Open for Business Saturday Jan. 29

Since this is the week of "State of" speeches I thought it's about time I made one. So in addition to the State of the City, State of the Union, and the State of the State speeches, I will be doing the "State of American Business" address.

I will be covering the national debt, balance of trade, national debt and deficits along with predictions of where I think the business community is headed in 2011.

In the movie, "Wall Street" Gordon Gekko is speaking to some shareholders of a company he plans on taking over and he used the often quoted phrase, "Greed is good. Greed works." As a student of business I could not agree more. I'm not talking about being greedy when it comes to making money but about making a system work that benefits everyone. In most cases that's what business does. As I have said on the show many times, "Capitalism only works when you help someone."

There are no guarantees. Circuit City, Montgomery Ward, Linens & Things, Mervyn's have all gone out of business. Just because a company is large does not mean it's too big to fail. All markets are customer driven and if your business doesn't deliver reliable products at competitive prices your days are numbered.

Looking to the future has a lot of companies concerned about a host of unknown issues. Healthcare, taxes, regulations, value of the dollar, and competition just to name a few. Local, national and international. If it has anything to do with business or your paycheck I'll talk about it.

See you on Saturday.