Business, Law and Finance

Not since the great Depression have Americans felt such a economic pinch For the first time President Bush said that the the economy is in a “recession.”  In reality, it is undeniably in a deep recession.  A staggering 533,000 lost jobs in November alone.  CNN reports that is the fastest job loss rate in 34 years.  Experts predict that December could be worse and even more deep job losses will continue through the first half of 2009.   “The economy is now deteriorating with frightening speed...Read Full Story

Democrats have a mandate yet some have expressed concern that a Democratic majority in the House, and possibly a filibuster-proof Senate, may lead Democrats to pursue “left-leaning” legislation rather than following a more centrist approach.  Republicans often used House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as lightening rods to instill fear in voters that a Democratic majority will “socialize” the country.   Will Democrats make the same mistakes that Republicans did...Read Full Story

A lot has been written in the legal literature in the last few years about the tremendous decline in the percentage of civil cases that go to trial. While most cases have always been resolved by settlement or by motion, the number of cases remaining for trial has in recent years appeared headed for the vanishing point. From the profession's point of view, this phenomenon raises concerns about whether trial lawyers are receiving adequate training (or whether they even deserve to be called...Read Full Story

An unruly crowd at a Wal-Mart moments before opening  At around 5:00 a.m. this morning, Newsday reports that a temporary worker died when he tried to hold back crowds who broke through the doors of a Wal-Mart and trampled him to death.  The unruly mob refused to leave even when visibly upset workers asked them to exit.  About 2,000 people began pushing from the back of the line which resulted in the doors coming off their hinges. When the doors came off, the Wal-Mart employee was trampled...Read Full Story

We all heard a lot about the value of small businesses during the last election.  The National Association for the Self-Employed has some statistics that certainly appear to indicate that small business is indeed a huge part of the economy.   In 2000, 4.18 million people worked from home, up from 3.41 million in 1990. That’s a 22.8 percent increase. Home-based businesses represent 53 percent of all small businesses and provide 10 percent of the total receipts of the economy. Home-based...Read Full Story