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You focus on targeting a particular group but as your business grows, you look forward to expanding your market and targeting a diverse audience. Read more- https://thebigunit.com.au/blog/lead-generation-funnel-benefits-to-businesses/
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Believe it or not, dental billing software could be just the boost you are looking for! Aside from helping your collection rate go up, your account department will code more efficiently, including implementing a better grouping of common procedures. How is this possible? Read on to find more!
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Enhance your content strategy for higher monetization with AI tools! 💸✨ From identifying trending topics to optimizing ad placements, AI helps you make data-driven decisions to maximize your revenue. Turn your creativity into cash with smarter strategies powered by AI! 🚀📈 Click this link : https://tinyurl.com/fbhea698
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Profitable Winter Holiday Business Ideas: Embrace the Cold and Boost Your Revenue
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The Key to Sustainable Business Growth: How Consulting Services Can Boost Your Revenue
In today’s fast-paced and competitive marketplace, businesses are under constant pressure to innovate, grow, and streamline operations. However, the journey toward sustainable revenue growth is often complex and requires specialized expertise. Consulting services have become a valuable resource for organizations aiming to navigate these challenges and achieve their business goals. In this blog, we’ll explore how specialized consulting services can fuel business growth and provide strategic support in critical areas.
Driving Revenue Growth through Consulting
One of the most critical aspects of business success is finding ways to continually increase revenue while optimizing operations. Revenue growth consulting is a specialized service that helps businesses identify new opportunities and implement effective strategies to maximize earnings. By analyzing current revenue streams and assessing market trends, consultants provide tailored advice on how to expand sales channels, improve pricing models, and enhance product offerings. Businesses that invest in revenue growth consulting can achieve long-term stability and avoid stagnation in an ever-evolving economic environment.
Business Expansion Strategies for Success
Expanding a business involves much more than merely increasing operations; it requires strategic planning, market understanding, and resource management. Professional consultants offer in-depth business expansion strategies, helping companies identify new markets, assess the competitive landscape, and define clear growth goals. Whether a company is looking to expand domestically or internationally, consulting services ensure that businesses take calculated steps, avoid common pitfalls, and achieve scalable growth. An expert consultant can develop a roadmap that takes into account everything from market entry to supply chain management, providing a holistic approach to expansion.
The Importance of Market Research Services
Successful business decisions are built on a foundation of accurate and comprehensive information. Market research services are an integral part of the consulting process, providing businesses with critical insights into customer behavior, industry trends, and competitive dynamics. By leveraging market research, companies can develop products and services that align with customer needs and market demand. Consultants use various data collection methods, such as surveys, focus groups, and data analysis, to provide actionable insights. This empowers businesses to make informed decisions that lead to enhanced market positioning and better ROI.
Streamlining Operations with Production Management Consulting
In addition to identifying growth opportunities, businesses need to ensure that their operations run smoothly and efficiently. Production management consulting helps businesses optimize their production processes to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase efficiency. From supply chain optimization to workflow automation, consultants help companies refine their operational models to produce better results with fewer resources. This type of consulting is particularly valuable for manufacturing firms and businesses with complex operational processes, as it allows them to stay competitive while maintaining high standards of quality.
Strengthening Financial Health with Balance Sheet Maintenance Services
Financial health is the backbone of any successful business, and maintaining a solid balance sheet is essential for long-term stability. Balance sheet maintenance services, offered by financial consultants, ensure that a company’s assets, liabilities, and equity are well managed. These services involve evaluating financial statements, optimizing capital structure, and identifying potential risks. By working with consultants, businesses can ensure they have accurate financial reporting, enabling them to make sound financial decisions and avoid unnecessary liabilities. This strengthens a company’s financial foundation and prepares it for future growth and investment opportunities.
#The Key to Sustainable Business Growth: How Consulting Services Can Boost Your Revenue#In today’s fast-paced and competitive marketplace#businesses are under constant pressure to innovate#grow#and streamline operations. However#the journey toward sustainable revenue growth is often complex and requires specialized expertise. Consulting services have become a valuab#we’ll explore how specialized consulting services can fuel business growth and provide strategic support in critical areas.#Driving Revenue Growth through Consulting#One of the most critical aspects of business success is finding ways to continually increase revenue while optimizing operations. Revenue g#consultants provide tailored advice on how to expand sales channels#improve pricing models#and enhance product offerings. Businesses that invest in revenue growth consulting can achieve long-term stability and avoid stagnation in#Business Expansion Strategies for Success#Expanding a business involves much more than merely increasing operations; it requires strategic planning#market understanding#and resource management. Professional consultants offer in-depth business expansion strategies#helping companies identify new markets#assess the competitive landscape#and define clear growth goals. Whether a company is looking to expand domestically or internationally#consulting services ensure that businesses take calculated steps#avoid common pitfalls#and achieve scalable growth. An expert consultant can develop a roadmap that takes into account everything from market entry to supply chai#providing a holistic approach to expansion.#The Importance of Market Research Services#Successful business decisions are built on a foundation of accurate and comprehensive information. Market research services are an integral#providing businesses with critical insights into customer behavior#industry trends#and competitive dynamics. By leveraging market research#companies can develop products and services that align with customer needs and market demand. Consultants use various data collection metho#such as surveys
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Empower Your Business with DDS4U's Comprehensive Services
At DDS4U, we provide a suite of services designed to streamline your operations, drive growth, and ensure your business stays ahead in today’s competitive market.
AI-Powered Business Automation
Revolutionize your workflows with our AI-driven automation platform. By automating repetitive tasks and integrating advanced AI technologies, we help you save time, reduce costs, and improve accuracy, allowing you to focus on strategic initiatives.
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Monetize your mobile applications with designated ad spaces. Our in-app advertising feature allows you to serve targeted ads to users, providing an additional revenue stream while ensuring ads are relevant and non-intrusive.
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Connect with industry professionals and collaborate on projects through our dynamic networking platform. Share knowledge, explore partnerships, and expand your reach in a supportive community designed to foster business success.
Social Media Poster Design
Boost your social media presence with professionally designed posters. Our team creates visually appealing graphics tailored for social media platforms, helping you engage with your audience and enhance your brand’s online visibility.
Discount Booklets
Offer your customers exclusive discounts through our customizable discount booklets. This feature helps increase customer loyalty and encourages repeat business, driving higher sales and customer satisfaction.
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Take control of your advertising campaigns with our self-managed ad platform. Create, monitor, and optimize your ads independently, giving you the flexibility to adjust strategies and maximize ROI.
Video Promotions
Enhance your marketing efforts with engaging promotional videos. Showcase your products and services, highlight unique selling points, and captivate your audience with compelling visual content that drives brand awareness and customer engagement.
At DDS4U, we are committed to helping your business succeed. Our comprehensive services are designed to address your unique challenges and support your growth ambitions. Partner with us to unlock new opportunities and achieve your business goals.
#At DDS4U#we provide a suite of services designed to streamline your operations#drive growth#and ensure your business stays ahead in today’s competitive market.#AI-Powered Business Automation#Revolutionize your workflows with our AI-driven automation platform. By automating repetitive tasks and integrating advanced AI technologie#we help you save time#reduce costs#and improve accuracy#allowing you to focus on strategic initiatives.#Custom Software Development#Our experienced software developers create tailored solutions that meet your unique business needs. Whether you require a new application o#our innovative and scalable software solutions ensure your business operates efficiently and effectively.#CRM Solutions#Enhance your customer relationships with our comprehensive CRM platform. Manage customer interactions#streamline sales processes#and gain valuable insights to drive better business decisions. Our CRM system is designed to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty#ultimately leading to increased sales and growth.#Targeted Advertisement Platform#Maximize your reach and engagement with our cutting-edge advertising platform. Tailor your campaigns to specific audiences and utilize real#In-App Advertisement Space#Monetize your mobile applications with designated ad spaces. Our in-app advertising feature allows you to serve targeted ads to users#providing an additional revenue stream while ensuring ads are relevant and non-intrusive.#Referral Portal#Expand your network and drive business growth with our referral portal. Easily manage and track referrals#incentivize partners#and streamline communication. Our portal fosters strong professional relationships and opens new opportunities for your business.#Business Networking Platform#Connect with industry professionals and collaborate on projects through our dynamic networking platform. Share knowledge#explore partnerships
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Maximize Ad Revenue in 2023: Strategies to Boost Your Earnings
Elevate your website’s ad revenue by implementing proven strategies. Optimize ad placement, target high-paying keywords, and enhance user experience to increase clicks and conversions. Stay ahead in 2023 with these expert tips for Boost Your Ad Revenue and maximizing your website’s profitability.
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How you can help Palestine while being a minor/child
If you're someone who does not earn money or cannot donate because you're a child and you're under the care of a guardian but still want to help the suffering Palestinians this is a list that can help you
Educate yourself! I cannot stress how important this is. Stay up to date with the latest news and learn about the history of Palestine so you do not get confused by propaganda.
Boost posts about Palestine and spread awareness! Share posts about Palestine [make sure to fact check] and talk to your families and friends to do the same (it's understandable if you cannot talk about these things with your family and friends though). Follow Palestinian journalists and other people who are stuck in gaza. Boost their posts.
Do not engage with zionists! Troll bots are becoming more and more common and engaging with them will only benefit them. Ignore and move on. The world stands with Palestine and we do not need to prove that.
Save evidence! The governments WILL DENY the genocide they are committing and will try their best to remove evidence from all social media platforms. Save videos, articles, and pictures so that you have a strong evidence base to present when the time comes.
Show your solidarity! Put a watermelon in your bio, wear red green black and white colours, put a Palestinian flag on your schoolbag. Every little thing counts.
Boycott! Avoid McDonald's, Starbucks and other companies that support israel. Ask your parents to eat somewhere else if they suggest McDonald's, and ask your friends to choose a different cafe if they go to starbucks.
Email your representatives! Make some noise, demand a ceasefire
Do daily clicks! Any myth of this NOT going to Palestine has been debunked, and it doesn't take any time to simply click one button. It makes money through ad revenues
I will add links and update this list when I think of more. Add anything else you think should be included in the reblogs
#israel#gazaunderattack#israel is a terrorist state#free gaza#gaza strip#genocide#free palestine#palestine#gaza#jerusalem#boycott#tel aviv#yemen#news#palestine news#war on gaza#war news#northern gaza#palestinian#save palestine#palestina#justice for palestine#helpgazachildren#justice for palestinians#help gaza#west bank#palestinian lives matter#lebanon#zionazi#anti zionisim
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#Making money as an influencer#Building your personal brand as an influencer#Monetizing your influence#Earning income through influencer marketing#Tips for making money as an influencer#Growing your brand and earning potential as an influencer#Strategies for monetizing your social media influence#Maximizing earnings as an influencer#Income opportunities for social media influencers#Creating a profitable personal brand as an influencer#Using AI to boost influencer earnings#Building a successful online business as an influencer#Increasing revenue streams as a social media influencer#Monetization techniques for influencers#Long-term sustainability in influencer marketing
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Why You Should Guest Post on Pet News 2Day: Boost Your SEO and Affiliate Revenue
New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/N8LLv
Why You Should Guest Post on Pet News 2Day: Boost Your SEO and Affiliate Revenue
Introduction In the ever-evolving digital landscape, the value of visitor publishing cannot be overemphasized. It’s an effective tool that can catapult your online existence, increase your SEO, and increase your affiliate income. One platform that sticks out in this regard is Pet News 2Day. But why should you think about including your post to this […]
See full article at https://petn.ws/N8LLv #PetBusinessGuides #2Day, #Affiliate, #And, #Boost, #Business, #Dog, #Guest, #Guides, #News, #Pet, #Post, #Revenue, #Seo, #Should, #Why, #You, #Your
#2day#affiliate#and#boost#business#dog#guest#guides#news#pet#post#revenue#seo#should#why#you#your#Pet Business Guides
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You focus on targeting a particular group but as your business grows, you look forward to expanding your market and targeting a diverse audience.
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Believe it or not, dental billing software could be just the boost you are looking for! Aside from helping your collection rate go up, your account department will code more efficiently, including implementing a better grouping of common procedures. How is this possible? Read on to find more!
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Unlock new levels of ad revenue and channel growth with AI tools! 💰✨ From optimizing ad placements to analyzing viewer engagement, AI empowers creators to grow their earnings and reach with precision. Let AI be the secret to your channel’s success! 🚀📈 Click this link : https://tinyurl.com/fbhea698
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Our team of seasoned Salesforce consultants and industry professionals streamlines the CPQ implementation process by minimizing time and complexity. Upon successful implementation, you can expect numerous advantages such as enhanced sales, increased lead generation, optimized pricing, and much more. In summary, Salesforce CPQ can improve business revenue and streamline the sales process in the most efficient way possible.
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How to shatter the class solidarity of the ruling class
I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me WEDNESDAY (Apr 11) at UCLA, then Chicago (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!
Audre Lorde counsels us that "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," while MLK said "the law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me." Somewhere between replacing the system and using the system lies a pragmatic – if easily derailed – course.
Lorde is telling us that a rotten system can't be redeemed by using its own chosen reform mechanisms. King's telling us that unless we live, we can't fight – so anything within the system that makes it easier for your comrades to fight on can hasten the end of the system.
Take the problems of journalism. One old model of journalism funding involved wealthy newspaper families profiting handsomely by selling local appliance store owners the right to reach the townspeople who wanted to read sports-scores. These families expressed their patrician love of their town by peeling off some of those profits to pay reporters to sit through municipal council meetings or even travel overseas and get shot at.
In retrospect, this wasn't ever going to be a stable arrangement. It relied on both the inconstant generosity of newspaper barons and the absence of a superior way to show washing-machine ads to people who might want to buy washing machines. Neither of these were good long-term bets. Not only were newspaper barons easily distracted from their sense of patrician duty (especially when their own power was called into question), but there were lots of better ways to connect buyers and sellers lurking in potentia.
All of this was grossly exacerbated by tech monopolies. Tech barons aren't smarter or more evil than newspaper barons, but they have better tools, and so now they take 51 cents out of every ad dollar and 30 cents out of ever subscriber dollar and they refuse to deliver the news to users who explicitly requested it, unless the news company pays them a bribe to "boost" their posts:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech
The news is important, and people sign up to make, digest, and discuss the news for many non-economic reasons, which means that the news continues to struggle along, despite all the economic impediments and the vulture capitalists and tech monopolists who fight one another for which one will get to take the biggest bite out of the press. We've got outstanding nonprofit news outlets like Propublica, journalist-owned outlets like 404 Media, and crowdfunded reporters like Molly White (and winner-take-all outlets like the New York Times).
But as Hamilton Nolan points out, "that pot of money…is only large enough to produce a small fraction of the journalism that was being produced in past generations":
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/what-will-replace-advertising-revenue
For Nolan, "public funding of journalism is the only way to fix this…If we accept that journalism is not just a business or a form of entertainment but a public good, then funding it with public money makes perfect sense":
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/public-funding-of-journalism-is-the
Having grown up in Canada – under the CBC – and then lived for a quarter of my life in the UK – under the BBC – I am very enthusiastic about Nolan's solution. There are obvious problems with publicly funded journalism, like the politicization of news coverage:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/24/panel-approving-richard-sharp-as-bbc-chair-included-tory-party-donor
And the transformation of the funding into a cheap political football:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-defund-cbc-change-law-1.6810434
But the worst version of those problems is still better than the best version of the private-equity-funded model of news production.
But Nolan notes the emergence of a new form of hedge fund news, one that is awfully promising, and also terribly fraught: Hunterbrook Media, an investigative news outlet owned by short-sellers who pay journalists to research and publish damning reports on companies they hold a short position on:
https://hntrbrk.com/
For those of you who are blissfully distant from the machinations of the financial markets, "short selling" is a wager that a company's stock price will go down. A gambler who takes a short position on a company's stock can make a lot of money if the company stumbles or fails altogether (but if the company does well, the short can suffer literally unlimited losses).
Shorts have historically paid analysts to dig into companies and uncover the sins hidden on their balance-sheets, but as Matt Levine points out, journalists work for a fraction of the price of analysts and are at least as good at uncovering dirt as MBAs are:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-02/a-hedge-fund-that-s-also-a-newspaper
What's more, shorts who discover dirt on a company still need to convince journalists to publicize their findings and trigger the sell-off that makes their short position pay off. Shorts who own a muckraking journalistic operation can skip this step: they are the journalists.
There's a way in which this is sheer genius. Well-funded shorts who don't care about the news per se can still be motivated into funding freely available, high-quality investigative journalism about corporate malfeasance (notoriously, one of the least attractive forms of journalism for advertisers). They can pay journalists top dollar – even bid against each other for the most talented journalists – and supply them with all the tools they need to ply their trade. A short won't ever try the kind of bullshit the owners of Vice pulled, paying themselves millions while their journalists lose access to Lexisnexis or the PACER database:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/24/anti-posse/#when-you-absolutely-positively-dont-give-a-solitary-single-fuck
The shorts whose journalists are best equipped stand to make the most money. What's not to like?
Well, the issue here is whether the ruling class's sense of solidarity is stronger than its greed. The wealthy have historically oscillated between real solidarity (think of the ultrawealthy lobbying to support bipartisan votes for tax cuts and bailouts) and "war of all against all" (as when wealthy colonizers dragged their countries into WWI after the supply of countries to steal ran out).
After all, the reason companies engage in the scams that shorts reveal is that they are profitable. "Behind every great fortune is a great crime," and that's just great. You don't win the game when you get into heaven, you win it when you get into the Forbes Rich List.
Take monopolies: investors like the upside of backing an upstart company that gobbles up some staid industry's margins – Amazon vs publishing, say, or Uber vs taxis. But while there's a lot of upside in that move, there's also a lot of risk: most companies that set out to "disrupt" an industry sink, taking their investors' capital down with them.
Contrast that with monopolies: backing a company that merges with its rivals and buys every small company that might someday grow large is a sure thing. Shriven of "wasteful competition," a company can lower quality, raise prices, capture its regulators, screw its workers and suppliers and laugh all the way to Davos. A big enough company can ignore the complaints of those workers, customers and regulators. They're not just too big to fail. They're not just too big to jail. They're too big to care:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi
Would-be monopolists are stuck in a high-stakes Prisoner's Dilemma. If they cooperate, they can screw over everyone else and get unimaginably rich. But if one party defects, they can raid the monopolist's margins, short its stock, and snitch to its regulators.
It's true that there's a clear incentive for hedge-fund managers to fund investigative journalism into other hedge-fund managers' portfolio companies. But it would be even more profitable for both of those hedgies to join forces and collude to screw the rest of us over. So long as they mistrust each other, we might see some benefit from that adversarial relationship. But the point of the 0.1% is that there aren't very many of them. The Aspen Institute can rent a hall that will hold an appreciable fraction of that crowd. They buy their private jets and bespoke suits and powdered rhino horn from the same exclusive sellers. Their kids go to the same elite schools. They know each other, and they have every opportunity to get drunk together at a charity ball or a society wedding and cook up a plan to join forces.
This is the problem at the core of "mechanism design" grounded in "rational self-interest." If you try to create a system where people do the right thing because they're selfish assholes, you normalize being a selfish asshole. Eventually, the selfish assholes form a cozy little League of Selfish Assholes and turn on the rest of us.
Appeals to morality don't work on unethical people, but appeals to immorality crowds out ethics. Take the ancient split between "free software" (software that is designed to maximize the freedom of the people who use it) and "open source software" (identical to free software, but promoted as a better way to make robust code through transparency and peer review).
Over the years, open source – an appeal to your own selfish need for better code – triumphed over free software, and its appeal to the ethics of a world of "software freedom." But it turns out that while the difference between "open" and "free" was once mere semantics, it's fully possible to decouple the two. Today, we have lots of "open source": you can see the code that Google, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook uses, and even contribute your labor to it for free. But you can't actually decide how the software you write works, because it all takes a loop through Google, Microsoft, Apple or Facebook's servers, and only those trillion-dollar tech monopolists have the software freedom to determine how those servers work:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/04/which-side-are-you-on/#tivoization-and-beyond
That's ruling class solidarity. The Big Tech firms have hidden a myriad of sins beneath their bafflegab and balance-sheets. These (as yet) undiscovered scams constitute a "bezzle," which JK Galbraith defined as "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it."
The purpose of Hunterbrook is to discover and destroy bezzles, hastening the moment of realization that the wealth we all feel in a world of seemingly orderly technology is really an illusion. Hunterbrook certainly has its pick of bezzles to choose from, because we are living in a Golden Age of the Bezzle.
Which is why I titled my new novel The Bezzle. It's a tale of high-tech finance scams, starring my two-fisted forensic accountant Marty Hench, and in this volume, Hench is called upon to unwind a predatory prison-tech scam that victimizes the most vulnerable people in America – our army of prisoners – and their families:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle
The scheme I fictionalize in The Bezzle is very real. Prison-tech monopolists like Securus and Viapath bribe prison officials to abolish calls, in-person visits, mail and parcels, then they supply prisoners with "free" tablets where they pay hugely inflated rates to receive mail, speak to their families, and access ebooks, distance education and other electronic media:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/02/captive-customers/#guillotine-watch
But a group of activists have cornered these high-tech predators, run them to ground and driven them to the brink of extinction, and they've done it using "the master's tools" – with appeals to regulators and the finance sector itself.
Writing for The Appeal, Dana Floberg and Morgan Duckett describe the campaign they waged with Worth Rises to bankrupt the prison-tech sector:
https://theappeal.org/securus-bankruptcy-prison-telecom-industry/
Here's the headline figure: Securus is $1.8 billion in debt, and it has eight months to find a financier or it will go bust. What's more, all the creditors it might reasonably approach have rejected its overtures, and its bonds have been downrated to junk status. It's a dead duck.
Even better is how this happened. Securus's debt problems started with its acquisition, a leveraged buyout by Platinum Equity, who borrowed heavily against the firm and then looted it with bogus "management fees" that meant that the debt continued to grow, despite Securus's $700m in annual revenue from America's prisoners. Platinum was just the last in a long line of PE companies that loaded up Securus with debt and merged it with its competitors, who were also mortgaged to make profits for other private equity funds.
For years, Securus and Platinum were able to service their debt and roll it over when it came due. But after Worth Rises got NYC to pass a law making jail calls free, creditors started to back away from Securus. It's one thing for Securus to charge $18 for a local call from a prison when it's splitting the money with the city jail system. But when that $18 needs to be paid by the city, they're going to demand much lower prices. To make things worse for Securus, prison reformers got similar laws passed in San Francisco and in Connecticut.
Securus tried to outrun its problems by gobbling up one of its major rivals, Icsolutions, but Worth Rises and its coalition convinced regulators at the FCC to block the merger. Securus abandoned the deal:
https://worthrises.org/blogpost/securusmerger
Then, Worth Rises targeted Platinum Equity, going after the pension funds and other investors whose capital Platinum used to keep Securus going. The massive negative press campaign led to eight-figure disinvestments:
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-05/la-fi-tom-gores-securus-prison-phone-mass-incarceration
Now, Securus's debt became "distressed," trading at $0.47 on the dollar. A brief, covid-fueled reprieve gave Securus a temporary lifeline, as prisoners' families were barred from in-person visits and had to pay Securus's rates to talk to their incarcerated loved ones. But after lockdown, Securus's troubles picked up right where they left off.
They targeted Platinum's founder, Tom Gores, who papered over his bloody fortune by styling himself as a philanthropist and sports-team owner. After a campaign by Worth Rises and Color of Change, Gores was kicked off the Los Angeles County Museum of Art board. When Gores tried to flip Securus to a SPAC – the same scam Trump pulled with Truth Social – the negative publicity about Securus's unsound morals and financials killed the deal:
https://twitter.com/WorthRises/status/1578034977828384769
Meanwhile, more states and cities are making prisoners' communications free, further worsening Securus's finances:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/14/minnesota-nice/#shitty-technology-adoption-curve
Congress passed the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, giving the FCC the power to regulate the price of federal prisoners' communications. Securus's debt prices tumbled further:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1541
Securus's debts were coming due: it owes $1.3b in 2024, and hundreds of millions more in 2025. Platinum has promised a $400m cash infusion, but that didn't sway S&P Global, a bond-rating agency that re-rated Securus's bonds as "CCC" (compare with "AAA"). Moody's concurred. Now, Securus is stuck selling junk-bonds:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1541
The company's creditors have given Securus an eight-month runway to find a new lender before they force it into bankruptcy. The company's debt is trading at $0.08 on the dollar.
Securus's major competitor is Viapath (prison tech is a duopoly). Viapath is also debt-burdened and desperate, thanks to a parallel campaign by Worth Rises, and has tried all of Securus's tricks, and failed:
https://pestakeholder.org/news/american-securities-fails-to-sell-prison-telecom-company-viapath/
Viapath's debts are due next year, and if Securus tanks, no one in their right mind will give Viapath a dime. They're the walking dead.
Worth Rise's brilliant guerrilla warfare against prison-tech and its private equity backers are a master class in using the master's tools to dismantle the master's house. The finance sector isn't a friend of justice or working people, but sometimes it can be used tactically against financialization itself. To paraphrase MLK, "finance can't make a corporation love you, but it can stop a corporation from destroying you."
Yes, the ruling class finds solidarity at the most unexpected moments, and yes, it's easy for appeals to greed to institutionalize greediness. But whether it's funding unbezzling journalism through short selling, or freeing prisons by brandishing their cooked balance-sheets in the faces of bond-rating agencies, there's a lot of good we can do on the way to dismantling the system.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/08/money-talks/#bullshit-walks
Image: KMJ (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boerse_01_KMJ.jpg
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AI and PDF Crochet Patterns
AI generated images can be great for inspiring projects, but most of the time it's used online to generate revenue for scammers and the like.
Just scrolling through Etsy rn looking for crochet patterns, I've come across several listings (some with false 5 star reviews to boost engagement/trust) where the patterns and images are clearly AI generated and people, unfortunately, have fallen for the listings.
Some of the images might look totally obvious to you, but to the untrained eye they can be convincing.
SOOO, how do you spot AI crochet patterns?
Look at the stitches. Are there pieces that don't seem to stitch into one another? Are the lengths and sizes inconsistent? Some are more obvious than others, but AI fails to replicate consistent textures.
Lighting and saturation. AI images often are vibrant and cartoon-ish. Especially the eyes of projects - usually this is a pretty good giveaway. Additionally, is the image smooth? What's in the background? Does it make sense?
Limited photos on listing. Most legitimate shops are going to have multiple photos of the finished project on the listing - AI is fairly advanced, but not the best at recreating exact images. Does the listing only have one photo? Does it have multiple but with variants between projects (that are meant to be the same)? Are there any videos?
Is it even possible? This can be tricky if you are new to crochet, but as above, take a moment to look at the stitches and the overall shape of the project. Does it look plausable? Especially if they projects say 'no sew'. Additionally, if you have already purchased the pattern - does it tell you how much material you need, and does it make sense? Does it tell you crochet hook size?
Legit photo but AI generated pattern. Sometimes the images are real - but they've been stolen from another creators account and the scam shop has simply asked AI (such as ChatGPT) to write up a crochet pattern. These are less obvious at a glance, but most reputable shops will have social media, consistent themes of crochet projects and reviews with pictures of finished products uploaded by customers.
6. Ok, but what if they use AI but the reviews seem legit? Crochet Baby Duck - this is an AI generated picture and pattern, and while the shop has posted several pictures of the finished project it is clear that it does not match up with the AI generated duck pictured in the listing. The hat, feet, and bill are all different sizes and this is even noted in some of the customer reviews. While this isn't as scammy as straight up using AI generated images/patterns without showing how the finished project looks - it is still taking away from legitimate pattern makers. Being able to design and execute good patterns is a skill, and the prices of legitimate patterns often reflect this. Why does the shop even use AI pictures if they post the real life projects anyway? Cus it drives traffic, and lets be real - the real life plush dolls look no where near as good as the AI images.
This is the same as the walrus - AI generated image and pattern, this is even endoresed by Etsy so you cannot rely on 'Etsy picks' being legitimate as they choose profits over morals.
These patterns are not just limited to Etsy, they are often on Pinterest or websites for 'free' to generate traffic and collect data (asking for your e-mail for the free pattern). Such as this Peacock Crochet IRL figure by u/Echo-o_0 on Reddit.
This is not just limited to crochet, I've seen it in sewing, knitting, and any other PDF downloads that you can purchase or get for free. Unfortunately, it is a simple way for people to make a quick but and face little to no consequences as their store *might* get deleted and even then, they can just start a new one up.
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