Hmm…
What object could possibly sit behind this strange construction? Something too cumbersome to move. "We should just build around it. Nobody will notice."
When to refinance your mortgage
I’m in the process of refinancing my mortgage amid these rather low interest rates — although I’m waiting for them to drop below 5 percent. Amid all my research, I haven’t found a more informative piece than this one written by a Penn State professor.
Starbucks woes
So, Starbucks is going to close 300 stores and lay off 6,700 workers. When times are tough, the first thing to go is a $4 cup of coffee.
I do appreciate that the CEO is taking a $1,990,000 pay cut:
Mr. Schultz has asked for his salary to be cut to less than $10,000 – from more than $1.2m previously – and the company is selling two of its three corporate jets, including a Gulfstream 500 delivered in December.
But, hey let’s not go too far. Everyone should have at least one private jet on hand.
Facebook at 222 million users
Facebook appears to be winning the social-networking battle:
Facebook hit 222 million users last December, according to comScore. Shelly Palmer of MediaBytes says Facebook now has 100 million more users than MySpace, although both sites were neck and neck just six months prior.
That’s a lot of users. Apparently parents flocking to Facebook hasn’t driven the kids away — yet.
F.D.R’s Example Offers Lessons for Obama
I’m surprised to be reading this in a New York Times peace:
Roosevelt had his triumphs. He stemmed panic and stabilized the banking system with a combination of deposit insurance, government investment in banks, restrictions on banking practices and his “fireside chat” radio addresses, which repeatedly steadied the national mood and bought Roosevelt time to make changes.Still, even after the government assistance, the surviving banks were shaken and lending remained anemic — much as the nation’s banks today are reluctant to make loans again, despite receiving more than $300 billion of taxpayers’ money in Round 1 of the federal banking bailout.
So, throughout the 1930s, economic recovery remained frustratingly elusive and arrived only with the buildup for World War II in the 1940s.
Exactly.
Perhaps we should take breath before borrowing another $825 billion to throw at this problem.
Obama gets Mad
Great cover. Sadly Mad Magazine is getting hurt in the media malaise. It’s going to a quarterly publication schedule. Perhaps I should buy a subscription…
$200 Laptops Break a Business Model
Interesting read on the bargain hunting that’s occurring in the tech world:
Mr. Title, a 35-year-old new-media manager at a film production company in New York, has dropped his cable subscription and moved to watching most of his television online — free. While shopping for a new laptop for his girlfriend recently, he sidestepped more expensive full-featured computers and picked a bare-bones, $200 Asus EeePC laptop, also known as a netbook.“We’ve reached one of those moments in tech history when there are low-priced and free alternatives that are both user-friendly and reliable enough to make the switch,” Mr. Title said. “Then there’s the extra bonus of saving some cash.”
That approach sounds familiar to me. But, that’ll wreak havoc with tech firm’s profit margins.
If history is a judge, we should expect this recession to shake up the major technology companies quite a bit.
Viva la newspapers!
Well, here’s one way to save newspapers:
The French state will help provide free newspaper subscriptions to teenagers for their 18th birthdays, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Friday. But the bigger gift is for France’s ailing print media.Sarkozy also announced a ninefold rise in the state’s support for newspaper deliveries and a doubling of its annual print advertising outlay amid a swelling industry crisis.
Sarkozy argued in a speech to publishers that the measures are needed because the global financial crisis has compounded woes for a sector already suffering from falling ad revenues and subscriptions.
In a speech to industry leaders, Sarkozy said it was legitimate for the state to consider the print media’s economic situation.
“It is indeed its responsibility … to make sure an independent, free and pluralistic press exists,” he said.
I don’t think that’s the answer, but I agree with that last quote.
