An Invitation to Our Readers

i would like to know how the people's living stantard, the population, and freedom are in tibet since the invasion of chinese in the 1200 (yuan dynasty) and that of the american indian in north and south america since the invasion of the european.

I would like to propose a 10- or 20-part series of articles entitled "An Agenda for the Next US President," that would deal with a number of vexing issues that she or he would have to address during her or his stint at the helm.
For instance, the series could address several hot-button, interrelated topics such as the ongoing and seemingly never-ending housing, financial & energy crises, and what could be done to ensure that the recession -- which the US may already be in, and the rest of the world may soon find itself in -- would be as brief and shallow as it could possibly be, and so on.
Other topics that may seem to some, if not most, Americans to be more distant or not as pressing, e.g., global warming, food security, etc., would also need to be addressed over time. After all, the world is interconnected and the “butterflies” that flutter around in Baltimore could very well affect the economic and socio-political “weather” in Brussels, Bombay and Beijing, and so on.
However, unlike other articles which are authored by BW reporters, this series should be, in my opinion, more of a reader-community, open-source-type effort. (BW reporters should have a role but only in terms of initiating and moderating the discussion and updating drafts, etc., before a final version is "frozen.")
Frequently updated drafts could be made available for say a week on a community discussion board for comments and suggestions that could be incorporated into future updates (based on reactions from readers who could be asked to click on Recommend- or Do-Not-Recommend-type buttons next to each suggestion or comment, if they like or loathe the suggested changes).
As an academic, with a PhD from a top-tier US univ. and some global exposure, I know that I would certainly like to play a role as a contributor to this series, with ideas, suggestions, etc.

People talk about loose lending contributing to the credit crisis, what I'd like to know is where the money came from to lend. I am in the dark about that, or am I missing the obvious somewhere.

Would the Glass-Steagall Act have made the "sub-prime crisis" impossible or unlikely?

I'd like to see BusinessWeek do a story on what THEY believe would have happened to the stock market if the Federal Reserve hadn't stepped in as early as last August and injected money into the Banking System. And I'd like to get BusinessWeek's "take" on the possibility of a stock market crash happening in 2008 or 2009. "Crash" could be defined as a decline of 1,500 points or more in a three day period. Thank you, Karl- the POEM guy!

I'd like to see BusinessWeek team up with some of the Harvard Business Professors and get their "take" on where our economy is headed for the next three quarters and for 2009! Thank you, Karl

I'd like to see BusinessWeek do a story about how typical investors in the USA are struggling with Investment Firms to get THEIR OWN MONEY out of the hands of these Investment Firms, but are being BLOCKED from doing so! Thank you, Karl

I'd like to see BusinessWeek do a story where their readers could make a prediction regarding where the Dow Jones will be on January 15th, 2009, and whoever is closest will win a weekend in NY and tickets to Saturday Night Live!! None of the guesses will be posted. BusinessWeek will allow two weeks for predictions to come in, one prediction per e-mail address only. Thank you, Karl

I have read many articles about the losers in the credit and sub-prime melt down. Just recently the IMF indicated that the cost would approach a trillion dollars. Normally, finance is a zero-sum game where there are winners and losers. Thus my question, is who has benefited from this crisis.

I would like to know how people who are single are viewed in American society. How older singles view being single and how they may or may not be discriminated against in jobs, promotions or even coupons put out by restaurants. How they may cope with being alone or how they enjoy it.

Thank you

The impact of the derivatives scandal on State investment funds and on pension funds. Florida has had one fund collapse so far. S.D. has billions at risk. What about other states?
Who is responsible? What can be done to mitigate the impact? Can brokers and financial firms be sued?
The public needs to know.

I've been intrigued by the terms tranche, slicing and dicing securities, re-packaging and selling them. Who are the originators, who are the buyers, and how come all these big financial institutions ended up with so much of this stuff on their books ? Aren't they the ones who have been selling these securities ? And how come the rating agencies gave such high ratings to these securities? If they were compromised by their clients, then how come these very same clients ended up investing in these securities? Is this a case of lying to yourself long enough so that you came to believe your own lie?
If possible, could you do an expose explaining the process with at least one financial instituiton as an example.

A quote from Paul Volcker from one of your recent articles references executive compensation: "He also thunders about executive compensation in financial services that lavishly reward success but impose no "symmetrical losses" when failures occur.

I'd appreciate deeper coverage of the lack of outrage regarding pay packages for executives that destroy shareholder equity.

To me, it's an Enron redux sans a bankruptcy filing.

These are just some of the "strategic" policies employed by corporate heads that continue to lead t a CEO's enrichment:

1) fire employees or reduce the main-line workers compensaton package first-before-all-else.
2) impoverish the shareholder by destroying dividends & equity through reckless or lack of corporate guidance
3) dilute shareholder value by reaching out to last-ditch capital sources after the damage has been done.

And then, when they are fired. They bail with millions with pre-negotiated parachutes.

If a man of Volcker's stature is outraged, why aren't people in your journalistic positions of power & influence acting the same. BW should take an ongoing editorial stand on this. That, in it's own right, would be newsworthy.

Dear Sirs

I love visiting the USA and enjoy the country and the people very much.I was recently there and saw hotels are having green ideas.Flourescent lights, changing linens every 3 days....

Now thats great but there are other options that don´t affect quality of life that can be taken which might even have a bigger impact:

1)AC should not work when rooms are empty
2)Engine idling of cars and buses should be banned when they are empty.Remember the fuel savings of the right on red measure
3) There should be a legal temperature for public spaces and or private of say no les than 23 degrees centigrade in summer, some places like Miami Airport are a human refrigerator!
4)Car headlights should switch off after say 30 seconds or whatever time is decided when engine off.No more battery jumping or tow trucks fuel to jump car batteries
Who needs headlights when not in the car?

What would the reduction in the greenhouse effect would be if these simple measures are taken?Is it worth the investigation?

Just remember the ozone layer gets thinner in the south of the world,like my country Uruguay but the cause is the north of the continent!

Best regards

Alejandro Sosa

I would like to see a story on how unions are making a come back.I am in the electrical side of the business and our business unit voted to become represented by local 69. I have never worked for a union in the 29 years I have been a lineman,now I am a controller.The lineman went union first and now other business units.I am interested in seeing a story on this.
Thanks
William Franklin

I would surely like to see a report relating to the customer service industry, much like Sprint's customer service center, fast foods and the lame service us, the customers, receive when something is not correct and the person responsible simply looks over and does nothing. Overall customer service area has degraded to a point in which people rather bypass this service then to get the responses and no actions from such companies. A review on whom and how this problem is being dealt with by corporations and the impact this has on their own business. A window or view on this problem and an exposure of how these corporations to nothing to achieve customer satisfaction.

Thank you
Jorge Santiago

Please write an article on how President George Bush has been bad for capitalism all around the world. Instead of promoting democracy and capitalism, his policy of unnecessary aggression has done just the reverse.

I would like to see an investigation of how taxes could be used to help transform American society into a greener, more energy- efficient country. An example, a small gas tax that would help small companies compete in building highly energy efficient cars and help the average consumer spread that technology. Another example, tax incandescent bulbs with an energy inefficiency tax with the proceeds going to lower the cost of new efficient bulbs on the market.

I would like to see a story on how a new economic institution might be created to manage the global economy. Since neither any economist nor any official can give practical solutions in the past eight months, perhaps we need to hear from market operators, including both top managers and common professionals. Maybe it is more efficient to discuss financial issues from human incentives and operational control in entire market process and firm governance.

In light of the recent food riot in India, and the fact that every commodity price has exploded in the past year, we need to examine food security. Some have blamed the recent push for increased biofuel production, citing that it removes otherwise edible grain from the market, leaving the remainder to be sold at exorbitant prices. My local radio station stated this morning that even if America devoted every last field to bio-fuel production, the country would still only satisfy a meager 14% of its energy needs. Clearly this is both unworkable and unconscionable, as real human beings will die over this. We can all find ways of dealing with less fuel, but I -- for one -- have yet to find a substitute for eating.

I would like you to do a story about the rise of different telecommunication markets in Africa and how this has been growing year on year. The markets would be West Africa, North Africa, East and Central Africa & Southern Africa and how this has had an effect uplifting the lives of the people in those countries.

I would like to see an article on the Lebanese post-war economy and predictions for its future. Tourism, our main flagship, is losing ground due to the political situation. People need to know about the history and richness of the Lebanese history and what used to make Lebanon the first tourist attraction in the region, and what should be done to allow Lebanon to regain its position.

Thanks for asking! It struck me as I read these comments that it would be wise to add a recommend feature on each suggestion - so as to get a feel how we out here feel.

What to expect in the following decade ... With a new President, a new party in the driver's seat, 78 million Boomers starting to retire, an unending war or two, etc. Energy prices out of sight and going higher followed by higher food prices and their effect on the working poor. All of this adds up to a different time like "no other" for Americans and our place in the world. These changes will change the way Americans think and live for decades to come.

If a company moves its production overseas and then attempts to sell its products in the U.S., it should be required to pay a import unemployment tax. Do a commentary on that.

Write an article on the economic re-emergence of Louisiana (not just New Orleans) after Katrina. For instance, the combination of reconstruction after Katrina, the increased demand for oil, and the limited impact of sub-prime mortgages, has put Louisiana on the opposite end of the recession cycle that the rest of country is facing. Sometimes it pays to be different.

"Where is the profit in Religion?"
Where do the tax-exempt dollars go?
Who benefits from running churches?
What do the people who give to churches receive in return?

Provocative questions I think. Are there publishable answers?

With the eye-popping compensation packages of hedge-fund managers, especially in these not so colorful days for Wall Street, there is so much interest in knowing who these guys really are, what their lives look like, what are the downsides of their daily have-to-do list, their backgrounds of how they got where they are. It is important to take a look not only at the very successful ones but also on the other end of the story, those betting billions and losing it so not everybody thinks this is the perfect job to have. I would recommend a study titled: "Hedging: An inside look at the most popular job of the decade"

Thanks for the opportunity,
Stamatios

I would like to read about the shrinking job market for journalists, editors and other media professionals - from a practical standpoint. With so much news now online, where is the industry headed? How do writers who want to pursue a career in journalism need to adjust? What new skills do they need to get the top jobs( i.e. web editing, web design, HTML, graphic design, etc.)? How do they get trained in these skills? What are other interesting ways writers can make a living in this new, technical era? Are there stable, high-paying opportunities out there?

It would be interesting to have a serious and detailed analysis of whether we have hit or are close to peak oil production.

Some readers may want to see that every place in the U.S. is headed for recession. In the small City of Denham Springs, Louisiana, we are thriving and things are looking good for 2008. I own an Architectural/Engineering firm and we could give you an uplifting story about a family-owned business.

I'm recommending that Business Week publish a series of articles with real-life case studies of people who didn't recklessly use credit cards or don't even own one (like Warren Buffett). What is the standard of life for these folks?

I suggest an in-depth investigation on the misdemeanor on the part of
the banks that sold the sub-prime loans after originating and securitizing them and treating them as prime. I'd also like to see an investigation of the credit rating agencies that cleared and facilitated the sale of these securities as if they were securities covering prime credit. And finally I'd like to see an investigation of the regulators who ought to have laid down the norms/standards applicable for such transactions.

"Why should I and other prudent taxpayers shell out funds to rescue dolts who didn't read the fine print? Nor should we rescue mortgage lenders who practiced poor business. [Nor] lose more money by bailing out intemperate clowns."
Judy Rosner
ELMHURST, ILL.

I am still aghast that BW printed the above comment in its magazine. Some of these so-called "dolts" have had a child or spouse become catastrophically ill ot become ill themselves. Some established small business owners have lost everything to this economy.

My family is struggling a bit, but we weren't subprime borrowers, and I know that we will get through these times and be just fine.

The thing is, I don't think there should be a government bailout; I think that tends to rot the American national character. I think that what made this country great was hard work in the face of adversity, and frankly, we *always* pay a price when the government "gives" us anything.

But to kick people who are down, as Ms. Rosner, turns my stomach. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. Rosner's comment was unacceptable in a civil society.

I thought better of BW. Or is that what your staff think of your fellow citizens? If so, God help America.

And Ms. Rosner, I would rather be a "clown", as you so sensitively describe your fellow citizens, than an asshole like you. You're what Lester Burnham (in American Beauty) would have called a "bloodless, money-grubbing freak."

In the midst of all this economic turmoil I would love to see a report on the positive economic impact that the nuclear renaissance will have on our economy. With the cost of building one nuclear reactor reaching into the billions, there is surely going to be a lot of good that comes from this injection of money into local economies supporting the projects. While personal bank accounts may be strapped for cash, energy producers are more than eager to spend their money on building new power plants to meet the forecasted demand. The first Engineering Procurement and Construction contract for a nuc plant was just signed last week between the Shaw Group and Progress Energy Florida. Why do events like this go unnoticed? Business Week should research just how great of an economic impact this nuclear renaissance could be given the NRC's anticipation of 29 COL applications expected in 2008.

There's a lot of hand-wringing about high and increasing gas prices, but precious little talk about improvements to public transportation systems to ease the pressure on gasoline supplies. I'm specifically talking about rail transportation. Urban transit agencies and commuter rail systems are starting to report increased passenger loadings, but there has been little discussion about the national system. Amtrak has held on for 37 years in a hand-to-mouth existence, continually starved for both capital and operating funds. How about a story about how European countries in particular (France comes to mind) see rail as an integral part of the nation's transportation system, but here in the US we can't seem to break loose from old-fashioned ideas. We think of rail as a quaint carryover from the past and have an ongoing dispute over "subsidizing train riders" while no one questions the wisdom of continually sinking vast subsidies into highway, air, and water transportation. Given the inherent efficiency of rail (a single track can carry the hourly passenger equivalent of 12 lanes of highway), not to mention its much lower environmental impact, why is there no serious discussion about a real balance in our transportation network?

I'd like to know how companies decide where to locate their North American facilities and why the Deep South is eating the Rust Belt's lunch?

I want to read an in-depth story about Global Warming. Is its cause natural or human?

TITLE: Making America the Land of OpportuniTV

SUBTITLE: How America's TV networks can profit obscenely by introducing online markets that create A LOT of good jobs in the U.S., and provide people all around the world with new and improved ways to develop, demonstrate and profit from expertise.

As such, the sooner TV networks are introducing these markets, the sooner a lot of top-quality entertainment programming will:

1. Increase awareness of (proposed) public policies that (would) put taxpayers on the receiving end of gratuitous moral hazard (e.g., increase awareness via a next-gen Jed Bartlet channeling Jon Stewart and Vietnam-era Walter Cronkite)
2. Showcase elected representatives who protect taxpayers from gratuitous moral hazard

I would like a study of the present penal system with a focus on the following:

Should the incarcerated pay back society for their crimes, or does society suffer their crimes and, in addition, pay room, board, medical, dental, and amenities for them out of their taxes?

What is the gross national product loss of having about two million people behind bars under conditions described above?

Does the present penal system train convicts to return to society as productive participants, or do most convicts return to a life of crime and wind up back in jail?

Would it be better to exchange jails for work camps were convicts are made to work until they pay back their debt to society, and at the same time are exposed to a work ethic?

Would such a work force greatly reduce our balance of trade deficit, and even reverse it?

“Lack of Supply Chain Managers to hurt organized retail in India”
(Estimates say 1.2 million supply chain execs will be needed by 2010)

Legend has it that Wal-mart and its nearest rival K-mart were locked in a head-to-head to battle to dominate the North American retail space. Wal-mart and K-mart both sourced from all corners of the globe, especially South America and China. The catch, though, lay in the fact that while Wal-mart spent roughly 3 cents for every dollar of merchandise from supplier to store, K-mart spent 5 cents to the dollar. The battle of retail was the battle between the most efficient supply chains. The last man standing today is, of course, Wal-mart which has since gobbled up K-mart and is currently knocking on Indian doors, ready to make a splash in India sometime this year.

Retailing is a tough business: attrition rates, rentals and margins have had many a retailer question the viability of the sector in India. However, there are many who have committed large amounts of capital in building the retail business in India. Experts say that retailing is nothing but the building of a successful supply chain. Wal-mart succeeded and has today emerged as a retail giant. The Reliance’s, Birla’s and Bharti’s of this world will have to do the same.

Retail wastage especially on the food and grocery side means declining profitability. The management of the supply chain requires a very qualified and skilled set of personnel to drive a business as dynamic as retail. So where are these supply chain managers? The industry is abuzz with the need to build a sophisticated supply chain and volumes have been written about how it will benefit the country overall. The big question, however, is how the retailers are going to manage their supply chain without a pool of skilled manpower. The numbers doing the round are that by 2010 India will need at least 1.2 million skilled personnel across the supply chain (forecasting, procurement, logistics etc;) if retailers are to have any hope of making it to the next round of the retail battle.

Some questions:
• Why is the Supply Chain so critical, especially to retail?
• So we have companies like Reliance and Bharti looking to make big ticket investments into building chains and warehouses across the length and breadth of the country. How is that going to benefit India in the long run?
• How is the supply chain being driven currently? What are its disadvantages?
• If the shortage of skilled supply chain managers could slow down retail then what is the best way to meet the challenge?
• Is the current system geared to meet this challenge?

The battle for the Indian wallet is just heating up. Stores are coming up left, right and center and the Indian retailer is all set to woo the consumer; however, even he knows that his toughest battle lies at the back end where the supply chain could prove to be the weakest link in the race to getting the biggest bite of the consumers wallet.

Even as the economic gloom refuses to dissipate in a hurry in the U.S., there is growing interest among Business Week's international readers, particularly those in emerging economies like India, to know how real is this whole theory of decoupling. I have read some articles on this theme here, but none that maps out the impact of a continued slowdown in the U.S. on emerging economies in clear and specific terms. A hard story that attempts an industry-wise analysis of the slowdown in the context of de-coupling would be of enormous value. For example, how would the slump impact India's software exports now as compared to say how it would have in a more US-dependent scenario?

A story on the intersection of neurology, bio-technology and communications would be very interesting to Business Week readers.

Innovation in the educational system (K12 - universities)

Besides the "Most Innovative Companies", I would like to know more about the "Most Innovative Schools." Education is changing in terms of methodologies, goals, architecture, technology, etc. What are the major challenges?

What would be interesting to read?

What are the management innovations that have taken place in the past 8 years that have significantly changed the way we do business, as compared to the way we did, in the previous century!

I would recommend a story on the impact of New Age media.

Pages after pages today are filled with Facebook's ad positioning, SMS 2.0, Second Life, etc. Does the juxtaposing of entertainment and livelihood have any future or is it just a passing fad?

There has been a lot of coverage around the recession, but one sector that typically gets ignored is the non-profit market. Does a tighter belt equal bigger hearts for giving? Or, will charitable donations significantly decline, and how can the non-profit sector recover? The story can even dive into non-profits' relationship with big business and the effect on the overall economy, as well as social media/technology's impact on philanthropy and donors.

I had a "Letter to the Editor" published in the Real Estate section of the L.A. Times on 4/6/08 having to do with appraisers. Business Week's Chris Palmeri called me a few days later
wanting to talk to me about my letter and using part of it for an article he was writing. I was happy to do it and we spoke at length. I spoke to him (e-mail) a few days ago as to when his article would be on line so I could read it and he said sometime this week either Wednesday or Thursday. I sent him another e-mail asking him where on line I could find his article and he could not point me in the right direction to locate it. Can someone help?

Why is our legal system so ineffecive and what price does business and society pay for it? The constitution specifies justice, but people talk of "rule of law" (which even Mugabe claims in Zimbabwe). So what do we have to do to avoid economic disasters every 2-3 years due to an inbalanced socio-ecomonic political system? How do we get citizens involved and voting? Have they read the Constitution in the last five years?

I would recommend focusing on agriculture. Food shortages are leading to a huge rise in prices. This will have a huge effect on the worldwide economy as well as politics in the upcoming years.

It would be interesting to review the effect of technology on the music industry. Start with its history...in that it was created via technology (phonograph); how the technology was controlled and used to create an industry. And how technology has been allowed to destroy (downloading individual songs instead of albums; dowloading via piracy)the music industry paradeigm. What are the current potential solutions, if any?

Are gasoline prices still comparably cheap? Are drivers absorbing the current prices with little effect and response?
At what price does gas precipitate an urgent demand for highly fuel- efficient cars and/or meaningful changes in transportation behavior? And who will be the companies that benefit when this shift occurs? Will it be incremental or panic driven? Is it time for a $1 gas tax? How would a gas tax increase affect the market and our behavior?

I want to suggest a story on how data mining is reshaping the business and the consumer culture.
Look at the examples we have from Finance, Marketing, and Medical Diagnosis:
1) Amazon product displays
2) Google shows ads using data mining
3) Neural networks in medicine decision making
4) When I watch Youtube I want it to tell me what to watch next.
5) Decision making in various field is being outsource to computational data models.

What does it mean to the ordinary Joe and the company which Joe works at?

Dens of Gambling - Oil and food bubble about to burst?

Commodities markets seem to have become a den of gambling. With commodity derivatives being packaged into financial instruments, these are now traded like stocks and behave like a stock market. And will most likely fall like the stock markets.

For instance, the rise in the price of crude oil to around $110 now from $50 a year back is not justified by pure demand-supply issues. The world production of oil as well as physical inventories are enough to meet current consumption needs.

I believe we will hit the bottom of the economic cycle with the oil, food and real estate bubbles bursting. Crude Only then will the recovery cycle begin.

Some research seems to point toward 40% of the rise being due to speculative interests and another 40% being due to supply-demand reasons.

Is there merit in this hypothesis? Are there large speculative interests in commodities? Is this a bubble waiting to burst? if so, what could be its impact?

Amar
http://taxationindia.blogspot.com/

How about a story on the other end of the spectrum of the banking world. All the headlines of late have focussed on large banks with huge portfolios, complex investments and massive charge-offs.

But on the other end of the spectrum, banking is a much different animal. I am talking about the local community bank. The State Bank of Your Hometown that was started by local business people and investors, whose shareholders are your customers and neighbors. Whose total assets may be $150 million, just a fraction of what some banks are charging off. Places where your bankers know you by your first name......

It is a completely different world than what has been shown in the media lately.

This is a fantastic idea. I've read many articles on the Tibetan cause and the Chinese crackdown. However, I am still confused about the history between Tibet and the Chinese government. A few articles I have read about pro-China supporters attribute their support to nationalism and government brainwashing. Could this be true in a world where information runs so freely? The world may benefit from hearing a complete story told by a highly regarded publication.

My idea for a story is what sets up most marketing programs to fail? When is the last time you read about a company going out of business because of their marketing program? Yet, most companies use traditional marketing methods based on demographics, without any regards to generational mind-sets and how different they are from each other.

Very few businesses are successful with their marketing programs, even with the advancement of all the new technology and media.

They blame everything else for their failure except their marketing campaigns. Marketing is usally the weak link of most industries with the least amount of money spent on it.
The only logical way to succeed in your advertising and marketing campaigns is to separate generations with different messages, advertising the same product or service at the same time without alinating another generation. Genergraphics is the only answer, not demographics.

We need a deeper understanding of why the U.S. economy has suffered a great deal. Is it the sub-prime loan issues or is the high energy prices?

I feel it is the greed of the U.S. companies, starting insurance firms and banks. This free enterprise system is not free after all. There are people in this country who don't want to see small business succeed.

Yet, small business is the heart and soul of this country. There needs to be a lot of support from everyone to support the entrepreneur and small business person. It is what made this country so great to begin with.

I would like a story done on ebay/paypal. You hear the good but there are many problems from customers shipping goods and not getting paid through paypal. Some complain that people are using their paypal accounts without their knowledge. Customers should know the truth. We found out the hardway, with $600 gone. Amazon does not have this problem.

I would like to suggest an article on the changes in the financial institutions in the developing world after FIIs have taken significant stakes in banks and micro-finance organizations.

I would like to see a story or a series of stories on how design, products or ecosystems could change the an entire market and influence our way of living as well as the economy.
As an example: ipod or iphone, or the A380.
But certainly coming designs (electric cars in an urban ecosystem, solar-equipped and self-generating clean power from renewable sources are among the others.

Who is the ultimate beneficiary of the explosive growth of emerging markets such as China and India? The American investor.

Every morning, I wake up and brush my teeth with an Oral-B tooth brush, take a shower with Dove soap, eat Kellogg's cereal for breakfast, wear Dockers' pants, drive a Ford Ikon car and go to work at IBM.

Oh, by the way, I live in India. The significant increase in the disposable incomes of many young Indians is immensely helping American companies to improve their bottom lines. The ultimate beneficiary of this process is the savvy American investor who invested in U.S. companies that derive big portions of their revenue from emerging markets.

I would like to have good accurate info about the amount of money my city (Johnson City, TN) needs to pay out over the next 10 years to city employees that are retiring (about 1/3 of current) during that time. I believe that there is a real BIG problem that the city fathers do not want to talk about since their friends on the city's payroll will have their pensions reduced or eliminated if the general taxpayers are told the true amount. Tennessee supposedly has passed a law that makes cities and counties tell the taxpayers what the promised pensions and health care for retirees will cost over the next 5 to 10 years. what is really interesting is that no numbers have been given and I doubt that they will be given out some major media group pushes for the info to be given out.
HELP!

I read about your new social media idea and as the CEO of a social media sport site I highly value your leadership in embracing social media in one of the most important publications in the world of journalism.
One idea which I wanted to share with you is about how do you value the contribution by readers. From our experience pure payment for contribution is not the driver for readers involvement with social media. We therefore teamed up with UNICEF and are helping raise money for sport programs in South Africa through readers involvement on our site. I believe that BusinessWeek can show clear leadership by tying social media and corporate responsibility and set up a similar model in which you contribute and encourage your readers to contribute to important causes such as UNICEF.
For more about our program http://www.sportingo.com/unicef

I see a lot of stories on “consumerizing” workplace software or making it on-demand, but companies should go even further. As workers get younger, you can’t just make the software look like a fun application, such as Facebook, but also be accessible via mobile devices. There are examples of companies reaching distributors in places like Latin America via phone, because in many of those countries – everyone has a phone, but less people have internet access. Or testing a factory floor working on a machine, certifying them on the phone and they can immediately start work, keeping the production line going. Or, wouldn’t it be great to do a little skill development while sitting in the airport or waiting outside for an appointment where it’s easy to take out your phone?
It’s all about using the things that people use in their everyday lives.

Just another way to link people and the toys, I mean “tools”, which they are using.

We heard a lot about the disappearing "talent pool", but as we go into the recession, we are already finding it harder to find qualified people. Why don't companies take more time (and spend less) in developing the people that they have? They might be surprised to find out the hidden talents in the organization that take little extra work - instead of taking up my time and others in finding and interviewing candidates. Plus, I would think that employees would appreciate the development and stay - feeling more secure as we head into the downturn.

Money is like energy, it can't be destroyed. So with all these institutions losing so many billions, who is ending up with all the money they lost. Or is it falling in some big hole?

I wrote this article for Seekingalpha.com. In light of $4/gal gasoline, your readers may be pondering what will be the type of vehicle they are likely to drive in the future. I believe the solely gasoline powered internal combustion engine has seen its best day. Even if crude oil prices fall, there is environmental conservatism behind the common consumer today, and he / she is likely to demand vehicles that pollute less and yield higher fuel economy.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/71184-fmc-corporation-the-future-of-battery-technology

I think your research staff will find this an interesting subject to write about.

You should do an article on an underreported area of the software industry that can save company's millions of dollars in real estate and energy costs, among other benefits. That area is known by a number of names including facilities management or IWMS software.

ARCHIBUS, Inc. is a big player in this field and its software helped Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina avoid spending approximately $30 million on a new headquarters by reconfiguring BCBS's existing space; moreover, it freed up enough of that space to allow them to sublet some of it and generate an additional million-dollar revenue stream.

Using space more efficiently also presents an environmental/green savings angle since less wasted space means lower heating/cooling costs for organizations.

The company is also involved in a number of implementations for the State of Missouri that is helping save tens of millions in taxpayer dollars and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 200 million pounds annually (the equivalent of taking 16,000 cars off the road).

It's clear that the government can't control our foreign consumption of oil but why shouldn't it regulate individual consumption? Wouldn't federal speed limits help? I recently drove 55mph on I-40 from my home in NC to the RDU Airport and back and I only passed one car while hundreds of vehicles whizzed by me burning lots more fuel per mile (15-20%)than I. Where's our common sense? Let's drive 55, carpool, use public transportation and work from home like we did in the late '70s.

In physics, we are seeking the grand unified theory which would explain in one formula different types of forces such as gravitational, electromagnetic, nuclear et al. Today, there is another parallel in terms of man made disasters - terrorism, war, global warming, subprime crisis, food crisis, etc. I think there is a need to find a unified theory of man made disasters. If we can do that, then mankind can try to avert such large disasters, and at the very least, minimize their impact. I would like Business Week to steer the smart thinkers toward R&D on this issue.

Very simply, I'd like to see a story on where all our tax money is going. Why should the average Joe pay these taxes with little information on how that money is spent?

Look into the NIH (Nat'l Institute of Health) and its $30 billion budget for medical research. The taxpayers fund all of this; does Big Pharma get a free ride and cherry pick the 'winners?' DO they actually pay a real royalty when they benefit from that research, or a token 'few pieces of silver?' We all know they heavily fund both political parties, so would it surprise anyone to see that something very big has gone missing? We should look at this as both political parties are inclined to use taxpayer money to get big business to fund their re-election. Given the gross obscenity of Social Security and Medicare would rampant fraud and corruption be very far from the truth?

How people are using technology to keep healthy
in India and the rest of the world?

I'd like to see a story on the money cycle."

How does new money enter the financial system? How is it used? And does it get distributed around the world?

What contribution do developed and developing countries have in this cycle?

Is there a correlation between the shipping industry's performance and the signs of recession or the performance of the markets? If there is, and I think this is true, then we could predict in a way the near future of the markets or how long this recession is going to last.

The story on Warren Buffet's blood money companies, among them Kirby...

...where labor practices and methods are suspect to say the least. I know, because I used to work at Kirby.

When was the last time anyone dared to do an expose on the source and ethics of some of the money that wealthy and respected people accumulated?

The focus on the environment and global warming is in the news everyday. Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth' and his receipt of the Nobel Prize has garnered world attention to the cause of preventing climate change.

With the growth in the carbon credit industry, I think a story on the business connections between Al Gore and the carbon credit industry needs to be explored.

Start with his chairmanship of "Generation Investment Management" which invests in 'green' initiatives.

I suggest a multiple part series that delves into great detail about how to start a business that you can do on the side, the kind of business that can supplement your job. I'd like to know how to build it to completely replace your job.

Entrepreneur Ben Peterson of the book "$500 Startup I want You to be Happy & Wealthy" (www.500DollarStartup.com is the book's website), could show people how.

Ben could take readers from all walks of life and in the coming issues readers could follow these people starting an online business for $500. You know, follow the story.

It would be like Reality TV but in BusinessWeek. He did a version of this at the LA Book Fair in interviews (minus being able to follow people through their entrepreneurial journey). Ben's book is about how to start an online business with $500 (step by step). It is about the old economy being replaced by the new economy. It makes it easy that anyone can start their own business. He is also offering the ebook for free to help during these tough times.

I suggest that you write an article about low dose naltrexone.a cheap use of low dose of the out of patent medecine naltrexone. It helps thousands with ms auto-immune diseases, autism, and cancer.

Recently my wife was driven out of primary care medicine after 19 years of successful practice, all by ludicrous reimbursement policies and rates. A colleague reported to me that his daughter, a medical student, and her classmates are being besieged to go into primary care, but they all are turning down this low paying field.

We ALREADY have a primary care provider shortage, and it is only going to get worse. Since our system depends on these providers, the whole system is at risk.

How about a story on steps we can take to fix this problem?

I am amazed by what has been going on in the commodities markets. It Are we moving, as one theory says, to a "depression" in U, not a V recession? And in some contries, an L depression like Japan in the 80s? Can we assume that the stock markets move up is purely irrational exuberance that takes into account medium-term economic uncertainties?

I would like to know more about Honda's famous but widely secret product development philosophy and best practice techniques. Seems to me, that these are one of the main reasons of Honda's soaring stock price. The company has great products. Honda is into innovative product development, while Toyota is into (lean) manufacturing. They are real champions and world-class benchmarks. Why doesn't anyone write about that?

I believe that a story about the success of your current call for suggested news stories from your readers would be of great benefit to your industry and the country in general. Too much of what is presented by the so-called news media is just a bunch of the same-oh same-oh. With the internet, there is so much more that can be presented in a two-way fashion. I have only taken the time to write letters to the editor of our local newspaper three or four times in my 58.92 years on planet earth, But i have sent in six or seven comments to your magazine during the last two or three months. It is neat to see an immediate posting of my comments, and I do not have to wait serveral weeks to see if I "made it" into print. Your methods of trying to improve your magazine over the years (i.e. I have subscribed since 1973) have been one of the reasons that I have kept coming back for more. Keep up the good work.

I believe that you should reverse the order of the comments so that the most recent are on top and the older ones are listed in descending order.

First idea: I would like to see an article or series of articles that truly maps out: how the changing demographics in the U.S. (even globally) will or could possibly change the corporate workplace....essentially something that gives senior leaders a view of the future of the workplace in America...why it matters, what they should be doing to prepare, what risks loom for corporates, society and the US and global economy, etc.

Second idea: It would be nice to have a regular section or series of articles on the latest innovative thoughts from top 10 business schools...we'd love to hear those new ideas sooner rather than later...ideas make it into academic journals all the time but there's a lag time in terms how soon those ideas make into popular media...but i am sure business leaders and people with business interest would love to learn about such ideas sooner rather than later.

How about a story on why the profession of law should be transformed into the business of law? Access to capital markets is happening in Australia and the U.K. where a study by Sir David Clementi showed as many consumer complaints came from poor business service as poor legal advice. The organized bar here has various arguments to resist change and consumers have paid for this. The current business model for law firms means that firms don’t invest in assets to stay competitive globally and denies the reality that lawyers are in business to serve consumers. Investment decisions whether in R&D, infrastructure are now being made only by those who stand to lose in the short-term. Will you write about why and how the legal profession in the U.S. needs to reinvent itself?

I'd like to see a BW story about how much online poker sites take from the players by raking the pots and skimming the tournament entry fees. You did a very interesting story a couple years ago about the UK site Party Poker, reporting, as I recall, that they raked in $1 million a day. That site has since stopped doing business in the US, but many sites still admit American players.
That story described online poker as a great business for the "house", but failed to point out the simple arithmetic that makes a player's chances so slim.

I agree with Thomas Carter's email. Non-green activities should be taxed in favour of green activities.

I would be interested in reading about jobs, recruitment, employee referrals, new graduates, salaries/benefits - something with teeth not the fluff you read everywhere else titled something like "7 things you should put on your resume."

In this wild campaign season, why not try to add a little light to all the heat that is being generated. Ask your staff to make a comparison of what BW thinks of each campaigner's stated positions on federal tax policy, business and banking regs, and plans to restore our nation's infrastrusture and energy independence. Then assess how these positions would affect this nation's business and investment climate. How's that for a novel idea!

I would really like to see a story that deals factually with "bail-outs." There seems to be a double standard. When there is talk about a rescue for homeowners in our current environment, there is a lot of rhetoric about bailing out speculators. But when it comes to using tax dollars to bail out companies such as Bear Stearns or Chrysler, or providing tax relief to oil companies (there are many examples), it is to save the economy. Too many times the individual taxpayer gets demonized, but also ends up footing the bill for these "bail-outs."

What is happening to all the families who are moving out of their primary residences because of foreclosures? Are they doubling up with relatives, renting more affordable houses, decreasing apartment vacancy rates (and driving up rents)? What is the aggregate economic impact of these side effects of foreclosures?

Recently, there have been a slew of articles published in papers and magazines such as NYT and Newsweek that have talked about the decline of US hegemony and our transition into an apolar or multipolar world, namely, one where the US cannot use its influence to accomplish things as easily as it has in the past. Many things have spurred this change, and quite a few of them are economic (oil addiction, globalization etc.) What I am wondering is, is this trend towards the end of US primacy reversible, and, if so, what course should the US take to reverse it?

Analyst, pundits, and the public agree - nanotechnology will change everything.

Nanotechnology has rested on a seemingly permanent pedestal of "one day". But that day is finally coming soon.

Companies like Ford and BMW are saying nanotech-enhanced cars are in the near future, but it's not the same nanotech from Star Trek that wrecked the Starship Enterprise.

Mostly - nanotechnology is coming soon to a theatre near you, because the concept of nanotech has changed. It's no longer tiny self-replicating robots, but materials that change their properties when their size is constrained.

I would like to see a story on the changing face of nanotechnology and what it means to businesses, investors, global relationships, the environment, and life itself.

Interview an economist on this question:
What if the U.S. raises gas tax to European levels and China and India does the same? The revenue can go into public transportation infrastructure, energy conservation, and tax rebates for low-income people.

What kind of impact will this have on oil prices? What kind of impact will this have on the economy? Will this help stabilize oil prices or destabilize? Will business planning be easier or worse?

Building Brand India: Interview several cutting-edge initiatives where Indians are sought out to value add. Tell us how India is able to contribute today. What kind of impact do Indians have as teachers and traders, monks and merchants? Will the world learn as well as contribute to India?

Why not partition the Strategic Petroleum Reserve into two components - a strategic and non-strategic reserve (NSPR)?

When Bush took office, the SPR was at around 545 million barrels of oil. Now it is at 700 million barrels. Set aside 500 million barrels as the strategic reserve to be used only during times of national emergency. Allocate 200 million as non-strategic to be used at the President's discretion.

The Fed controls interest rates to manage the economy and fight inflation. Why shouldn't the NSPR be used to alleviate the current economic crisis created by inflated oil prices? It would be prudent to pop this speculative oil bubble before it gets any worse. We just went through the housing mess, so there is no point in going through another bubble. This is also a plan that could have an immediate impact on gas prices (if the bubble is really a bubble) - unlike many of the other ideas being thrown around.

Bush should announce that we are effectively putting 200 million barrels of oil on the market and will begin releasing 1 million barrels a day. Hopefully, just the shock of the announcement will do the job and not much will actually have to be released. Also, in the future, the reserves could be expanded to 1 billion barrels, and 750 million set aside as SPR and 250 million as NSPR. Refilling should resume when the prices are back to normal.

I'm not familiar with the oil market, so there are probably issues that I am not aware of, but I'm just throwing the idea out there to see if it has any merit.

Global Solar - I would like to see an article on how we could deploy solar energy around the world with all nations helping toward the effort. It is free energy after the inital start-up costs and if it were a global effort, or even a U.S. effort, it would reduce air pollution and energy costs. Could you interview solar companies, technical personnel, universities, other countries etc. on how we could make this work?

I think the newly booming outlet center market in Europe would be an intersting story to write about.

What about a story on the true CPI, which Kevin Phillips in BAD MONEY says was quietly replaced in 1990 by Greenspan and company with a bogus index that understaes the real inflation by half. Phillips says the original true CPI is calculated at this site:
http://www.shadowstats.com/article/56

Phillips and others say that the bogus CPI was devised to short change social security recepients out the COLAs to which they are entitled by law, and that millions of social security recepients are owed billions of dollars.

Marty Nemko, nationally syndicated careers columnist and author of COOL CAREERS FOR DUMMIES, says the problem with student loans is that "...the colleges and their lobbyists manipulate legislators into increasing govt-funded financial aid, which merely allows the colleges to raise their prices more i.e.the taxpayers are lining the colleges' pockets while providing the student borrowers with a TERRIBLE education."

I think this would be good story to follow up on.

I would like to see a weekly item on a cost of living (prices) index based on a basket of products and services that that most people buy and an interpretation of what the results mean to the economy, etc. also, a comparison to other G7 countries included.

TITLE: “5 REASONS YOU SHOULD NO LONGER BOTHER GETTING U.S. PATENTS”


1. NO LONGER ANY GUARANTEE OF EXCLUSIVE PATENT PROTECTION

According to the US Supreme Court in the recent Ebay case, there is no longer any assurance that rightful owners of valid US patents have any legal right to prevent unlawful trespassers from infringing his or her patent. In particular, the Ebay case specifically held that mere patent owners (e.g. non-practicing inventors or university researchers) cannot automatically assume they have any legal power to litigate against proven infringers to seek injunctive relief to block unlawful trespass.

2. NO CURRENT ASSURANCE OF RELIABLE PATENT LICENSING

Again recently according to the US Supreme Court in the Medimmune case, a patent owner who licenses his or her patent via a legally-binding patent license agreement can no longer prevent the licensor of his or her valid patent license agreement from then suing the patent owner to challenge the validity of the patent, while still getting the benefit of licensing patent rights under the patent.

3. CANNOT SEEK PATENT PROTECTION FOR MERE COMBINATION OF OLD ELEMENTS

And more recently according to the US Supreme Court in the KSR case, despite many years of legal practice well-settled to the contrary by the US Patent Office and the Federal Courts, one can no longer expect to obtain a US patent for an invention that is “merely a combination of old elements” even if the Patent Office cannot show after substantive examination of the patent application that there is no teaching, suggestion or motivation in the prior art to make such inventive combination of elements.

4. NO INCREASED DAMAGES SANCTIONABLE AGAINST WILLFUL INFRINGERS

In the recent Seagate case, infringers who receive prior written notice to warn them against their continued willful trespass of one’s patent rights are no longer held liable for paying multiple damages, unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the infringer was “objective recklessness.”

5. AND IT IS GETTING EVEN WORSE FOR PATENT PROPONENTS …

The US Patent Office is seeking now to limit dramatically the ability of patent applicants to continue to prosecute related patent applications via continuation application practice, and to limit substantially the number of patent claims that patent applicants could rightfully include previously in patent applications altogether. Furthermore, Congress is working hard at this time to reform the US patent laws to reduce significantly the reasonable royalties that a patent owner may recover as minimum remedies from guilty trespassers.

M.R., a weekly cost-of-living index based on real world economics is a neat idea. Just for the sake of this discussion, what ten things would you include in it? Anyone else want to suggest the ideal basket of products and services that most people buy as opposed to the existing government cost-of-living index?

Mr. Byrne, my idea for a story? Sure. How about a story about the FED. The FED is a private banking cartel that was created, unconstitutionally, in 1913. Since the FED came into being, the US dollar has lost over 99% of its purchasing power which was caused by the FED's relentless inflating of the money supply. This is simply criminal because it robs the people of the value of their savings. Two of the best books I ever read on this subject were: The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin and The Mystery of Banking by Murray N. Rothbard. Do you folks have the guts to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth concerning the true nature of the FED? I doubt it.

I'm not sure how BW could handle this suggestion. When I entered the workforce in the mid '70's, my father and others told me to get on with a big corporation and work your way upward. The benefits and pay were good and your job would be stable. When you retired, you would draw a company retirement and social security.
All of that advice is obsolete in today's economy. Job security and company retirements are almost extinct. I went back to school to pick up an MBA and I'm still struggling. Dr. Jakes, one of my professors made the statement in class one night, "If you have a job and you are not looking for a job. You'll be out of a job." I think he nailed the current state of the economy with that statement.
Now my daughter is graduating from college and I don't have any idea what to tell her. What should she do to navigate the world of work, finance and the effects of a global economy?
Thanks.
RH

Topics I would be interested in.
1. Economic cost of the war on drugs in the USA and Latin America. And a survey among business people on legalizing drugs.
2. Economic cost of another terrorist attack on the USA and sectors of the economy most and least affected by it.
3. A story that uses benchmarks on the best and worst performing basic education programs in the world and voucher systems. Comments on the No Child Left Behind program.
4. A story about pros and cons of biofuels and countries and number of people benefited and affected with agricultural price increases.
5. A story on measures Mexico would need to take to grow its GDP and what growth and how many years would take for mexicans to achieve a level of income similar to Canada in the 90s to stop ilegal inmigration.
6. Political and economic consecuenses around the globe in case Barack Obama shuts trade agreements and installs barrier to imports or increases tariffs.
7. Story about nuclear energy. Is it safe or dangerous? Cost of it? Options on generating in Canada, Mexico or offshore and selling it in the USA.
8. I think bussinesweek could team up with investing gurus and propose an investing portfolio for people by age group and income levels. You could have 3 options of risk and returns.
9. A special section about China and investing opportunities there is a must for your magazine.
10. A story on flat taxes would be interesting pros and cons and sectors benefited and affected. Is it working on other countries?

Suggested topic for a future article: an in-depth and fully accurate view of Hispanic marketing in the United States.

Corporate America has been married to one strategy which it feels is the 'best and only' way to target Hispanics in the United States.

The truth is that the demographic landscape has changed so much in the last 10 years that companies are operating out of an outdated business model. New evidence needs to be presented and transparency must be fully embraced.

QUALIFIED PLAN INVESTORES - BEWARE THE UBI: It has become common that many investment news articles, including widely subscribed investment newsletters tout high dividend yielding investments completely ignoring the tax pitfalls that they may bring. Investors that need high yield fixed income within a qualified IRA are especially vulnerable when investing in investments that incuude income trusts, master limited partnerships, and some Canadian trusts. Most of these investors cannot deal with the dreaded tax cosequences of the dreaded "Unrelated Business Income" tax consequences buried within the bowls of the IRS tax code. Business Week would do a great service by providing an in-depth article on this subject. I know, as I almost became a victim!

Here's my story idea....Another gas price, fuel-stingy car story no less. A gallon of gas is costing more and more. Americans are switching to economical four cylinder small cars. But wait! These aren't Japanese cars, these are German cars, and a gallon of gas has just hit 25 cents a gallon! The year is 1959 (through the late-60s) and Volkswagen is successfully appealing to Americans to economize, by buying the now-legendary Beetle!

Prior to this IMPORTANT election - BW should name the top 100 MOST PROFITABLE corporations that PAY NO TAXES. Leona Helmsly said it best...'Only little people pay taxes!'

A front page story on America's total debt-Public and Private, as nobody seems to have an idea of the size and its implications on future generations. Is America living off the Future?

Everybody has an opinion on the subject of gasoline problems. Every politician has a solution that will take many years to have an effect, if it works. Nobody has a specific program to be implemented NOW. Is there such a possibility? Yes. The DOT estimates that about 200,000,000 passenger cars and vans are on the road and growing about 15,000,000 a year. The AAA estimates the average cost of owning and operating a car this year is about $8,121 up from $7,823 last year. These are mandatory. No choice. The average owner may have another 40 or so additional years of driving,(ownership). More than $300,000 at todays rate. Get people to convert cars to electric drive. When you convert the mandatory cost is used to pay for the conversion. When the cost is paid for, it then becoms an asset. Those that choose not to convert are paying many times the cost and have none of the benefits of conversion. There is a great deal more to this proposal.
C.R.

I would like the American people to know how much money the Iraqi Government has managed to save while we constantly go broke trying to bring freedom to their country. We all know what it cost us--not what they have managed to gain. That same money will be used to buy us. Eventually.

Are 24-hour business news channels effective businesses? Do they and can they have a 24-hour audience, not counting some of the invalid and the laid-off? Isn't the target audience, in every time-zone, usually too busy at the work-life vortex to devote more than 30 minutes a day for critical updates on TV? What do the program sponsors believe? Why do they sponsor business TV programmes? Who watches?

Sourav, I'm not sure there's all that much interest in this idea from a general readership. Truth is, the audience levels for business news TV channels are quite small--at all times. In the middle of the night, they're tiny.

Here are the numbers: On an average day, fewer than 10,000 people tune in to Fox Business News, according to a recent report. CNBC, the business TV news leader, does much better--but the numbers won't blow you away. According to Neilsen, an average 310,000 viewers turn on CNBC at home every day. A lot more, of course, see its programming from a treadmill in the fitness center or at the office.

So what's the big deal? Why do advertisers sponsor these shows? It's all because of the very favorable demographics of the audience. The typical CNBC viewer boasts a net worth of $2.7 million, and an average income of $156,000, according to Monroe Mendelsohn Research. That's a pretty rich target and rare for television.

Hope this helps.

We all heard many stories about ethics and morals in our childhood Now is the time to hear them in business. I suggest that BW start a regular segment on ethics, focusing on stories that will help many of us with our stress. One small story may become a moral boost to someone.

I have a story about managing mayhem. It is anecdotal account of office oddities experienced by my managment team. All accounts are true, entertaining and slightly unbelievable.

Crys, we'd love to read, hear or see your story about managing mayhem. And we have the perfect place for you to post it. We're in the midst of a major project here called Business@ Work that invites reader participation on key challenges in the world of work. Simply click the link on our home page and go to the topic for your story. Perhaps it's negotiating a bureaucracy or coping with a toxic boss. Let it rip.

I blog mainly about Cuba and Cuban-American affairs. The debate about American policy toward Cuba always seems to revolve around the trade embargo.

There's a lot of people advocating for the removal of the embargo which would open the door to American companies to do business with the Castro regime.

Since many foreign companies are already doing business in Cuba I'd like to see an an investigative piece on how it's REALLY going for them. Things I'd like to see in the piece include:

The conditions the Castro regime dictates to foreign companies doing business in Cuba.

The exact legal structure that the joint partnerships between the foreign companies and state-owned Cuban companies take.

What is the involvement of Cuban military men in the state-owned companies?

What's the level of corruption and theft among Cuban workers and higher-ups?

Does the regime keep its promises fulfill its end of the bargain.

Are these foreign companies are actually turning a profit. Specifically in the tourism sector.

How Cuban resorts REALLY stack up against those in other Caribbean countries in terms of accommodations, services, food, etc.

How many small and medium sized joint ventures have been unilaterally closed by the regime? How much money has been lost.

What difficulties are there in doing business with Cuba.

I am certain that an in-depth report of this nature about business in Cuba has not been done recently (if ever).

I think that in order to discuss what life in a post embargo world would like for American companies we need to know how it's gone for those companies that precede them.

Henry, that's quite an ambitious story you've outlined. I agree with you that an in-depth report like the one you suggest hasn't been published recently--if ever. It would take quite a commitment of resources to do this story well, and I'm not certain that the return is worth the investment at this point. I'd like to get some feedback on your idea from one of our correspondents in Latin America. Meantime, I should tell you that we recently did a Debate Room series on the issue of the Cuban Embargo, complete with an audio podcast of the debate which I moderated. You can find that by using our search function on the site or by clicking on Debate Room in the navigation bar on the home page and looking for Cuba under topics.

It's all about the Wall Street investors and mainly China and Japan. Mr. Potatohead Paulson sold to them in his many years.

His head is now on the chopping block and he is using American taxpayers to bail them out.

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, trying to persuade Congress to approve his rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said U.S. financial market stability is at stake and international investors are awaiting the outcome.

"This is about not only our housing markets, but it's about our capital markets more broadly," Paulson said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. "This goes well beyond the two institutions -- Fannie and Freddie -- it has to do with investors in the United States and investors all over the world."

Yep, we the people get screwed by the White House and Congress again. Everyone should hold town by town rallies, city by city rallies, state by state rallies, or completely stop working and stop buying, to stop them in their tracks.

Come on America: what will it take for you to stand up for your kids and grandkids futures?

Americans need to tell Congress that the same investors who are putting us on the streets need to be told that it goes both ways, and we're going to bailout the same investors who started this whole thing in the first place.

I'd like to see a story about how the Detroit Three are planning to reverse the fortunes of these companies, and how successful the turnaround plans have been going so far. The New York Times recently had a story on Ford CEO Mulally who appears to be successfully changing the corporate culture - no mean feat! How are Chrysler and GM planning and implementing their turnaround -- or are they?

We've always read about rising oil prices and their effect on the global economy. But we've never read any in-depth reports on what the G7 countries, those who have the financial power, are doing to support and invest in alternative fuel sources.

We've heard a great deal about customer communities and third places (Starbucks mission statement), but what does a customer community offer firms and its customers? Should customers join retail communities? What benefits do organizations realize from hosting customer communities.

I finally have the answer and I'm sure BW readers would like more details. I have a forthcoming article in the Journal of Services Research in which I introduce the term, Return on Community (ROC), to the business world.

By entering a video arcade, Gold's Gym, and Curves, I find that customer-to-customer support helps firms realize financial benefits and to help customers improve their quality of life.

Abstract:
This study introduces the concept of return on community to the services marketing domain. Return on community represents the health outcomes to customers and financial outcomes to firms that materialize when customers receive social support from other customers in service establishments. By administering Barrera’s Arizona Social Support Interview Schedule to teenagers who patronize a video arcade, to members of Gold’s Gym, and to middle-aged women who exercise at Curves, the author shows that customers can obtain six types of social support from other customers: intimate interaction, social participation, physical assistance, feedback, guidance, and material aid. In terms of health benefits, intercustomer support provides customers with group cohesion and enhanced well-being. Service firms that host supportive customer networks benefit from customer satisfaction, positive intentional behaviors, and the ability to charge higher prices. By using the contingent valuation method, this article also reveals how customers value support from other customers and employees.

I'm sure that BW's readers would find this story interesting.

Story Idea:

An Oldie, But A Goodie

Almost on a daily basis, one may read about a new medication being developed or approved for the benefit of patients. At times, these announcements may praise the innovation and novelty of such new drugs that are available to all in need of it.
But it’s possible the one super drug is not new and really is a super drug. In fact, it’s one of the oldest medications available, and that would be aspirin-the first non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).

Noted as ASA by doctors typically, aspirin effects have been noted for thousands of years, as the active ingredient comes from the bark of a White Willow tree, and long ago, patients with pain or a fever would chew on this bark for relief. Yet due to the harshness of the natural chemical of this bark, Bayer decided to synthesize it to make it more friendly to the user.

Fast forward to over a hundred years ago and Bayer pharmaceuticals (pronounced ‘Beier’), which is the same company that brought us heroin and mustard gas, as well as methadone. The company originated in Germany, but presently has its U.S. headquarters in New York. Felix Hoffman, seeking to develop an agent for his father’s rheumatism, was involved in the development of what is known now as aspirin. And it was a difficult task to develop this drug, as it was toxic to the stomach due to the nature of the active ingredient again obtained from the bark of the white willow tree. Dr. Hoffman and others at Bayer developed a drug that proved to be tolerable to patients while keeping the active ingredient in tact through a method of delivery developed by Dr. Hoffman’s team at Bayer. After launching the medication, aspirin was priced at about 50 cents an ounce, as at the time it was only available in power form. Soon before 1920, aspirin developed the tablet form of the drug and was then available by prescription. Regardless, aspirin was responsible for one third of sales for Bayer during this time, due to its popularity due to the effects of this medication in need of relief.

While all drugs have side effects, aspirin is one of very few drugs that provides great efficacy and indications, with limited side effects. In fact, some of aspirin’s additional uses have been recently discovered. This may be why the New York Times called aspirin a wonder drug in the 1960s. In the 1970s, the mechanism of aspirin was isolated, which is the blockage of prostaglandins.
With Aspirin and its potential life-extending benefits:
Aspirin has been associated with decreased risk of asthma and prostate cancer in the elderly. Also, aspirin has been linked with lowering the risk of breast cancer and colon cancer as well. Aspirin is a blood thinner, and has been associated with decreasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes in certain patient populations, as the drug prevents clots. This was first suggested in the 1940s and the FDA suggested that it be the drug of choice for those who experienced a heart attack over a decade ago. Aspirin intake is beneficial for those after coronary bypass procedures. A topical formulation of aspirin was developed recently for those experiencing Herpes pain. The drug has been proven beneficial for those experiencing migraine pains. Aspirin at low doses is taken by many as a preventive drug to decrease cardiovascular incidents that may occur.

Aspirin has been the best selling painkiller absent of the past addictive qualities of opiate meds since the 1950s. It is also the most studied drug- with over 3000 scientific papers published worldwide. Also, over 15 billion tablets of aspirin are sold annually, which amounts to about 80 million aspirin tablets consumed daily by others. This amounts to over 16,000 tons of aspirin consumed during this time, or about 70,000 metric tons of aspirin a year. Over a decade ago, a study was performed and concluded that twice as many people would choose aspirin over a computer, given the two choices, because of the benefits of the drug.

Side effects would include GI bleeding if taken in large amounts, along with an association of Reye’s syndrome in children, yet both are relatively rare. Yet all things considered, clearly the benefits of aspirin outweigh any risks of the drug.
Lately, there have been issues with other NSAIDs, such as Cox II inhibitors, without full recollection or knowledge that aspirin is in fact the world’s most widely used drug, and for good reasons.
At times, something newer is not always better.

“There is no genius without a touch of madness.” --- Vaslav Nijinsky
Dan Abshear

I would like to read a story about the true costs of overseas mass production. I would like to know the price at which select products are produced, the amount workers from another country are paid, and the ammount spent shipping products back to the US. The amount spent on getting the product to select states. The amount spent on advertising. Then I wold like to know the amount of Co2 that is produced in all of this process. The amount of Co2 the plant/sweat shop produces in the country where the product is produced. I'd like to know how rich business owners get from producing in third world countries.

How about a story on "The age of the Brand Facilitator"?

The age of the brand manager is over.

It sounds like something that’s been said before; perhaps it’s a cliché that I have been slow to catch on to. But I have had opportunity to reflect on this recently, and I write here why I have now come to accept this realisation. My interpretation of this cliché.

Brand management is over. The brand manager must give way to the Brand Facilitator.

I believe that we now live in a world that has millions and millions of brand managers. Some of them work in corporations- but most of them you will find simply on youtube- myspace – or facebook. Some have dual degrees and MBAs, most are still in high school. Some have millions of dollars and media plans. Most have a laptop, an opinion and their own communities of trust. They have frequent and regular access to the internet. To information. And they have the technology on their fingertips to interpret and comment on every piece of news. On reshaping it, propagating it and influencing the truth.

The truth is always relative. With the internet, it is totally apparent that there is no longer one truth.

The “brand manager” then, in the traditional sense no longer can believe that his brand message carries any weight. His message then is simply a set of facts and his interpretation of those facts. He can buy “share of voice”, but not the trust of a new generation of consumers that have the motivation and technology to seek their own truth.

10,000 miles away, a TV viewer sees an advertisement, interprets it in perhaps a completely different way, goes on to blog it and suddenly his interpretation is available to more people than is guaranteed by the GRP of a media planner!!

So as a brand manager, there is no longer any control.

Why fight it? Just join it. Don’t be a brand manager, be a brand facilitator.

The new age wants to find the truth for itself. The brand facilitator can then provide data and information. In an accessible way. In a responsible way. And allow the reader to create the brand on his workstation.

If you don’t like the brand the reader has created and is diffusing, you need to understand that given the same set of information, two people have come to completely different conclusions.

Which means, you need to understand why? And rework the information sharing process.

But you cannot sue the reader (you don’t even know his real name or address anymore) and you waste energy in justifying a common message to each of the billion people that have their own interpretations.

But you should begin to understand how your consumers are coming to their conclusions.

And facilitate an understanding of your brand. That’s all you should do. Facilitate an understanding. By sharing information openly and honestly.

I believe people create associations based on their interactions with brands. Ten years ago, it was easy to give out branded “pens”, “caps” and start building an interaction. Not anymore. People are interacting online. There, it is honest and responsible dialogue that will allow people to build the trust in the brand.

People need information. This gives a sense of “power”. They cannot be denied information. They will find it. The best option for us is to give out the information ourselves. Openly. So that we can be sure that at least they have the access to the most accurate information.

And this is great news. Blogs, forums and communities allow us to benefit from the views of millions others. To be a part of their opinions. People are building opinions not be watching tv, but by discusing issues. They should discuss your brand. And be free to play with it... to "own" it by creating their own interpretation of it. To be associated with it in a "personl" way. Thats where brand equity will be established. Lets not fear this. Lets embrace this.

The brand manager will have to give way to the brand facilitator, if the brand is to survive in this century and beyond.

I purchased 20 shares of Lucent Technologies (LU) in the year 2001, However on 12/1/2006 Lucent Technologies became Alcatel Lucent (ALU) and my 20 shares was reduced to 3 shares. I am not a stock expert of any kind, so I am not clear as to how this transaction can take place. And I'm sure there are others who need help in understanding clearer how these changes take place in the stock market.

You should write about the disastrous Schwab YieldPlus fund (SWYSX). A lot of people lost a lot of money in it. Now Schwab is hiding behind its goody-goody "Talk to Chuck" image and getting away with ripping off innocent people. Talk to Chuck? More like Talk to Chucky. Dealing with them is like trying to reason with a rabid demonic man-child.

First of all, referring to the FDIC as beaurocrats is wrong. The FDIC is not the federal government. They have billions of dollars to protect and back up, $4.438 Trillion in deposits, and with 90 of 7400 banks on the watch list many could fall and crash the system. By the way, they also have 10 years to pay your claim for you to get your money back. Check out the Bank of Hawaii and the Bank of Honolulu. They waited 9 years to pay claims.

How legal non-immigrants could resolve the current mortgage crisis?

My 2 cents on the idea. The US presently can take credit for the orderly assimilation of migrants from all over the world. No other country attracts and integrates immigrants in such an orderly fashion.

These favorable factors attracted a lot of migrants from all corners of the world, both legal and illegal. (Disclaimer: I am a legal non-immigrant).

Congress always tries to mix both legals and illegals in the same group and tries to resolve the immigration problems. It still hasn't made much progress.

However, Congress could use the present mortgage crises to help legal non-immigrants get immigrant status. These new immigrants would in turn buy new houses thereby reducing the inventories of houses and getting the economy back on track.

Asian cultures place a lot of value on owning a home. However many non-immigrants of Asian origin hold off buying a one until their immigration status is resolved which is taking anywhere between 4-7 years. Many non-immigrants are getting frustrated by these delays and some are even moving back to their countries. Thus, the US is not only losing its talent to other countries, it is also losing a potential source to help put the US economy back on track.

According to some private surveys done, neighborhoods with significant immigrant populations also tend to have good public schools. This, in turn, could also help the US get back its eminent standing in the world with regards to science and technology which is presently seeing a decline.

Would BusinessWeek be interested in writing about iGlue, a new search and content organizer application based on semantic web technology. We just released the first official demo of the program last week?

The demo can be accessed here: Http://www.iglueit.com

For this initial version Firefox 3 is the best choice for viewing. Currently IE is not supported but will be in a few weeks.

We are looking to gather as much user feedback on features, usability and get opinions prior to launcing a full beta release. Would be glad to answer any and all question via email or phone call.

Best regards,

Viktor Rosznyay
President and CEO
Power of the dream Ventures, Inc.

Disclosure: Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc. is a publicly traded company (PWRV). We are financing in4, Ltd., developers of iGlue, althoug my goal here is to bring attention to this great product. If I wasn't the involved I would still believe iGlue to be fantastic and would post to bring attention to it.

How about an article on how companies are responding to our current economic situation by investing in enterprise technology solutions to protect or gain competitive advantage(s) in the various markets they are in?

I see multiple suggestions here on the blog looking to analyze how the economy has gotten to where it is at, but few suggestions asking how companies are trying to strategically respond to the business environment at hand...This would not have to be a "bits and bites" technical analysis, but rather a macro business-line conversation on how companies are capitalizing on cutting edge technologies in the market.

Afterall, it is the business heads that are making these IT investments and understand the (quantifiable) short-term/long-term dangers of not taking the initiative to invest sooner than later. (Unfortunately, some decisions makers may not yet fully understand what is available for them to invest in...)

For instance, technologies such as server/storage/network/desktop virtualization software, application delivery methods, security initiatives, Service Oriented Architecture, Web 2.0 applications, business intelligence,and Unified Communications for starters. You could even go as far as to discuss disaster recovery planning and "Going Green" in the datacenter.

Companies that have the capital and the strategic forsight to invest in these emerging technologies are able to drastically affect cost reduction initiatives, operational efficiencies, employee retention, customer retention, and effectively align business goals with technology investments.

Such investments not only help control the current economic situation, they also help businesses gain an advantage before the economing begins to pick up.

The point is, new enterprise technologies are here and now is a prime time for businesses to align for the future through intelligent investments in IT.

Every time a 'crack'berry server breaks down for two hours the business world is flipped upside-down.

Commanding a substantial global R&D investment, cell phones have become the pinnacle of technology advancement this decade - taking on an increasingly converged approach with GPS, PDA, MP3 and becoming an even more critical part of our life.

Since airports now charge travelers a per-luggage fee, laptops have become an expensive proposition for the frequent flyer making cell phones as laptop replacements an even more viable future. Bill Gates foresees cell phones that can easily connect to TVs and keyboards becoming full-fledged laptop replacements.
In the Philippines 5.5 million people already use cell phones as digital wallets and the portable MP3 player is an archaic concept.

The flip side of this new high-tech world is that your personal information (bank accounts, contacts, text messages, addresses) are in one small device that is often lost or stolen and which is constantly connected wirelessly to the web and other sources.

So much R&D has poured into the market to create the next coolest all-in-one gizmo, is anyone investing on protecting our private information? All of which will soon be stored on this one tiny device?

Thanks for your response on my suggestion for a story about how business really works in Cuba. Let me leave you with this last defense of the idea. A debate about the embargo, what it's accomplished and not accomplished is not new. The arguments on both sides are well worn. But there are literally dozens of international companies already doing business under the same conditions that American companies would have to do business under in post embargo world.

Nobody can know what the impact of removing the embargo will be on Cuba politically but from a business standpoint we can look at past performance and have a pretty good idea what future performance can look like.

Embargo opponents often use loss of business for American corporations as an argument to scrap it. But that argument only holds water if there really is money to be made. It's my opinion that there isn't. Despite all of the foreign investment activity Cuba's economy remains dominated by the state which creates huge inefficiencies that I don't think foreign firms can deal with effectively. I think a lot of these foreign firms wanted to get in before a stampede of American investment and I suspect that a lot of them are losing their shirts.

Does American business in Cuba makes sense from a business standpoint, leaving the political considerations aside? That's the question.

Do an article that removes the politics about energy. Describe the capabilities of the different forms of energy. Which is better, concentrated
mirrors to concentrate the sun on a steam creating point or solar cells? Compare this to the area needed for wind generators
Think of it as an acre of land
How long will it take to creat the many sources of enrgy? Think of the Batteries needed for cars, Distribution
lines for concentration areas of wind and solar. When will plug-in electric cars be available in quantity? Are Natural gas cars the immediate answer?
What about the compressed air engine?
Bring out the problems and expected time lines and the expected % of the energy total.

Many, but not all, Wall Street firms and commercial banks wrote down the value of their mortgage-backed securities over the last year. Only recently have banks started to take a hit from normal commercial loan exposure.

The mortgage-exposure mistakes were made by the buyers of these securities (i.e. the suppliers of funds for the mortgage market). The losses came in the investment portfolios, the underwriting portfolios or the loan portfolios of the specific investment and commercial banks. Each of these units are the responsibility of senior portfolio or risk managers!

The portolio manager has the responsibility to seek the highest return subject to "reasonable risk parameters" set by senior people or risk management( often called ALCO) committees.

THE INTERESTING STORY would sort out the reasons for some banks to have problems, while other avoided the write-offs! What was it ( e.g. poorly designed incentive pay, bad risk metrics, supid portfolio managers, sleepy management pushing for high returns ignoring ignoring the warnings from the risk metrics) that caused some financial firms to have big problems, while some firms don't seem to have any serious problem so far?

Everyone knows that mortgage-backed securities have a different risk profile than Treasury Securities, which is the reason for the higher initial returns. And, there is no excuse for buying a security or making loans, whose risk isn't understood or quantified!

Nanotechnology and its detrimental applications.

I know there are many positive applications, but has anyone ever thought about the very possible devious applications?

Implanting food.
Endless spying applications.
Insurance companies.
Bioterrorism.

Etc.

Downright scary when you think about it.

Hi. I've enjoyed the various pieces you've carried on 'Cloud Computing' over the past few days.

As I allude to in a recent post on ZDNet (http://blogs.zdnet.com/semantic-web/?p=179), there's a wider story to tell as SaaS, the Semantic Web and more come together. Cloud computing is about a lot more than simply pushing 'computing' out to remote data centres... it's about creating opportunities to work with the *data* in new ways too.

Greetings John and Shirley!

As an avid reader of BusinessWeek, I only thought it appropriate to write in about a topic that is near-and-dear to my heart: Creative Intelligence. I am not sure if you have heard much about it, but Creative Intelligence is a great topic to explore. More and more, large organizations and corporations are trying to find new ways to recruit talented people because the old tried and true way of scanning resumes and testing IQ levels is no longer a measure of long term employee success. As a result, testing an employee's Creative Intelligence is quickly becoming the newest trend in the world of HR. Creative Intelligence can be tested in a variety of ways. Those ways include asking a potential employee to draw a picture based on a caption he/she is provided with or by asking an employee to write a newspaper column based on a headline he/she is provided with. The drawing is then scored on color, shapes, lines, how abstract it is, etc. The newspaper column is scored based on length, active/passive tense, etc.

For me, a person who specializes in this field, testing Creative Intelligence is imperative to our economy, specifically the US economy, so that we can remain competitive with countries such as China and India who are capitalizing on the creative strengths of their people.

Why can't we compete against foreign competition? Lower wages overseas is the obvious cop-out. I've even heard blame put on..."The American worker has lost his/her work ethic." If true, why?
Ethic/attitude... Tomatoes or Tomahtoes?
I've worked with co-workers for 40 years and it's somewhat true...Some who used to have postitive attitudes now just want to get their 40 hours in and "get the hell out of this hell!"
What changed? These former hard workers suddenly became "whining babies" recently? Is there an insidious plague that terrorists have inflicted on working men and women? Yes, there's a plague, but not from outside forces. An acronym for this might be... TDGASWSI
( They Don't Give a S***, Why Should I?)
In my 40 years at my workplace, I've seen a shift from managers from being...Well, managers, friendly co-workers, helpful, to... "power point presenters."

Case in point... "Mr. T." Mr. T was a bright, always an on the "floor" engineer who got promoted. He got a fine new office and desk. (Actually, TWO desks linked to allow for more and more "paperwork." ) The former "go-to" guy in a pinch became nearly unreachable. He was usually at "meetings" or making "pie-charts".
You could argue it was no longer his "job" to "baby" the department that had grown well under his efforts, but if so.. Should a supervisor then gripe when an already overworked "blue collar" bristles at having to do something that wasn't "his job?"
Getting the connection now?
..."I'm getting no help, answers, from my supervisor, and my manager is just a name on his office door."
Ergo... "TDGAS, WSIGAS?"
I was stunned by this one...At a monthly meeting, The plant manager went off about that on one night's third shift when it ran 90% rejects ALL night! After the meeting,for some reason I felt brave enough to ask...
"Don't you feel embarrassed about that?"
"I sure do" he replied, "These people need discipline!"
I then explained my position better.." Sixty mostly new employees, and..At no time during the shift was there a supervisor, a group leader, or a QC person to check on this work?"
Such is the mentality of current "managers?"...
"We're not babysitters!" He growled.
In most dictionaries I have, "Supervisors" and "Managers" are described as "Overseers," etc, but I can't find one that says... "Merely paper-pushers."
Now, I've seen their "Pie-charts" at meetings, and heard the familiar refrain. "We're heading in the right direction," and the "statistics" always look impressive. Yet, my, and hundreds of other jobs kept going down the tube. Why?
After all.. Rejects were down in the first quarter. ( Unreported.) Then again... "Material usage" was UP in the second Quarter. Duh?
"Material Usage" would be down in the third quarter oddly?
Oh? ...Report that in the FOURTH quarter?
Let the Games begin?
"But, where on the right track now?" Was the continuing emphasis.
"Pep-talks" at Monthly meetings make me( Us) laugh.
I saw puffy chests thinking their words impressed "Us."
Back in the work areas it's...
"What? Cause I didn't go to college they think I believe that BS?"
Remember that old saying?... "For lack of a nail the shoe was lost?"
( War lost)
( The employees left meetings without a "nail?"

Most American workers want higher wages, less Health care costs, etc, etc etc.
My take? If you can't afford that, you can still win them over with some cheap, "Cost efficient" TLC? ( ONE nail?)
The current thinking of most CEO's managers etc, seems to be... A. The best way to keep MY job is to cut costs. B. "The best way to cut costs is to trim the workforce."
On the surface, it's the easy way out.
Granted: Eliminate one job at say $35,000 a year (Add on another 15 grand or so in benifits cost) and...
There's $50,000 on the "Black ink" side.
Maybe?
Case in point... My company eliminated a 30-year group leader employee who was respected for his innate and experienced knowledge. When there was a problem... The "Guys" knew who to ask for help, and..Usually, within hours.....NO problem?
KA-Ching! $50,000 in salary savings?
Ka-BOOM? Months of "problems" Customer disatisfaction, lost business. Try to get a customer to agree to a price increase when deliveries are late and the product is questionable?
It ain't gonna happen? And... When you try to get THREE people to do the jobs of four, that's a time-bomb waiting to go off.
Stress, job disatifaction, carelessness, ... TDGASWSI
I'm not a job wimp. I've taken only two vacations in the last 15 years. Missed only one day of work. Given 110% every day. But I'm retiring this year because I really feel that though I've probably saved this company more than my salary EVERY year, they....TDGASWSI
We lost a HUGE contract to China. Cheap labor? Why then was a former manager able to produce the same product at a profit months later?
I didn't particularly like his attitude, but.. It seems he knew enough to keep people who KNEW what they were doing...Doing what they knew best? "Pie-charts" are pretty, and maybe impressive? BUT... For the "bottom line"...
If the egg gets broken at the beginning, nothing you can do after will unbreak it?
I guess my main message is, "You don't know what you got til' it's gone?"
Even your most "menial" employee might be the difference between making it, or breaking it? For lack of a nail, the shoe was lost. For lack of a shoe, the horse was lost, and... The war?
CEO's.. It's China and Korea and "them" against US?
Throw your arms up in the air and accept defeat?
GM. Ford. Chrysler. Has beens?
How sad?
Time to get out of the "meetings" and take off the ties?

When I was a kid in the middle of the last century my folks would visit fruit and vegetable stands in the countryside where farmers sold their surplus at discount prices. And if the prices weren't within the budget you could go pick your own for an even better deal.
Now we have "farmers markets" that sell fresh local produce but the prices charged make Whole Foods look like a bargain (which isn't exactly easy.) Tomatoes at $4.95 a pound or a pint of blueberries for $8.00 are two examples from our local market. My poor parents would faint big time if they saw the prices these local farmers ask---and get for their stuff.

I have been discussing a big story that no one wants to look into. I read an article many years ago in the New York Times Magazine dated September 5, 2009 called Spies in the Sky by Robert Wright. In the article Mr. Wright goes on to say how Osama bin Laden can soon have one meter images of the White House, Congress and the Pentagon and can purchase it from a public satellite. When the discussion went to whether this was a good idea to put the information out there, Mr. Wright concluded and I quote, "Besides, most terrorists would just as soon blow up a bus station as a Federal Building - and they deliver bombs by car, not plane." Almost two years to the day later, September 11, 2001, takes place, delivering planes as bombs. My question has always been, did the New York Times plant the seed for NYC and this country's worst attack?

I am curious among all the stories about the mortgage meltdown, what happened to PMI (private mortgage insurance) people paid if the down payment was less than 20%? Did banks abandon this charge? Who pays when the borrower defaults? Doesn't it make the bank whole? It would be interesting to learn about why it came into place, what happened to it during this period and why it failed to protect the borrower and the lender.

I'd like a story on Google's growth...it is shutting down its Google Page Creator (along with hundreds of thousands of web pages that go along with it and god knows how much time put into them) to focus on its new baby: Google sites. GPC was a "beta" type application, but is this a word to the wise about "helping" Yahoo, or Google with their new bright ideas? We, the user, only get screwed. I spent countless hours on my Google Pages website...that work will be lost and as a teacher, now I have to spend time I don't have creating a new one for the class. Is Google sacrificing user satisfaction and loyalty for growth?

I've long wished that our 401k program at work was better suited for my investment ideas but it is limited in the number of funds that it carries. I often wondered why we can't pick our own funds to plug into the 401k after all its my money. I also checked into withdrawing some of the money out to roll over into an IRA, I was told by the IRS that this would be OK. However my company said that there were no provisions for this. HELP I'm trapped!!!

May I make a request/suggestion to you for a BW article I would like to read? Today I read about appointment of Sanjay Jha as co-CEO of Motorola on your web-site. I also noticed a mention of his salary package. Things like restricted shares, stock options, incentives (at that level), and "gets $x million if ... or $y million if ... otherwise $z million shares of ..." are a little hard for many (including myself) to understand. Can you ask one of BW's learned writers to post an article explaining the structuring of executive compensation and how executives negotiate that with their companies? What are the different parts of executive compensation? What is the fine print? What are their objectives? Do executives approach law firms/banks/accountants to help negotiate their terms with companies or do they do that themselves? Or do companies make an offer to them which they just accept or reject? How does this work (minus the hype/shock/protests accompanying the large numbers there)? I'd like to know how this works in different countries too.

Best regards, Ankur

I continue to see all these stories about the 'poor' consumer who got a bad loan because the loan officer doubled their income on the application to qualify.

When does common sense and consumer responsibility come into play? If a lender has to double your income to qualify, just maybe, you shouldn't take the loan?

In addition - it's LOAN FRAUD. The consumer signed the application stating that all information was true and accurate.

Who's suing the consumer?

You might look into a Charles Schwab Fund called Schwab Yield Plus Fund (SWYSX). This fund was promoted on the basis of being a conservative alternative to the standard money market fund. It was promoted as offering a little higher yield but with minor fluctions as compared to money market funds. Since it was offered at $10.00/share in 2002 its price has plummeted to the 8/9/2008 price of $6.19/share. It has lost approximately 32% of its value. It is one of the worst or maybe the worst proformer in it's class. There are presently several class action suits being prepared against Schwab because of this particular fund. As best, I can find out one of the main reason this fund has failed so badly is because of it's extensive exposure to financial instruments that were affected by the sub-prime mortgage market. This fact might not even have been known by some of Schwab's brokers who recommended the fund as a money market alternative. I am far from an expert but I agree with the attorneys preparing the class actions as stated on their web sites that this fund was misrepresented and was far riskier than advertised.

I just watched an Oprah show about our education system in America. It was interesting to me that Oprah showed a school, I think she said it was about 5 blocks from her studio . It was a school that was destroyed, but Oprah said she would open a school in Africa and not help her own city. Something is wrong with that picture to me. Why are we helping everyone else but not our own country.......?????

I would like to see a report in BW that details what chemicals a refiner can obtain from processing different grades of crude (type and quantity per barrel). Also, what is the mix coming from Canadian tar sands and western USA oil shale? I am guessing that only 40% will be gasoline, 25% diesel, 15% aviation fuel and the remaining 20% all of the remaining byproducts -- which I have no idea what they are called, but I know they are very important to the processes that make of the items we now consider as must haves. regards

why do you still post the oldest submissions first and the newest at the bottom? Strange.
regards

Observing what has happened to the tech equity sector in the 1990s, mortgage securities in the 2000s, and commodities (oil, gold, wheat) in the last few years, I have come to believe that the creation of economic bubbles is a deliberate strategy executed by hedge funds, investment banks, and other large institutional investors looking to exploit system vulnerabilities and information assymetries (e.g., unregulated speculation or lax lending standards) to rapidly drive up the price of a class of investment and then bail on that investment at its peak. In some cases, they let the retail investor foot the bill (as in the tech bubble) or cause wanton disruption in the lives of ordinary people (the housing bubble and oil run-up) without adding value to society other than their own enrichment. Would that warrant some investigative journalism?

Hi in a world of Bear Sterns and personal investments of individuals disapperaing, it might be worthwhile to evaluate how university endowments have performed as long term investors. a study of the mebbe the top endowments like harvard, amherst, yale can be carried out to chk a few ratios like equities investments debt, at critical points in time such as recessions, boom times preboom times etc.

I disagree with the Mary Conley Oprah schools story. Yes you can always improve your own country and education, but in the west we don't realise how lucky we are... http://www.internetkitchenappliances.co.uk/school_support_in_africa

Are Consumers Ready for Hourly Real Estate Transactions?

As the housing market continues to decline, and sellers find their equity slightly above their purchase price, how can they avoid writing a check to the bank at closing?

Traditional Model = the agent bears the risk in the transaction, and gets the 3% reward

Future Model = consumer bears the risk in the transaction, and gets the reduced transaction costs.

Let's bring some real education to the table.

Is Real Estate Buyer Representation Free? Debunking the myth.

If the seller in a real estate transaction truly pays the real estate agents commissions, why doesn't the buyer receieve a credit in the same amount off the sales price at closing? Who then is really paying?

Homeowners teetering on the edge of negative equity need sound advice. Isn't it time we looked at the real estate transaction with some scrutiny?

Well, we all know the "David vs. Goliath" story but you have not heard the latest version of it as a small technology company called Collexis Holdings, Inc. (CLXS, OTC.BB) collexis.com has taken on Google Scholar and is winning every battle. Where does the NIH, Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Dana Farber, Univ. of California San Francisco, turn to profile their life science research experts? They turn to Collexis and their "Fingerprint" Expert Profiles. Yes it is true that this little company based in Columbia, SC is beating Google Scholar and the institutions are very happy to pay for it. When it comes to Expert Profiles, Collexis is standing alone as the only company worldwide that is providing this service. If this isn't a "David vs. Goliath" story then I don't know what is. Darrell Gunter, Collexis

I think it would make an enlightening story to find out what if any recovery has been made by Charles Schwab Inc. to the many many investors who were ill-advised to invest in Schwab's yield plus fund (SWYSX). This is the fund that was promoted as a conservative but slightly higher yielding alternative to the Schwab money market fund. Later informations seemed to show that the fund was not as conservative as represented and had in fact a substantial investment in financial instruments directly involved with the sub-prime mortgage market,which subsequently collapsed. Unfortunately, I beleived my Schwab advisor and transferred a substantial portion of my money market fund investment into this fund. I finally got so concerned with the constantly declining share price that I decided to sell out in December of 2007. At that time I took a loss of over $20,000.00 based upon the stated value of my investment. This move subsequently proved to be prescient as my loss would have esculated to over $80,000.00 if I had stayed in the fund until now. I contacted Schwab, who I might add has had many complaints about this particular fund, and was referred to their "Conflict Resolution Department" who promised to look into the matter. They did and not surprisingly very nicely told me that there would be no settlement in my case because I had received dividends which I had agreed to be reinvested each month (on which I had paid taxes of course) over the 5 years I was in the fund. Their logic was that since I had received dividends over the term of the investment, even though I lost principal value when I sold, their rational was that I did not in fact suffer a loss but merely a much reduced yield on my money. This logic of course favored their position. I would have been much better off just to have left my money in the money market fund. I would be very interested in what experience other investors have had in this matter.

BusinessWeek writer Aaron Presman would agree with you there. He penned a blog on August 26 after reading your insightful comment. Check out Morningstar tells remaining investors to dump Schwab YieldPlus on our Investing Insights blog.

The largest urban community in the U.S. under one ownership is moving ahead despite the stagnant market. The planned community of Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque – 20 square miles, with plans for 50,000 jobs, 100,000 residents and more than 37,000 homes over the next 25-30 years – is no dream. Major companies are already in place and home lots for the first phase of residential neighborhoods will be released in December. The strategy to turn this into a much-copiedl 21st century community includes jobs-first, housing-second; economic development of future-thinking industries (these already include solar and a movie studio); and sustainability. There is nothing like it moving ahead in this national market.

Greenspan is missing the boat on housing. This housing run up was all about credit markets and exotic loans that allowed for deferred interest and interest only payments and for very low down payments. There is no way to stop the housing drop off with mortgage rates higher this year than last even after fed intervention. It is likely that 1/3 of the boom era buyers are completely out of the market. There are just not enough buyers to get the inventory down for a long long time. Many homeowners will go back to renting by choice, or other reasons, investors are gone due to tight credit markets and lack of leverage and rents are high enough to generate a decent return on investment. Many of the foreclosed homes will need repairs and with higher down payments needed buyers won't have cash to fix up if they do buy so they will wait. House prices have to go back to pre 2003 prices if interest rates are going to stay so high even after fed funds rates are lowered. NEWS FLAsh....people don't want houses with negative equity even if the govt is trying to push lenders into lowering payments and getting banks to erase part of the balance of a loan to keep a homeowner is not likely because the election will soon be over the the blow hards in washington will not care to fight with the lenders if the can't get face time. Everyone is miss the point. This housing issue can not be resolved unless rates come way down which they have not and if housing inventories decline which they are not and they won't because the pool of buyers is drying up.

An article on how the movement to low-cost labor around the world and in the US could be weakening US technological innovation.
Our best inventions have been produced in response to high domestic labor costs. What tech innovations have come about in the last eight years that are worth mentioning? Microsoft Vista? I-Phone, which is just an MP3 player and cell phone combined? In countries with low- labor costs, innovation flat lines and society stratifies. South Africa is still using steam engines because of low-labor cost.

My wife and I attended a church for about 9 years, and became unhappy. We decided to leave because the church hadn't grown in those nine years. Since visiting other churches, we are much happier. But I think we shouldn't have had to leave a church to be happy. What is the problem with management at churches? How does a church stay relevant to its parishioners?

I'm working with two companies in Maryland, WellNet Healthcare (www.wellnethealthcare.com) and Healthcare Interactive (www.hciactive.com), that are launching an interesting new technology platform called Point to Point Healthcare (www.pointtopointhealthcare.com). Point to Point combines a data repository for storing and analyzing critical pharmacy and medical information with an online social network that links employees with all of their care providers. Think of it as the Facebook of health care! Leaders of Healthcare Interactive, which developed Point to Point, and WellNet Healthcare, the majority investor in the new technology, believe that Point to Point will allow employers and their workers to regain control of their medical benefits, saving hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars while getting people healthier. Point to Point was developed with all key perspectives in mind...the employer, its work force, insurers, providers, pharmacists and others. I know your readers will enjoy reading about this new technology.

The US budget now includes about $300 billion per year in interest on the federal debt, the majority of which heads outside our borders to foreign investors. The current annual budget deficit is about $400 billion, but the true annual deficit is much higher when you take into account unbudgeted spending on our wars, economic stimulus, etc. Social Security surpluses that we spend as soon as we get them will be going away in about 10 years after. Where will the money come from to cover the Social Security deficit when this happens? Realistically, how can this country continue to be managed this way? How can we let it continue? I would love to see the same financial analysis performed on the federal budget (income statement and balance sheet) that a financial analyst would perform to determine the investment potential of a corporation.

Given the fears of a recession, I wonder how far stock prices could tumble if companies had to writeoff a significant part of their goodwill amounts on their balance sheets.

Many of your readers have an 'idea' that they would like to market yet do not take that first step. Our family did take that step and now has a company with nationwide sales, not to mention exporting to Canada. It has taken time and lots of lost sleep but the rewards are outstanding. We would love to share the story. Thank you.

Joseph, tell us more. I'd like to know what your successful idea is. If we think it's worth a story, I'll have our small business editor contact you directly.

I read your article on Easley signing the bill for elimination of Yield Spread. Since I have been in the business for 7 years and this bill will put my company out of business, I am obviously concerned.
Yield Spread is one of the main ways that Mortgage Brokers and the Loan Officers that work for them get paid. Without this compensation it will make it impossible to stay in business. This law will also eliminate the “No Closing Cost Mortgage” This is a Mortgage where the Lender pays the closing costs through the Yield Spread Premium.
What Easley has done by signing the bill is to say that Mortgage Brokers do not have the right to paid or to exist. NC already has the strictest laws in the country when it comes to Mortgage Brokers and the Loan Officers that work for them. We are strictly limited in what we can make (The least % of all states in the US). Since Mortgage Brokers & their Loan Officers are compensated on commission ONLY basis, this obviously is of concern since it takes away the way we get paid. I guess according to Easley, NC law makers and their local banking lobby, Mortgage Brokers are supposed to donate their efforts. Perhaps we should make that a requirement of public servants. Of course that would mean they would have to all vote for that. Hmmm, its easier taking away someone else’s livelyhood isn’t it? The Affect of Easley Signing This Bill on The NC Economy: What may have sounded like a good idea in a climate where everyone is looking to point their figure at someone will actually make economic matters worse here in NC. Right now the problem in the economy is LIQUIDITY. Further regulations, which may be needed later, only tighten an already strangled Banking Industry and thus creates a worse economic environment. Mortgage Brokers work with many different lenders with many different programs and requirements. This greatly helps individuals from "First Time Home Buyers" to people who have had catastrophic circumstances happen to them such as a death in the family to children with cancer etc etc that have wreaked havoc on their credit. Local banks just don't have the resources or the will to help people who have gone through hard times. With the ability to "Shop" their circumstances with many different out of state lenders we find ways to help GOOD people who simply need a leg up. Easley’s Bill on Yield Spread was obviously something that the Local Banking Institutes lobbied law makers over as Local Banks hate competition from out of state banks. If you would like to discuss this further, you can reach my at premier1@yadtel.net

Warm Regards
John Shaw

Philippe, your question about good will is an interesting one. I asked David Henry, one of our top writers in finance, about your comment. Here's what David said: "For the most part, I don’t believe the markets pay much attention to goodwill in valuing companies. Earnings are most important. Book value is much less important, and of the components of book value, goodwill is one of the least reliable.

"That said, in theory it is possible for the market to glean new negative information from the decisions by companies to write off goodwill and then decide to mark down the stocks. I suspect though that most of the time the market has already figured out the negative new information before the time management writes down the goodwill. So, most of the time, the bad news is probably already in the stock price and the stocks probably don’t fall more.

"Still, I can imagine that some goodwill write offs (often called "impairments") can deliver news. Accounting standards say that companies are supposed to test their balance sheet values of goodwill at least once a year, or when something has happened that would make you wonder if the value might have gone down. The testing can include all sorts of projections and estimates about future cash flows from businesses. If a company decides that the outlook for profits from a business is worse than it was before, then they will probably have to write down the value of the goodwill. When they do this, the market asks if management has figured out something bad that investors did not know. If the market had not already figured out that the business outlook has turned down, then the stock should go down. So, in some cases, a write down could hit a stock."

Hope this offers some help to you.

I'm a career federal government employee and I know that depending on the federal government to fix the national health care system is a non-starter. I've never been in the medical profession but I'm a techno-progressive and a futurist and I believe that by bringing to bear a LOT of advanced IT and other medical technologies towards these issues, we have a shot at creating a cost-effective and efficacious health care system with universal access. The model I have in mind involves the use of tele-medicine to push the vast majority of primary care out of the institutional setting and down into the "Home Care" environment. I feel that by employing tele-medicine technology in the home, combined with Personal/Electronic Medical Records, will enable & empower the average health care consumer to monitor their own health and to manage minor injuries as well as relatively complex chronic diseases and comply with healthy behavioral, dietary and lifestyle changes in a more cooperative manner. By taking advantage of the amount of households in this nation have PC's and Internet access, the average household can access a vast array of healthcare related information and websites with all sorts of tools and plans and management protocols that can be easily modified for individual households, and families. Care plans for individual persons within a household can be implemented and compliance can be monitored through numerous telemedicine peripheral devices. Tele-medicine can allow individuals to monitor their own health in the privacy in their own homes and also provide their clinicians with an unprecedented surveillance capability so that they can keep an eye on their patient’s health (subject to their patience compliance with the reporting protocol). I feel that instead of all of the classical solutions that are currently being offered, that what's needed is to reengineer the entire infrastructure so that all care except various types of intensive care, trauma & surgeries that can't be performed on an outpatient basis are pushed out into the community on a much more extensive basis than they are currently. The model that I've been developing envisions care being rendered in an inverted pyramid with telemedicine in the home at the bottom, at the next highest level of care would involve receiving a homecare visit from a trained caregiver, at the next highest level of care would be referrals to outpatient clinics, express clinics in Malls (or big box retailers like Wal-Mart or Kmart) or MRI/CT centers, Ambulatory SurgiCenters/Day SurgiCenters or specialty care clinics and at the highest level of abstraction within the health care system, care would be rendered in hospitals that render services only in an intensive, acute care setting. Hospitals would also host the central telemedicine control centers from which primary care would be rendered remotely direct into the homes of patients. All other care would be rendered at a lower (but appropriate) level of abstraction within the health care system. In this way, a great deal of the physical infrastructure (and its associated costs) that currently constitutes our national healthcare system can be disintermediated. In addition, all of the clinics and SurgiCenters, and the hospitals can be networked on high-speed backbone that can also support the telemedicine system so that vast amounts of data and images can be shared effortlessly. Rendering as much Primary care in the home as is practicable thru the use of telemedicine combined with homecare visits will facilitate the implementation of preventative healthcare protocols & comprehensive chronic disease management protocols. The way I see it, if you can push the "healthcare system" down into individuals homes, and use it to promote healthier, wellness lifestyles with a preventative theme, then that should lesson the necessity of so many ER visits & re-hospitalizations or the (load) that is placed on the healthcare system. If the load is lessened, then that should provide opportunities for disintermediating brick & mortar health care infrastructure.

I would very much like to see BW tell the whole U.S. natural gas story, with lots of statistics. It would have appeal on many levels -- investing, personal and business financial planning, economy, climate, politics, even foreign policy. I can find plenty to read, and I have the impression that natural gas, like many commodities, is subject to many types of feedback -- e.g. if demand drops, prices go down to the point that potential new supply becomes uninteresting, but do those untapped reserves cease to be counted due to lack of economic viability? One concern stems from an undated article I read claiming that the U.S. holds only 3% of global reserves, and domestic peak has already passed. If true, then that would go a long way toward explaining the enthusiasm for Liquified Natural Gas, which appears to have arisen in response to the need to import. How long can 3% last at current and projected usage rates? The push for cars that can utilize a home based natural gas conversion/fueling system would help justify more LNG but seemingly could intensify the march toward totally unaffordable home heating. Increasing usage for electricity generation (to avoid coal) is already a significant factor. Though natural gas consumption is less punishing to the environment than some fossil fuels, the fact remains that it contributes to the nation's large carbon footprint, especially if used to justify increased consumption. Just how much extra energy is required by LNG liquification, transport, and regasification processes, anyway? From the perspective of the economy, long term, the idea of transforming the economy from one dependent upon imported oil to one dependent upon imported LNG strikes me as wrong-headed, and possibly disastrous. What new tense relationships would arise? Canada, of course, but why do I keep encountering Canadians worried about being unable to afford gas home heat? Russia? They have the largest supplies, and their ability to hold Europe hostage has definitely driven Europeans to seek reduced dependency, ironically contributing to the appearance that Europe cares more about climate change than the U.S. Can you help bring all the pieces together for us? How would it impact the U.S. dollar? It's a tall order, I realize, but if anyone is up to the job, it is BW. Thank you.

My idea is for a story dealing with how the banking companies benefit from overlimit transactions dealing with debit transactions. The bank´s website is never truly aligned with how much you have in your account. Unless you balance your checkbook on a daily basis you may be subject to these overdraft fees. My bank has admitted that at times it does not know how much money I actually have in my account. This is extremely preposterous in these times. Why can´t the banks and Visa and Mastercard sync up their systems?

While women launch twice as many businesses as men, few are enjoying success at the top. Only 43 women have climbed the traditional ladder to become CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies in the last 35 years, and recent research from the women’s organization Catalyst suggests that hasn’t changed much.

But unlike traditional business models, franchising allows women entrepreneurs to thrive and often become industry leaders in their respective fields. What is it about franchising that makes women prone to succeed? Could a franchise business venture be a solution to women barred by the glass ceiling?

I think other readers may also enjoy a look into the various women-founded as well as female-dominated franchising options that are making women financial successes in a male-dominated marketplace. This article could answer the following questions:

What makes franchising a good business opportunity for women?
Franchising is ideal for women because they are very used to networking and referring, and being supportive and gravitating to a community, said Karen Powell, founder and CEO of the 10-year-old franchise Decor&You, Inc. “Franchising itself is a community.” About 95 percent of the 100 franchisees are women. “Franchising in general is a good opportunity for women because it draws on multi-tasking and problem-solving skills that women come by naturally, and offers the flexibility that women often need,” said Rosemarie Hartnett, who co-founded Abrakadoodle Remarkable Art Education in 2002 with Mary Rogers and now serves as president of the company. About 75 percent of the franchises are owned by women.

What businesses seem to attract women franchisors?
Popular are traditional female interests, like decorating and education, which is reflected in businesses such as Decor&You, Inc., and Abrakadoodle Remarkable Art Education. But that’s not always the case. In 1994, Georgia Jones of Austin, Texas, founded a computer consulting business in the male-dominated cyberspace world. “I remember going to industry events of 300 people where I was the only woman,” said Jones, whose start-up company called “Computer Moms” – both men and women – helped train PC users how to work their computers. Now called CMIT Solutions, the company provides computer consulting business services to small- and mid-sized businesses. The company has 87 women and men franchisees in 32 states. “I never had a problem being a woman in a male-dominated field except those times when I was the only woman in the room,” said Jones, who has stepped out of the CEO position and now serves as vice president of franchise services. “Our company has served a lot of male-managed companies.”

What skills inherent to women can help them succeed in the franchise arena?
Skills like teamwork and negotiation stand out. Laura Bousman, a Virginia Beach, Va., franchise owner for the international caregiving company Home Instead Senior Care, said that being a woman can be an advantage, particularly when it comes to a business like caregiving. “Many women are balancing the care of children and older parents with jobs and other activities. We are accustomed to being available 24/7. So it’s the perfect fit for many of us. Women’s compassion also helps make us sensitive to employee issues. Women are excellent communicators and I consider myself a wonderful negotiator.”

While Home Instead Senior Care – the largest company of its kind in the world – was founded by a couple – Paul and Lori Hogan – two-thirds of the company’s more than 700 North American franchises are either solely or partly owned by women. A total of 123 are female-owned and 244 are partnerships made up of either two females or a female and a male.) What’s more, the top seven businesses are solely or partly owned by women, who are helping the company meet its goal of $650 million in revenue this year.

Charles, thanks for your extended comment and idea. Health care is one of the primary issues in our country, and we've run many stories on this topic at Business Week. Cathy Arnst, a senior writer here who specializes in health care coverage, is now working on yet another story that offers up a potential solution to our health care crisis. Stay tuned.

I am migrating to campus from the corporate world as I begin my MBA. As I entered the school and attended some of the pre-MBA classes, I was wondering: Did my managers use these tricks of trade for managing the projects? I want the Business Week to highlight the salient differing points between the classroom and the boardroom. Let me know if you require further inpouts from my end. I guess Business Week can do this more effectively because it reports academic and professional activities in essential proportions.

I am looking at a story that can probably head as "Should Steve Ballmer be fired?" I am just wondering why we all have a complacent view of Microsoft's meandering ways and shouldn't make the CEO responsible. The story could look at his report card (VISTA, multiple clones of multiple products; haphazard entry into various segments; building a large organization with limited cohesive thought process); MSFT's growth; changing consumer perceptions of the brand etc. Or is it just that he is among the really rich and powerful that it cannot be done?

It would not be a small subject, but I would really appreciate the whole natural gas story -- the big picture from the U.S. point of view in particular. There is plenty to read on the subject, but it is a challenge to put the pieces together, since sometimes the pieces don't seem to quite fit.

P.S. The Business Exchange sounds interesting. It would be great if it had the effect of getting users to analyze and build; it seems that so much dialogue is stuck at simple back and forth, as though everyone wants to be seen as already having all the answers. Keep up the good work.

The race for the eco-imagination of the consumer is heating up between oil companies and the biomass industry. It is interesting that the age of wood products is coming back with the rise of oil prices. The term "green" of course comes from the perception of living biomass in the collective conscience. We are about to see the return of the original "renewable" of Planet Earth. Biomass. And all the jobs that go with it. The oil companies won the environmental PR battle in the 80's with their "recycle" campaigns. Forest product companies have a great chance to win this current "go green" round with high gas prices alone. As a forester it has been a long thirty years hearing tree cutting demonized from kindergarten through elementary school. Recyling plastic though was taught as a great contribution to the earth. Now we have a public backlash against plastic water bottles in landfills. While many oil products are recylable, none are renewable, like biomass. Water bottlers are even looking at old milk carton style containers and getting good press for being environmentally consciencious. I like my oil products. There are many great products that come from oil. But forest products aren't bad either. Most tree cutters and forest products companies have continued their proven science of forest rotaions and kept natural and planted stands of trees vibtant and full of habitat for wildlife and biomass for harvest. And now we have algae growers and switchgrass producers joining the biomass group. There are new ideas for renewable biomass every day.
In the oil vs biomass battle, carbon trading is an amusement from a scientific view. Mature stands of any biomass begin to use more oxygen from decay and lack of vigor than they produce. Forest rotations with young and vigorous growth draw wildlife with their fresh browse and cover. Older stands are good for cover and housing, but afford little in the area of food. So all this carbon that oil products produce that is supposed to be neutralized by forests as a group will not in fact likely happen at the rate expected. In this world of growing population, it will interesting to watch the renewal of the concept of renewable biomass and the batlle for the consumers eco-imagination.

Hello! I'd love to see an article on the emerging changes within the concert/ticket industry. There's a large online opportunity that is just beginning to be tapped by websites like Bandsintown and Eventful. Since their are big shake-ups at record labels already I assume that they'll also try and play a big role in this too.
With the changes in the music industry I wonder how much influence these websites will have on the way that each individual finds out about shows and buys tickets. Will the major labels restructure their businesses more around the live concert area instead of records?

John, Ben Peterson is teaching people hands on about gasification and how it can be another alternative energy source that is just not covered by media. He believes that the future will have people powered grids where individuals will feed back to the grid and it no longer be only big utility companies powering cities. Gasification is an old technology since WWII days. Individual people powered their homes and cars with gasifiers. He's teaching a gasifier constuction workshop / class on Sept. 6, 2008. It would be nice if you guys would go out and cover it. Here's an article about him in a newspaper. http://chronline.com/storylife.php?subaction=showfull&id=1220080954&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&

Businessweek needs to cover individual inventors who are out to make a difference. There's this guy who is turning trash into electricity. He is also showing people how. Found this on Treehugger.com and it was on the front page.

It would be great if you guys would cover this entrepreneur and inventor. It is an interesting alternative energy source that many just don't know about and its cheaper to get off the grid with it than solar or wind.

Happy Labor Day,

Before I begin, I would like to commend John and the rest of your staff, for maintaining one of the best devoted online business periodicals catering to business professionals on the internet.

Now for the story....

I'm a young business professional in the Insurance industry. Instead of waiting for prospective clients to walk into my office to purchase an insurance policy, I am utilizing social networking websites to drive traffic. I am an active user on the social networks known as "Facebook," & "Myspace."

My target market, is the driver that is 18-26. What better way, than to infiltrate both sites, and speak directly/advertise towards this market segment. How does one use these social sites to draw traffic? Email me to find out...=) ...

I have doubled our company's profit margin, and will look to aggressively do my own marketing and advertisement (which is very cost effective)...My competition are the direct writers....Geico, Statefarm, Allstate etc...I have found a way to build brand awareness, without spending a fraction of the marketing dollars that these larger company's have....

The kicker? I'm back in school, majoring in Business Marketing, looking to market myself to the public in the professional image that I so desire. I didn't wait for anyone to tell me how to pursue my goals. I am doing it alone, with a burning desire to be as successful as possible. (I also have a self made story, which would be intriguing to the 'self made entrepreneurs out there as well).

That's one pitch we may run with....
Also, I am focusing on the college demographic. The college student's identify with me. Not because I am simply currently enrolled, but because I have put myself in their shoes, when thinking about obtaining affordable insurance. Who needs to worry about your insurance rate increasing or making a payment during finals or midterms? The rest of the story will be pitched in its entirety upon email.

www.avalonartorius@aim.com

You can find me on Facebook
(search Branden Arthur)

My blogspot gets released In september
(www.nysinsurance.blogspot.com)

IN A TIME WHEN THE HOUSING MARKET IS GOING DOWNHILL IN MOST STATES MOST BANKS ARE OFFERING THE "SHORT SALE OPTION" BEFORE FORECLOSURE. GREAT IDEA AND HATS OFF TO THE BANKS AND MORTGAGE COMPANIES. \ WE KNOW THAT WITH A FORECLOSURE THE BANK TAKES BACK POSSESSION OF THE PROPERTY AND ASSUMES THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY/BURDEN OF THE HOME AND THERE IS NOT MUCH THE OWNER CAN DO ABOUT IT. HOWEVER, THE QUESTION I HAVE WITH A SHORT SALE IS WHAT HAPPENS IF THE SHORT SALE OF THE HOME COMES AS AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE BANK AND OWNERS DURING A STRAINED DIVORCE PROCESS BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE TABLE ONE OF THE OWNERS REFUSES TO SHOW AND WILL NOT ANSWER THE COURTS/JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND HAS SEEMED TO FALL OFF OF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. IS THERE ANY WAY THAT THE BANK AND THE ONE OWNER CAN CONDUCT THE SHORT SALE WITHOUT THE SECOND OWNER SINCE THERE IS NO WAY OF KNOWING WHERE HE IS OR HOW TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM. IS THERE A PROCESS IN WHICH A PROXY CAN STAND IN FOR THAT UNCOOPERATIVE INDIVIDUAL WHO KNOWS THAT IF THEY DO NOT PARTICIPATE THE BANK WILL HAVE TO FORECLOSE ON THE PROPERTY AND POST NEGATIVE MARKINGS ON THE SPOUSES CREDIT HISTORY.

I GIVE A POEM I CREATED TO BASE THE STORY ON. I THINK NOTHING CAN BE MORE SPONTANEOUS.

"TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH"

How would you bid adieu to Mush, Mr. Bush?
His crown stumbles down, leaving on your face indelible frown
You lavished millions of dollars on his moustache-
You thought him an antidote to terrorism
But that was your kaleidoscopic vision seen through a prism.
He wore your well-wisher's mask
And agreed to accomplish all your tasks
Like a prodigal son he was in perennial need of easy pelts
And so acted as if he loved you more than himself
In fact he plundered you and your state
The master manipulator Mush the great
Now as his junta is no more
Aren't you with him sore?
(There are more truths on heaven and earth, Mr.Bush, than are dreamt in your utopian ideology!)
As a president of a democratic state
Do you love to see democracy reinstated
Or regret the exit of a general
Leaving you mid-way in great haste?

Your friendhip with erstwhile military states
Has triggered controversy of late
As military ruler's crony
Wouldn't people call you phoney?

Nandial, you leave me speechless! Yes, I laughed out loud when reading a few of your verses--but I don't quite see a cogent story idea in your stream of ideological consciousness poem. So I must say: Nada to Nandial.

There's a new predatory practice out there I want you to warn your readers and audience about as I suspect it disproportionately effects women that have gotten back on their feet, single women without household exemption status and families who are just getting back on their feet.

Further, I'd hope your coverage would kick up some legislative activity on this.

The issue is the growing junk debt industry or "zombie loans" -- I blogged about it here ...and have alot of links that will get you guys up to speed.
http://rhondak.livejournal.com/1027395.html

What happens is companies go in and buy up old -- not necessarily legal and not necessarily good -- debt--then use harsh collection measures to collect such as no warning garnishmets. My bank account was frozen Friday by one of these companies that is a law firm functioning as a debt collection agency. I have no money. I also have no exemptions as a single person who is sort of doing OK. This actually makes me attractive and a good victim for these people.

This happens to women with children...families...usually on a pay day Friday and a long weekend. It is a favorite tactic. You have no idea...you go get gas and your ATM card doesn't work. And from there your world begins to unravel.

Unlike the way we've been taught...if you negotiate with these predators...you REVIVE the debt whether it was good or not. The simple act of trying to "make right" gets you in deeper. The statute of limitations on these loans have mostly expired...but this scavengers have no problem with re-aging the debt to make it "legal."

This does not show up on your credit report in the stages where they've determined you fit their profile. You will have no warning.

There are a lot of horror stories out there about this predatory practice that seems like it shouldn't be legal in America.

An article about clean tech's lack of profit would be interesting.

RhondaK, you probably missed our cover story on this topic. But I'm happy to say that BusinessWeek has taken a lead in reporting on this subject. Our cover story, Prisoners of Debt, ran last November. It has won several journalism awards and has drawn about 175 comments from our readers.

I agree with you: This is a horror story. Two of our investigative writers, Robert Berner and Brian Grow, called the practice "a financial version of Night of the Living Dead." They noted that debts forgiven by bankruptcy courts are "springing back to life to haunt consumers. Fueling these miniature horror stories is an unlikely market in which seemingly extinguished debts are avidly bought and sold."

You can see the story here: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2007/db20071031_039775.htm

Branden, thanks for writing in and sharing your idea with us. As it turns out, we recently did another story that addressed how entrepreneurs can use social networking sites to drive traffic and build awareness. Check out Dan Macsai's article on this topic at
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2008/sb20080822_537869.htm

Thank you for your prompt response to my verse. With best regards,
Nandlal.

ManmohanSingh Govt is solely responsible for the nose diving of Indian Economy.The PM himself is a world renowned economist.Had he wished he could have hitched Indian wagon to stars.But instead of doing any good to the nation he and his counterpart Chidambaram adopted purely partisan stance and in full cognizance indulged in populist measures which literally plundered Indian exchequer. Exempting the debts of farmers worth sixty thousand crores and many such preposterous appease-the-crocodile moves has proved suicidal for a sick economy .After drilling the last nail on the coffin of Indian economy the puerile PM has been adamant on sighning the nuclear deal with President Bush, another monomaniac whose idiosyncratic policies have ruined US Economy beyond repair. Mamohan Singh should have stepped down owning the responsibility of inflation,price hike of essential commodities and overall debacle of Indian economy but he didn't do so.He chose to stay in power by hook or by crook.When the communists withdrew support he won the confidence by foul means of bribing the MPs at the tune of crores of rupees. In democracy the discretion of voters cannot be influenced by money or other immoral means. The moment this happened, The Supreme Court of India should have suspended Manmohan Singh Government under pending inquiry because when the legislature subverts, in full cognizance, basic tenets of democracy, The Supreme Court has power vested in itself to correct the malfunctioning democracy.It is unfortunate that The Supreme Court, the vanguard and the only watchdog of democracy has chosen to sit on the fence relishing and enjoying the denuding ceremony of the Draupadi called Indian democracy.

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/sep2008/pi2008092_171285.htm?campaign_id=yhoo
re: above BW article on Energy Conversion Devices --
A suggestion for an article would be Chevron Technology Ventures and Ovonic Battery Company, primarily owned by Energy Conversion Devices, being named as defendants by Mercedes-Benz. The suit alleges that Chevron cut off funding to Cobasys which promised to supply Mercedes with the NiMH battery (Mercedes never received the agreed upon completed product/technology and Cobasys put itself up for sale, or is about to be bought by an unknown company). This arouses much suspicion since the distribution of this battery technology is not advantageous to Chevron and Chevron seems to delay its use. I think in these times of high energy costs, international conflicts and increasing pollution many readers would be interested in finding out why such NiMH battery patents are held by an oil company which is not selling them or making any use of them, and how we the public can speed up a quality electric vehicle to the market.

Chad Terhune’s article about balance billing did a great job pointing out how vulnerable consumers are in the healthcare arena. But here’s another problem that’s somewhat related to what he profiled that, I dare say, everyone can identify with and may deserve some attention.

I think it’s another reason that balance billing is so easy to perpetrate onto unsuspecting consumers.

Think about the number of families being inundated by a mountain of medical bills and paperwork that many times contains mistakes (some studies I’ve seen say a majority of such bills contain errors) and overwhelms families dealing with all types of medical issues. Throw in a life-threatening illness and billing paperwork multiplies even more. For instance:

• A single physical exam with x-ray and blood drawn can generate up to 4 bills, 3 explanation of benefits (EOBs) and 3 statements – 10 pieces of paper
• 82% of American households report spending significant time organizing, filing and reconciling health cost information (Ingenix healthcare study, June 2007)

No wonder consumers’ eyes glaze over to the point they don’t pay attention or ask questions about bills. And when threatened with debt collectors or damaged credit, they’re frightened into paying what they don’t owe.

Heck, using an excel chart or even a notepad would help. But in addition to medical billing adjustors, medical bill management systems -- a software-based or internet-based tool for organizing and managing healthcare bills, explanation of benefits, payments and tax deductible medical expenses – appear to be emerging to help consumers in this predicament. They work through the math (who should I pay, when, and exactly how much?) and some help users compare healthcare quality/cost/service through a Web 2.0 community of people who want to anonymously share healthcare information, reduce healthcare expenditures and bring greater transparency to the American healthcare system.

One technology firm I’m aware of – change:healthcare (www.changehealthcare.com) – and their web-based bill management tool helps consumers track their/family’s healthcare paperwork and dollars. They also can anonymously price-compare and quality-compare their bills and providers. I’m sure there are other such products of this nature… this appears to be something of a trend.

I could see a lot of people having interest in this. Aside anyone who has healthcare bills and wants to know where their money goes, others who might be interested in such help… sandwich generation boomers overseeing the healthcare if parents and their own families… elderly on fixed incomes who must watch every penny they spend on healthcare… employees on high deductible health plans (HDHPs) (by 2012, 1/3 of all companies will have HDHPs with a Health Savings Account (HSA) according to Forrester Research 2007) who must track their HSA balances. I could also see companies that want to better control healthcare costs, being interested.

I think this would make for an interesting, helpful consumerism article. Thanks for listening.

HOW CAN US ECONOMY LIMP BACK TO NORMALCY?

It is obvious that US Economy is sick and has to be revived soon before it is too late. In order that US Economy regains momentum I suggest following measures.

1 US has to revamp the whole healthcare infrastructure and make it
cost-effective and efficient
2 Avoid all wasteful expenduture in all sectors.
3 US Citizens should curtail their budget of luxurious wants and hobbies
4 US Citizens have to impose voluntary restraint on impulse buying.
5 US citizens should use bicycles for short distances.
6 Use of private cars should be curtailed and and it be replaced by public transport.
7 US Govt should stop all unviable appeasement loans to citizens.
8 Loans,if at all to be given ,should be given after verifying the repayment capacity of the individual.
9 High profile research projects should only be given to the scientists with proven capability and track-record.
10 In factories and all production units moderate incetives should be provided to the workers boost the productivity.

The Most Unwise Step of Indian PM

Dr. Manmohan Singh has committed greatest blunder by signing Nuclear Deal with President Bush because President Bush has lavishly given millions of dollars to Pakistan which the latter has used against India by abetting terrorist attacks and blasts in India. The nuclear deal with president Bush amounts to mortgaging the sovereignity of Indian State at the doorstep of The United states. India is a sovereign democratic nuclear power so she should not allow anyonone to impose restrictions on her discretion to use nuclear weapons for self defence during the hours of crisis. We are surrounded by two sinister enemies, Pakistan and China who can invade us at any time and during such emergency we can ill afford to ask advice of Uncle Sam for our strategy of defence. Furthermore, Dr Sigh's insight in his own area of economics is so poor that he created crisis for India by allowing inflation to grow at very high rate and prices of essential commodities to skyrocket during his tenure as Prime Minister. How can we trust his decisions in the crucial field like foreign policies, when in his own area his insight is so poor. Furthermore, Dr. Singh has used foul means to survive in power during the confidence vote on the floor of parliament by influencing the discretion of MPs through bribes worth crores of rupees. The man with such dubious credentials and integrity can neither be trusted nor be allowed to take such serious decision of sighning nuclear deal with President Bush who has ruined India by giving millions of dollars to Pakistan. Moreover, the document of nuclear deal is a clandestine document. The people of India has right to information and right to know what it contains. The document should have been made public by way of publishing it in all leading newspapers of India. In view of the above Hon'ble Supreme court of India should declare this nuclear deal null and void by passing an order with immediate effect.

3G Network and VAS in India: Value Added Services or VAS have not seen the same level of success as mobile telephony in India. Countries such as China and Japan, as well as those in Europe have been far more fortunate where VAS usage and services are considered. Each of these have varied competitive models. What differentiates them from India?

All across Africa there are infestations of aquatic weeds clogging waterways of every size. They are a part of most African problems, from flooding, to drought to malaria. They are all biomass of varying quality for ethanol production. Cattails (Typha) are the apparent Champion for ethanol production and (if grown in clean water) food production. There is enough cattail growing in Lake Chad to produce more than 5 billion gallons of ethanol, or enough flour to feed every African a loaf of bread everyday. Water hyacinth and water lettuce are equally in need of clearance, but appear to be less productive as a crop. Investigate this, report on it, and help me turn a massive nuisance into an enormous resource.

In this era of green efforts and sustainability, the largest U.S. urban community in the U.S. is emerging in Albuquerque – Mesa del Sol will build thousands of homes, and has already brought in hundreds of jobs, to meet its goal of creating the first, truly sustainable community. Already, two solar companies are on the 20-square-mile mesa south of the city, and Sandia National Laboratories, the federal government's alternative energy lab, plans to move part of its operation off the adjacent Kirkland Air Force base and into the site's business park. Mesa del Sol's president, Mike Daly, is working with Gov. Bill Richardson, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, to develop a solar plant to power the community; that would be a first anywhere. It's a terrific story, and in this economic downturn, it is one of the very few projects actually moving forward.

With bank and brokerage failures in the news lately, I'm surprised you haven't done a piece on the FDIC and the agency that insures stockbrokers (I forget what it's called). BW should do an expose on whether those institutions are adequately capitalized to pay out the potential claims they're about to face.

Why is not crime in all areas of medical in this country attacked like the drug war for in terms of dollars it dwarfs all other crimes even illegal drugs. Why not use RICO to break down the walls of silence that protect the incompetent and fraudulent that is estimated at fifty percent of our two trillion spent on medical. I believe the University of Boston study figured half of all medical expenditures came from waste and fraud. The same true of the real estate industry and fraudulent loans that involved brokers, customers and realestate people. White collar crime dwarfs traditional crime.

Story Idea: Maybe I missed it but where is the coverage on the mis-management of the auto industry. Why haven't the top managers been sacked? There were ample indicators over the past 10 years at least, that gas guzzlers were on the way out. Toyota's increased share of the US market, based mostly on car sales couldn't be missed by a blind man. Now US auto manufacturers are trying to play catch-up? Where is the accountability for the red ink and resultant loss of auto industry jobs? I bought a new Toyota in Dec 07; Ford, Chrysler and GM dealer lots were full of SUV’s and I wanted a car. I wanted a US made car. I guess that’s what I got in the end.

Hello, We am sure you have all read of the protests at Singur, India aimed at delaying (cancelling) Tata's Nano car project.

We read an article recently about how Louis Vuitton had displayed a giant bag at Bangalore airport to establish its arrival in Bangalore. The author went on to suggest that this was an affront to the millions of poor in India.

We want to revisit the Singur protests. The government bought land from farmers and gave it to the TATA's for a factory. The protests are aimed at protecting farmers rights. Do they really do this?

Agriculture grows at 3-4% in India. The industrial and service economies grow at more than 10%. Farm lands in India are small- and of low productivity.

By shifting labor from agriculture to the industrial sector, are not the poor benefiting? Sure, compensation can be an issue but must be addressed also in line with the present value of "additional" future earnings that labor in India get from industrial work than agricultural work.

Who are these protests helping? Why do we let our political leaders get away with this? Are these protests not a bigger insult to the poor man than Louis Vuitton's bag display?

We hope BW will highlight this issue.

thanks
logothoughts
rituvenkat12.blogspot.com

I would like to see a story about the Lobbyists in Washington and how they have corrupted the government and brought Washington to its knees.

I have an idea: With what is increasingly seen as a stagnant economy and with Americans facing financial turmoil, how are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) bearing the brunt of this financial slow down? They don’t have the same resources that larger companies have to weather the storm. What are the biggest fears facing SMBs and how can we work together to make sure that smaller, yet often more innovative companies of today are still around in the year(s) to come?
As the founder of an analytics “software as a service” company, LucidEra, in San Mateo, Calif., I am committed to making sure that we help SMBs meet these challenges head on. One of the most common fears I hear about concerns how SMBs will increase and/or maintain their sales. When business slows, a lot of smaller companies’ immediate concerns turn to their sales and leads pipeline. At LucidEra we are using analytics to help these smaller companies find better ways to get more revenue from their existing sales pipelines, and to more accurately project their sales forecasts so they can plan better.
For “What’s Your Story,” I’d like you to consider highlighting the fears facing small and medium-sized businesses -- the heart and soul of America -- in financially challenging times, and how a variety of companies and services are helping SMBs move forward in spite of these challenges. The article could of course include not just sales and marketing challenges, but lots of different variables (such as human resources management) as well. We continue to hear this trend from our customer base so thought it might be of interest.
Please feel free to call or email me directly with any questions about this story idea, as I am more than willing to assist in highlighting the fears and the solutions.

How about a business article on whether success in business is linked to professional studies or not. We tend to think in order to be successful we should have great education (MBA etc) but What I Have seen in ASIA and elsewhere there is no definite connection. Lets look at the issue empirically. Though I am an MBA student currently, after working for one of the world's largest corporation but I feel professional education is no sure way for a successful career/entrepreneurship.

I would like to submit a suggestion for a news article that might be of interest to several of your readers who are tracking Ebay's financial performance.

We own an Ebay store named, JDR Supply. For the past three years we have been able to operate our store profitably while providing excellent customer service to our clients. Our sales have grown to the point where we have earned the designation of Power Seller.

Several weeks ago our account was suspended for 30 days for not meeting Ebay's new stringent feedback rating levels which many established Power Sellers believe are unreasonable. Several months ago Ebay modified the manner in which buyers provide feedback for sellers and this new feedback system has put sellers in a unfair position.

Judging from the number and frequency of blog posts on the internal Power Seller blog site these new rules have shutdown hundreds of Ebay stores and frustrated many sellers to the point where many are choosing to leave Ebay permanently and create their own websites. This is the option that we have also decided to pursue. I find it difficult to believe that Ebay would alienate such a large group of power sellers. On average we pay $2000 per month to Ebay in fees. I would assume that if Ebay loses hundreds of additional sellers that this could have a significant impact on their future revenues.

As can be seen by the 185 comments (and counting) on Karen Klein's Oct. 21, 2008, story, many readers share an interest with Rafael. Read The Growing Frustration of eBay Sellers and join in the conversation.

I would like to see a story on Targeted Sudan Divestment. Apparently, 24 States in US have already divested, along with several American Universities. I would like to see you point out to the average investor of the ethical and financial advantages/disadvantages of divesting from companies that place a low priority to human rights.

Two days ago on September 12, 2008, I was warmly greeted at Santa Fe, N.M.’s new REI store, its 100th. Standing by the front door, the employee’s nametag on her green vest read, “Sally.” And, having lived in Seattle two decades, I instinctively asked, “Sally Jewell?” “Yes!” smiled the president and CEO of this country’s largest consumer co-op, which rang up $1.3 billion sales last year—a sweet bonus for members as REI turns 70.

That’s how comfy Seattle’s billion-dollar CEOs, from Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos to Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, have built their empires from the ground up—by staying in touch with community to learn about consumer likes and dislikes.

Swallowed up by opening day’s rushing crowds, Jewell and I had no choice but to part ways. On my way out, we tried to continue chatting.
“Why’s REI so successful, Sally?” I hurriedly asked.
“Because, although our mission is to inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship, we have a higher purpose—by giving back” Jewell replied.
“Yea? In what ways?” I continued.
“We like to interest locals in outdoor recreation and its benefits. Last night, we invited, along with the mayor and others, over 200 kids from nonprofits such as Girls Inc. and The Nature Conservancy to show how playing outdoors can be fun and healthy,” Jewell explained. (While increasing REI’s sales, one may add.)

Indeed, giving back motivates Jewell to spend one-third of her time advocating for community. She’s board regent to her alma mater, the University of Washington, the National Parks Conservation Association’s and other boards. One-third goes to family time, and one-third to REI, her soul-mate.

Would BusinessWeek readers like to learn how Sally Jewell turned around REI? Jewell stepped in as Chief Operating Office in 2000 when REI suffered its first-ever year of red ink. Her 20 years in banking (plus three years prior as a petroleum engineer with Mobil Oil, now Exxon Mobil), makes REI’s president and CEO an insightful Q&A subject.

Some questions I’ll ask include:
1. What tactics turned around REI?
2. How hard was it to implement them?
3. What were those that showed early returns, and those over the longer haul?
4. Looking back, what would you have done differently?
5. Since a co-op has no shareholders and investors, what are some innovative ways you’ve tried (apart from increasing REI’s yearly sales)? How did they fare?
6. How would you encourage business productivity during these challenging times?
7. What are recreational activities you enjoy that promote productive outcomes for REI and business owners?
8. You say it’s important to nurture your 10,000 employees. How does REI do it?
9. General observations for running profitable enterprises?
10. REI’s a model of corporate responsibility—ideas for implementing it?
11. How to stay positive and motivated given the present economy?

Re: Albert Sun's Recession-Proof Jobs, I have a Suggestion for an article: do a story on recesssion proof jobs -recession proof - not what this is recession resistant. Here are some ideas:

appraisers - everyone has something to sell.

buyers of used stuff - see above.

solar panel contractors.

energy efficiency contractors

wind power speculators - (midwest)

light weight battery powered scooters and bicycles.

selling energy software for homes and businesses - that tracks usages and leakage.

Those would be worthy of stories from BusinessWeek - oh yes the last recesssion proof job is faithful reporting!

As a sequel to "Best Places to Launch a Career" (Sep.15), and for those of us who are considering a mid-life career change, how about an article on "Best Places to Launch a SECOND Career."

Great Pacific Garbage: large masses of ever-accumulating trash floats on Pacific ocean between Hawaii and California. Scientists expect its size as two times bigger than Texas. This situation should not be taken lightly. What has been done so far to get rid of the hazardous garbage? What's US government take on this issue? As the maxim goes - One's garbage is another's treasure. There's a big business opportunity in clearing the trash out of the water. I would like to hear more about that. Can't wait for a story. Regards. Ajay

A article about the size of companies and their success compared to their corporate jets.

A website worth following is www.writenow.tv -- a video-based how-to website for creative writers. Even though the site, which is also building a social network, has recently launched, it showcases clips by Robert Morgan, Ron Rash, Ann Hood and other poets and novelists.

The Northwest Passage - While the debate goes on about the causes and cures of global warming, the fact remains that a viable sea route between Europe and Asia exists in Northern Canada. I would like to see an article investigating the financial and strategic implications of this, as well as the developing infrastructure and traffic controls affected.

Douglass, Arik Hesseldahl took on your request in his Jan. 28, 2009 story, "Who Owns Rights to Melting Artic?"

What CMO's can learn from minor league sports. A discussion about customer loyalty, brand reinforcement, promotions that work and great hot dogs.

Twelve failed banks, thrifts did not get a bailout. How come AIG and others get a good deal at taxpayer expense? In particular, who wins? Who are the ten biggest investors at each company that the taxpayer saves? Do the executives still get their bonuses?

When will Wal Mart buy Home Depot? The move would meet Wal Mart's long term growth objectives and rescue Home Depot from Nardelli's sacking of the company.

I know what a $700b bailout would mean to me in real numbers: $2300. I would like to see a story that lays out objectively with some solid mathematical projections of what the "Dire Crisis" would be without a $700b bailout.

RE: Adam Aston's GreenBiz and Zipcar story -- September 8/2008
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_36/b4098062937966.htm

Please. This article fails in a number of ways - most alarmingly in getting the chronology wrong. As with car sharing, and as usual in the business world, not-for-profits, co-operatives and social enterprise have lead the way to innovation. Not the other way around. Zipcar was launched "In June of 2000 [when] the first Zipcars were on the road." By that time, the Co-operative Auto Network - a not-for-profit in Vancouver had been in business three and half years - while a social enterprise in Quebec, Communauto, had been operating 5 years or more. Further - about how 'the public sector is experimenting with car sharing' In fact - the City of Seattle and Metro built the business case/plan for Flexcar - and then gave the original operator of Flexcar $4 Million+ in tax payer money to run the company. So -- interestingly - how it plays out is Flexcar was created as a public sector 'experiment' - and its current owner is now the majority share holder of Zipcar.

Most of us would love to see an in-depth story covering the (un)reliability of government economic data including unemployment figures, inflation numbers, national debt, defense spending, incomes.
We realize that most of these numbers are fudged for political reasons by whichever party is in charge. BUT, in the last 30 years or so, these numbers appear so far from reality that we now have an economic meltdown when just a few months ago we were assured the fundamentals were sound.

re: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/sep2008/db20080919_897469.htm

You know proposed legislation will be bad for the American people when the sponsor of the bill has to lie about its contents. No matter how Rep. George Miller wants to spin it, the Employee Free Choice Act effectively eliminates the secret ballot in union organizing elections. Even members of his own party agree. In a recent opinion piece, former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, hardly a hostile opponent of labor unions, said "workers could lose the freedom to express their will in private."

Workers have historically faced intense pressure to sign authorization cards from union organizers in order to call for a formal private ballot election. Under Miller's plan, the act of signing the card is the final vote, which will only ratchet up the pressure on employees. In fact, Miller and several of his colleagues petitioned the Mexican government seven years ago, calling on them to provide for secret ballots in union elections to protect the workers from intimidation and coercion.

Unfortunately, at the behest of his funders at the AFL-CIO, Miller has now taken the position that this level of protection is unnecessary for American workers.

Sincerely,

Richard Berman

Executive Director, Center for Union Facts, Washington D.C.

In response to "The Bailout: Public Anger, Private Talks" -- Can we turn lemons into lemonade? Let's see, we have people who are struggling to pay mortgages, financial institutions short of money, the government willing to borrow $700 billion and people want more Energy Independence. How about joining the dots? I Googled: 'solar thermal price', and found an organisation called Southface that provides information on financial returns for solar energy. A $3000 system would reduce bills by 75%, with a 10 year payback on average $400 a year bills. If the government offerred rebates of $2000 then the payback would be less than 3 years. People would go to healthy banks , jobs created, business investment increases. Using 100 million homes, that's $200 billion. The same could be done for solar voltaics and also adding diesel, LPG, ethanol, and hydrogen pumps to petrol stations. Your writer Moira Herbst could explore options on how to invest in Energy Independence. This democratises the solution to each household. Forget bailing out failures - let's invest in expansion.

The egg industry has been enjoying record egg prices and record profits but was just hit (on 9/25) with a class action lawsuit accusing the largest egg trade organization, United Egg Producers, and its members, with conspiracy to "fix, raise, maintain and stabilize the prices at which eggs were sold". A total of 13 egg producers and three industry trade groups were named in the 71 page legal complaint.

"After an intensive investigation with numerous confidential sources, we learned that the industry was using animal welfare as a pretext for a naked price fixing scheme and attempting to reduce the output of eggs," said Michael Lehmann, a partner at Cohen Milstein who is representing the plaintiffs. "As a result of the industry’s scheme, in 2008 alone, wholesale egg prices averaged 40% higher than last year. Through this lawsuit, we intend to recover the overcharges that direct purchasers were forced to spend.”

The egg industry was always highly fragmented but over the past few years mergers and acquisitions has led to a few large players controlling the industry. What was once a quiet industry composed of small family owned farms is now dominated by massive multi million dollar producers.

Your readers would be interested in hearing about how a once highly fragmented industry is now accused of violating U.S. antitrust laws.

See: http://www.cmht.com/cases_eggpricefix.php

A copy of the class action complaint:
http://www.cmht.com/pdfs/092508eggcomplaint.pdf

Most people probably don't give their eggs a second thought: As long as they fry evenly, we're OK. Not Gordon Campbell, president of the Virginia Aviation Council. Like some of our other What's Your Story Idea inspirations, Gordon helped BusinessWeek think outside the crate but still address important business issues. Because, as you can read in Brian Burnsed's Oct. 20 story, Legal Scramble over Egg Prices, concerns over price fixing ain't no yolk.

I would appreciate more information about the homeland deployment of an Army Brigade commencing of October 1, 2008. The story is in the Army Times and lightly sprinkled through the blogosphere, but aside from the American Socialist Newsletter, I have not seen the story followed up nowhere.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

Thanks. Hope you do it. Marsha

we are in the midst of a financial fraud. watch the 60 minutes video report at this link.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/25/60minutes/main3752515.shtml?source=search_story

It sounds complicated, but it's really fairly simple: banks lent hundreds of billions of dollars to homebuyers who can't pay them back. Wall Street took the risky debt, dressed it up as fancy securities, and sold it around the world as safe investments. If it sounds like a shell game or Ponzi scheme, in some ways it was a house of cards rife with corruption, greed, and negligence.

An in-depth story about ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) would be interesting.

Congress got the bailout vote right. The markets rebounded today and while the markets may continue to see hardship over the next few years, isn't that what the free markets are supposed to experience?

Stocks and economies go up and then they also have cycles where they go down, but that's not all of it. The reason why the debt is ballooning out of proportion and the country is so full of debt is complex but I do have my reasons.

First off, wasn't it Goldman Sachs and other financial players that are in a morass now, were they not the ones who where not only shorting stocks, but worse, printing extra fake shares and naked shorting them. Lots of naked shorts in the markets whereby these big players withdrew cash from the stock market hoping to buy up cheap shares on the lows and bottoms. But the news wants the people to panic and sell right now, isn't that what those naked shorters need?

In fact, they want a government handout to the tune of 700 billion to use that to cover the naked shares they sold as well as buying up shares at rock bottom prices over the next year or two. Wouldn't that funding be better spent if a check was written to every man woman and child in the US instead? I say, let those banks and crooked institutions who gambled and lost, let them fail and lose their jobs, give the money instead to the people who can manage it best for themselves, namely the taxpayer!

The government, the politicians and banks have had it too long whereby each padded the other guys back, creating a system that was unfair for the people.

Why isn't this message regarding the squashed bailout vote mentioned?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzEguBCLmdg

Shouldn't the news show how some members of congress are beginning to stand up for what is right? Or are all the news outlets in the US somehow indirectly owned by "the fed" spoon feeding the people on how the bailout is needed to keep the banks golden parachutes flowing?

First off, we have fiat dollars which are no longer tied to gold, printed by "the fed" which is controlled by 10 foreign banks. In other words our money is controlled by outside forces, so its no wonder that we are having problems today.

It seems these forces want us to follow "fractional banking" and a system of credit that keeps us needing more of that crack cocaine financing and wallowing in debt, rather then prosperity. I don't even think the current way things are funded is even constitutional, but that's the way its done today.

Banks lending out 10 dollars or more for every dollar it has. Charging interest on all of them and making a bundle, that is unless they continue to follow more and more questionable borrowers, till the point the system comes crashing down. Greed has been the American way, approving people and pumping up housing values to use as an ATM machine for withdrawing equity out of your house to buy a new car on credit. Works wonders as long as prices keep going up. Now that things are crashing, the banks have 10 loans out for every dollar savings.

You get people withdrawing cash from a bank and they need to replace that money the hard way. With so many dollars heading back to China for Walmart goods sold and the Chinese getting reluctant to continue to buy US Bonds where the value isn't there, you get to a point where the printing presses are running full steam ahead, but there isn't the dollars in the system to keep things flowing.

The Fed, which has done its best to control the price of gold and oil, to get everyone chasing dollars, fiat dollars instead, I think has dried the market up somewhat. Much like the 30's crash. They want the taxpayer to foot the bill for printing 700 billion which won't even fix the problem. The people said no to writing congress a blank check on the backs of future generations.

With all of the credit crunch articles around, I have not seen one that addresses why PMI (mortgage insurance) isn't protecting the banks more. This is just shifting the burden of bad debts, but if PMI doesn't protect the banks, why is this a requirement for all mortgage loans with less than 20% down. Seems like a waste of money if it doesn't (at least partially) help alleviate the mortgage mess.

With the biggest failures in history occurring daily, it's incredible to find no mention of our failed business schools. This site has loads of school info, but not a shred about the schools these failed executives attended. Let's see some blame placed where it surely lies.

A friend says she came across this on a blog at the NYTimes, an idea that was extreme but made a lot of sense in a weird kinda way - re this financial crisis. Simple and easy --- this guy said, look, there are 300 some million people in this country. Let's stimulate the economy, not with $600 a family , but with a million dollars for every man, woman and child. That'd only be 300 some million dollars, instead of 700 BILLION. Every family could buy back their bad mortgages, own their own home..and send their kids to the best college that they can get into. Every small business man would feel safe furthering his business, without fear of a bank taking it away from him, millions of people would be giving to all kinds of charities for good causes, and investing in things good for all of us, like new technologies looking for energy sources that renew naturally, etc etc. The trickling up would happen almost immediately, and all the true businesses (not counting buying and selling of worthless paper as a true business) would feel the positive impact of this much less costly stimulus. Best of all, the optimism that this would bring to the entire nation would be priceless. Let the Lehmann bros and AIG millionaires survive on their stock options already pocketed. Maybe they'll think of a real business to go into next. Possibly even contribute something real to the economy.

I would love to see credible thorough reporting relative to the breakdown of the eBay marketplace from the user perspective not eBay's false misleading announcements of improvements and fee decreases. Neither fee decreases or site improvements have occurred. The marketplace is truly in a death spiral and John Donahoe is solely responsible- well him and the fools who voted for him to take over for Meg.

While your at it why not investigate the trends in marketplace health since that man entered eBay? You just might stumble upon the reason for eBay's deceleration at the start.

One thing that boggles me concerning the media is they never take an in-depth look into anything. Every news source appear to ride off the back of one source who got the scoop. Why not create your own scoop? eBay is big news, but the truth about eBay would bring the house down.

The PeSA piece you published today is interesting, but they are clearly a large part of the situation that has us where we are now. How absolutely ridiculous for PeSA to suggest eBay favor the search returns for "good sellers". eBay has the data that would clearly expose the bad apples - if they had wanted to clean up the marketplace they could have easily. For PeSA to gain any credibility for me they would have suggested the obvious rather than their attempt to lobby for themselves with all of these absurd changes.

A lot of ideas in my mind. My point I want to read the whole story in-depth focused on the significant force of eBay's existence and all the "top" sellers can sit around thinking their something special, but without the small sellers they would be in the same position as eBay. The driving force of the eBay marketplace is the small sellers - they provide the bulk of the massive product and diversity. John Donahoe's biggest mistake was alienating small sellers.

Donahoes 2nd possibly equal in severity mistake is forcing an untested search engine that is failing to do it's job. It is clear to me why the CTO ran from eBay- John Donahoe was Hell Bent on launching a search that was not ready, and now the bottom is falling out.

ok enough rambling

How about writing a story about what the bailout options were? Aside from the current plan, what are the pros and cons of other bailout options? (e.g., government guarantees on loans instead of buying them; dealing directly with homeowners to buy their homes and then give them better loan terms; voiding out credit default swap contracts; etc.)

Anatomy of a cycle turnaround

What is happening now is nothing but the economic cycle playing out, coupled with some deep shock elements.

And the economic cycle will turn.

What will be the anatomy of a turnaround? What will play out over the next couple of years? How will the cycle turn? All economic cycles/market crashes/recoveries are the fundamentally same.

Am a bit surprised that no one picked up the issue of people who do NOT understand financial/math issues re my earlier submission: "...300 some million people in this country. Let's stimulate the economy, not with $600 a family , but with a million dollars for every man, woman and child. That'd only be 300 some million dollars, instead of 700 BILLION."

Wrong, of course. 300 million people X million dollars person is NOT 300 million dollars.

The bailout is NOT simple, and the solutions will be complex. Hope they're also monitored with full accountability. I'd like to see an article on how could we possibly trust those who created the problems to use the bailout money appropriately. Thanks.

Who Predicted U.S. Economic Collapse Years Ago?

These series of videos were released in the last week or so and give us some insight as to where the U.S. economy is heading and why it is moving in the direction it is.

http://sharingsuccess.tv/2008/10/01/ron-paul-%E2%80%93-success-for-the-global-financial-crisis-revealed/

What can we do to help ourselves and the global financial crisis? Fox news, recently called Dr. Paul a financial genius! If the US people and government had listened to him years ago, they would not be in the situation they are in now.

I urge you to watch these three powerful and influential videos now and really give some thought to the US economy and global financial crisis.

http://sharingsuccess.tv/

I believe Ron Paul is the most intellectual and honest person in congress. I may not agree with him on everything but, he is an honorable man and puts his country first before himself.

Recently, $1.2 trillion had vanished from the United States stock market. The broad market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, plunged almost 9 percent, its third-biggest decline since World War II. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 778 points, or 7 percent, to 10,365.

In a appose to President Bush and the leaders of both parties the US House rejected a $700 billion economic rescue plan that caused an uproar and sent markets plummeting and left top law-makers groping for a resolution.

That a side, recognizing the defeat of this massive bailout is actually something Ron Paul was highly in favor of. If the bill had passed, it would have provided short term relief that would have escalated from $700 billion initially to trillions of dollars and the further dilution and decline of the dollar that could truly have been catastrophic.

So, despite the record stock market losses please understand and realize that this is a good sign. Like many things sometimes it needs to get worse before it gets better. Ron Paul suggests that going back to the basics of capitalism is the answer. Regulation by the market and liquidating bad debt is the key to success.

I suggest that we in North America who are really being affected by this crisis should let go of fear and stop being afraid of the economy. It’s the simple law of attraction. Do not attract circumstances into your life through negative thoughts and fears. What you think about you bring about! Instead cancel those negative thoughts in your mind and focus on thoughts and emotions that will bring you abundance and success.

sharingsuccess.tv

[url=http://www.sharingsuccess.tv]sharingsuccess.tv[/url]

How about stories on:

- The inflection point in the current cycle.

- China as the new outsourcing destination.

- India as a consuming economy with US as a BPO for products.

Would love to see a story on the potential effect of the economic downturn on e-commerce sites this holiday season. What are internet pure plays thinking will happen to their sales this holiday season?

Given the ongoing economic crisis precipitated by the greedy bankers, investment bankers and mortgage lenders coupled with the total lack of regulatory oversight, which has destroyed the financial security, livelihood and lives of millions of people across the globe, why not do a story or a saga on "AMERICA - THE BIGGEST ROGUE NATION"?

One significant area in which change has been drastic in the recent decade is the issue of executive compensation and its effect on investors. As demand continues to increase for a relatively small pool of talented Chief Executive Officers, so too does the compensation demanded by top executives.

Current executive remuneration agreements often include high salaries, sizable stock options, and Golden Parachute packages, all which could ultimately translate into tens of millions of dollars. It is becoming more obvious that the damaging effect compensation such as this has on a company's bottom line, particularly with respect to the Earnings
Per Share (EPS).

In 1988, the era of excessive stock options was launched with much criticism when Michael Eisner, the CEO of Walt Disney became the highest paid executive in history with a compensation package worth $40 million. The actions of Walt Disney Corp. set off a domino effect, and excessive compensation became the norm in American business, as top talented CEO's leveraged themselves off of industry compensation surveys to negotiate higher pay packages.

One would think that CEOs are being paid for superior performance (i.e. a noticeable increase in profits, EPS and the stock price.)However, as we read in the financial news over the last decade, and more so recently, CEOs are being rewarded for complete failures. Shareholders are losing their money, companies are folding, but still Mr. Greed CEO still walks away will millions.

* I have a full paper that I wrote in MBA school on this matter-an ideal time to publish.

How about a story investigating who are the people responsible for the financial crisis?

Will the bank bosses pay for their responsibilities?

I don't know if things are going to be really bad - if we are going to lose our jobs, if shopping will be too expensive, if bills will be too high.
But will someone pay for these disasters?
If I will lose the money in my bank, or if we all are going to lose our savings and jobs, will someone pay for the irrational financial decisions that have allowed the fat cats to play Monopoly with the taxpayers and small savers money?
I have just seen on the TV news Lehman Brothers' big boss saying - I know nothing, it's not my fault.
It's disgusting. I hope who has lost money with LB shares will join forces, hire expensive lawers and start a serius legal actions together to teach them lessons so that the people who play big games on the market will remember that - if you win, you win; if you lose, you pay.

Why are companies like IBM and MTV moving to Argentina??

Here's an idea for a story, about maximizing shareholder value and the true winners in the finance market. Corporate fiduciary duty is always to maximize shareholder value, unfortunately this has fallen to a quarter guillotine where everyone's trying to match up analyst numbers. Who cares about long term strategy, let's maximize what we can now and get the bonus. If you take a look at the average time of how long a institutional investor (pension perhaps) or an average nonactive stock buyer holds on to the stock, you'll find that it's way longer than 3 months. Chasing every three months really won't maximize their value if there isn't any long term strategy. This is why so many banks are failing too. While the mortgage market was booming, how can a company stand back and watch all other competitors have exponential growth in profit? they can't, because they would not be acting in the "best interest" of their investors, and in good times why does risk matter? so everyone flocks to match analyst numbers as analyst have more positive projections based on the economic condition. Was there risk involved? oh yeah. everyone knows as well, it's only a matter of who's willing to take the blame should a company miss out on profit making opportunity. Now, look at the true winners in the financial industry, those who have the leisure and liberty to weigh their risks and benefits without anyone watching over them, they're called private equity. Sure, they tend to get a hold of a company for a relatively longer period of time, let's say 5 to 7 years, but the return is quite handsome as they can follow a longer term strategy that will make a company more well rounded and healthy instead of cutting cost to the bare bones and squeezing whatever profit you can out of a business. Maybe we should look at how wall street's scrutinizing eyes is killing corporations and keeping them from pursuing a truly long term healthy strategy.. because, oh i'm sorry, we can't match analyst projections this quarter.

ON BAIL OUTS, BOATS AND SHIFTY SAILSMEN

Rent a rickety boat from a shiftless salesman and you may find yourself bailing water if the weather turns stormy. Anyone who has bailed out a boat knows that the vessel need not be bone dry to continue floating upright. It’s that last inch of water, the tipping point, that needs to be bailed out to avoid flipping upside down. A term, coincidentally, that has recently entered the lenders' lexicon, meaning a family that has more mortgage than house.

It seems common sense that any government intervention in the current stormy housing market should focus entirely on investing in the mass purchase and distribution of bail buckets for sinking boaters. Incredibly the government has opted to spend the entire wad of taxpayer treasure on the purchase of capsized boats from the negligent boat rental business, namely Wall Street. The strategy will certainly assist the boat business to continue renting, any takers?, however it does little to aide current customers now in the process of drowning.

By purchasing the most risky loans from Wall Street, and thereby shifting the risk and liabilities to the taxpayer, the hope is that the storm will subside. Unfortunately the approach is off target and not likely to succeed.

As the housing market declines, driven now by fear and the fire sale of foreclosures flooding the market, more homeowners find themselves upside down and also decide to walk. This further perpetuates the downward cycle as these homes hit the market. This process gains momentum as owners’ equity evaporates and sinks borrower after borrower.

Right Side Up Loans

Just as not every inch of water in a boat is dangerous, only the last “tipping point” inch, not every dollar of a subprime mortgage loan is toxic, just the last percentile. This is the high ratio portion of the loan where the mortgage amount begins to approach or exceed the value of the home. The Fed bailout should focus on refinancing this last percentile of risky mortgage debt for consumers rather than buying the entire loan off of Wall Street.

By taking on the risky portion of the loan the Fed leaves the original lender with a low ratio first mortgage that is a perfectly sound investment. More importantly, the Fed would avoid spending limited bail out bucks buying up the non-risky portion of the mortgage from the lender. Consequently the money spreads further, more homeowners are resuscitated.

These “Right Side Up” mortgages would require no monthly payments and would carry no interest. Homeowners would then enjoy real relief in the form of lower mortgage carrying costs. This is an all important step in helping the homeowner stay in their home and breaking the perpetual downward spiral. The object is to create a floor to the housing market bubble and restore homeowner confidence.

The “Right Side Up” mortgage would require repayment only in the event that the homeowner sells their home. In the event of a sale the original lenders mortgage would be entirely paid off. The Federal “Right Side Up” mortgage would be paid off in proportion to the equity recapture that has occurred as the housing market has stabilized and improved.

With more manageable payments homeowners would be able to wait out the bear real estate market. The Federally funded “Right Side Up” mortgage would recreate a notional homeowners equity in the home. This gives the homeowner back their “skin in the game” and is further incentive not to walk or sell which feeds the housing market price collapse.

RIGHT SIDE UP MORTGAGE EXAMPLE

Below is the typical purchase scenario. The homeowner purchases a $300,000 home with a $30,000 or 10% down payment. The bank lends the purchaser the remaining $270,000 - perhaps with teaser rates.

As the housing bubble bursts the value of the homeowners house falls from $300,000 to $200,000. Consequently the homeowners initial $30,000 down payment is wiped out. Worse yet they now owe a mortgage of $270,000 on a house that has a current market value of only $200,000. The $70,000 shortfall is the amount the homeowners is Upside Down.

This mortgage has become a toxic asset for the Wall Street lender as the security backing the loan is less than the mortgage amount owed. The homeowner has lost their down payment and their home asset is less than their mortgage liability. As a result the homeowner is highly incented to walk from the home.

In the Right Side Up mortgage circumstance the Federal Reserve, through the initial Wall Street lender, makes a second mortgage available of $100,000. Essentially the Fed purchases $100,000 of the loan from the lender rather than the full $270,000. The result is that the lender is now the holder of a $170,000 mortgage on a $200,000 home – which is a relative well secured loan. In addition the consumer is now making monthly payments on a $150,000 mortgage and has a notional equity in the home of $30,000.

This notional homeowners equity is an important feature of the Right Side Up mortgage plan. It enables the homeowner to recapture a sense of having recovered their initial down payment. The homeowner once again has “skin in the game”. Combine this with lower monthly payments on the reduced first mortgage of $170,000 and the homeowner is now capable and financially incented to stay in their home and wait out the bear market.

The Fed risks less capital in the purchase of toxic loans. It also enlists the original lender back into the process of refinancing the loan for their customer. Above all the Fed is likely to recapture part or all of the second mortgage funds invested when the homeowner eventually sells their property.

By providing the homeowner with a much needed bail-out and including the original lender in the refinancing process the Fed stops the free fall of the housing market. It’s a matter of ensuring boaters are able to borrow bail buckets, at least for as long as it takes to drain that last inch of water.

Growth countries, industries & companies in recessionary periods Past, Present & Future.

Contrarian Investing

CEOs and corporate executives are often demonized by the press and politicians. I'd like an article about some executives that are good people and how they balance their lifestyle. I'd like to hear about people that are not so famous (i.e. not a story about Warren Buffett). For example, I recall a Fortune article about Target where one executive said he liked to spend his free time with his family.
Not every CEO is a horrible, greedy person. Many have started businesses from a humble beginning and have turned them into a very important job provider for thousands of people. Perhaps a good example would be Sinegal of Costco. Most people have never heard of him, but he seems very down to earth and treats his legions of employees well.

$7,000,000,000.00 - T. Boone Pickens estimate of our money that is sent offshore never to return for fuel
$140,400,000,000.00 - Estimated wages sent offshore never to return that are figured at 2,700,000 jobs times an estimated average wage of $52,000.00 per year
That is way too close to 1 TRILLION dollars per year that other countries can use to buy up our property and evict us.
Think it can't happen? Read more:
http://keepamericaatwork.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=17&blogId=1

Virgil Bierschwale
http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com

read an action filed against World Savings / Wachovia RE: predatory lending and warnings that were given and ignored in '05, no less than twelve different Manager's were repeatedly warned. www.alameda.courts.ca.gov/courts

case# RG08388779
Note the dates the Sandler's sold to Wachovia, the 4th largest Bank in the US completely gone 2 1/2 years later

How about a story on CEO's and other leaders in their respective fields, who do not have the background of education from IVY League Colleges, and privileged upbringing, thanks.

My name is Jessica Keckhaver and I am a 21 year-old senior at Indiana University. I started a company two years ago that has done really well. My company provides staff for the food service and hospitality industry, working with not only individuals but companies like the Hilton Hotels, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Oak Hill Mansion, Thomas Caterers of Distinction, MBP Catering, and many other well-known businesses in the Indianapolis area. I started the company with one other IU student and $500 in the bank, setting what seemed to be a ridiculous first year goal of achieving $60,000 in revenue and placing about 75 people in jobs. To my surprise, I far succeeded that goal, earning over $150,000 in the first year and placing over 140 people in jobs while maintaining full-time status in college. For 2008, my company is set to make $300,000 in revenue and will place over 300 people in various positions (we have placed 230 so far this year). My company is called Prodigy Staffing Solutions, and the URL is www.prodigystaffing.com. I have also been President of the IU Economics Club for the past two years, I have maintained the Honor Roll throughout college, and will graduate from the IU Kelley School of Business with Honors in May 2009. When I graduate both me and my business partner (he’s also 21 and a senior at IU) will go to work for the business “full-time” and will focus on our current market growth as well as expansion strategies to grow the business across the Midwest and eventually United States.

I think this would be a good story for Business Week because there are many great examples of what I have done to overcome the “odds” with not only being very young but also a female. My staff has worked everything from weddings to the Indy Racing League Awards Banquet, serving guests such as Peyton Manning and Danica Patrick. My company has also gained the attention of many large companies in the Indianapolis area despite being young, working with over forty companies to date. In addition to the inherent difficulties, I was sued in October of 2007 by a multi-million dollar staffing company, and I had to endure the stress of going to court, meeting with attorneys, and trying to scrape together funds to pay for all of the related costs—again, all while in college. The lawsuit was dropped by the other staffing company after about 3 months.

I know that you probably receive lots of article ideas, but I believe that your readers would truly find this story very inspiring because the company started from very humble beginnings, and because of hard work and dedication, my company has become something of which I am very proud.

Thank you!

It's sad people have to be ripped off by religious people who pray on people's faith. Please do a story on the propersity preachers and their church organziations in the midst of the current economic crisis. Please update us on Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa's investigation of the televangelist?

Raised with the ideological background of “Your Glass Is Either Half-Empty or Half-Full”, I would love to see some economic forecasts of cities in the US that can expect growth, expansion of new and existing businesses, and cities offering the most job opportunities in the near future.

From the Subprime Crisis to the Financial Meltdown, Peak Oil the Hidden Responsible

In a recent article Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize laureate in Economics, argued the current financial crisis was caused both by “dishonesty on the part of financial institutions, and incompetence on the part of policymakers” . Others like the Australian Prime-Minister add that widespread greed is to blame for the current events . While these explanations manage to explain the evident excesses of our financial system, they do not say how the system which used to run roughly well suddenly stopped working.

Everyone would agree that the financial crisis started once the banking sector got into troubles. The banking sector for its part, finds the causes of its difficulties in the subprime crisis. To go back further in the events timeline, we acknowledge that the subprime crisis happened once borrowers became unable to pay back their mortgages.

So yes, it was a serious mistake to lend money to people who could not afford it, but why did these people abruptly become unable to pay? The reason is most important and commentators of the crisis systematically fail to discuss and analyze it. In 2006, interest rates were raised in the USA, so the monthly bill, usually poor borrowers of subprime mortgages had to pay, rose dramatically, until they could no longer pay it and saw their houses confiscated; thus contributing to the housing market plunge.

Finally, interest rates were increased in order to fight rising inflation, which started with the dramatic surge in oil prices the world faced over the past few years. So yes, the financial crisis finds its roots in the oil crisis and nobody seems to care about it.

The current events that nobody saw coming, were already announced in as early as 2006 by Dr. Colin Campbell, a geologist, former Vice-President of Fina Oil Company and founder of the nowadays respected ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil). On a video interview available on YouTube, he declared:

“Expansion becomes impossible without abundant cheap energy. So I think that the debt of the world is going bad. That speaks of a financial crisis, unseen, probably equalling the Great Depression of 1930; it’s probable we face the Second Great Depression. It would be a chain reaction, one bank would fail, and another one would fail, industries will close…”

For people who are not aware of the Peak Oil theory, and sadly they are still the vast majority today, this theory advanced by a wide range of energy experts argues the world is going to face, in the near future, a permanent and irreversible decline in global oil production. While it would be too long to present in details the theory, the following quote from Dr. Schlesinger, the former US Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Defence and CIA Director tell us how seriously the theory is taken at the highest levels of decision-making:

“It’s no longer the case that we have a few voices crying in the wilderness. The battle is over. The peakists have won.”

Nowadays, we only found three leading and loud opposing voices to Peak Oil in the energy market, namely the OPEC, ExxonMobil and the CERA consulting group. As we can see, neither OPEC nor ExxonMobil are renowned for their scientific integrity and objectivity. Regarding CERA, their predictions in the evolution of oil prices made since 2002, were wrong seven times in a row . In light with these appalling projections, the legitimacy and strength of CERA’s denial of an imminent peak are at best mistrustful.

Before going further, aren’t their any alternatives? Hydrogen, ethanol or electric cars? Well here the problem comes from timing, as the decline in oil production is expected to happen in 2008 according to the ASPO. A report requested by the US Department of Energy, known as the “Hirsch Report”, concludes:

“Over the past century, world economic development has been fundamentally shaped by the availability of abundant, low-cost oil. Previous energy transitions (wood to coal, coal to oil, etc.) were gradual and evolutionary; oil peaking will be abrupt and revolutionary… The world has never faced a problem like this. Without massive mitigation at least a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and long lasting.”

Unfortunately, we don’t have ten years and world leaders do not even understand the crisis. From this point how is the situation going to evolve? Michael Meacher, a labour MP and former Environment Minister identifies the Peak Oil crisis as “an apocalyptic scenario” . A Deutsche Bank paper on oil depletion goes in the same direction:

“The end-of-the-fossil-hydrocarbons scenario is not a doom-and-gloom picture painted by pessimistic end-of-the-world prophets, but a view of scarcity in the coming years and decades that must be taken seriously.”

To come back to the financial crisis, we have witnessed an impressive fall in oil prices over recent weeks under fears of an imminent global recession. However, the massive US bailout plan and similar European supports to the banking sector are likely to maintain an artificial growth at high costs and to the detriment of states’ debts. Once we realize oil demand will not decline and will even continue to grow, as mentioned last week by the IEA , oil prices will once again surge. Regrettably, when facing the next crisis which is likely to be unprecedented, the world will no longer afford an emergency plan. In fact, the US bailout makes an emergency plan to develop alternatives to oil improbable. We have used our last bullets, and missed the target.

Recent events have showed us how officials and mainstream commentators failed to forecast the current crisis. It is time to finally take the Peak Oil movement seriously, failing to do so would result in a nightmare scenario, Dr. Campbell and others have been desperately warning for too long.

The heart of the 2008 crisis is leverage, but leverage can be used to amplify either way.

I find it hard to believe that everyone is a loser in the current financial mess. I'd like to see a story about who benefited from the majority of investors's woes. This is not a bear versus bull story. Yes, the market's were highly leveraged, but someone was betting on the demise, and I'm guessing they had information about insolvency prior to anyone on the street.

I'm particularly interested in credit default swaps. There seems to be type of "swap" that is not tied to any bond ownership. That needs a new name, maybe "credit default bet." These instruments were not insurance against a bond (their presumed original purpose), but something entirely different, something along the lines of betting on a company's solvency. The winners in these bets walked off with a load of loot, and left us (taxpayers) holding the bag.

Please look into it. Betting with other people's money has to be a crime even in the USA.

FINANCIAL CRISIS: WHY IT’S NOT OVER
It is said that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat them. Wikipedia tells us that after the “Black Tuesday” stock-market crash of 1929 the market rebounded just as it is doing now. Very significantly, drought in 1930 coupled with a downturn in auto sales and falling commodity prices led to DEPRESSION.
What do we have happening now? Are not General Motors and Chrysler in merger talks? Why? Are not commodity prices falling and expected to fall further as China feels the effects of the economic slowdown? What is happening with the weather? Will the US drought break? Is there any guarantee that it will? http://www.drought.unl.edu/DM/MONITOR.HTML
In these matters the current California wildfires serve as a warning for those with “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” – especially for those with Republican leanings.
Kind regards
Thomas

Do a story on how Oracle is able to spend money on acquisitions in this tight economic conditions? Show us some insight. Are these acquisitions adding any value in Oracle's business strategy? Is there any chance of backfiring this strategy and what happens if it fails?

I would like Business Week to come out with a story on IT for foundries in India. "Information Technology backbone is the way forward for Indian foundries" With the new liberalized polices of Govt. of India, Foundries have taken a new shape to cater to the present domestic and export demand of the country. The Indian Foundry industry, witnessing an unprecedented boom and the foreign outsourcing on the Indian foundries, is showing rapid growth.

Couple of ideas:

-Will the soon-to-be-retirees get back into the market? Or are they out for good?

-Will the bailout boost the money supply and fuel inflation, or is it a swap: new money replacing the money that evaporated during the collapse?

-And finally, why did T. Boone Pickens shift his predictions on oil in the spring of 2008? He was talking $70 - $80/bbl one week and then he shifted to $150/bbl a few weeks later. Who whispered what in his ear?

Thanks
Gregg

I think we need something innovative at the same time practical with huge world wide impact. We need something that touch each and every persons daily life. I am mechanical engineer doing research in energy and global warming. We can not solve global warming without solving energy crisis. We need something that works like IC engine without pollution. Don't trust what I am telling. Just read full research report on my blog and ask your trusted mechanical design engineer. If you find great news then publish it.

http://energyefficientmechanism.blogspot.com/

Apple iPhone 3G class action LAWSUITS! DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE. AT&T WILL NOT GIVE YOU A REFUND. They say "send it back to Apple (good luck) Apple won't even talk to you and they are impossible to contact about this. My wife and I bought two iPhones on 10-14-08. Hers works OK except the battery (in the stand-by mode) will die in 6 hours and the phone turns itself off. My problem, NO BARS, can best be seen and described on my YouTube video. Type in my moniker, RoyFromTexas and look for my video entitled "NO BARS IN TEXAS." I live a little over a mile from the cell phone tower, and my iPhone shows "NO SERVICE." An AT&T phone rep in Lubbock, Texas told me "You live in a "fringe-area, I'm sorry, there isn't ANYTHING I can do for you because you are out-of-area." I've had service with them (previously Cingular) for more than 6 years, GIVE ME A BREAK!

Significant nuclear accidents are caused by institutional factors such as the organized suppression of indicators. Can the industry rebuild without fundamental institutional change?

Back in 2006, it was all the rage for mutual fund companies to raise the stock allocations in their target retirement funds, sometimes radically. As a Vanguard investor, I was seriously vexed by a letter that airily informed me that my TargetRetirement 2025 fund was raising its stock investment from approx. 60% to approx 80%. I ended up exchanging my holdings in that fund for its component parts in the allocation I had originally chosen. Vanguard provided no assistance, no acknowledgment that customers might not be completely cool with a major shift in the allocations they had previously selected. And Vanguard was not alone - several other companies made their target retirement offerings more stock-heavy at around the same time.
How much were their customers' losses magnified in the current crash?

When I compare the per-capita GNP numbers of the various economically advanced countries of the world -- US; Japan, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, etc --in both a nominal as well as a purchasing power parity perspective, why does the US have such a commanding lead over these countries? Is it taxes, social policies, financial leveraging, US dollar hegemony, legal, etc? What can we analyze from the discrepancies among the countries and develop really positive governmental and business policies and regulations. When I look at CIA FACTBOOK (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/) I see that the US per capita income is among the highest and yet strangely enough; the GINI index for the US is almost the same as Mexico's. Does this mean something is out of whack with US government policies?

Another topic - Anglo-Saxon/English common law - It appears to me that English common law has had a significant economic advantage over other legal codes such as the French/Napoleanic/Roman, German, Chinese systems over the years. What is so unique of English law over the others and why has this allowed UK and former British colonies such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, as well as the US develop such advanced economic and political systems?

From both of these topics; what can we learn from history as a means of improving the future?

Doing business in China! If you want to do business in, or with China...

Today's financial debacle partly stems from the opacity in the % extent and the owners of mortgage loan securitized via private entities. In order to gain transparency and confidence in the loan's supply chain from originator to bond holders, perhap a BW reporter could start a forensic case study of a failed subprime loan.

Conceptually, there could be 2 approaches to build this case:
1) Follow the paper trails especially in the loan's securitization at a Wall Street bank. This could be hard given the complexity of a secretive/'black box' bundling with other loans.
2) Perhaps easier is to follow the money trails from the servicers of the homeowner's loan payments to the bond holders.

The goal would be to establish a method to identify each supply chain member of and his/her role in a failed CMO/CDO. Ultimately once the method has been validated by similar cases studies, we'll get an empirical basis to determine the % extent and the total value of toxic loans held by a bank.

I would like to see a story on the multitude of disappointed XM satellite subscribers who are really "torqued" on the total mismanagement of satellite radio("SatRad")since the merger of XM & Sirius. It is generally agreed that XM had the better programming (and definately superior consumer hardware)but since the merger, many of the XM staff has been dismissed. The stock is now less than 40 cents per share and feedback on blogs are full of individuals who are angry on the direction Sirius/XM is headed under Mel Karmazin. I have subscribed to SatRad for over 7 years and I was serious when I would state that I would give up the internet and cell phone before I would give up SatRad. I regret that I am rethinking that position lately.

SatRad (and more specifically XM) was created to give subscribers a much greater choice of music and information and until last year that was exactly what XM did. I am aware that there were mistakes along the way. I did not agree with paying "megastars" gobs of money for their personal programs. I felt that "slow but sure" was the way to go. Build upon a loyal and satisfied base and go from there. To me it is the commercial free music and superior programming over the pittiful excuse that "free radio" has become that motivated me to become a proud SatRad subscriber. I was against the merger but hoped for the best after it happened. But it looks like Mel Karmazin has totally screwed up a superior type of broadcasting. It is rumored that R. Murdoc may be interested in buying Sirius/XM. I hope so. Anything is better than the mess that Karmazin has made.

Obvioulsy, I am a loyal XM subscriber but do own a fair amount of basically worthless Sirius stock. I have never been invloved in the broadcasting media. Just a "boomer" that has been listening to radio since I was 6 years old and fondly recall the days of "underground" FM (circa 1968 - 1975).

I would love to see a factual writeup on the role FNMA and FreddieMac play in the mortgage business.I grow weary of seeing anyone blame them for the melt- down as they do not originate loans. They have underwriting standards for the loans they purchase.

This year, women of color (women of African, Asian, Hispanic and Native American descent) are expected to spend $1 trillion, according to Packaged Facts. It's time for businesses to take this demographic seriously--especially when its buying power presently exceeds that of Hispanics ($860mm), African-Americans ($845mm), and Asian-Americans ($459mm).

So the United States government is bailing out wall street and the large banks with tax payers money. Did any of the tax payers get to vote? Did any of the tax payers get bailed out? Did anyone even ask us if we give a damn about rescuing the culprits that have caused the current economic crises that we face? The government just decided to spend our money, however they want, without asking permission. The last time I check if we did something like that we be thrown in jail for stealing. The missing piece of this puzzle is the real estate piece. Why did the banks not try to work with the homeowners with some kind of a payment plan instead of just foreclosing on everyone regardless of what they could pay. Why is the government not asking real estate experts their opinion of how to solve this problem? Why is the government not going to force the banks to take lower payments from good outstanding homeowners so they can keep them in their house's? Here is a wonderful question for all of the experts in Washington, If a homeowner can pay their mortgage at a 3% interest only payment but cannot pay at a 9% or 10% fully amortized payment, why would it not be logical to keep them in their home paying something? I know, because how could the banks get 700 billion dollars if they did not have all those foreclosures on their books? What is going on in America is a travesty of justice and I believe as citizens we need to take back control of this great country of ours. On election day please vote out of office any senator or congress person who voted to give Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank and others 700 billion dollars of our hard earned money. Not one of these individuals cares about what happens to you or me or anyone else who is trying to support a family in this country. They all have great jobs and we are the only ones that can give them their pink slips. They will still make money with books and speaking engagements but at least we will set the tone for the next bunch of career politicians that we are not going to sit by and let them make us pay for their mistakes. We also cannot forget the millions of dollars that the corporate officers made from the companies that put us where we are today. How come we are not asking them to pay the 700 billion? We know they took hugh payouts while this mess was going on. It is like the captain of the ship being the first one in the lifeboat while the SS Economy is sinking into the abyss. Why is no one out there saying how do we help the people who are without a job and have lost their homes not to mention their pride and self respect? What about the people who own the small business and cannot prove all the income they make because they are allowed to write off expenses? They will never be able to get a loan again based on the current guidelines the banks have set up. The same banks that asked for the 700 billion dollars that the small business owner paid in tax's. I have been in the mortgage business for over 20 years and have seen many downturns in the real estate market. I have never seen the lenders all run and hide from the market the way they have over the last 6 to 12 months. Everyone is blaming the sub-prime industry for the problems of today but who created the sub-prime industry? The greedy Sobs on Wall Street that the United States government just bailed out with our money. I don't know about you, but this does not smell right to me. Wall Street went to the lenders who went to the brokers who went to the borrowers and said we can do your loan. The only one in that chain that is being bailed out is the one who made the most money in the transaction. Wall Street created the sub-prime market to line their pockets and purchase private planes, luxury vacation homes and fancy cars. They paid the lenders extremely well for doing their dirty deed for them and the lenders paid the brokers as well. The mortgage industry as we know it today is all but gone. Wall Street will no longer purchase risky loans from the lenders so the lenders will not make them to the homeowners. The homeowners cannot afford to stay in their homes unless they can refinance so the lenders have to foreclose. It is like being in the mouse maize but there is no entrance or exit and you just go around until you give up and die.

I'm a little old lady, retired teacher, and an A.F. widow, who hoped to live on the investments I'd carefully made. I have a very honest, capable consultant at Merrill Lynch. He is not responsible for this, as well as many other trustworthy people. Also, why aren't our government attorneys pursuing this deceit? It's been going on for years! Why should the "taxpayers" be stuck with the huge burden, while the super-affluent continue with their tax-free dodges? A government that disregards the welfare of it's honest, hard-working citizens, while pandering to the super-affluent, is inviting disaster. MOST of us don't deserve this! We have a right to know what Stan O'Neal's "golden parachute" amounted to, being as the rest of us crashed and burned! Please provide me with all severance pay, special gifts and privileges. Thank you

I Googled: business week jatropha, and couldn't see any mention of it by Business Week. Apparently the jatropha plant produces seeds that can be used for biodiesel, and have an estimated price of $43 a barrel! Also it can be inter-cropped with other plants, is good for hedges, and grows in arid soil - so you don't need to use good soil, and produces much more energy per acre than corn. Barrels per square mile: Jatropha = 2000, Corn = 200.Any chance of an article looking at the pro's and con's? and the supply chain? http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/05/business/fi-newfuel5 and also: http://www.ameramexinternational.com/whatisjatropha.html

Hugo, go ahead and add BusinessWeek to the list of publications lighting up coverage of the wild plant. In looking at jatropha and algae, I'm confident next-generation biofuels will be ready for blast off soon. At least we don't have to worry about the food vs. fuel dilemma (jatropha is poisonous to eat!). Check out the story from February 7th and written by Greg Spielberg called Alternative Jet Fuel: The Jatropha Plant?

I cannot believe that businesses are ignoring some of the best marketing information they could be using. After many years I moved my business from my Bank of America credit card and my Sprint cellular telephone service to other companies three months ago. BOA and Sprint have never contacted me to ask why I left their businesses for their competitors. There is a lot of information I could offer about why I left them, and I know other ex-customers would offer suggestions to help improve their services as well. Why do they spend tons of money on advertising to get people "in the front door" while ignoring the reasons customers are "leaving through the back door"? I think the smart companies, the ones that last the longest, are or will be mining that valuable information to help grow their companies. But the question remains - why do so many companies ignore this valuable input? I think it would be an interesting story to learn which companies are smart enough to do this, and why the other companies are so dumb that they pass up this opportunity to improve and thus keep future customers once they get them.... Wil Courter

Dear John and Shirley,
First of all let me say that I am a big fan of the magazine and the cover story podcasts - my favorite was John's very personal story about Peter Drucker. But actually I really enjoy the great rapor you guys seem to have at the magazine.

Now about my story idea, first I´ll give you some background and then the story idea comes below. Please let me know if you need more photos or a more detailed explanation of the material.

Keep up the good work with the magazine and the videos and the blogs. What I don't understand is how John ever has time to go home?

Best Regards,
Mans

Mans Shapshak
Calle Cabárceno, nº 6. 31621 Sarriguren (Valle de Egüés)
Navarra, Spain
mshapshak@tracasa.es
Centralita. (34) 948 289000 Ext: 268
Fax. (34) 948 249209
Mob: +34 659 056 086
http://www.tracasa.es

Background:
I am currently involved in an European research project called CINeSPACE (www.cinespace.eu). The project is a very typical project funded by the European Commission.

The project is about creating a device to incorporate several advanced GIS topics in the area of Tourism Cultural Heritage.

For more about the involved technology we wrote up some of it in Directions magazine:
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2885&trv=1

In summary the project is about making a portable device which lets people morph into the past using AR technology as they are walking through a town. We have made a short video on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG9VkJMXhXY

The Story:
While these projects are a lot about making advancements in specific technology I always get the feeling when we have project meetings that the most important thing we are doing is bring together people from a diverse set of cultures.

In the project meetings we have met in colorful and wonderfully diverse places such as a the city hall in Venice, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Lighthouse in Glasgow, an abandoned port building in San Sebastian and the Hyper modern Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt.

At every meeting the cultural styles, are so prevalent the whole project is really more about social engineering than anything else. We have continental Europeans, Mediterranean Europeans and Scottish (dare I say anything else) Europeans. Imagine seeing somebody bringing Voltaire or the little Prince to a technical meeting, well thats normal in some cultures.

But isn't this like any other multinational project. Not really. In a multinational project the organization probably has a single customer or driving goal. Here each organization has an individual research goal, so coordination can not be forced it must be negotiated and discussed.

In many ways these projects reflects the European Union itself. Its long slow processes to reach consensus. But it is a process that is essential to the cohesion of Europe. In the meetings we understand each other better each time. We are exposed to weaknesses and the strengths of each culture which have been so deeply ingrained in our personalities that we only see them in the reflection of the other people at the meetings.

The requirement that these projects must have at organizations from at least 4 different European countries doesn't lead to faster results or more efficient science but it certainly seems to build a sense of unity and cooperation one little science project at a time.

Maybe pictures are worth a thousand words:
http://manskj.blogspot.com/2007/12/project-meeting-in-venice.html
http://manskj.blogspot.com/2008/09/cinespace-team-just-completed-2nd-year.html

The lack of effective and relevant global institutions to deal with international crisis has become more apparent through this financial crisis gradually escalated to a global level. IMF mostly fades into oblivion. Until now, unilateral and multilateral actions by governments have been widely reported so far, I think it is time to examine what is lacking and what these institutions should do more to take central stage in global crisis.

Hi,

I'd love you to do a story on the future of retail bank brands post- crisis.

Presently, their brands are so full of puff, when society and the globe is calling out for proof.

Further, their past was founded on a prediliction to sell,sell,sell yet society perhaps now wishes them to serve, serve, serve?

And with so many mergers and take overs happening what will the new institutions, and indeed the industry, be presented and positioned as?

re "The Secrets behind Dell's Expansion" -- I want to know ..what are the main principles behind michael dell's approach to managing ?

I would love to see a story about IndyMac losing loan modification paperwork for people on the verge of foreclosure, after making many, many phone calls being assured that there home is fine and the foreclosure process was stopped. Two months later, you get a knock on the door by a realtor who informs you that she is there to get your house ready to sell as it has been foreclosed on already. This happened to a neighbor who has 2 weeks to move his family and find a place to live. They are devastated and beyond embarrassed.

Dear John and Shirley,

Its me again. I was thinking a bit more about the story I sent yesterday and I was thinking that it might be good to do some interview with the the european commission officers to get a few of their stories.

Our last review officer was a very colorful character who had been a paratrouper for the Belgian army. He kept saying "Bon, Lets move" duing the last review in Venice. He had a whole bunch of good stories about "cohesion".

Also it might be interesting to compare the FP7 program budget (http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/budget_en.html) to that of NSF. Notice how the big part of FP7 is called Collaboration.

From a business point of view one could also interview a business professor to get the total eturn on investment from various points of view on these programs.

I think this really could be a very great story!

Best Regards,
Mans

I am a college graduate who took out 40k in student loans from 1990 to 1994. The interest rates at the time were over 9%. I now owe 140k in loans and am in default. I am being hunted by Sallie Mae. I cannot take a job, I cannot own any property. My student loans have made me a second class citizen. My story idea: With all of the Mortgage defaults, and the bank closures, what is happening to the student loan market? Sallie Mae, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have a lot in common. Govt agencies that have been privatized and are failing. Let me know. Thanks.

Here is another story idea. I was just listening to talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on TED about flow. It's a great thing to remember just how important it is to get people to work in an area which is challenging and where they have expert knowledge. It is really clear that when people have been developing skills for some time (10 years is a common number) and have developed an expertise and then they are presented with a real challenge this is when they can go into that hyper productive and creative state called "flow". This tells us a lot about recruiting for projects or organizations:
-Experts are valuable when we can give them challenging work
-If you are training people you need to keep them focused on getting to the expert level and then retain them.
-Don't disturb flow by moving experts into roles where they are not focused or challenged ie. upwards in the functional divisions.
From my experience most organizations probably have less than 3% of flow going on (businessweek excluded of course ;-) ) Imagine just doubling that to 6%. The story could be about productivity vs. company organization etc.

Best Regards,
Mans

If it hasn't already been done to death, how about a relatively unbiased article about the Great Depression? The roles of Hoover in causing it or not, and Roosevelt in alleviating it or not are, are still being debated pro and con by politicians and historians and might interest readers who see parallels between then and now.

The real inside story of the current financial crisis is the profound effect short selling has had on the creation and amplification of the distruction of global markets, equity and debt alike.

I believe your readers deserve to know the extent to which investment banks, hedge funds and now the large numbers of private traders have used this investment practice to profit from the the destruction of markets by design, or otherwise, in addition to the current current financial crisis we currently find ourselves in.

More importantly how the nature of the playing field has changed as the two larger groups represent an investment force greater than those your readers believe have the power to solve the current problems. The traditional outdated practices used by governments and central banks to support financial markets are useless in this environment. Our capital system was built on a foundation of investing, not trading.

What needs to happen is a market/ sentiment turn driven by the very forces that destoyed everything. They need to become buyers/investors by law. Our regulators need to ban the practice of short selling, both equities and debt instruments alike, in all market sectors until further notice. This self serving destructive practice is so counter to investment practices that fostered 100 plus years of growth that unless a counter force is created the global investment community at large will always be exposed.

If the market prices of our equity and debt markets were left to the supply and demand forces of those that wished to own, countered with the true supply imbalance imposed by those that own and wish to sell, we would not be in the trouble we are in. If fact it's not inconceivable that our governments would not have had to spend a dime to support the system as they have.

BW should ask, explore and expose this practice for what it is.

Regards,

Douglas Sereda

What proportion of the U.S. stock market is held by: individual investors, mutual funds and exchange traded funds held by individuals, hedge funds, institutions (corporate pension funds, government employee retirement funds, corporate holdings, etc.)?

Do you see where I am headed? I am hoping to ascertain whose thinking is going to drive the recovery (or the continued plunge) -- is it hundreds of thousands of individuals, or is it a relatively few institutional managers responsible for a significant portion of equity investment?

Of course, to get the total picture, it is not strictly a U.S. equity question; it is also a question of commodities and cash equivalents, as well as non-U.S. holdings, and who holds all of this.

Business Week should reissue online your special issue on the Casino Society and do a story on the long-term foresight demonstrated by that issue. 16 September 1985 is the date. The financial geniuses seem to have used it as a playbook, rather than a wailing siren of alarm.

I'd love to see a piece on the rise and (inevitable?) fall of Russia's oligarchs. they got rich scooping up state assets on the cheap and now have turned again to the state in order to salvage their empires. empires the kremlin is reticent to see fail as they are a source of national pride (and power) at this point. plenty of points of intrigue in this context.....

Dear John,

What about a story regarding strong internet business growths during recession? I run an internet company CheapCheapCheap LLC (cheapcheapcheap.com) and have seen a huge surge in traffic lately. People are strongly looking towards alternative means to cut costs. Thanks,

-Albert

"Why It Is Much More Difficult For The Stock Market To Rally Since Mid Year 2007"

These days for the stock market to rally is like driving up a hill with one foot also on the brakes. And even if a minor hilltop is reached, then careening down the otherside occurs due to malfunctioning brakes. What is this mysterious force applying brakes or not at inappropritae times? It's the lack of the short sale, uptick rule on the US stock exchanges. In early July of 2007, the S.E.C. , for whatever reason, deactivated the long standing uptick rule on short trades that had been in place for decades. Standard and Poors/Business Week should do a story that looks at the causality of the removal of the uptick rule. How many percentage of down days since July 1997 vs history? Is the $vix in a more sustained elevation against its regression line, as well as being in record high territory since the uptick rule was removed? Are there substantially more new low numbers lately than is typical in history? Or have more stocks stock gone under their 200 day moving average than in previous times? Etc., etc.

Since my first brokerage account was opened more than twenty five years ago, nothing like the current stock trading environment has been seen by me. Here's my take on things.

A majority of US citizens now have some exposure to investing in the US stock market, when IRA's and 401k's are included. One would say the mutual fund is the most used investment vehicle for the typical U.S. citizen. The USA had been on a steady progression of becoming more of a stock ownership society, which is a good thing because capitalism works best with pools of capital to draw upon, right? One cannot be so sure an ownership society will be a growing trend going forward if recent occurrences of massive stock sales and mutual fund redemptions are extrapolated into the future.

Ever since July 2007, when the short sale uptick rule was removed most citizens have seen the value of their stock invested savings decline substantially. Why? The short sale uptick rule was an equalizer between mutual funds, that typically are bullish on stocks vs. hedge funds which can also be agnostic or bearish on the direction of stocks. Of course you likely know, most all hedge funds are only available as an investment vehicle for rich, so called sophisticated investors.

Ever since the uptick rule was abolished the playing field has been too tilted in favor of bearish objectives found among hedge funds and their uniquely wealthy clientele. Hence, look at any major stock index since July 2007 and you will basically see a downward trend. How to tell the reason for this? Look at a 10-20 year chart of the volatility indexes ($VIX or $VXN) focusing on July 2007. As you know, the volatility indexes are an inverse bearish/bullish-fear/greed measurement, essentially. Eg; an elevated/rising $VIX favors a bearish outlook that exemplifies that fear is dominant in the market.

It appears to be a direct correlation. Essentially as soon as the uptick rule was abolished, the over riding sentiment on US stock exchanges has been bearish and fearful. Why was the rule removed? Heaven knows? And why it was abolished really doesn't matter, as long as the current unacceptable situation gets fixed. The uptick rule had been in place for decades, and seemed to be a proven procedure for helping to instill an orderliness to how the stock market trades. Ever since July 2007 an individual stock price or an entire stock index can crater to the downside much more easily, as particularly evidenced by the virtually unprecedented downward market action in September and October of 2008.

The country needs to have the simple procedure known as the uptick rule is reinstated on US stock exchanges. Millions of people may lead much more wretched lives if the uptick rule is not reinstated. It simply is too easy these days for hedge funds and other bearish market participants to destroy accumulated wealth in the average person's retirement and investing portfolios.

Nowhere has it been claimed that short sellers are a bogeyman for our current situation. Short sellers provide liquidity to the market and their insights for creative destruction of unworthy ideas/business execution are needed to keep capitalism fresh and innovative.

On the other hand a perpetual preponderance of stock traders with bearish outlooks leads to perverse ghouls who could undermine years of progress, innovation and wealth creation in the USA. My contention is that the uptick rule elimination makes fear a much greater factor than a healthy and positive greed when it comes to how the market is traded.

Every rally in the stock market indices is much more of an uphill battle ever since the uptick rule was removed. Will all of America benefit with the stock market indices relentlessly being driven into the ground more so than in past decades? Unequivocally, no. And best of all this simple remedy to one of our most pressing economic problems, will essentially have a minimal to zero price tag to fix vs billions of dollars allocated elsewhere.

Profitable Growth is a hugely researched and much written about topic. I'd suggest a story focused on where business growth really happens in mid-size businesses, not start-ups or large corporations. There's a lot known about what these companies do to grow profitably that other firms could emulate if they had an inkling of how to go about developing a sustainable growth strategy. Under full disclosure, I have been doing this work for several years and have good experiences about what works and what doesn't work. My interest is in seeing the US economy get back to basics and growing again.

As a college applicant last year, I knew I wanted to go to a top undergraduate business school. Admission to the best business programs are very difficult and I had nobody to tell me the "do's and don't" of applying to these selective schools. I regularly looked at your "B-school undergrad" section for advice and tips. I think an article on tips for applying would be extremely helpful for future applicants. As for me, I landed a spot at the University of Michigan's Ross Pre-admit program. I would love to write an article looking back on the application process and what I have learned. Again, I think it would be very beneficial for future students to have someone comment on the process.

Thanks,
Jared

A story on the world's most expensive guitar that no one knows about yet but will soon. My name is Mark and I'm a social mod for DJOD.org where you'll legendary musician Bob Marley's rare guitar as a charity prize. Our founder Sir Johan III is the only person in the entire world to have been personally given a personal guitar from Bob Marley. Sir Johan was an ex-musician, friend, and guitar tech of Bob. It's not until now that the world will find out the he owns the world's most expensive guitar. People think that the most expensive guitar was the charity guitar auctioned off for the asian tsunami relief that generated 2.7 million with the guitar having signatures from many famous musicians. I'm saying that Sir Johan owns the world's most expensive guitar because he was offered $5 million for the guitar from Jamaican descent billionaire Michael Lee Chin, but turned it down to give the guitar away as a charity prize that will benefit many charities and help organizations around the world.

I even asked Sir Johan why is your guitar from him so expensive. He told me simply that there has never been a real Bob Marley guitar on the auction block / memorabilia block before & that memorabilia companies & the auction companies have no reference to look back to see it's worth & if he did put the guitar up for auction, it would be the 1st Bob Marley guitar on the block in the entire world. Since now it's 2008, Bob Marley has been dead for almost 30 years who now is world famous and who's music still lives on every single day, I was in awe, the guy I work for owns the world's most expensive guitar and nobody knows about it except you guys here and some few networking sites and other forums. Even Sotheby's auction company @ Sothebys.com said the same thing & their world famous auctioneers since the 1750's. The owner of the Hard Rock Cafe even refused to take it because it's so rare & is worried to have it displayed.

A funny story, Sir Johan just left this guitar in his basement sitting for 17+ years because to him, it was just a guitar from his friend Bob. It's when two of his guitars went missing that he decided to do something about Bob's guitar & hide it. So he started getting it appraised & finding out it's worth, he had to buy insurance that would cost him $1,000 a month, this is why he tried to plan to sell it before, Bob's guitar was causing chaos in his life, no joke. Before he even tried to sell it, he had to go ask Junior Marvin from Bob Marley and the Wailers if it was okay because Sir Johan didn't want to disrespect anyone especially Bob's Rastafarian religion, he even tried giving the guitar back to the Marley family, to Bob's son Ziggy Marley himself saying "I don't think your father's guitar is the right place in some white guy's basement in Vancouver." Ziggy refused to take it simply saying, "If my father gave you that guitar, it's yours, I won't take it." Trust me when I say he has more interesting stories, but I thought I'd share this one with you guys cause I find it funny, I guess I find it funny because I know him & it's who he is as a person always wanting to make things right.

Important Links:
http://djod.org
http://djodcharity.wordpress.com
http://digg.com/users/djodorg
http://www.guitarsite.com/hotlicks/about1335.html

Mark
DJOD Social Mod

I would like to read a story about 'Micro Blogging' and its various aspect in daily life. Few days ago read some articles about micro blogging and want to know more. How can micro-blogging help me in my daily life? Thanks, Shruti

The obvious need for the GOP to rethink, redefine and reinvent the Republican brand. Make it relevant, and acceptable for youth. They need to shed the big hair and out of touch image.

With childhood obesity on the rise many parents and their children feel helpless about their weight gain and what to do about it. I would like to share a true story about my foster son's success with weight loss. It will most certainly bring encouragement to people of all ages as well as open up some parents eyes as to their role in their child's health.

My pitch: predictions.

Here's my offering (needs some editing)

The global economy is influenced by the actions of governments, governments are influenced by popular opinion, and popular opinion ultimately determines which party governs. The combined actions of governments throughout the world failed to recognise the price we would ultimately pay by allowing free enterprise free reign, which caused the credit bubble and led us into recession; the opposition parties also failed hypocritically to recognise where we were heading – otherwise they would have laid arguments that convinced the electorate to take them out of opposition and into government.

It’s very convenient for opposition parties and the media to snipe at incumbent governments, especially when they are wrestling with heart stopping problems. One can understand and even accept the paparazzi mentality that’s rife in freedom of speech societies, with headlines designed specifically to incite emotionally negative reactions from the public against some cause or other; and opposition parties do the same, constantly digging for the next bag of bones they might bury their opposition with, and dancing down main street when something like the economic crisis falls in their lap. It’s also convenient for us, when things go badly wrong, and we’re all called upon to pay the price after living, in some style I might add, with the significant benefits bought to our tables by courtesy of the credit boom. The reality is no one saw it coming, but now it’s here - we depend on government to sort things out; and like a child with a stomach ache from overeating the candy box, we’ll suffer for a bit but turn to government to find ways to ease the pain – and like any good parent a caring government will make the tough decisions that are needed.

It’s no accident or lucky break for Gordon Brown that leaders throughout the world applaud the actions he’s taken to fix things; it’s called leadership. The current hot debate regarding whether banks should pass on the unprecedented 1.5% reduction in the UK’s base interest rate is an easy opportunity for opposition parties and the media and the public to jump on, to demand the government orders the banks to do the right thing. So what is the Labour Government waiting for? Well, in my view they are demonstrating in the most resounding way ever, that they truly believe in the forces of free enterprise; the Bank of England’s independence, the high street banks and even the partially nationalised banks – will all be judged by the public depending on how they work the resources our government has given them – on our behalf.

Some predictions, from one on the outside looking in:

Banks will pass on interest rate cuts, those that don’t will lose public confidence and business.

Obama will continue to ignite change and align with Brown’s action agenda to bring economic recovery, significant action towards improving environmental agenda’s, and above all – highly visible programmes that help the poor.

David Cameron and his party will become a media target within six months, when Brown’s recovery tactics begin to bite and public opinion swings towards Brown’s serious management of the economy and other urgent issues.

New Labour will win the next election for a forth term, by a plausible margin.

New Labour will secure a majority in Scotland, and Alex will jump ship – again.

Change is inevitable, driven by an informed public that’s had its fill of Old Politics, and that now demands a new approach – an approach that listens to what’s being said on our doorsteps.

I'd like to see a story about car dealers who are choked by SUVs on their lots that they cannot sell.

I would like to see an expose done on Enterprise Rent A Car. They have long been in the top companies to start your career list, etc. but today the Taylor family is going against all the founding values for their management trainee program just to avoid losing a small chunk of their billions.

Annual “Minimum Required Distribution”
One point not yet getting any coverage in the news is the Minimum Required Distribution (MRD) out of everyone’s tax deferred account who is over 65. That includes Pension, 401 K or Rollover accounts that the IRS requires to be converted to taxable funds at the end of every year. Considering that the stock market is at about 50% of where it was last December, Seniors are going to be hit doubly hard in April 2009. The amount of the MRD that has to be withdrawn is based on the December 31, 2007 value of their accounts. Now those accounts are probably about one half the value they were in 2007 and the Seniors still will have to sell items within the account to meet that 2007 MRD value. For some people who have been wiped out by the failure of financial firms or other stocks, their accounts may have little or no value left in them, but they will have to sell what is left to meet the MRD determined by the IRS.
Another aspect of this issue is that when the December, 31, 2008 values are determined on all of these Senior accounts across the country, the 2009 MRD withdrawals payable to the IRS in 2010 will be at the 50% level that they are now. This will be a major loss of funds that the IRS will not receive and add to the deficit of what might have been projected as income prior to the market’s fall.
Banks are getting bailed out and so are some of the Brokerage firms, but what about these Seniors?
From an 81 year old Senior

I'd like to see a story about Obama's vision of technology. There are many who take a rather parochial view of technology -- basically equating it with computers, the Internet and similar telecommunications hardware. In my view, education and technology are closely related -- for example: mathematics is a language that is essential for much of engineering. Perhaps there should be a basic test of language capability -- or even better: a "review" / "certification" process whereby people who are able to communicate their ideas clearly and succinctly are featured, thus providing an incentive to not only learn but also to use language more aptly -- as an "information technology".

The title of your current issue is "The Changes Business Wants". You know, how about - the changes Americans deserve? Like car companies who think ahead and build and market cars that get great gas mileage? GM makes Hummers? And we're supposed to bail them out? How about companies that go bankrupt and are not bailed out by taxpayers? Get with it business America! Plan for alternative energy - make smart decisions that conserve energy.

What would happen if we could keep our property taxes and use them instead for the school of our choice (specifically private or homebased)to educate our children the way we see fit. To offer our children a more competitive stance on the ever increasing global competition. Not everyone can afford to send their kids to private school or school them at home. But with the amount of taxes most of us pay each year, we could. Why should we have to pay to send our children through a failing school system that may or may not be teaching the tools necessary to succeed, less effectively applies funds that a parent could put to more value, and that may attempt to press subliminal religious constraints or favors...

Hi Guys!

Another idea...

Network theories have been around for some time. And they have been popularized recently with the rise of the Internet, a game about how movie stars are related(Kevin Bacon), how to fight terrorism and most recently by social networking tools online like twitter and linkedin.

The main take away from these theories is that the number of connections that nodes (think people, computers, cells etc) have is not a bell curve as one might expect but rather a power law curve decreasing exponentially as we reach a high number of interconnections. This hub model has huge implications for everything including project management and organizational theory.

The same thing tends to happen in organizations. People work with the same teams and there is very little dynamic interlinking. This is obviously more the case in the functional organization and in fact the projectized organization is much more able to receive the benefits of the cross pollination by having project members sharing their play books (A play book is a set of strategic ideas to be used in a play in American football. It is a metaphor for the strategies that most of us use repeatedly in our daily based on our experiences of success with them.)

So it seems like a no brainer. The more you share experiences the better. Share between people in different disciplines, different functional organizations, different providers. Move people around and mix it up to create more interlinking.

One criticism is that once people are used to working together the communication is much more fluid. I think this is mainly the case for people that are not used to switching teams. So the more you practice…the better you get at it.

Another criticism is that it is destabilizing. Obviously very interlinked group tends to reduce the power of hierarchies because information does not only flow up and down the chain of command.

And a third is that at some point once people are massively interconnected there tends to be a weighting to a sort of average as pointed out by James Surowiecki. That is to say the same diversity which created increased creativity and productivity by cross pollination is squashed by the feedback of the most successful of these ideas (think memes) feeding back into the nodes so that individual team members are more impressed by others ideas than their own novel ideas.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/documentaries/interactive/futuremakers/ep4/

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/james_surowiecki_on_the_turning_point_for_social_media.html

A couple of story ideas:
1. Does the Boards of Directors function within companies need an overhaul? The evidence is mounting that BoDs are a very flawed corporate governance mechanism. Many of the problems we see with today's companies wind up in the laps of BoDs yet this function is not well understood. Is it time to change this hallmark of corporate structures?
2. Why is SARBOX failing? SARBOX was designed to keep more Enron-type disasters from happening, yet now we have more than ever. What went wrong with SARBOX?
3. Pink Sheet market. What is it? Why does it exist? Are any of the companies that trade here any good? How many are outright frauds? Should this market be reformed?
4. How much tax do the rich really pay? Get real tax returns from wealthy people who use limited partnerships and other tax avoidance schemes. Let's find out how much they're really paying.

I'd like to see an indepth article on overseas travel issues. Some people I speak with (despite being worried about this strange and scary economic time) still have the funds and a desire to travel and may already even have a deposit down on a trip in 2009. Yet, they are deeply concerned about making travel plans over the next year. How financially viable might even the most reputable travel companies and world airlines be in an ever unraveling market? How will local travel suppliers, transportation companies, cruise ships and hotels, especially in Asia and emerging markets, fare during a lengthy and serious global recession? What about the insurance companies (think AIG) who have historically provided travel insurance? What about the fluctuating currencies and potential foreign banking system failures that could occur even as people are mid-trip (think Iceland)? Will US credit card companies continue to lower available credit limits with little warning and what are the odds this could happen to travelers mid-trip thereby leaving them high and dry if credit is denied? Might certain popular vacation destination countries be more likely during a recession to experience petty crime, food shortages, gas/oil shortages or political/labor unrest that could make a trip at best unpleasant and at worst dangerous? There are just so many aspects to consider and I think this general topic would make a very interesting and timely story or series of stories. Thank you.

Every waking day people are faced with the current realities of the world today. Layoffs and bankruptcies are the topic of every conversation and surely will dominate thanksgiving dinner table conversations. People are living in fear and skepticism on what will happen, will I be laid off, should I start applying elsewhere, what new survival technique am I going to apply to keep my job today. Surely, every story in every daily newspaper or magazine multiplies these fears and builds on their sense of hopelessness. The stock market is plummeting, another company announces lay offs, another company files bankruptcy....is anything good happening at all? All the stories seem morbid. Is anything good happening at all - I am sure there are some "happy" stories where people have been able to make the best of the current economic crisis and are contributing in a much bigger way. At this point what people need is a sense of hope and a belief that they can get through this crisis, that they do not need to live in fear. Yes, it is good to give people a picture of reality but along with it also a picture of possibilities and avenues that are available.

I would like to see stories of people/companies who made success stories from their losses. Stories of people who persevered and succeeded in this environment. This will give people the strength, courage and hope to fight through this period.

You have to give Arnold a break. When he got elected, the air was still coming out of the Fed created .com bubble and Arnold, coming from a world of three word scripts where groping starlets was OK, didn't know what that kind of bubble was. He was then blindsided by Greenspan when he lowered the interest rate in an attempt to keep the economy afloat. The resulting housing bubble, which was not based on demand and even though Silicon Valley remains a ghost town to this day, led Arnold to believe that everything was OK and he just kept spending like crazy not bothering to invest to try to replace the decimated tax base. Now that he has really messed up the budget, he is back to groping.

Let’s look at some of this groping. Arnold wants to reduce the number of paid holidays for state workers. It’s not clear how this will reduce the amount of money being spent in government, but it will have the effect of demoralizing a whining work force that is already not producing goods and services to contribute to the economy and making them even less productive. Of course, they do buy goods and services, which has the effect of taxing your tax dollars again. He wants to increase the sales tax, which will result in fewer goods and services being purchased because of higher prices. He has said that when you’re out of money, everyone says to spend less when you should be taxing more. While this took some guts that the Terminator would be proud of considering that people are losing their homes and jobs, it will also result in fewer goods and services being purchased and a declining tax base until there is no one left to tax. He wants to slash education again, which is probably one of the things that will happen because the children are the weakest and Arnold also doesn’t understand that without an educated population, you become a third world country.

It's not clear where the money is going to come from to pay for his latest "executive" order to prepare for rising seas, but perhaps he can get it from the illegals in the sanctuary cities. Think they'll chip in? After all, thanks to the efforts of people like Feinstein, Pelosi, McKnerney, and Boxer, they are about to become citizens and they will be getting a check when Obama redirects the flow of money as your government continues to take it from you to give to someone else. That's going to be our New Deal. Sneak across the border and we'll make you citizens and give you a check. Think FDR would have been proud of us?

It’s not like Californians are blameless in all of this. They became all balled up about who was going to make the money and failed to invest in new technology with Prop 10 that would have filled their empty office spaces and put them back to work and they spent a lot of effort, time, and money on deciding who can and can’t get married when their own divorce rate is 50% and $70 million could have started 70 new companies and put a lot of people back to work who would have bought goods and services and kept more people working. When you lose your job, it’s not unusual for you to lose your marriage along with it. They also continue to re-elect the people who spend the money and cause these problems.

Like our federal legislators who are trying to fix the economic problem by throwing money at the banks to make sure that they are OK, Arnold is not going to fix this unless he changes his focus from trying to make sure that the state government has enough money to spend to making sure that the population is working and has money to spend so that more people are paying taxes.

mom and pop wants to retire, but can't find ANYONE who wants to be their own boss. Are there other mom-and-pop shops who can't just quit and turn their backs on what they love to do and that has taken care of them for 50 years? Customers deserve better than a closed sign. Story?

I would like to read about the legacy of world class companies for U.S. Many founders, as well the leader of the company have already retired, for example Jack Welch in GE and Bill Gates in Microsoft. I think in the new century, for the time being, many business ideas will change for better direction and many new companies will appear as well as many potential abundant resources. It is interested too, with good in collaboration with control goverment agency cooperation to support which one of corporation will lead to another. Thank you

Big-name companies seem to be announcing job cuts on a daily basis. Today it's Citigroup, last week it was Sun Microsystems, before that it was Ford and GM. Who knows who will be next since it isn't just one industry anymore - lots of companies are getting into the action, with companies ranging from DHL to Starbucks cutting jobs at all levels.

I've seen articles about the best jobs in a recession (and have started a Recession Job Search on the Business Exchange), but I'd like to suggest an article, or even a weekly column, regarding recessionary resume and career development tips.

I've been a long-time BusinessWeek reader and I was interested in this week's article regarding Gen Y and MBA school. I started my 1-year MBA program in July 2001 and I saw how hard it was to find a job after September 11. My classmates and I had some interesting techniques for finding jobs in tough times, including working as a $10/hour temporary employee to gain full-time employment at prized firms.

People are afraid of where we are and what is coming next - I was surprised to see that there were more than 201,000 Google searches on "recession" in October alone. I think it would be interesting for BusinessWeek to become THE place for career development through the recession - a place where people could come to voice their fears and get some good advice on what to do next, with a real focus on how to not only make it through these tough times, but thrive through the adversity.

US - A Land of NO Opportunities...

Please do a follow up to your 2007 article:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/sep2007/db20070917_552357.htm

A major immigration reform is required to bring in talent, competence and new opportunities to America. Obama should not and cannot over look legally skilled immigration and have this in his top priorities.

With the highly inefficient and pathetic immigration system in place and the slow rate of progress in issuing green cards for legal tax paying non immigrants, many such skilled professionals like me are considering to move to other immigration friendly countries.

Various bills like HR 5882, HR 5921 & HR 6039 have been introduced in late 2007 and early 2008 to bring some change in the congress but are yet to be even discussed in the house.

If nothing changes, the US will slowly but surely become the land of NO opportunities unless there is a major overhaul in its immigration policies.

Dear Business Week,

Further to your look at what books the leading figures in business and management are reading:

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/books/index.htm?chan=bestbs

I would find it particularly interesting to know what journals and serials these people read to keep them abreast of the latest development in their fields. What should those wishing to emulate their success be reading? What journals are relevant these days – are they the same as they were twenty years ago? What are the new journals they’re consulting? Are the journals they’re using the same as the ones that perform well on citation indices? Or are citation indices not a useful guide for practitioners?

I’d be really interested to see a piece like this.

Thanks very much,

Kim Foster

Why is no-one covering the NVidia GPU chipset coverup? HP Compaq Dell and Apple buyers among others are affected and unaware that the manufacturers have culpability. I work for a major retailer who had a massage recall on baby cribs. DO you think we thought twice. Not on your life. We were talking babies there, now we're talking consumers who are being duped.

I bought a dv9260nr laptop from Best Buy on 4/5/07 for US$2400.00. A month passed before my first blue screen event. This kept happening. I returned to HP for support 3 times. Each time, within weeks melt down again. Now that I am out of warranty HP wants $398.00 to fix it. NVidia already announced prior to this issue that the GPUs in many laptops were failing and a very high rate. NVidia knew this back in November 2007 when I was still in warranty. Its all over the web now. Tech forums report the problem as a "solder bump" issue, heating and cooling cycling and eventual failure of the connection to the Motherboard. I want this fixed. It really aggravates me that HP knows of the problem too. Google "NVidia GPU failure" and you'll get several hundred thousand hits. I am making it my mission to get this out on the web. Class action seems the only way to force manufacturers to live up to their claims. Top that with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) announces preliminary results for fourth quarter, including non-GAAP EPS of $1.03 on revenue of $33.6 billion, a year-over-year increase of 19% (16% when adjusted for currency). Excluding the impact of the EDS acquisition, HPQ's revenue grew 5% (2% adjusted for forex).

Why not an in depth article as to why the VC community is literally turning their backs on high technology? Following article
http://www.pldesignline.com/212101061
describes demise of two major leaders in innovative new technology. The latest, AMBRIC, died despite it doing all the right things.
This unprecedented VC shunning of high tech bodes very ill for the long term health of silicon, and possibly all technologies, in the United States.

Hi Shirley & John,

There is an old article about how the US enjoys low interest rates because our money is considered risk-free. This allows us to owe more to other countries yet have the same payments (balance of payments). My fear is that there is a risk of the US being downgraded and all of a sudden we are paying more for what we owe. It's kind of like a mortgage reset for the US government. Forget what we owe ourselves as a nation - it is what we owe others that will drain our economy. And who can bail the US out?

Some French economist wrote the article a few years back... I can see if I can find it if this story is interesting. Also, Warren Buffett made a comment about the trade deficit a while back, too.

Thanks!
Dan

I have worked on the technology side of the mortgage industry for years and I predicted the burst of the sub-prime bubble long before it happened. Now I see the same scum bags that put this country in the mess we're in contacting the same borrowers they screwed over and offering to modify their loans for anywhere between $2500 & $5000. They're charging the borrowers to do what the borrowers can do for themselves and they're making money hand over fist. I've even watched an infomercial coxing borrowers that are up all night stressing over their situation to pay them these ridiculous sums of money to get the borrowers back on track. When is the government going to step in and stop this garbage once and for all. The government has already dropped the ball on all of the fraud that the sub-prime banks and loan officers have committed and they're letting this scam happen right before their own eyes. It's embarrassing!!!

There is a solution to the heath care crisis.
Healthcare in the U.S. is bottlenecked due to a physician work shortage. At the same time, there are over 2 million practitioners qualified to manage non-acute care and immediately alleviate the physician shortage. However, direct patient access to this skilled workforce is not readily available because our healthcare system relies on the inadequate medical billing codes that currently exist to process payments to practitioners. These codes are created and controlled by the American Medical Association. Medical codes are also used to manage other parts of the healthcare supply chain; for example, they determine effective treatment patterns and setting insurance premiums.

There are not enough medical billing codes to describe non-physician care. The gap in medical codes makes it nearly impossible for non-physician care to be reimbursed by the insurance industry. In prosperous time, people can afford to choose to see acupuncturists, chiropractors, midwives and behavioural health practitioners. However, in this current economic environment, people cannot afford the cost of paying for care unless it is covered by insurance

If you want to know the rest of the story, and how this truly is the solution, please email me.

Thanks!

I read with some interest and I might add amazement the article “The New Subprime” in the December issue of Business Week. It's obvious that neither writer is very familiar with the old sub-prime characteristics or the dramatic difference it has with FHA loans in their requirements. Probably the only real accurate description in the article may have been of Premier Mortgage Funding and its abuses.

The sub-prime era was replete with loans that made no sense as far as the ability of the borrower being able to pay his mortgage or other debts. There were stated-income loans, some of which required no verification of any assets and no ratio loans where not only was the borrower not required to verify a job but there wasn’t any pretense of them being able to pay their obligations in that no income was required to be stated.

To add insult to injury, at one time with the appropriate credit Score lenders were "no doc" loans which required neither income, asset, nor job verification.

All of the above products were done up to 100% LTV, where the borrower was not required to come up with any funds at all.
Worst of all the majority of these loans were done on adjustable rate mortgages where the borrower was qualified, if at all, on the low adjustable rate without any concern as to what the fully adjusted rate may become and whether the borrower could then afford to pay their mortgage based on the new much higher rate.

Now comes the new sub-prime as our authors describe it, FHA-backed loans.

There is in fact no comparison except that you may do an FHA loan with a score lower than one of the above exotic products, but the differences are dramatic.

FHA requires that the borrower's income be verified. Isn’t that a shocker? His job must have some stability and they conform to a debt-to-income ratio that has not only a front-end requirement but the total of all debts to income must be in line.

FHA has no stated income or stated asset programs and contrary to what the authors have stated require that the Borrower have 3% of their own funds in any purchase of property.

All FHA loans are full doc, require ratios to conform, Borrower must show job stability, if there are issues there must be compensating factors to off set the negatives and the Borrower pays mortgage insurance.

Every FHA loan has mortgage insurance, which the borrower pays up front, and a monthly payment as well. It is true that the government guarantees these loans but historically the mortgage insurance charged has covered any defaults.

Most FHA loans are 30 year fixed loans, not adjustable rate mortgages. In addition, HUD allows the Borrower to refinance, should the rates drop, in a very simple program. The refinance program requires no appraisal, no income or asset verification and only looks to the borrower’s mortgage payment history in order for them to qualify.

Despite the tenor of your article, this program is still offering working-class families a legitimate means to purchase their own homes or to move into a loan that more suit their needs from a true sub-prime loan.

I'd love to see a story on whether someone can apply for unemployment benefits if, after graduating from law or business school, they don't immediately have a job. While job-hunting, can you apply for unemployment? If you can, what would the unemployment check amount be based on (for students who've only had summer internships for the past 2-3 years)?

Thanks!

Hi John and Shirley,
i've been a writer most of my life, including a short and cool stint at the WSJ, but i've never seen a top editorial team like you guys just open up the floor to suggestions. Kudos.

So, my idea: Let the worker free! Look at web-based applications and how they are changing the workforce, productivity. Specifically, i've been impressed with Shiftboard out of Seattle. Full disclosure, i'm doing a small project for them, but once you see the change they are creating by empowering the worker, i think you'll be impressed too.
http://www.shiftboard.com

They are making online scheduling a reality so that top-down management can be made into bottom-up and let the workers schedule their own shifts.

The irony of the sub-prime crisis is that for all the (presumed) sophistication in risk management, the present failure, like most banking failures, can be traced to excessive exposure to one asset class, what bankers would call the 'concentraion ratio'. You wonder what the Boards of Directors were doing. Also, what is surprising is the scale of the present debacle within six years of Sarbanes-Oxley, arguably the most feared piece of legislation in the US. I would love to read an article that gets to the core of failure of SOx or its irrelevance in the financial services business, with the related question of the role of auditors. The last time the role of auditors was raised was the Enron case.

I would like to see an article on the supply vs demand for houses. Until we get the supply of houses reduced, the home prices will continue to decline, which leads to more foreclosures and more houses on the market. It's a house supply cycle that feeds itself. Supply of houses is coming from builders, foreclosures, and folks who want to sell to move to a new home. I would like to see data/graphs of new homes built each month, existing homes being foreclosed each month, and existing homes being sold by families. Then compare this supply of homes to the demand for new and existing homes. Maybe you could investigate what it would take to get builders to stop building new homes in order for demand to catch up with supply of homes.

Thanks,

Business Week should do a story on The Ingenesist Project; a radical and thought provoking view of the financial crisis, why it happened, and how it can be corrected with advances to Social Media.

The Ingenesist Project has specified 3 web applications which if deployed to social media would allow knowledge (in the form of social capital, creative capital, and intellectual capital) to become tangible outside the construct of traditional corporations and Wall Street - instead, knowledge would become tangible in social networks.

This little change will set off a remarkable series of events that would enlighten and engage your readers to a new type of action, building the innovation economy in their own communities. It's very optimistic outlook in a pessimistic environment and an excellent contrast to your excellent reporting at BW.

The Ingenesist Project was initiated in 1994 as a NAFTA study for the interchange of engineers. The economic crisis and subsequent devaluation of the currency in Mexico lead to discovery of a way to correct a tiny flaw in market economics. Today, we face similar situation in the US and an extraordinary opportunity to correct it using emerging social media technology.

Thank you

Much is written during our election season on where all the campaign money comes from. What's never written about is, Where does all that money go?

I've asked this very question to MSM executives and doubt if I'll ever hear back from any of them. Does the mainstream media make hundreds of millions of dollars from our political process?

The answer to this question may reveal why the MSM news agencies only focus on the campaign donors and not the receivers?

This and other important media reform questions can be found at: http://www.freedomfromthepress.net/wordpress

Please do a story on the documents I faxed to Sen. Richard Shelby which prove that Rick Wagoner of General Motors lied to Congress. The GM auditors, Deloitte & Touche, reversed the tax effects of the company's cumulative net operating losses and this appears on page 112 of their 2007 annual report. This is typically done prior to a bankruptcy filing and is an admission by the company that they will NEVER have profits to offset the loss carryforwards. I am a tax accountant here in Tucson, Arizona with over 30 years' experience.

Sincerely,
Mark Schutzman

Treasury’s Temporary Guarantee Program for Money Market Funds

The U.S. Treasury Department has established a Temporary Guarantee Program for Money Market Funds. Under this program, the U.S. Treasury will guarantee to investors that they will receive $1 for each money market fund share held as of close of business on September 19, 2008. Eligible funds must be regulated under Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, must maintain a stable share price of $1 and must be publicly offered and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Money market funds play an important role as an investment vehicle for many Americans; they are also a fundamental source of financing for our capital markets and financial institutions. The action will enhance market confidence and alleviate investors’ concerns about the ability for money market mutual funds to absorb a loss.

URL:

http://maxeconomics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60:treasurys-temporary-guarantee-program-for-money-market-funds&catid=2:macroeconomics&Itemid=4

With the economy... well, how it is, I've been curious if state lotteries have seen an increase in ticket sales. That is, are more cash-strapped consumers that normally wouldn't buy lotto tickets feeling pessimistic enough to venture a dollar for the 40 million-to-one chance at a jackpot?

Indeed, lotteries are down. BusinessWeek reporter Moira Herbst penned Losing Faith in Gambling's Allure, an in-depth look from December 22, 2008, at an overlooked topic. Thanks, Evan, for being a contributing editor.

I think it would be a great idea to give the mortgage industry, baring subprime the coverage it deserves. Everyone out there is publishing stories about default rates, bailouts etc but not a single story about what mortgage lending particularly the government stuff, FHA and VA are all about. People really have no idea (including new mortgage professionals) what underwriting a mortgage is all about. I see everyone flipping over the Hope 4 Homeownership program but no coverage on the controls that have been put into place. Try some coverage with real substance instead stories based on what writers are reading the papers. Your recent article regarding FHA subprime had so many inaccuracies, that as an FHA DE Underwriter, it made me laugh and think a little less of the publication. Have one of your people get the real inside story.

I am a long time BW subscriber living in Texas. I enjoyed your story about the Subprime wolves. I am in the process of refinancing my home and worked with a couple of lenders/brokers and noticed that the appraisal system for homes is also an area abused for the benefit of getting loans. First I talked to a famous broker (has Cleveland Cavalier arena named after them) and they pushed hard to get me to go with an FHA loan. The sales rep said the market is tanking, values are going down and FHA was my best way to go. The appraisal came in at $275k an amount that was below even the county's appraisal which I believe was on purpose to push an FHA loan. I did not go with them. Now I am working with another broker through Lending Tree/Continental Airlines and after to talking to 2 different lenders they told me that my home was worth at least $20k to $30k more. What would this do for me? Well it would allow me to refinance at 90% LTV, get a first and second mortgage (like I currently have) to avoid PMI especially since my credit rating is excellent (790-800). So I am in the process of refinancing. My point is that those same shady/agenda driven lenders (big and small)are pushing good prime customers like myself to FHA loans, while others have an opposite agenda of finding ways to get you refinanced which ever way is possible. I am not complaining about getting a higher appraisal which was well within the comperable homes in my subdivision but it shows another major flaw in the system.

Hi John. I'd like to see a story on small businesses and what they're doing to weather this economic crisis. We have two small businesses in the $1 million revenue-per-year range, one that's down slightly and one that's down by half from last year. Since small business employs a large part of the population, we need to thrive, not just survive.

Legal process outsourcing in India and how the recently passed Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Bill 2008 and the amendments to the Companies Bill 2008 will allow the creation of limited liability partnerships, thereby enabling even small time professionals and non professionals to set up outsourcing companies in India.

The bill removes the previously imposed restrictions on the number of partners allowed and the ability to take outside finance. The bill provides for a set up which will allow law firms to scale up their operations dramatically and its flexibility is especially suited to requirements of service, knowledge and technology based enterprises.

It would be interesting to study how much this could affect the LPO industry.

How Citi Bank "screwed" their investors, now are "Screwing" their customers and all on our tax money... Is it fair???

Citi Bank has decided for a very large number of their credit card holders to change the Terms of the credit card.

I owe a Citi Bank credit card that it carries a $22,000 balance on it with a promotional 3.9% APR through March 2009 and 6.99% afterwards. I just received a Notice of Change in Terms by which Citi is raising the APR for purchases to the U.S. Prime Rate plus 8.99% with a minimum APR of 14.99%, essentially doubling the interest rate.

Citi Bank was aggressively promoting their credit cards with very attractive rates and promotional offers to lure people in using them and now with no reason (the federal short term interest rate is at historical low, I made all my payments in time...)they are raising their rates for purchases.

I think this is outrageous that after they screwed their investors they are now screwing their customers while accepting $40 Billion through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)or in other words tax payers money of which I am one.

I would like to see a story that examines which group of cardholders will see their rates increase, I am ready to bet that as usual it will be the lower and mid income level customers who are struggling to make their payments anyways.

I am hoping that this story will stop the government from pouring more money into the black-hole that Citi Bank has become or else if Citi continues to receive government assistance they will be forced to stay fair to their customers.

I feel screwed up

Robert

I would like to propose a story about how small businesses can save money and attract more customers by particular methods of online advertising. I have recently spoke to the president of a company that specializes in the "pay-per-lead" business model. The model seems to work well in attracting customers and serves as an alternative to "pay per click" advertising (which is making Google and other search engines millions, yet, still has many imperfections that the "pay per lead" model has remedied). Thank you for your time.

You should have a blog called "grad school dairies" and have B-school students in a variety of programs, one-year, two-year, evening programs, exec, etc. blog about the life of a b-school student. It could be featured in the schools section and provide a little humor and humility to all us b-schoolers and wannabes out there.

Over Thanksgiving, I learned something interesting from a small business owner who in the wake of the election forbid his employees to say anything that resembles the catchphrase of a candidate he didn't like.

This makes me wonder, how many small business owners trying to get employee speech in line with their political views and is it considered political discrimination for them to do this?

I'd like to see a story on what sort of industries or businesses have been doing well in this credit crisis. Unfortunately, I cannot think of too many, and there are probably not many out there for obvious reasons. I do know there are firms, called secondary houses I believe, that specialize in buying private equity interests, usually LP interests. Of course these firms have seen a huge uptick in business as there has been a huge increase in the number of PE investors wishing to withdraw their investment, often for varying reasons.

I would imagine there are other examples of business models that somehow benefit from the current environment. I would imagine there are firms that specialize in the hedge fund secondaries market as those investments are also rather illiquid.

You could also instead focus on less of a macro approach, maybe just discussing anyone and everyone that has done well the last couple of months, which would allow you to discuss specific hedge funds that have made lots of money by shorting the financials.

Alternatively, another option would be slanting the article towards more of a discussion as to the ethical issues. The short-selling financials topic has been covered excessively though. If the Wall Street Journal had not beaten you to it, I would recommend an article examining in detail the events surrounding the day Morgan Stanley's stock crashed and it almost went under. That article may just be the tip of the iceberg--investigations are still ongoing. Plus, if you could really dig deep, you may be able to uncover some very sinister methods used by others to profit off of the banks' downfall. The WSJ article mentions sham trading, as supposedly some traders "bought swaps at high prices to spark fear about Morgan Stanley's stability in order to profit on other trading positions." That is fascinating to me, especially because I see it as so wrong, yet it is not necessarily illegal per se.

Incidentally, there are many businesses and industries that are countercyclical -- not because of their business models, but because of cultural shifts. Publicly traded schools like Apollo, DeVry and Phoenix are seeing enrollment rise as Americans look to freshen resumes and re-position themselves in the job market. Shoe cobblers, from Wall Street to Columbia, Mo., claim more customers. And, of course, some law offices are filing paperwork at frantic paces. Can you guess which? Check out Recession? Not for These Businesses from January 17 and inspired by Bryan Capooth aka stevenstevo.

Hi Shirley;

I am trying to build upon the conversation about Innovation Economics as the next rung up the economic development ladder. While the BW article was excellent, it may have been incomplete in some regards.

The Ingenesist Project is somewhat radical; but it makes a lot of sense and nobody else is looking at this "third path". This is important because the long term solution may be a deceptively simple thing to do with the advent of Social Media.

My work comes from deep experience implementing NAFTA, working in diverse innovation enterprises,teaching as an adjunct business professor, and a having a profound understanding of the corporate mindset, needs, and limitations.

Thank you

I would like to pitch a story on green businesses emerging in the down economy and how they can help create jobs and broaden current markets. Green Life Smart Life is one such example - a company founded off of a custom building project with a family striving to live a greener lifestyle. Upon discovering the lack of resources and credible sources and the overwhelming amount of greenwashing, the homeowner decided to start a company based on helping consumers, builder, integrators and architects learn how to use green building and living practices to grow their business in the sustainable market.

I think from the business perspective, this could be a great story in the emerging green space.

Please contact me for more info.

Thanks!

Can garage based entrepreneurs save the economy? These fringe hero's are the true incubators of ideas in America. Often they don't fit into the bleak corporate culture with ideas that can't always be quantified by the traditional MBA filter. Large and small ideas are growing from the workspace attached to most homes. With digital tools and the net, it is increasingly easier to develop a viral idea without giving away equity to find a market. Having launched several products this way, I'd like to learn who else out there is developing new ideas and see if there are ways to network with other garage entrepreneurs.

"The Death of Hospice"

Sunrise Senior Living purchased Trinity Hospice in Sept 2006 for approx $75M. The doors of TH were closed Nov 2008 leaving patients and families scrambling to find alternative care,550 employees without a job, and stockholder loss of $75M. There are many factors that contributed to the closure:
1. Bad business plan, poorly executed
2. Medicare, Medicaid red tape and delays
3. Credit crush in Oct 2008
4. Poor due diligence in the purchase of Trinity
5. Fraud investigated by the DoJ that was costly and far reaching

I think this is an interesting story and good business case study.

I would like to see an article on "The Impact of Aging Parents on Employee Productivity.” It is said that the next decade will be the “elder care decade.” Of 12 million baby boomers, 68% have one or more parents still living into their 80’s and 90’s. As more baby boomers delay retirement and because 47% of elder caregivers are employed (71% are employed full-time), employers can anticipate decreased productivity from the caregiver employees. This phenomenon can affect small businesses even more than it does larger businesses.

The article would describe trends and challenges affecting the employee productivity of 21st century elder caregivers and will suggest some solutions. Possible subject areas:

§Threats to retention of human capital
§The changing profile of 21st century elder caregivers
§Old trends that impact employee productivity:
·Absenteeism
·Late arrival/early departure
·Unpaid Leaves of Absence (LOA)
§New trends that impact employee productivity:
·Preseenteeism: Use of employer time to make/take phone calls for parent appointments/transportation and other arrangements
oResearch resources and gain education
oComplete tasks for computer illiterate seniors
oField workday interruptions concerning parents
·Ethics, corporate compliance issues, e.g.,” Theft of Time”
·Stress: Guilt, depression, distractions
§Innovative employer solutions:
·Schedule flexibility
·Web-related information
·Telephone assistance
·Workplace seminars
·Referrals (home health agencies, legal)
·Handouts, resource material and geriatric education, e.g., Medicare, long-term care insurance, reverse mortgages.

This is a universal and current topic affecting employees and employers.

Somebody please tell me in an article why municipal bonds continue to sink like a stone when there is so much talk about the credit markets easing up, improvements in the LIBOR and TED spread, and even when the stock market is flashing signs of a bottom (not to mention that munis are currently yielding WAY more than 3-Month Treasuries).

On this cybersecurity issue, the spammers are winning, no doubt. Look at TheSpaceSite(dot)com, sites are being over-run to the point of uselessness. This is the same as denial of service when it interferes with even a forum being run.

I’d like to see a continuation and expansion of Michael Mandel’s piece “Can Obama Keep New Jobs at Home?”

One of the major gaps in the economic stimulus discussion is the impact on American IT (Information Technology) jobs.

Should there be a provision in the Stimulus package to domestically source the IT work?

Restoring US Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Research and Development, Science, Technology and Healthcare, requires spending in the US.

Rebuilding America includes rebuilding an American IT infrastructure, which pioneers new technologies, supports manufacturing, renewable energy, transportation, conservation and generates jobs domestically.

I’d like you to explore a variety of possible solutions, including:
- Increasing support for Manufacturing Extension Programs, which provide technical and business assistance to small and medium-sized manufacturers at the state and local levels.
- Ensuring that the Federal Procurement Data System is able to document compliance with the Buy American Act. (Removing the exception in the Federal Acquisition Regulation for Information Technology).
- Trade policies which help, rather than harm the American economy.

Franchisees of Geeks On Call are now suing them for breach of contract. The lawsuits total over 6 million dollars in damages. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy according to their recently released 10K (link below). Where the accountants say that continuing operations are questionable without a significant cash raise. They paid out bonuses to executives even though they lost 4.9 Million!

Information about lawsuits and links.
http://historyofgeeksoncall.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/lawsuits-against-geeks-on-call/

Information about 10K with links to the SEC info:
http://historyofgeeksoncall.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/geeks-on-call-posts-year-end-results/

I'm sorry that I wish to remain anonymous until they let me go. I believe if this comes out in the news it could help change management for the better. Please help us.

I would like to propose a story that looks at the need to further the dialogue between B-schools and the corporate world. Our system of market capitalism has been shocked at its core by the recent financial collapse. Scholars, policy-makers, students, and citizens are asking tough questions about how this could happen, how corporations should be governed, how the interests of shareholders can be better aligned with shareholders. We've seen a lot of focus on giving massive equity incentives to the top of the company. The recent economic collapse, however, will lead to a reevaluation of how corporations are managed and governed and who they benefit.

Created via a collaboration of The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education (Aspen CBE), The Foundation for Enterprise Development (FED), and The Employee Ownership Foundation (EOF), the Curriculum Library on Employee Ownership (CLEO) is now making available case studies and research on how to share capitalism broadly within the entire company. (www.caseplace.org)

As Joseph Blasi, Professor, Rutgers University, School of Management and Labor, explains, “In my Corporate Governance class at Rutgers students are stunned at the financial collapse and searching for a better compass for responsible and sustainable ways to run the corporation. I have used CLEO’s case study material on Cisco Systems and SAIC which both use broad-based employee ownership, profit sharing, and stock options to divide the pie more equitable with workers and executives to get this discussion going."

As we think about what the corporation of the 21st century needs to look like, an open, ongoing dialogue between the academic and business worlds is vital: Universities and policy-makers need to be up to speed on the new realities inside corporations, and business schools will play a critical role in training the next generation of leaders to make the corporation more accountable.

Re: Bailouts

When will we see the same level of scrutiny and accountability that the Detroit Three are facing applied to the Financial industry? (who, by the way, have already recieved significantly more funding than Ford, GM, and Chrysler are requesting)

Illegal immigration crackdowns intensify and meanwhile, school funding is cut, tuitions increase, and admission/graduation standards rise. Orchestrated? As illegals vanish from farms and sweatshops, they must be replaced, but currently too many legals are well educated.

I would like to read such a story about the economic crisis: What is the best way to end it? Please touch on investors, managers and employees separately, and invite them to design concise framework. I believe that folk wisdom is important supplement to those experts.

John, Perhaps you can write a story on "defriending" in social networks. Some more thoughts and suggested headlines at the below link. Take care, Brian

http://businessweekcoverstory.com/2008/12/15/i-dont-want-to-be-your-friend-anymore/

I fear the potential of hyperinflation in the U.S. When monetary supply is greatly increased while tax policies are changed in a way to reduce investment and thus to reduce supply, the stage is set for high inflation. Look at Argentina after Peron took power. Few people believe it can happen here, but there have been smart people in other countries who oversaw governments where this has happened.

Story idea - The pros and cons of using a financial broker (versus a direct lender) for the small business owner looking to increase working capital by restructuring debt or taking a loan.

We need a revamping of government starting with the principle that federal judges should not be able to judge themselves when accused of bias. After all, they're just politicians. The fact that they get a job for life does not make them less likely to be corrupt but more likely, as long as they get to decide whether they appear in fact biased or mentally incapacitated. The Illinois AG is suing to hold that their Governor is disabled. Why shouldn't party litigants get the same opportunity since, appeal is usually a meaningless waste and the Supreme Court barely comes to work and when they do, always vote based on bias for or against the rich.

Story Idea- Any more potential bomb from the credit market in to the market?

Rationale behind it: So far, the market seems to believe the worst of the subprime crisis has passed behind us.
(since there is an upward trend in the recent dow jones performance).

However, I think that there are two potential problem which may trigger another massive writedown from the financial institution. One is the credit card crisis and the other is Commerical Mortgage backed securities.

Credit card crisis has been reported before in Businessweek (but it is worthwhile to talk about it again.) However, there are not too many talks about the commercial mortgate backed securities.

While the Fed is trying to help home owner and the student loan, what about commerical building owner? According to ITRAXX CMBX Index has reached a record high and there is no sign to come off.
I believe, as the economy is slowing down, we will find increasing number of people unable to meet their commerical mortgate payment.

Total CMBS issuance has accumulated $169.2 billion in 2005. I am sure the issuance must be much higher in the year of 2006 and 2007.

I think if these two problems are solved, then this definitely implies there is no more hugh asset write-off for the banks.

Mr. Byrne:

STORY IDEA: I work for a small manufacturing company in the Midwest. I would like to see a positive article about U.S. manufacturing. Instead of only complaints of manufacturing being outsourced overseas, why not focus on the many ways in which U.S. manufacturers have used the slow-down to improve their processes, markets, and overall goals. The company I work for has done just that and our orders are on the rise! With all the doom and gloom filling the air about the worldwide collapse of the economy, government corruption, etc. a more positive view might be welcomed by all. I think that we should congratulate the everyday, hard working, resilient, honest, and "Made in America" worker!

The Sun Times Media Group, Inc. board takeover battle Story. The History of the company with a board preoccupied with the removal of Conrad Black, and huge legal costs leading to the financial downfall of the company. It appears to me that the current board is taking over where Conrad black left off. I find it hard to believe you can have no debt and still lose money unless it is being stolen. This Company has a potential huge tax bill owed the IRS. Conrad Black is rumored to has stolen a billion dollars and got it stashed some where. The books of the company might tell what reserves there are for the tax issues. The company has about 100 million cash. There could be more recovery from Conrad Black if that ever can happen. So is there a good reason to battle over this now a penny stock. The SEC missed handle this one too and the lawyer bleed the company dry.

John, You inspired this idea on how media has "unmassed." Take care, Brian

http://businessweekcoverstory.com/2008/12/17/unmassed-how-media-got-personal-again/

In the past century few events changed the course of history and were considered as milestones towards a different society.
Events like WW1, WW2, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 just to name a few.
Today we are at a similar crosspoint in history.
The financial, then the car industry, real estate and other major global level crisis are a clear indication that our society, its business models, its relationship with one another, its currencies, are facing a total revolution.
Large but clean energy requirements, global pollution , climate change, the rise of new players (BRIC) Internet ,increasing globalization, the advanced technology utilization will represent the drivers to a completely new global situation from the economical, social, labor, political point of view.
I would like that your magazine could focus on a more long distance and strategic point of view and analyse the real and future implications of what's happening that is something that can't be solved simply by giving money to whoever is in trouble, banks, car industry others, unless if part of a complete restructuring plan that encompass the issues listed above as the best solution to solve the problems.
The revoluion is under way but we must understand its implications and act accoprdingly

John, How about about "healthy chocolate" on a mission - timely and relevant for this season! More at the below link. Take care, Brian

http://businessweekcoverstory.com/2008/12/18/sweetriot/

How many investors in the past were actually able to take money out of Madoff's fund, and thus properly time the 'ponzi' scheme? That would be interesting to know.

As a veteran business leader I am fully aware that changing economic conditions will have an impact on business operations, some good and some bad. In bad times you won’t see me in front of Congress asking for a bailout; like the majority of American business, we here at Video Professor are on our own.

As a businessman, a taxpayer, and especially as a consumer I find myself thinking about what government might do to ensure the future of the American automobile industry. Since Henry Ford’s first Model “T” rolled off the revolutionary assembly line, the auto industry has been the cornerstone of our manufacturing sector and the foundation of our economy.

Americans make things. We’re good at it and the world knows this.

GM, Ford, and Chrysler are in a huge financial hole. They helped dig that hole but the major impact is the result of the housing crash. The Big 3 went from having some chance of success to having no chance at all. Of course, assistance from the government must be packaged with fundamental change in all areas of operation. And in the US auto industry there is plenty that needs fixing, in both areas of management and labor.

OK, lets talk solutions. Now that the band-aid has been put on the big 3 here’s an idea. Why not offer a $10,000 tax credit to any US taxpayer who buys a GM, Ford, or Chrysler by April 15th, 2009? Also offer a zero interest loan and just watch the cars sell.

Right now, generating cash and reducing inventory are most critical to the success of the Big 3. But this can’t happen until the American people start buying cars again, now!

When the leaders of the Big 3 appeared before Congress, not one of them was asked, “How can we help you sell more cars?” It was a missed opportunity.

This bailout, loan, or whatever our government wants to call it, should include some taxpayer benefit. Simply put, the government offers a tax credit to American taxpayers who buy American made automobiles. Without stimulating the market, government is dreaming while asleep at the switch.

A tax credit ensures that all benefit – manufacturers and their employees, suppliers, dealers and their employees, and oh yes, the American taxpayers too. This will get the economic blood flowing again. The increase in sales will create a renewed revenue stream for the automakers, which in turn will reduce the amount of taxpayer money needed from the government. Taxpayers who buy cars benefit when they file their returns April 15th.

This is not rocket science. It’s common sense.

But you have to have an incentive for customers to visit showrooms. What’s wrong with a tax break for the folks who drive cars along Main Street, USA? So far, the only people not getting a break are the people paying for everyone else to get a break. That will break us all!

People aren’t buying Big 3 brands due to lack of quality. They make great cars and they can produce even better ones. One of my own cars is a Chevy Tahoe. It is a GREAT vehicle. The housing mess (don’t get me started on that) is the root cause of this particular “evil”. But when the warehouse is stuffed, there is no point in producing more inventories.

A tax credit to reduce inventory and generate cash flow is as good an idea as any I have heard. It’s a start. Why not try it?

The idea of government now getting involved in free enterprise is the last thing any of us should want. But the current situation is what it is. Tax credit for the folks, who one way or the other will pay for it all anyway, seems only fair.

The government keeps saying they want to help the taxpayers but they still haven’t done that as of yet. Wake up and step up Federal Government! Get the cars moving and get taxpayers the break you keep promising!

Sincerely,
John W. Scherer
CEO & Founder
Video Professor, Inc.

John, Perhaps you can write a story about Pepsi's rebranding and how it positions them for success in global markets with their US-based drink products?

Read the full idea at Business Week Cover StoryPepsico beverages focus on global expansion… maybe?

Take care,
Brian

While the "bailouts" may have been necessary, they only address the supply side of the equation. The Feds have done plenty to provide liquidity in the market but it doesn't do much to stimulate demand. Demand will only be stimulated by consumer confidence. There were many customers who canceled purchases of big ticket items especially after the decline in the value of their stock portfolios. What really needs to happen is an incentive to purchase items like cars, boats, homes, etc.

I would propose a 30% tax credit toward the purchase of these kind of items, whether it is a $10,000 car or a $1million boat or a house(not just for 1st time homebuyers). The tax credit can be spread out over 3-years and should not be taxable.

This would provide the economy with enough of a jumpstart to generate employment followed by an increase in consumer confidence followed by a continued increase in consumer demand.

This would address the underlying problems of the economy.

I have even written to the Mayor of Detroit and to Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Neither of their offices have responded.

One would think that both of these individuals would endorse a similar idea.

So, perhaps the title should be " Tax Credits to stimulate Economic Demand"

While the idea of using tax payer dollars to intervene in a so called Free Market Economy may seem difficult to some, we have already crossed that line by quite a distance (not to mention the corporate and agricultural welfare that already exists).

So, let's target our tax dollars to where they will be most effective and we will get a guaranteed return.

I work as a community banker and I can tell you that this alone will help many small businesses out of the doldrums.

Remember this word: cram-down. You'll be hearing a lot more of it soon.

"Cram-down: A court-ordered reduction of the secured balance due on a home mortgage loan, granted to a homeowner who has filed for personal bankruptcy..."

We will have a tough time getting out of the recession and mortgage crises as long as the following dire statistic remains true: More than one in six U.S. homeowners are underwater. They owe more than their home is worth. And, since their primary home is usually their biggest investment, that means their liabilities are greater than their assets. In essence, they’re bankrupt.

And, it’s greater than one in six in many parts of the country, particularly those places that experienced the real estate bubble-on-steroids earlier this decade. Probably, most people who bought homes in Southern California from 2003-2007 are underwater.

The answer is going to be cram downs. Sen. Dick Durbin has just reintroduced a bill to allow bankruptcy judges to "cram down" mortgage debt principal, thus actually reducing the value of your hyper-inflated property price. President-elect Obama approves. Look for cram-downs coming to a neighborhood near you.

Read more at http://blog.jimgogek.com or htty://jgogek.wordpress.com

With all the layoffs happening who is asking companies how they are planning and executing these actions, and others they are taking relative to their workforce? Likely noone. Companies make decisions regarding people - their human capital - without any of the discipline, data, rigor, review or oversite that they use to make decisions in Finance, Operations, Sales, etc. etc. Why? 3 reasons: Poor use of data - known as workforce analytics, no focus on talent within their enterprise risk assessments, and no focus or understanding on the talent dependencies within the business strategy. Imagine a marketing campaign with no market assessment, no research and no understanding of the implications for the overarching business strategy - it would never happen. Yet companies acquire and shed people based on little more than guessing.

Hi, I'm the owner of American Prison Consultants and was recently mentioned in a story about Federal Prisons in the Wall Street Journal October 2, 2008 (my photo was on the front page) and was featured in a Forbes Magazine Article (My photo and website was pictured) Jan 12, 2009 page 64 - 65 regarding helping helping white collar offenders get prison sentence reductions. I was thinking that your readers might be interested in a story regarding Bernard Madoff and what is in store for him once he enters custody. Please
checkout my website www.americanprisonconsultants.com and give me a call if you're interested.

Thanks

Larry Levine

I would like to know how collegiate and professional sports are affected by today's tough economy.

Some points of research might include how franchises perform (financially), how athlete's wages and contracts are adjusted, how ticket prices are affected, and how the American people tolerate athletes and coaches getting paid billions of dollars every year while the auto industry and the financial industry are pleading for billion dollar bailouts.

Really, how much money flows through the sports industry year over year and how is the sports industry affected (positively and/or negatively) by today's economy?

Nate, that's a great question. As it turns out, some older baseball players were forced into the unemployment line, All Stars had to take salary cuts, the NBA is pulling out all the stops. Read all about it in Greg Spielberg's 1/12 piece, "Baseball's New Austerity" from Jan. 12, 2009.

The stress of this economic downturn not only challenges our current leaders, but narrows the development of our future leaders. Leaders begin to act out of fear while their followers learn to keep their heads down. In this environment, neither leader nor follower take the risks that can develop solid leadership skills. So, this year--2009, in addition to "Take your daughter to work" day, I'd like to declare a "Take YOUR LEADERSHIP to work day." Just for one day I want to see all of the necessary leadership practices that are often off-limits embraced and encouraged, and dare I say, even taught. Imagine a flurry of risk-taking, enthusiastic and inspiring speeches, effective group-decision-making, inclusive strategic planning, and an in-depth discussion of ethics! We will always need effective leaders, so let's encourage everyone to keep their heads up, ask hard questions, and listen carefully to one another. Fear is no substitute for great leadership.

BusinessWeek could offer a series on leadership development--practical skills for a civil society.

I am clinical cancer researcher here at MD Anderson. It is an exciting time to be involved in cancer research given some the exciting new drugs that are emerging from the pharmaceutical industry. I am curious as to what would happen to drug development and clinical research if our health care system does drastically change as the Obama administration and the general public desires universal healthcare and reduction in the overall cost of healthcare.

In my opinion, I do not think the public understands both the shear costs of conducting clinical trials and getting a drug approved for a specific indication. I do not think the public understands that much of this increase in research from industry, unfortunately, is driven by profit margin the industry sees here in the US (high drug costs). I believe as a nation if we truly want universal healthcare and and a reduction in the cost of healthcare, they need to be willing to accept rationing including the rationing of research and the incentives that drive it.

I would like to know more about the war against illicit drugs. The Colombian goverment has put in jail or extradited to the US all major drug lords and has cornered the communist guerillas that finance their terror with cocaine. The result: price of cocaine in the streets of the US has doubled and the quality has plumetted making this traffic more profitable than ever. The actual approach is causing a never ending blood bath.

WHY DO NATURAL GAS STOCK PRICES CONTINUE TO DECLINE DURING WINTER MONTHS?

Follow the money. I knows its a little late as the financial industry bailout happened some months ago, but I would like to see where the money went.

Let's talk mortgages. You buy a house. Your bank pays off the sellers mortgage - thus that lander get's its money back.

Your bank sells your mortgage to Fannie Mae - so your bank get's its money back.

Fannie sells securities around you mortgage - so Fannie gets it's money back.

Everyone gets their money back - so where did the money go? Why did we need to inject so much more money into the money supply?

Banks hold the majority of these funds, where did it go? Even if they bought these securities, that money just transfered from one bank to another. So, where did it go that they needed more before they would lend?

My proposal is not only about a story subject, but also on how to do it.Thanks to all our interactive technologies we can start to rethink the way we write stories and articles.
we should write stories with the direct participation of the readers through comments, suggestions , ideas during its development.
A big brainstorming and jam session , with a subject and a time limitation , say one week, where everybody can contribute, add, improve, criticize, change , work around constant new concepts and ideas and so on.
This would represent a collective intelligence effort and probably a new way to do journalism in the new century. A story suggestion?
The next five years in the information technology, new trends, killer apps, new products and ecosystems.

Is Schiff right about treasury bubble?
I tend to agree with him. I mean I would never give credit to somebody so he could pay his old credits.

John,

Greetings.

I would like to jointly work with Business Week to publish a series of articles on architecting America's next-generation Smart Electric Grid, using lessons learned from IT industry - specifically from the challenges(that were overcome) of the Internet-evolution & growth.

I'm a small-scale entrepreneur in the IT industry, with vigorous interest in addressing national socio-economic issues with solutions from an Information Technology/Infrastructure perspective. Based on my extensive experience in the R&D Community of Grid Computing, I have compiled a whitepaper/solution design for "America's Smart Electric Grid" in collaboration with one of the leading thinkers in the Renewable Energy community.

By working with BusinessWeek, I would be happy to extend that work, for the benefit of a global audience of entrepreneurs, working professionals, policy makers.

Cheers.

Do I ever remember the economic downturn of 2000 and NASDAWQ losing around 50% of its value. Newsweek posted an article in January of 2000, and wondered if (we)(Bush) was talking ourselves into a recession. FAST FORWARD to January of 2009! Now we have Bararck Obama doing the nay-saying and so-far nobody's telling him to cool out. The market seems to be having trouble getting a grip, yet our messiah is regularly spreading the messages of doom and gloom.

http://www.businessweek.com/2001/01_02/b3714181.htm

Business Week should do a story on the many U.S. companies that are successfully selling goods and services to governments (federal, state, local), now that the private sector is slumping. The government market and government purchases of goods and services will grow a little in 2009 I cite a few examples here:
http://govpro.com/news/business_government_market_0106/

Can you do a story to see if Dubai still is a shopper's paradise?
Of late, I have noticed people complain that prices in Dubai are far far higher than those in London, Paris and New York.

From WSJ: UnitedHealth Settles Probe Over Fee Database

This article is about how UnitedHealth alledgly understated "usual and customary" charges by doctors to determine how much to pay an out of network doctor for services.

It also mentions the contracted prices that the health insurance companies negotiate with the doctors and hospitals.

These secret negotiated prices are nothing short of price-fixing and collusion on the part of doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies.

As a consumer of health care services shouldn't I be able to get the best care at the best price regardless of the health insurance company that provide coverage for me (if I can get health insurance).

Shouldn't I be able to get that same "best price" as a "retail" customer, paying cash for a visit to my doctor?

I would like to see an investigation into the pricing of health care services and the disparity between what is "usual and customary" and what is contracted by some of the big insurance companies and how that compares to the "retail" price a doctor charges a patient that does not have health insurance coverage.

The new administration will be looking closely at the current state of health care and it's time for the press to do so as well.

This could be a good opportunity for BW to get the "scoop".

Thanks

January 28 is National Data Privacy Day.

With a failing economy, what's happening with consumer data when these huge worldwide companies go under (bankrupt)? Consumer data of millions is up for grabs.

The digitization of all transactions and the intrusiveness of the internet, real-world surveillance and GPS tracking have meant that more of our lives are captured and recorded, and now more companies and organizations want access to all of this data. The law is rapidly changing in this area and with an administration change in Washington that privacy regulation is likely to accelerate.

Ten years ago only a few areas of data were protected by law, and the details (regulations) had not even been worked out with regard to health and financial data. Now, nearly every state protects data in a different manner, surrounded by a patchwork of federal regulations and regulators. The past decade has seen the meteoric rise of identity theft as organized crime has moved into this space, and the rise of data aggregation as you online information and your real-word data have been combined for the benefit of political parties and marketing firms.

Ted Claypoole, attorney at Womble Carlyle is at the forefront of this discussion.

In today’s downtrodden economy, companies are looking to cut costs wherever possible. And many are finding cost-cutting opportunities in a seemingly strange place: longstanding office leases that haven’t been negotiated in years.

In fact, real estate owners and brokers are eager today to renegotiate lease rates—regardless of the amount of time left on them. This hasn’t ever happened in the real estate field. Economic conditions today have converged to give tenants power over owners that they haven’t enjoyed previously. This is why leaseholders today have unprecedented leverage.

As companies of all shapes and sizes look to strengthen their balance sheets for what will be a murky year economically, a renegotiation of their lease terms should be high on their list of priorities. If they ask for it, they’ll probably get it.

I have clients who can talk about this trend, most notably the president of a tenant-representation firm who’s done this recently.

(@andrew_graham on Twitter.)

My story idea for BusinessWeek --

Joining a professional association is essential in a down economy. Why? From advocacy to professional development to networking opportunities, the benefits far outweigh the cost.

Advocacy: State and federal advocacy performed by professional associations is one of the only ways to help impact, shape and perhaps defend the future of your profession.

Professional Development: Professional associations help keep up your continuing education credits at a discounted price.

Networking: With many organizations experiencing layoffs and cutbacks, it’s best not to leave the future of your career in the hands of want ads and online job boards. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates approximately 70 percent of jobs are found through networking, and professional associations offer many such opportunities.

I would be happy to arrange an interview with Frederick P. Somers, AOTA's executive director to further discuss the benefits of joining a professional association in a down economy. If this interests you, please contact me (@heatherhuhman on Twitter). Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Story idea.
It appears we may see deflation in 2009. However with money supply being increased by governments pumping money in to their economies while at the same time manufacturers and businesses are reducing capacity it would appear we will have more money chasing fewer goods. As I understand it this is the classic scenario for inflation. I have read that economists are predicting rampant inflation from 2010. If so this will reduce debt by those who owe money, property prices will increase to do away with negative equity. Savers will of course lose out.

I would love to see what crazy business ideas are going on right now and see if anyone is having any success with it. I like how one college kid hasn't given up hope that the economy is down and is still trying to see how one can be successful in a down economy: www.collegetoothpick.com

Not one of the Big 3 US car/truck manufacturers has a method for the public to reach its design and engineering departments to suggest why potential customers will not purchase US automobiles. They are so arrogant they keep building junk without listening to the public. Autos are built to be pretty and cheap, but not maintainable. Most trucks are Yuppiemobiles, not functional as work trucks. Parts are unavailable after a very short time. Some dealers cannot fix cars they sold because the cars were designed and built by a foreign company who put a US manufacturer's name on them. I did find a "Chrysler Listens" phone number and got India. I left a message saying one of the reasons I will not purchase their product is that their "customer service" is in India. Doubt that suggestion will ever reach the high paid executives.

I am writing to propose a pertinent topic for a column or feature story: the man/company who forecast exactly what the global financial crisis would look like: Robert Prechter of Elliott Wave International (EWI) in Gainesville, Ga. For Prechter's thousands of subscribers, who saw this crisis unfolding every step of the way, 2008 was a very, very good year.

Thirty years ago, Prechter predicted a great bull market (unthinkable in 1978) which would end in a credit-driven speculative mania, to be followed by a great bear market. In the 1980s he was Financial News Network's "Guru of the Decade" for his phenomenal track record as a trader and big picture forecaster. Later, Prechter fell out of popular favor when he became bearish in the 1990s, severely underestimating the duration and extreme of the mania.

In 2002, Prechter published Conquer the Crash, forecasting a deflationary crash. What sets him apart from other economists and analysts who foresaw a stock market crash or recession, Prechter did not predict a simultaneous boom in commodities, gold, or any other asset. He correctly predicted that stocks, real estate, commodities, indeed, everything but cash, would fall together. The chapters of his 2002 book explaining why deflation was inevitable and what it would look are a stunning description of today's reality.

What is most compelling about this story now is that so much of what EWI and Conquer the Crash have forecast still lies ahead.

I do not work for EWI but would be happy to arrange contact, or you can contact them directly. A biography of Robert Prechter is available on his web site at http://www.elliottwave.com/info/#prechter

More Creative Business Marketing Ads

O.k., o.k. we have a huge economic problem. Yet I see damned few ads on tv for innovative price driven, drop-the-mop items to buy? Only Hundyi automotive with their "Assure" program has anything interesting out there.

What about loss leaders at a ridiculous price? Where did they go? How about super extended warranties? How about something innovative for Veterans?

Come on corporate America, where are the merchants? Where are the innovative ad guys? Let's drive people into our stores and service shops. Business as usual doesn't cut it.

Hi Businessweek Team,

We are the Flood sisters. We are three sisters from New York. We posted ads on craigslist in search of a living donor for our father who was in kidney failure. We were all incompatible. So we took our "out of the box" idea to craigslist.

After a year and 4 months of postings, 100 responders there after, and much publicity, our father received the gift of life on December 12, 2008.

Out of our journey, we have started a non-profit kidney foundation to educate the public on kidney disease and organ donor awareness. Currently, we are building a database of living donors and patients.

We hope to save more lives as we have saved our father's life.

We were wondering if you would like to tell our story in a businessweek publication. We would love to spread awareness for this growing healthcare concern and our foundation.

You may contact us at the below.

Jennifer

C: 646-287-2900
E: Jennifer@floodsisters.org

Do a "real" story on ageism in the American workplace!

How recruiters and companies pre-screen people they call back by researching them on public databases, Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, etc. to ascertain age and other personal information.

This allows them to cull out older workers, removing them from consideration and not allowing them to get a foot in the door.

These public databases need to be controlled (banned?) or a new standard of not including personal information, such as your name and address on resumes. Personal info would only be required if you were asked to provide references after the 1st interview or at hire (which ever came first).

The news coverage of the decreasing price of houses seems to me to miss the point and often sounds a bit hysterical. If it is true that house prices over time appreciate at about the rate of inflation, should we not expect that house prices will become stable at prices equivalent to prices before the bubble began adjusted for inflation over that interval?

Harvard Business School's Clayton Christensen identified "disruptive innovations" as a means by which new businesses overtake huge corporations to generate new money and new jobs. Businessweek should help the Obama Administration by identifying these "disruptive innovations" that would be suitable for funding, ala BBC's Dragon's Den.
For example, why was an ex-Cisco Systems network engineer (Roberto Catalan) twice invited (2004 and 2005) to present his breakthrough (network-controlled non-strenuous entrapment prevention) technology called AESOP (that can simultaneously carry high-speed Broadband data) at the official Federal Investigation into the World Trade Center Disaster? You can verify this at: http://wtc.nist.gov/WTC_Conf_Sep13-15/presentations905.htm
I'm sure there are other opportunities out there that the Obama Administration will remain ignorant of - unless you help. It is time for Businessweek to make a positive contribution towards lifting the U.S. economy via its investigative journalism. Thank you.

As a retired Learning & Knowledge executive for both IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers, I have seen the future mortgaged too many times by the Finance folks treating professional development programs simply as a controllable cost. Which companies will emerge from the current economic crisis with their top talent stronger (or weaker) than their competition? What creative ways are companies pursuing (such as the use of 3-D virtual realities, perhaps?) to keep the learning processes active and effective? What are they doing for their key managers and executives around the world to up their game, rather than simply survive this downturn?

As a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley for the last decade and a senior executive with both large and small technology companies, I understand first-hand how challenging these incredibly tough economic times are on companies and on their leaders. I, like many other venture capitalists are on the front lines of helping these companies weather the storm but I’m not here to suggest a story about venture capitalists. Those stories have been written. I am here however, to suggest a story about leadership in tough times.

As I write this, we are witnessing a major political change and will be watching closely Barrack Obama take the helm and make things happen!

I’ve watched many Silicon Valley leaders lead their companies through dark times and succeed beyond expectation. I’ve seen their struggles and firmly believe that leaders are made, not born, not only in Silicon Valley, in all business and government sectors.

There are many leaders in technology. Most of the time, stories focus on the tech titans of industry - you know -- Gates, Grove, Jobs, Ellison, Chambers. I personally witness leadership daily in early-stage companies and start-ups working hard to survive. Young, venture-backed tech companies are at the very heart of America's business.

A recent report by Global Insight showed that today's publicly-held companies (previously venture backed) equate to about 10 million jobs or, 9 percent of total US employment. Keeping these companies alive requires tremendous skills from the top -- including honesty, competence, forward-thinking skills and the ability to inspire. I often talk about how the CEO's job is the loneliest job in the world. http://www.stormventures.com/news/storm_watch.html. For those of us who have been in the tech industry for years, we know that new tech leaders will emerge from today’s recession ashes. What do they need to do to live another day and what character qualities must they possess? I have many great examples to share....and some deep scars of my own.

I would love to see BusinessWeek write a story -- maybe even a series of stories -- on leadership in tough times starting with young tech company executives. Maybe this story will serve as a "sneak peak" at the future leaders of the Fortune 100. So how about it -- a story about hope, opportunity and prosperity with true leaders leading the charge?

Barrack Obama is a leader and my hope is that he will inspire other leaders. Maybe, just maybe, he'll learn a few new tips from reading a BusinessWeek story on the ever-changing but always fascinating technology industry and the forces that keep our industry always hopeful and always proud. And, even if he doesn't take note, I'm sure this week's inauguration address alone will inspire people to want to lead. Next steps, they'll be seeking out information on how to do this from leading news sources. BusinessWeek is a leader in its field.

Here's your opportunity. Will you lead?

Alex Mendez
Managing Director
Storm Ventures

Two major economic reforms for every town, village and city in the US can be implemented from the bully pulpit (at virtually no cost) and create tens of millions of new jobs within 12 months. This is through the creation and marketing of a "task marketplace", as the obvious successor to our nation's waning job marketplace. Participating residents could earn $25,000 to $50,000 per year as independent contractors. See election-issues-us.com Also, the residents of each town, village and city in the US can have their own low-cost ($2,000/year) equivalency college, which is college stripped of all the costly but unimportant features. Also, see election-issues-us.com
If the nation's leaders really want to improve the economy and educational status of its residents, this is the obvious, almost no-cost way.

Carl E. Person
Antitrust and civil rights attorney, NYC

Much has been written about economic stimulus and the megaspending that this implies. With respect to infrastructure and direct service spending, how long does it take for the spent dollars to return to the government in taxes? It seems that the government always gets its money back, it is only a matter of how much time it takes. Time they can regulate with tax policy.

Put America Back to Work -- If the goal of the stimulus program is to really put Americans back to work, it can be accomplished very simply without resorting to Bamadoggles and other pork barrel projects.

The government can stimulate the economy by making massive purchases of American-made goods. Current inventory levels at American manufacturers are very low, so manufacturers, builders, and other producers must rehire workers to meet an increase in demand. As production workers are hired and they and their companies make money, they will spend it in their local economies. Thus we will have not only the direct impact of increasing demand for American-made goods, but also the multiplier impacts on local companies and small business.

How would this work? The government would simply buy new homes, cars, wall board, nails, office furniture, electric motors, appliances, books, etc. The only requirement would be that the goods are actually manufactured in America. This would immediately put people back to work and stimulate local economies.

What would they do with these goods? Store them. By leasing local space in empty warehouses or retail space (e.g. Circuit City stores) we would also keep commercial real estate defaults from crashing down on the banking system.

Once the economy has strengthened, we would slowly sell these goods back into the economy. Yes, they would not fetch their original value, but what other government program ever gets any value for the money it spends?

This all sounds too simple. Think about it and you will see that it will work. Encourage your “leaders in Washington” to use common sense to solve our problems.

KJ Frosell
IAI Research Foundation
N Naples, FL

Bubble Makers or Wealth Mediators

The past years events in financial markets and increasing transparency it has become evident that financial analysts can play a vital role in the economy at the micro as well as at the macro level.

Unfortunately, history shows that many financial analysts serve as bubble makers. Let me mention just a few examples: the dot.com bubble in 1995-2001, Japanese overvalued asset prices in the 80s and current worldwide property bubble.

Often financial analysts activities can be characterized as "Herding"
due to the phenomenon that investors tend to buy or sell in the direction of the market trend. It is sometimes helped by technical analysis that tries just to detect trends and follow them, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There is therefore a strong need for financial analysts to come under regulation. Like companies are being rated, an independent authority under well-defined objective criteria must rate financial analyst.

Whether such authority comes from the financial industry's own ranks or from the public I will leave to your common sense and others to decide.

Kurt Nybroe-Nielsen
Marbella Spain

How can the cost of steel and almost every kind of metal there is be going done, yet steel cans have increased in cost by up to 50%? This is ludicrous with the world recession we're in.

Michael, interestingly enough, the steel and canning industry seems to operate in Omerta. With so few competitors, information is hard to come by. However, we uncovered some of the unique contract traditions that put both industries in a class of their own. Check out The Hidden Commodity in Canned Food from Jan. 30, 2009.

Story idea: The Old Age Of Youth

Soon after my daughter was born, I subconsciously changed from who I had been in the past. I was at the young age of 35 at the time. It was then that I completely stopped drinking copious amounts of adult beverages (I was, well, a heavy drinker, by definition- but only for about 20 years). I started exercising for hours daily. My diet consisted of essentially everything not made by a human for a change. This behavior I implemented upon myself was not self-centered in any way from the perspective of acknowledging my individuality, or to display myself to others in any way. I wished to accomplish that which I had not so far in my lifespan. And my daughter may have been a catalyst for this. My love for her infected me.
As I approached the age of forty, I found myself looking within myself even more so. I began listening to those silent voices that I had disregarded in the past I now regret. And discovered I had much more to do that was more impactful than what I had done, or was doing, at the time.
As a result, I left a very lucrative job with intent. I started writing- fueled by undefined intrinsic passion. I began holding more doors for others. The ego I had had before this occurred, which was completely delusional and the size of Asia, became recalibrated and condensed. I no longer get angry. I have not located conscious hate within me for many years now. At the same time, I find myself misdirected, depressed, afraid, and often lonely from abandoning friends who were those from my past, and question this metamorphosis I created with intent.
This is my midlife crisis- that continues with relentless persistence:
A midlife crisis has been associated and acknowledged in Western countries in the world, and this time frame in one’s life is the least explored period due to its perceived dullness that exists in the human lifespan. In the U.S., the existence of the midlife crisis has been associated with our focus on our culture’s youth as being the ideal lifespan period. Yet midlife crisis is recognized in at least 80 other countries. It occurs to obtain compensation.
Many others believe the crisis does not exist, and is rather attributed to amplified life stressors, for example. While debatable, this period of time that such a crisis exists may fall between the ages of the 30s to the 50s. Depression associated with this crisis presents itself in one in their mid 40s of their age.
A crisis may be defined as an emotional state of extreme doubt and anxiety as one reflects on their past successes, followed by what such a person desperately desires to accomplish in their future. It is a turning point for an individual that consists of incredible pain, distress, and often other unexpected dysfunctions. It is a period in one’s life that consists of reflection and self-assessment. Often, one in such a crisis find themselves searching for unclear goals, as they regret what they have not done so far. Often, the one in a midlife crisis prefers isolation from others. At times, such a person makes desperate attempts to re-acquire their youth.
Behavioral changes likely occur with one experiencing a mid life crisis. This may be necessary as one becomes determined to accomplish certain things that they now view are more worthwhile than what they have done in the past. The behavior is often impulsive. The one in a midlife crisis consistently focuses on life’s meaning frequently- and a strong desire to do something different due to their discontent for what they have done in the past. This is a period of deep re-assessment for those in a midlife crisis. How the individual expresses their crisis is not dependent on their income or ethnicity as well. Yet likely their complexes are rather overt.
Often, the midlife crisis consists of those at this age authentically striving for new and bonafide ambitions as they realize that success as defined by them in the past is entirely void of happiness or fulfillment. Their most notable feeling or emotion often is a strong sense of regret for what has not been done by them yet. This may be a catalyst in some midlife crisis people to abuse substances and experience unbelievable depths of depression.
Yet those in crisis must discover and fulfill their deep, intimate potential to meet what is now within them, and will possess discontent until this occurs. One who may experience a midlife crisis may do so between possibly the ages of the 30s through the 50s. The average age typically is the mid 40s. Both genders may experience this crisis, yet they express this crisis in different ways. These half way points in the lives of others express themselves with others with varying degrees of severity that depends on multiple personal variables. Over 25 percent of those in the United States greater than the age of 35 believe they have had, or are experiencing, a midlife crisis.
The one experiencing this crisis often soul searches while experiencing this stressful event that often is overwhelming for them, as this alteration of themselves does not allow such a person’s coping mechanisms utilized in the past to be of any use. Yet the one in a midlife crisis proves to be resilient often, and their intrinsic drive to discover and fulfill their deep and innate is a necessity. They must do something different than what they have done in the past. This crisis is emotionally significant to one in this crisis, and involves significant changes of status with intent on one experiencing this crisis. So this period of time is unstable and unpleasant, yet perceived to be crucial by one experiencing their midlife status.
While many stereotypically believes that one claiming to be experiencing a midlife crisis is largely due to them realizing that they are in fact aging, evidence proves that this involves a small fraction of those within a mid life crisis. Rather, the crisis involves one exploring dreams unfulfilled, as well as the acquisition of new intentions they wish to accomplish in their lives. Gail Sheedy wrote a popular book in 1976 entitled, “Passages”. One thing she stated in this book about the human lifespan was, “The task of midlife is not to look into the light, but to bring light into the darkness.”
Dr. Carl Jung, called the father of Humanism as well as Transpersonal Psychology, explored the midlife crisis rather thoroughly. He believed the midlife crisis is a human condition that is completely natural. He developed stages of this crisis with what is called a Myer-Briggs Personality model, which consisted of the following:
Accommodation- When one presents themselves as a different person. Preferences one possesses are innate
Separation- One removes their previous mask they wore, assess what is behind this mask they placed upon themselves, and authenticate the etiology for now rejecting this mask that hid their ego. This is also called by Dr. Jung the word personae.
Individuation- one recognizes and integrates existing intrinsic conflicts in order to balance them to achieve self-actualization and true awareness. To achieve totality. The conscious and unconscious in one actually shake hands.
Liminality- the suspended animation of one in a midlife crisis during the transformation
Dr. Jung wrote about his own midlife crisis, beginning with severing his relationship with Dr. Sigmund Freud. He said that we, as humans, have the ability during this crisis to experience egocide, in which the previous false self experiences apoptosis, while the true self is born, and developed in time. This is self-realization, and its potential, according to Dr. Jung, lies within the second half of one’s life. He once said as well that new creation of oneself involves their instinct acting from their inner necessity. Also, Dr. Jung said with incredible accuracy that there is no coming to consciousness without pain.
Life is suffering, as well as determination. Others during their midlife crisis have either noticed or have performed great things they thought were not possible in the past regarding their ability and drive. One may become a nationally known author. Another may re-enter the academic world and become a famous researcher.
One may become a better parent.
Personally, I’d rather consider such endeavors as what was just mentioned, rather than buy a very fast car, and befriend girls half my age to reassure my perception of my former self that did not exist.
Leave something behind.

Here's a link to an article I found on the Guardian website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/jan/23/libraries-bookmarks-namelessletter-project

It will perhaps interest you.

Regards,
Jason Donovan

Re BW's "Loan Crisis Hits the MBA World"
This is an interesting article. I would like to see an article on the difficulties/defaults in paying MBA student loans after MBA graduates take on massive loans and cannot find jobs or have lost jobs and are unable to pay $1000+ student loan payments/month.

Thanks, Alex, for your useful story inspiration. Curious to see how BW reporter Ben Steverman ran with your idea? Check out Ben's 2/12/09 story, Advice for Young Investors..

We are seeing all kinds of bad economic stories but I wold like to give just a little piece of hope in a rural VA community. I am the County Administrator of Carroll County, VA and we are treating economic development much differently than before. We are assisting the Entrepreneurial Economy and are proud to let the world know that we expect our 100th new business announcement this coming week since Jan. 1, 2006.

We are giving support to Entrepreneurs with Business Plan Development through the Small Business Development Center and creating business plans that are fund able at a rate of $250,000 per week at current. This is in a down economy because the plans are solid. We have put more than 400 people to work in the small businesses and allowing them to follow their dream!

I would love to share more!

Further to the article by Samantha Young, "California unemployment rate jumps to 9.3 percent" and my MyTake column (Jan. 26/09 - http://is.gd/hhBR) I have another idea that relates to the current Unemployment Crisis in California. While California just released a December Unemployment rate of 9.3 %, I believe that it may go substantially higher due to the fact that California has the highest number of Option ARMs mortgages that will be "resetting" in 2009. These Option ARMs caused the downfall of Countrywide and others that were based in CA. I would suggest that there is a correlation between California’s increasing unemployment rate and the fact that this State has the largest concentration of Alt-A and Option ARMs mortgages and that these borrowers include a large number of small business owners.

Given the following facts:

1) California leads the nation in Option ARMs mortgages which are the most “toxic”. 80-90% of these borrowers paid the “minimum”. At “reset” they will experience “payment shock” and default.

2) Experts predict a 2nd “Tsunami” Wave of Foreclosures of these “Toxic” Mortgages beginning in 4th quarter 2008 through 2012. Credit Suisse and others offer evidence from their research.

3) Credit Suisse predict 8.1 million Foreclosures in next 4 years

4) NASE Survey http://advocacy.nase.org/research.asp provides evidence that small business owners fell for these “Toxic” mortgages in the millions. Btw, I was the author of the NASE national survey.

5) Small businesses employ between in to 10 employees

6) Small businesses are closing due to the Recession

Conclusion: California’s spike in unemployment at this time may be due to the foreclosures on the “Toxic” Alt-A and Option ARMs mortgages held by small business owners whose businesses have closed and their employees are now jobless.

This trend will continue and intensify as we get into 2009. CBS' “60 Minutes” devoted a segment to the 2nd Wave of Foreclosures on 12/14/08.

What do you think of this idea?

Thanks Again!

Samuel D. Bornstein
Professor of Accounting & Taxation
Kean University, School of Business, Union, NJ

"Living simply...and happy: The reality of the post-recovery era we will enter once all is fixed."

2 credit cards, 1 debit card, 1 car, 1 rental with 2 bedrooms, 1 oven, 1 fridge, 1 flat screen, 1 laptop and 1 iPhone.

this is all we need.

I am under the impression that the housing market decline and the credit meltdown were just the triggers for people not willing to "own" much anymore. It is evident to me that we were already in the middle of an emerging trend that wants simplicity, agility and flexibility in our life. I keep meeting people who say "I do not want to own too much anymore" - i wish i could get rid of my house, most of my furniture and keep only the absolutely necessary - and enjoy a simple life.
It is evident that our life has become way complex and there is scarcity of time. People are looking for simplicity. Companies like Apple and Google have built empires based on this idea. I am confident this is just the beginning. All in all, I was wondering if BW could start covering this trend. Consumer spending will be much lower than in the past years forever, even if the economy improves.

Just an idea.

Stamatios, your idea turned into a full-fledged story by reporter Ben Levisohn on hedge fund pain that landed on the BusinessWeek.com home page. Thanks for helping us get a jump on the story by suggesting it here on What's Your Story Idea. Check out Ben's story from August 6, 2008 titled aptly, Even Hedge Funds Are Hurting.

I have written a book about the auto industry. It is based on my job as a front line supervisor at Ford's largest automatic transmission plant. I worked there when Fords were jumping out of park into reverse and killed 200 people and injured 1400. This resulted in Ford Motor Company becoming the only corporation in American History to be charged with reckless homocide. My book is entitled "A Savage Factory" and is due to launch in April. May I send you a copy?

If the U.S. Army used 40 mm training ammunition that left behind no toxins and duds the DoD could save >$500M annually in clean-up costs and shift those resources, perhaps towards communities affected by base closures and re-alignments.

The truth is environmentally training ammunition exists. The U.S. Marines have been using a German-American design that saves them $20M annually. The training round is called Mk281, but it's TOO GREEN for the U.S. Army Ammunition Plants to integrate. Why is that? The DoD put the Army’s PEO Ammunition in charge of the health of our industrial base.

Seems like taxpayers are paying the price for protectionism, especially property owners situated by DoD installations that were closed and re-aligned. The duds and toxins on the land make it unsellable, leaving communities’ chances of economic development stunted.

If we’re looking for green jobs, why not look at Mk281 40 mm training ammunition? >50% of training rounds are 40 mm. That’s a lot of JOBS.

Ok John you asked and yes, I think the media are missing a story.

I was talking with Dieter Thompson about the proliferation and wild growth of the wireless market. Now, employers are left holding the bag in the wake of these major layoffs.

(So that I'm completely transparent here ... Dieter is the founder of TAG, a telecom consultancy that helps Fortune 1000 companies evaluate, negotiate and refine their telecom spend. They are a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcatel Lucent. He is also my client.)

Continuing on with my point ... in the wake of these layoffs -- employers big and small are in unchartered waters because there is no plan for handling these devices as well as the HUGE security risks and financial implications associated with them.

Honestly, if a sales force is on a corporate cellular plan ... what does the employer do with a bunch of Blackberry PDAs that contain intellectual property, contacts, etc? There really is no exit strategy for the employer. And for the employee, there's some personal risk as well.

There is a lesson to be learned here by business and employee alike.

What do you think?

Amy Power
on behalf of TAG www.i-tag.net

re BW story: Would-Be Bankers Turn to Consulting >> This article implies that in recent years (decades?) the best and brightest MBAs have been groomed by American B-schools for a career on Wall Street -- focused on Leveraged Buyouts, Credit Default Swaps, Hedge Funds, Hostile Takeovers, Debt Restructuring, etc.

But now the party is over. Alas, the proverbial "keg" filled by novel corporate financial instruments and strategies is empty. The sun is rising on a new era. America's corporations need: 1) leaders who will put less emphasis on maximizing short-term profits (and personal gains through stock option), and 2) Boards of Directors who will change renumeration packages to incentivize C-level staff to manage for the long-term.

Question: Which of our top MBA schools will re-visit their mission statement, and transition to curricula in which: 1) arbitrage & profiteering are de-emphasized, and 2) responsible, sustainable corporate strategy focused on the long-term is emphasized?

Big Bad Bank Plan Enables Mortgage Fix Without "Permanent" Taxpayer Cost

Almost all of the prior mortgage solutions have had multiple problems:

1. Ownership of the debt was dispersed and legal rights were difficult to consolidate for a fix.

2. All suggested fixes result in huge "permanent" subsidies either to debt holders or whoever, at huge permanent cost to taxpayers.

The Big Bad Bank ("BBB") Plan enables a two step solution (the second step is my idea which I have not voiced, but which I hope rescue leaders might think of and consider).

A. It consolidates ownership of debt, allowing for application of the "fix" in B.

B. "Qualifying underwater home borrowers" would get a principle write down based on current discounted market value of home at current long term low interest rates. However part of the deal is an added provision that will "run with the land," and require any future gain on resales (and subsequent resales) be split 50% - 50% between home owner and the BBB (which of course is pretty much owned by the federal government and the taxpayers), until the principle writedown, including interest) has been paid back to the BBB. The future gain to be recaptured might simply be required to be withheld by the seller (through the sales escrow), and remitted to BBB (or to IRS for administrative convenience). Through this mechanism the taxpayers and the government is merely out the initial costs for a temporary period (the $3 to $4 trillion needed by the BBB), and will eventually recoup most if not all of the costs. We would have to limit this program to those who truly need it, and deserve it. So it is reasonable to place definitional limits on "qualifying underwater home borrowers." Qualifying borrowers might be defined to include, for example inter alia, those whose earning power cash flow are shown to be unable to cover their original mortgages, but are able to cover a current fair value adjusted mortgage.

Seth Wu
January 30, 2009

How despite EVERYTHING that's going on in our economy -- businesses and households alike are suffering -- there are STILL entrepreneurs out there risking it all for a product they believe in that helps others during these difficult times. When the thing to do right now is look out for #1, these business people are trying to look out for the greater good.

Sometimes I feel that there is another world out there, an electronic world. No one really understands how this electronic world works. I write a check at WalMart and they run the check through their machine & hand the paper check back to me. Somehow in a few seconds, the check is approved and the debit hits my checking account. On the way home I buy gas with my credit card. I can see that charge on my credit card's website tomorrow. When I leave the gas station, I whip into a grocery store and buy a few items with my debit card. When I get home, I can see the grocery debit on my bank's website. How is this information being transmitted and to whom? How does the data get from WalMart, the gas station and the grocery store to my account's website? Who or what companies are managing all this personal information and what are my vulnerabilities? What benefits do I derive from this inconnected market place? What costs do I incur from this financial communication system?

A couple of ideas for me would be: one, why people lost their common sense?; and two, is it better to be direct or is it better to sounds good?

Death by Banker
February 1, 2009

It’s a page turning “who done it” murder mystery. We hear about the death of a small business, then a large local company and finally multinational corporations, one after the other, after the other. But where there is a death is there necessarily a murder? Of course this isn’t true. There are many natural causes for the death of a business from tough competition to partner embezzlement, from inept successors to no successors. But if there were a CSI financial forensics investigation it would be clearly determined that more and more business are dying at the hands of a cereal killer.

Over the quarter century I have practiced Mergers & Acquisitions I have witnessed the bizarre love hate relationship between businesses and bankers. Especially dysfunctional is the banker relationship with manufacturing, and most specifically Auto Industry parts suppliers. Throughout my career these companies, mostly Tier One & Tier Two suppliers, have been courted by bankers, loved by bankers and eventually jilted by bankers. Until recently this happened in reasonably predictable cycles. One bank would suddenly lose its fondness for Auto Suppliers (“a recent internal audit indicates our loan portfolio is too deep in that space”) while another bank would be professing its new found attraction (“we are aggressively pursuing companies in that space”). Thankfully the “space” between one bank to the other was generally bridged without severe damage to the business.

Welcome to the world of bank failures. Welcome to business financing 2009. The players are the same but the rules have changed and the result is murder. No longer is a jilted business able to move from one bank to the other with reasonable fluidity. What was a painfully frustrating exercise has now become with greater regularity a painful death. Banks are now wholesale offloading targeted customers, leaving them with little prospect of securing a new lender. While in the natural ebbs and tides of business and financing this has always occurred at manageable levels, lender psychosis has now turned once mercenary bankers into business killers.

Who done it? While the media reports the failure of this company or that company few reporters put the murder weapon, a called loan or a frozen credit line, in the hands of bankers. All too many of these companies are not naturally dying and may not even have a cold but are put on life support because of a fractional out of formula lending ratio, one late payment in a decade of borrower fidelity or “just because” at the banker’s whim.
According to Neil Irwin in a Washington Post article “At the core of the financial crisis is a simple problem: Banks don't fully trust each other. So they hoard cash and only lend to each other if the borrowing bank pays enough to justify the risk.” Frankly the problem goes much deeper with Banks and Governments playing God with the markets. According to Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, "The interbank markets are a fundamental part of the plumbing of the financial world.” Well the plumbing is stopped up and our precious manufacturing base is suffering the most. While we wait for the so called “Stimulus Bill” to act as financial Drano paranoid self serving bankers are quietly killing off their true source of wealth, businesses.
"This contraction in availability and rise of the cost of credit have worsened . . . for corporate and business borrowers”, claims Mr. Lockhart. "We've heard anecdotes confirming this from contacts throughout the Southeast. In short, Main Street is being affected." It is economics 101 Mr. Lockhart. One can only hope that predatory bankers rediscover the symbiotic relationship, however dysfunctional, between them and business soon. Maybe the media will help by doing some actual investigative reporting and expose the cereal murders, and such ruthless practices as commercial loan officers of a large Midwest bank being paid a $1,000 bounty for each million dollars of loans they can force off their books. But in the mean time it’s Business Owners Beware the Hand that Feeds You.
Jim Hines, CBI

Jim is the president of Company Connections a Middle Market Merger & Acquisition firm founded in 1982 that specializes in the merger of manufacturing companies. Company Connections is found on the web at www.companyconnections.net.

I am a survivor of Necrotizing Fasciitis (the Flesh-Eating Disease). I have been in and out of the hospital for 2 and a half years and had 29 surgeries. While I spent all of this time recovering, the IRS, SYSCO Food Service and US Foodservice attached liens to my restaurant (family owned for 11 years). I was forced to close the doors on January 1, 2009. I have 5 children and I am unable to work due to my disease. I certainly have a story to tell, but it's a long one. I guess I just really felt like raging against the injustice for a change instead of sitting back and having to take it!

Sorry if I wasted anyone's time!

I watched one of your reporters on C-span yesterday suggesting that if the compensation of executives was capped and bonus curtailed during the period the taxpayers has an interest in the bailout banks, the best talent will go elsewhere.
This myth has been peddled many a time before the current crisis and has formed the basis of many astronomical compensation for executives.

What is the evidence behind this myth and where would this so called talented people go? The underlying assumptions and self interests of those promoting this idea is worth reporting.

What is the role of Business School Deans on Corporate Boards?
In particular Carolyn Woo of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business sat on Circuit City's board as it fired its top salespeople, undertook a poorly planned expansion, went into bankruptcy and finally liquadated.
What ethical insights and business school learnings did she bring to her director's role and what lessons has she learned?

What is this stimulus plan going to cost middle class tax payers in the long run?

Unemployment blogs are getting big as the jobless ranks swell. Creative people are using them as outlets for their talents and frustrations. There's some fascinating stuff out there.

Jobless and Less (www.joblessandless.com) talks about one marketing professional's experiences with layoffs, job searches and unemployment. He's been laid off 4 times in 8 years. Another is called Unemploymentality (www.unemploymentality.com), which explores the condition of unemployment. And no movement would be complete without a site that chronicles carnage minute by minute. Layoff Blog (www.layoffblog.com) does just that.

I would like to see more articles about the importance of career and technical education and developing a qualified workforce that business and industry need right now. At ACTE, we have interviewed Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs," and he talks about the image issue, the importance of education, and provides insight into how to change it. It's a great podcast that addresses many issues relating to CTE. CTE has changed over the last 20 years, and I think it would be a great story to talk about how its changed and its impact with business and industry.

The effects of no-compete and unemployment. I left an unstable company for a company that had a career plan for me. My previous employer pursued the no-compete to the fullest extent and now I don't have a job. How is this possible in today's economy, specifically in Detroit? I had a case though I do not have the funds to pursue it.

John with so many layoffs in the legal business,how will this affect,"truly" the diversity and inclusion efforts of law firms and how does a corporate in house counsel law department, justify their insistence in a RFP about diversity and inclusion,if the majority of associate and Partners are diverse attorneys of color? Inquiring minds want to know

I am a contractor and have been dealing with some unpleasent customers for years and for so long they have had the BBB. The other day a friend of mine and I were talking about a certain customer we both delt with and then he told me about this site called Business Beware. This site is for contractors and businesses to file complaints against customers. It is a great tool for small businesses and contractors. I don't know if many people know about it but I thought it should be shared and someone should do a story about it or share it with others!

A Big Bad Bank Plan Which Enables Mortgage Fixes With No Permanent or Substantially Reduced Taxpayer Cost.

Almost all of the prior mortgage solutions have had multiple problems:

1. Ownership of the debt was dispersed and legal rights were difficult to consolidate for a fix.

2. All suggested fixes result in huge "permanent" subsidies either to debt holders or whoever, at huge permanent cost to taxpayers.

The Big Bad Bank ("BBB") Plan enables a two step solution (the second step is my idea which I have not voiced, but which I hope rescue leaders might think of and consider).

A. It consolidates ownership of debt, allowing for application of the "fix" in B.

B. "Qualifying underwater home borrowers" would get a principle write down based on current discounted market value of home at current long term low interest rates. However part of the deal is an added provision that will "run with the land," and require any future gain on resales (and subsequent resales) be split (say 50% - 50%) between the home owner and the BBB (which of course is pretty much owned by the federal government and the taxpayers), until the principle writedown, including interest) has been paid back to the BBB. The future gain to be recaptured might simply be required to be withheld by the seller (through the sales escrow), and remitted to BBB (or to IRS for administrative convenience). Through this mechanism the taxpayers and the government is merely out the initial costs for a temporary period (the $3 to $4 trillion needed by the BBB), and will eventually recoup most if not all of the costs. We would have to limit this program to those who truly need it, and deserve it. So it is reasonable to place definitional limits on "qualifying underwater home borrowers." Qualifying borrowers might be defined to include, for example inter alia, those whose earning power cash flow are shown to be unable to cover their original mortgages, but are able to cover a current fair value adjusted mortgage, and whose original mortgage did not involve any element of misrepresentation or fraud.
I recall prior readings that suggest the average American home owner changes residences every 3 to 7 years. If true, this would provide a churn element promoting recognition of recapturable gains, restoring funds to the BBB and taxpayers.
In the event of a death of home owners, the realty would be excepted from the normal step up basis rules, and death beneficiaries and their successors would remain subject to the BBB refinanced mortgage terms and have to assume such mortgage.

Because purchasers of such realty are subject to the (say 50% - 50%) gain recapture rule (which will run with the land until the BBB recaptures its fair share of costs from the gains), the resale value of the realty is reduced. To enhance such realty's attractiveness to purchasers, the BBB might extend preferred interest rate mortgage terms to qualifying purchasers if the recapturable residual exceeds certain minimum thresholds. For example, if the recapturable residual exceeds say, at least $30,000 then a qualifying purchaser can get a preferred interest rate first or senior mortgage for a value of say 2X such recapturable residual, provided that the then current fair market value exceeds the new BBB mortgage amount by say 1.5X.

Of course I am tossing out somewhat arbitrary numbers, subject to discussion and fine tuning for various considerations and factors.
Various elements support an eventual "long term U.S. general home pricing bounceback" perspective, including among other factors:

1. It has been historically true on an overall basis.
2. The US remains for the long term foreseeable future the world leader in general overall economic growth because of various factors, especially because of the magnetic human and business environment supported by the rule of law, respect of property rights, respect of contract rights, ease of business development, capital funds development system, natural resources, education, technological innovation, equality of opportunity, et cetera.
3. Long term inflationary pressures generally increase the value of property and other non-renewable resources and devalue the value of currency.

As I originally said, the BBB's gain sharing rights would "run with the land," which is to say it is a perpetual right as long as the taxpayers' subsidy remains outstanding. What percentage of home realty (esp. the underlying land value) has not appreciated in value over 30 years; over 100 years; over 200 years?
Thus, if qualifying homeowners were refinanced into 30 to 50 year loans, at a reasonably low interest rate (currently under 5%, so arguably the Federal Reserve's BBB could finance at 3% rate or lower [knocking out the profits and overhead of the middlemen banks], or perhaps at a 1% or 0.5% variable interest rate above the cost of living index changes), then the underlying realty may more than appreciate sufficiently over a 40 year term to "prices" above, say 2006 values. Usually long term retail mortgage interest rates average about 2% to 4% above the inflation rate (so that banks, et al, can cover their costs and make some money). Yes buildings depreciate, and condominiums depreciate, and home structures generally depreciate, but the underlying land values usually do not depreciate (throwing out the Love Canal scenario, sure one can think of slums and failed public housing projects, among other exceptions ... but usually all of which can be redeveloped into higher value realty).

Factor #3 above of course suggest that the price recovery after 40 years results in a return to the taxpayer of a value that may be less or substantially less than the inflation adjusted return of the 2009 dollar. Arguably then, not only is there an running long term interest-principle payment factor based on the value of the 2009 adjusted market value of the realty, but there should also be a variable multiple to be applied to the built in gain recapture that is to innure to the BBB and taxpayers, which is to run with the realty to successive owners. Historically, say over a 40 year period, realty values have appreciated greater than the inflation factor [this however is a statement of opinion, based on generally observed lay impressions; and probably should be verified by economists.].

Imposing a built in gain recapture rule that runs with the land and binds successive owners, of course will affect the resale value of the realty involved, but this is part of the cost of such a plan. Instead of the simplicity and speeded recovery based on a 50%-50% gain sharing scheme, arguably, the gain recapture could be based on a ratio of the dual equities involved, but that may increase the monitoring and compliance complexities.
One conceptual difficulty is with condominiums. For example, say the underwater realty is a fourth floor condominium; here, the property right is a primarily a right in the fourth floor unit's space. If the condominium structure at some later time is condemned and razed, and later the underlying land is redeveloped into a two floor building, the BBB's gain recapture rights might be lost unless there is a way to persuade the condominium owners as a group or otherwise assure such rights into the underlying land. Realty specialists and Congress will have to work that issue out.

Hi John

I'd like to see an article about the potential rise of small business entrepreneurs in the Recession and innovations that might come out of it. I've written a comment on this as part of our E-Business Predictions for 2009 at http://www.learnebusiness.com/ebusiness_advice_column.html

But would love to read some more expert views on this from you

Many thanks, Deborah

Let's go for a touch of reality! I live in the Detroit metro area but am not a native. Therefore, the auto industry is of great but not sole interest. Many people would like to see how it is coping with current conditions since a number of industries are just entering the gut wrenching adjustments which will be needed. Focusing on a single automotive company or even plant and how they have coped would be very enlightening.

Recently I have been ill and allowed my gas bill to be 14 days late. Before you disregard this e-mail let me finish. I received my disconnect notice the day my gas was turned off. When I called Atmos Energy and asked why my deposit was not used to help keep my gas on till I could at least get in and pay the bill I was told my deposit was no longer with the company. I was told by Alvin the Atmos Representative that TXU kept my deposit and because Atmos no longer had it on file I had to pay it again. So I asked him, "So you are telling me that everyone that made a deposit before October 1, 2004 (day of the sale)has lost their money? He said yes. I asked if he was sure about that and he said yes. So, with that information, I was wondering, is this a news story. Was thousands of dollars in deposits when connecting gas for the first time stolen from us? I don't know all the details on how the sale was done, but I don't recall giving permission for TXU Gas to keep my deposit and make Atmos Energy responsible for collecting another deposit from me again. Who is telling the truth? Atmos or TXU Gas?
And where is my money and everyone elses money that was used for a deposit to connect their gas before October 1, 2004? This is just a story idea? Maybe something someone might be interested in. I could be wrong and not know the law, maybe everyone wasn't required to make a deposit...But I just thought a hungry reporter might be interested in finding out. I live in Brownwood Texas and can't help but think a The Only Game in Town (ATMOS) gas company wouldn't turn off someones gas after only 14 days unless they were trying to make more money on reconnect fees. And is so heartless that they do it in the wintertime. I am 45 years old, have been sick for nearly 3 months, and it is very cold tonight because they might be able to get it back on tomorrow. The bill, aprox. 117.00 to reconnect with all fees, $307.00. I can not afford a subscription to your magizine, so if you use the story, I would love to know the outcome. A quick e-mail with your response would be welcomed and appreciated. Catherine M. Hail I use to manage 4 radio stations, one of which was a newstalk, So I realize this has to be investigated before anything is printed to make sure info is fact. So, with that being said, I realize it may take a while. CMarie

I work with my father, we have 2 retail clothing stores and do our best to go out of our way to help our customers and make a sale. I try not to shop at Wal-Mart because they put all of the little guys out of business. So when I realized I needed a new microwave and a couple other small eletronic devices I decided to go to Sears first. Within minutes I found the items I wanted to buy and walked near the counter, where the 1 employee was helping one lady and 2 other people waiting for help. After standing and waiting for 5-10 minutes while she helped the first lady, I walked over to the next area and saw 3 employees standing around talking. I explained I knew what I wanted to buy, could one of them ring me up, so I can go wait downstairs to receive my items. The gentleman walked me back over to the lady who I had walked away from because she was too busy. He told me this wasn't his department and she would be with me shortly. I thanked him and told him I would going somewhere else. She was still helping the first lady. The moral of the story is Sears inventory system is ancient, you have to wait for someone upstairs to ring you up, then go wait downstairs for them to find your items and pick them up. After striking out in another department store, they didn't have what I was looking for, I went to Wal-Mart where I can take the items off the shelf that I wanted to buy and bring them directly to the register. I didn't need to wait for someone to check if they had it, then wait to get it. This was the second time I have walked out of a Sears store, and the last. The bottom line is, in today's retail environment you need to help and be attentive to each and every customer you are fortunate to have walk into your retail establishment. Sears needs to do a much better job of this when it comes to electronics or they may be the next Circuit City, Mervyns, Steve and Barry's,Linen's and Things, and Goody's Family Clothing.

Dear Mr. Byrne,
There is a tremendous amount to read and, in the coming weeks, write about the automobile industry, especially the Detroit Three. I am working on such a project for my Current Issues in Business class this semester at the University of Nevada and wondered if there wouldn't be good cause to investigate a world in which the Detroit Three were left to fend for themselves. I'm sure it's a scary picture, certainly for those whose jobs are riding on continued government support, but what if . . .?
Thank you for your time,

Catherine M. Myers

I'm a small business owner ($2 million/year) who continues to invest in the business and continues to hire people in spite of the market downturn. I just finished reading a 13 page summary on the stimulus package and while I'm not an economist it looks like we're paying off one credit card with another credit card and basically deferring the pain associated with dealing with the real problems. I'd like to see an article associated with how the government gives small business 5 year interest free loans on a smaller scale versus giving the money away. If I were given a 5 year, $1 million interest free loan, I'd hire 30 people in the next 12 months and pay them an average wage of $50k to $70k / year. This alone won't change the economy but this replicated over many times to the smaller businesses with a good plan would drive the economy in a better fashion than what is layed out in the stimulus package today.

I would like to see a story on why exectives believe they have the right to unethecly plan and direct the people he puts in place to spend, give, throw, money away which drives cost up to the point the board of directors want to close the plant. This is stealing from the stock holders. This is and has been taking place at a well known pipe plant in Bham ALA.

My daughter nearly suffocated on a standard sized outlet safety plug.
I think they should be regulated to be larger than 1 3/4 inches and ventilated like pacifiers. Over 25 Hospitals across the US agree with me and wrote to the CPSC asking that they regulate these devices like a pacifier as they felt these devices posed a choking hazard. Over 100 Safety Personnel from across the US signed a petition to the CPSC asking that they regulate these devices as they felt they posed a choking hazrd.

I am on UL Panel 2255 for these devices. The vote came back, even after I submitted these letters from the hospitals, four yes votes (me, the doctor, the lawyer and the safety personnel) to change the voluntary standard to be in compliance with pacifier shield size regulations. The four producers and others in the distribution line voted no. A tie. No change as we need majority.

Okay, so lets add a piece to the puzzle. When this first happened to Sage, my daughter, I called the producers of these devices and was told that they are safe enough and if I thought it such an issue then do somehting about it. So I did. No one believed me that making these devices wider and ventilated would have a profound change on the safety aspect of this change. So I created a safer cap.

www.safetycaps.com

Lemelson-MIT has named the invention in its inventor of the week (along side the steam engine, post-ti notes, white out to name just a few). The National Parenting Center and New Parents Guide both award SafetyCaps their Seal of Approval. Parent Bloggers are blogging about my caps, they love them!

http://www.safetycaps.com/news_blogs.htm

I have a new grass routes effort approach that I am taking (this has been a grass routes effort from the beginning...a real David vs Golaith story.)see the bloggers new approach to get this choking problem noticed here:

http://www.safetycaps.com/bloggers.htm

Remember, I tried to work with the producers of the 'Choke Caps' as my daughter call them and I tried to work with the CPSC and with UL before I filed for a patent. They forced me to spend a boat load of time and money to make these things safe.

My question to your readers, Should this be a Manditory or Voluntary Regulation or neither since I own the Patent?

I recently got laid off from my job at Discovery Channel, went through a divorce, was left with almost $100,000 in debt, but decided to cash in my 401k retirement to fund a start-up company; Home Team Handz.

The business is based on a sports fan product that my son-in-law dreamed up. The journey has taken me to scores of ball parks and arenas across the country, enabled me to travel with my teenaged son during the summer for three straight weeks (doing test marketing but also forging an unbreakable bond between us)- it was the trip of a lifetime.

Home Team Handz is the world's only apparel noisemaker. We are currently marketing to pro, college, and minor league teams as a gameday giveaway product. We are also selling via our website to high schools, boys and girls clubs and individuals.

It's taken time to get off the ground, but if you have the drive, ambition, surround yourself with a positive support group and truly believe in your abilities, you can succeed in turning any devastating work or personal issue into a positive experience--and make your dreams come true.

Our site is www.hometeamhandz.com and we are on our way to becoming a true success story.

I recently started an entertainment portal and social network.
When it came to promoting and getting it out there i naturally turned my sights onto facebook. I first decided to send messages to the inbox of all my friends about my site.
This got me thinking, i realized that social networking in general has provided a new marketing dimension that i had previously not thought of read about.We as normal individuals are actually building databases of valuable marketing info. (That we could actually categorize into sex age interests education careers of our different friends).
This information could actually be worth something to marketeers. Most people on my profile have an average of around 200 -250 friends and some have anywhere up to thousand friends.

This makes me wonder if companies will start exploiting our individual databases in exchange for financial reward? So in other words as our friend numbers grow on our profile pages? Will companies and marketing agencies start paying us to personally send promotional messages to our friends?

Is this the new frontier to be explored in by companies in the social networking frontier. Have individuals unknowingly created their own marketing database that could be tapped by marketing people. I think this would be a good ides for an article.

The Changing Face of Social Networking.

This would actually tie in very well with Franklyn Doe Johnny's story pitch, which was just submitted before this post.

Social networking websites have saturated the internet. Video sharing communities are as prevalent as wi-fi hotspots. There is a new website building steam called www.talenttrove.com. It is a hybrid of media sharing sites and social networking communities, combining attributes of both but serving as a self-promotional platform for users to showcase their talents. Everything on the site is original user content and whether someone is a celebrity or an underdog, they share the same space and profile setup. Along with an online streaming radio station (accessible via iTunes) and TV channels, the site is completely user focused and completely free to register and use.

Myspace and YouTube have become clogged and overpopulated. Facebook is merely a tool for finding and connecting with friends easily. TalentTrove.com is a dynamic new site that has the capacity and interface to explode into the public.

I know this would be a fantastic idea for a business week write up about promising new internet communities rising in popularity.

The title of the article can be "is the Chinese export business model unsustainable"

Basically the idea is that around 6 months ago, there was a feeling in the market that China, India and infact the South east Asia can help stem the slowdown on a global scale. However, much to our wonders, a financial & liquidity crisis of this scale has not left any country unscathed.

How about an article: Purchasing power of new home buyers and new renters.
With lower house prices and rents falling, what will be the effect on purchasing power and disposable income, savings, for people buying their first home or starting renting? Will they help speed up the recovery? Have more money for installing renewable energy? Pay with cash, instead of credit card, so saving interest payments? Will their buying habits be different, e.g. buy more organic food? Have bigger downpayments for big items, e.g. a car, so having lower payments and shorter debt periods? Will there be a shift of jobs from financing to other businesses?

I don't really have a new story idea, but I just read the the story about how banks are worsening the foreclosure crisis. I thought it was a well written story, delineating an interesting timeline line of events surrounding the banks. What I really want to know, is what's happening NOW? Our house is in foreclosure. My husband is 61 and out of a job with few propspects (who's going to hire him at 61?) I'm like the woman at the end of the story -- I'm not a deadbeat, I just want a house payment I can afford. Is someone going to help folks like us sometime soon?

There was a lot of hype around rapper Jay-Z's new ad company last year. Haven't heard about it since then. Is it still around? Did it not make it with the recession? I think a lot of Business Week readers would be interested in this. Thank you.

Andrew, Translation is still alive and successfully kicking. Co-founder Steve Stoute was recently elected into the Advertising Hall of Fame -- the first with hip-hop roots to do so -- and Translation is working helping big companies gain some swagger. Read Translation: An Ad Agency with Street Cred from February 28 to find out more.

Maybe another article, could be for your economist team. Is there a link between excessive rise in house prices/rents and a loss in manufacturing jobs? Maybe a graph showing increases in house prices above inflation, manufacturing employment, GDP growth, trade deficit, credit card debt? Are there any correlations? leading indicators? In simple terms, by having more income move to housing/renting/banks, have manufacturing employees been priced out of jobs?

The idea of a Mortgage Holiday as part of the stimulus plan, has gathered national attention and polls across the country have shown that 80% of the American public support the idea. Recently, the idea has also transcended political affiliation and brought together both democrats and republicans. Overall, I think it could make an intriguing story.

I'm the CEO of 8minuteDating.com. Since 2001, we've hosted more than 7000 speed dating events at restaurants across the US.

Today's economy is tough on restaurants, but our service can help them turn slow nights into busy and profitable nights. We're currently seeking restaurants that want to host their own 8minuteDating events. We share ticket revenue with the venue, plus they get proceeds from their cash bar and all the benefits of the word of mouth and other promotion that supports each event.

You can find more details about our Venue program at www.8minuteDating.com/Venue

I think this type of story would be interesting and useful to your readers involved with hospitality. Please have someone contact me if you’d like more information.

Thank you,
Tom

Tom Jaffee
CEO & Founder
8minuteDating.com

I am an African business journalist, and I am dissapointed that Businesseek hardly covers Business in Africa. Businessweek magazine only deals with news stories in Europe and the Americas, but Business in Africa is ignored.
I would like to see more business news stories on African business leaders, trends, markets and situations.
I would like to see more coverage of business in Africa by Businessweek magazine

Hello John, Nice to see the team, and putting faces to names - good photo. Maybe another story is - yes, one of the areas i'm interested in - renewable energy! What has been the effect of renewable energy tax credits? Jobs? Type of jobs? Sales growth? I googled: america renewable energy credits 30%, and found something on siea: http://www.seia.org/cs/news_detail?pressrelease.id=217
'The amount of solar electric capacity installed in 2007 was double that installed in 2006' The credits started in 2005, with a cap of $2,000. This cap was lifted for residential solar electric, so people can get the full 30% tax rebate. If a system costs $20,000, that's a big benefit, going from $2,000 to $6,000! Also ASES has more info. Home wind turbines apparently have a $4,000 credit cap. Hi to Moira, Greg, Shirley, Martin, and the team.

A one page summary of a market-based proposal to recapitalize failed banks and strengthen Social Security at the same time. The two birds/one stone alternative to the good bank/bad bank strategy.

As the author, I have consulted on over $100 billion of retirement assets globally. So, I am familiar with finance.

Wayne Miller
Chief Executive Officer
Denali Fiduciary Management
direct: 206 463 6700

The one page follows:

Proposal: It is time that we eliminate the privatization of profits and the socialization of losses.

Summary (one page)
US taxpayers are being asked to incur massive debt to recapitalize insolvent financial institutions. While a sound banking system is required to drive economic activity – HOW we implement this rescue is critical. If the rescue of these institutions is adopted as proposed, (the “good” bank / “bad” bank proposal) we will recapitalize the same management, Board of Directors and oversight structure that created these catastrophic circumstances in the first place. If adopted, this proposal will effectively shield them from having to bear responsibility for their actions. In addition, it will impose a debt upon us that is so burdensome it will strangle our capacity for economic growth, threaten our liberty and diminish future opportunity for our children. There is no measure of maturity, honor or decency in encumbering our children with massive debt to pay for our generation’s mistakes and the inept management of our affairs. We must demand an alternative course of action from our government. This Proposal offers such an alternative.

In this Proposal we citizens propose that in exchange for US taxpayer infusions of capital all of the securities representing the ownership of these businesses (see Provision #3 in the body of the Proposal for the exception) will be treated as though the business had actually made a bankruptcy filing. When US taxpayers recapitalize the insolvent institutions, a new class of shares shall be issued. Those securities will: (1) become the property of the US taxpayers and (2) be deposited into a Trust, called the Social Security Trust, for the benefit of all Social Security system participants.

As the business activity of the citizenry revives the economic vitality of these institutions, the value of shares in those rescued institutions will increase. As they increase in value they will become the financial backbone for the Social Security system – a system that now has no real assets but for the social security taxes taken from future payrolls. The SST shall be managed by a FIDuciary Oversight Board (FIDOB) whose members shall; be experienced investment fiduciaries, report directly to the President of the United States and be subject to oversight by the General Accountability Office. When there is clear evidence that the rescued financial institutions are stable, the FIDOB may examine the prudence of selling the securities to the highest bidder in the marketplace. While such a program would require the President’s and GAO’s approval, the proceeds from a sale will remain as SST assets.

By implementing the actions proposed in this Proposal, we citizens of the United States will:
• recapitalize the financial infrastructure of the country,
• employ market-based principles consistent with the intent of our laws,
• substantially alleviate (not solve) the financial burden upon our children of paying for Social Security benefits we have promised to give ourselves,
• create a governance model grounded in and guided by an authentic fiduciary standard of care (not how banks or bank regulators operate now),
• establish a Trust with real assets that serve as a financial backbone for Social Security, and
• exemplify our President’s call for individual responsibility.

Please visit www.sociallyresponsiblerescue.org to read the entire 7 page Petition and sign it.
Pass it along to friends, family and colleagues. Thank You.

I would like to see the journalists reporting on financial concerns in this country to learn the difference between lend and loan. Every week in print or on TV news someone says "loaning" money, including the illerate politicians. Loan is a NOUN, not a verb! A bank makes loans, it does not "loan" money! A bank "lends" money.
This is basic English grammar. See how often you can pick up this too common mistake.

Given the bailout of the banks and the large amounts of cash given directly to large us banks, I am wondering why CitiMortage is holding onto insurance checks for fiercly. The insurance checks were issued for the repair of homes damages. In my case, my home was damage by Hurrican Ike. My insurance company (go figure) was very fair with me and settled my claim rather quickly. In stead of the insurance company, I am fighting my mortgage company. They have done more damage to my life than any hurricane could have. I have paid for the majority of the damages out of pocket and still found ways to pay my mortgage (as close to on time as possible). When I stopped making my payment in protect, they threatened to foreclose. After much discussion and promises on the part of Citi, I brought my mortgage current. I have provided all documentation and met all of their requirements; however, to date I have not received the final funds from my insurance settlement. I keep getting promise after promise and each time I call there is a new story and a different timeline. I check my cell phone records I have called them on 01/20, 02/02, 02/04, 02/10, and today 02/17/09 (these were just from my cell phone). Today's story is that the check was ordered yesterday 02/16 and it will be another 3 - 7 business days. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told that I could be place in their voicemail or leave a call back number. When I asked for the name of the persons supervisor, the rep refused to give the information and all but told me that she should disconnect the call if I did not agree to be placed into voicemail. By the way the voicemail told me that someone would call me withing 24-48 hours (yeah right). The only people from CitiMortgage that have called me since he Hurrican hit my home in September was from Collections. They keep making promises, but do not live up to them. Is is possible, that we can hold their bailout monies until they pay off the insurance claims? Release my money and I will realease yours. I wonder how many other people are facing this issue and how it is affecting their lives. Hell they want a bailout, but who is going to bail me out.

I used to be a regular contributor on the Blogspotting blog, when I owned a mortgage company in Michigan. Steve Baker wrote an article on blogging, a few years ago, and I immediately built a successful mortgage blog.

Fast forward, sold my business and achieved my dream of retirement at 50.

Hitting the wall. Wow, retirement was not what I expected. From the very fast lane, to hanging out with 70 year olds.

Now, 2 1/2 years later, emerging from a prolonged funk, and rising from the ashes in Scottsdale, Arizona.

This, now 52 year old, guy has completely changed his worldview on retirement.

I would like to read an article about the ways in which job seekers can market their skills during these hard economic times. Employment Ready, an online networking forum, is one resource that could be included in your article. Like match.com, it utilizes online Bios and pre-interview snapshots to help employers and job seekers connect.

College Students Change Their Thoughts About Their Education

I have about a year left in College and am thinking about what I will do after graduation. In this economic downturn I am not sure that the degree that I am pursuing will provide me job opportunity’s when I graduate. Until our economy stated having problems I was pursuing a degree in the hopes of one day making lots of money and having every indulgent that I grew up
jealously watching the wealthy flaunt. With the change in job security in America my thoughts on what I want out of life has become more focused on the simpler parts of life. I want my degree to provide me and my future family a job and life that affords us a home to live in and food to eat, and to live a healthy lifestyle. I find that a lot of my peers at this university have some of the same changes in their future goals.

Could you do a story about the generation of college age kids that grew up wanting to have everything that money could by, and how they are now rethinking what they want out of their futures. Also could you write about the graduating high school seniors this spring and how this economy will effect enrollment in the colleges and universities around America?

Emerging Markets : There is definitely an unfair bias towards India and China in the press. I would like to see other promising developing nations like Brazil and my country, South Africa get some coverage. If you compare South Africa to India and China we have many advantages like developed infrastructure ( power , roads , finnance sector etc, ), similar time zone to Europe, population fluent in English, plus we are the gateway to the untapped African market. Why then is South Africa ignored in your publication ?

What I woiuld really like is a simple story, if possible with a photograph, about how many "red envelopes" President Obama has received.... and from which countries. We sent them in to ask him to reconsider his stance on abortion.
Thank you

I have just been wondering when we as American citzens will realize that the real isue with our government is how much we allow the politicians to take advantage of us by simply allowing them to continue in office. Some of the Congress persons and Senators have been around 30,40 even 50 years and we keep voting them in again and again. # 2 they most often are wealthy and cannot relate to our concers and issues out here. So why don't we pass a term limits law like we do for Governors and Presidents so that we get a real goverment change, say every 10 years or so. When are we as Americans going to realize we are being had.Oh and to answer my own question Why don't we pass a term limit law? It is probably becasue we don't call for it large numbers and who does that leave it up to? The same people we are inacting law against in first place.

Disaster recovery. These are scary words to business owners and managers. So are the words “hurricane,” “fire” and even “power outage.” Recent disasters like the Midwest ice storms and the 2008 hurricane season alerted owners and managers to the need to accept the realities of natural and man-made disasters, the effects interruptions can have on the continuity of business, and devise a plan to recover.

Buying an insurance policy only guarantees a business will get the funds to rebuild what they had after a disaster. But in the meantime, if a business doesn’t recover in a timely manner, it may eventually have a building to go back to, but no business or employees. Having an actionable recovery plan is a critical piece to a company’s overall risk management plan.

For 20 years, Agility Recovery Solutions has worked with small businesses, Fortune 100 company and everyone in between, on developing disaster recovery programs. Then, if a company experiences a disaster, Agility will deliver anything the company needs to recover, from a power generator to a self-sustaining mobile office with computers and servers, furniture, satellite for phone and Internet, and generator. Agility brings the resources onsite within 48 hours of a disaster.

Best of all, 90 percent of Agility’s client base pays only $275 a month for this disaster recovery coverage. It’s like an insurance policy with a 100 percent success rate in recovering businesses.

This Feb. 20-21, the nation's top sustainable MBAs will come to Boulder, CO to help Vail Resorts, Inc. define its environmental initiative, at the semi and final rounds of the Leeds School of Business' eighth annual Leeds Net Impact Case Competition. This is the country's premier case competition on sustainbility issues, with 85 MBA teams participating. The finalists will present their recommendations to Vail management on Feb. 21. Competitors come from MBA programs including the Yale School of Management, the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, and the MIT Sloan School of Management. Finalists will offer innovative solutions to challenges Vail faces as it seeks to implement sustainable practices.

Very interested in the latest solutions and innovations coming out of Sustainable MBA programs, for companies looking to incorporate sustainable business practices into their culture. This Feb. 20-21, the nation's top sustainable MBAs will come to Boulder, CO to help Vail Resorts, Inc. define its environmental initiative, at the Leeds S