Disaster averted: The Government open for business.

I was amazed that republicans seemed willing to shut the government down with so much at stake and jeopardizing the recovery process while commenting that it’s not for drama. Listening to the news on Friday (CNN) a democratic representative said that they did what the republicans requested but it was not enough. The republicans then wanted more concessions and they were not willing to compromise (a word that came up a lot). It seems to be more about a power struggle than anything else and some people care more about their own agenda than the American people. According to Congress.org “Under Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, members of Congress "shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States." Maybe what needs to be done is to renegotiate congress's salary and benefits; if everyone’s salary and benefits are getting cut then so should congress.

One of the recurring arguments is about Planned Parenthood and the fact that they used money funded by the government to conduct abortion. At a time like this the 3% of the funding Planned Parenthood spends on abortion is the least of the country’s problems. They should be happy that people are recognizing that they are cannot afford those children rather than having them and becoming a further burden on the state.  Maybe if more people acted responsibly there would not be such a strain on Social Security.

I understand the cuts were needed to be made and that something had to give, but no one wants to be the one to give. People don’t what to pay more taxes and I understand things are already hard. I don’t want to pay more taxes. Yet they expect so much from the government. Where on earth is the government going to get the money, unless there is some kind of money tree at the back of the White House that I don’t know about. The President inherited a country in crisis, he inherited two wars, he is trying to get the country back on its feet and like they say you have to spend money to make money.

Thankfully congress came to an agreement and the shutdown was averted. The consequences of the shutdown would have been devastating to an already decimated economy.

Do you think that the Tea Party extremists are right in allowing the shutdown and if yes would the resulting damage have been worth it?

Can the public’s perception of a company be affected by the behavior of the companies’ employees’ even outside of work?

Something happened today that really had me thinking about how a person’s perception of a company may be affected by the behavior of the companies’ employees even outside of work.

This is a summarized version of what happened. I was buying beer at a supermarket today and the young cashier needed assistance because of my ID. I am not a US citizen and therefore I have a Green Card issued by the United States government. This means that I am a permanent resident and I pay taxes like everybody else. The floor supervisor who came upon request was someone I had no respect for due to a pervious incident with my Green Card. Based on the principle of what happened I always avoided her and did not want to deal with her then. When she came over I made it clear that I did not want to deal with her and asked her to get her manager. After making it clear several times that I did not want to deal with her, she finally went to get her manager.

The assistant manager of the store came over asked what the problem was and I explained that I did not want to deal with her floor supervisor and why. She then took my card and said that she to go look it up in the handbook. Now this is not unusual I have even helped people find my type of ID in the same book before and have been buying alcohol at the store for the past three years. The assistant manager came back about 10 seconds later and said that she was sorry but my ID was unacceptable because it was not in the book. Imagine my outrage that an assistant manager would lie to a paying customer, someone who should be setting an example. I then told her that that was impossible since I know it’s in the book because I have seen it with my own eyes. Realizing that I know the truth and that I caught her in the lie she proceeded to tell me that they have the right not to sell to me. I also told her that I have spoken to her manager about something similar to this and he apologized and said that it should not have happened. I demanded to speak to the manager she said that he was in another state and that she was not calling him.   

Now don’t get me wrong I know that they have a right not to sell alcohol to anyone but within reason. But they had no reason not to sell to me – I am of age, I have a valid ID, I was not drunk nor was I belligerent and the ironic thing is I don’t drink. While I’m demanding a reason, a customer entering the line next to us pipes up that they have been in the business for a long time and that she is right not to sell to me. That really pissed me off, so I turned to the person and asked even for racist reasons and to my amazement, the person answered for any reasons yes. Realizing that this person was not someone that I could reason with, I ignored them but I was furious because they exacerbated an already tense situation. Still demanding a reason someone else said that she should call the cops, which I replied with please call the cops. The assistant manager knows what she did was wrong and that there is a law against discrimination she then proceeded to ask me to leave. I took her name, said I would be speaking to her manager and left.  

After I left, I found out that the person who had the audacity to tell me that they could refuse to sell me beer for any reason including racism since that was the question I asked, was an employee at Keene State College to my surprise. After my initial disgust, I had to laugh when a friend commented on how everything came back to KSC. On Saturday I presented at the Academic Excellence Conference and among the people I presented to were, the Vice President of the college Jay Kahn, and the Provost Emile Netzhammer. On Sunday morning I was inducted into the Management Honor Society and on Sunday afternoon a KSC employee was supporting someone’s decision to discriminate against me.

So here I was thinking that everything the college was working towards diversity, acceptance, and tolerance was been undermined by its own employee and not just any employee but someone who had a measure of power. The person had no idea who I was or many of the other people who were present. This is a small community and the college’s image may suffer because of the actions of one employee.

Personally if I was another customer and I knew or found out that the person who made such an atrocious comment was a KSC employee and they held the position that they did I would be appalled and would not attend, send my child or family nor would I recommend anyone to attend the KSC. Are we back to the days of Rosa Parks? If they have the right not to serve me based on my race where does it end? They might as well kill me while they’re at it so I wouldn’t ever bother them again. On that note, did Hitler have the right to kills the Jews?

Do you think that employees’ actions affect the public’s perception of a company and can you refuse to serve someone based on their race?

In Response to Ashley Guidi: Green Marketing: What's Green and What's Not

How many companies do you think are actually "going green"?

It is a fact of life that there will always be some people who take advantage of an idea or anything for that matter, to further their own agenda. We have companies that blatantly steal people’s money, companies like Enron for example. The 2008 economic crisis is another example of people doing unscrupulous things to get richer, so it would not be shocking if some companies who say that they are ‘going green’ just to get customers, are lying.

On the other hand there are a lot of companies that are making the effort to be green. Johnson & Johnson although embroiled in turmoil right now, has set environmental goals for the future that are stated in their Healthy Planet. The company also issues a separate sustainability report although unaudited is commendable. The company goals are measurable and in some cases they have reached their goals. Jonathan Fahey's April 26, 2010 article “America’s Greenest Companies” for Forbes, ranked Johnson and Johnson number five out of the top 10 greenest American companies (Intel was named number one).

It now has become economical to be green and companies are realizing that an alternative source of energy is necessary; especially at the rate we are using those nonrenewable resources. They realize that if they don’t change their ways their companies may not survive in the future nor are they immune to the results of the destruction of the planet. We need not only to become green but to encourage more sustainable actions. We are destroying forest, habitats, animals and fish stock, not giving them a chance to revive. Our ecosystem strives on diversity and if something does not change we will be responsible for our own extinction.

Do you think it’s possible to implement more sustainable practices in a capitalist society?

The Inside Job

Over spring break I looked at the documentary “Inside Job” which gave a detailed look at what led to the 2008 economical crisis. It proved that in theory, capitalism works and that regardless how good a system is, once the human variable is added there needs to be regulation. (Every school in this country should watch this and someone should send a copy to president Obama) Many economists and businesses argue for less regulations and more freedom, but they have proved that they are unworthy of such freedom. In fact Wall Street is fighting tooth and nail to prevent some of the necessary measures required to protect the economy from another crisis like the one we are still struggling with. The frailty of human nature, its corruptibility, and the darkness that lies within us all, makes regulations on businesses imperative.  I personally think that those people should be hanged, they committed crimes that affected lives worldwide and escaped unscathed. Ok so maybe we cannot hang them but at least the money that they made scamming people should be used to clean up their mess.

What do you think?

In Response to Douglas Sack

Do you think marketers are to blame? Are American consumers to blame? Or is it the affluent?

I believe that many people shoulder the blame, but not the affluent. So what if they have money and flaunt it, they aren’t holding a gun to anyone’s head forcing them to mimic their lifestyle. In my opinion, if you are stupid enough to go into debt trying to emulate people that make way more money than you deserve what you get.

On the other hand, the American consumer shoulders most of the blame. As an adult you are responsible for your actions, too many times people are not willing to take responsibility for their action. This also is becoming the American way, where people are always looking for someone else to blame. I was brought up to never be envious of what other people have (#1. You don’t know what they did to get what they have #2. You may not want to do the same) and to live within my means. Americans have become so materialist and fake that they have forgotten that money and things cannot buy love or happiness. People need to start getting to know themselves and to start loving themselves. They also need to stop defining themselves by what they have; material things are what you have and should not be who you are. We are social creatures but any friends gained through what you have aren’t true friends and will disappear as soon as there is any sign of financial trouble. Word to the wise, if your friends are like that you are better off without them.

Some marketers carry some of the blame because some of their messages are deceiving. They pretend that this is the way that the average American lives which is not the truth. But then again you are the one paying the ultimate price so you need to be on top of your game. Don’t get me wrong I understand the lure of nice things and the joy of a new purchase, but that happiness is flitting. I also understand the need to fit in but my question is at what cost and is it really worth it? What’s the use of fake friends, grueling hours and you’re not even happy. Do you think it’s worth it?

In response to Douglas Sack

Do you think a paid vacation trip is an effective motivational tool? What incentives would you like to see as an employee?

I have to disagree with Douglas because I think that a paid vacation is an effective motivational tool. (Just to clarify the paid vacation or incentive trip is an all-expenses-paid excursion). I am also positive that a company would at least find out what incentives would motivate their employees before deciding to use paid vacations. I doubt very much that if someone that was being rewarded preferred something other than the paid vacation that some alternate compensation could not be agreed upon. Remember, this is a reward not punishment. By law employees have to be given vacation time and if they worked hard enough to be rewarded with a paid vacation, what more can they ask for. Personally, I would love to have one of those.

On the other hand, the criticism of A.I.G was called for and I see no reason why the executives were on a lavish paid vacation a week after government had to bail them out. Regardless of how the vacation was paid for, their actions led to the company’s failure and yet still they are been rewarded, ridiculous. Yet still people wonder why the economy is in such a mess.

Do you think that top paid executives should have company paid vacations after mismanagement led to companywide failure resulting in the government spending billions of hard earn tax payers money to bail them out? Please do not forget that those are the same millionaire executives who receive tax cuts/breaks.

Japan and results of the largest earthquake in the country's recorded history



The earthquake and resulting tsunami has devastated Japan and is the largest in the country’s recorded history. There are billions of dollars worth of damage caused and will take years to recover but there is even more danger looming in the horizon. There are tens of thousands of people homeless without food and water and the situation in Japan is quickly becoming worse. The resulting destruction may also be the catalyst for an even greater catastrophe, if the country’s nuclear plants are unable to cool their reactors. According to the World Nuclear Association, Japan’s 54 reactors provide approximately 30% of the country's electricity. Nuclear scientist all over the world are coming together to try to solve this problem as well as different governments.  There has been one explosion so far and people have been reassured that the amount of radioactive particles released in the air is small. The plants were built to keep any radioactive material trapped within even if the reactors melted (let’s hope that it works) but the explosion happened at the oldest nuclear plant. We all know the dangers involved if the reactors are not cooled and the country will not be the only ones to suffer if the unthinkable happens.

According to NPR (after listening to Car Talk-love it), the country’s debt is approximately twice the size of its GDP but unlike countries like the US for example, Japan’s debt is held by Japanese. The country is also one of the richest in Asia with savings rate much higher than that of the US and a culture steeped in honor, sacrifice and seeing things to the end. This means that although their recovery will be difficult, the people are resilient and the country has a fighting chance.
Give strength to the survivors and may the souls of the dead rest in peace.

Do you think the benefits of Nuclear power is worth the risk?