Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The First Lady of Fashion

In these past few days I have been noticing how the media has been portraying Michelle Obama as a fashion icon. I normally do not pick up, and or care, about these types of news stories but after seeing it on the news multiple times, I could not avoid the topic.

I would first off like to announce that I know very little about fashion. “Brown shoes, brown belt; black shoes, black belt” is about the extent of my knowledge. To me, Michelle Obama looks appropriate at each function, but does she have good fashion? I don’t know. Last week during the G20 meetings, her outfits and fashion of each day could have been found on: Yahoo News, CBS News, CNN, The Examiner, Fox News, New York Times, Google News and probably every other news source known to man. Many times, she has also been referred to as the first, First Lady of Fashion. Yes, they are saying that no other first lady in the history of the United States was fashionable. Has the media forgotten about Nancy Reagan, the actress and first lady of Ronald Reagan? Has the media forgotten about Jackie Kennedy?

I am just curious as to why the media is constantly telling me about how great of a choice Michelle’s dress was. What is their motivation? Is there really nothing else to report on about Mrs. Obama? I am very sure that there is much more to Michelle Obama than her wardrobe, and I find it extremely shallow of the media to report only on her fashion. Leave fashion to E! 

iTunes Switches to Tiered Pricing: Walmart and Amazon Follow

iTunes recently modified the cost of songs to $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29 with their new "variable pricing" strategy. At first it may sound like an okay deal, but with 12 of the top 20 downloaded songs priced at $1.29, I would have to disagree. Many new releases and popular songs are at the high price point so iTunes can capitalize on their popularity.

Trying to ignore this annoyance, I looked around to see what songs I could find for $0.69. I couldn't find any... I tried to search on Google to see if anyone had found songs for $0.69, and after several tries I found a few. All of the songs priced at $0.69 appear to be Rhythm and Blues from the 60s, most of which I have never heard of. If you happen to be and R&B fan from the 60s, congratulations! For everyone else, it appears that iTunes will be demanding $1.29 for the current popular songs. This pricing increase is not just happening on iTunes, however.

Walmart and Amazon have just announced that they will be using a platform similar to iTunes. I don't think it is a smart move to instantly increase the price of hits by 30%. iTunes (and Amazon/Walmart for that matter) would have been smarter to increase the price to $1.19, which is a much more modest increase. This 30% hike is just too much, and it will definitely push away many music buyers from purchasing as many songs as before the price increase.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Ford Lowers Debt by Almost 10 Billion

Unlike its fellow counterparts GM and Chrysler, Ford Motor Company stated on Monday that they have been able to lower automotive debt by $9.9 billion, down to $15.9 billion from almost $26 billion at the end of last year. With this announcement today, Ford stock rose to 3.77 (up 16%). This announcement has greatly improved my confidence in Ford Motor Company.

Ford was able to achieve this milestone because of several different reasons. Ford made an agreement with the United Automobile Workers Union that would cut payments on health care for retired workers, a main factor in their present debt. In addition, Ford has bought out many of their higher-paid hourly workers and halted payments to executives.

Ford's platform should be a model for GM and Chrysler, who have yet to make an agreement with the United Automobile Workers Union. Ford's effort to reduce automotive debt during poor economic times is a step in the right direction for the American automobile manufacturer. It is unfortunate that cuts in retiree benefits were initiated, but steps like this must be taken to survive poor car sales during the current recession.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

N. Korea – A Child with Matches

In every elementary class room across the world, there sits a child that constantly seeks attention. Attention from teachers, from peers, from his elders and his juniors. When they do not get the attention they want, they do more drastic things. It starts with something small, but if the issue is never addressed, it can turn into something huge. These children can become rebellious; they can become bullies; they can be a danger to themselves or others. As you have probably guessed, North Korea is this attention obsessed child.

A Los Angeles Times headline stated: “As North Korea readies rocket launch, U.S. turns up pressure”. Are we surprised? It seems like every week N. Korea is doing something to instill the world of fear. This week they are “readying” rocket launches, last week they are threatening the world about something that is now irrelevant. Just like the elementary child, N. Korea is insecure. Just as an example, North Korea has been working on a Hotel project to bring in tourism since 1987. Shortly after the building’s skeleton was complete the project ran out of money and construction was put to a halt. For 16 years the building sat there uncompleted. To this day, over 20 years later it is still considered “under construction”.

North Korea cannot be ignored. It does have threatening capabilities, but instead of publishing their “goals” (which we have seen is not a reliable source of information) in our daily papers, why not put them in their place? Not in an aggressive war-like way, that’s what they would want, but in a intellectual way, such as trade. This North Korean situation is getting old; I predict that next week, N. Korea does something to try and intimidate the world. The worst thing the world could do is actually let N.  Korea think they have control over people’s fear.