Keating’s CyberColumn

Bad Policy Fuels the Likelihood   81% of small business owners expect a recession to occur this year, according to the latest CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Index Q2 2022 (May 5, 2022). by Raymond J. Keating –   With the change in real GDP turning negative in the first quarter of this year, a question inevitably keeps […]

by Raymond J. Keating – During this National Small Business Week, elected officials and policymakers must also celebrate the drivers of entrepreneurship and small business growth this week, and that includes “big tech.” Big Tech Started as Small Tech It should be noted that the companies usually targeted by politicians and their appointees – i.e., […]

by Raymond J. Keating – The first estimate of GDP (i.e., gross domestic product) was released and it was not good.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, real GDP growth in the first quarter came in at -1.4 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rate). But there were a few bright spots. The report of […]

by Raymond J. Keating – The latest Pitchbook-NVCA report on venture capital served up some good news. Specifically, venture capital investment in 2021 nearly doubled from where it was in 2020. Venture capital investment, after growing by 13.3 percent in 2020, jumped by 98 percent in 2021 – from $144.5 billion in 2019 to $166.6 […]

by Raymond J. Keating – The latest employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed robust job growth in March, as well as welcome levels of self-employed entrepreneurship. While nonfarm payroll employment expanded by a strong 431,000 in March, there’s more. When looking at the data from the household survey – which better […]

by Raymond J. Keating – Private sector technology and innovation have made real differences in terms of helping entrepreneurs start up new businesses during the pandemic. That’s right. To use the political vernacular of the day, “Big Tech” has been important to startup entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, big government, which has had “Big Tech” in its regulatory […]

SMALL BUSINESS INSIDER by Raymond J. Keating – The pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing industry has the reputation for being all about large businesses. This mistaken view is widely pitched in political circles. However, while large firms, of course, are critical to the industry, and to the life-saving, life-enhancing treatments it produces – firms that grew […]

by Raymond J. Keating – Labor union membership has been on a long decline, and that drop resumed in 2021 after a brief, unique respite in 2020, according to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Indeed, as a share of employment, union membership in the U.S. peeked in the early 1950s […]

SMALL BUSINESS INSIDER by Raymond J. Keating – The state of Washington has enjoyed a huge competitive advantage over most other states. But part of that advantage is in danger of being lost. Washington’s Competitive Advantage What has the state’s advantage been? Washington has imposed no personal income, capital gains and corporate incomes taxes. Only […]

by Raymond J. Keating –  The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics brought more bad news on inflation. CPI inflation raged at 0.8 percent in November, and that came after a 0.9 percent jump in October. For the past 12 months, inflation registered 6.8 percent. (See the following […]