► On the Record

“I believe one of the reasons President Obama won is because people are sick of the health care system. The components are the best – we have the best physicians, the best-trained nurses – but it’s a shipwreck of a system.”

- Joe Kortum, president and CEO of Southwest Washington Medical Center, today at a health care forum with Sen. Maria Cantwell

Reporter's Notebook

-Megan Patrick-Vaughn can be reached at mpatrick@vbjusa.com

WANNA BE STARTIN’ SOMETHIN’

I know some of you are probably oversaturated with coverage of the loss of music great Michael Jackson, but I, too, have some thoughts about it. His death last week, both shocking and sad, also highlighted an interesting class war in journalism, bringing up further debate about new forms of media, credibility and ethics.

TMZ, a guilty pleasure that many view as the National Enquirer of celebrity news, broke the news of Jackson’s death on June 25 and for more than an hour was the only outlet running with the news. Everyone had noticed the news, to be sure – it was plastered on Twitter accounts and Facebook status almost instantaneously – but it was only until the L.A. Times confirmed the death that the news hit other news sites.

Even a coworker, when I shouted out the news in the office, said, “Has anyone other than TMZ reported it?”

And even when the news was confirmed, some newspaper credited the L.A. Times with the scoop, leaving TMZ on the sidelines. Since the dawn of citizen reporting, the blogosphere and instant news, there have been questions about credibility – journalists are trained to seek out news, confirm it and report it fairly and accurately (that’s what we strive for, anyway), but who knows what qualifies Perez Hilton to report news and he’s got more readers than us all.

But TMZ got it right. Period. What changes do you think this signals or highlights for the industry?

Shamon.

Editor's note: We won't be publishing Just Business on Friday, July 3, due to the Fourth of July holiday. Have a safe and fabulous weekend!

Business Around the Northwest

Marriott to be largest hotel in county, Bellingham Business Journal

Team combines diverse skills to create beds for residents of the Interfaith Family Shelter, Snohomish County Business Journal

Oregon’s stimulus spending sparks debate, Portland Daily Journal of Commerce

► On the Record

"In these hard economic times, it makes celebrating any anniversary - especially the 35th - very exciting."

- Tim Schauer, president of MacKay & Sposito Inc., at the company's 35th anniversary celebration barbecue Thursday

Reporter's Notebook

- Steve McDonagh can be contacted at smcdonagh@vbjusa.com

IS IT OR ISN’T IT...
...over? The bottom? The recovery? A Reset?

Nobody seems to know where we are at or where we are going, but there does seem to be some consensus that we are at or near the bottom. But every time I hear we’ve hit it, another shoe drops – this thing has more shoes than Imelda Marcos! If it isn’t home builders or car manufacturers its whole states – California and 17 others, according to CNN, are going under.

The price of gas is going up while demand is going down. Speculators have returned to virtually every financial market. Local businesspeople say borrowing is still difficult. But at least two local bankers have told me they have seen some movement the past couple months from people have been sitting on the sidelines for the past year, and that their banks are making loans. Yes, loans.

What exactly does all this mean? It means don’t look at the stock market numbers on a daily basis or plan your business’ activity for the next quarter based on the price of oil today. Take time to look around our community and see what opportunities are presenting themselves to your business. Has a competitor pulled back or gone out of business? Have new tax incentives made it worthwhile to invest in capital improvements? The labor pool is swollen. Is there an opportunity to hire someone who might have commanded a salary beyond your ability to pay two years ago?

Even if we are in reset mode and not a recovery, there are opportunities out there. We need to keep our eyes and ears open and take advantage of them when they are presented. Vancouver is, for the most part, weathering this storm better than a lot of areas of the country. As California and others continue to struggle and/or fail, we should see renewed in-migration of people and businesses. These new residents and businesses will present a myriad of opportunities to existing businesses.

Stay the course and stay alert.

Business Around the Northwest

Bankruptcies leave big real-estate holes, Portland Daily Journal of Commerce

University of Idaho awarded funds for nuclear research, Idaho Business Review

Animal farm: the business of livestock, Coast River Business Journal

► On the Record

“Housing might bring immediate revenue, but it’s actually finite revenue, especially versus something that has a perpetual income such as wine. It used to be that you could sell them as fast as you could build them in Clark County, but I don’t know if that’s true anymore. So maybe it’s the perfect timing for wine.”

– Michele Bloomquist, Heisen House Vineyards