WGA Strike Officially Over

I missed this one last night, so here's the dope. The Writer's Guild has overwhelmingly voted to approve the new contract. The Strike is officially over. As has been noted elsewhere, it was certainly not an ideal contract, but the writers made some serious wins and made it clear that organized labor ain't dead yet.

Props to all involved, and I hope everyone is back to work pronto.

Today, it is our pleasure to inform you that members of the Writers Guilds of America, East and West, have voted to ratify the MBA contract with 93.6% approval. With a total of 4,060 votes cast, the tally was 3,802 to 258. These numbers reaffirm the tremendous level of support and commitment our membership has continuously demonstrated over these last few crucial months.

China - Shifting Economic Winds

There are two interesting stories on China's place in the world of manufacturing tonight. Since Americans have spent a good chunk of the new millenium crapping our pants over the emergence of China and India, it seems worthy to note the emerging trends.

First off, this article notes that due to inflationary pressures, China has begun raising the minimum wages across the country. It states that the Guangdong province is rasing wages by up to 18%, and and that the minimum wage in Tibet went up by almost 50%.

The wage increases, aimed at relieving food and other price pressures, could instead fuel inflation, analysts said. Higher wages are also likely to raise prices of U.S. imports from China, and possibly reduce China's attraction as the world's manufacturing center.

In a related story from NPR this evening, we are advised that the booming dynamics of China's manufacturing sector in the last decade has resulted in China no longer being the cheapest player on the block for manufacturers.

As profit margins disappear, some companies are even moving to lower-cost countries such as Vietnam. In fact, according to China's state-run press, 1,000 shoe factories closed in Guangdong province in 2007.

(....)

Samuel Kuo, says he couldn't afford to pay rising labor costs. Other factories have been pinched by increasing costs for materials such as glass, paint and steel pipe.

" 'Made in China' isn't cheap anymore," Kuo says. "The low value-added products will have a hard time surviving in China … because the costs here are too high."

Now, I have nothing personal against the Chinese people, but as an American who has watched manufacturing move relentlessly from here to there, it's certainly been a cause of concern. And clearly, this will not stop the trend, nor does it mean that companies wont simply move jobs to Vietnam, or wherever the cheapest labor is located at the moment. Additionally, as I understand it, there are still billions of impoverished Chinese living in the rural regions, so this new trend also has its downside.

As the "made in china" trend emerged over the last decade, I recalled how the same dynamic seemed to have occurred in Japan in the 80s. These trends cannot continue indefinitely before the economics eventually change the course of the game.

But it is also hard not to feel some relief that the relentless Chinese manufacturing juggernaut is becoming less...well...relentless.

Quotations, Citations, and Dave Barry

Us damned librul elites strike again....

Long story short: I was searching for some quote attributions, and google let me down.

Meanwhile, from bartleby.com, while searching on "Dave Barry"...

(Just click the frakkin' link, okay? You'll be quizzed on it later.)

...Why 3 results? If there were none, I could easily see writing it off on the Liberal Elite Media. If I had to choose only 3, these are certainly amusing, but I wouldn't call them "Dave's 3 best quotes, EVA!!!1!!11!"

More interesting, is the attribution for citation 5664.

ATTRIBUTION: Dave Barry (b. 1940s), U.S. humorist. Dave Barry Turns 40, ch. 2, Crown (1990).


The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press.

"Born 1940s"? They quoted him, but couldn't be bothered to verify his birthdate to within the decade? I can even understand that they were hedging their bet on the fact that the book was titled "Dave Barry Turns 40" and the publishing date was 1990. I'm sure a lot of famous people celebrate their "big four-oh" on their 45th birthday, so it was probably a safe bet. And there's always the publishing cycle, of course. But if you were cash- and employee-stapped, and just did the math, you might come up wiht a different "circa" number.

But, surely, even cash-strapped, small-town Columbia University had enough staff to competently verify the birthday of Dave-freaking-Barry.

At least if they're going to bother to quote him, no?

Sincerely,

mergenow (b. 20th c.-ish)

Paulson: Economy should dodge recession

In my ongoing efforts to document our Treasury Secretary and his "Clap Louder" message, here's our newest installment. (I'm quoting this more than I probably should because this only shows up on y!, and they are notorious for expiring stories.)

Our boy, Hank "Subprime is Contained" Paulson tells us today, and I quote the headline, that: " Paulson says economy should dodge recession"

Admittedly, the headline is not substantiated by the text of the article, but I'm quoting this for posterity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is experiencing a "significant" housing market downturn but the economy is fundamentally sound and should avoid recession, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will tell Congress on Thursday.
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"The U.S. economy is fundamentally strong, diverse and resilient, yet after years of unsustainable home price appreciation, our economy is undergoing a significant and necessary housing correction," Paulson said in remarks prepared for delivery at a congressional hearing, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

"The housing correction, high energy prices, and capital market turmoil are weighing on current economic growth," he said. "I believe that our economy will continue to grow, although its pace in coming quarters will be slower than what we have seen in recent years."

Conan on his guitar on strike

Here's Conan O'Brien doing a vid during the Writers' strike. First half is kind of "meh."

It picks up in the last two or three minutes. BDS, this is for you. We're talking Rock Band, Beastie Boys, "Creep" and Edith Bunker. Huttah.

Catch-up Diary

1. Over on Kos, diarist Grand Moff Texan makes some points that aren't automatically clear to a lot of the Dem party establishment:

I learned that lesson. Obama learned that lesson. Have you? You can't get "wonk" through Jabba the Crowley any more than you can play a Bach chorale on the kazoo. So, excuse the f--k out of me while I go play "Tequila" on my kazoo. You can stand over there and make snarky comments about how it should be polyphonic, octotonic, and polyrhythmic.

But no one's going to shake their ass to your jejune sniping, Fauntleroy.

2. Besides the progressing Obama landslide yesterday, the other big news was how Donna Edwards kicked incumbent DINO Al Wynn to the curb in the MD Primary. Yeah, that's right Washington establishment, we're coming after you! More democrats and better democrats, as they say on the internets.

3. In other Liberal Conspiracy news, the Writers' Guild has voted to lift the strike, with +92% in favor. They vote on the contract ratification in 10 days, and it sounds like the odds are that it will be a go. It ain't a perfect contract, but they got some decent concessions for having gone on strike. Rock on, Writers/Actors/All associated individuals.

That's it for the moment. Enjoy.

New Favorite Band - Architecture in Helsinki

I'm probably late to the party on this one, but I just tonight discovered my newest favorite band* (of the moment [I'm fickle]).

The band in question is Architecture in Helsinki. Contrary to the intuitive expectation, they're not from Finland, but rather Australia (at least some of them). It looks like they started out as a worthy shoe-gaze emo band, but they managed to improve on that. Their newer songs tend to range from an intriguing blend of Modest Mouse and Talking Heads, to an interesting mix of Funky 80's-technopop, with a brass section. I've spent the last few years looking for someone who makes some *new* music, that isn't directly derivative of their influences. These dudes and dudettes are it, beyotches!

I'm totally loving the following tunes, in order of kickin' videos:

"Heart it races" (not sure why, but it reminds me of Midnight Oil, in the "Diesel and Dust" era)


"Do the Whirlwind" (with awesome Sega Genesis graphics)


"Hold Music" (reminds me of the "OK Go" video)


P.S.: While researching for this post, I discovered that Peter Garrett, the singer for Midnight Oil, was named Environment Minister after the Labor Party won the recent elections.

*Johnathan Coulter still retains this blog's Most-Favored Artist status, however.

The Sad State of the American Consumer

Wow, man. It doesn't seem all that long ago that companies would write up bold, sweeping mission and vision statments to express their commitment to top-notch customer service. Oh sure, the ones that employed the most flowering rhetoric were usually the ones who sucked the most and were trying to paper over that awful fact, but at least they put some effort into the process.

I just got my water bill, and let me assure you that in this Republican Era, those days are dead, buried, and have weeds growing around the headstone.

Let me read to you from their "Customer Charter".

We will: ..treat (our customers) with dignity and respect;

WhaaaaaAAA--? Shouldn't that be an assumed given? You actually need to write that into your Customer Charter?? (and not some internal employee creed or mission statement) So, I'm to be afforded not only dignity, but respect as well? I feel so humbled.

I recall in the late 90s that companies routinely promised to provide "exceptional customer service." Now I'm promised that my utility company will "exceed my expectations." Well, they have managed to successfully lower the bar on my expectations, so I guess that shouldn't be hard to do.

It gets better when you read the enclosed "Investing in Our Communities" brochure. Before I opened the pamphlet, I expected that they might be funding after-school tutoring programs and kicking back some lucre towards fixing up public playgrounds or cleaning up highways.

Oh, how wrong I was.

How, exactly, are they investing in my community? By performing routine maintenance and upgrades on their own installed pipes and facilities!! Unlike other companies, they refer to "Maintenance of our Depreciable Capital Assets" as "Giving it back to the Community"! Remember that 100+ year-old critical water main that busted during the flooding last November, and resulted in low water pressure (for me), and complete lack of water for hundreds of customers for about a week? They didn't replace that because as a public utility they are legally obligated to do so -- they did it because they care!!!

In case I haven't conveyed the full insult and injury, here, they even go on to explicitly point out that this "investment in the community" is funded by a special fee that is part of my monthly bill.

So, let's hear it for My Socially-Responsible Water Company. And more specifically, for me, for paying my own water bill; because I'm doing it for My Community!! And The Future!!

1-31-07: Never Forget!

In Memoriam....