The high price of bling

As stocks tumbled yet again and the price of oil per barrel continues to rise, the bad batch of news continues: gold hurled at $1,000 per Troy ounce. The. highest. ever.

Sure, we could blog on and on about the recession, declining market, and the rising value of gold juxtaposed with the weakening U.S. dollar, but there’s no denying it. Recession-proofing your life is the way to go.

According to the NY Times the dollar tumbled to an almighty low against the euro (as for this morning? It traded at $1.5605. As for the yen? The dollar dropped below 100 yen for the first time since 1995!). The facts persist, there’s no denying it. When it comes to gold, looks like we won’t need to buy this luxury for quite a while but with the raising price so ensues a declining economy.

Chipping away the glass ceiling

 I noticed a recent issue of CNBC’s European Business Magazine featured top women who are shattering the glass ceiling. Making strides and taking names….excellent!  But what gets me is this:  if it’s still a front page story, if there are still a handful of CEO’s who are women at the top (not to diminish their accomplishments but still…) if it’s still buzzworthy then are we truly shattering the glass ceiling or are we making strides in diligently chipping away at it since it’s omnipresent?

As my generation’s mothers had the opportunity to basically become a nurse, teacher or flight attendant and my generation grew up believing we could be corporate consultants, neurosurgeons, and exuberant thought-provoking writers, thanks to Hillary Clinton tomorrow’s generation here in America can at least realize being a president is a possibility. Today’s a big primary day as several states such as Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio need to vote for Obama or Clinton for the Democratic Party’s bid to the White House. Some are going so far to say if Hillary fails to win this ends her journey to the Oval Office.As she has faced extreme scrutiny such as her cackling laugh or her pantsuits (no other candidates have faced in the major media outlets, by the way), some Americans could take her, others could leave her but there’s no denying the strong impact she’s making to crack the door open for future presidential fearless females.

Footnote: While U.S.-based campaigns typically equate to dollars, major fundraising efforts, media portrayals and appearances on pop culture shows and even YouTube (political issues? What issues, they’re getting ready for their close-ups!) I always found the last line stated by candidates during campaign commercials intriguing and wonder if other cultures do the same.

Essentially, “I’m Vicki Salemi and I approve this message!”

Business ethics of journalism

I’m sure by now you’ve heard that Prince Harry served his country in Aghanistan for ten weeks but what’s surprising is that journalists had a “media blackout” and they all agreed to not run the story.  While journalists may be viewed in some markets (ahem, London) as tough, unscrupulous, and sometimes salacious (depending on the publication, of course) but, still…it’s commendable they put ethics first.  Essentially, they adhered to the blackout and instead of scooping the story they remained silent.

While it was disappointing to hear the Druge Report broke the story which immediately sent Prince Harry home due to security reasons, kudos to the journalists in the U.K. for realizing the significance of his presence in Afghanistan and putting him and the country before their own individual agendas.