It's not the rich people so much who proft from trade with China, rather, it is the person who can buy Chinese products in the store. And it is the person in China who can earn a better living as a result.
Cuba was a threat, when they served as a local proxy for a much larger Soviet regime. Now it is just another brutal tin-pot dictatorship. After thirty plus years, the embargo policy is obviously a failure. Trade should resume between the US and Cuba so Castro's last pathetic excuse will be removed.
Japan lost WWII, but they wrote their own history books, which incidentally are notorious for glossing over or totally denying some astounding Japanese atrocities during WWII.
Would that work, though, if you had a high-traffic site? I uinderstood that the latency is higher to access a website on a server on another continent, and the overwhelming majority of internet users are in North America.
Then why don't you start a record company? Seriously, independent labels start up all the time. Why don't they undercut the big names by offering a reasonable profit margin? Answer: you are grossly overestimating the profit margins.
It's worth noting, too, that the gross profit margin for Coca-Cola (KO) last quarter was under 9%.
One thing nice about the big chains is they have a tremendously better selection than the little stores ever had. This is great for consumers. Note also that the small shops still thrive in market niches like Used CD's and alternative shops..
Can you cite actual proof for those figures? I'm not being crabby, it's just that everybody throws them around. As far as I know, the profit margins for these companies is in line with other businesses. If they really have such extraordinarily profitable business models, though, why don't more people enter the market? Just wondering.
If your mental age stayed in the single digits, I suppose it could approach a low number, since you IQ is your mental age divided by your physical age.
My boss does this. I spend at least half an hour a week backtrcking through the spastic clicking he does when unexpected dialogue boxes appear. Incidentally, I work for Microsoft. No kidding.
Dubya isn't the only one supporting this. Pat Monynihan and Bob Kerry, two Democratic Senators, also think it's a great idea.
Your fears of "The Social Security fund crashing" are unfounded. Looking at the long term, the absolute worst 20-year return on the stock market index was over +3% a year. That period covers the Great Depression. But the best possible return you will get on Social Security is just over 2%. And you probably won't get that. So our worst (unlikey) case scenario sees an large benefit to those who invest in the broad index funds rather than the Ponzi-scheme Social Security system. Of course, the average Real return on indexes is closer to 10%, which would be much better.
What if I'm twelve years old and I want to download pictures of girls my age?
It's illegal for the server to hold them. It's illegal for you to download them or possess them (though since you would be 12 you would not be called a 'pedophile' or punished in any serious way). It is NEVER legal for sexually explicit photos of underage children to be possessed or transferred.
Many people have static IPs. These can easily be traced back to a computer by law enforcement. If you are assigned an IP dynamically, law enforcement goes to the owner of the IP and says "Who was assigned this IP at this exact minute?" and the ISP gives them the info. AOL and all the big ISPs do this for law enforcement all the time. I can only imagine that without this effort, there would little to stop child pornography.
Mr. Whore, whether or not you like it, the law prohibits ANYBODY from possessing nude pics of an underage girl, no matter what their age.
Monitoring the people who do this is no different from publishing a caller ID log to a sex chat number. You give up your privacy when you contact somebody's network.
. Assuming if someone searchs for "schoolgirl.jpg", "little girls.jpg", "younggirlxxx.jpg", young-tits.jpg,.etc are necessarily looking for pedophilia is wrong and quite possibly illegal.
How would "making an assumption" be illegal? I can post my assumptions online without fear of legal action, assuming you don't repeal the First Amendment.
Anyway, they aren't saying "This IP is connected to a pedophile." They are saying "Someone at this IP looked for suspicious file names." Finally, if you really believe searching for "schoolgirl.jpg" or "littlegirls.jpg" is not an indication of pedophilia, you are either a fool, or totally disingenuous. What the hell else could it be? Whether or not it makes you happy, pedophilia is very illegal, and very wrong. Using this tool to embarrass perverts is totally justified.
Your arguement doesn't really describe the words you are using. If your cost is $1, and your revenue is $16, your profit is $15. But your proft margin is your profit divided by your revenue. This is simple finance. If you don't believe me you can ask anybody (else) who actually runs a business, or check out any elementary accounting guide. You are mistaking 'markup' for 'profit margin'.
I would agree with you that CDs are expensive. But if the profit margin was really that great, why don't other companies move in to undercut them? This happens in every other industry, even one with vastly greater barriers to entry, like, say, airlines. The answer is probably that you and I are grossly overestimating their profit margin, when all costs are taken into account.
PS-Thanks for not flaming like the other dorks who responded.
PPS - If you really think they are making that much of a killing, I encourage you to go out and buy stock in the companies. Even our favorite 'monopoly' Microsoft has a profit margin less than 40%.
Yes, but 50 cents is probably the marginal cost of that cd. If I rent a huge building and buy a lot of equipment to build widgets, it might cost me $10 million. But once I get going, making one additional widget might cost 50 cents. But I cannot sell it for 50 cents and break even - do you see there are at least $10 million of fixed costs to recoup, too?
I don't know much about the recording industry, but there are many fixed costs involved before the cd is actually made for 50 cents. I would totally agree with you that they appear to be grossly overpriced. But if that is true, then what is stopping somebody from starting a company that does this for less? Since the musicians see little of the huge markup, they have no incentive to stay with the establishment. So why doesn't anybody jump in and undercut the music industry giants? Probably because the fixed costs involved are much bigger than you or I guess, and it really does cost them much more than 50 cents to get that CD to you.
With regard to the Tupac CD you mentioned, my guess is that the revenues from older collections like Tupac go in part to pay for the loss on new musicians. Record companies no doubt sponsor many musicians with the hope that at least a certain percentage become profitable, which in part pays for the risk on the others. If you take away their profits on low-risk artists, you will likely diminish the risks they will take on new unprofitable artists. This is essentially how all businesses work.
On a side note, I'd be glad to see the entire industry go out of business as websites like mp3.com revolutionize the distribution model. The market will be much more ideal and truly competitive over the internet because the barrier to entry will be lower.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not the rich people so much who proft from trade with China, rather, it is the person who can buy Chinese products in the store. And it is the person in China who can earn a better living as a result.
Cuba was a threat, when they served as a local proxy for a much larger Soviet regime. Now it is just another brutal tin-pot dictatorship. After thirty plus years, the embargo policy is obviously a failure. Trade should resume between the US and Cuba so Castro's last pathetic excuse will be removed.
Windows has had a similarly simple local protocol - NETBEUI - for some time. No config.
Japan lost WWII, but they wrote their own history books, which incidentally are notorious for glossing over or totally denying some astounding Japanese atrocities during WWII.
Thanks for sharing, biiiiyatch!
Would that work, though, if you had a high-traffic site? I uinderstood that the latency is higher to access a website on a server on another continent, and the overwhelming majority of internet users are in North America.
That would conflict with my ambition to be the next Emporer of Madagascar.
It's nice to see the French finally taking a stand against the Nazis.
Overturn on what grounds? Copyrighted material is not covered by the 1st Amendment.
Hilarious! It's so typical of the attitude on Slashdot: I volunteer your life to the Cause! And I will cheer from far away, sacraficing nothing!
That's well over half the readers of Slashdot. Rob used to post statistics on this. Who knows why he doesn't anymore.
It's worth noting, too, that the gross profit margin for Coca-Cola (KO) last quarter was under 9%.
One thing nice about the big chains is they have a tremendously better selection than the little stores ever had. This is great for consumers. Note also that the small shops still thrive in market niches like Used CD's and alternative shops..
Can you cite actual proof for those figures? I'm not being crabby, it's just that everybody throws them around. As far as I know, the profit margins for these companies is in line with other businesses. If they really have such extraordinarily profitable business models, though, why don't more people enter the market? Just wondering.
If your mental age stayed in the single digits, I suppose it could approach a low number, since you IQ is your mental age divided by your physical age.
My boss does this. I spend at least half an hour a week backtrcking through the spastic clicking he does when unexpected dialogue boxes appear. Incidentally, I work for Microsoft. No kidding.
Aside from your Stone Age definition of "work", are you aware the "investor class" in America is around 95 million people?
Your fears of "The Social Security fund crashing" are unfounded. Looking at the long term, the absolute worst 20-year return on the stock market index was over +3% a year. That period covers the Great Depression. But the best possible return you will get on Social Security is just over 2%. And you probably won't get that. So our worst (unlikey) case scenario sees an large benefit to those who invest in the broad index funds rather than the Ponzi-scheme Social Security system. Of course, the average Real return on indexes is closer to 10%, which would be much better.
*high five*
It's illegal for the server to hold them. It's illegal for you to download them or possess them (though since you would be 12 you would not be called a 'pedophile' or punished in any serious way). It is NEVER legal for sexually explicit photos of underage children to be possessed or transferred.
Many people have static IPs. These can easily be traced back to a computer by law enforcement. If you are assigned an IP dynamically, law enforcement goes to the owner of the IP and says "Who was assigned this IP at this exact minute?" and the ISP gives them the info. AOL and all the big ISPs do this for law enforcement all the time. I can only imagine that without this effort, there would little to stop child pornography.
Monitoring the people who do this is no different from publishing a caller ID log to a sex chat number. You give up your privacy when you contact somebody's network.
How would "making an assumption" be illegal? I can post my assumptions online without fear of legal action, assuming you don't repeal the First Amendment.
Anyway, they aren't saying "This IP is connected to a pedophile." They are saying "Someone at this IP looked for suspicious file names." Finally, if you really believe searching for "schoolgirl.jpg" or "littlegirls.jpg" is not an indication of pedophilia, you are either a fool, or totally disingenuous. What the hell else could it be? Whether or not it makes you happy, pedophilia is very illegal, and very wrong. Using this tool to embarrass perverts is totally justified.
I would agree with you that CDs are expensive. But if the profit margin was really that great, why don't other companies move in to undercut them? This happens in every other industry, even one with vastly greater barriers to entry, like, say, airlines. The answer is probably that you and I are grossly overestimating their profit margin, when all costs are taken into account.
PS-Thanks for not flaming like the other dorks who responded.
PPS - If you really think they are making that much of a killing, I encourage you to go out and buy stock in the companies. Even our favorite 'monopoly' Microsoft has a profit margin less than 40%.
I don't know much about the recording industry, but there are many fixed costs involved before the cd is actually made for 50 cents. I would totally agree with you that they appear to be grossly overpriced. But if that is true, then what is stopping somebody from starting a company that does this for less? Since the musicians see little of the huge markup, they have no incentive to stay with the establishment. So why doesn't anybody jump in and undercut the music industry giants? Probably because the fixed costs involved are much bigger than you or I guess, and it really does cost them much more than 50 cents to get that CD to you.
With regard to the Tupac CD you mentioned, my guess is that the revenues from older collections like Tupac go in part to pay for the loss on new musicians. Record companies no doubt sponsor many musicians with the hope that at least a certain percentage become profitable, which in part pays for the risk on the others. If you take away their profits on low-risk artists, you will likely diminish the risks they will take on new unprofitable artists. This is essentially how all businesses work.
On a side note, I'd be glad to see the entire industry go out of business as websites like mp3.com revolutionize the distribution model. The market will be much more ideal and truly competitive over the internet because the barrier to entry will be lower.