Ron Paul Next Steps

With Santorum having dropped out, many are concluding that Romney has virtually won the nomination. Ron Paul, however, is not dropping out and will continue to try to push his delegate strategy. However, in my opinion, with the vacuum of good news about the primary, I'd like to see Paul do something bold to get the attention of people and let them know that not only is this thing not over, but he is a viable (and better) alternative to Romney.

How to Heal Newspapers

Over the course of the last couple years, many newspapers have began to lose their circulation.  One theory for this is that since the internet began to explode in the 90's, millions began to get their daily news from online websites.  That has only increased over time until now half claim to primarily get their news from online sources.  Thus, as current events and daily news became more easily accessible online, for free, the need for a paid subscription to a newspaper which gave them almost the same thing was redundant.  In addition, since many papers and online news sites both take advantage of wire services like Associated Press or Reuters, much of what they find in the newspaper match exactly, word-for-word what they read online.  Some think that it is simply a short term problem while others believe that unless newspapers perform a major reorganization, they will go extinct in an age where digital information is easier, faster, and more plentiful than its ink-and-paper predecessor.  There have been many recommendations and suggestions about different strategies to reorganize, but let me toss mine in there.

Dump the Duplicates
If your newspaper carries the same wire services articles contained in virtually every other newspaper and online, then it doesn't make sense to pay for your paper if they can get the same thing from any other or even online for free.  So, while it may seem like an easy way to pad the size of your paper at relatively low cost, it's not a significant driver of people to your paper. 

Omit the Opinions
The internet is full of opinions.  Any subject, any perspective is freely available on the web.  Many reputable and others not so much.  So why do we need a newspaper to give us the same opinions?  In fact, newspapers often give credibility to opinions that should be dropped.  Good writers with bad opinions have jobs all over the country.  Turn them loose and let them start a blog and have their ideas compete with others for credence.  If they truly have good views, thoughts and ideas, their blog will rise in popularity.

Local is lovely

Perhaps the days of international papers with thousands to millions of subscribers in nearly every country of the world are indeed coming to an end.

Investigations are Interesting

This is the meat of my idea.  I CRAVE a good investigation; I search for undercover exposes. I want the resources of newspapers to push for transparency in the government by publicizing details found from FOI requests. Investigate the connections between politicians and corporations or lobbyists or criminals or any other unsavory characters.  TRULY speaking truth to power often requires more research and time than the average blogger with a day job can keep up with.  

RR

* Forgive the alliteration abuse. :)

Gas prices going back up?

Gas prices have dropped by about a full buck in the last month or two. There's the theory that Bush dropped the price using his oil cartel connections in order to improve the GOP image prior to the November elections. The followup theory being that once the elections are over, prices will reinflate again. Even those that don't attribute the drop in prices to Bush's aspirations believe that they will rise again at the occurrence of a single hurricane or terrorist attack or incident in the Middle East. So I have a suggestion. Gas cards by the gallon.

The gas companies should start selling gas cards by the gallon instead of by the dollar. That way, people who believe that gas prices are going back up and even higher, will be able to buy gallons of gas at the current prices, thus saving themselves $$$ once it goes back up. The advantage to gas companies is that the longer gas prices stay low, the more they make. Obviously the gas cards would have an eventual expiration date as well. That way people can't horde away hundreds of gallons of gas for several years just waiting for it to go back up.

Either way, it gives those with the conspiratorial axe to grind with the price gouging gas companies, an opportunity to save money based on where they believe the prices will go.