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Warning signs of a potential credit crunch were flashing even before Silicon Valley Bank's stunning collapse, as this year sees record high bankruptcy filings by small- to mid-sized private businesses, according to UBS. Financial markets this month were whipped around after the biggest bank failure since the global financial crisis highlighted worries about the impact of tighter credit conditions for American businesses and consumers. ["We] believe one of the more underappreciated signs of distress in US corporate credit is already emanating from the Small and Mid-size Enterprises sector," Matthew Mish, head of credit strategy at UBS, wrote in a recently...

Portland residents are sounding the alarm on the city's crime crisis after more than 300 criminal cases in the area were dismissed, including some related to felony theft, possession of a stolen vehicle, gun charges and more. As Oregon faces a public defender shortage, residents say they wish they were surprised by the news, but activist district attorneys and a flawed justice system have culminated into a far more significant dilemma over time. "We're paying these public defenders slowly, and we're paying them badly, and they don't want to work for the state. The state controls this," area resident Angela...

Smaller trucking businesses are feeling financial pressure after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new standards for semi-trucks to lower air pollution. Andrew John of the John N John Trucking Company warned that the costs associated with the new standards could kill many mom-and-pop trucking businesses. ... They go out of business, and we all know how important mall businesses are to the economy." For the first time in two decades, the EPA released new standards that are 80% stronger than current ones and require semi-trucks to cut harmful nitrogen oxide pollution. ... The EPA estimates the new requirements could...

Thanks to rampant leftism, the business of America is no longer business but is, instead, selling woke ideology to bring about corporate socialism (i.e., fascism). Because the biggest corporations are on board with that agenda, the effect on conservative values and conservatives themselves has been devastating. However, it’s entirely possible that the bad economy (which they aggressively helped institute) will be their undoing. Justin Haskins, the Socialism Research Director at The Heartland Institute, took to Fox News to identify the 51 biggest companies advancing leftism and to offer ways to counter their influence.The information Haskins offers summarizes the 1792 Exchange’s...

The New Orleans Police Department can now shutter businesses that are harboring "violent and serious crime," after the city council unanimously approved an ordinance aimed at cutting skyrocketing crime in the city. "If a business is ever going to be shut down, it’s going to be because the judge saw all the criteria and that was the last resort," City Council Vice President Helena Moreno said of the new measure, according to Fox 8. The council unanimously approved the "padlock" ordinance on Thursday, which gives the city’s police department the ability to begin the shuttering process for businesses that knowingly...

Hundreds of Seattle businesses have applied for grants from the city to fix up storefronts damaged by rising crime in Washington state's largest city. According to a report by KING-TV, 430 businesses have applied to receive funds from Seattle’s Office of Economic Development which were made available to help business owners fix property damage that includes broken windows, broken doors, broken locks and etching on windows. Datza Tamane, who owns a yoga studio in Seattle’s East Lake neighborhood, told the outlet she is considering adding her name to the list of businesses after a recent early morning break-in that left...

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is working to end fines and fees and develop a reimbursement process for businesses who were "unjustly" subjected to COVID-19 pandemic shutdown violations. The GOP governor issued an executive order Tuesday rolling back strict COVID enforcement policies enacted by the previous Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. Youngkin, a political newcomer, flipped a typically blue state red in 2021 by running on pro-parent and anti-Biden administration policies, including pandemic response. The new order will direct his state government agencies to report the fines and fees businesses throughout the state were forced to pay during the shutdown. The governor...

Mayhem broke out at labour union organised protests in Paris against the cost of living crisis befalling the French public this week, with black bloc-clad rioters clashing with police and smashing windows. An estimated 107,000 people took to the streets of France on Tuesday in protest against the growing economic crisis born out the energy crisis surrounding the war in Ukraine, and self-inflicted economic wounds such as years of lockdown restrictions which spurred rampant inflation, and failures by the government to perform maintenance on the country’s ageing nuclear power plants.

According to the Republican senator from Kentucky, Small businesses organized as S-Corps or Partnerships could face a tax increase and hurt job creation. The NIIT is a 3.8% surtax on passive income (capital gains, interest, rental and royalty income, and dividends). However, the proposal suggests expanding the tax to apply to active income over $400,000 individually or $500,000 jointly. The proposed expansion of NIIT is expected to raise some $183.6 billion in tax revenues over the next decade, according to the Tax Foundation. The bill proposes to expand the taxation to include all business income, whether or not the taxpayer...

Joe Biden: “We have a choice, one way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poorer. I think I have a better idea to fight inflation, lower your costs not your wages.”

The blowtorch flame cast a halo of heat on Oko Jewelry’s double-paned, laminated glass door. After letting the glass cool, two masked men shattered the posh East Burnside Street shop’s threshold about 4 a.m. last Thursday, then reached through to the deadbolt and let themselves in.

Seventy-five percent of small businesses are being pounded by the supply chain crisis and thirty-year high inflation, a CNBC survey revealed Tuesday. While many big businesses have expanded their profit margins in the face of supply chain woes and inflation, small businesses are struggling to serve their local communities.

The Job Creators Network (JCN), a business advocacy group, has filed a notice with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit—which is hearing all legal challenges to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement—and sent a letter to the president saying the group expects the White House to comply with a court decision to freeze the mandate.“We expect the White House to respect and listen to the judiciary rather than barnstorming ahead and bullying businesses to comply with this rule whose legal fate is in serious jeopardy,” JCN wrote in the Nov. 19 letter to Biden (pdf). “We expect...

President Joe Biden plans to blame businesses for raising prices and higher inflation this week, as his poll numbers continue to plunge. The president has scheduled a speech on the economy and “lowering prices for the American people” at the White House on Tuesday, before he leaves for his Thanksgiving vacation in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Businesses are “pleading” with the Biden administration to delay a plan to mandate businesses with 100 or more employees require vaccines or weekly testing over concerns that, if the rule goes into force before the holiday season, businesses could see a “mass exodus” of workers when many need them most, per CNBC. Labor unions are already voicing concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which was announced in September. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is in charge of drafting and distributing the mandate under the guise of “emergency powers” awarded to the agency at the height of the COVID-19...

QR codes – short for “quick response” – are commonly used in retail, logistics, and other sectors. The technology allows anyone to show proof of vaccination with a digital or printed QR code instead of a paper card, and without the need for an app. As more and more employers and businesses respond to calls by President Biden and Governor Northam to require that employees and customers be vaccinated, QR codes will help improve the consistency and security of vaccination information while protecting individual privacy.

The new federal vaccine requirement announced by President Joe Biden has created another worry for large businesses: With help wanted signs up almost everywhere, some could lose valuable employees or won’t be able to find new ones. Biden announced sweeping new orders Thursday that will require employers with more than 100 workers to mandate vaccinations against COVID-19 or offer weekly testing. The new rules could affect as many as 100 million Americans, although it’s not clear how many of those people are currently unvaccinated.

From the Desk of Lori: ‍ Symbols matter. And there is no greater symbol of Chicago’s broad and diverse shoulders as the Magnificent Mile. Yet the anti-equity policies of retailers such as Macy’s that decided not to renew leases on Michigan Avenue have led to other national brands replacing artfully painted BLM plywood edifice monikers with empty storefronts (as to Macy’s, good riddance to their racist Frangos which force you to chomp on darkness before getting to the good stuff inside). Seriously, the situation is grim: Nearly 1/3rd of retail space sits empty on this section of Michigan Avenue. Moreover,...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed Friday that the universal face coverings mandate will be lifted statewide on Monday at 12:01 a.m. — ending a requirement that lasted 439 days. Gov. Tom Wolf’s goal of having 70% of Pennsylvanians fully vaccinated by the time the mandate ends didn’t go exactly as planned, with the numbers falling just short of the mark. As of Friday morning, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine tracker, 74.9% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older have received a first dose and 59.4% are fully vaccinated. The dramatic rise and subsequent fall in...

COVID shutdowns championed by U.S. governors and D.C. bureaucrats are responsible for destroying nearly 40% of small businesses since the virus was unleashed on the world—and we know now that it was for little to no damned good reason. A study by the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences revealed recently that shutdown orders made little to no difference in COVID’s impact. ... While bureaucrats gave Walmart, Costco, Lowe’s, and other big-box stores “essential” status, allowing them to stay open during the COVID pandemic, 38.9% of America’s small businesses, the providers of most of the country’s jobs, were forced...