Economic Financial Crisis

Police: Teens Beat Blind Man With Cane

2010-08-04T08:19:00.001-07:00

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. -- The Mount Clemens Police Department is investigating an incident that occurred Tuesday evening in which a blind man was robbed and beaten with his own cane.The victim was walking on North River Road near the Gibraltar Trade Center around 6:30 p.m. when he was attacked, police said.Capt. Brenda Baker told the Macomb Daily that the attackers beat the man, pushed him and stole $600 in cash before running away, the newspaper reported.The victim was treated at the scene by Mount Clemens firefighters and was not seriously injured.Four people were taken into custody for questioning, but no arrests have been made. Suspects involve males between the ages of 17 and 18, and one juvenile, police said.

Police Say Teens Stole $600

Jobless Rate Rises in US, Europe

2009-07-02T08:18:00.001-07:00

By VOA News

Unemployment has risen in the United States and Europe, with the U.S. jobless rate hitting a 26-year high in June.

Thursday's report from the U.S. Labor Department said the U.S. economy had a net loss of 467,000 jobs for the month. That pushed the unemployment rate up slightly one-tenth of a percent to 9.5 percent.

People queue outside a Madrid, Spain job center on 04 May 2009
In Europe, unemployment among the 16 nations that use the euro rose two-tenths of a percent to hit a 10-year high of 9.5 percent in May.

Many other economic indicators have recently improved, or at least are declining at a slower rate. But economists said the job market lags behind other sectors because employers want to see stronger signs of economic growth before they start to re-hire people.

Sears Tower unveils 103rd floor glass balconies

2009-07-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

By KAREN HAWKINS

CHICAGO (AP) — Visitors to the Sears Tower's new glass balconies all seem to agree: The first step is the hardest.
The balconies are suspended 1,353 feet in the air and jut out four feet from the building's 103rd floor Skydeck. Their transparent walls, floor and ceiling leave visitors with the impression they're floating over the city.
"It's like walking on ice," said Margaret Kemp, of Bishop, Calif., who said her heart was still pounding even after stepping away from the balcony. "That first step you take — 'am I going down?'"
Kemp was among the visitors who got a sneak preview of the balconies Wednesday. "The Ledge," as the balconies have been nicknamed, open to the public Thursday. Visitors are treated to unobstructed views of Chicago from the building's west side and a heart-stopping vista of the street and Chicago River below — for those brave enough to look straight down.
John Huston, one of the property owners of the Sears Tower, even admitted to getting "a little queasy" the first time he ventured out. But 30 or 40 trips later, he's got the hang of it.
"The Sears Tower has always been about superlatives — tallest, largest, most iconic," he said. "Today is also about superlatives. Today, we present you with 'the Ledge,' the world's most awesome view, the world's most precipitous view, the view with the most wow in the world."
The balconies can hold five tons, and the glass is an inch-and-a-half thick, officials said. Sears Tower officials have said the inspiration for the balconies came from the hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week. Now, staff will have a new glass surface to clean: floors.
"It's very scary, but at the same time it's very cool," said Chanti Lawrence of Atlanta, adding that she's made her first step toward overcoming her fear of heights.
Adam Kane, 10, of Alton, Ill., rushed to the ledge with his friends and siblings, and they each eagerly pressed their faces to the glass bottom.
"Look at all those tiny things that are usually huge," Adam said.
The balconies are just one of the big changes coming to the Sears Tower. The building's name will change to Willis Tower later this summer. Last week, officials announced a 5-year, $350 million green renovation complete with wind turbines, roof gardens and solar panels.
With the ledge, visitors like Kemp said the nation's tallest building has succeeded in creating something they've never seen before.
"I had to live 70 years for a thrill like this," she said.

Eddie Bauer files for bankruptcy protection

2009-06-17T14:00:00.001-07:00

Eddie Bauer files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection

By Mae Anderson

NEW YORK (AP) -- Clothing retailer Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. filed on Wednesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection, the latest retail casualty of the recession.

It said CCMP Capital Advisors LLC has bid for its assets. Other buyers may also make bids while the company is under court protection.

The company said in its filing that it is seeking court protection because its financial position was creating uncertainty among vendors that supply its inventory and because its cash flow problems "could severely impede" its operations.

Eddie Bauer said it might not be able to comply with some covenants in its $225 million senior debt or have the cash under its line of credit to make vendor payments in the future.

Eddie Bauer considered refinancing of all or some of its debt, and it considered a reorganization, sale or liquidation through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as well as continued operation on a modified business plan. It now hopes to be sold.

The outdoorsy clothing retailer had $476.1 million in assets and $426.7 million in debt at the time of the filing Wednesday with the United States Bankruptcy Court of the District of Delaware.

Bankruptcy rumors had been swirling as Bellevue, Wash.-based Eddie Bauer struggled with slumping sales amid the recession. It reported a loss for the first quarter of $44.5 million.

Eddie Bauer joins Circuit City, Linens 'N Things, Mervyns and other retail chains that have filed for bankruptcy court protection as consumer spending fell and the recession continued.

Peter J. Solomon Co. has been named financial adviser for the company and Alvarez & Marsal was named restructuring adviser.

Eddie Bauer and CCMP did not immediately return calls for comment.

Mich. gets hit hard in GM's latest plant closings

2009-06-01T08:30:00.001-07:00

By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN

LANSING, Mich. - As General Motors Corp. on Monday named the operations it would close or put on standby as it headed into bankruptcy, Michigan learned it would be taking the brunt of the bad news.

The list includes a truck assembly plant shuttered in Pontiac and engine and transmission plants shut down in Flint, Livonia and Willow Run. A Grand Rapids stamping plant also will close.

An Orion assembly plant will be placed on standby, as will a stamping plant in Pontiac.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm told CNN Monday that Michigan already has lost hundreds of thousands of automotive jobs and will be hurt by the bankruptcy.

She says "it's going to be a tough summer." Some GM workers already are on extended layoffs as the automaker trims production because of lower sales.

Jobless benefits available for Volusia

2009-06-01T06:42:00.001-07:00

The federal government has approved disaster unemployment assistance for Volusia County residents who were recently impacted by the severe storms and flooding that hit the area.

Disaster Unemployment Assistance helps people who have become unemployed as a direct result of a declared disaster and who do not qualify for regular unemployment benefits. It also covers those who are self-employed and owners and workers of farms and ranches as well as those who fish for a living.

Individuals can apply online at www.floridajobs.org or www.fluidnow.com. They can also file by telephone at (800) 204-2418, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

GM Files Bankruptcy to Spin Off More Competitive Firm

2009-06-01T06:37:00.001-07:00

By Linda Sandler, Chris Scinta, Bob Van Voris and Jeff Green

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., the world’s largest carmaker until its 77-year reign ended last year, filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. with a plan to create a 21st-century company that can compete in world markets.

GM reported $82.29 billion in assets and $172.81 billion in debt. The U.S. government will bankroll the transformation of the 100-year-old automaker, a victim of tumbling sales and higher gas prices. The U.S. plans to convert much of its $50 billion of loans to a 60 percent stake in the new entity, administration officials said. Today’s filing coincides with a deadline for GM to convince a government auto task force that it could reorganize out of court through debt and cost cutting.

“It’s been a long time coming, but the reality of a GM bankruptcy is still a bitter pill to swallow -- it’s a bit like the Titanic sinking,” said Stephen Pope, chief global strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in London. “This is a step they should have taken more than a year ago, which could have put them in much better shape before the economy went down.”

Detroit-based GM is the largest manufacturer to file for bankruptcy, surpassing Chrysler LLC. The carmaker plans to launch a new company in 60 to 90 days, armed with vehicles from its Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC units for the U.S. market. A federal bankruptcy judge would supervise the sale or liquidation of unprofitable brands, such as Saturn and Hummer, and at least 11 unwanted factories.

Lyondell Judge

The case was assigned to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber, who also presides over the bankruptcies of Lyondell Chemical Co. and BearingPoint Inc. He also presided over the bankruptcy of Adelphia Communications Corp.

GM listed in its petition as its top creditors Wilmington Trust Co., representing bondholders owed $22.8 billion; International Union; the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, owed $20.6 billion; and Deutsche Bank AG, owed $4.44 billion.

One idle GM facility in the U.S. will be retooled to make small, fuel-efficient cars as part of an agreement with union workers, GM said May 29.

GM’s Saab unit is reorganizing in Sweden. The German government picked Magna International Inc., a Canadian car-parts maker, to buy GM’s Opel unit.

The Chapter 11 petition filed in federal court in Manhattan makes GM the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, ranked by total assets, after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and WorldCom Inc. Chrysler’s April 30 filing listed $39 billion in assets.

Chrysler Bankruptcy

Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler plans to transfer most of its assets to a new entity that would be run by Italy’s Fiat SpA. A federal bankruptcy judge in New York approved the deal last night.

Before declaring bankruptcy, GM got $19.8 billion in U.S. Treasury loans. Administration officials said yesterday it would advance $30 billion more, with another $9.5 billion from the Canadian government. A balance sheet in a GM securities filing last week showed total debt in the new GM of $17 billion, excluding obligations to suppliers and warranty programs and including $8 billion in Treasury loans.

The filing put the new-entity loan total from the U.S. and Canadian government at almost $60 billion.

Aside from the U.S. government’s equity share, GM’s pre- filing plan called for a worker health-care fund to get a 17.5 percent stake. Bondholders and other unsecured creditors would get 10 percent and warrants to buy another 15 percent.

Initial Trading

There would be no initial public trading of the shares, some of which will be given to the Canadian government in exchange for loans, an administration official said last week. The company might remain private for as long as 18 months, the official said, asking not to be identified.

GM, being larger than Chrysler, faces more obstacles in mopping up the creditor claims that remain in bankruptcy after the streamlined company is created. GM, reeling from almost $88 billion in losses since 2004, might not return to profitability if U.S. vehicle sales are below 10 million a year, the amount the administration said yesterday the new GM will need to break even.

“Any suggestion that an American corporate icon like GM could file for bankruptcy would have been laughable a few years ago,” said Lynn Hiestand, a lawyer specializing in restructuring with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

GM said in its filing that it owed former unit Delphi Corp. $110.9 million. Other key parts suppliers such as Robert Bosch GmbH, owed $66.2 million, Lear Corp., owed $44.8 million, and Johnson Controls Inc., with a $32.8 million claim, were among the automaker’s top dozen creditors.

Canadian Parts Maker

Magna International Inc., a Canadian car-parts maker leading a group that is expected to buy GM’s Opel unit, was owed $26.7 million, according to court papers. The GM board said in the filing that the asset sale to the U.S. Treasury is “expedient.” Auto Acquisition Corp. is the government entity that will own GM assets, according to the filing. The U.S. and Canada may provide the company with as much as $65 billion in bankruptcy loans, the GM board said, according to the petition

GM said in the filing that it has no objections to a bankruptcy filing by its Canadian unit. The company has $22 billion in bond debt and $20.6 billion in UAW obligations, according to court papers.

Saturn Brand

GM’s Saturn LLC and Saturn Distribution Corp. also filed for bankruptcy court protection today. The Chapter 11 petitions are the “only opportunity for preserving” the Saturn brand, according to the filing.

Today’s filing will trigger credit-default swaps protecting about $3.1 billion of GM debt, in the biggest settlement of the derivatives since September’s collapse of Lehman Brothers. Pricing reflected the risks last week as dealers charged about $8.7 million upfront and $500,000 annually to protect $10 million of debt.

GM had global liabilities of $176.4 billion as of Dec. 31, 2008. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. secured GM’s revolving loan of about $4.5 billion with inventory, receivables and factories, also providing a $1.5 billion term loan. The face value of its bonds was $27 billion.

The automaker has agreed to take ownership of five production facilities from bankrupt parts supplier Delphi, according to the UAW. The carmaker will employ all union workers at those locations as part of an accord with the union, according to a union document obtained by Bloomberg. The sites are in Saginaw and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Lockport and Rochester, New York; and Kokomo, Indiana.

North American Sales

The carmaker’s North American sales were $86.2 billion in 2008, compared with $34.4 billion in Europe, $20.3 billion in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, and $17.8 billion in the Asia Pacific region, according to a regulatory filing.

GM sales dropped 33 percent in April.

The automaker was founded in 1908 by William “Billy” Durant, who bought more than 20 car companies before being ousted in a 1920 bailout by Pierre Du Pont and J.P. Morgan.

By the 1960s, GM controlled more than half the U.S. vehicle market. In 2008, it sold only 8.35 million cars worldwide, losing its place as the world’s No.1 automaker to Toyota Motor Corp. as customers opted for the Japanese carmaker’s fuel- efficient Corolla and Camry brands instead of GM’s light trucks and Hummers.

GM’s shares traded at less than a dollar last week after Bloomberg News reported it would file for bankruptcy by today.

Lehman filed the biggest bankruptcy in September, listing assets of $639 billion. WorldCom collapsed in 2002 with assets of $103.9 billion.

GM’s bankruptcy petition was filed by Stephen Karotkin of New York law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, which is also advising Lehman.

The case is In re General Motors Corp., 09-50026, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District, New York (Manhattan).

The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over the spread of swine flu to level five - one short of a full-blown pandemic.

2009-04-29T13:14:00.001-07:00

The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over the spread of swine flu to level five - one short of a full-blown pandemic.
A phase five alert means human-to-human transmission in at least two countries.
The move comes after a 23-month-old Mexican child died in Texas - the first death from swine flu outside Mexico, where the outbreak originated.
In Spain, officials confirmed the first case of swine flu in a person who has not travelled to Mexico.
Announcing the increased alert level, WHO Director General Margaret Chan urged all countries to activate their pandemic plans - including heightened surveillance and infection control measures.
She said action should be undertaken with "increased urgency".

WARNING: Facebook Scam On the Loose, FBAction.net, Steals Passwords

2009-04-29T12:29:00.001-07:00

by Pete Cashmore

Facebook is falling prey to a widespread phishing attack today that tries to steal your login and spam your friends.

I’ve got a number of messages in my Facebook inbox with links to “FBAction.net”, a site that displays a fake Facebook login. Enter your details there, and it will spam all your friends with the same message and link. More worrying: you might get locked out of your account for a time until Facebook sorts out this mess.

There is no malicious payload with the attack, it seems: no virus is downloaded or any other nasties: it’s simply a huge nuisance for Facebook users.

As always, don’t enter your Facebook password if the URL is not Facebook.com, and contact Facebook if you’re no longer able to access your account.

Swine flu confirmed in Massachusetts, Maine

2009-04-29T12:26:00.001-07:00

Posted by Christine Chinlund

Governor Deval Patrick (left) spoke today about the two swine flu cases in Lowell at a news conference with Dr.JudyAnn Bigby, Secretary of Health & Human Services, and Commissioner John Auerbach of the Department of Public Health.

By Stephen Smith and Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

Disease trackers in Massachusetts and Maine confirmed today that swine flu has arrived in New England, with two boys from Lowell recovering from the viral illness after being exposed while on vacation in Mexico.

Three adults in Maine have tested positive, authorities there said.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and state health authorities said there is no evidence that the Lowell children, whose names and ages were not disclosed because of patient confidentiality laws, have transmitted the virus.

]Massachusetts disease trackers confirmed today that swine flu has arrived in New England, with two boys from

"None of the contact cases, zero of the contact cases have been symptomatic," Patrick said, emphatically.

Dozens of people who might have had contact with the pair -- relatives, neighbors, playmates -- have either tested negative for swine flu, or shown no symptoms of the respiratory disease. Still, as a precautionary measure, those considered at high risk of flu complications because of underlying medical conditions have been given anti-flu medication.

Lowell's health director, Frank Singleton, said that the boys attend separate private schools but that neither attended classes after returning from Mexico a week ago. One child fell ill Thursday, while the other became sick Sunday, Singleton said. A third sibling is not ill and has returned to school, Singleton said. The boys' parents do not have symptoms either, but both opted to not go back to work.

"They recovering," Singleton said. "They are not very happy because it's not very pleasant to have the flu."

The state Department of Public Health received conclusive word from federal authorities at midmorning that the boys were indeed infected with swine flu, a disease that has stoked widespread fear because humans have no immunity against the ailment.

Patrick's presence at a late morning press conference, flanked by his top health officials, underscored both the concern about the disease and a desire to present a united front against the virus and public anxiety.

"We want the public to know we are prepared," the governor said, "and we want the public to be prepared."

Patrick urged precautions: "If you are sick, stay home from work, and I would ask special sensitivity from employers."

So far, theDepartment of Public Health has tested about 40 samples that doctors sent to the state laboratory because patients had flu-like symptoms and had traveled to regions with reported cases of swine flu. After preliminary testing, only three samples raised red flags and were sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Two of those samples were from the Lowell students; results are pending on the third sample, according to Dr. Alfred DeMaria, the state's epidemiologist.

State health authorities pledged to move swiftly to investigate potential cases and to prevent transmission through measures similar to the contact-tracing that was used in Lowell.

"Our major goal is for swine flu to not spread in Massachusetts," said Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state's secretary of health and human services. "We've already had two cases here and it's spread in the United States. So we know there's a chance it can spread here."

In Lowell, parents expressed concern about their own children's health as word spread about the two boys infected with swine flu.

Samantha Frazier, five months pregnant and with a 14-month-old in a stroller, said the viral illness left her "terrified. My kids are my life. I would absolutely lose it if one of them got sick."

Meanwhile, scores of families in the central Massachusetts town of Spencer kept children home from school today after reports that two elementary students were suspected of having swine flu. School officials decided to keep the Lake Street School open despite parents' concerns, as officials awaited definitive lab test results. The students -- believed to be a first grade girl and a third grade boy -- were not identified.
And in Brockton, a hospital spokeswoman said samples from two adults who exhibited flu-like symptoms were sent for testing. One had come to the Brockton Hospital emergency room. The other visited a doctor affiliated with the hospital. Their names, gender and ages were withheld, but hospital spokeswoman Rachel Labas (cq) said both patients had recently been to Mexico.
"At this point, that travel is the differentiating fact," Labas said. "We aren't taking samples for suspected swine flu if they are just exhibiting flu-like symptoms, at this point."
Lou Tartaglia, (cq) director of Brockton's health department, confirmed the two adults are the only suspected cases in the city at this point.

Toddler in Texas becomes 1st swine flu death in US

2009-04-29T07:43:00.001-07:00

HOUSTON (AP) — A 23-month-old toddler in Texas became the first confirmed swine flu death outside of Mexico as authorities around the world struggled to contain a growing global health menace that has also swept Germany onto the roster of afflicted nations. Officials say the death was in Houston.
Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Houston Health and Human Services Department, said Wednesday that the child had traveled with family from Mexico to Brownsville in South Texas. The child became ill in Brownsville and was taken to a Houston hospital and died Monday night, she said.
"Even though we've been expecting this, it is very, very sad," Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday of the infant's death. "As a pediatrician and a parent, my heart goes out to the family."
President Barack Obama said this morning that Americans should know the government is doing all it can to control virus. Obama also says schools should consider closing if the spread of the swine flu virus worsens.
Canada, Austria, New Zealand, Israel, Spain, Britain and Germany also have reported cases of swine flu sickness. Deaths reported so far have been limited to Mexico, and now the U.S.
As the United States grappled with this widening health crisis, Besser went from network to network Wednesday morning to give an update on what the Obama administration is doing. He said authorities essentially are still "trying to learn more about this strain of the flu." His appearances as Germany reported its first cases of swine flu infection, with three victims.
"It's very important that people take their concern and channel it into action," Besser said, adding that "it is crucial that people understand what they need to do if symptoms appear.
"I don't think it (the reported death in Texas) indicates any change in the strain," he said. "We see with any flu virus a spectrum of disease symptoms."
Asked why the problem seems so much more severe in Mexico, Besser said U.S. officials "have teams on the ground, a tri-national team in Mexico, working with Canada and Mexico, to try and understand those differences, because they can be helpful as we plan and implement our control strategies."
Sixty-six infections had been reported in the United States before the report of the toddler's death in Texas.
The world has no vaccine to prevent infection but U.S. health officials aim to have a key ingredient for one ready in early May, the big step that vaccine manufacturers are awaiting. But even if the World Health Organization ordered up emergency vaccine supplies — and that decision hasn't been made yet — it would take at least two more months to produce the initial shots needed for human safety testing.
"We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material that will be useful," Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press.
The U.S. is shipping to states not only enough anti-flu medication for 11 million people, but also masks, hospital supplies and flu test kits. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to help build more drug stockpiles and monitor future cases, as well as help international efforts to avoid a full-fledged pandemic.
"It's a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable," the WHO's flu chief, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, told a telephone news conference.
Cuba and Argentina banned flights to Mexico, where swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people and sickening well over 2,000. In a bit of good news, Mexico's health secretary, Jose Cordova, late Tuesday called the death toll there "more or less stable."
Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, has taken drastic steps to curb the virus' spread, starting with shutting down schools and on Tuesday expanding closures to gyms and swimming pools and even telling restaurants to limit service to takeout. People who venture out tend to wear masks in hopes of protection.
The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States rose to 66 in six states, with 45 in New York, 11 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio, but cities and states suspected more. In New York, the city's health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.
The WHO argues against closing borders to stem the spread, and the U.S. — although checking arriving travelers for the ill who may need care — agrees it's too late for that tactic.
"Sealing a border as an approach to containment is something that has been discussed and it was our planning assumption should an outbreak of a new strain of influenza occur overseas. We had plans for trying to swoop in and knockout or quench an outbreak if it were occurring far from our borders. That's not the case here," Besser told a telephone briefing of Nevada-based health providers and reporters. "The idea of trying to limit the spread to Mexico is not realistic or at all possible."
"Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva, recalling the SARS epidemic earlier in the decade that killed 774 people, mostly in Asia, and slowed the global economy.
Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes. Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.
Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient — called a "reference strain" in vaccine jargon — to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.
Vaccine manufacturers are just beginning production for next winter's regular influenza vaccine, which protects against three human flu strains. The WHO wants them to stay with that course for now — it won't call for mass production of a swine flu vaccine unless the outbreak worsens globally. But sometimes new flu strains pop up briefly at the end of one flu season and go away only to re-emerge the next fall, and at the very least there should be a vaccine in time for next winter's flu season, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious diseases chief, said Tuesday.
"Right now it's moving very rapidly," he said of the vaccine development.
Besser appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN and CBS's "The Early Show."

CDC: How to Protect Yourself Against Swine Flu

2009-04-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — The acting head of the Centers for Disease Control said Monday that people can best protect themselves against the swine flu threat by taking precautions they were taught as kids, like frequently washing their hands.

Asked what individual steps should be taken, Richard Besser replied: "The things that we learned when we were little, covering a cough ... staying home when you have a fever, frequent hand-washing. If people do these things, it will decrease the spread in our communities."

Besser also said the U.S. government is being "extremely aggressive" in the steps it has taken, or is considering, to protect the American public. He said he didn't think he would personally recommend traveling to parts of Mexico where the new virus has taken hold, but noted that no decision has been made on a possible travel ban.

Besser said he was not reassured by the fact that so far in the U.S., no one has died from the disease.

"From what we understand in Mexico, I think people need to be ready for the idea that we could see more severe cases in this country and possibly deaths," Besser said. "That's something people have to be ready for and we're looking for that. So far, thankfully, we haven't seen that. But we're very concerned and that's why we're taking very aggressive measures."

Besser said there can be no one-size-fits-all approach when the severity of the problem varies from area to area. "You cannot see an outbreak occur at the same level in all places," he said.

He also said the government has worked hard to have the necessary medications in place in such a scenario and already has begun distributing them to states.

Asked in one interview why the United States was not issuing travel bans and quarantining passengers at airports, as some countries have done, Besser said: "We are being extremely aggressive in our approach to this outbreak and each day we're evaluating what we're undertaking and we'll make additional measures as necessary. What you're going to see in an outbreak like this is different things taking place in different parts of the country based on what's going on there."

"What we're going to be doing at the borders, and that will be taking place starting today, is doing passive screening, asking people about fever and illness, looking for people who are ill and handing out cards that let people know what's going on in Mexico and what's going on here so people can take action to protect and prepare," Besser said.

The CDC was posting guidelines on its Web site Monday for health departments and members of the public to decide what to do in the event of illness.

Besser appeared on NBC's "Today" show, CBS's "The Early Show," and ABC's "Good Morning America."

Freddie Mac CFO David Kellermann found dead

2009-04-22T06:16:00.001-07:00

Police say there are no signs of 'foul play' in the death of David Kellermann.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The acting chief financial officer of mortgage financier Freddie Mac, David Kellermann, was found dead Wednesday morning, police said.

Eileen Fitzpatrick, a spokeswoman for Freddie Mac, confirmed the death.

Police are investigating the death as an apparent suicide, WTOP-FM reported, quoting Mary Anne Jennings, a spokeswoman for police in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Authorities said there were no signs of foul play when officers were called to Kellermann's home on Raleigh Hill Road shortly before 5 a.m., according to Fairfax County police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell.

"At this point there are no signs of foul play," Caldwell said. "It's under investigation. I don't believe we have categorized it yet at this point."

Kellermann, 41, who also served as the company's senior vice president, had been with the company for more than 16 years.

He was named to those positions in September 2008, and was responsible for the company's financial controls. This included overseeing the company's financial reporting, compliance with tax requirements and regulations, and annual budgeting and financial planning.

Kellerman reported to former CEO David Moffett.

Before assuming his current posts, Kellerman was senior vice president, corporate controller and principal accounting officer.

Kellerman held a master's degree in finance from George Washington University and a bachelor's in political science and accounting from the University of Michigan. He has served as a volunteer board member of the District of Columbia Coalition for the Homeless.

Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders.

Cars for $1,000, carsforagrand.com

2009-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- One company says it's possible to have a safe, reliable car that won't cost you an arm and a leg.

The young entrepreneurs behind carsforagrand.com drove a clunker into Jacksonville for a little show-and-tell.

The "show" isn't much to look at: a white, beat up, 1974 Pontiac LeMans.

But the businessmen say the car "tells" a good story.

"We were two weeks removed from a $19 billion bailout of GM and here we bought a General Motors car 35 years old for $900 that's made it 3300 miles and feels honestly like it can make it another 3300 no problem," said Chris Hedgecock.

The two men bought the car off the web site, pumped in about $200 worth of maintenance before driving the car from California to Jacksonville to prove their point.

Despite losing a window frame in Texas, and sitting through shaky air conditioning, the guys say the car held up during the adventure.

The men say the web site matches people with cheap rides in their area. All you do is enter your zip code and the web site comes up with a list of budget-mobiles in your area.

NEW ORLEANS -- A man driving across the country to prove that cheap, used cars are reliable made a stop in New Orleans to share his message.
Chris Hedgecock stopped for a break on a long road trip in his 1974 Pontiac LeMans. He bought the car for just under $900 through a Web site he created two years ago, CarsForAGrand.com.
"It just grew in popularity and we were really impressed with the response we got," Hedgecock said.
He said the Web site generates about five sales a day nationwide -- all of used cars under $1,000.
"We don't make any guarantees," he said. "We're basically a tool for people to find other people who are selling cars."
The used cars don't come without challenges.
"When we got it, the battery was bad," Hedgecock said about the car he bought. "We went ahead and got a new battery from Wal-Mart. We did a little homemade ducting work on the air intake. We replaced all the fluids, replaced the belts."
But he said after $200 in repairs, the car was ready to hit the road from San Diego to Miami. He said it hasn't had any problems along the way.
Hedgecock said when he gets home, he won't have to make car payments.
"You might have to learn how to fix a car yourself, but at the end you're going to have a car and no debt," he said.
The Better Business Bureau said anyone looking for a used car should make sure the make, model, options and warranty are clearly defined, and be sure to read and understand the terms of the contract before signing.

Obama girls name their new puppy 'Bo'

2009-04-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Bo? No jest. The first family has settled on a first pet — a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog that the Obama girls are naming Bo.
The selection was one of the White House's most tightly kept secrets.
President Barack Obama's daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, picked a black and white pup, a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Associated Press Saturday night.
The dog is a gift from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who owns several Portuguese water dogs himself.
"We couldnt be happier to see the joy that Bo is bringing to Malia and Sasha," Kennedy said in a statement. "We love our Portuguese water dogs and know that the girls — and their parents — will love theirs, too."
The Washington Post reported in its online editions Saturday night that Obama's daughters chose the name Bo for the pup because first lady Michelle Obama's father was nicknamed Diddley. The name for the dog was an apparent reference to the singer "Bo" Diddley.
White House aides told the AP that the office of the first lady arranged an exclusive deal on the dog story with the Post. The officials, who demanded anonymity because of the deal with the Post on exclusive details, said the dog was not in the White House as of Saturday evening.
Throughout the day Saturday, celebrity Web sites and bloggers were abuzz with rumors of the first family's selection of a Portuguese water dog; one site even claimed it had pictures of the future first pet.
The president had embraced the frenzy: "Oh, man, now, that's top secret," Obama joked Friday to reporters.
Obama promised his daughters a puppy during the campaign.
"This is Washington. That was a campaign promise," Obama said when he appeared on Jay Leno's talk show last month, as the audience roared with laughter. "No, I'm teasing. The dog will be there shortly."
The president and first lady had said their choice was down to either a Portuguese water dog or a Labradoodle because they were considered good pets for children who have allergies, as Malia does.

At least 12 killed at immigration center in NY

2009-04-03T13:17:00.001-07:00

By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer – 2 mins ago
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – A gunman opened fire on a room where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam in downtown Binghamton on Friday, killing as many as 13 people before committing suicide, officials said.
Gov. David Paterson said at a news conference that 12 or 13 people had been killed. The suspected gunman carried identification with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., a law enforcement official said.
The suspect's body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office of the American Civic Association building, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and was talking on condition of anonymity.
The gunman barricaded the rear door of the building with his car before entering through the front door, firing his weapon, the official said.
Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at an event in New York, told the crowd that someone entered a room where an examination was being given from immigrants to become U.S. citizens, then shot and killed 12 or 13 people.
The Binghamton SWAT team responded, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also sending agents to Binghamton.
The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with naturalization applications, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.
The association's president, Angela Leach, "is very upset right now," said Mike Chanecka, a friend who answered a call at her home as Leach wept in the background.
"She doesn't know anything; she's as shocked as anyone," Chanecka said. "For some reason, she had the day off today. And she's very worried about her secretary."
Two women and a man suffering gunshot wounds were being treated at Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, said hospital spokeswoman Christina Boyd. One was stable, one was serious and one was critical. Their ages ranged from 20s to 50s, she said.
Linda Miller, a spokeswoman at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, said a student from Binghamton University was being treated there.
The shooting occurred in a mixed neighborhood of homes and small businesses in the center of Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 located 140 miles northwest of New York City.
College student Leslie Shrager told the AP that she and her five housemates were sleeping when police pounded on the front door of their house next door to the shooting scene.
Officers escorted the six Binghamton University students outside, she said, and that's when they learned of the shooting.
"One of our housemates thought they heard banging of some kind. But when you're living in downtown Binghamton, it's always noisy," said Shrager, of Slingerlands, an Albany suburb. "Literally two minutes later the cops came and got us out."
At the junction of the Susquehanna and the Chenango rivers, the Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers George M. Walsh and Chris Carola in Albany and Devlin Barrett in Washington.

Source: 4 die, up to 40 held hostage in Binghamton shootings

2009-04-03T10:24:00.001-07:00

(CNN) -- At least four people were killed Friday when a man opened fire in a building in Binghamton, New York, a law enforcement source close to the situation said.

Armed law enforcement officers gather at the scene of Friday's shootings in Binghamton, New York.

The source said more than a dozen were wounded.

The man began shooting in the American Civic Association, which helps immigrants and refugees, during a citizenship test, the source said.

The source said there may be 20 to 40 people who have been taken hostage.

The local newspaper, the Press & Sun-Bulletin, said on its Web site that at least four people were shot and 41 people had been taken hostage.

It said sharpshooters from the city's SWAT team were poised outside the building.

Video from the scene showed a person on a stretcher being taken to an ambulance.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the FBI is sending hostage negotiators and an evidence response team to the scene. The agency has an office in Binghamton, and agents are being sent from offices in Albany and Syracuse as well.

The newspaper said the incident began around 10:30 a.m. ET. Nearby apartments were being evacuated and Binghamton High School is on lockdown, it said.

"Within minutes [the situation] turned into one just flooded with police," Bob Joseph, news director of WNBF Radio, told CNN.

The American Civic Association helps immigrants and refugees with a number of issues, including personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship and reunification, and provides interpreters and translators, according to a United Way of Broome County Web site, which is affiliated with the association.

Binghamton is about 140 miles northwest of New York City.

Jock Friedly's LegiStorm.com Makes Hill Salaries Easy To Search -- and Debate

2009-04-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Go ahead. Hate him. I don't.

By Manuel Roig-Franzia

Jock Friedly couldn't care less. This is a man who counts being burned in effigy among his career highlights. So he's hardly going to be bothered by all these congressional staffers who think he's pretty much the Devil incarnate.

Friedly became the scourge of Capitol Hill by creating LegiStorm.com, a Web site that makes it super-easy to look up the annual salaries and financial disclosures of congressional staffers. All this stuff is public information, mind you. But it used to be a pain to find: Hike up to Capitol Hill, descend into the bowels of a House office building and thumb through books filled with tiny type.

Friedly brought it all into mouse-click range. His site offers a trove to keep the snoopiest snoop occupied for hours -- bank accounts, investment portfolios, trust funds, even information about spouses. Wondering why so-and-so cruises to work in a Beemer? Aha, that's why: His wife's a big-shot partner at a law firm. It's all there in the reports.

Often, the site is one of the first things that pops up in a Google search of a staffer. It's enough to make many of them -- especially the most senior and highest-paid -- supremely cranky.

Jeff Loveng, chief of staff to Pennsylvania Republican congressman Bill Shuster, shot off an e-mail to Friedly calling him a "peeping Tom."

"I hope you savor this time in your life where you feel you have other people at your mercy while you conduct your witch hunt," wrote Loveng, who worries about identity theft and pesky sales calls from stockbrokers.

Others have taken the preferred Capitol Hill route -- trashing Friedly anonymously because their bosses frown on them speaking publicly about, well, almost anything. Internet chat rooms swell with outrage.

Friedly chuckles about all the fuss he's wrought with the site he's nicknamed "transparency's sidekick." In person, the scourge does not appear particularly menacing. He's a self-effacing, youngish-looking 40-year-old with thick, somewhat dowdy glasses, a nascent bald spot at the crown of his head and soft features. Nothing about him screams "bird of prey."

He's matter-of-fact, and utterly unmoved, by all these people who despise him and his site.

"I've never found it to be a problem to be a hated person," Friedly said one recent afternoon. "I'm perfectly happy when people are yelling at me."

American Eagle to cut 75 pilot jobs

2009-04-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

American Airlines’ regional affiliate American Eagle will be laying off 75 pilots, said Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for AMR Corp., the parent company of American.

In addition to the 75 pilots, American Eagle said that 45 more management positions will be cut in 2009.

Fort Worth-based American (NYSE: AMR) says those 45 jobs are in addition to 30 management positions that already were scheduled to be eliminated in 2009.

The pilot job cuts are slated for two rounds: one to begin on May 1 and the other on June 1, American confirmed.

Metavante to be acquired by Fidelity National

2009-04-01T07:31:00.001-07:00

Financial technology provider Metavante Technologies Inc. of Brown Deer has agreed to be purchased by Fidelity National Information Services Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla., provider of core and transaction processing services, in exchange for nearly $3 billion in Fidelity stock.

The transaction also includes equity investments from by affiliates of Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Fidelity National Financial Inc. in Fidelity common stock which will result in approximately 16 million additional newly issued shares.

Together, the combined company will provide one of the most comprehensive ranges of integrated products and services, across more markets and more geographies worldwide than any other provider in the industry, Fidelity said in a press release.

Fidelity National (NYSE: FIS) is a major provider of core and transaction processing services, card issuer solutions and outsourcing services to more than 14,000 financial institutions worldwide. Metavante (NYSE: MV) provides banking and payments technologies to approximately 8,000 financial services firms and businesses.

The two companies serve complementary customer bases and have highly diversified and recurring revenue streams. In 2008, the companies generated pro forma combined revenue of $5.2 billion, adjusted earnings before expenses of $1.3 billion and free cash flow of more than $500 million. As a result of the combination, Fidelity anticipates it can cut approximately $260 million in costs. The increased global scale and expected cost savings are expected to generate significant margin expansion. The transaction is expected to boost adjusted earnings per share in 2010.

As of Dec. 31, 2008, Metavante employed approximately 5,900 employees, including approximately 2,100 in financial solutions group, 2,100 in payment solutions group, 1,200 in shared services such as operations and conversions, and 500 in corporate functions. The Milwaukee-area offices include the corporate headquarters at 4900 W. Brown Deer Road in Brown Deer and offices on Milwaukee’s far northwest side.

Metavante chairman and CEO Frank Martire will become president and CEO of Fidelity after the merger. Fidelity president and CEO Lee Kennedy will be named chairman of the board. The board will consist of six Fidelity National board members and three Metavante board members. The business will be based at Fidelity's current headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.

Other Metavante executives to remain with the combined company include Michael Hayford, Metavante's current president and chief operating officer. He will become Fidelity's chief financial officer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Metavante shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.35 shares of Fidelity common stock for each share of Metavante common stock they own. At Fidelity's Tuesday closing price of $18.20 per share, the stock transaction is worth about $2.95 billion.

The exchange rate would give Metavante's shareholders a 23 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price of $19.96 a share.

Metavante's largest shareholder, an affiliate of private equity firm Warburg Pincus that owns 25 percent of Metavante's outstanding shares, has agreed to support the transaction. Warburg Pincus is expected to own 11 percent of the combined company.

The transaction is subject to approval by shareholders of both Fidelity and Metavante. The deal also requires regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The firms expect to complete the transaction during the third quarter of 2009.

At closing, the combined company would have approximately 374 million shares outstanding. Metavante's lenders have agreed to waive change of control provision, allowing the merger to proceed. After giving effect to the transaction, the combined company is projected to have approximately $3.8 billion of debt outstanding at closing, including $1.45 billion of debt to be incurred and assumed in connection with the acquisition.

G-20 protesters break into Royal Bank of Scotland

2009-04-01T06:24:00.001-07:00

Hopefully we will get the peoples out there and it will say "stop handing out our money to your friends" The banks who knew they were screwing people over in the long run with bad debts. We will see what G20 has come out to say. And if they will think twice now that they see the people trying to get to them that they need police escorts and bodyguards.

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER

LONDON – G-20 protesters in downtown London have smashed windows and entered the Royal Bank of Scotland building. They have also tried to storm the Bank of England.
At least 4,000 protesters have jammed into London's financial district for demonstrations Wednesday. Protesters broke windows and scrawled the word "thieves" on the side of the Royal Bank of Scotland building.
Protesters were also pelting riot police with eggs and fruit and confronting them at barricades.
Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference in London ahead of the Group of 20 summit being held Thursday. World leaders are gathering with hopes of resolving the global financial crisis.
Eight people have been arrested in the G-20 demonstrations so far. There have been no reports of injuries.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
LONDON (AP) — Thousands of G-20 protesters jammed downtown London on Wednesday and some tried to storm the Bank of England, pelting police with eggs and fruit and rocking the barricades designed to control them.
Demonstrators shouted "Abolish Money!" and clogged streets in the financial district known as "The City" even as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference elsewhere in the British capital.
Protesters had branded the day "Financial Fool's Day" ahead of Thursday's summit of world leaders who are gathering in hopes of resolving the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.
"Every job I apply for there's already 150 people who have also applied," said protester Nathan Dean, 35, who lost his information technology job three weeks ago. "I have had to sign on to the dole (welfare) for the first time in my life. You end up having to pay your mortgage on your credit card and you fall into debt twice over."
Demonstrators hoisted effigies of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse," representing war, climate chaos, financial crimes and homelessness.
"The greed that is driving people is tearing us apart," said Steve Lamont, 45, flanked by his family and protesters who were banging on bells, playing drums and blowing whistles.
At least eight people were reportedly arrested for having police uniforms. One police officer lost his helmet and demonstrators tossed it around like a trophy and chanted slogans.
Helicopters hovered above the protests and some buildings were boarded up in case the protests turned ugly. Many banks had extra security and hundreds of police officers lined the streets.
Despite the pushing and shoving along the police barricades, there were no reported injuries.
Fearing they would be targeted by protesters, some bankers swapped their pinstripe suits for casual wear and others stayed home. Bolder financial workers leaned out their office windows Wednesday, taunting demonstrators and waving 10 pound notes at them.
Especially in Britain, bankers have been lambasted as being greedy and blamed for the recession that is making jobless ranks soar.
"It seems like everything is in a mess," said protester Steve Johnson, 49, an unemployed construction worker. "You get bankers getting massive bonuses, and the MPs (British lawmakers) are lining their own pockets."
Musician and political activist Billy Bragg said the time was now to make a difference.
"It's better than sitting down shouting at the television at these bankers," he said. "We cannot go back to the way things were before to the million-dollar bonus culture."
Protesters included anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists, students, unionized workers, unemployed workers and others hurt by the global financial crisis.
One protester dressed as the Easter bunny managed to hop through the police cordon but was stopped before he could reach the Bank of England. Another black-clad demonstrator waved a fake light saber at officers.

myflorida.com accessflorida

2009-03-31T17:23:00.001-07:00

Take Action to take after losing your job

File for unemployment benefits that day or the next day online at floridajobs.org

Share the news with your family and friends. Try to be positive, especially when telling children.

Review your separation package and your finances. Decide what monthly expenses you can do without.

Let former clients and contacts know how they can reach you.

Enroll for classes at Broward County's Workforce One or Palm Beach County's Workforce Alliance, or seek other career transition help. Do not pay someone to find you a job.

Check whether you qualify for food stamps. There are restrictions on income and assets. You can prequalify at myflorida.com/accessflorida

Source: Sun Sentinel research

GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign

2009-03-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

Kinda weird how a President of a country can tell a so called publicly owned company to resign and it happens. I thought this was supposed to be a free market and the shareholders held that responsibility.

As troubled automaker appeals for federal help, Rick Wagoner gives up top spot following years of losses and declining U.S. market share.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner will resign as part of the federal government's plan to bail out the struggling automaker, White House and GM sources told CNN Sunday.

Wagoner's departure comes the day before President Obama is expected to announce the latest details of the government's plans for restructuring GM and Chrysler LLC, which have been pushed to the brink by huge losses and a sharp decline in sales.

Fritz Henderson, the current chief operating officer, is expected to be named interim CEO of General Motors, according to two GM sources.

A GM spokesman declined to comment.

GM and Chrysler face a Tuesday deadline to prove to the Treasury Department that they can be viable in the long term. Without such a finding, the government can recall the $13.4 billion it has already lent to GM (GM, Fortune 500) and the $4 billion it loaned to Chrysler.

Wagoner, a 32-year company veteran, has been CEO of General Motors since 2000. Prior to becoming CEO, he was chief operating officer and led the company's North American operations. He also served as chief financial officer from 1992 to 1994. ('Wagoner: Almost a superstar CEO')

A senior GM official official told CNN that the White House and its auto task force had "sent very clear signals" that the key to more help was "new leadership" and something that would help the administration see real change.

General Motors has been hit hard as auto sales have plummeted. Sales have continued to tumble through the early months of this year, falling 40% across the industry and about 50% at GM and Chrysler.

The companies and industry analysts have slashed their sales estimates for the year -- and that in turn has heightened the need for more loans to keep GM and Chrysler afloat.

Last month, the two companies filed reports on their restructuring efforts. GM said it needed up to $16.6 billion more in loans. Chrysler asked for an additional $5 billion, and said it would need the money by the end of March to avoid running out of cash.

The Obama administration had been widely expected to approve the requests. Obama has repeatedly spoken about the importance of saving the struggling auto industry, and on March 19, Treasury announced $5 billion in federal help for GM's and Chrysler's auto parts suppliers.

The other member of Detroit's Big Three, Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500), has a better cash position than its rivals and has so far not needed federal loans. But Ford has asked for a $9 billion line of credit in case sales continue to be worse than expected or if major suppliers have to halt operations.

Job cuts
As part of the viability plan, GM and Chrysler were to win concessions form bond holders and the UAW.

GM has a big debt load, but negotiations with bond holders have gone slowly.

As for talks with labor unions, last week GM announced that 7,500 factory workers had taken its latest buyout offer. The workers leaving the company represent about 12% of the GM's remaining U.S. hourly work force, leaving it with just under 55,000 factory workers in the United States.

With this latest program, GM has shed about 60,000 hourly U.S. jobs since 2006. GM has offered buyout packages to all of its remaining hourly workers.

Even if the company needs to hire someone new to replace a departed worker, the company will save money under terms of the 2007 labor contract that pays new hires at a lower wage scale and with a far less lucrative benefit package.

--CNN's Kate Bolduan and John King contributed to this report.

Beware Conficker worm come April 1

2009-03-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

Bad timing for a worm if you ask me. The hacker should take a look around and just chill out. Many people right now are looking for jobs with their computer because that is the best way to get out as many resumes and Applications as possible. These people could be responsible for more than they realize.

In an event that hits the computer world only once every few years, security experts are racing against time to mitigate the impact of a bit of malware which is set to wreak havoc on a hard-coded date. As is often the case, that date is April 1.

Malware creators love to target April Fool's Day with their wares, and the latest worm, called Conficker C, could be one of the most damaging attacks we've seen in years.

Conficker first bubbled up in late 2008 and began making headlines in January as known infections topped 9 million computers. Now in its third variant, Conficker C, the worm has grown incredibly complicated, powerful, and virulent... though no one is quite sure exactly what it will do when D-Day arrives.

Thanks in part to a quarter-million-dollar bounty on the head of the writer of the worm, offered by Microsoft, security researchers are aggressively digging into the worm's code as they attempt to engineer a cure or find the writer before the deadline. What's known so far is that on April 1, all infected computers will come under the control of a master machine located somewhere across the web, at which point anything's possible. Will the zombie machines become denial of service attack pawns, steal personal information, wipe hard drives, or simply manifest more traditional malware pop-ups and extortion-like come-ons designed to sell you phony security software? No one knows.

Conficker is clever in the way it hides its tracks because it uses an enormous number of URLs to communicate with HQ. The first version of Conficker used just 250 addresses each day -- which security researchers and ICANN simply bought and/or disabled -- but Conficker C will up the ante to 50,000 addresses a day when it goes active, a number which simply can't be tracked and disabled by hand.

At this point, you should be extra vigilant about protecting your PC: Patch Windows completely through Windows Update and update your anti-malware software as well. Make sure your antivirus software is actually running too, as Conficker may have disabled it.

Microsoft also offers a free online safety scan here, which should be able to detect all Conficker versions.

Jake DeSantis: A Defense of AIG Bonuses

2009-03-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wow done nothing wrong. Like take millions of taxpayer dollars and using it as bonuses instead of making your company financially viable. Why should anyone get a bonus when they are doing a terrible job in the first place? He is not the only one and AIG is not the only company that has done this. They are just the ones who are in the spotlight right now.

Liz Wolgemuth

Jake DeSantis, an executive VP in AIG's financial products unit, is getting out. We know this because the NYTimes has his resignation letter, penned to CEO Edward Liddy.

It's a comprehensive rebuke of the AIG-admonishers in Congress and of Liddy himself, who was "not strong enough to withstand the shifting political winds," and committed a "breach of trust" in allegedly asking for the bonus money to be returned only shortly before his Congressional appearance last week, DeSantis says.

Here's excerpt that gives a good insight into how the AIG employees are feeling. Note that DeSantis was not among the group that dealt in the ultimately poisonous credit default swaps:

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

A common argument against paying retention bonuses to the AIG employees has been, essentially: Where else can they go? Not only is this the ugliest job market in decades, they're also stained with the AIG name. But not so fast. De Santis says this:

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

Liddy both defended the bonus payments to Congress last week and told legislators he had asked for the bonus money to be returned--for the employees to "do the right thing."

Index IQ's New ETFs to Offer New Investing Strategies

2009-03-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Could this be the next big bubble? We shall see in due time. Hopefully though this will help things in the long run, I think everybody is ready to get out of this recession and is willing to almost try anything to get out of it. Just look at President Obama.

By Tom Lydon

A new suite of ETFs is hitting the market soon, this time with an entirely new strategy.

Filings for five new ETFs have been submitted to the SEC by Index IQ and each will track indexes created by IndexIQ subsidiary Financial Development HoldCo LLC. According to Money Management Executive, the ETFs are:

IQ Hedge Multi Strategy Tracker ETF
IQ Hedge Macro Tracker ETF
IQ Hedge Long/Short Tracker ETF
IQ Hedge Event Driven Tracker ETF
IQ Hedge Market Neutral Tracker ETF

Paul Mazzilli, senior advisor and board member, is bringing his expertise to ETFs through these funds. As hedge funds and mutual funds continue to leak assets, these and other ETFs could benefit as they tackle new and interesting strategies. These ETFs will be employing strategies that have been common in hedge funds.

Tony Davidow, executive vice president and head of distribution at IndexIQ, has said that he feels ETFs will grow at the expense of mutual funds. “There’s trillions in mutual funds. Those assets went down, and ETFs will ultimately be the beneficiary of those flows.”

Negative news about hedge funds recently may have soured investors on the strategy, but Mazzilli and Davidow aren’t worried about that. In fact, they see it as one glaring hole within the industry in general.

“The issues have been more structurally. The lack of liquidity, they’re difficult for investors to get out of. [Bernie] Madoff is a perfect example of a lack of transparency and what it means to investors. We’re capturing the positive attributes,” Davidow says.

Index IQ will bring innovative products to market with the liquidity, tranparency and cost-efficiency investors are seeking.

missingmoney.com on the Early Show

2009-03-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

By ANNA PRIOR

Wishing for extra cash? You may be entitled to some of the nearly $33 billion in unclaimed property sitting in state governments' coffers.

These are sums that businesses were required to turn over to the states after no activity or contact with the owner after a period of a year or more.

Items can include dividend or payroll checks that haven't been cashed, refunds, trust distributions, unredeemed money orders, insurance payments or refunds, annuities, certificates of deposit, customer overpayments and the contents of safe-deposit boxes.

To find out if a state has any of your money, visit the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators' Web site, unclaimed.org. From there, you can access individual states' records or the centralized MissingMoney.com (which includes records from most states, but not New York and California), all free.

You also can search for the names of deceased relatives who may have unclaimed property. If you can prove that you are the legal heir, you can claim those accounts.

If a match pops up, you'll need to fill out a claim form and submit it to the state's claim office along with the proper documentation.

Be patient -- depending on your state and type of claim, it can take a while to be verified and for the state to put your check in the mail.

Economy Shrank More Than Expected in Fourth Quarter

2009-02-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

The Commerce Department report released Friday showed the economy sinking much faster than the 3.8 percent annualized drop for the October-December quarter first estimated by the government last month.

AP

The U.S. economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into recession.

The Commerce Department report released Friday showed the economy sinking much faster than the 3.8 percent annualized drop for the October-December quarter first estimated last month. It also was considerably weaker than the 5.4 percent annualized decline economists expected.

Looking ahead, economists predict consumers and businesses will keep cutting back spending, making the first six months of this year especially rocky.

"Right now we're in the period of maximum recession stress, where the big cuts are being made," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The new report offered grim proof that the economy's economic tailspin accelerated in the fourth quarter under a slew of negative forces feeding on each other. The economy started off 2008 on feeble footing, picked up a bit of speed in the spring and then contracted at an annualized rate of 0.5 percent in the third quarter.

The faster downhill slide in the final quarter of last year came as the financial crisis -- the worst since the 1930s -- intensified.

Consumers at the end of the year slashed spending by the most in 28 years. They chopped spending on cars, furniture, appliances, clothes and other things. Businesses retrenched sharply, too, dropping the ax on equipment and software, home building and commercial construction.

Before Friday's report was released, many economists were projecting an annualized drop of 5 percent in the current January-March quarter. However, given the fourth quarter's showing and the dismal state of the jobs market, Mayland believes a decline of closer to 6 percent in the current quarter is possible.

The U.S. unemployment rate is now at 7.6 percent, the highest in more than 16 years. The Federal Reserve expects the jobless rate to rise to close to 9 percent this year, and probably remain above normal levels of around 5 percent into 2011.

A smaller decline in the economy is expected for the second quarter of this year. But the new GDP figure -- like the old one -- marked the weakest quarterly showing since an annualized drop of 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 1982, when the country was suffering through an intense recession.

American consumers -- spooked by vanishing jobs, sinking home values and shrinking investment portfolios have cut back. In turn, companies are slashing production and payrolls. Rising foreclosures are aggravating the already stricken housing market, hard-to-get credit has stymied business investment and is crimping the ability of some consumers to make big-ticket purchases.

It's creating a self-perpetuating vicious cycle that Washington policymakers are finding hard to break.

To jolt life back into the economy, President Barack Obama recently signed a $787 billion recovery package of increased government spending and tax cuts. The president also unveiled a $75 billion plan to stem home foreclosures and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said as much as $2 trillion could be plowed into the financial system to jump-start lending.

For all of 2008, the economy grew by just 1.1 percent, weaker than the government initially estimated. That was down from a 2 percent gain in 2007 and marked the slowest growth since the last recession in 2001.

With Friday's figures, Mayland lowered his forecast for this year to show a deeper contraction of just over 2 percent.

In the fourth quarter, consumers cut spending at a 4.3 percent pace. That was deeper than the initial 3.5 percent annualized drop and marked the biggest decline since the second quarter of 1980.

Businesses slashed spending on equipment and software at an annualized pace of 28.8 percent in the final quarter of last year. That also was deeper than first reported and was the worst showing since the first quarter of 1958.

Fallout from the housing collapse spread to other areas. Builders cut spending on commercial construction projects by 21.1 percent, the most since the first quarter of 1975. Home builders slashed spending at a 22.2 percent pace, the most since the start of 2008.

A sharper drop in U.S. exports also factored into the weaker fourth-quarter performance. Economic troubles overseas are sapping demand for domestic goods and services.

Businesses also cut investments in inventories -- as they scrambled to reduce stocks in the face of dwindling customer demand -- another factor contributing to the weaker fourth-quarter reading.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke earlier this week told Congress that the economy is suffering a "severe contraction" and is likely to keep shrinking in the fix six months of this year. But he planted a seed of hope that the recession might end his year if the government managed to prop up the shaky banking system.

Even in the best-case scenario that the recession ends this year and an economic recovery happens next year, unemployment is likely to keep rising.

That's partly because many analysts don't think the early stages of any recovery will be vigorous, and because companies won't be inclined to ramp up hiring until they feel confident that any economic rebound will have staying power.

More job losses were announced this week. JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Thursday said it would eliminate about 12,000 jobs as it absorbs the operations of failed savings and loan Washington Mutual Inc. That figure includes 9,200 cuts announced previously and 2,800 jobs expected to be lost through attrition.

Textile maker Milliken & Co. said it would cut 650 jobs at facilities worldwide, while jeweler Zale Corp. said it will close 115 stores and eliminate 245 positions.

On Monday, troubled flash memory maker Spansion Inc. said it will lay off about 3,000 employees and computer chip maker Micron Technology Inc. announced it will slash as many as 2,000 workers by the end of August.

Sirius XM (SIRI) reaches deal with Liberty

2009-02-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of shares in SIRI and I was really dreading today until Liberty bailed them out. I don't think they are out of the woods yet, but I am hopeful that they can make a long term recovery and I will be able to make some money out of it. I was strong enough to hold on when Sirius was staring bankruptcy in the face. I still think it is one of the riskiest stocks out there, but no risk, no reward.

by Beth Gaston Moon
Major movement, Deals, Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI)

Stern fans, breathe easy! In breaking news this morning, SIRIUS XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LMDIA) have reached a deal that will save the satellite radio company (for now) from the brink of bankruptcy.

Liberty will invest $530 million in SIRI, kicking off with a first phase: a senior secured loan worth $280 million, $250 million of which will be paid out today.

In response, Liberty will assume two spots on the SIRIUS XM board and receive 12.5 million shares of preferred stock, convertible into 40% of common SIRI shares.

SIRI CEO Mel Karmazin, told reporters, "Liberty's investment is an important validation of what SIRIUS XM has already achieved and a vote of confidence in what we will achieve..."

In pre-market trading, SIRI shares have jumped more than 80% to 19 cents per share.

Beth Gaston Moon works for WeSeed.com. The above comments are not intended as trading or investment advice.

Obama at White House - Inauguration day 2009

2009-01-20T07:34:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Barack and Michelle Obama were at the White House on Tuesday to meet with President Bush, as hundreds of thousands gathered at the Capitol for Obama's inauguration.

The Obamas attended a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church on Tuesday morning and then headed to the nearby White House for a meeting with the outgoing president and first lady Laura Bush.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, arrived at the White House shortly before the Obamas. The Obamas, Bushes and Bidens were expected to have coffee at the before heading to the Capitol.

The 9 a.m. church service kicked off a day of events for the man who will become the nation's 44th president at noon ET.

As many as 2 million people are expected to crowd into the area between the Capitol, the White House and the Lincoln Memorial as Obama takes the oath of office.

Gerrard Coles of Norwalk, Connecticut, had staked out a position in front of St. John's.

"Everyone's down here -- hopefully to catch a glimpse of Barack, just for a split second," he said. "I think this was a beautiful thing. It's something I always wanted to do. It's not every day that you get to be a part of history. Rather than just watch it on TV, you actually get to partake in it and you have a story to tell your kids."

A crowd gathered at a barricade near the church was letting children and shorter onlookers move to the front of the crowd so they could get a better view.

Some spectators will be more than a mile from the swearing-in ceremony, watching on giant TV screens erected along the National Mall.

Thousands arrived before daylight Tuesday in standing-room-only trains. They carried blankets and wore Obama scarves to ward off the wind chills of minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Suburban Washington train stations were jammed. A four-story parking deck at the Springfield, Virginia, station was filled at 5 a.m. Trains rolling into the stop about 15 miles south of the Capitol had no room for the hundreds on the platform.

The Metro rail system's Red Line was shut down about 9 a.m. after a pedestrian was hit by a train, further snarling the already overloaded train service, fire officials said.

On Monday night, visitors wandered around the Mall, snapping pictures and shooting video of the Capitol and monuments.

The scene around Lafayette Square was almost chaotic, with cars turning around in the street as they were confronted with barriers to closed-off areas and clots of pedestrians crossing streets against the light.

The visitors' excitement rubbed off on some of the jaded locals, one of whom said D.C. residents were "cynical of government."

"The energy on the streets is something I've never seen before," said Nancy Wigal, a 45-year-old technical writer who lives in the Mount Vernon Square area. "People are walking lighter, standing taller and are reaching out to one another. It feels like hope. It feels like shared happiness."

The morning began at 4 a.m. for many as those without tickets made a land grab on the Mall, rushing to stake out positions for the ceremony.

After Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden take their oaths of office on the western front of the Capitol, Obama will deliver his inaugural address, which Obama aides say will emphasize that America is entering a new era of responsibility.

In the approximately 20-minute speech, Obama will say America has been hurt by a "me-first" mentality that contributed to the current economic crisis, aides say, and he will call on individuals -- as well as corporations and businesses -- to take responsibility for their actions.

After a formal farewell to President George W. Bush and lunch with congressional leaders, Obama will head up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, where he and his family will watch the inauguration parade from a reviewing stand. The parade begins at 3:45 p.m. ET.

The new president and first lady will then close the night by attending 10 official inaugural balls.

Officials say they really don't know how many will show up, but estimates range from 1 million to 2 million.

Organizers have said about 280,000 people can fit into the secure zones around the Capitol and roughly 300,000 into the area around the parade. A mere 28,000 seats are available on Capitol grounds.

Those with tickets to the inauguration will undergo tight screening, including passing through magnetometers, when they enter the seating area in front of the Capitol.

Spectators without tickets will be routed to the Mall, which for the first time will be open from end to end for an inauguration. Security there will be less stringent.

Jeri Pickett of Rochester, New York, was one of the few who got a ticket.

"I'd just like to see the inspiration of America," said Pickett, when asked what he was expecting from Inauguration Day. "There's so much warmth here now, and excitement -- rejuvenation."

Transportation officials say they will run subway trains on rush-hour schedules starting at 4 a.m. as well as extra buses. The Metro expects more than 1 million riders.

Inauguration events have already drawn record crowds. A crowd attending an inauguration concert Sunday was estimated between 300,000 and 400,000 and stretched from the Lincoln Memorial all the way to the Washington Monument, which stands at the midpoint of the Mall.

While Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan said Monday there was "no credible threat" to the inauguration events, a security cordon has been put in place around the city's core, turning much of downtown Washington into a pedestrian-only zone.

In addition to Secret Service, the security effort will involve 8,000 police officers from the District of Columbia and other jurisdictions, 10,000 National Guard troops, about 1,000 FBI personnel, and hundreds of others from the Department of Homeland Security, the National Park Service and U.S. Capitol Police.

Another 20,000 members of the National Guard are ready to respond if there is an emergency, according to outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Inauguration Day 2009 - Barack Obama

2009-01-20T06:46:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON – The streets of the nation's capital pulsed with expectation Tuesday as crowds determined to witness the swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama overwhelmed mass transit lines and clogged security checkpoints.

Energized by the historic moment, tens of thousands of people turned this city's orderly grid of streets into a festive party scene. Ready to endure below-freezing temperatures, they streamed up from subway stations and thronged past parked buses, emergency vehicles and street vendors, bound for Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Mall for the inauguration.

"This is the culmination of two years of work," said Obama activist Akin Salawu, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who helped the candidate as a community organizer and Web producer. "We got on board when Obama was the little engine who could. He's like a child you've held onto. Now he's going out into the world."

By 4 a.m., lines of riders formed in suburban parking lots for the Metro transit system, which opened early and put on extra trains for the expected rush. Many parking lots filled up and had to be closed.

Streets around the Capitol quickly filled with people, and security checkpoints were mobbed. The cold registered at 21 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:45 a.m.

Warming tents and other facilities on the Mall were late opening because traffic and crowds delayed staffers from reaching them. Ticket holders approaching the Inaugural site on Capitol Hill awaited security sweeps in a line estimated at thousands.

Connie Grant of Birmingham, Alabama, said she got up at 3:30 a.m. after coming to Washington with a group. Three hours later she was still on 7th street waiting for police to clear the way into the Mall.

She said the wait didn't matter. "I sacrificed and came here. To me, this is very historic. I just wanted to be here."

Christian Alderson of Berryville, Va., went to Memphis, Tenn., in 1968 to support the sanitation workers strike and said he was there when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

"That day was sorrowful," Alderson, 73, said as he stood near the mall. "This is a dream come true for me."

At the opposite end of town, Georgetown University students chanted "Obama!" and "Fired up Ready to Go!" as they walked down M Street toward the Mall.

A flea-market atmosphere prevailed on downtown streets, with white tents set up to sell Obama T-shirts and mugs as well as food, bottled water, snacks, scarves and footwarmers. The scent of grilled coiled sausages and steaming Chinese food greeted those who walked toward the parade route, more than six hours before Obama would pass by.

As the first waves of people began moving through security screenings, they scrambled for prime viewing spots along Pennsylvania Avenue — sitting on the curb, staking out plots of grass, or clambering on to cold metal benches.

Suburban subway riders also seemed to be in a jubilant mood, despite the early hour. In Fredericksburg, Va., an hour south of Washington, chants of "Obama! Obama!" rang out at a commuter rail station when the line started moving at 5 a.m. for the first trip into Washington.

World history teacher Calvin Adams of Arlington, Va., said he got up extra early so he could witness history being made first-hand and teach it to his classes.

"Eventually I'll teach American history," said Adams, 23. "I'll say, 'This is how it works because I've been there, I've seen it.'"

The joyous mood was tempered only by delays and by the dashed expectations of revelers eager to get an up-close look at history.

Alice Williams, a 51-year-old teacher of gifted children from Kansas City, Mo., had the coveted purple ticket that would placed her in front of the Capitol, but she got caught in the crowd bottleneck and instead was stuck a half mile away.

"We got blocked off; there was too much traffic and no guidance," she said forlornly. "I've been walking for an hour and a half. All I want to do is see my president sworn in"

One parade entrance was supposed to open at 7 a.m. The crowd, which was one-block deep, counted down at 7 a.m. The gate did not open. The chants got louder at 7:30 a.m., but the gates remain closed.

D.C. police have projected inaugural crowds between 1 million and 2 million. Planners say attendance could easily top the 1.2 million people who were at Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 inauguration, the largest crowd the National Park Service has on record.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs Takes Medical Leave of Absence

2009-01-14T19:42:00.001-08:00

Well this doesn't sound good at all for Apple. I know that Apple Stock has dropped almost 10 % in after hours trading which is to be expected right after news like this. It will be interesting how Apple moves foreward from this. They should have some new gizmo in their back pocket that they can unveil while Jobs is out so it will show more confidence that Apple can survive without Jobs in the Long run. And who knows maybe Apple has that up their sleeve. It will also be interesting to see if Apple now goes through Layoffs or if Jobs even comes back at all. It doesn't sound good for the future of the company. But Jobs should of made a strong foundation that should have Apple running lightyears after he passes anyways.

By Mike Musgrove and Peter Whoriskey

Washington Post Staff Writers

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs today announced that he will take a leave of absence as a result of health concerns.

"During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought," Jobs wrote in an e-mail sent to all Apple employees.

He said he intends to return to the company at the end of June.

Speculation about Jobs's health has swayed the company's share prices during the past year as his increasingly gaunt appearance left some investors worried. The iconic tech leader, who is often viewed as the main driving force for his company's recent successes, was treated for pancreatic cancer several years ago.

Jobs did not deliver a keynote at the recent Mac-centric trade show this year, citing a hormone imbalance. The company's share price rose 4 percent on the news, a result of investor relief that Jobs was not suffering a recurrence of cancer.

Apple products, particularly the iPod and iPhone, have gained a rare kind of loyalty from customers, and much of the credit is given to Jobs's demanding leadership. He is reputedly relentless in his demands that Apple engineers make products that simplify technology, an approach that often gives the company's products a minimalist chic.

In 2004, Jobs received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and had surgery, which apparently was successful. Last June, however, Jobs appeared gaunt and the uncertainty over his health created new worries for investors. Stock prices suffered as a result.

Concern about Jobs's health heightened Dec. 16, when the company announced that he would not attend Macworld, a conference that he has addressed in his trademark black turtleneck for several years. Instead, the company sent marketing chief Philip Schiller to make a presentation.

Apple's stock fell as much as 10 percent after the company made that announcement.

Jobs was forced to address the rumors last week. In recent months, Jobs and the Apple board had declined to provide more information about the chief executive's health.

"Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed," he wrote on Jan. 5. "I've decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

"As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008," his note said. "The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors."

Jobs said that the cause of his troubles was a "hormone imbalance."

But many health professionals said then that hormone imbalance is not a specific medical diagnosis

While Jobs is away from the company he founded, Apple will be steered by chief operating officer Tim Cook.

Macy's will shutter 11 stores in 9 states

2009-01-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Looks like macy's is hurting even worse than most originally thought. It has yet to be said if they will continue to host the thanksgiving parade in the future. Hopefully within time they will be able to reclaim their lost stores.

Macy's will close 11 underperforming stores in 9 states; Dec. same-store sales fall 4 percent

* Mae Anderson, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Department-store operator Macy's Inc. said Thursday it will close 11 underperforming stores in nine states -- affecting 960 employees -- and lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter after one of the weakest holiday seasons in years.

Stores slated to close include locations in Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., and St. Louis, among others. Cincinnati-based Macy's Inc. says the closures will cost about $65 million, most of which will be booked in the 2008 fourth quarter.

Clearance sales at the stores begin next week.

"These closings are part of our normal-course process to prune underperforming locations each year in order to maintain a healthy portfolio of stores," said Macy's Chief Executive Terry J. Lundgren in a statement.

Employees at the stores that are closing may be considered for open positions at other Macy's stores, the company said.

Department-store operators have been among the harder-hit in the retail sector as consumers cut back amid the recession, hunting for bargains and trading down to discounters.

Macy's reported Thursday that its December sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, fell 4 percent -- still not as bad as the 5.3 percent drop analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting.

Total sales for the five-week period ended Jan. 3 fell 5 percent to $4.4 billion from $4.61 billion last year.

Same-store sales fell 7.5 percent during the combined November and December holiday period. Macy's said the holiday season ended with improving sales in the fourth and fifth weeks of December but that sales were sluggish before that.

The company said it marked items down sharply in the fourth quarter to gain sales and reduce its inventories, but that hurt its margins and led it to lower its profit forecast for the fourth quarter and full year.

Macy's now expects earnings of 90 cents to $1 per share in the fourth quarter, down from its previous guidance of $1.10 to $1.30 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $1.11 per share.

For the full year, the company now expects to earn $1.10 to $1.20 per share, down from its previous forecast of $1.30 to $1.50 per share. Analysts expect a profit of $1.35 per share.

Hackers Post Faked Report of Steve Jobs's Death

2009-01-06T13:05:00.001-08:00

Wow I wonder who is behind this. Can somebody tell me where Bill Gates was at this time. I wonder if this was just another hacker trying to be funny, corporate espionage, or somebody who was trying to short on Apple stock and found a way to try and make some big money. Anyway you slice it, it is pretty bad that you are trying to tell the world that the person who brought us the ipod is dead. Steve Jobs is alilve of course.

by Mitch Marconi

Surfacing rumors of Steve Jobs death have been going around the internet as of late. MacRumors, one of many cover sites for Apple's annual Macworld prodcut launches, was apparently hacked.

The people who hacked MacRumors made false news of Steve Jobs' death. Valleywag.com had posted an image of what the hacked page looked like. Steve Jobs is still alive, despite is weight loss he is working on himself currently according to reports.

Could the hackers been trying to spook people? Many fix the stocks? Who knows, but hopefully the criminals are caught.

FBI Now Hiring, Looking for 850 new FBI agents

2009-01-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

I might have to apply there myself. I bet there is good benefits and I don't think the goverment would layoff people. Well if they did then there wouldn't be many jobs anywhere else anyways.

By Terry Frieden

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Despite a bleak economic environment featuring wide-ranging layoffs and rising unemployment, the nation's premier law enforcement agency is touting "one of the largest hiring blitzes in our 100-year history."

The FBI is about to embark on its biggest hiring spree since immediately after the September 11, 2001.

The FBI posted openings for 850 special agents and more than 2,100 professional support personnel. Officials say it's the largest FBI job posting since immediately after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The FBI's unexpectedly large number of job openings results more from attrition and a wave of retirements than from growing government appropriations, Bureau officials told CNN.

The FBI routinely advertises openings for individuals with critical skills in computer science and language fluency. But John Raucci, assistant director of the FBI's Human Resources Division, says current needs are much more wide-ranging.

"We're also looking for professionals in a wide variety of fields who have a deep desire to help protect our nation from terrorists, spies and others who wish us harm," Raucci said.

The lengthy list of openings includes positions in finance and accounting, security, intelligence analysis, training and education, nursing and counseling, physical surveillance, electrical engineering, physical and social sciences, and auto mechanics.

Procedures for applying and a full listing of available positions are posted on the Web site fbijobs.gov.

"This is a great time to apply for a great job in the FBI," said the bureau's chief spokesman, Richard Kolko.

Officials note at least a few jobs are currently available in every one of the FBI's 56 field offices across the nation.

The FBI lists openings throughout the year, but seldom has anything close to the current number of available positions.

The present job postings expire on January 16, but a new, possibly smaller set of openings will be posted shortly thereafter, the agency said.

S&P upgrades Atmos Energy's rating

2009-01-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

I should buy some of their stock. Not because they have been upgraded or anything like that. It is because I use Atmos as my gas company. They always say invest in things you use. Plus I don't think any utility company is ever going to go under. hmm now I am curious.

Standard and Poor's Ratings Services on Tuesday raised its rating on Atmos Energy Corp. and said the outlook for the company is "Stable" due to improved financial performance and rate case decisions that increased cash flow.

S&P lifted its corporate credit rating on Atmos to "BBB+" from "BBB," pushing the company's rating further up on the investment-grade rating scale.

Kenneth Farer, a credit analyst with S&P, said the company's favorable treatment in recent rate cases regarding weather-related risks over the past several years helped improve cash flow for the company. Other factors that helped boost the company's rating included management's success in integrating the TXU Gas Co. acquisition and in executing its overall business strategy.

"The outlook on Atmos is stable and reflects our expectation that the company will maintain its current level of financial performance," Farer said.

Shares of Atmos fell 18 cents to $23.46 on Tuesday. The 52-week share price range is between $19.68 and $29.29.

President Bush: Automakers to get $17.4B

2008-12-19T06:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this thing passed even though Congress turned them down. I guess we don't live in a democrazy anymore.

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Citing danger to the national economy, the Bush administration came to the rescue of the U.S. auto industry Friday, offering $17.4 billion in emergency loans in exchange for concessions from the deeply troubled carmakers and their workers.

At the same time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Congress should authorize the use of the second $350 billion from the financial rescue fund that it approved in October to rescue huge financial institutions. Tapping the fund for the auto industry basically exhausts the first half of the $700 billion total, he said.

President Bush said, "Allowing the auto companies to collapse is not a responsible course of action." Bankruptcy, he said, would deal "an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans" across the economy.

One official said $13.4 billion of the money would be available this month and next, $9.4 billion for General Motors Corp. and $4 billion for Chrysler LLC. Both companies have said they soon might be unable to pay their bills without federal help. Ford Motor Co. has said it does not need immediate help.

Bush said the rescue package demanded concessions similar to those outlined in a bailout plan that was approved by the House but rejected by the Senate a week ago. It would give the automakers three months to come up with restructuring plans to become viable companies.

If they fail to produce a plan by March 31, the automakers will be required to repay the loans, which they would find very difficult.

"The time to make hard decisions to become viable is now, or the only option will be bankruptcy," Bush said. "The automakers and unions must understand what is at stake and make hard decisions necessary to reform."

He said the companies' workers should agree to wage and work rules that are competitive with foreign automakers by the end of next year.

And he called for elimination of a "jobs bank" program — negotiated by the United Auto Workers and the companies — under which laid-off workers receive unemployment benefits and supplemental pay from their companies for 48 weeks. If they remain laid off beyond that, they move to a jobs bank in which the company provides about 95% of their pay and benefits. Until the most recent contract, people could remain in the jobs bank for years. Early this month, the UAW agreed to suspend the program.

Bush's plan is designed to keep the auto industry running in the short term, passing the longer-range problem on to the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Paulson said that with the help for the carmakers, the government will have allocated the first half of the largest government bailout program in history.

He said he was confident that the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have the resources to address a significant market crisis if one should occur before Congress approves the use of the second half of the rescue fund.

Paulson said he would discuss the process with congressional leaders and Obama's transition team "in the near future."

The White House package is the lifeline desperately sought by U.S. automakers, who warned they were running out of money as the economy fell deeper into recession, car loans became scarce and consumers stopped shopping for cars.

The carmakers have announced extended holiday shutdowns. Chrysler is closing all 30 of its North American manufacturing plants for four weeks because of slumping sales; Ford will shut 10 North American assembly plants for an extra week in January, and General Motors will temporarily close 20 factories — many for the entire month of January — to cut vehicle production.

Bush said the auto manufactures have faced serious challenges for many years: burdensome costs, a shrinking share of the market and plunging profits. "In recent months, the global financial crisis has made these challenges even more severe," he said.

The president said that on the one hand, the government has a responsibility not to undermine the private enterprise system, yet on the other hand, it must safeguard the broader health and stability of the U.S. economy.

"If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy and liquidation for the automakers," he said.

"Under ordinary economic circumstances, I would say this is the price that failed companies must pay," the president said. "And I would not favor intervening to prevent the automakers from going out of business. But these are not ordinary circumstances.

"In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action."

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli thanked the administration for its help.

In a statement Friday morning, Nardelli said the initial injection of capital will help the company get through its cash crisis and help eventually return to profitability. He said Chrysler was committed to meeting the conditions set by Bush in exchange for the money.

Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally said his company would not seek the short-term financial assistance but predicted the aid would stabilize the industry.

"The U.S. auto industry is highly interdependent, and a failure of one of our competitors would have a ripple effect that could jeopardize millions of jobs and further damage the already weakened U.S. economy," Mulally said.

General Motors said the short-term loans would help preserve jobs and "lead to a leaner, stronger General Motors."

"We know we have much work in front of us to accomplish our plan. It is our intention to continue to be transparent as we execute our plan, and we will provide regular updates on our progress," the automaker said.

Bush considering "orderly" auto bankruptcy, Ford and GM

2008-12-18T14:56:00.001-08:00

What an Idiot. No wonder all the stocks plummeted right after he talks.

By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is looking at "orderly" bankruptcy as a possible way to deal with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry, the White House said Thursday as carmakers readied more plant closings and a half million new jobless claims underscored the deteriorating national economy.

With General Motors, Chrysler and the rest of Detroit anxiously awaiting a White House decision on billions of dollars in emergency federal loans, press secretary Dana Perino said it wasn't simply a choice between government rescue and the disastrous collapse of a major industry.

"There's an orderly way to do bankruptcies that provides for more of a soft landing," she said. "I think that's what we would be talking about."

President George W. Bush, asked about an auto bailout, said he hadn't decided what he would do but didn't want to leave a mess for Barack Obama who takes office a month from Saturday. A White House decision on helping the troubled automakers could come as early as Friday.

Bush, like Perino, spoke of the idea of bankruptcies orchestrated by the federal government as a possible way to go — without committing to it.

"Under normal circumstances, no question bankruptcy court is the best way to work through credit and debt and restructuring," he said during a speech and question-and-answer session at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank. "These aren't normal circumstances. That's the problem."

Perino emphasized there were still several possible approaches to assisting the automakers, including short-term loans from the Treasury Department's $700 billion Wall Street bailout program.

The Big Three automakers said anew that bankruptcy wasn't the answer, as did an official of the United Auto Workers who called the idea unworkable and even dangerous. GM said a report that it and Chrysler had restarted talks to combine was untrue.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Capitol Hill that grim new unemployment data heightened the urgency for the administration "to prevent the imminent insolvency of the domestic auto industry."

The California Democrat said Bush has the legal authority to act now, and should attach the accountability standards that were included in a $14 billion House-passed and Bush-supported carmaker bailout that died in the Senate last week. That plan would have given the government, through a Bush-appointed "car czar," veto power over major business decisions at any auto company that received federal loans.

Pelosi spoke after the government announced that initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 554,000 last week.

The comments in Washington came a day after Chrysler LLC announced it was closing all its North American manufacturing plants for at least a month as it, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. await word on government action. General Motors also has been closing plants, and it and Chrysler have said they might not have enough money to pay their bills in a matter of weeks.

Separately, there were worries that GMAC LLC, which provides financing for GM vehicle and dealer loans along with home mortgages, could be forced to file for bankruptcy itself. GMAC was having trouble finding adequate support from its bondholders for a debt transaction that would allow it to become a bank holding company and gain eligibility for the $700 billion rescue package.

Prices of GM and Ford stocks fell sharply Thursday after the remarks out of the White House. Ford, unlike General Motors and Chrysler, is not seeking billions in federal bailout loans, but a collapse of the other two could hurt Ford as well.

Alan Reuther, the United Auto Workers' legislative director, said the union urged the administration during a meeting this week to follow the provisions included in the House-passed auto aid bill.

Congressional aides in both parties who have been closely following the discussions suggested the talk of bankruptcy could be a tactic to extract more hefty concessions from the companies and union in exchange for granting short-term loans from Treasury's financial industry rescue fund.

Perino said one factor preventing an announcement of action by the administration is that discussions continue with the various sides that would have to sign on to a managed bankruptcy — entities such as labor and equity holders in addition to the companies themselves.

A senior administration official said the talks between Bush officials and the Big Three and their stakeholders amount to information-gathering, not negotiating.

The White House has repeatedly emphasized its opposition to "disorderly bankruptcy" — presumably a Chapter 7 filing that would effectively shut down a company and require liquidation of assets. That has left on the table the possibility of forcing one or more automakers into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows a firm to keep operating while under a court's purview.

Harlan Platt, who teaches corporate turnarounds at Northeastern University in Boston, said the government may be waiting for an offer of an ownership stake in the companies, much as it received in return for capital plowed into banks. "You really have to ask the question: If this is good enough for Wall Street, why isn't it good enough for Detroit?" he said.

On Thursday, spokesmen for Chrysler, GM and Ford generally referred to their previous comments that bankruptcy was not a workable solution. The car companies argue that no one would buy a vehicle from a bankrupt company for fear that the company might not be around to honor warranties.

"We continue to work with the administration to find a solution to this liquidity crisis," said GM spokesman Tony Cervone.

Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan noted previous statements against bankruptcy by CEO Robert Nardelli. Financing for even a prepackaged bankruptcy would be difficult to get in the current tight credit market, Chrysler has said.

The National Automobile Dealers Association also spoke out against bankruptcy for car companies "in any way shape or form, orderly or disorderly, prepackaged or unpackaged, managed or unmanaged," said spokesman Bailey Wood.

Bush said the auto industry is "obviously very fragile" and he is worried about what an out-and-out collapse without Washington involvement "would do to the psychology" of the markets.

"There still is a lot of uncertainty," he said.

At the same time, the president said anew that he is worried about "putting good money after bad," meaning taxpayer dollars shouldn't be used to prop up companies that can't survive the long term.

He revealed one other consideration — that Obama will become president in just over a month.

"I thought about what it would be like for me to become president during this period. I believe that good policy is not to dump him a major catastrophe on his first day in office," Bush said.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Ken Thomas in Washington, Tom Krisher in Detroit and Bree Fowler in New York contributed to this story.

Baltimore native Gensler is Obama pick for commodities board

2008-12-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

I think it is very peculiar that everyone who is getting chosen for these spots, not just the positions for Obama, but for all the presidents have always made their money in the same banks. Goldman Sachs is where our current treasury secretary worked as well. And that man is a crook. Now all of them are crooks I understand that. But why do we as American people have to accept that? Sure it is one of those things where I will do it if you do it first thing. And that's what these corrupt politicians are counting on.

President-elect Barack Obama has selected Baltimore native Gary Gensler to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Gensler, 51, served as a top treasury official in the Clinton administration, and was and adviser to former Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes.

He is also former treasurer of the state Democratic Party, and once ran for chairman. During the primaries, he was bundler for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A graduate of Pikesville Senior High School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Gensler made millions at Goldman Sachs during the 1990s before becoming heavily involved in politics.

Dem official: Obama names Mary Schapiro to head SEC

2008-12-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this will be a good decision. Schapiro is going to have one of hardest jobs in the country, to try and bring America out of this recession that is quickly headed towards a depression.

A Democratic official says President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, turning to a veteran of the agency to try to revitalize it.

Schapiro is currently the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the largest non-governmental regulator for securities firms doing business with the public. Before that, she served as chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and six years as a member of the SEC.

The SEC has been criticized in recent months for failing to detect signs that major Wall Street banks were in trouble. The financial losses suffered by lending institutions have played a significant role in the current economic crisis.

SEC to Probe Relationship Between Madoff’s Niece Shana Madoff and Ex-SEC Lawyer

2008-12-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

You have to know she was in on it. There is no way she couldn't be. You wave that much money in her face and she doesn't turn him in. Then you know she is in on it. No question what so ever. I just can't believe it took this long to be able to get him. Plus I can't imagine why they would let this guy out on bail. I guess it is just the good ol boys network, but since everything is crumbling right now then they have to find a fall guy. They are all crooks. Madoff did Make off with a butt load of money though.

Posted by Dan Slater

I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them.
– Christopher Cox, SEC Chairman, referring to the Commission’s failure to investigate Bernard Madoff

The SEC’s review of its own oversight (or lack thereof) of Bernie Madoff’s securities-trading and investment-management firm will cast a spotlight on two lawyers who apparently began dating in 2006, fell in love and married last year.

Bernie Madoff’s niece, Shana Madoff (the daughter of Bernie’s brother, Peter) went to University of Michigan and then to Fordham law school in the early 90’s. After law school, she joined her father, Peter — also a Fordham law grad as well as the senior managing director of the Madoff firm — and her uncle. Shana became the in-house counsel of the firm her uncle founded. And shortly thereafter, in 1997, Shana, then 26, married Scott Ira Skoller (not a lawyer, far as we know) who at the time was the sales manager at Tyrone, a men’s clothing store in Roslyn, N.Y.

But Shana (pictured) and Scott didn’t last, it seems. And in 2006, she met Eric Swanson (U. of Minnesota, Hamline law), who worked at the SEC for 10 years, including as a senior inspections and examination official, before leaving in 2006. Among Swanson’s duties, reports the WSJ, was supervising the SEC’s inspection program in charge of trading oversight at stock exchanges and electronic-trading platforms. (The WSJ cites a press release from Bats Trading Inc., an electronic stock exchange that hired Swanson as general counsel earlier this year.)

SEC Chairman Cox said the commission will investigate “all staff contact and relationships with the Madoff family and firm, and their impact, if any, on decisions by staff regarding the firm.” Neither Shana nor Eric is named in the SEC statement as a target of the probe. Yet, David Kotz, the SEC’s inspector general who’s leading the probe, told the Journal that he intends to examine the relationship between Shana and Eric.

So did Eric Swanson’s relationship with Shana Madoff affect the SEC’s investigation of the Madoff firm? Who knows? But a spokesman for Swanson told the New York Times that Swanson’s “romantic relationship with his wife began years after the compliance team he helped supervise made an inquiry about Bernard Madoff’s securities operations.” And Randy Williams, a spokesman for Swanson’s current employer, BATS Exchange, said that Swanson had not participated in any inquiry into the Madoff firm or its affiliates while he was involved in a relationship with Shana.

Fed cuts target for key rate to record low

2008-12-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

And it has started to fall even further. I wouldn't have thought that the feds would have done this yet. They are pulling out all the stops, but the only problem is. Is that there isn't many stops left to pull out. You can only throw so much money at it before the paper is worthless. We will see what this latest Fed Cut will do.

Fed cuts target for key interest rate to record low, pledges to use all available tools.

The Federal Reserve has cut its target for a key interest rate to the lowest level on record and pledged to use "all available tools" to combat a severe financial crisis and prolonged recession.

The central bank on Tuesday said it had reduced the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, to a range of zero to 0.25 percent. That is down from the 1 percent target rate in effect since the last meeting in October. Many analysts had expected the Fed to make a smaller cut to 0.5 percent.

The Fed's aggressive move was greeted enthusiastically by Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 350 points in late-afternoon trading.

The Fed's action and statement made clear that economic conditions have worsened since its last meeting in October.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues said they will use unconventional methods to try to contain a financial crisis that is the worst since the 1930s and a recession that is already the longest in a quarter-century. For example, the Fed last month said it planned to purchase up to $600 billion in direct debt and mortgage-backed securities issued by big financial players including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an effort to boost the availability of mortgage loans.

That move was one of a series the central bank has taken to increase its loans by hundreds of billions of dollars as a way to deal with the worst financial crisis to hit the country in more than 70 years.

The Fed on Tuesday also made clear that it intends to keep the funds rate at extremely low levels.

"The committee anticipates that weak economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for some time," the central bank's panel that sets interest rates said in a statement.

Even before the announcement of a lower target, the funds rate has been trading well below the old target of 1 percent. For November, the funds rate had averaged 0.39 percent. Analysts said it was likely to fall further with the Fed setting the new target as low as zero.

The Fed's decision was matched by a reduction in the prime lending rate, the benchmark rate for millions of business and consumer loans. Banking giant Wells Fargo and Co. said it was cutting its prime rate to 3.25 percent, down from 4 percent before the Fed action. Other banks are expected to quickly match Wells Fargo's move.

The Fed has never pushed its target for the federal funds rate as low as zero to 0.25 percent. The lowest target rate before had been 1 percent, a level seen only once before in the past half-century.

Given how low interest rates are, the central bank said it planned to use a variety of unconventional methods to flood the banking system with credit and drive interest rates lower.

"The Federal Reserve will employ all available tools to promote the resumption of sustainable economic growth and to preserve price stability," the Fed said.

The announcement on the deployment of unconventional methods had been expected given that Bernanke and other Fed officials have sought in recent comments to let financial markets know that the central bank will not be out of ammunition to battle the economic downturn even with the funds rate at such low levels.

In its statement Tuesday, the Fed said that since its last meeting in late October, "labor market conditions have deteriorated, and the available data indicate that consumer spending, business investment and industrial production have declined. Financial markets remain quite strained and credit conditions tight."

The central bank acknowledged that it had room to battle the economic weakness because inflation pressures have "diminished appreciably" as the price of energy and other commodities has fallen sharply.

The Fed action came only hours after the government announced that consumer prices dropped by a record amount of 1.7 percent in November, reflecting a record decline in the price of gasoline and other energy products.

Carl J Shapiro, the man who lost a fortune with Bernard Madoff

2008-12-16T06:24:00.000-08:00

This really sucks more for some people more than others. Carl Shapiro is one of those people who have really been hit hard the the fraud of Bernard Madoff. My question about Madoff though is why is he not in jail right now? What is really bad for Shapiro though is that he is not exactly a spring chicken anymore. He can't go out and find work at his age. Plus the money that he worked long and hard for is gone because he trusted someone he shouldn't have. We all have made that mistake, but it will hit Shapiro in the pocketbook at the worst time possible.

Jenny Booth

The individual who seems to have lost most in the collapse of Bernard Madoff's $50 billion fraudulent financial empire is a 95-year-old Boston philanthropist, Carl Shapiro.

Mr Shapiro has been a personal friend of Mr Madoff for more than 50 years, and had entrusted much of his fortune and nearly half of the assets of his charitable foundation to the shamed New York investor. More than half a billion dollars is missing, according to a family spokesman.

The revelation that the money has disappeared into what Mr Madoff has described as a "giant Ponzi (pyramid selling) scheme" is a personal betrayal for Mr Shapiro, who was so close to the financier that he has frequently been described as one of his "go-to" men, credited with setting up meetings with other potential Madoff investors in the blue-blooded golf clubs in New York and Florida to which both men belonged.

Introductions were said to have been made in the hallowed and exclusive premises of the $250,000-a-year Palm Beach Country Club in Florida, the venerable Old Oaks golf club in wealthy Westchester County, New York, in the Atlantic golf club in the Hamptons, and at the Boca Rio golf club in Boca Raton, Florida, an area filled with immensely rich retired people.

Such was former Nasdaq chairman Mr Madoff's reputation as a safe pair of hands with other people's fortunes, would-be investors were said to spend years trying to get onto the client list of Bernard L Madoff Securities, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on membership fees for the clubs he frequented just for the chance of meeting him.

The minimum starting investment was a million dollars, and Mr Madoff's mystique only grew because he turned down many of the people so eager to invest with him.

There is no suggestion that Mr Shapiro had any inkling of the alleged financial irregularities that Mr Madoff admitted to his two sons last week, leading to his arrest on fraud charges last Thursday. According to the Boston Globe, the Carl & Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation has lost about $145 million.

Carey O'Donnell, a spokeswoman for the Shapiros, has told the Wall St Journal that the couple had at least an additional $400 million of their personal fortune invested with Mr Madoff. Analysts say that it could represent up to half their wealth.

"All I can say is that this is an awful, awful time for us," Ruth Shapiro told a reporter from The New York Times over the weekend.

Mr Shapiro made his fortune making women's clothes under the brand Kay Windsor Inc, which he set up in 1939. When he sold the business to Vanity Fair Corp in 1971 it was one of the largest clothing manufacturers in America. Introduced to Mr Madoff by Robert Jaffe, his son-in-law, Mr Shapiro was among the original investors in Mr Madoff's company when it launched in 1960.

Mr Shapiro and his wife set up their charitable foundation the following year, in 1961, and over the decades have been big donors to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Brandeis University in Boston which Mr Madoff also supported through his own charitable foundation, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Brigham and Women's Hospital where the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center opened this spring.

Building work is due to start next week at Boston Medical Center on the Shapiro Ambulatory Care Center, a nine-floor, $135 million facility paid for in part with $15 million from the family foundation, according to the New York Times.

In March, the foundation pledged $27 million to DanaFarber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center in Boston. Brandeis has received $22 million from the Shapiros to build the campus centre building.

Last night Mr Shapiro issued a statement stressing his own innocence of the fraud, saying that he had been "stunned and saddened to learn about the allegations" against his old friend. He pointed out that his fortune had taken a personal hit, saying that the crash would have "an impact on our family as well as our family foundation", though he did not say how much he had lost.

He went on: "Though I have had a personal relationship with Mr Madoff for more than 50 years, any decisions I or my family foundation made to invest with him were based on his apparent business acumen, sense of integrity and commitment to sound investing principles."

Mr Shapiro also moved to distance himself from Mr Madoff's business affairs, insisting: "I want to be abundantly clear that at no time did I ever formally introduce individuals as potential investors with Mr Madoff. In fact, we agreed when our friendship began that I would not introduce him to potential clients. I wanted to avoid putting him in the awkward position of saying 'no' to a friend of mine."

He added that his charitable trust would survive and honour all of its existing commitments. "My family and I are firmly committed to the ideals and mission of this foundation and fully expect that it will continue to grow over time."

By contrast, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, which financed trips for Jewish youth to Israel, said last night that all the money that supported its programmes was invested with Mr Madoff.

"The money needed to fund the programmes of the Lappin Foundation is gone," the Salem, Massachusetts-based foundation said on its website, adding that all its seven staff had been let go.

A hedge fund group owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., of Springfield, was today reported to have lost all of its clients' money - more than $3 billion - in the Madoff crash.

Other losers include film director Steven Spielberg 's charity, the Wunderkinder Foundation; Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets baseball team; Mortimer Zuckerman, a 70-year-old real estate magnate who also owns the American tabloid newspaper the New York Daily News and is number 188 on the Forbes rich list, with an estimate wealth of $2.4bn; and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, a charity founded by the Holocaust survivor and writer after he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.

"It is devastating to think that so many charities, individuals, and institutions that had put their trust in Mr Madoff have had their lives so negatively impacted," said Mr Shapiro.

Ponzi, Ascot Fund, and Bernie Madoff

2008-12-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

This is a little above my head in all honesty. I mean I understand what is happening, what Madoff did, and why he did it. Money. I just don;t understand how people would not watch their money to see what was going on with it.

Greg Newton

Chicago derivatives consultant Janet Tavakoli once again valiantly suppresses the urge to bite her tongue:

The Wall Street Journal missed a golden opportunity (“Top Broker Accused of $50 Billion Fraud,” December 12, 2008). It wrote that if Madoff’s alleged losses exceeded $50 billion, it would “dwarf past Ponzi schemes.” Yet, Madoff is a piker.
The largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the capital markets is the relationship between failed mortgage lenders and investment banks that securitized the risky overpriced loans and sold these packages to other investors — a Ponzi scheme by every definition applied to Madoff. These and other related deeds led to the largest global credit meltdown in the history of the world...

Schadenfreudically speaking, one of the larger “victims” of Madoff’s plundering is, according to various news reports, J. Ezra Merkin. His Gabriel Capital Group’s Ascot Partners hedge fund had “substantially all” of its $1.5 billion or thereabouts riding on Madoff, resulting in “major losses” for Merkin “as one of the largest investors” in Ascot, according to his tear-stained investor letter.

Among Merkin’s hobbies (so far): chairman of GMAC LLC, the all-but-bankrupt Cerberus-GM finance subsidiary currently, and to date unsuccessfully, grovelling for bank holding company status that would allow it to gorge at the taxpayer-financed troughs so freely offered mostly to institutions whose failure would inconvenience Goldman Sachs (GS). GMAC, of course, ranks high in the, admittedly long, list of nominees for Ground Zero of “the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the capital markets.”

Madoff Deserves Lots of Company
by Janet Tavakoli
Tavakoli Structured Finance Dec. 13 2008

For Madoff investors, big* returns trumped concerns
AP via Chicago Sun-Times Dec. 12 2008

* At the risk of being even more of a pain in the ass than usual, NakedShorts would like to point out to the grown-up meejuh in general, and specifically its headline writers, that “big” returns were not the point. The con credibility factor was the — cough — incredibly consistent, non-volatile, returns.

Fund Fraud Hits Big Names
by Robert Frank, Peter Lattman, Dionne Searcey and Aaron Lucchetti
The Wall Street Journal Dec. 13 2008

Office Depot to Close 112 Stores

2008-12-12T09:12:00.001-08:00

It is a dark day when one of the biggest Office shops have to start closing their stores. Office Depot which is one of the 2 biggest Office Retailers in the country seems to be shrinking more and more everyday. As Office Depot closes more of it's stores Staples looks to take advantage of it.

I wonder what this is going to do to their stock?

Office Depot Inc. will close five of its seven stores in Massachusetts as part of a larger strategic review that will result in the closing of 112 underperforming stores in North America over the next three months.

Office Depot is an office supplies retailer with headquarters in Florida and a rival of Staples Inc. of Framingham.

When the store closings are completed, the chain will have 1,163 stores in North America, said Office Depot, which added that 40 of the store closings will be in the Northeast and Canada.

Madoff arrested in alleged Ponzi scheme

2008-12-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

It is people like Madoff why the country is in the shape that it is in right now. Instead of following the rules and doing what is right. They become corrupt and will do anything to make a quick buck. Sure he is not single handedly the reason are economy is in the shape it is in, but what I am saying is he is not the only one corupt in the system. Most of them are probably.

By Alistair Barr & Ronald D. Orol
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bernard Madoff, former Nasdaq Stock Market chairman and founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was arrested and charged with securities fraud Thursday in what federal prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme that could involve losses of more than $50 billion.

Madoff, 70, of New York, was charged with one count of securities fraud, according to a statement from the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in federal court in Manhattan seeking an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm run by Madoff.

"We are alleging a massive fraud, both in terms of scope and duration," said SEC Enforcement Bureau director Linda Thomsen in a statement. "We are moving quickly and decisively to stop the fraud and protect remaining assets for investors, and we are working closely with the criminal authorities to hold Mr. Madoff accountable."

Madoff did not enter a plea or make any comment during a court hearing Thursday evening, according to The Wall Street Journal. He was expected to be released after agreeing to post a $10 million bond secured by his Manhattan apartment.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 12.

"Bernard Madoff is a longstanding leader in the financial services industry with an unblemished record," Dan Horwitz, a lawyer for Madoff, told the Journal. "He is a person of integrity. He intends to fight to get through this unfortunate event."

Madoff's firm is known as securities broker dealer, but he also runs a separate investment advisory business which had more than $17 billion in assets under management, federal authorities said, citing two unidentified employees and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Madoff counted several large hedge fund investment firms as clients, along with some European banks, so if his firm has lost more than $50 billion, the impact could be widespread.

On Wednesday, Madoff told two senior employees that he was "finished," that he had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie," and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," federal prosecutors said in their statement.

According to a criminal complaint filed on Thursday and cited by the Journal, Madoff "deceived investors by operating a securities business in which he traded and lost investor money, and then paid certain investors purported returns on investment with the principal received from other, different investors, which resulted in losses of approximately billions of dollars."

Madoff also said his business was insolvent, and that it had been for years, estimating losses to be at least $50 billion, prosecutors alleged, again citing the two unidentified employees.

According to the complaint, Madoff told one of his senior employees that clients were seeking about $7 billion in redemptions and that "he was struggling to obtain the liquidity necessary to meet those obligations." The employees believed the firm had about $17 billion under management.

Earlier this week, Madoff also allegedly told an employee that he wanted to pay bonuses to employees this month-- earlier than usual. Later, two employees who met with Madoff at his apartment were told that the business was a giant Ponzi scheme, which they took to mean that Madoff "for years been paying returns to investors out of principal received from other, different investors." Madoff allegedly told those employees that the firm was insolvent, according to the complaint.

Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
Ronald D. Orol is a MarketWatch reporter, based in Washington.

Ulta Salon posts 3Q profit growth of 19.3 percent

2008-12-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

Wow this is actually suprising to me that Ulta would have profit growth in this economic climate. But then again it is surprising that anyone would have growth in this climate. Hopefully they can continue to grow and not have to lay off anybody, and hopefully create more Jobs.

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. said Thursday its fiscal third-quarter profit grew nearly 19.3 percent as sales rose about 22.4 percent.

But the company said it was reducing its outlook for the fiscal year amid the volatile economy.

The company said it earned $5 million, or 9 cents a share, in the three-month period through October. That was up from earnings of $4.2 million, or 5 cents a share, in the same period last year.

Revenue rose to $254.8 million from $208.2 million last year.

The earnings met the expectations of analysts who had predicted the company would earn 9 cents a share on revenue of $258.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

Ulta said same-store sales in the quarter rose 2 percent, slower than the 6.7 percent growth rate from last year. Same-store sales are a key metric for retailers because they measure growth at existing stores.

Lyn Kirby, Ulta's president and chief executive, said the company's third quarter shows the strong fundamentals of its business. She said the company is confident in its strategies and financial position in the current economic slump.

She said Ulta is pleased with the start to the holiday spending season, and if the pace is kept up, the company will deliver fourth-quarter comparable sales in line with the third quarter.

But she said given the volatility in the economy the company was reducing its full-year outlook and offered initial fourth-quarter guidance to give potential outcomes to investors.

Ulta operates 304 retail stores in 35 states.

Ulta's shares rose 61 cents, or 8.7 percent, to close at $7.60 on Thursday.

U.S. Stocks Retreat on Profit Outlook; FedEx Shares Tumble

2008-12-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

I was going to buy some of Ford's Preferred Stock, but it never got low enough for me. It was low don't get me wrong, but it just wasn't in my price range. I went with Sirius instead.

By Whitney Kisling

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks slid, halting a two-day advance, after companies from FedEx Corp. to Danaher Corp. forecast earnings that disappointed investors as the deepening recession crimps sales.

FedEx tumbled 14 percent, its steepest loss in 21 years, after the second-biggest U.S. package-shipping company projected profit below analysts’ estimates amid a “significantly weaker” economy. Danaher, maker of Craftsman tools, slid 4.2 percent. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. dropped almost 7 percent as yields on three-month Treasuries turned negative for the first time, signaling increasing stress in credit markets.

“Investors have been schizophrenic here for a couple months, and I don’t see any change in that,” said Henry Herrmann, chief executive officer of Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. in Overland Park, Kansas, which manages about $50 billion. “We still have very thin trading, and there’s a lot of nervousness.”

The S&P 500 lost 2.3 percent to 888.67, extending declines late in the day as a drop in oil snuffed out gains in energy shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 242.85 points, or 2.7 percent, to 8,691.33 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.6 percent to 1,547.34. About three stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

Rebound from 11-Year Low

All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 retreated a day after the benchmark gauge of U.S. equities extended its gain from an 11-year low last month to 21 percent. About 1.4 billion shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE, 12 percent less than the three-month daily average.

The S&P 500 yesterday marked a technical end to the 14- month bear market as President-elect Barack Obama pledged the biggest public-works spending package since the 1950s. The index has fallen 43 percent from its 2007 record as the collapse of the subprime mortgage market curbed earnings for five straight quarters.

European shares rose for a second day and Asian stocks climbed for a third on expectations stimulus plans from the U.S. to India will buoy the global economy. PPR SA, owner of the Gucci luxury-goods brand, and Daimler AG, the world’s second- largest maker of luxury cars, jumped more than 4 percent, while Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd. climbed 4.5 percent.

Stocks will climb in 2009 in the face of falling earnings and a slowdown in economic growth because of cheap valuations, according to strategists at Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. The S&P 500 may rise to 1,050 by the end of 2009 from yesterday’s close, a team of Credit Suisse strategists wrote in a note today. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s chief investment strategist David Kostin projected a 21 percent gain by the end of next year as the economy stabilizes.

FedEx, Con-Way

FedEx fell $10.78 to $63.65 after saying annual profit may be as much as one-third lower than analysts expected. Larger rival United Parcel Service Inc. fell $4.11 to $54.51, the most since Oct. 22.

FedEx dragged industrial companies in the S&P 500 down 3.3 percent collectively. Union Pacific Corp. slid 7.4 percent to $46.90 after Merrill Lynch & Co. cut the railroad operator’s shares to “neutral” from “buy.”

Con-way Inc., the second-biggest U.S. trucker, reduced its full-year 2008 earnings forecast to as much as 20 percent less than analysts’ average estimate as freight demand fell to 2003 levels. The company also cut 1,450 jobs. The shares slid 14 percent to $22.19, the lowest level in more than seven years.

Danaher Corp. fell 4.2 percent to $49.78. The company said fourth-quarter profit will be lower than previously forecast. Danaher will close 13 factories and cut 1,700 jobs because of the deteriorating economy.

‘The Real Economy’

“You’re going to have to get used to this for the next three months; you’re going to see lowering of guidance,” said Robert Lutts, president and chief investment officer at Cabot Money Management, which oversees $400 million in Boston. “This is the real economy.”

Kroger Co. helped lead a group of companies that sell consumer staples down 2.7 percent after saying third-quarter profit fell because of insurance costs related to Hurricane Ike. Shares of the biggest U.S. grocery chain fell 6.7 percent to $25.47. Safeway Inc., the third-largest, lost 6.7 percent to $22.04.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell 3 percent to $55.81 after the world’s largest retailer said it’s “temporarily” suspending a share repurchase program because of “instability in credit markets” and the shrinking economy.

Profit Slump

The 496 companies in the S&P 500 that reported third- quarter results saw an average 18.3 percent decline in profits, prompting analysts to cut estimates for next year. They now project profit growth of 8.2 percent for S&P 500 companies in 2009, about one-third of their forecast of 23 percent at the end of the third quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy previously owned homes in October, signaling the housing slump will extend into a fourth year. The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home resales, fell a less-than-forecast 0.7 percent to 88.9 from a revised 89.5 in September, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. Gains in the South and Northeast offset weakness in the West and Midwest.

General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker whose shares surged 21 percent yesterday, fell 4.7 percent to $4.70. Congressional Democrats sent President George W. Bush a draft proposal for a $15 billion, short-term aid package for U.S. automakers. Some Senate Republicans have expressed doubt about the plan, with one top Republican saying disputes remain over a “deeply flawed” proposal.

‘Implosion’

General Motors has lost more than half its value this quarter alone, as it pleaded for a multibillion-dollar government bailout to keep it from collapsing.

Ford Motor Co., the second-biggest U.S.-based automaker, declined 4.4 percent to $3.23.

The U.S. government may end up holding stakes in GM, Ford and Chrysler LLC if Congress and the White House reach agreement. Under the proposed rescue, details of which are still being discussed, the Treasury would get warrants for stock equivalent to 20 percent of any government loans. With GM seeking as much as $10 billion and valued at $3 billion, the government may become the biggest shareholder.

“The thing that has shaken people more than anything else is the implosion of these major household names,” said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, which manages $30 billion. “When the auto industry looked like it was on the verge of disappearance the market hit a low. That really shakes people.”

Negative Yields

S&P 500 financial companies, which have rebounded 39 percent collectively from a 13-year low on Nov. 20, dropped the most of 10 industry groups today, losing 4.9 percent.

JPMorgan fell 6.9 percent to $33.96, while Wells Fargo Co. slid 6.6 percent to $30.50.

Yields turned negative after the Treasury sold $27 billion of three-month bills yesterday at a discount rate of 0.005 percent, the lowest since it starting auctioning the securities in 1929. The U.S. also sold $30 billion of four-week bills today at zero percent for the first time since it began selling the debt in 2001.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. was cut to “sell” from “neutral” at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on “rising fundamental headwinds.” T. Rowe, the Baltimore-based money manager, slid 6.9 percent to $34.13, the first decline in six trading sessions.

SunTrust Banks Inc., Georgia’s largest lender, declined 11 percent to $30.04, while Bank of New York Mellon Corp. slid 10 percent to $27.63.

More than $31 trillion has been erased from the value of global equities this year, while debt losses and writedowns at the world’s largest lenders and insurers approach $1 trillion.

Dow Chemical to Cut 11% of Staff

2008-12-08T08:05:00.001-08:00

By BOB SECHLER

Dow Chemical Co. said Monday it will cut about 5,000 full-time jobs, or 11% of its work force, close 20 facilities and sell some businesses as the company looks to speed its restructuring and reduce costs.

Chief Executive Andrew N. Liveris couched the bulk of the moves as part of an existing strategy, although he said the actions are being accelerated "given the deterioration in the world economy and most of our markets."

The largest U.S. chemical producer by revenue also said it will temporarily shut about 180 plants, or 30% of its capacity. Dow is cutting 6,000 contractor jobs as well, which equates to about 30% of its contractors.

The company said it will take an estimated $700 million pretax charge in the fourth quarter as a result of the moves, reducing per-share earnings by between 50 cents and 60 cents. Wall Street analysts were expecting Dow to earn 42 cents a share in the fourth quarter.

The company joins a list of major manufacturers and industrial companies that have announced big job cuts recently amid slumping demand.

Last week, 3M Co. announced it is cutting 1,800 jobs, or about 2.4% of its work force, while DuPont Co. said it will cut 2,500 jobs, or about 4% of its staff.

Under Dow's plan, the restructured company will comprise three operating models: a joint ventures and asset-light business, a performance-products unit, and a unit for health and agriculture, advanced materials and other products. Dow said it would provide specific details on the businesses early next year.

Mr. Liveris stressed on a conference call with analysts Monday that he is committed to maintaining the company's stock dividend.

Dow's latest moves follow on its announcement in October that it would cut capital spending by $100 million and discretionary spending by $100 million to $150 million by year-end to deal with the challenging economy.

The Midland, Mich., company is in the process of closing its acquisition of specialty-chemicals maker Rohm & Haas Co., a move Dow expects will widen its margins and make its earnings steadier. Dow's annual profits have been falling steadily after a big jump in 2005.

Mr. Liveris reiterated Monday that he expects the Rohm & Haas deal to close as planned, although he indicated the company is looking at the financial parameters of it in light of the poor economy and declining markets.

Dow also recently agreed on a joint venture with Kuwait Petroleum Corp. that will make numerous base chemicals that have lower margins and have become less of a focus for chemical makers as they pursue higher-margin products. Dow will be receiving $500 million less than what was first agreed to when the effort was unveiled a year ago.

—Kerry E. Grace contributed to this article.

Breaking News: Christie Hefner Out As Playboy Chairman, Will Leave CEO And Board Posts As Well

2008-12-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

It is about time if you ask me. Something needed to be done to try and bring this company back up. I own some stock of theirs and I don't think it is anything to write home about. Plus when I tried to purchase a back ordered magazine they wanted to charge me 10 to 15 bucks for shipping. Come on!

Staci D. Kramer

paidContent.org
Monday, December 8, 2008; 10:07 AM

Christie Hefner, CEO of Playboy Enterprises (NYSE: PLA) for the last two decades, is leaving the family business, stepping down as chairman today and as CEO Jan. 31, 2009. It looks like a complete break: she will leave the board when a new CEO is found. Effective immediately, board member Jerome Kern becomes interim non-executive chairman of the board. Release

David adds: The announcement was made a day before Hefner, whose father Hugh founded the company in 1953 and remains chief creative officer, was to address investors at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference. In a statement, the elder Hefner said: "I asked Christie to step up as president when the company faced serious financial difficulties more than two decades ago. She has worked tirelessly to expand the company's franchise, and, as a result of her efforts, the company today has more consumers and fans than at any time in our history. Of course, as her father, my first priority is Christie's happiness. While I will miss her leadership here, I believe that she will go on to achieve even greater personal success."

Even before the economy worsened considerably this fall, Playboy has been struggling financially for some time.It posted another net loss in Q3, with losses totaling $1.1 million ($0.04 per share) compared last year's $2.6 million ($0.08 per share). During the past two earnings calls, Hefner heavily omoted Playboy's website relaunch as a key part in its turnaround. The website would serve as the "glue" holding media, events, retail together. Aside from that, the Chicago-based magazine and entertainment company has cut 140 jobs this past year.

Rafat adds: From SEC filings, the details of her payout compensation if she were to leave the company:-- Termination for Cause: $2,232,159-- Termination without cause by Playboy: $ 3,180,236-- Voluntary Termination: $2,287,928-- Termination following change of control: $7,564,691The amounts also include the following severance payments: 68 weeks base salary for Ms. Hefner (pursuant to our termination policy), the SEC filing says.

Gavin MacDonald, Head of M&A for Morgan Stanley, Dies at 47

2008-12-08T06:42:00.000-08:00

This kind of thing always sucks for his family. But it is not like they are not going to be taken care of during this time of economic uncertainty like most Americans. I have a problem with most of the bankers right now like most people because they are the ones who put us in this situation. Sure us as people should of known what was going on and done something about it, but people like these guys were the ones with the purse strings.

By Chris Dolmetsch

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Gavin MacDonald, the head of Morgan Stanley’s global mergers and acquisitions department, died on Dec. 5 following a heart attack at his London office. He was 47.

MacDonald was rushed to the hospital after he was stricken at his desk in the Canary Wharf office and died Friday night, the New York Times reported. Michael Wang, a London-based spokesman for the firm, confirmed the death to Bloomberg News though he declined to comment further.

MacDonald was an “extremely decent, universally liked, funny, selfless and deeply valued man” who will be “greatly missed,” Chief Executive Officer John Mack wrote in an e-mail to employees.

Morgan Stanley’s revenue from mergers and acquisitions dropped 32 percent to $1.2 billion in the first nine months of the 2008 fiscal year, as the global credit crisis raised the cost of financing takeovers. Worldwide M&A fell about 36 percent to $2.5 trillion.

MacDonald replaced Paul Taubman as head of global mergers and acquisitions after Morgan Stanley named Taubman and Cordell Spencer to lead investment banking in July 2007. Taubman and Spencer were appointed to the positions to replace Walid Chammah, who was promoted to chief of European operations.

25 Years at Firm

MacDonald, a founding member of Morgan Stanley’s European mergers and acquisitions department, joined the firm in 1983 as a financial analyst after earning a law degree from Cambridge University.

He was named a managing director and senior banker in European mergers and acquisitions in 1997, and in 2004 was named vice chairman of investment banking, with responsibility for developing business in industries including beverages, consumer products and luxury goods.

In January 2006, MacDonald was named head of European mergers and acquisitions after Paulo Pereira resigned to join a new investment banking firm started by former colleagues.

During the 25 years he spent at Morgan Stanley, MacDonald advised clients that included a buyout group led by Bain Capital Partners LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust on the acquisition of Toys “R” Us Inc. in 2005.

Bill Gates presses Obama on stimulus package

2008-12-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

Looks like everyone is trying to get a piece of that bailout pie. I can't blame them too. I tried becoming my own bank and trying to get a billiob dollars, but they wouldn't let me. And even If I had the money I wouldn't buy Microsoft. I would pay off bills and invest some of it because I want to retire.

(CNN) -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates told CNN on Wednesday that he hopes President-elect Barack Obama and Congress immediately craft a wide-ranging stimulus package, to help jump-start the nation's sputtering economy, and double the United States' commitment to foreign aid.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke exclusively Wednesday with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"Clearly we need a stimulus that doesn't undermine the incentive for businesses to be careful about their spending and making those correct investments," Gates told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an exclusive interview airing on The Situation Room on Wednesday and Thursday.

Gates, one of the world's richest men and founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is also calling on Obama to increase investments in the nation's education system and spur technological advances to improve agriculture, prevent disease, and promote economic growth in the world's poorest nations.

"The key point I'd make is that in addition to that stimulus, you've got to fund the kind of scientific work and educational investments that could really have us be a much better country as we emerge from the recession," he said. Watch Gates discuss economy »

On his Web site, Obama has pledged to double the United States' annual investment in foreign aid to $50 billion by the end of his first term, with the goal of fully funding debt cancellation for poor nations and fighting AIDS and global poverty.

In the interview with CNN, Gates said he thinks Obama will live up to that commitment.

"Obviously it's the Congress that gets to actually vote the final decision for how the money is spent, but I do think he will get to that commitment," Gates said. "I am thrilled to be able to see that people are responding to the success stories. Aid from the United States did go up in the last eight years."

The interview came shortly before the Microsoft founder delivered a wide-ranging speech at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., during which he reiterated his call for a major new stimulus package to spur job growth.

"Spending is the only way we'll ever come out of this downturn, and with businesses, state governments and consumers pulling back, the federal government must step forward," Gates told the crowd.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has distributed more than $17 billion in grant commitments in all 50 states and 100 countries. In his interview with CNN, Gates said he had personally given more than $30 billion to the foundation.

florida unemployment - fluidnow.com

2008-12-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

Looks like more and more layoffs are going to be coming to the country before it is all said and done with. Hopefully everyone will be able to hold on to something and make it through this financial crisis right now. I am just hoping that the states don't run out of money and can't pay the unemployment to people.

Since October, a handful of businesses have either closed or announced temporary layoffs including Oceaneering, Century Boat, Circuit City, Stock Building Supply, Trane, Berg Steel Pipe and Linen n' Things.

When companies do this the workers usually head to the Workforce Center in Panama City.

Sue Senkle, Workforce Center Rep., said, "We have seen increased foot traffic here at the work force center, but we have been prepared. We quite often are told and try to get the numbers so that we can be prepared with unemployment booklets and go out to the employers and prepare people for the temporary layoffs that have occurred."

If you're having trouble finding a job, Senkle says don't get discouraged.

"We do have open positions in our area. There is currently about 140 positions on our website, and if they come here to our office, register with us, we can let them know where those openings are."

What about unemployment compensation? How do you get it? Depending on your work history, you may be eligible for $275 a week for a maximum of 39 weeks.

There are two ways you can apply. First, you can call 1-800-204-2418 and apply over the phone.

Second, you can do it online at www.fluidnow.com. That takes you to Florida's unemployment compensation page. Scroll down to "file an unemployment claim (initial claim)," click on the first link to the application, and follow the steps.

The Workforce Center is located in the Mariner Plaza on 231 in Panama City. It's open from 8 to 5, Monday through Friday.

fdic problem bank list

2008-11-25T16:42:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The government's watch list of problem banks grew staggeringly in the third quarter, according to a government report on the embattled financial sector released Tuesday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported that the number of firms on its so-called problem bank list grew to 171 during the third quarter - the highest since 1995 when there were 193 banks on the list. There were 117 banks on the list in the second quarter.

"We've had profound problems in our financial markets that are taking a rising toll on the real economy," said Sheila Bair, FDIC chairman, at a press conference. "Today's report reflects these challenges."

Though the FDIC does not reveal the names of the banks on the list, it said the total assets of these institutions rose to $115.6 billion in the third quarter from $78.3 billion in the previous three months, the first time since 1994 in which the assets of problem banks exceeded $100 billion.

Since home prices began to decline late last year, banks have faced strong headwinds as the value of their mortgage-backed securities declined sharply in value. Those assets became "toxic" holdings on their balance sheets, resulting in a lending freeze, soaring borrowing costs and large writedowns.

"Banks got caught in a vicious cycle mainly of their own developing," said Matt McCormick, analyst at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel. "The lowest common denominator turned out not to be their best client; for all their brilliance, they flunked Economics 101."

Still, just 2% of FDIC-regulated banks are now on its watch list, compared to about 10% in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the savings and loan crisis. The government identifies problem banks as institutions on the brink of failure, facing severe financing difficulties and management issues. But few banks typically reach that point - just 13% of banks on the FDIC's problem list have failed on average.

"Most banks remain well-capitalized, profitable and sound," said Bair. "We believe the overall majority of them will not fail."

Three more banks failed on Friday, bringing the total to 22 failed banks so far this year - compared to just three in 2007. Nine banks failed in the third-quarter alone, including the collapse of savings and loan Washington Mutual, the largest bank failure in history.

This was the highest number of failures in a quarter since the third quarter of 1993 but pales in comparison to the more than 1,000 banks that failed during the savings and loan crisis. Still, the failures in the third quarter forced the FDIC to draw down $10.6 billion from its deposit insurance fund.

That number could rise substantially if there are more bank failures. Beginning in October, the FDIC began insuring interest-bearing accounts up to $250,000 (the previous limit was $100,000) and has issued unlimited guarantees on non-interest-bearing accounts and newly issued unsecured bank debt as part of the government's financial rescue initiatives.
Ugly profits

Toxic assets continued to weigh on the industry's profits, which fell 90% to $1.7 billion in the quarter from $28.7 billion a year ago. That was the second-lowest quarterly net income for banks since 1990, the FDIC said. About one in five banks reported a net loss in the quarter, compared just to one in eight during the same period last year.

Much of that decline was due to loan-loss provisions, which totaled $50.5 billion in the quarter after banks set aside $50.2 billion in the previous quarter. That's more than three-times the $16.8 billion in loan-loss provisions from the fourth quarter of 2007.

"Loan performance problems are spreading to a much wider range of lenders and category of loans," said Bair. "This trend is linked to a weaker economy and uncertainty in the financial markets."

Also contributing to damaged profits were loan losses, which rose for the seventh consecutive quarter. Net charge offs, or loans banks don't think are collectable, rose to $27.9 billion in the quarter, up from $17 billion during the same period a year ago, and its highest level since 1991.

In a sign that credit remained tight, banks borrowed $162.5 billion from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending window, up 4.8% from the same period a year ago. In its so-called "discount window," the Fed offers overnight funding for commercial banks at a rate slightly higher than its targeted funds rate.

Bair said smaller community banks with assets of less than $1 billion are also beginning to feel the stress of the weak economy, even though they remain better capitalized than the industry average.

As a result, Bair said it is essential that those banks take part in the Treasury Department's capital purchase program and the FDIC's new temporary liquidity program to stay afloat.

But there were some bright spots in the report. One of the government's early liquidity programs, which provided support to money market mutual funds by funding banks' purchases of asset-backed corporate debt led to a 2.1% boost of banks assets in the quarter. And banks' net interest income rose 4.9% to $4.4 billion as borrowing costs rose.

"It's important to emphasize that banks in large part still made money in the third quarter, which was a very difficult one," said Gary Townsend, president of the Chevy Chase, Md.-based Hill-Townsend Capital. "The fourth quarter is likely to be worse, but last quarter they paid forward a lot of loan losses."

Bair said the poor credit conditions will persist for some time, as it will take a while for sentiment to improve and for the numerous government liquidity programs to take effect.

She added she will continue to work with President-elect Obama's administration beginning Jan. 20 to help stabilize the financial sector.

Circuit City Black Friday Deals

2008-11-25T16:40:00.001-08:00

No sooner had Best Buy offered up their Black Friday 2008 ad, Circuit City followed quickly with their ad deals. The Circuit City ad shows a number of great deals to be had on a number of video games; some games on certain consoles have more deals than the others.

Deals for games on the Sony PSP, PS2 and PS3 are not as extensive as on the Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii. Black Friday is an important day for Circuit City, who recently declared bankruptcy. Hopefully shoppers will be able to show that people still have money to spend in stores, and could be a great sign for the start of the holiday season.

Here I will highlight at least one great deal for each console, these include, Ice Blue DS unit with Brain Age and carrying case for $139.99, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for $4.99 for PC, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for $9.99 for PSP, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock with guitar for $54.99 for PS3. These are just a few; see more deals at Circuit City

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2008-11-25T16:35:00.001-08:00

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$20 billion Citigroup bailout,Taxpayers to rescue

2008-11-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

I wish I could of had a vote on this. But I guess I did when I voted for the crooks to go into office. Oh well just making the rich richer I guess. Anyways this is only going to grow out national debt and put the load on the taxpayers back. It will be interesting to see what Citi does with the money. See if they did what all the other bankers did with their money. Put it in their back pocket.

The federal government agreed late Sunday night to bail out Citigroup, a dramatic move that could save the troubled New York financial giant.

Taxpayers will spend $20 billion for a stake in Citigroup and will guarantee as much as $306 billion of risky loans and securities backed by commercial and residential mortgages.
RELATED: CITI FOR SALE?

The deal was unveiled just before midnight after Citigroup execs and U.S. officials spent the weekend haggling over details of the plan. It was announced jointly by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"The U.S. government is taking the actions necessary to strengthen the financial system and protect U.S. taxpayers and the U.S. economy," the three agencies said in a statement.

Stock futures rose on the news of the detail, which investors apparently believe could reverse a brutal 60% plunge in Citi's stock price last week.
RELATED: OBAMA TO PUSH FOR EXPANDED ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN

The move is aimed at shoring up the massive New York-based conglomerate, which has 200 million customers in 100 countries.

The $20 billion cash injection by the Treasury Department will come from the $700 billion financial bailout package. The capital infusion follows an earlier one - of $25 billion - in Citigroup in which the government received an ownership stake.

Taxpayers will get preferred stock that pays an 8% annual dividend, officials said.

In addition, Treasury and the FDIC will guarantee against the "possibility of unusually large losses," the deal said. The bank is one of the world's biggest owners of "collateralized debt obligations" - the so-called toxic bundles of mortgage-backed securities that are dragging down the global financial system.

As part of the deal, Citi agreed to accept limits on executive compensation and severance packages - a key concession as taxpayers worry about corporate excess.

It also agreed to implement the FDIC's program to help struggling homeowners modify their mortgages, a move the giant resisted before.

The company has $2 trillion in assets but took a bath last week when investors began dumping shares.

Last Monday, CEO Vikram Pandit announced mass layoffs and a fourth consecutive quarterly loss - for a total of more than $60 billion.

Citigroup's stock closed Friday at $3.77, down from an all-time high of $55 two years ago.

Cyber Monday 2008

2008-11-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

Just another way to try an jumpstart the economy and retail sales. And I think they will work myself. I spent 300 dollars on saturday shopping for the kids Xmas. I am have finished my holiday shopping too, so I don't think 300 bucks is bad. I saved about 75 more dollars on sales that were going on that day as well.

Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, is expected to be more promotional than ever this year because of the "challenging" holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said today.

An estimated 83.7 percent of online retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 72.2 percent last year, said the federation, a trade group for merchants, and though many consumers now have high-speed Internet connections in their homes, more than half of the people with Internet at work are expected to shop at the office, the federation said.

The term Cyber Monday was coined after online retailers noticed large numbers of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. One theory was that window-shopping at the malls over the holiday weekend put folks in a buying mood. Another theory was that several years ago, when the Internet was just going mainstream, many people preferred to take advantage of their boss's high-speed Internet connection at the office rather than attempt to shop online at home with an Internet connection that relied on a maddeningly slow dial-up modem.

The most popular promotions for Cyber Monday 2008 are "expected to be specific deals (38.8 percent), e-mail campaigns (32.7 percent), and one-day sales (24.5 percent)," the National Retail Federation said in a press release. "Additionally, nearly one-fourth of retailers (22.5 percent will offer free shipping on all purchases."

Democrats' Stimulus Plan May Reach $700 Billion

2008-11-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

I found this article and thought I would post about it. Plus it had austan goolsbee in it and since that is one of the main topics in google trends this morning I thought I would post about Goolsbee as well. I think a new stimulus check would two one of two things. Help things or make them worse. Duh lol. I am not going to turn down free money, but then it might de value our currency to wear it is worth nothing.

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 24, 2008; Page A01

Facing an increasingly ominous economic outlook, President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats are rapidly ratcheting up plans for a massive fiscal stimulus program that could total as much as $700 billion over the next two years.

That amount, more than the nation has spent over the past six years in Iraq, would rival the sum Congress committed last month to rescuing the country's financial system. It would also be one of the biggest public spending programs aimed at jolting the economy since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.

Hints of a hefty new spending program began emerging last week. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D), an Obama adviser, and Harvard economist Lawrence H. Summers, whom Obama has chosen to lead his White House economic team, both raised the possibility of $700 billion in new spending. Yesterday, Obama adviser and former Clinton administration Labor secretary Robert Reich and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) also called for spending in the range of $500 billion to $700 billion.
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Transition officials would not confirm that they are considering spending of that magnitude, but they made clear that economic conditions are dire, and suggested that Obama might be forced to delay his pledge to repeal President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.

Last week, Goldman Sachs said it expects the economy to shrink even faster by the end of the year, at a 5 percent annualized rate. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 5.3 percent for the week; and the nation's largest bank, Citigroup, sought government assistance to avoid collapse.

While Obama has set a goal of creating or preserving 2.5 million jobs by 2011, his economic team -- whose members are scheduled to be formally introduced at a news conference today in Chicago -- have yet to decide how that would be accomplished or how much it would cost.

Still, Austan Goolsbee, a spokesman for Obama on economic issues who is in line to serve on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, yesterday acknowledged that Obama's jobs plan will cost substantially more than the $175 billion stimulus program he proposed during the campaign.

"This is as big of an economic crisis as we've faced in 75 years. And we've got to do something that's up to the task of confronting that," Goolsbee said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "I don't know what the exact number is, but it's going to be a big number."

Republicans quickly criticized the idea of such a vast initiative, saying Congress should instead cut taxes to spur economic growth.

"Democrats can't seem to stop trying to outbid each other -- with the taxpayers' money," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement. "We're in tough economic times. Folks are hurting. But the American people know that more Washington spending isn't the answer."

With financial markets fluctuating wildly and unemployment rising, Democrats want to push a stimulus package through Congress in January and have it ready for Obama's signature when he takes office Jan. 20. Over the weekend, the president-elect announced that he had instructed his advisers to assemble a massive jobs program that also would make a "down payment" on much of his domestic agenda.

The plan would include new funding for public-works projects to repair the nation's crumbling infrastructure, as well as a fresh infusion of cash to promote green technology and alternative-energy sources. It also would include targeted tax cuts for working families, students, the elderly and job-creating businesses that Obama touted on the campaign trail.

It may not, however, include one of Obama's central promises: to repeal Bush's tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 a year. Speaking on ABC's "This Week," David Axelrod, Obama's chief political strategist, said the president-elect is weighing whether to let the cuts for the wealthy expire on Dec. 31, 2010, as provided in current law. Such a delay would permit Obama to avoid raising taxes during a recession.

"He's committed to getting middle-class tax relief in the pipeline quickly, and there's no doubt that we're going to have to make some hard decisions in order to pay for the things we need, whether it is through repeal of those tax cuts for the very wealthiest or whether we simply allow it to -- allow those cuts to expire in 2010," Axelrod said.

The projected cost of an economic stimulus package has been rising steadily as economic conditions have worsened. Economists who were calling a few months ago for $150 billion in government spending to offset flagging demand elsewhere in the economy are now pushing for $500 billion or more. Adding tax cuts to the package is expected to increase its cost to the Treasury by as much as $200 billion, Democrats said.

Even some conservative economists have endorsed the larger numbers.
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Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, the former director of the National Bureau of Economic Research and an adviser to Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign, said he thinks the government should spend "a minimum of $300 billion a year for at least the next two years."

"The cumulative multi-year deficit would have to be about $700 billion or even more," Feldstein said in an e-mail yesterday.

Reich, speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," said the middle class is being squeezed by mountains of personal debt, plummeting home values and a vast tightening in available credit. As a result, he said, "there's not enough buying power in the economy," forcing the government to step in as "the spender of last resort."

In an interview, Schumer said the nation is on the brink of the same kind of deflationary spiral that pushed down prices, closed businesses and obliterated jobs during the Great Depression.

"The economy is in worse shape than people think," Schumer said. "The safest thing is to do anything you can to avoid deflation."

Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose aides have in recent weeks balked at suggestions that Democrats might spend as much as $300 billion, conceded yesterday on "Face the Nation" that the price of a stimulus package is likely to be "in the several hundred billion dollar category."

There are downsides to such a dramatic increase in government spending, especially at a time when the annual federal budget deficit already is spiraling toward $1 trillion -- about 7 percent of the gross domestic product -- a level not seen since the end of World War II. Increasing the deficit means increasing the national debt, which eventually will have to be repaid, with interest, to largely foreign creditors. It also means the nation will be even less prepared to cover the skyrocketing costs of Medicare and Social Security as the baby boomer generation retires.

Washington also could overshoot its target, sparking rampant inflation when the economy recovers. Or the money could be poorly directed and fail to efficiently stimulate the economy.

"The 1930s recession became the Great Depression because policymakers didn't take the necessary actions. Nobody wants to make that mistake this time around," said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute who has been advising Democrats. "Is there a possibility that we could overshoot? Of course. But from what I've seen, the danger is not doing enough."

Christina Romer to Be Chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors

2008-11-24T07:10:00.000-08:00

Well on the surface it looks like Christina Romer is a good choice for tha position. But only time will tell if she helps the economy in the long and short term.

Christina Romer, of UC Berkeley, has been appointed to Chair President Elect Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. Romer wrote, if not the book, at least the chapter for Encyclopedia Britannica, The Great Depression. News of her appointment should make liberals and women who opposed the appointment of Lawrence Summers, who many predicted (including today's Wall Street Journal) would get this job, somewhat happy, though it looks like Summers will be named White House economic director.

Professor Romer and her husband David were both advisers to the Obama campaign and they hold two seats on the committee which decides when the U.S is officially in a recession.

The Romers are macroeconomists, who study the big picture in economics. They've also studied the way tax cuts affect the economy and government spending. A UC Berkeley article reported,

What they found about both issues surprised them. Tax cuts provide powerful short-run stimulus to the economy, but there is little evidence that tax cuts restrain government spending.

"It turns out," Christina explains, "that tax cuts have led, eventually, to tax increases. Basically, something has to give. What we thought gave when you cut taxes was spending, but we seem to find that in postwar U.S. history what actually gives is the tax cut itself. A substantial fraction of a tax cut is typically undone in the subsequent five years."

The appointment may telegraph Obama's intentions regarding Fed Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. Romers wrote a paper, Choosing the Federal Reserve Chair: Lessons from History. Like Bernanke, she has a history of a connection to Princeton University, where she was an assistant professor from 1985-1988.

Romer graduated from College of William and Mary in 1981 and from M.I.T., with a Ph.D., in 1985. In 1994, she co-authored, with her husband, a paper, "What Ends Recessions?"

It's clear, Obama is appointing someone smart, with strong academic credentials. Unlike Treasury Secretary appointee Geither, who is overflowing with experience, Romer is an academic who's specialized in "getting" the big picture.

Obama Picks Tim Geithner to Head Treasury

2008-11-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

This is one of those things that is going to turn out to be really really good or really really bad move. It will surely be interesting to see what Tim Geithner's first move will be once he is active in his role to turn around the stumbling economy. After watching what the market has been doing for the past few weeks, he will surely have one of the toughest jobs in the country. But if he can turn it around he can probably be elected president after Obama has had his term.

U.S. stocks rallied and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rebounded from an 11-year low after President-elect Barack Obama picked New York Federal Reserve Bank chief Timothy Geithner to head the Treasury.

“This news could really give the stock market a badly needed shot in the arm,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, wrote in an e-mail to clients. Geithner is a “fantastic choice to help lead the financial markets out of the wilderness.”

Citigroup Inc. pared a 35 percent slide and JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed a 16 percent tumble in the final hour as a Democratic aide said Obama will name Geithner to replace Henry Paulson. National-Oilwell Varco Inc. and Chesapeake Energy jumped more than 20 percent as oil rose for the first time in six days. The rally came after this week’s rout dragged the S&P 500’s price-to-earnings valuation to the cheapest since 1995.

The S&P 500, which capped a third-straight weekly decline, surged 6.3 percent to 800.03. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 494.13 points, or 6.5 percent, to 8,046.42, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 5.2 percent to 1,384.35. Almost five stocks gained for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Benchmark indexes swung between gains and losses earlier as growing concern over the survival of Citigroup, the second- largest U.S. bank by assets, offset a rally in commodities producers. Some 2.4 billion shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE in the busiest trading session since Oct. 10. Citigroup accounted for about 11 percent of all trading volume of NYSE- listed stocks.

2008 Slump

The S&P 500 extended its 2008 slide to 49 percent yesterday and was poised for the worst annual decline in its 80-year history after economic reports depicted a deepening recession and lawmakers postponed a vote on a plan to salvage the auto industry. Citigroup, which has about $2 trillion of assets, has fallen for nine of the last 10 days on concern more companies and consumers will default as the economy worsens.

The benchmark index for U.S. equities trimmed its yearly loss to less than 46 percent today, which would still make 2008 the worst year since 1931. The S&P 500 tumbled 8.4 percent this week. The Dow average declined 5.3 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 8.7 percent.

Chesapeake, a producer of oil and natural gas, jumped $2.99 to $16.97. National-Oilwell, which makes crude production equipment, added $3.66 to $21.52.

Energy Rally

Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. oil company, climbed $7.30, or 11 percent, to $75.81. Crude oil rose as OPEC members cut production and governments stepped up efforts to revive economic growth. Gasoline futures climbed for the first time this week as U.S. buyers took advantage of low prices and a weaker U.S. dollar increased the lure of dollar-denominated commodities. Oil for January delivery rose 46 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $49.88 a barrel.

S&P 500 energy companies rose 12 percent collectively for the top gain among the index’s 10 main industries. The advance came after the group’s valuation slid to 5.6 times reported earnings, the cheapest since Bloomberg began tracking the data.

Citigroup pared declines, falling 94 cents to $3.77 after sinking as low as $3.05, and the S&P 500 Financials Index erased a 7.5 percent tumble to climb 3.4 percent on word of Obama’s pick for Treasury secretary.

Geithner has helped lead U.S. efforts to combat the deepest financial crisis in seven decades, helping oversee the decisions this year to intervene in American International Group Inc., rescue Bear Stearns Cos. and leave Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to fail.

‘Fresh Face’

“The market is relieved that it’s Geithner,” said Tim Hartzell, managing director and chief investment office at Sequent Asset Management in Houston. “It’s important to have a fresh face come in who has also been in the mix and has been at the pinnacle of everything that has been going on.”

Citigroup’s earlier slide came as Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said he won’t break up the company after the stock market rout erased more than 80 percent of its value this year. Pandit and Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden, speaking on a worldwide conference call, also said they don’t expect to sell the Smith Barney brokerage unit, according to two people who listened to the call and declined to be identified because it wasn’t open to the public.

Citigroup will probably get rescued by the U.S. government after a crisis in confidence erased half its stock-market value in three days, investors and analysts said. The stock climbed 6.1 percent to $4 in trading after the close of U.S. exchanges.

JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by market value, pared a drop of $3.69 to close down 66 cents at $22.72.

Gap Surges

Gap Inc. rallied $2.59, or 27 percent, to $12.10. The largest U.S. clothing retailer said third-quarter profit climbed 3.4 percent as the company reduced markdowns of sweaters, jeans and khaki pants. The owner of the Old Navy and Banana Republic chains reiterated its forecast for profit of $1.30 to $1.35 a share for the year ending Jan. 31.

Sprint Nextel Corp. climbed 25 percent to $1.71 and earlier soared 36 percent, the most since at least 1980. Barry West, chief technology officer of the third-largest U.S. mobile phone company, bought 50,000 Sprint shares, marking the biggest investment at the company in the past five years, Barron’s reported.

Microsoft Corp. jumped $2.15, or 12 percent, to $19.68 after Oppenheimer & Co. raised the world’s largest software maker to “outperform” and said the stock has fallen too far. The shares trimmed their yearly decline to 45 percent.

Alcoa Jumps

Alcoa Inc., the biggest U.S. aluminum producer, surged 23 percent, the most since at least 1980, to $8.44. Newmont Mining Corp. jumped 25 percent to $28.79. Copper and aluminum rebounded from three-year lows on speculation mine shutdowns will help erode supply surpluses caused by reduced demand.

All 10 industries in the S&P 500 advanced at least 3.3 percent and 28 of 30 stocks in the Dow average rose.

Autodesk Inc. fell $2.45, or 15 percent, to $14.37. The largest maker of engineering-design software said fourth-quarter earnings excluding some items will be as much as 34 cents a share. That missed the 54-cent average estimate by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

This year’s tumble in the S&P 500 dragged down 97 percent of its stocks and all 64 of its so-called level-three industries, groups such as “distributors” and “leisure equipment,” as of yesterday’s close. More stocks decreased in the current bear market than in the 49 percent rout after the technology bubble burst in 2000.

‘Irrational Exuberance’

Alan Greenspan can stop worrying about “irrational exuberance” in the U.S. stock market, 12 years after he warned investors that share prices were rising too fast. The S&P 500 fell below 744.38 today, its closing level on Dec. 5, 1996, the day then-Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan used the phrase in a speech on “The Challenge of Central Banking in a Democratic Society.”

The S&P 500 was trading for 20.7 times earnings when Greenspan gave his warning and its valuation climbed to as high as 62.9 in March 2002, according to Bloomberg data. The index was valued at 16.3 times reported profits of its companies at yesterday’s closing level, the cheapest since 1995.

Citigroup 'c stock' falls even more

2008-11-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

My mortgage is with Citigroup. So I don't know what to do. I don't have much money to invest, but now and proably for another year will be the right time to do it. Hopefully something will come out from one of these financial geniuses that will save everything, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Stocks in New York had been enjoying a break from selling pressure early Friday but lately pared their gains after Citigroup (C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks) CEO Vikram Pandit reportedly denied rumors that his firm was seeking to sell its Smith Barney brokerage unit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up some 170 points earlier, was lately adding 25.6 points at 7577.85, and the S&P 500 was tacking on 1.26 points to 753.7 The Nasdaq was down 5.4 points at 1310.8

Beleaguered banking giant Citigroup, whose stock has been crushed this week despite a large investment by Saudi billionaire shareholder Prince Alwaleed, was on the rise Friday morning following word that it's contemplating selling part or all of itself, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

On the other hand, reports by the New York Times and CNBC indicated that senior executives, including Pandit, are not interested in selling segments of the business. Citi shares, which had earlier been helping lift the Dow, were lately down 19%.

Wall Street Fraud Watchdog Warns All Investors About Wall Street Brokers and Banks Over Cash Equivalents

2008-11-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

I think every investor around the world should be aware of this. I be honest with you after what I saw the market do today I am scared. I was buying up stocks because I thought they would rebound, but now it is almost alittle to scary for me to invest.

The Wall Street Fraud Watchdog is warning investors worldwide to be very careful of what Wall Street calls cash equivalents, such as failed, frozen, or devalued auction rate securities, products like Schwab Yield Plus and or a product sold by TD Ameritrade called Reverse Yield Plus. According to the group,"if you were sold one of these products, and your investment was devalued, or frozen, we want to hear from you. While we are on the topic, we are warning all investors to have your broker or bank investment advisor confirm in writing that your US tax free municipal bonds or VRDN's are 100% safe. We do think a US stock broker or bank investment advisor will put in writing that the US tax free Muni is 100% safe. We expect the US Municipal Market to crash in 2009, because of dramatic declines in US property tax & retail sales tax revenues." Investors or victims can contact Americas Watchdog's Wall Street Fraud Watchdog anytime at 866-714-6466, or visit their web site at Http://WallStreetFraudWatchdog.Com for more information.
the worst case of fraud in US history
if the broker cannot provide you with this assurance, get out of the investment and find a new stock broker or bank investment advisor. We expect a crash of the US tax free municipal market/VRDN's in 2009, so you should get an assurance in writing on these as well.
we want to repeat, we want every US investor involved in what are known as cash equivalents, or US tax free municipal bonds to have their bank investment advisor or stock broker put in writing, that the investment is 100% safe, and if they will not, we are encouraging investors to move their money to US Treasuries.
None of this translates into anything good for the US economy or the 2009 US stock market.
Drill, Drill, Drill? This is what has happened to the US economy and investors, when you mix Wall Street greed and arrogance with a bought and paid for US Congress
we know Wall Street has sold US citizens and investors around the world garbage and or pure and simple fraud with a AAA rating. We are here to help and try to provide assistance.

(PRWEB) November 20, 2008 -- Americas Watchdog's Wall Street Fraud Watchdog is the premier investor advocate in the world on Wall Street wrong doing and fraud. The group has tirelessly gone after banks and US stock brokers over the auction rate securities debacle, in what the group has called, "the worst case of fraud in US history". The Wall Street Fraud Watchdog is now warning that US cash equivalents may not be safe, and investors need to request in writing a letter or e-mail from their bank investment advisor or stock broker, that their investment is 100% safe. According to the group, "if the broker cannot provide you with this assurance, get out of the investment and find a new stock broker or bank investment advisor. We expect a crash of the US tax free municipal market/VRDN's in 2009, so you should get an assurance in writing on these as well."

News Image

The Wall Street Fraud Watchdog has current national investigations of the following, and would like to hear from the victims of these failed, devalued or frozen cash equivalents-to include:

* Auction Rate Securities: Do you have an auction rate securities also called an ARPS/ARS or SLARS with Wells Fargo, or anyone other bank or stock broker that has been frozen? If so you should call the Wall Street Fraud Watchdog at 866-714-6466. On the topic of Wells Fargo, the group says, "we are stunned that Wells Fargo has not been forced into a settlement with the various state attorney generals in New York, Massachusetts, Missouri, over their role in selling auction rate securities. We are also stunned that California's worthless Attorney General Brown, has done little to nothing on the auction rate securities debacle, even though thousands of his states residents were conned into buying auction rate securities with lines like, its just like cash and 100% safe. We have an even lower regard for the Florida State Attorney General's do nothing approach on auction rate securities."
* Are you, or is your company a victim of auction rate securities and not covered by the already announced retail settlements by firms like UBS, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Citi Group, or Wachovia? If so, you should call the Wall Street Fraud Watchdog at 866-714-6466.
* Do you have frozen or devalued investments in TD Ameritrade's Reserve Yield Plus or Schwab Yield Plus? If so, you should contact the Wall Street Fraud Watchdog at 866-714-6466
* Americas Watchdog's says, "we want to repeat, we want every US investor involved in what are known as cash equivalents, or US tax free municipal bonds to have their bank investment advisor or stock broker put in writing, that the investment is 100% safe, and if they will not, we are encouraging investors to move their money to US Treasuries."

Regardless of the spin on from Wall Street used car sales types on CNBC, the group sees a further devaluation of US residential real estate values of at least 10% in 2009, with an eye popping 15% to 20% in California (you can't rent a life style on your home equity line of credit, in Orange, or LA County anymore). The Wall Street Fraud Watchdog expects the US Commercial real estate market, including office, industrial, high rise residential, and retail to get crushed in 2009, because they expect the US unemployment rate to be at least 10%. And, they expect the US retail industry as it is known, to experience a record number of bankruptcies, since the US consumer is no longer buying anything in volumes that approach normal, because they either can't charge it anymore, or they are hoarding their cash to pay all but necessary expenses. "None of this translates into anything good for the US economy or the 2009 US stock market."

Translation: Now would be a very good time to get your cash on the sidelines and wait to see what happens.

"Drill, Drill, Drill? This is what has happened to the US economy and investors, when you mix Wall Street greed and arrogance with a bought and paid for US Congress".

For more information any investor or victim of cash equivalent schemes can call the Wall Street Fraud Watchdog anytime at 866-714-6466 or visit their web site at Http://WallStreetFraudWatchdog.Com . According to Americas Watchdog's Wall Street Fraud Watchdog, "we know Wall Street has sold US citizens and investors around the world garbage and or pure and simple fraud with a AAA rating. We are here to help and try to provide assistance."

The Wall Street Fraud Watchdog is all about investor protection and integrity and transparency for US Citizens and or investors world wide.

Gettelfinger: Without a deal, an automaker's demise imminent

2008-11-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

I don't know about this one myself. It looks to me that they are trying whatever they can do to get some bailout money after watching the rich bankers get 700 billion. I guess if I was in the same position then I would be doing the same thing. Just as the old saying goes the rich get rich and the poorer get poorer.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said today that the Bush administration and Congress must reach a compromise on some kind of federal assistance package for the nation’s domestic automakers in order to prevent a collapse of the auto industry and deeper recession.
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“The purpose of us gathering her today is to say that it is critically important that the Bush administration Congress reach some agreement,” and provide some assistance to the automotive industry, Gettelfinger said during a news conference in Detroit.

“While there have been disagreements about the precise mechanism about providing assistance to the auto industry, surely it should be possible to figure out how to proceed,” he said.

Gettelfinger’s comments come less than 24 hours after he appeared in Washington D.C. alongside each of the domestic automakers’ CEO’s in what turned out to be a nearly fruitless effort to ask for a $25 billion bridge loan.

During two days of hearings in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Gettelfigner and the UAW endured withering criticism for its wage structure with the domestic automakers. On Thursday, Gettelfinger fired back.

“We’ve been transforming for a long time” Gettelfinger said. “It is not our fault that the economy is in the tank.”

Without immediate action, Gettelfinger said, “We could see a collapse of one or more of the domestic auto companies by the end of this year.”

While the Senate has canceled a vote originally scheduled for today on an assistance package Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today raised the prospect of calling the Senate back into session in December.

Gettelfinger on Thursday urged action, even if it is a scaled down package that could be put in place, “Until the Obama administration can put in place a long term plan to move the industry forward.”

irving fisher debt deflation

2008-11-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

It looks like even gloomier times are on the horizon, but most Americans who have been reading and watching the news should already know that. Plus if your one of the many who are looking for jobs right now then no one needs to tell you that we are in a reccession heading towards a depression.

In just a few brutal months, the prospects for the world economy have deteriorated with remarkable speed. Rich countries had seemed set for a shallow, muddle-through recession; now a much deeper slump is on the cards. In a sign of growing concern about American consumers, the Treasury and Federal Reserve on November 12th focused their rescue efforts on loans for cars and college and on credit cards. Central banks, recently so fearful of inflation, are now slashing interest rates to stop it falling too far. It will not be easy: deflation—annual falls in consumer prices—is increasingly likely next year. But recalling the 1930s, policymakers will be anxious to ensure that it does not take hold and turn crisis into catastrophe.

To consider the possibility of falling prices may seem odd when inflation is still uncomfortably high. In America, it reached 5.6 percent in July, the highest rate since 1991. In the same month inflation in the euro area surged to 4 percent. Britain's consumer-price inflation hit 5.2 percent in September, well above the government's target of 2 percent. This high inflation was mostly the result of the surge in commodity prices in the first half of the year. "Core" inflation, excluding food and energy costs, was far more stable.

But since the summer the commodity boom has turned to bust, changing the inflation outlook dramatically. The price of a barrel of crude oil has tumbled from a peak of $147 in July to below $60 in recent days. The Economist's index of non-oil commodity prices has fallen by 40 percent since July. If raw-material prices remain at these lower levels, the year-on-year change in the retail prices of food and fuel will turn sharply negative in 2009.

That will add to other downward pressure on inflation. As economies fall deeper into recession and spending shrinks, firms will have to compete harder for sales by pricing their wares keenly. A glut of supply is evident in America's jobs market: the unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent in October. A year earlier it was just 4.8 percent.

Falling food prices have quickly had an effect on inflation in China, which fell to 4 percent in October from a peak of 8.7 percent in February. In the rich world, a period of deflation seems more likely in America than in Europe. Crude-oil costs are a bigger slice of the prices American consumers pay for petrol: lower sales taxes and fuel duties mean swings in oil markets have a bigger effect on pump prices. Motor fuel also accounts for a larger share of Americans' spending, so falling prices will depress inflation by more. Prices tend to be less "sticky": they respond more readily to economic conditions because markets are more flexible than in Europe. A stronger dollar will add to deflationary pressures in America while easing them elsewhere.

The year-on-year fall in oil prices is likely to be steepest in the third quarter next year, when the base will be this summer's peak. Economists at Goldman Sachs reckon that America's inflation rate will briefly turn negative at that point. Inflation in the euro area seems set to reach a low then too, even if prices do not actually fall. Speaking after the European Central Bank's (ECB) half-point cut in interest rates on November 6th, Jean-Claude Trichet, the bank's chief, allowed that inflation could fall well below the ECB's target ceiling of 2 percent next year. But such a drop would be "short-lived and therefore not relevant" to interest-rate decisions. The Bank of England sees deflation as more than just a remote risk. Its Inflation Report, published on November 12th, puts the spread of likely inflation rates at between -1 percent and 3 percent in two years' time. It is the first time the bank's fan chart, which projects where inflation is likely to lie nine times out of ten, has encompassed deflation.

A commodity-led fall in inflation ought to be good news for rich economies. It boosts consumers' real incomes and fattens firms' profit margins. Yet there is something pernicious about inflation falling too far, too fast. Because falling prices make debt more expensive, indebted households would be more anxious to pay off loans, even as other consumers were benefiting from a boost to their purchasing power. If deflation took hold, the gap in demand left by those fleeing debt would not be filled by cash-rich consumers, who tend to be less free-spending.

A deadly mix of falling prices and high leverage could foment a "debt-deflation" of the type first described by Irving Fisher, an American economist, in 1933. In this schema, debt-laden firms and consumers rush to repay loans as credit dries up. That hurts demand and leads to price cuts. The deflation in turn increases the real cost of debt. It also means that real interest rates can't be negative, and so are undesirably high. That spurs yet more repayment so that, in Fisher's words, the "liquidation defeats itself."

Fisher's theory is of more than just academic interest. Recent lending surveys by the Federal Reserve and the ECB showed a larger share of banks tightened their lending criteria in October than in July. Such is the concern in America that on November 12th regulators said they would scrutinise the dividend policies of banks that did not increase lending.

The surveys also revealed a reluctance to borrow, which tallies with signs of a collapse in spending. Foreign orders for German capital goods slumped by 14 percent in September, suggesting firms worldwide are cutting investment. Car sales in America and Europe are plummeting. American retailers, such as Neiman Marcus, J.C. Penney and Gap, reported double-digit falls in sales in the year to October. The retail data in Britain are grim too, which is a big worry for firms which have been through the private-equity mill and are loaded with debt. If sales do not respond soon to interest-rate cuts, some retailers may resort to deep discounts as Christmas approaches.

Bond markets expect consumer prices in America to fall by as much as 2½ percent over the next year, according to Mark Capleton, of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Inflation in the euro area is expected to be close to zero. When prices were climbing rapidly, central banks fretted that consumers' inflation expectations would rise in response. They will now be as keen to keep them from falling too far. That means interest rates in rich countries may soon fall to zero; some are already close (see article).

Deflation is not the only fear, however. Investors seem keen to hedge against all outcomes. "The options market tells us that inflation uncertainty has rocketed," says Mr. Capleton. That reflects fears that policymakers, in their efforts to tackle deflation, will go too far the other way.

Bogus e-mail says multiple stores are closing

2008-11-19T14:51:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like anybody will try to take advantage of the economic crisis that is at hand. I bet these emails which haven't been confirmed who sent then was from the corporations who were trying to build up some revenue right before Black Friday.

A bogus e-mail flooding the Internet is warning consumers around the country, including many in the Merrimack Valley, that 30 major retailers will close scores of stores by the end of December and that shoppers had better use the gift cards from those stores before it's too late.

"It seems there are lots of stores that are closing due to the 'recession' and the fact that people are not shopping," says the e-mail, which has spread like a virus as people forward it to friends and family. "If you have any 'gift cards' from these stores make sure you use them or you will lose them!"

The e-mail, which is of unknown origin, also is being posted on some Web sites as news. It says that the stores have informed the "Security Exchange of closing plans between October 2008 and January 2009."

There is no such thing as the "Security Exchange," although the Securities and Exchange Commission does exist. It does not, however, keep track of store closings.

Much of the information in the e-mail is outdated, and some of it contains inflated and flatly erroneous claims about store closings.

For example, it mentions that Ann Taylor would be closing 117 stores nationwide. However, that series of closings was announced nearly 11 months ago, in January 2008, as part of a corporatewide restructuring. The local store, in Rockingham Mall in Salem, N.H., is not closing, according to a clerk at the store. A corporate spokeswoman did not return calls.

Another women's clothing store, Cache, was listed as having plans to close all of its roughly 300 stores. Cache did close 20 stores earlier this year as part of a restructuring, according to a spokeswoman, but has no plans to close others.

According to a posting on the Web site Snopes.com, which tracks the veracity of Web-based and other common urban myths, the e-mail is "partly true."

"Although cutbacks are in the cards for most of the retailers mentioned in the message ... none of them has announced plans to completely shutter their operations by the end of 2008," the Web site reported, citing numerous legitimate media outlets as sources for the article.

The Disney store at the Rockingham Mall in Salem, N.H., will not be closing, despite what the e-mail stated.

Melissa Rozansky, a spokeswoman for Disney Store USA, said the information about Disney closing 98 stores is "very old."

"We closed stores earlier this year during a transition from being a licensed business separate from the Walt Disney family to becoming part of the Disney family," she said. "We took the stores back into the fold in May of this year, and we did close around 100 stores. We have no current plan or announcement to close 98 stores."

Rozansky said she has a Google alert set for whenever stories come up about Disney stores, and that for the last six weeks, stories about the company closing stores have been popping up repeatedly.

More recently, she got the e-mail about the gift cards.

"Somebody I know sent me that," she said. "I said, 'What the heck is this about?'"

She noted that she received a call from a newspaper in the middle of the country last week doing a story about the bogus e-mail.

"It's not true for Disney stores," she said. "It's completely inaccurate."

Other stores mentioned in the e-mail include Ethan Allen, which has 300 stores around the country, including one in North Andover and another in Plaistow. The e-mail claimed that the company was closing 12 stores, something the furniture chain did last January. No further closings are planned.

Talbots, which owns the J. Jill brand of stores, are supposedly closing both chains, according to the e-mail. Not true, says a spokeswoman.

The Hingham, Mass.-based company did close 78 Talbots stores late last year and earlier this year, including 66 Talbots kids' stores and 12 Talbot's men's stores, but has no plans to close anymore of its stores, according to Julie Lorigan, vice president for media relations.

What is true is that Talbots earlier this year announced plans to sell its J. Jill chain of stores, but not to close any of them.

Bob Cuomo, dean of the Girard School of Business and International Commerce at Merrimack College, said that many companies are retrenching, but that none of the ongoing rumors about the closing of Brookstone or layoffs at Lord & Taylor or even the shutdown of Talbots have been substantiated.

"It really hurts the economy," he said, noting that "people hear rumors about layoffs, they become more pessimistic and it becomes very damaging because then they don't spend any money because they start to worry about their own jobs."

He said the e-mail and stories are further evidence that the Internet can be a dubious source of information.

talbots closing all stores

2008-11-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

Looks like another one is beg ginning to bite the dust. It looks also if this might not be real. I will put it up, but it may not be entirely accurate because it seems that fake emails have been going out, but that is unconfirmed as well. So stay tuned!

Will Talbots Closing All Stores? This is bad news for Holiday Gifts Season or 2008 Black Friday...
Talbots already closed 22 stores, 2 percent of its total. Today, I got rumors about Talbots closing all stores plan. But in latest news or company press released only close some store and The Talbots, Inc. to Broadcast Third Quarter 2008 Earnings Results Conference Call on the Web.

HINGHAM, Mass., Nov 18, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Talbots, Inc. (NYSE: TLB) invites investors to listen to a broadcast of the Company's conference call to discuss third quarter 2008 earnings results. The conference call will be broadcast live on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time
more about this Talbots press room..

Talbot Background
Operating under the brands Talbots and J. Jill, The Talbots, Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer, cataloger and e-tailer of women's classic apparel, shoes, and accessories. At the end of fiscal year 2007, the Company operated a total of 1,421 stores in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and the UK, with 1,150 stores under the Talbots brand name and 271 stores under the J. Jill brand name. Its direct-marketing operation circulated approximately 126 million catalogs worldwide in fiscal 2007, with 48 million under the Talbots brand name and 78 million under the J. Jill brand name. Talbots brand on-line shopping site is located at [www.talbots.com] and the J. Jill brand on-line shopping site is located at [www.jjill.com].

The Talbots, Inc. currently employs a combined total of approximately 16,000 associates worldwide, including 12,300 associates at Talbots and 3,700 at J. Jill.

Talbots assortment for women features modern classic styles in apparel, shoes and accessories, providing head-to-toe wardrobing for all occasions--from work, to weekend, to special occasion. The merchandise is offered across several Talbots retail concepts, including Talbots Misses, Talbots Petites, Talbots Woman, Talbots Woman Petites, and Talbots Collection.

In addition to its line for women, which is available throughout the U.S., Canada and the UK, Talbots offers classic children’s clothing through Talbots Kids and classic sportswear for men through Talbots Men's.

Credit Background: Wikipedia

Odell Barnes Foreclosure King

2008-11-19T06:13:00.000-08:00

This guy looks to be making some real money in a recession right now. I am deciding on which stocks to pick up while Barnes is picking up real estate for pennies on the dollar. It will be interesting how long he can keep this up before he runs into a property that he can't flip. Maybe it won't happen because he should be smart enough to know what will sell and what won't.

ABC has been following a story about a guy named Odell Barnes known as the Foreclosure King. It turns out this is the real thing. Odell Barnes buys foreclosed real estate by the thousands from banks, Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac. Which are two stocks I am thinking about buying into, just because if they are not nationalized and taken over by the government then they could bounce back after time. Maybe, I thought they were already nationalized myself though. Then resells the real estate to local investors who then locate and sell to, potential homeowners.

The Odell Barnes Foreclosure King storyshows you can make money in a murky economy, and lots of it. While the news is filled with stories of rich CEO's and their minions taking hundreds of millions of dollars in bailout money and then going on lavish vacations.

Walmart Black Friday Ads

2008-11-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Tis the season to find some great deals. The day after Thanksgiving is of course Black Friday. I myself have only been able to participate once, but I found so many good things that I have never had to go again. I have some friends out their that wait in line till 5 in the morning every year. Even though one year all they bought was one little flash drive. Hopefully everyone has a succesfull Black Friday at Walmart and other shopping places.

Wal-Mart is highlighting flat screen TVs, Blu-ray players, Xbox 360 consoles and home computers in its much-anticipated Black Friday deals this year, according to a copy of the retailer's circular obtained by CNNMoney.com.

Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving - is one of the busiest shopping days for the nation's retailers. Black Friday is of particular interest this year because the country is experiencing a sharp slowdown in consumer spending.

Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) is not expected to officially unveil its Black Friday deals until Nov. 24. But as more Americans cut their holiday gift budgets this year, many will likely turn to discounters such as Wal-Mart in search of bargains.

According to the circular, Wal-Mart's so-called doorbuster deals offered between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET will include a 50-inch Samsung plasma HDTV ($798), Magnavox Blu-ray player ($128), Xbox 360 ($199) sold with free Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock game and wireless guitar, HP Pavilion desktop computer ($398) and a UniFlame gas grill ($175).

In addition, Wal-Mart's Black Friday ad shows a GE microwave for $25, children's clothing priced between $4 and $8 and a variety of toys, including a Hannah Montana doll for $10 or less.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien declined to address the leaks from the Black Friday sales circular, saying only that "we plan to share the facts directly with customers on Monday, Nov. 24th."

Still, the retailer in recent days has made no secret of its intention to aggressively court this year's budget-conscious holiday shoppers.

Last week, the retailer said it would offer more discounts on thousands of products over the next seven weeks.

Judging from other leaked Black Friday ads, additional retailers are also readying huge discounts in a bid to tempt reluctant shoppers.

Sears' leaked Black Friday circular, which appeared last month on Gottadeal.com, a Web site that markets itself as one of many "official" Black Friday deals sites, showed the retailer would offer deals on washer-dryers, a category that Sears' hasn't heavily promoted in the past.

One of Sears' standout deals for Black Friday is a Kenmore high efficiency front-load washer-dryer set for $599.99. That's as much as 50% off the price of the individual washer and dryer.

"This really is an incredible deal, and it indicates how nervous retailers are about the season," said Britt Beemer, retail analyst and chairman of America's Research Group.

plunge protection team

2008-11-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

I found this article today and it makes perfect sense if you want are a conspiracy theorist. Of course he does make some good points and it could very well be true. I personally can't say anything myself because I don't know about the market to make and educated decision based on what the article and other people I have heard said. But it is certainly something to look at and think long and hard about to see if it makes sense to you, and if it is true then what needs to happen.

A number of remarkable things transpired Thursday, as we mentioned in an earlier post. The S&P 500 fell to a five-year low. Of course, we’ve done that before - as recently as last month - so it’s not that remarkable. We managed to piroutte nearly 900 points on the Dow industrial average, measuring the days lows to the day’s highs. Of course, we had a 900-point one-day gain in a trading session last month. So not that remarkable. We apparently successfully tested the lows for the cycle established in last month’s selloff. But we retest lows in about 90% of bear-market cycles. So - again - interesting, but not remarkable.

What’s remarkable is that we did all that without conspiracy theorists coming out of the woodwork to yap about the doings of the legendary Plunge Protection Team. You know the infamous PPT, don’t you? Formally, the Working Group on Financial Markets, or some such falderal. Supposed to recommend legislative and private-sector solutions for remedying distress in the financial markets. But really - as every good CT (conspiracy theorist) knows - actually steps up to buy the market at precipitous times. Times like Thursday. Market in distress? Check. Remedying said distress? Check. Short-term solution that didn’t do much more than salve some anxieties for a single session? Double check.

Yup, sounds like the work of the PPT.

Former Fed official Robert Heller cinched the PPT’s place in history when he effectively suggested that the equities market wasn’t too big for the federal government to tame. You go into the futures market, you buy the whole market, you restore some confidence. That was essentially Heller’s proviso. And, shoot, lately, having nationalized the banking business, the commercial paper market, the money market, a slug of insurance and the biggest chunk of the mortgage market, the government’s proven its willingness to take decisive action in the face of calamity. Why should Thursday have been any different? Why should the equities market be any different than the credit market?

And yet the PPT CT’s - by all indications - quiet as a schoolboy sneaking into class after the bell rang for first period. Maybe it’s just that the PPT leadership council - the Treasury Secretary, Fed chair, SEC chair and CFTC chair - have been so visible the last few days, they couldn’t have conducted the clandestine meeting (reportedly held at Goldman Sachs, which is said to help implement the nefarious schemes … and - hey, come to think of it - isn’t the Treasury secretary a Goldman alum?) required to confirm the plan. (I’d like to think they’ve got those nifty matching keys that Gene Hackman and Denzel fought over in ”Crimson Tide” that were required to launch the missiles.)

Or maybe the PPT simply silenced the CTs.

MORE THINGS GO WRONG FOR I-PAPER

As if there wasn’t enough going awry at International Paper (IP), here come new signs that the global diversification plan it put in place last year has come back to bite them. Back in October 2007, when the stock was trading at $35 a share - about three times where it’s trading currently - I-Paper lined up a Russian partner, LLim, to expand its global footprint. The U.S. company paid $620 million for the 50% stake in the Russian concern, and pledged another $750 million to help it expand its operations.

Unfortunately for LLim, as well as other Russian paper producers, Russia’s Prime Minister Putin has postponed (or canceled) a duty on wood exports from the country for at least the next nine to 12 months. As a result, LLim said it expected to see the delay hurt its business, with volume seen dropped 40%. Its EBITDA figures to come in at about one-third of previous forecasts.

The only good news for I-Paper in all this is that, as a result of the business slowdown, there isn’t much sense in executing on the expansion plan. So at least that drag on its cash flow figures to go away. Still, shares down another 5% Frida

http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2008/11/14/justice-league-or-plunge-protection-team/

Yahoo's Jerry Yang no longer CEO

2008-11-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well I guess this is what happens when you don't bow down to microsoft. I knew a lot of people at Yahoo were mad at jerry yang because of that, but I have to kinda agree with him. Plus he didn't want to give up his power to someone else. Well I guess that doesn't matter anymore huh. It also shows that Yahoo is worried about it's current economis condition and is trying to look elsewhere to help them jumpstart their company. The last thing the board of directors will want is to lose money. It will be interesting to see what Yahoo's stock is going to do tomorrow now that jerry yang the co-founder of Yahoo is no longer the CEO.

Article Below
Source

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo Inc. co-founder Jerry Yang is stepping down as chief executive, ending a rocky reign marked by his refusal to sell the Internet company to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion — more than triple Yahoo's current market value.

The change in command announced Monday won't be completed until Yahoo finds his replacement. The Sunnyvale-based company said it is interviewing candidates inside and outside Yahoo in a search led by its chairman, Roy Bostock, and the executive recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles.

"Jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level," Bostock said.

Yang, who started Yahoo with Stanford University classmate David Filo in 1994, will revert to "Chief Yahoo," a titular role he filled before replacing former movie studio boss Terry Semel as CEO in June 2007. He will also remain on Yahoo's board of directors.

"I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation," Yang said in a statement.

Although Yang had publicly expressed his desire to remain at the helm, Yahoo's board faced intensifying pressure to cast him aside as the company's shares plunged to its lowest levels since early 2003. The stock fell 19 cents Monday to close at $10.63 — a fraction of Microsoft's last bid of $33 per share in early May.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer huffily withdrew the offer after Yang sought $37 per share. The negotiating breakdown triggered a shareholder revolt led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who called for Yang's ouster in July before reaching a truce that put him and two allies on Yahoo's 11-member board.

Yang, 40, had been pursuing a strategy that he thought would prove Yahoo was worth more than Microsoft was willing to pay, but the rapidly deteriorating economy made a comeback seem increasingly unlikely. As it is, Yahoo's earnings have been eroding for three years, disillusioning investors amid a management exodus that indicated even Yang's own troops were losing faith in him.

SEC Charges Mark Cuban With Insider Trading

2008-11-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

This sort of thing happens a lot, but nobody ever says anything. But wow is all I have to say I can't believe Mark Cuban actually got caught doing with insider trading. It is very hard to actually catch someone red handed with insider trading. And they get one of the bigger fishes in the pond too. I have only traded stock activley for about a year now and I see why it is so tempting to do something that would be a sure thing and put some coin in your pocket. I have no way to do it though so loo elsewhere, plus I have lost over 50% of my value over that last 6 months anyways.
Article Below

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading.

The reported charge relates to Cuban's alleged selling of 600,000 shares of the search engine Mamma.com just before they were about to become diluted in June 2004.

The company now does business as Copernic.

From the SEC release:

"The Commission's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges that in June 2004, Mamma.com Inc. invited Cuban to participate in the stock offering after he agreed to keep the information confidential. The complaint further alleges that Cuban knew that the offering would be conducted at a discount to the prevailing market price and that it would be dilutive to existing shareholders.

Within hours of receiving this information, according to the complaint, Cuban called his broker and instructed him to sell Cuban's entire position in the company. When the offering was publicly announced, Mamma.com's stock price opened at $11.89, down $1.215 or 9.3 percent from the prior day's closing price of $13.105. According to the complaint, Cuban avoided losses in excess of $750,000 by selling his stock prior to the public announcement of the offering."

Cuban -- who made his fortune by inventing and selling Broadcast.com -- had been in the running to buy the Chicago Cubs from Tribune Co.

Cuban writes a blog on a number of topics, including the economy.

-- Frank Ahrens

Claremont Rug Company Catalog Offers Rug Connoisseurs Glimpse at Art Level Collections

2008-11-16T15:38:00.000-08:00

I think we are in bad shape when Marketwatch is reporting about rugs on their homepage. Yeah the markets are closed on the weekends, so I bet it was a slow news day for them, but still. They are trying to make this recession sound like it doesn't exist everytime I turn around, but this time I have to say that they are grabbing at coat tails on this one. But if you are into these types of rugs then maybe you can shed some light on them for me since I don't understand how they are so great. I am not rich so a rug is just a rug in my book.

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov 10, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Jan David Winitz, internationally recognized rug connoisseur and president of Claremont Rug Company, today announced the availability of a 32-page brochure highlighting some of his gallery's latest acquisitions of significant art-level 19th century Oriental carpets.

For more than a quarter-century, Claremont Rug Company's catalogs have offered one of the very few opportunities retail customers have to study extraordinary examples of this art form. "The catalog consistently receives considerable praise from clients and collectors alike," Winitz said. "Actually, rare book dealers seek out and sell our older catalogs, a further affirmation of the serious global interest in major antique Oriental rugs."

Among the highlights of the current edition are rugs from three notable collections that Winitz recently acquired and is featuring in a special event called "The Threefold Collections." These include "an absolutely drop-dead" 150-year-old Persian Kermanshah on the cover that he calls "the crown jewel of a long-established collection from Charlottesville, VA." Rugs in these collections range in value from $20,000 into six figures.

"This gratifying response from rug lovers underlines what I have been stressing for some time," said Winitz. "For generations, the best art-level rugs have remained in private hands. In today's market, they are extremely seldom available for viewing. We have been fortunate to have attained a stature that when substantial private collections becomes available, they are offered to us exclusively."

The catalogs, produced semi-annually, contain photos and descriptions of rare carpets from Claremont's inventory. "We are incredibly meticulous in how we produce our images," said Winitz, noting that the Company maintains its own full-time art photographer, Michael Irwin; two color-specialists, and an archivist. The Fall 2008 catalog contains photographs of 34 rugs.
Irwin recently explained his photographic process: "Our photos require significant effort to produce because of the rugs' amazing amount of detail and myriad subtleties of color. It is much more challenging to render an antique carpet than other art forms because it is hand-woven using literally millions of individually hued knots." He emphasized that capturing the patina the wool takes on has been "our crowning achievement."

The catalog can be obtained by calling Claremont Rug Company at 1-800-441-1332 or registering at the Gallery's website ( www.claremontrug.com). The price is $25.
SOURCE: Claremont Rug Company

Damon Dash is Broke

2008-11-14T14:27:00.001-08:00

Doesn't look good for this hip-hop mogul if you ask me. Then again Donald Trump has filed bankruptcy more than once in his career and he seems to be doing just fine. Just don't look at this hair. It looks like it is going to be a long recession even for some of the once richest people in the entertainment industry. He could very easily be the first of many if people aren't smart with their millions of dollars. Or you have wives who go and spend it all.

It seems nobody is safe from the economic decline over the past couple years. Superproducer Scott Storch has had his fair share of financial problems, and it's long rumored that hip-hop mogul Damon Dash is experiencing his own as well.

The New York Daily News reports that Dash has being targeted by lawyers, lenders and landlords in Manhattan Supreme Court who want their money.

Dash has gone from owing several companies including shoe company Keds and Armadale Vodka, to dodging his bills. This is a man who in 2005 sold his stake in Rocawear to Jay-Z for $22 million, and even proclaimed himself a "cake-a-holic." Looks like his cake is running low these days.

"I've worked with musicians, artists and entertainers that, in the eyes of the media, are very wealthy," lawyer Jason Gabbard, who represented a fashion firm that settled a suit against Dash and his wife over $148,505 in unpaid fees, told the paper. "But to borrow a phrase from my Kentucky homeland, they haven't got a pot to piss in -- they're broke."

According to the paper, this week a Manhattan judge ordered the city to seize Dash's Chevrolet Tahoe, because he hasn't been making the $714 monthly payment.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of one in August from Eastern Savings Bank, who foreclosed on two of Dash's homes. The once powerful music mogul owed $7.3 million on two Tribeca condos, after Dash and his wife Rachel Roy failed to make their $78,500 mortgage payments for several months.

Dash also faces an outstanding $2.1 million tab with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, a $4,500 bill from the state for not paying workers' comp, and a suit that says he stiffed a law firm that handled his child-custody case.

In 2006, he told New York magazine that he had his own butler, and bragged that he was worth "about $50 million."

The Daily News sent emails to Dash's camp, but the mogul did not respond. His spokesperson told the paper that Dash "won all of his lawsuits."

Despite the claims, the paper digged up court records that show Dash settled two suits accusing him of not paying rent on two Manhattan offices, as well as suits charging that he owed money to fashion designer Charlotte Ronson, the fashion firm Showroom Seven, and a security company that guards celebs.

Sun Microsystems to cut off 15% of company's global workforce

2008-11-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

Wow this is bad, but it just seems to be getting worse everytime you turn around. And I don't think we are anywhere near the bottom either. I think unemployment will double from what it is right now by the time we hit the bottom. I hope that I am way off and wrong, but things don't seem to be looking very good right now. The latest below.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. computer service provider Sun Microsystems said Friday it will lay off up to 6,000 workers, about 15 percent of its global workforce, as the latest of a series of layoff decisions announced by high-tech companies amid the gloomy economic outlook.

"We're taking sharp, decisive action to align ourselves to a new economic reality, and also to amplify our investment in the way the world is heading," said chief executive officer Jonathan Schwartz.

Sun Microsystems also said it will reorganize its software business and merge some divisions into other operations. The Silicon Valley computer server and software maker has been struggling with declining sales and a plunging stock price.

Schwartz said his company will move resources toward fast-growing parts of the world and reduce resources in areas where the company sees the economy contract, but declined to specify which business units or geographic areas will be affected by the layoff.

Sun Microsystems was hit especially hard by the recent stock market crash and credit crunch, as financial institutions and banks have been major customers for the company's high-end servers and storage systems. Its own stock price closed at 4.08 dollars a share Thursday, down from a high of 21.55 dollars a share earlier this year.

Kashkari Says Treasury Approving 20 Bank Stakes Today

2008-11-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

I guess we are going to be spending more of our tax dollars for all the already rich bankers who are needing bailouts today. Well what are we going to do. Maybe we should all start a huge company and make a butt load of bad bets and when we are out of money go to the government and tell them that if they don't bail us out then the entire economy is going to fail without us. Oh Well. I called them and they told they wouldn't give me any of the bailout money and that they never heard of my bank.

By Rebecca Christie and John Brinsley

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury is about to approve capital injections into 20 more banks, said Neel Kashkari, the department's assistant secretary in charge of a $700 billion bank-rescue plan.

``I think we're going to approve another 20 banks today, large and small across the country,'' Kashkari told a congressional panel today.

Kashkari fielded questioning from lawmakers concerned that the Treasury's equity purchase program won't do enough to help homeowners facing foreclosure. He said the Treasury has concluded that the capital injections are the ``best way'' to help the overall economy.

The Treasury has allocated $250 billion for purchasing stakes in U.S. banks and has so far approved $125 billion for nine big banks. More than 50 regional U.S. banks have offered stakes to the Treasury and are awaiting final decisions, according to Bloomberg data.

Banks apply first to their regulator to participate in the program. If the regulator approves, the applications go to the Treasury, which makes the final decisions.

Kashkari said the Treasury didn't see an application from National City Corp. for a capital injection. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. said last month it would buy National City for about $5.2 billion in stock after receiving a $7.7 billion investment from the Treasury.

PNC's Application

Kashkari declined to comment on any stake the Treasury might take in PNC. The Treasury has avoided discussing specific banks unless it completes a capital injection in them, although institutions are allowed to disclose preliminary approval if they choose.

Publicly traded banks had until today to decide whether to participate. Kashkari said terms for private banks are coming ``soon.''

Regarding the securities of mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government took over on Sept. 7, Kashkari said they aren't quite completely guaranteed by the U.S. government, even though they have ``the Treasury's backing.''

``We provide a very strong implicit support,'' Kashkari said. ``It's darn close, but it's not quite full faith and credit.''

Overall, financial markets are starting to experience ``healing,'' Kashkari said. Even so, ``we're not out of the woods yet,'' he said.

Mortgage Rates

The Treasury views its efforts to help ease lending conditions as a way to reach homeowners directly, Kashkari said. ``Bringing mortgage rates down for borrowers is the best thing we could do,'' he said.

The U.S. Treasury also will try to ease ``distress'' in securities markets that is raising consumer borrowing costs, Kashkari said.

``We are examining strategies to support consumer access to credit outside the banking system, specifically the asset-backed securities market,'' Kashkari said in his prepared testimony for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's subcommittee on domestic policy.

The market for securitized auto loans, credit cards and student loans ``is currently in distress and its illiquidity is raising the cost and reducing the availability'' of consumer credit, Kashkari said.

TARP Shift

On Nov. 12, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the Fed and his department were working on a backstop facility for asset-backed securities, with funds from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Details of the program haven't been announced.

Kashkari said the Treasury has ``stabilized'' mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and ``limited systemic risk'' that their failure would have posed. Overall, U.S. markets have improved, he said.

``Our system is stronger and more stable than just a few weeks ago,'' Kashkari said.

The Treasury is committed to transparency and oversight for the rescue efforts, Kashkari said. Lawmakers recently have raised concerns that the rescue effort isn't properly supervised.

When asked whether he'd stay on to manage TARP for the next administration, Kashkari, who has been putting in marathon hours, responded that he'd be ``honored'' to be asked to serve. ``I'd have to ask my wife,'' he said.

Separately, the White House announced today that Neil Barofsky, an assistant U.S. Attorney in New York's southern district and chief of a mortgage fraud unit, will be nominated to be the TARP's inspector general.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rebecca Christie in Washington at Rchristie4@bloomberg.net; John Brinsley in Washington at jbrinsley@bloomberg.net

the White Cockatoo Fights Economic Downturn Nude Party

2008-11-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

I don't think I would be caught there with my pants down myself, but to each their own. I personally believe that if you like to do something and it doesn't hurt anybody else while your doing it then it is none of my business and you should be able to do what makes you happy. But again this really isn't my bag baby. I really don't understand why you would partner swap either. Unless you are with the girl in the first place to do it. But I am young and maybe I will understand later in life myself.

An Australian nude resort wants to bring back swingers and sex parties in a bid to boost sagging tourism figures.

The White Cockatoo resort in Mossman, north Queensland, is promoting an adults-only "anything goes" month of hedonism for March next year.

Owner of the White Cockatoo, Tony Fox, this week said it was time to lift a self-imposed swinger ban.

"Tough economic times call for stiff measures," Fox said. "We've taken the bull by the horns and it's going nuts; we're close to fully booked.

"It will be a hedonism resort, where anything goes for a month. We're not using the words sex or swingers, but it doesn't take rocket science to work out what it means."

Three years ago the controversial resort, once billed as the nation's top group-sex hotspot for swingers, hit the headlines when it closed its doors to partner-swapping.

The ban followed a series of out-of-control sex parties and orgies where, in one case, police were called to evict six swingers after a free-for-all sex romp in a chalet.

In another, a naked husband and wife in their mid-50s upset others with a rowdy display of balcony sex before breakfast.

Other guests complained of being propositioned for group sex by a stranger in her 30s.

Fox said he had since imposed a strict set of rules for the ordinary nudist season.

Cairns Catholic Bishop James Foley warned: "It might only end up cheapening the whole resort operation for a short term gain. Anyone who goes to a hedonist's party goes at their own risk."

Citigroup has begun big layoffs, Also raises Credit Card Rates

2008-11-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

My mortgage is with these people. At least I don't have their credit card. This is why I always thought it was strange when Citigroup was trying to buy other banks.

A day after the bank's shares sunk under $10 for the first time since the 1990s, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his deputies instructed officials to slash their budgets for employee compensation by at least 25%, The Wall street Journal reported. See related story.
The paper added that managers could minimize the number of employees they fire by dismissing higher-paid traders and bankers.

Shares of Citigroup managed a modest gain in early trading Friday, bucking a downtrend in the financial sector and rising 3.5%.

Citi's layoffs are the latest in a brutal round of job cuts across the financial industry. The cuts have been sparked by unprecedented losses due to bad credit investments, as well as the subsequent precipitous drop in banking and other financial services business amid the worst economic conditions in 70 years.

Citi said raising rates for up to 1 in five card customers

Meanwhile, Citi is reportedly also notifying some of its credit-card customers that their interest rates are being raised by an average of three percentage points, the report said. Citigroup is one of the nation's largest issuers of credit cards, with 54 million active accounts.

The report cited an unnamed source as saying the rate increases would apply to less than 20% of Citigroup's card portfolio.

Earlier this month, Citigroup said that it lost $1.4 billion in the third quarter from credit card securitizations and that it expects such losses will continue, possibly reaching record levels in 2009.
The result compared to a gain of $169 million from credit card securitizations in the year-earlier period.

Those comments showed that Citi, like other firms, was unable to package up, or securitize, the loans it makes to customers and sell them into the secondary market.

A higher interest rate would make the difficult-to-sell loans more attractive for secondary market buyers, as well as make them more productive should Citi have to keep them on their own balance sheet.

At that time, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Citi cautioned, "credit card losses may continue to rise well into 2009, and it is possible that the company's loss rates may exceed their historical peaks."

GE Bailout

2008-11-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

Well I have no idea what these people in Washington are thinking. Why are you going to bailout one of the countries leading companies. GE does have one bad arm in it's corporation. But still everything thing else they do should hold it up.

General Electric Co. said the U.S. government agreed to insure as much as $139 billion in debt for lending arm GE Capital Corp., the second time in a month it has turned to a federal program designed to help companies during a global credit crunch.

This is crazy. The national debt keeps climbing for every american and these rich Fat cats are just getting richer and richer on our tax dollars. I hope the new presidency taking over changes some things, but even if they have to best intentions they might fight a lost battle because everything might be gone by the time they get into power.

Citigourp looking at Chevy Chase Bank

2008-11-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

I find this hard to believe. I am sure it is going to happen, but this is my point. Citigroup is not in a good position to buy anything. They couldn't buy WAMU when it went under. They are in in the same deep water as most of these other mortgages that have a good chance of having to declare bankruptcy. Even with the bailout.

But I digress.

The Wall Street Journal reported the story in its Thursday edition, saying Citigroup is one of numerous bidders for Chevy Chase Bank.

Chevy Chase Bank is reportedly in negotiations with potential buyers, including banking giant Citigroup.

I have not been able to find confirmation on this though.

General Growth Properties

2008-11-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

I guess this is one way to jumpstart your indexes ratings. Drop the fat and add better perfoming stocks at the time. This is very common with all indexes on the stock market.

S&P said Tuesday that it would drop the real estate investment security General Growth Properties Inc. from the S&P 500 index and replace it with Cephalon Inc.

General Growth, the second largest U.S. mall operator, warned Tuesday it may file for bankruptcy and its shares plummeted 64 percent in regular trading. I am glad that I have not invested in this stock. Even though it is hard to find a good one right now.

At the close it had a market value of $128 million, ranking 500th on the index.

Cephalon, which makes Provigil for patients with narcolepsy, meanwhile saw its shares rise to $72.43.

Replacing Cephalon on the S&P MidCap 400 index after Friday's close will be the oil and gas driller Mariner Energy Inc.

So where does General Growth go?

Dell Financial Services - Coupons

2008-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Looks like someone is feeling the financial crisis pinch a little bit harder now. In an effort to jumpstart consumer spending Dells Financial Center has come out with some very nice coupons in order to get you to buy their products. The coupons can be found below.

Dell Financial Services Coupons and Offers	Expiration
SAVE $125 on laptops priced $499 & up Enter Dell Refurbished Coupon Code: U3s?125Edfs	11-17-2008
SAVE $75 on desktops priced $249 & up Enter Dell Refurbished Coupon Code: Kum50#eDfs	11-17-2008
SAVE $75 On Laptops Priced $499 & Up Enter Dell Refurbished Coupon Code: Cj>B$75dfs	11-17-2008
$25 off Desktops $249 & up Enter Dell Refurbished Coupon Code: 8my(25#Dfs	11-17-2008
10% off any Dell Laptop or Desktop Enter Dell Refurbished Coupon Code: CJ0408$DF	??

SIRIUS XM Radio Announces New Channel Lineups

2008-11-12T07:42:00.000-08:00

I am glad I just bought 600 shares of theirs for only 150 bucks. Not a bad low risk investment if you ask me. Sure it is going to tank farther with the auto makes industry falling, However if the auto bailout happens then they will bounce back. As well as new products coming out where you don't only have to listen to SIRIUS in the car.

SIRIUS today unveiled new enhanced channel lineups. Effective immediately, and for the first time, XM subscribers will hear SIRIUS' dynamic and exclusive music, news, talk, sports and comedy shows and channels, and SIRIUS subscribers will have access to XM's equally diverse and unique content.
SIRIUS and XM subscribers will hear the exclusive music, talk and comedy channels and shows from Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett, Elvis Presley, Grateful Dead, Eminem, Frank Sinatra, Jamie Foxx, Metropolitan Opera, NPR, NYU's Doctor Radio, The Catholic Channel, Blue Collar Comedy, Cosmo Radio, Tom Petty, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, the Grand Ole' Opry, Barbara Walters, Deepak Chopra, and more, now available to all subscribers. The change delivers to all current subscribers unquestionably the best lineup of audio entertainment today.

Specific times and exact channel numbers for the new lineups of SIRIUS and XM can be found at: http://www.sirius.com/newlineup and http://www.xmradio.com/newlineup.
About SIRIUS XM Radio

SIRIUS XM Radio is America's satellite radio company delivers to more than 18 million subscribers.

SIRIUS XM Radio has content relationships with an array of personalities and artists, including Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Buffett, Elvis, Jamie Foxx, Barbara Walters, Frank Sinatra, Opie & Anthony, The Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tom Petty, and Bob Edwards. SIRIUS XM Radio is the leader in sports programming as the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NBA, NHL, and PGA TOUR, and broadcasts major college sports.

SIRIUS XM Radio has arrangements with every major automaker. SIRIUS XM Radio products are available at shop.sirius.com and shop.xmradio.com, and at retail locations nationwide, including Best Buy, Circuit City, RadioShack, Target, Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart.
SIRIUS XM Radio also offers SIRIUS Backseat TV, the first ever live in- vehicle rear seat entertainment featuring Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network; XM NavTraffic(R) service for GPS navigation systems delivers real-time traffic information, including accidents and road construction, for more than 80 North American markets.

updates coming soon

2008-11-10T17:39:00.001-08:00

updates coming soon

A Dreadfall Jobs Report

2008-11-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

Today’s jobs report was dreadful — much worse than economists had anticipated — and you will be hearing a lot of comparisons that try to put it in context. This one may be the most telling:

The share of adults who are working — 61.8 percent — is at its lowest level in 15 years. And even that, arguably, understates the depth of the problem. Fifteen years ago, women were less likely to be in the labor force than they today. The share of adult men with jobs, which has been gradually falling for much of the last few decades, is now at its lowest level since the Labor Department began keeping records in 1948.

Just about every economist thinks that the labor market will continue to get worse, which means it’s on a path to be in its worst shape since the painful recession of the early 1980s.

The worst news in the report was tucked away in the details. Every month, the Labor Department releases an initial estimate of the employment change from the previous month and then updates that estimates as new data comes in over the following two months. This morning, it said that employers had cut 284,000 jobs in September — almost twice as many as initially thought. They also cut another 240,000 jobs in October. The cuts are of roughly the same scale as those in the months immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The one bright spot is that inflation is abating, mostly because of plunging oil prices. So while the real weekly pay fell 2 percent between September 2007 and September 2008, it fell only 1.4 percent between October 2007 and October 2008.

But a drop of 1.4 percent is still pretty terrible. It’s a bigger drop than at almost any point during the 2001 recession or in the wake of it. Back then, households were also able to dip into their rising home values to supplement their incomes. Not anymore. No wonder the latest retail numbers have been so dismal.

Cerberus may give up GMAC control to get bank status: Bloomberg

2008-11-07T04:32:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cerberus Capital Management may pass its control of GMAC LLC to its investors so the financing unit can convert to a bank and get access to government funds, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

A source familiar with private equity firm Cerberus said no determination had been made about the structure of GMAC.

Bloomberg reported that Cerberus is mulling a plan to distribute its 51 percent stake in embattled GMAC among investors in its funds.

By forfeiting its control of the company, Cerberus may help GMAC become a bank and get funding from the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve without requiring Cerberus to submit to banking regulations, Bloomberg said.

A Cerberus spokesman declined comment.

Cerberus led a group in 2006 that paid General Motors Corp $7.4 billion in cash for 51 percent of Detroit-based GMAC. GM owns the other 49 percent.