Basic Digital Camera Sales Are Falling

This article appeared in the Los Angeles Times dated December 23, 2011

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/…echnology/2011/12/phone-camera-photos.html

The essence is 27% of photos and videos taken this year were shot with smartphones — up from 17% last year. Not surprisingly, sales of the basic digital point-and-shoot cameras suffered.

For the upper-level point-and-shoots — with optical zooms of 10x or greater and an average price of $247 — unit sales grew 16%. And digital single-lens-reflex cameras — with an average retail price of $863 — were popular enough that some camera shops were out of them the week before Christmas. Unit sales were up 12%.

All of this according to a survey by NPD Group (formerly National Purchase Diary), a leading North American market research company.

Best Buy Screw-up Means the Economy is on an Upswing

Some shoppers are having a very frustrating holiday season, thanks to retailer Best Buy. Some of their gifts aren’t going to make it in time for Christmas, according to Moneyland.

Amazon along with some major on-line photo suppliers ran out of some cameras a week before Christmas.

ABC television reported an upswing in car sales during December.

In the latest sign that the economy is surging at year’s end, unemployment claims have dropped to the lowest level since April 2008 as reported by the Associated Press.

Unfortunately, whether you are buying a new washing machine or a new television, the goods are not manufactured in the United States.

Still there are signs of growth in house construction and other businesses. Let’s not forget the increased employment in North Dakota thanks to oil extraction activities.

70% of or economy is based upon consumer consumption. Reports are indicating a 6% increase in sales over last December.

It appears we have turned the corner!

Finally Good News About Our Economy

I tried helping retail establishments in my area. I told my wife she should buy the clothes she has delayed purchasing. That will cost a few hundred dollars. Then I went into Best Buy on Black Friday and ordered a new 50 inch television.

Not only was Black Friday a banner day for total sales but the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% for November. This is the lowest unemployment rate in two and a half years.

The higher sales even over flowed into car and light truck sales. A local Ford dealer that claims to be the biggest sales company in the country, Galpin Ford, reported that their sales over the Thanksgiving Day weekend were five times the number of vehicles sold in 2010. Look at these extraordinary national sales figures.

U.S.car and light truck sales for top 10 automakers

	Nov. sales	Pctg. Change from Nov.’10	Year-to-date sales	2011 share
GM	180,402	+7.0%	2,269,446	19.7%
Ford	166,441	+13.3%	1,933,654	16.8%
Toyota	137,960	+6.7%	1,466,530	12.7%
Chrysler	107,172	+44.5%	1,231,095	10.7%
Nissan	85,182	+19.4%	941,607	8.2%
Honda	83,925	-6.4%	1,042,055	9.0%
Hyundai	49,610	+21.8%	594,926	5.2%
Volkswagen	38,283	+28%	398,654	3.5%
Kia	37,007	+39.1%	442,102	3.8%
Mercedes-Benz	28,257	+46.7%	239,006	2.1%
Industry total	994,721	+13.9%	11,534,206	100%

Source: Autodata from Los Angeles Times

Obviously no one knows if the optimism will continue but this sort of behavior is contagious.

There are some things to be concerned about. First if we buy we do not save and that means less money for an emergency or retirement. Europe is in a financial mess and if it isn’t solved soon it will impact the United States.

Just for the month of December let’s all think positive and do positive things. It just might change our behavior and attitude in 2012.

Bloomberg’s Plan for World Domination

Illustration from Newsweek website by Radio

The November 28, 2011 edition of Newsweek has a six page spread on Michael Bloomberg’s media empire. It is an empire built on the income he earned with his company that provides specialized data to Wall Street traders and stock brokerage companies.

The spread attempts to frighten readers with the possibility that very soon Bloomberg L.P. will control so much of the American media that it will impact almost all of society. It is something on the order of Rupert Murdoch’s control of the media in the U.K. through his News Corporation. The Murdoch holdings include 20^th Century Fox and Fox Television.

The indictment is questioning the right of powerful, successful business men to enlarge their business empires. If we stop this from happening we turn our back on the right to become extraordinarily successful. It would be a strike against capitalism an free enterprise. Free enterprise is a core American value.

If we look at history we have seen the rise and fall of many businesses that appeared indomitable. There was a day when General Motors manufactured more than 60% of all the vehicles sold in the United States. Not too long ago we feared the rise of the Japanese model that would soon overtake the United States. AOL seemed to be a force that no other company could replicate. Ted Turner dominated cable television. The Washington Post was the owner of the very successful Newsweek magazine that is now a shadow of its former self. What ever happened to RCA and Zenith? McGraw-Hill founded Business Week magazine but it was on a path to death until Bloomberg bought the publication and has made it thrive.

Bloomberg L.P. is an honest business that is thriving in a down economy. It is thrilling to realize that some people can see the opportunities that others cannot. We should all celebrate Michael Bloomberg’s success and try to emulate his methodology.

P.S. I would have written this to Newsweek but there is no letters to the editor column.

Technology Is Destroying Jobs

Erick Schonfeld, writing for Circuitnet.com authored a piece where he wrote in part:

Many of us take for granted that technology is the brightest spot in the economy, where most of the innovation and job creation occurs. But if you look more broadly at the impact of technology across every industry, it doesn’t look so great. Technology makes businesses more efficient, often by eliminating the need for repetitive tasks and the workers who do them. We are not replacing those jobs with enough new, higher-skilled ones to make up for the loss.

So what we are seeing in the U.S.over the past decade is productivity growth without the job growth that usually comes with it. Traditionally, productivity growth and job growth went hand in hand, but that is no longer the case. Annual productivity growth in the U.S. between 2000 and 2009 was 2.5%, a faster rate than at any time since the 1960s. Yet the last decade saw the total number of jobs decline by 1.1 percent.

Mr. Schonfeld is merely confirming what most of us already knew. Automation replaces jobs with computer controlled devices. Computers make determinations on stock trades and control the robotic arms that perform welding functions in the manufacture of cars.

What our society has not done is face the reality of a world where it takes fewer people to fulfill our needs. How do we employ all of those displaced people? Should we require their employment at all? If not, how will those unemployed people occupy their time? Where is the money to pay their living expenses? Does this situation indicate that millions of people will never become part of the top 20% much less the 1%?

Still Too Big To Fail!

Despite what was said at the last GOP debate, no one wants to see America’s biggest businesses fail. We will do what ever it takes to prevent that kind of event. Both political parties have decided that when the day is done this United States government cannot permit its largest business enterprises to collapse.
Ten Largest Banks in the U.S.

So which are the ten largest banks by deposits? This according to bargaineering.com.

Bank of America: $907.3b in deposits, TARP participant.
Wells Fargo: $759.7b in deposits, TARP participant.
JPMorgan Chase: $639.7b in deposits, TARP participant.
Citibank: $320.8b in deposits, TARP participant.
PNC Bank: $188.1b in deposits, TARP participant.
US Bancorp: $151.9b in deposits, TARP participant.
Sun Trust: $118.5b in deposits, TARP participant.
Capital One Financial: $114.3b in deposits, TARP
participant.
Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank: $104.8b in deposits, as a Canadian bank it was not eligible for TARP funds.
BB&T: $95.0b in deposits, 2.12% market share, TARP participant.

Infoplease.com provided a list of the banks by assets.

1. Bank of America Corporation (Charlotte,NC) $2,340,667,014

2. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (New York,NY) $2,135,796,000

3. Citigroup Inc.(New York,NY) $2,002,213,000

4. Wells Fargo & Company (San Francisco,CA) $1,223,630,000

5. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., The (New York,NY) $880,677,000

6. Morgan Stanley (New York,NY) $819,719,000

7. Metlife, Inc. (New York,NY) $565,566,452

8. Barclays Group US Inc. (Wilmington,DE) $427,837,000

9. Taunus Corporation (New York,NY) $364,079,000

10. HSBC North America Holdings Inc. (New York, NY) $345,382,871

Consumer Reports Confirms Our Worst Fears

American auto manufacturers can’t build high quality cars.

The federal government’s aid to the American auto industry saved thousands of jobs. That is a good thing. Unfortunately the government has done a poor job of picking winners in the private industry arena. Solyndra is the best example of a failed investment. That project cost us $500 million. The US government is also helping Tesla, the car company building an all electric car that costs over $100,000 each.

So it is no surprise that the American auto industry is failing to bring quality products to market. It’s not news! The best of the bunch is Ford that managed to get into the top 10 according to a Consumer Report subscriber survey. That was last year’s survey. This year Ford fell to 20^thplace. The summary of results was printed in the Los Angeles Times. These findings are based on responses on 1.3 million vehicles owned or leased by subscribers to Consumer Reports.

The top 10
1. Lexus CT200h
2. Honda CR-Z
3. Infiniti QX56
4. Scion xD
5. Toyota Highlander (4-cyl.)
6. Lexus ES
7. Nissan Titan
8. Honda Fit
9.Toyota Prius
10. Toyota RAV4 (4-cyl.)

The bottom 10
1. Jaguar XF
2. Jaguar XJ
3. Audi Q5 (V6)
4. Chevrolet Silverado 2500
5. GMC Sierra 2500
6. Nissan Z
7. Volkswagen Routan
8. Ford Edge (AWD)
9. Mini Cooper Clubman S
10.Lincoln MKX (FWD)

Steve Jobs had a Wonderful Life

1955 -2011. It was just too short. Steve Jobs is said by many to be in a league with Thomas Edison. Taken from us at the age of 56. Life really can be cruel.

Clearly he was a brilliant man. In addition to bringing us the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and the iPad he also was also a participant in the development of Pixar Studios.

Although he had a reputation for being a demanding businessman he definitely had vision for the tech gadgets that people would appreciate. The proof of that is the success of the recently introduced iPad that has already sold millions of units.

There is no one who can step into Steve Jobs shoes.

Why is this man Smiling?

I always smile over the remarkable quality of the scanned copies printed from my HP Photosmart printer/scanner. However, my smile is nothing like the smile on Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker’s face. After just eleven months on the job he will be an estimated about $25 million to $36 million richer.

Talk about mis-management. HP specializes in it! Look at the list of CEOs that have left that company with fortunes that the rest of us can only dream about.

CEO: Carly Fiorina (July 19, 1999 –February 9, 2005; Chairwoman September 22, 2000–February 9, 2005). Her severance package worth about $21.4 million.

President and CEO: Mark Hurd (CEO:April 1, 2005–August 6, 2010; Chairman:September 22, 2006–August 6, 2010). His severance package worth about $40 million.

There have been other high ranking departures as well. It’s a good bet they all were rewarded handsomely for screwing up this marvelous company.

The return for HP? The company is in a tail spin. It does not seem to know what its core strengths are. Clearly the board of directors does not know what to do to fix this giant. Perhaps they don’t really care.

U.S. Justice Department finds its Backbone!

The U.S. government finally took the kind of action that has been absent in the merger and acquisition arena. The financial stations and web sites call it M&A. Here in California we have seen the number of banks, supermarkets, and drug stores decline as one after another is bought by a competitor or an out-of-state company. Sadly no government agency has stood in the way of these consolidations.

In every instance the claim of lower costs to do business was the proclaimed benefit of the acquiring company. In fact those lower costs (thanks to the ensuing layoffs) resulted in higher profits for them but resulted in higher costs to the public.

Today the U.S. Justice Department filed suit to block AT&T’s $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile USA on grounds that it would raise prices for consumers. Of course AT&T said it would fight for their acquisition to be approved “enormous benefits of this merger.” The Associated Press provided some of the current happenings in this saga.

To reinforce the Justice Department case consumer groups like AARP and Consumers Union should both enter supporting pleas (amicus curiae).