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Chrysler Dealership Closings: Dealer Says Another Reason Not To Buy Chrysler
Tweet Share on Facebook May 15, 2009 Comment (5)Yesterday Chrysler announced it will close 789 of its 3,181 dealers across the country. The Washington Post says that Chrysler is doing this to "improve their business and image."
One dealer falling victim to these cuts hopes the move will actually worsen the company's bleeding and further tarnish its public image.
Via Fark, there's this report from the Oregonian:
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Utah Lifts Key Alcohol Regulation On Restaurants
Tweet Share on Facebook May 14, 2009 Comment (1)Is Utah trying to change its notoriously conservative reputation? This week the Utah legislature is enacting a law that one local news source calls "the biggest overhaul in state alcohol reform in 40 years."
Up until May 12, restaurants in Utah had to set up barriers between customers and bars. This partition became known as the "Zion curtain." The new legislation mostly lifts that requirement, but mixed drinks must be prepared in a separate, out-of-view area, ostensibly so minors cannot see.
Also part of this legislation is the end of another requirement that I blogged about earlier.
This change will probably make life easier for restaurant managers in Utah, as one attests in this AP report:
"It's just kind of pointless to have clear glass in front of us. It really takes away from the personal experience of our customers," said Abbie Daggs, a manager at Stella Grill in suburban Salt Lake City.
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Craigslist To Stop "Erotic Services" Ads
Tweet Share on Facebook May 14, 2009 Comment (3)Pressure from various state attorney generals has proven too much for Craigslist to bear. Yesterday the online classifieds site announced that it will no longer accept "erotic services" ads, and will remove the category entirely next week. What will replace that category is an "adult services" category that will contain "postings from legal adult service providers."
Craigslist will have to police this category to keep the attorney generals happy. Online businesspeople should take note that the Internet is quickly becoming less of a wild west than it used to be.
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Bailout Extended To Small Banks
Tweet Share on Facebook May 13, 2009 Comment (1)After months of showering "too-big-to-fail" banks with money, Treasury is going to increase capital assistance to banks with assets under $500 million. The New York Times points out one potential problem:
More than 300 small banks are already participating in the federal program, although in recent months a growing number has sought to withdraw because of stringent requirements. So it is unclear whether the expansion will garner many new takers.
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3 Ways To Save The Media--Or Not
Tweet Share on Facebook May 12, 2009 Comment (1)Peter Osnos at the Daily Beast just wrote an article with a very eye-catching headline: "The Scrappy Entrepreneurs Who Will Save The Media." But after looking at the actual ideas of these "scrappy" entrepreneurs, I worry that the media is in even more trouble than we thought.
1. Buy newspapers out for peanuts; relaunch as public services. Osnos points to a blog post proposing that Minnesota Public Radio buy out the Minneapolis Star Tribune and slowly merge with it.
Me: Sure, maybe this will have to be done. But this is no all-encompassing "save" for journalism. If all of the traditional media became like public radio or PBS, it would be resigning itself to serving only a very specific and limited audience. Obviously, public media can work on a mass scale, as it does in many other countries. But those media sources also have a lack of competition. Many entrepreneurs I'm sure are hoping that the American media does not go that way, and that there are still many profit opportunities to be had.
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Where Your Stimulus Money Is Going
Tweet Share on Facebook May 11, 2009 CommentThe Associated Press breaks down where stimulus transportation dollars are being spent relative to the economic conditions of the area. Some of the interesting findings:
--In low-unemployment counties nationwide, those in the bottom quarter of jobless rates, the federal government is spending about $89 a person compared with $59 a person in the worst-hit areas.
--In counties with the largest populations, the government is spending about $69 a person in areas with the lowest unemployment and $40 a person in places with the greatest job need.
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Jack Kemp Leaves A Small Business Legacy
Tweet Share on Facebook May 11, 2009 Comment (11)Former Congressman, vice presidential candidate and free-market promoter Jack Kemp died last week. Today, Jim Blasingame, host of the Small Business Advocate radio show (and who I've interviewed in the past) has a nice tribute to Kemp in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Jack Kemp cared about small businesses, and he believed in the importance of American entrepreneurship. For those small-business owners who, like me, just want the government to not take too much of our precious capital away in taxes and get out of our way as we attempt to serve customers, create jobs and achieve financial success, we've lost a champion and a friend.
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McDonald's Recession Marketing Strategy: Take On Starbucks
Tweet Share on Facebook May 7, 2009 Comment (5)McDonald's is one business that has proven somewhat recession-proof. So you might want to take note when they unveil a marketing strategy. As the AP recently reported, that strategy seems to be to target and undercut more luxurious brands--in this case, Starbucks coffee.
The ads portray the drinks as the antidote to a miserable day and aim to get consumers to see the beverages as affordable, quality alternatives to lattes at more gourmet chains like Starbucks Corp.
McDonald's doesn't have to show that they can get you the same bang for less buck. At a time when cutting back is the premium for many consumers, they just need to show that they can give you the bare minimum quality to keep you reasonably happy for a much lower price. That's something that many small-time entrepreneurs can emulate--they tend to be good at doing things similar to the competition, but for less.
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Law Enforcement Officials Step Up 'Craigslist Killer' Criticism
Tweet Share on Facebook May 6, 2009 Comment (91)Since I last blogged about the topic, the situation for Craigslist and the controversy surrounding Philip Markoff's alleged use of the site to find victims has gone from bad to worse. Yesterday, attorney generals from Missouri, Connecticut, and Illinois met with Craigslist representatives to discuss how to "minimize" misuse of the site. Some state officials aren't as friendly--South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster sent a letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster saying that the company's management "may be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution" unless Craigslist removes all erotic services solicitations from the South Carolina portions of its site by May 15 at 5 pm.
My take: This is a perfect example of politicians trying to "do something" about a problem without really doing anything. Demonizing Craigslist is a convenient way for these attorney generals to look like they are protecting their citizens, when removing these ads, at best, just shifts the problem.
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Small-Business Lending On The Mend?
Tweet Share on Facebook May 5, 2009 Comment (108)Could the federal government's attempts to help out small businesses with the credit crunch be working? An article in today's Wall Street Journal gives some reason to think so:
In February, the latest month for which figures are available, 35% of newly approved 7(a) loans, the most popular SBA loan program, sold on the secondary market, according to the Government Accounting Office. That was up from 24% in January. From September 2007 to September 2008, before the credit crunch, 45% of approved 7(a) loans sold on the secondary market.
When plans were first announced, one SBA lender told me that the flagging market for SBA loans was mainly rooted in the larger issue of banks tightening. Could this increase in SBA loans be evidence that the overall credit crunch is abating?
Risky Business
Matt Bandyk, a reporter for U.S. News, explores capitalism from where it all begins, with the entrepreneur, whose risk taking and experimentation provide the roots from which the rest of the economy grows. As much courage as it takes to create one's own business, even the entrepreneur needs some help, and this blog will look at news, trends, and practical advice for starting and running a small business.
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