Henry Phish

An interesting video piece on the impact of the recession on a per state basis. Interestingly enough, the midwest, including Minnesota, has been less impacted by recession than states on the coasts. Also note New Hampshire…why New Hampshire? I have no idea, but it would be interesting to find out.

Recession map: Which states have been hit the hardest?

I’ve been reading in the news as of late that the current number of suicides have risen with the failing of the global economy, bankruptcies, and joblessness. Unfortunately for many people, this is a serious reality. For those feeling the pressure and needing to talk, hot-lines and counseling are highly recommended.

For a list of hot-lines by state, check out: www.suicide.org

According to one article:
Financial stress builds up to the point the person feels they can’t go on, and the person believes their family is better off dead than left without a financial support,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Washington D.C.-based Violence Policy Center.

It’s not yet clear there is a statistical link between suicides and the financial downturn since there is generally a two-year lag in national suicide figures. But historically, suicides increase in times of economic hardship. And the current financial crisis is already being called the worst since the Great Depression.

Whether you like Disney or you don’t, you have to admit, they’ve made their mark on society in one fashion or another. As it is, this clip pretty much speaks for itself.

On another note, Disneyland closed Sunday for Miley Cyrus’ birthday extravaganza. Next year she’s having her party at Epcot. Happy birthday Miley!

I’ve been following the American Express Members Projects on my blog over the last few weeks, and it’s been quite the race. It’s kind of fun to watch and see what people are voting for, but now it’s down to the last 5 and there are only 6 days left to vote. Unfortunately if you aren’t an American Express member, you can’t vote in the last round. Still, I encourage you to take a look and cheer them on in your hearts and minds.

I was sent an email last night from one of the finalist, and I just thought I’d pass it on.

Because you’ve written about another organization nominated for the American Express Members Projects on your blog, Henry Phish, I would like to ask for your help. My organization, International Medical Corps focuses on feeding hungry children around the world, and we are very excited to have made the final 5 nominated projects out of 1,190 worthwhile projects. “Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children” is now eligible to receive up to $1.5 million to help feed hungry and malnourished children and we would be thrilled if you would help us. I’ve put together this blogger friendly news release explaining everything.

http://internationalmedicalcorps.smnr.us/

A friend sent this to me and I thought you might find it interesting:

If you had purchased $1000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49 today.

If you had purchased $1000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33 today.

If you had purchased $1000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0 today.

But, if you had purchased $1000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received $214. Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.

A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon!

Makes you proud to be an American.

I found an author interview on American Express’ Open Forum site. The book itself answers the age-old question that small business owners face all the time is, “Why do intelligent people make stupid choices?” It’s a good interview, and I encourage you to check it out.

The book is called: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

Right now the news and media is jumping up and down a lot about the $700 billion dollar bailout of the U.S. banking system. For most people, it seems like a crazy amount of money. To put it in perspective, according to CNN, the U.S. government could give every man woman and child $2300 dollars a piece, 2000 McDonalds apple pies, or buy 6.6 billion barrels of crude oil.

700 billion dollars as seen on CNN

Where the whole thing gets complicated is that $700 billion may not even be enough to save the banking system. With the politicians arguing over whether to nationalize the banking system, it feels a little bit like we’re entering the twilight zone. Russia is supposed to have a nationalized banking system, not us. Which just goes to show how weighty this issue is in a real world context. These banks could litereally fail without continued government support.

As it is, these banks brought it on themselves by providing high risk loans and other services to a public that couldn’t hold up it’s end of the deal. As banks and lending institutions begin to take more risks, it seems like these sorts of problems continue to worsen. As important as banks are to the health of the nation, they need to make better decisions about their corporate lending policies…there just isn’t a better way to say it.

What if the bailout plan doesn’t work?

I’ve started a second site over at www.theculturemarket.com.

The purpose of the new site is about bringing a topical slant to how big business connects with the culture at large. The site is intended to grow and change over time, and my hope is to form a community there with both common and dissenting opinions.

The origin of the site owes a lot to the growth of this blog in the last few months, and I’m hoping to duplicate that success over their with a series of quick articles that lend themselves to discussion, with the focus of the site being somewhat larger than HenryPhish.

So let me know if you like it…or if you don’t…and we’ll see how it goes.

And commenting on the articles is greatly encouraged…you’ll be required to provide an email address and handle to post a comment, but as always, I don’t use the information except as part of site maintenance.

It’s Friday, and this was kind of fun. It’s from The Onion. Check it out.

I just watched an interesting news article on people in the workplace who create problems just so they can be the hero that solves them. The term is taken from a psychological condition in which caregivers fabricate an illness or induce illness to get attention. Apparently it’s a common occurrence in the workplace these days, which is difficult to detect because people who have the illness often get promoted or commended.

The article recommends encouraging teamwork over individual performance in order to discourage the condition. Honestly, though, teamwork always seemed like the best policy anyway. It’s hard to believe that someone would fake a problem just so they could take the credit for fixing it. Though that probably explains a few people I’ve met over the years.

Personally, that just sounds like a lot of extra work.

Some Employees Create Problems Just To Take Credit For Solutions