One of the most annoying commentaries about Senator Barack Obama campaign is that if he wins the election people around the world will take a more favorable view of the United States. Seth Gitell gives you good reason - if you needed any - to think that that brave new world probably wouldn’t come about if the Senator were to become President. And that’s not a slam on Senator Obama, I hasten to add, as the president’s job is to worry about the well being of Americans, not the feelings of foreigners.

As Gitell puts it:

This Hussein phenomenon, to me, is a classic case of projection. The election of Barack Hussein Obama would make baby boomers and other Americans feel better about their country.

Last year I poked fun at trade magazine Selling Halloween for writing that sexy costumes would be the in-thing in 2007. After all, sexy Hallowen costumes have been a Halloween staple for several years and probably then some. For 2008, however, Selling Halloween is seeing a bit of a different trend: The little less sexy Halloween costumes. More specifically, suppliers “are recognizing that while all women want to look sexy, not all women want to show quite as much skin.”

Tatte opened its very first location Tatte Patisserie & Cafe, last Wednesday at 1003 Beacon Street in Brookline (in the place that used to be French Savoy Bakery).

I stopped by today but sadly didn’t have time to linger. I did, however, try a flourless pecan brownie and a couple of pieces of cinnamon rose cake. I liked both. A lot, actually. Tatte is a good addition to St. Mary’s T-stop sort-of-square.

Below is a photo of Tatte that was taken a couple of weeks ago. The store was supposed to open on Monday the 25, but they beat that deadline by five days. Not bad.

Tatte’s website

Several inches of beautiful light snow fell over eastern Massachusetts yesterday. Behold and enjoy a few photos of the sudden winter wonderland:

MassInc held a breakfast forum couple of weeks ago to discuss the state and direction of Massachusetts’ labor market. I was unable to attend but a partial transcript is available on the organization’s website (free registration required). Below are a couple of quotes to whet your appetite:

Moderator Paul Grogan, The Boston Foundation, on the state of Massachusetts’s workforce:

Talented young workers are exiting the state in larger numbers than we would like to see and they are being replaced by less skilled and unskilled immigrants. Talent has always been our salvation. That’s basically what we’ve got. We are going to have to have a human capital strategy that is very strong. I am heartened by what Secretary Bump said. A second pool of potential labor productivity is inner city young people. Enormous advances have come from the 1993 education reform law but there has been much less progress in the cities than we would like to see. There is going to be a forthcoming study on college completion among Boston students. Other cities that have done this study have shown that in the big cities, if you are an entering 9th grade in the Boston public schools, you have less than a 10 percent chance of achieving a college degree of any kind.

Grogan and Rick Lord, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, talk about the Bristol Myers Squibb investment:

GROGAN: There has been celebration of the Bristol-Myers Squibb achievement in Devens. Do you see other possibilities for this kind of approach?

LORD: The Bristol-Myers Squibb announcement was a great success. Six hundred new jobs. They really wooed the company, something Massachusetts hasn’t done a lot of in the past which other states do very aggressively. The reality is we are mostly small employers and our growth comes from employers who are here. That worked beautifully because it was at Devens and it was pre-permitted and the state gave them generous tax incentives. I don’t think we can do that for every business. We have to create an environment that is attractive for our existing employers, whether it’s permitting or workers comp we were able to tackle the business costs I’d like to see a concerted effort on health care costs. We have to tackle those issues.

Here’s a comment I made regarding the cost of the BSM deal and what it might tell us about the benefits that can be gained from the $1bn life-sciences initiative that is likely to sail through the Legislature. Here are some thoughts of mine on a MassInc report that preceded the breakfast forum.

It takes a nuclear family to raise a child.

The United States Census Bureau has released the 2004 for data for what it calls living arrangements of children in America. Just under 60% of children lived with their married biological parents, down from 61.2% in 2001.

Marriage remains a crucially important social institution. The poverty rate for white children living with at least one of their parents the poverty rate was 10.7% in 2004. For black children, that figure was 33.6%. The difference can largely be explained by differences in household compositions.

68.9% of white children lived with married biological parents while 13.1% lived with a single mom. 29.3% of black children lived with their married biological parents while 47.3% lived with a single mom.

58% of Hispanic children lived with their married biological parents, down from 60% in 2001 (but not much different from the 59% in 1996). 25.7% of Hispanic children are below the poverty line and 22.7% of Hispanic children live in single-mom households.

In conclusion, the most pressing need for change in America is to increase the number of children who live with both their biological parents. I’m sure that’s what people who demand change and claim to be the change they want have in mind.

Detailed tables here.

We’re in the offest of off-season for football players but it’s already preseason for NFL cheerleaders. The New England Patriots Cheerleading Squad hold their 2008 auditions on Saturday, March 8. The final round will be held on March 22, when the 75 finalists try to make the 24 slots on the squad. More info at Patriots.com.

I don’t actually know anything about cheerleading, but I’ll hazard some high-level advice anyway (IMPORTANT: Consult your physician before changing your diet or exercise).

I would say there are three key areas where a cheerleader has to stand out to make the cut: Attitude, physique, and technique.

1) Attitude. NFL teams seem to look for cheerleaders who are confident, quick learners, able to handle themselves during public performances and have the ability to smile at all times. The last thing is something you can practice, just stand in front of a mirror and smile. For hours if necessary. And I’m not kidding. And make sure your smile is an all out teeth-baring bright-eyes smile. As for ability to handle pressure, don’t ever tell the judges you did something wrong because you’re nervous. If the they make you nervous, imagine what 68,000 roaring fans at Gillette Stadium will do to you.

2) Physique. “We need you to look your best” appears to be the euphemism in NFL cheerleader circles for “lose some weight.” So look your best. Tone up. On top of that, you need to have the stamina to do high kicks, dance moves and general cheers for three hours plus during games.

3) Technique. NFL cheerleaders seem to be more dancers than what high school and college cheerleaders are, so if your background is cheering but not dancing you probably need to work like crazy on the dancing. That said, it’s still cheerleading so if you have a background in dancing but not cheerleading you should probably work on your cheer moves prior to the auditions. The high kick in particular seems to be crucial since it says something about your balance, agility, strength and grace (and don’t forget to smile while high kicking).

One way to prepare yourself is to study up on the Patriots cheerleaders. They have plenty of pictures and video clips you can watch at the cheerleader section of Patriots.com, including from previous tryouts.

Here’s how the Patriots describe the auditions:

Participants will be asked to perform the first combination in small groups for a panel of judges. Scores will be based on dance ability, showmanship, overall appearance and level of physical fitness. After the first dance combination is taught and then performed by all auditioners, the first tabulation process will take place. During tabulation, a second combination will be taught. Participants advancing to the next round will be announced and those ladies will then be required to give a self-introduction, perform a series of high kicks, and perform the second routine.

[Note to regular readers: I get quite a few searches for how to become a Patriots cheerleader, so think of this as a public service announcement. Exciting posts about census data and similar stuff will return tomorrow.]

[Update 3/8/2008: Pictures of Patriots cheerleaders from 2007]

[Update 3/9/2008: Photos from the audition at Boston.com]

[Update3/14/2008: Patriots.com has a report and photos from the audition as well as a podcast where the auditioning process is discussed.]

There’s much one can say about Dunkin’ Donuts, but the coffee peddling giant isn’t a baby killer.

Dunkin’ Donuts is apparently pleased with the results of its “flatbread” and “personal pizza” trials and is now planning on rolling out the concept nationwide in an attempt to increase sales after the morning rush.

I’ve visited stores that sell the trial items but I can’t remember having tried any of them, mostly because they look pretty disgusting (my wife insists we shared one of the pizzas and says we didn’t like it. She’s obviously never wrong so she must be right). I guess they must have been racking up enough sales to make the menu expansion worthy of nationwide implementation.

I think the chain is making a mistake. I can certainly understand why it would want to finagle a way to boost sales without forcing franchisees to invest in new equipment, but those flatbreads and pizzas aren’t going to do it. They look terrible in their own right and they certainly seem woefully inadequate when compared to cheap items at fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and Wendy’s or just any local pizza place for that matter.

(Apparently the new menu does require some investment, if I understand the press release properly:

In order to introduce the new menu, Dunkin’ Donuts shops have received an entirely new cooking platform. New cooking ovens, using patented technologies, deliver the “Oven-Toasted” result.

)

Dunk’ would be better off focusing on achieving and maintaining a high-level of execution of its concept. I’m talking about a well-trained staff that handles orders in a sanitary manner and on and on.

It would also behoove the company to understand that it can’t stretch its brand name in any direction without alienating at least part of the customer base. “America runs on Dunkin’” is a good enough slogan for guys like me who enjoy the New England-ish blue-collar lunch-pail aspect of the brand, but all-whimsical all-pastel ads and commercials - especially ones with Rachael Ray - sure try one’s loyalties.

Update 2/19:

There’s a lot of discontent among Dunkin Donuts franchisees over several of the company’s recent moves if one is to believe DD Independent Franchise Owners (DDIFO):

In a statement released on Thursday, the said 98% of surveyed franchise owners oppose the Sara Lee partnership that calls for the installation of self-service stations in office building break rooms, cafeterias and other venues with large food-service operations.

It also said that 97% oppose the Hess partnership, which calls for the installation of self-service coffee, hot chocolate and donut stations within Hess gas-convenience stations from New Hampshire to Florida.

Another day, another billion. Having worked out a compromise with the legislature over a billion dollar life-sciences bill, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is reportedly getting ready to hawk his next billion sized project: Commuter rail service from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River (two crummy cities in southeastern Massachusetts that have yet to overcome the end of whaling for oil or something).

Boston Globe reporter Peter J. Howe has an article on the topic in today’s paper. The governor’s PR flacks ought to be overjoyed that Howe structured the article the way he did. Here’s the second paragraph:

Experience in other Massachusetts cities where commuter rail service has been restored since 1994 - Brockton, Newburyport, and Worcester - demonstrates that train service to the Hub can be a big shot in the arm economically. In all three cities, since the year commuter train service returned, real estate values have climbed faster than state and county averages by most measures, in some cases much faster.

The rest of the article rather strongly suggests that boosting real estate prices may be the only shot in the arm that commuter rail service has provided for the three cities and towns mentioned.

I’m not surprised. Here’s an excerpt from a post I wrote in 2006 on what rail road expansion is likely to do for a struggling city:

The idea that a railroad (high-speed, light rail, whatever you favor) to a town like Fall River would open up a world of opportunity previously denied its citizens is silly…

That’s not to say a railroad won’t help Fall River. I think it would, and I think it should be looked at closely, but it will help the city primarily by bringing in higher-educated, higher-earning white-collar workers looking for cheap housing and a convenient commute. I don’t think a railroad would do much for the people who already live there.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi have stitched together a 10-year $1bn initiative to boost the so-called life-sciences industry in the state. The governor thinks the plan will help create 250,000 jobs while the Speaker hasn’t committed to a number. That seems a tad optimistic. The Bristol Myers Squibb plant in Devens cost the state $64 million in tax credits and infrastructure improvements in exchange for a projected 350 - 1,000 jobs, meaning each job will cost as little as $64,00 or as much as $182,000, while Governor Patrick assumes his plan will create a job for each $4,000 of subsidies. Even if one argues, quite reasonably, that the BMS cost per job count doesn’t take into account economic multiplier effects while the Governor’s headcount does, it seems hard to believe that the plan will deliver - at minimum - more than 15 times the number of jobs per dollar than the BMS subsidy.

If the Patrick-DiMasi plan’s cost per job matches the best case scenario for the BMS deal, we’re looking at less than 16,000 new jobs, excluding multiplier effect (so let’s say 30,000 net, allowing for a pretty generous multiplier). Perhaps the Governor meant 25,000 man-year jobs for ten years, including economic multipliers. That seems doable, although probably not what most people think of when they hear 250,000 new jobs.

October 2006: The Commonwealth’s smoke-and-mirrors on generating economic activity through the state school system.