Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

According to the most recent SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard, hiring remains flat and paychecks are virtually flat in May over the previous month. But small business optimism skyrocketed. Given that we didn’t see an increase in small business hiring or pay, it’s a little surprising that three out of four small business owners indicate they are optimistic about the economy – an enormous increase over last month when only half indicated being optimistic.

In general, manufacturers have little reason to, say, swap out incandescent lightbulbs for CFLs in their factories unless there is some sort of financial incentive. There is no bigger incentive than having one of your main customers--in this case, the world's largest consumer product manufacturer Procter & Gamble--ask you to shape up or get out

After we wrote about how many solar panel makers fared badly on The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 's 2011 Solar Scorecard , the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) nearly fell over itself to respond, telling us that the solar industry is cleaning up its act--and fast.

Can clean solar energy offset dirty production methods?

The last couple days have brought numerous positive reports about the economy. Most show jobs climbing, others show decreased layoffs and still others indicate increased capital investment. But what isn’t being talked about is what’s going on with the country’s smallest businesses