Until there are greedy people

... there will be fraudulent businesses and unscrupulous businessmen.

Are PG and JNJ good stocks to buy?

I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago about the recession. She's a nanny, and considered herself to be indispensable to the functioning of today's working American society. It's quite the norm for both parents to be working, at least it used to be until people started getting laid off left and right. I started to think about that conversation and with the backdrop of the latest report on how more than 80% of the people being laid off are Men, I realized that the recession might have another unexpected consequence - more babies.

Let's face it, the 3 things guys think of the most are food, sleep and sex. Advances in modern medicine, pharmaceutical research, and boredom make for a heady concoction that is most likely going to result in more than 1 oops moments in the lives of "laid-off" couples (that's right, I just coined a new term). With more babies on their way, what are you going to need? A tonna baby and household products. Which companies are leaders in those categories? Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.

Q.E.D.

The final nail in Vista's coffin

A Microsoft rumor site announces the "Free Upgrade to Windows 7 Program" for qualified customers. Here is the bottom-line:

The only Windows Vista® versions eligible for the program are :

1. Windows Vista® Home Premium
2. Windows Vista® Business
3. Windows Vista® Ultimate

* Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Basic, Windows Vista® Starter Edition, and Windows® XP (all editions) are not qualifying products under the program.

The PC industry has slowed down for the first time in 10+ years. Some of the slowdown can be attributed to the fact that Windows 7 is on the horizon, some of it to the growth of the Mac platform. Hopefully, once the Vista world is running on Windows 7, all the negative press that dogged Microsoft due to a poor operating platform will be a thing of the past.

The good reviews being garnered by Windows 7 must be a huge thorn in the Apple Marketing Team's side - what are they going to mock about Windows once the OS releases? :)

Ethics in Business

... coming soon to a theater near you - an ethical American business.

Guffaws

Kindle v2

The Transit Paradox in America

Soaring gas prices and rising unemployment lead to record usage of public transit systems all over America. With 885 billion $ in stimulus being planned for the foreseeable future, you would think that some money would be apportioned for transit systems. Like the stimulus plan, the golden age of public transit in the US is on the cusp. Wrong!

Transit systems across the country are raising fares and cutting service even after attracting record numbers of riders last year, when many drivers fled $4-a-gallon gas prices and stop-and-go traffic for seats on buses and trains.

Their problem is that fare-box revenue accounts for only a fifth to a half of the operating revenue of most transit systems — and the sputtering economy has eroded the state and local tax collections that the systems depend on to keep running. Many transit systems are cutting service even as demand is up.

“We’ve termed it the ‘transit paradox,’ ” said Clarence W. Marsella, the general manager of Denver’s transit system, which is raising fares and cutting service to make up for the steep drop in local sales tax.

The government bailed the auto industry out with taxpayer money only last month, so you would think that it would extend its largesse to the Public Transit infrastructure. Well, wrong again...

The billions of dollars that Congress plans to spend on mass transit as part of the stimulus bill will also do little to help these systems with their current problems. That is because the new federal money — $12 billion was included in the version passed last week by the House of Representatives, while the Senate originally proposed less — is devoted to big capital projects, like buying train cars and buses and building or repairing tracks and stations. Money that some lawmakers had proposed to help transit systems pay their operating costs, and avoid layoffs and service cuts, was not included in the most current version.

Maybe the government has nothing to earn from such programs. Strike another win for big oil, and the 1st (and maybe the only) win in 2009 for the *big* 3 "bankrupt" car companies.

The mark of a true champion - Modesty

Q. After the victory of Wimbledon last year and after the victory of the hard court now, I guess you proved yourself as a true king from this moment. How do you think about that?

RAFAEL NADAL: Can you repeat the last thing only?

Q. You proved yourself as a true king.

RAFAEL NADAL: Oh, no, no. Well, the true, no. I don't know. I just win for sure an important title for my careera. But I no better five hours before than now, no? That's the true, no?

When you win an important match, but you have to know before the match who you are and after the match you have to know who you are, too. You are the same, no?

Wow.