1. A record 728 Starbucks stores opened during the most recent quarter -- an average of 8 stores per day! It has 13,168 stores worldwide.
2. The company's goal remains to have 20,000 stores outside the U.S. It now has 3,767.
3. Starbucks opened a record 223 stores overseas during the quarter (average of 2.5 per day), including the first Starbucks in Brazil and Egypt. Stores in Russia and India will open in 2007.
Read more here.
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Thursday, February 1, 2007
Getting Paid NOT To Farm = $1.3 Billion
"The Bush administration yesterday proposed ending farm subsidies for an estimated 80,000 wealthy individuals as part of a broad plan that would close loopholes and cut traditional farm programs by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years.
The plan would close a major loophole highlighted by The Post that in 2005 allowed corn farmers to receive $3.8 billion more than needed to ensure they got the government-guaranteed price.
The plan also proposes changes in a program that since 2000 has enabled some landowners who do not farm to still collect $1.3 billion in farm payments."
From today's article "USDA Outlines a Plan To Cut Farm Subsidies" in the Wash Post, as part of its "Harvesting Cash: Working a Farm Subsidy" series.
I'll put this in my "It's About Time" file.
The plan would close a major loophole highlighted by The Post that in 2005 allowed corn farmers to receive $3.8 billion more than needed to ensure they got the government-guaranteed price.
The plan also proposes changes in a program that since 2000 has enabled some landowners who do not farm to still collect $1.3 billion in farm payments."
From today's article "USDA Outlines a Plan To Cut Farm Subsidies" in the Wash Post, as part of its "Harvesting Cash: Working a Farm Subsidy" series.
I'll put this in my "It's About Time" file.
Superbowl Tickets on Ebay
Looking at completed listings on Ebay like this one, and this one, it looks like the market value for 2007 Superbowl tickets is between $3000-$3500.
Govt Loses $40m Minting Pennies and Nickels
"How dumb do you have to be to mint money at a loss? In the latest only-in-Washington episode, we find that the government may have lost as much as $40 million coining pennies and nickels last year.
The metal in them — the zinc, copper and nickel — has soared in value in the last few years (see graph above - zinc prices have risen 4.5X in the last few years), making the coins more valuable as raw materials than they are as currency. The government reaction has been to ban the melting of the coins to get the metal."
The metal in them — the zinc, copper and nickel — has soared in value in the last few years (see graph above - zinc prices have risen 4.5X in the last few years), making the coins more valuable as raw materials than they are as currency. The government reaction has been to ban the melting of the coins to get the metal."
What Slowdown? The Dangerfield Economy Rocks
Some key points from today's staff editorial in the WSJ, titled "What Slowdown?"1. Consumer spending registered a strong 4.4% growth rate in the fourth quarter 2006.
2. Without housing and autos, real GDP rose 5.8% in the fourth quarter (it was 3.5% overall).
3. U.S. exports are booming, rising 10% in the fourth quarter and 9.2% for the year, adding 1.64 percentage points to GDP growth.
4. Exports to China rose by more than 30% in the first 11 months of last year, even without a major change in China's policy to peg the yuan closely to the U.S. dollar.
Bleeding Hearts Ruin the Carpet
From George Will's latest column:
In Arizona, some amazingly persistent and mostly liberal people are demonstrating the tenacity with which some interests fight to prevent parents of modest means from having education choices like those available to most Americans.
Fifty-seven years later, the Sumner Elementary School in Topeka is back in the news (Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka involved Sumner in 1950). Two educators wanted to use Sumner for a charter school, a public school entitled to operate outside the confinements of dictated curricula and free from many work rules written by teachers unions. Their school would have been a back-to-basics academy for grades K through five, designed to attack Topeka's 23-point gap between the reading proficiency of black and Hispanic third-graders and that of whites.
When the school board rejected the application of the two educators -- African-American women -- but praised their dedication to children, one of the women was not mollified: "A bleeding heart does nothing but ruin the carpet.''
In Arizona, some amazingly persistent and mostly liberal people are demonstrating the tenacity with which some interests fight to prevent parents of modest means from having education choices like those available to most Americans.
Fifty-seven years later, the Sumner Elementary School in Topeka is back in the news (Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka involved Sumner in 1950). Two educators wanted to use Sumner for a charter school, a public school entitled to operate outside the confinements of dictated curricula and free from many work rules written by teachers unions. Their school would have been a back-to-basics academy for grades K through five, designed to attack Topeka's 23-point gap between the reading proficiency of black and Hispanic third-graders and that of whites.
When the school board rejected the application of the two educators -- African-American women -- but praised their dedication to children, one of the women was not mollified: "A bleeding heart does nothing but ruin the carpet.''
Cartels Aren't Forever: Update
From Wired Magazine's "Lab-Grown Diamonds Make the Cut":
Since 2003, synthetic diamond production has taken off, driven by consumer demand for merchandise that’s environmentally friendly (no open-pit mines), sociopolitically neutral (no blood diamonds), and monopoly-free (not controlled by De Beers). As a result, Gemesis, the leading manufacturer of gem-quality diamonds has expanded operations rapidly.
Three years ago, the company had 24 diamond-producing machines; now it has hundreds - matching the cash-value output of a small mine - and is turning on a new one every other day. “At this point, we operate like any other mine,” says Clark McEwen, COO of Gemesis. “We produce rough diamonds in our machines and sell to distributors who do the cutting and polishing.”
Since 2003, synthetic diamond production has taken off, driven by consumer demand for merchandise that’s environmentally friendly (no open-pit mines), sociopolitically neutral (no blood diamonds), and monopoly-free (not controlled by De Beers). As a result, Gemesis, the leading manufacturer of gem-quality diamonds has expanded operations rapidly.
Three years ago, the company had 24 diamond-producing machines; now it has hundreds - matching the cash-value output of a small mine - and is turning on a new one every other day. “At this point, we operate like any other mine,” says Clark McEwen, COO of Gemesis. “We produce rough diamonds in our machines and sell to distributors who do the cutting and polishing.”
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