1) Profits are up, but the wages and the incomes of average Americans are down.
2) More and more people are deeper and deeper in debt.
3) Job creation has not kept up with population growth, and the employment rate has fallen sharply.
4) Poverty is on the rise.
5) Rising health care costs are eroding families' already declining income.

Short and to the point.

via the Economic Policy Institute.

What's wrong with the economy?

Moreover, the corporate suits might also consider lowering CD prices

Well, they've been doing that for a couple of years, though, perhaps the author means the prices should be still lower. I seldom see CDs in the range of 17-19 dollars, though that was the standard 3 years ago. 14-16 is far more common anymore, which still isn't as good as the $8 i pay for a used cd returned within a few weeks or months by some fickle buyer. The labels might be able to cut a bit more, but i think the author's next suggestion is far better. That is :

...and while they're at it, [reduce] licensing fees for the subscription services, as well.

Of course, the price the labels may demand for such lowered fees, if they're even smart enough to see the need, may be differential pricing. In my mind the jury is still out on this issue... i see both sides of it and can't quite come to a conclusion. Still, the labels want it, and it's a concession that may be required of the vendors before too long.

The author's statement that the technology is ready to do without the labels is too simple, since he ignores the fact that technology has greatly revolutionized the distribution end, but isn't quite there on the creation and transaction handling aspects. I don't think those problems are far from solutions either, so his general theory, that the majors are in deep shit, is quite true, i think. In fact, we've been saying so for years. Truly, they need to get on board with the new business models emerging, or they *will* die. I don't consider that a negative outcome because i have much love for the labels, but because, in the short and medium term, an abrupt transition in that form will be bad for music. The fallout of those giant corporations crashing will simply demolish much that is good.

[ -k ]

Music Biz Blues

Memestreams is constantly improving.

[ It sure is... good work, all! -k]

Link spammers are the sux.

] He said that while the U.S. economy was "doing well," the
] danger was that deficits would keep rising as a
] percentage of total national output.
]
]
] "Unless that trend is reversed, at some point these
] deficits would cause the economy to stagnate or worse."

Thanks for the update Alan, I think there is a long list of people who have been saying this for decades.

Greenspan Warns Deficits Endanger Economy

] The Federal Communications Commission announced Friday
] that states cannot require regional phone companies to
] sell high-speed Internet service as a stand-alone
] product.

DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!

How is it that the Republicans have gone from 'fiscal conservatism' to 'corporate philantrophy'? This is the largest corporate welfare present with a bow on top since Haliburton got to 'repair' Iraq.

[ It's especially funny how if a person needs help because their environment has changed, and they're in financial trouble, they're freeloaders and we need to cut programs designed to help them and alter the bankruptcy laws in negative ways. But if a corporation is in trouble for the same reason, because something happened to cut into their bottom line, it's all good to bail them out and hobble the new industry. A large number of republicans can't even honestly claim to be in favor of free markets anymore. They're just not. -k]

FCC: Phone companies don't have to sell DSL as a stand-alone product - 03/27/05

] Aside from users of naked DSL services, an FCC decision
] would also affect "cord-cutters," a group of about 20
] million U.S. residents who don't have local phone lines
] and go solo instead with their cell phones. As a result
] of the possible FCC ruling, cord-cutters would have to
] buy a local phone line in order to get DSL.

FUCK THE FCC! This is a death blow to any CLEC or competitive DSL provider and is obviously pandering to the Bell Lobby.

[ I wonder if it'll have the net effect of driving people away from DSL altogether... granted, not everyone has choices in the matter, but for those that do, cable's a completely valid alternative. -k]

Source: FCC to dress 'naked' DSL

] Sun has long promised that it would open-source Solaris,
] but it has yet to answer in detail how it will deal with
] questions about The SCO Group Inc.'s Unix intellectual
] property claims

[ By ignoring them? That's what everyone else has pretty much been doing. Christ, is that case even close to being over yet? Please. -k]

Analysts: Sun's Open Solaris Plans Face Problems

] Gore is a strikingly contradictory company: a place where
] nerds can be mavericks; a place that's impatient with the
] standard way of working, but more than patient with
] nurturing ideas and giving them time to flourish; a place
] that's humble in its origins, yet ravenous for
] breakthrough ideas and, ultimately, growth. Gore's
] uniqueness comes from being as innovative in its
] operating principles as it is in its diverse product
] lines. This is a company that has kicked over the rules
] that most other organizations live by. It is tucked away
] in the mid-Atlantic countryside, 3,000 miles from Silicon
] Valley and even further (in its mind-set) from Wall
] Street. And in its quietly revolutionary way, it is doing
] something almost magical: fostering ongoing, consistent,
] breakthrough creativity.

[ Very cool article about a very cool company. Lots of good products... I remember recieving a set of Elixirs in the mail as a kid, and even then I could tell they sounded better, longer, than normal strings, Gore-Tex is as second nature to a skier as Marker or K2, and my tightly packed teeth require flat floss like Glide.

Given my current employment as a US Gov. contractor, embedded in one of the most strictly hierarchical systems you'll ever find (there are people in the building I'm not permitted to talk to unless my supers say ok), the description of this freedom sounds extremely pleasant. -k]

The Fabric of Creativity

] The dollar index, a measure of the dollar against a
] basket of currencies, extended a slide to a nine-year
] low.

This is going to require a little explanation as to why this is important. A large portion of the US economy is dependant on imports. We'll start with cars. Currently the #1 domestic car manufacturer is GM followed by Ford and Toyota (yes, that's right, Toyota). The trick here is, no one makes a car anymore with all domestic parts. Toyota obviously makes a good number of their parts in Japan where they are brought over and installed in US cars, GM does similar things, primarily in Mexico, and Ford and Chrysler both do a good amount of their construction in Canada, which means the dollar sliding across the board will increase prices for DOMESTIC products. The sliding dollar will also cause increased pressure on import prices, so things actually made in other places will be more expensive as well.

Because we're an "import" economy, this means that costs are going up, but there is no concurrent increase in revenue, so wages (the demand side of that supply-demand equation remain stagnant. This also applies in other areas as well. The computers we're reading this on are most likely made out of all, or nearly all, imported parts and just assembled here, and those two products are not unique, far from it in fact.

The results on the international markets has already started this morning, with the Nikkei (the Japanese version of the Dow) down a bit under a percent, with expected slides in US companies on the German and British exchanges later today. We'll see how that goes.

One thing that will prove interesting will be oil. With the dollar sliding, one would expect that the price of oil will increase further. This may not actually be the case, but there's a pretty big BUT at the end of this. Oil prices are universally done in terms of US dollars. If you're in Germany, you take your Euros, buy dollars and then use those dollars to buy oil. This is something that was done by of all people OPEC. Thirty odd years ago, their #1 trading partner was us, and so to make oil transactions simple globally, they benchmark the price of oil in dollars. It worked for them and so now, all oil exporting companies/nations handle this pretty much the same way. They sell oil for dollars.

So, what happens to the price of oil? Good question. Other countries, notably European ones are in theoretically good shape. Their money is worth more, so oil costs less. Some other countries, notably Japan are going to get squeezed. They export heavily to us, so the sliding dollar hurts them, pretty badly in fact. But, the sliding dollar also means that oil is less expensive. The bottom line I think is that the sliding dollar hurts them more than it helps them. Oil is cheaper, but because we're not buying as much stuff, they don't need the oil and so they aren't helped by the decreased costs as much as they're... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Yahoo! News - Dollar Hits New Low, Gold at 16-Yr High

] Archaeologists at the federal institute also defend their
] decision to let the project go ahead. True, a small
] pre-Hispanic altar of clay and stone was discovered under
] what will be an expansive parking lot, along with a few
] other artifacts, said Sánchez Nava, an official with the
] institute.
]
]
] But most of the artifacts have already been recovered
] from the area where the supermarket is being built.
] Besides, he said, teams of archaeologists from the
] institute are at the site each day, watching over the
] work. "I don't feel there is a risk," he said.

[ The WalMartization of Mexico is fully underway now. -k]

No, the Conquistadors Are Not Back. It's Just Wal-Mart.