tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post5421005825298137407..comments2024-03-28T22:45:51.014+00:00Comments on Capitalists@Work: Amazon scrapping stuff by the million: a free-market conundrum CityUnslickerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15929544047783163175noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-23425730073470358022021-07-06T20:45:59.532+01:002021-07-06T20:45:59.532+01:00Kev, my observation and experience is that the Hea...Kev, my observation and experience is that the Health Care Assistants (on minimum wage and often qualified nurses from unrecognised jurisdictions) do the nursing and the graduate nurses administrate, so the HCA's are mobile and slim and the Nurses are at computers/desks about to enter a diabetic coma. lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-9612901648808509672021-07-06T20:15:58.005+01:002021-07-06T20:15:58.005+01:00Fizzy pop is the hidden killer. The healthiest thi...Fizzy pop is the hidden killer. The healthiest thing you can drink is also the cheapest... tap water. <br /><br />So the 'deprived' estates up the road from me are full of obese people and their bins stuffed with empty Fanta bottles. <br /><br />Obesity is not due to poverty. <br /><br />Lilith, you are correct... and I noted on my visit to A&E some HUGE nurses. Old grannies keep taking them cake and boxes of Roses. E-Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16657071992016670517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-89554889242462214022021-07-06T10:17:52.091+01:002021-07-06T10:17:52.091+01:00Despite my utter loathing of sweeteners, and the g...Despite my utter loathing of sweeteners, and the governments insistence on dictating what I ought to eat, I have to think that on balance, not having a generation growing up slurping fizzy pop is a good thing.<br />BlokeInBrumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-85862739113760164542021-07-06T09:35:54.227+01:002021-07-06T09:35:54.227+01:00If you are concerned about your health and wonderi...If you are concerned about your health and wondering what to do about it, here's a capitalist pharmacist who set up a business renting out continuous glucose monitors with pharmacist mentors to help you get your diet where it needs to be for optimum health. <br />https://www.prolongevity.co.uk/<br /> <br /><br />lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-34722665983683562532021-07-06T09:30:27.050+01:002021-07-06T09:30:27.050+01:00You only have to look at the staff to see how terr...You only have to look at the staff to see how terribly unwell most of them are. I'd be buggering off to Australia if I was a newly qualified doctor/nurse. It must be terribly galling to study for 10 years and find yourself worth only a fraction of the value of an assistant fairness and belonging manager.lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-74646900014273464722021-07-06T09:24:34.598+01:002021-07-06T09:24:34.598+01:003% of patients use 50% of NHS resource. Something...3% of patients use 50% of NHS resource. Something is going wrong ie. the NHS is doing a poor job of "curing" disease.lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-39350205236557679482021-07-06T08:24:05.935+01:002021-07-06T08:24:05.935+01:00EK Best way to "avoid cancer" is to avo...EK Best way to "avoid cancer" is to avoid all sugars...(cancer feeds off it) and to fast regularly so that your body can recycle, clear debris and repair. Oh, and exercise. This works for heart disease too. Most of us are pre diabetic. <br /><br />The NHS is great in an emergency if you've set yourself on fire or thrown yourself off a ladder, or need orthopedics, but not so good if you have something chronic. Then, it is better to do your own research and fix yourself.<br /><br />Jason Fung, a nephrologist, is helpful on this subject. lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-34611924723382559312021-07-06T06:41:58.385+01:002021-07-06T06:41:58.385+01:00before steam engines, pumping water from mines was...<i>before steam engines, pumping water from mines was done by donkey-power etc: v inefficient and in fact ineffective in many cases. Steam engines reduced opcosts by over 90% in some cases and allowed deeper mining also.</i><br /><br />Extract from "The history of donkeys in pre-Industrial Great Britain" Author - Nick Drew. ISBN 978-0-7334-2609-4. Price: £9.99Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-78286282252573484742021-07-05T22:31:26.013+01:002021-07-05T22:31:26.013+01:00And he's adopting lots of other Left wing poli...And he's adopting lots of other Left wing policies to make his big points. E-Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16657071992016670517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-69906539803114113942021-07-05T20:25:40.903+01:002021-07-05T20:25:40.903+01:00"This has made the NHS untouchable and Boris ..."This has made the NHS untouchable and Boris did it."<br /><br />For decades, a constant cry from the Labour Party has been that the NHS is not safe with a Tory government. Boris is making a big point out of disproving that claim. <br /><br />Don Cox<br /><br />Don Coxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06339420519741253080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-31829705650189939682021-07-05T19:56:52.700+01:002021-07-05T19:56:52.700+01:00O/T Batley and Spen... how the Left have won desp...O/T Batley and Spen... how the Left have won despite the Tory Government. <br /><br />George Cross for the NHS ??? That badly run organisation which is the Political Wing of the Labour Party ?<br /><br />(I have nothing against individuals within the NHS being awarded the GC for the undoubtedly brave things they did during the pandemic)<br /><br />This has made the NHS untouchable and Boris did it. <br /><br />And how long before the Leftists call the next general strike ? AKA "lockdown to save the NHS."<br /><br />I expect they have one planned for Autumn. And they'll do it again.. and again.<br /><br />Oh. And the NHS DID collapse. We did not save patients who had illnesses other than Covid. We killed them. Pray that you or a loved one doesn't get cancer now. <br /><br />E-Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16657071992016670517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-11449488571830087522021-07-05T13:35:38.361+01:002021-07-05T13:35:38.361+01:00I agree with you that western (and anglo-saxon esp...I agree with you that western (and anglo-saxon especially) culture is miles ahead of anywhere else in terms of innovation and creativity.<br /><br />Chinese technology has been based on ripping off the wests know-how for a long time, but what about the 'fake it till you make it' effect?<br /><br />Eventually some of that creative magic dust is going to rub off. China is turning out huge numbers of engineers and scientists, and yes, Cambridge alone has won more nobel prizes than most countries, but our education system seems to be rapidly descending into clown-world at the moment, including all the STEM departments.<br /><br />Were it only the students being bolshy then it wouldn't concern me so much, but it seems to me like the faculty is leading the charge.<br /><br />You only need to look at the global mobile phone industry to see that the lions share of innovation is coming from Chinese companies, with the Brits involvement confined to designing the curvy bits on the outside.<br /><br />See also the furore concerning the rollout of 5g in the west, and the penetration of Chinese companies into our telecommunications infrastructure.<br /><br />BlokeInBrumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-42168631148980229952021-07-05T12:37:18.713+01:002021-07-05T12:37:18.713+01:00BiB - oh yes, a big concern - someone around these...BiB - oh yes, a big concern - someone around these parts posted some great links to a writer who said that the biggest strategic gains China will make will be via dominance of basic, medium-tech industries rather than hi-tech: because it's the ability to mass-produce loads of really good middle-engineering stuff that really builds the strength of a nation (he argued), in material AND educational ways. No country ever suffered from having competent engineers in abundance: but we may well suffer from our growing weakness in that regard<br /><br />that said, though, the outright creativity of the Anglo west, born of genuine freedom, is still formidable when it comes to out-and-out novelty & innovation.<br /><br />It's so easy for people in the Anglosphere to have an unfettered crack with something new: whereas in 'controlled' societies - including the mulish, Civil-Code-based EU - novelty is intriniscally suspect, awaiting official approval which never comes until they're panicking about having let the nasty Anglos steal a massive march on them<br /><br />(I believe that most of the epic quantities of Chinese patents are for small improvements in stuff; ditto most of the epic quantity of published Chinese scientific research: it's derivative, not original. Well, enough small improvements can certainly add up ... (though my steam-engine example wasn't just a <i>small</i> incremental gain). I wonder why they can't match the Taiwanese for microchip engineering..?)Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-4956825231342432412021-07-05T10:19:01.854+01:002021-07-05T10:19:01.854+01:00ND, I like your point about incremental quantitati...ND, I like your point about incremental quantitative gains leading to qualitative breakthroughs.<br />Isn't this a massive long term problem for the West though?<br />Having offshored an awful lot of energy and manufacturing production to China etc. haven't we ceded many future technology breakthroughs, patents and new industries to the East?BlokeInBrumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-71156158546735952762021-07-05T08:05:24.772+01:002021-07-05T08:05:24.772+01:00I suspect the extended public mask mandate only ca...I suspect the extended public mask mandate only came about because destroying the panic bought face masks would be too, too embarrassing. lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-74614473948422383052021-07-04T17:39:53.673+01:002021-07-04T17:39:53.673+01:00Matt - Like I said, waste is a conundrum
I know ...<b>Matt</b> - Like I said, waste is a conundrum<br /><br />I know what Keynes said about digging holes; and you can argue a lot of people are doing wasteful stuff rather than productive stuff, but are better being employed that way than not at all<br /><br />but that's Lump of Labour fallacy<br /><br />one central aspect of capitalism is new businesses getting traction with new ideas for doing things BETTER (and the freedom so to do), which sometimes means superior quality or just plain different, but frequently means more efficient / less waste - generally applauded (though not always by those who make their living doing things MORE STUPIDLY - hence the importance of Freedom to innovate, as a capitalist would see it, against conservative / labourist reactionary instincts)<br /><br />then ... miracle ... not just reduced waste / cost, but often EVEN BETTER THINGS become possible! - qualitative breakthough consequent upon quantitative improvement.<br /><br />Example: before steam engines, pumping water from mines was done by donkey-power etc: v inefficient and in fact ineffective in many cases. Steam engines reduced opcosts by over 90% in some cases and allowed deeper mining also. Greater availablity of minerals at low cost meant all sorts of other advances were possible.<br /><br />You can dispute these were "advances" but most folk would say they mostly were<br /><br />as a capitalist-innovator, rather than a capitalist-rentier / status-quo merchant, I think waste is a useful economic concept, not least as a target / spur for beneficial improvement<br /><br />I also know that dumb capital investments (which will always happen when the freedom to innovate is allowed) coupled with slowness to recognise sunk costs, are what make the world go around! Yup, waste again ... it's a dynamic conundrumNick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-21558466158673768932021-07-04T10:38:08.836+01:002021-07-04T10:38:08.836+01:00@ ND
The William Davies link is a tragic (and sim...@ ND<br /><br />The William Davies link is a tragic (and simultaneously hilarious) example of naval gazing.<br /><br />The <i>chattering classes</i> are upset because spouting off on Twatter is unrewarding and doesn't provide them with sufficient recognition of their piety and virtue.<br /><br />It's nothing to do with neo-liberal capitalism and everything to do with that fact they are twats who no one with any sense (the plebs) take any notice of.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08141297358269863170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-76420475308427357252021-07-04T10:23:38.579+01:002021-07-04T10:23:38.579+01:00That many who have insufficient spare to save for ...That many who have insufficient spare to save for a personal pension, having to help fund the pensions of public servants on eye-watering salaries is to my mind profoundly offensive and morally wrong. <br /><br />Just saying.<br /><br />Nick - thanks for that link' printing it off to consume laterElby the Beserkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15060519682739666145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-24670205661235134082021-07-04T10:11:30.086+01:002021-07-04T10:11:30.086+01:00Can someone explain what the problem with the wast...Can someone explain what the problem with the <i>waste</i> is?<br /><br />Perhaps some philosophical objection to things being made and then disposed of before they are used?<br />If so, you'll probably want to get rid of make-job roles in central and local government because it's the same thing - economic activity for the sake of it with no useful outcome.<br /><br />Perhaps its the thought of putting nasty metal and plastic into a gaping wound cut into Gaia?<br />Of course, we didn't get the raw materials from space so they came from there already. Yes, concentration may matter but these things are not exactly toxic nuclear waste.<br /><br />If it's because the human race is growing too large and consuming all of natures resources?<br />Perhaps you'll be first to volunteer for Logan's Run or be made into Solent Green to help get the population down? A bit like David Attenborough who would love people not like him to not exist.<br />Resources are not constrained in the way they are articulated by the ill-informed &ignorant press and the eco-nutjobs (probably adding wilfully lying to the list). There might be finite known (surveyed) resources but there is more that is potentially available. You only have to look at oil sands and fracking to see huge new sources that weren't available in past decades.<br /><br />So is there something other than touchy feely that is a problem?Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08141297358269863170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-76590495432565081542021-07-03T22:38:11.686+01:002021-07-03T22:38:11.686+01:00Here's something else on waste
https://www.am...Here's something else on waste<br /><br />https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-World-Seven-Cheap-Things/dp/0520293134Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-78186564881505459352021-07-03T14:37:19.881+01:002021-07-03T14:37:19.881+01:00This BBC news story is interesting:
https://www.b...This BBC news story is interesting:<br /><br />https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57547389<br /><br />Online shopping boom drives rush for warehouse space<br />By Emma Simpson<br />Business correspondent, BBC News<br /><br />Don Cox<br /><br />Don Coxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06339420519741253080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-67829298990495963632021-07-03T12:57:58.867+01:002021-07-03T12:57:58.867+01:00@Elby I never use Amazon either as a matter of pri...@Elby I never use Amazon either as a matter of principle.<br /><br />Making people pay to dispose of waste itself doesn't work. We've tried that experiment by charging when people take their waste to the dump which just leads to a vast increase in fly tipping.<br /><br />Instead maybe incorporate a waste disposal/recycling fee into the purchase price. If I buy anything bulky now I always decide how I will get rid of it when the time comes. PLaces like Currys take your old washing machine/fridge freezer when you buy a new one. By law(?) they must dispose of the old one safely and recycle when possible.<br /><br />I don't know what the stock Amazon hold is or where it comes from or whether it's theirs or they're holding it for sellers on their site. Either way the disposal of excess should have some cost. With so many people on the earth we can't afford to just chuck stuff away any more and will have to learn to use less and recycle more. If we have to pay a bit more to buy stuff then so be it.<br /><br />More jobs too maybe when the whole life cycle of stuff has to be taken into account.Jannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-47723746165334438082021-07-03T10:07:03.537+01:002021-07-03T10:07:03.537+01:00MYOB
A nuisance to hold, muck up the market if l...MYOB<br /><br />A nuisance to hold, muck up the market if let go. A nuisance even as scrap - costs money. Silly Season now, nothing to laugh at except Govey, B&S and Amazon, not much of a laugh at that.<br /><br />We can get all moralistic, but the labourers who made them have had their bowl of rice and probably the shippers their groat. Some will cry over the scrappage, but we are not talking little boys/girls melting boards over a camp fire. Are we? Amazon over ordered or whatever - tough. Makes work for pen pushers.<br /><br />Nature's resources are wasted every day - it's called humanity.jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00470816959796395467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-13451644622338125822021-07-03T09:58:35.451+01:002021-07-03T09:58:35.451+01:00I really don't want to pay the pensions of all...I really don't want to pay the pensions of all the Assistant Fairness and Belonging Managers.....lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-66372090455277078502021-07-03T09:57:05.882+01:002021-07-03T09:57:05.882+01:00Lockdown has been a great opportunity to change li...Lockdown has been a great opportunity to change lifestyle and come off prescription drugs. "Save the NHS" by never visiting a doctor again! It has been an opportunity wasted by Government to revise healthy living advice, sack the Fairness and Belonging Assistant Managers on £70k, sack the housing staff (20 years after the NHS sold off it's property portfolio). As you can have almost 3 newly qualified doctors for the price of one fairness and belonging manager it seems to be a no brainer. NHS frontline staff are SICK to DEATH of being told by the BBC that they are on their knees. I expect they are also sick of training for 10 years only to be talked down to by a Fairness and Belonging Assistant Manager and having to rely on Mum and Dad to guarantee their rent.lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.com