| The Real Start of Something New
Shane, "every year only about 7 percent of new companies in the United States are started in . . . high technology, and only about 3 percent of business founders consider their new businesses to be 'technologically sophisticated.' " What's more, America is no longer a particularly entrepreneurial country; nor are we in much of an entrepreneurial era. The rate of entrepreneurship in the U.S., Mr. Shane says, "has been flat or declining over the past twenty years." This is true for other industrialized countries as well, but there is no need for alarm: The richer a country is, the lower its rate of business starts. When a country gets wealthier and its real wages rise, Mr. Shane explains, "the opportunity cost of running your own business goes up because the amount of money you could have earned working for someone else increases." In short: Fewer people start businesses because they can make more money working for established companies.
Manhattan still bucking housing trends
Amid a housing slump that's plaguing the rest of the country, Manhattan's residential real estate market finished the final quarter of 2007 with record average prices, according to two separate reports released Thursday. Prudential Douglas Elliman said the average Manhattan apartment price, which includes cooperatives and condominiums, jumped 17.6 percent in the fourth quarter to a record $1,439,909 from the year-ago period, while Brown Harris Stevens reported a 34 percent increase to $1,430,514, another record. The median also rose, but not as sharply. Prudential reported a 6.4 percent increase to $850,000, and Brown Harris Stevens said the median price gained 14 percent to $828,000. The median price is where half sell for more and half sell for less. .
William Ackman: Targeting Target
William Ackman is a hard man to pin down. He's a multimillionaire hedge fund manager from New York who talks fast, yet he pokes fun of the image of fund managers as "fast-talking guys who drive Bentleys." He believes in "sticking to the facts," as he calls it, yet he got so emotional over supportive comments on a recent conference call that tears were shed. "It was my Hillary moment," he joked in a recent interview. And while he heaps praise on senior management at Target Corp., in which he's amassed a nearly 10 percent stake this year, he's pressuring the discount retailer to sell its $8 billion credit-card portfolio. And, though unlikely, he's not ruling out the possibility of pursuing a change in corporate directors. Ackman, 41, is part of a new breed of activist hedge fund managers who defy easy categorization.
III. Obstacles to Reform
For the Indonesian government to end military self-financing, it will have to overcome several challenges. Alongside needed measures to confront military businesses and eliminate the TNIs other economic activities, the government also will need to find ways to appropriately finance the armed forces from budgetary funds. To do so will require improvements to financial controls on the military. As part of that effort, it will be essential to clearly address a number of misconceptions about military economic activity that are often cited as excuses to scuttle reform. This chapter addresses these issues in turn. It begins with a critique of the current system of military finance control. Next, it addresses three myths about military business activity. It finds that the challenges, while difficult, are not insurmountable.
Junction store's future still unclear
Nearly a year after Albertsons closed its doors at The Junction shopping center, there's no word on what grocery store will take its place. Albertsons representatives said last summer they had sold the store to Raley's, a West Sacramento-based chain of supermarkets in northern California, Nevada and New Mexico. Raley's holds the lease to the still-vacant East Sonora store. Company spokeswoman Nicole Townsend said that, as a private business, Raley's doesn't comment on its real estate plans. Junction merchants have heard rumors that discount grocer Cost Less Food Company would move into the store once an agreement between the company, Raley's and The Junction's owners was worked out. Don Way, president of Cost Less Food Company, said Friday that a Cost Less will not be coming to The Junction.
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