Brent Burkey: September 2008 Archives

If something seems like an easy fix, it's probably causing a bigger problem. This financial meltdown we're in right now is probably the best big-picture example.

But here's another: Those reusable bags many businesses are touting can be worse for the environment than cheap, reusable plastic. How can that be?

1. Many come from China, and that country's record of environmental health can be as bad as its human health record, including the fact milk from that country is killing babies as we speak.

2. Many of the processes used to make non-plastic bags are water-and energy-intensive.

3. If people take or buy a bunch of those bags but then stop using them, or grab cheap plastics in a pinch when they forget the reusables at home, their overall environmental impact gets bigger than if they just stuck to cheap plastics.

The list goes on from there. And gets even more complicated. Which means I trust it more. Not like I want to hear that a successful initiative getting people to think green can be a bit of a crock.

To check out how your personal favorite retailer stands, check out this link.

"House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) on Tuesday appeared ready to accept some limits on executive compensation if Treasury agrees. Aides to Mr. Boehner told financial-services lobbyists that he would accept tempered limits, as long as the legislation doesn't include other additions, such as a Democratic proposal to give bankruptcy judges new authority to approve the modifications of terms of mortgages for distressed homeowners. "

That's from the Wall Street Journal today. More info here.

Basically, it means it would limit how much heads of companies would profit from the bailout, and some Republicans are agreeing with it.

Do you think CEOs are entitled to their compensation, whatever companies want to give them, or do you think that because it's taxpayer money, the government should set those limits?

If you want a change from a traditional grocery store, you might want to check out the new SaveSmart coming to Weigelstown soon. It'll replace the old Nell's Shurfine that closed earlier this month.

Here is what we have so far on it.

Discount is how they are marketing it, and it won't look like a traditional grocery store to keep costs low. So what do you think? Will that make you come check it out?

Another reason to buy American: The same sort of chemical that made its way into pet food shipped to the United States last year from China and killed our pets has made its way into baby formula.

Three babies have died and thousands are sick in China, and evidence of the tainted milk has spread to other countries.

And again, the reason is shady people using chemicals to fool quality inspectors and make more money. This makes me sick.

Almost every child in America plays video games, according to this study. I wanted to cry when I read it. I didn't play video games, and about half my friends didn't.

But I'm willing to bet the kids who played video games in my high school class now make more money than those who didn't.

Why?

We learned the hard way yesterday that you can't do a whole lot of work in the modern office without a working computer network.

It didn't last long (happens to everybody at some point) but it still sparked a flurry of making backup plans, waiting for updates and other behavior akin to hunkering down during a natural disaster.

And me? I dug out that big, yellow book that's more dust-bunny habitat than directory nowadays. People still make phone books, ya know?

Of course, beyond calling a bunch of people and taking notes, I couldn't have done a whole heck of a lot. What does your office usually do when the computer network, or power for that matter, goes down?

I love bowhunting, but I still don't love this statistic I came across this morning while looking up some gas prices facts:

"The number of bowhunters equals the number of Americans using public transportation to commute to work. (USCensus, NSGA)." (Courtesy of Huntersurvey.com.)

I'm happy for my favorite fall sport. But really? That's all the public transportation-takers in America?

See that picture? Students are seeing a whole lot less of that for college in central Pennsylvania.

A private student loan agency in Carlisle is limiting student loans it allocates from here on out, and a newspaper to the north of us is reporting the business isn't taking any new loan applications.

No matter what anyone says about race or gender glass ceilings still lingering in America, the 800-pound gorilla remains having the money for a good education. (Financial disparities are part of the race and gender ceilings, and in the end, money talks.) And like everything else in America, the degrees we buy - like hammers to smash through the glass - are bought on credit.

Credit woes aren't just something confined to people who were snookered on a bad mortgage or who ran up credit card bills at the mall, although sadly, that's part of what's caused the problem. And now kids can't afford college.

The situation with CampusDoor, I'm worried, will get worse. Do you know of anyone who is having problems with student loans this year? Are you worried education will become less available to those groups historically locked into class structures, and locked out of social mobility?

I've had trouble getting into Mad Men, the uber-nominated show from American Movie Classics, a network I've traditionally turned to for my John Wayne fix. My trouble probably has something to do with its rise from cable near obscurity while the new Battlestar Galactica languishes off the Emmy radar screen.

But during a commercial for Mad Men the other week, month, or however long ago, I could have sworn I heard them talk about Utz.

Note: If you've never seen the show, it follows the all-male world of Madison Avenue advertising in the 1960s and how ad execs use all kinds of tactics to get their customers' products sold. And, there are a whole lot of bedroom antics without happily ever afters to follow.

Well, looks like they were talking about Utz after all. So what do you think about such a big show making a storyline out of one of our local companies?

Or at least that's what one couple decided, right in front of the Harley-Davidson Museum. Immediately, my thoughts go to that Tom Arnold-hosted "Redneck Wedding" show on CMT.

Disclaimer: I am not looking down on the show, the couple, rednecks or bikers. I watch the show; the couple scores points for originality; I love squirrel pot pie; and I know better.

Now of course, it wasn't just some random Harley party. It was the official 105th anniversary in Milwaukee. So the couple gets points in the "if you're going to do something, do it right" category.

So where were they from? This is really what got my attention.

The hurricane was bearing down on Louisiana over the weekend, and gas prices around York County went from about $3.39 to $3.45. It's a smart move to spread out the pain of a Category 4 storm smashing into oil rigs and upping oil prices in its wake.

But then the rigs pretty much got missed, and oil prices began to fall. At last count, they were down to about $106 per barrel.

So watch out for gas prices to drop, even below that $3.30 range where prices settled for a bit. If they don't, let us know.