Category: business and finance

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Manufacturers’ Optimism Hits 20-Year High in NAM Survey

Trump thumbs up

As Manufacturers Meet President Trump to Talk Regulations, Taxes and Infrastructure, Industry Is More Confident in Improving Business Climate

by Jennifer Drogus
March 31, 2017

Washington, D.C., Fresh off the heels of the third straight month of manufacturing job growth, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) today released the first Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey since President Donald Trump took office. The survey shows a dramatic shift in sentiment, with more than 93 percent of manufacturers feeling positive about their economic outlook. This is the highest in the survey’s 20-year history, up from 56.6 percent one year ago and 77.8 percent in December.

The NAM’s release of the survey coincided with a meeting of small and medium-sized manufacturers at the White House today.

“Across America, manufacturers’ optimism is soaring, in no small part because of President Trump’s laser-like focus on pursuing bold action, particularly on rethinking red tape to address regulatory reform, to accelerate a jobs surge in America,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons.

“As the survey shows, manufacturers of all sizes are now less concerned about the business climate going forward because they are counting on President Trump to deliver results. Small manufacturers—more than 90 percent of our membership—are among the hardest hit by regulatory obstacles. Regulatory costs for small manufacturers with fewer than 50 employees total almost $35,000 per employee per year—money that could otherwise go to creating jobs. It’s encouraging to see an administration so focused on providing regulatory relief to spur manufacturing growth.

“We are grateful for the chance to meet with the president today as we continue to tell the White House directly which regulations are still the biggest obstacles to a manufacturing surge. There is much work to be done, and manufacturers have the solutions on regulatory reform as well as on infrastructure investment, workforce development, bold comprehensive tax reform and a host of other issues.”

The survey shows not only a positive outlook but also that concerns about the business environment have dropped. When manufacturers were asked to identify top challenges to their business, concerns about the business environment fell to third place. This had previously been respondents’ top concern since the question was added to the survey in 2011.

For the past 20 years, the NAM has surveyed its membership of more than 14,000 large and small manufacturers to gain insight into their economic outlook, hiring and investment decisions and business concerns. The NAM releases these results to the public each quarter.

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Extreme couponing helps Virginia woman feed the hungry

Lauren Puryear

THOMAS BARLAS Staff Writer

Lauren Puryear literally took her quest to feed the hungry to the extreme.

The thousands of coupons she has clipped, along with others donated to her cause, are paying off, primarily in urban centers in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Coupons have helped the 29-year-old Virginia resident and New Jersey native from Union County put together 26,000 meals since September, at an estimated cost of $500. An additional 5,000 meals were served with the help of money and food donations.

“We were paying out of our own pockets, and (food and money) donations weren’t enough,” Puryear said of her organization, For the Love of Others. “Then I was introduced to couponing.”

Poverty rates for Baltimore and the nation’s capital are 24 percent and 18 percent, respectively, according to the Census Bureau.

Atlantic City’s poverty rate is higher — about 33 percent in 2015. The rate is much higher for families with children younger than 18 — about 45 percent.

https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/hungry/extreme-couponing-helps-virginia-woman-feed-the-hungry/article_fb037ada-412d-5c1b-83b9-4f77252c53ef.html

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Pricey N.J. college gets stung by credit agency junk rating

Drew University

By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 20, 2017 at 2:13 PM, updated March 20, 2017 at 4:30 PM

MADISON — New Jersey’s second-most expensive college has been losing money and faces a difficult path to regaining financial stability, according to a Wall Street credit rating agency.

Moody’s Investors Service on Friday downgraded Drew University, a private college of about 1,800 students in Madison, for the second time in 15 months.

The downgrade reflects “the continued weakening of the university’s financial viability,” Moody’s reported. Drew, which costs more than $47,000 a year in tuition and fees, is operating with unsustainable deficits and relies on loans or money from its diminishing endowment to cover its bills, the agency said.

Moody’s dropped Drew’s rating from Ba3 to B2 on one set of bonds and from Ba3 to B3 on another. All of those ratings are categorized as junk bonds on Wall Street, and Drew’s credit outlook remains negative.

The latest downgrade could make it more expensive for Drew to borrow money in the future. It also marks the latest sign of financial trouble at the state’s small private colleges, where enrollment has plummeted as students seek less expensive options.

“This is disappointing,” university President MaryAnn Baenninger wrote in a letter about the downgrade sent to faculty and staff. “But it will not deter us from continuing steady progress towards a sustainable financial future.”

https://www.nj.com/education/2017/03/pricey_nj_college_gets_stung_by_credit_agency_junk_rating.html#incart_river_home

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Big Bird Is Rich, So Why Does He Need Taxpayer Money?

big-bird-screenshot-100312

As night follows day, defenders of big government trotted out “Sesame Street’s” Big Bird as the poster child of President Trump’s terrible spending cuts.

The Daily Beast story on Trump’s budget proposal to cut taxpayer funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting features an ax-wielding man about to chop Big Bird’s head off. Politico has a story titled “Can Big Bird Survive Trump?” In a “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” segment mocking Trump’s budget, Donald Trump fires Big Bird.

These folks would do well to find a new mascot. Big Bird is big business, and doesn’t need taxpayer money to survive.

First, let’s take a look at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces “Sesame Street.”

Last year, Sesame Workshop had $121.6 million in revenues. Of that, $49.6 million came in distribution fees and royalties and $36.6 million in licensing of toys, games, clothing, food and such. In 2014, only 4% of its revenue came from government grants.

Despite being a taxpayer-supported nonprofit, Sesame Workshop pays its top executives fabulously well.

https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/big-bird-is-rich-so-why-does-he-need-taxpayer-money/

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New Jersey Native Nominated to take the Helm of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Screenshot 2017-03-16 at 12
March 16,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, President Donald Trump this week nominated New Jersey native J. Christopher Giancarlo to serve as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission .The commission regulates the derivatives market, a part of Wall Street that has been criticized for helping spur the financial crisis of 2008.

Giancarlo, who grew up in north Jersey and lives in Haworth in Bergen County, has served as a commissioner on the board since 2014 an acting commissioner since January.

Giancarlo was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Government Department Honors.  Mr. Giancarlo received his law degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law where he was an associate research editor at the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and President of the Law School’s International Law Society. Mr. Giancarlo has been a member of the Bar of the State of New York since 1985

He was nominated by President Obama on August 1, 2013 and confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate on June 3, 2014.  On June 16, 2014, he was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner for a term expiring in April 2019.  Mr. Giancarlo was designated per seriatim as Acting Chairman of the Commission on January 20, 2017.

Before entering public service, Mr. Giancarlo served as the Executive Vice President of GFI Group Inc., a financial services firm. Prior to joining GFI, Mr. Giancarlo was Executive Vice President and U.S. Legal Counsel of Fenics Software and was a corporate partner in the New York law firm of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner. Mr. Giancarlo joined Brown Raysman from Giancarlo & Gleiberman, a law practice founded by Mr. Giancarlo in 1992 following his return from several years in London with the international law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle.

Mr. Giancarlo was also a founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of eSecurities, Trading and Regulation on the Internet (Leader Publications).  In addition, Mr. Giancarlo has testified three times before Congress regarding the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, and has written and spoken extensively on public policy, legal and other matters involving technology and the financial markets.

Fresh on the heels of being nominated by the White House Tuesday to be Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, J. Christopher Giancarlo spelled out plans to reorganize the agency and “right-size” its regulatory footprint.

“The overly prescriptive regulation of American derivative markets is a part and parcel of the over-regulation of the US economy that thwarts revival of American prosperity,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the International Futures Industry conference in Boca Raton, Florida, Wednesday.

To carry out one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders of regulatory reform, Giancarlo announced the launch of an agency-wide review of CFTC regulations and practices “to make them simpler, less burdensome and less costly,” and said the CFTC will seek public comment on that effort.

The regulatory reform initiative, dubbed Project KISS for “Keep It Simple Stupid” will be led by Mike Gill, Giancarlo’s chief of staff, who will serve as the “regulatory reform officer.”

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N.J. experiences largest private sector job growth in 16 years

Chris_Christie_Governor_of_New_Jersey

“We’re actually now over-performing the rest of the country, and I would suggest to you that the reason that there is that lag is because New Jersey is still a very expensive place to work and do business, and if the legislature had been willing to do other tax cuts and other measures that I put and recommended on property taxes and income taxes, perhaps we’d be in even better shape and it would’ve happened even faster. But, we’re certainly better off than we were from 2001 to 2009, when there was zero net private-sector job growth during a time” Governor Chris Christie

 

By KATHERINE LANDERGAN

03/13/17 03:08 PM EDT

Gov. Chris Christie on Monday heralded the state’s fiscal health as new figures showed New Jersey last year experienced the largest spike in private sector job growth since 2000.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the state gained 60,800 private sector jobs last year, meaning New Jersey recovered all of the jobs it lost during the recession, and then added another 65,000 jobs.

“This didn’t happen by accident,” Christie, a Republican, said at a press conference in Englewood Cliffs. “The tax cuts we put in place, holding the line on other taxes, the 2 percent property tax cap — all of these things are bearing fruit.”

Christie also said the state has shown strong gains in construction, the tourism industry, and the number of new businesses filings, and has seen a decline in foreclosures.

“It’s great news for the state and we should stop the drumbeat that somehow New Jersey is underperforming from a jobs perspective,” he said.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/03/nj-experiences-largest-private-sector-growth-in-16-years-110315

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Meet the Snake Who Killed Hundreds of N.J. Jobs

Remove term: Northern Pine Snake Northern Pine Snake

POSTED BY: MATT ROONEY MARCH 10, 2017

The facts speak for themselves once you get past the hysteria.

Do your homework: Each Wal-Mart superstore can employee several hundred (or more) employees, Save Jerseyans, depending upon its size. These stores provide employment opportunities and affordable goods particularly in areas where the population is struggling and/or lacks sufficient levels of education or skilled training. It’s a win-win for the local community and the overall economy.

https://savejersey.com/2017/03/snake-toms-river-wal-mart-jobs/

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Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno Celebrates Tourism Successes and Improved Revenues

artchick_jerseyshore_theridgewoodblog

photo by ArtChick

March 10,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton, NJ ,Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno today attended the New Jersey Conference on Tourism to discuss the New Jersey Tourism Industry’s diverse attractions for all seasons and the improvements the industry has made over the last year.

New Jersey again set a record in 2016, with the tourism industry accounting for $44.1 billion in economic impact – an increase of more than 2.9 percent over the previous year. This was in part due to an increase in visitation to New Jersey, which increased for the seventh straight year. The number of visitors to New Jersey increased by 3.3 percent last year to 98 million.

“Over the last seven years, as the Lt. Governor and Secretary of State, I’ve traveled hundreds of thousands of miles across this great State seeing the amazing and diverse attractions we have to offer,” said Lt. Governor Guadagno. “So, it’s no surprise that the Travel and Tourism Industry had another year of increased growth across all seasons.”

In 2016, the tourism industry directly supported more than 321,231 jobs. When factoring in indirect impacts, more than a half million jobs – or nearly one in 10 of all New Jersey jobs – depended on tourism. The New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism recently released promising numbers from the past year. In 2016, tourism in New Jersey generated $4.9 billion in state and local tax revenues. Without the tourism industry, New Jersey households would each need to pay $1,525 in order to maintain the current level of state and local government services.

To learn more about New Jersey Tourism, visit www.visitnj.org.

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39.1%: CBO Says U.S. Has Highest Top Statutory Corporate Tax Rate in G20

irs

By Terence P. Jeffrey | March 9, 2017 | 9:36 AM EST

(CNSNews.com) – The United States has the highest top statutory corporate tax rate—39.1%–of any nation in the G20, according to a study released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office.

That rate is nearly twice as high as the 20-percent rate in Russia, which, along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, has the lowest statutory corporate tax rate in the G20.

The U.S. won the top spot on the statutory-corporate-tax-rate list after Japan and Germany, which formerly ranked first and second, cut their rates.

“The United States made no change in federal corporate tax rates between 2003 and 2012,” said the CBO, “and by 2012, it had the highest top statutory rate in the G20.”

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/391-cbo-says-us-has-highest-top-statutory-corporate-tax-rate-g20

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N.J. lawmakers want to block this airline from flying out of Newark Airport

Emirates Airline

By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 08, 2017 at 1:23 PM, updated March 08, 2017 at 4:43 PM

WASHINGTON — Emirates Airline, owned by the United Arab Emirates, is about to launch flights between Newark Liberty International Airport and Athens.

Members of the New Jersey and New York congressional delegations want to block them.

The reason? They say Emirates and two other non-union Middle Eastern airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have gotten $50 billion in government subsidies in violation of the Open Skies agreements removing limits on international flights to and from the U.S.

“While we support expanding flight options and greater connectivity, we do not support subsidy-enabled flights that cost American jobs and could violate U.S. trade agreements,” a bipartisan group of 25 New Jersey and New York lawmakers wrote to President Donald Trump in advance of Emirates’ maiden flight on Saturday.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/nj_lawmakers_seek_to_block_an_international_flight.html?utm_campaign=new-jersey-politics&utm_content=2017-09-03-9086822&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

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Investors bet Trump-fueled tech rally far from over

Louis Rukeyser

photo Louis Rukeyser

By Noel Randewich | SAN FRANCISCO

Technology companies have been a driving force behind the U.S. stock market’s recent record rally, and despite mounting evidence of stretched valuations the sector remains a top pick for investors expecting a wave of capital expenditures by U.S. corporations.

Corporate tax cuts and reduced regulations planned by President Donald Trump will give companies reason to spend more on cloud computing, factory automation and smart connectivity that will directly benefit Silicon Valley, many on Wall Street believe.

“The tax cuts are going to promote business investment across all industries, and the business investment is largely going to be in technology,” said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at Voya Investment Management in New York.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-weekahead-idUSKBN16A2JT?il=0

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NY Teamsters’ Pension Fund Goes Belly Up Disgruntled members call for audit to ensure against ‘foul-play’

Teamsters Local 707

BY: Bill McMorris
March 1, 2017 3:50 pm

A New York labor union has exhausted its pension fund, leaving thousands of retirees at risk and sparking calls for a forensic audit.

Teamsters Local 707, which represents 4,000 retirees out of Long Island, became the first of several embattled Teamster locals funds to fully exhaust its money. The union was forced to turn over its pension fund to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), an independent federal agency.
Several retirees discussed their distress with the New York Daily News. Tim Chmil spent 30 years as a trucker and deducted portions of every paycheck to cover the costs of a defined benefit pension. He has now seen that money dry up as the pension fund teetered toward insolvency.

“It’s a nightmare, it has just devastated all of our lives. I’ve gone from having $48,000 a year to less than half that,” Chmil told the Daily News.

Neither Local 707 President Kevin McCaffrey, nor the PBGC returned requests for comment

https://freebeacon.com/issues/ny-teamsters-pension-fund-goes-belly/

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Starbucks’ ‘Brand Perception’ Takes A Massive Hit After Announcing Plans To Hire 10,000 Refugees

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz

by Tyler Durden
Feb 24, 2017 7:05 PM

About a month ago, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz decided to ‘take a stand’ in defiance of Trump’s immigration executive order and penned a message to the world vowing, among other things, to hire 10,000 refugees over the next 5 years and “build bridges, not walls, with Mexico”.  Here are some excerpts from the politically charged message drafted by Schultz with “deep concern and a heavy heart”:

I write to you today with deep concern, a heavy heart and a resolute promise. Let me begin with the news that is immediately in front of us: we have all been witness to the confusion, surprise and opposition to the Executive Order that President Trump issued on Friday, effectively banning people from several predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, including refugees fleeing wars. I can assure you that our Partner Resources team has been in direct contact with the partners who are impacted by this immigration ban, and we are doing everything possible to support and help them to navigate through this confusing period.

Hiring Refugees: We have a long history of hiring young people looking for opportunities and a pathway to a new life around the world. This is why we are doubling down on this commitment by working with our equity market employees as well as joint venture and licensed market partners in a concerted effort to welcome and seek opportunities for those fleeing war, violence, persecution and discrimination.  There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business.

Building Bridges, Not Walls, With Mexico: We have been open for business in Mexico since 2002, and have since opened almost 600 stores in 60 cities across the country, which together employ over 7,000 Mexican partners who proudly wear the green apron. Coffee is what unites our common heritage, and as I told Alberto Torrado, the leader of our partnership with Alsea in Mexico, we stand ready to help and support our Mexican customers, partners and their families as they navigate what impact proposed trade sanctions, immigration restrictions and taxes might have on their business and their trust of Americans.

Unfortunately, Schultz quickly found out the hard way that while most adult-aged Americans can agree that they like coffee, roughly 50% disagree with his leftist political opinions.  Which, according to Yahoo Finance, has sent the company’s “brand perception” into a downward spiral since January 29th.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-24/starbucks-brand-perception-takes-massive-hit-after-announcing-plans-hire-10000-refug

 

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The Next Financial Crisis Might Be in Your Driveway

parking CBD fullhouse theridgewoodblog.net

With late payments on the rise, a dealership upsell begins to look dangerous.
by
Kyle Stock
February 21, 2017, 4:00 AM EST February 21, 2017, 12:39 PM EST

Lured by low interest rates, low gas prices, and a crop of seductive vehicles that are faster, smarter, and more efficient than ever before, American drivers are increasingly riding in style. Don’t be fooled by the curb appeal, though—those swanky machines are heavily leveraged.

The country’s auto debt hit a record in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, when a rush of year-end car shopping pushed vehicle loans to a dubious peak of $1.16 trillion. The combination of new car smell and new credit woes stretches from Subarus in Maine to Teslas in San Francisco.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-21/the-next-financial-crisis-might-be-in-your-driveway?cmpid=BBD022117_BIZ

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Ivanka Trump’s Perfume Soars to No.1 Bestseller on Amazon Despite Boycotts

Ivanka Trump

By Quentin Fottrell|11:21 am, February 21, 2017

Ivanka Trump’s signature perfume is a best seller on retail giant Amazon.

Ivanka Trump Eau de Parfum Spray For Women ($34 for a 3.4-ounce bottle) was No. 1 on Amazon’s list of bestselling fragrances and perfume for at least the sixth consecutive day. One reviewer wrote: “I normally buy this at Nordstrom. But now that I heard they will not carry it anymore, I was happy to find it on Amazon.” (Radha Beauty Aromatherapy was at No. 2 on Amazon’s list.) The recent success of Ivanka Trump’s perfume on Amazon, particularly after her products were dropped from other stores, suggests the “resistance economy” to boycott products associated with the family of President Trump can help a brand as well as hurt it.

The success of Ivanka Trump’s perfume on Amazon suggests the ‘resistance economy’ to boycott products associated with the family of President Trump can help a brand as well as hurt it.

https://heatst.com/biz/ivanka-trumps-perfume-soars-to-no-1-bestseller-on-amazon-despite-boycotts/