The Season of Doing Nothing

I just received my colleague’s automated out-of-office email reply – “I regret missing your message. I am out of the office for two weeks on vacation, without access to email.”  Then a minute later I received a reply all email from the same colleague expressing a concern over some mindless summer event. Still on the job, ready to put out any so-called problems while supposedly on vacation.

Time off is a guilty pleasure. We are all breathless with our busyness, proud to announce to all how busy we are with everything we must/should/could do. This duty driven life makes it difficult to really and truly go on vacation.

“Summer afternoon-summer afternoon,” Henry James wrote late in his life, repeating the phrase with evident relish, “to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” What is a summer afternoon for you? Pausing, gazing, staring idly-the odd discipline of leisure. A nap occurs somewhere in this summer afternoon, the kind like I had today, where I did not really fall asleep but glide around in my mind enjoying the freedom to do so. Good practice for a successful vacation.

I personally do not have to worry about this, because I am a professional lollygagger, my life is a sabbatical, and I have worked hard for many years to get to this point. I report to know one and know one reports to me, I set my hours, and honestly can admit I have no agenda. Well possibly one, a permanent mission to end reply all emails.

Summertime for most of us is the season for learning to do nothing, too bad most of us have trouble accomplishing this task. Not me and I am very thankful for that accomplishment.

POTUS WEEK - Monday: Trump meets with King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan. He then flies to South Carolina to rally for the state's Gov. Henry McMaster. (Between the lines: The president is repaying the loyalty of McMaster, an early campaign supporter.)

Tuesday: Trump meets with the Associated Builders and Contractors.

Wednesday: Trump receives his intelligence briefing; has lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; hosts the president of Portugal at the White House; and travels to North Dakota — a key Senate target for Republicans — for a political rally.

Thursday: Trump is expected to travel to Wisconsin for official business. (I've not learned what, yet.)

Friday: Trump receives his intelligence briefing and "celebrates the six month anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act."

WEEKEND READS - "The Trouble With Johnny Depp," by Stephen Rodrick in Rolling Stone: "One of the most famous actors in the world is now smoking dope with a writer and his lawyer while his cook makes dinner and his bodyguards watch television. There is no one around him who isn't getting paid." https://rol.st/2IhWsTZ

COLLEGE CHRONICLES – According to NACUBO (National Association of College University Business Officers) the average freshman tuition discount rate at private colleges and universities surveyed is nearing 50 percent. The average published tuition and fee price increased 42.1% since 2008-09, but the average net price for freshman rose just 18.8% - thanks to institutional financial aid that rose much faster.

Higher Education enrollment is expected to rise 13 percent, to 22.6 million students, by 2026.

WHY THE AARP IS WORRIED ABOUT STUDENT DEBT - As student loan debt has ballooned over the past two decades, the issue has moved from the sidelines of wonky policy debates into a full-fledged presidential campaign issue, with candidates playing to the economic anxieties of parents and recent college grads. In the latest sign of just how far-reaching student loan debt has become, the issue is now on the radar of another, perhaps more surprising group: the AARP.

— Over the past several years, the nation's leading senior lobby has become increasingly involved in student loan issues, pressuring the federal government to stop garnishing the Social Security benefits of older borrowers who defaulted on their loans. And in some state capitals the group is taking on the student loan industry, pushing for more regulations to police abusive loan-collection practices.

— As Americans of every generation struggle to pull together enough savings for retirement, the new worry about student loans illustrates just how deeply debt can hang over people's financial lives, especially in areas like higher education and health care, where costs are growing faster than the economy overall. Those costs can lead to some brutal surprises in old age.

The cost of higher education has sent student loan debt jumping to $1.5 trillion. Here's how it breaks down by the numbers:

$28,400—How much debt the average new grad owes. That number was $22,100 in 2001 (adjusted for inflation).

20%—Borrowers who are late on payments.

66%—Student loan debt held by women. Typically, more women attend some form of higher education than men.

For perspective… $1.2 trillion—U.S. auto loan debt. More than $1 trillion—U.S. credit card debt.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Mel Brooks (92) Beverly Hills, CA.; Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif) (85) San Francisco, CA.; Justice Clarence Thomas (70) Arlington, VA.

MARKET WEEK – The annual reshuffling of FTSE Russell’s U.S. indexes culminates with last Friday’s closing bell. It is typically one of the busiest trading days of the year since $9.2 trillion is pegged to the company's indexes.

A record 1.2 million shares worth more than $39 billion traded in less than a second on Friday during Nasdaq 's closing auction. The reason: the end of this year's rebalancing of FTSE Russell's widely followed stock indexes. There are $9.2 trillion pegged to Russell U.S. benchmarks, dwarfing the $29.5 billion linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which made headlines last week by ejecting General Electric Co. after more than a century.

When Russell adds and removes stocks each year to and from its indexes, stocks that are part of the revisions typically experience a trading volume spike 45 times higher than average, according to research from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. This year, nearly 300 companies were added or dropped from the Russell 2000 alone.

•          When the S&P 500 has been up more than 3% for the year by the first day of summer, as it is this year, the full year has had a gain every time since 1950, according to LPL Financial.

•          On this day in 1775, Congress authorized the first issuance of U.S. paper money. Officially known as “Continentals,” the money soon came to be called “shinplasters” as high inflation rendered it nearly worthless.

•          Stocks to Watch

Red Hat—Down 13.6%: The software company gave weaker-than-expected projections for earnings and sales in the current quarter.

Chevron—Up 0.8%: Moves in oil prices could swing shares of energy firms like Chevron as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna. The world's largest producers are considering a deal to boost output.

Goldman Sachs Group—Unchanged: The Federal Reserve’s annual stress test showed the Wall Street firm’s capital would fall to 3.1% of total assets in a doomsday scenario, just above the 3% minimum and the narrowest margin of any of the 35 banks subjected to the test.

PayPal Holdings—Up 0.9%: The mobile payments company said it had agreed to acquire Simility, a fraud prevention startup, for about $120 million in cash. The Simility acquisition is PayPal’s fourth announced acquisition since the start of the second quarter.

TRUMPWORLD – America’s biggest enemies:

1.      The free press

2.      Canada

America’s greatest allies:

1.      Russia

2.      North Korea

ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA - The numbers are in...and? Instagram has officially passed 1 billion monthly active users.

So be hard on Mark Zukerberg all you want, but just remember he now owns:

Facebook: 2.19 billion monthly active users

WhatsApp: 1.5 billion

Messenger: 1.3 billion

And of course, Instagram

So, it's no wonder Facebook shares jumped to a record-high $203 last week. As outspoken NYU professor Scott Galloway puts it: "Zuckerberg oversees the content and influence and mood of a community greater than Christianity, the southern hemisphere, plus India."

And Insta didn't stop at 1 billion. It also announced the rollout of IGTV—a YouTube competitor.

MA VS. MA - Jack Ma of Alibaba and Pony Ma of Tencent built tech empires that dominate China’s digital economy. Is the world big enough for both of them?”

The two heavyweights of the Chinese Internet industry, Alibaba and Tencent ... [each] have market capitalizations that hover around half a trillion U.S. dollars.

Both command sectors of the rapidly growing Chinese digital landscape: Tencent owns the leading gaming and messaging platform, while Alibaba rules e-commerce. Both are aggressive investors inside and outside China.

Both touch an astounding percentage of the world’s most populous country: Alibaba’s various online marketplaces count 552 million active customers; Tencent’s WeChat messaging service recently surpassed 1 billion accounts.

As they’ve grown, each inevitably has begun to encroach on the other’s turf. Tencent ... is investing in retail and financial services, sectors that are Alibaba’s strength. Alibaba in turn sees an opening in Tencent’s domain, particularly by offering mobile-messaging tools.

Their top leaders share a surname, though Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Tencent’s Pony Ma aren’t related.

TRADE 101 – In 2017, the Ford Mustang, assembled in the United States, received 52 percent of its parts from Canada.

MUST SEE - Sir Paul McCartney and James Corden in this classic Carpool Karaoke through the streets of Liverpool. https://youtu.be/QjvzCTqkBDQ

SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

MLB Game of the Week – Saturday June 30; Boston Red Sox (52-27) vs. New York Yankees (50-25). Another series between baseball powers, Yanks win this one 5 – 3.

World Cup Soccer (Football) – Group Winners: A - Uruguay | B - Spain | C - France | D - Croatia | E - Brazil | F - Germany | G - Belgium | H - Colombia

Group Runners-Up: A - Egypt | B - Portugal | C - Peru | D - Argentina | E - Costa Rica | F - Mexico | G - England | H – Senegal

Belgium to win over Spain in the Final on July 15 in Moscow.

Season to Date (18 - 11)

DRIVING THE WEEK - Trump on Monday meets with King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan and campaigns in the evening with South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster who is trying to survive a GOP primary challenge ... Trump is expected to celebrate the six month anniversary of the tax cut bill on Friday ... House this week will continue to take immigration votes while both chambers battle over a defense authorization bill, the Senate version of which would block Trump's moves to relax sanctions against Chinese telecom giant ZTE ...

Senate Banking has a hearing on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. on proposals to increase access to capital ... House Financial Services subcommittee has a hearing at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday on de-risking and on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. on HUD ... SEC holds on open meeting on Tuesday.

House Small Business Committee has a hearing on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. on ZTE ... Senate Banking has a hearing at 10:00 a.m. Thursday on corporate governance.

Goal: Spend some quality time outside, even if it's just lunch.

Monday (June 25): In a London courtroom, Uber will begin its fight to operate in the city

Tuesday (June 26): Walgreens officially replaces GE in the Dow

Wednesday (June 27): Senate committee holds hearing on Sprint/T-Mobile merger; Earnings (General Mills)

Thursday (June 28): GDP; EU summit begins; Earnings (Nike, Accenture, Walgreens)

Friday (June 29): Inflation data (Personal Income and Outlays); Daydreaming of July 4th plans.

If you are in the La Verne, California area this Friday June 29 at 6:00 pm stop by the Summer REACH Program Commencement on the University of La Verne central campus. Frederick Terrell, Vice Chairman of Investment Banking for Credit Suisse is the Commencement speaker for fifty-four local high school juniors completing their business studies. You are wrong when you believe higher education is not meeting the needs of the community and local students, this is an example of such a program.

Next Blog: Summer reading and summer travel.

Until next time, Adios

Claremont, California

June 25, 2018

#IX-5-373

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – The New Yorker, Johny Cogan

RINK RATS POLL –

What is Transformational Leadership?

____ Working to change the system.

____ Minimize variation of the organization.

____ Bringing in the right-handed relief pitcher in the ninth inning.

____ Solving challenges by finding experiences that show old patterns do not fit or work.

____ All of the above.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH – " It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do, we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do." – Steve Jobs

Rink Rats is a blog of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.

Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010

www.rhasserinkrats.blogspot.com

How CEO's Spend Their Time

Ever wonder how the boss spends his or her time (in truth, you probably don’t care). But some people do….

In a brand new study, Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria (who work at a tiny place called the Harvard Business School) studied the calendars of 27 CEOs over a three month period.

And here's what they found:

You didn't think we'd just tell you, did you? Nope—, here's a quiz to see how well you know how a CEO spends her time (answers at the bottom of the story).

1) How many hours a week do CEOs work, on average?

62.5

75

80.5

90

2) How many hours a night do CEOs sleep, on average?

4.6

5.9

6.9

8.1

3) CEOs spend nearly three quarters of their time at company HQ: True or False?

4) Fill in the blank: On average, CEOs spend 72% of their total work time ________.

- writing/replying to emails

- in meetings

- playing Farmerama

Answers: 1) 62.5 hours,  2) 6.9 hours  3) False (47%)  4) in meetings

POP QUIZ: Can you identify this building?

Michigan Central Station in Detroit.

It's been abandoned since 1988, but today, we get a glimpse of its bright future:

Ford Motor Corporation bought the building in May, and it's announcing its ambitious plans in a celebration this morning.

The company, which also bought up nearby properties, will eventually occupy 1.2 million sq ft in the station's neighborhood (called Corktown). The Corktown campus will be "an innovation hub for Ford's vision for the future of transportation."

Michigan Central Station is more than a building—it's a symbol of Detroit's rise and fall...and current renaissance. For Ford to come in and open it again is a really exciting moment for the city.

“I’LL TAKE THREE TO FIVE FOR FIFTY DOLLARS” - A seven-time “Jeopardy!” winner who taught history at a small Michigan college faces up to five years in prison for sneaking into the email accounts of other professors, administrators and students.

Stephanie Jass, who taught at Adrian College in southern Michigan, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Lenawee Circuit Court to a charge of unauthorized computer access. Her sentencing is scheduled for July 20.

Authorities said Jass logged into other people’s email accounts without permission over a four-day period last year after the college reset everyone’s passwords and assigned everyone the same temporary password. Another professor learned what Jass had done and told school officials.

State police wrote in a report that the professor told a detective that Jass had a document that listed “notes and comments and problems” of faculty members, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot.

The 48-year-old Jass, of Tecumseh, was later fired.

“Privacy rights are a fundamental principle of our American democracy and Adrian College stands with those who protect these rights,” the school said after Wednesday’s plea.

Jass’ seven-episode “Jeopardy!” winning streak in 2012 was a record at the time for a female contestant. It was later broken.

Defense attorney Raymond Correll said in court Wednesday that he intends to seek a delayed sentence which would push back Jass’ sentencing to see how she follows bond conditions set by a judge, according to the Daily Telegram of Adrian. Good luck with that.

HAPPY HALF YEAR: Congress officially sent the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to Trump's desk six months ago today — and you can probably expect both commemorations and denunciations of that fact throughout this week.

As we've noted here before, it's going to take quite awhile to make a full accounting of the tax law. (And even then, we'll bet that the two parties might still find stark differences of opinion about just how much of a success the TCJA has been.)

POLITICS 101 - Days until the 2018 election: 139.

Upcoming election dates — June 26: Colorado, Maryland, New York (congressional), Oklahoma and Utah primaries and Mississippi and South Carolina primary runoffs.

"How California's Primary became a giant scam.''  The California governor's race was once ballyhooed as a proving ground for Democratic Party ideas in the Trump era, a blockbuster contest in which Democrats would not only pick the chief executive of the nation's most populous state, but begin to shape the party's agenda heading into the 2020 presidential primary.

-- Instead, it has devolved into a king-size flop. One day of the primary election here, the leading candidates sit largely indistinguishable on issues of substance, with little evidence of any intra-party, values-laden clash.

-- Rather, election day will culminated a contest that has morphed into a bizarre exercise in gaming California's unusual, top-two primary system. Confronted with a primary in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation, supporters of the leading Democrats in the race, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, focused their attention on elevating one of two lesser-known Republican candidates in an effort to manipulate the election's outcome.

-- In a state where Republican registration has cratered — it now hovers at about 25 percent statewide — Newsom has a far greater chance of defeating the leading Republican, John Cox, than Villaraigosa. So the lieutenant governor has aired advertisements highlighting Cox's conservative credentials for Republican voters to bolster his chances of finishing second.

-- "Nobody even cares who wins," said Steve Maviglio, a Democratic strategist in Sacramento. "It's about who comes in second.

CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTE	PCT.
Gavin Newsom	Democrat	1,613,120	33.8%
John Cox	Republican	1,249,248	26.2
Antonio Villaraigosa	Democrat	631,033	13.2
Others		1,280,449	26.8

4,773,850 votes, 100% reporting (21,486 of 21,486 precincts)

Percent voter turnout = 35.1%

DOW DROPOUT - General Electric will drop out of the Dow industrials next week, a milestone in the decline of a company that once ranked among the mightiest of blue chips and was a pillar of the U.S. economy. It will be replaced by drugstore retailer Walgreens Boots Alliance, the latest sign of the rise of the global consumer economy and the post crisis boom in debt issuance that has fueled a global deal-making frenzy. The decision to drop GE, an original member of the Dow that has been a part of the 30-stock index continuously since 1907, marks the latest setback for a conglomerate that once was the most valuable U.S. company, but has been hit hard in recent years by the unraveling of its finance business and competitive problems. GE shares have tumbled 55% over the past 52 weeks, erasing more than $100 billion in wealth.

TWITTER JOINING S&P 500 — Twitter has made it into the S&P 500. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Monday that the social media company will replace Monsanto on its index of top US public companies. The company's stock jumped more than 3 percent after hours following the news. Last week, the Justice Department approved the sale of Monsanto to Germany's Bayer, so long as the merged agrochemical company divests approximately $9 billion in businesses and assets. Bayer said Monday that the deal was worth $63 billion.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Danny Aiello (85) Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jody Bomba …happiness and health in retirement;  Sir Paul McCartney (76) London, England; Kathleen Turner (64) Hilton Head, S.C.; Brian Wilson (76) Laguna Beach, CA.

CALIFORNIA TROUBLES? - On the surface, four-term Gov. Jerry Brown, 80, seems to have fixed the state: a $6 billion budget surplus, 3 million new jobs, and real action against climate change. But dig deeper and problems abound: The highest income tax rates in the country. ... A system so dependent on capital gains that when the inevitable next recession hits, we’ll plunge into fiscal catastrophe. ... If the nation catches a cold, California’s budget gets typhoid fever. ... A nearly $1 trillion gap between the retirement promises politicians made to public workers and the funding available to cover them.

The biggest problem of all is an affordability crisis that drives people out. Despite the good times, more people are leaving than moving in.

McKinsey recently ranked California as having the worst quality of life in America.

$600K – For the first time on record the average selling price of a home in California (state wide) is now $600,860. Good Lord, I have to get out of here….

State/Region/County	May-18	Apr-18		May-17		Price MTM% Chg	Price YTY% Chg	Sales MTM% Chg	Sales YTY% Chg
CA SFH (SAAR)	$600,860	$584,460		$550,230		2.8%	9.2%	-1.8%	-4.6%
CA Condo/Townhomes	$474,400	$476,010		$440,940		-0.3%	7.6%	8.5%	-2.0%
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area	$530,000	$515,000		$485,000		2.9%	9.3%	12.6%	-5.6%
Inland Empire	$360,000	$360,000		$340,000		0.0%	5.9%	7.6%	-5.0%
S.F. Bay Area	$1,088,000	$1,025,890		$935,000		6.1%	16.4%	17.3%	2.1%

COLLEGE CHRONICLES - Catholic University's Board of Trustees approved a plan to trim faculty by 9 percent, and potentially lay off full-time professors.

WHEN ADJUNCTS UNIONIZE - What happens after adjunct faculty members form unions? In The Chronicle Review two professors at Notre Dame de Namur University, in California, examine 35 collective-bargaining agreements around the country to see what the adjuncts gained. The results range from major achievements, such as pegging adjuncts' pay to 80 percent of tenure-track professors' salaries on one campus, to smaller things, such as greater access to office space and reimbursement for classroom expenses. But collective bargaining made little progress for adjuncts in three areas: true pay parity with colleagues on the tenure track, inclusion in shared governance, and stemming the overreliance on part-time, contingent faculty members.

SUMMER TRAVEL - Fueling Prices:  Jet-fuel prices have surged more than 50% over the past year, pushing carriers to raise fares and Delta Air Lines to cut its profit expectations. The nation’s No. 2 carrier said it could take six to 12 months to recoup the extra fuel costs via pricier tickets. Fuel is again the single-largest expense for most airlines, accounting for about a quarter of operating costs. The recent run-up in prices echoes the 2009-11 jump, which first spawned stand-alone surcharges on many international flights. Investors are edgy about the impact of fuel prices on airline profits. Airline shares were mixed last week, with those of Delta, which bought an oil refinery in 2012 to minimize volatility in fuel costs, down 1.5%.

TEMPERATURE - Every area of the globe has warmed since instrument records began in 1880, NASA data shows.

The planet isn't warming equally, however — the fastest temperature increases are taking place at the poles. That Arctic, for example, is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the globe, melting sea ice, glaciers and permafrost.

Due largely to human emissions of greenhouse gases, there is virtually no such thing as a cooler-than-average year on Earth anymore. (The last cooler-than-average month was 30 years ago, in December 1984).

PERSONAL FINANCE  -  Rule of 72—Ditch the TI-89 (calculator) and use this simple method to calculate how long it'll take your investment to double. How? Just divide 72 by the fixed annual return and you'll get a rough estimate of how many years it'll take to 2x.

Ex: With a 6% return, your money will double in...(72/6)=~12 years.

MARKET WEEK – Raking in $180 million at the domestic box office, Incredibles 2 set a record for the highest grossing opening weekend for an animated movie. What'd it pass? Finding Dory, which topped $135 million in 2016.

Brushing off its recent flop—Solo: A Star Wars Story—Disney has built up a cinema power house.

It's got brands: Lucasfilm (Star Wars), Marvel, Pixar, Disney.

It's got money: Nine of the top 10 highest grossing domestic box office weekends belong to Disney.

It's just getting started.

Disney agreed to a $52 billion (all stock) deal for a chunk of Fox's media assets. If it goes through—Comcast laid down a competing $65 billion (all cash) offer last week—Marvel would finally meet Fox's X-Men. Then consider the potential for live-action Disney remakes.

The bull market is facing its next test. U.S. corporate earnings growth looks poised to slow from a blistering pace, posing a new challenge to a long bull market that is already contending with an uncertain global economic outlook.

SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

MLB Game of the Week – Saturday June 23; Seattle Mariners (46-27) vs. Boston Red Sox (49-25). Two playoff bound American League teams collide in Fenway, Red Sox win 6 – 3.

World Cup Soccer (Football)  – Group Winners: A - Uruguay | B - Spain | C - France | D - Croatia | E - Brazil | F - Germany | G - Belgium | H - Colombia

Group Runners-Up: A - Egypt | B - Portugal | C - Peru | D - Argentina | E - Costa Rica | F - Mexico | G - England | H – Senegal

Belgium to win over Spain in the Final on July 15 in Moscow.

Season to Date (17 - 11)

DRIVING THE WEEK – House will continue its immigration fight against the backdrop of rising outrage over family separations at the border with the administration taking a myriad of positions on the issue (Trump says separations are not White House policy while Attorney General Jeff Sessions and senior advisor Stephen Miller say they very much are). This one is going to come to a head because the creation of new detention camps and images of children being ripped from their parents and held in cages is not a tenable situation for anyone ...

President Trump on Monday meets on immigration issues with Sens. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)... Trump on Tuesday delivers remarks at the National Federation of Independent Businesses' 75th anniversary celebration and attends a House GOP conference meeting on immigration ... He holds a MAGA rally on Wednesday in Duluth, Minn. ...

Senate Finance this week marks up the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act ... SIFMA/Clearing House prudential regulation conference on Tuesday at 7:45 a.m. features remarks from Senate Banking Chair Mike Crapo, OCC's John Otting and FDIC's Jelena McWilliams, among others.

Next Blog: Summer Reading and lollygag.

Until next time, Adios

Claremont, California

June 20, 2018

#VIII-30-372

CARTOON OF THE WEEK – The New Yorker, Mike Twohy

RINK RATS POLL –

What is Transformational Leadership?

____ Working to change the system.

____ Minimize variation of the organization.

____ Bringing in the right-handed relief pitcher in the ninth inning.

____ Solving challenges by finding experiences that show old patterns do not fit or work.

____ All of the above.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH – " It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do, we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do." – Steve Jobs

Rink Rats is a blog of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.

Posted at Rink Rats The Blog:

www.rhasserinkrats.blogspot.com