We have several friends who have traveled extensively to Dubai over the last decade. They would come back with stories about luxury taken to the extreme. I have followed the construction of the Burg Dubai, the largest structure on earth at over 2,000 feet in height, with interest.
All of us had the same question: This can’t go on forever, can it?
This looks like part of the answer.
Detroit, long depressed by the collapse of the auto industry, is beginning to reinvent itself.
Wells Fargo has worked with only 11% of troubled home owners to prevent foreclosure. Now this. Hmmmm…..
P.S. Make sure you look at the pictures of the house.
The Small Business Economy
Although many positive signs have indicated that the economy is beginning to improve and recover, at the end of 2008 America was experiencing one of the largest quarterly drops in GDP since the Great Depression. … The recession began with plummeting home values, and the construction industry, composed primarily of small businesses, has been the hardest hit.
Also:
Advocacy Interns Expand Summer Staff
Special Insert: Small Business FAQ
For the full report Click Here
Trends
Real gross domestic product fell an annualized 1 percent in the second quarter of 2009. While this was the fourth consecutive quarter of declining output, the decline was significantly less than the previous quarter’s 6.4 percent drop, and it may be one of a handful of signs that the worst of the recession may be past. Real consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of real GDP, was down 1.2 percent annually, and real exports were off 7 percent. Other declines were more marked: real gross private fixed investment declined an annualized 20.5 percent, and real imports fell 15.1 percent. Measures of manufacturing output were mixed, with industrial production falling and the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing manager’s index rising. Proprietors’ income fell 5.4 percent on an annualized basis during the quarter, and by 8 percent year to year.
Continue reading “Second Quarter 2009: Small Business and The Economy | SBA”
There is hope. At least one judge is holding the banks to the same laws we have to follow. Know a judge,? Tell her or him to read this.
“If you are going to take away someone’s house, everything should be legal and correct,” he said. “I’m a strange guy — I don’t want to put a family on the street unless it’s legitimate.”
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an interview with the new head of SBA, Karen G. Mills. To get an idea where the SBA is headed, this is a good article to read.
A briefing about how the federal stimulus is impacting small businesses in California. Also discusses stimulus opportunities. From our friends at the Small Business Administration.
Business Matchmaking and SBDC team to help entrepreneurs access contracts.
LOS ANGELES — On Sept. 2 Los Angeles will be the fourth stop in a 15-city, California tour aimed at increasing small business readiness to access stimulus-funded contracts through President Obama’s Economic Recovery Plan.
The program, Stimulus Opportunities for Small Business, is free for participants and will be presented by California Small Business Development Centers and Los Angeles-based nonprofit Business Matchmaking, in cooperation with the Small Business Advocate in the governor’s office.
Continue reading “Statewide Small Business Stimulus Program Heads to L.A. | SBA”
The sixth person we know personally is about to lose their home. We know a lot of small business owners and they are being crushed out of existence between unmanageable debt and evaporating customers. How far they will go down, since the number of jobs employing their college educated skills is trending to zero, we do not know, but they are no longer property owners. This is bad for all of us.
Continue reading “Slipping off the Grid, or, How to Start A Revolution Without Even Trying | Peter Mehit”
Dispatches From The Front 