Did Tom Brady Propose to Giselle Bundchen?

TMZ’s recent report that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady proposed to Giselle Bundchen is being met with a flurry of denials from the likes of his sister and father who was quoted by Boston.com as calling it “rumor, rumor, rumor.”  According to the TMZ report, Tom Brady’s parents were on board the private jet which was decked with “white roses and champagne”, which makes his denial all the more suspicious.  Celebs and their close family and friends have lied to the press before, and the senior Brady’s denial is anything but reliable. Reps at the Teterboro airport where the alleged flight took place weren’t able to confirm or deny the Christmas flight took place.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Gisele Bundchen’s twin sister Patricia called the story “not true” and the Boston Herald reported seeing Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen on Boston’s trendy Beacon Street sans engagement ring.  There’s reason for the confusion however, as Gisele Bundchen’s rep declined to comment while Stacey James, New England Patriots’ rep, suggested the rumors were false.  “..I don’t think its true. Tom keeps his private life private.”  There is one more possibility to consider - if it turns out that Tom Brady did indeed propose to Giselle Bundchen and  the Boston Herald is accurately reporting that they saw no engagement ring, it’s possible that Mr. Brady proposed but Gisele Bundchen declined the famous quarterback.  To be continued..

photo: a file photo of Giselle Bundchen on a beach, courtesy of cardoso via Flickr CC.

Facebook’s Tempest Over Ta-Tas

Facebook’s Breast Feeding Ban results in Nurse-In.

It seems the only legimate exposure of breasts in the media is when Nature, Discovery Channel or National Geographic show a tribe in the Amazon or Africa where shirts and shoes are optional.  Janet Jackson they are not.  In America, public displays of breast feeding is still a sensitive issue depending on the community you live in.  Now the tempest has reached into one of the main public squares online - Facebook.

MILC (Mothers International Lactation Campaign) staged a protest outside of Facebook’s Palo Alto office protesting the popular site’s policy of removing images of Mother’s breastfeeding, if the photo displays the nipple or areola.  The red-dot policy has some mothers up in arms (because we should note that there are plenty of mothers against public displays of breast feeding in this country as well).

Heather Farley, organizer of the “nurse-in” outlined in an open letter why she opposed such a ban:

..”it is an issue of discrimination against breastfeeding mothers. Like issues such as pregnancy, breastfeeding discrimination is a gender issue. When pictures are removed of breastfeeding and not of artificial feeding, breastfeeding mothers are being discriminated against and a wrongful double standard is set. After all, a bottle is simply a plastic, prosthetic disembodied breast in size, form, and function.”

More than anything however, it is a public relations issue, which Heather also noted.  The question is, on which side will the online public take?  The issue has its advocates on both sides in the real world and we doubt it will be any different online. Facebook however, could’ve mitigated the problem and even increased stickiness on its site by simply asking its members to vote on the issue.  Meanwhile, the temptest over ta-tas will continue unabated, for another online minute or two at least.

photo: a baby breast feeding.  This photo, which shows some nipple, would be banned on Facebook.

Photo Credit: ocadotony via Flickr Creative Commons.

Panama, South America Offer Impressive Yields

The world’s real estate markets, from Spain to Canada and even fast-growing emerging markets like China and Cambodia, are in free-fall. There are however, some places still booming. Take for example Panama - the land of the Panama Canal is considered a “spectacular investment” by Global Property Guide, who likes the market’s 9.2% GDP growth and high rental yields, which is the gross annual rental income, as expressed as a percentage of property purchase price. At a 9.98% rental yield, Panama is near the top of the region, (Peru is #1 at 10.09% and Brazil is #9 at 6.56% rental yield).

Latin America as a whole is considered a good value - with Colombia, Panama, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, and even high-flying Costa Rica showing strong GDP growth and benefiting from the U.S. retiree population favoring the region as their second home havens.

Colombia is rapidly stabilizing and showing strong growth under President Uribe’s leadership, while Uruguay offers an Argentina-like experience for less money and with better beaches. Brazil and Honduras were rated as good long-term investments.

photo: Panama Canal, by Scott Ableman, via Flickr CC

The Great Recession

This weekend Barack Obama sat down with Tom Brokaw for an hour-long chat. Forget the smoking in the White House nonsense, his most telling comment was “things are going to get worse before they get better.” Was the President-elect simply trying to tampen down expectations for an economic miracle upon taking office? Hardly.

Its becoming a consensus among economist that the recession, which officially began in Dec ‘07, is as the Times put it this morning “..virtually certain to be the longest downturn — and possibly most severe — since the end of World War II..” Writer Michael Grynbaum quotes Bernard Baumohl, chief economist at forecasting firm The Economic Outlook Group, who said:

“For the average American it’s going to be devastating for the next 6 to 12 months…I have not seen anything particularly hopeful right now, which tells me we have a ways to go.”

A recession is one thing, and a financial crisis is another, and according to Financial Times’ John Authers, the meltdown didn’t occur until three months ago (if you go by BAA rated bond yields) telling us indeed that we’re not at the end, but rather the early stages of one of modern history’s worse financial predicaments.

photo: near Madison Square Garden, by Felice de Sena Micheli via Flickr Creative Commons license.

U.S. Manufacturers Should Look in Our Own Backyard

A new study by supply-chain consulting company AMR Research shows a significant decline in the allure of sourcing goods from China. Once hailed as the world’s factory, where everything from Fisher Price toys to car parts were being made, China is now seen as a top manufacturing risk, according to the report. The two biggest concerns cited are product quality and theft of intellectual property.

A few months ago, rising fuel and shipping costs were already starting to reduce China’s price advantage over other regions, but now that fuel prices have gone through the floor, it is the lack of progress in quality control and intellectual property infringement that is weighing heavily on manufacturers. According to Kevin O’Marah, AMR’s Chief Strategist, “China is in a league of its own in terms of risks associated with intellectual property and quality..Companies are realizing that the fully loaded costs of importing from China are a lot higher than they imagined,”.

Where should American manufacturers turn next? Their own backyards. Mexico and the U.S. are beginning to look like sensible and cost effective places to manufacture. The key is as basic as transportation. Transportation costs are significantly lower whether from Akron, Ohio or south of the border. That means closer supervision by management of factory operations, quality control and worker morale. America’s slowing economy, along with the BRIC nation’s rapid growth and inflation, also means that our costs are starting to become more competitive, especially when factoring in stability, quality, productivity and intellectual property security.

An Obama administration can make much progress in bringing back manufacturing jobs from overseas. Forward thinking politicians already understand that having a strong manufacturering operation in Mexico has several long-term advantages over China. By encouraging Mexico’s industrialization, we are supporting stability for a friendly neighbor to the south. By giving them jobs and helping to grow the middle class, we are absorbing less of the problems Mexico exports vis a vis illegal immigration due to poverty and lack of opportunity. The AMR report suggests that American companies are starting to see the advantages for themselves, but it would certainly speed things along if government leadership encouraged it.

photo: Mexico City, a few days after Independence Day, by schlaeger via Flickr CC

COPYRIGHT © 2008 The New York Herald. All Rights Reserved.

Top Democrats Float Additional $700 Bil. to Save Economy

Top Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, economic advisor Lawrence Sumner and others, upped the ante for a proposed Obama stimulus package to rescue the ailing economy.

Economic advisor Robert Reich and New York Senator Charles Schumer suggested in interviews Sunday that a stimulus package in the $500-$700 billion range would be required to be effective.

That amount would rival the recent $700 bil. bank bailout, and would represent a New Deal-like amount of government intervention, or as Robert Reich explained on CNN, “there’s not enough buying power in the economy,” forcing the government to be the “spender of last resort.”

While Obama has indicated that infrastructure and green collar jobs would be the focus of stimulus spending, very little specifics have been released on actual spending priorities. Infrastructure for example, could imply repairing crumbling roads and bridges, or it could focus more on train-based transportation infrastructure, such as California’s proposed bullet train from Sacramento to Los Angeles, or Minnesota’s proposed Light Rail Train for its southern corridor - from suburban Shakopee to downtown Minneapolis.

photo: train in the desert, by wili_hybrid via Flickr CC

Rich Countries Launch Land Grab To Ensure Food Supply

Assuming that the world will move past the current financial crisis, there is yet another one looming - increased tension and perhaps even wars over scarce natural resources. Triggered by population growth, dwindling farm land available to developed nations, and climate change, rich nations, especially those without much irrigable land, are scrambling to avoid a future commodity crisis. One way - buying rich farmland in developing nations. Source: Guardian

photo: Cambodian rice farmer, by alidarbac, via Flickr

Gun O’Clock: Target Practice Before Coffee

Not everyone wants to wake up with gun in hand, the sound of Dresden at night blaring until you successfully blast the bullseye 6 or even 60 inches away. Then again, some of us think it’d be kind of fun - Wii kind of fun. Its also a handy way to get up and prepare for the apocalypse at the same time.

Press Release, translated poorly into English from Japanese.

Dow Roars Back 936 Points

Closing bell, Monday October 13th - Wall Street roared back to life today, after global coordination produced results investors could cheer about. At 4PM, the down had gone up 11%, or 936 points.

New York City Still Has Luster, Just No Money

The Washington Post suggests New York City has lost its luster, and perhaps even its mojo. Its definitely true that New Yorkers have lost some serious bling lately - fewer of us are mentioning cabanas or waterfalls over $100 bottles of wine, but we don’t think going broke is any reason the Big Apple should have to its lose its luster.

There’s more to New York than Wall Street, and there’s more to the spirit and shine of New York City than money. Things might in fact get more interesting. Think of punk rock, or house parties, or getting your windows squeegied by former bankers. We’re not throwing bags of money off a yacht over here, but there will still be good times in the City. WaPo, you blogeth too soon.