August 27, 2001

 

Headlines---

 

     Merrilees Joins First Corp

       Simex Technologies Acquires Vendor Financial Services

          Preferred Lease Sold---Confirmed Old News

                Where is Eric Brown????

                     Mike Graneri Top Gun Seminar Dates/Places

                        Nigerian Money—Los Angeles Times Sunday Story

 

Dennis Brown, Equipment Leasing Association, Sales Tax Project Report

   Congressional estimate shows tax cut, economy Cutting into Social Security

        Job-seeking dot-commers find the good old days are no more

          M & C Leasing Co., Inc. Hires Patrick Gallo as Senior Leasing Consultant 

            Business Bank of Nevada Selects S1  for eFinance Solutions   

                 Tice Technology/Leasing Has $547,523 loss        

 

#### denotes press release

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### ############### ################ ############

 

Merrilees Joins FirstCorp as Executive Vice President

 Jim Merrilees Joins Portland, Oregon-based FirstCorp as Executive Vice
President September 4. In his previous position, Merrilees was President
of Textron Financial Corporation.

 

An active member of ELA, Merrilees presently serves on the Small Ticket Business
Council Steering Committee and the Business Communications Committee.

 

For more information on FirstCorp, please visit http://www.firstcorp.com/.

                  

         

Sites of Reference:

http://www.firstcorp.com

 

( courtesy of ELAonline.com )

 

### ################# ################### #############

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Preferred Lease Sold---Confirmed Old News

 

 ( Leasing News has never seen an official announcement, and had been

  expecting this for over a year as the Capital Werks crew were in Lake

  Tahoe and we had many stories about this.

   While it still may not be official, this advertisement comes from

     the Daily Monitor Classified Ad Section:

 

 

Sales/Marketing

 

NATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGERS/SALES EXECUTIVES

 

Preferred Lease, a CapitalWerks company, is the largest

privately held small ticket leasing company in the US.  We

are back in an aggressive growth mode with our own

warehousing credit facility and all the key syndication

sources to truly serve your vendor accounts.  These are

available to employees only (no brokers, please).

 

Preferred Lease offers:

 

A chance to make a healthy six (6) figures in W2 income

 

An extremely aggressive Compensation Package - 4 commission

structures with our without base salary

 

Rapid promotion and sales management available for the right

candidate

 

Your choice of 2 beautiful locations; Lake Tahoe, CA or

Irvine, CA

 

5,000 activated business accounts in your name that have

already contacted Preferred Lease regarding leasing

Extensive training and mentoring programs to ensure your

success

Substantial marketing support to help make you even more

successful

 

Telemarketing support group that provides signed credit

applications from customers ready to lease immediately

 

http://www.preferredusa.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Where is Eric Brown, former VP of Human Resources of Preferred Capital?

 

Yes, Eric was very talented and able to keep PC full of newly graduated

college kids.  Although Eric was good at what he did, the #1 reason that he

was able to keep college grads (including myself) coming into Preferred was

the lure of Tahoe.  Imagine going to an interview in an office with a lake

view, one of your perks is a season pass to Squaw Valley, and people

regularly take the company boat out during lunch to get some wakeboarding

in!

 

Unfortunately, the Preferred model was a bust.  It was NOT a good business

plan to take on 35 new employees a month, employees who have had no

experience in the field at all and are taking a job because it is close to

the slopes.

 

Eric has moved on to bigger and better things.  I have forwarded your letter

onto him.  I am sure that he will be flattered, but not interested.

 

 ( name with held )

 

~~

 

I received and Spam email from someone with a similar name

from a company called Pacific Associates. The content of the

the email was very similar the Preferred Leasing

(Capital)pitch of you are pre-approved call to activate your

line of credit.  I believe they are located in Newport Beach

or Costa Mesa CA.  I check it on Monday when I am back in

the office. I think the name on the letter was Eric Brown. 

 

 ( name withheld )

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Mike Graneri Top Gun Seminar Dates/Places

 

Seminar Dates and Cites

East

( Thurs, Aug 16. 2001- Newark, NJ

( Mon, Sept 10, 2001 - Boston, MA

( Mon, Nov 12, 2001 - Ft Wash, PA

South

( Mon, Oct 1, 2001- Atlanta, GA

( Mon, Oct 15, 2001 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

( Mon, Dec 10, 2001 - Charlotte, NC

Midwest

( Mon, Aug 20, 2001 - Minneapolis, MN

( Mon, Sept 17, 2001 - Denver, CO

Q Mon, Oct 22, 2001 - Chicago, ILL

West

( Mon, Nov 5, 2001 - San Diego, CA

 

àTopic: Lease Marketing Strategies.

 

àTime: 9:00 - 4:30 pm

 

àAll members of the NAELB, EAEL, AND UAEL, please take a $25.00 discount per registration.

 

Highlights

Y Telemarketing

Y Vendor Development

Y Overcoming Objections

Y Leasing Language and concepts

 

For more information:

Z Ph 732-828-8891

Z Fax 732-828-8887

Z . Granite63@aol.com

Z Web site: www.granieriassociates.com

 

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2001 GMC Yukon XL 2500

1999 Volvo S80

1995 Contender 23' CC

1999 HD fat boy (for company use only)

 

Christopher Raley

chris.raley@firstprimecapital.com

 

  ( You can see not all leasing Exec’s drive BMW or Mercedes.  In fact,

    there is quite a mix.  Perhaps a person’s personality can be told

    by the car ( or cars ) that they drive. I wonder what Ron Caruso

     drives.? editor )

\

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from Ron Caruso, Equipment Finance Journal on line  www.efj.com

 

An excerpt:

 

This continued retrenchment and reduction in headcount by

corporations is reflected in applications for jobless benefits,

which increased by a seasonally adjusted 8,000 to a total of

393,000 for the week ended August 18th. Ironically, this up tick

in unemployment is not a long-term concern, at least in the eyes

of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In its most recent study, the

Bureau projected that the gap between the number of jobs available

and the number of people to fill them would grow to a shortage of

6 million people in 2008.Moreover, this is projected to be just

the start of a shortage that will peak from 2015 to 2025, when the

bulk of the baby boomers reach retirement age.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Sunday Sermon Reaction:

 

That is the best description I have heard of "what" we do in my four short

years in our industry - I have a small stack of 3x5 affirmation cards that I

read in the morning - this has made it to the top just under my "faith"

affirmations - thank you!

 

Mark B. Fonseca"

ez2buy@bellsouth.net

 

~~~

 

Thanks for your timely comments. We must think and work positive. Good

start for a Monday morning! Thanks.

 

Mohammed Ahsan

Quail Capital Corp

mahsan@quailcap.com

 

2310 West Victory Blvd.

Burbank, CA 91506

818-843-8686 Ext. 23 (office)

818-843-3767 (fax)

 

----------------------------

Chuckle sent:

 

“It’s Not Unusual.”

 

Don't quit you daytime leasing job.

 

Rick Wilbur

rick@mediacap.com

 

~~~

 

Funny, Kit.  But I don't think anyone born after 1969 will understand it

 

Jim Fleming

nationalbusinesscredit@yahoo.com

 

( The Tom Jones Syndrome...you mean they won’t know who Tom Jones

    is or have not seen him perform??? He makes Ricky Martin look gay. editor )

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nigerian Money—Los Angeles Times Story sent in by Stu Kahn

 

Old Money-Laundering Scam Proliferating on the Internet

------

 

Kathy M. Kristof, Los Angeles Times

 

August 26 2001

 

An old scam that promises to pay Americans millions to help Nigerian "officials"
smuggle cash and valuables out of the African nation is multiplying again, thanks to the Internet.

 

Known as advanced fee or Nigerian 419 frauds--for the section of the Nigerian penal
code they violate--have become more prevalent and successful in recent months, experts say.

 

"They've been doing it for years, but they just get better and better," said Don Masters,
assistant to the special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Los Angeles office. "They went
from mailing out individual letters to going through the Internet, where they mail out massive
numbers of solicitations every day." During the first half of 2001, about 230 complaints were
received about Internet-based Nigerian money frauds by the National Fraud Information Center.
That's up dramatically from 2000, when only 83 such scams were reported for the entire year,
said NFIC director Susan Grant.

 

The growth of phone-based Nigerian frauds is far more modest, Grant said. The fraud center
received 138 complaints about phone-based Nigerian frauds for all of 2000; it received 80
during the first six months of 2001.

 

"The Nigerian frauds using the Internet are definitely increasing at an alarming rate," Grant said.
"Everyone in law enforcement is concerned about the rate at which this is growing."

 

The scam usually works like this: The victim gets a "confidential" letter or e-mail from someone
outside the United States--typically in Nigeria or another African nation. (The Secret Service has
seen these scams come from Canada, Europe and even the United States, Masters said, but it's most
frequently perpetrated by someone in Nigeria or by a Nigerian expatriate.)

 

The writer claims to be someone--a government official or deposed leader, or the wife or child
of a former military leader, for instance--who is trying to get millions of dollars in cash, gold
and/or valuables out of the country.

 

The recipient is sometimes told that he or she was chosen "through confidential inquiries made
from your country's chamber of commerce," according to several solicitations sent to Times reporters.

 

At first, targets of the scam are told that all they need to do is allow money to be transferred from
the foreign nation into their bank accounts in the U.S. For simply being a recipient of the funds,
the target supposedly will receive a generous commission on the transaction--usually 10% to 30% o

f an amount ranging from $10 million to $60 million, or anywhere from $1 million to $20 million.

 

Anyone who nibbles at the offer is likely to receive a plethora of official-looking documents by mail
and eventually will be asked to fly to some distant locale--Canada, Ghana, Sierra Leone, to name a
few--to meet with the purported official's representative.

 

That step is to ensure that the con artist has fully hooked his victim, Masters said. Though it appears
that the idea is to gain access to the victim's bank account, the real scam is to get the victim to
willingly send thousands of dollars supposedly to pay taxes, legal fees and money transfer cha

rges needed to get the money out of Nigeria.

 

"If you've already spent $600 flying to [meet the con artist], what's another $2,000 when they tell
you that they need it to pay a fee or bribe?" Masters said. "Especially when they tell you that's all
they need to get the money out of the country and then you'll have $2 million."

 

Victims are simply led on, believing that if they send one more check to pay one last fee, the money
will be released. But the fees don't stop until the victim is unwilling or unable to pay any more. At
that point, the con artist disappears. The Secret Service says some victims have lost more than

 $100,000.

 

Officials say the crime is rarely reported because the scheme hooks the victim into a potentially illegal

transaction.

 

If such a deal actually were to go through, any American who participated would be involved in money

laundering--an illegal process in which the source of ill-gotten gains is obscured by passing the
money through legitimate bank accounts, Masters said.

 

U.S. officials don't prosecute Americans who get involved in Nigerian 419 scams because the
transactions never go through. But in one case last year, a judge ruled that a victim couldn't sue Nigerian

officials to get his money back because the whole contract was illegal.

 

The Secret Service and the Nigerian government have teamed up to try to stop or at least slow the
scam. But it continues to spread because U.S. victims buy into it.

 

"Unfortunately, there is a perception that no one is prone to enter into such an obviously suspicious

relationship," a Secret Service advisory says.

 

"However, a large number of victims are enticed into believing that they have been singled out
from the masses to share in multimillion-dollar windfall profits for doing absolutely nothing."

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dennis Brown, Equipment Leasing Association, Sales Tax Project Report

 

The Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) convened in Minneapolis, August 23-24.  The Federation of

Tax Administrators and Multistate Tax Commission manage SSTP with state revenue departments staffing

the organization. Primary goals of the meeting were completion of White Papers explaining positions on

the Streamlined Sales & Use Tax Agreement released as model legislation earlier this year and deliberations

on new provisions to the Agreement for submission to the Governing States organization.  A uniform definition

of leasing is among those new provisions but was not completed in Minneapolis.  Work will continue next month.

 

A delegation from the American Automotive Leasing Association joined ELA members in meetings with revenue

officers to work on leasing definition language amenable to them. The latest draft emerging from our discussions

appears at the end of this memorandum. SSTP decided to have the Leasing Subcommittee meet again on Friday,

September 28, at a location to be announced within one week.  At that time they will tackle the following

unresolved issues:

 

            *            Sourcing and crediting

            *            Imposition questions of paying on sale price versus rental stream

            *            Accelerated sales tax

            *            Sale-Leasebacks

 

Several Project subcommittees will meet in late September.  The Tangible Personal Property Subcommittee

will gather on Thursday, September 27 to work on software and digital products definitions. The Leasing and

Bundling Subcommittees are scheduled for Friday, September 28.  I will circulate the location as soon as it is

known.  ELA members are encouraged to attend. 

 

Decisions reached in late September will be presented to the next Project meeting scheduled in Louisville,

Kentucky, October 22-23.  Completing a leasing definition in Louisville is uncertain at best.  Once the definition

is eventually approved by SSTP it will progress to the new Governing States organization. Each state that enacted

the model Uniform Sales & Use Tax Administration Act will have one vote at Governing States in a final determination

of what is included in the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement adopted as model legislation.  Both the Act and

Agreement can be accessed at the SSTP web site, www.streamlinedsalestax.org.

 

The executive branch led by the National Governors' Association and legislative branch represented by a Task

Force of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) are resolving administrative rules under which

the Governing States will operate. October is the target for gathering delegates to the first meeting of Governing

States but that will not be easy to achieve.  Many in the executive branch believe Governing States will take on

responsibilities previously assigned to the NCSL Task Force.  In contrast, state legislators generally feel the NCSL

Task Force must preserve a leading role within the Governing States structure. 

 

If the convening of Governing States is delayed the NCSL Task could examine new provisions being hammered out

by SSTP as they have done in the past.  Last time that resulted in two versions of the Act and Agreement being sent

to state legislatures.  To cap off the uncertainty, states can simply adopt the SSTP documents without NCSL

endorsement as was recently done by the Minnesota state legislature.

 

Many issues besides the leasing definition are to be resolved by the Project before submission of the revised

Agreement to Governing States.  For instance, SSTP has not decided if Tangible Personal Property (TTP) will

include digital products but real property has been removed.  Numerous definitions found in the Uniform Computer

Information Transactions Act (UCITA) have been adopted.  These include definitions of "computer information"

for digital products, definition of a computer and they may adopt the software definition.  Only UCITA definitions

are being considered and not operative provisions or judicial constructions.  The TTP Subcommittee must also

decide if Information Services should be defined.  This would include individualized information services, general

information services, database access, advertising services and interactive entertainment.  A decision to insert

these industries could position them in the same precarious position as the soft drink and vending machine industries

as targets for new taxation. It also places SSTP in the realm of defining service industries, a prospect the Project

originally wanted to avoid.

 

Multiple tax rates continue to generate comment with SSTP leaders holding to one rate per state.  State legislators

in the NCSL Task Force have a different opinion.  Differing state tax bases is another subject of debate.

 

LEASE DEFINITION:  In Section 1 "Lease or rental does not include" the SSTP Leasing Subcommittee

voted to make the following changes. 

            *            Section 1(a) "a sale" was omitted with intent to handle it in the sale definition.

            *            Section 1(d) "transfers or sales for the purpose of sublease or sublet" was dropped because the

retail sale definition has been revised to address the issue. 

            *            In Sections 1(b) and (c) [now Sections 1 (a) & (b)], the words "a sale" were changed back to

"An agreement that provides" as it had appeared in earlier drafts. 

            *            In Section 1(e) [now Section 1(c)] the following words were removed... "and the owner or supplier

of the property maintains control of the property."

 

In the new Section 1 (b) some revenue officials want to remove $100 from the nominal purchase option making it 1%

of the contract price.  For the moment, that section reads...

An agreement that provides a nominal option to purchase upon completion of required payments and the option

payment does not exceed $100 or 1% of the contract price, whichever is less.

 

The inclusion of vehicles in the Agreement continues to generate discussion among state revenue departments. 

Presently, the Terminal Rental Adjustment Clause (TRAC) remains in the definition and SSTP is still considering issues

related to the Sourcing rules and Multiple Rates.  Will the Project recognize distinctions in state laws for short and

long term vehicle rentals and leases?  Will states be allowed to continue vehicle rates that are different than other

property? Does such variance infringe on their determination to allow only one sales tax rate per state? What about

other moveable equipment such as rail cars?  Some of these questions centered on issues once brought to SSTP by

the American Rental Association (ARA) but ARA no longer attends Project meetings.

 

As expected, SSTP will follow guidelines being established by a Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) subcommittee

drafting tax priority for equipment moving between taxing jurisdictions.  MTC recently agreed to an ELA request

to revise the proposal with industry input and an amended draft should be released on Tuesday, September 4. 

A conference call with MTC to review the modified language is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11.  Contact me

by return email if you wish to participate.  Please include your name and company.

 

We were advised that some on the SSTP Executive Committee want to remove Section 3 so the lease definition would

not stand apart from other sections of a state code.  ELA feels Section 3 performs the important role of isolating

the lease definition from changes in the Uniform Commercial Code and unrelated amendments to state property

and income tax statutes.

 

Draft Lease Definition - Following is the lease definition language as it appeared when the Leasing Subcommittee

of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project adjourned on Thursday, August 23.  IT WILL BE CHANGED ON SPETEMBER 28.

 

DEFINITION OF LEASE OR RENTAL

 

To be inserted in Agreement, Section 312. Definitions.

 

Lease or rental means any transfer of possession or control of tangible personal property for a fixed or i

ndeterminate term for consideration.  A lease or rental may include future options to purchase or extend.

 

                        1)            Lease or rental does not include:

                                                a)            An agreement that provides under security agreement or

deferred payment plan for a predetermined amount that requires transfer of title.

                                                b)            An agreement that provides a nominal option to purchase

upon completion of required payments and the option payment does not exceed $100 or 1% of the contract

price, whichever is less.

                                                c)            An agreement to provide tangible personal property for a fixed

or indeterminate period of time along with an operator.

 

                        2)            Lease or rental does include:

                                                Agreements covering motor vehicles and trailers where the amount

of consideration may be increased or decreased by reference to the amount realized upon sale or disposition

of the property as defined in 26 USC 7701 (h)(1).

 

                        3)            Characterization of Transaction for Other Purposes:

                        The definition provided in this section shall be useful for the purposes of this chapter

regardless if a transaction is characterized as a lease or rental under generally accepted accounting principles,

the Internal Revenue Code, the [state commercial code], or other provisions of federal, state or local law.

 

This definition will be applied only prospectively from the date of adoption and will have no retroactive impact

on existing leases or rentals.

 

Dennis Brown

DBROWN@ELAMAIL.COM

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Congressional estimate shows tax cut, economy eating into Social Security surplus

 

 

By Curt Anderson

 

WASHINGTON – President Bush's tax cut and the nation's economic downturn will force the government to

take $9 billion out of Social Security this year to pay for other operations, breaking a bipartisan commitment

in Congress, congressional analysts reported Monday.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office offered a more pessimistic view of the government's finances

than the Bush administration did last week. The CBO estimated the total budget surplus for the fiscal year

that ends Sept. 30 at $153 billion – down $122 billion from its May estimate.

The CBO says Social Security will be tapped for $9 billion in fiscal 2001. After a small non-Social Security

surplus of $2 billion in fiscal 2002, it projects the government will use $18 billion out of the retirement

program in 2003 and $3 billion in 2004.

Republicans launch ad counteroffensive, say Democratic leaders distort truth on budget

 

While the White House projected similar numbers, it forecast a non-Social Security surplus of $1 billion this

year and next. That was just enough to permit Republicans and Democrats to say they have kept a promise

not to use Social Security tax collections for other government programs.

The CBO report was scheduled for official release Tuesday. It was obtained Monday by The Associated Press

from congressional sources.

Diverting Social Security money has no practical effect on the program. It does prevent the government from

paying down public debt as quickly as it otherwise would. But making the Social Security exempt from such

invasions has become a political priority as both parties sought the mantle as its greatest protector.

The first year of the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut championed by Bush accounts for about two-thirds of the

lowered fiscal 2001 surplus estimate, the CBO report says. A fourth of the reduction was attributed to the

troubled economy, mainly in the form of lower tax revenues. The tax cut includes $40 billion in income tax

refunds this year and deferring about $33 billion in business taxes into fiscal 2002.

CBO analysts say the economy should "narrowly avoid recession and recover gradually next year." The recovery,

however, is projected to be less robust than the 3.2 percent growth rate estimated by the White House Office of

Management and Budget. The CBO is forecasting 2.6 percent gross domestic product growth next year, slightly

below private consensus estimates.

Over the next 10 years, the CBO is forecasting a $3.4 trillion surplus counting Social Security, down from $5.6

trillion in its May forecast. Bush's tax cut and the associated changes in interest costs account for more than

$1.7 trillion of the surplus reduction.

Those numbers assume no additional spending by Congress, including items already promised by lawmakers,

such as a Medicare prescription drug benefit, increases for defense and education and a new $74 billion farm bill.

The Bush administration last week forecast a surplus of $158 billion this year, $173 billion next year and $3.1

trillion over the next 10 years. Over the decade, the White House figured defense spending at $198 billion

above the numbers used by the CBO and Medicare spending $37 billion higher.

The White House used a Social Security accounting change and a few other assumptions to claim that

Social Security would remain untouched this year; the CBO did not use those same assumptions.

The president last week said the Social Security fund should not be tapped unless the nation was at war

or in a recession. He has said that Congress can avoid dipping into it by controlling spending. Yet many of

the spending proposals that could force use of the retirement trust fund were made by Bush, not

congressional Democrats.

Aside from the political fight, the main impact of the CBO forecast would be on repayment of public debt.

The CBO says its new estimate will delay maximum debt repayment by four years compared with its May forecast.

__________________________________________________________________

 

Job-seeking dot-commers find the good old days are no more

 

 

By David Plotnikoff

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

 

SAN JOSE -- For the Internet's largest job sites, it's as if the rivers have begun to flow backward. The

tremendous imbalance that existed at the height of the dot-com boom -- with a glut of attractive jobs

and a dearth of qualified applicants -- has been flipped on its head in the last six to 12 months.

Just how extreme is the shift in the ratio of jobs to job-hunters? Monster.com, the Net's No.1 career site,

had 16.8 million registered job-seekers in July, up from 8 million in July 2000. Monster currently lists 11.5

million resumes in its database, up from 4 million a year ago.

At Headhunter.net, there were 35 million searches by job-hunters in May, up from 18 million in February.

The average job posting was looked at 110 times in May, up from 85 in February.

Longer job searches -- five or 10 times as long as last year, in some cases -- are the rule across almost

all industries. "I know that on the message boards at Monster.com a year ago you wouldn't have 15 people

saying, 'I've been searching for a job for three months. And I have two years of Java experience. And I'm

not finding a job,' " said Allan Hoffman, Monster.com's tech jobs expert.

The sudden change in climate has come as a particular shock to younger workers whose only job experience

had been in the dot-com arena. "The swagger's gone," said HotJobs chief executive Dimitri Boylan. "It's taking

the young dot-commers a little while to fully recognize that most employers are all looking at them the same

way -- 'You have three years of experience? You're a junior-level person.' "

On HotJobs, tech positions, which make up about a quarter of job postings, are down 32 percent from this

time last year. Those searching for tech jobs are up 204 percent.

Boylan says HotJobs itself is among the Net companies to benefit from the tech talent glut, which began to

be noticeable on the service in December. The company has hired more than 30 people in June and July.

"Some of those were positions we just had an incredibly difficult time filling last year," said Boylan. "Now

we're cherry-picking great people with the exact experience we're looking for."

The reversal in polarity hasn't necessarily triggered a reversal in mind-set among job-seekers. "Even though

they know the situation has changed, they still feel they should be acting like they're in the driver's seat,"

said Monster.com's Hoffman. "There hasn't been a wholesale change in attitude from the way things were

a year ago. . . . Certain people with enough experience can still shop around for jobs, but the number of people

who can do that is certainly smaller."

Ron Self, president and chief operating officer of Headhunter.net, said he's seen no marked change in mind-set

among job-seekers. "People are maybe a little less demanding in their expectations for a job. They won't shop

quite as much, but I sure don't think people are jumping at the first thing. I do think people are nervous about

their existing jobs."

While the reversal in the jobs-to-seekers ratio has been felt across the board, there are some notable exceptions.

Within technology, experts say, the engineering sector is stronger than tech as a whole, and highly experienced

job-seekers in the hottest fields -- such as wireless -- are still in relatively strong demand.

Beyond technology, education and health care remain the two great exceptions, where long-standing shortages

of qualified workers continue to tip the balance in favor of the job-seeker.

Hoffman says tech workers headed to corporate life after a year or two in the Internet goldfields must not measure

their current worth by Net standards: "There was this unreal situation where you could have not all that much

experience, you picked up some skills very quickly, and you were calling the shots, picking up lots
of job offers. That's over."

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

### ############### ##################### ##################

 

Simex Technologies, Inc. Announces Closing of Two Acquisitions   

 

   Vendor Financial Services

                                                                                                                                                                                           

ATLANTA--SIMEX Technologies (SMXT), Inc. announced today that it has closed the acquisition of Vendor

Leasing Financial Services, Inc. ("Vendor Leasing") in Alpharetta, Georgia and Helleviks VVS Plumbing ("Helleviks")

in Norway.

    The acquisition of Vendor Leasing is another positive step in the continued growth of SIMEX. Kjell Jagelid,

President and CEO of SIMEX, stated that, "This acquisition will give SIMEX the opportunity to broaden its already

well-established oil and gas services by offering a natural expansion into the international financing of
marine and oil and gas related equipment. Vendor Leasing is expected to originate $14,000,000 in lease
contract commitments over the next twelve months and should contribute additional profit to our operations."

    The purchase price for Vendor Leasing was $100,000 cash at closing, 500,000 shares of restricted
common stock and a future cash payment of $110,000 provided certain performance targets are met.
Vendor Leasing will continue to operate under the same name as a division of SIMEX. SIMEX has also
moved its headquarters to 602 Abbey Court, Alpharetta, Georgia 30004 in order to

consolidate some of its administrative operations with those of Vendor Leasing.

 

    Helleviks has been an acquisition target of SIMEX for a long time. "In acquiring Helleviks, we have
increased our market-position in one of the most expanding markets in Europe and have completed
our plan to become the `Leading Technical Contractor' by acquiring one of the strongest diversified
Technical Contractor positions in the market," stated Elmer Lunde, Chairman of the Board.

 

    Helleviks is expected to provide SIMEX with an additional $1,000,000 in annual revenue.
SIMEX paid $55,000 cash and 200,000 shares of restricted common stock for Helleviks,
which was based on SIMEX's valuation of Helleviks assets.

 

    SIMEX is a diversified technical contractor, engineering and service company. The company
performs design, engineering, fabrication, production, installation and maintenance services
on commercial projects for the offshore oil and gas industry and for onshore commercial,
industrial and government projects. In addition, the company is engaged in concrete
post-tensioning construction for offshore oil and gas drilling platforms, bridges and other related
concrete construction projects and offers integrated contract services for heating, ventilation,
and air conditioning systems. The company's wholly-owned subsidiary, SIMEX A/S, is a fully-certified
civil engineering firm based in Stavanger, Norway.

 

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M & C Leasing Co., Inc. Hires Patrick Gallo as Senior Leasing Consultant              

                                                                                                                                                                       

M & C Leasing Co., Inc. has hired Patrick Gallo formerly with Wells Fargo Bank in Denver Co., to
head up the sales team.  Patrick will be responsible for Vendor Relations, and New Market Development.
With the recent success of M & C Leasings small ticket broker division, additional personnel are needed
for the continued growth of M & C’s 48 years in the leasing industry.

 

CONTACT:

Brian Gallo

Phone Number: 1-716-873-6800

( courtesy ELAonline.com )

           

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Business Bank of Nevada Selects S1 Corporation as its New Provider of eFinance Solutions

 

    LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- --Business Bank of Nevada (OTCBB:BBNV) announced today that
it has selected S1 Corporation

(Nasdaq:SONE), a leading global provider of Enterprise eFinance

software, as its new Internet banking provider.

 

    S1 will provide the Bank and its growing number of Internet

banking customers with some of the most innovative and comprehensive

eFinance solutions available in the marketplace today.

 

    Business Bank introduced its online banking service in September

of last year and was one of the first community banks in Nevada to

offer this service. The Bank now has nearly 500 customers who are

signed up for Internet banking and regularly use this service to do

their banking online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which the Bank

currently offers as a FREE service.

 

    According to Business Bank President and CEO John Guedry, the move

to S1 should receive high praise from existing online banking

customers and result in a greater number of new customers signing up

for this convenient service. "S1's proven technology, coupled with its

breadth and depth of Internet banking applications, will help us

strengthen our customer relationships and gain a competitive advantage

in the markets where we do business. We also believe S1's

state-of-the-art data center will provide us and our customers with a

more reliable service that will allow customers to bank when, where,

and how they want," said Guedry.

 

    "Business Bank of Nevada has demonstrated a strong commitment to

ensure that their customers have the most beneficial technology

available and we are proud to work with them," said Dave Dobronski,

Vice President for S1 Corporation. "S1 Enterprise eFinance solutions

were developed to empower financial institutions like Business Bank of

Nevada and help them increase revenue through their expanded products

and services as well as to ensure that their customers have the

solutions they need in order to successfully manage their business and

personal finances."

 

    Some of the key S1 services that will be available to Business

Bank customers who use online banking include Q-Cards and direct check

re-ordering through the Bank's check vendor. The Q-Card application

is an Internet banking tool that can help customers and businesses

better manage their daily balances. Some of the other features

available to customers include viewing account information, transferring money between accounts, account

reconciliation, issuing stop payments, downloading loan applications and more.

 

    The Bank will also roll out a limited cash management product next

month that will provide businesses with such capabilities as wire

transfers, account access with multiple administrators and a higher

level of PC-based security. By the end of the year, the Bank hopes to

implement a full ACH functionality into its cash management product so

businesses can issue their payroll, execute EFT tax payments, and much

more.

 

    "We have always viewed online banking service as a work in

progress and, with Internet technology continually evolving, we've

made the commitment to upgrade our system with the most innovative technology available,"
Guedry said. "We live in a convenience-oriented

society that not only wants but demands services that make life

easier, and the Internet is a tool that lends itself to that

lifestyle."

 

    About Business Bank

 

    Business Bank, with over $190 million in total assets, is in its

sixth year of operation and is one of the fastest-growing independent

banks in Nevada. The Bank has four branch offices in the state, with three in the Las Vegas area

and one in Carson City. Business Bank is

FDIC Insured and is a member of