Idiotprogrammer: Texas Literary Blog

Category: Business

  • Tips & Advice for New & Indie Authors

    (Last Update Jan 3 2023). Over the last decade I have run a side business editing and marketing ebooks. From time to time I am contacted by new writers about how to publish and promote a book. I get contacted so often about this that I have starting keeping a compendium of tips. As of…

  • “Must Have 5+ Years Experience” Fallacy

    I originally wrote this article in Spring 2002 — during a long and painful bout of unemployment). I have more up-to-date thoughts on the topic which I will  post eventually. Why does every job ad require 5 years of experience? What does this mean anyway? 5 years experience with the same job title? That is…

  • Are Meetings Productive?

    This is one of the first articles I created for the Internet on my idiotprogrammer.com domain. I wrote it July 2001. I’m reproducing it here. While working at Dell, I spent an an extraordinary amount of time at meetings. A good number seemed to be a waste of time or could have easily taken place…

  • Sharks with spiffy web sites

    The next looming environmental catastrophe in the Gulf: Lawyer-sharks threatening to wreak havoc on corporate profits!

  • Netflix downloads are really cheap… and postage is expensive

    In a story about the announcement that 5 different HDTV manufacturers will be equipped to show Netflix movies, Ryan Lawler reports on the economics of Netflix:  That’s good news from a financial point of view, as streaming video comes with a much lower delivery cost than shipping discs. According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings at…

  • How much money does the artist receive from a paypal donation?

    How Much of Your Donation Goes to the Artist Donation Amount Paypal (from U.S.A.) Paypal (From Outside U.S.A.)         Transaction Fee –> 2.9% + $.30 3.9% + $.30 $1 $.67 $.66 $2 $1.64 $1.62 $3 $2.61 $2.58 $4 $3.58 $3.54 $5 $4.55 $4.50 $10 $9.41 $9.31 $20 $19.12 $18.92 So, if you live in the…

  • Fun with Bank Graphs

    I enjoyed this graph in the financial times. It’s market capitalization of the world’s 20 largest banks. Here’s the best part. At the bottom of the graph is a a slider, so you can see how the listing changes over a 10 year period. Fun games you can play: Look at Citigroup’s capitalization over time.…

  • April 11 Bank Protest Planned in Major US Cities

    I don’t know if you’ve heard about A New Way Forward Protest about the bank bailouts. I’m flirting with the idea of attending the protest in Houston . I feel passionately that the bank restructuring was handled incompetently and that lawmakers really don’t have a sense of what voters really want for it. It’s kind…

  • Utterly amazing and horrifying financial scandals!

    1. FDIC bailout needed FDIC conveniently stopped asking big banks to pay insurance premiums between 1996-2006. Now because banks are so fragile, Congress will be asked to pay $500 billion for  insurance premiums which the bank claim they are too poor to pay. Think about that. They are exempted from paying premiums when the  fund…

  • www.HSBCcreditcardsucks.com, a Consumer Gripe site

    Here’s www.HSBCcreditcardsucks.com , a consumer gripe site about HSBC Bank. Fun fact: they are the 2nd largest bank in the world.

  • Lots can change in a single weekend

    I was furious that the Senate stimulus bill was weakened by Republicans who cut funding on education, science research, arts funding and all these worthy things that would be especially worthy in such times. I was furious and I emailed my Senator and emailed my friends with my rage. But a funny thing happened. I…

  • Why the Economic Stimulus (and Recession) is all About

    Here are three things you need to read. Martin Fackler on the lessons that the Japanese recession (and its own economic stimulus package)  should teach the US.  An amazing piece of journalism. Second, Robert Reich provides his daily commentary about the effectiveness of various stimulating proposals. Look at this chart: (The main flaw of this…

  • Why Homebuyer Tax Break is a Bad Deal

    I frankly am appalled to hear that the Senate voted a $15,000 tax break for homebuyers (according to this article by David Herszenhorn). As usual the commenters have the most insight. See this amazing comment and this one.  It’s awful legislation (it cuts funding for the Arts, climate change research, etc) and it panders to…

  • We have a shortage of news analysts who are not millionaires

    Sunday I happened to turn on a Sunday talk show, something I tend not to do anymore. The show was Meet the Press.  The topic of the roundtable was the banking crisis. (Read the transcript).  It was one of those uninspired discussions mired in abstractions and financial cliches (“tax cuts” “need to cut spending” “need…

  • Secrets to Houston Supermarkets

    KPRC Reporter Amy Davis has a great report comparing the price-cutting strategy of Houston supermarkets. I added this comment: I want to mention a crucial and overlooked fact about these supermarkets. Look at your receipts seconds after your purchase! Frequently supermarkets will have old tags underneath an item and forget to  remove the label when…

  • TARP 1 Sucked, How to make TARP 2 Better

    When I arrived from Ireland on September 28, my mom picked me up from the airport. She was distraught by the hurricane and the economic downturn. I expressed the attitude that Hank Paulson was going to spend on the alleged bailout was misdirected and would probably be completely wasted. It would be better, I said,…