Monthly Archives: June 2006

UAW Chief Says Union Must Brace For Change as Big Three Struggle

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AP:

The challenges we face aren’t the kind that can be ridden out. They’re structural challenges, and they require new and farsighted solutions,” he said.

Among those challenges is that nonunion U.S.-based auto assembly plants made 1.1 million more vehicles in 2005 than they did in 2001, while production at unionized plants fell by 1.1 million, he said. Mr. Gettelfinger said U.S. labor laws heavily favor management and allow employers, such as Japanese auto makers that have opened plants in this country, to intimidate workers seeking to unionize.

Ron Gettelfinger’s report is available here [25MB PDF]

An Answer in Search of A Question

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John Moore:

That’s a picture of the latest brilliant marketing idea – showing television commercials to people pumping gas. Gas Station TV has been testing this marketing idea in Dallas and is expanding the test to more markets with eye towards having 1,000 gas stations in 21 states by next year. Airing on GSTV will be 15-second commercials as well as news/entertainment content from the ABC television network.

The Real Estate Market Source

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Dave Stark, a friend and long time client has published the first of what will be a quarterly look at the Madison area real estate market [1.2MB PDF]:

There could be no better illustration of the confusing nature of today’s discussions about real estate than the market in South Central Wisconsin in 2006. quarter. Despite relentless stories about the “bursting real estate bubble,” and “rising rates taking the steam out of the real estate market,” our local market remained robust in the first quarter.

As you’ll see in the accompanying charts, the overall level of sales activity is similar to a year ago. What has changed, however, is the relationship between the number of sales and the level of active inventory for sale. The result is that, while the overall level of demand is much like it was one year ago, sellers have 50 to 100% more competition on the market for the same number of buyers. The result: it feels slower to many sellers, whose houses may be sitting on the market longer than in the past. However, it remains our experience that homes in good condition that are priced competitively will still sell quickly, sometimes in a matter of days.

Clostridium difficile: Stalking the World

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The Economist:

Ordinarily, the human colon harbours very few of the rod-shaped bacteria that cause Clostridium difficile associated disease or CDAD. But the guts of those people who are given antibiotics to prevent or treat infection during a stay in hospital are different. Antibiotics may rid the colon not only of harmful bacteria, but also of the beneficial ones that normally live there. This, in turn, can give C. difficile the chance to take hold.

Rates of the disease among patients in, or recently discharged from, American short-stay hospitals seem to have doubled between 2000 and 2003 and risen another 25% in 2004, the most recent year for which estimates are available. That translates into at least 225,000 new cases a year, according to the Centres for Disease Control, a government agency based in Atlanta, Georgia. As this number does not capture all of America’s hospitals and ignores its nursing homes, the real figure is probably at least 500,000 cases a year.

The full extent of the illness is unclear because American hospitals are not required to report it. Even when someone with the disease dies, his death certificate may not say he had it. Whatever the true numbers, about 20% of people infected have repeated bouts of the illness and some 1-2% of the stricken die; chiefly, but not exclusively, the victims are elderly people who are already in frail health.

Government Wants Internet Firms to Keep Online Activity Records for Two Years

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Joseph Menn:

Gonzales and Mueller asked Google Inc., Time Warner Inc.’s AOL and other companies to preserve the data at a May 26 meeting, citing their value to investigations into child-pornography distribution and terrorism. Internet companies typically keep customer histories for only a few days or weeks.

The Justice Department said Thursday that it was not seeking to have e-mail content archived, just information about the websites people visit and those with whom they correspond.

Beyond law enforcement, though, the trove also could be available to lawyers arguing civil lawsuits — including divorce cases and suits against people suspected of swapping copyrighted movie and music files online. Privacy advocates fear the user histories could be exploited by criminal investigators conducting inappropriate exploration or pursuing minor cases.

“This is not simply limited to kiddie porn or terrorism. It’s a real break with precedent,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Data retention is open-ended. The government is saying, ‘Keep everything about everyone and we’ll sort it out later.’ ”

Google vs Microsoft

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Barry Ritholtz:

I’ve heard all sorts of chatter about the Google foray into spreadsheets, and none of it resonates with me. Here are 3 key aspects of this worth thinking about:

1. Strategically, Google is shooting at half of the Microsoft franchise

Microsoft, despite alot of hoopla you have heard about all its other product offerings, makes the vast lion’s share of its money via its Operating System and via Office. Nothing else it does is generates nearly the profitable cash flow as those two money printing presses do.

Think long term strategy: From a military perspective, Google is opening a second front in the war Microsoft launched against them. You want to come after our core busines? Allow us to return the favor.