From the Reporters
Ryan McCarthy

New SBA Head, Bailouts and the Best Biz Blogs

 

Obama names SBA administrator. It's Karen Gordon Mills, a private equity executive from Maine. Inc.'s Robb Mandelbaum is worried: "[I]t's not exactly an ideal resume for working with and advancing small business." Mandelbaum thinks that Obama will likely restore the post to cabinet level status.

Where's my bailout? This morning, President Bush announced a $17 billion bailout of the Detroit automakers. "The U.S. Lends To The Big Three. What About The Small Thousands?" asks Slate's BizBox blog, which points out that given that the government has opted to lend money "directly to retail businesses," the next logical step may be a lending program for companies losing less than billions of dollars every quarter. What do you think? Are you in a favor of a government-mandated low-cost loans for small companies?

Master of the Obvious Award. Goes to the National Association of Venture Capitalists, who released a survey this morning that 2009 will be, um, "difficult.". And yet...

Scribd grabs $9 million. Even as observers are bracing for fallout in the world of internet startups, they seem to keep getting funded. Last week it was Tumblr, grabbing $4.5 million. This week, word comes from Techcrunch, that Scribd just raised $9 million. The company, which is based in San Francisco and started in the Y Combinator program, allows users to quickly upload PDFs.

Credit Crunch: The Board Game. The Economist presents what just may be the most depressing board game of all time.

Massive discounting expected. Not rich enough to buy a stake in a tech startup? How about a really cheap pair of designer trousers? The Wall Street Journal reports that retailers are slashing prices to "salvage a so-far disastrous holiday season." Barney's has cut prices by as much as 75 percent, for instance.Some retail analysts are saying the prices will actually be lower next week than on back Friday.

Video on demand. According to ComScore, YouTube now accounts for 25 percent of web searches in the U.S., reports TechCrunch.

Best of the blogs. BusinessPundit has a lengthy, if somewhat incomplete, list of of some of the best business blogs out there. And, if you're still wondering how to blog, Slate talked to some of the world's most influential bloggers and got their tips.