I’m old enough to remember Al Franken on Saturday Night Live. Heck, I’m old enough to remember George Carlin when he was a teenaged comedian! I used to love Al’s “Deep Thoughts” segment and his ending affirmation that he was “smart enough”, “nice enough” and, dog gone it, “people like me”-enough that I’m doing this blog in his honor. Now, here are my deep thoughts prior to going on vacation for a few days.
REAL ESTATE:
Real estate professionals are saying both of the following statements:
– To potential buyers: Now’s the time to buy since both prices and mortgage rates are low.
– To potential sellers: Now’s the time to sell because foreclosures are going to soar causing prices to fall even more.
Are both of these statements correct? Or, just sales hype? My real estate friends tell me they are both true statements. I just hope my home sells for a high price and my next home goes for a low price!
BAILOUTS:
The financial news tells us that banks are lending again. Have any of your small business owner friends been out looking for a loan? Did they get one from a bank? Or even the time of day or a toaster? Didn’t think so. But the banks are making money and loaning it out: to refinance mortgages, not help fund small businesses!
And, don’t get me started on SBA loans. SBA loans are great for people who package them, know all the right forms and documents to fill out. Plus, these loans seem to be o.k. for commercial real estate and capital equipment purposes. But not so good for working capital or expansion funding for service businesses – - the backbone of our economy. Tony Soprano is less complicated and charges less than a bank or SBA lender. I thought the bank bailouts were designed to improve financial liquidity. Evidently that’s delayed, just like the stimulus money.
REAL BAILOUTS:
Speaking of stimulus’s (sorry Gov. Sanford, not talking about you), where’s the bailout money for the State of California and our local governments? What good does it do to bailout Wall Street and the automakers and then let the world’s sixth largest economy go bankrupt? What are we, Iceland? We are talking $50 billion here to bailout California and our local governments. That’s less than half what AIG got, and it will be put to better use. I will also bet that our citizens will see a more direct benefit from a California bailout than GM, Chrysler or AIG. I’ll also bet that California would sign a note with lots of strings attached. Things like a re-do of our revenue gathering system, getting rid of the two-thirds vote needed to pass a budget, and, maybe, reducing the headcount at our prisons. Investing in California and every other State (except Texas, they make enough off the Dallas Cowboys) is great for America!
A BLATANT PITCH FOR BUSINESS:
Right now is a great time to hire contract accounting help. When every company other than Google went into a fetal position last October, the market for contract/temporary/project accounting services took a major hit. Heck, even Google let contract people go. The people who lost their assignments were doing valuable work, essential work. Whose been doing their work since October? The remaining regular, fulltime accounting staff has had to pick up the slack by working lots of overtime, or, the work is just piling up.
The response from the staffing industry is to lower prices. Free market system at work! Prices are so low right now that “it gets me a headache” just thinking about it. How low have they gone? 35% to 45% lower than the first half of 2008 prices. Even my wife would buy at these prices. So, call me and start getting the workload reduced, projects back on track and let some of your staff take a full weekend off for a change! Do it today! But wait, there’s more: You get a two day guarantee and a reduced conversion fee schedule if you order today! (Or tomorrow, or next week, but that’s it!)
I’m off to Disneyland. For a romantic vacation with my wife. It’s a milestone anniversary trip to the scene of our first date. A twelve hour first date. And she still married me. Who knew?