Business | Logical Republican

February 2012
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Dec
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29

Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Omni Berkshire Hotel in New York, Unions and the Mafia

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Is organized crime involved with union affairs in New York City? Is the mob involved with their daily operations, work stoppages and protests?

I was in Manhattan last week, and while on my way to a meeting there was a big commotion with banging drums and a group chanting, “union…union…” across the street from the Omni Berkshire Hotel on 52nd and Madison. There was a 10-foot tall inflatable rat placed in the street directly in front of the hotel’s main entrance to imply the hotel’s management is rodent-like in their dealings with their particular union.

Omni Berkshire Hotel New York Union Protests and The Mafia

It was a small gathering, maybe 20 guys who looked like rugged dudes from Hollywood Central Casting, if there indeed was a call for longshoreman and construction workers. The guys were mostly standing around looking like rugged union members tend to look, while a couple of loud-mouths did the screaming into a distorted bullhorn.

And then I saw him, in the sea of ruggedness, there he was. We made eye contact, and I made him. He wasn’t rugged, and he wasn’t a loudmouth. He was standing behind the barricade next to the HVAC guys, looking like a leftover from a Soprano’s episode. He didn’t wear a well-worn paint-stained t-shirt like the rest of the guys, calloused hands or a weathered leathery skin from decades of working in the elements. No, he had perfectly combed, slicked-back hair, a designer sweater and gold chain around his neck. It wasn’t a Sir Mix-A-Lot rope chain, but it wasn’t purchased at Zale’s for $99.00 either.

He looked how “muscle” is supposed to look, or at least how it’s portrayed in the movies.

Could he have been there to protect the “interests” of someone or some group, or protect the union workers from being harassed by hotel security or a local beat cop? Maybe.

Could he have simply been the well-dressed son of one of the protesters hanging out in the middle of the afternoon showing solidarity and support for his dad’s union? Maybe.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: 52nd madison, mafia, manhattan, mob, New York City, omni berkshire hotel, organized crime, protest, sir mix a lot, strike, the sopranos, unions
Posted in Business, Political Satire, Politics, The Economy | No Comments »

MBE MWBE Minority And Women Owned Business Scams

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Are you a white guy or maybe you know a white guy who owns a business or company that bids on government business and keeps losing out on work to minority and/or women-owned businesses because they get preference on certain contracts?

Yes, we all know how ridiculous these programs are – where a wealthy kid from let’s say, Singapore, comes to America to get his MBA on daddy’s dime. He then gets a gig at Company X who agrees to sponsor his H-1 Visa so he can get a Green Card.

Packing his Green Card and on his way to citizenship, he ventures out on his own and opens up Singapore Sling, the latest in military weaponry – laser-directional stealth slingshots, and your direct competition.

Now with citizenship paperwork in hand, our newly-minted American is bidding on government contracts, and since he is now a certified MBE, the acronym for a minority-owned business, his operation now gets bidding preference over your true-blue American company on certain set-aside contracts.

Let’s review and get this straight: He comes from a country where he is of the majority, not disadvantaged or poor, but comes to the land of milk and honey and low-and-behold, he’s now a disadvantaged minority! All he has to do is make sure all his family money is off-shore in his family’s name and he’s set.

What to do now, Mr. Non-Person-Of-Color? Guess what…you, too, can own one of these Minority-Owned companies, Mr. White Man!

I am assuming you are single and straight.

Go to a mail-order-bride website and choose a girl from a country where the people are yellow, brown or black hued and get hitched. Of course not all brown people, Africans or Asians are considered minorities, so choose wisely.

Next, jump through the ICE hoops and bring her home. Soon thereafter she will get her Green Card and a few years after that she can be a full-fledged US Citizen, although in New York and some other states, she doesn’t even need to be a citizen for MWBE certification.

New York MWBE Program Certifies Non-Citizens

Teach her the ropes so she understands the business model, print up some cards saying she is the President and CEO, give her 51% of the stock, and you are now in a winning position. Your slingshots are now getting even more of a preference over Singapore Sling’s because your wife is not only a minority; she’s a woman, too! The only thing that would make it better was if she happened to be disabled. Hmmm!

Yes, folks, this is how absurd our government’s programs are – a rich SOB from another country can come here for school and just because he happens to be the correct shade on the color bar, he is now a disadvantaged minority – even though he never experienced discrimination, never heard of Rosa Parks and only is familiar with Martin Luther King because of the holiday.

Pathetic.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: disadvantaged minority, green card, h-1 visa, mbe, minority owned business, mwbe, nylovesmwbe.ny.gov, person of color, resident alien, set aside contracts, women owned business
Posted in Business, Community, Political Satire, Politics, Race and Ethnicity | No Comments »

Avis Rent-A-Car Scam Rip-Off at LAX

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Avis Rent A Car is running a scam, a rip-off, actually, charging $13.99 for Fuel Service, refunding the fee only if you complain.

I was in Los Angeles for business yesterday and needed a car for the day, and I reserved a car online for about $50.00, including taxes and fees.

After dropping off the car, I took the shuttle back to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), and looked at my receipt. Much to my surprise, there was a $13.99 charge for Fuel Service.

I was asked when at the counter if I wanted the “Fuel Option” where they charge you a full tank’s price regardless of how many miles you drove prior to taking possession of the car, but I declined, and said I would fill the tank, which I did at the gas station down the block from the return lot.

I called the 1-800 number on the back of the receipt and asked why I was charged $13.99. The semi-cordial customer service representative told me it was “a standard charge.” I asked why is it standard when I declined the fuel option and filled up the tank on own. She said it “just was,” without elaborating further. She then told me she would remove the $13.99 from my credit card bill “because I was unhappy with the charge.”

Please re-read the reason, “Because I was unhappy with the charge!” It was not because of an error, but because I complained. I am wondering just how many people actually check and complain and how many $13.99’s they have banked.

I am smelling a class-action lawsuit against Avis, unless I really missed something here.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: avis rent a car, class action lawsuit, fuel service fee, lax, rip-off, scam
Posted in Business, The Economy | No Comments »

Google look alike site Goojjle launches in China

Monday, February 8th, 2010

China once is again showing why patents and copyrights are meaningless, and why companies who hold such intellectual property cannot trust the Chinese government. A Google look-alike site called Goojjle has launched in China, yes, China allows a fake Google.

Goojjle a Chinese Google Look Alike

Google has had a well-publicized spat with the Chinese government regarding its alleged hacking of gmail accounts, and threatened to leave the country. This bodes well for Baidu, the Chinese-run search engine, and the rip-off artists who take others’ ideas and copy them for their own profit, without risk of backlash from the lawless Chinese government.

A similar site in a country with enforceable laws would have been taken down almost immediately, with cease and desist letters sent within minutes of Google’s legal department becoming aware of the site.

It is pretty clear that China’s government is no friend of the United States legal system, and has no interest in enforcing laws within its borders so long as it can benefit monetarily. Our government seems to turn the blind eye when it comes to foreign relations with China, not wanting to upset them for fear of something, of which I am not certain.

While I am a huge proponent of using their limitless labor pool which helps us monetize the Chinese market from sales of McDonalds, Coke and eBay, any company that decides to use this labor to build a patented product should do so at their own risk.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: baidu, china, copyright laws, fake google, google, goojjle, patents
Posted in Business, Politics, The Economy | No Comments »

Dummies Guide to Scamming the United States Government for Immigrants and Foreigners

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

With all the scams being run on the U.S. government, I am surprised there is not a Dummies Guide to Scamming for U.S. Government for foreigners, and immigrants, legal or otherwise.

If you are born in this country, and middle-class, you are out of luck for most everything – even with the Barack Obama for Middle Class crock pot speech last night. Double down on the child care credit, wow, thanks.

Mr. President, $85,000 in Butte, Montana or Lufkin, Texas is decent money, and clearly middle-class. $85,000 in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, or most large metropolitan areas doesn’t allow you to afford child care. The typical pre-school in San Jose runs between $900 and $1250 per month per child. Of course, I can find some un-licensed home where I can drop the kids, so they can have their mind numbed from 10 consecutive hours of TV, interrupted by a bowl of macaroni and cheese for half that price, but I digress.

Dummies Guide to Scamming the United States Government for Immigrants and Foreigners:

Chapter 1: Secure a tourist visa into the United States and travel with your not-yet visibly pregnant wife. Develop “complications” so she (and you) can stay over for the birth of newly-minted American citizen.

Chapter 2: Foreign countries can populate American universities with graduate engineering students. A large percentage will secure jobs with American technology companies after receiving their degrees, on the path to a Green Card, at which time they can begin sponsoring family members.

Upon garnering citizenship, they are able to work for government agencies and labs. Can we play connect the dots?

Currently, the CIO of the United States of America, Vivek Kundra, the person who heads technology for the country was not born on our soil.

CIO Vivek Kundra Was Not Born in America

Chapter 3: Make your way to Mexico from wherever you are, sneak into the country and wait for Democrats to offer amnesty. It’s faster than applying the old-fashioned way for a visa.

Feel free to chime in with ideas for Chapter 4, 5 and 6.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: barack obama, cio of the united states, dummies guide, middle class child care tax credit, scamming the government, vivek kundra
Posted in Business, Community, Political Satire | No Comments »

Chinese Search Engine Baidu Sues Register.com

Monday, January 25th, 2010

There is some real irony here as Chinese search engine, Baidu, is suing Register.com, it’s U.S. based web hosting company for allowing hackers to penetrate their servers and take down their site.

Baidu tops Google in the Chinese search market with a 60-percent market share, and after service was reinstated, they posted the following on their homepage: “The fault of register.com led to the malicious and unlawful altering of the domain name of Baidu, which made thousands of people unable to visit baidu.com and brought serious losses to Baidu.”

The hackers re-directed Baidu traffic to a page that read, “This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army.” These are the same folks who have allegedly hijacked several other well-known sites in the last few months.

A company headquartered in a country with little litigation and nominal copyright protection, that is also believed to be behind many high-profile cyber attacks themselves, can sue an American company for negligence. That is funny, but not in the ha-ha fashion.

I realize this is our system, a system that offers outsiders all the protections of citizens, but that same system can also be our downfall when we offer these rights to those who can abuse them for the benefit of their government. Certainly if the tables were turned, a US-based company would have little or no recourse suing a Chinese company on Chinese soil, just ask Bill Gates and Microsoft.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: baidu, bill gates, china, copyright protection, google, iranian cyber army, lawsuit, litigation, microsoft, register.com
Posted in Business, Politics | No Comments »

Welcome to The People’s Republic of Berkeley

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Why are some really smart and intelligent people Democrats? It’s a really good question to ponder, and most of these Democrats cannot really tell you why, other than “because.”

I had lunch with a friend recently who is a registered Democrat, and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, arguably the finest public university in the United States. This person graduated with a degree in Economics, and a grade point average north of 3.5. If we add up the thousands of hours of studying in high school to keep an A-average that is required to gain admittance to Berkeley, unless you are a star athlete or an “under-represented” minority, and the additional thousands of hours to achieve the high class-standing, it is staggering. The level of sheer commitment and dedication is not only admirable it is commendable.

In review: UC Berkeley graduate who studied for thousands of hours over an eight-year period to find a great job, earn a healthy salary, drive a nice car and live in a clean, safe neighborhood is a Democrat. Q: Why? A: Because.

When asked if he felt that it would be correct to have some of his wealth re-distributed to level the playing field of life, there was a prolonged silence.

He asked for clarification, so I said, “I’m sure you know some people from high school that decided to hang out instead of study like you did, who made some dumb life choices and are now janitors, un(der)-employed or out on parole, right?”

He said, “Yeah, so, we all do…what’s the point?”

“Well, they made a choice to hang out on the corner, not study or skip going to class, while you were busting your ass to get in to Berkeley, right”

He said, “Yeah, so…the point?”

“Well, your president, the guy you voted for would like you to help them out, and not just with a hand, but a hand out…and not just once or twice, but basically forever,” I said.

“Essentially, what I am asking is this: Do you believe you should be rewarded for all your hard work, or should you be penalized for succeeding?”

“Rewarded, of course,” he said. “Why the hell should I be penalized for doing the right thing?” he asked.

My point exactly!

Why can’t more democrats and self-professed Obama lovers read between the lines and see reality? Tax investments, money that was already taxed the first time? Over tax and target the very people who start the companies that hire our citizens? This defies all logic!

Should I, he, you, or anyone who does the right thing have to support others until the day they die simply because they are too lazy to look for a job or study for a class? I am not speaking of down-on-their-luck, disabled, handicapped, mentally or physically challenged folks here, but rather those who made bad choices and make no effort to remedy the situation. Government assistance, unemployment benefits and food stamps all have a place in our society to help people and families get back on their feet, not to become a way of life.

In San Francisco, for example, the Community College, City College of San Francisco has campuses all over town which are accessible by bus. They hold day classes, night classes, weekend classes…classes during the summer, spring and fall, and even winter session. If you cannot afford the tuition there are waivers and grants; if you need child care that is also offered at no cost. Pretty sweet deal.

The People’s Republic of Berkeley

Berkeley is a unique place, where freedom of speech means that your speech better be in alignment with their opinions, or you will be shot down (figuratively), assaulted (physically) and censored. I can understand how peer pressure can turn influential 17 year-old freshmen into Kool-Aid drinking liberals, the same way a particular dictator spread goose-stepping throughout a region.

Yes, Berkeley is a place where wearing a “Proud to be a Republican” t-shirt may lead to a physical assault by those who believe in freedom of speech…Welcome to The People’s Republic of Berkeley.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: city college of san francisco, democrats, freedom of speech, obama lovers, people's republic of berkeley, uc berkeley
Posted in Business, Community, Political Satire, Politics, The Economy | No Comments »

1-800-Flowers Class Action Lawsuit Is A Joke

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Not a month goes by without my mailbox or email box receiving a notice that I am part of class-action lawsuit or settlement. Some of them are downright ridiculous, asking for information from a decade ago that was discarded or is now lost. And some are like this that was received yesterday from-1-800-Flowers.

I, like many people buy flowers for family or friends and have them delivered in far-away places from companies like FTD.com or the company mentioned above. Apparently they overcharged people, and someone decided to get their 15-minutes of fame and sued, making a lawyer a boatload of cash.

They sued and “we” won, getting a voucher for a future purchase. Here is what really irks me, the “settlement” calls for the company to issue a “voucher” on a purchase – but that purchase cannot be in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Some deal. Let’s also not forget that they are still getting a sale! This settlement is essentially an advertisement for the company and we get a coupon with limitations.

Here is the email they sent me:

Dear 1-800-Flowers.com Customer:

Because you purchased products between March 1, 2006 and February 5, 2008 from the www.1-800-Flowers.com website, when a “shipping charge” was noted on the website and the products were delivered by a local florist, you are a Class Member. Under a proposed class action settlement, upon final Court approval, you are entitled to a Gift Voucher of $10 for each order that you placed at www.1-800-Flowers.com between March 1, 2006 and February 5, 2008. Simply visit www.1-800-Flowers.com, choose any bouquet, gift basket or other product, and then enter your Gift Code Number at time of check out. Your Gift Code Number or Numbers are NJGZIY.

Each Gift Voucher is valid for a single Internet order during the six month period following final Court approval (the “Redemption Period”) and is not valid for redemption or delivery of products during the one-week period (7 days) prior to Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Complete details, along with dates of the Redemption Period, can be found at www.molnarsettlement.com. Please check the www.molnarsettlement.com website after March 29, 2010 to determine whether and when Final Approval has been granted and the exact dates of the Redemption Period.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: 1-800-flowers lawsuit, class action, ftd, settlement, voucher
Posted in Business, Things That Irritate Me | No Comments »

Spam Costs Us Billions Each Year

Monday, January 11th, 2010

This is not a political issue though it could (should) be, as it wastes a monumental amount of our time, and costs us money, lots of money. I am not speaking of government pensions, lazy DMV workers or pothole crews that stand around drinking coffee instead of filling potholes. No, I am talking about SPAM. Spam cost Americans roughly $42 Billion in 2009 in lost productivity.

It’s not the pork shoulder and ham concoction that comes is in a blue can from Hormel, is a favorite in the Hawaiian Islands and contains more salt than a lake in Utah. No, it’s the irritating emails we all get each and every day trying to sell us something, try something at no cost, or help us get rich, really quick.

A can of Hormel Spam

Spammers are not content trying to get me to buy surplus land in Arkansas or get a free sample of paper towels. Nope, now since I am officially a blogger, they now spam my Comments section each and every day trying valiantly to get a cherished link from The Logical Republican!

Today I log in to check my emails (fortunately all comments must be approved before they appear), and what do I see: 19 Comments Awaiting Approval. Nine of them are in Russian characters, which I cannot read, so they get deleted right away. Another five are listing where you can get Viagra and Cialis online without a prescription. Then here are the funny ones – they write a semi-appropriate comment that somewhat addresses the blog topic, but, when I look closely, they have embedded a link to some company’s website trying to get a stealth link. Tricky, those Spammers.

Comments are a very valuable part of any blog, as it gives the readers a voice in what I write, and allows me to see things from another angle. The Spam is irritating, and other than filters that often do not work, there isn’t much we or I can do about this other than grin and have another slice. I like my Spam with steamed rice, a sunny-side-up egg and a dash of soy sauce!

Bookmark and Share

Tags: hormel, spam, spammers, wasted productivity
Posted in Business, The Economy, Things That Irritate Me | No Comments »

English As A Second Language in Corporate America

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

First off, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and that 2010 is everything 2009 was and 500% better! I am looking toward the new year and new decade as a new beginning where abundance will be filling my lifestyle rather than a semi-cloudy day. I am a firm believer in what Tony Robbins said in one of his programs, “Every day above ground is a great day!”

Tony Robbins in Shallow Hal

Now onto today’s subject. My day job is working for a Silicon Valley technology company, and because of the potential rewards, we attract the world’s best and brightest. That said, this was the out-of-office notice for someone I deal with:

Dear Sender ,
I will be out off corporate office on this afternoon. Pleae feel free call my cell phone at +1 408-xxx-xxxx or send me email. For immediatly assistant, please contact Yijen at X 6323 or James at +1 408 …….. I will return to office on…
Thanks for your email & You have a nice day!

Now, this person is originally from Taiwan, but was educated here and works for an American company. I don’t think I am being overly harsh by thinking twice if I want to do business with a company that presents itself without spell-checked email and in broken English. Not everyone speaks perfect English, obviously, so please tell me if I am off-base here in wondering if their email messages are this sloppy, maybe something else is not as clean either?

Bookmark and Share

Tags: broken english, esl, happy new year 2010, silicon valley, spell check, tony robbins
Posted in Business, Community, Race and Ethnicity | No Comments »

Tags

Archives

Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Dummies Guide to Scamming the United States Government for Immigrants and Foreigners:

The People’s Republic of Berkeley