At this moment, factories no longer want to finance inventory, even though interest rates are coming down.

FORBES: Chinese Manufacturing Is Crashing

He asks: Shouldn't there be a way to give credit to store owners who get their suppliers to finance their inventory?

FORBES: Retailers

"Foreclosure sales, short sales and first-time homebuyers taking advantage of tax credits is purely illusionary and hides the underlying problems of lending and inventory, " says Anthony Sanders, a finance professor at George Mason University's Hall School of Management.

FORBES: Real Estate

Common causes of slipping margins include increased product costs, increased shipping expense, finance costs, sales and discounting or inventory shrinkage due to theft or waste (food business).

FORBES: There Is Nothing Gross About Profit

Andy Firoved, CEO of Homeowner's Toolbox, a housing finance company, says there's a lack of noncontingent inventory, or housing that isn't tied up by short sales and foreclosures.

FORBES: Magazine Article