Sacramento, U.S.A. — Tribal government gaming generates important benefits across California’s economy, according to a new study conducted by Beacon Economics, a leading independent economic research firm.

The study, commissioned by the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), surveyed gaming and non-gaming tribes across the state, including a cross section of large and small casinos in urban and rural markets with a range of amenities including hotels, restaurants, retail establishments and entertainment venues. The study finds that Indian gaming operations provide significant benefits throughout California’s economy.

“California tribes made a promise to California voters: we promised we would provide for our people and land as governments, we would provide jobs for our people and our neighbors, we would be good neighbors sharing responsibility for services like fire and police and environmental protection, as well as supporting non-profits and public entities that contribute to the quality of life in our regions,” said Daniel J. Tucker, Chairman of CNIGA.

“This is our first report card, and I am proud of it. We have done well for our people, our neighbors, local and state governments and California taxpayers, as well as providing financial assistance for 71 other tribes to assist them in building a foundation for economic independence.”

“Our analysis shows that California tribal government gaming has a $7.5 billion annual impact and supports more than fifty-two thousand jobs for state residents,” said Chris Thornberg,

Founding Partner of Beacon Economics. “The benefits are broad-based and state-wide: including tribes and tribal members, non-tribal members, local economies and state and local government budgets. As today’s economy improves and discretionary spending rises, the magnitude of these effects can be expected to grow.”

Among the study’s key findings:

Tribal gaming generates $7.5 billion for California’s Economy: In 2010 alone, $7.5 billion in economic activity was supported by Indian gaming operations. Of that amount, more than half ($3.9 billion) was generated outside of direct spending from the gaming operations. That means that businesses throughout California’s economy — the vast majority of which are non-tribal — are being buoyed by Tribal gaming.

California tribal gaming creates more than fifty-two thousand jobs and $2.7 billion in income for Californians: The Beacon analysis concludes that tribal government gaming is an increasingly important pillar of job creation in California, supporting more than 52,000 good-paying jobs across the state and generating over $2.7 billion in income. The study estimates that upwards of 80% of casino employees are non-tribal members, and finds that many tribal gaming jobs are filled by lower-skilled workers, those hurt most by the economic downturn.

Tribal gaming generates $467 million in revenues supporting essential local and state services: According to the study, tribal government gaming operations generate $467 million in state and local revenues, and non-gaming operations provide an additional $47 million in state and local revenues.

Tribal government gaming has provided $818 million in critical support to non-gaming tribes: Revenue generated by tribal gaming provides essential support to non-gaming tribes, funding a range of services including education, health care, and housing. Non-gaming tribes receive up to $1.1 million annually from the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund. To date, the analysis shows that $818 million has been distributed to help reduce the reliance of non-gaming tribes on state and local governments.

California gaming tribes foster safe and healthy communities, active philanthropic giving: Many California gaming tribes sponsor police and fire departments to relieve strained county officials and protect tribal and non-tribal community members, according to the report. Tribal gaming revenues also support local health and dental clinics for tribal and non-tribal residents in critical areas where these services are not readily available. The study also reports that gaming tribes often serve as the most important sources of philanthropic giving in their surrounding communities.

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Chicago and Springfield, U.S.A. — The Republican led U.S. House of Representatives wasted taxpayer dollars playing a partisan game on Wednesday, when they voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

It represented the 33rd time Congress has attempted to repeal the Act, even though the measure is destined for certain defeat in the U.S. Senate. Keith Kelleher, President of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana, uniting 91,000 health care and child care workers, issued the following statement in response:

At a time when Congress should put its full attention on the country’s economic recovery, the U.S. House Republicans squandered a day at the office Wednesday when they voted for a politically motivated and legislatively futile repeal of President Obama’s landmark health care reform.

While average Americans need Congress to focus intensely on policies that will create jobs, make college education more affordable, reduce the federal deficit and generally improve our economic fortunes, the House Republicans chose to spend the day on a blatant political stunt. The attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act is considered dead on arrival in the Senate, so Wednesday’s vote was an exercise in empty symbolism, wasting time, energy and public dollars that should have been marshaled to accelerate our economic revitalization.

In response to today’s vote we will be informing our union members of all of Illinois’ Congressional members who voted to deny Illinois citizens quality, affordable health care. In the wake of last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, the time has come for opponents of the bill to dispense with partisan gamesmanship and move on to the business at hand: putting more Americans to work.

Congress should let the Affordable Care Act continue to work for the people of Illinois.

According to the Campaign for Better Health Care, the law has already generated the following rewards in Illinois:

• More than 3.6 million residents became entitled to preventative medical services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, without having to pay deductibles or co-pays.
• More than 100,000 uninsured young adults under the age of 26 became eligible for coverage under the parents’ health insurance.
• More than 150,000 seniors with Medicare received a $250 rebate to cover the cost of their prescription drugs once they hit the so-called donut hole.

For all of these reasons, members of Congress who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act must explain to Illinois voters why they chose to deny health security to their constituents and why they oppose providing quality and affordable health care for all Americans.

Image Courtesy of  Jose Gil / Shutterstock.com

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London, UK – As the UK economy slides back into recession a significant 61% of consumers buying premium products and services say they will not reduce their online spending in 2012, as revealed by a survey conducted by Leapfrogg, the online retail marketing agency.

This is great news for premium and high-end brands in light of gloomy economic reports for Q1 of 2012, especially as 30% of respondents say they will purchase more online due to good service and increased confidence in using online channels.

This is even more surprising considering that the average household salary of respondents is just GBP23K per annum. To take advantage, retailers need to prioritise customer service during the online shopping experience and should include consumer research as part of their digital marketing strategy.

The survey reveals the significance of understanding the online shopping journey, with over a third of consumers using the web to compare and check prices. For 20% of respondents, online search is used for product inspiration and research. Surprisingly, only 14% use online to search for offers or vouchers, emphasizing the need for premium retailers to provide quality products, competitive pricing, useful information and great service over quick-win approaches such as voucher codes.

Naturally, 39% of respondents say that lower prices would encourage them to shop with a premium brand but refreshingly, for 21% of consumers quality of product and great service is enough of a pull to encourage a luxury spend. To remain competitive, premium brands will need to ensure that the communication of product information and an excellent shopping experience is provided.

Rosie Freshwater, managing director of Leapfrogg comments, “Premium and high-end brands shouldn’t be tempted to undersell themselves by overusing voucher codes and heavy discounting. Consumers are willing to commit to higher prices as long as the shopping experience and customer service is as good as their purchase.”

In relation to the importance of the shopping experience, Freshwater continues, “Considering customer needs and optimizing the online shopping journey at every stage is paramount for increasing customer acquisition and sales. Premium brands need to know their customers inside out and consider every angle of the shopping experience from the perspective of the consumer; this should be a core aspect of retail marketing strategy for high end brands.

Premium retailers need to make the whole consumer journey easy, from start to finish, not overlooking the importance of offline interactions such as delivery options and of course post-purchase customer care.”

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The Employee Ownership Foundation has focused on convincing evidence from the most prestigious social survey in the U.S., the General Social Survey (GSS), that showed employees in the U.S who had employee stock ownership were four times less likely to be laid off during the Great Recession than employees without employee stock ownership.

Specifically, the 2010 GSS, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation and conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, found that 3% of employees with employee stock ownership, which include the ESOP model and other forms of employee ownership, were laid off in 2009-2010 compared to a 12% rate for employees without employee stock ownership.

In addition, the 2010 GSS data indicated that 13% of the employees with employee stock ownership intended to leave their companies in the coming months whereas the rate was 24% for employees without employee stock ownership. This indicates significantly lower expected turnover for workers with employee stock ownership.

“These numbers confirm what observers of employee stock ownership have been saying for years,” said J. Michael Keeling, president of the Employee Ownership Foundation. “Employees with employee stock ownership, including those with ESOPs, in general, have more sustainable employment. Too bad we had to suffer a Great Recession to have the objective data to shed more light on these claims,” he added.

Additionally, the survey found that employee ownership rates remained stable since 2006 with 17.4% of individuals reporting they owned company stock. About 19 million U.S. citizens own stock in the companies in which they work.

The Employee Ownership Foundation provided significant funding for the supplemental series of questions on shared capitalism in the survey. Shared capitalism is defined as broad-based employee, current or deferred, stock compensation programs, such as ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans), stock purchases, stock options, gain sharing, profit sharing, and bonus programs.

The shared capitalism series of questions were developed and analyzed by well-known employee ownership researchers, Professor Joseph Blasi and Professor Douglas Kruse (School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University) who submitted an application for their inclusion in the GSS.

The researchers are continuing to analyze these and other related data from the Survey to shed light on the role of employee stock ownership in the U.S. economy. ”We need policies that are job sustainers, not just policies that are job creators,” Keeling said.

“Hopefully our national leaders, including the current group of those running for President, of both parties, will take note of this evidence, and understand that national policies to encourage employee stock ownership, and new policies to increase ownership among more working Americans, need to be considered as an effective way to ensure our national employment rate is where we all want it to be.”

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Republican front runner Rick Perry was quick to criticize another stimulus plan, while offering no suggestions on how he plans to boost the economy. The Texas governor said on Monday in Tulsa, Oklahoma that no new economic stimulus package is needed to “get America working again.”

Perry said he would let his “guiding principles” as a fiscal conservative inform his policies if he were elected president. But, when asked for details, Perry resorted to general statements he has often repeated on the campaign trail.

“No. 1 is don’t spend all the money, you can figure out what that means,” Perry said at the Tulsa Press Club event also attended by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. “You won’t have stimulus programs under a Perry presidency. You won’t spend all the money.”

Despite Perry’s strong stance against federal funds, his state benefitted greatly from the last economic stimulus package. Texas has used $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money In fact, Texas used the federal stimulus to balance its last two budgets.

Perry said the nation’s “entrepreneurial spirit” would create jobs and that his tax policies would allow Americans to keep more of what they earn. He said his tax system would be “light on job creators” and called for a more predictable legal system “that doesn’t allow for over-suing.”

“We have seen a clear thirst for leadership in this country,” Perry said. In his book — titled Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington — the Texas governor writes, “We are fed up with bailout after bailout and stimulus plan after stimulus plan, each one of which tosses principle out the window along with taxpayer money.”

Earlier on Monday, Perry’s focus was foreign policy. He said American military commanders should always control U.S. military forces abroad. “It’s not our interest to go it alone,” he said. “We respect our allies and we must always seek to engage them in military missions. But at the same time, we must be willing to act when it is time to act.

We cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multilateral debating societies, and when our interests are threatened American soldiers should be led by American commanders.”

Although Perry did not say, he seems to be referring to NATO operations in Libya. The Libya operation is being run by a Canadian general from a NATO headquarters in Italy, but an American officer is the top NATO commander.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.facebook.com/GovernorPerry

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