Venting…..
Yesterday I called technical support for help with a new 3-in-1 Lexmark printer…..was on the phone for about 30 minutes….
A month ago, Abby and I talked several days to HP technical support.
In both cases we were speaking to a support person in…..India!
……What happened, America?
How did we get so ‘international’?
Oh, yeah, I understand the ‘reasoning’ of the economics…..as it is being explained to we..... ‘layman’…..yet something in my head tells me that this is…..insane, absurd, or even bizarre.
…..I, also, know that this did not happen in ’Big Business’ overnight but has been years in the making….
Americans general attitude of ‘who cares’ of which I, too, am guilty…..has certainly blown us….”off course” using a nautical term…
…..I am reminded of reading about dear ole…..Sam Walton.
When Sam became ‘big’, one of the first things he did was go to the little business man and give them a contract for their ’made in the U.S.A.’ product that he would buy from them……In some cases, these little businesses….had in fact gone out of business….but in several cases Sam Walton invested in putting them back into business in order to produce on a larger scale and therefore be able to……remain in business.
Sam did this with a candle manufacturer and a basket company in ’mid-America‘….two cases I know of…but there were many others….
Andrew Carnegie had this same mindset of ’social responsibility’ to the land that offered him the opportunity to ’succeed’ on a large scale…..
Carnegie built….buildings….for instance libraries……but he expected the local town and community to raise the money to put books in the library…
Carnegie knew that if others were more personally involved (rather than handing it on a silver platter, so to speak)…..they would more aptly feel pride and responsibility for the care and future of the community project….
Again, I say……what happened America?
By the way, I received excellent technical support yesterday from ’Dino’ in India….He was very knowledgeable, precise, patient….. gracious and polite to ’no end’….
It was a very pleasant. painless and successful encounter.
…….What do I care who resolves my problem?
Somehow…..I can not…..NOT CARE!
Below you will find a short biography of Andrew Carnegie who has long been one of my ‘early American hero’s’…..
Yep, I know….that was then….this is NOW!~
…..Wake up….the Bill Gates, the Donald Trumps (saying “you are fired“), and all such ‘the rich-made-in-America’ in 2004.
Oh, well…..I vented today…..how about you…..
Send your comments to Link #2.…and….God Bless America!
Biography of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on November 25, 1835. The son of a weaver, he came with his family to the United States in 1848 and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. At age thirteen, Carnegie went to work as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill. He then moved rapidly through a succession of jobs with Western Union and the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1865, he resigned to establish his own business enterprises and eventually organized the Carnegie Steel Company, which launched the steel industry in Pittsburgh. At age sixty-five, he sold the company , U.S. Steel, to J. P. Morgan for $480 million (the equivalent of $10.6 billion today) who then devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy on a level not then seen in America or anywhere else. Many persons of wealth have contributed to charity, but Carnegie was perhaps the first to state publicly that the rich have a moral obligation to give away their fortunes. In 1889 he wrote The Gospel of Wealth, in which he asserted that all personal wealth beyond that required to supply the needs of one's family should be regarded as a trust fund to be administered for the benefit of the community.
Carnegie set about disposing of his fortune through innumerable personal gifts and through the establishment of various trusts. In his thirties, Carnegie had already begun to give away some of his fast-accumulating funds. His first large gifts were made to his native town. Later he created seven philanthropic and educational organizations in the United States, including Carnegie Corporation of New York, and several more in Europe.
One of Carnegie's lifelong interests was the establishment of free public libraries to make available to everyone a means of self-education. There were only a few public libraries in the world when, in 1881, Carnegie began to promote his idea. He and the Corporation subsequently spent over $56 million to build 2,509 libraries throughout the English-speaking world.
After termination of this program in 1917, the Corporation continued for about forty years an interest in the improvement of library services. Other major programs in the Corporation's early history included adult education and education in the fine arts.
During his lifetime, Carnegie gave away over $350 million. By his death, Mr. Carnegie had given away 90 percent of his fortune. He died in Lenox, Massachusetts, on August 11, 1919....
…..I am reminded of reading about dear ole…..Sam Walton.
When Sam became ‘big’, one of the first things he did was go to the little business man and give them a contract for their ’made in the U.S.A.’ product that he would buy from them……In some cases, these little businesses….had in fact gone out of business….but in several cases Sam Walton invested in putting them back into business in order to produce on a larger scale and therefore be able to……remain in business.
Sam did this with a candle manufacturer and a basket company in ’mid-America‘….two cases I know of…but there were many others….
Andrew Carnegie had this same mindset of ’social responsibility’ to the land that offered him the opportunity to ’succeed’ on a large scale…..
Carnegie built….buildings….for instance libraries……but he expected the local town and community to raise the money to put books in the library…
Carnegie knew that if others were more personally involved (rather than handing it on a silver platter, so to speak)…..they would more aptly feel pride and responsibility for the care and future of the community project….
Again, I say……what happened America?
By the way, I received excellent technical support yesterday from ’Dino’ in India….He was very knowledgeable, precise, patient….. gracious and polite to ’no end’….
It was a very pleasant. painless and successful encounter.
…….What do I care who resolves my problem?
Somehow…..I can not…..NOT CARE!
Below you will find a short biography of Andrew Carnegie who has long been one of my ‘early American hero’s’…..
Yep, I know….that was then….this is NOW!~
…..Wake up….the Bill Gates, the Donald Trumps (saying “you are fired“), and all such ‘the rich-made-in-America’ in 2004.
Oh, well…..I vented today…..how about you…..
Send your comments to Link #2.…and….God Bless America!
Biography of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on November 25, 1835. The son of a weaver, he came with his family to the United States in 1848 and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. At age thirteen, Carnegie went to work as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill. He then moved rapidly through a succession of jobs with Western Union and the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1865, he resigned to establish his own business enterprises and eventually organized the Carnegie Steel Company, which launched the steel industry in Pittsburgh. At age sixty-five, he sold the company , U.S. Steel, to J. P. Morgan for $480 million (the equivalent of $10.6 billion today) who then devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy on a level not then seen in America or anywhere else. Many persons of wealth have contributed to charity, but Carnegie was perhaps the first to state publicly that the rich have a moral obligation to give away their fortunes. In 1889 he wrote The Gospel of Wealth, in which he asserted that all personal wealth beyond that required to supply the needs of one's family should be regarded as a trust fund to be administered for the benefit of the community.
Carnegie set about disposing of his fortune through innumerable personal gifts and through the establishment of various trusts. In his thirties, Carnegie had already begun to give away some of his fast-accumulating funds. His first large gifts were made to his native town. Later he created seven philanthropic and educational organizations in the United States, including Carnegie Corporation of New York, and several more in Europe.
One of Carnegie's lifelong interests was the establishment of free public libraries to make available to everyone a means of self-education. There were only a few public libraries in the world when, in 1881, Carnegie began to promote his idea. He and the Corporation subsequently spent over $56 million to build 2,509 libraries throughout the English-speaking world.
After termination of this program in 1917, the Corporation continued for about forty years an interest in the improvement of library services. Other major programs in the Corporation's early history included adult education and education in the fine arts.
During his lifetime, Carnegie gave away over $350 million. By his death, Mr. Carnegie had given away 90 percent of his fortune. He died in Lenox, Massachusetts, on August 11, 1919....
No comments:
Post a Comment