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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (2337)	11/22/2005 3:42:08 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217802

TJ, I note in passing that GOOG is now at $415. I note too that ancient Aztec baubles are being valued at nearly $400. Financial relativity theory is alive and well and we are nearing warp speed. Even stodgy old QCOM putting together the nuts and bolts is going okay at $46, lurking not far behind Au, ready to lap it again when the Aztecs lose their puff as they surely will. Yes, eventually, QCOM will lose puff, fizzle and die as is the law of all companies which are inventing and selling a soon-to-be-obsolete technological or other system. But there is lots of fuel in the tank at present and fun to be had and profits to be crystallized. It will be at least years and more likely decades before QCOM gets puffed. Sometimes, fun can be had for a century or even two with one company, though with the demise of the original creators the great impetus is lost and the managerial classes infest. I must go and crystallize more right now! Mqurice

To: TobagoJack who wrote (2337)	11/27/2005 5:01:40 AM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217802

I think I should respond to the Wall Street Journal article. My prespective is one from working in Silicon Valley, and is not an especially representative experience, but I will make some sweeping generalizations anyway.... The WSJ article missed the point - the real story is about competive pressures in schools turning some students into what were once called "grinds" or "nerds" - one dimmensional people. The other factor is misguided parents encouraging this behaviour. The sexier story would be some "Asian backlash" - but that's not the case. You can find the pressure story in North Dakota schools, in Maryland suburbs, and in New Jersey, among other places. Remember Jack Grubman, a telecom analyst, who wrote a distorted analyst report on a company so his kid could get into a 'selective' New York kindergarten ? The letter to the WSJ had a much better summary of the real situation. ******* Siliocn Valley is a bit unusual - almost every group has enough people to form a critical mass and assist and help each other. Indians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Iranians, Philipinos, all have large numbers in Silicon Valley. Indians seem to be the most cohesive large group, with big Indian entrepreneur organizations. The Vietnamese are strongly in local Califonia politics. They are curious and interested in Viet Nam, but that is in hte past for 80% + of them. Iranians are heavily first generaion, many having arrived around the fall of the Shah. They strive for professional success, but aren't really involved in local politics. On some level, they may think they have a temporary exile. The Japanese are not as concentrated in high tech, being in all parts of California society. There are also Koreans, but they seem to be more represented in Southern California, some Malaysians, Pakistanis, and people from various Arab countries. There is now a huge group from parts of Russian and Ukraine, and former Eastern Europe. There has been large numbers of people from the England, Scotland, and the usual plague of Irishmen. Good numbers of Canadians, too. Latin Americans not from Mexico or Cuba tend to have pretty small numbers. The "Hispanic / Latino " populations range from descendents of Californians who still have part of their Spanish land grant through newer 1st, 2nd, 3rd, to N generations - all with different prespectives and interests. * Mostly about Chinese in Silicon Valley... The Chinese seem to split a bit along geographic/spoken lanuages lines Mandarin/Cantonese, HK, Taiwan, Mainland or North America origin. After the 3rd generation in the US, there is a strong shift away from science and engineering to business, medicine, and law. By the 3rd/4th generation, assimilation to US majority norm becomes stronger, grades & test scores drop, interest in easier majors increases.... And parents and grandparents get very concerned about this... Even before their kids start dressing as punks or Goths. I don't think I have seen much if any systematic discrimination against Asians in Silicon Valley companies. I have seen low level discrimination against African Americans, and Mexican Americans. Asians usually don't have to prove they are smart. I will agree with TJ and his comments - <<The few very intelligent Asians I encouter seem very isolated and lonely in the real world>> ... should meet some of the frequent travellers between USA and Asia. <<They get started in careers that appreciate high grades and test scores and then don't seem to go anywhere>> **** Nerds & grinds - meaning academically narrow but bright hard workers with very low social skills - Silicon Valley companies hire loads of nerds. Frequently the nerds don't talk to enough people to really understand what the real salsry range is, and tend to be underpaid, some times enoprmously. The good news for nerds is there is enough of a nerd culture and critical mass, that they eventually get wised up, and slowly start to increase there social contacts, even if mostly over the internet...;-) Some get smart or lucky enough to either make real technical contributions and/or getting stock options in successful companies. A few even find girl nerds. Silicon Valley is a tough place to get a nice date if you have low social skills and are male. However, nerds can survive and thrive pretty well in this very special environment. This is where I will pretty much disagree with TJ's statement - "Law: Nerds never do well, unless lucky"

To: TobagoJack who wrote (2337)	11/27/2005 5:21:32 AM
From: energyplay	Respond to of 217802

I'll comment on one other statement..... (b) I also suppose that given Chinese Americans make up only a quarter of Asian Americans, and Asian Americans account for a mere 4% of American society, that then the 1%+/- of Chinese Americans has done enough, or plenty for themselves and the society they are guest in, against the odds, and certainly much better than a whole lot of other groups, at least in terms of education, professional expertise, income, assets, family cohesion, and independence from institutions. You know, the stuff they care about, traditional values and ancient pluses, given what they had to go through; Specifically, "and the society they are guest in" Maybe 20 years ago many second generation Americans of Chinese ancestory might have thought that they were in some sense "guests"... Today, I don't many in California would see it that way, and might even be upset if it were even suggested. Maybe if they have extensive family in Taiwan or the mainland.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (2337)	11/29/2005 12:38:01 AM
From: 8bits	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217802

TJ Currently the ranking by ethnicity in per capita income in the US is as follows: 1) Korean Americans 2) Chinese Americans 3) Japanese Americans Impressive when you combine these figures with the fact that more than 50% of the Asian Americans were not born in the US so they have additional language and social barriers to overcome and likely their families have less capital to begin with than say a 6th generation Scottish-American etc.