In response to: Fair Use Rights by David Bradley
Copyright is a taking of a public benefit for a private entity. This was put into law in order to increase the total public benefit. The idea was that taking from the public to provide the creator a limited-term, exclusive, government-granted, right to their work would encourage individuals to invest their time in creating works that would benefit society.
So the debate is properly about how great the taking from the public should be. It seem to me the current situation is completely corrupt. Many of the actions are taking public benefit to provide to the private entity where no possible public benefit exists. Extending copyright periods of long ago created works, where obviously the public is harmed purely for private benefit. No possible argument can be made that their is a payoff to the public for this taking.
If you wanted to take such an action and made it only for new work then their could be an argument that now a creator knows they have 100 years of government provided rights and therefore investing more time and effort in their work creates new and better work. I don’t believe this argument but at least it is possible. The current actions though are mainly about large companies using government to take from the public to provide themselves private benefit with no corresponding public benefit.
Lawrence Lessig is the person who has the best insight in this area, in my opinion: The Value of the Public Domain.
Dr. Deming published his seven deadly diseases of western management a couple decades ago. I would add 2 new diseases: Excessive executive compensation and a broken intellectual property system.
Fair use is the right to reference (and quote limited portions of) works that have been granted government copyright protection. This is integral to the whole idea of creating the greatest public benefit (even while providing some government imposed limits on public rights to the creator). The large companies now are using lawyers to greatly increase the harm to society by expanding the taking of public benefit. They threaten and scare many into paying fees (or completely avoiding works that have been granted limited government granted copyright rights) where none are are rightly due (see Lawrence Lessig for examples). This causes great harm to society for the private benefit of a few. This is an obvious failure of government. Those countries that are successful at adopting more sensible systems are going to have a great advantage over those countries that chose to continue to increasingly bad practices of harming society to benefit a few private interests.
Related: What is Wrong with Copyright Taking Public Good for Private Special Interests – Innovation and Creative Commons – Diplomacy and Science Research – More Government Waste – Crazy Watchmen – General Air Travel Taxes Subsidizing Private Plane Airports – China and the Sugar Industry Tax Consumers
I believe in this model. Giving People the Opportunity to Succeed – Provide a Helping Hand – Creating a World Without Poverty
U.S. Consumer Prices Jumped in June by the Most in 26 Years
…
Prices increased 5 percent in the 12 months to June, the most since May 1991. They were forecast to climb 4.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the survey median. The core rate increased 2.4 percent from June 2007, also more than forecast.
Energy expenses jumped 6.6 percent, the biggest gain since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. Gasoline prices soared 10.1 and fuel oil jumped 10.4 percent.
…
Rents which, make up almost 40 percent of the core CPI, also accelerated. A category designed to track rental prices rose 0.3 percent after a 0.1 percent gain in May. Today’s figures also showed wages decreased 0.9 percent in June after adjusting for inflation, the biggest drop since August 1984, and were down 2.4 percent over the last 12 months. The drop in buying power is one reason economists forecast consumer spending will slow.
The continued increase of inflation is a serious problem. Eventually the federal reserve needs to take serious action (raising the discount rate). And the politicians need to stop raising taxes on the future to spend more and more every year. Their continued financial irresponsibility is a large part of the reason for the declining value of the dollar – along with the voters that keep electing those proposing large increases in spending while pushing off paying for that spending to future tax increases.
Related: inflation investment risk – Food Price Inflation is Quite High – Bernanke warns of inflation – Politicians Again Raising Taxes On Your Children – USA Federal Debt Now $516,348 Per Household
Read more
The largest oil consuming countries (and EU), in millions of barrels per day:
| Country | consumption | % of oil used | % of population | % of World GDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 20.8 | 25.9 | 4.5 | 21.0 |
| European Union | 14.6 | 18.1 | 7.4 | 21.9 |
| China | 6.9 | 8.6 | 19.9 | 10.7 |
| Japan | 5.4 | 6.7 | 1.9 | 6.5 |
| Russia | 2.9 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 3.2 |
| Germany | 2.6 | 3.3 | 1.2 | 4.3 |
| India | 2.4 | 3.0 | 17.0 | 4.6 |
| Canada | 2.3 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 1.9 |
| Korea | 2.1 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 1.8 |
| Brazil | 2.1 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| Mexico | 2.1 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 2.1 |
All data is from CIA World Factbook 2008 (downloaded Jun 2008). GDP calculated using purchasing power parity.
Related: Top 10 Manufacturing Countries 2006 – Country H-index Rank for Science Publications – Best Research University Rankings (2007)
I would guess a majority of people that read this blog are in the top 2% of earnings in the world. Many might not think they expect to live with more economic wealth than 98% of the world but their expectations seem to indicate that they do.
Generalizations about age groups I find to be mainly useless (providing no actual valuable information, either because it is plain wrong or the truth is so limited as to provide little value). There are often differences among age groups, but rather than the binary way it is presented it is more like those in their 20’s have x trait to say 45% and those in their 30’s have it 35% – hardly the distinct separation many claim. I do, however, think many in the USA today seem to think that it is their right to be rich. This can lead to behavior that is detrimental in the long term – since they are entitled no need to work hard, since they are entitled no need to worry about spending more than they have, since they are entitled there is no need to invest so the future will be prosperous, since they are entitle no need to worry about their own future (savings, career planning…)…
I don’t think this is very defined by age: though to some extent I feel this has grown over the decades. Those that lived through the depression, World War II, without air conditioning, without central heating, had parents that worked in factories when the parents were 14, only the richest in the USA lived in mansions (Mc or otherwise)… are not as likely to think that they just have a natural right to be rich.
Other countries are making the sacrifices today to invest in a prosperous future. It seems to me the USA is mainly counting on the huge economic wealth that has been built up to continue to provide it a prosperous future. That wealth does provide a huge advantage. But if too much is consumed today the future will not be as bright. And for the last few decades it seems to me we have been spending down the huge advantage more than building it up.
It is nice to be rich. But a society believing it is owed a life of luxury has not worked out well over the course of human history.
Related: The Ever Expanding House – Creating a World Without Poverty – Charge It to My Kids – Engineering the Future Economy – USA Federal Debt Now $516,348 Per Household – China’s Economic Science Experiment – Trying to Keep up with the Jones – It’s Not Money
Economist challenges government data
An update e-mailed to ShadowStats subscribers at the beginning of the month warned darkly that “GDP (gross domestic product) and Jobs Data Appear Rigged” and “Despite Manipulated Data, the Recession Deepens.”
By his reckoning, the economy shrank 2.5 percent in the year that ended in March, unemployment is really 13 percent and year-over-year inflation is 7.5 percent.
If I was to believe one of those I would pick 7.5% inflation (or at least something a bit closer to that than to and the government figure). If I had to pick one I think is way off, I would pick the unemployment rate. One thing people need to remember is that numbers can be questioned. Often people see a number and just believe it must be true because it is a number (they usually don’t consciously think this but do so sub-consciously). I am losing confidence in the inflation figures quoted by the government (they just seem to far from what seems to be happening). The GDP is never exact, so being off by a couple percent depending on what assumptions you make is not impossible to understand (yet the news media, politicians, business press… act as though the figure is exactly accurate).
John Williams’ web site, Shadow Government Statistics, has the feel of someone that is a gadfly. And I don’t accept his statements, but I believe the government figures are indeed deserving of more scrutiny. It makes perfect sense for inflation to more accurately take into account the substitution effects people can make but that also allows the figures to be more influenced by judgments of what is a fair substitution (and also what is increased quality worth…). And those questions on inflation can directly effect whether the economy (GDP) grew by 1% of shrunk by 2%.
Related: What Do Unemployment Statistics Really Mean? – the Proxy Nature of Data – Washington’s Funny Accounting
You might think that increased gas prices lead to less driving, but historically that has not been the case. Gas demand is very inelastic (or gas prices are very elastic): which means demand changes very little as prices increase.
How much has consumption actually decreased in the face of huge increases in prices? The US government predicts .3% this year: and there is evidence it might actually be declining more in the last few months. Finally a significant reduction in demand may be upon us. Previously the only significant reaction was increased complaints but little change in behavior.
Gas may finally cost too much:
Related: Bigger Impact: 15 to 18 mpg or 50 to 100 mpg? – Gas Tax – $8,000 Per Gallon (ink not gas) – South Korea Invests $22 Billion in Overseas Energy Projects – The Rebirth of Cities – Traffic Congestion and a Non-Solution – Energy Future – Designing Cities for People, Rather than Cars – Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit
At work people have been talking about the increasing prices of food and the price increases sure are noticeable to me. With the exception of gas, I have not heard discussion of inflation outside of a classroom, maybe ever, I can’t recall hearing it anyway. Egg prices are up 35 percent, with milk and bread not far behind
…
The crunch for American shoppers pales compared with the challenges faced by those in the developing world. Americans spend just 9.9 percent of household income on food, according to the Agriculture Department. Compare that with poor countries such as Ethiopia and Bangladesh, where it’s not uncommon for families to spend 70 percent.
Consumer Price Index Summary – March 2008:
Related: what is inflation risk? – Manufacturing Productivity – What Do Unemployment Stats Mean?
Read a nice review of The Budget Deficit, the Current Account Deficit and the Saving Deficit:
- Tax incentives to encourage saving would likely also stimulate investment and lower both the budget deficit and the trade deficit.
- Reducing the budget deficit would reduce the vulnerability of the U.S. economy to foreign creditors; rising deficits could lead to foreigners dumping dollar assets, causing equities to decline, interest rates to spike and the dollar to plunge.
- Reducing the budget deficit doesn’t necessarily mean higher tax rates; marginal rate cuts reinforced by slower government spending growth would be ideal incentives.
Unfortunately, the recent tax “rebates” designed to stimulate the economy dealt a setback to budget discipline. Most people probably understand that. What they probably don’t understand is that the increased budget deficit will also tend to worsen our international balance of payments and weaken the dollar. The hip bone is connected to the thigh bone; so policymakers need to study these interconnected deficits. They need to borrow my boxes.
US banks Citigroup and Merrill Lynch reveal fresh $15bn loss
Merrill will suffer $5 billion of write-downs, analysts say, which would push the bank $2.7 billion into the red. t is expected to knock a further 20% from the value of its sub-prime holdings, in spite of the fact that it announced $18 billion of write-downs only three months ago. The new rash of Wall Street losses and write-downs come in addition to the billions that have already been recorded.
The world’s biggest banks have suffered losses and write-downs totalling almost $250 billion since the beginning of 2007, according to analysts. Last week the IMF shocked markets by saying that global losses from the credit crisis could rise to $945 billion.
The language becomes even more extreme as the losses balloon.
Related: Fed Continues Wall Street Welfare – Credit Crisis (Aug 2007) – Central Bank Intervention Unprecedented in scale and Scope – Soros Says Credit Crisis Will Worsen Before Improving – Volcker: Spendthrift Americans Bred Credit Crisis