Sunday, March 15, 2009

Martin Brodeur

551 wins. 100 shutout wins. Those two stats alone put the New Jersey Devil goaltender in contention for the Hockey Hall of Fame. But apparently that is not enough for the New York Times. Even the NY Daily News and NY Post have covered the Devils as of late.
The Times continues to rely on Associated Press wrap-up articles to cover the Devils. Well, then again, the Star-Ledger posts mostly AP coverage of the Rangers, but it's not like the Rangers are doing anything of note except pick up the schmuck

I just hope that Brodeur and the Devils get some more play among the New York media when they win again on Tuesday.

552 for #30.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Wild and crazy stock market


I think we have reached a bottom for the market: DJIA: 6500. What does that mean? Well, not all that much. The market may not continue to rise, although we're in for FOUR STRAIGHT DAYS so far. Really, it means that we are beginning to see a surge of new information - companies are sharing more financial details and the government is trying to exude confidence. (Personally, I don't believe in half of the government programs we've announced nor the speed with which they were approved; however, I do recognize the necessity to invest in America (infrastructure, education, and many other programs).)

See the steady climbing DOW (courtesy of Yahoo! Finance):
Consumers are a little more confident, and businesses are still operating. We've seen some big merger moves, especially in health care as the government signals a major shift in policy trying to reduce overall costs. And while consolidation might not be good for jobs in the short term, the healthcare industry may be responding appropriately, recognizing change is on the horizon - they are planning for the future. And that is something many companies, individuals, and the US Government have failed to do for a long time.

Bottom line: We've got to be in this for the long haul. I don't think we really start to recover until the end of 2009 at the earliest. But that is ok. We're making some substantial changes to our personal and business lives. It'll do us good to slow things down anyway, given how fast we've been moving in the information age.

Rebirth

Straight talk from Jon Stewart:



The show exposes financial news networks and reporters for failing to publicly recognize the fraud and ridiculous behavior at the heads of Wall Street and the big banks. The news media didn't call out government actions either. So, now we're starting to get some truth -- Wall Street and Washington have misled the public yet again.

But blaming others helped get us into this mess just as much as crooked businessmen and politicians. We should claim back our country - demand and validate more information.

This isn't the end of capitalism, it's the beginning.