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taxes

New Year, New Tax Cuts

You have to appreciate Barack Obama. Just when you think he’s committed to spending us back to prosperity as he promised during the campaign, he turns around and proposes some $300 billion in tax cuts to individuals and businesses in order to create jobs and stimulate the economy over the next two years.

Tags: business tax cuts, obama, economic stimulus

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Posted: 1/5/2009 | Comments (0)

economy

Retail Stimulus

There has been a lot of talk of how the trillions in bailout money should go to Main Street now that Wall Street has wasted its cut and the automakers are about to take their piece. Now, with a proposal from the National Retail Federation, that might be a step closer to happening, but will it work?

Tags: retail, bailout, stimulus, national retail federation, nrf

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Posted: 12/29/2008 | Comments (1)

operations

Happy Holidays from America’s Best Companies

During this season of giving, where everyone seems to be getting their bailouts, even Santa could use some help from Congress.

Tags: santa, bailout

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Posted: 12/23/2008 | Comments (0)

financing

Credit Games: Adjusting Limits According to Where People Shop

We have heard of universal default, where trouble with one creditor can mean interest rate hikes for all the others, but lowering your credit limit based on where you shop? American Express is doing just. What does that mean if your business is one flagged as being frequented by deadbeats.

Tags: small business, american express, universal default, credit limits

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Posted: 12/22/2008 | Comments (0)

politics

Should Government be Run Like a Business?

The Congress just gave itself a pay raise. For you and me, pay raises are predicated on things like a good financial picture and personal achievement; you know, meeting goals, raising the bar, exceeding expectations—all that good, positive stuff—but pay raises for our legislators don’t work that way. Maybe it is time they should.

Tags: small business, congress, government, pay raises, bailout, waste, corruption

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Posted: 12/19/2008 | Comments (0)

The Madoff Scandal: Who is Watching the Watchmen?

It is getting to be a little ridiculous, we discover that folks on Wall Street have misbehaved with money and then we learn that the folks in government charged with overseeing those activities were looking somewhere else. Now it’s a huge Ponzi scheme and SEC investigators with blinders on. What’s next, a floating craps game for CEOs betting mortgage-backed securities?

Tags: small business, sec, christopher cox, bernard madoff, ponzi scheme, congress, oversight, fraud, scandal, who is watching the watchmen

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Posted: 12/17/2008 | Comments (0)

safety

419 Nigeria Scam with a New Twist

The usual something-for-nothing Nigeria Scam has now taken on the cloak of respectability by using the name of the agency designed to stop them, kind of like the Mob posing as FBI agents. Sneaky.

Tags: small business, 419, nigeria scam, icpc, nigeria, anti-fraud unit

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Posted: 12/12/2008 | Comments (2)

howto

Don’t be a Scareware Victim

We have all gotten the pop-up window that says we have a serious malware or performance issue. There are also the emails that appear, with offers of computer system scans and repairs. Have you ever asked yourself, how do they know there is a problem with my machine? The senders of these little doom-sayings do not know a thing about your system, they don’t have to. Offers like these tend to be scams.

Tags: small business, scareware, fraud, scam, malware, anti-virus

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Posted: 12/11/2008 | Comments (0)

economy

SBA Loan Default: Any Suggestions?

Sometimes bad things do happen to good people. Here we have a couple who cosigned on an SBA loan so the wife’s sister could open a restaurant. The sister came down with a terrible illness, the business failed, now here they are responsible for the loan and the bank is eyeing their home. Folks, we are looking for suggestions on this one.

Tags: small business, economy, sba, loan, default, cosigner

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Posted: 12/9/2008 | Comments (21)

economy

The Chicago Sit-In: The Shape of Things to Come?

The workers at Republic Windows and Doors were suddenly fired last week, and they are protesting by sitting in at their former employer. They want the severance and vacation pay their contract entitles them to, but the company says Bank of America, which pulled Republic’s credit line, is calling the financial shots and refusing to pay. The bank denies all responsibility. Who should pay the workers?

Tags: small business, economy, republic windows and doors, bank of america, union contracts, protest, sit-in

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Posted: 12/8/2008 | Comments (1)

economy

$350 Billion in the Hole and Record Unemployment: Time for Something Different

When we were being sold on bailing out the financial sector, we were told that it was necessary to save jobs, homes, investments, businesses. Well, the first half of the initial $700 billion has been spent, stocks have been trending down and the unemployment rate is higher now than it has been in decades. Now a congressman from Texas has a radical idea: Take the other $350 billion and use it to finance a two-month tax holiday for all Americans. Now that’s what I call progressive!

Tags: small business, taxes, tax holiday, congress, reid, pelosi, gohmert, bailout, paulson, bernanke

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Posted: 12/5/2008 | Comments (1)

Milwaukee Neighborhoods Support Local Business with Local Money

The residents of Milwaukee’s Riverwest and East Side neighborhoods met on Wednesday to discuss a novel but not unheard-of approach to supporting local businesses—local money. The question is, would you participate? Do you think it will help?

Tags: local money, local business, small business, milwaukee, great depression

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Posted: 12/5/2008 | Comments (1)

legal

Workman’s Comp: Fighting Liability

When your employee is injured or killed on the job, is that an automatic workman’s comp claim? That is the question that will soon go before the courts in California as the mother of a woman killed on the job fights for benefits for her young grandson, but is the case as cut-and-dried as it seems?

Tags: small business, workmen’s comp, talley, death benefits, liability

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Posted: 12/4/2008 | Comments (1)

politics

Snow, Parking and Small Business in the City

You can build a wonderful little business but what happens if your municipality makes it harder for customers to reach your business by raising parking meter prices or cutting down on snow removal? If Chicago's Mayor, Richard Daley, has his way, we are about to find out.

Tags: small business, chicago, mayor richard daley, parking, parking meter rates, snow, snow removal

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Posted: 12/3/2008 | Comments (1)

Automaker Leadership Vows Cuts: Are They The Right Cuts?

Management is making cuts and concessions to wring another $25 billion from Congress, but is the key to success selling off their jets and canceling bonuses, or gaining the cooperation of the UAW to save their companies once and for all?

Tags: small business, uaw, ford, chrysler, gm, mulally, wagoner, nardelli, loans, bailout, union

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Posted: 12/2/2008 | Comments (0)

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