Gene Morphis ' View

I received some comments from Professor Kim on my previous, when Logic is Abandoned, post: Food for thought. I'm confused. My job for the past 20 years has been to identify the best segments or targets to market my products against. Once identified, often using demographic data such as gender, age, household size, or income, I would then discriminate and send certain offers based on consumer profiling. I would not send offers for petfood to men, nor promotions for bridal gowns to older women. You see, we know that it is ridiculous, inefficient, and wasteful to send the wrong offer to the wrong person. So....using past data we profile. And based on the profile, we determine if you are somebody who will receive a marketing message or not. Profiling is at the heart of what marketers do. We call it segmentation, but it is essentially determining the likelihood of different groups to want your product or service. I believe it is only responsible to segment / profile. And I ...

I remember clearly when I realized my government was going to abandon logic.  Not long after the passage of some anti-discrimination laws, the insurance industry lost an important trial.  An insurer was charged with discrimination on the basis of sex, because life annuities paid less per month or year for women than men.  Court ruling: clearly discriminatory.  But the data on life span is abundant, robust, and unchallenged.  In the U.S., women, measured by average length of life, by the median, or any distribution measure one can use, live longer than men.  Over their life then, they would receive just as much.  Logic and math didn't matter however. That was clearly a portent.  The lemming -like behavior of TSA is Exhibit #1.  First, a whack job gets some explosive Nikes made up, and now, we must all go barefoot through security.  Now, because some nut case wrapped his penis with C4 and tried to use his underwear as a fuse, we all can g...

According to the Office of Management & Budget, the deficit is trending to $1 trillion, 171 billion.  While the accumulated debt is $13 trillion 727 billion.  That's $13,727,000,000,000.  So, while the new House Republicans are talking about $100 billion plus of cuts, they really should be talking about $500 billion to matter.  The with a lot of breaks, perhaps tax revenue will grow to get to a break even.  However, to pay off the debt requires a surplus in the range of $250 billion for 55 consecutive years. I don't see how that happens without a lot more tax.  Otherwise, us Baby Boomers are taking it in, and our grandchildren get the bill - it is way to big for just our children...

In the wake of the Republican Party winning a majority in the House of Representatives, what is the responsibility of the Conservative Citizens who elected them? Slightly over four years ago, the Republicans began the slide that resulted eventually in the election of a first term Senator from Illinois to the Presidency, along with significant majorities in both chambers. I was making long drives frequently at that time, and remember my violent reactions to whiny-assed Republicans appearing on Sean Hannity's radio program, proclaiming how much worse things would be if we didn't re-elect them.  My reaction was that, since they had failed miserably and completely, they couldn't run on a record of accomplishment.  Instead of making progress on immigration - an issue of importance to conservatives - they had engaged in internecine fights over which proposal was more like amnesty.  Abandoning free market principles, they supported tariffs on Canadian lumber and steel from...

The Nov. 3rd Wall St. Journal printed President James Madison 's veto message from 1817.  One of the Founders and writers of the Constitution wrote "The power to regulate commerce...can not include a power to construct roads and canals..." I wonder what Mr. Madison would think of earmarks? Already we are hearing noises that perhaps Defense appropriations should be exempt from a suspension of earnarks.  I don't think so.  There is nothing convincing that we can trust our elected representatives.  Until we have our confidence in their reliability restored, I see no reason to assume they will spend additional defense money wisely. And I think the military knows they can leave out essentials and keep the fat in, because Congress can be counted on to add to the budget.

A guest commentator on Morphsview.  Dr. Kim wishes to remain anonymous.  As a marketing professor at a large university, the good doctor is a rare thing - a conservative.  As such, Dr. Kim must be undercover a certain amount of time to avoid punitive administrative responses. A comment from Dr. Kim on Andrew Klavan's editorial: Interesting article. I really think it's simple. Obama swept into office totally on marketing (window dressing). He had no "product" -- no results, no past, no history, etc. So....he won almost solely based on speeches. Now he has to govern and he both product and marketing. And what do we know about marketing? The marketing needs to match the product (think KMart as an example of a failed product/marketing match). When you overpromise (marketing) and underdeliver (product) you will fail. When you say one thing (marketing) and do another (product), you will be discovered. And....when you have a bad product that people don't like (...