Re: DOLLAR COLLAPSE NOW IMMINENT

On May 16, 12:46 pm, BobR <re...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > > Hey, we are at least in total agreement on one thing...lotteries. 
On
> > > the other hand, if you are stupid enough to waste your money on a
> > > lottery who am I or anyone else to say you can't.  It goes back to
the
> > > basic freedom to pursue happiness.
>
> > > We might also agree on robber-barons if you can name a real life
> > > example of one in our current US population.
>
> > Bill Gates made at least half his money by the creation of  a monopoly
> > in which he also destroyed most of his competition.
>
> Damn, we think too much alike.

Hey, three cheers for us. :-)   !!!!

Gates was also the first name that
> came to mind when I thought about the title robber-baron and God knows
> that I dislike that SOB about as much as any human on earth.

Well, we could throw in some venom for Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon,
Ghengis Khan, etc., etc., too.

 On the
> other hand, I can't totally agree that he was a robber-baron either.
> Gates was an op****tunist that essentially saw what the public wanted
> and gave it to them.  He is probably the worst example because his
> product was not something that was a life and death product.  We
> didn't have to buy his operating system or anything else from him, we
> chose to.

Fine, I use MS SW most of the time (spent a lot of time with Linux,
some with BSD and OS/2 [=big IBM disaster, but MS was hired to do some
and they deliberately sabotaged IBM, too]). But, MS did all kinds of
really dirty tricks to everyone. I can name many. Most of the old
timers know this.

And, I don't like monopolists and other "anti-competitive" business
practices that are in business history. Give me honest competition and
that's good capitalism. But the dirty tricks are out there and there
are very many books about it.

> I go back in the business far enough to have been deeply involved with
> the IBM Monopoly of the 60's and 70's.  I thought the same of IBM at
> the time but looking back the monopoly by IBM was only partly IBM's
> doing and much more a stupid follow the leader mentality that said if
> you picked anything but IBM, it was your job on the line.

I have the notion that when guys get too big for their britches, then
they start confusing themselves with gods. Happened to Alexander the
Great. Human psychology phenonmenon.

 Microsoft
> became a monopoly on the same mentality.
>
> > Back some 10 years ago, Archer-Daniels-Midland was caught by the FTC
> > in price fixing. Also, Ucars was also caught by the FTC in price
> > fixing. Various guys in the Enron-Andersen fiascos were playing
robber-
> > baron.
>
> > I could list the Ivan Boesky's, Michael Milkins, and many others, and
> > give you many book titles if you want to read how we've had many
> > robber-barons, going right back to Standard Oil times with Rockefeller
> > and the others who did a lot of damage along, simultaneously, with all
> > of their development of modern society.
>
> I agree that all did some damage along the way but all also made
> contributions along the way that actually were a benefit to our life
> today.

I fully agree. If you want a car, then there has to be a car factory
and that means big bucks and big staff and that does not come together
spontaneously or very quickly. They are finding that out in China
right now, too. They got over 100 car factory brands, just like in the
USA back 100 years ago. In the end, there will probably be three over
there, too, plus whatever foreign brands survive.

> Even Gates, who I despise, has led to many positives along
> with the negatives.

Fine, I have a wee little bit less venom for him since he donated a
bunch of money to his foundation and at least he has not built big
obscene yachts like Larry Ellison has.

 Without a company like Microsoft, would the
> personal computer revolution have come as far as it has?

Look at Linux. If it were given the same chance. Even better, look at
BSD.

 We will
> never know but I doubt it.

I gave my vote just above.

> > Recently, I've done a lot of reading about the kings, kingdoms,
> > barons, and serfs in medieval England, back 500-1000-1500 years ago,
> > and even in Mesopotamia 3000 years ago. Same basic deal: how a small
> > number of guys parasitize a large number of underling serfs/peasants
> > for monetary gain, power gain, and also get the underlings to bleed
> > and die in wars.- Hide quoted text -
>
> There will always be those who exploit for personal gain.  It doesn't
> have to be a robber-baron to do so, it happens at all levels.

Well, I don't care if you steal pensils at work or make xeroxes of
dirty jokes, but if you lay off 20,000 guys who bring food home to
another 30,000 human beings and tell them "We can find cheap flesh
someplace so we at the top can get big bonuses and upvalued stock
optione" then I'm gonna have unkind thoughts for you.

Ever read "Barbarians at the Gate" all about Ross Johnson and RJR
Nabisco? Biggest LBO of the last 20 years and did a tremendous amount
of damage for nothing.