How the hell is this a troll? Does Obama or Geithner have mod points today?

Um, the entire ecosystem of video gaming consoles, games, and peripherals at Sony is losing money, and has been since the PS3 was released. That's his point.

I can't believe I'm posting this, but I believe you mean willy-nilly rather than higgledy-piggledy.

The former means "by compulsion, without choice, in a haphazard or spontaneous manner " while the latter refers to that which is "In utter disorder or confusion, topsy-turvy, jumbled."

It's already possible to convert kindle ebook format to stanza format. Google 'mobipocket conversion DRM'. Currently most easily obtained via private, invite-only communities (such as the first hit in that search) but it'll trickle all over soon enough.

If you use Stanza on the ipod, you can make the font size even bigger than the Kindle's max. Sure you have to turn the page more often, but you wouldn't have to hold it right up to your face.

OK, then why don't you go ahead and explain how US manufacturing could have survived and competed with places like China and Mexico with labor available at 1/10tth the cost?

That would be more interesting and useful than this armchair business management you're doing here.

It's not the act of comparison per se, but the conclusions you're drawing from those comparisons that I have a problem with. I also take issue with the notion that employment is a "system under which a person solicits work from someone in a weaker socioeconomic position."

Companies are made up of people. In mine, for example. the engineers (who technically "work for" the managers) make more money than the managers and are this in a stronger socioeconomic position. They manage us, but we do the work that makes the money for everyone, so they need us.

Perhaps your skill set isn't conducive to such a relationship, or maybe there are a great number of people who could easily replace you. That doesn't have to be the case though.

It's nothing at all like saying that. Are you seriously comparing getting a job at a different employer or purchasing goods from a different store to moving to another country?!

Alternatives may not make your (largely imagined) balance of power disappear, but they do make it irrelevant.

Consider taking responsibility for your own situation. It's not The Man's fault.

"Imagine how greas you looked?" Why didn't you just tell AT&T to pound sand.

You signed up for a line to get DSL, no DSL, no line. Seems trivial.

I don't know about the commie-socialist-liberal bricks in your country, but here in the good ol' USA our bricks don't do anything except be a part of a wall or other structure -- just like god intended!

C? Bah. Assembly or nothing.

Seriously man, both simplicity and complexity can be fun. Anyone who tries to tell you one is better than the other is a poor performer at the other, and is embarrassed about it.

Your point would carry more weight if there were only one employer in each field. Fortunately, that's not the case.

Interesting rambling rant that totally missed GP's point. But this part caught my attention:

I'm just not gonna pay that kind of money for nothing more then a console.

So you're not gonna pay that kind of money for nothing more, fine, but then what did the console do?!

So you're saying that it's not "negotiation between equals", and that I can either take it or leave it. Isn't that what my post said?

This makes sense.

My whole point was that, when you're dealing with a large business, you have to agree to their terms or else not deal with them. That bespeaks an enormous disparity of power in the relationship that you have with that company.

This doesn't. The power is even since either party can decide to deal or not. That is, the large business has to agree to your terms or else not deal with you. They need you as much as you need them.

Increasing the value of my company by 60x is the kind of "problem" I'd be proud to be a part of.