Janitors' Drive in Texas Gives Hope to Unions - New York Times

Read this story from the New York Times, then watch the 60 Minutes segment entitled "Living Large" (3d story down). Am I the only one who sees a major disconnect here?

Your thoughts?

2005 APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Korea

At each APEC conference, the last official photograph of the attendees is in the country's national costume.

WalMart and Health Insurance

For those of you who have been following the controversy over WalMart and health care......

For the rest of you. The controversy here is over WalMart and how their workers are receiving health care. Although WalMart does provide health insurance for its workers, critics claim that WalMart makes coverage unaffordable for rank-and-file employees, forcing their folks to rely on publicly-funded plans such as TennCare. There are anecdodal accounts of WalMart management actually coaching employees on how to go about reciving public benefits. The Maryland legislature passed legislation earlier this year to basically force WalMart to provide affordable coverage or contribute to the state's costs (rather than sticking the state and taxpayers with the cost) , but the act was vetoed by the governor.

Md. Passes Rules on Wal-Mart Insurance

Now, it's a question of whether or not the legislature has the votes to override the veto.

Wal-Mart Girds for Battle on Md. Bill

Stay tuned for further developments....

Your thoughts ???????

Peter F. Drucker: In Memoriam

Renowned management writer Peter F. Drucker died Saturday at the age of 95.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right
things.

-- Peter Drucker

Peter F. Drucker, a Pioneer in Social and Management Theory, Is Dead at 95

The Drucker Archives

Grey Market Prescriptions -- A Losing Battle

For the international business folks -- you'll recall this was our #1 example of grey marketing. Also, from a public policy standpoint, does reimporting druigs from Canada really solve anything? In essence, we in the US are unwilling to put pressure on the pharmaceutical companies to lower costs, so we're outsourcing that task to Canada. Basically, it's as though I don't want to yell at a class, so I get someone else to do it for me.

Your thoughts?

Study: U.S. Can't Keep Illegal Meds Out

Time catching up to World War I veterans

Not relevant to our classes, but interesting.

AP Wire 11/10/2005 Time catching up to World War I veterans

Hong Kong Disney Opening -- Not 100% Smooth

Although, as the Disney spokesperson points out, any opening will have problems.

USATODAY.com - Miscues mar opening of Hong Kong Disney

September Trade Deficit Numbers -- Not Good

U.S. September Trade Deficit Widens to Record $66.1 Billion

The various analysts and company spokespersons quoted in this article don't seem to be especially worried; they attribute the "record" deficits to one-time events, such as the Boeing strike and the September hurricanes. Ok, the Boeing strike is settled, and planes are shipping again, but the impact of the hurricanes isn't going to just vanish overnight.

ALso, the administration is trying to put pressure on China to (1) limit clothing exports to the US and (2) allow the yuan to float (a floating yuan will make Chinese exports more expensive in the US, and should reduce our trade deficit with China). Maybe I'm a professional pessimist, but this doesn't exactly cheer me up.

Incidentally, what's driving that $20 billion + traded eficit with China??? According to the US Census Buraeu (who tracks this information), we're buying "primarily toys, games, and sporting goods; TV’s and VCR’s; stereo equipment; and computers."

Your thoughts ?

Some interesting points about Alva Vanderbilt

Ok. Tonight in Leadership Seminar, we saw a film on the Vanderbilts. You'd think the focus would be on Cornelius ("The Commodore," founder of the family fortune) or William (son of Cornelius, who greatly added to the Vanderbilt wealthj). To me, the interesting one was neither of these two, but William's wife, Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt Belmont. There's a bit more to her than we saw -- she was truly dedicated to the women's suffrage movement, and the divorce from Vanderbilt was suspiciously quickly followed by her marriage to Oliver Bemont.

Long Island History: LI's Rebels With a Cause

WTO Hong Kong Meeting: Setting the Bar Low

Following arecent meeting of the trade / commerce ministers from the US, EU, Brazil, India and Japan, a general consensus was reached -- that the December meetings of the WTO in Hong Kong will likely not result in much in the way of new agreements. The issue of US / EU agricultural subsidies will be on the agenda, but is unlikely to be resolved, while the richer nations will proabably ask for concessions from the lesser developed countries in areas such as access to markets.

Trade ministers dampen down expectations

The question is, though -- is this necessarily a Bad Thing? One's automatic reaction is to say, yes, that we want diplomatic talks (be they military, political or economic) to move towards resolution of conflict.

However. WTO / GATT negotiating rounds have been on a more-or-less continouius basis for over 50 years now, and there's no question but that progress has been made. The trade barriers we saw prior to WWII just aren't there any more.

[We'll leave out here the deeper philosophical issues over whether free trade is a Good Thing].

Ok. So GATT / WTO has moved slowly, yet continued to make progress. But I'd also make the argument that the issues being negotiated are important ones (the US agricultural subsidies have been around since the 1930's; the EU's agricultural subsidies are driven, by part, from famine expereinces in WWI and WWII). If these are important issues, doesn't it make some sense to move slowly, so that whatever solution is ultimately arrived at is one that all parties concerned can live with? The ag subsidies are an important issue. But, are they such an important issue that we need to rush to settle the issue or is it so important that we need to move slowly, so that whatever answer we reach is the best one?

Your thoughts????

Fujimori trying for a comeback?

Former Preuvian president Alberto Fujimori (1990 - 2000) is trying for a comeback !! He plans to run for president in Peru's 2006 election (although he's been formally banned from political participation until 2010). Current president Alejandro Toledo is not eligible for re-election (though with approval ratings hovering around the single digits, that's a moot point; see Peru: Administration in Crisis and Peru's Toledo Announces Plans to Shuffle Cabinet (Update2)).

Doesn't appear that there's any clear successor, although the former Finance Minister and current Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is rumored to be interested in the job.

Up until now, Fujimori's been conducting his campaign from the safety of Japan (Fujimori is of Japanese descent, holds Japapnese citizenship, and Japan has refused to extradite him to Peru). However, he was arrested today in Chile. It's unclear whether or not the Chileans will send him back to Peru.

BBC NEWS Americas Fujimori arrested on Chile visit