Brent Burkey: July 2008 Archives

On Route 116, probably because of the new Tom's opened down there recently. Just an FYI for those running on empty and looking for the cheapest of the "getting cheaper" right now.

Interesting story today in the New York Times about how many companies are cutting worker hours rather than cutting workers with outright layoffs.

The reasons? Employers have to pay fewer health care costs for part-timers. And, computer skills of all things are a huge factor.

Stringing people along with a little bit of a job keeps them available to come back to work if/when times get better, and it works better for a company because then they don't have to train a brand new hire in advanced and/or company-specific computer skills.

You have to read kinda deep into the story to find that and other good "why" info.

The computer skills reason might sound like something for just the high-tech sector to consider at first, but I know even the cash register at the local diner would confuse me for awhile. (It's a computer, too, most likely).

A lot of people already complain about the lack of a "living" wage in America. Particularly in York County, it comes in the form of higher-paying manufacturing jobs leaving, with lower-paying retail jobs becoming an alternative.

Do you know anyone who has had hours slashed because of the economy? Is it better or worse for employees to get hour reductions as opposed to just getting let go?

For what they need in emergencies, that's all they're using the credit car for, according to this story.

Which is actually a really bad sign for U.S. retailers, because who has shopped with cash (other than old-fashioned people like me) in the last decade?

Heck, I never had an actual credit card until I got married and started playing the whole "building credit" game, and when I told people I didn't have a credit card (like the people at car rental places who require one) they would look at me like I had roaches in my ears.

Anyhow, basically people seem to be stopping their credit card worship. And no credit card = no frivolous purchases = there goes the driver of the American economy.

Worried anyone?

The wheels of government move slow, but are turning nonetheless toward what I have seen called the biggest overhaul of consumer safety law and practices in a generation.

(See the Wall Street Journal subscription edition for more along that line.)

Here is a little more available version.

Do you think an overhauled consumer safety law will make us safer? Or is there something else, or a lot of things, we should be doing as well?

Every time something new comes along, we "make" time for it. But unfortunately, "making" time is an illusion, and some real smart physicist out there should write it into every text book along side that Law of Conservation of Mass we had to memorize in high school.

"Matter is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction." I remember that.

But where was the "Anything that gets put into your schedule or to-do list must have the equal and opposite result of kicking something out of said schedule or to-do list."

Stephen Hawking, I'm waiting.

My big pet peeve with the whole making time concept is that when you think you have "made" time for something, you have actually kicked something out of your schedule without knowing it. And often, it's something that will come back to haunt you later.

Just admit you can't "make" the time and cut something. It'll hurt a lot less later.

If you have a story to share about how you made time, and it turned out poorly, post a comment.

In the meantime, here is a lengthy-but-comprehensive look at how to prioritize your time. "Making" time might be an illusion, but this tells you how to fool people into thinking you know how to do it.

Let me know if you plan to try this, or if they forgot something.

A little more on the Catholic Church's stance on the environment, in the form of modern-day vices.

And please also check out the monologue from the blogger on the ethics questions that often get overshadowed by the endless science discussions. I think this is a really good take on the issue.

$3.89! $3.89! $3.89!

I figured for sure it would get over the $4 hurdle this time around, but gas prices are falling pretty quickly this week. I watched a pretty steady price of $3.95, down a few from that $3.99 high, dwindle to $3.92 and now to $3.89 this morning.

Thank goodness gasoline is cheap again. Finally, I can get back to my All-American to-do list! I thought we were all in trouble there for a sec.

1. Buy a house 75 miles from my job with no money down, on a plot of land that was producing food this time last year ...

2. Get that extra credit card so we can finally afford to go out to a nice dinner on Friday and Saturday nights ...

3. Cancel that order for a Prius. That thing looks like a shipping box after a disgruntled employee vented his or her aggression anyhow. I hear Hummers are pretty cheap nowadays ...

And lastly, 4. Do something even bigger and better than 1, 2 and 3 within six months of accomplishing to-do list items 1,2 and 3.

Viva Pax Americana!

If you're asking why Anheuser-Busch is selling to Belgians, the answer might be because of a fishing trip that went wrong, according to a theory reported by The Wall Street Journal.

I kid you not. Busch III apparently decided it was more important to take a phone call from the States while fishing with a big-wigs from the company that brews Corona Extra in Mexico than to continue reeling in a fish he had hooked.

He then decided to fly back to the States early, cutting short the fishing trip, the report says.

Relations between the two companies, despite a deal linking them financially, reportedly remained chilly for years.

If the Corona Extra brewer would have been willing to sell its controlling stake in the company to Anheuser-Busch, it could have helped stave off InBev's takeover of the King of Beers, or so the theory goes.

See the theory here, complete with a nice fish picture.

That phrase, whether said or thought, has probably gone through a lot of people's heads over the last few months.

"I could stop driving to see family so often ... but I can't do that."

"I could give up going out on a Saturday night with friends ... but I can't do that."

"I could stop eating a meal every day ... but I can't do that."

What have you come up with to save money, but then decided you couldn't live without?

Gas is $5 in some places

- Brent M. Burkey (July 15, 2008 9:33 AM)

I've been watching gas prices elsewhere in the country and heard about gas nearing $5 in California from my brother-in-law. But this picture was unnerving.

Anyone want to guess when we'll see something like that? Or even when we'll see the local gas stations stop holding the line at $3.99 9/10, or a little lower in some places? It's got to be hurting them, as oil prices have gone up a good bit since $3.99 gas hit.

It's kind of a "no-duh" idea: Depending on where you drill for oil, it's going to be more or less expensive to get out of the ground. Obviously, drilling on land in Texas is less costly than drilling on an ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico covered by several hundred feet of water.

But exactly how much of a difference is there, and what does that mean for our gas prices today?

The answer: An extra 20 hours per week for two months. A standard 60-hour workweek for eight weeks, according to authorities in Japan.

The overworked nation's labor bureau made the ruling on the subject in the case of a Toyota engineer who was working on developing the hybrid version of the Toyota Camry. He died of a heart attack at age 45.

See the story here.

The price for a barrel of oil is slipping back a bit, so hopefully gas prices will follow.

The big question is, if gas prices start to fall, will it be back to driving as usual for you or will the trying to drive less continue?