January 14th, 2009: "They Just Don't Make Them Like They Used To"

[Citi]

Michael Worthington reminds me of nearly every executive I ever met (and most officers I served with in the service). You notice how he called Artur, Art? Guys like that think they have people skills simply because they've acquired enough power that no one tells them what a life sucking megalomaniac they are.

I knew an exec who liked to have the tech support guys come out to his house on their weekends, on the company dime on overtime, to work on his PC. This is the same guy who used to have bags of ice melt the company paid for loaded into his car whenever it snowed. This is the same company that laid me off after nearly four years because they didn't have enough money to justify a second shift.

When I was in the service I had a CO (commanding officer) who made our company go jogging in MOPP 4 (full chemical gear with the gas mask which makes it really hard to breath) and when the company returned, his driver caught him putting the filters back into his gas mask (no filters would make it a lot easier for him to breath); and he set the pace for the run!

Nope. I don't like the Michael Worthington's of the world. Not. One. Bit.

On to brighter subjects.

A friend of mine, Elnea, who just bought a Wii Fit, suggested that President Bush must have played the Wii Fit soccer game quite a bit. Since the game requires you to dodge balls, Panda Heads (for some unknown reason) and shoes; I find the idea utterly hilarious. I am seriously considering getting some screen shots and merging the footage (assuming it hasn't been done already).

Lastly, I wanted to bring these articles (article 1, article 2) to your attention. New York is desperate for money and trying to force companies to collect sales tax. As the first article points out, citizens are supposed to report these purchases as it is but the states know it is a near impossibility to police and most purchases will go unreported. The idea that they can force a company to comply with this nonsense when they aren't based in the state flies in the face of all the history of collecting sales tax. But New York and California tend to set the pace when it comes to legal finagelry (totally not a word) and if New York pulls this off you can be sure other states will be right behind them.

I'm against it. I think the reasons for leaving internet businesses alone on sales tax are still quite valid, and I'm not just saying that because I want to sell you T-Shirts at some point. Right now there are indeed some businesses like
Amazon (and perhaps if the law was being applied to companies like Amazon with massive revenues only; I could meet them half way) that are doing very well but there are really only a few. The vast majority of the internet is like a little ember, just barely beginning to flame. In their desperate grab for cash, states will blow out this flame before it has a chance to light.

It may not be the end of Amazon.com (although it will almost certainly be the end of their associate program) but it will certainly mean the end of many small internet based businesses that don't have the revenue or capabilities of collecting and processing sales tax for fifty different states and lord knows how many counties, cities and towns.

This is why local elections are so important. This isn't the federal government doing this. According to the Supreme Court it is currently unconstitutional for the government to tax the internet (which is why I really thought the Amazon case had a shot). If you have a local official who you can contact, and you run an internet business of any kind you should contact them and make your feelings known. Your livelihood may be at stake.

See ya here Friday for the next dose of Remedy!