[ExI] note from a foaf in japan

[spike]

> On Behalf Of BillK
Subject: Re: [ExI] note from a foaf in japan

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 2:54 PM, spike wrote:
> Indeed?  The government doing food distribution is a non-sequitur.  
...
>> Again, what has this to do with CEOs?

>...The problem is created by the almost universal switch by business to JIT
(Just in Time) production. Warehouse inventory is regarded as waste of space
and money...

I'm with you to this point.

>...So removing warehouses improves profit and CEO pay...

Sure.  But the way you say it almost makes it sound like a bad thing.  If
the CEO pay goes up, it results from the company profits going up.
Stockholders rejoice.  Profits are good.

>...The problem is that the company now has no buffer stock when supply
chain interruptions occur. And supply chains are now often worldwide in
length...

You may have hit upon a terrific business opportunity.  Read on.

>...If the supply is life support essentials like food, water, heat,
clothing, temporary shelter, etc., then people will die while companies are
unable to supply...

This gives me a great idea: set up a company that warehouses emergency
supplies.  The company doesn't actually own the emergency supplies, but
rather it stores them, and defends them for those who do own the supplies
when they become necessary.  The company does not sell the supplies in times
of emergency, for it owns none.

>... This is when the government steps in to cover for the failures of
private companies... BillK

BillK, I know of no companies in this line of business currently.   I cannot
fault the failure of a company that doesn't exist (yet).

We have mostly set up our private lives and homes to be just-in-time, with a
lot of things.  We do not store very much on the way of emergency fuel,
electric generation capacity, water or food.  Do you?  In your house, if the
local grocery shelves were suddenly bare and the roads damaged, how long can
you go with just the food in your house right now?  Count everything in the
fridge as having to be devoured quickly, without electric power, in the
first couple days.  After that, it's whatever you have that can be devoured
with only the propane camping stove or whatever you can generate with your
camping generator.

How long can you go?  In my case, it is about three weeks, and the last two
would be definitely no fun.

So we start a company that has a sturdy warehouse to guard the emergency
supplies of the local population, stuff that keeps a long time, fresh water,
C-rations and such.

Current CEOs do set up a brittle system, but they are not being paid to
provide a safety net against earthquake, tsunami or EMP.  If they do it,
they are on their way out of business.

spike