México, innovación empresarial y responsabilidad empresarial social

By CATHERINE RAMPELL
Published: April 26, 2013
Economic activity picked up in the first quarter of this year, with output expanding at an annualized pace of 2.5 percent, according to a Commerce Department report released on Friday. The number was a welcome improvement from the unusually sluggish growth at the end of 2012, but significant government spending cuts and the pinch from recent tax increases look likely to keep the economy in stall speed in the months ahead.
“We just have not been able to hit escape velocity, to get us growing fast enough to make up for the ground we lost during the recession,” said Steve Blitz, director and chief economist at ITG Investment Research. He forecasts growth around 2 to 2.5 percent for the rest of the year, which is slower than the economy’s long-term average. “Government spending is clearly a negative, but the reason why it’s such a strong negative is because there’s nothing else in the private sector really driving things forward.”
Economists noted that even the decent growth in the first quarter was probably somewhat overstated, with some of the improvement caused mostly by a rebound from the bare 0.4 annual growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2012. Businesses drew down their back-room inventories at the end of last year, so they needed to replenish them at the start of 2013. But that stockroom rebalancing appears to have restored inventories to acceptable levels and probably will not drive much more business spending growth later in the year.
Similarly, consumer spending was stronger in the first quarter, growing at its fastest pace since late 2010. But Mr. Blitz discounted even that apparently good news because so much of the extra spending was in housing and utility costs, which could have been driven by unusually cold weather.
It also seems unlikely that consumers will spend as freely in the months ahead, economists said. Consumer sentiment and retailer reports suggest that households are starting to feel squeezed from the lapse of the two-year payroll tax holiday. That meant the Social Security tax rate rose 2 percentage points in January, adding about $700 a year to the typical worker’s tax bill.
Wage stagnation may also put a crimp in spending. Much of the job growth, after all, has been concentrated in relatively low-paying areas like food services and retail, and household incomes have been more or less flat since May, according to Sentier Research.
On the bright side, gas prices have fallen sharply in the last two months, which means households have more money free for other kinds of purchases.
The most immediate concern for many businesses and consumers is the shrinking government.

December 21, 2004
Wall St. Lobby Quietly Tackles Social Security
By LANDON THOMAS Jr.
As President Bush prepares to disclose the details of his plan to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars of future Social Security funds into privately held investment accounts, Wall Street has begun a muted lobbying campaign, chastened by bolder forays that failed in years past.
So far, the chief executives of most financial firms have refused to take a public stand in support of private accounts, wary of being seen as too eager to embrace a potential new revenue stream.
At last week's White House economic meeting in Washington, they were conspicuous in their absence from the Social Security panel. Even in direct meetings with President Bush, who actively campaigned on the issue of Social Security, executives have shied aways.
There are signs, however, that the industry is becoming a little more aggressive in pushing for private accounts, through a loose assemblage of trade associations, business coalitions and conservative research centers. These groups have lately begun trying to raise money from business interests and to marshal support on Capitol Hill, while also seeking to deflect criticism that Wall Street is behind the move simply to reap rich rewards for administering the accounts.
The first salvo was launched by the Securities Industry Association, which recently issued a research report arguing that the private accounts would not be a financial bonanza for Wall Street. In the paper, the association calculated that firms would collect at least $39 billion in fees, and perhaps considerably more, from managing such accounts over the next 75 years. But the group noted that the fees charged would be significantly below the fees that investment firms receive these days from low-cost mutual funds.
And even if the fees rose significantly as more people chose actively managed accounts, the association's report argued, they would still pale in comparison with the $3.3 trillion in revenues Wall Street firms are projected to earn from their core securities business over that period.
The Investment Company Institute, the lobbying arm for the mutual fund industry, has not endorsed private accounts nor has it lobbied Congress on the matter. But while its members are reluctant to speak out publicly on the topic, the institute recently hired as its communications director F. Gregory Ahern, a former executive at State Street Corporation in Boston who was involved in that firm's aggressive lobbying effort for private accounts during the late 1990's.
Behind the scenes, the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, a business coalition advocating private accounts, has begun meeting with Congressional and White House staff members, pushing the idea that private accounts are not only good for the country but also good for business.
In November, Derrick A. Max, the alliance's executive director, met with Charles P. Blahous, a special assistant to the president who has been at the forefront in the White House on Social Security. They have a strong connection, because Mr. Blahous preceded Mr. Max at the alliance.
At the meeting were representatives from the Securities Industry Association, Charles Schwab & Company, and the United States Chamber of Commerce, all members of the alliance.
The Club for Growth, a group financed largely by conservative business leaders that supports like- minded Congressional candidates, has also been active in the drive for privately held Social Security accounts. Members include Richard Gilder of Gilder Gagnon Howe & Company, a private investment firm, and Charles H. Brunie, the founder of Oppenheimer Capital.