Like much of the economy, Starbucks isn't completely healthy. But PR executive Michael Levine, author of "Broken Windows, Broken Business," goes so far as to suggest the company has come down with a potentially fatal "virus."    Read More

Gas prices have gotten so expensive it costs more to fuel your car than to fuel your body. My family is spending $150 a week on gasoline, A WEEK, and that is more than I spend on groceries. One reason for this disparity is that food suppliers are offering steep discounts as "loss leaders" during these tough times.    Read More

They came, they saw, they paused. Tesco, the world's third largest retailer, finally invaded the world's largest retail market--the U.S.--last November, opening its first Fresh&Easy store in Los Angeles.    Read More

Northrop Grumman and EADS want to assemble the KC-45 tanker in Mobile, Alabama--assuming the Air Force ever buys one. With Boeing successfully challenging that award, a Mobile restaurant called Foosackly's (what?) which specializes in chicken fingers is putting up billboards and selling T-shirts...    Read More

As Countrywide becomes Bank of America, the state of Florida isn't going to let an ownership change stop if from going after damages for what it claims were Countrywide's deceptive lending practices.    Read More

I, Fake Jane, LOVE the weak dollar. Of course it means I can’t afford to travel, but I can’t afford to do anything anyway—I have to save my pennies for important things, like trying to find someone who will bleach the whites of my eyes.    Read More

It’s going to be a long, hot summer until the Air Force decides whether to reopen bidding, and, if so, whether to start over completely with a new set of rules. I’m beginning to think the entire tanker saga is like the original “Star War” trilogy.   Read More

Remember my post on the Bunny Ranch brothel offering double the services for those paying with their stimulus checks? That was apparently just the economic version of foreplay. Now comes word that other legal houses of ill-repute in Nevada are offering deals in a down economy.    Read More

Today I'm live on the U.S. side of the Mexican border (we couldn't find a satellite truck willing to broadcast live from inside Tijuana given the current drug war).    Read More

Oh those marketing geniuses at Yum! Brands and Cadbury Schweppes. Slogans like "Finger Lickin' Good," and people dancing around singing "I'm a Pepper" just don't cut it anymore in the age of dogs riding skateboards on YouTube and products which promote "going commando." Sigh. I miss wanting to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony.    Read More