The two lead stories on Yahoo this morning. The back to back headlines are what make it so offensive.....


Economy shrinks 3.8 percent; biggest drop in almost 27 years

Exxon Mobil breaks its own record with $45.2 billion profit

That just pisses me off!!

24/7

Aren't you gald we've got "Change" a comin' though???

Another report was that came out yesterday was that Wall Street bonuses of $18.4 billion were paid out in 2008 in a year that Congress passed a $700 billion plan to help the financial sector. It was also a year that the Dow went down -33.8%, the S&P 500 down -38.5% and NASDAQ -40.5%.

OK. I agree. It sucks and we are all rightly pissed about it. Who and how do we FIX IT???!!!!????

I guess the old, "Rome wasn't built in a day" comes to mind . . .

Sure seems overwhelming and is depressing.

For a very good read on the subject, check out "Enough." by Van Guard founder, John Bogle.

A tad more about the book - "Contents" equals the chapter titles.

And, no -- I don't work for Bogle or Vanguard! ;-)

"Enough : true measures of money, business, and life" / John C. Bogle.

Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, c2009.

ISBN:
9780470398517 (cloth)
0470398515 (cloth)
Description:
276 p. ; 19 cm.
Contents:
Too much cost, not enough value -- Too much speculation, not enough investment -- Too much complexity, not enough simplicity -- Too much counting, not enough trust -- Too much business conduct, not enough professional conduct -- Too much salesmanship, not enough stewardship -- Too much management, not enough leadership -- Too much focus on things, not enough focus on commitment -- Too much emphasis on 21st century values, not enough emphasis on 18th century values -- Too much "success", not enough character -- What's enough for me? For you? For America? -- Afterword : A personal note about my career.

Summary:
The Father of Index Investing and founder of Vanguard shares his own journey, filled with famous characters and telling anecdotes, that aims to teach investors the importance of doing the right thing, how to be a strong leader in today's world, and what it means to have "enough."

When in Rome...

Good point RB. Except I don't know much about Rome. I guess they were the world's USA for a LONG TIME (ie. THE SOLE SUPER, DUPER POWER) -- then got to FULL off themselves and got wiped out by some barbarians (Vikings, I think...) Something like that.

Since history repeats itself, the writing on the wall don't look good for us.

Yes...go on.

It sounds like a very good book. I will buy and read it. Thank you for the recommendation.

Bogle is a very good writer. He quotes lots of other big brain dudes from the ancient days to now. It is quite obvious that he is very well-read himself.

Please let me know your thoughts after you have read his book (he has written several).

Dean Welsh

BOB

President O - should ask/appoint Buffet and Bogle and do what THEY say and in a decade (or less) the current mess we are in would be corrected and STAY CORRECTED.

Not much different from wrestling - master some basic PRINCIPLES and we will do fine in both money and wrestling.

I will let you know what I thought of the book once I read it.

Know one of the things that get me, price of oil is down, price of gas goes up. Insurance salesman, used car dude, attorney (with exception of Barry Disney and a few others). Above all, I have lost respect for the greedy oil companies or whoever it is that keeps pricing the gas prices up.

Thanks Vince. Looking forward to it.

Mike, I certainly agree with you that we cannot afford to have greed determining higher prices of oil and gasoline. I think the $4 gallon price of gasoline was a major factor in the economic slowdown and recession that we are currently experincing. Of course the subprime mortgage mess and the effects it has had on the housing industry was also crucial in this current economic slowdown.

Gasoline looks pretty reasonable right now compared to those $4 a gallon prices which were extremely difficult for lower to middle income families and also hit businesses hard. The only good thing I see from those high prices is that it has had an impact in changing our consumption habits. I think you see a lot more carpooling, riding buses to work and more efficient vehicles on the road now even with the lower gasoline prices today.

OSU athletic director says sports dept. in red

OSU athletic director says sports dept. in red

Updated: February 1, 2009, 10:37 PM EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The scarlet and gray will soon be in the red.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith confirmed Sunday that for the first time in his four-year tenure, the Buckeyes' athletic department is expected to lose money during the fiscal year ending June 30.

Smith said he didn't know how much the department would fall short of projections, but revenues are down between $300,000 and $500,000 this year for the winning men's basketball team.

"Maybe a couple hundred thousand," he said of the possible total losses. "But it's hard to tell."

To make up the difference, the athletic department will raise ticket prices $1 per game in football and men's basketball across the board, except for students, Smith said. He said the school had already planned to raise ticket prices, but the economic downturn made it even more important to do so.

The university's board of trustees is expected to approve the increases when it meets later this week.

The school is also paring down costs by allowing only essential personnel to travel to road games and cutting other personal expenses for employees, he said.

Ohio State, which has an annual athletic budget of more than $110 million, typically banks the excess earned from ticket sales, concessions, radio and TV contracts and other revenue sources in its athletic reserve fund.

"We're behind a little bit on revenue in basketball - single-game tickets, concessions, revenue," Smith said. "Once the economy started to shift, somewhere in October, we started to say, 'Hey, this is going to hit us, and it's hit us in this sport in particular.' So we're not hitting the single-game goals that we hoped to achieve."

Smith, who took over as athletic director in 2005, said Ohio State would not cut any of its 36 sports, which is the highest number of teams at any school in the nation.

After the $1 increase, a football ticket would cost $63 next fall. Men's basketball tickets will go up to $27 per game for the 2009-10 season. Tickets will go up another dollar starting in the fall of 2010, Smith said.

The vast majority of Ohio State's athletic revenue comes from football. Smith said the Buckeyes must play a minimum of seven home games to support all of the school's sports teams.

In 2010 and 2012, the Buckeyes will play eight home games each season.

The athletic depaartment will also ask the trustees to approve an increase in golf membership dues at the university's Scarlet and Gray Courses.

As for cutting sports teams, "we're not even thinking about that," Smith said. "I don't anticipate that during my tenure. There's so many other things that we would cut before we'd get to cutting sports."

How about coaches and upper management salary??? I bet it would not be that noticeable if they did that across the board. I had the fact that they talk about how hard it is for everyone, but then raise ticket prices. And to top it off....it's Ohio State.

Hopefully this will be a temporary financial setback for Ohio State University. With their 36 athletic teams they have been the frontrunner in offering collegiate athletic opportunities for young men and women. It is good to hear that their athletic director is committed to not dropping programs.

It does not surprise me though that their athletic teams revenue is dropping during this economic downturn. Sports expenditures are a luxury cost for families so they have to be reduced first during tough economic conditions. It gives you concern for schools which were not as financially solid as Ohio State going into this recession and maybe not as committed to keeping their athletic programs running.

Wall Street futures is what drives the price of gas up at the pumps..

As an addition to this thread......

What do you all think of Obama regulating executive pay?

I especially am enjoying this period of "Change" with the squeaky clean people he's appointing to his cabinet positions! I mean, isn't it great how the country's in the hands of a great PROVEN leader who's changing the face of Washington with all his integrity, morals and fresh new people he's appointing to help "change the way Washington thinks and works!!!"

Maybe an old guy and a hot chick from the great white north wouldn't have been soooo bad?

It's another step toward socialism and a good way to run the most qualified candidates toward free market companies.

I am with you on this Chief, but can't the 'Lender' dictate the terms of the proceeds? This is a horrible grey area. I don't think anyone wins.

As always there are loopholes in this compensation cap. Many of the highly compensated officers are excluded from the targeted figureheads of these companies. The plan also includes stock compensation that vests when the taxpayers get paid back. That part makes sense and I understand that these companies are in a self-induced tight spot. I just wish that the boards of these companies were the ones tightening the screws instead of the government.

I guess in a 'perfect' world - it wouldn't be necessary for the gov't to step in and regulate. But, since many of the boards are just as corrupt as the BAD CEO's -- what else is left?

I guess it is a both/and situation. Both the boards AND the government need to do all they can do to ensure that things run correctly for the good of all.

Being a sinful and fallen species - we need plenty of checks and balances . . .

Eric:

It seems to me that the boards of these stressed companies had their opportunity to tighten the screws on these excessive salaries and bonuses. These boards of directors did not take that opportunity when it might have made a difference in their company's results. Now these financially stressed companies basically have to come to the government for financial help. I think the government is definitely within its rights to put terms to their financial assistance to these stressed companies that include restictions on excessive executive pay and bonuses until the money has been paid back.

I tend to agree here, if wanting govt. money for a bail out, then there needs to be govt. regs to that money. The problem is, the govt. has its hands in far more than many realize.

'The debtor is servant to the lender' is what the Good Book says. . . So, the gov't most definitely has the right to set as strict as terms as it wants. What's the alternative? For these over-paid jerks to get a real job like the rest of us . . . and for their over-priced, over-ran, over-managed company to go bankrupt... Such is life with a so-called free market.

If we are going to talk about being in debt as a nation to our government...then how should we feel about our nation being in debt to the rest of the world? This bail out money is not just printed money. The "stimulus" money we all got was borrowed. Our government is not setting a very good example.

I have quit paying all my bills, and when hassled by collection departments I simply tell them that I think I'm next on the goverment bail-out list. So far it hasn't worked. Guess I needed to have squandered someone elses money away, cost people their jobs, drive a Mercedes, and collect my multi-million dollar bonus than I would be bailed out - ya that right so I had the money to donate to someones campaign maybe?

Dean:

I have finished reading the book Enough. True Meaures of Money, Business, and Life by John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group.

I thought it was an extraordinary book for our times. I highly recommend this book. Better than my recommendaion, David F, Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University on the book cover says this about it, "Rarely do so few pages provoke so much thought. Read this book."

Bogle an extremely successful business person talks about how we can have more than enough in the financial and material things in life but how we can never have enough of professionalism, ethics both business and personal, development of character, values and principles. He challenges us to as a society, organizations and individuals to work professionally to achieve goals that add more in value to society than our own wealth. He challenges business leaders and workers alike not to just extract wealth from our society but to add value to it. He takes to task business leaders including those in his own mutual fund industry who are more worried about building massive wealth for themselves in the short run rather than long term value for the their business and the people their corporations serve.

For example here is one statement he makes in the book,



I found this to be an inspirational book and I plan to read it several times. Thank you for the recommendation.

Obamalism
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