Virgin Voyage

Hi, everyone! This is our virgin voyage into the sea of taxes, business & estate planning strategies to help keep you afloat in these tumultuous waters of our current challenging economic environment! I am an optimist. I do not say we are in a "depression." I say we are in a period of a natural business cycle that entails slow growth & contraction for some businesses.

I agree with those who say it is the large organizations who are suffering- GM, Goldman Sachs, Washington Mutual, etc. and that it is the small businesses & entrepreneurs who will be exposed to great opportunities to fill in the gaps. Although we small businesses may not be in a position to manufacture automobiles, we will be able to pick up the slack in many service businesses such as, investment counseling, real estate brokerage and accounting and legal consulting, to name a few. Even small, local banks and credit unions that didn't get involved in the subprime mortgage industry are poised to take over for the Citibanks and Wachovias.

It's a shame that the news media spends so much time and energy fanning the flames of the depression mentality. I hear people all the time talking about how bad things are for the U.S. economy and how hard it is getting to "make it." Having been a CPA preparing tax returns for over 25 years, I have been through the recessions of the late 70's, early 80's and early 90's. There's a big difference between the recession now and then- in the early 80's interest rates were around 21 to 22%. That's a major advantage we have now with interest rates being so low.

I firmly believe that if we think "good economic times" and "act as if", we will pull ourselves and our neighbors out of this recession sooner rather than later. I am praying for our new President Obama and Congress that they make the right decisions regarding changes to the tax laws to give us long term recovery and get our businesses back on track.