Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Are You Really Surprised?

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The title says it all: Are you really surprised?

Insurance ‘giant’ American International Group (AIG) received a Federal Reserve ‘bailout’ in September of last year which was, in reality, a nationalization of the business. You, I, and every other taxpaying American are now the proud owners of 79.9 percent percent of AIG—whether we wanted to invest in it or not. In October of 2008, AIG received another ‘bailout’ out of our pockets, and the grand total has reached a whopping $112,000,000,000.00. And what did we get?

The now 80 percent federally-owned AIG—which posted a loss of nearly 62 billion dollars during the last three months of 2008—has blithely gone about its business, sending executives on retreats and paying them bonuses. The massive federal investment has not saved the company from its problems, however, and it’s very likely that their next quarterly report will be just as bad as the last one.

Many are angry that, after a nationalization of the business and a massive taxpayer investment, AIG seems to continue doing the very things that got it into the mess in the first place. I’m angry too, but I can’t figure out why anybody is surprised. I’ve been saying from the beginning that these bailouts are counterproductive, that they reward bad behavior, and that they encourage the perpetrators to continue on their same path and cause broader economic harm. When a company fails, it fails. ‘Saving’ the business with federal dollars simply prolongs the inevitable and makes the process more painful.

So here’s an idea: Now that the federal government owns AIG, the federal government runs the show. Simply bite the bullet and shut it down through Chapter 7 liquidation. No more bailouts, buyouts, or bonuses. Sometimes you have to do something painful in the short term for a long term gain, and an end to these bailouts and corporate welfare programs is the only way to turn the economy around any time soon. With every bailout, stimulus plan, and government ‘investment’ (read: nationalization) we further undermine any possible economic recovery.

Target Mouse!

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Mouse Traps in TargetSo I was in my friendly neighborhood Target store this afternoon and, while Melissa was looking to buy things and I was just looking around awkwardly, I happened to spy these d-Con mouse traps on a shelf.

I’m not sure if these mouse traps were placed there by a prankster, or if the Reston Target has indeed had a mouse problem on the third shelf of the picture frame aisle. Either way, I thought it was pretty funny.

As I mentioned to Melissa, it’s possible they’re trying to replace ‘Target Dog‘ with a new ‘Target Mouse’ . . . though, after going through a d-Con trap, it would probably be more like ‘Target Mouse Carcass’. With that kind of branding, you can’t lose!

One Woman’s Story of Surviving the Holocaust

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We can’t forget World War II. I have long believed, and still believe today, that World War II was the moment where it was all on the line. We could have lost civilized, free society entirely to fascism and totalitarianism. It was the turning point, and it could easily have gone the other way had we (civilization) failed to rise to the challenge.

It is worth keeping this in mind constantly. We must study how Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in Germany, and how they managed to go as far as they did with their racist, totalitarian doctrine.

A touching story appeared in today’s Washington Post about a Ukrainian Jewish woman who, through her ingenuity and quick thinking, managed to survive the Nazi occupation and the greater holocaust that took the lives of her family and most of her entire community. It is an incredible story, and calls to mind other stories of survival like it . . . and the absolute horrors that so many were not able to escape.

Redcoat Holdouts Still Fighting American Revolution

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According to The Onion, the most reliable and useful newspaper left in America, the entire 32nd Regiment of His Majesty’s Royal British Army was found in a small wooded area outside of Carlisle, Massachusetts, Monday still fighting the Revolutionary War.

The Pentagon immediately dispatched air support to defend our sovereignty against the redcoat regiment, but ultimately called off the air raid after assurances from the United Kingdom officials that there was no invasion in progress, and the 32nd Regiment’s presence on U.S. soil did not represent an official action of the U.K. government.

Businesses Behind the Times

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Some businesses just don’t even seem to be trying.

This came to mind this afternoon when I spent a few minutes in a Borders book store. I like book stores, generally, and book prices in these stores are usually comparable with prices online. Stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble need to compete with online retailers, particularly Amazon.com, that offer similar prices, wider selection, and the convenience of shopping from your own home. I don’t know how they’re going to do that in the long term, but sharp businessmen can figure it out I’m sure (or else the bankruptcy courts will have to).

What perplexed me though wasn’t the book section, but the music and video sections of the store. The average price for music CDs—regular, old-fashioned physical albums on compact disk—was an insane $17! It was like a flashback to 1998, when the grossly overpriced wares of the music industry pushed pushed people to illegal downloads from Napster. Average CD prices dropped to $12 or $13 in the early 2000s, then dropped further to $9 or $10 in the last couple of years. These price drops were long overdue, especially given the relative dearth of good music these days.

Today, a wide variety of new and old albums are available from Best Buy, WalMart, Target, Amazon.com, and elsewhere in the $8-$10 range, with popular new albums rarely priced over $12 or $13. Albums from digital retailers like Apple iTunes or Amazon.com MP3 are rarely over $11 or so, even when brand new. I can’t understand how Borders expects people to pay $17 for something they can download in five minutes on iTunes for $10. Quite unsuprisingly, while there were plenty of customers in the browsing books, the music section was essentially deserted.

The video section was equally bizarre, with DVDs—even bad movies that blew through the theaters in a week—running upwards of $20. Some even approached $30! I can get those same films at Target, often as low as $8 or $10.

You know, if book stores stocked hard-to-find import music and DVDs, or otherwise differentiated their selection, this would at least make a little sense. But no, we’re talking about Britney Spears albums and the new Pink Panther movies—your standard ‘popular’ tripe. I don’t get it. Why even bother selling music and movies if you’re not going to differentiate yourselves or, at least, price the product reasonably?

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.