Unfortunately, there are a lot of very big companies manufacturing small, non-tech items that would be fairly easy to produce domestically in foreign countries, not as a matter of perceived necessity, but out of probably greed.  Many of the items you may have suspected were always produced here are in fact made in similar foreign sweat shops by workers who accept pay that American workers could not afford to work for.  Examine the infographic below, for example, to see some surprising things we bet you never knew were not Made in America:

Some of the predictions have to do with the most used descriptive words mentioned in business writings as of the end of 2011 and as recently as this week.  These words and phrases are the most popular mentioned in 2012 business predictions made by professionals in the business world.  The top five terms are:

1. mobile
2. advertising and marketing
3. cloud and SAAS
4. social media, and
5. e-commerce

If your business idea contains any of these terms, chances are you’re onto something that’s going to dominate in 2012.  If you play your cards right, you might just be in the right place at the right time for launching your dream business in a year that could begin the economic recovery of the world.  Read on:

• Create a shift in your business’ income and the expenses.  Small businesses typically operate in a fashion where the taxes are paid on income once it’s received and the write-offs go into affect once an expense is paid.  So, do not try to collect on all those receivables until after the new year, and pay some of your business expenses early.
• Get tools or equipment for your business now.  Thanks to the federal stimulus, there are many things that you might need for your business now that you can completely write-off.  Things like copy machines and new smartphones can be entirely written-off.  These tax credits will not be as great in 2012 and eventually they will be no more.
• Let your family become an official part of the business.  If your kids are constantly helping out by cleaning or stocking or anything, then it is time to put them on the payroll.  Or you can hire them as a general contractor with a 1099 form.  They will pay a small amount to Uncle Sam, but it is definitely less than you would.
• Take a vacation to ring in the New Year.  Seriously, get away, and while you are on your trip meet with a potential client or have a meeting to write-off some of your trip.

Now that businesses are using social media, it’s interesting to note that Facebook has been the reigning king of tools among businesses surveyed.  Companies that sell local home security, or have plumbing or wiring services have found it very useful. While it doesn’t do much for SEO, it does help small businesses build a loyal and sometimes local following.  Let’s take a look at the infographic for the details:

In the past a negative outlook on your business could certainly be harmful, but now it is even more damaging because it can be found online by more and more people.  As a business owner, you should make an effort to know what is being said about your business online.  One example of how important this is, is a local bulk herbal incense business that a friend of mine was doing some work for.  This company had no clue what its online reputation was, and in turn it was struggling because of one complaint.  After becoming aware of the complaint, the company had an opportunity to make it right, and encourage some positive online feedback to help the business grow.

Don’t let bad online reviews hurt your business.  Find out more about online reviews in the infographic below.

If you’ve been considering making the jump to a job you could find more rewarding, and possibly venturing out into the uncharted waters of business ownership, don’t do it until after you have thoroughly researched your options.   You will need to check with the Small Business Administration, your local lenders, and licensing agencies before you try anything brash.  You will also want to look into adt as an option for business security solutions.

Way back when Bill Gates first started Microsoft, his vision was that people were willing to pay for software.  At the time, it was a crazy idea.  To separate software (as a commodity) from hardware that was useless without it was a novel idea, and one that very nearly didn’t catch on.  It was the persistence of Gates, the timing of it all, and the fact that the microcomputers being produced then were all in need of a unifying system.  Not many people were writing code, and Microsoft had just purchased DOS.  So yes, companies (who needed computers for business) agreed to pay top dollar for software.  But the market has entirely changed since then.

Today, the driving force behind the entire PC industry is the individual consumer — not the enterprise customer base.    Consumers are defined here as regular Joe’s like you and me, who buy iPods, iPhones, Android powered tablets and smart phones, netbooks, iPads, laptops, and everything else under the sun that makes life fun.  And this, I think, is where Einhorn is right, without coming out and saying so.  It’s also what is wrong with Microsoft.  Microsoft still believes it’s the software that sells.  Microsoft also believes people are still willing to pay yesterday’s price for it.  What sells now is fun, and it’s not fluffy or insubstantial fun, but the kind that can also do business.

Take China, for example:  a recent estimate is that while Chinese computer sales remain consistent with American sales — Microsoft is getting only 5% of the payments for software from China that it does from the U.S.  China is unwilling to pay for Windows, and it doesn’t.  Most people in China who do use Windows are running pirated copies of the OS.   Granted, this isn’t the most brilliant example of a reason Ballmer needs to hang it up, but it does mark a significant trend:  people just aren’t willing to pay for Windows.  And Windows is all Microsoft’s really got.  Except for the Xbox, and I suspect Xbox is where most of the company’s growth has come from lately.

Microsoft needs to sell fun.  It needs to upgrade its philosophy and get with the times.  Microsoft needs to find something that people are willing to pay for, and go all out to make it desirable.  Even the traditional MS customer base, enterprise clients, are abandoning ship each year.  If MS wants to remain a player, it’s just got to learn to appreciate the value of play.  And this is ironic, since it is well known that Bill Gates has always loved to play games.

Large companies have been intimidated by these go-getters and have even resulted to hiring consultants to fill them in on how to deal with the Millennial mindset.  Because Millennials care about things other than working nonstop, many people mistake that they do not know how to work or value it, but they are wrong and maybe even a bit envious.  A Millennial will schedule their work day around their spin class or surfing, and enjoy themselves and still get all of their work done.  A change is coming thanks to the Millennials, nine to five, five day a week work weeks might eventually be gone for good.  Learn more about this unique generation of workers…

London tabloids are deeming the young LulzSec hacker as “Hack the Lad”, with rumors of mental instability including agoraphobic tendencies and other social vulnerabilities. We can’t be certain of anything the tabloids say, but we also can’t even be certain of Ryan’s involvement with Lulz Security Company, a vaguely described hacking collective with five to ten international members. LulzSec is an off shoot of Anonymous, another online hacking collective, and has declined to comment on Cleary’s arrest, other than to say that he was not really a part of the group, but more on the periphery. LulzSec has been on a hacking spree, recently gaining access to the United States Senate,Deals for TV,Central Intelligence Agency, and Sony, among others. LulzSec recently released hundreds of internal documents from the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Though none of the documents were marked classified, most were just flagged as sensitive, LulzSec is believed to have released the documents as a form of protest to Arizona’s border patrol policies.

These types of hacking activities are referred to as “hacktivism”, where the hackers are not seeking financial gain by accessing credit information from strangers or targeted persons in online operations, but rather they hack as a form of protest to a certain organization or industry, a sort of “virtual sit in”, if you will. Hacktivists are also commonly more interested in showing off their technical skills and/or antagonizing their targets more than financial gain. Mr. Clearly is clearly one of the later antagonists, who bombarded networks of entities like the British Serious Organized Crime Agency with so many automated messages that their networks were forced to shut down, causing a loss in services by agencies. These crimes can amount to real damages to networks and financial losses for companies, making the virtual play games these teenagers and adolescents engage in, most of the members of Anonymous and LulzSec are in their early twenties, actual criminal activity that can be prosecuted. But these cases will be harder to try because of the lack of a direct link to the damages done by hacktivists, rather than by a traditional hacker whose aim is at monetary gain and leaves a money trail. For now, however, we’ll have to see how how the Ryan Cleary case pans out, and whether or not the jury lets his young age fool them or not.

But Greece’s situation is much worse. Unlike Argentina, who runs a trade surplus with a strong agricultural market, Greece runs a trade deficit, with their production mostly tied up in services, especially tourism. With the global economy largely still in recession, tourism has easily fallen, where agriculture, especially for wheat and soybeans, is more inelastic (everyone needs to eat). Moreover, Greece’s fiscal deficit is more than three times what Argentina’s was in 2001, with debt as a percentage of GDP is at 150% for Greece while Argentina’s was 54% in 2001.

But deficits in trade and relatively larger total debt isn’t all that’s working against a Greek financial turn around: being a part of the euro zone, Greece does not have a sovereign currency to weaken and thus raise funds through. They are stuck with the rate the European Central Bank determines, along with other financial policies that could potentially help the Greeks if they still had a private sovereign banking system. While Argentina was able to unpin its currency from the dollar (what got the nation into so much trouble in the first place) and devalue it, Greece is only left with budget cuts, tax increases, and privatization.

This may be the one area where Greece has the potential to make up more ground. When Argentina tied its currency to the dollar, it also highly privatized its economy, making it very efficient. While privatization led to very high unemployment rates at the same time that their debts were mounting, only exacerbating the problem, their economic efficiency meant that they were limited in their rate of bounce back. Strong domestic urges to privatize are seen in Greece, and the government is looking to sell some of its services and ports, including the national postal service, bank, and more.

Bottom line: the main lesson Greece learns from Argentina’s history with defaulting is to avoid it. It took years for the country to even get to the point of restructuring debt after defaulting, and they’re still struggling. Or maybe we’ll never learn from history. Remember, if a Direct TV Special Offer is too good to be true, it probably isn’t.