Posted 4:57 PM by Gene

If it's Sunday it must be Big Double-A-Scribble Time:

1. Astonishingly there has come the point where THE ECONOMY (and is THE ECONOMY becoming a code word for THE DEPRESSION?) is forcing even advertisers, the least sensible people on earth, to face the mirror -- and not the funhouse mirror they use either. That Honda ran from Formula One and sponsors are bailing out of NASCAR in droves says plastering your name on a car may NOT lead to increased sales; and we would like to think when times improve the advertisers, still being chastened, won't rush back. We would also like to think NASCAR's prodigious marketing muscle-flexing, and especially its SLIME-fed desire to chase the rednecks out of the "sport", may have instead chased plain old fans away, but probably it's just a cyclical thing. Whether it can make a comeback with a decimated Big Three is another matter. We want a strong auto biz, and we hope not.

2. Another "sporting" event long overdue for a correction is THE GAMES, and it too may be getting one. If we were a CEO we'd balance out the pleasure of a paid three-month vacation to its cost. That THE GAMES are strictly for marketing boneheads goes without saying; putting someone on a box of Wheaties strikes us as a pretty poor ROI. But the paid vacations still tip the balance. We suggest the vastly increasing cost for these mu-ni-CI-pal onanisms may someday tip it the other way, especially for the AVERY BRANDAGES of GE BANCORP's IOC unit.

3. And look who else is PRAYING for a government bailout of the auto biz:

Car marketers and dealers might know the value of a flashy TV ad campaign, but the question is whether the public will understand that it's an investment.

It's an investment, all right -- an investment in JUNK TELEVISION; an investment in SCHMOOZING; an investment in EGOMANIA. How much has all this INVESTING in look-alike ads for look-alike cars hurt the automakers' cause?

4. Finally, this curious sociological observation in a tale about Walmart:

[Lower-caste] consumers were getting squeezed big time only a year ago. But now the shoe is on the other foot: The brunt of the economic turmoil of the past three months is falling on wealthier people who own stocks or mutual funds or work in financial services, and who are less likely to shop at Walmart.

By contrast, for the core Walmart lower- and middle-income shopper, "all the turmoil in the stock market doesn't impact them," said Ms. Corlett, "unless they're getting close to retirement or have saved up to put kids through school."

I think it's time for the Wall Street Casino to wreak REVENGE.