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Sunday, August 31, 2008

Party and Partying

As Hurricane Gustav gets ready to hit the Gulf Coast, the Republican National Convention is being forced to make quick changes to its schedule. According to the NYT, "Senator John McCain called a halt on Sunday afternoon to all but the most essential activities for the Republican National Convention on Monday." He apparently declared that it was time for members of his party to “take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats.”

Finally! What had been cleverly hidden from the radar of public awareness is now visible- that unless there is a major calamity or a threat of one, the Republican party members put their party first before the interests of the country. This does explain a lot of the decisions coming out of the government over the past seven + years the Republicans have been in power- whether it be Katrina, Iraq, Bear Stearns, Terry Schaivo, or any of the others.

What a week it was!

The first week of school is over for us. We had a record number of freshmen and a large number of transfers. I had to spend quite a bit of time helping students drop courses and find new ones, as the courses they had registered for during the summer pre-registration were not the right ones for them. This 'adding courses' business is rather tricky, as many courses are closed.

One of my advisees, who is planning to major in Art, found herself in a Painting course that she found too elementary. I suggested dropping it and picking another course, which was closed. I asked her to send an email to that professor (RB) asking for permission to take his course. She sent the email and copied me on it. The email (letter) that this student wrote is noteworthy. It was very formal, exceptionally polite, very clear, and without a single error. I have never read such an email from anyone in my career.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Phrases to be Phased out

Charles E. Skala, from Boulder, CO, wrote a sparkling letter in the FT, which reads, in part, 'Sir, I wish you would exclude from your editorial staff any economist that uses the phrase “negative growth”. I think the reasons are obvious.......'

The phrase 'negative growth,' even though it is an oxymoron, is used widely, even by reputed authors, papers and magazines. Why one would choose to use this phrase when a perfectly fine word 'declining' fits the bill perfectly is beyond any 'reason'able person's judgement.
I would like to add a few more phrases I have heard CEOs and other managers use, which, in this author's opinion, should be wiped out from the vocabulary.

Net Net. As in 'Net, Net, we are growing.'
Net of it all.
The bottom line is.... and rather than the bottom line being a number, the speaker or writer goes on for a while elaborating on the 'bottom line.'
Using fractions when it is unnecessary- as in 'our growth was one half of one percent.' A perfectly fine 0.5 percent is available for use.

Gunning after Education

NYT reported on Thursday, in a piece titled "In Texas School, Teachers Carry Books and Guns" that the school board in Harrold, a rural hamlet in North Texas, has decided to let some teachers carry concealed weapons. “Our people just don’t want their children to be fish in a bowl,” said David Thweatt, the schools superintendent and driving force behind the policy. “Country people are take-care-of-yourself people. They are not under the illusion that the police are there to protect them.”

Yesterday I asked my students if they could identify the richest country on the planet. UAE, Saudi Arabia, and a few others were suggested but not the U.S. However, students readily identified the U.S. as the most powerful country, militarily, in the world. It is ironic that the richest and the most powerful country cannot keep its people- children, students, and adults, safe from drunk driving, drive by shooting, and so on. Power, individually and systemically, is corrupting and easy to use, and it takes a lot more courage and conviction to restrain oneself from exercising power.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Losing Money and Traffic but Gaining Green

Financial Times reports that "Merrill Lynch's losses in the past 18 months amount to about a quarter of the profits it has made in its 36 years as a listed company." That should be quite shocking to anyone. But Mr. O'Neal and Mr. John Thain, the people who have led ML during this disastrous period, have pulled in $226 million between 2003 and 2007- a perfect illustration of reward without risk.

On another note, the NYT reports that "Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S."

This has significant implications.

The Denver Convention has highlighted the Green Movement.

Green Businesses Jump On Opportunity in Denver

Murder of Meritocracy

Last night Sen. Obama referred to the current Bush/McCain system where the 'ownership' society means that you are on your own, and that you are expected to pull yourself up by your bootstraps even if you have no boots.
This morning, NYT reports that "In a move that drew praise from conservatives, Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday named to the State Supreme Court a former congressman who played a major role in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton....Mr. Canady, a graduate of Yale Law School, was elected as a Democrat to the Florida Legislature and served for eight years but switched to the Republican Party before he ran for Congress in 1992.In the House, he was a staunch opponent of abortion and pushed legislation to aid churches in zoning disputes"

Corrupting justice with politics and murdering merit and accomplishment- and not a protest about it- the people who voted and the people who did not vote are perpetuating a system that is counter to "liberation"- the cornerstone of freedom. This is particularly relevant as we discussed "liberal education" in our class yesterday.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

A night to remember

Today, Obama became the first African American to run for the Presidency of the US. It is rather impressive.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Signing off on Signing Statements

As Sen. Obama is being nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for the Presidency, my thoughts turn to what he said about 'signing statements.'

George W. Bush has issued 155 signing statements, as of January 28, 2008. These statements let him cherry pick the parts (of the acts passed by Congress) that he would not enforce, rather than exercise a veto. In principle, these signing statements are a violation of the separation of responsibilities and power across the three branches.

Obama's stance on signing statements is that "No one doubts that it is appropriate to use signing statements to protect a president's constitutional prerogatives." This should be very disturbing to anyone who is systems oriented and process oriented.

On the other hand, hats off to Sen. McCain for saying that if elected president, he would issue no signing statements reserving the right to disregard parts of laws passed by Congress.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Turning Green with Hope

This evening I taught the first class in my International Marketing Course. In the class I created six teams and each could work on any industry of their choice which they thought offered greatest potential in the future for employment and opportunities.
Of the four groups that reported tonight, three groups chose the topic of "going green." The students covered different aspects of going green and how it is a positive outcome for everyone. One team chose health care.
The students appear to be more finely tuned into the world, and are becoming more aware and conscious of the consequences of their actions. It has been a very pleasant evening teaching, or rather learning from, these students.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Not 'BAT'ting an eyelid at Deep Fried Noodles and the Joy of Excess

Some thought-provoking news stories...

The mystery of the numerous bat deaths near wind turbines, in which many bat carcasses appeared uninjured, has apparently been solved. The explanation to this puzzle is that the bats' lungs effectively blow up from the rapid pressure drop that occurs as air flows over the turbine blades. See Wind Turbines Kill Bats Without Impact.

According to the BBC, "North Korean scientists have developed a new kind of noodle that delays feelings of hunger, a Japan-based pro-Pyongyang newspaper has reported.The noodles were made from corn and soybeans, the Choson Shinbo said.They left people feeling fuller longer and represented a technological breakthrough, the newspaper said. " These noodles, if as good as advertised, should work wonders in many countries.

The Kansas City Star has a rich piece titled "Average taxpayers subsidize executive pay, report says" in which it outlines how "Tax and accounting loopholes allow top executives and businesses to avoid paying about $20 billion a year in taxes." Here are some extracts.
"The Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy each year peg an “Executive Excess” report to Labor Day, zeroing in on an aspect of CEO compensation and corporate profits, both of which have grown far faster than average worker pay.

The 15th annual report, “Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay,” criticizes five tax loopholes that Congress has looked at but not plugged.

The authors note that the compensation of the S&P 500 CEOs in 2007 averaged 344 times the average U.S. worker’s pay. Thirty years ago, the ratio was about 35 to 1."

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Taxpayers- becoming Roadkill for Government Bail-outs

There is an article in the LA Times about Detroit Automakers asking for $50 billion in low interest loans from the government. According to the story, "Early details suggest the plan would be a juicy deal: Interest rates would be about 4.5%, less than a third what the carmakers can expect on the open market. And Congress could defer all payments for as long as five years."
Both Obama and McCain are supporting this bailout, using taxpayer money.
This comes on top of the bail-out of the financial institutions and of the GSEs.

As the comedian Bill Maher alluded to tonight on the Larry King Show, the politicians don't just represent the public, they are representative of the public. He should add that the majority of the public just hasn't developed the mental capacity to "get it."

Saturday, August 23, 2008

U.S. Media's Olympic Math: 1 Gold = 1 Silver = 1 Bronze

Price per Oz, as of 8/22/2008
Gold: $ 827.40
Silver: $ 13.48
Bronze: $ 0.50 to $0.75

When one looks at the Olympics medals tally at yahoo.com , she finds the Medals Count with US on top (107), followed by China (96) and Russia (69). All data as of 9 PM 8/23/2008.
NYT has the same data, ranking the countries in the same order.
WSJ has similar rankings.

Adding the number of gold, silver and bronze medals to come up with the 'total' does not "add up" as it is beyond logic, and is equivalent to adding blackberries, bananas and grapes.

What is rather dubious and self-congratulatory about this is that China has 49 gold medals, followed by US (34) and Russia (22). While there are no established equivalencies or conversion rates between the medals, if one considers the market value of the metals a gold medal is worth 61 times the value of a silver medal, and more than a 1000 times that of bronze. It is rather transparent that China is WAY AHEAD of other countries in the overall "medals" in the Olympics. Why are the news media resorting to this deliberate distortion in portraying the "Olympic" medals performance? It is precisely this behavior that encourages jingoist behavior and ignorance and then hatred of other countries and cultures. In other countries, the media rank nations on their gold medal performances. One can look at BBC's medals tally, as an example. FT.com also has an interesting outsider perspective on this phenomenon of self aggrandizement- see Outside Edge: Fool’s gold consoles unloved America.

When a "sale" price tastes better than it really is....

A few days ago, I spotted the following "sale price" posted for seedless cucumbers, right next to the "regular" price...

Friday, August 22, 2008

Getting Zapped - Money and Food Supply

According to reports, Regulators shut down Columbian Bank and Trust Co. of Topeka, Kan. on Friday, the ninth bank to fail this year and fifth since July 11. (WSJ). The GSEs will not be allowed to fail. We have to wait and see how many more bad bets will be paid by the public taxpayers.

On the food side, NYT reports that "The government will allow food producers to zap fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce with enough radiation to kill micro-organisms like E. coli and salmonella that for decades have caused widespread illness among consumers." What is disconcerting is that the FDA is also considering a change in labeling regulations-

"The government has long allowed food processors to irradiate beef, eggs, poultry, oysters and spices, but the market for irradiated foods is tiny because the government also requires that these foods be labeled as irradiated, labels that scare away most consumers........

The F.D.A. is considering a proposal to weaken or change this labeling requirement, a move that Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, opposes."

More efforts upstream in the food supply chain, like better farming methods and reducing fertiliser and toxic chemical use, can reduce the need to take reactive measures downstream, like radiation or recalls.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

POP a Bribe?

POP: PayOff for Performance
Bribe: • verb dishonestly persuade (someone) to act in one’s favour by paying them or giving other inducement. • noun an inducement offered in an attempt to bribe. (Oxford Dictionary)

This morning I led my freshmen class through a discussion of values and ethics. One of the articles we used for discussion was "A Nation United," reprinted from "Resource Book Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior." The story recounts the escape of Jews from Nazis in Denmark. The night when hundred of boats were ferrying the Jews from Denmark towards Sweden, all German patrol ships were docked for maintenance...quite a bit of money went to 'bribes.' My students discussed bribery as part of a value system and whether it was 'always wrong' or 'sometimes justifiable.'

I just read an article in the WSJ, titled "When Schools Offer Money As a Motivator: More Districts Use Incentives To Reward Top Test Scores; So Far, Results Are Mixed." The first paragraph reads "More and more school districts are banking on improving student performance using cash incentives -- a $1,000 payout for high test scores, for example. But whether they work is hard to say." Schools paying students for doing well, and telling students that they will get paid for doing well....
Has education deteriorated so much that our youths need to be motivated through bribes to learn? I do reward students for doing well, by getting them good internships, scholarships and projects, but I do not offer it as a bribe to induce performance. When the joy of learning is replaced by the jingle of bribery at such an early age, we as a nation need to worry about our future.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

iPods- Not Music to a Professor's ears

There is an interesting article in today's NYT about schools giving iPods to entering freshmen. Jonathan D. Glater writes that "Taking a step that professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to students." Schools are apparently "emphasizing" that the iPods can help in doing online research and in instant polling of students.
There are enough distractions for students already. Many of the students work more than 20 hours a week and are tired and short of sleep when they are in class. It is tough for even the most capable professor to engage students, and adding a major distraction like the iPods does not help. Being able to search the Internet for information is not a particularly distinguishing skill- it is easily acquired. Being able to think, and being able to think independently and logically, is a skill that is higher, harder, and broader in applicability. I try to get students to think first, and then to formulate actions based on the thinking. iPods in the classroom? Simply irrestible, in the words of Robert Palmer.

High Inflation- in Tuition Prices and In Grades

Teaching in a private liberal arts college in the Midwestern United States
I have also experienced many of the issues Mr. John Kay raises in his
insightful article "Teaching demands a warm heart and a cold eye." I would
add that contrary to 'liberal thinking' colleges and universities do not
broadly publicize and share information, especially data related to
grades. It would be very useful if every school published its grade
distribution by year. I post the grade distribution for my courses
publicly for everyone to see. Another relevant factor in assigning grades
is the type of evaluation methods used and the rigor employed with those
methods. In this era, teamwork and projects are emphasized and these tend
to weaken the rigor in grading individuals. I would also like to add that
faculty members often take the time saving route and use instruments that
reduce subjectivity but lift grades across the board (true/false and
multiple choice). This also makes them popular with students. Perhaps,
faculty members should be assigned grades that are inversely related to
the grades they hand out, and a part of the faculty compensation or bonus
be tied to the grades they receive.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

HOPE....In the Seen and Sober

Some time ago I had written that there is Room for some guarded optimism on US students. After meeting some of my first year students (freshmen) today I feel even more optimistic. These students were asked to read the book "A Hope in the Unseen" over the summer. The students not only read the book but came prepared to discuss it, and contributed their interpretations of the racial and social dynamics at play. Students who come prepared are an instructor's delight.

There is an interesting piece in the Washington Post today-Educators Urge Lower Drinking Age to Cut Bingeing. "Scores of college presidents, including the head of Maryland's public university system and the president of Johns Hopkins University, have an unexpected request for legislators: Please, lower the drinking age."
Alcohol abuse is a real problem on college campuses across the country, and needs everyone to work together.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Giving students some "credit"

There was an interesting article in today's Chicago Tribune on credit cards that are being marketed to college students.
Big debt on campus: Credit offers flood the quad

While it is not surprising, it is nevertheless distressing to see students graduate with significant credit card debt, which often has the highest interest rates. On our campus we have courses on Financial Smarts, a basic primer on safe management of debt. Students everywhere need to be taught about safe debt and toxic debt, and the servicing of debt.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Brave and Honest Few...

An interesting study out of Ohio State University...
Bravest' students do not cheat

I was talking to a senior manager at a large community hospital in Illinois last week about what she looked for when hiring new employees. I told her that I had some good students who could do internships at the hospital. She said that in addition to skill and aptitude, she looked for a highly ethical behavior- in fact, she rated it higher than other qualities. A student's attitude towards cheating and reporting cheating is one early indicator of ethical or unethical behavior.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Ringing Up Technology

Some interesting tidbits...

According to the NYT, HTC is developing a mobile device based on Google's Android platform for T-Mobile. I have seen the HTC Universal, and it is a SLICK device. If the device integrates tightly with Google Applications including Picasa, it should pose tough competition for the iPhone (which, according to reports, still has issues like dropped calls).

Another Google Note: as the war rages on between the media content owners and the folks who put up unauthorized videos on You Tube, some media companies are apparently working with Google to let the clips remain on the site but have advertising with the clip. The content owner and Google share the ad revenues.

On the issue of copyrights violation of open source software, the US federal appeals court ruled that conditions of an agreement called the Artistic Licence were enforceable under copyright law.This has implications for open source software developers and users. Making changes to the open source software and releasing it as proprietary software without revealing changes, or releasing it without attribution, will be deemed unacceptable.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Not all dollars are the same- to the tax woman

The WSJ reported today that Sen. Obama provided more details about his tax plan. Specifically,
Sen. Obama plans "to raise tax rates on capital gains and dividend income from 15% to 20% for individuals and families making more than $200,000 and $250,000, respectively." He also plans to "levy payroll taxes on earnings above $250,000 at a rate between 2% and 4%, though that increase wouldn't occur for at least a decade. Right now, payroll taxes, used to fund retirement benefits, are levied on income up to $102,000."

One of the biggest 'achievements' of the Congress and Bush administration over the past eight years has been the capping of taxes on capital gains and dividends, and eliminating the tax on gain from selling a home that is a primary residence (with some more conditions). So, a person who works hard and makes a $ that gets reported on a W-2 pays a lot more in taxes than a person who also makes a $ through dividends or capital gains (1099-DIV or 1099-B or other such form). Wage earners are being heavily burdened- especially those at the lower end of the pay scale. There is NO reason why payroll taxes should be capped - every dollar should be treated the same way. Similarly all income, irrespective of the source, should be taxed the same way, because the government provides services to all people.

It appears as if Sen. Obama, in order to appease Wall Street, is not willing to do what is fair and unprejudiced in the rigged world of taxation.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Obama "Corsi"fied, like John Kerry

Jerome R Corsi is at it again. His latest book, 'The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality' has made it to the top of the NYT best seller list. The NYT article "Obama campaign issues rebuttal to book's claims" makes the following points:
"...In an interview with The Associated Press, Corsi defended raising the issue of drugs without any evidence.''I don't need more,'' he said. ''I'm putting this question forward. I'm putting the evidence forward. Voters can make up their own minds.''
In a series of Web posts several years ago, Corsi said Pope John Paul II was senile and unconcerned about sexual molestation of boys, referred to Islam is ''a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion'' and suggested Kerry was secretly Jewish.
Corsi apologized for the remarks and now says he didn't mean them and was simply trying to provoke discussion.
''Obama Nation'' is published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster that is run by Mary Matalin, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Corsi readily acknowledges the political goal of his book. He considers Obama a ''radical leftist'' who should not be elected president. Corsi said he has no plans to work against Obama with groups comparable to 2004's Swift Boat Veterans for Truth but said he would be willing to consider it."

This guy apparently has a Ph.D. from Harvard, the same school which awarded George Bush an MBA. In both these instances, education was divorced from the attainment of the degree. Both of them, like the Fox News hacks, do not take pride in their education, do not believe in doing thorough research, and thrive on making claims that appeal to the basest feelings of the citizenry...fear, hatred, suspicion, and bigotry,among others...(In Corsi's case, his book contents lead to this conclusion; in GWB's case, his publicly reported comments are the justification).

I just looked up Amazon.com and it lists Corsi's book as #2 on the best seller list overall, behind 'Breaking Dawn' and ahead of 'The Last Lecture.' It lists for $28 but is priced at $15.40, at a discount of 45%. Corsi's book got 164 five-star reviews and 260 one-star reviews, with an average 2 1/2 stars rating. The Last Lecture has a 4 1/2 stars rating.

"Amateur"ish U.S. reaction to Chinese Medal Grab

There is an interesting article in the FT today- "US Olympic team eyes state help as China challenges sporting order." It reads as follows: "As the US Olympic team contemplates the abrupt loss of its longstanding dominance of the medals table to its Chinese hosts, American officials are looking at asking the federal government for money to make sure it never happens again.
In what has the potential to become a sporting version of the cold war, China has poured millions into its state sports system to produce medal winners at the Beijing Games, and the US is positioning itself to retaliate.
The US team, which gets no money from Washington, relies on only $150m a year from sponsors, fundraising and a share of revenues from the International Olympic Committee.As a result, China has opened up such a comfortable lead over the US in the race for gold medals that it is poised to top the tally of overall medals for the first time, a position the US has held for 16 of the 23 Games in which it has competed......"

During the second half of the previous century, private funds supported U.S. Amateur athletes while the state governments of the communist countries (Soviet Union, East Germany, etc.) supported their athletes. In the 1980s and 1990s, the "professional" athletes took over the Olympics, stripping it of any semblance of "fair and equitable" competition. When the U.S. sponsorships and private fund-raising raise $150 million to support the athletes, how are the "less fortunate" countries in Africa, Asia or Central/South America expected to compete?

What is really disturbing is that according to the article, "As the US Olympic team contemplates the abrupt loss of its longstanding dominance of the medals table to its Chinese hosts, American officials are looking at asking the federal government for money to make sure it never happens again." One can understand a team asking the government for money, but why can't the U.S. people accept other countries winning? Why can't the people realize that if other countries' athletes win, then they can raise the bar for everyone, and they can inspire whole nations? It is the notion of "we should win everything and everyone else SHOULD lose" attitude that shows a lack of thought and a deficiency of human spirit and human sharing- selfishness in its most gross exhibition.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Education will Free you! NOT!

Yesterday I received the following email from the FORTUNE magazine's Education Program. FORTUNE, along with CNN and others, is a part of Time Warner Inc.
***
Hello Professor Gopal,

Time is running out on the offer we recently mailed to you. . .
Please join us this semester. Your students can subscribe to FORTUNE Magazine for just $10 for one year or $9 for six months* through the FORTUNE Education Program. They’ll have access to current business insights from industry leaders and decision-makers related to your course for less than $1 an issue.
When you submit 5 or more student subscriptions through the FORTUNE Education Program, you’ll receive your own complimentary subscription and free teaching resources – including quizzes, assignments, discussion starters and more – prepared for you and ready to use in class. For fall 2008, we’re also offering a $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com with 25 or more student subscriptions.

***

I would call this offer a bribe, intended to 'motivate' me to enroll students in this program. This is yet another example of corporations doing with teachers and academics what the pharma companies have been doing with doctors- offer freebies to get them to prescribe their products.

$$ Today's WSJ has an article titled "The Best Ways To Get Loans For College Now."
it mentions a site www.fynanz.com, where "students post the amount they want, the interest rate they are willing to pay and a few details about themselves and their studies. In many cases, the "loan" involves money from multiple lenders, some offering as little as $50 each. Fynanz, which has made 20 loans averaging about $6,500 each since it began lending two months ago, collects a 1% fee for processing the loans."

It is too bad that the education process allows the slick corporations to get their first dibs on the future income stream of the students of today. Caveat emptor applies to students buying 'education' as well.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

BnB - Bus n' Bathroom

With the high gasoline prices, public transportation has seen a rise in riders. It is interesting to watch people use the bus (or train) as an extension of their bathroom, just like their cars.

Folks are brushing their teeth, putting on make-up, combing their hair, tucking their shirts, eating breakfast, and doing other 'personal' things while in the bus (or in the train). It is fascinating to watch women AND MEN in these rituals.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Going Green

Some interesting articles about being "Green".....

Green Products Gain From New Price Equation
Feeling the heat of food security

Costa Rica bids to go carbon neutral
Giant Retailers Look to Sun for Energy Savings

It is amazing how much the world has changed in a year. Topics like solar panels and carbon footprint were not in mainstream consciousness last year- now they are part of everyday lexicon. Let's keep up the good work.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A sense of belonging

Ms. Susie Boyt, one of my favorite columnists, wrote an entertaining article "The best kind of holiday" in yesterday's Financial Times. She talks about how she feels that "I’m every inch a Londoner." But the part that really hit home for me talked about a sense of belonging , or a lack thereof. She writes "I’ve never had that sense of belonging that others have, or I imagine they do, fancying myself as one of life’s cuckoos. I’ve never been to a school reunion or positioned myself squarely among a group or crowd.
Early on in life, I decided how I wanted things to be and worked hard to make it happen. I know how to spread and retract myself, according to the demands of each situation. I like to keep my own counsel, behind closed doors."

Having got my Bachelor of Technology degree from IIT Madras, I came to the U.S. when I was twenty two years old, to do a Ph.D. at Northwestern. Now, I have crossed the threshold where half of my life has been spent in U.S. Even though I am a citizen of the U.S. and have voted in two Presidential elections, I feel as if I am not part of the American fabric. But I feel like a stranger when I visit my hometown in India where I grew up. This is an example of suspended animation.
Perhaps it is because of this lack of belonging that I garden assiduously, letting the plants establish their 'roots.' Of course, when one gets beyond the narrow constraints of geography, it is easy to observe that we are all children of the earth, and 'dust thou art to dust returnest' reminds of my favorite poem, by the great H.W. Longfellow.

A Psalm of Life

 Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream! --
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, -- act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Taking Pride- in Being Ignorant

Earlier this month, Sen. McCain and his party honchos made fun of Sen. Obama when the latter suggested that, based on studies, proper tuneups and correctly inflated tires could reduce energy consumption. Sen. McCain's GOP folks sent out "Obama" tire pressure gauges to reporters, saying THAT was Sen. Obama's energy plan. Sen. Obama gave a studied response to this attack, and summarized it by saying that "Now two points, one, they know they're lying about what my energy plan is, but the other thing is they're making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant."

That, in essence, is the greatest achievement of Karl Rove, George W. Bush and their associates. They have succeeded in not only exploiting people's ignorance, but have made ignorance a proud badge. Some examples:

  • Exploiting people's ignorance of other religions and constantly tying Saddam Hussein to 9/11, when they knew it was false.
  • Making faith, rather than reasoning, a key factor in hiring and in funding. The so called "faith based initiatives" and "faith based education" were given much greater prominence, and science was ridiculed.
  • Blaming the growth of China and India for the rise in oil prices. The crooks never explained to the ignorant Americans how much energy the U.S. consumes per person, and why this is unsustainable.
  • Bush made it appear cool that he did not read much, was not inquisitive, and went to bed early.
Paul Krugman wrote an Op-Ed in the NYT today about this topic, titled the "Know-Nothing Politics." He says that "What I mean, instead, is that know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple, brute-force, instant-gratification answers to every problem, and that there’s something effeminate and weak about anyone who suggests otherwise — has become the core of Republican policy and political strategy. The party’s de facto slogan has become: “Real men don’t think things through.”........Let’s also not forget that for years President Bush was the center of a cult of personality that lionized him as a real-world Forrest Gump, a simple man who prevails through his gut instincts and moral superiority. “Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man,” declared Peggy Noonan, writing in The Wall Street Journal in 2004. “He’s not an intellectual. Intellectuals start all the trouble in the world.”"

A large part of the public that knows better has chosen to keep silent as these operatives make continued ignorance a cause for celebration. It is no wonder that companies are outsourcing "knowledge work" to people who try to investigate rather than be ignorant. Until the public is educated enough to learn the value of knowledge and curiosity, one can only expect dire results.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Caring- about the wrong stuff!

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had two interesting articles side by side. The centerpiece was titled "How to Pull Off 'CEO Casual' The Goal: Shed the Stodgy Suit but Keep The Authority; One Executive's Views On Custom Shirts and Chest Hair." The article goes on to say that Ms. Anni Sarah Lam, CEO of Parc Landon, a Houston-based music, sports and entertainment agency, displays her 'insider status by wearing crisp jeans and trendy jackets to meetings. She signals her chief executive stature by carrying Louis Vuitton handbags and Montblanc pens.'

The article to the far right was titled "To Be Old, Frail And Evicted: Patients at Risk. As Nursing Homes Shift Focus To Short-Term Rehab Care, Families Must Look Elsewhere." According to the article "Across the country, nursing homes are forcing out frail and ill residents. While federal law permits nursing-home evictions in some circumstances, state officials and patient advocates say facilities often go too far, seeking to evict those who are merely inconvenient or too costly. Residents with dementia or demanding families are among the most vulnerable, particularly if -- like Ms. Nguyen and the other Lodi residents -- they depend on Medicaid to pay their bills, the officials and advocates say.Those on Medicaid bring facilities as little as half what they can get from residents who pay out of pocket, with private health insurance or through Medicare, the federal-state health program for the elderly."

Designer handbags and clothing for some, nursing home evictions for some. If a society is judged by how it takes care of its young and its old, then ours would get an F. The Commercial culture would spin this positively and say that there is only one way from here and that is up. However we could be floundering at the bottom for a while.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

C-cubed: Children of a Commercialized Culture

When I was running the other day I saw two young children, probably four or five years old, selling lemonade for $0.50 a glass, at a stand their parents had made for them. This prompted me to think about the line between teaching children' entrepreneurship and financial responsibility' on the one hand, and making them part of the 'commercial culture' on the other. A commercial culture which stresses immediate gratification and thinking only about one's needs and wants. A culture where individuals live in their own bubbles and never think about the people around them.

Perhaps because of the commercial culture, consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of the economy. We are bombarded with messages trying to get us to BUY. In the book "BORN TO BUY-The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture" Juliet Schor presents evidence that shows Corporate America embracing and conquering children's consciousness, often with dubious if not unethical means. She refers to it as "the corporate takeover of childhood." In response to the question, "in researching your book, what was your most startling discovery?" she answered that "What most surprised me were the results I got from my study, which found that the more kids are exposed to consumer culture, they likelier they are to become depressed, suffer from anxiety, or experience low self-esteem. I would have thought it was the other way around -- that consumer culture was the symptom, not the cause."

While some parents are getting concerned by this rampant commercial exploitation of children, the FTC has been, like other agencies under the Bush and Clinton administrations, abdicating its regulatory responsibility. A recent article by the WSJ states that 'FTC Tightens Food-Ad Focus; Agency Urges Companies Marketing to Children To Boost Self-Regulation." Apparently "Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday called on food and beverage companies to do more self regulation, with one commissioner saying the government could intervene if the companies don't.

.....The study found that food and beverage companies shell out some $1.6 billion to target children with ads -- a figure roughly comparable to each U.S. ad budget of marketing giants such as General Electric, Toyota Motor and Sony."

At the end of a long day, the responsibility rests with the parent(s). They have to take back their children from the long arms and devious minds of the exploitative marketers.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Sprint to the Head of the Pack - NOT!!!!!!

Having worked in the telecommunications equipment industry for more than a decade, I have fond memories of my customers, including Sprint. Back in the 1990s I remember our engineers building a product for Sprint when it was planning to roll out an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) cell-based network called ION. Unfortunately for Sprint, the world went with IP (Internet Protocol) and the ION is in the dustbin of history.

Now to the business of making"larger than life" heros of CEOs by the media.

B
ack on September 27, 2004, Business Week ran an article titled "Sprint To The Head Of The Pack" that heaped praise on the telecom services provider Sprint.
It says " By following some unusual strategies, the carrier is blowing past competitors....It's a real mover," says analyst Viktor Shvets of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.....The real prize may come from future services Sprint hopes to offer through the cable partnerships. The company plans to persuade these cable customers to buy Sprint's cutting-edge wireless services. That would include letting customers preview movies on their wireless video phone on the commute home and then place an order to download the movie so it's waiting as they walk in the door.
Take it as a sign of the new Sprint. Lauer and Forsee understand that the winners in telecom won't be those standing idly by. Whether it's launching services -- or perhaps making an acquisition -- the onetime laggard is now in position to lead the way."

Fast forward to 13, 2008. The same Business Week says "Sprint: Still a World of Pain. The article reveals that "the mobile-phone giant's planned turnaround may involve selling off assets to comply with lenders' agreements." Apparently "the customers kept fleeing, revenue fell, and the losses grew, but Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse says the wireless company is starting to make baby steps in its Sisyphean turnaround.....The nation's third-largest cell-phone company said its customer base shrank by more than 1 million during the first three months of 2008. Even worse, those customers who haven't left are spending less each month. All told, the first-quarter results came in shy of analyst forecasts for both revenue and net loss. "

The WSJ reports that "Sprint Nextel Corp. showed signs of recovery in the second quarter as it reduced customer defections, but the struggling telecommunications carrier warned that subscriber losses would climb again. "We have a long way to go," Chief Executive Dan Hesse said in an interview. "We're talking about a nine-inning game, and a quarter's like an inning." The Overland Park, Kan., wireless company swung to a $344 million loss, compared with year-ago net income of $19 million. Revenue fell 11% to $9.06 billion. Sprint lost 776,000 "postpaid" subscribers to end the quarter with 38.9 million postpaid and 51.9 million total subscribers."

The business media and the popular press can serve society better if they did not give too much credit to the CEOs when their companies does well, because corporate performance depends on many variables. Of course, the CEOs leave with a nice package even when they perform poorly, so they never really have to "take the blame" when things go sour.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Your choice: "Humans-Eat-Dogs World" (China) or "Humans-Share-Dogs World" (US/Europe)

Over the years my marketing students have come up with a number of innovative ideas and business models. Some of these have been turned into real products and/or services- very gratifying for a professor. Examples include an indoor Laser Tag arena and efficiently routed school buses for our College. One of my favorites is the 'Bow Wow Doggy Day Care" services firm, an idea my students came up with long before the concept became mainstream.

I was reflecting on this as I read the article "An Idea Whose Time Has Come: The Time-Share Dog Monica Had 2 Families, 2 Names, Much Love; Boston Bans Short Pooch Leases" in today's WSJ. My mind turned to the accounting aspect of this concept.

  • Shared Capital Asset. It appears that for some people a dog is just a capital asset- something whose ownership can be divided up across multiple owners. As an asset it can be traded, and eventually "disposed off" for its salvage value
  • Lease with an option to buy. The article cites examples of people who took out dogs on the "short-term" plan and liked them so much they kept them for the long term. This appears to be akin to the dating game- only the counter-party (the dog) has no say in the matter
  • A 'contract' worker doing all the work a regular employee does...the problem that companies like Microsoft and FedEx ran into. In this case the 'shared' dog is expected to provide everything a 'fully owned' dog does to its owner, but the shared dog's contract can be 'terminated at will without any due compensation.'

While the discussion is about dogs, the concept can be extended to other pets as well.

Of course, for an even more tasty bite - a few weeks ago, the Chinese government banned dog meat at its 112 official Olympic restaurants. This was done in order to avoid offending the fine sensibilities of the visitors.

Just one more illustration of the premise that the humans mind can scale the highest peaks and sink to the lowest depths. Doggone it!

Monday, August 04, 2008

Not 'Intel Inside' but 'Rotten Inside'- Even the sky is not the limit to Corporate Greed

The WSJ, in a rare display of investigative journalism, unearthed and reported yet another "slick" move by some corporations to pay more to executives and avoid taxes.

"Companies Tap Pension Plans To Fund Executive Benefits Little-Known Move Uses Tax Break Meant For Rank and File."
The first two paragraphs say it all:
"At a time when scores of companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some are quietly converting their pension plans into resources to finance their executives' retirement benefits and pay.

In recent years, companies from Intel Corp. to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans. This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for executives' supplemental benefits and compensation."

At a time when these and other companies have eliminated pension plans for new employees and restricted contributions or eliminated them for long time employees, they have shifted the long term payment obligations for senior managers on to the Pension Plans. These moves unduly benefit the senior managers and also reduce the tax payments to the government- a double whammy for the tax payer employee.

This is yet another reason for me to stress even more the ethical aspects of business, especially to accounting and finance majors. Unfortunately my job is nearly impossible when the students see this type of egregious behavior by the "leading companies."

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Globalization 3.0, or "Glocal" Choices

The NYT has interesting article today titled "Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization."

Thomas Friedman's notion of "The World is Flat" still holds true at the big macro level, but the rise in transportation costs creates a few hills and potholes in this flat world.
If one assumes that oil prices stay north of $100 per barrel for the next five years, supply chains for physical goods might be reconfigured to a more 'regionalized' system, as the NYT article points out. But this relates to component makers and the final assemblers being located closely, aka the 'neighborhood' effect. Eventually the component makers further up the supply chain have to get the raw material commodities from resource-rich countries- Brazil and Australia for iron ore, for example.
Electronic goods will continue to be manufactured in Asia, primarily China, precisely because of the neighborhood effect. Cost of components constitutes 60% or more of the "cost of goods sold" for electronics items. Further electronic items usually have high value but have low weight and low volume, therefore transportation cost as a % of cost of goods sold is less.. Appliances and consumer durables for the Asian and Central/South American markets will be assembled in those markets. Consumer packaged goods will continue to be made domestically in each region of the world, though the ingredients would come from around the world. Services will continue to be outsourced from developed markets to emerging markets as the impact of transportation costs is much less in services delivery.
In summary, one should not expect a significant return of manufacturing to the U.S. because of the increase in energy prices. Outsourcing of services will continue. What one can expect is a rise in prices across the board. All goods and services will effectively cost more to the consumer, the government's CPI fudging notwithstanding.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Business of Predicting Business- Business Week and Fannie and Freddie

I am going through my old Business Week magazines and looking at what the magazine predicted and what has actually transpired.

  • Fannie and Freddie: September 27, 2004. Just How Risky Are Fannie and Freddie?
Excerpt: Not everyone is as worried as Greenspan and Snow -- particularly R. Glenn Hubbard, President George W. Bush's former chief economist. In a 33-page study that Fannie Mae commissioned and made available to BusinessWeek before publication, Hubbard, who now heads the Columbia Business School, argues that Fannie is no riskier than the 10 largest commercial banks or their holding companies. Hubbard also concludes that Fannie's capital reserve -- the cushion that financial institutions need in case of emergency -- is adequate.

Why does this matter? Fannie Chairman and CEO Franklin D. Raines will use the report to rebut critics who charge that Fannie's low borrowing costs represent an implicit federal subsidy created by debtholders' confidence that the government will rescue them in a financial crisis. Hubbard's work will bolster Raines' argument that Fannie has a cost advantage because it's low-risk. In the study's foreword, Raines writes that Hubbard "confirms the low-risk nature of Fannie Mae's business but also...indicates a fundamental flaw in studies that purport to quantify an 'implicit subsidy' to the company." Hubbard says: "That's Frank Raines's view."

The current turmoil in the credit markets and the bailout of Fannie and Freddie proposed by Mr. Paulson, to be authorized by the Congress and signed by the President is the verdict on Hubbard's opinion and the BW article.

The 'Casual Culture'

One of my undergraduate students is doing a research project this summer on changes in the workplace as the percent of women among graduating students has increased to nearly 65%. She and I interviewed an Executive Director of a not-for-profit community organization yesterday. asked this Executive Director about what struck her when she hired recent graduates. She promptly replied that the recent graduates are 'very casual' in their approach to everything- whether it be communications or dressing to work. She said that it is an adjustment for both her, her older employees and the new hires.

I have seen this trend in my students over the past five years, especially a decline in writing skills. However, I am cognizant that a reader's expectations may not translate into fixed standards for writers.

The WSJ also covered these changes in an article recently -

Thx for the IView! I Wud ♥ to Work 4 U!! ;) Young Job Candidates Find Too-Casual Tone of Textspeak Turns Off Hiring Managers

I remind my students that they should meet the expectations of the people who are going to hire and manage them. Over time they can infuse the culture with their ingredients.

Friday, August 01, 2008

"Demolishing" the Taxpayers - the Murdoch/WSJ way

On July 30, the Murdoch Sham Paper WSJ ran an article titled "How to Shake Off the Mortgage Mess." According to CNBC's count, the federal government has already made roughly $1.4 trillion available to refinance mortgage debt since the housing meltdown began. The main idea in this story is that the government should buy up houses and demolish them to reduce physical supply of houses. This article concludes by saying "So far, Washington has put its political capital into trying to refinance salvageable homes for unsalvageable homeowners, when a relevant policy would consist of judiciously buying unsalvageable houses and demolishing them. Fannie and Freddie's strength is housing market software: They could be put to work devising a least-cost, maximum-bang strategy for demolishing unoccupied homes to preserve as much value as possible for the homeowners and mortgage creditors who remain.

Of course, right now their overriding imperative is to avoid recognizing losses rather than rushing toward them -- which is why Fannie and Freddie should be nationalized (and later privatized). One way or the other, taxpayers will end up owning thousands of unwanted houses. It's not too soon to begin limiting our costs."

So Murdoch and his gang want the taxpayers to take on the burden of this mortgage mess, which was created by the leaders of the financial institutions while the latter enjoy their vacations in their private islands. Not only that, but these ethically crooked people want the government to demolish good livable housing and reduce its value to 0.

The question is - when will the U.S. public wise up to what is going on?

Ob(ama)esity

Sen. Obama comes across as a fit individual, both physically and mentally.

The Rupert Murdoch sham(eless) paper WSJ tries to spin even this perception negatively-

"Too Fit to Be President? Facing an Overweight Electorate, Barack Obama Might Find Low Body Fat a Drawback"
According to this article, "in a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them."

So, the public wants to elect someone who is truly like them? Like George Bush?

It appears that there is no floor to the level to which the Murdoch gang will stoop to.

I, for one, will only go to a doctor who is fitter than I am. That is the only way I can get better.