Home Wealth Project
Extensive Research On How To Build Wealth From The Comfort Of Your Own Home.
Paying attention to the attention economy
Jul 5th
Most of us are happily obsessed with the economy of money. We earn it and we spend it and we generally pay attention to what things cost.
Certainly, salespeople and marketers are truly focused on the price of things, on commissions and shelving allowances and net margin and the cost of goods sold.
With all of these easily measured activity, it’s easy to overlook the fast-growing and ever more important economy based around attention.
“If I alert my entire customer base, how much will this cost me in permission?”
“How much time do we save our customers with a better written manual?”
“When we fail to ask for (and reward) the privilege of following up, are we wasting permission?”
“Does launching this product to an audience of stangers waste the attention we’re going to have to buy?”
Attention is a bit like real estate, in that they’re not making any more of it. Unlike real estate, though, it keeps going up in value.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
How to Market your Business in any Economy
Jun 19th
Learn how Joy Gendusa grew PostcardMania from her living room and zero start up capital to a $19 million a year business, and how she’s since helped thousands of her clients successfully grown their businesses using simple marketing with postcards.
How to Market your Business in any Economy
New Music Economy – The Music Marketing System
May 17th
Music marketing system that teaches musicians how to work their business like an Internet Marketer. As used on artists on Cash Money, Warner Bros, etc. Pays 50%. http://genyrockstars.com/newmusiceconomy/affiliate s
New Music Economy – The Music Marketing System
The Thank You Economy: Show You Care for People Through Social Media
Mar 27th
A great doctor understands your medical history so he or she can give the right medication dosage when you are ill. If you’re a New York City foodie, you certainly enjoy great service at your favorite restaurants. And many people can recall a repairman simply because he always had the right suggestion for a household repair.
These examples demonstrate how and why customers chose small businesses to frequent. And if you ask New York Times bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee on Twitter), he’ll tell you the instances of considering earlier experiences and how much the service provider cared, when deciding on future purchases, are blossoming.
His new book, The Thank You Economy, explains how this notion has become an online movement that rethinks business value offline.
If you were a bit overpowered by one of Gary’s intense online orations during his first book’s promotion (see Ivana Taylor’s Crush It review here), you’ll see a slightly softer speaking tone this time. It’s more like that seen on MSNBC’s Morning Joe (see a video here). I noticed it listening to him at a Barnes and Noble Tribeca book signing, which is where I picked up a copy of The Thank You Economy.
No less passionate, Vaynerchuk just has a different and very informed intensity. You will experience this tone while reading The Thank You Economy.
If you suspect social media has started a deeper revolution, read on
Vaynerchuk addresses 11 typical company hesitancies with deepening the customer connection using social media. He does not advocate specific tools, but digs into corporate concerns about return on investment, message control and consumer backlash. Check out his comment on the need for controlling the message:
“Business leaders consistently underestimate two things. First, they underestimate people’s willingness to forgive. They are afraid to put up fan pages because they think any negative comment is equal to a ’60 Minutes’ investigation showing the whole world how much they stink…. Second, they underestimate people’s [B.S.] radar.”
Vaynerchuk offers compelling support through data and large business examples. When customers complained that Ann Taylor LOFT’s new cargo pants looked good only on models, not real-sized women, Ann Taylor showed photos of its employees wearing the pants. The result? “… tons of comments from women thanking LOFT for listening ….” One customer did not like the pants, according to Vaynerchuk, but she respected how Ann Taylor LOFT handled the complaints.
Although he focuses on social media’s importance, Vaynerchuk tries to avoid rehashing other social media authors. On page 5 he claims the term social media is a “misnomer” of the new economic movement. Some points will sound similar, however, if you’ve read anything from those aforementioned authors.
But Vaynerchuk asserts that businesses are being humanized by social media, and such reimagined roles will become the essential way of doing business. Intellectual capital, accessible due to “a massive cultural shift” of Internet usage, powers why people love Q&A in Quora, read reviews on Yelp, and rely on Twitter for news about current events like the recent Egyptian unrest and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
The Thank You Economy enlightens those who don’t rely on e-commerce and are semi-pondering what their place in the current economy is. For example, Vanderchuk nails it in describing how a B2B company is influenced by the culture shift as much as an e-tailer:
“Behind every B2B transaction, there is a C. The C in a B2B exchange – usually a purchasing manager, a purchasing agent or a buyer – wants the same thing as any other consumer when making buying decisions: outstanding product and service, and the reassurance that someone is thinking about how to best meet the person’s business needs.”
Vanynerchuk provides personal insights, such as his opening recollection of his dad’s liquor store manger’s refusal of a customer’s coupon request (“I went over to the manager and said “That guy will never come back.” I was wrong about that…. He came back… to tell us he would never shop with us again.”) He details how business should consider natural engagement to gain true success:
“One thing that is daunting to many about social media is that it requires you to throw away the script. The rules of engagement force you, or the person to whom you have entrusted your brand’s voice, to improvise, and be willing to go where the consumer leads you.”
In this world, context of relationship is king, not just content.
Like a fine wine, The Thank You Economy complements your social media or mobile ideas
If you already know that social media is important, this book is not for you, but it does complement other social media books (check out the social media book list) and enhances the “why” behind many Small Business Trends tips such as Lisa Barone’s 5 Things Learned from Twitter Stalking and T.J. McCue’s 4 Ways to Make or Save Money with a Smartphone. You can also pair The Thank You Economy with books like The Mesh by Lisa Gansky (see a review here) and even The Economics of Integrity by Anna Bernasek (book review here) to discover how true connection is creating renewed value from seemingly everywhere.
Vaynerchuk walks the talk throughout this book, ending with a series of suggested book covers submitted through a contest — very thoughtful that he gives props to every contestant.
Pick up The Thank You Economy and you will win the “contest” for what matters most. As Vaynerchuk says, “If you succeed with social media, it won’t be because of the platform; it will be because you acknowledge that culture and consumer expectations can change.”
The Thank You Economy: Show You Care for People Through Social Media
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Small Business News: SMBs and the Economy
Feb 17th
Recently businesses have expressed concern over excessive regulations that have made conducting business ever more expensive, often with limited justification in the eyes of some business owners. Those efforts were portrayed by some in government as a bid to rid business of even important regulations protecting public health and the environment. Instead, small businesses would simply like government to do what entrepreneurs have always done when challenging economic challenges: attempt to be realistic and practical when adopting regulation to be sure it does not inadvertently make things tougher on small business and our economy.
Outlook & Policy
How much debt is really sustainable? As a small business owner, you know that too much debt over too long a period without the ability to pay it off will eventually sink your venture. So, why don’t governments understand this fundamental economic principal? In this video, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jack Lew, gives a great explanation of how government still cannot get this simple idea right. Policy Forum Blog
Government aims to help economy by cutting small business funding. Some might argue that the place to start cutting costs while trying to increase entrepreneurship and stimulate small business would not be the U.S. Small Business Administration. But then critics have argued for some time argued many of the agency’s could be streamlines to improve service to small business people. However, funding for helpful Small Business Development Centers will also be cut. WSJ
Programs & Regs
SBA changes contract setback rules. Other regulations to change on the federal level include a change in the way government contracts are awarded to small businesses. The changes may affect things like how much of a project is handled by small firms as opposed to a larger partner and also some of the guidelines under which participants in the program can be considered disadvantaged. The Washington Post
1099 expansion must go. That was the clear message from small business leaders about a requirement included in the new healthcare law that will have small businesses filling out many more of the forms and drastically increasing the scope of the vendors and amounts that require a form to be filled out. Small businesses point of view? Too much time and expense! CFO Webcasts
Finance
The bootstrapping guide to business financing. Amongst the challenges facing entrepreneurs in a rapidly changing economy can be the ability to raise capital from conventional means. Hey, what exactly are conventional means these days, anyway. The key is to look for another means for funding your start-up and, thankfully, a time-honored tradition already exists. Open Forum
Ready to start your business a whole new way? Actually, bootstrapping is more straight forward and less convoluted than other ways of starting a business and in most cases you can start today. Ultimately, it’s about launching a business with the resources at hand. There is, of course, an art to achieving positive bootstrapping results. Open Forum
Marketing & Tech
SMBs prefer Facebook Places to Groupon. The numbers are in and if current trends are any indication, in a changing economy in which many businesses are scrambling to find new footing, geo-social platforms are winning out over group buying platforms. Which kind of marketing does your small business prefer? ClickZ
Social media is important but so are Websites and e-mail. Ramon Ray urges businesses to utilize social media like Twitter and Facebook, but not to forget about the importance of Websites and e-mail. In this video Ray goes through a couple of the most important points that will help make your Website and e-mail great marketing and sales tools. smallbiztechnology.com
Outsourcing Trends
SMBs take advantage of borderless economy. In an attempt to compete small to medium sized businesses are also turning to mobile contractors as an on demand source of labor and expertise. A new report shows a trend which could create an opportunity for both small businesses seeking services and those with expertise who are looking to create a business of their own. pr-inside.com
Report shows SMB contractor trend. The report suggests that much more than simply improving productivity with lower cost for many SMBs, the new trend toward outsourced contractors is also creating new small business opportunities for those who either provide a very in-demand service or can manage projects for others. Download the free report and start trying to figure out where your business fits in. SMB Trend Report
Small Business News: SMBs and the Economy
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Where To Find Jobs As the Economy Recovers
Jan 26th
This is a guest post by Brendan Cruickshank.
Pick up any newspaper or magazine today and start reading about the economy. What you will
see is not pretty.
Reports are grim and it’s easy to see why; the nation has been looking at unemployment rates percolating in and out of double digits for quite some time. Some of our larger states (e.g., California, Michigan, Florida) are seeing unemployment figures locked solidly in the teens.
As a whole, there are as many as 30 million people looking for work right now. Yet there are some encouraging signs out there. A recent Wall Street Journal article reported good news in the U.S. manufacturing sector, which in 2010 showed a work force growth for the first time in a decade. And believe it or not, there are a few other industries out there that seem to be oblivious to any thoughts of recession and are actually charging ahead quite nicely.
Let’s take a look at a few business sectors that have managed to buck the trend and show some degree of growth:
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Clean Energy: The solar power industry has been creating jobs at a much faster rate than the overall U.S. economy. In the past year alone, the number of workers in the industry doubled and estimates for 2011 project an additional growth of about 26%. According to the Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census 2010, more than half the nation’s solar firms expect to add jobs over the next twelve months and all 50 states can expect to see job growth in this area. Installers and electricians will be in especially high demand.
Also expecting to see growth in 2011 is the geothermal industry. According to the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), hundreds of new geothermal power projects are expected to enter the drilling construction phase, which should result in 3000 or more jobs added in the coming year. On a more long-term scale, the hydropower industry is projected to show steady growth over the course of the next two decades and could become major employers given the nation’s vast untapped potential in this area.
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Computer Technology: A glance at the list of fastest growing occupations from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics
makes one thing immediately clear: the large bulk of the fastest growing jobs are in computers or health care (more about health care later).The demand for computer-related skills is not hard to understand given the increase in computer power and the proliferation of computers in all industries. The hottest jobs in the field are network systems/data communications analysts and computer software engineers. Employment figures for computer support specialists are also showing an upward trend.
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Health Care: There’s never really been a recession in the health care sector and it’s not hard to understand why. Unlike most other industries, health care is singularly immune to overseas outsourcing. Most work needs to be done hands-on with patients.
Another reason the industry continues to thrive is the aging of the baby-boom population, whose members continue to become increasingly reliant on health care professionals. Job opportunities are plentiful in many areas. Nurses of all types are in big demand. But so are physician assistants, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and residential care workers. And not all jobs are in doctor’s offices or hospitals. Workers are needed in laboratories, at pharmaceutical facilities, and with any type of company that provides support to medical facilities. Also in demand are workers in health care IT; for example, medical coders and keepers of electronic medical records. And two fields that are becoming particularly strong in terms of job growth are massage therapist and athletic trainer. In fact, according to U.S. News and World Report in its article on The 50 Best Careers of 2011, athletic training “outranks nearly all other healthcare occupations for expected job growth.”
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Consulting: The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects management, scientific, and technical
consulting services to be one of the fastest growing industries over the next decade. Consultants provide businesses with expertise and advice in business planning and performance improvement. Businesses need this advice no matter what type of economy we are in.During a recession, firms need to streamline and cut costs in order to stay competitive, and most of them depend on advice from consultants on how to do so. A slow economy will also cause many firms to outsource administrative and human resources functions to consultants who specialize in these services. Recessions often bring on corporate mergers, and consultants are needed to assist in the liquidation, acquisition, or restructuring processes. And regardless of the economy, management consultants are always needed to assist companies in drafting business plans and budgets, keeping compliant with government workplace safety and environmental laws, staying on top of
changes to tax laws, developing optimal business strategies, and determining appropriate salaries and benefits for employees. -
Translation: It’s not too surprising that the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of interpreters and translators to increase 22 percent over the next decade. Globalization is driving much of this demand, as is the large increase in the number of non-English speaking people in the U.S. Neither of these trends is dwindling; in fact, both are expected to continue and correspondingly, so is the rapid growth in the number of jobs in this field across all industries.
Highest demand is for translators of popular languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and German. There is an increasingly strong demand also for translators of Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages, as well as for Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean).
In looking at the industries that have remained strong or grown during these trying times, a quote from Warren Buffet comes to mind “Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.” The potential for success exists and many are taking advantage of it as proven by these solid sectors. Good news may not sell as readily as the gloom, however for those who are interested in accelerating their life, the information and possibilities are clearly there.
Official bio: Brendan Cruickshank (Vice President of Client Services) – Brendan is a veteran of the online job search and recruiting industry, having spent the past 8 years in senior client services roles with major sites like Juju.com and JobsInTheMoney.com. He is quoted regularly as an expert in employment and jobs trends in major media outlets like the Washington Post, US News & World Report, and Forbes and has spoken at recruiting industry events such as Onrec and Kennedy Information’s Corporate Recruiting Conference.
View full post on Business Pundit
How to Get States Into the New Economy
Dec 27th
Many think tanks produce dashboards of economic indicators to help government officials formulate public policy. While these tools are almost always well-intentioned, sometimes they aren’t well thought out, making them problematic to follow. One example is State New Economy Index, produced by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
This index is designed to provide policy makers with a set of 26 measures to guide efforts to move states to the “new economy,” which the two foundations say is “knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, IT-driven, and innovation-based.”
The effort is flawed because the designers of the dashboard combine uncorrelated and negatively correlated measures to create overarching indicators. Because combinations of unrelated measures aren’t indicators of anything, the dashboard isn’t useful.
For those who find this point too academic to follow, let me give an example to clarify what I mean. The report on the index says that to adjust to the new economy, states need more “economic dynamism” and offers several measures of what more dynamic places look like. The authors explain that states with a lot of “job churn” (a lot of businesses starting and failing); more “fast growing firms” (a high share of Inc 500 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 firms); higher value of initial public offerings as a share of worker earnings; and a larger fraction of the population starting businesses (adjusted for how fast the state has been growing), have more economic dynamism, which makes them more successful in the new economy.
At first glance, the economic dynamism measure seems useful. It says that a state needs a lot of people starting businesses, more businesses starting and failing, more high growth companies, and more initial public offerings, to be successful in the new economy.
The problem appears when we look at the measures of economic dynamism. Several of them don’t move in concert. Across states, the job churn measure correlates only 0.03 with the fast growing firms measure and -0.01 with the IPOs measure. This means that states that are high on job churn don’t have a lot of fast growing firms or IPOs. Similarly, the measure of entrepreneurial activity doesn’t correlate very highly with the measure of fast growing firms(0.13) or IPOs (0.11). That is, states with a high share of the population starting businesses don’t have a lot of high growth firms or IPOs.
The job churn measure does correlate reasonably well (0.51) with the indicator of entrepreneurial activity. States that have more new firms starting and failing also tend to have a higher share of their population starting businesses, and vice versa.
If we look at a measure that isn’t part of the economic dynamism index, venture capital – the amount of venture capital invested in the state as a percentage of earnings of workers in the state – the nature of the problem becomes even clearer. The job churn indicator correlates only -0.07 with the venture capital measure and only 0.16 with the indicator of entrepreneurial activity. States that have a lot of businesses starting and failing and a higher share of the population starting businesses don’t have a lot of venture capital.
Which states have a lot of venture capital? The ones with a lot of IPOs (the correlation between the measures of venture capital and IPOs is 0.64) and fast growing firms (the correlation between the indicators of venture capital and fast growing firms is 0.45).
Together these measures show states that have a lot of IPOs also have a lot of venture capital and fast growing firms and states that have a lot of job churn also have a lot of entrepreneurial activity. But states that are high on the second set of factors aren’t high on the first set.
This pattern suggests an important policy issue that is obscured by the State New Economy Index: Whatever factors give states a lot of venture capital, IPOs and fast growing firms are different from those that give states lots of people starting and failing at business creation.
Government officials can’t encourage everything and often have to choose one policy to promote at the expense of another. Given the data pattern described above, which alternative would you hope your state’s leaders would choose: policies that generate more venture capital, IPOs, and fast growing firms or policies that stimulate a lot of new business starts and stops?
Many of us would prefer the former. And that’s where the harm comes from New Economy Index. It obscures the difference between states that have a lot of high growth entrepreneurial activity and states that have a lot of high volume entrepreneurial activity. This lack of clarity leads policy makers to believe that they can get more high growth entrepreneurship by getting more high volume entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, places appear to be strong in just one or the other.
How to Get States Into the New Economy
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
2011 Outlook: Small Businesses Optimistic About Economy, Ready to Reinvest and Hire
Dec 23rd
How are entrepreneurs feeling about the economy as we head into the new year? I’m happy to have some good news to report on that front. Recently my company, GrowBiz Media, collaborated with Zoomerang, the world’s first Web-based survey tool, to survey small business owners about their business goals and plans for 2011. The results of the “Small to Midsized Business: Plans for 2011” survey were overwhelmingly positive about both their own companies, and the economy as a whole. Here’s a closer look at what our survey of over 1,000 SMB decision-makers (owners, partners and general managers) found.
Nearly three-quarters of SMBs (72 percent) say the overall economy will improve (30 percent) or hold steady (42 percent) in 2011. And when it comes to their own companies, 34 percent expect their sales to rise in 2011, while 50 percent expect them to stay the same. Only 16 percent think their sales will decrease.
These entrepreneurs are also putting their money where their mouths are. Twenty-five percent plan to hire employees next year. With over 27 million small businesses in the U.S., Zoomerang’s Alex Terry believes this could lead to the creation of millions of jobs. And in contrast to the layoffs of recent years, 64 percent say they will maintain their current staff levels—just 11 percent plan to cut.
Small businesses are investing not only in employees, but also in new technology. Specifically, in 2011:
- 29 percent will upgrade their software
- 24 percent plan to upgrade their hardware
- 17 percent will do a website makeover
- 15 percent will add or upgrade mobile technology
One survey finding that surprised me: Only 33 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed expect to add social media to their marketing mix in 2011. If you read Lisa Barone’s posts on this site with any regularity, you should have a good idea of how quickly and effectively social media can boost your business’s profile—and its sales. There’s simply no reason not to at least try this tool in 2011—so if you’re not already using social media, I urge you to start experimenting with it next year.
How do your plans and feelings compare with those of our survey respondents? If you’re not planning to invest in your business in 2011, be aware that many other entrepreneurs are. That could leave your business lagging behind—and that’s something no small business can afford in these competitive times.
I’d love to hear what you think of these results and how optimistic (or pessimistic) you’re feeling going into 2011. To learn more, take a look at the full survey on the Zoomerang site.
2011 Outlook: Small Businesses Optimistic About Economy, Ready to Reinvest and Hire
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Small Business News: Entrepreneurs and The Economy
Nov 17th
Entrepreneurs and small businesses are important to economic recovery. This we hear on the news regularly. But what is being done to help entrepreneurs or at least to cut through the red tape that hinders their progress. We’ll look a bit today at the state of entrepreneurship what’s involved and how things can be improved. So whether you are an entrepreneur or just know or work for a few, we encourage you to read this. Do entrepreneurs get the support they need?
Policy & Politics
Young entrepreneur shut down by police in small town. Our communities may need small business owners and entrepreneurs to take the lead in tough economic times, but these teenagers were shut down for running a bake sale netting a couple hundred dollars because the kids lacked a permit that would have cost several hundred dollars leaving some to wonder whether the response was warranted. Yahoo! News
Could government tinkering endanger economic recovery? It could, according to a growing chorus of critics opposing the ongoing $600 billion pump priming operation in the face of what seems to be rising retail sales and other indicators of a sluggish but ongoing economic recovery? Kudlow’s Money Politics
New small business owners in Congress. Will the new legislature in Washington D.C. have a better understanding of the plight of small business owners and entrepreneurs, admitted by all to be key players in ongoing economic recovery. It should since, according to a recent survey, 33 of the newly elected representatives heading for Congress this term are small business owners or entrepreneurs. Check out the breakdown. You’re the Boss
Finance
Report shows changes in angel investing. Looking to angel investment for your startup capital? There are some trending changes in the market you may want to be aware of before you start chasing these investors and their cash for your next venture. Investors are spreading less money over more companies and investing more in late stage startups. Grow Smart Business
Characteristics of the trophy investor. Gaining the right financial backing for your business means knowing how to target the perfect investor. This is the investor with the proper knowledge, resources and skills to identify choice opportunities and create value and success. To target the best investors for your next business, know the characteristics of the trophy investor to better pursue the best opportunities for funding your business. Startup Professionals Musings
The software for people who don’t like accounting. Certainly, Quickbooks is the leading software for small business financial records today and remains a (fairly) easy to learn and operate technology for the budding entrepreneur and small business owner. But for that small business person for what almost any kind of accounting is a complete revelation an even easier solution may exist. You’re the Boss
Management
Building flexibility with virtual assistants. Sometimes growing your company isn’t about building staff, something which adds greatly to your overhead cost. It can, instead be about creating flexibility that allows you to keep costs low while expanding services where needed to accommodate a client. Matt Manfield takes us on a tour of the new temporary, virtual staffing solution that keeps costs low while meeting all customer needs on time. Matt About Business
Giving your team members what they want. Creating and maintaining a well-organized creative and effective team is an important part of any entrepreneurial or small business venture. And whether they are full-time or part-time, working in close proximity or spread around the world, creating an atmosphere where the best teamwork can take place, remains the key. Here are eight things your team members absolutely need to deliver their best work. ProjectSteps
Entrepreneurship
Lessons from the front line. Andy McLoughlin, co-founder of Huddle, a company specializing in online collaboration, shares the lessons he has learned in bringing his vision from a bedroom workspace and two founders to a 60 employee global company based in London and San Francisco. Youngentrepreneur
Small Business News: Entrepreneurs and The Economy
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
National Election Results Don’t Mean Much for Economy
Nov 3rd
Although some states have already seen interesting election results, the national stage isn’t as exciting. From an economic perspective, the new Republican majority in the House isn’t going to amount to much more than gridlock, according to the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein:
From the perspective of actually getting anything done in the next two years, there was perhaps no worse outcome. Republicans don’t fully control Congress, so they don’t have enough power to be blamed for legislative outcomes. But Democrats don’t control the House and they don’t have a near-filibuster proof majority in the Senate, so they can’t pass legislation. Republicans, in other words, are not left with the burden of governance, and Democrats are not left with the power to govern. Republicans don’t have to be responsible, and Democrats can’t do it for them.
For the time being, this means that the gains of Obama’s first two years are probably safe. Health-care repeal will not pass the Senate, and if Republicans attempt to defund the program, it will be the House acting on its own — a less tenable position than the Congress acting against the executive. It is also difficult to see major new stimulus programs — for instance, a payroll-tax holiday — finding backers in Congress, as Republicans will not be able to take full credit for them. This will be, instead, a time of implementation for the White House, oversight for the House, and paralysis for the Senate. As for getting the economy back on track, that’s now Ben Bernanke’s job, whether he wants it or not.
The problem with oligarchical musical chairs is that it substitutes dogmatic battles for sorely needed economic policy. If nothing happens in Washington in the next two years, given our current economic state, it’s the equivalent of giving the country a green light to die a slow death.
We need economic reform, badly, which means agreement between the two parties and subsequent action. If everyone’s sitting pretty in their reactionary seats, nothing will ever get done. The only groups that this kind of inaction benefits are status quo beneficiaries–the corporations that prosper under current subsidies and conditions–and the extremists who want to make 2012 their winning ground.
View full post on Business Pundit
