Critique of Dwayne GA 400 Article

Having once lived in the Roswell suburb of Atlanta, I became very acquainted with the tollway along the GA 400 highway. After reading Dwayne's article inciting a removal of the current toll, I began to quickly question some of the statements made in his article.

Having traveled up and down the tollway numerous times I began to notice that the nominal 50 cent fee for traveling the toll booth eventually became a non-factoring element of my daily travel plans. For those who use the highway on a fairly frequent basis the toll often times makes up for the time that could be spent trying to commute to avoid the highway. In Dwayne's blog about the GA 400 tollway he eluded to the fact that the state is currently stockpiling extra money from the tollway. I agree with Dwayne's statement that this extra toll money should go towards building new Georgia roads thus providing more jobs to Georgia's citizens and in effect contributing to the stimulation of our economy by providing new jobs. In the past, President Hoover created projects to help stimulate the economy like the building of the Hoover Dam. Projects like this have proven to effect the economy in a positive way. So like Dwayne said in his blog, the state of Georgia should use the money they are currently stockpiling to help build and fix some of Atlanta's other causeways.

Going Abroad for Medical Treatment

In my Risk Benefits class we have been learning a lot about the current health care system in the United States and the process of choosing work place benefits that may best suite the needs of a companies employees. Some of the interesting topics we discuss include Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Recently we began to discuss the benefits and flaws of having a national health care system, including some topics such as the failure of the Massachusetts' plan for nationalized health care. As i began to search for more information on this topic I found an interesting article about American citizens who have traveled abroad to receive medical treatment. This is becoming more prevalent as healthcare costs steadily increase. I have previously heard of Americans who have traveled to places like Canada, who have a health care plan, but never heard of Americans traveling as far as New Dehli. According to the article I found by Danielle Dellorto , patients from all over the world have been traveling to the operating rooms in places like New Dehli to receive state of the art care at a reduced cost.

What implications may this have on American doctors and patients? Well currently healthcare costs are astronomical in my opinion. It seems that only the rich are capable of receiving adequate care these days. Even the middle class are having to choose between leaving their families bankrupt or paying to receive care that could potentially save their lives here in the states. However their are currently services that excel in providing a service to patients who are looking to receive care out of the United States. The service provides patients with doctors and tour guides who will aid a patient in receiving the care they need. What are the risks involved for the patient? According to the article there may be issues with proper documentation of the surgery or procedures taking place., but if the surgery could save my life I think I would be willing to travel to places like New Dehli to have these procedures preformed. These services make living a much smaller financial burden for those who must choose between life and death. Hopefully these services will make an impact on the current high costs of our healthcare services.

Critique of "The New and Old Army"

In a recent article posted called The New and Old Army posted by Zach Tanner, a 41 year old grandfather, Jorge Gil Muela, enlisted into the US Army to help fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This 41 year old man is being allowed to skip basic training and head directly into war according to the post by Zach. After actually reading the article for myself their were a few statements that I found were a bit misleading. The 41 year old man is gonna be allowed to skip basic training because he was previously enlisted in the military during the Gulf War. He chose to go into the army because the benefits and paycheck were a lot more stable then his current job of appraising houses. Lastly Muela went into the army and is beginning to learn the job skill of cargo handling which he hopes to use as a career when he gets out of the Army by working at Miami International Airport. So unlike Zach's blogs which i found were a bit misleading, the US government is not sending grandparent and elderly to fight on the front lines of the war due to a lack of available personel, the government is in effect stimulating the economy by offering jobs to those who are struggling to get buy and offering them benefits and paychecks that they may not have been able to receive otherwise.

The Music Industry

With these turbulent times amongst us, every industry seems to be effected by the current downfall of our economy. The music industry is no different. Many consumers are holding on to every penny they have. I read an interesting article earlier about how ticketing marketers, like Ticketmaster and LiveNation, are leaving some music makers sour over their high ticket fees. According to Jarrett Belinni of CNN, Bruce "Springsteen himself accused Ticketmaster of in effect 'scalping' the tickets."

Companies like Ticketmaster are able to charge outrageous fees per ticket sold. This is highly discouraging for new start-up or lesser known bands. In some instances, patrons are being charged nearly as much in service fees as they are for the actual ticket. This effects the music makers because consumers are less likely to go out to see a new band play if the tickets are expensive.

Some venues started taking matters into their own hands. Venues like Smiths Old Bar charges people at the door rather then pre-selling tickets through Ticketmaster. Other venues have a mixture of both, where consumer have the option to purchase tickets from Ticketmaster or they offer tickets at the venue which are free of fees. Atlanta's Variety Playhouse offers the dual ticket selling method. In their approach to selling tickets, I feel that they definitely have a competitive advantage over other venues by giving their customers another way to purchase tickets. By hedging the risk of selling tickets through a vendor like Ticketmaster and by selling tickets at their own venue, they can attract customers who enjoy the convenience of Ticketmaster and those who prefer to just buy tickets from the venue. I feel that venues will have to start paying more attention to how the economy may effect concert goers and take into consideration their personally methods of ticket distribution and how they could inevitably hurt their business.

Ski Resort Risk Managment

As I read over Gustav's posts the first one to catch my eye concerned ski lift risk management/ This post definitely caught my eye due to my affection towards snowboarding. It is not uncommon to be at a Ski Resort witnessing someone flailing uncontrollably as they descend hastily down a mountain side with little to no regard to those around them, a lawsuit almost waiting to happen in my opinion.

So what do Ski Resort Managers due to prevent mountain side lawsuits? Well according to Gustav the biggest risk reducer is posting proper signage along their mountain side trails. I agree with what Gustav said regarding signage. According to IMBA, The International Mountain Bikers Association (mountain bikers typically hit the slopes of ski resorts during the non snow covered season), "plaintiffs' attorneys often assert negligence and premises liability theories against the activity providers, in this case the resort. Where releases are involved, resourceful plaintiffs' attorneys will also seek to include gross negligence claims, and even claims of willful and wanton conduct, seeking punitive damages typically not covered by insurance policies." Gustav also mentions the importance of Ski Lift attendent training in his blog about ski risk management. To further evaluate this topic according to the Midwest Ski Area Association,
the two most crucial elements of attendent training involve the ability to spot "unblanced"skiers sitting on the lift(which may lead to the chairs begining to swing because of improper weight distribution) and ability of ski lift attendents to be able to control the crowd of skiers who are waiting to get on the lift, since the majority of lift accidents occur when skiers try to load the lift.
I also agree with Gustav statements about the importance of keeping proper documentation. At most ski resorts their is a release waiver that you sign that is typically located right on many ski lift tickets that warns skiers of the inherent risk of plummeting at high speeds on mountain trails.

I feel that overall Gustavs report was well written since it covered the basis of what ski resort managers must due to prevent risk on their mountain sides, he wrote on very valid arguments. However he could of gone into a sentence or two more depth about how each risk preventative plan related to the risk management of the ski resort. But other than that I feel that we covered what needed to be conveyed to present the basic risks of a ski resort.

The Blockbuster Decline

Over the past few years many of the big home movie rental stores have received stiff competition from online counterparts. Earlier this month Blockbuster announced their plan to hire a consulting team to restructure and perhaps declare bankruptcy, in order to save their massive media service.

Companies like Netflix are capitalizing on the current state of the economy, while sales for walk in stores declined during the rise of gas prices last summers, Netflix has been able to increase the number in their customer base by having DVD delivered through the mail. So what can Blockbuster due to keep themselves in business? Well many of Blockbusters competitors were able to hedge their risk and differentiate themselves by entering a niche market, that Blockbuster has not currently been able to compete with. By renting lesser known, "cult classic" titles, smaller businesses have been able to grasp the indie movie scene. Other stores have also been using gimmicks like having memorabilia available to gander at while perusing their stores.

So what can a company like Blockbuster due to save their store from what seem like a multifaceted attack on all fronts? Does Blockbuster have the infrastructure needed to revamp the way they rent movies to compete with both the online and niche indie segments? Will Blockbuster become the next Hollywood Video? I guess time will tell.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/06/smallbusiness/last_movie_rental_stores.smb/index.htm?postversion=2009030611

Delta slashes more

Delta's CEO and president both announced more job cuts and reduction in the amount of flights offered in an attempt to salvage their company. Delta plans to reduce the frequency of certain flights in certain markets that have had continual low returns. Delta has also recently had 2100 employees opt for an early out or retirement package.

In these turbulent financial times the air line industry has greatly suffered. Since people are refusing to go out and spend money it is hard to get the normal consumer to fly somewhere for vacation. I recently decided to take the 10 hour drive to Miami versus flying because in the end it was cheaper for me to simply spend $60 in gas (hybrid car hehe) versus spending hundreds of dollars on a more expedient flight down to Miami. Decisions like mine have greatly impacted companies like Delta. Delta may be able to hedge against certain risk like fluctuations in gas prices, but it is extremely tough to hedge against risks where people simply don't use your product.

The Sunshine State

I just recently got back from Spring Break in Miami, on the contrary I wasn't so lucky with the Sunshine State. I was only able to bask in the sunlight for 3 of my 10 day-stay in Florida. However energy providers in the Florida have just announced their plan to build the one of the nation's largest solar power plants. According to an article in the Tampa Bay Online, Florida has been long criticized for relying on coal as their source of energy. Tampa Electrics new Solar facililty will help to lessen their reliance on coal but will eventually raise the cost of energy to the consumer. According to Chuck Black, President of Tampa Electric, Solar energy is much more costly to produce than burning coal.

It will be interesting to see how consumers respond to the increased cost of energy for their homes, surely some consumers will be happy about the environmentally friendly mechanic of solar energy but when it starts affecting the consumers bank accounts the reaction toward solar energy may change.

The state of Florida has imposed the need to become more environmentally friendly in the production of energy, maybe the state of Florida should subsidize some of the costs for the consumer. Either way it all comes out of our pockets in one form or another.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/10/na-teco-takes-steps-to-go-solar/news-metro/

Follow Up on the Automobile Industry Post

So while searching through the many articles associated with the auto industry, I found an interesting article that followed up on a previous blog that I had posted about the current state of the auto industry. I had wondered what the government plans to do about bailing out the auto industry and how the government would manage the risk of the Detroit automakers failing even with the help of a bailout.

Politicians can either bail out the auto industry thus saving hundreds of thousands of jobs across the United States (and maybe saving politicians during re-election years) or they can opt to not bail out some of the companies in need of a financial bail out, which may save them some votes from people who want politicians to be a little more stringent on government spending.

So how will politicians make their decision on whether or not to help the auto industry will they base it off their need to get votes for their upcoming elections from those who may be employed by the auto companies or will they decline to bail out those companies in need? I am glad that I don't have to be in there shoes for this decision because no matter what you do somebody will be mad, and either way the economy will suffer its more of a matter of determining which is the lesser evil.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/07/automakers-detroit-gm-business-manufacturing-flint.html

The new Palm Pilot

Back in the mid 1990s, I received my first Palm Pilot. My father worked in the IT business and was always current with the newest model of the Palm Pilot, so I was always lucky enough to get his hand-me-down devices. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the technology, it was a little hand-held computer device that you could use as an agenda, calender or basic minicomputer. It was fully capable of many functions. I had one before I ever bought a cell phone so it was my main way of keeping people's phone numbers.

With all the advances in the cell phone industry the Palm pilot seemed to quickly fizzle out. It just became old technology that the most common cellular phone could easily trump. Well now in the year 2009, the Palm company is scheduled to release a new hand-held device, the Pre.

The Pre will be a device that will be fairly similar to the iphone in function. Currently the Palm organization is having two major problems associated with the release of their product. The first will be their struggle to provide enough phones to match the initial demand of the product, the second will be how to budget the initial marketing program for the release of their product. Palm must figure out if they will be able to finance the capital needed to be able to produce their product and if they can do it before going to deep in the hole.

According to an article in the Dow Jones news wire, "Carriers often won't pay a handset maker back until the phone is sold to a customer, meaning there could be a lag between when Palm pays to make the phone, and when it gets paid for it." This alone could be detrimental to the capital that Palm has on hand. In my opinion, Palm needs a way to hedge against this risk as much as possible. If there is any kind of initial recall on the product after the release, this could single handedly destroy the palm company. The Palm company is banking on the release of their Pre to be a success and save the organization from going under. However " Analysts peg the 1 million unit sale mark as the break-even point" for the product. So if the pre doesn't live up to its expectations, without proper risk management techniques the Palm company could easily go bankrupt.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200903091451DOWJONESDJONLINE000495_FORTUNE5.htm