I saw "The Graduate" for the first time in my life only a few years
ago; I had, at 36, no real connection to that time, so watching it was
low on the priority list. For those of my age now (and younger) at that
time, it was apparently a memorable film. Some of it seemed outdated,
and I prefer The Lemonheads' version of "Mrs. Robinson" to the
original, but Anne Bancroft was pretty hot. OK, kinda hot-the situation
was the excitement for Dustin Hoffman.
But the scene that grabbed me in a subtle but very deep way was the "one word for you" scene. And that word? Plastic.
Plastic?
For those of us who have grown up with the ubiquity of plastic, the
allure of plastic seems...distant. But at that time in space, plastic
represented something else: opportunity.
The opportunity was in the malleability of plastic; it could be-and
is-almost limitless in terms of form and shape. The limits to plastic
seemed to lie in the creative approaches to form.
Enter my dad. At 64, and in telecommunications for nearly 40 years,
he has seen more than a few technological advances. I'm sure that every
day, he works with mundane, "old school" technology that would have
been only a hallucination for him as a child on a cotton farm in East
Texas during the Depression.
Most of my adult life, Dad tried to convince me of his
"plastic"-computers. As an undergraduate, with a Political Science
major and a Philosophy minor, I heard the constant cry from Dad of how
I was "missing the boat" by not studying computers. Dad was convinced
that the computer would be as ubiquitous as plastic. And like most
things, Dad was right. Partially.
After five or six years banging my head against the wall of
Corporate Life, where an undergrad Liberal Arts degree was
fodder for jokes rather than a symbol of accomplishment, I capitulated.
I began studying computers. Hard. I learned quickly, and soon! I was
the one Dad turned to for help with his computers. The child is father
to the man.
And all that time, Dad was good-naturedly cajole me with comments
like, "Don't you wish you would've done this from the beginning?" His
implicit theme in all of his joking was that I had squandered my
talents when in college.
So I explained him-repeatedly-that I went to college for the wrong
reason: I went to learn. I was not a business major by choice,
and-believe it or not-I enjoyed the classes I took.
But I also came to loathe, maybe even hate, those in
B-school. Now remember-this was the height of the Excess 80's (1983 -
1987) and "Greed Is Good". The 60's had "The Graduate"; we had "Wall
Street". I saw the lack of concern for decency that ran like ice water
in the veins of those
B-school goons. They were the ones whose dressing concerns were finding
the right "power tie"; mine were finding a clean (or, at least, unripe)
T-shirt.
Call me a dreamer, but I thought that hard work and truth were
important. Honestly, I saw the goons as a threat to my
existence. I tried to explain this to Dad, but I settled instead for
merely stating that working with computers was about freedom for me.
Freedom from corporate groupthink. Freedom from dress codes. Freedom
from nepotism. The IT
life, and the ascendancy of the Internet Age, represented the victory
of work and merit over wearing the right suit and kissing the correct
ass.
And, for a while, the IT "geeks" and the B-school "goons" lived
their separate lives. The geeks had-finally-found their freedoms. But
mostly, it was freedom from fear. The fear of having to live the
corporate life. Do not deceive yourself: fear will suck away all your
spirit, and will age you beyond your years.
Now there is fear. I have good friends without jobs 4 months after
the last lay-off or dot-bomb-fear. I have friends staying in jobs with
no hope of advancement or
challenge because their resumes go unanswered-fear. My Dad's company
recently "right-sized"; he has spent weeks, or months, worrying if he
will lose hard-earned retirement points-fear. I, too, work where the
fear is almost palpable. And as I survey the landscape of what was the
Dot Boom, I see the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, and his name is
The Goon.
I see wasted ambition and talent, while The Goon floats away
unharmed in his golden parachute. I see my "plastic", limited only by
imagination, mangled and soiled by The Goon and his idiotic "business
plan". I see The Goon, envious of the "plastic", trying to bend it into
forms not compatible with the basic laws of physics-or business.
When Dad and I "talk shop" now, it is no longer the
camaraderie of peers, but the unspoken fear of having to start over-and
with much less than before. Maybe we geeks, with our limited
understanding of "what really makes businesses work", thought that the
old rules could be broken, and that we would be the ones to reap that
new harvest.
My Dad will retire in nine months, and it is that thought that gets
him through the day now. Me? 30 or so years of this, yet to come. I
ponder moving on to some other line of work. Maybe film. And my first
project? Remake "The
Graduate"...
Andddddd........ACTION!
"I've got a few words for you: If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is."
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one in this predicament. When
this happened to me at first, I was angry and I lashed out. Then I
settled down and I'm waiting for them to drop the other shoe. When you
get threatened for being written up for bullshit right and left and the
guy outright lies to HR what do you do? There are two approaches I
guess - move on (I'm working on it ) or bust a cap in his ass... which
though it has a surreal fantasy about it, just isn't worth the trouble
of fucking your entire life up over something that in the end is
meaningless. For me, I've paid off my credit cards and my car. I'm giving myself 3 months to find a job, if I don't find it by
then, then I might just join the Peace Corps or do charity work. I
might even take the job of least responsibility for awhile.
By the way, brother can you spare a dime...
My collective conscious is not that shot. :)
Name: Email: Date: Wed May 9 08:34:26 2001
Comment: actually, the paragraphs about efficiency and NASA's having gotten us to the moon are separate ideas.
Governments can be efficient when they want to, when there is an
overwhelming reason to be so. Here in America, we criticize the
government on the grounds that bureaucrats are stupid, lazy and
inefficient. We moved an awful lot of hardware and wetware during
Desert Storm, eh? and quite quickly and "efficiently" no? I think that
our government Wants us to think they're incompetent. Maybe some of our
representatives, senators and executives are, but they're not really
running things either, yes?
Our elected officials are beholden to the powers that allow them to
be. They compete for "private" support. Nobody who is really
antithetical to their interests will get far, no funding. . .
It's far better that people think our government is too stupid and
short sighted to allow and even plan for "ersatz policing through the
workplace" allowing microsoft to facilitate surveillence either
intentionally or through security flaws,
National security is our numero uno concern. You can rest assured
that our government stops at nothing to make sure the world is safe for
our corporate interest.
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Wed May 9 01:26:29 2001
Comment: (If a man tried a Mr. Robinson today, he'd be
locked up and they'd throw away the key.)
If a 35 year old man hit on a woman just out of college, he'd go to jail? REALLY!!!
God. You conservatives see the PC menace behind everything.
BTW. Even though Dustin Hoffman was supposed to be 22 in that movie
and Ann Bancroft 35, Hoffman was really 33 and Bancroft 37. Funny.
Name: Scott Packard
Email:demo@fastlink.com Date: Tue May 8 21:48:46 2001
Comment: What I really miss is that:
- No sex.
- If a man tried a Mr. Robinson today, he'd be
locked up and they'd throw away the key.
Other than that, I expected a long career of toil.
I feel for ya'. I'm facing the same 30 year haul.
But I'm much better off at my age than my dad was
at his age (nice house in a nice neighborhood).
I don't have much free time left on my hands anymore, and I'm starting to have to lead teams
and get away from daily tech and into future design (that's not such a bad thing!).
You must sacrifice to climb up. There's no such
thing as a free ride up.
I was thinking the Beatles actually. I feel old now.
Name: me
Email: Date: Tue May 8 21:00:41 2001
Comment: Even more relevant here
http://www.trollalert.com/
Shame its gone though. Trolls rule, eh? Chill out!
It's just a game! IP's mean fuch all --- its phone nos that really count?
Name: Blank number one
Email: Date: Tue May 8 19:48:56 2001
Comment: Safeweb. What a great idea.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 19:44:37 2001
Comment: "Are you a real nowhere man?"
Yes. :) Although I differ from the (cancelled show, USA Network)
character Thomas Veil in that he's running from The Conspiracy and I'm
one of them. (What? You don't think we frequent message boards?)
I have no identity; as far as Netslaves is concerned, I am simply another ubiquitous voice among the hordes.
I'm curious. Has capitalism turned you into a blank? Are you a real nowhere man?
Why not simply make up some name like Milton Friedman or something. Frederick Von Hayek. Ayn Rand. Anything to identify you.
You can mask your IP. See. I'm posting from work so I cloak it.
I couldn't care less if you have my home IP or even my address.
Why are you a blank?
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 17:56:43 2001
Comment: (this is the same pro-capitalism blank posting from before- don't bother checking IPs, I'm somewhere else now)
Yeah, they got us to the moon. But what have the last 30 years got
us? Something, with the billions of dollars we've pumped into it. But
not much. How the hell can they still have failing computer systems up
there? No one ever thought of stability? Maybe they should stop running
Win2K server.. quite frankly, I find that NASA must really be
squandering a lot of payola. There is no clear plan in NASA as to how
to explore space. It seems like they're just tossing spacecraft up
there.. damn it, when you spend $billions on something, you expect it
to WORK! But I guess the dotcoms have disproved that notion..
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 16:09:43 2001
Comment:
I don't think that anyone intimated that everybody should get the same
pay regardless of their occupation. . . there are people who understand
that somewhere between the two extremes lies a workable solution.
as far as what has statism gotten us. . . If a government entity wants to move, it will, and quite efficiently I might add.
Nasa did get us to the moon, eh, unless you believe that guy's theory about its having been faked.
Governments can be wasteful and stupid if that's what they want us to see.
I don't think small, defenseless children should have to put up
with a level of physical threats, assaults and sexual harassment that
would never be tolerated in the adult workplace
Whew!! I was wondering where the lawyers would strike next..nice to
know this hot new field wil keep em in Jaguars for a long time..
Name: MasterPo
Email: Date: Tue May 8 15:17:20 2001
Comment: Fine Anon. Let's go to Socialism.
So you work your ass off, first in school then in a job. Yet you
get the same pay, the same bennies, the same life as the person who
just sweeps the floors.
Yea, that's a real motivator for innovation and creativity.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 14:24:07 2001
Comment: What has 'unbridled capitalism' gotten us so far?
Most of the computers on the Internet, cars, every consumer product
on the market, most of modern medical science, and the global economy-
as a blank pointed out, it cheapens consumer goods considerably.
What has statism gotten us? Fascism is statist and Stalinism is
more so. NASA has shown that it cannot convert metric and English units
properly- if a private organization did that, heads would roll. The
public school system is flunking, and it's gotten so bad that standards
(e.g. the SAT) have been weakened so that it can appear reasonable.
Let's not forget Social Security, either: It's a crock. Name me one
senior whose SS paycheck is his/her primary source of income and can
live even semi-comfortably. Yet how much money gets poured into it?
This is why people have 401(k) plans.
Furthermore, as has been pointed out, capitalism at least creates something of a choice. Taxes give no choice at all.
Name: Dave
Email: Date: Tue May 8 14:19:14 2001
Comment: Someone asked "What is the cut off level to be considered among the richest 20%? "
Wealth is a stock quantity, whether you measure it in dollars or cattle or gold, so you need to talk about net worth.
Income is a flow quantity. It's possible to be wealthy and have
only a moderate income. Similarly someone with a high-income job and a
low savings rate can leave that job as "poor" as s/he started.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 13:51:35 2001
Comment:
Tom- Like any other system, there are going to be mistakes and there's
going to be stupidity. But what's the alternative to capitalism? Strict
government control? Ever hear of Fraud, Waste, Abuse? Our government
has proved itself quite capable of wasting taxpayers' money.
And that's the difference between these fallen dot-coms and the
government- the fallen dot-coms only cost those foolish enough to be
involved with them, the government robs everyone indiscriminately.
Name: DJMZ
Email: Date: Tue May 8 13:19:15 2001
Comment: WHAT ARE THE ODDS
... that Dan Zubairis went to "Bullis School" after being bullied
at 2 previous schools? He seems resigned to bullying as a fact of life,
but I don't think small, defenseless children should have to put up
with a level of physical threats, assaults and sexual harassment that
would never be tolerated in the adult workplace.
Name: MasterPo
Email: Date: Tue May 8 12:39:27 2001
Comment: Ertischek - This is news?
Jeezs! Where were all these "bullying experts" when I was in grade
school?!?!? Damn, if I knew then what I know now I would have sued the
HELL out of my teachers, schools, B. of D., other kids parents etc etc
for bullying!!!!!
Name: Ertischek
Email: Date: Tue May 8 12:23:42 2001
Comment: Appropo of nothing...or maybe everything discussed here..
Name: MasterPo
Email: Date: Tue May 8 12:09:11 2001
Comment: Anon - Going by DC standards, that's probably so.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 11:31:00 2001
Comment: What is the cut off level to be considered among the richest 20%?
70,000? 60,000? 50,000?
is that individual or household?
Name: URGENT BULLETIN
Email: Date: Tue May 8 11:12:52 2001
Comment: ****BREAKING NEWS**** THIS JUST IN...
TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL(5/8/01, PAGE B7A) IS REPORTING THAT THE
CONSUMER SPENDING SPREE THAT FUELED THE US ECONOMIC BOOM OF THE LATE
1990'S WAS NEARLY THE ENTIRE DOING OF THE RICHEST 20% OF AMERICANS. YES
THAT IS CORRECT- THE RICHEST 20%.
Can someone with access to the online WSJ PLEASE post the entire article. I am reading the print copy.
This is indeed rather shocking news. Emily Somebody and Steve
Gilliard in a previous post declared that it was the poor and THEIR
spending that boosted the economy. They were also in favor of a tax cut
the targeted the poor. Of course, some very bright people using
economic analysis pointed out how tax cuts regardless of who gets it
benefits the entire economy. I hope we don't get more of the
Emily-Steve-type stupid analysis lacking an economic or factual
foundation on here again.
Name: Skeezer
Email: Date: Tue May 8 10:57:11 2001
Comment:
[blank] wrote: "Jobs like programmer, nurse, and plumber can't tolerate
anything but competence." Ah, if only that were really true of
programmers . . . it *is* usually true in the long term, but in the
short term horribly incompetent programmers can slide by, taking credit
for the work of others. The trouble is that managers usually lack the
skills to read code and see for themselves who is a good programmer, so
they are easily fooled. Great self-promoters are seen as great
programmers.
Name: DJMZ
Email: Date: Tue May 8 10:49:09 2001
Comment: THE REALITY IS
...that no one is going to pay you to have fun. It's all a
trade-off between how much crap you're willing to put up with in return
for how much money you think you need to make. You may have to redefine
"fun." Or become a capitalist yourself and get people working for you.
You and your Dad both still have jobs, so why the angst? He won't get
downsized 9 months before retirement, because his employer is afraid
that he'll sue. He can live off his pension for the rest of his life,
while the people who weren't lucky enough to get a pension, or chose to
work for themselves, make do on whatever they managed to save. You, on
the other hand, have the rest of your life to re-invent yourself. Don't
blame goons or other hobgoblins. Think about what you really want to
do, and how much risk you can stand, and how much money you really need
as opposed to want. It's obvious you're a thinker and a writer, so you
might start with that. You've only got one life. Start living it.
(And if looks are everything, how can we account for the success of Bill Gates?)
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 09:03:39 2001
Comment: the "world" is our camp.
Unfortunately, many see the parimeter of their "camp" at the fence around the parking lot.
Open your eyes
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 08:39:53 2001
Comment: I call it "corporate ecology". It's analogizable to the idea that you place your latrine downstream from your camp.
When you work to create an environment in which dishonesty is
encouraged you pollute the pool from which you draw. If you treat the
job getting process like a poker game you're going to make it harder to
find good work or get good emplyees because you'll have to spend time
cutting through layers of bullshit.
Would you hire a person who wears new shoes to an interview, or
would you hire a person who wears worn shoes that are kept in good
condition?
A person who wears new shoes to an interview cares enough to look
good, understands the value of appearance and the need to dress the
part.
The person who takes care of their older shoes understands all of
the above but also understands the value of his shoes and the need to
take care of them.
One can draw a larger set of conclusions about the person whose shoes are old but cared for.
Name: tHEdISSENTER
Email: Date: Tue May 8 08:16:51 2001
Comment: A few things....
To Blank: When you say--"And this article is more bullshit or at
least inaccurate, assuming it was written this year. "Enter my dad. At
64..." "as a child on a cotton farm in East Texas during the
Depression." MATH: He was born in 1937. The Depression was just about
over by then. He was a child on that cotton farm during World War 2,
which jump-started the economy."--I have no idea how old you are or
where you are, but the Depression and its effects lasted waaaayyyy into
WW2 in certain areas, especially the (still) economically depressed
area of East Texas; Texas isn't all like Austin or Dallas/Houston.
I think the point of this article is being missed by some: I am
ranting about, as Boris put it, the "trust fund babies". If your
employer is not paying vendors, missing payroll, losing funding, etc.,
and you say to yourself "Oh, gee, but we're the first online compnay to
give away fish food, and the banner ads will sustain us" then, yes, you
are naive. But not everyone in the company is the C-whatever-O or
Senior VP of whatever; if those people LIE about the company, then the
onus is upon them, not me. At my last job (NOT a dot-com), I left after
my biggest vendor called me the third time in two months about not
being paid; at that point, I moved on--and my old employer is still in
its death throes, and going down quick.
As for all of this Social Darwinism shit, we have this thing called
the law which is supposed to alleviate those Darwinistic urges of some.
Wait until the lawsuits (and there *will be* lawsuits) come against
these Goons/TrustFundTurds.
In short, I--along with all of *my* friends, colleagues,
etc.--understand the purpose of business: to make profit. It is not,
and should not be, a charity. But anyone who believes that that gives
these dot-com CEO assholes an excuse to rape and pillage should piss
off. There are companies that do treat their employees very
unDarwinian--and not only "make it", but thrive. And getting a job in
*those* places in tough because the turnover is low.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 08:04:20 2001
Comment: the employment agreement is "QUID PRO QUO".
allowing employers to hide behind a "cloak" of any kind simply sets
up a scenerio for dishonesty on the part of both parties, not a healthy
situation for a "quid pro quo" arrangement.
Besides, management is guilty of a double standard, demanding
disclosure on the part of the prospective employee but not feeling
compelled to reciprocate, Phenomenal arrogance.
How will this be enforced given the current system?, quite simply, it cant be.
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 07:41:27 2001
Comment: To the blank below who says that "First Boston doesn't represent capitalism."
Here's where it becomes impossible to have a discussion with guys
like you. You will never be held accountable for actually existing
capitalism. It doesn't matter how many people lose their jobs or how
much things get fucked up, if the company goes out of business, you'll
say the marketplace is working.
That's why Libertarians will never be taken seriously.
Name: Carl Guderian
Email:carlg@vermilion-sands.com Date: Tue May 8 05:03:57 2001
Comment:
Now, here's where a rogues' gallery of serial fuckups would come in
handy. These dotcom hucksters WILL turn up elsewhere, but where? Maybe
at YOUR company? It's easy to learn whether Chainsaw Al Dunlap has come
to "turn your company around" (which he failed to do at Sunbeam after
his celebrated mass layoffs).
Sticking to facts will protect such a database in the courts (in
the US at least) but not from bigfoot letters to the ISP. A secure and
mirrored server is needed. A database of willful stupidity (or outright
crime), trail of victims and last known corporate address would be a
boon not just to p[otential employees, but investors as well. The 10Q
series here is a great start (10Q beddy much!).
Government regulation is also a form of social darwinism, in which
the physically or economically weaker band together for advantage. The
ability to cooperate is also a survival skill. How else did we wipe out
the aurochs, mammoths, moas and (nearly) the buffaloes?
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:40:02 2001
Comment:
What's Latin for 'Employee Beware'? Caveat Servitor? That's probably a
recommendation Netslaves should be making: Ask employees to get their
employers to hand them bond rating reports or suchlike.
As for a law saying that employers MUST hand the information to an
employee upon employment, that would have both good and bad effects- it
would create knowledge but also inspire a fair amount of fear for
everyone concerned. And employees not terribly familiar with business'
inner workings would get screwed anyway.
Name: Blank number 1
Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:31:06 2001
Comment: "how can it be proved?"
Thats the point. It can't be. A company that doesn't deserve the
work of a competent employee gets him by scamming him. And the company
can't really be caught because it could say it thought it was going to
succeed.
The solution would be to hand the employee the equivalent of a bond
rating report, which are much more honest and thorough than anything
done by a stock analyst. The key here is to hand it to him. Not forcing
him to dig it up on his own.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:19:16 2001
Comment: Most of this sort of thing is already illegal, really. Ever hear of 'junk bonds'?
"If I'm offered a job and the guy hiring me knows the company probably won't be around in a year, He's committing fraud."
That is VERY hard to put into practice- how can it be proved
(except in truly egregrious cases) that the guy believes it won't be
around in a year? He can always say "Well, I THOUGHT it would work." in
court, and if his fellow management types all agree with him, how can
he be prosecuted if it looks like he's been trying to manage the
company to a future (and it always does look that way..)?
Sure, that's a problem, but what's the solution?
Name: Blank number 1
Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:12:41 2001
Comment: If I'm offered a job and the guy hiring me knows the company probably won't be around in a year, He's committing fraud.
He should tell me he doesnt have the ability to last the month
without extra financing, and he should let me decide whether I want the
temp job he offering me. Saying he should be able to hide deceit behind the cloak of capitalism doesn't make sense...
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:09:14 2001
Comment:
Just because it's a large organization doesn't mean it's the poster boy
for capitalism. If its policies cause it to lose money, it's not acting
capitalistically and is either going to change or continue to lose
money, crashing it into the ground and making room for savvier
capitalists.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:05:32 2001
Comment:
The employees? Many of them were being paid way too much money for the
work they did. Some of them weren't being paid enough- others were kept
on for six weeks + without ever seeing a paycheck (Geez, it's time to
give it up and/or start suing the CEO then). Still, getting fired isn't
the end of the world. One thing I see in common among most of the
people complaining about the fall of the dot-coms is that they still
have an idea of a semi-permanent company/worker relationship. It's not
permanent at all anymore, folks. Not in the least. You should ALWAYS be
updating your resume..
The fact that you don't think they checked out the business plans
at (say) First Boston shows that you know absolutely nothing about how
real capitalism works.
Try learning something about the bureaucratic culture of some of these big investment banks then get back to me.
Name: Blank number 1
Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:04:08 2001
Comment:
The guy at the bottom busting his ass has no idea his bosses are in it
for just the IPO. He has the stupid belief they're trying to make a
profit. Setting up a business for anything other than profit is not
capatalism. It's husksterism.
Name: Blank number 1
Email: Date: Tue May 8 02:00:00 2001
Comment: Take it out of the realm of business and look at it in the realm of the employee. Social Darwinism isnt so rosey.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:59:14 2001
Comment:
Yes, and WHY DID THEY, if they eventually lost money? Unless you're
talking about bribery (which is already quite illegal), they lost money
in the end. That means they were poor capitalists. Since they didn't
bother to actually check out business plans, and were caught up in the
the-internet-is-the-wave-of-the-future bullshit, they got screwed. It's
like being a bird living among cats all your life and suddenly being
pounced upon by a falcon. They never thought the whole thing could be
bullshit, which it was. In a similarly capitalist system with savvier
investors, this would never have happened.
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 01:54:49 2001
Comment:
I'm not blaming "the system." I'm merely stating the obvious. Over the
past fews years, major investment houses funded companies that had no
chances of being profitable. And I didn't invest in Internet stocks.
First Boston, Goldmann, etc. did.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:52:38 2001
Comment:
Going to blame capitalism for this, then? Why not just blame stupidity
and ignorance? No one was forced to pay for dot-com stock. The
investors only did so because they didn't know any better. Capitalism
does not reward VCs who lose money. What we have here is a simple
Darwinian evolution taking place within the system- people dumb enough
to invest in dot-com stock die off, people not dumb enough stick with
solid companies or are, themselves, the bastards who KNOW the company
has no future and simply sell at the highest point. The system's not to
blame for this. People not carefully examining companies are to blame
for this, but since you don't want to say that so many people can be
bamboozled at once due to stupidity, you blame the system instead.
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 01:44:44 2001
Comment:
Wrong. We're looking at how unfettered capitalism led to billions of
dollars in investment being spent on companies that had no chance of
making a profit.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:39:19 2001
Comment:
Excuse me, then. Business is going to make a profit or it's eventually
going to curl up and die. And, if you look at it from the dot-com
people's perspectives, they _ARE_ making a profit, it's just that the
business isn't B2B or B2C, the business is 'Let's get these investors
to pay top dollar for stock that will shortly be worth jack shit'. A
snake oil salesman is still, technically, running a business.
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 01:33:09 2001
Comment: This is really very funny considering it's on a site about Internet companies.
So either way, business is going to make a profit (because that's just what business does),
Name: Blank number 1
Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:31:58 2001
Comment: I suppose it is. And with tracert theres no privacy anyway...
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:29:05 2001
Comment: Why be sorry? Isn't causing confusion what using a blank name's all about? :)
Name: Blank number 1
Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:26:47 2001
Comment: I think Thomas was directing his comments to me. Sorry for the confusion
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:25:49 2001
Comment: Err, transportation COSTS, not restrictions.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:24:45 2001
Comment: "Do you want the government to put restrictions on capitalism or not?"
My answer: It doesn't matter.
Let's say the government passed a lot of anticapitalist measures
right now. Borders closed to immigration. Trade restrictions on
countries with poor labor laws. What happens? Well, the corps can't
make as much money, and the people living in America have a lower rate
of unemployment and are employed for more money, because labor is more
scarce. So what do the corps do? They raise prices, that's what the
hell they do. They won't have a choice. Some of the corporations may
suffocate, shrinking the economy. The prices of certain goods will go
through the roof, reducing everyone's real wages. People will march on
Washington with signs saying "WE WANT CHEAP COFFEE AGAIN!!" (And people
thought the anti-globalization protestors could be nasty!) Since
business will be very hard hit, it's going to be hell in Washington.
And all this time, the people 'helped' by the
you-can't-use-exploited-labor restrictions will be unemployed (the only
reason to hire them there is to exploit them- else transportation
restrictions make it not worth the while), possibly leading to more
violent revolution in their home countries. Exploitation or
unemployment/likely death by violence: pick one.
So either way, business is going to make a profit (because that's
just what business does), the CEOs of the companies will NOT have their
salaries reduced for anything (the dot-coms can tell you that much),
and people are going to get screwed.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:20:16 2001
Comment:
Thomas - I don't believe the best people get the best jobs. The idea of
Social Darwinism actually working is pretty much a crock. When I said
Darwinism sends the best people to the top, I was being sarcastic.
In my opinion, people are judged by looks before anything. Of
course society shouldn't protect good looking marketing airheads from
ugly trolls.
But it does.
Jobs like programmer, nurse, and plumber can't tolerate anything
but competence. Consequently, these jobs reflect society as it really
is. If your basement is flooded or your database crashes, cute doesn't
carry a whole lot of weight.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 01:10:49 2001
Comment: Okay. Let's find another state, and let's use gun control laws. How about.. Vermont?
You're all over the map here. Do you want the government to put restrictions on capitalism or not?
Are you saying that society should protect the good-looking
marketing airheads from the ugly computer trolls and the lazy-assed
suburban white Americans from the exploited immigrants, or are you
saying capitalism and the market should take it's course?
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:56:52 2001
Comment:
"Why protect inferior American workers from better, harder working
immigrants? If native born Americans are genuinely better then the
competition they'll win."
They ARE better, from the point of view of an employer. They'll
work longer and with less complaining, because they have lower
standards than the Americans they replace. This is why so many
manufacturers have outsourced to China and Vietnam, because the locals
will gladly work for a pittance and/or sell their children (literally)
to the factory owner.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:52:21 2001
Comment:
Steve- that's because plumbers have technical skill. In our
computerized world, the jobs that can't be done by computers are
getting paid quite highly compared to their past levels. And it takes
years of training to be a Registered Nurse.
As for welfare, one of the reasons it's succeeded in later years
(http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/news/stats/6090_ch2.htm) is because, instead
of simply throwing money at the problem as they do with the public
school system, they took an effort to actually GET PEOPLE OFF WELFARE
and make it the TEMPORARY thing it's supposed to be. Now they pay LESS
money and not more. (Wonder why they couldn't have done that during all
those other years?) So the solution was being LESS liberal with the
money given as handouts. Unfortunately, they haven't yet done anything
with the public school system (lots of money being thrown at teachers
in NY- and you can look at their students' SAT scores for the results
of that) and so there exist people who can't read their own diplomas.
Whatever the real solution is, I bet it won't involve throwing more
money at it.
"The only comparison I would feel comfortable in making is saying
that the states with the least government interference in local policy
have the highest rates of violence and poverty."
How about the District of Columbia?
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 00:45:49 2001
Comment: I don't think that anybody could argue with my original point.
The kind of society that creates the most attractive standard of living is a mixed economy.
Communism is bad because it stifles creativity and healthy
competition. No question about that. But uncontrolled capitalism leads
to the destruction of the environment and an underdeveloped
infrastructure.
And people who make the most money under the most uncontrolled form
of capitalism aren't necessarily the "best" people, but often the most
compulsive/single-minded.
But let's make a deal on the Social Darwinism issue. I think the
most logical policy is open immigration. Why protect inferior American
workers from better, harder working immigrants? If native born
Americans are genuinely better then the competition they'll win.
That's the one place where your closet variety web social darwinist
will never go. He'll always argue for restrictions on who can enter the
country.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:42:57 2001
Comment: You missed my point completely...
People are hired into jobs. If all was as it should be, they would be hired based on ability.
All isn't as it should be, and so they aren't.
Nursing in an incredibly technical, difficult occupation without a whole lot of room for anything but ability.
You can't charm your way through Database administration.
These jobs are filled with people who are there because of competence, and very little else.
You can't say that about the hiring practices of a typical
advertising firm, or even a typical consultancy. These sort of
companies hire, in my opinion based on attractiveness, and only then do
they look for some sort of competency.
Name: steve gilliard
Email:sgilliard@netslaves.com Date: Tue May 8 00:29:58 2001
Comment: Blank,
This is America. Today's janitor is tomorrow's accountant. Never
look down someone because of the job they do. You think because someone
has a white collar job, they're blessed?
Shit, plumbers make more money than some accounting drone. Nurses make more than marketing hotties.
Only a stupid man judges someone by the work they do.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:24:51 2001
Comment:
Racism aside, good paying jobs go to attractive people. With technical
skills becoming more and more necessary even for low level jobs, this
is becoming less and less true.
Name: steve gilliard
Email:sgilliard@netslaves.com Date: Tue May 8 00:24:25 2001
Comment: Blank,
You're actually wrong about social welfare programs in New York and
California. Those programs have been effective. Where they fail is in
the deep south. Welfare is not a boondoggle despite the myths. The
weakness was in not moving the middle third off the rolls into work.
Welfare reform was amazing popular among the working class who tired of
seeing their neighbors sit on their asses all day. Because 1/3rd moved
off within two years and 1/3rd isn't moving off, ever.
Actually, comparing New York, which historically has very strict
gun laws, especially in New York City, where a third of the state's
population resides, and Texas, is not fair.
Also, only Texas's eastern counties are Southern, not Houston or Dallas.
The only comparison I would feel comfortable in making is saying
that the states with the least government interference in local policy
have the highest rates of violence and poverty.
And to move it out of the south, New Hampshire is poorer than Massachusetts
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:20:09 2001
Comment: Careful, I think Tom's going to pop if we poke him too much..
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 00:18:35 2001
Comment:
Yeah. Most of the people who work in the Deli near me are cute Asian
immigrant girls. Most of the people in typical marketing department are
ugly white yuppies.
Compare the grace and athleticism of the typical working-class
Latin immigrant in the Bronx to his ugly, red faced beefy preppy facist
pig brother in CT.
No contest. The genetic scum has the most money.
Your point?
(Compare the people who work in your marketing
department with the people who work in your
cafateria. Notice anything?)
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:16:41 2001
Comment:
And Minnesota has a teacher's salary $10K LOWER than New York. Oh, and
anyone wanting to add some racism to the mix can go ahead and check out
the Census Bureau's stats on % of whites, or try
http://www.polisci.com/almanac/legis/state/(state abbreviation).htm for
info on minorities.
See? Playing with statistics is FUN!
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 00:15:48 2001
Comment: Why not compare New Hampshire to New Jersey:
New Hampshire Violent Crimes/100,000 Population: 440.1
New Jersey Violent Crimes/100,000 Population, 1998: 107.2
That's per 100,000 population, by the way, and it probably even includes Tony Soprano.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:12:06 2001
Comment: Social Darwinism does send the best people to the top. It just depends on how you define best.....
Take a good hard look at the new hires for a top accounting firm.
Compare them to the new hires at a tire store.
Look at the people at the airport who can afford to fly and compare them to the people at the bus station.
Compare the people who work in your marketing
department with the people who work in your
cafateria. Notice anything?
Go to a large advertising firm and try to pick out
the janitor and the security guard. Not that hard, is it?
Fortunately, God invented computers so ugly people could get good jobs.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 8 00:09:56 2001
Comment: *snicker* He's comparing direct numbers without dividing by the population! Look at him go! Woo! ROFL..
Sure, Texas is a more murderous place. But no one ever said it
wasn't. Why not go to Colorado instead (right in the Red Zone of
Republican voting, and another place where ye olde Railroad Barons made
their mark) and check things out there?
And when you compare that teacher's salary to the SAT scores in NY
and TX (NY wins.. by a grand total of four points. Love the return on
investment there!), you get an idea of just how efficient the public
school system really is. Joy! Let's pay them _MORE_ money to not
educate our children, shall we?
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Tue May 8 00:02:23 2001
Comment: Texas:
Verbal SAT Score (1999) 494
Math SAT Score (1999) 499
Minnesota:
Verbal SAT Score (1999) 586
Math SAT Score (1999) 598
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Mon May 7 23:51:17 2001
Comment: New York (murders in 1998) 924
Texas (murders in 1998) 1,346
New York (average teacher salary) $49,437.00
Texas (average teacher salary) $35,041.00
You're making this much too easy.
Name: Email: Date: Mon May 7 23:41:57 2001
Comment:
Heh, how about New York? Or California. They elected two Democrats for
Senators. It's really easy to pick a state with a history of violence
and say "that's the unfettered capitalism". How about all the failed
social programs with money being poured by the buckets into the inner
cities with STILL NO MEANINGFUL RESULTS? Your attempt of correlating
capitalism and violence is pathetic at best.
Anyone who wants certain stats can go here:
http://www.nheconomy.com/statecompare.html?comparestate=(pick a state's abbreviation)
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Mon May 7 22:59:50 2001
Comment: Nope. You can pretty much look at the number.
The most violent parts of the US are (the ones that also have the
most executions) the ones with the tradition of unfettered capitalism.
The least violent states (like Minnnesota) are the ones with a
history of socialism/progressivism. Check out the murder rate in Texas
with the murder rate in any "liberal" state and see what you find.
Oh yeah. And as for Social Darwinism sending the "best" people to
the top. How do you explain the monkey in the White House. Surely there
are several million people more qualified then he is.
Name: Email: Date: Mon May 7 22:55:15 2001
Comment: "The American South is fucked, violent, culturally barren."
Where the hell do you live?
Fucked? Not in the sense of the countries I'm referring to. Not
fucked at all, really. There's some racial antagonism that needs to be
gotten over and some poverty, but the South isn't that much different
from the North. At least that's what my Net friends living there tell
me.
Violent? Depends where you are. As the rest of America, the
violence is largely in the inner cities where poverty is high,
education is low, and futures are bleak. Did you have a statistical
abstract in your hand as you typed that?
Culturally barren? What the fuck ever. I'm not from there so I'm going to let the locals deal with that one.
And as for the mixed/social democratic economy, you better watch
how you're mixing it.. I don't have a statistical abstract in my hand,
either, but I've heard bad things about European unemployment.
Name: Ertischek
Email: Date: Mon May 7 22:48:59 2001
Comment: Wood or wire?
only connect
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Mon May 7 22:36:18 2001
Comment:
Actually, the places in the world most attractive to live are those
with a mixed/social democratic economy. The American South is fucked,
violent, culturally barren. Amsterdam and Boston are rather nice, are
they not?
Communism AND Social Darwinism are both bad. But I thought we all understood this a long time ago.
Name: Blank
Email: Date: Mon May 7 22:10:59 2001
Comment:
Look at the locals cry when someone introduces an opposing world-view
(in this case, Social Darwinism, the theory that people naturally rise
to their own level of ability). There is FAR too much bullshit going on
in the American economy for the theory to actually be testable. What
CAN be said for Social Darwinism is that it espouses a long-known fact:
a fool and his money are soon parted.
It is, however, possible to test capitalism versus communism, and
the states that have undergone communist (workers', the proletariat's,
pick a word) revolution are.. ah.. a little bit FUCKED right now.
And this article is more bullshit or at least inaccurate, assuming it was written this year.
"Enter my dad. At 64..."
"as a child on a cotton farm in East Texas during the Depression."
MATH: He was born in 1937. The Depression was just about over by
then. He was a child on that cotton farm during World War 2, which
jump-started the economy.
Name: Thomas Muntzer
Email:muntzer@peasantsrevolt.com Date: Mon May 7 21:39:37 2001
Comment:
I never really took the kind of (almost always men) who read Ayn Rand
and spouted Social Darwinism seriously until I started spending a lot
of time on the web.
But they have to be dealt with in some way. It's not enough merely
to remember that they were the kind of drippy kids who watched Star
Trek and got beat up by the football team and who now live out their
fantasies of being the "alpha male" on the Internet. They have a party
line. It's constinstent. They have support in academia (Charles Murray)
and a lot of sympathy in the mainstream press. They will bring their
arguments anywhere (including, bizarrely enough, a personal recollation
of bad choices like the one above), and they vote.
We really need the anti-Bell Curve, a book that will serve as the
basis for our "meme" the way the Bell Curve and Ayn Rand serve as
theirs. Unfortunately, Marx and Paolo Friere don't really seem to cut
it.
Name: bill
Email:bill@netslaves.com Date: Mon May 7 21:35:26 2001
Comment: Folks,
The Graduate was more than a movie about the 60s. The whole
"plastic" line set up a system a meaning that pervades the entire work.
Plastic goes from an abstract concept to the image of the frogman
in the fish tank to Dustin Hoffman in the pool to questions about
"containment" (or lack of freedom). The next association is the houses
as containers to Mrs. Robinson's jungle trap to questions about
marriage and the bonds traditional relationships. Should we just follow
the rules or look for something more? Think of the image of Hoffman
banging against the plastic in the church -- it's the fish tank all
over again. And then, when they flee the church (tradition) with glee
they find themselves on the bus (another container) and look at
themselves as if to say, "What now?"
No, I'm not crazy. That stuff *is* there and Nichols is a genius.
Also, I just want to give the Dissenter a thumbs up. I too went to
school to learn something. I was a fool. But I got more out of the
experience than people who just saw college as pre-career training.
Name: steve gilliard
Email:sgilliard@netslaves.com Date: Mon May 7 21:10:26 2001
Comment: Yourpoints,
The Graduate was a film of its era. Look up Roger Ebert's reviews
of classic films for a fuller explaination. But I hate to disappoint
you, that film is pretty much part of the collective memory. So is
shooting people in the Mekong Delta.
See, the deal was supposed to be you go to college and get a good job, not a crappy one. That's not part of the deal. Or wasn't.
Ebroke,
Please do not post full-length articles here. Fair use does apply.
Blank,
You're right. The bosses, if they came from a middle class
background, do not hate the average worker. It is the trusties who
fucked everything up. Badly.
Po,
There has never been a correlation between work and ability. Why do
you think unions and civil service and civil rights laws were created.
To introduce fairness into an unfair process. People hire their
friends, and fire strangers.
Most social darwninsts are full of shit, no, gutless wimps. I place
them into a truly Darwinst environment and they would cry like babies.
Prison, boot camp, they are all worlds away from these bullshit power
games they think they can play. Social Darwinism is an excuse for being
a fucking bully.
Name: yourpointis?
Email: Date: Mon May 7 17:52:36 2001
Comment:
Who's collective cultural memory is being lost? Middle-class white
America? The Graduate didn't speak to alot of Americans - as a movie or
a social statement. It was entertainment - pure & simple . . .
I guess I'm angry because most of the posts here lately reek of a
sense of entitlement. I guess it's only the college educated who are
entitled to feel like they got fucked. Let me give you a little
history, people, remember NAFTA a few short years ago? Folks have been
losing their jobs for quite some time - to quote Latinist "this shit
ain't new". Get a life, grab a newspaper and get a job! We've all done
crappy jobs for little money - that's how we continue to eat.
Name: Latinist
Email: Date: Mon May 7 17:34:21 2001
Comment: That he made it to 36 without seeing The Graduate speaks volumes of collective cultural memory being lost.
Read your history. This shit ain't new. You're not unique.
Nil Novi Sub Sole.
Name: nonplussed
Email:dallaswriter01@yahoo.com Date: Mon May 7 15:34:19 2001
Comment: I have two words for a few of you in here: ANGER MANAGEMENT.
Name: Boris K. Fabian
Email: Date: Mon May 7 15:10:18 2001
Comment: With apologies to Willie the Shake:
The first thing we do is kill all the trust fund babies..
Name: ebroke
Email: Date: Mon May 7 15:01:48 2001
Comment: Car Repossessors Boom in Silicon Valley
As Tech Firms Struggle Amid Slowdown
By SUEIN HWANG
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- At 4:40 a.m., James Kevern is on the hunt,
charging down dark suburban streets in an unmarked white truck. "We've
got to hurry," he says. "We got a tip he leaves the house at 5:30."
His quarry is a computer-company worker who recently lost his job.
The man's loss is Mr. Kevern's gain. Mr. Kevern is a repo man, and the
boom times are finally returning for his industry in Silicon Valley.
Mr. Kevern's truck cruises past a ranch-style home. The lights are
on and the newspaper is still in the driveway. But his prey is missing.
Eyes narrowing, Mr. Kevern slowly navigates through the subdivision. On
a hunch, he turns right and shines his flashlight down a side street.
"Bingo!" he cries.
Without leaving his cab, Mr. Kevern pushes a few buttons. The metal
jaws of a contraption called the Dynamic 601-b self-loading boom emerge
from the truck, pass under a new Mercury Cougar, and turn outward to
lift its front wheels. Barely a minute later, Mr. Kevern's truck
hurries from the scene, the Cougar in tow.
In repo-man lingo, Mr. Kevern has just "popped" the car, and there
is a lot more popping to be done these days. The technology-stock bust
is whipsawing through Silicon Valley, stranding numerous tech workers
with the expensive mortgages and fancy cars of a lifestyle they can no
longer afford. Mr. Kevern says automobile repossessions have tripled
during the past year for his office, the San Jose branch of Daybreak
Auto Recovery Inc. What's more, repo trucks here are more likely to be
dragging along a 2000 Lexus than a 1987 Chevy.
"We're getting a lot of new loans that have gone bad very quickly,"
says Mr. Kevern's boss, Brent Doyle, president of Daybreak, based in
Sebastopol, Calif. In the past year, he's seen a 50% jump in car loans
where borrowers defaulted on their first payment.
Mr. Kevern agreed to let a reporter ride along one night under the
condition that his targets not be identified. As he drives off with the
Cougar, a newscaster on his truck radio reports that Cisco Systems
Corp. will be eliminating thousands of jobs. He pauses for a moment to
listen.
In Cisco's Lot
Mr. Kevern knows Cisco well, or at least its parking lots. In the
past year, he figures he has lifted more than 50 cars from Cisco
employees, some from just outside company offices. A recent hunt led
him to a Cisco parking lot and a Lexus SUV that he couldn't move
because of its four-wheel drive. He phoned the owner for the keys. "He
hadn't made a payment in one year," Mr. Kevern says. "He refused to let
go of the car and called security. He actually started crying."
Deciding not to cause more of a scene, Mr. Kevern left without the
vehicle.
Good times, bad times: Daybreak Auto Recovery demonstrates how the
Dynamic 601 b self loading boom repossesses a Porsche, a frequently
'popped' make. Did he feel bad about making a grown man cry? "Oh please," he
says. "I've been in this business 15 years and I'll tell you what makes
me feel bad -- the elderly, mothers with kids. These guys at computer
companies and dot-coms, they live above their means. You should see the
credit reports on them. It's incredible."
It's still dark when Mr. Kevern tows the Cougar into the
chained-off lot alongside his office. There, it joins a dozen other
autos, most of them nearly new. There's a Cadillac, a couple of Ford
Mustangs and a red Mercedes coupe. Two cars are so new their license
plates still have dealer tags. "Porsches are dime a dozen these days,"
Mr. Kevern says.
Where the Boom Was a Bust
Mr. Kevern's Silicon Valley boom was long in coming. Through most
of the 1990s, much of the repo industry struggled because of tighter
bank-lending practices and recession-stung consumers who were careful
not to overextend themselves. Then, for a time, the massive wealth
created during the Internet euphoria kept repossessions to a minimum as
well. But now, as layoffs rise and companies fold, repo men -- and they
are mostly men -- are bullish all around San Francisco Bay.
At the American Electronics Association Credit Union, a Sunnyvale,
Calif., bank whose members work for technology companies, the list of
cars "out for repo" in February topped 150, twice as many as the year
before. "When we hear about layoffs," says Michael Roman, a manager at
United Road Services Inc., which runs one of the largest national repo
chains in the country, "we get all excited."
Automotive repossessors are paid per pop, with rates ranging
anywhere from $300 for an easy job to $10,000 for a multiyear hunt for
an antique roadster. (Mr. Kevern's firm got $300 for the Cougar.) Their
clients are banks, credit unions, car dealerships or anyone else who
has a security interest in a vehicle. The repossessed cars usually go
to the auction block. But sometimes the owners pay up and get the car
back. Daybreak, which pops around 300 cars a month, is one of the
larger companies in an industry still dominated by mom-and-pop
businesses. It was recently acquired by Advanced Wireless Systems Inc.,
a tiny high-speed Internet-service provider based in Alabama that has
been struggling amid the telecom bust. The company saw Daybreak as a
means to strengthen its bottom line and show a profit.
Veteran repo men typically earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year.
A 45-year-old father of three grown children, Mr. Kevern spent years
working as a chef at bay-area restaurants before his passion for cars
led him to become the manager of a Ferrari dealership in Los Gatos.
Fifteen years ago, he helped another repossessor find a car and like
many good repo men, found himself enjoying the excitement of the hunt.
He's been in the business ever since.
His typical work day runs from 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
in the field searching for vehicles, followed by a couple of hours at
the office. Off the job, he drives a rare 1971 AMC Javelin that he
restored himself; like most other repo men, he owns his car outright.
At 5 a.m., Mr. Kevern is back in his truck. Driving north on Route
101 as the sun begins to rise, he explains the unique challenges of
dealing with the technological elite. "The intelligent ones try every
trick in the book," he says.
Explorer Expedition
His next target is one of them. He pulls up to a San Jose apartment
complex near manicured lawns and tile-roofed homes. "This lady has
worked for a few tech companies, and I've chased her everywhere," he
says. "She has a million-dollar house but can't make payments on her
Explorer." He gets out of his truck and walks into the gated parking
lot, which is littered with Lexuses and BMWs. He returns after a few
minutes. "Nope, not there," he shrugs. He has tried to snatch the
Explorer more than five times.
Unlike the repossessors in the 1983 cult-classic movie "Repo Man,"
who lift cars with just a few hotwiring tools and skinny "slims" that
lift locks, Silicon Valley repo men need considerably more elaborate
instruments. Instead of the open carports and driveways of the
middle-class, they must deal with the gated communities and sealed
garages of the upper middle-class, not to mention the latest in
European antitheft technology. Under California law, repossessors can
go onto private property, including parking lots, to get a vehicle
because they represent the legal owner. But they can't enter a property
that's gated and locked.
To boost their odds of success, repossessors increasingly rely on
high-tech, specially outfitted tow trucks with contraptions like Mr.
Kevern's Dynamic 601-b. Another favorite piece of equipment, the
"illusion truck," hides the towing apparatus entirely in its bed, so
the vehicle looks like an ordinary pick-up until it does its deed.
None of these gadgets solve one of the biggest headaches of Silicon
Valley repo men: what they describe as the lingering arrogance of
suddenly impoverished Valleyites. "High-tech people suck to deal with,"
Mr. Kevern says. "They act like they're above it. They hide from us,
screen their voicemail, then are all surprised when we're holding their
car."
'A Shocking Jolt'
Personal-bankruptcy lawyers say that of all the indignities
presented by financial hardship, there are few experiences as
traumatizing as confronting a repo man. "It's a shocking jolt," says
Ike Shulman, a San Jose-based personal bankruptcy attorney who is
experiencing his own uptick in business these days.
Near 6:30 a.m., Mr. Kevern heads to his favorite diner, a joint
called Flames, where waitresses and other regulars greet him warmly.
Sipping his coffee, he recounts the day last month when he went after
three luxury cars at once with a combined value of more than $150,000
-- a Mercedes, a BMW and a Lincoln. All three were being leased by a
woman living with her "dot-com boyfriend." According to Mr. Kevern, she
thought the boyfriend was going to make the payments, but then he lost
his job.
Mr. Kevern has a few tricks for dealing with the young and
still-affluent-at-heart. One of his most successful strategies is to
hit the parking lots of popular Valley hangouts such as Steamer's the
Grillhouse, which serves Moroccan seared tuna and other delicacies in a
pastel colored room. Even if the owners of the cars notice him there,
they are usually too embarrassed to make a scene, Mr. Kevern says. "The
safest repo in the world," he explains, "is when they're eating."
After the brief diner refueling, it's off to Los Gatos, one of
Silicon Valley's tony suburbs. For weeks, Mr. Kevern has been trying to
repossess a van leased by a small technology company, but a visit to
the firm's offices told him only that it has gone out of business. Mr.
Kevern pulls up in front of a modest home at 7:30 a.m. and knocks on
the door. This is the second time he has visited this house in search
of the van.
A young man -- a former employee of the company and the listed
lessee of the van -- comes to the door wearing a gray sweatshirt and a
sheepish, befuddled expression. Behind him, an older couple stares
curiously -- his parents, Mr. Kevern concludes.
The young man shifts uneasily, saying little as Mr. Kevern talks in
a calm but stern voice. "The easiest thing to resolve this is to tell
me where the van is."
The young man hesitantly suggests that the head of the now-defunct
company knows where the van is. "Talk to him," says Mr. Kevern. "Tell
him we can do a claim and delivery, which means we can get a judgment
against you. If you don't find the van, we can come out with the
sheriff's department. And if this other guy doesn't have the van, they
can arrest you." Finally, the young man offers his former boss's
address.
Now it's time to race the clock; Mr. Kevern worries the young man
is going to call the former company head to warn him of Mr. Kevern's
arrival. He follows morning traffic down Highway 280, past enormous
Spanish-style mansions. As he zooms by Apple Computer Inc.'s
headquarters, Mr. Kevern laughs. "It's unbelievable how many cars I got
from that lot -- 100 cars easily," he says.
What about Sun Microsystems Inc., whose shares are down 75% from
their 52-week high last fall? "Lots -- about the same as Cisco." And
Intel Corp., whose shares have been slammed but is known for its frugal
corporate culture? "It varies -- we don't get their executives, mostly
factory workers."
Just recently, a new company appeared on the horizon: "Last month," he says, "I got a couple people who work for Yahoo."
Exiting the freeway, Mr. Kevern enters Los Altos, one of the
wealthiest neighborhoods in Silicon Valley. "This is major money over
here," he says, as a parade of Volvos, Mercedes and Lexuses pass by. He
drives up to a rambling brick house on a street of perfectly landscaped
homes that face the stunning green hills of a park. A sign in front
indicates the house is for sale; a brochure fixes the asking price of
$1.3 million. There's no van in sight. Mr. Kevern marches through the
garden and knocks on the front door.
'We're Embarrassing Them'
He's back less than five minutes later, after the door was slammed
in his face. "That's the usual attitude with rich people because we're
embarrassing them with our tow truck," he says.
But before the slam, the man behind the door gave Mr. Kevern
another name and address -- and a few days later, at 3:00 a.m., Mr.
Kevern finds the van parked in front of another company. The Web-site
address of the defunct company that leased the vehicle has been
partially erased from the van's side.
It's 10 a.m. when Mr. Kevern returns to the office. Five targets,
one strong lead and one pop: not too bad for a typical night. He
strokes the office cat and reflects on those he's made carless. "They
weren't thinking about their companies, they were just thinking about
all the money they were going to make," he says.
Silicon Valley's reluctance to give up its cars is a remnant of the
great optimism that led to their purchase in the first place, adds Mr.
Kevern's boss, Mr. Doyle. "You find a lot of lottery tickets in
repossessed cars," he says. "It's their last hope."
Name: tHEdISSENTER
Email: Date: Mon May 7 15:00:45 2001
Comment: To: The_Awful_Truth
1. And why is it that "teaching or working with the handicapped" is
so noble? According to your first post, we're all just Darwinian
creatures, weeding out the sick & infirm, right? Or I'm
"bullshit(ing) (my)self() into thinking that reality doesn't apply" to
me, right? Your two posts seem to contradict themselves--am I to do
something "noble" or fuck over anyone I can at will? Make up your mind,
then come back.
2. When I wrote I didn't understand "what makes businesses really
work", this was a concept you may not have heard of; it's called
sarcasm. As in the fuck-offs who have ran this "New Economy" have
basically been frat-rat wankers who most definitely don't understand
how real businesses work (i.e. Razorfish, idealab!, etc.). I don't deny
that ass-kissing is, and will always be, part of the reality of work.
So, hey--check outthat sarcasm thing; it can be really funny.
3. I don't know how old *you* are, but "clueless" may be better
suited to you, who imagines themselves the purveyor of all that is
obvious (i.e. nature is inherently Darwinian) yet ignores that, like it
or not, this DotBomb is about the perils of incivility, whether to
investors or customers or the poor bastards who actually do the fucking
work.
4. So how many "hospitals and schools in the third world" have
*you* built lately? Mighty unDarwinian of you. Flame back--if the
strong and powerful haven't crushed your newly-compassionate life out
of you.
Most of the amoral SOB's on the top of your "food chain" are stand
up honest individuals. I've been corporate for many years. I've seen,
been frinds with, drank with these people. from Katz to Bertlesmann.
They do not let me repeat DO NOT have any disdain for the people under
them or want to gobble them up. The problems are with the Trust-Fund
babies monkey-boy! Could you perhaps be one of them? They don't start
cleaning their room until they figure out that girls don't think old
containers of Chineese Food is not sexy. They then pretend to be
homeless on the streets of New York for a week or so in order to feel
more "connected". Then after a 6 year drug binge in Ivy-League under
and grad school are released into the HONEST WORKING MAN'S WORLD TO GO
AND FUCK EVERYTHING UP. This has nothing to do with Darwin asshole.
Name: Dave
Email: Date: Mon May 7 14:45:19 2001
Comment: Social Darwinists suck. But then, that's their niche.
Name: MasterPo
Email: Date: Mon May 7 14:37:15 2001
Comment: While the author may be naive, he has stumbled into the dirty
little truth of our time - hard work and ability is only a mere
fraction of what it takes to be highly successful as an employee these
days.
I make no illusions about it. Who you know, where you grew up and
went to school, how well you brown nose the boss etc have always been
factors in the work place. And always will be. As long as people are
emotional creatures it won't go away.
But there was (or at least seemed to be) a reasonable correlation
between hard good work and advancement. Now, you can get fired because
you aren't friends with your co-workers. Yup. Your work is fine, you
follow all the rules and policies, and you didn't cost the company a
big customer. But because your co-workers don't like you, they can get
you fired. That's what happens when the fraternity boys grow up and run
a business.
Name: The_Awful_truth
Email: Date: Mon May 7 14:33:43 2001
Comment:
You're right, dardan; humans are different. I guess that explains why
most of the complaints you see here about underwater options is because
most dot-commers were planning to use their new wealth to build
hospitals and schools in the third world, right???
If tHEdISSENTER had been trying to do something really noble---like
teaching or working with the handicapped, for example---and had been
shafted by "The Goon," then his whining would have some merit. But he
deceived himself into thinking "The New Economy" was going to make him
(and his ilk) wealthy and secure without having to get his hands
dirtied with that disgusting business-type stuff. He fully admits he
doesn't understand how business works, and business works like nature:
there is a food chain, and the most ammoral SOBs are on top of it. Is
this really news to anyone, especially at age 36?
A film has already been made that's more unique (or did you mean
"relevant"?) to the dot-com generation than "The Graduate." It was
called "Dumb and Dumber."
Name: School Yard Bully
Email: Date: Mon May 7 14:32:50 2001
Comment: To The_Awful_Truth
Hey Faggot. Yeah. I mean you. Told you you'd still remember me.
What did I tell you. I told you that 20 years from now you'd still be
remembering how I kicked your ass.
And you do. I made your world view faggot. I left you thinking that
you're no better than an ape. You were too weak to resist me. Good.
Stay in your place.
Name: Email: Date: Mon May 7 14:28:44 2001
Comment: In fact while we're at it, let's liquify the dead and feed them to the living and get it all over with.
Name: Email: Date: Mon May 7 14:26:04 2001
Comment: When the small weak and slow get bags of money tossed at them Darwin starts rolling in his grave.
Name: dardan
Email: Date: Mon May 7 13:55:09 2001
Comment:
Awful Tooth: yes, we're creatures of nature, just barely left from
swinging in the trees. But we also have this thing called
"civilization", which separates us from animals; where we (try to) help
the weak (those who need it, like the sick & injured) among other
things.
As far as remaking "The Graduate", well, even though the addage
"what's new is old", let's try to do something a little more unique to
our generation, instead of all of this "retro" bullshit.
"Dream big, it doesn't cost more."
Name: The_Awful_Truth
Email: Date: Mon May 7 13:38:27 2001
Comment: "Call me a dreamer, but I thought that hard work and truth were important."
No, you are not a dreamer. You are a naive fool.
Nature is inherently Darwinian---the big, strong, and fast eat the
small, weak, and slow. You think humans are any different from bears,
lions, snakes, toads, etc.? The only real difference is that humans
have the ability to bullshit themselves into thinking that reality
doesn't apply to them---like you do, for example.
How does someone make it to age 36 and be so clueless???
