Category «Business and Finance»

The concept to seasonal sales is now officially dead

I haven’t read this anywhere, so perhaps I’m among the first to say it, but the effectiveness of the traditional seasonal sales is officially over or dying quickly. What I’m talking about are time-of-year sales like Black Friday, President’s Day Sale, Back-to-School, even Christmas Sales. They are no longer significantly meaningful to consumers. We now …

Obama accepts blame for AIG bonuses, but not really

From the WSJ: “Washington is all in a tizzy and everybody is pointing fingers at each other and saying it’s their fault, the Democrats’ fault, the Republicans’ fault,” he said at a town hall meeting Wednesday. “Listen, I’ll take responsibility. I’m the President.“ He also make clear that it isn’t really his fault. “We didn’t …

Time Warner Cable customer service?

My cable modem was unable to connect yesterday, so I called techsupport. After about 15 minutes of holding and the obligatory check-the-lights-unplug-replug, I got an appointment THREE DAYS in the future! Later I went behind the TV and made sure the coax cables were fully screwed in…they weren't. The modem connected right up. Now the …

Interesting inside info on telemarketers…

I friend of my daughter's works at her Dad's telemarketing company selling newspaper subscriptions. I learned some very interesting things about how they operate: When the computer dials, it waits until you say something. At that point, a light goes on and they hear a tone. They often aren't paying attention and that's why there …

Are commodities the next “bubble”?

The general public always seeks to find a way to make a quick buck. A lot of these people don't have the background–some might say intelligence–to make sound investments, but invest anyways. They've got some money to invest, or worse, borrow money, and it has to go somewhere. A little blind success is often interpreted …

Rising gas prices should mean less traffic

I've had this theory that we will soon reach a point where rising gas prices will result in a significant reduction in traffic. The demand for gas is inelastic, yes, but not absolutely. Demand will diminish if prices get too high. The question is how high. The turning point will be when a significant number …

CA will never agree to online sales tax

CNet has an article entitled “Days numbered for tax-free Net sales” The article declares that online sales will all be subject to sales tax very soon. Well, people have been saying that since the days of catalog sales (ie pre-Internet) and I’ve been saying no way for as long. Writers that push this notion have …