How the Olympics ARE Already Benefitting Chicago

I will say out front, I am not in support of the Olympic Games being held in the city of Chicago. There are too many reasons to list, but I will give you just one to chew on; Our city has not been it's beautiful self for quite some time.

The potholes that pock the city streets are not new, they were here, for the most part, since last winter's tremendous snowfall events took their toll.

The parks that are not located in the loop are starting to show wear and tear for the first time in at least a decade.

Even the beautiful skyline, surely the envy of every (at least American) city, now, squeamishly and humbly, announce our pain due to the economic downturn in the form of "FOR RENT" and "Now Leasing" signs braving the famously brisk wind atop many a skyscraper.

However Chicagoans, there are already a few benefits starting to roll in as a result of our being a serious candidate. Here are a few we can all find solace in:

Governor Pat Quinn (did I really just type those words?) is pushing a bill to extend, by 90 days, the amount of time homeowners can stay in their homes while fighting foreclosure. Does anyone believe that Gov. Quinn would go up against the powerful Financial and Real-Estate lobby's if there was no IOC watching our city for cracks in the foundation?

Me either (read about it here).

Chicago has also started re-paving the lakefront bike paths, for both sides of the city. The new paths are extra-wide, making them useful to walkers, bikers, runners and those tourists just out on a stroll. Of course this was done with the Olympics in mind, but what are they going to do, tear up the pavement if the IOC says no?

So hooray beer, we no longer have to deal with the pedestrian equivalent of the Hillside Strangler at Diversey Harbor anymore. Thank you IOC!

We also got our Buckingham Fountain back. Can you believe it? A large city project finished on time and budget? The fountain that forced me to learn about architecture is back.

As a high-schooler we took a trip to the fountain and, though I had visited almost 2 dozen times before, I spent the day learning about the fountain for the first time. The experience led me to learn, and love, more about Chicago than ever. I have never ceased to learn about our city and have never ceased my very Ike Turner-ish love affair since June morning.

Thank to Mayor Richard Daley wanting to show the fountain off to the visiting IOC, it's back on and more beautiful than ever. Thanks again Olympic folks!

Lastly, let's all thank heavens for the Olympic people getting President Obama to talk about Chicago. Lord knows we haven't heard anything from him about our (AND HIS!!!!!) fair city in quite some time, save for "please send the Olympics to Chicago."

Yes, I know the prior resident at 1600 Pennsylvania left President Obama lots to clean up. Yes, I know we are in the midst of a Depression (he still says recession though). And yes, I know he is busy making google eyes, oops I meant goo-goo eyes at the International community.

However, here are just three reasons our city should be rolling off his tongue these days:

1. Thirty-One (31) Chicago Public School CHILDREN have been KILLED SINCE SEPTEMBER (maybe higher by the time you are reading this). President Obama chose, as the person to lead America's schools to a bright new future, ....................Arne Duncan. A person without an Education degree of any kind, and the former "CEO (yes, the first ever because his educational background and experience did not qualify him to be Superintendent)" of Chicago Public Schools.

He left a huge problem here in his wake, so...don't you think the President, being from the Murder Capitol of the United States, discussing the plight of Afghan schoolkids smacks a bit brittle in the face of what is happening in Chicago.

2. A sitting U.S. Governor has been indicted for trying to sell the Senate seat he vacated to when ascending to the Presidency.

3. His White House Chief of Staff has been named as one of the people said Gov. targeted for kickbacks.

So there are numerous reasons to have President Obama out talking about the City he calls home, it just has not happened. Oh, except for the Olympics.

So Thank You Olympic people! You have already given us more than we could have ever expected on a usual basis. I for one will not be out picketing you, because I am fully aware we Chicagoan's can never repay you for what you have already bestowed.

Psychology in the Economic Marketplace, Part I

Ben Bernanke needs some help. This is my contribution:

In 1969 Elisabeth Kubler-Ross described, with great specificity, the five stages human beings go through to cope with tragedy and grief, especially in regards to terminal illness. This led to ground-breaking research and new treatment models throughout the medical diaspora, and is now taught as an essential part of any Psychology 101 class.

The following are the five stages, more universally known as DABDA:

Stage 1 Denial "This isn't happening to me"

Stage 2 Anger "Why me?"

Stage 3 Bargaining "I'll do anything if I can live on."

Stage 4 Depression "Why should I do anything? It wont matter."

Stage 5 Acceptance "This is inevitable. I will make the most of what's left."

Before reviewing current economic conditions through the lens of these five stages, understand the terminal patient in our model is the old Western Financial Model, not America, which will re-emerge. 

Stage 1 - Denial

It is quite simple to point at Summer 2008 as America's "period of denial", though I have a differing theory.

The Denial Stage started in September of 2006, a month after home prices peaked, sending lenders (Banking Institutions) into an industry-wide panic as to how to fight off the inevitable fall in the Housing Sector/Recession, sure to occur during that year's 4th Quarter or the 1st Quarter of 2007.

The solution these lenders came up with was to open up the housing market to the only people in America that did not currently own the housing they lived in, people unable to afford to the costs of making such a large purchase, many of which where low-income racial minorities.

As ridiculous as it sounds (Literally giving money to people that CANNOT repay the loan), the rush of new home buyers had the duel effect of: continuing the home building boom in the country (intended), while simultaneously causing prices of existing housing inventory  to rise precipitously (unintended).

The bad loans were securitized (bundled, chopped up and re-bundled) by the lending institutions, then sold to others on the world financial market, thus leaving the lenders with zero risk for the very risky, highly predatory loans.

The endgame was set before the first loan was made. The system's death sentence was set before the first loan was made. This was the ultimate form of denial.

Stage 2 - Anger

The Anger Stage set in as you started to hear reports of "waitresses buying million dollar homes." Although the wider public had no idea of what was coming down the road, the lending institutions started putting the onus of impending doom on the people at the bottom of America's totem pole, the working-class.

"Why did they take such big loans?", they asked. "What were these people thinking?", newspaper headlines screamed. The term "sub-prime" entered the lexicon of American public as a negative connotation for, not the predatory lenders, but instead, the borrowers.

False outrage from the banking institutions gave rise to real outrage in communities throughout America, as home-owners began to find it harder to sell their homes.

Whether the  difficulty arose from lack of interest from new home-buyers, sliding home values due to unkempt or abandoned vacancies in their neighborhoods, or the lack of loans available to those that truly qualified, home-owners with inventory to sell found themselves at the front line of a problem they could never have seen coming.

To home-owners, anger was the only rational reaction to the unpredictable circumstance which had befallen them. To lending institutions, faux anger was the only way to keep the public eye off trail of the actual culprits.

Stage 3 - Bargaining

The Bargaining Stage is perhaps the most perilous stage in the process. In is the stage the full extent of the problem crystallizes, which in turn often leads to drastic measures being taken to improve the diagnosis.

The Bargaining Stage for this financial crisis was characterized by the Federal Reserve making steady cuts to the Interest Rate, all the way down to virtually nothing, to help reverse the future which was set in motion so long ago. Additionally, the TARP ($700 billion) bill was passed in haste by Congress and signed by the President, and an additional $2 trillion dollars in "emergency loans" was issued by the Treasury Department to the same lending institutions that brought the crisis to bear. The thinking being, everything was on the table to save the old system.

For home-owners the bargaining stage was disastrous, characterized by actions that only worsened their collective situations.

Upon the first evidence of a slow-down in the housing market, instead of reporting the origins and culprits of the problem, media cranked up their output of their perceived solution to the problem, home improvement. The HGTV network best exemplifies the new attitude, changing the majority of it's programming from a theme in line with What You Get For the Money - a show built around sharing how much home you can buy for the same price in several different cities, to more programming like Curb Appeal - a show about enhancing you ability to sell your home by making minor changes to your home. And for the most part, home-owners went for it wholesale.

Even with a downturn in the housing market, retailers such as Home Depot, Lowes and Menard's saw brisk business through the entirety of 2007 and the very early part of 2008.  Americans decided a new marble kitchen and/ or luxury bathroom would change their fortunes, with many taking out equity loans to make the necessary changes. 

When home improvements did not work, home-owners turned to incentives in hopes of unloading their unwanted property. Covering closing costs, down-payment assistance, new paint budgeting and assessment deferrals became the norm. The problem with incentives was individual owners could not compete with Developers, who were giving the same incentives, in addition to free scooters, cars, upgraded appliances and gift cards. The problem remained unchanged.

Lastly, and begrudgingly, home-owners started to accept their ability to sell their homes at asking prices was illusory, so they started to discount the prices of the houses.

This is what the media called the "bubble" bursting.

With home prices peaking in August of 2006, many major cities had not seen an even 10% correction (price drop to reality) as of April 2008. However massive discounting across the country led the national average to see a drop in the high teens by June of that year.

Two months later, in August of 2008, banks had stopped lending money, even to qualified applicants, and the die was cast.

Home-owners were left with a home the did not want, at a price they could not pay, worth  a lot less than was paid for it, and a home equity loan taken out to pay for the improvements and incentives offered to the increasingly shrinking home-buyer pool that found it virtually impossible qualify for a loan of any kind.

This led to the Stock Market failure in September and then, ultimately, to...

Stage 4 - Depression

In many ways, this is the stage we are currently in as of this writing. 

There is so much confusion about what happened, why nothing is seeming to have an impact on the situation and how to move forward, Americans for the most part have chosen to just tune out.

We would rather just ignore this mess, not talk about it. "This to shall pass", seems to be the refrain of the moment.

The is unanimity in the understanding of where we are in our history, however there is no real mobilization by the leadership. Has anyone asked of us to sacrifice anything since this crisis began? We were told to, "get out there and grab those bargains" for Christmas.

The collective depression has led to stagnation in the housing market, with sellers holding firm on prices at hat are admittedly overly-inflated, buyers looking for new homes at foreclosure pricing, financially overly-extended families literally packing up and walking away from homes their kids grew up in, and banks too busy predating themselves to open up the credit instruments necessary to get the economy moving again.

We are all collectively stung...and depressed.

Stage 5 - Acceptance

The very final stage before transition, though it is not necessarily guaranteed that everyone makes it here, as depression can be a mutha!

The Acceptance Stage is so critical, in that it is made possible by accepting the idea of transitioning from what we have known and grown comfortable with, to something unknown, yet inevitable. The peace that comes in this stage derives from gaining the knowledge that what we have experienced is no longer possible.

For the American public, acceptance will come when we decide: 

• That things cannot go back to the way they were in the 1990's.
  
• The house we own is going to be worth about 30-45% of it's 2006 value.
  
• Owning a home in their lifetime will not be a reality for a large number of people.
  
• There will be a rise in unemployment and an (almost) across the board reduction in wages in the near future.
  
• The ability to buy a new car, let alone every 4 years,  has already been altered for a large number of the populace.
  
• Volunteerism, social activism and local purchasing decisions are going to be required to assist in this turnaround, and I mean from everyone.
  
• Government is not gong to solve this, at least not exclusively.
  
• Wild expansion & profiteering is a thing of the past, slow growth is the new way forward.
  
• Rampant consumerism does not have to go away, but needs to at least slow down in the interim.
  

All things that I would never hope for, but are required to find the peace we need as a country to move forward and regain our footing.

Four decades ago Elisabeth Kubler-Ross changed the way the medical profession deals with the aggrieved, including those with terminal illnesses. Perhaps, using her ingenious model, we can find our way, as a country, out of the darkness of our current situation.

Can we do it?

With apologies to Bob the Builder and the President-elect, Yes We Can!

News That's Fit To Print

This morning I spent the better part of 45 minutes walking around looking for a newspaper to purchase. There are normally plenty of copies of the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Times at the Starbucks just one block from my home in downtown Chicago. Today, I visited no less than 15 resources before successfully acquiring a newspaper of any kind. I tried every 7-Eleven, White Hen, Jewel, Dominick's, news stand and bookstore in the neighborhood before, in desperation, deciding to try a hotel gift shop. 

SUCCESS CAME AT LAST!

While walking back to my home, I was stopped no less than 15-20 times by people inquiring where I had found the newspaper. Everyone seemed to be in the same predicament I had been in just minutes before.

The reason was both transparent and obvious, Barack Obama is the 44th President-Elect of the United States of America. And seeing as though I reside in his hometown, which was the site of the biggest election night rally in history, I can clearly understand the enthusiasm.

However there is a MUCH bigger story here. A retailing story, no less. A story being missed by the large conglomerates that run most of the media we have access to in this country. 

It was the theme that catapulted President-Elect Obama to his primary and general election victories. The story is about ...inclusion!

The fact is, young people and old people, rich people and poor people, whites, black, latinos women and men wanted to read a newspaper because they were certain to see articles representing their interests within the pages.

  

Newspapers have seen massive declines in readership across the country for the last 6-10 years, and at a much more rapid rate lately. Television viewership numbers that would have left Peter Jennings, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw in tears 20 years ago , is now cause for chest-thumping by the likes of Charles Gibson, Katie Couric and Brian Williams. 

We are told this flight from old media is due to people having "more options for news." This, however, is an excuse, served up by media executives stuck thinking in the Hillary/McCain mold. They are looking at the "classical" ideas of media and not seeing multitudinous opportunities that lie at their feet for the taking. 

"Classical" media looked at the landscape of all that happened in the world and decided to pick and choose, for us, what was fit to print or report. The "new" way is to show the entire landscape and allow the individual to decide what is important to them.

Let me be clear. This is not another article about how the Internet is better, faster, more comprehensive and revelatory than television or newspapers,though I agree they are. It is more about the growth potential that lie in both of the latter mediums. Something that can help to stem the tide of massive lay-offs happening  within these important American institutions.

Inclusion requires that you not only talk about the full spectrum of people, places and events, but that you reflect the full spectrum with who covers such things for your organization. Last night, for instance, a night full of historic achievement,  there was much talk of the broad coalition of various ages, races and sexes responsible for the Obama victory. The reality of who reported that news did not directly reflect the viewing audience or those reveling onscreen in the possibilities of a "new tomorrow."

The age of the principal anchors handling Election Night coverage on each major news outlet were as follows:

CBS

Katie Couric (51) and Bob Schieffer (71)

NBC

Brian Williams (49) and Tom Brokaw (68) 

ABC

Charles Gibson (65) and George Stephanapoulos (47)

PBS

Jim Lehrer (74)

CNN

Wolf Blitzer (60) and Anderson Cooper (41)

MSNBC

Chris Matthews (63), Keith Olbermann (49) and David Gregory( the oldest 38 you'll ever find)

Fox

Chris Wallace (61) and Brit Hume (65)

All of them White. All but one, male. Two septuagenarians, six sexagenarians, four at or hovering near 50 and two other rather marginalized figures hovering near forty years of age.

I genuinely believe each of them brought a wealth of perspective to the evenings events and did their best in covering what was a momentous night. However lack of perspective is what stood out most. They all talked of JFK, RFK and MLK. There was discussion of the 60's and 70's. However, there was little talk of the impact of the Internet on this election. No chronicling of the Obama fundraising juggernaut done primarily online. No discussion of the continuous evolution of the blogosphere, now used for both information and independent fundraising. Little, if any, discussion of Obama's digital "Get-Out-The-Vote" operation that overwhelmed his rival. Most anchors chose to discuss, only, the more familiar (to them) door-knocking operation. All in all, after a while it became that story your Uncle tells to the new person every Thanksgiving. Partially true,  mildly interesting and thoroughly embarrassing. They were literally, just one glaring example of why there is a massive flight from their medium as a source for staying informed 

Are we to believe it would take a search party to find an anchor of Latino, Asian or African descent? Are we to believe there are no souls under 40, or hell even 30, capable of anchoring or co-anchoring the "Big News" desk at any of these companies? Are we to believe that Katie Couric is the only woman with the requisite qualifications and experience to be a part of the "Boy's Club?" I think not.

How can I know? Barack Obama just proved it, that's how. His campaign was run by a diverse coalition of people, and as mentioned previously, won by a diverse coalition of people. 

MSNBC showcased Luke Russert on several occasions during this election cycle, using him to flesh out stories specifically relating the youth vote. These reports were generally well-received because of the freshness of the subject matter and, importantly, the depth and understanding that resulted from the person reporting the story being of  the same generation. What struck me was how many times they cutaway from his report to find an utter lack of professionalism, not by the 23 year-old reporter, but by the in-studio host. Each time after a generally routine "back to you in the studio" from the young Russert, there seemed always time enough to discuss "how proud of him" they were, how "they wish his Dad (their recently deceased colleague, Tim Russert) could see" him, or all-around head-nodding of "how well he is doing". 

We are all proud of how this young man handled the passing of his father, who was a lion in the media world. His transition into his father's line of work has seen a few kinks, but nobody with sense can say that he has seemed forced. Luke Russert is a fine professional, but it took tragic circumstances to get him on air. There are many other Luke Russert's out there waiting to be discovered. But they are being told to, "Go start in Iowa, Idaho or Montana. Then come back when you get seasoned." Like when you are in your 50's or 60's and you can no longer relate to the rest of the population.

The limitations of those currently sitting in the anchor chair are being projected onto the anchors of tomorrow, I mean TODAY!

Newspapers are not immune from the same line of thinking. The best example I can draw from is the continued slide in readership of the Chicago Tribune newspaper (down 5.8% Sundays, down 7.8% Weekdays) at a time when there is continued growth in the Tribune Company's RedEye tabloid newspaper (now up to over 200,000 copies per day, from 0 in 2002).

The RedEye is an inferior product, as far as journalistic content, when compared to it's bigger sister, the Chicago Tribune. However, RedEye drives great advertising revenue for a company that had seen it's readership literally continue to die off over the past two decades. 

RedEye is viewed as a young persons alternative to newspapers. Not an alternative to the Tribune, but an alternative to all newspapers. 

The RedEye meets most standards of a young news reader in today's society, delivering news in small "bursts." An article is rarely more than 3-5 paragraphs long, and many are just an one inch summation of a news story, accompanied by a screaming headline. Additionally, the RedEye discusses topics and people that relate directly to it's audience. While you can expect to read wide coverage of bands like U2, or television shows such as Desperate Housewives in the pages of the Chicago Tribune, RedEye is more likely to feature recording artists like T-Pain on it's cover and dish news on Gossip Girl within it's pages. They are ahead of the curve now, but the goal is clearly to become the curve. One gets the idea the journalist and editors are young or, at very least, young at heart. 

Readers can decide, quickly, if this is a story they should look into more on the Internet once they get where they are going, or if they will take a pass. Once again, you can no longer tell consumers what news is, they decide for themselves.

The Tribune, and other newspapers, could easily boost readership by borrowing the inclusive themes that come with skewing younger, and without sacrificing it's seriousness. Shorter articles that drive readers looking for more to the TRIBUNE website, where fully fleshed out material awaits. PBS does this for every piece of it's original broadcasting. Instead of leaving it to the  reader to investigate their own choice of web news provider, all the sourcing for the article can be delivered at Tribune.com.  This seems a simple solution, held back only by a nasty word that's been the death knell to many organizations, institutions and even civilizations, "tradition."

Big Media has a question to ask itself in the coming months, if not weeks. Do they dare to be at the forefront, skewing younger and more inclusive with their talent? Or will they continue this prolonged blood-letting  by having sexagenarian talking-heads try to explain the merits and intricacies of FaceBook in vain while the most dramatic cultural and generational shift in our nation's history is taking place on the screens around them?

The way forward is to trust in the profound talent that resides in the many cultures and youth of America. Ask of them that thing which has not been asked before, save service in the military during times of war. Let us ask them to take a seat at the table and be a part of developing solutions to the many obstacles that plague us all.

Being inclusive is not only the rational thing to do, it's the profitable thing as well.

Best Of Oct. Barney's NY (Rush & Oak St.)

Very few people can do what you see in the first image. In one succinct window pane you get:

1. The hottest topic in popular culture (the Presidential Election).
2. A humorous nod to local pride in race (Abe of Illinois, just like Obama).
3. An unencumbered view of the genius that is Dior tailoring.
4. An uncluttered reminder of your civic duty (Go and VOTE!).

This is one of the strongest simple presentations I have seen, ever. I spent a considerable amount of time taking it in at all angles. 

I came to the conclusion that the single most impressive thing about the entire window, is how the whole visual is authenticated by the small piece of felt pretending to be Abe's beard. Had faux hair been used it would not have been as effective, or gratifying.

This, folks, is damn near genius.

The Great ('08) Missed Opportunity

There are few retailers having "break-out" business right now.

That being said, I wondered if there are any glaring missed opportunities by the major retailers at the moment. It took less than 15 minutes to not only come up with a HUGE missed opportunity, but to have it confirmed by multiple sources as an item each and every one of them had to find new resources to purchase.

The Item.....Barack Wear!!!

Since, at least early February the Obama phenomenon has been in full swing, with a multitude of industries, esp. media, riding his coat-tails to unprecedented growth in their respective trades.  Perhaps none more so than apparel-makers, all mired in what has been a long (well in excess of a year) stretch without an "it" item.  Well the "it" item has been "anything Obama!"

While it is quite easy to say this election has not been decided yet, there is no denying the Obama behemoth in regards to merchandising sales. 

I checked the websites of Saks, Neiman's, Nordstrom, Bergdorf, Bloomingdales and Macy's, nothing! To be fair, I also checked Target, Sears and Kohl's, they also were not selling anything in their apparel divisions.

This cash cow has been left to the online market ENTIRELY! A cursory Google search for Obama merchandise will provide one thousands of shopping options, from doggie-tee's for $9.00 to the Swarovski crystal t-shirt pictured above on sale for $189.99 down from $380.00 at DesignerRhinestoneFashion.com. One retailer, Azalea Boutique, even sold jeans in a dark mocha color named "Obama".

There can be no doubt that designers took note of the Obama-phenomenon, as pointed out in last Saturdays Chicago Tribune. The major retailers will have little choice but to carry the goods come Spring 2009, as many top designers, such as Zac Posen, chose to run with Obama themes and influences for their upcoming collections.

The estimates for how much Obama merchandise has sold from January 2008 to now range from $200 million to $1.4 billion, depending on the source. If he is become President-elect, sales are expected to explode for the foreseeable future. Even if you settle somewhere in the middle of those figures, one question comes to mind....

How did all the smart people at these companies miss this opportunity?