Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: July 28, 2009
The San Jose Mercury News ran an article today on opening a business during a recession. The writer did a good job of profiling various businesses, especially retail businesses, that open during a recession and the thinking behind how and why the entrepreneur did what they did.
A key emphasis in the article is the idea of [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: July 23, 2009
W.W. Grainger Inc. last Wednesday reported an 18% drop in second-quarter profit but said it was able to carve out market-share gains even as the economy is showing no signs of a rebound.
Apple® announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 third quarter ended June 27, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $8.34 billion and a net quarterly [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: January 28, 2009
I have been surprised that since January 21, the press has not put a more positive spin on the economy. (I did predict that on this blog and even noted that it had appeared to start even before the inauguration.) Wish they would, since consumer sentiment is tied to what the media tells them, and [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: January 13, 2009
Amid the doom and gloom in the auto sector, here comes Audi with record sales for the 13th year in a row. While Audi is a niche player in the industry (sales above 1M units for the first time), it is nevertheless a player in the auto industry where everyone else is seeing a downtrend [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: January 3, 2009
The NY Times, as reprinted in the San Jose Mercury News, reported today (for the first time) that there are economists who believe the recession may end early in 2009. If you read the entire article they note that many economists still believe the recession will continue through almost all of 2009 and maybe into 2010. [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: December 31, 2008
CBS News reported today that even though the Fed and other government entities have succeeded in getting money back into the economy, consumers aren’t willing to spend it because they are scared. Why are they scared? Because all they hear from the media is how bad it is and that it is going to get [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: December 28, 2008
Headlines yesterday stated that retail sales had “plummeted” 4% over the holiday season. Not quite as bad as the 20% drop that MasterCard allegedly reported the day before. As I said in the immediately prior post, we’ll see how it turns out. But, two things struck me about the 4% plummet:
1. When sales rise by [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: December 27, 2008
While I have no doubt that this holiday season’s retail sales will not have been great, I will look forward to hearing the actual numbers. And I suggest you look at them in detail. Since the report will come out before the new Obama administration takes office, the press is still likely to put as [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: December 1, 2008
The U.S. auto industry is in melt-down mode, that’s not news. The root cause problem(s) depend on who you ask, but the need to sell cars and trucks … now … is not in dispute. And there lies a problem.
In the early 1990s another recession struck the U.S. economy. Back then it was an accepted [...]
Posted by: Mitch/Ralph on: November 15, 2008
Larry Moon, CEO of Sandstone Group in Milwaukee, WI shared this timely story with us recently.
There once was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. In fact, he sold very good hot dogs. He put up signs on the highway telling people how good his hot dogs tasted. [...]
