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The Road to Wellness, Week 8
<b>'Uncombining' Your Meals</b>
Adding more discipline to your diet means that the occasional indulgence is more satisfying. That's how things felt when we settled into some decadent desserts after a fine Italian dinner at Amerigo the other night to celebrate Ms. D's birthday. She even gathered up half her key lime pie to bring home with her—partly out of a sense of extending the pleasure, partly in a show of strength in the face of temptation and mostly because they gave her nearly half of the damn pie.
Ah, the Cloud
You're probably getting good and tired of hearing about "the cloud"—and no one could blame you. The problem is, it's not going away.
10/9: Markets Down 7 Percent…Again
The Dow lost 678 points to close down 7.33 percent and under 8,600, while the NASDAQ lost 5.47 percent and ended down below 1,650. The markets experienced their seventh straight day of losses, closing at their lowest levels since 2003. While the Bush administration announced that it may take over some banks to stem the crisis and open up credit markets, the move didn't appear to change attitudes on Wall Street.
Taking Back Free Enterprise
Kevin Danaher and Jason Mark write on Alternet: "As it turns out, corporations operating in a deregulated environment do what is in the best interest of no one except the top corporate officials: government agencies and investors get lied to, pension funds lose billions, companies go bankrupt, thousands of workers lose their jobs, shareholders lose their investments, and faith in the system is shaken. Now we citizens must decide which definition of 'free enterprise' will prevail. Will it be 'the freedom of large corporations to go anywhere and do anything to people and planet' or will it be 'the freedom of everyone to be enterprising'?"
Recession Declared: Market Down 680 Points
The New York Times is reporting that the rumors of a recession are true:
10/31 Markets End Up for the Week
The Dow ended up again on Friday, the first time it's been up for two days in a row in the month of October. CNNMoney headlined their story Strong End to a Brutal Month, leading with: "Stocks rallied Friday, capping off a strong week at the end of one of the worst months in Wall Street history." The Dow began October at 10,831 and ended at 9325, according to CNN.
Business Students Shifting Focus
"Corporate responsibility" is becoming the mantra at many business schools, AP reports: "As the stereotype goes, business students are supposed to be single-minded in their career goals: making money, more money and still more money. But don't tell that to Daron Horwitz, who spent his spring break in Iraq - visiting schools that will be helped by a nonprofit group he and a small group of students formed at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Black-White Disparities Still Severe
AP reports: "Black Americans are less likely than white Americans to own homes, don't earn as much as whites, don't live as long, and don't do as well in school, according to a report by the National Urban League. The report, released on March 24, is a collection of survey data and essays by experts in race, social justice, health, psychology and civil rights. The most conspicuous differences it found were in the areas of home ownership and economic parity, with black earning power about 73 percent that of whites. 'The wealth gap is significant,' Urban League President Marc Morial said in an interview."
[Tech Tip] CRM Isn't Just for Sales Anymore
If you've ever worked in sales, there's a good chance you're familiar with some sort of Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, software. CRM software essentially enables you to enter contact information for people that you deal with and the businesses you attempt to sell to.
Economist: Bush Wants Stagnant Job Market
Economic James K. Galbraith argues in Salon that Bush wants a stagnant job market to "keep the help from getting uppity." He writes: "The transcendent economic issue this election year isn't the growth rate. It isn't the stock market. It isn't the budget deficit. And it isn't even the rate of unemployment. It's the number of people in this country who have decent work -- and the number who don't."
Coca-Cola Providing Recycling at State Fair
[Verbatim] JACKSON, Oct. 1, 2008- Jackson Coca-Cola Bottling Company, in partnership with the Mississippi State Fair Commission, Hinds Community College and the Hinds County Sheriff's Office, announced today plans to make recycling an option for visitors at this year's Mississippi State Fair. Jackson Coca-Cola Bottling Company employees will place 20 recycling bins, shaped like Coca-Cola bottles, on the state fairground's Midway near concession stands during the State Fair, October 1-12, 2008.
Progress in South Jackson
When Jackson Square Shopping Center was built in 1968, it was the largest shopping center in the capital city. With 350,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space on 40 acres, it is still the city's largest outdoor center.
Business lobbyists eye State of the Union
AP reports that lobbyists are campaigning for a Bush mention Tuesday night: "'You tell everybody you can think to tell' in the White House, said Dan Danner, lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business. 'You tell the speechwriters. You tell the congressional people. You tell the policy people. You tell the public liaison people and the economic shop.' Danner's issue is what the federation calls Association Health Plan legislation. It would allow small business organizations to provide insurance for members' workers. President Bush has endorsed the idea often, but not in the State of the Union, the annual showpiece of his administration. A reference in the roughly hourlong address Tuesday night would be a declaration that the president considers the plan a priority and would send the same message to lawmakers whose 2004 session got under way earlier in the day."
Bush Facing Dreary Jobs Data in Michigan
AP reports: "Allies of Democrat John Kerry in this down-on-its-luck industrial state are armed with depressing statistics on unemployment and poverty, hoping to persuade voters to blame President Bush for the hit on their pocketbooks. In Michigan, 6.6 percent of workers are unemployed, with the strain sharpest in communities that have suffered plant closings and manufacturing cutbacks as jobs moved overseas. There is widespread anger, spreading into conservative areas, that Bush is not doing enough to keep those jobs at home or help the poor."
Nativist Lobby Makes Demands for Stimulus Bill
The Mississippi Business Journal reported yesterday that nativist lobby group FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, is pushing Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) to include language in the economic stimulus bill to "ensure that the jobs created go to legal U.S. workers only."
Markets Surge for a Second Day
The New York Times is reporting:
Dick Cheney: One of the Worst CEOs in History?
(Click on the free day pass to read the full story without a subscription.)
From Salon today: "it's clear that Cheney deserves another nomination: as one of the worst CEOs in recent American history. Of course, there are plenty of CEOs that deserve to be on that list, including Enron's Kenneth Lay, Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski and Adelphia's John Rigas. While those bosses certainly are being pilloried, Cheney's disastrous five-year-long tenure at Halliburton deserves far more scrutiny than the mainstream business press has bothered to provide."
10/22 Stocks Hit Again Over Earnings Woes
The Dow dropped more than 500 points today settling a little over 8500 as weak earnings and a continued drop in oil prices drove recession woes. Intra-day the Dow was down nearly 700 points; the 500 point drop today (which would have been called "Black Something-Day" if it'd happened 12 months ago -- it was the Dow's 7th worst point drop) represents nearly 6% of the index's total.
Mississippians Get $1 Million in Foreclosure Relief
[Verbatim from Attorney General Jim Hood]Jackson, MS-Mississippi will be included in the national settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation (CFC) that will allow eligible borrowers to participate in the company's loan modification program, announced Attorney General Jim Hood. The program went into effect yesterday, December 1, 2008, and was designed to help borrowers who financed their homes with subprime loans or adjustable rate mortgages serviced by Countrywide and originated prior to December 31, 2007. Countrywide was bought by Bank of America on July 1, 2008.
The Market In Fondren
When Jim and Linda Burwell opened Mimi's Family and Friends restaurant in Fondren this spring, they wanted to influence the neighborhood beyond the restaurant's walls.