The Job Market is Picking Up… Poop

Business, Humor
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Just a job, or metaphor for the economy?

One of the alleged 162,000 jobs created in March can be found in Snohomish, Washington. Although the gig only pays $8.55/hour, it’s a real resume builder. What minimum wage job posted on Craigslist inspired 260 applications from people aged fourteen to sexagenarian? Why, being a kennel helper at Roscoe’s Ranch, owned by Guy Palumbo, of course. The job posting is quite clear in explaining that duties include scooping dog poop. Who is desperate enough to take this job? According to Recession’s untold story, just about everyone:

A laid-off graphic designer applied. So did a freelance photographer. Two out-of-work teachers sent résumés. Remarkably, so did someone in their mid-40s who had worked as a financial controller at an environmental-services company.

“There are a few people in here, such as accountants, who are so overqualified for this job,” Palumbo said. “I know people just want to work but I don’t think it would make much sense for me to hire them.”

The rest of the applicants read like a recession roll call.

There are past customer-service reps from WaMu, AT&T, J.C. Penney and Sprint. A slew of retail clerks and cashiers, as well as out-of-work waiters. The biggest group, by far, is dozens of laborers, construction workers, landscapers and maintenance workers.

This must be one of those mythical “green shoots” I’ve been hearing so much about on CNBC and other establishment media outlets. Maybe if the likes of Larry Kudlow and Bob Shrum pile this manure high enough something will grow out of it — most likely a fungus.

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Lower corporate taxes! (Even for GE.)

Business, Corporatism, Imperialism, Taxation, The Basics
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According to Forbes.com, I should be angry that General Electric pays less taxes than I do:

As you work on your taxes this month, here’s something to raise your hackles: Some of the world’s biggest, most profitable corporations enjoy a far lower tax rate than you do–that is, if they pay taxes at all.

The most egregious example is General Electric. Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.

Avoiding taxes is nothing new for General Electric. In 2008 its effective tax rate was 5.3%; in 2007 it was 15%. The marginal U.S. corporate rate is 35%.

General ElectricActually I am less than pleased with GE, but that’s because they possess hefty military contracts that allow our brave freedom fighters to slaughter poor brown people overseas, or whoever else refuses to submit to the empire.  They are, in Lew Rockwell’s words, true merchants of death, one of the worst examples of corporatism in the American economy.

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Drugs Without Patents: Profit and Cornucopia

Business, Drug Policy, Mercantilism, Science, Technology
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pattent applicationProponents of intellectual property rights and patents say that without them, drug companies could not profit. They’d just be undercut by generics, which would lead to a downward spiral of decreasing innovation, undercutting the entire industry. Furthermore, socialists argue that a truly free market would not get drugs to the poor. These arguments fail for several reasons: research costs, trade secrets, incentives for continuous innovation, and incentives for rapid worldwide distribution.

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Protecting us from Warranties

Business, Nanny Statism, Technology
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I ordered an iPad a couple weeks ago and tried to order the AppleCare warranty. I then received a notice saying this had to be removed from my order because Apple had not yet received “regulatory approval” yet for my state (Texas). I just received this email from Apple:

You were notified recently that AppleCare Protection Plan was pending regulatory approval in your state and this item was canceled from your order.

We are pleased to tell you that Apple is now authorized to sell the AppleCare Protection Plan for iPad in your state.

Please reply to this email if you would like us to add AppleCare Protection Plan for iPad back to your order.

Sincerely,
The Apple Store Team

As my fellow blogger Brian Martinez noted, it’s ridiculous Apple needed the state’s permission to offer a warranty for its own product. Thank God the state is here to protect us!

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OK Go and the Old Media Model

Business, IP Law
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The brilliantly innovative band OK Go has decided to leave its label, EMI, and start up its own company, Paracadute Recordings. The band’s Damian Kulash explains why in a fascinating interview with Leo Laport on TWIT. This presages the direction a lot of creators and artists will start to take as they leave the copyright-mired Old Media Dinosaurs behind.

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