Business

Part 1
Michael Lewis writes about a handful of Wall Street outsiders who realized the subprime mortgage business was a house of cards and found a way to bet against it. Steve Kroft reports.
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=tmtM8hJqDNUynIT4vQmNg...
Part 2
Michael Lewis talks about the current situation on Wall Street, the large bonuses still being paid and his predictions for the future of the industry. Steve Kroft reports.
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=BQuHL8OsUizEBb6rreSNN...

The Treasury turned a handsome profit on Bank of America warrants

So, your business or organization has a Facebook Page, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn Group and/or a blog.

Now what?

Once you establish a presence in social media for your business or organization, you have to establish and grow an online community to achieve marketing value and other objectives you may set.

We need to pay attention to this brewing issue at BP. Toledo is supposed to be one of the main, mainland processors of oil sand crude and if there already is shareholder concern, what will happen to the future of the refinery in Oregon especially after they spend lots of money to convert it to process oil sand crude? If the Oregon plant is converted and BP pulls out, will it be rendered useless and close down? We will have to watch this.
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Toledo’s economy continues to struggle mightily, based on year-end numbers released by agencies that assist the unemployed and working poor. But officials on the front lines of the fight against poverty say many families are giving up hope and struggling even more as a result.

Lucas County Job and Family Services (JFS) provided food stamps for more than 87,000 people in 2009, a 16 percent jump in the number of clients compared with 2008. The number of people on Ohio Works First cash assistance also jumped by more than 11 percent in 2009.

Yummy, take a break from the former dead radio talking Air America and feast your peepers on these cupcakes:

From the Financial Post:
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Plans for Sunrise call for a steam-assisted gravity drainage project, where steam is pumped into the earth to loosen up the tarry bitumen in the oil sands so it can be pumped to the surface in wells.

Husky and BP also co-own a refinery in Toledo, Ohio, which is targeted for US$2.5-billion of retooling work so it can run the oil sands-derived crude.

While The Blade's publisher is all worried about dogs, he missed another story that actually impacts many people who are disabled but still trying to contribute. Sad commentary on what passes for journalism at the local daily newspaper.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125918205048464519.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Full story:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/02/chrysler-fiat-automobiles-jerry-flint-b...
Chrysler's ''saviors'' always had their own agendas, which wrecked Chrysler. What about the new savior?

Quote from article:
This wouldn't be a new experience for Chrysler. It's been "saved" before by companies more interested in their own agendas.

Block Communications' old media properties are not doing so good. The Blade is reporting a 10k drop in subscriptions while the other paper, the Post-Gazette has been overtaken by the other daily, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
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In fact, the Tribune-Review solidified its standing in Western Pennsylvania last week by overtaking the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for the first time. The Trib topped the P-G in Saturday circulation and is beginning to pull even with Monday-through-Friday editions.

and:

The Toledo Free Press is reporting that recent audit reports show the Blade dropped their circulation by 10,000. Will it end?
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The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) reported a decrease in subscribers of The Blade in its Sept. 30 FAS-FAX report.

ABC reported a drop in The Blade’s Sunday circulation from 144,198 in September 2008 to 133,847 in September 2009.

http://www.toledofreepress.com/2009/10/28/blade-circulation-declines-100...

Smart or Stupid?
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NEW YORK The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, is offering a new approach to helping the local unemployed, offering a three-month subscription for $1 to anyone currently out of a job.

"More than one out of every ten residents in Lucas County is unemployed," the paper stated in an announcement. "The Blade has hundreds of job listings in its classifieds section every day. The newspaper wants to bring the two sides together."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

Also see:

As referenced in the previous post, Toledo did not fare well in the recent Bizjournal/Portfolio.com's job analysis. From 2008-2009 Toledo dropped from 97th to 99th place. What city was 100? Detroit.

The sobering facts which you won't see on Toledo letterhead:
Private Sector Job Growth 04-09: -6.7%
Private Sector Job Growth 08-09: -8.5%
Raw growth in private sector jobs (04-09): -31,900
Raw growth in private sector jobs (08-09): -23,400
Unemployment rate: 14.2%

Congratulations leaders of Toledo, who happen to be almost all Democratic, this ranking is for you. You know it is bad when the Dems say they need change and then campaign on it-what an indictment of their own leadership style. But watch, they say they want change, then continue to do the same idiotic stuff. This will eventually catch up with them and for Toledo's sake, let's hope soon. So think about this the next rain garden that is created, the next flower planted, and what ever else these "leaders" say to distract you from there own accountability and lousy performance.

From Bizjournals:

Cincinnati has the most manufacturing jobs of any city in the state at 83,343 – but that’s down 14 percent over the past two years. Cleveland has 64,775 jobs, down 13.5 percent; Columbus has 47,200, down 3.1 percent; Dayton has 27,114, down 28 percent; and Toledo has 23,445, down 5 percent.

Some quotes:

CHICAGO - (Business Wire) Fitch Ratings affirms its 'BBB-' rating on the $88.3 million Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, Ohio (the authority) outstanding development revenue program bonds. The Rating Outlook remains Negative.

Ohio media watch is reporting that BAS Broadcasting AC WPFX-FM/107.7 North Baltimore wants to move to Luckey.

The application for WPFX specifies a 5.2kW facility along I-75 just north of Bowling Green, with a 60 dBu city grade signal that cuts off just north of downtown Toledo, and just south of the suburb of Oregon. The resulting signal should prove to be a serviceable class A rimshot for the Toledo market.

http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2009/10/they-meant-toledo-radio.html

BizJournals puts Toledo 4 from the bottom in income growth. They note that only Provo, Utah, and Detroit have posted five-year growth rates slower than Toledo’s 13.7 percent. For more information, methodology and other city rankings, visit:

http://www.bizjournals.com/edit_special/91.html

Summary:
a. Rank = 96
b. Metropolitan area = Toledo, Ohio
c. Income growth index = -33.52
d. Per capita income (2008) = $33,856
e. 25-year income growth rate (1983-2008) = 168.0%
f. 20-year income growth rate (1988-2008) = 98.6%
g. 15-year income growth rate (1993-2008) = 59.3%

Interested in learning how to actually use social media tools for business?

Want to meet & mingle with other business and communications folks in town?

Then, mark your calendar and register for Social Media Breakfast-Toledo on Friday, Oct. 2, 7:30-9:30 a.m.

Topic:
Business Power Tools
A smart executive's guide to using Google, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook & Twitter to drive business results:

* Do you know where searchers turn when google lets them down?

* Do you know the difference between search marketing and find marketing?

What are more annoying than those little speakers that blast commercials when you start to pump gas? A company/companies fighting over things and putting the consumer in the middle.

Event Description:
The Oct. 2 Social Media Breakfast-Toledo will feature Charlie Wollborg of Curve Detroit. His focus is:

Business Power Tools: A smart executive's guide to using Google, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook & Twitter to drive business results

> Do you know where searchers turn when Google lets them down?

> Do you know the difference between search marketing and find marketing?

> Do you know how to turn strangers into prospects and customers into evangelists?