Twofer

By Jason Satek- Columnist

         A cautionary example of too many ideas with too little time.
V for Venezuela?
   Over my time in Springfield, I’ve found that I’ve naturally gravitated towards CITGO Road Rangers, whenever possible, when I needed gas for my truck. There are at least two that I know of, strategically located for me, that are consistently among the lowest prices to be found in the area but if I’m honest, I’d admit this brand loyalty has as much to do with their rotating flavors of cappuccino as much as any other factor. This became an entrenched ritual before I learned that CITGO is a wholly owned subsidiary of the national oil company of Venezuela.
   Now Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez perhaps bears comparison to revolutionary Guy Fawkes only in the mind of Pat Robertson, but he is becoming a key player on the world stage. Under Chavez’s direction, the oil-rich country has purchased the debts of fellow South American countries, short-circuiting plans of the International Monetary Fund. Chavez, a two-term president with leftist populist ideology, is increasingly seen as counterpoint to and outspoken critic of the economic philosophies of the United States. His generosity towards his neighboring countries is garnering their goodwill and he even scored a coup here, by distributing heating fuels to poor Americans on the East coast.
   Recently sworn-in American Ozzie Guillen, White Sox manager and proud native Venezuelan, made news this winter when he passed on an invitation to a championship reception at the White House. Guillen had been there before, as a Florida Marlin coach, but declined this time, citing a lack of invitation regarding family members. Whether this was the whole reason, or perhaps a comparison of Chavez to Adolf Hitler by Donald Rumsfeld played a part, is known only to Guillen.
    This is a prime case of the unseen paths money flow can take. I have no dogma either way on Chavez, and will continue to get my junk food fix at Road Ranger. Should you, knowing what you now know, continue to go to Hugo? Only you know.

The Certainty of Debt and Taxes

   Our Federal Debt currently sits at more than $8 trillion. That’s a 13-place prefix before the decimal point. Many people talk about addressing it, but little real action has been taken. The Congressional Republican Study Committee, perhaps as an intellectual exercise, published a plan last month that would balance the budget in about five years, but the human cost would be great.
   Deep cuts to Amtrak, Public Broadcasting, art endowments, NASA, foreign aid, subsidized loans, farm subsidies, heating assistance and Medicaid growth, among others, would be the target. Non-defense discretionary spending would be tightly reigned in.
   There is little uncertainty that 9/11 changed the national spending blueprint for the foreseeable future, but President Bush wasn’t much of a fiscal conservative to begin with. He has passed James Monroe in length of time as Chief Executive without exercising a veto. Only Thomas Jefferson, who cast no veto in his two terms, remains and he presided with a House and Senate majority from his party for most of that period as well.
   It is undoubtedly easier to be Dr. Feelgood and spend money rather than be the unpopular responsibly strict parent and say no, but that is what’s called being a leader. Someone needs to be a compassionate but realistic adult. Debt of this size is unconscionable. As far as the veto goes, depending on the outcome of the historically foreboding midterm elections of 2006, something tells me that ye old rubber stamp might still make an appearance.

Recording industry not satisfied to only step on consumer's toes

By Ron Felten - Columnist

It was reported last week that global music sales, which includes both digital (MP3) and physical (CD) formats, fell in 2005 for the sixth consecutive year. CDs reportedly fell more than three percent from the previous year and sales of music DVDs (e.g. concert films and band documentaries) were what the New York Times called “flat.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, however, digital music sales, when considered, were up. Way up. And it’s no secret that there’s pretty much one man who’s solely responsible for the 190 percent gain in that area: Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple.
Jobs’s iTunes Music Store, which allows customers to download single songs for only $0.99, by far leads the way in digital music peddling – the virtual store claims to have sold its billionth song on Feb. 22 and accounts for about 80 percent of worldwide online music sales.
With Jobs single-handedly reviving what was an all but dead industry, it simply amazes me that music moguls and big shots are pressuring him to raise his prices, as was reported last week in a CNN Money article. Have these executives not already learned their lesson? Do they not understand how their greed (coupled with a lousy product) has directly caused this crash in global sales? Though admittedly, peer-to-peer networks haven’t helped.
Jobs has developed a way of doing business that works for everyone. Poor college kids, who just as easily could download music for free, have by and large agreed to do things the “right way” because $0.99 per song is a fair price; $20 for a CD with three or so good tunes on it, however, is not.
According to the aforementioned article, the major record labels and Apple are renegotiating deals that were made several years ago, when iTunes first launched. The labels want a bigger cut, though, and are asking Jobs to jack up the prices for downloads of popular bands and singles.
A major lure of the iTunes Music Store, however, is that it’s so democratic, for lack of a better word, and that each song is treated equally in respect to cost. If less popular songs, which few people want anyway, remain 99 cents and the newest American Idol’s single costs $2.50, then customers will be forced to ask themselves a familiar question: At $2.50, should I just drop a few more bucks and buy the whole album or should I download it for free (and illegally)?
This would effectively cut iTunes out of the picture. If the price of single songs is raised to the point where it makes more economic sense to just purchase the entire CD that a given song is on, consumers will be in the same position they were in before iTunes came along and at least started to help the industry. We will have to decide whether to buy the whole album or just “steal” what we want. As Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf is quoted as saying to the Associated Press: “[Customers] have an alternative – they can get it for free.”
So why would the music industry put us in this situation just as sales (especially digital) look as though they are turning around? Steve Jobs has a vision and, thus far, his 1+ billion songs sold figure looks to prove that his vision is right on and is working for everyone concerned. These companies, though, are over-eager and anxious, which is somewhat understandable given their recent losses. What they need to do, however, is remember their role: They record the crappy music and Steve Jobs convinces us that it’s actually worth the change in our couch cushions.

Phoning it in

So Ron it's Right