Fry's And The Economy

11/21/08

Fry’s is a Silicon Valley phenomenon. It is the first US national electronic superstore. It started in the Silicon Valley, spread to Southern California and now has a foothold if a few other cities in the US.

In the Silicon Valley each store is finished off in a certain theme and has a near cult following. I go to the Store on Hamilton Blvd. in Campbell and it has an Egyptian theme. This store has 60 cash registers and around Christmas I have seen all of them open with a waiting line. Cars will be cruising in the parking lot waiting for a spot to open.

Yesterday, on Nov. 20 of 08, I went to the Campbell store at 4:00 PM and the parking lot was over 60% empty. When I got inside of the store it felt empty. I have never seen anything like this – even after the dot.com meltdown hit Silicon Valley shortly after the year 2000. After the dot.com meltdown the Fry’s stores seemed as busy as ever. And the dot.com debacle hit the Silicon Valley harder than anywhere else in the United States.

If anyone wonders how serious the present economic situation is let me tell them it is serious. If it is affecting Silicon Valley geeks it is serious.

Why I Write This

11/9/08 I wish the world would read this but I really want a place to vent and organize my feelings.

Blogs are supposed to be interactive. But you will notice that this blog doesn't have a place for the reader to post a comment. That pretty well shows my priorities. I spend my life listening too, and needing to weigh the opinions of others. This is about the single place where I can coherently vent my own views and feelings. I hope others find it interesting, but truthfully that is pretty much a distant second in importance.

With writers, there is a feeling by publishers that nearly all writers put too much content into their first novel. The writer has been storing up all this "stuff" that he or she needs to get out. So, the first book often becomes a rant. Well, that pretty much describes my situation.

There is another reason too. This blog is a great place to put "stuff" for easy retrieval in the future. I have been in so many conversations where I will make a point and someone will say no, it can't be... Now I can store those documents relating to the points.

You will know I am beyond this when I open up the ability for the reader to post comments.

I Wish Obama Good Luck

11/9/08 Like most people I want to be right. Right about my personal choices. Right abut my politics. Right about everything. Some people are obsessed about being right, especially in relationships.

For at least the last 25 years my politics have been to the right and, living in Northern California, that means I almost always vote differently than most others. And, when people do vote to the right in California they are usually voting as a reaction to something else, and I am not necessarily in line with them about those items. One example is California term limits which I thought was too strict and would have negative unintended consequences. Unfortunately I was right.

Sometimes people appear to be right about something, but it is not for the reason they state. I always say I would rather be lucky than good. One example of this is Bill Clinton. He made a lot of bad choices at the beginning of his presidency (raising taxes and health care) and was going nowhere. The economy wasn't growing much if at all. The stock market was in the doldrums. Most individuals were very unhappy with Bill, Hillary and their proposed takeover of the American health care system. Then the Republicans took control of the House and Senate, and the stock market started strengthening. Also, PC's were becoming more prevalent and real efficiency gains were starting to be seen from them that positively affected the economy. Also, in Clinton's second term, the dotcom bubble started and international trade started booming. Both of these really drove the economy up. In all of these positive events (at least they were positive in Clinton's presidency) there is little that Clinton had to do with but he could crow about how his policies early in his presidency (like raising taxes ~ which was really a strain on the economy) was creating all the prosperity being seen. I have always called him "Lucky Bill".

This brings me to our new President Obama. I was against him for may reasons. He has no real executive experience, except for shaking down banks for money to fund the loans now part of or subprime mess. He was wrong about Iraq. He has not real understanding of international events - he speaks very naively. He will probably stop work on the US Mexico border fence which has proved to be successful. He will want to give illegals drivers licenses. He will try to kill off nuclear energy and offshore oil drilling - our only real short term hopes for energy relief. He wants to tax, tax, tax. And don't believe that it is only the rich he will tax.

But the fact remains that he is very popular internationally and has charisma ~ these are worth a lot. And, I would rather have a lucky president than not.

So, I wish Obama good luck. He and us need it. No matter where you live.