JCP & Sheldon Cooper's Big Bang Suit

I believe I have a handle on the problem at JCP.

In three articles: Your Logo; JCP and 1000 Pennies; and Ackman Selling Penney-Stocks, I've focused on several areas, but not the in-store experience.  I will now amend my grievous omission.

I took a walk into JCP.  

The Experience

I enter the men's department. To my left, I see the shirts.  That I find the colours to be hideous is a personal opinion.  [If sales were up, I would be alone in my opinion.]  The presentation, however, is counter-productive. The shirts are in cubby-holes.  Not only, I can't see the shirts, but to look at them (to see if they are cotton or Polyester) I must hold down one shirt to slide the top shirt out.  They are polyester. Did Mr. Johnson say, "uspcale"? They have shirts with a 17" neck.

I see the ties.  No patterns.  No club ties; no regimental ties; no yellow, paisley power-ties. However, they are shiny.

The suits.  The label says 100% wool.  They don't look like wool. They don't feel like wool.  Did Mr. Johnson say, "upscale"?  However, if we buy into the premise that someone will buy a shirt with a 17" neck, shouldn't there also be suits that look like they will fit a man who wears a shirt with a 17" neck?

Then is see the real problem. The back-story.

I am watching The Big Bang Theory. Dr. Sheldon Cooper (theoretical physicist. To quote Penny, "Boy, I love him, but he is one serious wackadoodle.") must give a speech before receiving an award.  He has stage-fright.  Penny takes him shopping for a new suit to help him build confidence.  He steps out of the dressing room.  The audience laughs.  There is a suit just like that on display at JCP.

A sit-com, sight-gag suit on display at J. C. Penneys.

Perhaps now is the time for Mr. Johnson to revisit the question, "Who does the buying for JCP?" Perhaps the solution is just that simple.

Melissa Lee, a co-anchor on Squawk on the Street, pointed out that Ron Johnson lost $4 Billion dollars since taking over.  $4,000,000,000.

Here is the corporate paradigm:

If Mr. Johnson did nothing and lost $1 Billion dollars, he would have been fired for not doing anything.  Instead, Mr. Johnson does something, loses $4 Billion dollars and has big-time investment fund managers doing commercials to support him on CNBC.

As Melissa Lee pointed out, what they are selling, the shoppers can find anywhere in the mall.

As I pointed out, JCP is not Apple.  

The first three articles on the subject.

Your Logo 7. September 2012 http://sidestreetjournal.blogspot.com/2012/09/your-logo.html 

JCP and 1000 Pennies 12 November 2012 http://sidestreetjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/jcp-and-1000-pennies.html

Ackman Selling Penney-Stocks 14. November 2012 http://sidestreetjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/ackman-selling-penney-stocks.html

Warmest regards,

Slim   

slimfairview@yahoo.com

PS. If you find anything here to be helpful, please do not hesitate to send me a really tricked-out Mac and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.



[Thanks, Slim. Very helpful. We sent along a little gift for you.]

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Copyright (c) 2013  Slim Fairview

All rights reserved

Zen Paradox: Solving the US Fiscal Crisis

The Zen Paradox. 

For example, a box for pieces of string too short to save.  

Another: In the village of whiskers, the barber shaves every man who does not shave himself. Does the barber shave himself?

Why neither The House nor The Senate nor The Democrats nor The Republicans can solve the economic crisis.

First:  Let’s address the Republican complaint of 6 Trillion dollars added to the deficit in 4 years.

$6,000,000,000,000

Second:  We have two solutions.

• Raise taxes (on the top 2% so the wealthy pay a little bit more).
• Cut Spending.

If we try to deal with this over 60 years this is what we get.

$100,000,000,000 per year for 60 years.

We have three options.

• The Republican
• The Democrat
• The Compromise

The Democrats want to raise taxes.

The Republicans want to cut spending

The Compromise is a little of each

From the US Census Web site.

Households: 114,761,359

Population: 313,914,040

If we round of for the purposes of comparison and discussion only

We have 300,000,000 People.  (Three Hundred Million People)

We have 100,000,000 Households.  (One Hundred Million Households)

2% of our population is 6 million people.

2% of our households are 2 million households.

Now let's do some simple arithmetic.

First:  Raise the money through raising taxes.

$100,000,000,000  ÷ 2,000,000 (households) = $50,000 per year per household for 60 years.

If we calculate by people 

$100,000,000,000 ÷  3,000,000 (people) = approximately $30,000 per year per person for 60 years.

Second: Raise the money through budget cuts.

We must cut $100,000,000,000 from the budget per year for 60 years.

Third: The Compromise

Divide the burden in half (for the purposes of comparison and discussion only).

We reduce the budget $50,000,000,000 per year for 60 years.

We raise the taxes on the top 2% an average of $40,000 per year for 60 years.

The Conundrum

In cutting the budget, we must remember that 60 years from now the price of a loaf of bread may double twice.  That should be a big enough hint to those who may have forgotten that we are not allowed to raise Government Spending for 60 years.

The Paradox:

If we cut government spending by that much, our economy will decline.

If we raise taxes by that much, our economy will decline.

If we compromise by that much, our economy will decline.

There is an alternative.

We can grow our way out of the problem.

CI + ED = G

Capital Investment + Economic Development = Growth.

Caveat

Please double check my arithmetic.

Warmest regards,

Slim

Fiscal Crisis Solution Worksheet 

Negotiating the Cliff

slimfairview@yahoo.com

slimviews and thesidestreetjournal are unfunded, unsupported, sometimes unsupportable, non-profit, and--alas--unprofitable web logs by Slim Fairview.

Read my blog today or hear it from experts in a month or two.  Sincerely, Slim

Copyright  © 2013 Slim Fairview.  All rights reserved.