OPEC must be destroyed in (an economic sense), said Donald Trump:
Also, we agree with Mr. Trump, the banks must start lending. In our lifetimes, we've never seen such a crisis in liquidity and it really is a problem which must be fixed. The question is will seismic policy shifts provide sufficient incentive for the private sector to act and by the same token should they step in granted current market uncertainties? Only time will tell.
Please note, this is not primarily a political blog. That being said, we need your input, should it be? And the reason we ask is to speak intelligently about some financial matters, current topics, and various other economic positions it is sometimes necessary to bring up the matter of policy-making or politics (more specifically lawmaking). Speaking candidly, while the editors do have their personal opinions, they lack firm political affiliation of any type and are open to a wide array of perspectives. As we noted, it seemed we lost some folks with the climate change post. Well, if you don't like something which is said at the Money Minute Weekly, please say something about it! Our content depends on you. We are here for our readers, but let's at least discuss business and economic policy in an honest way, a way we can all be proud of. More specifically, in our last post, it was by far the strongest worded of them all, but like we said our position on climate change came into question recently (namely that of absolute certainty to cautious skepticism), and we seem to have lost some folks by stating what we thought on the matter.
And as another note, some of our content must not always be taken seriously. But again, let us know what your comfortable with. While some post may be completely serious, others may be more tongue-and-cheek and either choose to make fun of something observed or be so "over the top," so as to as in the words of Camus, "make fun of the absurd." Either way, let us know! Thank you and keep reading.
Our Twitter dialog (i.e. debate) prompts us, on the cusp of broad reaching cap-n-trade legislation, to address the issue of so-called "climate change," but far from what the mainstream media reports, it's not a forgone conclusion, there are two sides to this debate. This is not over, in fact it is only beginning. And personally speaking, our staff have transformed into climate change skeptics. Only now is it coming out even those within the EPA are having their reports buried by their respective organizations, that is to say the environment may actually be cooling.
Again, none of this is heard within most major media outlets. Why? Most likely, a calm, rational debate will not boost corporate earnings. And guess who could stand to profit from cap-n-trade? Yep, General Electric, the same company whose Investor Relations page claims they made no "risky" consumer loans--balderdash! What of "corporate integrity?" Oh, that's right Sarbanes-Oxley was the panacea. In sum, give us a break! More to come, what do you think?
Please stay informed with our blog. An easy way to accomplish this is to subscribe to our RSS feeds, please see the upper-right toolbar, "Subscribe to this blog," also be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook and by all means please feel free to comment on the Money Minute's solid copy. You come, you read, now it's time to get interactive, join the community, and participate!
Have you ever wondered the inter-workings of your favorite brick-and-mortar stores? Well folks, America's sweatshops are alive and well in the 21st century. Numerous examples come to mind, primarily Wal-Mart, Staples, Office Depot, Circuit City, and Best Buy. Any of these establishments in your neighborhood? If so, you should probably be cognizant of the working conditions many, if not all, of the typically abysmally paid employees endure on a daily basis. At Staples for instance, the typical work day ranges from about 8-10 hours on one's feet, managing demanding, emotional, aggressive, and frequently rude customers, heavy manual labor, and overall general (and often extreme multitasking) and poor working conditions in terms of pay and treatment of employees.
Staples, a national office supply store, entry-level employee pay is marginal at best, averaging little over the minimum required by federal (and in many cases) state law. In the meantime, associates (the name given to at-will company employees) are often expected to carry the workload of several people while simultaneously being ready to "drop everything" should the stray, omnipotent, and allegedly Godly (i.e. "always right") customer is ready to spar at the drop of a hat.
Now, that being said, it's the Money Minute Weekly's contention that "one person's capitalism is another's slavery." For instance, it is common, and often politically expedient for large retail corporations to offer so-called "comprehensive benefit packages," and while this at first seems appealing the devil is indeed in the details. For instance, typical health insurance carried by these companies usually cover little in preventative care, high deductibles, and low annual and lifetime benefits. Also, another common ploy is to offer the "coveted" 401k plans. Now, what these retail firms don't tell employees up front is "yes" we'll grant you a 401k plan and a company match, but by the way your salary is so pathetically low as to render the benefit benign and impotent--therefore no money to fill the empty shell benefit.
Lastly, the most underhanded tactic used by some (not all) retail companies is to conceal or outright mislead employees to think they're getting a square deal when they're in fact ripe to be taken advantage of.
So what are the end implications of the majority of the (above-mentioned) retail malfeasance? Well, for most, employees burn out, are fired, or quit. For others, they remain, but for some of the remaining (e.g. Circuit City) poor executive decision-making led to mass layoffs and the eventually collapse of the second largest and at one time leader in the consumer electronics industry.
So what's the end game? Well folks, if you know of, or personally have a friendships (or family member) who works in retail encourage them to learn an in-demand skill and leave, the sooner the better. Granted, there will be "ditches" to dig, but it's better for someone else to do it, if not yours, theirs. In the meantime, check out the competition, which boasts better employee (and investor) stewardship, namely firms like Costco (for example) and try to patronage them as much as possible. Now, such companies work their employees extremely hard, but they pay a "living wage" with solid advancement opportunities and that's the important thing.
We're starting a new (perhaps occasional) segment on the Money Minute Weekly, random observations, some tied to finance, others not. That being said, here's our "two cents." America is getting weirder, we can't prove it, and you may ask "What do you mean by that?" Well, it's a general feeling on the streets. Of course, we could come up with a thousand different measurements or "studies" to measure what we're talking about, but that would take a long time. Here's a start, be among the public for significant periods of time each day and mentally take note of the behavior of others around you. What seems out of the ordinary or different? In our view a lot. We think some of this has to do with globalization, but much more so we hypothesize it's due to the chasm which developed between old and young in terms of technology usage.
We think emerging technologies are making people actually think differently and in some ways it's to our detriment as a society. Just think of this per se, there have been segments on television in the last few years where American families (the ones who actually do still have dinner together) will text message one another (with cell phones) at the table instead of actually having a direct conversation! In other instances, we hear the "F-bomb" used as the common vernacular between parent and child, sometimes in both directions. We could go on with a myriad of other examples, but America is getting weird--this is only the beginning. Which are you? Sane or weird?
