FREEMAN-SPICER FINANCIAL SERVICES

Finance ● Leasing ● Accounting ● Premium

316 South Eddy Street South Bend, IN 46617

574.234.0069 (V) ● 574.234.6414 (F) ● surekey@aol.com

Vol. 26, No. 5 ●May, 2008

You can find this newsletter and some past issues on the web @ www.Freeman-Spicer.com

 

Overworked . . . . . . . . .  Tax Freedom Day which was on April 23rd has come and gone this year, the 113th day of 2008 (ignoring Leap Day). This means Americans worked nearly four months of the year to earn enough money to pay this year’s tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels. Americans will work longer to pay for government (113 days) than they will for food, clothing and housing combined (108 days). In fact, Americans will work longer to afford federal taxes alone (74 days) than they will to afford housing (60 days). As a group, Americans will also work longer to pay state and local taxes than they will to pay for food. (Gerald Prante, Senior Economist, and Scott Hodge, President, Tax Foundation)

 

For Alligators, Resistance Is In the Blood . . . . . . . . . Could alligators one day be valued more for their blood than for their skin? Chemists at two state universities in Louisiana report that proteins in gator blood exhibit a powerful ability to fight off fungi, viruses, and even drug-resistant superbugs. Scientists have long known about the reptile’s remarkable ability to escape infections, even from microbes to which they have never been exposed. The researchers, reporting at the recent American Chemical Society annual meeting, isolated the disease-fighting proteins and unleashed them on 23 strains of bacteria. The samples killed them all – a feat unequaled by any known human blood protein. Study co-author Mark E. Merchant of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA., says the team is now trying to discover which ones are most effective and why. (Catherine Arnst in BusinessWeek)

 

Rick’s in Trouble . . . . . . . . Rick was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really angry. She told him “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in less than 6 seconds, AND IT BETTER BE THERE!” The next morning Rick got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, and brought the box back into the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale . . . . . . . . . . . Rick has been missing since Friday. Please pray for him! (Nieman)

 

About FreeRice . . . . . . . . . . . .  FreeRice [http://www.freerice.com] is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com. FreeRice has two goals: 1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free. 2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site. Whether you are a CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself. Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Now go to FreeRice.com and in just a few minutes you can help feed someone – and also help your vocabulary. It’s easy and fun – tell your kids to try it and to have them tell their friends. Pass this on! http://www.freerice.com

 

“It’s a funny thing: The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Arnold Palmer

 

Getting Mad at Work Is a Male Prerogative . . . . . . . . . When men blow their tops at work they appear authoritative, but women – from trainees to CEOs – are penalized for such behavior, new research finds. In studies published in the March issue of Psychological Science, about 400 male and female professionals watched video dramatizations of botched office situations. When women got angry, they were overwhelmingly seen as incompetent, out of control, and worth less pay than their male counterparts. As for men who got mad: “People assume it’s reasonable,” says study co-author Victoria Brescoll, a Yale University researcher. When they explained why they got angry, women gained points and men lost them – they appeared weak. Debra Condren, author of  Ambition Is Not a Dirty Word, says that to avoid the anger penalty, women should stay calm at work and use humor, which “can be disarming,” when vexed. (Jill Hamburg Coplan in BusinessWeek)

 

Another Little Girl Story . . . . . . . . A little girl asked her Mom, “Mom, may I take the dog for a walk around the block?”Mom replies, “No, because she is in heat!” “What’s that mean?” asked the child. “Go ask your father. I think he’s in the garage.” The little girl goes to the garage and says, “Dad, may I take Belle for a walk around the block? I asked Mom, but she said the dog was in heat, and to come to you.” Dad says, “Bring Belle over here.” He took a rag, soaked it with gasoline, and scrubbed the dog’s backside with it to disguise the scent, and said “OK, you can go now, but keep Belle on the leash and only go one time around the block.” The little girl left and returned a few minutes later with no dog on the leash. Surprised, Dad asked, “Where’s Belle?” The little girl said, “She ran out of gas about halfway down the block, so another dog is pushing her home. (Bishop)

 

Happy Birthday . . . . . . . . . 30 years ago – You’re probably not familiar with the name Gary Thuerk. However, you are very familiar with a trend he started 30 years ago this month. On May 3, 1978, Gary Thuerk sent the first spam message on Arpanet. Arpanet was a government-run network that later became the Internet. Thirty years later spam has become an epidemic. By some accounts, more than 90 percent of all e-mail messages are spam. (Kim Komando)

 

Selling 101  . . . . . . . . .  It’s Selling 101, but here are words that can trip you up or help you sell:

·        Don’t say contract; say form, paperwork or agreement.

·        Don’t say cost or price; say amount or investment.

·        Don’t say monthly payment; say monthly investment or monthly amount.

·        Don’t say buy; say own.

·        Don’t say sell or sold; say get them involved, help them acquire.

·        Not deal; it’s opportunity or transaction.

·        Don’t say problem; say challenge.

·        Not objection; it’s area of concern.

·        Don’t say pitch; say presentation or demonstration.

·        Not commission; it’s fee for service.

·        Don’t say sign; say approve, endorse, okay, or authorize. (Selling for Dummies)

 

Personnel . . . . . . .  At Best Buy’s corporate headquarters, employees can work when they want, as long as they get their work done. Welcome to ROWE, or Results-Only Work Environment, an experiment that started small, but now includes about 80% of corporate employees. Numbers show that productivity of ROWE teams increased an average of 35% over 2 years, and voluntary turnover rates in 3 different divisions are down 90%, 75% and 50% respectively. “Results-only” can work for a growing, teamwork-oriented company with processes that aren’t too complicated and clock-driven. Clearly, it doesn’t work for every job. (Entrepreneur)

Is the Workplace Getting Raunchier? . . . . . . .  More women say they’re hearing “sexually inappropriate” comments at work, according to a 2007 phone survey just released by Novations Group, a Boston consultant. Some 38% of women said they heard sexual innuendo, wisecracks, or taunts at the office last year, up from 22% in 2006. The percentage of men hearing such comments stayed steady, at 45%. Indeed, men were more likely than women to hear all types of tasteless or questionable comments, with 44% saying they heard racial slurs, for instance, compared with 24% of women. Novations CEO Michael Hyter says the big increase in sexual remarks heard by women is hard to explain. One theory, he says, is that women’s impatience with such comments – rather than the comments’ frequency – is rising. But Paul Secunda, professor of law at the University of Mississippi, says the responses could partly reflect a lowering of barriers between the sexes, with male employees making remarks more openly as a way of treating women like peers. The problem, he says, is that “what might be reasonable to a man may not be reasonable to a woman.” That difference, he adds, “shows up in sexual-harassment case law.” (Christopher Farrell in BusinessWeek)

 

Test For Dementia . . . . . . . . . .  Below are four (4) questions and a bonus question. You have to answer them instantly . . . . You can’t take your time, answer all of them immediately. OK?

1.      You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in?

Answer: If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second. Try not to screw up next time. Now answer the second question, but don’t take as much time as you took for the first question.

2.      If you overtake the last person, then you are…….?

Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST person? You’re not very good at this – are you?

3.      Very tricky arithmetic! Note: This must be done in your head only. Do not use paper and pencil or a calculator. Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10. What is the total?

Answer: Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually4100. If you don’t believe it – use a calculator. Maybe today isn’t your day?

4.      Mary’s father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter?

Answer: Nunu? No, of course it isn’t. Her name is Mary – read the question again!

 

OK – here’s your bonus round:

5.      A mute person goes into a shop and wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing his teeth, he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done. Next, a blind man comes into the shop who wants to buy a pair of sunglasses; how does he indicate what he wants?

Answer: He just has to open his mouth and ask . . . . It’s really quite simple.

I don’t want to know how you did – keep it to yourself . . . . . . (LaFree)

                                                                                                                        Sincerely,

 

“Amateurs work till they get it right – Professionals work

until they can’t get it wrong.” ESPN                                                                                            Edward C. Levy

                                                                                                                        President