Tiny Creekside Farms wants to test its cattle for mad cow disease before it ships to Japan, and the Japanese customers demand it. The USDA checks no more than 1% of all cattle for mad cow disease. Big Beef fears if one small company tests for food safety, then consumers might demand all beef get tested. Big Beef got the regualtors to destroy a small conpetitor, and of course, USA regulators get straight to work.
Since the mad cow test is done on dead animals, the USDA has no say in whether a company can test or not. The USDA can only regulate treatment of live animals, not anything done to dead animals. The federal appeals court, which is part of the government and enforces big business demands, has ruled that a test done on a dead animal is a treatment on an animal. Maybe an autopsy is health care.
Anyway, now tiny Creekside must go to the US Supreme Court if it wished to sell safe beef to the Japanese.
It astonishes me when I read complaints about Chinese products, when matters are far worse here in USA.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Update: Small Biz Cannot Test for Mad Cow
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Best Election Joke
Chris Rock has the best line from the election of 08:
George Bush made it so no white man can ever get elected president again.
USA Put Melamine In Baby Formula Too!
Isn't this just wonderful. After all the criticism of China for melamine in baby food, USA does it too! WE are harsh when China does it, weasily when we do it.
I am with these gals: If mom isn't breastfeeding, something is wrong.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
More Pirates!
There is something not right about this story, seems to me to be international intrigue afoot... perhaps there are those who do not wish to see India protect its shipping...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Stores Folding
I almost titled this "customers folding" but if they are folding, they were never customers to begin with, given the etymology of the word "customer.". Reading Dennis' list below, I see stores from which people would have been delighted to receive orders five years ago. If you ship to these stores now, you can likely kiss your money goodbye.
There are many suppliers who organized their operations and lives around serving these businesses. Those suppliers will now go out of business.
The problem is debt...if on one hand you refused to take on more debt than was sound, you would naturally avoid customers who were themselves taking on too much debt. Your sensibility in your own business would cause you to eschew foolish, unsustainable customer base.
The entire problem is excess debt... the government is working to ignore the problem, and make the productive subsidize the unproductive. Neither will happen. The productive will merely quit working, and the poor will not have toothbrushes.
The problem is with the inherent instability in their system. (They keep calling it "the" system, as though there are no alternatives). The solution is freedom. Note no plan to save "the" system involves freedom or responsibility. I am hiring right now, just not in USA. There are countless avenues of employment available right here and now, but compliance with rules and regulations would overwhelm my management capacity. Since workers are free to contract in any way they wish overseas, they can make themselves useful. USA workers are not free to contract in any way they wish.
On the other hand, no one is taking responsibility for the harm done to the USA economy, and what contributed to it.
I can produced needful things, but the rules and regulations added to the mix make the proposition not pencil out. Those who make the rules have ruined the economy, but they will not be held accountable. If they were to allow freedom, or take responsibility, their system would fail, and the free market would emerge in which a constant flow of innovation would be introduced, and those natural conservators companies would be applying economies of scale to lower the cost and widen the access to products and services. They cannot have that.
Most people believe in the current system very much. Their failure will come as a shock to them. They certainly have it within themselves to succeed in a free market, but they have no idea what that is.
I've seen all this before, now only today it is much worse. And the bad part is yet to come. One point to keep in mind is the debt was taken to gain capacity. Say you are a paint designer and your competitor bought a ten million dollar paint blending machine. With the bust, he cannot make the payments. Busted, disoriented, and in denial, he cannot believe it is worth less than ten million. Since your are stuill in business, contract to use his machine hourly, or perhaps pay ten cents for each can of paint the machine produces. The busted owner, still miscalculating, will believe you're business volume will save him. Pay him $500 for an option of the right of first refusal if the machine ever goes up for sale (it will in bankruptcy). In this way you will have the use of the machine until the owner goes bankrupt, and when the assets go for sale, you'll have the right to buy it instead of any other buyers best price. When there is plenty of excess capacity, that price is dirt cheap.
In the last depression countless businesses were built when ten million dollar machines were bought for $100. On such bases, it was quite possible to turn a profit.
Dennis Checks In With A Caution
Stores closing after Christmas
I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards
around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be
honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after
Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though
the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them
from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as (Bankruptcy
Planning). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be
cautious about. Click to read list...
Stores closing after Christmas
Mervyn¢s Closing ALL Stores
Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 sto res mo re to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stor~s
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard's to close some stores
.