Archive for the 'Trends' Category

It’s important to read Kotkin’s “Tale of Two States”.
This is not for lack of trying. Ohio and its cities have worked to lure jobs through tax abatements and downtown development projects. Cleveland, in particular, has tried to sell itself as a “comeback city” and has developed a gentrified Potemkin village, but in 2004 it actually […]

Some people work at home to balance their lifestyle. Finns work at home because they’re workaholics evidently. At least that’s what I gather from this piece at YLE News
Finland is one of top countries in Europe in terms of how people experience time pressures at work. According to a report in the newspaper Keskisuomalainen, one-third […]

I saw this a few days ago and forgot to link to it.
Now Seth, don’t you know IT IS NOT A RECESSION UNTIL THE POLITICIANS SAY IT’S OVER AND CAN TAKE CREDIT FOR FIXING IT AFTER 200 million people worked their behinds off trying climb out of it and survive in the meantime, “Economic Stimulus […]

In Australia that is. From the Liverpool City Champion. Check out the amazing statistic about the percentage of home businesses to small businesses in Australia - 70%! (Could it be just another politician’s exaggeration?)
“People in small business are very hard workers and 70per cent of them in Australia are home-based,” said Mr Adams, whose business […]

Just the other day I was reading that businesses in New York are starting to take the EURO in exchange for goods and services. I wondered how they’d handle those transactions…
So today, Wells Fargo announces a service to help some small businesses with that.
Wells Fargo offers online foreign exchange service to small business
The service […]

Career Builder has a list of the top 10 worst states for job hunting. The data is public information compiled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January.
All the states listed had unemployment rates ranging from 5.7% and above to over 7% for Michigan.
But I wonder what all 50 states look like… Pockets of every […]

The Globe and Mail has a thought provoking article on the “next big thing”… the Peer to Peer economy.
Get set for the P2P Economy. What sideswiped music companies, Hollywood studios and newspaper companies could soon strike you, as individuals both consume and create content in peer-to-peer sharing that undercuts traditional industries.
Online expert Stan Stainaker says […]

A survey designed to gauge interest in raising taxes to add lanes to the local highway network found out something interesting.
Besides the fact that most people STRONGLY opposed the new proposed taxes, 26% of survey respondents say they telecommute! Somehow that came as a surprise to people even though California is one of the more […]

The Smartest Unknown Indian Entrepreneur has a $40 per year business that puts $1 million profit monthly in the bank. He’s behind Zoho.com. He employs 600 people in Chennai, India and 8 in Silicon Valley. His name is Sridhar Vembu and he’s making a difference for lots of young people who’d otherwise miss out on […]

Are you familiar with “Fair Trade” products from the Third World? Those can be any number of products but mainly coffee that are supposed to be bought at a “fair” price for the producer. The implication is that everything else we buy is bought at an “unfair” price.
The reality seems to be different as discussed […]