Price of the Dollar too

The Dollar has been groosly speculated also.

I feel like doing the Ray Lewis Dance right now!

Wow

I'm sorry for those making over 600 G's a year.

I'm not going to be there for at least a decade and could care less.

There would be no noteworthy financial change and brutha in charge. So from a personal standpoint I'm allright. Sorry that you will lose money, but most likely there will be a way to make more money in that scheme so it all works out at the end.

I care more about my child knowing that black person can actually be president. That's worth more than all the tax benifits of everyone included combined.

Media/Economy cause and effect

This a great topic. I don't have my thoughts summarized on it yet. I will get back to it after my power walk. There are two aspects to this. There is the self fulfilling prophecy that the media deals with, and there are the financial speculators that make short term money on stocks and the economy going down. They like the recession talks because it allows to invest for decline instead of growth. Welcome to the game!!!!!

The media is a powerful entity. It's probably the most persuasive force in the world.
Because of the influx of bloggers and text messaging, they have been forced to provide updates real time instead of daily or weekly. The media gets viewers, readers and listeners attention by attaching story lines and management imposed themes to their real time stories. Hence, they have to sensationalize everything. Because there is so much coverage, judgement occurs every second. The number 1 rated stories right now are typically articles about the economy and the media is a copycat league. I think it's shady when the financial reporting media makes announcements to increase their own investment revenue and undoubtedly participates in the practice.

The Media/Economy Cause and Effect

I think the majority of people and consumers don't follow what specific events are happening with the economy. ie. what exactly is causing the economy and the dollar to fluctuate, be stimulated, or tank.

Besides massive issues like the housing crisis, most people haven't an idea whats happening with the economy. They aren't trained economists. They aren't savvy forecasters. Most of the sheep listen in to what the media tells them.

If the media says we're in a recession, then I guess we're in a recession and we better hold back those pennies we were about to splurge on un-necessities.

Is the media to blame for perpetuating the problem? As well as some government officials trying to save their skin by saying that a recession is looming?

If nobody really said anything, wouldn't people just go on spending like drunken sailors the way they have been the last many years?

Of course consumer spending is only a small cog in the economic equation, but it can't hurt when people decide to go ahead anyway buying that 3rd car, or do that remodel, or continue to eat out 4 times a week instead of swapping to ramin.

I don't know. I'm one of those economically challenged persons who only hears this crap through the media. So now my kitchen countertops gots to wait dammit!

More on the Economy

The Economic Cycle Research Institute has officially concluded that we are in a recession and says the government blew it. They had a chance to shift the direction and reacted too late. The worst part is the the fact the Canadian dollar is worth more or equal to ours. I used to like going to Canada because it felt like the whole country was on sale.
LINK!

Economy

We are in a recession. But before anyone jumps off a cliff, let me define what it is first. If the United States was a company, a recession would be like two negative quarters in a row with the US revenue being equal to the GDP. Take that combined with income level, employment rates, retail sales and all aspects of financial performance can be measured.

The recession of 1974 was caused by skyrocketing oil prices. Another key factor in recessions is the fact that there was a peak in growth right before that time. The real estate caused a collapse just like the dot com era did. The money maker that gets us out of this recession will put us into another one after it collapses.

Bet on Microsoft

If I had one thing to say about the current state of business I would say this:
Microsoft is about to do something real big. They are fully focused and hungry.
I been interviewing with quite a few different types of companies, but none like Microsoft. Most big companies don't know their big and aren't aware of the problems in such a state. MS has moved beyond that stage and knows what they are. It took them some time to snap out of it, but they are back. The key of it all is this. Yahoo lost it's engineering power. Oracle lost their engineering power. Google hasn't. That is where the battle front really is, with the technology and not with the businessmen. MS has realized this finally. Visa is set to IPO. I would bet on them also. If you bought Mastercard stock when they IPO'd two years you would have gotten a 5 fold return.

Executive Compensation-How much can a CEO make?

Every company is required to report the compensation structure of their highest ranking employees (Form 8K). This information is public. But basically, the CEO can make an extra 250% of their salary if things go well. The other C's(CFO, CTO, COO) can make around 125 more percent of their's. These critical mass position for the lucrative bonuses starts usually around the Director title at about 130%. See below for the specifics about a high tech company's executive compensation plan.

Our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, the three other most-highly-compensated officers, all other officers, as well as other key employees, are eligible to participate in the Bonus Plan.
Bonuses payable to our CEO and other officers who are subject to Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (collectively, the "Executive Officers") under the Bonus Plan will be determined by the Compensation Committee.
The target and maximum payouts, both of which are a percentage of base salary, that may be earned by each of our Executive Officers are as follows:
MAXIMUM
POSITION TARGET % PAYOUT %
CEO 100 200
CFO 60 120
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT 60 120
VICE PRESIDENT 50 100

Under the Bonus Plan, actual payouts to the Executive Officers will be determined by the Compensation Committee based on a formula that takes into account (1) operating income as a percentage of revenue for 2008 (the "Financial Performance Metric") and (2) individual performance (the "Individual Performance Metric"). The Financial Performance Metric will determine the Potential Payout percentage (as specified in the table below) that may be earned by an Executive Officer, and the Individual Performance Metric will then be applied as a multiplier to determine the actual payout. The formula which the Compensation Committee will use to calculate the actual payouts to the Executive Officers (which are subject to the Maximum Payout Percentages specified above) is as follows:
Base Salary * (Target % * Potential Payout % * Individual Performance Metric %) = Actual Payout.
________________________________________
The Financial Performance Metric under the Bonus Plan will be operating income as a percentage of revenue for 2008. Operating income is defined as earnings before income, interest expense, and taxes. The Compensation Committee shall have discretion to exclude from the calculation of the Financial Performance Metric significant, non-recurring items. The Potential Payout Percentage will be calculated based on the following table:
Potential
Operating Income as % of Revenue Payout %
Less than 22 0
22 20
23 30
24 50
25 70
26 90
27 100
28 130
29 160
30 190
31 or higher 200

If the results of the Financial Performance Metric do not appear on the above table, the Potential Payout Percentage shall be calculated on a proportional basis. For example, if 2008 operating income as a percentage of revenue is 25.5%, the Potential Payout Percentage will be 80%.
The Individual Performance Metric will be determined by the Compensation Committee as follows:
• 70% will be based on the individual's performance against specific goals that have been approved by the Board of Directors in the case of the CEO and by the Compensation Committee in the case of other Executive Officers. Individual performance goals may have different weightings.
• 30% will be based on the Compensation Committee's subjective assessment of the overall performance of each Executive Officer.
The Individual Performance Metric may range from 0-125%. In evaluating the performance of the Executive Officers other than the CEO, the Compensation Committee will take into account the CEO's evaluation of whether an individual has met his or her performance goals and the CEO's subjective assessment of overall performance. In evaluating the performance of the CEO, the Compensation Committee may take into account the CEO's self-assessment as well as the assessment of the independent members of the Board of Directors. The Compensation Committee's determination as to whether individual performance goals have been met may be subjective in nature.
Payment of bonuses (if any) will be made in February or early March of 2009. Bonuses normally will be paid in cash in a single lump sum, subject to payroll taxes and tax withholdings.