Newspapers failing…Create a tax to help them fail more *Good Idea*

It’s no surprise that newspapers are going through tough times. With too many employees, a too harsh view and support of the internet, and an overall lack of good business practices have caused the unraveling we are seeing today. While they may claim until they’re blue in the face that it is the internet and “copyright violations” that are stealing their content and revenue, it is something themselves getting destroyed from the inside out. The whole basis of a free market economy is the birth and death of businesses and business models. When one fails, another stronger, more efficient, and overall better replacement comes to fill the empty space. Apparently the Netherlands missed that briefing as they have somehow come up with the dumbest solution I’ve ever heard: Imposing an “Internet Tax” and taking the proceeds to exclusively fund the failing newspapers that can’t compete in order to “help them out”. While there is already strong opposition and no real assurance it will pass, it still leaves me worried that someone could even think this was an acceptable solution. You simply can’t fix an amputated leg with a glue stick. Fix the core problem, the the results of said outcome.

Source: Tech Dirt

Newspapers going the way of the auto industry – succombing to the digital age?

When you hear the words “auto industry” in this day and age, it is hard to think of a properous and youthful market.  One that is expanding and on the leading edge of automotive technology.  However, we all know that the U.S. auto industry is anything but “leading edge” or prosperous.  Unfortunately, they aren’t the only market to start feeling the pinch of not only economic times, but also the technological times as technology and digitized goods become more and more a part of our daily lives.  So what area of the market has been thrust into the spotlight claiming to be in the most dire need of help and a solution?  The newspaper industry.