Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
2 simple ideas about the Economy in the Washington Post Today : Please RT
The first idea is in the Metro Section of the post where a fiscally responsible single mom Shawn Goldstein of Chevy Chase - recently laid off from her job as construction manager - writes :
Why not have the mortgage payments of the unemployed reduced to 31 percent of their current income and tack on the unpaid monthly amount to the end of the loan? This would keep responsible people, who are in their current financial situation because of layoffs in this economy, in their homes.
Read the rest of the 'Close to home" story
The second is a Op-Ed by RICARDO J. CABALLERO called "How to Lift a Falling Economy" . Ricardo is head of the Economics Department and director of the World Economics Laboratory at MIT.
The proposal: The government pledges to buy up to twice the number of bank shares currently available, at twice some recent average price, in five years.
How much would this cost taxpayers? Probably nothing.
Read the article in the Washington post
If you have influence both these seem like a logical and reasonable suggestions. Do you se any reason to disagree with these suggestions - Then pleae comment here so we can debate?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
February Tweetup - DC/MD/VA - Indique heights
This was the second tweet-up this year at the Indique Heights. When I first started engaging in the social media there were a lot more impromptu Tweetups and then came a flurry of corporate sponsored events which got too frequent. I feel 2009 will bring about a consolidation of "social" social events and learn as you dine events.
Today I met new friends many whom I have known online and some I met for the first time.
The merry tweeters who came to Indique Heights
Chantelle Karl @cckarl Yelp.com's Communication manager for the East coast ( That includes Canada and UK !- figure that out )
Nakeva @nakeva http://www.meeid.com/nakeva/
Gaurav Sharma @gauravonomics http://www.gauravonomics.com/
( Steven Fisher after probably a huge does of Slum Dog Millionaire called Guarav's Hair style a Bollywood actor style)
Lisa Throckmorton @lkthrock http://www.speakerboxpr.com/plugged-in/
Kim Oser @putitaway http://www.putitaway.net/
Allison Lee @dallisonlee http://www.dallisonlee.com/
Chris Abraham @chrisabraham http://www.chrisabraham.com/
ThursdayB with Chris @thursdayb http://www.thursdaybram.com/
Joe Loong @joelogon http://www.joelogon.com/blog
Steven Fisher @stevenfisher http://blog.networksolutions.com
Jill Foster @jillfoster http://www.womengrowbusiness.com
Andrew Somyak @asomyak
Kevin @kasrael http://kl.yelp.com/
Allyson Kapin @womenwhotech http://www.womenwhotech.com/
Here is Jeremiah Owyang's definition of a Tweetup
What’s Tweetup? A few years ago, we called them blogger dinners, and it’s where folks got to come together, meet each other face to face (scary huh?) and actually talk in real life. Despite the affection many have for these social tools, there is nothing like seeing people in real life and meeting them.
A few guidelines for social events that I mentioned on twitter: Unlike Fight Club, talk about Tweetups, before, during, and after. Come to meet folks, be social. Don’t “poke” anyone unless you’ve brought protection. The act of “throwing sheep” at anyone other than your spouse is not encouraged. If you’re going to mention people “you’re following them” be sure to give them context whether that’s on Twitter or in real life –hopefully the former.
Kidding aside, just come to network with others, buy someone you’re connected to online a drink, exchange real world information, and most importantly, be merry
Thanks Chef VInod for the good food and for the hospitality.
If you came to the tweetup today- Did you enjoy it ? What can we do better? Any other suggestions for venue, dates etc.
Montgomery County MD Parents : PTSA needs your HELP
Message to parents of children living in the Churchill Cluster of schools and other parents who would like to support the PTSA.
URGENT NOTICE - The County Council just informed MCCPTA that public testimony for the Capital Budget is on Tuesday, Feb. 10 (1 days from now!) at 7:30 PM
The Churchill Cluster Coordinators will be testifying on the Capital Budget and Amendments to the FY 2009-2014 CIP. MCCPTA was originally told by the County Council that this testimony would occur in April, not in February as is usually the case, but the Council suddenly changed their decision, much to our dismay.
YOUR ATTENDANCE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE - we hope you can join us - we need parents, students, teachers and staff to come support our testimony.
Many of our cluster schools are scheduled for modernizations and upgrades - the County Council is responsible for allocating the funds to MCPS for these projects.
Please wear your school logo clothing so the council members can identify you in the audience.
The testimony is held at:
Council Office Building (COB)
100 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
We urge AS MANY people as possible to attend the testimony to show the County Council that these Capital Projects are priorities for our community. Cabin John and Hoover Middle schools are the next two county middle schools to be renovated. Parents from our feeder schools please come to show your support for these modernizations - your children will be the ones to benefit from these "new" schools. The Seven Locks and Potomac ES communities will be affected if the Seven Locks modernization is delayed so we need you. It is important that we take advantage of this opportunity to testify, even if it is at the last minute. We want to show the County Council, with our presence, that funding for these capital projects is a priority for us.
We have yet to be assigned an exact time for our testimony - you can call the County Council Office 240-777-7931 on Tuesday to get an approximate time for the Churchill Cluster. Please plan to arrive earlier to allow for schedule changes, time to park, etc.
We hope you will join us on Tuesday evening.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
I have stimulus on my mind
What behaviors are changing as a result of the economy ? What is the stimulus package and how will it affect your life? I had interviewed Guy Kawasaki for the Network Solutions' Blog in March last year and his advice was if you get up in the morning and your business is going normally you should not worry about what the economists and the newspapers are telling you. This may be a period for businesses to excel at what they do.
Here are the signs:
- House values have fallen
- Companies are down sizing
- Stock market is down
- Banks are going bankrupt
- Cars are selling less
What are the pundit's advising :
- Live within your salary
- Reduce unnecessary expenses
- Save 15 to 20% of your salary or rainy day
What are the opportunities:
- Do the remodeling/painting now: If you have already saved for the home remodeling or painting project. This is a good time since the construction industry is feeling the pain this is a good time to find someone to do it at a competitive price. This combined with the fact that this is winter.
- Buy the LCD TV you had put off: Retail store sales are down and LCD TV prices are falling.
- Thinking about a new car - good bargains now. Buy a 3 year old used car with around 35k miles preferably a brand that is rated very well for the least maintenance (Toyota) or is cheaper to drive.
- I am sure there are a hundred things I can add to this list.
Now I have not seen the Stimulus plan , and I am quite overwhelmed by the number of zeros in the figure. Now if we already have a budget deficit , what will this do to the deficit. Since the Economy is global can we say that any kick start to a economy by the US government will spread the economic engine worldwide? Only time will tell. The selling point for this stimulus plan is that it is better to do something than be quiet and let things take care of themselves. In a few months and hopefully not years the dollars infused into the market will make their way to the businesses in some form and we can all go back to the heady days of 2002-2006. the lesson for me at least is to live within means and in fact try to save 25% of your salary for a rainy day.
US Public Debt : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
Who is buying our Debt: MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES