WebProNews

Tag: capitalism

  • Xi Jinping Meets with US; Talk Economy & Security

    When Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the President of the People’s Republic of China, came into office a little over one year ago, he faced several monumental challenges as the leader of the world’s largest and potentially most powerful country. The main issue plaguing Xi was China’s economy, which had gone into quite a slump despite being the world’s second largest. Over the past two years, Xi has made every decision to expand China’s influence and grow its global market – a decision which has been at odds with the intentions and wants of the world’s largest economy, the United States. On Wednesday, Xi Jinping met with several US diplomats, including Secretary of State John Kerry, at the sixth round of the United States-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) to discuss the ongoing issues between the world’s two economic juggernauts.

    This year marks the 35th year of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the US and China, going back to the Nixon administration. While relations have improved over time, recent decisions by Xi have increased tensions between the US and China.

    Xi has given orders to allow China to become more aggressive in the South Pacific, pushing against US allies such as South Korea and Japan, reaffirming his notion that “The vast Pacific Ocean has ample space to accommodate two great nations.”

    While Xi’s statement may be true, his unilateral decision making (powers granted to him by being both the General Secretary and President of China) has led the US to question the ideas of state sovereignty and the intentions of China in the near future.

    On Tuesday, President Obama released a statement concerning the upcoming S&ED meeting in which he acknowledged the differences between the two nations, but also the need to create some similarities:

    The United States and China will not always see eye-to-eye on every issue. That is to be expected for two nations with different histories and cultures. It also is why we need to build our relationship around common challenges, mutual responsibilities, and shared interests, even while we candidly address our differences.

    President Obama is not attending the S&ED, but Secretary of State Kerry reiterated the President’s message on Wednesday with his opening remarks: “Let me emphasize to you today: The U.S. isn’t seeking to contain China.” Instead, Kerry emphasized that the US is simply seeking to make the South Pacific and China a more stable place, enabling the global market to continue to operate without hinderance or strife.

    At first glance, Xi seemed to agree with Kerry and the US on Wednesday, saying, “A conflict between China and United States will definitely be a disaster for the two countries and the world.” However, Xi would go on to add that “We should respect and treat each other equally, and respect the other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect each other’s choice on the path of development,” seemingly hinting at the fact that he thinks the United States and China should stop interfering in each others’ affairs and just let it be.

    With recent comparisons to Mao Zedong’s ideological warfare against his own people and China’s aggressive actions in the South Pacific, the US need be wary of its communications with China in the near future. While China is still currently the world’s second largest economy, it is projected to surpass the United States in the very near future. With increased economic power and its ownership of much of the US economy, any disruption in peaceful relations could end in much more disaster for the US than China.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • The Market For Tragedy: 9/11 Museum Gift Shop

    Right now you can buy a $110 talking Osama Bin Laden action figure on eBay if your heart so desires. If you don’t want to waste your money, you have the option to download for free the Super Columbine Massacre RPG video game; the game “delves into the morning of April 20th, 1999 and asks players to relive that day through the eyes of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.”

    Yet, with these options available, some feel capitalizing on a tragedy or a touchy subject isn’t proper. The 911 Memorial at Ground Zero in New York tells the story of the 9/11 terror attacks with artifacts and displays, paying tribute to the lives of innocents and heroes lost that day.

    They also have a gift shop.

    The 9/11 museum offers a wide selection of souvenirs that include, but are not limited to: FDNY, NYPD and Port Authority Police T-shirts ($22) and caps ($19.95); earrings molded from leaves and blossoms of downtown trees ($20 to $68); police and firefighter charms by Pandora and other jewelers ($65); “United We Stand” blankets – you can even buy an FDNY vest for your dog.

    Admission costs $24 for adults, $18 for seniors and students, and $15 for kids ages 7 to 17.

    “To me, it’s the crassest, most insensitive thing to have a commercial enterprise at the place where my son died.” Diane Horning told the New York Post; her husband Kurt and her never recovered the remains of their son Matthew, 26, a database administrator for Marsh & McLennan.

    Around 8,000 unidentified bodies lay buried in a “remains repository” in an underground home of the museum.

    “Here is essentially our tomb of the unknown. To sell baubles I find quite shocking and repugnant,” Horning added.

    “I think it’s a money-making venture to support inflated salaries, and they’re willing to do it over my son’s dead body.”

    A sign outside of the shop, as well as a notice online reads that “All net proceeds from our sales are dedicated to developing and sustaining” the museum. Despite the gift shop raising controversy, there are other multiple avenues of which one can donate, volunteer, or become a member and get a 10% discount.

    Among the donators, a plaque outside the store reads “made possible through the generosity of Paul Napoli and Marc Bern,” both partners in a law firm which garnered $200 million in taxpayer-funded fees and expenses after suing the city representing roughly 10,000 Ground Zero workers.

    According to the museum’s website, the firm donated $5 million.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons, 911 Memorial

  • Buy Your Occupy Wall Street Poster at Wal-Mart

    Since its conception by anti-consumerist Canadians Kalle Lasn and Micah White on September 17, 2011, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protested against the widening income gap between the rich and the poor, as well as many other economic injustices in America.

    Wal-Mart is the perfect example of what the Occupy Movement is against: High CEO-to-worker pay ratio; Michael Duke, Wal-Mart’s CEO makes an estimated $5.6 million dollars a year in total cash compensation, while the company’s sales associates average $18,000 per year. Occupy participants have protested labor conditions at Wal-Mart before.

    An influential symbol of capitalism in America, Wal-Mart pulls no punches where it sees profits; Wal-Mart marketplace, a vendor page of the corporation’s site that allows third-party vendors to sell their items, has a special product on sale.

    A vendor called The Poster Corps is selling a large panoramic poster print for $52.25 on the Wal-Mart marketplace. The poster shows a shanty town set up by the many protesting peoples of the Occupy Wall Street movement at Zuccotti Park, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City. There’s also another poster of an Occupy member holding up the American flag.

    Though the print is published by art wholesaler Liebermans, the photograph was taken by Tom Sheckels of Moorestown, New Jersey. Sheckles told The Village Voice on Tuesday that he had “no idea” that his picture was being sold on the Wal-Mart website, and that he “didn’t have any control” of where it would end up being.

    Sheckles, a retired environmental engineer, licensed his Occupy Wall Street photo to a company called Panoramic Images.

    “They feed pictures off to many different agencies, stock agencies like Getty and All Posters,” Sheckels says. “Apparently, this is just one of the pictures that, in the mix of pictures, ended up at Wal-Mart.

    The sole comment on the item’s page mentions that the panorama poster is “Rated excellent for the incredible irony.”

    The Huffington Post received a statement from Wal-Mart spokesperson Ravi Jariwala, who said, “We are a retailer and we provide a broad assortment of products and we have a diverse customer base.”

    The posters are currently out of stock.

    Pictures via Wal-Mart, Reddit, Wiki Commons

  • Pope Francis: Capitalism Is “A New Tyranny”

    Pope Francis: Capitalism Is “A New Tyranny”

    Pope Francis carefully chose this moment to capitalize on his internet popularity with an even more radical statement: that uninhibited capitalism represents “a new tyranny,” and that global leaders are not doing enough to battle the growing income disparity.

    Pope Francis’ Twitter account, @pontifex, is the most talked-about thing on the internet, and Francis remains unafraid to discuss controversial issues in the spotlight. Reuters reports that Pope Francis’ latest apostolic exhortation, an 84-page document, directly attacks “the idolatry of money” and importunes the leaders of the world to make “dignified work, education, and healthcare” available to all citizens.

    His Twitter quote and reactions were popular, if not downright viral:

    “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills,” Francis said in the document.

    Francis did not stop there. “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” He questioned. “I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”

    Continuing, Francis wrote that “As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems.”

    These comments are a radical step forward from the Pope’s previous remarks; he had said in September that “Where there is no work, there is no dignity,” adding that the root of the problem is “an economic system which has at its centre an idol called money.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Apple Shares Soar To Another Record: $582 Per Share

    So much for that mild trepidation of traders following last week’s New iPad announcement. Not only has Apple’s stock juggernautted to new record highs yesterday, but now Morgan Stanley has increased its price target of the stock from $515 to $720.

    According to Apple Insider, analyst Katy Huberty sent a memo to investors yesterday telling them that the tech company had been added to Morgan Stanley’s Best Ideas list. She went on to say that, unbelievably, “investors ‘understimate’ Apple’s strong position” and bumped up the target price to $720. As if that wasn’t enough to give you a nose bleed, she also said that should the stock market take a turn into an uber bull market, that stock could climb as high as $960.

    Additionally, The Street reports that FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi went a bit further and raised his price target to $730 while a Wells Fargo analyst has also raised his price target for Apple, albeit slightly more modestly, to upwards of $640.

    This has injected some vigor into Apple’s stocks today, pushing the company’s shares up to $582.46 as of writing this, which is a 2.5% increase. Don’t be surprised if that number isn’t higher by the end of the day.

    With all of these analysts anticipating even greater growth of Apple’s value, I expect that WWDC 2014 will see Apple announce the launch of their first iPlanet.

  • Is It Time To Occupy Amazon Yet?

    Is It Time To Occupy Amazon Yet?

    People are very, very unhappy with Amazon right now. First there was the conniving endorsement of that new online tax bill. Now Amazon has thrown the first spear in what looks to be a looming battle with brick and mortar retailers by launching a Price Check app that encourages shoppers to walk out of stores and, instead, buy items from Amazon.

    Much to the chagrin of, well, everybody but Amazon, the app works like this: suppose you’re in a brick and mortar store and plan to purchase an item from the retailer. Instead of following through with that, Amazon would have you use the Price Check app to enter the barcode of the item and then purchase it from Amazon; in turn, Amazon will give you a discount of up to $5. You can use the app for 3 purchases, meaning a total savings of up to $15. The app can only be used starting at 9PM tonight through 11:59PM tomorrow night, December 10.

    It’s a shifty maneuver to snatch away money that would otherwise likely be spent at the brick and mortar store and essentially uses the retailer as a showroom for Amazon’s inventory. The Retailer Industry Leaders Association has already come out against the app in force and now the chorus of organizations and people decrying Amazon’s tactics are getting louder. Yesterday, the American Booksellers Association joined the protest against Amazon’s attempt to literally entice consumers to walk out of brick and mortar stores without spending a dime.

    In an open letter to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, ABA CEO Oren Teicher calls out the Amazon chief on his forked-tongue statements about fairness with regard to online commerce and accuses Amazon of knowingly exploiting the tax loophole to its advantage. Teicher goes on to shame Amazon for chipping away at the foundations of local communities by “stripping them of their unique character and the financial wherewithal to pay for essential needs like schools, fire and police departments, and libraries.”

    Despite books not being included in the selected items eligible for the discount that the Price Check app offers, that the booksellers should take up the charge against Amazon contains historical and poetic significance. After all, they’ve been the retailers struggling against the online company the longest (if you remember, Amazon started out proclaiming itself as “Earth’s Largest Bookstore” in the 1990s). They’ve probably lost the most revenue to Amazon over the years and therefore probably have the most authority to speak out against Amazon’s latest plot to take business away from brick and mortar retailers.

    In addition to the booksellers’ opposition to Amazon’s tactics, an online petition was created yesterday on change.org that denounces Amazon’s poaching of customers from brick-and-mortar stores. Within a day, the letter has already gathered over 20% of it’s signatures goal. Say what you want about the efficacy of online petitions because it’s not a matter of whether it works – it indicates that people are paying attention.

    The momentum of the anti-Amazon sentiment appears to be growing today. People have begun to marshall behind the Occupy movement to profess their anger and demand for change to Amazon’s predatory business strategy. There is an Occupy Amazon page on Facebook imploring consumers to boycott Amazon tomorrow – the time period in which the Price Check app will be live – and choose to shop locally instead. A steady stream of supporters are gathering on Twitter with the hashtag #occupyamazon. Here’s a sample of what people are saying:

    @dduane
    Diane Duane    Thinking #Amazon overstepped w/this one. Can’t be a good sign when you’ve suddenly got an #Occupy hashtag… http://t.co/2Luqg3fN 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @Season4Romance
    The Season    Love this topic from Kindleboards: Fellow Indies, It’s Time To Rise Up And Answer The Call. Occupy Amazon! 2 days ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @okletsjam
    Mary Akemon    #occupyamazon Don’t use the Amazon Price Check App! 17 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @longestchapter
    Kassie Rose    I support Occupy Amazon protest. RT @PublishersWkly: Amazon Backlash Continues to Build http://t.co/11fsXWVE #occupyamazon 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @VoraciousReader
    TheVoraciousReader    This made me cry with pride at my amazing fellow indies http://t.co/ociY4AxX #occupyamazon #IndieLove #indiebooksellersrock 1 day ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto

    @SenKClark
    Katherine Clark    Let Amazon know with your credit card that you don’t support this nasty attack on local businesses #OccupyAmazon http://t.co/Cok6uTFR 1 day ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    What happens from here remains to be seen. Amazon doesn’t exactly have a physical space in which protesters can occupy, so how this unfolds tomorrow (and in the future) will be interesting. In a contrast to previous Occupy efforts, will consumers choose to benevolently occupy their local retailers tomorrow for the forces of communal good? Chime in with what you think about the latest development among people speaking out against Amazon in the comments below.

    Note: Credit to Jon Stitch at Diesel Bookstore for the creation of the above Occupy Amazon buttons.

  • Amazon’s New App To Swipe Sales From Brick & Mortar Stores

    In what looks like an attempt to capitalize on shoppers’ use of their smartphones when buying Christmas gifts this season, the Grinch Amazon has introduced a free new app that will give consumers a 5% discount (but only up to $5) on certain electronics, toys, sports, music, and DVDs – in other words, some of the coolest, most popular gifts. All you have to do is go to a “brick and mortar” store, browse around until you find an item you’d like to purchase, and then enter its barcode into the app via scan, photo, text, or speech. Once the price is entered, you’ll receive the discount on the item when you buy it from Amazon.

    Did you see what Amazon just did there?

    When you see something you want in a store and instead of buying it in the store you are already in, Amazon wants you to use their app and buy it from them and, as a reward, Amazon will give you a discount. Understandably, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, an advocacy organization that watches out some of the top retailers in the U.S., is calling shenanigans on Amazon’s latest attempt to snatch up business from brick-and-mortar retailers with a press release they issued this afternoon:

    Arlington, VA –The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) reacted to a new smartphone App from Amazon.com that encourages holiday shoppers to use brick and mortar stores as showrooms to then purchase merchandise online from inside the store.   Central to this tactic is Amazon’s continued practice of using a pre-internet loophole to avoid state sales tax collection, a move that gives them an unfair competitive advantage over Main Street retailers.

    “Retailers compete on price 365 days a year, and at no time is that competition hotter than during the make-or-break holiday shopping season.  However, by continuing to evade collecting state sales taxes, Amazon’s exploitation of a pre-Internet tax loophole is resulting in a 6-10 percent perceived price advantage over their competitors on Main Street,” said Katherine Lugar, executive vice president of public affairs.

    “Amazon’s aggressive promotion of its Price Check App shows the lengths they are willing to go to exploit this tax loophole, and is a stark reminder of why Congress needs to act to protect retailers on Main Street.  A failure to act is an implicit endorsement of a subsidy of Amazon, a subsidy that distorts the free market and puts jobs on Main Street at risk,” said Lugar.

    RILA supports bipartisan legislation introduced in the House and in the Senate that would level the playing field and force all retailers to compete under the same rules. In a hearing last week before the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) summed up the need for Congressional action by saying:

    “I don’t think Congress should be in the business of picking winners and losers. Inaction by Congress today results in a system today that does pick winners and losers.”

    Gruenwald, Juliana, “Congress Urged to Close Online Sales-Tax Loophole,” National Journal, 11/30/11

    “Main Street retailers have been forced to compete on an uneven playing field for too long. Retailers cannot afford another holiday season where they are forced to compete on an uneven playing field,” added Lugar.
     

    Even if Amazon’s underhanded scheme should have some appeal with consumers, luckily for brick-and-mortar retailers the discount-offering app is only good from 9PM December 9th to 11:59PM December 10th and customers can only use the app up to three times. Still, it’s hard not to agree with the accusations RILA has stamped onto Amazon.

    Do you think the RILA’s on the right track here? Or should Amazon be permitted to do this? Chime in below with your comments.

  • Netflix, Hulu Users: Usage-Based Internet Is On The Way… Or Not?

    Netflix, Hulu Users: Usage-Based Internet Is On The Way… Or Not?

    The Internet sky is falling, says the Internet. But that isn’t exactly true. Not yet, at least.

    An analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, Craig Moffett, was quoted in Bloomberg yesterday for predicting that at least one of the major cable operators, probably Comcast Communications or Time Warner Cable, will initiate a usage-based payment scale next year for Internet-loving customers. He anticipates the change in billing plans due to the growing number of Internet users watching more and more movies through services like Netflix and Hulu. As more cable subscribers cancel their service and defect to watching videos online, cable companies are looking for ways to minimize the attrition of customers. Through a usage-based service plan, all of those Netflix and Hulu flicks you’ve been watching online will start to be reflected in higher bills if you watch enough of them.

    But don’t go updating your Netflix plan to resume receiving DVDs via mail just yet.

    One, this pot has boiled once before. Time Warner had a go at testing “Consumer Based Billing” in 2009 but nixed the plan after the public made it patently clear that they disliked this idea. In their statement after the fall-out, Time Warner stated “that it is working to make measurement tools available as quickly as possible. These tools will help customers understand how much bandwidth they consume and aid in the dialog going forward.”

    Yeah, because customers can’t wait to pay more to use the Internet just to find out how much bandwidth they consumed while plowing through the final three seasons of Lost.

    Ultimately, it’s likely this strategy from the cable companies will be regarded as an attempt to wrest back their subscribers that have migrated to the Internet in search of their viewing pleasures. In an editorial he wrote for the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, Netflix General Counsel David Hyman said changing to usage-based billing services “is bad news for consumers and threatens to slow down the innovation powering today’s Internet economy.” Added to that, consumers have grown accustomed to free Internet since… well, since the Internet. An effort from cable companies to apply a limit on how much customers can use the Internet based on how much they pay – even if those customers could technically afford it – is likely to go over about as well as the last time a company tried this.

    Despite the gloomy prediction that our land of Internet-y milk and honey may soon come to an end, the Bloomberg piece did conclude with a spell of optimism:

    Cable’s best option is to find ways to profit from the online shift, said Moffett. If the companies were to lose all of their video customers, the revenue decline would be more than offset by a lower programming fees and set-top box spending, he said.

    “In the end, it will be the best thing that ever happened to the cable industry,” Moffett said.

    So tell us: would you be willing to pay for your Internet use based on your amount of usage?