patrick.net

Randy,

There are (mature) businesses that work better as monopolies, such as utilities and maybe airlines. On the other hand, compare AT&T's prices and services in the 100+ years before the breakup and all the great stuff we have now for a fraction os the cost. While breaking up monopolies harm shareholders and employees of the companies, they do seem to benefit the consumers.

Also, long distance traveling was much more expensive before the days of airline price wars. To the exOr the misbehavior of 19th century railroad lines against their small farmer customers?

Walmart's monopsony is accompanied by misbehavior, like not paying their suppliers on time and preventing their suppliers from selling to other companies.

OT: Sorry, if you folks already saw this. I just noticed this after my vacation. Coming from the (w)hor(e)se's mouth?

http://www.realtor.org/Research.nsf/files/Leadership%20Summit%20(August%202006).ppt/$FILE/Leadership%20Summit%20(August%202006).ppt

Robert,

Yeesh, that's even worse than I thought. I've heard stories about Walmart driving their suppliers into bankruptcy (most of my business oriented professors have at least one personal Walmart horror story & I followed the media coverage of Rubbermaid's bankruptcy) but the trade secret/technology transfer aspect is news to me.

I think Walmart demonstrates the inherent problems with most monopoly arrangments - the asymmetry of power create massive incentives for abuse & institutional over-investment & technological inertia. There are some rare and usually heavily regulated exceptions (utilities and patented items), but mostly, we're better off when there's more choice, even if the Government is brought in to do the breaking up.

Or it could all be a Costco cultist's prejudice against Walmart.

OT, and I know some of you despise the host website, but I found a rather good series on disaster readiness. Think of this as rectification for my earlier OT posting on Slate.com's shopaholic approach to disaster preparedness.

As hopefully more encouragment for you all to read it, the poster lives in Fremont and self described "libertarian capitalist Democrat".

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/9/161748/9747

I don’t like H1B’s for the same reason I don’t like illegal workers: they are too easily exploited by their employer, driving down wages and working conditions for everyone.

At any time, someone must be exploiting someone. I afraid this is an invariable truth.

From the head 'ho of the realtwhores, Consumer Spending Supported from Housing Equity Gains

Maybe I missed something, but how exactly is "housing equity gains" money again? Oh, that's right, I can borrow money and "it becomes mine".

Everyone should really check out the 9/11/06 issue of Businessweek. Excellent article on the housing "market". Sweet baby jeebus this is starting to make the dot.bomb hubris look like an afternoon tea party. Say you are Joe McDebtor and you have an option ARM, you of course make the min monthly because housing only goes up and your only interested in making some free money so you and your vapid big assed highlighted hair wife can buy more shit, this added to the fact that you are stupid lets you mistakenly believe that a) the loan guy is your friend, and b) your 1450 monthly nut is covering everything. The part I loved is that the bank, according to GAAP gets to bank the spread on what you actually paid and what you should have paid as income. Mind you, there is no income.

Fucking genius. I love it. Oh another tasty little tid bit, it has been revealed that the loan broker got paid extra to push the option ARM. Wow, shocking, who knew that they weren't really your friend.

Think Joe McDebtor is getting a reach-around or just straight up violation San Quentin style?

I don't like H1B's either, too small, I like the H3 better.

http://santabarbara.craigslist.org/sls/205216082.html

rp, I stand corrected, thank you sir ;)

I don’t like H1B’s either, too small, I like the H3 better.

Huh? I thought H3 is the smallest... never mind.

CB let me translate this for you That big business need cheap and dedicated workers. Politicians and company CEO(ala Carly F.) that says there is still a severe shortage of tech workers know it’s just plain B.S. along with the idea that U.S. schools are not graduating enough qualified candidates.

What there is a shortage of is worker bee's with BS's who'll do 60hrs for 50K.

Now tell me, there can’t be possibly a “severe” shortage of qualified candidates for such positions.

People always hide their intentions but the market always tells the truth. If such workers are demanded they must be in some kind of shortage.

On the other hand, I still think that performance and reward have little correlation in the workplace. Do not worry about people who "work too hard". Most probably they are politically immature and you should be able to defeat them.

U.S. schools are not graduating enough qualified candidates.

When investment bankers can buy houses in Marina while engineers have to rent, it is clear why "U.S. schools are not graduating enough qualified candidates". :)

Ha ha, don't leave just yet. Situations tend to correct themselves in interesting ways.

I drove by the new Cupertino condo today. It is almost finished. Did you end up buying the 750K 3BR unit with few common walls? :)

Robert,

Very good article and an interesting perspective. The article mentioned that Walmart does not pay delay its bills, but I've heard several different stories about Walmart toying with its smaller suppliers. Maybe Walmart is too savvy to antagonize its larger suppliers, but they don't seem to have that scruple when dealing with smaller suppliers, esp. in China.

The other problem is that Walmart is not particularly cheap for most stuff. They have things like the $3 Jar of pickle loss leaders to draw people in and make believe its really cheap. And their non name branded stuff is really poorly made. Cloth that pills in two washes & tennis shoes that last less than a month. The brand name stuff that I could actually trust (mostly P&G or other major brands) are quite expensive (esp. compared to Costco's huge sizes).

Isn't it common belief that investment bankers (and HFers and VCistas) are not paid for their performance but based on the size of their extended family (whom they've sold to the devil in return for their pay packages)?

We finally joined Costco after checking out their seafood department. They sell king crab legs for less than $12/lb!

Capitalist (or feudalistic or plantation style) exploitation workers have been happening forever. But too much oppression and those oppressed masses gets restless or messianic. The rich Republican donors like the Waltons may think they got the oppressed masses controlled by religion and fear, but that can be a risky move.

I didn’t read the whole thread.. but having fixed mortgages at 4.8 - 5.5%, I would agree with the man. My 401k and my CD accounts yield more than that.

When fixed mortgages were at 4.8 - 5.5%, CDs were paying less than that.

If you have fixed your rate at 4.8%, of course you can invest at a higher rate now.

If I had purchased MSFT in the 80's, things would have been quite different for me. :)

"They sell king crab legs for less than $12/lb!"

Is that cheap? Are they any good?

The rich Republican donors like the Waltons may think they got the oppressed masses controlled by religion and fear, but that can be a risky move.

The oppressed people are oppressed by themselves - their own oppressive mindset and thinking.

Is that cheap? Are they any good?

I have not tried yet. :(

But they also sell lobster tails for about $25/lb. Not cheap, but reasonable.

Their lines are too long though. I can only tolerate going their on weekdays. Luckily, there is one near my office.

"If I had purchased MSFT in the 80’s, things would have been quite different for me. "

Why didn't I buy Berkshire Hathaway shares in the early 70's?!?!?!

What are your favorite ways to cook seafood?

How about wine poaching?

I'm not a big seafood person. For shrimp and fish I prefer to dredging in tapioca flour and pan fry in canola. Steaming for all crustaceans, lobster, clams, and crayfish. Salmon and trout are salted and pan broiled.

I've never wine poached anything. I'm still trying to figure out what wine poaching is (though I assume it does not involve carrying a gun into a vineyard).

I’ve never wine poached anything.

Something like this:

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe790024

RE: seafood

When in doubt, eat raw. :)

* Not dietary advice. Consuming raw or undercooked seafood can be harmful to your health.

I am having a vision of king crab risotto with green pea puree. Perhaps I should cook that soon...

That sounds good. Though it'll be while before I can afford to test out such a dish (I may have to take up the other kind of wine poaching to afford this wine poached scallop).

I've only had good scallops once (nobody bothers to take to good seafood restaurants), that was in Dalian. It was live and 60 cents a kilo, we steamed it and it turned out really good. Otherwise, it doesn't do much for me.

That sounds good. Though it’ll be while before I can afford to test out such a dish (I may have to take up the other kind of wine poaching to afford this wine poached scallop).

I think Trader Joe's has some good scallops. You do not need too many of them.

However, you may also want to try searing the scallops.

I heard that Dalian is a seafood heaven.

Do you like oxtails? I am also thinking of combining an oxtail soup recipe into one with risotto.

Wouldn't risotto be kind of waste for king crab? I find dungeness crabs to be very good and cheaper. It's not as sweet as blue crabs, but much easier to eat.

I like eating shrimp (or some other white fleshed sea fish) with hot rice congee. That cooks the shrimp quickly and compliments the delicate texture of the shrimp.

I tried TJ frozen seafood once. Never again!

I may have had oxtail once, but I don't remember what it tastes like. Tails and necks are too much work.

Wouldn’t risotto be kind of waste for king crab? I find dungeness crabs to be very good and cheaper. It’s not as sweet as blue crabs, but much easier to eat.

Not really. King crab meat is quite firm so it should do fine. Dungeness crab meat is quite delicate and it can "disappear" in the rice. :)

Blue crab is sweet!

Congee is a good way to cook seafood. Adding clams is the easiest way to bring more flavor to the soup.

I tried TJ frozen seafood once. Never again!

Costco has good scallops too.

Tails and necks are too much work.

Meat should fall off of the oxtails and it is quite tender. I do not usually eat neck.

My fellow Patrick.net bloggers,

I could use your help/ideas . Patrick is now interested in doing a CafePress-style storefront to merchandise Patrick.net themed T-shirts, hats, mugs, etc., but is not too keen on on the per-unit price CafePress charges. The "base price" (CafePress's cut) on each t-shirt is $8.99.

Does anyone out there know of another merchandising/storefront site that does the same thing but takes a slightly less gargantuan cut? I'm new to this game and any constructive suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

HARM, have you tried iprint.com?

Clams are good. Though a good chunk of my family got Hep A through an unfortunate batch of raw clams once. So we always get a little paranoid around clams. We do cook with mussels a lot.

Have you ever tried really small softshell clams? They're called sea melon seeds and they're the size of pumpkin seeds. It's good beer food.

"Costco has good scallops too."

Thanks for the tip. They have good frozen dungeness crabs and mussels too.