Government, Politics and the Economy
Democatic Senators: Climate-Change Legislation Should Be Dropped This Year
Four Democratic senators as calling for the Senate to abandon efforts to pass legislation curbing greenhouse-gas emissions this year and concentrate on a narrower bill to require use of renewable energy. Bloomberg.com
Management and Operations
10 Things Not to Say to Customers
There are great things to say to a customer, and then there are things that will drive that same customer into the arms of the competition. Here are the top 10 things not to say to a customer and what you and your people should say instead....
By Charles M Cooper · August 14 2009
small business brief, marketing, small business, economy
NASA has its ways of doing things, and when it comes to rocket construction, they go back to the lessons of rocket pioneer Werner Von Braun, who brought the rocket expertise he used to help Germany during World War II over to the United States and helped us reach the Moon. Von Braun felt that the best way to do things was to manufacture the rocket on-site, where the engineers lived and worked, thus controlling both costs and production for as long as possible. The problem is that in this time of record public debt and shocking deficits, where every dollar has both an economic and a political value attached to it, money for innovation and execution can be hard to come by, and NASA, well, they are the innovation people and the thinking in Washington is that maybe they ought to concentrate on what they do best. According to BusinessWeek:
The agency looks headed for a course correction. The White House has set up a blue-ribbon commission to help decide the future direction of man...
By Charles M Cooper · July 23 2009
small business, nasa, spacex, commercial space flight
Government and Economy
SBA Applauds Treasury Action to Bolster Secondary Market for Small Business Loans
A plan by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to improve market conditions for asset-backed securities – including those composed of SBA-backed small business loans – should be welcome news to credit-hungry small businesses across the country, said U.S. Small Business Administration Acting Administrator Sandy K. Baruah.
Holiday Sales Season: One of the Weakest in Years Increased retail shopping over Thanksgiving will not be enough to keep this from going on record as one of the weakest sales seasons in recent years.
By Charles M Cooper · December 02 2008
small business brief, small business, economy, Advertising
The coming years are going to be a real boon in the amount of space-related work that small businesses can take on. Small business is already working with NASA and other major Aerospace and harsh environment companies on the new Constellation Program, which will put man back on the Moon by 2020 and then, later, on Mars, but there are other opportunities to get in on the action if you know where to look. As technology develops, the chances for small business to reach for the stars will be greater and greater.
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By Charles M Cooper · August 19 2008
small business, space, nasa, ion
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You might not have heard the news, but America is going back to the Moon. It will take a little time, the plan is to land on the Moon by 2020, but the preparation is well underway and we are not just talking about the giants in aerospace—Lockheed Martin and Boeing—having all the fun. Small business is playing its part as well in one of the most important aspects of the mission—the spacesuits.
The Constellation Program
Like the heady days of the Apollo Program, the vehicles in the Constellation Program will be composed of a conical command module, referred to as the O...
By Charles M Cooper · August 06 2008
small business, space, orion, constellation
