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• Retiring Gracefully

  
  
  American Express has a newish policy of phased retirement, which allows "soon-to-retire" employees to act as mentors to younger ones and pass down valuable skill sets that newer workers lack. From Business Week:
  
  "Rather than retiring and leaving the company at once, participants gradually give up their day-to-day responsibilities, while replacing some of their free time with activities like mentoring and teaching master classes to their successors. In addition, they get more time out of the office doing whatever they want—be it planning for life in retirement or doing charity work...It also helps them avoid some of the emotional and financial hurdles of sudden retirement."
  
  The Business Week piece is part of an ongoing case study. There are more videos (like the one above) here.
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  • Date: Aug 21 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• The Death Of The American Mall

  The American shopping mall, that shrine to bland, homogeneous commercialism, seems to be an endangered species. As WorldChanging reports, malls are falling into desuetude all over the nation. We’re not going to miss them much. Everything we found valuable about mall culture has been perfectly archived in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Clueless. And guess what all that old space is being used for? Art galleries and mixed-use pedestrian plazas. Awesome. Happy Monday, folks.
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  • Date: Aug 11 2008
  • Posted by Andrew Price

• A KFC Grows In Fallujah (Almost)

  Two weeks ago a report from a Marine public information officer trumpeted the establishment of Fallujah's first Kentucky Fried Chicken, carrying the picture above. Fox News picked up the story and ran with it. We're spreading democracy and popcorn chicken throughout the region! It's all gravy! KFC is the fried chicken in the gold mine—if it survives, things must be safe!
  
  
  
  But sadly, even Fox News' army of vigilant fact-checkers and guardians of veracity were duped. TPM Muckraker did some investigating and a Yum! Restaurants International spokesman told them: "This store is not approved by KFC International and we have working [sic] with the US Military to warn the troops of this situation." Watching this LiveLeak video of marines visiting the restaurant it seems pretty clear it's a knock-off.
  
  Thanks Nate!
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  • Date: Aug 05 2008
  • Posted by Andrew Price

• Misery Loves Car Companies

  Last week we jaw-dropped our way through Ford's massive second quarter loss of $8.7 billion. Yesterday, we were even more blown away by Exxon's record breaking profit of $11.68 billion for that same quarter. Today, we're thrice as astounded by GM's loss of $15.5 billion. They are the official MVP (most volatile player) of the second quarter. Until, of course, some other company steals their thunder on Monday.
  
  While we're on the subject, isn't it just a little crazy that two car companies can combine to lose $24.2 billion dollars during the same time that an oil company makes $11.68 billion? We get why that makes sense, but it's so counter-intuitive.
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  • Date: Aug 01 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• Biggest Corporate Profit In History

  Yesterday, we snickered at some accidental irony on the CBS News website: a piece related to Ted Stevens's corrupt dealings with the oil industry was sponsored by Exxon. Why wasn't the company embarrassed to be associated with the piece? We posited it might have been on account of Exxon's passion for freedom of the press. Then again, who has time to blush when you're swimming in money? Exxon's second quarter earnings of $11.68 billion are the highest of any U.S. company in history.
  
  UPDATE:
  
  
  
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  • Date: Jul 31 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• Economies Of Scare

  Making mountains out of molehills is a fool's industry, but what about making mountains out of frozen-over industrial hells?
  
  Earlier this week, the publisher of The New York Times revealed an 82 percent profit drop from last year. Today, Ford announced a second quarter loss of $8.7 billion. In case you didn't catch that: Ford lost $8.7 billion. Unfortunately, Chris Jordan isn't around to put that number into perspective. But it's something along the lines of Rupert Murdoch losing all of his billions of dollars, then finding 400 million more of them, then losing that too.
  
  A lot of people are going to suffer as a result of these losses—and not just shareholders. But the downturns also communicate a symbolic sort of chaos. When you learn about mass-production and industrial capitalism, you learn about the revolutionary heroism of Henry Ford. When you learn about freedom of the press, you learn about the The New York Times's indelible print media. Now these paragons of mythologized Americana face (what once seemed like) incomprehensible financial realities; the narrative of our collective economy appears bankrupt of heroes, and literally bankrupt. Then again, it's just business.
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  • Date: Jul 24 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• High Prices Cause Drop In... Prices

  We're really trying to get our heads around this whole "The Economy" thing. And here's what we've put together about this turbulent week in American money: The inflation rate in the US is at a 17-year high, driven up in part by sky-rocketing energy prices. Rates have been rising 1.1% monthly. People are paying 5% more for the stuff they buy than they were a year ago. That is what we like to call "bad news bears." However, as a result of the ensuing economic panic and the not-unrelated decreased demand for oil, yesterday was the second day in a row world oil prices saw a decline. This—aided in part by other disastrous economic circumstances—dominoed into a Wall Street spike of 2.5 percent, bringing the Dow up by more than 270 points. It's not more than the calm before the Depression, but if you're a true optimist, you might see this as a glimmer of hope. And if you're an off-the-grid back-to-the-lander who lives in a secluded cabin in Vermont, you are probably more on the right track than anyone else.
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  • Date: Jul 17 2008
  • Posted by alexandra_m

• Matt Simmons On What's Really Wrong With The Price Of Oil

  Check out the furrowed brows and slackened jaws of the hosts and analysts at CNBC's Fast Money as Matt Simmons (who we interviewed recently) quickly describes an energy doomsday scenario. "We could literally run out of usable diesel and gasoline and then we would have the Great American Disaster because within a week we don't have food."
  
  The conventional wisdom these days is that speculation is driving the price of oil to artificial highs. Simmons, of course, is saying just the opposite: that today's record-breaking prices are actually too low. He thinks that if we wait for a non-existent price "bubble" to burst we'll get caught in a devastating shortage. But if we move quickly to curb our consumption and get used to rising prices we can avoid the Mad Max scenario (and make some healthy changes in the meantime).
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  • Date: Jul 14 2008
  • Posted by Andrew Price

• Ballin For Bankruptcy

  We're not sure if you've heard, but NBA players make more money than most people. A lot more. In response to news about point guard Baron Davis' possible move to Los Angeles and 5-year $65 million contract, King Kaufman waxes incremental over that sum. An excerpt:
  
  "Davis' reported average salary for the Clippers over the next five years will be $3,302.85 per minute, even the ones he spends on the bench, or on the sideline. And that's about $55 a second. Two-tenths of a second left in the quarter? The Clippers won't be able to catch and shoot. They can only score on a tip-in. And in the time it takes the ball to travel the few inches from a player's fingertips to the basket, Baron Davis will make 11 bucks."
  
  That's some serious scrilla; however, as Rick Reilly reminds us, 60% of NBA players go broke within five years of retirement. Come again? Now, don't get us wrong. We don't wish financial ill will on anyone—especially someone with the potential to resuscitate the ailing Clips. But these numbers (and the holes they burn in those pricey pockets) are so baffling that we feel like our heads might explode. We're just sayin.
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  • Date: Jul 02 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• It's Just Business

  These cartoons need very little in the way of introduction. They're poignant. They're hilarious. And they blow our mind every Monday. Visit Business Guys On Business Trips and you'll feel a bit of your office-sucked soul regenerate (or at least you'll find humor in the cankerous hole where it used to be).
  
  Thanks, Avery.
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  • Date: Jun 30 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James