Current Events: Radiation: Jobs or Safety --take your pick

Radiation: Jobs or Safety --take your pick

A recent Time magazine article by Dan (;D) Frosch discusses an unusual scenario. The town of Carlsbad, New Mexico has been the host of a radioactive Waste Isolation Pilot Plant --a safer means of handling radioactive waste than other methods. It holds (held) waste of nuclear weapons in particular, mainly from the cold war. It was closed down by a radiation leak contaminating 17 employees back in February. *Side note on Radiation- tick tick tickity on your Geiger counters means scram*. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to cause radiation sickness or worse, but the event has indeed aroused controversy. Surprisingly, instead of the majority of the town shunning the facility, they are worried about it not reopening: this is because of the number of jobs it brings to town. The energy department is currently investigating a 'puff' of radioactive cloud that escaped salt mines 2000+ feet below the surface.

So what to make of this? The site is obviously necessary to not only the town but the rest of the country, as waste shipments are piling up because of the incident. The WIPP also has lured scientists and engineers to the town and served as a steady income for awhile. Whether or not they reopen the facility is not different from what we choose here in Weserville, and disasters, such as the flood (watch out for debris!) have affected our local economy. 

That said, I believe the facility is good for the town and for jobs my fine readers. They are slowly working out a team to go into the mines and investigate --something they would not do if it were unsafe. I place my bets on it being a rare problem, and it promises areas of improvement. It is a necessity on multiple levels.

But, it's good to hear everyone's voice here so comment on which side you would take! 

Current Events: Stockton's rise from Bankruptcy

Stockton's rise from Bankruptcy:

A recent article by Rana Foroohar (Time) shows the effects of Stockton, California coming out of its bankruptcy. The city suffered severe unemployment--currently at 15%--and public workers losing budget due to large health care payments along-side with pensions for the retired. A lot was cut from health care, but the pensions remained high, and city officials worried about loosing the police (never a good idea). Truthfully though, numbers have shown that the cut in 400 police officers over the past 4 years there and in surrounding cities has greatly increased the crime rate. The bad economy has also caused people to live in "tent cities" in neighboring towns--it is understood that Stockton was one of the hardest hit towns in the recession, mainly due to mismanagement. 

As you can see, this is one of those 'not good muchacho' moments. The mayor intends to get the homeless 

to work refurbishing buildings, but there's still that pension tying everyone down. In my honest opinion boys and girls: they need to start trimming. You see, being out of bankruptcy can only last so long. Running out of time, the council needs to make positive decisions before their work is undone. Stockton is one of the "most miserable" towns before Detroit.

In this case, Stockton is a lot like Weserville. The unemployment was greatly noticeable, and the town has been working on ways of bringing in tourist funds. Luckily, we have not had any debt problems or with civil service *knock on wood*, but the town sizes are the similar. On the governmental level, the mayor of Stockton is working with neighboring mayors to come up with effective plans on solving this ordeal.

Current Events: The Worst Governance

The Worst Governance

>>Ever<<

A time magazine article by Victor Luckerson on Wednesday shows how ebay is considered the most poorly managed (major) company , also known as a poor governance. An activist by the name of Carl Icahn regularly fights with the tech CEOs. The main topic of the fighting lies within the chat service of Skype. See, the problem was when Marc Andreessen sold Skype to Microsoft. Icahn believes it could have easily been sold for more (the selling price was 8.5 billion). It turns out that Andreessen wasn't the one who sold Skype in the first place. The facts and contracts were poorly handled. Arguments still continue, and it will be pressed again in a follow-up in the month of April. There are also debates on the Paypal system, another ebay service.

I'll let you form your own ideas about this, boys and girls. For me, ebay's management seems hectic and chaos is never good for a company; not good for most things for that matter. You have Icahn jabbing at flaws in the company, to what extent? 

Well, in all honesty, he is not only making the public aware of this, but also to the company itself. (An important thing to take note of is that Carl Icahn is also a major investor, so this type of interaction can be justified by the value of the investment). 

Icahn in the end is helping ebay slap itself into shape. A behavioral criticism (in moderation, as everything should be) can be a positive aid, and ebay currently needs it.

So the other aspects of the economy; what about them? We've been learning demand--as we all have nailed so far--so mismanagement can apply. Say the use of ebay as an auction site goes down. What could this be from? If the consumer's expectations go down, and maybe they find a substitute website, ebay will suffer a loss. This loss can hurt the investment of Icahn's business: Icahn Enterprises. The investors for HIS business will be hurt, and it will chain down, affecting a large portion of the economy. 

So helpful tip before you go: get organized, hire people to keep that organization, and keep those people working efficiently. You will be a happier person (financially)