Filed under: Economic data, Housing, Federal Reserve, Recession

Alan Greenspan is obtuse no longer.

The former Federal Reserve Chairman, whose incomprehensible musings were parsed by investors for years to find their hidden meanings, startled markets again by telling an audience willing to pay his hefty speaking fee that the economy is “clearly on the edge of a recession.” His remarks underscore those of his successor Ben Bernanke, who has argued the economy is slowing because of the meltdown in the subprime mortgage market.

From the Associated Press:

“If it weren’t for the fact that business was in such breathtaking good shape before this problem hit, I don’t think we’d be questioning at this stage whether we’re in a recession,” Greenspan stated during a question-and-answer session with Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, the Massachusetts-based consultancy that sponsored the dinner.

“We’d be talking about how long and how deep,” he stated. “And we’re not there yet.”

But we’re awfully close, no?

Freelance writer Jonathan Berr edits the blog Ketchup and Eggs.

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Filed under: Products and services, Best Purchase (BBY)

Not only is Ideal Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) starting to favor the next generation Blu-ray movie disc format over the competing HD DVD format, but the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. is going to just give away HD DVD players to customers to get rid of them.

Well, not exactly. The Toshiba HD-A3 player will be part of a special promotion for customers who purchase an entire audio system from the retailer. In this week’s circular, a $900 audio system featured the free Toshiba HD DVD player.

At the same time, Ideal Buy will be dwindling down its HD DVD motion picture disc selection and promoting the Blu-ray format much more heavily. So let me get this straight — give away an HD DVD player, then decrease the amount of movies available for it on the road to an eventual drop of the format absolutely. Sounds like a recipe for customer success.

Most likely, the most sound strategy is that Best Purchase wants to get rid of HD DVD player stock as much as possible so that it can eventually move exclusively to Blu-ray. First, give the players away (and look for more aggressive promos in the future), and then start discounting the motion picture titles. If this isn’t another large sign that Blu-ray has won the format war, I’m not sure what is.

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luge writes “With the unfortunate passing of Congressman Tom Lantos, parts of Silicon Valley and San Francisco will be holding a special election in June to send a replacement to Congress. Given the area, it would be great to have someone who is both tech- and policy-aware fill the seat — and it looks like that just might happen. Lawrence Lessig has apparently purchased ‘change-congress.com.’ A ‘Draft Lessig’ group is forming on Facebook, featuring some of Lessig’s old co-workers at Harvard and Jimmy Wales, among others. No word from Lessig himself yet, but he’s been increasingly vocal about politics of late. If it happens, it would be a large step forward for the representation of technology in Washington.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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freedom_india alerts us to news that the Home of Representatives declined to bring the surveillance reform bill to vote, prompting House Republicans to walk out in the middle of a session. The bill, recently passed by the Senate, includes retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies who assisted with illegal domestic wiretaps. The walk-out comes after a proposal was shot down on Wednesday that would have extended the current legislation for another three weeks.

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Modell’s chairman dead at 86
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Dotnaught writes “Frequent cell phone users face a 50% greater risk of developing tumors in the salivary glands than those who don’t use cell phones, according to a recently published study. The study, led by Tel Aviv University epidemiologist Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, appeared last December in the American Journal of Epidemiology ‘Sadetzki’s findings are sure to add to confusion surrounding the already contentious debate about the health effects of cell phone radiation. Many other studies in current years have found no increased risk of cancer due to mobile phone use, but a few have stopped short of ruling the possibility out and a few have stated increased risk of cancer is small but real.’. Even with the increased risk, however, you’re still about three times more apt to die in a vehicle crash in a given year.”

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Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital have taken a major step toward eventually being able to reprogram adult cells to an embryonic stem cell-like say without the use of viruses or cancer-causing genes. In a paper released online today by the journal Cell Stem Cell, Konrad Hochedlinger and colleagues report that they’ve both discovered how long adult cells need to be exposed to reprogramming factors before they convert to an embryonic-like state, and have “defined the sequence of events that occur during reprogramming.”

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Bad news, Products and services, Best Buy (BBY), Circuit City Stores (CC)

Best Purchase Inc. (NYSE: BBY), the consumer electronics retailer whose shares have slumped more than 12% this year, confirmed Wall Street’s growing fears about consumer spending and cut its earnings outlook.

The Richfield, MN company anticipates fiscal 2008 earnings of $3.05 to $3.10, down from previous guidance of $3.10 to $3.20. Analysts expected profit of $3.17. Comparable stores sales are expected to rise 2.5 to 3%, below the company’s previous forecast of a 4% increase. Fourth quarter same-store sales are expect to “decline modestly” in the fiscal fourth quarter, reflecting broader economy.

“Our December revenue results were in line with our expectations. Soft domestic customer traffic in January, coupled with our near-term outlook, now indicate that our fourth-quarter revenue will fall short of our planned targets,” Brad Anderson, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Best Buy, stated in a press release.

The company plans to open 130 to 160 new stores during its 2009 fiscal year, increasing its total retail square footage by about 10% to 51 million square feet. In addition, it plans “to bring more than 12,000 new retail management, sales and services positions to communities in its markets.” Last year, rival Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) came under fire for firing 3,400 workers who were “paid well above the market-based salary range for their role.”

Look for both Best Buy and Circuit City to discount like demons to lure consumers back into their stores. Maybe I’ll pick up the plasma screen I’ve been eying.

Freelance writer Jonathan Berr edits the blog Ketchup and Eggs.

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jlgolson writes “Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh complained on his radio program about some problems that he was having with his Mac: ‘Mr. Jobs, please help me. I know we don’t agree on anything … But can you put me to somebody that can get this going, because I know it’s gotta work for most people. What am I doing wrong?’ Eventually he shared that he was running into actual problems with Time Machine and Back to My Mac. Can you fix them?”

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Internet, Employees, Personal finance, Politics, Chasing Value

The comments on a current blog post by Sarah Gilbert, about Starbucks retraining efforts took an interesting turn towards discussion about whether or not that company supports our troops. This seems to be a subject which elicits strong passion among many blog readers, which prompts me to ask this question of you: Does a company’s position, openly declared or not, regarding support for our troops, affect your perception of that company and whether or not you’ll intentionally do business with them?

This issue can be difficult to assess, because often times a company’s position on the matter is cloaked, unavailable or skewed by misinformation. The comments on Sarah’s blog post give clear evidence of that. Some folks seem convinced that Starbucks doesn’t care about our troops, yet packages bearing its logo are reported to arrive at military addresses every day. What’s more is the fact that often companies elect not to state a position regarding our restructuring efforts in Iraq. To some people, silence on the matter is interpreted as contempt rather than consent.

I have to admit that my own thoughts about individual companies regarding their stance on our military involvements are sometimes colored by unconfirmed email commentary and careless internet banter. That is why I generally refrain from discussing the issue. What about you? Do you base your opinions on random emails which purport to reveal a company’s stance regarding our military, or do you research the topic before coming to your conclusions?
Is there a database somewhere which can claim authority on the issue? Who knows what companies have declared their positions and which haven’t? Can someone produce press releases from companies which make clear their corporate military leanings? If there’s such information readily available, I’m sure I’m not the only one who would like to know more.

My personal stance on my own question is this: Any company which openly declines from support of our military, regardless of it’s opinion of our Commander In Chief, meets with my particular disdain and it shall have nothing to do with my hard earned American green backs. That’s, if I have the ability to help it.

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