Glen Brammell

The government announced that they expect taxpayers will take a huge loss on the money lent to Chrysler and General Motors. The losses could run as high as $34 billion dollars. Auditors say they have recouped some of the money lent to the corporations, but much of the money will be lost.

The government still has a stake in the companies as it owns about 10 % of Chrysler and about 61% of GM. These shares will be sold when the companies conduct a public stock offering in the future. I sure hope the auctions go well!!

I have thought that the invention of the gift card was a great idea. Its ease of purchase in the event that an emergency gift was required made it a useful tool. I have been saved from an embarrassing situation more than once by being able to purchase a quick gift for a forgotten event.

It turns out that there can be drawbacks to this wonderful item. Some cards carry fees that reduce their value over time. Another problem is that many times the cards are never used. When they are used, it’s not uncommon that the buyer ends up spending more money than they thought by using the card! Despite their drawbacks, I still love the gift card!

In today’s USA Today paper is says that Intel was fined a record breaking amount of $1.45 Billion dollars for illegal monopolistic business practices in Europe. I cannot image having over a Billion dollars available in the bank to pay such a huge fine. But it is obvious that Europe takes this type of thing very seriously. American companies need to learn how to do business in other countries without using all the same shady practices they get away with here in the U.S.

Today I wanted to get my hair cut. I can’t stand it when my hair flies into my eyes when I am driving or trying to work. So I went to the little shopping center down the road from my house and found a hair cutting place where it costs around ten bucks for a haircut. I don’t know any of the girls in there who cut hair, so I just paid my money and took my chances. Well, they must have given me the new girl who doesn’t know how to cut guy’s hair. She did an awful job. I looked in the mirror and said, “You have got to be kidding me.” I was so mad with her but I kept my cool. I told her the only way to fix it was to just shave it all off. So I’ll be a baldy for a few weeks, thanks to this dumb girl’s bad hair cut and it cost me $10 to get my head shaved. I won’t be going back there any time soon.