Digital BW, The Print

Julian wrote:

>People don't want to pay US prices!
>We don't have the US disposable income ...

Neither do we -- even though our acting like we have more than enough is a
big part of what drives the U.S. economy, causes the huge trade deficit,
etc.  Have you ever seen a candle burning in an enclosed bottle?  What
happens in the end?   ;-)

Seriously, though, in other photo and many other product markets one does
see that there are more "high demanders" over here.  Look at the Mamiya 7
prices -- US (B&H) v. UK (Robert White).  The extent to which sellers can
take advantage of this to make more money depends, in large part, on the
level of competition within the market and the barriers to entry into that
market.

(One of my little victories in a previous life was to stop a proposal that
got up the cabinet level and would have limited the gray market in the US
even more than is now the case.)

> You guys have been living in the land of milk and honey

And those products and that lifestyle give us a very high heart attack rate
....  Seriously, although I think material wealth is relevant to happiness,
it has very significantly decreasing marginal utility after a point.

> with 50% of the world's wealth ...

No, that was before Enron.

Surveys of happiness find a larger correlation between happiness and a
person's relative standing in their culture, than between happiness and some
absolute measure of financial wealth.

I remember hearing an analysis of the old Los Angeles Watt's riots that
noted the people were happier (and thus not rioting) before they all had
color TVs.

While on an Indian reservation project, I ran into the local saying, "I
didn't know what poverty was until I left the reservation."  (This can be
taken a number of ways.)  The only problem an old Indian Medicine Man had
was that he could not find a young Indian to take over his practice, and he
wanted to retire.

I wonder what the US wealth and lifestyle will look like after the world
forces us to live within our allotment of CO2 emissions?  (I'm going to buy
stock in an SUV re-cycling company.)

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com

I'm jury-reading a book for a publisher on US/UK 'globalisation/terrorism'
and I'm at the stage where I'm checking the 'facts' and I'm getting so damn
depressed! BTW Paul, 'the world' cannot force the US to do anything, so I
wouldn't worry. Although epson 7000s are cheaper here than in the US! All we
need now is a european ink manufacturer offering quality stuff - hmmm a gap
in the market??

Julian
!----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@...>
To: "DigitalB&WPrint" <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 9:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Epson Printers bigger than A3 -- ramblings


> Julian wrote:
>
> >People don't want to pay US prices!
> >We don't have the US disposable income ...
>
> Neither do we -- even though our acting like we have more than enough is a
> big part of what drives the U.S. economy, causes the huge trade deficit,
> etc.  Have you ever seen a candle burning in an enclosed bottle?  What
> happens in the end?   ;-)
>
> Seriously, though, in other photo and many other product markets one does
> see that there are more "high demanders" over here.  Look at the Mamiya 7
> prices -- US (B&H) v. UK (Robert White).  The extent to which sellers can
> take advantage of this to make more money depends, in large part, on the
> level of competition within the market and the barriers to entry into that
> market.
>
> (One of my little victories in a previous life was to stop a proposal that
> got up the cabinet level and would have limited the gray market in the US
> even more than is now the case.)
>
> > You guys have been living in the land of milk and honey
>
> And those products and that lifestyle give us a very high heart attack
rate
> ....  Seriously, although I think material wealth is relevant to
happiness,
> it has very significantly decreasing marginal utility after a point.
>
> > with 50% of the world's wealth ...
>
> No, that was before Enron.
>
> Surveys of happiness find a larger correlation between happiness and a
> person's relative standing in their culture, than between happiness and
some
> absolute measure of financial wealth.
>
> I remember hearing an analysis of the old Los Angeles Watt's riots that
> noted the people were happier (and thus not rioting) before they all had
> color TVs.
>
> While on an Indian reservation project, I ran into the local saying, "I
> didn't know what poverty was until I left the reservation."  (This can be
> taken a number of ways.)  The only problem an old Indian Medicine Man had
> was that he could not find a young Indian to take over his practice, and
he
> wanted to retire.
>
> I wonder what the US wealth and lifestyle will look like after the world
> forces us to live within our allotment of CO2 emissions?  (I'm going to
buy
> stock in an SUV re-cycling company.)
>
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com
>
>
>
>
> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and
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>
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>

Paul,

Well stated. We are starting to realize what really matters, I, for one am
very thankful just to be healthy.

"There is a gesture in those roadside offers - the short red school bus, the
$1,100 pickup - that I can't help admiring. At first they look like pure
dismissal, a way of unloading disused pieces of equipment or making a little
extra money on stuff that was just lying around anyway. But they are really
invitations. They show a confidence in the passer-by and in time. Someone
will park on the shoulder and take a slow walk around that feed wagon,
perhaps even crawl underneath it to check the running gear. Maybe not soon.
But when it happens, the doorbell will ring or the dogs will bark. A
stranger will present himself, someone from farther up the road, across the
ridge, down the valley. The price was firm once, back when the wagon was
new, a price anyone could understand. But now the wagon belongs to a
different economy, which is as much a matter of tact and understanding as it
is dollars and cents. It's a matter of knowing what things that have lost or
long outlived their prices are really worth, stranger to stranger, neighbor
to neighbor"

Happy New Year to everyone,

John in OKC

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@...>
To: "DigitalB&WPrint" <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 2:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Epson Printers bigger than A3 -- ramblings


| Julian wrote:
|
| >People don't want to pay US prices!
| >We don't have the US disposable income ...
|
| Neither do we -- even though our acting like we have more than enough is a
| big part of what drives the U.S. economy, causes the huge trade deficit,
| etc.  Have you ever seen a candle burning in an enclosed bottle?  What
| happens in the end?   ;-)
|<SNIP>
 While on an Indian reservation project, I ran into the local saying, "I
| didn't know what poverty was until I left the reservation."  (This can be
| taken a number of ways.)  The only problem an old Indian Medicine Man had
| was that he could not find a young Indian to take over his practice, and
he
| wanted to retire.
|
| I wonder what the US wealth and lifestyle will look like after the world
| forces us to live within our allotment of CO2 emissions?  (I'm going to
buy
| stock in an SUV re-cycling company.)
|
| Paul
| http://www.PaulRoark.com

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "JackG" <jackg@p...> 
wrote:

> "There is a gesture in those roadside offers - the short red 
school bus, the
> $1,100 pickup - that I can't help admiring. At first they look like 
pure
> dismissal, a way of unloading disused pieces of equipment or 
making a little
> extra money on stuff that was just lying around anyway. But they 
are really
> invitations. They show a confidence in the passer-by and in 
time. Someone
> will park on the shoulder and take a slow walk around that feed 
wagon,
> perhaps even crawl underneath it to check the running gear. 
Maybe not soon.
> But when it happens, the doorbell will ring or the dogs will 
bark. A
> stranger will present himself, someone from farther up the 
road, across the
> ridge, down the valley. The price was firm once, back when the 
wagon was
> new, a price anyone could understand. But now the wagon 
belongs to a
> different economy, which is as much a matter of tact and 
understanding as it
> is dollars and cents. It's a matter of knowing what things that 
have lost or
> long outlived their prices are really worth, stranger to stranger, 
neighbor
> to neighbor"
> 
> Happy New Year to everyone,
> 
> John in OKC


Hey John,
I´m only a German and my English is clumsy, but I have got the 
impression: you seem to be a writer. So what the hell are you 
doing on a photographers web-site??
Bernd