My daughter-in-law Lauren is changing her world one Umba Box at a time. It's about her new business where subscribers pay her to send them the best of the best handcrafted items for women. She started it last year and since then it has gotten media attention around the country.
Check this interview in Forbes.com where she's interviewed about her experience as a new entrepeneur, especially as a woman breaking into the business world.
I'm really impressed with her insightful answers to the questions and to her whole business approach. It's worth a read and Umba Box is worth a look.
Remember Chuck Colson who used to work in the Nixon White House and spent some time in prison for his misdeeds? Check this column where he writes about the dim future that young people face today with a decaying economy and uncertain job prospects.
He seems to be saying the local churches need a big kick in the butt and start walking their talk with what the New York Times calls "Generation Limbo." Churches, he says, need to practice what Jesus lived and be intentional about reaching the 18-29 year-olds.
Our city here in mid-Michigan--Lansing--has been hit hard by home foreclosures. Lots of people have given up on paying their mortgage, either because they didn't have the money or because they owed more on their mortgage than their house was worth.
They give their home back to their lender or they have it taken from them. They think that's it and they can start over. Not so says this Wall Street Journal article.
In a growing number of states including Michigan, lenders are going after homeowners who are foreclosed on for the difference between what the house sold for to a new owner and what was owed. This debt is being sold to investors for pennies on the dollar and they go to court to collect the difference.
It's legal in Michigan and a small group of other states, according to the article.
Although, we had a fair amount of gas left in our tank when we were out this afternoon, I filled up at a nearby Shell station for $3.19 per gallon. Anybody know why the price is going down? Is it because demand is down?
When the federal jobs stimulus package was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama wasn't it the promise that more jobs would be created?
According to the stats cited in this piece by CNSNEWS.Com, it didn't come close to happening. In fact, we've lost almost two million jobs since the stimulus was signed. It reports:
In February 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 141.7 million people were employed. By the end of May 2011 – the last month for which data are available – that number had fallen to 139.8 million, a difference of 1.9 million.
What does this mean? Is this proof that government can't create jobs? However, it seems that it can be an obstacle to creating jobs. Where would we be if the free market had been allowed to work? Worse or better off?
Check out this list of states, including Illinois, where gas prices are topping $4 per gallon. Will that level be topped here in Michigan this week? Will prices hit $5 per gallon by Memorial or Fourth of July? What effect will that have on your daily life?
MORE: This story from the Detroit News this morning reports that AAA in Michigan says gas prices could top the magic $4 per gallon level this week. Check the lady who filled her Honda Accord and it cost $50. Ouch.
What do I do now when I come home from shopping at Meijer on West Saginaw in Lansing and find that I've been overcharged by your store?
The price, I assume, of the item will at least be on the shelf and will then be scanned. I've found far too many times that the two don't always match and each time it's the scanned price that exceed the sticker price.
The Michigan Legislature passed a law to eliminate the state's item pricing law and Gov. Rick Snyder has signed it. This means that the consumer will have no protection from being overcharged. I know what the answer will be from your store directors. They will point to in-store audits that are not shared which they show that their prices almost match 100 percent of the price that's scanned.
I have too many experiences where we come home from grocery shopping and find that not to be the case. What do you do when you live more than five-miles away from the store and can't take the item back easily.
How much money does Meijer and other stores make from overcharges? Consumers need some help with this and Meijer needs to get back to the values of Frederick Meijer and place the interests of the consumer before the interests of the bottom-line.
I remember seeing Mr. Murray grocery shopping at the Meijers on Lake Lansing Road in Lansing when he worked for the state of Michigan as a department director. He would be with one of his kids and I would be with my young son. He seems like an honest guy who wanted to do the right thing. It's time for him to take some leadership on this.
Do you check your grocery receipt for mis-priced items that scan at a higher price? What do you do? Take them back or just suck it up?
My wife and I just got home from grocery shopping at Meijers on West Saginaw in Lansing, something we do every week and usually enjoy doing together, but the question in the title for this post keeps being raised. Why?
It's the periodic difference between the price on a product and the price that's scanned at the checkout. Now if it was an infrequent experience, it would be easy to excuse. But we are finding that it's becoming more and more common and it is becoming costly.
Now this issue has taken on new relevance with Michigan's new Gov. Rick Snyder demanding that the Michigan Legislature repeal the item pricing law that protects consumers when there are item pricing mistakes like this. The Republicans who have a majority in both houses are poised to put this legislation on the fast track with the results that consumers would have no recourse.
What about our negative experiences with item pricing at our Meijers store?
OUR EXPERIENCE TODAY
Let me just recount what happened today. While going through the canned fruit aisle, I discovered that there were cut-out boxes of fruit with no prices marked on the cans, but there were cards on the edge of the shelves with the prices. There were other cases with the individual prices.
While putting our food in the shopping cart, I saw the store director, Mike Borek and introduced myself and share my observations. He listened and seemed concerned and then talked about the in-store audits done to assure that each item has the correct price. I believe, he mentioned, that they were in the 99 percent range.
We had a useful conversation where he shared the challenges of keeping up with price changes and their attentiveness to the state item-pricing law.
MY GREAT LAKES RED EXAMPLE
The Meijers store director and I then shook hands after I thanked him for the time and we went to the wine aisle. We were looking to buy a case of Great Lakes Red from Lelanau Wine Cellars up in the Traverse City area for our son's wedding out east. I'm the best man and I was going to use it for the toast. He and I both thought it was a great way to reconnect with his Michigan roots and it's a good wine.
Here's what we found. My wife looked at the shelf which said it was $6.49 a bottle, but, the sticker on the bottle said, $7.99. I found the store director again and asked him to see what I was concerned about. He did. The difference was roughly a $1.50 per bottle. Do the math for a case.
I can provide other examples from our experience.
CHECK YOUR GROCERY RECEIPT
Is it time for grocery shoppers at Meijers to start matching-up their grocery receipts with what's on the item if it's marked as the state law requires? There are waiviers for some items but not many.
How widespread is this problem? Am I the only one to have this experience? Do you match your grocery receipt with the prices on the item?
How much money does Meijer earn from these errors between what an items is stickered at what it scans at? A little? A lot?
Do you realize how much spying your super-market does on you, including what you buy, which aisles you go down, how often you buy and many other things?
That's why I'm watching this CNBC program tonight that examines how supermarket track every little thing we do in their stores to get an edge on their competitors. I want to be informed. I'm anxious to hear comments from those who also watch.
On the surface, it makes sense to charge a higher tax rate to those who are rich and make tons of money. They can afford it. Right?
Listen to what the late Milton Friedman, Nobel prize winning economist, had to say about this belief that it's good policy to soak the rich with high tax rates. This is a YouTube clip from an old Phil Donahue show:
I spent 75 cents yesterday getting a local newspaper so I could have a few pounds of ads to see the deals for "Black Friday." They are all online and here's the site where all you have to do is click to find your favorite store. Just think of all the paper that doesn't have to be recycled because of it.
How often do you go grocery or some other kind of shopping and find that an item you threw into your cart
didn't have a price or it had a price that didn't match the one that was scanned?
We had that happen to us today at the Menard's on the south side of Lansing where we purchased to new globes for the light fixtures in our downstairs bathroom.
My wife put them in our cart in spite of the fact there was no price on the globe nor on the shelve. We both said they couldn't cost more than a couple of bucks each. When we went through the checkout, we found that we were off by four dollars for each one.
What's your experience with item pricing in stores? Do you ever have something marked one way and then scan at a higher cost. Did you catch it? How much do stores make each year by over-charging?
Why doesn't Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox enforce this state law that affects consumers so directly?
The U.S. government this year will borrow one of every three dollars it
spends, with many of those funds coming from foreign countries. That
weakens America’s standing and its freedom to act; strengthens China
and other world powers including cash-rich oil producers; puts
long-term defense spending at risk; undermines the power of the
American system as a model for developing countries; and reduces the
aura of power that has been a great intangible asset for presidents for
more than a century.
Our family Thanksgiving celebration is still happening and last night we watched a couple of episodes of Band of Brothers, the story of a World War II Army unit in Europe. It was a dramatic depiction of what they experienced with all the ugliness of that war.
I was struck by their discovery of a concentration camp they discovered in Germany where hundreds of Jewish men were being kept. It was searing to the soul to watch and it had to be life-changing to have been there in person.
Where does being thankful to God come in this kind of situation? For the Jewish captives? For their families? For the American solidiers who found them?
In his blog post, I think Mart DeHaan of Radio Bible Class answers this. You don't thank God for all the meanness and nastiness that happens in your life, but you thank him for being faithful to get you through it.
But, I don't see God wanting us to thank him for all the bad stuff that can happen. Losing your health. Losing a child, a spouse, your home. Being hungry. And all the other crap that is sometimes dumped on an individual.
So, what's the deal about Gov. Granholm's cuts of state school aid to Michigan schools? She said the tax revenues are just not there to support promised support for local public schools. She's talking about the necessity of tax increases, adjustments, restructuring or whatever you want to call it.
The Republicans are saying that the cuts aren't necessary and that there's enough state revenue to cover state school aid.
Who do you believe?
Check this morning's news accounts:
Detroit Free Press reports about an additional cut that Granholm made yesterday in per-pupil state aid of $127. That's on top of a $165 per student cut she made earlier in the weak. Read down to the bottom of the first page of the story where House Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer says the cuts weren't necessary. The money's there, he says.
Detroit News reports the same cuts and quotes Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop as saying the cut are "ridiculous" and says the legislature's state school aid bill was balanced.
Again, I ask, who is right? State taxpayers are being fed two different stories. Does one depend on his or her own internal prejudice or are there a reliable set of facts.
Can local school districts live with these cuts? How will they affect classroom education?
I don't have time to play with this too much now, but if you're interested in who got the federal stimulus bucks here in Michigan-the grants, the contracts--the Lansing State Journal has a searchable database. I plugged in my county--Ingham--and I was surprised. See if you have the same reaction. There are more than 18,000 recipients. Keep in mind, these are companies, units of government and the like.
Are the budget battles over in the Michigan Legislature? Questions at the top of my list:
Just what was cut and how will these cuts specifically affect local areas? Don't count on the news media to provide that information in this age of minimalist reporting. Areas to look at include local schools and local government which both depend on state aid.
What are the best forecasts that more cuts will have to be made again this fiscal year? State revenues are falling fast, we are being told. What are the forecasts saying and what further cuts are being discussed?
What are your state legislators doing to explain all this? Everybody in Michigan has a state representative and a state senator. How visible and accessible are they to talk about these issues? How knowledgeable are they about the state budget?
Part of a state legislator's job is to be an educator for their constituents. They need to explain what happened in Lansing and what it means for local and state services and for how much tax your pay.
How would you rate your state legislators in doing this?
