Foxconn and Apple - a business story

On the same day when Apple surpassed Microsoft to become the biggest tech company in USA, an employee of foxconn, a Taiwanese company that makes majority of apple components, ended his young life. The 11th suicide of the year.

I am not going to comment on apple and foxconn's treatment of employees, nor am I going to comment on the working conditions in some parts of asia.

The CEO of hon hai, the parent company of foxconn, Terry Guo, is the riches man in Taiwan, most of his fortune has been manufacturing for big us electronic companies, like Dell, Hp, apple...

He has tens of thousands workers in china with 24 HR shifts, but how much does he make on each iPhone he made for apple? $50? $100?

Apple charges $699 on iPhone. Yes, apple might have higher overhead, but who is the winner in this deal?

兩朵花的故事

十幾年前, 我在開課教折紙玫瑰時,認識了兩朵花.

多年後, 一位已經有穩定的工作,結了婚, 另外一位對自己的工作很不開心, 感情也沒有著落. 也許是她們的際遇不同, 有一點可確定的是, 十幾年前, 一位是容易開心的, 另一位是容易不開心的.

現在, 容易開心的還是開心, 容易不開心的還是不開心...

The test of innocence

It happened again, this time at a busy intersection. A middle age man walked up to me, with change in his right palm, he asked, "you have some change?", he explained that he needs to eat, no, not only him, he and his fiancée need to eat. I looked at him, his face is red, probably from the sun, he is also holding some kind of device in his left hand.

Last night, I ran into a lady by 7-11, she was holding a bike helmet, claiming she needed a ride to 2 blocks away, she said she has been tricked by 2 men who said they would take her for beer, but instead took her last $10. She needed to get to her bike. This Caucasian lady actually said in Cantonese, "I am not going to rob you". Of course, I didn't take her. She did not have helmet hair...

"I am diabetic and bipolar", the man added, and he pointed at his heart.

The pedestrians around me either pretended not to be interested, or were looking at my reaction.

I must have looked puzzled, some of things he said don't make sense, how can a man asking for change on a street corner have a fiancée? From the man's desperate face, maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe the device is for dialysis, I have a grandmother who needs dialysis...

I could have given him some change, my left hand can feel the toonies/loonies in my left pants pocket. I always have, in the past. Especially the time when I was working in downtown area, in the 5 min walk from bus station to office, panhandlers are frequent encounters.

They always had different reasons, they were lost, they need bus fare, I usually gave them a dollar or two. They walked away. I usually never saw them again.

Until a time, when the same lady who claimed to be lost a few weeks before, asked me for change for "bus fare". I shook my head and walked away. I felt awful...

This time, I bit my lip, shook my head, looked away and walked away. I felt awful...

給希臘人的公開信

【歐洲政治/2010.05.04/希臘危機/德國】TEWA編按：在歐盟各國討論如何救援希臘瀕臨破產爭論聲中，今年三月五日一封由 德國明星週刊(Stern)作家Walter Wüllenweber 給希臘人措辭嚴厲的公開信,引起希臘人與德國人的論戰,作者認為是良性的反應，為歐洲公眾論壇影響歐盟政策創先例。請先看這封公開信的內容,很多地方值得我們警惕！信結束後,TEWA編譯將原作者對希臘人的反應所作的回答,有一個簡單的陳述：


《德國人不爽》

明星週刊(Stern)作家Walter Wüllenweber 給希臘人的公開信

親愛的希臘人！
你 們都知道：在你們童年和青少年時,買第一輛自行車，買第一台收音機及第一次度假，總有這麼一位阿姨...會在你們的撲滿(儲蓄罐)塞幾張鈔票。她們沒要求甚麼的,只要你們有時候說聲謝謝就好了。親愛的朋友們，此信就是給你們錢的阿姨寫給你們的。別擔心，你們不必說謝謝。我們唯一希望的是：請你們站在我們立場來看一下情況。

自1981年以來，超過 29年，我們屬於歐盟同一個家庭。沒有其他的歐盟家庭成員在這段時間用這麼多錢投入共同基金， 我們，投了淨 2000億歐元。而沒有一個人享受到的比你們多，你們收到的總金額是1000億歐元。其中大約一半是我們所傾入歐盟共同基金的，你們大大方方的給消化掉了。換句話說：在統計上，我們多年來，提供你們每個希臘 人，從嬰兒到老人，每位超過 9000€。就這麼簡單，蠻不錯的，對不對？從來沒有一國的國民自願地在如此長的時間，如此慷慨的支持另一個國家的國民。

你們是我們真正最親愛的朋友。 (編按：暗示是最貴的朋友)

你們從來不問，這些年來我們是怎麼過的。我猜想，即使今天，你們也不會有這個念頭，想知道我們在擔憂一些什麼。但我還是要說給你們聽：我們的馬路是像古建築充滿坑洞，因 為我們 沒有足夠的資金進行維修。圖書館和游泳池已經關閉。一些城市在夜間關閉一半的路燈，因為他們付不起電 費。與你們相反，歐元引入後，我們的工資實際上已經不再上漲。現在我們甚至還得救援你們希臘人。要對你們關心，那誰又會來關心我們？

你們 確實贏得我們的不信任：在夏天，上帝賜給你們那塊美麗的土地上，經常傳出火燒山，然後你們要求我們的消防部門支援，因為你們自己無法把火滅掉。你們大家都想當公務員，但沒有人願意繳稅。如果只是一部分我們在過去幾個星期裡看到報導是真的， 那麼，你們顯然只有當你們收到紅包時，才會想要工作。特別是你們的醫生和醫院的工作人員。你們在只要有機可乘的地方就相互欺騙對方。 這與我們無關。但是，許多年來，你們也欺騙了我們。這對於我 們而言，就不能置之度外了！

你們收取歐盟橄欖樹的補貼款的橄欖樹種植面積比你們國家面積還大。很明顯，你們很會作 帳，為符合加入歐元國的穩定條款，你們有系統地，很技巧地偽造你們的帳簿，讓布魯塞爾沒有發現任何毛病。事實上你們不配加入歐元同盟國。儘管你們的偽造數據讓你們加入歐元區得逞，但加入後，從來沒有達到歐元穩定標準。為了誇大經濟數字， 2006年，你們用了自己覺得一個不錯的花招，將洗錢，販毒和走私所得收入，計算進當年經濟生產毛額。

幾十年來，你們花的錢比你們工作所得還多，理所當然靠犧牲他人來生活， 不斷靠欺騙伎倆 - 這不可能永遠順利。最終，房子倒塌。現在,嚴格說來,你們國家已經破產了。

請你們不要抱任何幻想。如果梅克爾(Merkel)承諾，“不會將希臘置之不理”這是為了我們德國總理及我們德國人而非為你們希臘人。我們唯一擔心的是我們自己的未來。只是很不幸的：我們和你們環環相扣。如果你們沉下去，也會把我們拖下水的。舉例來說，多年來累積的債務3000億歐元。其中約 300億歐元，屬於德國儲蓄戶以購買政府債券的形式存在德國各銀行的。你們會有償還的一天嗎？

因為你們的緣故，歐元跌到谷底。我們正面臨通貨膨脹。這意味著，德國人為了未來生活規劃的儲蓄存摺或及壽險會越來越不值錢。儲蓄或投資本來就與你們不相關,這樣的想法對你們當然是陌生的。你們情願把歐元切割。在歐盟，希臘人是把薪資的絕大比例用於 消費的一個民族。

歐盟領導人雖然決定，開始時，你們不能接受直接資助。但你們需要幫助。而在歐盟所謂的幫助，最後就是錢，更確切地說，就是我 們的錢。

慢慢地我們德國人瞭解了：首先，我們要拯救銀行，現在我們需要拯救希臘人，再來又要搶救那些〝豬經濟〞的國家，“PIIGS，葡萄牙(P)，意大利(I)，愛爾蘭(I)，希臘(G)，西班牙(S)。很例外的，專家 們一致認為上述國家之一破產的話，將是一個悲劇，雖然這群專家把銀行危機當作是一個喜劇。

聰明的德國憲法學者在引進歐元之前已經提出警告：沒有政治聯盟的經 濟聯盟不能成功運作的。他們是對的。現在我們看到了戲劇性的民主赤字。我們德國人都依賴於希臘政府的各項決定。但是，我們無權選舉這個政府。你們希臘人可以選擇這個政府，但你們卻有完全不同的利益考量。我們希望貴國總理巴班德里奧(Georgios Papandreou) 至少能貫徹他的節約計劃。如果他的改革計畫再加一碼會更好。但很明顯 的，你們不願意去做。你們還是做你們經常在做的事：就是罷工。上週公務員，下週各行各業舉行總罷 工。

親愛的尊貴的希臘人，如果下週你們上街頭，罷工，然 後示威，事實上你們不是在抗議貴國政府，而是針對我們而來。你們把經常向你們伸出援手而且還要繼續拯救你們的Zorro揣了一腳。

親愛的希臘稅務人員，請不要在下週罷工，該是去追討那些逃漏稅的百萬富翁稅款的時候了吧？一直到現在，你們對那些大戶視若無睹得到不少好處呢。

親愛的希臘醫生，請不要在下週罷工，好好治療你 們的病人吧。從現在起，請不要收紅包。請老實按收入報稅。是的，那麼你們買寶時捷(Porsche)會耽擱了一年。但你們鐵定能挺過去的。

親愛的希臘退休長者，我們工作一輩子，拿到的養老金不到平均收入的百分 之四十。我們在OECD排名倒數第四。誰是第一名？答對了：就是你們！你們享受的退休金超過平均收入的百分之95。為達成此目的，你們又有竅門：你們退休金不是用一生所有工作年數收入來計算，而是只有用最後3至5年的工作所得來計算。因此，最常 見的是，你們的雇主在你們退休前把你們的薪資大加 碼。用我們贊助你們將近30年的錢，享受一個更舒適的退休生活，這不是我們能負擔得起的。你們認為公平嗎？所以，親愛的希臘養老金領取者：就是你們這一代，造成目前這 樣的困境。現在請你們止步，不要去示威，讓你們的政府 好好去運作節約計畫吧。

還有，親愛的希臘國民，請不要把此次的災難僅歸咎於你們的政客們。你們發明了民主，你們應該知道，是人民作主，當然你們也要負責任。
沒有人強迫你們去逃稅，收受賄賂，用罷工 反對任何健全的 政策，和選出貪腐的政客。這些政客就是民粹主義者。他們正是在做你們想要的。

當 然你們現在會說：你們德國佬，也好不到那裡去。說對啦！比如，幾乎沒有任何一個人敢信任的養老金制度；沒有人知道未來公務員的退休金要從何處來；一個稅收制度，看起來好像是專為逃漏稅老手制定的，而且，龐大如山的債務，不知何時會崩塌下來，把一切都埋葬掉，同樣的，我們也有這些問題。許多人相信，在你們那裡發生的毛病，只是比我們提前一點發生罷了。

以前，你們希臘人指示我們正確的道路，教會了全世界民主的方式，還有哲學以及初步的國家經濟學。現在你們又再次向我們指示道路。但是這一次是指示走入歧途。你們現在的處境，是無法再向前走的。

真誠的，Walter Wüllenweber


PS：請你們回應！我們會很高興收到你們的回答！“


《TEWA編按》
此信在希臘引起很大反彈,作者信箱到現在還天天被擠爆，作者對措辭嚴厲表示道歉，從希臘人的回應,他才知道德國武器外銷,希臘政府佔13%,德國連鎖店Lidl及Saturn也征服了希臘市場，整體希臘經濟操控在德國人手中。這場希臘人與德國人的論戰,作者認為是良性的反應，為歐洲公眾論壇影響歐盟政策創先例。

New York City smells like pee...

Growing up watching tv shows (friends, sex and the city, how I met your mother, Seinfeld, Mad about you, Beck... to name a few) situated in NYC, you can imagine the image I have in my mind of how NYC look, dirty, messy, cloudy, gritty and unpleasant, filled with pretentious people.

Still, it is a place I want to visit, not only it is the heart of the world economy, it is also the place that is "always happening", been to London, HK, and grew up in Taipei, I am not too sure what to expect.

The recent visit to NYC was very interesting to say the least. The first impression was the subway stations, it smells like pee, similar to London's underground system, it is centuries old, but it is bigger, less depressing than London, but smells lot worse. To be fair, most railway systems have similar smells, I know that because my father used to work in the railway field, and all railways smell like pee, probably because of the metal and the heat.

NYC is everything I expected it to be and more, the food, the people, the buildings, every little bit like the big apple I saw on tv.

However, I didn't expect to learn more about the Americans, they are loud, narcissistic and nosy, but also proud, optimistic and friendly. Do I have doubts that they will rise from the slump, not at all...

The trip was filled with desserts, fine dining, culture, arts and history, the only thing I didn't like about visiting NYC is that there were too many tourists (just like London), they crowded the streets, looking overweight and lost, blended in with the local crowds in their business suits near the financial district, very interesting sight, but it also takes away some of the experience.

Can't really blame the tourists, I am just like one of them, taken in by the big city, where dreams are created and destroyed.

New York

Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind featuring Alicia Keys Lyrics
[Jay-Z]
Yeah,
Yeah, Imma up at Brooklyn,
now Im down in Tribeca,
right next to DeNiro,
But i’ll be hood forever,
I’m the new Sinatra,
and since i made it here,
i can make it anywhere,
yeah they love me everywhere,
i used to cop in Harlem,
all of my dominicanos
right there up on Broadway,
brought me back to that McDonalds,
took it to my stash spot,
Five Sixty Stage street,
catch me in the kitchen like a simmons whipping pastry,
cruising down 8th street,
off white lexus,
driving so slow but BK is from Texas,
me I’m up at Bedsty,
home of that boy Biggie,
now i live on billboard,
and i brought my boys with me,
say wat up to Ty Ty, still sipping Malta
sitting courtside Knicks and Nets give me high fives,
N-gga i be spiked out, i can trip a referee,
tell by my attitude that I most definitely from…
[Alicia Keys]
In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
these streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
lets here it for New York, New York, New York
[Jay-Z]
I made you hot n-gga,
Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game,
sh-t i made the yankee hat more famous than a yankee can,
you should know I bleed Blue, but I ain’t a crip tho,
but i got a gang of n-ggas walking with my click though,
welcome to the melting pot,
corners where we selling rocks,
Afrika Bambaataa sh-t,
home of the hip hop,
yellow cap, gypsy cap, dollar cab, holla back,
for foreigners it ain’t fitted they forgot how to act,
8 million stories out there and their naked,
cities is a pity half of y’all won’t make it,
me i gotta plug Special Ed “i got it made,”
If Jesus payin LeBron, I’m paying Dwayne Wade,
3 dice Cee-lo
3 card Marley,
labor day parade, rest in peace Bob Marley,
Statue of Liberty, long live the World trade,
long live the king yo,
I’m from the empire state that’s
[Chorus]
In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
these streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
lets here it for New York, New York, New York
Welcome to the bright light..
[Jay-Z]
Lights is blinding,
girls need blinders
so they can step out of bounds quick,
the side lines is blind with casualties,
who sipping life casually, then gradually become worse,
don’t bite the apple Eve,
caught up in the in crowd,
now your in-style,
and in the winter gets cold en vogue with your skin out,
the city of sin is a pity on a whim,
good girls gone bad, the cities filled with them,
Mommy took a bus trip and now she got her bust out,
everybody ride her, just like a bus route,
Hail Mary to the city your a Virgin,
and Jesus can’t save you life starts when the church ends,
came here for school, graduated to the high life,
ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight,
MDMA got you feeling like a champion,
the city never sleeps better slip you a Ambien
[Chorus]
In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
these streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
lets here it for New York, New York, New York
[Alicia Keys]
One hand in the air for the big city,
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty,
no place in the World that can compare,
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeah
come on, come,
yeah,
[Chorus]
In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
these streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
lets here it for New York, New York, New York
[End]