gdp's Comments

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Not-so-bad news is the new good news

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 00:14:38 +0000

Hi! You picked up pretty quickly that I'm not a big fan of Keynesian economics. It works but isn't a good long term solution in my opinion. I don't agree with the whole paradox of thrift thing either. What's the unemployment rate in Australia? Are you guys experiencing any of the same problems or is life a lot better down under? My recent post Not-so-bad news is the new good news

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Not-so-bad news is the new good news

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 00:24:45 +0000

Sam's a BMW traitor, me thinks. You're the role model for my ideal economy: someone who invests through thick and thin and understands where the money's going and how it's being used. Granted secondary stock purchases don't go directly to the corporate coffers it's been my experience management's decisions are directly influenced by the company's stock price. Bonds would be a better way to go if the yield's could be decent. As for hiring companies are already hiring, just the wrong people. I'm seeing more and more temporary and contract employees doing the same job as full-time employees, but without benefits. In my personal experience the contract employees are making more money than the full-time employees, but if you factor in the benefits we're probably on par with each other. Training new employees takes time, and it's also been my experience companies wait until they're absolutely desperate for help before hiring. Smoke and mirrors is spot on, it seems like the country has become addicted to quick and easy fixes. What we need is an investment in hard work, R&D, training, product development, etc. and less misleading headlines like we saw Friday. Like you said, this is the new normal; don't sugar coat the news and sell it as anything different. My recent post Not-so-bad news is the new good news

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Not-so-bad news is the new good news

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 22:24:56 +0000

Nah, you'll miss Moose too much. But I guess you would be a hero for taking on the $48,000 price tag. I think Facebook can actually make money for investors. They have a good business model and something like 350 million users. Maybe you can get me a piece of the action :-) My recent post Not-so-bad news is the new good news

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 00:12:37 +0000

Au contraire, mon frere. Judging from what I've read from you and our interactions I think you're a younger version of me. You probably shunned business classes as an undergraduate only to realize their benefit when you worked as an engineer for a while and are now taking graduate business classes. Everything in life can and should be run like a business to be efficient and effective, and the primary should schools should be no different. They'll let everyone go at the end of the year but up to half of the teachers will be hired back. The other half (or so) will be new blood who will hopefully help the school bring their test scores up. I hope this will be a trend that will be adopted by other school systems. My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : 5 Ways to be happier – guaranteed

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 05:42:11 +0000

And not only will you be happier by maintaining close relationships with your friends you'll live longer. Plus one of the reasons I chose to write about ways to be happier is happy people tend to be more successful, are generally more healthy, and perform better in their careers. Thanks for the comment Austin! My recent post Exactly why you need a will

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : How long are you going to live?

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 05:37:57 +0000

Just the one, so far. I wouldn't worry too much about what the fortune teller told you, they'll tell you anything in order to separate you from your money. I think it has more to do with how you live your life. Take care of yourself :-) My recent post Easy ways to improve your memory

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 23:49:48 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Ryan. What I was trying to highlight was the fact that half the teachers could be hired back, and that they had demonstrated a reluctance to negotiate with the school board, whose hands were tied by the Dept. of Ed. The media spin was the horrible people at the school board fired all those poor overworked, underpaid teachers which didn't seem fair or accurate to me. If the kids were consistently failing to make the grade then I would think that calls for drastic measures. Time will tell who was right I guess. My recent post Exactly why you need a will

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 11:40:19 +0000

That would be appropriate. I haven't bought either one yet but I used to cheat and read them at airport bookstores while I was in between flights. I think maybe it's time I broke down and bought each. Thanks for the comment! My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Easy ways to improve your memory

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 11:32:07 +0000

I haven't tried Google calendar yet, I have Outlook at home and work and i sync with my Palm Treo, but it sounds like maybe I should check out Google's calendar. I hope this helps you remember your students better. I'd be curious to hear how it worked for you. My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:16:19 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Don. I guess this isn't the typical personal finance article, but I wanted to write something a little more objective than what I was reading on the internet. Glad you approve! My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:28:00 +0000

I think you're right. My position is if teachers were treated like their peers in the business world the educational system (and our children) would be a lot better off. Reward your best teachers for their good performance and weed out the bad teachers. And they don't have to be fired, move them into a non-teaching position if necessary. One thing I learned from working with my local school system is there are a lot more non-teaching positions than you would think.

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:44:56 +0000

Hey Coach, thanks for the comment. Something the media glossed over was the fact the teachers won't be terminated until the end of the school year and up to 50% of the teachers could be hired back at the beginning of the next semester. For the teachers who get rehired it doesn't seem like it's going to be any different for them since they're off in the summer anyway. So come next fall it may be more like half of the teachers were fired. It still sucks being fired, but the Department of Ed is only giving states four choices on how to deal with their low performing schools, and unfortunately "ranking and yanking" isn't one of them. I've taught kids (about 5,000) as well as adults and I like to think I did a pretty good job. When students are lined up to talk to you after you're done teaching to ask you questions you have to be doing something right. If my students weren't interested in what I had to say I would mix things up to get their attention, and I've got the standardized test scores to show our effectiveness. The fact that only 7% of the school's juniors were proficient in math is unbelievable. My recent post Exactly why you need a will

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:03:14 +0000

Looking forward to your article on John Maxwell's book. Sounds like little Jeff is really doing awesome in school, must get all his smarts from his mom ;-) I've overpaid for real estate and greatly added to my daily commutes so my kids could go to good schools. You're right about parents being a very important part of a child's education, my comment "Blaming the students and parents is akin to a retail store saying it’s their customers’ fault sales are down" is directed at the teachers blaming the parents to deflect blame; really it's the fault of everyone involved in the kids' education. I think it's a pretty fair comparison because I've walked into stores, been unable to find what I was looking for, had no one offer to help, and when I finally tracked down an employee they sent me to the wrong aisle. Needless to say I left the store empty-handed and frustrated, and I'm sure I wasn't the only disappointed customer. So whose fault is it when the store reports poor sales for the quarter? Mine, because I didn't buy anything? I've had good sales people who've upsold me and had me leaving their store happy for my purchase, and crappy sales people who send me looking for their nearest competitor. I think it's the same way with teachers; a good teacher will trick you into learning with you're even realizing you're being educated and a lousy teacher will put you to sleep. My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:10:30 +0000

Excellent comment, Jeff. Another point the media didn't spend any time on was that the teachers aren't let go until the end of the school year and up to 50% can be rehired at the end of the summer. So for maybe half of the teachers the only thing that will happen is they'll need their contract renewed before the start of the school year. The elementary and middle schools should be looked at too, because if the kids never learned the basics there's no way they're going to do well at the high school level. My kids are learning algebra basics in elementary school, and my five year old is already reading which is about 90% due to her kindergarten teacher. Great points, and as always I appreciate your comments! My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:41:44 +0000

Honestly Sam, I don't feel too bad for these teachers. The shame is I'm sure there were quite a few who were excellent educators who stayed there because they felt they could make a difference but they faculty as a whole had to be doing something wrong to have such a horrible track record. My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Do mass firings improve performance?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:39:08 +0000

I'm with you Evan. I worked with the county school system where I used to live for about five years and got to learn first hand what teachers have to go through. I'm not a certified teacher but I like to think I did a good job teaching over 5,000 kids science, math, and technology, and I can honestly say it isn't easy work to keep kids attention and get them to learn. I think the teachers who can't do this or are just burned out need to move on. The problem is the teachers' unions make it nearly impossible to fire these teachers. My recent post Do mass firings improve performance?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : Exactly why you need a will

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:36:07 +0000

I'll let Evan weigh in on this one, but I would think anything is better than nothing as long as it was witnessed by someone and reviewed by an attorney. I was really interested in learning about trusts and estates, and he has a lot of good information on his site. My recent post How long are you going to live?

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : How long are you going to live?

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:43:13 +0000

Death Clock is more of a joke but only takes a few seconds to fill out. Try the Live to 100 site if you have a few minutes to fill out the forms. I'm just hoping I get back what I put into Social Security.

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : How long are you going to live?

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:17:27 +0000

I didn't notice they gave so much credence to your outlook, but then I didn't take Death Clock very seriously. Living to 100 seemed to be the best out of the four I tried. Sounds like you better quit torturing small animals ;)

WordPress blog at mbabriefs.com : How long are you going to live?

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:14:22 +0000

Getting hit by a bus is pretty cliche which is why I threw it in there. If you have to die an untimely death (is there such a thing as a timely death?) I think it would be better to have the kind of death where people say "Wow!" instead of "Oh", like being killed during hostage negotiations (I just watched Pelham 123). When you're going to die certainly isn't the most pleasant thing to think about but something you have to consider when planning your retirement. If you have a shot at becoming a centennarian that's going to make a huge difference. You can also greatly change your numbers by changing a few key things in your life like your diet, not smoking, getting regular exercise, etc. If I had taken the same test a few years ago my number would have been 10 - 20 years lower. And I'm sure you're irreplaceable at work xD