Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Visitors
We have a regular Wild Kingdom going on in our backyard. We often have turkeys. Occassionally we have deer. Today was the first time for these visitors:
They're Here
United Air to Return 165 Reservations Jobs to U.S. From India
By Mary Schlangenstein Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, the third-biggest North American carrier, will return 165 call-center jobs to the U.S. from India to help improve customer service. The jobs will be moved to Chicago and Hawaii, United told employees today. Workers initially will handle reservations and,beginning in April, will add customer-relations duties, the Chicago-based airline said. An evaluation “determined that bringing certain customer-relations positions back to the U.S. will provide the right level of focus this important function requires,” United said in thenotice to workers.
I have argued for a long time, that eventually companies would bring back call center jobs as a way of improving customer service. Outsourcing to lower cost countries is an important step for US companies to remain competitive and effecient. I completely support it. It's not the job loss that bothers me - that job loss is made up in a number of other ways. However, poor customer service does bother me. Too many companies have outsourced service functions to people who don't know how to resolve anything without consulting a FAQ website. US-based customer service will become a selling point for US-businesses soon, and United has taken one of the first shots at it.Sunday, February 8, 2009
When will this guy stop campaigning?
From Obama's weekly radio address:
"Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees," he said. "The American people know that our challenges are great. They don't expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions."
When will this guy stop the rhetoric? Presenting a laundry list of eight years worth of left pet projects and labeling it "stimulus" is harding grasping the ecomomic reigns and leading.
U.S. Gross Domestic Product
U.S. GDP, Current Dollar and Real Dollar, 2000 - 2008
Year / Current $ / Real $
2000 / 9,817 / 9,817
2001 / 10,128 / 9,890
2002 / 10,470 / 10,049
2003 / 10,961 / 10,301
2004 / 11,686 / 10,676
2005 / 12,422 / 10,990
2006 / 13,178 / 11,295
2007 / 13,808 / 11,524
2008 / 14,421 / 11,712
U.S. GDP Percent Change, Year to Year
Year / Current $ / Real $
2000 / 5.9% / 3.7%
2001 / 3.2% / 0.8%
2002 / 3.4% / 1.6%
2003 / 4.7% / 2.5%
2004 / 6.6% / 3.6%
2005 / 6.3% / 2.9%
2006 / 6.1% / 2.8%
2007 / 4.8% / 2.0%
2008 / 3.6% / 0.5%
Yeah tax cuts really sucked didn't they?!? I'd rather throw a $1 trillion we don't have on a bunch of projects that will do little to stimulate [read sarcasm].
No! Insulate bad assets. Protect the financial system. Give people incentives to invest and spend. done.
"Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees," he said. "The American people know that our challenges are great. They don't expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions."
When will this guy stop the rhetoric? Presenting a laundry list of eight years worth of left pet projects and labeling it "stimulus" is harding grasping the ecomomic reigns and leading.
U.S. Gross Domestic Product
U.S. GDP, Current Dollar and Real Dollar, 2000 - 2008
Year / Current $ / Real $
2000 / 9,817 / 9,817
2001 / 10,128 / 9,890
2002 / 10,470 / 10,049
2003 / 10,961 / 10,301
2004 / 11,686 / 10,676
2005 / 12,422 / 10,990
2006 / 13,178 / 11,295
2007 / 13,808 / 11,524
2008 / 14,421 / 11,712
U.S. GDP Percent Change, Year to Year
Year / Current $ / Real $
2000 / 5.9% / 3.7%
2001 / 3.2% / 0.8%
2002 / 3.4% / 1.6%
2003 / 4.7% / 2.5%
2004 / 6.6% / 3.6%
2005 / 6.3% / 2.9%
2006 / 6.1% / 2.8%
2007 / 4.8% / 2.0%
2008 / 3.6% / 0.5%
Yeah tax cuts really sucked didn't they?!? I'd rather throw a $1 trillion we don't have on a bunch of projects that will do little to stimulate [read sarcasm].
No! Insulate bad assets. Protect the financial system. Give people incentives to invest and spend. done.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Pelosi's Warning!
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, warned Americans in her Feb 3rd news conference, and it could affect you! In fact, it affects EVERYONE (and then some).
"For every month that we don't pass an economic stimulus plan, five hundred million Americans lose their jobs."
Wow.
"For every month that we don't pass an economic stimulus plan, five hundred million Americans lose their jobs."
Wow.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Congrats Ross
From the Wall Street Journal yesterday:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123319688835727407.html#printMode
Small, High-End Insurer Courts Coastal Homeowners
By M.P. MCQUEEN
As large, mass-market homeowner-insurance companies continue withdrawing from coastal areas because of the hurricane threat, a small, high-end insurer is making a push for the wealthy among these customers.
Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange, a company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and White Plains, N.Y., recently received licenses to sell policies in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
Founded in Florida in 2006, the company also sells policies there and in South Carolina, and has applications pending with regulators in seven eastern states. The company currently serves about four thousand member-policyholders.
PURE's expansion comes even as Florida state regulators announced Tuesday that a unit of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., intends to drop more than 700,000 homeowner policies there, a continuation of a trend that began several years ago after the record hurricane seasons of both 2004 and 2005.
About 20 smaller companies have started up in Florida recently to take away business from Citizen's Property Insurance Corp., a nonprofit alternative insurer, which is currently the largest property insurer in Florida. Meanwhile, eight new companies have been licensed to sell homeowners insurance in New York since 2007.
PURE President and CEO Ross Buchmueller, who formerly was president of American International Group Inc.'s Private Client Group and an executive at Chubb Corp., says PURE is able to write competitively priced policies in high-risk areas because it specializes in large, well-built homes valued at $1 million or more, which industry data suggest have held up well in recent disasters.
PURE competes primarily with high-end insurers like AIG, Chubb and Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., as well as excess and surplus lines in the unregulated market, to cover high-value luxury and waterfront homes and various other properties in communities like the Hamptons in New York, according to Mr. Buchmueller.
Scott Edwards, 63 years old, a retired banker who owns homes in North and South Carolina, said that he switched to PURE insurance in 2008 from an excess and surplus lines insurer for his retirement home near Georgetown, S.C., on the recommendation of his insurance agent.
He said that he initially paid about $7,000 in annual premiums to insure the newly built 4,000-square-foot home with wind- and flood-resistant construction and a replacement cost of more than $1 million.
But in 2006, after Hurricane Katrina, his premium doubled to $14,000. Since switching to PURE, he said his premium is back to $7,000 again and he has a substantially lower deductible for windstorm damage.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123319688835727407.html#printMode
Small, High-End Insurer Courts Coastal Homeowners
By M.P. MCQUEEN
As large, mass-market homeowner-insurance companies continue withdrawing from coastal areas because of the hurricane threat, a small, high-end insurer is making a push for the wealthy among these customers.
Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange, a company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and White Plains, N.Y., recently received licenses to sell policies in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
Founded in Florida in 2006, the company also sells policies there and in South Carolina, and has applications pending with regulators in seven eastern states. The company currently serves about four thousand member-policyholders.
PURE's expansion comes even as Florida state regulators announced Tuesday that a unit of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., intends to drop more than 700,000 homeowner policies there, a continuation of a trend that began several years ago after the record hurricane seasons of both 2004 and 2005.
About 20 smaller companies have started up in Florida recently to take away business from Citizen's Property Insurance Corp., a nonprofit alternative insurer, which is currently the largest property insurer in Florida. Meanwhile, eight new companies have been licensed to sell homeowners insurance in New York since 2007.
PURE President and CEO Ross Buchmueller, who formerly was president of American International Group Inc.'s Private Client Group and an executive at Chubb Corp., says PURE is able to write competitively priced policies in high-risk areas because it specializes in large, well-built homes valued at $1 million or more, which industry data suggest have held up well in recent disasters.
PURE competes primarily with high-end insurers like AIG, Chubb and Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., as well as excess and surplus lines in the unregulated market, to cover high-value luxury and waterfront homes and various other properties in communities like the Hamptons in New York, according to Mr. Buchmueller.
Scott Edwards, 63 years old, a retired banker who owns homes in North and South Carolina, said that he switched to PURE insurance in 2008 from an excess and surplus lines insurer for his retirement home near Georgetown, S.C., on the recommendation of his insurance agent.
He said that he initially paid about $7,000 in annual premiums to insure the newly built 4,000-square-foot home with wind- and flood-resistant construction and a replacement cost of more than $1 million.
But in 2006, after Hurricane Katrina, his premium doubled to $14,000. Since switching to PURE, he said his premium is back to $7,000 again and he has a substantially lower deductible for windstorm damage.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Pico Getaway, Getaway
In last year's school auction we won the bid to a weekend at a ski on/ski off condo on Pico (located adjacent to Killington). We utilized it on this past Martin Luther King Day weekend. Although the accomidations would be better described as a walk, ski, take-off-your-skis, hike, ski on/off condo, it was still nice not to have to drive to the mountain.
After our experience at Stowe, and the horror stories I had heard about conditions, I expected the worst. In fact, before we had arrived, the Pico website said something about only 3 of 6 lifts being open. ugh. However, the conditions were suprisingly good for Vermont. Solid packed powder with very little ice, and all the lifts were open. The weather was cold, but we came prepared.
There were few green trails, so the kids stuck to blue (intermediate) slopes. We even hit the summit twice.
The following is a 4:30 minute video filmed on our last day.
After our experience at Stowe, and the horror stories I had heard about conditions, I expected the worst. In fact, before we had arrived, the Pico website said something about only 3 of 6 lifts being open. ugh. However, the conditions were suprisingly good for Vermont. Solid packed powder with very little ice, and all the lifts were open. The weather was cold, but we came prepared.
There were few green trails, so the kids stuck to blue (intermediate) slopes. We even hit the summit twice.
The following is a 4:30 minute video filmed on our last day.
Monday, January 19, 2009
It's the Party, Stupid
The actual swearing-in ceremony - $1.24 million.
Additionally, the federal government estimates that it will spend roughly $49 million on the inaugural weekend.
Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland have requested another $75 million from the federal government to help pay for their share of police, fire and medical services.
Finally, private donors have contributed $45 million for the parties.
Total cost - $170 million. Nice.
Source: ABC News
Additionally, the federal government estimates that it will spend roughly $49 million on the inaugural weekend.
Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland have requested another $75 million from the federal government to help pay for their share of police, fire and medical services.
Finally, private donors have contributed $45 million for the parties.
Total cost - $170 million. Nice.
Source: ABC News
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
New Year's Eve Trek
We took the 6 hour drive on New Year's Eve day to Northern Vermont to ring in the new year with our friends the Nash's. With the threat of significant snow between here and there, the car hit the road 3 1/2 hours early at 5:30am. We made it through Springfield before the snow started. It accumulated quickly, but Vermont does a good job in keeping at least one highway lane in decent condition.
Tom is a Burlington police officer. Tom and Pam's daughter, Isabella, for those that remember was born extremely premature. Thanks to great medical care, if there are any lingering effects, it is not obvious (apparently the March of Dimes was very supportive, so if you are looking for a good charity - www.marchofdimes.com/howtohelp/howtohelp.asp). She is four years old now and doing great.
It was quite enjoyable for us to see her playing with Katie and Emily.
We were there four days - two of which we took to the slopes of Stowe. The first day was -2 degrees (pre-wind chill), the second day was better at 15. I had so many layers on, getting the camera out was not an option. The kids skiied well even though it was the first time this year. Stowe is rather lacking of Green (Easy) trails, but they handled the Blue (Intermediate) admirably despite pretty icy conditions.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
This is what we've come to
I've argued that the list of those applying for government TARP money will get ridiculous, but I never expected this...
Hustler founder Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis have written to Secty of Treasury Hank Paulson and their congressman, Henry Waxman requesting $5 billion of funds under TARP. Their argument is that the weak economic conditions have hurt adult video sales - which are down 22% year over year.
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-07-2009/0004950702&EDATE=
Although clearly a publicity ploy, I guess I'd rather it go to them than the auto industry...
Hustler founder Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis have written to Secty of Treasury Hank Paulson and their congressman, Henry Waxman requesting $5 billion of funds under TARP. Their argument is that the weak economic conditions have hurt adult video sales - which are down 22% year over year.
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-07-2009/0004950702&EDATE=
Although clearly a publicity ploy, I guess I'd rather it go to them than the auto industry...
Saturday, January 3, 2009
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