Category: News and Views

Another jobless recovery? | Greg McBride, CFA – Bankrate.com

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Another jobless recovery?

By Greg McBride, CFA • Bankrate.com

Wednesday, July 22
Posted 11 a.m. Eastern

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s appearance before the House Financial Services Committee yesterday lacked any unexpected revelations. One point in his prepared remarks did catch my attention, however.

“Although the unemployment rate is projected to peak at the end of this year, the projected declines in 2010 and 2011 would still leave unemployment well above FOMC participants’ views of the longer-run sustainable rate.”

Reading between the lines, Bernanke seems to suggest we’re in for another jobless recovery. My own opinion is that it will be the mother of all jobless recoveries. Sure hope I’m wrong.

Regarding the economy: On July 31, the initial estimate of second quarter economic output, affectionately known as Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, will be released. There is a possibility that the economy, either based on initial estimates or subsequent revisions, will eke out some growth.

Now, let’s not get too far out over our skis but be cautious about interpreting this if it should come to pass. Here’s why: Any growth posted by the U.S. economy will largely be due to a shrinking trade deficit, as imports (what we buy) have fallen much faster than exports (what we sell). So bottom line, any growth in the U.S. economy during the second quarter is more testament to the resilience of foreign consumers than it is American consumers.

For more of Greg McBride’s posts, go to: Fed Blog: Making sense of the Federal Reserve.

When, Oh When, Will HELP Be WANTED? | NYTimes.com

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by Louis Uchitelle

Question: Where is the recovery coming from? This article adds some fresh perspective.

“But this time is clearly different. The pent-up demand is not present — not with 6.46 million jobs gone in just 18 months and hundreds of billions of dollars in wages extinguished. Credit is harder than ever to get for those who might want to spend again, and there are fewer and fewer spenders. People who do have jobs are saving (not spending) more of their incomes than they have in years, trying to replenish wealth lost in the stock market and in the declining value of their homes.”

Read Article: When, Oh When, Will HELP Be WANTED? – NYTimes.com.

The Customer Lens: An Approach to Customer Touch-Point Analysis | Barre Blake

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Few marketers would dispute the statement that it is the sum of all customers’ interactions with a company, over time, that ultimately creates or destroys that company’s brand value. Yet few companies take the time to look at their own business practices comprehensively through the lens of their customers to understand how they measure up to their customers’ needs and expectations.

Does each customer interaction live up to the brand experience that the company is trying to create? Are you providing a more consistent and relevant customer experience than your competitors are? Which interactions are the most powerful for creating customer loyalty?

Fielding customer-satisfaction surveys is not enough. To better serve their customer base and more effectively acquire new customers, organizations need to delve into the details of individual interactions to understand the relationship between each customer touch point and the value it delivers to customers.

After all, value may be built through a series of positive experiences, but it is maintained through consistently meeting the needs and expectations of your customers throughout the customer lifecycle—from pre-purchase consideration to post-purchase evaluation. Companies that have recognized and leveraged this insight have reaped the benefits through improved key performance metrics.

So, despite such successes, why do so few companies take a comprehensive look at their customer touch points? And of those companies that have undertaken such initiatives, why have so many faltered?
Continue reading “The Customer Lens: An Approach to Customer Touch-Point Analysis | Barre Blake” →

Small & Disabled Veteran Businesses Power California Economy | Study, C.S.U.S.

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Below is a summary of the study commissioned by the state Department of General Services. The study was just released, but is based on 2006-07 data, so a more appropriate title may have been “Small Business Used To Power California Economy”. The study contains no comment on how state I.O.U.s are going to affect these business powerhouses.

Small & Disabled Veteran Businesses Power California Economy

New study details billions of dollars of economic activity, and tens of thousands of new jobs, created by the state’s contracting efforts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A new study details the financial impact of the state’s efforts to increase small and disabled veteran business enterprise participation in the state’s goods and services purchasing. The analysis of results from the 2006-07 fiscal year shows how small and disabled veteran businesses enterprises produce about 50 percent more overall California economic impact for each dollar spent than large enterprises. The report also offers a picture of how much this activity increased overall business tax revenues across California’s economy, and how it affected different sectors of the state’s economy.

“The State’s efforts to contract with smaller business created a powerful multiplier effect,” said Jim Butler, that state’s Chief Procurement Officer. “$4.2 billion in new economic activity of all kinds was produced in California by the state spending around $2.66 billion-and 25,617 jobs were created.”

Read the study here.

Continue reading “Small & Disabled Veteran Businesses Power California Economy | Study, C.S.U.S.” →

Wells Fargo’s America’s Recovery Capital SBA Loan Application | Marty Gronewald

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Our friend Marty Gronewald just forwarded us Well Fargo’s ARC loan application. He said none of the local branches had a clue about it but he was able to ferret out the information for us.

It is encouraging the have an application, but in the early paragraphs it says that the program is subject to the banks underwriting rules which would mean that they would never actually loan the money.

If you’d like to brave this adventure, click here to view the application. Right click on the ‘click here’ to save it to your computer. It’s a standard package, so you could send it to multiple lenders.

If anyone gets funded with this program, please let us know. We would love to spread the good news!

SBA Sponsors Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop

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Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop to be held at the Wilshire Grand Hotel Center

Downtown , L A
July 9 – 10, 2009

Stimulus funding:

What you need to know now

March 12, 2009 — Nonprofits should be ready to move quickly, now that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama.
In The Cohen Report (February 14 and February 15, 2009), a web publication of The Nonprofit Quarterly, Rick Cohen explores the significance of the Act for nonprofit organizations. Provisions of the Act include:

$150 million for economically distressed communities;
$225 million for Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Programs;
$100 million for Community Development Financial Institutions;
$750 million for worker training and placement (of this amount, $500 million is for careers in efficient and renewable energy–green jobs)
$50 million for capacity-building grants that will go directly to nonprofit organizations.

Continue reading “SBA Sponsors Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop” →

SBA ARC program DOA. Is Obama for real or are the banks still running the show?

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The Small Business Administration announced the ARC program for distressed small businesses. This emergency loan, up to $35,000, is intended for businesses that can’t pay their bills.

Guess what? Since the SBA only guarantees loans and the banks still have to fund them, we have yet to see a single ARC loan made. The recovery efforts, at least as far as main street is concerned, feels like a photo op.

If you’ve had success getting one of these loans, please contact pmehit@wbpllc.com. I’d love to know your secret.

Economic Stimulus a ‘Sugar High’ | Bloomberg.com

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I remember a time at the doctor’s office when he was getting ready to give me a shot. “This is going to sting a little,” he said and he was right. Now we’re watching cascading failures in the economy as GM and Chrysler are on life support and billions of dollars are printed to restore a broken credit system.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick calls the stimulus being injected into the economy a ‘sugar high’ that will result in a deeper depression on the other side. As a long time Coke addict (the drink, not the drug) I can attest that you don’t feel better when the sugar wears off.

Even our own John Husing, usually a parenial optomist, points to the next reset of Option ARM mortgages coming at the end of this year. The regulators and the bankers need to untie this knot quick, or we’ll all yearn for the good old days of last August’s crash.

This is not a cyclical change. Our economy is undergoing a profound structural change. On the other side of this, the economy, our country and how we live will look a lot different than it does today. Whether this is good or bad depends on how we react to it.

We are seeing people coming together in creative ways to save companies or start new ones. People a starting to work together. They’re not waiting for a government bailout. They’re moving on.

When this is past, we have the chance to be better people. We’ll pay more attention to what our government is doing. We’ll watch our finances better. We’ll find strengths we didn’t know we had.

But it’s going to sting a little.

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