Posts by Jim Cathcart
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Hard News: Friday Music -- Keeping…,
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Nice post
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OnPoint: Fiscal Responsibility is the…, in reply to Simon Grigg,
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Got a timeline on that, Rich?
It's just that people like Bloomberg, Fox and the US media have been warning us monthly that it's imminent since - ohhh - about 1996.
I have to go there now and then so I'd be keen on some insight as to when this crash is happening so I can work my life out around it.Well the slump has already started. But for every 100 bullish newspaper articles about China, you don't get that many doom/gloom tirades.
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OnPoint: Fiscal Responsibility is the…,
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People do realize, I hope, that when China slumps, all the fiscal responsibility in the world isn't going to help a lot. We didn't escape the worst of the financial crisis through being clever, but because we've got a solid buyer for our commodities.
When that goes away, there'll be bank collapses all over Aussie (and consequently, here). Best bet would be to grow Kiwibank and try and ring-fence the fallout from a dairy slump to those that made all that money from the boom.
Try telling that to your typically one-dimensional property investor in Australia or NZ. However I doubt that there will be bank collapses through Australasia. Banks can't fail and will continue on their merry way with implicit taxpayer backing. The nation's wealth is wrapped up in residential property and the government would be terrified of the free market wreaking havoc with our "wealth." The govt knows banks are an essential driver of ensuring debt flows to the generationally challenged. It might be hard to swallow but there's a good argument to suggest that NZ has been sold down the road by the politico-banking-real estate complex.
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Apple is the highest-profile Foxconn customer, and thus takes most of the heat
Well, you would expect that. However, as Andy Grove points out, it’s the hollowing out of jobs in the U.S. computer industry where Apple and others have failed. At this stage benefits are accruing to technophiles and shareholders but it appears that Apple has some way to go to improve its triple-bottom line business practice. Did Jobs share some responsibility in that? You would certainly have hoped so.
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Steve Jobs record on workers rights.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/11863/remembering_steve_jobs_record_on_workers_rights/
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Hard News: Steve, 1999, in reply to Simon Grigg,
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They’d be more competitive if it wasn’t for some questionable pricing:
Too true. Outside the Apple stores in Japan, it is possible to buy previous generations of brand new Macs under full warranty. It at least gives people a chance to buy within their budget. I haven't seen the same arrangement elsewhere.
Also, having worked on third party licensing arrangements with Apple in the manufacturing space (audio peripherals), they can be very difficult to work in the fast moving consumer electronics industry.
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Hard News: Steve, 1999, in reply to Russell Brown,
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"Why isn’t there an entry-level DAC that’s iPod-ready – i.e., an iPod dock with a third-party DAC? That would be good
Onkyo had been working on this in Japan, but they have still yet to progress from the digital media transport. http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/5625
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Field Theory: Japan moves, in reply to linger,
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t has been quite difficult to get accurate information in English through official media in Japan. The NHK evening news broadcasts at 7pm & 9pm are usually translated, though with uneven comprehensibility and accuracy: several of their translators are really not able to keep up with breaking news.
NHK has long been a propaganda tool for the LDP. Whatever its charter is, if it has one at all, the broadcaster will always bow to the bureaucrats. NHK World was first introduced to give Japan some kind of international "presence" for the state broadcaster. However, its budget is pathetic and it is run by chain-smoking ojis who are cruising towards retirement. NHK has superb coverage of quakes and typhoons in Japanese though. Probably among the best in the world with or without all the snazzy HD eye candy.
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Also, it’s one thing to evacuate a small bunch of ex-pats, quite another to evacuate the population of a region as densely populated as Japan.
At least 125,000 people have been evacuated from Fukushima, but you're right in that it's difficult to move people from Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, or even Chiba. However, what is bothering people is that they don't have the information to make an informed decision for themselves of for those they are responsible for.
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Running out of iodine tablets in Japan. Rumors are rife with radiation being recorded even in the areas such as Nara. Stock market in chaos. The following letter is from Eric Johnston:
Dear All,
The situation in Tokyo appears grim today. Rumours are flying fast, and seperating fact from fiction is ever-more difficult. But the Fukushima nuclear plant is in deep trouble, and it is growing increasingly likely that there will be the beginnings of a mass exodus from the Kanto region. We are hearing that the France embassy has already advised people to leave the region. Regardless, the rumours alone are going to cause people who can to flee the region.The prefectures of Kansai said yesterday they would be willing to take in refugess from the quake and tsunami, but we, all of us, need to think about what we might do to help our region cope with the possibility of a mass influx of people to Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe, even for a short period of time. I have no suggestions at present, but just wanted to share my thoughts with you all. Keep watching the news and Japanese government websites, and let's hope for the best.
Eric