Weekly Poll
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11.03.2010
 06:41:28
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Friday will be my last day as a business reporter, and the experience has been educational to say the least.
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20.02.2010
01:23:39
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According to a recent poll conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business, small business owners are strongly opposed to mandates requiring higher taxes and mandatory paid sick leave. Each year, the NFIB polls its members on issues vital to their survival as entrepreneurs at both the state and federal level.
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13.02.2010
03:16:11
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It's a new year, which means the state Legislature is back to its old tricks of introducing measures that stick it to small businesses.
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11.02.2010
06:58:50
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It's safe to say that Google, like Apple, has built up a vast following. But, just like Apple, sometimes the hype outweighs the usable product.
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05.02.2010
07:55:43
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The Raisin Administrative Committee and California Raisin Marketing Board have taken the big step of deciding to relocate to downtown Fresno. The news is obviously music to the ears of downtown revitalization supporters.
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05.02.2010
07:36:07
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Perhaps in reaction to so-called "greenmail" environmental lawsuits, the California Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have helped develop a first-in-the-nation green building standards code (CALGREEN) requiring all new buildings in the state to be more energy efficient and environmentally responsible.
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02.02.2010
04:19:54
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Just when you thought California had the market cornered on being unfriendly to business, our neighbors to the north show us up.
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27.01.2010
03:20:49
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Like many business owners, I tend to roll my eyes a bit when I hear about my local government hiring an outside consultant for anything. In the past, it has meant millions of dollars spent for a study or report that will gather dust on a City Hall bookshelf.
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16.01.2010
02:51:27
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The Obama Administration and Congressional Democratic leadership are working like busy bees today to shore up support for a so-called health care "compromise" bill. Recent political developments may save the nation's small businesses from these bills, which still includes some deal-breakers for entrepreneurs, according to the National Federation of Independent Business:
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09.01.2010
05:50:40
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Is that powerful people connecting tool known as Facebook becoming a den of depravity? An offense to the ocular sense? Or is it just unsecure? A few recent occurrences have made me wonder.
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07.01.2010
07:27:30
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There are some well designed Web sites originating from the four-county area that we cover. But, let’s face it, there’s some real garbage too. Like fashion, just because something can be created doesn’t mean it should be created. With that in mind, I’ll be scouring the World Wide Web, albeit as locally as possible, to find the best in site designs, then bringing my discoveries to you.
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23.12.2009
03:45:32
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I don't want to be the next blogger waxing rhapsodic about how lame or awesome Fresno really is because there's a lot of that that going on right now. But thanks to a recent survey ranking my hometown as one of the worst for business, and a recent piece in USA Today (written by former Business Journal editor Valerie Gibbons), Fresnans are once again gathering pitchforks and torches to either slam Fresno or the rest of the country.
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18.12.2009
07:32:33
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Nobody likes to look a gift horse in the mouth, but just because something is free (or nearly free) doesn't necessarily make it useful or effective. Case in point is Fresno County's new 80-20 Program. Funded with federal recovery funds, the 80-20 program will pay 80 percent of employers' cost for qualified new hires through Sept. 2010. The only hitch is the qualification — the applicant must be on some sort of public assistance program through CalWORKS supportive services (food stamps, Medi-Cal, child care assistance, etc.).
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16.12.2009
23:56:29
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It’s easy to come up with my favorite story of the year, because it’s fresh on my mind. See what I did there? Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets started making its way north after the chain first set up shop in SoCal a couple years ago. They began expanding into the Fresno area last year, only to stop, leaving people wondering what happened. The company cited the economy as a hindrance to its explosive expansion.
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11.12.2009
08:30:48
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While the debate has raged for quite some time, now more than ever, it's clear government should always be run like a business. All it takes is a nearly $28 million budget hole to make that apparent. The City of Fresno is in dire straits as it faces $18.2 million in actual and projected lost revenue as well as an $8.6 million increase in expenses projected through 2011, mostly for retirement costs.
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05.12.2009
06:53:23
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It hasn't been a good month for academia. First there was "Climategate," in which leaked emails between scientists studying global warming reveal possible efforts to hide evidence that global warming was not as strong as generally believed. The story has been largely ignored by the mainstream media.
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05.12.2009
05:43:18
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According to the Small Business Administration, more than half of all private sector workers are employed by small businesses with less than 500 employees. Yet, much of the federal government's recovery efforts have been aimed at the giants of the financial industry and other governmental agencies. Small businesses have been left in the cold.
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21.11.2009
01:09:28
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There appears to be a true numbers man on the Fresno City Council, just at time when slavish attention to how taxpayer dollars are spent is most needed in the city.
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06.11.2009
07:45:17
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While most people around here will be tuning in the Fresno State Bulldogs taking on the Vandals at the University of Idaho on Saturday (Nov. 7), Congress may be voting on a health care reform bill that could put the viability of California small businesses in jeopardy.
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05.11.2009
07:43:33
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The day after Thanksgiving has been long touted as the busiest shopping day of the year. It's called Back Friday, and stores across the country count on the money they make off the consuming masses to make a tidy profit. But some retailers are messing with tradition. Some retailers want to offer their super hot sales weeks before Black Friday to cash in on early shoppers. If it works, other stores may follow suit. You may ask, "What's wrong with that?" Plenty. Anyone who has ever participated in Black Friday will know how much fun it is. It's a bit of a holiday itself. Veteran Black Fridayists will turn out in droves a couple hours before their store of choice is open to get that XBox 360 at half price or the three-in-one strudel maker (only four in stock). There are those who will go en masse with with friend and family, or commune with people they only see at the stores on those days. Like shopper family reunions. Then there are the hardcore shoppers who have a route mapped out, floor plans of the stores and all their ads with the products they want circled. The doors will open and the race will be on. I've been there. I've done that. I've bought dish sets and DVD players. Even if you don't buy anything, it's simply fun to watch the consumer mindset in action. But what happens when those buyers and their bucks are lured away with deals-too-good-to-be-true the day after Halloween? They spend their dough and don't go out on Black Friday. Yes, the retailer still gets the money, revenue is infused back into the economy. It all works out the same, but a little something is lost.
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