Apple & Global Economy

Apple has become an enormous economy trigger nowadays. Not only the products like iMac, iPod, iPhone, create big fortunes, but also the image and success of this company make millions of ideas invented and to make money. Even the founder, Steve Jobs's death, created profits for people like publisher, book sellers, I believe there will be a movie of the great man soon and that will be another hit.

As everything related to Apple looks so attractive and such a money maker, there are worrying issues need to be concerned. Please check below two links, one is from New York Times and another is a Chinese article, and find the questions as below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=4&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto&pagewanted=all

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E8%A1%80%E6%B1%97%E5%B7%A5%E5%BB%A0-%E7%BE%8E%E5%AA%92%E8%BD%9F%E8%98%8B%E6%9E%9C%E6%89%8D%E6%98%AF%E5%85%83%E5%87%B6-213000737.html

1. After reading these two articles, what is your opinion and impression to Apple if you were an American?

2. It mentioned the flexibility and cost efficiency of Chinese factory in the first article, and these are exactly the advantages of China to be the fastest growing economy in global market, but in the another one, it mentioned the negative status which caused in China. Do you think there is a balance between them? What is your opinion regarding the situation?

3. Do you think the disappearance of the middle class is the pinnacle of the Capitalism?

4. As we all aware, employees in Asia compared to the ones in Europe and the U.S.A. are more hardworking and less freedom and rights. Some say this is all about culture, what do you think? Do you think we can be like employees in overseas?


As there are lots of issues worth discussing in these two articles, I'll just leave only 4 questions here. Please feel free to raise any topic you would like to talk about.




1/

Bad Driving Habits

Most drivers think that they are good drivers; safe, respectful and in compliance with the rules of the road. But there are a lot of bad habits ingrained in drivers that are quite common and hardly given a thought – until they result in a ticket or an accident.

See the article link below and think over the following questions.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Driving-Us-Mad---The-Ten-Worst-Driving-Habits-Exposed&id=41522

1. What bad driving habits have you ever observed? Try to rate the top three annoying ones.

2. Name some terrible accidents resulted from bad driving habits. Do you have personal experience of traffic accidents?

3. Imagine you are road users (e.x. pedestrians, scooter drivers, car drivers, truck drivers), what road etiquette would you expect people to follow?

4. Please try to propose three solutions to improve the traffic safety.

Voting for the first lady or president? Taiwanese election culture

Finally, the result of our next president came out smoothly and peacefully. Some may feel relaxed and happy; while some may feel frustrated and angry. No mater what, at least, we can get rid of those election news and go back to our normal lives.

"Man is by nature a political animal" said by Aristotle. Based my observation, I found that Taiwanese become really irrational and frenzied when it comes to politics, especially the biggest election of the country, the presidential election. In this campaign, our first lady, Chow Mei-Ching, was seen as a trump card by KMT. My mom canvassed me to vote for Ma because she is a big fan of Chow. Moreover, the famous poet, Yu Kuang-chung (余光中), asked "Does the public really want a new first lady?" I think this is a very interesting phenomenon, but it seems like a successful strategy. Today let's discuss the special election culture in Taiwan.


Reading Material:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2011/12/19/2003521079

Discussing Questions:
1. In general, voters could be separated into three categories: the first group is the advocates of KMT, the second group is the advocates of DPP and the last group is the median voters. Which group do you fall into? Why?
2. Do you think the behavior of first family really matter? Does that influence your decision?
3. Have you seen any other weird election phenomenons? Please share with us.
4. What the pros and cons of the democracy? If you have a chance to choose, would you like to live in a democratic or a communist country? Why?

1/8 Training, Retaining, and Recruiting: Taiwan’s Talent Problem

Welcome back to our "Skype Study Group" discussion. Hope you all have a wonderful christmas and new year.

At today's discussion, we can first take turns to briefly share our life in the past two weeks or simply talk about new year resolutions if you have any.

Our topic for discussion this week is "Training, Retaining and Recruiting Taiwan's Talents". The website link is as below: http://www.sinorama.com.tw/en/show_issue.php?id=201210101006E.TXT&table=3&year=2012&month=1

In recent years, we can hear or read news such as a distinguished scholar in a top university in Taiwan leaves for a position in countries like Mainland, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore that offers better salaries and benefits from time to time. It is a clear fact that we are losing these talented scholars and losing competitiveness in other words. If the government does not do anything to retain talents, the situation might get worse when talents retire in the near future and not enough young talents to fill this gap due to low birth rate. Since this is a big issue, the questions I pose below have no right and wrong answers. Please answer with your own experiences and thoughts.

Questions:

1. In your days for pursuing undergraduate or graduate degree, have you ever encountered good professors that not only offer you the fish but teach you how to get the fish? (Or think about some good professors you met in your school life.)

2. For people who once pursued their degrees abroad, are there any learning or teaching differences between east and west? For people who intend to study abroad in the near future, what will you expect to learn abroad?

3. Are there any differences between scholars from abroad and local scholars in terms of their research qualities or others? (If you have no ideas on answering this question, just think about examples from work. For example, is it better to hire a foreigner to fill the position than a local one?)

4. Nowadays, there are more and more distinguished scholars and highly-skilled employees who leave Taiwan to work for countries like Mainland, Hong Kong, Singapore due to tempting incentives. If you are in these people shoes, will you consider to work abroad? Why?

5. Can you think of any solutions to brain drain issue in Taiwan? Any changes in foreigner law or others?

2011/12/25 & 2012/1/1

Dear all,

These two sessions are cancelled.

Wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year.

We will resume our discussion on 2012/1/8. See you all next year!

The Road Ahead for Middle Class Families

http://www.rd.com/money/the-road-ahead-for-middle-class-families/


1. Middle class families are the largest group in most societies.
From wiki, the defintion is obscure: The middle class is any class
of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. What do you think
about the middle class family? Use your words to describe it.

2. In most middle class families, the parents usually try to give
their kids a beteer education in order to have more competitiveness.
Do you think it is the most important thing that a middle class
parent need to do for their kids?

3. In order to have your own dream family, how much money do think
you need? Why?

X men

2011 X men- First Class trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=frcCCHb9LHc

Outline of X men-- Check story introduction and "reflecting social issues"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men

Main Characters and their superpower
http://comics.ign.com/articles/708/708826p1.html


I believe X men series movies are remarkable pieces that people can't miss.
Except for being a popular superhero film with some breath taking special effect of the movie, there are metaphors for social issue involved in the story. Let's talk about it!


1. Which super ability you'd like the most? Why?

2. If there were Mutants in the world, which side will you support, to "cure" them or to accept them as normal people?

3. Imagine if you were one on Mutants, what treatment will you expect? Try to imagine it from every angle.

4. There are many stories implying the minority who are under oppressive forces but eventually incur destroying war against the majority. Tell an example and share your opinion.