Latest GOP Poll #'s and Ron Paul

It's interesting how little respect Dr. Ron Paul gets from the decision shaping main stream media.. and that includes FAUX News. The latest Gallup results are posted up top and the obvious standout is how weak a front runner Mitt Romney is. At the same time, pretenders like Pawlenty, Huntsman, Santorum get much more mention and ink than their #'s would warrant.

The reason I even bring it up is that Ron Paul has been a consistent voice for years against our ongoing wars and against ongoing government spending.The wisdom of those positions is becoming clearer by the day, but is still not a message our media leaders want conveyed.How else to explain it?

Does Santorum Mean "IDIOT"

Rick Santorum has said a number of stupid things over the course of his public life, but this one just might top it all. It's amazing that this is what passes for "political leadership". This guy is running for President?


Former Sen. Rick Santorum said Tuesday that Sen. John McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment at the hands of his North Vietnamese captors, doesn't know how effective waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques can be

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bin_laden_torture_republicans

Bank America to Charge 29.99% On Credit Cards

Let's look at the Big Picture. The US is a "consumer driven" economy. The consumer relies on credit to satisfy his/her fix. The economy continues to show lackluster growth that causes our friend at the Fed Ben Bernanke to keep "interest rates" low---almost 0 %. That near 0% is what our friends "the Banksters" pay to borrow money. You dear consumer if you need to carry a balance with an institution such as Bank America will be paying just about 30% annually on that balance.

Thank goodness the Fed is keeping rates low!


http://dailybail.com/home/bank-of-america-to-start-charging-30-on-credit-cards.html

March Madness: U.S. Gov’t Spent More Than Eight Times Its Monthly Revenue

There is not much more to say about this. The headline tells it all. It will work until the day it doesn't. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/march-madness-feds-spent-more-eight-time

Yearly Interest Expense On The National Debt Is????

As we head into a potential government shutdown this week and watch our political "leaders" flap their gums, it is worth putting some $'s behind the rhetoric. The current political argument has to do with the amount of "spending cuts" for this fiscal year. The Dems are pushing for $10 billion while the Repubs say they want about $50 billion.

So maybe we'll see a compromise after all the nonsense at around $30 billion. This battle will provide plenty of opportunity for media mavens to get plenty of air time. "Liberals" and " Conservatives" will be at each other's throats. The nonsense spewed by Matthews and Maddow on MSNBC will rival whatever the knuckleheads on FOX have to offer. It's great entertainment. We need something to replace March Madness.

Here's the thing , interest rates are outrageously low right now and in all probably will be heading northward sometime in the reasonable future. With almost zero interest rates, our interest expense this year is $400 billion. These idiot politicians are jerking our chains with "political arguments" about $20-$30 billion. An uptick in interest rates could add another $100 billion in interest expense easily... and that could be conservative estimate. So before we all get into the heated political back and forth just remember it's all theater. It's tantamount to the proverbial adjustment of the deck chairs on the Titanic. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm

The Strange Case Of Charlie Engle:Imprisoned For Taking A Liar Loan

A big tip of the hat to Joe Nocera from the NYTimes for bringing attention to the Charlie Engle story, In Prison For Taking a Liar Loan. It is scary to read about what government bureaucrats will do once they put a person in their cross-hairs. The Nocera article is a great read. Given Engle's past association in film with Matt Damon, I wouldn't be surprised to see this in motion picture form.



Long story short, Engle used "stated-income" loans to speculate on real-estate during the bubble period of 2006-2008. He ended up paying the price of foreclosure, yet on top of all that he ended up being prosecution by the Feds for mortgage fraud. He is now serving a 21 month sentence in a Federal Pen. If anything good can come out of this, perhaps Engle's fortitude and benevolence can serve as an inspiration to not only his fellow inmates, but also to us on the outside. His blog is worth a regular read and a bookmark.

Interactive ads beat print in study of readers

For many in the sales and marketing community the pressure to produce more with less has been relentless. The need to demonstrate a return on marketing spend has become a necessity. Given these forces, this recently released study by Alex Wang, PhD commissioned by Adobe makes for a fascinating read .

You can read the Executive Summary here.

I have often presented the argument that interactive digital advertising offers a more captivating and engaging messaging vehicle than the traditional print approach but until I read this study I was operating more on intuition than anything else. Granted, the subjects in the study were at the oldest 32 years old, but if the intent of your marketing is to engage and involve your customers and prospects in your messaging the study offers food for thought .

In essence this study set out to answer a couple questions:
1) Can Interactive ads (ads that enable motion, sound, animation) in a digital magazine format generate stronger engagement, involvement and brand awareness than static ads in a print magazine.
2) Can higher interactivity generated by an Interactive ad generate stronger brand recall, engagement, message involvement, attitude, and purchase intention than a static print ad
3) What are the relations among interactivity, engagement, message involvement, attitude, and purchase intention