US$120 per hour for data = NZ$280 per hour. People here [average sort of pay rate] work for NZ$12 an hour.
"Rich" people here get $30 an hour. [Rich as defined by the envy-ridden Labour government we have - they make sure they line their own pockets with taxpayer largesse].
So, an after-tax payment to Globalstar of NZ$280 would mean working a longggg time for an hour of data.
NZ$500 at 39% tax rate for rich people, but excluding other taxes such as GST [Sales Tax], duties, tariffs and other rip-offs, leaves NZ$300, or just on an hour of surfing at Globalstar's horribly slow data rate of about 9.6 kbps.
So, the average rich New Zealander, who might buy a Globalstar phone, would need to work for 15 hours for one hour of surfing.
I know people didn't like my matching of life-value and yakking cost [or surfing cost] but so far, the evidence is in my favour. It means people will spend at about the same rate as they can earn [their life-value] for stuff which is non-urgent or not very high value, which nearly all telephone calls are [for the marginal minute especially, which is the one we are trying to sell].
I doubt anyone knows what I mean by that. So I'm going back outside into the summer and digging in dirt and stuff.
But I know what I mean and I mean the great data minutes won't sell even as well as the yakking minutes. It will NOT save our bacon [at their absurdly high prices].
Dennis McSweeny cannot possibly think that 'we are desperate for data' from the marketing people who don't want to be the one to appear negative, is the reason Globalstar hasn't sold.
Dennis, it's very simple. Your prices are too high. Halve them [for voice] and charge data by the packet [at 50c a Megabyte or something] or just let people surf [or at least get email] for no charge until the system gets busy. It's nonsense to have an enormously expensive connect-time charge for such a useless data system.
Must go, back when it starts raining.
Mqurice
PS: Fun in the markets again today. Down 7% is a decent drop. Alan Green$pan will be getting itchy on the trigger finger. He knows a huge deflation is on the way and he will NOT want to preside over the biggest implosion in financial history.
Oil is coming down fast; the Arabs have figured out that expensive crude oil cuts their market share too much and stops people using it.
2001 is going to be a LOT of fun after the Y2K glitches and bugs in the markets and .com world. Nasdaq at half price and falling. Dow stalled for going on three years. Alan will have to cut interest rates in a big way and although that will cause a huge market rise, he won't worry about it because it won't be a 'wealth effect' rise as happened over the past few years when spending went berserk and debt levels grew enormously. People will be more circumspect about margin debt after a general wreckage this year.
I've waited for a long time for this, so I hope I'm not disappointed. A shame Globalstar hasn't complied with "The Plan" which I've had. Bernie's "Plan" superseded mine.
Dow 16,000
Feb 2002 |
