Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A House subcommittee took on the thorny issue Tuesday of how to transport hazardous materials across the nation without spilling them and without regulating transportation companies out of business.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials is preparing a bill that seeks to make transportation of dangerous chemicals, radioactive materials and other toxins safer.

The subcommittee wants to “ensure the safe transportation of hazardous materials” but also want to avoid “any unnecessary economic barriers or burdens to the industry,” a congressional staff member told All Headline News.

Transportation industry leaders are urging Congress to move cautiously on any new regulatory legislation.

They say they should not need to pay more of their own money to reach higher safety goals.

Instead, the federal government should help pay the added costs of new safety technologies, such as “positive train control” systems that automatically take control of trains when they speed too quickly around corners, encounter obstacles in their paths or confront other hazards.

Other safety devices can track the movement of trucks on highways with global positioning satellites.

Members of the railroads subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), largely agree more regulation is not the answer.

“I am deeply concerned with the regulatory overreach that cripples our economy, stifles job creation and ties up our nation in red tape,” Shuster said.

Expert witnesses at the congressional hearing Tuesday included the administrator of the U.S. Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the chairwoman of the American Trucking Association and the director of safety and health for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Concerns raised by transportation company officials include the regulatory procedures used by the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. A rule change last year allows the agency to institute new regulations without a public notice and comment period.

Transportation industry officials say the new rulemaking procedure gives them too little influence over new regulations. They also complain about an inconsistent pattern of regulations under the new procedure.

Cynthia L. Quarterman, administrator of the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, defended the agency’s new procedures.

“As a result of our actions, we had a banner year in fiscal year 2010, with the lowest number of hazardous materials incidents in recorded history,” she said.

Her claims were disputed by David W. Boston, a representative of the trade group Institute of Makers of Explosives, who said in his testimony that the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s “actions lack transparency and predictability and have increased costs with no corresponding safety benefit.”

The railroads subcommittee is struggling with improving hazardous materials transport safety at a time other members of Congress say transportation programs cannot expect more government funding.

Republicans won deep cuts in a budget compromise last week that narrowly averted a government shutdown. They are promising even deeper cuts in the next fiscal year budget as they struggle to cut the nation’s $14 trillion deficit.

Transportation funding is among the programs on the fiscal chopping block.

A recurring issue for the railroads subcommittee has been the national security implications of hazardous materials transport.

For years, congressional and major city officials have been dealing with how to avoid a well-placed terrorist bomb or missile striking a truck or train transporting radioactive material or dangerous chemicals, such as chlorine.

So far, their regulatory answer has been a requirement that trains and trucks carrying the hazardous materials avoid large urban areas. The transportation companies say diverting their vehicles drives up their costs, which get passed on to their customers and eventually hurt the economy.

View full post on All Stories

New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – New York Michael Bloomberg is under fire for proposing an annual budget requiring mass teacher layoffs and cuts to social services for infants and the elderly.

Citing reduced funding from the state and the deficit, the mayor has proposed eliminating 6,166 teaching positions, including 4,666 through layoffs. It would be the city’s first mass layoff of teachers since the 1970s fiscal crisis.

Bloomberg wants 16,000 child-care slots eliminated and 20 fire houses shuttered. In addition, he plans to save $27 million by closing 100 senior centers.

The proposal requires no tax increases, and closes a $4.58 billion deficit despite a $2.1 billion drop in state aid. But it was met coldly by unions and advocates for social services.

“Playing politics with people’s lives is an ugly, shameful act, and that is exactly what Mayor Bloomberg is doing,” United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew said in a statement.

Mulgrew said that instead of adding to problems of underfunded public schools and “skyrocketing class sizes” the mayor should support the extension of the state’s millionaire’s tax.

The call echoes those made by the city council’s Progressive Caucus to let the tax continue generating $4 billion annually. The income tax on the city’s wealthiest expires by the end of the year.

District Council 37, the city’s largest public worker union, is questioning the mayor’s decision to continue laying off public workers instead of examining the city’s 18,000 outside contracts.

“Where are the cuts to billions of dollars in private contracts,” asked the group’s executive director, Lillian Roberts.

The union will hold a hearing next Friday to study the way the city’s funds are being spent, and make recommendations for a budget “that embodies fairness and shared sacrifice.”

Bloomberg’s budget accounts for a reduction of $1.4 billion in state funding for education in the city, as well as the loss of $850 million in federal stimulus support for teacher salaries.

Critics argue the mayor’s push for mass teacher layoffs is also a way to end a “last in, first out” law he has long opposed. “if we have to lay teachers off, we have to ensure we can keep the very best,” Bloomberg said on Thursday.

Mulgrew responded, “His efforts to scare newer teachers and demonize veteran teachers do nothing to help children or support the work that we do every day.”

Bloomberg presented his budget as a piece of “good news,” citing a $2.1 billion rise in revenues and a surplus of more than $3 billion. But the mayor is still seeking $600 million from the state, and he made clear there may be more reductions to programs and personnel if Albany does not agree to the provide the funds.

“If the state does not come through, layoffs and service cuts will be more severe,” the mayor said.

View full post on Education Stories

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers on Wednesday that growing inflationary pressure in China is helping American companies increase their competitiveness.

Testifying before the Senate Committee on Finance, Geithner said the Chinese currency is moving very gradually in nominal terms against the dollar. “But because their inflation rates are so much higher than ours, it’s actually appreciating in real terms against the United States at a rate, if continued, roughly 10 percent a year or a little more,” Geithner said.

“If that were sustained, that would bring about a major shift in the competitive balance in our favor over time, which is necessary and important, not just to us, but for all of China’s trading partners,” Geithner added.

Geithner said the Chinese have reached the judgment themselves internally that they have no choice but to let that process happen over time. “Because, again, if they were not to, they’d be left with the risk of much more inflation, much more risk of the type of financial crisis we went through. And they want to make sure they avoid that outcome,” he noted.

“Right now, what you’re seeing is very important, which is companies they make decisions with a long fuse. They have to look forward in the future. It’s like a quarterback he has to pass to where the receiver is going. They look at the competitive landscape today; they see inflation in China rising, the currency rising, wage rates rising. And they are going to change their decisions about where they build the next plant, where they buy from in the future,” he said.

That will help reinforce this recovery in the United States, Geithner said.

Later testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, Geithner said President’s budget presents a comprehensive strategy to strengthen economic growth and expand exports with investments in education, innovation and the nation’s infrastructure.

Geithner said the deficits are too high and unsustainable. “Left unaddressed these deficits will hurt economic growth and make us weaker as a nation. We have to restore fiscal responsibility and go back to living within our means. The president’s budget cuts the deficit he inherited in half as a share of the economy by the end of his first term. These cuts are phased in over time so that we protect the recovery,” he said.

Observing that this is a very competitive world, he said the US is now focused every day on how to make the country stronger and more competitive. “If we’re going to be able to meet a substantial share of the growing demand for goods and services around the world, we want more of that to be met by investment in the United States,” he said.

“What the president’s budget does is propose a range of reforms and incentives to make it more likely that that next great American business builds their next factory in the United States and that great foreign competitor of the United States builds his or her next factory in the United States. And we want to make sure the tax code is working to encourage those kind of investments and not to discourage those kind of investments,” he said in response to a question from Rep Carl Levin.

Geithner said the United States propose to put in place a permanent and expanded tax credit for research and development in the US; to eliminate capital gains on investment in small businesses; to encourage advanced manufacturing and clean energy technologies; to keep taxes on investment income, dividends and capital gains low; to reform and extend the Build America Bond Program; and to make college more affordable for middle class Americans.

The United States, he said needs a more competitive system that allows the market, not tax planners and lobbyists to allocate investment, a system in which businesses across industries pay a roughly similar share of earnings; a system that provides more stability and certainty; that is more simple to comply with. “We need to do all this without adding to our future deficits. We’ve begun the process of building support for comprehensive corporate tax reform,” said the Treasury Secretary.

View full post on All Stories

Philadelphia, PA, United States (AHN) – President Obama proposed a new incentive plan Thursday to make buildings more energy efficient while he faces opposition among Republicans who are more interested in reducing the national budget.

Obama spoke at Penn State University about his “Better Buildings” initiative.

The plan seeks to make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient by 2020.

“Making our buildings more energy efficient is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to save money, combat pollution and create jobs right here in the United States of America, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Obama said.

The initiative would offer tax credits to small businesses to invest in technologies that reduce energy use.

Examples could include weatherization insulation and solar panels.

The program would be paid by eliminating government subsidies for oil companies.

Other savings would come from energy efficient buildings, which would cut business operating costs by $40 billion a year and create clean energy jobs, Obama said.

The Better Buildings initiative also would offer grants to state and local governments to help them rewrite regulations in a way that attracts private investment in the energy efficiency industry.

However, Obama must get approval from Congress for what he called “more generous” tax credits.

Republicans, such as House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, have been saying that Obama’s discussion of new investments is a code word for new government spending at a time the national deficit exceeds $13 trillion and still is climbing.

View full post on All Stories

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British Prime Minister David Cameron pushed Monday for more public service reforms, particularly in the areas of healthcare, education and peace and order.

On top of the coalition government’s reform agenda is the abolition of primary care trusts and health authorities and the turn over of their powers and finances to general practitioners. Despite criticisms from several sectors over the devolution, 141 GP consortia had been formed in response to the reform and to take on their new responsibility.

The health consortia covers at least half of the country, or 28 million patients, as part of the pilot program. They will get 80 percent of the $150 billion (GBP 100 billion) budget of the National Health System.

Expectedly, the NHS opposed the loss of funds and powers, and warned the reforms would lead to worsening of healthcare delivery.

The reforms are part of the health and social care bill the Conservative-led government will publish on Wednesday.

Aside from healthcare, another controversial social reform being pushed by the government is the creation of free schools independent of local authority control. The free schools would be for 16- to 19-year-olds and be operated by charities and companies.

More active role in providing public services would be given to charities, companies and community groups. The details of the proposed reforms are included in a White Paper to be published by the coalition government later this year. It is also in line with keeping the Big Society concept, while putting in place austerity measures to cut Britain’s record budget deficit.

View full post on Education Stories

Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Philippine President Benigno Aquino III signed Monday the $36.4 billion (PHP 1.6 trillion) national budget for 2011. The biggest allocation went to education, followed by national defense and public works and highways.

It was the first time since 1999 that the Philippine budget was signed into law on the same year it was submitted, indicating improved relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government. It used a zero-based budgeting approach in which allocations were justified before they were approved, unlike the previous budgets in which the existing allocations were merely added or reduced.

With the highest allocation to education, Aquino said the budget would permit the building of new classrooms and employment of new teachers.

The president also vetoed 13 items in the budget, which is 6.8 percent higher compared to the current budget. Aside from placing top priority on education, the budget also focuses on social programs by including a $478.3 million (PHP 21 billion) allocation for a cash handout program to poor Filipino families.

Aquino gets in the budget a $27.3 million (PHP 1.2 billion) confidential and intelligence fund that does not have to go through the Commission on Audit.

View full post on Education Stories

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British Prime Minister David Cameron attempted Monday to win back the trust of Britons after Chancellor George Osborne unveiled last week a spending review that revealed $121.5 billion (81 billion pounds) in program cuts. Cameron was scheduled to promise jobs and growth over the next four years as part of a new economic dynamism the coalition government will pursue.

Cameron’s speech at the Confederation of British Industries sought to counter fears that the austerity measures will place at risk the country’s fragile economic recovery. A major British think tank has warned that the budget cuts will affect all British families, regardless of their economic standing.

To boost the British economy, which in turn is expected to create growth, jobs and opportunities, Cameron secured the backing of big business in opening up access to finance, creating an attractive business environment for venture capital funding and opening lending anew to small businesses.

Cameron expects the private sector to take the lead in replacing the 500,000 public sector jobs to be lost because of the budget cuts.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable will also address the CBI in a bid to convince business leaders that the spending review would not result to a double-dip recession for Britain. However, gross domestic product figures scheduled for release this week are expected to confirm that growth has slowed in the third quarter to 0.4 percent from 1.2 percent in the second quarter.

Labor leader Ed Miliband will also address the CBI.

View full post on All Stories

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will provide a fiscal update on Tuesday in a speech at the Mississauga Chinese Business Association.

Flaherty’s update will have no new policy measures. Instead, Flaherty will emphasize that Ottawa’s priority is to help Canada’s economic recovery because global recovery is still fragile. He will also commit to balancing the federal budget in the medium term or by 2014-15.

Observers are awaiting Flaherty’s policy on the possible extension of stimulus spending beyond March 2011 and a cap in increases on employment insurance benefits starting January 2011.

Flaherty is also expected to provide final figures for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. He had warned previously the final deficit could go beyond the $53.8 billion forecast in the 2010 budget because of year-end accounting charges after the recent implementation of the harmonized sales tax in Ontario and British Columbia.

Last week Flaherty met with private sector economists in a run-up to the fiscal update to get their inputs. After the meeting, the minister declared Canada’s boom times are over amid high uncertainty in global outlook.

View full post on All Stories

Use a business plan. Start by writing a detailed business plan that you can use throughout your startup and beyond. The plan should include a statement of purpose or mission statement, which can help to guide you not only on startup but also all through the business. The plan also needs to detail the finances of the business.

The finances of the business include all the expenses for the business along with the projected sales. Overheads such as rent, utilities and postage charges must all be considered as well as other key budget items such as advertising. Don’t forget about one-time fees for business startup, licenses and inspections.

Another cost for all businesses is the monthly telephone charges.

Don’t skimp on insurance. Always get the full insurance coverage that you can get, even if the costs are slightly higher each month. This can help tremendously in keeping you covered for all types of events. Many small businesses have been wiped out entirely due to an accident or problem that was not covered by insurance.

Then you will need to figure out the actual material costs for your product or service. This should include any labor necessary. Don’t assume that your labor is free. This is a mistake many new small business owners make. Instead, be sure that you account for your own salary as well as the salary of any other employees that will be required.

Once you have the costs figured out you can set your pricing accordingly. Be prepared to do some market research. Always check competitors pricing to ensure that you are in line. You don’t want to be priced too high so that nobody will purchase your product or service. Likewise, you can’t be priced so low that you lose money with each purchase. Instead, take all things into consideration and price your product or service realistically while allowing for some profit.

Try to be prudent when it comes to the overheads for your business. For example, telephone service is one area that you may be able to lower the costs. There are many wholesale long distance providers where you can find good service with reasonable prices.

When making the budget always allow a category for unexpected items. These may come in the form of unexpected repairs or charges that you did not plan on. If you didn’t budget for these types of expenses the money will come right off the bottom line – profits. Instead, figure these expenses into the budget. Carry them over from month to month so that you have enough in the fund in the case of a problem. This also allows you some room for pricing changes in the event that some of your raw materials or labor prices go up.

A good business plan can get you some much-needed dollars for your business. Investors must see a business plan before they will invest money in your business. Yet investors can provide the money you need to get the business going. Banks and loan officers also must review a business plan before granting a small business loan.

If you are unsure about how to write a business plan get some help. A professional can help write a great plan for you and may be well worth the initial expense. Look at other business plans for similar businesses to get an idea of what it should be like. Finally, you can tweak the business plan as needed. Use the business plan as a roadmap to the success of your business.

Expert Overview

To start off, get a general sense of the cost categories for a startup business in your industry. To do this you should do some online research on websites for your sector which go over the expense categories. Then try to speak to experts. An entrepreneur in a non-competing market who started a similar business or someone at an industry association could be a great help in this regard. From this person you should be more interested in the range of startup costs they incurred and the general categories, rather than in their precise budget. You will have to customize your budget for your business and the market you are operating within anyway.

Example Categories

Some of the example categories for startup expenses you might encounter are licensing, insurance, and legal fees, leasehold improvements on a rental space, equipment purchases, initial inventory of products, training and education fees, and a pre-launch marketing campaign. Other categories will be specific to your type of business. For example, if you are starting a franchise, paying the franchise fee will be a significant category. Outline all of these categories on a spreadsheet to prepare to fill in estimated costs for your business.

Filling In The Details

Next you must research these expenses one by one through online searches for vendors and suppliers, as well as phone conversations when prices are not offered online. For items you will purchase repeatedly or will cost thousands of dollars, make sure to check a few sources for the right combination of price, quality, and service for you. Keep all of the details on the information you find about the services offered by companies and individuals you contact. You can use this process to gather much more than pricing information and therefore better prepare for your launch. While time consuming, there is no better way to find out the costs you will incur than speaking directly with providers you may actually use.

Eric Powers is associated with Growthink, a business plan consulting firm. Since 1999, Growthink has provided business plan writing services to more than 2,000 entrepreneurs and business owners who have raised more than $1 billion in growth capital. Call 800-506-5728 today for a free consultation with a professional business plan writer.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/business-plan-budget-your-startup-expenses-1345192.html