Next time anyone chows down on a $5 organic apple at Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) or counts carbs on the Atkins and South Beach diets, they should think about the consequences of their actions on the struggling maker of Twinkies.

ABC News is reporting that Interstate Bakeries Corp., which has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since 2004, is threatening to shut down unless the company's unionized workforce makes some major concessions by September 30. The Kansas City-based baker, which has already announced plans to exit the bread business in Southern California and lay off 1,300 workers, also makes other wholesome fare such as Wonder Bread.

Though the story argues that if Interstate Bakeries is liquidated, some buyer will be happy to take over the Twinkie business, I am not so certain.

Sancti-mommies and a few sancti-daddies now rule the world. Kids today think that carrot sticks are snacks to be washed down with organic juice made from fruit hand-picked by colonies of aging hippies living on a collective farm. They have driven out sugary sodas from the schools and are cracking down on childhood obesity through non-competitive cardio activities that do not include ducking from balls of any sort.

Twinkies need to continue for another generation because they also provide a valuable introduction to children to the world of investing. When I was a kid, the spongy, cream-filled snacks were like gold in the trading market in my elementary school lunchroom that could be traded for anything. Times probably haven't changed much, and I imagine kids trying to swap celery sticks continue to get a chilly reception from their peers.

Imagine a world without Twinkies originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: The Women of Disney

Continue reading Disney's (DIS) Vanessa Hudgens nude? What'd you expect?

Disney's (DIS) Vanessa Hudgens nude? What'd you expect? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) personal finance guru Laura Rowley thinks high school students ought to have credit cards: "No, I'm not getting paid by the credit card industry. I think those companies are a potentially dangerous enemy, and you have to prepare your child to be a worthy opponent in battle. You want them to conquer this prospective foe, and transform it into a humble servant that does their bidding."

She is exactly right. When my mother was growing up in New York in the 1960s, her parents would take her out to a restaurant every once in awhile and buy her a drink with dinner. Their friends thought they were insane. "How could you encourage your daughter to drink underage?" My grandparents replied that they wanted her to "learn to drink responsibly" and that having a drink with her parents at dinner was a better place to learn that than a party in college. My mother has never had a problem with alcohol.

Continue reading Credit cards for kids?

Credit cards for kids? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

First was the column in the Wall Street Journal that argued that Mister Rogers helped spawn a generation of brats. Then there was an equally preposterous Fox News story. It's official: Conservatives have run out of villains.

The late Fred Rogers spread the message -- which for some reason is controversial now -- that children are special. He never taught selfishness. In fact, neither the Journal nor Fox News could produce any evidence that he did. Even the author of a book cited to back up their argument doesn't blame Rogers for the growing selfishness of today's youth.

"The MTV show 'My Super Sweet Sixteen' has done 100 times more to normalize narcissism than Mr. Rogers ever did," writes San Diego State University Psychology Professor Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled -- and More Miserable Than Ever Before." Mr. Rogers' show also emphasizes many things that are the complete opposite of narcissism: Gentleness, caring for others, and the value of community."

The Journal argued that "what often got lost in his self-esteem-building patter was the idea that being special comes from working hard and having high expectations for yourself." Ironically, that was exactly the message that Rogers preached.

"He certainly didn't want to be giving children messages that were narcissistic," said Hedda Sharapan, who started working with Rogers in 1965, in an interview. "Young children need affirmation. The security of being loved is essential for moving forward."

In addition, she pointed out that secure children develop self-control and self-discipline. As fans of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood -- which included me when I was a toddler -- could observe, those were qualities the television show host had in abundance.

"Instant gratification, and entitlement -- that's the antithesis of Mister Rogers," she said. "He always hung up his sweater. He always fed the fish. The stories were never solved easily or even within the half hour. The theme carried across the whole week."

Rogers, whose program still gets about 2 million viewers a month, chose his words very carefully. When he started his program, he told his young viewers that "I like you you just as you are." By the late 1970s, he changed that to "people can like you just because you are you," Sharapan said.

Fred Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister who died in 2003, should be a hero for people who profess to care about family values.

Continue reading Media World: Mister Rogers isn't to blame for today's selfish youth

Media World: Mister Rogers isn't to blame for today's selfish youth originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AOL Money & Finance ran a story from ABC News last week about -- what the social label generators are calling -- the Generation of the Millennials. I'm not exactly sure where Generation X ended and the Millennials began, but there's one thing I can tell you for sure: The manufacturers are having fits with both them. I call them the "Channel Changers" because that's the mind-set I see slowly oozing out of many of them. As soon as one task becomes mundane or tiresome, they flip their minds away from what's in front of them and search for the next thing that might grab their attention. Of course, there are exceptions to this generality and I have run across many young workers who have the patience to perform mundane tasks, but let there be no doubt that the society of instant gratification has come with its price tag.

Possibly it's not all their fault. Many of them are accustomed to getting things the way they want, when they want. What we have here is not so much a young population of sluggards as much as it is a population of wanna-be administrators. The problem is that they lack the knowledge their predecessors have learned coming up through the ranks, and they are resistant to taking the time to figure it out. The problem is further compounded by the increasing number of parents who will go to great lengths in the attempt to mold the world to fit their children rather than sending well-equipped offspring out to carve their own niche in it.

Continue reading They're calling them the 'Millennials...'

They're calling them the 'Millennials...' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 May 2007 20:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to a recent study, 50% of adults said that their mothers were more influential in teaching them about money than their fathers, with 38% saying they learned more from their fathers, and 12% saying they didn't know.

My mother, a social worker with no financial background at all, taught me more about money than you can learn in Harvard's MBA program -- at yard sales. Starting when I was about four years old, we spent every Saturday morning plotting our route and then heading out in her old station wagon. I was hooked quickly. At yard sales, I could find books, games, and sports equipment for a fraction of what my friends were paying for the same stuff new. By the time I was 10, I was buying for resale. I quickly became an expert at identifying rare books that could be had for 10 cents to a dollar each.

I really believe that everyone should take their kids yard-saling -- you'll probably enjoy it and I suspect you and your child will learn a lot more about the value of a dollar then you will on Suze Orman's Personal Finance Cruise. Here are the two of the most valuable things you can ever teach your kids about money, and yard sales are the perfect place for them to learn:

Most of the stuff you buy will end up in your garage being sold to strangers for 10 cents on the dollar: It's always fascinating how much stuff people have as you rummage through their garages or yards: books, CDs, dishes, sports equipment, clothing, art, and so on. So think before you buy: Is this something I'm going to end up getting rid of?

Always pay attention to price: Yard sales are among the least efficient markets out there: A book can cost 10 cents at one sale and then be two dollars at another. The only market that is that inefficient is... banking, where some savings accounts pay 0.2% and others pay 5.15%. Shopping at yard sales, you're trained to always look at the price, because there's so much variation from sale to sale. This habit will save you lots of money in everything from grocery shopping to investing.

So thanks, Mom, for teaching me everything I need to know about money at yard sales! Happy mothers day to all the mothers out there reading BloggingStocks!

How Mom taught me all I need to know about money ... at yard sales! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 May 2007 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Crocs + escalators = bloodbath?

Crocs + escalators = bloodbath? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.