Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz sees a threat to its brand. - Page 2

[Psyd]

not promoting the act, but promoting the idea.

i interpreted it as terrorists are smart in their thinking of, why wait and let the country go to hell, ill kill em before it happens..

The British empire sure considered the American Revolution an act of terrorism, and considered our fighting tactics beastly and ungentlemanly. Of course, at the time they were considered savage tactics and uncivilized by the rest of the 'civilised' world as well. Terrorists and freedom fighters are synonymous, differentiated only by who you think is right.
Romans were happy in their glut til Rome fell, as an empire, and then burned; Russian Czars didn't heed the call; Louis and Marie ate cake and suggested others do the same, and paid the price; why should we be any different?
I was just pointing out the parallels between what Howard is doing (chasing the almighty buck above all else) and what's happening to Starbucks (disintegrating from a place to get a distinctly great espresso/cappuccino to a staffed vending machine that is soon to be bested by kids in paper hats) and what American corporations are doing and what is happening to this country.
Shoot, am I the only person in this country that reads history?

[LeoZ]

there are a lot of assumptions in that.

starbucks is the next evil empire? dont you think walmart will beat them to world domination?

but wait, what if terrorism becomes popular? companies will fall because there will be an elite group of terrorists killing off chairmen to set the world right again..

i guess what youre saying is america is at the peak of its wave right now, and someone, be it internal, or external, is going to be the demise of this country, and it will fall just as rome did. thats an interesting analogy. i dont think government has the same ebb and tide as climate patterns, and certainly cant be compared to the less advanced empires hundreds of years ago. we can certainly learn a lot from their methods and thinking (crap, we cant even duplicate italian espresso), and from, lets say, the native americans respect for the land, but, capitalizing in an empire that honed the word is only suiting. after all, the rich get richer, right?

[LeoZ]

I was just pointing out the parallels between what Howard is doing (chasing the almighty buck above all else) and what's happening to Starbucks (disintegrating from a place to get a distinctly great espresso/cappuccino to a staffed vending machine that is soon to be bested by kids in paper hats)

american corporations (think lee iacocca) have laid the groundwork for innovative thinking in this country, and with labor rates we cant compete with, business practices and technology are pretty much all we have left.

though, as a person in society, yes, i understand what youre saying, and, it is somewhat a shame. the simple life of enjoying a coffee at a coffee shop, going to a fishmonger for fresh fish, are fading away..

[Psyd]

the simple life of enjoying a coffee at a coffee shop, going to a fishmonger for fresh fish, are fading away..

This is the point I was making, yeah. I'm not quite sure where you drew the conclusions you made in your last post, but I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with it. Anyhoo, weltpolitik aside, the thing is that Howard has designed the ride that he's on, and now that it's coming to the end of the tracks that are the natural conclusion to the path he set out on, he's confused and upset at where he finds himself? Please.

[LeoZ]

This is the point I was making, yeah. I'm not quite sure where you drew the conclusions you made in your last post, but I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with it. Anyhoo, weltpolitik aside, the thing is that Howard has designed the ride that he's on, and now that it's coming to the end of the tracks that are the natural conclusion to the path he set out on, he's confused and upset at where he finds himself? Please.

seeing as how he doesnt even know what kind of machines (la marzoccA?) hes using, i dont think hes too in touch with the core of his business. lol