May 19, 2025
Good morning! Happy Feast of Victoria — and the start of summer north of the 49th… no RBC transactions today. We survived the Ides of May. How about those Twins?!Much to my procrastination and protestations I just upgraded my storage capacities — twice. It’s not unlike purchasing three more photo albums from down at Jupiter 50 years ago, but it seems more onerous, less tactile — and certainly pricier. The per-month pricing sucks you in because it’s difficult to multiply by 12. (Helpful hint: Just do it by 10 = close enough!)
- Now that Leo (Bob) is twittering I suppose it might be OK for the rest of us, maybe…
- Oh, by the way, do you have the new Pope’s Topps rookie trading card? It exists and you should get it now before it appreciates out of touch.
- There are reportedly 133,535 of them printed and in existence, made especially to commemorate the native Chicagoan’s new job.
- How about that mint condition Kirby Puckett rookie card you’ve been hoarding?
- Wanna trade?
- Big Blue is not sleeping… It reports accelerated implementation of Generative Artificial Intelligence.
- Perhaps it will once again become dominant?
- High School graduates who have been smart enough to study the skilled trades while also learning their history, English, and literature are finding good jobs at age 18 and younger.
- Welders, plumbers, electricians, metal fabricators, brick layers, machine operators, carpenters… these trades are paying up to $35 – $40 per hour to start.
- Question: If you sell a product for $3 and it costs you $2 to produce it and bring it to market —
- — and it results in a gross profit to you of $1,
- how can it be newsworthy that you will need to raise your price of that product to $4+ if it suddenly costs you $3 to produce it and bring it to market?
- Where did all these people go to math class?
- But, even at $4 there is a net diminished percentage return on investment, isn’t there? So, a price >$4 is in order.
- Among our prized personal possessions is a mint condition six-point Hudson’s Bay blanket given to us many years ago by a good friend at the time of our wedding.
- When you wrap yourself in that gorgeous 100% wool work of art you’re snuggling in 355 years of history — some of it tragic, greedy, and exploitative.
- But now we learn this iconic company — Hudson’s Bay, that is — is going bankrupt.
- The few beavers left on earth are no doubt rejoicing. (Good book = Beaverland)
- “Truth tellers can make you — in a good way — a bit uncomfortable. It’s better to get bad or tough messages than not to get them at all.” (Maor, Etc., et al.)
- I know we’re tired of learning about the price of eggs — $6.23 average per dozen in March — but it’s second only to the weather. (Thomas, USDA)
- Well, maybe third place following the weather and Father Bob.
- Anyway, more than 150,000,000 chickens have lost their lives since the bird influenza epidemic hit back in 2022.
- One chicken produces about 300 eggs per year, which is slightly more than the ~279 an average human consumes (in the U.S.).
- Which, do the math… that leaves us 45,000,000,000 eggs short — and the law of supply and demand kicks in big time.
- (That’s 135 billion eggs short over the three years of the Avian Influenza! Or, .135 trillion!)
- For nearly thirty years, from 1980 – 2010, egg prices actually decreased in the United States relative to inflation.
- Talk about too much of a good thing — and getting accustomed to a certain price point; wow!
- It has been only a matter of time — and also only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
- The Russian Roulette being played at Newark International — used frequently by some of my readers — was predicted and inevitable.
- Will we ever learn?
- When we have an asset, or are responsible for one, we have a moral and an ethical duty to maintain it and to improve upon it if possible.
- Hope is not a strategy — nor a tactic.
- As the old saying goes, your failure to plan does not make it my emergency, but… guess what? It does, because there is no one else.
- It IS my emergency — and yours.
- C’mon, country… let’s get our infrastructure functioning at an A+ level.
- We can do this if we decide to do this. (Credit reader Rosamond for the nudge)
- You know the golden rule, but have you applied it?
- Diversify!
- Not only with your investments, but with every category, every department, of your business: Data, People, Customers, Infrastructure, Finance, Leadership… (Get it?)
- What is the honest, in-depth assessment of your risk tolerance?
- “We have learned that the effect of your advertising on your sales depends more on positioning than on any other.” (Ogilvy)
- Most ads fail not because of bad copy, but because they’re selling something people don’t understand, don’t want, or can already get somewhere else.
- The best campaigns start with a clear answer to: Why you? Why now?
- If it doesn’t pass the so-what test, it’s not strong enough.
- Interview your best customers…
- Student what your competitors AREN’T saying…
- Boil your answer down to a single bold claim. (Murray)
