Workers in Cambodia will hold a "people's tribunal" next week to investigate pay and conditions at factories working for fashion brands including H&M and Gap.
An international panel of judges will hear evidence from workers, factories and multinational brands including Puma and Adidas. H&M said it would not attend but would supply information about how it was addressing wages at its suppliers' factories in the country.
The two-day hearing aims to raise awareness of low pay and long working hours that workers say are partly responsible for a series of "mass faintings" involving hundreds of workers at factories supplying H&M, Gap and sports brands.
Up to 300 workers will give evidence about the fainting incidents and about living conditions resulting from low wages.
The minimum wage in Cambodia is the equivalent of just $66 (£42) a month, a level that human rights groups say is almost half that required to meet basic needs.
Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Coalition for Apparel Workers Democratic Unions, said: "Because the workers get low wages they try to work 10 to 13 hours a day to get the money they need for their family."
He said workers needed a basic wage equivalent to at least $100 (£63) a month to get by without putting their health in danger. "Workers are fainting because of long working hours and the environment in the factory," he said.
Fumes from chemicals, poor ventilation, malnutrition and even "mass hysteria" have all been blamed for making workers ill. ...
The prime minister, David Cameron, has denied that it was inappropriate for him to have dinner at the home of senior News Corporation executive Rebekah Brooks while the government was considering the company's takeover bid for BSkyB.
Cameron said Brooks, the chief executive of News Corp's UK newspaper publisher News International, was "married to a very old friend of mine" – a reference to her husband, Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer and writer. Both attended Eton.
He added that party leaders and prime ministers "have lunches and dinners with editors, journalists and proprietors all of the time" and he did not think "there's a problem at all" with him attending the dinner.
Cameron was quizzed about the dinner at the Oxfordshire home of the Brooks over the Christmas period on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday by presenter John Humphrys.
The dinner was also attended by James Murdoch, the News Corp chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia, and took place while the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was considering whether to refer the company's bid to acquire the 61% of Sky it did not already own to the Competition Commission on public interest grounds.
It took place a few days after Cameron had stripped the business secretary, Vince Cable, of responsibility for media takeovers and given the powers to Hunt. Cable had been secretly taped by Daily Telegraph journalists saying that he was "at war" with Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp chairman and chief executive.
Humphrys said a lot of people thought attending the dinner was inappropriate and asked Cameron if he wished he had not done it.
"No. I've had absolutely nothing to do with the merger proposals that were put forward," Cameron replied. "I deliberately excluded myself from any part of that decision-making process. The first I knew of [Hunt's decision] was when the results were announced on the BBC.
"Jeremy Hunt had a quasi-judicial role to carry out, which he carried out in my view entirely properly, and it's quite right that he didn't consult the prime minister over that. He looked at the evidence and he made the decision and so I don't think there's a problem at all.
"Party leaders and prime ministers have lunches and dinners with editors, journalists proprietors all of the time." ...
Cameron said Brooks, the chief executive of News Corp's UK newspaper publisher News International, was "married to a very old friend of mine" – a reference to her husband, Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer and writer. Both attended Eton.
He added that party leaders and prime ministers "have lunches and dinners with editors, journalists and proprietors all of the time" and he did not think "there's a problem at all" with him attending the dinner.
Cameron was quizzed about the dinner at the Oxfordshire home of the Brooks over the Christmas period on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday by presenter John Humphrys.
The dinner was also attended by James Murdoch, the News Corp chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia, and took place while the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was considering whether to refer the company's bid to acquire the 61% of Sky it did not already own to the Competition Commission on public interest grounds.
It took place a few days after Cameron had stripped the business secretary, Vince Cable, of responsibility for media takeovers and given the powers to Hunt. Cable had been secretly taped by Daily Telegraph journalists saying that he was "at war" with Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp chairman and chief executive.
Humphrys said a lot of people thought attending the dinner was inappropriate and asked Cameron if he wished he had not done it.
"No. I've had absolutely nothing to do with the merger proposals that were put forward," Cameron replied. "I deliberately excluded myself from any part of that decision-making process. The first I knew of [Hunt's decision] was when the results were announced on the BBC.
"Jeremy Hunt had a quasi-judicial role to carry out, which he carried out in my view entirely properly, and it's quite right that he didn't consult the prime minister over that. He looked at the evidence and he made the decision and so I don't think there's a problem at all.
"Party leaders and prime ministers have lunches and dinners with editors, journalists proprietors all of the time." ...
How much did your pay go up in 2010? How about your friends and family? Working people in America are hurting—that’s for sure. They’re lucky to have jobs at all—and if they have jobs, odds are their pay is pretty much flat, or worse.
Now, consider this: In 2010, the average pay of a CEO at a major American company went up by 23 percent—to $11.4 million.
Despite the collapse of the financial markets at the hands of many of these same executives less than three years ago, the disparity between CEO and workers’ pay has continued to grow to levels that are simply stunning.
Take a look at 2011 Executive PayWatch, released this morning, to find out just how outrageous things have gotten.
Instead of investing to create good middle-class jobs and grow the economy, corporate CEOs are hoarding $2 trillion in cash.
Except, of course, when it comes to their own paychecks.
Go to the site, www.PayWatch.org, to see some of the worst examples of CEO pay.
Although pay is more out of balance than it has been during most of our lifetimes, for the first time there is hope that things are changing.
That’s because of a new law—the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2011. It’s a law that’s working today.
This year, for the first time ever, every public company is giving its shareholders an advisory vote on CEO pay. And soon, companies will be required to disclose the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay for their median employee—which will publicize just how inequitable things are at individual corporations.
These powerful new rules already are under attack—congressional Republicans have announced their intention to repeal Wall Street reform.
Go to www.PayWatch.org to urge Congress to keep tools for reining in CEO pay, share ridiculous pay disparities with your friends on Facebook, and help us build a movement to keep Wall Street in check.
In 2010, while most Americans were learning the hard way how to make do with less, and small businesses all across the country were shutting their doors, CEOs at our largest companies and Wall Street executives still found a way to make out like bandits. That’s something that’s got to change.
Of course, corporate CEOs would prefer to keep the public in the dark about the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay at their company. And it’s no surprise they wish shareholders didn’t have a “say on pay” vote.
But it shocks me they have the nerve to argue for these policies in public—and lobby for them—after their companies drove our country off an economic cliff. As if this is an argument they actually can win. ...
Now, consider this: In 2010, the average pay of a CEO at a major American company went up by 23 percent—to $11.4 million.
Despite the collapse of the financial markets at the hands of many of these same executives less than three years ago, the disparity between CEO and workers’ pay has continued to grow to levels that are simply stunning.
Take a look at 2011 Executive PayWatch, released this morning, to find out just how outrageous things have gotten.
Instead of investing to create good middle-class jobs and grow the economy, corporate CEOs are hoarding $2 trillion in cash.
Except, of course, when it comes to their own paychecks.
Go to the site, www.PayWatch.org, to see some of the worst examples of CEO pay.
Although pay is more out of balance than it has been during most of our lifetimes, for the first time there is hope that things are changing.
That’s because of a new law—the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2011. It’s a law that’s working today.
This year, for the first time ever, every public company is giving its shareholders an advisory vote on CEO pay. And soon, companies will be required to disclose the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay for their median employee—which will publicize just how inequitable things are at individual corporations.
These powerful new rules already are under attack—congressional Republicans have announced their intention to repeal Wall Street reform.
Go to www.PayWatch.org to urge Congress to keep tools for reining in CEO pay, share ridiculous pay disparities with your friends on Facebook, and help us build a movement to keep Wall Street in check.
In 2010, while most Americans were learning the hard way how to make do with less, and small businesses all across the country were shutting their doors, CEOs at our largest companies and Wall Street executives still found a way to make out like bandits. That’s something that’s got to change.
Of course, corporate CEOs would prefer to keep the public in the dark about the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay at their company. And it’s no surprise they wish shareholders didn’t have a “say on pay” vote.
But it shocks me they have the nerve to argue for these policies in public—and lobby for them—after their companies drove our country off an economic cliff. As if this is an argument they actually can win. ...
A UK subsidiary of the world's largest commodities broker helped one of its African mining operations avoid paying tens of millions of pounds in tax, according to charities who have analysed a leaked review of its accounts.
The findings of a draft report into internal controls at Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines plc have been categorically rejected by its owner, Glencore, the giant fuel, metals and cereals trader based in the Swiss tax haven of Zug. The report, seen by the Observer, was carried out in 2009 by a Norwegian subsidiary of Grant Thornton, one of the world's largest accountancy firms, at the request of the previous Zambian government.
Its authors alleged the mine's owners "resisted the pilot audit at every stage", a claim denied by a spokesman for Glencore, which owns a 73% stake in Mopani through a company based in the British Virgin Islands, another tax haven.
The report claimed there had been an "unexplainable" increase in Mopani's costs between 2006 and 2008 that allowed it to minimise its stated profits and lower its tax bill. "We suggest the ZRA [Zambian Revenue Authority] does a new tax assessment based on the results of the audit," the report claims.
Glencore, which is preparing a £37bn listing on the London stock market, the capital's biggest ever flotation, said the auditors had failed to factor in rising fuel and labour costs over the period. The audit also suggested Mopani sold copper at artificially low prices to Glencore in Switzerland under a deal struck with the firm's UK subsidiary in 2000. The metal was then sold on, allowing Glencore to take advantage of Switzerland's ultra-low tax regime. ...
The findings of a draft report into internal controls at Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines plc have been categorically rejected by its owner, Glencore, the giant fuel, metals and cereals trader based in the Swiss tax haven of Zug. The report, seen by the Observer, was carried out in 2009 by a Norwegian subsidiary of Grant Thornton, one of the world's largest accountancy firms, at the request of the previous Zambian government.
Its authors alleged the mine's owners "resisted the pilot audit at every stage", a claim denied by a spokesman for Glencore, which owns a 73% stake in Mopani through a company based in the British Virgin Islands, another tax haven.
The report claimed there had been an "unexplainable" increase in Mopani's costs between 2006 and 2008 that allowed it to minimise its stated profits and lower its tax bill. "We suggest the ZRA [Zambian Revenue Authority] does a new tax assessment based on the results of the audit," the report claims.
Glencore, which is preparing a £37bn listing on the London stock market, the capital's biggest ever flotation, said the auditors had failed to factor in rising fuel and labour costs over the period. The audit also suggested Mopani sold copper at artificially low prices to Glencore in Switzerland under a deal struck with the firm's UK subsidiary in 2000. The metal was then sold on, allowing Glencore to take advantage of Switzerland's ultra-low tax regime. ...
Granted, I'm from Detroit, where Paranoia = Wisdom, but something really huge is coming - something that will gazoople their profits, or they never woulda done this.
Ta much, dear MSiegel
Ta much, dear MSiegel
An influential group of MPs is to investigate corporate tax avoidance as the clamour grows for action on companies seen as paying less than their fair share.
The inquiry, by the Treasury select committee, will raise the political temperature around the issue – already under scrutiny after questions over the tax bills of multinationals such as Vodafone and Barclays – and senior executives face the prospect of explaining their companies' tax structures to the committee.
George Mudie, the Labour MP for Leeds East and the chairman of the Commons Treasury sub-committee, told the Guardian that there was growing public interest. "When people see their standards of living fall and are paying their tax, and see huge salaries and questions over tax avoidance, then quite rightly they are interested in the issue," he said. ...
The inquiry, by the Treasury select committee, will raise the political temperature around the issue – already under scrutiny after questions over the tax bills of multinationals such as Vodafone and Barclays – and senior executives face the prospect of explaining their companies' tax structures to the committee.
George Mudie, the Labour MP for Leeds East and the chairman of the Commons Treasury sub-committee, told the Guardian that there was growing public interest. "When people see their standards of living fall and are paying their tax, and see huge salaries and questions over tax avoidance, then quite rightly they are interested in the issue," he said. ...
Why Is Microsoft Seeking New State Laws That Allow it to Sue Competitors For Piracy by Overseas Suppliers?
Thursday, March 24 2011 @ 09:46 AM EDT
Microsoft seems to be trying to get its own personal unfair competition laws passed state by state, so it can sue US companies who get parts from overseas companies who used pirated Microsoft software anywhere in their business. The laws allow Microsoft to block the US company from selling the finished product in the state and compel them to pay damages for what the overseas supplier did.
You heard me right. If a company overseas uses a pirated version of Excel, let's say, keeping track of how many parts it has shipped or whatever, and then sends some parts to General Motors or any large company to incorporate into the finished product, Microsoft can sue *not the overseas supplier* but General Motors, for unfair competition. So can the state's Attorney General. I kid you not. For piracy that was done by someone else, overseas. The product could be T shirts. It doesn't matter what it is, so long as it's manufactured with contributions from an overseas supplier, like in China, who didn't pay Microsoft for software that it uses somewhere in the business. It's the US company that has to pay damages, not the overseas supplier.
Awful, I know. But the real question is, Why? Why is Microsoft doing this? Does Microsoft need a new revenue stream, now that folks are switching to smartphones instead of PCs? Or is it something worse, something Machiavellian? I ask that because I noticed two things, one, that Microsoft said that it came up with the laws because it is dissatisfied with patent law and two, something odd and frankly alarming in the Washington State version of this bill that leads me to suspect that this is Microsoft's Plan B in its litigation storm against Linux -- its Ace in the hole in case the Supreme Court decides that its software is unpatentable.
Not that Microsoft would mind having more than one way to harass Linux and it competitors in general, or two revenue streams without having to actually work to make better products. I'd like to show you how Open Source is deliberately excluded, though, a deliberate carve out.
How can there be state copyright-related statutes without conflicting with US Copyright Law, which is federal? You may well ask....
Ta much, dear Ar0cketman
Thursday, March 24 2011 @ 09:46 AM EDT
Microsoft seems to be trying to get its own personal unfair competition laws passed state by state, so it can sue US companies who get parts from overseas companies who used pirated Microsoft software anywhere in their business. The laws allow Microsoft to block the US company from selling the finished product in the state and compel them to pay damages for what the overseas supplier did.
You heard me right. If a company overseas uses a pirated version of Excel, let's say, keeping track of how many parts it has shipped or whatever, and then sends some parts to General Motors or any large company to incorporate into the finished product, Microsoft can sue *not the overseas supplier* but General Motors, for unfair competition. So can the state's Attorney General. I kid you not. For piracy that was done by someone else, overseas. The product could be T shirts. It doesn't matter what it is, so long as it's manufactured with contributions from an overseas supplier, like in China, who didn't pay Microsoft for software that it uses somewhere in the business. It's the US company that has to pay damages, not the overseas supplier.
Awful, I know. But the real question is, Why? Why is Microsoft doing this? Does Microsoft need a new revenue stream, now that folks are switching to smartphones instead of PCs? Or is it something worse, something Machiavellian? I ask that because I noticed two things, one, that Microsoft said that it came up with the laws because it is dissatisfied with patent law and two, something odd and frankly alarming in the Washington State version of this bill that leads me to suspect that this is Microsoft's Plan B in its litigation storm against Linux -- its Ace in the hole in case the Supreme Court decides that its software is unpatentable.
Not that Microsoft would mind having more than one way to harass Linux and it competitors in general, or two revenue streams without having to actually work to make better products. I'd like to show you how Open Source is deliberately excluded, though, a deliberate carve out.
How can there be state copyright-related statutes without conflicting with US Copyright Law, which is federal? You may well ask....
Ta much, dear Ar0cketman
BT, Sky and Virgin Media – along with the rest of Britain's leading internet service providers – will next week outline an industry-wide "code of practice" on how they explain controversial "two-speed internet" policies to customers.
The group will make their announcement at a ministerial summit on net neutrality chaired by culture minister Ed Vaizey – which will also be attended by Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the web and a strong supporter of net neutrality – on 16 March.
The ISPs plan to publish how they manage internet traffic – such as video viewing, music streaming and movie downloading – in comparison to their rivals. That will make clear if they throttle popular services such as the BBC's iPlayer to maintain capacity for all customers on their network.
However, the companies – whose ranks also include the leading mobile operators – will not commit to a minimum service standard, even though some phone companies believe that "there should be a basic commitment to let people browse everything on the internet".
The agreement follows a wide-ranging debate on "net neutrality" – whether ISPs should be allowed to charge content companies such as the BBC or Google for faster delivery to the nation's homes.
BT, TalkTalk and others argue that ISPs should be free to strike deals for more efficient delivery.
Under the plans, described as a "voluntary code of conduct" by people at the meeting, ISPs will be compelled to publish a "scorecard" of how they speed up and slow down traffic and for which companies. But internet providers will still be allowed to throttle public access to video and peer-to-peer services if they wish.
The Broadband Stakeholders Group, which has been facilitating meetings with ISPs on traffic management since late last year, will publish a statement shortly after the meeting. ISPs hope the move will head off an enforced code of practice by the communications regulator Ofcom. ...
The group will make their announcement at a ministerial summit on net neutrality chaired by culture minister Ed Vaizey – which will also be attended by Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the web and a strong supporter of net neutrality – on 16 March.
The ISPs plan to publish how they manage internet traffic – such as video viewing, music streaming and movie downloading – in comparison to their rivals. That will make clear if they throttle popular services such as the BBC's iPlayer to maintain capacity for all customers on their network.
However, the companies – whose ranks also include the leading mobile operators – will not commit to a minimum service standard, even though some phone companies believe that "there should be a basic commitment to let people browse everything on the internet".
The agreement follows a wide-ranging debate on "net neutrality" – whether ISPs should be allowed to charge content companies such as the BBC or Google for faster delivery to the nation's homes.
BT, TalkTalk and others argue that ISPs should be free to strike deals for more efficient delivery.
Under the plans, described as a "voluntary code of conduct" by people at the meeting, ISPs will be compelled to publish a "scorecard" of how they speed up and slow down traffic and for which companies. But internet providers will still be allowed to throttle public access to video and peer-to-peer services if they wish.
The Broadband Stakeholders Group, which has been facilitating meetings with ISPs on traffic management since late last year, will publish a statement shortly after the meeting. ISPs hope the move will head off an enforced code of practice by the communications regulator Ofcom. ...
Prince Andrew has pulled out of a proposed trip to Saudi Arabia after almost three weeks of damaging revelations about his personal integrity and links with corrupt and repressive regimes.
The Duke of York was due to travel next week to boost defence contracts in his role as Britain's trade envoy.
Buckingham Palace denied the trip was cancelled in light of the allegations, saying simply that the trip had been "postponed" because of safety concerns.
"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK Trade and Investment and the palace have agreed to postpone the visit given the current circumstances in the region," the palace said.
"Any suggestion that this had anything to do with recent UK media coverage is absolutely not the case."
The Queen is reported to have held private talks with Andrew on Tuesday over the mounting scandal. The Duke, who is fourth in line to the throne, has been plagued by revelations about his close friendship with convicted sex offender and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. ...
The Duke of York was due to travel next week to boost defence contracts in his role as Britain's trade envoy.
Buckingham Palace denied the trip was cancelled in light of the allegations, saying simply that the trip had been "postponed" because of safety concerns.
"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK Trade and Investment and the palace have agreed to postpone the visit given the current circumstances in the region," the palace said.
"Any suggestion that this had anything to do with recent UK media coverage is absolutely not the case."
The Queen is reported to have held private talks with Andrew on Tuesday over the mounting scandal. The Duke, who is fourth in line to the throne, has been plagued by revelations about his close friendship with convicted sex offender and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. ...
... The Queen is reported to have held private talks with Andrew about the mounting scandal over his trade dealings with despots for the government and his personal links to the US financier Jeffrey Epstein, who has been convicted of sex offences with young girls.
The prince's spokesman refused to comment on the meeting, said to have taken place at the Queen's private apartments at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, after more than two weeks of daily reports criticising his conduct and judgment as the UK's international trade envoy.
"I understand that she asked him if any more stories are going to come out in the next few days," the Daily Mail reported a senior aide as saying. "If the answer was yes, then his position will be untenable. I suspect he will make a decision in the next 48 hours or so."The newspaper said the Queen was concerned that scrutiny of the duke was overshadowing preparations for the wedding next month of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which the royal family hopes to use to increase public support.
But backing for the prince came from Sir David Tang, the Hong Kong restaurateur and businessman. He met the prince before his visit last October to promote business interests in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, GeneWatch UK, which has campaigned against the police national DNA database, has disclosed that the UK Forensic Science Service is involved in a plan to DNA-test the entire population of the United Arab Emirates, under a contract signed in the presence of Andrew in 2006.
Dr Helen Wallace, of GeneWatch UK, called on ministers to scrap the contract under which a universal DNA database is to being built and linked to a national identity card scheme. "This would allow the Emirates to track every citizen and identify their relatives, a frightening prospect for dissidents and women," she said. ...
The prince's spokesman refused to comment on the meeting, said to have taken place at the Queen's private apartments at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, after more than two weeks of daily reports criticising his conduct and judgment as the UK's international trade envoy.
"I understand that she asked him if any more stories are going to come out in the next few days," the Daily Mail reported a senior aide as saying. "If the answer was yes, then his position will be untenable. I suspect he will make a decision in the next 48 hours or so."The newspaper said the Queen was concerned that scrutiny of the duke was overshadowing preparations for the wedding next month of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which the royal family hopes to use to increase public support.
But backing for the prince came from Sir David Tang, the Hong Kong restaurateur and businessman. He met the prince before his visit last October to promote business interests in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, GeneWatch UK, which has campaigned against the police national DNA database, has disclosed that the UK Forensic Science Service is involved in a plan to DNA-test the entire population of the United Arab Emirates, under a contract signed in the presence of Andrew in 2006.
Dr Helen Wallace, of GeneWatch UK, called on ministers to scrap the contract under which a universal DNA database is to being built and linked to a national identity card scheme. "This would allow the Emirates to track every citizen and identify their relatives, a frightening prospect for dissidents and women," she said. ...
Not quite the sharpest crayon in the box are ye, Andy?
The industrial city of Abu Rawash sits in the desert beyond the pyramids. You reach it down a dusty road that seems to lead to nowhere. Then the factories and warehouses begin: Toyota, Hyundai, Mazda and Jeep deserted save for a handful of security guards sitting in front of a vacant parking lot for absent staff.
Outside the gates of the Toyota warehouse Ayman Ibrahim is talking to the gatekeeper. The factories are closed, the man tells Ibrahim, who owns a window business on the same site. They won't reopen until at least mid-week. Perhaps even Friday. No one really knows.
The closures in places such as Abu Rawash have been accompanied by calls from unions for an indefinite general strike. "I'm losing £10,000 pounds a week," says Ibrahim. "But it's worth it, I've been to the protest in Tahrir Square for the past three days with my kids. Mubarak is costing me money, but he has been costing Egypt money for 30 years."
It is not only Ibrahim whose business is being hurt financially by the crisis. All of Egypt is hurting. On the main road close to the factories the large Carrefour-Dandy mall is as deserted as the car plants. Egypt's stock market, the bourse, is closed after losing 16% in value last week. Moody's and Fitch – the debt rating companies – have revised their outlook for the country's bonds to negative. The country's banks have been closed for the past two days in fear of a run on the county's bank system.
It is damaging Egypt at all levels. Already some bank machines have run out of money. Some petrol stations have begun running out of fuel. Economists are warning of the risks of shortages of staples, such as bread and water.
Elsewhere shops are shuttered. Those not shut, like some in the paved streets in the financial district close to the epicenter of Egypt's uprising in Tahrir Square, are empty. The owners sit on plastic chairs. "This is very, very bad," says Ah Mahmoud, who owns a clothes shop called Polo. "The problems between the people and president Hosni Mubarak are bad for business. Bad for work. With no money coming in how will we eat?" ...
Outside the gates of the Toyota warehouse Ayman Ibrahim is talking to the gatekeeper. The factories are closed, the man tells Ibrahim, who owns a window business on the same site. They won't reopen until at least mid-week. Perhaps even Friday. No one really knows.
The closures in places such as Abu Rawash have been accompanied by calls from unions for an indefinite general strike. "I'm losing £10,000 pounds a week," says Ibrahim. "But it's worth it, I've been to the protest in Tahrir Square for the past three days with my kids. Mubarak is costing me money, but he has been costing Egypt money for 30 years."
It is not only Ibrahim whose business is being hurt financially by the crisis. All of Egypt is hurting. On the main road close to the factories the large Carrefour-Dandy mall is as deserted as the car plants. Egypt's stock market, the bourse, is closed after losing 16% in value last week. Moody's and Fitch – the debt rating companies – have revised their outlook for the country's bonds to negative. The country's banks have been closed for the past two days in fear of a run on the county's bank system.
It is damaging Egypt at all levels. Already some bank machines have run out of money. Some petrol stations have begun running out of fuel. Economists are warning of the risks of shortages of staples, such as bread and water.
Elsewhere shops are shuttered. Those not shut, like some in the paved streets in the financial district close to the epicenter of Egypt's uprising in Tahrir Square, are empty. The owners sit on plastic chairs. "This is very, very bad," says Ah Mahmoud, who owns a clothes shop called Polo. "The problems between the people and president Hosni Mubarak are bad for business. Bad for work. With no money coming in how will we eat?" ...
Eric Schmidt's departure after nearly 10 years as chief executive of Google, to be replaced by the intense Larry Page (after whom Google's PageRank algorithm, the system for determining where web pages should rank in search results, is named), has been quite a while coming.
"Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!" Schmidt tweeted as the announcement was made on Thursday evening. But the truth is that Google needs much more adult supervision as it enters its second decade as an organisation. Like so many before it, the company is hitting the barriers to growth: how to stay as nimble as when it was younger given that it is now much, much larger.
The move has clearly been planned for some time; in a blog post, Schmidt admitted the move had been planned "over the [Christmas] holidays". Of course the trio – Schmidt, Page and his co-founder Sergey Brin – had figured out that if Schmidt had simply announced it on 2 January, all hell would have broken loose: the stock would have tanked, and everyone would have picked the financial results announced on Thursday night apart like vultures on a carcass.
Instead, everyone noted the top-line numbers (which are good – revenue $8.44bn, up 26% on a year ago, and net income of $2.54bn, up 28.7%), agreed they were good, and started obsessing over how it would happen and listening to Schmidt's jolly words complimenting his younger colleagues. ...
"Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!" Schmidt tweeted as the announcement was made on Thursday evening. But the truth is that Google needs much more adult supervision as it enters its second decade as an organisation. Like so many before it, the company is hitting the barriers to growth: how to stay as nimble as when it was younger given that it is now much, much larger.
The move has clearly been planned for some time; in a blog post, Schmidt admitted the move had been planned "over the [Christmas] holidays". Of course the trio – Schmidt, Page and his co-founder Sergey Brin – had figured out that if Schmidt had simply announced it on 2 January, all hell would have broken loose: the stock would have tanked, and everyone would have picked the financial results announced on Thursday night apart like vultures on a carcass.
Instead, everyone noted the top-line numbers (which are good – revenue $8.44bn, up 26% on a year ago, and net income of $2.54bn, up 28.7%), agreed they were good, and started obsessing over how it would happen and listening to Schmidt's jolly words complimenting his younger colleagues. ...
I Can Haz $$$: Cheezburger Network Scores $30 Million in Funding
January 18, 2011
by Brenna Ehrlich
So this is nothing to LOL at: The Cheezburger Network, an Internet publisher known for popular memes like LOLcats and FAILS, has just scored a $30 million Series A led by Foundry Group, with participation from Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures, and SoftBank Capital as well.
What’s truly staggering about this news is not merely the sum, but the fact that this is the company’s first institutional round of funding — in the past, journalist-turned-entrepreneur Ben Huh and company bootstrapped and relied on a $2 million angel round and revenue to survive. (Huh reports that it has been profitable since its birth, raising money via advertising, old media (books, etc) and merchandising.)
“We’re a bit of an oddball, and we’re okay with that,” Huh says with regard to the unprecedented influx of cash. ...
Ta much, dear MSiegel
January 18, 2011
by Brenna Ehrlich
So this is nothing to LOL at: The Cheezburger Network, an Internet publisher known for popular memes like LOLcats and FAILS, has just scored a $30 million Series A led by Foundry Group, with participation from Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures, and SoftBank Capital as well.
What’s truly staggering about this news is not merely the sum, but the fact that this is the company’s first institutional round of funding — in the past, journalist-turned-entrepreneur Ben Huh and company bootstrapped and relied on a $2 million angel round and revenue to survive. (Huh reports that it has been profitable since its birth, raising money via advertising, old media (books, etc) and merchandising.)
“We’re a bit of an oddball, and we’re okay with that,” Huh says with regard to the unprecedented influx of cash. ...
Ta much, dear MSiegel
Goldman Sachs has been left red-faced after the investment bank had to scrap plans for its super-rich American clients to become special friends with Facebook.
Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs invested $450m (£283m) in the social network company at a price that valued Facebook at $50bn. It was then reported that the bank was looking to raise $1.5bn for Facebook through an exclusive share offer, known as a private placement, for the bank's top clients.
Facebook is probably the hottest property on the planet at present. The seven-year-old company has more than 500 million users and recently passed Google as the most visited site on the web. The deal was a major coup for Goldman, which appeared to have found a way to get its clients in first.
The bank planned to set up a "special purpose vehicle" to allow its clients to invest in Facebook. The plan was widely seen as a way to circumnavigate rules that restrict to below 500 the number of US shareholders a private company can have. It subsequently transpired that Facebook was planning to address the 500 rule itself by going public or publishing full accounts.
While Goldman never commented on the private placement, the bank's officials believe the "intense media attention" that the deal generated around the world was threatening to scupper the deal in the US.
American law prohibits "general solicitation and advertising" in private offerings, banning banks from promoting an offer by taking out advertisements or communicating with media outlets. ...
Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs invested $450m (£283m) in the social network company at a price that valued Facebook at $50bn. It was then reported that the bank was looking to raise $1.5bn for Facebook through an exclusive share offer, known as a private placement, for the bank's top clients.
Facebook is probably the hottest property on the planet at present. The seven-year-old company has more than 500 million users and recently passed Google as the most visited site on the web. The deal was a major coup for Goldman, which appeared to have found a way to get its clients in first.
The bank planned to set up a "special purpose vehicle" to allow its clients to invest in Facebook. The plan was widely seen as a way to circumnavigate rules that restrict to below 500 the number of US shareholders a private company can have. It subsequently transpired that Facebook was planning to address the 500 rule itself by going public or publishing full accounts.
While Goldman never commented on the private placement, the bank's officials believe the "intense media attention" that the deal generated around the world was threatening to scupper the deal in the US.
American law prohibits "general solicitation and advertising" in private offerings, banning banks from promoting an offer by taking out advertisements or communicating with media outlets. ...
Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the country's intelligence services to establish whether China is behind alleged industrial spying at the car-making giant Renault.
A source at the Elysée palace said secret services were "investigating a Chinese link" in the scandal after the company suspended three senior executives for allegedly committing "very serious faults".
All three were working on Renault's high-profile electric car programme and one as a member of the company's management committee.
If the allegations were confirmed, it would be one of the biggest and most potentially damaging cases of commercial espionage in recent years.
Tonight a French magazine claimed the three men had leaked information about the development of batteries for the electric vehicles that Renault hopes to put into production in the next 18 months.
Le Point said the employees had been approached by a private company used as a subcontractor by Renault. It claimed that in return for information, money had been paid into foreign bank accounts.
More damaging for Renault, Le Point also alleged the leaked information concerned multi-million euro technology that the company had yet had a chance to patent, meaning it was not protected from being copied. ...
A source at the Elysée palace said secret services were "investigating a Chinese link" in the scandal after the company suspended three senior executives for allegedly committing "very serious faults".
All three were working on Renault's high-profile electric car programme and one as a member of the company's management committee.
If the allegations were confirmed, it would be one of the biggest and most potentially damaging cases of commercial espionage in recent years.
Tonight a French magazine claimed the three men had leaked information about the development of batteries for the electric vehicles that Renault hopes to put into production in the next 18 months.
Le Point said the employees had been approached by a private company used as a subcontractor by Renault. It claimed that in return for information, money had been paid into foreign bank accounts.
More damaging for Renault, Le Point also alleged the leaked information concerned multi-million euro technology that the company had yet had a chance to patent, meaning it was not protected from being copied. ...
The media regulator Ofcom is this week expected to recommend that Rupert Murdoch's £8bn controversial buyout of BSkyB should be subject to a further six-month long inquiry – and in so doing hand culture secretary Jeremy Hunt the toughest political decision in his time in office.
On Friday, Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards will send over the conclusions of a "public interest" inquiry into whether News Corporation's buyout of Sky will damage media plurality in the UK – and while the document will initially remain confidential most expect the regulator to demand a further investigation by the Competition Commission.
That leaves Jeremy Hunt – the cabinet minister suddenly brought into the inquiry after Vince Cable's ill-advised "war on Murdoch" comments – with about 10 working days to decide whether to follow Ofcom's advice or not. Although his discretion is free, it will be a major surprise if he deviates from the interim verdict.
At issue is whether, by controlling 100% of BSkyB, Rupert Murdoch will have a disproportionate influence over the British media – in which News Corp has unprecedented cross-media power with titles accounting for 37% of the newspaper sales and control of the biggest broadcaster by turnover in the UK.
Critics – an unlikely alliance of normally competing Fleet Street owners, including the companies behind the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror and the Guardian – argue that the power and influence of a company with at least £7.5bn of UK turnover will inevitably lead to the diminution of rivals.
Contact between the owner of the Times and the Sun and Ofcom in the run-up to Christmas left insiders at News Corp's Wapping headquarters braced for a referral. But that has not stopped sniping between the two with News Corp complaining that Richards did not attend any pre-Christmas case conferences between the two sides. ...
On Friday, Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards will send over the conclusions of a "public interest" inquiry into whether News Corporation's buyout of Sky will damage media plurality in the UK – and while the document will initially remain confidential most expect the regulator to demand a further investigation by the Competition Commission.
That leaves Jeremy Hunt – the cabinet minister suddenly brought into the inquiry after Vince Cable's ill-advised "war on Murdoch" comments – with about 10 working days to decide whether to follow Ofcom's advice or not. Although his discretion is free, it will be a major surprise if he deviates from the interim verdict.
At issue is whether, by controlling 100% of BSkyB, Rupert Murdoch will have a disproportionate influence over the British media – in which News Corp has unprecedented cross-media power with titles accounting for 37% of the newspaper sales and control of the biggest broadcaster by turnover in the UK.
Critics – an unlikely alliance of normally competing Fleet Street owners, including the companies behind the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror and the Guardian – argue that the power and influence of a company with at least £7.5bn of UK turnover will inevitably lead to the diminution of rivals.
Contact between the owner of the Times and the Sun and Ofcom in the run-up to Christmas left insiders at News Corp's Wapping headquarters braced for a referral. But that has not stopped sniping between the two with News Corp complaining that Richards did not attend any pre-Christmas case conferences between the two sides. ...
British Airways is among 10 airlines to have been fined a total of €800m by the European Union for their involvement in a cargo pricing cartel between 1999 and 2006.
The EU said the airlines "co-ordinated their action on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts."
"The carriers contacted each other so as to ensure that worldwide air freight carriers imposed a flat rate surcharge per kg for all shipments."
BA were fined €104m, but Air France-KLM were handed the biggest sanction of €339.6m. The other offenders were Qantas, Air Japan, Singapore Airlines, SAS, Cargolux, LAN Chile, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific. German airline Lufthansa escaped a fine because it blew the whistle on the cartel. ...
The EU said the airlines "co-ordinated their action on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts."
"The carriers contacted each other so as to ensure that worldwide air freight carriers imposed a flat rate surcharge per kg for all shipments."
BA were fined €104m, but Air France-KLM were handed the biggest sanction of €339.6m. The other offenders were Qantas, Air Japan, Singapore Airlines, SAS, Cargolux, LAN Chile, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific. German airline Lufthansa escaped a fine because it blew the whistle on the cartel. ...
'Slavery' uncovered on trawlers fishing for Europe
Exclusive: EJF find conditions including incarceration, violence, and confinement on board for months or even years
Felicity Lawrence
Thursday 30 September 2010
Shocking evidence of conditions akin to slavery on trawlers that provide fish for European dinner tables has been found in an investigation off the coast of west Africa.
Forced labour and human rights abuses involving African crews have been uncovered on trawlers fishing illegally for the European market by investigators for an environmental campaign group.
The Environmental Justice Foundation found conditions on board including incarceration, violence, withholding of pay, confiscation of documents, confinement on board for months or even years, and lack of clean water.
The EJF found hi-tech vessels operating without appropriate licences in fishing exclusion zones off the coast of Sierra Leone and Guinea over the last four years. The ships involved all carried EU numbers, indicating that they were licensed to import to Europe having theoretically passed strict hygiene standards.
"We didn't set out to look at human rights but rather to tackle the illegal fishing that's decimating fish stocks, but having been on board we have seen conditions that unquestionably meet the UN official definition of forced labour or modern-day slavery," EJF investigator Duncan Copeland said. A report on the abuses is published by the foundation today. ...
Exclusive: EJF find conditions including incarceration, violence, and confinement on board for months or even years
Felicity Lawrence
Thursday 30 September 2010
Shocking evidence of conditions akin to slavery on trawlers that provide fish for European dinner tables has been found in an investigation off the coast of west Africa.
Forced labour and human rights abuses involving African crews have been uncovered on trawlers fishing illegally for the European market by investigators for an environmental campaign group.
The Environmental Justice Foundation found conditions on board including incarceration, violence, withholding of pay, confiscation of documents, confinement on board for months or even years, and lack of clean water.
The EJF found hi-tech vessels operating without appropriate licences in fishing exclusion zones off the coast of Sierra Leone and Guinea over the last four years. The ships involved all carried EU numbers, indicating that they were licensed to import to Europe having theoretically passed strict hygiene standards.
"We didn't set out to look at human rights but rather to tackle the illegal fishing that's decimating fish stocks, but having been on board we have seen conditions that unquestionably meet the UN official definition of forced labour or modern-day slavery," EJF investigator Duncan Copeland said. A report on the abuses is published by the foundation today. ...
Caribbean hoteliers are threatening legal action against European tour operator, Thomas Cook, if the company goes ahead with a five per cent reduction in payment of August and September arrival invoices.
Thomas Cook says it has had a tough couple of months, financially, as a result of the Icelandic ash crisis in the summer and cannot pay the full amount owed to its suppliers. It is estimated that the loss to the travel and tourism industry because of the ash crisis was £70 million.
But the move by Thomas Cook has been strongly criticised by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association (CHTA), which has deemed the company's action unethical.
Secretary General of the CHTA, Alec Sanguinetti, in a release on Friday, said his organisation is sending a letter to Thomas Cook on behalf of its member hotel associations expressing their concern and rejection of such unilateral actions by Thomas Cook.
Sanguinetti noted that Thomas Cook was not the only travel entity to have experienced losses in the summer of 2010, and that Caribbean hoteliers have also had the most challenging economic conditions to deal with in modern history.
Barring the cessation of this unauthorised policy of deductions for agreed-upon arrivals, the CHTA said it is supporting the strongest possible actions by its affected member associations against Thomas Cook.
"We can't have any company taking unilateral and unauthorised monetary deductions because they experienced a drop in their earnings, no matter how steeped in history, and credibility they have accumulated over the years," Sanguinetti said.
"Tour-operator contracts have been negotiated and are currently in place. Contracts are to be upheld by both parties and when this breaks down unilaterally, it undermines the entire contracting system," he added.
The Caribbean's response comes in the wake of hoteliers in Spain threatening to take the tour operator to court for the same reasons. An article in Travel Weekly on Thursday said with payments due next week, Ignacio Vasallo, United Kingdom director of the Spanish Tourist Office, said hoteliers in that destination were waiting to see if the operator would stand firm on its decision. ...
Thomas Cook says it has had a tough couple of months, financially, as a result of the Icelandic ash crisis in the summer and cannot pay the full amount owed to its suppliers. It is estimated that the loss to the travel and tourism industry because of the ash crisis was £70 million.
But the move by Thomas Cook has been strongly criticised by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association (CHTA), which has deemed the company's action unethical.
Secretary General of the CHTA, Alec Sanguinetti, in a release on Friday, said his organisation is sending a letter to Thomas Cook on behalf of its member hotel associations expressing their concern and rejection of such unilateral actions by Thomas Cook.
Sanguinetti noted that Thomas Cook was not the only travel entity to have experienced losses in the summer of 2010, and that Caribbean hoteliers have also had the most challenging economic conditions to deal with in modern history.
Barring the cessation of this unauthorised policy of deductions for agreed-upon arrivals, the CHTA said it is supporting the strongest possible actions by its affected member associations against Thomas Cook.
"We can't have any company taking unilateral and unauthorised monetary deductions because they experienced a drop in their earnings, no matter how steeped in history, and credibility they have accumulated over the years," Sanguinetti said.
"Tour-operator contracts have been negotiated and are currently in place. Contracts are to be upheld by both parties and when this breaks down unilaterally, it undermines the entire contracting system," he added.
The Caribbean's response comes in the wake of hoteliers in Spain threatening to take the tour operator to court for the same reasons. An article in Travel Weekly on Thursday said with payments due next week, Ignacio Vasallo, United Kingdom director of the Spanish Tourist Office, said hoteliers in that destination were waiting to see if the operator would stand firm on its decision. ...
Some of the biggest names on the British high street are at the centre of a major sweatshop scandal. An Observer investigation has found staff at their Indian suppliers working up to 16 hours a day.
Marks & Spencer, Gap and Next have all launched their own inquiries into the abuses and pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is in flagrant breach of the industry's ethical trading initiative (ETI) and Indian labour law.
Some workers say they were paid at half the legal overtime rate. Gap, which uses the same factory as Next, confirmed it had found wage violations and gave its supplier a deadline of midnight last night to repay workers who lost out. M&S says it has yet to see evidence to support the wage claims.
Workers also say that those who refuse to work the extra hours have been told to find new jobs. Those in the factory supplying Gap and Next also claim staff who refused to work extra hours were threatened and fired, a practice defined under international law as forced labour and outlawed around the world. The factory has pledged to apologise and reinstate anyone who lost their job. ...
Marks & Spencer, Gap and Next have all launched their own inquiries into the abuses and pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is in flagrant breach of the industry's ethical trading initiative (ETI) and Indian labour law.
Some workers say they were paid at half the legal overtime rate. Gap, which uses the same factory as Next, confirmed it had found wage violations and gave its supplier a deadline of midnight last night to repay workers who lost out. M&S says it has yet to see evidence to support the wage claims.
Workers also say that those who refuse to work the extra hours have been told to find new jobs. Those in the factory supplying Gap and Next also claim staff who refused to work extra hours were threatened and fired, a practice defined under international law as forced labour and outlawed around the world. The factory has pledged to apologise and reinstate anyone who lost their job. ...
Market blues
Published: Saturday | May 29, 2010
Lovelette Brooks, News Editor
THE PLANNED rebuilding and refurbishing exercise for the Coronation Market, downtown Kingston, later this year, becomes even more urgent as the market, regarded as the pivot of trade and commerce in the heart of the city, is almost completely destroyed.
Located in west Kingston in proximity to the Tivoli Gardens war zone, the market took a severe battering from four days of intense battle waged between the island's security forces and gunmen that threatened to rip the city apart.
More than 70 persons, including Jamaica Defence Force personnel, were killed and two police stations burnt.
The largest and most vibrant market in Jamaica, Coronation Market, or 'Curry', accommodates between 6,000 to 8,000 persons per day. Peak days for business are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Despite its deplorable physical and sanitary conditions, the wholesale and retail market is well patronised.
However, vending stalls that, only a week ago, were piled high with fresh fruits and ground produce, were reduced to smouldering cisterns. Soot, ash, burnt fruits and vegetables litter the ground.
"This is the leading market in Jamaica and it gone, and if it gone, there is no more economy downtown!" shouts Jessica, an angry vendor who says she lost everything, including stock she had in storage.
According to residents who live in the vicinity, the market was firebombed. Several stalls were still burning when The Gleaner visited the market. ...
Published: Saturday | May 29, 2010
Lovelette Brooks, News Editor
THE PLANNED rebuilding and refurbishing exercise for the Coronation Market, downtown Kingston, later this year, becomes even more urgent as the market, regarded as the pivot of trade and commerce in the heart of the city, is almost completely destroyed.
Located in west Kingston in proximity to the Tivoli Gardens war zone, the market took a severe battering from four days of intense battle waged between the island's security forces and gunmen that threatened to rip the city apart.
More than 70 persons, including Jamaica Defence Force personnel, were killed and two police stations burnt.
The largest and most vibrant market in Jamaica, Coronation Market, or 'Curry', accommodates between 6,000 to 8,000 persons per day. Peak days for business are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Despite its deplorable physical and sanitary conditions, the wholesale and retail market is well patronised.
However, vending stalls that, only a week ago, were piled high with fresh fruits and ground produce, were reduced to smouldering cisterns. Soot, ash, burnt fruits and vegetables litter the ground.
"This is the leading market in Jamaica and it gone, and if it gone, there is no more economy downtown!" shouts Jessica, an angry vendor who says she lost everything, including stock she had in storage.
According to residents who live in the vicinity, the market was firebombed. Several stalls were still burning when The Gleaner visited the market. ...
May 27, 2010
Suicide attempt prompts panic at Foxconn
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent
The spiralling suicide crisis at Foxconn appeared to be worsening last night after another employee of the electronics plant tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists.
The suicide attempt was made just hours after the death of a 23-year-old employee.
Psychologists and experts in suicide have begun to talk openly of a “mass hysteria” among the 350,000 mostly migrant workers at the vast factory in Shenzhen, southern China, which makes digital equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and laptop PCs for big-name clients.
The death today brought the toll among the company’s staff to 11 since January. The Times has learnt that Sony has begun “re-evaluating” the working environment at Foxconn.
With panic starting to show among Foxconn’s management, the company is understood to have asked employees to sign a pledge that they would seek medical help if they were ever overcome by suicidal thoughts.
The fatalities come amid mounting condemnation of working conditions at the Taiwanese-owned plant and the decision of several of the company’s biggest clients — Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard — to investigate how their products are being manufactured.
The latest victim, like the nine other young employees who have committed suicide at the plant since January, leapt from the seventh floor of his dormitory.
The company has made hastily contrived efforts to improve conditions for its workers, the majority of whom stand in the same position for 12-hour shifts and receive the equivalent of about £90 each month in salary. Those measures include the use of “soothing” music on the factory floor, the recruitment of hundreds of dance instructors and the establishment of a suicide hotline. ...
Suicide attempt prompts panic at Foxconn
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent
The spiralling suicide crisis at Foxconn appeared to be worsening last night after another employee of the electronics plant tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists.
The suicide attempt was made just hours after the death of a 23-year-old employee.
Psychologists and experts in suicide have begun to talk openly of a “mass hysteria” among the 350,000 mostly migrant workers at the vast factory in Shenzhen, southern China, which makes digital equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and laptop PCs for big-name clients.
The death today brought the toll among the company’s staff to 11 since January. The Times has learnt that Sony has begun “re-evaluating” the working environment at Foxconn.
With panic starting to show among Foxconn’s management, the company is understood to have asked employees to sign a pledge that they would seek medical help if they were ever overcome by suicidal thoughts.
The fatalities come amid mounting condemnation of working conditions at the Taiwanese-owned plant and the decision of several of the company’s biggest clients — Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard — to investigate how their products are being manufactured.
The latest victim, like the nine other young employees who have committed suicide at the plant since January, leapt from the seventh floor of his dormitory.
The company has made hastily contrived efforts to improve conditions for its workers, the majority of whom stand in the same position for 12-hour shifts and receive the equivalent of about £90 each month in salary. Those measures include the use of “soothing” music on the factory floor, the recruitment of hundreds of dance instructors and the establishment of a suicide hotline. ...
A Chinese electronics assembly worker threw himself from the roof of his dormitory in Shenzhen yesterday, the latest suicide by a worker toiling to feed the world’s craving for cheaper iPods, laptops and mobile phones.
The migrant worker, 19, earning a basic salary of 900 yuan (£19) per month, was the ninth employee at Foxconn’s immense plant in the southern Chinese city to take his life since January, and the tenth in the company as a whole. He had worked at the plant for only 42 days.
Li Hai’s death echoes that of a 21-year-old logistics worker at the same factory three days earlier and came a day after the chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, declared that his company was “not running a sweatshop”.
Many think that the boom in electronic equipment and market pressures have given the industry the characteristics for which the textile industry is notorious: physically punishing, mind-numbing work at low wages. ...
The migrant worker, 19, earning a basic salary of 900 yuan (£19) per month, was the ninth employee at Foxconn’s immense plant in the southern Chinese city to take his life since January, and the tenth in the company as a whole. He had worked at the plant for only 42 days.
Li Hai’s death echoes that of a 21-year-old logistics worker at the same factory three days earlier and came a day after the chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, declared that his company was “not running a sweatshop”.
Many think that the boom in electronic equipment and market pressures have given the industry the characteristics for which the textile industry is notorious: physically punishing, mind-numbing work at low wages. ...
A ninth worker fell to his death at a southern Chinese factory run by the electronics giant Foxconn today, as campaigners protested against working conditions at the company's Hong Kong offices.
The Taiwanese-owned firm's plant in Shenzhen had already seen eight suicides this year and two more attempts. Another worker committed suicide at a smaller Foxconn factory in Hebei province, in the north of the country, in January, according to the Associated Press.
The 19-year-old man from central China had been working at the plant for only a month and a half, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Police say they are determining the cause of death and Foxconn did not offer immediate comment.
The company ‑ which is believed to make goods for Dell, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Apple among others ‑ has installed safety nets around buildings to try to prevent further deaths. It has also called in counsellors and introduced music on production lines to attempt to relieve the monotony of working practices.
But campaigners have demanded a more comprehensive overhaul of working practices, saying that higher wages, shorter hours and greater variety of work are needed. They also called for independent workers' committees to air employees' grievances. ...
The Taiwanese-owned firm's plant in Shenzhen had already seen eight suicides this year and two more attempts. Another worker committed suicide at a smaller Foxconn factory in Hebei province, in the north of the country, in January, according to the Associated Press.
The 19-year-old man from central China had been working at the plant for only a month and a half, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Police say they are determining the cause of death and Foxconn did not offer immediate comment.
The company ‑ which is believed to make goods for Dell, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Apple among others ‑ has installed safety nets around buildings to try to prevent further deaths. It has also called in counsellors and introduced music on production lines to attempt to relieve the monotony of working practices.
But campaigners have demanded a more comprehensive overhaul of working practices, saying that higher wages, shorter hours and greater variety of work are needed. They also called for independent workers' committees to air employees' grievances. ...
Foxconn employee dies in 11th fall this year in China
Mon May 24, 2010
BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - An employee of the tech firm Foxconn died early on Tuesday after falling from a building in southern city of Shenzhen, state media reported, the ninth such death at the firm's manufacturing hub this year.
Two workers have also survived similar falls at the sprawling manufacturing hub of the firm, whose clients include Apple and Sony Ericsson.
The company did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on the latest fall, just four days after a 21-year-old man died in the same way.
The man who fell on Tuesday was a teenage vocational school graduate from central China who had worked at the plant for a month and a half, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Police are investigating whether the death was suicide or an accident, but Xinhua quoted sources saying the man left a suicide note, apologising to his father.
"This is really a public relations crisis for Foxconn," said Jenny Lai, an analyst at CLSA in Taipei. "The key right now is for the company to get out there and reassure their clients that they have put in place a system that will ensure that any new cases are minimised."
Shenzhen's police chief was leading an investigation into previous falls, Xinhua reported earlier.
Foxconn has 420,000 employees based in Shenzhen, Xinhua reported earlier this month, most under 30.
The unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry has come under criticism from labour groups over its working conditions after the spate of apparent suicides.
Hon Hai's chairman, Terry Gou, on Monday defended the firm and its working conditions at a business forum.
"I believe, we are not a sweatshop...a team of 900,000 workers is very difficult to manage, there are many things to do every day, however I have confidence that we can stabilise the situation very quickly," local television showed him saying.
Mon May 24, 2010
BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - An employee of the tech firm Foxconn died early on Tuesday after falling from a building in southern city of Shenzhen, state media reported, the ninth such death at the firm's manufacturing hub this year.
Two workers have also survived similar falls at the sprawling manufacturing hub of the firm, whose clients include Apple and Sony Ericsson.
The company did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on the latest fall, just four days after a 21-year-old man died in the same way.
The man who fell on Tuesday was a teenage vocational school graduate from central China who had worked at the plant for a month and a half, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Police are investigating whether the death was suicide or an accident, but Xinhua quoted sources saying the man left a suicide note, apologising to his father.
"This is really a public relations crisis for Foxconn," said Jenny Lai, an analyst at CLSA in Taipei. "The key right now is for the company to get out there and reassure their clients that they have put in place a system that will ensure that any new cases are minimised."
Shenzhen's police chief was leading an investigation into previous falls, Xinhua reported earlier.
Foxconn has 420,000 employees based in Shenzhen, Xinhua reported earlier this month, most under 30.
The unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry has come under criticism from labour groups over its working conditions after the spate of apparent suicides.
Hon Hai's chairman, Terry Gou, on Monday defended the firm and its working conditions at a business forum.
"I believe, we are not a sweatshop...a team of 900,000 workers is very difficult to manage, there are many things to do every day, however I have confidence that we can stabilise the situation very quickly," local television showed him saying.
Yahoo and Nokia join forces in bid to challenge Google and Apple
Outspoken Yahoo boss Carol Bartz tells TechCrunch blogger to 'fuck off' if he thinks her company should be performing better
Andrew Clark in New York and Richard Wray
Monday 24 May 2010
Outspoken Yahoo boss Carol Bartz tells TechCrunch blogger to 'fuck off' if he thinks her company should be performing better
Andrew Clark in New York and Richard Wray
Monday 24 May 2010
May 24, 2010
Why diamonds don’t cut it any more
Only clever marketing has made the colourless stones so precious to us. Isn’t it time we fell out of love with diamonds?
Helen Rumbelow
... Diamonds were for centuries a niche market. Human beings have always loved glittery, shiny stones and metals, and the Indian royal family thought diamonds the home of the gods, but Westerners were just as interested in rubies, sapphires and other gems. A rummage through your great-grandmother’s jewellery box rarely brings up diamonds. For engagement rings, pearls were the most popular, given their pure colour and the symbolism of their creation.
Then came Cecil Rhodes, a British boy sent to South Africa for his asthma, where he quickly started to make his fortune buying up ailing diamond mines — one of the most productive was on the farm of the De Beers brothers. Rhodes was a crafty businessman — he knew that diamonds were naturally plentiful but not particularly popular. So first, he needed to make the De Beers company as close to a monopoly as possible, and artificially restrict supply. Second, he had to create a mystique around diamonds.
The near-monopoly De Beers achieved meant that for most of the 20th century their executives could not travel to America, for fear of arrest under anti-trust legislation. In the 1930s, they employed a New York ad company who “pulled off a brilliant marketing coup” says Zoellner. “They saturated the media with so many ads, stating this created fact — that for centuries men had given women diamonds as symbols of the marriage contract, and of course you’ll do the same, or you’ll look cheap. They invented history, with so much repetition and elegance that people believed them.”
This culminated in 1947, when a young copywriter, Frances Gerety, created what Advertising Age voted the most enduring advertising slogan of the 20th century: “A Diamond Is Forever”. The modern association between marriage and diamonds was born.
“What a brilliant thing De Beers has done — set up a tollbooth at the entrance of a life event!” says Zoellner. “Any Western man who is in a position to tie the knot certainly feels a cultural imperative to buy a diamond. They will then feel obliged to spend a month’s or two months’ salary on that ring: a sum that sounds like it comes from a charming Edwardian ritual, but is in fact also from the ad men.” ...
Why diamonds don’t cut it any more
Only clever marketing has made the colourless stones so precious to us. Isn’t it time we fell out of love with diamonds?
Helen Rumbelow
... Diamonds were for centuries a niche market. Human beings have always loved glittery, shiny stones and metals, and the Indian royal family thought diamonds the home of the gods, but Westerners were just as interested in rubies, sapphires and other gems. A rummage through your great-grandmother’s jewellery box rarely brings up diamonds. For engagement rings, pearls were the most popular, given their pure colour and the symbolism of their creation.
Then came Cecil Rhodes, a British boy sent to South Africa for his asthma, where he quickly started to make his fortune buying up ailing diamond mines — one of the most productive was on the farm of the De Beers brothers. Rhodes was a crafty businessman — he knew that diamonds were naturally plentiful but not particularly popular. So first, he needed to make the De Beers company as close to a monopoly as possible, and artificially restrict supply. Second, he had to create a mystique around diamonds.
The near-monopoly De Beers achieved meant that for most of the 20th century their executives could not travel to America, for fear of arrest under anti-trust legislation. In the 1930s, they employed a New York ad company who “pulled off a brilliant marketing coup” says Zoellner. “They saturated the media with so many ads, stating this created fact — that for centuries men had given women diamonds as symbols of the marriage contract, and of course you’ll do the same, or you’ll look cheap. They invented history, with so much repetition and elegance that people believed them.”
This culminated in 1947, when a young copywriter, Frances Gerety, created what Advertising Age voted the most enduring advertising slogan of the 20th century: “A Diamond Is Forever”. The modern association between marriage and diamonds was born.
“What a brilliant thing De Beers has done — set up a tollbooth at the entrance of a life event!” says Zoellner. “Any Western man who is in a position to tie the knot certainly feels a cultural imperative to buy a diamond. They will then feel obliged to spend a month’s or two months’ salary on that ring: a sum that sounds like it comes from a charming Edwardian ritual, but is in fact also from the ad men.” ...
8th Suicide Reported at Foxconn Factory
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: May 21, 2010
SHANGHAI — For the eighth time this year, a worker has apparently committed suicide at a factory in China operated by Foxconn Technology, the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer and a major supplier to Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other global companies.
The worker, a 21-year-old man named Nan Gang, jumped from a four-story factory after leaving work at 4 a.m. Friday, Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, reported. It was the 10th time a Foxconn worker has apparently committed or attempted suicide this year. Two workers survived with serious injuries.
No one has been able to explain what is happening at Foxconn this year. But not for the first time, the events are raising questions about the harsh regimens used by Chinese factories to produce a growing share of the world’s goods.
Labor rights groups have called some of the deaths suspicious and asked for an independent investigation of the two massive Foxconn factory sites, which together employ about 420,000 workers in Shenzhen, China.
A spokesman for Foxconn, a unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan, could not be reached Friday. But the company recently said it had hired counselors, was planning to bring in monks and had set up a help line for troubled workers.
Representatives of Apple, Dell and H.P. also could not be reached Friday for comment. But all three companies have long said that their factory suppliers abide by international labor standards. ...
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: May 21, 2010
SHANGHAI — For the eighth time this year, a worker has apparently committed suicide at a factory in China operated by Foxconn Technology, the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer and a major supplier to Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other global companies.
The worker, a 21-year-old man named Nan Gang, jumped from a four-story factory after leaving work at 4 a.m. Friday, Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, reported. It was the 10th time a Foxconn worker has apparently committed or attempted suicide this year. Two workers survived with serious injuries.
No one has been able to explain what is happening at Foxconn this year. But not for the first time, the events are raising questions about the harsh regimens used by Chinese factories to produce a growing share of the world’s goods.
Labor rights groups have called some of the deaths suspicious and asked for an independent investigation of the two massive Foxconn factory sites, which together employ about 420,000 workers in Shenzhen, China.
A spokesman for Foxconn, a unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan, could not be reached Friday. But the company recently said it had hired counselors, was planning to bring in monks and had set up a help line for troubled workers.
Representatives of Apple, Dell and H.P. also could not be reached Friday for comment. But all three companies have long said that their factory suppliers abide by international labor standards. ...
... Faced with struggles across News Corp's digital businesses, Murdoch and his lieutenants have begun taking an aggressive approach, calling for news sites to charge readers for content and labelling Google a "parasite". He aims to put his newspapers, including the Times and the Sun, behind a paywall, something described by the co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone, as a vain attempt to "put the genie back in the bottle".
Wolff said that this was a result of Murdoch's fundamental misunderstanding of the differences between the technology and media industries. While the 78-year-old mogul craves leadership in the digital world, Wolff suggested that a career spent building traditional media businesses has left Murdoch struggling to understand the speed and innovation required on the internet.
"He absolutely has no idea," he said. "If people really quite understood how little feeling he has for this business, they would fall down laughing – or crying."
Wolff said that this was a result of Murdoch's fundamental misunderstanding of the differences between the technology and media industries. While the 78-year-old mogul craves leadership in the digital world, Wolff suggested that a career spent building traditional media businesses has left Murdoch struggling to understand the speed and innovation required on the internet.
"He absolutely has no idea," he said. "If people really quite understood how little feeling he has for this business, they would fall down laughing – or crying."
BAE deal with Tanzania: Military air traffic control – for country with no airforce
Claire Short and Robin Cook had tried to stop the sale of a hugely expensive radar to the poverty- stricken Tanzanians
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis
Saturday 6 February 2010
Tony Blair was at the centre of controversy over BAE's arms deal with Tanzania, just as he was in the Saudi contracts.
Cabinet ministers Claire Short and Robin Cook had tried to stop the sale of the hugely expensive radar to the poverty- stricken Tanzanians. But, as prime minister, he overruled them and insisted that the deal had to go through.
It left Cook ruefully muttering that it seemed that Dick Evans, BAE's then chairman, seemed to have "the key to the garden door of No 10".
The World Bank and the International Civil Aviation Organisation judged that the 2001 purchase was unnecessary and overpriced.
But the £28m deal started to look even worse when the SFO discovered that a third of the contract's price had been diverted into secret offshore bank accounts.
The SFO believed that this money was used to pay bribes to Tanzanian politicians and officials.
Yesterday Short, who resigned from the government, said : "Every way you looked at it, it [the deal] was outrageous and disgraceful. And guess who absolutely insisted on it going through? My dear friend Tony Blair, who absolutely, adamantly, favoured all proposals for arms deals.
"It was an obviously corrupt project. Tanzania didn't need a new military air traffic control, it was out-of-date technology, they didn't have any military aircraft – they needed a civilian air traffic control system and there was a modern, much cheaper one. Everyone talks about good governance in Africa as though it is an African problem, and often the roots of the 'badness' is companies in Europe." ...
Claire Short and Robin Cook had tried to stop the sale of a hugely expensive radar to the poverty- stricken Tanzanians
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis
Saturday 6 February 2010
Tony Blair was at the centre of controversy over BAE's arms deal with Tanzania, just as he was in the Saudi contracts.
Cabinet ministers Claire Short and Robin Cook had tried to stop the sale of the hugely expensive radar to the poverty- stricken Tanzanians. But, as prime minister, he overruled them and insisted that the deal had to go through.
It left Cook ruefully muttering that it seemed that Dick Evans, BAE's then chairman, seemed to have "the key to the garden door of No 10".
The World Bank and the International Civil Aviation Organisation judged that the 2001 purchase was unnecessary and overpriced.
But the £28m deal started to look even worse when the SFO discovered that a third of the contract's price had been diverted into secret offshore bank accounts.
The SFO believed that this money was used to pay bribes to Tanzanian politicians and officials.
Yesterday Short, who resigned from the government, said : "Every way you looked at it, it [the deal] was outrageous and disgraceful. And guess who absolutely insisted on it going through? My dear friend Tony Blair, who absolutely, adamantly, favoured all proposals for arms deals.
"It was an obviously corrupt project. Tanzania didn't need a new military air traffic control, it was out-of-date technology, they didn't have any military aircraft – they needed a civilian air traffic control system and there was a modern, much cheaper one. Everyone talks about good governance in Africa as though it is an African problem, and often the roots of the 'badness' is companies in Europe." ...
Perseverance and bluff – how the legal deal was done that sees BAE pay £285m fines
That the arms giant has finally been forced to pay substantial penalties is due to the doggedness of a small group of prosecutors
David Leigh and Rob Evans
Friday 5 February 2010
Since the Guardian first exposed BAE's worldwide system of undercover payments to secure contracts in 2003, the company has fought hard to deny its guilt, using every lobbying tool at its disposal and exploiting its influence within the offices of the then prime minister, Tony Blair.
That the arms giant has finally been forced to pay substantial penalties is due to the doggedness of a small group of prosecutors, currently led by Richard Alderman, director of the Serious Fraud Office, and his US counterpart, Mark Mendelsohn, at the department of justice in Washington.
Alderman's predecessor, Robert Wardle, stepped down from his post at the SFO in 2008, a frustrated man, having seen BAE and its friends persuade Blair to intervene and force a halt to extensive and long running criminal inquiries into the £43bn al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
But that turned out to be the high-water mark of BAE's political influence. The US authorities promptly picked up the Saudi case which Blair had claimed would be so damaging to Britain's "national security".
Washington officials were vigorously attempting to enforce their own Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and were long suspicious of BAE's surprising arms deals in the Czech Republic, about which they had vainly protested at the time.
Meanwhile Alderman, when he succeeded Wardle at the SFO, insisted he was no patsy. He ordered renewed investigations into BAE's remaining suspect contracts in Tanzania, South Africa, Romania and the Czech Republic. Alderman staked much of his credibility on attempts to change the lumbering SFO style of investigation. ...
That the arms giant has finally been forced to pay substantial penalties is due to the doggedness of a small group of prosecutors
David Leigh and Rob Evans
Friday 5 February 2010
Since the Guardian first exposed BAE's worldwide system of undercover payments to secure contracts in 2003, the company has fought hard to deny its guilt, using every lobbying tool at its disposal and exploiting its influence within the offices of the then prime minister, Tony Blair.
That the arms giant has finally been forced to pay substantial penalties is due to the doggedness of a small group of prosecutors, currently led by Richard Alderman, director of the Serious Fraud Office, and his US counterpart, Mark Mendelsohn, at the department of justice in Washington.
Alderman's predecessor, Robert Wardle, stepped down from his post at the SFO in 2008, a frustrated man, having seen BAE and its friends persuade Blair to intervene and force a halt to extensive and long running criminal inquiries into the £43bn al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
But that turned out to be the high-water mark of BAE's political influence. The US authorities promptly picked up the Saudi case which Blair had claimed would be so damaging to Britain's "national security".
Washington officials were vigorously attempting to enforce their own Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and were long suspicious of BAE's surprising arms deals in the Czech Republic, about which they had vainly protested at the time.
Meanwhile Alderman, when he succeeded Wardle at the SFO, insisted he was no patsy. He ordered renewed investigations into BAE's remaining suspect contracts in Tanzania, South Africa, Romania and the Czech Republic. Alderman staked much of his credibility on attempts to change the lumbering SFO style of investigation. ...
Belgian prosecutors highlighted the massive losses faced by EU governments from VAT fraud today after they charged three Britons and a Dutchman with money-laundering following an investigation into a multimillion-pound scam involving carbon emissions permits.
The three Britons, who were arrested last month in Belgium, were accused of failing to pay VAT worth €3m (£2.7m) on a series of carbon credit transactions.
European authorities believe the EU has lost at least €5bn to carbon-trading VAT fraud in the last 18 months. Europol, the EU's law-enforcement operation, fears the fraud will be used in other areas, especially gas and electricity trading markets, after criminals found VAT fraud was one of the most lucrative financial frauds.
Pollution permits for businesses were launched in the European Union in 2005 in an effort to cut carbon emissions. But the lack of harmonised tax regimes across the EU has prevented the creation of an orderly market that eliminated fraud.
The fraud occurs when carbon credits are bought and imported tax-free from other EU countries, then sold to domestic buyers, charging them VAT. The UK allows credits to be sold without adding VAT, while Belgians must pay VAT when they buy credits. Once the transaction, or series of transactions, are complete, the sellers disappear without paying the tax. ...
The three Britons, who were arrested last month in Belgium, were accused of failing to pay VAT worth €3m (£2.7m) on a series of carbon credit transactions.
European authorities believe the EU has lost at least €5bn to carbon-trading VAT fraud in the last 18 months. Europol, the EU's law-enforcement operation, fears the fraud will be used in other areas, especially gas and electricity trading markets, after criminals found VAT fraud was one of the most lucrative financial frauds.
Pollution permits for businesses were launched in the European Union in 2005 in an effort to cut carbon emissions. But the lack of harmonised tax regimes across the EU has prevented the creation of an orderly market that eliminated fraud.
The fraud occurs when carbon credits are bought and imported tax-free from other EU countries, then sold to domestic buyers, charging them VAT. The UK allows credits to be sold without adding VAT, while Belgians must pay VAT when they buy credits. Once the transaction, or series of transactions, are complete, the sellers disappear without paying the tax. ...
A university that accepted £25 million from Tesco has published a report with misleading figures to endorse the supermarket’s policy of giving away billions of single-use carrier bags.
The University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute allowed senior Tesco staff to contribute to the report but failed to disclose the extent of the company’s involvement. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, joined Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco chief executive, at the publication of the report at the Royal Society in London last month.
The report includes an analysis of different approaches to reducing the number of disposable bags issued annually by supermarkets. It claims that Tesco’s approach of giving customers a loyalty card point for reusing a bag is more effective than requiring shops to charge for bags, which is used in the Republic of Ireland.
The reduction in Ireland was five times greater than that achieved across Tesco shops in Britain. Ireland cut plastic bag consumption by 90 per cent when it introduced a 15 cent charge per bag in 2002. The Tesco reward method took three years to cut the number of plastic bags by less than 50 per cent. ...
The University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute allowed senior Tesco staff to contribute to the report but failed to disclose the extent of the company’s involvement. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, joined Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco chief executive, at the publication of the report at the Royal Society in London last month.
The report includes an analysis of different approaches to reducing the number of disposable bags issued annually by supermarkets. It claims that Tesco’s approach of giving customers a loyalty card point for reusing a bag is more effective than requiring shops to charge for bags, which is used in the Republic of Ireland.
The reduction in Ireland was five times greater than that achieved across Tesco shops in Britain. Ireland cut plastic bag consumption by 90 per cent when it introduced a 15 cent charge per bag in 2002. The Tesco reward method took three years to cut the number of plastic bags by less than 50 per cent. ...
... The companies offered their own information for the survey, entitled Brand Emissions, and the data revealed that only one in five brands was demonstrating a reduction in emissions and had ambitious targets in line with the UK's aims.
The "leaders" emerging from the research included the supermarket giant Tesco, the phone company T-Mobile, the computer company Dell and the car manufacturer BMW.
At the other end of the scale, and for 250 brands, researchers found no carbon emissions information at all reported; this group included Google, McKinsey and Amazon. There were no public emission reduction targets for 320 brands, including Porsche, Harvey Nichols and McDonald's. Around 122 of the brands that did report their carbon output were seen to have increased their emissions in 2008. This group included Barclays, Sky and eBay.
The project, launched tomorrow,was developed by Marketing magazine and Brand Republic, with ENDS Carbon, a specialist carbon ratings agency, and the University of Edinburgh business school. The aim is to give an annual rating of leading UK brands. ...
The "leaders" emerging from the research included the supermarket giant Tesco, the phone company T-Mobile, the computer company Dell and the car manufacturer BMW.
At the other end of the scale, and for 250 brands, researchers found no carbon emissions information at all reported; this group included Google, McKinsey and Amazon. There were no public emission reduction targets for 320 brands, including Porsche, Harvey Nichols and McDonald's. Around 122 of the brands that did report their carbon output were seen to have increased their emissions in 2008. This group included Barclays, Sky and eBay.
The project, launched tomorrow,was developed by Marketing magazine and Brand Republic, with ENDS Carbon, a specialist carbon ratings agency, and the University of Edinburgh business school. The aim is to give an annual rating of leading UK brands. ...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Intel Corp was sued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who accused the world's largest chipmaker of threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars in kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.
The lawsuit accuses Intel of violating state and federal antitrust law through a "systematic worldwide campaign" of bullying and coercion to monopolize the market for personal computer chips, at the expense of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Intel's microprocessors power more than 80 percent of the world's PCs. Wednesday's lawsuit comes on the heels of several antitrust probes throughout the world into the Santa Clara, California-based company's business practices. ...
The lawsuit accuses Intel of violating state and federal antitrust law through a "systematic worldwide campaign" of bullying and coercion to monopolize the market for personal computer chips, at the expense of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Intel's microprocessors power more than 80 percent of the world's PCs. Wednesday's lawsuit comes on the heels of several antitrust probes throughout the world into the Santa Clara, California-based company's business practices. ...
If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it, can Carter-Ruck ban all mention of the sound?
Charlie Brooker
Monday 19 October 2009
... That's effectively what the Guardian did last week, except that there was no beloved actor, but rather a whopping great multinational company accused of dumping toxic waste off the Ivory Coast, following which a lot of people got rather sick and more than a little upset. In an apparent bid to save face, the company instructed its lawyers (Carter-Ruck) to sail up and down the media coastline, knowingly dumping toxic injunctions. Eventually they went completely berserk and issued a super-injunction preventing the Guardian from reporting a parliamentary question about one of their previous super-injunctions. This was too much for common sense or modern technology to bear. Private Eye printed the question, the Twittersphere went bonkers; soon everyone knew about it, and Trafigura's name was toxic mud. In terms of corporate PR, it was about as effective as appearing on the GMTV sofa to carve your brand name on to the face of a live baby. Anyway, the Trafigura debacle is one of the very few occasions where the cloaking device of the super-injunction has actually malfunctioned, leaving the hovering mothership visible, which raises a worrying question: what else don't we know about? Literally anything could be going on. Like the mysterious "dark matter" that scientists believe makes up a huge percentage of the universe, an entire alternative reality could be thriving just over our shoulders. Dean Gaffney might be made of staples. Hitler could be alive and well and currently in negotiations to present the Radio 1 breakfast show. Kellogg's could be raising an army of the damned and declaring war on Norwich. How many other "invisible" stories are out there, shrouded by thick legal mist?
God knows. But he's not allowed to tell you. ...
Charlie Brooker
Monday 19 October 2009
... That's effectively what the Guardian did last week, except that there was no beloved actor, but rather a whopping great multinational company accused of dumping toxic waste off the Ivory Coast, following which a lot of people got rather sick and more than a little upset. In an apparent bid to save face, the company instructed its lawyers (Carter-Ruck) to sail up and down the media coastline, knowingly dumping toxic injunctions. Eventually they went completely berserk and issued a super-injunction preventing the Guardian from reporting a parliamentary question about one of their previous super-injunctions. This was too much for common sense or modern technology to bear. Private Eye printed the question, the Twittersphere went bonkers; soon everyone knew about it, and Trafigura's name was toxic mud. In terms of corporate PR, it was about as effective as appearing on the GMTV sofa to carve your brand name on to the face of a live baby. Anyway, the Trafigura debacle is one of the very few occasions where the cloaking device of the super-injunction has actually malfunctioned, leaving the hovering mothership visible, which raises a worrying question: what else don't we know about? Literally anything could be going on. Like the mysterious "dark matter" that scientists believe makes up a huge percentage of the universe, an entire alternative reality could be thriving just over our shoulders. Dean Gaffney might be made of staples. Hitler could be alive and well and currently in negotiations to present the Radio 1 breakfast show. Kellogg's could be raising an army of the damned and declaring war on Norwich. How many other "invisible" stories are out there, shrouded by thick legal mist?
God knows. But he's not allowed to tell you. ...
The law firm Carter-Ruck has made a fresh move that could stop an MPs' debate next week by claiming a controversial injunction it has obtained is "sub judice".
The move follows the revelation of the existence of a secret "super-injunction" obtained by the firm on behalf of the London-based oil traders Trafigura.
The injunction not only bans disclosure of a confidential report on Trafigura and toxic waste, but also banned disclosure of the injunction's very existence, until it was revealed by an MP this week under parliamentary privilege.
Carter-Ruck partner Adam Tudor today sent a letter to the Speaker, John Bercow, and also circulated it to every single MP and peer, saying they believed the case was "sub judice".
If correct, it would mean that, under Westminster rules to prevent clashes between parliament and the courts, a debate planned for next Wednesday could not go ahead.
Earlier this week, the Labour MP Paul Farrelly said Carter-Ruck might be in contempt of parliament for seeking to stop the Guardian reporting questions he had put down on the order paper revealing the existence of the "super-injunction".
The Conservative MP Peter Bottomley went on to tell Gordon Brown at prime minister's questions that he would report Carter-Ruck to the Law Society for obtaining an injunction that purported to ban parliamentary reporting. ...
The move follows the revelation of the existence of a secret "super-injunction" obtained by the firm on behalf of the London-based oil traders Trafigura.
The injunction not only bans disclosure of a confidential report on Trafigura and toxic waste, but also banned disclosure of the injunction's very existence, until it was revealed by an MP this week under parliamentary privilege.
Carter-Ruck partner Adam Tudor today sent a letter to the Speaker, John Bercow, and also circulated it to every single MP and peer, saying they believed the case was "sub judice".
If correct, it would mean that, under Westminster rules to prevent clashes between parliament and the courts, a debate planned for next Wednesday could not go ahead.
Earlier this week, the Labour MP Paul Farrelly said Carter-Ruck might be in contempt of parliament for seeking to stop the Guardian reporting questions he had put down on the order paper revealing the existence of the "super-injunction".
The Conservative MP Peter Bottomley went on to tell Gordon Brown at prime minister's questions that he would report Carter-Ruck to the Law Society for obtaining an injunction that purported to ban parliamentary reporting. ...
News Flash!
Fat Evil Racist Fuck Tries Buying nfl Team - Players Shockingly Protest
Film @ Eleven
Fat Evil Racist Fuck Tries Buying nfl Team - Players Shockingly Protest
Film @ Eleven
MPs from all parties protested at Westminster this afternoon at attempts by lawyers acting for the oil trader Trafigura to stop reports of parliamentary proceedings.
The Labour MP Paul Farrelly told the speaker, John Bercow, attempts by lawyers Carter-Ruck to gag the media could be a "potential contempt of parliament".
The Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris said there was a need to "control the habit of law firms" of obtaining secrecy injunctions, and his colleague David Heath told the Commons a "fundamental principle" was being threatened: that MPs should be able to speak freely and have their words reported freely.
On the Conservative side, David Davies criticised the rising use of "super-injunctions", in which the fact of the injunction is itself kept secret. He said courts should not be allowed to grant injunctions forbidding the reporting of parliament. ...
... Farrelly, who tabled a parliamentary question yesterday that the Guardian had been forbidden from reporting, told the Commons: "I want to raise a point of order regarding a chain of events which may be of concern to the House.
"Today, the Guardian reported that it had been prevented from reporting a written question tabled by a member of parliament. This morning, I telephoned the Guardian to ask whether the MP was myself.
"The question was printed on the order paper yesterday and relates to the activities of Trafigura, an international oil trader at the centre of a controversy regarding toxic waste-dumping in the Ivory Coast, and to the role of its solicitors, Carter-Ruck.
"Yesterday, I understand, Carter-Ruck, quite astonishingly, warned of legal action if the Guardian reported my question. In view of the seriousness of this, will you accept representations from me over this matter and consider whether Carter-Ruck's behaviour constitutes a potential contempt of parliament?"
Earlier, Trafigura's law firm had refused to alter an existing blanket court order banning the Guardian from mentioning Trafigura's recourse to the courts. This refusal was despite the publication on parliament's official website of Farrelly's questions revealing the facts.
The result of Carter-Ruck's intransigence was an avalanche of online publication, as well as...in the magazine Private Eye...Bloggers who posted Farrelly's questions in full included the political website Guido Fawkes and the Spectator magazine website.
Large numbers of messages were posted on Twitter, to the extent that "Trafigura" and "Carter-Ruck" became the most viewed keywords in London throughout the morning.
Shortly before the case was due to come to court, Carter-Ruck announced that its clients would no longer oppose reporting of what was said in parliament about them. ...
Real genius, but the last five paras posted here are by far the funniest.
The Labour MP Paul Farrelly told the speaker, John Bercow, attempts by lawyers Carter-Ruck to gag the media could be a "potential contempt of parliament".
The Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris said there was a need to "control the habit of law firms" of obtaining secrecy injunctions, and his colleague David Heath told the Commons a "fundamental principle" was being threatened: that MPs should be able to speak freely and have their words reported freely.
On the Conservative side, David Davies criticised the rising use of "super-injunctions", in which the fact of the injunction is itself kept secret. He said courts should not be allowed to grant injunctions forbidding the reporting of parliament. ...
... Farrelly, who tabled a parliamentary question yesterday that the Guardian had been forbidden from reporting, told the Commons: "I want to raise a point of order regarding a chain of events which may be of concern to the House.
"Today, the Guardian reported that it had been prevented from reporting a written question tabled by a member of parliament. This morning, I telephoned the Guardian to ask whether the MP was myself.
"The question was printed on the order paper yesterday and relates to the activities of Trafigura, an international oil trader at the centre of a controversy regarding toxic waste-dumping in the Ivory Coast, and to the role of its solicitors, Carter-Ruck.
"Yesterday, I understand, Carter-Ruck, quite astonishingly, warned of legal action if the Guardian reported my question. In view of the seriousness of this, will you accept representations from me over this matter and consider whether Carter-Ruck's behaviour constitutes a potential contempt of parliament?"
Earlier, Trafigura's law firm had refused to alter an existing blanket court order banning the Guardian from mentioning Trafigura's recourse to the courts. This refusal was despite the publication on parliament's official website of Farrelly's questions revealing the facts.
The result of Carter-Ruck's intransigence was an avalanche of online publication, as well as...in the magazine Private Eye...Bloggers who posted Farrelly's questions in full included the political website Guido Fawkes and the Spectator magazine website.
Large numbers of messages were posted on Twitter, to the extent that "Trafigura" and "Carter-Ruck" became the most viewed keywords in London throughout the morning.
Shortly before the case was due to come to court, Carter-Ruck announced that its clients would no longer oppose reporting of what was said in parliament about them. ...
Real genius, but the last five paras posted here are by far the funniest.
October 10, 2009
The barcode is nothing to celebrate
It killed off the traditional shop and gave us the checkout girl. And what’s with a 57th anniversary anyway?
Giles Coren
... It seems a rum thing to celebrate, though. Because what, after all, have we gained by the invention of the barcode (which, in the end, was first employed in a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, in 1974)?
As far as I can tell, the main thing that the barcode has achieved is to have brought an end to the old-fashioned scenario in one’s local shop, where the little man in the white overalls smiles as he takes down the flour tin from the shelf to weigh out your half-pound, and says: “Baking today, is it, Mrs Foskett? Not your famous fairy cakes? Hope there’s one left over for me!”
Good work, barcode. You’ve certainly seen off that nosey old bastard.
Yup, the barcode killed the shop. Nice one. Like all modernising inventions, it came along with a brief to speed things up and, where possible, eradicate people. A bit like the industrialised Nazi death camps (happy birthday, Heinrich!). And while that may be great as a model for business or genocide, it rather runs counter to the instinctive will of humanity.
I tell a lie. The barcode did give us something useful. It gave us the phrase “supermarket checkout girl” as a convenient shorthand for a girl of low status and minimal intellect — the sort of girl you don’t want to end up settling for, or, if you are a girl, end up being. Whichever it is, she’s waiting for you if you don’t get on with your homework.
Swipe, swipe, blip. Swipe, swipe, blip. It’s the sound of the end of the world. The final, total automation of the need to eat. The digitisation of the life instinct. Indeed, there are now supermarkets with no checkout staff at all, where you just swipe, swipe, blip the barcodes yourself and go home without speaking a word. Such places are generally full of lonely singletons buying frozen lasagne and soft porn, rapists and teenage muggers helping themselves to the booze. Good on you, Norman Joe! Hats off, Bernie!
And even if you are on the side of corporate rapine, and celebrate the bypassing of the human in all commercial transactions, wouldn’t you have been more excited about October 7 if barcodes actually worked? If it wasn’t always a case of some illiterate till popsy being unable to find the barcode on the egg box and turning it over and over and then banging it huffily down on the counter so that the omelette that you were going to have for lunch starts making itself right there in the shop, and then spending the next ten minutes trying to type in the numbers manually — tutting and sighing all the time — until she eventually hits “enter” and the display screen charges up a gross of Brussels sprout trees at £456? ...
Well done, Giles.
The barcode is nothing to celebrate
It killed off the traditional shop and gave us the checkout girl. And what’s with a 57th anniversary anyway?
Giles Coren
... It seems a rum thing to celebrate, though. Because what, after all, have we gained by the invention of the barcode (which, in the end, was first employed in a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, in 1974)?
As far as I can tell, the main thing that the barcode has achieved is to have brought an end to the old-fashioned scenario in one’s local shop, where the little man in the white overalls smiles as he takes down the flour tin from the shelf to weigh out your half-pound, and says: “Baking today, is it, Mrs Foskett? Not your famous fairy cakes? Hope there’s one left over for me!”
Good work, barcode. You’ve certainly seen off that nosey old bastard.
Yup, the barcode killed the shop. Nice one. Like all modernising inventions, it came along with a brief to speed things up and, where possible, eradicate people. A bit like the industrialised Nazi death camps (happy birthday, Heinrich!). And while that may be great as a model for business or genocide, it rather runs counter to the instinctive will of humanity.
I tell a lie. The barcode did give us something useful. It gave us the phrase “supermarket checkout girl” as a convenient shorthand for a girl of low status and minimal intellect — the sort of girl you don’t want to end up settling for, or, if you are a girl, end up being. Whichever it is, she’s waiting for you if you don’t get on with your homework.
Swipe, swipe, blip. Swipe, swipe, blip. It’s the sound of the end of the world. The final, total automation of the need to eat. The digitisation of the life instinct. Indeed, there are now supermarkets with no checkout staff at all, where you just swipe, swipe, blip the barcodes yourself and go home without speaking a word. Such places are generally full of lonely singletons buying frozen lasagne and soft porn, rapists and teenage muggers helping themselves to the booze. Good on you, Norman Joe! Hats off, Bernie!
And even if you are on the side of corporate rapine, and celebrate the bypassing of the human in all commercial transactions, wouldn’t you have been more excited about October 7 if barcodes actually worked? If it wasn’t always a case of some illiterate till popsy being unable to find the barcode on the egg box and turning it over and over and then banging it huffily down on the counter so that the omelette that you were going to have for lunch starts making itself right there in the shop, and then spending the next ten minutes trying to type in the numbers manually — tutting and sighing all the time — until she eventually hits “enter” and the display screen charges up a gross of Brussels sprout trees at £456? ...
Well done, Giles.
Gordon Brown is ready to leave Britain’s biggest defence manufacturer, BAE Systems, to the mercy of the courts over allegations that it paid millions of pounds in bribes to win contracts, The Times has learnt.
Senior Downing Street sources said last night that he was adopting a “strictly hands-off approach” to the case. It is understood that a plea from BAE for the Prime Minister to intervene — as Tony Blair did three years ago in helping to halt a previous investigation — has already been “firmly rebuffed” by officials.
Yesterday an ultimatum issued by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for the arms giant to accept an out-of-court settlement expired. Instead, the agency charged with stamping out corruption by British business vowed to pursue claims that BAE paid out millions of pounds for lucrative defence contracts in Tanzania, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Romania. ...
Senior Downing Street sources said last night that he was adopting a “strictly hands-off approach” to the case. It is understood that a plea from BAE for the Prime Minister to intervene — as Tony Blair did three years ago in helping to halt a previous investigation — has already been “firmly rebuffed” by officials.
Yesterday an ultimatum issued by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for the arms giant to accept an out-of-court settlement expired. Instead, the agency charged with stamping out corruption by British business vowed to pursue claims that BAE paid out millions of pounds for lucrative defence contracts in Tanzania, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Romania. ...
Britain’s big six energy companies have rebuffed calls for them to cut prices, despite a halving in the wholesale cost of gas and electricity over the past year.
Ofgem, the industry regulator, has been pressing the companies to reduce prices for consumers after it was revealed that the companies will be earning £170 from each dual fuel customer over the next year. Over the past three years they have earned an average of £110 per customer per year.
Alistair Buchanan, the regulator’s chief executive, wrote to the six companies last month telling them that “they owe it to their customers to better explain their pricing position to them”.
But replies to Mr Buchanan’s letter published yesterday showed that the companies - British Gas, E.ON, Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy, EDF Energy - have no plans to trim prices for 26 million households this year. ...
Ofgem, the industry regulator, has been pressing the companies to reduce prices for consumers after it was revealed that the companies will be earning £170 from each dual fuel customer over the next year. Over the past three years they have earned an average of £110 per customer per year.
Alistair Buchanan, the regulator’s chief executive, wrote to the six companies last month telling them that “they owe it to their customers to better explain their pricing position to them”.
But replies to Mr Buchanan’s letter published yesterday showed that the companies - British Gas, E.ON, Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy, EDF Energy - have no plans to trim prices for 26 million households this year. ...
Gimme my 60s-90s B&Ws and piss off.
Posted: Aug. 30, 2009
GM power has shifted to China
Foreign operations report to Shanghai
BY MARCIN SZCZEPANSKI and TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS
SHANGHAI -- Largely overlooked in last month's sweeping management reorganization of the new post-bankruptcy General Motors Co. was a recentering of power to Shanghai. ...
I bloody well noticed, and told gm months ago to get all their arses the hell outta my city, and off to chinastan. Maybe they'll destroy chinastan the way they did my town.
GM power has shifted to China
Foreign operations report to Shanghai
BY MARCIN SZCZEPANSKI and TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS
SHANGHAI -- Largely overlooked in last month's sweeping management reorganization of the new post-bankruptcy General Motors Co. was a recentering of power to Shanghai. ...
I bloody well noticed, and told gm months ago to get all their arses the hell outta my city, and off to chinastan. Maybe they'll destroy chinastan the way they did my town.
That's a minor example of what always happens to companies who'd hired me and then screwed me over. I don't cast spells or make evil incantations, it's just their karma.
Just move to chinastan already, gm. You've become so sucky I can barely keep myself from going down to your World Headquarters© at the Renaissance Center (Yeah, like you've done so much for Detroit's Renaissance, you bastards!) and screaming, "I hate you, gm! I hate your polluting ways, your overpaid executives, your fucking your workers by sending so many jobs to chinastan among soooo many other ways, your ugly cars that you keep making while you dump the cool ones, your lack of vision, your ignorance, and your stupidity!"
/rant
/rant
The billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch suffered the indignity of seeing his global empire make a huge financial loss yesterday and promptly pledged to shake up the newspaper industry by introducing charges for access to all his news websites, including the Times, the Sun and the News of the World, by next summer.
Stung by a collapse in advertising revenue as the recession shredded Fleet Street's traditional business model, Murdoch declared that the era of a free-for-all in online news was over.
"Quality journalism is not cheap," said Murdoch. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites." ...
You actually tryin' to tell me faux news and the bleeding sun and the effing news of the effing world are not only quality, they're journalism?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You so silly, rupee!
Oh, and guess who's gonna quit posting stories from The Times when the time comes, girls and boys?
Stung by a collapse in advertising revenue as the recession shredded Fleet Street's traditional business model, Murdoch declared that the era of a free-for-all in online news was over.
"Quality journalism is not cheap," said Murdoch. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites." ...
You actually tryin' to tell me faux news and the bleeding sun and the effing news of the effing world are not only quality, they're journalism?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You so silly, rupee!
Oh, and guess who's gonna quit posting stories from The Times when the time comes, girls and boys?
New inquiry into exploitation of the work-for-free interns
Employers and MPs taking advantage as graduates struggle to find jobs
Polly Curtis, education editor
Friday 31 July 2009 22.05 BST
A government watchdog is to investigate whether companies are exploiting thousands of graduates by employing them on unpaid, long-term internships during the recession, the Guardian has learned.
The Low Pay Commission is expecting to include recommendations on internships in its annual review in the new year amid concerns that companies are taking advantage of the tough jobs market.
A Guardian inquiry has also discovered that MPs could be breaking the rules. Ministers have estimated that unpaid interns work up to 18,000 hours a week inside parliament, a saving of more than £5m a year on the national minimum wage. MPs are each given a staffing allowance of £104,000pa. ...
Employers and MPs taking advantage as graduates struggle to find jobs
Polly Curtis, education editor
Friday 31 July 2009 22.05 BST
A government watchdog is to investigate whether companies are exploiting thousands of graduates by employing them on unpaid, long-term internships during the recession, the Guardian has learned.
The Low Pay Commission is expecting to include recommendations on internships in its annual review in the new year amid concerns that companies are taking advantage of the tough jobs market.
A Guardian inquiry has also discovered that MPs could be breaking the rules. Ministers have estimated that unpaid interns work up to 18,000 hours a week inside parliament, a saving of more than £5m a year on the national minimum wage. MPs are each given a staffing allowance of £104,000pa. ...
yahoo has long been spammily craptastic.
Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, said today profits fell by 70 per cent in the second quarter due to lower prices and a collapse in demand.
Shell's earnings in the three months to the end of June declined from $7.9 billion (£4.8 billion) in the same period last year to $2.3 billion. Its first half performance was 64 per cent lower at $5.6 billion.
In his first results as chief executive, since taking over from Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s Peter Voser gave a gloomy assessment of the oil market blaming the economic downturn for reduced energy demand. Since reaching a record high of $147 a barrel last year, oil is now trading 57 per cent lower at $63.
Mr Voser also warned that production capacity and costs remained too high in the industry and would remain a threat. ...
Good show! Jolly good show!
Shell's earnings in the three months to the end of June declined from $7.9 billion (£4.8 billion) in the same period last year to $2.3 billion. Its first half performance was 64 per cent lower at $5.6 billion.
In his first results as chief executive, since taking over from Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s Peter Voser gave a gloomy assessment of the oil market blaming the economic downturn for reduced energy demand. Since reaching a record high of $147 a barrel last year, oil is now trading 57 per cent lower at $63.
Mr Voser also warned that production capacity and costs remained too high in the industry and would remain a threat. ...
Good show! Jolly good show!
What's driving Steve Jobs?
Oh, come on! That's an easy one.
Money.
Oh, come on! That's an easy one.
Money.
Nice one, microsquish.
Hmmm...let's think about this, girls and boys.
Gas got so damn expen$ive no one bought any if they could avoid it.
People quit buying vast hulking brutes of cars what go through gas like Yul Brynner went through cigarettes.
Folks began using Shanks' Mare, bicycles, carpools, and public ma-transport.
Folks are still doing this to an extent, even though gas prices have fallen.
Automobile manufactures are broken and broke.
The World At Large is finally starting to look at saudi arabia as if it's insane, and might want sectioning and a straitjacket.
Iran is run (not for long we hope, Gentle Categorians) by a man who is truly insane and defo wants sectioning and a straitjacket.
Conclusion:
Yer damn ahem straight oil consumption's low as hell!
Gas got so damn expen$ive no one bought any if they could avoid it.
People quit buying vast hulking brutes of cars what go through gas like Yul Brynner went through cigarettes.
Folks began using Shanks' Mare, bicycles, carpools, and public ma-transport.
Folks are still doing this to an extent, even though gas prices have fallen.
Automobile manufactures are broken and broke.
The World At Large is finally starting to look at saudi arabia as if it's insane, and might want sectioning and a straitjacket.
Iran is run (not for long we hope, Gentle Categorians) by a man who is truly insane and defo wants sectioning and a straitjacket.
Conclusion:
Yer damn ahem straight oil consumption's low as hell!
That is sooooooo bay-ond tacky, Sugarplum. Y'all just cut that out naow, ya heah?
Chrysler announces alliance with Fiat
By Justin Hyde
Free Press Washington Staff
January 20, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Chrysler LLC said today it was striking an alliance with Fiat S.p.A. that will give the Italian carmaker 35% of Chrysler in return for sharing technology, manufacturing and management.
The deal must be approved by regulators, including the U.S. Treasury, which oversees a $4-billion rescue loan of Chrysler. Fiat did not commit any cash to the deal, and made no vows to do so in the future.
Chrysler said the deal would give it access to Fiat’s engine and other vehicle technology that Chrysler would build in its plants. Fiat will help sell Chrysler vehicles in foreign markets, where Chrysler lags its competitors today. And Chrysler said Fiat would “provide management services supporting Chrysler’s submission of a viability plan” to federal regulators.
"This transaction will enable Chrysler to offer a broader competitive line-up of vehicles for our dealers and customers that meet emissions and fuel efficiency standards, while adhering to conditions of the government loan,” Chrysler Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said in a statement.
Nardelli told employees in a memo that the agreement is expected to be completed as early as April, following the completion of a due diligence process and required approvals. ...
By Justin Hyde
Free Press Washington Staff
January 20, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Chrysler LLC said today it was striking an alliance with Fiat S.p.A. that will give the Italian carmaker 35% of Chrysler in return for sharing technology, manufacturing and management.
The deal must be approved by regulators, including the U.S. Treasury, which oversees a $4-billion rescue loan of Chrysler. Fiat did not commit any cash to the deal, and made no vows to do so in the future.
Chrysler said the deal would give it access to Fiat’s engine and other vehicle technology that Chrysler would build in its plants. Fiat will help sell Chrysler vehicles in foreign markets, where Chrysler lags its competitors today. And Chrysler said Fiat would “provide management services supporting Chrysler’s submission of a viability plan” to federal regulators.
"This transaction will enable Chrysler to offer a broader competitive line-up of vehicles for our dealers and customers that meet emissions and fuel efficiency standards, while adhering to conditions of the government loan,” Chrysler Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said in a statement.
Nardelli told employees in a memo that the agreement is expected to be completed as early as April, following the completion of a due diligence process and required approvals. ...
microsquish = evil
scientology + money = the root of all you-know-what
That's what happens when companies screw me over; serves 'em right.
Wal-Mart faces $12M bias claim in firing
Doug Guthrie
The Detroit News
December 19, 2008
DETROIT -- A Dearborn man has sued Wal-Mart for $12 million, claiming the merchandising giant fired him because he complained about discriminatory harassment he suffered on the job at the hands of fellow employees and supervisors.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court by Louay N. Kezy, 42, alleges the company allowed anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias and taunting at the Dearborn Wal-Mart on Mercury Drive. Kezy worked in the stock department from the store's opening in March until he was fired Aug. 14 after filing a complaint with managers.
"It is absurd that his supervisors think they can take this action against an Arab American without consequences right in the middle of the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East," said Kezy's lawyer, Nabih Ayad. ...
Doug Guthrie
The Detroit News
December 19, 2008
DETROIT -- A Dearborn man has sued Wal-Mart for $12 million, claiming the merchandising giant fired him because he complained about discriminatory harassment he suffered on the job at the hands of fellow employees and supervisors.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court by Louay N. Kezy, 42, alleges the company allowed anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias and taunting at the Dearborn Wal-Mart on Mercury Drive. Kezy worked in the stock department from the store's opening in March until he was fired Aug. 14 after filing a complaint with managers.
"It is absurd that his supervisors think they can take this action against an Arab American without consequences right in the middle of the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East," said Kezy's lawyer, Nabih Ayad. ...
Welcome to my world - sunny, warm, well-managed, pleasant Detroit, where the words "clueless" and "corrupt" are unknown.
They didn't demand that bank management step down, or take huge pay cuts, or screw their workers even more when they handed them $700 billion.
Remember when Detroit 3 came to nation's rescue, senators?
By TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
December 11, 2008
When Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Alabama on Aug. 29, 2005, the automobile companies of Detroit did not harrumph that the Gulf Coast should have been better prepared.
They didn't sit back and wait for New Orleans to submit a detailed plan for future repair of the ruptured levees.
General Motors Corp., on Aug. 30 donated $400,000 to the American Red Cross 2005 Relief Fund, pledged to match up to $250,000 more in employee contributions and sent more than 150 vehicles to the stricken area for use in relief work.
Ford Motor Co. and the UAW quickly made a joint donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross. The Chrysler Group gave $150,000 to the Red Cross and $200,000 to local New Orleans charities; DaimlerChrysler Services chipped in $200,000 for the Red Cross and pledged to match employee donations up to $50,000.
Between them, the three Detroit auto companies gave more than $18 million in cash and vehicles to the Katrina relief effort in the ensuing months. No strings attached.
U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, should think about that before he casts his vote on a Senate bill to provide $14-billion in emergency rescue loans to GM and Chrysler.
Vitter said Wednesday that he plans to vote against the bill because, in his words, it is "ass-backwards" to give money to the distressed companies before Congress sees more detailed survival plans.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, should think about Hurricane Katrina, too. He has threatened a filibuster against the bill, calling it "a bridge loan to nowhere" and stating that Detroit's automakers undergo a fundamental restructuring before they ask Congress for money. ...
It was more than "ass-backwards" of you to have given the banks $700 billlllion w/o demanding detailed fix-it plans, you scum.
By TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
December 11, 2008
When Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Alabama on Aug. 29, 2005, the automobile companies of Detroit did not harrumph that the Gulf Coast should have been better prepared.
They didn't sit back and wait for New Orleans to submit a detailed plan for future repair of the ruptured levees.
General Motors Corp., on Aug. 30 donated $400,000 to the American Red Cross 2005 Relief Fund, pledged to match up to $250,000 more in employee contributions and sent more than 150 vehicles to the stricken area for use in relief work.
Ford Motor Co. and the UAW quickly made a joint donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross. The Chrysler Group gave $150,000 to the Red Cross and $200,000 to local New Orleans charities; DaimlerChrysler Services chipped in $200,000 for the Red Cross and pledged to match employee donations up to $50,000.
Between them, the three Detroit auto companies gave more than $18 million in cash and vehicles to the Katrina relief effort in the ensuing months. No strings attached.
U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, should think about that before he casts his vote on a Senate bill to provide $14-billion in emergency rescue loans to GM and Chrysler.
Vitter said Wednesday that he plans to vote against the bill because, in his words, it is "ass-backwards" to give money to the distressed companies before Congress sees more detailed survival plans.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, should think about Hurricane Katrina, too. He has threatened a filibuster against the bill, calling it "a bridge loan to nowhere" and stating that Detroit's automakers undergo a fundamental restructuring before they ask Congress for money. ...
It was more than "ass-backwards" of you to have given the banks $700 billlllion w/o demanding detailed fix-it plans, you scum.
The rethuglican senators are unhappy with auto company aid because they want us to be a nation of enslaved ditchdiggers whom they own.
Federal loans cheaper than bankruptcy, study says
By TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
December 8, 2008
Anderson Economic Group and BBK said in a report released early today that the effects of a bankruptcy by two of Detroit's automakers would cost taxpayers up to four times more than the proposed federal bridge loans. ...
By TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
December 8, 2008
Anderson Economic Group and BBK said in a report released early today that the effects of a bankruptcy by two of Detroit's automakers would cost taxpayers up to four times more than the proposed federal bridge loans. ...
McCormick: Where is the fury at Detroit's treatment?
December 9, 2008
Am I the only one to be outraged at this nation's attitude towards its domestic auto industry?
From the current President on downwards, people in power in Washington D.C as well as the general public in many states across the country are displaying a profound indifference to the fate of Detroit. This apathetic posture is matched by astonishing ignorance of Motown's automakers' true importance to America's employment outlook and its overall economy.
It's not just the automakers who say so. Plenty of respected analysts have spelled out the statistics on how many million jobs depend on the auto industry, how relatively well paid these jobs are and how no other industry comes close to matching the automotive employment multiplier effect. Yet there are plenty of senators and congressman who blatantly ignore these facts.
At the same time, we have seen Congress scarcely flinching as it hands over hundreds of billions of dollars to collapsing financial institutions. Contrast that to the hand wringing/inquisition which has accompanied Detroit auto executives' request for bridging loans - not bail-out money - a fraction of the size. The spectacle of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler leaders being treated like a trio of errant school boys was as absurd as it was unfair and infuriating. ...
WTF, Yankistan?!
December 9, 2008
Am I the only one to be outraged at this nation's attitude towards its domestic auto industry?
From the current President on downwards, people in power in Washington D.C as well as the general public in many states across the country are displaying a profound indifference to the fate of Detroit. This apathetic posture is matched by astonishing ignorance of Motown's automakers' true importance to America's employment outlook and its overall economy.
It's not just the automakers who say so. Plenty of respected analysts have spelled out the statistics on how many million jobs depend on the auto industry, how relatively well paid these jobs are and how no other industry comes close to matching the automotive employment multiplier effect. Yet there are plenty of senators and congressman who blatantly ignore these facts.
At the same time, we have seen Congress scarcely flinching as it hands over hundreds of billions of dollars to collapsing financial institutions. Contrast that to the hand wringing/inquisition which has accompanied Detroit auto executives' request for bridging loans - not bail-out money - a fraction of the size. The spectacle of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler leaders being treated like a trio of errant school boys was as absurd as it was unfair and infuriating. ...
WTF, Yankistan?!
Automaker collapse may undo financial rescue, Levin says
By TODD SPANGLER and JUSTIN HYDE
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON BUREAU
December 4, 2008
WASHINGTON -- A new twist in the argument for a rescue plan to help Detroit's automakers will be the effect their potential collapse could have on the country's financial markets.
Noting that Congress and the Bush administration came together to authorize a $700-billion bailout of Wall Street this fall, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said today as hearings for the automakers' rescue plans got under way that if General Motors, Ford Motor or Chrysler LLC are allowed to fail, it could have devastating effects not only on the economy but some of those same financial markets helped already.
The reason, he said, is the huge amount in corporate bonds issued by GM and Ford that would be vulnerable if the companies fail.
"The financial institutions will be badly damaged if there's a default," said Levin. ...
Thank Gawd for Levin - he knows.
By TODD SPANGLER and JUSTIN HYDE
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON BUREAU
December 4, 2008
WASHINGTON -- A new twist in the argument for a rescue plan to help Detroit's automakers will be the effect their potential collapse could have on the country's financial markets.
Noting that Congress and the Bush administration came together to authorize a $700-billion bailout of Wall Street this fall, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said today as hearings for the automakers' rescue plans got under way that if General Motors, Ford Motor or Chrysler LLC are allowed to fail, it could have devastating effects not only on the economy but some of those same financial markets helped already.
The reason, he said, is the huge amount in corporate bonds issued by GM and Ford that would be vulnerable if the companies fail.
"The financial institutions will be badly damaged if there's a default," said Levin. ...
Thank Gawd for Levin - he knows.
white collar = good
blue collar = bad
blue collar = bad
Detroit is America's engine
BY ROCHELLE RILEY
FREE PRESS BLOGGER
December 4, 2008
... "Just Chrysler... 30 million Americans have a Chrysler product in their driveway, The day Chrysler is allowed to fail, they look at their car as having a little less value. Where are they going to get parts and service? What happens to the employees at the local dealership? What happens to the employees of the people who make the tires, drive the cars to the dealership, all of that..."
He and Leno acknowledged that Detroit had made bad cars for years, made mistakes, but, as Leno reminded, Wall Street got the bailout even though their crimes seemed pre-meditated.
"These guys on Wall Street -- that looked like a con job, these phony mortgages, that looked like out and out fraud. That doesn't seem like a mistake. And yet they get a bailout."
And then Williams offered a final word from an actual Detroiter, a friend he called Bernie:
"I don't know any Detroit auto workers, and my friend Bernie who lives in Detroit said tell everybody that Detroit's the most resilient city in the nation and if they decide to build a car out of cell phone batteries, the auto workers are ready to go.
Whatever the idea is, just put them to work. No one woke up every day and said let's go build bad cars. They were following corporate orders in an old structure that's gotta change."
And the audience applauded loudly.
That applause meant that there are Americans who get it. There are Americans who don't hate Detroit. And hopefully, this week, there will be elected Americans in Washington who won't blame workers on the line because their bosses went to the Capitol in private planes last time. ...
BY ROCHELLE RILEY
FREE PRESS BLOGGER
December 4, 2008
... "Just Chrysler... 30 million Americans have a Chrysler product in their driveway, The day Chrysler is allowed to fail, they look at their car as having a little less value. Where are they going to get parts and service? What happens to the employees at the local dealership? What happens to the employees of the people who make the tires, drive the cars to the dealership, all of that..."
He and Leno acknowledged that Detroit had made bad cars for years, made mistakes, but, as Leno reminded, Wall Street got the bailout even though their crimes seemed pre-meditated.
"These guys on Wall Street -- that looked like a con job, these phony mortgages, that looked like out and out fraud. That doesn't seem like a mistake. And yet they get a bailout."
And then Williams offered a final word from an actual Detroiter, a friend he called Bernie:
"I don't know any Detroit auto workers, and my friend Bernie who lives in Detroit said tell everybody that Detroit's the most resilient city in the nation and if they decide to build a car out of cell phone batteries, the auto workers are ready to go.
Whatever the idea is, just put them to work. No one woke up every day and said let's go build bad cars. They were following corporate orders in an old structure that's gotta change."
And the audience applauded loudly.
That applause meant that there are Americans who get it. There are Americans who don't hate Detroit. And hopefully, this week, there will be elected Americans in Washington who won't blame workers on the line because their bosses went to the Capitol in private planes last time. ...
The other night Mom said, "wagoner is the sarah palin of the business world."
I agree.
I agree.
rethuglicans love the banking industry - they're great pals. They had no problem bailing them out because they're practically lovers. They don't like the automakers, apparently because they don't swell rethuglican coffers.
That said, no bailout $$$ should be used for building plants in russia and china, FFS!
That said, no bailout $$$ should be used for building plants in russia and china, FFS!
M'tags say it all, kids.
1,600 GM workers to be laid off
Detroit, Pontiac, Delaware plant cuts stem from a decrease in demand
BY KATIE MERX
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
October 17, 2008
General Motors Corp. will lay off about 1,600 hourly workers at assembly plants in Detroit, Pontiac and Wilmington, Del., as it responds to decreasing consumer demand for many of its vehicles, the company said Thursday.
The company will lay off 500 workers at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant on Dec. 23 because of reduced demand for the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS, the company reported in a state filing on Thursday.
GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said the Detroit-Hamtramck layoffs are effective Jan. 12.
Beginning Feb. 1, GM will lay off 700 workers at Pontiac Truck assembly, where it manufactures the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. ...
Detroit, Pontiac, Delaware plant cuts stem from a decrease in demand
BY KATIE MERX
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
October 17, 2008
General Motors Corp. will lay off about 1,600 hourly workers at assembly plants in Detroit, Pontiac and Wilmington, Del., as it responds to decreasing consumer demand for many of its vehicles, the company said Thursday.
The company will lay off 500 workers at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant on Dec. 23 because of reduced demand for the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS, the company reported in a state filing on Thursday.
GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said the Detroit-Hamtramck layoffs are effective Jan. 12.
Beginning Feb. 1, GM will lay off 700 workers at Pontiac Truck assembly, where it manufactures the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. ...
...eBay is cluttered with business-consultant types who are out of touch with customers, lacking in technological vision and prone to sheeplike thinking, while the iconoclastic engineers just take orders....
... "EBay is run by smart people who don't use eBay and spend hours debating the data about how other people use eBay," says a former strategist who left a few months ago. "That is the problem. You can't solve your way into the future."...
... "For everything at eBay you do a little mini-consulting case, then you shop that around. Even just a couple days of a developers' time requires getting approval from a committee of executives, so things move very slowly and little gets through the approval process," says a product manager who left in 2007. ...
[Claude Rains]I am shocked! Shocked![/Claude Rains]
Remember, girls and boys: never trust peddlers, politicos, lawyers, cops, speculators, and consultants.
File under "This Explains Much," since ebay owns SU.
... "EBay is run by smart people who don't use eBay and spend hours debating the data about how other people use eBay," says a former strategist who left a few months ago. "That is the problem. You can't solve your way into the future."...
... "For everything at eBay you do a little mini-consulting case, then you shop that around. Even just a couple days of a developers' time requires getting approval from a committee of executives, so things move very slowly and little gets through the approval process," says a product manager who left in 2007. ...
[Claude Rains]I am shocked! Shocked![/Claude Rains]
Remember, girls and boys: never trust peddlers, politicos, lawyers, cops, speculators, and consultants.
File under "This Explains Much," since ebay owns SU.
August 10, 2008
Why Microsoft and Intel tried to kill the XO $100 laptop
Nicholas Negroponte had a vision: to build a $100 laptop and give away millions to educate the world's poorest children. And then the fat-cat multinationals got scared and broke it...
..."I had wildly underestimated," says Negroponte, "the degree to which commercial entities will go to disrupt a humanitarian project." ...
The Powers What Am have never wanted the masses to be educated, especially women and children.
Why Microsoft and Intel tried to kill the XO $100 laptop
Nicholas Negroponte had a vision: to build a $100 laptop and give away millions to educate the world's poorest children. And then the fat-cat multinationals got scared and broke it...
..."I had wildly underestimated," says Negroponte, "the degree to which commercial entities will go to disrupt a humanitarian project." ...
The Powers What Am have never wanted the masses to be educated, especially women and children.
Detroit's Past Isn't Its Future
The history of Detroit is one of booms and busts. It's in a bust now but creative, forward thinking could result in the next boom
August 7, 2008
by Ed Wallace
It was the most obvious question I could have asked General Motors (GM) CEO Rick Wagoner. The setting was a semiprivate interview with him in a Dallas hotel on July 10. According to oil insiders and respected oil analysts, such as Charley Maxwell of Weeden & Co., the world is likely to hit a brick wall in terms of oil supply and demand by 2015. Therefore, I asked, could Detroit survive if the worst happens and oil sells for $250 a barrel with gasoline between $8 and $10 a gallon, seven years out?
Mentioning offhandedly that he speaks with Maxwell on a semiregular basis, Wagoner grabbed a piece of paper and drew a crude graph, thoughtfully suggesting that if such a gas price increase were spread out evenly over that period, instead of making a sudden jump, the public would have time to adjust to the higher energy costs. Consequently, Detroit would likely have enough time to make production adjustments.
I didn't have the heart to point out the flaw in Rick's argument: It has taken gas prices 10 years to go from $1 a gallon to $4--and even that slowly, increasing the price of gas has wrecked Detroit's business model. ...
The history of Detroit is one of booms and busts. It's in a bust now but creative, forward thinking could result in the next boom
August 7, 2008
by Ed Wallace
It was the most obvious question I could have asked General Motors (GM) CEO Rick Wagoner. The setting was a semiprivate interview with him in a Dallas hotel on July 10. According to oil insiders and respected oil analysts, such as Charley Maxwell of Weeden & Co., the world is likely to hit a brick wall in terms of oil supply and demand by 2015. Therefore, I asked, could Detroit survive if the worst happens and oil sells for $250 a barrel with gasoline between $8 and $10 a gallon, seven years out?
Mentioning offhandedly that he speaks with Maxwell on a semiregular basis, Wagoner grabbed a piece of paper and drew a crude graph, thoughtfully suggesting that if such a gas price increase were spread out evenly over that period, instead of making a sudden jump, the public would have time to adjust to the higher energy costs. Consequently, Detroit would likely have enough time to make production adjustments.
I didn't have the heart to point out the flaw in Rick's argument: It has taken gas prices 10 years to go from $1 a gallon to $4--and even that slowly, increasing the price of gas has wrecked Detroit's business model. ...
Doubtless their legal team will reincarnate as cockroaches - again.
Woman Claims Victoria's Secret Stole Bra
Says Company Stole Bra Strap Design
April 22, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) -- Katerina Plew is suing Victoria's Secret, alleging that the company stole her secret. She claims the lingerie company stole her idea for hiding bra straps. ...
... Plew is a single, working mother of four, including triplets. She said she created the bra in 1999 after becoming frustrated that her bra straps were showing.
Plew received a patent on the bra in 2004. She claims officials of Victoria's Secret canceled a meeting with her after she e-mailed them a mock-up of the bra.
You get 'em, girlfriend!
Says Company Stole Bra Strap Design
April 22, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) -- Katerina Plew is suing Victoria's Secret, alleging that the company stole her secret. She claims the lingerie company stole her idea for hiding bra straps. ...
... Plew is a single, working mother of four, including triplets. She said she created the bra in 1999 after becoming frustrated that her bra straps were showing.
Plew received a patent on the bra in 2004. She claims officials of Victoria's Secret canceled a meeting with her after she e-mailed them a mock-up of the bra.
You get 'em, girlfriend!
Samsung Chief Questioned for 11 Hours
By KELLY OLSEN
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 5, 2008
SEOUL, South Korea -- Special prosecutors probing claims of corruption at Samsung Group took their investigation to the very top, quizzing its chairman in a lengthy interrogation over allegations the conglomerate paid bribes and engaged in other illegalities.
Lee Kun-hee, who has run South Korea's biggest industrial group for two decades, emerged early Saturday after nearly 11 hours spent in the office of the independent counsel examining the claims raised last year by a former Samsung lawyer.
Surrounded by a throng of waiting reporters, the 66-year-old tycoon appeared to backtrack from the strong denials he made Friday afternoon upon arrival for questioning, when he said he had nothing to do with either directing the setting up of a slush fund or ordering the payment of bribes. ...
By KELLY OLSEN
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 5, 2008
SEOUL, South Korea -- Special prosecutors probing claims of corruption at Samsung Group took their investigation to the very top, quizzing its chairman in a lengthy interrogation over allegations the conglomerate paid bribes and engaged in other illegalities.
Lee Kun-hee, who has run South Korea's biggest industrial group for two decades, emerged early Saturday after nearly 11 hours spent in the office of the independent counsel examining the claims raised last year by a former Samsung lawyer.
Surrounded by a throng of waiting reporters, the 66-year-old tycoon appeared to backtrack from the strong denials he made Friday afternoon upon arrival for questioning, when he said he had nothing to do with either directing the setting up of a slush fund or ordering the payment of bribes. ...
American Axle, union continue talks
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 8, 2008
Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. expect to continue talks today, as the two sides try to reach a contract that would end a strike, now nearly two weeks old, at the Detroit-based auto supplier.
The strike at American Axle, which counts General Motors Corp. as its largest customer, has forced the automaker to shut down seven assembly plants. By Monday, the strike is expected to impact, through production cuts or shut downs, as many as 29 GM factories, including engine plants in Romulus and Flint.
The UAW brought 3,650 of its members at American Axle on strike early Feb. 26, after negotiations collapsed and the contract between the UAW and the supplier expired. At the time, the two sides were far apart on issues including wages, buyouts and pensions. The company had proposed cutting the wage of production workers by about half to $14.50 an hour, saying that it needs the savings to compete with companies that already have cut their labor costs....
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 8, 2008
Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. expect to continue talks today, as the two sides try to reach a contract that would end a strike, now nearly two weeks old, at the Detroit-based auto supplier.
The strike at American Axle, which counts General Motors Corp. as its largest customer, has forced the automaker to shut down seven assembly plants. By Monday, the strike is expected to impact, through production cuts or shut downs, as many as 29 GM factories, including engine plants in Romulus and Flint.
The UAW brought 3,650 of its members at American Axle on strike early Feb. 26, after negotiations collapsed and the contract between the UAW and the supplier expired. At the time, the two sides were far apart on issues including wages, buyouts and pensions. The company had proposed cutting the wage of production workers by about half to $14.50 an hour, saying that it needs the savings to compete with companies that already have cut their labor costs....
American Axle to resume talks with UAW on Thursday
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 5, 2008
American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. and the UAW agreed to resume contract talks at noon on Thursday, the company said in a statement this morning.
This would be the first time that the two sides have scheduled formal talks since 3,600 UAW-represented American Axle workers went on strike Feb. 26 protesting the company's proposed reductions for wages and benefits. ...
The company's proposed reductions would halve employees' pay and benefits! No wonder they struck!
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 5, 2008
American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. and the UAW agreed to resume contract talks at noon on Thursday, the company said in a statement this morning.
This would be the first time that the two sides have scheduled formal talks since 3,600 UAW-represented American Axle workers went on strike Feb. 26 protesting the company's proposed reductions for wages and benefits. ...
The company's proposed reductions would halve employees' pay and benefits! No wonder they struck!
Record EU Fine for Microsoft
By AOIFE WHITE
27 Feb 2008
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union's longest-running fight with Microsoft Corp. neared an end Wednesday as regulators imposed a record $1.3 billion fine on the world's largest software company for failing to fully comply with a 2004 antitrust order.
Microsoft has not decided whether to appeal the penalty, which amounts to a fraction of the $14.07 billion it earned in fiscal 2007. In all, the company has been fined just under $2.4 billion by European antitrust regulators over the years.
Barring an appeal, the fine shuts the door on an investigation into Microsoft's behavior that was triggered by a 1998 complaint by Sun Microsystems Inc. It alleged Microsoft was refusing to supply information that servers need to work with its market-dominating Windows operating system.
Microsoft eventually made the information available to rivals, but the EU said it charged "unreasonable prices" until last October.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Microsoft now appears to have finally complied with the 2004 EU antitrust order. But she warned that the company was not yet in the clear because the EU last month launched new probes into its Office software and Windows' Internet browser.
She also was skeptical over Microsoft's announcement last week that it was further expanding its efforts to make its software work better with rival technologies. A news release, she said, "does not necessarily equal a change in business practice."
"Talk is cheap. Flouting the rules is expensive," she said. ...
By AOIFE WHITE
27 Feb 2008
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union's longest-running fight with Microsoft Corp. neared an end Wednesday as regulators imposed a record $1.3 billion fine on the world's largest software company for failing to fully comply with a 2004 antitrust order.
Microsoft has not decided whether to appeal the penalty, which amounts to a fraction of the $14.07 billion it earned in fiscal 2007. In all, the company has been fined just under $2.4 billion by European antitrust regulators over the years.
Barring an appeal, the fine shuts the door on an investigation into Microsoft's behavior that was triggered by a 1998 complaint by Sun Microsystems Inc. It alleged Microsoft was refusing to supply information that servers need to work with its market-dominating Windows operating system.
Microsoft eventually made the information available to rivals, but the EU said it charged "unreasonable prices" until last October.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Microsoft now appears to have finally complied with the 2004 EU antitrust order. But she warned that the company was not yet in the clear because the EU last month launched new probes into its Office software and Windows' Internet browser.
She also was skeptical over Microsoft's announcement last week that it was further expanding its efforts to make its software work better with rival technologies. A news release, she said, "does not necessarily equal a change in business practice."
"Talk is cheap. Flouting the rules is expensive," she said. ...
The RIAA always claims that its looking out for the livelihood of artists when it sues the hell out of alleged pirates, but in reality it's really fighting to keep record industry executives rich by defending an outdated and unsustainable business model. While before the PR team at least made an attempt to make it seem like artists were priority #1, they seem to have given up: the RIAA is now trying to cut down artists' royalties on digital downloads.
Yes, the RIAA doesn't think the record companies are making enough and that musicians are clearly making too much. I mean, they get 13% now. Like they deserve 13% for writing and creating the music that people are paying for. Hogwash! Someone had to, you know, encode it. That's worth at least 40%. And hey, these shoes don't shine themselves! So they're pushing to get that rate cut down to a shameful 9%, giving artists even less of a slice of the pie than before.
Of course, Apple, Napster and other large online retailers make the RIAA look like a charity in comparison, with Apple pushing to cut the royalty rate down to an insulting 4%. Yes, Apple wants artists to get a 4% of wholesale royalty rate. Really looking out for those artists, aren't you Steve? ...
Yes, the RIAA doesn't think the record companies are making enough and that musicians are clearly making too much. I mean, they get 13% now. Like they deserve 13% for writing and creating the music that people are paying for. Hogwash! Someone had to, you know, encode it. That's worth at least 40%. And hey, these shoes don't shine themselves! So they're pushing to get that rate cut down to a shameful 9%, giving artists even less of a slice of the pie than before.
Of course, Apple, Napster and other large online retailers make the RIAA look like a charity in comparison, with Apple pushing to cut the royalty rate down to an insulting 4%. Yes, Apple wants artists to get a 4% of wholesale royalty rate. Really looking out for those artists, aren't you Steve? ...
... The FBI said it is investigating 14 corporations over possible accounting fraud and insider trading violations in a crackdown on subprime lending. The companies were not named.
The agency said they include developers, lenders and financiers that securitized ordinary home loans into exotic investment instruments, as well as banks that held them.
The FBI said it is cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has confirmed opening at least three dozen investigations related to the subprime mortgage market.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns -- among Wall Street's largest banks -- each said on Tuesday that government investigators are seeking information from them about their subprime activities. ...
The agency said they include developers, lenders and financiers that securitized ordinary home loans into exotic investment instruments, as well as banks that held them.
The FBI said it is cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has confirmed opening at least three dozen investigations related to the subprime mortgage market.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns -- among Wall Street's largest banks -- each said on Tuesday that government investigators are seeking information from them about their subprime activities. ...
EBay plans to cut fees for sellers
By AMANDA FEHD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 29, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- EBay Inc. said Tuesday it will cut by as much as 50% the fees it charges sellers to list their goods online, in an effort to boost listings and keep pace with other burgeoning e-commerce sites.
To balance the fee cut, the company plans to increase its commission on items that do sell -- a method eBay says sellers prefer because it lowers their risk if items do not sell.
EBay will also increase fees on some items, including auctioned goods selling for less than $25. EBay's fee for those transactions will rise 67 percent, to 8.75 percent of the final sale price.
Incoming Chief Executive John Donahoe told a gathering of 200 of eBay's top North American sellers in Washington that a majority of sellers will see their fees go down, and that the new fee structure is going to be driven by the success of sellers.
"EBay is at a crossroads. To maintain our leadership position in e-commerce, we can no longer make incremental changes. We need to redo our playbook and we need to do it fast. We need to take bold action to meet the expectations of buyers and sellers around the world," Donahoe said.
As part of the changes, photo fees also will disappear. The fees were considered a deterrent to sellers posting pictures of their goods, a feature buyers have come to expect on e-commerce sites.
The new fee structure goes into effect Feb. 20 in the United States. More pricing changes are coming shortly in Britain and Germany.
Along with changes to the fee structure, eBay said it will change how sellers show up on customer searches. Those with high rates of customer dissatisfaction will get lower exposure in a search, the company said. ...
By AMANDA FEHD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 29, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- EBay Inc. said Tuesday it will cut by as much as 50% the fees it charges sellers to list their goods online, in an effort to boost listings and keep pace with other burgeoning e-commerce sites.
To balance the fee cut, the company plans to increase its commission on items that do sell -- a method eBay says sellers prefer because it lowers their risk if items do not sell.
EBay will also increase fees on some items, including auctioned goods selling for less than $25. EBay's fee for those transactions will rise 67 percent, to 8.75 percent of the final sale price.
Incoming Chief Executive John Donahoe told a gathering of 200 of eBay's top North American sellers in Washington that a majority of sellers will see their fees go down, and that the new fee structure is going to be driven by the success of sellers.
"EBay is at a crossroads. To maintain our leadership position in e-commerce, we can no longer make incremental changes. We need to redo our playbook and we need to do it fast. We need to take bold action to meet the expectations of buyers and sellers around the world," Donahoe said.
As part of the changes, photo fees also will disappear. The fees were considered a deterrent to sellers posting pictures of their goods, a feature buyers have come to expect on e-commerce sites.
The new fee structure goes into effect Feb. 20 in the United States. More pricing changes are coming shortly in Britain and Germany.
Along with changes to the fee structure, eBay said it will change how sellers show up on customer searches. Those with high rates of customer dissatisfaction will get lower exposure in a search, the company said. ...
Insurers Shift Cost Burdens to Homeowners
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER
Published: November 23, 2007
PALMETTO BAY, Fla. -- Charles R. Williams stood near the glass sliding doors in his home south of Miami and pointed out parts of the ceiling and walls that had crumpled after Hurricane Andrew ripped open the roof 15 years ago.
The visible damage from that storm, one of the worst of the century, has largely disappeared. But Mr. Williams and homeowners nationwide are still feeling its effect in their pocketbooks.
The storm stunned insurance companies and, after paying out more than $22 billion in claims in inflation-adjusted dollars, they began rewriting policies to protect themselves as much as homeowners. They also developed computer programs intended to limit payouts on claims.
As a result, American homeowners are having to make do with much less coverage at steadily rising prices. In Miami and other places along the coast, insurance prices have skyrocketed, deepening the national slowdown in home sales. ...
Permalink: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/business/23insure.html?ex=1353474000&en=de9a6215bac1bae6&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink (SU's acting like no one's ever given this page th' thumbs up.)
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER
Published: November 23, 2007
PALMETTO BAY, Fla. -- Charles R. Williams stood near the glass sliding doors in his home south of Miami and pointed out parts of the ceiling and walls that had crumpled after Hurricane Andrew ripped open the roof 15 years ago.
The visible damage from that storm, one of the worst of the century, has largely disappeared. But Mr. Williams and homeowners nationwide are still feeling its effect in their pocketbooks.
The storm stunned insurance companies and, after paying out more than $22 billion in claims in inflation-adjusted dollars, they began rewriting policies to protect themselves as much as homeowners. They also developed computer programs intended to limit payouts on claims.
As a result, American homeowners are having to make do with much less coverage at steadily rising prices. In Miami and other places along the coast, insurance prices have skyrocketed, deepening the national slowdown in home sales. ...
Permalink: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/business/23insure.html?ex=1353474000&en=de9a6215bac1bae6&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink (SU's acting like no one's ever given this page th' thumbs up.)
F.C.C. Planning Rules to Open Cable Market
By STEPHEN LABATON
November 10, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 -- The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to impose significant new regulations to open the cable television market to independent programmers and rival video services after determining that cable companies have become too dominant in the industry, senior commission officials said.
The finding, under a law that gives the commission expanded powers over the cable television industry if it becomes too big, is expected to be announced this month. It is a major departure for the agency and the industry, which was deregulated by an act of Congress in 1996.
Officials say the finding could lead to more diverse programs; consumer groups say it could also lead to lower rates.
Heavily promoted by those groups and by the commission's Republican chairman, Kevin J. Martin, the decision would be a notable exception to the broad deregulatory policies of the Bush administration. Officials in various agencies have relaxed industry regulations and have chosen not to challenge big corporate mergers. ...
By STEPHEN LABATON
November 10, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 -- The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to impose significant new regulations to open the cable television market to independent programmers and rival video services after determining that cable companies have become too dominant in the industry, senior commission officials said.
The finding, under a law that gives the commission expanded powers over the cable television industry if it becomes too big, is expected to be announced this month. It is a major departure for the agency and the industry, which was deregulated by an act of Congress in 1996.
Officials say the finding could lead to more diverse programs; consumer groups say it could also lead to lower rates.
Heavily promoted by those groups and by the commission's Republican chairman, Kevin J. Martin, the decision would be a notable exception to the broad deregulatory policies of the Bush administration. Officials in various agencies have relaxed industry regulations and have chosen not to challenge big corporate mergers. ...
SITE IS AVAILABLE
Recycling a Necessity Not Fad in Cairo
By ANNA JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 8, 2007
CAIRO, Egypt -- In advanced countries, someone whose cell phone breaks down or becomes outdated usually tosses it and gets a new, fancier model. Ditto for the DVD player, Sony PlayStation, and even radios and watches.
Not so in the developing world. Here in Cairo, whole side streets and alleys are packed with electronics repairmen laboriously fixing circuits, keypads and compact disc lenses - charging around $5 for a standard repair.
As recycling has become the craze across the West, Egyptians have continued to reuse almost everything, recycling not as a fad but as a necessity.
Tiny repair shops are not unique to Cairo - they are a way of life for cities in Africa, Asia and elsewhere where people cannot afford to buy a new electronics device every time something breaks down.
But even Egypt is slowly transforming into a disposable goods society as cheap electronics arrive from China, causing some Cairo repairmen to fear their generations-old shops - and the informal recycling industry they support - won't be around forever. ...
...El-Attar Street's reputation is such that Tarek Galal, on vacation in Egypt from Toronto, immediately headed here when his cell phone stopped ringing.
"Everybody in Egypt knows about this street," Galal said. "The labor is too expensive in Canada, but here it is cheaper." ...
I love excellent mechanics.
Recycling a Necessity Not Fad in Cairo
By ANNA JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 8, 2007
CAIRO, Egypt -- In advanced countries, someone whose cell phone breaks down or becomes outdated usually tosses it and gets a new, fancier model. Ditto for the DVD player, Sony PlayStation, and even radios and watches.
Not so in the developing world. Here in Cairo, whole side streets and alleys are packed with electronics repairmen laboriously fixing circuits, keypads and compact disc lenses - charging around $5 for a standard repair.
As recycling has become the craze across the West, Egyptians have continued to reuse almost everything, recycling not as a fad but as a necessity.
Tiny repair shops are not unique to Cairo - they are a way of life for cities in Africa, Asia and elsewhere where people cannot afford to buy a new electronics device every time something breaks down.
But even Egypt is slowly transforming into a disposable goods society as cheap electronics arrive from China, causing some Cairo repairmen to fear their generations-old shops - and the informal recycling industry they support - won't be around forever. ...
...El-Attar Street's reputation is such that Tarek Galal, on vacation in Egypt from Toronto, immediately headed here when his cell phone stopped ringing.
"Everybody in Egypt knows about this street," Galal said. "The labor is too expensive in Canada, but here it is cheaper." ...
I love excellent mechanics.
As automakers sputter, exec pay issue looms
Fri Aug 3, 2007
By Kevin Krolicki
DETROIT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. automakers are expected to ask for major health-care concessions in contract talks with the United Auto Workers, citing those costs as a disadvantage with Japanese rivals, but the union says the executive pay gap deserves scrutiny as well.
After the three Detroit-based auto companies posted a combined loss of about $15 billion last year, the focus of the high-stakes round of negotiations is on reducing labor costs to make the companies more competitive.
But who should take the pay cut? And how much -- if anything -- should senior executives have to give up?
... The UAW has shot back that labor costs represent only 8 percent of the cost of an average vehicle. The union also says its members' wages have only kept pace with compensation growth across the U.S. economy in recent years.
A 2006 study by economists at the University of Indiana concluded that Japanese CEOs earn one-third of the pay of their U.S. counterparts. The economists used tax records to estimate the pay of the Japanese executives.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said last month as contract talks began, "Let the people coming forth who are so critical of what we make, start off by telling us what they make. And how does it also apply to management? Is there a differential?" ...
Fri Aug 3, 2007
By Kevin Krolicki
DETROIT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. automakers are expected to ask for major health-care concessions in contract talks with the United Auto Workers, citing those costs as a disadvantage with Japanese rivals, but the union says the executive pay gap deserves scrutiny as well.
After the three Detroit-based auto companies posted a combined loss of about $15 billion last year, the focus of the high-stakes round of negotiations is on reducing labor costs to make the companies more competitive.
But who should take the pay cut? And how much -- if anything -- should senior executives have to give up?
... The UAW has shot back that labor costs represent only 8 percent of the cost of an average vehicle. The union also says its members' wages have only kept pace with compensation growth across the U.S. economy in recent years.
A 2006 study by economists at the University of Indiana concluded that Japanese CEOs earn one-third of the pay of their U.S. counterparts. The economists used tax records to estimate the pay of the Japanese executives.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said last month as contract talks began, "Let the people coming forth who are so critical of what we make, start off by telling us what they make. And how does it also apply to management? Is there a differential?" ...
Ryanair CEO says air transport is a "stupid business"
Thu Sep 13, 2007
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Air transport is a stupid business and usually loss-making, the head of Irish budget airline Ryanair was quoted as saying by a Belgian weekly on Thursday.
Asked what drove his passion for air transport, Michael O'Leary told Trends magazine: "Nothing. It's a stupid business, which generally loses a lot of money."
O'Leary said it was likely he would stay as CEO for another three or four years rather than the two or three that he had previously indicated, and suggested he might then take up farming. ...
Ryanair's so-called "customer service" tends to prove it also thinks its customers are stupid and beneath contempt rather than otherwise. I've heard real horror stories.
Thu Sep 13, 2007
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Air transport is a stupid business and usually loss-making, the head of Irish budget airline Ryanair was quoted as saying by a Belgian weekly on Thursday.
Asked what drove his passion for air transport, Michael O'Leary told Trends magazine: "Nothing. It's a stupid business, which generally loses a lot of money."
O'Leary said it was likely he would stay as CEO for another three or four years rather than the two or three that he had previously indicated, and suggested he might then take up farming. ...
Ryanair's so-called "customer service" tends to prove it also thinks its customers are stupid and beneath contempt rather than otherwise. I've heard real horror stories.
Barnes & Noble to sell Simpson book in stores
Fri Aug 31, 2007
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble, the world's largest book retailer, has decided to sell O.J. Simpson's book "If I Did It" in its stores, reversing an earlier decision to offer the controversial title only on the Web.
"Our customers are asking for it. We have been monitoring pre-orders and decided we had enough" to put the book on retail shelves, company spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said on Thursday. ...
Not surprising behavio/ur from such hardcore profit-minded bastards. I had to accept a 50 per hour pay cut when I was hired there - even though I'd worked in another bookstore for a year; many of my co-workers and I worked 60 hours a week, but were 'officially' part-time (biznesses don't have to provide health insurance for part-timers) and never got paid overtime; we had to work much longer between breaks than the law specifies.
barnes and ignoble is more like it.
Fri Aug 31, 2007
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble, the world's largest book retailer, has decided to sell O.J. Simpson's book "If I Did It" in its stores, reversing an earlier decision to offer the controversial title only on the Web.
"Our customers are asking for it. We have been monitoring pre-orders and decided we had enough" to put the book on retail shelves, company spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said on Thursday. ...
Not surprising behavio/ur from such hardcore profit-minded bastards. I had to accept a 50 per hour pay cut when I was hired there - even though I'd worked in another bookstore for a year; many of my co-workers and I worked 60 hours a week, but were 'officially' part-time (biznesses don't have to provide health insurance for part-timers) and never got paid overtime; we had to work much longer between breaks than the law specifies.
barnes and ignoble is more like it.
Ex-German MP sentenced in VW corruption scandal
Fri Jun 15, 2007
WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - A former Volkswagen labour leader and Social Democrat member of parliament was found guilty on Thursday of perjury by denying he paid for prostitutes with company funds.
Hans-Juergen Uhl confessed to the prosecutor's charges and was found guilty on five counts of perjury and two counts of aiding and abetting fraud. He must pay € 39,200 (£26,483; $52,387) in fines, the court in VW's home town of Wolfsburg ruled.
His case was one of several involving high-ranking VW managers and labour leaders accused of conspiring to bilk the company of funds to pay for elaborate sex trips as part of a institutionalised system of bribery put in place under VW's former personnel boss, Peter Hartz. ...
Fri Jun 15, 2007
WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - A former Volkswagen labour leader and Social Democrat member of parliament was found guilty on Thursday of perjury by denying he paid for prostitutes with company funds.
Hans-Juergen Uhl confessed to the prosecutor's charges and was found guilty on five counts of perjury and two counts of aiding and abetting fraud. He must pay € 39,200 (£26,483; $52,387) in fines, the court in VW's home town of Wolfsburg ruled.
His case was one of several involving high-ranking VW managers and labour leaders accused of conspiring to bilk the company of funds to pay for elaborate sex trips as part of a institutionalised system of bribery put in place under VW's former personnel boss, Peter Hartz. ...
This site is functional!
Microsoft Hit With $1.52B in Damages
By JESSICA MINTZ
Friday, February 23, 2007
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. must pay $1.52 billion in damages to telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA for violating two patents related to digital music, a federal jury ruled Thursday.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software company said the patents in question govern the conversion of audio into the digital MP3 file format on personal computers. ...
Microsoft Hit With $1.52B in Damages
By JESSICA MINTZ
Friday, February 23, 2007
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. must pay $1.52 billion in damages to telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA for violating two patents related to digital music, a federal jury ruled Thursday.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software company said the patents in question govern the conversion of audio into the digital MP3 file format on personal computers. ...
Wal-Mart bias case to go to trial
6 February 2007
Wal-Mart will face a lawsuit claiming pay discrimination against more than a million female US employees after a court approved the action.
A federal appeals court upheld a 2004 ruling giving the lawsuit class action status, sanctioning claims from up to 1.5 million current and former staff.
Should it lose the case, the world's largest retailer could have to pay damages worth billions of dollars.
Wal-Mart has said it did not have a policy discriminating against women. ...
Right. It just neglects to give promotions to the women who train the men they do promote.
6 February 2007
Wal-Mart will face a lawsuit claiming pay discrimination against more than a million female US employees after a court approved the action.
A federal appeals court upheld a 2004 ruling giving the lawsuit class action status, sanctioning claims from up to 1.5 million current and former staff.
Should it lose the case, the world's largest retailer could have to pay damages worth billions of dollars.
Wal-Mart has said it did not have a policy discriminating against women. ...
Right. It just neglects to give promotions to the women who train the men they do promote.
No Effect At Pump Of Lower Oil Price
Consumers Yet To Benefit From Warm Winter
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 7, 2007
... So far, the benefits of falling crude oil prices haven't trickled down to consumers. Drops in gasoline prices tend to lag somewhat behind declines in crude oil prices. According to AAA, the average nationwide price for unleaded regular gasoline was $2.33 a gallon yesterday, essentially unchanged from the day before and up nearly 3 cents from a month ago.
"Though gasoline prices have dropped in the last couple of days by a fraction of a cent, they are still historically high gasoline prices," said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA. "The yearly average price for 2006 was the highest pump price paid ever in history." Regular unleaded prices in 2006 averaged $2.57 a gallon, up 31 cents from hurricane-ravaged 2005. ...
They speedily relay any upward price shift to the already overburdened consumer.
This is a prime example of why I - an intelligent, honest, impecunious person - will never be a republican or a capitalist.
Consumers Yet To Benefit From Warm Winter
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 7, 2007
... So far, the benefits of falling crude oil prices haven't trickled down to consumers. Drops in gasoline prices tend to lag somewhat behind declines in crude oil prices. According to AAA, the average nationwide price for unleaded regular gasoline was $2.33 a gallon yesterday, essentially unchanged from the day before and up nearly 3 cents from a month ago.
"Though gasoline prices have dropped in the last couple of days by a fraction of a cent, they are still historically high gasoline prices," said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA. "The yearly average price for 2006 was the highest pump price paid ever in history." Regular unleaded prices in 2006 averaged $2.57 a gallon, up 31 cents from hurricane-ravaged 2005. ...
They speedily relay any upward price shift to the already overburdened consumer.
This is a prime example of why I - an intelligent, honest, impecunious person - will never be a republican or a capitalist.
... The scandal at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) just keeps getting worse.
Since the Washington Post published an op-ed I wrote asking if NSTA's puzzling decision to reject 50,000 free DVDs of Al Gore's global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth might - just might - have had anything to do with more than six million dollars the organization has accepted from ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, ConocoPhillips and the American Petroleum Institute, the muck keeps piling up.
ExxonMobil, of course, remains the standout among a large group of fossil fuel companies that have done everything in their considerable power to delay, deflect, and derail any serious effort to cut global warming emissions. Funding scientific disinformation has long been one of their favorite tactics.
New evidence flatly contradicts statements NSTA has made in defense of its suspect partnerships, and efforts appear to be underway to wipe out online evidence showing that what the oil industry got in exchange was the group's imprimatur on classroom videos, teaching guides, and other "educational" materials that play down threats like global warming and play up the glories of continued oil dependence. ...
Since the Washington Post published an op-ed I wrote asking if NSTA's puzzling decision to reject 50,000 free DVDs of Al Gore's global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth might - just might - have had anything to do with more than six million dollars the organization has accepted from ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, ConocoPhillips and the American Petroleum Institute, the muck keeps piling up.
ExxonMobil, of course, remains the standout among a large group of fossil fuel companies that have done everything in their considerable power to delay, deflect, and derail any serious effort to cut global warming emissions. Funding scientific disinformation has long been one of their favorite tactics.
New evidence flatly contradicts statements NSTA has made in defense of its suspect partnerships, and efforts appear to be underway to wipe out online evidence showing that what the oil industry got in exchange was the group's imprimatur on classroom videos, teaching guides, and other "educational" materials that play down threats like global warming and play up the glories of continued oil dependence. ...
Court: OK to Gossip Behind Boss' Back
Malaysian Court Says Workers Can Gossip About Their Bosses, but Only Behind Their Backs
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Dec 8, 2006 (AP)-- It's OK to use derogatory and vulgar language about your superiors in the office as long as it is done behind their backs, a Malaysian court has ruled.
The Industrial Court said a secretary at Malaysia National Insurance Bhd. was not guilty of misconduct when she sent e-mails from the office computer to friends, griping about her superiors, the national news agency Bernama reported Friday.
Court chairman Syed Ahmad Radzi Syed Omar said Ratnawati Mohamed Nawawi's sacking for misconduct was unjust, and the court awarded her back wages and compensation amounting to 66,850.80 ringgit ($18,570), Bernama said. ...
Malaysian Court Says Workers Can Gossip About Their Bosses, but Only Behind Their Backs
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Dec 8, 2006 (AP)-- It's OK to use derogatory and vulgar language about your superiors in the office as long as it is done behind their backs, a Malaysian court has ruled.
The Industrial Court said a secretary at Malaysia National Insurance Bhd. was not guilty of misconduct when she sent e-mails from the office computer to friends, griping about her superiors, the national news agency Bernama reported Friday.
Court chairman Syed Ahmad Radzi Syed Omar said Ratnawati Mohamed Nawawi's sacking for misconduct was unjust, and the court awarded her back wages and compensation amounting to 66,850.80 ringgit ($18,570), Bernama said. ...
Five Years After Enron, Firms Seek Weaker Rules
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Business interests, seizing on concerns that a law passed in the wake of the Enron scandal has overreached, are advancing a broad agenda to limit government oversight of private industry, including making it tougher for investors to sue companies and auditors for fraud.
A group that has drawn support from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. plans to issue a report tomorrow that argues that the United States may be losing its preeminent position in global capital markets to foreign stock exchanges because of costly regulations and nettlesome private lawsuits. ...
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Business interests, seizing on concerns that a law passed in the wake of the Enron scandal has overreached, are advancing a broad agenda to limit government oversight of private industry, including making it tougher for investors to sue companies and auditors for fraud.
A group that has drawn support from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. plans to issue a report tomorrow that argues that the United States may be losing its preeminent position in global capital markets to foreign stock exchanges because of costly regulations and nettlesome private lawsuits. ...
Goldman Sachs workers trapped by angry cleaners
Tue Nov 28, 2006
LONDON (Reuters) - Workers at investment bank Goldman Sachs, some of the highest paid professionals in the City, were trapped on Tuesday lunchtime inside their Fleet Street offices by cleaners protesting over low pay.
About 20 cleaners and Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) union members stormed the office building around lunchtime carrying placards reading "Goldman Sucks".
The cleaners, who were contained in the reception area, targeted the bank because it owns, together with a private equity firm, their employer ISS -- one of the world's largest contract building services companies. ...
Tue Nov 28, 2006
LONDON (Reuters) - Workers at investment bank Goldman Sachs, some of the highest paid professionals in the City, were trapped on Tuesday lunchtime inside their Fleet Street offices by cleaners protesting over low pay.
About 20 cleaners and Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) union members stormed the office building around lunchtime carrying placards reading "Goldman Sucks".
The cleaners, who were contained in the reception area, targeted the bank because it owns, together with a private equity firm, their employer ISS -- one of the world's largest contract building services companies. ...
Residents of chic French town fight Ryanair flights
Tue Nov 14, 2006
By Anna Willard
PARIS (Reuters) - Inhabitants of an upmarket town in northern France famous for its horse racing, film festival and prestigious beachside boardwalk are fighting to stop Ryanair bringing budget travellers to a nearby airport.
Tourists have long been attracted to Deauville and the surrounding Pays d'Auge region -- the home of camembert and calvados -- but some locals fear the flights will lower the tone, increase road traffic and noise around the airport.
"There are fields, cows, calvados, forests, lakes, little towns, beautiful houses, the sea," said Christiane Celice, who heads the organisation battling to stop Ryanair.
"We don't want any more noise, pollution, danger ... anything that could harm this high quality tourist region." ...
Tue Nov 14, 2006
By Anna Willard
PARIS (Reuters) - Inhabitants of an upmarket town in northern France famous for its horse racing, film festival and prestigious beachside boardwalk are fighting to stop Ryanair bringing budget travellers to a nearby airport.
Tourists have long been attracted to Deauville and the surrounding Pays d'Auge region -- the home of camembert and calvados -- but some locals fear the flights will lower the tone, increase road traffic and noise around the airport.
"There are fields, cows, calvados, forests, lakes, little towns, beautiful houses, the sea," said Christiane Celice, who heads the organisation battling to stop Ryanair.
"We don't want any more noise, pollution, danger ... anything that could harm this high quality tourist region." ...
Trafigura Beheer under probe
published: Tuesday | November 14, 2006
Police have visited the London and Amsterdam offices of Trafigura Beheer in connection with the dumping of toxic oil waste which killed 10 people in the Ivory Coast.
The Dutch oil company, which trades Nigerian oil for the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, has been at the centre of controversy locally since it was revealed it made a political donation of $31 million to the governing People's National Party (PNP). Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, the president of the PNP, has since ordered her party to return the money.
The oil waste was dumped at 17 mostly open-air sites in the Ivory Coast, which made thousands ill.
British lawyer Martin Day has started court proceedings against Trafigura to compensate relatives of the victims and for those made ill. He is reportedly claiming 100 million. ...
published: Tuesday | November 14, 2006
Police have visited the London and Amsterdam offices of Trafigura Beheer in connection with the dumping of toxic oil waste which killed 10 people in the Ivory Coast.
The Dutch oil company, which trades Nigerian oil for the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, has been at the centre of controversy locally since it was revealed it made a political donation of $31 million to the governing People's National Party (PNP). Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, the president of the PNP, has since ordered her party to return the money.
The oil waste was dumped at 17 mostly open-air sites in the Ivory Coast, which made thousands ill.
British lawyer Martin Day has started court proceedings against Trafigura to compensate relatives of the victims and for those made ill. He is reportedly claiming 100 million. ...
AT&T unveils video home monitoring service
Thu Oct 26, 2006
NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Thursday it would start to offer a monitoring service that would let U.S. customers use cell phones or computers to receive alerts or view a real-time video feed from their home.
The telephone company said it would offer the service for $9.95 a month to broadband Internet customers around the country or to wireless web cell phone customers of Cingular Wireless, its joint venture with BellSouth Corp (BLS.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
The service is an effort by AT&T, which is seeking regulatory approval for its plan to buy BellSouth and bring Cingular under one roof, to try and improve customer loyalty by offering integrated wireless and wired services. ...
Thu Oct 26, 2006
NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Thursday it would start to offer a monitoring service that would let U.S. customers use cell phones or computers to receive alerts or view a real-time video feed from their home.
The telephone company said it would offer the service for $9.95 a month to broadband Internet customers around the country or to wireless web cell phone customers of Cingular Wireless, its joint venture with BellSouth Corp (BLS.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
The service is an effort by AT&T, which is seeking regulatory approval for its plan to buy BellSouth and bring Cingular under one roof, to try and improve customer loyalty by offering integrated wireless and wired services. ...
Enron's Skilling gets 24 years
Mon Oct 23, 2006
By Bruce Nichols
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeff Skilling was sentenced on Monday to more than 24 years in prison for his part in the financial scandal that brought down the company and came to symbolize a dark era in U.S. business.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake said Skilling, 52, would remain free with an electronic monitor on his ankle until he is ordered to report to prison.
Skilling, who has said he would appeal his conviction on 19 criminal counts, also was ordered to pay $45 million in restitution to Enron investors.
In May, Skilling and Enron founder Ken Lay were found guilty of defrauding investors by using off-the-books deals to hide debt and inflate profits. ...
Mon Oct 23, 2006
By Bruce Nichols
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeff Skilling was sentenced on Monday to more than 24 years in prison for his part in the financial scandal that brought down the company and came to symbolize a dark era in U.S. business.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake said Skilling, 52, would remain free with an electronic monitor on his ankle until he is ordered to report to prison.
Skilling, who has said he would appeal his conviction on 19 criminal counts, also was ordered to pay $45 million in restitution to Enron investors.
In May, Skilling and Enron founder Ken Lay were found guilty of defrauding investors by using off-the-books deals to hide debt and inflate profits. ...
Copper Plant Illegally Burned Hazardous Waste, E.P.A. Says
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: October 11, 2006
HOUSTON, Oct. 10 -- A bankrupt copper giant facing billions of dollars in pollution claims across the nation pretended for years to recycle metals while illegally burning hazardous waste in a notorious El Paso smelter, according to a newly released Environmental Protection Agency document.
The agency, in a 1998 internal memorandum, said the company, Asarco, and its Corpus Christi subsidiary, Encycle, had a permit to extract metals from hazardous waste products but used that as a cover to burn the waste until the late 1990's, saving the high costs of proper disposal.
Among the more than 5,000 tons the company was accused of misrepresenting as containing metals for reclamation were more than 300 tons of nonmetallic residues from the former Army chemical warfare depot at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal outside Denver. (It is not clear what the arsenal's material contained.)
"This activity, plain and simple, was illegal treatment and disposal of hazardous waste," the environmental agency said in the memorandum, long held confidential but recently obtained by two El Paso environmental groups opposed to the smelter. "Encycle's own business records provide compelling evidence of sham recycling."
There was no response to messages left for an Asarco spokeswoman at corporate offices in Tucson and for the El Paso plant manager. But a company history states, "Asarco is committed to responsible management of our natural resources." ...
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: October 11, 2006
HOUSTON, Oct. 10 -- A bankrupt copper giant facing billions of dollars in pollution claims across the nation pretended for years to recycle metals while illegally burning hazardous waste in a notorious El Paso smelter, according to a newly released Environmental Protection Agency document.
The agency, in a 1998 internal memorandum, said the company, Asarco, and its Corpus Christi subsidiary, Encycle, had a permit to extract metals from hazardous waste products but used that as a cover to burn the waste until the late 1990's, saving the high costs of proper disposal.
Among the more than 5,000 tons the company was accused of misrepresenting as containing metals for reclamation were more than 300 tons of nonmetallic residues from the former Army chemical warfare depot at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal outside Denver. (It is not clear what the arsenal's material contained.)
"This activity, plain and simple, was illegal treatment and disposal of hazardous waste," the environmental agency said in the memorandum, long held confidential but recently obtained by two El Paso environmental groups opposed to the smelter. "Encycle's own business records provide compelling evidence of sham recycling."
There was no response to messages left for an Asarco spokeswoman at corporate offices in Tucson and for the El Paso plant manager. But a company history states, "Asarco is committed to responsible management of our natural resources." ...
Australian advertisers accused of "corporate paedophilia'
(AFP)
10 October 2006
SYDNEY - Advertising that exploits children's sexuality for commercial gain is on the rise in Australia as big retailers lend an air of respectability to "corporate paedophiles," researchers said on Tuesday.
An increasing number of businesses found it acceptable to eroticise young models for profit, increasing children's risk from sexual predators and robbing them of their childhood, the Australia Institute think tank said.
Institute director Clive Hamilton said it was particularly worrying that the phenomenon had entered the mainstream and condemned major retail chains for jumping on the bandwagon. ...
(AFP)
10 October 2006
SYDNEY - Advertising that exploits children's sexuality for commercial gain is on the rise in Australia as big retailers lend an air of respectability to "corporate paedophiles," researchers said on Tuesday.
An increasing number of businesses found it acceptable to eroticise young models for profit, increasing children's risk from sexual predators and robbing them of their childhood, the Australia Institute think tank said.
Institute director Clive Hamilton said it was particularly worrying that the phenomenon had entered the mainstream and condemned major retail chains for jumping on the bandwagon. ...
Only a "moron" would buy YouTube, says Cuban
Thu Sep 28, 2006
By Paul Thomasch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor and dot-com veteran Mark Cuban had harsh words on Thursday for YouTube, the online site that lets people share video clips, saying only a "moron" would purchase the wildly popular start-up.
Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, also said YouTube would eventually be "sued into oblivion" because of copyright violations. ...
Thu Sep 28, 2006
By Paul Thomasch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor and dot-com veteran Mark Cuban had harsh words on Thursday for YouTube, the online site that lets people share video clips, saying only a "moron" would purchase the wildly popular start-up.
Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, also said YouTube would eventually be "sued into oblivion" because of copyright violations. ...
Wal-Mart Sets $4 Price For Many Generic Drugs
By Kathleen Day
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006
Retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., known for forcing prices down to dominate nearly every market it enters, said yesterday that it would sell nearly 300 generic drugs for $4 per prescription, whether or not a customer has insurance.
Using its might as the nation's largest retailer and its legendary ability to force suppliers to cut prices to the bone, the company will begin the $4 price program in its 65 stores in the Tampa area today, in all of Florida in January, and in as many other states as possible by the end of 2007. The $4 is for a typical monthly supply of medicine, and included on the Wal-Mart list are generic versions of many popular prescription drugs, including the antibiotic amoxicillin and the heart and blood-pressure treatment lisinopril, sold under the brand names Prinivil and Zestril.
Health-care industry analysts said the program has the potential to transform the $230 billion prescription-drug business the way Wal-Mart has transformed other industries, including groceries and toys, where its aggressive pricing has forced some competitors out of business and allowed it to dominate entire categories of merchandise.
Health-care costs rose an average of 9.6 percent a year from 2000 to 2004, and a large component of the increase was the price of drugs, which rose an average of 11.4 percent a year in that time. Inflation during that period was around 2.6 percent a year. ...
By Kathleen Day
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006
Retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., known for forcing prices down to dominate nearly every market it enters, said yesterday that it would sell nearly 300 generic drugs for $4 per prescription, whether or not a customer has insurance.
Using its might as the nation's largest retailer and its legendary ability to force suppliers to cut prices to the bone, the company will begin the $4 price program in its 65 stores in the Tampa area today, in all of Florida in January, and in as many other states as possible by the end of 2007. The $4 is for a typical monthly supply of medicine, and included on the Wal-Mart list are generic versions of many popular prescription drugs, including the antibiotic amoxicillin and the heart and blood-pressure treatment lisinopril, sold under the brand names Prinivil and Zestril.
Health-care industry analysts said the program has the potential to transform the $230 billion prescription-drug business the way Wal-Mart has transformed other industries, including groceries and toys, where its aggressive pricing has forced some competitors out of business and allowed it to dominate entire categories of merchandise.
Health-care costs rose an average of 9.6 percent a year from 2000 to 2004, and a large component of the increase was the price of drugs, which rose an average of 11.4 percent a year in that time. Inflation during that period was around 2.6 percent a year. ...
Lompoc Record -- Opinion
Sept. 25, 2006
A new kind of drug war
Last Thursday, members of Congress decided it's time to allow U.S. citizens to bring lower-priced prescription drugs back from Canada. No more hassles from Border Patrol agents, who had been seizing such drugs because importing foreign pharmaceuticals violates federal law.
About the same time lawmakers were announcing that addition to a Homeland Security bill, officials at Wal-Mart Stores surprised just about everyone with their own announcement. Wal-Mart unveiled a pilot program in Florida stores to drop the price to $4 for a 30-day prescription of 291 generic drugs.
Four dollars? Isn't that less than many people's co-pay in their prescription drug insurance plan? Why, yes, it is.
There was quite a reaction on Wall Street to these bombshell announcements. Share prices for pharmacy companies plunged, some more than 8 percent. ...
Sept. 25, 2006
A new kind of drug war
Last Thursday, members of Congress decided it's time to allow U.S. citizens to bring lower-priced prescription drugs back from Canada. No more hassles from Border Patrol agents, who had been seizing such drugs because importing foreign pharmaceuticals violates federal law.
About the same time lawmakers were announcing that addition to a Homeland Security bill, officials at Wal-Mart Stores surprised just about everyone with their own announcement. Wal-Mart unveiled a pilot program in Florida stores to drop the price to $4 for a 30-day prescription of 291 generic drugs.
Four dollars? Isn't that less than many people's co-pay in their prescription drug insurance plan? Why, yes, it is.
There was quite a reaction on Wall Street to these bombshell announcements. Share prices for pharmacy companies plunged, some more than 8 percent. ...
Posted on Mon, Sep. 25, 2006
EDITORIALS
Jolt From Wal-Mart
Company's business model could make other health services more affordable
Some readers may see altruism in Wal-Mart's initiative to slash generic drugs prices nationally beginning next year. That would be naive. The company more likely will sell about 150 generic prescription drugs a little over cost (beginning this week in Florida) but should profit from a higher sales volume.
Wal-Mart's move is doubly significant. For years, prescription drug retailers have operated an informal cartel on generic drugs (medications on which the patents have expired, allowing other companies to replicate and sell them).
Even though the retail cost of generics is lower than the cost of patented brand-name drugs, retailers still reaped nice markups over their wholesale price. Now that Wal-Mart has broken ranks, the cartel cannot help but collapse. Once word gets around that generics can be had at Wal-Mart for as little as $4 for a month's supply, other retailers will have to follow suit or stop selling generics. Indeed, Target Stores announced it would sell generic drugs at low cost shortly after Wal-Mart announced its program. ...
EDITORIALS
Jolt From Wal-Mart
Company's business model could make other health services more affordable
Some readers may see altruism in Wal-Mart's initiative to slash generic drugs prices nationally beginning next year. That would be naive. The company more likely will sell about 150 generic prescription drugs a little over cost (beginning this week in Florida) but should profit from a higher sales volume.
Wal-Mart's move is doubly significant. For years, prescription drug retailers have operated an informal cartel on generic drugs (medications on which the patents have expired, allowing other companies to replicate and sell them).
Even though the retail cost of generics is lower than the cost of patented brand-name drugs, retailers still reaped nice markups over their wholesale price. Now that Wal-Mart has broken ranks, the cartel cannot help but collapse. Once word gets around that generics can be had at Wal-Mart for as little as $4 for a month's supply, other retailers will have to follow suit or stop selling generics. Indeed, Target Stores announced it would sell generic drugs at low cost shortly after Wal-Mart announced its program. ...
Royal Society Tells Exxon: Stop Funding Climate Change Denial
by David Adam
Britain's leading scientists have challenged the US oil company ExxonMobil to stop funding groups that attempt to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.
In an unprecedented step, the Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific academy, has written to the oil giant to demand that the company withdraws support for dozens of groups that have "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence".
The scientists also strongly criticise the company's public statements on global warming, which they describe as "inaccurate and misleading".
In a letter earlier this month to Esso, the UK arm of ExxonMobil, the Royal Society cites its own survey which found that ExxonMobil last year distributed $2.9m to 39 groups that the society says misrepresent the science of climate change.
These include the International Policy Network, a thinktank with its HQ in London, and the George C Marshall Institute, which is based in Washington DC. In 2004, the institute jointly published a report with the UK group the Scientific Alliance which claimed that global temperature rises were not related to rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
"There is not a robust scientific basis for drawing definitive and objective conclusions about the effect of human influence on future climate," it said.
In the letter, Bob Ward of the Royal Society writes: "At our meeting in July ... you indicated that ExxonMobil would not be providing any further funding to these organisations. I would be grateful if you could let me know when ExxonMobil plans to carry out this pledge."
The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, adds: "I would be grateful if you could let me know which organisations in the UK and other European countries have been receiving funding so that I can work out which of these have been similarly providing inaccurate and misleading information to the public." ...
by David Adam
Britain's leading scientists have challenged the US oil company ExxonMobil to stop funding groups that attempt to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.
In an unprecedented step, the Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific academy, has written to the oil giant to demand that the company withdraws support for dozens of groups that have "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence".
The scientists also strongly criticise the company's public statements on global warming, which they describe as "inaccurate and misleading".
In a letter earlier this month to Esso, the UK arm of ExxonMobil, the Royal Society cites its own survey which found that ExxonMobil last year distributed $2.9m to 39 groups that the society says misrepresent the science of climate change.
These include the International Policy Network, a thinktank with its HQ in London, and the George C Marshall Institute, which is based in Washington DC. In 2004, the institute jointly published a report with the UK group the Scientific Alliance which claimed that global temperature rises were not related to rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
"There is not a robust scientific basis for drawing definitive and objective conclusions about the effect of human influence on future climate," it said.
In the letter, Bob Ward of the Royal Society writes: "At our meeting in July ... you indicated that ExxonMobil would not be providing any further funding to these organisations. I would be grateful if you could let me know when ExxonMobil plans to carry out this pledge."
The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, adds: "I would be grateful if you could let me know which organisations in the UK and other European countries have been receiving funding so that I can work out which of these have been similarly providing inaccurate and misleading information to the public." ...
HP Chair to Step Down in Leak Aftermath
By JORDAN ROBERTSON
SAN JOSE, Calif. Sep 12, 2006 (AP)-- Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn will step down in January and be succeeded by CEO Mark Hurd amid a widening scandal involving the computer and printer company's possibly illegal probe into media leaks.
Director George Keyworth II, who acknowledged sharing company information with reporters, resigned from HP's board later Tuesday morning. The board had asked Keyworth to resign in May, but he refused.
Hurd will retain his existing positions as chief executive and president and Dunn will remain as a director after she relinquishes the chair on Jan. 18.
"I am taking action to ensure that inappropriate investigative techniques will not be employed again. They have no place in HP," Hurd said in a statement Tuesday. ...
By JORDAN ROBERTSON
SAN JOSE, Calif. Sep 12, 2006 (AP)-- Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn will step down in January and be succeeded by CEO Mark Hurd amid a widening scandal involving the computer and printer company's possibly illegal probe into media leaks.
Director George Keyworth II, who acknowledged sharing company information with reporters, resigned from HP's board later Tuesday morning. The board had asked Keyworth to resign in May, but he refused.
Hurd will retain his existing positions as chief executive and president and Dunn will remain as a director after she relinquishes the chair on Jan. 18.
"I am taking action to ensure that inappropriate investigative techniques will not be employed again. They have no place in HP," Hurd said in a statement Tuesday. ...
AOL blinks, offers free e-mail, software
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 2, 2006
'Nuff said, except to add that at last AOHell will be worth what folks pay for it.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 2, 2006
'Nuff said, except to add that at last AOHell will be worth what folks pay for it.
Norway dumps Wal-Mart stock
First published: 06 Jun 2006, 14:06
The huge fund that's meant to preserve Norway's oil wealth for future generations is pulling out of shares that don't meet the government's ethical standards. Among them is the Wal-Mart discount store chain. ...
... The ministry reported that it's excluding Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Wal-Mart de Mexico and Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc from the fund "in line with recommendations from the Council on Ethics for the Fund."
Halvorsen's finance ministry officials cited "serious" and "systematic violations of human rights and labour rights" as its reason for pulling out of its Wal-Mart investments.
Another decision to dump shares in Freeport McMoRan was based on "serious environmental damage" incurred by the company.
Halvorsen was quoted in a government statement as saying that the exclusions "reflect our refusal to contribute to serious, systematic or gross violations of ethical norms in these areas through our investments in the Government Pension Fund - Global."
Investing in either Wal-Mart or Freeport, Halvorsen claimed, "entails an unacceptable risk that the Fund may be complicit in serious... violations of norms." ...
...Norway's disinvestment procedures gives Norges Bank two months to disinvest from a company before a decision on exclusion is made public. It sold off about NOK 2.5 billion worth of Wal-Mart stock and NOK 116 million worth of Freeport stock by the end of May.
You go, Norway!
First published: 06 Jun 2006, 14:06
The huge fund that's meant to preserve Norway's oil wealth for future generations is pulling out of shares that don't meet the government's ethical standards. Among them is the Wal-Mart discount store chain. ...
... The ministry reported that it's excluding Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Wal-Mart de Mexico and Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc from the fund "in line with recommendations from the Council on Ethics for the Fund."
Halvorsen's finance ministry officials cited "serious" and "systematic violations of human rights and labour rights" as its reason for pulling out of its Wal-Mart investments.
Another decision to dump shares in Freeport McMoRan was based on "serious environmental damage" incurred by the company.
Halvorsen was quoted in a government statement as saying that the exclusions "reflect our refusal to contribute to serious, systematic or gross violations of ethical norms in these areas through our investments in the Government Pension Fund - Global."
Investing in either Wal-Mart or Freeport, Halvorsen claimed, "entails an unacceptable risk that the Fund may be complicit in serious... violations of norms." ...
...Norway's disinvestment procedures gives Norges Bank two months to disinvest from a company before a decision on exclusion is made public. It sold off about NOK 2.5 billion worth of Wal-Mart stock and NOK 116 million worth of Freeport stock by the end of May.
You go, Norway!
A quiet word to loud Americans
By Philip Sherwell
April 17, 2006
LOUD and brash, in gawdy garb and baseball caps, shuffling between tourist sites or preparing to negotiate a business deal, they bemoan the failings of the world outside the United States.
The reputation of the ugly American abroad is not just some cruel stereotype. Rather, says the United States Government, it is worryingly accurate.
Now the State Department in Washington has joined forces with US industry to plan an image makeover by issuing guides on how to behave for Americans travelling overseas.
Under a program starting next month, several big US companies will give employees going abroad a "world citizen's guide" featuring 16 etiquette tips on how they can help improve their country's battered international image.
Business for Diplomatic Action, a non-profit group funded by large US companies, has met State Department officials to discuss issuing the guide with every newly issued American passport. The guide offers a series of "simple suggestions" under the slogan, "Help your country while you travel for your company".
The guide advises Americans to not just talk but to listen; to discuss and argue but not to be didactic, and not to foist a US world view on others.
The head of Business for Diplomatic Action, Keith Reinhard, said: "Surveys consistently show that Americans are viewed as arrogant, insensitive, over-materialistic and ignorant about local values. That, in short, is the image of the ugly American abroad and we want to change it."
The guide also offers tips on the dangers of dressing too casually, and the pluses of learning a few words of the local language, using hand gestures and even map reading. Business for Diplomatic Action has distributed 200,000 passport-sized guides tailored to students. ...
Of course it helps to wear a t-shirt that says, "I did NOT vote for bush."
Met some German travellers in Jamaica. They snubbed us until they found out we aren't Republicans and can actually find our - and their - country on a map of the world. They were delighted that I know a smattering of German and that I read books.
I've picked up plenty of Patois on trips to Jamaica, but what the Jamaicans really love is my carrying a boombox everywhere that's blasting great old reggae. It generates a lot of smiles directed toward yr humble narrator.
Loud ain't always bad.
By Philip Sherwell
April 17, 2006
LOUD and brash, in gawdy garb and baseball caps, shuffling between tourist sites or preparing to negotiate a business deal, they bemoan the failings of the world outside the United States.
The reputation of the ugly American abroad is not just some cruel stereotype. Rather, says the United States Government, it is worryingly accurate.
Now the State Department in Washington has joined forces with US industry to plan an image makeover by issuing guides on how to behave for Americans travelling overseas.
Under a program starting next month, several big US companies will give employees going abroad a "world citizen's guide" featuring 16 etiquette tips on how they can help improve their country's battered international image.
Business for Diplomatic Action, a non-profit group funded by large US companies, has met State Department officials to discuss issuing the guide with every newly issued American passport. The guide offers a series of "simple suggestions" under the slogan, "Help your country while you travel for your company".
The guide advises Americans to not just talk but to listen; to discuss and argue but not to be didactic, and not to foist a US world view on others.
The head of Business for Diplomatic Action, Keith Reinhard, said: "Surveys consistently show that Americans are viewed as arrogant, insensitive, over-materialistic and ignorant about local values. That, in short, is the image of the ugly American abroad and we want to change it."
The guide also offers tips on the dangers of dressing too casually, and the pluses of learning a few words of the local language, using hand gestures and even map reading. Business for Diplomatic Action has distributed 200,000 passport-sized guides tailored to students. ...
Of course it helps to wear a t-shirt that says, "I did NOT vote for bush."
Met some German travellers in Jamaica. They snubbed us until they found out we aren't Republicans and can actually find our - and their - country on a map of the world. They were delighted that I know a smattering of German and that I read books.
I've picked up plenty of Patois on trips to Jamaica, but what the Jamaicans really love is my carrying a boombox everywhere that's blasting great old reggae. It generates a lot of smiles directed toward yr humble narrator.
Loud ain't always bad.
FTP: Ford to Slash Up to 30,000 Jobs by 2012
Jan 23, 2:38 PM (ET)
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - Ford Motor Co. (F), the nation's second-largest automaker, said Monday that it will cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs and close 14 facilities by 2012 as part of a restructuring designed to reverse a $1.6 billion loss last year in its North American operations.
The cuts represent 20 percent to 25 percent of Ford's North American work force of 122,000 people. Ford has approximately 87,000 hourly workers and 35,000 salaried workers in the region.
Plants to be idled through 2008 include the St. Louis, Atlanta and Michigan's Wixom assembly plants and Batavia Transmission in Ohio. Windsor Casting in Ontario also will be idled, as was previously announced following contract negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers. Another two assembly plants to be idled will be determined later this year, and production at St. Thomas Assembly in Ontario will be reduced to one shift.
A total of 14 facilities, including seven assembly plants, will cease production by 2012. The names of the other facilities were not immediately disclosed.
"These cuts are a painful last resort, and I'm deeply mindful of their impact," Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford said in announcing the cuts. "In the long run we will create far more stable and secure jobs. We all have to change and we all have to sacrifice, but I believe this is the path to winning."
Uh-huh, Bill. You're so compassionate. You still have your job, I see.
Well, this is what happens when we buy nothing but foreign goods for years and years, and let companies send all their jobs overseas.
Jan 23, 2:38 PM (ET)
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - Ford Motor Co. (F), the nation's second-largest automaker, said Monday that it will cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs and close 14 facilities by 2012 as part of a restructuring designed to reverse a $1.6 billion loss last year in its North American operations.
The cuts represent 20 percent to 25 percent of Ford's North American work force of 122,000 people. Ford has approximately 87,000 hourly workers and 35,000 salaried workers in the region.
Plants to be idled through 2008 include the St. Louis, Atlanta and Michigan's Wixom assembly plants and Batavia Transmission in Ohio. Windsor Casting in Ontario also will be idled, as was previously announced following contract negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers. Another two assembly plants to be idled will be determined later this year, and production at St. Thomas Assembly in Ontario will be reduced to one shift.
A total of 14 facilities, including seven assembly plants, will cease production by 2012. The names of the other facilities were not immediately disclosed.
"These cuts are a painful last resort, and I'm deeply mindful of their impact," Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford said in announcing the cuts. "In the long run we will create far more stable and secure jobs. We all have to change and we all have to sacrifice, but I believe this is the path to winning."
Uh-huh, Bill. You're so compassionate. You still have your job, I see.
Well, this is what happens when we buy nothing but foreign goods for years and years, and let companies send all their jobs overseas.
FTP: According to State Department sources, the United States has laid down an ultimatum to Iran. However, this ultimatum has nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program. Former U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan Steven R. Mann, who is also the State Department's Special Negotiator for Eurasian Conflicts and Senior Adviser on Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy, recently warned Iran against building a pipeline to India.
Mann, who was involved in successful negotiations on the building of the CentGas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, travels around central and south Asia helping to negotiate favorable pipeline and drilling deals for U.S. oil and natural gas companies. However, when it comes to U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mann strongly denies that they are being fought for oil and gas. That contention is usually met with stifled laughter from attendees at seminars and meetings in Washington and Asia.
Yeah, I bet! Thanks, Grayem!
Mann, who was involved in successful negotiations on the building of the CentGas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, travels around central and south Asia helping to negotiate favorable pipeline and drilling deals for U.S. oil and natural gas companies. However, when it comes to U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mann strongly denies that they are being fought for oil and gas. That contention is usually met with stifled laughter from attendees at seminars and meetings in Washington and Asia.
Yeah, I bet! Thanks, Grayem!
FTP: "IRAN CAUSE FOR M3 FLUSH?
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com
INITIAL POST 01.16.06
PROPHET TALK NEWS ANALYSIS
Is the Federal Reserve's recent surprise announcement - that it would stop releasing aggregate statistics on US dollars around the world - actually aimed at financial stabilization after the opening of an Iranian commodities bourse? That's the latest whispered 'Net rumor, and it is an intriguing one because the success of such a bourse could eventually cause the dollar to fall hard against other currencies.
The US "petrodollar" is the currency used to buy oil, and this has forced countries around the world to retain large reserves of dollars which they can purchase at US Treasury auctions. This, in turn, has allowed the US government to print virtually unlimited amounts of money - funding a powerful standing army and an ever-expanding [NB: currently ever-shrinking] array of public programs. The planned Iranian commodities bourse (slated now to open in the spring, apparently) will allow countries to purchase oil using a variety of currencies and even precious metals; this will mean that countries will need to hold fewer dollars and may in fact begin to disgorge them.
As dollars come back onto the market, their value will fall relative to other currencies. This will surely result in a lower living standard for Americans. The Fed is apparently betting that if it does not publish the number of aggregate dollars held around the world, especially the so-called petrodollar, then Americans will not be in a position of knowing how many dollars are returning home, nor how this is affecting American purchasing power or lifestyle. US citizens will notice the change only gradually, as they have fewer resources to buy luxuries - even necessities - and less capital available for business and trade ventures."
Great. I feel sick again.
Thanks (I think) Grayem
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com
INITIAL POST 01.16.06
PROPHET TALK NEWS ANALYSIS
Is the Federal Reserve's recent surprise announcement - that it would stop releasing aggregate statistics on US dollars around the world - actually aimed at financial stabilization after the opening of an Iranian commodities bourse? That's the latest whispered 'Net rumor, and it is an intriguing one because the success of such a bourse could eventually cause the dollar to fall hard against other currencies.
The US "petrodollar" is the currency used to buy oil, and this has forced countries around the world to retain large reserves of dollars which they can purchase at US Treasury auctions. This, in turn, has allowed the US government to print virtually unlimited amounts of money - funding a powerful standing army and an ever-expanding [NB: currently ever-shrinking] array of public programs. The planned Iranian commodities bourse (slated now to open in the spring, apparently) will allow countries to purchase oil using a variety of currencies and even precious metals; this will mean that countries will need to hold fewer dollars and may in fact begin to disgorge them.
As dollars come back onto the market, their value will fall relative to other currencies. This will surely result in a lower living standard for Americans. The Fed is apparently betting that if it does not publish the number of aggregate dollars held around the world, especially the so-called petrodollar, then Americans will not be in a position of knowing how many dollars are returning home, nor how this is affecting American purchasing power or lifestyle. US citizens will notice the change only gradually, as they have fewer resources to buy luxuries - even necessities - and less capital available for business and trade ventures."
Great. I feel sick again.
Thanks (I think) Grayem
"Maryland`s legislature overrode a veto Thursday to pass a bill forcing the big discounter to spend at least 8 percent of their total wages paid on employee healthcare benefits. The bill, similar versions of which are percolating through 30 other state legislatures, was written expressly to affect Wal-Mart.
The Virginia-based Retail Industry Leaders Association warned Friday that the anti-Wal-Mart law actually 'punishes the retail industry by imposing an unfair healthcare mandate on the state`s largest and most successful employers.'
'This legislation makes no attempt to control skyrocketing healthcare costs, and it creates a hostile environment for Maryland retailers leading to fewer jobs, reduced tax revenues and a weakened economy,' said RILA President Sandy Kennedy."
Remember, girls and boys: beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone.
Thanks to dear Voyyaghar
The Virginia-based Retail Industry Leaders Association warned Friday that the anti-Wal-Mart law actually 'punishes the retail industry by imposing an unfair healthcare mandate on the state`s largest and most successful employers.'
'This legislation makes no attempt to control skyrocketing healthcare costs, and it creates a hostile environment for Maryland retailers leading to fewer jobs, reduced tax revenues and a weakened economy,' said RILA President Sandy Kennedy."
Remember, girls and boys: beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone.
Thanks to dear Voyyaghar
FTP: "Observing political and economic discourse in North America since the 1970s leads to an inescapable conclusion: The vast bulk of legislative activity favours the interests of large commercial enterprises. Big business is very well off, and successive Canadian and U.S. governments, of whatever political stripe, have made this their primary objective for at least the past 25 years.
Digging deeper into 20th century history, one finds the exaltation of big business at the expense of the citizen was a central characteristic of government policy in Germany and Italy in the years before those countries were chewed to bits and spat out by fascism. Fascist dictatorships were borne to power in each of these countries by big business, and they served the interests of big business with remarkable ferocity.
These facts have been lost to the popular consciousness in North America. Fascism could therefore return to us, and we will not even recognize it. Indeed, Huey Long, one of America's most brilliant and most corrupt politicians, was once asked if America would ever see fascism. "Yes," he replied, "but we will call it anti-fascism.""
And that ain't no shit, girls and boys.
Merci a chere mu-tiger
Digging deeper into 20th century history, one finds the exaltation of big business at the expense of the citizen was a central characteristic of government policy in Germany and Italy in the years before those countries were chewed to bits and spat out by fascism. Fascist dictatorships were borne to power in each of these countries by big business, and they served the interests of big business with remarkable ferocity.
These facts have been lost to the popular consciousness in North America. Fascism could therefore return to us, and we will not even recognize it. Indeed, Huey Long, one of America's most brilliant and most corrupt politicians, was once asked if America would ever see fascism. "Yes," he replied, "but we will call it anti-fascism.""
And that ain't no shit, girls and boys.
Merci a chere mu-tiger
Lovely and so accurate!
FTP: "It's important to remember that the constitutional system was not designed in the first place to defend the rights of people. Rather, the rights of people had to be balanced, as Madison put it, against what he called "the rights of property." Well of course, property has no rights: my pen has no rights. Maybe I have a right to it, but the pen has no rights. So, this is just a code phrase for the rights of people with property. The constitutional system was founded on the principle that the rights of people with property have to be privileged; they have rights because they're people, but they also have special rights because they have property. As Madison put it in the constitutional debates, the goal of government must be "to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority." That's the way the system was set up.
In the United States, around the turn of the century, through radical judicial activism, the courts changed crucially the concept of the corporation. They simply redefined them so as to grant not only privileges to property owners, but also to what legal historians call "collectivist legal entities." Corporations, in other words, were granted early in this century the rights of persons, in fact, immortal persons, and persons of immense power. And they were freed from the need to restrict themselves to the grants of state charters.
That's a very big change. It's essentially establishing major private tyrannies, which are unaccountable, because they're protected by First Amendment rights, freedom from search and seizure, and so on, so you can't figure out what they're doing."
Fuck me I love Noam Chomsky.
Thanks, Grayem!
In the United States, around the turn of the century, through radical judicial activism, the courts changed crucially the concept of the corporation. They simply redefined them so as to grant not only privileges to property owners, but also to what legal historians call "collectivist legal entities." Corporations, in other words, were granted early in this century the rights of persons, in fact, immortal persons, and persons of immense power. And they were freed from the need to restrict themselves to the grants of state charters.
That's a very big change. It's essentially establishing major private tyrannies, which are unaccountable, because they're protected by First Amendment rights, freedom from search and seizure, and so on, so you can't figure out what they're doing."
Fuck me I love Noam Chomsky.
Thanks, Grayem!
FTP: "WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the final stage of welcoming industry experiments using human subjects to test the effects of pesticides and other commercial toxins, according to comments filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a coalition of public health organizations. The proposed EPA rule, strongly supported by the chemical industry, allows experiments on humans to replace reliance on animal studies.
"The good news is that EPA, for the first time, is pledging to abide by the Nuremberg Code, adopted after World War II to prevent a repetition of the horrific Nazi human experiments," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization became involved after EPA gagged its own scientists from voicing objections. "The bad news is that EPA's proposal breaks this long overdue pledge by offering a plan peppered with loopholes that encourage unethical conduct and omit key protections for infants, pregnant women and other vulnerable populations.""
Sickening.
Thanks to Dr-Duke and sent on to zillions
"The good news is that EPA, for the first time, is pledging to abide by the Nuremberg Code, adopted after World War II to prevent a repetition of the horrific Nazi human experiments," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization became involved after EPA gagged its own scientists from voicing objections. "The bad news is that EPA's proposal breaks this long overdue pledge by offering a plan peppered with loopholes that encourage unethical conduct and omit key protections for infants, pregnant women and other vulnerable populations.""
Sickening.
Thanks to Dr-Duke and sent on to zillions
From the page: "The oil execs started Wednesday's hearing with a note of defiance by refusing to testify under oath, possibly recalling the image of their predecessors holding their right hands in the air before a Congressional hearing in 1974.
Thirty-one years later, many of the same questions exist. "Are you rigging the price of oil?" asked Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici, who's accepted more than $500,000 from oil companies since 1989. "I think you owe the American people an explanation."
When the execs pointed to rising global demand, decreasing supply, worldwide speculators, disruptions from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and nettlesome domestic regulations, Domenici replied: "I'm not sure my constituents will be pleased with that answer."
In fact, the Big Five failed to take responsibility for much of anything. The situation today strangely parallels the Enron debacle; energy companies complained about excessive regulation when the real cause was a manipulation of supply. A lengthy question-and-answer session with senators bore out this inflexibility.
Should oil companies encourage automakers to raise fuel efficiency standards in light trucks and SUVs?
Lee Raymond, ExxonMobil: "I don't want to get into the political aspect of that."
Could oil companies voluntarily donate 10 percent of their profits toward heating assistance for low-income Americans, as suggested by Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley?
James Mulva, ConocoPhillips: "That's not a good precedent for the industry to fund."
Was a 24-cent increase in the price of gas over a 24-hour period following Hurricane Katrina unconscionably excessive?
Raymond: "We have nothing to say about the price at the pump%u2026. I don't know if that data is accurate."
Had we not experienced Hurricane Katrina, would the profits be even higher?
Raymond: "That's a hard question to answer."
And so on. "I hope I can give you a bit of a reality check," a reliably agitated Barbara Boxer said, before displaying a chart illustrating how the execs' yearly bonus was 155 times greater than the average American's yearly salary. "Will you consider making a major personal and corporate contribution to help Americans get relief from high heating costs? I'd like a yes or no answer." Before anyone could respond, Commerce chairman Ted Stevens, an irascible 82-year-old ally of Big Oil, interrupted the exchange.
"This chart is really publicity," Stevens said.
Publicity or not, more than eight pieces of legislation stand before Congress targeting oil industry profits. Senators Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd want a 50 percent excise tax on the sale of oil priced above $40 a barrel, a variation on a theme recently endorsed by Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg. Members of both parties have called for a federal anti-price-gouging law, modeled after regulation already on the books in many states--an idea explored by state attorney generals and the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in the day's afternoon panel.
Through a clever line of questioning, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden persuaded the execs to admit that little, if any, of the $2.6 billion tax incentives in the energy bill would actually benefit their companies. Wyden said on Thursday he will try to strip the tax breaks from the Senate's massive budget reconciliation bill. More so than high-profile hearings, measures such as these will indicate the resolve of the Congress."
Thanks, Reasonablib!
Thirty-one years later, many of the same questions exist. "Are you rigging the price of oil?" asked Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici, who's accepted more than $500,000 from oil companies since 1989. "I think you owe the American people an explanation."
When the execs pointed to rising global demand, decreasing supply, worldwide speculators, disruptions from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and nettlesome domestic regulations, Domenici replied: "I'm not sure my constituents will be pleased with that answer."
In fact, the Big Five failed to take responsibility for much of anything. The situation today strangely parallels the Enron debacle; energy companies complained about excessive regulation when the real cause was a manipulation of supply. A lengthy question-and-answer session with senators bore out this inflexibility.
Should oil companies encourage automakers to raise fuel efficiency standards in light trucks and SUVs?
Lee Raymond, ExxonMobil: "I don't want to get into the political aspect of that."
Could oil companies voluntarily donate 10 percent of their profits toward heating assistance for low-income Americans, as suggested by Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley?
James Mulva, ConocoPhillips: "That's not a good precedent for the industry to fund."
Was a 24-cent increase in the price of gas over a 24-hour period following Hurricane Katrina unconscionably excessive?
Raymond: "We have nothing to say about the price at the pump%u2026. I don't know if that data is accurate."
Had we not experienced Hurricane Katrina, would the profits be even higher?
Raymond: "That's a hard question to answer."
And so on. "I hope I can give you a bit of a reality check," a reliably agitated Barbara Boxer said, before displaying a chart illustrating how the execs' yearly bonus was 155 times greater than the average American's yearly salary. "Will you consider making a major personal and corporate contribution to help Americans get relief from high heating costs? I'd like a yes or no answer." Before anyone could respond, Commerce chairman Ted Stevens, an irascible 82-year-old ally of Big Oil, interrupted the exchange.
"This chart is really publicity," Stevens said.
Publicity or not, more than eight pieces of legislation stand before Congress targeting oil industry profits. Senators Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd want a 50 percent excise tax on the sale of oil priced above $40 a barrel, a variation on a theme recently endorsed by Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg. Members of both parties have called for a federal anti-price-gouging law, modeled after regulation already on the books in many states--an idea explored by state attorney generals and the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in the day's afternoon panel.
Through a clever line of questioning, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden persuaded the execs to admit that little, if any, of the $2.6 billion tax incentives in the energy bill would actually benefit their companies. Wyden said on Thursday he will try to strip the tax breaks from the Senate's massive budget reconciliation bill. More so than high-profile hearings, measures such as these will indicate the resolve of the Congress."
Thanks, Reasonablib!
From the page: "Like ExxonMobil's, my own $9.9 billion windfall arrived just a few weeks ago. Thanks to the skyrocketing wholesale price of newspaper columns, continued high demand, and Congressional approval of new tax breaks and subsidies for the newspaper-column industry, my profit-and-loss statement for the third quarter showed net income of $9.9 billion.
Did I feel guilty, apologize, and give some of the money back? Should I be embarrassed that during wartime, I had to rent a self-storage unit just to warehouse all of my cash?
Of course not. As ExxonMobil was quick to point out last week, many businesses - including newspaper columnizing - are cyclical, and massive profits one year often become slightly less massive profits the next."
Sigh...
Thanks, Reasonablib!
Did I feel guilty, apologize, and give some of the money back? Should I be embarrassed that during wartime, I had to rent a self-storage unit just to warehouse all of my cash?
Of course not. As ExxonMobil was quick to point out last week, many businesses - including newspaper columnizing - are cyclical, and massive profits one year often become slightly less massive profits the next."
Sigh...
Thanks, Reasonablib!
Delphi's demand: Take $9 an hour
Health care, pension trims also planned
October 26, 2005
BY JASON ROBERSON and MICHAEL ELLIS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS
If Delphi Corp. has its way, workers for the nation's largest auto parts supplier would be paid as little as $9 per hour under 65% wage cuts, and be hit with a tenfold increase in health-care costs, no dental and vision care and other sharp reductions in benefits, according to a proposal revealed on the Web site of a UAW local.
The document shows for the first time the severity of the cuts the bankrupt company has told the union it needs to survive.
The cuts are even stiffer than the company's final proposal to the union before it filed for Chapter 11 on Oct. 8, further infuriating workers already angered by the threats to their livelihood.
"How in the hell do they expect anybody to live?" asked Andy Loughran, a 54-year-old Delphi worker from Dayton, Ohio. "You think you're going to get a good quality product at $9 an hour?"
The workers make the world go round (when the geeks take a break). The workers produce everything and line the pockets of the execs and the rich.
In return, we struggle to feed ourselves and our families, to keep a roof over our heads, and to clothe and keep ourselves warm.
The auto industry has steadfastly refused to adapt to changes in consumer ideas, and it's causing its workers profound suffering because of it.
Why am I constantly reminded of Chrysler and why it needed a bail-out?
No one wants to pay for quality anything anymore. Cheapness, not quality is what counts.
Look at the white house.
Many thanks to dear Silentlucidty, the Links and Lynx Lady!
Health care, pension trims also planned
October 26, 2005
BY JASON ROBERSON and MICHAEL ELLIS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS
If Delphi Corp. has its way, workers for the nation's largest auto parts supplier would be paid as little as $9 per hour under 65% wage cuts, and be hit with a tenfold increase in health-care costs, no dental and vision care and other sharp reductions in benefits, according to a proposal revealed on the Web site of a UAW local.
The document shows for the first time the severity of the cuts the bankrupt company has told the union it needs to survive.
The cuts are even stiffer than the company's final proposal to the union before it filed for Chapter 11 on Oct. 8, further infuriating workers already angered by the threats to their livelihood.
"How in the hell do they expect anybody to live?" asked Andy Loughran, a 54-year-old Delphi worker from Dayton, Ohio. "You think you're going to get a good quality product at $9 an hour?"
The workers make the world go round (when the geeks take a break). The workers produce everything and line the pockets of the execs and the rich.
In return, we struggle to feed ourselves and our families, to keep a roof over our heads, and to clothe and keep ourselves warm.
The auto industry has steadfastly refused to adapt to changes in consumer ideas, and it's causing its workers profound suffering because of it.
Why am I constantly reminded of Chrysler and why it needed a bail-out?
No one wants to pay for quality anything anymore. Cheapness, not quality is what counts.
Look at the white house.
Many thanks to dear Silentlucidty, the Links and Lynx Lady!