OFFBEAT MAIL

One of the sensitive issues that was taken up during the recent debates between presidential candidates incumbent President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney centered on how to tame the rate of unemployment in America. Unquestionably, the exchange of gangnam rhetorics between the two protagonists appeared to have satisfied the appetite of those who wished to hear something new as both of them articulated themselves on how to solve the massive unemployment, which put many Americans to rely on welfare funds to survive the dog-eat-dog competition. Surely, others may have just shrugged their shoulders but in their minds they knew who to vote for. Whether or not the rhetorics had worked to the advantage of both candidates, nobody knows. One thing sure, many corporations that are successfully operating in China and other Asian countries,  where labor is much lower, may be re-thinking on whether to take the bait or not. For sure, it won't be easy for them to decide yet at this point in ti...

Economic turmoil in Europe, slower growth in China and U.S. unemployment are expected to curb business travel growth in the United States through the end of the year, according to the latest GBTA BTI™ Outlook – United States, a report from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) sponsored by Visa, Inc. With disappointing job gains and the upcoming Presidential election on the horizon, businesses appear to be taking a cautious approach to their investment in travel until there is greater economic certainty.   GBTA now expects total U.S. business travel spending to grow 2.6 percent for 2012, reaching $257 billion by the end of the year. While this is a moderate increase since last quarter, when GBTA estimated growth for 2012 at 2.2 percent, the uptick in spend is largely being driven by rising business travel costs. Total business trip volume is expected to reach 438.1 million for 2012 – a reduction of -1.6 percent from 2011, when total business trip volume was 445 million....