Comments for scherle.com http://scherle.com Rick Scherle on the web Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:39:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on The World’s Biggest Secret by Sean Green http://scherle.com/2010/the-worlds-biggest-secret/comment-page-1#comment-3280 Sean Green Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:39:39 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=980#comment-3280 That's fascinating Rick! That’s fascinating Rick!

]]> Comment on Why Our Economy Isn’t Going Down the Tubes by Ames Tiedeman http://scherle.com/2011/why-our-economy-isnt-going-down-the-tubes/comment-page-1#comment-3278 Ames Tiedeman Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:08:27 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1067#comment-3278 Lower taxes? Higher taxes? Does anyone actually think being plus or minus 5% on taxes will make a lick of difference for the U.S. economy at this stage in the game? The economy will never again work the way we all want it to work with the current account deficit at 6 or 7 percent of GDP. You cannot get unemployment even under 6% without a credit bubble, with a current account deficit as large as ours. We have not had a trade surplus since 1974. We have been in decline for 40 years and this decline has only accelerated in recent years. We closed 55,000 plants in the United States since 1980. Your politicians won't tell you this because some of them fed you the false promise of free trade. Others don't want to admit NAFTA has been a complete failure for America. Great for Mexico as that giant "sucking sound" Ross Perot predicted has materialized. Clinton and Gore promised the American people ever bigger trade surpluses with Mexico and ten's of thousands of new high paying jobs. Just pass NAFTA they exclaimed! Quite laughable, really. We have gone from a trade surplus of a few billion a year to a trade deficit nearing 100 billion per annum with Mexico. What is equally as laughable or insulting is the trade deal Obama has just signed with Columbia. Do we make anything they can afford? Of course not. Columbia will simply become a new launch pad to make textiles and sell them into America. How about the trade deal Obama signed with South Korea? This is an interesting one. Within the bill on the U.S. side is a provision to provide worker training for displaced Americans. So we are now so stupid that we are signing trade deals that we know will diminish the U.S. labor force. The insanity is just that! Does anyone think the South Koreans would agree to a trade deal if they were not sure to win? Does Obama understand that the South Koreans are fierce nationalists who will never let America win a trade contest? Did my ancestors lead pre-Revolutionary War skirmishes against the British at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and early 1776 only to have America end up how it is today? My blood has been on this land since 1635. How many of my ancestors ever dreamed that America would be so deep in debt and short on ideas? Would any of them ever have thought that such mediocre men would one day be leading this nation? America has done a terrific job of creating a low employment and low wage society, for millions. Quite sad indeed. No civilization has succeeded by consuming more than it produces. We must massively restructure. Until America decides to produce what it consumes you can forget about any long term economic recovery. The financial games all failed. The credit bubble is gone and now the U.S. economy is exposed as the biggest joke of all time. Credit bubbles have a way of masking the real issues. How do we fix the American economy? Start by making every American who has received a Nobel Prize in economics return the award. Why? because they were either 100% wrong or their work proved to be of no benefit to the American economy. Next, round up every economist who advised Nixon that if America left the gold standard and moved the world to a floating currency regime; that America would never, ever, run a current account deficit. And I am very sorry to inform everyone that this would include the late and great Milton Friedman. Sorry Milton, you were dead wrong too! Next, leave the WTO, end NAFTA, and go about setting up country-by-country trade deals that are realistic based on where America stands today. It is not 1955 anymore. The world has either matched us or surpassed us in industry after industry. We have literally become an emerging economy is some industries as we have faltered so badly. Next, move to a flat tax, and end all farm subsidies. Cancel most government social programs like food stamps and deport 100% of the people living in America illegally. Make it a high crime to employ anyone not here legally. Finally, for major industries such as steel and automobiles, move to a must-be-made-in-America policy. No longer allow imports of products in specific industries. They must all be made in America. We must employ our people. We can no longer employ the world via our consumption as so many Americans remain unemployed. We must use our 50 state union to our advantage. We must promote massive trade between the states. We must socialize CAPITALISM to avoid becoming a socialist state! We must reinvigorate the American people. We must manufacture. And who running for office can lead America on this grand and pious endeavor? Who running for office today has the passion of a General MacArthur or the skill of a Chester Nimitz? Who has the energy of a Teddy Roosevelt? The men who command the attention of the electorate in this age of mediocre ambition are all too small to make a difference... Lower taxes? Higher taxes? Does anyone actually think being plus or minus 5% on taxes will make a lick of difference for the U.S. economy at this stage in the game? The economy will never again work the way we all want it to work with the current account deficit at 6 or 7 percent of GDP. You cannot get unemployment even under 6% without a credit bubble, with a current account deficit as large as ours. We have not had a trade surplus since 1974. We have been in decline for 40 years and this decline has only accelerated in recent years. We closed 55,000 plants in the United States since 1980. Your politicians won’t tell you this because some of them fed you the false promise of free trade. Others don’t want to admit NAFTA has been a complete failure for America. Great for Mexico as that giant “sucking sound” Ross Perot predicted has materialized. Clinton and Gore promised the American people ever bigger trade surpluses with Mexico and ten’s of thousands of new high paying jobs. Just pass NAFTA they exclaimed! Quite laughable, really. We have gone from a trade surplus of a few billion a year to a trade deficit nearing 100 billion per annum with Mexico. What is equally as laughable or insulting is the trade deal Obama has just signed with Columbia. Do we make anything they can afford? Of course not. Columbia will simply become a new launch pad to make textiles and sell them into America. How about the trade deal Obama signed with South Korea? This is an interesting one. Within the bill on the U.S. side is a provision to provide worker training for displaced Americans. So we are now so stupid that we are signing trade deals that we know will diminish the U.S. labor force. The insanity is just that! Does anyone think the South Koreans would agree to a trade deal if they were not sure to win? Does Obama understand that the South Koreans are fierce nationalists who will never let America win a trade contest? Did my ancestors lead pre-Revolutionary War skirmishes against the British at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and early 1776 only to have America end up how it is today? My blood has been on this land since 1635. How many of my ancestors ever dreamed that America would be so deep in debt and short on ideas? Would any of them ever have thought that such mediocre men would one day be leading this nation? America has done a terrific job of creating a low employment and low wage society, for millions. Quite sad indeed. No civilization has succeeded by consuming more than it produces. We must massively restructure. Until America decides to produce what it consumes you can forget about any long term economic recovery. The financial games all failed. The credit bubble is gone and now the U.S. economy is exposed as the biggest joke of all time. Credit bubbles have a way of masking the real issues. How do we fix the American economy? Start by making every American who has received a Nobel Prize in economics return the award. Why? because they were either 100% wrong or their work proved to be of no benefit to the American economy. Next, round up every economist who advised Nixon that if America left the gold standard and moved the world to a floating currency regime; that America would never, ever, run a current account deficit. And I am very sorry to inform everyone that this would include the late and great Milton Friedman. Sorry Milton, you were dead wrong too! Next, leave the WTO, end NAFTA, and go about setting up country-by-country trade deals that are realistic based on where America stands today. It is not 1955 anymore. The world has either matched us or surpassed us in industry after industry. We have literally become an emerging economy is some industries as we have faltered so badly. Next, move to a flat tax, and end all farm subsidies. Cancel most government social programs like food stamps and deport 100% of the people living in America illegally. Make it a high crime to employ anyone not here legally. Finally, for major industries such as steel and automobiles, move to a must-be-made-in-America policy. No longer allow imports of products in specific industries. They must all be made in America. We must employ our people. We can no longer employ the world via our consumption as so many Americans remain unemployed. We must use our 50 state union to our advantage. We must promote massive trade between the states. We must socialize CAPITALISM to avoid becoming a socialist state! We must reinvigorate the American people. We must manufacture. And who running for office can lead America on this grand and pious endeavor? Who running for office today has the passion of a General MacArthur or the skill of a Chester Nimitz? Who has the energy of a Teddy Roosevelt? The men who command the attention of the electorate in this age of mediocre ambition are all too small to make a difference…

]]> Comment on Why Our Economy Isn’t Going Down the Tubes by victor http://scherle.com/2011/why-our-economy-isnt-going-down-the-tubes/comment-page-1#comment-2429 victor Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:29:25 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1067#comment-2429 No wonder the US is in a mess because i hear and read that millions "think" like you. Without strong manufacturing you have nothing. Soon we will fall behind in weaponry too. Manufacturing is technology without technology a country is nothinh. The lawyers, the university crowd (except for those in certaing areas of industrial research and engineering) are luxuries only a technological society can sustain, same for doctors and hospitals and on and on. Look, if tomorrow the Koreans and Japanese decided to the whole us mobile phone system will collapse because the US has sero mobile phone manufacturing ability. Apple does not have the key technologies to manufacture in the US the Iphone. When things get tough a phone will work with any crappy software but there is no way iphone software or android will run without a phone. With the destruction of its manufacturing the US has committed suicide. The problem deep down is that the liberals have destroyed America's confidence in herself. To Liberals, America is flawed; unfair, racist, uptight, dumb and on and on. Through movie, books, media and all sort of laws they have discredited industry and the values that create it. Unless America shakes off the yoke of the liberals America is finished. Of course, the get rich quick economic and financial tricksters spewed out by Harvard and others like it that now run all industry and finance, also help in digging the US grave. Finally the free trade fundamentalists have finished the job. It is nuts not to tell China: "you sell us a dollar worth of manufactured goods you buy another dollar of manufactured goods. What amazes me is that the millions of unemployed and under employed, and thir families still sit at home, feeling sorry for themselves while their rules do nothing about their jobs migrating to China and millions of illegal inmigrants take what is left. Of course, for the time being (but is stsrting) this does not affect the senior reporters and showmen, the Hollywood producers and actors, the medical doctors,, the civil servants, the university professors or the military brass or the top execs with golden retirement parachutes. But sooner or later the masses will wake up, like it happen in Germany in the 30s and yes it can become a good mess. The sooner people stand up the smaller will be the mess No wonder the US is in a mess because i hear and read that millions “think” like you.

Without strong manufacturing you have nothing. Soon we will fall behind in weaponry too.

Manufacturing is technology without technology a country is nothinh. The lawyers, the university crowd (except for those in certaing areas of industrial research and engineering) are luxuries only a technological society can sustain, same for doctors and hospitals and on and on.

Look, if tomorrow the Koreans and Japanese decided to the whole us mobile phone system will collapse because the US has sero mobile phone manufacturing ability. Apple does not have the key technologies to manufacture in the US the Iphone. When things get tough a phone will work with any crappy software but there is no way iphone software or android will run without a phone.

With the destruction of its manufacturing the US has committed suicide.

The problem deep down is that the liberals have destroyed America’s confidence in herself. To Liberals, America is flawed; unfair, racist, uptight, dumb and on and on. Through movie, books, media and all sort of laws they have discredited industry and the values that create it.

Unless America shakes off the yoke of the liberals America is finished. Of course, the get rich quick economic and financial tricksters spewed out by Harvard and others like it that now run all industry and finance, also help in digging the US grave.

Finally the free trade fundamentalists have finished the job. It is nuts not to tell China: “you sell us a dollar worth of manufactured goods you buy another dollar of manufactured goods.

What amazes me is that the millions of unemployed and under employed, and thir families still sit at home, feeling sorry for themselves while their rules do nothing about their jobs migrating to China and millions of illegal inmigrants take what is left. Of course, for the time being (but is stsrting) this does not affect the senior reporters and showmen, the Hollywood producers and actors, the medical doctors,, the civil servants, the university professors or the military brass or the top execs with golden retirement parachutes.

But sooner or later the masses will wake up, like it happen in Germany in the 30s and yes it can become a good mess. The sooner people stand up the smaller will be the mess

]]> Comment on Why Our Economy Isn’t Going Down the Tubes by Ames Tiedeman http://scherle.com/2011/why-our-economy-isnt-going-down-the-tubes/comment-page-1#comment-2425 Ames Tiedeman Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:13:29 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1067#comment-2425 “The United States of America has not had a trade surplus since 1975. We have not had a trade surplus with Japan since April, 1976. Every year since 1983 we have been in deficit with Europe. The last time America had a trade surplus with both Russia and China was a very brief period during the Cold War. We have been running ever increasing trade deficits with South Korea since 1998. Our 1993 trade surplus with Mexico is now a 100 billion a year trade deficit. In the 1970’s, 80’s, and much of the 1990’s our trade deficit was never more than one half of 1% of GDP. We now find ourselves with a trade deficit of between 5% and 7% of GDP depending on how you count. From 2002 to 2007 the trade deficit exploded. The only reason unemployment stayed well under 6% is because of the credit bubble. 63% of all jobs created from 2000 to 2006 were housing or credit bubble related. We did not feel the destructive affects of the trade deficit because of this credit bubble. I have concluded from work I have been doing that America will never get unemployment even under 7% with a trade deficit of over 3% of GDP, without a major credit bubble. The U.S. Economy has actually stopped functioning like a real economy. We literally need a credit bubble to function. America must move from the ideology of free trade to the economic policy of balanced trade. Until this structural shift takes place you can bank on the American economy being the laughing stock of the world economy.” -Ames F. Tiedeman “The United States of America has not had a trade surplus since 1975. We have not had a trade surplus with Japan since April, 1976. Every year since 1983 we have been in deficit with Europe. The last time America had a trade surplus with both Russia and China was a very brief period during the Cold War. We have been running ever increasing trade deficits with South Korea since 1998. Our 1993 trade surplus with Mexico is now a 100 billion a year trade deficit. In the 1970’s, 80’s, and much of the 1990’s our trade deficit was never more than one half of 1% of GDP. We now find ourselves with a trade deficit of between 5% and 7% of GDP depending on how you count. From 2002 to 2007 the trade deficit exploded. The only reason unemployment stayed well under 6% is because of the credit bubble. 63% of all jobs created from 2000 to 2006 were housing or credit bubble related. We did not feel the destructive affects of the trade deficit because of this credit bubble. I have concluded from work I have been doing that America will never get unemployment even under 7% with a trade deficit of over 3% of GDP, without a major credit bubble. The U.S. Economy has actually stopped functioning like a real economy. We literally need a credit bubble to function. America must move from the ideology of free trade to the economic policy of balanced trade. Until this structural shift takes place you can bank on the American economy being the laughing stock of the world economy.”
-Ames F. Tiedeman

]]> Comment on Why Our Economy Isn’t Going Down the Tubes by John Wascher http://scherle.com/2011/why-our-economy-isnt-going-down-the-tubes/comment-page-1#comment-2362 John Wascher Wed, 18 May 2011 12:57:34 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1067#comment-2362 Very good perspective Rick. Thanks for the information. Very good perspective Rick. Thanks for the information.

]]> Comment on Take My Wallet — Please by Rick http://scherle.com/2011/take-my-wallet-please/comment-page-1#comment-2249 Rick Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:37:36 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1013#comment-2249 Very nice to have you visit. Glad you liked the article! Very nice to have you visit. Glad you liked the article!

]]> Comment on American Airlines Makes a Bad Customer Experience Worse by Rick http://scherle.com/2011/american-airlines-makes-a-bad-customer-experience-worse/comment-page-1#comment-2248 Rick Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:37:15 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1053#comment-2248 OK, I stand corrected. I guess there is NOWHERE to turn for decent service anymore. OK, I stand corrected. I guess there is NOWHERE to turn for decent service anymore.

]]> Comment on American Airlines Makes a Bad Customer Experience Worse by Rick http://scherle.com/2011/american-airlines-makes-a-bad-customer-experience-worse/comment-page-1#comment-2247 Rick Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:36:47 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1053#comment-2247 Great perspective. Thanks for your comment! Great perspective. Thanks for your comment!

]]> Comment on American Airlines Makes a Bad Customer Experience Worse by Rick http://scherle.com/2011/american-airlines-makes-a-bad-customer-experience-worse/comment-page-1#comment-2246 Rick Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:36:07 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1053#comment-2246 Thanks for your thoughtful perspective. Our thoughts are with all of you in Japan. Thanks for your thoughtful perspective.

Our thoughts are with all of you in Japan.

]]> Comment on American Airlines Makes a Bad Customer Experience Worse by Sean Green http://scherle.com/2011/american-airlines-makes-a-bad-customer-experience-worse/comment-page-1#comment-2245 Sean Green Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:58:43 +0000 http://scherle.com/?p=1053#comment-2245 Hi Rick, Thanks for the article, it was very interesting and I had the same feeling when I was back in the states over Xmas. I wouldn't say customer service here in Japan is always better than in the U.S., because at times they can be incredibly inflexible. For example, if you ask for a service or a product modification outside of the rule book or SOP, you can basically forget it. That includes everything from "hold the pickles" to "Can I buy the jacket but not the slacks?" Also, I've had a few experiences where the service was just bad, due to whatever circumstances. Having said that, in cases like yours or those mentioned in the other posts (lost luggage, service providers, department stores) the Japanese make customer service in the US look exactly as bad as it is. As you said, if you lose your luggage in the US, or have a problem with your phone provider, it's sort of implicit in the whole thing that you somehow screwed up, or that your complaint is unwelcome, or that instead of responding to your complaint, the company puts you on trial to find out just how much "extra" service you deserve, etc. etc. It is the wrong end of the telescope, and that is where attitude comes in, I think. I remember you used to make an analogy about Star Trek, and how everyone knows what to do if they find an alien, because they know the mission. When you walk up to the customer service counter with a problem, do they roll their eyes? Or, do you know without even having to think twice that they not only will try to help you, (in spite of your flimsy command of the language) but sort of see it as their mission. Maybe DNA is the right metaphor, in terms of what to do when you encounter a customer, and how to actually enjoy customer service and find value in being good at it. (versus looking at it as a hassle or imposition.) Again, it's not all black and white, and there are some real flaws in Japanese customer service. Also, I know there is sometimes great customer service in the U.S., so I don't want to make blanket statements. Especially after this earthquake, I have been really amazed, but not surprised, at how hard large and small companies and people are working to stay open and provide service, even though everyone is quite nervous and upset. (I think many Americans would do the same, but I don't know.) And of course I would be totally OK if Tokyo Electric would save some of their apologies until later... Thanks again for a good article and take care! Sean Hi Rick,
Thanks for the article, it was very interesting and I had the same feeling when I was back in the states over Xmas.

I wouldn’t say customer service here in Japan is always better than in the U.S., because at times they can be incredibly inflexible. For example, if you ask for a service or a product modification outside of the rule book or SOP, you can basically forget it. That includes everything from “hold the pickles” to “Can I buy the jacket but not the slacks?”
Also, I’ve had a few experiences where the service was just bad, due to whatever circumstances.
Having said that, in cases like yours or those mentioned in the other posts (lost luggage, service providers, department stores) the Japanese make customer service in the US look exactly as bad as it is. As you said, if you lose your luggage in the US, or have a problem with your phone provider, it’s sort of implicit in the whole thing that you somehow screwed up, or that your complaint is unwelcome, or that instead of responding to your complaint, the company puts you on trial to find out just how much “extra” service you deserve, etc. etc.

It is the wrong end of the telescope, and that is where attitude comes in, I think.

I remember you used to make an analogy about Star Trek, and how everyone knows what to do if they find an alien, because they know the mission. When you walk up to the customer service counter with a problem, do they roll their eyes? Or, do you know without even having to think twice that they not only will try to help you, (in spite of your flimsy command of the language) but sort of see it as their mission. Maybe DNA is the right metaphor, in terms of what to do when you encounter a customer, and how to actually enjoy customer service and find value in being good at it. (versus looking at it as a hassle or imposition.)
Again, it’s not all black and white, and there are some real flaws in Japanese customer service. Also, I know there is sometimes great customer service in the U.S., so I don’t want to make blanket statements.
Especially after this earthquake, I have been really amazed, but not surprised, at how hard large and small companies and people are working to stay open and provide service, even though everyone is quite nervous and upset. (I think many Americans would do the same, but I don’t know.) And of course I would be totally OK if Tokyo Electric would save some of their apologies until later…

Thanks again for a good article and take care!
Sean

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