Archive for December 13th, 2010

“Gotta run… my wife’s waiting”

December 13, 2010

Bill Clinton’s press conference on Friday was amazing in several respects.

  1. Though the guy is a convicted liar, he is so engaging as a speaker that it’s hard not to get sucked it by him. My head was nodding yes to tax credits for windmills.  Yipes.
  2. No notes, no teleprompter, no ums & ahs, no name calling, no whining … he acted kinda like a President.
  3. In control … wouldn’t let Barry take back the podium … Obama had to lean across him to speak into the mic … talk about symbolism.
  4. Kept the audience engaged for an hour … and left the reporters wanting more                   

Most amazing was Obama’s clutzy exit.

  1. Unfazed by the fact that this is the most important domestic economic  issue of the moment … gotta run.
  2. Not to call Putin or Petraeus … to meet up with Michelle for Friday date nite … “We’ve got 2 holiday parties to attend” … are you kidding me?
  3. Left Clinton in charge … of the press conference … and symbolically, of the economy.

Watch the video — it’s a hoot:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/10/obama_ditches_tax_cut_presser_after_bill_clinton_takes_control.html

The Clinton gambit may get Dems votes for the tax plan, but it has its downside.

It highlighted just how unprepared and ineffective Obama is, and even made folks like me yearn for Clinton again.

Obama’s lucky Clinton can’t run again.

But wait, there’s another Clinton in the wings.

Uh-oh for O.

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Posted in Politics - General | 1 Comment »

Social Security is going bust … so, cut he amount of money coming in … huh?

December 13, 2010

I’m surprised that it took over a week for this obvious uh-oh to get publicized …

The Deficit Reduction Commission concluded that Social Security (and Medicare) were going bankrupt and needed to be modified to get the Fed debt down.  Their idea: start retirement later.

Within hours of the published recommendation, the crack Obama and GOP negotiators agreed to cut payroll taxes to stimulate the economy.  In case they don’t know it, “payroll taxes” are the contributions that are supposed to fund SS and MediCare.

With a time delay, some folks are figuring out that putting less money into a program that’s going bankrupt means that it’ll go bankrupt faster.

President Barack Obama’s plan to cut payroll taxes by 1/3 for a year would provide big savings for many workers but …  could jeopardize the retirement program’s finances.

Social Security is funded by a 6.2 percent payroll tax on the first $106,800 earned by a worker. The tax is matched by employers. The package negotiated by Obama would reduce the tax paid by workers to 4.2 percent for 2011. Employer rates would stay unchanged.

Obama administration officials say that a payroll tax cut is an efficient way to stimulate the economy by immediately increasing take home pay for about 155 million workers.

The government would borrow about $112 billion to make Social Security whole.

Advocates and some lawmakers worry that relying on borrowed money to fund Social Security could eventually force it to compete with other federal programs for scarce dollars, leading to cuts.

Associated Press, Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut, Dec 12, 2010
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101212/ap_on_bi_ge/us_payroll_tax_holiday

No kidding …

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Buying Designer Duds on TV at 3 am? Don’t Mind If I Do…

December 13, 2010

TakeAway: TV shopping is thriving at a time when, by many accounts, it should have died under a crush of new online competition.

High-end fashion designers are flocking to sell their first mass collections on the air, entering a space once dominated by obscure exercise equipment and dowdy tchotchkes. 

While traditional retailers have had to contend with a fickle consumer, TV-shopping sales this year have been robust.

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Excerpted from WSJ, “The Golden Age of TV Shopping” By Elizabeth Holmes, November 11, 2010

QVC and HSN dominate the business, with sales last year of $7.4 billion and $2 billion, respectively. Each reaches just under 100 million U.S. households and broadcasts live 24 hours a day, every day of the year except Christmas.

One surprising source of support: online shopping. The Internet has helped make consumers more willing to buy merchandise without first seeing or touching it in a store.

The model also benefits from the data the networks gather on their shoppers, which allow for carefully targeted marketing. Viewers convey their opinions when they call in to pay, through calls on the air and via website reviews . HSN even keeps track of sales by the minute, which helps it to evaluate its designers and hosts and to adjust its sales pitch. As each segment is filmed, producers can watch a monitor that shows the number of items sold and other data, including the number of callers waiting to buy the item.

TV-shopping networks’ proximity to customers is a big draw for high-end apparel designers, many of whom rethought their businesses during the recession. As retailers cut inventories, designers became more open to other sales channels. The average price of an item sold on HSN is around $60, but the influx of high-end designers is helping to push the average price higher. HSN also adopted a softer selling style pitched to more-upscale customers. Rather than using high-pressure tactics, it emphasizes making the item seem desirable—in an entertaining way—by showing how a garment drapes on a model, for instance.

The proposition wasn’t risk-free for the designers. Adding a new outlet could upset the department stores that account for a big chunk of their sales, and cheaper goods could potentially tarnish their image.

Edit by AMW

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Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606463489605440.html?mod=djemMM_t

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Posted in Mktg - Distribution Channels | Leave a Comment »