Andrew Cho.NET

A good idea is a clever solution to a problem, one that I have never seen before. But if an idea is not taken up and used as a solution to a problem, it has no value. It becomes a non-idea.

-Paul Arden, author of the world’s bestselling book

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

So Zappos.com sent me two advance reading copies of the upcoming book, Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. They suggested that I use the second copy as a prize to the readers of my blog.

So here it is. If anyone is interested, just email me here or you can just tweet me @cho_ak. It’s FREE!!!

Also, Check out the website http://deliveringhappinessbook.com

I found this quote on the first page of “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos. (just got it today, currently reading the first chapter.)

There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

-Morpheus, The Matrix

Yes, for those of you who are familiar with the title, I just finished reading the most important chapter in Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter, The Process of Creative Destruction.

This chapter was the reason why I borrowed this 60-year-old book in the first place, and I have to admit that Schumpeter is now one of my favorite authors/economists. The book is very difficult to read, so if you have no previous experience in economics, I do not recommend it because the book uses many economic jargons in it.

Anyway, Here is the summary of the chapter:

Capitalism, in its essence, is an evolutionary process. It is by nature a form or method of economic change and not only never is but never can be stationary. And this evolutionary character is not due to mere increase in population or capital, but due to new consumers’ goods, new methods of production or transportation, new markets and new forms of industrial organization that capitalist enterprise creates.

Capitalism  revolutionizes the economic structure from within, destroying the old one, and creating the new one. It is truly an organic process of industrial mutation, and this process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.

Some people may think that capitalist economy is dominated by monopolists and oligopolists but in reality, the constant introduction of new technology, commodity, sources of supply, and type of organization strikes existing organizations at their foundations and their very lives. Thus, in the long-run, capitalist society, by nature, ends up operating in a very similar fashion to perfect competition, in which all producers produce at “socially optimum/desirable”  or profit-maximizing output.

What is truly amazing about this book is that it is written in the 1940s. Schumpter accurately predicted 60 years ago that whoever creates a new market and introduce new technology will keep the capitalist engine in motion and this exact phenomenon had been happening in the Silicon Valley since the 1970s. Apple and Microsoft redefined and pioneered the personal computer market and Google successfully revolutionized the search market. Intel created a market for CPU and mobile computing; Facebook and Twitter are both restructuring social networking as enormous businesses.

There is no longer a specific market for each product that companies produce. For instance, Apple’s iTunes is no longer just a music player but also an online market for music, movies, TV shows, and the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. Microsoft not only makes Windows OS but also Windows Mobile, Microsoft Office, and the newest contestant to Google search, Bing. Google recently showed off Android 2.0 for mobile phones and the App Store for Android phones.

In capitalist economy, where continuous destructions and creations of products and markets occur everyday, it is very important for entrepreneurs to remember that, whoever defines or creates a new market for their products and utilize relevant technology to promote them, will be the new KING.

And, this is why I believe that capitalism and American economy will continue to prosper for many years to come:

The evolutionary character, the incessant innovation and the Process of Creative Destruction embedded within the idea of capitalism will continue to improve the standards of living for many as it has been for many decades.

So today, I came across an article in Wikipedia about marijuana(cannabis) and found this:

Nutt D, King LA, Saulsbury W, Blakemore C (March 2007). "Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse". Lancet 369 (9566): 1047–53. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60464-4. PMID 17382831

And guess what it says:

“Cannabis is ranked one of the least harmful drugs by a study published in the UK medical journal, The Lancet.”

If you look closely, even tobacco is ranked higher on both dependency and physical harm than marijuana is. I’ve heard people saying that the government  is allowing tobacco just to get more tax revenue but I didn’t buy that until now.

I’m not saying that you should go out and try marijuana just because it is less harmful(it is still harmful). It is illegal in most states and doing drugs is still dangerous.

But, all I’m asking is, why is the government letting people sell tobacco when they bust people for selling marijuana,which is less harmful?

Oh yeah, and one more thing. Don’t do drugs, kids. It’s still bad for you =)

“Innovation is the source of a country’s “structural dynamism” and is the root of just about everything good, like growth, employment, and prosperity. What the American [economic] system is good at is..coming up with innovative ideas that are economically feasible.”

-Edmund S. Phelps, Economics professor & Nobel laureate, Columbia University