From the barter desk of Bob Meyer…12/04/07


Southern California Second To Silicon Valley For Venture Capital

Southern California is starting to muscle out New England for second place as a magnet for venture capital. For two consecutive quarters it has topped New England. San Diego County is especially attractive to healthcare and biotechnology, and Los Angeles has an industry group different than anywhere else—information technology, media and entertainment.


Global Counterfeit Sales Reach $600 Billion Annually

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Anti-counterfeiting Coalition calculate that global counterfeit sales equal $600 billion to $650 billion a year.


Private Homes & Apartments Preferable For Some Travelers

If you’re spending most workdays on the road, and would prefer a private house or an apartment instead of a luxury hotel room (many do so they can entertain clients, especially if one’s hobby is cooking), there are two excellent and extensive web sites to check out. www.vrbo.com and www.homeaway.com.


Gift Cards Go Unused By Forgetful & Time-Strapped Consumers

Gift card sales have soared in recent years since shoppers see them as a quick and easy gift idea. Archstone Consulting expects sales of gift cards in the United States to jump 25% to $35 billion this holiday season.

But a survey released by the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that 27% of respondents who received gift cards for the holidays last year have not used them. Interestingly, this percentage is approximately the same for the use of scrip—a company’s currency in the barter marketplace.

U.S. Real Estate Bubble Information

A site full of statistics and commentary regarding the challenging real estate environment in the United States can be found at: http://paper-money.blogspot.com.


U.S. National Debt’s Interest Equals 9¢ Per Revenue Dollar

The national debt of the U.S. is $9.1 trillion. This year Americans will pay $235 billion of interest on that debt, which is 9¢ on every dollar of the approximately $2.5 trillion in government revenue taxes.


Consumer Debt Service Is Even Higher…14¢ Of Disposable Income

According to Fed statistics released in September, U.S. consumers are carrying a record $2.456 trillion in debt—NOT including mortgages. The flip side of consumers’ record-high debt level is a pathetically meager personal savings rate.

The Commerce Department reports the personal savings rate, for all of last year, was a minus 1%…the worst showing since the Great Depression. The average family was spending 14.3% of disposable income just to service its debt load, according to the Center for American Progress.

Sovereign-Wealth Funds Projected To Top $12 Trillion

Sovereign-wealth funds, which are capital pools set up by governments to invest in foreign assets, are now worth between $2 trillion and $3 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund. However, estimates from Morgan Stanley say they are set to top $12 trillion by 2015.

The Gulf States already boast the world’s biggest sovereign fund: the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), which is responsible for investing the Abu Dhabi government’s oil revenues. The fund holds more than $875 billion in assets. On November 26, 2007, ADIA invested $7.5 billion in Citigroup.


People In Poverty Can Become An Economic Powerhouse

Muhammad Yunus, 67, an American-trained economist from Bangladesh, won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his revolutionary approach to ending poverty. His concept of micro-loans (giving small sums to poor people to start businesses) is being adopted around the world.

Yunus says that half of the globe, approximately 3 billion people, subsist on $2 a day. By creating an income for them—through micro business loans— these people can become an economic powerhouse.

How so? Imagine if each of them bought one pair of shoes a year, or one shirt. You’d need 3 billion more shirts and shoes. More important than that, however, is the wasting of their talents and creative genius.

“From The Desk” is the first section of the weekly Tuesday Barter Report. To read the complete Tuesday Barter Report see right-hand column, scroll down to “Top Resources.”

This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 2:03 am and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.