Andy Kessler

WSJ: We Think, They Sweat

You want a scapegoat for the dollar’s almost daily decline - the Chinese water torture on the U.S. economy? I blame Steve Jobs. I mean Apple is the worst offender in the decline of U.S. manufacturing. Their well paid engineers sit around in air-conditioned offices on streets with cutesy names like Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California and have others make stuff for them. They imported some 2 million iPods assembled by thousands and thousands of Chinese workers just last quarter - an almost $1.5 billion annualized trade deficit in iPods alone.

AO: United Paper Shuffle

From the cutting room floor, as it were, AO’s got an excerpt so exclusive that it didn’t even make it into Andy Kessler’s latest book, Running Money, about the paper shuffle that transformed the airline business and Wall Street itself.

http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=7451_0_1_0_C

    “You can’t wear jeans,” the woman at the United Airlines counter told me.
    “What was that?” I asked.
    “I’m sorry, we have rules and codes of conduct to adhere to. I can’t let you sit in First Class wearing jeans.”
    “Really?” I had a cheap suit in my bag, but the last thing I wanted to do was dash into some phone booth and change into super executive so I could fly to Chicago.
    “We can’t have some sort of riff-raff in our premium sections.”
    “Well, I’m headed to a…”
    “This is United Airlines, global leaders in air travel and destinations.”
    “I’m interv…”
    “Just a second. Your record is flashing red. This is very odd. Are you some sort of VIP?”