The Small Business Growth Blog

Quality Park 69007 Quality Park White Wove Business Envelope Convenience Packs 10 24lb 100 Box

Recycled business envelope offer a 24 lb. paper stock and contain at least 30 percent post-consumer waste. QUA 11117 features 100 percent post-consumer content. QUA69007 QUA-69007 085227690074 8522769007

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Plantronics Open Ear Full Range Stereo Gaming Headset Audio 370

Plantronics introduced the first lightweight communications headset in 1962 and is today the world’s leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of lightweight communications headset products. Plantronics offers mobile headsets to address the cordless and mobile phone market, next-generation computer audio headset products for computer applications and corded and cordless headsets and systems for the office, small office/home office and call centers.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star returned the item
this is the first time i’ve tried a headset mic and would probably be the last. the mic did not work as intended. while most peripherals have updated to usb jacks, this one still has the audio and mic function, which means your speakers won’t work.

4 Stars Great sound, works well
Well, overall this is great, I just got it and have no problem with the mic boom (yet). Sound is great, and I like the volume control and mic switch on the cord. The only downside is the headband seems “loose” like the headphones might slide down if you move to much. I have not had much of a problem with this except when on the road trying to watch a movie I must readjust every now and then and occasionally when I am eating something. I would have preferred to have a sliding head adjustment (where you manually adjust to the size of your head) instead of this “retractable wire” adjustment. No biggie tho, I can always duct tape mod it if it gets annoying

3 Stars Microphone Issues
The headset is very comfortable and the sound quality is great. The clarity of the mic is not the problem but the boom and volume are.

The company boasts that the headset has an extendable boom. What they don’t tell you is that it is only another half inch of movement which is quite useless. That said, you can’t get the microphone close enough to your mouth so that it receives enough db to transmit at a proper volume.

I have adjusted all sound settings, put on mic boost, etc. and it simply will not transmit loudly enough to anyone in Ventrilo, Skype or other recording software.

I replaced it with a $12 cheap headset which is doing the job of this $50 headset.

3 Stars Low sound
Have an existing plantronics and wanted to replace it with this one. The sound is low. I increased the volume on the speakers and computer to the max and still it was not good. The quality of sound is good but cannot get louder to give you that theater effect.

4 Stars Good Product. Great Value. Great Sound. What Else?
While currently listening to the headphones listed above I can truely say that they are worth the money. In fact, the price is one of the reasons to get these.

The sound from them is crisp and clean. The bass is a little low for me, but on the other hand I play the bass and if it’s not shaking the house it’s too low for me. The headset works great in games with the crisp sound.

The microphone hasn’t let me down yet. I chat online and the people I talk to say that I am clear and easliy understood. So no complaints there.

These headphones are a keeper. They sound great. The microphone is clear. They are comfortable. Good buy.

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How to Win Friends and Influence People

YOU CAN GO AFTER THE JOB YOU WANT…AND GET IT! YOU CAN TAKE THE JOB YOU HAVE…AND IMPROVE IT! YOU CAN TAKE ANY SITUATION YOU’RE IN…AND MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU!

For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

Now this previously revised and updated bestseller is available in trade paperback for the first time to help you achieve your maximum potential throughout the next century! Learn:

* THREE FUNDAMENTAL TECHNIQUES IN HANDLING PEOPLE
* THE SIX WAYS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU
* THE TWELVE WAYS TO WIN PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING
* THE NINE WAYS TO CHANGE PEOPLE WITHOUT AROUSING RESENTMENT

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Original Copy?
One problem with Kindle and ebooks is that so many unqualified people can create them. This Kindle edition is full of typos. This book is in the public domain so it has been worked over many times. We need to know the source that was used to copy the work. It is obviously different from other versions. Is this a copy of the original? Or updated version? And how much was added or changed by the copier?

It’s like trying to follow a map that someone has edited.

5 Stars It’s called “CLASSIC” for a reason.
Since the end of World War II, literally thousands of books have been written about how to improve professionally and personally. Every single one of them can be traced directly back to two books, Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” and this classic work of Dale Carnegie’s, HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE.

Webster’s Online dictionary defines “classic” as `serving a standard of excellence; historically memorable’. This book serves up the standard of excellence today as it did when it was first published and is definitely historically memorable. It’s quite possible that Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie have positively influenced more lives than any other writer’s and their influence continues long after they’ve left this earth.

Some may consider this book outdated, and thanks to our public school system, many of the historical figures of the early twentieth century that are mentioned here will be unknown to many readers. But consider this an opportunity not just to begin building a life of success, but to gain a brief introduction to some of the industrial giants and other notable business people of a century ago. These are, after all, the people who helped shape the modern era of our great country.

There are certainly a wealth of great modern day teachers who might make some of this material more meaningful to today’s reader. Stephen Covey, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield and many others come to mind. I certainly recommend you study the modern day gurus of success and life enhancement, but if your goal is to improve your business or personal life, your library simply must include this book. This is one of those books you will go back and re-read every couple of years and if you’re like me, you’ll recall its many lessons on a daily basis.

5 Stars Vital information for a self-centered society
I’m halfway through this book and am already inclined to give it 5 stars. I tend to do that with products that offer me valuable insight and information that enables me to run my small business better. The concepts in the book are very simple and straightforward and at times you may slap your forward and say; “well duh!” But it’s often the most simplistic things that we as human beings overlook and stubbornly take for granted, such as remembering other people’s names and trivial information about them.

If the people who leave poor reviews for this book actually got nothing out of reading it, then why did they pick it up in the first place, did the title not give it away? I would have to say that although I found some of the advice in the book to be basic, if you apply it consistently, then you will have success working with other people. Like everything else, practice makes perfect. It also makes you feel good to make other people feel good- at work, the grocery store and even at home.

We live in a self-centered society where it’s all about ME-ME-ME, and the old fashioned viewpoint explained in the book has become obsolete in today’s society. I’m not sure it’s fair to give this book less than 3 STARS unless your book had pages ripped out, or you just wanted to be sarcastic and negative for no apparent reason. This book is for those who may already know what it is to have good values and high ethical standards, but just need a little reminder from time to time…we all do.

5 Stars One of the best books ever written.
How to Win Friends and Influence People is an American classic that is still as relevant today as when first published decades ago. Dale Carnegie presents a basic approach to dealing with people that really works. Practical advice for achieving practical results. There is nothing superficial about what this book has to offer. I have begun using these methods in my own practice and have found the results astounding. The insights Mr. Carnegie offers may prove to be the best lifetime gift anyone can receive. My own twenty-something children will find this book under the tree this Christmas.

5 Stars Great book!
We are currently using this book as a learning experience to deal with our clientele better. It’s been really helpful in stressful situations, especially when we have a client who is not willing to work with us in difficult situations.

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The Origin of Financial Crises Central Banks Credit Bubbles and the Efficient Market Fallacy Vintage

In a series of disarmingly simple arguments financial market analyst George Cooper challenges the core principles of today’s economic orthodoxy and explains how we have created an economy that is inherently unstable and crisis prone. With great skill, he examines the very foundations of today’s economic philosophy and adds a compelling analysis of the forces behind economic crisis. His goal is nothing less than preventing the seemingly endless procession of damaging boom-bust cycles, unsustainable economic bubbles, crippling credit crunches, and debilitating inflation. His direct, conscientious, and honest approach will captivate any reader and is an invaluable aid in understanding today’s economy.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Excellent and very detailed
I am not an economics major. Cooper explains the core concept of finance , central banking in such a way that even a layman can understand. His arguments are very convincing . A must read for everybody wondering what is going on with our economy

3 Stars well written but not convincing
This book is well written. It is very well organised and structured, engaging, easy to read, clear and interesting.

According to the author, one can hold one of 3 views:

1) one can think that the markets are efficient (auto-equilibrating) and believe the central banks are required (mainstream thinking). According to the author, this is logically untenable because if the markets are efficient, then logically one would not need a central bank to correct desequilibria as they would not occur.

2) one can think that the markets are efficient and therefore no central banks are required (Friedman). According ot the author this is more logical but empirically false as reality shows that markets are inefficient and severe crisis do occur on such a regular basis as to invalidate the theory of automatic auto-regulation of the markets

3) one can think that the markets are inefficient and that we needed an interventionist central bank. This is the point of the author. In one chapter, the author recommend a strategy of “monetary regulation” copied from Maxwell’s “governors” in physics: this is required precisely because (again according to the author) markets are as inherently instable as the Eurofighter plane is (the plane though is this way by willful design for manoeuvrability purpose and the instability is corrected electronically by a “governor”).

There can be little argument against discarding 1).

So the difficult part is deciding on between 2) and 3).

Let’s say we go along with the author and choose 3). Then we are facing with a nightmarish situation. You would need to have always a very competent (actually a genius) economist to direct the “governor” of the central bank. Although it needed not be perfect (and the author make it seem almost easy to design), most people can express doubt about this and the actual result. And then consider what happens when one day a president names his loyal (but incomptetent) friend (of course, this could never happen in the real world!) at the helm of the central bank and this friend is seated on the cockpit to pilot the “inherently unstable” eurofighter/economy! You guess it… we might not enjoy a soft landing but a terminal crash! Scary prospect. No wonder there is a market for gold, even nowadays.

Let’s now consider option 2). Like another reviewer I was stunned when the author discarded the option by merely writting (p. 55):

“It soon became apparent through repeated waves of financial crisis, that this new credit generation system was highly unstable. However it was equally apparent that this new system was also leading to dramatic economic expansion, wealth generation and improving living standards. Going backward to a world before depository banks and credit creation was not an option. The process of credit creation had opened up a whole new channel for economic growth and prosperity. Venture capital in the truest sense of the word was now possible. Equally the new banking system permitted channels by which risk could be pooled and shared; larger ventures became feasible.”

Wow! We are to take this at face value! Lots of details follow as to why the instability occurs but zero further explanation why the credit generation system is required and is the actual cause of the prosperity. It is supposedly “self-evident”. This is like my mathematical teacher would say: the weak point in an argument is always the line where someone writes the disputed “obviously formula xyz applies in all case” and then spend all the rest of the article explaining, at great length, the obvious. In this case, the author spend virtually the entire book trashing the efficient market hypothesis, and zero line defending the most contentious point!

Indeed, there is a growing number of very knowledgeable economist who do believe that the central bank is not necessary and that fractional reserve banking not only is the no 1 source of instability of the system, but should be abandonned.

Now let’s respond to the author point by point:

1) “venture capital in the truest sense of the word was now possible”. Hummm. It ALWAYS had been possible. People have always pooled their money and give it to an adventurer going to India or America; people have always pooled their money to give to the inventor to create a new machine. You don’t need a fractional reserve bank AT ALL to do this.

MOREOVER, without a fractional rerve banking system, you remove the main instability: if the endeavor/project fails, only the venture capitalist lose and they had themselves accepted the risk, no surprise. In a fractional reserve system, either the bank disappear (about 9,000 failed in the 30’s in the USA…) destroying hard-earned savings of people who never thought their money was used for risky endeavor, or, the central bank is used to save the bank (2008 situation) and its risk-takers (or plain gambling as it now the case with derivatives the extent of which I doubt not even 0.1% of the population is aware of) at the expense of the entire unwitting population.

2) “the new banking system permitted channels by which risk could be pooled and shared”: this is almost the dictionary definition of an insurance company! You don’t need any fractional banking system for this! Again, with an insurance company in a world of fractional banking system it only worsens: they are rendered more instable and can only be resuscitated by a central bank otherwise the entire economy will collapse (think AIG). In a non-fractional banking reserve system, only the insurance company collapse - it is isolated from the rest of the economy penalising only its imprudent shareholders and customers.

Fractional reserve banking leads to instability and require a central bank. I think everybody agrees on this.

THE controversial point is: can the author show us why we NEED the (inherently unstable) fractional reserve banking? Why?

I am quite open to contrary viewpoint and could even change my mind about the subject.

Indeed I’d be delighted (and without a doubt, many others would also be) to purchase and read a book from the author titled “Why we need a fractional reserve banking system and its ensuing economic instability that can then only be rendered rendered stable by a eurofighter style “governor” piloted by a agile central bank”.

It would especially be a delight reading that new book because I do enjoy the author’s clear and well organised writing style. And I would love to write a review of that new book on Amazon!

I’ll be patiently waiting…

5 Stars A sit-up-and-take-notice book on the economy
The recent financial crisis has produced a rash of books that all claim to provide some insight to our current dilemma. Cooper’s book The Origin of Financial Crises first appeared in April 2008 and reprinted in October as the extent of our current crisis became more apparent and more widely publicized.

The book provides a brief outline of the history of money and the banking system. This introduction shows readers how the various pieces of our modern economic system came into being, and the reasons that precipitated their creation. One conclusion is that moving away from the gold standard and having a central bank are essential for our economic system to function. Next, the book simply and easily dismantles the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). The arguments expose the theoretical flaws of EMH and the empirical evidence that suggests that financial markets do not behave as EMH would predict them to behave.

The book introduces the theories of Keynes and Minsky as alternatives to EMH and shows how these theories better fit the empirical evidence. The authors claim that nfortunately most contemporary institutions charged with stabilizing the economy adhere to EMH. This means that they hold conflicting views, and hence advocate inconsistent economic policies.

If the book’s goal is to promote refined versions of Keynes’ theories, then it does an excellent job. If its goal is to provide an alternative explanation to neoclassical economics, then other “heterodox” theorist need to be considered as well (such as those proposed by Mises or Hayek). To the book’s credit, it does cite Ron Paul, and gives credit to Mandelbrot and Fischer. Despite these shortcomings, this book offers the most coherent and down-to-earth skewering of both academic orthodoxy and central bank policy of the books discussing the current financial crisis.

The writing style is crisp, the arguments are cogent and well-reasoned, and the examples are clearly and thoughtfully presented for readers with no formal economic background. Despite my criticisms, it is superior to most books about the current financial crisis on the market today.

Armchair Interviews says: Important read for people in business or who just want to better understand the economy.

4 Stars Well-written critique, but affirmative points less convincing
There’s a lot to like in this book. George Cooper (GC) provides one of the most lucid and concise descriptions of the role of central banking you’re ever likely to encounter. He carefully distinguishes among the philosophies of different central bankers, such as between the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. His critique of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (or “fallacy”, as he prefers to call it) is trenchant and clear, as is his analysis of why the “fundamentals” of a stock aren’t fundamental. He highlights the heterodox theories of Mandelbrot and Minsky, which are closer to the truth than the orthodox ones Ben Bernanke used to teach at Princeton. And he writes with a wry sense of humor, including a nice one-liner about boom-bust cycles that I’m surprised other reviewers haven’t mentioned: “The invisible hand is playing racquetball” (@105).

That said, this book won’t give you the whole story in understanding the current financial crisis. For one thing, GC never mentions credit default swaps or other derivatives, which in the aggregate dwarf the “real” economy. Even when GC describes why balance sheets are misleading, he doesn’t mention any off-balance sheet instruments, of which derivatives are one category.

For another, GC tends to be overly accepting of microeconomics, and even of the diligence of lenders. For example, he says, in a kind of defense of bond ratings analysts, “When ratings analysts are assessing the quality of a loan, … or the mortgage broker is assessing the safety of a mortgage, they evaluate each loan against the prevailing market prices for the loan’s corresponding assets. In this procedure the tacit assumption is that the asset in question can be sold to repay the loan. At the micro level this is always a reasonable assumption” (@115). GC’s point is that there is a “fallacy of composition” in reasoning from the micro scale to the macro — the macro-level reality is not simply the sum all the micro transactions. OK. But why is the assumption he mentions *always* reasonable at the micro level? And why doesn’t GC mention that in the current financial crisis, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers et al. did NOT follow the careful procedures he describes? (to say nothing of explaining *why* they didn’t). The recent books by George Soros, Charles Morris and especially the fantastic “Structured Finance and Collateralized Debt Obligations” (2nd. ed. 2008) by Janet Tavakoli will tell you much more about this aspect of the story.

GC rightly points out that many economists’ arguments operate on the principle of “proof by assertion” (@6), but he doesn’t entirely avoid this trap himself. For example, GC’s simplified descriptions of the history of finance are mostly based on “toy model” analogies, such as bakers and farmers selling their wares in a town square (Chapter 3). This picture isn’t entirely historically accurate; e.g., when he asserts that central banking was necessary for the development of venture capital “in the truest sense of the word,” whatever that means (@55), he overlooks the venture investments of the Medici during the medieval period, as well as many forms of Islamic financial transactions. None of those investment structures relied on central banks. This gave me the feeling that other aspects of his explanation might be a bit too pat, as well, especially when he says that some particular institution or practice led to or enabled another.

As he shifts his argument to a more constructive point of view, GC invokes an ingenious analogy (Chapter 6) to 19th-Century physicist James Clerk Maxwell’s mathematical theory of mechanical “governors” (gizmos that kept machines from spinning out of control; Maxwell’s original paper is reproduced as an appendix). Ingenious, but problematic. Most of standard neoclassical economic theory is based on ingenious analogies to physics, too (see especially P. Mirowski’s 1989 book, “More Heat Than Light”). Some of those analogies, such as to “equilibrium” in supply and demand for consumer goods, sound at first blush as plausible as GC’s analogy to Maxwell: ask any mainstream economist. But that plausibility doesn’t mean that any of the theories are right — and indeed, in the neoclassical case, the theory is wrong. GC doesn’t use any empirical data stronger than anecdotal evidence to show that his Maxwell analogy is apt to the real world. Nor does he provide evidence that the policy recommendations he deduces from that analogy are feasible.

GC’s failure to enagage with the derivatives issue is pertinent in this context too. One of GC’s main constructive ideas is that central bankers should “prick” asset price bubbles as soon as they can identify that they’ve begun. (BTW, GC uses the word “asset” not as you might have learned if you took an accounting class, but in the finance pro’s narrow sense of referring to stocks, bonds and other financial instruments.) If this sends the economy into small cycles of good times and tougher times, so be it — in GC’s view, that’s better than the long ride up and crashing ride down we’ve experienced so often under Greenspan and his successor. However, GC says *the* key macroeconomic variable for identifying bubbles is the rate of credit creation (@125). Many derivatives contracts, like the ones that made trouble for A.I.G. in autumn 2008, are a form of credit creation — just like bets placed with a bookie, any form of gambling creates debts. But derivatives are notoriously non-transparent: it’s hard to know how many of these contracts are out there at any time. In that case, the visible data (mainly loans, bonds, etc.) might understate the amount of credit in the economy and also understate the rate of credit creation. So how’s a central banker supposed to know the right time to prick? Since GC doesn’t show how this approach has worked in the past, it’s a matter of faith as to whether it might in the future.

This is a clear, witty book from which you can learn a lot. And some of GC’s recommendations aren’t so controversial, such as his suggestion for using a different form of statistical analysis (e.g.,

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