tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post2067931095331175991..comments2024-03-03T17:50:06.110+00:00Comments on Inner Diablog: The Cayalá PhenomenonInner Diabloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455371690283484250noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post-43789932893087454912013-03-21T19:06:37.707+00:002013-03-21T19:06:37.707+00:00The second comment is a hoot. And the first one ex...The second comment is a hoot. And the first one explains the backward nature of Guatemala. normhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04651902762232427335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post-58395897179214179322013-03-20T16:34:11.266+00:002013-03-20T16:34:11.266+00:00On a separate note, this old gag has an updated ve...On a separate note, this old gag has an updated version now...<br /><br />SOCIALISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />You give one to your neighbour<br /><br />COMMUNISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both and gives you some milk<br /><br />FASCISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both and sells you some milk<br /><br />NAZISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both and shoots you<br /><br />BUREAUCRATISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then<br />throws the milk away<br /><br />TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM<br />You have two cows.<br />You sell one and buy a bull.<br />Your herd multiplies, and the economy<br />grows.<br />You sell them and retire on the income<br /><br />ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (VENTURE) CAPITALISM<br />You have two cows.<br />You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by<br />your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption<br />for five cows.<br />The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.<br />The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release.<br />The public then buys your bull.<br /><br />SURREALISM<br />You have two giraffes.<br />The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.<br /><br />AN AMERICAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You sell one, and force the other to<br />produce the milk of four cows.<br />Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why<br />the cow has dropped dead.<br /><br />A GREEK CORPORATION<br />You have two cows. You borrow lots of euros to build barns, milking sheds, hay stores, feed sheds,<br />dairies, cold stores, abattoir, cheese unit and packing sheds.<br />You still only have two cows.<br /><br />A FRENCH CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three<br />cows.<br /><br />A JAPANESE CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce<br />twenty times the milk.<br />You then create a clever cow cartoon image called a Cowkimona and<br />market it worldwide.<br /><br />AN ITALIAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows,<br />but you don't know where they are.<br />You decide to have lunch.<br /><br />A SWISS CORPORATION<br />You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.<br />You charge the owners for storing them.<br /><br />A CHINESE CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You have 300 people milking them.<br />You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.<br />You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.<br /><br />AN INDIAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You worship them.<br /><br />A BRITISH CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />Both are mad.<br /><br />AN IRAQI CORPORATION<br />Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.<br />You tell them that you have none.<br />No-one believes you, so they bomb the ** out of you and invade your country.<br />You still have no cows, but at least you are now a Democracy.<br /><br />AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />Business seems pretty good.<br />You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.<br /><br />A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />The one on the left looks very attractive...Inner Diabloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00455371690283484250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post-52829728872538197622013-03-20T14:56:55.121+00:002013-03-20T14:56:55.121+00:00On one level, charging foreigners 20% more is one ...On one level, charging foreigners 20% more is one way of stimulating the growth of your economy. At least it also shows understanding of price flexibility. It's no different really from what a lot of American firms do online, using cookies to offer different prices to different categories of customer. I have learned never to accept the first fare offered by Expedia for example, because I know I can game the system by searching repeatedly for the same journey and that I will eventually get a better price. It's also always worth seeing how the price varies depending on whether you are logged into your account or not! (Or using private browsing with no cookies...)<br /><br />That said, your Ticul experiences are also an obvious sign of what I call Central America's game theory for dummies - literally - whereby businesses try to overcharge or scam their customers even in the circumstances where it is clearly not in their rational best interests to do so. <br /><br />I find that in a trend that goes against the US online model, the more I do business or demonstrate loyalty to some Guatemalan businesses, the more they try to raise their prices on me! <br /><br />And when working with my own suppliers I have sadly yet to find any who won't in the end either try to cheat me or let me down badly, no matter how much I have tried to demonstrate good faith. With one guy who was helping us with our land we even planned to eventually reward him by making him a sort of partner with joint ownership, but he still decided to take maximum advantage in the meantime...<br /><br />As to your last point, the understanding of market pricing on the part of the business owner would need to be complemented by a local administration with an understanding of sensible regulation, something that is right now very much lacking in Antigua Guatemala...Inner Diabloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00455371690283484250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post-1015740822471469932013-03-19T18:10:56.918+00:002013-03-19T18:10:56.918+00:00The Gringo Price: We were in Ticul, Yucatan Mexico...The Gringo Price: We were in Ticul, Yucatan Mexico a few weeks ago, went into a restaurant and picked up a menu off a table and started reading it. A waiter snatched it out of Linda's hand and handed the three of us menus in English that were priced 20% more than the first menu we saw. We asked for the Spanish menu back and the manager came over and said it was not possible. We walked out and ate around the corner. We were in Ticul for 5 days-How much custom did they forgo? That same day we inquired at a hotel on the same village square for a few rooms. We asked for the 400 peso rooms and were told they were all sold but they had plenty of the 700 peso rooms. We went across the plaza and paid 380 for very nice rooms. That night, I walked over to the Gringo Price Hotel and looked for lights in the rooms-not one was lit up. It is not just a Guatemala problem.<br />On Antigua pricing: they charge as much as they can for the most part. The backcountry places seem to be more inline with the local wage structure. We ate in many town square type places in Guatemala this past winter, the prices were high considering average wages "in country" but not so mush that middle class workers could not afford to eat. <br />You have a good point in today's post, if a person who understood market pricing were to open a large restaurant in Antigua, he/she could make a packet. normhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04651902762232427335noreply@blogger.com