Arun Sharma

This is what I use for thoughts that don't fit into 140 characters and share with anyone who cares to read it.

[arunsharma]

Unaccountable Media

This is not the first time someone is observing that Media is completely out of touch with people watching it, especially after the Internet became a thing in the 90s. Books such as the Digital Disconnect make the same point in other ways.

This is an attempt to present the argument in a simple way or the American way - follow the money. Let's look at the ownership and revenue structure of some of the major TV channels in America.

1. ABC - Disney 2. NBC - Comcast 3. CNN - Time Warner 4. FOX - 21st Century Fox, Murdochs 5. CBS - CBS Corp (formerly Viacom and Westinghouse)

Of these, the first three seem to be least bothered about revenues from their News channels.  They have revenue streams from elsewhere that can subsidize their operations. Those revenue streams are not affected by whether the opinions and the political inclination of the news channel matches that of its audience.

Specifically, if you are a cable company - it doesn't matter if your audience gets upset with the opinion of channel A and switches to channel B. You make money as long as they are watching some cable news or take vacations in Disneyland. Fox and CBS don't seem to be the two companies that actually rely on revenue streams from their media operations. Predictably, some of Fox's programming is designed to take market share away from the other big channels via contrarian view points and some populism.

CBS is probably the most "centrist" among the media corps listed above. Although Trump wasn't very happy with one of it's journalists, I see less sensationalism (which is the opposite of Charlie Rose?).

Hopefully  regulating the money from other industries flowing into video journalism and forcing the media to rely on viewer satisfacton would lead to healthier journalistic practices.

[arunsharma]

Why I will not be voting for the first two I'm an Asian American immigrant. I've lived in America for 20+ years and I will not be voting for the two "mainstream" candidates. If you have 10-15 minutes to read, I’ll try to explain why. At the outset, there seems to be an effort to make this election about personal character. I think the single most important issue of my years in America is the corruption behind reckless money printing and then trying to hide it behind complicated terms such as "quantitative easing" and interest rates. If you buy coffee for $5 and then tell the bartender that I printed twice the money and I get to keep all the extra money that has been printed, you're paying the bartender $2.50, no matter how you slice it, even if the inflation is 2%. It's corruption, probably of the worse kind than what you experience when a policeman in a poor country demands a bribe to ignore your traffic violation. It leads to income inequality. It leads to inflated property prices, indirect racial segregation and more corruption to hide the original sin. Under the Obama presidency, since 2008, the size of the stock market, the liquid money supply (M2) and the size of the derivative market (1.2 quadrillion dollars) has made the very concept of money meaningless. Many ordinary people don't understand the significance of this and dismiss it as an irrelevant event, since the government reported (nominal) inflation tends to be only 2%. However, if you look deeper at how it impacts your life - where you live, what kind of pains are you willing to put up for the very concept of money that's in flux, your education, health care choices and a host of other issues that impact your quality of life have been swept under the media fireworks around groping women and other salacious Kim Kardashian'eseque news articles. More than half of Americans report being stressed just watching the election coverage. It's hard to choose between racist bigotry, xenophobia vs economic imperialism and urban elitism. I much prefer urban vs rural to describe the divide instead of the more condescending "whites without college education" that media peddles. America can and should do better than this. Just like Manmohan Singh in India, the Obamas have used their upright personal character to be used as a cover for the further slide of America towards a "FIRE economy" (look it up on wikipedia or zerohedge) instead of a manufacturing and technology based one. People don't want insurance coverage, they want quality health care. When your health care company uses a third party billing company to charge you $200 for a TB test that public schools want, a test that's available for free in third world countries, many voters accept it as the cost of the doing business in America, just like you need to bribe government officials elsewhere. There has to be a better choice than what these two extremes represent. We must reject this false choice. I don't know much about Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. But I'll try and read up on them over the next few weeks. It's high time that America rejected the two party system and how only voters in 4 states really participate in the election. The rest of us are spectators who live on 4% of America's land mass and really scared of living among the "deplorables".

[arunsharma]

They hammer, with swords and guns and smartphones and double-digit growth, at the doors of the beef-eaters, the environmentalists, the university students, the feminists, the Dalits, the leftists, the dissenting writers, the skeptics, the “anti-nationals”—anyone who will not declare, both fists clenched, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai!” They have a rage that must burn itself out, and all that stands between them and the ashes of their rage is the astonishing, amazing phenomenon of a world that can still produce, from the crushed bottom layers of Indian society, people who, with every bit of the dignity and courage they can muster, resist the lure of their silent, lonely, aloof, admired, and unloved leader.

Siddhartha Deb https://newrepublic.com/article/133014/new-face-india-anti-gandhi

Whether you agree with this guy or not, I’m amazed by the provocative use of the language and imagery (everything with dark hues). Expert hit job.

[arunsharma]

Market-leading AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) this week became the last of the “big four” carriers to drop two-year plans.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2015/12/how-bellevues-t-mobile-changed-the-industry.html It took 9 years to undo the damage?

[sunset-supergirl]

[arunsharma]

I wasn’t into Debian Linux much during the 90s mainly because I grew up on Red Hat/Fedora and got tired of installing linux over and over again. But there was something about Ian’s untimely death that hit home. He discovered linux early on, just like I did (circa 93-94). The idealism, willingness to help perfect strangers, hanging out for long hours on mailing lists sound very familiar. He achieved a lot more than I ever did - just observing similarities with a fellow Gen X’er. As he grew older, he seems to have found ways of doing what he likes, while getting paid for it. He probably was presented with a different set of opportunities given his stature and made different choices. The circumstances of his death are a bit unclear, but whatever happened, his work speaks for itself. The only reason I’d be interested in learning more in a few days is to figure out ways of preventing these types of tragedies, which are far more common in the industry I work in compared to the rest of the population. RIP.

[arunsharma]

What’s common between the first two graphs? They show the popularity of two websites in India rising into the top 500 in the first quarter of the year. The two websites are: scroll.in and huffingtonpost.in. These two websites have really well edited stories, beautiful pictures, infinite scrolling and significantly, zero ads - everything needed to keep an average new junkie engaged for significant periods of time. What’s the catch? How do these guys make money? They get their funding from some VC/philanthropist the in the US and carry news articles with a very clear bias to the left (”Intolerance and fear is in the air”). The “Bold and right” opposite of this is niticentral, which shares some of the characteristics: good, but not as-slick presentation, few ads and generally self reinforcing political opinion with little critical thinking. To appreciate how different these websites are, one needs to visit the “branded” media websites (newspapers you read as a child if you grew up in India) such as times of india and indian express. Most of them are cesspools of popup ads and ugly, semi-porno links from companies such as outbrain.com. The average modi supporter thinks this is an international banker conspiracy (”illuminati”) out to destroy India and has nothing to do with beef eating. The average modi hater (who doesn’t support anyone in particular) is busy taking an uber to the beef eating party or hunting for liquor on Gandhi’s birthday. What are the chances of the emergence of a decent centrist news website that figures out a revenue model that doesn’t involve either of these extremes - ugly ads vs questionable sources of funding with political goals?

[arunsharma]

Phone with the highest customer satisfaction?

Visit Samsung today for Samsung Galaxy S^® 5 (AT&T), Charcoal Black. You'll find product and support information for our products and information about our company. Imagine what Samsung can do for you!

You'd expect that a search for "Galaxy S5 USB drivers" will take you directly to the download page above? Turns out that no one links to this page (search for link:url-above) and you have to look up an annoying model number such as G900 to find it on Samsung's support site. Is this incompetence on Samsung's part or some international conspiracy?

[arunsharma]

Why you shouldn't use Taxi4Sure for long distance travel

This is not necessarily a critique of Taxi4Sure - one of the aggregators active in Bangalore. It applies to the rest of the much scrutinized industry as well. This is the second time I used them for a 2-3 day trip. In both cases, they treat me like I'm taking a 10 km cab ride to M.G.Road. "The driver will call you 20 mins before the trip" is what the customer service rep says, regardless of duration, destination and what you're risking based on hotel and other travel related arrangements. No matter how much time you spend on the phone, the answer doesn't change much. And there is a 20% chance that the taxi doesn't show up at all and 50% chance that it's late by about an hour. But the second experience is what I found troubling. This trip was to an out of state destination. We needed to cross two state borders (Tamilnadu and Pondicherry). This is where hi-tech phone app runs into trouble with plain old Indian corruption and complete ignorance of keeping the customer happy vs a nebulous and opaque system where everyone involved is "fairly" compensated for their efforts. If you're driving a private car (with a white license plate), you can just zip across state borders. But not so with a yellow license plates that cabs typically use. Again, there is the "state permit" and "all india permit" types. The latter pays a higher upfront fee for lower fees on crossing state borders. And on top of that the RTOs collecting the money are corrupt and want their cut. There is some type of a "understanding" between the taxi company that has a slick app and customer service reps with fake sounding names like "tia" or "ria" that seamlessly switch between kannada (talking to the driver) and english (talking to the customer) on what is the "right" price. The driver demands 1.5x the "understood" price of Rs 1000 ($16) and goes into the RTO office and comes back and starts driving. When I ask for a receipt for what he paid, he pulls out something like this:

and then argues that I owe taxes for Rs 1000 - which he claims what he had to pay if the cab had a state permit instead of the "All India permit". I failed to read the bill closely - it was for the week of Nov 1-Nov7th. My date of Journey was in December :) Same story in Pondicherry, but at least he paid Rs 430 there for the 3 days.

I spent another 30 mins on the phone with the taxi company on how all of this is bad customer experience, advised them to:

Send the taxi driver's details a day in advance

Hide the dirty details of how the taxes work from the customer

The tolls on the other hand worked perfectly - it was a fixed amount, very clearly displayed and worth paying, given the access to better maintained roads. I'm not very optimistic that this will result in any changes to their business practices. In the meanwhile, I'm better off dealing directly with people who operate the cabs, instead of going through smartphone app companies. They're not really adding any value here.

[arunsharma]

Annoying Jewelry ads

So I took my son to "Penguins of Madagascar" movie in one of the malls in Bangalore the other day. Most of these movies are about 1hr 45 mins, to be seen without any pauses. But not in India. The quintessential Indian movie going experience includes this thing called "intermission" - an opportunity to sell samosas, popcorn and coffee and as I found out, much more. As I discovered, the number one source of ads was gold and jewelry. There is an endless series of ads in English, Kannada in all kinds of annoying show of pomp and exhibitionism that I find really disgusting in the middle of a kids movie. But apparently the margins are good and this seems to be a very profitable business and Indian audience is always receptive to these ads in any setting. Sample:

More: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=india+jewellry+ad

[arunsharma]

Bangalore bubble driven by scarcity?

Turn on the radio in Bangalore and all you hear is 2BHK and 3BHK. What was Rs 70 lakhs a year ago is now 1 Crore and what was 1 Crore may overflow your CPUs number crunching capability in a couple of years. There are builders offering "double your money in 3 years" schemes and everybody seems to assume that a 15% year over year appreciation is a given (banks give you 10%). The market is very opaque - there is no data on current sales (no zillow) prices or volume. So builders are free to make up whatever prices they like and the buyer needs to do informal polling to figure out if they're bluffing.

I happened to open a 5 year old email when I did a price check on a high end builder (more out of curiosity than an intention of buying). During this period, politicians have more than doubled their networth and the prices of everything have skyrocketed.

And yet, this builder and another similar property is selling for only a 10% premium over what was quoted in 2009. How do you explain this?

My theories:

Market is driven by younger, first time buyers.

These guys can get 8x their annual salary in a mortgage

Low end real estate tracks IT salaries

Higher end sales don't see this effect.

Many higher end properties involve at least 50% in "black money" (tax fraud) and are illiquid

Rents can't sustain these properties and HOA fees are high. Most people bet on appreciation to break even.

Depending on your point of view, you can conclude:

First time buyers are being squeezed by greedy builders and by demographics and resulting demand.

Higher end properties are not worth it (except as a way to hide illegal cash).

[arunsharma]

“Now that Dr. Khobragade has returned to India, the court in the United States has no jurisdiction in India over her,” he said. “[The Indian] government will therefore no longer engage on this case in the United States’ legal system.”

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-india-says-its-disappointed-by-new-us-charges-against-devyani-khobragade-20140315,0,7522593.story#ixzz2w2IrvA7y

[arunsharma]

A Pakistani judicial official reduced on Saturday the 33-year jail sentence of a doctor alleged to have helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden to 23 years, one of his lawyers said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/15/pakistan-doctor-bin-laden-reduced-charges/6452697/

[arunsharma]

http://www.rediff.com/news/2014/jan/10khobragade-devyani-indictment-exhibits.pdf

Payment. The contract must state that after the first 90 days of employment, all wage payments must be made by check or by electronic transfer to the domestic worker’s bank account. Neither Mission members nor their family members should have access to domestic workers' bank accounts. In addition, the Department requires that the employer retain records of employment and payment for three years after the termination of the employment in order to address any complaints that may subsequently arise. Further, the bank account must be in the United States so that domestic workers may readily access and utilize their wages.

If this was a requirement, she was clearly in violation.

[arunsharma]

Predictions:

Devyani: moving with her family to a European country or pursuing a political career in India.

Bharara: Very likely to be indicted and barred from entering India (he's already barred from entering Russia)

Kerry/State Dept: Look stupid for handling this with unmatched incompetence.

Other Indian diplomat nannies: probably on their way home.

It looks like there will be a final court encounter between Devyani and Preet before she leaves. That may be worth of a scene in a bollywood movie.

[arunsharma]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-09/u-s-visa-law-fuels-domestic-employee-abuse.html

wouldn’t they be more likely to hire locally rather than importing domestic help?

No. This article completely ignores what's broken about American system. Healthcare and housing have been made artificially more expensive by the fed. It's nearly impossible to hire a nanny in Manhattan unless you're a wall street banker. Someone getting paid $2000 without housing and food would be significantly poorer than Sangeeta Richard.

[arunsharma]

Worse, just before the arrest, the maid’s family was spirited out of India on US visas for victims of human trafficking. The implication that an Indian diplomat in a wage dispute with her maid is guilty of human trafficking understandably riles Indian diplomats as much as the treatment of Khobragade after she was detained. The American habit of imposing its worldview self-righteously on others is deeply unwelcome. To most Indians, common discourtesy cannot be repackaged as moral virtue.

Read more at http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/shashi-tharoor-says-that-us-authorities--arrest-in-december-of-india-s-deputy-consul-general-in-new-york-has-profoundly-damaged-bilateral-relations#EEHUxv4DwzBcCkEZ.99

[arunsharma]

Martina Vandenberg cites a few cases involving diplomats from Italy, Mauritius and Taiwan and asks: So why the fracas in New Delhi?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/diplomats-who-commit-domestic-worker-crimes-shouldnt-get-a-free-pass/2014/01/01/61b750b6-719d-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html She's been on Arnab Goswami's show, but doesn't look like she tried to understand the anger in India or worse, intentionally chose to ignore it. Hope this helps her and all the other well meaning, "overwrought" human trafficking advocates in New York:

Devyani didn't snatch her passport like in other cases. There was no need to. Sangeeta was on a passport that didn't allow her to work elsewhere.

There is no evidence of physical mistreatment or confinement as in other cases (esp: involving Saudis).

No forgery of any documents. Visa fraud is a trumped up charge. Expect Devyani to be vindicated in the court.

Doesn't acknowledge her own role in getting the T-visa (disproportionately issued to Indian nationals) and subverting the legal process in another country.

No evidence of strip search - even when the crimes were much more "grave".

This case should be recognized for what it should be: wage dispute between two nationals of another country, where a legal process is underway. Martina should go represent Sangeeta in Delhi high court, if she believes in the case. She may be able to find a few other cases involving underpaid Indian workers in the US embassy.