How to Help Haiti

Here are links that can be used to help the people of Haiti in their time of need. The first is catholic charities and the second is doctors without borders:

http://crs.org/

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

Retail Activity Anecdotes Suggest Slightly Lighter Sales

Over the weekend I visited various New York City retail locations. I went into about 10 different stores. I spoke with floor sales personnel in each location. From what I gathered, the foot traffic was on the light side and those customers that were coming into the stores were sticking to the heavily discounted bargains. A few retail locations I walked into had no customers at all and these were in high volume foot trafficked areas. Some of the stores with low traffic were not offering much in the way of discounts. The electronics stores with large discounts seemed to be generating the highest foot traffic. But from my perspective, the customer traffic seemed low even in the normally busy streets of Manhattan. Not sure if this is a New York phenomenon or activity in other parts of the country was similar. Not always easy to decipher trends.

Tomorrow's GDP

Tomorrow's GDP may be one of the more important economic releases in quite some time in my view. The baked in the cake positive growth percentage seems like a 100% lock. I hate these 100% locks as it seems they often call for a surprise.

Great Britain just came out with a negative quarter which threw the markets for a loop. The US and GB have been closely linked throughout this economic "Great Recession" as bond legend Bill Gross calls it.

The Market expects a 3.2% growth (annualized qtr / qtr) rate of growth. Last qtr saw a decrease of 0.7%. Stay tuned for the number tomorrow. How much did cash for clunkers and the housing $8000 for first time buyers input into this equation? That is a huge question as C F C has already rolled off the books and the 1st time $8k help is scheduled to fall off soon.

Indonesia and The Philippines

I am so saddened by the devastation in Indonesia caused by the earthquake and the ensuing landslides. The Philippines have been affected by a Typhoon. Thousands of lives have been lost from these natural disasters. Thoughts and prayers from Americans go out to the victims of this terrible disaster. Here are a few of the countries that have offered assistance or are offering assistance to Indonesia : the U.S., Australia, Switzerland, Singapore, Turkey, South Korea, Germany, China, Qatar, UAE, Denmark, Thailand, Russia, Taiwan, and Norway.

I recommend the International Red Cross for anyone looking to help countries affected by these natural disasters. I am sure there are other agencies but they may take research to know if they are legit. Here is the web site for the International Red Cross:

http://www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/response/asia-floods/index.asp

What Wall Street Can Learn from Lisa Muccilo, a Hero of Mine

Recently, in an alumni newsletter, I read a story about a fund raiser in memory of Lisa Marie Muccilo, an alumnus of Manhattan College. She went to the school at around the time that I did, but even though I recognized her photo, I did not know her too well in college. I searched the web and found out that she lived a remarkable life. Her story offers lessons for everyone, but in particular Wall Street.

Five years after graduating college, Lisa was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. She fought the disease before losing the battle in 2003. However, what makes Lisa’s story so compelling and her legacy so beautiful is what she did during those last six years of her life while fighting her illness. From the time she was diagnosed, “and while still working as an engineer, she founded the Northern New Jersey branch of the Young Survival Coalition (YSCNJ) where she served as an officer and board member. She also went on the advisory committee for a drug panel, was twice invited to the White House, co-starred in a lifetime TV documentary, raised over $100,000 for the YSCNJ in 2003, joined then Vice President Dick Cheney at lunch with other breast cancer heroes, implemented the MAAC Fights Back Program, and spoke with students, corporations and other breast cancer survivors. She also worked hard at helping those around her cope with her disease.” (Please note, the sources of this material, some copied word for word, came from Jasper Jottings Daily, the Val Skinner Foundation, and YSCNNJ).

The way she lived her life offers four ways that can help transform Wall Street into a better place. Before continuing, it is important to understand that I used Wall Street as an example because I am a product of the industry. I also understand that Wall Street does many things right, and that there are plenty of other industries and governments that can learn these lessons too. However, once in a while, it makes sense to reflect on how your own profession could do things even better, and Lisa’s example sets that standard.

The first way Wall Street can learn from Lisa is by looking at how selflessly she worked to help others while going through the most difficult of circumstances. If there is something that Wall Street can learn to do it is to be more selfless, even under its most recent trying times. Lisa set a supreme example of how to help others. Look at the amazing things she accomplished during her battle with breast cancer.

Second, Lisa helped others by giving feedback through a pharmaceutical advisory board. Wall Street could learn to seek outside feedback and could do this by creating an independent financial advisory board. The panel would include people from outside of the industry as well as industry experts to advise on everything from the use of the much misunderstood esoteric credit derivatives to pay packages and other ethical questions.

Third, Lisa worked to change the image of breast cancer away from one that afflicted just older women to one that also afflicted the young. Wall Street could learn something from this process of image change. The Main Street image of Wall Street as the Gordon Gekko tycoon from the movie Wall Street (a classic movie though it is), out for only its own interests, needs to change.

Fourth, Lisa got the word out on prevention: what was happening to her should not happen to other young women in the future. Wall Street too could seek ways to prevent a future financial panic like the current one from ever happening again. I am a student of economics and understand that capitalism is susceptible to financial panics. However, even though it is impossible to prevent a financial meltdown, lessons can be learned to lessen its effects. Lisa again serves as an inspiration. After diagnosis, she became an advocate of getting the word out, she was in a TV documentary and her picture with her story was placed in a shopping mall. Wall Street needs to do the same thing by learning from its past.

I felt compelled to write about Lisa Marie Muccilo because of all the wonderful things she did while going through the most trying of circumstances. Wall Street can learn from her and improve some of its ways. With time, others will see improvements too. In the months ahead, I will be exploring ways of helping to continue some of the good work that Lisa Marie Muccilo has started.


For more on Lisa from the Val Skinner foundation: http://www.valskinnerfoundation.org/muccilo.php?PHPSESSID=5ab25d8168b008033557b90ea06c7f5f


For more on Lisa from the Manhattan College Alumni newsletter:
http://jasperjottings-daily.com/2009/01/30/jemail-mcgrath-erin-m-mc1992-memorializes-lisa-marie-muccilo-92-on-228-at-halftime/


For more on the Young Survival Coalition of Northern New Jersey:
http://www.youngsurvival.org/northernnewjersey


For more on breast cancer:http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast

Article About Lisa Marie Muccilo

Last week I wrote an article about Lisa Marie Muccilo and how her good works could be an inspiration to Wall Street. I sent it out to a newspaper for publication and their rules say it can only be used by them. So I took it down from here. If they do not publish it (which looks to be the case), I will re-post the article here in a couple weeks.

Thanks

Tom Henderson

Wimbledon 2009

Congrats to Federer for winning the most slams ever. He is a great champion.

Congrats to Roddick for in my mind he was the true star today. Of course I am biased as an American, but I have watched Roddick since he played in the US Open in 2001. His talent is enormous and although I have always thought of him as a great sportsman, I never saw the desire in him... until today. Of course Nadal is another guy who has the heart of a lion and the famous Austrian Muster had great heart. But I am so glad to see Roddick leaving it all out there.

Strategy wise, when he started to hit his forehand with that extra pace, Federer was struggling with it.

Congrats to Serena for her win and to both Venus and Serena for their doubles championship.

I tip my hat the the Bryan brothers who also are incredibly consistent players but fell short of the doubles title.

Lastly, the Federer Roddick match in my view was better than last year's final that Federer and Nadal had.