The Hounds notes from the Regional Entrepreneur Summit (Part 2) - January 11. 2012
The event above was a very good event that I feel went very well with some of the previous events that have been presented by the North Carolina Partnership in Innovation (NCPI) and the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce. The idea of holding these types of events was a big part of the discussions that have taken place during Future Economy Council meetings over the last three years. We have now seen two innovation events take place over the last 14 months and the first Edison Project Event. I truly believe these events have been fruitful and are developing a pattern which is moving the area forward and will bear fruit in the not to distant future.
The above event, which featured keynote speaker Ted Abernathy focused on collaboration, the event in November 2010 focused on creating networks that lead to innovation, and the Edison Project event was an initiative that put the rubber to the road leading to specific action. We still have a long way to go, but we are definitely way past baby steps and far down the path on this journey.
The Edison Project - Good News and Great Ventures - September 19, 2011
Innovation 2010 - Andrew Hargadon - Creating a Network of Innovation - November 11, 2010
JPM Explains Why The US Economy Is About To Hit A Brick Wall - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden January 13, 2012 - JPM's head economist Michael Feroli just joined the bandwagon of other Wall Streeters in cutting Q4 GDP, trimming his prior forecast of 3.5% to 3.0%. However, as this is backward looking, it is largely irrelevant if confirming what we already knew: that the economy was certainly not growing as fast as the market implied it was (yes, the manipulated market is not the economy, no matter how much the Fed would like that to be the case). A bigger question is what should one expect from the future. Yes - an in vitro future, isolated from the daily rumor mill of what may or may not happen to the French rating tomorrow or the day after. It is here that there is nothing good to expect: 'we think growth will downshift from 3.0% in 4Q11 to 2.0% in 1Q12. Looking beyond the first quarter, we expect a growing private domestic sector will contend with a fading drag from the external sector and a persistent drag from the public sector." Yet where JPM falls short, is its optimistic view on the private sector. As David Rosenberg showed yesterday, the ratio of negative to positive preannouncements just hit a multi-year high, with the primary culprit being the strong dollar. Unfortunately for Feroli's bullish angle, the private sector will not do all that well at all if the EURUSD remains in the mid 1.20s or falls further. In fact, corporate earnings will likely be trounced, which in combination with everything else that JPM lists out, correctly, could make the second half of 2012 a perfect storm for economic growth, an event which Obama's pre-electoral planners are all too aware of. What is the only possible recourse? Why more QE of course. The only unknown is "when."...
JPMorgan Profit Falls on Trading, Investment Bank Revenue - Bloomberg - Dawn Kopecki - January 13, 2012 - JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, said fourth-quarter profit fell 23 percent as trading revenue and investment-banking fees declined. Net income dropped to $3.73 billion, or 90 cents a share, from $4.83 billion, or $1.12, in the same period a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Earnings matched the average estimate of 28 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.... Investment banks are eliminating workers to compensate for falling trading revenue, disclosing plans to reduce staff by more than 200,000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest government- owned bank, said this week it would cut about 4,800 jobs..... U.S. banks are in the middle of the industry’s worst two years of revenue growth since the Great Depression, according to Mike Mayo, an analyst with independent research firm CLSA in New York. Earnings across the industry were weak in the fourth quarter and won’t have much improvement this year, he said.....
Presenting Mitt Romney's Top Campaign Contributors - Tyler Durden on January 14, 2012 -
Corporate Welfare: State Taxpayers Pay to Train Workers for Large Corporations - AllGov - Noel Brinkerhoff - January 11, 2012 - Taxpayers are increasingly covering the cost of training for a corporation’s workforce, without getting any long-term benefit in return. For instance, North Carolina has spent a million dollars for 400 residents to learn skills for working in a Caterpillar factory, in addition to a $4.3 million on a community college program customized specifically to meet the company’s labor needs. While the investments are expected to help Caterpillar remain in the state, there are no assurances that will happen. Previously, the state spent $2 million to train employees for a Dell factory. Five years later, the computer maker closed down its operation, costing North Carolina nearly 1,000 jobs. Among the subsidies given to corporations, according to a report by Good Jobs First, are income tax credits, cash grants, low-cost or forgivable loans, reimbursement for worker training expenses and reductions in property taxes.
White-Collar Workers Join Crowd Straining Food Banks - Bloomberg - Patrick Cole - January 11, 2012 - After losing her job as a consultant for nonprofits, Martha Heassler and her husband, a graphic artist, no longer had money for their daughter’s college education, new clothing or groceries. We’re waiting for my husband’s paycheck, and we probably have less than $200 to our name,” Heassler, 55, said by phone. She now makes weekly trips to the Open Door Food Pantry in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to pick up bags of food that include meat, eggs, yogurt and vegetables. “Without the network of food pantries around us, I don’t know how we would have eaten,” said Heassler, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Gordon College, in Wenham, Massachusetts. As the sluggish economy idles more middle-class individuals and families, their donations to food banks and soup kitchens have evaporated, hitting the nonprofits from both ends..
DailyJobCuts.com
Layoffs - PNC to lay off 600 in NC after RBC merger - WRAL.com - January 6, 2012 - Rocky Mount and Raleigh
Hiring - Freightliner truck plant will add 1,100 jobs in N.C. - AP - Emery P. Dalesio - January 13, 2012 - Cleveland, NC
Hiring - Solstas seeks incentives to add 500 jobs in High Point - The Business Journal - Matt Evans - January 6, 2012 - High Point
Gerald Celente makes talks about Trends for 2012
