Scottay's dashboard

Actually I have a blog http://icantseeyou.typepad.com/. I started it with a post about HubDub a few months ago. If you want my advice you can send me an email to icantseeyou@comcast.net. I'll decide anything you wish :>

I am a mind reader. You've found me out.

Common sense. Why would you create a question with a timeline for a merger to be complete without SAYING that THE MERGER MUST BE COMPLETE.

I disagree completely. The questioner wanted to know if there would be a merger by June. He meant announcement.

FYI you should have settle this based on what I said above and THEN made a new rule.

I cashed in and took my gains - which were much less than expected.

You have a serious problem here. Common sense is not being followed.

The question was will they merge by June. Clearly the person who made the question was referring to an announcement and not a completion.

That's how the question should have been decided.

Once again you have let the "spitzer" group convince you of something that is against the total grain of common sense.

http://www.kutv.com/content/news/loca...

Delta Air Lines Will Take Over Northwest, Become World's Largest Carrier

Last Update: 9:02 pm
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A Delta Airlines jet departs Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta Monday, April 14, 2008. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
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A Delta Airlines jet departs Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta Monday, April 14, 2008. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
SALT LAKE CITY - Delta Air Lines has reached an agreement with Northwest Airlines to take over Northwest and create the world's biggest carrier.

The boards of both companies gave the deal the go-ahead Monday. Delta said the combined airline will be based in Atlanta and will retain its name. Delta CEO Richard Anderson will head the combined company.

The announcement comes a year after the two carriers emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Both carriers are losing money again but are in much better shape than the four much-smaller airlines that have filed for bankruptcy or gone out of business in recent weeks.

The joining of Delta and Northwest, if approved by regulators, will result in combined annual revenue of $31.7 billion, vaulting it ahead of American Airlines for the top spot in the U.S.

Delta would be the biggest carrier in the world in terms of traffic, before any further domestic capacity cuts and any divestitures that might be required by antitrust regulators.

Salt Lake City mayor Ralph Becker on Monday expressed great enthusiasm toward the merger, saying that Delta has been an important company in Utah for many years.

Congratulations to Delta and Northwest on this new chapter in their history. We have appreciated Delta's presence here in our capital city," Becker said in a statement Monday.
Northwest Airlines planes dominate the runways at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Monday, April 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Andy King)
Northwest Airlines planes dominate the runways at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Monday, April 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Andy King)

"I am hopeful Salt Lake City can continue to partner with Delta to enhance our historically strong relationship and address concerns of the airline employees and our airport that may arise during the merger process," he added. "I see this as a great opportunity for Salt Lake City to further share our great resources, from our beautiful natural setting to our increasingly cosmopolitan city, with the rest of the world."

The agreement comes after several months of merger discussions between Delta and Northwest and at one time between Delta and United Airlines. Analysts believe a Delta-Northwest combination will stand up better to regulatory scrutiny because the two carriers have less overlap, even though a Delta-United combination could create more scale and have greater synergies.

Years of mounting losses forced Delta and Northwest to file for bankruptcy protection in New York on Sept. 14, 2005. Both emerged from bankruptcy as leaner carriers last spring, after shedding billions in costs during their reorganizations.

While in bankruptcy, Delta fended off a hostile takeover bid by US Airways.

Delta said its plan to remain on its own would create more value than US Airways' $9.8 billion bid, which Delta argued would not pass regulatory hurdles.

Northwest and Delta overlap relatively little in the U.S. — which could actually help them gain antitrust approval. Delta's routes are strongest in the eastern U.S. and to Latin America and Europe. Northwest would complement that with its near-lock in the Midwest along with flights to its Tokyo hub and other points in Asia.

Announcing an event officially should settle all questions. Things can ALWAYS change in the future - but we can't wait 3 years for delta and northwest to complete a merger. Settle the question as a Yes and if someone wants to post a new question saying "will the delta and northwest merger fail" then do that. It's a different question,

The problem is that a good 50% of questions should be flagged... it shouldn't be that way. That's the problem when the users make the questions.

I would rather HubDub make the question based on user suggestions.

Remember the purpose of HubDub is for news organizations to be able to come here for polling style data (once the beta is over). If there is gaming going on it won't work.

Here is the question I was talking about. Tell me how many problems you see with it...

http://www.hubdub.com/e/Market/Will_t...

As to your first question, the person who makes the question cannot bet for 12 hours. Also since there is nothing bet yet on the question a very small bet will move the odds to where they should be very fast.

As to your second point I understant that questions seem obvious but it's been proven over and over they are not. Your example is PERFECT. There is a question now about who McCain will pick as his running mate as of the republican convention.... that makes no sense since he will pick before that. This question will be argued for days on end since some will say what if McCain changes his mind or the VP dies before then.

From the creator of the question. This should settle the matter..

28 robmar
Well isn't this tricky...

I just skimmed through the comments to get a quick idea what's going on here and can see why there's so much confusion. If you didn't know that the question was referencing the federal funds rate then you would've read the headlines yesterday, saw "rate cut" and assumed that this could be settled.

However, as scott has made so clear, questions on this subject are pretty much assumed to be about the federal funds rate. I created the question and that was my intent.

I guess for the future we might spell it out in detail, but I'd hate for every question to have to be so legalistic.

The fed funds rate is different than the discount rate. It discount rate only applies to banks and is frequently set differently than the Fed Funds rate.

The question was about the Fed Funds rate not the discount rate.

This was a HUGE error.

They voided it. A wimply way to end this and I am vastly disappointed. I may move to another better prediction site.