In a free market world, producers pursue their separate interests within a competitive marketplace... The consumer will do business where she finds the quality and price she demands... Producers therefore compete, on that basis, to meet her needs...
In today's world, producers pursue their separate interests within an evermore regulated marketplace... The policymaker will do business (regulations) where he finds political support at a price (favor) he can hide inside the regs... Producers therefore compete, on that basis, to meet the politician's needs...
From last Thursday's NY Times; Wall Street is United in its Disdain for Dodd Frank, but Split on Details:
As federal officials flesh out some 300 new regulations, top companies and trade groups are squabbling over the fine print, each cheerleading for policies that suit their own businesses.
Some level of discord is expected. The Dodd-Frank law, which spans some 2,300 pages, is as huge and disparate as the industry it polices.
But a few industry debates have grown hostile. Firms are taking aim at competitors, and regulators are stuck in the awkward position of picking winners and losers
Monday, October 10, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Go Go Godzilla
Read at your own risk... This is just me venting... If you're in no mood for a lengthy diatribe, scroll down to Here's the bottom line folks...
Mit Romney, guessing political-wind direction, announces he'll go after China the minute he's confirmed... Chuck Schumer no longer tests the breeze, he learned a long time ago that the blame-China-game works in his district... What's strange is that President Obama, who, on behalf of the United Steel Workers Union happily tariffed China-made tires back in '09, isn't signing onto this China currency malarky just yet... Hmm?? I'm thinking he's feeling a different breeze, that maybe folks are beginning to see the political fakery and inherent [economic] danger in the old foreign-trade bait-and-switch maneuver...
"So what now?" asks the politician... "At 9.1% unemployment, at low single-digit GDP, where can we get more bang for our campaign buck?"
Last week the President urged the NEW Consumer Finance Protection Bureau to stop Bank of America from charging a $5 monthly fee for customer use of its debit cards: “You can stop it because if you say to the banks, ‘You don’t have some inherent right just to–you know, get a certain amount of profit. If your customers–are being mistreated. That you have to treat them fairly and transparently.”
Wow!! An American President just said “You don’t have some inherent right to get a certain amount of profit”… As opposed to, “you have every right to whatever profit you can muster, and the consumer has every right to take his business wherever he chooses”…. I think we call that FREEDOM!!!!
And I know, from personal observation, that even self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives are up in arms over B of A’s attempt to recoup the $2 billion/year it’s losing to the Durbin Amendment (reducing the “swipe fee” charged to retailers) – which is your classic case of government picking winners; i.e., retailers over banks… i.e., retailers over consumers…
Here’s Republican Buddy Roemer: “Wall Street grew to be a source of capital for growing companies. It has become something else: A facilitator for greed and for the selling of American jobs. Enough already.” “It is Main Street that is being foreclosed on; and it is Main Street that is suffering while the greed of Wall Street continues to hurt our middle-class.”
Someone help me out here: What precisely is the agenda of the Occupy Wall Streeters? What are their demands? Why are they there? I mean the big banks paid it (the bailout $) all back with interest. If they want the individual bailed out, shouldn’t they follow the bailout money back to Washington; i.e., “you got the money back, now give us some”…
Mit Romney, guessing political-wind direction, announces he'll go after China the minute he's confirmed... Chuck Schumer no longer tests the breeze, he learned a long time ago that the blame-China-game works in his district... What's strange is that President Obama, who, on behalf of the United Steel Workers Union happily tariffed China-made tires back in '09, isn't signing onto this China currency malarky just yet... Hmm?? I'm thinking he's feeling a different breeze, that maybe folks are beginning to see the political fakery and inherent [economic] danger in the old foreign-trade bait-and-switch maneuver...
"So what now?" asks the politician... "At 9.1% unemployment, at low single-digit GDP, where can we get more bang for our campaign buck?"
Last week the President urged the NEW Consumer Finance Protection Bureau to stop Bank of America from charging a $5 monthly fee for customer use of its debit cards: “You can stop it because if you say to the banks, ‘You don’t have some inherent right just to–you know, get a certain amount of profit. If your customers–are being mistreated. That you have to treat them fairly and transparently.”
Wow!! An American President just said “You don’t have some inherent right to get a certain amount of profit”… As opposed to, “you have every right to whatever profit you can muster, and the consumer has every right to take his business wherever he chooses”…. I think we call that FREEDOM!!!!
And I know, from personal observation, that even self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives are up in arms over B of A’s attempt to recoup the $2 billion/year it’s losing to the Durbin Amendment (reducing the “swipe fee” charged to retailers) – which is your classic case of government picking winners; i.e., retailers over banks… i.e., retailers over consumers…
Here’s Republican Buddy Roemer: “Wall Street grew to be a source of capital for growing companies. It has become something else: A facilitator for greed and for the selling of American jobs. Enough already.” “It is Main Street that is being foreclosed on; and it is Main Street that is suffering while the greed of Wall Street continues to hurt our middle-class.”
Someone help me out here: What precisely is the agenda of the Occupy Wall Streeters? What are their demands? Why are they there? I mean the big banks paid it (the bailout $) all back with interest. If they want the individual bailed out, shouldn’t they follow the bailout money back to Washington; i.e., “you got the money back, now give us some”…
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Steve Jobs Would Have Been Proud
Dear Luke,
I'm the guy who brought in the shattered iPad the other day... You know, the bald guy with the hoarse voice... As promised, I'm sending you my essay on my first Apple Store experience... But before you go there, I'd like to commend you for your professionalism and your (presumed) foresight...
You made a surprising call... For, as you could see, I was readily amenable to your half-off offer... But at the last minute you exercised your latitude (either believing you'd win a lifelong Apple loyalist, or perhaps I just caught you at a good moment) and handed me a brand new iPad, free of charge...
Now if indeed your intent was to secure yet another iLifer, I'm sorry my friend, you failed... Of course I may very well continue to buy Apple in the future, but that would be if, and only if, Apple continues to produce the absolute best technology... And I assure you, Mr. Jobs would have had it no other way - he surely didn't succeed by giving stuff away... I.e., everyone, you included, will ultimately act in [what they believe to be] their own separate interests. And that, as I hope you'll come to learn, is precisely how it should be...
You see, acting in your own (true) interest means, without exception, always being the very best you can be. And that, whether we're talking business or simply life in general, means always acting in the best interests of others...
Thus, in this instance Luke, your generosity (granted, you were spending Apple's money), my lack of loyalty notwithstanding, was not in vain after all... The experience was so unusual that the minute I stepped foot outside your store I was on the phone (iPhone), eager to tell any and all who'd listen about our encounter... Yes, your goodwill will indeed, I suspect, bring business Apple's way...
Given your youth, instincts and apparent intellect, I won't expect to see you during my next Apple Store experience - you will have surely stepped to your next rung by then... But I do ask that, when you take that step, you shoot me an email... I will eagerly consider whatever product or service you're promoting at that time, and, if a purchase is in order, I will insist on paying full price... For it is indeed in my, and society's, best interest that you succeed... I.e., the world needs more Lukes...
Sincerely,
Marty Mazorra
I actually have two Apple essays to share... Click...
What Makes Apple So Special
Apple (amazing!)
Here's another you may enjoy...
Repeat Pizza
And here are some great works I hope you'll read - or listen to on your iPod...
Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
Free to Choose by Milton Friedman
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Globalization by Don Boudreaux
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Thank You Mr. Durbin
Are you all sideways, like so many others, over Bank of America charging $5 a month for your debit card? Will you join Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon and the George Soros bunch (my the hypocrisy) and protest capitalism and the "rich"...
Does The Durbin Amendment ring any bells? This was an add-on to Dodd-Frank (financial reg reform) that cut debit card swipe fees, paid by retailers, in half... Oh this was going to save the consumer some real moolah - as Walmart, etc. would surely pass those savings onto the customer...
Didn't we (those of us with a little experience) tell ya that ultimately the consumer pays for everything? That by the government picking winners and losers - in this case retailers over banks - that ultimately we all become losers? Well that's how it works folks... If you're angry at Bank of America over the debit card fee, over it trying to recoup the $2 billion the government just erased from its income statement and added to the retailers, you are sorely misplacing your anger... You're taking the bait my friend...
God forbid we should blame government for the 9% unemployment rate... No no it's the Chinese, it's the Banks... So let's do this: Let's Smoot-Holly (tariffs of The Great Depression [that's right - The Great Depression]) China and Dodd-Frank the financial sector: And let's pray that when our great great grandkids are looking back 80 years hence they don't say "look at what the China Currency Act and Dodd-Frank did "to" (not "for" I assure you) the economy way back in the early 2000s"....
Does The Durbin Amendment ring any bells? This was an add-on to Dodd-Frank (financial reg reform) that cut debit card swipe fees, paid by retailers, in half... Oh this was going to save the consumer some real moolah - as Walmart, etc. would surely pass those savings onto the customer...
Didn't we (those of us with a little experience) tell ya that ultimately the consumer pays for everything? That by the government picking winners and losers - in this case retailers over banks - that ultimately we all become losers? Well that's how it works folks... If you're angry at Bank of America over the debit card fee, over it trying to recoup the $2 billion the government just erased from its income statement and added to the retailers, you are sorely misplacing your anger... You're taking the bait my friend...
God forbid we should blame government for the 9% unemployment rate... No no it's the Chinese, it's the Banks... So let's do this: Let's Smoot-Holly (tariffs of The Great Depression [that's right - The Great Depression]) China and Dodd-Frank the financial sector: And let's pray that when our great great grandkids are looking back 80 years hence they don't say "look at what the China Currency Act and Dodd-Frank did "to" (not "for" I assure you) the economy way back in the early 2000s"....
Why Not the Bailers??
Seven hundred martyrs proudly bared the cold steel clamped tightly upon their wrists as they were hauled from Manhattan
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