Taking Stock of the U.S. Chamber

As the holidays rapidly approach and I start looking ahead to the New Year, something that I am really excited about is my new found relationship with the United States Chamber of Commerce. Last May, I was invited to attend their 2009 Business Civic Leadership Center’s (BCLC) Annual Conference in Chicago. That’s where I witnessed firsthand, what can happen, when dedicated and committed professionals from the public and private sectors come together and work as one. While the wheels were spinning off the bus on the U.S. and world economy, the BCLC was already rolling out a program called “Together for Recovery.” Its focus was helping businesses, individuals and communities do more than just survive, but actually fight back and prosper, as opposed to becoming victims of their circumstances. Since attending this event, I have been drinking U.S. Chamber and BCLC Kool-Aid by the case.

The conference moves to Houston, TX for 2010 and I am honored to have been asked to be a member of the Working Group that is planning it. This National Conference on Corporate Community Investment is a “must attend” for leaders of their communities: business leaders, chamber executives, bankers, investors, elected officials, non-profits, educators. Any stakeholder in a leadership role in his or her community should plan to be in Houston, May 12-14, 2010. This year’s theme will be: PROVIDE and PROSPER: Corporate Citizenship and Competiveness in the 21st Century.

As unprecedented challenges and opportunities continue to reshape how our businesses compete and our communities live, The Chamber, the BCLC and its members continue to pioneer innovative, sustainable solutions to these real-world challenges. At the 2010 BCLC National Conference on Corporate Community Investment, you'll meet and interact with the nation's top corporate, government and non-profit thought leaders as they address solutions to America's most vexing competitive challenges: “Energy and the Environment,” “Health and Wellness,” and the one that’s nearest and dearest to my heart, “Job Creation.”

Before I close, I’d like to sincerely thank Stephen Jordan and Katie Loovis at the BCLC and U.S. Chamber, for so generously featuring RetroTax and me in their year-end report and video, Together for Recovery: “Business is Part of the Solution.” This is a compilation of stories about how the business community is helping individuals, non profits, communities, and small businesses weather the ongoing economic storm.

Link to report: http://www.uschamber.com/bclc/together_retrotax.htm

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/civicleadership#p/u/0/ANliWoKks50

Finally, let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas, or your appropriately “PC” Happy Holiday Greeting of choice.

Let's Hear it for the House

While Congress remains polarized regarding health care, last week the House managed to pass HR 4213, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009. This will extend the life of certain expiring tax provisions that were set to sunset on 12/31/09. Included in this bill are the EZ/RC credits that are our life’s blood. This bill now passes from the House Ways and Means Committee, to the Senate Finance Committee for further disposition. In plain English, that means “business as usual” for RetroTax. The Senate Finance Committee will now have until 12/31/10 take this up and get it to the full Senate for a vote, keeping the credits and incentives that we administer alive, until the Way and Means Committee gets around to the business of HR 1677 and the Senate to S1222. When passed, these bills will expand the value proposition of the services that we provide for our clients and extend the legislation to the end of 2016.

Atlanta Business Radio Franchising Special

I'd like to express my thanks and appreciation to Amy Otto and Lee Kantor, hosts of Atlanta Business Radio, for inviting Jim Squire and me, to co-host a one hour broadcast, dedicated completely to franchising. These invitations were extended to us, because Jim and I each chair one of Atlanta's two franchise membership forums. Jim, The Southeast Franchise Forum and yours truly, The Atlanta Franchise Alliance. The two of us then, invited an outstanding line up of guests, to talk about the state of franchising in this challenging economic and political climate. We were joined first by David French, VP of Government Relations at the International Franchise Association, followed by Geoff Seiber, CEO of FranFund, Ron Feldman, CEO of Siegel Financial Group (and RetroTax franchisee) and Michelle Belinfante of The Leasing and Management Group.

The link that follows, will take you to more about the program and to yet another link, that will

enable you to stream the program's audio. http://atlantabusinessradio.libsyn.com/

To all of those that I will not see or speak with in the next few weeks, I wish you and your families a very safe and Happy Holiday season.