One New York firm thinks it has a cure for the madness on Wall Street: Transcendental meditation.
Here’s its reasoning:
Research shows this experience generates highly coherent brain functioning, increasing creativity and intelligence, while providing deep physiological rest and reducing stress for the individual. When practiced in groups, research shows the calming effect of meditation spreads throughout society, creating coherence and order, while increasing creativity in society as a whole—providing the basis for a stable, growing economy.
I suppose anything is worth a shot at this point.
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.
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.
I’m not going to try to tell you whether Boeing or the Machinists union is right in this strike that has now lasted more than five weeks.
The company is fighting for what it believes in, and so are the employees. Both sides are paying the price for their principles, with lost profits and wages.
To me, the shame of it all is the hardship the strike is causing on all of those people who don’t have anything to gain and so much to lose. I’m talking about all those people at Spirit AeroSystems who are working three-day weeks, the people getting laid off at smaller shops, the suppliers who are having to scale back because Boeing doesn’t need what they make right now.
There are only about 750 Boeing employees on strike in Wichita. But the impact reaches so many more people here, directly and indirectly. And when Boeing and the Machinists come to an agreement, the collateral damage will extend to the suppliers long after the strike is over.
One of the most fascinating things for me in Steve Feilmeier’s presentation at yesterday’s annual economic outlook conference were a couple slides that showed how carried away America has gotten with financial manipulation.
Last year, roughly 21 percent of our GDP came from the earnings of the financial sector. And another slide showed that the world’s financial assets — stocks, savings, bonds, derivatives, etc. — went from about 120 percent of the world’s actual production in 1990 to 356 percent last year. That tells me there was too much manipulation of the world’s money.
To say that there were a lot of business people interested in what speakers had to say at the Wichita Area Economic Outlook Conference this morning is an understatement.
It was standing room only.
The projections for Wichita were largely positive. Though everything — and I mean everything — was couched: “as long as there are no shocks to the system.”
That’s sort of scary considering there have been quite a few shocks recently.
You can read more here about how the Wichita economy is expected to perform in the next year.
It looks good.
Let’s hope the projections hold true.
I’m in Kansas City at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers fall workshop. There are some great speakers lined up here. Today’s events include a training session about the ag economy, an address from Ford vice president Joe Hinrichs and a discussion about the biofuel debade.
The session I’m looking most forward to is entitled: “A conversation with T. Boone Pickens: Will his plan work?”
We will be given the opportunity to ask questions during the session. So what do you want to know? If I get a chance to ask, I’ll publish the response here.
I was chatting with a friend in retail over the Labor Day weekend, and he said it’s a tough time right now despite all the talk about the economy being good here. I mentioned that it’s probably a good time to check in with small local shops for a story on how they’re doing, but he said no one would want to talk. He said it’s hard to be known as a popular store or the “it’ store of the moment if you admit to problems.
Of course, it’s probably also hard to attract shoppers if you don’t let them know you need them.
As difficult a time it is for so many businesses — including newspapers — I have to admit I’m thankful not to be in retail.
A friendly reader who goes by “Fox Buster” forwards along this auto repair industry update on the status of Todd Fox, who closed his 18 Fox Collision repair shops almost a year ago.
In an update from the courthouse, Wichita attorney Ed Nazar remains on case for the time being, and the sale of the final Fox Wichita building on East Kellogg has closed.
Despite a prevailing view among small business that the economy is poor, a majority of professionals say their business is going well, according to a survey by Opinion Research Corp.
The survey found that 65 percent of small-business professionals rated their own business conditions as “good,” compared with 32 percent who rated them “poor.” But only 27 percent of small-business professionals rated the economy “good,” while 71 percent said the current economic conditions were “poor.” Half of respondents said they expect the economy to be good a year from now, BtoB reports.
This morning brings big news of a major business model shift at Toyota.
More Toyota Prius hybrids rolling off the assembly lines. Fewer pickups – please, oh please, leave the Toyota Tacoma, the greatest vehicle I’ve ever seen, alone – and no SUVs.
I’m guessing that the Toyota majordomos didn’t give Phil Gramm a call before announcing these decisions. I’m sure Phil would have told them the auto sales downturn is all in their collective heads.
I like Gramm’s logic, though: My gargantuan monthly gasoline bill is all in my head. So I shouldn’t have to pay it.
Right?
Ben Smith’s blog on the housing bubble, based in Arizona, is one of the most informative sites for reading on the regionalized state of the housing market.
Meanwhile, on the homefront lurks a question: When do you think the national economy will moderate enough to restore some homebuyer confidence and get both buyers and sellers back into the local market? And what will have to occur before the economy moderates?