California workers loose cellphones

Governor Jerry Brown is starting to slash the California state budget and, on the chopping block, he has targeted cellphones.

He is requiring the return of 48,000 government-paid cell phones by June 1. He said he found it difficult to believe that 40% of state employees needed a work phone.

Does a small expense like a cellphone really make a difference?

Heck yes. This move is going to save the state $20 million.

On January 10th, Brown announced a budget that will slash $12.5 billion in spending and extend $12 billion in tax hikes.

Brown, who assumed office a week ago, has to contend with a $25.4 billion shortfall over the next 18 months. California’s fiscal year starts July 1.

Babson College offers entrepreneurial courses

Babson College is offering three new Summer Study Programs for outstanding high school students starting this summer 2011.

High-achieving teens entering their junior or senior year in high school may take one of two courses in a seven-week, residential program from July 5 – August 19.

* Babson Entrepreneur Development Experience: for the current or aspiring entrepreneur who wants to discover how to fit his/her business idea into the greater world picture through lessons of corporate citizenship and business development.

* Babson Idea Generation Program: for the aspiring changemaker who wishes to create innovative, real-world solutions to social, economic, and environmental issues — now. The student must want to develop his/her problem-solving skills and work in a challenging and fun team environment.

Tuition for either course is $7,380 and includes housing, meals, activities, and 4 college credits.

Each of these courses is taught by top-ranked faculty in a challenging campus environment. Students will earn 4 college credits and they may opt to take a second 3-credit class in courses that may include: macroeconomics, accounting, business law, calculus, printmaking or a foundation class in arts & humanities. They will differentiate themselves from their peers for college applications and have the opportunity to build their network in meeting with business leaders and industry experts, all while exploring the city of Boston.

High-achieving teens entering their sophomore year in high school may participate in a one week nonresidential experience from June 27 – July 1.

* Service Learning Experience: a non-residential program for rising sophomores who are passionate about social outreach and want to spend their summer experience helping some of the world’s biggest changemakers locally to make an immediate difference. No college credits are earned for this program.

Tuition for Service Learning Experience is $400 including materials and lunch.

Babson’s Summer Study Programs for High School Students provide a living/learning laboratory for students to focus on applying and advancing their knowledge in business and entrepreneurship. In this collaborative community, students will gain the tools and experience to impact and reshape organizations, industries and the world. Each program will introduce students to Babson’s way of Entrepreneurial Thought and Action and provide resources and strategies for students to think about company and world issues through their classes, cases, speakers and scheduled activities.

The application deadline is March 1, 2011. For more information visit: www.babson.edu/summerstudy.

Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., is recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education. Babson grants BS degrees through its innovative undergraduate program, and grants MBA and custom MS and MBA degrees through the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Babson Executive Education offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide. For information, visit www.babson.edu.

 

Small Business isn’t Celebrating Health-care Reform

In March, Congress enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), a 2,000-plus-page law designed to dramatically change how health insurance is provided in this country. The law might have been more aptly named the Small Business Health Insurance Act because its effects—both good and bad—will fall most heavily on small companies.

That’s because we have an employment-based health-care system and small businesses are less likely than large ones to provide employee health insurance. In 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation, which keeps tabs on health insurance coverage, reported that 99 percent of businesses with 200-plus employees provided workers with health insurance, as compared with only 68 percent of businesses with 3 to 199 employees. Given these numbers, it’s fair to focus on small businesses when looking at the impact of the new law.

Read the complete story at Business Week

 

Intuit Inc. reports Small Business Employment Index Shows 0.3 Percent Job Growth for December

Small business employment continued to show growth in December with hours worked up and wages flat.

“We might expect that after months of high hours per employee, that businesses would hire and hours would fall back to normal. Instead, we see hiring up and hours worked up also. These are good signs for the recovery.”

Those were among the results of this month’s update of the Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) Small Business Employment Index. The monthly report found that small business employment grew by 0.3 percent in December, equating to an annual growth rate of about 3.4 percent. This translates to approximately 57,000 new jobs created nationwide. The Index is based on figures from the country’s smallest businesses that use Intuit Online Payroll.

“Small business is still the most vigorous sector of the employment picture,” said Susan Woodward, the economist who worked with Intuit to create the Index. “We generally see a rise in employment for all businesses in December, but this year it is unusually strong. We can hardly see the recovery in overall national employment, but among small businesses, the recovery, albeit slow, is unambiguous.”

Based on this latest data, the employment growth rate for November was revised upward to 0.4 percent, equating to 73,000 jobs added for the month and a 4.4 percent annual growth rate. Since the growth trend first began in October 2009, small business jobs have increased by a revised estimate of 880,000.

Compensation Flat, Hours Worked Up

Total compensation per employee was flat in December while hours worked were up, compared to November.

Average monthly pay for all small business employees was $2,607 per month in December, a nearly 0.1 percent decline, which is considered flat, from the revised November figure of $2,609 per month. This translates to wages of about $31,300 per year, which is part-time work for many small business employees.

“The weakness of the overall employment picture is still reflected in small business compensation,” said Woodward. “Though small businesses are hiring and asking their people to work longer hours, they don’t have to pay more to get people. While compensation is flat, these numbers don’t mean that people didn’t get overtime and bonuses in December – they did. But on a seasonal and trend adjusted basis, compensation is not up.”

Small business hourly employees worked an average of 107.5 hours in December, translating to a 24.8-hour work week. This is a nearly 0.2 percent increase from the revised November figure of 107.3 hours.

“Hours are still strong,” added Woodward. “We might expect that after months of high hours per employee, that businesses would hire and hours would fall back to normal. Instead, we see hiring up and hours worked up also. These are good signs for the recovery.”

Small Business Employment by Geography

The Intuit Index also breaks down employment by census divisions and states across the country.

“All divisions continued to show employment growth except for the West North Central division, which continued to see job losses for the sixth month in a row,” said Cameron Schmidt, vice president of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions division. “Most states saw increases in employment with Washington seeing the strongest increase month over month.”

U.S. Census Division			Percent Change in Employment
East North Central			+0.2%
West North Central			-0.2%
Middle Atlantic			+0.3%
Mountain			+0.2%
New England			+0.4%
Pacific			+0.3%
South Atlantic			+0.3%
East South Central			+0.3%
West South Central			+0.4%

Small Business Employment by U.S. Census Division continues to grow in most parts of the country except for the West North Central division. The data reflects employment from nearly 60,000 small business employers who use Intuit Online Payroll. The month-to-month changes are seasonally-adjusted and informative about the overall economy.

State		Percent Change in Employment
Arizona		+0.5%
California		+0.2%
Florida		+0.4%
Georgia		+0%
Illinois		+0%
Maryland		+0.5%
Massachusetts		+0.4%
New Jersey		+0.5%
New York		-0.1%
North Carolina		+0.1%
Texas		+0.5%
Virginia		+0.4%
Washington		+0.6%

Small Business Employment by State is up for many states across the country with the highest increases month over month in Maryland and Washington. The states above reflect those for which Intuit Online Payroll has more than 1,000 small business firms represented. The month-to-month changes are seasonally-adjusted and informative about the overall economy.

About the Index

The Intuit Small Business Employment Index is based on aggregate and anonymous online employment data from nearly 60,000 small business employers, each with fewer than 20 employees. These small businesses use Intuit Online Payroll from Intuit, the No. 1 payroll provider with more than 1 million customers. These smallest employers are important to the economy as they comprise 87 percent of the total U.S. private employer base and employ nearly 20 million people. More information is available at: www.intuitinc.com/payrollindex.

Intuit reports data for three categories: small business employment, compensation and hours worked. Intuit analyzes and publishes the data at the beginning of each month. The Index also includes employment data broken down by geography. As with the government data, there may be revisions to the Intuit Index numbers. These revisions are partly due to calculations using the latest month of new Intuit data. These calculations include re-computing seasonal factors and the moving average process used to obtain the curve, which can change the values for previously reported months. Changes to the data are also due to revisions to the government employment data, which is used to calculate the Intuit Index.

While the Intuit Small Business Employment Index offers macroeconomic insight about the economy generally, it does not indicate or represent changes in Intuit’s business results for any period.

The Index data reflects monthly employment activity in small businesses, and is adjusted to account for changes in Intuit’s Online Payroll customer base. The percent change is measured monthly using the change in employment for existing Intuit Online Payroll customers from one month to the next. The set of customers changes each month so the measurement is the change, for each pair of months, for customers who are present in both the earlier and the later month.

 

Fake storms, real rain, and how the mad scientist came to life in Abu Dhabi

The mad scientist is about to jump from comics to reality. As part of a secret program to control the weather in the Middle East, scientists working for the United Arab Emirates government artificially created rain.

The $11 million began in July and put steel lampshade-looking ionizers in the desert to produce charged particles. The negatively charged ions rose with the hot air, attracting dust. Moisture then condensed around the dust and eventually produced a rain cloud. A lot of rain clouds.

That’s right, for a measly $11 million, you can begin your diabolical plan for world domination.

China has been trying cloud seeding for years, with varying results. The Abu Dhabi method was successful for 52 days.

No word yet on how tampering with Nature on this level will effect the rest of the world. Call out the soothsayers and summon a costumed crusader.

US sells Citi stake for profit

The last of the US Treasury’s shares of Citigroup Inc sold at $10.5 billion. This means taxpayers will reap a profit of $12 billion on their $45 billion cash investment in Citigroup. It also allows the bank to shake its reputation as a ward of the state.

James Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown University said: “It signals the company has been fully privatized and that their parole is over.”

Last year, the Treasury intended to sell off their 7.7 billion shares steadily over the course of six to 12 months, but had only sold 4.4 billion by October. The results of the November elections seemed to express discontent with government involvement in private business. As a result, the Treasury has increased its speed in selling off its 61% stake in General Motors.

The government still holds $3 billion in Citigroup stock.

Is Bank of America Wikileaks next target?

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit media organization that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous sources and leaks. The organization has described itself as having been founded by Chinese dissidents, as well as journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.

The site has received criticism from all sides, including Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, and even a former member of their own board of directors.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange asserted in an October 2009 Computerworld magazine interview that he had the 5GB hard drive of a Bank of America executive. Assange told Forbes magazine that a release of “tens or hundreds of thousands of documents” would reveal “flagrant violations” and “unethical practices” at a major US bank, though he did not mention Bank of America specifically. Of course, it didn’t take long to connect the two interviews.

In response, the bank’s shares closed at $10.95, down 36 cents, last Monday.

Does Bank of America have something to hide? Well, maybe. The acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. was the subject of several state and federal probes. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has a civil fraud case pending against the bank. The suit alleges they misled investors about losses at Merrill before the acquisition closed.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the bank told investors that Merrill wouldn’t pay bonuses before the deal closed even though the bank had already authorized as much as $5.8 billion in bonuses. The SEC and the bank settled for $150 million.

Wikileaks is keeping itself sealed (ironically?) and refuses to comment on the hard drive.

Recall of the Week: Shades

Lowe’s will recall 11 million Roman shades and roll-up blinds after two children were nearly strangled by the cords.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said consumers should stop using the products and contact the Window Covering Safety Council for free repair kits that prevent the blinds and shades from having an exposed cord loop.

Regulators say about one child every month is strangled in some type of window-blind cord.

Senate passes Bill on Food Safety

The Senate passed a bill giving federal regulators new powers over food safety on Tuesday. It cleared the Senate on a 73-25 vote.

The Food and Drug Administration would gain the power to order food recalls, which are voluntary. The FDA would also gain more authority to track fruit and vegetable shipments and mandates that producers write safety plans.

Final passage of the bill is not a sure thing, however, due to the tight schedule of Congress’s lame-duck session.

The idea is to have faster responses to contamination outbreaks. The bill is backed by the US Chamber of Commerce and major business groups representing food producers and grocery stores.

Small farms have held up the legislation, warning of higher prices to comply with the new rules. Consumers may lose local produce if small farms can’t keep up. The response: an amendment exempting small farms and food processors with annual sales under $500,000 from the new regulations if they sell their goods directly to consumers or restaurants no more than 275 miles away. The exemption could be removed in emergency cases.

Electric car hubbub-What you need to know

While everyone seems to be lauding the advent of the electric car (the bid for the first Chevy Volt is reportedly up to $180,000), the cost of the electric car is being underrated. Before you start adding up the numbers at the tank, don’t forget about the cost of charging the battery of your electric car.

Electric car operating costs are translated into an mpg equivalent, or MPGe, using individual states’ electricity costs as calculated by the U.S. Department of Energy. Electric cars’ upstream carbon dioxide emissions are also calculated using DOE data on the electricity source for each state.

According to BeFrugal.com, Washington, Idaho, Kentucky, West Virginia and Arkansas are the states with the lowest electricity rates, making electric cars most economical on a cost-per-mile basis. Vermont, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and New Hampshire are the best states in terms of electric cars’ lowest upstream CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour.

According to a recent survey by Kelley Blue Book, only 7 percent of shoppers said they are likely to buy or lease an electric vehicle for their next new vehicle purchase.

More than 80 percent of survey respondents said they were concerned about electric vehicles’ range on a single charge and the availability of charging stations.

Kelley Blue Book found that 91 percent of car shoppers think electric vehicles are expensive and 43 percent think electric vehicles won’t retain their value as well as regular gas vehicles.

One problem is being addressed. Cracker Barrel announced they will be on the forefront of building electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country.

The plan is to install chargers at 24 of their Tennessee stores, including locations at Cookeville, Lebanon, Manchester, Murfreesboro, and in Nashville at Stewart’s Ferry Pike. A dozen of them will have the so-called fast chargers which provide an 80-percent charge in 30 minutes.

On the West Hargett Street sidewalk, next to parking spaces 101 and 102, are two reassuring signs that Raleigh will be ready for a new wave of mass-market cars that can run without a drop of petroleum.

Two electric-car charging stations were installed there last week, in front of the Raleigh Municipal Building. And, who pays for that charging station? Why, the tax payers, of course.