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Archive for February, 2011

During the past 12 months and despite the limited conditions of economic exchange, the property group JHI services has remained high occupancy rates in commercial properties under management, with vacancies below an average of four percent.

Johan Engelbrecht, Director, Management and JHI, Which manages more than 170 malls nationally, with an area of nearly two million square meters, said: “Trading the density of JHI run centers are strategically driven to ensure that tenants placed right in their favorite place, size, layout and design, and also taking into account consumer behavior and spending, we are able to proactively manage the employment potential of the time.

Although we have not seen an increase in Requests for information and commercial spaces that we are confident this trend will change over the next six months, “he says.

“There is no doubt that we have seen some recovery in retail sales for the year ended December 2010. Most of South Africa’s major retailers have reported on their December 2010 sales and the news has been predominantly positive, with percentage increases mainly in double figures. The November 2010 retail sales figures nationally were 6.1 percent up year-on-year (according to the SA Council of Shopping Centres Economic Overview dated January 2011).

Over the latter half of 2010 the increase in consumer spending, coupled with the increase in consumer confidence – mainly due to household borrowing gradually returning, with low interest rates and inflation – indicates that perhaps the worst is really over. In general, the major shopping centres under JHI management have achieved a positive growth year-on-year for the period ending December 2010.”

Engelbrecht says retail categories in essentials/durable goods and services still seem to outperform luxury items, although the gap is closing. Retailers ie hardware, paint and glass, specialising in supplying the building and construction sector remain under pressure and there has been an average performance from specialised food and beverages. Conversely, CFTA (clothing, textiles, footwear and accessories), pharmaceuticals, medical goods, toiletries and household goods have performed very well.

He adds: “Our outlook for the retail sector in 2011 remains positive. We will definitely see sustained growth in sales from retailers in established markets and nodes.  Factors impacting on the retail sector include changes in public transport systems, such as the introduction of the Gautrain and toll roads in Gauteng, which will have a significant effect on retail nodes in the future. Such factors have always had a substantial impact on retail nodes, as seen in previous years – with increased pedestrian and commuting nodes established by consumers residing in traditional townships.

Accessibility to major retail nodes will primarily be driven by the consumers’ choice of what will be the most affordable way to reach his/her shopping destination, and ultimately this could impact on the current profile of shoppers frequenting shopping centres.”

Engelbrecht notes that South Africa is following the trends abroad, such as that experienced in the UK where the biggest growth has been achieved in a store format, which is a key priority for food and food products.

“We recognized this shift in consumer behavior overall the time savings and convenience of a critic in today’s hectic lifestyle and have developed a strategy for growth around the cities adjacent to the market value of the community shopping center is to focus on the consumers of South Africa and the proposal to deal with Massmart and Wal-Mart could be an incentive for positive change in the dynamics of. Our retail market, “he says.

Singapore expects its economy to grow by 6.4 per cent this year compared to the continued strong revival in the global economy.

Trade and Industry Ministry said Singapore’s manufacturing operations were expanded and sustained rate of growth in advanced economies.

In 2010, the republic’s economy grew 14.5 percent, thanks in large part by the manufacturing sector rose by 29.7 percent, reversing a decline of 0.8 percent in 2009.

In its 2011 economic forecast released today, the ministry said the resilient domestic demand in Asia would continue to drive intra-regional trade flows and benefit Singapore’s wholesale trade sector.

It said the republic’s tourism-related services sectors would see a strong growth this year with the expected increase in visitor arrivals, particularly from the key markets within the region.

It added that domestic factors such as capacity expansion in the electronics and biomedical manufacturing clusters would also bolster growth in the manufacturing sector this year.

However, the ministry cautioned that the downside risks still remained, such as with the persisting sovereign debt concerns in the peripheral European Union economies, monetary tightening due to the inflationary concerns in Asia, and a tighter labor market domestically.

The Ministry has revised its increase forecast for this year, two to three per cent in three or four per cent said it should increase by five percent during the first fifty-five months before that moderation in the second half of ‘year.

Each year since Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Social Security into law in 1935, it took more money through payroll taxes it paid. That is, until last year.

Social security is now officially gone negative cash, which means a nation that has borrowed the surplus Social Security revenues for decades will begin to repay that money.

Over the years, Social Security collected about 2,500 billion dollars more than what he paid. These additional funds were used to purchase special obligations of the Treasury Department, to build what came to be known as the Social Security Trust Fund.

What about That Lockbox?
When George W. Bush first ran for president a little more than a decade ago, he proposed taking a trillion dollars’ worth of bonds out of that fund to put into private investments. At a debate with Democrat Al Gore in St. Louis, Bush dismissed concerns that his plan might weaken Social Security.

“Now remember, Social Security revenue exceeds expenses up until 2015,” Bush said. “People are going to get paid.”

But Gore had a very different proposal: “putting both Social Security and Medicare in an ironclad lockbox, where the politicians can’t touch them.

“To me,” he said, “that kind of common sense is a family value. Hands off!”

Neither the lockbox nor the private investments ever came to pass. Nor did Bush’s prediction that Social Security revenues would outstrip expenses until 2015. At a recent Senate Budget Committee hearing on the nation’s economic outlook, Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) noted there’s been a sea change in Social Security’s finances.

“My staff informs me under the new report; Social Security has gone permanently cash negative now. Is that the case?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” came the response from Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf, whose agency prepared the report.

Conrad added that the time had finally come for the money Social Security has lent the federal government to be paid back.

“How’s it going to be paid back? It’s going to be paid back by the other general expenditure of the federal government having to be reduced to make way for the payments that we’re going to have to make on those bonds,” he said.

Time to Revise?
Lawrence Lindsey, who was Bush’s chief economic adviser, says the purchase of the bonds came from Social Security revenue, “so you’re just paying back something you owe.”

But Lindsey readily acknowledges the money that must now be paid back to Social Security has all been spent.

“That’s a flaw in the design of the … fiscal system. I think it points up one of the reasons why you do not want to have the nation’s retirement based simply on Social Security,” he says.

Republicans say the time has come to revise the Social Security program.

“It’s very significant that this year, Social Security has more money going out than coming in,” says Lamar Alexander, a member of the Senate GOP leadership team. “And it’s very significant that in the next 10 years, Social Security will add half-trillion dollars to the deficit. Social Security would be a good place to start when dealing with these mandatory entitlement programs that are 57 percent of our budget.”

But some prominent Democrats are pushing back:

“Social Security has not contributed one penny to the debt, and as I’ve said before, people should leave Social Security alone,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said earlier this month. “I will do everything that I can in throwing my legislative body in front of any efforts to weaken Social Security.”

Politics’ Third Rail
Republicans, for their part, say Democrats should make the first move on Social Security. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is waiting for President Obama to make that move.

“There will be no entitlement reform without presidential leadership, and to the extent that the president is willing to join with us, and discuss how we deal with these long-term unfunded liabilities, I think virtually every Republican is ready to have that discussion,” McConnell said.

McConnell’s deference to the president is hardly surprising. It’s not for nothing that Social Security is known as politics’ third rail touching it can prove politically perilous.

But the program is now functionally red, a new wave of baby boomers retire and live longer, and the proceeds to further reduce the high rate of unemployment and tax cuts on wages, there are some who think that social security is not vulnerable today than ever before.

Over 100 poker players and professional players have joined the first Filipino Poker Challenge Jan. 30 in Concord Card Casino Vienna Prater amusement center in the largest city.

Melvin Lopez, the chief controller of the event, is delighted that over 100 Filipino heard his call to participate in the tournament.

“This is the first time, the Filipino Poker Tournament will be held here in Vienna. I am quite puzzled by the presence of a number of Pinoys here. I am very honored and grateful for this enthusiastic response,” Lopez said ABS-CBN Europe News Agency.

Poker participant Rodel Reyes said, “The success of the first Pinoy Poker Challenge in Vienna has again proven that to win a highly competitive poker tournament, one needs not pure luck but lots of patience, mental discipline, physical endurance and sustained keen perception.”

Another poker player, Elmer Nicolas, said, “This is the very first time that such a game is being staged here in Vienna. I am very excited and hope I could make it until the end.”

Contrary to the perception of some “kababayans” in Austria that poker is just a game of luck, the organizer explained that poker could become a gambling vice if this is played the wrong way.

“In first-rate championship battles, competitors seriously prepare for the mental, as well as physical stress of the game. Poker, as a competitive sports, demands the same degree of preparation, strategy, mental and physical conditioning similar to that of tournaments in chess, backgammon and other mind games,” said Lopez.

The manager of Concorde Casino Prater expressed her appreciation for the enormous participation of the Filipinos. She likewise mentioned that the company is ready to stage Filipino Poker events, not only in Vienna but also in other key cities and provinces in Austria.

At the end, Fu Nguyen, an Asian national with Filipino background, emerged to become the last man standing at the First Pinoy Poker Tournament in Vienna, winning the top prize of 4,000 Euro (P240, 000). He took his big stack to the final table and made his presence felt by eliminating the last players.

With the success of the event, controllers hope to redo a similar tournament for players and fans of Filipino Poker.