A2 IQ

Transaction Form

2009-05-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

Comcast Registration

2009-05-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

In Defense of Anonymous Commenters

2009-04-12T08:51:00.001-07:00

By Doug Feaver
Thursday, April 9, 2009; Page A17
I am writing in defense of the anonymous, unmoderated, often appallingly inaccurate, sometimes profane, frequently off point and occasionally racist reader comments that washingtonpost.com allows to be published at the end of articles and blogs.

The root of the financial crisis

2009-03-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Our money is debt created when we and corporations borrow. It represents our labor promised for things not yet done. It has to be continually expanded to cover the interest that is not created with the original principal. There is constantly more demand for money than is present during the normal cycle reducing the risk of hyperinflation while at the same time insuring inflation is contantly greater than the savings rate.

No consistent savings is possible in such a system for the average citizen. He/she is constantly going to be on the short side of the stick as money is expanded faster than his savings. Bubbles such as housing or equities will give him the illlusion of savings for awhile. So he is herded from one side of the corrall to another. If he decides to be responsible and ignore the bubble du jour he will again be denied his fair share. During a deflationary period the central bank will aggressivley devalue the debt load in society and ramp up the speed of the inflationary money cycle so that he is again running at breakneck speed on an incline to stay where he is. If he falters or someone in his family gets sick or injured he is thrown off and has to beg the government for scraps and trickle down from the high and mighty.

The difference with commodity based money is that the borrowing is done from labor done in the past. It winds up in the hands of the average person for his labor and he can make a decision on the risks he will take. It must be taxed fairly or he will not give it up. Our system is borrowing collectively from the future. In borrowing from the future the average person has no say where the mighty will place his future labor. The unseen inflation tax takes it out of his hands even though he does not spend it. He has no 5th ammendment right regrding how he made his money. If he does not file his taxes he is thrown in jail. So under threat of duress he has to file which goes against centuries of common law regarding forced confessions. It is also taken out in payroll taxes before he gets to look at it. This is the invisable chain that makes him the the debt slave of the government/banking industry.

His future labor may be used in unnecessary wars or complex financial instruments or to get even more benefits on both sides of the the political financial sytem. Which system would be more bio-diverse and increase the liklihood of stabilty. Read our history. It is constantly a war of centralization for the benefits of a few and against the expansion of freedom and stabilty for the many. The loss of freedom is always disguised in the tyranny of good intentions.

Ann Arbor Business Center Paypal Payments

2009-03-25T05:50:00.001-07:00

Full Faith and Credit

2009-03-18T04:39:00.001-07:00

The WWII generation had this phrase, "...backed by the full faith and credit of the US Treasury..."

When the US was the most productive nation in the world, and by productive we mean actual goods for domestic consumption and export, with the ability to tax the "products' manufactured and sold from its jurisdiction the US Treasury had some clout.

Now the US Treasury is taxing such things as commissions, interest and what I would refer to as "financial transactions" that generate a paper profit and a "financial interest" without actually producing something that is consumable that will be traded for something that is consumable.

It would only be expected that China as a lender would want to re-position itself from a T-Bill "note holder" to a "securitized" creditor with a first lien on a real asset that can contribute to the production of consumables.

What the Chinese have or will realize is that the US Treasury has been plundered and that the "...full faith and credit..." is just not there. So the Chinese government is just looking for ways to protect what was invested primarily by their aging workforce/pensioners. With the pension function having been primarily performed by AIG, which is now 80% owned by the US Treasury, the US Treasury/Congress would now seem to be holding the bag for protecting the Chinese pension system.

It may very well take the Chinese to force the US Treasury into bankruptcy since our voters didn't elect representatives with the will-power to take appropriate action.

Conservative talk radio on the wane in California

2009-03-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-talkradio15-2009mar15,0,39114.story

But you have to laugh, when it is the LA Times-losing subscribers-daily-in bankruptcy that publishes this story, and when they fail to mention the bankrupt liberal Air America, which in Ann Arbor has been taken off a local station which has converted to a "business" news format. I'll tune in and let you know.

Not Buying It - Citibank Profiable???

2009-03-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Citigroup CEO says bank operating at a profit

Pandit says in memo that Q1 performance so far is bank’s best since 2007

This is a gasp to bump stock price and avoid de-listing from the NYSE. Even with a 40% jump in stock, at under $2.00 and with major institutional holders requiring shares they hold to be over $5.00 per share, CITI should be dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

CEO Vikram Pandit has 100 and 1 ways to temporarily manipulate profit and loss figures for one quarter or another and by default he is in the category of public figures where the truth is exactly the opposite of what they claim it to be.

What To Do With a Wanton Washington and Wall Street

2009-03-06T05:57:00.000-08:00

I think the solution may be the 1/3 of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans that DOD has on anti-depressants.

These guys are going to be beyond depressed, a few months after they are honorably discharged and find out they can no longer buy a gun for self protection because they have a history of "psychiatric care".

Let's talk about thousands of people trained to use weapons and explosives wandering around the country un-employed, having post traumatic and post psychotropic "psychotic episodes". They will literally have to lock this country down because after one goes McVeigh or Columbine all of the media coverage will set off the others similarly disposed until they have run out of targets.

For those like me who don't own a gun, best learn to duck and stay away from banks and federal buildings.

Blagojevich Book Deal

2009-03-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

The Illinois Legislature is upset that Blago got a 6 figure publishing deal to tell all and wants to pass a law against politicians benefiting from crimes in office.

Many different facets of this irony, but I would have thought that Blago could get more by not telling all.....if he really has anything. I don't know which state is screwed up more, Michigan or Illinois.

Begining of the Run on Banks -Ukraine

2009-03-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

The run on banks has begun with Ukrainian banks unable to provide customers with cash for withdrawal.

This will spread west to Eastern Europe former Soviet Bloc countires as account holders aware of the cicumstance in the Ukraine via news or personal contacts, start withdrawing from those countries banks.

I suspect that due to the recent strength of the dollar as opposed to the local currencies, the customers withdrawing cash, may be withdrawing dollar accounts or attempting to convert their local currency to dollars. This should continue the rise of the dollar against these and other currencies, but it will have the effect of causing people in Western European Countries to do likewise and pull out dollar accounts.

It will not take many customers to do this at the weakest banks before the withdrawl window closes. This should engender enough fear in account holders whose banks had more cash reserves to cause lines at those withdrawal windows. Seeing the lines, those banks will call their national regulators, who will call the US Treasury and Fed and request the delivery of dollars. If the Treasury and Federal Reserve supply more printed dollars, the result will be inflation of the price of metals. If the Fed has accounts....off shore anyone...that are long on gold and silver, they may want this.

The other alternative may be a bank and credit card holiday. Does anyone have any ideas on how that would work?

As Predicted

2009-03-02T05:02:00.001-08:00

Newspaper and Periodical Publishers Going Digital

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/27/technology/copeland_hearst.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009022712

Bailout Prize Patrol

2009-02-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

Inexpensive Practical Municipal Wireless Solution

2009-02-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

Full Story

Ypsilanti, MI

Challenge
• College town has multiple cafes and stores with wireless,
but no consistent free signal city-wide
• Local county has contracted with a provider, but after 3
years and an exhausted budget, the project is incomplete

Meraki Solution

• Initial deployment: 25 Meraki Indoors
• Cost: $3,725*

Results

• Local businesses get reliable WiFi for themselves and for
customers from 25 access points across the city—and the
network has since grown to 125 access points
• Network serves 400-500 users per day
• Local college students and residents can access the internet for free from anywhere across
one square mile covering two downtown business districts
• Businesses that host a Meraki repeater get advertising on Wireless Ypsi’s homepage

Washington Post Is Losing Money, NYTime et al

2009-02-26T05:55:00.000-08:00

....But revenues from Kaplan (test prep) and Cable One are keeping the parent company in the black.

NY Times has suspended its dividend....that's right, all of its cash flow is going to payments to its Mexican Godfather.

.....San Fran Nan's Chronicle is closing. Savage has offered $50.00 for it.

Is there anything in the stimulus to bail them out?

A Treat for Municipal Finance Wonks

2009-02-25T17:53:00.001-08:00

http://bondtangent.blogspot.com/

More old media biting the dust with Chapter 11

2009-02-25T10:05:00.001-08:00

Journal Register Company

Who said this at the Davos World Economic Forumn

2009-02-25T07:01:00.000-08:00

“..do not.....exercise excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence.....In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute......In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost Russia dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.......Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state............we must assess the real situation and write off all hopeless debts and ‘bad’ assets. True, this will be an extremely painful and unpleasant process. Far from everyone can accept such measures, fearing for their capitalization, bonuses, or reputation. However, we would ‘conserve’ and prolong the crisis, unless we clean up our balance sheets........”

------Russian Prime Minister Validmir Putin

Understanding the irony in AIG demise

2009-02-24T04:36:00.000-08:00

x-man writes:
AIG was founded in China in the 1900s, then kicked out. In the early 90s, AIG wanted back in to China and China wanted to join the WTO. Greenspan make something like 35 trips to China negotiating the deal. China wanted the customary 50 percent ownership of AIG as a foreign company, but they had to give up all ownership to get into the WTO. Now AIG is the only 100 foreign-owned company operating in China. And the largest.

This is where it gets bad.

Basically, the Chinese are savers, so AIG captured almost all of China's private money, setting up a pension fund for the Chinese in the late 90s. They're like the Social Security system. AIG also insures China's own banking investments. When AIG faltered last fall, it almost brought down the Hong Kong Exchange.

We immediately got our marching orders from China on the AIG bailouts.

It amounts to the US paying Chinese pensions, with US pensioners savings.
x-man | 02.24.09 - 12:41 am |

Open Letter to Congressional Representatives

2009-02-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

What proportion of the money needed to fund this bill will come from taxes, from borrowing or the printing of dollars and how will the negative implications of each of these alternatives be mitigated to prevent crushing the free market economy?

What is your reaction to a Congressional Budget Office assessment that says the economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if nothing were done?

How can our economy recover when US debt obligations exceed the GNP of the World?

What provision is being made in the budget to cover the debt service for the national debt especially in light of the extraordinary likelihood of increasing interest rates which will be necessary to make US Bonds attractive to foreign buyers?

Congress is more than doubling the national debt to over $2 Trillion this year in terms of current spending and has compounded future indebtedness through passage of the S-CHIP bill. On top of this, the country is faced with upwards of $70 Trillion in unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and Prescription Drugs. How can we even consider National Health Care on top of this?

The Stimulus Bill provides for a 2009 spending rate of $19,000 per taxpayer and if 3.5 million jobs are saved or created they will cost $263,000 per job. Why not simply give the money to the taxpayers through lower tax rates and us decide how to spend our money?

Exactly how does the concept of spending our way to prosperity work?

For the economy to grow and the deficit to be reduced, jobs must produce wealth. However, government projects do not accomplish that — they do exactly the opposite through erosion of wealth. These projects consume scarce resources and convert them to less valuable resources. What is the correlation between jobs created by the Stimulus Bill and the creation of wealth — the growth of GNP?

What are the top five or ten items in the Stimulus Bill that will have the most favorable affect on the economy and how?

In light of all the debt and deficits; If, many people say when, international tensions in the Middle East turn hot, how is the US preparing itself to finance any military actions required and how prepared will we be to provide energy resources to the military, businesses and the general population?

What is your assessment of why the stock market has tumbled some 2500 points since the elections?

Why did you vote for the bill without reading it?

Quote of the Day

2009-02-19T14:48:00.001-08:00

Angry Saver writes:
Memo to Bernanke & Obama: lower prices unfreeze credit markets better than higher prices.

Using MONOPOLY to explain Local Exchange Transaction Systems

2009-02-18T15:14:00.001-08:00

Don:

You've played monopoly......4 players start the game by each taking $2500.00 from the bank. That is the money the players use to spend around the board, make their trades etc. Each player has an equal chance to win the game.

Now, let's change the rules of the game and add a 5th player. The 5th player is the BANK. Instead of starting the game by each of the 4 players taking $2500.00 they instead have to BORROW $2,500.00 from the 5th player - THE BANKER.

Since the 4 players have BORROWED their money, every time they go around the board, they have to pay interest to the 5th player - THE BANKER.

Who is ALWAYS going to win the game?

The player who is the BANKER.

The BANK is just a place where the currency is kept. Currency is just a means of exchange. It does not have a value in and of itself. Or rather it should not. The two primary ways that currency as a fair means of exchange is perverted is when the users of the means of exchange are charged interest or have to pay for something that has no value, with something that has real value - their time and goods. The other way to pervert the means of exchange is to tie it to a commodity that can be made scarce by HOARDING. This is what the bankers did with gold.

When a commodity such as gold is not just a commodity in and of itself that has some sort of desirable quality, but is also made the single or primary measure of exchange, the value of that gold or other commodity will inflate relative to any real or legitimate consumptive value that it might have.

Via HOARDING that single commodity, the hoarders manipulate the value of the commodity that they hoard relative to other commodities and thereby gain by hedging. This would be simple unethical gambling or gaining something for nothing, but they make it even worse by deliberately deceiving those in the market who are making straight forward trades within the free market.

A Russians view on how to cope with Social and Economic Collapse

2009-02-17T12:55:00.001-08:00

Social Collapse Best Practices

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/02/social-collapse-best-practices.html

Stimulus Bill Raises Federal Debt Ceiling to:

2009-02-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

14 SEC. 1604. INCREASE IN PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT.

15 Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United

16 States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limita17

tion contained in such subsection and inserting

18 ‘‘$12,104,000,000,000’’.

News from Amazon

2009-02-07T06:14:00.001-08:00

Link to all reviews of this product

My family was planning a vacation to Europe, so I purchased this item to teach my twins about what to expect at the airport and hopefully, alleviate some of their anxiety. We also downloaded the actual TSA security checklist from the American Airlines website and then proceeded with our demonstration.

Well, first we had to round up a Barbie and a few Bratz dolls to play the other family members, so that cost us a few extra bucks at the Dollar General and it is aggravating that the manufacturer did not make this product "family-friendly." Of course, since the playmobil Dad could not remove his shoes or other clothing items, unlike the Barbie, the playmobil security agent became suspicious and after waving her wand wildy a few dozen times, called her supervisor to wisk the Dad into a special body-cavity search room, (which incidentally led to quite an embarasing and interesting discussion with my twin daughters about personal hygiene and a slight adjustment to the rules we had them memorize about touching by strangers).

But worst of all, since the suitcase did not actually open, the baggage inspector made a call to the FBI and ATF bomb squads which then segregated the family's suitcase (which btw was the only suitcase they provided for our educational family experience) and according to the advanced TSA regulations, had to blow it up, (since they could not otherwise mutilate the luggage, break off the locks and put one of those nice little advisory stickers on it), which we had to simulate out in the backyard with a few M-80s and other fireworks.

The girls started crying. They became so hysterical by the whole experience that we could not even get them in the car when the time came to actually take our trip, and so we had to cancel the whole thing at the last minute, losing over $7,000 in airfare and hotel charges that we could not recoup do to the last minute cancellations. We've now spent an additional $3,000 to pay for the girls therapy and medication over the past year since this incident occurred, and the psychologists have told us that this will affect them for life, so much for their college fund and our retirement.

Then, to top it all off, when we tried to use to playmobil phone to call the company to ask for reimbursement, as you might expect, of course the damn thing didn't even work; neither did our efforts to e-mail them using the computer screen on the baggage checkpoint; and our real-life efforts to contact them to obtain re-imbursement have also likewise been ignored. Worse yet, we had the product tested and found out that it was positive for both lead paint and toxic chemicals, having been manufactured in China by workers holding formerly American jobs, so now we all have cancer and have been given only another year or so to live.

My advice - educating your kids about airport security with this toy may actually be more harmful to them than just packing them in the damn luggage with some bottled water & hoping they survive. :)

From a blog out of California

2009-02-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

peakanease writes:
i had essentially the same conversation with a good friend who's a CRE broker in Detroit. It's difficult to explain in the face of a crushed oil market that the issue is 'resources'. Thru our many talks , he knows the basics, but needs catching up on occasion.
his juicy story for me today was various properties trading at 5c/$

What a Difference a Year Makes

2009-02-06T05:54:00.001-08:00

February 2008 - Unemployment rate hits 33-year low (Canadian)

February 2009 - Canada sheds 129,000 jobs in January

To put this into proper context, Canada has a population of 30 million. The U.S. has 300 million. US job losses in January totaled almost 600,000. To be at the same percentage level of our neighbors to the north the US would have needed to lose 1.3 million jobs.

Canada is our largest trading partner. They receive almost all of their consumer goods from or through the United States. Jobs are like dominoes in a chain reaction.

Ouch! Detroit skewered with sylabic style.

2009-02-03T17:57:00.001-08:00

Today, Detroit is ground zero of America's economic meltdown, its motor industries bankrupt and its housing market worthless. Entire streets in Warren, the bleak suburb where Eminem grew up, can be brought and sold for less than a family car. Hotels, shops and even bars on 8 Mile, the road that gave its name to the semi-autobiographical film Eminem made, have bars protecting their workforce from feral locals. Across great swathes of the city, the only surviving industries involve prostitution and drugs.

Visitors are warned not to venture out of doors after dark – though the bitterly cold Michigan winter hardly encourages such adventure, particularly now that the state has run out of money to grit or snowplough its roads. Last week, the corpse of a homeless man was discovered encased entirely in a block of ice in the basement of a city-centre skyscraper. No one knew how long he'd been there.

State of the Small Retail Owner

2009-02-01T17:44:00.001-08:00

dino writes:
As a mail man, I can offer you a little antidotal evidence on the state of the small retail store owner. Up until 2 years ago, some were very demanding and took a lot of joy in telling you
how to do your job. You could sense that they looked down on mere workers. Now a lot are asking
if there are any jobs available. Once they start asking they tend to fold up shop in about 3 months.

Maybe we should be grateful for the crashing economy......

2009-01-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

1. Less work means more time with the wife and kids;

2. It's easier to keep up with the Jones' whose 401k was 201k'd , mc-mansion is mc-foreclosed and executive BMW lease was ended when Mrs Jones became an ex-Jones.....Does that change the saying to: keeping up with Jones rather than Jones' ?

3. When Enron crashed, Kenny Boy's (Ken Lay) scheming with Bill Clinton and yes, Al Gore to take over the US energy market via Carbon Credits went down the tubes. Here is the rest of the story. I wonder what other schemes to take over the world went down the tubes when the markets and banks crashed?

4. Gas prices and trade deficit is down;

5. Oil revenue to finance terrorist groups and development of nuclear weapons by Islamist regimes has just dried up like....a puddle of pee in the Mohave.

Anyone got anything to add?

I want some TARP - the music video

2009-01-28T04:33:00.000-08:00

The Scent of PRAVDA: for-Profit News Morph to non-Profit

2009-01-27T08:07:00.001-08:00

"The Peoria Plan for saving local dailies" (referral tip from Peoria Pundit) is nothing more than a tax payer subsidized, job bank for journalism school graduates, benevolently named an L3C "low profit" community-owned operation.

The first red flag is that the "community coalition" as described by the Newspaper Guild official Jennifer Towery (read: Counterpart to lcoal Ron Gettlefinger (UAW head))is the group that "is pushing legislation". What the heck does it take to qualify as a "community coalition" these days? I'd think if you were really a local "community coalition" and had a member of the local newspaper guild, there would have been an article about you, first appearing in your local Peoria newspapers media, rather than in a blog about a city 2000 miles away.

What should bother you about this "community coalition" is a most basic political example of "pay to play", "pay to print" or "...will you scratch mine so I can stay in business and scratch yours..."

Peoria, he noted in a press release, has put together support for L3C legislation that includes four state legislators, local businesses, and a handful of bank presidents. “Their goal,” Licata says, “is to get their paper back on track."

The notion of "Support",mentioned with "pushing legislation" can only mean "support of the tax payer" with the degree of burden to be determined by the "elites" known only as four state legislators, local businesses and handful of bank presidents. Let's short cut to the endgame, a circle jerk, already in place between the chamber of commerce, publicly financed bureaucrats and public unions in the school district and municipal administrative offices. Freedom of the press, from government is an antiquated concept when the ink on the rollers is financed via a "public-private partnership".

If the commodity were to be defined as "a broad and diverse collection of accurate and timely information regarding the most pressing issues", expect quality to decline as those with the journalism degrees pander to the "mother's of their milk" and plate the presses with the pleas of an "impoverished bureaucracy that exists only to noblely serve the needs of the least of the community", and fail to even bother with burying beneath the fold, so much as a single ledger of the accurate cost of this "public-private venture".

This country and every freedom it has, was founded upon and protected, in no small part by the succession of Benjamin Franklins, working alone in the evening, typesetting the news of the day on a press, paper and with ink that was solely their own, not owned by or beholden to some incestuous cabal of local officials, business people and not-for-profits. From this austere begining, cities like Peoria, Illinois developed in the midst of a vibrant public discourse made possible by the existence of a sundry of local pundits, each with their own small broadsheet presses and cadre of supporters from the community that supported their publishing through subscriptions, advertising and submission of news content.

Over time, these small papers were consolidated into a monolith (Peoria Journal Start) has for a long time lacked the diversity of politic, thought and vibrancy of its many origins. In spite of this circumstance, the vibrancy and democracy of citizen or 1st Amendment speech in the Peoria community has gone back to its journalistic roots. But this time instead of Ben Franklin setting type by candlelight it is CJ Summers , Bill Dennis and Merle Widmere sitting in their drawers and blogging on a netbook, without the corrupting influence of any dominating political or corporate patron saint, and subjecting themselves personally, and in real time to the individual hisses and boos and collective praise of their growing readership.

Meanwhile the "Heidelbergs on the Hill", sitting there at One Journal Star Plaza , pass on full and timely coverage of issues such as school closings even while they conspire to Quit Claim their 1st Amendment birthright for a pot of comforting porridge courtesy of the legislators, businesses and bank presidents who are only to happy to never again suffer the affliction of the 1st Amendment from those journalists who would fill themselves with ill gotten porridge.

WWRBW (what would Rick Baker write)

Michigan Uneployment Rate his 10.5% What Happens April 15th ?

2009-01-24T06:17:00.000-08:00

Charles Hughs Smith in his blog Of Two Minds that a number of last years tax payers are going to be this years reporters of losses. The deficit projections of today are probably not factoring in the reality of decreasing revenues that will be the stark picture of opening the closet door and finding the spouses nude lover standing there.

The federal government is now in the damned if they do, damned if they don't circumstance where if they don't spend money, prices will have to deflate incredibly as the government employed and benefited, lose their income and if they do spend it will be borrowed money and they will need to ever spend even more and more to keep up with the interest.

We are nearing the undeniable point where people outside of the US Dollar system will want to be the last person holding it. I am working on a Local Exchange Transaction System (LETS) as a local economic alternative to the US Dollar.

Slumdog Millionaire - Movie Review

2009-01-22T06:31:00.000-08:00

Everyone in the theater sat throught the final credits. No one wanted to leave. It was that good.

Coming to America Courtesy of Chrysler Fiat - the Italian Car Salesman

2009-01-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

NY Times Pays 14% for El Financio Mexicano

2009-01-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

From Bloomberg: NYT is paying 14% on the paltry $225,000,000.00 it is borrowing from Senor Sills. I use "paltry" in the sense that the amount would barely cover the 2008 Yankees payroll.

Read the other terms of the deal mentioned by Bloomberg. To me it smacks of hard money lending where the lender is betting that the borrower will go under.

I can't be the only one seeing the irony in the Illegal Immigration supporting NY TIMES, being hocked to a Mexican who is probably going to put it out of its liberal misery and turn a profit selling off its assets.

Oh, to whom will Katie go to determine what will be on her CBS Evening Spew?.

Coming Soon: The M.O. Journal Star (M.umbai O.utsourced)

2009-01-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

For the full read - Bill Dennis & Peoria Pundit

Analysis: If the Peoria Journal Star has hired an executive from Paychex, a company that specializes in payroll outsourcing, doesn't it sound like the plan is for her to apply her outsourcing expertise. Actually this is already being done - editorsweblog.org

Suggestion for Journals Star employees: brush up on your Hindi.

The Return of Sharecropping

2009-01-14T05:40:00.000-08:00

Peoria County - Illinois
Property owners here eventually may be able to swap labor for a lower tax bill.

The link may be a bit slow....this is a Gatehouse Media site, their parent companies stock is at about 4 cents a share and they just had more layoffs......it looks like they reduced bandwith.

Compare to the speed of links on http://Mlive.com

What newspapers always seem to lose deep into their articles on anything property tax related is that School Districts usually comprise 50% of any property tax bill and that where other taxing bodies are concerned, the portion of your property tax bill going to pension funds may be more than the amount going to the general operating fund - money going to pay municipal workers currently on the payroll.

Link to Q&A between Ford Exec and Employees

2009-01-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

Ford Executive Answers Employee Questions

This exchange was leaked to the Wall Street Journal. At the end of the article is comments that are definitely worth reading. Ford stock is up over $2.50

Here's to small businesses

2009-01-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Michael Alter, president of payroll services company SurePayroll, said small business owners tend to be very reluctant to cut jobs because it's often a matter of firing a relative or friend who has been with the company for years.
Business owners' first inclination may be to absorb a few bad months by taking home less profit rather than axing jobs, which could help explain why larger firms were quicker to cut when the economy starting to sour.

Forex Pros

Louisiana ahead on the ethanol curve

2009-01-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

B. The legislature finds and declares that the proper development of an advanced biofuel industry in Louisiana requires the following comprehensive “field-to-pump” strategy:

(1) Feedstock other than corn:
(a) Derived solely from Louisiana harvested crops.
(b) Capable of an annual yield of at least six hundred gallons of ethanol per acre.
(c) Requiring no more than one-half of the water required to grow corn.
(d) Tolerant to high temperature and water logging.
(e) Resistant to drought and saline-alkaline soils.
(f) Capable of being grown in marginal soils, ranging from heavy clay to light sand.
(g) Requiring no more than one-third of the nitrogen required to grow corn thereby reducing the risk of contamination of the waters of the state.
(h) Requiring no more than one-half of the energy necessary to convert corn into ethanol.

A Reason to Count Your Blessings

2008-12-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

Man dies in sludge pond

Gas Prices and More

2008-12-15T07:05:00.000-08:00

Lowest I could see was $1.65 a gallon. Manager at Meijers mentioned that the real cause of the price bump was an accident in the Alaska pipeline, not OPEC manipulations.

He also mentioned that when prices went up he noticed the carpool that formed behind the bank every morning. The people would come over to get coffee and then into one of the larger vehicles. He said he watch that activity grow and that it has continued despite the drop in gas prices.

The manager commutes to work and said that he also noticed that 275 and 696 which used to be tough to get onto and is now a an easy drive.

Analysis of Big 3 as three different ships

2008-12-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

Chrysler: privately owned by a company with a lot of money who does not want to put any more into it.

Ford: in 2006 restructured and does not need a bailout.

GM: that is why all three were there.

So this is what it took to manipulate voters in Illinois

2008-12-13T09:02:00.000-08:00

This is the campaign jingle used by Governor Rod Blagojevich. Typical pandering to the culture of victims, set to a catchy tune and proclaiming oneself to be the savior.

Juxtapose the video to what Charles Colson says about the situation.

Newspapers Cutting home deliver to 3 days a week

2008-12-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

Detroit Free Press and News

I'll be waiting for the US Postal Service to make a similar announcement.

Big Swing in Gas Prices

2008-12-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

Stations with prices at $1.45 only a few days ago are now at $1.75. One is still at $1.45

Family Values: Vegas revenues are down 26%; strip clubs in Detroit are down 50%

Ford: will Ford hit $1.75 ?

Oh the IRONY !

2008-12-11T06:06:00.000-08:00

How could anyone keep a straight face thinking of the Jackson Klan clucking over the thought of someone trying to "shake them down"

Ref: Guv Rod Blagojevich wanting $500k to apppoint Junior to the Senate

They have to be laughing over at Anhauser Busch et al (numerous corps that Jacksons Rainbow "PUSH"ed over the years.

Best News Coverage of Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich

2008-12-11T05:44:00.000-08:00

WLS AM 890 has the best coverage of this mess. This is a link I use to actually listen to WLS when there is something controversial going on in Chicago. They definitely had the best Reverend Wright coverage last Spring.

But here is how good it gets......

I was listening to the Roe Conn Show on WLS 890 am which comes on at 2:00 pm Central 3:00 pm Eastern Std Time. At some point there was a newsbreak over to the Jesse Jackson Jr press conference. Junior was Blago's Senate Candidate #5 as in the Affidavit in Support of Federal Prosecutor Fitzgerald. Before WLS broke over to the Jackson news conference.....Roe Conn makes a bet with .....I think Ron Majors.....that Junior will start crying at some point in the conference.

Roe won the bet. The press conference ended when Junior started sobbing, telling how his little sister text messaged him to tell him how much he had done for he country and how proud she was of him...........his "little sister" is a friend and collegue of Michelle Obama.

Gas: $1.45 that's cash OR credit price

2008-12-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

Ford Motor Company: stocked jumped 10% Monday.....still bouncing just under $3.00 per share. Profit before the meltdown was predicted to be $1.40 a share in 2009. I think it was $6.50 a share then.

Unemployment: real rate is about 10 percentage points higher if methodology used prior to Clinton Administration is used . Figures don't lie, but Liar Figure. The "new math" does not include those who have been unemployed for more than a year.

Conway Freight: cut 80 jobs in Ann Arbor. I thought they were going to be relocating the staff from Port Huron, Flint and Grand Rapids to the Ann Arbor Office.

Publishing: Miami Herald 4-Sale along with Rocky Mountain News. New York Times looking for a sale - lease back of their headquarters and other papers cutting press days and letting the website do the work for the other days.

Education: NEA teacher blasts Open Source Software Co for giving software to kids. Here is the response letter of Ken Starks of HeliOS Solutions I just became a fan and a customer. "No Child Without Linux"

Our Friends in Ontario Canada

2008-12-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

I've been told that the stretch of Ontario Canada between Detroit and Toronto accounts for more than 75% of Canadian GNP. All of the Big Three have plants and suppliers there. The Canadian national and Ontario provincial government are being solicited for and are considering their own loan package to the domestic auto makers.

Important note: Ford is only asking for the credit lines in case the financial situation worsens. The other two have stated publicly that they will be bankrupt before the first of the year if they don't get help now.

Yesterday the front page photo of the Wall Street Journal was of the CEO of General Motors, with his face in his wrinkled hands. Boy is that going to make me go out and buy GM stock, or maybe a GM vehicle. Ford's CEO.....as of May the Ford family held less than 4% of the stock while controlling 40% of the comany. What does that mean?

Here is the best, most recent analysis that I have found on the Big Three and it notes that Ford is rolling out a number of new vehicles at the LA Auto Show while GM and Chrysler are not.

Yesterday, gas was still as low as $1.57, but until drivers forget it was at $4.00 over the 4th of July, I think they are going to buy hybrids as insurance. Ford stock is at $2.65.

$1.57 a Gallon @ the usual places

2008-12-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

Was told of even lower prices to the north and west of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Also mentioned....the Saudi's don't really care that their ship is still being held for ransom because............the current supplies in the US and other ports is so great they are running out of space for incoming shipments. Same deal with the Mercedes Benz stacking up in the parking lots of the East Coast ports.

Ford Motor Company......someone fact check this...I wouldn't know where to start....the Ford Family has less than 5% of its cumulative wealth in stock in Ford Motor Company. They can better afford to sustain losses while they wait for Chrysler to give up the ghost and GM to shrink to the number 2 auto producer in the US.

Newpaper Print Reductions - watch for more of this

2008-12-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

Next step: Wednesday and Sunday. Then Wednesday or Sunday only. Finally.......we will sell you a notebook computer for what a yearly subscription cost.

ROYAL OAK, Mich. -- The suburban Detroit newspaper the Daily Tribune says it will cut its print edition to four days a week from six.
The newspaper published in Royal Oak says it's a way to save money during difficult economic times. The newspaper will be published on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, starting next week.
The paper says its Web site, http://www.dailytribune.com, will offer fresh news and sports seven days a week.

$1.59 went up to $1.65 for the Thanksgiving Holidays

2008-11-30T11:31:00.001-08:00

Juxtapose This

2008-11-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

The tale of the unnamed staff member has echoed across Mumbai where, time after time, hotel workers have emerged as the people who shielded, hid or evacuated their wealthy guests from militants at the Taj and Trident/Oberoi hotels. (Reuters)

vs.

Stampede victim Jdimytai Damour was just one of millions of Americans who lost his job recently in this tough economy.

The 34-year-old Queens man was working at the Wal-Mart at the Green Acres Mall yesterday trying to make ends meet when he was crushed to death by a restless crowd eager to take advantage of post-Thanksgiving sales. NY Post

Keeping up with the fish in the bigger pond

2008-11-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

"What we are seeing right now is that many new projects require a certain level of interest rates to make them financially feasible,'' said Reid, a former Ann Arbor City Council member. "They are subject to some credit risk. Buyers are being very cautious about stepping into new securities that are not deemed essential services.''

This is the circumstance of the proposed $71 million library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Libraries, museums, recreational complexes.....not essential. The Ann Arbor City Council voted 7-0 to table the project.

Cities are like adolescents in the locker room. They are always comparing "theirs" to the biggest. Perhaps because of its proximity to Detroit, Ann Arbor understands that just because you are older and "bigger" doesn't mean that you are better. Maybe the better city is one without a former mayor doing time (Detroit), or a record number of gang shootings over the last 12 months (Chicago).

Peoria, Illinois on the other hand is always looking down at itself and then looking over at Chicago. It says a lot about envious elite fish in a Peoria sized pond. What they value is not being looked down on as small fish by the fish in the Chicago, Springfield or Naperville ponds, even while they themselves look down on Pekin, Morton and Chillicothee fish as "small ponders". And their answer to their inferiority impusles always seems to be, "...what sort of larger, grander phallic symbol can we build...so as to qualify Peoria as a larger pond..." , without regard to the many residents whom they must Shanghai to their tax payer chain gang.

But like the slaves of the South, those tax payers with the inclination and ability will make their escape North to the smaller, but growing ever larger ponds of Dunalp, Medina Township and Stark County.

$1.48 a gallon in downtown Lansing

2008-11-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

Still $1.59 on Washtenaw Marathon and BP a couple of blocks west of EMU

Scuderi Split Cycle Engine

2008-11-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

I think inovations like this are important. This engine design weighs less, reduces emmissions and increases combustible efficiency by about 25%. There are a number of innovative designs out there, that I believe are being suppressed because all of the shear market size of the big three. They have their engineers and their design, their job security and their business model. Innovative technology is by nature distruptive, which is why the big three came kickign and screaming to the production of hybrids, after the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius did the heavy lifting.

Here is a link for additional videos

Can you tell it is a slow day......

2008-11-21T11:38:00.000-08:00

Got to love the French.....and the marketing of paper products. To think paper is so unaffordable and carbon wasteful.

JOLIE SECRETAIRE - photocopieuse
Uploaded by karenjolie

Boston Market demolished - replaced immediately by.....McDonalds

2008-11-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is at a major intersection where the demographics support 2 banks, a Barnes / Noble and a Whole Foods.

You'd think that would be good demographics for a Boston Market. Maybe too good and its market got sucked up by the hot buffet at Whole Foods. McDonalds profits are up 10% the last quarter....Starbucks is down and McDonalds has come out with the $3.50 latte....maybe $2.00 where the unemployment rate is 9.5%

Dong Shin....this one is for you buddy.

Speaking of the devil

2008-11-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

HOLIDAY HELP, IDEAL FOR STUDENTS: $17.25 base-appt

http://annarbor.craigslist.org/csr/928323557.html

It is Vector Marketing - Cutco

Online advertising continues to be a bright spot for the company, with online advertising up in all categories except employment advertising.

2008-11-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

McClatchy Company is one of the largest domestic newspaper publishers:

Released: 11/19/2008
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) today reported that consolidated revenues in October 2008 decreased 17.8% and advertising revenues were down 20.4% compared to revenues in October 2007. The Company noted that the declines in print advertising were partially offset by a 12.4% gain in online advertising revenues in October 2008 compared to October 2007. For the first ten months of the year, total revenues declined 15.5% and advertising revenues declined 17.4%. Online advertising grew 10.9% in the first ten months of 2008.
Pat Talamantes, McClatchy's chief financial officer, said, "October advertising activity turned out to be similar to recent months. The economic slowdown continues to hurt consumer confidence and as a result negatively impacts our advertising customers in the local markets we serve. Online advertising continues to be a bright spot for the company, with online advertising up in all categories except employment advertising. In fact, when employment advertising, which has declined both in print and online as a result of the nation-wide slow down in hiring, is excluded our online advertising revenue was up 57.6% in October 2008 compared to October 2007."

QOTD quote of the day

2008-11-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

...relative to everyone I know that had a 401k or owned real estate this last year, my net worth has doubled...

Is this still going on.....20 years later?

2008-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

I can vouch from personal experience that while funny, the story below is not a joke. Kirby is a great American product, like Amway products, or Cutco where a independent sales contractors are sold a business model that cannot possibly sustain financial independence when it is being sold to so many agents. And dont' get me started about the way the real estate industry game..........

Getting tired of my old job due to being underpaid for ridiculous amounts of work and long hours, I went on a job hunt. In the paper, I found an ad in the general section for a job that paid $600 a week and were hiring from Management postions on down. I call and they tell me where to go for the interview.

Okay, I get there and I hand over my resume. He scans it a bit and then tells me I got the job. Hmm, I bit too easy, me thinks. I thought about it, then shrugged it off 600 a week sure beat 200, right? Okay, so I got to orientation. the guy there says the base pay is 450 a week instead of 600, like the ad said. Okay, no harm done. It's still double what my other job was paying me.

We're shown the vaccuum, taught how to put it together and all, then given the 'It really sells itself' speech. Honestly, I get sucked in. Okay, so I end up quitting my old job since I have a job that pays 450 as base pay. The guy said that we would get that whether we made sales or not.

The paychecks are distriubuted on Mondays and about two weeks go by. I didn't collect mine yet, so when I did, it was missing. So I ask about it. And the first thing the guy asks me is, 'Did you make any sales?' I nodded. I made two sales, but I asked what difference did it make to the pay check since the base pay was $450. And that when he said, 'What are you talking about? There IS no base pay.'

I was PISSED. They tricked me into quitting a job that was stressful ass hell, but at least had the decency to pay me for working.

I spent days and many nights going in and out of houses to do those stupid demos. I mean I wouldn'd get back home until 11pm sometimes after leaving the house 8 or so in the morning. I worked SIX days a week for those clowns and all I got for my work was a check for friggin $25! I spent the next 5 months after that finding a new job as my phone was cut off and all my other monthly bills pilled up on me. I have a job now, but thinking about how the Kriby company screwed me over makes me want to break one of those $1600 machines over their heads.

If Kirby offers you a job, folks, just say NO.

Cody
Baltimore, Maryland
U.S.A.

NY Talk Radio

2008-11-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

Curtis Silwa on 770AM - callers are complaining about the arrogance of the big 3 auto executives and comparing it to that of the failed finance tycoons and even the arrogance of their own congressional representatives.

WWRL 1600 self described "progressive talk radio" an Air America Affiliate: I've been listening for 20 minutes to the host complaining about the subway fares going up to $3.00 There is a lot wrong with their website, from the lack of a call in number being anywhere to be found, to the listen now button requiring a real player or windows download that then quit working. I had heard Air America lost money, and now we know why - their affiliates can't bother to go and get the same technology that works at other stations....or put their call in number in a place to be found.

Gas $1.61 Marathon - $1.59 BP

2008-11-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to the story from 2007 about the opposition to the refinery in Detroit. Eventually the refinery was approved. It offered jobs and newer, cleaner technology. They always stir up a ruckus in Detroit, until the right people get paid....like Congressman Conyers wife Monica. I had one of my clients from Detroit advise me that Conyers recruits staff from strip clubs. Here is Conyers at her best worse calling Ken Cockrell, now the Mayor of Detroit "Shrek". How would this play in Peoria? Peoria is so tame.

With gasoline consumption down, the refineries now have excess capacity and prices are falling. I think Guv Jenny has suggested increasing the gasoline taxes to keep it up over $2 and maybe at $3 a gallon.

I think BP got approval for a $3.8 billion modernization of their refinery in Northern Indiana. Note that gas prices on that strip of Interstate 80/90/94 in Northern Indiana are some of the lowest in the Midwest.

Off the Record with a NYC Investment Banker

2008-11-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

With little to no gold available to purchase in anything smaller than 1 kilo ingots (and they are getting harder to come buy) people are getting more and more interested in putting large amounts of money into start up mining operations.
If GM shuts down from no bailout there will be between 3 & 3.8 million additional jobs lost in the U.S. counting down stream effect into the ancillary sectors.
With the massive layoffs on Wall Street from CITI group and etc. crime in NYC is going way up, mostly in bank robberies, home invasions, murder and other violence. Now here is the interesting part.....a lot of the perpetrators are laid off executives from the wall street firms that no longer have their very huge salaries!!!
He said that in NYC the public is NOT handling this economic train wreck very well at all. People are starting to get twitchy (not his exact words) but that is the jest of it.
He is moving back to Alaska to get away from the inevitable future social unrest.

A2B3 Report

2008-11-20T10:55:00.001-08:00

LinkedIn

Ed's question of the week was, "Would you buy a car from a company that was going bankrupt."

Generally the answer was, "No, I'd be concerned about my warranty and service." But here is the Ann Arbor twist: about a third of the 30 people there.......DON'T OWN A CAR!!! And only there was only one person there who was someone who you could describe as a student living on campus. Several mentioned that they got rid of their car when they moved to downtown Ann Arbor. A third of the rest mentioned that they had never bought a new car.

No-one was in favor of the bailout of the big three and the consensus was that you cannot count on the person who drove the car into the ditch, to be the person who can best get it out.

One persons who claimed that he had friends in the industry who advised him to be concerned that if GM goes bankrupt, its technology, including its new hybrid technology was going to bought by the company that has been making GM cars for the Asian market.

"Does that mean we will be able to buy a hybrid at Target?" was asked to much laughter. Keep in mind that this audience will shop at Target, but not at Walmart. I think it is because they are antiArkansite Francophiles, except where you have an Arkansite who was loved by the Parisian crowd as in B.J. Clinton. Corporate America bad. Corporate France good. Weird.

Deciding it would be socially risky, I decided not to say anything about the following:

Clinton allowed the transefer of our satellite defense technology from Loral to the Chicom;
The Chinese and Indians are way ahead of us in the production of CNG and Electrical Autos for commercial and personal use.

Perhaps we should just let our factories close until we have imported and driven a sufficient number of miles on our Chinese vehicles.....and then copy them and begin production here as they have done with American products for the last 30 years.

Wind Squared

2008-11-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

New sandwich generator technology can increase energy output by 50-100%

VIEG The Variable Input Electrical Generator should have applications for more than just wind.

dry-cargo rates have fallen by more than 90 percent

2008-11-20T07:20:00.000-08:00

From the Herald Tribune International

Gas - $1.75

2008-11-20T05:04:00.000-08:00

Oil is $53 per barrel.

Anyone want to set up a pool where we can bet on the bottom price for both of these.

If anyone is looking for a job, oil/nat gas company out of N Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming was running ads in Michigan newspapers.

Gas $1.79 a gallon

2008-11-19T05:45:00.000-08:00

Marathon Station in Washtenaw County Michigan

Must be a nearby refinery with an oversupply.

Detroit is adding refinery capacity

Retailers Closing

2008-11-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

Emailed to me this morning. Don't know the original source.

Watch those store money cards and gift cards.. and credit slips! Stores that informed the Security Exchange of closing plans between October 2008 and January 2009.

Circuit City stores... most recent (? how many)

Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be shuttered

Lane Bryant,, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 store nationwide

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores

Talbots closing down all stores

J. Jill closing all stores

GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down

Levitz closing down remaining stores

Bombay closing remaining stores

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.

Whitehall closing all stores

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores

Movie Galley Closing all stores

Pacific Sunware closing stores

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Loews to close down some stores

Dillard's to close some stores.

Depressed ? Here is a job listing that may cheer you up.

2008-11-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

Ann Arbor Company Looking For Beer Drinkers for Group Study – Paid Participatio (Ann Arbor)

Not Worrying About Obama's Secret Union Ballots

2008-11-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

That's fine, if the company unionizes the owners will just close the business.

I know a corporate head hunter whose business got slower as Obama went up in the polls. Her clients advised that they were waiting to see if Obama won and in that case they were just going to move the jobs to other countries. Now we shall see. Or maybe they don't have to worry about Obama taxes when they are not going to be hiring anyway.

It's the Business Model Stupid

2008-11-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

First a couple of links and then some directly obtained information.

Hundreds of Independents Are Going Out of Business

Is this the state of our Union?

I use Amsoil in my vehicles. I began using it before I received information about trucks running on Amsoil for 1 million miles, without needing an oil change. I actually have the contact info for a van owner in Ohio that did this. What it took was the 100% synthetic oil, a higher quality air and oil filter, and a supplemental oil filter. What a long-time Amsoil user explained to me is that there are 2 places where an engine takes in impurities that can cause it to wear: the air intake; the fuel system. The manufacturers deliberately install a lower grade air filter that allows a larger size micro-particles to enter the combustion system. The manufacturers also install a lower grade oil and oil filter that requires changing every 90 days, knowing that the drivers are going to exceed these parameters. Additionally the manufacturers recommend that the vehicle be run on 87 Octane fuel which will result in more particles reaching the internal combustion engine. The result is wearing on the cylinder walls and a reduction in performance over tens of thousands of miles that while noticeable, does not void the drive-train warranty.

Within 2-3 years of purchasing a new vehicle, the victim owner will be in the dealership to receive an oil change, transmission oil change, and/or fuel system clean-out where they will be offered a test drive or a loaner while they wait for their vehicle. The loaner or test vehicle drives just that much better......than their used car and they just might start to want a new model.

What do all of above fuels have in common over gasoline? Engines run on the above fuels will last 3-4 times as long as an engine that is run on gasoline.

I drive a vehicle with a 5.4 Ford Triton engine that has never seen gasoline. It is Compressed Natural Gas 90% Methane rated at 120/130 Octane. It was a local utility company fleet vehicle. I had a long discussion with a rep from the utility company who had pulled his hair out from more than a decade trying to get Ford , GM and Chrysler two to work with DTE Michcon to facilitate CNG technology and vehicles into the fleet and consumer market. Why? Because DTE Michcon actually has Methane producing wells in Michigan and tapping into the energy needs of the transportation industry was about the only way for them to sell more energy/natural gas in Michigan, with heating systems becoming more efficient and houses being more insulated than they used to be.

But while Ford would sell DTE - Michcon 100's of E350's at a time. Ford did not seem interested in introducing the vehicles to the consumer market and selling through their dealerships without a markup of several thousand dollars over the gasoline version. I told my utility company rep about running into guy from the county motor pool who told me that they don't have to change the oil on the natural gas vehicles and that they have never had to do any maintenance on the engines. The utility company rep confirmed that experience and added that the engines burned cooler on CNG and lasted 3-4 times as long as the engines that were run on gasoline.

LP, Alcohol, CNG and Hydro have significantly fewer carbon (impurities) than 87 octane gasoline. The engines burn cleaner....my E350 does not have or need a catalytic converter and California does not require the emissions test for these vehicles. The result of cleaner burning fuel is that the engines require less maintenance and have a significantly longer life cycle. For Ford, GM & Chrysler this would mean lost revenue for maintenance at the dealerships and lost revenue at both dealerships and the factory from the resulting fewer vehicle sales.

Also note that if Ford was really serious about getting CNG vehicles on the road, they would have been investing in the developments of the CNG tanks and compressors......which is something I cannot find any evidence of their having done.

Conclusion: the American Auto industry has a business model that requires a volume of consumers that are in a 2-3 year buying cycle (look at the 2-3 year leasing plans). Changing over to more efficient vehicles or vehicles that run on cleaner, alternative fuels would significantly extend the buying cycle for most consumers. That would be a major problem to the bottom line for the auto manufacturers, service centers and financiers.

Big 3 and Dealerships - Let's go back 2 years

2008-11-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

About two-thirds of the more than 15,000 dealers who sell Detroit-made cars and trucks need to get out of the business in order to create a healthy dealer body that can compete with Toyota and Honda, said Stephen Girsky, speaking at an auto industry roundtable hosted by J.D. Power and Associates in conjunction with the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention.

A gas station manager advised me this morning that he had taken his truck into the GM Dealership in Wixom, Michigan and was advised that he needed to find another place to receive service as they were closing. Overnight, auto-carriers came in and cleared out the lot. He has heard from friends in small towns that their dealerships are closing.

Does anyone out there want to do a comparison between the housing bubble and the auto bubble ?

Think Global - Shop Local

2008-11-18T06:51:00.000-08:00

Foreclosures - Not Now In My Back-Yard

This is a house that would have been listed for $200k two years ago. It has been vacant for at least a year.

Here is a partial on the listing description:

well built 3 bedroom tri-level home located in college heights subdivision. built in 1961, taxes reflect non homestead status. will take land contract. $134,000 The taxes are $5000.00 per year.

This house is the same age and design as my next door neighbor who advised me this weekend that he had bought a trailer and was giving his house back to the bank. He is retired from Chrysler and lives alone. He said the market was killing his retirement account and he could no longer afford his mortgage. I didn't ask, but my guess is that he used an ARM to take out home equity and put at least some of the money in the market. He drives a 20 year old Chrysler, so that is not where the money went. The only other home on the block that was occupied by a single male - same age, same sort of employment/retirement situation - ended up in a short sale last month. The other two listings over the last three years: one is off the market and rented to tenants who still do not have drapes; and the other which was a troublesome rental, was on the market for two years. Now there is only one rental property on the block. My unscientific survey of the neighborhood - listing prices are off 35% from what they were 2 years ago.

The municipality is close to bankruptcy and I have heard that unless you want to sue the city assessor will not adjust the real estate taxes down when a property sells for less than it is currently assessed - that is her version of employment security.

I don't know how this town is going to compete with areas of the country that have lower real estate taxes - usually RED states (Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas). Anyone wondering what they are going to do with the money they have left is going to buy a home where the taxes are several thousand dollars a year less.

Best thing that could happen to sattelite radio

2008-11-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

Rep Charles Schumer recently equated conservative talk radio to porn....well at least so far as the goverment's right to regulate it.    Here is a friend of mine - Peoria Pundit who blogged the issue.

I think if the Dems move ahead with fairness doctrine regulations, I will be purchasing stock in Sattelite Radio. What Howard Stern was not able to do for Sirus, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage would.   Frequently my local station pre-empts Savage for some local content. Oh well, I pull him off of the internet on his home station out of San Francisco, KNEW 901.   Listening to stations around the country is interesting. I still think that some of the best Obama coverage was WLS 890 - the Roe Conn Show, and you can imagine the mental curve one gets, listening to Savage and then a commerical for Cindy Sheehan in her Congressional race against Speaker Nanci Pelosi.

Bill AKA Peoria Pundit is off about the talk radio listener. Yes, there are retired, conservative people listening, myu 80 year old WWII grandfather was an example of a faithful California listener. But the majority of listeners are the people who are self employed or who have a job where they are listening to a radio: construction workers, self employed, truck drivers, homeschoolers....this includes the children who are being homeschooled who call in and advise that they are a "Rush Baby".   I first listened to Limbaugh the summer of the Bush, Clinton, Perot election when I was on the groundscrew (union job) at Bradley University.     I did not then, nor do I now agree with every Limbaugh position. But the guy was hillarious and a master of communication.

Savage is also pretty funny, but without the ability to immitate voices of politicians.    Another, more recent to the talk radio scene and with an incredible lexicon and perhaps the most agile linguist I have ever heard - Dennis Miller.    He is by far the least radical, very gentle in his humor but if talk radio were to be compared ot a high art form he would be what Pavaroti was to Opera or Barishnikov was to Ballet. I look fondly back on his season with Monday Night Football.   Here is a link to stations that carry the Dennis Miller Show

WTF?! No gadgets for 007

2008-11-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

Quantum of Solace

Did they give up gadgets when Q died ?

Maybe I am just getting older, but the best parts of the movie are the scenes with Daniel Craig and Judi Dench. I first saw her in the PBS BBC series "As Time Goes By"

To me she is more quintesential British than the Queen.

Quote of the Day

2008-11-14T13:01:00.001-08:00

How long will it take Santa to form a bank holding company?

A couple points on HHO theory

2008-11-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

The amount (in liters) of HHO gas generated by those that you add onto a vehicle and numbers I have read regarding the BTU value of the hydrogen generated, is a fraction of the BTU content in gasoline. Here is my theory on what injecting the hydrogen into the engine is doing.

Because of its pure state, HHO is lighting faster and burning hotter inside the engine cylinder than atomized gasoline. The atomized gasoline in the cylinder is more completely (efficiently) burned because of the hydrogen in the cylinder. So the hydrogen effect is actually very little due to displacement of gasoline used, but rather has a catalyst effect that dramatically improves the burning of the gasoline.

The reduction of tailpipe emmissions when hydrogen is added to the combusion is documented and not an issue of contention. The issue of contention is "free energy" and the cost ( engine performance cost) of generating electricity in the amount from the alternator to generate enough HHO btu to have any effect.

Hydrogen Expo

2008-11-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

By CARL MARIO NUDI - cnudi@bradenton.com

PALMETTO — Professional engineers and technicians, along with garage tinkerers and home inventors, joined hundreds Tuesday to share their knowledge about creating fuel from water.

A lot of what these professional engineers (ones from around the world), engineers and garage tinkerers are up to, they have uploaded to YouTube (click to get started on a search)

Many have multiple videos where they test different setups and formulas. It is the most organic form of trial and error scientific discovery. Some are real characters too. I felt as though I was being flashed back to Henry Fords garage or the Wrights shop in Ohio 100 years ago.

Here is a video where gas is being generated without any electrical source.

I've got a water atomizer on my Compressed Natural Gas van. It atomizes water which is sucked through the manifold via vacuum pressure. I am testing the milage numbers. It does not use electricity. The shop that put it on for me has it on their own vehicles and claims a 20% increase in mileage. I note that I have water vapor coming out of my tailpipe. There are some significant differences in what my engine is burning CNG vs 87 Octane gasoline so this is really an experiment. I am going to hook up an actual hydrogen generator like you will see on the link: YouTube and see how that compares to the atomizer.

Phipe - Skype Auto_Dialing update

2008-11-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

I don't have Salesforce, so I saved a spreadsheet file of 200 contacts as a csv file and was able to upload it into Phipe. I slugged my way through the settings, which were really not that bad.

Learning curve: not that bad to get your file up and create a disposition list of calls that were answered and ones that need to be redialed. It is not a difficult system to use. It has additional features that based upon my experience so far, I would say it would be worth the time to learn and use.

If you have a subscription to Salesforce, you have the benefit of integration with Phipe and Google Apps. I suspect that what Phife is trying to do is bump you up to a Saleforce subscription and a the Enterprise edition of Phipe. Not that I have a problem with that, from what I have seen here, depending on that database that you are trying to stay in touch with, you could save a lot of time. Phipe was developed for the mortgage industry.

Bottom line: Excellent Value - I recommend this product both on function and price.

Michigan Downsizing.....errr.....Consolidations

2008-11-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

My sources advise that they are seeing freight forwarding off about 1/3 rd of what it was a year ago. We are like starving cannibals waiting for the would be cannibal next to us to go down before we do. Our business lives to close another day.

8 Michigan Newspapers - Advance Publications

Citing economic conditions, the publishers said the downsizing will involve voluntary buyouts and the creation of a copy desk and ad production center that will serve all eight newspapers from a single location.

Numerous Conway-Freight Locations

The re-engineering plan, expected to reduce the company’s cost base by $30 million to $40 million annually, calls for a number of generally smaller locations to be consolidated into larger nearby facilities. As a result, more than 75 percent of affected employees at closing locations will have the opportunity to follow work to a new operating location. Affected employees will also have the opportunity to consider a transfer to any other Con-way Freight location where a position is available. If an employee moves to a facility that is more than 50 miles from their current location, the company will pay relocation expenses.

We are wondering if the "...will pay relocation expenses..." includes buying out their mortgage, without which few will be able to re-locate.

Nominating the best blog for reading bad news

2008-11-13T09:41:00.001-08:00

Calculated Risk

You definitely want to check out the comments. Lots of macabre humor.

Phipe

2008-11-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

You may have been waiting for Obama, but Skype Business users have been waiting for Phipe

It is a power dialing system. Upload your calling list and dial out through your Skype account. I will try and give a whirl in the next 24 hours and let you know what I think of the free edition.

Grandpa gets Skype

2008-04-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

Jordan, your randpa finally got a Skype account.

He didn't go for it for any of the following reasons:

reliable technology;
functional interface;
online storage of contact data;
ability to make calls and access your address book and call data on any computer;

It was because.........of the price:

$75.00 a year for a local number voice-mail and unlimited calling throughout the US and Canada.

But now he is getting into it and discovering little gems of features that he never had with his land-line or cellphone. He is a printing broker so he calls on printers and companies that need catalogs all day. Each time he calls a new number he clicks the "Add to Contacts" and the number is in his book which he can access from any computer. He has a desktop and a laptop, but he travels frequently and sometimes the laptop is kind of slow....I showed him the de-crapifier link the last time he was in town. Being able to login to his Skype account and access all of his contacts from any computer in the world...now that he has seen it on his desktop and laptop at home, he understands what I was talking about for the last 2 years.

I'd send him an invite to Grand Central, but that would probably overwhelm him and I would get a guilt trip for getting him to fork out $75 for Skype when Grand Central is free.