April 2010

In most savvy and mature organizations today, the public relations function is accorded a prominent role in management decision making. Frequently, the senior public relations manager reports directly to top management; generally to the chief executive officer. The reason for this is simple: If public relations is to be the interpreter of management, then it must know what management is thinking at any moment on virtually every public issue. If public relations is made subordinate to any other discipline, e.g. marketing, advertising, legal or administration, then its independence, credibility, and, ultimately, value as an objective management counselor will be sacrificed. 

Whereas marketing and advertising groups must, by definition, be defenders of their specific products, the public relations department has no such mandated allegiance. Public relations should be the corporate conscience. An organization’s public relations professionals should enjoy enough autonomy to tell it to management “like it is.” If an idea doesn’t make sense, if a product is flawed, if the general institutional wisdom is wrong, it is the duty of the public relations professional to challenge the consensus. And, in absolute candor, if your company’s PR function isn’t saying “no” with great vigor from time to time, you’re probably not being well served and could well be headed for problems. Read the rest of this entry »

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Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.6 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending March 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.4 percent while benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation)—increased 1.1 percent.

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Statewide taxable sales for February 2010 of $2,803,795,540 represents a 4.5% decrease over February  2009, and a 14.1% decrease for the eight months of fiscal year 2010.  The largest increases in statewide taxable sales were realized by Food Services and Drinking Places up 7.4%; Accommodation, up 28.1%; Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores, up 9.8%; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers, up 8.2%; and Miscellaneous Store Retailers up 11.5%. The following major sales indicators represent changes in Nevada’s economic activity for February 2010 compared to February 2009:

Nine of Nevada’s seventeen counties recorded a decrease in taxable sales for February 2010 compared to February 2009. Carson City, Douglas, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Pershing and White Pine Counties recorded positive taxable sales for the period.

Revenue Collections from Sales and Use Taxes – February 2010

Gross revenue collections from sales and use taxes amounted to $220,789,994 for February 2010 which represents a 0.18% increase compared to February 2009, and an 8.63% decrease for the eight months of fiscal year 2010.

Compared to the February 2010 Economic Forum projections, the General Fund portion of the sales and use taxes is 1.9% or $9.2 million above their forecast for the eight months of fiscal year 2010.

Excise Tax Revenue Collections – February 2010

The Department reports excise tax collections of $22,532,777 for the month of February 2010, is an increase of 56.7% compared to the same month prior year.  Initiative Petition 1 of the 2009 Legislative session imposed a 3% tax on the gross receipts of transient lodging in any county whose population is 300,000 or more to be distributed to the General Fund effective July 1, 2009. The portion of Lodging Tax collected for the General Fund in the month of February 2010 amounted to approximately $8.3 million.  Adjusting for this amount, February 2010 excise tax collections would have stood at an estimated 1.01% decrease compared to the same month last year.

Compared to the Economic Forum’s February 2010 projections, fiscal year to date cigarette taxes are 0.7% or $605 thousand below projections. The liquor tax is 1.9% or $759 thousand above projections. February 2010 collections for Live Entertainment Tax were $1,197,322, 9.93% above projections for fiscal year to date.

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The U.S. economy grew at a slightly slower-than-expected pace in the first quarter, held back by inventories and exports, but resurgent consumer spending offered evidence of a sustainable recovery, a government report showed on Friday.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 3.2 percent pace, the Commerce Department reported in its first estimate — marking three straight quarters of growth as the economy climbs out of the worst recession since the 1930s.

Despite the slowdown from the prior quarter, details of the report were fairly upbeat, with consumer spending accelerating at a 3.6 percent rate, more than double the 1.6 percent pace in the fourth quarter. The first-quarter rise was the largest since the first quarter of 2007.

Consumer spending, which normally accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, added 2.55 percentage points to GDP last quarter, the biggest percentage contribution since the fourth quarter of 2006.

Business inventories increased $31.1 billion in the first quarter as businesses restocked to meet firming domestic demand, the first increase since the first quarter of 2008. Inventories contributed 1.57 percentage points to GDP, less than half the contribution in the last three months of 2009 when businesses became less aggressive in clearing their warehouses.

When businesses slow the rate at which they are liquidating inventories, manufacturers raise production and this boosts GDP. Inventories fell $19.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009.

Excluding inventories the economy expanded at a 1.6 percent rate following a 1′.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Businesses continued to spend on software and equipment, though a bit less vigorously than in the prior quarter. Business investment rose at a 4.1 percent rate after a 5.3 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

New home construction, which showed some hesitancy early this year, was a drag on growth in the first quarter — after two quarters of gains. Residential investment contracted at a 10.9 percent rate after growing at a 3.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Spending on structures subtracted from GDP for a sixth straight quarter. Export growth slowed sharply to a 5.8 percent pace in the first quarter from a 22.8 percent rate in the prior period, while imports rose at an 8.9 percent rate. That left a trade deficit that chipped off 0.61 percentage point from first-quarter GDP.

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RealtyTrac reported today that foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — totaled 932,234 properties in the first quarter, a 7 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 16 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009. One in every 138 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March, an increase of nearly 19 percent from the previous month, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009 and the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005.

“Foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2010 followed a very similar pattern to what we saw in the first quarter of 2009: a shallow trough in January and February followed by a substantial spike in March,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “One difference, however, is that the increases were more tilted toward the final stage of foreclosure, with REOs increasing 9 percent on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a 13 percent quarterly decrease in REOs in the first quarter of 2009.

“This subtle shift in the numbers pushed REOs to the highest quarterly total we’ve ever seen in our report and may be further evidence that lenders are starting to make a dent in the backlog of distressed inventory that has built up over the last year as foreclosure prevention programs and processing delays slowed down the normal foreclosure timeline.”

Foreclosure Activity by Type

During the quarter a total of 304,799 properties received default notices (Notices of Default and Lis Pendens), an increase of 1 percent from the previous quarter but down 1 percent from the first quarter of 2009. Default notices were down nearly 11 percent from a peak of more than 342,000 in the third quarter of 2009.

Foreclosure auctions were scheduled for the first time on a total of 369,491 properties during the quarter, the highest quarterly total for scheduled auctions in the history of the report. Scheduled auctions increased 12 percent from the previous quarter and were up 21 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

Bank repossessions (REOs) also hit a record high for the report in the first quarter, with a total of 257,944 properties repossessed by the lender during the quarter — an increase of 9 percent from the previous quarter and an increase of 35 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

Nevada, Arizona, Florida post top state foreclosure rates in first quarter

As it has for the past 13 quarters, Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in the first quarter of 2010. One in every 33 Nevada housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, more than four times the national average and an increase of nearly 15 percent from the previous quarter. Still, Nevada’s total of 34,557 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in the first quarter was down 16 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

Las Vegas continued to post the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate in the first quarter, with one in 28 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing (3.51 percent) — 4.9 times the national average. A total of 28,480 Las Vegas housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, an increase of nearly 13 percent from the previous quarter but a decrease of 19 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

Arizona foreclosure activity in the first quarter increased on a quarterly and annual basis, helping the state to post the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the third consecutive quarter. One in every 49 Arizona properties received a foreclosure filing during the quarter — nearly three times the national average.

With one in every 57 Florida properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter, the state posted the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate for the second straight quarter. Florida’s Q1 foreclosure activity increased on a quarterly and annual basis.

California foreclosure activity decreased 6 percent from the first quarter of 2009, but the state still documented the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure rate — one in every 62 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Utah foreclosure activity increased 75 percent from the first quarter of 2009, the highest annual increase among states with top-10 foreclosure rates and giving it the nation’s fifth highest state foreclosure rate. Foreclosure filings were reported on 10,756 Utah properties, a rate of one in every 88 housing units and an increase of 21 percent from the previous quarter.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 in the first quarter were Michigan, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado.

Ten states account for more than 70 percent of nation’s first quarter total

California alone accounted for 23 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the first quarter, with 216,263 properties receiving a foreclosure notice — the nation’s highest foreclosure activity total.

Florida’s total was second highest, with 153,540 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter, and Arizona’s total was third highest, with 55,686 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Despite a nearly 5 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous quarter, Illinois documented the fourth highest foreclosure activity total, with 45,780 properties receiving a foreclosure filing — still a 17 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009.

A total of 45,732 Michigan properties received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, the fifth highest state total. Michigan foreclosure activity increased nearly 11 percent from the previous quarter and was up nearly 38 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

Other states with foreclosure activity totals among the nation’s 10 highest were Georgia (39,911), Texas (37,354), Nevada (34,557), Ohio (33,221) and Colorado (16,023).

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