The Latte Factor

The "Latte Factor" is a term used to describe the insidious spending, ie a latte at Starbucks on the way into work each day, that adds up to erode our savings and increase our daily living costs in a way that we don't always see without analysis.

Today Starbucks announced a drop in profits 97% from this time last year. That translates to a per share profit of one cent now, when it was 21 cents last year. Huge for this company.

Is this to be a leading economic indicator? Or simply a company with a mercurial rise, with the inevitable plummet that follows?

I'm going to take this a good news, and wrap it together with the election. Perhaps we are waking up, eschewing the spend spend borrow and spend mentality, believing in the politics of hope. Perhaps this is the Grand Awakening.

Can America really have a cup of joe when they get to the office, instead of the venti mocha latte?

Yes We Can.

Boxing day?

I like Boxing Day. I don't know any reason other than it's role as a placeholder. You can't just go from Christmas to "Tuesday", you need to have a buffer, to taper the excitement down.

The election last night was really really cool. I stayed up way too late to take it all in, and Jesse Jackson, for the first time ever, got me to shed a tear. It was really a special night.

Today, nothing is really that different. We wait. We speculate on cabinet positions and hope that nothing goes wrong.

But like Boxing Day, I really want to take my new toy into a empty corner and spend some time in quiet contemplation. I am not ready to share it, and I am really worried it might break.