Congressional visit

Chattanooga's small-business owners gathered this week for a visit with U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves, and apparently there were plenty of complaints about financial and health reforms' impacts on hiring and lending. The TFP reports. Other VNC coverage.

Talent key to biz recovery

Author and consultant Jane Applegate told a Memphis gathering that surrounding yourself with really talent people (more affordable in a down economy) is key to long-term economic recovery and growth. The CA reports.

Thoughts on Memphis financial sector, 2010

Andy Meek of Memphis Daily News offers a review of 2010 highlights of the Memphis finance sector.

Chattanooga beat N'ville out of Recession

Moody's Economy.com says Chattanooga was out of the Great Recession by the end of 2009, but not so Nashville and Knoxville. The TFP reports it.

U.S. growth jumped in 4Q09

Although subject to further adjustment a month from now the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis announced this morning that fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) rose 5.7 percent over 3rd quarter, a sharp increase from the previous month-to-month rise.

U.S. Stimulus impact uncertain

The Washington Post reports that while 2 million jobs may have been 'saved or created', the actual impact is somewhat obscured, though data-reporting methods may improve.

Blasingame on business basics in bad times

Small-biz advocate Jim Blasingame offers these oldies-but-bear-repeating-goodies on things to watch for in your business, during bad times.

Memphis BioWorks workforce grant

Memphis Bioworks Foundation announced it has been awarded a $2.9 million Energy Training Partnership Grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Green Jobs Training Program. The release is here.

Computer systems pro's paid faster

Slow-pay customers are plaguing the entire economy, except that computer-systems vendors are getting paid faster than last year, the only one of eight major categories of services enjoying such improvement. The New York Times reports it.

DOE now a VC

The Wall Street Journal reports how the Department of Energy's grants have rekindled progress at a hybrid automobile startup, as part of Stimulus investment push that may have distorted the VC landscape.

UT budget shortfall worsens

The University of Tennessee is looking at a budget shortfall equal to 20 percent of the State's total contribution to the school, with repercussions for tuition, lengthened days, cutbacks and other facets of the institution. The TFP reports.

KNS columnist: More calamity ahead

Knoxville News Sentinel columnist David Moon, president of Moon Capital Management, seems to be saying factors converging for another big financial and economic jolt.

Unemployment to 15%?

Thanks, a lot, CA: The Commercial Appeal introduces us to Phoenix-based Casey Research and their eye-of-the-strom projection of a Dow at 8,000 or lower and unemployment at 15%, amid a recession that'll last several more years.

Vaco among outsourcers riding tide

Nashville-based Vaco is a case-in-point in this CA article on the rising interest in oursourcing professional services, particularly finance.

Vacant TNsites leverageable

Abandoned millworks and other sites will be valuable properties for economic development, Come the Recovery, according to today's story in the Times Free Press.

TN revenue continues slide

State Treasurer David Lillard told a mid-state civic group that state revenues are still sliding, in an erosion that won't end before the end of 2010, 15 months away. Jackson Sun reports.

Great Recession Notes

Well, the Fed may say it's ending, but in the past few days the Great Recession spawned a couple more factoids we'd rather not see: Job-seekers outnumber openings 6:1, the worst ratio since tracking the trend began in 2000. The NYT reports. This next one is probably for the good: Frugality may become permanent, an AP story via the CA.

Synterprise origins

TVA severance offers prompted Chattanooga two entrepreneurs to launch Synterprise LLC, which offers technologies worldwide for cutting pollutants in the combustion of coal and biomass, lean-manufacturing techniques for operations and maintenance. The TFP reports.

NV's Great Recession results

The Brookings Institution's findings on Metro areas faring best amid the Recession show Nashville 51st among 100. Full Brookings report here (pdf). Related NBJ story.