There's certainly something to be said for shopping online.

I mean, who in their right mind wants to get up at 4 a.m. and head over to the mall or local big-box store for some "deep discounts?" Well, as it turns out, plenty of people do. I'm just not one of them. I guess I didn't inherit the "I'm-going-to-die-if-I-miss-this-hugely-important-sale" gene.

But I'm not alone because increasing numbers of shoppers are opting to do it online. In many cases, it makes a lot of sense. If you're looking for a standard kind of item - like a fireplace poker or a bobblehead of Larry King, you pretty much know what you'll be getting when the package arrives.

But there are some items you might be a little leery of buying online.

These would include such things as an extra-large, fur-lined smoking jacket (sizes likely do vary considerably), or an $1,100 custom Fender Stratocaster guitar. I play guitar, but I just couldn't see buying one without actually sitting down and trying it out. The guitar that arrives at your door might end up sounding like a tightly strung banjo.

That would be great if you're going to be playing Dixieland jazz, but bad if you have anything else in mind.

But I digress.

This Monday is "Cyber Monday" and lots of consumers are going to be out in force - or at least home or at work in force - to ferret out the best online deals. I have faith that many of them will. I might even be among them. You may be among them.

And we won't have to listen to Barry Manilow on the overhead speaker crooning about the "Copacabana." Sounds good to me.

It's Black Friday, and the malls were packed today.

I've never been to a mall so early. It was kind of surreal, like if people were walking on a freeway without any cars or something.

The thing that struck me though, is that for my generation, this is truly the mother of all  buyer's markets.

It was striking to see good deals to be had across the board...cars, toys, clothes.

Call me naive, and a bit of a sucker for good promotions, but I think I might just finish up here at work and go join the frenzy.

Only thing is, according one economist I spoke to, that frenzy was limited to the morning.

I'm likely to find not much of a frenzy at all, and that seemed like part of the fun.

There were some other observations today. The Disney store was packed with people buying $7 dolls and Hannah Montana stuff. JCPenney was crowded with people buying the basics -- socks, underwear, and some houseware.

But when I walked into Macy's furniture department, you could hear a pin drop. Even in a local Wal-Mart, several people were looking at some pretty cool flat-screen TVs, but it didn't look like anyone was buying.

Perhaps its all just another sign of an economy in which consumers really are just going back to basics -- buying what they need, not what they want.

Anyway, I need a sweater, and I think I can get a second one free. So see you at the mall....

Well, we're probably a little tired of it. It's been used, abused, interpreted, re-interpreted, misinterpreted...but here it is...Merriam-Webster's online dictionary has deemed the word bailout as word of the year.

Hopefully, we'll get to the point where we won't need to use the word much any more, but from the looks of things, don't close the dictionary on it...

Here's a blurb from the Associated Press:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --  Everyone seems to want one, but apparently a lot of Americans aren't sure exactly what a "bailout" is.

People looked it up so often on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary that the Springfield-based publisher says "bailout" was an easy choice for its annual Word of the Year honor.

The rest of the list features other terms used at times of economic peril, "trepidation," "precipice" and "turmoil."

Several phrases from the presidential campaign also made the cut: "bipartisan," "vet" -- as in to appraise and evaluate -- and, of course, "maverick."

California has lost nearly 300,000 jobs as a result of the steady decline in new home production.

But the California Building Industry Association has a plan to help pump the industry back up. The association is proposing a tax credit for new-home buyers as a means of spurring more homebuying and - ultimately - more new-home construction.

But Michael Carney thinks this is clearly the wrong approach. Carney, executive director of the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California, said the last thing we need is more new homes.

"At this point we have an excess supply of houses," he said. "We don't need new home construction at this point -- that will only force prices down further."

As bad as I feel about all of those people who are out of work, I tend to agree with Carney. In October, home prices in Los Angeles County plummeted 32.2 percent to $366,520 compared with a year earlier.

And Carney figures prices are still heading down. Still, we often forget that these are real people affected by these job losses. They're not just statistics.

California's workers got the latest in a string of bad news with last week's release of the state's newest unemployment figures. Between September and October, California's unemployment rate jumped from 7.7% to 8.2% - its highest rate in 14 years. There are now more out of work Californians than ever before.

For more on this ...

I'm not much of a shopper.

But if I was, I'd be out the door early come Friday because retailers are going to be angling for our business like never before.

Malls, department stores and retail shops are facing a challenging holiday season, but falling gasoline prices and pent-up consumer demand may ultimately play in their favor on "Black Friday," one of nation's busiest shopping days of the year.

The National Retail Federation's preliminary Black Friday shopping survey estimates that as many as 128 million people will shop this Friday, Saturday or Sunday. That's down from from the 135 million people who said they would or may shop over Black Friday weekend last year.

But considering all the economic fallout we've endured this year, that doesn't sound too bad.

Doug McMillon of Sam's Club is expecting even better results.

"In the past few weeks, people have been waiting for (Black) Friday and the prices that they're going to see between now and Christmas," Doug McMillon, who heads Sam's Club, the warehouse club division of discount retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc (nyse: WMT - news - people ), told Reuters in an interview.

It must be a good time to buy a home...

Dolores Conway, an associate professor at USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate, told me she knew of an investor who recently bought 1,000 homes in the north San Diego and Orange County areas, in order to rent them out.

Wow. That's a lot of homes.

 

 

 

If there's one thing all of us need right now, it's some certainty.

With the nation's credit markets tight, home foreclosures on the rise and U.S. automakers reaching for a handout, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize we're in some deep ... well, you know. 

But President-elect Barack Obama offered some sense of forward motion Monday when he announced several key members of the economic team he plans to bring to the White House.

Chief among those picks are Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who has been tapped as his Treasury Secretary nominee, and former Harvard President Lawrence Summer, who would become director of the National Economic Council.

The upshot?

"I think there is a calming effect," said Jack Kyser, senior vice president and chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "We saw how the markets reacted when it was announced that Geithner would be Treasury secretary. He's got some heavy-duty people on board and that shows he's not going to mess around."

Paul Ashworth, US economist at Capital Economics, says Geithner is the "right man for the job at hand, both in terms of technical experience and profile," according to a story posted on BBC News.

It's interesting how a business can become a victim of its own success.

In a sense, that seems to be what happened to IndyMac.

Much of the lender's success was driven by so-called Alt-A loans, adjustable interest rate loans that were risky by market standards because many were issued to borrowers with questionable credit.

But when those borrowers began defaulting, and the market for investors who bought those loans dried up... IndyMac went down the tubes.

Of course, there's nothing new there. Everybody by now knows IndyMac's demise.

But Evan Wagner, spokesman for what after the FDIC stepped in is IndyMac Federal Bank, told me that IndyMac might not have been able to survive in a kind of "new world" of banking.

It had become so driven by the unique loans it was giving that it might not have been able to operate in a world of fewer banks.

"IndyMac had to become a conventional lender very quickly...and the margins were so much thinner," he said.

  

 

 

 

 

Dominic Ng, the president, CEO and chairman of East-West Bancorp Inc., had an interesting take on the semantics of "bailout" versus "rescue."

Basically, one man's "rescue" is another's bailout.

In a recent conversation on a story I was doing about his Pasadena-based bank's application for $316 million in funds from the Treasury's Troubled Assets Relief Program, he said what many, including myself, call a "bailout" of the banking industry is misplaced wording.

The program, in which the Treasury is injecting up to $250 billion into the nation's banks, is actually an investment, he said, because the government will ultimately "make a killing" off the preferred stocks it has purchased in these banks -- which are among the relatively healthiest around.

He said he understands how it can be perceived as unfair that the government is "bailing" out banks rather than homeowners.

But in effect, the injections of federal money into banks will ultimately calm the market, he said.

"The confusion is that people think that the Treasury is spending money to rescue these banks, instead of just investing at the right time," he said. "It seems like the administration is bailing people out..."

But it's truly a "bailout" when that money can't grow, he said. When the economy emerges from the doldrums, the government -- and hence the taxpayers -- will get a nice return, he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

People still give to charity, even during recessions.

Here are some more tidbits and numbers I couldn't squeeze into a story on charitable giving...The data is courtesy of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Giving has been between 1.7 percent and 2.4 percent  of gross domestic product since 1955.

In, 2007, estimated total giving of $306.4 billion was 2.1 percent of GDP.

Before adjusting for inflation, charitable giving has increased in all years except 1987 since 1956.

The center's conclusion -- in a recently released study -- was that financial conditions impact charitable donations, but most households still give even during times of recession. 

 

"The prospect of an American default seems incomprehensible no matter how much debt the government issues. But is it really? Suppose a major creditor nation posed a security risk and threatened to dump all its American debt on the market. In that case default could happen despite American solvency. That situation is improbable, but feasible. After all, many politically inconvenient creditor nations hold substantial American debt. And stranger things have happened." (Free Exchange) 

It sounds like good news, but apparently not. Prices for groceries, clothing, entertainment and other goods and services fell in October. While some economists were quick to say the worries of inflation are over; others say deflation is  now possible. sheesh. Meanwhile housing prices continue to fall and new home construction fell to its lowest rate since 1959.
In Washington D.C., automakers continue to beg.
And the Dow Jones this morning at 11 a.m. ET is down more than 100 points.

And some vaguely familiar character says, Let Detroit eat cake

Southern California's latest round of wildfires has caused chaos and disruption for many Southland residents.

But a host of San Gabriel Valley businesses and organizations have stepped up to donate food, blankets and other needed items to Diamond Bar residents who were displaced by the Triangle Complex Fire.

Giving, in times of disaster, is always a good thing. In fact, I would argue that it's one of the best of things. If you don't believe me, remember how we came together after the 9-11 terrorist attacks - or after the Northridge earthquake.

In a climate where CEOs are skating away with over-sized severance packages while their companies go down the tubes, a little sense of selflessness can go a long way. Today, I interviewed several companies and organizations that chose to help displaced residents who couldn't go back to their homes while fire crews were still battling it out.

And those are the lucky ones, the ones whose homes are still standing.

Others have lost much more - their homes, their family photos, their keepsakes and their very connection with who they are in the world.

So if you go to bed safe in your own home tonight, give a little thanks. And tip your hat to these companies and organizations for having a conscience.

It's something we could use more of these days.

 

 

Here's a list of tips for small business for surviving the economy. Thank you to Christy Schmitt, Union Bank of California's senior vice president and small business segment manager. I couldn't get the whole list in the hard copy story, so here you go.

 

COST CONTROLS

Inventory. Find ways to trim inventory levels. If you're at six months, get to three. If you are 60 days, get to 30. If you are at 30 days, get to seven.

Budget. Create weekly flash reports to monitor spending and revenue.

Payroll. Let positions go dark as staff leave. This preserves cash, and is better for moral than layoffs. Consider part-time or temp services to perform some duties.

Equipment. Sell machines that you use occasionally, or which you bought as a want during better times. Negotiate to lease or rent equipment and software only when you need them.

Space. Consolidate operations into one building, and sublease unused space. Renogotiate lease terms, especially with landlords facing high vacancy rates.

Payables. Negotiate to lengthen terms or earn discounts with longtime vendors. Pay on 60 days, even forgoing 30-day discounts, to conserve cash.

Extras. Trim the luxuries. Stop buying coffee for the break room or providing meals and beverages for meetings.

Credit. Be conservative about seeking credit. Credit costs money. Review all outstanding credit on your books, and investigate refinancing to take advantage of the lowering interest rate trend. If you decide to pursue credit, go beyond the application to document how you've cut costs and managed for success.

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Clients. Review your accounts list. Is there business you've turned away in the past because it was too small? No business is too small in today's environment, provided it generates a profit.

Receivables. Find a bank that will pay your merchant service receipts within 24 hours. Don't extend terms beyond 30 days to customers. Collect aggressively. Don't extend credit or terms unless you've verified that a customer is in a position to repay. The less credit you you've extended, the more cash you have on hand.

Cash accounts. Look for a strong bank, and match deposit rates against a bank's strength. Consider depositing operating capital in small business premium money market funds, and longterm capital in 12-month CDs.

 

 

 

I think we're all in agreement that the nation is in a recession.

The San Gabriel Valley is dealing with its own share of economic problems, just as other regions are. But one Southland economist figures there'll be some light at the end of the tunnel, come 2010 and 2011.

Nancy D. Sidhu, vice president and senior economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said, "The storm will be severe through the next six to nine months with gradual clearing."

I like the gradual clearing part ... but we're not out of the woods yet.

A new report by the LAEDC says employment deterioration is expected in manufacturing and construction, with job losses of 4,500 workers and 2,400 workers, respectively in 2008.

Additional employment losses are expected in professional and business services -- including engineering, scientific and technical research -- some of the San Gabriel Valley's most vibrant sectors.

"Retail is also expected to decline this year and next year," Sidhu said. "Cities that have a lot of automotive dealerships are more at risk because of the big loss of sales tax."

International trade activity in the Valley will likewise decline, reflecting efforts by U.S. businesses to bring their inventories in line with the slowdown in the U.S. economy and in economies throughout the globe, according to the LAEDC's report.

Food banks are feeling strain these days as unemployment rises and recession looms (See my story on Sunday, Nov. 16).

It's not as easy to get donations, nor is it as easy to meet the demand of increasing number of people seeking food.

I couldn't fit all of their information into the story, so here's a list -- by no means comprehensive -- of some local pantries, food banks and affiliated services in the area.

*Friends In Deed: 444 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena; (626) 797-6072

*God Provides Food Bank: 2453 Troy Ave., S. El Monte; (626) 442-4273

*St. Francis of Rome Food Bank: 501 E. Foothill Blvd.; (626) 969-2397

*Walnut Food Bank: (909) 594-FOOD, (909) 594-3063

*Foothill Unity Center: 415 W. Chestnut Ave., Monrovia (626) 358-3486; 191 N. Oak St., Pasadena (626) 584-7420

*AIDS Service Center: 909 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena (626) 441-849

*Union Station Homeless Services: 825 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena; (626) 240-4557

 

Gold and silver are becoming the safest (ouch) bets apparently and is prompting people to buy safes. But sticking them in your home seems a tad bit...unsafe. (double ouch)  

While the government is busy shelling out our money like it's theirs, the budget deficit, depending on what accounting gimmick you use, is nearly $240 billion and inflation is rarely talked about. 

Car companies run into Republican wall 

Europe falls into recession

Secretive $2 trillion industry welcomes oversight (especially if it means they'll be bailed out when things go bad)

Bush legacy: new economic world order (where we're not on top anyway)

Asian stock rebound

In these troubled economic times, it seems everyone's looking for a bargain - and Cramster Inc. may be one of the best around.

The Pasadena-based business (Cramster.com) includes a global, online community of students, teachers and other "subject enthusiasts" who help each other understand how to solve problems for math-based subjects like physics, calculus, statistics and chemistry.

Cramster offers two levels of subscription. The first is free, allowing users to ask one question per day. The second level costs $9.95 a month, and users get to ask five questions a day.

That's a pretty good deal.

It's a great business model and company founders Aaron Hawkey and Robert Angarita are already looking toward the future. The business initially catered primarily to students who needed help, but the two entrepreneurs are expanding that to include high school students as well.

In any given month, some 100,000 active users are tapping into the online service, and 30 percent of those are paying customers.

"We focus on math, science and engineering but we're looking to expand into economics, finance and accounting," Hawkey said. "We have students in thousands of univerities across the U.S. About 10 percent of them are international."

The city will never be the same, (my condolences Frank G.) 

Govt going into the credit card business

Bankruptcy vs Bailout for GM

CalPER's pension dive

Lower opening expected for stock market

Bush says free market system still good idea (no one believes him).

Consumers may finally be spent

State has 20 months to close $27 billion gap

Gas prices plunge; consumers still not buying

Stocks open lower

Macy's post $44 million loss

 

All these government bailouts and rescue packages are double-edged swords, if you ask experts.

On one hand, it is hard to argue that they won't be a short-term fix.

But it seems like for each expert I talk to, and for each bailout we come across, a theme emerges that worries them: what the bailout means in the next crisis.

Gary Painter, a public policy expert at USC, pointed it out last time I spoke to him.

Indeed. In the short-run, for instance, restructuring homeowners' loans could help lift many homeowners out of the doldrums.

But what about the next time? He worried about a new bubble (poised to pop)  that can expand as people buying homes in the next upturn won't worry as much about the risk of dwindling property value because the government will jump in to save the borrower from defaulting on a loan.

Others are worried that such actions only create more debt -- part of what got us in to this mess in the first place.

Are we in a vicious cycle here?

Monrovia almost got a Vroman's Bookstore.

But like so many other pending deals, the arrangement fell through because of current economic conditions. Pasadena-based Vroman's and Monrovia's redevelopment agency had been close to a signed agreement on a newly-renovated, 6,000-square-foot building on Myrtle Avenue that would have housed a bookstore by next summer.

But given the current economic climate, Vroman's has opted to pull back on its plan - for now, at least.

"The more recent economic conditions and variances have caused our board of directors to adopt a more conservative approach regarding expansion at this time," said Joel Sheldon, Vroman's chairman and CEO.

Not exactly great for Monrovia, but probably a prudent decision.

As we continue to move through this economic minefield, these kinds of choices aren't always easy - or the ones we want to hear. But they may well be the right ones because  many sectors of our financial landscape are tenuous at best.

I default to a comment made recently to me by Richard Giss, a retail analyst with Deloitte & Touche:

"Retailers are grabbing onto the rails and holding on for dear life," Giss said. "And you're seeing more and more of them turn to something that used to be a staple but hasn't been used in years - the layaway."

A layaway plan allows shoppers to pay for merchandise bit by bit in installments. When the full price has finally been paid, they can take the items home.

I wish we could put this economy on layaway and pick up a new one until the old one comes around.

Hesh Reinfeld: "My success is tied to being able to serve as many clients as possible. There are only 24 hours in a day. By analyzing my work schedule and those of my employees, I found that we spent way too much time with clients we liked."

Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the current financial implosion, thinks the government should inject money into saving the Big Three. 

A trade: Colombia for cars

Mountain House changes name to Underwater House

"You act in the interests of your clients. You don't screw them"

A minor $11.2 billion gap needs to be close by Nov.

Stocks down this morning

UPDATE: Bush denies tying Colombia trade agreement with auto bailout

As states grapple with looming budget problems, they point to the flagging economy as culprit. But, according to the USA Today, shortfalls have less to do with the weak economy "than with the [in]ability of governors and legislators to manage money wisely."
...
"California, the worst-performing state in the analysis...approved huge spending increases and tax cuts during the boom. When the economy soured, the state began borrowing money and using accounting gimmicks to avoid its day of reckoning. Today, it continues to spend $1 billion a month more than it takes in."

Free Exchange: "...as events turn from an unprecedented and opaque crisis into something better understood and more common, boundaries around public authority ought to re-emerge, even if not quite where they used to be.

There is a big difference between the urgent improvisation tolerated in a crisis and sound government... It will be important to recognise the extent to which the financial meltdown of September becomes the more normal recession of tomorrow. At some point, governments need to learn their new roles and stop inventing them."

- In other words, when will the government back off and let businesses swim or sink on their own.

Who is getting the money? The Feds aren't telling.

Big insurer sucking up more taxpayer dollars

Circuit City files Chapter 11

LA-area private schools see lower enrollment, endowment shrink

Asian stocks rise on China stimulus

Some things never change - or least they don't change much.

Levi's 501 jeans are a good example. Russ Bustamante's got about 80,000 pairs of them. And he's selling them out of his little shop on San Bernardino Road in Covina. That's just about all he sells, with the exception of some other zippered jeans and jackets, overalls and military fatigues.

And that kind of hyper-focused - and virtually unchanging - marketing strategy is somehow comforting in today's economic climate.

Let's face it, we've become used to hearing news of mounting home foreclosures, banks collapsing, radical swings in the stock market and layoffs from automakers, factories and just about every other industry.

So the idea that one business just keeps on keepin' on is kind of nice.

"Levi's have been around for such a long time - before the denim market really exploded - so they've become a cult classic," said Lucy Danovic, a sales representative with Nikki & Lucy, a showroom that supplies clothing to Los Angeles-area stores and boutiques.

"Used jeans are cheaper to buy ... and Levi's look a lot cooler if they're vintage," she said.

 

Yet again, a simple feature story generated a big lesson this week.

By the end of our conversation Thursday, Chester "Chet" Salit wasn't sure he

had such a good story for me - his was kind of a boring story, he suggested.

But I begged to differ.

First, I told him that the Ladder of Success isn't necessarily meant to be about celebrities, but rather they are about people who don't necessarily get the headlines. This feature, which you can read every Saturday on the business page, is more about everyday people, who get up and go to make their business or industry better every day.

As the manager of a local architecture firm, he was just that.

But his story was refreshing beyond the criteria of our business page.

In a time when it can be easy to get lost in "positive" spin, I realized I was talking to a

guy who was refreshingly honest about where he'd been and where he ended up in his career.

He readily acknowledge that early in his career, he wasn't in the elite echelon of designers in the architectural field. Designing buildings didn't come easy for him, he said.

But he persevered, eventually moving to the business side of architecture.

We're not all rock stars in what we do. But sometimes we just have to plug away at it, and eventually we'll find a niche.

Thanks to some honesty from people like Salit - boring or not - there's hope.

I remembered when economists, including our now-dearly beloved Alan Greenspan, got all worried when unemployment rates became too low. They feared the sky was falling and inflation was around the corner. Then it kept getting lower and lower. And nothing bad happened. Now, with the latest abysmal jobless numbers you would think the stock would be tanking. Except so far, they're not. Paraphrasing William Goldman, nobody knows nothing. 

That's reassuring. Except maybe we're starting even lower than nowhere. The abyss, perhaps? 

Jobs dip to 14-year low

Retail sales collapse

sales tax hike and spending cuts

Tech businesses getting slammed

America's jobless picture isn't looking good, and local employment agencies are feeling it.

Jeremy Contreras, owner of AJL Staffing Resources LLC in Whittier, said his business is off by about  60 percent.

"There are layoffs everywhere," he said. "Manufacturing companies that ordinarily would be setting up a second shift in February or March aren't doing it."

Contreras said he also has seen a dramatic slowdown in calls for commercial drivers, manufacturing workers and office employees.

"During the last three weeks I know of about five companies that each laid off at least 25 people," he said. "And some of those employees had been there as long as 19 years."

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits jumped by 122,000 to 3.84 million in late October. It was the highest level since late February 1983 when the country was struggling to recover from a long and painful recession.

And and net job losses for October are expected to be about 200,000 when the government releases its jobs report on Friday.

And now for some more good news, courtesy of the Associated Press  ...

DETROIT - With their employers poised to announce billions more in losses and further job cuts on Friday, it's worry time once again at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. factories across North America.

Both companies are spending billions more than they're making amid the worst economic crisis in decades.

 

 

Columbia Journalism Review questions the media's coverage of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the bailout discussions.

Digital Rules predicts a tax revolt in 2012:

"Inflation and progressive taxes are a toxic brew. We haven't heard the phrase "bracket creep" since Ronald Reagan ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980. Reagan knew that middle-income Americans were being inflated into higher tax brackets designed for the rich and were feeling mightily annoyed about this. I predict the 1970s will play out again."

- But the comments, for different reasons, seem to dismiss the prediction.

Gov proposes 90-day-foreclosure freeze

State deficit keeps growing

What? Obama can't change things overnight? Recount, please. 

Towering economic to-do list

Macy's, Gap, Target sales fall; Wal-Mart gains

 

There was so much brain power in the Business Technology Center the other day, I thought my own brain was going to explode with all the information (See the story on the 10th anniversary of the center in the Nov. 6 business page).

As the center's administrator Stan Tomsic showed me around, I felt like I was getting a first-hand and early glimpse of ideas that some day we might take for granted.

Two that immediately come to mind were a pair of three-dimensional-imaging binoculars and a light source -- a "virtual filament" - that, at least in the example I saw the other day, could replace a traditional 60-watt bulb with another that uses only 10 watts.

The binoculars were interesting enough on their own. But consider that StereoVision Imaging CEO Gregory Steinthal has fused in facial recognition technology with a version of his binoculars, which generate an image that can be downloaded and viewed in 3-D.

I was skeptical at first. But I put on the glasses and looked at the computer monitor, and sure enough I found myself grasping at an image on a computer screen as if the subject of the image - flowers - were right in front of me.

Anyway, thanks to Steinthal and to LPI  President Robert Alvarez and Executive Vice President Waqidi Falicoff -- developers of the virtual filament, and a lot of other interesting stuff -- for showing photographer Walt Mancini and I around.

It was a look at innovation -- regardless of whether it's ever successful or not -- that is happening right here in the San Gabriel Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was so much brain power in the Business Technology Center the other day, I thought my own brain was going to explode with all the information (See the story on the 10th anniversary of the center in the Nov. 6 business page).

As the center's administrator Stan Tomsic showed me around, I felt like I was getting a first-hand and early glimpse of ideas that some day we might take for granted.

Two that immediately come to mind were a pair of three-dimensional-imaging binoculars and a light source -- a "virtual filament" - that, at least in the example I saw the other day, could replace a traditional 60-watt bulb with another that uses only 10 watts.

The binoculars were interesting enough on their own. But consider that StereoVision Imaging CEO Gregory Steinthal has fused in facial recognition technology with a version of his binoculars, which generate an image that can be downloaded and viewed in 3-D.

I was skeptical at first. But I put on the glasses and looked at the computer monitor, and sure enough I found myself grasping at an image on a computer screen as if the subject of the image - flowers - were right in front of me.

Anyway, thanks to Steinthal and to LPI  President Robert Alvarez and Executive Vice President Waqidi Falicoff -- developers of the virtual filament, and a lot of other interesting stuff -- for showing photographer Walt Mancini and I around.

It was a look at innovation -- regardless of whether it's ever successful or not -- that is happening right here in the San Gabriel Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The private sector jobs market deteriorated rapidly in October while the service sector contracted sharply as the worst financial crisis in 80 years hammered the world's largest economy." Reuters. 

WSJ: After refusing to give fired workers their accrued vacation pay, Mervyn's LLC said it will reverse its decision as long as going-out-of-business sales raise enough cash to pay off its debt to Wachovia.

Stocks take a dive

Obama plans to work on a quick $100 billion stimulus plan

Ethanol producers hit hard

Life on the installment plan

If you've ever doubted that Barack Obama's presence in this year's election has made an impact, walk into Wayne Nelson's clothing shop on Lincoln Avenue in Altadena.

It's wall-to-wall Obama shirts, pins, hats and bumper stickers.  And it's all selling like hotcakes these days.

It's been a long time since a candidate has generated such excitement -- so much so that the likeness of that candidate and the depiction of a message is a source of business.

Nelson said something that indeed rang true.

Whether you were for or against Obama, he's been good for at least one person's economy -- Nelson's.

 

 

This is clearly not the best of times for residential builders.

But some mixed-use projects are still moving forward, despite the financial meltdown. One such project is The Courtyards at Old Town in Monrovia. Urban Housing Group, a subsidiary of Marcus & Millichap Co., held a groundbreaking on Tuesday for Courtyards, a residential community that will include 163 luxury apartments and 6,000 square feet of commercial retail space.

"There haven't been any luxury apartments built east of Pasadena along the 210 corridor in quite some time and we believe there is a pent-up demand," said Dan Deibel, Urban Housing's vice president of development.

John Frith, a spokesman for the California Building Industry Association, said apartment construction is on the rise.

"A lot of projects that had been earmarked for condos several years ago when they were first going through the permit process have been switched over because the for-sale market has gotten weaker," he said.

Well, it's good to know that there's still some level of vitality in the construction industry. But non-residential construction may also be in for a tough time. 

"Nonresidential construction is on the verge of a potentially long slide," Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), warns. Simonson's comments followed reports from the Census Bureau on construction spending in September and the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) on third-quarter and expected activity.

"The census figures show nonresidential spending eked out a gain in September of 0.1 percent," Simonson notes. "But private nonresidential spending was down nearly 1 percent from its high-water mark in June, while public spending tumbled 1.3 percent in September alone.

"Wall Street would seem to favor Big Business-friendly Republicans, however, studies have shown that stocks tend to perform better under a Democratic president." (CNN)

Politico: Larry Summers, who was Clinton's last Treasury secretary before becoming president of Harvard, is considered a favorite for Treasury secretary.
Economic Advisor:Austan Goolsbee, senior policy adviser to campaign and University of Chicago economics professor; Jason Furman, director of economic policy for the campaign; Michael Froman, former Treasury chief of staff, Citigroup executive and Harvard Law classmate of Obama

"An Obama victory in November would lead to faster economic growth with less inequality, while a McCain victory would lead to slower economic growth with more inequality."

Much bigger government. Higher taxes. Much more regulation"

"So no matter who occupies the White House...government will probably become larger and more expensive. But history suggests that it's likely to grow faster with a Republican president."

Bailout panel shrouded in secrecy

Gas prices continue to plunge

Brothel business slowing down

Rise in food stamps

Survival of the fittest.

It's a hackneyed phrase we hear all the time in the world of nature, sports and global economies.

But in the midst of our nation's current economic meltdown, it's taken on a deadly serious meaning as more and more companies are falling victim to flagging sales, waning consumer confidence and tightened credit standards.

Circuit City Stores Inc. is one such business.

On Monday, the Richmond, Va.-based electronics retailer announced it will close 155 of its more-than 700 stores - about 20 percent of its U.S. operations.

Not exactly good news.

"The weakened environment has resulted in a slowdown of consumer spending, further impacting our business as well as the business of our vendors," James A. Marcum, vice chairman and acting president and chief executive explained in a statement. "The combination of these trends has strained severely our working capital and liquidity."

Stay tuned - because I think there are more closures from more retailers in the pipeline ...   

  

Did economists let the world down?

This Web site allows workers, anonymously of course, to dish, according the NYTimes, about 14,000 companies in 98 countries. How it's going to make money? Maybe soliciting companies that get dissed or look good?

By TOM KRISHER and BREE FOWLER
AP Auto Writers

Is this saying more about diplomats than businessmen?
The "Wealth of Nation" author believed "repeat business was usually more important to businessmen than to diplomats. Smith argued that diplomats frequently broke treaties since treaties are made infrequently. As a result, the gain from breaking treaties often exceeds the gain from living up to the obligations imposed by the treaties. Another, much more famous, result of Adam Smith shows that under certain conditions, businessmen in competitive industries would promote the general welfare, even though they were only trying to increase their profits."
- Except now Gordon Gekko is the public's current perception of investment bankers.

All quiet on Wall Street

Asian Markets rise

Circuit City closing stores

Feds rebuffs GM on bailout