Obama’s Speech Filled with Rhetoric, Wishful Thinking.

The Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation website  released a column today critiquing 14 points from President Obama’s speech on Tuesday. North Dakota attorney and builder,Robert L. Hale, takes the President to task for “wishful rhetoric” and his “clear misunderstanding of how markets work.”

 

Some of Hale’s 14 points include:

 

–The President said: “In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.” Hale comments: “Does it seem a realistic that two percent of Americans are going to pay off a federal debt estimated to be between $12 trillion and $19 trillion?”

 

–The President said: “We have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade.” Hale replies: “What has been provided is health care insurance — not health care reform. Nothing has been done to reform a health care system that is bloated by massive Medicare and Medicaid mismanagement.

 

–The President said: “…we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills.” Hale replies: “As a builder for more than 30 years, I can state unequivocally this is a fiction. It is simply cannot be done.

 

–The President said: “I’m proud that we passed a recovery plan free of earmarks.” Hale comments: “Yet news reports identified up to 9,000 earmarks in Congress’ $410 billion omnibus spending bill.“

 

–The President said: “The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything… and [how] businesses make payroll.” Hale responds: “Businesses do not make payrolls with loans. Those that do, don’t stay in business; they fail.“

 

For more than three decades, Mr. Hale has been involved in drafting proposed laws and counseling elected officials in ways to remove burdensome and unnecessary rules and regulations.

 

“For those who listened carefully and understand how sustainable jobs and prosperity happen, the President’s speech was a terrible disappointment,” Mr. Hale said.

SOURCE The Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation

How companies are bringing a customer approach to employee hiring by Mr. Ranjan Sinha

There is an ongoing war for talent globally. Even with the economy cooling from 10% to 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), the need to find and win high quality talent will be unabated because only 10% of the 2 million students graduating each year are considered immediately hirable. Finding high quality talent is going to be as hard as getting customers in a very competitive market. Good customers do not give you a good organization but a great organization will get you good customers.

In a recent discussion with CEOs and Head of HR, everybody was able to clearly and crisply define their products’/services’ USP. However, most of them fumbled or rambled when I asked them what their USP is to their employees or potential talent. Not surprising, many of them struggle with high attrition rates, relatively unsophisticated approach to talent supply chain management and very high cost of candidate acquisition. Most successful companies have an evolved sales and marketing processes and technology. These companies spend significant amount of resources and money to understand their markets, develop products to address them, craft clever messages to attract customers, service them well to retain them and thoroughly analyze when they lose customers. Most companies have very effectively transformed themselves from license raj era of shortages – where a customer was at the mercy of the company (some of us remember the pay now and wait for a two years Maruti era) to a free market ‘customer is king’ economy. Many of the same companies are struggling to transform their talent strategy from a job constrained economy to a talent constrained economy and have devoted minimal effort to upgrade their methods, systems and thinking to be competitive companies. This single reason can significantly benefit the human resources of the company by bringing some of the best and proven practices of marketing into talent management.

Here are few of the common marketing practices that companies use to attract and retain customers, which can be effectively applied to attract the best talent and retain them: Market Segmentation – It has been one of the revolutionary concepts of the past quarter century – the realization that consumers can be broken into subgroups of people sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar product needs. A true market segment meets all of the following criteria: it is distinct from other segments (heterogeneity across segments), it is homogeneous within the segment (exhibits common needs); it responds similarly to a market stimulus and it can be reached by a market intervention. While companies have a very good handle on the demographic, psychographic, characteristic and product attribute preferences of their consumers i.e. market segments and how to differentiate against their competition they are unclear about what talent segments find appeal in their company. Regarding my work, I have spoken to companies that have 20-60% attrition rate (these are obviously unofficial numbers) and they all had a very fatalistic attitude towards controlling attrition. When asked if they knew what is common among the 80-40% of the employees that stay back, are productive and engaged, they are unable to provide an answer. Global Talent Metrics (www.stargtm.com) a psychometric assessment company recently published a report on ‘Attrition in India’ that segments the Indian white-collar work force into eight segments based on individual’s preferences and motivators for selecting an employer. The segments range from Cash and Brand i.e. people, motivated primarily by salary and need to work in a brand name of the company because of social gratification issues to Start -Ups segment where people are motivated primarily by exciting challenging work and flatter organizations. The company provides a tool that measures the attributes of a company and matches them with individual preferences to predict attrition risk for the potential candidates.

Do you know where the talent is? Cell phone companies and credit card companies very effectively acquire customers through e-mail and one-on-one marketing. They have built elaborate systems to track prospects, switch them from their competitor and stay connected with them. Many of the same companies struggle to apply those principles towards Talent Acquisition. Handful of leading companies has tapped executives from sales, business development or process management background to lead their talent acquisition efforts. These people bring a background of systematically mapping the talent pool, targeting them proactively as against waiting for them to respond and manage their hiring pipeline with the same discipline and passion as a sales funnel.

Web Site – A company’s web site is the single most important tool to communicate with the customers and prospects about companies’ product offering. Marketers want their site to Inspire, Inform, Communicate, Put the consumer in charge so they can browse at their pace. This way, they qualify the interest level of prospective consumers and then customize a communication to pull them along the sales process. I would ask our readers to do a simple test about their company’s job page/site. Does the page Inspire, Inform and Communicate, Put the prospective job seeker in control to browse through beyond “stock” job titles but discusses the USP of the company or the job and allow the candidate to qualify themselves so that the recruiter can be more informed when he/she engages with them? This just proves how effective the role played by a company’s web site is in talent acquisition, amongst its other uses.

It is not just about price (or salary) – Companies like Starbucks, Singapore Airlines, Jet Airways and others have built successful businesses by selling not the cheapest products but by delivering value that attracts and retains customers because they know everyone is not looking for just low prices. The Global Talent Metrics’ Attrition report busts the myth that everyone is a mercenary and most people stay or leave a company because of salary. Only 10% of the Indian workface is driven by ONLY salary. Companies need to define what they provide to their employees beyond salary and build a culture and organization that seeks those values. One of India’s largest IT services company is not the best paymaster nationally or globally but retains employees significantly better than its better paying peers. Companies must find these values and effectively communicate and assess talent for those values, to ensure strong talent engagement.

The author is a member of the Board of Directors, Global Talent Metrics, Chairman and CEO, Summit HR Worldwide and a HR thought leader

 

Consumer Reports’ Automaker Report Cards: Honda Leads Again, Mercedes-Benz Improves, Chrysler Lags.

For the third consecutive year, Honda has earned class leader status for building the best all-around vehicles for American drivers, according to the Automaker Report Cards published in Consumer Reports’ Annual Auto Issue. At the opposite end of the annual ranking is Chrysler, which fared even worse than last year. The company’s poor performing products and sinking reliability results have kept all Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep badged vehicles off CR’s Recommended list.

 

With an overall score of 78 out of 100 points, Honda was followed closely by Subaru (75), and Toyota (74) in the overall score. Subaru is also the only automaker with 100% of its tested vehicles Recommended, although it has a relatively small model lineup. Mazda (73), came in 4th, followed by Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Volkswagen, and BMW, all tied at 72.

 

While the top four overall scores belong to Japanese automakers, a Japanese nameplate is no guarantee that every car in a model range will be a reliable and good performer. For example, the Honda Element and Toyota Yaris scored too low in Consumer Reports’ tests to be recommended. Conversely, despite overall scores of 63 and 57 respectively, that placed Ford and GM toward the bottom of the results, new models like the Ford Flex, F-150, Chevrolet Malibu, and Cadillac CTS have done well in CR’s tests and rank near the top of their classes in its ratings.

 

Full details and rankings are available in the article “Who makes the best cars?” in the magazine on sale March 3 to May 4 and at www.ConsumerReports.org.

 

The overall score for each automaker is based on the average of its vehicles’ overall scores in Consumer Reports’road tests and their average predicted-reliability ratings from Consumer Reports’ Annual Auto Survey. Manufacturers received a report card only if five or more of its vehicles were tested.

 

Of the three class leaders, Toyota regained lost ground after last year’s disappointment of having three of its vehicles fall below average in reliability. All three — the Toyota Camry V6, the Toyota Tundra V8 4WD variant, and the all-wheel-drive Lexus GS — improved to average reliability this year. Of the Asian automakers, Subaru, Nissan, Mazda, and Hyundai improved their overall scores. Nissan and Hyundai also improved their reliability rating. Of the four, Hyundai showed the most improvement, increasing its overall score from 66 to 70. The Hyundai Genesis also toppedConsumer Reports’ upscale-sedan ratings, contributing to the automakers continued progress.

 

European automakers, traditionally great performers overall, have lagged in reliability but there have been notable improvements with several models from Audi, BMW, Saab, Volkswagen, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz showed the most significant improvement, moving up in the overall ranking (72) to tie with BMW and Volkswagen. Reliability was greatly improved across most of the Mercedes-Benz model line, with 67% of tested vehicles now recommended compared to none in the prior year.

 

All three Detroit automakers continued to be at the back of the class, although General Motors and Ford improved their overall scores. Chrysler disappointed the most — it had the lowest overall test score and none of its vehicles are Recommended.

 

There was some positive news for the struggling domestic automakers. The latest models from General Motors now rank among the best in testing, and models like the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook, Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Corvette, and Chevrolet Malibu all scored well. Some Ford models now rival their competition from Honda and Toyota in reliability, perhaps a promising sign for new models now coming out of the product pipeline. For Chrysler, the sole glimmer of hope in the model-year is the new Dodge Ram, which is now very competitive with the other full size trucks.

 

Less than a quarter of Consumer Reports’ recommended vehicles are from U.S. companies, a result of inconsistent reliability and performance. About half are Japanese.

 

“While Japanese automakers continue to set the standard for the industry in terms of real-world performance and reliability, many domestic, European, and Korean manufacturers are narrowing the gap by building better and more reliable cars,” said David Champion, senior director of automotive testing, Consumer Reports. “While some automakers are still dragged down by old product investments, we expect the race for the front of the class to become even more competitive which may lead to some excellent values for consumers in the near future.”

 

In the end, the companies that make the best vehicles are those that excel in performance, interior craftsmanship, safety, comfort, and reliability. The best continue to set a higher and higher standard, a competition in which consumers are the ultimate winners.

 

With more than 7 million print and online subscribers, Consumer Reports is one of the most trusted sources for information and advice on consumer products and services. It conducts the most comprehensive auto-test program of any U.S. publication or Web site; the magazine’s auto experts have decades of experience in driving, testing, and reporting on cars. To become a subscriber, consumers can call 1-800-234-1645. Information and articles from the magazine can be accessed online at www.ConsumerReports.org.

SOURCE Consumer Reports

Coffee And Your Health by Rick White.

As coffee consumption has continually been on the rise in the United States, the questions are being asked about the importance coffee has when it comes to our health. As the popularity of coffee has risen so has the research of the benefits of this product as to the effects it may have on many aspects of it keeping us healthy.We all know and have heard the power of antioxidants. Tannins and antioxidants appear naturally in coffee, and these are well known to fight free radicals and other assaults on the body. Having these properties, coffee may reduce the risk of asthma attacks.

Antioxidants are chemical compounds that protect the body’s cells from the damaging effects of oxidation. They help support the immune system, and consequently may reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. The caffeine in coffee helps to improve circulation within the heart and arteries.

In recent studies it has also been shown that coffee may reduce the risk of gallstones by 45% and cirrhosis of the liver by 80%. Although the studies have shown the existence of a relationship with coffee consumption and liver cirrhosis, it has not proven or determined the component in coffee that is responsible for producing this effect.

Another benefit of coffee is a 25% reduction in the onset of asthma attacks among many asthma suffers. Asthma is a chronic disease that causes airways to close due to inflammation , resulting in coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. Theophylline is a component that is found in coffee that acts as a bronchodilator which lessens theses symptoms.

Have you ever had one of those stressful headaches that can last throughout the day? It could be caused by a stress at work or by just not getting enough sleep. Well it has now been shown that coffee can play a big role in getting rid of theses headaches. Even now you can go to any drugstore and go to the pain reliever aisle and found many of the over the counter pain relievers contain caffeine just for this purpose. S o have that cup of coffee and relax.

One of the most recent studies of coffee is that the shows the relationship of coffee and diabetes. This is study has excited many of us that are diabetics and coffee lovers. There is more and more evidence that the love affair with coffee is helping reduce the risk of diabetes. In a newly published study, drinking caffeinated coffee was found to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes as much as 60%. A Finnish study in 2004, suggested a 30% reduction in type 2 diabetes risk among people who drank three to four cups of coffee a day. Women in the study who drank 10 or more cups a day showed a 79% reduction in the risk.

So what is the amount of coffee should we drink in a day. Well for many of us who love coffee there is just know way of knowing when to stop. But many doctors suggest that three to four cups a day is considered reasonable and a moderate amount. Just keep in mind that an 8 oz cup of coffee contains about 75 mg of caffeine and it usually recommended to not to exceed 300 mg per day. If you would like more information on coffee please visit us athttp://coffeebeanbin.com

About the author:

I am an Online Entrepreneur and Information Provider

Motley Crue Announces Crue Fest 2: The White Trash Circus.

Motley Crue, along with some of rock’s top touring acts, will hit the road again this summer for Crue Fest 2: The White Trash Circus. The Live Nation produced tour will visit cities across North America beginning July 19th in Camden, NJ through September 5th in Darien Lake, NY. Full tour details, including the line up, will be revealed at a major press conference broadcast from FUSE TV studios in New York on March 16th, before Motley Crue hits the stage at Madison Square Garden that evening.

Crue Fest 2 pre sale tickets will be available exclusively to Motley Crue fan club members beginning on February 25th. Beginning on March 2nd, pre sale tickets will be available to the public. Fans can go to www.cruefest2.com for all pre sale information.

 

Last summer’s multi-artist inaugural Crue Fest was the most successful touring rock festival of the summer season, Crue Fest was also the number ten tour overall for the summer of 2008, according to Rolling Stone. Featuring Motley Crue, Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Sixx:A.M. and Trapt, the festival played for nearly half a million rock fans to Live Nation amphitheaters and arenas in 40 cities across North America. Crue Fest attracted strategic partners including MTV’s Rock Band Game, FUSE Television, JVC Mobile Electronics, Clear Channel Radio, Best Buy and Fender Guitars, which resulted in a nomination for a 2008 Billboard Award for Concert Marketing & Promotion. Strategic marketing and the wide demographic range both Motley Crue and the other acts represent added to the success of the festival.

 

Says Motley’s Tommy Lee, “Last year at Crue Fest, we set out to have more fun than humans are allowed to have. We succeeded beyond that. This year, we are going to top that and I guarantee we will.”

 

As part of the robust integrated marketing and partnerships, the activities surrounding the announcement of this year’s line-up and ticket on-sale include launch parties in local venues and in-theater special screenings of a performance documentary on Crue Fest 1, which will also be released on DVD on March 24th. More details on all of these activities are available at www.motley.com.

SOURCE Rogers & Cowan

Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie Top the Sex Pass List.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt might have come up short on Oscar night but they scored big on a list about – well – scoring. In a new poll by leading online dating websites Date.com (www.date.com), Matchmaker.com (www.matchmaker.com) and Amor.com (www.amor.com), singles weighed in on which celebrities they would like to sleep with that gets a free pass from their significant other. And, while many couples hypothetically discuss what if scenarios regarding one night of passion with their celebrity of choice, we wondered the following: Which celebrity would most people want to sleep with that would get the green light from their loved one?

“This poll is the complete opposite of an indecent proposal. In fact, most men and women wouldn’t just grant their significant others permission to go for it with their celebrity of choice – they’d brag about it all over town,” said Shira Zwebner, Relationship Advisor for Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com. “Johnny Depp’s appeal is more than just physical attraction, he is the complete package, and women envision that one night of passion with this Pirate will leave them more than just sexually satisfied. Angelina Jolie, meanwhile, tops this list because both men and women worldwide have crushes on her and – if she ever invited someone other than Brad Pitt into her bed – not even the most committed couple would walk away from that opportunity.”

In a new survey of thousands of online daters nationwide, we asked: The sex pass list is a list of celebrities your loved one gives you the green light to sleep with, even though you’re in a committed relationship. Who is tops on your sex pass list?

 

    Following are the complete results:

    Men

    Angelina Jolie              25.9%
    Jennifer Aniston            24.1%
    Halle Berry                 23.8%
    Penelope Cruz               22.4%
    Eva Mendes                  20.7%
    Nicole Kidman               20.7%
    Sandra Bullock              19.0%
    Jennifer Garner             18.9%
    Lucy Liu                    17.2%
    Reese Witherspoon           17.2%
    Demi Moore                  16.7%
    Julia Roberts               15.5%
    Kate Winslet                15.3%
    Kiera Knightly              12.1%
    Scarlett Johansson          11.8%
    Natalie Portman              8.6%
    Katherine Hiegl              6.9%

    Women

    Johnny Depp                 32.2%
    George Clooney              29.0%
    Will Smith                  28.4%
    Brad Pitt                   25.8%
    Matthew McConaughey         25.8%
    Hugh Jackman                19.4%
    Sean Connery                16.1%
    Patrick Dempsey             12.9%
    Tom Cruise                  12.9%
    Justin Timberlake           11.5%
    Bruce Willis                 9.7%
    Howard Stern                 8.4%
    Robert Pattinson             6.5%
    Jake Gyllenhaal              6.5%
    Gerard Butler                3.2%

Source: Date.com

Apple Announces Safari 4 – The World’s Fastest & Most Innovative Browser.

Apple(R)  announced the public beta of Safari(R) 4, the world’s fastest and most innovative web browser for Mac(R) and Windows PCs. The Nitro engine in Safari 4 runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3.* Innovative new features that make browsing more intuitive and enjoyable include Top Sites, for a stunning visual preview of frequently visited pages; Full History Search, to search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages; Cover Flow(R), to easily flip through web history or bookmarks; and Tabs on Top, to make tabbed browsing easier and more intuitive.

“Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards that enables the next generation of interactive web applications.”

Safari 4 is built on the world’s most advanced browser technologies including the new Nitro JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.*

Apple is leading the industry in defining and implementing innovative web standards such as HTML 5 and CSS 3 for an entirely new class of web applications that feature rich media, graphics and fonts. Safari 4 includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies so web-based applications can store information locally without an Internet connection, and is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects that enable highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks. Safari 4 is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project’s Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.

Safari for Mac, Windows, iPhone(TM) and iPod(R) touch are all built on Apple’s WebKit, the world’s fastest and most advanced browser engine. Apple developed WebKit as an open source project to create the world’s best browser engine and to advance the adoption of modern web standards. Most recently, WebKit led the introduction of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards and is known for its fast, modern code-base. The industry’s newest browsers are based on WebKit including Google Chrome, the Google Android browser, the Nokia Series 60 browser and Palm webOS.

    Innovative new features in Safari 4 include:
    -- Top Sites, a display of frequently visited pages in a stunning wall of
       previews so users can jump to their favorite sites with a single click;
    -- Full History Search, where users search through titles, web addresses
       and the complete text of recently viewed pages to easily return to
       sites they've seen before;
    -- Cover Flow, to make searching web history or bookmarks as fun and easy
       as paging through album art in iTunes(R);
    -- Tabs on Top, for better tabbed browsing with easy drag-and-drop tab
       management tools and an intuitive button for opening new ones;
    -- Smart Address Field, that automatically completes web addresses by
       displaying an easy-to-read list of suggestions from Top Sites,
       bookmarks and browsing history;
    -- Smart Search Field, where users fine-tune searches with recommendations
       from Google Suggest or a list of recent searches;
    -- Full Page Zoom, for a closer look at any website without degrading the
       quality of the site's layout and text;
    -- built-in web developer tools to debug, tweak and optimize a website for
       peak performance and compatibility; and
    -- a new Windows-native look in Safari for Windows, that uses standard
       Windows font rendering and native title bar, borders and toolbars so
       Safari fits the look and feel of other Windows XP and Windows Vista
       applications.

SOURCE Apple