Latinos In America

Por DAVID WESSEL

Uno puede complicar un pronóstico económico, o lo puede simplificar. Hagámoslo simple.

¿Cómo está la economía estadounidense? Mejor.

¿Cuál es el pronóstico a corto plazo? Nublado.

¿Qué hará la Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos al respecto? Eso depende de si esas nubes ceden paso a cielos despejados o empieza a llover de nuevo.

La economía de EE.UU. aún no está bien. El desempleo está en 7,5%, y sería más alto si no se hubieran salido tantos de la fuerza laboral. Los salarios de muchos que sí tienen trabajo se han estancado.

No obstante, la economía mejora gradualmente. La confianza del consumidor se encuentra en un máximo de cinco años y las nuevas solicitudes de prestaciones por desempleo en un mínimo de cinco años. En los últimos seis meses, las empresas han agregado 200.000 empleos al mes. Eso no es suficiente para reducir rápidamente la tasa de desempleo, pero es mejor que los 140.000 que sumaba cada mes el semestre previo.

Las ventas de autos y camionetas subieron 7% frente al año pasado y la mayor parte del incremento provino de vehículos fabricados en EE.UU. El último índice Case-Shiller de precios de viviendas, aunque lejos de su máximo previo a la crisis, está 10% por encima de su nivel del año pasado. Además, los índices bursátiles acumulan un alza de más de 15% en lo que va del año. Y algunos analistas ven la reciente alza en los rendimientos de la deuda del Tesoro como una señal tradicional del mercado de que la economía está mejorando.

Sí, los amplios recortes de gastos gubernamentales y los aumentos de impuestos que entraron en vigor a principios del año están deprimiendo los gastos del consumidor. Y, sin dudas, el caos en Europa está dañando las exportaciones de EE.UU. A pesar de eso, el resto de la economía estadounidense está sorprendentemente bien.

Entonces, ¿significa que los problemas finalmente han concluido? ¿Podemos confiar en que se avecinan un crecimiento más veloz y niveles normales de desempleo?

Desafortunadamente, no.

Los pronosticadores prevén que el crecimiento del segundo y tercer trimestres será más lento que el 2,5% inicialmente reportado para el primer trimestre (luego revisado a 2,4%).

Un motivo es que la economía todavía no ha sentido por completo la presión de los recortes del gasto público. De hecho, William Dudley, presidente del Banco de la Reserva Federal de Nueva York, afirma que un factor particularmente importante en los próximos meses será “lo bien que la economía supera el considerable lastre fiscal”.

Otra preocupación es que el reciente vigor del consumo, impulsado por titulares optimistas sobre la bolsa y el repunte de los precios de las viviendas, probablemente no continúe sin un aumento en los ingresos familiares; apenas se mantienen a la par de la inflación. La mayor confianza de las empresas y los consumidores estadounidenses es vulnerable a todo tipo de posibilidades que están lejos de ser remotas: la volatilidad de la bolsa, los tropiezos de Europa, China o Japón, otra pelea en torno al límite de endeudamiento de EE.UU. o pasos en falso de la Fed.

Entonces, ¿dónde deja esto a la Fed? Mientras que Washington se inquieta por el lento crecimiento económico, el banco central ha intentando hacer algo al respecto. Ha hecho una promesa extraordinaria de mantener las tasas de interés cerca de cero incluso después de que la economía repunte. Y afirma que seguirá inyectando US$85.000 millones al mes en la economía “hasta que el panorama en el mercado laboral haya mejorado sustancialmente”.

El más reciente pronóstico de la Fed es que el clima nublado se volverá parcialmente soleado más adelante en el año o a principios del próximo. No obstante, tras tantas lluvias en los últimos años, los funcionarios de la Fed no están completamente seguros de su proyección. En retrospectiva, varios miembros quisieran haber hecho más antes.

Aunque algunos funcionarios de la Fed están listos para reducir la compra de bonos ahora, la mayoría no están convencidos. Quieren ver si la economía sigue mejorando en los próximos meses antes de decidir si es hora de disminuir el ritmo de la compra de bonos.

A la Fed le está costando trabajo comunicar este mensaje: “Podríamos disminuir nuestra compra de bonos más adelante este año, pero sólo si las cosas salen como esperamos, y no estamos nada cerca de elevar las tasas de interés”.

Nadie está satisfecho cuando la respuesta es “depende”, incluso si es así.

La economía de EE.UU. aún no está saludable, pero (a diferencia de Europa) está mejorando.

Por ROBIN SIDEL e SERENA NG

Com um anel de noivado de diamante na mão, Warren Buffett se ajoelhou e pediu Alexa Tavasci em casamento.

“Por favor aceite. Por favor me aceite”, implorou o bilionário de 81 anos em meio a uma saraivada de cliques de câmeras fotográficas, num restaurante de sua cidade, Omaha, no Estado de Nebraska, na região central dos EUA.

Tavasci, de 21 anos e estudante do terceiro ano da Universidade do Norte do Arizona, aceitou o pedido de mentirinha, que foi ideia dela. Aí ela devolveu o anel de diamante a uma amiga que estava por perto.

“Tudo que ouvi ao meu redor foram risadas”, lembra Tavasci, estudante de contabilidade que leu a biografia de Buffett em preparação à visita.

Quando se trata de investir, o diretor-presidente da Berskshire Hathaway Inc. é um homem sério. Mas coloque Buffett diante de uma câmera com um geração futura de líderes empresariais e o Oráculo de Omaha — como ele é conhecido por seus conselhos de investimento — vira um cara bem engraçado.

Buffett convida várias vezes por ano estudantes de administração dos Estados Unidos inteiros para um dia de visita à sede da sua holding em Omaha. Ele passa duas horas respondendo às perguntas deles e depois os leva para visitar empresas locais controladas pela Berskshire, como a nova loja de móveis gigantesca da Nebraska Furniture Mart e a cadeia de joalheiras Borsheims.

Buffett também leva os estudantes para almoçar suas comidas favoritas, como frango à parmigiana. Alguns estudantes mais sortudos conseguem até passear com ele em seu Cadillac.

Buffett dá lições de vida durante o dia, dizendo aos estudantes para escolher a pessoa certa para casar e se cercarem de pessoas melhores do que elas.

Sobre os princípios que o tornaram o investidor mais famoso do mundo, ele recomenda aos estudantes que “fujam do dinheiro emprestado e fujam das emoções das multidões”.

O ritual sempre termina com uma sessão de fotos. Cada estudante pode tirar duas fotos com Buffett. A primeira é séria e a segunda é numa pose divertida escolhida pelo convidado.

Buffett diz que fica feliz de fazer tudo isso. “Essas pessoas vieram de longe, faço tudo que eles querem, mas meu limite é se pedirem que eu peça um homem em casamento”, diz ele.

As sessões de fotos de Buffett começaram por volta de 2005, quando Verna Grayce Chao e seus colegas da Universidade de Chicago posaram com Buffett ao lado do carro dele antes de irem almoçar.

Ele puxou a carteira e fingiu que a estava entregando ao grupo.

“Foi totalmente espontâneo”, diz Chao, agora com 35 anos e diretora de marketing da divisão de saúde e ciências da saúde da Dell Inc. Ela guarda a foto num álbum em casa.

Se tivesse outra oportunidade de foto com Buffett, Chao poderia escolher o tradicional instantâneo com orelhas de coelho. “Seria o melhor cartão de Natal de todos os tempos”, diz ela.

Tavasci, a estudante do Arizona que Buffett “pediu” em casamento, diz que sua foto gerou muitas risadas com a família e os amigos, e acrescentou que “tudo mundo quer saber se eu disse sim”. Uma cópia da foto foi colada no mural da loja onde ela trabalha.

Buffett não se importa, mesmo com as fotos geralmente indo parar no Facebook e no Twitter minutos depois de tiradas.

“A ideia é fazer isso de modo divertido e informativo”, diz ele. “Se posso agradar me fazendo de idiota no Facebook, tudo bem”.

By JANE J. KIM

Credit-card users get new protections this week, the first of a series of federal actions that constrain card issuers from changing terms on customers.

Starting Thursday, banks must comply with parts of the recently passed Credit Card Act of 2009 by mailing bills at least 21 days before their due dates and providing at least 45 days’ notice before making a significant change to their rates or fees. Currently, banks are generally required to mail billing statements at least 14 days in advance and provide a 15-day notice of altered fees or rates. The new rules also will bar banks from increasing fees and rates without warning when a consumer misses a payment or exceeds a credit limit.

Consumers also will be allowed to avoid future interest-rate increases and pay off any outstanding balance over time under the original rate terms. Currently, if a consumer gets hit with a penalty rate, for example, they aren’t given the option to reject the rates.

The bulk of the legislation’s key provisions will take effect in February 2010, including limits on interest-rate increases on existing balances. The following July will see the introduction of new disclosure rules, drafted and approved by the Federal Reserve Board and other banking regulators.

In anticipation of the legislation, major card issuers have been raising interest rates and fees, reducing credit lines and closing accounts. Banks say the changes also are being driven by the weak economy, which has resulted in higher losses and funding costs. Earlier this month, for example, American Express Co.

notified its Blue, Optima and co-branded credit-card customers that it was raising interest rates by an average of two to four percentage points. Other changes to these cards, which take effect with customers’ October billing statements, include higher rates and fees for cash advances and late payments. American Express also eliminated fees for customers who exceed their credit limits, months before the legislation clamps down on a host of card fees.

Favoring Variable Rates

Other issuers, such as Bank of America Corp.,

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Card Services and Discover Financial Services,

recently converted customers’ fixed rates to variable ones. The changes will make it easier for issuers to bump up the rates they charge without notifying customers. By contrast, banks must currently notify fixed-rate card holders of any change in rates.

Banks are also paring back their rewards programs. Citigroup Inc.,

for example, has started adding annual fees to some of its rewards cards, such as the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards card. Under the Discover More Card rewards program, customers can earn an additional 5% back on purchases in categories that rotate quarterly; for the third quarter, however, the cap on purchases that qualify for the cash-back bonus was lowered to $300 from $400. Meanwhile, Chase last fall scaled back the bonus opportunities on its no-fee Chase Freedom cards. For Chase Freedom card customers wanting to earn a fixed 3% bonus for spending in the grocery, gasoline and fast-food categories, Chase now levies a $30 annual fee.

While the new legislation will help eliminate sudden rate increases and force more disclosure, the banking industry has said the restrictions will reduce available credit. The cost of borrowing also will rise, companies say, since they will have to be more careful about giving credit. Average interest rates on credit cards rose slightly to 14.43% through May, according to the Federal Reserve, although rates are still below historical levels of 18% and 19% that were typical 20 years ago.

According to Consumer Action’s 2009 credit-card survey, which looked at 39 cards from 22 financial institutions, rates and fees began climbing this spring. The advocacy group said more credit cards now come with minimum cash-advance fees and higher balance-transfer and foreign-transaction fees.

“There’s no question that issuers are taking advantage of this window before it closes to make as many changes as freely as they’ve been accustomed to,” said Ruth Susswein, Consumer Action’s deputy director, national priorities.

Changes to card terms are causing some consumers to alter their spending patterns.

After Bank of America raised his 7.9% fixed rate to a 13.9% variable rate last spring, Mark Nilles paid off his remaining balance, shopped around for another card and canceled his BofA card. In the future, the Arvada, Colo., hydrologist said he plans to rely on savings or shorter-term, fixed-rate loans instead of credit cards to pay for one-time expenses.

“It made me reassess everything that I was doing credit-wise,” said Mr. Nilles.

More Fudge Room

For now, consumers should check their statement due dates to make sure they’re getting the required additional time to pay their bills. Some people may want to adjust any automatic debits coming out of their checking accounts to make sure they’re not paying their bills sooner than they need to, said John Ulzheimer of Credit.com, a consumer-education Web site. “This gives you a little more of a fudge period,” he said.

Consumers are likely to find better credit-card deals if they also have a checking account at the bank. Under Chase Card Services’ Chase Exclusives program, for example, Chase Freedom card holders who also have checking accounts at the bank can earn up to 10% more points on their spending.

The bank also rolled out a new credit card, “Slate From Chase,” that automatically refunds the 12th month’s interest charges each year if customers enroll in the bank’s AutoPay program from a Chase checking account.

Meanwhile, for a limited time, Citi is offering some customers an additional 2% cash-back bonus on qualified spending on Citi credit cards if customers also have a banking relationship at the company.

Write to
Jane J. Kim at jane.kim@wsj.com

By STEPHEN MILLER

Dwight Opperman was founder of Westlaw, the online research tool used throughout the legal profession.

Mr. Opperman, who died Thursday at age 89, was the longtime chief executive of West Publishing Co., an Eagan, Minn., legal publisher founded in the 1870s as a newspaper of regional court opinions.

It was Mr. Opperman who, starting in the 1970s, started digitizing the venerable West volumes, vastly increasing their reach and usability. Closely held West Publishing was sold to Thomson Corp. in 1996 for $3.4 billion.

Over the decades, West came to have a special relationship with state and federal courts across the country, publishing lawsuits and legal filings, and classifying and summarizing them to make them easy to locate and understand.

“Dwight has long been a committed friend and supporter, not only of the Supreme Court, but of the federal judiciary as a whole,” Chief Justice of the U.S. John G. Roberts Jr. said in a written statement Thursday.

A native of Iowa who grew up impoverished during the Great Depression and served in the U.S. Army during World War II, Mr. Opperman went to work at West as an editor after graduating from Drake University Law School in 1951. He said he had turned down an offer to become an insurance adjuster but knew little about legal publishing.

“I really thought we’d sit around in a scholarly atmosphere and discuss the cases, and it wasn’t at all like that,” Mr. Opperman told Super Lawyers Magazine in 2009. “Anyway, it turned out all right.”

By 1968 he was president and later was CEO, chairman and the company’s largest stockholder.

Around the time that Mead Data Central Inc. was developing its competing Lexis-Nexis service, Mr. Opperman led West’s development of the dial-up Westlaw service. Westlaw was introduced in 1975, but growth was slow at first.

“The guy I put in charge of Westlaw came in, after he’d been there maybe a year, and said they’d studied it and their recommendation was to go back to our core business,” Mr. Opperman said in the Super Lawyers interview.

But Westlaw gained steam as personal computers and, later, the Internet exploded in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mr. Opperman retired as president in 1993 and was succeeded by his son Vance, a litigator.

After he left, Mr. Opperman ran an investment firm and gave to philanthropies. He endowed the Dwight D. Opperman Lecture in Constitutional Law at Drake, which has often been delivered by sitting or retired Supreme Court justices.

—Email remembrances@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared June 17, 2013, on page B8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Legal Opinions for the Digital Age.

By ANGUS LOTEN and EMILY MALTBY

One of the biggest worries for small-business owners is dealing with fluctuations in cash flow. Nathan Perry’s five-year-old New York City catering business has had to operate with up to $30,000 in unpaid customer invoices at any given time, for instance.

Such gaps in cash flow—or so-called “lumpy money”—can make it difficult for business owners to focus on expansion rather than, say, managing payrolls or paying other bills.

“When someone tells you the check is in the mail, it doesn’t mean anything,” adds Mr. Perry, owner of the Cutting Edge Elite in New York, which has five full-time employees and 400 servers and bartenders.

He and many other business owners say they’re finding that mobile-payment devices and other technologies are making it easier for him and other business owners to turn sales into working capital overnight. Instead of issuing an invoice after a job, Mr. Perry now has customers pay on the spot, by asking them to use a mobile-payment service. Mr. Perry pays a $35 per month and about 2.5% per transaction for the service.

Until recently, small service companies, from caterers, to plumbers to photographers, had few options beyond billing customers and then waiting for days, or even weeks or months, for a check to arrive in the mail. Typical payment terms range from 30 to 90 days.

Business owners traditionally have turned to lines of credit, loans or credit cards for the funds they need to get through a payroll cycle, or to pay landlords and suppliers. Last year, 45% of 1,000 small-business owners cited “not getting paid on time by clients and customers” as the biggest challenge they faced when managing their cash flow, in a survey by Bank of America

.

But lately, more of these firms are avoiding borrowing or tapping credit lines by turning to services like PaySimple, Intuit

GoPayments, PayPal Here or Square Card Reader—payment applications that come with credit- and debit-card readers for mobile devices. Flint Mobile Inc., a newer service, processes payments by taking photos of cards with an iPhone. Other services take photos of checks.

A primary benefit of these technologies, many business owners say, is that sales are converted into cash inflows, within a day.

For example, assume a business owner sends out a $10,000 invoice with 30-day terms. While waiting for the check to arrive, the business owner has to find some way to cover monthly expenses totaling, say, $5,000. If the client is delinquent and pays a month late, the business owner will have to find a way to pay two months’ of bills, or $10,000.

In the same scenario, but with a quick-turnaround payment, the business owner will have $10,000 before bills come due, leaving the company in a more secure cash-flow position. Half the money can be set aside for that month’s expenses, while the other half can be used to cover cash shortages in the future or be applied to investments to expand the business, says Tiffany Washington, owner of Washington Accounting Services Inc. in Waldorf, Md.

Denée Carrington, an analyst at Forrester Research, says the number of small service firms using mobile devices to accept payments has “taken off like wildfire” as improved technology and greater convenience are making consumers—and businesses—more comfortable with the idea of paying their bills on smartphones and other devices.

Revenue from Intuit’s payment services reached $417 million last year, a 15% increase from 2010, according to a company spokesman. Today it handles more than $37.8 billion in small and midsize business payments every year.

Flint, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup launched in November, has attracted 40,000 users in just three months, with average transactions of $100. While the application is free, the company charges users 20 cents per transaction, plus another 1.95% of debit cards and 2.95% for credit cards.

Greg Goldfarb, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, says small service firms—what he calls “non-countertop businesses”—are a “massively underserved” market for mobile payment providers, which tend to focus on retailers.

PaySimple, a Denver-based payments service that arrived in the marketplace in 2006, now has more than 10,000 small business users, a 50% increase over a year ago, says co-founder Eric Remer.

The growing adoption rates of payment technologies by small-business owners might partially explain why credit demand for working capital from small firms remains stubbornly low, even as their balance sheets and credit-worthiness improve, according to Robb Hilson, head of Bank of America small-business segment. The bottom line: with improved cash flow, many small businesses don’t need to borrow to make payroll, he adds. In December, the Bank of America launched its own mobile payment application that is linked directly to small-business owners’ checking accounts, with customer payments available within a day.

Scott Henshaw recently started using a credit-card reader that plugs into his smartphone at his family business, Pacific Transportation Technologies LLC, a machine shop in Kirkland, Wash., that makes metal parts for trains and buses.

Mr. Henshaw used to start the 30-day billing process after delivery. But in the past four years, he says, it’s become more common for customers to pay in 60 to 90 days. In response, he now asks some customers to pay upon delivery, using PayPal Here on his smartphone, which gives him an inflow of cash “in fractions of a second,” he says. He can use it to pay employees and buy supplies.

One downside of the mobile-payments trend for businesses is the increased possibility of fraud. “Criminals have worked out that instead of using a stolen credit or debit card, they can just break into an existing payment account,” says Alisdair Faulkner, chief products officer at ThreatMatrix, a San Jose, Calif., online security firm.

“A lot of small firms don’t realize that they’re ultimately liable” for fraudulent payments, Mr. Faulkner adds.

Mobile-payment services respond that the added levels of security, required of all registered payment service providers, can make these payments safer than handing a credit or debit card to a waiter.

Four years ago, Bill Effner, the owner of Landes Audio and Video in Chester, N.J., had to write off $2,000 for an unpaid bill for installing a home entertainment center. He now uses Flint to take instant payments on his iPhone.

“When I’m done with a job now, I go to my customer and say ‘here’s my favorite part’ and I get paid right there and then,” he says.

Write to Angus Loten at angus.loten@wsj.com and Emily Maltby at emily.maltby@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared February 28, 2013, on page B5 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Mobile Payments Brighten Cash Flow.

By MARCIN SOBCZYK

WARSAW—City officials in Poland’s capital say they are getting closer to breaking the curse of Parade Square.

For years, civic and city leaders have dreamed of developing one of Europe’s largest office, retail and cultural projects on this windswept former review ground in the middle of the city. The latest plan, adopted in 2010, calls for 350,000 square meters of retail and office space with towers topping the nearby 237-meter-tall Palace of Culture that was built during the communist era.

But the plans have been stalled because of the glacial pace that the city and national governments have settled land claims left over from World War II and communist rule. The city government, which owns most of the 60-acre site, can’t transfer land to developers until these claims are resolved.

Now, though, Warsaw is about to take some major steps toward starting development. Within days, the city expects to settle claims on two plots, giving it control of most of the land for a proposed modern-art museum that is planned as the cultural cornerstone of the development.

Warsaw also has taken title to one parcel earmarked for private development and has put it on the market for $20 million. “Parade Square will slowly become uncursed,” says Agnieszka Klab, spokeswoman for Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

Critics of the government’s progress, who have seen numerous promises crumble over the years, continue to be skeptical.

But moving forward with land sales and the museum project would provide a big boost to the Polish real-estate industry at a time when the country’s economy is one of the few that are expanding in a recession-weary Europe. Because of Parade Square’s central location in Warsaw, officials believe that development will have a ripple effect on developments and upgrades on surrounding property.

Foreign investors who want to participate in the development are eager to see the land-title issues resolved. “When the site is ready for development, we hope to be a part of it,” says Brian Patterson, managing partner of AIG Lincoln in Warsaw, which is a venture of Lincoln Property Co. of Dallas and an investment unit of insurer American International Group Inc.

Of all the European countries once behind the Iron Curtain, Poland has been one of the slowest to deal with restitution claims, according to groups that represent claimants. Countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Estonia have resolved claims through such steps as making partial payments or returning contested property soon after communism fell more than 20 years ago.

But the Polish government has never taken such action, although numerous administrations have tried and failed over the years. The only relief available to former owners and heirs has been the court system, a painstaking process. Much of the disputed land still remains in the government’s hands.

“Poland’s track record is abysmal,” says Steven Schwager, co-chairman of the World Jewish Restitution Organization. “It’s not an economic issue. It’s an issue of justice.”

Government statistics on the number of claimants aren’t available. But the Organization of Property Owners in Poland, says there are about 89,000 claims outstanding, totaling about $35 billion.

The Treasury Ministry of Poland’s current government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said in 2011 the country can’t afford even partial property restitution or compensation. Officials noted a payout would significantly boost Poland’s public-debt levels above 60% of economic output, the country’s constitutional debt ceiling. Public debt is expected to be around 56% of economic output this year.

The city of Warsaw has gotten so frustrated with the slow progress it has been trying to address the restitution issue on Parade Square itself. In recent years, the city has placed ads in newspapers and analyzed burial records to determine who died during World War II and whether or not they left heirs.

The city has identified restitution claims for 37 of the 112 plots of land in Parade Square. City officials also have begun to resolve these claims by paying off owners from city funds, although they won’t say how much they are spending.

But the city process also has gotten bogged down in red tape and by legal and financial issues. In 2007, the city believed it had made enough progress to hire architect Christian Kerez to design a new Museum of Modern Art for Parade Square.

Last year, the art museum project collapsed, with Warsaw accusing Mr. Kerez of being uncooperative and the architect pointing to the city’s inability to settle all the land claims on the site.

“The city was not the owner of the entire plot on which the museum should be built,” Mr. Kerez said in a recent interview.

City officials say progress has been slow partly because it has been about 70 years since the properties were privately owned. Many entire families perished during the war, making any legitimate claim impossible. In other cases, numerous claimants surfaced for the same property, says Warsaw mayor’s spokeswoman Ms. Klab.

Money to pay off claimants is another problem. In a draft of its budget for this year, the city of Warsaw expected compensations within city limits to total $440 million between 2012 and 2014. But that wouldn’t cover what is needed to pay claims.

The city government is in talks with the federal government about setting up a fund worth $140 million over the next three years to finance some of the effort. “It will facilitate settlements, but it’s an amount that’s much too small,” Ms. Klab says.

Still, officials are becoming more hopeful that they soon will be able to turn over the land to developers. The city plans to auction off the plot with the $20 million price tag in the fall. Earlier this year, city officials marketed it at a global real-estate conference in Cannes, France.

Tadeusz Koss also is hopeful. He is one of the few restitution claimants who won a court case and owns a 14,000-square-foot parcel on Parade Square. He is fighting with the city over how his plot, now a public park, should be used in the redevelopment plan. Mr. Koss is trying to convince the city to restore the street grid that existed before the area was leveled in World War II.

If that happens, he says, Parade Square “will be a gold mine.”

Write to Marcin Sobczyk at marcin.sobczyk@dowjones.com

By FARNAZ FASSIHI

BEIRUT—Hassan Rohani, the candidate backed by the opposition and reformist political factions, was declared the winner in Iran’s presidential vote, giving a decisive victory to Iranians calling for change.

Iran’s interior minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, said at a press conference Saturday in Tehran that Mr. Rohani had obtained more than 50% of more than 36 million votes cast in Friday’s election.

Supporters of moderate candidate Hassan Rohani took to the streets to celebrate after he was declared winner of Iran’s presidential election. Photo: Associated Press.

Conservative candidates did poorly in vote counts so far, especially the candidates perceived to be the closest to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The current nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, ranked fourth and Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister, was fifth. Mohsen Rezaei, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, who made the economy his top campaign issue, ranked third. The votes for all three men are below 13% so far.

Iran analysts and media pundits had said that if Mr. Rohani wins with a large margin, it should serve as wake-up call for Mr. Khamenei and his circle of conservative advisers that their hard-line policies ranging from the standoff over the nuclear issue to the dire state of the economy have been rejected by the majority of the population.

Fars News/Reuters

The candidates are all seen as close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, casting his ballot on Friday.

“Mr. Khamenei has to understand that his policies have failed. The people came out and voiced their protest in the most civil way and hopefully they will be heard,” said Ali Mazrui, a former parliamentarian and member of the main reformist party, to BBC Persian on Saturday morning.

The government announced that 70% of the country’s estimated 50 million voters had cast ballots at 60,000 polling stations across the nation.

Overshadowing the election process for many voters were memories of the last presidential ballot in 2009, when large-scale unrest followed allegations that authorities had rigged the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mr. Khamenei was the first official to cast a ballot early on Friday morning. He said that not even his family members were aware of his preferred candidate and urged election officials to handle ballots with care and honor the public’s choice.

He also said that Washington “can go to h—” for suggesting that Iran’s elections were unfair and undemocratic.

Five candidates hailed from conservative political parties loyal to Mr. Khamenei’s hard-line positions, while only one, Mr. Rohani, had been endorsed by opposition supporters and reformist parties, which seek democratic changes.

That endorsement galvanized enough voters that polls suggested Mr. Rohani would make it to a runoff ballot against one of the conservatives. Mr. Qalibaf, a former military commander with a reputation for management skills, appeared likely to emerge at the front of the conservative ranks. Mr. Jalili was the one remaining candidate seen as most strident in defending Iran’s current policies.

Many opposition supporters considered a boycott of the election, complaining that there was no candidate representing their interests and voicing fears that the outcome would be rigged.

During the campaign, candidates offered varying views on issues important with voters such as the state of the economy, foreign policy as it relates to sanctions and nuclear negotiations, and personal and social freedoms. Most voiced harsh criticism of the status quo and pledged change if elected.

The presidential election, which occurs every four years, is a critical milestone for the Islamic Republic that offers the regime a chance to boast to the world that it maintains a legitimate political system backed by the majority of the population.

Across Iran, turnout was reported stronger than expected, but not as large as 2009 when lines snaked for several miles outside of polling stations, according to witnesses.

In Tehran, some larger polling stations, such as Hosseinieh Ershad, where the government had a camera broadcasting live on state television were packed, while smaller polling stations in schools and mosques had no lines.

“Voter participation was much better than we anticipated but nothing like four years ago,” said Ali, an election supervisor for Mr. Rohani’s campaign who visited polling stations throughout Tehran. He declined to provide his last name.

Voter apathy appeared stronger at two opposite poles of the population: the secular affluent and the religious poor, with each saying they had little hope that the government would improve their lives. Polling stations in their neighborhoods weren’t crowded, witnesses said.

A day laborer in the industrial city of Arak said he and his family boycotted the vote this year out of frustration with the economy. He said his salary had shrunk to a third of its value with the dropping currency and rising inflation.

“I voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad in both previous elections but we only suffered more. All these years I was loyal and voted and they did nothing for us,” he said.

Many opposition supporters of the Green Movement and reformist parties had a change of heart about boycotting the vote and decided to back Mr. Rohani. Influential political figures, political prisoners and artists and musicians began rallying behind Mr. Rohani as a way to challenge hard-line conservatives and call for change.

“The government must realize that fundamentalism is over and people aren’t supporting it,” said Niloufar, a 27-year-old student from Isfahan who said she voted for Mr. Rohani.

Mr. Rohani also benefited from conservatives’ lack of unity and divided votes among five candidates. Witnesses and election supervisors who surveyed voters in conservative neighborhoods in Tehran said votes appeared to have been divided between Mr. Jalili and Mr. Rezaei.

State television ran a live broadcast of the election all day and most voters interviewed repeated government rhetoric. One young man said his vote was a “big defiance against our enemies.”

Several problems were reported that prompted concern about the fairness of the election.

Mr. Rohani’s campaign put out a statement saying the name of a reformist candidate, Mohamad Reza Aref, who withdrew last week, was still on the ballot in some polling stations, including the one where Mr. Rohani voted—suggesting an effort to dilute reformist support for Mr. Rohani. The name of a conservative candidate who withdrew, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, wasn’t on the ballots.

The Interior Ministry said supervisors were investigating reports that pieces of paper with Mr. Jalili’s name typed on the header were being distributed to voters in some south Tehran polling station.

Mr. Rohani suffered other setbacks. His campaign website was blocked early on Friday after he called on voters who picked him to register their names and where they cast their ballot on his website. Election monitors working for Mr. Rohani’s campaign also had trouble obtaining credentials in time from the Interior Ministry, according to Iranian media.

“Elections today showed that the critics of the regime are growing in size and significance to include a much larger portion of the society because even conservatives are shouting for change,” said Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoeini, a former parliamentarian with the main reformist party who now lives in the U.S.

Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared June 15, 2013, on page A9 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: From Vetted List, Iranians Pick a President.

By TOM HERMAN

Q:What is the maximum amount of wages and self-employment income subject to the Social Security tax this year? What about Medicare taxes? How do they work?

—E.C.M., Falls Church, Va.

A:First, let’s focus on your Social Security taxes. The maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax for 2013 is $113,700, according to the Social Security Administration. That’s up from $110,100 last year.

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The government estimates about 163 million workers will pay Social Security taxes this year. Of those, nearly 10 million will pay higher taxes as a result of this increase in what the Social Security Administration calls the “taxable minimum.” The taxable minimum amount reflects the increase in average wages.

On Medicare taxes: There is no limit on the amount of your income that is subject to Medicare taxes.

Now get ready for a new twist: Starting this year, many upper-income taxpayers have to pay an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on earned income above a certain threshold. The threshold generally is $200,000, but it’s $250,000 for married couples who file joint returns.

Here is how the tax rates work (excluding the new 0.9% tax on high-income taxpayers): For employees, the Social Security tax rate is 6.2% on income under $113,700 through the end of this year. The Medicare tax rate is 1.45% of all earned income.

For employers, the amounts are the same: The Social Security tax rate is 6.2%, while the Medicare rate is 1.45%. For self-employed workers, the Social Security tax rate is 12.4% on income under $113,700 this year. The Medicare rate is 2.9%.

You can find more details on this subject on the Social Security Administration’s website and on the Internal Revenue Service’s website.

Did you work for two or more employers last year? If so, make sure you didn’t overpay your Social Security taxes. Tax pros say it’s easy for many people, such as moonlighters or those who switched employers, to overlook this issue.

Add up the amounts that were withheld your paychecks. If the total amount last year was more than $4,624.40, claim a credit for the excess amount on your federal income-tax return. Put the excess amount on line 69 of Form 1040, or on line 41 or Form 1040A.

To fix errors or omissions on a federal income-tax return you’ve already filed, file Form 1040X, known as an “amended” return. File a separate Form 1040X for each year that needs to be amended, the IRS says.

—Send your questions to us at askdowjones.sunday03@wsj.com and include your name, address and telephone number. Questions may be edited; we regret that we cannot answer every letter.

By KATHERINE ROSMAN

Jennifer Perillo respects the toil that goes into the creation of a cookbook—especially now. The writer of the popular food blog “In Jennie’s Kitchen,” Ms. Perillo recently published a cookbook of her own called “Homemade With Love.” In it, she shares her recipes for cooking from scratch, as well as personal anecdotes about the role cooking plays in her family’s emotional life—including how it has helped them overcome the sudden death of her husband, Mikey, in 2011.

Ms. Perillo, 39, keeps many vintage cookbooks in the Brooklyn, N.Y., home she shares with her two daughters. Among her favorites are a 1954 edition of “The Betty Furness Westinghouse Cook Book” and “The Fannie Farmer Junior Cookbook,” which dates to 1942. Another prize: the 1944 edition of “The Way to a Man’s Heart: The Settlement Cook Book Compiled by Mrs. Simon Kander,” originally published in the early 1900s.

“Who wouldn’t love to have the recipe for that?” Ms. Perillo says. According to the Settlement Cook Book, that path is littered with dishes like goose grieben (goose-fat cracklings) and jellied veal loaf.

Donna Alberico for The Wall Street Journal

VINTAGE VOLUMES: Her collection includes, among others, a 1942 edition of ‘The Fanny Farmer Junior Cookbook.’

Ms. Perillo began to build her collection of old-time cookbooks in 2007, when she was vacationing on Cape Cod and stumbled across the Betty Furness volume at the Wellfleet Flea Market. Each summer when she visits Massachusetts, she strolls the market looking for more treasures. She has about 15 vintage cookbooks and hasn’t spent more than $20 on any. She also keeps dozens of contemporary cookbooks, as well as saved editions of the now-defunct “Gourmet” magazine.

More than the old-fashioned recipes—cookbooks from the 1950s are filled with ideas on preparing things like mutton—it is the stories the old cookbooks carry that most compel Ms. Perillo. A few years back, she found a 1985 book called “The Way to Write and Publish a Cookbook.” It had a birthday card tucked inside, handwritten in Italian, which Ms. Perillo speaks. In it, an unknown “Nona” tells her grandson Bobby that she hopes one day he will see his dream through. Ms. Perillo stacks the book on a shelf in her kitchen. She says, “I look at this note and think, ‘I don’t know if Bobby wrote his book, but I wrote mine, Nona!’ “

Write to Katherine Rosman at katherine.rosman@wsj.com

By JOE LIGHT

There were 124,000 fewer job vacancies posted online in April than in March, the first dip since 2010, according to research organization The Conference Board Inc.

The 4.3 million jobs posted online in April still beat February’s 4.2 million online job ads and far exceeded November’s 3.7 million jobs posted online.

However, the April drop might suggest that hiring will slow during the summer, as employers take time to absorb recent new hires, said Conference Board economist June Shelp. Changes in the number of ads posted tend to precede actual hiring by two to three months during upturns, she said.

There were about three unemployed workers for every opening online in March, according to The Conference Board.

That measure of job market competitiveness is a big improvement from the five workers who pursued each opening in May 2009, at the end of the recession, but still off the two-per-opening rate from before the recession.

Even though overall employment is bouncing back, some low-skill industries are highly competitive.

Competition among workers in food preparation, for example, which spiked dramatically during the recession to about 14 jobseekers per opening, remains high even as it approaches pre-recession levels.

In March, there were about eight jobseekers whose last job was in food preparation for every opening in the same occupation.

Even if the job market in food preparation, which includes dishwashers and cooks, returned to its pre-recession level, there would still be more than six workers pursuing every job, Ms. Shelp noted.

“Restaurants are being hit by soaring food costs and higher gas and energy prices,” said Bruce Grindy, chief economist with the National Restaurant Association. “Most existing restaurants will try to bump up employee hours before hiring.”

Most of the job growth in the restaurant industry, he said, has come from new restaurants rather than from expansions at existing locations.

On the other hand, the number of jobseekers per opening in computer and math jobs which includes statisticians and computer programmers, at about 0.21, is practically identical to the 0.19 unemployed workers per opening that field had in December 2007, when the recession began.

“The recession didn’t treat everybody equally,” said Ms. Shelp.

Write to Joe Light at Joe.Light@wsj.com