Some organizations that are structured as nonprofits with social missions, or social enterprises, are run like businesses and generate sustainable revenue sources, though earnings are retained, not distributed.
“There is a lot of discussion taking place right now about a whole new organization form around social enterprise,” said James Fruchterman, president of Benetech, a social enterprise incubator based in Palo Alto. “Many of these efforts can make money; they will just never make enough to provide venture capital rates of return.”
These organizations tend to be tech-oriented, "driven in part by a set of microelectronics technology trends that have sent shock waves through many industries, from publishing to music and movies." [Link]
Why are food prices rising?Good post (and comments) about rising food prices at the Becker-Posner blog. To what extent are prices increasing because of rising fuel costs? What's happens when you divert more and more food crops (corn) to ethanol production? Is the growth of population/demand a factor?
Fair use "whispering campaign"While the digital world makes it increasingly tough to control access to content, content owners push for stronger and more restrictive copyright law and enforcement. ars technica reports a "whispering campaign" against fair use exceptions. If you, like so many people, don't understand fair use, they define it:
Fair use and fair dealing put limitations on these otherwise exclusive rights, and they do so on the theory that copyright is not an absolute right to control and profit from every single use of a particular work. News reporting, classroom use, commentary, parody; in the US, at least, these don't require either permission or payment.They report that "copyright expert William Patry believes that a 'counter-reformation' is in the works to crimp worldwide plans to expand fair use." In Patry's blog, he says
ministries in countries are told that fair use (and by extension possible liberal fair dealing provisions) violate the "three-step" test. And who wants to violate the three-step after all? The appeal by counter-reformation forces to external and abstract concepts like the three-step test is a time-worn tactic: when you can't win on the merits, shift the debate elsewhere to grounds on which you think you can win. Given that few ministry officials are experts in copyright law, much less arcana like the three-step test, these appeals -- made by those who claim to be such experts -- can be effective. They shouldn't be. National governments should make policy decisions based on the merits of the proposals, free from such scare tactics.Bloggers especially should become more knowledgeable of copyright law and fair use - we're "fair using" all the time.Balance
The world is so unbalanced (if not spinning out of control); it's a hopeful sign that Microsoft is acquiring Yahoo, potentially creating a balance for Google's net dominance. I'd rather see Godzilla fight a worthy opponent, a Megalon or Mothra, than stomp puny humans as they flee. [Link]
Food prices soarNot really news to most of us: food prices are increasing. [Link]
Marie Thompson, a mother from Brooklyn with a couple of kids in tow at the grocery store, said she spends hundreds of dollars a week on groceries, including two gallons of milk.
"It seems to me that I spend more and more every week on food," said Thompson. "It's hard, because I have three children at home so there are five of us to feed. Beef is very expensive. The milk is very expensive. Even the butter has gone up."
Even with gasoline prices soaring, milk still tops gas prices. The nationwide average for a gallon of whole milk is $3.80, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That dwarfs the nationwide average of $2.99 for a gallon of unleaded, according to AAA.
(Marsha and I used to spend $10 a week on groceries... in the 1970s.
The slow to clue business world is discovering what some of us already knew very well, that older people are online – in fact, "the number of Internet users who are older than 55 is roughly the same as those who are aged 18 to 34, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a market research firm." I've had discussions in the past with net.biz "experts" who were adamant in their belief that older people aren't and won't be common in cyberspace – the argument being that they just can't figure out the technology, usually based on anecdotal evidence. It might be harder to adopt for folks who didn't grow up with the tech. It wasn't a problem for me, but I'm, er, unusual. But did you really think that, with so much happening online, that the grannies wouldn't go there? [Link]
...venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have been slow to embrace the interests of older Internet users, said Susan Ayers Walker, a freelance technology journalist for AARP and founder of SmartSilvers Alliance, which offers consultant services to businesses looking to connect with older consumers.Home Price Bubble, Toil and Trouble
She said that Silicon Valley investors have seen themselves as eternally youthful, and identified with ever-new gadgets. But they are starting to accept their age — and to invest in it.
“They’ve all got high blood pressure,” she said. “They’re starting to understand their age group — they’re living it.”
eFInance Directory has a good, and disconcerting, article about "The Dangerous Disconnect Between Home Prices and Fundamentals." They predict that home prices will fall to pre-boom levels. [Link]
Although the disconnect between home prices and home sales was not present during the housing boom, it most certainly is now. The public has either lost interest or simply can't afford to buy into the current housing market. Home sales have slowed nationally, and are down significantly in cities within California, Florida, Nevada, Michigan and Ohio.
As a result, supply has now exceeded demand in most areas. It would take several months, and in some cases years, to sell all of the homes that are currently on the market. Yet, home prices are staying level for the most part - for now. If sales do not pick up soon, home prices will most definitely begin to fall.
Economists study eBay
From eBay, economists are learning interesting lessons about how people spend their money. The results they're seeing are not always rational. [Link]
Most economists assume these kinds of auctions are largely immune to the passions and unpredictabilities of ravenous bidders, she says. Simple bargain hunting, they hope, would bring out our inner homo economicus, someone who acts in their self-interest to get the best deal possible.
No such luck, she says.
Ms. Malmendier tracked 166 auctions offering CashFlow 101, a personal-finance-themed board game. During the seven-month trial, the game's designer sold the box set on his website for $195.
Meanwhile, eBay sellers usually offered an opening price of about $45 and set a one-click, "buy it now" price of about $125. It looked like a great deal for buyers. They could pay less than retail to end the auction immediately or place bids in the hope of fetching an even lower price.
But this is where eBay users fell prey to what Malmendier and her coauthor, Stanford University economist Hanh Lee, call "bidder's curse." Apparently, some bidders grew so enthusiastic about winning the auction that they lost sight of the "buy it now" price, sometimes offering more than $185.
"We found that in 43% of the auctions the bidders ended up paying more than the 'buy it now' price," Malmendier says.
"This is really huge. It's far more than I could have expected."
Why ecommerce is slowing down
The New York Times says that consumers are "internet fatigued," and as a result, ecommerce sales are slowing down. I'm betting the paper's headline interpretation ("some buyers grow web-weary") is only a small part of the story, and the Times mentions opinions more diverse than the headline suggests. I'd be interested in hearing whether credit card sales are down overall as consumers react to the unethical practices of credit card companies, who are finding any excuse to boost rates and lock consumers into spiraling debt. Online purchases are usually if not always by credit card; sane consumers have torn up their cards and are doing whatever they can to extricate themselves from the clutches of usurious corporations. [Link]
As gas prices and transactional expenses increase, independent gas station owners can no longer compete; they're shutting down. In fact, I can't think where there's an independent station in Austin. [Link]
Between Feb. 1 and Monday, Bartlett said, the average wholesale price paid by service stations in Milwaukee to buy gasoline rose from $1.66 to $2.94. Add in taxes paid to the federal and state governments, as well as transportation costs, and the average service station had to cover $3.47 on Monday, without charging any profit. On that day, stations were charging their customers $3.47 on average in Milwaukee, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.