Delivering some tough love on acquiring a franchise, Joel Libava talks with Jim Blasingame about the key issues that are involved in buying a franchise, including cyclical headwinds and perennial challenges.

Reporting on the Tatum Survey of economic conditions for March 2010, Sam Norwood joins Jim Blasingame to identify the areas where the economy is lagging, like capital expenditures, and those that are improving, like employment and order backlogs. They also talk about some of the emotional issues that are holding back the recovery.

Promoting women-owned businesses internationally, Terry Neese joins Jim Blasingame to talk about some of the things that are being done to help women in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries to claim their place in society and the global marketplace.

The shadow banking system caused the financial crisis, as David Adler reports with Jim Blasingame, when confidence collapsed in the unregulated banking transactions between Wall Street banks. Adler says this system is larger than the visible banking industry and the problem still has not been addressed.

There is a new franchise acquisition learning center. Joel Libava joins Jim Blasingame to talk about some of the educational resources he has developed for his new Franchise Online University.