A Small Consumer Victory

In an economic era where consumers are feeling the pressure on rising costs (fuel, goods, services, housing, interest rates) and in stagnant wages, any small victory is celebrated. Millions of households spend well into the hundred of dollars a month on communications such as cable/dish TV, Tivo, land line, cell phone and broadband. We have all gotten used to increasing costs of these services despite the fact that these should be easier year over year to deliver. Providers hide behind the guise of "better services" to justify these costs.

While this may be valid, there are instances where it is not. Take the recent announcement by the Baby Bells to keep the Universal Service Fund cost in the DSL bills of its customers. This was not the USF cost itself, rather it was a thinly guised price hike to their services. This was not well received by customers or the FCC. Today we have a retraction announcement stating that this additional fee would be removed.

Note that the Marketing folks here try to spin the removal as a "we listened to our customers and responded" situation rather than the likely impending FCC investigation and fine for their decision to keep the fee in tact. This type of move creates mistrust and alienates their customers. While DSL remains a cheaper option than cable broadband, I would be hesitant to get myself locked into a situation with Verizon where they could raise rates on me in the future. Comcast has already done this to me in the past and I would leave them in a heartbeat if I had other options.

One step forward, two steps back?

It seems that some employers are considering opening up external sites to Web 2.0 type sites to lure young employees. Yes, the job market is getting more competitive and progressive employers now see value in employees that understand social networking type sites in that they can leverage these sites for their own marketing purpose.

ATT (SBC) and Naperville

Fiber to the home? Apparently only if Ma Bell thinks you will be profitable - ie you live in an affluent area and are likely to pay their high rates. It seems that the baby bells don't think that they need to deliver their new services (phone, data, TV) to all citizens equally as they did with the deployment of phone lines. Remember that global accesibility charge on your bill?

It's a tough call for municipal's like Naperville that want to be on the cutting edge of technology but don't want to do so at the expense of some of its citizens.

Wiretapping Ruled Illegal

The Federal Courts struck down the national wiretapping today stating that:

"... the controversial practice of warrantless wiretapping known as the "Terrorist Surveillance Program" violated free speech rights, protections against unreasonable searches and the constitutional check on the power of the presidency."

Hopefully this gets upheld in the Supreme court and the newly-elected, Bush-nominated Justices come to their senses and uphold our rights as set forth in the Constitution.

Steadman Band

Get your free MP3's of Steadman Band!!! Really good music at an unbeatable price.

Adventure Window?

Here's an interesting NPR Article trying to reason out why and when we each start/stop pursuing new adventures in life. Whether it's music, sushi, sports, friends, or work it seems that our willingness to pursue these new interests tail off after 25 until they almost dimish after 39.

Some notes from the article:
- 16 to 23 yro is the experimental age
- If you don't eat sushi by 40, you're probably never going to start
- Non-adventurous people tend to be focused, have been with a single company, and are likely to be successful but not creative in the sense of "out of the box" thinkers.
- I'd like to consider myself as still adventurous at 30: starting eating sushi around 2003 (27 yro), love new physical challenges, and still pursuing activities out of my comfort zone.

Minority Report Interface

Here's a cool video that shows the future computer interfaces. I hope this becomes mainstream sooner than later.

Also, I'm proud that BMW supports this type of idea exchange. My kind of company.

More Great Oil News

More great oil news released tonight shows how neglect in the oil industry can be used to drive global oil prices up by lowering daily supply that the market expects to see. Now in the interest of full disclosure, I am a chemical engineer and have worked in the industry before. However, I do pick a fight with any industry that can profit (ref largest quarterly earnings in US corporate history) from their own neglect. Lawmakers should make regulations that force the industry to pad inventories with enough oil to protect the markets from these type of scenarios.

Only the upcoming week will tell if this has an impact on gas prices across the nation.

Jobs, Inflation and the Future

Anyone out there reading my blog should know that I like to provide general personal finance and Macroeconomic advice and analysis. Here's a good article I found recently that summarizes America's current condition.

To Summarize:

• Jobs are being added, but not at the expected rate
• Energy and other costs are rising faster than salaries
• Consumer Spending (70% GDP) is weakening
• Recession may be possible
• Those with credit card debt or ARM/No-interest/Variable Home loans are at risk (See default and foreclosure numbers)
• "Bernanke (Fed Chair) is determined to ensure corporations do not lose gains to wage increases, while ensuring workers stay productive. In other words, people will be working more while not bringing home any more money."

My recommendations/insights:

• Employers will eventually have to raise wages so that consumer spending can recover. Consumers can reduce their spending now (ie Save your money) to drive corporations to lower prices (not likely due to higher energy prices) or pay employees more to get higher productivity (ie effective talent that converts to bottom line).
• Employers are likely to offer top talent higher wages/benefits in this cycle rather than give adjustments to current employees.
• Seek new positions internally/externally to capture this increase.
• Do not get trapped in the variable interest balloon. Do not over extend your finances.