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08-SLC-029 Sagicor Product & SerPage 1 10/1/08 4:11:07 PM

common theme in the counter-arguments sent by many Your Money readers is that loy-alty should outweigh greed, since it was Puma who stuck by Mr. Bolt when he was not the star he was today. Was it Puma’s loyalty to the ath-lete that inspired them to display such stead-fastness or a simple case of long term analysis that suggested that there might be more in it for the company?

When tennis star Serena Williams threatened to inflict bodily harm upon a line judge in front of millions at this year’s US Open finals, she undoubtedly tarnished her im-age in the eyes of many an adoring fan. She also starred in the Nike “Delicious” campaign aired two days later and signed a deal with Tampax two weeks later with a campaign that played on the incident. Was Nike’s stead-fastness and Tampax’s belief in the athlete an example of a brand opting to display loyalty in an athlete or simply a business move based on the assertion that the athlete will eventually pull through to deliver the right return on investment?

In actuality, very few athletes stray from the brand that initially put pen to paper but I doubt that loyalty is the first thought in the minds of there agents when its time for contract renegotiations. Basketball stars, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson are all still signed to the respective companies that made the plunge at the start of their careers. What must be understood however is that these companies realized the huge appeal of their stars and responded accordingly. Reebok manufactured best-selling lines of clothing and shoes that did not even feature their logo but simply a logo made to represent their mega star Allen Iverson. Loyalty? Only to their end of year financial statements.

As stated in the previous Business Lounge, Puma has stepped up its Bolt promotion considerably and this is an indication that they may have caught wind that they have the most amazing and colourful athlete ever. Give Mr. Bolt some credit, he may have realized that at Puma he is their cash cow and as such his potential leverage is considerable or he may simply be considering the fallout that a switch might have for his national counterparts. Regardless, here’s to Puma stepping up to the plate …or the start line.

A

BUSINESS LOUNGEIs loyAlty to PumA cAusIng usAIn Bolt to lose out on BIg Bucks? - PArt 2By: Andre’ Burnett

usain Bolt in celebration after his 100m victory at Beijing olympics 2008. liter-ally seconds after Bolt crossed the line at the Beijing olympic games men’s 100 meters to break the world record...

PerceIved economIc ImPAct of gloBAl WArmIng lAWs

A satirist might observe the recently concluded Copen-hagen Talks on Climate Change and comment that the countries that met basically pledged to meet again to re-discuss what was already discussed at a soon to be decided date. At the end of the maneuvering, walkouts and angry words, the heads of the United States, China, South Africa, Brazil and India met behind closed doors to draft a non-binding agreement called the Copenha-gen Accord. Big surprise there… getting representatives from 192 countries to agree on the exact hue of the sky might prove somewhat difficult much less an agreement with such far reaching ramifications as a climate change

agreement.

Global warm-ing, as theo-rized, is caused by the emissions resulting from the consump-tion of cheap dirty fuels such as coal and oil, which are pre-ferred by de-veloping coun-tries because they are, well… cheap. Devel-oping countries are populated by hundreds of millions of people living in poverty who will not under-stand why their

local politician has implemented measures that will solve our children’s problems but not ours. The development of public policy will always start at polar opposites for the economist and the politician. The politician would leap at the chance to feed every constituent for a week to ensure his re-election while the economist would surmise that said action would cost the country a new hospital. It’s always about trade-offs.

Would the voters of Jamaica agree to the implementation

of taxes and prohibitive measures which would see the country trending towards being more energy efficient? That would be a boon for any party in opposition at the time. American journalist Jonah Goldberg who is an ad-mitted skeptic to the threat of global warming asked in a 2007 article, “What would you prefer…increase tem-peratures by less than a degree or give up all the world’s wealth?”. This view of course could be dismissed as the ravings of a student of the capitalist mentality that Ameri-ca is built on but there is some merit to his question.

We could take the approach of Nigel Lawson of the Wall Street Journal by just dealing with whatever comes when it comes and forget trying to reach a global consensus. The cost of fixing global warming will have to be distrib-uted among the citizens of the world and this cost may be too much for most of us to bear especially developing countries trying to get richer. Would we forego present prosperity for future fortune? As hip hop taught us, more problems always arise whenever more money comes into the picture..

InsIgHts

Your Money Reporter: Andre Burnett

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PresIdent of tHe unIted stAtes of AmerIcA - BArAck oBAmA, A recent vIsItor to tHe meet-Ings In coPenHAgen

time: the magic medicine

I’m amazed as I glance through the New York Times to discover that physical exercise is the cure for yet another disease.

The first page of a Google search links exercise to the pre-vention of Parkinson’s, cancer and other diseases. It’s the “magic medicine” with more power than any pill, surgery or therapy. The great thing about the information age is that you might already know this fact.

It’s also likely, however, that we are not in an exercise programme because “we don’t have the time.” In other words, we can’t manage ourselves well enough to find the time. Here in Jamaica, (like anywhere else) we compare our time management skills against those of our friends, colleagues and family, and we often conclude that “they aren’t that bad.”

However, Jamaicans who migrate to Toronto or New York can share with you the specific moment when they real-ized that they had to take their time management skills to another level. I remember arriving 7 minutes late for an appointment shortly after I arrived in the US for college, only to be told that it had been canceled because I hadn’t shown up on time.

I was shocked.

I had to improve my skills in order to make the grade. Here in the Jamaica, the fact is that give each other a “bligh” whenever we can, reinforcing our generally low standard of time management. We are OK having skills that are “not so bad.” Unfortunately, feeling good isn’t the same as being fit. Our excuses prevent us from having the benefits of the “magic medicine.”

We also use a “lack of time” to justify all sorts of good things in our life. We can’t add in another responsibility at work, more fulfilling experiences with our kids or a volun-teer position at church. And we certainly can’t take full ad-vantage of that gym membership. We simply “don’t have time.” Luckily, we can carve new options for ourselves, and make the time, if we are willing to think differently.

First, we need to stop looking for impossible solutions.

One fantasy to surrender is that we’ll ever get everything done that we want to do. The fact is, our creative, restless minds come up with more new things in a week than we

can ever do in several lifetimes. Our imaginations aren’t limited by vacation days, retirement ages or money. We’re also not likely to see a drop in email anytime soon unless we close our accounts and quit the internet altogether. For most of us, that would mean quitting our jobs!

We need to stop thinking that we can ever do it all. The second thing we need to do is look for an upgrade to our time management systems. The chances are good that the systems we are using simply weren’t built for the internet age, and are based on the habits that we taught ourselves back in high school.

An upgrade would mean starting with our current system, understanding its faults and bringing it to the next level. We don’t need to endure the shock of migration to do this. Instead, we can start with a simple commitment to bring more peace of mind to our hectic lives right here in Jamaica.

Those of us who are continually upgrading our time man-agement skills are able to enjoy the benefits of the “magic medicine” that time can be, as we give themselves more chances to not only be fit, but live the lives we want without limitations.

That’s something we can relate to, especially with a new decade about the start.

mInd your BusIness

By: Francis Wade

Open with $20,000 or more TODAY!

Watch your savings goup, up, up!

1-888-NCB-FIRSTwww.jncb.com

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