Exclusive: Interview with Colonel Fareed Betros

Today, I post an interview with Fareed Betros, recently promoted to Colonel in the Army Reserves. Fareed is a second generation Levbenese American who recently returned from Iraq where he served as a civilian advisor to the head the iraqi military. We cover a myriad of topics including culture in Iraq.


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Oh, that Wal-Mart!

Jonah Goldberg shows the folly of Democrats bashing Wal-mart. Pankaj Ghemawat of Harvard Business School does the same with some excellent statistics.

Consider the following from HBR:

First, there is hard evidence that Wal-Mart has grown the economic pie available to be divided among its various stakeholders, instead of just slicing up a fixed pie in a way that favors one group over another. Consider, for example, the conclusions of the McKinsey Global Institute's study of U.S. labor productivity growth between 1995 and 2000. In the words of Robert Solow, a Nobel laureate in economics and an adviser to the study, "By far the most important factor in that [growth] is Wal-Mart."

Second, most of the value created by the company is actually pocketed by its customers in the form of lower prices. There is general agreement that Wal-Mart prices are significantly lower than its competitors. Assuming that the company's prices are 8 percent lower - at the low end of the estimates from various studies summarized in a recent report by Global Insight - and applying that to Wal-Mart's domestic sales volume, U.S. consumers save on the order of $18 billion per year. And because Wal-Mart forces its competitors to charge lower prices as well, this figure is a fraction of the company's real impact.

Read both articles.

Ghemawat cites more research: "Thus, juxtaposing these customer savings against the estimate cited by Fishman and others that Wal-Mart destroyed 2,500 jobs (on a net basis) in 2005 yields customer savings of more than $7 million per year for each job lost. (Fishman actually works with higher numbers for customer savings, so if he had done this calculation, he would have come out in the $12–$60 million range.)"

Of course, Jonah has a great last liner: "It's horrific politics, silly public policy - but a joy to watch."

Drive-by Conservatives?

Drive-by Conservatives?

Rush Limbaugh has popularized the phrase "drive-by media"; an apt analogy, describing how certain press sources defame a subject on the fly, recklessly riddling a news target with bias and relying on shallow analysis as a substitute for expertise. The truth to this analogy is powerful and its time for us to examine how we as conservatives employ the same unfortunate stratagem when it comes to the new economy.

As a 10-year IT professional and staunch conservative I have misgivings about making these thoughts public. But taking a page from author Jim Collins in his book Good to Great¸ the first action to keep any business or movement afloat must be to "confront the brutal facts." In short, rhetoric against outsourcing and immigration grows awkwardly hypocritical and antithetical to traditional capitalist values and flies dangerously blind to the economic realities of our day.

Commoditization

First, let me set the groundwork for our conversation. One of the contributing factors to the Internet "bubble" and subsequent economic downturn had to do with "commoditization". Commoditization occurs when you take a traditionally difficult, costly, or specialized task and turn it into something simple, inexpensive and generalized.

For example, healthcare innovator MinuteClinic is opening convenient offices in certain malls to treat common and simple ailments such as strep throat and sinus infections. Resident nurses and other lower-end medical professionals man the clinics providing parents an alternative to the inefficient and expensive doctors' offices.

Everyone knows that diagnosing strep throat is a simple process that almost always ends in the same prescription (usually Amoxy-cillin). In the near future a home kit for strep throat is a real possibility. Like the pregnancy test, as technology advances, specialization decreases and automation increases leading to "outsourcing" (and fewer rabbit deaths J ).

Consulting

We fine another example of commoditization in my field of expertise, consulting. In the late 1990s average billable rates (the amount a consultant charges a client) rose to astronomical heights. In some cases, the average bill rate was over $300 per hour. Was it justified?

As traditional industries discovered the Internet and increased IT investments there was a deep desire to get things done and get them done quickly. The relative immaturity of the Internet demanded a certain specialization that companies were willing to pay for.

Today high billing rates for the average consultant hover well below $150 per hour. Why? Technology has matured and become easier. What took a programmer 3 hours to code in previous years now takes less than an hour. What took rigorous course training and intensive IT investments has been significantly minimized. Simplification, inexpensive and common skills drive prices downward.

Market Forces

Clayton Christensen in his 2004 book The Innovators Solution describes the theory of value chain evolution or VCE. According to this theory successful companies look to improve what is "not good enough" and outsource what is "more than good enough."

Outsourcing and off-shoring (there is a difference) become vital tools for American companies to compete in new markets and move up stream in an increasingly competitive world economy. This is really the first point where conservatives find themselves walking a fine line of hypocrisy.

Here are some quotes from prominent conservative outlets that reflect a growing dichotomy. Namely, decrying the flow of outsourcing and lamenting the realities of immigration while upholding the pillars of a market economy:

Laura Ingraham: "The business lobby [is] desperate to keep the flow of cheap labor coming into this country."

Rich Lowry: "… [C]orporate America loves our open borders. They serve as a kind of rolling, reverse minimum-wage law."

Washington Times (from 2003) "U.S. high-tech companies are flooding the labor market with foreign workers who are willing to work more cheaply than Americans… importing overseas workers as it lays off U.S. personnel and sidesteps American computer programmers, electronics engineers, mathematicians and other professionals who are already out of work."

Washington Times (from 2006): "Offshoring turns U.S. production into imports. Much of the U.S. trade deficit results from offshoring, not from traditional trade competition."

Weekly Standard: "Simply put, large-scale immigration from Mexico has made the rich richer and the poor poorer. The college-educated have reaped the benefits of a steep decrease in the price of labor-intensive services, while working-class Americans, exposed to increasingly stiff competition, have seen their earnings stagnate and even dwindle."

"Cheap labor"; "affecting children and minorities"; "rich richer and poor poorer." Are these really conservatives talking?! As the Wall Street Journal notes:

This is an odd charge coming from conservatives who profess to believe in the free market, since it echoes the AFL-CIO and liberals who'd just as soon have government dictate wages.

The solutions proffered by these pundits would make any conservative queasy. In his same piece, Rich Lowry suggests: "The real answer is to scale back legal immigration and control the nation's borders, so low-income workers don't have to compete against new immigrants, especially people who have no right to be here." That was 2003. But the 2006 prescription hasn't changed much.

To be fair, the conservative push to close the borders is perfectly valid but ignores the causal reality of the moment: legal immigration is highly inefficient and capped at dangerous levels.

Here's a Jeopardy question:

Answer: "This process takes 10 years, mountains of paperwork and is hampered by a huge bureaucracy."

Question: "What is a medical procedure in Europe?" or "What is the legal immigration process in the U.S.?"

Illegal aliens sneak into the U.S. because the process of legal immigration is tedious and capped at artificial levels. Returning to the Wall Street Journal:

Far from selling their labor "cheap," they are traveling to the U.S. to sell it more dearly and improve their lives. Like millions of Americans before them, they and certainly their children climb the economic ladder as their skills and education increase.

We realize that critics are not inventing the manifold problems that can arise from illegal immigration: Trespassing, violent crime, overcrowded hospital emergency rooms, document counterfeiting, human smuggling, corpses in the Arizona desert, and a sense that the government has lost control of the border. But all of these result, ultimately, from too many immigrants chasing too few U.S. visas.

Those migrating here to make a better life for themselves and their families would much prefer to come legally. Give them more legal ways to enter the country, and we are likely to reduce illegal immigration far more effectively than any physical barrier along the Rio Grande ever could. This is not about rewarding bad behavior. It's about bringing immigration policy in line with economic and human reality. And the reality is that the U.S. has a growing demand for workers, while Mexico has both a large supply of such workers and too few jobs at home.

While cost is a major factor in sending jobs overseas it is not the only factor. Alvin and Heidi Toffler in their recent book Revolutionary Wealth point out that if costs were truly the only factor then Africa would have the leg up on India or Mexico.

As it is, the traditional markets of the Near East are falling out of favor in some IT markets. Many firms are turning to Eastern Europe as a new frontier of outsourcing. Why? Because India, for all it's cheap labor costs, occasionally fails to produce quality products in some industries. On the other hand, while the IT industry looks for development needs elsewhere, financial services firms are finding tremendous success in outsourcing call centers to India and Pakistan.

As to the myriad of statistics from the anti-immigration crowd, Larry Kudlow has his own set of metrics:

• Hispanic unemployment is only 5.5 percent, compared to 4.8 percent overall.
• Princeton professor Douglas Massey estimates that roughly two-thirds of undocumented immigrants pay the FICA payroll tax.
• Only 10 percent of illegal Mexicans have sent a child to an American public school and just 5 percent have received food stamps or unemployment benefits.
• A U-Cal Davis study shows that more immigrant workers leads to more economic growth.

Kudlow concludes: "This is standard economics. Multiply an enlarged workforce times existing productivity and you get more economic growth."

The world is flattening; corporate structures are changing; the traditional 9 to 5 job is nearly obsolete; the luxury of family time is being challenged and also enhanced; the typical boundary between producer and consumer is blurring; moral standards are sustained and confronted…

For better or worse a new paradigm of life, business and culture is upon us. How we shed ourselves of obsolete and incongruous strictures will dictate whether the conservative movement remains true to its "deep fundamentals" or not.

As the Tofflers note:

Not all the new roles and rights will survive, as still more economic, technological and social changes avalanche toward us. But anyone who underestimates the revolutionary character of today's changes is living an illusion.

Obesity and Conservatism

As conservatives we frequently laugh at the obesity police and the Oreo ambulance chasers. I've split my share of sides at the notion of the government dictating our diets.

But as conservatives we need to confront the brutal facts about the Healthcare system. We need to understand that there are very real economic impacts to obesity. So we need to ask: do we need to do something? And what more can we do?

This is another point in a long list of issues where conservatives need to think hard about their stance and position.

Recently New York Times personal-health columnist Jane Brody encouraged employers to offer on-site or company-paid fitness programs. When the words "New York Times" and "encourage employers" will bring chills to any conservative's spine... the idea has merit.

Earlier this year, the CEO of General Motors lamented that he didn't expect that healthcare and retirement plan administration would be a major part of his job. Conservatives need to face up to the reality that corporations foot a good deal of the bill for their employees healthcare and that improving the health of employees is a good thing for the bottom line.

As conservatives, we rightly shun government intrusions into the marketplace and I'm not suggesting it here. However, the recent movements to pull soda machines from schools, encourage companies to boost proactive care offerings, and efforts to curb obesity among Americans seem justified on many levels.

Your thoughts?

The Left's Integrity Test

OK, so wandering the web using StumbleUpon I came across this gem!

Integrity Test

Integrity Test

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. Please don't answer it without giving it some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will be able to test where you stand morally.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where you will have to make a decision one way or the other. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous.

Please scroll down slowly and consider each line - this is important for the test to work accurately.

You're in Florida... In Miami, to be exact... There is great chaos going on around you, caused by a hurricane and severe floods... There are huge masses of water all over you... You are a CNN photographer and you are in the middle of this great disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless.

You're trying to shoot very impressive photos. There are houses and people floating around you, disappearing into the water. Nature is showing all its destroying power and is ripping everything away with it.

Suddenly you see a man in the water, he is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken away by the masses of water and mud. You move closer. Somehow the man looks familiar.

Suddenly you know who it is - it's George W. Bush!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him away... forever. You have two options. You can save him or you can take the best photo of your life. So you can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer prize winning photo. A unique photo displaying the death of one of the world's most powerful men.

And here's the question (please give an honest answer)

Would you select color film, or go with the simplicity of classic black and white?

Exclusive: Hezbollah Marketing Email Discovered!

Exclusive Hezbollah Marketing Email

Sometimes in the West we picture the radical Islamic movement as a backwater operation relying on doves and mules for communication. When I saw the protests across the Middle East and Asian countries on Friday I had a could of thoughts:

1) Where did they get all of those Hezbollah flags?

2) Where did they print out the lifesize effigies of President Bush and Israel's Olmert?

3) How did they manage to get the protests to start on the same day with the same sort of posters.

Having worked for several non-profit advocacy groups I know the coordination needed to launch something on this scale.

Then I happen to come across this email. Click on the picture to the right to see the details.

Flag shop, Kinkos in Sadr city?

So when crowds across the middle east want to protest Israel and show their support for militant Islamists by waving Hezbullah flags and putting together 8 foot cardboard effigies of President Bush... do they go to the local Kinkos?

And where did they get all those flags?  I mean even if there were a "flag shop" is Sadr city, did they really have 100+ flags in stock for this protest today?  What is that all about.

Of course, just like any protest Iran and Syria and behind the organization of this piece.  Too funny and too sad.

The Next Best Souvenir for President Bush

Remember the story about Bush having Saddam's pistol in his desk? (curiously, it was written by Matthew Cooper) I was re-reading John Miller's infamous interview with Usama Bin Laden and I got to thinking: What would be the perfect compliment to that pistol. Miller gives us the answer (in the form of a question).

Miller: I was wondering if you could tell me the story of the gun behind you and how you got it? It is kind of a legend that during the Afghan war you got it in hand-to-hand combat with Russians who were on a three-day assault on the camp.

UBL goes on to mumble something about how tough it was to fight the Russians. After some research it appears that the Kalishnakov rifle that UBL totes around was wrestled from the Russians in hand-to-hand combat. It appears
he may have actually been wounded by it. When we catch UBL... I think Bush should add this to his "Souvenir Collection from Islamo-facists I Took Out". I discuss this briefly on this week's podcast.

Today, we detail the timely but sometimes gruesome details from exhibits from the Moussaoui trial.


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OK. That's pretty funny

I don't usually link to these things... but this one is fun.

The New Media? You decide.

The Wall Street Journal has taken the task of identifying the media and mediums that are changing our world. Something

WSJ.com - Moguls of New Media

Moguls of New Media
The MySpace member with a million 'friends.' The receptionist with a production deal. Some of the Web's amateur entertainers are becoming powerful players.

Here's a quick list of the winners. The list strikes me as overly cutural in nature. But what the hey... here it is:

PODCASTERS

• Emmy-Nominated - Orin and Jerry Zucker, It's Jerry Time
  
  
• Top-Rated - Keith Mallery and Kemda, Keith and The Girl
  
  
• Top Video Podcast Producer - Jeff Macpherson, Tiki Bar TV
  
  
• The Web's Anchorwoman - Amanda Congdon, Amanda UnBoomed
  
  
• Video Podcast Stars - Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, Ask A Ninja
  
  
• A Teen Hit - Andrew Sims and Ben Schoen, MuggleCast

AMATEUR VIDEO

• Most Watched Video on YouTube - Judson Laipply, Evolution of Dance
  
  
• Crossover Star - Brooke "Brookers" Brodack, myspace.com/brookealley
  
  
• Top Earners - Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments
  
  
• Corporate-Sponsored Traveler - Matt Harding, Where the Hell is Matt
  

SOCIAL NETWORKING

• A Ruler Of Myspace - Christine Dolce, myspace.com/forbidden
  
  
• Grassroots Music Success - Lustra, myspace.com/lustra
  

MUSIC

• Popular Amateur Web Radio Broadcaster - Davide Nevue, Whisperings
  
  
• Top-Rated Music Blog - Scott Lapatine, stereogum
  

BLOGGING

• Top-Linked Bloggers - Cory Doctorow and Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing
  

PHOTOGRAPHY, TV AND FILM

• The Web's Top Photographer - Rebekka Gudleifsdóttir, Photos from rebekka
  
  
• Up-And-Coming Filmmakers - Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, Four Eyed Monsters
  
  
• Web-TV Taste Makers - Rob Schrab and Dam Harmon, channel101.com
  
  
• Top Machinima Film Makers - Rooster Teeth, roosterteeth.com
  
  
• The Pioneers - Mate and Mike Chapman, Homestar Runner

I laughed, I cried, It moved be Bob

Sometimes truth is better than fiction.

A Terrorist's Trappings: The Zacarias Moussaoui Trial Exhibits

I could probably spend a lifetime going over the 1000+ exhibits that the Eastern Court just posted from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.

The exhibits include everything from the document giving final instructions to the hijackers (aptly prefaced by the acronym BS) to receipts from Circuit City.

There are posters of a 747 cockpit which were found torn up in a New Jersey hotel, supposedly help for preparing the pilots:


click here for larger version

There's the individual chronology for each of the hijackers. (see Atta's here)

Huge amounts of money transfers. (Listen anyone who says this guy is innocent is full of it... he is guilty, period)

A picture of the Logitech joystick someone used (presumably Zach...) to practice on MSFT flight simulator

We have ZM's email address: pilotz123@hotmail.com. (dosen't work I tried)

Then Phase II of the exhibits gets ugly. It includes pictures of body parts at WTC. And for all of you freaks who think the Pentagon plane was fakes please see this picture:


And I suppose this guy (warning, it is graphic!) was also just put into the Pentagon in a pilot seat.

Then incredibly sad elements from the trial including a suicide note from the wife of a victim of 9/11.

Then, I logged some time and read some of the first documents having to do with Usama Bin Laden.

Do you remember that video that was broadcast shortly after we went into Afghanastan, the one where we knew that UBL was the guy behind 9/11? Well, they used that as one of the transcripts in the trial. I re-read it last night. Here are some eirie sections from the video:

Sulaiman Gaith:

I saw that I was sitting with the Sheikh in the room, then I left from one room to another where there was a TV set. All of a sudden, the TV broadcast a huge event. The scene was of an Egyptian family - Do you know when there is a game and team wins and people's emotions are broadcast on TV screens... An Egyptian family is sitting - the father the mother and the children - the older son he is overjoyed... overjoyed. A caption shown on the TV, stating, "In revenge for the children of al-Aqsa. Usama Bin Laden executes strikes against the Americans

(Unidentified - "God is the greatest!)

Unidentified Sheikh:
By God, this is amazing. By God, Sheikh, when people felt - announcing [the news about] the airplace and... they could not believe it. They were amazed, in the first place, to see this success. And then, what kind of brains do those people have? How stupid can they be?... After the Pentagon [was hit], they started mobilizing by air and by sea, and this one went underground and the other one went to a hiding place... They reached a certain level of horror and fright. They truly expected a coup, I mean and that there people would govern them... [laughing]

This is just creepy and sad. And a sad reminder about how unprepared we were. This is the mindset they have. No one would blame our leaders for taking action to avoid threats against them... but this is the mindset we are dealing with. If the Israelis pull out, the entire Arab world will see it as a victory.

read the transcript here:

Then we have the 1998 transcript of the interview with UBL. This gives us some interesting context for the evenst in Qana this last weekend.

UBL: "Clinton stands after Qana and defends the horrible massacre taht severed the heads of children and killed 100 persons. Clinton stands and claims Israel has a justification to defend itself."

Other revealing quotes:

UBL: "...we have seen particularly during the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldies who is ready to wage cold wars and unprepared to fight long wars. This was proven in Beirut when the Marines fled after two explosions... "

There there's UBL sounding like a Democrat:
"The only reason is your intransigence and your desire to take other people's money and to steal Muslim's oil under misguided terms... We believe that the biggest thieves in the world today is America and biggest terrorists are the Americans."

Then the double standard hypocrite comes out and says:
"We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians; they are all targets in this fatwah."

Then John Miller asks about Ramzi YOusef (who was involved in the first WTC bombings:
UBL "America will see many youths that will follow Ramzi Yousef... We predict a black day for America and the end of the United States as united states, and will be separate states, and will retreat from our land and collect the bodies of its sons back to America. Allah willing"

Then the infamous paper tiger comment in the context of sending his men to Somolia:

"The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier is a paper tiger. And after a few blows he ran in defeat."

Then Miller turns prophet and asks: "The American people by in large do not know the name Bin Laden, but they soon likely will. Do you have a message for the American people?"

After rambling on about the American government being overrun by Jews, UBL declares:

"[The Jews] belive that all humans are animals to be exploited by them, and found that the Americans are the best created beings for that use... So, we tell the American people, and we tell the mothers of soldiers... if they value their lives and those of their children to find a nationalistics government that would look after their interests and not the interests of the Jews."

This should embolden our efforts to support Israel in this war. Israels war with Islam is our war as well it seems to me.

Then Miller goes on to ask about the gun behind him. From what I can tell UBL says it was a gun he was shot with. Remember how Bush has Saddam's pistols in his desk. I can think of one more token in the near future that should rest right near it...

Lastly, Miller compares Bin Laden to Teddy Roosevelt. It's just sick. Perhaps hindsight is 20/20 but Millers interview still strikes me a benign, almost playing into the hands of UBL.

You can read the whole thing here.