business to go when they decide it's time for something new. The typical large business has a few great paying jobs and a lot of not so great paying jobs. The supply of opportunity does not meet the demand. The small business market provides a venue for new ideas and innovation that may not fit the bill for the company someone is currently working for. The economy is not a big business vs. small business proposition. They work in tandem.

How can government help? Primarily by understanding and being aware of the principals above. Let's look at the marble handled widget transaction again. Suppose I were required to collect a sales tax, have a pre-sale safety inspection and file a widget sales registration for a fee. Now the price of the widget has increased by 50 cents, the "cost of commerce". Remember in my mind the widget was worth $1.80. For the transaction to make sense from my end I have to get more than $2.30 for it. But, in your mind the widget is only worth $2.20. You'd have to get it for less than $2.20 for the transaction to make sense to you. The transaction doesn't take place. The cost of commerce has squelched it. It is an obstacle to the free market. Governments interested in promoting commerce should focus on minimizing the cost of commerce.

Which businesses should be helped? All of them, and equally so. As explained in point two, the free choices of free individuals will determine which products and services are needed or wanted. The role of government in this dynamic should be limited to restricting products and services that are for some reason undesirable to the community. All legal entities should be equally enabled in the marketplace. No one needs a gaurantee of success. Only the opportunity to put forth their ideas on a fair playing field.

Finally, all decisions on creating a thriving market environment should start with the premise that every business is valuable. A business that employs one person is of great value to that person. If the market deems them unworthy, they will fail. You don't have to push them out or encourage them to take on a growth strategy that doesn't make sense for their business model.

In the short term it is politically tempting to tamper with the mechanics of the free market. After all, if a policy is implemented with your name on it and it leads to some measure of success, it can greatly further your career and your stature. However, the market doesn't respond well to tampering in the long term. One of the best things a municipal govenment can do to stimulate creativity and energy in the local marketplace is to understand and trust the free market and occasionally send a message to participants: "Thanks for participating. We're glad you're here. Keep up the good work." Then, just let the market do its thing.

Fighting Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan

From The Pundit Master

Even as NATO proposes troop drawdowns in three years as the Afghan army gains strength, they know they may be leaving behind a major problem in establishing order and stability in the region. Afghanistan produces 93% of the worlds opium. Efforts to erradicate the poppy production have utterly failed.

As illustrated in the book Freakonomics, it's always helpful to approach these types of problems by looking at incentives. Why do so many Afghans risk the wrath of authorities to continue to produce poppy seeds? That's an easy one: money. The solution: money. Not a hand-out, a switch-out. New technologies have made a vast variety of agricultural products suitable for producing fuel. Amyris Biotechnologies has developed genetic engineering techniques that allow microbes to convert plant products into a number of commodities, including fuel.

NATO should consider appropriating funds to research the optimum agricultural product to commodity formula for the terrain currently being used for poppy production. It doesn't have to pay as well as the opium trade. Just enough to make the risk/reward ratio for poppy growing much less attractive.

Such technologies are already transforming Brazil into an alternative fuels powerhouse. When you factor in the cost of fighting poppy production by force alone, helping the locals get rich from other crops could be a real money saver as well as a path to peace. Who knows, Amyris may even come up with a way to turn poppy plants into fuel, or medicine or something much more productive than opium.

Assumptions and blessings

From: The Boys: Raising Identical Twins
By TwinsMom
As a journalist, one of the first lessons I learned was never to make assumptions.
Don't assume that all siblings share the same last name. Don't assume that beer bottles in a car mean the driver was drinking. Don't assume that you can even begin to comprehend someone else's pain.
It is a lesson I have tried to apply to my personal life as well.
So when a woman I had become casual friends with through my oldest son began to drift away, I assumed nothing. We were not very close. Our children are in different classes now. She had taken a part-time job.
I tried not to assume that it was personal.
I learned yesterday that it was.
Her daughter and mine are in the same class this year and have become friends. They insisted on a playdate and it finally happened yesterday. I noticed that the mom watched the twins play when she dropped her daughter off and seemed interested in them, even drawn to them. But she kept her distance.
Soon after she left, her daughter told me that her older brother was a twin, but that his twin had died before birth.
When the woman returned to retrieve her daughter, I apologized for my ignorance and for any insensitivity I might have displayed during my pregnancy and after. I offered my condolences, unsure whether I was doing or saying the right thing. But relief seemed to wash over her.
And she talked.
She talked about learning that her son had died inside her body at 20 weeks. She talked about the doctors removing the baby and the sac, careful not to touch the surviving baby. She talked about seven long weeks in the hospital on full bed rest and the 1-pound, 12-ounce baby who struggled so hard to survive.
She talked about how blessed and grateful they are that the tiny little baby did survive and that he has no problems resulting from his prematurity. She talked about medical miracles and her familiarty with the NICU.
She did not talk about the pain of her loss or the pain that I now recognize on her face as she watches my boys play.
This time, I decided, it was safe to make an assumption: she is strong in a way that I am not sure I could ever be. I meet people like her around every corner, people who have lost children. And every day, I think of them. I think of them when the frustration mounts. When the twins are crying, the older kids won't do their homework, dinner is burning, the laundry is piling up, I have no time to write and I've barely slept for days.
I am reminded that I have four healthy children, a wonderful husband and a stepdaughter who loves us all. I might have frustrations, but I do not carry that sorrow in my heart that she will have forever. I do not have to be so strong.
Life is good.
I can handle it.

Clinton Rezko Photo

From The Pundit Master

At Monday night's SC debate Hillary chided Barak Obama for having defended the "slumlord Rezko". Rezko has supported Obama's campaign and is now facing a number of criminal charges. Obama has returned about 40K in funds donated by the man.

Today a picture surfaced of Mr. Rezko's smiling face between Bill and Hillary Clinton in what looks to be one of the photos you get to take after making a big contribution or attending a $5,000 a plate hot dog roast. Good stuff.

It's amusing because those of us who remember Bill's reign know they took money from anyone and everyone. They had the best fundraisers in the business. The Clintons don't ask questions. They just deposit checks. What's also amusing is that anyone who thinks this kind of thing will torpedo the Clinton campaign will be severely disappointed.

The Clintons enjoy a strong core of support and run an election winning machine that wouldn't care if a picture surfaced of Bill and Hillary holding dripping bloody knives along with Charles Manson. The only way you beat the Clintons is to turn out more of your voters than they can turn out of theirs. That's not an easy task, as their voters often include people who don't exist or who died decades ago. If you get caught up in attacking the Clintons instead of selling your game plan to your people, you'll be singing the blues on election day.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that the Clinton campaign leaked this photo.

Can't Get No Satisfaction?

By Gene Pinder

Keep a person satisfied in his or her job and it will result in superior job performance. At least that's been the prevailing wisdom.

But now a researcher says it doesn't quite work that way. Nathan Bowling, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Wright State, says that his research shows that satisfaction does not cause performance. Instead, he says that employee personality characteristics, such as self-esteem, emotional stability, extroversion and conscientiousness determine it.

According to Bowling, the studies show that employees who have an overall negative attitude to all things in life likely won't find job satisfaction, regardless of performance, because of their personality characteristics.

"Emotional stability matters a lot," Bowling said. "People who are neurotic, those who tend to be anxious, depressed, regardless of the situation, typically won't find satisfaction no matter how many jobs they try."

What are the implications of his work?

Bowling says that workplace interventions designed to improve performance by exclusively targeting employee satisfaction are unlikely to be effective. He also suggests that the studies show that intelligence is one of the things that drives the performance. Another common denominator of solid performing employees, according to Bowling, are those who exhibit a high level of conscientiousness - those who are detail-oriented, hard workers and who set goals.

What are the implications of this research? Managers and business owners may want to pay more careful attention to the personality of the people they hire. If the goal is to find, hire and keep people who will be productive, then the research strongly suggests that on-the-job satisfaction is far less dependent on all of the "goodies" and more dependent on one's positive attitude and personality they bring to the job.

Gene Pinder is the assistant director of an executive master's program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also the author of The Psychology of Satisfaction and Happiness, a blog focusing on the current science and research of well-being. A journalist and marketer by training, Gene is also an artist of original oils and acrylic paintings.

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Brittany Spears Solution - The "CelebriBuddy"

From The Pundit Master

The continued fascination with the antics of Brittany Spears, Lindey Lohan and others is tragic, pathetic and shameful. Young people often go through wild stages, but they usually grow out of it. What's different about celebrities? Most of us have someone around to tell us when we're doing, or are about to do something stupid. Your wife, co-worker, friend or acquaintace might tell you "Hey, put that cigarette out while your pumping gas." or "Hey, don't put your kid on your lap when you're driving".

Many celebrities are surrounded by people who are so afraid of being kept out of the loop, they wont point out the dumb things you do. In fact, most of the "hangers on" are waiting for you to do something outrageous so they can get and sell the picture or the story. They may give you a ride home afterwards, but they wont stop you. The solution? The CelebriBuddy. Celebrities could hire a professional "nag". Someone who's job is to travel with you and point out when your behavior is inappropriate, dangerous or just plain dumb. This is not the same as a "handler" in that a handler normally is concerned with your public image.

A CelebriBuddy would be primarily concerned with your personal growth and welfare. This would also not be a therapist, just someone with common sense and discipline. The employment contract would have to include a clause that states the CelebriBuddy can not profit from public exploitation of the relationship. No books, blogs, TV interviews and such for a specified time period during and after their employment. The CelebriBuddy is not to become a Celebrity.

The toughest part would be convincing the celebrity that the people around them are not their friends and that they need to hire one. They may see this as degrading and sad, but it's reality.

If the managers, parents, friends and family of these celebrity basket cases really want to help them, they need to either treat them like normal human beings or hire someone who can.

Accessories and Equipment - How To Select A Web Camera

By Andrew Stratton

There is no doubt that many people who have considered purchasing a web camera have been put off by the fact that the picture results were not smooth and free flowing, but instead were jumpy and were annoying to watch because of frequent stops while another batch of pixels forms on the screen. For those people who have switched to digital cameras and security cameras that monitor what is going on in your home or office, you may want to take another look at a web camera. The broadband capabilities of most internet providers today means that the streaming video actually streams without the jerks and hesitations that used to be so evident in the past.

This means that a web camera may actually make good sense to serve as a security camera in either the home or the office. When you are comparing and contrasting various web cameras to determine which ones make the best selection for home or office security, the first thing you should consider is the frames per second that the camera comes with. Of course, you will want to look for the highest resolution and the highest fidelity possible as well.

The next things to review when selecting a web camera are the lens types and the focus controls so that the visibility of the images will be crystal clear. Check the characteristics in various lighting conditions if you want to get the best possible results in real life situations. You should be aware of the different levels of sophistication when it comes to adjusting focus and lens speed as that can greatly affect the quality of the images.

When you are choosing a web camera, the next item to consider is where the camera will be mounted and how large it must be in order to accomplish what is expected of it. Most web cameras will be mounted on top of the monitor, but not all web cameras can rotate both vertically and horizontally. The greatest flexibility will be gained with the maximum camera movement.

You should be sure that all the needed software to run the camera is included with the equipment. In some cases extra software is bundled with the operating software. Whether it is operating software, or other extra software not only the quality and the price should be taken into consideration, but whether it is something that is of any use for you. Another feature to compare when selecting a web camera is the manufacturer's warranty. A typical warranty will last for one year.

In addition to all of the above you should look for the extras which add value to the camera. A zoom or telephoto lens allows you to zero in on details when recording images. The ability to capture video stills can be helpful and a microphone that is built in helps the sound quality.

Reviewing the checklist above will help you to make the best possible selection of a web camera that will meet your needs.

All spy camera accessories and equipment information can be found in http://www.surveillancetechnology.com with details. Visit; http://www.surveillancetechnology.com/security-camera-accessory.htm

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