Why do you think the Saudis will stop their oil glut? The last time they did that, competitors in the Middle East and from other regions (Canada, Russia) increased their supply and siphoned away much of the Saudi business. They don't want to make that mistake twice.

You can only raise profits by decreasing supply and increasing prices if you control a market (regionally or globally). There are too many large players in the gas and oil business for the Saudis to have the influence they once had.

Hey now, those listings were taken in 2010. I'm sure the prices are much more reasonable now.

I think they do want to compete with the taxi services, but they can't -say- that for the reasons you mentioned. They want to compete with the taxi services while pretending they're a limousine-like service. Most of their users don't know the difference, and I think Uber is totally fine with and encourages the confusion. They want to be known as the upscale, private taxi service because that benefits them, but officially, they'll always be a private car service.

They can't officially compete with taxis because then their business would live or die at the whim of local officials who want to limit the number of "taxis" (branded or not) on the road.

Why are you so fixated specifically on Intel? Why does competing with Intel need to be the be-all, end-all here? Pecos was talking about how one could start a business like Uber to compete with local taxi services, and you started talking about how the barriers of entry for business are too high, then you bring up the difficulties of setting up fab plants to go against Intel. Sure, no one is starting a company anytime soon that will dent Intel's market share, but what does that have to do with Pecos's assertion that someone can start one company to compete with others?

I think the parent poster needed sarcasm tags!

And Pixar. Basically, any place that wouldn't have got him towed. Both of those things (required to have license plates, parking in the handicapped spots) were expressions of the same attitude: "Those people can't tell me what to do." If there was a requirement, he would find a way around it because he knew better and the rules didn't apply to him.

Indeed, those are two of the most required and valuable CEO skills. The ability to take bold action rather than dither with mediocrity, and the ability to convince others that your products are great. Being a dick is a good executive skill. Lying---I'm sorry, I meant "marketing" is another.

Gary Johnson: "We're dicks! We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong Il is an asshole. Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don't know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!"

Probably not much because so far, the US is fairly sufficient and is not defaulting on loans. You may recall a year ago certain political careers got deep-sixed over the suggestion of a situation that could let the US default.

Are we talking about these things? The only time something like that was good enough looking to put in the living room was a short period in the 60s (if they came out in the 70s, they would have been uglier shades of orange and earthen brown). I'd rather have a beige mini-tower in comparison.

It was not exactly a stunning debut for Ive's design; he got a lot better when he discovered the joys of barely-translucent white. Most of the rest of his designs have been home runs.

There were plenty of people with the same attitude in the early 20th century who said that we'd never visit the moon another planet. Or that the rockets would pierce the dome of the heavens and the stars would fall to earth (this was not an unpopular theory). I'd rather side with the unrealistic dreamers rather than the apocryphal patent commissioner who stated everything was already invented.

Humanity should always strive for what we do not have, it would still be stuck griming about in the mud if it did not. It's the old conflict between pure/theoretical science and applied science. Sometimes, when researching the 'impossible', you get it. And sometimes you find something entirely unexpected which might be far more practical.

Sadly, Moore lived to see the end of the law named after him.

Another colloquialism: Close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades. :-)

I was unaware that my corner bakery required a state of the art chip fab sector, or that the local chain of shoe stores had to overthrow Intel to be considered successful. Running a successful business doesn't mean you have to compete with the biggest, nor is tech the be-all, end-all. But if we're talking about tech, althought it doesn't apply to Intel specifically, plenty of tech companies were started in garages or as a project between like-minded people on the Internet. We hear over and over that small companies are the true drivers of the economy. If no one started them, thinking they couldn't possibly compete against the likes of Intel, we'd be truly screwed.

I'm saying we have a rich tradition in the US of civil disobedience over bad laws.