B/W reports a less than subtle desire for Mac Computers in the corporate office.   I see that MSFT stock dropped this past week.  Dell is back in the low 20s. I originally adopted Macs in my office in the 1980s back in the MS DOS days.  The choice was clear then. Macs were easier to use. And apparently VISTA 2007 is making folks decide the same thing now, that and their happiness with I Phones.  But is AAPL ready?  Jobs decided after being snubbed by corporations to focus solely on consumers, and he has.  I wonder if Apple will finally start hiring for corporate activity.  For sure they will not feel the need to discount product.

And cheaper iPhones on the way, a lot cheaper, try 200 bucks.

An article in the Economist details the importance that Africa has in India’s future. I suspect we need a refresher class in geography, or are you familiar with Madagascar?  India and China will be vying for Africa’s rich natural resources. This may do more to develop Africa than all the good intentioned UN plans thus far.

Now why didn’t someone in the graduate class think of this?  Yep, another great idea,

You don’t want it,

He can’t have it back.

so My exboyfriendjewelry site to the rescue!  Click and check this one out!  A very specialized e bay

DLE

Forbes Magazine  in my opinion has morphed into sort of a cross between Vanity Fair, Town and Country, and Esquire.  Which is to say it is not the business journal it used to be. The columnists however remain some of the best.  Steve takes on Greenspan and yes, after being haied as a Maestro, amid the housing mess many are now questioning Greenspan’s judgement. Steve’s column is a fine analysis of how we got where we are with too many houses, $900 gold, and $100+ oil.

Did anyone notice that Mr. Leisure Suit in Iran said oil is too cheap at $115?

George Will takes on the Too Big to Fail argument. He goes back to Chrysler.  He suggests that got the idea going that the FED or Govt could prevent failures from spreading. Now the genie is out of the bottle, who can put it back in?  I certainly like his last suggestion that any investment or private company taking such aid cannot pay anyone more than the top Federal rate of $125K, that would certainly calm things down.

I am not endorsing a candidate by any stretch, but here is an interesting story about the

McCain Campaign.  He is planning on decentralizing the campaign  to ten regional managers. Each will talk with headquarters every day.  Most decisions will be left to the managers. Business talks about this but we rarely see it especially in politics. Certainly the Dem campaigns appear tightly controlled from the top. will this work, we shall see. This is a most interesting campaign season so it is hard to resist posting articles about the management of the campaigns. This is a topic in managerial accounting, if this works, expect a book on how McCain really became the Come From Behind Kid at Age 71!

One observers says that the swaps and derivative industry is out of the Panic Zone. Well that reassures me, you to eh?  The writer suggests that the derivatives industry needs a clearinghouse to determine value. Gee wouldn’t that be called an Exchange?  An open transparent market would allow everyone to  see price and volume?  Gee works round the world, sounds good to me.  Ever since banks and brokerages started going off market to create trillions of dollars of derivatives we have been on borrowed time. Long Term Capital Managemet and Bear Stearns are the first two examples.  No one knows how many more are out there. We seem to be finding out at the wrong time.

Frnakly I have never bought into the Mantra that Jack Welch was the GREAT CEO.  He moved jobs and intellectual capial to China. How does that help the US or grow process in his own company GE?  It does not. Now it appears that several kings in fact have no new clothes.

Welch rode the great stock boom of the 1990s astride an already successful company, General Electric.  Instead of staying in the electrical business he took GE into the financial business.  Bad idea. And at the height of the stock boom Welch started writing books reflecting an adoring media. And then of course at 60 something he divorced his wife for a younger woman.  Google Jack Welch at Amazon to see the list of books. The stock had already started down as the last couple of books came out.  His lavish retirement package finally drew some criticism.  Now his succesor and others are not looking so great.  It is easy to look good when times are good.  When the going gets tough, well…..

Jim Rogers has as always an interesting take on things this past weekend in Barrons.  Click on the link!

One of the students in Intermed II just did his book report on Jim’s Investment Biker.  A great thinga bout Jim is that he does not work for an investment firm so you always get  his straightforward opinion.  I just bought his latest and fourth book,

A Bull In China.  I think we would do well to improve our choice of books for reports, I will be providing a list of approved books in the future.

Forbes reoprts that Chrylser and Nissan are trying to eiliinate costs between them.

In my mind the problem is that, according to the article, Chrysler will design cars to be made by Nissan and Nisan will design a big truck to be built by Chrylser. Isn’t this exactly backwards?  The last small car Chrylser designed well was a 1968 Dodge Dart with a slant six engine.  The Chrysler  NEON is bottom of the barrel in resale and desirability compared to Toyota and Honda.  The TITAN Nissan pickup has not sold well, so why is Nissan designing and Chrylser building?  If you ask me, Chrysler would be better off to sell a re badged Nissan car  and Nissan would be better off to show Chrysler how to improve quality control on its pickups.  Each needs to refelct is specialty, not wish it could do better at its failures.

Jerry Flint details the agreement. It does not seem like a winner to him either.  This is the same ‘me too’ road Chrysler has been down so many times before. It is the badge of an also ran not an innovator.