Why Brazilian Drug Dealing Monopolies are better … for now.

A report passed by me close to 4 months ago but recent violence in Brazil returned my mind to this topic. Brazil is prepping like mad for the 2016 Olympic Games. Much of this prep no doubt will be centered on getting violence under control in the country’s most popular city, Rio de Janeiro. A big part of the problem at least in Rio has to do with a poor public administration which has resulted in a corrupt police force. However, another interesting wrinkle in Rio at least compared to Brazil’s other large metropolis, Sao Paulo, is Rio lays claim to 3 prominent competing drug factions compared to Sao Paulo’s 1.

What this boils down to is Rio dealers need to work harder, longer hours, and gain competitive advantages in order to clear marginally small break-even points with regard to revenue and expenditures. The report I’m referring to quoted the following:

Total Annual Drug Sales = $182M

Total Expenditures = $167M

Total Profit = $15M

What we’re looking at is an 8% profit split among three rival competing gangs. Moreover, the wage structure appears to be quite flat which is ironically not the case among Brazilians in general – a country marked by wide gaps in income inequality. What this boils down to is to gain an edge over a competitor each of these three gangs needs to pilfer clients from the other while simultaneously weakening the other. This is achieved through violence.

One could argue, if they’re killing each other what’s the big deal. Well, not only are law-abiding citizens being killed as well but with such small margins gangs have had to branch out into other areas of business, the most popular being shaking down local politicians in the areas of the illicit provision of electricity and other local utilities. This fuels an already corrupt public administration and keeps the vicious cycle turning.

The knee-jerk reaction from Sao Paulo is thank goodness we have one controlling drug family. Indeed, getting citizens hooked on crack is not an ideal situation, but a monopoly in this respect keeps the violence down which for Brazil and the world community come 2016 might be an ideal short-term recipe.

Great Art Classes in Southern California

Hey all, check out these new courses my sister is teaching in the Southern California area very soon!!!

SPRING 2010 COURSES

Drawing from Memory: Recall / Record
(at OTIS College of Art and Design – westside location!)
Saturdays 9:30am – 12:30pm
January 30 – April 10, 2010 (no meeting March 20th)
Enrollment limit – 16 students
Class fee: Non-credit – $385, Certificate – $419, Credit – $1022

Course description:
This course begins with building fundamental drawing skills: composition, lights/shadows, line contour, volume, perspective, gesture and proportion.  Using these essential techniques, students work from observation as well as from memory and imagination.

Through drawing exercises and lively group discussions, this course teaches students to invent new ways of seeing and drawing, while tapping into memory and personal experience.  Class readings draw from current findings in the fields of psychology and neuroscience,  inspiring students to expand and refine their drawing vocabularies.  All levels welcome!

TO REGISTER:
http://otis.edu/ce,course.php?crs=536&dsc=9&sem=25

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Egg Tempera: Material, Meaning, Method
(at OTIS College of Art and Design – westside location!)
Saturdays 1:30pm – 4:30pm
January 30 – April 10, 2010 (no meeting March 20th)
Enrollment limit – 12 students
Class fee: Non-credit – $385, Certificate – $419, Credit – $1022

Course description:
This introductory painting course covers techniques such as color mixing, glazing, scumbling, basic composition, hatching to build form, brush handling as well as experimental and alternative applications.  Through step-by-step demonstrations, students learn recipes for mixing egg tempera paint from scratch and preparing traditional gesso grounds. 

Using this knowledge, students complete two paintings over the 10-week course which explore their own subject matter and imagery. 

Egg tempera is an ancient painting technique still used widely today, made by mixing egg yolk with colorful pigments and applied in thin layers to wood panel.  This unique course provides the opportunity for students to work with raw materials, learn how paint is made, and expand the scope and application of their artistic practice.

TO REGISTER:
http://otis.edu/ce,course.php?crs=537&dsc=12&sem=25

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( D R A W )
at SPACE, South Pasadena Art Center, eastside location
Wednesdays, 7pm – 9pm
January 20 – March 10, 2010 (8-week course)
Enrollment limit – 10 students
Class fee: $260

Course description:
An adult drawing class for beginners ready to cultivate their art making in an open non-competitive environment.  This course focuses on fundamental drawing skills: composition, lights/shadows, line contour, volume, perspective, gesture and proportion.  Using these essential techniques, students work from observation, source material, memory and imagination.

Expansive drawing projects inspire students to think critically, build and refine personal expression, better their traditional drawing skills and learn through hands-on experimentation with materials.

For more information (scroll to bottom) and to download registration form:
http://spaceartscenter.com/Arts_Education.html

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For more information about the Instructor:
www.christinefrerichs.com

Pole to Pole on NPR’s Marketplace Show

From Chile to Portland. Click “Listen to the Show” within the link and foward to 13 minutes. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/01/08/mm-skype/

21st Century Dominance: Still Up for Grabs?

A great opinion piece by Thomas Friedman focused in on the two key components that will ultimately decide whether America’s dominance throughout the 20th Century will come to an end with China forging ahead in the 21st.

With the world as we know it completely interconnected at a level that was frankly unimaginable 100 years ago, creativity and imagination matter. Ipods might be made in China but they are imagined in the U.S. The U.S. is as Friedman puts it, ”the world’s greatest dream machine.”

With that said however, Friedman also discusses another key factor that differentiates China and the U.S., but is narrowing quickly – good governance. China’s censorship and tactful control of its citizens is well-documented. Yet, so is America’s suboptimal repsonse to its biggest issues of the day: education, financial regulation, debt, health-care, energy and the environment.

These critical issues are fracturing the country and paralyzing our leaders to creatively imagine up workable solutions. Gerrymandering of political districts, the cable news sector, and the internet encourages segregation of ideas. Pick a side, Democrat or Republican, and don’t give in no matter what.

The U.S. business community only comes to Washington to lobby for their own interests providing very little commentary on national issues affecting U.S. citizens at large.

Obama was elected to build a bridge and bring people across from both sides. He has a long way to go and I do not envy his job. Yet with a more active and understanding citizen-base, we, rather than our elected officials, can press ahead for change. After all, 95% of the rhetoric today is coming from us, not them.   

All in all, continued suboptimal responses to these critical issues will catch up to us regardless of how much imagination we engender. China will patiently wait.

 

Colorful New Logos

To learn more about us: www.poletopoleconsulting.com

Basic Skills Rear Their Ugly Head Once Again

Consider this:

• 31% of primary school classroom time devoted to religion – 20% devoted to math and science.
• 25% of university students devote main part of their degree to religious studies – More than engineering, medicine and science put together.
• Less than 1% of students aged 12-13 reached an advanced benchmark in science, compared with 32% in Singapore and 10% in the U.S.

Not surprisingly we’re talking about the Arab world here, Saudi Arabia to be specific in the first two bullets. Religion has and will always play a critical role in each and every culture the world over. But demand in 2009 suggests more engineers and less mullahs, especially in developing countries desperate for bright minds and innovative ideas. By not separating church and state we have a region struggling to keep pace with the rest of the world. If it weren’t for natural resources only God knows what would have become of the Middle-East. Perhaps Dutch disease has really taken root here and a reliance on oil has allowed the religious clerics to maintain extreme control without the need to reform.

Either way, the world has taken notice with Arab youth unemployment at an all-time high leading to anger, frustration, and ripe pickings for nefarious terror cells. It is a complicated issue with no clear direction except that of common sense. But this has not and will not work. I rest hope on Iran at the moment as the youth movement seems poised for change. But these is far from a slamdunk so we are left to CNN pieces showing young Arab rap groups singing about social change while struggling to market their CD on myspace due to government censors. Stay tuned …

Reducing HIV Risk with Microfinance, and more …

Great new research sheds light on coupling microfinance, gender, and HIV training curriculum to improve household economic well-being, women’s empowerment, and reduce at-risk behavior such as unprotected sex. Critics (and supporters alike) of microfinance have long positioned the industry as incapable of solving poverty on its own. This however is precisly what is needed – a coupling of various treatments to solve vital issues that taken in the aggregate all severely affect individuals living in poverty.

Access to finance cannot do it alone. Nor will access to health-care or even education. It is time cross-sectoral collaboration is positioned at the front of the fight against poverty. 

Study     

http://www.sef.co.za/files/08%20-%20Pronyk%20IMAGE%20on%20HIV%20AIDS%202008.pdf <!–(Original link doesn't work? Use cached version)–>

 

Productivity and the 4-Day Work Week

I hadn’t realized but a handful of state governments within the U.S. have been experimenting with the 4-day (10 hr./per day) work week. Utah just released some numbers associated with this experiment that are pretty compelling:

• $4.1 million was saved over a 12 month period in overtime hours alone. Employees basically were not as inclined to stay over 1 or 2 hours per day because they had already worked the required 10 hours.
• $502,000 was saved in energy costs and $200,000 in janitorial costs.

I didn’t find any data associated with productivity measures. I am sure that will take some time to sort out. Lots of qualitative feedback however regarding people’s preferences for a 3-day weekend, happier employees, more time for family, etc.

This cannot be discounted. I think we all know a happy employee is probably not one that will gun another down. More than anything the 10 hours makes sense as I think we can all imagine … what’s 10 hours when you have already worked 8? I for one would love this schedule.

Problem in the end of course, across sectors (public, private, non-profit), is business does need to be conducted on Fridays. I cannot see a business or organization that is serving the public directly closing its doors on a Friday. The minute this happens in the private sector another business will come along and fill the demand.

Long-term this will be a specialized work schedule for specialized sectors. Let’s hope some of us can take advantage!!!

We are Witnessing the Next Great Development Tool

It has been upon us for quite awhile now, but the cell phone and its potential to not only connect but serve as a medium by which to transfer and protect investments is groundbreaking for the developing world. The first biggest hurdle was getting the cost down. Once cell-phones became available for under $30 is when real growth began to boom. Second was pre rather than post-paying. As long as something is pre-paid background checks, collateral, and all of the red-tape that typically envelopes most financial/property transactions is rendered mute. Third was regulatory and government support in opening up this sector, but this has been and will continue to be a win-win for all.

So where are we now? Well, we have millions of individuals residing below the poverty line with access to a phone. The phone is used to link up small business transactions, communicate prices from local markets to rural farmers/producers, engender mobility thereby facilitating demand  … and the list goes on. Even more remarkable are the money transfer services. Some companies have enabled subscribers to transfer money via the phone to outlets who dispense cash for a percentage of the transaction. Take this a step further and you can also retain “money” on your cell-phone which serves as a type of savings account.

This last point is critical as savings in the developing world is virtually non-existent amongst the poorest of the poor. Not only is banking access quite limited, but when someone does want to save they must find a physical place to hide the money or the asset. The possibility of theft is through the roof in cases like this.

It has long been touted that connecting the developing world to broadband will be critical. I agree, it is, but we then need to factor in a multitude of secondary issues, literacy being one of them. The internet and its power are magnificent if you can understand what is being communicated. Someone with even the most basic of education can utilize a phone and build assets which is not true as of yet with a computer and the internet.

Linking to Social Networking Sites off Your Homepage

Any thoughts on this home page design as a one-stop spot to link social networking sites as well as internal pages …  

http://www.plumprettysugar.com/

To learn more about us please visit www.poletopoleconsulting.com