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Apple makes good products but flawed arguments | Prestowitz

3 Feb

Concerning the recent NYTimes article that argued that Apple has no choice by to manufacture in China, Clyde Prestowitz calls foul!. In this article he sketches three decades worth of American and Asian policies that allowed this to happen. His conclusion:

One only has to look at the fact that Germany and Japan, both high wage high cost societies, have trade surpluses with China and Asia to understand that the Apple arguments are weak and superficial.

It wouldn’ t be difficult to make a lot more of the iPhone in America and to make it competitively if either Apple or the U.S. government really wanted that to happen.

via Apple makes good products but flawed arguments | Prestowitz.

AP Interview: Davos Forum founder says capitalism is out of balance, warns conflicts await – The Washington Post

24 Jan

DAVOS, Switzerland — Capitalism is out of whack, the founder of the World Economic Forum says, welcoming critics’ ideas of how to fix it — even those camped out in protest igloos near his invitation-only gathering of global VIPs.

This anti-big money mood is surprising territory for a man who embraces free markets and whose livelihood consists of bringing world CEOs and political leaders together for elite brainstorming sessions.

Klaus Schwab is also unusually downbeat, his trademark optimism tempered by global economic turmoil and public unrest ahead of this year’s forum.

“We have unfinished business and we have to act fast,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday ahead of the forum’s Wednesday opening.

via AP Interview: Davos Forum founder says capitalism is out of balance, warns conflicts await – The Washington Post.

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Urban gardens: The future of food? – Dream City – Salon.com

22 Jan

Gotham Greens is a 15,000-square-foot hydroponic farm on the roof of a Brooklyn warehouse. It had its first harvest in June, and expects to produce 100 tons of food per year. The crops (mostly lettuce) grow in rows of white plastic tubing, their roots massaged by recycled water, under grow-lights and fans controlled by a central computer system. The system collects data from sensors throughout the room and adjusts the environment accordingly. This pampered produce will eventually end up on restaurant menus and shelves at stores like Whole Foods.

Two years ago, Forbes predicted that by the year 2018, 20 percent of the food consumed in U.S. cities will be grown in places like this. It’s safe to say that’s almost certainly not going to happen. Right now, urban-grown produce represents a minuscule slice of the food system. But there are several plausible scenarios that could make such food more commonplace in the city kitchen of the future.

via Urban gardens: The future of food? – Dream City – Salon.com.

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Colorado – Boulder Votes to Remove Power Company – NYTimes.com

3 Nov

It’s called LOCALIZATION.

It’s called TAKING CONTROL of your life.

It’s the FUTURE.

Voters in Boulder passed two measures on Tuesday that would allow the city to lay plans to start a municipal utility and cut ties with Xcel Energy, its current, corporate power provider. Proponents say the move will give the city greater leeway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

via Colorado – Boulder Votes to Remove Power Company – NYTimes.com.

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He Made It on Wall St. and Used It to Help Start Protests – NYTimes.com

17 Oct

But Mr. Halper, a 52-year-old Brooklyn native, never reveals two facts about himself: he is a former vice chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange and the largest single donor to the nonprofit magazine that ignited the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“The whole thing is very surreal to me — the fact that I spent my whole career right across the street,” he said in an interview last week on a marble bench near the park. “It makes me a little anxious, to tell you the truth. It could go anywhere. I just pray that it ends peaceful.”

via He Made It on Wall St. and Used It to Help Start Protests – NYTimes.com.

The recession that never left – U.S. Economy – Salon.com

17 Oct

On Monday, Citigroup reported its seventh consecutive quarterly profit, registering $3.8 billion in net revenue, a 74 percent increase over its numbers a year ago. CEO Vikram Pandit has been well-rewarded for the post-bailout turnaround — in May, Citigroup’s board gave him a $23.2 million “retention package” of stock options and cash payments.

Meanwhile, Gallup reports that its Basic Access Index — a measurement of how many Americans can afford “basic life necessities” — fell back in September to the lowest point registered during the depths of the recession.

via The recession that never left – U.S. Economy – Salon.com.

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Amazing Charts Show How 90% Of The Country Has Gotten Shafted Over The Past 30 Years…

16 Oct

Basically, the charts show that, starting in the early 1980s, a 60-year trend changed, and most of the country’s wealth gains started going to the top 10% of the population. In other words, the charts show how 90% of the country has gotten shafted over the past 30 years, and especially over the past 10.

via Amazing Charts Show How 90% Of The Country Has Gotten Shafted Over The Past 30 Years….

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Percentiles — Crooked Timber

14 Oct

I’m now much more sympathetic to the ‘99 per cent’ analysis. First, a closer look at income growth figures suggests that, while the 19 per cent have enjoyed rising incomes, they’ve only barely maintained their share of national income. The redistribution of the past three decades has gone from the bottom 80 per cent to the top 1 per cent.

That suggests the possibility of a policy response in which the main redistributive thrust would be to reverse this process. This would almost certainly involve higher tax payments, but this would be offset by the restoration of public services, which are in economic terms a ‘superior good’, valued more as income rises. The top 1 per cent can buy their own services, and are largely unaffected by public sector cutbacks, but that’s not true of the 19 per cent.

Another important factor is the growth of economic insecurity. The myth of the US as a land of opportunity for upward mobility has been replaced by Barbara Ehrenreich’s Fear of Falling (another good source on this is High Wire by Peter Gosselin). Even if people in the top 19 per cent are doing well, they are less secure than at any time since the 1930s, and their children face even more uncertain prospects.

via Percentiles — Crooked Timber.

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Dems backing Occupy Wall St. are funded by Wall St. – Occupy Wall Street – Salon.com

10 Oct

Ah, yes, life is complicated. And ideological purity is the enemhy of people who want to get things done.

The irony is that the same elected Democrats singing the praises of Occupy Wall Street are themselves major recipients of money from … Wall Street!

Does this mean that the Democratic embrace should be rejected? Not necessarily. Occupy Wall Street could, of course, open up political space for Democrats to address unemployment, income inequality, criminality by banks, the overwhelming influence of corporate money in politics and so on. But it’s worth keeping in mind that most if not all of these politicians have been cozy with Wall Street for years; so there are grounds for suspicion.

via Dems backing Occupy Wall St. are funded by Wall St. – Occupy Wall Street – Salon.com.

The Great 8: Billionaires who will pay more – Patriotic Billionaire Challenge – Salon.com

10 Oct

Aka Cheapskates Rise to the Top

Salon queried the Forbes 400 richest on whether they’d be willing to pay more taxes. The vast majority ducked the question. I’m betting that most of them think they deserve what they earn. After all, did they not work hard? Yes, they did. But . . . well, more on that later.

Of 400 billionaires, only eight (including Buffet) say they are willing to pay more. Three others indicated opposition; one said maybe.

But most declined to comment at all. Oprah Winfrey, who endorsed Obama in 2008, did not respond. Nor did liberal media mogul Ted Turner. Prominent Democratic Party donors from Hollywood such as Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Barry Diller did not express a view. Philanthropists Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg — whom we queried repeatedly — refused to comment on Buffett’s argument, even as it became a central part of Washington’s political conversation.

On Sept. 19, President Obama rolled out his jobs plan, calling for individuals making more than $250,000 to pay higher taxes for the sake of paying pay down the deficit and funding the president’s jobs plan.

via The Great 8: Billionaires who will pay more – Patriotic Billionaire Challenge – Salon.com.

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