lets be more hypocritical about small biz, washington

The government pushes all this talk about how the sign of the true economic recovery will be the recovery of the small biz. How is the small biz supposed to compete with the mid-size and larger companies when its practically impossible to get any type of small business loan??These small companies got had to take massive write offs from other small companies that either went bankrupt during the past 2-3 years or just completely dissolved.Let's not even address the fact that todays business world is essentially structured for the small business to fail with the amount of M&A and economies of scale that occur in the overall market with mid-size to larger sized business.If the government wants to see a recovery of the small business and they have the leverage of already 'bailing-out' a series of banks, how come they cant create regulation to push for loans for small businesses. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how there is too much risk around a loan to a small business. Thank you captain obvious -- I think its natural to have more risk around a business that has less cash flow and a small revenue stream with less clients... That's why they are a small business!! There needs be some more intelligent finance folks behind the credit process of assessing a loan application at these banks (big banks). Many will argue the root issue here is the poor performance of the smaller banks -- especially as they acted as the creditors for many of these small businesses. We need to not keep this going in circles. The government (state and federal) need to act fast. If they claim no method of forcing more granular analysis of loan applications, then start giving tax breaks for amount of small loans given out or something. No more excuses. I'm sick of reading articles about how bad the small banks and small businesses are doing while we just sit here and say how they are the heart of our economy and we watch them slowly deteriorate.The only positive thing about this slight economic recovery on an overall basis is the more prevalent return of angel investors for the small start ups. Even then, the exisiting small businesses aren't going to get the time of day when they need a loan for some normal operating expenses they can expect to pay back in one year... Banks would have never thought twice prior to 2007 about giving out these loans.Let's wake up people. Small businesses are the heart and soul of the american economy and american dream.

Where have the past 4 months gone?

This whole work thing reallly cramps my style. I can't believe I haven't made a post since Jan. It's been one year since I graduated and I still haven't unpacked everything from babo... that takes skill.

Ah.. so. finally a summer without worries about internships, classes or exams (hopefully) or any more bullshit...

I'm ready for the best summer of my life. Are you?

Isles win.

What a freaking win. Isles take down the Sabres in an 8 round shootout. WhAT A WIN!!!!!!!!!! DiPi!!!!!!!!

Five out of the next six games for the Islanders are against the Top 4 teams in the Eastern Conference. The only team that isn't the top 4 are the Florida Panthers whom the Islanders are battling with for playoff contention.

The Isles are coming of a huge win this past Monday night against the Red Wings. That's all history now as the Islanders set up for perhaps their hardest stretch of games this season. If the Islanders are able to walk away with 6 points or more out of the stretch they could call it a success and stay in playoff contention. If they're unable to grab at least 6 points, they will be forced to dig themselves out of a hole.

On another note. Rick Dipietro is in net tonight after Dwayne Roloson has been 7-0-1 in his last 8 games. It's quite an awkward situation here... but Ricky is the "star" of the franchise. I really hope his does well tonight as all the players are really behind him. Hard to imagine what Roli is thinking... Undefeated in 8 games and not getting the nod. This is about building the franchise though and they need Ricky back in the long run. If they don't start him tonight - his confidence could keep dropping and hurt his chances of being able to return as the star of the team as he once was.

Buffalo @ New York Islanders - 7pm.

That's all folks. Last day of the decade.

Weird, huh?

What a decade it's been too. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 11,354 on December 31st 1999. Exactly ten years later it's at 10,500. When history looks back at this decade, many people will say it was a lost decade economically. The blue chips lost 8% over a decade? That's ridiculous in itself, but lets talk about the fact that past over the past 27 months the Dow has gone from 14,100 to 6,600 back up to 10,500.

The numbers speak for themselves... and what really has caused all of this? The infamous "sub-prime mortgages"? The large bank institutions that gave loans and mortgages to everyone and their mother? The government that allowed trading, splitting up and selling of bad mortgages and loans into thousands pieces? Sure, they all contributed to where we are today, but the real root of the problem is the ignorance of fiscal responsibility of the average American.

I could bring up stats of how much more debt the average American had in 2000 versus 2007 but we all know what those numbers would look like. Where in our education system in the US is a requirement for learning how to take fiscal responsibility? In high school, the average student learns about the history of the Mayans, the periodic table and the pythagorean theorem. These are clearly more important topics than learning how to learn how to save and spend money. The combination of the ease of credit, society's image that anyone can achieve the American Dream and the lack of education of financial responsibility of our youth exploded in our faces in 2008. No wonder this will be called the lost decade.

To be continued...

On yo mind...

Can we address the fact that everything needs to be censored these days? It's the little things in life that help give us a sense of reality that everyday society taking away to censor 'children' these days. Why are we sheltering our future? The majority of my youth - everything was censored and it got worse over time. Is this really helping our future ? -- or is it just postponing the inevitable about life and reality. The truth is that no one can be censored their entire life and the longer you shelter someone, the longer it will take the to learn how the real world really functions. The truth is that life isn't fair and no matter how much anyone wants to argue that it is or "should be", it's not going to happen! When push comes to shove, reality will prevail. It always has and it always will.

I'd love to go on a rant about this but I just simply don't have the time... I wish I did. What's weird is that nothing specific provoked me to write this. I suppose its just built up over time.

Quick word on sports:

Sox pick up Lackey & Cameron, lose Lowell. G

Grade - B+

Good moves by the Sox. Lackey is that consistent starter they have been looking for to build off of. Disappointing to lose Lowell, but the guy is past his prime and we all know this is a business. If they could only think that way about Varitek...

I have to look more into the Rookie Catcher they are probably getting for Lowell. Not sure if hes any good.

If the Sox can pick up an all-star first basemen... Watch out Yanks.


Isles lost 7-1 last night. FML. Rollie first real bad start of the year & same with Tavares line. Oh well. Hopefully things will go better tonight. Perfect time for DiPi to come back!

I hope the nets finally win...

The poor, poor nets.