The assets of California-based U.S. mortgage bank IndyMac were seized by U.S. federal regulators as the bank became the second-largest financial institution in the country to fail in the country's history. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said late Friday evening in California that IndyMac's failure was the largest U.S. bank crash since the fall of the Continental Illinois National Bank in 1984.

America's largest ethnic minority, the diverse Hispanic community, finds itself in an important strategic position for the 2008 presidential election.

With the Small Business Act of 1953, the U.S. Congress established that as many Federal Government contracts as practical should be awarded to small businesses. Specifically, the federal marketplace has a mandated small business contracting goal of 23 percent. A recent report from the Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General reveals that not only is that goal being missed, it's being done so to the benefit of large firms, including Fortune 500 companies.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence. Spurred by growing entrepreneurial trends and affluence among the nation's largest minority population, the increase is expected to come at a robust rate of 8.5 and 8.7 percent, respectfully, over the next couple years.

For more than two decades, the annual Hispanic Business 500 directory has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy. A purchase of the 2007 directory provides the top 500 Hispanic-owned companies list in Excel format including: CEO names; company addresses and telephone numbers; e-mail addresses for 375 companies and Web addresses for 430 companies; and company revenue and employees numbers for 2005 and 2006.

Wholesalers are rationing rice. Gas prices are higher than ever. Your family vacation is costing you twice what you planned. In this economic environment you and your business are still expected to turn a profit. It's time for some serious time at the drawing board. We talked with the nation's top Hispanic Business CEOs who have already had those meetings. They've seen local markets dry up, customer tastes change with the wind, and now they share what they're doing to stay strong in the tough times.

The Hispanic Businesses 500, which contains some of the nation's most dynamic and well-established firms, saw a worrisome 0.6 percent decline in total revenues in 2007. A review of the 2007 economic accomplishments of the 500 largest Hispanic companies suggests that Wall Street's failings were significantly impacting Main Street in 2007.

Hispanic baseball fans are driving attendance numbers to record heights. Aggressive marketing plans and an increased number of Hispanic ballplayers and managers have made Hispanic attendance a critical element to the bottom lines of many major league teams. If that sounds like hyperbole, consider this. More than half of all fans who watched Los Angeles Dodger games at Chavez Ravine in 2007 were Hispanic. That represents nearly two million baseball lovers.