Cited: Reuters

A much-awaited program to cleanse toxic assets from banks balance sheets should be ready to roll out soon according to the new overseer of the US government’s $700 billion bank bailout plan. Progress has been made in developing public-private partnerships in an effort to pair investors and the government in buying poorly performing assets from banks was told to a Congressional Oversight Panel by Herb Allison.

“I’m confident that very soon we’ll be launching partnerships,” Allison said. In a wide-ranging exchange of questions and answers, Allison said there were signs the U.S. economy was on the mend but stressed there could be no let-up on recovery efforts.

“Our financial system and our economy remain vulnerable, with unemployment still rising, house prices falling and pressure on commercial real estate continuing to build,” he said. Allison also said that Treasury will “soon” publish guidance on how to value warrants that the government received when it injected capital into banks and that the banks are able to buy back as they regain stability and pay back the capital.

“We’ll soon be publishing on our website our approach to valuing the warrants and if it comes to that, disposing the warrants,” he said. The warrants to buy shares were intended to provide a means for taxpayers to share in the profits of banks that benefited from being able to draw on taxpayer-funded help.

Allison was confirmed by the Senate last week as Treasury assistant secretary to head the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Stability, which manages the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP. Congress approved TARP last year under the former Bush administration.

He noted that about 30 companies that received cash injections from the government have repaid $70 billion and added that about $5 billion has been received in dividends on stock the government got in return for investing in firms.

Allison, a former chief executive of mortgage finance company Fannie Mae, replaces Neel Kashkari, who was appointed to head TARP by the former Bush administration. Kashkari carried over in the Obama administration until early May.

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OPTIMISTIC ABOUT BANKS

Allison expressed confidence that so-called public-private partnerships to cleanse toxic assets from banks’ balance books will soon be launched. The partnerships are intended to pair private investors with the government to finance purchases of poorly performing mortgages and other holdings that might then be sold in the future at a profit while relieving banks of carrying them.

“We’ve made a great deal of progress,” Allison said. “It shouldn’t be long before we announce the first stage in that program.” Responding to questions, Allison said it was heartening to see increases in banks’ stock prices as well as rising confidence among financial sector participants since the government reported the results of “stress tests” on the adequacy of their capital levels.

“There are encouraging signs that the banking industry has been strengthening itself significantly,” he said. In May, the government announced the results of in-depth stress tests on the 19 largest U.S. banks. The tests were designed to gauge how the firms would weather more adverse economic conditions.

Since then, many banks have been aggressively raising capital by selling stock. Allison avoided a direct answer when asked whether the government might undertake the high-profile process of stress testing again, but with even tougher economic assumptions.

He said the administration’s regulatory reform plan calls for regular, ongoing stress tests of the nation’s biggest banks, but those tests will likely be part of the private supervisory process. Allison said he will review the controls over the use of the taxpayers’ money that funds TARP and try to make sure its operations are transparent so that people can see what is being done and why.

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My Take: I understand that banks and real estate are the major portions that run our economy, why don’t they talk about lowering prices. The high cost of products in this country is what makes it hard for people to spend money when they need to.

I remember in college when I took economics, one of the things my teacher taught us was about “turnover”. A business can more money in the “turnover” of a product, if they lower their price. For example, if a widget costs a business $10 to purchase and then sells it for $20, that is a $10 profit.

Of course, that $10 is not all profit. Part of that goes towards expenses of selling the widget. If it only costs a business $5 to sell a widget, then the profit margin is $5. That is the equivalent of a 25% profit. By lowering the price, the business will sell more widgets with a lower profit margin. However, if a business lowers the price of the widget and increases their order, which will usually lower their cost per item, they will be able to sell more in the “turnover”. See chart below:

As you can see the in the above chart, if a business maintains the same order and lowers their price, they will lose profit. However, if they increase their order, which will lower their cost per item usually, they will increase their profit by selling more. Simple economics! If more business owners would think like this, prices all over the country would go down and people would buy more!

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Cited: Reuters

Craigslist, an online city networking site, is a place where one manufacturer, Handi-Ramp, has recruited about half its new hires for last five years. In fact, it has become a very popular way to recruit staff for those who are battling to contain business costs.

Handi-ramp, a 35-man operation in Libertyville, Illinois that has been expanding and has revenue of roughly $5 million, has recruited sales and accounting staff from the grass roots site; just last week it placed a listing for a sales manager. The draw? The classified ads cost the maker of ramps, handrails and treads only $25 a pop.

“I have to admit I’m cheap,” says Thom Disch, the company’s chief executive. “I look at it as a good resource.”

Disch is not alone. While newspaper classified ad sales have fallen sharply in recent months due to recessionary cutbacks, Craigslist has picked up much of the slack. Its revenue is expected to increase more than 23 percent to over $100 million in 2009, according to one industry study. The privately held company does not reveal its results. Small to mid-sized firms facing shrinking budgets are heavy users of the site, which is believed to garner the bulk of its revenue from classified recruitment ads for everything from barhops to bikini-clad models.

“Craigslist has become a very cheap and effective way for small businesses to hire,” says Peter Zollman, principal at the AIM Group, the consulting firm that authored the study. “Given the price, there’s not a lot of reason to be wary of it.”

In AIM Group’s latest issue of Classified Intelligence Report, an industry update sent to classified advertising clients, Zollman predicts that Craigslist will generate nearly $60 million in help-wanted ads in 2009. In 18 U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., the site charges $25 per ad; elsewhere in the country, the service is free.

No wonder smaller companies are becoming increasingly savvy about how to use what once was viewed as a less-than-professional service leaned on primarily for part-time gigs and contract jobs. While across-the-board rate comparisons are tough to make, specific pricing examples are telling.

For example, a classified job posting in the New York Times begins at $395 for a single listing. That gives the buyer 30 days on the paper’s online site and a scant four lines of print in the Sunday print edition. Individual job listings on Monster, the popular Internet job board, start around $385.

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FRAUGHT WITH CHALLENGES

But using Craigslist remains fraught with challenges, including the deluge of responses that come from what is a no-cost service in many markets. The site is actually more effective for recruiters in regions where the nominal fee is charged, says Zollman; the cost serves as a deterrent to weed out some potential spammers, helping to legitimize its use.

Many businesses have worked out elaborate procedures to make Craigslist searches more manageable. In addition, not all searches are suitable for the site; they say they have better success with entry- to mid-level postings rather than searches for senior executives. And they’re much more apt to have fruitful results with jobs oriented toward younger, tech-friendly applicants. Even so, the process requires a lot more screening than most other methods of recruiting.

“Is it time consuming? Yes, it is and frankly that’s the biggest negative,” says Ronn Torossian, CEO of New York-based 5W Public Relations, a fast-growing U.S. PR firm with a staff of 80. 5W uses Craigslist as part of a multi-pronged recruiting effort that includes a host of other sites.

“There’s no question you get a lot of junk,” Torossian says, noting that one of the company’s best employees was recruited from Craigslist. “That’s the price you pay for paying $25 for an add versus $400.”

The added effort is paying off for many companies, who view it as a worthy sacrifice to help keep costs under control. Pastoral, an upscale Chicago-based food retailer with two stores that has been staffing up in recent months, has progressively shifted its recruiting efforts away from culinary schools to Craigslist.

“We’ve gotten some strong candidates out of there who have done well with us,” says co-owner Greg O’Neill. Several of Pastoral’s Craigslist recruits have started on the shop’s floor and moved into management positions.

“You can get a whole lot of responses - very, very qualified people in the industry with excellent resumes,” he says. “You also have folks with absolutely no background for what you are recruiting.”

Learning how to build screening procedures into a structure with few pre-existing rules is a trick that helps make Craigslist a manageable tool, says Tyler Hamilton, co-owner of The Juice Group, a small New York marketing firm.

Candidates who don’t follow the firm’s strict application procedures are eliminated up front, she says. Then Hamilton and her partner, Stephanie Miller, pre-screen the most promising hopefuls over the phone. “Because we are a PR and marketing agency you better be good at marketing yourself,” says Hamilton. “Here’s your chance to sell yourself.”

Business owners need to remember that Craigslist is not an employment service, if anything, it is like a newspaper and you get what you pay for. Although, it is a great opportunity for many businesses to cut costs when looking to hire new employees.

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My Take: I think Craigslist is a very useful and dangerous item to use. It just depends on what you are doing on Craigslist as to how dangerous it can be. I have seen Craigslist on the news once too many times for something that is bad. One such story, someone was selling a refrigerator that turned out to be stolen. I would be hesitant to buy used photocopiers from Craigslist because of this. Now, if there is a way to prove that the used copier I was interested in was not stolen, I would probably purchase it.

I definitely would never answer a personal ad on Craigslist. That one ad is asking for problems. You never know who wrote the ad or what kind of person they are. At least with a dating service, there is some kind of precautions taken before you even contact person.

For employers however, Craigslist does give them the opportunity to cut costs. However, they still need to be cautious when hiring someone from an ad on Craigslist. The reputation of Craigslist is still a 50-50 shot for just about everything. I am sure that one day, Craigslist will be a premier location various ads.

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Every business needs sales leads. Even businesses that actually do not sell anything still need sales leads. For example, a law firm or a doctor’s office still needs sales leads because they do sell something and that something is their service.

The important thing for your business is to make sure that the sales leads that you do create keep pace with the expanding size of your business. You also need to make sure that they are solid and qualified IT sales leads so that you can close the deal you want to make. This means you need to be able to distinguish between a qualified and a potential lead.

A qualified lead is one where you have exactly what the customer needs, either product or service, and doing business is very easy. You clearly understand what the customer wants or needs and this is the foundation to build a solid sales lead.

A potential lead is one where the customer might need your product but it does not quite meet their needs. This makes it difficult to make a sale because you end up having to explain further, how your product or service will meet their needs. The prospect of a sale will depend on your sales pitch more than a qualified lead would.

Your business needs qualified sales leads because you cannot afford to waste time and energy on anything less. You need to make contacts that can give you immediate leads for your business to grow. Referrals and testimonials are one of the best ways to get qualified leads because they come from customs that already trust you. You could possibly increase sales leads by providing your customers with a company profile that lets them know even more about your business.

Sales leads are important to every business because that is where business starts. If you have no sales leads then sales cannot be made!

Prediction #2: Banks will not enact reforms to keep their customers happy

New credit card rules were enacted by federal banking in December 2008. These rules are supposed to stop “unfair or deceptive” credit card industry practices by limiting interest rate increases on past purchases, more easily understood disclosure of terms and getting rid of what is called the “gotcha” process that cost consumers millions in fees and interest. Of course, they do have until July of 2010 to implement these changes in billing, marketing and advertising systems. The average cardholder will probably not notice any difference in their credit card.

This 18-month period may not affect retail merchant account credit card processing, but it will affect card issuers of all sizes. If the larger card issuers implement the rules quickly, smaller issuers may feel pressured by the competition to follow suit.

Banks and card issuers that implement these rules early could be put in a good light and get some positive public relations out of it. However, there will be those that drag their feet and wait until the last minute to accomplish this. Retail merchant accounts should not be affected by these changes.

One credit card company has actually already started, Capital One. In fact, they have taken it to a higher level by disclosing more than they are actually required to. This may put them ahead of other card issuers because there may still be more credit card regulations coming. Congress intends to introduce legislation in 2009 that is meant to fill any gaps that may have been left by the federal card rules so far.

Credit Card Predictions for 2009, Prediction 1

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In fact, there are payroll tax services, payroll administration services, online or web-based payroll services and integrated payroll services even advanced on-site payroll software is available today. There is even the option of outsourcing to a firm to lighten your heavy workload. Dealing with all the hassles and technicalities of running a business can be frustrating and time-consuming. You can gain peace of mind allowing you to run your passion or live your dream, which is your business, when you delegate your payroll to a company that specializes in payroll services.

You can find several payroll service companies or payroll software by doing a quick search on the Internet. There is no guarantee, of course, that the software will be easy to understand or use. It may even take you more time to get your payroll completed. Not all programs will meet every business need you have without one that is designed specifically for your business.

Large businesses or corporations utilize in-house accountants and for them it is the best solution. However, in-house accountants may not be the best solution for a small business. When it comes to payroll or tax needs, outsourcing is the best option for many small businesses.

Good payroll services will recommend that you continue to do your payroll for at least 2-3 weeks after you have opened your payroll service account. During this period, all of your data and information is transferred to their systems. From that time on, all you need to do is send, e-mail or fax your payroll information to them. They will take care of all the necessary tax deductions, child support, and retirement, insurance and calculate pay for you. Some of these companies can even handle direct deposit; otherwise, they would send you the checks to distribute to your employees.

If the service makes any mistakes, they will take care of it because they are responsible for it and they will make all the needed corrections. You also do not have to wait on any payroll reports because you are just a click away from that report that needs to be on your desk now. When you receive that report, it will also be up to date. Outsourcing payroll services for a small business is actually the best possible solution.

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