Camera on Credit

[DisneySuiteFreak]

They'll either migrate en masse to the richer countries or they'll express their resentments of the differences through violent means... and 9/11 showed that you don't need massive resources to bring horrible levels of violence.

Sorry Alan, but this just caught my eye and I have to disagree. Bin Laden, who masterminded the 9/11 terror attacks comes from one of the wealthiest families in the world. How can you say he didn't have massive resources? Someone has to pay for all the weaponry, training camps, etc. He's the mastermind, therefore that someone is him. 9/11 has nothing to do with our current trade deficit.

 

[alan]

Remember back in the old days when you didn't have to think about buying an extended warrantee because things were Built To Last?

I tend not take take out extended warranties on most things, but in truth that's because the cost of the warranty is so high compared to the cost of the goods that I reckon I'll take my chances. But I understand your point.

May I suggest you take a couple of hours to see the inspired by true events movie called Bordertown? There's a reason why they want to come here, and a reason why mainstream media brushes it under the rug to pursue entertainment news instead of real news.

I'll try to find it. Agree with your comments about media; I love watching Fox News - it's my favourite comedy channel on televisoin. That bit where they say "fair and balanced"... cracks me up every time. Sadly some people think it's a real news station!

...snippage about China

I agree with most of what you said here. Much of globalisation is inspired by corporate greed, and working conditions in China can be horrible. People do not have the rights they ought to have.

Yet on the positive side, skilled workers' pay is increasing rapidly. I am sure that I read an Economist article saying that top-grade manufacturign engineers are now costing around 70% of the equivalent grade in the west. And I see hope in that, along with a (possibly naive) belief that that will in turn drag up the pay of other kinds of workers.

As for the quality of goods, companies can manufacture good products anywhere, and can manufacture poor products anywhere. It's down to their processes and their quality control. If you're outsourcing manufacturing then it's your job to make sure that your subcontractors do what they should. Mattel learned this the hard way.

Back to the topic at hand: if people want to buy stuff on credit that's up to them. They're the ones who have to pay it back. I just thought it was funny about the DVC thread and people who ask strangers if they should spend money when they've just had a financial setback.

I'd agree with that. My confidence in my financial future is so limited that my first goal in life is to pay off my mortgage. I would far prefer not to take out a loan for anything that I don't need to (with the possible exception of a 0% finance deal, when I have the money to repay it set aside). But maybe I'm just a little more insecure than most!

regards,
/alan

PS About Bin Laden, I agree he's from an incredibly wealthy family and has financed many training camps etc. But the fundamental act of taking control of an aeroplane and flying it into a building did not take a lot of resource; that was my point.

 

[Anewman]

I don't think that was the original intention of the free trade agreements...At least I hope it wasn't. How much more money do these greedy corporations have to make until they're satisfied? Will we have to become the third world nations that China and India used to be before they're happy?

Thing is that FREE TRADE will not work for American corporations, it needed to be a FAIR TRADE agreement.

If American corporations need to meet EPA and OSHA regulations and deal with higher taxes and minimum wages mandated by unions and the GOV, is it really fair to expect them to produce a competitive product vs corporations that are allowed to do what ever they want(to employees and the environment) in other countries?

Sure they might be able to compete on a QUALITY comparison(but even that is not a gimmie), but no way they can compete on the price wars. And then do not get me started on free trade with countries that allow companies to ignore patents and copyrights...

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I don't want to get into too heavy a debate here; this board is about Disneyworld and photos after all

Off the top of my head, I can't even think of one thing that I could go and spend my money on, that I would want to buy, that is made in the USA.

If you want some real suggestions for photography and Disney related purchases to make with your tax credit that directly award Americans, here are a few:

1) Take a Disney vacation (check out the sponsored links above).

2) Watch a Disney Movie at a US theater (or buy or rent one from a US store or rental company). The disk is probably stamped in some foreign local, but almost every significant part of the value chain from writing, production, and distribution are all US.

3) Buy photo editing software.

4) Subscribe to a photo hosting site.

5) Subscribe to ESPN and watch US sports on a US run network playing in US built stadiums.

6) Take a photography class or attend a workshop.

7) Buy US made photo gear from Really Sight Stuff or Acratech.

8) Hire an American model for your own photo shoot.

9) Hire an American photographer to take your portrait.

Personally, I don't get too worked about this stuff. I'm not at all happy with the way some things are going. Still, I look at the big picture from time to time and for me it looks good.

From a material perspective, my childhood was much better than my parents. As children, they could hardly have dreamed of living as well as we did. We had a TV. we drove around the country on vacation. They recorded it all with grainy 8mm silent film movies.

Now my children are living a life that I wouldn't have thought possible as a child. We have a theater room with video game consoles, a huge movie library, and innumerable sources of entertainment. We fly around the country (and beyond) on vacations. We record it with DSLR's and HDV camcorders.

For our family, life has been improving and I, perhaps naively, think that my grandchildren's world will be far better still. People will be the same, so they'll still deal with anger, misery, and strife. But I think they'll be wealthy beyond anything I could provide for my children today. I hope so.

 

[mabas9395]

Since I'm pretty sure that Canon is a Japanese company, would it me unamerican of me to buy a new lens with my tax rebate?

Buy an "L" and the terrorists win? I don't like the sound of that.

But credit seems to be the american way, so if I put it on my credit card does that cancel everthing out?

Who knew that my little photography hobby could be such an internal moral dilemma?

 

[MICKEY88]

Buy an "L" and the terrorists win? I don't like the sound of that.

last time I checked JApan isn't on the list of terrorist sponsoring countries, so I think it's OK to buy your L glass

 

[alan]

Thing is that FREE TRADE will not work for American corporations, it needed to be a FAIR TRADE agreement.

If American corporations need to meet EPA and OSHA regulations and deal with higher taxes and minimum wages mandated by unions and the GOV, is it really fair to expect them to produce a competitive product vs corporations that are allowed to do what ever they want(to employees and the environment) in other countries?

Absolutely right. And I would wholeheartedly agree. OTOH, import tariffs are often levied by the US in such a way as to make things difficult for smaller countries; don't think that foreign governments have a monopoly on unfair practices.

But the bottom line is that the manufacturing ship has sailed and even if a country as large as the USA tried to "opt out" by adopting a protectionist approach, i think that that would just mean that the US would start to fall behind the rest of the world. Instead, all of us in the developed world have to work out other ways to make our money...

Personally, having been brought up in a coal mining area, I cannot understand how an economy can work without "making things". I am pleased to say that I work for a manufacturing company, and work that I do is exported - even to Taiwan and China. But I realise that this cannot be an area in which my country's economy can be based.

regards,
/alan

 

[alan]

For our family, life has been improving and I, perhaps naively, think that my grandchildren's world will be far better still. People will be the same, so they'll still deal with anger, misery, and strife. But I think they'll be wealthy beyond anything I could provide for my children today. I hope so.

Hear hear. I too believe what you say in the first sentence (*) And further, I believe that they will live in a world where the amount of poverty and hunger throughout the world will be dramatically reduced from where it is now. I believe that a major driving force behind this will be globalisation, and that things like the internet will make it easier for people throughout the world to learn that what makes people similar is far greater than what makes people different.

And I, too, hope so.

regards,
/alan

(*) The things that I fear might prevent this is the aforementioned religious nutcases...

 

[alan]

At the risk of getting back on topic; right now I would not take out any credit I don't absolutely need to - the economy isn't looking good.

Good to see that Fox News is currently telling us all that the worsening US economy is not because of the government, but it's all because Obama and Clinton are saying that things aren't good

regards,
/alan

 

[Groucho]

Hear hear. I too believe what you say in the first sentence (*) And further, I believe that they will live in a world where the amount of poverty and hunger throughout the world will be dramatically reduced from where it is now. I believe that a major driving force behind this will be globalisation, and that things like the internet will make it easier for people throughout the world to learn that what makes people similar is far greater than what makes people different.

And I, too, hope so.

regards,
/alan

(*) The things that I fear might prevent this is the aforementioned religious nutcases...

Well, I don't know where I stand on the future. Certainly we live relatively luxurious lives (especially if you compare things to the early 1900s), but then again, chances are that the wives aren't staying at home, the kids don't have as much time with the family, television, video games, and internet take the place of social interaction and "real" play, and our lives are generally incredibly busy and we never have time to do the things we want. There are times where the Amish life sounds pretty tempting to me - nice and simple!

As for the world, well, I remember thinking back in 1999 or 2000 how the world was in pretty good shape. Unfortunately things have gone way downhill since then! Our goodwill has been squandered, our government's debt is mounting at an unbelievable pace, media outlets are owned by a very small number of groups who often push their own agendas, rational and skeptical thinking is almost extinct, and superstitions threaten to take us back to the dark ages. Then there's the damage to our world itself - the population is continuing to grow at an alarming rate, there's already not enough land on the planet to grow enough food to feed everyone, and the "organic" craze means more spoiled food and more wasted land, and then there's global warming. And developing countries with outrageous pollution problems.

So yes, I'm very concerned about the world my children will inherit. On the other hand, I'm not so concerned about global nuclear war, which was a huge concern when I was young. Either way, the best we can do is prepare them the best way we know how and send them out into the world to hopefully make it better.

 

[figment1986]

depending on the camera... it might be worth putting it on credit. I went from a point and shoot to a Digital Rebel xti, my mom bought it for me and put it on credit. It also depends on if you can pay off the credit within a good time frame.

 

[MICKEY88]

8) Hire an American model for your own photo shoot.

[/SIZE]

I have to disagree with this one, since you're concerned with spending money unneccesarily, why hire a model, when you can find thousands of models on "OneModelPlace " and "Modelmayhem" who are eager to do TFP or TFCD photo shoots.