Find it at Blessed Herbs.com!

Main

March 31, 2007

To Strike or Hunger Strike?

hunger%2Bstrike.jpg

Whether you've seen or participated in one or not, whether you live in a country that allows them or not, everyone knows what it means for workers to strike. Wikipedia defines it thusly:

Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by employees to perform work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievances that employees feel management are ignoring. Strikes first became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines. In most countries, they were quickly made illegal, as factory owners had far more political power than workers. Most western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Strikes are sometimes used to put pressure on governments to change policies. Occasionally, strikes destabilise the rule of a particular political party. The strike tactic has a very long history. Towards the end of the 20th dynasty, under Pharaoh Ramses III in ancient Egypt in the 12th century BCE, the workers of the royal necropolis organized the first known strike or workers' uprising in history.

Similarly, anyone who follows politics and history knows that another kind of strike is often used to "put pressure on governments to change policies"- the hunger strike. Like strike actions, it also has a long history: Again from Wikipedia:

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt or to achieve a goal such as a policy change. Fasting was used as a method of protest and receiving justice in pre-Christian Ireland, where it was known as Troscad or Cealachan. It was detailed in the contemporary civic codes, and had specific rules by which it had to be used. The fast was often carried out on the doorstep of the home of the offender; scholars speculate this was due to the high importance the culture placed on hospitality. Allowing a person to die at your home, for a wrong you were accused of, was considered a great dishonor. The fast's uses were primarily to recover debts or get justice for a perceived wrong. There are legends of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, using the hunger strike as well.

While there is no reason why hunger strikes could not be used by workers, until today I never heard of it happening:

Brazil crippled by Airstrike

Airports are getting back to normal in Brazil after air traffic controllers suspended a strike in protest at their working conditions. Government negotiators and trade unions reached an agreement to end the strike, which briefly halted all flights out of all of the country's 49 airports.
Action had spread across Brazil after air traffic controllers began a hunger strike in the capital, Brasilia. Thousands of passengers were left stranded by the protest. The striking controllers had said they had lost all confidence in their commanders and the equipment at their disposal. Air traffic controllers in Brazil have staged similar protests since last September, when 154 people were killed in the country's worst air disaster.

Continue reading "To Strike or Hunger Strike?" »

links for 2007-03-31

March 30, 2007

Illegal Immigration Supply Chain

value%2Bchain.gif

The naive and perhaps commonly-held view of human smuggling over the US-Mexico, the one you in the movies and TV, goes something like this: a wily "coyote" on the Mexican side picks up illegals, typically in a dusty beat up vehicle, shuttles them across the border under cover of darkness, and unceremoniously drops them off somewhere in the desert, alongside a road, or just any damn where he pleases inside US territory without even so much as an "Adios Muchachos!"

An AP report filed from Phoenix, Arizona suggests that human traffickers are a little more sophisticated than this, that there is a supply chain at work:

A human smuggling ring responsible for arranging transportation for thousands of illegal immigrants has been broken up with the indictments of 14 people who worked in travel agencies, officials announced Thursday. Six travel agencies were responsible moving at least 6,800 people since 2005, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said. In addition to the 14 owners or employees of the agencies who were indicted, two people who ran "drop houses" were charged. "This case underscores our increased commitment to investigate and prosecute human smuggling in Arizona," Goddard said.

Continue reading "Illegal Immigration Supply Chain" »

links for 2007-03-30

March 29, 2007

links for 2007-03-29

March 28, 2007

Glowing and Glowering: Two Views on Dubai

dubai.jpg

On March 17th the Wall Street Journal published a glowing, yet balanced, commentary about Dubai entitled "City of Dreams." (Hat tip to reader Jamie). The article was authored by one Zachary Karabell who, the article says "...is executive vice president of Fred Alger Management and its Spectra Funds and the author of "Peace Be upon You: The Story of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence." Here are literally and figuratively the article's money paragraphs, paragraphs whose ideas both resonate with and reaffirm my observations from nearly two years of living and teaching business in the UAE:

Christian-Palestinian businessmen do deals with Indian Muslims, who team up to build condos that are then sold to Malaysian millionaires or Kuwaiti sheikhs. Global investment banks facilitate contracts between the royal Maktoum family and the very American Boston Properties (led by Mortimer Zuckerman) to buy and sell prime real estate in Manhattan. And not only does Donald Trump get his name into the action, but the government of Dubai is also a major holder of Kerzner International, one of the world's premier gambling and resort companies that happens to be majority-controlled by a South African Jewish family.

That said, however, Dubai is very much an Arab city-state. It prides itself on becoming -- along with neighboring Abu Dhabi -- a Muslim model for tolerance, affluence and global success. That it manages to do so should belie prejudices in the West that the Arab world is incapable of participating in the global system until it unburdens itself of the doctrinal rigidity of some forms of Islam.

Seeing Dubai as an economic model for other parts of the Arab world is admittedly a challenge: Like Singapore, it has the virtues of a small ruling class, a tiny population and not much territory, and that is not something Egypt or Syria could emulate. But as a cultural model, or an attitude, it does offer an alternate vision of the future, one with its own excesses and vices for sure, but still free of the divisiveness and religious conflict that has become the assumed status quo in other parts of the Middle East.

Dubai should not be written off as little more than an Arab Las Vegas. It deeply challenges the assumption that Muslims, Christians and Jews cannot find common ground and work together to construct a shared future. Dubai is proof, not perfect, but real, that they can.


Continue reading "Glowing and Glowering: Two Views on Dubai" »

links for 2007-03-28

March 27, 2007

Are Internet Refuseniks a Problem?

A Reuters article today entitled "Many Americans see little point to Web?" provides some interesting facts about internet holdouts:

A little under one-third of U.S. households have no Internet access and do not plan to get it, with most of the holdouts seeing little use for it in their lives, according to a survey released on Friday. Park Associates, a Dallas-based technology market research firm, said 29 percent of U.S. households, or 31 million homes, do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to an Internet service over the next 12 months.

That's the what. Here's the why:

The second annual National Technology Scan conducted by Park found the main reason potential customers say they do not subscribe to the Internet is because of the low value to their daily lives they perceive rather than concerns over cost. Forty-four percent of these households say they are not interested in anything on the Internet, versus just 22 percent who say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service, the survey showed. The answer "I'm not sure how to use the Internet" came from 17 percent of participants who do not subscribe. The response "I do all my e-commerce shopping and YouTube-watching at work" was cited by 14 percent of Internet-access refuseniks. Three percent said the Internet doesn't reach their homes

And of course there's someone at work on the "how", i.e. how to fix this apparent problem:

The industry continues to chip away at the core of nonsubscribers, but has a ways to go," said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. "Entertainment applications will be the key. If anything will pull in the holdouts, it's going to be applications that make the Internet more akin to pay TV," he predicted.

Continue reading "Are Internet Refuseniks a Problem?" »

A Load of Crap

sewage%2Btsunami.jpg
As if the residents of the Gaza strip haven't already suffered enough at the hands of their elected leadership, today comes word of even more:

At least four Palestinians drowned in a tsunami of raw sewage on Tuesday when a water treatment reservoir burst, flooding a village in the northern Gaza Strip. The deluge, triggered by the collapse of a septic system aid organizations had long warned was dangerously overburdened, submerged dozens of homes in the Bedouin farming village of Umm al-Nasr beneath a cesspool of foul-smelling effluent. Two women, one more than 70 years old, and two toddlers aged one and two died in the flood. Fifteen people were injured and scores more are still missing, according to Palestinian medics. Village children clung to wooden doors floating on the putrid waters as rescuers used boats to help the victims. "The situation is very bad," village mayor Ziad Abu Thabet said, comparing the disaster to a "tsunami." "Around 70 percent of the village houses were flooded by the waters," he said. Palestinian television and radio opened their news broadcasts by also describing the disaster as a "sewage tsunami."

As should be expected, someone from the government came to inspect the situation. He didn't receive a warm welcome:

Newly appointed Palestinian interior minister Hani al-Qawasmeh rushed to the scene to inspect the damage, but angry villagers chased him off by firing guns at his convoy and wounding two policemen, witnesses said.

Nor should the minister have expected one when his government's response to a tidal wave of crap was a load of crap like this:

The Islamist Hamas movement, the leading partner in a newly formed Palestinian unity government, blamed the disaster on the suspension of direct foreign aid to the cabinet that was imposed a year ago when it formed a cabinet alone. Hamas is considered in the West to be a terrorist group. "Hamas thinks that the overflowing of the basin is one of the results of the suspension of international aid to our people, which is preventing the government from improving and developing infrastructure," it said in a statement.

Continue reading "A Load of Crap" »

links for 2007-03-27

March 26, 2007

21 Grams, 2 pennies, and then some

pennies%2Beyes%2Bdead.jpg

There's a book I've not read by an author I don't know that is relevant to a story I can hardly believe:

Louisiana Hospital Clerk Targeted Dying in Identity-Theft Scheme

A hospital employee here sent her son text messages with the personal information of dying patients in a scheme to obtain credit cards in the patients' names once those patients died, authorities said. "This is about as low as you can stoop for a dollar," Sheriff Jack Strain said.

Strain said Stockdale, an emergency room clerk, allegedly sent her son text messages with names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of patients who were near death or had recently died. Ezell then used that information to submit credit card applications in the dead patients' names, using addresses of hurricane-damaged, unoccupied homes near his house in Slidell, authorities said.

Now about that book. It's entitled "Pennies, Off a Dead Man's Eyes." It was written by someone named Harlan Ellison and was first published in 1969. The description is interesting if not a tad bit dated:

If you steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes, you send him to hell, for he has no way to pay for his passage. Who is this woman who dares to take the pennies from a dead man's eyes? The foundling whom the dead man raised is going to find out, that's for sure. And he'll use all his abilities to do it.

Continue reading "21 Grams, 2 pennies, and then some" »

links for 2007-03-26

March 25, 2007

links for 2007-03-25

March 24, 2007

links for 2007-03-24

March 23, 2007

links for 2007-03-23

March 20, 2007

links for 2007-03-20

March 18, 2007

links for 2007-03-18

March 17, 2007

The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality

anti%2Bcapitalist.jpg

'I've recently been reading Ludwig von Mises' classic tract entitled "The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality." What follows are quotes by from the Introduction of that book. Each quote is followed by line-by-line commentary of the kind I routinely produce for books that I find really interesting:

The substitution of laissez-faire capitalism for the pre-capitalistic methods of economic management has multiplied population figures and raised in an unprecedented way the average standard of living.

Laissez-faire capitalism (LFC), i.e. private initiative and ownership of the means of production, was “substituted” for pre-capitalistic methods (PCM) of economic management. Questions that arise: How gradual was this switch, how complete has it been, and what called it forth?

LFC is said to have had two notable effects- “multiplied population figures” and “unprecedented” increases in the average standard of living. Questions: does the author mean to suggest that these effects did not happen under PCM or that LFC has produced them more effectively and efficiently?

A nation is the more prosperous today the less it has tried to put obstacles in the way of the spirit of free enterprise and private initiative. The people of the United States are more prosperous than the inhabitants of all other countries because their government embarked later than the governments in other parts of the world upon the policy of obstructing business.

Note the direction of causality, as well as the causal factor. Prosperity is the effect of the “spirit of free enterprise and private initiative, not the cause of it. Secondly, note that it is not the adoption of said policies that are important so refraining from obstruction. Thus, Americans are prosperous not because we adopted LFC first but because we began obstruction later. Question: but what about the degree of obstruction? Doesn’t how much you obstruct matter more than when you started obstruction?

Nonetheless, many people, and especially intellectuals, passionately loathe capitalism.

That they certainly do. Despite its evident benefits many people do loathe capitalism. Chief among them are those who are intellectually capable of understanding the theoretical between LFC and PCM, as well as empirically evaluating the effects of the two modes of organization. Here's an example of one apparent anti-capitalist railing about evil corporations (and at a website devoted to analysis of the stock market and market trends, no less! ).

As they see it, this ghastly mode of society’s economic organization has brought about nothing but mischief and misery. Men were once happy and prosperous in the good old days preceding the Industrial Revolution. Now under capitalism the immense majority are starving paupers ruthlessly exploited by rugged individualists.

This raises as interesting point about comparisons of the effects of the effects of LFC. Most fundamental of the possible comparisons are within and across societies. An example of the latter appears above, where Mises stated that “The people of the United States are more prosperous than the inhabitants of all other countries because…” An example of an within-country or within-society comparison would be if he said “The people of the US are more prosperous than they were 50 or 100 years ago.” This comparison is the one Mises puts in the mouths of critics when he says “Men were once happy and prosperous… (but) Now under capitalism the immense majority are starving paupers…” This latter comparison is longitudinal while the former is cross-sectional. Both are valid but it is important to keep the distinction in mind because the causal factors may not be identical.

For these scoundrels nothing counts but their moneyed interests.

This is the constant cry. The haves are seen not as people who have succeeded by playing by the rules. Rather they have succeeded at someone else’s expense, presumably someone more deserving and more moral, i.e. those for whom something matters more than money. Under this view, it would seem, already having money and/or having money as one’s principal interest are the best determinants of success, not individual skill and initiative.

They do not produce good and really useful things, but only what will yield the highest profits.

Odd though it may seem, and despite the demonstrable failure of non-capitalistic systems to effectively allocate productive resources, there are people today who do still reject the core tenets of LFC. They view the profit motive as unseemly and somehow immoral and prefer to believe that the motivations for engaging in productive work should be intrinsic, e.g. the satisfaction of a job well done, rather than extrinsic.

Continue reading "The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality" »

links for 2007-03-17

March 16, 2007

links for 2007-03-16

March 15, 2007

links for 2007-03-15

March 14, 2007

links for 2007-03-14

March 13, 2007

links for 2007-03-13

March 12, 2007

links for 2007-03-12

March 11, 2007

links for 2007-03-11

March 10, 2007

High Positive Externalities from LoJack

lojack.jpg

Wikipedia defines an "externality" this way:

In economics, an externality is a cost or benefit from an economic transaction that parties "external" to the transaction receive. Externalities can be either positive, when an external benefit is generated, or negative, when an external cost is imposed upon others.

Here are a few examples Wikipedia provides of goods that generate positive externalities:

* A beekeeper keeps the bees for their honey. A side effect or externality associated with his activity is the pollination of surrounding crops by the bees. The value generated by the pollination may be more important than the value of the harvested honey.

* An individual planting an attractive garden in front of his house may provide benefits to others living in the area, and even financial benefits in the form of increased property values for all property owners.

* Education leads to a more civically-minded citizenry with a greater sense of altruism, and leads to a work force that can create more wealth.

Although it doesn't use the term "positive externality", a recent press release by LoJack, the makers of a well-known and highly effective car security system, looks as if it could add another example to the list above. First, a description of the system from the company's website:

The patented LoJack System includes a small radio frequency transceiver hidden in up to 20 places in a your vehicle. Each LoJack System has a unique code that is tied into the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). When a theft is reported to the police, a routine entry into the state police crime computer results in a match of the LoJack System's unique code against the state VIN database. This automatically activates the LoJack System in your car, which emits an inaudible signal. Law enforcement authorities who are equipped with LoJack vehicle tracking units - in their police cruisers and aviation units - are always listening for a LoJack signal. Police use the LoJack vehicle tracking units to track and recover your LoJack equipped vehicle.

That page goes on to describe how over $4 Billion in assets have been recovered with the assistance of the Lojack system. A recent press release, entitled "Week of High Profile LoJack Recoveries Underscores System's Benefits to Society", add this information:

Continue reading "High Positive Externalities from LoJack" »

Like Three Peas in Pod

aljazeera%2Benglish%2Binternational.jpg

I moved to Doha, Qatar in January of this year for work. There are three English-language international news networks on the cable package at my place- CNN International, BBC World, and Al-Jazeera's International (AJI), an English service whose local offices I drive past everyday.

While I don't speak Arabic, one thing seems certain: AJI is not just a translated re-broadcast of the Arabic one. It has studios in London and Doha and it produces much of its content for a global English-speaking audience independently from the Arabic service.

A good deal of that audience is patently anti-American, to be sure, and my guess is that all three of the aforementioned networks are competing for primacy among that segment.

That having been said, one shouldn't get the impression that every story on AJI is either an anti-American, anti-Bush hit piece or a pro-Al-Qaeda or pro-Jihadi puff piece. It isn’t the Bash-America-all-the-time network. A more apt description would be The Needle- Them-All-of-the-Time Network. That way no one thinks you are an American stooge or suckup. On the other hand, too much and too harsh of a needling and no self-respecting American official or pro-American Arab will appear on the network. It's a fine line: you have to needle them just enough so that they want to come on and give their side of the story or defend certain actions and policies, not so much that they dismiss you out of hand as hacks.

hamish%2Bal%2Bjazeera_english.jpg And in this regard, that’s what's so remarkable about AJE: I can hardly tell the difference between it and CNNi or BBC World. All three have attractive and articulate native English speakers as program hosts. (The photo on the right is of an "Al-Jazeera Aussie") All three have bureaus around the world with correspondents filing reports on topics of general interest, not just politics and war. All three are capable of providing a means by which world leaders and opinion-makers can reach hundreds of millions of English-speaking viewers world-wide. And as English becomes more widely accepted as the world's most important second language I can only foresee the audience for these three networks continuing to grow.

Continue reading "Like Three Peas in Pod" »

March 9, 2007

links for 2007-03-09

March 8, 2007

links for 2007-03-08

March 6, 2007

links for 2007-03-06

March 5, 2007

Carnival of the Green

carnival%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bgreen.gif Welcome to the Carnival of the Green at The Business of America is Business.

As has been my custom in hosting previous carnivals, I have elected to use questions as the organizing theme for the 24 entries to the carnival. And without further ado:

Why Did Al Gore go to Australia after the Oscars?. Interestingly, the answer has something to do with "Cool Aid", but not the kind you drink. Think Live Aid, Band Aid, and Farm Aid.

How Would Going Vegetarian Help to Save the Planet? The Savvy Vegetarian reviews an article entitled "Vegetarian is the New Prius" that lays out the argument.

Are Can You Save Money and Save the Environment at the Same Time? You can when it comes to PC upgrades. Tina Parcell at Personal Finance Advice explains.

Which Industries are Most Likely to be Affected by Global Warming? According the SOX First Blog links to a recent report entitled "The Business of Climate Change" that explains which sectors of the economy are at greatest risk.

Is Wind Power Just a Tree Hugger's Fantasy? Not according to Maria S. Manka at Green Options. She's got facts, figures, and links to reports supporting her thesis that wind power is both viable and desirable.

Why Throw Out a Used Item if Someone Else Can Get Some Value Out of it? Jeff at Sustainablog doesn't think you should. His post reports on a new website that will make it easier and more efficient to swap used yet still useful items.

What's to Like and Not Like about the Organic Foods Movement? Don at the Evangelical Ecologist gives you the pros and cons and throws in some free (and very sensible) dietary advice to boot.

"So, the Next Time Someone Calls Me 'Bird-Brained', I Should Take it as a Compliment?"
According to Veggie Revolution, I should if the bird to which they refer is a Western Scrub Jay.

Is Netflix saving the world? Is Netflix helping to solve the global climate catastrophe? So asks Pablo over at Triplepundit. He points out that Netflix has recently sent it's 1 Billionth DVD, a number that translates into many fewer individual trips made to the local video store and lot less in the way of hydrocarbon emissions.

Are Honey Bees the New Canaries in the Coal Mine? So asks Marie at Green Fertility. Given that many are being fed the "Standard American Diet", including sugar and corn syrup, perhaps the question ought to be whether bees are canaries in the Cola Mine.

If the mini-sized 'Smart' cars are indeed as smart as advertised, then what ought we to name even smaller, rechargeable docking cars? Einsteins?

What's Another Way to Interpret the Phrase ' A Fish Out of Water' ? Rohit explains with the use of a cartoon.

Do cyclists have any reason to worry about what we're breathing in on our (supposedly healthy) ways to work? And if so, which is the greater health risk -- the colorless, odorless ozone in the summer or the pungent, cloudy exhaust fumes in the winter? So asks the proprietor of the Nicomachus blog. These questions came to him somewhere along Cornwallis Road in Durham, NC, the same road often traversed by bike while an MBA and doctoral student at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. All I had on my mind was exams!

Continue reading "Carnival of the Green" »

links for 2007-03-05