It is another beautiful day in Asheville, so be sure to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.
Buncombe County Presser – Today at 4:00pm, Buncombe County officials are holding a presser to discuss the County’s lockdown law, which is presently set to expire tomorrow at 6:00am.
PPP Update – Stay Patient – It appears that initial reports are not encouraging as the SBA continues to struggle and Wall Street continues to maximize its profits. Focus your energies on what you can do for yourself and your business. If you have submitted all your applications and paperwork, keep your phone with you at all times and go about your business.
One Buncombe Fund – Buncombe County allocated $200,000 to the One Buncombe Fund from the County’s General Fund. The fund claims to have received more than $717,000 in donations so far. For information and initial applicant certification go to the One Buncombe Fund page at Mountain BizWorks. No word yet on when loan distributions will take place.
All For One and One For All – If, as expected, Buncombe County officials extend the lockdown businesses and citizens have been suffering under the last several weeks, then the County needs to also start laying off employees and cutting salaries. With so many agencies and services either closed or reduced, there must be many County employees with a reduced a work load. Accordingly, there should be reductions in employees. Regarding the reduction of salaries, it is easy for County officials to make decisions impacting hundreds of thousands of people and businesses when you do not suffer the full impact of your decisions and continue to paid as though the County is fully running and operational. County expenses are paid by businesses and citizens and, even if you are forced by threat of criminal prosecution not to operate your business, you will still be required to fund those expenses (maybe not now but certainly in the future). Thus all I am stating is that, like any business, if revenue is reduced, then costs need to be reduced.
Essential v. Non-Essential – It is self evident that the goods and services one person decides are essential will not be considered by all to be essential. That axiom also applies to non-essential goods and services. Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper, has a discussion about the distinction between essential and non-essential. An interesting fork to the discussion is how the essentiality of a good or service may change as the lockdown continues into the future.
Interview With President Trump – I am not a fan of Hannity’s show and really can not bear to listen or watch his radio or TV show. That said, however, when the President is on his show, Hannity is not as annoying and he lets the President say what he has to say. Also, as a general rule, I like to accumulate data from the source. Accordingly, if you want to hear the President from last night (4/7/20), you can mute it when Hannity speaks.
The Pete Kaliner Show – One (of the many) reasons I do not like Hannity’s radio show is that it replaced Pete Kaliner’s Show during the afternoon slot from 3 to 6. While I did not agree with all he had to say, I did enjoy his show presentation and preparation. Since the removal of Pete from the radio, I had intended to find out what happened and where he went, but unfortunately never did. The above post caused me to find Pete and discovered that he is still in Asheville and has a daily podcast called The Pete Kaliner Show. I have not listened yet, but plan to today and will let you know if his podcast is worthwhile.