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Mac lovers, eat this!

Microsoft has partnered with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and built into the latest version of Microsoft Windows (Vista), innovative energy-saving solutions, that can save customers about $50 each year for every desktop computer equipped with the new software.

On the contrary, the Board of Directors for Apple Inc “unanimously� opposed proposals calling for an elimination of toxic chemicals in Apple’s products, and a comprehensive take-back and recycling program.

Still think Apple is cool? Think again.

On the same note, here’s a poll question: What is important to you in a company/consumer product? Cost or environmental responsibility?

Comment or Poll.

 

 

Q) What do you do if you are the most corrupt corporation in America and more than likely not going to enjoy being protected by the Republicans following the 2008 election?

A) Move to the Middle-East. 

That’s right, at least that is what Halliburton is planning on doing. This move is as political as it is for business reasons, this corruption laden oil giants know how to protect their assets, after all, their most powerful advisor is working right from within the White House. Thanks Cheney for f***ing everyone!

Apple has a new phone, I bet everyone knows that by now, but what you probably don’t know is that Apple’s boss Steve Jobs also got a new turtleneck t-shirt.

Oh, and for those willing to buy anything Apple, consider this, no matter who makes your phone, the crappy service is still provided courtesy AT&T/ Cingular!

 

 

 

 

 

And you think Wal-Mart is the evil empire trying to screw you? Explain this.
Wal-Mart announces a pilot program to sell generic prescription drugs for just $4 per prescription. If it succeeds, the plan could bring changes to consumers and the prescription-drug industry alike.

Generic drugs are a less-expensive alternative to name-brand drugs. But they still come at a cost: The average price to fill a prescription for a generic drug is $29, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. That compares with an average of $102 for name-brand drugs.

Starting Friday, Wal-Mart pharmacies in the Tampa, Fla., area will offer many generic drugs for $4 per prescription. The company plans to expand the program to all of Florida by January, and to other states in the months after that. Executive Vice President Bill Simon says the reason is simple.

“We hear stories all the time from our consumers” about the difficulties brought on by high drug costs, Simon says. “We can do something about that, and today we started to, by lowering the price of 291 of our generic drugs.”

The company says the list will include generics that treat allergies, high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes, as well as certain antibiotics, antidepressants, and antipsychotic drugs.

Simon says the plan isn’t an act of charity, as the company won’t be selling the drugs at a loss. He says the prices result from the same strategy of mass distribution that Wal-Mart uses to lower other prices in its stores.

Kathleen Jaeger, head of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, says companies in the generic industry are ready for the change.

“These products have been on the market,” Jaeger says, “and the price competition has been very rigorous, and providing these products at a reasonable price is very good for consumers.”

The move won’t help people who need brand-name drugs when generics aren’t available. But it could offer a good way to hold some costs down, says Gail Shearer of the Consumers Union.

“Consumers are really suffering with the high cost of drugs, and this could give them a way to get access to drugs at a relatively affordable price,” Shearer says. “Of course, we’re eager to see what this precise list of drugs looks like, but this could provide affordable options for many consumers.”

News source: NPR

When you walk into a fancy restaurant and order a $23 “champagne braised black grouper”, you expect to get a $23 “champagne braised black grouper”, right. But according to a recent report by St. Petersburg Time in Tampa Bay, FL, more than half the time, you end up being served some cheap Asian catfish.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services clearly states that “Failure to accurately and truthfully identify food items for sale, such as undisclosed substitution of one type of fish for another, is a violation of Florida law.� But this multimillion-dollar racket has been on for long, and the state law seems to make very little difference. After all, how many of us can tell a burnt cat fish from a pan seared grouper! So the next time you are out for some seafood, chose something that is easy to identify, like Zucchini, because restaurants will continue serving up fakes, until they are netted.

Listen to this story on NPR.

In continuation to my earlier blog eBay, Subway…or “the highway�?
 
Purchasing power is the ability to purchase, however an individual has a choice of how much to purchase, both in terms of expenditure and investment.
 
Most Americans live on credit cards with less than 1 percent savings. American consumers have been for years on a buying spree of products, mostly imported from overseas. Americans have gotten into debt for their dream homes, plasma TVs and even backyard barbeques. With imports closing in at 70 percent, the trade deficit has increased along with rising interest rates giving clarion calls of inflation and future financial instability.
 
The west is a victim of its own ideology of globalization resulting in free trade, job cuts, loss of leverage for employees to demand career growth, linked to an evergrowing threat of outsourcing project to companies overseas and a declining manufacturing sector.

This may lead to global market equilibrium, but the economic activity and growth is already showing signs of slowdown. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the U.S. economy remains strong but in transition to a slower and more sustainable pace of expansion after growing for several years at a rate too swift to continue. Growth of the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, slowed to an annual pace of 2.5 percent in the second quarter, less than half the 5.6 percent rate of the previous three months, lower than the anticipated growth of 3.5 percent and less than the 3.2 percent growth rate of 2005.
 
The purchasing power of Americans will be reduced to the bare essentials, just like in many developing countries within a few decades if corrective measures are not taken soon. American economic depends on self-sustainability, kicking the addiction of cheap labor and imports and excessive consumerism.

While the popular media blames the conflict in the Middle East for the escalating gas prices, no attempts have been made to correlate the soaring profits of Exxon Mobil and the other Big Oil to the recent  price hikes.

Exxon squarely blames Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for not capping the crude oil price. A barrel of crude oil sells for about $74 as compared to $42 from 2004. If that was the reason for $3/gallon at the gas pump, how then can you explain Exxon Mobil’s $340 billion in revenue?

Obviously, no company can make exorbitant profits unless its selling price is disproportional to the cost of production. Now that might explain how Exxon bumped the mammoth Wal-Mart from the No.1 position on Fortune 500 list, with its profits topping at a whopping $36.1 billion, the most by any U.S. company in history!

Alternatively the media blames global demand for the hike in gas prices. Currently the most populous nations, China and India consume less than 10% of the world energy. The marginal increase in the global demand cannot explain the giant leap of Exxon as the numero uno.

Subway founder Fred DeLuca recently introduced a new franchise agreement to redirect the franchisee advertising dollars from the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust (SFAFT), to the franchiser (DAI) fund. More than 14,500 Subway restaurant operators, out of a total of 26,183 Subway restaurants in 85 countries, i.e. more than 50 % sued the parent company with the anger embroiling over the control of the advertising budget at the expenses of the profitability of the franchisees. The doctors, who are the co-founders obviously want the bigger share of the pie, however would it be worth it to disgruntle the very people who bake it?
 
A franchisee always need to UNDERSTAND THAT THE FRANCHISEE WILL NOT BE COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT. A franchisee is obligated to conform to the policies formulated by the franchiser, which may outweigh his own needs. A franchise works on mutual trust, however just like in any other business, such changes portend more challenges of survival gradually for the smaller business owner. And its usually difficult to fight the bigger fish, unless all 100% of the smaller fishes unite against the big one.
 
Similarly, eBay raises fees for individual sellers all the time, sometimes once in a year, sometimes twice. Although the hike in fees is gradual, the profits for sellers do not necessarily increase quarterly or annually at that rate. Why eBay does not lose inspite of sellers not being able to cope up with the increasing fee structure? Because eBay has opened its doors globally, essentially to countries where the population is the highest, China and India. As and when Chinese and Indians pick up the eBay trend, eBay will benefit multifold, the American and European sellers will eventually suffer most because the demands of the buyers will be met by cheaper goods sold from India and China.
 
The question is how long will Americans retain their purchasing power?? I would like to continue on this in my next blog.

Price of oil is sky rocketing, the fed are raising interest rates, and people are feeling the pinch everywhere, not just at the gas stations, making it even harder to fight the looming recession.

One good thing out of all this might be that people will use less gasoline, and that would render our environment cleaner.

So bring it on.

Photo courtesy: CNN.

Originally posted at D.C. Watch 

Associated Press reporter David Bauder interviewed the former NBC anchor, who said that after watching Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Brokaw was impressed and wanted to pitch in his two cents. He said on talking about a new show on Discovery channel that premieres Sunday at 9 p.m., “It’s the same science that we are drawing upon and it’s irrefutable,” he said. “I thought there was too much of Gore, but that’s not my call. I thought it was very effectively done. To give credit to him, he’s been on this issue for a long period of time.”

Apparently, Brokaw’s wife, Meredith, is vice president of the environmental organization Conservation International. They’ve traveled to some of the places featured in the Discovery documentary, like Patagonia and Mongolia, and have seen firsthand the effects of global warming.

Patagonia? Mongolia? Do we need to go that far to figure out the effects of global warming, can’t he just tell by looking at his utility bills in summer!!!

Well anyway, another liberal media mogul joining the “global warming awarenessâ€? crusade only makes for good…news. Who’ll be next, Stephen Colbert?

Read the complete interview: Associated Press by David Bauder