Greg Vernon

What Gives, Advertisers?

Its no secret I have a lot of ads on my web site.  Lots and lots of ads pretty much everywhere.

What may be a little bit of a surprise is how many visitors I get.  I've clocked some 55,000 page impressions since I started monetizing my website.  I've earned $60 not bad, but for a website who's sole drive is a page on how to run your own proxy, I'm satisfied.

This month has been a little different.  2000 page impressions for a whole $0.17.  So what gives?  That's below my already low average of earnings per month.

I want answers dangit.

How to Save GM

A simple bailout won't save GM and the US taxpayers definitely won't like saving the company either, I mean, MAYBE if the company made cars that DIDN'T SUCK they wouldn't need a bailout!

If GM wants to save themselves (even the biggest of bailouts won't help.  When your business can't turn a profit because you can't sell cars, a blank check won't change that) they have to do some really really drastic things really really quickly.

1. Cut executive pay and bonuses to less than $500,000/year.
   I don't think the executives at GM will like this, but they don't have a choice.  Making less money is better than making no money at all.  Plus, a massive cut in pay might show the US taxpayer they're serious about saving GM and will sway opinion in favor of a low-interest loan (if it comes to that)
2. Sell several car divisions and combine all operations into 4 or 5 successful brands.
   First, roll all European/Asian brands into their American equivalents.  Understandably, there is going to be a sadness with the dropping of the brands, but it will pass like it did with Oldsmobile.
   Second, destroy Hummer.  I don't care how; spin it off, close its factories, whatever - just get rid of it.
   Third, sell Saab.  This is probably going to be the hardest from the shareholders perspective since Saab is a brand which is performing comparatively, but GM will be able to get some cash selling a successful operation.  Fill the void with Buick, which is increasingly becoming a luxury brand.
   Fourth, shutter a few American brands. This is going to be just as or more difficult than losing Opel.  Unfortunately, if GM wants to survive it can't handle such a brand lineup.  I would keep Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, GMC and Chevy.  Each of these companies has a slightly different market, so they wouldn't be competing with each other.  As for Saturn, either sell it or roll it into the Chevy line.
3. Showcase the history of the remaining US brands. American car companies have something most European companies don't: history.  Recently, US automakers have put a lot of emphasis on the muscle cars they made in a bygone era, but the brands, for the most part, have a history of luxury too.  Showcase the finer side of your cars, they will sell.
4. Market OnStar to other companies. GM has a good thing going with OnStar, unfortunately they kept it for themselves.  Allowing for other companies (Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc) to use the system will bring in millions from additional subscriptions and technology licensing fees.
5. Move a majority of manufacturing overseas or to Mexico. If there is one thing the American worker is good at, it is pricing himself out of the workforce market (thank you, Unions!)  Undoubtedly people will whine about how the greedy-corporate-fat-cats just want more money, but simply put GM needs money to survive (even if it hurts their reputation), shipping manufacturing jobs overseas will allow GM to build their cars at an affordable rate.
6. Do some good engineering for once! More importantly, if you have something good, don't kill it like you did with the EV1 and what it seems you're going to do with the Chevy Volt.
   Doing quality engineering to create quality cars will be a huge boost for the company.  In fact, if you had some quality cars you might not be in this situation to begin with!

These are only a few of the things GM must do to save itself.  It will be tough, but it can be done.  What will come out of GM's transition, no one can be quite sure.  Hopefully, if they do not accept a bailout, GM will prove to be a leaner, meaner, company - the retirees which have their savings in stocks and pensions depend on it!

Freedom, Freedom, Freedom, OY!

This election season I managed to get into an unbelievable amount of arguments over political issues.  It seemed like every other day I was in one of these debates being told I was "going to hell" or "had no regard for human life" because of the stances I took: the points of conservatism and liberty.

Unsurprisingly, the people who gave me the most frustrations where those who had an actual idea of what government is and what it's role should be.  These are the people (Ian, I'm looking at you) who had facts and data to actually "back up" their arguments, rather than hearsay and fabrications.

The rest of my opponents have managed to frustrate me not because they have a point, but instead because they consistently contradict their own arguments and have little or no understanding of what they believe in.

What is surprising, is that the majority of the uninformed people I argued with were members of the LDS church.  Every single one had backwards views on liberty.  Considering the church believes the constitution was written by divine intervention, that is disturbing on multiple levels.

The last person I argued with was Diego Carrión, self described conservative/crazy guy, is a friend of a friend (though I have met him) and a student at BYU-Idaho.  Read: Mormon.

The issue was Washington Initiative-1000: the right to assisted suicide by a lethal dose of medication.  The key parts of this proposition is who it covers: people who are terminally ill, mentally stable (note, not depressed), and have less than 6 months to live.

Why is this important?  His argument was over the sanctity of life - and how the state has to protect it.  By the way, him mentioning "the state" is key.  that proves he is not a conservative, but in fact a "neo-con" and a state-ist.  He should consider changing his "Facebook" political views section.

The hilarious part about his argument is he was trying to portray me as a liberal leftist, because I wanted to get the government out of people's lives and I shouldn't mention "liberty" in my arguments because libertarians want to raise taxes and bring more government control over peoples lives... or something...  I honestly have no idea.

Of course this was a fairly easy argument to win, he even admitted I had points and agreed with me on 90% of the arguments I submitted.  The key difference is he wanted "the state" to force his views on life & death on everyone else, yeah, some conservative.  The end of this argument was him resorting to ad hominem attacks when he realized he had no way of winning.  (just a note for everyone, if you resort to this type of argument, I won't continue, period.)

OBAMA IS NOT A SOCIALIST

SO SHUT THE HECK UP.

Now, I'm not a supporter of Obama, but in my never ending quest to end stupidity everywhere I've decided to educate a few misinformed people who for some unbelievable reason have the idea Obama is a communist.

"Barack Obama is the furthest thing from a socialist candidate." - Brian Moore, Socialist Party Nominee for President.

That should say something to you.  The socialist party nominee does not think of Obama as a socialist.  I know, its sad, you've been lied to by the Republican party.  HOW UNBELIEVABLE?!  How could the people in power who lied about 9/11, who lied about Iraq, who lied about almost everything lie about Obama being a communist?!  Face it, you've been played like the world's dumbest violin.  GET OVER IT.

When Obama wins, we will still be buying food at Wegmans and not a National Food Collective.  We will still be buying gas from ExxonMobil and not from the government.

The only thing Obama is handing out for free is hope; and hope is not a socialist ideal, it is everything America has ever stood for.