As many of you already know, Comcast has gone through with a deal to purchase NBC Universal. As part of the deal, Comcast will own NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, The Weather Channel, USA Network, E!, and a host of other cable channels. It would also own NBC owned stations in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas, Chicago, and Miami.

The merger doesn’t stop at TV either. It also extends to the movies where NBC has owned Universal Pictures and Focus Pictures.

You also can’t forget the internet entities that it owns such as Hulu.

With all that entertainment real estate you can expect Comcast to begin raising rates for everyone. Not only that, but for everyone who really enjoyed Hulu service for free, it will likely be something that will disappear completely in the future, not the service but the *free* part.

Another thing that will likely happen as Comcast will own so many channels, when the company sells the content to the cable stations, it will likely bundle certain “in demand” channels with other channels that aren’t so “in demand” and will charge much higher prices. The only thing that anyone can do is basically deal with it. It happened in the 1990′s when rules regarding media ownership were relaxed and the big media groups (such as NBC/Universal) began buying up all these stations. When one company (and as large as this one is, it is sure to happen) begins raising rates, then all the others follow.

Comcast already has an unfortunate reputation as a company that isn’t consumer friendly and overcharges for content. Not only that, but all their service sectors have extremely poor reviews all across the internet.

Hopefully things won’t get too bad after the merger is complete. However, that is an extremely optimistic view due to the way Comcast already runs its business.

Upbeat shoppers led to an increase in retail stores’ increase in sales for October. Some say that the shoppers were enticed by signs of an improving economy and getting a head start on holiday shopping.

Retail numbers were up across the board; with stores like Costco doing well as well as designer brands. The stores that did the best were Costco Wholesale (which operates T.J. Maxx as well as Marshalls), Saks, and Nordstrom. One of the stores that one would think would do well when consumers go back to spending would be Wal-Mart, but the store doesn’t issue monthly sales reports anymore so finding out how it did simply isn’t possible. The next report from it will be the fourth quarter report, which will not only tell about October’s sales but also November and December.

According to MSNBC, the reason that business was up for October had something to do with the cool weather and people’s need for cold weather clothes. Early holiday discounts also brought in the shoppers and it seemed like people were a bit less reluctant to purchase items.

Sales figures are up from October 2008. However, when looking at October 2008′s sales figures, consumer spending simply dropped off. With a bit more optimism about the economy, there is more spending now than there was then, and it will likely continue through the holiday season if the economic conditions continue to improve.

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A disruption in the refinery of crude oil into gasoline due to a fire in a Los Angeles area refinery couldn’t even raise the price of oil and gasoline. For the first time in two months the price of a gallon of gas has fallen below $2.50 on average. Where I live, I just paid $2.38 for a gallon of regular 87 octane.

The fire at the Tesoro refinery in LA will probably effect the price of gas in California, but not too much anywhere else. The refinery processed around 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produced gasoline, jet fuel, and other products.

Demand for gasoline is so low that according to analyst and trader Stephen Schork, “a material disruption to supply to one of the largest markets in the world barely registered with speculators on the NYMEX.”

Wholesale gasoline for October actually increased 1.2 cents to $1.6323 per gallon today while benchmark crude for November delivery increased nearly 50 cents to $66.51 per barrel, this is after increasing 13 cents on Friday.

Prices have actually been increasing ever since Iran announced that it had a secret nuclear program at the G20 summit last week. This is due to the fact that 20 percent of the crude oil in the world is trafficked through the Straits of Hormuz which is on the southern coast of Iran. If something were to actually happen between the United States (or any country) and Iran, that route would be compromised  and oil would likely spike.

Of course, oil is one of the indicators of the economy. There are so many indicators and this is definitely one of them. After all, it’s oil that took a dive when people started realizing how bad the economy was last year. Oil also has started creeping back up and analysts are saying that other things are creeping up as well; such as the sale of homes and autos.

While it would be a good thing to not have to see oil reach the outrageous prices it hit last summer, I really want the economy to start picking up soon. Perhaps when it comes time for Chris and I to leave our college town, I’ll be able to land a real marketing job somewhere.

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Flash orders give some traders an edge in the purchase or sale of their stocks. The advantage is only a split second advantage, but it is enough to get the attention of the SEC.

For the next 60 days, the change will be up for public comment and could be adopted by the SEC after that time.

Flash orders are one of those things that sometimes occurs in the trading world. They really have started to become quite a hot issue on Wall Street though due to people asking questions about fairness on the Street.

From MSNBC:
A flash order refers to certain members of exchanges — often big companies — buying and selling reports about continuing stock deals milliseconds prior to that information being made public. A number of big banks and financial companies, using high-speed PC programs, can get a speedy, sneak peep at how additional investors are trading, giving them a brief peek into the direction of the market.

The other rule on the table includes more transparency from credit rating companies. For its role in the subprime mortgage mess, the industry that performs credit ratings has been shamed. The practices of these companies (which includes Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service, as well as Fitch Ratings) will be able to be seen by the public and will also be subject to restraints.

It is not fair when some companies have the ability to trade before the general public is allowed to do so. When there are ultra high speed computers and company information and reports available, then of course they will have an small advantage. I do not believe that the flash ordering has been exactly beneficial to a lot of companies on Wall Street because if you look at how many companies have performed over the past few months and especially when you look at the last year, you can tell that they are not exactly doing great. Many of the banks and financial institutions have only remained open only by the grace of our taxpayer dollars.

I am glad that they will no longer be helped out by any of the money that I pay the government. I know that the general public of the United States is ready to go after the boards of many of these companies because of all the bonuses that they seem to be raking in every couple of months; and I have to agree with the general public on this one.

These rules can be seen at the MSNBC article I’ve linked below. I would like to see what the SEC does with the public comments over the next two months. In 60 days, we will see how the market is doing and I am sure that will have some impact on the SEC’s decision as to what it is going to do with the new rules.

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The March decline reported by the non-profit Conference Board follows a modest dip of 6,600 ads in February, but is well below the record drops of 507,000 and 506,000 in December and January. Online job ads have declined over 25 percent since November.

“The March numbers indicate that we are not at the bottom of the employment cycle but that the declines in labor demand may be slowing,” Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board, said this week in a news release. “The next two months, April and May, are when employers typically ratchet up their spring hiring.”

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The first is a couple in a car looking at a bank giving away toxic assets with a new account:

Next up:

According to MSNBC.com there are a few things you can do after being declined by a lender:

• Get a read on the reason for the denial. Federal law dictates that you are entitled to a formal rejection notice, so you can expect an “adverse action” notice saying exactly why you were turned down.
• Find a fix. While you may not qualify for the best loan rate available, you may qualify for a higher APR or a more risky loan, however you need to watch out because the risky loans are what got everyone into trouble to begin with
• Seek out other opinions. Not every lender follows the same rules and some lenders may approve borrowers which others will deny. “Community banks” may be more willing to lend while the larger national banks are hurting and are more unwilling to lend.
• Try again.  “Making a formal application and then reapplying more than a month later could lower your score, but only by about 5 points. Most scoring systems allow consumers to make multiple mortgage applications within a 30-day period without any negative impact on their credit score. But mortgage inquiries older than 30 days will count as a single inquiry if they’re made within a 14-day or 45-day window, depending on the scoring model used.”

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The bill is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said a person must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company’s initial decision to pay a worker less than it pays another worker doing the same job. Under the bill, every new discriminatory paycheck would extend the statute of limitations for another 180 days.

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At the same time he was talking about how he had to lower prices on the ridiculously priced cotton pants…he said he created a new “inexpensive” line that fell in the $130 area.

$130 for a pair of jeans is not inexpensive or even practical.The most annoying part is that he is calling it is being referred to as the “Recession Collection.”

This is from the article:

The Recession line, to be offered at Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, will be sold alongside the premium denim collection.

But Ball plans to end the Recession Collection when the economy recovers. For now, he believes he’s doing his part to keep the economy rolling and help shoppers “open their pocketbooks.” - AP

From the AP:

Playing up ketchup’s natural roots also feeds into consumers’ growing desire for more wholesome, natural foods, analysts and the company said. The new label includes the tagline “Grown not made.”

Heinz is also planning its largest marketing campaign since the 1980′s to get the news out about its new slogan.

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From the AP:

Nationwide, more than 860,000 properties were actually repossessed by lenders, more than double the 2007 level, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm based in Irvine, Calif., which compiled the figures.

Moody’s Economy.com, a research firm, predicts the number of homes lost to foreclosure is likely to rise by another 18 percent this year before tapering off slightly through 2011.

I suppose the good news in the article is that it will be tapering off in the future, and decreasing this year from last year.
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From the AP:

Congress laid the foundation for President-elect Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan on Thursday with remarkable speed, clearing the way for a new infusion of bailout cash for the financial industry while majority Democrats proposed spending increases and tax cuts totaling a whopping $825 billion.

Obama has said that he wants the rest of the bailout money to go to troubled mortgages and “main street” like he promised in his campaign.

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From the AP:

SABMiller said lager volumes fell 1 percent in the three-month period that ended Dec. 31, compared with the same period a year earlier, because of the economy.

“Consumer demand has been affected by the current global economic slowdown, and has continued to weaken in many of the group’s markets,” the company said in releasing its quarterly trading update, which does not provide financials.

So I suppose this means that beer is not recession proof, however sales of beer haven’t declined as fast as sales of other consumer goods…and I don’t see Budweiser asking Congress for a bailout either.
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I couldn’t agree more. When compared to ads like AT&T’s melting snowman or exploding turkey or even Alltel’s clay caricatures of the other cell company’s sales reps, Sprints ads of Dan Hesse walking through the street or sitting at a diner are boring. With him also saying very obvious or generic things like, this could be the only phone you ever need… There really isn’t a lot of draw to the ailing cellular company.

I think Verizon did a better job with a guy walking around asking “Can you hear me now?”At least it was memorable

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Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported yesterday that average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 5.14 percent this week, down from the record 5.19 percent set last week. The rate was the lowest since Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey began in April 1971 and the eighth straight week of declines. – AP

The mortgage rate will benefit those with plenty of equity in their homes or good/great credit…everyone else is still being left out.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said Tuesday that they will propose legislation next month to force companies that receive money from the fund to report how they have spent it.

The legislation would also prohibit them from spending the taxpayer dollars on lobbying or political contributions. It would also apply to some recipients of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending programs. – AP

The topic about the bailout money has been red hot in the national media circuit for the last week. I have seen no less than 4 national news reports on the topic in the last week.

I personally watched Keith Olbermann every night before bed… haha Did you really expect anything else? AND when the first debate was on my college campus, I hung out at the MSNBC tent. My vote goes to MSNBC. I don’t have the link to the poll, so it’s just something to either think about or comment about .

Even though some have tried, a legislative measure has not been passed to make election day a holiday. On an MSNBC.com poll, 71% of those polled say that they would love a day off to vote. I don’t agree.

While I would love the day off tomorrow, it doesn’t take that long to go to the poll and vote (in most places). If you aren’t able to get away from work to vote, you can vote absentee.

What do you think?

With 24 hour news programs, the media has to cover something, why not the worst news it can find? I’m not against the news at all, every once in a while I do enjoy sitting down and watching a little MSNBC, but with the problems on Wall Street, investors are keeping their eyes glued to the TV and the internet to watch their investments minute by minute…It’s dangerous and can lead to a rash decision.

If you were worried about your investments, I’m sure you’ve seen Jim Kramer’s tearful plea earlier this month for people to take all their money out of the markets. The only bad thing is that he’s influential and people listen to him. With the doom and gloom news on all the time now (not just the evening news like the last major downturn), people are more worried and it really affects those viewers more.

At the same time, it is a good tool to have the all the information you could ever want right at your fingertips. I mean, I would never be able to blog about anything if I couldn’t read online news. Not only that, but people are more aware now than ever before. With the news, all the time, being about the economy, citizens want something done about it, rather than just being complacent.

Sunday Powell will meet with Tom Brokaw live on "Meet the Press."

Powell has advised the last three Republican presidents and if he does endorse Senator Obama, he will surely cause some kind of ruckus in the McCain campaign.

All of this news is speculation and I can certainly wait until Sunday to see who Powell endorses, but I do have to say I am really not interested at this point.

This week the national debt grew to over $10 trillion. That’s $10,000,000,000,000.

The clock wasn’t meant to go past the 13th digit, so it had to be adjusted until a new clock could be put up next year in its place.

At this point do people in New York City need a constant reminder of how poorly our country is doing financially? I mean they have to look at the NYSE and see stock tickers on the streets. Where i live, I can simply block out financial news by turning off the TV and computer. I can leave the radio on…I only have to turn the TV off because I watch way too much MSNBC, and sometimes they talk about the economy.

Perhaps they should put something happy up in the clock’s place, like Today _______ puppies were born. Or This Year ______ cookies were baked. That would make everyone a bit happier.