[semi OT] Gateway: From PC powerhouse to buyout bargain

"Tony Harding" <> wrote in message
news:hQeBi.18$...
> Ben Myers wrote:
>> Notice a trend here? Continually increasing ownership of one-time US
>> companies
>> by foreign interests. Lenovo and Acer are two from the computer sector.
>> Also
>> there is Hitachi's ownership of the venerable IBM disk drive operation.
>> My
>> bank, Citizens Bank, is now owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
>> Halliburton's
>> move of HQ to Dubai makes one wonder who its major stockholders are. The
>> ever
>> weaker US dollar compared to other currencies is surely a partial
>> explanation
>> for the selling off of US businesses, with the dollar weakened by the
>> government's enormous deficit spending and the lop-sided balance of
>> payments in
>> foreign trade. In this whole business pretending to be globalization,
>> there continues to be
>> one-way thinking about ownership. The US is almost wide-open vis a vis
>> ownership by foreign interests, the exception being ownership of a
>> business with
>> national security issues (in theory). But on the other side, there are
>> either
>> explicit (e.g. Chinese laws) or implicit (e.g. Japanese cultural)
>> barriers to
>> ownership of businesses by foreign entities.
>>
>> Of course, the inherent weakness of the US economic, educational, and
>> cultural
>> millieu to truly understand and become involved in business in other
>> countries
>> may be a factor, too.
>>
>> But I do not want to turn this into a political discussion. I only want
>> to
>> cite the painfully obvious facts and a few implications.
>>
>> But, hey, can anyone articulate a coherent economic policy for this
>> country
>> beyond the two words "laissez faire"?... Ben Myers
>
> Anyone else remember Crichton's "Rising Sun"? The Japanese were buying up
> the USA then.


I recall that and the subsequent Japanese financial bust that led to them
selling off many of those same U.S. assets.

But two big differences:

1) The Japanese aren't communists.

2) The Japanese don't have a population of 2-3 billion people while arming
themselves to the teeth.

jmo

Stew

"Tony Harding" <> wrote in message
news:I9fBi.19$...
> S.Lewis wrote:
>> "Tony Harding" <> wrote in message
>> news:EAQAi.3898$...
>>> August 27, 2007
>>> Gateway: From PC powerhouse to buyout bargain
>>> Erica Ogg, for News.com
>>> Taiwan is a long way from Iowa.
>>>
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> One of the articles I read yesterday also suggested that this is a
>> nationalistic pride/grudge match between Chinese-owned Lenovo and
>> Taiwanese Acer.
>>
>> Truth be known, it's difficult for me to consider purchasing Lenovo
>> equipment w/o considering how it may benefit the Chinese government
>> either directly or indirectly. But that's a discussion for political
>> forums.
>
> True, but why single out Lenovo for special handling? Lenovo was
> manufacturing ThinkPads for IBM years before IBM sold their PC division
> off to them. Hardly seems like an inscrutable plot when the US company,
> IBM in this case, couldn't figure out how to price PC devices & services
> even after 25 years experience.
>
> Where are Dell's laptops made?


Malaysia and China (Dell has a mfr. facility there, I believe). However,
Lenovo (formerly Legend) still remains at least a partially government owned
PRC enterprise. (Someone correct me....)

Granted, given all of the very public product recalls of Chinese origin,
they're getting the revenues from plenty of sources - Lenovo perhaps being a
drop in the bucket.

Still........

wrote:
> Hi!
>
>> True, but why single out Lenovo for special handling? Lenovo
>> was manufacturing ThinkPads for IBM years before IBM sold
>> their PC division off to them.
>
> Hmm...the MAC address on a 3000 N100 series system is listed in the
> public OUI database as belonging to Hon Hai Precision Industry
> (Foxconn). Makes me think that Foxconn did the actual build, which
> surprised even me.
>
> I suppose you could say the 3000 series aren't "real" Thinkpads but
> they are sold right alongside the Thinkpad line.

'Don't know about "real", but the 3000's are Lenovo's consumer line of
laptops.

S.Lewis wrote:
> "Tony Harding" <> wrote in message

<snip>

>> Anyone else remember Crichton's "Rising Sun"? The Japanese were buying up
>> the USA then.
>
> I recall that and the subsequent Japanese financial bust that led to them
> selling off many of those same U.S. assets.
>
> But two big differences:
>
> 1) The Japanese aren't communists.

Aha, shades of the Red Menace!

> 2) The Japanese don't have a population of 2-3 billion people while arming
> themselves to the teeth. [1]

And here's the Yellow Peril. :-)

I'll bet the US is a major supplier of weapons to them, too.


[1] From Wiki, re: the mainland Chinese population. Note that the
Chinese population is projected to be approx. 1.5 billion, no where
enough to pull a sling shot big enough to hurl an ICBM to the US mainland.

Population

In the mainland: 1,321,851,888 (July 2007 est.)[citation needed] The CIA
agrees with the 1.3 billion figure [2].

In Hong Kong: 6,994,500 (2006 census)

In Macau: 503,000
Total: 1,329,349,388

1960: 648,000,000
1970: 820,000,000
1980: 984,000,000
1990: 1,147,000,000
2000: 1,264,587,054

Projections

2010: 1,347,000,000
2020: 1,430,000,000
2030: 1,461,000,000
2040: 1,463,144,780
2050: 1,465,224,000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China

------------------------------------------------------------

Per: the BBC, China's current population is about 1.3 billion (20% of
the world population).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/6631471.stm

Now I'm wondering about the Indians ... The CIA estimates 1.13 Billion
Indians in 2007, not far behind China. Not crazy about saris, but they
both produce great food!

https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat.../print/in.html

[2]
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat.../print/ch.html

"Tony Harding" <> wrote in message
news:6GzBi.28$%...
> wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>>> True, but why single out Lenovo for special handling? Lenovo
>>> was manufacturing ThinkPads for IBM years before IBM sold
>>> their PC division off to them.
>>
>> Hmm...the MAC address on a 3000 N100 series system is listed in the
>> public OUI database as belonging to Hon Hai Precision Industry
>> (Foxconn). Makes me think that Foxconn did the actual build, which
>> surprised even me.
>>
>> I suppose you could say the 3000 series aren't "real" Thinkpads but
>> they are sold right alongside the Thinkpad line.
>
> 'Don't know about "real", but the 3000's are Lenovo's consumer line of
> laptops.


Check this out on an EOL 3000 N100:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...54&dcaid=17653

CoreDuo, but still not bad at all.......

Stew