The New York Times presents startling data on employment in the US, detailing how the economy shed 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of rising unemployment, presenting a stark sign that the country may already be in a recession.

Sharp downturns in the manufacturing and construction sectors led the decline, the biggest in five years. The Labor Department also said employers cut far more jobs in January and February than originally estimated.

Read the full report here…. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/business/04cnd-econ.html?ex=1365048000&en=a7dd91c960a9aded&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Found another great post on the fragile economy in the US, check out Jim Cramer’s latest rant from this morning. He’s completely on target, the banks and their corporate cronies are in it up to their necks! Under the (George W. Bush) SEC, these massive financial corporations — Merrill, Citi, etc. — are getting away with massive ”criminal levels of fraud”.

I am kinda embarassed to admit it, but I have a new crush and it’s on Hef. I was channel surfing a few weeks back and came across the Girls Next Door, and was absolutely fascinated.

I couldn’t look away, as the show seemed to present an intimate view of life at the Playboy mansion and yet there’s so much that’s not answered. Like how does he decide who he’s going to sleep with on any given night, are they on a schedule or is it just as the mood and personality of the girl takes him? Does he sleep in each of the girls rooms when he’s with them, as Holly shares his room with him? Or do they sleep together?

Who knows? But Hef really comes out of this as a real gentleman, and I was intrigued enough to google the girls to learn more.

I want to the Playboy site, where there’s an ‘Ask Hef’ section where the man himself delivers his philosopy in bitesized video chunks. Most fascinating were the pieces where he talked about his upbringing, his early career, and how he started Playboy. (He didn’t even know if he would be able to afford to run a second editio when he first launched the magazine).

I am honest enough to admit I am a voyeur in watching the show and wondering about their private life, but I would be much more interested in a show where Hef describes in detail his success philosophy.

His humble attitude and gratitude for all his success make hime so very inspiring and endearing.

Never though I’d say this, but here’s to HEF!

This is a great spoof video - but is it really so different in reality?

I think not!  The stock market value is based entirely on perception, change your perception and change the value. It’s an illusion, a costly, high concept illusion that can cost us dearly.

Learn how to really make more money here.

Remember it’s YOUR money.

How quickly we jump to conclusions about other people, and we often may do it with the best of intentions but who are we to judge?

On Wednesday I had a phone call from a lovely sounding guy, Keith, in response to an advert I’d put on Gumtree for Roadmap to Riches, he had then followed the link that too him to my website and now he wanted to know more.

I always try to find out a little about what people are currently doing,to try and figure out if they’re a good fit for my business, more presumptive judging by me I suppose! In the course of our discussion, Keith mentioned that he was blind.

An hereditary illness had taken his sight severalyears before, and as he said, you just get on with it, no big boo hoo! Keith had a programme that ‘read’ the internet to him, it wasn’t great with pdf files but everything else was usually managed.

This man was amazing, brave, resourceful. And I had the immediate though that there was no way he could promote Roadmap to Riches on the internet, projecting my own fears and doubts on him.

I told him that I felt another programme I marketed, The Ultimate Entrpreneur was more suitable. Both are equally good businesses, but one is more offline than the other and I thought it would be more suitable. Why? Because I ‘judged’ Keith and I don’t know him, I don’t know what he skills are, what his abilities may or may not be.

This was pointed out to me later when I as discussing the conversation with my mentor, Michelangelo Lopez. Who am I to decide what other people can or cannot do? I feel horrible and I insulted a very nice man, it may have been unintentional but is that really an excuse? I don’t think so, I feel so humble right now.

Who was I to limit him? and that’s what I did. I apologise Keith, and I will never prejudge, at least I will make serious efforts never to prejudge anyone again.

A recent Yahoo story has Heather Mills McCartney liekening her treatment by the press to that of a peadophile or murderer.

A bit extreme since she deliberately courted press attention during her brief marriage, and she is guilty of most of the accusations she is protesting about. From pretending to be an award winning journalist of the same name to being a golddigger.

I really have no sympathy for a woman who wants to be paid £30 million for 4 years of marriage. She’s still only 39, and she was supporting herself before Sir Paul McCartney came along, so why can she not do so again?

Mills McCartney is now the mother of a young child, and I hope for the little girl’s sake, her mother has shielded her from the venom and bitterness she has displayed since her marriage broke down. But I cannot conceive of how she feels she deserves such an exorbitant sum for 4 brief years.

I feel equal antipathy, contempt even, for the men who are now ‘kept’ by their former wives. The most high profile would of course be the former Mr. Spears aka K-Fed and the former Mr. Jessica Simpson, Nick Lacey.

These are young men in their prime earning years, and yet they don’t have to lift a finger as their former wives pay their way. Just because a young , pretty and talented woman was foolish enough to marry them in the first place, does that mean she should continue to support them into their dotage?

Woman are more than capable of earning their own way, and if we could overturn the surviving prejudices against us in the workplace, we would probably all earn more than our men folk. 

This is demonstrated time and again on the internet, There are very few woman making a song and dance about their online earnings, perhaps we are more discreet than the men, but the girls are there nevertheless.

When there is a level playing field, where reward is given regardless of sex, race or religion, then effort, skill and persistence determine who wins the spoils. 

But I for one will always make sure my man pays his own way, just as I pay mine.

Crikey, just how true is that!

Do you ever get to lunchtime and realise you’ve gotten nothing done? Well, you’ve surfed a lot, you’ve checked emails, viewed all the stupid jokes  and videos your friends sent. Maybe you even con yourself that you were doing something useful because you were watching one of brasscheck.tv video commentaries on the sad state of the American nation.

Nope, you’ve just lost half a day because you didn’t concentrate on the tasks you needed to get done.

Here’s an unshakeable fact for you – you can’t get time back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. So stop procrastinating, whatever it is you have to do, just do it!

(That Nike copywriter deserves a Nobel for that little phrase)

So do you need to place ads for your business – place them first then surf.

Do you need to call prospects – then call them.

Whatever you need to do, get it done. After all it takes the same amount of energy to sit at your laptop and surf as it does to move your business forward with the tasks at hand. 

So at the end of the day you’ll still be tired, but you’ll have been productive!

Maybe it’s self indulgent to title my first post as the name of my blog, but I felt the name deserved an explanation. So, here it is.

I have always felt sorry for Marie Antoinette, blamed for impoverishing the whole French nation, living a life of excessive indulgence while the peasants starved.

Apparently, she never even said, ‘Let them eat cake’. It was another Spanish princess – God didn’t we Europeans have  a lot of Royalty back then!

However, I am taking it that she did say it and she meant it in a good way because she did not understand the concept of lack, of not having enough. And that’s where I want to be, I want to never have to consider never having enough, to lack something that I want.

Why eat bread, let me eat cake! Let me buy the shoes, boots, buys and coats that I want. Let me live in my splendid home, walk my dog and not worry about the bills. I’ll say it again, just because I can, Let Me Eat Cake!