There was once a time for me, years ago, when the sound of the letter slot quietly closing on our front door was a source of excitement. The mail had come!
I was a young boy of thirteen. I had two pen pals, one in Alaska, the other in Manchester, England. I unexcited stamps, and was fascinated with every new four-cent commemorative that was issued. I was sending and receiving my first adolescent letters of love. As a Scout, I had a subscription to “Boy’s Life” magazine. My parents received “LIFE” every week.
But aside from the real (as opposed to e) mail and the magazines, and the few but regularly received envelopes with the little glassine windows that would occasionally set off a screaming match between my parents, there was NOTHING else! Once in a while, a package would be left on the front step. Sometimes, days would pass with no mail at all.
But that was then………
We are now besieged by daily deliveries of useless material that is collectively referred to as “Junk Mail.” Ironically, this incredible explosion of the bulk-mail business just might be the cause of the United States Postal Service’s eventual demise.
Most customers of the United States Post Office deeply resent this onslaught. The sorters and especially the carriers who walk a route are overwhelmed with the extra weight.
Every day, in homes and at every US Post Office in the country, most customers go to their mail boxes and retrieve a thick handful of mail which has to be carefully (lest some important letter or check be buried in the pages of some real estate ad) sorted into two piles… the “real” and the “junk.” The junk, which usually constitutes the majority, is then quickly (if at all) skimmed through before being deposited in the nearest wastebasket.
At the Post offices, this results in multiple, extra-large plastic garbage bags crammed to capacity with layer upon layer of the same bulk-mailed material: Pizza restaurant discounts; weekly supermarket specials; “Free” Internet access CDs; life, health and automobile insurance ads from every agency in the country; postcards with the faces of missing children; ten-pages of Wal-Mart ads; magazine sweepstakes and all sorts of other gimmicks and scams. Items very cleverly disguised as genuine U.S; Postal Express Mail Packages inquire of the recipient’s immediate attention. Seemingly authentic Western _Union-type telegrams acquire personalized “Congratulations for being chosen as one of five semi-finalists in our Ten Million Dollar give-away!”
The worst offenders are the credit card companies who deliberately target those with low credit ratings. The envelopes routinely have the words “You’ve Been Pre-Approved” printed on the outside along with the promise of 0% interest for at least one year. The unsuspecting (all too often the elderly), or the desperate neck-deep-in-debt consumers who plan the offer a away to finally consolidate the bills and get out of debt, drag the envelope open and either ignoring or failing to comprehend the many pages of fine print, go directly to the line that says, “sign here,” thereby missing the part stating in exquisite legalize that if one is late in paying any of one’s other bills, even the phone bill, the initial 0% will magically jump to as high as 27%. Another victim gets hopelessly trapped.
The costs incurred by the Post Office for processing this material, from its sorting through its delivery and right down to its ultimate bagging and removal as waste, are passed on to the customer in the form of higher postage fees. The price of a first-class stamp is swiftly approaching forty cents. Today, one can select a generic “US Postage” price that does not have a particular value printed on it, allowing for the steadily rising cost of mailing a letter.
The beautifully engraved three and four-cent commemoratives of my youth have long been replaced by an extensive variety of colorful stamps bearing the images of objective about everything from flowers to cartoon characters and celebrity portraits. These stamps are aggressively marketed by the Post Office as “collectibles,” that often come with special descriptive booklets. A few years ago, the P.O. actually polled the nation as to whether the “Old” Elvis or the “New” Elvis should adorn a proposed stamp.
It costs practically nothing to send an email. Consequently (and sadly), the hand-written letter has become a rarity. For package delivery, the Post Office is now forced to compete with FED-EX and the UPS Stores. Every day, an increasing number of business transactions of all kinds, from purchasing to billing, are done on-line, instantaneously and inexpensively.
Because of the higher prices for postage that can be attributed to the rising amount of junk mail and the public’s growing disgust with that mail and with what the Post office has become, some day soon, the United States Postal Service will be nothing more than a purveyor of “collectible” stamps and postal money orders, and the sole distributor of the all but ignored bulk mailings.
Not long after that, when all of the insidious Junk Mail has finally spammed its way completely into cyberspace, the USPS will simply cease to exist.
Filed under Automobile Insurance Company Ratings by on Mar 14th, 2011. Comment. 
The market was almost stagnating, hesitant to make any move as the investors were slowly exposed to the greater picture of the mess surrounding them. With politicians and bankers saying they have the ultimate panacea for today’s ills and the economist s saying it is too gradual to ward off an ensuing decade of complications, the taxpayers are between the proverbial devil and the deep sea.
They are even more vexed by the preposterous notion that some highly paid strangers sitting in Manhattan’s high rise offices were surreptitiously able to make telephonic contracts worth billions with accomplices hiding in offshore money laundering havens – all guaranteed on the humble mortgage payments of a few hundreds they were making to their neighborhood banks.
As if that ignominy is not enough, now their money is to be feeble to compensate for such speculative misadventures of not only American investment banks but of whoever bought into those dubious schemes from beyond the oceans too.
No wonder the European Central Bank’s (ECB) chief Trichet wants the American Congress to pass the bailout bill “for the sake of the U.S. and for the sake of global finance.” But, he also rules out a European bailout plan on the excuse that Europe doesn’t have a central budget. Then, what is the job of the organization ECB he is heading? The truth is that Germany and France are torpedoing a 300 bln euro plan suggested by other members of EU.
Economic Data:
Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Manufacturing Index for September – fell by 6.4 to 43.5 from 49.9, the lowest in seven years. The consensus was for 49.5. ISM prices paid excluding crude oil fell by 23.5 to 53.5 against a consensus figure of 73. The first reading shows that manufacturing activity is contracting. The second indicates that people have made a inspiring cut back in spending on purchases, though some may claim it shows inflation is disappearing! However, if prices were easing, people should be buying more.
The ADP employment index of private sector jobs for September – showed a loss of 8000 jobs in the private non-farm sector against the forecast of 60,000-job loss. It was 37,000 in August. Unfortunately, ADPs figures usually are far off the trace compared to government employment report on non-farm payrolls data to be announced on Friday.
Challenger Jobless Report – at the same time, announced 95,094 layoffs during that period.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s (Department of Commerce) Construction Spending for August – stood unchanged at $1,072 billion against a forecast figure of 0.5%. That shows a halt, even if temporary, in the relentless slide witnessed throughout 2008.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey – showed a 23% topple last week. The refinance index also fell 34.7%. The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 9.7 percent while the Government Capture Index decreased 14.1 percent. This entire shortfall, despite interests on 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreasing week by week!
Senate’s deliberations on the bailout:
Senate voted on its version of the $700 bln view this evening. Salient clauses include:
*provisions for an increase in the FDIC’s deposit insurance limit to $250,000 from the present $100,000
*tax breaks for businesses and especially to alternative energy ventures
*Removal of $30 bln limit on FDIC enabling it to borrow an unlimited funds from the Treasury
*authorized the Treasury Secretary to buy bad assets of companies to clean up their yarn books
*requires government agencies to make modifications to troubled mortgages.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for their concurrence, expected by Friday.
SEC ban on short sales is likely to be extended to October 18, beyond the novel expiration on October 2.
Weekly EIA petroleum reserves report – Crude oil inventories were up by 4.28 mln barrels far exceeding the forecast of 2.75 mln. Gasoline reserves increased by 901,000 against a consensus shortfall of -2.05 mln.
Oil retreated by -$2.11 (-2.10%) to $98.53
Gold rose by $6.50 (0.74%) to $887.30
CBOE Volatility impartial made it to 39.81, terrified of the 40 mark by 0.42.
Uncertainty over stocks back in the air, investors again made a beeline for Treasury securities.
Market indices
Dow went UP by -19.59 (-0.18%) to 10831.07
S&P 500 UP by -3.68 (-0.32%) to 1161.06
Nasdaq UP by -22.48 (-1.09%) to 2069.40
NYSE
Daily Volume: 1.29 bln
A/D Ratio: 1591 stocks advanced against 1614 declined
52-week Hi/Lo: 10 stocks scaled new Highs while 191 slid recent Lows
NASDAQ
Daily Volume: 1.91 bln
A/D Ratio: 1068 stocks advanced against 1820 declined
52-week Hi/Lo: 7 stocks achieved novel Highs while 153 dipped to modern Lows
The first half of the trading session saw the market falling due to uncertainty surrounding the bailout legislation and the negative economic data. Then came the news on GE in quick succession and pepped the market up disappointing manufacturing reading and news that Warren Buffett is making another major investment.
Trading in GE was temporarily halted as the news of their $12 bln in a public offering started coming in. Then came the encouraging news of Warren Buffet’s purchase of $3 bln worth of 10% preferred stock. His holding company Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) also have rights to $3 bln in 5-year warrants to purchase GE at $22.25 per allotment.
Then the market heard the “Oracle’s prophesies” on GE’s superior prospects. This was added to by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s who re-affirmed GE’s credit rating of AAA.
That was the shot in the arm the market needed. GE was languishing recently due to liabilities from the debts of GE Capital.
Calm blue chip IBM (IBM) fell by more than 6% based on rumors of the company issuing further reduced guidance on its earnings.
President Bush finally favorite the $25 bln loan package for automobile manufacturers for meeting the new fuel economy standards. Now the ball passes to the Energy Department to work out the rules and regulations to be presented to the Congress sometimes next year for approval.
Monthly sales of car-makers are declining:
Lexus -37%
Ford -35%
Toyota -32%
Hyundai -25%
Honda -24%
GM -16%
ImClone (IMCL) finally revealed the name of its mysterious bidder. It is Eli Lilly with a $6+ bln offer on ImClone @$70 per share.
JNJ won their $1.2 bln patent infringement cases against Boston Scientific (BSX) and Medtronic (MDT).
Marathon Oil (MRO) is disposing off its 50% stake in Pilot Travel Centers.
Xstrata (XSRAF) is ending its $9 bln bid on Lonmin Plc (LNMI.Y).
Chicago’s Midway airport is to be leased to a private consortium led by Citigroup (C) for a 99-year period .
When most businesses are looking for ways to downsize, consumer retailer Kohl’s Corporation (KSS) is opening 47 new stores in addition to the 31 already opened this year.
Company results:
Wolverine World Wide could bring out 15% increased earnings.
Micron Technology (MU) earnings were disappointing.
Analyst’s ratings:
Company stocks upgraded include:
Allied Capital Corp (ALD), CA Inc (CA), Children’s Plot Retail (PLCE), eHealth Inc (EHTH), Energy Solutions Inc (ES),
F5 Networks Inc (FFIV), Force Protection Inc(FRPT) and Informatica Corp (INFA).
Downgraded stocks are:
Brown Shoe Inc (BWS), California Pizza Kitchen (CPKI), Coleman Cable Inc (CCIX), Community Health System (CYH),
CSG Systems International (CSGS), Mortons Restaurant (MRT), Network Engines Inc (NENG), RC2 Corporation (RCRC),
Reliant Energy Inc (RRI), RLI Corp (RLI), Ruth’S Hospitality Group (RUTH), Tenet Healthcare Corp (THC), Tupperware Corp (TUP),
Universal Health Services (UHS) and Xyratex Ltd (XRTX).
Fortunately for the banks and their customers, the 28-day repo funding by the government is showing its beneficial effect:
The interbank overnight loan rate has fallen to 3.79% and is holding. Availability of more funds has loosened the credit situation a bit.
Pointers to the future:
* The U.S. national debt broke through the $10 tln mark today.
* Unemployment is expected to touch 7% by the middle of next year, unless the next administration can work magic or miracles.
Filed under Automobile Insurance Company Ratings by on Feb 22nd, 2011. Comment.
