by Frank Maduri

Collapsing Net: Verizon Swallows Up Yahoo

The news that media/telecom giant Verizon has obtained the core businesses of Yahoo for over $4 billion comes as no surprise. The deal had been in the works and the Verizon executive leadership had been interested and stated that interest for months regarding the potential acquisition of Yahoo.

The component that I think myself and others in the general public have with this deal is two-fold: the huge companies seem to just get even larger, and one of the last big names from the glory days of “the Net” has gone by the wayside.

This news is just further evidence that the world is changing and that the technologies and methods of communicating are shifting away from the traditional ways we had once utilized the internet (email, news sites, blogging) to an even faster paced use of social media sites, instant messaging applications, Instagram, and Snapchat.

In fact, part of the Yahoo business portfolio which was very attractive to Verizon in this transaction was the social media platform called Tumblr (which I have a blog site called “The Write Path”) which will be folded in to the stable of other Verizon owned websites with targeted advertising planned for that millennial demographic which frequents the platform.

Verizon, which purchased AOL previously, will most likely merge Yahoo with AOL in a combination of two former internet powerhouses to compete against Google and Facebook. That being stated, the expectation from Verizon and everyone else with knowledge of that industry is not that Verizon anticipates surpassing those two behemoths, it is the fact that being in that top tier with the amount of advertising dollars floating around is still a great spot to land in.
It is estimated that about one billion users a day visit some portion of the Yahoo family of websites. In my own experience, having written several contributing pieces for Yahoo through their freelance news division, the sites have a network of really devoted users. That was the main driver behind this deal for Verizon: the ability to get that many users looking at their mobile advertising. The number of loyal users for Yahoo properties enabled them to leverage a better deal from Verizon than was initially anticipated.

The other winner out of this deal is the NFL and football fans because Verizon streams games on Sundays and they can expand their reach with Yahoo as the NFL looks to sell streaming rights to their other live game packages. That is going to be an interesting development to watch closely in the coming months.

The demise of Yahoo is sad to me on a personal note because I have been a loyal user on their site since the beginning and have worked for them as a contract writer for a period of time as well. The concept for the company and the brand was very well thought out at one point, for many of us, Yahoo was our introduction to the wide world of the internet and to search engines.

It has now gone the way of so many other companies or brands in America, it has been consolidated by a bigger company. The company changed the way we all did things and it changed our collective lifestyles. It will now evolve into something else as the internet and social media makes a new turn into a new area of which is still yet to be determined. It is the nature of things, but it is still sad to see another iconic brand go away.

The internet has shaped how we get information: news, restaurant reviews, recipes, and stock market reports. It evolved into social media and the next step will probably be one of further customization and networking of people together in a unique platform. It will be interesting to see how Verizon reinvents Yahoo to adjust to those changes in the terrain.

by Frank Maduri

The Empty Shoes Memorial – Remembering 9/11

The 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks is upcoming which will serve, as it does each year since that terrible day, as a reminder of the lives lost and the dedication to make sure those lives are never forgotten. In that spirit of remembrance and honor for the victims of the largest terror attack in American history, the Christian music station in the New York/New Jersey Metro area, Star 99.1, is planning an Empty Shoes Memorial.

The memorial is going to be designed with an empty pair of shoes for each person lost that day in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the planes involved in the attack. The total number of 2,996 pairs of shoes will be collected from the community around the entire NY metro area in the months leading up to the event in September.

The Star 99.1 crew was in Old Bridge, NJ today and will be in Brooklyn this weekend, and in two spots in New Jersey: Union and Jackson, next week. Please check their website at https://star991.com/index.php/events/empty-shoe-memorial for more information on this unique and compelling idea to honor those who tragically lost their lives on that fateful day in our nation’s history.

The events of 9/11 will be forever etched in my mind and for many of us we have similar sentiments and pain that has still not healed. This event will give our community the opportunity to join together to honor those victims and to celebrate their lives.

I will now share some poetry I wrote about that day:

“Sky Fall”
In the blue sky that fateful morning
It all came crashing down with no warning
Lives ended, innocence trampled, hope lost
Evil pervasive, good extinguished, society tossed –
Upside down, backwards, the towers collapsed
The entire world, everywhere, collectively gasped
Earlier that morning from the sky would fall –
My Dad throwing to me a white baseball
I was supposed to that day get on a flight
My Dad had a feeling something wasn’t right
The night before I had a bad feeling too
Throughout the morning that feeling grew
Though what happened I never anticipated
Instantly so much shock, sadness was created
My Grandpa was on a plane somewhere that day
From the sky it did fall safely landing in Raleigh
So many lives cut short, so many months of fear
Why are they gone and I’m still here?
So much rain like tears from the sky fall
So much has changed, yet nothing changed at all
From the sky will fall rays of the Sun
To show us all our journey has just begun
“Darkness Then Light”
Evil comes in all of its darkness
Hatred for those they’ve never met
An unspeakable act of destruction
Shattering the lives of so many at once
My mind cannot comprehend it
I wake up some days, think it’s –
A nightmare that it never occurred
Then I feel the warmth of the Sun
The light fills up the room
I realize that good will prevail
I rise to take advantage
Of the blessed gift of life
I move forward to honor those lost
I have time they did not receive
I have an obligation to do right
To love and serve all others
To inspire and to live in the light
The light of a blessed new day

“America No More”
You know what scares me?
It’s if America ceased to be
If I lost all of my freedom
If I lost all of my liberty
Someone told me when I could go and come
That is what truly scares me
If I couldn’t say what I feel
If I couldn’t offer God praise
If I was stripped of the American ideal
I would exist as if in a haze
If someone told me what I had to write
If I was told what I had to believe
I would rather just lose my sight
The loss of beloved America is more than I can conceive

Thank you for supporting this event and May God bless you!

(All poetry copyright protected by Frank J. Maduri – No copying or redistribution without express written consent of the author.)

by Frank Maduri

Dannon Launches GMO- Free Yogurt

Dannon announced today that the company has launched yogurt products which are free of GMOs in the United States. The changes have been made to the Dannon main brand product line and to the Oikos Greek yogurt brand product line. The company, according to industry and financial media reports, also plans on launching GMO free product versions of the Dannimals product line geared toward children.

The products that cannot be made with GMO free ingredients or GMO free milk will be labeled very distinctly that they contain genetically modified ingredients. The products that are now GMO-free have a new packaging and a distinct label indicating GMO-free.

I discovered this while shopping in my local grocery store today and picking up some Greek yogurt I noticed that the Oikos products had a new package that was clear plastic so that I could see the product. I picked it up to see what the new package indicated and noticed the GMO free label right away. I have advocated for GMO labeling on food products for a long time now, so I was very happy to see this change today.

Dannon is making an effort to source all of their milk from non-GMO sources by either late 2017 or 2018 depending on what reports you may see on this topic. I think that latitude in the time frame is also predicated on demand for the products potentially increasing and the need for more adequate supply to catch up and flatten out that curve.

Dannon is certainly going to gain customers from this change, even if it is incremental, because not all the products in the brand lines I mentioned above have hit the shelves with their GMO free versions yet. However, those that have certainly will get the attention of the consumer in a positive way.

The groups that advocate for GMO labeling and for a change to non-GMO sourcing in food products have been hammering Chobani and General Mills (Yoplait) for a long time now to make this change. The fact that Dannon was the first to market with this concept in this food product category that has exploded with the trend toward healthier eating in the U.S. bodes well for their brand image and reputation. That is all going to translate into increased sales and revenues for Dannon.

The decision to label the products that cannot be made GMO-free (at least at this point in time) is another constructive step that will push their competition to consider similar measures. The American consumer tends to look favorably upon transparency and this willingness by Dannon to comply by telling the consumer what is and what is not GMO free is a step in the right direction for proponents of stricter food labeling measures.

In the case of Dannon, my earlier article on their acquisition of White Wave Foods will only serve to enhance their capabilities in offering further GMO free product options across all their brand lines in the future, should that transaction be approved.

It is going to be interesting to see how the rest of the yogurt market responds to this move by Dannon today. It certainly sets the playing field on a bold new path. I know the consumer is going to find it favorable. In time we will know how the rest of the industry tries to respond to an ever growing trend of GMO free product demand.

by Frank Maduri

Bolting Ahead: The Chargers Downtown Stadium Update

The San Diego Chargers path to a playing in a new downtown stadium just took a detour with a decision by the judicial system in California regarding the voting mechanism for the November ballot referendum. The Supreme Court of California recently handed down a ruling which would require a two-thirds majority for the stadium initiative to pass on the ballot this fall rather than a simple majority.

The Chargers and the city officials in San Diego quickly countered that news with an announcement that they had anticipated that hurdle and were approaching this measure prepared to gain a two-thirds majority for success. The Chargers have a petition with over 100,000 signatures awaiting verification from the proper legal authorities regarding the stadium measure needed to keep the NFL franchise in that city.

In the event that the referendum measure fails to gain approval from the voting majority, that would put the future of the team in San Diego in jeopardy. The team has an option on the table from the NFL and the Los Angeles Rams to play at the new Rams stadium being constructed in Inglewood outside of downtown LA.

The Chargers decision at the end of the 2015 season to put all their efforts into moving to Los Angeles left the people of San Diego very upset. The Chargers may not have enough votes to pass this stadium ballot initiative which is structured in a way that it would bypass the rigorous steps of environmental studies on the downtown site proposed for the stadium adjacent to the convention center. This method would expedite the completion date of the stadium.

The “Convadium” concept as it is known in San Diego is the project to build a new stadium for the Chargers and connect it to an expanded convention center for the city. This proposal has been rife with problems from the beginning and is basically still a mess at this point. The main issue of course is involving the financing of the project: nobody seems to be clear on who is paying for what portion and how the public financing component of the project will be structured.

The other sticking point is over who has the final approval of the design of the space, and whether the Chargers will include the playing surface as part of the convention space. The thought process being that they could potentially gain revenues for convention use of the stadium side of the expanded convention center, which some residents have taken issue with that portion of the potential plan for the site.

Mission Impossible

In my previous work on this topic I have compared the Mission Valley proposal to the downtown convention center proposal. This scenario came up again recently and Dean Spanos sent a letter to the city officials involved basically stating that the team will not consider the Mission Valley site under any circumstances. The letter basically spells out that it is either the downtown site or nothing at all.

The news that the team management will not consider Mission Valley as an alternative site has fueled speculation that the Chargers could eventually move to Los Angeles and relocate the franchise. I must admit that I was of the opinion that once the Chargers opted to remain in San Diego for the 2016 season that they would get a deal done with the city and remain there; now I am not so sure given the events of the past six weeks. The situation could get very negative between the team and the city and the residents hold the cards; and they are upset with the Chargers or skeptical of the value of the new stadium project. That is a bad combination.

There are rumors that certain city officials believe that if the initiative on the ballot for the downtown “Convadium” fails that they can move ahead with a plan to build a new stadium on the Mission Valley site and lure another NFL team to play there, assuming the Chargers bolt for LA. The most frequent team mentioned is the Jacksonville Jaguars in that relocation scenario, which is understandable because the Jags play in the smallest market in the league and have an uncertain future in Northern Florida – moving that team anywhere would be an upgrade over the market they are in from a metrics perspective – but I am not an advocate for relocating existing teams and alienating their respective fan base.

The Chargers management and some of the local political forces are fixated on the downtown site especially considering that would make San Diego a Super Bowl destination again which equates to big dollars in tax revenue and revenue for small businesses there as well. I understand having been to San Diego myself and being at both sites, Mission Valley and the Convention Center downtown, the differences in those areas are distinct. I also understand the trend for the NFL and other sports is moving to downtown stadiums attached to some other type of retail or commercial development property.

Opposition View

Furthermore I understand the opposition viewpoint regarding traffic on game days downtown and the environmental impact of a stadium in the convention center site. The situation is a total mess with no clear indication of how it will be resolved. The plans for the convention center and adjoining stadium development are controversial and have some definite down sides to it. The plan to raise hotel taxes to pay for the public funding portion of the stadium may or may not “play” well with the residents of San Diego in November.

In the end, the voters control the destiny of this project and hold the fate of the Chargers in their hands. It is a refreshing alternative to another stadium deal I have covered recently with the Atlanta Braves and Cobb County where the residents had little to no input and the decisions were made behind closed doors. The Tampa Bay Rays stadium quest is being closed to the public as well.

The Chargers and the city have to spend some time and resources on providing the residents with the facts and being transparent in the process for them to have success in November. The team will either be preparing to play in a new stadium downtown in a few years, or I believe if the vote goes against them they will relocate to Los Angeles. The decision has big implications for San Diego as well as for future stadium proposals that may go the way of public referendum voting and it is anybody’s guess how it will turn out.

by Frank Maduri

Doubling Up: Danone Purchases White Wave

The latest in the seemingly continuous cycle of food industry mergers and consolidations was finalized today with international dairy giant, Danone acquiring a leading American organic food maker, White Wave Foods, in an all cash deal. The details of the transaction put a valuation on White Wave of $56.25 per share which equates to about a 24% premium over their average share price in their 30 day outlook. The deal has a total value of $12.5 billion according to several mainstream media outlets covering the financial transactions of the day.

My perspective on this situation comes from my time working for a food ingredient supplier that was partnered with Danone on numerous product lines. I have had direct involvement with Danone in the US which is more commonly known as Dannon. The statements released today announcing this transaction reflect the emphasis on values which are very important to Danone, in my experience. The focus on healthy food options for the consumer being a core value.

The transaction today essentially doubles the size of Danone’s North American business market share once the deal is finalized. The two companies have some great synergies with a common shared strategic specialty in the dairy segment of the industry. The proposed transaction will provide two major boosts to Danone with regard to their long term business strategy by obtaining White Wave: it provides a robust boost to their overall sales growth (Danone has had some issues with barriers to growth in emerging markets) and it will give them an entry point into the American organic foods segment which is poised for huge growth potential.

Danone has several well-known brands such as Oikos Greek Yogurt, Activia (yogurt), and Evian bottled water. This move to fold in White Wave will enhance their ability to compete with Nestle and General Mills, among other competitors.

White Wave has such notable brands as Horizon Organic and Silk. They possess some very valuable strategies and technologies with regard to the coveted organic/healthy food trend that is sweeping North America at this point. Their combination with Danone will result in an expansion of those brands and product lines as well as new business growth areas based on their shared expertise.

Both companies are committed to healthy lifestyles and sustainable product supply chains with shared focus on providing the consumer with healthy choices at cost effective price points. It will be interesting to see how the White Wave portfolio will be grown with Danone steering the ship.

In my view I know that Danone will seek to work with their select ingredient suppliers to eliminate redundancy in the supply chain for both companies wherever possible because that will directly enhance cost controls and maximize profitability.

It should not be lost that this move will also give Danone a position to compete with their yogurt lines against Chobani and Fage through the utilization of White Wave’s brand portfolio and organic milk production capabilities.

In the end, it is a smart move by Danone and it looks like a very fair valuation of the White Wave business at this point. In the event it gets finalized the consumer will reap the benefits of their collaborative strengths in the production of healthy and organic food offerings.

by Frank Maduri

Rebuffed: Hershey – Mondelez Merger Proposal Rejected

The proposed merger between Hershey and Mondelez at the end of last week was quickly rebuffed by The Hershey Trust which represents 81% of the voting power in the company. The trading of Hershey stock continued to climb due to an increased perception that, although the Mondelez deal was rejected, the chocolate giant would be acquired by another entity.

In my initial piece on this proposed deal last week, I was skeptical of the Mondelez offer for Hershey because it was being initiated because Mondelez had no room to grow, needed a branding makeover, and needed to grow market share in North America in their confectionary division. These three rationales are usually indicators which portend a poorly conceived merger of two organizations which generally ends badly.

Mondelez is now left to search for another potential partner so that they can attempt to gain a more stable foothold into the North American confection and snack marketplace. The former division of Kraft Foods has the cash to spend to make this acquisition eventually take place with the right suitor.

The merger proposal rebuffed by Hershey had some definite hurdles via the Pennsylvania state level regulatory bodies and through federal anti-trust regulations. Hershey remains an attractive target for another food company to pursue, and those suitors could line up in the weeks and months to come before the close of the calendar year.

However, that being stated, The Hershey Trust and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office both have the ability to block the potential sale of Hershey and have done so in the past. The successful acquisition of Hershey would have to be a well-structured deal that accounts for all of the political and business implications involved; therefore that type of bid would have to be navigated by investment banks and M&A executives who have been involved in similar scenarios.

The way forward for Mondelez at this point is unclear, the executives and others there most probably felt that they put together an impressive offer to obtain Hershey. It now appears that the deal will never materialize.

In my view, the potential for a Mondelez bid for a company such as Mars Candy is not too far a stretch. That potential acquisition would provide the expanded market share in North America in strategic markets, it would provide a branding image makeover for Mondelez, and it would allow for the consolidation of resources to aggressively deal with rising commodity prices for cocoa as well as other staple ingredients in the confectionary industry.

In the case of Hershey, my opinion is that they could be merged with a larger food conglomerate such as ConAgra, which made news earlier this year with the announcement that they were moving their corporate headquarters from Omaha to downtown Chicago in order to be a more desirable employment destination for younger generations who desire to live and work in cities. They have an eye towards growth and Hershey could be a bold move into new territory for them.

In the end, the Mondelez – Hershey deal was a non-starter because Hershey did not want to sell to them and be merged with a company that has some other rather daunting issues. The right deal will come along for both companies to chart their respective future strategic growth and that is going to be interesting to see unfold in the months ahead.

by Frank Maduri

Mega Makeover: Mondelez / Hershey Merger Proposal

The news this morning that sent the stock market surging was a proposed merger between the top two candy and snack manufacturing companies in the United States: Mondelez and Hershey. The news sent shares of Hershey dramatically upward, and shocked others in the food and beverage industry space.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the proposed deal is for $23 billion and the financial markets have responded with shares of Hershey at a 52 week high. The proposal, if approved by regulators, would create one company under the Hershey brand umbrella.

Mondelez split from Kraft Foods about four years ago and has largely struggled to gain brand recognition. The name, Mondelez, has been problematic for the company because the American consumer believes that the products are made in Mexico and other countries and shipped in to the U.S. marketplace (which is true in some cases and not true in others). This merger represents a potential makeover for Mondelez to set a whole new branding message around one of the quintessential American brands: Hershey. The fact that they are willing to pay megabucks for this acquisition represents the desperation they have in reinventing themselves.

I believe that what fascinates me and so many others who have worked in the food industry space and also have knowledge of the financial markets is that this deal is indicative of the nationalistic agenda that has been sweeping the world. The markets have been struggling due to the “Brexit” decision that many see as nationalism gaining a victory with Great Britain separating from the E.U. last week.

This proposed merger is all about nationalism as much as it is about consolidation of two large corporations to cut costs and maximize profit margins. The guys at Mondelez have an opportunity to market their brands with a whole new strategic shift under the Hershey name. They can tout that the company headquarters is now in Hershey, PA which is an iconic American destination, especially now in the height of the summer vacation season.

Mondelez International is headquartered in Deerfield, IL and employs over 100,000 people. They hold the brand rights to Oreo, Nabisco, Cadbury, Chips Ahoy, and Triscuit just to name a few of their billion dollar brand lines. The company generates tens of billions of dollars a year in revenue and this merger would make the combined entity a significant competitor to Nestle in the marketplace.

The branding and P.R. aspects of this merger are just one component of the scenario. Mondelez had grown essentially to their capacity and so M&A activity is the only other pathway to getting larger. The synergies between both companies are evident, as the combined entity would conceivable grow the confectionary brand lines through shared intellectual property and manufacturing technology techniques.

The new combined entity would have significant power in the negotiations for retail shelf space and most likely see cost savings from streamlined distribution operations as well. The combined company will most likely look to grow their market share in the cookie and cracker industry segment.

The cascading effect will be for the other food companies in the next tier beneath Nestle and the newly proposed Hershey, companies like ConAgra, Kellogg, and Campbell Soup. Those companies will be key players for the purchase of brands that both Mondelez and Hershey will potentially have to divest in order to satisfy regulatory boards for anti-trust reasons.

The proposed combination of Mondelez and Hershey would also have more sway over suppliers of food ingredients and could command a whole new system for doing business which would have a direct impact on the food ingredients market place in the way of cost cutting and potential consolidation of product submissions.

In the end analysis, the hurdles remain for this combined company to become a reality, but if it does gain approval it will be yet another example of American corporate largesse. It also represents the lengths a company will go in order to makeover their image in the court of public opinion. The impact on consumer perception is hard to tell until it occurs, but perception is reality and that concept is at the center of this latest merger in the American food industry landscape.

by Frank Maduri

Supermarket Shock: GMO Labeling & Consumers

Some of the major food companies such as Campbell’s and General Mills among others, have begun the process of labeling some of their products with disclosures relative to genetically modified ingredients. In your local grocery stores, depending on what state you live in, you may have also seen similar product labeling.

The label on the packaging will have a disclosure with a statement such as: “contains genetically engineered corn” or “made from genetically engineered soybeans”, or “contains genetically modified ingredients”. The surprising component to this scenario was that with all the reporting and commentary writing I have done regarding the subject of GMOs and the need for stricter food labeling, and knowing that this was actually going to appear on products on the shelves in stores: my wife, friends and colleagues, as well as myself all were still shocked by it.

We were all shocked by the appearance of the words on the box of cereal or the can of soup that we have purchased regularly over the years. The words, seeing them in print, make it that much more impressionable and have a pronounced impact. I wrote about this in a previous article on GMO labeling for the site known as Medium where I explored the potential consumer reaction and subsequent ramifications for the food industry.

One of the potential responses that was mentioned in other news coverage on GMO labeling of food products was most troubling to consumer packaged goods company executives: the shock value to the shopper. This shock factor with shoppers was also detailed in articles regarding the financial segment’s valuation of Campbell Soup Company stock after they determined that the consumer reaction would adversely impact product sales.
It is certainly a shock for many consumers to see the widespread presence of GMOs in the food supply. Then, there are other consumers who are more knowledgeable and shop at health food type stores and websites to obtain locally sourced, GMO free products.

There are still others, and that will encompass a huge group of consumers, that know and understand the fact that GMO corn, sugar beet, and soybean are the most prevalent supply in American domestic food products. We do not have much choice because of the expense of buying alternative products that are GMO free to feed multiple people or a family. The cost factor associated with removing GMO containing products from our respective diets is not feasible when coupled with other rising standard of living costs.

It is my opinion, and I am in agreement with the analysts’ data from the financial valuation on Campbell Soup, that there will be some shoppers that will be so shocked by the GMO labeling that they will put the product back on the shelf and make another product choice. Then there are other consumers who will see the label and purchase the product anyway in a state of resignation to the fact that GMOs are part of our current food supply chain.

The fact remains that the seed used to grow the staple crops such as corn, wheat, soybean, and sugar beet are genetically engineered. There is not enough non-GMO seed to support more than a fraction of the amount of food needed in production for our population. This is the inherent problem with sourcing sustainable “clean” food products.

The debate over whether the food labeling should be done federally or on a state-by-state basis will only cease when the federal authorities make a final determination. In the event that labeling guidelines become mandated by law, then this shopper shock will only become more intense because it will effect such a large amount of products in our stores.
In my own perspective, I have had the most difficulty with reading it on boxes of breakfast cereal. I think it is the understanding that for several years I have been eating cold cereal for breakfast, and that basically all of them contain some sort of genetically engineered ingredient. There is something very stark about coming to that realization.

In the end analysis, as the labeling of the GMO or genetically engineered ingredients becomes more commonplace I am interested to see whether this “shopper shock” will wear off, similar to the initial “sticker shock” we might get on a price of a higher ticket item. In many cases, over time, we become desensitized to many external factors within our human condition. I am interested to see if this will be another example of that type of behavioral response.

In the interim, we as consumers will continue to get jolted whenever we pick up a can of soup or a bottle of juice and find that it contains genetically engineered ingredients. We, as consumers, will continue to try to drive the progress towards the “right to know if it is GMO”. We will continue to have conversations with people we may have only just met, in one of the last places to do so in an increasingly isolative and online shopping obsessed society: in the aisle of the local grocery store. In that case, if nothing else, at least we are talking about something.

by Frank Maduri

Are We Headed for Another Recession?

On the heels of a negative May jobs report and some other economic data combined with warnings from financial industry experts the question kept turning in my head: are we heading for another recession?

This discourse included a stern warning from political talk show host, Mark Levin, at the end of last week regarding the impending economic downturn. I invite all those who are interested to check out that source material which made headlines throughout the mainstream media and internet news sites.

The Federal Reserve had a more muted commentary from their leader, Janet Yellen, last week where the overall state of the economy, the potential for a rate hike, and the status of the jobs market were all addressed. The criticism of Fed Chair Yellen is that she has been unclear about the future potential activity with regard to the state of the economy and rate increases.

The counterpoint being that the soft May jobs report had to have impacted the potential course for an interest rate change and some will argue that any major changes should be held off until there are at least one jobs report that shows a rebound in the labor force numbers.

Furthermore, there are others that would maintain that any rate change should be tabled until there are two solid months of jobs data to reinforce that uncertainty. Some economists have speculated that due to the weak May jobs report, the inflation trend data, and other factors including the recent terror incidents in the world that the Fed will not raise in rates in June; a decision that will be made on Wednesday.

That covers the short term immediate future, but looking further down the line, I remain undeterred from my initial doubts about the economy. The overall underemployment rate of people working multiple part time jobs at lower wages than they earned previously coupled with the growing data supporting the trend that so many Americans have simply given up looking for work is daunting.

All of these factors collide in a situation similar to the last tipping point where we had a major recession. In an election year that would be a major problem for our nation and shift the economy to an obvious priority status with the summer conventions for each major party just weeks away from taking place.

Conversely, the Fed will be under scrutiny to raise rates in the event that our economy does hit shallow water because they will have no other way to go if they need to drop the rate lower in future months. It is a very sticky situation. The decision will have far reaching implications for the Dow Jones and the other major indices in the near term as well.

The sheer volatility of the market recently has got to give the casual trader some cause for definite concern. The news last week of the lowest retail gasoline prices in the peak summer driving season in recent history also is an indictment on the glut of supply of crude oil globally and part of the readjustment in the supply/demand curve structure moving forward.

The overall picture for the global economy is certainly another aspect to consider and the general picture between the effects of the Zika virus in Brazil, the many issues in India, the contraction of overall productivity in China, and the volatility of the Russian economy marked by the fluctuations in energy markets all combines to make for a bleak outlook.

The impending vote of the United Kingdom with regard to their status within the European Union and whether they will exit that government body will have a dramatic impact on the economic outlook for that continent and for the entire world.

All of these contributing pieces lend credence to my initial assertion that I believe the U.S. is headed for another recession. In the interim it bears watching to see how the Fed will react and how the markets will, in turn, respond. The best way to weather a storm is to be prepared, and unfortunately, I think a storm is coming.

by Frank Maduri

Money Grab: Cobb County & Atlanta Braves New Stadium Deal

The report that NBC News ran on Monday about Cobb County not having enough money to fund the expansion of their public parks because of the huge sum the county has committed to the new baseball stadium for the Atlanta Braves ; served to conjure up some distinct emotions that I have had regarding this issue.

Cobb County, under the terms of the stadium agreement, will pay $400 million toward the cost of constructing the Braves new stadium, which will be called Sun Trust Park (because Sun Trust Bank purchased naming rights to the facility) which will be located on a parcel of land near the confluence of several freeways in that area about 15 miles outside of downtown Atlanta.

The Braves will be moving out of downtown Atlanta for the first time in the history of the team which now spans 50 years. The team will leave their current ballpark, Turner Field, which is just a 20 year old facility that was created by retrofitting the Atlanta Olympic Stadium used in the 1996 Summer Games held there. That setup was never ideal from the nexus of the plan and the team has cited the increased costs that they have had to shoulder in maintenance on a facility that was not built specifically for baseball as one of the primary reasons for the move.

I must preface all of this by stating that I grew up a Braves fan watching all of their games back when I was a boy on TBS when they were the main TV broadcast outlet for the team. I remember when Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Chipper Jones (among many others) came up through their early years and through the prime years of their outstanding respective careers with the Braves. Hank Aaron was, and remains to this day, as my favorite player of all time.

It has not always been easy being a fan of that team and living in New Jersey, but so many other people I know in the Northeast became Braves fans for similar reasons at that time period in the mid to late 1980s because the Phillies were a last place team at that time, the Mets moved all their games to the old Sports Channel platform (which was an added cable charge that my parents would not pay for) and I do not know why but I just could not attach myself to the Yankees. I preferred the National League and so I gravitated to the Braves because I could see all of their games on TBS and I could not be a fan of a team I could not watch on a regular basis.

Whenever the Braves would come to New York or Philadelphia I would try to go to at least one game per season, and in 2006 I was able to attend a game at Turner Field during the 40th anniversary season of the team being in Atlanta. That game and the tour I took of the stadium beforehand remains one of the best sports related memories I have in my life.

However, in recent years I have become very busy writing and covering different sports which overlap with the baseball season. I have been involved in writing extensively about the NBA, the New Jersey Devils and the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the New York Red Bulls soccer team which has the same regular season as baseball from March to October. It became very difficult to follow the Braves every day and keep up with all of my other responsibilities.

Then I received the news of the stadium deal in Cobb County and I saw it from the day it was announced as being a money grab by everyone involved. The team did not truly “need” a new facility with Turner Field being just 20 years old, and the location chosen in Cobb County is far from the downtown area where the team has all of their history.

Moreover, the site selected in Cobb County is going to create a traffic nightmare and has very limited access to public transportation. The move out of the downtown area is going to create very difficult conditions for fans of limited economic means to be able to attend a game. The team seemingly neglected to consider all of that in a move to the suburbs which has been extremely polarizing for residents in the Atlanta metro area.

The counterpoint to this situation is that the Braves have always felt that they have played “second fiddle” to Atlanta’s NFL team, the Falcons, who recently leveraged the city into a sweetheart deal on a brand new stadium downtown. The Falcons are moving out of the Georgia Dome which was also built for the 1996 Olympic Games into a state of the art retractable roof facility that was recently awarded by the NFL to host a future Super Bowl.

The Braves took the city government’s reluctance to help finance a new stadium or even help improve Turner Field and the accessibility to that facility as a “slap in the face” and made the deal with Cobb County very quietly behind closed doors. The almost secretive nature of the decision to move the team to Cobb County set the stage for some residents in the area to become very upset about the decision.

Furthermore, at the center of that situation was the fact that the area residents felt that they had no input in the decision which has a huge impact on the quality of life in Cobb County. The first issue is the increased traffic on game days and evenings. The ancillary issues came to light much later such as public funding shortages in areas such as education and the parks and recreation maintenance. These are all issues that continue to plague the public perception of the new stadium deal. It is because the move was made due to the influence of greed driven activities.

The Braves took this opportunity in a greed motivating way as well to get a brand new stadium in where they have labeled “a more desirable location for our fan base” which I will allow you to draw your own conclusions from that statement. It was not a necessary move for the team to leave Turner Field and downtown Atlanta at this point, while I do recognize that location had issues too with limited access to public transportation and a bad traffic flow from the parking areas to the freeways. However, the team management will now take this opportunity to increase the prices for tickets, parking, and concessions at the new facility.

The officials in public office in Cobb County have announced that they will have to raise taxes on residents in order to cover the costs of the maintenance of public parks. This is the central issue of what I know upsets me the most about this situation. I have covered the business side of sports for a while now, and I have investigated or detailed the reporting of new stadiums/arenas or proposed new stadiums/arenas for professional teams across all of the major leagues.

Here is the issue I have: in all of that reporting I do not recall any other project that was done at the detriment to other public services or public works to a community such as this one particular deal with the Braves and Cobb County. It is an absolute disaster because it is a short sighted agreement which focuses on greed for both of the key parties involved.

The new stadium is nearing completion at this point but the disappointment I have for the Braves organization after years of being a loyal fan still remains. The manner in which they went about making this deal and the cascading effects from the greed driven nature of this agreement with regards to the residents of Cobb County will be the residue in which the situation will be ultimately judged. In the end, time will tell whether this bold new project will serve to help the organization take a turn toward being a championship caliber team again, or whether it will serve to completely alienate and galvanize their fan base.