Jon Levine

For those of you that don’t know, I moved into a new condo in April of this year.  When I say new, I mean both to me and that it was newly constructed. Called ‘The Radius‘, it is located in the heart of downtown Hollywood, right on Young’s Circle.

When I first saw it, after I moved in, and even to this day, I find this building to be incredible.  It is impeccably maintained, offers a wealth of services and amenities, and is pet friendly, so I was able to keep my dog, Penny.  For all of that, however, there is one fatal flaw.  One flaw that I am afraid is making me stupider.  The included internet service is horrendous. 

Common in large condominiums such as this, a contract was signed to a provider who offered the services of TV, internet and phone in one package.  The company that was contracted in this case, MDU Communications, provides DirecTV and internet to each unit in the building, whether you want it or not.  Due to this contract, no other provider can be brought in to service individual units, regardless if the owner wants them or not.

Now, to be completely honest, I couldn’t care less who the provider is.  I’m not a big TV watcher and the difference between DirecTV and Comcast Cable is negligible.  All I was really concerned with was the internet. As you can imagine, I’m a bit of a power user.  Previously, I lived in a building that was built in 1960 and serviced by Comcast.  The average download speeds in that apartment was around 3mbps. That’s three-million bits per second.  In the condo I now live in, which was built in 2006, my average download speed is 750kpbs.  that’s 750 thousand bits per second.  Millions. Thousands.  How big of a difference is that?  At 3mbps, a movie rental from Apple is ready to watch in less than two minutes.  At 750kbps, that same movie rental takes over an hour before it’s ready to watch.  As you can imagine, anything more than surfing basic websites and sending email (without attachments) is painful.

And here’s the part where it’s making me stupider.  I used to wake up in the morning and, instead of reading a newspaper, get my news from the internet.  I could watch video clips, listen to interviews, see pictures of the latest events all in a fast and efficient manner (and no ink on my fingers).   Now, watching a webpage slowly load is the most maddening sight in the world. Forget video clips.  After waiting five minutes for it to start playing, it goes for 30 seconds then stops for another minute while it buffers.  

It’s because of this that I go into work unprepared to discuss the issues of the world with my colleagues. I’m asked if I’ve seen this or what’s my opinion on that, but I can only shake my head and say I haven’t seen it or I don’t know about it. It’s sad.

It’s funny, you don’t realize how much you lean on a fast connection to the internet to enhance your daily life.  It’s where we bank, shop, book travel, learn, laugh and even fall in love.  Try living with out it for eight months.  You’ll find, like I did, that a big part of your life is missing.

There’s a new poll out, taken by the Washington Post and ABC News.  In it, 52% of those polled support Barack Obama, while 43% support John McCain.  I would suggest reading it, but here’s a few key points:

“The poll found that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent. Two weeks ago, in the days immediately following the Republican National Convention, the race was essentially even, with McCain at 49 percent and Obama at 47 percent.”

“As a point of comparison, neither of the last two Democratic nominees –John F. Kerry in 2004 or Al Gore in 2000 — recorded support above 50 percent in a pre-election poll by the Post and ABC News.”

And this about Palin:

“…reaction to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, has cooled somewhat. Overall, her unfavorable rating has gone up by 10 points in the past two weeks, from 28 percent to 38 percent.”

Even more importantly:

“Independents, key swing voters, now break for Obama, 53 percent to 39 percent, reversing a small lead for McCain after the Republican convention.”

Finally, the crux of what this election is going to be about because guess what, it ain’t getting any better:

“In the new poll, voters once again gave Obama higher marks than McCain when it comes to dealing with the economy, 53 percent to 39 percent. Two weeks ago, Obama’s edge on the question was a narrow five points, his lowest of the campaign. Among independents, Obama’s advantage on the economy — now 21 points — is greater than at any point in the campaign.”

I found this interesting blog post about who’s advising John McCain on economic matters. It should come as no surprise that it’s a bunch of fat-cat stiffs.  From the article:

Doug Holtz-Eakin source

Holtz-Eakin is a formerly respected academic and government economist who has been reduced to making distortionaryarguments to paper over the massive deficit black hole McCain’s tax cuts would create.

Arthur Laffer source
Laffer is the originator of the Laffer curve, the fringe view that claims government revenue increases when tax rates are lowered. There is zero empirical evidence this is true at current tax rates. McCain has repeatedly said that he believes this foolishness, but Holtz-Eakin has said (also repeatedly) that McCain does not.

Phil Gramm source
Gramm is a lobbyist who was vice president of one of the investment houses most heavily implicated in the mortage industry scandal. As a senator he pushed for the banking deregulation that contributed to the current crisis. See more here.

Kevin Hassett source
Hassett has been widely ridiculed for writing the book Dow 36000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market in 1999, predicting that the Dow would hit 36,000 within five years, if not sooner.

Donald Luskin source
Luskin has been repeatedly named the Stupidest Man Alive by Brad Delong. See here for an example. I can attest based on my own interaction with him a few years back that in addition to being not the sharpest tack in the box, he is also an extremely unpleasant person.

Nancy Pfotenhauer source
Pfotenhauer is a pure distilled product of Koch Industries, an oil company which funds much of the right wing message machine. See here for details.

Carly Fiorina source
Fiorina was spectacularly fired from her previous job as CEO of HP. According to the Times,

… Republicans say Ms. Fiorina is using the McCain campaign to rebuild her image after her explosive tenure at Hewlett-Packard. They also say it is hard to see why a woman widely criticized for mismanaging one of Silicon Valley’s legendary companies is advising and representing a candidate who acknowledged last year that he did not understand the economy as well as he should.

Regarding Fiorina, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the senior associate dean for executive programs at the Yale School of Management, says “What a blind spot this is in the McCain campaign to have elevated her stature and centrality in this way. You couldn’t pick a worse, non-imprisoned C.E.O. to be your standard-bearer.”

It’s an interesting read.  Seems like we’re on the brink in the country and McCain is putting his faith in the people that helped get us here.