Even watching movies is not EZ. More on NetFlix

Probably the best analysis I've seen to date, found at:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/279599-pricing-changes-at-netflix-reading-between-the-lines?source=yahoo

"The company isn't giving old subscribers preferential treatment. If you do nothing, NFLX is automatically increasing your price to $15.98 from $9.99. This might be why an informal internet poll reported yesterday that 40% of surveyed Netflix customers plan to cancel their subscription.

Reading the tea leaves here, this was a highly calculated move and we see three motives:

1. The change captures a quick buck from the "slow and stupid" subs who don't track credit cards for a while and don't notice the 60% increase in price. Should yield a nice boost in cash flow to fund content deals.
2. By breaking apart streaming and physical delivery plans, Netflix is able to increase price on streaming as content costs rise. The move shelters DVD-only customers from these price increases. The new structure is cleaner and paves the way to future price increases and tiering (more on that later).
3. NFLX was obviously blindsided by the Sony (SNE) / Starz issue which was triggered by crossing 20m streaming subs. By breaking the two apart, it will fall below the 20m subscriber mark and temporarily regain the Sony content and thus increase its negotiating leverage with Sony.

Obviously, the huge risk for NFLX is that a meaningful block of streaming subs may cancel the streaming service (in favor of physical-only or cancel altogether). Given the fixed cost nature of the streaming content deals, this would be disastrous. "

Still: Every analysis that I've seen to date talks about "heavy" users of the streaming service and or "heavy" users of the DVD services and tries to divine what they may do. The analysts are ALL missing the "light" user of both -- the hybrid bundle subscriber that watches 2 or 3 DVDs and 2 or 3 streams per month (me, for instance.) The service and it's convenience were a great value to me at the prior price, but clearly NOT worth $15.98 per month. The analysis above even points out that providing to me the level of service I was paying for essentially cost NF nothing for which they had a sure revenue stream, yet they have chosen to give that up. I don't see how that can be good for business.

I'm sorry, NetFlix, but I won't be one of your "slow and stupid" subscribers.

Dear NetFlix: Thanks for the customers. Signed, RedBox

NetFlix announced on their (free) Google Blogger weblog their new pricing plans. Prior to their announcement they had over 23 million subscribers. I wonder: How many they will have by the end of September? Their new plan nearly doubles the monthly cost for the same service I've been getting (1 dvd at a time and unlimited streaming.) If I watched a LOT of NetFlix (or any other video) $15.98 for that service may seem like a great deal. The reality is that we have a life outside video and generally only watch about 1 DVD per month and perhaps 1 streamed movie (VERY LIMITED CATALOG on NetFlix) and 1 or 2 NetFlix TV streams--maybe six hours of content total. That is NOT worth $15.98 per month. At that rate, Dish Network would cost me up to $1,917.60 per month vs. the $44.00 that I pay them for unlimited viewing. If your landlord raised your rent 60% with no increase in benefit -- or if gas went overnight to $5.60 a gallon would you still see it as a good deal? Everything is worth what people are willing to pay for it. I'm not willing to pay NetFlix $2.66 per hour for their service. I didn't even wait until the end of August (new pricing applies 1 September). I cancelled immediately. I can get what I want from HuLu or Apple TV.

Sleep should be EZ...

I had an unusual sleep experience last Tuesday night. Or was it Wednesday morning? Matters not. I was staying in a hotel, alone, away from home on a short business trip. I sometimes have trouble getting to sleep when away from home alone, but that had not been the case the evening before, although it was a bit late, 11 PM-ish, before I turned out the lights. Once the lights were out, I drifted off quite quickly, as I often do. The hotel provided a pretty good bed--not too firm, not too soft, it neither sagged nor poked me. After an indeterminate time, I awakened from a deep sleep with no sense of how long I had been asleep. As there were no noticeable sounds and no light leaking in past the curtains, I figured it to not yet be morning. I felt no need to get up, so I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and continued to lie in the bed. I was lying on my back, arms to my side and legs slightly apart. Under my head was a single soft but firm pillow. Over my torso a sheet and very light blanket. And here is the strange part: I continued to lie there without motion, only breathing, but very much awake. For a long time. And I didn't care that if was awake or asleep. Now, normally during sleep time, if I don't go back to sleep after awakening I get impatient. I count backward from 1000, I try deep breathing, I try to consciously clear my mind, desperate to get back into sleep, I wind up twitching and itching, tossing and turning, moving the pillow(s) here then there, pulling up then tossing off the covers. But this time none of that. I was totally relaxed, almost unaware that my body existed and not the least disturbed that I was lying there awake. Was this a zen-like trance? I wouldn't know, but it surely was pleasant. I didn't sleep; I didn't dream. Yet this seemed better. I could feel myself getting rested--almost transcendental as if I could SEE myself getting rested. My limbs didn't protest, neither my nose nor my ears itched, I was only barely aware of my breathing. The only other time I've experienced anything even close to this feeling was once, years ago, when I paid for a 20-minute session inside a floatation tank. These devices are designed to provide stress relief through short-term sensory deprivation. Just bigger than a coffin, they are half-filled with 98.6 degree salt water. One climbs in, naked, and floats. The machine has imperceptible currents, equal in the water from from all four sides, so that you remain floating without touching the chamber walls. Soft ambient lighting and music fade away until it is dark inside, and quiet. In this way you lose track of nearly everything but your breathing, and, after a while, your heart beat. At the end of the session, the light slowly fades up and music becomes noticeable, very faint at first, until you are "back" in your conscious state. I can't speak to the long-term health or emotional benefits of a session in one of these tanks, but I can say that I felt pretty good after the session. My sleep experience this past week was even better, as there was no vestige of claustrophobic feelings in my bed. I did eventually go back to sleep, as my alarm awakened me at 5:30 AM. I have no idea how long I stayed in my zen-like state. I think I may have been able to stay there forever if not acted upon by some outside force. It was truly blissful. When I got up I felt as rested as I can recall feeling. Don't know how I got there, there were no drugs involved, but I'd volunteer to go back any time if I knew how! For once, something nice really was EZ!

Even a simple drive may not be EZ.

Today I drove from Washington, DC to Dayton, Ohio. I had to "ferry" a company-owned vehicle from a closed-out jobsite in DC to a current jobsite at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Not a bad drive, about 550 miles, took a bit less than 11 hours what with stops and all. I got to drive through some truly beautiful scenery. The little truck ran good and no real incidents to complain of. There was one 18-wheeler off the road which held up traffic for about 20 minutes, but no one was hurt. The truck was off the road because of the snow. That's right, four inches of fresh unplowed snow on the road in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia on the 2nd of April, 2011. The road only climbs to 3,295 feet above sea level there, which represents the Eastern Continental Divide in the Appalachian Mountains, between Strasberg, VA and Elkins, WV, still, the snow came down with a vengeance. The roads there climb, drop, and wind, and are mostly narrow two-lane roads, so there was a stretch of about 50 miles that I probably only averaged about 20 MPH driving on very slippery snow. One of the most interesting sites: Wardenville, WV. I approached the town from the Virginia side on a wide, smooth, two-lane road. Once through the town, the road, for a short distance, is a wonderful four-lane divided expressway. But in the town itself? Main Street, an integral part of the highway, is unpaved, rough, muddy, and narrow. Single story frame buildings with covered front porches are scattered along a board-walk-like sidewalk, and many people were out and about, visiting, or just watching the (very little) traffic. I felt like I'd stepped back into the 19th century. Main Street was only about four blocks long, then through the time warp and back to today.

Public Sector Unions

Stephen Greenhouse is the erudite reporter and best-selling author of the current well-reviewed book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, a very pro-union tome. The Washington Monthly says, “An excellent book . . . Greenhouse exhibits outrage and moral indignation and an idealism one doesn’t necessarily expect from a hard-bitten New York Times reporter.”

Today I listened to an interview of Mr. Greenhouse on NPR, a distribution media often thought to be somewhat left-leaning. In that interview, Mr. Greenhouse stated that the approriate role of a union is the protection and preservation of all that is in the best interests of the worker. This often puts the union in the position of advocating positions that are clearly not in the best interest of the employer. I find no fault in his analysis.

He went on to point out that this "appropriate" union role has a very interesting impact when the union represents public employees, to wit: Unions are paid by mandatory deductions from the salaries of the public employees. Those salaries are paid by the taxpayers. Thus, the taxpayers are the employers. Thus, unions are paid by the taxpayers to advocate positions that are clearly not in the best interests of the taxpayers. Therefore, every public employee who pays taxes is a member of "management" and thus not eligible for union membership. There you have it. From a pro-union voice.

Let me end this by pointing out that I am NOT anti-union. I am anti-mandatory union membership. I strongly believe that private-sector workers MUST have the right to free association, to organize and authorize unions to enter into collective bargaining in their name. I strongly believe that neither employers nor unions may be allowed to use harassment, violence, or unfair practices dealing with labor issues. I am also vehemently opposed to the union-supported "card-check" union elections (which steal from the worker the essential and elementary right to a secret ballot.) People who push the hardest for mandatory unions and card-check union elections are the very same people who cry that it's a discriminatory hardship to require U.S. citizens to show a photo ID to vote in our government's elections. Talk about inconsistent!

I believe that management needs labor -- otherwise, bargaining, collective or otherwise, would be impossible. I believe that our economy (thus, labor) needs management--entrepenuers and financiers. Without them, labor would be worth much less: only the value of basic subsistence. If management needs labor, and if labor needs management, then we have a common starting point from which negotiations may begin. If such is not the case, there is no common ground, and no way to reach mutually beneficial agreement. Close the plant and go home. There is no reason to be here: no salary, no benefits, no profit.

Business is not EZ

As a part-owner of a business, I find it distressing that so many people think that business owners are greedy and "rich." We employ people in several states, Ohio included. Of each and every dollar of company revenue, 42.4 cents go to direct salaries, 16 cents to employee benefits, our overhead (taxes and cost of doing business) averages about 37.9 cents on every dollar (higher in Ohio, lower in Texas.) On average, that leaves about 3.7 cents of every dollar in "profit." From that 3.7 cents we have to maintain and reinvest to grow and meet any contingencies. We are barely able to be price competitive now, despite making all the economies we can find. Any increase in taxes or costs MUST be passed along to our customers or we must close and eliminate the jobs we have slaved to create. If the increases cause us to become non-competitive, we may have the choice of moving to a lower cost environment. Here's a secret for you to share: No business has ever paid a penny in taxes. Businesses simply collect the taxes from their customers and pass them along to the government. Businesses aren't taxed -- people are taxed. George Soros is rich. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are rich. Very few businessmen ever reach those pinnacles -- and if they do, it is because they have offered something of value to millions of working people. I personally don't agree with George Soros' politics, but I love his Progressive Insurance Company because they offer good service and value for the cost. That's good business, and good business is good for the economy and good for the Republic.

Food for thought

I wish I could never again see or hear of violence in public discourse. The posting at the link, below, is certainly interesting.

Source: http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/who-is-violent-left-or-right/