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Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE:CCTYQ) may not be long for this world.

The troubled electronics retailer said today that it has until the end of next week to reach a deal "with interested parties" or else it would be forced to liquidate. This is hardly surprising.

Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November after being squeezed by both the credit crunch and rivals including Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY). Moreover, consumer confidence is at an all-time low making it difficult for any seller of discretionary purchases such as electronic gadgets and gizmos.

It will be a miracle if a white knight comes to Circuit City's rescue. For one thing, Best Buy, the No. 1 retailer of electronics, is struggling too. The company today narrowed its 2009 forecast because of weak sales in December Many other retailers are facing hard times and more bankruptcies are expected.

But Circuit City has been in trouble even before the economic slowdown. In March 2007, the second-largest electronics retailer gained headlines after it fired 3,400 "experienced" workers and replaced them with lower-paid less-experienced staff. It was a public relations disaster.

Not only did it make the Virginia retailer to look like a heartless employer, but it made it seem that it did not give a hoot about its customers. People like me have gadget-phobia. Anything computerized or electronic freaks us out. When are looking to buy a new gizmo, we need lots and lots of hand holding from sales people. My fellow gadget-phobes and myself are not going to take a chance of getting poor service from Circuit City.

Like many communities, we have Circuit City and Best Buy next door to one another. Guess which parking lot is usually empty.

If legendary comedian W.C. Fields were alive today, he would argue that there is a sucker born every second, particularly among investors looking for a quick buck. If you were shocked by the $50 billion Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, get ready to hear more tales of investors wronged by scam artists.

Madoff and his ilk can keep their alleged frauds going as long as there is an endless supply of gullible individuals eager to make "fast money" without asking too many questions. It was only when the market tanked that investors started to withdraw money from the one-time Wall Street legend and that the scheme was therefore unraveled. The same scenario may have occurred with clients of Joseph S. Forte of Broomall, Pa.

According to the SEC, Forte told investors that he would invest their money in an account that would trade in securities futures contracts including S&P 500 stock index futures.

Former Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) Chief Executive Richard Parsons is rumored to be under consideration to be the next Secretary of Commerce after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew his name because of an ongoing investigation in his state.

Parsons, who tangled with billionaire Carl Icahn during the recent proxy fight, already is an economic adviser to President-elect Barack Obama. He would make a great spokesman for American business during the current economic crisis.

In fact, Parsons is probably more suited for the job than Richardson, a career politician. Parsons does have baggage, though. You can expect service on corporate boards such as Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) to come up during his confirmation hearings.

Parsons joined Time Warner's board in 1991 and became CEO in 2002 after the problematic $124 billion merger with AOL (the parent company of this blog), which the company is still recovering from today. He deserves some credit for patching up the situation and settling costly investor lawsuits.

Should Parsons join the administration, he will not be the only former Time Warner employee to do so. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the globe-trotting CNN medical correspondent, is slated to be Surgeon General.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), which has been reeling from declining advertising sales, said today that its results would be worse-than-expected this year.

In a statement released ahead of a presentation to analysts, the world's largest media conglomerate said it had a net loss in 2008 compared with its guidance issued in November that called for earnings of $1.04 to $1.07. Several one-time items contributed to the loss, including the write-down of a lease in the Time-Life building from a tenant that filed for bankruptcy. The write-offs total $25 billion.

"In addition to these items, the economic environment has proved somewhat more challenging than the Company previously expected, particularly for the advertising businesses at the AOL and Publishing segments, further reducing the expected growth rate in 2008 Adjusted Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization by about one percentage point," the company said in press release.

None of this is surprising given the anemic environment for advertising. The company's magazine business is particularly vulnerable and has already experienced layoffs. Investors are still eager for Time Warner to dispose of AOL, though a deal for the parent of this blog is not likely until the economy improves. Another business that may see further cutbacks is book publishing.

Regardless, this news gave Wall Street a reason to avoid the New York-based company. Shares have rebounded a bit after trading down 10%.

German billionaire Adolph Merckle, who has been beset by money woes, committed suicide.

According to Bloomberg News, Merckle, listed as 94th on Forbes' list of the world's wealthiest people, was hit by a train. His family released a statement saying he was "broken by his inability to handle the situation." Until recently, Merckle had a good reputation but ran into some bad luck.

"Merckle, whose holdings spanned the cement, machinery and drug industries, was battered by bets on Volkswagen AG, a drop in the value of his HeidelbergCement AG stock and increasing debt," Bloomberg News said. Shares of HeidelbergCement slumped on the news of Merckle's suicide.

Though my heart goes out to his family, the fact that the businessman chose to end his life is not surprising. The current economic crisis has placed people under unbelievable amounts of stress. Sometimes things go horribly wrong.

A French investor recently caught up in the Bernard Madoff scandal recently took his own life. Last year, an executive with a subprime mortgage company murdered his wife of 10 years and the mother of his two children before leaping off a bridge spanning New Jersey and Delaware.

Countless other tragedies that happen every day do not make the news. Divorces are bound to rise and I bet domestic violence is increasing. Let's hope that the government funds mental health services with the same gusto it provides money to money-losing financial institutions.

Attention iPhone users: the mystery of your non-existent internet service has been solved.

My wife was told this morning by an AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) customer service representative that there has been a major outage of data service on the East Coast. She was told the company "lost a switch." It is not clear what caused the problem or when it will be fixed. A similar problem happened in September.

Technical glitches are nothing new for us iPhone users. You can travel for miles without a 3G signal. My wife's iPhone had to be replaced because it would not "wake up" from its sleep mode.

This creates problems for both AT&T and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), which are facing increased competition from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) among others. The timing could not be worse.

Former eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Chief Executive Meg Whitman reportedly is quitting the board of the online auctioneer along with Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), and Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA) to run for governor of California.

The news -- first reported by the Wall Street Journal -- should not warm the hearts of Californians. Under Whitman, eBay morphed from one of the leaders on the information superhighway to roadkill left on the side of the road. The company's high growth days are behind it.

Since leaving eBay last year, she has immersed herself in Republican politics, backing the campaigns of her old friend Mitt Romney and John McCain. Interestingly, her contemporary Carly Fiorina, ex head of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ), also backed the GOP.

Should Whitman take the plunge, the odds are against her. For one thing, no one outside of stock geeks and disgruntled eBay sellers knows her name. Of course, several million dollars worth of television advertising will take care of that.

California's problems are enormous. The state, which has been hit especially hard by the subprime mortgage crisis, faces a $42 billion budget deficit. State officials are threatening to pay their bills with IOUS. It's a situation that is trying the superhuman strength of the governator Arnold Schwarzenegger.

What makes Whitman believe she can do better?

Dr. Stephen Greenspan is an expert on why people behave foolishly. That what makes his role as a victim of the Madoff Ponzi scheme so informative and ironic.

In a lengthy op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, the emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut, Greenspan argues that even highly educated people can become victims of a Ponzi scheme. The architects of these frauds tend to be personable people adept on playing on the insecurities of their clients.

Greenspan did not invest with Madoff directly. Like many victims, he gave money to one of the so-called "feeder funds" after listening to a pitch from an acquaintance of his sister and brother-in-law. He argues that Madoff's lies were not obvious or easy to recognize. Heck, the SEC couldn't figure out what Madoff was up to even though it was given a pretty clear road map. Let's hope Congress can get to the bottom of this in hearings later today.

The mystery surrounding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Chief Executive Steve Jobs continues.

After several blogs reported last week that Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer, was ill again, the mercurial executive decided to come clean, especially since he decided to take a pass on the mammoth Macworld conference. At least, sort of.

In a highly unusual "letter" to "Apple Community", Jobs said that doctors have found a hormone imbalance that was "robbing" him of proteins his body needs to be healthy.

"The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment," Jobs said in a statement. "But, just like I didn't lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery."

Investors with Bernard Madoff who withdrew their money before the world's largest investment fraud should not celebrate their good fortune. According to Bloomberg News' Ann Woolner, these people may be sucked into the scandal even if they had no intention of ripping anyone off.

"Investors who benefit from fraud, even if they knew nothing of any misdeeds, can be called on to return the fictitious earnings from their investments, even their principal if they redeemed it before the fraud was exposed," Woolner writes. "That money would be added to Madoff assets, to be divvied up among creditors, including the very same investors who had been forced to contribute to the pool."

Remember, the Madoff investors who did not get wiped out benefited (unknowingly) from the proceeds of a fraud. They did not earn legitimate profits.

The question is what should happen next. Should the lucky Madoff investors be able to keep their gains even if technically they don't deserve them? I don't know. I am not a lawyer nor am I a clergyman. These are going to be tough, heart-breaking decisions.

But it seems to me that the Madoff "haves" are going to be called to help the "have-nots." Remember, Madoff's victims will be lucky if a fraction of their money is recovered. They still have not recouped all of money that people lost in Sam Israel's Bayou Fund.

The pain for Madoff's investors will last years.

Frustrated with poor returns from the stock market, investors are increasingly turning to a conventional strategy that can promise security at 0 percent interest rates. I am talking about piggy banks.

According to Reuters, sales of the novelty banks are rising as the economy continues to worsen. Exact figures are hard to come by but several retailers report rising demand. Piggy Bank World.com reported a strong holiday season, according to Michael Gehi, one of the owners. Companies are also increasingly using the banks for promotions.

Though my wife and I don't own a piggy bank, we have taken our loose change to Commerce Bank (now owned by TD Bank (NYSE: TD), which for years has counted people's spare change for free in a nifty computerized machine.

One of the more intriguing questions of the $50 billion Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme is where did all of the money go. Investors now may get a rough idea as to what the man who was once considered by investors to be some sort of genius did with their life savings.

According to Bloomberg News, Madoff is due to file a statement today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listing his assets. That probably is one of the many, many conditions of his bail, including hiring a private security company to keep gawkers and the press away from his apartment building. I am sure the tenant's association meetings have been lively.

Before he was arrested, Madoff allegedly told employees that he had $200 million to $300 million left, according to Bloomberg. His lawyer declined to comment to the news service as to what happened to remaining funds. There are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Much of Madoff's fortune may be in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda or countless other small Caribbean nations. Finding it may be extremely difficult without the cooperation of Madoff or some of his closest associates.

Though Madoff claims to have operated the Ponzi scheme by himself, that probably is not true either. The logistics of keeping such a large fraud going for decades would be difficult if not impossible to maintain. Madoff, like many Ponzi scheme operators, is trying to take the rap himself. Perhaps he is trying to deflect attention from his sons, who both claim they had no idea what their father was doing.

The fact that Madoff is Jewish as were many of his victims is not surprising either. Many Jewish charities and philanthropic institutions did not bother vetting Madoff since he was of the same religion. Victims of fraud often never imagine that one of their own would try to steal from them.

For the many victims of Madoff's scheme, justice many be elusive. Their retirement dreams have been dashed and they will need years to rebuild their financial security. It may take years for them to recover a fraction of the money they lost from Madoff.

This is the year that most media companies would rather forget. But things could have been much worse were it not for the Olympics and presidential election.

Advertising and marketing spending probably grew about 4% this year to $412.4 million, according to Outsell Inc. Online advertising revenue gained about 12% to $105.3 billion. That category now exceeds TV, radio and the movies. The news for Web ads is not all good, however. The Internet Advertising Bureau estimates that spending was flat in the third quarter compared with recent periods. This proves that Web advertising cannot escape the recession.

Companies are going to keep a tight grip on their marketing budgets. When times are bad, it's one of the first things that gets cut. Even Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is not immune. Shares of the world's largest search engine are down more than 57% as investors worried whether the company was running out of gas. During the third quarter, paid clicks on ads on Google sites and those of its partners rose 4% over the second quarter. Odds are the fourth quarter will also show lackluster quarter-to-quarter results.

The picture at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is even worse. Revenue at the Internet portal company barely budged in its most recent report. Advertisers are fleeing the site in favor of Google and smaller, more targeted publishers. That trend is bound to continue as marketers get pickier about where they spend their money as the economy worsens. Yahoo's search business will suffer as companies shift their spending to Google. In previous years, advertisers worried about spending all of their budgets with Google. No longer.

U.S. stock market futures gained at the start of the last trading week of the year. The rally may be short-lived given that many traders have taken the week between Christmas and New Year's off. Stock markets in Europe and Asia advanced as well.

Oil prices are rising amidst growing worries about the clash between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In early trading today, oil topped $40 as the death toll in the clash reached 300. Whether the conflict will boost prices at the pump remains to be seen. Members of OPEC are expected to cut production further to boost prices, which are down more than 70 percent since July. Prices may fall further as the economic slowdown further erodes demand.

Meanwhile, faith in the global economy was further undermined by the decision Sunday of Kuwait's government to cancel a $17.4 billion joint venture with Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW). Shares of the Michigan-based company and Rohm & Haas Co. (NYSE: ROH), which Dow agreed to buy earlier this year for $15.4 billion, fell in pre-market action.

GMAC has given no word about whether bondholders approved a debt exchange program that would give the financing arm of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) with access to the $700 billion financial bailout program for financial institutions.

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

For decades, Axl Rose, the lead singer for Guns N' Roses, has shown nothing but contempt for his fans, his fellow musicians, the public. and women. He would cancel concerts for no apparent reason. In 1991, he walked off the stage during a show in Germany.

Rose, born William Bruce Rose, is not a stupid man. He knew that the public still clamored for Guns N' Roses. Its songs were mainstays of rock radio. People continued to buy the group's DVDs. So, Rose went to work on the band's sixth album called Chinese Democracy.

And work. And work.

Chinese Democracy attracted almost legendary status as a project that languished for about 15 years. That's almost three lifetimes in the music industry.

Some critics liked the Rose's creation that was recently released. Rolling Stone called Chinese Democracy a "great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record." Fans were not as enthused.