Have you been wondering where all the money is coming from to fund all of these 4LA’s (four-letter acronyms) the government has been cooking up lately? The TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) and ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) will be funded by taxpayers, but especially the guy or gal looking back at you in the mirror every morning as you prepare yourself to go to work in your roofing business.

Have you been wondering where all the money is coming from to fund all of these 4LA’s (four-letter acronyms) the government has been cooking up lately? The TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) and ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) will be funded by taxpayers, but especially the guy or gal looking back at you in the mirror every morning as you prepare yourself to go to work in your roofing business.

The coming tsunami of taxation will doubtless take on many forms. The 4LA’s will be repaid with increases in business taxes and payroll taxes together with a vast array of new “fees,” some of which you will be able to pass on and some of which you will just have to absorb. Many of these new fees and taxes will probably add to the inflation that is being forecast as the economy turns around and heads back into positive territory.

So how to prepare? Good question - and this blogger does not pretend to have an answer. If you follow the mantra of most business gurus who tell us to “preserve cash,” that makes sense on many levels for the near term. As business continues to taper off for some, spare cash is going to be required to maintain the staff and service levels required to remain viable. If inflation picks up, your cash will quickly become worth less (not worthless… just worth less).

Many months ago I wrote that if I had my choice of recession or inflation I would take recession every day. Depending on how this recession plays out, we may get both. Ouch. Hard to imagine we are going through the easy part now, but if inflation increases to levels even half what we saw in the late 60s and early 70s we are going to be in for some more interesting times.

The good news is there is time to plan, and if you keep your eyes on trends it is possible to see it coming. I hope that in our business the handoff between recession and a return to robust sales (and the inflation that may come) will see roofing contractors being better equipped and better trained than ever to deliver the best product we have ever made. No reason progress stops just because growth has taken a holiday.

But the future is not the most important thing right now. While keeping an eye on what is coming, the real key is finding the answer to the burning question: “What are we doing to get paid this week?”