September 2010

Uncertainty Weighs Heavily Over Fourth Quarter Outlook

September 30, 2010

Typically by October, the commercial real estate industry can see its way clearly through the end of the year, with a pretty good idea of what can be accomplished and how the rest of the year will play out. But these are not usual times. The loads of…

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Retail Watch: Blockbuster Files Chapter 11; Immediately Closes 145 Stores

September 30, 2010

Blockbuster Inc., a Dallas-based global provider of rental and retail movie and game entertainment through 3,306 stores in the U.S., filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. And store closings…

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Lease Down: Under Investigation, Amedisys Consolidating Operations

September 30, 2010

Amedisys Inc., a Baton Rouge, LA-based home health and hospice company, will be closing 13 agencies (nine home health and four hospice) and consolidating another 26 locations (23 home health and three hospice) into existing locations. The company currently…

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Video: Buffett, Gates Plug BYD Cars, Philanthropy on China Trip: Video

September 30, 2010

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Stephen Engle reports on a visit by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett and Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates to China. Buffett said the meeting he and Gates had in Beijing with 50 Chinese leaders in business and philanthropy “was a complete success,” according to a release from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Dolan Says U.S. House Measure on Yuan May Die in Senate: Video

September 30, 2010

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Brian Dolan, chief strategist at FOREX.com, a unit of online currency trading firm Gain Capital in Bedminster, New Jersey, talks about U.S. calls for China to allow its currency to appreciate. The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation prodding China to raise the value of the yuan, as Democratic lawmakers pressed election-season proposals they said would increase factory employment. Dolan also discusses the outlook for the euro, dollar and yen. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Hills Says Stronger Chinese Yuan Won’t Create U.S. Jobs: Video

September 30, 2010

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Carla Hills, a former U.S. Trade Representative, talks about China’s currency policy and trade with the U.S. The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation prodding China to raise the value of the yuan, as Democratic lawmakers pressed election-season proposals they said would increase factory employment. Hills speaks from Washington with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Gat Says El Al Will Add Two `Major’ Destinations in U.S.: Video

September 30, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Offer Gat, chief executive officer of El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.’s North American operations, talks about the carrier’s plans to add destinations in the U.S. Gat also discusses El Al’s performance, freight business and partnerships with U.S. airlines. He talks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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William S. Lerach: Blame the Wall Street Bankers and Corporate CEOs for the "Jobless" Recovery

September 30, 2010

Now that President Obama’s “recovery summer” has fizzled and it’s clear we are in for a “jobless” recovery, it is worth examining who bears the responsibility for this predicament — near 10% unemployment (with millions more so discouraged they have given up looking for work and are not even counted anymore) despite a trillion-dollar stimulus. The manufacturing jobs which were once the backbone of the American economy and fueled the job growth that pulled America out of prior recessions just aren’t here anymore. In the name of “free trade,” millions of those jobs got shipped overseas to unregulated markets where cheap labor is abundant, environmental restrictions are lax and working conditions are abysmal — making the costs of corporate production there much lower. Who bears the responsibility for this structural impairment of the American economy? The Wall Street banks and the multinational corporations, along with those who have done their bidding in Washington for the past few decades are responsible. The Republican politicians that these financial interests own — and the corporate Democrats they have “seduced” with campaign money — have been their willing instruments. While millions of ordinary Americans cannot find a decent job and our nation’s economy sputters, the Wall Street bankers still make gobs of money, the multinational corporations are as profitable as ever and their political friends in Washington sit on top of stuffed campaign coffers. Capital is liquid. Without restrictions money flows to where it can earn the highest returns, regardless of any burden its flow inflicts on those left behind, or the hardship inflicted upon the humans who will toil to create the return on that newly placed capital. If a corporation can build a factory in a Third World country where workers are not organized, wages are low and the cost of worker safety and environmental protections are nil and still sell its products here and in other wealthy countries, it will do so. The executives who decide to take capital to remote locations suffer no personal hardship from the fact that a factory that could have been built in America won’t be — or a factory that was in America will be closed and replaced by a Third World site. This is equally true of Wall Street bankers. It makes no difference to them if a factory in Iowa is closed and the lives of the well-paid workers there are destroyed so that their multinational corporate client can build a replacement factory in Bangladesh. The rapacious bankers pocket the same huge fees for raising the capital required to fund the replacement factory regardless of where it is built, the new workers are located or what happens to the American workers left in the dust. Over two million American manufacturing jobs have been lost to overseas sites in recent years. No one can count how many jobs that could have been created here have not been. Over time a nefarious bargain was struck between the politicians and financial interests that helped lead to our present predicament. Republicans — doing the bidding of Wall Street and their corporate masters — pushed relentlessly for “free trade” agreements, the real purpose of which was to facilitate replacement of American manufacturing facilities with cheap overseas production. It happened with steel and auto workers and their supply chains; the clothing and carpet manufacturers — the garment workers — you can go on and on. The Americans who held these good jobs were thrown away. But the Wall Street bankers and corporate executives enjoy even better lives than before. They benefit from goods being manufactured in Third World countries. That boosts the profits they use to pay themselves excessive salaries and outlandish bonuses. Unfortunately, Democrats who were in a position to prevent the actions that gutted our manufacturing base did not do so. The “enterprise” Democrats who serve Wall Street and corporate interests went along with these disastrous policies. Republicans in turn tolerated the massive growth of the Democratic favorites Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This furthered the Democratic goal of fostering increasing home ownership by lower income people and had the convenient impact of benefiting the bankers who made gargantuan profits by packaging up tons of dubious mortgages being generated by the housing boom and peddling them to pension funds all over the world. This arrangement also benefited the corporate-financial complex as the gigantic housing bubble masked the true negative economic impact of America’s diminishing manufacturing base resulting from the globalization they wanted. The bankers made gobs of money from financing industrial relocation to the Third World and home mortgage securitization. The campaign coffers of their political enablers were kept filled. But then the music stopped. There were only so many houses to be built and sold with 100% mortgages to under-qualified buyers. When the house of cards collapsed the financial system imploded and came to the edge of a complete collapse. The United States and most of the world plunged into the worst economic decline in the past 50 years. Unemployment here skyrocketed to 10%. Over eight million jobs were lost. Unemployment is really over 20% when the millions of other workers who are so defeated they have given up looking for a job are figured in. The Wall Street banks, of course, were rescued by their Washington allies who funneled hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to them to save them from the “free market” consequences of their own greedy folly. The world’s central bankers also responded by flooding banking systems with liquidity – “free” money in unlimited amounts to the bankers. The economic decline was stabilized — at least enough to prevent a repeat of the Great Depression of the 1930s — for now. But look at the end result. The “bailed-out” Wall Street banks are making tons of money again – but not by lending to American businesses to stimulate economic recovery here — but by arbitraging the money “loaned” them by the government at near 0% into interest-paying government bonds — pocketing billions of dollars in risk-free profits and then paying themselves gargantuan bonuses. Multinational corporate profits are back at record levels. The politicians who arranged for the bank bailout and serve these again prospering financial and corporate interests are having no difficulty filling their campaign chests. But where are the jobs? Where are the new factories? What about ordinary people? America remains a great nation and the vast majority of its citizens, even though they vehemently disagree with each other on many issues, love their country. Their allegiance is unquestioned. But I don’t think that’s true of a great many of the masters of capital that reside here. Their real allegiance is not to any country, but to mammon. These bankers and corporate CEOs are “men and women of the world.” If the legal and economic rules of the game permit them to make more money for themselves at the cost of ordinary Americans, they will do so. While they may sit in office towers here, their ultimate economic commitment is not to our country or its workers — their loyalty is to lining their own pockets, regardless of the impact on ordinary Americans. To be fair to them — they are really the obliging tools of capitalism’s “invisible hand” — if the incentives permit, indeed favor, the flow of capital to places that hurt the American economy — then so be it. It’s the incentives as much as the people. These harsh words only reflect the reality of raw capitalism. Capitalism was never meant to be pretty or kind. Unregulated, it allocates capital — and the jobs and the wealth that flow from capital — in an efficient (ruthless) manner, inexorably seeking the lowest cost of production so as to obtain the highest return. The enormous improvements in computer technology, transportation and communications that have “shrunk the globe” in recent decades have served to greatly emphasize this aspect of under-regulated capitalism — and accelerate its harmful impact on our developed, regulated economy, with its attendant worker and environmental protections, i.e., costs. For many years, we created buffers to protect our people from the impact of unregulated free-market capitalism. And, in the not-too-distant past, we had countless numbers of manufacturing facilities, which employed workers who received good wages and benefits – either because they were organized or were collateral beneficiaries of a large, organized American workforce that “raised the bar” for all. And it was those factories and those workers who time and again helped the American economy recover from inevitable periodic economic downturns. But no more. Often major trends unfold in front of us but we do not recognize them. America is stagnating — at the tipping point of heading toward becoming a Second — even a Third World country. Much of the anger we see among people in our country is because they sense it. Bad news for them — and their children. But grieve not for the financial and corporate elite – even in the worst Third World countries, the economic elite survive — they thrive — behind gates and guards in enclaves of luxurious wealth. So it may be in the post-industrial America. Our factories are gone. Our recovery is anemic. Our economy has suffered structural damage in the name of globalization, which has benefited only the economic elite. But what do they really care if America is in decline? These “people of the world” will continue to profit, no matter that the economic policies they use their power to achieve come at the expense of millions of loyal, ordinary Americans, who are but pawns in a bigger game of international economic exploitation.

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Video: Google’s Mayer Says Tablets Are `Wave of the Future’: Video

September 30, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products for Google Inc., talks about prospects for tablet computers. Mayer also discusses mobile search and advertising. She speaks from the TechCrunch conference in San Francisco with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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RBC Raises 1B In Bond Sale

September 30, 2010

Royal Bank of Canada has raised 1 billion in a sale of senior mediumterm notes

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Omega Healthcare Raises 225M

September 30, 2010

Omega Healthcare Investors has raised 225 million in a sale of senior notes in the 144a private placement market

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Logans Roadhouse Sells 355M In Notes

September 30, 2010

Logans Roadhouse and Roadhouse Financing have raised 355 million in a sale of notes

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Liberty Mutual Defers 122B IPO

September 30, 2010

Liberty Mutual Group has postponed the initial public offering of Liberty Mutual Agency its property and casualty insurance arm

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BlackRock Unveils Fixed Income ETF

September 30, 2010

BlackRock Asset Management Canada has unveiled a new fixed income iShares exchangetraded fund

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Video: Bedi Says Small Companies Facing Distressed Debt Market: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Varun Bedi, chief investment officer at Tenex Capital Management, talks about the outlook for corporate restructurings and the hurdles faced by smaller companies. Bedi speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Ellen Smith: OIG: MSHA’s Regulatory Failures Stem From Consistent Lack Of Leadership

September 29, 2010

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration’s failure to improve the safety standards of repeat offenders results from a systemic lack of focus and leadership that spans decades, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of the Inspector General. MSHA has not successfully exercised its Pattern Of Violations, or POV, authority in 32 years, the OIG report concludes, owing in part to a lack of coherent departmental priorities and directives. The inspector general noted that the limited POV process currently in place has long been “unreliable,” adding that the criteria of an actionable complaint were often “complex and lacked a supportable rationale.” The audit also concluded that MSHA did not monitor the implementation of mine operators’ POV corrective action plans; that logic errors caused unreliable results from MSHA’s POV computer application; that tests identified no deficiencies in the reliability of data MSHA used for POV screening; and that delays in testing rock dust samples could cause delays in identifying safety hazards. The IG said it made 10 recommendations to the Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health. OIG said: In summary, we recommended that MSHA re-evaluate current POV regulations; seek stakeholders input in developing new, transparent POV criteria; use system development life cycle techniques in creating any new POV related computer applications; and re-evaluate the standard for timely completion of laboratory tests. The full report and complete story will be included with the next edition of Mine Safety and Health News.

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Video: Otto Sees Spending Power of Chinese Consumers Increasing: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Melissa Otto, director of TIAA-CREF Investment Management, talks about China’s economy and consumers. Otto also discusses Japan’s economy. She speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Lefkofsky Says Chicago `Overlooked’ as Tech Community: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, co-founders of Lightbank, talk about their venture capital fund that invests in technology startups in an effort to create an environment similar to Silicon Valley in Chicago. Keywell and Lefkofsky speak with Carol Massar and Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Bill Singer: Insider Trading: Frequent Flyers, Potatoes and Macy’s

September 29, 2010

On March 25, 2010, BrokeAndBroker.com published a detailed analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission v. Igor Poteroba, Aleksey Koval and Alexander Vorobiev (SDNY March 24, 2010), available here , which alleged that Defendant Igor Poteroba, a high-ranking investment banker in UBS Securities LLC’s Global Healthcare Group in New York City, tipped his friend Defendant Aleksey Koval with highly confidential inside information about impending transactions involving pharmaceutical companies. Koval, who held positions at securities industry firms at the time, then traded in stocks and options of the companies targeted for acquisition. Koval also tipped their friend Defendant Alexander Vorobiev, who traded ahead of four of the deals. On September 21, 2010, a judgment was entered by consent against Poteroba, permanently enjoining him from future violations of Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3 thereunder, in a civil action entitled Securities and Exchange Commission v. Igor Poteroba, et al., Civil Action Number 1:10-CV-2667, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. On September 28, 2010, the SEC announced that Defendant Poteroba settled its charges against him, without admitting or denying the findings. In the Matter of Igor Poteroba, Respondent .(Order Instituting Administrative Proceedings Pursuant to Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 203(f) of the Investment Advisers Acto of 1940, Making Findings and Imposing Remedial Sanctions,Exchange Act Rel. No. 62999 / Investment Advisers Act Release No. 3089 / Administrative Proceeding File 3-14071, September 28, 2010). Pursuant to that settlement, Poteroba is barred from association with any broker, dealer, or investment adviser. Click here for more information. See my March 2010 article immediately below for background: Insider Trading: Frequent Flyers, Potatoes and Macy’s Written: March 25, 2010 http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=346 THE SEC CASE On March 24, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged in a Complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that Defendant Igor Poteroba, a high-ranking investment banker in UBS Securities LLC’s Global Healthcare Group in New York City, tipped his friend Defendant Aleksey Koval with highly confidential inside information about impending transactions involving pharmaceutical companies. Koval, who held positions at securities industry firms at the time, then traded in stocks and options of the companies targeted for acquisition. Koval also tipped their friend Defendant Alexander Vorobiev, who traded ahead of four of the deals. The SEC further alleges that some of the insider trading was conducted through brokerage accounts held in the names of Tatiana Vorobieva (Vorobiev’s wife) and Anjali Walter (Koval’s wife) and that portions of the proceeds from the illicit trading were received by Vorobieva and Walter. Accordingly, Vorobieva and Walter are named as Relief Defendants to recover investor assets now in their possession. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Igor Poteroba, Aleksey Koval and Alexander Vorobiev (SDNY March 24, 2010) http://sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2010/comp-pr2010-44.pdf The Defendants Igor Poteroba , age 36, is a resident of Darien, Connecticut. He was born in Moscow, Russia, is a Russian citizen, and has green card immigration status. During the relevant period, Poteroba has been an investment banker in the Healthcare Group of UBS, where he has been employed since 1999. Since 2006 he was an Executive Director of the Healthcare Group. Aleksey Koval (a/k/a Alexei Koval), age 36, was a resident of Pasadena, California from mid-2006 through mid-2009. He was born in Kemerovo, Russia, is a Russian citizen, and has green card immigration status. From June 2000 until January 2006, he was employed by Citigroup Asset Management, a registered broker-dealer and investment adviser. From January 2006 until his termination in March 2009, Koval was employed by Western Asset Management, a registered investment adviser and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Legg Mason, Inc. Koval is currently employed with Northern Trust Bank in Chicago, Illinois. Alexander Vorobiev , age 34, is believed currently to reside in Russia and is a Russian citizen. From April 2001 through May 2008, Vorobiev resided in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Relief Defendants Anjali Walter , age 35, is the wife of Koval and her last known address was in Pasadena, California. Tatiana Vorobieva , age 33, is the wife of Vorobiev. Her last known address was in Toronto, Ontario, but she is believed to currently reside in Russia. She is a Russian citizen. Prior Relationships Among Defendants Poteroba, Koval, and Vorobiev have known each other for more than ten years. Poteroba, Koval, and Vorobiev were born in Russia; Koval and Vorobiev were both born in the city of Kemerovo. Between 1992 and 1997, Poteroba, Koval, and Vorobiev attended the University of New Haven, in New Haven, Connecticut as undergraduates. Poteroba graduated in 1995, Koval left in 1996, and Vorobiev graduated in 1997. Poteroba and Koval shared a common residence address during part of this time. Between 1995 and 1998, Poteroba and Koval were enrolled in the MBA program at Baruch College in New York City. Poteroba received his MBA degree in 1997, and Koval received his the following year. At various times between 1997 through 2008, Vorobiev has used as his mailing address a number of the residences in New York and New Jersey where Poteroba and Koval resided, together or separately. Trading Accounts From at least 2005 to the present, Koval traded in the tipped securities in an on-line brokerage account maintained in Vorobiev’s name. This account was initially maintained at RushTrade Securities. RushTrade acquired Terra Nova Financial, LLC in 2006, and named the combined entity Terra Nova Financial (hereinafter, both RushTrade and Terra Nova are collectively referred to as “Terra Nova”). The account records for Vorobiev’s brokerage account at Terra Nova (the “Terra Nova Account”) show that Koval has never been formally authorized to trade in Vorobiev’s Terra Nova Account. Despite this, on numerous occasions over a period of at least four years, Koval has accessed the Terra Nova Account and executed trades in the tipped securities. Since 2005, both Vorobiev and Koval have transferred funds into and out of the Terra Nova Account. Further, from January 2008 to the present, Koval has withdrawn a total of nearly $125,000 in regular monthly withdrawals from Vorobiev’s Terra Nova Account. Targeted Companies Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ID Biomedical Corp. Molecular Devices Corp. ViaCell, Inc. Radiation Therapy Services, Inc. Datascope Corp. Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Sciele Pharma, Inc. Indevus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. PharmaNet Development Group, Inc. UBS’s Healthcare Group was retained by one of the parties as a financial adviser in ten of the eleven Business Combinations identified in the Complaint, and in regard to the eleventh Business Combination, UBS sought, but ultimately failed, to be retained as an adviser to one of the participating entities. The Complaint alleges that the insider trading netted approximately $1 million in illicit profits by trading ahead of at least 11 mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate deals. The Not-So Clever Code Among the means of communication allegedly used to illegally tip and trade on the inside information were coded e-mail messages that referred to securities and money as “frequent flyer miles” and “potatoes.” They coded one e-mail exchange about insider trading as a discussion about a Macy’s wedding registry. Frequent Flyer Miles : The SEC alleges that the scheme began as early as July 2005 when Poteroba illegally tipped Koval in advance of the acquisition of Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. by MGI Pharma. Poteroba later sent a coded e-mail to Koval about the insider trading opportunity, signaling that Poteroba had previously given money to Koval and wanted to use those funds in this transaction: Poteroba : Keep me posted as to how * * * [m]any frequent flier miles you’ve got this far and how many you plan to get by Friday[.] Will be in Boston tomorrow[.] Plans for a trip look fine so far[.] Worst case we can get a refund by Monday, hopefully we do not[.] Koval : As I mentioned, I just got into this frequent flyer program. I got five thousand of sign-in bonus miles but thinking maybe if I fly often, I will get additional three to five K miles. Poteroba : On the frequent flyer program topic you mentioned, I think you should sign up for another flight, if you can, since they are providing bonus mileage soon[.] According to the SEC’s Complaint, Koval wired $5,000 into a brokerage account of Vorobiev that had been inactive for nearly six months. Koval then bought 2,100 shares of Guilford stock in the account at a total cost of $4,983. Both monetary amounts are consistent with the amount of 5,000 “sign-in bonus miles” referred to in the coded e-mails. A few days later, Koval wired an additional $4,800 into Vorobiev’s account and purchased an additional 2,030 shares of Guilford stock at a cost of $4,780. The money transfer and subsequent stock purchases are consistent with Koval’s coded statement that he “will get additional three to five K miles.” On July 21, 2005, Guilford publicly announced that it would be acquired by MGI Pharma, and Guilford’s stock closed 41 percent higher than the increase over the prior day’s closing price. That same day, Koval and Vorobiev sold most or all of the Guilford stock in their accounts as well as Guilford shares in a brokerage account in the name of Vorobiev’s wife. Potatoes : Allegedly, after Poteroba illegally tipped Koval with material, nonpublic information concerning ID Biomedical Corporation’s plans to be acquired, they exchanged instructions by referring to money as potatoes: Subject Line : Potatoes Poteroba : Let me know if you finished your recent harvest arrangements and how many kilos are available for my parents. They are in Turkey now and could use some once they are back. Koval : This year the potato yield was not as high as the last one. Whatever is collected is now being transported in the warehouse, with special climate conditions, from where it is going to be available for delivery. My estimates are about 6.8 kilo per square yard. …Of course, some potato [sic] need to be left for the next year [sic] seeds [sic] but it should not be a concern since I have a vendor who will provide enough once the spring comes. According to the SEC’s Complaint, the “6.8 kilo” figure is an approximate reference to $7,000 that had been wired out of a brokerage account two weeks earlier and subsequently returned. Macy’s : While allegedly conducting insider trading based on material, nonpublic information about an acquisition involving Molecular Devices Corporation, the following emails referencing a Macy’s wedding registry were exchanged: Subject Line : Let me know if you’ve started your wedding registry at Macy’s Poteroba : Happy to talk about sales items and etc. … sale ends soon …so hurry up. Koval : Yep, I have set it up. Better do it now when they have [a] sale. I could not believe how many things one needs once engaged. Single life was much easier if you ask me. It is always [a] good idea to know about coupons available. I try to follow up on the rebates programs currently in place but often miss many due to lack of time. Thanks for pointing it out to me. … Although wedding day is not yet announced, I hope to get all the important items ahead of time: I even started buying small things that [are] usually not important until you need them. Poteroba : Good points…sale ends on Friday…see if you can get registered for as many items as possible…more you get now…more you save…We should start tracking these events more actively. According to the SEC’s Complaint, Poteroba and Koval exchanged the coded messages to signal that Koval should purchase Molecular securities (“get registered for as many items as possible”) and that the opportunity to buy Molecular securities prior to the public announcement would last until Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 (“sale ends on Friday”). Charges The SEC’s Complaint charges Poteroba, Koval, and Vorobiev with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10-b5 thereunder, the general antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, and Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act and Rule 14e-3 thereunder, the tender offer fraud provisions. The Commission seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of illicit profits with prejudgment interest, and the imposition of financial penalties against the defendants, and disgorgement of illicit profits with prejudgment interest from the relief defendants. Please remember that the above allegations are merely that, and all Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. THE CRIMINAL CASE On March 24, 2010, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the arrests of Igor Poteroba and Alexei P. Koval for their alleged participation in an insider trading scheme. As set forth in a four-count criminal Complaint, from 2005 through at least February 2009, Poteroba allegedly agreed to leak confidential information about UBS and six of itsclients to Koval. See, http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/March10/poteroboigoretalcomplaintpr.pdf The information related to forthcoming announcements about mergers or acquisitions involving the following six publicly traded healthcare companies: Guilford Phar maceuticals, Inc., Molecular Devices Corporation, PharmaNetDevelopment Group, Inc., Via Cell, Inc., MillenniumPharmaceuticals, Inc., and Indevus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(collectively, the “Healthcare Companies”). In violation of his duties of trust and confidence, Poteroba allegedly disclosed the UBS Inside Information to Koval, who in turn disclosed the UBS Inside Information to another co-conspirator(“CC-1″). Koval, CC-1, and others earned total profits of at least approximately $870,000 from the scheme. Poteroba and Koval each are charged with one count ofconspiracy to commit securities fraud and three counts of securities fraud. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of the greater of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or gross loss fromthe offense. Each securities fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $5 million. Please remember that the above allegations are merely that, and all Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty . Given my role as a prominent critic of ineffective Wall Street regulation, it is all the more important that I avoid being merely a shrill voice that consistently but unfairly criticizes. Without question,the SEC Staff in Poteroba has done a superb job in drafting the Complaint and setting forth in compelling detail its case. Similarly, I compliment Preet Bharara and his staff for the presentation of their criminal case, and I would note the the US Attorney’s Office for the SDNY has been consistently outstanding in its handling of Wall Street misconduct under Mr. Bharara’s tenure. There are two critical goals inherent in regulating Wall Street. One, regulation must educate the public about the con artists and con games that seek to prey upon the unsuspecting. Two, regulation must educate the industry as to what happened, how it was detected, and suggest remedial measures to prevent a recurrence. For too many years, Wall Street’s regulators have not achieved those goals. Perhaps, in the face of public outrage, the tide is turning? The signs are encouraging but it’s still too early to tell. As I have often noted in the BrokeAndBroker Blog , Wall Street’s regulation is too often a game of hide-and-seek rather than a helpful roadmap. Modern day regulation is often typified by imprecise language, poorly drafted complaints and regulations, and an over-abundance of publicity-seeking bosses who steal the limelight from their hard working staff. When I see regulators espousing the highest standards of professionalism, as evidenced in the SEC’s and the US Attorney’s respective Poteroba cases, I am encouraged that maybe, just maybe, there is hope. Please, keep up the good work.

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Video: John Frisbie Says House China Legislation Is `Wrong’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — John Frisbie, president of the U.S. China Business Council, talks about the outlook for U.S. legislation aimed at prodding China to raise the value of its currency. Frisbie says the bill is the “wrong way” to get China to revalue the yuan. He talks with Carol Massar and Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart”. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Themis’s Saluzzi Calls China Currency Bill `Reactionary’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC, talks about U.S. legislation aimed at prodding China to raise the value of its currency. The bill was passed in the U.S. House today with bipartisan support. Saluzzi also discusses the outlook for U.S. stocks. He talks with Carol Massar, Matt Miller, Adam Johnson and Dominic Chu on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” Steve Quirk of TD Ameritrade also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg)

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State Department Readies Billions For Mercenaries, Despite Hillary Clinton’s Pledge: Wired

September 29, 2010

Get ready to meet America’s new mercenaries. They could be the same as the old ones. Two State Department sources who requested anonymity say a new multi-billion contract for private security firms to protect diplomats is “about to drop.” And one winner could well be Blackwater, or whatever it’s calling itself these days. So much for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s one-time campaign pledge to ban “Blackwater and other private mercenary firms.” Neither source would say which private security firms have won the four-year contract or how much it will ultimately be worth. The last Worldwide Protective Services contract, awarded in 2005, went to Blackwater, Triple Canopy and DynCorp. Rough estimates place that contract’s value at $2.2 billion.

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Congress Investigating BP’s Role In Lockerbie Bomber Case

September 29, 2010

WASHINGTON — Scotland’s prognosis that the Lockerbie bomber had three months to live was not justified, medical experts told Congress on Wednesday, and a senator questioned whether the process was deliberately manipulated to pave the way for the bomber’s release from prison last year. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence for the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people on board, most of them Americans, and 11 people on the ground. Suffering from advanced prostate cancer, al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds in August 2009 by Scotland’s government. He returned to Libya, outraging people on both sides of the Atlantic. He is still alive. “The release on compassionate grounds was deeply, deeply flawed and perhaps even intentionally skewed to allow for al-Megrahi’s release,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairing a Foreign Relations Committee hearing. The panel is investigating whether the British-based oil company BP had sought his freedom to help get a $900 million exploration agreement with Libya off the ground. Senators have been rebuffed in their attempts to get outgoing BP CEO Tony Hayward to testify. The medical experts said that a man who had only three months to live wouldn’t have been able to walk up and down stairs without assistance, as al-Megrahi did last year when boarding a plane for Libya and then disembarking to a hero’s welcome. Menendez said his investigative staffer uncovered conflicting accounts of al-Megrahi’s treatment prior to his release. According to the senator, al-Megrahi stated last year that he had not received chemotherapy – and medical records released by Scotland didn’t say he received that treatment. But Menendez said that a Scottish official, George Burgess, told his staffer that al-Megrahi started chemotherapy in July 2009. “I’m not sure which version of the Scottish government’s story to believe, but I do know one thing – the discrepancy raises a number of questions, including why the information was not forthcoming,” he said. Menendez also said that the prognosis was made by al-Megrahi’s primary care physician, who didn’t have the expertise to determine how advanced the cancer was. The Scottish government rebutted both claims. “The senator’s staffer has got both these issues entirely wrong, and the Senate committee is misinformed – we wrote to the committee yesterday informing them of these errors when we became aware of them, and expressing our extreme disappointment,” the government said in a statement. The prognosis was made by Dr. Andrew Fraser, director of health and care of the Scottish Prison Service, according to the statement, which said that Fraser “is a professional of impeccable integrity.” The government also said that al-Megrahi was not on chemotherapy at any point during his time in Scotland. “Officials met Sen. Menendez’s staffer as a courtesy, and we demand a full explanation from the committee for what has happened in a response to our letter as a matter of urgency,” the statement said. Menendez’s office provided The Associated Press with the staffer’s notes from his meeting with Scottish officials, including Burgess and Kevin Pringle, the spokesman for the first minister. The notes say that Burgess confirmed that Dr. Peter Kay, al-Megrahi’s primary care physician, made the prognosis. “I note that Pringle was very uncomfortable after Burgess made this statement and instead insisted that Dr. Fraser had made the prognosis,” the staffer’s notes say. “Burgess then became nervous and tried to retract what he had said.” The notes also say, “Burgess confirmed that al-Megrahi received chemotherapy in July 2009. That is a first.” The question about chemotherapy is not an academic one: Dr. James Mohler, chairman of the Urology Department at the Roswell Park Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y., told the committee that someone undertaking new active treatments wouldn’t have been given three months to live. Menendez’s office also provided e-mail exchanges with Scottish officials that show the Senate staffer vainly tried to arrange meetings with doctors who were involved with al-Megrahi’s care. Meanwhile, a State Department official told the committee that a review of government records found no evidence that BP sought al-Megrahi’s release. Nancy McEldowney, a principal deputy assistant secretary, told lawmakers that the State Department has “not identified any further materials, beyond publicly available statements and correspondence, concerning attempts by BP or other companies to influence matters” related to al-Megrahi’s release. BP has acknowledged that it had urged the British government to sign a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, but stressed it didn’t specify al-Megrahi’s case. McEldowney noted that in 1998, the U.S. and U.K. wrote a letter to the U.N. secretary general, outlining an agreement for al-Megrahi and another suspect, Amin Khalifa Fhimah, to be tried before a Scottish court established in the Netherlands. Al-Megrahi was convicted but Fhimah was acquitted. The letter stated, “If found guilty, the two accused will serve their sentence in the United Kingdom.” She said that back then, the U.S. sought binding assurances that would happen, but the British countered that they couldn’t legally bind the hands of future governments. “But it was our very clear understanding that we had a political commitment that Megrahi’s transfer to Libya would not happen,” she said. “We proceeded on the basis of the understanding that while at some point in the future it might be a theoretical possibility, in practice it would never happen.”

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Steve Parker: Mitsubishi’s 2010 Outlander Off-Roader a Serious Vehicle

September 29, 2010

It’s cool when a car-maker consistently rides the big ones, surfing the next wave upon wave of technology while still trying to keep some of their corporate heritage in the mix. It takes planning and super engineering skills. Those of you who read me regularly (and thanks, by the way!) might know I feel there are three true engineering companies mixed-in among the Asian car-makers. Those would be Honda, Mazda … and Mitsubishi. And Mitsubishi has done it again with their Outlander crossover, appearing first in Japan in 2001 and now in its second-generation of manufacture. For over a week we lived, worked and drove (and moved!) in the Outlander SE and it acquitted itself more than professionally. It even demonstrated, as we’ve found more and more with Mitsu cars and crossovers, a quotient of fun which the company obviously works hard to develop and include in their vehicles. Outlander SE looks great, has one of the best interiors Mitsu has ever brought to these shores and weighs in at just a tick over 3,500 pounds (3,600 with the available third row of seats). “Adding lightness” to our Outlander were a lot of high-tech, lightweight parts and the kind of attention to detail you’ll find only from an engineering company which also happens to make cars and trucks. Those parts include large ones (like the entire roof panel) and small bits and pieces, like the magnesium paddle shifters for its six-speed CVT. And aluminum makes up most of the entire engine, a 2.4 liter I4 double overhead camshaft affair producing 168 horses and 167 foot pounds of torque. And we’re not talking McLaren-level attention to weight loss, but about a test car which cost well under $30,000 with most optional equipment included in the bottom-line price, and EPA estimates of between 21 and 25 mpg. I never came close to that kind of mileage, and the reason was typical for this segment: Our Outlander was desperately under-powered. Using the shift paddles or the gate shifter for maximum launch (and even keeping up with long uphills at freeway speeds) was more than just exciting and fun; too often, it was a necessity. Now, a bit more of a lesson on “why to get the bigger engine.” XLS and GT Outlander models get a 3 liter single overhead cam unit making a much more respectable 230 horsepower and 215 pounds of torquie-ness. And those models weigh only about 200 pounds more than our SE tester and ES base model, so a shopper has to seriously consider stepping-up to the V6 at buying time. Getting the big engine and best AWD system when it’s time to buy will have those units almost always pay for themselves when it comes to trade-in time. Speaking of real off-roading, one of the best Outlander features is a locking four-wheel drive system which gets the same amount of torque and horsepower to all four wheels. This gives the vehicle (and driver and family) the best chance of making it through the deepest, sloppiest stuff on earth and headed towards the freeway and home. This feature, while it makes so much sense on paper and seems like it should be almost a given for any off-roader, is rarely found these days because of its cost and complexity and weight (three things car-makers try to avoid at all costs … to save costs). Its near-universal absence reminds us why CVT transmissions are almost the majority of auto-shifting units found even on off-roaders. When you run into a real four-wheel drive system like the one available on Outlander, respect it … and the company which includes it on their rock-crawler. I think this 4WD system by itself is going to sell a lot of Outlanders. But has anyone ever heard of something called a manual transmission? Might be worth a try … Overall 4-banger SE performance is tepid; Outlander looks a lot better than it goes. With the now-standard-issue Audi-like grille and rear LED exterior lighting, this Mitsubishi is just different enough to claim a spot in your memory. Some critics may say it’s all a bit too much and too busy to feel truly “comfortable” and to be easy on the eyes. But that’s why styling criticism is always a purely objective exercise. Inside, switchgear was where it should be and there was little time necessary to “learn” Outlander; it all felt quite natural and comfortable. On the same note, gauges were large, well-lit and easy to read. HVAC, audio and other system controls were nicely intuitive and felt correct as far as position and ease of use. And there’s plenty of interior room. All Outlander models have the same 72.6 cubic feet of stowage space, measuring the area behind the front seats. Boy, this is starting to get a little boring, isn’t it? Don’t worry … I’m about to tell some insider stories and things’ll pick right up. You know how it goes with me … Just hang in there, ok? Imagine how I feel … I wrote this stuff! The suspension is nicely engineered for both on- and off-road travel and Mitsu has tried to keep the horsepower/torque numbers in usable ranges. But when you start out underpowered to begin with, it’s hard to make up that deficit no matter how nice and hip the inside and outside might look. I’d trade 30 more horsepower for some of Outlander’s flashy “surface excitement” in a second if it were possible (and Mitsu folks — it is possible, and your buyers might really like it!). And the interior, by crossover and especially Mitsu standards, is excellent. Colors and comfort feel good inside Outlander; there’s more leather stitched-in than ever before, the seating is much better than in the past and you can take long off-road excursions, and you can get out of the car without feeling like those ol’ kidney stones have come back. And the available third row of seating is as comfortable as it would be in any vehicle this size (which means: not much, anyway). And if you get the idea that Mitsu interiors have long been considered among the weakest in the business, you’d be right. By those standards, Outlander has bypassed previous Mitsu interiors by, literally, leaps and bounds. They’re finally hitting on all 4 (or 6). When I was an editor at Petersen’s Four Wheel Off-Road, way back in 1980, one of the perennial favorite trucks around the office was the Mitsubishi Montero, perhaps the closest thing to a real Jeep ever made by any Asian car company (well, if you don’t count Toyota’s blatant rip-off of the Land Rover/Range Rover, which the Toyota boys called the Land Cruiser). Damn rugged, good-looking and a survivalist of the first degree, Montero quickly gained a solid reputation among the “real guys” of off-roading, the kind of folks who drove from Orange County out to Joshua Tree by themselves and started the sport of rock climbing … on wheels. Tough guys in tough trucks. In fact, one of my first solo four-wheel lock excursions was taking a Montero through a dry riverbed which ran through Joshua Tree (Google it) for about 20 miles or so and provided just about every off-road challenge and escapade possible for dirt rookies and veterans alike. I was a little tired and shaken when it was all over, but avoided any flat tires, damaged sheet metal (except for a few scratches from creosote bushes and the like) but man, was I ever impressed! It’s those kinds of experiences which make driving so damn rewarding and unforgettable (in case any of you were wondering why some of us like driving so much). By the way, in those days, locking the front hubs meant literally stopping the truck, getting out and manually twisting the wheel hubs and physically locking them into position. No automatic push-button controls in those days, my friends. As James Brown would have said then: This is a man’s world! One of off-roading’s classic experiences way back when was ending the four-wheel drive segment of the trip and getting back onto hard pavement, headed, naturally, for the nearest In ‘N Out Burger. And forgetting to unlock the front hubs. Man, those things made noises you couldn’t imagine! But Outlander, which, while not as tough as the real-truck Montero, has a lot of the spirit and features of that original truck which established Mitsubishi as an off-road power (Montero, aka Pajero in some markets, is still the winningest truck ever in the history of the Paris/Dakar Rally, the event the Pope himself decried as murderous and uncivilized … but, apart from Ferrari and F1, just what does he know about motor racing?). How different is 2010 from 1980 when it comes to off-roaders? Today, Mitsubishi doesn’t offer any true trucks for the dirt sports, only their two crossovers; Outlander is the smaller one and Endeavor is the larger (with starting pricing around $30K). Outlander base prices at right about the $20K level. Montero was so popular (it saw four generations of new models) that Dodge took a chance on the two-door model, selling it domestically as the Dodge Raider (and those of you who knew that from memory, without having to Google or Wiki it, get a free bear claw and cup’a coffee at the next early Saturday morning trucker gathering … just tell the folks at the donut stand I said it’s okay and they should hand it over). The two-door, with its short wheelbase, was directly comparable, many said, to the classic Jeep CJ (aka Wrangler) with its go-anywhere attitude, style and capability. Raider existed for just three seasons, from 1987 through ’89. Remember, these were still the days when a US car-maker selling a rebadged Japan-made car or truck was not exactly politically correct. It was taking a chance on Dodge’s part but ultimately I think everyone was glad they did it. I don’t know if we’ll be saying the same thing in 30 years about the Outlander, but in a world of too-alike and too-boring crossovers, with overwrought interiors all trying to out-velour each other, Outlander is a fun, good-looking, safe and capable off-roader with the kind of true four-wheel drive system which almost no one offers anymore. And at a more than reasonable price, too.

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Video: U.S. Stocks Fall on European Debt, Bank Profit Concerns: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Courtney Donohoe reports on the performance of the U.S. equity market today. U.S. stocks fell, trimming the best September rally for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1939, amid concern that Europe’s debt crisis will worsen and the profit outlook for banks and retailers is deteriorating. Bloomberg Pimm Fox also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Sharing The Pain Of Layoffs Means Losing Fewer Jobs

September 29, 2010

(This is Idea No. 6 in Huffington Post’s ongoing America Needs Jobs series; see the introduction .) Recessions are brutal on people — and particularly on workers who have been laid off from their jobs. It’s not just the loss of income, it’s also the emotional trauma. And studies show that even those who find work again never fully bounce back. Similarly, when the recession ends and sales go back up again, companies that laid people off have to deal with considerable hiring and training costs. So wouldn’t it be great if there was some way to limit the number of people who got laid off, even in a deep recession? As it happens, there is. It’s called work sharing. Economists widely consider it an obvious solution. Some 17 states do it already. And yet for some reason, it’s never seriously entered the public’s consciousness or the public-policy arena. The details of work sharing vary, but the basic idea is that rather than lay off a portion of their work force, employers would reduce the hours of all workers. And a special Unemployment Insurance program would make up some or all of the workers’ lost income. “Doing work-share so reduces the human cost of a recession,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute. “I think it’s a real no-brainer.” And fortunately, it’s not too late for work share programs to make a difference in this recession. Although, at long last, more jobs are being created than lost, there are still plenty of people getting laid off. There are still about 465,000 new unemployment claims each week ; and according to the latest labor turnover survey , there were 2.1 million layoffs in July. “They’re still very high,” Shierholz told HuffPost. “There’s still something we could do if we could implement something like this.” But, she said, there’s no denying the missed opportunity. “This is the one that makes me bang my head against the wall the most that it didn’t happen on a big scale.” In a report the for the Center on Law and Social Policy, policy analyst Neil Ridley summarized the benefits of work sharing this way. It: • Helps workers keep their jobs, maintain their benefits and continue to build their skills and experience while the overall labor market is weak. • Offers distinct advantages for entry-level and less experienced workers who are especially vulnerable if a layoff occurs. • Enables employers to keep the workforce intact and retain skilled employees, greatly reducing the costs of recruitment and training when the economy recovers. • Benefits the government by keeping more people employed and productive. And, he noted: There are additional reasons to encourage work sharing. A modest reduction in earnings spread across a large pool of workers is less likely to result in the significant hardships that jobless workers and their families may experience. Also, as employers become familiar with and participate in the program over time, they may adopt more thoughtful and responsible approaches to layoffs. One of the foremost proponents of work sharing is Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. He wrote in his Huffington Post blog : This logic is as simple as it gets. The process is also quick and cheap. In principle, the government can go this route to save jobs at a cost of a bit more than $20,000 per job — far less than the cost per job saved through the stimulus package. Germany has used this policy to keep its unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, about the same as it was before the recession. Imagine if workers in the United States, like workers in Germany, were dealing with the recession by putting in four-day weeks (while getting paid for five) or getting an extra two weeks of paid vacation. This sure beats being unemployed. Boston College sociology professor Juliet Schor points out that the idea has appeal across the political spectrum : The politics of work sharing are encouraging for their broader application in the U.S. Such programs are cost-neutral for badly-stretched unemployment insurance funds, so they don’t run afoul of anti-spending sentiment. Though they have historically been associated with the progressive side of the fence, they appear ideologically neutral. For example, Ben Bernanke has given them his seal of approval and businesses often like them because they save on re-hiring costs. They are also, rightly, perceived as fair — rather than concentrating the pain of unemployment in a small number of people, they allow it to be shared equally. In the parlance of the day, they’re generally considered to be win-wins. Actually, as Schor notes, there’s a third win. And it’s a big one: Reducing work hours improves work-life balance for many overworked, overstressed employees. Americans frequently report that what they most sense to be missing from their lives is the time necessary to enjoy them; research on well-being also indicates that adequate time is at the core of a healthy, happy life. Overworked employees report more family tension, less happiness, and more stress. This is a particular problem for Americans, who work between 100 and 350 more hours each year than workers in comparably wealthy countries. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) last year introduced a bill that would provide federal funding for work-share programs and simplify the application rules. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) did the same in the House. Kevin A. Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, is a fan. Referring to it as the German government calls it — “Kurzabeit” or “short work” — he told the House Committee on Financial Services in February: The economic argument in favor of such a policy is powerful. When a recession strikes, firms are faced with a dilemma: sales and profits are down, and many workers are idle. But finding skilled workers is costly and time-consuming, involving large fixed costs. If a firm fires workers, it may incur large hiring and training costs when the recession ends and sales turn back up. Thus, a firm would prefer, all else equal, to hoard labor during a recession. Firms might well prefer to respond to a 20 percent cut in sales by reducing everyone’s work by 20 percent. That way, employees remain part of the firm, and ramping up production is less costly down the road. Hassett said there was support for the program “from both sides of the aisle” and he added: “For me, the strongest argument for work sharing is that blacks bear a disproportionate share of layoffs, so slowing layoffs through expanded work sharing will benefit them the most.” But neither the House nor Senate version made it out of committee. The only thing job sharing doesn’t have, apparently, is political mojo. Maybe it’s because it somehow clashes with the American attachment to the Puritan work ethic. But for whatever reason, it’s been a political nonstarter for decades. In 1989, the late senator and progressive hero Eugene McCarthy and William McGaughey wrote a book pushing the idea of a shorter work week to create more jobs. They wrote: This book is written in support of proposals to reduce work time in order to improve employment opportunities. It is written in defense of leisure, both as a component of living standards and as a stimulus to real and meaningful use of consumer products. Shorter work hours promise a better life to the contemporary American family, where increasingly both husband and wife must work to make ends meet or where a single adult householder bears the entire burden of such responsibilities alone. They are a means to full employment, improved income distribution, and a stronger consumer market. The pursuit of shorter hours is embodied in the best traditions of organized labor. And McCarthy recalled how, back in 1959, he tried and failed to get such a proposal through the Special Committee on Unemployment that he chaired. “In retrospect,” he wrote, “it is clear that the failure to reduce work schedules as unemployment rose was a significant policy mistake.” AND ONE IDEA FROM YOU READERS Several readers have e-mailed me to suggest another job-creation measure that involves worker hours: Making overtime much more expensive for employers. One step could be to simply increase overtime pay. J. William Thomas of Hartford, NY., suggested raising it to triple time, “in order to move large corporations towards hiring more people instead of abusing the overtime laws.” Reader Liam Hon from Seattle, who credited his father with the idea, suggested rolling back a 2004 law the Bush administration pushed through Congress, which barred an estimated six million workers from receiving overtime pay. “This went mostly under the radar, but it basically added a large chunk of workers to the category of exempt for overtime claims who had formerly been in the non-exempt category,” Hon wrote. “What this meant/means is that more companies were/are able to push workers in to longer hours, which enables them to be more productive with fewer workers. Not needing to pay these workers overtime provides a disincentive to hiring additional workers to fill the demand.” Indeed, as Richard Grabowski of McKinleyville, CA, wrote: “The primary reason for overtime laws was to create jobs. If an employer has to pay 1.5 to 2.5 as much per hour as hiring a new employee, then they have a very strong incentive to hire more employees.” ************************* NEXT IN THE AMERICA NEEDS JOBS SERIES: Getting Tough With China (Want to learn more about the series? Read the overview . Got an idea you think we may have overlooked? Email froomkin@huffingtonpost.com . ) ************************* Dan Froomkin is senior Washington correspondent for the Huffington Post. You can send him an e-mail , bookmark his page ; subscribe to RSS feed , follow him on Twitter , friend him on Facebook , and/or become a fan and get e-mail alerts when he writes.

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Video: Femina Says Goldman Sachs Ads Make Them `Sound Weak’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Jerry Della Femina, chairman and chief executive officer of Della Femina/Jeary and Partners, talks about Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s advertising campaign. Femina speaks with Matt Miller and Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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JPMorgan Suspends Certain Foreclosures As Doubts Grow Over Legality

September 29, 2010

Even as August saw more Americans lose their homes to foreclosure than in any other month on record, there are growing concerns over the legality of many of those proceedings. JPMorgan Chase has suspended legal proceedings on “certain” foreclosures, due to concerns about the validity of the foreclosure documents, a spokesman for the bank told CNBC Wednesday (hat tip to Zero Hedge ). JPMorgan spokesman Tom Kelly confirmed to the AP Wednesday that “employees signed some affidavits about loan documents without personally verifying the files.” The decision is the latest signal of a potentially massive stall in the nation’s foreclosure process. Last week, after GMAC Mortgage halted its foreclosures in 23 states , the Washington Post reported that one of GMAC’s employees hadn’t read the roughly 10,000 foreclosure documents he approved each month (and now Colorado wants to be added to that list of states). It then turned out that the “robo signer” might not have been alone. This week, the controversy extended to JPMorgan Chase, as lawyers for a Florida homeowner challenged the person’s JPMorgan foreclosure , citing a May statement from an executive for the bank who said she didn’t properly review foreclosure documents before approving them. Zero Hedge, for what it’s worth, sees this as the beginning of a larger unraveling in the country’s foreclosure process. Indeed, regardless of what JPMorgan determines during its review, the freeze will throw countless foreclosures into doubt. As Bloomberg noted this week, delays in foreclosure proceedings would cripple the already wounded housing market.

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Video: Bloomberg’s Foley Sees Rise in Energy Acquisitions: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Brett Foley and Cristina Alesci talk with Melissa Long about the outlook for global mergers and acquisitions. Dealmaking staged a comeback in the third quarter, with a jump in multibillion-dollar takeovers putting this year on pace to surpass 2009. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Beverly Blair Harzog: Top 5 Credit Card Books to Download on Your Kindle

September 29, 2010

The interest in eBooks is on the rise. And why not? If you love to read, reading a book on Kindle is a great way to indulge your passion while spending less money than you would at the bookstore. Reading books on Kindle also fits in with our on-the-go lifestyles. Whether you’re on a business trip or sitting in a carpool lane, you can pick out a book and be reading within minutes. There are some great books about credit cards that you can read on Kindle . Take a look at my top five picks: 1. Reduce Debt, Reduce Stress: Real Life Solutions for Solving Your Credit Crisis by Gerri Detweiler, Nancy Castleman, and Marc Eisenson (Good Advice Press, 2010; Kindle edition, $9.99). Are you stressed about your credit card debt? Unfortunately, many people find themselves in this situation nowadays. The economy may be technically recovering, but many folks are still trying to come back from financial losses suffered during the recession. This book just came out last month and the timing couldn’t be better. In this book, you get solid advice about topics such as how to get out of debt, how to spot debt-reduction scams and how to avoid bankruptcy mistakes. And the authors’ “debt triage” strategy is a must-read for those feeling overwhelmed with debt. 2. Your Credit Score, Your Money & What’s at Stake: How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future by Liz Pulliam Weston (FT Press, 2009; Kindle version $9.99) This book was originally written in 2007 and it has now been updated to include advice on how to survive in our “post-economic crisis” world. This book is for anyone who wants to understand what makes up their credit score. In today’s economy, your credit score is more important than ever, so now’s the time to get a handle on it. Credit scores always seem a little mysterious, especially since there’s more than one scoring system out there. But this book is written in a straight-forward style that makes this complex topic easy to understand. Another helpful read by Weston that’s inexpensive ($1.59!), is How to Get the Best of Your Credit Cards (FT Press, 2010). It’s cheap because it’s just an excerpt from Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life (also a good read about personal finance, in general). Still, if you want to learn more about credit cards, this is a great way to get a lot of information in a small dose. 3. How You Can Profit from Credit Cards: Using Credit to Improve Your Financial Life and Bottom Line by Curtis E. Arnold (FT Press, 2008; Kindle edition, $9.99) This stellar book, written by CardRatings.com founder and consumer advocate Curtis Arnold, is a useful guide for savvy credit card holders. If you pay off your credit card bills every month, you’re a candidate to profit from your credit cards. This book goes beyond the obvious advice — use rewards cards when possible! — and gives insider details on how to make real money from your cards. You’ll also get tips on how to decipher credit reports, understand your credit score, slash debt, and more. And especially helpful is the chapter about how to capitalize on future credit card trends. 4. Money 911: Your Most Pressing Money Questions by Jean Chatzky (Harper Paperbacks, 2009; Kindle version, $9.99) If you’re feeling pressure from your credit card debt, this is another good book with sound advice. It answers questions such as which credit cards to pay off first, whether you should consolidate your debts and if you need credit counseling. Once you get answers to your urgent questions, the book guides you into a look at money and your life. Here, Chatzky gives insight about overall money management. The goal is to get to a state of financial well-being so that skilled money management becomes a way of life. 5. The Skinny on Credit Cards: How to Master the Credit Card Game by Jim Randel (RAND publishing, 2009, $9.99) If you’re interested in increasing your credit card I.Q., this witty book is a great place to start. There really aren’t enough books out there that give you the no-nonsense facts about credit cards like this book does. Randel gives us a glimpse into the lives of “Billy and Beth,” a typical young couple who have gotten themselves into credit card debt. This book aims to educate you about the “game” of credit cards and it successfully hits the mark.

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Video: Bloomberg’s Stein Says Financial Crisis Aided Vanguard: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Charles Stein talks to Mark Crumpton and Julie Hyman about the shift by investors into index funds that helped Vanguard Group Inc. snatch the No. 1 ranking as the largest U.S. mutual-fund company by assets from Fidelity Investments. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Palma Says Yuan Legislation Like `Giant Game of Chicken’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Jeff Palma, global equity strategist at UBS AG, talks about U.S. legislation designed to prod China to raise the value of its currency. Palma, speaking with Matt Miller and Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart,” also discusses his investment strategy and the U.S. stock market. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Fed Officials Clash Over How To Fix The Economy

September 29, 2010

WASHINGTON — Divisions within the Federal Reserve over how to pump up the economy and lower unemployment came into sharper view Wednesday. Three Fed officials squared off in competing speeches over how much help would come from one likely next step – buying more government debt. Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, argued that such an effort may not help the economy much. Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, made a similar point. But, Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said Fed policymakers must do what they can to bring some more relief. The Fed delivered a strong signal last week at its meeting that it was prepared to act if the economy weakened. High on the list of unconventional tools is buying more government debt, known as quantitative easing. The goal is to force down rates on consumer and businesses loans even more to get Americans to boost their spending. Doing so, would help the economy. In their speeches, Kocherlakota and Plosser expressed skepticism that quantitative easing would drive down rates nearly as much as such efforts did during the recession and financial crisis. Because financial markets are in better shape now than during the crisis, the difference between the rates on super-safe Treasury securities and rates on other consumer and business loans has narrowed. “I suspect that it will be somewhat more challenging for the Fed to impact them,” Kocherlakota said. A new debt-buying program “would have a more muted effect,” he concluded. Plosser said: “Monetary policy is not a magic elixir that can solve every economic ill.” However, Rosengren said buying more government debt could benefit the economy, and therefore should be considered. “It is important that policymakers be open to implementing policies” that are aimed at lowering unemployment and preventing inflation from getting too low, which could put the country at risk of deflation, he said in a speech in New York. Many economists believe the Fed is likely to announce action when it wraps up a two-day meeting on Nov. 3, the day after the congressional midterm elections. Although the Fed has yet to coalesce around a specific plan, one idea put forward by James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is gaining closer scrutiny. Under Bullard’s approach, the Fed would initially buy a moderate amount of government bonds – perhaps in the range of $100 billion or less. After that, the Fed would review the economic climate at each meeting and decide whether it needs to buy more government bonds to bolster the recovery. That would allow the Fed to avoid making the kind of upfront commitment to buy government debt on a large scale in the trillion-dollar range. It also could ease concerns among some Fed officials about carrying out the type of large-scale interventions seen during the recession. The Fed ended up buying a total of roughly $1.7 trillion of mortgage securities and debt, as well as government bonds, during the recession. Another big buying binge would complicate the Fed’s efforts later on to unwind all its stimulus. There are also concerns that another large-scale effort could spark inflation later on or trigger a wave of speculative buying that could create bubbles in the prices of bonds or commodities or other assets. On Wednesday, the three Fed presidents in their speeches weighed the pros and cons of buying government debt in general, rather than the specific Bullard proposal. Rosengren is currently a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee – the group, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, that makes decisions on interest rates and other policies that influence economic activity. Kocherlakota and Plosser will both be voting members next year, although they participate in the Fed meetings and debates over policy moves. Kocherlakota spoke in London, while Plosser spoke in New Jersey.

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Video: Hodges Says Small-Cap Stocks More Volatile, Likes Retail: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Craig Hodges, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management Inc., talks with Bloomberg’s Melissa Long and Dominic Chu about the performance of small-capitalization stocks and investment strategy for his Hodges Small Cap Fund. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Alfred Gingold: THE WEASEL BLINKS

September 29, 2010

Readers of my previous recent posts know that my wife and I are locked in combat with our mortgage bank, which persists in creating false penalties to add to our mortgage bill. Last week, the day after the receipt from our certified letter to Jamie Dimon returned to us, we received a voice mail from Heather Yomboro of the Chase Home Finance Executive Office. Actually, she lavished two calls on us, which we couldn’t return until the next day, by which time a Fedex from Heather had appeared under our door to the effect that if she did not hear back from us, Chase would assume the matter closed. After three months of studiously ignoring us, the Weasel demands action. In 2008, the last time we wrote to Mr. Dimon, the fixer assigned to our case came from the Chase Executive Resolution Committee, which still sounds to me like a branch of the East German Secret Police, and indeed, our fixer would’ve been right at home in the Stasi, her humorless manner balanced between cool politesse and infuriating snottiness. Fortunately, I noticed that she bristled at being called Ma’am, so I called her Ma’am every chance I got. Chase’s Executive Office must be a pleasanter place that its Executive Resolution Committee; at least Heather Yomboro is a good deal pleasanter than Ms. Stasi was. She bore the good news that our September mortgage payment was finally accepted and our fraudulent late penalties removed. To our astonishment, she apologized on behalf of the bank for sticking us with the neighbor’s water bill and acknowledged that the Tax Department “jumped the gun” on our July tax payment, paying it before it was due so we could be escrowed for being late. I pointed out that this is not the first time Chase has pulled this stunt, not even the second. She apologized for that too. Apologized! Be still my heart. But even if Heather Yomboro is pleasant and courteous, she is still a Chase employee, so I was wary. And it turned out that the real reason for her call was that the bank is out of pocket for those improper tax payments. The NYC Tax Office, bless its stony heart, won’t return their dough, simply crediting the funds toward our tax bill. So, Heather said, we must return those funds to Chase. Alternatively, she suggested, we could call the NYC Tax Office and persuade them to return Chase’s money, then pay in our taxes ourselves. Not a chance. Can you imagine the length of the phone tree I’d have to wait through in order to plead the bank’s case? Well, Heather opined, “the real problem here is that the city won’t return our money to us.” I reminded her that the real problem here is her employer’s relentless greed and procedural sloppiness. Heather reminded me that, heck, a bank is really nothing more than a group of individuals who occasionally make, you know, mistakes. If you say so, Heather, although I’m inclined to see your bank, at least, as a sinister cadre of weasels devoted to nicking every penny it can get by tooth, claw or sleaze. I told Heather that before we would even consider paying Chase the money it can’t get back from the city, we require a written statement of what we had discussed, included a listing of the various ways the bank attempted to defraud us: the water bill, the premature tax payment, the cooked up penalties. She agreed readily. That was six days ago and no such letter has arrived. However, Chase did send us a check for eighteen bucks, compensation for the certified letters we sent to Jamie et al. I’d mentioned the cost of those letters to Heather and that our other attempt to get Chase’s attention had failed. They sent us the check without even a receipt from us (good thing too because I still can’t find it). It was a nice gesture, much more convincing than the Weasel’s customary sign-off, which graces this letter too: “Chase’s goal is to provide the highest level of quality service.” Nice, but I doubt the sincerity. As a public service, we offer some advice for all who have issues with Chase Home Weasel: Don’t bother with the indifferent lugnuts of Customer Care or the unscrupulous bean-counters of the Tax Department. Write directly to Jamie Dimon himself, certified mail. In our experience, it’s the only way there is to get the bank’s attention, and he’s probably got time on his hands now that he’s sold his house. Here’s his contact info: Jamie Dimon JP Morgan Chase & Co. 270 Park Avenue New York, NY 10017 jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com Phone: 212-270-1111 Fax : 212-270-1121 Meanwhile, we await Chase’s next missive while, of course, paying our mortgage on time.

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OneShield Expansion Leads to Key Hire and Promotion

September 29, 2010

WESTBOROUGH, MA–(Marketwire – September 29, 2010) –   OneShield, Inc. , the developer of OneShield Dragon ®, an innovatively modern, rules- and tools-based, data-driven policy management solution, is pleased to announce the promotion of Heather Peacock to executive vice president, client delivery and services, and the addition of David Squibb to the company as senior vice president, sales and marketing.

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Video: Weiner Says a LinkedIn IPO Would Help With Acquisitions: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Jeff Weiner, chief executive officer of LinkedIn Corp., talks with Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman about the outlook for the company. Weiner, who speaks from the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, also discusses the prospects of an initial public offering for LinkedIn. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Kathie Lingle: Isaac Newton: Obstacle to Work-Life Progress

September 29, 2010

Okay, I am aware that though he’s been dead for 283 years, Sir Isaac Newton is widely considered the greatest scientist that ever walked the earth. He invented calculus, the reflecting telescope, and gravity (well, he didn’t actually invent gravity, but was the first to explain how it operates). Because of that, you can add his name to those of Eve, William Tell and Snow White, all of whom had highly charged relationships with apples. And let us not forget his three laws of motion. But I know something about him that you don’t: Newton’s legacy is hazardous to our collective well-being. I have been silent about my radical Newton theory for a long time, even though I am convinced that it completes the answer to the most important question posed to work-life proponents, “If work-life intervention is as beneficial for all stakeholders as you say it is, why the resistance after all these years? Surely everyone everywhere should get it by now?!” Indeed they would if it weren’t for Newton and his mechanistic view of the world. On this seventh anniversary of my organization’s launch of National Work and Family Month , I am emboldened to share my unconventional thinking, boldly claiming that the business case for work-life has been adequately nailed. And that the key to full acceptance lies not in more data but in modern – not Newtonian – thinking. It all boils down to the difference between classical Newtonian mechanics and contemporary quantum physics. (Focus. This is not as difficult as it sounds!) Here is the problem in a nutshell: Modern science is, well, modern . An open, dynamic, ever-changing system, full of energy fields, quanta, quarks, black holes, Big Bang, strange attractors and virtual reality. But our organizational thinking remains anchored in 300-year-old, outmoded scientific principles that fail to explain how the social world actually works. And whose fault is this? Newton’s! Among other misapplications, Newton’s concept of inertia was applied to people, giving rise to the idea that workers inevitably wind down like mechanical clocks if not whipped into activity by ever-vigilant supervisors. I am not alone in challenging the 300-year hegemony of Newton’s principles. Scientifically, he was overturned by Einstein a century ago, as detailed in an article in the Science Times . More recently, a Dutch scientist, Dr. Erik Verlinde, has been sticking his professional neck out by asserting that gravity isn’t a force, as Newton claimed. It’s simply a “byproduct of nature’s propensity to maximize disorder.” It turns out he may be the bravest among a number of physicists who think science has been looking at gravity the wrong way. What has riveted my attention is the fact that although Newton’s science has been continually debated and challenged, his legacy in the social/organizational realm has remained stubbornly intact. The result? We live and function in a quantum age, yet a surprising number of organizations and systems remain entrenched in Industrial Age concepts — the kind that keep us stuck in old, outmoded ways of thinking, managing and behaving. Indeed, the kind of concepts that happen to be the antithesis of work-life practice. As a profession, we are quantum thinkers and doers. Take a quick look at the contrast between the two modes; I bet you will feel a stronger affinity with the second set of descriptors. The implications are profound. When you start poking around the edges of quantum theory you will discover as I have that our philosophical underpinnings (such as why “balance” is neither a desirable nor even an achievable state; the infinitely renewable nature of energy vs. the static, finite nature of time ; a holistic view of interdependent systems) are rooted in today’s scientific principles. Newtonian Mechanics in a Quantum Age Industrial Age Concepts: Newton’s law of mechanics Entropy Things, pieces, parts Control, predictability Caretaker of order Things in place (rigid, structure of boxes, lines, silos, roles) Hierarchy (ladder) Equilibrium Quantum Age Concepts: Quantum physics Flexibility, agility, resilience Interrelated, holistic systems Surprise, innovation, change Facilitator of disorder Things coming together (relationships, dynamic fields of energy, unfolding) No unimportant players Chaos and strange actors Bottom line: I’m suggesting that we banish Newton from the boardroom. It’s time for us to spread the word that everything in our universe (and beyond) organizes itself according to quantum principles: our bodies, clouds, broccoli, ferns, every form of matter. Everything except the way we work , which is precisely where we are most stuck. This will be our next big opportunity and challenge. If scientists are on the verge of proving that gravity doesn’t exist, surely we can topple the concepts of time and place as relevant metrics of the output of labor. Then perhaps we can permanently end the resistance to work-life progress .

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Video: Khosla Sees New Tech Startups With `Emotional Appeal’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, talks with Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman about the future of technology startups, the outlook for the biofuels market and investment opportunities. Khosla speaks from the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: David Mann Expects China’s Yuan to Appreciate Gradually: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — David Mann, senior strategist at Standard Chartered Plc, talks with Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman and Mark Crumpton about China’s policy on the yuan. Mann also discusses his expectations for the euro and Japan’s intervention on the value of the yen. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Bank of America May Cut More Than 20 Prop Trading Jobs: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank, is eliminating between 20 and 30 proprietary trading jobs to comply with Volcker rule limits on banks trading their own capital, according to a person briefed on the decision. Bloomberg’s Christine Harper reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Iceland’s Haarde Says Indictment Charges Are `Absurd’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Iceland’s former Prime Minister Geir Haarde, the first political leader to be indicted for mismanagement of economic affairs during the financial crisis, talks with Bloomberg’s Mark Crumpton about the nation’s banking failure in 2008 that led to criminal charges against him. Parliament voted 33 to 30 to charge Haarde, who was prime minister from 2006 until the beginning of 2009, in Reykjavik yesterday. The indictment is the first time a special court set up in 1905 to hear such cases will be convened. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Hawaii Technology Company Adama Materials, Inc. Gets $4.7 Million Venture Investment

September 29, 2010

HONOLULU, HI–(Marketwire – September 29, 2010) –  Adama Materials, Inc., a developer of nanotechnology-based advanced materials, announced today that it has completed a $4.75 million Series A equity financing led by Artiman Ventures, along with Startup Capital Ventures, the company’s founders and a group of Hawaii-based angel investors including Cellular Bioengineering Inc.

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Video: Zakhilwal Says Mining Could Make Afghanistan Prosperous: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Afghanistan Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal talks about mining investment in Afghanistan’s natural resources, and the bidding process for rights to develop one of its richest known mineral fields. Zakhilwal, speaking with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness,” also discusses the outlook for the country’s banking industry. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Levkovich Says China Currency Bill `More Bark Than Bite’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup Inc., discusses his investment strategy in U.S. stocks and the implications of legislation seeking to push China into raising the value of its currency. Levkovich talks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Smule(TM) Names Chief Marketing Officer

September 29, 2010

Jodi Ropert Joins Management Team Bringing Extensive Global Marketing Leadership

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Meredith Whitney: Next Financial Crisis To Come From Local Government Defaults

September 29, 2010

The next major financial crisis could come from a crisis in local government budgets, according to a new report from analyst Meredith Whitney. State budgets were over-extended in the years leading up to the recent financial crisis, Whitney says, as relayed by this Fortune piece. The situation is so bad that states are spending 27 percent more than they’re earning in taxes. The state fiscal situation may be dismal, but Whitney’s thesis says that a future crisis won’t be cause by states directly, since they have a safety net from the federal government. Instead, the local municipalities — cities and towns — which, as Felix Salmon points out, are financially dependent on the states, would default on their debt. “The state situation reminded me so much of the banks pre-crisis,” Whitney told CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo Tuesday. In 2007, Whitney predicted doom for Citigroup and was immediately vindicated when the bank’s stock price fell and the then-CEO Chuck Prince resigned. “The similarities between the states and the banks are extreme, to the extent that states have been spending dramatically, growing leverage dramatically. Muni debt has doubled since 2000, but spending has also grown way faster than revenue,” Whitney told CNBC. States, most of which are constitutionally required to have balanced budgets, have paid for this spending by using money that would otherwise have gone to pension funds, Whitney, who is CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, said. “You borrow from future dollars to benefit the present, basically generational robbery,” she told CNBC. The worst states, according to the 600-page report, are California, New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio. The best, with the most conservative fiscal policies, are Texas, Virginia and Washington.

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Video: McCracken Calls Sale of AIG’s Japan Units a `Good Deal’: Video

September 29, 2010

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Jeffrey McCracken talks about American International Group Inc. possibly reaching a deal as soon as today to sell two Japanese life insurance units to Prudential Financial Inc. for about $4.8 billion in cash. McCracken speaks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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IMG Appoints Tom Florio Senior Advisor for Fashion to the Office of the Chairman

September 29, 2010

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – September 29, 2010) – IMG Worldwide, the global sports and media company, announced today the appointment of Tom Florio to a newly created position of Senior Advisor for Fashion to the Office of the Chairman, effective October 1, 2010.

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