Amvona

Two Great Brands - One on sale. SKX and NKE

 
 
Virtually all marketing promises more than a product can deliver.  This is particularly true in retail consumer marketing.    If Marketers didn’t seek this outcome, we would not be living in such an acute consumer driven society.  On some level, almost all products have the latent and subtle promise of somehow making our life easier, and better.  There is nothing new about this.  It is a promise that always goes unfulfilled in the long run, which is why we have to keep consuming.
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Tattoos, Pyramid Schemes and Social Justice

pyramid_scheme
 
We had planned to write a blog post on systemic fraud in the US financial infrastructure, particularly as it relates to the mortgage industry, mortgage origination and servicing fraud.  However, today a very good article was published by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone which includes colorful first-hand accounts that vividly illustrates the problem on both a macro and micro scale. 
 
 
The plan was to outline these same points regarding the device of “securitization” of mortgage lending through derivatives that allow the formation of a traditional “pyramid” scheme, or what we prefer to call in the US a “Ponzi” scheme – perhaps, within a few years we may just opt to drop the name “Ponzi” altogether in favor of something like “business model for US banks in the early 21st century”.  However, rather than reproduce what Rolling Stone has already done, we thought it would be a better to simply promote the existing article, with a few additional and brief thoughts on what we feel is likely the only solution.
 
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Three Card Monte and other efficient ways of parting with your money

It has been said that there are only two directions in life “the right way and the wrong way”.   This is a simple and true statement.   However, human nature being what it is, we perfect techniques of taking the simple and making it complicated.   If this statement is true, and there are really only two roads, or perhaps it could be said two different directions on the same road, and we discover that we have gone down the wrong one, and that indeed no “fork in the road” lies ahead that will ultimately bring us back to the path we desired, then we come to the realization that we must retrace our steps and begin (seemingly painfully) at the beginning of the journey – it is all the more difficult when we have invited followers.

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Can you say “Chicken Feet” in Russian? The case of SAFM and PPC

Much fuss was made this week over China’s proposed tariffs on American Chicken.  At first glance, the situation is grave; 50-100% premium on imports of chicken from the US.  However, upon closer examination there are two other important data points to consider:a) the Chinese have a particular interest in parts of the chicken that we typically discard (namely the feet and the wings) and are virtually worthless in the US market and b) Russia announced that they would be allowing exports of chicken from the United States into Russia after a nearly  one year ban.

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“640K ought to be enough for anybody…” WDC vs. STX

“640K ought to be enough for anybody…”            

Recently the hard drive crashed on one of our home computers, suddenly and without cause.  When we took it apart to replace the hard drive, we discovered it was a Seagate SATA 500GB / 7200 RPM.  It was a good opportunity to upgrade the operating system, and install a larger drive… perhaps 1TB.  About a year ago when the machine was purchased, 500GB still seemed large, now it seemed small and inadequate, particularly for storing our large and growing collection of home videos.  Cost to replace (without price shopping): $49.00.

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We have seen and been part of a miracle

Amvona logo final 4Amvona Store: August 1999 - April 2010

 

  • - Initial capital: $300
  • - 1999-2003:  One employee -  (mostly) in a dorm room
  • - 1999-2005:  Growth completely self-financed - zero debt.
  • - 1999-2006:  Compound Annual Growth Rate ~120%
  • - 1999-2010:  Shipped over 1 mil products to ~ 300k customers worldwide.
  • - April  2010:  Precisely zero bank debt on our balance sheet.

 

We have seen and been part of a miracle.
 
G.M. Lemelson
Founder and CEO
Now the Amvona Blog...

 

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Would the Pope buy an iPad?

ipad_highresI had just started writing a blog entry on the state of the union address (which deals mostly with the widespread discomfort, or suffering – if I can use that word, of the American people), when I came across news of a new biography written about Pope John Paul II.   After reading the news article, I tried to go back to writing about politics and the economy, but just couldn’t avoid giving a short commentary instead on the new book "Why he is a Saint: The True story of John Paul II"

It is not my intention to cause controversy, I am not particularly interested in politics per sae, and I know this blog does not have a focus on religion as such, but since I could not avoid either politics or religion in today’s news, I thought this would be a nice break from the “hyper” coverage of the Apple iPad – although I respectfully tip my hat to Mr. Jobs for being a visionary product engineer, and PR genius – I have to confess I want an iPad.

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Haiti, Temples and Pillow Houses; One Prespective Part 2

I tried not to write about Haiti this week, but doing anything else seemed profane.  I have seen that our response to Haiti is intense and obvious, perhaps more so than the Tsunami in 2004.  It has been suggested by some, that this may be because Haiti is at our door step.   Generally, the message is one of us Americans, a great philanthropic country, leading the humanitarian effort - and we are, as we always have. 

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Haiti, Temples and Pillow Houses; One Perspective

Four year olds like to make play houses from just about anything, If it looks like a “hut” or “hideout”, even better.  My son is no exception.  Last night we conducted our nightly routine of building a house on the bed constructed of pillows.   The procedure then involved (as usual) camping-out in the “hut”, for story time.

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Clean-Tech Economics: A Hypothesis Part 3

Current “Clean-Tech” enterprises present few “break-through” technologies. Rather there seems to be an improvement in overall efficiency of existing technologies, many of which (e.g. windmills, solar power) are quite old.

 

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Clean-Tech Economics: A Hypothesis Part 2

The internet may even pose a more precise analogy to “Clean-Tech” businesses than others insofar as the product is fundamentally important to us, and not merely a “want” which gives rise to consumption. In the case of the internet, the promise of the technology itself has more than been fulfilled, even if the promises of a great number of commercial concerns related to it have not. 

 

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Clean-Tech Economics: A Hypothesis

I venture to say that an economic movement which is based on our survival and well being as humans may be fundamentally too important to approach merely as a capitalist endeavor. Historically, novel technologies, even when related to existing demand, are difficult to efficiently monetize. Shifts in behavior however, (as they relate to those technologies) are a better bet.  How difficult will it be to create a substantial economic enterprise in an industry which is neither novel, nor benefited by consumption per sae?

 

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145 Pine Haven Shores Road
Suite 2293
Shelburne, VT 05482

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