If you missed the ticker, JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns for $2 a share with the help of some Fed financing. I would have never thought this would have happened “this way” let alone so fast but they are officially sunk.

The fed’s also dropped rates 25 basis points to help calm the market but I don’t think that is enough. Either let the market bleed or drop it enough to say something, at least 50 and many people wanted to see one full point.

For all of the investors out there be careful in the coming weeks, this is a very unpredictable time for the market.

The Bear Stearns stock is in a free fall right now losing over $27 dollars yesterday. At this point I hope the short on GS pays off because that will be one hell of a winner! Many people are saying we are in a recession just be looking at what Bear Stearns did this week and all I have to say is; When does it say we are in a recession because a company made bad decisions and they are failing?

 I just love how I and many others are taxed to death for being successful and then our money is given to LOSERS. Whatever happened to true capitalism? Companies rise and fall and new ones startup. Poor businesses ARE SUPPOSED to fail and those that do well get rewarded for doing good business by the way of profits.

I still do not understand this country and why we must keep patting the losers on the back for being stupid. Bear Stearns took to much risk or took on poor investments and they failed, it is time for someone to come pick them up for 5 cents on the dollar because that is capitalism.

And all the poor home owners that bit off more then they can chew. I do not believe even half of the people in this mess were “tricked” by the greedy mortgage people. Everyone I know dealing with an inflated arm right now did it on their own. They did it to buy more house and have a lower payment. Somewhere they thought they could flip it and sell it, some windfall inheritance would come or as many people thought, I would get a big bump in my salary or career by the time 3-5 years comes and I could afford it.

Well most of that didn’t happen and not you cannot afford the house. Those of us WHO DO THE RIGHT THING, have to to get taxed to death to bail out the people that make poor decisions over and over.

What should happen.

•  Do not use our tax dollars to bail out people and corporations that make bad decisions.
• Let the housing marketing correct itself by people losing their homes and others picking them up on the market from the banks
• Let the corporations fail, be bought out and another new one can start one day
• Lower taxes for those that make profits because of good decisions, yes we will reinvest into the market

If you are one of the financially responsible, how do you feel that your tax dollars are being used to bailout these people and corporations that made bad decisions?

I do a search in my area and come across 3 dealers. They are all owned by the same place and no other dealer is in my area that carries those speakers. So I get to thinking, what a slick way to make sure you get a premium price for your product.

Now this cannot work with everything but if you are reselling a product and can purchase a “zone” then why not game it up and set up several stores. Once you set in place a great plan you should have trapped a geographic area to either buy from you or force them to drive 30-40+ miles if they want to deal with someone else.

You seen many warnings on company sites that you will not get a warranty if you purchase from an Internet reseller and you clearly know why now. I cannot really find those speakers online and I really don’t want to drive over an hour to “try” to save a few bucks so what can I do other then pay up or chose another brand?

Aggressive business so you have to love it, unless your the one buying from a regional monopoly.

I have grown tired of hearing the word recession over and over every single day. Sadly enough here I am contributing to it but in the end I hope this article offsets me using it.

If you say something enough then it is bound to happen. If you want to succeed but you are constantly talking about failing then what do you think will happen? If you are managing a department and you constantly talk about how poor the state of the company is what do you think will be the outcome?

Everyday I hear it on the news, on the radio or read it on the web. The United States is heading for a recession as if we are heading for a great DEPRESSION.  We all know how much the media loves to write about the “bad stuff” and here it is no different.

Why not call it a slow down? What if people just decided to put more money in the bank rather then shopping and traveling like crazy? That would not be such a bad thing but revenue reports would be down and everyone would fear……… a recession.

It seems everyday the people of the United States get a constant dose of how bad things are. If you own a business you will think twice before hiring someone if we are in a recession. If you are thinking about spending money on something you may be concerned about your job so you hold back spending. If you are thinking about switching jobs or starting a business you will hold back because your worried about the recession. If we are in a recession then you may not invest into that stock like you wanted to so the market falls.

The constant talk about a recession slows America down.

As a business owner and capitalist I wake up in the morning with a positive outlook. If I want to continue to be successful and move forward with my life I cannot focus on the negative things. I must pull the trigger ever single say on the items that will continue to move me forward otherwise the negative views and outlook around my life will assist in my failure.

The fact is people still need to eat; they need to buy gas; they need cloths;they will have to travel to visit family;they will continue to get educated;they need medicine;they will need some products from the lumber yard to repair their home.

This country can only slow down so much, people still have to live.

Maybe the country is slowing down and that is cyclical but we do not have to throw up a white flag and say the recession is here, lets all call it a day.

In the backrooms of the Midwest you will hear the term NAFTA come up. You won’t find too many people having anything good to say about it.  The reality is it hit the Midwest very hard but NAFTA was felt throughout the country so regardless of where you live it is worth taking an interest in from a business perspective.

In the last month NAFTA was a hot topic with all the political campaigns especially in Ohio but other then the name and roughly what as happened a few really do not understand the effects it has on businesses and the effect it still has on your business today.

If your in the planning stages of a manufacturing based business or one that services manufacturing then the following link below has a 4 part article that will help you understand the fall out from NAFTA.

http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7295&secID=1187&catID=126

 You can place a vote by visiting the link below.

http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/43073

It looks like the stock dipped at bit at the end of the day and here is what I am thinking. In that press release they wanted to protect their brand and image and over all they didn’t want to the public to think their products are sold “at a place like Costco”.

The thing that bothers me is if you walk around Costco your looking at the people that buy the Crocs brand. Yes you will see Mr. Blue or White collar, bare foot and or with socks wearing them out about as they shop. I see this as a jab to the people that buy the Crocs brand.

The fact is we are looking at a company that is down from $70 a share in Oct to around $20 today, would selling your product at Costco be all that bad right now?

You will continue to see Wal-Mat do rather well as the economy slows down. The fact is they have just about the cheapest prices around. Those on fixed incomes or people that are light on money will not flood the local “mart” with higher prices to support the community because when it comes down to it they are looking out for themselves, rightfully so.

Many say the large Wal-Marts kill the local businesses but how about the 20,30,40,000+ people that benefit from the low prices? Does that not count for something?

As the economy slows people will become more economic and shop at places like Wal-mart regardless so you can bet that their numbers will stay healthy just as we seen today with a 2.6% increase in sales for existing stores.

When you think of Diebold you may think of ATM machines but for me I always think about the great voting controversy about their machines and the documentaries that followed.

In the past Diebold seemed like one of those powerful \ well connected business so it seems strange to me to think about them being bought but it looks to be happening.  Lets also not forget that Diebold tried to spin off their voting machine business back in 2005 so maybe this shouldn’t be such a surprise.

United Technologies offered $2.6 Billion for the entire business which comes out to be roughly $40 a share which is a huge premium to Diebold’s $24 market price.

The deal is not done but it is worth keeping an eye on. The markets are not open yet but it should be a good day for Diebold shareholders.