I stumbled upon this interview of Chris Anderson of Wired talking about the economics of Free – which is the title of his book – and I thought: I think I’ll pay attention.
We’re all actors in one way or another in the free market. Mainstream journalists, in recent years, have been grappling with the idea of free in the context of money in a full-on way - since, well, economists talk about covering costs and earning profits for business survival.
As we know, low advertising dollars have created a churn in which thousands of people have left the industry. Mind you, this is in the context of people growing more and more used to – and in some way, expecting – free online content.
In December, I wrote about Edith Macefield, the late Seattle resident, and her refusal to take $1 million from a developer for her house. That prompted crews to build around that structure.
Her actions later sparked online chatter in China – about a homeowner in Seattle who said no to developers – because a Chengdu area woman ended her life when she was forced to move so developers could begin work.
As you can see in the video and story from The New York Times, the issue remains hot, especially among ordinary people who are being pushed from their homes.
In China, a “nail house” is one in which the owner refuses to leave and make way for development. Fair compensation for the property is often a sticking point.
Certainly, I appreciate The New York Times for covering this issue, especially since its journalists were detained, and for letting people embed the video on websites.
UPDATE: The Times was letting people embed this video after I first saw it. But the company has since removed the code from its website. I should add that my site is free of advertisements.
On Monday, Hummer ended producing the boxy all-wheel drive vehicles. Photo source: super-cars-wallpaper.blogspot.com
The fascinating arc of the Hummer – the big, boxy all-wheel drive vehicles that came to symbolize the strength of the United States – ended Monday when the last model was driven from the assembly line.
NBC News reported the end of the production line for Hummer.
An offer from a Chinese company in Sichuan province to buy the brand and continue selling Hummers never cleared approval from Chinese regulators.
Our bellies were full. We had perspired the requisite amount given the amount of chili and Sichuan peppercorns that hit our taste buds Saturday at Old Sichuan in Kent, Wash.
What could be better to cap off a small but early Mother’s Day celebratory lunch?
There are times, such as these, that I wish I was still sitting in an economics class.
Learning new theories, of course, would help. But I’d like to ask the professor a question or two about the state of the U.S. economy.
As in: If saving money is a rational move for people, especially given the Great Recession, how does that square with the need for a healthy amount of spending from consumers to circulate money, support jobs and stimulate demand?
I’m back, thinking about the blog and various sundries in life.
What caught my attention on this Thursday was Floyd Norris’ column in The New York Times. The company gave it prime online real estate, at least when I saw it.
His thesis, which has caveats, revolves around more hiring, better consumer spending and the fact that the recession is, most likely, over in the country.
Years ago, a friend and I were traveling through China and stopped in Xining in the highlands of Qinghai province.
My friend had just taken a long, bumpy ride in a vintage-era Jiefang truck from the mountainous areas of neighboring Sichuan province. It was a brutally-cold winter.
The driver had loaded the truck’s open cargo area with dead yaks – their skins were headed to market. I never asked whether this was permissible. The goal, especially for my friend, was to stay warm.
And, as my friend recalled, a ride in a vehicle out of the mountains was so coveted that people sat on top of the dead yaks for a ride to Xining.Â
After we met up, my friend and I went to a market when a Tibetan trader looked at my REI Novara waterproof jacket – it was the type that bicyclists wore, red and similar to this one - felt the material and realized its strength.
Through a translator, he asked whether I wanted to swap – my waterproof REI jacket for his long, fur-lined coat.
I respectfully declined. As I recall, his jacket had yak blood on it – and I probably didn’t want to tackle that at that moment. But at least, he suggested a trade of one jacket for another.
That wasn’t really the case when I received an email on Tuesday from a U.S.-based food supply company to write a blog post about its Web site and its section devoted to supplies for an Asian restaurant.
The idea of receiving something for free has been around for centuries. Certainly, I like the idea – and I’m not just talking about the free hug movement.
I mean: Who doesn’t like receiving something – say a new car or clothing -Â for free?
But the notion seems more fitting for an autonomous collective (especially one depicted by the British comedy group, Monty Python), where a group of people has agreed to provide labor and services for everyone’s well being with the exchange of money lower on the priority list.
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