Archive for September, 2008

Perfect Bailout Plan

September 28, 2008

This is a perfect bailout plan. This is an email chain being sent around cyberspace and hopefully into the hand of George W. Bush, John McCain (if he isn’t dead by now) and Barack Obama.

I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of wall street. 

Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in 
a We Deserve It Dividend. 

To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 
bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. 

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman 
and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up.. 

So divide 200 million adult s 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. 

My plan is to give $425,0 00 to every person 18+ as a 
We Deserve It Dividend. 

Of course, it would NOT be tax free. 
So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%. 

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. 
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. 

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. 
A husband and wife has $595,000.00. 

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family? 
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved. 
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads 
Put away money for college – it’ll be there 
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs. 
0ABuy a new car – create jobs 
Invest in the market – capital drives growth 
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves 
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else 

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks 
who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company 
that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. 

If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it…instead of
trickling out 
a puny $1000.00 ( “vote buy” ) economic incentive that is being proposed
by one of our candidates for President. 

If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U
S Citizen 18+! 

Sure it’s a crazy idea that can “never work.” 

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! 

How do you spell Economic Boom? 

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion 
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at wall street or in
Washington DC . 

And remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned 
instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Am I stupid? Economy is about to crash and Im spending a hell of a lot of money.

September 28, 2008

So just to put things into perspective here…I am a mid 20s, white, middle class, male. I have a college education and my own (pretty small) business editing videos-most action sports, and inside that mostly surfing. Business has been pretty steady but Im not living the rich life or anything. I would like more jobs, I guess, or even better, I would like jobs that pay better.

 

Anyways, I just booked a 3 week trip through Europe with some friends and bought a new HD camera package at around $10,000USD. Does this make me stupid? The economy is on the brink of failure and Im sitting here blowing my cushion for these kinds of times. I was really hesitant at first and almost regretted my decision-I mean, this is almost my entire life savings. But, I do have a plan and I talked with a friend who reassured me my decision was a good one.

I will be going on this trip to document it and hoping to market something out of it to make back my investment, or even better, come out on top a little. There are a few ways that I think I can do this. The camera package I purchased was on 0% financing for 6 months-as long as I pay it all back before then I don’t pay any interest. Now, the money is in the bank, and hopefully it still will be in 6 months time. I plan on paying a little back each month and if I need more money upon my due date, then I will sell the camera for about 80% of what I paid and look at it like a 6 month camera rental for about $2,000. Now, the rental fees for this same package is about $3,000 a month. So, I would keep the camera for 5 more months and spend $1,000 less. Seems like a good idea. Also, I could probably buy a new camera at that time and do the same financing and keep this process going. This would mean that I would always have brand new, top-of-the-line equipment.

 

Can I go wrong here? There are the obvious risks such as theft and/or not being able to get the price you want for it-but these are both extremes and are still existing if I were planning on keeping the camera for a longer period of time.

 

Also, I talked with a friend about the economy and he assured me that now is the best time to start a business. There is the least amount of competition and your competitors are probably scaling back anyway. He seemed to think that this is also the best time to buy a house or remodel your current home. Costs are down-they will be going back up in the near future and your investment will pay for itself in no time. Agree? If you have the will and good business fundamentals I would agree.

So, look at these times as an opportunity rather than a time to sit back and wait to see what happens. 

 

Good luck.

tar

Poor San Diego Chargers, 0-2

September 20, 2008

The supposed “Super Bowl contenders” are straight on their way to a loosing season. A loss is a loss and a win is a win, but, loosing the first two games in the final seconds on each by a total of 3 points is heartbreaking. Despite bad calls by the referee (they happen all the time, and they too, like you, are human, and make mistakes) we should have won. Enough of the complaining and time to get your head up about Monday Night Football against Brett Farve and the New York Jets.

Tennis Commercial

September 16, 2008

I found a cool commercial the other day…here’s the link

http://www.vimeo.com/1740608

http://www.vimeo.com/1740653

Video productions, Viral Marketing campaign, Web Commercials

September 14, 2008

For any video productions, viral marketing productions and marketing campaigns, web commercials and corporate videos please check out Tar Productions. Tar has been behind a lot of great work recently. They have worked on Quiksilver’s 2008 broadcast commercial campaign, the famous car ollie (which is one of the most successful viral videos to date), and web commercials. Check out the Tar Reel…

 

Kelly “feakin” Slater, OMG OMG OMG

September 11, 2008

Today Kelly Slater made history-he won his 39th ASP World Tour Event. But thats not whats important. The fact that he was in a combo situation in the final against Taj Burrow and came back and won at the buzzer-as he’s done so many times before-is what is crazy. Taj had a 9.00 and 9.60 and Kelly didn’t have Sh*t. He’s a freak. Also, Hurley put out and extra 150% ($45,000) on top of his $30,000 prize money. This makes the richest, most famed surfer ever the largest prize money winner ever, thats why he’s the best, ever.

Kelly is pretty much the winner of this years tour with 5 out of 7 wins. He’s lost to a wild card and only 1 person on tour (Tiago Pires). He’s previously said that if he wins nine he’ll have to go for 10. And, if he wins 10 it is rumored that he’ll get a $10M bonus from Quiksilver.

Congrats Kelly. Here’s to number nine.

Social Media Marketing Examples

September 9, 2008

I found a pretty comprehensive list of social marketing examples that major companies are doing on Peter Kim’s blog. If you’re into this kind of stuff then it is a must read. Also, if you are looking for viral videos, web commercials or the like you should check out Tar Productions. Tar works with many established companies and brings together the best ones to suit your needs. I recommend them.

 

Today is my Mom’s birthday. Get ready for cooking a family dinner at Grandpa’s house.

Birthdays and Jose Gonzalez

September 1, 2008

My grandfather turned 82 years old yesterday-the guy’s still trucking! Had a wonderful evening with the family at a nice restaurant. I got potato soup and veggie squash-Im the only veggie in y family and everyone else got meat-yuck!

 

Also, found a new favorite artist by the name of Jose Gonzalez. He’s a swedish guy and plays the acoustic nylon guitar and he’s really good at it. He has a interesting fine tone with beautiful harmonics-most if drop D tuning or something weird like that. Here’s my favorite track by him….