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Consejos Financieros Para Esta Navidad y El 2011
Este artículo fue publicado originálmente en el portal de Impremedia.com de Recursos para Negocios. This article was originally published at Impremedia.com’s hub for small business owners.
El 2010 ha sido un año con muchos contratiempos para los dueños de pequeños negocios. La recesión hizo que las ventas disminuyeran, que las líneas de crédito se cerraran, y mantuvo la tasa de desempleo en casi el 10 por ciento. Pero con la época navideña a la vuelta de la esquina, la economía ha empezado a dar muestras de querer repuntar ¿Qué se puede esperar para el 2011?
Los editores de Inverpedia, una página de Internet dedicada a la educación financiera para los hispanos, nos explican qué podemos esperar de lo que resta de este año y que oportunidades nos traerá el 2011.
¿Qué se espera de esta época navideña?
Los analistas de Deloitte en su encuesta anual sobre el gasto en época de fin de año, encontraron que los consumidores esperan gastar más en regalos de Navidad comparado con las cifras del año pasado, pero sin sobrepasarse. Los consumidores se han vuelto más cautelosos a la hora de comprar. Este estudio también indica que la mayoría de las compras se harán en línea y utilizando plataformas móviles.
¿Mejorarán los mercados crediticios para pequeños negociantes?
Nosotros pensamos que el 2011 será un mejor año para los pequeños negocios con respecto al acceso a los créditos bancarios. Todo nos indica que vamos hacia ese camino y tanto el gobierno, por medio de la ley de Empleados para Pequeñas Empresas del 2010 (Small Business Jobs Act, por sus siglas en inglés), como el sector privado al crear nuevos empleos están contribuyendo a la estabilidad del mercado.
¿Qué consejos prácticos se pueden dar para hacer una estrategia de negocios para el nuevo año?
Después de una crisis financiera siempre habrá muchas oportunidades para mejorar en los negocios. Para crear una estrategia para el 2011 que sea exitosa es necesario que se tengan en cuenta los siguientes consejos:
• Mantener los costos operacionales al nivel más bajo posible para no abusar de las pocas líneas de crédito existentes.
• Crear proyecciones a corto y mediano plazo e ir monitoreando estos objetivos constantemente.
• No invierta en mercados que no conozca.
• Busque asesoría financiera y contable antes de invertir su dinero.
• Utilice las redes sociales como Facebook y Twitter para promocionar sus productos.
¿Cuál es el mejor consejo financiero para el 2011?
“Explore y aproveche las oportunidades que dejan las crisis”. Piense en la posibilidad de expandir su negocio virtualmente. Infórmese de cómo nuevas tecnologías pueden ahorrarle dinero y aumentar su productividad.
Drug Cartels Move Beyond Borders AS/COA Online 12/19/08
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| A vigil in Mexico for drug war victims. (AP Images) |
Two years after Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on the country’s drug cartels, the bloodletting continues to spread. Despite impressive arrests and narcotics seizures, the murder rate doubled in 2008 over the previous year. Moreover, the gangs’ tentacles reach into the highest levels of government down to local police forces. But the drug war’s impact has also been felt well beyond Mexico, with links extending across the Americas, into Europe, and as far as Australia.
Out of fear of the drug war’s overflow, Guatemala plans to deploy several hundred soldiers along its border with Mexico during the next few weeks. In September, Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom accused the cartels of high-level infiltration after it came to light that his office had been bugged. Analyst Sam Logan at ISN Security Watch describes Guatemala as the “release valve” for the cartels, given its low altitude and proximity to paved roads in Mexico. Logan also points out that, in South America, Peru saw ties develop between Mexican drug cartels and the Maoist Shining Path guerillas. Recent attacks on the Peruvian army in which 15 soldiers and two civilians died were blamed on ex-guerrillas hired by Mexican drug traffickers to “secure their trade routes out of the mountains.” According to a UN report, coca cultivation increased in Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia by 16 percent since 2001.
The connections appear to reach even further south; Argentina has become a drug trade hub, fueling the U.S. methamphetamine and European cocaine demands. Latin American Thought blog’s Eliot Brockner reports on the recent seizure of 1,000 kilos of cocaine at Buenos Aires’ port. The fact that Mexican drug cartels “can use Argentina as an entry (ephedrine/pseudoephedrine) and exit (cocaine) point suggests there is a fairly well-coordinated smuggling ring capable of transporting large quantities of illicit merchandise across South America,” he writes.
The cartels’ links reach beyond the Americas. A Stratfor analysis covers Mexican connections with Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta organized criminal clan, allowing for drugs to be shipped from Colombia through Mexico to the United States and on to Italy. From there, the drugs could be distributed to the European market. Earlier this month, a cocaine bust involving the arrest of three Mexican nationals by Australia’s federal police uncovered that country’s local link to that Mexico’s cartel.
The 2009 National Threat Assessment published by the National Drug Intelligence Center identifies Mexican drug-trafficking organizations as “the greatest organized crime threat to the United States.” With an eye to the problem, the United States released $197 million to Mexico at the beginning of December—the first of a $400 million package to fight organized crime through the Mérida Initiative.
As the crisis grows, so do the calls for solutions. Harvard International Review’s Jason Larkin suggests that, in the absence of decriminalization or results from increased militarization, negotiation with cartels stands as an option, “just as the U.S. has considered negotiating with the Taliban.” In a lengthy article, OpenDemocracy.net writes that “legalization may become the most effective weapon in the arsenal aimed at organized crime…it seems now is the perfect time to give it a try,” after a thorough analysis of the crisis. A Semana op-ed compares the tragedy facing Mexico to the one in Colombia’s recent history. It recommends that Latin American governments come together to coordinate efforts to halt the bloodshed, which could help affect change internationally. A Cox News Service article looks to similar organized crime circles of the past, ranging from Chicago during Prohibition to Italy’s Mafia, and suggests that peace may come through legalization or by fragmentation of the cartels.
El Universal features a multimedia page that tracks the ongoing violence and keeps a complete tally of the war’s victims in Mexico. Read an AS/COA analysis on how gun smuggling from the United States into Mexico fuels the war.
En español.
Recession Strikes Immigrant Jobs, Remittances AS/COA Online 12/12/08
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| Immigrants struggle with fewer employment options. (AP Images) |
In the midst of a financial storm, the U.S. labor market lost more than half a million jobs in November alone. While unemployment affects all segments of the population, legal and undocumented Latino workers have been particularly hard hit. The Hispanic unemployment rate hit 8.8 percent in October, outpacing the national figure of 6.5 percent.
The rising joblessness coincides with slowing remittance rates, delivering another blow to Latin American economies—particularly in Mexico and Central America—that depend on emigrant money flows. Remittances slowed down worldwide from a 16 percent annual increase in 2007 down to only seven percent in 2008. In October, the Inter-American Development Bank forecasted that this year, for the first time since 2000, remittances to Latin America would decrease in value when adjusted for inflation.
Given the circumstances, Latin American migrants to the United States find themselves contemplating the idea of returning home, faced with the difficulty of holding down jobs in hard-hit sectors such as construction as well as stiffer immigration enforcement that includes random workplace raids. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports about Latin American immigrants moving home, and notes that even circular migration across the border may drop as Mexicans return home permanently. A Pew Hispanic Center report from October found that the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States dropped from 800,000 per year between 2000 and 2004 to 500,000 per year in 2007. Additionally, immigration officials claim that tougher enforcement has helped reduced illegal immigration; more than 290,000 illegal immigrants were deported in 2007, which they say has induced others to consider the option of returning home.
Those who return or remain must also contend with economic consequences. NPR covers the struggles of poor residents in the Mexican state of Michoacán receiving fewer remittances from their relatives. The report also envisions problems for local governments if, for example, 10 percent of migrant workers decide to return. “No, there’s no work…there are some serious complications. This is reality,” State Legislator Antonio Garcia says.
However, the Associated Press reports that remittances to Mexico rose by $2.4 billion in October compared with $2.2 billion a year ago as Mexican immigrants sending money ahead of the Christmas season and cashing in on the declining value of the peso. That means more purchasing power in the hands of millions of families already strained by a weak economy. Despite this positive glimpse of recovery, the Economist explains that many workers might be sending home their savings in advance of their planned return.
In the United States, the immigration debate became a lesser issue in the 2008 presidential race and could be relegated to the back burner of Barack Obama’s presidential agenda, given the pressing need to confront the financial crisis. During his campaign, Obama promised to secure U.S. borders, reform existing immigration laws, and “bring illegal workers out of the shadows.” The recent nomination of Arizona’s Governor Janet Napolitano to the secretary of Homeland Security post by Obama is perceived as a strong sign that the next administration will eventually tackle immigration reform, given Napolitano’s expertise in border issues and immigration law.
The Migration Policy Institute recaps the top 10 immigration issues of 2008 and suggests which issues to keep an eye on in 2009.
Read AS/COA coverage on how the financial crisis has hit immigrant pockets this year.
En español.
Read the article as originally published at the AS/COA website.
Carlos Macías Web 