Seven Questions for Michael Milken, Small Business Advisor
Editor's Note: Additional reporting for this article provided by Justin Rohrlich, Mike Schuster, and Nico Carbellano.
It takes a certain Type A personality to excel in management, and running even a small to medium-sized business can be a herculean task. Which is why you might want to enlist the expertise of a market titan.
Bizmore -- a business advice website comprised of user-generated questions and answers -- goes live this week, and it has something of a secret weapon: Billionaire financier--and a bald man who boldly eschews the ceremonial wearing of the toup -- Michael Milken has given the fledgling service some $10 million in funds, according to the New York Times.
Indicted in 1989 on 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud, Milken is certainly an unusual choice for someone to be spearheading a business advice service -- you'd expect him to maybe open a consultancy service on how to best get along with your cellmate. But hey, the powers that be in Vegas hire former casino cheats as security consultants.
As Rafael Pastor -- chief executive of Vistage International, Bizmore’s parent company -- told the Times, Bizmore will hopefully supply "instantaneous information that is very tailored to a specific question or need." Like Yahoo Answers (YHOO), Bizmore visitors can vote for what they think are the best responses to business queries. In addition to the Q&A, freelance writers will contribute advice on evergreen small-business topics.
If that advice reflects the history of Michael Milken -- a man who knows the ins and outs of more than a few "unorthodox" business practices -- Bizmore may have made a very shrewd decision.
In conjunction with Bizmore's debut, Minyanville imagines some of the questions and answers being bandied about at the newly minted service.
"I'm a small business owner, and I've been using revenues to cover my alimony payments. Now, one of my investors wants to see my auditor's books. How should I handle this?" -- Greg L.
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(since the Internet renders us all tone-deaf (so far), I should note.. I'm not joking.)
Nothing better than sarcasm to pillory the the unethical worshippers of mammon.
My favorite headline this morning: "Cash for Clunkers Program Out of Cash". LOL! That's rich. The fools, why didn't they just make it a tax credit for h*ll's sake? Of course, now they can tax us more to pay for the program designed to help the economy and bailed out automakers and banks we are being taxed to pay for. Orwellian genius in there now that I think about it.
My second favorite headline of the day: "Town Halls Gone Wild" Congressional representatives actually having to face constituents pissed off at their money and freedoms are being stolen and rescinded; but the reps. still don't get it: 'I think in general what is going on is we are tackling issues that have been ignored for a long time, and I think that is disruptive to a lot of people,' said Bishop, a four-term congressman." Oh no, it couldn't possibly be that you made the wrong decisions and are not representing the your constituents or the constitution, nah!
http://www.politico.com/
Denial, delusion, and deception on a grand scale.
Thanks for the humor, I needed it.
Eric


















