No, we aren't talking about a great deal of cross promotion between my Cincinnati Reds and my Columbus Blue Jackets or anything (although the thought of my right-handed doppelganger, Aaron Harang on skates should intimidate even the toughest hockey player), but Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) and the National Hockey League (NHL) are teaming up.

The two are going to start co-selling an online video package where out-of-market game subscriptions for both leagues will be marketed in tandem. According to The Sports Business Journal (SBJ), this deal "marks a rare level of cooperation between sports entities with limited common ownership."

Inflation: "An increase in the amount of money and credit in relation to the supply of goods and services; An increase of the general price level; An excessive or persistent increase in wages and costs causing a decline in purchasing power."

Recession: "A temporary falling off of business activity during a period when such activity has been generally increasing."

(Source: Websters New World Dictionary, Third College Edition)

Rather than an opinion piece, which is what I generally write, this little snippet is meant more as a discussion generator than a statement of my own economic view. I earnestly invite our readers to weigh in on the matter. Inflation or recession, are we now experiencing either or both?

This post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

If you find life a little boring, stifling and basically bland, then you may be a prime candidate to check out one of this year's hottest properties. Second Life is for people who wish to expand the boundaries of their life experience. Second Life opens up opportunities (albeit virtual ones) that most people would never encounter in their own personal daily grind. Much of the "news" that surfaces in mainstream media regarding Second Life is just dicey, sensationalist spin. What we want to know about are the things that make Linden Lab's Second Life worthy for consideration as a product of the year.

A good place to start investigating is Second Life Insider, a blog dedicated to tracking that constantly changing virtual environment. For instance, did you know that Second Life has an economy of its own, which actually maintains an exchange rate against real American dollars? It's true, and according to Second Life Insider, on November 1, Second Life membership invested U.S. $1,372,000 into Linden dollars (the site's virtual currency) at an exchange rate of L$268.7 to one U.S. dollar. In fact, there was quite a moan put out by the IRS at the beginning of this year when they again realized that people do generate significant income in virtual spaces.

Because the business of manufacturing nearly everything has been deferred to China, it seems to me that there must be some great opportunities in store for those who learn to communicate in the Chinese language. Corporations large and small have already taken hold of this thinking and I believe that companies wishing to thrive in a true global sense are duty bound to maintain staff fluent in English, Spanish, Chinese, and a host of other languages. Gone are the days when speaking English was the "responsibility" of foreign corporations wishing to do business with us. If we want to keep pace, we need to drop our attitude of superiority and realize that the world of business has some staggering new rules.

I'm not doing a promotion here. I'm merely examining the current business conditions and investigating some options. When considering the fact that one out of five people on this planet speaks some form of Chinese dialect, doesn't it make good sense that we should be interested in communicating with them? Perhaps they don't understand that we don't want lead in our children's toys. Wouldn't you like to explain that to them?

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to slip into the world of the mega-famous? Right now I'm going to give you a chance to think about that. Imagine that you get to spend your days rubbing elbows with Hollywood's A-list elite. Now here's the angle, imagine that circumstances have caused you to be put in a serious dilemma, and you are now required to choose a female pop-star business partner. You have been given only two choices, either Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. The choice is yours and there are multimillions of dollars now riding on your decision.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Siemens AG (SI), Business Objects (BOBJ), Continental Airlines (CAL), Lawson Software (LWSN) and Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc (TRMP) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Lehman upgraded shares of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) to Overweight from Neutral reflect the potential major portfolio reorganization over the next few years as well as the strong momentum in the group.

• UBS upgraded shares of Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJ) to Buy from Neutral to reflect easy compares in Q2 and signs of improving underlying European demand.

• Soleil upgraded Continental (NYSE: CAL) to Buy from Hold as they believe better-than-expected June consolidated revenue growth suggests strong enough revenue momentum to offset above-average domestic capacity growth affecting its important Newark hub.

• Matrix upgraded Lawson Software (NASDAQ: LWSN) to Sell from Strong Sell to reflect increasing revenues from software licenses.

• Brean Murray upgraded shares of Trump Entertainment (NASDAQ: TRMP) to Buy from Hold citing recent share weakness, improving trends, potential monetization of excess real estate and the use of the Trump brand outside of Atlantic City...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Northstar Realty Finance Corp (NYSE: NRF) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.

• Goldman raised Par Pharmaceuticals' (NYSE: PRX) rating to Neutral from Sell.

• Bernstein upgraded Avon Products (NYSE: AVP) to Market Perform from Underperform.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

It looks like business schools may be catching up with the idea of Ben and Jerry's and other successful business ventures that combined profits with a concern for the planet. According to a piece in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "Environmentalism is finding its way onto the agenda in M.B.A. programs across Europe, as students and faculty -- like Europeans more broadly -- are growing increasingly worried about the threat of global warming... As many have begun to do in the U.S., schools across Europe are adding environmental electives, supporting student research projects on warming topics, integrating talk of the issue into core courses, inviting speakers to address it, and, in some cases trying to make their campuses or communities more energy efficient."

This is terrific news. With emerging concerns about the future of the planet, tomorrow's CEOs will need to equipped with the knowledge to confront these issues and seek solutions. This is as good an indication as you will ever see of environmentalism going mainstream.

Having business leaders educated on the dangers of global warming might do more to protect the environment than increased regulation.

I was privileged to read an article in my latest Forbes newsletter which addresses honesty in business practice. Most especially, the article points out the inherent value that clear, honest book keeping and deliberate management transparency impart upon any business. To illustrate its point, Forbes utilized the analysis of Audit Integrity, an independent Los Angeles firm that does research on corporate governance best practice (and which is a data supplier to Forbes.com). Audit Integrity developed its first list of 100 companies which exhibit the highest degree of ethical and business standards when dealing with their investors.

What brings the value of Audit Integrity's analysis closer to home is the cross reference of stock performance as relates to inclusion on the integrity list. Forbes reports that the group of 100 companies that made Audit Integrity's list of good guys provided an overall return of 33% on shares, double the return of the market on average. Forbes cites higher equity growth, reduced litigation costs and a reduction in regulatory interference as some of the reasons why the wonderful one hundred out performed their peers.

So, if you want to simplify your hunt for stock value and reduce your research burden, you might want to give the Audit Integrity list of 100 do gooders a long hard look. In this game of stock picking there are a lot of angles to consider. If Audit Integrity is willing and able to provide a clear pre-assessment of business integrity in such a comprehensive and easy to understand format, I think you owe it to yourself to consider the data. Investment based on information devoid of even a cursory view of honesty in business practice is investment made blind.

Like most individual investors, I use a bottom-up approach for picking my investments. That is, I try to find great companies at an attractive price. However, I also believe that all investors (and people in general) should have a working knowledge of the bigger picture: economics. To that end, the following is a list of what I consider to be the most fun, interesting, and information-packed economics books out there. None of these are textbooks and were all written for mass consumption. I think you'll enjoy all of them. So if you slept through economics class (Who can blame you?), here's a fun, easy way to brush up:

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science - This is one of my favorite books of all time. When a friend asked me how I could find economics so interesting, I went up to my bedroom, grabbed my copy of this book, and handed it to him. A few weeks later, he called me and said, "Okay, now I get it. That's the best book I've read in a long time." This book explains economic concepts with current, interesting anecdotes. You will come away, in my opinion, with a far better understanding of what economics is about than you will from taking a high-school class on it.

Last night in its conference call, Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) said that the consumer will be driving the first ramp in demand for Microsoft Corp's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Vista operating system. Tonight, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) will report results. The company's huge success has obviously been driven by the iPod, a consumer product.

However, beneath the headlines, Intel mentioned that its server business is doing quite well. Also, other large-volume high-end companies such as Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW), Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) and possibly EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) are seeing improvement in their operating performances.

While investor attention is still focused on Apple, the iPod and the consumer, the revenue and operating performance of technology companies focused on the business customer appear to be improving nicely for the first time in a long time.

Starbucks (SBUX) will find itself with another competitor in premium coffee and tea drinks soon. The Coca-Cola Co. (KO) has announced it will create a line of latte-style drinks. This line will be targeted for restaurants and other food services outlets -- not retail. Seems every few weeks this summer has brought a similar announcement from some well-known corporation or another. The trend's toward more competition.

Companies are willing to try out this market that critics perennially claim is saturated -- or over-saturated, whatever that means. If consumers do decide that $3.50 is too much for a coffee, then McDonald's and/or Coca-Cola may provide options that are likely to be priced more cheaply, though without the cache of Starbucks, or Tully's, or SBC names.

Coke already this year brought out Coca-Cola BlaK, which is a carbonated coffee-infused soft drink, but that's likened by the company to an energy drink -- not a direct competitor to lattes, canned iced coffees, frappucinos, or the like. It tastes wretched to me, by the way. Sort of like drinking out of bottle at party that people have been dousing their cigarettes in all night. Not that I've done that. Well, not more than twice anyway.

Yesterday's heartfelt comments from readers to my post, "eBay's message to sellers: Grow or die!" were incredible. I was amazed at the quantity I received (and continue to receive). Even more impressive was the quality of the responses. No peasants here.

MEG, ARE YOU LISTENING?

The thoughtfulness, understanding of the issues and real concern from knowledgeable people went way beyond the usual whining that I see from some quarters. Many people even made good suggestions on how eBay could accomplish its financial goals and still accommodate the disenfranchised sellers.

Another thing that surprised me was that ALL of the comments were similar in their disdain for eBay. Not one person, seller or shareholder (of course nothing from eBay) supported eBay's rate increases, business strategy, or future as a company. I found that bewildering, but perhaps this post will give any supporters another chance to express their views.

Points of consensus:

• EBay does not care to directly address the concerns of many of their sellers. They treat this subject like so many others where they choose to "play innocent bystander" like they were not involved. I do not know why eBay chooses not to be more accommodating and pretend all is well. Pretending is not usually a good thing.
• There is real market pressure for an alternative to eBay so Google or any other entity that can gain traction in this space will be gloriously welcomed. To date this has not happened and there are only meager signs, at the fringe, that might be chipping away. Despite portrayals of seller options, nothing I read was convincing.
• I noted that; "if they raise rates for sellers by any percentage you choose, say 25% then they will make more money as long as something less than 25% of the sellers don't run off to do something else." This most certainly is the way eBay looks at it and, given that the facts will speak for themselves in the marketplace, eBay to date has calculated correctly -- BUT ONLY FOR NOW. Strange as it seems eBay could lose a high percentage of sellers and be fine. WHY shouldn't they do this?
• EBay is perceived as a monopoly and if it is not thwarted in the marketplace there could come a day (under a different Federal administration) when it comes under closer scrutiny. They are not Baseball, they have no exemption.

If you read any of the many business magazines that I read (which is most of them), you will find that they give some very good advice regarding the benefits of investing in Index Funds over the long haul. However, once a year they publish things like the "Top 1,000 Funds" and variations on this theme. To me this contradicts their year-round advice just to generate an extra issue that serves no purpose except to confuse investors. I think 90% of the 1,000 funds are garbage and exist only to generate revenue for the investment company. They cater to a public fascinated by quantity of choice and various meaningless nuances and not by good sense.

Most of the data I have seen supports the premise that index investing (notably the S&P 500) beats stock picking (higher Internal Rate of Return (IRR)) over any 20 year period you choose. Plus, it has the added benefit of less market volatility. This makes it the optimal choice for most people. This is even more true when you consider taxes and fees.

Furthermore, if it were not true then investment guru and fund manager Bill Miller of Legg Mason would not be such a celebrity for beating the Standard & Poor's index for 14 years running. Have you read about any others? NO! There are many advisor's who may beat the index funds for a period of time, but not a long period, and it is usually not the same ones.

Business publications, such as Time Warner's Money and Fortune, should have a disclaimer accompanying their fund reviews. Or, giving them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps I should view these mag-rags as the publisher's way of giving us an opportunity to see for ourselves that none of these funds provide much added value -- unless you own the fund company.