Classified Ads---Sales

Boston, MA Senior leader in companies of varying size and scope, including start-ups. My current focus is sales, as a leader or as an individual contributor. thomasherlihy33@comcast.net

Cherry Hill, NJ College grad seeking entry level sales position for equipment leasing and financing in small to mid-size ticket markets. Have 6 months experience in the industry and self-motivated. Contact Matt at 609-280-2178 or email at mkuzan@gmail.com

Fresno, CA Aggressive, competitive self-starter w/successful vendor/direct equipment leasing and asset-based lending experience seeks return to leasing industry after successful stint in business banking sales. Email: dsp559@hotmail.com Resume

Minneapolis, MN 16 years leasing experience from micro to large ticket market, variety of equipment. Most recently calling on vendor telecom dealers in Upper Midwest.  golfadm@yahoo.com

Montgomery, AL Individual with 10 years advertising sales exp. & 7 years insurance sales exp. Wants independent contractor situation in Alabama. Work with leasing company or broker.334-590-5133 E-mail: billmcneal2003@yahoo.com

Orange County, CA In excess of 20+ years sales experience in the lease finance industry. Looking to work with a direct lender to help increase their profitability! shermbp@gmail.com

Orange County, CA 19+ years of successful marketing to the broker/lessor community representing one funding source owned by several parent companies. Email: oc49ersteve@sbcglobal.net

Philadelphia Metro Area - 30 Years experience Healthcare sales/ management- 3 years experience newly create "small-ticket" healthcare division. Good success - Mitch Utz 215-460-4483 Email: mitutz@msn.com

Pittsburgh , PA Aggressive self starter looking for leasing position w/10 plus yrs sales exp., plus banking experience 814-227-4592 mwiser500@hotmail.com

Pittsburgh, PA Over 25 years of leasing experience including Captive, Dealer, Broker, and Third Party. Multiple equipment types. Seeking a Territory or National Sales position. vsiegel2@aol.com

San Francisco Bay Area: Business Development “Hunter” with transferable book of business in multiple segments: commercial construction, technology, fitness, etc. Years of managerial experience: can also be a “player/coach”. E-mail: VdrPgmBizDev@aol.com

SouthEast Award winning commercial leasing salesman, middle market Georgia , Alabama , Tennessee , and Florida in addition to originating leases nationally. 26 years experience. Resume

Texas/Oklahoma 15 year lease vet looking for plact to take business.great references. all major equipment types. open to compensation. please contact if interested. E-mail: bankingdallas@yahoo.com

For a full listing of all “job wanted” ads, please go to:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm

Other e-Mail Posting Sites:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Posting_sites.htm

Key Equipment Finance follows Key Corp Losses
by Christopher Menkin

KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), Cleveland, Ohio reported a fourth quarter net loss of $258 million, compared with a prior-year loss of $524 million. For the full year, Key had a net loss from continuing operations attributable to Key common shareholders of $1.581 billion.

As of Dec. 31, 2009, nonperforming loans at KeyCorp totaled $2.2 billion, or 3.72 percent of all loans. That’s up from a year ago when nonperforming loans accounted for 1.68 percent of all loans.

Key’s loan and leasing division are not doing well with more write-offs and less business. Note revenue down, charge offs up, balance sheet down, as well as going from 858 employees in the fourth quarter to 672 (had to influence performance): These numbers come from Key’s SEC filings:

Line of Business Results
(dollars in millions)
Equipment Finance

Net Loan Charge-offs from Continuing Operations
Commercial lease financing
(dollar in millions)

Non-Performing Loans
Commercial lease financing
(dollar in millions)

Consolidated Average Balance Sheets, and Net Interest Income
and Yields/Rates From Continuing Operations
(dollars in millions)

Commercial lease financing

Consolidated Average Balance Sheets, and Net Interest Income
and Yields/Rates From Continuing Operations
(dollars in millions)

Commercial lease financing

Key has been cutting back. CEO Henry Meyer III originally said the bank was not subject to Eastern bank problems of subprime mortgages and was more into community banking. Recently the bank moved a telephone call division out of Cleveland to New Jersey, obviously not support the Cleveland community where the bank is headquartered. Cleveland has high unemployment and many real estate vacancies. The direction of the bank straddles its image between consumer, community, national, and commercial bank and appears trying to out wait the down economy.

Meyer III said in a company press release: “We clearly have work remaining, but as we turn our sights to 2010, we believe our aggressive actions over the past two years to address asset quality, to strengthen capital, reserves and liquidity, and to invest in and reshape our businesses have Key on the right track, and will set the stage for us to emerge from this extraordinary period as a strong, competitive company.”

“Full-year results for both 2009 and 2008 were adversely affected by elevated provisions for loan losses and write-offs of certain intangible assets. In addition, 2008 results include a $1.011 billion after-tax charge recorded in the second quarter as a result of an adverse federal tax court ruling that impacted Key’s accounting for certain lease financing transactions.”

Press Release

“Key opened 38 new branches in 8 markets in 2009 and the company expects to open 40 additional new branches in 2010. The company has completed renovations on approximately 160 branches over the past two years and expects to renovate another 100 branches in 2010.”

Press Release

Note: Key has yet to repay $2.5 billion in U.S. bailout funds. Meyer was one of the first most vocal against TARP, by the way.

Key SEC Filing:
http://www.leasingnews.org/PDF/keycorp.pdf

The Secret of Our Success
by Tony Golobic, GreatAmerica Leasing

"Tony Golobic of GreatAmerica Leasing Corp. is the leader of a very successful company that has kept a relatively low profile.  GreatAmerica has had an exceptional record of growth. In 2009 they reached $1 billion in assets, and in the 2009 Monitor 100 survey they reported 2008 origination volume of $430.9 million, a tremendous volume for an independent small ticket vendor leasing company. They were one of the few leasing companies that was able to tap the securitization market in 2009. The company has always been very conservative in its credit approvals, financing and accounting, areas that have derailed a number of their competitors."
     - Bruce Kropschot, The Alta Group; Leasing News Advisory Board Member

This is a new series to highlight companies who have been successful, why, and their recommendations to you.

Tony Golobic
Chairman and Founder of GreatAmerica Leasing

It has been 38 years since I came across my first equipment finance transaction. Since then our industry has been good to me. Although much has changed during these years, the industry today remains vibrant and a good place to grow one’s career. Not only has our industry grown significantly, but it became much more complex. At the same time, it seems, much of the industry became commoditized. I never wanted to be a part of a commoditized business; there just doesn’t seem to be much value and staying power in a business based on lowest rates and easiest credit. Anyone can do that. I also don’t think one can build lasting market leadership based on lowest pricing and easiest credit; there is always going to be another fool willing to push rates even lower.

I wanted to be a part of a company that would build a lasting market leadership by aspiring to standards of excellence so high in everything it does it would have no competition. This was our vision 17 years ago when we started GreatAmerica Leasing Corporation and this remains our vision today. This was not only our vision, but it was also our reason for starting GreatAmerica. Every day, we make another step on our quest for excellence. Like perfection, excellence is a continuous process, a worthy goal to aspire to and a vision that fills one with pride. I am so thankful that today we have 314 “GreatAmericans” who share our pride.

This vision required a structure that would maximize human potential; one that would continuously engage each and every member of our GreatAmerica team no matter how large we become. Our strong belief in the potential of people provided the philosophical backdrop for an evolution that was to come. At GreatAmerica, we don’t have managers and we don’t have executives. We have leaders. Every “GreatAmerican” is responsible for managing herself or himself. At GreatAmerica, I am not the only one losing sleep thinking, worrying and dreaming of GreatAmerica; there are 313 other “GreatAmericans” who also are thinking, worrying and dreaming of GreatAmerica.

To this end, we transformed our organization into a team-based structure. Our organization chart looks a little different than most; it has our customers (dealers and smaller lessors) at its center, like a sun, surrounded and orbited by our teams, which in turn are supported by our senior leadership. We drew this organizational chart to constantly remind us of who makes us successful; our customers. The idea was to establish teams of cross-trained individuals with intimate knowledge of their customers, and these teams would be responsive to their myriad needs.

The scalability of the team structure also preserved the intimate, small-company feel as GreatAmerica expanded. Teams of empowered individuals rising to their potential and making informed decisions continue to benefit our customers today. Everyone at GreatAmerica participates in a bonus structure that integrates personal and company goals to help grow GreatAmerica and reward individual accomplishments. Our people have a great degree of autonomy in creating their own personal fulfillment. This, in turn, fuels our high retention rates and internal satisfaction levels which translate directly into a positive and consistent customer relationship building. We want our customers to say “wow” when they get off the phone with us. We call this the GreatAmerica Experience.

We also define our customer a little differently than most financing companies. We resolved that the equipment dealers/leasing brokers are our customers and that the lessee is the customer of the dealer/broker. The dealer/broker, our customer, puts food on our family tables. This foundation guides our prospecting and marketing efforts and has engendered great trust with our customers. Not all equipment dealers, just like not all leasing brokers, are the right customers for us. We want just the best ones; the ones who have long-term vision, who want to build strong and lasting relationships with their customers and with us. We used to work with a large number of brokers, but 80% of our business was done with just a handful. That didn’t work well and we pared the number down. We will continue to focus on this process with the goal of doing an increased amount of business with a smaller number of brokers. It’s a matter of finding the right brokers with the right vendor programs with whom we can develop strong and lasting relationships. It may sound strange but our goal is to have fewer brokers for whom we do a lot more.

Our ethical focus has underscored our direction as a whole, ranging from the definition of our customer (above) to the creation of our Truth in Leasing Statement, which is a document we give our customers to give to their customers. It’s an industry-first statement that is essentially a leasing bill of rights for the lessee and outlines what they can expect when they enter into a standard agreement with GreatAmerica. It also draws a line in the sand by capping residual positions and stating there would be no hidden fee tactics common in many leases.

This “no surprises” approach and our financial performance have also formed trusting and valued relationships with our financial providers. We run an open operation and are well attuned to the transparency standards the asset-backed securities market expects. Since 1995 we’ve had nine successful term securitizations of over $2.2 billion in total (the last one, for $454 million, closed in November 2009). In these days of restricted credit, we have record amounts of open credit lines. Our ample access to the capital markets is the reward for our disciplined, common sense approach to credit approval process. Steady and loyal support from our financial partners has also helped us deliver a level of consistency and service very hard to find elsewhere.

Our resolve of not being everything to everyone has helped us direct our resources into thoroughly understanding our markets. The mission of GreatAmerica, plain and simple, is to help our customers become more successful. Each of our five business units specializes in their respective industries, immersing itself into the market it serves and tapping into the complex dynamics that go into making a business successful. Our expertise is gained through intense and continuous research into the industry served by that unit, business councils, industry events and internal training. The knowledge gained through these activities informs all levels of the company and creates a fertile environment that fosters innovative thinking and problem solving.

Fortunately, knowledge is not a static concept at GreatAmerica, and creating a fluid environment begins with an easy flow of communication among team members and company leadership. Facilitated by an open floor plan with no walls, this communication is vital to identifying opportunities and bringing meaningful change to the markets we serve.

The relentless pursuit of our vision to reach the standards of excellence so high in everything we do that we have no competition has enabled us to grow to an asset size of over $1 Billion. We have never stopped growing, not even in the past two years. We now are looking forward to the day, not far away, when we will reach $2 Billion. We will do that by getting better every day and by truly helping our customers become more successful. Each time a customer hangs up the phone with one of our team members, we want them to think: “Wow, it was a great day - the day I started doing business with GreatAmerica!”

Leasing Industry Help Wanted

National Business Development Manager  With seven years experience including current existing book of business. Remote Office Okay. Click here for more info. Western Finance & Lease, a subsidiary of Western State Bank established in 1901, solicits originations throughout the US and provides funding solutions for a wide range of industries. .

Please see our Job Wanted section for possible new employees.

Bank Beat---Five Banks costs FDIC $531.7 million

The eight branches of Charter Bank, Santa Fe, New Mexico were closed. Founded in September 11, 1986, there were 246 full time employees. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Charter Bank, Albuquerque, New Mexico, a newly-chartered federal savings bank and a subsidiary of Beal Financial Corporation, Plano, Texas, to assume all of the deposits of Charter Bank.

The bank was reportedly very active in real estate loans from land acquisition to permanent mortgage in residential and commercial real estate. It had the lowest Tier 1 seen in the last 18 months: 0.97%

In the series of bank failures this week, it also was the most closely to the FDIC, an estimate $201.9 million, higher than the next bank to fail with 21 branches in Oregon.

As of September 30, 2009, Charter Bank had approximately $1.2 billion in total assets and $851.5 million in total deposits.

Equity of the bank had dropped from $90.9 million September 30, 2008 to $26.5 million in 2009 with net profits going from $11.09 million to a loss of $57.7 million in 2009 after a charge off of $36.9 million. Net operating income was a minus $63,788,000.

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2010/pr10016.html

The 21 Branches of Columbia River Bank, The Dalles, Oregon, founded June 6, 1977 became the ninth bank to fail this year in the United States. The FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Columbia State Bank, Tacoma, Washington, to assume all of the deposits of Columbia River Bank.

As of September 30, 2009, Columbia River Bank had approximately $1.1 billion in total assets and $1.0 billion in total deposits. Columbia State Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 1.0 percent to assume all of the deposits of Columbia River Bank. The FDIC and Columbia State Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $697.4 million of Columbia River Bank's assets.

The Bendbulletin.com reported, "In the company's 2008 year-end report filed in March 2009, it said that in mid-2007 the company was “directly affected by the fallout from the series of events labeled the ‘subprime lending crisis.' Columbia had substantial concentrations of residential land acquisition and development loans to builders and developers in Central Oregon and the Willamette Valley, according to the year-end report.

"The report added that the elimination of “liberal lending products” from the mortgage industry resulted in a dramatic reduction for residential home lots and home construction, and that the slowdown in residential demand also caused the underlying collateral values of those properties to decline."

Not mentioned was during this time period, the bank was expanding, opening three branches in Bend and two in Redmond, plus expanded in Vancouver, opening an administrative support center. In 2002, a press release states, "Access Business Technologies (ABT), a niche Application Service Provider (ASP) for the mortgage loan servicing industry, announced Columbia River Bank, a community bank in The Dalles, Oregon, implemented its Web-enabled application PowerCore."

March 26, 2009 report:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/090326/cbbo10-k.html

The bank had gone from 372 full-time employees to 365 employees from September 30, 2008 to September 30, 2009, $86 million equity to $27.5 million, has lost $12.9 million same period in 2008 to losing $46.4 million in 2009. Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio: 3.39%. Net operating income was a minus $46,481,000.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $172.5 million.

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2010/pr10018.html

Evergreen Bank, Seattle, Washington with seven branches was closed with Umpqua Bank, Roseburg, Oregon, to assume all of the deposits of Evergreen Bank. Founded October 1, 1971 the bank had 83 full time employees. The bank charged off $11.7 million September 30, 2009 with a net income loss of $18.4 million. The equity of the bank went from $40.3 million September 30, 2008 to $14.4 million. Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio:3.91%

The Seattle Times stated the closure was due "...primarily a heavy load of bad construction and land-development loans, residential mortgages and other real-estate loans." The Seattle Times quoted Brad Williamson, director of the state Division of Banks, who said he expects the consolidation to continued.

"Banks that have been able to avoid real-estate problems and have kept their balance sheets clean have been able to go to the capital markets," he said. "They have war chests, and they can take the opportunity to get into markets they may have wanted to get into for a long time."

As of September 30, 2009, Evergreen Bank had approximately $488.5 million in total assets and $439.4 million in total deposits. Umpqua Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 1.0 percent to assume all of the deposits of Evergreen Bank.

The FDIC and Umpqua Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $379.5 million of Evergreen Bank's assets.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $64.2 million

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2010/pr10017.html

Premier American Bank, Miami Florida with four branches was closed on Friday. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Premier American Bank, National Association, Miami, Florida, a newly-chartered national institution, to assume all of the deposits of Premier American Bank. Premier American Bank, N.A. is a subsidiary of Bond Street Holdings, LLC, Naples, Florida.

As of September 30, 2009, Premier American Bank had approximately $350.9 million in total assets and $326.3 million in total deposits. Founded September 4, 2001, the bank had gone from 84 full time employees September 30, 2008 to 73 in 2009, net equity from $30.2 million to $1.9 million, a loss of $2.57 million to a loss of $15.68 million in 2009. Charge off was $5 million. Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio: 1.96%.

The SouthFlorida Business Journal reports:
"Founded in 2001 with $12 million in startup capital, Premier American Bank was primarily a commercial real estate and construction lender – a sector that has been hard hit in the economic downturn. It tripled in size from $136 million in assets in late 2004 to $400 million in 2007....Among the largest foreclosure actions filing by Premier American Bank are:

* A $5.4 million foreclosure judgment against Redlands Acres Family Homes Development Corp. over a 67-acre site in southwest Miami-Dade County.

* A $4.2 million foreclosure action against Palm & Tower Investors over a vacant 30-acre site in Florida City.

* A $4.1 million foreclosure lawsuit against Camaguey Plaza and Roosevelt Park over a 35-unit condominium in Miami’s Little Havana and a 24-unit apartment building in Miami Beach.

* A $3.5 million foreclosure judgment against Sion Estates over a 2.6-acre site with 21 partially built residents in western Miami-Dade.

* A $3.4 million foreclosure against Westpark Industrial over an uncompleted industrial project in Doral."

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2010/01/18/daily57.html

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $85 million.

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2010/pr10014.html

The sole branch of Bank of Leeton, Leeton, Missouri was closed with Sunflower Bank, National Association, Salina, Kansas, to assume all of the deposits of Bank of Leeton. The bank was founded on September 14, 1896 and had eleven full time employees.

Equity had dropped from $1.7 million to $478,000, after a loss of $145,000 September 30, 2008 to a loss of $1.76 million in 2009 after a write off of $1.4 million. Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio 2.65%

"Leeton is a city in Johnson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 619 at the 2000 census. The median income for a household in the city was $29,063, and the median income for a family was $31,000.About 14.3% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeton,_Missouri

As of December 31, 2009, Bank of Leeton had approximately $20.1 million in total assets and $20.4 million in total deposits. Sunflower Bank, N.A. will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.59 percent to assume all of the deposits of Bank of Leeton.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $8.1 million.

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2010/pr10015.html

2009 Bank Failures in Brief:
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/bank/2009/index.html

Bank Failures since 2005
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

Top Stories January 18-22

Here are the top ten stories opened by readers:

(1) Companies No Longer taking Independent Broker Business
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_21.htm#companies

(2) Forward Pass to Axis Capital by Triton Financial
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_19.htm#axis

(3) Positive News at US Bancorp/Manifest
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_21.htm#bancorp

(4) Correction---Western Finance & Lease
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_21.htm#correction

(Tie) (5) Funders complain about Brokers/Discounters
by Christopher Menkin
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_21.htm#funders_complain

(Tie) (5) Sheldon Player explains Greyhound $75 Million Theft
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_21.htm#greyhound

(6) Average Credit Score drops to 671
http://www.collectionscreditrisk.com/news/credit-scores-drop-will-hold-steady-in-2010-report-3000356-1.html

(7) Lease Police 2009 Year End Update
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_19.htm#lease_police

(8) Leasing 102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP
Part IV---Starting a leasing company
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_19.htm#part4

(9) More California companies planning big layoffs
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_12277251?nclick_check=1

(10) Android overtaking Blackberry/IPhone
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Jan2010/1_21.htm#android

### Press Release ############################

Wells Fargo Executives/Directors Sued re: SILO

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, based in Burlingame, California with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington filed a shareholder complaint against executives and directors of Wells Fargo, the banking giant. The complaint alleges that certain executives and directors with oversight of Wells Fargo's management, turned a blind eye and allowed Wells Fargo to participate in dubious tax shelters that have long been questioned by Congress, the IRS, and have now been found to be illegal tax shelters. One federal court referred to a similar scheme as "abusive tax shelters" that are "rotten to the core."

The tax shelters involving Wells Fargo include dozens of lease transactions through which Wells Fargo sought to avoid paying millions of dollars in federal income taxes. Through a "sale in, lease out"or SILO tax shelter, the bank entered into a paper transaction to "purchase" rail cars, buses, or other equipment from a tax-exempt public agency, "leased" the property back to the agency, and then took all of the deductions on its corporate federal income taxes. The SILO transactions were only on paper and Wells Fargo never took possession of any rail cars, buses, or equipment. The IRS disallowed Wells Fargo's tax deductions, and imposed substantial tax penalties. Wells Fargo sued the United States for the refunds.

According to Nanci Nishimura, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, who filed the suit, "the complaint alleges that the defendants allowed Wells Fargo to engage in another form of ripping-off the public." The complaint alleges that the executives and directors breached their fiduciary duties and engaged in mismanagement and corporate abuse by allowing Wells Fargo to continue using SILO transactions to avoid taxes, especially when it had long been known that Congress and the IRS prohibited tax deductions under the SILO predecessor, called a "lease-in, lease-out" or LILO tax shelter, and had efforts in the works to prohibit SILOs. In 2005, the IRS formally disallowed SILOs as legitimate tax shelters, but the defendants still allowed Wells Fargo to file tax refund lawsuits against the United States in 2006 and 2009.

The Federal Court of Claims recently rejected one of Wells Fargo's tax refund lawsuits against the United States, on the ground that the SILO transactions were shams from the get-go. In its decision, the Court stated emphatically that:

If the Court were to approve of these SILO schemes, the big losers would be the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), deprived of millions of taxes rightfully due from a financial giant, and the taxpaying public, forced to bear the burden of the taxes avoided by Wells Fargo... A cadre of company executives, in concert with a team of well known legal and accounting firms and other consultants, regularly constructed and participated in these tax schemes for Wells Fargo, apparently blind to professional standards of care.

Wells Fargo shareholders are represented by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, with offices in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Washington, DC, and New York.

The allegations are set forth in the complaint.
PDF, 2.4MB
http://leasingnews.org/PDF/Wells_Fargo_Complaint.pdf

#### Press Release #############################

El Paso, Texas --- Adopt a Dog

"Blondie's approx 5 yrs old, sweet, calm, gentle, obedient, good with kids and other animals, your typical shadow dog with so much love to give."

Golden Retriever Rescue of El Paso

Adoption Procedure:
http://www.grrep.org/AdoptionProcess.html

Adopted Golden Retrievers:
http://www.grrep.org/AdoptedGoldens.html
http://www.grrep.org/

Adopt-a-Pet by Leasing Co. State/City
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Adopt_Pet.htm

Adopt a Pet
http://www.adoptapet.com/

One-fifth of Silicon Valley's commercial office buildings empty
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_14195155?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

Wal-Mart cuts about 11,200 Sam's Club jobs
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/ 7F5CFB96F22B451D862576B6000BB0CA?OpenDocument

Stuyvesant Town Turned Over to Creditors
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/nyregion/25stuy.html?hp

The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now
http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2010/01/20/20readwriteweb-the-3-facebook-settings-every-user-should-c-29287.html?em

Sports Briefs----

Colts Put End to Jets’ Surprising Run
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/sports/football/25afc.html?ref=sports

Tim Kawakami: New Orleans Saints' fun fairy tale ends here
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14261225?nclick_check=1

Super Bowl XLIV: It's former 'Aints' vs. Archie's boy
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100124/SPT/301250003

California Nuts Briefs---

Field Poll: 59% say California's condition has worsened on Schwarzenegger's watch
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2484873.html

“Gimme that Wine”

'Sonoma County' carries clout
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100121/BUSINESS/1211059/1036

Challenging year ahead for wine market
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100121/BUSINESS/100129864/1036?Title=Challenging-year-ahead-for-wine-market

Dan Berger: The collapse of cabernet
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/wine/columnists/dan-berger/article_704bc688-0712-11df-a231-001cc4c002e0.html

Maniar Sells Diamond Oaks Winery to Bill Harlan
http://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=70695

Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/

US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/

Winery Atlas
http://www.carterhouse.com/atlas/

Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm

The London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex) is an electronic exchange for fine wine.
http://www.liv-ex.com/

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.