Florida is “the land of small business” with over 425,000 small firms accounting for 99% of the state’s employers. However, most are struggling to stay afloat in an environment where the state’s growth rate is projected to be 1.5% (a percentage point less than the nation) and unemployment 12%. The health care reforms bills—now law—encompass […]
Tag: Haar to heart
Haar to heart: Innovation in the Americas—The Next Challenge
With the recent release of the World Bank’s “Doing Business 2011” report, Latin America and the Caribbean have much to cheer about with more advances than declines in key categories of conducting business. Mexico and Peru scored highest—first and second place, respectively. For Mexico, the achievement was a much needed shot in the arm, in […]
Haar to heart: An inconvenient truth—the federal government, not Wall Street, deserves the greatest blame
If one were to combine elements of Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel The Castle, Edward Albee’s Zoo Story and the Spanish Inquisition, one would have the recent congressional hearings on alleged malfeasance by Wall Street investment firms. The persecutory behavior and theatrics displayed by a number of Senate inquisitors were matched only by their appalling ignorance […]
Haar to heart: The Economy—So How Are We Doing Now?
While many analysts agree that the recession is over, there is no consensus as to when the recovery will kick in. Put ten economists in a room and you’ll get thirteen different opinions. Since there is very little “value-free” economic research, a great deal of data collection, analysis and reporting is partisan to the nth […]
Haar to heart: Hey, Dubai—Hi and Goodbye?
The surprises just keep coming: Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford did not hike the Appalachian Trail. Michael Jackson actually had a drug problem. And now: one of the world’s richest nations—the Las Vegas of the Arab world, Dubai—cannot pay its bills. But is this really a […]
Haar to heart: Cuba – Straight Talk on the US Embargo
Were the embargo lifted tomorrow, U.S. manufacturers and wholesalers would not be able to ship directly to private distributors and retail stores. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution and the 47th year since a ban on trade was instituted by the U.S. government. While the debate still rages as to whether […]
Haar to heart: The quest for talent–a never-ending challenge
Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google have it. Fred Smith of FedEx, Steve Jobs of Apple and Carlos Ghosn of Renault and Nissan also have it. Vikram Pandit of Citicorp, Jeffrey Immelt of GE and Bob Nardelli, recent CEO of Chrysler and Home Depot before that, do not. I am speaking of talent. The 19th […]
Haar to heart: We, the people, chose to be Ponzi prey.
In casting the net of blame for our current economic predicament, we’ve hauled in Wall Street bankers, mortgage lenders, realtors, financial intermediaries, stock brokers and bond traders, insurers, politicians, the Federal Reserve, rating agencies and other alleged instigators, culprits and accomplices. Conspicuously absent from the list-for to include them would be politically incorrect, not to […]