To our friends and clients -

· We again show our age. David Carradine’s recent untimely death made us flash back to the early 70’s Kung Fu series. Here is some useless trivia for you…According to Bruce Lee’s wife, Linda Lee, the concept of the Kung Fu series was conceived by Bruce, and met with the producers for countless hours to shape the show. But the producers did not offer the role to Bruce Lee since they did not feel that the American audience (at that time) would accept a Chinese actor as a lead, therefore looked for a Caucasian actor to fill the role.

· Soak the rich: Maryland’s rate increase on filers who make more than a $1,000,000 - decreased the number of filers by 33% - and resulted in $100mm less than expected - no doubt some were victims of the recession - but many simply moved. As Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

· A local Austin, Texas lot developer passed along the following regarding local RE prices, currently Austin has an 18-20 month supply of Lot inventory assuming the current depressed 6500 unit per year sales number. Right now there are ZERO new subdivisions going up and the National Homebuilders will not even return phone calls. His prediction: with inventory low, nobody having the “balls” to start new subdivisions combined with the fact that land prices have not come down and job growth in Austin is good - new home starts will be back to the 12000 level in 18 months or so and new home prices will increase significantly as lot prices skyrocket.

· Twitter as of April: 32 million users, 45 employees, no real revenue or real plan for revenue, financed by $55 million in equity and expected to sell for no less than $1 Billion - simply amazing times we live in.

· Rule of Law for Lenders: Chrysler’s bankruptcy and President Obama have now shown the lending community that we may or may not be secured - and while it may have saved some jobs the Unionized workers that help elect him, what about all those jobs that will be lost because we have now trampled on the sanctity of contracts? We thought the Supreme Court was going to mess up this blurb by hearing the case, we were unfortunately wrong.

· In a world of texting, twitter and e-mail, hand written letters are about to become extinct. Do you want to make an impression or standout to your next client? Send a hand written “THANK YOU”. You might be surprised.

· Anyone interested in moving to Detroit? We read that in the city of Detroit, the median sales price of a home in May was $50,000, down 44.3% from May 2008.

· Are you obsessed with your financials? If not…you should be! We see too many businesses that put this aspect of their business on the back burner or worse, delegate it to someone without a vested interest. It only becomes a priority when something goes wrong. A good goal: have all your financials done by the 10th of each month.

· Tidbits:

· In June, we were in Argentina, a lovely country for sure with plentiful resources, what always stands out to us whenever we are lucky enough to get to travel outside of the US, is the tremendous amount of entrepreneurial opportunity we have in this country. The system of government we have is not perfect but go look around; this is still the greatest place on earth to create wealth. Our country tries real hard to do the right thing. We were also in Arkansas and Montana, other beautiful foreign countries.

· Positive Signs of Recovery:

Don Stricklin | 512-525-1490 | don@farwestcap.com

far-west-capital-more-information.pdf

To our friends and clients -

· 1970’s icon - Farrah Fawcett is not doing very well as she battles the final stages of cancer. For those old enough to remember “the poster”, it sold 12 million copies! What you might not know is the photo was shot by the pool of her Bel Air, California home she was sharing at the time with Lee Majors, TV’s “The Six Million Dollar Man.” She did her own hair for the shoot. The backdrop was an old Indian Blanket the photographer used to cover the seat of his old Chevy. One shot that didn’t make the cut: Farrah munching on a cookie. She chose the photo used for the post.Question: Some say that you can see a word in her hair… anyone have an idea what it might be? If you guess first - we will give you one of the original posters we have - don’t ask me how or why we have an inventory of these.

· Local Austin Entrepreneur Bill McLellan - our friend Bill who has successfully started and sold banks in Texas for many years recently rejoined Treaty Oak Bank after taking a break to start a “green” bank here in Austin. The fund raising efforts did not gain traction as expected so on his new business card, his title reads, “It Ain’t Easy Being Green”, we say way to go Bill - never take yourself too damn serious.

· Bank of America’s new commitment to borrowers: “Doing the right thing for our customers is the foundation of our brand promise to always be a responsible lender and help create successful homeowners…” We like the clarity.

· Character: this downturn has pointed out to many of us, as we have been repeatedly taught over the years, that this is the most vital aspect of the 5 C’s of Credit. Looking back over the years, we have had situations where our client’s circumstances had become grave and if you looked at “the numbers” - nobody would give them a chance, yet they found a way up and out. We have heard it said that - Adversity does not create Character - it reveals it - so we ask ourselves - What will this client do when the chips are down? Then we generally have the answer to our lending decision. What are you doing to test Character in your lending decisions? We are curious.

· TARP Repaid - Congrats to our friends - friends because they have graciously referred us clients over the years - at Texas Capital Bank and Sterling Bank for repaying the government money - funny how when the rules are changed on you after you get in the game - you don’t want to play anymore. As usual, we start a few new trends in Texas and Goldman Sachs and many others are also paying back the TARP - looks like all of the cool kids will now follow.

· “Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of “emergency”. It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on a horseback. And “emergency” became the justification of the subsequent steps. The technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains” - Herbert Hoover

· “…this painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy…” - Barack Obama

· This is a time to remember that limited constitutional government and free markets sustain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness better than collectivist agendas carried out by powerful states. I’m actually dancing on my soapbox, not just standing.

· Flashback - July 14, 1975 - The cover of Time Magazine with a picture of Adam Smith and the caption: “Can Capitalism Survive?” - Looks like we somehow managed to survive since then - Economist Milton Friedman, a disciple of Adam Smith, darkly suspected that capitalist freedom will turn out to be “an accident” in the long sweep of history, and the humanity will sink back into its “natural state” of “tyranny and misery”. Dang - I hope he is wrong, looks like the beginning of his prediction may be coming true.

· Since we seem to have a 70’s theme going - Warren Buffet was buying stocks back then in the face of “problems” and as his Net Worth, measured by Berkshire stock, was cut in HALF in 1974, he held true to his convictions and was aptly rewarded for his courage and conviction. What is he doing today? Buying Big Banks - this month he increased his holdings in Wells Fargo and US Bancorp. Just takes a little faith.

· Exponential Times: Number of Years it took to reach 50 Million Users

To our friends and clients -

· Recession = Capitalistic Revival: Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is selling at the fastest rate since it was first published in 1957. Sales have risen in correlation to government intervention in the economy - not surprising - for a book about the evils of government.

· Credit Card Rates and Fees: This is apparently going to be a focus of The Administration - tackling the “abuses” of credit card issuers - could a person of their own volition choose not to use a credit card if they did not like the terms?

· U.S. household wealth plunged 18 percent last year, and $9 trillion in stock value has evaporated since 2007. Yet financial services firms collected $500 billion in fees. At least we know where some of the money went -

· Texas = #1 Exporter 7 years in a row - 2007 to 2008 Texas gained 140,000 residents - More Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Texas than any other state - Texas created 80% of all new jobs in the US in 2008 - Texas has 9 of the Top 20 cities for Job Growth in the US - Proving people, business and capital flow to where they are treated well - also might have something to do with BBQ.

· Q1 2009 Lending Data recently released from The Fed shows that - since the Recession began in December 2007 lending has increased - with C&I lending showing a 7.8% increase. Zombie-like behavior? More likely healthy banks taking market share from non bank competitors that lack access to capital.

· Here is something to make you think today… Ronald Reagan stated in his 1981 inaugural address that “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.” The mood today couldn’t be more different.

· Only 17 percent of political independents say America is heading in the right direction under Barack Obama. The percentage of Americans who think Elvis might still be alive is higher at 19%.

· We were recently in Whole Foods - buying overpriced almonds and such - and a thought came up - the standard of living the overwhelming majority of us live is very high compared to the rest of the world. For the cost of a couple of handful of nuts - around $14 - you could feed a family in Africa for weeks. Do we have it so bad?

· Positive Signs of Recovery: Exports are on the rise - the TED Spread back to levels not seen since August of 2007 - Capital Goods orders are up - Banks are making money and as of the date of this writing “Stress Test” results that are to be released will show banks have adequate capital - Wells Fargo alone originated $100 Billion in mortgage loans in Q1 alone. Our own volume of purchased invoices went down approximately 25% from a peak in late November to a low in February - in speaking to our clients expectations are that new order flow is starting to build and we have seen this start to happen in increased volume.

· We recently attended a conference focused on our industry in Orlando - AR Factoring and asset based lending - this was the first time on record the number of attendees decreased (although very slightly) and it is not surprising given the credit crisis.

· After talking to the executive director it was interesting to hear that the number of NEW applications for membership in the last six months has shown a dramatic increase - creative destruction at work. Cool to see and not surprising given the opportunities that will abound as growth capital is needed for the recovery.

· Twitter and tweeting - we have to admit that just saying those words makes us feel like we have just wasted time that could otherwise be spent doing something productive. With 14 million users, we are not quite sure what real business application Twitter has - please let us know if you see any application for your business? We may just have to get over it.

· We attended one of our favorite conferences… the Commerce Street Capital 7th annual Bank conference. It sure looks like Texas banks are holding up pretty well in this current banking climate and community banks nationwide are doing well too. For Example: 77% of the banking universe reported positive earnings at December 31, 2008. A few quick facts from presenters at this year’s conference:

• The Great Depression lasted 997 days so we are half way through this bear market
• The S & P has fallen 56% in 513 days which means it will need a 17% recovery to match the Great Depression
• Leverage is currently twice the long term historical average and above the peak of the Great Depression
• Europe’s bank leverage is currently 38x compared to 21x for US
• Household wealth has already incurred half the percentage loss as the Great Depression

All our best -

Cole Harmonson | 512-528-1494 | cole@farwestcap.com

Don Stricklin | 512-525-1490 | don@farwestcap.com

cartoon.JPG case-study-april-2009.pdf

To our friends and clients -

· The number of millionaires in the U.S. shrunk 27% to 6.7 million families and the fewest since 2003. Affluent households, those with net assets from $500,000 to 1 million, fell 28% to 11.3 million. Two big drivers…homes and stock market.

· We are big readers of the Investor Business Daily’s leaders and success page. Timely wisdom to live by… quoting Marc Andreessen, Netscape co-founder…I keep a list of the 10 most serious threats to the company. It’s actually called 10 reasons we are going to go out of business. We ask ourselves, “If we end up failing, what will be the reason?” Hopefully this will not happen to any of us, but it might be a good exercise to think about in your company.

· Interesting fact….state with the highest foreclosure rate- Nevada…1 in 70 households.

· Global Finance just announced their list of the Top 50 World’s safest banks. Only three U.S. banks made the list. Wells Fargo #21, U.S. Bancorp #26, and JP Morgan Chase #47. Interesting to note…#1 was KfW from Germany.

· March 2, 1836 - Texas Independence Day should be remembered by all of us - Texians (as we were known then) put the hammer down on Santa Anna and sent him packing. Now Chuck Norris has offered to be the President of Texas and lead a succession - sorry Chuck - we know the ground moves when you do push-ups, but - dude - you are from Oklahoma. Please send your favorite Chuck Norris joke.

· Here is a topic that will really make you sound cool at your next cocktail party - FAS 157 - Mark to Market accounting - reviewing Capital One’s most recent 10K - after applying MTM adjustments of $12 Billion - the company’s Equity went to NEGATIVE $1.21 a share from $28.24 a share. Our prediction - you will see some major changes very quickly. We hope so -

· A quote from Obama’s budget - “While middle-class families have been playing by the rules, living up to their responsibilities as neighbors and citizens, those at the commanding heights of our economy have not… It’s a legacy of irresponsibility, and it is our duty to change it.” So if you are in the Top 1% (you make $250,000 or so) get ready for some “Change” you are going to have to “pay for” that irresponsibility.

· Recession ending in 2009: Ben Bernanke says “probably this year”. This is the first time we know of a sitting Fed Chairman has ever taken an interview - quite a shocking measure - going on 60 minutes.

· Construction of new homes and apartments in February was 22.2 percent higher than in January, according to a report issued today by the Commerce Department. Total activity was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 583,000 units.

· In the 1400s law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have ‘the rule of thumb’.

All our best -

Cole Harmonson | 512-528-1494 | cole@farwestcap.com

Don Stricklin | 512-525-1490 | don@farwestcap.com

To our friends and clients -

· Leading economic indicator: Rose 0.4% in January - an unexpected rise for the second month in a row - and the Conference Board economist (like many others) expect a return to real growth in the second half of 2009 and solid growth in 2010.

· The Chicago Tea Party: Thanks to Rick Santelli - CNBC’s outspoken on-air king of rants - a firestorm of media attention was given to the Administration’s mortgage bailout plan. After the rant - Santelli was criticized by name by The Administration - hmmm - “he doth protest too much…”?

· GM lost $84.7 Million per DAY in 2008. WOW - how does that happen? Interesting choice for taxpayer money - that is a mind-blowing sum of cash—

· Austin, Texas Real Estate: a recent meeting in Austin of the Risk Management Association we attended - a panel with representatives from all aspects of real estate told us what to expect - Austin is healthy compared to the rest of the country, but don’t expect fireworks anytime soon. Here is the recap for 2009:

• Industrial: Rates to decrease, Absorption flat too slightly negative, Construction to decrease.
• Housing: Q4 was ugly, we now have the lowest new home inventory in seven years, however in the last recession new home demand remained - expectations are that people will move to Austin as they always have good times or bad - and that new home “starts” could increase in 2010.
• Retail: Don’t think we will see as many new productions of the mega shopping centers anytime soon - Dang - I was hoping for another Bed Bath and Beyond.
• Office Space: Low but positive absorption, Lower Rates, More Sublease space, great movie from Austinite Mike Judge

· Healthiest Housing Market for 2009 Top Five all in Texas: It is good to be in Texas.

• Houston - largest market in USA
• Austin - more activity than Chicago which has 6X more people
• Ft. Worth - thank you oil and gas
• San Antonio - affordable with a growing population
• Dallas - only a 9% drop in prices last year

· Stimulus = More Disc Golf - we can’t think of a better remedy for an ailing economy. Our favorite part of the package so far - looks like Austin will have the “Raul Alvarez 36 hole disc golf course” coming soon - do you need a hole for disc golf?

· Since last month was President’s month - we saw many quotes passed back and forth - here was our favorite by Thomas Jefferson “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” He also despised banking and owned slaves - so who knows - but we like the quote anyway.

· What Depression - ? - With all the comparisons to the GDP we thought it might be good to put a pencil to it to see what the numbers say. GDP recently released showed the biggest downward revision since 1976 - a negative 6.2% pace for the Q4 of 2008 - mainly due to the reduction in inventories, however 2008’s $14 Trillion economy grew from 2007.

Great Depression: 1930 - 32	Recession: 1981 - 82	Whatever: 2008 - 2009
Job Losses: 4.8% 6.5% 7.1%	2.2%	2.2% - ?
Unemployment: 25.2%	10.8%	7.6 % - ?
GDP: -9% -8% -13%	-1.9%	Positive 1.1% - ?

· Good Judgment comes from Experience - Experience comes from Bad Judgment. 2009 = year of Good Judgment.

· We attended the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT) round table meeting held in Austin this week. A few takeaways…. Texas Community banks are still doing well in spite of this economic slump and look to pick up market share. Obviously, bankers are not as optimistic as last year, but still expect a good year in 2009. Non-performing loans are up, but not out of control. IBAT does a great job of looking out for the best interest of our community banks.

· During February, we saw a few new deals with GROWING revenues and true growth potential - this is a breath of fresh air - during the recent past - this was not the case.

· Warren Buffet’s 2008 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders is attached - we thought about trying to summarize - but that just doesn’t work - although their 2008 was not good - we felt much better after reading it and hope you do to.

If you know of a company we can help, please give us a call.

All our best -

Cole Harmonson | 512-528-1494 | cole@farwestcap.com

Don Stricklin | 512-525-1490 | don@farwestcap.com

Buffet Letter to Shareholders 2008

To our friends and clients -

· 3 of President Obama’s top cabinet appointments are having trouble complying with the Tax Code – the most prominent - Tim Giethner, Secretary of the Treasury – could not “figure out” whether or not the income he earned at The World Bank was to be reported.   We hope he does better with the TARP and all of that bank rescue stuff.

· 171 banks are on the FDIC “problem” list – a 46% jump from last quarter – Year over year Bank earnings for Q3 2008 went down by a mere $27 Billion.

· My partner and I were just in Las Vegas at conference with 50 of our Industry Peers – Interesting to hear that everyone has significantly tightened lending standards in the last few months – but – are still actively pursuing new clients.

· In Vegas, we played golf with former Major League Baseball player, Tony Womack; he definitely falls under the category of great guy and class act.  Tony was part of the Arizona Diamondbacks World Championship Team in 2001 – he knocked in a two base hits in the bottom of the ninth in deciding games in the playoffs that year and can also connect with a golf ball.

· Texas job creation was positive in 2008 – 154,000 jobs added – while the US Economy lost more than 2.8 million over that same period – Recent declines in oil prices may cause some of us to wish for those days when it took $147.00 to fill up our F-250s.

· Abilene, Texas based First Financial Bancshares, Inc. – FFIN – ranked #2 by Bank Director Magazine out of all banks in the USA with assets of more than $3Billion – Congrats to our friend Ron Butler for proving “slow and steady” is the path. 

· Capping Executive Pay at $500,000 per year – What was Obama thinking? For a New York Banker - $269,000 will go to taxes alone – Where shall one cut expenses?  Private prep school, chauffeurs, charity events, ski vacations, nannies… How will tutors be paid for so their kids can get into Ivy League schools… to create the next generation of political contributors?

· Strike 2: Michael Phelps most recent gaffe – being photographed smoking weed – is not his first – he was given probation for drunk driving in 2004 – looks like his Visa sponsorship will survive this time … but any more transgressions we think will not prove “priceless”…

·  Bank of America’s stock jumped 27% last Friday – a company that has $205 Billion in Non Interest Bearing deposits – don’t we all wish we had a funding source like that?  What is not to like… Taxpayers fund their problems and acquisitions and then fund their operations for free.

· GDP contracted at a 3.8% rate in Q4 of 2008 – Unemployment now stands at 7.6% - Payrolls fell by 598,000 in December – the biggest decline since 1974 (when I was 3) – even with all this bad news – Markets were up last week on hopes of fiscal and monetary Government rescue plans – we know we will get to the other side of this bad economy – but – just like a good workout, no pain – no gain.

· Meanwhile… we keep lending… if you know of a deal that might fit our criteria, please give us a call we continue to fund companies that do not fit normal traditional channels… which by the way… the definition of such has changed dramatically over the past few months.

All our best -

Cole Harmonson | 512-528-1494 | cole@farwestcap.com

Don Stricklin | 512-525-1490 | don@farwestcap.com

Far West Capital Financing Profile

Article Summary: There is plenty of negative business news in the papers and on TV lately. But you cannot paint each state with a broad, national brush. There are some anomalies of the positive kind here and there, and Texas is one of them.

As we all know, the US economy is in slowdown mode and while we are debating the depth of the slowdown, the following are contributing factors are slowing the national economic train down:

• High Oil Prices - A “parabolic” spike in the price has occurred, and some even say that a bubble has been created. Naturally this leads to uncertainty, and what might be called the “uncertainty premium.” Political instability and weather are driving prices higher. Inflationary pressures and the weak dollar are not helping matters. Oil needs to break downward to give the dollar a reason to rally.
• Weak Housing Prices - Housing prices are down from coast to coast. We have seen a 14% drop in the first quarter of 2008.
• Credit Crisis Concerns - We are seeing a 16-year low in consumer confidence. As a result of this and other factors, banks are focusing on serving existing clients to conserve capital, as opposed to reaching out to new clients.

Nationally, the conclusion we can all come to is that we are in a protracted mess that will linger on for 12 to 18 months as we work our way out of the problems.

Doing Business in Texas - What’s Next?

Now that you’ve had the doom and gloom, let’s talk about the bright spots here in Texas. In many areas of business and economy, Texas has outperformed the nation as a whole. Let’s take a closer look:

• Growing Output - Texas is the top exporter in the country, with exports rising over 40% in the last three years. Location helps, as do the good ports and airports in Texas. This state also enjoys a good product mix and is not as oil-dependent as in the past.
• Statewide Economic Development - Texas Legislators got busy in 2001 with House Bill 931. There are also more Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Texas than any other state.
• Energy Prices – They are not so bad when you own a lease or two in the Barnett Shale. We are watching for the next Rolls Royce dealership in Midland, Texas.
• Real Estate & Construction - We did not overbuild as we did in the 1980s. Inventories are relatively “in-check” and builders learned their lesson from last time. We gain about 400,000 people per year, so we can absorb the current inventory. House prices in Dallas actually rose in the first quarter of 2008, which was an anomaly on the national scale.
• Job Growth – Texas is number one in the nation for job growth, as of February 2008. Of the Top 15 MSAs in the country, Texas had four of them.
• We Can Say YES - The workers are here in Texas. We have an educated workforce with companies that are willing to train. Thanks largely to the Hispanic population, Texas has a high birth rate. Low regulations – we can build houses on a lot of open spaces. We enjoy low taxes in many regards and have no personal income tax.
• Nationally - Our economy will take off again, as it always has in the past. It’s just going to take some time. As for technology, we ain’t seen nothing yet! Think of all our advancements — nanotechnology, the mapping of the human genome — and then think of all the things your Grandparents saw. The pace of change and improvement is just getting faster.

Globalization will continue. Outsourcing will not stop and it will continue to raise everyone’s standard of living, despite all of the current screaming from some political corners. Texas will be in the center of it all, right now Texas is a great place to be, no matter who wins the White House.

Are we in a recession or aren’t we? Depending on whom you ask, you’ll get several different answers to this question. The White House calls it “tough times” while many economists call it a recession.

Regardless of the semantics, one thing is certain. Business financing is getting harder to come by, and will likely remain that way until the economy starts to swing upward again.

As a result of this, many business owners are looking into alternative forms of business financing — “alternative” meaning ways to obtain business financing aside from traditional lending channels.

Cash flow factoring is one of these alternate forms of business financing, and it is being used by an increasing number of business owners who have accounts receivable operations. Actually, cash flow factoring goes by several names:

• Accounts Receivable Financing
• Small Business Factoring
• Business Invoice Funding
• Invoice Factoring
• And so on…

But regardless of the terminology used to describe this financing model, the principles behind cash flow factoring remain the same. Essentially, you are converting invoices or other types of assets into much-needed cash flow through a process known as factoring. Hence, when you put the pieces together you get cash flow factoring … and it’s something that a lot of business owners rely on these days.

How do you know if cash flow factoring might be useful for your business? Here are some of the basic criteria:

• Your business has some form of accounts receivable / invoicing process in place.
• Your business is in a growth mode.
• You need working capital to continue your growth.

Of course, there are more considerations than these when evaluating cash flow factoring as a potential financing tool. But this gives you a general idea of the types of businesses who can benefit from cash flow factoring services (like the ones that we provide).

If you would like to learn more about this topic, or about the cash flow factoring services that we offer, please contact a representative.

Some working capital finance companies (and commercial finance companies in general) use phrases like “service with a difference” and “a different kind of company” … but then they fail to explain what makes them so different.

We would like to offer you a refreshing change of pace by explaining what, exactly, makes Far West Capital different from other commercial finance companies:

• We customize the relationship for each individual company. We offer a Non-Notification Factoring product, which means the accounts receivable we are buying [i.e., your customers] are unaware Far West is involved. This is less intrusive to your business. More benefits of A/R financing.
• On the other end of that spectrum, we can provide full-service factoring, whereby Far West Capital sends invoices, makes collection calls, and handles all credit decisions for you. We do not have a “cookie cutter” deal, we listen and shape the product specifically for the client’s needs.
• We can offer inventory financing along with a factoring deal.
• We can offer purchase order financing along with a factoring deal.
• Customer Service is our most important strategic focus. We encourage anyone looking for this type of working capital to do their homework when choosing a provider. If you cannot get a long list of satisfied clients to speak with, then you should ask yourself “why” you are doing business with this Factor. We can provide anyone who asks with a long list of current and past satisfied clients.
• You have direct access to decision makers. We do not shuffle you to inexperienced “business development” personnel. Your account will be handled by experienced professionals capable of structuring and negotiating your deal directly. This increases the speed and efficiency of getting your deal done and will make you more confident about the relationship from start to finish.

If you are in need of working capital finance services, and you’d like to experience a true difference in service, please contact us today.

… and if it were only a silly comedy staring Rick Moranis, we would be okay. But as it turns out, our economy may actually shrink in the coming months (which is part of the textbook definition for economic recession).

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress on Wednesday that the U.S. economy could shrink over the next few months.

“A recession is possible,” Bernanke told Congress. “Our estimates are that we’re slightly growing at the moment, but we think that there’s a chance that for the first half as a whole there might be a slight contraction.”

Of course, the alternate view of this situation is the one that comes from the White House, where softer phrases like “slowdown” are used to describe our poorest financial health in decades.

Is there any good news to go along with this?

Well, for one thing it’s important to remember that our economy is an endless cycle of ups and downs. While we don’t know how long it will be down, it’s destined to rally and rise at some point in the future. Bernanke thinks that upswing could come as early as the latter half of this year and into 2009.

Of course, Bernanke is one man. But it’s still nice to hear a note of optimism once in a while!