It seems we are about to head right back down the garden path when it comes to making risky loans.  With Hyundai, Ford, General Motors and others now announcing similar plans designed to guarantee payment if the guarantor loses their job we have the makings of the next credit debacle.  The problem being we know that the program has been succesful for Hyundai in terms of getting people to buy cars but are they attracting people that have a higher risk of defaulting?  We will not know for at least six months but my guess is Hyundai and now General Motors will notice sharply higher default rates on the new loans.  What is even worse is the promise that there are no negative reprucssions if someone walks away from their car under this program which only promotes the negative behavior.

 

With the summer travel season upon us it is a great time to use promotional travel bags as a giveaway.  Granted they are fairly expensive for a simple tradeshow but they are usually a hit with customers and therefore should be considered if you have a customer you want to appease.  We particularly like the Wenger 24" 4-Wheeled Spinner Upright among other bags in the Wenger line.  You are a little limited in what you can do in terms of decoration but again the focus is on the travel aspect and almost all of these bags will travel very well.

 

The economy took a bit of a hit again today with some seriously negative housing data from Case and Shiller showing record falls in value.  There is not much that can be done at this point other than promoting a brighter future which NAR continues to do.