Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ-Life Links (052406)

Free Links:

• More ho-hum news from “The Greatest Story Never Told” –
  

  Worker confidence up as hiring rises
  Posted 5/23/2006
  By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY

  Employees are feeling more confident about the labor market and their own job security as hiring picks up in a number of industries.
  Mounting research shows employees are cautiously optimistic as salary freezes thaw and companies play tug-of-war over skilled job candidates.

  Workers reported high confidence in their job security, with more than 80% predicting little or no chance they could lose their jobs in the coming year, according to a May survey of 1,000 full-time employees by Philadelphia-based Right Management.

  Other items in the article: Wages are up in many industries, employers are having a hard time finding people they need, and signing bonuses are back in vogue. Betcha that doesn’t make the evening newscasts.

• So The FTC Must Also Be in on the Big Oil Conspiracy — “The Federal Trade Commission said yesterday that it investigated 15 instances of potential price gouging in the wake of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and found no wrongdoing…..”
• The Dixie Chicks’ Business Move Is Not Working Out — Call me cynical, but I think their leader’s statement a few years ago while overseas (”Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.”) was a short-sighted business move to get that crowd on their side at that moment. That business move is not paying off so well, if early sales and audience reaction to their new album is any indication. Opposing the Iraq war is one thing; disrespecting your home audience by dragging an entire state into the matter was simply a bad business move. Similar thoughts come from Texas Rainmaker (HT Instapundit).
• That about sums it up — “Ever since USA Today broke a story on May 11 about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) secret review of millions of phone records, the media and civil libertarians alike have gotten their knickers in a twist. But here’s the problem: the story isn’t news, it isn’t accurate, and it isn’t (or shouldn’t be) troubling.”
• New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Is Sorry — He said as much at a commencement speech at the State University of New York at New Paltz on Sunday. He’s sorry because:
  

  “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You weren’t supposed to be graduating in an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land. You weren’t supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for fundamental human rights, be it the rights of immigrants to start a new life, the right of gays to marry or the rights of women to choose.”

  Yawn. The people he really owes an apology to are New York Times Company shareholders (graph is as of about 1:30 PM on Tuesday; the stock closed at $25.03):

  

  Update, May 25, 10 PM — Via The Corner, NYT bonds have just been downgraded by Moody’s “to ‘Baa1′ — the third-lowest investment grade ranking.”