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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

An Accurate Portrayal: After the crash: the pauperisation of middle-class America | Richard Wolff | guardian.co.uk

An excellent article by Richard Wolff in The Guardian- discusses the same themes as this blogger.


After the crash: the pauperisation of middle-class America | Richard Wolff | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: The current global crisis of capitalism began with the severe contraction in the housing markets in mid 2007. Therefore, welcome to Year Five. This inventory of where things stand may begin with the good news: the major banks, the stock market and corporate profits have largely or completely "recovered" from the lows they reached early in 2009. The US dollar has fallen sharply against many currencies of countries with which the US trades, and that has enabled US exports to rebound from their crisis lows.

However, the bad news is what prevails notwithstanding the political and media hype about "recovery". The most widely cited unemployment rate remains at 9% for workers without jobs but looking. If instead, we use the more indicative U-6 unemployment statistic of the US labour department's bureau of labour statistics, then the rate is 15.9%. The latter rate counts also those who want full-time but can only find part-time work and those who want work but have given up looking. One in six members of the US labour force brings home little or no money, burdening family and friends, using up savings, cutting back on spending, etc.

At the same time, the housing market remains deeply depressed as 1.5-2m home foreclosures are scheduled for 2011, separating more millions from their homes. After a short upturn, housing prices nationally have resumed their fall: one of those feared "double dips" downward is thus already under way in the economically vital housing market.

The combination of high unemployment and high home foreclosures assures a deeply depressed economy. The mass of US citizens cannot work more hours – the US already is No 1 in the world in the average number of hours of paid labour done per year per worker. The mass of US citizens cannot borrow much more because of debt levels already teetering on the edge of unsustainability for most consumers. Real wages are going nowhere because of high unemployment enabling employers everywhere to refuse significant wage increases. Job-related benefits (pensions, medical insurance, holidays, etc) are being pared back.

There is thus no discernible basis for a substantial recovery for the mass of Americans. The US economy, like so many others, is caught in serious stagnation, a situation flowing partly from the economic crisis that began in 2007 and partly from the way in which most governments responded to that crisis. Thus US businesses and investors increasingly look elsewhere to make money.

Rapidly rising consumption is not foreseeable in the US, but it is already happening where production is booming: China, India, Brazil, Russia, parts of Europe (especially Germany). Growth-oriented activity is leaving the US economy, where it used to be so concentrated. The US was already becoming less important as a production centre as profit-driven major US corporations shifted manufacturing jobs to cheaper workers overseas, especially in China. In recent decades, those corporations' export of jobs expanded to include more and more white-collar and skilled work outsourced to India and elsewhere. Now, US corporations are also spending their money on office, advertising, legal, lobbying and other budgets increasingly where the expanding markets are – and not inside the US.

Republicans are now celebrating "American exceptionalism", the unique greatness of living conditions in the US. Yet again, their politics stress vanishing social conditions whose disappearance frightens Americans who counted on them. In reality, the US is fast becoming more and more like so many countries where a rich, cosmopolitan elite occupies major cities with a vast hinterland of people struggling to make ends meet. The vaunted US "middle class" – so celebrated after the second world war even as it slowly shrank – is now fast evaporating, as the economic crisis and the government's "austerity" response both favour the top 10% of the population at the expense of everyone else.

The US budget for fiscal year 2011 is scheduled to spend $ 3.5tn while taking in $2tn in taxes. It is borrowing the other $1.5tn – the deficit – and thereby adding to the US national debt (already over $14tn, roughly the same as the annual output, or GDP, of the US). Such massive borrowing is what got Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and other countries into their current massive crises. The "great budget debate" between Republicans and Democrats over the first few months of 2011 haggled over $60bn in cuts versus $30bn with the final compromise of $38bn. That $38bn cannot and will not make any significant difference to a 2011 deficit of $1,500bn (that is, $1.5tn).

Obviously, both Republicans and Democrats are agreed to do nothing more that quibble over insignificant margins of so huge a deficit. Meanwhile, they perform live political theatre about their "deep concern about deficits and debts" for a bemused, bored and ever-more alienated public.

Neither party can shake off its utter dependence now on corporate and rich citizens' monies for all their financial sustenance. Therefore, neither party imagines, let alone explores, alternatives to massive deficits and debts. After all, government deficits and debts mean: first, the government is not taxing corporations and the rich; and second, the government is, instead, borrowing from them and paying them interest. So, the two parties quibble over how much to cut which government jobs and public services.

Yet, the tax burdens of US corporations and the richest citizens (what they actually pay) are significantly lower than in most other advanced industrial economies. Indeed, they are far lower than they were inside the US a few years ago. In the mid 1940s, the corporate income tax brought Washington 50% more than the individual income tax. Today, the corporate income tax brings the federal government 25% of what is taken from individuals. In the 1950s and 1960s, the top individual income tax rate in the United States (the rate paid by the richest citizens on all their income over about $100,000) was 91%. Today, that rate is 35%, a staggering cut in the taxes on the richest Americans, far larger than the cuts in anyone else's tax rates. Half or more of today's federal deficits would be gone if we simply taxed the richest US citizens at the rates in effect in the 1950s and 1960s. If we also taxed corporations in relation to individuals as we did in the 1940s, the entire deficit would vanish.

In summary, shifting the burden of federal taxation from corporations to individuals and from the richest individuals to the rest of us contributed to massive deficits and debts. Instead of correcting and reversing that unjust shift, Republicans and Democrats plan, instead, to deal with deficits and debts by cutting Medicaid and Medicare and threatening social security.

A revealing historical incident can introduce our conclusion about the capitalist crisis as it enters Year Five. In May 2011, as gasoline prices rose to between $4 and $5 per gallon, a US Senate committee run by Democrats summoned the heads of major oil companies to testify. The senators asked why the federal government should continue to provide them with special tax loopholes and direct subsidies of $4bn per year when their companies were earning record high profits. The Democrats had offered a meek plan to merely cut those loopholes and subsidies from $4bn to $2bn per year. After the hearings, the US Senate voted not to cut the loopholes and subsidies at all.

The largest corporations and richest citizens long ago learned that if you want to sustain an extremely unequal distribution of wealth and income, you need an equally unequal distribution of political power. Those corporations use their profits to pay huge salaries and bonuses to their executives, to pay big dividends to their major shareholders, and to "contribute" to politics. The corporations, their top executives and the major shareholders whom they enrich all regularly finance the political campaigns and politicians that perform that sustaining function. An increasingly unequal capitalist economy pays for the increasingly undemocratic politics it needs.

Any serious effort to change the basic situation, functions and direction of government policy must change the answer our society now gives to this basic question: who gets and disposes of the profits of producing goods and services in the US economy? So long as the answer remains corporations' boards of directors and major shareholders (the status quo), current trends will continue until bigger economic collapses bring the system to self-destruction. Then we will have graduated from a crisis with banks "too big to fail" to a crisis that is itself "too big to overcome."

A changed system – perhaps called "economic democracy" – in which the workers themselves collectively operate their enterprises would immediately redirect enterprise profits in different ways, with very different social consequences. For example, according the bureau of labour statistics, during 2010, the pay for average workers rose 2% while the pay for CEOs rose 23%. Workers who collectively directed their own enterprises would distribute pay increases very differently and far less unequally. Likewise, to take another example, self-directing workers would allocate their enterprises' profits to the government (that is, pay taxes) but demand in return the sorts of mass-focused social programmes that the current CEOs and boards of directors want government to cut. Democratic enterprises would have to work out collaborations and agreements with democratically run residential units (cities, states, etc) where their decisions impact one another.

This short article is hardly the place to work out the details of so changed an economic system. That is, after all, the task of democratic economic and political institutions to do together, once the change has been discussed, adopted and set in motion.

Throughout the cold war decades, and even after the USSR dissolved in 1989, we remained, as a nation, afraid openly to discuss and debate a basic economic issue. Does our economic system, capitalism, serve our needs sufficiently; does it need basic changes; or might a change to another economic system be best? Instead of a debate over alternative answers to such questions, we permitted little beyond self-congratulatory cheerleading for capitalism. Seriously questioning capitalism, let alone challenging it, remained taboo, an activity to keep repressed. That repression encouraged an unquestioned and unchecked US capitalism to become ever more unequal, delivering more "bads" than "goods" to ever larger majorities of people. This unsustainable situation is being strained to breaking point by the crisis that now enters Year Five.

E-waste damages environment, endangers human health - The Economic Times

E-waste damages environment, endangers human health - The Economic Times: "WASHINGTON: Besides damaging environment, e-waste also endangers human health .

E-waste, being a factor in oxidative stress, can trigger cardiovascular disease , DNA damage and possibly cancer , claims a recent study.

E-waste, or electronic waste, describes end-of-life goods such as computers, TV, printers, and mobile phones. A large proportion of worldwide e-waste is exported to China.

Due to the crude recycling process, many pollutants, such as persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals, are released from e-waste, which can easily accumulate in the body through intake of contaminated air.

Each year hundreds of millions of tonnes of e-waste is generated worldwide, 100,000 tonnes of which is exported from the UK shores alone, reports the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Researchers from Zhejiang University took air samples from Taizhou - one of the largest e-waste dismantling areas in China - and examined their effects on outer coating of human lung, according to a Zhejiang statement.

After exposing the cultured lung cells to these samples, researchers tested for the level of Interleukin-8 (IL-8), a key element in inflammatory response, and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), chemically reactive molecules that can damage health.

Inflammation is a process by which the body's white blood cells and chemicals protect us from infection and foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses.

The results showed that the samples of pollutants caused marked spike in both Interleukin-8 (IL-8) and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) levels, which indicate an inflammatory response and oxidative stress respectively.

Study co-author Fangxing Yang, of Zhejiang University, said: "Of course, inflammatory response and oxidative stress are also associated with other diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases."

"From these results, it is clear that the 'open' dismantlement of e-waste must be forbidden with more primitive techniques improved," Yang added. "

Research into Research

The Hindu : News / National : IITs, IISc. are not the best in the world, says C.N.R. Rao: "Referring to the demand for sophisticated equipment for research labs, Professor Rao said in a lighter vein: “Shortage of equipment will make brains work better.” Referring to the premier IISc., he said, “The IISc. is characterised by very mediocre research mainly because they have a lot of facilities.”

He expressed concern that “we [Indians] do not work hard. Twelve hours of research a day is needed seven days a week if one wants to become a good scientist. There are hardly 10 scientists from India who are a household name in the world.”


At the same time, Professor Rao pointed out that India had the potential to do well. “India is a great country and you have all the freedom here. But a little bit of nationalism is needed among us,” he said, referring to how youth in China were proud of their country and dream of taking their country to the No.1 slot in science and technology.

“India has more brilliant people than any other country. Sixty per cent of India's population is from villages. It is these villages that have the best of brains. This is where our hope is. Those from big cities like Bangalore are more interested in money and they will not make much contribution to the future of the country's research,” he said.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Execs 'n Excess

Viacom execs at top in media pay - chicagotribune.com: "Even in the most rarefied echelons of executive compensation, media mogul Sumner Redstone and his top lieutenants are in a league of their own.

Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Viacom Inc., last year earned the distinction of drawing the largest compensation package in corporate America: $84.5 million. That was a 149% jump from the previous year, lifted by a one-time stock and options award totaling $54.4 million, which came courtesy of signing a new five-year employment agreement to run the company that boasts such prominent cable TV channels as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central and Hollywood movie studio Paramount Pictures.

Dauman's second-in-command, Thomas E. Dooley, received $64.7 million. His take, also boosted by a nearly $41 million one-time stock and options bonus tied to the signing of a new contract and added responsibilities, represented a 139% increase from his 2009 pay. The Viacom chief operating officer's compensation was even six times higher than for a typical CEO in the U.S."

The Variables in Variable Pay

Mahindra Satyam, Samsung, LG & Essar Group among companies handing out more than 100% variable payouts - The Economic Times: "KOLKATA: Indian executive salaries got a shot in the arm as companies showered one of the best performance-linked bonuses on employees this year. The buoyant mood is reflected in almost all the top companies, many of which recorded double-digit growth rates in sales and profits in 2010-11.

Consequently, some of them doled out more than 100% of the target variable pay, and the sky was the limit for top performers.

Korean electronics major Samsung has given employees variable payouts of 150-250% of the target amount while rival LG has given 200-700% of basic pay as bonus based on performance. Hindustan Unilever made headlines earlier this month after it paid its highest bonus in recent years (between Rs 20-40 lakh) to managers after a two-year freeze. Pharma major Sanofi Aventis has given 110-128% of the target variable incentive, about 5-6% higher than last year.

The Essar Group has provided employees with a 100% variable payout, and as much as 125% to top performers, while Schneider Electric has given an average variable payout of around 130%, compared with about 90% last year. Dabur, Godrej Consumer Products and Future Group are also considering hefty payouts."

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Bye Bye to Tutti Frutti

Climate change to deal blow to fruits, nuts: Study - The Economic Times: "Climate change is expected to alter the global industry in fruits and nuts dramatically as tree crops such as pistachios and cherries struggle in the rising temperatures, researchers said.

A study said that even if polluters took greater action to cut carbon emissions, the impact of climate change will likely be severe enough that the nearly $100 billion-a-year fruit and nut industry needs to reassess planning.

Trees in temperate regions evolved to need a chilly period so they can grow in the spring. Rising temperatures pose a special problem for temperate but comparatively warm areas where the winter chill is already in short supply.

The study, published in May by the online journal PLoS One, expected fruit and nut trees to be highly affected in California, the southeastern United States, China's Yunnan province and southern and southwestern Australia.

Areas that have already seen the worst losses of winter chill include Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and the Cape region of South Africa, the study said."

Re-engineering the World

Threat of climate change demands we re-engineer the world economy right now | Damian Carrington | Environment | The Guardian: "As an alarm call, the surge in emissions revealed by the International Energy Association is deafening. After the banking crisis of 2008, the cooling of the global economy had appeared to have given our wheezing, warming world pause for breath.

As GDP went into reverse, so did energy use and the pumping of planet-heating gases into the atmosphere. Attempts to agree global action went into reverse at the same time, despite the 120 heads of state who burned the midnight oil in Copenhagen in 2009.

But while the global economy has roared back to life, the UN's negotiations remain on life support, and with little hope of recovery.

Two truths emerge from this mismatch. First, the link between economic growth and carbon dioxide must be broken. The world's economy runs on energy, and while most of that power continues to comes from coal, oil and gas, global GDP and carbon emissions will be bound together in lockstep. The latest data show a near perfect correlation, and that shows how little impact, in a worldwide context, renewable and nuclear power is making."

Urgent Need for a Climate for Climate Change

Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on the brink | Environment | The Guardian: "Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency.

The shock rise means the goal of preventing a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius – which scientists say is the threshold for potentially 'dangerous climate change' – is likely to be just 'a nice Utopia', according to Fatih Birol, chief economist of the IEA. It also shows the most serious global recession for 80 years has had only a minimal effect on emissions, contrary to some predictions.

Last year, a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel – a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009, according to estimates from the IEA regarded as the gold standard for emissions data.

'I am very worried. This is the worst news on emissions,' Birol told the Guardian. 'It is becoming extremely challenging to remain below 2 degrees. The prospect is getting bleaker. That is what the numbers say.'"

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Pigs, Goats, and Pyramids...

Zuckerberg Unfriends Chickens, Pigs and Goats | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: "t turns out Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gives himself a personal challenge every year—and it often involves neck-related issues. Last year, Zuckerberg challenged himself to learn Chinese. But in 2009, he wore a necktie every day. This year's personal journey apparently involves slitting the throats of goats.
That's the skinny from Fortune's Postcards blog, which on Thursday reported that this year, the 27-year-old billionaire has vowed to only eat meat from animals he has personally dispatched.
In early May, Zuckerberg stunned his 847 Facebook friends with a post on his private page declaring, 'I just killed a pig and a goat.'
Zuckcerberg has developed a reputation for off-the-cuff statements that he later has to explain more fully, so it's probably no surprise that his Facebook friends reacted to that cryptic status update with 'a mixture of confusion, curiosity, and outright disgust,' according to Fortune.
The Facebook founder went on to explain the details of his yearly self-imposed challenge and how he's being coached by Silicon Valley chef and Flea Street Café proprietor Jesse Cool in his latest personal quest.
Zuckerberg has now personally slaughtered a chicken, a pig and a goat, slitting the latter's throat 'with a knife, which is the most kind way to do it,' according to Cool."



Food Pyramid Being Replaced With Plate-Shaped Logo - NYTimes.com: "The Obama administration is about to ditch the food pyramid, that symbol of healthy eating for the last two decades. In its place officials are dishing up a simple, plate-shaped symbol, sliced into wedges for the basic food groups and half-filled with fruits and vegetables.

The circular plate, which will be unveiled Thursday, is meant to give consumers a fast, easily grasped reminder of the basics of a healthy diet. It consists of four colored sections, for fruits, vegetables, grains and protein, according to several people who have been briefed on the change. Beside the plate is a smaller circle for dairy, suggesting a glass of low-fat milk or perhaps a yogurt cup."

Caring for the young and sick

As Swami Ranganathananda said, a society is judged on its ability to take care of the very young and the very old, the people who are most at risk and least capable of helping themselves.

Some parents leave Illinois to get disabled kids better services - chicagotribune.com: "Although no one tracks why people leave one state for another, anecdotal evidence suggests Hickey is one of several who are planning to leave Illinois — or has already left — because of diminishing human services here.

Jennifer Humbert of Crete is exploring job prospects in a handful of states, including Minnesota, to secure more help for her 8-year-old daughter with bipolar disorder. Vicky Rowe has already uprooted her family, moving from Broadview to Niles, Mich., last year to boost treatment for her 9-year-old with cerebral palsy. And one week after Patrice Evans' preschooler was diagnosed with autism, her Grayslake home was on the market and she was headed to Kenosha for Wisconsin's generous funding of intensive therapy.

As Illinois lawmakers go into their final hours before their scheduled Tuesday adjournment, and with the House and Senate offering competing budget proposals, there's a fight to determine how deep officials will cut — or eliminate — programs that aid the state's most vulnerable residents."

Friday, May 27, 2011

Lot of currency in math skills

This spring, I asked students in one of my business courses the following questions on the final.

On May 7th 1998, the German automobile company Daimler-Benz--maker of the world-famous luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz—purchased United States-based Chrysler Corporation for $36 billion. On May 14th, 2007 DaimlerChrysler announced it will sell its U.S. brand Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity investment firm. Daimler estimates that it will end up paying $650 million to close the deal. (In other words, Daimler was paying Cerberus $650 million to take Chrysler off its hands.) On April 30, 2009, Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its current creditors.

Q: Assume that on May 7, 1998 the exchange rate was €1= US $1.14. Based on this rate what price did Daimler pay, in Euros, to buy Chrysler?

Six out of eighteen students could not calculate the price.

Another question on the exam related to PPP.

1. It is Year 2000. Assume that the PPP exchange rate in 2000 was US $1 = Indian Rs. 50. An accounting grad just out of school was hired by GE in Chicago and was paid $50,000. GE in India hired a similar accountant in year 2000 for Rs.15,00,000. Use the PPP rate to find out whether the accountant in Chicago or the one in India had more purchasing power. (Ignore taxes).

xczAlmost all students asked me if there was a typo in the question, as the commas were incorrectly placed in the Rs 15,00,000 number. Students had forgotten that we had covered this in class just a few weeks earlier, in an extensive discussion of cultural differences. Even after telling the students that the number was correct, seven out of eighteen students could not calculate PPP adjusted salaries and answer the question.

A Window into IP

HTC Pays Microsoft $5 Per Android Phone, Says Citi: "Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC phone running Android, according to Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, who released a big report on Microsoft this morning.
Microsoft is getting that money thanks to a patent settlement with HTC over intellectual property infringement.
Microsoft is suing other Android phone makers, and it's looking for $7.50 to $12.50 per device, says Pritchard.
We knew hardware companies were paying Microsoft, we just didn't know how much. (In October Steve Ballmer said, 'Android has a patent fee. It's not like Android's free.')"

A bitter problem for patients, a sweet solution for pharmaceuticals

For Diabetes, Older Drugs Are Often the Best - NYTimes.com: "WHEN it comes to prescription drugs, newer is not necessarily better. And that’s especially true when treating diabetes.

One in 10 Americans has Type 2 diabetes. If the trend continues, one in three will suffer from the disease by the year 2050, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most Type 2 diabetes patients take one or more drugs to control blood sugar. They spent an estimated $12.5 billion on medication in 2007, twice the amount spent in 2001, according to a study by the University of Chicago. (That figure does not including drugs that diabetics are often prescribed for related health conditions, like high blood pressure and high cholesterol.)

Why the increase? More diagnosed patients, more drugs per patient and an onslaught of expensive new drugs, according to Dr. G. Caleb Alexander, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and lead author of the study. Since 1995, several new classes of diabetes medications have come on the market. Diabetes drugs are important to the pharmaceutical industry, more lucrative than drugs for many other chronic diseases, Dr. Alexander noted in an interview."

Against government spending, except when it goes into one's pocket

At For-Profit Colleges, Huge Sums and Problematic Pay - NYTimes.com: "In 2004, when Todd S. Nelson was chief executive of the University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest for-profit college, he signed a $9.8 million settlement with the Department of Education, which found that Phoenix had “systematically and intentionally” broken the federal rules against paying recruiters for students.

Mr. Nelson is now chief executive of the nation’s second-largest for-profit college company, Education Management Corporation, or EDMC, and the Justice Department and two state attorneys general are intervening in a whistle-blower lawsuit charging that EDMC also violated the ban on what is known as incentive compensation. That practice encourages aggressive recruitment of unqualified students for their federal student aid.

Given the cast of characters — along with Mr. Nelson, a half dozen former Phoenix executives are now at EDMC — the complaint against EDMC says that “senior management knows that the compensation system it administers violates the incentive compensation ban.”

Phoenix never admitted any wrongdoing, either in the settlement with the Education Department or in a later $78.5 million settlement in the whistle-blower suit that had led to that inquiry. Education Management, which enrolls about 150,000 students at Argosy University, Brown Mackie College, South University and in its Art Institutes, has said it plans a vigorous defense.

“We feel very comfortable, based on the advice we got from our lawyers, that it does not violate the law,” Anthony J. Guida Jr., EDMC’s senior vice president for regulatory affairs, said of the compensation plan. He added that it was reviewed by two law firms before it was carried out in 2003, and has been periodically evaluated since.

Mr. Nelson joined the company in 2007 and had nothing to do with designing the pay policy that went into effect in 2003, Mr. Guida noted. The chief executive before him was Jock McKernan, a former governor of Maine who still serves as chairman of the board. A company spokeswoman said neither Mr. Nelson nor Mr. McKernan was available for interviews.

Apart from the financial consequences for the colleges, the lawsuit could have political fallout: Mr. McKernan is married to Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine whose 2010 financial disclosure form lists EDMC stock and options worth $2 million to $10 million. Scott D’Amboise, who is challenging her in the 2012 Republican primary, has called on Ms. Snowe to resign because she benefited from her husband’s receiving “millions of our hard-earned tax dollars.” Senator Snowe declined to comment.

This is the first time that prosecutors have joined a suit like the EDMC whistle-blower case, and the government’s unprecedented intervention in such a compensation case comes amid escalating controversy over for-profit colleges. Enrolling about 12 percent of the nation’s higher-education students, the colleges get a quarter of all federal student aid and account for nearly half of all student loan defaults. Last Friday, the Department of Education released new data showing that more than 15 percent of those who had attended for-profit colleges defaulted within two years — twice the rate of those who attended public institutions, and three times as many as those who went to private not-for-profit colleges.

Harris Miller, president of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, said the for-profit colleges’ higher default rates were in part attributable to their serving lower-income students than other institutions.

The industry, which gets more than three-quarters of its revenue from federal student aid, has been under increasing scrutiny from Congress and the Obama administration.

“Once you get to a certain size and saliency, a lot more people start paying attention to you,” Mr. Miller said.

This month, Kentucky’s attorney general, Jack Conway, announced that he and his counterparts in 10 other states had formed a working group to investigate the for-profit colleges’ possible violations of consumer protection laws.

And soon, the Department of Education is expected to issue a regulation cutting off federal student aid to for-profit programs whose graduates have high debt loads and little earning power. The proposed regulation, known as the “gainful employment” provision, has spurred an intense lobbying campaign by the for-profit college industry and its allies, and was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review this month."

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Girls outperforming boys

The Hindu : Education : Chennai region tops in CBSE XII examination: "The Chennai region has secured the highest pass percentage of 91.32 in the Central Board of Secondary Education Class XII examination, the results of which were declared on Monday. While results for the Ajmer, Chennai, Panchkula, Delhi, Guwahati, Allahabad and Bhubaneswar regions were declared on Monday, the Patna region results are expected to be declared on May 27 [Friday].

Girls have outperformed boys with a pass percentage of 86.93 compared to boys who have notched up 77.83. The overall pass percentage at 81.71 is up by 1.84 percentage points from last year.

A total of 770,043 candidates were registered for the Class XII examination which was held from March 1 to April 13. This is an increase of about 9.85 per cent compared to last year.

The Chennai region has also emerged with the highest pass percentage of 93.21 for girls followed by the Delhi and Ajmer."

A Hair-Raising RObbery

When big banks took free money (aka stole money) from the Fed/Treasury, there were no consequences for the CEOs.
Now it is the turn of the hair stealers

Weave thieves grab $10,000 in hair extensions - Yahoo! Finance: "The owner of a beauty supply store in suburban Atlanta says thieves rammed a car through the front door and made off with about $10,000 in hair extensions.

Don Kang says the thieves hit his store, Beauty Emporium, around 3 a.m. Thursday.

Security video obtained by WSB-TV showed five masked intruders leaping over the counter and grabbing armloads of hair extensions before running out seconds later.

Kang says the thieves drove away in the same vehicle they used to crash through the glass door of the store in a shopping center in College Park.

Kang says the burglary is one of many in recent months at beauty supply stores in the Atlanta area."

Controlling the Out-of-Control Health Insurance Costs

With soaring health care costs, especially health insurance costs, the public sector is also taking injecting a strong dose (of pain) to its programs.

Under an Arizona Plan, Smokers and Obese Would Pay Fee for Medicaid - NYTimes.com: "Arizona, like many others states, says it is no longer able to adequately finance its Medicaid program. As part of a plan to cut costs, the state has proposed imposing a $50 fee on childless adults on Medicaid who are either obese or who smoke. In Arizona, almost half of all Medicaid recipients smoke; while the number of obese people is unclear, about one-in-four Arizonans is overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state’s plan must ultimately be approved by the federal government.
...
"The issue is this: we can’t keep complaining about the rising cost of health care and not drill down to what that means on the individual level. Maricopa County (where Phoenix is located) has started a program among its employees where smokers have to pay $450 more for health insurance than non-smokers. They take a swab to detect nicotine. The bottom line is that there’s plenty of evidence and studies that show there is an undeniable link between smoking and obesity and health care costs."
..."

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Getting a powerful jolt...without joules

ComEd rate increase: ComEd customers to see rate increase June 1 - chicagotribune.com: "On June 1 ComEd residential customers will see their monthly electric bills go up an average of $3.15, and more increases could come in a rapid succession if the state legislature passes a bill expected to be introduced this week.

The bill would tack on an additional $3 monthly to residential customers' bills to pay for electricity system improvements and, more significantly, would speed up review of rate hike proposals, essentially relegating the Illinois Commerce Commission, the state regulatory body that sets electric rates, to a lesser role."

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Consumer Confidence

India tops global consumer confidence level for fifth quarter - The Economic Times: "MUMBAI: Job fears and financial concerns are a thing of the past for Indians. They have been replaced by concerns over increasing food prices, with 14% of Indians citing this as their biggest concern in the first quarter of the 2011 calendar year, according to a survey by consultancy firm Nielsen.

The RBI, in its monetary policy for 2011-12 released earlier this month, had said that international commodity prices are a major area of concern.

Nielsen conducted its global survey through online poll found that India topped the global consumer confidence level for the fifth straight quarter, out of the 28,000 people who participated from 51 countries, and 1,000 people in India, Nielsen India managing director (consumer) Justin Sargent told reporters here.

When asked how the consumers were buying things, given the high inflation, he said: "The general expectation of a consumer is that inflation is going to continue for a while. So, why not buy things now when you can afford it."

"People are trying to preserve their lifestyle by spending on home improvements and decoration," Sargent added.
According to the report, 39% of Indians spent on home improvements and decoration. However, Sargent expects people to change the consumption pattern if inflation is not controlled.

The typically savings-oriented people in India loosened their purse strings to buy technology products, new clothes or spend on vacations. The survey said 65% of Indians saved their spare cash during the quarter.

Sargent added that high bank interest rates could have prompted the move from consumers. The biggest drop in spare cash investment was in mutual funds, as only 36% preferred to invest in the sector, compared to 45% in the previous quarter.

The survey mentioned that 72% of Indians changed spending habits to save on household expenditure, with 53% trying to save on gas and electricity expenditure.

With high inflation impacting borrowing costs, 16% of Indians said they wanted better deals on home loans, insurance and credit cards. According to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence report, 91% of Indians were optimistic about their job prospects in the next 12 months.

However, he said the performance by India was flat on a quarter-on-quarter basis, as the index maintained the same level of 131 points as the last quarter (October-December, 2010).

The RBI, in its monetary policy for 2011-12, released earlier this month, had said that international commodity prices are a major area of concern. It had projected headline inflation to average 9% during the first half of the fiscal, before moderating to around 6% by year-end.

Headline inflation has been above 8% since January, 2010. As per latest data, it stood at 8.66% in April this year.
"

The Beer Game and the Supply Chain

Illinois House passes bill protecting craft brewers' right to distribute - chicagotribune.com: "The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill Monday designed to protect small craft brewers' ability to enter the market.

The bill, SB 754, had more than 70 co-sponsors by the time it reached the floor. It would allow certain small Illinois brewers to distribute half of their own beer. The bill must now be approved by Gov. Pat Quinn.
Most states have three tiers in place for alcohol distribution: a manufacturer, a retailer and a distributor. The system, put in place at the end of Prohibition, was designed to ensure a properly regulated market.

Small craft brewers have argued that it is difficult to attract distributors with an unknown product, and is necessary to peddle them to bars and liquor stores directly, and gradually establish a following. Anheuser-Busch, however, has argued that this allows in-state brewers to self-distribute when out-of-state brewers are not granted the same privilege.

In an interview Monday afternoon at McCormick Place, Sam Adams founder Jim Koch described the three-tier system as having been instrumental to the rise of craft beer in the United States. However, he said, he couldn't get a distributor in the early days of the Boston Beer Co., and "I put cold beer in a briefcase and went bar to bar."

Once a brewery becomes established, he said, it's much easier to hand distribution over to the professionals. "Brewers want to make beer," he said. "

Pressures of meritocracy


Elite South Korean University Rattled by Suicides: "It has been a sad and gruesome semester at South Korea's most prestigious university, and with final exams beginning Monday the school is still reeling from the recent suicides of four students and a popular professor.

Academic pressures can be ferocious at the university, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, known as Kaist, and anxious school psychologists have expanded their counseling services since the suicides. The school president also rescinded a controversial policy that humiliated many students by charging them extra tuition if their grades dipped.

After the last of the student deaths, on April 7, the Kaist student council issued an impassioned statement that said 'a purple gust of wind' had blown through campus."

Monday, May 23, 2011

Chicago Summer

With Eye on Climate Change, Chicago Prepares for a Warmer Future - NYTimes.com: "Climate scientists have told city planners that based on current trends, Chicago will feel more like Baton Rouge than a Northern metropolis before the end of this century.

So, Chicago is getting ready for a wetter, steamier future. Public alleyways are being repaved with materials that are permeable to water. The white oak, the state tree of Illinois, has been banned from city planting lists, and swamp oaks and sweet gum trees from the South have been given new priority. Thermal radar is being used to map the city’s hottest spots, which are then targets for pavement removal and the addition of vegetation to roofs. And air-conditioners are being considered for all 750 public schools, which until now have been heated but rarely cooled."

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Tides of IIT

I visited IIT Madras the past two years and saw the C-Tides at work.

The Hindu : Life & Style / Money & Careers : Where ideas flourish: "Deep in the woods, not known to many, there's something cooking that will change the way we live. There's a company that's working on development and marketing of seaweed-based biofuels technology and ocean-based farming of seaweed. Next door, another company assembles robots to aid education. In the same corridor, school report cards are being redesigned. There's also a company that works on facial recognition and image processing applications that will help you test your make-up and styling even before you've tried or applied it, with just a swish of a finger on your iPad or iPhone. And, another, that promotes niche tourism by making it experiential and rural.

These companies are housed next to each other in little cabins with professors who mentor these entrepreneurs. Welcome to the world of IIT-Madras and its incubation cell called C-Tides (Cell for Technology, Innovation, Development and Entrepreneurship Support) run by the Department of Management Studies. The incubation cell, since its inception in 2009 (the cell existed as a forum to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship through lectures and workshops for a decade before that), has supported about 12 different companies and provided them with infrastructure and guidance, for free.

“What do we gain? We are an educational institution. We gain the pride of transforming an individual into an entrepreneur and nurturing companies,” says Professor L.S. Ganesh, founding faculty of the incubation cell.

“All we ask is for an idea that's not ‘me too',” he says, explaining how a select few with promise are chosen. And the cell has met with both commercial success and critical acclaim.

Balaraju Kondaveeti, co-founder and CEO of BodhBridge Educational Services, incubated by C-Tides, is all ready to move out now that his business has flourished. Not only did he successfully invent a smart card for security transactions that's made phishing impossible, he also designed it at a cost hundred times less than the ones available in the market and sold the technology to Lasersoft (later acquired by Polaris). Today, he runs the super popular btechguru.com, a platform for online learning and recruitment that has attained Google Page Rank Seven with visits from 150 cities from around the country. “I don't come from a well-off family. So there's no way anyone would've given me the money to start my own business,” says Balaraju.

“When I first came to Prof. Ganesh with my idea of human emoticons two years ago, he told me bluntly it wouldn't work. One year later, I showed him a demo of the facial image processing application that could be used for virtual makeovers and within a few moments, he said ‘Move in',” says Vasan Sowriraja, Founder of VDime Innovative Works. Vasan is all set to launch his virtual makeover application called 1000 Lookz all over the country by tying-up with luxury salons and also has a free platform on the iPhone for the consumer. “Whenever we have doubts, we even sit and attend management classes. I don't think any department in the world would allow that.”

“It's completely relationship based. It's got to do with understanding their vision and letting them do it themselves,” Prof. Ganesh adds. “Monetary returns will happen. There have been so many instances of students giving back to the institution. But it's not run on a quid pro quo business model. It's run on love and affection.”

Anantharaman Mani is relatively newer to C-Tides having moved in only four months ago. His company Visual Data Insights, that's developed a product called Report Bee, has redesigned the progress report card to break down the data and make it more insightful for the teachers and the parents and also chart the growth of the student's strengths and weaknesses over a period. “We are moving from an information world to a data world. To make sense of the data is going to be the fundamental key and before I could say more, he got what we were trying to do,” says Anantharaman. “It always helps to be surrounded by people who get you and he's a rock star.”

“We know that pictures speak a thousand words. So when you show data represented through graphs and a picture tells you everything you need to know about the student, it is a great idea,” says the professor.

“Trust is a very important factor because we are dealing with intellectual property here but you will find all of us sharing our ideas with each other because the environment is so conducive and friendly,” says Anantharaman.

Being situated inside IIT means they have access to quality interns. “These projects become case studies for the management students and the companies get quality talent to work for them. It helps both parties,” says Professor Ganesh.

These are still early days for the cell despite all the awards the companies have won for innovation. “Right now everything is informal like all new organisations. Soon, we will formalise processes a little more but the principle will remain the same — to carefully foster companies and write life histories of the birth and growth of great companies. It's like the joy of watching a new born grow and nurture it till it becomes old enough to sustain on its own.”"

Short, but not sweet

States shorten duraion for unemployment benefits - Yahoo! Finance: "Michigan, Missouri and Arkansas recently reduced the maximum number of weeks that the jobless can get state unemployment benefits. Florida is on the verge of doing so. Unemployment in those states ranges from 7.8 percent in Arkansas to 11.1 percent in Florida.

The benefit cuts come as legislatures deal with the damage that the recession inflicted on state unemployment insurance programs. The sharp increase in the number of people who lost their jobs drained the reservoir of money dedicated to paying out benefits."

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Letting out a Yelp!

Yelp Aims to Deal With Problem of Fake Reviews - the Haggler - NYTimes.com: "As a consumer review Web site, Yelp is so big and influential that it has given rise to a small, semi-underground group of entrepreneurs who, for a fee, will post a rave about your company. Others will post a negative review about your rivals.

Yes, this is very sneaky, and it’s a continuing problem for Yelp, which is locked in a “Spy vs. Spy”-style contest with fake reviewers. Let’s see how that contest is going by looking at, of all things, the field of dentistry.

“I was in need of teeth whitening and my friend referred me to Southland Dental,” begins a thumbs-up for a clinic in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Then there’s a description of the whitening procedure favored by Southland, and this closer: “Pain or no pain, it was very much worth it. I can’t stop staring at my bright smile in the mirror.”"

The Shanghai Connection...

The Hindu : Business / Companies : Infosys to open new campus in Shanghai: "The country’s second largest software exporter Infosys on Saturday said it plans to invest between $125-150 million in its new campus in Shanghai, China.

“Infosys plans to invest between $125-150 million in the new campus, one of the largest investments in China by a software company,” the company said in a statement.

Infosys on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the new campus, which will be spread over 15 acres and will be developed over a period of three years.

With an overall seating capacity for 8,000 employees, the campus will have facilities for software development, labs, data centres, training facilities, food courts, a 1,500-seater auditorium, gym, and other recreational facilities.

The Shanghai campus will be the largest overseas software development centre of Infosys adhering to the highest environmental standards, it said.

“As the second largest economy in the world, China will lead the world in economic growth in the future and we see exciting times ahead. This large investment is a testimony to Infosys’ commitment to China,” Infosys chief mentor and chairman of the board N.R. Narayana Murthy said."

2.5 lakhs...or 1/4 Million....IT is a big deal

The Hindu : Education / Careers : 2.5 lakh students likely to be recruited by IT firms this year: "A whopping 2.5 lakh students are expected to be recruited by Information Technology companies in the country this year, as against the 1.6 lakh last year. Though the requirement is huge, it is very focussed, said K. Purushothaman, Regional Director, TN & Kerala, NASSCOM at The Hindu Education Plus Career Fair 2011 on Saturday.

“Familiarity with cloud computing, Green IT and Remote Infrastructure Management will enhance the industrial needs, but these are not taught in colleges. Therefore, it is the duty of students to keep their eyes and ears open to understand these requirements and equip themselves,” he advised students.

A hall full of students listening in rapt attention to words of advice from experts brought out the eagerness and anxiety among students about their future. But the speakers did not fail to allay their doubts. “I was under the impression that only students with an undergraduate degree in journalism can make it big in the media, but the speakers today spelt out my options,” said Sukanya Umesh, a student."

Strategic default..and not in a game

Strategic defaults on mortgages - chicagotribune.com: "Strategic default — opting to walk away from a mortgage you can afford — isn't a new phenomenon in the housing crisis. But with home values continuing to decline, more owners are finding themselves in a position where they may see it as a savvy business decision to destroy their credit rather than wait years for prices to recover."

Friday, May 20, 2011

"Too Green" can be easily "Greenwashed"

Consumers grow wary of greenwashing: Skepticism grows over products touted as eco-friendly - chicagotribune.com: "With the booming interest in the environment, more companies are trying to cash in by promoting themselves and their products as green.

But environmentalists and some consumers are crying foul, saying that many companies are making the products out to be greener than they really are, a bait-and-switch they call greenwashing.

The term caught on when hotels began asking guests to reuse towels, saying they were trying to conserve water, though skeptics said it was really to skimp on laundry costs.

These days, greenwashing is reaching 'epidemic proportions,' according to advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, which has been pushing for accurate environmental marketing.

"If we allow companies to get away with exaggeration, consumer skepticism will become cynicism and they'll stop choosing green products at all," said Scott McDougall, chief executive of eco-marketing company TerraChoice.

Last year, TerraChoice counted 5,000 items in retail stores that claimed to be green, a 73% increase from the year before. But on every toy and 95% of home and family products, at least one eco-friendly claim turned out to be misleading or false, the company found.

Some efforts just seem a bit odd: Plastic Barbie dolls can now sport handbags and accessories made from recycled materials.

"Most companies are engaged in incremental tinkering — symbolic actions without any real substance," said Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International.

But no one can agree on what exactly makes a product green and therefore what exactly constitutes greenwashing.

As a result, federal regulators have had difficulty setting standards to regulate green labeling. The Federal Trade Commission has a voluntary guideline for eco-advertising but it is 20 years old. It is being updated.

According to a recent survey, 65% of consumers want a single seal identifying a green product, similar to the way beef is labeled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But for now, there's a swarm of companies that issue green certification, endorsements and labels for a fee.

One such program, the EcoAd from EcoMedia, a division of CBS Corp., has earned the ire of some environmental groups. They complained to the FTC that CBS is being potentially deceptive when it sells green leaf badges for advertisers to use in commercials.

"An Eco-label that promises advertisers a green image while telling them they don't need to do anything to earn that image is the very definition of greenwashing," said Michael Green, executive director of the Center for Environmental Health, in a statement.

A portion of all EcoAd proceeds go to environmental projects, said EcoMedia president Paul Polizzotto. And although there aren't disclaimers on the ads themselves, viewers are directed to a website noting that the leaf symbol is not meant as an endorsement of the companies that use it.

"If an advertiser wants 30 seconds of your time, they might as well improve the quality of your life, and that's the furthest thing from greenwashing," Polizzotto said. "What I usually see in media is a lot of talk about greening and not a lot of action."

Labels play a major role in helping consumers decide between products claiming to be green. Nearly 40% said they rely on labels, according to a report from the eco-marketing company Shelton Group.

"Many don't trust manufacturer motives, but they end up making a decision at the shelf based on the packaging, usually just buying the brands they've always bought," said Suzanne Shelton, chief executive of the group.

It can be a tricky call for consumers, who are regularly met by a vast array of vaguely defined green catchphrases such as "natural," "clean" and "organic."

Even manufacturers often don't know the difference between designations such as "compostable" and "biodegradable," researchers said. Biodegradable goods break down into carbon dioxide, water and biomass over time, while compostable items do the same while also releasing nutrients into the soil, which can be good for growing plants.

"Companies don't really understand the science behind it and they don't question it," said Steven Mojo, executive director of Biodegradable Products Institute, a testing group. "They think that their packaging or product is somehow going to magically disappear in a landfill."

Claire Scarisbrick, 26, recently spent half an hour sifting through eco-friendly body wash options atWhole Foods. The dental hygienist and chef, who lives near West Pico Boulevard and South La Brea Avenue, said she researches unfamiliar brands on her iPhone and avoids green products from large companies out of fear of being "duped."

She likes locally produced products that aren't heavily processed. She didn't buy a cosmetic company's "natural" line of face washes after she compared it to the company's standard product and found little difference in the ingredients.

"I don't want to be putting something with 30 chemicals in it onto my skin," she said. "If I've got the money, I'd much rather spend more of it on something that I believe in, not something that's just easily accessible."
"

Holding the State Hostage, legally

Illinois business tax breaks soar in recent years - Yahoo! Finance: "According to state records, Illinois' government agreed last year to give $272.7 million in tax breaks and other incentives to 67 companies that had invitations from other states to move jobs elsewhere. That's more than quadruple what Illinois promised the 44 companies that received incentives packages in 2006, and more than double the financial commitment in 2009, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.

With promises of $230 million already made this year -- including an unprecedented $100 million package for Motorola Mobility and another being negotiated now with Sears Holding Corp. -- 2011's tally will almost certainly surpass 2010's.

Gov. Pat Quinn and state economic development officials agreed to the incentive packages as Illinois wrestled with a multibillion budget deficit, one that would lead the governor to push through steep income tax increases earlier this year."

A Craft-y settlement

Kraft to pay $8.1M to settle pollution lawsuit - Yahoo! Finance: "Kraft Foods Inc. will pay $8.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over pollution at a former factory in Attica, Ind.

The lawsuit, filed in 2009 and representing nearly 130 families, claimed pollution from a former Kraft factory contaminated the groundwater beneath their homes and spread cancer-causing vapors.

A U.S. District Court judge in Indianapolis approved the settlement Friday.

In addition to the payment to the families, Kraft is required to clean up the plant site and groundwater and install mitigation systems in the affected homes. The cost of that effort was not disclosed."

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Book this!

Amazon and Waterstones report downloads eclipsing printed book sales | Books | The Guardian: "Like the death of Mark Twain, the demise of the printed book is greatly exaggerated, although the latest news from Amazon – which announced that it is selling more ebooks in America than print books for the first time – might suggest the nails are being readied for the coffin.

The company said that in the US it has sold 105 ebooks for every 100 print books since 1 April this year, less than four years after it introduced its Kindle electronic book reader. Amazon also released figures for the UK – where the Kindle only launched in August 2010 – which showed ebooks are now more popular than their hardback relatives, as Waterstone's also revealed that ebooks were outselling hardbacks by four to one.

However commentators warned the figures represent 'volume not value'.

Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon, said the company was excited by the response to its Kindle range. 'Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books,' he said. 'We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly – we've been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years.'"

Provenge or NoProVenge?

I had asked the students in my Intro to Global Business course to read the following story and answer the question (with appropriate justification)

What action(s) would you take if YOU were in charge of Medicare or Medicaid?
Out of 11 "well-argued" responses, 6 said they would NOT pay for Provenge, while 5 said they would pay. An interesting result!

Dendreon's $93,000 prostate cancer drug: Is Provenge worth it? - HealthPop - CBS News: "Are four months of life worth $93,000? Medicare officials seem to think so. They said Wednesday that the program will pay that much for Provenge, a first-of-a-kind therapy that can give men with incurable prostate cancer an extra four months to live.

Prostate cancer patients point out that the median survival time with Provenge is twice that of chemotherapy, which is marked by significant side effects.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid called the drug made by Dendreon Corp. a 'reasonable and necessary' medicine. The decision ensures that millions of men would be able to afford the drug through Medicare. Most prostate cancer patients are 65 or older."

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Birthday Suit

Obama birth certificate T-shirts for sale - Yahoo! Finance: "You've seen President Barack Obama's birth certificate. Now you can wear it.

The Obama campaign is selling T-shirts on its website that show Obama's face on the front along with the words 'Made in the USA.'

On the back is an image of the president's long-form birth certificate from Hawaii -- the one the White House finally produced in April in an attempt to squelch the 'birthers' who claim Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, and therefore ineligible to be president."

Enough to make one Red...with Beef

Beef boosters groom meat mavens on campus - Yahoo! Finance: "The national beef industry has enlisted college students across the country in its public relations fight for America's hearts, minds and stomachs.

The Masters of Beef Advocacy program also recruits farmers, ranchers, high-end chefs and school dietitians to spread the gospel of red meat consumption. But the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which started the outreach effort two years ago, has placed a strong emphasis on the Twitter generation. At least 20 percent of the nearly 2,200 program graduates are age 21 or younger.

The online program -- called MBA in a nod to the more commonly known graduate business degree -- is available in 47 states and particularly popular at public land-grant universities with strong agricultural schools, such as the University of Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas State and Western Kentucky.

At Western Kentucky University, animal sciences professor Nevil Speer offers the Masters of Beef Advocacy curriculum as an extra-credit assignment for the mostly freshmen and sophomores in his introductory-level classes. The units cover beef safety, production techniques, animal care, environmental stewardship, nutrition and the national program that provides marketing and research money.

"It's not a coercive type of thing," Speer said. "It's an external and an objective voice about the food system ... It's not set up as propaganda."

Nathan Runkle disagrees. The executive director of Chicago-based Mercy for Animals, which promotes a vegetarian diet, said that "a more accurate title for this offensive program would be the Master of BS."

"Centers for higher learning should not become dumping grounds for propaganda programs that push increased profits for an industry that subjects animals to extreme cruelty and exploitation," he said. "Cruelty and violence has no place in the classroom.""

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Administrative Trade Policies

Business Line : Industry & Economy / Logistics : Lufthansa awaits govt nod to fly A380 to India: "UP IN THE AIR

It has been around two years since the government of Germany first approached the Indian government asking it to allow Lufthansa to fly the A380 to India. Follow-ups including a recent meeting of the German transport minister with the Aviation Ministry has not yet had the desired results.

As things stand, the Indian government seems to be vacillating on whether to open up Indian skies to the A380. Earlier, in his interaction with journalists in Delhi, Mr Axel Hilgers, General Manager-South Asia, Lufthansa, said, “We have received neither a yes nor a no.”

Reports suggest that the government is not yet inclined to let the A380 fly into India. Industry watchers point out that this could be a result of fears that a superjumbo like the A380 could eat into the international load factors of domestic players such as Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines.

Estimates suggest that foreign airlines now ferry around 70 per cent of the air traffic from India to foreign shores. Permission to Lufthansa to operate the A380 could open the floodgates to similar requests from other international airline majors such as Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Qantas which have the A380 in their fleet."

Expanding IIMS

IIM(T) to open on June 15 - The Economic Times: "IRUCHIRAPPALLI: The hallowed portals of an IIM will be more accessible to aspiring business students of this city when (IIM-T) opens on June 15 this year.

All infrastructure is in place, 12 faculty members have been chosen after stringent selection parameters and admissions had commenced, with 27 students already being chosen, Dr Prafulla Agnihotri, Director of IIM-T said.

The institute, to be inaugurated on June 15, would have a total of 60 students in the first batch, both boys and girls.

Agnihotri said the faculty would be in the institute for start of the first batch of its PostGraduate programme on Finance and Accounting, Marketing, Strategic Management, Operation and Qualitative Analysis, HR and Organisational Behaviour, Management Information System.

Though the board had sanctioned recruitment of 20 members, Agnihotri said he planned to have four or five more.

On the fee structure, he said it would cost Rs 10 lakh for the two-year programme, which included tuition fee, course materials, basic books and case study books."

Bosch is Posh

Having ex-students at Bosch provides interesting insights into a German company and the German practices.

Bosch announces 22.8 million euro higher education funding for India - The Economic Times: "Announcing a 22.8 million euros higher education funding for India, Bosch said today it is setting up a 'Robert Bosch Centre for Research in Cyber Physical Systems', at the Indian Institute of Science here.

This would be a first-of-its-kind research centre and would promote applied research in the chosen domains of cyber physical systems, mobility solutions and renewable energy, the company said in a statement.

The centre would create an ecosystem of research and working environment for future engineers, and support the entire industry through contract research projects, it said. Internationally renowned Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft would support the ten-year development project."

Just Ham'ming it up!

The topic of McDonald's and its marketing practices is a good study for anyone interested in ethics theories. The Friedman doctrine and the 'Invisible Hand' would work very well if only it made all the health-related problems (associated with the Macs) Invisible...
From the Invisible Hand to the Invisible Mac


McDonald's marketing comes under fire from doctors, other groups - chicagotribune.com: "More than 550 health professionals and organizations have signed a letter to McDonald's Corp. (MCD) asking the maker of Happy Meals to stop marketing junk food to kids and retire Ronald McDonald.

The letter, slated to run in the form of full-page ads in six metropolitan newspapers around the country on Wednesday, acknowledges that “the contributors to today's epidemic 1/8 of various health issues 3/8 are manifold and a broad societal response is required. But marketing can no longer be ignored as a significant part of this massive problem.”
The letter in the ads, which are scheduled to run in theChicago Sun-Times, New York Metro, Boston Metro, San Francisco Examiner, Minneapolis City Pages and Baltimore City Paper, have been signed by such groups as the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition and the Department of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, as well as by well-known nutritionists and doctors like Marion Nestle, a nutrition and public health professor at New York University, and Andrew Weil, a doctor and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.

The campaign, which is being organized by the nonprofit watchdog group Corporate Accountability International, also includes an effort to get McDonald's to produce a report assessing the company's “health footprint.” A shareholder's resolution, submitted by Corporate Accountability International and The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, calls on McDonald's to tally the financial impact of fighting various measures like the San Francisco ordinance passed last year that established nutritional standards for kids' meals that come with toys."

Monday, May 16, 2011

Yunus and Shaich: Good people who believe people are good

Panera Bread, with its "pay what you can" cafe, is breaking new ground in business research with its bold experiments. More data over a longer term period is needed to reach a verdict, but the evidence so far indicates that the scheme has struck a chord among patrons and the community.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank stated that the normal state of people is that they are basically good. The Chairman of Panera Bread, Mr. Shaich, echoes the same thinking when trying to explain the concept.
A good reason to spend one's food dollars at a Panera!


Panera's pay-what-you-can cafe is a success - Business - Retail - msnbc.com: "It was a year ago that Panera converted the Clayton restaurant into a nonprofit pay-what-you-want restaurant with the idea of helping to feed the needy and raising money for charitable work. Panera founder and Chairman Ronald Shaich said the café, operated through Panera's charitable foundation, has been a big success, largely because of people like Thornton.
'Sometimes you can give more, and sometimes you can give less,' said Thornton, a teacher's assistant. 'Today was one of my 'more' days.'
Panera, based in suburban St. Louis, has long
been involved in charitable giving, donating
millions of dollars and giving away leftover
food to the needy. But Shaich sought more
direct involvement.

"We were doing this for ourselves to see if we
could make a difference with our own hands,
not just write a check, but really make a c
ontribution to the community in a real,
substantive way," Shaich told The Associated
Press.

What developed was the largest example yet of
a concept called community kitchens, where
businesses operate partly as charities.
Panera's success in Clayton has led it to open
two similar cafes — one in the Detroit suburb
of Dearborn, Mich., and one in Portland, Ore. It
plans to add a new one every three months or
so.

The majority of patrons pay retail value or
more. Statistics provided by Panera indicate
that roughly 60 percent leave the suggested
amount; 20 percent leave more; and 20
percent less. One person paid $500 for a meal,
the largest single payment.

"From the day it opened, the community has
just gotten stronger and stronger in their
support of this," Shaich said. "They got that
this was a café of shared responsibility."

The Clayton restaurant could pass for any of
Panera's nearly 1,500 cafes. Soft jazz plays as
people chat quietly. Men in suits sit at a table
next to women in tank tops. Fresh breads and
pastries entice from behind a glass counter.
The smell of coffee fills the air."