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To: Knighty Tin who wrote (47157)	7/15/1999 10:45:00 AM
From: DavidG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 53903

Mike, I've found wives, but they are somebody else's. <vbg> Now that is funny. I guess you gave up on Janet Reno, huh, Argggh.<vbg> DavidG

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (47157)	7/15/1999 11:41:00 AM
From: Thomas G. Busillo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 53903

MB, it is somewhat remarkable that prior to this sudden surge, the major OEM's seemed like they would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into offering low-end systems shipping w/ 64Mb standard. Now that we're starting to see more and more ads for lower-end boxes w/ 64Mb from the likes of CPQ, HWP, IBM the price suddenly takes a jump. A bit of the old "chicken and egg" cliche, but how much is demand coming from some incremental increase in mem/box... ...and how much of it is DRAM suppliers getting OEM's, particularly those that sell the majority of low-end boxes through the retail channel, to commit to certain memory levels and then gouging their eyes out? I do question whether non-U.S. DRAM cannot be sold for under $8 (the tariffs on certain foreign mfgrs. are just not that high), but for the sake of argument, if you assume this is the case and make some assumptions about cross-border intra-firm transfers... ...then hasn't the Commerce Department constructed a de facto oligopoly by which U.S. consumers will be forced to pay more for computer products by making it easier for cartel-like inventory withholding to occur? Hasn't history shown that firms with protected home markets tend to gouge prices at home and make a charge for market share broad? Again, quite ironic, since this is the very situation these laws were created to prevent; yet, in the end they have the potential to turn into U.S. computer purchasers into indirect subsidzers of a company whose strategy borders on what our own governement has called anti-competitive in other industries. Alas, public policy in the U.S. continues to be a most private affair. Good trading, Tom