Business Mentors

Nearly nine months ago, USA Today reported that about three quarters of the nation’s small- and mid-sized business leaders indicated they were anticipating higher revenues in the year ahead, and nearly 60 percent expected rising profits. Among those who expressed confidence in their future, 54 percent expected to hire more employees, and 50 percent were […]

“I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said I don’t know.”   —Mark Twain   There are less than 9 months before the 2012 presidential election. For the past six months, and the next nine, the answers to questions asked of the candidates will continue to be rhetorical and nebulous, at best.

On Feb. 3, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly employment report, which was greeted as good news. The numbers showed a net increase of 243,000 jobs, 108,000 above the consensus forecast. As a consequence, the unemployment rate dropped from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent. The BLS also revised its November and

Do you want to think positive today? Do you want to feel good about this country’s economic prospects? All right. Let’s go for it. Are you ready? Let’s think oil and gas. Little Wow? Hey — I suggest you think Big Wow. And here is why. Whether you like it or not, energy rules. When

Listen carefully, quiet, shh … did you hear? New York State is  approaching bankruptcy.  And Gov. Cuomo, with the cooperation of the state Senate, the Assembly and every New York State resident is attempting to avert a Greece-like collapse of the state’s credit status and governmental system of providing necessary services in a fiscally responsible

The Federal Financial Institutions examination Council (FFIEC) — a group of federal financial regulators empowered to issue uniform standards for most of the financial institutions in the United States — issued new guidelines to the nation’s federal credit unions, banks, and other financial institutions. It notified them that they will have to comply with new

New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo intrigues me. What he is trying to do may impact the entire country some day. Cuomo is from the left, of course. He gets a lot of campaign money from the left. Teachers’ unions and the education lobby give him big bucks. So do the unions for state and municipal workers. And yet,

For a small business, marketing and advertising seek an answer to the question, “How will prospective customers find me?” People today no longer reply to direct mail. They don’t peruse the phone book. They use television, newspapers, magazines, and other traditional media much less. In fact, they don’t even ask their friends in person. They use

Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed his executive budget recently. Overall, it’s a good start that addresses contentious issues and has the taxpayers in mind. It keeps spending at the same level as last year. It also proposes reforms to Medicaid and the pension system that will reduce the bloated, built-in increases my colleagues and I have talked about

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”  — Anonymous Back in 1996, when I was young and optimistic, I wrote a column about the evils and “benefits” of health-care “capitation” in a “managed-care” model. This column will prove, once again, that “what goes around, comes around.” And, not always with desirable results. Read on. First, a definition: capitation