The results are in from the Iowa caucuses. VW gives employees a break from work email, should more companies follow suit? The back and forth on California’s High Speed Rail project continues. Online dating 2.0.
Iowa squeaker for GOP candidates
It was the best kind of caucus for political junkies. The race was unpredictable to begin with, but even late into the night, it was neck and neck for Mitt Romney and Rick "surprise" Santorum.
The former two-time senator was even thought the winner for a while, but was edged out dramatically in the end by former governor Romney with a paltry eight votes. Right on their tails, Ron Paul drew 21.5 percent to Romney's 24.55 percent and Santorum's 24.54 percent. Left at the bottom was Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Jon Huntsman, in that order.
This morning, Bachmann announced the end of her presidential bid. While it sounded as though Texas Governor Perry was preparing to do the same, a buoyant tweet from him this morning said, "Here we come South Carolina." His campaign hasn't confirmed their travel plans.
Elsewhere in Texas, a group of prominent conservatives are trying to reign in this wild race. They will hold an emergency meeting in the Lone Star State because they're concerned a vote split between Santorum and Gingrich "could enable Mitt Romney to grab the GOP nomination," POLITICO reported.
Will Santorum be able to exploit his near victory by raising funds and building a bigger team? Can Paul's Iowa strategy sustain him through other state competitions? How does Gingrich perform when he's on the attack? Is Perry out? Is a Huntsman surge next?
WEIGH IN:
How did last night's results change your views of the candidates?
Guests:
Arnold Steinberg, veteran Republican political strategist and analyst
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; former senior Obama advisor in 2008, now runs the Los Angeles office for the Dewey Square Group.
VW gives employees a break from work email, should more companies follow suit?
In response to union demands in Germany to protect workers from burnout, Volkswagen has agreed to cut off email access to its corporate BlackBerry users after work. Ok, not all 190,000 of them. The move will only affect about 1,150 VW employees in Germany. But depending on how you look at it, those lucky few will no longer be able to access work emails on their “CrackBerries” a half-hour after their shift ends, until 30 minutes before work begins the next day.
Some say VW is following a trend in Europe. The makers of Persil washing powder in the U.K. declared an email “amnesty” for their workers between Christmas and New Year’s. And the French tech giant Atos recently announced plans to ban all internal work email starting in 2014 so workers will have more time for other things, like work.
WEIGH IN:
Is it time for U.S. companies to give more thought to how much time their employees spend looking at email after quitting time? Might there be a positive payoff in terms of increased productivity or would this be bad for business? Are you drowning in email and desperate for help?
Guest:
Beth Livingston, Assistant Professor of Human Resource Studies at Cornell University in the Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School
The back and forth on California’s High Speed Rail project continues
As if the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) needed any more bad news, yesterday the group tasked by the legislature with reviewing the project released their report. The report slams the CHSRA for having not identifying long term funding solutions, a problem which could hamstring the project for years, and for their “incomplete” business model.
They also note that the increased cost estimates that came out a couple months ago -- while MORE realistic -- still may not be high enough and recommend that the private sector be brought into project in these early stages.
After the report came out the CHSRA fired off their own response to lawmakers. For their part they say the Peer Review Panel members have limited high-speed rail experience and the report is “deeply flawed,” “misleading” and “unfounded.” They attack the panel’s assertion that they haven’t identified long term funding, saying no other transportation projects are fully funded at this stage of the game and to hold CHSRA to that standard is “inappropriate.”
Also inappropriate in their view is the notion that the private sector needs a place at the table. The CHSRA sites numerous worldwide projects in which private sector involvement has failed. So, is this report still more evidence that California’s high-speed rail project has become a boondoggle? Or is their still fight in this dog? Do the pros of high speed rail outweigh the cons?
Guest:
Tom Umberg, Chairman, California High-Speed Rail Authority
Lou Thompson, Member, California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group
Online dating 2.0
The mistletoe may be tucked away for another year, but Valentine's Day tchotchkes already are overflowing on store shelves. And in these weeks between Christmas day and Cupid's night, Internet dating sites reportedly see a surge in traffic.
Social psychologists say that's true now more than ever. In years past, people were more skeptical about putting personal information online and didn't know which sites to trust. Has that changed? Social networking sites are a daily, if not hourly, habit for millions of Americans. So why not put your Facebook profile on OkCupid, too?
Plus, sites such as eHarmony and Match.com have been advertising long enough that their brand name recognition adds to a sense of trust for singletons. Nevertheless, does this increasing popularity correlate to their effectiveness? If the Internet made shopping for books and music easier, can it simplify match-making, too?
WEIGH IN:
Does e-dating still have stigma in your social circles? What is the right way and the wrong way to find love in cyberspace?
Guest:
Benjamin Karney, Ph. D., Professor of Social Psychology at UCLA, studying marriage and intimate relationship. Karney just contributed to a review of Internet dating for the journal, Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Thomas Bradbury, Ph. D., Professor of Psychology at UCLA, studying marriage; Member, Scientific Advisory Board, eHarmony.