Archive for December, 2009
Are We Really Out of the Recession?
Dec 22nd
Economic indicators are pointing to a recovery, but I’m not so sure many working-class Americans would agree. With official unemployment in my home state of Michigan at 15% and the realistic number in the 20′s, I don’t see an economic recovery anytime soon, especially in Michigan.
Home sales are up, economic growth is up, jobs are still being lost (albeit at a slower pace) and more Americans saving rather than spending is what will keep the downturn/recession stretching into 2010. Much of the increase in home sales could be attributed to the government stimulus expiring and buyers rushing to make their purchase to claim the $8,000 tax credit. Employers continue to belt tighten in anticipation of further economic difficulty and in turn are essentially compounding the problem by supressing payroll numbers to save costs.
In 2009 I earned most of my income working in another state because of the lack of jobs in my own. At the same time I have seen my college tuition rise at unprecendented rates making it increasingly difficult to gain the degree needed to work in my desired profession. At what point does it not make economic sense for me to invest in a college degree? That point is fast approaching.
Get 25% Off at GoDaddy
Dec 10th
I received a renewal notice from GoDaddy today and decided I should get it taken care of and also discovered a 25% off coupon code for purchases over $100. I decided to go ahead and renew ShaunCarter.com for 9 years using that coupon code and was able to bring the per year cost of the domain down to around $6 by renewing a couple other domains to bring the order total to $100 – not a bad deal.
BTPS255 – 25% OFF $100 purchase at GoDaddy.com
Tiger Woods Saga Better For News Outlets Than Michael Jackson's Death
Dec 8th
I don’t really care about Tiger Woods’ personal life and think what he does is his own business. But apparently the hoopla surrounding the unfolding “transgressions” has proven extremely lucrative for news agencies, specifically Yahoo and The Wall Street Journal according to The Huffington Post. They claim that web traffic is exceeding what was experienced after Michael Jackson’s death.
While Yahoo and WSJ were the only ones to publicly say that the web traffic generated by Tiger will substantially increase ad revenue for the quarter, it will undoubtedly help out many other online news agencies as well such as, MSN.com, CNN.com, Google.com and others. Could this create a “Tiger Effect” that could boost results for these companies in the fourth quarter of 2009? I think it just might and if so this could be a good time to enter into long positions in these companies as the market has taken a bit of a beating the last few sessions and pricing is a bit more attractive.
On a side note, Tiger lost his first endorsement – although Gatorade claims it was already planning to phase out the product, their timing is quite a coincidence.
Repaid TARP Funds Being Hijacked
Dec 7th
I think it’s appalling that the Obama administration is trying to find a way around provisions in the TARP legislation to use the extra funds for job creation stimulus instead of for paying down the deficit as was originally agreed and laid out in the law.
The government recently announced that the losses incurred by TARP will be $200 Billion less than was originally projected. Any monies left over from TARP are to be used to pay down the spiraling federal deficit. I am in 100% agreement that this “extra” $200 Billion be put toward retiring some of the debts incurred by TARP, but now Obama is trying to find a loophole to use it for more stimulus spending.
I have long been a proponent of paying down the national deficit because, quite frankly, it makes good financial sense. In the long run, reducing and eliminating the federal deficit would allow LOWER tax rates AND increased government spending because of the savings on interest payments. In 2008, 18% of all incoming taxes to the federal government went toward interest payments on the national debt. This percentage is artificially low because of historically low interest rates and will climb significantly higher in the future as rates increase.
That 18% is $454 Billion… imagine what we could do with all that extra money lying around. Lower taxes, better schools, and much, much more.
Verizon vs. AT&T Wireless Television Ads
Dec 6th
I’m getting a little tired of the back and forth jousting and taunts between Verizon Wireless and AT&T over their respective cell phone coverage. For the sake of full-disclosure I am a Verizon customer via the Alltel merger.
The problem I have with these attack ads is not their frequency, it’s the claims and comparisons that are being made and disputed by the companies. AT&T set off a furor and sued Verizon when the first of the 3G coverage ads were launched. The claim was that consumers would interpret AT&T’s lack of 3G coverage as meaning there was no cell coverage in those zones. Unless the consumer is stupid (a likely possibility), then those assertions are ridiculous.
AT&T’s response to this Verizon ad compares the two services and is even more misleading than the original Verizon ads! AT&T claims to have the fastest 3G coverage – ok that’s possible but the coverage is severely limited to major urban areas as accurately conveyed in Verizon’s ad. Another claim is access to over 100,000 apps – yeah that’s great but only if you have the iPhone! The two Samsung models they peddle in the ad can’t run most of those apps! The ad also claims the ability to talk and use apps at the same time, again that is only possible with the iPhone.
The injunction sought by AT&T was denied, so they keep churning out more ads peddling the capabilities and features possible with an iPhone (without specifying that face) and then trying to sell a different type of smart phone in the end. A smart phone that doesn’t have the crippling revenue share agreement that AT&T is locked into with Apple for every iPhone activated.
This is causing me to really hate AT&T for making the assumption that I’m stupid and will buy into their marketing bullshit. While I may have been looking to find a new carrier at the end of my contract term that is approaching, I don’t think AT&T will be one of my choices.
I have an iPod Touch and love the interface, but can’t seem to get used to texting via a touch screen so I use a Blackberry Pearl. I have a love/hate relationship with my Blackberry, but that’s another story. The Droid, by Motorola, is definitely on my radar screen for my next smart phone purchase because of the combination of a touch screen and the world’s slimmest slide out QWERTY keyboard.
