Unclean hands
I attended a financial event at the United Way headquarters in Oklahoma City on Monday. It’s a nicely renovated building, but in the restroom I was flummoxed by the faucet at the sink. First I tried holding my hands over the sink, hoping that it would detect my presence and begin pouring forth. When that didn’t work, I began to twist the handle on the right. Meanwhile, at the next sink a man was pumping the handle up and down with the same result — no water.
Fortunately, United Way President Bob Spinks wandered in and told us we needed to push the handle toward the right. Too late he warned me not to push it too far — the water began to splash out of the bowl. While this sink and hardware looks great, I’m not sold that this is a good design. It certainly wasn’t intuitive for me or the other fellow at the basin.
But maybe it’s just me. Turns out I couldn’t open the mustard packet that came with my ham and cheese sandwich either.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
TARP recipients decrease lending
This isn’t how this government stimulus program was supposed to work. Huge U.S. banks have cut back on lending despite the infusion of billions of government dollars designed to prime the lending pump, the Wall Street Journal reports today.
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Treasury Department data, the biggest recipients of taxpayer aid made or refinanced 23% less in new loans in February, the latest available data, than in October, the month the Treasury kicked off the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Treasury officials respond by claiming that lending would have fallen much more dramatically without the stimulus, but they can’t be happy about this result. Solid reporting by the WSJ.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Financial fraud
New York Times financial columnist Ron Lieber reacts to learning that his financial advisor under investigation for improper movement of funds out of some accounts. Lieber, who selected his money manager based on an article he did on questions investors should ask potential advisors, was aghast at learning of the accusations. He recommends not giving advisors the freedom to invest funds without permission.
Futhermore,
You can limit any damage by not letting a bad situation get worse. Trust but verify. Open your mail. Confirm the accuracy of your trades and fund transfers. Read your account statements. Every month. Every number. Every single word.
Solid advice from someone with experience.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
The Twitter biz
In this article, Wharton business faculty discuss the business potential of Twitter. Some think it will be swallowed by a larger Internet site:
Wharton faculty argue that Twitter’s best future may be as part of a larger service. Indeed, Facebook and Twitter have already partially integrated their services; Twitterers who also use the Facebook service can have their Tweets delivered as Facebook status updates. Salesforce.com, which makes on-demand customer relationship management software, has integrated Twitter into its application. And Matwyshyn says Twitter would make a lot of sense as part of Google’s Gmail or Yahoo Mail.
But selling out to Google or Yahoo, as some have proposed, may be limited by Twitter’s rather grown-up demographic:
Research firm Nielson notes that teenagers aren’t the primary users of Twitter; more than 60% of Twitter’s users are between the ages of 25 and 49. In the 18 to 24 bracket, Twitter’s user base was too small to register. Users under 17 accounted for 3.6% of Twitter users.
If making money is the aim, Twitter’s founders might want to do something pretty soon, the Wharton folks say:
It’s quite possible that a third party could find a way to make money off of Twitter before the company itself does. Twitdom, a startup that tracks Twitter applications, already counts 610 applications that piggyback off Twitter’s service. Any of those applications could find a way to take Twitter’s flow of comments and make money from them.
Unless you’re already sick of the Twitter conversation, it’s worth a read.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
IRS’ dirty dozen
Actor Wesley Snipes waves while walking into the federal courthouse for sentencing to tax evasion in Ocala, Fla., April 24, 2008.
Each year, the Internal Revenue Services warns taxpayers not to fall for tax-related scams during tax season. The list includes some old favorites, such as phishing and the “government can only collect taxes for overseas wages so I don’t have to pay” claim. I think the latter was the one that sent Wesley Snipes up the river.
Here’s an IRS take-down of the most commonly used arguments by taxpayers who don’t want to pay. The arguments tend to fall into areas such as claims that paying taxes is voluntary, constitutional arguments, nit-picking at legal definitions and other legal mumbo-jumbo that appears to be crafted out of whole cloth.
This year’s list included the use of “frivolous information returns,” which seem pretty outrageous on their face.
The IRS is seeing scam artists file false or misleading returns to claim refunds that they are not entitled to. Frivolous information returns, such as Form 1099-Original Issue Discount (OID), claiming false withholding credits are used to legitimize erroneous refund claims. The new scam has evolved from an earlier phony argument that a “strawman” bank account has been created for each citizen. Under this scheme, taxpayers fabricate an information return, arguing they used their “strawman” account to pay for goods and services and falsely claim the corresponding amount as withholding as a way to seek a tax refund.
So don’t do that.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Elevator pitches at the Governor’s Cup
Here are a couple of good photos that we flat ran out of room to run in today’s paper from the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan competition in Bricktown on Tuesday night.
The awards ceremony featured the first audience participation in the five-year history of the awards. The three finalists for the Innovation Award made 90-second “elevator pitches,” after which members from an audience of more than 400 people voted for their favorite by texting their choice to one of three telephone numbers.
Blaine Pinard, a University of Oklahoma student, pitches his team's, DustDown, ideas during the Innovation Awards portion of the Governor's Cup awards at the Bricktown Coca-Cola Event Center, Tuesday, April 14, 2009, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps.
Bryan Gonterman, president of AT&T Oklahoma, texts his vote for the Innovation Awards at the Governor's Cup awards at the Bricktown Coca-Cola Event Center, Tuesday, April 14, 2009, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Would you let Donald Trump do your taxes?
In a survey conducted by the Web site WalletPop.com, 32 percent of respondents said they’d select Donald Trump as the celebrity they would choose to do their taxes. Frankly, I wouldn’t trust Trump to mail my taxes.
Runners-up included Anderson Cooper (27%); Jodie Foster (14%); Jon Stewart (12%); Oprah Winfrey (9%); Tina Fey (6%).
When asked what celebrity they would least want to work on their taxes, Paris Hilton was the overwhelming choice at 56%.
Runners up: Wesley Snipes (19%); Jessica Simpson (18%); Simon Cowell (4%); Jim Cramer (3%).
Don Mecoy
Business Week
Recession lessons learned
Bloomberg has a nice story today about how Oklahoma City learned from the mistakes made in the early 1980s Penn Square Bank era, when scores of banks failed and the energy and real estate markets collapsed. During this current recession, Oklahoma City’s economy has been quite resilient, particularly in comparison to other large U.S. cities.
In the aftermath, the city rebuilt its economy on the basis of careful lending practices, diversified industries and debt- free public projects — the kind of approach disdained in many other parts of the country, local leaders say. Now, Oklahoma City’s unemployment rate, 5.6 percent, is the second-lowest of any U.S. metropolitan area; median home prices have increased every year since 2004, even as other Sunbelt cities are posting year-over-year declines of 30 percent or more.
Not a lot new here for regular readers of The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com, but it’s nice to see the national media discuss how smart we are.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
On Twitter, they know if you’re a dog
So much for Internet anonymity.
Dallas Business Journal reports:
A couple of University of Texas at Austin researchers have developed an algorithm for a “de-anonymization technique” that, by tracking common relationships, identifies the posters on social Web sites such as Flickr and Twitter.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Recession: It’s what’s for dinner
With consumers crunched by this long recession, certain types of dining are gaining favor while others are suffering. Fast Company notes that people are buying peanut butter and jelly (someone in my family probably eats a PBJ samwich at least once a day), easy-to-prepare dishes (I’m thinking ramen noodles — they got me through college and I still like them), and coffee.
On the downside are restaurants (except for the “fast casual” sector — think Subway), organic food (just a way to save a few bucks) and movie theater concessions.
From Fast Company:
Upscale restaurants and gourmet labels may be hurting these days, but mega-manufacturers with a variety of brands (like Kraft and Nestle), along with club stores like Costco, are benefiting from the recession as at-home dining is on the rise.
(hat tip to MKOKC)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
