Posts Tagged ‘economy

Quick Sanity Check!

Today Ford Motor Company asked for $9 Billion in loans from the government, and promises to return to profitability within two years. According the the Ford Wikipedia article, Ford employees 87,700 people.

Doing just a little bit of math, dividing $9B into the number of employees, the Ford bailout is equal to $102,622 per employee. It seems a little excessive.

Yesterday the CEOs of the big three US automakers showed up in Washington DC to ask the federal government for bailout money. How did they show up? In private luxury jets.

Rich Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, flew in a $36 million jet to ask congress for money, some $10-12 billion. The flight alone is estimated to cost around $20,000. Meanwhile, I used Orbitz.com to find a next-day first class flight on Northwest airlines to cost only $1,385.

Read the rest of this entry »

The fate of trendy brands

Posted in Businesson Nov 11, 2008

Today I read a news report stating that Starbucks’ profits are down 97% over the same quarter last year. Such a steep decline must be caused by more than just a bear market.

Trends can be fun an exciting, but they are hard to keep going. Gourmet coffees have been very trendy for quite a while. I’m sure many people (not me) consider going out with friends to get some expensive coffee to be an energizing lifestyle.

But trends attract trendy people who are always looking for the next big thing. This means when other things come along, they abandon their old brands for newer, trendier brands. Especially with market downturns, expensive trends are the first to get cut. Read the rest of this entry »

A few stock market facts

Posted in Businesson Oct 6, 2008

The following facts refer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average:

  • Almost one year ago, the stock market hit an all time high.
  • Since then, it has fallen over 29%.
  • Today, it closed below 10,000 points. (source)
  • And closed about 3.5% lower than where it closed last Friday.
  • Which is more than 11% lower than where it closed a month ago.
  • This is a 4 year low.
  • At one point today, the stock market was down by 800 points.
  • Which was the worst intra-day fall since Black Monday in 1987. (source)
  • But it rallied near the end of the day, to close with a loss of 370 points. (source)
  • This is the 19th largest single-day point loss ever.
  • The 1st largest point loss occured one week ago.
  • The 1st, 8th, 9th, 17th, and 19th worst single-day point losses have call occured in the last month. (source)
  • In the last month, shares of Hewlett-Packard have dropped by almost 9%.
  • Shares of Apple, IBM, and Dell have all dropped more.
  • The utilities and medial sectors have fallen the most, dropping more than 5% today.
  • While the transportation industry has dropped the least with less than a 1% drop.

Update Oct 7:

  • On October 7, the stock market dropped another 508 points.
  • This is the 5th worst single-day point loss ever.
  • Adding today to the list, the 1st, 5th, 9th, 10th, 18th, and 20th worst single day losses have all occurred in the last month.
  • It has dropped almost 13% in the last week.
  • It has dropped almost 2000 points in the last month, or almost 16% of its value.
  • And almost a 33% drop in the last year.  Think about that!  It has dropped by a whole third in just a year!

Aerodynamic trucking

Posted in Businesson Jun 25, 2008

Today I passed one of those big trailer hauling semis, and I started to wonder about what it might be carrying. Bread that I might buy at the grocery store? My next couch? Fertilizer for the farm down the road?

Truck driving down the road

Then I started to think about how incredibly not aerodynamic the trailer is. Anyone who has participated in a pine wood derby knows that a big block on wheels isn’t the best way to go. If you’ve felt the wind come off the end or sides of one of these trucks as it drives by, then you have felt the energy that is lost because of the inefficient design of the big box trailer.

I suppose they are made that way because that is the most inexpensive way to make a trailer. But with diesel prices near $5 per gallon, maybe it’s time to re-think that.

If big-rig trucks were more aerodynamic, then they would get better gas mileage. If they get better gas mileage, then that reduces the cost of delivery for the products they are delivering. This, in turn, can keep consumer prices slightly lower. Lower prices helps the economy.

So much of our economy depends on the distribution of goods, that maybe it is time to think uniquely about making our means of distribution more affordable.

(Image source)

368 Economists Against John Kerry

Posted in Politicson Oct 14, 2004

J. Edward Carter & Cesar V. Conda on 368 Economists Against John Kerry

I’m convinced that Bush will only win if his supporters are vocal. This is my voice. I think that Bush has a better plan for the economy than Kerry. This article supports this.


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