Be INFORMED

Thursday, August 11, 2011

New Hypersonic Glide? Isn’t The U.S. Broke?

      It is downright funny how our members of the government get on television and tell the population that we ( the middle class and the poor) must all sacrifice during this time of our bad economy because the United States has no money to spend on social services needed by the working/non-working poor in this country. Hell, our government harps that we need to cut back on Medicare, Social Security, and anything else that would help us. Yet, we can still find the money to finance the corporations which build weapons for our military, and not even bat an eye at the cost?

     Our newest toy is a hypersonic glider which runs at 13,000 miles per hour. That’s something that I have always felt that we needed. Not!

   So they took this thing up to the edge of space and then let it fly back down towards the planet and into the ocean. Wonder how much that little task cost us?

A rocket carried the agency's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 to the edge of space, where it separated from the booster to maneuver through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph. Minutes into the flight, the agency said the mission was on track in its glide phase. The mission will end with a plunge into the ocean.

The U.S. military is trying to develop technology to respond to threats around the globe at speeds of Mach 20 or greater.

   How about taking the money that this glider cost and then responding to some of the threats in the United States. You know. Things like unemployment, a jobs program, and some real healthcare for everybody.

Verizon Workers Continue To Strike …

    …as well they should since  the company posted a  2nd quarter revenue increase of 2.8 percent to $27.5 billion. Hell, the 1st quarter was very good for Verizon as well, with earnings of $27 billion and they even added 2.2 million iPhone activations.

   The strike, by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is over the usual suspects;health care, pensions and work rules

 

 2nd Quarter

Consolidated

  • 57 cents in diluted earnings per share (EPS), compared with a loss of 42 cents per share and adjusted EPS (non-GAAP) of 51 cents in 2Q 2010.

Wireless

  • 6.6 percent year-over-year increase in service revenues in 2Q 2011; data revenues up 22.2 percent; 27.1 percent operating income margin and 45.4 percent Segment EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP).
  • 2.2 million net additions, excluding acquisitions and adjustments, includes 1.3 million retail postpaid net customer additions; 106.3 million total connections, includes 89.7 million retail customers.
  • Retail postpaid churn of 0.89 percent, the lowest in three years.

Wireline

  • 189,000 FiOS Internet and 184,000 FiOS TV net additions.
  • 9.4 percent year-over-year increase in consumer ARPU; FiOS consumer retail revenues represent approximately 57 percent of total consumer revenues.
  • 17.8 percent increase in strategic services revenues, representing approximately 48 percent of total global enterprise revenues.