• ASTONISHING NEW EMPLOYER ‘RULES’ FROM THE FED (Nat’l Labor Relations Board) – applicable to all employees of any size company. Policies/Handbook can no longer restrict: (1) discussing compensation or employment conditions; (2) criticizing or protesting management policies or employee treatment; (3) leaving work; (4) engaging in any ‘conflict of interest’ activities; (5) communicating with media, government agencies or other 3rd parties about such matters.  [CITRON & DEUTSCH NWSLTR – May 15]
  • CYBERCRIMINALS ARE GETTING NASTIER, now able to attack with “terrifying malware which destroys a PC if detected during malware security checks… Nicknamed Rombertik by Cisco Systems, it is spread through spam & phishing messages… and can effectively destroy all files in user’s home folder… by writing one byte of data to memory 960 million times – which, if an analysis tool attempted to log, would grow to over 100 gigabytes.” This type of ‘wiper’ malware was used against Sony Pictures last year. Pray that your screen never goes dark and reads “carbon crack attempt failed.”  [PC WORLD – May 5, 15]
  • AND SOCIAL MEDIA SITES ARE GETTING INCREASINGLY ‘HACKED’ in the latest form of negative advertising to serve the benefit of competitors. When this happens, it’s often enabled by company employees who can set up multiple ‘corporate’ social media accounts & profiles (on LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, etc) without policy guidelines. Today, social media is a “cornerstone of marketing & sales strategy at many companies. But giving employees access to this kind of power without any basic education is tantamount to handing over keys to the car without a driver’s course. Structured training on security and compliance issues is critical… along with consolidation of all accounts within a single social media management system,” in order to help hack-proof your site. [ADVISOR TODAY – May/June 15]
  • ECONOMIC OPTIMISM AMONG SMALL BUSINESSES REMAINS MIXED, according to a Wall St. Journal/Vistage survey of over 750 company CEOs in companies with less than $20 million annual revenue. Fewer than half felt that overall U.S. economic conditions have improved, with nearly 2/3 anticipating no improvement during 2015. Three-quarters expect increased revenues, but 38% are not confident that profitability will improve and 10% expect it to worsen.
  • BUT WALL STREET IS SAILING ALONG. Latest successes involve funding software for fast emerging (already $3 billion annual) cannabis market. “The weakest link in the supply chain has been index & tracking of licensed pot farmer’s plants to make sure none go missing on their way from grow room to blunt,” but newest inventory systems can now control inventory “down to the milligram, with bar codes or radio-signal tags affixed to the plants… tracing every bag either to the person who bought it (in the case of medical users) or the seed it grew from.” American innovation at its best. [BUSINESS WEEK – May 11, 15]
  • MORE ON AMERICA’S ABSURD IMMIGRATION POLICIES: (1) An unintended consequence of the 14th Amendment makes ‘Birth Tourism’ a legal industry so foreigners can travel here for the sole purpose delivering babies – “providing their newborn with automatic U.S. citizenship, passport & social security card.” Serving this industry (which projects some 20,000 women annually coming from China alone) are companies which charge around $50,000 to usher women through the visa process, and provide care before & after delivery including deluxe apartments, meals and coordinating all newborn’s documents. “For those who believe that U.S. immigration policies are too generous, Birth Tourism has become a contentious issue. It’s like somebody giving birth in your living room and saying they’re part of your family.” [BLOOMBERG.COM – May 12, 15]    (2) Literally hundreds of thousands of refugees from Islamic countries are being ‘resettled’ in American communities which are ill-prepared to handle employment, health, schooling or housing implications.  Sub-communities are being formed in California and other states by non-English-speaking people coming from cultures where America is “hated,” Sharia law is how their lives are programmed, and assimilation into American culture is not even on their radar. Decisions and quotas are determined by the U.N. Commissioner for Refugee Resettlement, which is “predominantly under the influence of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.” For a scary look at the future, view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PzT8vEvYPg&feature=youtu.be .
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: The 40-hour workweek is ‘history’ for managers. Out of nearly ten thousand workers surveyed globally, 46% work greater hours, with American managers at 58%.

                   “The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.”  -Sigmund Freud

    ‘American Pie’ – a tribute video which puts the 60s and 70s sadly into perspective. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhX3b1h7GQw&sns=em