Archive for the 'Economy' Category

Food Prices See Greatest Monthly Increase in Nearly 20 Years

Published by
elophan
May 14, 2008 in Economy, Food and Newz. 1 Comment

By Howard Schneider, Washington Post Staff Writer

Rising global grain prices helped spark the largest increase in monthly food costs in nearly 20 years, as consumers paid more in April for cereals, baked goods, and the dairy, meat and other animal products that rely on feedstocks, the government reported today.

Food prices have risen 6.1 percent in the past three months on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. The one-month rise between March and April of 0.9 percent was the biggest since January 1990, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The rise in prices covered all categories of food but was most severe among such staple goods as grains and oils — goods where inflation has touched off food riots in some less developed countries and led to concerns about supply shortages.

The costs of cereal and bakery products increased 1.4 percent from March to April and have risen nearly 20 percent in the past three months on a seasonally adjusted basis. Prices for fats and oils jumped more than 5 percent in April, on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, and have increased more than 26 percent in the past three months. Prices for sugars and sweets increased more than 10 percent during that same period.

Along with food, rising gas prices have caused concern that consumers will have to shift their dollars toward staples and spend less elsewhere.

Excluding the seasonal adjustment, gas prices rose about 4.2 percent over the month. More…

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US foreclosure filings surge 65 percent in April

Published by
elophan
May 14, 2008 in Economy, Housing and Newz. 0 Comments

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES - More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments last month, driving the number of homes facing foreclosure up 65 percent versus the same month last year and contributing to a deepening slide in home values, a research company said Tuesday.

Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida were among the hardest hit states, with metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounting for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure, the company said.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

One in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in April. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states.

The combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with fewer options to avoid foreclosure. Many can’t find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can’t get refinanced into an affordable loan.

Efforts by government and the mortgage industry to stem the tide of foreclosures aren’t keeping up with the rising number of troubled homeowners.

The April data show nearly half of the properties received an initial notice of default, suggesting many homes were new entrants to the foreclosure process.

The U.S. House passed a bill last week that would offer government insurance on $300 billion in new mortgages to refinance loans for an estimated half-million borrowers facing foreclosure, particularly those who now owe more than their houses are worth because of declining values.

House lawmakers also passed a bill that would send $15 billion to states to buy and fix foreclosed homes.

Still, should the homeowner aid package clear the Senate, it faces a potential hurdle in the White House, which has threatened to veto the plan, arguing it’s too risky and amounts to a lender bailout.

Even if a legislative compromise is reached, it could come too late for homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages scheduled to reset to higher rates this month and the next.

More than 1 million home foreclosures are forecast for 2008. More…

Damn, 1 million foreclosures. Why is it OK for taxpayers to fund the bailout of Bear Stearns, but when the taxpayers need help just keeping a roof over their heads, they’re told to shove off? Screw you, shrub! -Sue

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Retail sales dip for second time in 2 months

Published by
elophan
May 13, 2008 in Economy and Newz. 0 Comments

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - Consumers, battling soaring gasoline prices and a slumping economy, cut back further on their spending in April.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that retail sales dipped 0.2 percent last month, right in line with economists’ expectations.

It was the second drop in the past three months and was led by a 2.8 percent decline in auto sales, the biggest setback in this category in 10 months. It reflected the problems that automakers are having as a weak economy and soaring gasoline prices cut into demand for new cars.

The 0.2 percent drop in retail sales in April followed a 0.2 percent rise in March and a 0.5 percent decline in February.

Sales at furniture stores edged up a slight 0.1 percent. This sector has been under pressure, reflecting the prolonged two-year slump in home sales. More…

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Exxon’s Founding Family Calls for Change

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 12, 2008 in Business/Finance, Energy, Human Interest/Society, Newz, Resources, The Environment and sci-tech. 0 Comments

From Celsias:

 If necessity is the mother of invention, it can also be the catalyst of change. Public Radio International reports that the Rockefeller family is taking on the CEO of Exxon Mobil, the company founded as Standard Oil by their great, great grandfather John D. Rockefeller in 1870. And this rare public engagement of the family in the inner workings of Exxon is not about current profitability, for which Exxon can boast record highs, but about lack of transition to renewable sources of energy. In fact, according to the Times Online, the press release from the Rockefellers came the day before Exxon Mobil was expected to unveil a $12 billion quarterly profit, the biggest in U.S. corporate history.

 

 The Rockefeller family is calling for a reduction in the power of the current CEO, Rex Tillerson, and the addition of an outside chairman. Their primary concern is one of economics; Exxon needs to start looking at alternative sources of energy because it is going to run out of oil. Currently Exxon is selling oil faster than they are replacing it. Volatility and nationalism in the Middle East and other oil producing countries will only increase the difficulty in doing so. The Rockefellers point to Exxon’s lack of research and development vis a vis its competitors in areas like wind and solar technology as a key source of frustration. The family, which holds a significant minority stake in the company, is not alone among shareholders in their frustration with Exxon’s position on renewables and the climate crisis in general. Robert Monks, one of Exxon’s shareholders, is quoted in the American Public Media story saying, “Exxon is enabled to go in public discourse and say the science is unsettled. Well the science is unsettled, because Exxon paid to have it unsettled.” (See here, here and here.)

 

 Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

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Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 11, 2008 in Economy, Energy, Gas Prices, Human Interest/Society and State/Local Government. 0 Comments

From The New York Times:

 

DENVER — With the price of gas approaching $4 a gallon, more commuters are abandoning their cars and taking the train or bus instead.

 

Mass transit systems around the country are seeing standing-room-only crowds on bus lines where seats were once easy to come by. Parking lots at many bus and light rail stations are suddenly overflowing, with commuters in some towns risking a ticket or tow by parking on nearby grassy areas and in vacant lots.

 

“In almost every transit system I talk to, we’re seeing very high rates of growth the last few months,” said William W. Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association.

 

“It’s very clear that a significant portion of the increase in transit use is directly caused by people who are looking for alternatives to paying $3.50 a gallon for gas.”

 

Some cities with long-established public transit systems, like New York and Boston, have seen increases in ridership of 5 percent or more so far this year. But the biggest surges — of 10 to 15 percent or more over last year — are occurring in many metropolitan areas in the South and West where the driving culture is strongest and bus and rail lines are more limited.

 

Here in Denver, for example, ridership was up 8 percent in the first three months of the year compared with last year, despite a fare increase in January and a slowing economy, which usually means fewer commuters. Several routes on the system have reached capacity, particularly at rush hour, for the first time.

 

“We are at a tipping point,” said Clarence W. Marsella, chief executive of the Denver Regional Transportation District, referring to gasoline prices. 

 

 

 Article Continues @ Sourced Site. 

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Housing aid bills face vetoes by pResident Bush

Published by
elophan
May 8, 2008 in Economy, Housing, Newz, The Executive Branch and The GOP. 0 Comments

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Strapped homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property under Democrats’ housing aid plan.

The measures, slated for votes Thursday, constitute the most significant action Congress has taken to date to address the housing crisis that’s at the center of the nation’s economic woes.

President Bush has threatened to veto both measures, which he says reward lenders and speculators. Democrats counter that the bills will head off hundreds of thousands of foreclosures, stabilize the shaky housing market, and prevent neighborhood blight.

The centerpiece of their plan is a bill by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the House Financial Services Committee chairman, to have the Federal Housing Administration relax its standards and back up to $300 billion in more affordable, fixed-rate loans for borrowers currently too financially strapped to qualify.

Those homeowners could refinance into new loans if their lenders agreed to take substantial losses on the original mortgages. Borrowers would have to show they could afford to make payments on the new loans. They would have to share with FHA at least half of their proceeds if they profited from selling or refinancing again.

The plan is projected to help roughly 500,000 borrowers at a cost of $2.7 billion over the next five years.

A separate bill by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would send $15 billion in loans and grants to states for the purchase and rehabilitation of foreclosed properties. Proponents say it will prevent blight in neighborhoods plagued by abandoned, foreclosed homes. More…

So, shrub said he’ll veto, because it “rewards” lenders. But the only way homeowners would qualify, is if lenders agreed to take a LOSS on the original note. Does anyone need anymore proof of how much this administration hates poor and working class people? -Sue

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Monopsony: the basics, plus policy implications

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 7, 2008 in Economy, Labor, Newz and Women's Right. 0 Comments

Courtesy The G Spot- Politics, Economics, Feminism:

Be honest — are you skipping all these monopsony posts? Are your eyes glazing over at the mere sight of this odd and hard-to-pronounce word? Well, I hope not.

But in case you are — and in case the reason for this is that you don’t have a clear understanding of what it is in the first place, and why it might be important — I’ll try to remedy that by providing a (hopefully) coherent and straightforward explanation of the concept. Then maybe if you have a better grasp of what monopsony is, you can go back and read the other posts, and they might be a little more interesting to you. I’ll also go on to highlight some of the policy implications of monopsony, and why I think it’s important not only in an abstract theoretical sense, but in a concrete political sense as well.

The literal meaning of monopsony is “one buyer” (just as the literal meaning of monopoly is “one seller”). In the context of labor markets, monopsony means one buyer of labor, that is, one employer. But that’s confusing, because these days when economists use the term in the context of labor markets they usually don’t mean one employer.

Here’s what they do mean: in the standard labor market model, known as the perfect competition model, the market as a whole — that is, the supply of labor (all workers seeking a job) and the demand for labor (all jobs being offered by all firms) — determines the wage. The market-clearing wage occurs at that point where labor supply equals labor demand.

Moreover, in the perfect competition model, no single firm has the power to determine the wage; it simply accepts the wage that the market as a whole has determined, and that is what it offers to its workers. In this model, workers are extremely wage-sensitive, so much so that if any single firm cuts wages by even one cent, all the workers at that firm will immediately quit and find employment elsewhere.

In the monopsony model, however, the theory is that the employer has what is known as “market power,” and therefore is not a “wage-taker” (i.e., doesn’t have to offer the market wage). In this model, it is assumed that it’s the employer, not the market, which sets the wage. Therefore, in the monopsony case, the employer will offer below-market wages. And moreover, it’s assumed that the source of the firm’s market power are forces that bind an employee to an employer, so that if wages were cut, at least some of the employees would stay. 

 

Article Continues @ Sourced Site. 

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Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 4, 2008 in Business/Finance, Health, Law and Justice, Newz and Product Safety. 0 Comments

From AZCentral:

 Taser International has fired a warning shot at medical examiners across the country.

 

The Scottsdale-based stun gun manufacturer increasingly is targeting state and county medical examiners with lawsuits and lobbying efforts to reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone’s death.

 

That effort on Friday helped lead an Ohio judge’s order to remove Taser’s name from three Summit County Medical Examiner autopsies that had ruled the stun gun contributed to three men’s deaths.

 

“We will hold people accountable and responsible for untrue statements,” Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said earlier this week. “If that includes medical examiners, it includes medical examiners.”Many medical examiners, who are charged with determining the official causes of death, view the Scottsdale-based company’s efforts as disturbing, the spokesman for the National Association of Medical Examiners says.

 

“It is dangerously close to intimidation,” says Jeff Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. “At this point, we adamantly reject the fact that people can be sued for medical opinions that they make.”

 

In the Ohio case, the judge said the county offered no medical, scientific or electrical evidence to justify finding the stun gun was a factor in the deaths of two men in 2005 and another in 2006. Taser and the City of Akron sued the medical examiner, saying examiners in the case lacked the proper training to evaluate Tasers.

 

Chief Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler said that her examiners rightly concluded Taser contributed to the deaths and said county lawyers will appeal the judge’s ruling.

 

“I would not be going forward with this if I did not believe in the rulings,” she said.

 

The judge’s order could have an immediate impact on criminal cases against five Summit County sheriff’s deputies who were charged in the 2006 “homicide” of a jail inmate. Instead of homicide, the judge ordered the cause of death changed to “undetermined.”

 

Laying a foundation

 

Before Friday’s verdict, legal experts said Taser’s victory could lay the foundation for other cases against dozens of medical examiners who have ruled that shocks from the 50,000-volt stun gun can be fatal.

 

Medical examiners say they’re concerned that Taser’s aggressive moves could have a chilling effect on doctors, preventing them from blaming Tasers for deaths even when evidence exists.

 

Taser still faces lawsuits from family members of victims who claim the stun gun is deadly and the company has not done proper medical research. They allege police officers are using the weapon as a compliance tool against people who do not pose significant threats.

 

But the company has won an impressive number of legal victories and said it has only paid out settlements in a few cases involving police officer injuries. To date, the company says more than 60 cases have been dismissed.

 

Taser stun guns are a fixture among police. It is used by more than 12,000 police agencies across the country, and by every major law enforcement agency in the Valley. Many police agencies credit the gun with preventing deaths and injuries to officers and suspects.

 

Taser maintains they are safe 

 

Article Continues @ Sourced Site. 

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U.S. Unemployment Benefit Rolls Climb to 4-Year High

Published by
elophan
May 1, 2008 in Economy, Jobs and Newz. 0 Comments

By Courtney Schlisserman, Bloomberg

May 1 (Bloomberg) — The number of Americans receiving unemployment insurance climbed to a four-year high, a sign of a weakening labor market as employers remain reluctant to hire. First-time claims for jobless benefits also rose.

The total number of people getting assistance increased to 3.019 million, the most since April 2004, in the week ended April 19, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Initial claims increased by 35,000 to a four-week high of 380,000 in the week ended April 26.

Companies are firing staff as the worst housing recession in more than a quarter century reduces home prices, and slows consumer spending and business investment. The department tomorrow may report the U.S. lost jobs for a fourth straight month in April, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

Initial jobless claims were forecast to increase to 365,000 from a previously reported 342,000 in the prior week, according to the median projection of 35 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Estimates ranged from 340,000 to 375,000.

Employers cut 75,000 jobs in April, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. That would bring the total number of reductions this year before revisions to 307,000, the most since 2003. More…

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Exxon gouges nearly $11 Billion in first 3 months of 2008

Published by
elophan
May 1, 2008 in Business/Finance, Gas Prices and Newz. 0 Comments

By JOHN PORRETTO, The Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday record crude prices helped its net income grow 17 percent in the first quarter, but the results came in below Wall Street forecasts.

Exxon Mobil, based in Irving, Texas, said earnings for the first three months of the year rose to $10.9 billion, or $2.03 per share, up from $9.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for a slightly larger profit of $2.13 per share.

Revenue rose to $116.8 billion from $87.2 billion a year earlier. Analysts were looking for higher revenue of about $124 billion.

Given record oil prices, some had speculated Exxon Mobil would top its own record for the biggest quarterly profit for a U.S. company. But the latest results fell short of the record $11.7 billion profit Exxon Mobil earned in the final quarter of 2007. More…

Only in America can a company make $11 billion in profits, and still piss off its shareholders. Chevron’s numbers are due out tomorrow. -Sue

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