It warms my heart when we host our monthly editorial advisory luncheons in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. Our goal is to bring business leaders together for a round table chat to gauge the local business climate.

I know a way to speed up your computer significantly. When you start your workday, you will marvel at how quickly it boots to the desktop. When you open a previously slow-launching program, you will be amazed at how much faster it loads. When you double-click on a spreadsheet, Excel will open almost instantaneously. All that is needed to experience this computing nirvana is a solid-state drive (SSD).

As we head into the tax filing season, taxpayers are always looking for ways to lower their tax burden. As Judge Learned Hand once wrote: “Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”

In the past few years we struggled to find good news to report. That can prove a bit tricky when confronted with a sluggish economy, rising taxes, cutbacks and crime. Our mission is to provide positive local business news and connect business leaders together to be a support group for each other.