Archive for November 24th, 2008

On private planes and Congressional hypocrisy …

November 24, 2008

Ken’s Take: The Big 3 CEO’s conspicuously flying in on corporate jets was bad PR, for sure.  But, if you accept that CEO time is somewhat valuable (just reduce their bloated compensation down to a per hour rate to get the idea), do you really want htem spending work time waiting in the queue at a Southwest kiosk or being banned from making cell phone calls when in air?  I think not.  More to the point: Grandma Homa used to say “don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house.”  When Speaker Pelosi flies to Detroit to deliver the $25 billion check (or is it $50 billion), think she’ll fly commercial?  Read on for a reminder…

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Excerpted from SFgate.com, “The House speaker has had the use of a government jet”, Feb. 8, 2007

The way Speaker Nancy Pelosi will travel home to San Francisco and on official business is the latest tempest to hit the House of Representatives.

The speaker of the House has been provided a jet from the government fleet to use for official business since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert used a military 12-seat jet to carry him mainly from Washington’s Andrews Air Force Base to airports near his home district in Chicago’s suburbs.

Pelosi has been pressing the Pentagon to provide her with a bigger jet than used by Hastert so she can ferry family, other lawmakers and lobbyists across the country.

(Congressional critics said) Pelosi’s bid for a bigger plane, which he dubbed “Air Force Three,” shows “an arrogance of office that just defies common sense” and constitutes a major deviation from the previous speaker’s perks. She should settle for a smaller plane even if it means having to stop for refueling while traveling to and from California.

Full article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/08/MNGN5O11UT1.DTL&type=printable

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Posted in Government & Politics | 1 Comment »

Green Jobs: What's the Real Number? What's the Real Cost?

November 24, 2008

Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal, “Does Green Energy Add 5 Million Jobs? Potent Pitch, but Numbers Are Squishy”, by Jeffery Ball, November 7, 2008

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Calls for a clean-energy system in the U.S. have long met with sticker shock. Now, the cost of making the transition–hundreds of billions of dollars–is being touted as a selling point.

Barack Obama and his energy advisers have been making the case that a multibillion-dollar government investment in everything from wind turbines to a “smart” electrical grid is just what’s needed to help revive the economy.

The lure is millions of government-subsidized “green jobs”, as Obama argued that spending $150 billion over the next decade to boost energy efficiency would help create five million jobs.

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The green-jobs argument rests on the notion that big capital investments in new-energy technology today will be more than offset by savings in reduced fossil-fuel costs.

The added allure of clean-energy spending as economic stimulus is that the industry is relatively young and growing fast. It is just starting to build its basic infrastructure — wind turbines, solar panels and a more-sophisticated electric-transmission grid. Several studies estimate that $1 invested in renewable energy or energy efficiency would yield up to four times as many jobs as $1 invested in oil and gas, whose basic infrastructure has been around for years.

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Critics say analyzing only new green jobs misses half the story.

“It’s not looking at the other side of the coin: You are spending more money for your energy,” says Anne Smith, a vice president at CRA International. The consulting firm wrote a report for the coal-mining industry in April that concluded that, under a bill to cap global-warming emissions, gains in green jobs would be “more than offset” by job losses elsewhere in the economy. That bill failed, but Obama has said he supports capping emissions.

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The job creation number cited by Obama has its roots in several green-jobs studies. Each projected different numbers, because each made different assumptions. Robert Pollin, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who co-wrote another study, questions the job target touted by the Obama campaign, saying it would cost much more. Pollin’s study said that $100 billion spent over two years could produce two million green jobs.

Even Mr. Pollin’s study assessed only the number of jobs that might be added if the government spent more money on clean energy. It didn’t count jobs that might be lost elsewhere in the economy if the country shifted to costlier sources of energy.

The Apollo Alliance, a San Francisco coalition of environmental and labor groups, also released a study in September. It concluded that five million green jobs could be had with an investment of $500 billion–more than three times Mr. Obama’s number.

Edit by DAF

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Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122601449992806743.html

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Posted in Environment - Green | Leave a Comment »

A Real Middle Class Tax Cut …

November 24, 2008

Ken’s Take: A clever move in the direction of a flat tax.  Certainly worth considering …

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Excerpted from WSJ, “Let’s Have a Real Middle-Class Tax Cut”, Gingrich, Nov. 20, 2008

Obama is right: America needs a real and meaningful middle-class tax cut. Unfortunately, his tax credits won’t stimulate the economy.

Mr. Obama’s tax plan includes creating or expanding nine or more federal income tax credits mostly focused on low- and moderate-income earners, with an estimated cost of $1.3 trillion over 10 years. These tax credits will do little or nothing to promote economic growth because they do not reduce marginal tax rates — the rate on the next dollar of income — to provide powerful, meaningful incentives for productive activities such as investment, entrepreneurship and work.

For a real middle-class tax cut, we should cut the 25% income tax rate that now applies to single workers earning $32,550 to $78,850, and married couples earning $65,100 to $131,450. We should reduce that rate down to the 15% rate paid by workers below these income levels. That would, in effect, establish a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 90% of American workers.

This 40% cut in middle-class income tax rates would provide a powerful boost to the economy, greatly expanding incentives for savings, investment and work.

We could add to this alternative tax proposal an increase in the personal exemption from $3,500 to $7,000. The package would then cut taxes for all taxpayers, including those in the lower tax brackets.

Because of the highly beneficial effect of these middle-class rate reductions on our economy, and the freedom they would give workers to spend, save or invest their money as they choose, this proposal would likely enjoy broad public support and present a viable alternative to the liberal social purposes of President-elect Obama’s tax credits.

Full op-ed:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122714465532443171.html 

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Taking the hassle out of … well, everything

November 24, 2008

Excerpted from BusinessWeek, “Change Your Process to Boost Profits”, By G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Vitón, October 7, 2008

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Wherever there is interaction among your brand, your people, and your customer, there is an opportunity for service innovation and increased profits.

Questions to Ask:

How do you serve up your products? What behavioral hoops do you make your customers jump through to get what they want? How much of how you are selling is due to tradition, habit, or a business model that has not been challenged?

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I recently went to the bank to make a deposit. I had to find a parking place, find the right form, find my account number, fill out the form, stand in line, show an ID, and wait for a receipt. If I wanted my balance, the process would take even longer.

If my bank eliminated some steps with, say, SpeedPass technology,  it would save us both time. Moreover, the bank would get a chance to make me feel special, and I’d might go to the bank more often and give it more of my money to invest.

Service innovations are often disguised as product innovations. Think about the airline kiosk, where you check in yourself, and the wedding gift registry. These enabling technologies are all born of the insight that the buying process was too cumbersome. Technology made a transaction easier, but only after the experience was examined and challenged.

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The primary arguments against service innovation usually come from high-touch, service-minded people.

They will tell you that by adding technology, or simplifying the ordering process “you are dehumanizing our business” or “that is not the way this business is done”—or something like that. Don’t listen. Push your team to create a totally new experience based on what your customers are saying or how they are behaving.

Then test the new experience. You will know soon enough if you have made life better for your customers. If you choose, you can then add a halo of people to the mix to make the service more personal. Southwest Airlines has kiosks. That does not mean it has used them to replace its incredibly well-trained and thoughtful employees.

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Typically, when we think about innovation, it is on the product side. How can you introduce something new, or improve an existing product?

Both those things are vitally important. But if you miss (or forget about) the chance to improve the service portion of your offering, you are missing a huge opportunity.

Edit by DAF

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Full article:
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/oct2008/ca2008107_013799.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_managing+your+company

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Posted in Customer Service | Leave a Comment »