Jump on the new media bandwagon
October 24, 2008
When I was in college four short months ago, almost everyone I knew had a Facebook or MySpace account. If you didn’t have one (I was in this camp for a little bit), you felt like you were out of the loop on so many issues. Little did I know that outside of the land of academia, this still holds true.
Last night, Warschawski, a Baltimore public relations firm, hosted a “Martini Marketing Event” at Luckie’s Tavern in Power Plant Live, where social networking guru Peter Shankman spoke about the current state and future of social media.
If you’re not familiar with Shankman’s work, he is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory and a go-to guy on marketing issues for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
The lecture was pretty eye-opening as Shankman talked about how prevalent social media has become. At one point, Shankman said “social media is life.” He asked the attendees to raise their hands if they had a Facebook account, and almost every hand went up.
Shankman touched upon how our lives are constantly being watched/monitored — from cameras on traffic lights to somebody writing about your appearance on their personal blog.
Shankman also previewed some devices that are in beta right now — one of which is a video recording cell phone that can recognize faces in a crowd and tag them as such on Facebook.
It’s clear that for most Baltimore businesses, you either jump on the new media bandwagon or get trampled by the competition.
RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter
Sphere: Related ContentMiddle class America gets beat down
April 10, 2008
Who do you blame for your economic problems?
The government?
The price of oil?
Foreign competition?
Society at large?
That’s where members of the middle class pointed fingers, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.
It found that many middle-class Americans say they aren’t better off than they were five years ago - but there’s no clear consensus on who (or what) is to blame.
Among people with household incomes between $40K and $100K, 26% said they hadn’t made progress in the last five years, and 28% said they’d fallen behind.
“It’s been a lousy run for the American economy and people feel it,” said Paul Taylor, director of Pew’s Social & Demographic Trends project and lead author of the study.
… Middle-class people also may be disproportionately feeling the pinch because they tend to borrow more heavily against their homes to support their lifestyles, Taylor said.
One of the most unifying findings isn’t surprising: nearly eight in 10 people said it’s more difficult to maintain their standard of living compared with five years ago.
Are you feeling this “pinch,” between the high cost of food and higher fuel prices? Or are middle class Americans just a bunch of complainers?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentCorporate support for high school curriculums
March 6, 2008
Through free lesson plans and glossy handouts, Deloitte LLP urges classrooms full of high school students to “consider a career you may never have imagined: working as a professional auditor.”
They’re right about the imagination part.
A story in today’s Wall Street Journal highlights how Deloitte, Lockheed Martin and other corporations are lending a helping hand to high schools, providing materials, computers and training for teachers - and “hoping to create a pipeline of workers far into the future.”
At first glance, it seems like a win-win; companies are fearful of a future labor shortage, and state education funding isn’t cutting it.
But critics say the line between academics and commercialism is being crossed.
What do you think?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentUpping the price to practice law
March 5, 2008
Would-be lawyers in Maryland could be paying a lot more to take the bar exam, the Associated Press reports.
Tucked into S.B. 514, extending the lifespan of the State Board of Law Examiners, is a measure to raise the cap on the bar exam fee from $150 to $400.
“Fiery” debate on the bill will resume Thursday in the Senate, the AP said.
Opponents point out that most exam-takers are fresh out of school and don’t have hundreds of extra dollars lying around. Proponents counter that current fees don’t even cover expenses, leaving the General Fund on the hook for about $500,000 each year. Raising the fee to $325 could solve that, according to the fiscal note on the bill (PDF).
The unspoken argument, though, surely centers on what economists call inelasticity of demand. To wit: How high would fees have to go before lawyers-to-be would shake their heads, say “never mind” and walk away?
Considering all they’ve invested to get to that point — for most of them, roughly a quarter of their lives (four years of college, three of law school), not to mention tuition, books, room, board and an “interview suit” or two — I’m guessing they’ll come up with the extra coin somehow or other.
Whether that’s fair or not is another matter. What do you think?
BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor/Law
Sphere: Related Content$54M dry cleaners suit inspires Md. bill
March 4, 2008
In case you haven’t heard: Judge Roy Pearson’s ridiculous multimillion dollar lawsuit against a D.C. dry cleaners is being taken seriously in Maryland’s legislature, The Washington Post reports. Del. Barbara A. Robinson (D-Baltimore) testified yesterday on her proposal (PDF) that dry cleaners be held financially responsible for damaged clothing.
Speaking of our state government, the Pew Center on the States gave it a “B” grade for effectiveness in a recent ranking. Andy Rosen writes about it on Eye on Annapolis.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentFed cuts interest rate in attempt to boost economy
January 22, 2008
The Fed’s decision Tuesday to slash the federal funds rate — the interest that banks charge each other on overnight loans — apparently was the biggest one-day move by the central bank in recent memory, the AP reports. The Fed cut the rate to 3.5 percent from 4.25 percent.
Below is the statement from the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Open Market Committee has decided to lower its target for the federal funds rate 75 basis points to 3-1/2 percent.
The Committee took this action in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth. While strains in short-term funding markets have eased somewhat, broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households. Moreover, incoming information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labor markets.
Sphere: Related Content2008 presidential race to be most expensive ever
January 16, 2008
The cost of the 2004 campaign, then a peak, was $693 million dollars … estimates for the ‘08 race begin around $1 billion and reach up to $3 billion.
From Yahoo News:
As a historical comparison, the campaign two decades ago that saw Republican George H.W. Bush succeed Ronald Reagan at the White House cost 59 million dollars.
JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentHappy new year! Now pay your property tax
January 2, 2008
Guess what could be waiting for you at home?
Your latest Maryland property assessment, and be prepared: it’s not going to reflect the slowdown in the real estate market.
The assessments will arrive this week at homes and businesses, and the average one is rising 33 percent over three years ago.
It’s an average 75 percent increase in Baltimore and nearly 52 percent increase in PG County. MoCo had the smallest increase on average: about 16 percent. The jumps reflect the overall increase in the market in the past three years.
There is one silver lining: the Homestead Property Tax Credit, which limits tax increases on homeowners’ primary residences to no more than 10 percent per year. And it’s a one-time application.
JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related Content“Making it rain” sound financial advice
September 10, 2007
Rap mogul Russell Simmons is a genius at diversification. After co-founding Def Jam records more than 25 years ago, he’s become quite a businessman. He’s used his entrepreneurial spirit to launch a clothing line (Phat Farm), bring spoken word poetry to HBO and Broadway (Def Poetry), and even held a political reception last year for Maryland Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Steele.
To say Russell Simmons (pictured at right) wears many hats is an understatement. Over the weekend in Greensboro, N.C., an organization Simmons co-chairs called the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) held a financial investment seminar entitled “Get Your Money Right.”
The organization’s mission statement says, “The network is dedicated to harnessing the cultural relevance of Hip-Hop music to serve as a catalyst for education advocacy and other societal concerns fundamental to the empowerment of youth.”
The summit featured current rap music artists including Jim Jones and Lil’ Mo explaining the benefits of home ownership, investing intelligently and trying to avoid debt.
I wonder if the current real estate crisis couldn’t have been avoided if there were more organizations like Simmons’ talking about the benefits of smart investing or trying to appeal to people through their current favorite celebrities.
Imagine if Madonna did a public service announcement saying: buy a home, settle down, invest your money wisely and retire when you’re 50. Or maybe if Britney Spears did one saying: I really love playing the stock market. Invest your extra pennies and you’ll always be able to take care of yourself.
It’s time we start demanding more from our celebrities and public figures. You wouldn’t expect sound financial advice from rapper Lil’ Mo, but at the summit she made a very sage comment:
“Everybody wants to make it rain, but they never have enough saved up for a rainy day.”
The phrase “make it rain” is taken from rapper Fat Joe’s album entitled “Me, Myself & I” and means to let dollar bills fall from the sky like it’s raining money.
So listen to Lil’ Mo, and hopefully others will follow her lead in offering sound advice for those of us who really want to “make it rain” common financial sense.
What favorite celebrity of yours would you like to see offering financial advice or investment tips?
-TODD ZIMMERMAN, Presentation Editor
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