From this mornings WSJ comes an interesting analysis of the mortgage mess from Mr. Liebowitz a professor of economics and director of the Center for the Analysis of Property Rights and Innovation in the management school at the University of Texas, Dallas. What is really behind the mushrooming rate of mortgage foreclosures since 2007? The evidence from a huge national database containing millions of individual loans strongly suggests that the single most important factor is whether the homeowner has negative equity in a house -- that is, the balance of the mortgage is greater than the value of the house. This means that most government policies being discussed to remedy woes in the housing market are misdirected.
It's an amazing phenomenon but I have no idea how they can monetize it. No one monetizes the Web today to any extent other than search. While I am no big fan of Mr Murdoch he does make a lot of sense with this quote. It seems that on the Web today the rule of business seems to be build and audience, get them to come in big numbers and then figure out how to make money. It’s a problem that I believe is indicative of the lack of good business skills needed to succeed in any capitalist endeavor today. Read More...
The headlines in today’s newspapers said it all “Job losses rise unemployment at 9.5%”. While many are asking themselves what is going on here I have been saying all along that consumers are not going to spend us out of this recession and that the bailout plan is going to do nothing to regain consumer confidence or reverse the trend of job losses. Banks and financial institutions are already mobilizing their efforts to fight the formation of a consumer agency to watch over their lending and credit card practices and to get around the “bonus” outrage they are now offering employees 50-80% raises. Here in California the state is now issuing IOU’s to vendors and unemployment is closer to 15% in the 8th largest economy in the world. Read More...
With unemployment at 9.4% and rising, it’s a buyer’s market for employers that are hiring. But many employers are bypassing the jobless to target those still working, reasoning that these survivors are the top performers. “If they’re employed in today’s economy, they have to be first string,” says Ryan Ross, a partner with Kaye/Bassman International Corp., an executive recruiting firm in Dallas. Mr. Ross says more clients recently have indicated that they would prefer to fill positions with “passive candidates” who are working and not actively seeking a job. Of all the things that I have read this is surely the most myopic and stupid statement I have ever seen. Read More...
There are now more than five unemployed workers for every job opening in the United States. The unemployment rate has already reached 9.4 percent, and most analysts now expect it to hit 10 percent or higher. Economists are currently spreading the word that the recession may end sometime this year, but the unemployment rate will continue to climb. That’s not a recovery. There were roughly seven million people officially counted as unemployed in November 2007, a month before the recession began. Now there are about 14 million. If you add to these unemployed individuals those who are working part time but would like to work full time, and those who want jobs but have become discouraged and stopped looking, you get an underutilization rate that is truly alarming. “By May 2009,” according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, “the total number of underutilized workers had increased dramatically from 15.63 million to 29.37 million — a rise of 13.7 million, or 88 percent. Nearly 30 million working-age individuals were underutilized in May 2009, the largest number in our nation’s history. The overall labor underutilization rate in May 2009 had risen to 18.2 percent, its highest value in 26 years.” So where are the jobs? Read More...
The report that the consumers savings rate is the highest in 15 years has broad implications for marketers as consumers behavior continues to evolve and consumers learn that they in fact “can live a good life with less stuff”. Another indication that consumers are not in a spending mood ? The Fed continues to print money like it’s going out of style but inflation is nowhere to be found. What does all this mean for marketers ? Read More...
There was a good article in today’s WSJ about why business plans fail but as usual they approached the subject from 35,000 feet and did not address some basic reasons why business plans can and do all too often fail. With close to 20 years experience in corporate America here are some additional reasons why I believe the best laid plans go way off the track and crash with the shattering of careers. Read More...
There are some branding moves that at a gut level are so stupid it makes you say out loud “what the hell were they thinking”? I could not help but think that when I saw a news stories about Disney’s move into the netbook computer market with two models, one for girls and one for boys. As a Disney employee tried to justify the move he said “it can block access to certain Internet sites”...news to Disney executives: Windows and a variety of simple software programs allow parents to block access to unacceptable Internet sites. Read More...
I’m sick and tired of people like Mitch Daniels, the Governor of Indiana, among others telling graduates that babyboomers have screwed up the world and that they are responsible to clean up “the mess we left”. I was therefore thrilled to read an piece in this mornings WSJ by Stephen Moore entitled “This Boomers Isn’t Going to Apologize”. Here are some highlights... Read More...
Another aspect of the housing collapse that employers don’t want to acknowledge is the fact that a lot of people cannot afford to relocate for new jobs even if the job pays a lot more money. I recently, for example, talked to a friend who currently lives in New Jersey and was offered a position in San Francisco at a 40% bump in salary. When he and his wife spent a weekend in San Francisco looking for homes he came to the conclusion that moving out West would result in a substantial decrease in his quality of life. Why are employers not willing to pay for top talent today? Why should they after all aren’t most just looking for someone to sit in a cube and check boxes? Read More...
Last week Apple lowered prices of some Mac Books as well as announcing that the price for the next OS upgrade would be only $29. This move seems to have some analysts worried as Apple has always made really great margins on products but is this the right move for Apple and are price cuts a good move overall? Read More...
