Management Consulting Case Interviews (business)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: ConsultingCase101

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.consultingcase101.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Everything related to management consulting, including consulting industry trends, latest news, list of top consulting firms, consulting job search, resume CV and cover letter writing, job applications, job interviews, interview preparations, case studies and a collection of case interview questions used by major consulting firms over the years.

MY REVIEW: This is an interesting blog, in particular for managers and manager consultants. Indeed - anyone who runs a business will find this blog of interest.

Only one solution per question is given, but it still gives rise to thinking, to problem solving, to alternate ideas.

(Here's a more comprehensive description of the purpose of this blog from its website: This blog site was started in summer 2010. Currently it is collaboratively maintained by a group of PhD candidates from various academic disciplines (Math, Econ, Physics, EE, Computer Science, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, Anthropology, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Biological Sciences) at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University as well as several MBA students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (formerly Chicago GSB) and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.


The main purpose of this blog is to network with people from different background (undergraduate, MBA, PhD, JD, MD, Master students, working professionals, et al) who are interested in getting into management consulting and to prepare people for consulting case interviews. If you have any good thoughts about the site or want to join our team, feel free to send us an email: consultingcase101-at-gmail-dot-com)

Recommended.

Sample post

What is the Sex Ratio in India?
Case Type: math problem.
Consulting Firm: Triage Consulting Group first round job interview.
Industry Coverage: Government & Public Sector.

Case Interview Question #00141: In one rural state of India, people have strong preference for boys over girls. There is no “one-child” or any other family planning policy. So every family in the state continues to have children until they have a boy. If their first child is a girl, they will just have another child. If they have a boy, they will stop. The Indian Bureau of Census is quite concerned about it. They want you to find out the overall sex ratio (proportion of boys to girls) in the state.

Possible Answer:
This case is more like a brain-teaser than probability-based math problem. The interviewee has to realize that because there is no measure to artificially reduce the population of baby girls (sex-selective abortion or infanticide), the sex ratio in the state remains natural, approximately 50:50.

■ Imagine you have 100 couples who have 100 babies. 50 will be girls. 50 will be boys. (Total babies made: 100, with 50 boys and 50 girls)
■ The 50 couples who had girls will have 50 more babies. Half (25) will be girls. Half (25) will be boys. Add 25 boys to the 50 already born and 25 girls to the 50 already born. (Total babies made: 150, with 75 boys and 75 girls.)
■ The 25 couples that had girls will have 25 more babies. Half (12.5) will be boys and half (12.5) will be girls. Add 12.5 boys to the 75 boys already born and 12.5 girls to the 75 already born. (Total babies: 175 with 87.5 boys and 87.5 girls).
■ And so on, maintaining a 50/50 population

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--What is the Sex Ratio in India?
--How Many Golf Balls Can Fit into a School Bus?
--Oscar Mayer Introduces New Hot Dog
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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

The Draconian (finance)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Draconian

WEB ADDRESS: http://thedraconian.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: The Draconian features market commentary and research from Draco Capital Management. Its directors have been active in the world of alternative investments for two decades and currently manage over $100 million in the space. The firm’s trading heritage extends back to the mid 1960’s and has long specialized in strategic alternatives to traditional investing methods.

MY REVIEW: This blog is published once a week. It's more of a newsletter than a blog - each week you receive a long, in-depth article on a certain subject, such as market neutrality, the ins and outs of uranium, and so on.

An interesting blog for those with the wherewithal to get into such large investments.

RECENT POSTS:
--The Theory of Market Neutrality
--The Theory of Buy-and-Hold
--The Trade of the Decade
--Uranium: How to Play it and Why

_______________________
Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

The Prudent Investor (business and investing)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Prudent Investor, by The Prudent Investor

WEB ADDRESS: http://prudentinvestor.blogspot.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: The Prudent Investor evaluates global market trends and discusses the ongoing global redistribution of wealth.

MY REVIEW: Because of the name, I was expecting this to be a blog for the small investor, but it seems to be more about economics than anything else. So, a bit over my head, I admit. For those who have the financial wherewithal to be interested in how the big boys play, this blog will be of interest to you.

Sample post:

GATA - Volume of Fractional PM Trading At LBMA Now Withheld From Public Scrutiny
Monday, July 26, 2010

GATA's Adrian Douglas points to a new cover-up in the world of fractional reserve precious metals trading. Douglas notes that statistics of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) have recently moved behind the pay wall. Membership is granted only to producers and financial institutions.

Noting that the last available public statistics from June showed stratospheric volume developments Douglas suspects this is another move to keep precious metals markets as opaque as possible.

From Douglas' report:

The London Bullion Market Association has just taken the highly unusual step of blocking access to statistics relating to the trading activities of its member bullion banks. This information has been available to the public since 1997 but as of this week it is available only to LBMA members. (See http://www.lbma.org.uk)
I have recently written a series of exposes of the LBMA (see References 1 - 4 below) using the association's own data to show that the LBMA's bullion banks are operating on a "fractional reserve" basis. My analysis indicates that the bullion banks are holding only 1 real ounce for about every 45 ounces of gold that they have sold, a reserve ratio of just 2.3 percent.

At the March 25 public hearing of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on precious metals futures markets I cited the LBMA's own statistics to label the "unallocated gold" accounts of the bullion banks as a Ponzi scheme. (See Reference 3 below.) There were bullion bank representatives at the hearing but no one expressed an objection. That hearing was videotaped and posted at the CFTC's Internet site but the bullion banks have not made any public statement rebutting what I said. In fact at that hearing Jeffrey Christian, CEO of the CPM Group, acknowledged that what is widely called the "physical market" is in reality a largely "paper market" trading gold and silver as if they are financial assets and not physical metals. Christian stated that 100 ounces of paper gold are traded for every 1 ounce of physical gold.

When the LBMA first made its trading statistics available in January 1997, observers and analysts were shocked. (See Reference 5 below.) No one could reconcile the statistics with other market data, nor comprehend how the bullion banks could be trading on a net basis more than 240,000 tonnes of gold annually while the global mine output was only 2,400 tonnes.

Over the years the furor over these statistics had subsided until the end of 2009, when I commenced writing about my studies, showing that the statistics can be reconciled with other market data if the bullion banks are operating a fractional-reserve bullion banking operation with a recklessly low reserve ratio. I have also shown how the price of gold is suppressed because 45 ounces of demand are being diluted to result in purchase of only 1 ounce of real metal. If instead all 45 ounces were to be sourced and purchased, the gold price would be multiples of the current price.

Typically when people are exposed in a scandal their first reaction is a cover-up. The most notorious examples of this are the Nixon administration, when it doctored the Watergate tapes, and Arthur Anderson, which shredded millions of pages of documents relating to audits of Enron Corp.

The LBMA has now commenced a cover-up with respect to the gold trading activities of its member bullion banks, withdrawing statistics from the public domain.

This appears not to be the only cover-up going on in the gold market.

For years the International Monetary Fund has made great fanfare of its mere contemplation of selling some of its gold, and actual sales by the IMF have been widely publicized. Since February the IMF has been surreptitiously selling large tonnages of gold each month, but these sales now are to be found only by digging through the IMF's financial statements, and even there the recipients of the gold are not disclosed. (See Reference 6 below.) One has to wonder why the IMF now is trying to fly under the radar with its gold sales.

Similarly it was recently discovered that the Bank for International Settlements didn't feel it necessary to announce its involvement in the largest gold swap in history, 346 tonnes. (See Reference 7 below.) The BIS swaps instead were discovered only because a market analyst dug through the footnotes of the bank's financial statements.

These developments have all the hallmarks of cover-ups.

In June the LBMA trading statistics showed that in May 2010 the average net daily trading in gold by LBMA member banks jumped a massive 50 percent from the month before to 24 million ounces each day from 16 million ounces each day. That translates to $7.5 trillion annually. If an operation is running on a razor-thin fractional reserve basis, such step changes are often fatal.
It appears that a run on the bullion banks has commenced.

Concealing Trade Information
There is a cover-up of back-door injections of liquidity of physical gold, and the LBMA now is trying to conceal trading information.

There has been much debate about how investors, politicians, and regulators didn't see the 2008 financial crisis coming, and lack of transparency was cited as a key reason. Clearly those who have been manipulating the gold market are trying to skulk deeper into darkness. They have a lot to hide.

Investors could have been blindsided by the events of 2008, but anyone who misses the writing on the wall about what's going on in the bullion markets is just foolish. The bullion banks have sold far more metal than they can deliver, and more and more customers are asking them to deliver. This has led to back-door bailouts and cover-ups.

Anyone who has "unallocated" bullion should be very concerned. The LBMA itself describes owners of "unallocated bullion" accounts as "unsecured creditors." That means that the account holder has no collateral or title to any bullion.

Bullion bank unallocated account agreements require the bank only to settle in cash for non-performance. That means when the physical squeeze that is evolving takes gold and silver prices to multiples of the current price, holders of unallocated metal accounts will not get any bullion, nor will they be compensated at the prevailing market price.

I interpret the LBMA's move to secrecy as a sign that the opportunity to get real metal is closing fast.

References:
1. Adrian Douglas: Proof of Gold Price suppression -- Gold and the U.S. Dollar
2. Adrian Douglas: Price Suppression Follows Inevitably from Fractional-Reserve Gold Banking
3. Adrian Douglas: It's Admitted to the CFTC: London Gold Market Is a Ponzi Scheme
4. Adrian Douglas: Jeff Christian's CPM Group Explains How to Make Paper Gold
5. The Grand LBMA Expose: A Collective-Mind Analysis
6. Adrian Douglas: IMF Can't Explain Gold Sales Now Without Revealing Squeeze
7. Adrian Douglas: Mysterious BIS Gold Swaps Are Likely a Bullion Bank Bailout

RECENT POSTS:
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--BP Spill Reminder #19 - Day 95 - Is the Gulf Strea...
--BP Spill Reminder #18 - Day 94 - Simmons: The Bigg...
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Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Fast Company (technology)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Fast Company, by Fast Company

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.fastcompany.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Fast Company sets the agenda, charting the evolution of business, helping a new breed of leader work smarter and more efficiently.

MY REVIEW: This is a fascinating blog, which I enjoyed very much. Businesspeople will enjoy this blog a great deal. There are profiles of business people, and profiles of technology and companies.

Go for it.

Sample post:

7 Ways Real-Life Crime Fighting Mirrors "Minority Report" [Photos and videos not reproduced]

Steven Spielberg's Minority Report wowed audiences with its futuristic tech: flashy hand-gesture computers, flex-screen displays, holograms, and Lexus-designed auto-piloted vehicles. The sci-fi flick also showed the world a dystopian, draconian picture of a crime-free society: "precogs" predicting murders, eye-scanners dotting the streets and subways, a jet-pack-toting police force, and a public seemingly deprived of any right to privacy. Spielberg envisioned this for 2054, but advances in technology are bringing that future sooner and sooner. Here's a look at some of our own sci-fi crime fighting tools.

1. Blue CRUSH
IBM's new Blue Crime Reduction Utilizing Statistical History (CRUSH) programs feels almost directly inspired by Minority Report. Similar to the "precogs," IBM's new system uses "predictive analytics," mining years and years of incident reports and law enforcement data to "forecast criminal 'hot spots.'" Police in Memphis have already had great success with the $11-billion "precrime" predicting tool: Since installing Blue CRUSH, the city has seen a 31% drop in serious crime.

2. Facebook
There's no escaping the system when we've all voluntarily tapped into it. With Facebook having some 500 million registered users, the social network is quickly becoming a powerful source of data for the police, who can scan profiles for suspect clues. Only this week, law enforcement used Facebook to nab a murder suspect through photos posted on his page. Witnesses were able to independently ID the alleged killer using these pictures alone, which the city police chief called "ironclad" evidence. And this isn't the first time. In 2009, an escaped criminal used Facebook to taunt police while on the lamb, posting pictures of himself flaunting his freedom--before he was soon caught.

3. Google Maps
Internet crime updates such as Gothamist's incident map now allow the public to track the police blotter next-to-real-time. But it's not just concerned citizens and nosy neighbors who are plugging into Google's mapping tech. Google Earth has given law enforcement access to satellite imagery, enabling them to track down criminals from the sky. In Sweden, for example, police were able to zoom down close enough to discover a two-acre marijuana plantation, leading to the arrest of 16 perps and the seizure of 1.2 tons of pot. Drug-sniffing dogs are now a thing of the past.

4. OnStar
In the film, all vehicles are auto-piloted along tracks and can be controlled by law enforcement. When scanners detect a wanted criminal entering a car, police can automatically pull the vehicle over. Looks like this directly inspired OnStar's Stolen Vehicle Slowdown technology. The system enables customers and police to locate a stolen car using GPS, depower the vehicle, and watch as it glides to safety along the side of the road, ending any chance for a high speed chase. Did I mention OnStar even force-locks the doors until police can arrive?

5. Scanners, Everywhere
The days of comical-disguises are numbered for Boris and Natasha, who will have to figure out another way to get past airport security. New facial recognition scanners such as the one installed last year in London enable airport security to measure "points on a person's face and compare them with [their] digital passport photograph." Of course, law enforcement isn't only tracking you by air. Automatic number plate recognition technology is becoming more ubiquitous, allowing police to monitor you real-time, even when they're not looking.

6. Drones
A bill circling the House of Representatives aims to legalize unmanned aerial vehicles to fly over domestic skies for enhanced border security and oil pipeline monitoring. British units are already using UAVs to keep watch of its citizens, which would perhaps raise more questions over privacy violations if London wasn't already chock-full of CCTV cams.

7. Mii? Easily the best Minority Report-like tool, however, comes courtesy of Nintendo. In Japan, police searching for a hit-and-run suspect put up wanted posters around town, but they didn't have the perp's photograph. Instead, they just used his Mii image. So if you happen to run into him at the Wii resort, be sure to alert the proper authorities. (On second thought, this could just be awesome viral marketing.)

RECENT POSTS:
--7 Ways Real-Life Crime Fighting Mirrors "Minority Report"
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--Jamba Juice to McDonald's: You Selling Smoothies is Just as Crazy as Us Blending Cheeseburgers
--How Oakland's Walmart-ization of Weed Could Choke Out Small-Time Growers
--Salton Sea Could Be Source of Lithium Riches for the U.S.

_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Trading to Win (Business and Investing)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Trading to Win

WEB ADDRESS: http://trading-to-win.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Stock Market Views and Trading Ideas based on the mix of Technical Analysis and "Funny-mentals" by DavidDT using Tom DeMark Indicators

MY REVIEW: I'm not really qualified to give an opinion on whether or not this is a good blog on its subject or not. It's about day trading, a subject in which I have no knowledge - well, enough to know that I would never ever do it. You can lose a lot of money in a very, very short amount of time. Then, you get addicted, always wanting to make back the money you lost before you quit...so you can never quit because you can never get back to even. As in casino gambling, so in day trading. There comes a time -- hopefully sooner rather than later -- when you just have to cut your losses and get out.

After giving that cynical assessment, if you do want to do day trading and can afford it, this certainly seems like a blog full of successful people. The website itself is fee based, but you get info via their blog (although the charts are too small to read on the Kindle.

“Who are we?”
We are a small group of independent full and part time traders
“Why are we on the Internet?”
We believe we have accumulated sufficient knowledge of real life trading and markets and would like to share the knowledge;
We have made enough mistakes (measured in “years of mistakes”) to try to help YOU to avoid the same kind of mistakes;
We found out that trading is a very “insulating business” and in order to maintain healthy “Work/Life balance” communications with other “Stock Market Addicts” is one of the ways to stay sane without patronizing downtown pubs.

You may find their website more informative than their blog, if you're a newbie to day trading. There is much flowing tetosterone there...

If you already know your way around day trading, you've probably heard of Trading to Win (they published a book in 2008.) So, check it out.

RECENT POSTS:
--Disqus fixer upper
--Weekend at DDT's # 3,569
--Getting back AT the stock market
--More of the Usual
--10 rules for position sizing
--Turn Around Tuesday
_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Financial Armageddon (business and investing

I first reviewed this blog way back in Feb so by rights it should be a retro review... but in Feb this blog and my reviewing style were just finding their feet, and I really didn't do a very good job of reviewing it so I'm going to do it again. It therefore counts as a new review!

Reviewed by: Ms. Cairo

Recommendation: YES

Amazon Subscription page Financial Armageddon:

Blog description: Insights on debt, derivatives, government guarantees, the retirement system, and the coming economic unraveling

My review: This blog is found in the Business and Investing category. It provides a gloomy view of investing, and it's a must read.

The posts are detailed and informative, and written by someone (Michael Panzner) in the business, who knows whereof he speaks.

If you're thinking of putting your hard-earned money into the investment markets, or of pulling it out of the markets, this is the blog to read.

Sample post:
July 21, 2010

'Anyway You Cut It - Sales Just Aren’t Cutting It'
As a long-time market-watcher, I get a kick out of those countless Wall Street "experts" who focus so slavishly on "the number." You know, earnings per share, or EPS: the manipulated, expectations-managed data point that "analysts" view as their raison d'etre.

Even though it's been obvious for years that corporate America, including companies like Apple and IBM, are playing these fools guys (and gals) like a finely-tuned fiddle, the highly-paid Wall Street types still seem totally clueless about what's going on.

During ordinary times, a racket like this is simply a source of amusement; now, though, when it's more important than ever for people to have an accurate read on where things stand, the beat-the-number scam is a pathetically cynical joke.

However, if somebody actually takes the time to look at data that might be a tad more relevant to the decision-making process, they will likely reach the same conclusion as Bloomberg BusinessWeek's Investing Insights blog does in "No Sales Means No Jobs Means No Recovery":

Last week U.K. scientists determined which came first: the chicken or the egg? They claim it was the chicken. But the Wall Street version is which comes first, Sales or Jobs, is still open. Consumers don’t want to spend because they don’t feel comfortable about the future, specifically the economy and their job; companies won’t expand - add to plants, spend on capital expenditure, hire workers (full or part time, even extending hours) until their sales pick up. From the company’s viewpoint, why invest to produce more when you aren’t even selling everything you are making now, especially if their earnings are doing well (not to mention they have more cash on hand then at anytime in history). From the consumer’s side, even those who feel secure with their job are watching their bottom line, and money remains tight (and don’t even look at your retirement holdings or benefits). So how do you break the downward cycle of ‘I won’t spend’ therefore ‘I won’t build’? For starters there were the jump start stimulus programs. But here we are trillions later and no jobs. Maybe it would have been worse, maybe we just need more stimuli or maybe we’re just feeding a junkie. Pick a theory, stand at Broad and Wall and preach it. But whatever we’re doing, wherever we are in the process, it hasn’t worked yet, and Americans aren’t known for their patience. So if we don’t start to see some actual improvements soon the tie goes to the down side, and time is not on our side. I’m not looking for a home run, just someone on base would be nice - something to root for.

The above commentary is mine of course, and not part of my earnings review below, but the two do appear to be blending. Maybe I need to step back and look for bias in my reporting, or maybe a 38% increase in earnings isn’t the whole story.

As of last night we had 24.9% of the Q2 earnings reported. So far, the Q2 2010 earnings results are encouraging at first glance. Based on the issues that have actually reported, earnings are 14.5% ahead of estimates, with 65.8% of the issues beating their estimate. Sales, however, are a different story. While 73.4% of the issues have beaten their sales estimate, the “beat” is only slight, with the overall aggregate sales coming in 4.4% ahead of estimates - far less than the 14.5% for earnings. The earning growth over last year’s Q2 2009 is equally impressive, with earnings 38.4% ahead (excluding Citigroup which had a massive loss last year), but sales are a disappointing 6.7% ahead. Anyway you cut it - sales just aren’t cutting it.

I believe comparisons should focus on quarter-over-quarter results to determine the recovery’s progress, as well as the underlying momentum of the economy. And since I believe jobs are number one, and given that companies are generally in good financial shape with excess cash so they can ride out any short term disruption, I look to sales as a future indicator. On this basis, earnings are running ahead of Q1 2010, but sales are flat, and that’s the problem. It’s great that companies have improving earnings, but those improvements are due to high margins, which were the product of cost cuts - specifically job reductions, the very thing that we need to improve now. Until companies and consumers start to spend more, the job front will not get better, but they won’t spend more until they believe things are getting better. The stimulus programs were suppose to jump start the economy and break the downward cycle by convincing both groups that better times were here. But so far we’re not seeing the sales or the jobs; but earnings are good, at least for now.

Latest posts--Safe, or sorry: Americans investing in municipal bonds. They *used* to be safe, but now more and more cities are in danger of defaulting.
--No Wonder Americans Are Pessimistic: job news isn’t really as good as its been portrayed
--The Next Phase of my Evaluation: Michael Panzer points out that Greenspan, Paulson and Greenspan are not economic experts.
--A Secular Shift: The recession has battered the US economy, but the lobbying industry is humming along in the nation’s capital, even for companies that have shed thousands of jobs in the past year.

Coaching Blog for Technology Consulting & Service Business Owner

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES, with reservations

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Coaching Blog for Technology Consulting & Service Business Owner, by George Sierchio

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.georgesierchio.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: A forum for all technical consulting and service (VARs, MSPs, IT Providers, Computer Services, Engineering, etc) business owners to capture ways to grow, profit and build value into their business.

MY REVIEW: An excellent blog for the business owner, which shows him how to market and sale to potential clients. The only problem? The author only posts on average twice a month. At least he's a steady poster - you know you'll get two entries a month...but for 99 cents a month I'd like to find a business coaching blog that at least gives me info once a week!

Sample post

The Four Ps
If you know me and my work at all, you know I am a big fan of having a solid foundation that allows you to build a business of any model or size to any scale you wish.

I’m a big fan of systems, metrics and all things controllable and measurable that goes along with them.

But I also believe that with these items, there are 4 P’s (principals or pillars) that must be understood and worked on that hold up a service and consulting business structure.

These P’s stand in the 4 corners of your business “building” and hold up the walls and ceilings that make up this structure. They are individual to each other but also attached as well.

Without them there, you can’t build solid walls or ceilings in each floor of your business structure as it grows and because they are also attached to each other, if those attachments don’t exist it makes the structure even weaker.

Those 4 P’s are:
Positioning
Processes
Pricing
Profits

Sounds simple and it is. But more often than not most small businesses struggle because one or more pillars do not exist or are too weak to do the job that needs to be done. Understanding what they are really all about as well as how they interact usually starts the light bulbs going on as to why certain parts of a business are struggling.

It’s too much to explain here but I will be at Harry Brelsford’s SMB Nation East doing a Pre-day event on the 4 P’s for anyone to come to (you do not have to be going to SMB East). The date is April 29th from 1pm to 5pm. Early bird pricing of $49 is available until March 31st ($99 after that date). Link is here http://consultantscoach.com/smbeastpreday.php

I hope to see you there to enlighten you on Positioning, Processes, Pricing and Profits as well as how they work together.

In addition I will also be doing a session on May 1st at the SMB Nation East event entitled 6 Systems Your Business Can’t Live Without. This will be a great addition to the pre-day topic.
Hope to see you there.
To Your Business Success-
George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

RECENT POSTS:
--Influencing Prospects Through Value-Based Marketing
--Is Time Management or Fear Slowing You Down?
--Being Specific to Avoid "Me Too" Marketing
--Behavioral vs Motivation Selling Conversations
--4 P’s to Business Success

_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

The Big Picture (business and investing)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Big Picture Blog

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: The WSJ called it “The Economics Blog Insiders Read to Stay Current”

MY REVIEW: I have to admit this blog is a bit over my head...discussing concepts of high finance that I do't really get. But if you're an investor, with big bucks, you'll probably want to check this out.

Sample post

Are Nasdaq100 Insiders Dumping Stock?
By Barry Ritholtz - May 31st, 2010, 8:30AM Alan Abelson notes this in this week’s Barrons that the top 8 stocks in the POWERSHARES QQQ exchange-traded fund for the Nasdaq 100 — better known as just “The Qs” (QQQQ) — have seen some insider selling.

Abelson specifically notes Alan Newman’s CrossCurrents advisory letter: Newman’s survey of insider transactions in the top eight issues in the ETF performed on May 10discovered sometihng rather astounding:

“There were 231 sellers and three buyers, which works out to a somewhat lopsided ratio of 77 to 1. All told, the insiders sold 59.8 million shares and purchased 15,200 shares, a sell/buy ratio of 3,933 to l. Not exactly a resounding vote of confidence in the prospects for their companies.

Moreover, Alan notes, analysts are just as positive on the QQQ leaders as they were back in March 2008 before a 37% fall in price. At that time, 74.1% of the recommendations were Buys and 2.9% were Sells. As of May 10, 2010, 77.7% were Buys and 3.6% Sells. The more things change, we guess, the more things stay the same, especially on Wall Street.

Insiders are hardly infallable investors and, as Alan observes, their investment habits are not a timing indicator. Still, they do tend to know a bit more about the company and its outlook than the analysts or the folks buying the stocks they’re so determinedly selling.

What this says about valuation, the market, or the recovery is up for debate. But its certainly worth thinking about . . .

RECENT POSTS:
--Comment Moderation Issues
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--ChartPorn: Cost of Retirement

_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Suzanne Woo's Business Golf Blog (golf, business)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Suzanne Woo's Business Golf Blog

WEB ADDRESS: http://businessgolfblog.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: As a business golf author and speaker, I write this blog to help you use golf to increase your business success. I share personal stories as well as discuss the latest in golf that you, as a business golfer, might want to know about. I look forward to reading your comments.

MY REVIEW: The author of this blog is "an attorney who turned her passion for golf into her profession. In 1996, I founded BizGolf Dynamics, a company dedicated to teaching business people how they can use the game of golf to enhance their business relationships and increase sales. I am a professional speaker, author of On Course for Business and 72 Secrets for Successful Business Golf. I also publish BizGolf E-Tips, which are sent bi-weekly. You can subscribe at www.bizgolfetips.com."

I enjoyed this blog (although it hasn't been updated since May 14, and a gap that long when previously she'd been updating almost every day has me worried..) and I think the golfer and business person will, too. What better way to conduct business than over a relaxing round of golf?

Sample post:

Rice DQ-ed
Jerry Rice was disqualified today because his caddie used a rangefinder. http://budurl.com/sevq. I'm disappointed for him and am not surprised at his comments. He took ownership for the error, "a rookie mistake that I made." I'm glad he didn't blame it on his caddie or say his caddie should have known better.

It also sounds like he's no longer going to play on the Nationwide Tour. "Because I can't commit to golf the way I want to, this is probably my last Nationwide Tour event," Rice said. "These guys, they're working their butts off and they deserve to be out here."

I worked with his agent for three months to find time to do our interview. I knew where each of them were by following their Twitter posts. During that time, he was going to the Super Bowl, going to a DeBartolo wedding, getting inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, doing an event for Gillette, practicing for his first tournament, and I'm sure many other events that I didn't know about. I certainly understand why he doesn't have the time to commit to the game.

And he was well aware that he was taking another pro player's spot in the field. He wanted to do well because of it. As I said yesterday, I have no doubt if he had the time to commit to golf, he'd make the cut on the Nationwide Tour at some point. Remember that this is the guy that dropped so many balls in his rookie year and was seen crying in front of his bench after a game. He works hard and after speaking with him, I can see why he broke so many records on the NFL.

Jerry, I hope you finish this weekend and play as a celebrity.

RECENT POSTS:
--Rice DQ-ed
--Pebble Beach is Ready for the US Open
--Jerry Rice's Woes on the Course
--Tips to Avoid Slow Play
--Life Plays Out on the Course
_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

The Baseline Scenario (economics, business and investing)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES, with reservations

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Baseline Scenario, by Simon Johnson and James Kwak

WEB ADDRESS: http://baselinescenario.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: The Baseline Scenario is a leading economics blog, described as "a must read" (Paul Krugman) and "one of the most informative news sites in the blogosphere" (Bill Moyers).

MY REVIEW: This is an excellent blog, a must read, and a must study. It's also an extremely depressing read, because it just shows how incompetent are the people - both Republican and Democrat - who are supposed to be keeping this country safe, secure and prosperous, are.

There is a caveat. James Kwak, one of the two authors, is apparently taking the summer off to work as a trial lawyer intern, and is not sure if he'll be writing anything for the next three months. He doesn't make it clear if his fellow author will continue to write. I expect he will, therefore, go ahead nad subscribe and check it out.

Sample Post

Regulatory Capture Underground and At Sea
By James Kwak

First there was the financial crisis. Then there was the West Virginia mine explosion. Now we have the BP oil leak. In each case, we were treated to news stories about the cozy relationships between the industry and the regulators who were supposed to be regulating it. (Here’s the latest New York Times story on how the Minerals Management Service was captured by industry — a problem that has existed for a long time, but that the Obama administration apparently did little to fix.)

Occasionally people say that the story we tell in 13 Bankers is really the same in every industry. That would not surprise me. I do think that the financial sector is unusual for a couple of reasons. One is that the interconnections between the major financial institutions make each one too big to fail in a way that, say, Enron was not. Another is that modern finance is so complex that it makes it easier for industry lobbyists to run roughshod over congressional opponents. But the problem of regulatory capture is obviously not restricted to finance, and it is a problem that we are seeing all over.

I’ve been meaning to write about this, but I haven’t had and won’t have the time. Arianna Huffington wrote an article on the parallels between the financial crisis and the West Virginia mine disaster. Lawrence Baxter has two recent posts (on his new blog) on regulatory capture and the role of regulation. Obviously this problem is not easily solved, especially in the wake of the Citizens United decision, which gave corporations even more influence over our political life. But hopefully the BP oil leak will produce a wave of anger — and a demand for answers — similar to what the financial crisis gave rise to.

RECENT POSTS:
--Summer “Vacation”
--The Future of Personal Computing, Part 2
--Regulatory Capture Underground and At Sea
--The Future of Personal Computing, Part 1
--The Consensus On Big Banks Shifts, But Not At Treasury
--Is The SEC Still Working For Wall Street?
--Good Government vs. Less Government
--So Damn Little Money
--Wall Street CEOs Are Nuts
--The Last Hold Out: Senator Blanche Lincoln Against 13 Bankers
--Regulation vs. Structural Change
--Why Does Steve Ballmer Still Have a Job?

_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Tom Peters Blog (self-help)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Tom Peters Blog, by Tom Peters

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.tompeters.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Author and speaker Tom Peters shares his views on Excellence in business.

MY REVIEW: Tom Peters is a major name in the self-help field, I know, but I'm afraid I couldn't get really enthusiastic about any of his posts. I wanted in-depth information and suggestions, not just superficial comments. There were a few good posts, but most, not so much.

It's a commercial blog, which means there are frequent plugs for his book, and for his Twitter account. I don't really have a problem with that, you've got to market all the time to stay in the public eye. But frankly, I found Zen Habits more helpful.

Sample post

(Which I actually find difficult to believe, but it would be nice if true)
From my de facto Bible, Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky:

"[A study] focused on television's impact on rural India. Robert Jensen of Brown University and Emily Oster of the University of Chicago found that after cable television arrived in a village, women gained more autonomy—such as the ability to leave the house without permission and the right to participate in household decisions. There was a drop in the number of births ... wife-beating became less acceptable, and families were more likely to send daughters to school." (A similar study in Brazil produced similar results. A new TV network featured soap operas, which became wildly popular, starring empowered women with few children. Again, birth rates sagged, especially among women "of lower socioeconomic status.")

Interesting, eh?

RECENT POSTS:
--An Amateur's View of Social Media, Circa May 2010, Disorganized Musings
--Memorial Day 2010
--New Video: Tom Talks About Excellent Organizations as Cathedrals
--Cupcakes Revisited
--It's All About the Relationships! Duh!


_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Zen Habits (lifestyle, business)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Zen Habits, by Leo Babauta

WEB ADDRESS: http://zenhabits.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Top 25 blog that covers simplicity, productivity, habits, goals, happiness, health & fitness, frugal finances, family and more.

MY REVIEW: This is an excellent blog, well written. And it has some very good advice. The title is somewhat misleading - we are not given mystical platitudes, but rather real advice for dealing with the real world.

The author, Leo Babauta, writes most posts, but he also has guest authors who make posts on occasion.

Sample post:

Write Your Own Obituary; The Best Advice Nobody Ever Gave Me
You might consider this the ultimate “begin with the end in mind” exercise and, really, it falls perfectly in line with one’s attempt to create their ideal future – their success.

Rest assured, there isn’t a greater ‘end’ to consider than YOUR END- (your death/departure from this planet).

So, if it’s helpful to ‘begin with the end in mind’ for goals and projects you can bet it’s pretty darn valuable for your life.

For those who haven’t heard the story there is a terrific anecdote about Dr. Alfred Nobel. What you may not know is that while today everyone hears his name “Nobel” and thinks “Peace Prize” originally, this was far from the case.

In fact, turns out that in 1888 a French paper erroneously proclaimed “The merchant of death is now dead.” The story went on to explain that the man who invented and patented dynamite (his original claim to fame) and a faster, cheaper, quicker way to kill people died in a fatal explosion. As you might expect, a very alive and able Dr. Nobel read this account of his death and its merciless headline and was mortified by the prospect that his lifetime work and his legacy would be relegated and labeled synonymous with death and destruction. This was not the legacy the good doctor had in mind.

Turns out, after reading his own obituary he instantly knew he had to redefine just what his life was to mean; what he was to represent and how he wanted to be remembered.

Drum roll please…
So, here’s a couple KEY questions for YOU to answer…

What do you want your life to represent?
How would you like to be remembered?

RECENT POSTS:
--Pep Talk
--Reconstructing The 3 C's
--Write Your Own Obituary; The Best Advice Nobody Ever Gave Me
--Courage; A Call To All Creatives…
--Time: Don’t Manage it – Channel it
--Amazon, “Inside the Book” Tour
--When there is no “Why?” 9 Lessons in Achievement from a “Crazy” Man
--Ten Great Life Lessons from a Living Legend; Coach John Wooden


_______________________
Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Ego (news and opinions)

REVIEWED BY: Ann Currie

MY RECOMMENDATION:Yes

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Ego

WEB ADDRESS egoist.blogspot.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Join the Second Renaissance! EGO reaches out to readers around the global who are rational individuals and defenders of the Western world.

MY REVIEW: This blog has been around for 8 years, so I must bow to its success and following. It is business-oriented and well written. It covers a broad range of topics, as well as a post on Risk Management, it ranges from cultivation of seeds to drink philosophy to online commerce.

The blogger also contributes to other more well known national blogs. It is worth looking at, if you are interested in this topic. It does have a global perspective.

Sample post:

GLOBAL REACH FOR LOCAL BUSINESS
0 comment(s) 5/17/2010 06:58:00 PM Posted by Martin Lindeskog
Label(s): America, international, Networks, Referral, Web This Make-A-Referral-Monday I want to refer you to a longtime friend, Christer Sjöback of SJC Gold and Silver Handicrafts, and a new acquaintance. The title is inspired by BNI's new network project called BNI Connect and a reference to a part of the business name (GlobalReach Copywriting) of my new connection, Ann-Christin Lindstedt of USEGlobalReach.com.

From the post, Episode 154: “25 Years of BNI”:


BNI is now working on the single largest project in its history: BNI Connect, which not only integrates an online social network with the in-person networking, but connects chapters around the world to each other. Watch for the catchphrase “Local Business, Global Network,” which BNI has trademarked. (BNIpodcast.com, 05/12/10)

Christer wants to reach new customers in North America and Ann-Christin wants to establish new business relations in Scandinavia.

What do you say? Could you give referrals to Christer Sjöback and Ann-Christin Lindstedt?

RECENT POSTS:
--Global Reach for Global Business
--Support Bloggers with FlattR
--Christi Himmelfah
--Make a Referral Monday
--Annual Blog Report VIII

_________________________
Ann Currie writes two blogs:
My Life a Bit South of Normal
Silver Pieces: The Strange and Peculiar

Retro Review: Information Arbitrage (business and investing)

Website: http://informationarbitrage.com/

Information Arbitrage A 17-year Wall Street veteran's perspectives on investment, hedge funds, and ways to harness the power of the internet for Institutional Investors.. Publisher: Information Arbitrage. Costs 99 cents a month.

Some text from his latest blog entry:

IA Venture Strategies - Working to Build a Better Venture Mouse-trap
As was ably covered by Dan Primack in PEHub, I am starting a new venture fund. However, as my friends and venture colleagues know, I am extremely down on what the venture industry has become. To be clear, it is less an issue of structure (management + incentive fees in a GP/LP structure) and more an issue of size. It is clear to understand how motivations get skewed when venture firms effectively become asset managers, where the management fees alone are sufficient to make the partners rich and investments must become increasingly large and non-venture like. Growth capital is not venture capital in my parlance. Venture capital means funding "ventures" - taking on early-stage risk - and actively helping companies execute their plans and achieve their potential. I have a theory that the largest a true venture fund can be, which means, having a seed-stage investment charter together with a "life cycle" approach to investing (leaning into winners, deploying larger amounts of capital in Series A and B rounds, if necessary) is around $300 million. But I digress...

I decided to start my fund after determining that many of the deals I was seeing were both strategic and thematic, strategic to my trading company and thematic in that they all had a common thread - helping to manage and extract value from massive, often real-time data sets - "big data" in jargon. Rather than prosecute them as an angel, I felt a fund structure would better enable me to "size up" in particular deals and to cast a wider net across the big data domain. I wanted the fund to be small ($25 million stated goal, but with the ability to go a little higher) and I wanted it to be different than most venture funds I know, who have raised money largely from pension funds and endowments. I really wanted the fund to be an extension of my activities as an angel, where I frequently build syndicates of value-added angels and select venture firms to help de-risk the portfolio companies and create a network effect across a particular domain.

Talking about the blogs of investors who can start $25 million funds is just a leetle bit outside my area of expertise. All I can say is he certainly sounds like he knows what he’s talking about!

The author, Roger Ehrenberg, updates this blog on an irregular basis. When he’s “on” he does it every four days or so, but sometimes there’s a month in between. It is with this kind of blog that subscribing via the Kindle is most necessary. It only costs 99 cents a month – the cost of a cup of coffee, and when he does make a post you get it immediately without having to constantly check his website. And should he never update it (which I doubt will happen, but of course, anything’s possible) you’re only out $12 for the year. I’d say that’s a better investment risk than many out there!

Reading such a blog gives the average investor an insight into the rarified air of these fund managers, shows how their minds think, and so on. It’s a fascinating read.

Retro Review: The Franchise King

The Franchise King Blog Cleveland, Ohio franchise guru provides franchise investment tips,discusses upcoming trends,and reports on small business activity.

Website: http://thefranchiseking.typepad.com/

The Franchise King Blog is another one of those blogs that, at its website, gives you a paragraph, then a link that says “Read more here.” But, their blog interface is sophisticated enough so that on the Kindle, you get the entire article seamlessly, no need to click on a Read More button! I don’t know why more bloggers don’t have their feed set up that way.. perhaps they don’t realize that it’s possible to do that.

Anyway, The Franchise King is another fascinating business blog. The author talks about the various types of franchises out there (and there are more than just fast food restaurants).

Well-written, informative, and if you're thinking of opening a franchise, worth your time and money.

Here’s the last four entries:

--This low-investment business opportunity is now a member of the #100 club (Speaking Roses)
--Franchises for Sale! Huge Savings! Franchise Prices Slashed! Huge rebates!
--My Franchise Business Advice for the week of Feb 8, 2010
--Constant Contact Announces the Recipients of the Franchise Excellence in Email Awards

Retro Review: Financial Armageddon

Reviewed by: Ms. Cairo

Recommendation: YES

Amazon Subscription Page: Financial Armageddon

Website: http://www.financialarmageddon.com/

Blog description: Insights on debt, derivatives, government guarantees, the retirement system, and the coming economic unraveling.

My review: This blog may provide a gloomy view of investing, but it's a must read. Well written, by someone who seems to know the subject thoroughly.

Let me say it again - you've got to read this blog. It's your money - make sure you don't lose it!

Sample post:

It All Makes Sense
I've been somewhat perplexed by how well consumer spending has held up, at least on a relative basis, given that 1) "underemployment" is above 20 percent and the number of long-term employed is at a record; 2) income has not kept pace with consumption; and, 3) the housing industry is nowhere near a recovery (and the foreclosures just keep on coming).

No doubt the government has played an important role in underpinning demand, especially through its emergency unemployment benefits programs and certain other stimulus efforts. But that didn't seem to explain matters fully.

Then I read the following post, "How Obama's 'Extend & Pretend' Mortgage Policy Explains The Apparent Disconnect Between Housing And The Consumer," at Business Insider's The Money Game (citing the excellent HousingWire blog) and, suddenly, it all made sense. The reason why no small number of Americans can afford to keep on spending is because they've got one less (big) bill to pay:

Our screens are filled with signals that the econom""y is recovering, and yet one area where there's no discernable improvement is housing. At best the bleeding has stopped. At worst there's plenty of room to fall.

This should stand in sharp contravention with news that the consumer is coming back, especially given the conventional wisdom that the home is (or was, anyway) the ultimate ATM, and that it was the so-called housing wealth effect that fueled years and years of American spending.

What gives?

Paul Jackson at HousingWire reckons that what we're seeing is the twisted result of Obama's mortgage schemes. Basically, scads of troubled Americans are living in their homes, waiting for some type of modification, not paying their mortgages, and thus freeing up an unusual amount to spend on stuff.

Jackson's logic:

There are 7.4 million non-current loans in this country (a ton of folks living in a home but not paying at the moment for said home).
Most Americans behind on their mortgages have now gone a year without paying a single bill.
As we know, Americans are discontinuing their mortgage payments before other payments.
And he writes:

Consider the following individual as a case study — an actual ‘HAMPlicant’ at one of the nation’s larger servicing shops, as highlighted in a guest post at the Calculated Risk blog. They had an $1,880 monthly payment on their mortgage they’d defaulted on, yet their bank statements for the past 30 days included the following expenses:

visits to the tanning salon
visits to the nail spa
some kind of gourmet produce market
various liquor stores
A DirecTV bill that involved some serious premium programming or pay-per-view events
Over $1,700 in retail purchases, including: Best Buy, Baby Gap, Brookstone, Old Navy, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, Macy’s, Pac Sun, Urban Behavior, Sears, Staples, and Footlocker
His conclusion: If half the 7.4 million homeowners are skipping a $1,000 monthly mortgage payment, that provides a potential $3.7 billion boost to consumer spending.

If Jackson's reasoning is correct, it suggests that critics of Obama's mortgage schemes are attacking them from a completely wrong angle.

It's not about, as the Santellis of the world might suggest, that it's some grave evil to be helping your neighbor who may or may not have gotten in over their head. It's more basic: the scheme is creating serious economic distortions, and are bound to unravel in ways that the market isn't properly anticipating.

For all the flaws of "crass Keynesianism" (see today's wankfest between The White House and Edmunds.com over cash-for-clunkers) characterized by charges of pulling demand forward is just as silly. The real economic violence comes from messing with economic signals, which appears to be what's going on here.

Jackson's point also jibes with what we heard when we talked to a Phoenix mortgage pro, who noted the violence to his market that mods were creating.

Until these really filter through the system, these, mortgage mods not only make the housing market suspect, but obviously other areas of the economy as well.

The last four entries:
--Safe, or sorry: Americans investing in municipal bonds. They *used* to be safe, but now more and more cities are in danger of defaulting.
--No Wonder Americans Are Pessimistic: job news isn’t really as good as its been portrayed
--The Next Phase of my Evaluation: Michael Panzer points out that Greenspan, Paulson and Greenspan are not economic experts.
--A Secular Shift: The recession has battered the US economy, but the lobbying industry is humming along in the nation’s capital, even for companies that have shed thousands of jobs in the past year.

Tech Rockies (business and investing)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: Yes, with reservations

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Tech Rockies

WEB ADDRESS: http://techrockies.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: techrockies.com provides daily tracking of Rocky Mountain Region high tech news, including venture fundings, interviews, and breaking news items about high tech companies in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and beyond.

MY REVIEW:
All this blog seems to do is write a paragraph of info on a variety of technical business companies. Truth to tell, this information conveys nothing to me - there doesn't seem to be enough of it to help a reader make any choice about whether to buy stock...

The actual blogsite does have many links to a variety of headlines, listed as:
Latest funding
Executive moves (execs switching companies)
Venture capital
Mergers and acquisitions
Life sciences

But this material does not feed over to the blog.

Sample post

Boulder, Colorado-based data storage firm Spectra Logic said today that the firm was ranked in the top ten percent of U.S., General Services Administration (GSA) information technology contractors in 2009. The firm said the rankings were based on annual revenues of GSA Schedule 70 It products and services. Spectra Logic said its Federal sales account for more than 20 percent of its overall revenues. Spectra Logic is a maker of disk and tape backup systems and backup libraries.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Ping identity links into google apps
-Aegis analytical wins human genome sciences
-Spectra logic ranks in list of GSA contractors
-Markrt force information buys Ted Costas GRoup
-Confio hands reins back to founder

Run To Gold (business and investing)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Run to Gold, published by Premeir Ark

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.runtogold.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Run To Gold is built to educate you on principles of monetary theory and science. Whether you should purchase gold is a completely different issue from whether you should use the monetary metals, gold and silver, to perform mental calculations of value or the pricing mechanism.

MY REVIEW: In this day and age, knowing what to do with your money is paramount. And everything is so confusing. Is it safe to put your money back into stocks and bonds? Will the government take it all, or will the stockbrokers lose it all for you?

It doesn't matter how much or how little money you make - and if you make a little money hopefully you are working on ways to - legally and ethically - make it more money, you must educate yourself on the process, and keep abreast of what our government plans to do with your money.

This blog is a start.

It's also a blog with an ugly, ugly website, which is why it makes sense to subscribe to it via the Kindle, so you can get the entries without tring to figure out where the heck they are on the website!

Some sample paragraphs

H.R. 627 The Credit Card Act of 2009 is a sweeping reform of credit card law. Many consumers are concerned over how this act will affect their spending capacity throughout the new year. The act is called into effect in February, meaning consumers will have very little time to determine how to use the act to their advantage.

While there are advantages to the consumer in 2010, the act may also adversely affect the economy, according to some analysts. However, conclusions are anything but cut and dried. For those that need a little more information, here are some details about the way the first serious credit card reform in history may affect you—and the economy at large—in 2010 and beyond.

WHAT IS H.R. 627 – THE CREDIT CARD ACT OF 2009

H.R. 3639 The Expedited Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009, also known as H.R. 627 The Credit CARD Act of 2009, will dramatically affect regulations on credit cards beginning in 2010. The act aims to improve transparency between credit card companies and the American public, many of whom hold credit cards, under what the government calls an “open-end consumer credit plan.”

The act requires first and foremost for credit card companies to give consumers a month and a half (45 days) of notice if any increases in interest rates are going to be enacted. It also gives card owners the right to cancel their credit cards and pay any outstanding balances once these hikes are enacted.

Credit card companies are prohibited from retroactively increasing their interest rates for cardholders in good standing with the company, and the act does not allow credit card companies to arbitrarily change their agreement with cardholders. Finally, the act prevents companies from imposing unfair or excessive fees on cardholders, which will likely effect those with subprime and secured credit cards.

In summary, the bipartisan measure is meant to protect cardholders from unfair or unclear actions on the part of credit card companies and the big banks like Bank of America (BAC), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), and etc. along with their nefarious cohort Visa (V).

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF H.R. 627

It is no secret that some credit card companies and big banks have been acting unfairly for years, like Monex, and that the fees they collect from the general public are not clear and reasonable. Unfair fees and interest adjustments have been banned, meaning that consumers will be given information on how credit card companies are changing their terms at least 45 days in advance.

“Overdraft” coverage will also be opt-in instead of opt-out, which means that over limit charges may not be incurred automatically due to consumer unawareness, and that the card may be denied if you are over the limit and this may have a positive effect with credit cards and identification with potential credit report issues.

The terminology of credit card companies must be made clear in advance, with promotions being disclosed in plain and simple language, and terms that do not change during the first year of a contract. Terms of credit cards marketed to youths and college students must be plainly stated by both the company and the university. Finally, fees may not be placed on store credit cards and gift cards which have not been used for a period of time.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF H.R. 627

Unfortunately, as with any piece of legislation the CARD act is not without its drawbacks. The reason that companies are able to keep interest rates so low is that they are not accountable to a governing body for the terms of the contracts and promotions that they use to entice customers. Under the credit card act, it is likely that interest rates will rise substantially. This will make new credit cards unobtainable for many individuals with poor or no credit.

No-fee credit cards will likely disappear as a result, and credit score checks, especially on the best credit cards, will probably become stricter, limiting the number of individuals who can apply for new cards. Although many Americans expect a freeze on interest rates until the act takes effect, most credit card companies will continue to raise rates until they are prohibited by law.

Now, I'm not sure that I accept the politics behind some of the posts here. After all, if people would have just paid their credit card bills on time, and not maxed out their cards so they had no chance of repaying them, they wouldn't have had to worry about any "unreasonable fees" to begin with! Nevertheless, this blog contains monetary information you need to know, whether you agree or disagree with any political leanings that may be on display.
RECENT ARTICLES:
-Is Goldman Sachs Thinking of Buying Silver
-Net Neutrality Debate
-Interview with John Rubino (author of The Collapse of the Dollar)
-The Laboon Comes (The last days of Lehman Brothers)
-How HR 627 The Credit Card Act Blunts the Vampire Squid's Beak

Tales From The Administrative Minefield

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Tales From The Administrative Minefield

WEB ADDRESS: http://administrativemadness.wordpress.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: I am a seasoned executive adminstrative assistant with over fifteen years experience who loves her job. Very few other employment opportunites exist that allow me to manage people, events, and offices to my heart's content, then go home and have a life.

My many years of employment have given me plenty of opportunities to scratch my head and wonder what my employers and co-workers were thinking. As a consumate professional, I have just kept a smile on my face, done my job, and listened to my gut for the next opportunity.

Welcome to my world and I hope you enjoy the ride.

MY REVIEW: As a former administrative assistant, I know where this author is coming from. Very little gets done in an office in an efficent manner unless the admin assistant is herself (or himself) efficient. And yet they get so little credit for keeping the machine running smoothly.

This blog tells the story of one such admin assistant, and her adventures in the world of business.

Here's a few paragraphs from an entry on that ever-present evil - outsourcing work overseas [more often than not to the detriment of the business, costing them more money than they save, in loss of good will if nothing else!, IMHO]

Nothing seems to be safe anymore in today’s employment climate. Gone is security of generations gone by. Very few people can stick with one company for their entire career. If they manage to do that, they have to reinvent themselves to stay ahead of the latest management model that leans toward automation, downsizing or out-sourcing.

I realize that there are many processes that can be outsourced, off-shored, and just plain automated. When all these cost cutting measures are taking place, what happens to the actual employee, who helped build the company? The general morale? The principles that built the company? More importantly the corporate history?

While the government gives lip-service to keeping jobs in the country, more and more companies are sending department functions overseas. Why? ‘Because it can be done cheaper elsewhere’. Sure, there are binding contracts that impose penalties if things are not done to the SLA’s (service level agreements) of the corporation, but what happens to the customer service interface? There are no guarantees that expectations will be met.

To be frank the customer wants to interface with employees they feel confident will fulfill their needs. Not third-party vendors that have no clue as to why the company even exists

.

This blog is well-written, by a "soldier on the battlefield." Admin Assistants - the good ones, anyway, know what is going on in the office. Know how things are done and why they are done in that way. Aspiring admin assistants, and the people who have them, should read this blog!

I would like a bit more grounding for the blog, however. If not the specific business she works for, at least a general sense of what the company does.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Melting the Myth [of perfection]
-On the Cheap [outsourcing]
-Valuable Resources [admin assistant's role in the work place]
-Upon Your Actions
-Follow Instructions [sales people, especially!

Land of Black Gold: Financials and Oil Investment

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: NO, inactive

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Land of Black Gold

WEB ADDRESS: http://lobg2.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Speculations on oil, peak oil theory, energy in general, and the investment implications.

MY REVIEW: No point in bothering with this blog. It was very active in 2005, and the rate of updating dropped every year since then, until today, it hasn't been updated for 4 months. Too bad, it looked interesting.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-As the World Cools (October 11, 2009)
-Buffet: Oil Sands Visit For Info Only (October 11, 2009)
-Warren Buffett Invests In Chinese Electric Car Maker (October 11, 2009)
-When Good (Lefty) Papers Go Bad (October 11, 2009)
-The Panic of 2008 Bottoms On Oct 14-15? (October 11,2009)