Net neutrality, coupons and capitalism

 Many political conservatives or alternate voices in medicine, history and science are going to YouTube, pod-casts, alternative media to be heard, and to get around the blatant media bias filled with Trump hate and Climate scares. Every day I find new sources--some just awful (bad voice quality, bad IT) and some very good.  Meanwhile when I log in the search engine front pages lie about "net neutrality" and how we need it. No, THEY need it to keep the alternative viewpoints and start ups back. The "wild west" internet is what made these giants like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, etc., and like all good capitalists who become Democrats in order to fight competition that made them great, they want to put up the barbed wire fences with the government's help. Lots of lobbyists make their livelihood with this.

Forty years ago when I was writing about the coupon scams, it was the same deal. The largest companies put out the most generous offers so they could block the newer products which couldn't afford that kind of advertising in the cut throat grocery business.. Customers fall for coupons every time--can't believe that companies don't exist to "save" you money. Voters are similar. Capitalism works when the big guy eats or stops the little guy. It's still better than government transfers, but you need to understand the game.

 https://mises.org/library/net-neutrality-scam

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGtq7Ou-RrY

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z_nBhfpmk4

Women are still not ready for prime time

The U.S. needs innovators. Our outdated federal IT system is just one of the problems. Some agencies are still using floppy disks, and they are spending billions patching and repairing.  Putting social manipulation ahead of innovation is a big problem. Although women now outnumber men in PhDs they are over represented in the social sciences, and are not innovators in the sciences. (They do write about it if you've ever looked at the research.) The exception is foreign born Chinese women living in the U.S. or who have become citizens. So do you manipulate hiring/appointing to include less qualified? Why are women avoiding the harder subjects? We've had special workshops and classes for young females for 40 years! I know because I helped teach them in the 1980s.

The demographics of innovation, Feb. 2016

"Rather than using entrepreneurship, advanced degrees, or patents filed as metrics to approximate the creation of successful, commercial inventions, we identify meaningful and marketable innovations and then study the people behind them."

The drivers of innovation in the United States

Who is driving innovation in the U.S.? The demographics of U.S. innovation are different from not only the demographics of the United States as a whole, but also the demographics of college-educated Americans and even those with a Ph.D. in science or engineering. . . Immigrants born in Europe or Asia are over five times more likely to have created an innovation in America than the average native-born U.S. citizen, and they are better educated in STEM. . . Women represent only 12 % of U.S. innovators. . . The average male born in the United States is nine times more likely to contribute to an innovation than the average female. . . U.S.-born minorities (including Asians, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and other ethnicities) make up just 8% of U.S.-born innovators. However, these groups total 32% of the total U.S.-born population. Blacks make up just half a percent of U.S. innovators. The median innovator is 47 years of age and typically has years of work experience and deep knowledge in STEM fields.

This information was from the summary; an interesting survey and report on an important topic.

 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION | FEBRUARY 2016