Some of the greatest companies of our time were born during recessions or depressions:
Hyatt Corp., Sports Illustrated – recession of 1950s.
Microsoft–recession of 1970s.
CNN, MTV – recession of 1980s.
16 of 30 Dow Companies – started in recession or depression.
Procter & Gamble, Disney, Alcoa, McDonald’s, General Electric and Johnson & Johnson.

Why Now? from SUCCESS magazine on Vimeo.

To make this point resonate a bit more, lets share some RECENT success. I am talking about companies we see today that didn’t exist in the last 10 years!

Google, YouTube, and Facebook were all developed during the last recession.

So, when you see the media/news each day, remember this, your success story can happen in 2009 and beyond. It might not be immediate but both of us have to keep on taking progressive steps towards our goals and dreams each day. Don’t let anything stop us. Create answers/solutions to problems and overcome adversity.

Failure to accomplish my dreams is NOT an option. If I get knocked down I fully intend to stand right back up and keep on taking steps towards my goals and I hope you do to.

Or, if you want to be somewhat sarcastic and bold about it, I would point to online marketer and product launch guru Frank Kern. Recently, after selling out his Mass Control 2.0 product/system ($2000 each by the way) he commented “Dear Recession, Suck it!”

Hope this helps cheer you up and motivate you the rest of 2009 and beyond.

Dan Ross

Key takeaways:

High-end consumer prices likely to drop. Consumers aren’t splurging as much in tough times.

High-end stores cutting inventory levels to create scarcity and to minimize inventory rightdowns. This is smart. People are likely to buy at full price in the store if they are worried about an item selling out. Frank Kern’s excellent Mass Control product talks about creating scarcity and buzz

Minimum buying requirements (order sizes) are likely to decline in 2009. Businesses won’t stick their neck out on the line for unproven products and are likely to be more worried regarding having excess products on the shelves in 2009.

Dan Ross

Great Article on China subsidizing the installation/financing of solar panels. I am going to keep abreast on this story as all the details aren’t spelled out. Given the credit crunch going on right now in the world, this is a VERY important announcement and, frankly, a gamechanger for some companies.

China is the #1 manufacturer of solar panels so they do have a HUGE vested interest. Chinese banks also funded quite a bit of the industries growth over the last few years and, from what I have read, some companies aren’t generating free cash flow at this time (ie. they are dead if volumes start to decline as their debtloads will kill them). Troubled companies would be stuck with too much capacity, already thin margins due to industry overcapacity and their banks would get negatively impacted in the future.

This is also a way to help keep their exports up while enabling U.S. companies to effectively gain access to credit (because the payback period would be quicker) and save $$$ themselves. This has an impact on our trade deficit with China, an important thing to keep in mind when we hear politicians and their TV ramblings

Basically the payback period on solar installations is going to be 1.5 to 2 years now at current electric prices if the math he did is correct.

Keep this in the back of your mind as solar stock prices, from what the article says, appear to be heading north. Due your DD on this one…

Dan

http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/06/news/economy/jobs_february/index.htm

Despite a rising stock market this week (+10% – a suckers rally, in my opinion), the below pictures, from the article above, really highlight how quickly the economy has deteriorated. I am now convinced that 10% unemployment is in the cards here in 2009.

Dan Ross

http://www.DanRoss.info

1) Apparently there is a TON more pain that is going to hit European banks here soon as Eastern Europe pains negatively impacts their banks. Most North American/Japanese banks aren’t big players in these countries.

2) John Mauldin, president of Millennium Wave Advisors, thinks the markets will hit a new low this summer, and then potentially flip/flop a bunch for years to follow. I agree with his thoughts re: “another leg down” as I think the markets should be trading around 665-680 based on multiples to forecasted S&P500 EPS and historical pricing behavior during bear markets. If this happens, can you imagine the impact to 401k plans, pension funds (that will be SUBSTANTIALLY underfunded), etc.

Hope everyone finds this info. valuable.

Dan Ross
http://www.DanRoss.info

I wouldn’t believe this opinion for a split second. Markets don’t go straight down. They go down down further than they rebound. They go down more than up due to information being slow to come out. Markets don’t go straight down because people see signs of a positive rebound and get greedy.

Well, I am playing the trend and this trend is down.

The economy has weakened, consumers and businesses aren’t spending (remember, they are trying to PAY BACK their debts from previous years) and besides, the free credit of yesteryears is no longer available. I think 4-5% in some guaranteed investment works for me. Heck, I think the best investment is people investing in themselves to develop some new skills that enable them to add value in their organization or on their own. That way, if anything happens, people have something to fall back on or perhaps a new career path.

Dan Ross

Enjoy!

Dan Ross

Basically retail consultant Howard Davidowitz,of Davidowitz & Associates, is saying that as Americans save and spend less, due to the financial crisis, it’s clear there’s too much retail space. Just visit Web site deadmalls.com and track retail’s growing body count. Most concerning to Davidowitz are Luxury Retailers and “private equity retailers” (formerly publicly traded and then taken private via use of debt by private equity companies).

Among the brandname stores Davidowitz says are in trouble:

Nordstrom
Neiman Marcus
Tiffany
Jeweler Zale Corp.
Saks
J.C. Penney
Sears

Until I can get some revised blogs up I thought I would keep people abreast of my thoughts so I’ll keep the content coming here! I see it taking about a month for things to get done.

I hope everyone enjoys the video below. Boy, this guy is PESSIMISTIC!

Dan Ross

Dan Ross