Archive for October 18th, 2010

Musings: “Hey dude, why are you snapping your fingers ?”

October 18, 2010

3 variants of a very old joke:

Original
A dazed guy is standing on a street corner snapping his fingers.  Curious guy approaches and asks “Hey dude, why are you snapping your fingers ?”  Dazed guy answers: “To keep away elephants”.  Curious guy says: “There aren’t any elephants around here.” Finger snapper says: “See.  It works.”

Recent Past Version
A President is standing on a street corner ordering troops to Iraq.  Curious guy approaches and asks “Hey dude, why are you ordering troops to Iraq ?”  Troop-sender answers: “To avert another terrorist attack”.  Curious guy says: “There haven’t been any terrorist attacks since 9-11.”  President says: “See.  It works.”

Current
A President is standing on a street corner spending like a drunken sailor.  Curious guy approaches and asks “Hey dude, why are you spending like a drunken sailor ?”  Free-spender answers: “To avert an economic depression”.  Curious guy says: “There’s no depression around here.”  President says: “See.  It works.”

Hmmm.

Why are only 2 of these counter-factuals considered far fetched by the media?

Posted in Opinions, Politics - General | Leave a Comment »

Shocker: Facebook caught selling your name to advertisers … along with your friends’ names … and your friends’ friends’ names … and …

October 18, 2010

Ever wonder how Facebook and its app partners makes money?

Well the obvious has become clear.

Get people to self-select into interest groups … gather their contact info … then figure out who they hang with … then sell that very precise targeting info to marketers.

Ca-ching…

According to the WSJ …

Top-Ranked Applications Transmit Personal IDs

Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook have been transmitting identifying information — in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names — to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies.

WSJ, Facebook in Privacy Breach,  Oct. 18, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEADNewsCollection

Worth reading … though it’s probably too late to secure your personal info.

Posted in Social Media & Networking | Leave a Comment »

Now, even black bloggers raise some doubts …

October 18, 2010

According to the ultra right leaning New York Times …

The President held a special session at the White House for black bloggers.  He told them:

“Black blogs reach the part of our audience that’s not be watching ‘Meet the Press’ — not that there’s anything wrong with ‘Meet the Press.’ I’m just saying that, you know, it might be a different demographic,” he added, stirring a few laughs from the group.

Strikes me as a minority analogy to low income whites “grabbing for their guns and bibles”.

Seems that it had that effect on some in the audience …

Jack and Jill Politics (a black oriented blog) wrote that the feeling among some who attended Monday’s gathering was  that they were being used for political expediency.

“We essentially told the White House that we are not willing to be ‘pimped,’”

The guy certainly has a way with words, doesn’t he ?

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New York Times, White House Meeting for Black Journalists, October 13, 2010
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/white-house-summit-for-black-journalists-doesnt-stay-off-the-record-for-long/

To see the video:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/10/14/obama_blacks_probably_dont_watch_meet_the_press.html

Posted in Obama Administration | Leave a Comment »

Testing the pricing waters

October 18, 2010

TakeAway: Companies that sell consumer mainstays are rolling out price increases in a collective test of America’s economic strength and in response to higher raw-material costs.

If consumers are willing to pay more, it could indicate the economy is turning a corner, but also serve as a warning that inflation could spiral.

If consumers balk at higher prices, though, it would represent a setback and could pinch corporate profits. Some companies could be forced to backtrack with discounts if sales falter.

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Excerpted from Wall Street Journal, “Gingerly, Retailers Try to Pass Along Higher Costs” By Liam Pleven,October 2, 2010

The ability of companies to sustain such price increases may sway how the Federal Reserve views the health of the economy, and potentially figure in its decision on whether another big round of stimulus is needed. The country’s low rate of inflation was cited by the Fed last month as a main reason the central bank is considering further steps to juice the economy.

Companies say some labor costs are rising, particularly for overseas manufacturing, and point to rising commodities prices. Commodities typically make up less of a company’s costs, but prices have risen sharply, with cotton up 38% this year, coffee up 33% and rubber up 17%.

Some firms successfully increased prices earlier in the year, with little or no discernible impact on inflation. The 6% increase that Goodyear began rolling out for consumer tires follows on another 6% rise in June. The firm cited higher raw-material costs.

But many other firms held off on charging more even though the recession technically ended more than a year ago, because they were concerned about a consumer backlash and losing sales to rivals.

Still, some companies are dipping their toes in the water daintily, targeting specific products.

Starbucks, for instance,  is raising prices on “labor-intensive and larger-sized beverages,” but maintaining or lowering the price of a regular cup of coffee in most markets.

Edit by AMW

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Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704029304575526331692863238.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_business

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Posted in Mktg - Pricing | Leave a Comment »