• “EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION HAS BECOME A CRITICAL FACTOR IN REDUCING POST-PANDEMIC ANXIETY, which is known to reduce job satisfaction, negatively affect personal interrelationships with colleagues, and decrease work performance by up to 500%… A recent 5000-worker survey also found over half saying that vague communication is contributing to their feeling of being burned out”– particularly as regarding their expectation for flexibility in continuing to work remotely, versus returning to commute and company hours. “Because communicating about the future can drive performance outcomes today, leaders should consider increasing the frequency of employee updates – both to share what’s already decided and what remains uncertain.” [McKINSEY – 4/1/21]
  • REAL ESTATE OWNERS WERE OVERLOOKED IN EARLY PANDEMIC RESPONSE SUPPORT, but subsequent Acts and Bills by various federal, state & local agencies now provide meaningful tax reduction through accelerated deductions, including: (1) Expensing of numerous costs under Safe Harbor dollar thresholds; (2) Expanded section 179 write-offs up to $2.5M for roofs, HVAC and fire protection equipment; (3) New definition of ‘repairs’ like rooftop units and replacement of structural components, including write-off for remaining basis of previous years capitalized property; (4) Now 15 versus 39-year depreciation for qualified leasehold improvements, renovation projects and build-outs; (5) Immediate Bonus depreciation for acquired or used property, and accelerated depreciation for Cost Segregated assets. [ACCOUNTING TODAY – 3/30/21]
  • AMERICANS, FRUSTRATED BY PANDEMIC LOCKDOWNS, responded by drinking more alcohol, bingeing more often, driving fewer miles but doing so faster (in California, doubling the tickets for over-100mph speeding), more recklessly (like running stop signs & red lights), and resulting in road accident fatalities up by 24% per mile driven – the biggest increase in 100 years. Additionally, increase in number of drivers with unfastened seat belts also likely stemmed from frustration. [ECONOMIST – 4/3/21]
  • TODAY’S RANTS ABOUT ‘ANTI-RACISM’ reflect a “pathology that is flagrantly directed at ‘Whiteness,’ decrying that all members of white race are toxic… which can then be applied to individuals deemed undeserving because they are white – a deductive doctrine used to justify (real) racial bias and preferences to enhance careers & profits, and an excuse to contextualize (real, new age) racist language & behavior… This obsession is of an America gone mad… including the contention that a white lower-middle-class generation, born in the post-Civil Rights movement and age of Affirmative Action with White Supremacy have devolved into so-called White Privilege… Today we have multimillionaire CNN anchor Don Lemon pontificating without evidence that ‘the biggest terror threat in this country is white men,’ and the far richer Colin Kaepernick (of mixed ancestry raised by two white parents) now scapegoating his athletic descent onto a ‘white racist society that ruined his career,’ even as ‘it’ enriched him beyond the imagination of 329 million other Americans.” A deeply thoughtful analysis by Victor Davis Hansen: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2021/03/29/is_racism_moral_now_539260.html?utm_source=rcp-today&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mailchimp-newsletter&mc_cid=712a941b5a&mc_eid=afc66dfbec
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:  Remote virtual workers make sense economically for many companies but, for many and especially creative organizations, “business is a team sport which needs team chemistry developed through physical proximity & ability to bounce creative ideas around – as much a human need as a critical business factor.” 

           If bias & censorship of media bother you, a video about the dangers of 3rd party ‘fact checking’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0_2i1EUYyg