As many of you know, we’ve been doing daily morning business news updates on KFDI for a few months.
I’m not a stranger to radio, or to public speaking, but I have to confess that I’ve found the experience rather vexing at times – only when veteran KFDI newsman George Lawson is on the other end of the telephone recording the report.
I consistently screw up the report when George is on the other end of the phone and have to re-record parts of it. No real specifics here, for obvious reasons, but the gaffes range from a rather bizarre characterization of a local aviation company – one of those “What did I just say?” moments – to one spot in the broadcast when I inexplicably began babbling incoherently. Thank God it’s not live radio … and that Freud is dead. I’d hate to learn what it all means.
Nothing against George; he’s a great colleague and a nice guy to work with. Don’t really think he makes me nervous.
But I hear he and the station collect taped gaffes. George, quote me a price for mine.
Now.
I’d say the answer is still no, but today’s market reaction to OPEC’s production cuts is a little surprising. Experts say that demand continues to fall in the U.S., which I find a little puzzling. I wonder if the decline is actually demand-related, or if there’s been a bigger shift to fuel-efficient vehicles.
One of the Midwest’s biggest oil wholesalers doesn’t see a floor in the falling oil market, either. In a conversation this week about gas prices falling under $2, QuikTrip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said, “You know what? It could happen.
“And if you’re asking if QuikTrip would be happy if that happened, the answer is yes.”
Caffe Moderne owner Janet Rine is on a “Quest.”
She is working hard to expand the Old Town restaurant to include a separate room for special events. The highlight of the room is an Art Deco-style mural painted by local artist Steve Murillo, called “The Quest.” Rine’s goal, after the bills are paid, is eventually to use income from the room to buy a Beech Staggerwing like the one depicted in the mural. “I want that Staggerwing,” Rine said. In fact, she is calling the entire room the Quest Space. “This has been a quest for me to be able to afford an airplane.” The Staggerwing is one of eight airplanes depicted in the mural.
The room should be open in a couple of weeks.
Today I’ve been asked a question that I’m not sure I have an answer for.
Will it look bad for a bank to tap into the Treasury Department’s $700 billion rescue plan, even if it is relatively healthy?
Last week, when I interviewed Tom Hoenig, the president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, he said the money was available to healthy banks that might want to shore up their capital as the economy takes a turn down.
Seems to me that tapping into the money shouldn’t paint an otherwise healthy bank in a negative light.
What do you think?
I’ve been getting some e-mails wanting reassurance that Wild West World will reopen next spring.
I can’t give it.
Here’s the park’s status as of today: Jerry Murphy, the Tulsa theme park entrepreneur who park owner AHG has been in negotiations with for 17 years – OK, make that five months – to run the park, said today that he’s standing by, ready to start work on the park with an eye toward a Memorial Day weekend 2009 reopening.
“Once they get us those bonds, then we’re ready to start working,” Murphy said. “It’ll be cold and a little awkward in the winter, but we can do it.”
Bonds?
“Not Star bonds,” said Jack Whitson, Park City manager. “They’re probably talking industrial revenue bonds.”
OK. A little loan, if you will, from Park City to get the park reopened. When will that IRB issue be on the Park City council agenda?
“Well, they haven’t asked for them,” Whitson said.
More details as they become available.
It’s true: Wichita is in fact a culturally-backward Mesozoic marketplace lacking the true essential of an authentic 21st Century Midwest metropolis.
Why the sudden shift to negativity, you ask? The answer is simple: I demand a free-standing Chick-Fil-A in Wichita.
NOW!!!!!
Because without it, we’re behind some of the truly culturally enlightened centers along I-35. Another Polynesian restaurant? Bah. New steakhouse? Who cares? And what’s with this “gastropub” stuff?
Our fair city must be defended against market saturation by repetitive theme restaurants.
Nope. Wichita will never hit the big time in my eyes until I can score a nugget 8-pack without going to Wichita State University.
(Author’s note: The above column is close-captioned for the humor impaired.)
The national Christmas retailing outlook remains muted, according to a national economist, with shoppers focusing on basics and value.
Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers, forecasts a 1.7 percent year-over-year sales increase coming in November and December. Discounters and wholesalers should benefit, while traditional retailers should struggle.
The full report will be available Friday, and we’ll post a link here..
A reporter from the Financial Post, a Canadian publication, recently visited Wichita to get the pulse of the city ahead of the presidential election. Here’s an exerpt:
Still, anxiety levels in this stoic Midwestern city have shot higher as the financial crisis rages around it and economic indicators show a sharp deterioration in U. S. and global growth.
For global growth has been the lifeblood of Wichita, which has leveraged a weak greenback to sell a stream of grains, business jets, navigation equipment and conveyor belts to a hungry and prosperous world. Exports, the silent strength of the U. S. economy in recent years, are also now at risk as this made-in-America crisis circles round to bite the domestic economy in the back.
You can read the article here.
At the India Aviation 2008 exhibition and conference in Hyderabad, India, Boeing’s vice president of commercial airplane sales said that India will need 1,001 new commercial airplanes worth about $105 billion over the next two decades. That’s according to Boeing’s 2008 Market Outlook.
“The long-term fundamentals of growth that drive commercial aviation in India remain strong, despite the near-term challenges that face the country,” said Boeing’s Dinesh Keskar in a statement.
The cost of a barrel of Kansas oil has fallen by a third in the last two weeks, as it has elsewhere. More importantly, this week it fell past the key $70 a barrel mark that several Kansas oilmen say is the tipping point for when they’ll go out and drill new wells.
I’m guessing it has local oilmen rattled, but probably they’re taking a wait and see attitude before they cancel their orders for oil services contractors and lay off workers. The price snapped back slightly so far Friday and it looks like OPEC is swinging into action to cut production.
Two doughnut chains with local stores (and, no, neither had the word “Kreme” in their name) were named among the nation’s 21 best doughnuts in a recent AOL CityGuide survey:
5. LaMar’s Donuts -
LaMar’s is a smaller chain with plenty of doughnut shops in the Midwest, Colorado, Alabama and Arizona. The recipes have withstood the test of time and it’s the commitment to the basics, like the signature glazed doughnut, that tastes so good.
14. Daylight Donuts -
“Daylight is quietly becoming an international doughnut powerhouse. What started as a mom and pop outfit in 1954 with Tommy and Lucille Day has turned into 900 stores worldwide, but they don’t grab all of the headlines as KK and DD. Instead, they just focus on perfecting the already perfect doughnut.”
What do you think, fair? Or not?
In an opinion piece in today’s New York Times, investment guru Warren Buffett says he’s buying U.S. stocks with his personal account when “I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds.”
His explanation:
A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.