I'll Take a Pair of Hot Pink Stilettos With A Cloth Bow Around The Heel, If You Please

On page A3 of yesterday's edition, the Telegram & Gazette published a picture of a group of pretty ladies running in stilettos down a street in Tel Aviv. According to the AP, this was actually a promotion for "gel cushions" that were embedded in the shoes, proving they make any type of shoe so comfortable, you can run in them, even stilettos.

On page B7 of the same T & G publication was a picture of Timothy Geitner who is making a pitch for US "treasury bills, notes and bonds." Martin Crutsinger, also of the Associated Press, writes, "They hold nearly half of the government's roughly $7 trillion in publicly traded debt." Secretary Geithner is on the road trying to convince people in China, Saudi Arabia and Europe to continue purchasing these commodities by assuring them the dollar is strong and that the current administration's plans to reduce the deficit will work.

Both Timothy Geithner and the women in stilettos are pushing a product. I wish I could have located an online picture of the 50 meter stiletto dash because these women were racing and marketing with joy, made particularly obvious by the one with the biggest smile who was running on a completely rolled over left ankle!

Mr. Geither may be having more difficulty convincing his audience than the cushion sales ladies. Couple public perception with this fact released by the Congressional Budget Office. Based on the budgetary actions set in motion by President Barack Obama, the federal deficit will not be able to be reduced to any less than $633 billion over the next ten years!

According to Martin Crutsinger, "When Geithner told a packed auditorium at Peking University that Chinese investments in the U.S. were safe, his comment was greeted by laughter. The students appeared to be laughing more at the quickness with which Geithner had responded to a question, not at what he said. Still, the reaction did highlight underlying skepticism."

Comparing the two advertising campaigns, it appears the stiletto racers in Tel Aviv have a much easier, more enjoyable and more believable sell. I wonder if they got to keep the shoes?

To see my choice of stiletto, click on the link below.
Shoes for her.com
http://www.sg1dev.com/shoesforher/wsau.asp

Telegram and Gazette, Monday, July 20, 2009, "US Treasury bills are becoming a hard sell" by Martin Crutsinger of the Associated Press, Money section, p.B7
http://www.telegram.com/article/20090720/NEWS/907200336/1002

Telegram and Gazette, Monday, July 20, 2009, Associated Press picture "Cushy Soles?" p.A3