In the story of how the modern world was constructed, Toyota stands out as the mastermind of a monumental advance in industrial efficiency. The Japanese automaker pioneered so-called Just In Time manufacturing, in which parts are delivered to factories right as they are required, minimizing the need to stockpile them.Over the last half-century, this approach has captivated global business in industries far beyond autos. From fashion to food processing to pharmaceuticals, companies have embraced Just In Time to stay nimble, allowing them to adapt to changing market demands, while cutting costs.But the tumultuous events of the past year have challenged the merits of paring inventories, while reinvigorating concerns that some industries have gone too far, leaving them vulnerable to disruption. As the pandemic has hampered factory operations and sown chaos in global shipping, many economies around the world have been bedeviled by shortages of a vast range of goods — from electronics to lumber to clothing.In a time of extraordinary upheaval in the global economy, Just In Time is running late.“It’s sort of like supply chain run amok,” said Willy C. Shih, an international trade expert at Harvard Business School. “In a race to get to the lowest cost, I have concentrated my risk. We are at the logical conclusion of all that.” …
I don’t do links very well, so i hope the short copy and paste will enable the more computer literate to find the article, if they are interested. Democrats and Republicans Agree That High Turnout Hurts the GOP. But What if They’re Wrong?By John Ward, Yahoo! News01 June 21 or two decades, many top Democratic strategists have supported the idea that demography is destiny and that high turnout will automatically benefit their party at the ballot box.As such, they’ve increasingly designed political strategies around the idea that if they get enough voters to the polls — especially the young and people of color — they can win elections and create a permanent governing majority. The article says sometning I have been trying to say to Angry Bears for years: the Dems need to find a way to sell their message to other people, not to relay on “identity politics,” and not to count on “minority majority.” The article does not say what I also say: beware of minority majority, because once the “minorities” have the power they will turn out to be just as corrupt as the old boss….or at least as disinterested in the needs of the least among us. On the other hand… the current blast of voter restrictions promoted by the Republicansis very dangerous as well as evil. The way to fight it might be to become a little more creative in getting “our” voters to the polls in spite of the restrictions. I believe that ultimately the answer is to go back to paper ballots put in a box in front of witnesses in neighborhood polling stations and counted in those polling stations in front of witnesses. Station totals can be transmitted to electronic counting (centralized) stations for final tallies. This makes voting as transparent as I think it needs to be.
The white working class Rep voter will never vote Democratic regardless of what the Dems run on. No message can get through to them through their bubble.
EM,*https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/upshot/how-the-obama-coalition-crumbled-leaving-an-opening-for-trump.html*Nate Cohn’s numbers say it was the white vote that won the battleground states for Obama. “He would have won Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin each time even if Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee had been severed from their states and cast adrift into the Great Lakes.”*In 1988 Guess who beat out Dick Gephart and Michael Dukakis in the Michigan Democratic primary with 54%? Jesse Jackson. Got to offer something people really need to change the power balance back in the average person’s favor.*https://onlabor.org/why-not-hold-union-representation-elections-on-a-regular-schedule/*Why not? What is the Democratic Party waiting for?
Denisactually I thought your comment was quite good. EMichael some days i think you are right. but “white people” is not the same as “Republican”. Anyway, when St Exupery…a French aviator and author but not a saint… was asked why he (and France) fought a war against the Nazis that they could not win, he said [in effect] that it is important that civilization be defended against barbarism, even if there was no chance of winning. as it turned out, “we” won….eventually even if France lost in 1940. StEx did not live to see it. For anyone who cares His book was “Flight to Arras”, and before that “Wind Sand and Stars”
“In 1970, the rich (top 10%) voted strongly for Republicans and the rest (bottom 90%) voted strongly for Democrats. Education didn’t matter.In 2010, the most educated voted for Democrats and the rest voted for Republicans. Income didn’t matter.The point of the chart is that the same thing has been happening in other countries as well. As usual, it’s just more prominent in the US.” https://jabberwocking.com/
The United States urgently needs a functioning Senate, which operates, in the words of the former vice president and senator Walter Mondale, as “the nation’s mediator.” Unfortunately, what we have instead is a body that, among other things, cannot pass a bill to create an independent commission to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection or to defend national voting rights.
Senators must confront what has proved to be a debilitating obstacle: the legislative filibuster — more precisely, the minimum 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation.
This problem has fallen to Senate Democrats, who hold a narrow majority, and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia will be a decisive vote for any reform of the arcane rule. Mr. Manchin has defended the need for the filibuster, often citing the legacy of his predecessor Robert C. Byrd. …A Senate that operates by majority vote empowers Mr. Manchin and other dealmakers from both parties because their votes become decisive. A minimum 60-vote requirement empowers obstructionists, particularly one named Mitch McConnell, who has turned the Senate into a partisan instrument to block Democratic presidents from governing.
This year, Mr. McConnell disabused any naïve observers who thought his long relationship with President Biden would change his behavior, getting every Senate Republican to oppose the president’s popular American Rescue Plan. Mr. McConnell more recently stated that he was “100 percent focused” on stopping the Biden administration. He deserves to be taken at his word but not permitted to hold the Senate, and our country, hostage.
Today’s Senate includes many able public servants on both sides of the aisle. They should give themselves the opportunity to work with the Biden administration to hammer out the laws that America needs rather than lock themselves into preordained paralysis and failure.
… A Senate that operates by majority vote empowers Mr. Manchin and other dealmakers from both parties because their votes become decisive. A minimum 60-vote requirement empowers obstructionists, particularly one named Mitch McConnell, who has turned the Senate into a partisan instrument to block Democratic presidents from governing.This year, Mr. McConnell disabused any naïve observers who thought his long relationship with President Biden would change his behavior, getting every Senate Republican to oppose the president’s popular American Rescue Plan. Mr. McConnell more recently stated that he was “100 percent focused” on stopping the Biden administration. He deserves to be taken at his word but not permitted to hold the Senate, and our country, hostage.Today’s Senate includes many able public servants on both sides of the aisle. They should give themselves the opportunity to work with the Biden administration to hammer out the laws that America needs rather than lock themselves into preordained paralysis and failure.
President Biden told the lead Republican negotiator on an infrastructure package on Wednesday that her party must embrace $1 trillion in new spending as part of any bipartisan deal, highlighting the wide gulf that remains between the two parties as talks on a potential compromise reach a critical stage.The figure that Mr. Biden gave Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia at their meeting represents nearly three times the $257 billion in new spending that Republicans included in their latest infrastructure counteroffer. The president also refused to budge from his proposal to finance the plan by increasing taxes for wealthy corporations, according to a person familiar with the discussion who disclosed details on condition of anonymity.Mr. Biden said any new spending should be on top of $400 billion he wants to maintain for existing programs over the next five years, according to a second person familiar with ongoing discussions.Republicans have rejected the idea of raising taxes to finance an infrastructure measure, and while Mr. Biden’s latest proposal would amount to nearly $1 trillion less than he initially requested for the package, it is far larger than G.O.P. lawmakers have been willing to consider.A group led by Ms. Capito last week proposed a $928 billion plan, the vast majority of which would be money from existing programs, paid for by increases in user fees for drivers and unspent pandemic relief money.It was unclear if Ms. Capito and the five Republican senators who have been involved in the talks would assemble another counterproposal before Ms. Capito is scheduled to speak to Mr. Biden on Friday. Administration officials and Democratic congressional leaders have suggested they will decide as early as next week whether there is a bipartisan compromise to be had on infrastructure or they must proceed on their own.Some Democrats have pushed for party leaders to abandon the search for a deal with Republicans and instead muscle Mr. Biden’s plan through Congress using the fast-track budget reconciliation process, which circumvents a filibuster and would require only Democratic votes.But moderate Democrats have warned against abandoning the bipartisan talks, and are quietly discussing possible alternatives with some of their Republican colleagues.
After President Biden hosted Republican infrastructure negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) on Wednesday afternoon, the White House called the Oval Office meeting “constructive and frank” while Capito’s office said she was “encouraged that negotiations have continued.” But despite these “bland statements,” Politico reports Thursday morning, Biden made a new offer and “the GOP is considering another counteroffer that could come as soon as Friday, when Capito will be talking to Biden again, this time likely by phone.” …
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/business/coronavirus-global-shortages.html?smid=tw-share
I don’t do links very well, so i hope the short copy and paste will enable the more computer literate to find the article, if they are interested. Democrats and Republicans Agree That High Turnout Hurts the GOP. But What if They’re Wrong?By John Ward, Yahoo! News01 June 21 or two decades, many top Democratic strategists have supported the idea that demography is destiny and that high turnout will automatically benefit their party at the ballot box.As such, they’ve increasingly designed political strategies around the idea that if they get enough voters to the polls — especially the young and people of color — they can win elections and create a permanent governing majority. The article says sometning I have been trying to say to Angry Bears for years: the Dems need to find a way to sell their message to other people, not to relay on “identity politics,” and not to count on “minority majority.” The article does not say what I also say: beware of minority majority, because once the “minorities” have the power they will turn out to be just as corrupt as the old boss….or at least as disinterested in the needs of the least among us. On the other hand… the current blast of voter restrictions promoted by the Republicansis very dangerous as well as evil. The way to fight it might be to become a little more creative in getting “our” voters to the polls in spite of the restrictions. I believe that ultimately the answer is to go back to paper ballots put in a box in front of witnesses in neighborhood polling stations and counted in those polling stations in front of witnesses. Station totals can be transmitted to electronic counting (centralized) stations for final tallies. This makes voting as transparent as I think it needs to be.
Even the copy and paste did not format well on AB. Trust me, it’s in there.
Cob,
The white working class Rep voter will never vote Democratic regardless of what the Dems run on. No message can get through to them through their bubble.
They are lost, and have been lost for 50 years.
Waste of time to even try.
EM,*https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/upshot/how-the-obama-coalition-crumbled-leaving-an-opening-for-trump.html*Nate Cohn’s numbers say it was the white vote that won the battleground states for Obama. “He would have won Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin each time even if Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee had been severed from their states and cast adrift into the Great Lakes.”*In 1988 Guess who beat out Dick Gephart and Michael Dukakis in the Michigan Democratic primary with 54%? Jesse Jackson. Got to offer something people really need to change the power balance back in the average person’s favor.*https://onlabor.org/why-not-hold-union-representation-elections-on-a-regular-schedule/*Why not? What is the Democratic Party waiting for?
just when I think I understand how to comment here ???
Denisactually I thought your comment was quite good. EMichael some days i think you are right. but “white people” is not the same as “Republican”. Anyway, when St Exupery…a French aviator and author but not a saint… was asked why he (and France) fought a war against the Nazis that they could not win, he said [in effect] that it is important that civilization be defended against barbarism, even if there was no chance of winning. as it turned out, “we” won….eventually even if France lost in 1940. StEx did not live to see it. For anyone who cares His book was “Flight to Arras”, and before that “Wind Sand and Stars”
Dennis, The last time the white working class voted Dem was in the 50s.
“In 1970, the rich (top 10%) voted strongly for Republicans and the rest (bottom 90%) voted strongly for Democrats. Education didn’t matter.In 2010, the most educated voted for Democrats and the rest voted for Republicans. Income didn’t matter.The point of the chart is that the same thing has been happening in other countries as well. As usual, it’s just more prominent in the US.” https://jabberwocking.com/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/opinion/joe-manchin-filibuster.html?smid=tw-share
The United States urgently needs a functioning Senate, which operates, in the words of the former vice president and senator Walter Mondale, as “the nation’s mediator.” Unfortunately, what we have instead is a body that, among other things, cannot pass a bill to create an independent commission to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection or to defend national voting rights.
Senators must confront what has proved to be a debilitating obstacle: the legislative filibuster — more precisely, the minimum 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation.
This problem has fallen to Senate Democrats, who hold a narrow majority, and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia will be a decisive vote for any reform of the arcane rule. Mr. Manchin has defended the need for the filibuster, often citing the legacy of his predecessor Robert C. Byrd. …A Senate that operates by majority vote empowers Mr. Manchin and other dealmakers from both parties because their votes become decisive. A minimum 60-vote requirement empowers obstructionists, particularly one named Mitch McConnell, who has turned the Senate into a partisan instrument to block Democratic presidents from governing.
This year, Mr. McConnell disabused any naïve observers who thought his long relationship with President Biden would change his behavior, getting every Senate Republican to oppose the president’s popular American Rescue Plan. Mr. McConnell more recently stated that he was “100 percent focused” on stopping the Biden administration. He deserves to be taken at his word but not permitted to hold the Senate, and our country, hostage.
Today’s Senate includes many able public servants on both sides of the aisle. They should give themselves the opportunity to work with the Biden administration to hammer out the laws that America needs rather than lock themselves into preordained paralysis and failure.
(Only if Mitch McConnell would let him.)
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/03/us/biden-news-today/biden-capito-infrastructure