Dear Rink Rats

Our anniversary month continues this week with the best of Dear Rink Rats:

DEAR RINK RATS:

I need your advice; I am getting tired of the rat race of private business. So I am thinking about teaching Business at the Graduate Level. What salary should I expect from this profession? I am currently making $185,000 per year in private business.

--Hopeful Academic

Dear Hopeful Academic –

You are in for a shock, according to the most recent faculty salary survey conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education (2009-2010) here are the salaries for Graduate level teaching:

Private Institution:
Professor - $101,290
Associate Professor - $76,311
Assistant Professor - $63,574
Instructor - $51,195

Public Institution:
Professor - $89,808
Associate Professor - $71,516
Assistant Professor - $60,612
Instructor - $43,772

Harvard has the highest salary for a Professor: $193,800.

You might want to look at becoming a College President:

Private Institution - $582,661
Public Institution - $388,995

Good luck, teaching is a wonderful profession.

--Rink Rats

The following live among us and are voting citizens:

DEAR RINK RATS:

I’ve suspected that my husband has been fooling around, and when confronted with the evidence, he denied everything and said it would never happen again.

DEAR RINK RATS:

Our son writes that he is taking Judo. Why would a boy who was raised in a good Christian home turn against his own?

DEAR RINK RATS:

My wife is mean and short tempered I think she is going through mental pause.

DEAR RINK RATS:

My forty year old son has been paying a psychiatrist $150.00 an hour every week for two and a half years. He must be crazy.

Please keep sending in your letters.

APRIL 15 – Tax filing day is upon us, here is some data to get you in the mood:

THE BILLIONAIRE'S GUIDE TO PAYING NO TAXES - Bloomberg Businessweek cover, "The More You Make, The Less You Pay," by Jesse Drucker: "For the 400 U.S. taxpayers with the highest adjusted gross income, the effective federal income tax rate fell from almost 30 percent in 1995 to just under 17 percent in 2007, according to the IRS. And for the approximately 1.4 million people who make up the top 1 percent of taxpayers, the effective federal income tax rate dropped from 29 percent to 23 percent in 2008. It may seem too fantastic to be true, but the top 400 end up paying a lower rate than the next 1,399,600 or so."

NATIONAL DEBT - $14.29 trillion

THE REAL FIGHT – For now no Federal Government shutdown. Rink Rats have also been warning for weeks that failing to raise the debt limit would be a far scarier economic prospect than some temporary furloughs. The rest of the world seemed to catch on this weekend after the budget deal. The late-Friday agreement, in fact, was a disappointment to some on Wall Street because rather than exhausting appetites for a showdown, it instead set up the debt limit as the next big political smackdown with partisan blood lust still thick in the air.

FINANCE THIS WEEK - The debt limit debate, Obama's Wednesday deficit reduction speech and an expected agreement from the Senate's "Gang of Six" on proposed entitlement cuts will eat up most of the oxygen but there is a lot more afoot at the crossroads of Wall Street and Washington: Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen speaks at the Economic Club of New York today in remarks that should signal the central bank's current take on the economy and the likelihood of an end to quantitative easing and (gasp!) rate hikes in the foreseeable future ... Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing Tuesday on implementation of the derivatives portion of Dodd-Frank with testimony from Treasury, the Fed, CFTC and SEC and industry officials. ... G20 meets in Washington this week to talk about global imbalances, among other issues.

... First quarter earnings season kicks off in earnest this morning with results from Alcoa, which is expected to get a nice bounce from rising aluminum prices. Analysts expect Alcoa to earn 27 cents per share, up from a loss of 19 cents last year ... Companies in general are not expected to keep up with last year's blistering pace of 41 percent earnings growth but the numbers should be pretty solid. ... JPMorganChase reports on Wednesday and CEO Jamie Dimon may have more to say about the debt limit issue on the bank's conference call.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Seve Ballesteros (54), Tom Clancy (55), Andy Garcia (55), David Letterman (64), Loretta Lynn (76), Steve Martin (66), Bruce McNall (61).

ANNIVERSARY QUIZ – this month we will be giving a quiz every week to celebrate our First Year, the first person to pick the correct answer in our comment section will win a special Rink Rats prize:

What proportion of American Adults gets less than the recommended seven hours of sleep per night?

(a). one fourth (b). one third (c). one half (d). two thirds

Last Week’s Quiz Answer: California Silicon Valley

COLLEGE HOCKEY GAMES OF THE WEEK – Congratulations to the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs for winning the NCAA D-I hockey championship, next year look out for St. Lawrence University Skating Saints –they will be tough.
Season to date (3-11)

GREEN-JACKET DAY - The Masters finish "was so wild that eight players had at least a share of the lead on the back nine. ... [South Africa's Charl Schwartzel] ... became the first Masters champion in its 75-year history to finish with four straight birdies, giving him a 6-under 66 for the best final round by a winner in 22 years. ... There was a five-way lead at the top at one point, and only the final hour sorted it all out."

Rink Rats 2011 Baseball Picks: American League - East: Boston, Central: Detroit, West: Texas, Pennant: Boston. National League - East: Atlanta, Central: Cincinnati, West: San Francisco, Pennant: Atlanta. World Series Champs - Boston Red Sox.

NHL 2010-11 STANLEY CUP PREVIEW – Another season concludes for the best sport in the world. Back in October Rink Rats predicted the following season winners: Eastern Conference winners: Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Washington; Western Conference winners: Detroit, Vancouver and Los Angeles; Stanley Cup finalists: Washington & Detroit; Stanley Cup Champions – Washington Capitals.

We were correct with Washington, Detroit and Vancouver – we shall see about the Playoffs. Good luck to our favorite teams Red Wings, Kings and Ducks – playoffs begin on Wednesday April 20.

Next week, our first year anniversary month continues.

Until next Monday, Adios.

Claremont, CA
April 11, 2011