Cell Phone Early Upgrades– Next, Edge, Jump?

American cellular phone companies originally structured their service to entice new customers with heavily subsidized handsets in exchange for a nearly iron clad two year contract.  If a consumer wanted to ditch their contract early, they faced an Early Termination Fee (EFT) of between $175 to $350.  This EFT sought to recover losses from the subsidized handsets, but also acted as an incentive to stop churning customers.  This practice did not always settle well with consumers stuck with lemon phones or if cellular coverage was wanting so a consumer wanted to stop service

There was some legal ambiguity as to whether the EFTs were considered “rates charged” and “other terms and conditions”, which would make it subject to the Federal Communication Act and thereby preempt state lawsuits.  In 2005, the Cellular Telephone and Internet Association requested a declaratory ruling from the FCC on the matter.  Alas there was not regulatory clarity on this multi-million dollar linguistic interpretation, but many carriers started to pro-rate their fees.

In 2009, Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest cellular provider, doubled its EFT to $350 for "advanced devices” (i.e.  smart phones), at which point the Federal Government exhibited agitation. There were Congressional hearing and the chairman of the independent Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski spoke about the sticker shock of EFTs and vowed to step up consumer protection about early termination fees while ensuring that carriers were adequately compensated for their subsidized handsets.

Cellular service providers got the message that both Uncle Sam and consumers were unhappy, so they figured out other ways to cut their losses.  Recently, T-Mobile tried to co-opt a European approach by not offering subsidized handsets with supposedly lower monthly plan rates.  Not being locked into a contract offers the illusion of freedom, but full freight for a smart phone can be $600 up-front and consumers could walk away with their GSM phones and go to ATT or a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) such as Wal-Mart’s Straight Talk to get lower rates.

While many cellular consumers like the notion of not being bound by an iron clad contract, what they really want is to feed their fetish for a constantly current cell phone.  Whether a consumer is locked into a two year contract or paying the full sticker price for a smart phone, there are still ties to a handset which makes a consumer chary to switch. 

Several of the major cellular carriers are accommodating the consumer desire for constantly current cell phones with new programs.  

T-Mobile’s Jump program is a no-contract cellphone customers who pay an extra $10 a month for insurance and Jump plan participation.  T-Mobile typically runs a credit check on prospective new customers in order to determine how much of a down-payment is required for a phone purchase in 20 monthly installments on top of your phone plan (although T-Mobile stresses that everyone eventually pays the same price for the handset). But if you are a Jump plan participant, after six months a consumer can trade in an old handset and purchase another on a 20 month installments, but the consumer is no longer responsible for payments on the old handset. Of course, if a customer wants to keep the handset, he must pay the remainder of the balance of the installments.  

There are two caveats to T-Mobile’s Jump Plan.  Firstly, a consumer needs to pay the tax on the full phone (e.g. with a 6% tax a $600 phone would cost $36 tax on top of whatever down-payment is required).  Moreover, the Jump Plan trade in phone needs to be in working and in good condition. But since the Jump Plan also has built in insurance so one could make a claim with the Premium Handset Security Protection Plan and pay the up to $175 and trade in the fixed (or more likely refurbished) phone which T-Mobile returns to you.   Currently, T-Mobile is offering a zero down on many handsets (eliminating the down-payment) but check with T-Mobile to determine if this promotion is still available to you.

AT and T Next is a way for an AT and T customer to get a new phone every year. When a customer chooses AT and T Next, the price of their technology is broken into 20 monthly installments (with no finance charges).  At the time of purchase, the customer does not have to make a down-payment but must pay the full sales tax.  After 12 monthly payments, a customer can trade in his device and receive a new one, and no further payments are required on the old device and the customer starts over on a new installment plan with no activation or upgrade fee.  After 20 months, a customer does not need to make more monthly payments and the superannuated telephonic toy is yours to keep. 

For AT and T Next, a customer must remain in good standing and the trade in must be in good working condition. Of course AT and T reserves the rights to change terms and conditions.   A savvy consumer not committed to one major cellular carrier should closely scrutinize what the sticker price is on a cell phone.  Mac Rumors noted that AT and T needed to lower the monthly installment price for an Apple i-Phone 5 by $5.50 a month to undercut Verizon’s price. 

Now Verizon seeks to cut into this anxious upgrade consumer segment with Verizon Edge on August 25th 2013.  The Verizon Early Upgrade Program entails a consumer purchasing a phone on a month to month plan and the full retail price is broken up into 24 installments.  When purchasing the phone, the consumer makes the first equipment payment and presumably pays sales tax on the full retail price of the device. 

With Verizon’s Edge,  after six months, a consumer can choose to upgrade if he has paid 50% of the full retail price of the handset and returns the working handset. A consumer need not pony up supplemental cash to upgrade after making 12 monthly installments and also surrendering the device.  There are no upgrade fees or finance fees attached.   The other catch is that a Verizon Edge consumer still pays the high phone plan rate which other consumers have subsidized handsets with a two year contract.  

For the electronics addict who craves the latest and greatest technology, the T-Mobile Jump, AT and T Next or Verizon Edge might seem like an attractive offer.  T-Mobile’s deal requires insurance which costs extra but could effectively be seen as a $60 early upgrade fee.  The downside with T-Mobile’s early upgrade offer is potentially requiring a down-payment for the handset to less credit worthy customer.   Verizon Edge may allow for an early upgrade after six months, but one will wait a year of installment payments to get to the 50% sticker price which has no fees attached.  AT and T Next requires a consumer to wait for a year to get his “next” early upgrade, but AT and T has a track record of inflating the full retail price of its I-Phone and AT and T has not lowered its phone plan rates like T-Mobile so caveat emptor. 

These early upgrade programs are a good compromise which allows service providers to re-coop costs on handsets without EFTs while effectively locking consumers into relationships with cell phone providers without an iron clad handshake.  Consumers who opt into early upgrade programs can get the latest and greatest (at that moment) technology and not be stuck waiting so long for an upgrade. And these plans did not require government mandates or Uncle Sam engineering the marketplace. 

But this cell phone flexibility does come at a cost. CNET notes that a customer upgrading every year would pay $55 extra for the privilege of AT and T Next. But if a customer held on to the phone for 20 months, he paid full retail for a phone which others received as a subsidized handset.  So it is crucial for consumers using these programs to be sure that they actually want to do early upgrades.

Personally, I am more worried about having favorable cell phone plan rates and coverage rather than periodically having a shiny new telephony toy.  However, I appreciate that I am in the minority in the marketplace.  As for those who have a phone fetish to always have the latest and greatest, my tongue in cheek advice is : “Next, Edge, Jump”!

h/t: Mac Rumors
   George Washington Law Review
   CNET
   

Shifting Spectrums in the US Cellular Industry

Although the radio waves are not physically realigning themselves, cellular companies have been to stead themselves for the future.

T-Mobile, which escaped from an AT andT acquisition by the FCC blocking the merger, grew by acquiring MetroPCS.  Although the “T-Metro” merger added 9 million subscribers to the  Deutsches Telekom holding company’s 34 million base, it remains the fourth  largest US cellular company.  But size isn’t everything.

T-Mobile did not acquire MetroPCS just to grow. T-Mobile wanted the MetroPCS spectrum.  Currently, MetroPCS is a CDMA carrier.  T-Mobile plans to phase out CDMA by 2015 and migrate customers to a HPSA+ system, which is not considered problematic as 60% of MetroPCS switch handsets each year.

 But T-Mobile USA will then utilize that spectrum for 4G LTE service.  This is crucial as currently T-Mobile boasts that their plans have “Full Speed LTE *”, however if you read the fine print, it is only for the first ½ Gigabite, then the data is throttled down to "Edge"-like 2G speeds. In a data hungry consumer environment, this is not real enticing to those who have graduated from feature phones. Perhaps Metro-PCS’s could help a bit in data coverage, as T-Mobile’s data coverage is scant outside of major metropolitan areas, and who has the patience for 1G connections?

What remains to be seen is if T-Mobile USA will support the agressive Metro-PCS plan to have Voice over LTE (VoLTE). Some industry speculation is that T-Mobile USA will wind down MetroPCS VoLTE naturally over a couple of years as customers shift to GSM/HPSA+ handsets.  Then T-Mobile USA would roll out their own VoLTE platform.  But will that be too late?

The 78%  acquisition of Sprint by Japanese Softbank for $21.6 billion  was delayed until this June 2013 to allow  Sprint completed its acquisition of the remaining 50% of Clearwire.  There was a clear synergy when Sprint’s 4G service was premised on Wimax like Clearwire.  But Sprint clearly wanted Clearwire’s spectrum.  Clearwire’s bankruptcy would have forced Clearwire to auction its large spectrum holdings and left it’s partner Sprint with worthless holdings.  In an auction environment, deep pocketed cellular rivals Verizon Wireless and ATT would have cost Sprint more to acquire the up for grabs spectrum rights.  So the $7 billion acquisition cost for internet wholesaler Clearwire made sense.  Now Sprint can allocate the 160 MHz of spectrum to bolster the third ranking US cellular provider’s  LTE data roll out.  The added spectrum may allow Sprint to be a cellular mecca for truly unlimited data consumers.

One might wonder why AT and T  was willing to pay $1.2 billion to acquire Leap Wireless subsidiary  Cricket Wireless?  AT and T  had just launched IO pre-paid phone subsidiary so it did not need another Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).  Cricket only added 5 million subscribers to second largest US carrier’s 96 million subscriber base.  So why did AT and T  pay nearly a 90% premium for Leap Wireless stock?  Clearly, the answer is spectrum.  Cricket has a 60% under-utilization of spectrum.  After the FCC blocked the ATT-T-Mobile merger in 2011, AT and T was hungry for spectrum.  Sprint’s completion of the Clearwire acquisition denied other opportunities for cheap spectrum.

While it is only anecdotal, there was a marked migration from AT and T after the carrier lost I-Phone exclusivity in 2011 was data coverage.  Recent speed tests showed that AT and T’s 4G LTE network was speedier than Verizon Wireless, but Verizon’s LTE footprint is much larger.  Gaining more bandwith may allow AT and T to broaden its LTE coverage with an added benefit of gaining another prepaid distribution network.

Cellular consumer activists, such as Harold Feld of Public Knowledge, condemned the proposed AT and T acquisition of Cricket Wireless, claiming that AT and T already has enough wireless capacity and thinks that low-income and poor credit customers would be adversely effected.  Perhaps it should not be surprising in the class envy age of Obama when community organizers dictate when companies "have enough" and should pay "their fair share."  But such animus is disconnected from reality.

Carriers seek more spectrum to keep up with customer demands.  The cellular industry has shifted from stingily selling voice minutes to essentially making them ubiquitous, but carriers make their money on data.  Verizon Wireless hopes to shift all of its voice calls to VoLTE by the end of 2014 as it is a more efficient conveyance of voice calls and then use the freed up spectrum to meet data needs.

In the MVNO market, Ting, FreedomPop and TextNow are set to offer extremely inexpensive cellular service which is made possible by employing VOIP (and VoLTE) technology.  Such services are built upon the backbone of excess capacity from major carriers (e.g.- Sprint).  Certainly, community activists should take cheer from the fact that these aspiring cellular carriers allow for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) from older Sprint smartphones with clean ESNs, which is green and cost conscious.  Walmart's Straight Talk cellular service can give a second life to AT and T and T-Mobile GSM phones and old Verizon CDMA handsets. 

Sprint owns both Virgin Mobile USA and Boost Mobile, which have full smartphone services at half of the end cost of their parent company, albeit demanding pre-payment.  Then Sprint has Pay-Lo which offers very inexpensive Voice and Texting feature phones (dumb phones)  with limited cellular web access.  And of course, Assurance Wireless  et ali. provides the Obama-phones to provide cell service to those below the poverty line.  So do-good NGOs like Public Knowledge should not be worried that the poor are being underserved by the cellular industry. 

Even as the cellular industry figuratively shifts towards data spectrum, most consumers just care about getting a new handset and give little consideration to the details of a major household expense--their cellular bill.

Bridging the Gulf in Obama's Geographic Knowledge

During the close of President Barack Obama's sixth appearance as Chief Executive on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Mr. Obama sought to embarrass penny pinching opponents to infrastructure "investments."



President Obama opined that as the Panama Canal is being widened to accommodate Super-Tankers, Gulf Coast ports like Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida needed to dredge their ports lest these trade tankers go elsewhere.

Perhaps these ships will navigate in the Gulf instead of venturing to Southeast Atlantic seaports.

This gulf in geographic knowledge should not be surprising to a high information voter.  During the 2008 Presidential election, then candidate Senator Obama (D-IL) claimed that he had visited 57 states and had one more to go.

While such a verbal flub like the 57 states faux pas may delight detractors, it is easy to understand it as a slip of a tongue from a tired candidate without the retinue of White House staffers.   For the latest Late Night appearance, Mr. Obama is coming off of vacation (again).  The President sought a softball interview with an entertainer.  Mr. Obama brought out specifics and they had no correspondence to reality on the map.

When President George W. Bush mispoke, the establishment liberal media (a.k.a. the Lamestream Media) was quick to label him a dunce and persiverate in mocking the former President's intelligence.  More likely than not, the Lamestream Media will ignore this flub because it does not fit their natural narrative and asking hard questions to our Dear Leader may cause a journalist their job or access to the White House.

The Good Wives?

Anthony Weiner's second sexting scandal in the midst of the Democrat primary for the Mayoralty in New York City raises the interesting issue of "The Good Wife" syndrome. 

[L] Weiner's continued sexting exposed 2013 [R] Weiner resigns after sexting scandal 2011

While Weiner's wife Huma did not physically stand by her man when the ex-Rep. Weiner (D-NY 9th) resigned in 2011, the quite pregnant spouse did accompany him afterwards to the Hamptons where he presumably received all six days of sex therapy treatment.

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY), a.k.a. Client No. 9, resigned in disgrace as Governor of the Empire State in 2008 for his habit of contracting with the Empire VIP Club for high end prostitutes, even when visiting the Mayflower Hotel in the District of Calamity (sic).  His wife Silda stuck by his side but looked extremely uncomfortable when Spitzer withdrew for "a private matter."

 John Edwards withdraw from 2008 Presidential Race 

Former one term North Carolina Senator  and 2004 Democrat Vice President nominee John Edwards (D-NC) withdrew from his 2008 Presidential run because he could not get traction.  Of course this might have been due to the fact that Edwards cheated on his wife who was dying with cancer and had a bastard with his campaign videographer Rielle Hunter.  Edwards had the temerity of asking his wife Elizabeth and family to stand beside him as he withdrew from the race, even though the Establishment Liberal Press (a.k.a. the Lamestream Media) had not broken the "affair"  (although the National Enquirer had in Oct. 2007).  But Edwards tried to make it right as he waited until after his wife died of breast cancer before he invited Hunter to try living together .  And Edward's delayed trial of covering up extramarital expenses with campaign funds ended with one  acquittal and three mistrials that Eric Holder's Department of Justice will not do further prosecutions. 

Some dedicated Democrats might explain away Carlos Danger, Client Number Nine and even the "Breck Girl's" affair with Rielle as being just personal indiscretions.  The same can not be said about McCreepy.  Ex New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey announced his resignation in 2004 as he came out as a "Gay American" with his wife Dina by his side. This public embracing of his alternative affinity and betraying his betrothed for a homosexual love interest. McGreevey's resignation was prompted on by Golon Cipel's intent to file sexual harrassment charges.  McGreevey had appointed Israeli Cipel to be the Homeland Security Liaison to New Jersey's Government.  That's not right headed thinking to appoint a foreign national to a security coordination post in a State which watched the terror attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.  Moreover, McGreevey had cruised restrooms on the New Jersey turnpike to sate his "love which dare not speak its name" with strange men.

Bill Clinton was able to twice invoke the "stand by your man" visual motif to mitigate his marital misdeeds.  As a candidate for the Presidency in 1992, Governor Bill Clinton was charged by Gennifer Flowers of having a twelve year relationship with him. and she had the audiotape. To respond to the charge, Bill and Hillary Clinton appeared together on 60 Minutes to show that they had worked through difficult periods in their rocky relationship.   It is also when Hillary Clinton infamously assumed a southern drawl to insist that she was no Tammy Wynette Stand By Your Man. 

In 1998, when it came out that the re-elected President Bill Clinton was having an improper affair with a White House intern Monica Lewinsky, then First Lady Hillary Clinton was not photographed standing by her man as he deflected the titillating charges.  But Hillary was quick to blame the troubles on the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy".   Hillary was paid off for being a good soldier with strong funding for her New York Senate run.   

There have been some prominent Republicans who have been caught in compromising positions.  Ex Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) was accused of soliciting sex in mens' bathroom in the Minneapolis airport. Craig denied the charges with his wife by his side and quietly served out the last 1 1/2 years of his term, refusing to run for re-election.   

Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was exposed as a client of the DC Madam in 2007.  Craig denied the charges with his wife by his side and quietly served out the last 1 1/2 years of his term, refusing to run for re-election.  Vitter had his wife by his side and asked for forgiveness, which seemed to quell calls for resignation, until Democrat partisans wanted to mitigate Weiner's 2011 scandal by claiming that both sides do it. Of course, that charge would have been more analogous to Spitzer's sins.

Republicans have not been lenient when their caucus members sexual indiscretions deviate from the bounds of mere sleeziness.  Within hours of ex-Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY 42nd) having a Craigslist sex post exposed, he was drummed out of office, and the GOP lost that reliable seat.  

Moreover, in 2006, the GOP did little to exculpate ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL 16th) after it came out that he was sending questionable emails to Congressional pages.  In Chris Lee and Mark Foley's case, they did not have "good wives" standing by their side to mitigate the blows from the fall from power. 

A nexus which connects the Weiner, Clinton and Edwards "good wife" impulse is that women who were politically engaged chose to stand by their philandering men so that they could advance their political ambitions.  Clearly, Mrs. Clinton benefited from the Clinton machine which vaulted her to US Senator and these financial veins could be mined again in Presidential runs (2012 as well as prospectively 2016).   Elizabeth Edwards looked the other way when her husband impregnated Rielle Hunter  and to the end relished the residual power connections to Democrat party politics by sticking with her disloyal spouse, even as she was dying of cancer.  Huma Abedin has twice stuck by her horn dog Weiner husband.  Huma claims that she loves him, but does she love repeatedly being made a fool? Considering her Muslim Brotherhood connections (by family as well as advising former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) she might not mind being "Huma-miliated" if that leads again to the corridors of power.

For four seasons, CBS television has broadcast "The Good Wife", a dramatic series starring Julianna Margolies, whose husband was a Cook County, Illinois States Attorney that was jailed for a very prominent sex and corruption scandal.  This necessitates "The Good Wife" to return to her old profession of being a litigator. Michelle King, one of the executive producers of the series, admit that the germ of the Good Wife storyline was inspired by recent scandal headlines.

We came up with the idea about a year and half ago. There had been this waterfall of these kinds of scandals, from Bill and Hillary [Clinton], to Dick Morris, to Eliot Spitzer, to name just a few. I think they’re all over our culture. And there was always this image of the husband up there apologizing and the wife standing next to him. I think the show began when we asked, "What are they thinking?" And Robert and I started talking about it from there. ... You know, what’s interesting about a lot of these political scandals is that the women are lawyers, too. Hillary [Clinton] is a lawyer. Elizabeth Edwards is a lawyer. I think that got us thinking along those lines. That is, we knew she had to go back to work, and we had so many female lawyers to draw on.

But as this political review shows, truth is stranger than fiction with these political "Good Wives". Yet the 2012 campaign was marked by a meme about the Republican War on Women.  Go figure, but the lapdog liberal Establishment Media tries to cover up the peccadillos of those pols with whom they agree and pounds the drums against their ideological opponents.   Yet Adedin, Edwards and Rodham-Clinton have set the standard for feminists that all can be overlooked, even repeated romps of naughtiness, if it gets you where you want to go.  Quite an example to emulate, isn't it?

Ignatian Discernment Found in Homeboy Industries

One of the important charisms that St. Igantius of Loyola brought through his spiritual insights is the notion of finding God in all  things.  In anticipation of the founder of the Society of Jesus' feast day, the website Find Your Inner Iggy is running a series of stories about finding God in unlikely places.

The text was written by Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J. who discerned his spiritual mission working with the poor and outcast in Los Angeles.  The language may be earthy but by keeping it real, it demonstrates the miracle of finding God in unlikely places.

Louie finished his 18-month training program with us at Homeboy Industries. A gang member and drug dealer, he was tattooed and had a long prison record.

"I was disguised as that guy," he told me once.

He was now thriving in the new job we found him. He texted me one day: “My little fridge just died. Can you help me get a new one?” I text back: “Sears at 4:00.” He responds: “Got it. Beers at 4:00.” When I arrive at the Sears Appliance section, Louie spots me, gallops over, and gives me a bear hug. “Have they called security on your ass yet?’ “Nope,” he says, “but it’s just a matter of time.” We buy a small refrigerator on lay-away, and I drive him to his small, humble apartment.

Before he gets out, he says, “Can I tell you something, G?” He pauses. “Lately... I’ve been havin’ a lot a’ one-on-ones … you know… with God. And ... the Dude shows up.”

I chuckle a little, but he is quite serious. He turns to me, “Now why would he do that?” His tears make a get-away, and he can barely speak. “I mean ... after all the shit I’ve done ... why would He do that?

While it is good that Louie is getting some one-on-ones with the Divine Dude, he missed out on a key insight which those who take the 30 day Ignatian silent retreat should learn.  Much like a spiritual drill sergeant, the Ignatian retreat breaks you down by reminding you of your own sin but in the end build you up by emphasizing that God loves our imperfect selves. But appreciating this unconditional love can tattoo the heart  and can draw us to build the kingdom of God. 

Fr. Boyle began Homeboy Industries in 1992 to help parolees and former gang members lead a better life by finding honest work.  Homeboy Industries does mental health counseling, education  tattoo removal,  and employment services. 

In 2011, Fr. Boyle wrote a book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (2011) in which the ghetto Jesuit distilled twenty years of his experience into faith filled parables centering on how we could live full lives if we could find the joy of loving others and in being loved unconditionally. 

It is amazing where we can find the divine if we only look lovingly.

S.O.S. From Legislative Leviathans

Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ( Pub. L-11-203).  When it was passed, it was a long  2,319  page piece of legislation.  Although financial legislation can be tricky, Sarbanes-Oxley (2002) was only 66 pages and Gramm-Leach–Bliley (1999) was 145 pages.    This contemporary financial legislation was legislatively loquacious compared to the Federal Reserve Act (1913) that took 31 pages or Glass-Steagall (1933) that was 33 pages.

 But much like Obamacare (the misnamed Affordable Care Act), the bloated Dodd Frank bill delegated bureaucratic the authority to write implementing regulations. Currently, Dodd-Frank is comprised of 13,789 pages of rule-making from ten different regulatory agencies.   

To put this into terms which most people can wrap their minds around, Dodd-Frank is now the equivalent of 28 copies of War and Peace.  And Mel Brooks quipped that no-one makes it through War and Peace.   When Congressman John Conyers was chided for not reading legislation before voting for it, he snarkily noted that it would have taken him two days with two lawyers assistance to understand the original Obamacare legislation 1,000 pages, when in actuality it topped  2,000 pages. 





Winston Churchill rightly reflected that: “When you have 10,000 regulations, you destroy all respect for the law.”  Compliance to the bureaucratic diktats of the Red Tape State increases costs on everyone.  Companies contort themselves to comply but find that the Executive Branch can postpone  crucial aspects of laws like the employer mandate of Obamacare on the President’s whim or for political reasons. 

One of the unique aspects of Dodd-Frank is finally being fulfilled after the Senate compromise to keep the shell of a filibuster.  To prevent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) from using the “Nuclear Option”, Republicans allowed Advise and Consent votes on several Cabinet nomination as well as formally approving Richard Cordoray, who was unconstitutionally made a recess appointment by President Barack Obama in January 2012, as the head of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.  

The BCFP could not formally come into being until the Director passed Senate confirmation, which was delayed for two and half years.  Republicans had been holding out on confirming the BCFP Director to encourage a decentralized organizational structure.  The implementing legislation gives the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection its own funding mechanism which is funded through the United States Federal Reserve.  So the Dodd Frank can finally implement  an agency that can write and enforce bank rules, conduct bank examinations, monitor financial markets, as well as collecting and tracking consumer complaints without being beholden to elected officials with power of the purse strings.  This legislative leviathan may prove to become a political Frankenstein which threatens our constitutional Republic. 

What can be done to avoid such governing monstrosities again?  

• Firstly, either abolish or reorganize the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to have an Executive Board rather than a Consumer “Czar” and be financially responsible to the legislative branch rather than being an “independent” branch of government.  

• Secondly, while it might seem kind of quaint, but  to follow the Constitution.  Can the legislative branch actually delegate lawmaking authority which is not responsible to any elected official?  Why is it that bills which raise revenue are continually first conjured in the Senate, when the written organic law of our Republic requires them to start in the People’s Chamber  i.e. the House of Representatives. 

Two ways of handling this would be for lawmakers to attribute what clause of the Constitution corresponds to each part of the law.  Or having some Congressional Constitutional Majordomo to scrutinize clauses for constitutional compliance. 

• Thirdly, Congress need to stop rushing legislation.   When he first ran for President in the 2008 cycle, Mr. Obama promised that: “As president, Obama will not sign any nonemergency bill without giving the American public to review and comment on the White House Web site for five days.”  So much for that promise.  Speaker John Boehner repeatedly promised that all bills would be put on line for 72 hours before being voted upon.  This pledge has been repeatedly broken.  These Federal politicians need to live up to their political pledges or be held accountable at the ballot box rather than accepted as the standard practice of the Cocktail Party in the District of Calamity (sic).

• Fourthly, as the Federal Reserve Act and Glass-Steagall show, important financial legislation can be implemented without needing a backhoe to lift the printed bill.  Congress should pass legislation that is no longer than 50 pages long.  This is longer than some Tea Party type legislators advocate, but it is readable by the Member and can accommodate for the complexities of contemporary government.

• Finally, the Congress must Enact legislation to  take control over expensive Executive Branch regulations.  It is understandable that members of Congress are not going to have expertise in complex areas of governmance, like the financial industry and the environement.  But they must not cede authority to smug technocratic bureaucrats who are given wide deference by the judiciary and are not beholden to the ballot box.

In 2011, the House passed REINS, Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act, which required Congressional approval for any regulation that has the aggregate annual cost of compliance of $100 million or more.  Alas, this common sense legislation was left to die in the Senate.  

Compliance costs with the legislative leviathan is strangling growth in the American economy and is chipping away at household budgets.   The REINS legislation could be enhanced by adding a 5 year sunset provisions to any costly regulation which could be reapproved by Congress.  This would rein in an overzealous Executive Branch in issuing regulations as well as tempering the bureaucratic beast.

h/t: Davis Polk
     Eric Allie

Tardy Jesuitical Discernment

Bert Thelen,  (ex) S.J.

Bert Thelen, S.J., an eighty year old Jesuit who had spent the last 14 years at  Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska has petitioned to become laicized.  Thelen announced his intention to abandon his vows in an open letter to friends and colleagues that was also published in The National Catholic Reporter. In his apologia, Thelen professed to renounce his ordination as well as leaving the Society of Jesus is to protest what he describes as a patriarchal church which refuses to allow for priestesses and permitting homosexual so called marriage.

Although it is lamentable that it took  Thelen 45 years of service to the Church to discern his objections to the Magisterium about the vocation of Holy Orders and Marriage, but the manner which he chose to “self-defrock” was troubling.  Rather than  showing some  semblance of personal integrity by conducting his change in spiritual status in private, Thelen chose to publically score some  partisan political points. Hence it is only fair to scrutinize Thelen’s conduct and consequences of the spiritual change of status which he seeks.

Jesuits take twenty years to take their final vows.   Part of Thelen’s indictment of the Church is that its patriarchal clericalism prompted him to abandon ordained ministry.  There have been male priests for over 1600 years.  So why could not Thelen discern his objection to an “all boys club”.  Pope Blessed John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacramentalis (1994)  which reaffirmed the teaching that since there is no scriptural basis for the ordination of women, the Catholic Church does not have this power.  This was several years before Thelen claimed that his lovers quarrel with the Church began.

Those who accept the calling and take the sacrament of Holy Orders in the Roman Catholic Church typically take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.  Jesuits take an additional vow of obedience to the Pope (regarding their mission).  Upon Thelen’s taking leave of his priestly faculties, he was still listed as “faculty ally” of Creighton’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance.  It is dubious whether Thelen carried out this mission in an orthodox manner.

Thelen chose to trumpet his belief in same-sex marriages as precipitating his new call to be part of liberally inspired laity. Obviously, Natural Law and thousands of years of tradition mean nothing to an ideologically incensed ordained priest.  Of course, the logic of Pope Venerable Paul VI’s Humanite Vitae (1968) reaffirming the primacy of procreation in marital sexual relations is passe. More recently, Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI used his Christmas message in 2012 to denounce same-sex “marriage” and adoption as an attack on the traditional family made up of a father, mother and child.   Perhaps Thelen’s prophetic protest of renouncing his vows was precipitated by Pope Francis and Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI’s encyclical Lumen Fidei (2013), which asserted that: 

[Marriage should be the] stable union of man and woman...This union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgment and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation.

So since even the liberal new Pontiff does not follow the progressive trend of blessing same-sex unions so Thelen decided to abandon his ordinational obligations.


Although ordaining women and gay marriage were the polemic flash points for Thelen’s new calling, he also had condemnation of his order of the last 45 years which he connected to his aspiration of religion without pedestals.  He condemns the general practices of Jesuits:

Make no mistake about it: the Society of Jesus shares in and benefits from this patriarchal and clerical way of proceeding. We still regard ourselves as the shepherds and those to whom and with whom we minister as sheep. I discovered this painfully when the Society of Jesus decided against having Associate members. We are not prepared for co-membership or even, it seems at times, for collaboration, though we pay lip service to it. "Father knows best" remains the hallmark of our way of proceeding. I can no longer, in conscience, do that. But I still honor and love my fellow Jesuits who work from that model of power over. It is still where we all are as a company, a Society, a community of vowed religious in the Roman Catholic church.

So after bad mouthing his brothers,  octogenarian Bert Thelen will set off on his new calling.  While I know of an 80 year old Jesuit who recently celebrated his 50th year of being a Jesuit and is active being a spiritual director and Christian Life Community facilitator, these wonderful ministries would not pay the bills.   It is dubious that the prophetic protestor will earn his keep so he will live off of the largess of the Society of Jesus as provisions need to be made for a laicized priest. That’s rich in irony.

Catholics have the appreciation that our spiritual vocations, namely Marriage and Holy Orders, not only reflect states of living but that sacramentally mark us.  This is why Catholics seek to ensure that one is sacramentally understand their vows (and annulments take so long to adjudicate).  Similarly, the Church believes that once a priest, always a priest like the order of Melchizedek.  But because of political pique, Thelen wants to walk away from his vows and be a useful idiot for those who rail against the Church’s teachings.

Reading the rhetoric in Thelen’s open letter, one wonders if there is much of a loss.  With phrases like: “Biocide is even more devastating than genocide” and the “survival and well being of ALL earthlings” Thelen’s views may be more welcomed amongst secular humanists and activist atheists rather than in an ecclesiastical environment.  But I am scandalized by Thelen’s assertion that through his new calling, he as lived and died as a Jesuit but now is free from being shackled by a  judicial, institutional, clerical, hierarchical system.   Thelen’s fickle commitment and sui generis understanding of death to me shows the shallowness of his sacred professions.  Moreover, the emphasis of Earthlings (sic) preventing biocide, egalitarianism which obliterates authority and championing secular humanist trends intimates what Thelen holds in deep esteem.

Rather than respecting his polemic philippic, I find this apologia to be a tardy Jesuitical discernment.  It is a pity that years of serving the People of God is marred by a cheap political stunt.

Scrutinizing Software Subscriptions

Adobe has announced that it will stop selling its popular Photoshop program.  But Adobe is not abandoning its Creative Suite software, it is evolving into a subscription model on the Creative Cloud.  While Adobe will continue to sell Adobe Creative Suite 6, it plans no future releases on store shelves, but one will have to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis.  Despite Adobe’s  Creative Cloud conceit, subscribers will still have to download the software and run it locally but a subroutine will check to make sure the subscription is current every 30 days. 






Microsoft started marketing in this direction with in 2011 with Office 365, which included host versions of MS Office 2010, Share Point, Exchange, Lync and Office Apps.  The difference is that Microsoft still allowed consumers to purchase the software rather than rent it. Microsoft’s office productivity software does not have as many third party plug-as as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. 


Adobe offers an array of pricing, depending upon which version of Abobe Creative Suite Sofware one currently owns, how many Creative Cloud programs a prospective subscriber wants to use, whether one springs for the annual payment and if you are a student or educator.  It is reasonable to expect that a consumer will pay $30 a month for the privilege of using Adobe Creative Cloud Photoshop software or $240 per year.  But by paying full freight of $50 a month or $600 a year, photogs get access to the newest versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Dreamweaver and Premiere Pro

It is a reasonable surmise that most software consumers upgrade every three years, either prompted by an update with killer new features or in conjunction with an Operating System upgrade.  Keeping this informal update cycle in mind, a dedicated Adobe user would pay slightly more on a three year basis for the sticker price for the current price of Adobe Photoshop and have access to many other creative suite programs and have immediate updates.  This sunny scrutiny ignores that few individuals actually pay the MSRP for software, as there are upgrade discounts, volume discounts etc.  If one opts for a month-to-month payment plan, the frugal consumer inclinations are costly and will cost around 1 ½ times the cost of a current version of Photoshop.

It should be noted that Adobe is not going entirely in the software subscription track.  Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Lightroom will still be sold.  But both of those products are geared for consumers and certainly would not be suitable for professionals and may seem inadequate for the prosumer market.

When a consumer discontinues an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, their handiwork does not disappear, but they lose access to the web storage and they become unable to further edit their photos.  

Other technology companies are trying to change their payment model.   Xanga is a social media/blogging site which has operated on a Freemium model since 2000.  But in June 2013, Xanga announced that it needed an infusion of $60,000 in cash from Xanga-philes and if it survived in six weeks, that it would evolve into a pay $48 a year to blog hosted on Wordpress with an ad free experience .  While many appreciate the community that Xanga has fostered, it is unclear if this tactic will work and how many Xangans will remain, since there are so many free social media sites nowadays.

 T-Mobile is trying to wean cell phone subscribers from expecting a subsidized handset in exchange for a two year iron clad contract, but no contract T-Mobile subscribers get to own a shiny new telephonic toy with their “subscription”.  T-Mobile tried to capitalize on its synergy as a GSM based carrier to try to poach former AT and T i-Phone users with their Unlocked and Unlimited campaign.  Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers get nothing tangible for their subscription aside from 20 GB cloud storage, immediate access to new apps along with the privilege of using Photoshop et ali. The tangible part of technology may make the difference.  If Adobe was offering true cloud computing, it might make a cognitive difference as you are being licensed for a cloud service.  But as it stands, subscribers  still needs to load Adobe programs onto the computers where they want to use the Creative Cloud, but have no expectations of ownership.


Another wrinkle about switching to a software subscription model with Adobe’s Creative Cloud is that there may not be future version numbers or spotlighted updates.  Since Photoshop is complex software for serious photographers, it takes time to educate an Adobe user to fully exploit the imaging software.  It is unclear how Adobe will educate users with software prone to be instantly updated.

As Adobe Photoshop is an expensive piece of software, its market niche is professionally driven with some prosumer outreach.   Professionals swear by Adobe Photoshop and be resistant to switch from the tried and true unless Adobe outprices itself or the software abilities denigrate.  Shutterbugs who are not professionally invested in Adobe Photoshop may find the monthly or yearly fees may start to find other photo-editing alternatives like ACDSee or Corel PaintShopPro, both of which can work with RAW photos. 

Photoshop fans who are upset about the Adobe Creative Cloud software subscription have organized an online petition which has gathered over 35,000 signatures in protest.  New York Times Technology Reporter David Pogue believes that the protest is an effort in futility because Adobe will make money off of the software subscription scheme, even if it loses customers as it banks user fees on a monthly or annual basis and precludes some Photoshop users from skipping a version upgrade.

While photography is an enjoyable avocation for me and its results are useful when blogging, I would balk at paying $30 a month for the privilege to use Adobe Creative Cloud software.  Adobe’s decision to change to a subscription software model makes me appreciate choosing to familiarize myself with other photo editing software.  It will be curious to see how the photo editing software market reacts when Adobe’s subscription only model goes into effect.