• PEOPLE WITH ABOVE-AVERAGE CREDIT SCORES ARE 14% MORE LIKELY TO ENTER A COMMITTED AND ENDURING RELATIONSHIP, according to a Federal Reserve Bank report issued in August. After two years, these relationships also experience 37% lower chance of separating during the next two years. However, breakups are more likely to occur when one of the couple has “a much lower score than the Partner and he/she could be blamed for their inability to borrow money – a recipe for marital discord.  [BUSINESS WEEK – Oct 12, 15]
  • BITCOINS ARE LIKELY HERE TO STAY. Acceptance is growing with awareness that “the decentralization of underlying currency allows for controlled growth and stability for users, since politically-motivated officials are unable to independently shrink or add to the money supply.” Bitcoins, like any form of money, are simply a mechanism for clearing obligations between parties which arise from exchange of goods or services, based on faith that others will do the same. The control process is effectively a cloud-based spreadsheet which tracks every single transaction, from creation to exchange, in a transparent and traceable manner. Actually, digital money is in many ways safer than our current system. “Like any currency, Bitcoin is subject to abuse by unscrupulous users, loss or theft due to the holder of a private key not properly securing it, and valuation swings…since prices fluctuate with economic subjective value, much like the stock market. But Bitcoins trade within relevant ranges and are stable enough for most business transactions” (versus ‘investment’).  [CALIFORNIA CPA – Oct 15]
  • “ALL THE TRASH GENERATED BY AMERICANS FOR THE NEXT 1,000 YEARS WOULD FIT IN 0.1% OF AVAILABLE LAND… and recycling has become a ritual of increasingly dubious value, as studies show that sorting and recycling glass, food scraps, and all kinds of plastic achieves little or no environmental gain… Shipping garbage to modern incinerators equipped with effective air scrubbers or to well-insulated landfills causes no more environmental damage than collecting sorting, shipping and processing recyclables…which is generally more expensive.”  [NEW YORK TIMES and THE WEEK – Oct 16, 13]
  • “MILEAGE RANGE ANXIETY WILL SLOWLY BE LESS OF AN ISSUE FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE CUSTOMERS,” after TESLA’s announcement of a model with 600-plus mile range to be offered by 2017, and possibly 745 mile range by 2020. ‘Autopilot autonomous driving’ is also on schedule for rollout within the next few years.   [DIGITAL TRENDS – Sep 28, 15]
  • CELEBRITY-ENDORSEMENTS ARE AMONG THE BIGGEST MARKETING DRIVERS for branding & product sales, and most are probably reasonably legitimate – since (although seldom enforced) the Federal Trade Commission can “penalize celebrities up to $16,500 a day for false advertising if they make untrue statements, fail to disclose they are being paid or do not actually use endorsed products.”  [SIEFFLAW NEWSLTR – Oct 15]
  • THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:  Recent academic literature contends that “one in every two leaders and managers are judged ineffective – a disappointment, incompetent, mis-hire, or a complete failure.”  A Parade Magazine poll found 35% of American employees “willing to forego a pay raise if they could see their direct supervisors fired.”

           GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE FOR OPTIMAL STRATEGIC & FINANCIAL PLANNING, OPERATIONS, MANAGEMENT & MEDIATION