Bussiness point

WINSTED — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont extended a visit to Litchfield County Monday afternoon when he stopped at The Winsted Journal for a brief interview after appearing in Torrington at a fuel-cell plant.

The Greeenwich businessman acknowledged that he had been facing questions surrounding a decision not to participate in a debate Tuesday afternoon with Democratic primary challenger Dannel Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford. News had also just broken that Lamont’s cable television company had settled a discrimination lawsuit out of court.

“I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the lawsuit,” Lamont said, referring to a black employee who sued Lamont for alleged discrimination. The details of the case were kept private but Lamont denied the discrimination allegation and noted that the issue had been settled with no declaration of wrongdoing. Online Marketing Services Provider.

Lamont reiterated that he was not interested in another televised debate with Malloy, who appeared by himself Tuesday afternoon at the Garde Arts Center in New London for a one-person debate on National Public Radio affiliates WNPR and WFSB-TV.

Lamont said he would be appearing Thursday morning at a forum with Malloy and other candidates at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, bringing their joint appearance to more than 30, including two televised debates, but that did not stop critics from saying Lamont was picking and choosing his debate appearances because he is the current frontrunner in the primaries.

The back-and-forth between campaigns continued into the week as Malloy demanded answers about Lamont’s business lawsuit and Lamont countered with questions about town employees who embezzled millions of dollars under Malloy’s leadership in Stamford.

Lamont had been in Torrington earlier in the day to visit the Fuel Cell Energy manufacturing plant, said in his interview here that he wants to see Connecticut become a leader in energy technology and that towns like Winsted should be pushing to become hubs for cutting-edge Internet delivery services. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

“Between United Tech­nologies and Fuel Cell Energy in Torrington, we have two of the [fuel cell] leaders in this country,” Lamont said. “We spend hundreds of millions of dollars recruiting big banks and existing big companies across our border but we don’t help out our small and mid-sized businesses like a Fuel Cell Energy, like a Lexion in Cheshire and Optiwind in Torrington. Those are home-grown companies and that’s the next generation of products. Let’s focus on our own Main Street businesses.”

Lamont said he has seen empty storefronts in Winsted and towns throughout the state and that he supports the elimination of the business entity tax and using combined reporting to properly account for corporate profits reported by Connecticut companies in other states.

Lamont said health care spending is still a major issue in Connecticut that needs to be tackled if the state’s budget deficit is going to be alleviated. “We have an aging workforce and an aging population and that number is going to go up geometrically unless you fundamentally reform the delivery of our health-care services.”

Lamont said pooling purchasing power for insurance among Connecticut cities and towns will be an important step, and that “baby steps” have been taken in that direction with the latest national health-care legislation promoted by President Barack Obama.

“Smaller businesses pay 40 percent more per employee than the big guys do. If we could buy into a pool, you would have the same discount that Pitney Bowes is getting, so that helps.”

From a business point of view, Lamont called Connecticut “a relatively high-taxed state,” and that the state’s property-tax system must be changed. “I would say the biggest tax most of us pay is the most regressive tax, which is the property tax,” he said. “That is a tax that we really have to reform over time. I wish I could tell you I’m going to do it in year one but we already have a three and a half billion dollar hole in the deficit so we’re going to have to work on that first.” Media Marketing Agency.

One of Lamont’s first decisions as governor would be to eliminate property taxes on new pieces of equipment for businesses, he added. “The reason that’s important to me is right now you’ve got high property taxes in Winsted, Torrington and Waterbury so businesses tend to leave and go to the suburbs. I’m at least going to level that playing field so businesses have an incentive to locate on Main Street and greater downtown areas.”

While the candidate acknowledged there are fierce political disagreements happening in Connecticut and around the country, he said Connecticut residents need to be more optimistic. “I worry that we’re losing confidence as a people. Some say our kids are going to leave, we can’t compete with India, our best days are behind us. I think that’s wrong. We’ve got the knowledge corridor and our geography between New York and Boston is an advantage. We educate some of the best and brightest in the world.

With a bad-blood, confidence-destroying battle royale going on between Team Obama and business, you would think a highly publicized White House jobs summit would have produced some kind of positive announcement that gives a nod to the business point of view.

After all, as part of his so-called “business charm offensive,” the president is arguing that “it’s the private sector that has always been the source of our job creation, our economic growth, and our prosperity; and it’s our businesses and workers who will take the reins of this recovery and lead us forward.”

He also says “the free market depends on a government that sets clear rules that ensure fair and honest competition,” and that “too much regulation or too much spending can stifle innovation, can hamper confidence and growth, and hurt business and families.”Online Marketing Services Provider.

But uncertainty over the regulatory-and-tax rules of the road is exactly what has buffaloed business and stifled the animal spirits that are so necessary for investment and job creation.

The clash between business and the administration has become the high-drama news story of the summer. Business leaders have slammed the White House over policies they regard as hostile to jobs, including taxes, trade, and all manner of new regulations. And amidst a sub-par and virtually jobless recovery, their grievances have resonated with the electorate.

A clear majority now thinks the president is “too liberal” to govern effectively. In one poll, an astonishing 55 percent say Obama’s a socialist. It seems the more the CEOs blast Obama for being anti-business, the more the president’s poll numbers drop. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

It was no surprise when Tom Donahue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held a jobs summit that slammed the White House. But after calling in Bill Clinton to help with the business CEOs (and Obama’s pal Warren Buffett), it was a great shock when the White House could only manage to send a letter from Valerie Jarrett, a supposed Obama business-staff adviser, and Rahm Emanuel to the Chamber expressing disappointment at the public complaints of the business community.

The fact is, major corporations are sitting on a near $2 trillion cash hoard that along with rising profits could become the greatest private-sector stimulus plan ever. Banks are also stockpiling cash — about $1 trillion in excess reserves that could finance the greatest job-creation program in history. Three trillion dollars of private money dwarfs the piddling $50 billion in deficit-creating taxpayer money being debated on in Congress. Media Marketing Agency.

HUNTSVILLE —G8 world leaders came, they didn’t see much and then left having said hardly a word to the good folks of this picturesque Muskoka town.

Even U.S. President Barack Obama, known as a fairly nice chap by all accounts, roared out of town in a tightly secured motorcade without even waving to some 300 people line up waiting for a glimpse of the world’s most powerful leader.

the G8 leaders left many shopkeepers with very little to show for an event that was supposed to put Huntsville on the map. What it did was drain money from their tills.

While they aren’t the types to sing the blues, store owners and managers estimated their businesses were down by as much as 50 per cent over the week preceding the summit.

“Most businesses were down. We are down 25 per cent easily. My buddy owns the local grocery store, the Independent, and they were down over 50 per cent,” Andy Cooke, the longtime general manager of the McDonald’s restaurant on the Main Street in Huntsville, said Saturday.
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“In our business a dollar lost today is a dollar lost forever,” said Cooke, who was quick to add that it’s the long-term benefits of hosting the G8 that many are hoping will pay dividends.

“It’s short-term pain for long-term gain,” he said, adding the town has already benefitted from a new arena courtesy of the more than $50 million in G8 money poured into Huntsville and environs.

Several storekeepers said that from a business point of view, it was a perfect storm—Huntsvillians left and cottagers and tourists stayed away for fear the hype about protesters rioting would come to fruition. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

Turns out it didn’t, but the economic damage was already done.

There was the odd store that cashed in. At Soul Sistas café, Obama muffins were a big hit. Owner Lorraine Morin said she couldn’t make them fast enough. At Big Bear Outfitters, G8 t-shirts flew off the shelves and the owner Britt Stevens boasted the best June ever.

On Saturday morning, some tourists were milling around but the shops for the most part were quiet as a church.

“From a business point of view, it wasn’t worth it at all,” said Chase Wilson, assistant manager of Algonquin Outfitters, noting the store, which would ordinarily bring in about $20,000 a day, dropped to $5,000 during the two-day G8.

“It’s slower than usual. Traffic wasn’t as busy as it should have been. Days where you are doing a decent amount of money, you’re not.”

Wilson said the whole thing was “absolutely” anti-climatic

“It felt more like a music festival … more than something where the world leaders were showing up,” he said.

Once people started to realize that protesters dressed in black were not going to pounce on the town, there was almost a collective sigh.

“We actually had a pretty good day yesterday. I think people started to relax,” said Terry Glover, owner of the Big Bead craft store, who is also co-chair of the town’s business improvement association. Media Marketing Agency.

The U.S. secretary of state arrives as both America and Ukraine try to patch up relations with Russia. Clinton's visit also comes amid questions about whether President Viktor Yanukovych really wants Ukraine to stay on a democratic course and how much the United States really cares about what happens in the nation.

No matter how pretty of a face anyone tries to put on it, Ukraine is losing its status as a key geopolitical battleground between Russia and the West, and is moving towards the periphery of U.S. foreign policy. A one-day trip by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 2 is not going to change this reality.

In the last one decade, the Nigerian government has taken giant strides in the development of the country into one of the tourist destinations of the continent, in recognition of the fact that tourism has become a major source of foreign exchange earning for many countries.

The Federal Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo came up with the idea of a national tourism master plan, which has since been completed and awaits implementation. One of the states geared towards benefitting from that tourism master plan is Akwa Ibom.

Akwa Ibom State is said to be among those states in Nigeria that are richly endowed with tourism potentials, merely waiting to be harnessed for huge socioeconomic gains. Blessed with a beautiful topography, coastal lines and water fronts that are readily adapted and managed to meet international tourist demands, analysts believe that the abundant potential in the state can turn it into a valued tourist destination in the country.

The state governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, must have captured that hidden future when he decided that his administration would determinedly pursue, as a policy thrust, making the state a preferred destination for tourists.
“I strongly believe that if well developed, Akwa Ibom State will have a fair share of this,” the governor said of his vision for the sector. “With the entire planned infrastructure in place – an airport, a seaport and rail lines – the state will be accessible and definitely be a preferred tourism destination in the sub-region.”

Only recently, the state government, in partnership with private sector players, started the construction of a multi-million naira Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre.

The resort houses imposing structures and facilities of international standard, situated on a plateau surrounded by lush green vegetation near a seafront. Its frontage opens to a scintillating 18-hole golf course that has hosted international golfers like Nancy Lopez. It has also hosted amateur and national golf competitions sponsored by one of Nigeria’s major GSM companies, MTN.

Development of the marine area and the building a galleria and a cinema theatre, among others, are other projects being implemented to make the state economically self-reliant as well as a major tourism state.

The golf course abuts into the marines with one of the tees perched at the brink of the Nwaniba River. The waterfront is developed for sporting and leisure activities like boat cruises, surfing, wildlife hunting, gaming and a health spa.

The magnificent edifice that sprawls on 72 hectares of land has space for the development of an arts and craft village. The hotel is managed by Le Meridien, an international management group.
Chief Akpabio said, “Tropicana Entertainment Complex will help us develop tourism in a sustainable manner, as a critical source of revenue, employment generation, and wealth creation.”
Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre was conceived, through the vision of Chief Akpabio, to impact positively on the socioeconomic lives of the people of the state.Online Marketing Services Provider.

The centre, which will boost the structural landscape of the state, was created after the concept of Sun City of South Africa and the famous Disney Land in Orlando, Florida, USA.

It is planned to create job opportunities for thousands of unemployed youths of the State. The centre has the following facilities: a shopping mall with 59 standard shops, and two bank service corridors; a Cineplex that houses six screens, cinema halls with a one thousand and thirty (1,030) seating capacity each; an ultra modern convention centre with a multi-floor capacity for five thousand (5,000) persons; a 15-storey hotel with two 250 rooms, and a theme park with various dry and wet rides/attractions, covering an area of three hectares.

The government’s investment in these projects is intended to further boost tourism, leisure, recreation and business in the state, in line with the emerging global trend. Direct Marketing Services Provider.

The Akpabio administration’s choice of the culture and tourism sector for this massive investment is justifiable.

Public opinion supports the view that if the sector is to be given a boost in the state, then, as a starting point, the provision of international-standard hotels would be of the essence.

Beginning with only one five-star hotel, the Le Meridian Hotel and Golf Resort, in the recent past, today the state today there are over 80 standard hotels in Uyo, the state capital, in direct response to the government’s provision of the enabling environment for private ownership of hotels. Media Marketing Agency.

Russia's ban on the imports of Georgian wines, introduced several years ago, and a lack of regular direct flights between the two countries have been well publicised.

However - despite many Georgians being sure that Moscow would use any opportunity, including business pressure, to significantly expand its influence in the region - many Russian companies have been operating in Georgia throughout this tense period.

This forms the backdrop to a tense debate in the Georgian parliament about a proposal to re-write the list of state properties that cannot be sold.

According to a draft law, approved by the parliament in first of three readings, a transit pipeline that carries Russian gas to Armenia through Georgia could be privatized.

Russia's gas monopoly Gasparo is seen as the only potential investor interested in and capable of buying a significant stake in the pipeline.

'Politically motivated'

In recent years, there have been several gas conflicts between Russian energy companies and their counterparts in neighboring countries.

Moscow insists the disputes have all been about business, while critics accuse Russia of using its energy supplier status as a political tool.

"The most worrying thing is that under Russian law Gazprom has a right to protect its interests, including the use of military force outside Russia," Nodar Khaduri, an economics professor at the Tbilisi State University, told the BBC Russian Service.

Georgian economist Gia Khukhashvili believes that the pipeline is not commercially viable and it could be bought only by "a politically motivated investor, which Gazprom is".

But Andrei Suzdaltsev of the world economy and international affairs department at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow says that from the business point of view Gazprom would be interested in acquiring the pipeline, as it carries its gas to an important market.

Besides, he told the BBC, Russia has proved many times that it separates business from politics when dealing with Georgia.

Liberal market

Indeed, Telasi, an electricity distribution company of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, is controlled by the Russian company Inter RAO UES.

Even during the war two years ago it did not stop supplying the region with electricity.

Also, only a few months after the conflict, Inter RAO UES and the Georgian government agreed to work towards collaborating in managing the Inguri hydropower plant on the border with the breakaway territory of Abkhazia.

Among other Russian companies doing business in Georgia are Itera, which owns several regional gas distribution companies there, VTB Bank and mobile operator VimpelCom.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said last year: "We are not going to hinder Russian companies from coming to Georgia.

"The more business interest we get, the less political pressure there will be," he told Bloomberg.

Mr Suzdaltsev agrees that Georgia is now "an oasis of liberalism" in terms of doing business among former Soviet republics.

He believes, however, that there are no guarantees that Russian investment in Georgia will be protected from government interference in the future.

'Economic interests'

When discussing the future of the gas pipeline from Russia to Armenia, opposition MPs in the Georgian parliament say the country would face an "energetic and economic threat" if a Russian company was to buy the pipeline.

They demand guarantees at the legislative level that the Georgian government would retain a controlling stake. Online Marketing Services Provider.

No such guarantees have been included in the draft legislation so far, although a member of the parliament majority, Pavle Kubashvili, says the pipeline "will not be sold to the Russian Federation".

"We approach this issue from the economic point of view, because such facilities are better managed by private companies," he says.

This is not the first time there are talks about selling the pipeline to Gazprom. Five years ago, such discussions were held.Direct Marketing Services Provider.

But instead Georgia and the US signed a five-year agreement, under which Tbilisi was given money to modernise the pipeline, while Georgia promised not to sell it until the deal expires in April 2011.

When the draft law authorising privatisation of the pipeline was discussed in first reading in the parliament, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Georgia.

There have been no reports that the topic of the pipeline was raised at her talks with Mr Saakashvili, however.

Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of the Georgian MPs voted in favour of the draft legislation. Media Marketing Agency.