What I learned on my flight to D.C.

Very seldom do I get to read a hard copy of The Wall Street Journal (and I never read it online because it is hidden behind a paywall). 

But on my 6:15AM flight to D.C. I did read the paper and thought I would share with you some of the interesting news.  Unless you pick up today’s paper, you’ll just have to take my word that this information is accurate since providing links to the stories won’t do you any good.

1.  Asset-based business loans are booming with $620 billion in such loans on the books today, up 25 percent since 2010.  Bank loans to small businesses stand at $584 billion, down from $713 billion in 2008.   But much of these new asset-based loans are coming from hedge funds and the recipient businesses are finding a dark side.  “It’s like financing that never goes away,” says Gary Rabin, chief executive of Advanced Cell Techonolgy.

2. Former SC Senator Jim DeMint is turning the once conservative “think tank” Heritage Foundation into a very conservative “political party” to the chagrin of Republican office holders.  Says the Heritage Action Chief Executive Mike Needham, “There’s a huge swath of the American people who feel totally unrepresented in Washington, and you have two political parties that are equally part of the problem.  We need to have a political party that steps up and says, ‘Look, it’s true, the fix is in in Washington and it might be difficult, but we’re going to be the party for you.”  Republican S.C. Congressman Mick Mulvaney is one of those critics of DeMint’s Heritage organization.  Regarding the recent battle over the farm bill Mulvaney is quoted as saying about Heritage, “We went into battle thinking they were on our side, and we find out they’re shooting at us.”

3. The U.S. economy improvement is being championed by Wall Street Journal columnists in big headlines.
Gerald Seib in his column, “Reasons to Hope Better Economic Times Lie Ahead”, gives “five reasons for long-term optimism”.
David Malpass, who served as assistant Treasury secretary to President Reagan and deputy assistant secretary of state to President George H.W. Bush, shouts in the heading of his column, “The Economy is Showing Signs of Life”.

4. After its successful launch of the small screen iPad mini now wants to explore going bigger with nearly 13 inch iPad screen.  I’ll just stick with my old 9.7 inch screen iPad.  See, I can be conservative and resist change.

Now onto the New York Times for the flight to Detroit.