Inside This Issue

Back to top

That’s a bit of a pretentious heading - as if I’m qualified to comment on either psychology or economics. However, as an amateur observer of the human condition, it does strike me that a significant component to our current economic quagmire is largely in our head. It seems that while we have transitioned over the years from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing economy to a service economy to an information economy - what we really are is an economy of confidence. When we lose that intangible, psychological element of our collective selves, we perceive ourselves to be in huge economic trouble. And, because we are an information-based economy, we have an amazing ability to measure, calculate, survey, report, broadcast and share our lack of confidence with the world...read more

Back to top

by Derek Rowley © 2009. All Rights reserved.

In an article that appeared in the April 12 edition of the Chicago Tribune, writer Becky Yerak recounted the following exchange between Dione Reyes, president of Specialty Tile Services, Inc, and the bank that provided Specialty’s line of credit, Fifth Third Bank:

“We want our money”, the bank representative is quoted as saying. Reyes was “in complete shock. The bank demanded that the company pay off a six-figure line of credit in 60 days - despite having a clean payment history...read more

Back to top

It can be a huge temptation for a small business owner to put tax planning on the back burner for a while as soon as the current tax return is signed and sent to the IRS. However, that approach is generally a big mistake. Tax planning should be a year-round process for any small business. Just as every business is carefully monitoring and managing every other business expense these days, taxes need to be considered part of that ongoing management and cost-cutting discussion also...read more

Back to top

I found an interesting article by Mike Spector and Anne Tergesen on Yahoo Finance this week, titled Unusual Trusts Gain Appeal in Unusual Time. Here is a portion:

It may seem hard to come up with a financial product with a name as unattractive as an "intentionally defective grantor trust." Yet these days, in the world of estate planning, those words denote one sexy vehicle...read more

Back to top

This week, the IRS released it’s annual “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams, that include schemes to hide income offshore and claims for false refunds. The current economic climate has hatched a new breed of illegal tax schemes that are under the IRS microscope...read more

Back to top

I came across an excellent post on CoyoteBlog about all the hoops a new entrepreneur has to jump through to incorporate, register, get licensed and set up tax accounts with state and local governments just to get started.  It really points out how intimidating the startup process can be: read more

Back to top

A menu of unconnected, fascinating news items that crossed my desk,
by Derek Rowley © 2009. All Rights reserved...read more

Back to top