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

The Prodigal Son

Last Sunday, which in the Orthodox Church calendar is two Sunday's preceding the beginning of Great Lent, the designated gospel reading came from Luke 15:11-32, the parable of the Prodigal Son. Sometimes these parables take on a vague familiarity in that we know the details of the story but somehow miss the essence of the message. This particular parable is a familiar one and tells of how the younger of two sons asks for his inheritance, leaves his father and wastes his inheritance on "prodigal living". As he hits rock bottom he decides to return to his father as a servant , for even his father's servants live better than he, in his current state. The story takes on a twist as the returning son is greeted by his father with celebration and a great feast. When the older son, who over the years had worked side by side with his father and stayed true, hears of this celebration he becomes angry, in that for all his loyalty he never was given a party or celebrated. The story ends with the father explaining to his older son the joy that he feels from the return of his "dead son".

What's the message we are to take from this? This parable, while a simple story, is multi-layered and offers several foci.It's interesting to note that the parable is read just as we are preparing to enter a period devoted to concentrated repentance and prayer, Great Lent. While we may not think that we are that Prodigal Son, evidence suggests that in so many ways we behave in exactly the same way as he does. We take our inheritance, God's adoption of us as his children and his call for us to inherit His Kingdom, and we "waste" it in pursuit of our own interests and the vanities of our worldly existence. Great Lent is an opportunity to come to our senses, just as the Prodigal Son did when he was in a foreign land, wasting away amongst the swine.

It is natural and easy upon a concentrated reading of this parable to go down many roads of contemplation. Sometimes it helps to keep things simple. In the verses just before this parable (Luke 15:1-10) Jesus shares two examples, the first a shepherd rejoicing over finding one lost sheep from his herd and the second of a woman rejoicing as she found a lost coin, to illustrate the joy in heaven over the repentance of a sinner.

As we enter Great Lent, let's pray that we might emulate that younger, prodigal son, who "came to himself",repented and returned to his father, that similarly there might be that "joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents".

The Lord said this parable: "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

U.S. Dance With Ruthless Dictators Coming To An Ugly End

President Obama has to walk a thin line as protest in Egypt continues to grow. There are disturbing reports now that "agent provocateurs" are involved in looting activities, thus somehow justifying a "government"crackdown. When you get into bed with scum it can blow up in your face real easy and I think we are about to find out how ugly it can get. The Egyptian rioting has the potential to spread throughout the Arab World . We've supported anti-democratic Arab leaders for a long long time . As the voice of protest and freedom mobilizes on the streets of Cairo it doesn't help that the weapons used by government forces to crack down bear a "made in USA" imprint.

Obama promised "change we can believe in". Here's his chance. How about starting out by ceasing financial aid and support for anti-democratic, dictators... Hosni Mubarek for example. This might be wishful thinking on my part, but why can't we, the US, win the support of the "Arab Street" here and show ourselves to be a friend of freedom and self-determination?

Jeff Immelt The Job Creator

President Obama has come to Upstate NY on this icy,snowy Friday to tout his focus on job growth. As part of this effort he appointed Jeff Immelt, GE CEO to be his chief outside economic advisor. This is somehow supposed to illustrate the Administration's job creation focus.

There's only one problem: Jeff Immelt hasn't created jobs, he has actuaaly been a job destroyer.


GE finished 2009 with 18,000 fewer US workers than it had at the end of 2008, and US headcount is down 31,000 since Immelt’s first full year in 2002. During his tenure, GE workers based in the US as a percentage of total employees has fallen to 44% from 52%.