While in Hong Kong, my tailor told me Fedex pilots have her make their uniforms, since they get something like $150 a year allowance. They are cheap things, she does it as something of a favor, and then gives the work to retired seamtresses who can no longer work fast enough to do regular business. Since the Fedex pilots can wait, it is a perfect fit, as these ladies take their time.
Of course, this would not be allowed in USA, or cost prohibitive to employ these elders, what with rules or regs.
Now comes a story out of Senegal, where a black woman from Detroit is doing good while doing well.
Friday, April 11, 2008
American Black Succeeds in Africa: Not Allowed In USA
Snake Soup
I brought my daughter with me to Hong Kong this trip, and we dropped by Apliu Street to pick up used his and hers localized cell phones. We went into a 7-11 to get local minutes sim cards, and then had the vendor, a father daughter team themselves, set them up for us.
Strolling through the rest of the area to see whats new, or as the case is on this street - what's old, and we walked by a restaurant with a terrarium in the window, with a black cobra sleeping. She remarked it was strange for a restaurant to have live snake in the window, and I told her it was a snake restaurant, that was a restaurant the served snakes.
She doubted me. In we went and snake soup we had. Quite good. The waiter assured me the soup was good for circulation and skin conditions. He was a good man... the restaurant did not serve beer but he agreed to run to the corner to buy me a can at the 7-11 (they are everywhere in Hong Kong).
I must say this is the first time in 30 years I did not get some sort of ailment while in Hong Kong. Perhaps I've learned something new. From now on, first stop, snake restaurant.
Make Friends With Amazon
I cannot find a single good thing being said about the Amazon.com move to limit Print On Demand (POD) to their in-house printer. Of course this is an inconvenience to anyone who has a POD book with any other printer, but the fact of the matter is, if you add up every POD book in the world, it i9s nothing compared to the number coming on stream. the big numbers are ahead, and Amazon is doing good while doing well by their new policy. Again, anyone who thinks Amazon is wrong should compete against them.
One of the strangest threads out there is Amazon is out to kill off competitors. I doubt that. My sense is they are out to serve customers. My experience with iUniverse is they were suicidal, so no "killing off" was necessary. Since I once judged iUniverse the best of the POD (probably still are) the rest are even more so suicidal.
I "fired" B&N's Lightening Source because I could do a better job than they did. I went from a buck a book royalty to about $8 a book, plus eight times the volume and making friends with Amazon in the meantime (if nothing else because with B&N & Lightening Source & Ingraham, the book was always "out of stock, available in 6-8 weeks..." on Amazon. If I was Amazon, I would make the moves they did if nothing else to capture those lost sales. I am writing all this up as a case study, too bad it is not ready yet, but maybe in a couple of weeks. It is a wonderful example of creative destructionism.
If there are any lawsuits from this, I'll write a a friend-of-the-court brief telling the judge how wicked exploiters the POD houses are and what a benevolent organization the loving Amazon.com is. Or something like that.
This to-do also supports my contention that artists, and I consider writers artists, are the most conservative group in society. There is no group that fears change more. For all of their bohemian pretensions, they want things set and stable. It may be because the creative process internally is so chaotic, they want the externals stable. Just a thought.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Amazon.com Just Gets Better
Amazon.com has a new policy that is outraging some writers. This does not affect me or one of the companies I own, Seattle Teachers College Press, since the new policy is limited to "print-on-demand" and we are a traditional publisher, although with a particular market.
Those who are unhappy ought to see me about something better than print-on-demand, not contact the Justice Department about prosecuting Amazon.com. If Amazon.com is doing wrong or making a mistake, then form a competitor to Amazon.com and test the hypothesis.
Once upon a time Amazon.com was a couple of people in a garage going up against The Man. they tested a hypothesis, and won big time. Nothing has changed.
Politics Or Free Markets
The night before I left Hong Kong, I joined a group for dinner. We were a diverse bunch, having in common a particular art that we attended to earlier in the evening. There were people from around the world, but mainly Hong Kong and China people.
In the two plus hours, we talked art and economics, ate cha siu and drank beer, history and philosophy, ate chicken feet and drank beer, some news, ate jiaozi and drank beer, all with bak fan and plenty of greens, but discussed no politics. The closest we got was when I was given a clarification on Kwun Tong vs. Kowloon City, and the history of Kowloon City's status.
Imagine that! A polite audience, a half-dozen beers, and I did not argue politics.
Politics is just so unimportant in a free market. Most of these people are self-employed, or work for small companies. They belong to associations related to their industries. They belong to clubs and groups that share their interests. They usually belong to some religious or philosophical group that addresses the bigger issues. Health care is generally something you take care of out of your own pocket, because it is cheap and plentiful, and education is obviously a matter for the family, regardless of how long your kid sits in a classroom.
Whose got time to worry about politics? And the political superstructure is so small it is generally ineffective anyway... plus it has nothing to offer compared to what resources the people draw on outside of "government." One only has time for so much, and there are so much more fruitful ways to spend it in a free market.
As we in USA descend into socialism, and government gets bigger, the stakes get higher, people get more intersted in politics. Since the stakes are high, we get involved. Since we are involved, the bad drives out the good, and we do not take time to do good while doing well. More and more people are fighting over less and less.
Hillary will be the next President, because she is so polarizing. People genuinely hate her. they will work politically to stop her. Others will work politically to protect her. She will define what medicine is, who gets it, and who pays for it. And people will take their time to respond to what hillary does, instead of what customers need.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Airlines Cut Corners On Safety, Save Money
In yet another example of the regulated controlling the regulators, the airlines have cut back on safety maintenance to save money, and the FAA acquiesced. Government has no role in safety regulations, safety is strictly a free-market function.
How we get scammed here is enough people assume the government is overseeing safety, so the airlines can skip maintenance, save money, and the customer believes all as well. The government cannot oversee safety, so we should pretend they do. The airlines can and do oversee safety, so we should not assume they cannot.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Free Is the New Price Point - McD Division
McDonalds is advertising free small latte during breakfast hours in the Seattle market at least (maybe yours too, but this of course is home to Starbucks). I shall partake and critique.
Many doubt McD can beat Starbucks. I believe McD will cut substantially into Starbucks. Although the maybe half-dozen times in my life I made a purchase at McD, I've never found food in the bag, but McD will deliver what the customers want.
I would run Starbucks farther upscale in response. More money for less work. Close 1/2 of the Starbucks stores. Put fireplaces in every store left ( new technology has live flame but no exhaust). Starbucks is going downscale. They will be slaughtered if they stick to that strategy.
But nobody asked me.
We Are Ready To Attack Iran Now
In 2001, 2002, 2003 2004, I am many others said we were (no predictions) in trouble with the crazy real estate boom and mortgage madness. Do you think in 2005, when the government "reformed" the bankruptcy laws to make it much harder to bankrupt, they did not have this bust in mind? Of course they did.
A law has been on the books since WWII that banks cannot foreclose on active duty personnel. Men between the ages of 18 - 26 must register for the draft, including green card holders AND ILLEGAL ALIENS. The Selective Service (the draft) can take people up to 39 years old now, the moment it is reinstated.
We have built camps for illegal aliens.
Today Gen'l Petreaus announced the surge has failed, if the point of the surge was to draw down our presence.
Others have detailed all the steps taken that point to an attack on Iran. If and when we attack Iran, all of the pressing problems we face will be solved by massive government action. We will all cheer.
Of course, we could also solve all of our problems by deregulating medicine.
The Mind Boggles
Richard Branson has decided there is a way to make money in mortgage loans... check it out. He of course is a serial entrepreneur, so there may be an opportunity for some hegelian dialectic here.
Neocon Helpfully Defined
Donald Kagan has defined neoconservative...
What is neoconservatism, then? Kagan calls it "moralism, idealism, exceptionalism, militarism, and global ambition—as well as imprudent excesses in the exercise of all of these."
Imprudence? Perzactly! That is the core of hamiltonianism, since you push until it fails and then charge it off to the subjects, see 'mortgage mess." ... as to moralism and idealism, the question is, whose? As to exceptionalism, what is exceptional about militarism, and global ambition—as well as imprudent excesses in the exercise of all of these? Every political disaster, such as Hitler, subscribed to this.
This guy has won a Jefferson Award. Go figure.
No Vaccination, No Autism
There is so much packed into this article... Note the alternative lifestyles, or secede-in-place... note how when people organise around principle (good medicine) it draws wide demographics (Christian, Jew, Moslem, agnostic) peacefully... and one can make money in medicine doing well while doing good (I've heard so many OB/GYNs say you cannot be a doctor without prescribing the Pill). Of course, with a clear hypothesis formed here, the powers that be say "no need to research a connection between autism and vaccination"... yet, vast sums are spent, huge conferences held, all to get 100% participation in vaccination, and strategies for overcoming resistance. I was lucky, the doctor who tended me was a scientist too, and resisted all this government vaccination nonsense. Vaccination works, if done right (You can actually do it yourself, if need be). The powers that be do something else, and call it vaccination.
An Alternative
Mish Shedlock quotes:
In a statement I have been repeating for a year, there is no need for more Wal-Marts (WMT), Pizza Huts (YUM), Targets (TGT), nail salons or strip malls. Indeed, major retailers all are dramatically scaling back plans right now. Simply put, there is no source of new jobs heading forward, even as layoffs pick up steam. Unemployment will soar and that will further depress housing by creating more foreclosures and thus more inventory.
Agreed, but we COULD have a source of new jobs that would make all of our current problems disappear...
.
We could deregulate something, anything. Medicine. Education. Self-defense. It does not matter. Shedlock points out Japan had it easy when 20 years ago it was in the jam we face today, because the job creating dot.com boom was happening, that a result of deregulation.
The classic government jobs-creation program is war, which I pray to God we do not select.
Shedlock also points out people are parking their money in CDs and money market funds. Perzactly! What would you invest in today? What seems safe? Not even gold! Just think what would happen if we all agreed to a complete deregulation in medicine in USA. Poof! There goes every problem we face. The war in Iraq would end as every member of the USA military abandoned the war to get into a medicine start-up. 20 years of peace and prosperity.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Must Read On Markets
I hope you are all reading Herb Greenberg and Mish Shedlock daily for what is happening in the markets and industry. I just returned from Hong Kong and have landed some contacts that may keep me busy more specifically on "small business international trade."
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Nonsense, On Stilts
I have deconstructed the idea that Microsoft and other USA software firms lose billions and billions in software sales. Microsoft does get money from your paycheck to pay the government to fight this problem that does not exist. Now they are going for more.
Read the discussion threads below the article, and how viewers rate the reviewers, pro and con. If this is at all representative, pro-hamiltonian government is not very popular.
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