On April 21st, challengers Patrick J. Breslin and Stan Serafin of Bridgewater hope to garner two of the three seats up for grabs on the Bridgewater-Raritan School Board. Similarly, the three Bridgewater incumbents, Richard J. Guss, Cynthia Cullen, and Christine Schneider hope to remain in place.
On Tuesday evening, March 31st, at 8:00 pm, following a closed-door performance evaluation of the superintendent and the board secretary, there is a regular meeting of the B-R School Board at the Wade Building in Martinsville.
The single most important item on the agenda is a presentation and public hearing on the 2009-2010 school budget. It was made public months ago as a preliminary budget, but nothing has changed, and $133.2 million will be the final number unless, in a last minute move to secure the budget’s approval by voters, the board and administration present a significantly pared-down version.
So far, it’s been a quiet campaign for the election of board representatives, but a big push is quietly taking place for the budget’s passage.
The weight of the campaign’s inertia favors the three incumbent board members who are likely to retain their seats, unless Messrs. Breslin and Serafin wage a more rigorous campaign, or unless there is a budget backlash.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Woodbridge Group Lobbies for Bridgewater-Raritan School Budget
It’s a partisan, get-out-the-vote out sign just like dozens of others that you’ve seen in all types of other elections. But this one, sitting along Washington Valley Road in Bridgewater, has a particular distinction.
Its message is simple and clear: In big white letters against a blue background, the sign entreats Bridgewater and Raritan residents to “VOTE YES FOR EDUCATION!" The next lines, in smaller type read, “Tuesday, April 21, 2009 – Polls Open 2-9 PM.”
The last line, required by New Jersey Election Law as an identifier, is unreadable unless you stop, walk up to the sign, scooch down a bit and read the fine print: “Presidents’ Council of Woodbridge Township.” If you are curious, as I am, you might wonder why a group from one of our neighboring towns to the south is lobbying Bridgewater and Raritan voters.
It turns out that the tiny line on this sign has a key missing descriptor. According to the web site of the Woodbridge Township School District, the group promoting its plea is a PTO organization whose “purpose is to promote interest and understanding within the Woodbridge Township School District through the informed participation of parents.”
Fair enough. Would you folks mind, though, minding your own business and reserving your lobbying efforts for The Woodbridge School District?
Its message is simple and clear: In big white letters against a blue background, the sign entreats Bridgewater and Raritan residents to “VOTE YES FOR EDUCATION!" The next lines, in smaller type read, “Tuesday, April 21, 2009 – Polls Open 2-9 PM.”
The last line, required by New Jersey Election Law as an identifier, is unreadable unless you stop, walk up to the sign, scooch down a bit and read the fine print: “Presidents’ Council of Woodbridge Township.” If you are curious, as I am, you might wonder why a group from one of our neighboring towns to the south is lobbying Bridgewater and Raritan voters.
It turns out that the tiny line on this sign has a key missing descriptor. According to the web site of the Woodbridge Township School District, the group promoting its plea is a PTO organization whose “purpose is to promote interest and understanding within the Woodbridge Township School District through the informed participation of parents.”
Fair enough. Would you folks mind, though, minding your own business and reserving your lobbying efforts for The Woodbridge School District?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
AIG, Obama & the Domino Theory
Last year, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson of the Bush Administration gave us a single untested reason why the federal government should pump billions into AIG. Under President Obama, current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner continues to endorse that policy: It is that AIG is too big to fail. The theory holds that because of its size, an AIG failure poses “a systemic risk” which would spread throughout the financial system.
This is like telling us that the financial system resembles a set of dominoes all lined up half an inch from each other. AIG, it’s implied, is the first domino in the string and, if that one is knocked down, all the others will collapse in succession. We are presented with no other options. In the 1960’s the nation fell for that line of reasoning and paid dearly for it.
Those of you who are old enough to remember the months preceding the Vietnam War (and you young ones who should have been taught the causes of that war in school) may remember that Americans were told the same thing.
The rationale for war was officially called “the domino theory.” The United States could not afford to let Vietnam fall to the communists. To do so would result in other Southeast Asian countries to be overrun by communism.
To assure that this would not happen, the U.S. dispatched thousands of young American soldiers to Vietnam; failed to support them in a bungled military operation; spent billions; and lost the war. All that and, after a disorderly American retreat, Communist North Vietnam took over the entire country.
The infamous domino theory used to justify the Vietnam War was a feckless assumption. The other dominoes did not fall.
See the connection? We are now being sold a similar financial domino theory that if AIG is allowed to go down, the other firms in the financial world will go under. Perhaps. But Americans have not been presented with alternative, less costly and more market-oriented alternatives.
Like the Vietnam era domino theory, we are expected to blindly follow the “experts,” just like those Johnson era presidential advisors, Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy who kept President Lyndon Johnson in that war to its bitter end, and ruined his chances for re-election.
This is like telling us that the financial system resembles a set of dominoes all lined up half an inch from each other. AIG, it’s implied, is the first domino in the string and, if that one is knocked down, all the others will collapse in succession. We are presented with no other options. In the 1960’s the nation fell for that line of reasoning and paid dearly for it.
Those of you who are old enough to remember the months preceding the Vietnam War (and you young ones who should have been taught the causes of that war in school) may remember that Americans were told the same thing.
The rationale for war was officially called “the domino theory.” The United States could not afford to let Vietnam fall to the communists. To do so would result in other Southeast Asian countries to be overrun by communism.
To assure that this would not happen, the U.S. dispatched thousands of young American soldiers to Vietnam; failed to support them in a bungled military operation; spent billions; and lost the war. All that and, after a disorderly American retreat, Communist North Vietnam took over the entire country.
The infamous domino theory used to justify the Vietnam War was a feckless assumption. The other dominoes did not fall.
See the connection? We are now being sold a similar financial domino theory that if AIG is allowed to go down, the other firms in the financial world will go under. Perhaps. But Americans have not been presented with alternative, less costly and more market-oriented alternatives.
Like the Vietnam era domino theory, we are expected to blindly follow the “experts,” just like those Johnson era presidential advisors, Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy who kept President Lyndon Johnson in that war to its bitter end, and ruined his chances for re-election.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Obama’s New Move
When President Barack Obama recently submitted his budget proposal to Congress, he also inserted a contingency for another $750 billion for more bailout funds. Had Obama stayed on that path, Congress would have been required to debate and to consider approving that additional sum. But those plans have now gone down the tubes.
The Washington anger over AIG bonuses has now spread throughout the country like a plague. This has made it functionally impossible for Obama to publicly secure a Congressional stamp of approval for the hundreds of billions of dollars of additional money that his administration needs to stimulate the purchase of currently unmarketable asset-backed securities. Should he attempt to obtain Congressional approval now, he will incite even greater outrage among Americans.
The administration’s solution is crafty: Make an end run around Congress by devising a plan which can be implemented through the executive branch. This removes the arrangement from public debate and the need for approval by the legislative branch.
Congress thus gets handed its own special bonus by being absolved of responsibility. No more personal embarrassment for the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Charles Rangel, etc.
President Obama’s revised plan will rely heavily on public-private partnerships which will require the full voluntary participation of Wall Street hedge funds, pension funds and insurance companies. Therefore, look for the Obama administration to tone down its rhetoric about corporate bonuses.
Why? Because the managers of Wall Street firms which will be requested to participate in the program will pick up their marbles and leave the playground, if their yearly bonus checks or alternate forms of compensation are at risk. To succeed with his new plan, President Obama needs Wall Street, but he can’t go public with that admission. Ironic, isn’t it?
NEXT: The Obama administration’s new stimulus plan.
The Washington anger over AIG bonuses has now spread throughout the country like a plague. This has made it functionally impossible for Obama to publicly secure a Congressional stamp of approval for the hundreds of billions of dollars of additional money that his administration needs to stimulate the purchase of currently unmarketable asset-backed securities. Should he attempt to obtain Congressional approval now, he will incite even greater outrage among Americans.
The administration’s solution is crafty: Make an end run around Congress by devising a plan which can be implemented through the executive branch. This removes the arrangement from public debate and the need for approval by the legislative branch.
Congress thus gets handed its own special bonus by being absolved of responsibility. No more personal embarrassment for the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Charles Rangel, etc.
President Obama’s revised plan will rely heavily on public-private partnerships which will require the full voluntary participation of Wall Street hedge funds, pension funds and insurance companies. Therefore, look for the Obama administration to tone down its rhetoric about corporate bonuses.
Why? Because the managers of Wall Street firms which will be requested to participate in the program will pick up their marbles and leave the playground, if their yearly bonus checks or alternate forms of compensation are at risk. To succeed with his new plan, President Obama needs Wall Street, but he can’t go public with that admission. Ironic, isn’t it?
NEXT: The Obama administration’s new stimulus plan.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Barack’s Barrage
Well, it was bound to happen: The week-long diatribe engaged in by President Barack Obama and the Congress against AIG bonuses has so fomented a populist desire for revenge, that Obama’s next move to ask Congress for another $750,000,000,000 in bailout funds has been pulled off the table and will resurface in another form.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not now and never was in favor of AIG executives getting bonuses within a company that is in severe distress, while it simultaneously accepts billions in federal cash infusions. But there is a big difference between justice and vengeance. And there is just as big a difference between seeking accountability and trotting out the guillotine.
This is America, not revolutionary France of the late 18th century where opponents’ heads were chopped off by an outraged populace. Nor is this Japan of the Samurai era where the seppuku honor code of death was employed to remit shame.
Don’t take my word for it: Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has already called for AIG executives to either “resign or go commit suicide” by falling on their swords hara-kiri style.
Grassley has since backed off from his original statement, subsequently saying that, “we need to show some act of contrition on the part of CEOs that run their corporations into the ground.” And what, Senator Grassley, do we do about Washington politicians who run their country into the ground?
MONDAY: President Obama’s Next Move.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not now and never was in favor of AIG executives getting bonuses within a company that is in severe distress, while it simultaneously accepts billions in federal cash infusions. But there is a big difference between justice and vengeance. And there is just as big a difference between seeking accountability and trotting out the guillotine.
This is America, not revolutionary France of the late 18th century where opponents’ heads were chopped off by an outraged populace. Nor is this Japan of the Samurai era where the seppuku honor code of death was employed to remit shame.
Don’t take my word for it: Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has already called for AIG executives to either “resign or go commit suicide” by falling on their swords hara-kiri style.
Grassley has since backed off from his original statement, subsequently saying that, “we need to show some act of contrition on the part of CEOs that run their corporations into the ground.” And what, Senator Grassley, do we do about Washington politicians who run their country into the ground?
MONDAY: President Obama’s Next Move.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A Good Day in Bridgewater
It was a good Wednesday in Bridgewater this afternoon, not because of anything special, but precisely because of the opposite. Something quite ordinary occurred: It was a warm sunny day signaling the onset of spring, just a few days away.
I took full advantage of the bright sun and the temperatures in the low 60’s to get out into the yard and to do some necessary, early season trimming of butterfly and sage plantings. There is something elementally simple and yet profound about getting close to the earth, with a cool zephyr blowing from the west and the sun beaming on one’s back.
So many of us (including myself) often think that we are so sophisticated and knowledgeable at times. Bending and kneeling on the ground to trim a few plants, to smell the earth, and to get some honest grime under the fingernails and on the hands helps to center a person.
It reminds me of where we all came from, and where we’ll all end up, no matter what happens in Washington, Wall Street or in local politics. The only thing that really matters is if we know how to benefit from the original blessing that envelops everyone, every minute of every day – if only we will recognize it.
No politics today!
I took full advantage of the bright sun and the temperatures in the low 60’s to get out into the yard and to do some necessary, early season trimming of butterfly and sage plantings. There is something elementally simple and yet profound about getting close to the earth, with a cool zephyr blowing from the west and the sun beaming on one’s back.
So many of us (including myself) often think that we are so sophisticated and knowledgeable at times. Bending and kneeling on the ground to trim a few plants, to smell the earth, and to get some honest grime under the fingernails and on the hands helps to center a person.
It reminds me of where we all came from, and where we’ll all end up, no matter what happens in Washington, Wall Street or in local politics. The only thing that really matters is if we know how to benefit from the original blessing that envelops everyone, every minute of every day – if only we will recognize it.
No politics today!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
B-R School Budget Rises as Enrollment Drops
On April 21st, Bridgewater and Raritan residents are scheduled to vote on the school budget. Unless changes are made, that budget will rise by $4.5 million to $133.3 million, a 3.5% increase.
The B-R Board of Education and its Administration may remind you that this is the lowest percent increase in seven years. What they may not emphasize is that the $4.5 million hike occurs as school enrollment has slowly and steadily decreased from 9,197 students in 2006 to an expected 9,128 students in the fall of 2009.
Meanwhile, other governmental entities are also struggling with budgets – at least one with better results. The Somerset County freeholders are decreasing spending by 2.6%, from $220.2 million last year, to a proposed $214.4 million – no increase in your taxes from this source. In Bridgewater, the Mayor and the Township Council anticipate a drop in state aid of $327,154, a 4% decline from last year. Raritan will see its aid drop by $21,352.
Out of 40 school districts in Somerset and Hunterdon counties, only one in four is seeing any increase at all. The B-R School District is one of the lucky few to receive a $573,141 (5%) increase, for a total of $12 million, or 9% of next year’s budget. How would you like to have someone pay 9% of your annual expenses?
The money well in Trenton is drying up, and the B-R School District has done a less than stellar job of linking its budgets to the economic conditions that the rest of us have had to deal with each year and every day. The B-R School Board needs to envision its role much more holistically: It is merely one among other legitimate claimants to the resources of the residents of Bridgewater and Raritan.
The B-R Board of Education and its Administration may remind you that this is the lowest percent increase in seven years. What they may not emphasize is that the $4.5 million hike occurs as school enrollment has slowly and steadily decreased from 9,197 students in 2006 to an expected 9,128 students in the fall of 2009.
Meanwhile, other governmental entities are also struggling with budgets – at least one with better results. The Somerset County freeholders are decreasing spending by 2.6%, from $220.2 million last year, to a proposed $214.4 million – no increase in your taxes from this source. In Bridgewater, the Mayor and the Township Council anticipate a drop in state aid of $327,154, a 4% decline from last year. Raritan will see its aid drop by $21,352.
Out of 40 school districts in Somerset and Hunterdon counties, only one in four is seeing any increase at all. The B-R School District is one of the lucky few to receive a $573,141 (5%) increase, for a total of $12 million, or 9% of next year’s budget. How would you like to have someone pay 9% of your annual expenses?
The money well in Trenton is drying up, and the B-R School District has done a less than stellar job of linking its budgets to the economic conditions that the rest of us have had to deal with each year and every day. The B-R School Board needs to envision its role much more holistically: It is merely one among other legitimate claimants to the resources of the residents of Bridgewater and Raritan.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
School Superintendent Takes no Salary Increase
In a front-page Courier News article today, Hillsboro Schools Superintendent Edward Forsthoffer III indicated that he would forsake his salary increase for the 2009-2010 school year. Finally! Someone at the top of the administrative chain has decided to do what has been evident to just about every responsible New Jersey taxpaying citizen: Hold the line on salary.
With respect to the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, I’ve had it in mind to write that the administration, beginning with Superintendent of Schools, Dr. J. Michael Schilder and School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Peter Starrs, should be among the first to give up their pay raises. Their example should be followed by all other leading educators in the Bridgewater-Raritan School District.
I never thought that a superintendent from another nearby school district would be the first to do it. The example has been set, but it’s only a beginning.
In coming weeks, you will soon hear more about the multi-million dollar increase for the Bridgewater-Raritan School District budget. Several individual Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education members have publicly stated on the record that they would lobby for its passage and would work with individuals and special interest groups towards that end.
Unless New Jersey’s state law regulating such activity has been altered, it’s illegal for an administrator or for a school board member to lobby for the passage of a school budget or to work with individuals and groups, either publicly or behind the scenes, for that purpose.
Dr. Schilder, who gave a presentation of the Bridgewater-Raritan School budget about a month ago in front of a large audience, knows that. In his presentation, he was meticulously careful not to outwardly solicit support for the budget, only that he was hoping for a good voter turnout.
With respect to the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, I’ve had it in mind to write that the administration, beginning with Superintendent of Schools, Dr. J. Michael Schilder and School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Peter Starrs, should be among the first to give up their pay raises. Their example should be followed by all other leading educators in the Bridgewater-Raritan School District.
I never thought that a superintendent from another nearby school district would be the first to do it. The example has been set, but it’s only a beginning.
In coming weeks, you will soon hear more about the multi-million dollar increase for the Bridgewater-Raritan School District budget. Several individual Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education members have publicly stated on the record that they would lobby for its passage and would work with individuals and special interest groups towards that end.
Unless New Jersey’s state law regulating such activity has been altered, it’s illegal for an administrator or for a school board member to lobby for the passage of a school budget or to work with individuals and groups, either publicly or behind the scenes, for that purpose.
Dr. Schilder, who gave a presentation of the Bridgewater-Raritan School budget about a month ago in front of a large audience, knows that. In his presentation, he was meticulously careful not to outwardly solicit support for the budget, only that he was hoping for a good voter turnout.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
From Italy, with Love
On the ground floor of the Bridgewater Commons Mall, I’d been noticing lately the partitioning of a large square area in between the two up and down escalators near the atrium. Recent progress reveals that a new Italian specialty eatery, Mamma che Buono, is coming to town at this spot.
Not only that, but it looks like the business is authentically Italian. The headquarters for Mamma che Buono is in Milan. The company has a U.S. location in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Bridgewater is scheduled as one of three other U.S. sites opening soon. The other two are in Wellington, Fla., and Queens, NY.
Even the crates holding the new fixtures read, “Made in Italy.” Warms your heart, doesn’t it, to know that not everything coming into the U.S. bears the “Made in China” marking?
Also expect to see an expanded Starbucks just one escalator ramp up from Mamma che Buono. The work is already under way behind floor-to-ceiling enclosures, despite the fact that the company is closing stores in other locations and modifying its line-up.
Looks like there’s always room for an Italian delicacy and a fancy cup of joe in Bridgewater.
Nota Bene: You can view a jivy Italian language You Tube video about Mamma che Buono at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5645ZN29OB4. There is also an excellent Italian language blog dedicated to Mamma che Buono, complete with recipes and photos at http://mammachebuono.blogspot.com/
Not only that, but it looks like the business is authentically Italian. The headquarters for Mamma che Buono is in Milan. The company has a U.S. location in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Bridgewater is scheduled as one of three other U.S. sites opening soon. The other two are in Wellington, Fla., and Queens, NY.
Even the crates holding the new fixtures read, “Made in Italy.” Warms your heart, doesn’t it, to know that not everything coming into the U.S. bears the “Made in China” marking?
Also expect to see an expanded Starbucks just one escalator ramp up from Mamma che Buono. The work is already under way behind floor-to-ceiling enclosures, despite the fact that the company is closing stores in other locations and modifying its line-up.
Looks like there’s always room for an Italian delicacy and a fancy cup of joe in Bridgewater.
Nota Bene: You can view a jivy Italian language You Tube video about Mamma che Buono at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5645ZN29OB4. There is also an excellent Italian language blog dedicated to Mamma che Buono, complete with recipes and photos at http://mammachebuono.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Healthcare & You: Not So Perfect Together!
Monday, before a congressional panel, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner commented that “Healthcare costs are crippling the economy and that the U.S. is paying twice what other countries are paying.” He went on to declare that Americans are not being delivered “a quality kind of healthcare in this country,” and that we “need to reduce healthcare costs.”
Let’s get this straight: Healthcare costs are crippling the economy? I thought that the economy was already comatose due to the dastardly deeds of certain slipshod financiers, bankers, Washington politicians, and borrowers who should have known better.
Didn’t you?
For years, the word from D.C. was that it would take billions to provide the same level of quality healthcare to Americans across the board. Just couldn’t be done. Too expensive, they said. It was seen as anathema and, apparently, still is by President Obama who is using Geithner as his proxy to convince Congress that payments to health care providers need to be reduced.
Let me pinch myself again: The Secretary of the Treasury and the President both say it’s OK to dole out billions – soon to be trillions – to heal the self-inflicted wounds of the financial system’s largest participants now feeding at the trough of the U.S. Treasury.
But, according to Geithner and Obama, it’s a transgression – a grave one indeed – to provide excellence in healthcare without cutting payments to the highly talented medical professionals and institutions that provide those services.
One more thing: Why is Congress permitting Geithner to testify alone, without a countervailing, expert voice from the medical profession?
Let’s get this straight: Healthcare costs are crippling the economy? I thought that the economy was already comatose due to the dastardly deeds of certain slipshod financiers, bankers, Washington politicians, and borrowers who should have known better.
Didn’t you?
For years, the word from D.C. was that it would take billions to provide the same level of quality healthcare to Americans across the board. Just couldn’t be done. Too expensive, they said. It was seen as anathema and, apparently, still is by President Obama who is using Geithner as his proxy to convince Congress that payments to health care providers need to be reduced.
Let me pinch myself again: The Secretary of the Treasury and the President both say it’s OK to dole out billions – soon to be trillions – to heal the self-inflicted wounds of the financial system’s largest participants now feeding at the trough of the U.S. Treasury.
But, according to Geithner and Obama, it’s a transgression – a grave one indeed – to provide excellence in healthcare without cutting payments to the highly talented medical professionals and institutions that provide those services.
One more thing: Why is Congress permitting Geithner to testify alone, without a countervailing, expert voice from the medical profession?
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Bridgewater in Recession: Food, Drink, & Chocolate
In severe economic times, people cope with the associated stress in many ways. It’s been reported that during the Great Depression of the 1930’s – a time without TV – movie theatres played host to large audiences. So did taverns.
Although the Bridgewater area may not have been hit as hard as other parts of the country where mind-numbing pools of layoffs have plagued the manufacturing sector, it’s still bad enough. Financial institutions in New Jersey and New York are laying off tons of workers.
If messages emanating from the White House are to be taken seriously, “...it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” As if it takes a President to remind us of what we already know!
My own anecdotal observation of how some people are coping in this anemic economic climate is simple: People just want to get away from it. One method is to soothe ourselves as best we can. In Bridgewater, a Sunday afternoon trip to the Bridgewater Commons Mall seems to confirm that.
On an off-season Sunday shopping day, the most crowded spot was the third level of the newly-renovated food court. Every concession was taking orders and dishing out the eats, as patrons waited their turn in long lines.
Down below, at ground level near the atrium, each of the four stations of the Massage Mob concession was taken: Customers were getting the stress kneaded out of their muscles.
Next: chocolate. It seems that people also resort to that luscious confection in times like these. Did you know that Hershey’s has increased its sales and profits for both the fourth quarter and full year of 2008?
The company is also projecting a modest sales increase for 2009. Gone are the 99¢ promotions for a 4.25 ounce bar of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate at CVS. It’s now selling for a steady $1.99. Please, CVS, make a liar out of me.
Although the Bridgewater area may not have been hit as hard as other parts of the country where mind-numbing pools of layoffs have plagued the manufacturing sector, it’s still bad enough. Financial institutions in New Jersey and New York are laying off tons of workers.
If messages emanating from the White House are to be taken seriously, “...it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” As if it takes a President to remind us of what we already know!
My own anecdotal observation of how some people are coping in this anemic economic climate is simple: People just want to get away from it. One method is to soothe ourselves as best we can. In Bridgewater, a Sunday afternoon trip to the Bridgewater Commons Mall seems to confirm that.
On an off-season Sunday shopping day, the most crowded spot was the third level of the newly-renovated food court. Every concession was taking orders and dishing out the eats, as patrons waited their turn in long lines.
Down below, at ground level near the atrium, each of the four stations of the Massage Mob concession was taken: Customers were getting the stress kneaded out of their muscles.
Next: chocolate. It seems that people also resort to that luscious confection in times like these. Did you know that Hershey’s has increased its sales and profits for both the fourth quarter and full year of 2008?
The company is also projecting a modest sales increase for 2009. Gone are the 99¢ promotions for a 4.25 ounce bar of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate at CVS. It’s now selling for a steady $1.99. Please, CVS, make a liar out of me.
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