I got an e-mail this week that started out with this:

Dear Liz,

According to a new study, 78% of respondents said the American Dream has died.

Wow, that’s depressing.

The statistic is from a recently released report called Coming of Age in the Great Recession, compiled by the consulting firm, Context-Based Research Group, and Baltimore ad agency, Carton Donofrio Partners. The report explores consumer attitudes about the post-recession era.

The study is a follow up to the firms’ “Grounding the American Dream” released in 2008.

The 2009 study found that some believe the American dream has died because “the dream” had become defined in terms of material possessions rather than freedom and ideals. It found that 83 percent of respondents made permanent changes in spending and saving behavior, and the same percentage planned to spend more time with family and friends over the holidays then they had previously.

“Our studies portray a society moving into an era where we measure the quality of our lives in social terms before economic ones,” Cleve Corlett, Context-Based Research Group’s director of quantitative research, said in a statement. “Forty-three percent of Americans believe the recession has positively affected their lives. With this kind of positive reinforcement, we now see the potential to maintain a healthy balance between our consumer and non-consumer sense of selves.”

So maybe these findings aren’t as depressing as the e-mail started out (unless you’re a retailer and dependent on people buying expensive items they don’t need).

Do you agree with these findings? I personally think they might be a little optimistic in terms of people’s permanent willingness to place inner happiness over having outside things. But maybe I’m a cynic. I am a journalist, after all…

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A week ago, I was going through my morning routine, which includes, most mornings, listening to WYPR, the local NPR affiliate, before I head to work. One of the station’s regular features is the “Morning Economic Report,” hosted by local economist Anirban Basu, who heads the local think-tank the Sage Policy Group Inc. In Basu’s minute-long segments, he tends to focus on one part of the economy — housing, banking, public finance — and provide very quick, but usually very expert analysis of data. It’s not quite investment advice, but it’s the kind of thing that a businessperson, an amateur investor or even just an informed citizen might listen to and get ideas about money, the state of the market, or how things are likely to change and develop in the future.

Last Tuesday, Basu’s segment was about being a rental landlord, and a recent report that showed rising vacancies in rental properties in 79 markets across the country. The point of it was, in the end, that renters have the upper hand in the current market, as far as demanding lower rents and better service, because there simply aren’t enough tenants to fill the space. Baltimore was not mentioned specifically, and the implication was that this is a problem of national scope. The transcript started like this:

Those looking for a new apartment should be aware that renters presently enjoy the negotiating upper hand vis-à-vis landlords. According to vacancy and rental rate data … apartment vacancies hit a 30-year high during last year’s fourth quarter and rents have been falling as landlords compete aggressively to retain existing tenants and attract new ones.  Rents declined 3 percent last year, led by declines in West Coast markets such as San Jose, Seattle and San Francisco; cities that were expanding briskly prior to the recession.  Analysts believe that rental market weakness will last at least through the first half of 2010 and probably beyond …

Here’s the issue: Anirban Basu is, in addition to being a highly respected economist, a rental landlord. He owns five rental properties in Baltimore, a house in Deep Creek and another house in Harrisburg, Pa. Why does this matter? Because he didn’t mention it on the air. He was presented merely as an expert and introduced only in his context as chairman and CEO of the Sage Policy Institute, but the fact is, Basu has a financial interest in the rental housing market, its fluctuations, and questions of business strategy surrounding rental housing investing.

And now’s the time where I disclose that Basu, in addition to all the other things he is, is also frequently quoted in The Daily Record, especially as an expert in our quarterly mergers and acquisitions stories. He also is the lead author on many of the research reports that guide city and state economic policy decisions. This, I admit, is just a fact of life that you have to deal with, being a business reporter in Smalltimore. There are only a handful of economists at local think tanks or academic institutions who cover the local and statewide markets. Richard Clinch of the University of Baltimore and Daraius Irani of Towson’s RESI institute come to mind. And yes, we quote them frequently too.

But WYPR’s lax disclosure rules are a bit troubling. If Basu has a financial interest in something, shouldn’t he mention it when providing expert opinions on the subject? And if the trends he’s reporting are negative, isn’t that all the more reason to ask, Why not? Why shouldn’t he mention it?

Reached by phone last week, Basu said he didn’t see any conflict of interest in the “Morning Economic Report” spots, because they’re very short, and entirely data-based.

“I’m reporting what the data say. I’m working against my own interest, because I’m suggesting that the rental market is weak, and that people can afford to be selective,” he said. “Those are 65-second spots. There is not a lot of opportunity to disclose … I report on the economics of banking, and I sit on the board of First Mariner Bank. I don’t disclose that.”

Well, why the heck not?

We put the question to WYPR’s vice president and program manager, Andy Bienstock, pointing out that Don Fry, who also provides regular commentary for WYPR, always discloses that he is president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, a business booster group, when he speaks on-air. Bienstock responded that in last Tuesday’s report, he agreed that that there was no conflict of interest, that “putting [Basu] into Jim Cramer territory is an enormous stretch,” referring to the CNBC host who was the subject of a scandal related to disclosure issues last year. But he also said that in mentioning the First Mariner issue, we had “buried the lede.”

“I did not know the full extent of his involvement with First Mariner and, if he is speaking directly about the bank we will ask him to disclose, on-air, his role there,” Bienstock wrote in an email. “We are, co-incidentally, working up internal disclosure forms for all our contributors – both commentators and news stringers. With journalists needing to keep there hands in a lot of pots – just to eat, since full time work is so scarce – we need to do a better job of catching any conflicts of interest before they happen. That way we can either disclose on air, or not air the piece to begin with.”

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William Mack and Ja’Mal Wills, J&W Sensations

Last year I wrote about Baltimore students who were involved in a national competition for young entrepreneurs as part of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship program.

NFTE was founded in New York City’s South Bronx in 1987 as a dropout prevention program and provides entrepreneurship curriculum to middle schools and high schools in low-income communities. The students learn how to start a business, from writing a business plan to implementation. NFTE’s success caught the eye of documentary filmmaker Mary Mazzio and Mazzio’s documentary on the 2008 competition debuts this week in Baltimore.

“Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon,” premiers on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at The Brown Center at the Maryland Institute College of Art (tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.) The film will also air on Black Entertainment Television (BET) at noon on Sunday, Feb. 7.

The Baltimore students in the film are Jamal Wills and William Mack, now seniors at Patterson High School, who started J&W Sensations, a lotion company, and Anne’ Montague, a recent graduate of Forest Park High School who founded Inamoratos Dance, a nonprofit that offers affordable dance lessons to  people between the ages of 10-21.

Baltimore sent two students (Alayna Albertie and Keenen Geter) last year to the national competition and four out of the 28 national finalists were from Maryland. The first, second and third place winners were from California, Illinois and Massachusetts, respectively.

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What do Marriott International, McCormick & Co., LifeBridge Health and W. L. Gore & Associates all have in common? They landed on the Fortune 100 Best Places to Work list.

Each is headquartered in Maryland, aside from W.L. Gore, which sits on Maryland’s list because of its large location in Elkton.

Better yet for out-of-work Marylanders, they’re all hiring.

As of last week, hotelier Marriott (#82 on Fortune’s list) had openings for about 4,700 employees worldwide, with a decent chunk of positions open in Maryland. And, they’re not all housekeeping or front desk posts — many of them are in sales, accounting or IT, with a few interior design and corporate counsel gigs, too.

What makes these places so great?

McCormick (#72), the biggest name in spices, has 14 “junior” boards, allowing employees to have a say in company business and offers domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples.

LifeBridge (#96), a Baltimore-based health system, offers tuition reimbursement of up to $5,000, entry-level employees can take computer courses to help them move up and they offer adoption assistance to employees.

At Marriott’s Bethesda HQ, the company has an on-site gym and daycare, and globally, its team is made up of 61 percent minorities. Employees also get great perks, like hotel discounts.

“Associates,” as they’re known at Gore (#13), are “in charge” and work in a pretty structure-free environment. Bosses at this innovative company, best known for its GORE-TEX fabric, are called “sponsors.” Enough said.

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A fun article by Tom Verducci in this week’s Sports Illustrated takes a neat look at numbers and baseball and uses payroll, wins and post season success to determine which teams are getting the most bang for their buck.

Not surprisingly, the Orioles are one of the least-efficient teams in Major League Baseball in terms of the money spent for players vs. on-the-field success. According to Verducci’s numbers, over the last decade the Orioles have spent $717.2 million and won 698 games, or $1.03 million per win.

OK, it’s less than the $1.75 million the New York Yankees spent per win…but then again the Yanks did grab two World Series titles and four pennants in nine post season appearances. And with 12 straight losing seasons, the O’s have posted big fat “zeros” in those categories.

Sure, you could argue that the Orioles play in the toughest division in baseball. But when you look at Tampa Bay’s numbers — 694 wins at $577,522 per win and one pennant — that argument starts getting weak. True, the Rays caught lightening in a bottle the year they made it to the World Series…but at least the team didn’t waste its money the other nine years.

Hopefully with this change of focus on the farm system the Orioles can manage their payroll better. It’s funny — fans often complain that owner Peter Angelos won’t spend money on good talent. And maybe that’s been true at times…but obviously money isn’t everything.

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I imagine executives at The Baltimore Sun will be watching this one.

In newspapers’ ongoing battle in the digital era, The New York Times is biting the bullet and will be the first major daily to charge for frequent access to its Web site. The paper is rolling out the plan in early 2011 and plans to allow non-subscribing visitors to the site a certain number of free articles per month. After that, you have to pay for site access for the rest of the month.

We don’t yet know how many articles will come for free and how much the access will cost, but The Times is the first paper in the nation to try this model. I imagine it’ll be watched closely by other major papers around the country as everybody is struggling with how to keep afloat in this business.

Back in the olden days, advertising was easily most newspapers’ top revenue stream while subscriber fees typically paid for ink and paper. But over the last decade subscriptions have fallen as readers have found they can get basically the same content online. And over the last couple years (thank you Recession of 2008), advertisers have practically fled the market.

Solutions over the last year or so have included, layoffs, redesigns, printing on fewer days, going to online only. Remember the Baltimore Examiner? Remember when The Sun was thicker? Those days are gone and as The Times tries to forge ahead, I wonder who will follow.

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Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. customers beware. Your bill for December, which will arrive this month, could be a doozy. (This applies to customers of all utilities, BGE just put out a release to warn customers).

It seems that December’s cold weather translated into more hours with temperatures at or below freezing than the year before. In fact, BGE reports that December 2009 had 305 hours with temps at or below 32 degrees in its service territory, compared to 212 hours in December 2008.

BGE says that colder weather makes your heating system have to work harder to maintain whatever temperature you set on your thermostat, especially if your home has a heat pump. That means that your bill will likely go way up.

“Customers who heat with electric heat pumps will likely see the most significant increases in usage because more expensive auxiliary heating is typically activated whenever the temperature dips to 32 degrees or below. For some heat pump units, auxiliary heating may be activated even before the temperature hits the freezing point,” said Mark D. Case, senior vice president of strategy and regulatory affairs for BGE, in a company release.

Deja vu anyone? Last year’s sky-high bills brought hearings at the Public Service Commission, as regulators tried to untangle the mess and figure out why some customers’ winter heating bills had doubled.

The hearings — and data from the utilities on how many customers were behind on their bills and faced having their power cut — prompted the PSC to issue a temporary moratorium on winter shut-offs last year. Regulators are now considering approving a rule that would restrict power shut-offs for 72 hours during extreme periods of heat or cold (an increase from the 24-hour rule in effect).

BGE has updated its “winter ready” section on its Web site to show customers how homes use energy and offer cheap or no-cost solutions to making their homes more efficient. Customers can also enroll in BGE’s budget billing program, which averages payments over 12 months so you don’t get socked with high bills in the winter and summer — you will, however, pay more in the spring and fall than you’re used to paying.

Check out the chart below that I created on the National Climatic Data Center site to see average Maryland temperatures in December over the last decade. And keep an eye on that thermostat — the National Weather Service is indicating that in the first 16 days of January, low temperatures were below 32 degrees.

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Baltimore’s WVIE 1370-AM (Fox Sports Radio) is broadcasting 10 Washington Capitals games this year and all playoff games. The sports station aired the Caps’ playoff games last season.

Station manager Bob Pettit said Tuesday his young station (1370 launched in September 2008) is seeking to fill the niches left by other stations that cover Baltimore’s major league sports. (WBAL 1090-AM broadcasts Ravens games and 105.7-FM “The Fan” airs Orioles games.)

“We have to flank the other stations right now,” Pettit said. “We don’t have Orioles games and we don’t have the Ravens. So we look at the next best … professional franchises. They’re a very good team that provides good entertainment and they sell out a lot of games. They are a good franchise to have.”

WVIE’s sports broadcasts also include University of Maryland, Baltimore County, basketball; Notre Dame football; Washington Wizards basketball and some local high school games.

The sports talker launched three weeks before 105.7 “The Fan” announced it was flipping to an all sports station. That move gave Baltimore four sports talk radio stations — a large number for any market, but especially one the size of Baltimore. (The other two stations are WJZ 1300-AM and WNST 1570-AM.)

At a broadcast power of 50,000 watts during the day (about the same as WBAL), Pettit said WVIE can compete as a regional station with lively hosts and programming that picks up where the mainstream Baltimore sports coverage stops. He sees 105.7 “The Fan” as WVIE’s main competitor.

“We think there’s definitely room for a second sports station so can fill that void,” he said. “But I do not think there’s room for four sports stations. We have to hang in there and beat the other two.”

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Under Armour’s Kevin Plank and Steve Battista can probably share a thing or two with Chrysler execs this week. Ever since the troubled auto maker snatched up a 60-second spot during this year’s Super Bowl, the company has been the butt of criticism from consumers who say Chrysler is wasting its money.

Chrylser plans to showcase its Dodge brand in its first Super Bowl ad since 2004.

At about $3 million/30 seconds, consumers are questioning the manufacturer’s judgment in spending an estimated $6 million for a single ad. Baltimore-based Under Armour also received criticism in 2008 when it chose to debut its first non-cleated athletic shoe in a 60-second Super Bowl advertisement. Analysts downgraded its stock in response and questioned the advertising blitz. It’s stock price also went down by a third in a single month.

At the time, CEO Kevin Plank and Vice President of Brand Steve Battista said the ad was like a coming out party for Under Armour to expose the brand to more people in its target audience. But actions speak louder than words — at the company’s investors day a few months later, one of the first things Plank told the audience was that the company would NOT be buying a Super Bowl ad the following year.

The consensus from the advertising world seems to be that Chrysler’s decision is a good one if the ad serves its purpose — which is to generate enthusiasm for the brand and get people buying Chrysler again. And that’s something that will take months to determine.

In Under Armour’s case, despite the flak the company received for buying the ad in 2008, the move hasn’t hurt the company’s image and in hindsight, one could argue it was the right decision for the time.

As Battista put it a year ago, in 2008, “no one had ever even seen what Under Armour [non-cleated] footwear looked like. The Super Bowl is great for that.”

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After holiday sales predictions across the industry ranged from down a percentage point to up nearly two points, the official word is in from the National Retail Federation: sales were up 1.1 percent this season.

Phew!

The numbers are preliminary, but NRF estimates that sales during November and December totaled $446.8 billion, surpassing the association’s projected decline of 1 percent.

NRF’s numbers do not include automobiles, gas stations or restaurants … which would surely paint a different landscape if thrown in there. Typically, NRF separates dining and the auto industry from its retail tallies.

In the months leading up to the holiday season, the name of the game for retailers was inventory — being cautious and not being stuck with too much at year’s end.

“With an eye on managing inventory and maintaining lower price points, retailers did a tremendous job of planning for the holiday season,” NRF Chief Economist Rosalind Wells said in a statement. “While the consumer appears to be spending again, double digit unemployment numbers will remain an impediment to maintaining this momentum.”

Apparel was a star for retailers this year as clothing and clothing accessories drove sales in December and increased 7 percent compared with the prior year. Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores also performed well with December sales increasing 3.9 percent from last year and health and personal care stores increased 4.8 percent, according to the NRF.

The weak housing market, however, damped some categories — furniture and home furnishing store sales decreased 3.5 percent during December 2009.

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