A Downside of Capitalism

Once again, American companies are making a profit from an enemy and doing it under the radar.  Sadly, this investment in Chinese monitoring systems pumps money into a system that disregards all personal liberties, and further invests American money into the pockets of one of our enemies.  660 Chinese cities have now installed cameras to monitor any sort of gathering and also to capture images of anyone using the internet in public sites.  Industry giants such as Google giving in to Chinese regulations in order to get a piece of the financial gain is setting a bad standard, along with smaller companies now jumping in and investing in a police state.

In the 90's, many firms justified outsourcing their production to China with the argument that democracy follows capitalism.  This has not happened in China, with the middle class becoming satisfied with all of the economic benefits to the point where there is virtually no complaint against the state (leading Time Magazine to dub it the "Me Generation).  Further "security" investments such as these electronic monitoring systems further strip away any anonymity, and provide the police even further control including the ability to spot anyone that might not have immediately reported into work.

This financial investment is somewhat history repeating itself, as tons and tons of American steel was sent to Japan, allowing the empire to rise and attack us.  The American businesses that had strong ties to Nazi Germany conducted their lives under the "Business as Usual" ideology, and most of us remember the image of Rumsfeld meeting with Saddam.  While many argue China has not yet made an aggressive move towards us, how can we repeatedly ignore history?

America is not surprisingly the number one country to import Chinese products, and Wal-Mart alone is fifth.  This fact should not come as a surprise when the government's defense to the investments in these security monitoring firms comes from a White House spokesman, stating "It's not appropriate to interfere in the private decisions of Americans to invest in legally incorporated firms."  Neither Republicans nor Democrats are going to stand up to big business on this one, and with politicians on both sides so close to private companies such as Haliburton the conspiracy debates can go forever.

So what is the solution to all of this?  Political leadership is not going to step in to stop private firms from investing in Chinese companies (especially ones making products that strip all civil liberties from the Chinese people), while a percentage of our national spending is due to loans from Asian countries.  In addition, major Asian companies such as Toyota and Honda are investing very heavily in America and creating thousands of jobs, while American factories are closing and our businesses investing (and outsourcing) in Asia.  This example may come way out of left field, but it helps me put some perspective on the big picture.  Also, we could be in the process of investing in a nation that we could someday be turning around and fighting.  I know the easy way is to say that none of that will ever happen, but I guess in a way the media is doing that by not talking about this and letting big business go about doing "Business as Usual."

Editor's Note: This sort of refusal to change a process that makes money is exactly why the American Big Three are collapsing.  More to come on that next, as our leading car companies refuse again to make any changes to their standards. (and believe it or not President Bush is trying harder than the Democrats!)

Cell Phone Contracts

Today my second Sony Ericsson cell phone stopped working on me, and of course I was in the magical realm where my warranty had expired and I was not eligible for an upgrade. So, for those of you like me who had never paid attention to cell phone contracts, here is how it works (at least for AT&T):

The minimum contract is for two years, and the phone comes with a manufacturer's warranty for one year. That does not include water or physical damage, so if you damage it own your own you are completely s.o.l. My wife actually dropped her's in water one month after we got our phones, and they let us buy a new one for about $120, as this was by far our best deal out of anything. Eighteen months after signing the contract you are eligible for an upgrade, where you get a phone at the new customer price, plus an $18 upgrade fee. That means for the six months between the warranty and upgrade you are again completely s.o.l.

This realm of purgatory was where I found myself today, as I could have either spent $250 on the cheapest phone out there (as that is their suggested retail price) or purchase a go phone until I was eligible for an upgrade. Right at the point of giving up, the woman helping me out on the phone actually moved my upgrade eligibility up to today, so I was able to get a phone at the new customer price. Needless to say this made my day and saved me a lot of cash.

A further note is regarding insurance. They do offer insurance for cell phones that is $5/month, which does cover water and physical damage. That said, there is still a $50 deductible if you have to buy a new one. While $50 is a lot better than the full $300+, we all have to make our own decisions.

Although I have read many complaints online, the three times my wife and I have had to deal with Cingular/AT&T to get our phones replaced they were pretty helpful. Their products are cheaply made and not very durable, but every time we have talked to someone on the phone with a normal American accent and they have given us a decent deal. I still contend this is sad that I am considering this a good deal; I know you get what you pay for, as our phones were originally free after mail in rebates, but I would definitely be willing to pay for something that I know would last. Unfortunately I have never found a cell phone that will last for two years, but for those of you that have enjoy not having to worry.

I guess the morale of the story is hope you are lucky if you are not willing to pay for insurance, and read the contract carefully as it does not look like policies will be changing any time soon (current reference being AT&T's mandatory contract for the iPhone). Don't know if that is taking a pessimistic view, but then again the battle over coltan has further destroyed the Republic of Congo as 80% of the world's supply lies there. So, not only are we getting crappy products for cheap, hundreds of thousands of lives are destroyed just so we can get those crappy products for cheap. [Specific reading can be found in A Game as Old as Empire or, of course, on Wikipedia.]

Tonight's weekly stalemate

I admit that I am already sitting here thinking about (and now actually) writing about an aspect of my life.  I know that is what most bloggers do, and arguably all writers in the end, but it still feels weird that someone would be interested in reading my thoughts on matters.  Even though it was a friend, I will count the comment to last night's blog as the first reaction ever to any writing I have done outside of school, so kudos Brian.

To tell the truth, I am sitting here on a Friday night as I have done most Friday nights for the past several months staring at a computer screen needing to type a paper for class and having absolutely no motivation.  The hardest part of writing for me is finding a starting topic, and since this is for a class I have obviously had the topic for a week.  Due to thinking about homework I could not justify focusing on a topic for tonight's entry, yet why did I eagerly push homework aside to rush to do this instead?

So, I googled procrastination and sure enough found more than enough material outlining every reason and presenting countless solutions.  One college site even had every month broken out into the exact ways that most students will procrastinate for that period.   Ironically, just reading about procrastination made me realize how much time I was wasting and how I could be off doing something that I actually want to be doing at the moment.  As one of my co-workers once said, he stopped playing The Sims many years ago when he realized he was watching his character watch tv instead of just watching tv himself.  

All of that being said, if you need some of your own procrastination here is a great destination.

Putting my chips on the table

As I begin to fill the screen I join the ranks of those that I have always made fun of. (and I just ended my first blog sentence with a preposition.) With countless arenas of entertainment for us out there on the web I have always been reluctant to throw my two cents in and add more to the saturation of seemingly mindless entertainment. However, after receiving a kick in the rear about the merits of how writing anything is better than writing nothing, here goes something. I have never kept a journal and never intend for this to be a chronicle of my life, but instead want to highlight one or two random things every day that I have found that the mass media seems to overlook.

So, with all of that said, today's little bit of Americana comes from the first chapter of the book Fiasco. Operation Desert Fox was a little-known part of our containment policy against Iraq, and the book discusses how many are now realizing how successful it was at the time. For anyone that might actually read this, (congratulations on being the first one to ever read a blog from me!) a DoD piece can be found here http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/desert_fox/, and of course there is always the Holy Grail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Desert_Fox.

This concludes my brief inaugural posting. For the English freaks out there, I ended a sentence with a preposition, started one with a transition, and referenced Wikipedia. Besides that, however, the experience has definitely been cathartic and I will definitely return tomorrow. I will start working on a decent closing line, but until then- the Sports Guy was definitely right this week when again discussing how Boston fans are now just as bad as New York fans.