Phil Castle, The Business Times A Palisade woman hopes to bring to market a product she long needed when she was raising and showing horses: a device that makes it easier to feed livestock. Mary Leonard has dubbed her invention the Cranky Feeder. A metal bin holds up to 100 pounds of so-called sweet feeds. […]
Dear Employer’s Advisory: Some of my friends say that there is only one test to determine if a worker is an independent contractor — whether or not the worker performs work for another company during the contract period. I don’t think that’s right — there have to be other factors considered. But my Dad says, […]
Personality conflicts between team members are often the primary reason for a lack of collaboration within any given business or organization. These conflicts have a direct effect on business operations and almost always contribute to a decline in efficiency, productivity, retention, business growth and bottom-line profits. The degree to which your team doesn’t work together […]
A gift to charity could be a great financial favor to you, too — some charitable gifting methods offer notable tax advantages. Here’s a brief look at some popular options: Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) offer a useful estate planning tool. People with such highly appreciated assets as stocks or real estate are often hesitant to […]
The Grand Valley has experienced some good and bad times over the years that have affected both home sales and residential rental markets. I’ve found it interesting that this current cycle has had some decidedly different results than previous downturns. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, our valley experienced a roller coaster ride due […]
We’re approaching a new year and the overwhelming tradition of New Year’s resolutions. Every Jan. 1 becomes the day in which we write down the list of items that proclaims this will be the year we change our lives for the better. We’ll lose weight, break bad habits and save money. Will your list for […]
In a response to a letter from an 8-year-old girl, the New York Sun opined in an editorial published in 1897 that yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Francis Pharcellus Church wrote the words that remain famous more than a century later: “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and […]
When I look forward to 2013 for our local business economy, the state and national economies and a whole bunch of just about everything else, I see history repeating itself. Sadly, much of it isn’t very good. Let’s face the facts. This is the second of heaven knows how many fiscal cliffs we’ll face as […]
It can generally be accepted the fall of 2012 wasn’t a particularly good one for conservatives or our cause. But, as generally happens, there exist here and there glimmers of contrarian resistance. One of these glimmers occurred in Michigan, whose governor signed right-to-work legislation allowing workers the right to associate with whomever they wish. There […]
A major election is behind us. Yet, little has really changed, and that includes the state of our economy. We’ve been stuck in a grossly underperforming economic recovery after a long, deep recession. Unfortunately, there’s little in the data to tell us that things are changing in any substantive way for the positive. In fact, […]