What’s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners today?

Management

o  The Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission have put together a list of a few popular small-business scams to watch for, including charity pitches: while many charity requests are legitimate, “every year small-business people become victims of fraudulent or deceptive charitable solicitation schemes. Make sure to always check out the charity at give.org.”

o  A Home Depot wedding proposal video goes viral.

The Economy

·  Lawrence H. Summers withdraws from consideration for chairman of the Federal Reserve.

·  Here’s what might really happen if Congress plays chicken with the debt ceiling.

·  On the fifth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, President Obama warns his opponents not to oppose raising the nation’s debt limit, not threaten to close down the government in a budget fight, and not to push to delay the health care law or starve it of federal money.

·  Gretchen Morgenson thinks little has been done to protect us from another financial collapse: “For all the new regulations governing derivatives, mortgages and bank holding companies, a crucial vulnerability remains. It’s found in our vast and opaque securities-financing system, known as the repurchase obligation or repo market. Now $4.6 trillion in size, it is where almost every financial crisis since the 1980s has begun. Little has been done, however, to reduce its risks.”

Around the Country

·  On the Jersey Shore, dozens of businesses were destroyed by the recent fire — including a much beloved family business — and many of them did not have fire insurance.

Finance

·  PayPal pledges to overhaul its approach to crowd funding.

Technology

·  Oxford researchers say 45 percent of America’s occupations will be automated within the next 20 years.

·  A record number of cyber-attacks are targeting small business.

·  Want your very own Nsa.org e-mail address? It’s only $100.