About Me 0128: February 2011

Monday, February 21, 2011

Making Money Working

Of all the interesting new tech that seems poised to garner a lot of buzz in 2011, near field communication (NFC), is probably the most exciting. If it takes off, it will transform the ways we communicate, share, and make payments with digital devices. This will likely take years to happen, but the groundwork is being laid right now. And RFinity is one of those companies at the forefront.

While Google and Apple are responsible for generating much of the buzz about NFC at the moment, the technology goes far beyond simply having the right type of chip in your mobile device. For example, how do you handle different types of data transfers being made from one device to another? And how to you ensure that they happen as quickly as possible? And most importantly, how do you ensure that they happen securely? Those are the things that RFinity is thinking about.

The company has just raised $4 million from Horizons Ventures in Hong Kong. And the space has gotten so red hot, in fact, that we hear they’re already out raising another round.

And it’s an easy bet for investors to make not only because of the space, but because of where the project originated: The U.S. Department of Energy. Specifically, RFinity was born when a bunch of infrastructure security experts working for the government were assigned to find all the vulnerabilities in cell phones. Through software they came up with, they were able to quite easily eavesdrop, manipulate SMS messages, and even compromise LAN security. Then they set out to figure out a way to stop people from doing those very things. That work led directly to RFinity.

Work originally began in the person-to-person and person-to-vendor sales space by way of mobile applications that route transactions through RFinity’s own secure servers. But now that NFC appears ready, RFinity is making sure they’re ready for it. The idea is that their technology could cut out the middle man here: themselves.

Obviously, the company isn’t going to share all the details on how they secure NFC transfers. But the basic overview is that they verify an incoming NFC signal and ask for a user’s permission before taking any action. Further, if the action is a transaction, it requires a PIN, just as you might do an ATM withdrawal. That’s all pretty standard. But the key is one-time-use transaction codes that RFinity creates on the fly along with complex cryptographic signatures. These ensure that an transaction is secure since it means that every transaction can only happen once. Even if those numbers were intercepted by a hacker, they would be useless beyond the one-time payment.

And even if your phone is lost or stolen, a thief couldn’t do anything without your PIN. And you can remotely shut down your NFC capabilities via RFinity. It’s enough to make me wish I could throw out all my credit cards right now. “Today’s identification and transaction systems are based on what? A magnetic strip on the back of a card, based on a 1950’s technology that relies on a base station to read the information embedded as a series of simple magnetic markers in plastic tape,” writes Josh Jones-Dilworth, who is working with the company to bring them to market.

Again, NFC as a technology is great and potentially game-changing. But the software is still needed to make it actually work. And some of the big guys began realizing that early on as companies like PayPal, Bank of America, and even Subway have been testing out different things with RFinity for some time. In fact, RFinity has actually been doing field tests of the software end of their technology since 2009 in places like Idaho, well before most people in the U.S. had ever thought about NFC.

But now people are starting to care. And soon, they could be caring a lot more. NFC is already built-in to Google’s new Nexus S device — and the company has put out a call for developers to start using the tech. Rumors have the next iteration of the iPhone gaining the technology as well. In other words, I suspect we may be seeing acquisition rumors starting to fly around RFinity in about six months or so. Provided their technology proves up to the NFC challenge, of course.

“With just one impressive speech, Chris Christie put three full days of CPAC speakers to shame.

“That’s the bottom line from a bipartisan panel of experts, who watched the New Jersey governor’s address on Wednesday at the American Enterprise Institute for POLITICO – and drew a sharp contrast between Christie and the cattle call of potential GOP hopefuls at the just-concluded conservative gathering…

“‘He hit precisely the right notes people are looking for,’ Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said of the Republican, citing the governor’s focus on getting the states and nation’s fiscal house in order…

“‘He looked presidential in the kind of Hollywood sense,’ Simmons said. ‘The Bulworth, straight-talking politician. John Goodman on The West Wing. Republican guy from the heartland. He looked that part but it’s a long way to go from there to the White House.’”

***

“The way to understand Christie, says Ben Dworkin, director of the Institute for New Jersey politics at Rider University, ‘is he has the leadership skills of a powerful prosecutor who happens to be governor. He argues his case in the press, and he stays on the attack constantly.’ As a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, Christie never lost a corruption case, and there were plenty in a state best known for The Sopranos. His favorite phrase: ‘Heads I win, tails you lose.’ Yet he’s declined to join other Republican governors and attorneys general in challenging Obama’s health care reform. He says he doesn’t have the money to fool around with that stuff right now, and if the law is found unconstitutional, New Jersey will benefit without having to kick in legal fees.

“His refusal to join in suggests a degree of pragmatism that is attractive to non-true believers. This is a guy who has focused his message of change, and is clear about what he stands for. This is distinct from Obama’s message of change, which meant different things to different people in 2008 and left almost everybody disappointed…

“Christie’s tough-guy approach is working, making him a national figure after just 13 months in office. ‘He commands the bully pulpit more effectively than any other governor we have seen in modern history,’ says Dworkin, who predicts Christie will deliver the keynote address at the GOP convention in 2012.”

***

DYLAN RATIGAN, HOST: Go ahead, Jonathan. Set all of that aside, just your evaluation of [New Jersey Governor Chris] Christie, period, as a politician and his rhetoric.

JONATHAN CAPEHART, WASHINGTON POST: I think Chris Christie is terrific. Here’s a guy whose tough talk is matched up by tough action. All those things he’s talking about, he talked about at AEI today, those are all things he’s done with the exception of dealing with entitlements and things like that which he doesn’t really have to deal with because he’s a governor. But because he’s a governor in a state with deep financial problems and is forced every day, day in and day out, to make decisions, you know, he’s, he’s making them and he’s not sugar-coating them. He’s not trying to be anybody’s friend. He, you know, President Obama talks about adult conversations. Speaker Boehner talks about adult conversations surrounding the big, tough issues that face the country. Chris Christie is the one who’s actually having the adult conversation and making the tough decisions. And when people get in his face and try to yell back at him, he yells back. He actually yells back, which is why I think is driving his popularity.

***

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

***

AOL, Google, The News, & I

Almost everyone uses Google to find out more about news that's happening right now, whether it's tech industry stuff, celebrity breakups, or political revolutions. Unfortunately, the rules Google uses to determine which websites gain ...

N. Africa, Mideast protests – Libyan PM: 'terrorists' causing ...

Across the Middle East and North Africa, CNN's reporters and iReporters are covering protests, many of them inspired by revolts in Tunisia and Egypt that toppled those countries' longtime rulers. Check out our story explaining the roots ...

News Corp. to Buy Shine Group for $663 Million - The Hollywood ...

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is to acquire the entirety of Shine Group, owned by daughter Elisabeth Murdoch.

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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Whos Making Money

Wall Street bankers no longer evaluate risk well, allocate capital well, or aggregate capital efficiently. They are a drag on our economy and efficient markets. According to Paul Volcker, financial innovation over the last 30 years has added only one useful element to our economy …. the ATM.

Dimon and company should just STFU. They crashed the economy, we bailed them out for their stupid greedy behavior, and now their feelings are hurt because we remind them that their wealth was based on a perfect storm that they lobbied for and manufactured. It was one which merged:

- a Ponzi scheme of unregulated derivatives;

- regulatory capture;

- Mr. Andrea Mitchell worshipping the slut Ayn Rand’s philosophy of deregulation;

- Washington/main stream media/Wall Street/Very Serious People group think;

- cops on the beat averting their eyes;

- cops taken off the beat of white collar crime to fight terrorism;

- journalists learning nothing from Enron;

- journalists intimidated because they don’t understand math;

- budget cuts in journalism;

- predatory lending;

- rampant mortgage fraud the FBI warned about in 2004;

- Moodys and S&P having perverse incentives to give triple AAA ratings to lousy securities;

- the economics profession subject to “academic capture”

…..the list goes on and on.

Dimon and his fellow travelers are lucky they aren’t in jail.

If you don’t have time to see the movie, for fun viewing, check out the trailer to Inside Job.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/

Matt Yglesias of the Center for
American Progress Action Fund
ponders the logical endpoint of Milton Friedman’s famous
declaration that “the social responsibility of business is to
increase its profit.”

This implies that a business executive has not only the right as
a citizen of a democratic country but amoral obligation to dedicate
his energy and that of the firm he manages toward erecting
regulatory barriers to competition and to begging for bailouts and
subsidies. The Friedman view is that an entrepreneur who’s obsessed
with creating great products is not just in some loose sense a
sucker compared to the one who’s more focused on creating a
politically entrenched monopoly, but that he’s also guilty of some
kind of ethical failing.

Yglesias suggests that, in the end, Friedman’s notion that
profit is the goal is effectively a “social responsibility to
rent-seek.” I'm not so sure, for a couple of reasons.

The first—one espoused by any number of free-market business
owners—is that most folks who subscribe to a basically Friedmanite
view of the world also believe that the short- and medium-term
profits earned through rent-seeking tend to come at the expense of
a firm’s long-term profits and sustainability. Perhaps a firm
initially makes some money by lobbying for taxes and regulations
that push smaller firms out of the market. But in the long run,
those profits are the products of market distortions, and thus not
healthy for the firm, which becomes increasingly reliant on
favoritism and intervention rather than price signals over time.
That sort of rent-seeking behavior also encourages a competitive
regulatory environment, in which other firms and interested parties
(bureaucrats, special interest groups, politicians, etc.) will soon
seek to use similar tactics against your firm. Eventually those
parties will be successful. The underlying idea behind this view is
that it’s bad business to work toward making rent-seeking a greater
part of the regulatory environment.

The second thing to note is that Yglesias is at least partially
right in that many businesses
do end up accepting and embracing the notion that
rent-seeking is simply part of their business. But if you think
this is a problem, then the most effective response is to look for
ways to make rent-seeking behavior more difficult. And since one of
the basic premises when it comes to rent-seeking is that rules and
regulations will almost always be gamed in favor of one party or
another, and that more rules leads to more gaming, you don’t
accomplish this through regulation. Instead, you make rent-seeking
harder by making government smaller, and simpler, and less
powerful, and therefore 1) harder to manipulate and 2) less
enticing, thanks to the limits on its influence, to those looking
to exploit its rules. The less advantageous it is to game the
government, the fewer businesses will attempt to do it.

In 2005, Reason
hosted a debate over the meaning of corporate social
responsibility between Milton Friedman, Whole Foods' John Mackey,
and Cypress Semiconductor's T.J. Rodgers.

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How To Use Facebook's News Feed Filters

Facebook hasn't formally explained the latest upgrade to news feed filters, and some users are confused. Some postings describe the default settings almost like a grand conspiracy to hide updates. Let's set the record straight.

Pilot News: Bello Takes on 'Prime Suspect,' A 'Lostie' Returns ...

It's casting season in Hollywood and familiar names are being snatched up by studios. Maria Bello will play a famed detective, Christine Lahti will be a doctor (again), Michael Emerson will play a billionaire and James Van Der.

Ten American Companies With The Best News For 2011 - 24/7 Wall St.

24/7 Wall St. chose the ten most important pieces of news for major US corporations so far this year. Our evaluation was based on the history of the company and industry involved and the likely long-term effects of the event.

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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Making Easy Money

..........and bullshit walks! Easy as that for start-ups when it comes to making up your mind about raising additional capital. Are we in a bubble? No idea but this question keeps creeping up. Those of us who went through the bubble at the turn of the century are secretly hoping we're not in another one. Those who don't remember the last one are also worried wondering whether all the old-timers are right. One way or another, it doesn't really matter.

You'll hear multiple opinions on whether to raise money at times like this. I have a very clear opinion on this. It's based on the fact that I believe the best venture backed businesses are in it for the long haul. These are companies with a real product that add value to their customers. These are businesses generating real cashflow intent on growing to significant scale. Finally, these are businesses which will use additional money to expand. Hence, here's my take on when to take money (with focus on EU based businesses):

1. Sequoia or Kleiner are on the phone. Start negotiating, get the best deal you can get and make sure to raise the money. Say what you will but Tier 1 VC's from the US will lead to a far larger exit. Specifically the top tier funds have access to management for your businesses, access to potential partners and are likely to sit on the boards of the companies that could buy you. You'd be dumb not to take money but do so wisely.

2. A tier 1 fund from Europe is interested. Find out whether there's a good fit with your businesses. I've often enough written about how to figure this out and I say to focus on the partner and not the fund when doing your due diligence. Negotiate a good deal and take the money. Tier 1 funds in Europe have learned to add value, have significantly better networks nowadays and will most likely get you bought by a US based business.

2.5. A tier 1 fund from your home country calls up. I've labeled this 2.5 because Tier 1 funds in Europe tend to only differentiate themselves based on where they are located. The rest is mostly the same. The benefit of a tier 1 locally invested in your business is the proximity. It's in your interest. You want them closer than further. If the terms are right and you have offers from abroad and locally, I'd sway towards local but the vibe has to be right. You won't be necessarily doing anything wrong taking money from a London VC verses a German VC when you are in Germany. The London VC may even be around more than the German VC. This all depends on the partner.

3. A tier 2 fund from the US calls up. Ask yourself first why they found you? Go ahead and ask. Further, research the fund and find out what they've done in the past. Have they invested in Europe before? Are they only looking to Europe because their dealflow in the US sucks? Think twice about whether they will invest the necessary time to be in Europe and invested in your business. If the deal terms are good and you are comfortable with the partner doing the deal, take the money. They can still be helpful in accessing US buyers. They are highly unlikely to open as many doors as Kleiner or Sequoia but they definitely know more people in the US than many European partners. Plus make sure you want to go to the US. They will probably eventually ask you to move the company there.

4. A tier 2 fund from outside your home region in the EU finds you. Ask yourself how the hell they found you. More importantly, if you found them, ask yourself why the Tier 1 funds from your local region aren't interested in what you are doing. Say what you will but a UK based fund prefers to invest first in the UK and then rest of Europe. A German fund in Germany and then rest of Europe, etc. Although valuations are good and the power is in your hands to some extent think twice. There are times when taking money could be detrimental to the health of your business (as well as to your equity stake). It's nice to get a higher valuation and some extra cash but make sure it doesn't ultimately cost you more than you think.

5. A tier 2 fund from your local region calls up. Again, ask yourself first why the tier 1 funds aren't interested. Don't underestimate the value of many tier 2 funds though. Maybe they aren't the best known name in the market. At the same time, maybe they are striving to become a better fund. Maybe the number two in the market will work harder than the number one for you. This may be in your interest. Maybe! Do your homework and if you are comfortable with terms, take the money. Be far more diligent in this case though. Think longer and harder about whether you really can do more with the money now or prefer to hold out a bit.

6. Some tier 3 fund you've never heard of and can't find out much about approaches you. Be really careful. There are lots of people in this business who sure won't be around in a couple years. Money from these guys can be a nightmare. At the same time, maybe your business is the nightmare and you couldn't raise money at any other time. One way or another, things aren't going right one way or another. If you need the money to survive and know you'll never get more down the road, do everything you can to raise cash now. Maybe you've just been approached by the future Kleiner or Sequoia of Europe. Maybe not.....but money talks and bullshit walks!

You'll notice a general trend from 1. through 6. above. Take the money! If you can get good terms, know how to put the money you raise to work for growth and like the partner from the funds approaching you, go for it. The getting is good right now. As a VC I'm worried about valuations and bursting bubbles, etc. but as an entrepreneur you should be optimizing for you business. Money is always good. Ignore all the crap about having too much money and being negatively swayed by this. In this post I am defaulting to the fact that I think you are a smart entrepreneur. You aren't going to raise money to get that Porsche as a company car. You're going to grow your business and become amazing. Some will say I am wrong but I'd prefer to have the cash in the bank and worry about being wrong later.

I started writing TV recaps and reviews a few years ago when a friend of a friend at a major newspaper told me they were expanding their TV coverage and needed people do cover a few shows, so I picked up two programs I already watched a lot, 'The Office' and 'ER.' It sounded easy enough, writing my thoughts on shows I already had opinions on anyway, although it took several tries to get the tone right–sometimes it still does. Some publications want a lot of recap, and some prefer that you assume that the readers saw the show and just touch on the major points. Some editors encourage plenty of sassmouth and snark, whereas others won’t tolerate even a hint at a swear word.

Typically, I'm assigned to review either an episode or a series of a show. I watch the show, and as quickly as possible, but as thoughtfully and with as much "voice" as possible, record my impressions of the quality of the episode along with the recap.

It’s a fun job, one that I’m lucky to have, period, let alone make a few bucks off, but like any writing gig, it comes with its own writey lessons.

• Long scripted dramas and reality TV shows are the easiest to cover. Half-hour comedies are some of the hardest. It can be difficult to stretch a recap of a half-hour show into several good paragraphs and you can only say “…and it was funny when…” so many times. Also really hard to turn into something: results shows that aren’t finales.They’re usually all filler except for the results–the best reality TV competition shows are figuring out how to make the results shows worth watching because otherwise people will just skip and read about what happened online. With a drama, though, you can usually find something to say about the season (or series) as a whole even if the episode didn’t give you a ton to work with.

• Screeners make life so much easier. I think I automatically relax and like a show more if I know I have a day or two to think about it after I watch it than if I only have an hour or two to write it up. Knocking out a writeup on a two-hour episode of 'American Idol' an hour after seeing it and making it comprehensive, entertaining, and spelling-error free is sometimes a challenge.

• Livechatting reality TV show finales is way more fun than writing about them. As great a job it is to write about television, actually talking to like-minded people in real time and trying to one-up each other with jokes and observations is more fun. They’re like TV-watching parties but without that pesky real live interaction that goes along with that whole having-to-put-on-a-bra thing.

• If you truly love a show, don't review it. I get asked occasionally to review 'RuPaul's Drag Race' but I won't, at least not full-time, because I like saving that show as pure entertainment, just me and the TV and no notes or observations. Because even though writing about TV isn’t especially grueling work, it’s still work, and if you really love letting a show take you away for a little while, it’s best just to keep it as entertainment without turning it into an assignment, to remember what it’s like to just watch something without taking notes. I do like subbing for people who cover shows I watch just for fun, though. There’s less pressure to come up with something new to say, and you get to come at it from a fan’s perspective, not a critic’s. Plus, if for some reason you rub the readers the wrong way, it was just a one-time thing and they won't be back next week to tell you what an ass you are.

• Commenters will eat your soul if you let them. I have other critic friends who can avoid comments completely or not let them get to them. I am not one of these people. Why do I read comments on my pieces? Because I’m a masochist, that’s why. I guess I should stop being surprised when people use the internet's anonymity to be jerks. Being told that your mother should have had aborted you when she had the chance because of your opinion on 'Lost' (this didn’t happen to me, it happened to a colleague) never goes down easy. I learn to laugh a day or two later but I’m still naively shaken sometimes by how rude people can be (My opinion on one episode of 'SNL' made one person decide that I am "literally retarded"). That said, I also feel crappy if a commenter politely points out that I made a mistake or missed something.

• Whenever people find out you're a TV critic and ask you what’s good, without fail, you draw a blank and then you feel like an idiot. I feel like I can’t keep saying 'The Wire' for forever, I’m afraid to admit to how loyal a 'Bridezillas' viewer I am. Alternately, they haven't heard of any of the shows you do recommend. Or, they watched a few episodes of your favorite show and hated it and then you say “Oh, well,” and secretly judge them.

• Network swag is fun to receive, and then you throw it away. It’s entertaining to receive a big silly package from a network in the mail, until I realize that I have to dispose of all the packaging that it came in and what do I need with some of this swag, anyway? Except the time that a network sent me some pancake mix and syrup for Christmas. That was great.

• Going out and having a few drinks before you go home to write sounds like a much better and more enjoyable idea than it is. For something that sounds so fun and easy, you have to take it pretty seriously in order to do a decent job at it, especially since there are probably 200 people who would gladly take over covering for you. This goes double if you have a day job and can’t afford to sleep in because you started watching the two-hour 'Idol' “event” at 10 PM.

• Change is good. 'American Idol' is only two episodes in but the consensus amongst reviewers is that, so far, it’s not too terrible. In my experience, a reality TV show changing up its format, if even slightly, is a good thing, at least from a writing perspective. When 'So You Think You Can Dance' incorporated its All-Stars last season, it might not have been for the best of the show, but at least I could evaluate the changes and ask the readers what they thought. When a show rests too long in format you can get too comfortable (Eventually I had a hard time finding much to say about 'Project Runway' for the first 75% of each episode, since it started to feel like everything prior to the runway was pretty irrelevant, unless Tim Gunn did something noteworthy).

• Tim Gunn, over the phone, is as nice as you’d hope he’d be. Better, even. Classy, charming, intelligent, friendly: I was so excited after I interviewed him that I did a horrible job spell-checking the interview and let it get posted when it really shouldn’t have. I just wanted to brag to the world that I talked to him. Also very nice, despite probably being richer than anyone else I know: Nigel Lythgoe.

Claire Zulkey lives in Chicago. You can learn so much more about her here.

Photo by Powi, from Flickr.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

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Lara Logan of CBS News Was Attacked and Sexually Assaulted in Egypt

Many of the scenes broadcast from Egpyt in recent days have been joyful, but events took a horrific turn for CBS News correspondent Lara.

CBS News reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From ...

CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.

Small Business News: Ladies Make The News

David Siteman Garland inspired this roundup (Thanks, David!) with a post on 35 visionary women entrepreneurs that just happened to include the founder of Small.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Making Money Uk

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An octet of science news

Perfect Perfume - a video for Valentine's Day - A bit of fun for Valentine's Day as the team combinesto ...

Is This the Best News Picture in the World? World Press Photo ...

Jodi Bieber wins the World Press Photo of the Year for her portrait of an Afghan woman who was disfigured by her husband on authority of the Taliban.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green News Report: February 10, 2011 ...

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Palm oil giant to halt Indonesia deforestation; Georgia forests worth more than $37 billion annually; Search for wind-related grid problems finds a bigger concern; IBM hunting for lithium-air car ...

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An octet of science news

Perfect Perfume - a video for Valentine's Day - A bit of fun for Valentine's Day as the team combinesto ...

Is This the Best News Picture in the World? World Press Photo ...

Jodi Bieber wins the World Press Photo of the Year for her portrait of an Afghan woman who was disfigured by her husband on authority of the Taliban.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green News Report: February 10, 2011 ...

bench craft company

An octet of science news

Perfect Perfume - a video for Valentine's Day - A bit of fun for Valentine's Day as the team combinesto ...

Is This the Best News Picture in the World? World Press Photo ...

Jodi Bieber wins the World Press Photo of the Year for her portrait of an Afghan woman who was disfigured by her husband on authority of the Taliban.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green News Report: February 10, 2011 ...

bench craft company

An octet of science news

Perfect Perfume - a video for Valentine's Day - A bit of fun for Valentine's Day as the team combinesto ...

Is This the Best News Picture in the World? World Press Photo ...

Jodi Bieber wins the World Press Photo of the Year for her portrait of an Afghan woman who was disfigured by her husband on authority of the Taliban.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green News Report: February 10, 2011 ...

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bench craft company
bench craft company

An octet of science news

Perfect Perfume - a video for Valentine's Day - A bit of fun for Valentine's Day as the team combinesto ...

Is This the Best News Picture in the World? World Press Photo ...

Jodi Bieber wins the World Press Photo of the Year for her portrait of an Afghan woman who was disfigured by her husband on authority of the Taliban.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green News Report: February 10, 2011 ...

bench craft company

Many years ago, the early settlers used to trade their goods and specialized skills (services) as a form of payment. In today's economy, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Back in September of 2001, I did a bit of research and discovered a St. Louis-based company that followed the lead of those early settlers. I must say that I have saved literally thousands of dollars by joining a trade exchange by the name of ICRE, owned by the president of the company Al Cochran. (International Credit Reserve Exchange). Here is how it works.

ICRE is a business cooperative and referral service in which people and businesses are able trade goods and services between each other, thus saving money for things they would normally spend a lot of cash on.

There are goods within the cooperative such as jewelry, plumbing supplies, health products, furniture, computer supplies, clothing, office supplies, automobiles, boats, restaurants, eye glasses and contacts and everything in between.

There are services such as dentists, physicians, chiropractors, lawyers, home remodeling, accountants, handymen, auto repair, piano tuners, exterminators, electricians, computer repair, beauty shops, barbers and anything else you might imagine.

Before joining, I had some questions that I wanted answers to on how it worked, so I went directly to the President and owner of ICRE, Al Cochran and interviewed him in a rather informal way. Here is the information you need to know if you are looking into joining a bartering club or trade exchange. (They are in most major cities throughout the United States, the UK and Australia.)

The first thing to think about is the difference between barter and a trade exchange. As Al explained to me, "Bartering is where you trade a good or services for another good or service with no actual cash exchanged; whereas with a trade exchange the cost of the expenses and supplies are paid for in cash and the services are traded. ICRE is a trade exchange.

Is bartering legal? The IRS says that it is indeed! As long as you include "fair market value" of the barter earned in your income for tax purposes, and it will be taxed the same as cash. You can deduct barter expenses the same way you would cash. Be sure to keep accurate records. Bartering is like cash in that you are better off bartering and paying taxes then not bartering just to avoid taxes. You save money!

Is trading through a trade exchange legal? Once again, yes! In 1984 the Tefra Act was changed; to include trade exchanges, such as ICRE. Trade exchanges are considered a third party record keepers, on par with banks and credit card companies. ICRE has to report the gross credits earned by members; using a 1099b form the same way that banks are required to report the interest on your savings using a 1099 form. Trading and bartering increase productivity so much that taxes are really not a detriment.

Effective use of trading and bartering can give you an additions 20% of your gross net. How is this possible? Al explains that "most companies across the USA are not reaching their maximum productivity. Many companies are perhaps at 60 to 70 %. When this is the case, these companies can increase their productivity through "proper use of trading and bartering" as much as 20% without having to increase their fixed cost. (Fixed costs include things such as rent, utilities, salaries) That means that as long as a company collects their variable cost attributed to this new business in cash; and barter or trade the difference, that barter or trade becomes "net barter or trade in reserve"! Anytime these companies spend this net barter or trade dollars on any fix or variable expense, the cash saved (meaning the cash not spent) goes to the bottom line in the form of "net cash retention". There are plenty of companies who would be thrilled to do business with you under these circumstances who are currently doing business with your competitors!

How do I know that when I trade or barter that I will not get ripped off? Al says that all you can do is to be careful and use the same discretion you would use if you were spending cash. It is a very good idea to check references of people who you have not done business with before, and look at the quality of their work. One of the benefits of joining a trade exchange is that in most cases, the exchange has already had experience with most of their members, and know the integrity level of them, thus making the trade exchange a number one reference." Al also recommends that you "check prices outside of the trade exchange before calling the exchange. I usually lay my cards on the table when dealing with members of ICRE. They will almost always be eager to at least match if not beat a competitors price.

What if I do not have a good or services to trade? How can I benefit from a trade exchange? Al answers " You can affiliate yourself with a trade exchange such as ICRE. Once you do this, everything the exchange has is at your disposal. For example: ICRE has over 50 restaurants locally throughout the St. Louis Metropolitan area. You can buy "credit dollars" and spend them for things on the exchange that you need. The monetary value for one credit dollar is currently 50 cents. This means that you are paying 50 cents cash for a dollar worth of goods or services.

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