The comments on a recent blog post by Sarah Gilbert, about Starbucks retraining efforts took an interesting turn towards discussion about whether or not that company supports our troops. This seems to be a subject which elicits strong passion among many blog readers, which prompts me to ask this question of you: Does a company's position, openly declared or not, regarding support for our troops, affect your perception of that company and whether or not you'll intentionally do business with them?

This issue can be difficult to assess, because often times a company's position on the matter is cloaked, unavailable or skewed by misinformation. The comments on Sarah's blog post give clear evidence of that. Some folks seem convinced that Starbucks doesn't care about our troops, yet packages bearing its logo are reported to arrive at military addresses every day. What's more is the fact that often companies elect not to state a position regarding our restructuring efforts in Iraq. To some people, silence on the matter is interpreted as contempt rather than consent.

I must admit that my own opinions about individual companies regarding their stance on our military involvements are sometimes colored by unconfirmed email commentary and careless internet banter. That is why I generally refrain from discussing the issue. What about you? Do you base your opinions on random emails which purport to reveal a company's stance regarding our military, or do you research the topic before coming to your conclusions?

The Associated Press reports that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) reported earnings that missed earnings expectations of 94 cents per share by 9%. And its 86 cents a share actual earnings disappointed investors. Nonetheless, the stock is up in pre-market trading.

The culprit was --once again -- consumer lending. JPMorgan Chase boosted its provisions for loan losses by $2.54 billion. That boost was higher than the $1.79 billion added during the third quarter and the $1.13 billion added in the year earlier period. The investment bank's profit plunged 88% to $124 million, and the card services' segment's profit fell 15% to $609 million. The company anticipates rising default and delinquency rates in credit cards.

A bit of good news for JPMorgan Chase. Commercial banking profit rose 13% to $288 million, Treasury and Security Services profit rose 65% to a record $422 million, Asset Management profit rose 29% to a record $527 million, and Retail Financial Services climbed 5% to $752 million, as improvements in mortgage banking offset weakness in auto lending and regional banking.

For 2007 JPMorgan Chase's net income in 2007 was a record $15.4 billion, or $4.38 a share, on record revenue of $71.4 billion. Overall -- not too shabby compared to its peers.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in JPMorgan Chase securities.

According to a new study of company leaders, CEOs tend to approach business risks more prudently when compensated with material pay packages as a larger percentage of overall compensation, instead of a heavy dose of stock options.

From one point of view, this makes little sense: Many (many) executives perform just to the point of making stock prices rise quarter after quarter. After all, would you want to buy options with cheap strike prices only to sell them later for massive profit -- company long-term performance be damned? Due to the greedy nature of many CEOs, this situation seems head-on. The only problem here is that this study refutes that belief.

It concluded that CEOs who are granted large numbers of stock options as a main form of compensation are more likely to make riskier decisions with often negative repercussions on company stock prices. This also makes sense: With more stock options on the table, the risk-taker mentality may come out more for leaders-- who ascend to their positions usually by taking risks in the first place.

The only problem is that most of those risks end in bitter disappointments instead of glowing results. Although stock options are geared toward motivating executives and middle managers to improve a company's future performance, the study's authors argue that that form of compensation is not all that effective in increasing a company's overall results. Moral of the story: liberal stock option granting is a good idea, but just don't overload comp packages with them.

Universities have been known to take donations from anyone willing to write a check. For those willing to donate significant amounts of money, usually alumni, there's sometimes an atrium, a street or even a building named after them as a tribute. Then renaming the University of Iowa's College of Public Health to The Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield School of Public Health shouldn't turn too many heads. Right?

The University of Iowa is contemplating whether to rename its College of Public Health after the philanthropic arm of Blue Cross & Blue Shield in exchange for a $15M donation, USA Today reports. This has sparked debate on where universities should draw the line when accepting corporate gifts.

As reported by The New York Daily News, Donald Trump was addressing a group at the Learning Annex Real Estate & Wealth Expo, on November 19th and was quoted a stating, "Condoleezza Rice, she's a lovely woman, but I think she's a b----. She goes around to other countries and other nations, negotiates with their leaders, comes back and nothing ever happens."

Well that may be so, Donald, but at least she has better hair than you do.

Donald Trump is increasingly disgusted with the manner in which American government is dealing with the entrepreneurial spirit these days. In consideration of the fact that Mr. Trump is a self made success, I think he has every right to be upset. I believe, however, that the problems associated with growing a successful business from the ground up don't lie strictly within the government. Yes, excessive government causes many small business hardships and we need to deal with that, but I'm seeing an ever increasing volume of personal and social "score settling" being injected into the business world and I, for one, am troubled by it.