Reporter's Notebook

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

Taking the good news with the bad

It’s not all Gloom and Doom out there.

While the bottom of the recession has been reached at least seven times in the national media and the term “jobless recovery” is quickly becoming a punch line to jokes that are only funny to those who are still employed, the economy really isn’t as bad as it was just a year ago.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s still bad out there and could get worse, depending on how certain future events unfurl – with Mother Nature having a say in things, I am sure.

But more and more often, I hear from business people that are doing better or at least are a little more optimistic about the future. Mind you, no one speaks publicly about this because there are plenty of businesses still teetering on the edge, making those who are doing well right now or starting to see an upswing in orders a little loathe to talk.

However, I did speak with the owner of a local IT company last week who told me that they had their best October ever this year. Another local business owner said he is busier than last year with fewer and shorter gaps between being busy.

At the VBJ, we try to bring you the stories and information important to you. What readers have told us in the past is that they want to know who is doing well and to the extent they are willing to share the secrets to their success, or at least their best practices, for the benefit of other members of the business community.

Our readers also tell us they want to hear about the businesses that don’t make it, with an emphasis on the “how” and the “why,” so that maybe they can learn from the misfortune of others in order to avoid their own.

As we continue to cover this turbulent and trying business environment, the VBJ occasionally receives emails and comments about running “negative stories.” However, we will continue to tell the stories we think our readers want. More often than not, it is a business success story. But we would be remiss if we only reported the positive and skipped the story on the store that failed on Main Street, closed their doors on 99th, or downsized their space out on 192nd.

So tell us what you think, what you like and what you want to know. We’ll do our best to bring it to you in a way that informs, educates and empowers our business community.

Friday Fish Wrap

Paul Speer retired but NOT, again, Congrats Paul……Gina Bacon back at the Chamber and communicating…David Lawson, a Class act…..Dennis Pavlina serving up Bones and recommendations.…Jim Jacks demonstrating his Tao of Pooh…...Tom Hunt paying off and hanging with the young dogs.. …Ralph Stevens – eerily quiet… TVD hawking phones and counting touchdowns….Robert Stewart first one in the pool ….Temple Lenz taking a break and looking for the next one… …Courtney Givens working and celebrating the Under 40 luncheon - well deserved and THANK YOU! …… Bob Dingethal every week is a bye week…..Bye, Bye.

Business Around the Northwest

U.S. manufacturing hits growth spurt, Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal

Papa Murphy’s up for sale, Portland Business Journal

Stimulus health care coverage deadline looms for laid-off workers, Idaho Business Review

► On the Record

“My sense is that we have somewhat stabilized. There is the sense that we’ve finally hit bottom.”

-- Deborah Ewing, vice president of Vancouver commercial real estate brokerage Eric Fuller & Associates, reacting to news of the $8.3 million sale of Quad 205 Business Park on Tuesday.

Reporter's Notebook

Paul Leonard can be reached at pleonard@vbjusa.com

An apology – and cash – from Goldman Sachs

They were more than participants in the largest market meltdown in history – they were pioneers in the creation of the complex financial instruments, such as credit default swaps, that helped make it happen.

And now, more than a year after the crash froze credit lines for thousands of small businesses, including many in Southwest Washington, Goldman Sachs says it’s sorry.

The investment house-turned-banking giant announced today that it would launch a $500 million initiative to help 10,000 small businesses. The fund will be partly run by Goldman majority shareholder Warren Buffett, who said the program would provide “greater access to know-how and capital – two ingredients critical to success.”

Access to capital critical to success? Thanks for the tip, Mr. Buffett.

The continuing unavailability of credit for established small businesses locally has to be the most puzzling aspect of this year’s economic downturn – even more so given President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner’s almost daily pronouncements of victory over the financial crisis.

To be sure, $200 million will go far to help some cash-starved businesses – even perhaps a few here in Clark County – ramp up spending and start hiring again.

However, here’s another figure to consider: $10.5 billion.

That’s the amount of small business lending sucked out of the system in the last six months by 22 of the nation's largest banks – many of which were recipients of taxpayer money via the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Long an investment and trading institution, Goldman joined the savings-and-loan ranks as a condition of its own bailout package late last year.

So let’s put these figures in perspective: if $10.5 billion is a gash requiring stitches, then $200 million seems more like a Band-aid.

However, cash wasn’t all Goldman had to offer today. Nearly 14 months after an unregulated derivative and credit default swap trading market helped almost bring the entire financial system to near collapse, this apology: “We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret,” said Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein today in New York.

Thanks Lloyd.

As for Warren Buffett’s unapologetically naïve comments regarding capital flows to small businesses? Don’t worry, we won’t take it personally, Warren – we’ll still take your money.

Business Around the Northwest

Assurances from FDIC, South Sound Business Examiner

Horizon Bank accepts VP Hoekstra’s resignation, Bellingham Business Journal

The world will feed the world, Idaho Business Journal

► On the Record

“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."

– Veteran radio and TV news journalist Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965)

Reporter's Notebook

Paul Leonard can be reached at pleonard@vbjusa.com

The curious case of Brian Baird

Much like the residents of the 3rd Legislative District he represents, Brian Baird likes to go his own way.

In 2006, as Iraq seemed poised on the precipice of sectarian apocalypse, the Vancouver Democrat stood behind then-President George W. Bush’s troop surge, almost completely alone among the anti-war rank-and-file of his own party.

More recently, in the thick of this year’s healthcare debate, Baird penned an editorial last month advocating the replacement of popular government-run healthcare programs such as Medicare with a pre-paid system combined with catastrophic insurance. Interesting? Perhaps. But it was miles away from any reform proposal, Republican or Democratic, then being debated on Capitol Hill.

Then came last weekend’s big healthcare vote in the U.S. House, with a sweeping $1.2 trillion reform bill barely squeaking past 220-215. Joining Baird in their “No” votes were 176 of 177 House Republicans and a group of Democrats mostly from districts either won by last year’s presidential GOP nominee John McCain or narrowly won by President Barack Obama.

Baird was one of only four Dems representing districts Obama carried last year by five percentage points or more to vote against the healthcare reform bill – a list including single-payer healthcare proponent Dennis Kucinich and Artur Davis, an Alabama Democrat preparing a gubernatorial campaign in one of the most conservative states in the Union.

As for Baird? In a statement released on the eve of the vote, Baird praised his party’s healthcare bill, calling attention to a number of improvements and elements “that could at long last correct the Medicare payment disparities that disadvantage our state,” before going on to write that he was voting against the bill anyway.

One of the reasons behind his “No” vote, according to Baird, was that there was not enough time to consider Republican amendments to the legislation – a concern apparently held without regard to the GOP-led chants of “Kill the Bill” outside the Capitol last week.

As written here and here, the spiraling cost of employee healthcare coverage is the number one issue for small businesses – one that threatens the survival of those lucky or nimble enough to get this far through the deepest and most prolonged recession in 60 years.

These are concerns that Baird, as evidenced by VBJ’s Q&A with the Congressman last September, shares with his business constituency – making his vote against the healthcare bill all the more puzzling.

Make no mistake: the Congressman’s willingness to strike out on his own path, regardless of party or political expediency, may be one of his best qualities.

Even some of the mightiest doves in the Iraq debate of 2006-7 now agree with Baird that the surge was the right course, paving the way to relative stability in a nation still plagued with continuing violence and political turmoil.

However, when it comes to Baird’s choice of sides in this latest national debate, the passage of time may prove to be far less forgiving.