Producers Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom make money by producing a sure-fire flop in the Broadway show “The Producers”
Microsoft generated billions in profits by selling the “flop” OS called Vista. Than even more billions with Windows 7 that allegedly fixes the Vista problems. It is called a “recall” in the auto industry but not in the software industry obviously.
O tempora! O mores!
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite
Pardon my French. It doesn’t work. Take it from someone like me who lived for 40 years in a Communist Country that heavily promoted this slogan of the French Revolution, meaning “Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood”.
Capitalism is unfair, ferocious, brutal, grim, cruel but it seems that it is the only thing we have that works somehow.
Why not turn to the basic principles of capitalism when talking healthcare reform.
1. Demand and supply.
More supply cheaper product. It’s that simple. I am yet to hear a proposal to increase the number of doctors and nurses from all those debates over the healthcare reform . Invest in education, provide scholarships and grants, make it more affordable, reduce the dreaded 12 years of schooling and produce more doctors and nurses. Do what Google, Cisco and Microsoft did in technology – import talent. Break the establishment, that has no interest of more doctors. Get more doctors and nurses in this country and see the cost of the healthcare go down. As far as quality goes a doctor doesn’t need to be a fat corrupt cat to be a good doctor. Read “The Citadel” by Archibald Cronin for more on the subject.
2. Market economy
see above
3. Promote competition
see above
4. Moderate regulations
No doubt regulation is needed. However keep in mind that simple things work, complex don’t. Come up with 10 pages of regulations not 2,000. You can’t cover every possible aspect of it with 2,000 or 20,000 pages. Set up the frame and let the state and local authorities and the courts finish up the picture.
Imagine that Mr. Obama needs to sell the health reform to investors to raise money. No way with 2,000 pages reform plan Mr. President. Ask the venture capitalists and they will tell you to come back with 10 pages business plan.
5. Law enforcement
Just heard on TV that IRS is offering up to $10M rewards for information on tax cheats. How many nurses and administrators will report health system abuse if offered a reward? Many, many I think. Put some doctors in jail and keep the rest honest.
6. Reduce legal expense in the system
see my Blog posting “Cherche la attorney” below
Disclaimer. I am computer engineer, entrepreneur, CEO and investor so I might be the last person who needs to voice opinion about the health reform. However the health care like the computer is made for the people. I will gladly hear doctor’s opinion about computers so that we built better ones.
Everyone comments on iPad nowadays, so why not me.
iPad is a giant iPhone. Many are disappointed, they expected more. Apple stock is down. Gloomy predictions abound. Excuse me. What did you expect? You don’t know, do you.
Yes, iPad is a giant iPhone and this is exactly what I want. I am using Fujitsu tablet since the 90-ies and I am not impressed at all. It gets really hot , the battery lasts couple of hours at best and the screen is hard to see in daylight. Now bear in mind that Fujitsu is one of the best out there. I tried the Kindle and I didn’t like it mostly for the restriction to be a book reader only. On the other hand my iPhone delivers on all my expectations and it is the device of choice for most of my activities that do not need large screen and convenient keyboard. It seems that iPad fills those voids.
iPad provides (allegedly) versatility, lightweight, long battery life and most important – all the applications one may ever need. Equipped with G3, WiFi, GPS, BlueTooth, accelerator sensor and a touch screen, it creates the perfect platform for millions developers worldwide to create the application you need. Believe me they will create that application you need so badly.
I am very bullish on iPad and I predict a great success. It will set the standard for the tablet and portable computing and many will follow in iPad’s steps. The “pure” e-readers like Kindle will be pushed out by the versatility of the new standard set by iPad.
While there is nothing revolutionary in the iPad as far as technology goes, the revolution already happened and it is called third party applications. Apple is far ahead of everyone else in this regard, which is most important.
My comments are based on information in the media about iPad. I have never touched one. I am very interested to see the screen and the virtual keyboard and than I will comment more.
Meanwhile mark my predictions and the date. Let’s revisit it one year from now.
Disclaimer. I do not own Apple stock at the time of this publication nor do I have any other vested interest direct or indirect in Apple.
Janet is not a scientists or a doctor. She doesn’t work on a cure for cancer or nano technologies. She is an optician. She does my glasses. For 17 years. At the same place. This is what makes her precious to me. For those who don’t wear them, the glasses break quite often (or get lost, or get abused etc.) and it is nice to know that Janet is there for you. Janet will not make millions people happy. She makes few people happy, but what if we would have millions like Janet? Millions would be happy then. While it is not uncommon for people to stick to their jobs in the Midwest, it is a horrible situation here in California. People change jobs every 3-4 months in pursuit of only they know what. It seems that everyone is trying to reach the level of their incompetency. We all suffer as a result. For example I was trying to get an advise in a fragrance store the other day. I asked the girl how long she is doing it so that I evaluate her advice. Two weeks, was the answer. Then get me someone else with longer experience – I said. She asked around and it appeared that the longest tenure was 3 mo for the five girls in the store. While it is funny for a fragrance store it becomes scary when we talk nurses, doctors, builders, attorneys, engineers etc. That’s why I say “hats off to Janet”.
I couldn’t afford the coveted audio amplifier with 20Hz to 20kHz bandwidth when I was college student. Today I can afford the best audio amplifier money can buy, however my ears wouldn’t hear anything above 14 kHz . Happy kids.
The effort of the 6 years old trying to write first letters and words on paper with the tongue out is amazing. The effort of the soldiers trying to pull a wounded fellow from the battlefield under enemy’s fire is heroic. The effort of a mom sitting at her sick child’s bed for days and nights without sleep is phenomenal. The effort of a President to make health care affordable is historic. I am sure that anyone can continue with the list of what I call “good effort”. I am always exited and humbled when I encounter the “good effort”.
There is another effort, which I call “bad” effort. I hate it when I see it. I try to shut any relation to it and get as far as possible. For example, I walk out of the movie theater when I see the artists making an effort to play their roles in a movie. I walk out of Subway restaurant when I see the genuine effort by a high school drop out to make a sandwich. I hang up the phone when I feel the effort on the other side to help me with technical issues they don’t know nothing about. I despise the “bad effort” in any form and shape. I fight it whenever I can.
We all apply efforts in our lives. Some good and some bad. Think of yours. Are they good efforts or bad efforts. It might be time for a carrier change if you catch yourself applying bad efforts more often than good efforts.
I am not a golfer. I find it a very boring sport. Don’t take me wrong. I love outdoors. I am a skier, and surfer that by dynamics is the opposite of golfing. It is funny to see an adult person carrying that bulky golf sticks at airports and hotels. Riding a golf cart on man made turf smoking and drinking along the way just to take a swing at the ball is not my definition of sports either. They say it is good for business. Well it might be, but are we talking sports or business here. Don’t call it a sport than. Judge Tiger Woods by how many business deals he closes. Of course it’s a free country and everyone is entitled to enjoy himself as they please.
If you ask me the golf was invented by the real estate business. There is so much land on the waterfronts and on the ski slopes. Yet the real estate business still wants to enjoy the high property prices. It is hard to make a lake or a ski hill, but golf course one can build. If you go to Poipu beach in Hawaii for example the waterfront parcels are long gone but they have golf course frontage parcels now selling at the same price. Same in the ski resorts – no ski slope parcels anymore, but they will offer you a golf frontage parcel. It is funny how seriously they take themselves when talking about it. Surprisingly many people fall for this trick. My word to those who have not – it is not the same. Be prepared for the noise from the mowing machines and the irrigation. You need to build shields to protect from flying balls. Of course there are significant expenses which you have to pay, if you want to set foot on the golf course. In the worst-case scenario there maybe some methane gas coming out of the golf course sine they build them on top of landfills sometimes. Bottom line. Buy a property NOT on the golf course for half the price and laugh all the way to the bank. Pick a real sport, if you want to stay fit and enjoy the outdoors.
Now that the news about Microsoft / Yahoo deal are so hot and the comments are so plentiful, it is interesting to take a look back at how it all started and how Yahoo got diversified beyound control and lost its old leadership position in search. Read my “story that repeats – Part 1” below.
The story
This is a story from a movie about Russian tycoons. Plato and his friends are standing by a statue of Lomonosov in Moscow. Plato is telling this story. “Say I owe $1 to Mark and Mark owes $1 to Larry and Larry owes $1 to Moussa and Moussa owes $1 to Volodja and Volodja owes $1 to me. Than along comes Lomonosov and gives me $1 for one of my gloves. With this $1 I pay Mark and Mark pays Larry and Larry pays Moussa and Moussa pays Volodja and Volodja pays me. Lomonosov however cahnges his mind and returns the glove and gets his $1 back. Where we stand now? Lomonosv has his $1, I have my glove and the debt is gone. Nice isn’t it.”
The repetition
Replace $1 with $100 Billion and Lomonosov with the Fed and you’ll get the US Financial system in summer/fall of 2008.
The story
I was in 9-th grade, when the students of my class were sent to help farmers pick tomatoes. We would pick roma tomatoes and put them in cases. We would get a ticket for every case full of tomatoes delivered to the warehouse. Needless to say that the more tickets the better for the bearer. Some boys noticed that the farmers do not have sophisticated printing technology and the tickets are easy to counterfeit. Boys at that age are not known as big thinkers. The idea was implemented quickly, almost as quick as it took for them to get caught.
The repetition
A public Company engaged in software development and implementation decided that writing software and implementing it is a daunting task and frankly not that profitable. Like picking tomatoes. So they decided to invest in the stock market their free cash instead of investing in the software. It worked until they got caught in market’s downturn, causing them to lose not only the cash invested but also the profits made on the software side. As a result their stock is at record low. Hopefully they will return to their core software business with the little cash left or they go pick tomatoes.