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Business News
for 12/21/2008

(last updated 7:30am EST 12/21/2008)

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• Detroit's woes go beyond auto industry Detroit's woes go beyond auto industry
12/20/2008
One measure of how tough times are in the Motor City: Some of the offenders in jail don't want to be released; some who do get out promptly re-offend to head back where there's heat, health care and three meals a day. (15 h ago)

• Ripples of Madoff scandal spread everywh... Ripples of Madoff scandal spread everywhere
12/20/2008
The scale of the Madoff scandal can be measured in widening ripples — from a group helping just-released inmates find jobs to another working to provide fresh food in poor neighborhoods. (15 h ago)

• Foundation to shut down, blames Madoff Foundation to shut down, blames Madoff
12/20/2008
One of the nation's leading educational philanthropies announced that it would close in the coming months, brought down by the alleged financial fraud orchestrated by Bernard Madoff. (21 h ago)

• Schwarzenegger orders big payroll cuts Schwarzenegger orders big payroll cuts
12/20/2008
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered a state hiring freeze and payroll cuts to conserve cash as California struggles to deal with a $42 billion budget deficit. (1 d ago)

• For UAW, sacrifice or surrender? For UAW, sacrifice or surrender?
12/20/2008
With the announcement of the federal loan deal, the once-powerful United Auto Workers found itself being forced into concessions that some described as tantamount to surrender. (1 d ago)

• Newsweek: The key to Obama's economic te... Newsweek: The key to Obama's economic team
12/20/2008
He's probably the least-noted of Barack Obama's new financial regulatory police, but Dan Tarullo may end up having the most impact. Think of Tarullo as the anti-Greenspan; he's far from you run-of-the-mill Fed official. (1 d ago)

• Bailout shifts again; floodgates could o... Bailout shifts again; floodgates could open
12/19/2008
The White House said Friday that Congress needs to free up the second half of the $700 billion federal bailout, setting the stage for a scramble among a wide range of industries. (1 d ago)

• Stocks close mixed amid auto bailout Stocks close mixed amid auto bailout
12/19/2008
Stock prices fluctuated Friday, as investors remained wary about whether the $17.4 billion bailout money will make a lasting difference for the beleaguered auto industry. (1 d ago)

• Newsweek: Shopaholics face dilemma in do... Newsweek: Shopaholics face dilemma in downturn
12/19/2008
During a recession, does a compulsive shopper learn to curb his behavior, or does it just make spending habits worse? (1 d ago)

• Bailout offers brief reprieve for Big 3 Bailout offers brief reprieve for Big 3
12/19/2008
The Bush administration threw U.S. automakers a $17.4 billion lifeline Friday, but the carmakers face a challenge in reaching tough union concessions that are required. (1 d ago)

• Madoff ordered to produce accounting Madoff ordered to produce accounting
12/19/2008
Disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff has been ordered to provide a written list by the end of the year of his assets and liabilities, a key step in finding what is left for investors. (1 d ago)

• Oil gains on auto deal, stronger dollar Oil gains on auto deal, stronger dollar
12/19/2008
Oil prices stabilized Friday as the White House's $17.4 billion auto industry rescue package gave Wall Street a boost and the dollar strengthened against the euro. (1 d ago)

• U.S. hits China with trade violation cas... U.S. hits China with trade violation case
12/19/2008
The Bush administration has filed a trade case against China over its use of export subsidies to promote Chinese products. (1 d ago)

• Madoff whistleblower went unheeded for y... Madoff whistleblower went unheeded for years
12/19/2008
His repeated warnings that Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff was running a giant Ponzi scheme have cast Harry Markopolos as an unheeded prophet. (1 d ago)

• For 2008, one story, countless angles For 2008, one story, countless angles
12/19/2008
Every year we reporters and editors gather in our smokeless newsrooms to debate the top stories of the year. This year, on the business desk at least, there was no need for debate. (1 d ago)

• Panasonic to buy Sanyo in $9 billion dea... Panasonic to buy Sanyo in $9 billion deal
12/19/2008
Panasonic will acquire rival Japanese electronics maker Sanyo for up to $9 billion (800 billion yen) through a public tender offer. (1 d ago)

• 'Angel' of foreclosure defense bedevils ... 'Angel' of foreclosure defense bedevils lenders
12/19/2008
Amid the mortgage meltdown, Jacksonville, Fla., legal aid attorney April Charney has become a top expert in foreclosure defense. Mostly, she says, lenders have hung themselves. (2 d ago)

• Obama picks signal tighter market oversi... Obama picks signal tighter market oversight
12/18/2008
President-elect Barack Obama is turning to seasoned pros for the Herculean task of overhauling the way the U.S. regulates its financial system. (2 d ago)

• Grim choice: Walking away from a mortgag... Grim choice: Walking away from a mortgage
12/18/2008
Walking away from a mortgage has always been a homeowner's last resort, but more may choose to do it as home prices continue to fall. (2 d ago)

• Red Tape Chronicles: Credit card reforms... Red Tape Chronicles: Credit card reforms ... someday
12/18/2008
Red Tape Chronicles: New rules are good for consumers, but why wait until 2010? (2 d ago)

• Canada Agrees to Its Own Auto Bailout Canada Agrees to Its Own Auto Bailout
12/20/2008
The governments of Canada and its Ontario province offered the industry 4 billion Canadian dollars in emergency loans. (7 h ago)

• At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item
12/20/2008
Corruption helped to build Siemens, but also cost it $1.6 billion, the largest fine for bribery in modern corporate history. (8 h ago)

• Japan Proposes Record Budget to Bolster ... Japan Proposes Record Budget to Bolster Economy
12/20/2008
Japan’s budget will balloon to a record high next year as the government embarks on a spending spree to battle an ever-deepening recession. (13 h ago)

• A Payoff Out of Poverty? A Payoff Out of Poverty?
12/20/2008
For a decade, Mexico has offered assistance to the poor on the condition that they visit clinics, attend workshops and keep their kids in school. Can that system work here? (14 h ago)

• Revelation Rocks Bank in Ireland Revelation Rocks Bank in Ireland
12/19/2008
A major Irish bank was shaken by the revelation of 87 million euros in undisclosed personal loans to the bank’s chairman. (1 d ago)

• News Analysis: Japan Offers a Possible R... News Analysis: Japan Offers a Possible Road Map for U.S. Economy
12/19/2008
The United States is turning to the same sorts of policy tools Japan used for most of the last decade. (1 d ago)

• Wal-Mart Bids for Chilean Supermarket Ch... Wal-Mart Bids for Chilean Supermarket Chain
12/19/2008
The offer sets Wal-Mart up to gain a major foothold in one of Latin America’s most competitive retail markets. (1 d ago)

• Off the Charts: Foreign Investors Trade ... Off the Charts: Foreign Investors Trade Safe for Safest
12/19/2008
Despite U.S. backing, bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have skeptics. (1 d ago)

• Panasonic Seeks Major Stake in Sanyo Panasonic Seeks Major Stake in Sanyo
12/19/2008
The electronics maker will offer up to $9 billion to take control of a smaller rival. (1 d ago)

• Banks Try New Ways to Handle Bonuses Banks Try New Ways to Handle Bonuses
12/19/2008
In a Wall Street bonus season unlike any other, banks are shrinking bonuses and using novel payments to deflect public hostility. (1 d ago)

• After 30 Years, Economic Perils on China... After 30 Years, Economic Perils on China’s Path
12/19/2008
Chinese leaders are facing a new era in which Deng Xiaoping’s export-led economic model faces challenges. (2 d ago)

• Slackening Demand Lets Oil Fall to Four-... Slackening Demand Lets Oil Fall to Four-Year Low
12/19/2008
Oil prices fell to their lowest levels in more than four years, even after OPEC said it would cut production. (2 d ago)

• British Airways and Qantas End Talks British Airways and Qantas End Talks
12/18/2008
Australia’s flagship carrier, Qantas Airways, and British Airways have ended talks on a merger valued at $6 billion, saying they could not agree on terms of the deal. (2 d ago)

• BNP Paribas Suspends Takeover of Fortis BNP Paribas Suspends Takeover of Fortis
12/18/2008
A court ruling ends the bank’s chances of closing the deal quickly for the Belgian financial services concern. (2 d ago)

• Prison Term for Parmalat’s Founder Prison Term for Parmalat’s Founder
12/18/2008
Calisto Tanzi was convicted Thursday of market rigging and other charges in the 2003 collapse of the company and sentenced to 10 years in prison. (2 d ago)

• Britons who fled in search of French idy... Britons who fled in search of French idyll feel the pain of the pound's fall
12/20/2008
It has long been the stuff of dreams, of bestselling books and sometimes even of profit. The British love of France has led tens of thousands to cross the Channel in search of a better quality of life, a ruin to renovate, or simply to snap up a cheap second home. But the expatriate community has become the latest casualty of recession, with a ruinous exchange rate biting into the rural idylls of the French countryside just as it has in the "Little England" retirement enclaves of Spain and Portugal. "Cheaper" France is vanishing as the pound slips closer to the rising euro, raising food, wine and energy costs, while devaluing the incomes of those getting wages or pensions from the UK. "We're all doomed," said Linda Norton, who lives near Cherbourg in Normandy. "If we can't grow it, we won't be eating it next year." Expats are returning to Britain in their droves, selling houses or leaving them on an increasingly stagnant property or holiday rental market, while sales of homes to UK buyers are down by 50% in some areas. More than 200,000 British passport holders are registered as resident in France, with more than 100,000 owning second homes and countless others unregistered. The most popular areas are Dordogne, Normandy and, since the Channel tunnel opened, Pas de Calais. There, just 80 minutes' drive from Calais, surrounded by patchwork flat fields, is the village of Capelle-lès-Hesdin, population a little over 400. It has just three shops; the general store, the butcher's and the local computer wizard. Under an icy blue winter sky, the Roziers' farm looks idyllic: picturesque orange tiled roofs, blue shutters and whitewashed walls. The farmhouse, stable block with tower, huge wood-framed barn and two neat gite apartments frame a vast gravelled courtyard. Chickens, ducks and friendly dogs wander. Tara and Gary Rozier were a typical London career couple, respectively a nurse and a lawyer, living in a small flat and bringing home £4,000 a month, but "somehow I was still living on my overdraft", said Tara. Now they raise daughters Hannah, five, and Katie, three, in the countryside, running their gites and growing their own vegetables. Both have made huge efforts to learn the language and integrate into the village and, while they fear the numbers of British visitors might dry up, they are not going back. "We know people who have had to sell up," said Gary, 39. "But if we wanted to sell who is going to pay what it's worth except someone who was going to run a gite?" They hope that Brits who would normally go further afield will still brave the exchange rate to come to northern France. "It's still half the price Devon or Cornwall," said Tara. A few minutes down the road from the Roziers live Kate and Mark Graves with their daughters Royan, 13, and Ciara, 11. They came from Maidstone, Kent, looking for a better quality of family life and have restored an old house with two small self-catering apartments. "We found it," said Kate smiling. But the exchange rate is hitting them hard because Mark, 39, a chartered surveyor, is one of an army of cross-Channel commuters. He mostly works from home, but travels weekly to his office outside London and is paid in sterling. "I've lost €20,000 just in salary this year," he said. To cut costs, the couple have stopped using their central heating and rely on a wood-burning stove for warmth and won't be going back to the UK to visit family over Christmas. "It's a shame," said Kate, 37, "but we have to cut our cloth. The idea of cheap France has gone. We're not going back like other people we know, though. Anyway, we probably couldn't sell this house, so we'd be stuffed. There are so many English second homes up for sale." One of the second-home owners of Capelle-lès-Hesdin, where ferry prices are discussed more intensely than house prices, is Jill Ribbons, 63. She bought her detached, modern house with her sister and spends around a third of the year there, the remainder at her home in Surrey. The retired immigration officer was philosophical about currency fluctuations. "The British expect things to be done for us, it's that nanny state, we'll be looked after and nothing bad can happen mentality, so everyone is so shocked when it does," she said. "I feel you shouldn't be here moaning about it. We came out here and bought their houses cheap, so to then start complaining is a bit crass. We took advantage. We had everything so smooth for so long." It's a sentiment Michael Gibson, 67, recognises. He has lived in France for 11 years. "The exchange rate is biting hard - people came to France because life here was cheaper. They could buy an old ruin with a bit of land, keep animals and grow vegetables. To earn a living, they could look after gite change-overs and maisons secondaires. It was a sort of self-perpetuating merry-go-round. That was then, this is now. The merry-go-round has become a vicious circle. Those of us reliant on pensions are economising where we can. Fewer shopping trips, wine, newspapers." George and Iris Belsham, a retired couple, are cutting out their daily English newspaper. They left their village near Canterbury for Capelle-lès-Hesdin when developers began building more houses and groups of teenagers began to hang around the local shop. "Here, the kids are behind doors at night," said Iris, a former PA. "France was cheaper, quiet and friendly," said George, 76, a former lorry driver. They don't speak much French, but live happily with their five cats, although they are cutting back on eating out. They know some drastic belt tightening may be ahead. Iris has stopped looking up the exchange rate each morning: "It's too depressing," she said. The French, too, are worrying that the British invasion is in retreat. Retired primary teacher Annie Lombardet came to Capelle-lès-Hesdin from Paris with husband, Andres, five years ago. The couple renovated a large 17th-century farmhouse and turned it into a gite But there are no bookings after the new year. Lombardet said: "I'm not usually pessimistic, but it looks very bad. British people have always loved France and I think it is a pleasure to have them but we will see less, that's for sure." France Currencies guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Mandelson rules out early rescue for Jag... Mandelson rules out early rescue for Jaguar
12/20/2008
Peter Mandelson threw cold water on prospects for an early government bailout of Jaguar Land Rover last night, saying that the company's Indian owners must "look to their own resources" and "pass tough tests" before any rescue would be considered. The business secretary's remarks to the Observer, coming only hours after the Labour peer Lord Bhattacharyya suggested that a £667m rescue was imminent, were echoed even more strongly by another senior government source. "We are not an ATM machine," he said. The stern messages came in spite of mounting political pressure on the government to provide a cash lifeline to Britain's car industry, following the emergency package announced on Friday by President George W. Bush to help America's struggling motor companies. Derek Simpson, of the trade union Unite, claimed that "tens of thousands" of British jobs would be at risk unless the government stepped in with a "funding mechanism for the car industry within days - not weeks". His call was backed by Richard Lambert, the head of the CBI, who said: "The industry needs access to credit and I think this is something the government could do and should do with urgency." Mandelson said he and his officials had been in contact with Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by the Indian industrial giant Tata and directly employs 15,000 people in the UK - nearly a third of them in research and development. He added that he remained "pragmatic" about the possibility that the government might, in some circumstances, be required to help companies vital to the British economy and employment during the recession. He suggested that companies such as Jaguar and Vauxhall, which is owned by the American giant General Motors and has also been seeking help, could fall into that category. He was not, he said, "indifferent" to the plight of the car industry. Yet Mandelson also insisted that any such intervention would have to be an exception to the rule that the owners, investors and private lenders of individual companies must be responsible for putting their businesses on a viable footing - with the government acting only as a "lender of last resort". "I am closely following the fortunes of Jaguar Land Rover. My officials are in close touch with the company," Mandelson said, but added: "The government cannot be the first call for help in these circumstances. The company's owners have got to look to themselves and their own resources. "If there is anything the government can appropriately do for any such company, then they will have to meet - and pass - some pretty tough tests." Other government sources familiar with the details of the Jaguar Land Rover discussions said neither Mandelson nor the prime minister had yet "taken a view" on the possibility of coming to the company's rescue. "This is because we do not believe that the company's owners have yet reached a view on what they can and should do," one senior source said, adding that Tata would have fully to explore alternative routes of funding before the government could consider stepping in. Bhattacharyya, who chairs the Warwick Manufacturing Group and has close personal ties both to Brown and the chairman of Tata, told the Financial Times that it was a "complete red herring" to suggest that the Tata family's holding company, or its car subsidiary, were financially placed to provide emergency backing for Jaguar. He urged the government to follow the example of the Bush administration's $17.4bn emergency loan to assist American carmakers. Economic policy Automotive industry Jaguar Land Rover Recession Peter Mandelson Work & careers guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Amazon's budget MP3s give Apple food for... Amazon's budget MP3s give Apple food for thought
12/20/2008
Last month Amazon kickstarted an online music price war when it launched its MP3 store. Some of this year's top-selling albums are available for download for just £3, including Guns N' Roses's Chinese Democracy, Elbow's Seldom Seen Kid. Tracks are on sale from 59p, undercutting iTunes's 79p-a-track pricing structure. Online music fans are becoming spoilt for choice as the previously unassailable dominance of Apple, secured through our collective love of iPods, is challenged by cheaper alternatives. Simon James, shopping expert at moneysupermarket.com and "massive iPod addict", reckons the Amazon service will break the Apple stranglehold. "Amazon has a widget you can download on to your desktop and import anything that you buy from Amazon into Windows Media Player or iTunes," he says. "That is going to be the revolution. Apple might have tried as hard as it could to ring-fence its user base , so if you have an iPod you must use them - but it can't do that for ever." Price aside, there's nothing new about what Amazon is offering. In September, 7digital.com became the first online retailer in Europe to go "DRM-free". DRM, or digital rights management, can only be used on certain players and cannot be copied. "It has become a level playing field because we can now sell tracks to iPods, iPhones, BlackBerrys and Sony Walkmans," says Ben Drury, 7digital's chief executive. The real significance of Amazon's launch is that it has a database of 84 million potential customers (7digital has 1.5 million registered customers). In industry speak, iTunes, Amazon and 7digital are à la carte: you see the track you like and pay your 79p. But there are also "all-you-can-eat" subscription services such as Napster's £14.95-a-month To Go service which lets users download as much music as they like and transfer files on to their MP3 player. eMusic's model, which has 400,000 users, costs £14.99 a month for 75 downloads, or 20p a track. Madeleine Milne, managing director of eMusic Europe, likens the site to a traditional indie record store. It has no major labels but 3,000 smaller labels are represented. The idea is that you browse the site, read the critics and use its recommendation engine. Mobile providers are also getting in on the act, with Nokia having launched its Comes with Music deal in October. For a £130 handset, you get unlimited music downloads with Vodafone's MusicStation service for £1.99 a week. Downloads Amazon Amazon.com Apple Music industry guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• A transparent case of confusion as banks... A transparent case of confusion as banks 'simplify' current accounts
12/20/2008
Thousands of current account switchers face greater confusion and higher charges as banks scramble to make their account fees more transparent ahead of an Office of Fair Trading penalty charges ruling. Instead of offering transparency the different methods that banks now use to charge for overdrafts are leaving consumers facing a harder task to compare like-for-like, consumer bodies warn. Halifax has just unveiled a revamp that will see new standard current account customers shell out a daily fee of up to £2 for an ordinary agreed overdraft, and £5 a day for any unauthorised borrowing. The bank's Reward account, to be offered from early February to all new customers paying in at least £1,000 a month, will effectively punish those who only dip into their overdrafts because the monthly cost of a £10 overdrawn balance will be the same as for £1,000. The new fees will also be foisted upon all the bank's existing Moneyback current account customers. "For anybody with a small monthly overdraft of £100, say, the cost of this from February will be as much as £20, a very expensive sum," warns Michelle Slade, spokeswoman for financial data analyst Moneyfacts. On the plus side, those who stay in the black will now receive £5 every month in their account instead of interest. Halifax, shortly to be swallowed up by Lloyds TSB, is the latest bank to abandon its existing interest and fees structure and impose what it calls a new, easier-to-understand set of sheet of charges. "The idea is to get rid of confusing interest rates and make it much more transparent," a spokesman said, stressing that the thrust will be on "simplicity". It is expected that all its current account customers will move to a daily overdraft charging fee in 2009. Shake up Halifax is the latest bank to shake up the way it charges customers to run their current accounts, and follows similar moves made over the past 12 months by Barclays and Alliance & Leicester. A&L customers with authorised overdrafts have stopped paying monthly interest of up to 17% and now pay a daily 50p charge instead up to a maximum of £5 a month. Barclays has launched its Personal Reserve where, for a flat £22 fee, customers have a safety net embedded in their accounts giving them five days without extra charge if they bust their agreed overdraft limit. Sophia Ostler has been in a bitter wrangle with Barclays bank for months. The 24-year-old charity worker is disputing a series of charges and overdraft penalties unknowingly racked up over a number of years, and has come to the end of her tether. "I was going nowhere and turned to the ombudsman, before Barclays offered me £200; it's not as much as all the charges but I decided to accept it. I am completely fed up and will definitely switch to a different bank as soon as I can in the future; the 'least worst' that I can find. My experience has really set me against banks." Although each bank has denied its overhaul is linked to an ongoing OFT investigation into penalty charges on current accounts, many in the industry think otherwise. "All these moves are due to the drive for much more openness and transparency ahead of the OFT court case with banks over penalty bank charges, to show that such changes are now being made," says Andrew Hagger of price comparison website Moneynet.co.uk. It is a bid to show willing and soften the impact if the OFT wins, agrees Slade. "It's a preventative move, with more banks moving towards this kind of account to simply get something in place to show regulators if they come down heavily on them," she says. The high court case has set the OFT against banks over the size and legality of current account penalty charges of up to £38 for breaching an overdraft by as little as £1. Earlier in the year the first victory was given to consumers as judges ruled that current account fees were subject to rules of fairness. The banks have lodged an appeal against this decision and a ruling is expected early in January, although the full court case is expected to drag on for months. There is concern that an eventual victory for consumers could prompt the banks to introduce charges for all daily banking transaction to claw back lost cash. However, attempts by Halifax and others to introduce different charging patterns are in danger of bamboozling customers, says Kevin Mountford, head of current accounts at Moneysupermarket.com. "We've had Halifax's plans, which are different from Barclays that are different again from A&L," he says. "It's getting harder and harder to do a like-for-like comparison, which is what most consumers rely on to choose between one financial product and another." With a straight comparison of the interest charges on overdrafts, consumers can rely on a simple compare-and-contrast test, he adds. "There's a danger that current accounts could carry on down this route and end up like the credit card market where there's just too much confusion," he says. These growing layers of complexity are a key reason behind the still sluggish current account switching market. An OFT study found that just 6% of customers had actually bothered to switch current accounts in the 12 months to July 2008. This was "one of the lowest rates in Europe", it said. Relatively few of the UK's 54 million current account holders actively monitored the relative competitiveness of their current accounts, it said. Worse, only one in 20 said they always on the lookout for a better deal and made an effort to keep up-to-date with changing offers. Mountford suggests that fear of a chaotic administrative spell for your bank account, with direct debits disappearing into a black hole, lay behind the shockingly low numbers. "Switching bank accounts is sadly still a clunky process with worries of salary payments going missing." Such fears continue to deprive consumers of major savings. The OFT study shows how a customer typically in credit without an arranged overdraft who regularly switches from an average current account to the best-performing rival will save £56 over a year, and a switch from the worst-performing account to the best would bring in £63. Even better, a switch for a heavily indebted customer without an arranged overdraft from the most expensive account to the cheapest would save £112 over the year. Anyone who has stuck with the same provider for several years should run a keen eye over their account details, and be prepared to put in some hard research; if you're getting the risible 0.1% on any credit balance or being charged an overdraft rate in excess of 16%, it's probably worth looking at the possibility of an instant switch. Do the maths How the new Halifax Reward account with its daily fee could leave customers with an agreed overdraft limit feeling fleeced compared to its High Interest current account. Thumbs down • If you are on average £200 overdrawn for 10 days you will pay £5 per month (ie 10 x £1 minus £5 credit); you would have paid £1.07 interest charges at 19.5% APR. • If you are on average £500 overdrawn for 10 days you will pay £5 per month; you would have paid £2.67. • If you are on average £1,000 overdrawn for 20 days you will pay £15 per month; you would have paid £10.68. • If you are on average £200 overdrawn for 20 days you will pay £15 per month; you would have paid £2.13. • If you are on average £500 overdrawn for 20 days you will pay a net £15 per month; you would have paid £5.34. Thumbs up • If you are on average £1,000 overdrawn for 10 days you will pay £5 per month; you would have paid £5.30. Source: moneynet.co.uk Current accounts Banks and building societies HBOS Alliance & Leicester Barclays guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Discord on golden oldies' earning power Discord on golden oldies' earning power
12/20/2008
Extending copyright on recordings would swell the labels' coffers, but the lure of selling old tunes may eclipse new signings, says Caitlin Fitzsimmons (14 h ago)

• Against the runway: It would soon be a w... Against the runway: It would soon be a white elephant
12/20/2008
In a significant new commitment on climate change, Ed Miliband has announced that Britain will reduce its CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050. President-elect Obama has recently made a mirror-image commitment for the United States, and underlined it by his announcement this week that his energy secretary will be Steve Chu and his chief scientific adviser will be John Holdren. Both are strongly committed to action on climate change. The world is, at last, on a new pathway to managing our global climate crisis. Decarbonising our economies will be a technological, economic and entrepreneurial challenge of the kind we have never before faced. Above all, careful planning, regulation and public spending must be in place to minimise the cost of this switch, so that it does become the opportunity to stimulate a boost to our economies. Gordon Brown's announcement on Thursday seemed to indicate that he is on message. Public and private investments in the right infrastructure will not only help to pull our economy out of recession, but also leave it stronger to face the future. Investment in building insulation to bring every home, office block and factory up to the highest energy-efficiency standards; carbon capture and storage; energy micro-generation and new nuclear build; new high-speed rail links; and stimuli for new low-carbon high-tech manufacturing industries are all needed. Above all, we must avoid creating tomorrow's white elephants, such as new coal-fired power stations. And so we come to air transport and Gordon Brown's imminent decision over Heathrow's third runway. Although only making up 2% of the global CO2 problem at present, this is a rapidly growing sector and one that will resist decarbonising. The technology of low-carbon air flight is still some distance away. Long-haul flights for meetings can be minimised, for example, through the use of the uncannily realistic broadband video conferencing now emerging. But there will be continued public demand. Short-haul flights, however, will become increasingly phased out as they face better competition from rail, including high-speed rail, and the penalties of CO2 pricing, as the EU cap and trade process morphs into a global process aimed at diminishing emissions. Despite the short-term attractions - perhaps even reducing CO2 emissions by reducing the flights in holding patterns over London - a third runway is very likely to become a stranded asset. Long before the investment in its construction is repaid, public demand for short-haul flights will have been substantially reduced. It would be tomorrow's white elephant. • Sir David King is a former chief scientific adviser to the government Carbon emissions Airline industry Heathrow Travel and transport Green politics Transport David King guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• For the runway: Travel is vital to halt ... For the runway: Travel is vital to halt prejudice
12/20/2008
I'm uneasy over the campaign against Heathrow's third runway even while I acknowledge that the explosion in air travel cannot continue unabated without a profound environmental impact. There is no doubt that any workable plan to contain the growth of global carbon emissions must prevent the doubling again in air traffic at current carbon intensity over the next 15 years. Britain can hardly lecture the Indians and Chinese over their growing addiction to air travel while doing nothing about our own. The good thing about the campaign against Heathrow's third runway is that it is forcing us to confront the inconsistencies of our position; the bad thing is that it is far too one-sided. Air travel cannot be dismissed as evil in quite the easy way the campaigners do. Growing global interdependence and travel are public goods that enrich our lives culturally and economically. It is good that more and more people have direct experience of other cultures and ways of life. It was only a few decades ago that most people did not stray a few miles beyond where they were born - a disabling immobility that fed terrible prejudice and closing of minds. There is now a tendency in every country and culture to blame the foreigner, those with different creeds and skin colour, for all economic and social problems. One of the few things holding back an outbreak of fearful nationalism is the acknowledgement of our interdependence - and air travel, allowing direct contact between the mass of peoples, is an important underpinning of that recognition. A strand in green thinking has always been anti-modern; for example, I recently heard Prince Charles express his passion for the natural order of things, which of course includes respect for monarchy. I don't want to freeze the world into pre-modern levels of mobility, or to say arbitrarily that air travel must never exceed, say, 2008 levels again. Anybody who didn't get their chance to visit other countries and continents before now must abandon their hope - or travel slowly, expensively and risking incredible delays because of lack of capacity. Instead, I think the campaign against Heathrow's third runway should be the trigger to much more ambition - making modernity and mobility safe for the globe. Airlines and the aircraft industry must wage war against carbon; the technologies exist but must be developed at crisis speed. They will be helped if the price of air travel rose to reflect its true environmental cost. The aim must surely be to have as many people as we can moving freely around our planet consistent with sustainability. A future in which only the rich and the privileged could ever escape the boundaries of where they were born even for a holiday is not just unappealing - it is dangerous. Carbon emissions Airline industry Heathrow Travel and transport Green politics Transport guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Could climate goals survive Heathrow's t... Could climate goals survive Heathrow's third runway?
12/20/2008
At first glance, British American Tobacco, Friends Provident, Pirelli and the Trades Union Congress seem unlikely allies, straddling a vast political divide. Yet they are connected - along with 100 other UK companies and organisations - over a single controversial cause: the need for a third runway at Heathrow airport. The group, which also includes Tate & Lyle, Hilton Hotels and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, recently published a statement urging that the government approve the £12bn project, which would see a 2,200-metre runway as well as a sixth passenger terminal constructed on Heathrow's northern perimeter. "Heathrow is vital for business," the group claimed. "It offers the direct connections which make our companies globally successful and which will be all the more important as India and China grow." The move allies British industry and trade unions with runway supporters that include the prime minister, the construction industry, engineers and aviation experts. All believe Heathrow's expansion is vital for Britain - but are opposed by the entire green movement, more than 100 backbench MPs, cabinet ministers that include energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband and environment secretary Hilary Benn, and a great many scientists and analysts. They say the runway - which would see flights rise from 480,000 to 702,000 a year - would trigger a major expansion of the UK aviation industry and completely undermine Britain's commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. Emissions from aircraft are our fastest-rising source of carbon dioxide and by 2050 could account for or almost all the nation's permitted carbon output. Cars, homes, factories and power plants would have to become carbon neutral just to accommodate the aviation industry's desire for unbridled expansion. A third runway is incompatible with the fight against climate change, the most pressing issue facing the nation, it is claimed. But runway supporters claim that lighter materials, changes in aviation control procedures and more powerful jet engines will curtail fuel use and keep emissions in check. Aircraft will soon be carbon efficient and their increased use made acceptable. Thus technology will rescue the environment and keep British business in a competitive state. But will it? That question goes right to the heart of the Heathrow debate. Can aircraft emissions be curtailed significantly over the next few decades and aviation continue to expand? Are our business leaders right to pin complete faith on the ability of innovative technologies to ensure aircraft no longer pollute the skies? "I think a new runway will be crucial because it will allow aircraft to be taken out of the air," said Strathclyde University's Professor William Banks, president of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. "At present, enormous amounts of fuel are wasted at Heathrow because it is running at maximum capacity. "Every take-off and landing slot is precious, so planes wait, with their engines running, for long periods to get one. On Thursday, my plane waited out at the edge of a runway for 30 minutes before it got a chance to take off - and all the time it was burning fuel and emitting carbon. It's the same with landing. Aircraft stack for anything up to 30 minutes while waiting for a slot." This dramatic use of fuel is necessary when you have a busy, cramped airport running on a very tight schedule. At present, Heathrow's two runways run at 99% capacity, with the result that even a relatively minor weather problems, mist or heavy rain, can cause serious disruption. Add a new runway and these problems will disappear, Banks argues. Planes will not have to keep their engines running constantly in a scrap to take off and land, a clear boost in the battle against global warming. But the idea that a third, £12bn runway would be built purely to ease Heathrow's current congestion is remote, retort opponents, for it is unquestionably allied to aviation expansion in the UK. As runway supporters point out, Heathrow - Britain's only hub airport - now offers 50 fewer destinations than Amsterdam, 60 fewer than Paris and 100 fewer than Frankfurt. A new runway would let it add to its destination list: in other words, an expansion in UK aviation that would be crucial 'for continued job security and new employment", according to Steve Turner of the union, Unite. But could this expansion be compatible with carbon emission controls? Banks believes so: "A new range of carbon-fibre reinforced plastics, very strong and of very low weight, are being developed which could cut aircraft weights significantly. This in turn would permit major reductions in the miles per gallon of kerosene of an aircraft and, of course, in its carbon emissions." Aircraft such as the Airbus A340 are already constructed of 10% carbon composite material. The double-decker airbus A380, which is about to come into service, will be 30% composite, while the wide-bodied Airbus A350 and Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which are set for flights around 2020, will be more than 50% composite. Runway supporters also point out that changes in civil aviation procedures could bring major emission cuts. At present, planes fly into land on long, low trajectories that consume large amounts of fuel. If they were to plunge far more steeply, this would cut down on fuel use, it is argued. In addition, air traffic control measures could be changed so planes no longer fly on routes laid down by individual countries, forcing them to dog-leg over borders across Europe, wasting fuel use. Instead, routes would be rationalised so that planes flew in straight, energy-efficient lines. But such ideas would require changes to international aviation regulations and could take decades to implement. Nevertheless, the suggestion reveals the kind of simple changes that could be introduced to make significant fuel and carbon emission cuts, it is argued. Other changes in the pipeline are more radical, but are still likely to make a major impact. Manufacturers, such as Rolls-Royce, are developing generations of engines that will have greatly improved power-to-weight ratios and will be able to propel planes using far less fuel than at present. Thus, a package of lighter materials, improved aviation practices and more powerful engines should ensure that major cuts can be made in aircraft carbon emissions. Nor are these the only measures being contemplated by the industry. Two other key changes could bring significant emission improvements, according to Charles Miller, of the aviation industry's Greener by Design group. "The first is biofuels, grown from algae, and the second is the use of blended-wing jets," he said. "Both have the capacity to make an enormous difference when it comes to carbon emissions." Biofuels do not contain fossil carbon so don't add to the atmosphere's emissions inventory, while a blended-wing jet - an aircraft built as a giant, single wing so that the whole structure helps lift it off the ground - has such low air resistance that it burns a quarter less fuel than a conventional aircraft. Its an impressive technological package, but opponents of runway three say it is very suspect. An example is provided by the blended-wing plane, said transport expert Professor Robert Noland, of Rutgers University, New Jersey. "A blended-wing jet is an utterly new concept and has not been tested in any significant way," he said. "They are also associated with all sorts of problems, particularly concerned with safety. According to aviation regulations, you must be able to empty a plane of passengers in two minutes in an emergency. That can be done if you have lots of exits along a fuselage, but a blended-wing plane won't have one. How will you get people out?" In addition, critics say that biofuels suffer from a major flaw. These are essentially alcohol, which burns at the wrong temperature for aircraft engines. Coal could be used to make kerosene, of course, but that would scarcely help with the issue of global warming. Then there is the fact that carbon emissions have a disproportionate effect at high altitudes. Thanks to an effect known as "radiative forcing", carbon in the upper atmosphere produces 2.7 times more warming than emissions near the ground. That produces a major skewing of figures and makes it far less likely that the UK aviation industry, currently expanding at 5% a year, could avoid increasing, significantly, its carbon output over the decades. And that, in turn, has consequences. "There is no way you can decarbonise the aviation industry," said Dr Sam Fankhauser, of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change in London. "That means if we are to make an overall 80% cut in emissions by 2050, some sectors of life will have to reduce their carbon output by 100% to accommodate aviation's increase. "That will involve not just turning over our electricity generation to nuclear plants and wind and wave turbines, but making major changes in transport, land use, domestic heating and the insulation of homes across the country. And that assumes that all the improvements promised by the aviation industry, but which have yet to be developed and tested, work as promised. "At present, people decide to fly off on holiday if they can afford the cost. Soon they will have to work out if they can afford the carbon as well." History of air travel • A British company 'Aircraft Transport and Travel' offered the world's first regular international flight, a London to Paris service, in 1919. • In 2007, the number of passengers at UK airports rose to 315 million, compared with 4 million in 1954. • The number of passenger kilometres flown by UK airlines increased from 80 billion in 1985 to 287 billion in 2005. Around 97% of the 2005 total involved international travel. • The country with which the United Kingdom exchanges the most air traffic is Spain. There were 34 million passenger movements between the countries in 2005. • Heathrow is the busiest airport in the UK, with 68 million passengers in 2005. Estimates from the Department for Transport suggest that the number of terminal passengers at UK airports will grow to 500 million by 2030. Cars or planes? • Driving a relatively fuel-efficient car generates fewer greenhouse-gas emissions per passenger mile than flying. • Environmental website Grist.org calculates that driving 300 miles in an average-sized car generates some 105kg of carbon dioxide (CO2). Flying the same distance on a commercial jet, however, would produce some 182kg of CO2 per passenger. • Long-haul flights are more efficient than short-haul flights as a high proportion of the energy is required to climb to cruising altitude. Flying the 2,708 miles from San Francisco to Boston would generate 1,300kg of CO2 per passenger, while driving would account for only 930kg per vehicle. • In addition to CO2, planes emit other gases that contribute to global warming. Some estimates suggest that this means their overall greenhouse gas emissions are some 2.7 times higher than their carbon dioxide footprint. Carbon emissions Airline industry Heathrow Travel and transport Transport guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Labour MPs plan Heathrow revolt Labour MPs plan Heathrow revolt
12/20/2008
Ministers opposed to construction of third runway at Heathrow set for cross-party rebellion to force vote (14 h ago)

• Catherine Bennett: So is this really the... Catherine Bennett: So is this really the great new idea - saving the gas-guzzler?
12/20/2008
If a year of government bail-outs has taught us anything, it is not to rush to judgment. In fact, the more a bail-out might look, from the lay point of view, like a case of using public money to reward greed, to subsidise folly and to extend public charity to the gittish and depraved, the more likely, one gathers, it is to be vital to the national interest. Moreover, we've learnt, no matter how bitterly one might resent being made to rescue the career of an undeserving banker, it is important to remember the extent of human woe if this repulsive individual were to be abandoned to market forces. What of the blameless drone who sluices out his office, makes his lunch, or sells him his home cinema, his lap-dance, his ski trip, third home and boating holiday on Corfu's idyllic, if shyster-infested shores? Who else will fund his wife's continued acquisition of new watches, kitchens, shoes, jewellery, handbags and all the other luxury goods which, according to that trusted distillation of high net-worth values, the FT's How to Spend It magazine, are what gives life its meaning? "Do we really want a world without fine food?" demands a shopping expert in the current issue. "A world without beautifully blown glass, delicate porcelain and leading-edge technology? If nobody buys these things, then that is the future that awaits us." A sentiment which Peter Mandelson, the business secretary, seemed to echo, when he spoke, last week, about British expertise in making internal combustion engines being a precious "centre of real excellence". In the same way, presumably, that we were once very good with horses. So, when assessing the plight of Jaguar Land Rover we should ask ourselves - once we've thought about all the poor workers - whether we want to live in a world without the 4.2 litre V8 petrol supercharged Jaguar which emits 299g of CO2 per kilometre: "True to our heritage," say the makers, "we've used the most luxurious materials and insisted on exquisite attention to every detail." To say nothing of a world without the Land Rover Defender SVX (291g/km) which went into production earlier this year with a breathtaking indifference towards cultural, as well as climate change, long after such vehicles had been nicknamed Chelsea tractors, and their urban use by anyone who could afford to do otherwise widely agreed to be an a unerring marker of the driver's selfishness and vacuity. Recently, in fact, it has been hard to conceive of the city dweller, beyond the target readership of How to Spend It, the flashier kind of drug dealer, and noted SUV fans Jon Gaunt and Zara Phillips, who would regard ownership of so ostentatiously inconsiderate a vehicle as anything other than an embarrassment. All of which, if we were not now accustomed to the counterintuitive nature of public bail-outs, would make the prospect of state intervention to save Jaguar Land Rover look very capricious indeed. Why should public money be used to protect an incipiently archaic business which, iconic or not, is run by India's Mr Tata? Who, though he may be concerned about manufacturing jobs in the Midlands, has just agreed to slosh some of his corporation's vast profits in the direction of Ferrari's Formula One team? Which, with our date with peak oil now fixed for 2020, would appear to be almost as unedifying a use of cash as would be our own, to guarantee the continued production of Land Rovers and Jaguars. We know better, after the rescue of our still unreformed banks, than to expect the government to demand improved standards of competence and responsibility in exchange for civic support. On the plus side, if Mandelson does elect to save a foreign-owned company whose design geniuses didn't have the sense to plan for greener times while they continued to flog some of the most preposterously antisocial vehicles ever made to the sort of customers who are beguiled by the "brand ambassador" Zara Phillips's very special, horse-scented cachet, this will be cheerful news for other specialists in iconic, yet downturn-threatened products. Simply because it is taking a while for the ethically challenged, How to Spend It audience to comprehend that it is possible for a handbag to cost too much does not mean this will never happen. Already, it's reported, some accessory buyers are insisting that these and other trophies from the luxury goods market be sent to them, like embarrassing pharmaceuticals, under plain cover. But nothing is certain and anyone who read Mr Mandelson's recent speech about his dashing new philosophy of "industrial activism" will appreciate the stringent analysis to which the billionaire Mr Tata's recent, but apparently cash-strapped acquisitions will be subjected before he is judged to have earned our charity. A "total business environment approach" will establish that, in requiring taxpayers to help support this most piteous of plutocrats, the state is not embarking on the unthinkable: "propping up unviable companies" or "backing away from free trade or open markets or the discipline of competition". Insofar as a lay person can hope to master the complexities of industrial activism, then, one gathers that what would be offered to Mr Tata could be more aptly compared with "lending him a tenner", in order to "tide him over", until he receives a generous postal order from some long-dead aunt. Why Jaguar Land Rover and not, say, Woolworths or MFI? Maybe, as they like to say aboard the good ship Deripaska, if you have to ask, you'll never know. But obviously, the reasons for Mandelson's perceived preference must go way beyond crude comparisons relating to job numbers, core manufacturing, technology, electoral advantage, unhygienically displayed confectionery, the peculiar needs of male, as opposed to female workers, and a company's ability, as a ruthless Mandelson hunkily put it this week, to "march forward with the times". That would be the times in which, although people still like buying sweets and cheap stuff, gas-guzzling cars have been doomed for years by the advance of the EU's emissions-cutting legislation. If rationality or fairness or morality had anything to do with it, Mandelson could never have contemplated rescuing this unenlightened outpost of Mr Tata's empire, with its unfortunate signal to similarly expectant foreign corporations. In the context of his promised "green industrial revolution", the proposal is comical. Which is not to say Jaguar Land Rover's workers deserve to be abandoned by the government, like the unfortunate staff of Woolworths. In the unlikely event of the brand's collapse, public money may be used, instead, to train its former workers to make sustainable vehicles: the recession's long-awaited green dividend. Since we cannot know what is coming next, it would be reckless to call this potentially iconic bail-out the most absurd and insulting of the lot. This week, for all we know, Mandelson will propose extending public assistance to Tatler magazine, to Smythson, to struggling purveyors of beautifully blown glass. And why not, if these are the sort of things, unlike sweets from Woollies, that appeal to the high-end shopper? What is the point, Lord Peter might reasonably ask, of going to all the trouble of saving a banker, then denying him the very stuff he wants to buy? Jaguar Land Rover Automotive industry Peter Mandelson Carbon emissions guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Henry Porter: How did so many smart peop... Henry Porter: How did so many smart people get suckered by Bernard Madoff?
12/20/2008
The expression worn by Bernard Madoff, the man responsible for the $50bn Ponzi fraud, resembles nothing so much as the door of a safe - locked and impenetrable. Even last week, when he was filmed walking back to his New York apartment after his bail restrictions were eased, he wore a clamped grin of imperturbability that plainly isn't going to crack, however much he learns about the effect of his activities on friends, business colleagues, fellow Jews and the charities that trusted him. That trust is what interests me. Look at a graph of the performance of Madoff's Kingate Global fund since 1995 which compares it to that of the hedge fund index and various comparable investment schemes and you see Bernard's gravity-defying diagonal streak from the bottom left-hand corner to the top right-hand corner. It looks like a piece of botched homework; it looks like a lie, at any rate something that warranted serious investigation. Oddly enough, that scrutiny actually took place. Daniel diBartolomeo, a physicist and number cruncher from Boston was asked to look at Madoff's figures and compare them with those of a firm that was pursuing exactly the same strategy. No matter how much regression analysis he applied to Madoff's numbers, he could not reconcile the two performances. The analysis was passed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which ignored, then forgot it, a measure of how lax things became under the Bush administration That was nearly a decade ago. DiBartolomeo recalls that he spent no more than a few hours with the figures, which is to say that the very minimum examination was enough to cause concern. "The problem with Madoff's strategy," he told Reuters, "seemed to be that it did well all the time, no matter what, and I concluded something else was going on." Yet look at the people who have been suckered by Madoff's country club confidence. The three I've met - albeit briefly - are not fools. Alexandra Penney was once the editor of Condé Nast's Self magazine. She made a lot of money on her book How to Make Love to a Man and its sequels. Last week, she wrote what amounted to a primal scream for the Daily Beast web site where she revealed that she'd fought hard to enter the magic circle of Madoff's investors and, as a result, was now penniless. Ms Penney, now an artist, struggled for her money, but she wins little sympathy from me with her complaint that she will have to fire her maid Yolanda. "I have about 40 white shirts. They make me feel fresh and ready to face whatever battles I may be fighting in the studio to get the best out of my work. How am I going to iron those shirts so I can still feel like a poor civilised person? Though no financial genius, she was surely wary of risking everything with one investment group or she must have known people in New York who could have offered advice. Mortimer Zuckerman, a property magnate and New York newspaper owner, is a different matter. I saw him in his office two or three times and realised that it would take a hammer and chisel to prise a folded dollar bill from Mort's grasp. He is tough, abrasive and quick-minded, but in this affair he seemed to have no more acumen than Penney and his charitable foundation lost $30m to Madoff. The same is true of Steven Spielberg and his co-founder of DreamWorks, Jeffrey Katzenberg, whose chill little hand I once shook in Hollywood sometime after he had won $230m in a law suit against Disney. Their losses are said to be substantial but are as yet unquantified. The story is the same in Florida, Palm Springs and the whole length of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The Jewish community and its enormous charities trusted the man with that eerie, unvarying slit of a smile and handed over the moolah, $90m in the case of the Zionist women's charity Hadassah. As a friend of mine in New York pointed out last week, no Palestinian action could have hoped to achieve the destruction and loss of faith that Madoff has wrought. So how did these exceptionally smart people forget their habits of due diligence? One answer lies in the curious respect Americans have for their leaders, which is something rarely appreciated in Europe. Anyone who reaches the top of the pile in the United States, whether in the law, broadcasting, investment management, business, the church or sport is given unwavering respect. Their employees and supporters faithfully cluster round and offer up what seems to the European eye to be blind fealty. Pastor or president, you become the Man, at which point followers begin to suspend all judgment. Madoff was the Man and potential clients had to be damn well connected for him even to consider trousering the $1m minimum investment. This tradition may have something to do with the small groups of pioneers that struck out West and relied on their leaders for their survival, but I prefer HL Mencken's insight that while Americans see themselves as rugged individualists, they are rather conformist, as well as respectful. "There are no institutions in America, only fashions," he once wrote. It is true that Americans are often furiously trying to join something, enrol others or keep them out. The more exclusive a country club, society or nightclub the more desperate they are to gain entry. Madoff knew that and he fed on the utterly unreal expectations of a society where in 2006 a young man working for Merrill Lynch for a salary of $180,000 could expect a bonus of $5m that was based not on actual profit or wealth creation, but the ceaseless churn of mortgage investments which have all now turned to dust. It was an era of unprecedented greed, a vice to which the very rich are strangely susceptible. A few years ago, I attended a private party in a restaurant in Paris. At the end of the evening, I witnessed what is to me the symbol of the time - one of the wealthiest women in America sweeping the restaurant's mother of pearl caviar spoons into her handbag. I won't be too upset if I learn she was one of Madoff's clients. Bernard Madoff guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Editorial: When the market fails, the st... Editorial: When the market fails, the state has a role to play
12/20/2008
Editorial: Government not planning to make cars forever any more than run the banks indefinitely (14 h ago)

• The eBay generation turns to the pawn sh... The eBay generation turns to the pawn shop
12/20/2008
"Pick up in December and pawn in January" is the traditional cycle for Britain's pawnbrokers, as customers troop in to collect family treasures and keep up appearances at Christmas, only to return them in the new year. But at Suttons and Robertsons, pawnbroker to the rich for nearly 250 years in London's Paddington, the rhythm does not apply this year. Clients are looking to pledge, or "pop", their precious trinkets rather than collect them. "December is usually quiet because people take their finery out for Christmas, then pledge it again in January when the bills come in," says store manager Phil Diaper. "But we've been relatively busy this month, so I think people are starting to feel it." Britain's pawnbrokers say trade is brisk as the credit squeeze starts to hurt people's pockets. The trend is manifest on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, where the downturn has been faster, shops in wealthy areas of Los Angeles, such as Beverly Hills, have reported an influx of customers pawning everything from paintings to diamond-encrusted jewellery. Auction sites are also busy: eBay's UK listings are up from 15 million to 17 million this year. "We are seeing increased business across the sector, though we don't know how much is due to the downturn," says John Nichols, president of the National Pawnbrokers Association [NPA]. Upmarket pawnbrokers seem to be doing well, while there is growing evidence that small businesses in distress are turning to the "alternative credit industry" as high-street banks pull in their horns. Nichols said members had reported a number of "big loans", when the average advance was usually around £100. Suttons is the upmarket face of pawnbroking, offering up to £1m against family heirlooms such as antique jewels, silverware and fine art. The store's oak-panelled walls and grandfather clock create an hushed, exclusive atmosphere not unlike a Bond Street jeweller. Its facade is unchanged from the 50s, when it featured in the film The Blue Lamp For many, the idea of pawning belongings suggests the kind of desperation that drove EastEnders character Arthur Fowler to raid the Christmas club coffers to pay for his daughter's wedding. Indeed, it's not quite as posh at the branch of Alternative Investment Market-listed H&T Pawnbrokers around the corner, where assistant manager Niraj Ravel recalls a customer plucking out a gold tooth for him to inspect (it joined the gold necklaces and engagement rings in the giant safes in the back office). Ravel's window displays glint with chunky gold chains and the sovereign rings that are the mainstay of its business. However, a five-carat solitaire diamond ring priced at £49,950 also glimmers among them. Ravel says that wealthy individuals are scouring pawnshops for "finds" after being told by their financial advisers to invest in safe havens such as gold and diamonds rather than uncertain markets. The average loan signed off at H&T is £120, while at the plush Suttons the figure is closer to £700. A standard contract lasts six months and at H&T carries a monthly interest charge of 8%. "The reality is if any of our customers could use a Barclaycard they would, because they'd pay less interest, so in that respect we are a last resort," says H&T commercial director Steve Fenerty. "But typically, our customer isn't heavily in debt - they are in the mindset of using cash." Pawnbrokers have come out of the shadows and on to the high street over the past decade, with chains such as Cash Generators and Cash Convertors as well as auction websites such as eBay offering students and the middle-classes the opportunity to sell games consoles and computers that depreciate as soon as they are unpacked from the box. The industry attracts families from all socio-economic backgrounds. Whether they pop into H&T from a Chelsea pied-à-terre or a Westminster high-rise, the aim is the same: to manage "short-term, lumpy expenditure". "The image of a pawnbroker as a Dickensian figure in fingerless gloves pawing over your best Sunday linen is not the reality today," says Fenerty. "The eBay generation is comfortable with the idea of selling something they don't use any more." Historically there have been concerns that legitimate pawnbroking enterprises were at risk of being used by criminals to "fence" stolen goods, but Fenerty says the risks are small: "If a guy comes into pledge a woman's chain with a broken clasp, or wearing a hoodie [and] with 15 wedding rings, we'd look askance. Given that you have to provide ID and customers are on CCTV, they'd be better off selling it down the pub." Out of £60m worth of loans made last year, police seized goods worth £50,000. Analysts believe that listed pawnbrokers such as H&T and Albemarle and Bond stand do to well next year: the industry is deemed "recession-proof". Indeed Eddie Cran, a former chief executive of doorstep lender Cattles, used to say his customers "were permanently in recession". In the 90s downturn the sub-prime lender doubled its profits, though Cattles is finding the going tougher now as debt-loaded consumers default on unsecured loans. By comparison, the pawnbroking model is deemed low risk, because loans are usually well below the value of the item borrowed against. Also the security is stowed in the pawnbroker's safe, so no bailiffs' visits are required. If the customer defaults, the loan is recouped through sale at public auction, with any additional profit returned to the owner. There are no official estimates of the industry's total size, but it growth is put at around 10% a year. With more than 100 stores, H&T has the largest "pledge book" - the total amount of loans made - and a 10% market share. It is not known how many pawnbroking shops there are in the UK, though the NPA puts it at close to 1,000. Nichols, who is also chief executive of H&T, says the best measure of opportunity in the sector is to consider that seven million UK residents are unable to get hold of credit through traditional channels - and of those, 2.5 million do not even have a bank account. "Pawnbroking has done quite well over the past decade as people begin to understand the modern face of the industry," says Nichols. "But we have not seen a spike yet that would indicate the financial crisis will be good news for pawnbroking." The joke goes that the three balls that hang outside a pawnbroker's shop represent the "two to one" likelihood of reclaiming your property. Those depressed by the presumed hardship behind each transaction can take some comfort - around 80% of customers find the cash to reclaim their belongings. In fact, most return within three months. Nichols says the modern industry does not depend on getting the pound of flesh demanded by Shylock: "The pawnbroker does not want the goods left as security. He wants the customer to come back, because you can only sell something once. It's a simple, honest transaction." eBay Savings Christmas Credit crunch Recession guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Tim Webb: Market forces Tim Webb: Market forces
12/20/2008
Chrysalis's time is not yet ripe Hindsight, as this column has noted before, is a wonderful thing. Especially for boards which reject takeover offers for being too low - only to see their company's share price subsequently slump even lower. Step forward Chrysalis, led by Chris Wright, which in April rejected a takeover offer pitched at 155p. On Friday, shares closed at 48p after announcing that losses had tripled. But all is not lost. Investec analysts expect the music distribution company - which sold Chrysalis Radio for a tidy £170m last year, before the credit crunch - to move into the black next year. It's also valued at three times earnings, which - even taking into account the bleak prospects of music publishers - is paltry. And they reckon Chrysalis is a dead cert to be taken over by 2011. But three years is a long time when there's a recession on, and who knows what state Chrysalis will be in even if another suitor does come knocking in a few years. Only those who are brave - and patient - should buy. More (solar) power to you Remember when clean tech companies were all the rage and were going to save the world (and make investors a lot of money)? Well, that was before the credit crunch and when energy demand was surging. There was more than a whiff of the dotcom boom about the dizzying rise of clean tech stocks, and few were surprised when the sector came crashing down about a year ago. But unless everyone gives up on trying to stop climate change, the good clean tech companies will come back in fashion and will prove to be more resilient than many of the one-hit-wonder dotcoms. So now's the time to fill your boots, while shares are cheap. Buy solar power firm Romag. Try something new today Now that the Tesco juggernaut has come to a shuddering halt, some of the other supermarkets are looking a better bet. People like to treat themselves at Christmas, so if you're feeling festive, take a festive punt on the ever-so-slightly upmarket Sainsbury's. Market forces column Shares Credit crunch guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Downturn creates new hurdles for Olympic... Downturn creates new hurdles for Olympic site's flag-bearer
12/20/2008
If John Armitt is nervous, he's good at hiding it. As chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, the 62-year-old, 6ft 4in engineer is ultimately responsible for clearing a 270-acre site and building dozens of new facilities, including the Olympic stadium, swimming centre, athletes' village and media centre, which all have to be tried and tested before July 2012. The man who headed construction of the Channel tunnel rail link and went on to run Network Rail was selected for the most highly pressurised Olympic job at a moment of deep crisis for the London games. The original £3.3bn budget was wildly optimistic and his predecessor as chairman, the combustible American Jack Lemley, abruptly resigned, attacking what he described as a chaotic Olympic organisation and top-level political meddling. Some 18 months into the job, Armitt declares himself "satisfied" by progress. He speaks from an east London flat giving a bird's eye view of what in 32 months will be the centre of world sport. Dozens of lorries, excavators, piling machines and 3,000 workers are going at full tilt. At dusk with orange warning lights flashing, Europe's largest single building site is mesmeric. The main stadium and aquatic centre are coming out of the ground ahead of schedule. Next year, the "big build" goes into overdrive. An effective political operator who is taking the heat off his well-regarded Australian chief executive, David Higgins, Armitt convinced Whitehall to ringfence £9.35bn for the games - a near tripling of the budget. He now has the power to dig deep into the games' £2bn contingency fund. So far the ODA is a quarter of the way in to its work and has used up 2% of that contingency cash. That may increase to cover for the evaporation of debt finance which was originally meant to pay for the games. The £1bn athletes' village has faced difficulties winning private sector backing. Lend Lease, the Australian property firm selected as a development partner two years ago, has until March to find credit. The amount Lend Lease needs to find has been reduced because two housing associations have agreed to buy 30% of the 2,700 units, Armitt says. The firm is talking to equity backers about additional cash, while banks and the government will come up with the remainder. Armitt says the public sector will fund entirely the 1.5m sq ft international media centre. The project was to have been funded by Barclays and Igloo, a regeneration finance firm. But they pulled the deal two months ago. There have been stories suggesting the media centre will become a temporary structure for lack of tenant interest. But Armitt confirms that the media centre will not be scrapped after the games: "Temporary facilities always end up costing more than you think." Batting away criticism that the Olympics has been a bonanza for consultants, Armitt says the project is well inside the 10% of total budget normally spent on project managers, architects and engineers. In fact, the way the construction sector has collapsed this year means that for many firms the Olympics is an economic lifeline. But Armitt's biggest concern is whether subcontractors working on the games will go under as the recession bites. That could undo much of the progress achieved. Another reason for the rising budget is heightened concern about security. The day after London won the games in July 2005 saw suicide bombers on the capital's streets. To counter the possibility of an actual timebomb buried within an Olympic facility, Armitt says all major components are x-rayed before coming on site. Early in the new year a special purpose vehicle will be created to plan the facilities' future beyond 2012. It cannot come soon enough for Armitt. The stadium and the media centre provide the biggest challenge. There is talk of a university specialising in sport technology based underneath the stadium but it is thought unlikely a Premier League football club will move in. The media centre will be designed so it can be split into smaller units. As the economy deteriorates, Armitt will come under increased pressure to sell the benefits of the Olympic effect. He believes the time to judge will not be 2012 but 2024. "You would not want to spend £8bn simply putting on an Olympic games. What we're doing here is creating a regeneration opportunity which only hosting the Olympic games could have delivered." Construction industry Olympic games 2012 Recession Regeneration guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (14 h ago)

• Mixed Views On $17.4 Billion Auto Bailou... Mixed Views On $17.4 Billion Auto Bailout
12/20/2008
There's been a mixed reaction so far to President Bush's promise of $17.4 billion in loans to troubled U.S. automakers. (17 h ago)

• Ripples Of A Massive Fraud Ripples Of A Massive Fraud
12/20/2008
Since Bernard Madoff's arrest, tales has been told of wealthy victims who invested their trust in a man who promised financial miracles. But the scale of the scandal can just as well be measured in how it affected far-flung people and causes. (19 h ago)

• White House Green Lights Automaker Bailo... White House Green Lights Automaker Bailout
12/19/2008
Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry, offering $17.4 billion in rescue loans and demanding tough concessions from the deeply troubled carmakers and their workers. (1 d ago)

• Wall Street Lukewarm To Auto Bailout Wall Street Lukewarm To Auto Bailout
12/19/2008
Stocks have ended a choppy day mixed as investors remain uncertain that a $17.4 billion lifeline for automakers will make a lasting difference for the beleaguered industry. (1 d ago)

• Rush To Refinance -- Or Hold Off? Rush To Refinance -- Or Hold Off?
12/19/2008
An expert offered his views, in light of plummeting mortgage rates, on The Early Show. (1 d ago)

• The True Price Of Auto Labor Costs The True Price Of Auto Labor Costs
12/19/2008
Wages are a key stipulation in the adminstration's offer of loans to the Big Three auto makers. But wages aren't the whole story. (1 d ago)

• Panasonic To Buy Sanyo In $9B Deal Panasonic To Buy Sanyo In $9B Deal
12/19/2008
Panasonic has begun a takeover of Japanese rival Sanyo, hoping that transforming into one of the world's biggest electronics companies will help it weather the toughest business conditions in a century. (1 d ago)

• Eau De Burger King Hits Shelves Eau De Burger King Hits Shelves
12/19/2008
Burger King Corp., home of the Whopper, has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." (2 d ago)

• Feds Take Swipe At Credit Card Rules Feds Take Swipe At Credit Card Rules
12/18/2008
Federal regulators adopted sweeping new rules for the U.S. credit card industry that will shield consumers from increases in interest rates on existing account balances among other changes. (2 d ago)

• Homeowners Rush To Capitalize On Low Rat... Homeowners Rush To Capitalize On Low Rates
12/18/2008
Homeowners around the United States are scrambling to refinance their mortgages at the lowest rates since the early 1960s as the economy staggers through what's likely to be the worst recession in decades. (2 d ago)

• Obama Picks Veteran Regulator For SEC Po... Obama Picks Veteran Regulator For SEC Post
12/18/2008
President-elect Barack Obama named three veteran regulators to round out his economic team and vowed to revamp regulatory rules to prevent a repeat of the financial and economic debacles the country is suffering through. (2 d ago)

• Jobless Claims Lower, But Layoffs Contin... Jobless Claims Lower, But Layoffs Continue
12/18/2008
Initial U.S. claims for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week, but mass layoffs continue amid a recession that appears to be deepening. (2 d ago)

• Oil Prices Fall Despite Record OPEC Cut Oil Prices Fall Despite Record OPEC Cut
12/18/2008
Oil prices have fallen to 4 1/2-year lows in Asia as investor pessimism over global crude demand outweighs OPEC's largest-ever production cut. (3 d ago)

• OPEC Slashes Global Oil Production OPEC Slashes Global Oil Production
12/18/2008
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de-facto leader, said the group will slash a record 2 million barrels from its daily production as of Jan. 1, while Russia and other countries said they would remove hundreds of thousands of additional barrels from the market. (3 d ago)

• Fundamentally: Maybe Investors Should Bu... Fundamentally: Maybe Investors Should Buy, Buy, Buy and Hold
12/20/2008
It may be necessary to sock away more money, if the goal is to return to even in the next couple of years. (8 h ago)

• In Need of Cash, More Companies Cut 401(... In Need of Cash, More Companies Cut 401(k) Match
12/20/2008
The reductions in matching contributions put a new strain on America’s tattered safety net as workers watch their retirement accounts fall with the stock market. (10 h ago)

• Practical Traveler: Bargains Pop Up in t... Practical Traveler: Bargains Pop Up in the Luxury Suite
12/20/2008
As high-end travelers and corporations cut back, there is an abundance of deals for those with cash to burn, especially just after New Year’s. (14 h ago)

• Mortgages: Revising Loan Modifications Mortgages: Revising Loan Modifications
12/20/2008
Financial advisers warn that troubled homeowners should be vigilant about the type of help they are being offered. (14 h ago)

• Shortcuts: Readers Weigh In With Tips on... Shortcuts: Readers Weigh In With Tips on Jobs and Money
12/20/2008
It is often surprising to see which ShortCuts columns stir up emotion and which seem to sink with barely a murmur. (1 d ago)

• Market Values: For Safety, You Can Take ... Market Values: For Safety, You Can Take It to the Bank
12/20/2008
Small investors looking to hold ground can do well with the humble savings account. (1 d ago)

• Lose Confidence in Your Bank? Turn to th... Lose Confidence in Your Bank? Turn to the Web
12/19/2008
Burned by their banks, more people seeking help with budgeting, saving and investing are finding help online. (1 d ago)

• Your Money: Searching the Tax Code for U... Your Money: Searching the Tax Code for Upsides to a Downturn
12/19/2008
Even some tax experts are scratching their heads about how best to approach your 2008 tax bill. (1 d ago)

• Bill Allows Savings Relief for Some Reti... Bill Allows Savings Relief for Some Retirees in ’09
12/19/2008
For 2008, Americans over 70 1/2 will still have to take mandatory withdrawals from their retirement accounts. (1 d ago)

• Rules Aim to Protect Credit Card Users Rules Aim to Protect Credit Card Users
12/19/2008
The rules, which take effect in July 2010, will allow credit card companies to raise interest rates only on new credit cards and future purchases or advances. (2 d ago)

• The Reckoning: Tax Break May Have Helped... The Reckoning: Tax Break May Have Helped Cause Housing Bubble
12/19/2008
A 1997 change that ended the capital gains tax on home sales was a new incentive to plow money into real estate. (2 d ago)

• Phone Smart: Cents-Off Coupons and Other... Phone Smart: Cents-Off Coupons and Other Special Deals, via Your Cellphone
12/18/2008
The cellphone industry hopes customers will want to receive deal alerts at the store, or simply use the phone as a virtual coupon at the cashier. (2 d ago)

• The Flipper Challenges the Crawl The Flipper Challenges the Crawl
12/20/2008
CNN’s new less cluttered look is a tacit rejection of the information overload that has typified television news for much of this decade. (9 h ago)

• Critic’s Notebook: Reality Can Be Escapi... Critic’s Notebook: Reality Can Be Escapist, Too
12/20/2008
Suddenly, the movies of the Great Depression seem to touch a nerve. (9 h ago)

• W. Mark Felt, Watergate Deep Throat, Die... W. Mark Felt, Watergate Deep Throat, Dies at 95
12/19/2008
Mr. Felt, the No. 2 F.B.I. official when he helped bring down President Richard M. Nixon, became the most famous anonymous source in American history. (1 d ago)

• Executive Shifts at The New York Times Executive Shifts at The New York Times
12/19/2008
William E. Schmidt, set to run The International Herald Tribune in Paris, will remain in New York in an expanded role. (1 d ago)

• China Blocks Access to The Times’s Web S... China Blocks Access to The Times’s Web Site
12/19/2008
Authorities have begun blocking access from mainland China to the Web site of The New York Times even while lifting some of the restrictions they had imposed on the Web sites of other media outlets. (1 d ago)

• Between Obama and the Press Between Obama and the Press
12/19/2008
What kind of relationship will the Obama White House have with the media? A lot will depend on Robert Gibbs. (1 d ago)

• Advertising: Obama’s Stamp of Approval, ... Advertising: Obama’s Stamp of Approval, Prepresidential
12/18/2008
President-elect Barack Obama will soon be doing something before his inauguration that has long been the province of presidents: appearing in a public service campaign. (2 d ago)

• Omnicom Expected to Cut About 5% of Its ... Omnicom Expected to Cut About 5% of Its Work Force
12/18/2008
Advertising agencies owned by the Omnicom Group are letting employees go in layoffs that are expected to total more than 3,000. (2 d ago)

• Macrovision Is Selling TV Guide Network ... Macrovision Is Selling TV Guide Network Listings
12/18/2008
The new owner is expected to add original programming and celebrity profiles. (2 d ago)

• Redstone and Daughter Said to Clash on D... Redstone and Daughter Said to Clash on Debt Plan
12/18/2008
Sumner M. Redstone and his daughter, Shari E. Redstone, are feuding again, this time over Mr. Redstone’s efforts to renegotiate debt owed the Redstones’ movie theater company. (2 d ago)

• Big News in Washington, but Far Fewer Co... Big News in Washington, but Far Fewer Cover It
12/18/2008
As newspapers cut costs, reporting in the capital suffers. (3 d ago)

• HURRICANE MADOFF TEARS UP TONY TOWN HURRICANE MADOFF TEARS UP TONY TOWN
12/21/2008
The tiny, tony south Florida enclave of Palm Beach may never be the same now that Hurricane Madoff has blown through. Doug Kass, a hedge-fund manager and resident of the town, says he expects inter-family warfare to break out any day as families... (3 h ago)

• FIENDISH FRIEND FIENDISH FRIEND
12/21/2008
Bernie Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme hoodwinked tens of billions of dollars from deep-pocketed banks and hedge funds - but the 70-year-old Wall Street icon appears to have saved his most vicious losses for his closest friends. For example... (3 h ago)

• HEY MADOFF! SHOW ME THE MONEY HEY MADOFF! SHOW ME THE MONEY
12/21/2008
Dear John: I'd like to ask you about this mess with Bernie Madoff. In all the coverage of this case, nobody is saying where the $50 billion went. Where is it? What could he have done with that amount of money? They use the term "vaporized." What... (5 h ago)

• SHOULD MADOFF MEAN MORE REGULATION? SHOULD MADOFF MEAN MORE REGULATION?
12/21/2008
YES: Much more regulation of hedge funds is needed - and fast. Midsized broker-dealers like my company, Hold Brothers, for example, with 1,200 traders but less than $20 million in customer funds, gets swarmed like fire ants by regulators - and... (5 h ago)

• EX-MET DYKSTRA NAILED ON LAWSUIT EX-MET DYKSTRA NAILED ON LAWSUIT
12/21/2008
Yet another brush back pitch was fired at former Mets star Lenny Dykstra last week - this time by a former assistant. Samantha Kulchar became the office manager/assistant for the former baseball All-Star last summer but quit after only six weeks... (5 h ago)

• THE WEEK'S WINNERS AND LOSERS THE WEEK'S WINNERS AND LOSERS
12/21/2008
WINNERS MARY SCHAPIRO FINRA boss nominated to be the next head of the SEC. TERRY LUNDGREN Macy's CEO sees shares surge after early Christmas present of being able to renegotiate its credit deal. HOME BUYERS Flood of fed money drops mortgage rates... (6 h ago)

• WALL STREET WISE MEN WALL STREET WISE MEN
12/20/2008
'TIS the season for re flection, and what a bounty of events we have to ponder this year - a year that we now know had the economy in recession from the moment the ball dropped in Times Square. As a result, 2008 has also been a year when being... (7 h ago)

• MISSING STEVE, ALREADY MISSING STEVE, ALREADY
12/20/2008
Steve Jobs is pulling out before things get messy. The tech messiah shocked analysts and fanboys alike this week by announcing Apple is pulling out of January's Macworld Expo - and his legendary conference keynote address would be given by Senior... (7 h ago)

• SAVING THE SUBWAY FARE SAVING THE SUBWAY FARE
12/20/2008
WITH the MTA vot ing through a 23 percent fare hike, Gov. Paterson unable to help because he is looking to plug a $15 billion hole in the state budget and Mayor Bloomberg looking to put tolls on the East River bridges to help mass transit, The... (7 h ago)

• S&P COME LATELY S&P COME LATELY
12/20/2008
Standard & Poor's is at last closing the barn door on the banking crisis - a year and about $8 trillion too late. The rating firm yesterday aggressively downgraded 11 financial and banking institutions, with a deadpan warning that there is... (1 d ago)

• New credit card rules to protect consume... New credit card rules to protect consumers
12/18/2008
Federal regulators on Thursday adopted sweeping new rules for the credit card industry that will shield consumers from increases in interest rates on existing account balances. (2 d ago)

• Madoff investors may be out in the cold Madoff investors may be out in the cold
12/18/2008
An industry-funded organization set up by the government to protect investors from fraud may not be able to pay out all the claims from the Madoff's alleged massive Ponzi scheme. (2 d ago)

• Iranian official stresses need of invest... Iranian official stresses need of investment for oil industry
12/20/2008
Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari has stressed the need of investment for the country's oil industry, local satellite Press TV reported on Saturday. As one of the oil producing countries, investment is needed for Iran because it "is the only way to guarantee the energy safety of consumers," Nozari said. "If the oil consuming countries want a continued production of oil and its supply to the markets, they should pave the way for investment in the oil rich countries and avo ... (12 h ago)

• Yearender: Eurozone economy in first-eve... Yearender: Eurozone economy in first-ever recession amid financial crisis
12/20/2008
Battered by the biggest global financial shock in 80 years, the economy of 15 European Union (EU) countries sharing the euro has plunged into its first-ever recession in 2008. But pessimism over the economic prospects still permeates the bloc. &$ &$ GOOD START SHORT-LIVED&$ &$ After garnering a remarkable growth in the past two years, the eurozone economy entered this year on a high note, despite the combined impacts of surging commodity prices and the U.S. subprime mortgage ... (12 h ago)

• Britain's luxury retailers seek secret s... Britain's luxury retailers seek secret sales
12/20/2008
Luxury goods retailers, embarrassed to join their high street peers in holding overt sales, are resorting to secret discount events and private web sites before Christmas. Shops such as Liberty of London, Richard James and Net a Porter have offered discounts of up to 20 to 60 percent in recent weeks to pull in cash as the international financial crisis continues. Taking "sale" posters in their stores as an embarrassment, many luxury retailers are inviting customers to "private sa ... (12 h ago)

• Canada announces aid package for struggl... Canada announces aid package for struggling auto industry
12/20/2008
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a 4-billion-Canadian-dollar (about 3.2 billion U.S. dollars) aid package for the country's struggling auto industry on Saturday. The two leaders made the announcement in a joint news conference in Toronto Saturday morning, one day after President George W. Bush offered a 17.4-billion-U.S.-dollar loan to the Detroit Big Three auto makers -- Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Canadian Federal gove ... (12 h ago)

• Bank of Communications expects 2 to 3 ra... Bank of Communications expects 2 to 3 rate cuts for 2009
12/20/2008
Bank of Communications, one of the top five banks on the Chinese mainland, forecast 2 to 3 interest rate cuts for 2009. The bank said on Saturday the central bank would cut rate by 54 to 81 basis points next year. Although commercial banks would see a profit rise of 40 to 50 percent in 2008, they could hardly have positive net profits next year. The 2009 growth would mainly come from the spread between deposits and loans and intermediary businesses, while the reduced spread and c ... (12 h ago)

• Mainland expects enterprises to invest i... Mainland expects enterprises to invest in Taiwan
12/20/2008
The Chinese mainland expected its enterprises to be able to make investment in Taiwan as soon as possible, said a senior central government official Saturday. Addressing the 4th Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum opening here on Saturday, Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said: "we hope the Taiwan side to implement its policies on allowing in mainland investment as soon as possible and create necessary conditi ... (12 h ago)

• China digital publishing revenue to reac... China digital publishing revenue to reach 53 bln yuan in 2008
12/20/2008
Revenue from the digital publishing industry was expected to reach 53 billion yuan (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008, said a senior official with China's press and publications administration on Saturday. Sun Shoushan, vice director of the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP), said the digital publishing industry included the digitalization of traditional publishing products, such as newspapers, books and cell phone text messages, and new digital media. Digita ... (12 h ago)

• Obama makes the nativity scene Obama makes the nativity scene
12/19/2008
What do President-elect Obama, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and France's Carla Bruni have in common? Marketplace's Megan Williams traveled to an outdoor market in Naples, Italy, to get the answer. (1 d ago)

• China deals with the pain of downturn China deals with the pain of downturn
12/19/2008
The frail global economy has been hitting China hard. Marketplace's Shanghai correspondent Scott Tong discusses with Tess Vigeland how tougher times are raising questions about social unrest in an authoritarian country. (1 d ago)

• Weekly Wrap: Bailout, cut and scheme Weekly Wrap: Bailout, cut and scheme
12/19/2008
Usually at the holidays the news slows down. But not this week. Katie Benner of Fortune Magazine, The New York Times's David Leonhardt and Tess Vigeland discuss the events that grabbed the headlines. (1 d ago)

• New packaging may end 'wrap rage' New packaging may end 'wrap rage'
12/19/2008
So-called "clamshell" packaging has helped deter store theft for years. But the plastic casing is notoriously hard to open. Now, relief is in sight. Sarah Gardner reports. (1 d ago)

• Retailers are looking beyond Christmas Retailers are looking beyond Christmas
12/19/2008
This is supposed to be the biggest shopping weekend of the year. But many retailers have started advertising big after-Christmas sales. Jeremy Hobson reports. (1 d ago)

• Bush leaves bailout decisions to Obama Bush leaves bailout decisions to Obama
12/19/2008
The $17.4 billion that President Bush made available to General Motors and Chrysler today is being seen by auto industry analysts as only a temporary lifeline. Big decisions await the next administration. Nancy Marshall Genzer reports. (1 d ago)

• RIAA revises illegal-download fight RIAA revises illegal-download fight
12/19/2008
For years the Recording Industry Association of America has been suing netizens, accusing them of illegally sharing music files. But that era now seems to have met the fate of 8-tracks and cassettes. Rico Gagliano reports. (1 d ago)

• SEC: porn, conflicts of interest and pri... SEC: porn, conflicts of interest and private businesses
12/20/2008
The Securities and Exchanges Commission has had quite a shellacking over the last week over its... (1 d ago)

• Obama: it will take years to recover Obama: it will take years to recover
12/19/2008
Back in October, I did a blog entry looking at how long the recession would last. Some predicted it... (1 d ago)

• Insurance brokers warn Insurance brokers warn
12/19/2008
Already the signs aren't looking good, and accountants should start to worry.With the credit... (1 d ago)

• Automaker bailout: at what cost? Automaker bailout: at what cost?
12/19/2008
US automakers will finally get a $17.4 billion announced by the White House, reports The Wall... (1 d ago)

• Madoff: why the SEC dropped the investig... Madoff: why the SEC dropped the investigation
12/18/2008
With Bernie Madoff avoiding jail and instead getting house arrest in his $7 million apartment, The... (3 d ago)

• Web deals create procrastinators’ paradi... Web deals create procrastinators’ paradise
12/18/2008
'Twas the week before Christmas and despite all the sales, fewer presents were shipping to shoppers by mail. (2 d ago)

• ConsumerMan: Freezing your credit ConsumerMan: Freezing your credit
12/18/2008
I finally did it. This week I put a security freeze on my credit files at the big three credit reporting companies. (2 d ago)

• In Christmas tree wars, fakes gain groun... In Christmas tree wars, fakes gain ground
12/18/2008
While real trees are still the favored purchase among consumers, artificial trees are gaining ground as prices fall and they become more natural-looking. (2 d ago)

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• Welcome to the family Simplenewz Welcome to the family Simplenewz
12/19/2008
We have unveiled a new service today called Simplenewz - the sites what it stands for - it provides... (1 d ago)

• younoodle - or what is your startup wort... younoodle - or what is your startup worth?
12/18/2008
Since there were startup there is the question what a startup is worth. With all the ups and downs... (2 d ago)

• 693 Hedge Funds go under in 2008 693 Hedge Funds go under in 2008
12/19/2008
Chicago-based information company Hedge Fund Research (HFR), said the number of hedge funds... (2 d ago)

• Crisis Help for Anonymous High-net-Worth... Crisis Help for Anonymous High-net-Worth Individuals
12/19/2008
Business spectator comments on how the wealthy are dealing with the psychological scarring from... (2 d ago)

• China's BYD Auto Puts a Plug-in Hybrid o... China's BYD Auto Puts a Plug-in Hybrid on the Market There
12/20/2008
While automakers in the US and Japan worry about how to cope with the global recession, one China... (18 h ago)

• Do You Make a Good Impression on People? Do You Make a Good Impression on People?
12/20/2008
Do you make a good impression on people? In today's fast paced world, the answer to that... (12 h ago)

• Rate Cut, Bailout Inject Some Life Rate Cut, Bailout Inject Some Life
12/20/2008
U.S. stocks rose, posting the first back-to-back weekly gains in three months, as the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates to a record low and President Bush granted emergency government loans to General Motors and Chrysler. (10 h ago)

• Venture Capitalists Karen Gordon Mills N... Venture Capitalists Karen Gordon Mills Nominated to Head the Small Business Administration
12/20/2008
First, that facts: Karen Gordon Mills has been nominated by President-elect Obama to lead the Small... (15 h ago)

• Morgan Stanley's Asia PE Chief Gets Axed Morgan Stanley's Asia PE Chief Gets Axed
12/20/2008
PE Hub is reporting that Jonathan Mandel, the managing director of Morgan Stanley's Hong... (19 h ago)

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