The Korean War lifted the Japanese economy out of its doldrums and paved the way for an era of unprecedented growth. The outbreak in 1950 of the Korean War ... sharply increased the demand for Japanese products. "Special procurement" expenditures by United Nations (mainly US) forces accounted for 47% of the value of all Japanese exports between 1950 and 1953.
p. 471, Creating Modern Capitalism
The Japanese automakers were rescued by the Korean War, which led the United States to place large orders for Japanese-made trucks. The very first exports by Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) were 1,000 trucks for the U.S. military in 1950. To companies on the brink of bankruptcy, the Korean war was "a gift from the gods," in Eiji Toyoda's words.
p. 417-419, Creating Modern Capitalism
How ironic...
31 August 2007
02 July 2007
Universal life
Some quotes from an article:
UL is very inflexible. Premiums are locked in, so the client can’t take advantage of lower premiums that may become available. “And since there is little or no cash value, the cash value can’t be used to pay missed premiums.
First-year universal life commissions are 60% to 70% — compared with 90% for term life, with which it competes and is comparably priced. But universal life often is better for the client, because it has some cash value accumulation and can be written for longer terms, such as to age 100 or beyond. Most insurers won’t write term life once a client reaches a certain age.
Universal life premiums are especially attractive for clients age 45 and younger who are non-smokers. “They expect to live more than 30 years, so [a] 30-year term is not attractive to them, even if the premiums are somewhat less
Whole-life insurance accumulates a higher cash value because the premiums are about 40% to 60% higher. But universal life often accumulates at least enough cash value to reimburse policyholders for the premiums paid in.
The knock on universal life used to be that it was a good investment when interest rates were high, but decreasing interest rates could cause death benefits to be reduced dramatically. The interest-rate risk, in effect, was shifted from the insurer to the client. But now that many policies guarantee the death benefits, that no longer is a problem
Universal life has become more attractive to clients due to product innovations such as the guaranteed death benefits and survivorship features. The survivorship features help clients avoid probate expenses, because both spouses are covered.
Universal life is a good choice for advisers with clients who have money-market or bank accounts that are to be passed on to heirs. Transferring those assets into a universal life policy allows clients to pass them on to heirs as tax-free death benefits. Many clients buy universal life for other estate planning purposes, such as to pay estate taxes at the time of death.
UL is very inflexible. Premiums are locked in, so the client can’t take advantage of lower premiums that may become available. “And since there is little or no cash value, the cash value can’t be used to pay missed premiums.
First-year universal life commissions are 60% to 70% — compared with 90% for term life, with which it competes and is comparably priced. But universal life often is better for the client, because it has some cash value accumulation and can be written for longer terms, such as to age 100 or beyond. Most insurers won’t write term life once a client reaches a certain age.
Universal life premiums are especially attractive for clients age 45 and younger who are non-smokers. “They expect to live more than 30 years, so [a] 30-year term is not attractive to them, even if the premiums are somewhat less
Whole-life insurance accumulates a higher cash value because the premiums are about 40% to 60% higher. But universal life often accumulates at least enough cash value to reimburse policyholders for the premiums paid in.
The knock on universal life used to be that it was a good investment when interest rates were high, but decreasing interest rates could cause death benefits to be reduced dramatically. The interest-rate risk, in effect, was shifted from the insurer to the client. But now that many policies guarantee the death benefits, that no longer is a problem
Universal life has become more attractive to clients due to product innovations such as the guaranteed death benefits and survivorship features. The survivorship features help clients avoid probate expenses, because both spouses are covered.
Universal life is a good choice for advisers with clients who have money-market or bank accounts that are to be passed on to heirs. Transferring those assets into a universal life policy allows clients to pass them on to heirs as tax-free death benefits. Many clients buy universal life for other estate planning purposes, such as to pay estate taxes at the time of death.
Disability
Some select quotes from an article on investmentnews.com, dated June 25, 2007:
Among the misperceptions about disability insurance is that the coverage is not essential, because workers’ compensation and Social Security will pay disability-related lost wages. The truth is, only about 10% of disabilities are job-related and therefore covered by work comp. Also, Social Security benefits often pay only 20% to 30% of a salary, compared with the 70% or more that usually is required to maintain the client’s lifestyle. Only about 40% of Social Security applicants qualify for benefits, because the application process is so arduous. The “disability test” of Social Security is the “inability to perform any work for wage or profit” — compared with private disability insurance plans — which often pay if the clients can’t perform their own job
Another disability myth is that individual coverage is not needed if clients have group coverage through their employment. Group coverage generally replaces only 60% of a salary, and since the benefits not paid for by the client are taxable, they, in fact, can walk away with less then half their prior earnings.
there is a way to continue 401(k) contributions — up to $45,000 a year — when they’re disabled. They can do that by paying the money into a trust. Although the buildup of assets in the trust is taxable, there is no requirement to start taking distributions at age 70½.
Many clients who own small businesses are unaware they can use disability insurance to buy out a partner who no longer can work due to an injury or illness, he said. The policy pays the fair market value of the disabled partner’s interest in the business to the healthy partners.
Group insurance rates — which don’t differentiate between the sexes — are especially attractive to women, because they become disabled more frequently than men.
from other articles:
becoming disabled did happen to more than 800,000 people in 2006.
according to the Insurance Information Institute (III), at age 35, people have a 45 percent chance of being disabled for 90 days or longer before their 65th birthday. And among those people, there's a 70 percent chance of being disabled for another two years.
Clients who think that they are covered adequately because they have disability insurance through work are mistaken. The 60% of income paid by many group policies often is inadequate to maintain the client’s lifestyle. That’s especially true of employees who are used to getting hefty bonuses.
Also, many employers’ standard operating procedure is to fire employees who go out on disability, and no law stops them from doing that.
After losing their jobs, disabled employees have even more household expenses, because they have to pay Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act premiums to maintain health coverage. After that coverage expires — in 18 to 36 months — they have to buy individual health insurance. That can run $1,500 or more a month.
can buy directly from private insurance carriers. The Gaurdian, Mass Mutual and Northwestern Mutual offer various, personalized plans.
How much will it cost?
That depends largely on the type of disability insurance. If it is a group plan, the III's survey in 2004 found the average annual premium to be roughly $218 per year.
"Typically a rule of thumb is a half a percent of payroll"
For individual plans, the cost is significantly higher and is based on a person's age, health and lifestyle.
Among the misperceptions about disability insurance is that the coverage is not essential, because workers’ compensation and Social Security will pay disability-related lost wages. The truth is, only about 10% of disabilities are job-related and therefore covered by work comp. Also, Social Security benefits often pay only 20% to 30% of a salary, compared with the 70% or more that usually is required to maintain the client’s lifestyle. Only about 40% of Social Security applicants qualify for benefits, because the application process is so arduous. The “disability test” of Social Security is the “inability to perform any work for wage or profit” — compared with private disability insurance plans — which often pay if the clients can’t perform their own job
Another disability myth is that individual coverage is not needed if clients have group coverage through their employment. Group coverage generally replaces only 60% of a salary, and since the benefits not paid for by the client are taxable, they, in fact, can walk away with less then half their prior earnings.
there is a way to continue 401(k) contributions — up to $45,000 a year — when they’re disabled. They can do that by paying the money into a trust. Although the buildup of assets in the trust is taxable, there is no requirement to start taking distributions at age 70½.
Many clients who own small businesses are unaware they can use disability insurance to buy out a partner who no longer can work due to an injury or illness, he said. The policy pays the fair market value of the disabled partner’s interest in the business to the healthy partners.
Group insurance rates — which don’t differentiate between the sexes — are especially attractive to women, because they become disabled more frequently than men.
from other articles:
becoming disabled did happen to more than 800,000 people in 2006.
according to the Insurance Information Institute (III), at age 35, people have a 45 percent chance of being disabled for 90 days or longer before their 65th birthday. And among those people, there's a 70 percent chance of being disabled for another two years.
Clients who think that they are covered adequately because they have disability insurance through work are mistaken. The 60% of income paid by many group policies often is inadequate to maintain the client’s lifestyle. That’s especially true of employees who are used to getting hefty bonuses.
Also, many employers’ standard operating procedure is to fire employees who go out on disability, and no law stops them from doing that.
After losing their jobs, disabled employees have even more household expenses, because they have to pay Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act premiums to maintain health coverage. After that coverage expires — in 18 to 36 months — they have to buy individual health insurance. That can run $1,500 or more a month.
can buy directly from private insurance carriers. The Gaurdian, Mass Mutual and Northwestern Mutual offer various, personalized plans.
How much will it cost?
That depends largely on the type of disability insurance. If it is a group plan, the III's survey in 2004 found the average annual premium to be roughly $218 per year.
"Typically a rule of thumb is a half a percent of payroll"
For individual plans, the cost is significantly higher and is based on a person's age, health and lifestyle.
27 April 2007
12 Angry Men
I came across my old notes from Managing Organizations class while I was cleaning up. I found these notes on the movie "12 Angry Men" (Henry Fonda version). I guess I just wanna keep an electronic version of my notes in case I ever watch this movie again with an instructional purpose. As you can see, I'm one of those people who have trouble throwing stuff out.
Architect (Henry Fonda)
Man from Slums (Jack Klugman)
Stock broker with glasses (E G Marshall)
Messenger Service owner (Lee J. Cobb)
Bank Teller (glasses)
House painter (white shirt, no tie)
Salesman (baseball fan)
The old man
Garage owner (with a cold)
Watchmaker (mustache)
Ad man (glasses)
The Foreman (Asst. Coach)
What influence tactics did Fonda use?
* Procedural - written ballot, bank teller, house painter, ad man, foreman, stock broker
* Interpersonal - old man, prejudiced JK, watchmaker, salesman, garage owner, Cobb
What were Fonda's sources of power?
How did his tactics change over time & why?
Who else had power & why? Did this change? If so, why?
List the critical events as they unfolded. Why are these events critical? What purpose did they serve?
Knife, ballot, El noisy, diagram, "I'll kill him", movie title, knife over/under, garage owner tirade, glasses
Architect (Henry Fonda)
Man from Slums (Jack Klugman)
Stock broker with glasses (E G Marshall)
Messenger Service owner (Lee J. Cobb)
Bank Teller (glasses)
House painter (white shirt, no tie)
Salesman (baseball fan)
The old man
Garage owner (with a cold)
Watchmaker (mustache)
Ad man (glasses)
The Foreman (Asst. Coach)
What influence tactics did Fonda use?
* Procedural - written ballot, bank teller, house painter, ad man, foreman, stock broker
* Interpersonal - old man, prejudiced JK, watchmaker, salesman, garage owner, Cobb
What were Fonda's sources of power?
How did his tactics change over time & why?
Who else had power & why? Did this change? If so, why?
List the critical events as they unfolded. Why are these events critical? What purpose did they serve?
Knife, ballot, El noisy, diagram, "I'll kill him", movie title, knife over/under, garage owner tirade, glasses
07 April 2007
Flags of Our Fathers (and a few others)
I just finished reading the book after having watched the movie on a recent flight.
I found a few details from the book interesting.
There is a recurring scene where Doc Bradley is looking for his buddy Iggy. The movie doesn't tell us what happened to Iggy. The book actually tells us in more detail what happened to Iggy.
p. 238 "On March 8, the Marines of Easy Company found Iggy. He had been grabbed, probably from behind, and pulled into a cave full of Japanese soldiers. As the company medic, it was my father's job to deal with what remained of Iggy's body after three days of brutal torture."
p. 344 "A few days later someone yelled that they'd found him. They called me over because I was a corpsman. The Japanese had pulled him underground and tortured him. His fingernails...his tongue...It was terrible. I've tried so hard to forget all this."
"Langley told me it looked to him as though Ralph Ignatowski had endured just about every variety of physical cruelty imaginable. "Both of his arms were fractured," Langley said. "They just hung there like arms on a broken doll. He had been bayoneted repeatedly. The back of his head had been smashed in." Those were the relatively benign wounds.
My father remembered the worst thing.
p. 346 "They tortured my buddy. The Japanese stuffed his pen!s in his mouth."
Iggy was not an isolated incident.
p. 65 Nanking - up to 350,000 Chinese civilians died - more civilians dying in one city in one month than died in entire countries during the entire war.
In six years of combat France lost 108,000 civilians; Belgians 101,000; the Netherlands 242,000. The Japanese in Nanking killed even more than the atomic bombs later would. (Hiroshima had 140,000 dead, Nagasaki 70,000). The Japanese "loot all, kill all, burn all" scorched-earth policy in North China would eventually reduce the population from forty four million to twenty-five million.
The US Army had encountered the Japanese army's ways in the Philippines and Burma. Stories of buddies found trussed like pigs, disemboweled with their severed genitals in their mouths circulated, as did horrifying accounts of boys staked in the hot sun, forced to endure the voracious bugs who savored the honey rubbed into the prisoner's eyes and mouth."
The Germans were different.
p. 65 "Gentlemen's agreements suspended hostilities for the day at five o'clock each afternoon, and each side held its fire for medics to care for the wounded."
"Letters from Iwo Jima" - Japanese army gets a balanced portrayal.
As referenced in the book, Japanese soldiers are instructed specifically to target corpsmen since American soldiers will try to save the corpsmen. This is never actually shown in the movie.
There is one scene where Japanese soldiers bayonetts one American soldier several times, presumably to death. On the other hand, Baron Nishi, an Olympic Gold Medalist, treats one wounded American soldier humanely. Despite protests from others, he orders the medic to administer morphine to the dying American prisoner. He also talks to the prisoner about his American movie star friends.
We also see an American act of brutality - American soldiers kill two Japanese prisoners despite receiving an order to guard them.
On the whole, the viewers are left with the impression that there are equal amounts of brutality on both sides. Here is a quote from one reviewer - "the film's true intent comes across the second time a Yank is nabbed by the doomed members of the Imperial Army, when the injured grunt movingly establishes an unlikely bond with his aristocratic Japanese interrogator. There were compelling reasons why the war was fought, but the unusual focus of "Letters" is the humanity of the Japanese soldiers who longed for home just like anyone else, knowing they would never leave the tiny strip of land alive." (Variety)
"Letters from Iwo Jima" vs "Flags of Our Fathers"
"Letters" is a better movie (for those of us who can get over the subtitles). "Flags" gets bogged down with Ira's alcoholism.
"Sands of Iwo Jima" starring John Wayne - I watched it to see the three actual flagraisers do it again at the end of this movie.
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970)
An old movie which also shows both American and Japanese sides. This movie sidesteps the issues altogether. It was the crazy Japanese Army (not portrayed in the movie) who wanted the war with USA. The Japanese Navy (portrayed in the movie) accepts the war as a given and carries out the tactically brilliant attack on Pearl Harbor. If the Japanese embassy staff in DC had better typing skills, Americans would have been notified before the attacks started.
Miscellaneous:
Ira Hayes inspired a book and 2 movies. One starring Tony Curtis, the other Lee Marvin - and a song by Johnny Cash would all later mythologize Ira's death.
Book link - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553384155/soohwankim
I found a few details from the book interesting.
There is a recurring scene where Doc Bradley is looking for his buddy Iggy. The movie doesn't tell us what happened to Iggy. The book actually tells us in more detail what happened to Iggy.
p. 238 "On March 8, the Marines of Easy Company found Iggy. He had been grabbed, probably from behind, and pulled into a cave full of Japanese soldiers. As the company medic, it was my father's job to deal with what remained of Iggy's body after three days of brutal torture."
p. 344 "A few days later someone yelled that they'd found him. They called me over because I was a corpsman. The Japanese had pulled him underground and tortured him. His fingernails...his tongue...It was terrible. I've tried so hard to forget all this."
"Langley told me it looked to him as though Ralph Ignatowski had endured just about every variety of physical cruelty imaginable. "Both of his arms were fractured," Langley said. "They just hung there like arms on a broken doll. He had been bayoneted repeatedly. The back of his head had been smashed in." Those were the relatively benign wounds.
My father remembered the worst thing.
p. 346 "They tortured my buddy. The Japanese stuffed his pen!s in his mouth."
Iggy was not an isolated incident.
p. 65 Nanking - up to 350,000 Chinese civilians died - more civilians dying in one city in one month than died in entire countries during the entire war.
In six years of combat France lost 108,000 civilians; Belgians 101,000; the Netherlands 242,000. The Japanese in Nanking killed even more than the atomic bombs later would. (Hiroshima had 140,000 dead, Nagasaki 70,000). The Japanese "loot all, kill all, burn all" scorched-earth policy in North China would eventually reduce the population from forty four million to twenty-five million.
The US Army had encountered the Japanese army's ways in the Philippines and Burma. Stories of buddies found trussed like pigs, disemboweled with their severed genitals in their mouths circulated, as did horrifying accounts of boys staked in the hot sun, forced to endure the voracious bugs who savored the honey rubbed into the prisoner's eyes and mouth."
The Germans were different.
p. 65 "Gentlemen's agreements suspended hostilities for the day at five o'clock each afternoon, and each side held its fire for medics to care for the wounded."
"Letters from Iwo Jima" - Japanese army gets a balanced portrayal.
As referenced in the book, Japanese soldiers are instructed specifically to target corpsmen since American soldiers will try to save the corpsmen. This is never actually shown in the movie.
There is one scene where Japanese soldiers bayonetts one American soldier several times, presumably to death. On the other hand, Baron Nishi, an Olympic Gold Medalist, treats one wounded American soldier humanely. Despite protests from others, he orders the medic to administer morphine to the dying American prisoner. He also talks to the prisoner about his American movie star friends.
We also see an American act of brutality - American soldiers kill two Japanese prisoners despite receiving an order to guard them.
On the whole, the viewers are left with the impression that there are equal amounts of brutality on both sides. Here is a quote from one reviewer - "the film's true intent comes across the second time a Yank is nabbed by the doomed members of the Imperial Army, when the injured grunt movingly establishes an unlikely bond with his aristocratic Japanese interrogator. There were compelling reasons why the war was fought, but the unusual focus of "Letters" is the humanity of the Japanese soldiers who longed for home just like anyone else, knowing they would never leave the tiny strip of land alive." (Variety)
"Letters from Iwo Jima" vs "Flags of Our Fathers"
"Letters" is a better movie (for those of us who can get over the subtitles). "Flags" gets bogged down with Ira's alcoholism.
"Sands of Iwo Jima" starring John Wayne - I watched it to see the three actual flagraisers do it again at the end of this movie.
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970)
An old movie which also shows both American and Japanese sides. This movie sidesteps the issues altogether. It was the crazy Japanese Army (not portrayed in the movie) who wanted the war with USA. The Japanese Navy (portrayed in the movie) accepts the war as a given and carries out the tactically brilliant attack on Pearl Harbor. If the Japanese embassy staff in DC had better typing skills, Americans would have been notified before the attacks started.
Miscellaneous:
Ira Hayes inspired a book and 2 movies. One starring Tony Curtis, the other Lee Marvin - and a song by Johnny Cash would all later mythologize Ira's death.
Book link - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553384155/soohwankim
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