Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
The State’s shortfall has been caused not only by declining revenues as is the case for many businesses, but also a dramatic increase in state government spending. Until this year, spending from the general fund has increased by 40% since FY2003. Needless to say, few private businesses have increased their spending 40% over the last seven years as the state has.
The response of private sector employers to the economic downturn has required tough choices in order to remain in business. Businesses across the state have cut expenses by at least 5% or more and are trying to run as efficiently as possible to protect limited resources. In an attempt to preserve jobs, many business owners have taken personal pay cuts and others have had to cut health and other benefits for employees, including 401K plan contributions. Nonetheless, New Mexico has seen the unemployment rate climb to 7.5% with a true rate of 11.7% when those who are no longer drawing benefits are included, according to the Department of Workforce Solutions. These numbers represent people who were employed in the private sector.
But what about New Mexico’s public sector approach to balancing its checkbook? While the private sector has cut expenses, many are calling for no cuts to government and education. Yet these are the two fastest expanding sectors in our state. Despite so-called hiring freezes and cuts, there continue to be the same number of public employees. In fact, the Department of Workforce Solutions shows that there has actually been job growth in the government and education sector. Yet, some are calling for stressed private sector employers to support the public sector at the same level to which it has grown. Is it really fair to those employed in the private sector to face additional cutbacks in order that public sector employees can be spared? How can New Mexico justify increasing taxes on businesses and private sector taxpayers in a time of increasing unemployment and declining benefits? While it seems popular these days to call for increased taxation of businesses owners, the stark reality is that the impact of increased taxation spreads far beyond the owners who, unlike the public sector to date, must reduce spending on goods and services, freezing or reducing employee salaries, reducing or eliminating benefits, and as a last resort, layoffs.
New Mexico has substantial reserves to soften the blow of the recession on the public sector-reserves funded by the private sector taxpayers for times such as these. Furthermore, there are other potential solutions that should be explored before raising taxes, cutting jobs in the public sector or forcing further job losses in the private sector. For example, the State should use the Accountability in Government Budget Guidelines to prioritize projects and rate the effectiveness of programs. It cannot be expected that every program be sustained and some prioritization must take place.
Just as the private sector is not requesting tax cuts to reduce the effect of the recession on its finances; the public sector should not seek tax increases to reduce the effect of the recession on it. Instead, we should work together to form viable solutions. Continuing to have a one-size fits all approach to cuts and tax increases is not healthy, and a more even-handed and long-term approach is needed.
The State of Louisiana created a group of public and private sector representatives who are charged with developing a long-term plan for the state. Louisiana’s Streamline Commission was “created to reduce the cost of state government, through all means available, including efficiencies, economies, greater effectiveness, and other means to streamline government in order to overcome the projected severe revenue reductions occurring through 2012 and to ensure that available state tax dollars are being spent efficiently and effectively.”
New Mexico needs a long-term solution to ensure sustainability in both the private and public sector. Leadership in our state should consider forming our own Streamline Commission to work for solutions. We are in this recession together, and it is only by working together that we are going to not only survive, but to thrive once again.
To remain safe.
Salaries of police and firefighters are entirely paid from the sales tax that you pay at the cash registers of local businesses.
To keep your job and your neighbor’s.
Local businesses that make money are the businesses that expand hire more people. Those people are all of us.
To support local organizations.
When you shop at a local business they are able to contribute to local charities. Local businesses give both time andf money generously to local nonprofits.
To create a healthy community.
Your local purchases help pay for public parks and trails. Also, trash and snow removal, recreation programs and senior services. These programs would not exist without local shopping.
To support the local economy.
Dollars spent locally recirculate in the community. The multiplier effect increases the power of each dollar every time it changes hands.
To get a good price. Often a local vendor can match or beat an out-of-town price on a product.
To save your favorite business.
Don’t wait until they close to say how much you enjoy a particular business.
A purchase online or from another community contributes zero to you, and your community..
Myth: The SFCC is an arm of the US Chamber of Commerce
Fact: The SFCC is an entirely independent nonprofit organization that typically takes positions only on local issues. SFCC is not a member of the US Chamber.
Myth: The SFCC only represents large corporations.
Fact: 80% of SFCC members have fewer than 10 employees. SFCC is the voice of small business in Santa Fe.
Myth: the SFCC is part of local government.
Fact: The SFCC is completely independent of any government entity. Other than a small fee to support business development the Chamber is entirely supported by its members.
Myth: SFCC’s main role is to attract visitors to Santa Fe.
Fact: The SFCC receives no Lodgers Tax. The Convention and Visitors Bureau is part of the City of Santa Fe and is tasked to “put heads in beds.”
Myth: SFCC primarily exists to host mixers.
Fact: SFCC does host successful monthly networking events but its primary mission is to lobby and grow the local economy.
Myth: The SFCC just gives maps to visitors.
Fact: The SFCC refers thousands of enquiries to its members businesses. www.santafechamber.com receives 30,000 visitors a month and the Resource Center answers 25,000+ phone calls and walk-in enquiries.
Myth: The SFCC only welcomes businesses as members.
Fact: Dozens of nonprofits and individuals also enjoy the benefits of membership in the SFCC.
Become an investor in the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce by calling 988-3279 or email simon@santafechamber.com.
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I hate to admit it, but it’s true–it’s getting harder and harder to hate Wal-Mart. Details are surfacing about the gigantic retailer’s initiative to create a massive ‘sustainability index’–one that would meticulously measure the environmental impact of every single item it stocks. Needless to say, the idea alone raises plenty of questions. But if it’s successful, the index could literally change the face of retail forever.
Apologies if that language was a tad grandiose, but it’s actually pretty accurate.
Take it from Marc Gunther’s report in Big Money:
The giant retailer ($406 billion in revenues in 2008) is developing an ambitious, comprehensive, and fiendishly complex plan to measure the sustainability of every product it sells. Wal-Mart has been working quietly on what it calls a “sustainability index” for more than a year, and it will take another year or two for labels to appear on products. But the company’s grand plan-”audacious beyond words” is how one insider describes it-has the potential to transform retailing by requiring manufacturers of consumer products to dig deep into their supply chains, measure their environmental impact, and compete on those terms for favorable treatment from the world’s most powerful retailer.
And this in turn could end up being one of the biggest motivators to make truly ‘green’ products ever. To enter the index, each product will have to undergo an intense life cycle analysis. This will require help from each of Wal-Mart’s 60,000+ suppliers, and some painstaking research. With inspectors and analysts crawling up the supply chain and peeking into every corner of production in order to deliver a comprehensive environmental assessment, we might see some major changes made by some major companies.
But who’s going to be doing the crawling and peeking, exactly? Well, researchers from some of the top universities in the US, for starters. Faculty at Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkelely, and others have reportedly been involved in the planning stages of the index. Wal-Mart’s next move is to announce a ‘sustainability consortium’ (which will debut this Thurs. the 16th) that includes the likes of U of Arizona professors, big manufactureres like Proctor and Gamble and General Mills, and potentially all the aforementioned faculty and even other competing retailers like Target and Costco.
The Last Line of Defense from Greenwashing: Wal-Mart?
Details on how the whole operation will work are still murky, but a label on each product that will help consumers ward off greenwashing will be a key component. But the effect of the index could be much further reaching than that. As Gunther points out:
Wal-Mart has an enormous influence over which products get made, and which don’t. Last year, the company said it would stop selling baby bottles containing the chemical bisphenol-A, which is approved by U.S. and European regulators. (A story that I wrote about this for Fortune magazine ran under the headline “Wal-Mart: the New FDA”). When, as part of its ambitious sustainability program, Wal-Mart said it would sell only concentrated laundry detergent, which uses less packaging and water, manufacturers fell into line.
The program could, essentially, force ungreen products off the market before a label even has a chance to discourage a consumer from buying it–if Wal-Mart continues to be inclined to support products with lower environmental impacts.
Of course, while the idea seems to be pretty inspired thus far, plenty of questions remain unanswered–how will the labeling process work? Who will comprise the consortium, and will it be balanced? Will it grant Wal-Mart too much power to determine which products are sustainable and which aren’t? We’ll be watching.
| The New Mexican
7/26/2009 – 7/27/09
Some leaders seem born to it; others might grow into it. Still others have leadership capability that needs cultivating and encouraging.
That last big bunch became the focus of the many community-organized leadership-development courses that blossomed nationwide during the past three or four decades.
Allow promising young people a chance to step back from their jobs, and expose them not only to equally promising counterparts, but also to local leaders — from private enterprise, from government and from the ever-more-important volunteer sector.
Let ‘em hear, from those who’ve been on the front lines, success stories as well as accounts of disasters — and the lessons learned from both.
Tell them, with pithy examples, how to serve on corporate and volunteer boards of directors — and what amounts to disservice on such boards.
Maybe even let ‘em shadow a top executive of their choosing for a day; give ‘em an idea of the many demands facing someone on whom so many people count — for guidance, for inspiration and, very likely, for jobs and paychecks.
Soon enough these emerging leaders lose that adjective; they’re thrust — or otherwise elevated — into leadership, titular, actual or both. The aim of such organizations as Leadership New Mexico and Leadership Santa Fe is to make them that much better prepared.
More than 300 achievers and potential achievers have been through Leadership Santa Fe’s six-weekend offerings in a 30-year tenure interrupted by, well, less-than-successful leadership — but resumed in recent years.
The graduates include City Councilor Carmichael Domínguez and County Commissioner Kathy Holian, as well as many others for whom the course has meant a combination of clear focus and broad view.
Who are the future graduates of Leadership Santa Fe?
Maybe you — who knows?
Interested? Visit the Web site at www.
leadershipsantafe.org and apply before Aug. 14.
The group has just taken a couple of seven-league strides: It’s now a program of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce. The chamber’s counterparts launched leadership courses in many American cities, so our community’s business group can draw on plenty of experience. At the same time, the Santa Fe Community Foundation has agreed to provide leadership training for those interested in serving on boards of our area’s many nonprofit organizations.
As we hinted above, board membership is more than hob-nobbing with prominent fellow citizens and getting your name on a plaque somewhere.
It’s an art form demanding the discipline of showing up at meetings on time — prepared to contribute to what’s on the agenda, or at least to listen without butting in if you’re not prepared.
Rules of order can be assimilated if you’re not up to reading Robert’s, and getting into the rhythm of a well-run meeting can be fun.
The community foundation, run by our former colleague Billie Blair, for the nouce, should prove to be a great contributor to the many charitable and service organizations constantly on the lookout for, well, leadership.
Connections are a major fringe benefit of belonging to Leadership Santa Fe: Knowing first-hand who’s part of what organization can make your job better, maybe easier, certainly more enjoyable. Santa Fe, for all its growth, remains a small town in many ways.
Knowing folks is good for business; close contacts coming from joint volunteer service, tanto mejor.
We’re encouraged by the new partnerships lending strength to Leadership Santa Fe. We wish its members, their advisers and all who contribute to the program a successful one as this September’s edition approaches.
Regarding “Local-Washing” in the Santa Fe Reporter.
The idea that the Santa Fe Chamber has co-opted the term “shop local” is beyond absurd. Part of the mission of the Chamber is to “grow the local economy.”
The organizers of the Santa Fe – Buy Into It! campaign did not “decree that any business located in Santa Fe was “local” but rather that all business activity in Santa Fe benefits the local economy through job- and tax-revenue creation.
EVERY single local business creates tax revenue, allowing local government to exist. Every business pays rent, payroll, taxes and utilities locally. Where a business is headquartered is irrelevant to their contribution to the local tax base.
Whether a business is a local “mom & pop shop” or part of a larger, national company has no bearing on the overall economic impact that the business has on our community.
A business named The Santa Fe Shop can be owned out of state. The Santa Fe Reporter is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Similarly, a nationally known brand can be franchised by local Santa Feans. Many local people own shares and derive income from national companies. These kinds of divisions serve little or no purpose.
Santa Feans depend on national companies for tax generation, needed products and most importantly, jobs. Jobs create incomes which are then spent locally regardless of the ownership of the company. This spending generates further jobs and incomes. Thus the economic multiplier.
It is true that some of a national chains profits go out of town, but often this is as little as 5% of revenues. Payroll, rent and utilities frequently equal 90% of revenue which stays in the community.
Shopping in Santa Fe helps support public safety, education, roads and sewers.
Suggesting that a national business “strip mines the local economy” serves only to divide the business community and place ideology over economic reality.
To deride Santa Fe businesses that may have out of state ownership or be a part of a larger, national company, perpetuates Santa Fe’s perceived anti-business sentiment.
The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce is proud to represent all local business and to partner with the City of Santa Fe and the media partners who have generously stepped up to support the Buy Into it campaign.
Santa Fe – Buy Into It!
The Santa Fe Chamber is successfully using social networking to communicate its programs and mission to members and the community.
Through its Facebook presence the chamber can easily communicate with over 750 friends who can be connected with events, marketing opportunities and ways to connect.
Join and become a friend and supporter of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce.
Seventy percent of small businesses anticipate moderate to significant growth in 2009, according to the Small Business Attitudes & Outlook Survey conducted by Constant Contact, a leading provider of email marketing and online surveys. Constant Contact conducted the survey of more than 3,000 respondents, in collaboration with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), SCORE and the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC), organizations dedicated to the success of small businesses. The survey was conducted from April 30, 2009 through June 12, 2009 and was focused on small business and their expectations for the future and the economy. Complete survey results are available online.
“The results of the survey reveal the optimism and perseverance that so often marks this spirited group of business owners, as well as their adaptability to meet current economic conditions,” said Gail Goodman, CEO and chairman, Constant Contact. “These companies show us all what it takes to succeed in any economic climate. We are grateful to our partners in the survey, which has given us an encouraging glimpse into the minds and attitudes of today’s small businesses.”
