“This legislation will provide retailers with an important source of capital to finance their operations and keep employees on the payroll,” NRF Vice President and Tax Counsel Rachelle Bernstein said. “Because retail sales have fallen so dramatically over the past year and access to capital has been so limited, retailers are experiencing severe challenges in finding the cash they need to operate their businesses as the economy moves toward recovery.”

“Today’s vote comes at a crucial time because most retailers see between a quarter and half of their annual sales during the final quarter of the year as consumers buy gifts for the holidays,” Bernstein said. “If retailers can’t find a way finance inventories for the 2009 holiday season, many could be forced to close stores, lay off workers or even go out of business. This will help keep that from happening.”

The House voted 403-12 today to approve Senate amendments to H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009, and sent the measure to President Obama for his signature. The bill extends unemployment insurance benefits but also includes a provision added in the Senate that will expand businesses’ ability to “carry back” net operating losses suffered during the current recession in order to claim a refund from taxes paid in previous years.

Existing law allows companies to carry back a loss for up to two years. Economic stimulus legislation enacted in February expanded the period to five years for companies with up to $15 million in annual gross receipts, but larger businesses were still restricted to two years. The provision included in the unemployment bill will expand the five-year period to include all businesses that suffer a loss regardless of size, and will give companies the choice of using the carryback for losses from either 2008 or 2009 rather than just 2008 as provided in the stimulus bill. In the fifth year, the carryback will be limited to 50 percent of a company’s taxable income for that year, but any loss not utilized can be “carried forward.” Small companies that took a five-year carryback under the stimulus bill will be able to carry back 2009 losses as well. The proposal is estimated to provide $10.4 billion in tax relief over 10 years.

The provision was added to the bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., but was based on legislation sponsored in the Senate by Baucus and fellow Finance Committee member Senator Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and in the House by Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Ranking Member Patrick Tiberi, R-Ohio.

“The sponsors of these bills have been telling their fellow members of Congress for months that this is about saving and creating jobs, and if it wasn’t enacted soon more jobs would be lost,” Bernstein said. “That message has been heard, and the work that has been done is going to help tens of thousands of retail workers keep their jobs at a time when jobs are hard to find.”

Reprinted from our sister blog at www.reversemergerblog.com:

I just arrived in China for my third visit this year. I remain a strong believer in the enormous opportunity for successful, growing Chinese companies to access capital and seek a path to liquidity with a trading stock in the US. Obviously I’m not the only one. Most reverse merger players have either been to China or set up shop there. Some go nearly every month. To show how things have changed, the second edition of my book, coming out in December (you can pre-order on Amazon now- hint hint), has a full chapter on China, whereas the first edition from 2006 only described it somewhat briefly as a relatively new but growing trend.

This trip I am making several speeches and visiting with clients and other contacts. It is definitely worth the grueling trip. I have met some talented, dedicated, goal-oriented entrepreneurs and dealmakers who are truly incredible and I enjoy working and cooperating with them. And the friendships developed are a very nice secondary benefit. It is an amazing and unique place.

I am also hearing some serious talk about other countries beginning to push deals to go public in the US, and I expect that in the coming months we will all see that begin to develop. The world gets smaller and smaller. See you when I’m back - I’ll try to write from there but have a crazy busy schedule! Later guys.

The nation’s unemployment rate may have hit a 26-year high in September but many small businessowners are getting ready to hire.  The latest Intuit Payroll survey found that nearly half of the small business owners surveyed, 44 percent, are planning to hire new employees within the next 12 months. At the same time, many small business owners believe that benefits are key to attracting new hires but are finding them difficult to afford.

“Economists may have declared the recession over, but on Main Street, unemployment figures are what really matter,” said Nora Denzel, senior vice president of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions Division, which helps more than 1 million small businesses easily and affordably manage their payroll. “There are struggles ahead, nobody is uncorking the champagne bottle quite yet, but we are starting to see small signs of optimism.”

These 12-month hiring plans coincide with a somewhat optimistic view of their own prospects for growth. Sixty percent expect their business to grow in the next year. Newer businesses are the most bullish: 80 percent of companies founded less than three years ago expect to grow over the next year, compared to roughly half that have been in operation for 10 years or more.

When it comes to hiring, small business owners are looking for candidates with a broader skill set. Fifty percent of the small business respondents said they were looking for a “people person” or “jack of all trades,” over a “creative genius” (11 percent) or “mathematical wizard” (4 percent).

Benefits Key to Attracting Talent

While small business owners get ready to hire, many of them are in a quandary when it comes to attracting talent. Nearly 90 percent of survey participants said that health insurance benefits are important to attracting and retaining good employees. Yet 58 percent don’t offer healthcare insurance, with nearly 50 percent stating that they can’t afford it.

Employer-provided retirement plans are even scarcer. Among the businesses surveyed just one-fourth offer retirement benefits. Of those who don’t, nearly two-thirds said they don’t have a responsibility to do so while the remainder said that they can’t find an affordable plan.

“There’s a widening gap of expectations,” said Denzel. “On one hand, we as a society assume that health and retirement benefits are part of every employee’s compensation package. And yet even as these small businesses gear up to hire, according to our results, small businesses are leery about what those benefits will cost.”

Additional Findings

The survey also found that:

• Friends and family matter. Seventy-nine percent of small business owners surveyed have hired a friend or family member and only 22 percent said that this was a bad decision. The reason may have to do with trust, which was cited as one of the two biggest hiring challenges, along with finding employees with the right experience.
• Long-term relationships are important. Forty-four percent of the small business owner respondents reported that their first employee still works for them.
• Stimulus funds not a factor. Consistent with the previous Intuit Payroll Survey conducted three months ago, only 1 percent of respondents reported receiving federal stimulus money. Yet 74 percent admit that they are probably not taking advantage of all the benefits available to their business under the federal economic stimulus plan.

How many emails with this as the subject line have you gotten lately? I seem to be getting about two a day. Everyone is moving around. In a good number of cases it is people who were laid off finally finding new employment. This is a good sign even while the unemployment numbers remain high.

In other cases it is folks who aren’t doing much at their current job and they see the writing on the wall and look for something better, or at least different. Another category are folks that were on their own for a long time and suddenly join or rejoin a larger business. That is either because things were so great they needed more support, or more commonly so horrible they had no choice but to “find a job.”

This is no more true than in the world I live on dominated by PIPEs, reverse mergers and other alternatives to traditional IPOs. Lawyers, hedge fund guys, investment bankers and on moving around like crazy. This shifting of the deck chairs has some interesting consequences, and it has seemed to strengthen those able to hire and put at great risk those that don’t.

For me? I did recently rename my firm and expand its capabilities after a separation with several partners whose successful business created a number of potential conflicts with mine. But I’m still here in the firm I founded in 1996 and business is definitely picking up. What will the future bring? As always I have not the answer. To those moving, congrats and good luck! Sometimes change is good. Hopefully most of the time..

That’s what health care costs represent. Early in the debate about the dramatic changes being considered, Pres. Obama changed the title from “health care reform” to “health insurance reform.” I guess he didn’t want to suggest that doctors weren’t properly caring for their patients, and thought by villifying the insurance companies America would get behind him.

This has not really happened. Mostly because people cannot support something they just don’t understand. Multiple bills are flying all aroud. The latest one from Sen. Reid, which he hopes to pass including the so-called “public option,” is not even available until the Congressional Budget Office tells us what the cost will be, after which the Senate leaders probably will say the CBO was wrong. Forget that during the Bush Administration they constantly relied on the CBO to bash the then President’s plans.

I don’t know how I feel about all this. But I do know I’d like to have some time to have smart people outside of politics look at the proposed bill and tell us objectively what it contains, and, more importantly, what the implications are of what it contains. Insuring uninsured children is a good idea. Getting coverage regardless of your history is a good idea. Penalties if you refuse to buy health insurance? Not so sure. Obama says, well, we require everyone to have auto insurance, why not this? My response: you can choose not to have a car. And I am very, very concerned about the cost. I am also very, very concerned about the slippery slope it might put us on to full on socialized medicine, which in the past Obama says he supports (the so-called “single payor system”).

But I can’t really say anything until we see the whole enchilada. What do you think?

The economy is not only impacting shoppers, it’s affecting online retailers, too. According to results of Shop.org’s eHoliday Study shoppers will see changes in retail marketing and promotions this holiday season in response to economic uncertainty.

With an understanding that many of today’s shoppers use Facebook and Twitter regularly, and because these tools are more cost-effective than traditional advertising, 47.1 percent of retailers surveyed will be increasing their use of social media this holiday season. More than half of retailers said they have added or improved their Facebook page (60.3%) and Twitter pages (58.7%) this year, while two-thirds (65.6%) have added or enhanced blogs and RSS feeds. In addition, to provide consumers with an extra incentive to start shopping, one-third of retailers (34.3%) say they will offer holiday deals earlier this year.

As another sign of the times, free shipping offers will abound this holiday season. Four out of five online retailers (79.4%) will offer free shipping with conditions at some point during the holiday season, while more than half (57.4%) also plan to offer free shipping without conditions. More than one-third (35.7%) said their budgets for free shipping are higher than last year, and nearly as many (30.0%) said free shipping offers will start earlier than a year ago.

“Retailers know that times are tough so they have created promotions and incentives to help Americans save money this holiday season,” said Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org. “From free shipping to Facebook, online retailers are combining new initiatives with tried-and-true tactics to make their companies stand out.”

Online retailers are also compensating for the economy by making operational changes to help them protect their profits. According to the survey, 41.4 percent of retailers have scaled back on inventory levels and 22.9 percent have hired fewer people in their stores.

While online growth is expected to slow this holiday season, it remains a bright spot in retail. According to the survey, 45.8 percent of online retailers expect their holiday sales to increase at least 15 percent over last year, while one-third (33.9%) expect sales to grow up to 14 percent. As a testament to the economy and the maturity of online retail, just one in five online retailers (20.3%) expects sales to be flat or decline.

In addition to a strong focus on sales and free shipping, many online retailers have revamped their websites this holiday season to make it easier for people to shop. According to the survey, many retailers have added or revamped their sites’ shopping cart (45.2%), search capabilities (44.3%), suggested items (42.9%), customer ratings and reviews (40.6%), and featured sale pages (37.1%).

Largely due to the convenience of the web, more than one-fourth of online shoppers (26.7%) said they plan to spend a larger portion of their holiday budget online this year. Reasons behind why people will spend more online range from the ability to shop at all hours of the day (41.9%) to shoppers feeling it is easier to compare prices (34.0%) to Americans’ insatiable appetite for free shipping (33.1%). Others said they will spend more online because it’s simply more convenient for them (32.4%), they don’t want to fight crowds in stores (24.9%) or because it’s easier to find items (16.7%).

The small percentage of people (5.7%) who plan to spend less of their holiday budget online said that they’ll pull back due to expensive shipping charges (22.8%), because they like to see or handle items before they buy (12.5%) or because they prefer a store experience (10.8%). A fraction of shoppers said they hesitated to shop online due to concerns about security (1.1%), credit card theft (0.6%), privacy (0.1%) or concerns about retailers tracking online activity (0.1%).

“In a year where every penny counts, many people will start their holiday shopping online to find deals, search customer reviews to select products, and get gift ideas,” said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. “The benefits of online shopping far outweigh the drawbacks, as far as most shoppers are concerned.”

With online retailers diversifying payment options, customers have more ways than ever to pay for holiday gifts. According to the survey, two-thirds of shoppers (67.3%) will use a credit card for some online purchases this holiday season, though one-third will also use a debit card (35.6%) and PayPal (33.9%) for purchases. In addition, 11.5 percent of shoppers plan to use a gift card or gift certificate to pay for holiday items online this year.

Anyone who has a communication device in the US now knows about Richard and Mayumi Heene, who claimed that their 6-year old son had accidentally climbed into a makeshift balloon that Richard had built and it was floating away out of control and they don’t know what to do. The kid hid in a box in the garage attic, which was why they claimed they thought he had left. So of course when the balloon finally landed and first responders assiduously ripped the thing apart, there was no kid. For 90 minutes a helicopter followed the balloon by video, and the whole country stopped what they were doing (including at the New York Stock Exchange!) and watched in the hope that disaster would not befall the youngster.

So a few days ago Mayumi admitted it was all a hoax after the kid said on a TV interview that “we did it for a show.” She said they did it to make themselves more marketable for reality TV shows. They had already been on the TV show “Wife Swap” several times. I’ve heard they pay about $30,000 each time a family is on there. Do it enough and you can make a living at it!

So what are the economic issues surrounding this? First, the desperation that leads a family in these tough times to pull such a crazy stunt. Second, the instantaneous nature of the ability to deliver breaking news is indeed both extraordinary and risky. In the old days we would not have heard anything about this until it was over. Not sure if that is good or bad. Third is the dramatic growth in our TV world of these reality shows. They are very inexpensive to make, and it seems that, especially now, the only thing that makes us feel good is seeing people even worse off than we are, or some sort of romantic happy ending to feel good about. There remain a number of quality network TV shows, but it’s gone down for sure. This morning I watched an old rerun of the classic “Hogan’s Heroes.” I’d rather watch that all day than the balloon family anytime.

Website Above the Law reported that a partner at law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges chided a young associate by emailing the whole firm that associates should be checking their Blackberries once an hour unless they are sleeping or in a tunnel. Apparently the unfortunate new lawyer didn’t see an email from the partner just before he left the office asking him to stay to take care of a project.

When I started law practice way back in the 1980s, there was no Internet, no email, and the fax was this very new machine. I had a PC at home but it wasn’t hooked up to anything. Don’t get me started on how much of a pain it was just to get a distribution of drafts of documents out to a team of lawyers on a transaction which can now be done with one click of a mouse. When we left the office, we left. Of course the phone was there at home, but we all had answering machines, and I know a number of my colleagues would simply screen calls so that a call from the firm could be ignored while the associates claim to be out or unavailable.

Nowadays, getting deals done is more about brainpower than manpower, which helps make a boutique firm like mine much more competitive with the big boys. But with instantaneous communication of course comes cost. I recently turned off the vibration on my Blackberry that went off when each email came through. I check it often, but I will check it when I check it. Unfortunately young associates in law firms don’t have that luxury. Our 24/7 world gives us many conveniences, but that old idea of private time or small escapes is pretty much gone.

Pres. Obama is in New York right now for a couple of fundraisers. Last night in front of an audience that included some folks in the world of finance, he chided them to join him in his effort to implement financial industry reform rather than fight his efforts to do so, as many have been doing.

Ever since the first bailouts of Wall Street firms with billions of dollars in loans, the world of finance has been in the sights of the Obama administration. The alleged greed of these folks is a big part of what caused all the problems we are now facing, in particular with regard to predatory lending practices convincing people to buy houses with mortgages they could not afford whose interest rates reset to much higher levels. Ignore that it all started with the Clinton administration’s effort to dramatically lower the lending standards at Fannie and Freddie back in 1998, and that the Bush administration continued to support and fan this. It’s just this idea that everyone should have a home went a little too far.

But yes, some people took advantage. Yes some lenders were predatory. But does this mean that the head of Goldman Sachs shouldn’t have a nice pay package? It’s a bit of a stretch I think. There is, of course, a much broader question of executive compensation in general in the US, which is dramatically higher, as a percentage of profit, than in just about any other country.

But the market forces are what they are. It takes what it takes to get great talent to join a company at a senior level. Would it be better if execs took a hit when things are bad more than they usually do? Probably. But how to fix that? The good old democratic way. If shareholders think a board is not exercising proper judgment in pay packages, it can simply throw the board out. Is that not easy? It’s not. But it can be done.

Why just pick Wall Street? Aren’t there a bunch of bad people in a lot of industries (real estate, construction, entertainment just to name a few)? But don’t those same industries have lots of good people? For most people business is about making money, and that is the core of our capitalist system. Let’s hope the regulators don’t tweak it too much.

A new survey of the wealthiest 10% of US households by the American Affluence Research Center shows the affluent have a negative opinion of current business conditions, but have a positive 12 month outlook for improvements in business conditions and the stock market.

In the near term, the affluent have concerns regarding their personal household income. This is contributing to weakness in their plans for December holiday gift purchases, which they estimate will average about $2,400 or a 5% decline from what they spent in 2008. As an extension of this, spending plans over the next 12 months for 8 major items and 17 different categories of products and services continue to be soft though somewhat stronger than in the spring 2009 survey.

There are expected near term reductions in expenses such as purchases of primary residences, vacation homes, cruises, and motor vehicles. Also major home appliances, vacation travel, and designer apparel are expected to experience declines. The surveys also track changing investment objectives as the stock market rises and falls.

Conducted twice annually, the American Affluence Research Center survey provides insights into the concepts of the “new normal”, “stealth wealth”, and “luxury shame” that are contrary to the anecdotal examples appearing in recent media coverage of the luxury market.

Most affluent expect to return to pre-recession levels of spending once they are convinced the recession is over and they see a recovery in their net worth, which has been hit by declines in the value of their savings and their home. They do not expect to see the end of the recession, with real improvements in the rate of unemployment and the value of their savings and their homes, for about 18 to 24 months and possibly in to early 2012.