The fight is on for retailers this holiday season as the economy continues to wither all across the world. To combat the agony of waiting in long lines, there is one thing that customers can look forward to: Sales. And plenty of them.
Time to rejoice, right? Well, not so fast…
The American flag in the above picture means a lot to me. It’s painted on the building of my former place of employment: A sports bar named Tully’s in Amherst, NY. It was at Tully’s where I met a friend named Eddie…who now works at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Eddie is really my only tangible link to Wall Street, and I’m grateful for that.
So, every time I hear about Wall Street cutting jobs or cutting salaries, all I think of is Eddie. A 25-year-old guy who works his tail off about 50 hours a week–and even more since the financial crisis made its landfall.
Eddie and I never really talk about how much money he makes. And yes, maybe he got into the business to make money. But, who can blame him? (more…)
College is arguably the best four years of your life. But, with the recent economic crisis, some are saying students will be lucky if they even get there. Lack of student loan money is the main problem, but there’s a whole other slew of issues. Which makes me wonder…is the government doing anything about this yet? Should we maybe give, oh, I don’t know, a small portion of $700 billion to help fund students and colleges?
Somewhere, the next Bill Gates is sitting in a high school deciding that he doesn’t want to go to college because he can’t afford the tuition. Somewhere, a student who actually has an idea to invent something that will both produce jobs and make money (rather than just inventing new ways to make money on the stock market) isn’t going to go because she’ll decide that the closest college doesn’t have nice enough dorms. At least, that’s one theory out there.
The financial crisis has hit nearly every facet of our economy, from retail sales, to auto sales, to the housing industry. And, though arguably not as important, the economic future of America’s sports organizations aren’t exempt from the trend either.
From Nascar to the NBA, over to the NHL and all the way to the NFL and MLB, nearly every professional sports organization in the U.S. is expected to hit a downturn with the economy in turmoil. Decreases in ticket sales, merchandise sales and corporate sponsorships will likely cause some economic hardships for all sports organizations.
I can’t say I feel sorry for the owners or the athletes. Perhaps cutting down on multi-million dollar contracts is a way to save money? Or, well, here’s an idea that could work: PLAN AHEAD!
Richard Fuld said on Monday that he takes full responsibility for his actions. Of course, the 62-year-old believes he did nothing wrong as the CEO of Lehman Brothers. Appearing in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committe, Fuld’s Q & A session was rife with excuses.
Fuld’s list of blame looks like this: