A Businessman's View

Ha! And you thought this entry was going to be about the sitting president. Actually, it's about me...or my blog rather. You may have noticed a change in my blog. Specifically, the title has changed from its previous value to what it is now. The reason for the change came in the form of a Cease and Desist letter that I received on Friday in the mail claiming that I was improperly using a trademarked expression of the client of the law firm sending me the letter. Google made it easy for me to see that the expression was indeed in use. Being the upstanding citizen that I am, I immediately changed the title of the blog and faxed over a response indicating that I was in compliance with their request. But then something funny happened... ...a number of years ago, I was jilted out of a substantial amount of money owed to me as an independent contractor by the company that placed me at the company where I was working. During the back and forth between the placement company and I, I...

Last week's blog entry seemed to resonate with the precious few readers that I have. In addition to the lone comment that was posted, I received a number of emails that said how "spot on" the message was. To re-emphasize the need to take responsibility for one's actions, it should be noted that there is now a shareholder lawsuit that has been filed. In the article on MSNBC.com , it was reported that this is a response to the recalls and the seemingly deliberate, misstated reasons for the safety issues in the first place. To put it another way, Toyota is accused of knowing full well that the reasons they initially gave for the cause of the problem were nowhere near what they were saying internally. To quote the article: "... top Toyota executives have known for nearly a decade that faulty electronic throttle controls caused vehicles to sometimes careen wildly out of control but covered it up to protect the company's reputation for safety — and its stock...

(Due to the launch of the Musicians For Haiti [ M4h ] website on Friday, this blog entry has been intentionally delayed to allow more time for the important blog entry heralding its arrival.) Edit: updated to include the skepticism that Toyota and others have about the incident in San Deigo. We are all witnesses to a spectacular event. All of us will one day be able to tell our grandchildren, "I was there when Toyota got flushed down the toilet like yesterday's fast food." And yet to be observers only would be a disservice to ourselves, for it is always easier to learn from the mistakes of others than to repeat the same mistakes ourselves and look like idiots as a result. Toyota has failed on several fronts, but there are two that I'd like to highlight. They failed to be true to their vision. I remember the days when Toyota was the car to beat. The Camry has been the best selling car until this fiasco occurred and had been for the prior seven years. Instead of...

On Tuesday 12th of January, 2010, an earthquake struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti. It was the worst in two centuries, and thousands have died so far. We are a group of friends and colleagues who are sharing with you our music and lyrics in response to this disaster. Haiti.bandcamp.com is a container for our efforts, and, following the steps of the rebuilding of the nation itself, will be a work in progress, a place to return to as new pieces get composed and uploaded. And so Musicians for Haiti ( M4H ) was born. In the weeks after the earthquake, a frenzied level of activity was clearly visible on the audio production website where people wrote and recorded music; provided feedback to these tracks; or simply offered words of encouragement. And now, on the two month anniversary of the earthquake, M4H is pleased to announce the availability of several, original tracks that were written by us specifically for the rebuilding effort in Haiti. "We are quite happy with wha...

It's no secret that Apple's iPad product announcement (and now a specific availability date) has been met with as much yawning as there has been excitement. Personally, the commercials look enticing, and anyone who owns an iPhone or iPod is probably drooling at having such a large surface to play with. I will avoid rehashing my questions regarding the lack of certain, "must have" features or the price of the device since I've already written about these two things in a previous entry . Given the bevy of people calling this the iFail , iDontKnow , etc. it is surprising to see Nintendo announcing a new product that, like the iPad is in relation to the iPod, is essentially a new device with the same capabilities as before. (In reality, it's not really that surprising that these products are generating buzz since we've seen Blackberry release a huge number of products that essentially do the same thing: send email and make phone calls. In fact, I could still...

Last Monday, new regulations went into effect that targeted the consumers of revolving credit accounts, a.k.a. credit cards. The idea went like this: make it harder for credit card companies to change their policies on a dime and you, Mr. / Mrs. Consumer, won't be so easily taken to the cleaners with fees, interest rates, etc. As you probably know consumers still are getting taken to the cleaners because not only are their other ways for the credit card companies to maintain their well established revenue streams (read: us) but other things that they were lackadaisical in are no longer being treated with such apathy by the credit card companies. So while it is mostly common sense, Sandra Block's article in USA Today listing the ways by which you can use the new regulations to maximize your benefit is quite timely. In her article, she writes as the number one thing you can do as paying off your balance...in its entirety. My parents, as well as numerous other Americans, maint...