patrick.net

One thing that makes me feel good about America when watching shows like Property Ladder is, people are willing to get their hands dirty to make things happen.

I know it sounds almost comical, how can I feel good about idiot amateur flippers who have absolutely no idea of what they are doing? I do feel awful about that. But whenever I see some flipper trying very hard to learn to do certain things to make the schedule, I feel good.

This is a quality quite unique to Americans, or people groomed under western education system that fosters DIY. In eastern Asian culture, for example, people are divided into several camps fairly early, the scholars (those who score As throughout their schools and become well-paid professional), the mass, and the laborers. Except for the laborers, nobody in the society is willing to get his hands dirty. None of my classmates or friends in China or Hong Kong know anything about items displayed in hardware stores, because they believe this is beneath them. You are taught from childhood that such task is reserved for the laborers and maids, your time is too precious to be spent on fixing your own home or your own car.

You see much less of such an attitude here. Regardless of their income, class or background, when something needs to get done, you just do it. This makes me more hopeful about the country.

SP got it right ... also the local business will be happy with pressure off spending and focus investing into important R&D projects...
Folks money doesnt grow on trees for business. Money sucked out for high employee costs could be better spent on future needs.

OO-

1) Freedom of thinking and expression --- see Sputnick
2) Solid education for the top 10% population, and acceptable quality for the rest --- Steve Jobs and the Woz were C city students.
3) Good legal system so everyone’s interest is appropriately guarded. Relatively low corruption.... Lets get back to Microsoft monoply and shady business practice to drive out competition.
4) Land with good with weather and free of pollution
Excuse me... what good is that when you dont have funding.

You should always bear in mind .. .never underestimate the next guy...
and we did lots of that and lost many markets. Thats bad...

I personally know of few VCs .. and will say what they tell me ...
"What can be done has been done".... we are passing into mature phase of markets.. Competition and Low cost structures are the future if you wish future growth.

Anyone watching Asian markets ?
http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=asia

These things turn on a dime. One day up to sky, another day a sea of red. Fun stuff.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=%5EHSI&t=2y

never underestimate the next guy...

Space Ace,

VCs don't spur the next innovation, people do. I happen to know one of the "next guy", China, inside out. I was an expat there and have lots of connections in China. Most of the highly connected insiders vote by feet by acquiring American passports for the entire family, or sending their kids overseas, and make sure they don't return until they become foreign citizens.

When the worldwide recession hits, a lot of the glamor of these developing countries will just fade away. In the last one and half century, only ONE country in the world made it from the developing camp to the developed camp, Japan. There is a reason why many developing countries remained developing for the last one and half century, and likely will remain so for the next one and half century.

US is not perfect, it is just closer to being perfect than a lot of other countries on earth. For every single criticism you come up about the US, I can cite the same and much more for Japan, China, Australia, etc., places that I know about, but I am just too lazy to elaborate.

Space Ace,

I feel that you should take a job in one of the "next guys" and try it out for yourself before extolling them to the sky. They are not what they seem.

Ugh, somebody put up a new thread please.

“next guys”

Since 1991 I been in startups.. 2 IPOs 1 in registration and moving on to my 4th I hope next month.

:)

Here is something to ponder on...Goodnite...

Silicon Valley leaders to lobby lawmakers
Survey says housing prices, red tape threaten economy

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/22/BUG41CCUCL1.DTL

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group will warn legislators that high home prices and government red tape top the list of threats to the region's high- tech economy. Members of the organization, formerly called the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group, include 190 firms that collectively employ 250,000 people in the region.

A recent survey of its members ranked the top five business challenges facing Silicon Valley firms as home prices, business regulations, workers' compensation costs, health care expenses and the cost of worker retention. The results will be discussed at a summit Monday at Adobe Systems in San Jose.

At a time when the high cost of housing, labor and just about everything else are being blamed for driving jobs out of Silicon Valley, the survey said one-third of the companies in the sample exported local jobs in 2004. No figures were put on the losses, nor did the survey specify where those jobs went.

Based on anecdotal reports from members, however, Leadership Group President Carl Guardino said most of them were lost to other states, not other nations. "That means we can compete for them if we make the right public policy choices,'' he said.

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group will warn legislators that high home prices and government red tape top the list of threats to the region’s high- tech economy.

That is obvious.

SP,

That is a 'teaser site' to a discount brokerage. The thought is that if you list on MLS for free through them, they can upsell you to use their selling tools and their buyer's agents. (A lot of sellers are also buyers is their thinking.)

So... you list through them, and hopefully use some of their non-free tools, and then when you go to buy you remember what a good deal they were, and use their discount agents.

Loss Leader in online mortgaging? Who'd a thunk?

"Business leaders complain about government regulation and the high cost of labor."

Isn't that a headline from the 1920's? Or just about any other decade? Give me a break.

OO said:

In the last one and half century, only ONE country in the world made it from the developing camp to the developed camp, Japan.

I think Spain counts and Italy too, if you are being honest. There is one thing these three countries have in common: none of them have been colonies, at least not in a very long time. There is something about being subject to the colonial whims of another country that sets a nation back economically.

This is part of the reason I am so optimistic about China: the Chinese are optimistic about China.

Jimbo,

The Chinese are more optimistic out of ignorance than enthusiasm. I'm not optimistic about the people there. People there don't have much work ethic or public spiritedness. For most, it's about the jackpot or the silver bullet that's going to make them rich.

astrid,

So, how are the Chinese different from most Americans again?

"Isn’t that a headline from the 1920’s? "

What can I say, either you get it or you dont.