Here’s the good news: Airfares are down. According to fare-prediction app Hopper, rates in September dropped a substantial 18 percent from the previous year. And all signs point to a bottoming-out this month, at an average domestic round-trip price of $204. Now, the bad: Airline consolidation and the continued softening of the European economy, among other concerns, have some analysts nervous about the future of flying. But don’t panic just yet. Although the following warning signs seem to indicate that things could get worse for fliers, there may be ways to ease at least some of the pain.
Weekly Economic Update | LAEDC
v.19 n. 52 – Released December 29, 2015
This Week’s Headlines:
- November State and Local Employment Report
- California Home Sales and Median Prices in November
- Personal Income Growth Strengthens in November
- Headline Inflation Unchanged in November
- Industrial Production
- California State Tax Revenues Rise by 4.1% in 3Q15
- U.S. Travel and Tourism Continues to Grow
- Events of Interest
- February 17, 2016: LAEDC February Economic Outlook
Top 10 Differences between Entrepreneurs and Wantrepreneurs | Getentrepreneurial
There are important differences between entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs that explain why some business people succeed against all odds, while most fail. It isn’t always easy to predict who will come out on top in the competitive world of business. Lenders, investors and prospective business associates considering a relationship with an entrepreneur should carefully evaluate possible liaisons based on the list below. The question to answer is whether the business owner is a committed and focused entrepreneur or a wantrepreneur destined to fail.
Entrepreneurs are passionate about their business and are willing to make it the top priority in their life, in sharp contrast to wantrepreneurs who may talk about their dream but are unable to focus on the business and give it the necessary attention required to succeed.
Scrum and Lean for Beginners: All You Need to Know about the World’s Best Management Systems | Page19
At some point in your life, you’ve probably had a stroke of genius, a brand-new, revolutionary idea for a company or product. Maybe it was an idea for a new micro-learning app, a navigate-your-city jacket, maybe it was an idea to colonize Mars, or to capture cow farts in methane backpacks?
But as any science fiction show knows, conceptualization is not the same as creation. So how to make your idea a reality?
And indeed, it’s a good question: inevitably there’s an unexpected thing or two (or two thousand) to take into account as you pursue your idea. As your business begins to take shape, these challenges will only grow. Because how to manage this project in the first place? How to manage time? Your team?
This is where scrum and lean come into the picture.
2015: The Year in Tech Tweets | CB Insights
From VCs crying “bubble” to Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca crossfire, we did a retrospective on the year by digging up our favorite Tweets.
Business Scan | LAEDC
Kyser Center for Economic Research is pleased to provide the December 2015 issue of Business Scan, a compilation of Los Angeles County economic indicators and business trends, including employment, trade, housing, tourism and entertainment.
Corporate Innovation Theatre | CB Insights
Many corporations strive to stay on top of innovation by creating buzzwordy accelerator programs. The goal is to support and learn from startups.
But here’s the problem: if you’re a giant, slow-moving company not known for being particularly innovative, the startups attracted to your accelerator are going to be second or third tier.
Please Don’t Shut Down the Internet, Donald Trump | The New Yorker
So shutting down the Internet, or slowing it, is possible. But it’s also a terrible strategy. One of the ideas that has been central to American foreign policy for the past seventy years is that totalitarianism and oppression are best foiled by giving people more information, not less.
Marriott is removing desks from hotel rooms in a strange bid to please millennials | Yahoo Finance
What Just Happened to Solar and Wind is a Really Big Deal | Bloomberg Business
The clean-energy boom is about to be transformed. In a surprise move, U.S. lawmakers agreed to extend tax credits for solar and wind for another five years.
This will give an unprecedented boost to the industry and change the course of deployment in the U.S. The extension will add an extra 20 gigawatts of solar power—more than every panel ever installed in the U.S. prior to 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The U.S. was already one of the world’s biggest clean-energy investors. This deal is like adding another America of solar power into the mix.
The wind credit will contribute another 19 gigawatts over five years. Combined, the extensions will spur more than $73 billion of investment and supply enough electricity to power 8 million U.S. homes, according to BNEF.
“This is massive,” said Ethan Zindler, head of U.S. policy analysis at BNEF. In the short term, the deal will speed up the shift from fossil fuels more than the global climate deal struck this month in Paris and more than Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan that regulates coal plants, Zindler said.
