Chasing Cool

"The next time someone says they want to be the "ipod" of their industry, ask them this: before he came up with the ipod, did Steve Jobs walk around telling people he wanted to be the Sony Walkman of his industry?"

www.chasingcoolbook.com

A must read!

Quilted Northern, Economics, Psychology and Marketing

Any business with a product to market should understand the intertwining of economics, psychology and marketing.

This is where Quilted Northern missed the target. With the case of the smaller toilet paper roll, it's a quite simple example.

If you raise the price of each roll of toilet paper 2 cents, it is unlikely that your consumer will even notice the 10 to 25 cent raise in their toilet paper package, especially if you raise it slowly over time. The consumers that do notice will either stop buying the product or they will decide they don't care and continue to buy. The ones who stop will be a small percentage and may have stopped buying anyway.

On the other hand a consumer that pays the price they have been paying for their toilet paper but opens it and finds a smaller roll feels cheated and ripped off. The actual visual of a smaller product has a major impact on buying decisions, especially when there is a somewhat standard size for toilet paper.

This also effects any loyalty the consumer may have with the brand. They think "this brand cheated me" and will most likely never come back to it.

This intense feeling of being cheated by a company turns viral and you have rip off reports and blogs like mine reporting this feeling.

You never see rip off reports or blogs reporting their toilet paper now costs 15 cents more per package.

The way I see it, Georgia Pacific and Quilted Northern could use a good refresher in the importance of the psychology behind consumer purchases and marketing.

When did we become a Nation that censored our children from the President?

On September 8th President Obama will deliver a national address to school children on the importance of taking responsibility for their success in school. Click here for White House Press Release

In the County I live in and surrounding Counties, some parents have called the schools saying they will not send their children to school if they air it. Some schools here have decided not to air the address.

Seventeen of the nations 50 largest cities had High School graduation rates of lower than 50 percent
Full Story

Cash for Clunkers: Not a new program.

Texas has been doing a similar program on a state level since 2001 with great success and bi-partisan support. It was a Republican bill initially and has been carried by Republicans and supported by Democrats.
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/air/mobilesource/vim/lirap.html


Along with this program there is a program that is pretty much the same but is for heavy equipment and big trucks like dump trucks.
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/air/terp/


The programs were started to deal with air quality programs and are attributed to helping Dallas become the first city to have it's Clean Air Plan approved by the EPA.http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-03-091.asp

Paper = Art=Cash

I learned how to make a mobile in Kindergarten. Why didn't I learn to continue making them and selling them for $100/each?


http://frazierandwing.com/2009_mobile_collection

The Beginning of the End?

When is a Starbucks not a Starbucks? When it's a 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.
Full Story Here

And what is even worse.....they are being accused of stealing most of their decorating ideas from the bar next door.
If imitation is the kindest form of flattery, the restaurant and bar known as Smith is feeling ... well ... flat-out worshiped.
Located next to the Starbucks store that will now be called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea in Capitol Hill, Smith owner Linda Derschang said Thursday that everything from the paint color to the light fixtures inside the coffee shop have been replicated to match her rustic, mountaineer-like bar.
Full Story Here

Starbucks, I love you. Please stop this nonsense and just be a coffee shop. If you get a dollar menu or I go into one of your stores and find drunk people, I will leave you forever.

Tea Party

Boo's all around.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Chorus-of-Boos-Interrupt-Cornyn-at-Tea-Party.html

Why are people so negative that on the 4th of July they want to come out and boo a Senator? Booing even while he is giving a soldier a purple heart? It's disgusting.

New Car Cheaper than Used

By Clark HowardHLN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Are you one of the seemingly few Americans in the market for a car? There are more of you out there than you might think.

CNW Marketing Research, a respected automotive marketing research firm, reports that 4 million used cars were purchased in the United States during the month of May alone. That's amazing when you consider that the market for new cars is 9 million in the United States over the course of an entire 12 months.
Yet don't overlook the new car as a potential purchase just yet.
New data from Comerica Bank's Auto Affordability Index shows that new cars are now the most affordable they've been since records started being kept in 1979. In fact, the average new car is now $1,700 cheaper than it was during the last quarter of 2008. And we've got more price cuts coming because of oversupply.

Entire story here

AMZN

Amazon is up 10% since the May 9th post.

I'm just sayin........

Buy some Amazon-AMZN

Amazon To Target $5.5 Billion Textbook Market With New Kindle?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071702597.html


Texas House approves bill on funds for school electronic text books.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-textbooks_03tex.ART.State.Edition1.4afd165.html

Textbooks of the future? If that turns out to be the case Amazon is set to grab onto that market share.

It will probably take a while for this to become integrated into schools nationwide, we'll see how it does in Texas.

However, regardless of the kindle/textbook outcome Amazon is a great long term investment. Even in the rough economy, Amazon has still produced a good looking 1st quarter statement, much better than most companies in their sector.

I use Sharebuilder http://www.sharebuilder.com/

Do Economic Recovery Programs Work?

Look to history- The New Deal, The Marshall Plan

The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a complex package of economic programs he initiated between 1933 and 1935 with the goal of giving relief to the unemployed, reform of business and financial practices, and promoting recovery of the economy during The Great Depression.

With strident language Roosevelt took credit for dethroning the bankers he alleged had caused the debacle. On March 4, 1933, in his first inaugural address, he proclaimed:
"Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men. . . . The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization."

In 1937, the editors of The Economist published an appraisal of the New Deal in which they concluded that:
"If the New Deal be compared, not with the absolute standards of Utopia, but with the achievements of other Governments, the former adverse judgement must be modified. If it be compared with either the performance or the promise of its rivals, it comes out well. If its achievements be compared with the situation which confronted it in March, 1933, it is a striking success."

The Marshall Plan (from its enactment, officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II.

The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948. During that period some USD 13 billion in economic and technical assistance were given to help the recovery of the European countries

The years 1948 to 1952 saw the fastest period of growth in European history. Industrial production increased by 35%. Agricultural production substantially surpassed pre-war levels. The poverty and starvation of the immediate postwar years disappeared, and Western Europe embarked upon an unprecedented two decades of growth that saw standards of living increase dramatically.

The New Economics of Wine

This 2007 Black Swan Shiraz is in a 187 mL bottle, and comes in a 4 pack, with a screw top cap. I think this is genius packaging. And this one happens to be a great shiraz at $5 for the 4 pack or the regular bottle, with a dark berry and chocolate smooth taste.

I love the packaging in the 4 pack bottles because I can have a glass of wine whenever and not feel like I need to finish the entire bottle so it doesn't go to waste.

I have this problem with drinking re-corked wine. I never feel like it tastes the same!

I also love the screw cap top, it's just easier.

According to several independent surveys, wine consumers buy wine sealed with natural cork over any other closures. Another survey of the wine trade, suggested that most consumers think that non-closures cheapen the bottle of wine. Screw caps, on the other hand, are seen as industrial, cheap and lacking the romance of the old "closure" but they have been hailed as the future because there is no danger they will spoil or "taint" the wine, a problem that is said to affect up to one in 10 corked bottles.

On top of avoiding cork contamination, new technologies in fermenting don't require wines to be aged for years to achieve full flavor.

I am all for a good cheap wine that I can drink in glass by glass over 2 weeks if I choose and not waste a penny.

The Bailout Is a Bargain-Wall Street Journal

Despite tea party protests to the contrary, the Wall Street bailout is costing taxpayers much less than feared – so far.

Anyone who takes tea with friends will tell you: The parties are painless. It's the gossip that hurts.

In the same way, today's antitax, antispending movements aren't the problem, it's the dangerous misconceptions they spread about the government response to the financial crisis.Their argument -- that huge tax hikes are coming or have been implemented to pay off bailouts for banking fat cats -- betrays a lack of understanding of the government's approach to solving the financial crisis. When protesters or critics complain about the $10 trillion-plus spent on the Wall Street bailout, you can understand how their estimates of the number of protesters in the streets last week were slightly, well, inflated.

The truth: No one's paying new taxes directly related to the bailout. And most of the government rescue packages offered to the banks have gone untapped or are being repaid.

It doesn't take a lot of checking to confirm this. ProPublica, the investigative journalism site, thoroughly tracks the multiple government programs and has filled in the blanks for many programs that are less than transparent. (Or, if you're on the go and want your bailouts simply illustrated, there's a cool little iPhone application called BailoutWatch that monitors more than two dozen government programs, such as the $245 billion Citigroup Inc. loan-loss provision and the $80 billion Credit Union Deposit Insurance Guarantee program.)

Make no mistake, U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for a lot of money. The government has spent or expects to spend about $2.4 trillion in the next few months to keep the financial gears moving. It's a stunning amount of money made worse by rage-inducing missteps such as the bonus debacle at American International Group Inc. and the initial lack of direction for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

We'll shake our head about those mistakes someday, provided the government plan works as hoped.

But the misinformation surrounding Washington's aid to Wall Street is obscuring exactly how the bailout funds are being used, and it's pressured lawmakers to focus on constituent complaints instead of working on solutions.

If the economy does recover within a year, we'll have spent a lot to rescue the financial system, but nowhere close to the 14-digit figure flogged by tea party protesters.

In fact, there's no way the government will spend that much, because many of the 26 bailout programs aren't being used much, according to Federal Reserve and Treasury Department statistics.

For instance:

• Banks have tapped the FDIC's Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program for $297 billion so far. That's about 20% of the total $1.5 trillion allocated. This is the biggest of the government programs, and banks pay 0.5% to 1% interest for the right to borrow the money depending on how long they keep it.
  
• During its first month, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, has only financed $4.7 billion in consumer debt, far below the $1 trillion allocated. In addition, participation is declining with each new funding cycle.
  
• The Money Market Guarantee Program, aimed at insuring money-market funds against losses, hasn't spent a dime. It covers up to $3.8 trillion in money-market debt. This program is actually making a small profit, because participating funds are required to pay a fee.
  
• Other than the stimulus bill, the program with the biggest outlay so far is the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. More than $570 billion has been committed, but less than $400 billion has actually left the Treasury Department. Like most of these programs, it's unclear how much of this money will be repaid, but most banks say they're either ready or capable of giving it back. If not, they have to pay a 5% annual dividend to the government. In just the first three months of this year, the government has collected $2.52 billion in TARP interest.

You get the idea. Most of these programs were designed as backstops and as proof that the government stands behind the country's private financial system. The government is extending its own credit line to banks until the private sector can repair its own.

Recovery, when and if it occurs, will render many of these programs obsolete. The actual cost to taxpayers will be either negligible or drastically less than the most dire forecasts suggest.

Of course, taxpayers stand to lose more if the economy worsens and the financial system losses deepen further. It's not hard to imagine a scenario in which high unemployment leads to bigger loan defaults, setting off a domino effect of lower home prices and bank failures. Americans have $2 trillion in credit-card debt, and banks are holding that, too.

If that scenario comes to pass, financial companies could tap every dollar of the government's massive credit line.

The International Monetary Fund on Monday projected banks world-wide will need an additional $875 billion in capital by next year to get reserves to precrisis levels. That means most banks will need to raise cash through the public and private markets -- or, failing that, from the government.

But potential losses aren't the same as real ones.

Our national debt already stands at $11 trillion. Most of that debt was run up in the last eight years, when government spending outpaced declining tax revenues. The Iraq war is close to costing the nation $1 trillion. Hurricane Katrina cost us about $110 billion.

We ran up a huge tab for our kids well before the bailout, but it's unlikely that such an inconvenient fact will be the talk of the next tea party.

How much is your time worth?

http://moneycentral.msn.com/personal-finance/calculators/Know_The_Value_Of_Your_Time_Calculator/home.aspx#Results

Where does the money come from?

We get the money by selling debt in the form of securities like bonds That is how most of the United States operates from the city, state and national level. If you think about it I am sure you have voted on a bond in an election, it would be a Proposition on your ballot.

I remember government bonds being very popular when I was a kid, people would give them as gifts when someone had a baby. They are considered risk free since the government can do about anything to pay them when they are mature.

The national debt is divided into two categories, internal debt and external debt. Internal is held by Americans or American companies and the external is held by foreign countries or companies.

The amount of national debt in the hands of foreign countries is approx 25% right now mostly held by China and Japan. Should we be worried? If the value of the dollar continues a decline and our economy can't seem to recover...then yes. Not because they are going to demand their money back instantly, but because they will stop buying our debt. It is critical to have that option, even if we don't need/want to use it.

As of 3/19/09 our national debt was 11,039,686,130,898.10. Now what do we do about it? Lowering it is critical to the long term health of our economy.

Since 1970, the U.S. Federal Government has run deficits for all but four years (1998-2001) contributing to a total debt listed above. President Clinton was responsible for the four years of surplus, how did he do it? He instituted very conservative fiscal policies that no one really liked. Not one single Republican voted for his budget when he first took office. It involved removing tax cuts instituted by Reagan and Bush and raising taxes on the most wealthy. And it was called the longest period of peace and prosperity of any modern President.

So as we look at the options on the table now, don't be shortsighted. Don't forget the policy of the past and what the results were. Don't forget that in order to achieve stability and surplus again you might not like the administrations tightening of the belt.

And on a side note. For all of those complaining about this administrations actions, I have yet to see a counter proposal. There is alot of complaining going on but no one coming up with alternative solutions. That is a problem.

History repeats...over and over and over

1973- President Nixon launches Project Independence November 7 with a goal of achieving energy self-sufficiency by 1980; science, technology, and industry can free the country from dependence on foreign oil, he says

Deficit vs. Debt

Lately I have been involved in several discussions about the National Debt and how it is very worrisome for many people.

When I comment that I am not at all worried about that right now, it makes people cock their head to the side and look at me like I am crazy.

So here is why. The federal budget deficit is what I worry about and what I really think everyone should be concerned with.

Think of the federal budget as your check book and the national debt as your credit card. You are paying for a lot of things with your check book, medicare, the Iraq war, state funds for education and infrastructure etc…. Lately you got some extra expenses (Iraq war) and took a pay cut (tax credits) so you can’t afford to pay all of your bills with your checkbook (federal budget). So you have a deficit and you have to use your credit card (national debt). This has been going on for quite a while so your credit card is about to be maxed out…oh and don’t forget all that interest you have to pay.

And as long as that checkbook stays in the negative you will have to conintue to use that credit card.

So the point I am trying to get across is that there is no point in even talking about the National Debt until the federal budget deficit is corrected.

Another reason I like President Obama is that he gets this.

"WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to help revive the economy and is working on a plan to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term."

He believes the budget deficit should still be tackled despite the need to spend money to stimulate the economy. The president has inherited an enormous deficit from his predecessor. The interest being paid this year on the deficit is costing the government about 250 billion dollars, three times what it spends annually on education.

The next couple of blogs will tackle what actually comprises the National Debt....where do we get all of that money!!!!!!!
Then I will talk about the stimulus package and how it is possible to actually get the budget deficit under control while still spending 700 billion on a stimulus package.

The Stimulus

No one can say it quite like Bill.

"I find it amazing that the Republicans, who doubled the debt of the country in eight years and produced no new jobs doing it, gave us an economic record that was totally bereft of any productive result, are now criticising him (Obama) for spending money," Clinton told the CNN in an interview.

--This is some of what he is referring to.

The largest U.S. Embassy in the world is now built in Iraq, costing some claim $700 billion.

The cost of conducting the Iraq War approximately $10 billion a month.

The national debt clock reveals that the national debt has skyrocketed to $10,771, 107, 905 trillion.

George W. Bush has the dubious distinction of being the U.S. White House resident who catapulted the national debt to the highest in history, greater than all the other national debts combined since the U.S. was founded as a nation.

Charlie Wilson D-Texas

Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting Charlie Wilson. I knew I was going to be meeting him so the weekend before I watched "Charlie Wilson's War". I had no idea until watching the movie, the history this man had made and that I was living in the future that it brought.

Charlie Then

Charlie's war was the catalyst that brought down the Soviet Empire in the 80's. It was a relatively small war between Afghanistan and the Soviets, but such an important one.

"That was the experience that will always be seared in my memory, was going through those hospitals and seeing, especially those children with their hands blown off from the mines that the Soviets were dropping from their helicopters. That was perhaps the deciding thing... and it made a huge difference for the next 10 or 12 years of my life because I left those hospitals determined, as long as I had a breath in my body and was a member in Congress, that I was going to do what I could to make the Soviets pay for what they were doing!"

Charlie Wilson led the largest ever covert CIA operation in US history. Appropriating enough money and weapons to the Afghans that they were able to successfully defeat a super power.



Charlie Now



What happened after the war was won is something Charlie regrets even today. We just left. We left a broken country that had no leadership but many weapons of war. The appropriating committee was no longer willing to give money to Afghanistan once the war was over.

In his own words "These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we f'd up the endgame."

Charlie Wilson has a great respect for the Afghans and called them the bravest, fiercest fighters he had ever seen. He also said that what we need to remember is that 2/3 of the Afghans are with us. 2/3's of the Afghans also want Al-Qaeda out of their country. Although it is terrorist groups from this country that were responsible for 9/11 there is some thought to be given to the fact that the groups developed as a result of leaving a country broken and defenseless after they fought a war that ended decades of communist rule from the Soviet empire.

He believes that we should stay in Afghanistan and rid the country of the terrorists that now hide there.

People like Charlie Wilson are so intriguing to me. They are reckless, the kind of reckless that can produce amazing things.

Shares on Wall Street began to slide

Breaking News Alert The New York Times Wednesday, November 19, 2008
-- 4:15 PM ET-----
Stocks Fall Sharply on Fears of Deepening Recession

As hope for an emergency bailout faded Wednesday for American automakers, shares on Wall Street began to slide. The DowJones industrial average was down 427.47 points, or 5percent, settling below 8,000, while the broader Standard &Poor's 500-stock index was 6.1 percent lower. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 6.5 percent

See post below for relevancy.

Now lawmakers will feel pressure to stop the Wall Street madness and they will bailout the auto makers anyway. No congressman wants the label of the one who tanked the economy.