Update on this news. They plugged the hole a long time ago, no one used it, and it wasn't a leak. As with most software, they find things that can be misused and close them asap. Apple is much more famous for having flaws they take months to fix.

www.theverge.com/...

slate.com/...

This is the biggest no news in the data breach. Apple and others run into security flaws and bugs more frequently than you'd think. The fact is Google has done a wonderful job protecting its users. So much so, this is news where it is not for other companies.

Still with people so on edge about this and worse data breaches like Facebook and Intel's it could have been handled better. Anyways, at least this clarifies the issue better.

www.wired.com/...

www.inc.com/...

krebsonsecurity.com/...

www.welivesecurity.com/...

www.riskbasedsecurity.com/...

This is true unless inflation moves up briskly where your money plus interest is worth less due to inflation. With rates moving up with low inflation like right now, Steve McDonald is correct that the best thing to do is hold them to maturity unless they long dated bonds. This is why China for instance stopped buying long term treasuries quite some time ago.

This is larger than the seasonal norm. I think a lot of it has to do with China and Asia accruing as much gas and LNG as they can right now.

As we can see this cycle, there is no longer a cycle of stimulus these days, it goes on in a down cycle, in an up cycle, in a late cycle, and will go up when it hits the end cycle. The only thing that seems to stop fiscal and monetary stimulus anymore is inflation to the point where stimulus ceases to work. It seems quite a way from getting to that point however, the lack of a strong economy in the US probably has some to do with QE given the effects of creating a zombie economy strongly resembled Japan's ongoing affair with QE.

Indeed. Sadly we are gradually moving to the type of housing you see in Asia and Mexico where 3 generations live in the same house. Well, hopefully it will strengthen the family structure at least.

Homes have a long way down to go before they are affordable. Homeowners hope this will never happen, however, never say never. The good news is the economy is doing ok even as home prices give up some gains. We really need rental prices to drop to help solidify the economy and get money into spending on other things besides housing, health insurance, and education.

If Amazon is putting anyone out of business in advertising it's Facebook. Google makes money on all types of search and most of it is information. Also Amazon is more likely to compete against eBay than Google. There is some overlap with voice enabled searches, but Amazon has quite a ways to go and I'm not sure how much trust they will have feeding consumers their wares from voice chats. Google sells things but this is not their primary business and what they sell is a spin off of their solidifying their search. That is why they got into cell phones and voice chatting.

Amazon's real competitors are real and growing in ability including Walmart, Costco, and the milieu of other large online etailers. Add money is a branch of Amazon, but if it becomes its bread and butter then its competitors that aren't selling their customers for leads and leaching off their vendors will have some advantage finally.

Profited is a rather broad statement when it comes to search. People simply hitting a website to see something theoretically benefits someone, so not removing such posts instantly profits them. However, the issue is how do you constantly comb all 1,000,000 video downloads for material that is questionable? This is a technical issue and is more complex than word searches that can be employed to pull up offensive behavior. I very much doubt these bad players call up Google and say can I pay you XXXX to upload these videos and Google says sure, let me help you out.

This is exactly the type of generic accusations that really play upon fears without being substantive or meaningful. Given Google works with governments and the US is upset about turning down a defense contract, do you really think they would want to do business with a company that is trying to promote terrorism?

This issue comes down to details. Clearly the Internet was and maybe is inundated with jihad messages, extremists on the far right and left, and other unsavory actors. Google's job is not to police the entire Internet. However, it should do what it can to not encourage or promote them. I think that people, maybe including her, believe and expect too much from tech companies and expect them to somehow force people into proper behavior or discourse. This is a very dangerous position to take and it is clear that Google has not taken it for good reason.

If it is asked to do ads that are legal but morally questionable should it be the moral voice to say they will do adds for the left and not the right or the right and not the left. Or say they won't do either? How far does it go to censorship? Is it blocking legitimate desires of people to see and express their even slanted views? There is a limit to what is allowed and it's still evolving. I think this is a political/legislative issue more than the job of any one company. So maybe the anger and frustration is pointing to the wrong individuals. Google has always taken measures to abide by the law and not make assumptions and decisions that it should not make. This is what has made it the success it is.

In the end, like everything, it is the details that count. Not the sensational angst filled allegations no matter where or who slings them. As for YouTube content, they can monitor and take down videos, but there may not be an automated way to check every video constantly that is posted real time and even if they take it down, it is hard to keep them from just modifying them and reposting them on end. It is like many IT topics. People say you should be able to do it. It is easy. Yet in reality many things they want are very complex and hard. This is especially the case when you are talking about 1,000,000 or more video files. If they are in various languages just getting enough people with the language skills to watch everyone on end would be a complex task. Is there even enough people in the US who speak Farsee for instance to watch all the postings in Farsee constantly?

In the end, it is ok to complain. I'm sure Google has been on it and if anyone can improve things, Google can. But it takes time as most countries realize. That is why Google is working with various countries constantly to deal with these issues as they constantly arise. This is one reason why Google is so big. Few other companies have the resources to deal with their own cloud let alone with the whole Internet. I don't envy their job. It is not an easy one.

The worry is that the economy is too dependent on the housing market like before. As rates go up then the housing market dries up and then the economy weakens. I don't believe this is the case and as we can see, a weaker housing market actually is not making the market slow but is freeing up the players to have discretionary income to stimulate the economy. For too long people have been holding back as housing and worse still rents continued to eat more and more of their income.

So far this is good. The fact that rates and inflation aren't rising extremely fast is the key point and why I am leery of further tariffs here. Don't spoil the good place we are in economically right now.