Will My Favorite Things Be Replaceable?

After the discussion at dinner the night before, my thoughts turn to my own household, and my favorite things. could the economy at where they were produced effect me if I needed a replacement, what process was undergone in getting me my computer, my favorite book, clothes dryer, DVD player, or even that all important cup of morning coffee? What factors of productions went into there production, were they made by a corporation, partnership or sole proprietor? As these factors would affect chances of a replacement or special part only the makers of my favorite items could produce. I would need to find out; it has kept me up all night thinking about these burning questions.

I discovered that my computer, an E-machine, was produced by Gateway. Although Gateway started as a partnership, it has grown into a corporation. Although my computer is made by a corporation, I worried about weather the corporation had the ability to produce many more computers should my computer die a horrible death? As it turned out Gateway has about 1800 employees, this didn't seem like much unless you take into account that computers are made up so many little pieces, they appear to contract out for many of those piece. They can afford to contract out for those pieces by using the capital they receive from previous sales and stocks they sale. Gateway has more than 120,000 Stockholders. Where did my computer come from then if it's made of so many different parts? I discovered that Gateway only had a few stores and even fewer warehouses, how were they making all these computers, where were they being stored? As it turned out most of their computers are made to order if you will, they do not put the finishing touches on until they have an order for it, they get many orders for computers like my E-Machine from retailers, but more elaborate and personal computers are designed by the consumer on the web site. The information is gathered from the customer there and used to make the perfect computer for said customer. This as it turns out is an ingenious way of doing things as it cuts down the amount of storage space required and leaves more space for production, there is rarely much over stock, but plenty of room for demand. E-machines are a generic student or household computer though and the production of them is also more generic, where did my computer come from? As it turned out my computer was made in china as are most E-machines. Would the economy there affect my chances if I need a replacement? China's economy is a market economy, so as long as the demand for an affordable student computer is high, I should have no problem receiving another if mine were to die.

So my computer was good, but what about my favorite book. It one of a series of 14, and not the last one in the series either. What could keep me from receiving the next installment? Who made the book? What goes into making a book anyway, and what is the economy like where it was made? As it turned out the book in question was published by Ace Books who is a subsidiary of Penguin Group, Inc., and although Penguin Group, Inc. Is a corporation, when it comes to this particular type of business, it more of a partnership between the author and the publishing company. I would not receive a new installment if the author and said company had a falling out or something happened to the author. I did however discover that if a book is good enough to make it past the editors that work at the publishing company, then the company would produce the book. The company puts up the money to produce and market the book in hopes that it will sell and garnish them and the author more capital. They use all five production factors to make this happen from the editors, bookbinders, authors, marketing, even capital the corporation already has and perhaps some from the author as well. This was naturally fascinating and a little unnerving as I really like this series I would want to be left hanging for the next installment. Where was it published and would the economy is a problem? As it turned out the Penguin Group, Inc is bases in New York, New York, and is governed as the same economy as I am, Mixed Market. Short of author publisher fall out, a new terrorist attack or the yahoos in the capital passing a bill that considers parts of the book as pornographic, I would receive my next installment.

What about my clothes dryer, I love whoever invented the thing, because I just could see myself pinning clothes to the line sun, rain, or snow. It's such a fast efficient machine, how could I live without one? My clothes dryer is a Roper; Roper is a product of Whirlpool. I discovered that whirlpool is an old end well established corporation with many employees, stocks on the stock exchange and many shareholders, they have holdings all over the world, a marketing division as well as a research and development division. All this is great to know, as I 'm now aware that no matter where my dryer was made if anything happens in that country the can move production to one of there many other holdings. As it turned out however, my machine was made in Indiana, it's affected for the moment under the same mixed market economy as I am. My clothes would continue to get dry in a Roper.

What about my DVD player though, I love to watch a good movie and they are moving from vhs format to DVD, could I trust that my machine would be replaceable if I wanted the same brand? My DVD player is made by Cyberhome, they are not expensive, but a good little brand none the less. Cyberhome is a corporation founded in Germany, in 2004. So it is a relatively new corporation, no long term reputation to fall back onto. The majority of there products are produced in China and Taiwan, and then shipped back to Germany for final assembly and quality checked. My DVD player was manufactured in Taiwan, a capitalist economy, If the workers at the production plant go on strike or demand more money production might seace, my DVD player might not be available in the future for some time.

Finally we have my favorite item in the whole house, without which I might be easily swayed to commit murder.... My beloved coffee machine. Its not expensive, in fact its something that could be in theory easily replaced, even on a tight budget, or could it? My Coffee machine is made by Duraband who is a division of product made specifically for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a corporation that has been around for a while, so is not likely to pack up and leave any time soon. They have over 1.7 million employees, stocks on the stock exchange, and shareholders, where houses, stores, offices, and a procurement division. Wal-Mart farmed my Duraband coffee machine project out to a company named Alco. Alco is based in Germany with a market economy. As long as Wal-Mart continues to farm out to Alco for coffee machines, I will not be arrested for pre-coffee homicide in the near future.

References:

Cyberhome. Retrieved January 07, 2007, from

http://www.cyberhome-europe.de

Gateway Corp. Retrieved January 07, 2007, from

http://www.gateway.com

Penquin Group (USA). Retrieved January 07, 2007, from http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/aboutus/medianinquiries.html

Whirlpool. Retrieved January 07, 2007, from http://whirlpoolcareers.com/searchapply.htm

Wikipedia (2007). Chineese Economy. Retrieved January 07, 2007., from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

Wikipedia (2007). Durabrand. Retrieved January 07, 2007., from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durabrand

Wikipedia (2007). German Economy. Retrieved January 07, 2007., from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_economy

Wikipedia (2007). Taiwan Economy. Retrieved January 07, 2007., from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan/Economy

Wikipedia (2007). United States Economy. Retrieved January 07, 2007., from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Economy