Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ-Life Links (061506)

Free Links:

• Psst, Dont Tell Anyone — “According to the 2006 InfoWorld Compensation Survey, which polled 789 IT professionals, salaries are up 4.8 percent, the best showing in five years. Bonuses remain healthy.”
• There’s no point in trying to ignore what Reuters calls a “global equity meltdown” to the tune of $2 trillion. Of course, the media DID manage to ignore using the “meltdown” term when the NASDAQ ultimately dropped 75% off its early 2000 peak and other US equity indices headed south in a “meltdown” that amounted to many, many trillions more, didn’t they? But back to the current situation: I believe a correction is defined as a 10% drop, and we’re in that neighborhood now, while a bear market is a 20% drop, and we’re nowhere near there. I don’t want to minimize the suffering (believe me, it’s no fun watching your investments drop), but let’s ask why this is happening. I think the markets, in a bit of short-sightedness, don’t like the inflation-fighting that’s going on at the Fed and in other financial capitals. The inflation-fighting is occurring, according to people a lot smarter than me, primarily because Alan Greenspan didn’t raise interest rates fast enough in his final year or so. If Ben Bernanke and his compadres overseas tame the inflation monster and make it clear that this is exactly what they are doing, the markets will get over their pout, and could still have a very nice ride up during the last half of the year. If central bankers give in to the yappers who say rate hikes will choke off the expansion (and I don’t think they will) and hold back on rate increases, inflationary expectations could make a comeback, and we’ll pay dearly for the rest of the decade — and not just in the financial markets.
• One sign that the markets believe that central banks are serious about fighting inflation is that gold, which had topped $700 an ounce, actually fell below $600 on Tuesday.
• Interesting facts I learned in the process of reading about active Marine Mike McNamara’s council victory in Ward 2 in Grand Forks, ND on Tuesday — North Dakota does not have ANY voter registration, and local council and school district races do not identify what party a candidate belongs to.
• A wireless phone call to the bullpen — The bullpen phone is going the way of the horse and buggy at Wrigley Field, the home of baseball’s Chicago Cubs. And yes, it’s ironic that the last ballpark with lights will be the first with wireless phones to the bullpen. But given that the bullpens at Wrigley are no more than about 50 yards from the dugouts, I’ve always wondered why they even needed the old-fashioned phones, let alone the newfangled gizmos. How about just shouting a little?
• If you don’t like it, don’t eat there — In a classic example of what should be a “loser pays the other guy’s attorneys’ fees” lawsuit, the misnamed Center for Science in the Public Interest is suing KFC because it cooks with high-fat partially hydrogenated oil:
  

  CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson said it was harder to avoid trans fat at KFC than at other fast-food restaurants.

  Hey Mike, people who care about avoiding trans fats can avoid KFC. Zheesh.