Thursday, July 16, 2009

Nightly Business Report on PBS

Do any of you that read this blog watch Nightly Business Report on PBS or Fox Business Network. Both are excellent. Although they tend to deal mostly with big companies and big ideas, they are up on a lot of changes in legislation, changes in trends and, especially, the Stock Market. If you area small business owner, it is very important to keep up with what is going on in the Market because it will trickle down to affect you shortly.

NBR has been around for decades and some of the people on there have as well. However, they also have some young reporters who do a great job talking to people in the business world like Warren Buffet and real people affected by the economy, poor judgement, Bernie Madoff, changes in the law and rules of employment, etc. It is really worth watching. Additionally, they take a look at stocks every day that are of importance and worth looking at. As you know, I am a "bottom fisher" of sorts and they deal with those stocks too and why they are where they are today. It would be especially interesting if your major customer, major vendor or market segment has been affected by legislation, crime, poor judgement or plethora of other things that might end up helping or hurting your business.

From your business standpoint, the big companies have gotten in trouble by being bloated, by being greedy and by leaders who feel that they are untouchable. Also, many companies have saturated their boards and officers with yes men and cronies. Now that may not be what they planned but it is what happens. As a small business owner, you need to surround yourself by "seeking the council of the wise" as it says in Proverbs (that's in the Bible for you unfamiliar with Scripture). As the owner, you do not know it all and cannot be everywhere at once. You need to have a board and officers who will tell you what is right not, necessarily, what you want to hear.

NBR does little to take a stand on anything however. And , they cannot. Their charter does not allow that as a non-profit organization. They do not take a position they just (really, honest to goodness they do) report the news. Imagine that! Reporting not trying to "make" news.

What do you think.

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