In this strange article, an airline that offered $10 tickets went out of biz this week. No kidding... wonder why? The last paragraph was where the news was... Delta and other airl9ines are cancelling flights due to maintenance safety concerns on their jets. Yikes!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
All Hail Kowloon City
Any young scholar whose topic is economic freedom and anarchy ought to study the strange history of Kowloon City, and oasis of freedom inside an oasis of freedom. Apparently the topic has not been treated iin academia, so it would constitute new knowledge, meaning doctoral level stuff.
How Business Happens - NIKE
Good news from Vietnam... workers are rioting in NIKE plants. Since this is how freedom grows, it is to be applauded. In a classic scenario, aggrieved unionized workers who've found their wage increases not keeping pace with inflation went on strike when an incident escalated into violence, then the cops were brought in to crack heads, the workers overwhelmed the cops. Sounds like USA circa 1920. Honor labor!
NIKE issued a statement, but who cares, it is none of their business. As the above article makes clear, and you already knew from me and no where else, NIKE owns no factories in Vietnam. NIKE hires a company in Taiwan, Pou Chen, that sources manufacturing for NIKE, and some is done in Vietnam. NIKE is so far removed from what is going on in the Vietnam factory they should have no opinion. The Vietnam factory is a mere step in an international, management-intensive web that brings parts and materials to Vietnam for assembly into shoes, which are then distributed world-wide. In this scenario, Vietnam's role is accidental in the production of shoes. All of the world-wide factors that concatenate in this factory making NIKES really has nothing at all to do with NIKE. It is like a water bottling company issuing a statement expressing its opinion on the weather. Rather desultory.
Here is an accomplished fellow, pro-free market, who has written a review of the NIKE factories in Vietnam, which he has visited, and I have not. even he implicited makes the error that NIKE manufactures in Vietnam, although later he implicitly makes clear in his article, NIKE owns no factories in Vietnam. Read this review of factories producing for NIKE in Vietnam.
Stay For The Ad, Too!
Autodesk is running something called TED, and here is a 2 minute session. Stay for the ad afterwards. The topic is history's greatest designer, it is very good.
Friday, April 4, 2008
How To Distort Statistics
Auto sales are dropping dramatically now that we are in a recession. How to hide the fact? Make auto workers contract offers so bad the workers go out on strike. Striking workers cannot go on unemployment, so they do not raise the unemployment insurance requirements for the employers. They do not show up on the unemployment claims. so the economy looks better. Striking workers do not make cars, so... with fewer cars to sell, the ones already made command a higher price. no new ones being made means big auto and big govt will look better later. In the meantime, workers and their families suffer. A win-win for big biz/big govt. And here is the rest of it, delete this sentence.
How Govt Education Works
Since government education cannot raise math scores, not even with Sloans millions nor Gates' billions, the government simply eliminated the requirements in math. There. All better now.
This reminds me when affirmative action in the 1980's so lowered the quality of law students that too few passed the bar to supply lawyers in Washington State. So the bar simply regraded the tests to make enough pass. Which section did they regrade? Ethics, of course.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Andrea Wants Guangzhou Heads Up
Andrea asks:
>
> I will be going to the Canton Fair in Guangzhou in a few weeks. It's
> my first time at the fair as well as in China. I realize that the
> show is huge and am wondering if
>
> 1) any advice for me on how to make the most of my time there?
> 2) any recommendations for a person or group, possibly a sourcing
> agent, who I could approach to act as my guide?
>
> thanks
> Andrea
Andrea,
Funny you should ask... I am in Hong Kong right now, and the first time I attended the fair you mention was 1977. My guess is you'll fly to Hong Kong and take the train in?
The Canton Fair is probably the biggest in the world, and you can get an idea at http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.asp. It is held at two massive locations, and then the whole city seems to get into the act with hotel lobbies and banquet rooms rented out to exhibitors. To make things even more interesting, there are usually several shows going on in Hong Kong at the same time as well. Check out www.hktdc.com.
The canton fair is held in 2 phases, and if you can walk very fast, you can see both buildings all booths in one day, but do not expect to comprehend anything. You could easily spend three days at each phase just browsing.
The best bet of course is to have customers in USA lined up, and to have already gone thru the process of finding the best place in the world to have the product made, and to have discovered china is the place.
Then you would be able to get an invitation in, and have people to meet, which is always best.
Of course, Hong Kong is entrepot so there are countless agents who would help, but again, they are going to want to qualify you... no one is going to spend time with someone just looking.
A guide would be nice, and I suppose just about any travel service would help you out, hiring out a guide for the day. I like China Travel Service for visas and tickets, since this is China and they are the State Travel Service. Maybe they hire out guides too. I assume you just want someone to guide you in and out of china, thru the shows, and around Hong Kong.
Canton (Guangzhou) Hotels are expensive during the day, so you may want to make the trip a day trip, in by train in the morning, out by train at night. Problem is you must make train res in hong Kong only, after you get a VISA form the Chinese (none needed for Hong Kong, one needed for China, prox US$200.) often the homeward bound trains are fully booked for several days out, especially during the fair.
There are always the busses in and out of China... a nightmare in traffic delays, but it can be done.
Give us more details, dates times, and other specific questions, and let's see if we can help.
>
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Hillary Is Rocky!
We'll need a carefully crafted image to be the leader in a carefully crafted depression and war era... and the government-owned media are doing there part. Hillary is Rocky!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Lack of Faith
When hamiltonianism failed in foreign relations we passed the Patriot Act laws and invaded a country that was no threat to us. Now hamiltonianism has failed in banking we are talking about giving the FED fantastic new powers and nationalizing the banks, in essence writing patriot act laws for the FED and invading private property.
Our leaders no longer believe in Jeffersonism, because they failed at hamiltonianism. It is win-win for them, lose-lose for the taxpayer.
If the free market were allowed to work, the taxpayer would avoid being saddled with the cost of this adventure in banking.
The hamiltonians would have bailed out the banks and burned the taxpayers. The plan now is for the government to seize the banks and burn the taxpayer.
At some point, we should give freedom a try.
Dance!
I visited the Hong Kong Leather Show today. Clark's shoes, of the desert boot fame, has introduced a bullet-proof version. Great for a visit to the wild west.
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