Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Seeing Through the Economic ‘Message’

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It should surprise nobody that sitting presidents—even those like George W. Bush (R) who publicly deny paying attention to polls—commission polls all the time. Barack Obama (D) is no exception.

There’s nothing wrong with conducting polls, since they can provide valuable insight into how policies and programs are being received by the American people. We must be wary though of politicians using polls for ‘message testing’ to determine the most friendly, acceptable way of communicating a policy. Polls should help politicians to know what their constituents think about the issues of the day, but should not be used to craft a message least likely to be scrutinized and criticized by ‘we the people’.

You see this use of message testing in the continual evolution of economic policy spin. First the government was executing a ‘bailout,’ then a ‘stimulus,’ then a ‘reinvestment’ or ‘recovery.’ They’re all the same, but the last two have been found least likely to rile us up and have become the current words used by the president for the same dangerous economic policies.

Politicians will spin, whatever party or policy they support. Fair enough. We need to be smart enough to see through it. Whether you call it ‘bailout,’ ‘stimulus,’ ‘reinvestment,’ ‘recovery plan,’ or something else, the underlying plan remains equally misguided. Obama—like Presidents Bill Clinton (D), Ronald Reagan (R), and others—has a wonderful way with words, but that’s no reason to let him run roughshod over sound, free market principles.

April Fools Site: Ad-Laden and Obnoxious

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On April Fools Day 2009, Off on a Tangent appeared covered in annoying, obnoxious banner ads. The site carried the following announcement:

New Advertising Policy

As most of you know, I have long had a policy of placing some limited advertising on my site in an effort to cover its operation costs. Unfortunately, this has not covered those costs and Off on a Tangent has operated at a loss throughout its entire existence.

In an effort to reduce my expenses in these tough economic times, I cannot continue to operate this web site at a loss. As such, I’m adjusting my advertising a bit in hopes that the site will start bringing in enough cash to at least pay for its own annual hosting. If not, I may end up having to shut down (unless the government is willing to offer me a bailout!).

Thanks for your support and patience. Please let me know if you find the new advertisements to be too distracting!

Click to see how it all looked.

In Tough Times, Americans Hoarding Starbucks Coffee

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In these tough economic times, one business is doing extraordinarily well: Starbucks.

The premium coffee shop, known for charging more than $3 for a simple cup of coffee, has found itself struggling to keep pace with drastically increased demand as more and more Americans resort to hoarding the hard-to-find drinks. While the company insists it has the means to keep up with demand, many local Starbucks are reporting shortages of their most popular drinks and some customers are being sent away empty handed.

“I have a gun safe at home, and I’ve moved all the rifles and handguns to the closet so I have room in there for Caffe Mochas and Caramel Macchiatos,” said Keith Robinson, a local real estate agent. “I want to make sure I have all the Starbucks coffees I need if things go bad, and they’re getting hard to find.”

Much of the recent fear stems from comments by members of the United States Board of Directors indicating that premium coffee rights may be limited over the coming months and years. The United States of America, which announced this morning it had been acquired by Chinese computer-maker Lenovo, has a very high coffee abuse rate, and some company officials have indicated their support for coffee control measures like prohibitions on high-caffeine drinks, six-hour purchase waiting periods, and more.

Robinson says he isn’t taking any chances. “If these limits take effect, well, we might just have a revolution on our hands. And if that day comes, I’m going to be wired.”

Lenovo Acquires the United States of America

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The United States of America, a privately-owned financial services, insurance, and automotive company, has been acquired by Chinese computer-maker Lenovo. Barack Obama, president and CEO of the United States, has hailed the acquisition as a new beginning for the 233-year-old USA.

The United States began life in 1776 as a democratic republic, hailed around the world for its new and innovative political system which was intended to derive its just powers from its citizens. After a turbulent 232 years, the United States acquired several banking, insurance, and automotive companies in 2008 and reorganized as a private business. Then-CEO George W. Bush, after initiating the privatization of the U.S. government, ceded authority to Barack Obama in the country’s final free election under the previous charter (‘Constitution’).

The U.S. Board of Directors, formerly known as ‘Congress’, agreed to sell the business to Lenovo after contentious debate when it became clear that their core businesses—banking, finance, and automobiles—were unsustainable without major foreign investment.

Lenovo officials were unavailable for comment.

Goodbye, Microsoft Encarta

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I’m generally no fan of Microsoft or its products, but I have to admit I have fond memories of the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia program and was unexpectedly saddened to hear that it is being discontinued. In the days before the Internet was as useful as it is today, Encarta—housed on compact disks—was a huge improvement over bound, physical encyclopedias (and quite a bit cheaper too). It was wonderful to be able to bring up long, informative articles about nearly any subject in seconds on your computer.

Of course, we take this kind of thing for granted now. Wikipedia has become a ubiquitous source of more information than Encarta could ever have pretended to provide. Microsoft tried to make Encarta relevant by taking it online, but ultimately its time passed and most of us nearly forgot it still existed. Most Encarta web sites will be going dark on October 31, and sales of the physical disks will cease some time in the summer.

Despite all my Microsoft hatin’, I have to give credit where credit is due. Encarta was among the first broadly available electronic encyclopedias, and was a real trailblazer in making information more readily accessible to the average person.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.