A sketch-post from an ongoing series – I posted Part 1 previously on January 27th.. Emphasize the city’s natural beauty. If one’s interested in drawing tourism or affluent newcomers (and we should be), show them them what we have that bigger cities lack – a fine landscape, with much to do in it. We’re doing…
Business
Business, City, Free Markets, Planning
Whitewater’s Overpowering Fear of a … Family-style Restaurant with a Liquor License
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update: 2.16.12 – video recording of session embedded below. Whitewater’s taken more than one bad turn in recent years — sadly, it took another one Monday night. Introduction. Following a unanimous January denial of a conditional use permit to operate a sports bar on the main business district in Whitewater, the city’s Planning Commission this…
Business, City
‘Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Larry Downes has a fine — very fine — critique of Best Buy’s many problems online at Forbes. Five solid, well-written and well-reasoned pages in which he takes apart the practices and supposed strategy of a mediocre retailer. As a business critique, it’s top-notch. Yet, Downes’s critique is even more useful: think ‘local government’ instead…
America, Business
Chrysler’s Clint Eastwood Commercial, It’s Halftime, America
by JOHN ADAMS •
I held this commercial from the preceding post of my other favorites, because it’s both longer and different: its political themes separate it from a conventional commercial, even a conventional Super Bowl commercial (if there should be such a thing). There’s an optimism in this commercial that is, I think, justified: despite the most difficult…
Business
2012 Super Bowl Commercials
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business
What are the Biggest Challenges on Main Street?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, Planning
The Most Disturbing Sound in Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Business District
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, City, Laws/Regulations, Planning
The Overpowering Fear of a … Sports Bar
by JOHN ADAMS •
Perhaps some fret all day, dreading the prospect of a sports bar in a business district in a town that has too few businesses of any kind. I am not among them. In small-town Whitewater, the main thoroughfare is called, creatively, Main Street. Along it one finds dozens of commercial businesses. Fast-food restaurants, strip malls,…
Business, Free Markets, Uncategorized
The value’s in design: China Makes Almost Nothing Out of Apple’s iPads and iPhones
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, Holiday
AppleInsider: Apple’s Santa TV spot deemed best ad of holiday season
by JOHN ADAMS •
What do you think? (I’d say, very good, indeed.) According to viewer reactions measured by TV ad analysis firm Ace Metrix and released on Friday, Apple’s commercial collected enough points to be named the most effective ad during the crucial holiday season, beating out advertising veterans like Coca-Cola, Pillsbury and Nintendo, reports GigaOM. See, AppleInsider…
Business, Federal Government, Politics
In U.S., Fear of Big Government at Near-Record Level
by JOHN ADAMS •
Americans’ concerns about the threat of big government continue to dwarf those about big business and big labor, and by an even larger margin now than in March 2009. The 64% of Americans who say big government will be the biggest threat to the country is just one percentage point shy of the record high,…
Business, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
F.L.O.S.S: Protecting You from Low-Cost Teeth-Whitening Services
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s not health, but favoring some businesses over others (and over consumers) that’s the concern of Connecticut’s regulators: Here’s the description of the Institute for Justice’s video: Teeth-whitening services are popular and increasingly available at spas, salons and shopping malls. This has been a boon for consumers because these businesses offer whitening services at a…
Animals, Business, Economy, Food, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Idaho legitimizes small-scale raw-milk producers
by JOHN ADAMS •
The potato state bests America’s Dairyland in common sense and consumer choice: “There were a lot of illegal raw-milk sales throughout the state,” Patten said. “Across-the-fence sales, let’s say.” So, in early 2010, instead of drawing guns and raiding those operations, the state of Idaho–with the help of raw-milk advocates and a less-enthusiastic dairy industry–modified…
Business
Small Business Saturday
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s Small Business Saturday in America on 11.26.11. I’ve been critical of government’s intervention in the marketplace (between chains and local stores), but there’s much to recommend local merchants who find success through their own, private efforts. Shoppers don’t need a politician or bureaucrat’s guidance. (“Consumers should be able to decide for themselves without the…