Reason.TV's Nick Gillespie and Ted Balaker have created a terrific video (about 9.5 minutes long) that rips to shreds the notion that "buying American" is inherently better than buying 'non-American' — or that such buying is even, in very many cases, practically possible to do. Reason.TV managed to perform this splendid feat despite the weaknesses of one of its talking heads.
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I but what works, what I can afford, what I believe will last, and give not one tinker's dam about where it is made.
If Maria made it and earned 50 cents, God bless me for giving her a portion of her living. Lucky girl.
Oh lord, my fingers are getting old I guess.
That should be, I buy.
That's a nice suit, looking sharp!
I am prouder every day of my college friend Ted Balaker. Bikini bandits and Boudreaux all in one 9 minute video! Amazing.
All true, but one caveat: The Chinese lady they use in their USD cycle example can't actually go to the bank and exchange her CNYs to USDs, since China forces all local banks to surrender their US Dollars and the central government then uses them to maintain control (manipulate) the Chinese Yuan's exchange rate and thus trade unfairly with the US. So, not only that Americans should still buy freely, but their government should spend time and energy to encourage China to accept the basic rules of free trade.
and thus trade unfairly with the US. So, not only that Americans should still buy freely, but their government should spend time and energy to encourage China to accept the basic rules of free trade.
Wouldn't that be foreign intervention?
And it's unfortunate that the Chinese worker can't buy a Lexus and a Blackberry, and a cool Mac laptop like I have, but how is that the business of the American government?
I want them out of my life so why should we encourage them to meddle with Chinese lives?
I have one quarrel with Don's presentation, besides the excessive hair gel, his assertion that the "idea" for the IPod was made in America.
The first mp3 player for a mass market was developed by SaeHan Information Systems in South Korea and was later licensed for sale in the U.S. in 1998. I bought the original Nomad Jukebox from Creative in 2000, the first mass market device with a hard drive and the amazing capacity we now take for granted, also before the IPod existed. Creative is a Singaporean company. The operating software for the Nomad was developed in India.
Apple managed through clever marketing to identify its IPod brand with this product, much as "jello" describes gelatin desserts of all kinds, but Apple didn't invent the product and wasn't even the first to market one by a long shot.
I loved my Nomad and evangelized its wonders religiously, even suggesting that people buy stock in Creative (not great advice in retrospect). It was my favorite new music gadget since my first Walkman in the early eighties. In some forum, maybe at Amazon, a clever kid contested my enthusiasm for the company. He was sure that Creative could never dominate the market and that a big player would soon introduce a competitive device overshadowing the Nomad. He was right, but he was sure this company would be Sony. Apple probably never entered his head.
I bought a Creative Zen mp3 Player a few years back, while everyone else I knew was buying their first Apple iPods, and it was brilliant. I used my Zen frequently, its dents and scratches betray years of punishment, and I only stopped recently because I have lost its charger. Everyone else I knew went through at least 3 iPods in the same period, and more often than not spurred on by hardware problems or battery failures. Meanwhile, my Zen never stopped working, and its battery still lasted for hours even after years of use.
If Creative's other products are as fuctional and durable as my Zen, then I never want to get an iPod.
Anyway, back on topic … protectionism is stupid.
Great video. The best point was made in the last minute, that Buy American is un-American. I've always thought the best way to sell your product is provide the best product, not the best guilt trips.
Martin's the guy at the party that always reminds people in conversation that Edison didn't really invent most of the things he's known for innovating,
Everyone politely nods, and then drifts away, leaving poor Martin with the nerdy postal worker.
Soon they're rapturously talking about the superiority of the Betamax, and then on to big oil's conspiracy to kill alternative fuels.
Martin – you are correct that Japan invented the MP3 player, but Apple innovated and created the touch-screen interface for MP3 players. The IPod-Touch multi-touch interface is the latest in innovation. That innovation you can find in Cupertino, CA.
Japan is an island and doesn't invent anything. Countless people invented the mp3 player, but the first company of people to offer one for sale to a mass market was incorporated in South Korea. That's all I said.
If people in Cupertino, CA developed the Touch interface, that's great, but as Don points out, we don't really know who developed it. I don't know anyway. Maybe you do.
Again, a Singaporean company produced the Nomad as a package, but an Indian company produced the Nomad's software.
I'm not suggesting that Americans contributed nothing to the development of the mp3 player, but Don's whole point is that we don't know who contributed what, and the "ideas" are no exception.
A British patent on an mp3 player goes back to the seventies, but it expired before any product reached the market. That's often a problem with patents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Kramer
Here's more on the interesting story of Kane Kramer, an unheralded inventor of the mp3 player largely unrecognized because of the vagaries of patent law and corporate politics.
http://www.kanekramer.com/html/development.htm
Ironically, Kramer seems a bigger believer in intellectual property than ever. He only needs to perfect the forcible proprieties, with high technology, to realize their fundamental Justice and Nobility. Once technology can record every word we utter, every breath we take and every move we make, truth will reign supreme, and men like Kramer will have their due.
Or maybe Socrates understood the Just Man (and the Right, Proper and Noble men) well enough millenia ago.
Kramer deserves recognition for his accomplishments, but if I look, I'll likely find some science fiction story describing a similar device written still earlier, and I'll find earlier engineering research in this direction as well. Digital recording, storage and playback existed earlier.
A solid state digital audio player is not these other things, but it isn't possible without the other things, and I'm not sure that granting monopolies to men like Kramer actually aids progress. Certainly, the case is tough to make in his case.
I'll likely find some science fiction story describing a similar device written still earlier,
Isaac Asimov once wrote a story in which a space suited character consulted his belt mounted computer with glowing red display characters.
Not mentioned: The buy America policy signed by Obama serves to assure stimulus money goes about 15-20% as far as it normally would without the policy. In addition, protectionism like this may keep steel workers etc. employed here in the US in the short term, but it also guarantees US manufacturing will be sloppy and remain an inefficient form of manufacturing, and also put those who would be in the supply chain from foreign exports out of business. Protectionism doesn't do what it purports to do, it only serves to create higher prices and job shifts from one industry to another. Buy Global.
Japan is an island and doesn't invent anything.
Japan is an archipelago and doesn't invent anything.
@Ray Gardner: Thanks for responding.
it's unfortunate that the Chinese worker can't buy a Lexus and a Blackberry, and a cool Mac laptop like I have, but how is that the business of the American government?
I was not referring to the fact that they cannot afford what you can. I was referring to the fact that their government is not letting the RMB fluctuate freely and thus makes you think you can afford more than you actually can (and then the have the nerve to say that you are greedy!).
I want them out of my life so why should we encourage them to meddle with Chinese lives?
From where I'm standing, these two things go hand in hand. The Chinese can keep up with their manipulation only through collusion with the US government. So, the way for the US to encourage them would be to (i) serve as an example, (ii) have some pride in the basic values that make America what it is and, most importantly, (iii) let the value and supply of money in the US be determined by the free market and thus balance China's manipulation instead of encouragin it.
Oh com'on Dror Poleg, you want honesty and truth to prevails? Tad naive woudln't you say considering it is politics we are talking about here.
Don't mind me partner, I am agreeing with you.
@ vidyohs: I was referring to principles and ideals. However, even in the world of politics, there is very little America can do to encourage China to revalue the Yuan beyond the 3 points I listed above.
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