Friday, September 20, 2013

End USA Isolationism Now!

The Pope brought up the problem of unemployed youth.  One reason we have so many unemployed youth is we had the last three booms, all now busted, and they siphoned off at least two generations of entrepreneurs into fake economies.  Mish reports having an education does not matter as to whether or not you are employed.

We also now have a generation of retiring baby boomers are expecting to be supported by a generation that cannot support itself.  The generation that made sure the present generation cannot work expects to be supported by that generation.  Are those chickens coming home to roost?

There is a very simple solution to this, deregulation: medicine, banking, education, housing... the more government involvement, the more benefit.  It does not have to be all, only one would do the trick.

But that is not what will happen.  When the USA was formed, one thing for sure was we would have no standing army.  Because with an army, the founders knew, all economic problems are solved by war.  Today we say wars are because of religion, but the fact is wars are because of armies.

Since the USA has the largest military in the world, the rest of the world has militaries.  Because USA has soldiers in over 200 countries, USA is more and more isolated from the people around the world.  There are so many countries where ordinary Americans cannot go because the USA has destabilized the countries.  When we cannot trade, we become isolated.

On the other hand, there is such a long list of countries we once could not speak to, but now we are building relations.


We make celebrities out of soldiers. The recruiters tell young people they will be celebrities if they join, knowing full well a military works only if individualism is crushed and you are are blended into a uniform whole.  For this reason you'll see and hear people saying to any person in a uniform, or even claiming to ever have been in uniform "thank you for your service."  No one makes any distinctions, because they cannot, all military is all celebrity, all the time.  But for the people who were told they would be celebrity and find out they are uniform, there is a conflict.  Among these "celebrities," active and veteran, there is a Sandy Hook number of suicides ever day.  Do a study.

This is passing strange, for before the enlightenment, never before in history were soldiers celebrated. They were universally feared and hated.  And very strange is right-wing Christians who reverence these celebrities they created and then give them praise.  It's idolatry. 


We can make friends, we can deregulate, but we will not.  Because we have a standing military.  Given our problems, the easiest thing to do is go to war.  Poverty, unemployment, isolationism.    Thank you for your service?  No, let's end the isolationism, lets make peace and prosperity, let's deregulate the USA so all of our soldiers have plenty to do when we declare victory and bring them home.

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Thursday, September 19, 2013

We Need More Trillions for the NSA!

The NSA collects all of our communications, so they can defend USA from attacks!  Then they do super-duper analysis to make us safe!  But they cannot predict or notice when someone is clearly going to shoot up the Navy Yard!  The only problem is they do not have enough money to do more!  We need to hire three NSA analysts to follow each USA citizen around (3 x 8 = 24 hour shifts) to do real time watching of USA citizens!  It is or only hope!  Vote more trillions for defense!  Failure means more money for those who fail!  Let's get with the program!

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Your Opinion Does Not Matter

Of all the things I wrote in that book ten years ago, "the benefit of your insignificance" is a point that is even more germane to the topic of business start up.  It is exasperating to see people halt progress based on a notion they form that customers will reject some offer, for -

too expensive

too slow

too rough

too little...

but that is precisely what is at the start of every start up:

Expensive

Slow

Few

Rough

Here is the first Apple Computer...

http://apple2history.org/history/ah02/
All you need is enough orders from your customers to cover the supplier's minimum order requirement, in a workable amount of time, profitably.  When you are there, you do you first transaction, and with the payment you have received another wealth of information no one else has, since it relates to your product.  This is the way to exclusivity - expertise in uniqueness.

Never design based on what you think, always based on what customers say.  You can and should pose what you think to customers as a hypothesis, but never offer your ides in the form of a product.

Why?  Because your opinion does not matter.  Understand that, and you'll start making money by serving customers.

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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The Export Sandwich

Here is a visual of who has to come together to execute an export sale...


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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

It Is Not Good to Let the Fourth String Run the Country

Once upon a time when I was consulting with a large agri-business, a buyer showed up from Brazil with many things to say.  One thing he mentioned in passing is he had a PhD in physics from Columbia University.

So I called Columbia University and asked.  Nope.  No such person ever received a PhD from Columbia.  I was rather surprised I was able to get through with my call, but I suspect Columbia is jealous of their degrees and assiduous in addressing claims.  Probably all schools are.

I have not been following this week's crisis in Washington, DC, but I read...
O’Bagy’s latest admission, that she was never a Ph.D. student in any way, comes after a series of articles in which O’Bagy claimed, falsely, that she was enrolled in the joint MA/Ph.D. program. Kim Kagan, the president of ISW, told The Daily Beast that when she made the decision to fire O’Bagy, she was still under the impression O’Bagy’s deception was solely about defending her Ph.D. dissertation.
Well, wait.  The Kagan's are top analysts in USA of World Events.  This young woman was writing Wall Street Journal opinion pieces and influencing congressmen on USA attacking Syria, without provocation...  This is an excellent example of the problems we are facing in our economics and politics, strictly fourth rate people at the commanding heights.  Nobody thought to pick up a phone and check out who this person was.

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Monday, September 16, 2013

Alibaba.com IPO

As long as Alibaba.com has existed, I've argued serious small business international traders should steer clear of the enterprise, and pursue direct contact with suppliers and customers is a far better approach to business.  I still believe that, yet how to account for alibaba's growth?
Sales of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's e-commerce business are expected to surpass those of the total retail e-commerce market in the United States by year-end, Alibaba's chairman said on Friday.
Partially by changing from B2B to B2C, and then diversifying into, well everything... Let's break that down...
Alibaba's e-commerce empire includes Alibaba.com, Taobao Mall and Taobao Marketplace. Taobao Mall and Taobao Marketplace recorded 1 trillion yuan ($163 billion) in total transactions last year.
OK, so it is eBay and Amazon.com combined...
In the finance business, Alibaba has made loans to more than 10 million small to medium-sized enterprises in China and provided 300 million customers with payment-related services.
and banking and credit cards combined...
The company is also working with partners to build a national logistics network.
And Fedex and UPS combined...
Alibaba on Friday signed an agreement with China's biggest fixed-line network operator, China Telecom, for a strategic partnership in areas including basic telecommunication services, mobile Internet, cloud computing and data centers.
And AT&T, Sprint, Comcast combined....  This is just unwise, having so much under one roof...  it will become unwieldly and customer service nightmare.  Best to stick with the old-fashioned approach to B2B.

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Sunday, September 15, 2013

A Miracle In Syria

In his role as leader of the free world, Vlad Putin pulled the USA back from the brink of WWIII.  That may sound an overstatement, but neither China nor Russia is going to allow USA to stay in the Middle East.  Our two best friends in the Middle East treat Christians the worst, and only Russia and China are against terrorists becoming victors.  Both Russia and China have serious internal terrorist problems, themselves, and have existential issues at play where USA merely desires to play.

So as the secular world argues over who is the most brilliant among the political players for the unexpected change of outcomes (at least for this week, no attack on Syria), we seem to have forgotten another player, at least here in USA.

Among the usual cast of characters whose ministrations result in yet another proxy war, came the Pope.  And as opposed the standard stupid commissions and inquiries from the usual suspects, the Pope asked for fasting and prayer.

After the leaders of USA, Israel, the UK and France made a full court press for a unwarranted attack on Syria, here is what the Pope called for on September 1:
To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.
Here is what the USA Bishops called for on September 3...
Take Action Now!Contact your two U.S. Senators and your Representative and urge them to vote against a resolution authorizing the use of military force in Syria.  Instead, ask them to support U.S. leadership, in collaboration with the international community, for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, serious and inclusive negotiations for peace, and increased humanitarian assistance.
Wait, where is a call for fasting and prayer?  And oddly, why call for USA leadership when USA's official position is to attack without warrant?  Would it not be better to call for USA to stand aside and let the immediate parties sort it out, ala subsidiarity?  On September 4 they Bishops sent Pres. Obama a letter, on the fifth a similar letter to Congress, saying nothing about fasting.  The point is, the USA bishops did not have much to do with the Church's effort to end the crisis in Syria.  Let the Catholic in the pew assess how much emphasis it received.

Nonetheless, the rest of the Catholic world embraced the Pope's call, and September 7th, fasting and prayer was directed at the crisis in Syria.

September 9, we read this:
Russia seized on a casual comment by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to urge that Syriaturn over its arsenal of chemical weapons to international control to avert an American military strike.
And against all odds, in a most spectacularly unexpected manner, like a miracle, the immediate bombing effort is over. And now the powers that be scramble to take credit for crisis averted.  Is it possible that the one element that was unique to this crisis had any effect?  Fasting and prayer?  Did this new Peace Pope have a leadership role in the world stage?  Do we now have a Pope-Putin tag team, to keep the peace worldwide?

And if so, what role did the Catholic Church in USA play in averting the crisis?   Does any American think writing Congress has any effect?  Less so President Obama?  There is a passage in the Bible that comes to mind:
David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God.But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.9
The USA Catholic Bishops depend on the State for much of their cash flow, and can be disrupted easily by IRS targeting.  Perhaps it is a matter of "prudential judgment" but the facts bear out the USA is a bloody place, and the Bishops provide sky pilots, sacrilegious flags in the sanctuary, and relentless support of the American Regime.  And when we borrow 55% of what we spend, we necessarily must make war to prove we can pay it back.  Perhaps USA Catholic non-participation in the miracle of last week is a warning, that with so much blood shed, USA bishops will not be allowed to build a new peace.

Where are the Berrigans and Hunthausens of yesteryear?   When will the Bishops teach on fasting and prayer, and embrace the poverty that will come if they repent of war?

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