So, the stock market basically took a bullet to the chest today. The DOW Jones, which is the broadest measure of the stock market, dropped almost 778 points today. This equates out to $1.2 trillion, the first time ever it has gone past $1 trillion. This is also the biggest single day point loss ever.
Essentially, this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back in the economy. With all the comparison of the current economic recession to the Great Depression, things may be coming more and more real. The Great Depression started with the stock market failing, and with the now lowest point drop ever, things aren't looking so good for the future.
I'm no economist, but I can say that things have been better before. I can say this because I've seen it. Growing up during the 90's with Bill Clinton as the president, and growing up during one the greatest periods of economic growth in American history, seeing the economy go into a slump shows that things aren't exactly the best they could be.
Original Article http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/29/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Filters are for coffee, and now, the internet
A recently formed lobby of somewhat respectable names in the world of technology and other things, AT&T, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Viacom, and Songwriters Guild of America, have grouped up to become a new tech lobby called Art+Labs, with the intent of asking internet service providers to, "manage and expand their networks to defend against net pollution and illegal file-trafficking which threatens to congest and delay the network for all consumers."
They all of course have their own individual gains for forming this lobby. NBC and the Songwriters Guild want to be sure that they receive payment for the usage of their programs and songs, AT&T wants to reduce peer-to-peer traffic, and Cisco will get business by producing the filtering software.
This is a story that caught my as an avid internet user. I'm somewhat conflicted on this topic, because while I support some parts, I'm opposed to others. I'm all for reducing net pollution to end congestion and to increase overall speed and usability. On the other hand, I'm a big fan and supporter of peer-to-peer file sharing, I feel that it's an important step in advancing the way we use the internet.
In the end, I'm not sure how much support will be gained by this lobby, as the internet is still a fairly new form of media, and how exactly it should be regulated, if at all, is still kind of unknown. I personally feel that we should have as much freedom with it as possible, it's up to the users to make it as it should be. It shouldn't have to be policed and regulated.
Original article http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/entertainment-l.html
They all of course have their own individual gains for forming this lobby. NBC and the Songwriters Guild want to be sure that they receive payment for the usage of their programs and songs, AT&T wants to reduce peer-to-peer traffic, and Cisco will get business by producing the filtering software.
This is a story that caught my as an avid internet user. I'm somewhat conflicted on this topic, because while I support some parts, I'm opposed to others. I'm all for reducing net pollution to end congestion and to increase overall speed and usability. On the other hand, I'm a big fan and supporter of peer-to-peer file sharing, I feel that it's an important step in advancing the way we use the internet.
In the end, I'm not sure how much support will be gained by this lobby, as the internet is still a fairly new form of media, and how exactly it should be regulated, if at all, is still kind of unknown. I personally feel that we should have as much freedom with it as possible, it's up to the users to make it as it should be. It shouldn't have to be policed and regulated.
Original article http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/entertainment-l.html
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