Darwin's Discovery: Design without a Designer

[Graybeard]

Ten percent is such an achievable goal, on many levels.

Each year, it has been my personal mandate to reduce my expenses by 10%, no matter what the economy is predicted to do.

Every year, I have achieved that goal and more, not that it has seen me put that money into investments, as inflation and the price of fuel and commodities has pretty much recaptured a large part of it.

Nevertheless, where others have gone increasingly into debt, I have remained out of that deadly spiral.

Do not spend money that is not yet earned.

When financing, only finance hard assets that are their own collateral.

A pathetically simplistic system, yet in my time and place, it has been an effective personal strategy.

Yes ... so true ..... And even for one so stupid as me ... not such a hard thing to comprehend .. you would think.

Its taken me years to learn this ... but I finally have, and in the nick of time before the most recent economic downturn. Just for once I made some good financial decisions ... based on pessimism, true ...

It has enabled me to buy a distant mountain where I intend to build a shack and retire ....

cool bananas ... greg

[labelwench]

What do you think ... given these four things ... I think that China may succeed where all other contenders against Capitalism have failed. I believe it sees itself with a clear mandate and will not be influenced by western logic capitalism.

Do you see the same 'portents' as I do ??

cool bananas ... greg

In one word - 'Wal-Mart'

Where do most products sold in that retail giant come from?

Any idea how many billions of dollars that the owners of Wal-Mart control between them?

The Canadian grocery corporation that I work for is the only real competition to Wal-Marts food offerings, and thus far, Wal-Mart has not yet ventured into the fresh food market, yet there have been rumor of just that for some time now.

Wal-Mart is a fantastic psychological adversary as well. They are targeting a certain sector of the population for their employee needs and empowering these people through the title of 'associate', thereby capitalizing on the very human need 'to belong'.

Any attempt to unionize their stores is not met with resistance. They just close the store and leave town. (Actually, I have been advised that even a hint of Union activity brings their 'Swat Team' to town.) I have friends of long standing that work at our local Wal-Mart and they have spoken openly to me that none there are interested in a Union.

Wal-Mart knows what they are doing. Any comments, gentlemen?

[Graybeard]

It sounds to me that WalMart (whoever they are) are in denial. It may look good for them and bleak for their employees ...I'm a union man myself .... but long term things are changing. Many people here now shop online and it is delivered. It has become popular tho slightly dearer .. but my childrens generation are not so much concerned with price and quality as they are with leisure time .... and this new generation is prepared to trade off.

I expect that as the balance shifts .. it will become more expensive to shop in a store than to shop online. Stores require uniformed trained staff. Online only requires a dispatch warehouse and jeans and t-shirts ... lol

Woolworths and Coles are the 2 big Chains here ... with Woolworths ahead on points at the moment ... and deliberately running their stores understaffed. Which is their choice .. but places pressure on the remaining workforce.

cool bananas ... greg

[labelwench]

Greg,

You have never heard of the world's largest public corporation by revenue? Better read up on the Wiki report before continuing along the vein of your previous post, or Lloyd will have no recourse but to shred us, methinks. Although from Lloyd's broader financial perspective, maybe Wal-Mart is not as scary as many believe. Mind you, anything that the Teamsters can't get a nibble on and that has other large corporations quaking in their boots, well, where's there's that much smoke, there may be some fire....

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (branded as Walmart) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500.[4] The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. Wal-Mart is the largest private employer[5] and the largest grocery retailer in the United States. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.

Walmart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful.

Walmart has been criticized by some community groups, women's rights groups, grassroots organizations, and labor unions, specifically for its extensive foreign product sourcing, low wages, low rates of employee health insurance enrollment, resistance to union representation, sexism, and management efforts to pressure employees to vote for specific parties during national elections. Conversely, others point out that Wal-Mart's rapid growth and logistical efficiency has enabled it to bring lower prices to consumers and more jobs to the communities in which it operates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart

[Graybeard]

I work for a global Corp. I work in the IT/Controls industry. A major government contractor. HQ in the USA. My pay and expenses calculated in China. My technical support comes from India. if I am working on a software/controller and have problems, I email to India and techs there solve overnight and I have a new version back the next day.

Strange as this may seem ... it all works ... and we are well payed and well looked after. The downside is that the company expects the techs to take full responsibility for the site/s they are assigned to. And when things go wrong the tech comes under pressure that is not related to his work .. nor in reality his responsibility.

But overall, its a good way to work and I have come to know many techs all over the world. It is also quite humbling to be instructed by techs from what we may at times consider 'third world'. It is also humbling to realise you are no longer the 'smartest kid on the block' ... and that there are others ... less well off ... less well paid .. who know much more than you ... lol

I think it is the future.

cool bananas ... greg

[labelwench]

Interestingly, it is only in China, where Wal-Mart has accepted any intervention similar to a Union structure. Then again, the potential of the Chinese market, and the fact that their labor organizations are quite different in function than North American Unions, must be an acceptable risk to the corporation. Apparently, they are contemplating a move into Australia in the future, so you may well have opportunity to become conversant with the retail Goliath yet.

In Yukon, they have the best department of plant related products at the best prices, although their live offerings vary, as they get shipped up from optimum hothouse locations to a covered dome and unpredictable Yukon spring weather, poor little things.....once I purchased Geraniums from them, as Geraniums are a most resilient species, but no others. Too painful, can't save them all.....

They also carry my preferred brand of socks and are the best supplier of safety soled footwear, black leather shoes with arch support and safe-t-tread soles, in these parts.

Wal-Mart struggled to export its brand elsewhere as it rigidly tried to reproduce its model overseas. In China, Wal-Mart hopes to succeed by adapting and doing things preferable to Chinese citizens. For example, it found that Chinese consumers preferred to select their own live fish and seafood; stores began displaying the meat uncovered and installed fish tanks, leading to higher sales.[82]

In addition, under heavy pressure from the Chinese government, Wal-Mart accepted a form of organized labor in China. Chinese labor unions do not negotiate contracts but simply pay dues to the government, "to secure the social order." However, Chinese consumers may be more open to Americana than shoppers in Europe.[83]

[Lloyd Gillespie]

But now ... a more tricky one ... and we better be careful that we do not offend others. China is a communist country embracing, slowly but surely, a new brand of Capitalism. And so far so good .... Do you see any reason for it to go the way of all other attempts against Capitalism.

I've already written much on China's brand of mixed market autocratic capitalism. I've stated that if China could recognize the superior power of maintaining a percentage of autocratic/communist party control over its internal capitalism, say a 80% free market, to a permanently fixed price 20% market stabilizer of prices, as it reduces the rest of its SOE's(state owned enterprizes) it would have the first chance in world history, to see capitalism's full potential, as this would allow the full use of Keynes' Bancor' System. If, on the other hand, they copy the West, by going all the way to 100% free markets, they will end with the West's identical problems. China has the ideal position in markets evolution history to lead the entire world into a new day, if it only recognizes the power of it's mixed market full potential. If not, it will experience the over-exhuberance of greed, housing and commercial property bubbles, and crash massively, retarding its march forward fro years, but in the end, its shear numbers will definitely surpass all nations in the world, even if it gets a cold, for a time.

I've even tried to get China to see these ideas, as the West is far too blind, yet, to see the truth. They already closed down a really professional e-zine in China, I and other Western economists were publishing on, about these very topics. I was encouraging them to take the lead to awake the world to capitalism's full mixed market potentials, as with a 20% fixed price market mix, she could completely eliminate that ol' Boogie-Man of inflation, thus allowing intelligent use of the printing of crude money, not needing repayment, at the national payments level, which in turn could eventually finance all local taxing needs. This is the route the entire West needs exploring...

If China beats the world to realizing the full power potential of a proper % mixed market capitalism, they'll bury the world over-night with a success so powerful, the West won't know what to do__as the West's pitiful state of boutique academic and economic ideologies__will still be so far behind the eight-ball__confusion will paralize em__Even Australia, Greg...

I think it has a good chance of succeeding ...

1 .. It clearly has the economic power ... (its only other contender is India.)

It's really a pretty shaky economy, as they have a 50% SOE massive debt problem, 200 million un-employed, massive poverty, and the testosterone bomb unrest of 20 million more men than women__Plenty of problems to handle, and not much of a history of intellect, since Mao assassinated so many. It's a toss-up of whether the autocratic central committee can hold it all together. I'd say a major correction is headed their way, especially with all the problems brewing in the EMU and EU, which buys so much from China__Where the next shock comes from is hard to guess exactly, even with all the numbers, as psychology plays the biggest hand of fear__but I'm looking at three areas__Brazil, EU and China. Any bets on which will collapse next...?

2 .. It has the most diverse population .. (many people in all countries are of Chinese descent ... even our prime minister
.. so it could be said to have, if push comes to shove, the most support throughout the world)

I think you better re-think this one. There's considerable internal turmoil all throughout inland China, as mentioned above__Poverty, un-employment and too many men to women. And not only the EU has considerable grumblings about Chinese Imports, there's much move afoot in America to do something serious about the China problem__So not liked as much as you think, but America herself, is divided about hating itself for buying cheap China goods, or hating China for selling cheap__and most everybody here hates India's tel-tech__Ya can't understand em...

3 .. The Chinese culture places a great deal of emphasis on wealth .. (it is part of their culture. They know how to manage it.)

Or do they...? Is it possibly an evolutionary accident, so far...?__Just as America was for some 200 years... Beware the blind academic boutique ideologies...

4 .. The Chinese Culture is wary of all interference in its affairs (with good reason)

China's been a zenophobic nation since its inception__They even burned their own entire naval and trade fleet, back in the 1400's, so's not to have to deal with the outside world__And the great wall...? China's a nation that could pull in its horns again__At any time__Beware how you view China's power elite's, known historical schizophrenia__It just may rise up and bite the world__Again...

What do you think ... given these four things ... I think that China may succeed where all other contenders against Capitalism have failed. I believe it sees itself with a clear mandate and will not be influenced by western logic capitalism.

I'm riding in the 50%/50% chance boat of uncertainty, where this sleeping giant's, unknown to itself, motive's lie__If anyone wanted to apply the uncertainty principle to any one nation, it could certainly be applied to China...

Do you see the same 'portents' as I do ??

cool bananas ... greg

Realistically Greg, it's a pretty uncertain world__That was Keynes' whole point, in his economics...

[Lloyd Gillespie]

Thought I'd let you both know, I'm also a life-long union member, and was shop-steward for some ten years, so I'm well aware of how that process evolves our lil' ol' brains__I think you know what I mean there, Lorrina...

In one word - 'Wal-Mart'

I love Wal-Mart__It is the only game in town, raising the wages of the Poor, as it reduces their costs, which is effectively the same as a wage raise. I'm well aware of all the down side to Wally-World, as my wife worked there for a while__couldn't stand it any more and quit__the regimented brain-washing of pro Wally and anti-union rhetoric, plus all the Wally-Cheers every morning, then the insecure managers always breathing down her neck...

All in all though, in this rabid capitalist death debt system, Wally-World, in cost-benefit analyses, comes out ahead of the curve for benefiting the towns and cities, where they locate__But, only until they fold the tent and leave the towns in shambles, as they outcompete all the locally long time established businesses. This is fine as long as Wally stays in town, but watch out, when they pull out__America is littered with Wally's destroyed towns... Threats of a union, and gone__No cost to Wally, as he don't even own the buildings__other corporations own the buildings, and just lease them to Wally. I talked to some of their execs, and Sam's Club operates on a net 3% profit margin, while Wally operates on a 6% profit margin__Who else can compete with that, especially since they have a computer terminal so huge, for global pricing inventories, that actual fork-truck robots retrieve the CD's of global prices, from every nation they either buy from, or sell in... It's really an unbeatable system, but costs to the health of incentivized capatilism is severe, as Wally's system forces all other businesses to the lowest common denominator__Eliminate all union labor forces, and force all into slave labor__Wally's business model for the whole world. And if you think they have good unions in China__Na Da__They are fully communist party controlled__unions in name only, just to please and appease the gullible West...

Where do most products sold in that retail giant come from?

We all know it's China, but Wally allowed filming of its buying practices in China on TV one night. They spent hours in constant coffee-cup negotiations, over a 1/3 cent difference in production price of a certain lil' kids doll run__and this was in poverty stricken inland China. So, who's being more deviant__China, or the American Giant__A Trillion Dollar Corporation...

Any idea how many billions of dollars that the owners of Wal-Mart control between them?

Last I checked it's well over $$$100 billion, in a corporation tipping the scales at $$$1 Trillion Gross sales and worth...

The Canadian grocery corporation that I work for is the only real competition to Wal-Marts food offerings, and thus far, Wal-Mart has not yet ventured into the fresh food market, yet there have been rumor of just that for some time now.

Wal-Mart is a fantastic psychological adversary as well. They are targeting a certain sector of the population for their employee needs and empowering these people through the title of 'associate', thereby capitalizing on the very human need 'to belong'.

Excellent brain-washers__Now, that ought to be illegal__Where's the free speech rights of the workers?__Subsumed by Free-Speech Only__Wally...!

Any attempt to unionize their stores is not met with resistance. They just close the store and leave town. (Actually, I have been advised that even a hint of Union activity brings their 'Swat Team' to town.) I have friends of long standing that work at our local Wal-Mart and they have spoken openly to me that none there are interested in a Union.

Oh yeah, everyone I know in Maine is overly familiar with Wally's SS Storm Troopers of Anti-Union activity__and their training of low wage workers' knowledge, of how to exploit America's welfare system__Food-Stamps and whatever...

Wal-Mart knows what they are doing. Any comments, gentlemen?

I just wonder who taught em so, so, so many dirty tricks__America's Universities...? I know the Universities teach union-busting, because I had to take college courses, as an officer, in my union, plus being an officer, we have our own fully administrated training school, lawyers and all, within our union's ownership_teaching much about the real world_IUOE #4 Boston, Mass... Our members are worldwide, as we are an international union, with jobs and members, even from our own union, all over the world__Quite an education, talking to these old, globally experienced, guys all my life...

Hey, this is fun, getting off topic__and going all over the world...

[Graybeard]

Hi Lloyd ... I am sure you find my posts as difficult to understand as i do yours at times. May i ask about this one ?

How to rebalance the global world balance of payments system, currency system, foreign exchanges and trade system__Without collapsing the incentive system...

You state the problem above and ask the question ? Below you give the answer ?

This can only be accomplished with the sliding time scaled law, and international financial structures Keynes, Einzig, Davidson, Skidelsky, and myself have written about. It requires the proper time of sane and safe adjustments necessary, not to wreck the system in the process__and, that's why I've advocated a 10% for 10 years of change process, of real world law changes, to achieve the 100% goal of rebalancing necessary.

I googled 'sliding time scaled law' and checked 'East V West' but found no mention .... so my best guess at what you mean .... is a sort of 'flexitime system of payments' where time is not measured by the clock but measured by 'flexitime' credits/debits ??

Ok ? Then you say it requires the proper time of sane and safe adjustments necessary, not to wreck the system in the process.

But then you state 10% change every year for 10 years ..... This is impossible ..... you must see that ? This amount of change in such a short period would 'wreck the system in the process'. I don't believe any country could adapt to a 100% change in its Laws in 10 years ?

And also you don't state what Law, what changes ? I feel that it is way too simplistic ?

Then it should be allowed to function within a narrow band of say 10% to 20% imbalance, to allow for natural market adjustments, where each nation is bound by international law, to share the excess balance of payments overflows, to assist re-adjustments to near neutral PPP's (purchasing price parities), of all international trade, similar to what was feebly attempted between 1945 and 1971__The old Bretton Woods System, yet updated to the modern world of global finance and trade, as per Davidson's ideas, Jane D'Arista's or mine, or better still, a best combination of all three...

Why can't the world be considered to operate in a Bretton Woods II system right now ? And thats not doin too well ... ??

Mine is the more complex and thorough, also including a new local emergency triple entry banking system, and labor capacity re-alignments, through a new emergency national saving banks system, based on and financed by the savings, which would exist and accrue, due to the new Keynes Bancor' system, at the national balance of payments level. All these ideas require new law structures to be written, once America and the world awakes from its inanity coma...

Don't get me wrong. Its possible that what your saying is correct ... but from where I sit it is unachievable ... eg: We could build a new copy of the Pyramid of Cheops today. Technically achievable and easy .... but no one is gonna do it cause the 'incentive' is not there. And it is almost impossible to create an incentive for such a project. It has no short or long term payback ... ??

I understand that this is a post and not a treatise .... but still seems too simplistic

Much more to it, but that's the general gist of the matter, and it's your thread being taken off topic, but you did it again...

P.s.
Don't let me stop you talking about possible systems improvements, if that's your wish, as I'd love to, but like I said; It's your thread__You govern it...

Its cool ..... I'm learnin ..... so don't mind me tellin ya where ya goin off the rails .... rotflmao

cool bananas ... greg

[Lloyd Gillespie]

Hi Lloyd ... I am sure you find my posts as difficult to understand as i do yours at times. May i ask about this one ?

You state the problem above and ask the question ? Below you give the answer ?

I googled 'sliding time scaled law' and checked 'East V West' but found no mention .... so my best guess at what you mean .... is a sort of 'flexitime system of payments' where time is not measured by the clock but measured by 'flexitime' credits/debits ??

Ok ? Then you say it requires the proper time of sane and safe adjustments necessary, not to wreck the system in the process.

But then you state 10% change every year for 10 years ..... This is impossible ..... you must see that ? This amount of change in such a short period would 'wreck the system in the process'. I don't believe any country could adapt to a 100% change in its Laws in 10 years ?

Greg, when you google ToeQuest, the search engines, at either google or ToeQuest, do not search inside archived files, nor at any of the BB's or the blogs... You're interpreting the 10% change per year, as applying to nations' internal economies__all I'm talking about is the currency system__the balance of payments system is what's affected, not the entire national economies, and then by a 10% change of law, in place contracts still take years to adjust, especially the massive amount written out to five to twenty years, which the foreign exchange is full of. As a further fact, many nation's currency systems adjust naturally 10% to 20% per year now, it's just it's willy-nilly, and usually in the wrong direction, to what the national economies would most benefit from. So Greg, it's highly possible, as it's just the currency law system that's being changed, from the present wide fixed band system, controlled by the corporations' speculators, in the trading back rooms, and the other millionaire and billionaire personal speculators, hedgers and arbitrageurs. Currency non-law needs be written to law, to re-balance the entire balance of payments system, or the imbalance of payments is going to destroy the entire system, for every country in the entire world. This is what was attempted, and partially accomplished right after WWII, with the Bretton Woods System, but the modern world is so far more out of balance, compared to then, Keynes full blown system, that America fought instituting then, is what must be updated and instituted__The law system already exists in the government archives, it simply needs modern wording and institution...

And also you don't state what Law, what changes ? I feel that it is way too simplistic ?

Sorry, I usually just write in economic mode, which economists fully understand. As above, the currency system trading laws, that actually control all laws, no matter what other econmists say, or any other person says__It's currency__and currency law, or I should now say, the existing non-law, my man...

Why can't the world be considered to operate in a Bretton Woods II system right now ? And thats not doin too well ... ??

Because so far, that's just another willy-nilly system with half of everyone wide-pegging to China, while others, like your country, and many more wide-peg to us. Wide-pegging is the problem driving the balance of payments drastic imbalances, pushing most all the West into debt-slavery while the BRICS and others think they're just fine with those excess surplusses__When in fact, if the West's nations hit the debt limit crashes, that eliminates the value of all those surplus nations, as they're holding the currency surpluses in Western currencies and other treasury paper, to manipulate global trade, and for no other reason__It's called mercantilism, which America also was doing 200 years ago, in relationship to the old world. It's just a round circle tripping of currency law controlled, un-necessary theft, which proper laws can easily remedy. I've named the entire cycling of wealth, the Perpetual Suzeraintic(head financial control nation) Cycle, as it's as old as economics, herself. This is what people must see through, as it's so destructive, it's creating all the poverty, crime and war__In the entire world__It must be fixed, or we're all dead. There's no need of this hegmon, mercantilist and suzerain cycle continuing, with all the supposed intelligence, in the world__That's why I call it Academic's Boutique Intelligence__It's like a big dumb blond(no offense intended to blonds)__It looks pretty__but it don't know nothing. If it did, it'd fix the system__as it's the simplest fix, in the world...

This is just boutique institutional inanity to the max__Institutional madness...

Don't get me wrong. Its possible that what your saying is correct ... but from where I sit it is unachievable ... eg: We could build a new copy of the Pyramid of Cheops today. Technically achievable and easy .... but no one is gonna do it cause the 'incentive' is not there. And it is almost impossible to create an incentive for such a project. It has no short or long term payback ... ??

Greg, it has immediate pay-back, as all nations could once again sucessfully plan descent financial futures. Do you have any idea how much money would be saved for all taxpayers, and how much more money the governments would have to spend on locally needed issues, if we just did this one simple law change...? And it's cost-free, as even the corporations are losing to the system, even with all their speculation to stay afloat__It's just the world went crazy about forty years ago, and nobody sees the simple for the complex. It ain't complex__It's simple to fix, and very locally profitable for all people and corporations. It's this Boutique Institutional Brain-Washing that's taken place over the last 65 years, that's the problem__that's from the deaths of Keynes and Harry Dester White, his evil counterpart, in the U.S., at the time of passing the last semi-sensible currency law system. All we've done since is let the entire law system go to hell__Nice world...!

I understand that this is a post and not a treatise .... but still seems too simplistic

That's the modern trouble__Everyone's looking for complexity, while simplicity hides right under their noses__Read Paul Davidson's new Book: "The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity". I did the main review for it at the publishers site and at Amazon. Link Link Link Paul Davidson is the smartest professional mathematical academic economist(true scientist like Peirce) still alive, carrying the Keynes' torch. I help him out quite often. Btw, Macmillan and Davidson both approached me, to do the first reviews. I got the book long before press-time...

Its cool ..... I'm learnin ..... so don't mind me tellin ya where ya goin off the rails .... rotflmao

cool bananas ... greg

Me rails is well grounded, Greg...