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11-04-2001, 12:39 PM | #1 | ||||
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Ongoing news stories
So what are the smaller news stories?
Countries in Africa have demanded that big drug companies slash prices on Aids drugs since millions of their people are dying from Aids. 1st World Nations refused to force drastic price cuts. But now we have Anthrax. What happens? Bayer is forced by the US goverment to slash prices of Cipro by almost 1/2. Canada actually suspends the patent so that others can also manufacture the drug. Double standard? Bethlehem Steel is bankrupt. They and US Steel (now USX) refused to innovate since the 1960s. Back then big steel was so rich that they could build whole integrated steel mills (the most expensive facilities) without any outside financing. Pres Kennedy eventually stepped in to stop steel price increases by all steel companies when they were making obscene profits. What happened? The only US steel company that makes a profit is the only US steel company to innovate. It did not exist in the 1960s. Nucor is the only major US steel company that was willing to innovate. Nucor pioneered electric arc technology whereas MBA dominated steel companies made new blast furnaces bigger - the mythical and MBA taught 'economies of scale'. Before Sept 11, George Jr was going to bail out the steel companies withstiff tarriffs that would raise all American steel prices to the consumers. A major trade war was suppose to start. But why? We need to bankrupt these anti-American companies to eliminate their MBA management - to save the companies. Of course the promised trade war over steel never happened. 11 Sept got in the way. Bethlehem Steel's only electric arc furnace - purchased from Lukins steel, just last year, in Coatsville PA. IOW someone in Bethlehem Steel management comes from where the work gets done. Only when the ship is sinking fast do the MBAs listen to him? It is not just terrorists that are driven by emotion. Their financial backers have the same shortage of logical thought. The IRA is financed mostly in America. Terrorism suddenly 'feels' real in America. IRA financial supporters suddenly 'feel' that terrorism can acutally hurt people. Therefore the IRA decided to agree to disarment. Why? A sudden and severe shortage of Americans who finance IRA terrorism. The IRA needs to be sincere about negotiating. Emotional Amerians have suddenly learned the logic of supporting terrorism - and stopped sending cash. Both the head of NASA and of NASA's manned space programs have resigned. And so The Economist repeats their statements: Quote:
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In 1998, demand for MBA school dropped. They're back. In 2001, the number of GMAT tests for business school application rose back up to about 225,000 per year. BTW, the number of engineering degrees since 1990 - dropped 15%. "I don't need no friggin engineering degree. I'm already a computer expert." That is the thinking more often in the computer industry. So where is the next wave of innovative products? So how many computer experts really have the necessary background? How many are so technically ignorant as to recommend plug-in surge protectors. The science is quite clear. Plug-in surge protectors provide ineffective surge protection AND can complete a circuit that damages an adjacent computer. Too much MBA mentality. It is called a surge protector; therefore it must protect from surges. Scientific American discusses such 'experts' in Baloney Detection . Japan has launched the world's first Generation 3 cell phones. DoCoMo is the world leader in cell phone utilitization. Their demonstration room is said to be the Mecca of mobile communication and computing. In simple terms, their phones operate on 56K data speeds where as current US cell phones are stuck at somewhere around 9K. DoCoMo's system was suppose to be introduced last spring, but technical problems were encountered. European third generation phones are expected soon. BTW, profits from phones are mostly from downloading content. For example, a new ringer sound (Bach's Concerto, for example) would cost about 2 cents. Israeli tanks invaded Palestinian cities as demonstrated by a picture in "Image of the Day". In fact tanks fired much more randomly in Ramallah while the press and even ambulance drivers were kept out of the town and as victims bled to death on the streets. Now for the story beyond that 'Image of the Day' wall. On October 22, the US State Dept ordered the Israelis to end their incursions "immediately". So Ariel Sharon sends his foreign minister out to throw the bird at George Jr. "Immediately, in English, doesn't mean at once. It means as soon as possible". He continued that immediately was "not in the chronological sense but rather in the intentional sense." Mr Peres was "immediately" called to an unscheduled meeting with George Jr. "who told him in semantically unequivocal terms that the seizure of these cities was exactly what America does not need at this stage in the Afghan war." (according to The Economist). Then he was told that Israel could delay their withdrawl long enough to save face. What a wimp! Immediately truly does not mean 'right now' to George Jr - just as Sharon and friends claimed. From the Wall Street Journal of 2 Nov: Quote:
If Silverstein's deals are successful (also requires approval of Governors in NY & NJ), the first new steel will probably start rising in Nov 2002. The same WSJ issue of 2 Nov is full of 11 Sept arguments. Another is the chronological history of government response starting 15 Oct to Anthrax. For some strange reason, the CDC kept insisting that envelopes are sealed airtight. Put some talcum powder and a letter in one. Press and release it as if compressed and removed from sorting bins and machines. CDC kept insisting all was safe when even some post office management and the NJ Dept of Enviromental Protection both remained suspicious? NJ EPA recommended postal employees take Cipro against the advise of the CDC. The CDC was reported 'shocked' that any postal employees could be sick because envelopes are 'airtight'? Someone had to die, Mr Richmond, before anyone at CDC realized that envelopes are not airtight? Events on Saturday, 20 Oct according to the WSJ: Quote:
Three decades ago, Sheridon of Xerox PARC tried to create electronic paper called Gyricon (Greek for rotating image). Xerox wasn't interested. Today, Sheridon's creation is found in Macy's in the Bridgewater Mall. Sheridon's concept uses rotating balls that rotate up either black or white. An MIT idea, called E-Ink does the same thing by driving colored ink to the top or bottom of a microcapsule. E-Ink also has the advantage of Lucent's plastic transistors - another recent achievement. But electronic paper even has a better advantage over LCDs - less power by a factor of ten. Electronic paper products should appear about 2005. However they may not first be flexible paper sheets since even stiff PDAs may replace LCD displays with the electronic paper technology. 1970 Xerox PARC was an amazing place. How many other ideas developed there are awaiting rescue. Xerox, however, still dominated by MBA management in Stamford CT, is currently on the verge of bankruptcy. |
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11-04-2001, 04:56 PM | #2 |
Radical Centrist
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<i>In 1998, demand for MBA school dropped. They're back. In 2001, the number of GMAT tests for business school application rose back up to about 225,000 per year.</i>
I wonder how much of that is people losing their jobs and going back to school for the first thing that seemed to be valued in the b'iness world. |
11-04-2001, 07:55 PM | #3 |
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I was reading about Swiss Re this past week in a business magazine. Apparently, they are trying to argue that what happened to the towers was just one incident, not two.
That's a good question. I mean, the whole sequence of events that morning could be considered one incident; however, technically, it WAS 4 separate incidents (for each plane that was hijacked). I wonder what the ruling will be. I say sorry to Swiss Re, but they should, and probably will, be paying out for two separate incidents. |
11-05-2001, 05:02 PM | #4 | |
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The difference is whether Silverstein gets $3.5 billion or $7billion. $3.5billion is not sufficient to rebuild. Silverstein from day 2 was courting everyone in power. He is not a Trump or a Vornado - the powerful real estate developers and management. In fact, it was considered 'bronze balls' that earned Silverstein his 99 year WTC lease. Silverstein is also missing his $100million per year income in tenent rental income. Silverstein is in an uphill fight because many don't consider his organization even big enough to rebuild - let alone take on Swiss Re. Just building WTC7 was considered an accomplishment for Silverstein. |
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11-06-2001, 08:54 AM | #5 | |
Professor
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11-06-2001, 04:48 PM | #6 | |
Read? I only know how to write.
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Quote:
Japanese have a term for MBA. "Made for Being in America". It is much like having a Rolex watch - to make the right first impresson. |
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11-06-2001, 09:45 PM | #7 |
Radical Centrist
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Well, I went to St Joe's MBA program 12 years ago, but quit when I hit a really bad prof. Never wanted to go through that again. It was clear, at that time, that most people there basically wanted to get through the program for the degree.
I was in the 99th percentile for the GMAT, which I am not particularly bragging about, but I think it's sad that more intelligent people don't go into business. There are many aspects of it which are creative, scientific, intellectual if you want to go that direction. Of course nobody goes that direction and it turns into a big ol' fraternity/sorority. |
11-06-2001, 11:30 PM | #8 |
whig
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Hm... I know a few very smart people planning on going into business. Most aregoing for either pure science stuff or far more creative. Cynical as it is you need a certain type of person for business because business is about exploitation in on form or another...
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11-07-2001, 08:57 AM | #9 | ||
Professor
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11-07-2001, 09:00 AM | #10 |
Radical Centrist
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Jag, what I meant was, not many smart people go for degrees in business, at least not around here.
I'm married to a smart business degree-having person but her degree is in accounting which is an entirely different pursuit IMO. |
11-07-2001, 04:36 PM | #11 |
whig
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What i was saying is they do round here - just certain types of people =)
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