Daily Business Report — July 18, 2012

Mayor Sanders Warns Against
Plan to Reduce Defense Spending

City News Service — Speaking in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders warned against plans to reducing defense spending by $1.2 trillion next year, saying that could trigger devastating job losses locally. “Like every other city in the country, San Diego has been struggling to recover from the worst national recession in nine decades,” Sanders said. “Arbitrary, politically motivated cuts to the national defense budget are the last thing our city needs right now, given that a quarter of all jobs in this region are tied to the defense industry.” The San Diego Military Advisory Council estimated last month that about one-quarter of the jobs in the region rely in some way on defense spending. San Diego is raking in about $20 million in Pentagon cash this fiscal year, according to a council report. About $8 billion is spent on salaries for 140,000 military and civilian Defense Department employees.

At issue is $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts that will take effect Jan. 3 if the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction fails to lower the deficit by $1.5 trillion — either through lower expenditures or higher revenues. The Pentagon’s share of the cuts if committee members can’t reach an agreement is $492 billion, through 2021. In California alone, more than 225,000 jobs would be jeopardized, about 135,000 of them directly tied to the military, according to the study by Stephen Fuller, a professor at George Mason University. Another 90,000 or so could be indirectly affected.

Cubic Corp. Subsidiary Gets Air Force
Contract to Support Air Advisor Academy

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Cubic Applications Inc., subsidiary of San Diego’s Cubic Corp., a contract to support the Air Advisor Academy located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. The Air Advisor Academy, a subordinate organization of Air Education and Training Command, provides education and training for airmen. “Cubic personnel will provide on-site support to assist the Air Advisor Academy education and training mission by furnishing instructors, curriculum developers, and other support as required,” said Glenn Marsh, vice president and general manager for  Cubic’s Omega Training and Education Division, in Columbus, Ga.

San Diego Trust Bank Reports
Quarter and Year-to-Date Earnings

San Diego Trust Bank reported its 31st consecutive quarterly profit today, with year-to-date earnings up 61 percent from the same period last year. It said net earnings for the six months ended June 30 totaled $916,000 compared to $569,000 for the same period last year. Net income for the second quarter of 2012 totaled $432,000 compared to $267,000 for the same period of last year. Total assets reached $216.6 million as of June 30  compared to $201.9 million at the same date last year, a 7.3 percent increase.

Digital Printing Company Refuses
to Collect California Sales Tax

The Minnesota-based Docucopies.com, a major online digital printing company, will no longer collect sales tax from their California customers. The company recently opened a production center in San Luis Obispo, which cut its delivery time from four business days to one on most of the West Coast. Unfortunately, California commerce laws required that the company start collecting sales tax from any customer whose printing products were delivered to California. Davis Pressley, Docucopies president and CEO, said collecting sales tax on e-commerce is the wrong way to solve the state’s budget problems.

Dalai Lama to Contribute $50,000 to the Monarch
School from Proceeds from April Visit to San Diego

A total of $51,000 in surplus revenue from the recent visit of the Dalai Lama will be given to the Monarch School on Thursday by Lama Tenzin Dhonden, personal emissary for the Dalai Lama. The check for that amount will be presented at an 11 a.m. ceremony involving representatives from San Diego State, UC San Diego and the University of San Diego. The Dalai Lama spoke to more than 20,000 people at those campuses during his two-day visit to San Diego in April. The ceremony will be at the Monarch School, 808 W. Cedar St. in Downtown San Diego. The school serves homeless youth.