Maybe, if 3rd parties weren't so roundly shut out by the ruling oligarchy, more people would actually be interested enough to vote, and just maybe we could have some real change in policy, instead of six or one or half-dozen of the other.
I think that's precisely why they are shut out. From the oligarchs' perspective, the fewer people involved in the process the better.
1) Give you the choice of whether or not we should be in Iraq by returning to Congress the power to commit our troops to war.
2) Remove special interest and big money corporate influence from politics by prohibiting lobbying of our government officials (among other things).
3) Eliminate the Electoral College so elections are decided strictly by the people, not the Supreme Court.
4) Return democracy to this country by requiring "instant run off" elections in every state so no vote is ever "wasted" on a third party or independent candidate. With me, never again will you be forced to vote for someone simply because you don't want "the other guy" to win.
5) Stabilize Social Security and Medicare before it bankrupts our country.
6) Prevent the health care industry from becoming rich off of your hardships.
7) Eliminate all government waste at the federal level and lower or eliminate federal income tax.
8) Remove Congressional "fringe benefits", require Congress to participate in Social Security, restructure the Congressional retirement plan, require members of Congress to actually show up and do their jobs, and let the people vote on Congressional pay raises.
9) Impose judicial reform on the federal and state governments so every American can equally pursue justice. All judges will be elected, NEVER appointed.
10) Remove the power of the President to enact law through Executive Orders.
There's no question that contact with living things is a stress reducer. Plants, animals, and even other human beings. Machines can't really do that for me.
Granted I only mean physical contact. Having to deal with the needs of said living things is another story.
(and no, before you start, monopoly does not mean there are no alternatives, only that you have a market-penetration so high that your actions completely dominate the market.)
True. Standard Oil had just over 50% of it's market, and was found to be a monopolist. (MS has closer to 90%.)
Not at all. A company is a monopoly when it is possible for it to behave as a monopoly.
It is impossible for non-monopolies to squeeze out competition, or to make the kind of deals where they can force customers to pay for something they didn't buy, etc.
Examples: -Standard Oil could force railroads to pay them for moving their oil around, and recieved this comission even when the railroad moved a competitor's oil. -The RIAA can charge artists a cirtain percentage for shipping "breakage" even when nothing breaks. -Likewise, Microsoft can force a consumer to pay for Windows even when they don't wan't Windows, and can punish PC makers for offering choice.
This kind of behavior is only possible if you have a real or de-facto monopoly in your industry. True competition would make this kind of idiocy impossible. That is all the proof that should be required.
PC sales are the slowest they've been since the apple II came out, XP (over two years old) is the first windows upgrade that most of the world can afford to not upgrade to (windows 2000 is just fine,) and Media Center is a total non-starter.
I'm not saying they should be hurting, but best showing ever? Where are they getting all that money?
The problem with Wal*Mart is a shade worse. Wal*Mart pushes their own suppliers out of business. Producers have to reengineer their entire businesses to meet Wal*Mart's price points.
In the case of (admittedly struggling) Levi Strauss, it meant that they had to close the last of their US operations and move production to China. Wal*Mart is also responsible for their cheapo "Signature" line.
Being able to sell to Wal*Mart will make your sales numbers skyrocket, but you will no longer make any profit on what you sell. But if you don't do business with them, you will be crowded out of the market by whoever does.
To adapt a Chinese saying to the situation: To not do business with Wal*Mart is to await death; to do so is to invite death.
Isn't it about time all us concerned citizens meeting anonymously over the internet actually [i]did[/i] something besides just talk?
Future civilizations who investigate the catastrophic slide of the US into despotism will be amazed when they come across sites like/. and see that the people who knew exactly what was going on did nothing but document the event in excruciatingly redundant detail.
I'm up for just about anything, but I would have no idea how to begin. Thoughts?
Why is it that we have to obey all the laws, but nobody in power does?
These people can seriously do whatever they damn well please, can't they? Hack your computer, lie to the SEC and their shareholders, whatever. And nothing ever happens to them. At the same time, the penalties for people like us keep getting harsher and harsher.
Know what? Obeying the law looks like a long-term losing proposition to me. I don't think I'm going to do it anymore. Fuck the law. If the law doesn't protect equally, there is no law.
Mr. MPAA, from now on I am going to do everything in my power to rob you blind and make you suffer. I'm not going to pretend that my p2p client is for any legitimate use. My p2p client is for theft purposes.
All the college graduates have jobs. The same kind of jobs most Americans have. The kind with little responsibility and no security that last from 6mo to 2 years.
In Japan, however, this is not considered "employment". Real employment means lifetime employment. Employment with guaranteed semiannual bonuses, 10 days paid vacation from your first day on the job, and a guaranteed pension after you retire.
If you let the workers go, then they have no income to put back into the economy. Japanese economists are a bit more farsighted than that. Yes, every convenience store the size of a refrigerator crate has 3-4 people to staff it, but at least everyone is employed.
Indeed they do. With all it's problems, I think the basics of the Japanese economy are still sound. Japan still has a better work ethic, better education and higher levels of personal scruples than the US. Plus it still has strong steel, electronics, and manufacturing capacity. And don't forget that it lends far more money than it borrows.
So what if Japan can't survive forever as an exporter of electronic bric-brac to the US? I still think in the long term that it's in better shape than the US. Maybe a powerful China can be our new main trading partner.
Yes, Usen sucks. YahooBB hasn't really gotten off the ground yet so far as I know. I know they're promising fiberoptic broadband, but all I've seen advertised is basic 8-meg ADSL.
The way I heard it, they even refused his children -- who are Japanese born-and-bred -- into the baths. I think that's what caused it to be such a scandal to the Japanese.
So what if they are? I'm sure the seven companies you name still have a 1980's, if not 1960's, view of IBM.
Oh, and as to my natural density: I'm Japanese and work in a Japanese comapny, and work almost exclusively with other Japanese companies. So I'm speaking from experience, and from the experience and opinions of my friends and coworkers. What about you?
For every Japanese company you can find who have an interest in copying American business practices, I bet I can find ten who think American practices are antisocial and, in the end, suicidal.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe, if 3rd parties weren't so roundly shut out by the ruling oligarchy, more people would actually be interested enough to vote, and just maybe we could have some real change in policy, instead of six or one or half-dozen of the other.
I think that's precisely why they are shut out. From the oligarchs' perspective, the fewer people involved in the process the better.
I can really get behing this Party-X platform:
1) Give you the choice of whether or not we should be in Iraq by returning to Congress the power to commit our troops to war.
2) Remove special interest and big money corporate influence from politics by prohibiting lobbying of our government officials (among other things).
3) Eliminate the Electoral College so elections are decided strictly by the people, not the Supreme Court.
4) Return democracy to this country by requiring "instant run off" elections in every state so no vote is ever "wasted" on a third party or independent candidate. With me, never again will you be forced to vote for someone simply because you don't want "the other guy" to win.
5) Stabilize Social Security and Medicare before it bankrupts our country.
6) Prevent the health care industry from becoming rich off of your hardships.
7) Eliminate all government waste at the federal level and lower or eliminate federal income tax.
8) Remove Congressional "fringe benefits", require Congress to participate in Social Security, restructure the Congressional retirement plan, require members of Congress to actually show up and do their jobs, and let the people vote on Congressional pay raises.
9) Impose judicial reform on the federal and state governments so every American can equally pursue justice. All judges will be elected, NEVER appointed.
10) Remove the power of the President to enact law through Executive Orders.
8. South Africa
Everyone always forgets about good ol' nuclear armed South Africa.
Why would they have delivered what they already produce in quantity?
At least we know from this that Microsoft's security is not going to improve anytime in the near future.
There's no question that contact with living things is a stress reducer. Plants, animals, and even other human beings. Machines can't really do that for me.
Granted I only mean physical contact. Having to deal with the needs of said living things is another story.
(and no, before you start, monopoly does not mean there are no alternatives, only that you have a market-penetration so high that your actions completely dominate the market.)
True. Standard Oil had just over 50% of it's market, and was found to be a monopolist. (MS has closer to 90%.)
The key is behavior, not percentage.
Not at all. A company is a monopoly when it is possible for it to behave as a monopoly.
It is impossible for non-monopolies to squeeze out competition, or to make the kind of deals where they can force customers to pay for something they didn't buy, etc.
Examples:
-Standard Oil could force railroads to pay them for moving their oil around, and recieved this comission even when the railroad moved a competitor's oil.
-The RIAA can charge artists a cirtain percentage for shipping "breakage" even when nothing breaks.
-Likewise, Microsoft can force a consumer to pay for Windows even when they don't wan't Windows, and can punish PC makers for offering choice.
This kind of behavior is only possible if you have a real or de-facto monopoly in your industry. True competition would make this kind of idiocy impossible. That is all the proof that should be required.
That's unpossible.
PC sales are the slowest they've been since the apple II came out, XP (over two years old) is the first windows upgrade that most of the world can afford to not upgrade to (windows 2000 is just fine,) and Media Center is a total non-starter.
I'm not saying they should be hurting, but best showing ever? Where are they getting all that money?
The disadvantages you talk about are not a problem in a free market economy. They're a problem of socialism.
You said it, not me.
If the problem exists, clearly we have strayed from the principles of good capitalism.
I thought free trade was Good for America. Isn't that what everyone says
Hello? I need some comforting here!
That was the problem with supermarkets.
The problem with Wal*Mart is a shade worse. Wal*Mart pushes their own suppliers out of business. Producers have to reengineer their entire businesses to meet Wal*Mart's price points.
In the case of (admittedly struggling) Levi Strauss, it meant that they had to close the last of their US operations and move production to China.
Wal*Mart is also responsible for their cheapo "Signature" line.
Being able to sell to Wal*Mart will make your sales numbers skyrocket, but you will no longer make any profit on what you sell. But if you don't do business with them, you will be crowded out of the market by whoever does.
To adapt a Chinese saying to the situation: To not do business with Wal*Mart is to await death; to do so is to invite death.
When is enough enough?
/. and see that the people who knew exactly what was going on did nothing but document the event in excruciatingly redundant detail.
Isn't it about time all us concerned citizens meeting anonymously over the internet actually [i]did[/i] something besides just talk?
Future civilizations who investigate the catastrophic slide of the US into despotism will be amazed when they come across sites like
I'm up for just about anything, but I would have no idea how to begin. Thoughts?
Why is it that we have to obey all the laws, but nobody in power does?
These people can seriously do whatever they damn well please, can't they? Hack your computer, lie to the SEC and their shareholders, whatever. And nothing ever happens to them.
At the same time, the penalties for people like us keep getting harsher and harsher.
Know what? Obeying the law looks like a long-term losing proposition to me. I don't think I'm going to do it anymore. Fuck the law. If the law doesn't protect equally, there is no law.
Mr. MPAA, from now on I am going to do everything in my power to rob you blind and make you suffer. I'm not going to pretend that my p2p client is for any legitimate use. My p2p client is for theft purposes.
"keitai" just means portable. You can have a keitai nanny goat if you put a handle on her.
Um, define "ok".
All the college graduates have jobs. The same kind of jobs most Americans have. The kind with little responsibility and no security that last from 6mo to 2 years.
In Japan, however, this is not considered "employment". Real employment means lifetime employment. Employment with guaranteed semiannual bonuses, 10 days paid vacation from your first day on the job, and a guaranteed pension after you retire.
If you let the workers go, then they have no income to put back into the economy.
Japanese economists are a bit more farsighted than that. Yes, every convenience store the size of a refrigerator crate has 3-4 people to staff it, but at least everyone is employed.
Oh how times change...
Indeed they do. With all it's problems, I think the basics of the Japanese economy are still sound. Japan still has a better work ethic, better education and higher levels of personal scruples than the US. Plus it still has strong steel, electronics, and manufacturing capacity. And don't forget that it lends far more money than it borrows.
So what if Japan can't survive forever as an exporter of electronic bric-brac to the US? I still think in the long term that it's in better shape than the US. Maybe a powerful China can be our new main trading partner.
HAM radio quality? Were you trying to use the phone from the US or something?
My DoCoMo 503i sounds like someone is whispering in my ear.
Yes, Usen sucks.
YahooBB hasn't really gotten off the ground yet so far as I know. I know they're promising fiberoptic broadband, but all I've seen advertised is basic 8-meg ADSL.
The way I heard it, they even refused his children -- who are Japanese born-and-bred -- into the baths.
I think that's what caused it to be such a scandal to the Japanese.
So what if they are? I'm sure the seven companies you name still have a 1980's, if not 1960's, view of IBM.
Oh, and as to my natural density: I'm Japanese and work in a Japanese comapny, and work almost exclusively with other Japanese companies. So I'm speaking from experience, and from the experience and opinions of my friends and coworkers. What about you?
For every Japanese company you can find who have an interest in copying American business practices, I bet I can find ten who think American practices are antisocial and, in the end, suicidal.
You'd be amazed how many Japanese databases are .csv files passed from server to server on floppy disks.