25-03-2004 01:48									#31
	Re: Re: Re: Re: Why is America so prosperous when . . . ? Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara Like the Chinese don't do a half-assed job.

Clearly you've never associated yourself with Chinese people.
But even if they did, thats more than the entire population of America.

	25-03-2004 01:52									#32
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quote: Originally posted by Starchild Your Germans are fat and lazy from generations of mass produced suarkraut and crap beer. European Germans are lean and fit from late night raves dancing to techno music and kinky sex games.

I want some of their Germans!

	25-03-2004 01:53									#33
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Oh yeah those Germans are lean for snorting amphetamine and popping E's . Love Parade was great though, and Matrix club, German techno girls are nice!

	25-03-2004 02:06									#34
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The sad fact is that everybody else one-quarter asses it. So we do OK.

	25-03-2004 02:09									#35
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quote: Originally posted by DanS The sad fact is that everybody else one-quarter asses it. So we do OK.

I suspected that was the case.

	25-03-2004 02:28									#36
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quote: Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar America used to be pretty good. But then its populace become uberignorant, uberarrogant, and such....But we've gotten into the business of importing everything (even our educated populace is imported) and thus, we prosper.

so for those of you keeping score
white immigrants = prosperous
others = uberignorant

	25-03-2004 02:32									#37
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Am I the only one that finds Tass boring?

	25-03-2004 02:38									#38
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara Seriously, something on the order of 15% of the new homes built in North East Florida have serious defects in them that require thousands of dollars in repairs (the national average is 5%).

For one, if our houses are defective, that isn't measured in our wealth. So you can't really go by numbers. Perhaps other nations don't have as much wealth on the books, but not as many of their homes are defective.

	25-03-2004 02:40									#39
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quote: but not as many of their homes are defective.

its difficult to make a defective lean-to.

	25-03-2004 02:42									#40
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but you have to realize that these days the product might not sell itself. It's just not enough.

	25-03-2004 02:52									#41
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quote: Originally posted by Pekka Sava, don't forget one of the greatest contributors, which is getting the collective brains from all over the world because of better salaries and future options for career and good working conditions for many technology development stuff and facilities.

actually... capturing German and Japanese scientists in WW2 were a bigger factor. Be executed or help America develop the most deadly weapons in the world. Tough choice.

	25-03-2004 03:21									#42
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quote: Originally posted by Uber KruX so for those of you keeping score white immigrants = prosperous others = uberignorant

No. Thats the second time people on the boards have accused me of being racist without me even mentioning skin colour

	25-03-2004 03:25									#43
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I thought Tassadar was the only black mormon alive?

	25-03-2004 03:26									#44
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If lots of home in the US are half-assed built is that

1. we build so many: I think home building in the US dwarfes anywehre else, if only becuase most other rich countries have been built for so long, OR are much more urban than sub-urban, and urban building codes are much tougher.

2. While houses are not throw-away, not everyone expect to live in their house for the rest of their life, period, like before. People speak of their first home.

As for other measures-the US does OK in productivity per hour but is not stellar.

I myself have found my last 3 months highly unproductive-and yet I get all these honest compliments about my output, and I feel like crap about them.

	25-03-2004 03:38									#45
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara Seriously, something on the order of 15% of the new homes built in North East Florida have serious defects in them that require thousands of dollars in repairs (the national average is 5%). There is massive wealth being created here, but it seems like it's all built on a foundation of dreams. We value stocks now on the expectation of its revenue performance for the next 70 years? That's serious speculation, and yet the wealth realized is real enough when translated into dollars and then goods. It's clothes that aren't sewn well and buttons that come off and seems that come undone. It's poorly made roads and idiot drivers. It's people getting paid to do nothing and managers too busy to manage. It's productivity gains made by increasing the hours of salaried emlpoyees and people working so much they have no time to themselves.

Yeah, and that's nothing compared to the people who work in IT! Right, Che?

	25-03-2004 03:43									#46
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quote: Originally posted by DanS I thought Tassadar was the only black mormon alive?

I thought Mormons weren't allowed to be Black.

	25-03-2004 03:46									#47
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That was before it was politically correct to be black.

	25-03-2004 03:52									#48
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quote: Originally posted by Pekka And I feel that in order to have a good succesful business you need to have satisfied customers. You need to take care of them even after they are not your customers.

Not necessarily true. Take the rental car industry.

I worked in the corporate headquarters of one of the world's largest. We treated all our customers like crap. We lost 34% of our accounts every month.

But all of the other companies did the same thing. So we stole just as many accounts as we lost and they just changed which rental company they contracted with each month.

	25-03-2004 03:57									#49
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Boss:"I'm going to pay you the absolute minimum, no extra's, no bonusses, the minimum and that's it !!!"
Worker:" OOOh great boss, I for one am sure gonna work my ass of for you."
"It's my lifes ambition to make you rich!!! and of course the moment you find someone who'll do the job 0.0000005$ cheaper, don't hesitate to fire me even if I've been working here for 20 years"

	25-03-2004 04:05									#50
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The US has simply become so good at skimming off the top of the rest of the world that they don't need to work as hard or efficiently anymore (at least for the time being). They've hammered out a nice system that brings in resource for little internal maintenance and effort - most often perpetuated by the "production" and sale of ideas. Sure it's not as concrete a labour - but one bad azz nation sure has its' expertise cornered

Thus, bonus resource seen no where else on earth by the same magnitude can be thrown at projects and maintain populace indifference through indirect, international bludgery. It's like an awesome role as world huxter - yet the only one with a specific set of somewhat capable qualities (and unrivaled force)

Some of the general populace eventually realise how and why it works that way extensively; and set up shop to play their own part after real University degrees - or through outright shrewd practise. And thus the cycle of life continues on the megagreen Veldt.

That's that!

	25-03-2004 04:10									#51
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What irritates me is that the US has reached a point where it can do all its production on a very small percentage of its population. It can do all its services on a small percentage.

Leaving roughly 60-70 % of its population as excess or free for whatever projects it wants to goof off on.

Damn, it would be cool to convert that 60-70% into military and take a shot at world conquest.............

	25-03-2004 04:34									#52
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I'm taking a 6 unit business management course right now, and it seems to me that the most successfull companies (Walmart, the most profitable) comes to mind, don't use the strategies that theorists find important.

Another point I would like to make is, I work in construction part-time. It seems very efficient. Work is subcontracted out, so there is motivation to cut costs. But cutting costs motivates shotty workmanship. Maybe more regulation is needed - inspections and such.

	25-03-2004 04:36									#53
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Since all those web designers, game beta testers, and talk show hosts would necessarily combine to create the most overwhelming military force the world has ever seen...

	25-03-2004 04:38									#54
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Yeah, we're good at stealing the smarties from all over. That and we out half-ass everyone else!

	25-03-2004 04:52									#55
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Ghengis, well that's just bad business. I mean you can do good even when neglecting all the basic rules of good business like customers. But you would do better when you apply those rules.

Personally, I don't think making a million dollars of profit, I consider while making that million dollars of profit, at the same time losing 9 million dollars because of things that didn't work out. I'm kind of greedy that way, and usually I'm not able to settle for less than the absolute maximum, and anything else is a failure.

	25-03-2004 04:56									#56
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Kidicious, it depends so much what your field is. WalMart is able to do it like that, because the job doesn't require special skills.

If you for example have a high tech company, it would be smart to treat the workers good, because they doing highly skilled job and it could cost you more to lose that worker instead of just hiring a new meat to burn out.

Not to mention, that when worker is happy, he does a better job. That shows right in the results. Motivated worker works more efficiently than the one who just don't give a crap about it and just gets the job done somehow or spends the hours looking at walls. The workers are not sick all the time, and basically that just gives you better results. You also have a situation if you treat them good enough, where the best people want to work with you, because they have heard about the benefits good workers get. Everything is on a more healthy basis, and in the long run it will pay off. Maybe not in the first few years, but in the long run if you have everything else worked out, and that's your final piece on the puzzle, it'll only benefit the company as a whole.

	25-03-2004 04:58									#57
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quote: Originally posted by GhengisFarb What irritates me is that the US has reached a point where it can do all its production on a very small percentage of its population. It can do all its services on a small percentage. Leaving roughly 60-70 % of its population as excess or free for whatever projects it wants to goof off on. Damn, it would be cool to convert that 60-70% into military and take a shot at world conquest.............

that isn't true, there will always be jobs, because it doesn't matter how efficient that factory is if it has no customers.

	25-03-2004 05:00									#58
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It's like this. If you pay the absolute minimum, you'll get the absolute minimum without losing the job.

	25-03-2004 05:07									#59
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quote: Originally posted by Pekka Kidicious, it depends so much what your field is. WalMart is able to do it like that, because the job doesn't require special skills. If you for example have a high tech company, it would be smart to treat the workers good, because they doing highly skilled job and it could cost you more to lose that worker instead of just hiring a new meat to burn out. Not to mention, that when worker is happy, he does a better job. That shows right in the results. Motivated worker works more efficiently than the one who just don't give a crap about it and just gets the job done somehow or spends the hours looking at walls. The workers are not sick all the time, and basically that just gives you better results. You also have a situation if you treat them good enough, where the best people want to work with you, because they have heard about the benefits good workers get. Everything is on a more healthy basis, and in the long run it will pay off. Maybe not in the first few years, but in the long run if you have everything else worked out, and that's your final piece on the puzzle, it'll only benefit the company as a whole.

In the long run maybe Walmart will pay the price for the way they treat their employees, but maybe not.

	25-03-2004 05:10									#60
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WalMart won't hurt from it, because they offer jobs that anyone can do. So profit wise, they should keep the pay in the minimum where they still get the job done, because they can always get someone else to do it if someone quits or is fired.