I found a good website www.BCSAlliance.com. According to this site, jacking up the rate using a bait-and-switch tactic is common in the credit card industry. The only way to refuse the new rate is via a written letter mailed using certified mail. If you were to call and notify the bank that you refused the new rate, the bank will conveniently forget about the oral refusal. This is also said to be a common/usual practice for all kinds of disputes with a credit card company. The following is a sample letter to dispute a change in interest rate from this website:
"Dear Sir or Madam:
I recently received notification from you that you are [state change: e.g., changing the way in which you calculate the interest rate on my credit card.] This letter serves as my written notice of my non-acceptance to this change in terms to my credit card agreement. I understand that I have the right to continue to use my credit card under the existing terms until the expiration date on my credit card at which time my account will be closed. I also understand that I may pay off any remaining balance under my current terms."
Thank you, Alex, for posting this. I learned some surprising facts about women in business. Your ruminations were also original and thought provoking. I am a business woman who will be hitting the submit button on YC very soon. Wish me luck :-)
The comments you brought back from your class were a surprise. My own experience would contradict most of the points on your list. But then again, other women in business are a mystery to me too. I had very limited experience working with women in a professional setting. I am usually the only woman, or there are only 2 or 3 others in a room full of people. I feel awkward and don't know how to behave during those few occasions when I have to work closely with a woman. I have many women friends, with whom I have warm, close relationships. But I can't think of any close women business contacts. On the other hand, I fell totally comfortable in most working situations where I am surrounded by men. I have many, close business contacts who are men. :)
I would like to thank GreenDestiny for his comment as well. The parallel between the faithful-black-servant image and the [bitchy, ice-queen] power-woman image hit home. It reminds me of writings by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (supreme court justice, fighter of discrimination towards blacks). His central thesis in life was that the dissident-minority group needs to be heard. Privately, he felt the majority-power group should rightfully enjoy all the fruits of their power while it lasts. But he fought for the minority because he strongly believed that the majority (and the society as a whole) is made richer by the effort expanded to refute (keep down) the minority. The majority is forced to introduce new ideas into their thoughts and hone the rhetoric that justifies their privilege.
While I agree with some of the points in the article, I want to stress that this is only one possible scenario. (Sorry for this long post. It's my first.)
A couple of times, the article mentions a country's wealth and power. In the long run, national competitiveness determines a nation's wealth. Currency changes are a mechanism that can influence competitiveness in the short term. (As mentioned by others, devaluation can increase competitiveness and wealth.) National competitiveness has been studied exhaustively. While there are still a lot of questions, we seem to agree that a nation needs to produce goods/services that the rest of the human race values and are willing to pay for at an efficient cost. The nation also needs to attact the most able and willing workers, call them the "talent". The nation needs a mechanism to identify and provide opportunities to the talent. Thus far, U.S. is recognized as the nation still most able to provide these conditions. Less universally agreed upon is the need for a rule of law including rights to personal property, the opportunity for the talent to accumulate much more property than the average person, and efficient access to capital. As those on this website know, access to capital and entrepreneurial support is pretty good here :)
There are two additional trends that I think have influenced the Asian Currency Crisis. One is the broad aging of the population in the wealthy contries. There is a net savings effect that is still going on. Younger people have more need of loans and older people have more need to invest. Right now, the need to invest outweights the need for loans. Money has been cheap for several decades. No one know what effect this will have when an equilibrium is reached, sometime in 2030. Another effect is land. The U.S. is said to have about the same livable land as China. You can see what this might mean. China has about 1.5 billion people to U.S.'s 300 million. A lot of Chinese will want to immigrate to US to get away from extreme over-crowding and the destroyed environment. (If you get the chance, watch the documentary "Manufactured Landscapes.") This will cause land values in US to rise, in proportion to the rise in China's per capita income.
National economies have changed drastically over a relative short time period -- a few decades. One of the scenarios discussed by experts is similar to the doomsday scenarios caused by a US dollar devalution versus the Chinese yuan. In most estimates, if this particular scenario does occur, it takes about 30-50 years. Interestingly, if you listen to most Chinese government and financial representatives, they present a doomsday scenario where China is the one going bust. They are very familiar with their own potential dangers, while we are much more aware of our own problems. For example, China has a very serious pension issue. Due to the one child policy, their workers-to-retired ratio is far smaller than in the U.S. They have not begun to create a Social Security program. (Think of Logan's Run. Actually, there are scary stories that I've heard from some of my Chinese friends.) I'm just giving another angle to this whole national competitiveness issue.