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Are You Ready?

Are You Ready?. Originally uploaded by DownTown Pictures As is tradition every spring, March has come to an end. April has begun and baseball is abound. Roster decisions are being argued upon for virtually every team and the gates open Monday for the start of the 2009 Major League Baseball season. This offseason has been one of economics for many as free agents found it the most "interesting" offseasons to find themselves a job. Many players held out looking for higher paying offers, and...

Family Became Corporate

It was only 11 years ago that family became corporate in Los Angeles. The O'Malley family, who had long-stood as the owners of the Dodgers baseball organization, both in Brooklyn and in Los Angeles, had sold the team to Rupert Murdoch and the media moguls at Fox News Corp. Family became corporate. The attitude of doing it right was lost for doing it for dollars. And the first move Murdoch and Co. made while at the helm - trading Mike Piazza towards the end of his contract to the Florida Marlin...

Baseball – A Business Machine

Business as usual, right? Unfortunately, it is. Sports today are not the sports of yesterday. Teams are run like Fortune 500 Organizations rather than, well, sports teams. The majority of the 20th Century brought sports teams that were the face of communities. Today, our professional athletes change team colors more than some players use to in an entire career. The likes of Garrett Anderson, Tim Salmon, Sandy Koufax, among others, spent their entire careers with their respective teams. What pla...

The Auto Industry – Served

Facing increasing pressure from Congress and the American people, the auto industry is having to start cleaning up its act. It has been given a December deadline to regroup and approach Congress with a detailed plan, one that outlines drastic restructuring and operating measures and one that offers some definitive answers to lawmakers how money from a potential bailout package will be spent. Below is a poll from OrangeCountyGasPrices.com on consumer reaction locally to the possible government b...

Relief at the Pumps

Some months ago, two reporters for MarketWatch reported on the way in which oil and gasoline was traded on the open market. Upon investigation, four energy analysts reported back in June of this year to the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of the passage of a law that would limit speculation in energy-futures markets. Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co. testified that - “Record oil prices are infl...

GM Stock Now a Joke

Will there be a Sequel for General Motors Corporation (GM)? Its stock dipped to dangerously low levels today, trading under $3 for a short period before closing at $3.06 for the day. Investors are concerned over the looming possibility of bankruptcy as GM’s cash balance nears below the needed amount to operate month-to-month. Updated 11/26/08 - with stock chart YTD: General Motors Corporation’s (GM) stock has seen dropped significantly Year-To-Date (YTD), trading as of press time between $4 an...

The Pentagon Wants More Money

In the midst of financial bailouts and failing economies, the Pentagon has revised its request for funding from the United States government. It is now asking for $524 billion in funding, a $9 billion increase in its baseline request for next fiscal year. This does not include added expenses for keeping troops overseas fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is likely to add a few more billion to the budget. What does this mean for the nation? President Bush entered the Oval office back...

At What Cost?

As the “Big Three” teeter with collapse, three million workers around the nation face the looming possibility of job loss. They have not seen economic success in several years, and are treading dangerously close with having no financial capital with which to operate their respective companies. Why? They have resisted change. Body designs, amenities, and features in automobiles certainly have changed in recent years. But the business practices have remained largely the same. Japanese and other f...

Where’s the Responsibility?

Banks, financial institutions, AIG, American Express, and now, the auto industry. What’s being called “The Big Three Bailout,” the major three auto manufacturers have been visiting Washington, pleading Congressional leaders for a share of the bailout which has become a trend of late. How much money are we talking about here? $25 billion shared amongst General Motors (GM), Ford, and Chrysler. But unlike the $700 billion financial banking bailout that the government began dishing out a couple of...

An Outcry for Regulation

With the economy in shambles, for the past seven years we have seen gasoline prices rise uncontrollably, and somewhat unexplainably at the pumps. It’s been no secret that oil prices are in large part based upon speculation and future forecasting. It’s also been no secret that when barrels of oil are sold at rising prices, those rises are exponentially reflected at the pumps almost immediately - though the gas you are pumping was sold and refined on average of a few weeks prior. It takes a minimu...