Unite have got the Labour Research Department to add up the salaries of bonuses of the top UK banks for the five years betwen 2003 and 2007. Here’s the press release. (though I can’t find the full dossier online). These are the main points: “The dossier shows that the basic pay and cash bonuses (excluding share based payments) of just 5 CEOs at HBOS, Lloyds TSB, RBS, Barclays and HSBC totalled over £52 million. “A few executive directors (named in the annual reports) of RBS, LTSB and HBOS,
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- John Lewis Partnership Plc, owner of the largest U.K. department-store chain, said sales fell the most in at least a year last week as the global financial crisis prompted shoppers to economize.
If they need to go into bankruptcy and restructure, then so be it. I know some people think, “Well what about the workers?” The workers and everybody else bet on management and they lost. I’m no expert in this field, but it doesn’t take an expert to see where Detroit went wrong over the last 10-12 years and to see why Honda and Toyota can deal with some losses, and why their losses aren’t as severe as those at GM and Ford. 1. Simplicity Toyota and Honda keep it simple. Know how many models
The credit crisis has made investors, politicians and companies suspicious of the use of debt. They have good company in the Middle East. Islamic law, which reigns throughout much of the region, prohibits charging interest, which would be unthinkable for loans in Europe and North America–or would it? It turns out there is increasing, er, interest in a type of bond called sukuk (pronounced soo-KOOK). Issuance of these bonds, which don’t pay interest, is expected to reach $25 billion this year
The Sun Sentinel reports from Florida. “A typical used home in Broward and Palm Beach counties now sells for less than $295,000, a price not seen here since spring 2004, according to the most recent data from the Florida Association of Realtors. Distressed properties fetch far less than that. Many existing condominium units, meanwhile, are going for under $140,000, nearly 40 percent less than two years ago. Age-restricted communities are seeing growing interest in one-bedroom condos selling for
The same people whose reckless practices triggered the global financial crisis are onto a similar scheme that could cost taxpayers tons more As if they haven’t done enough damage. Thousands of subprime mortgage lenders and brokers—many of them the very sorts of firms that helped create the current financial crisis—are going strong. Their new strategy: taking advantage of a long-standing federal program designed to encourage homeownership by insuring mortgages for buyers of modest means. You rea
Change We Could Do Without Jennifer Rubin - 11.20.2008 - 10:00 AM Barack Obama’s campaign finance chief Penny Pritzker has been tapped as Commerce Secretary. This Chicago Sun-Times article from April gives some background: White House hopeful Barack Obama talks a lot on the campaign trail about how failing banks have used subprime loans to victimize customers. “Part of the reason we got a current mortgage crisis has to do with the fact that people got suckered into loans that they could not
Without question, any city with two competing dailies or even neighboring cities with dailies can start counting the days until those dailies either merge or force each other to collapse completely. In a great piece on Followthemedia.com, Philip Stone describes two such markets: Dallas-Fort Worth and L.A.-Orange County. There are undoubtedly others, such as Seattle with two dailies both approaching total insolvency, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Here in the Twin Cities, the Minneapolis Star Tribun
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Citigroup’s largest individual shareholder, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, said Thursday he planned to increase his stake in Citigroup back to 5%, even as shares of the firm have plummeted in recent weeks. The move by Alwaleed, a long-time investor in the bank, follows the U.S. government’s decision to inject some $25 billion into the New York City-based bank. That left Alwaleed with about a 4% stake in Citigroup. In a press release from his holding company, Alwa
Amid another huge increase in U.S. jobless claims, the White House said Thursday it now supports an extension of unemployment benefits. “Because of the tight job market, the President believes it would be appropriate to further extend unemployment benefits, and he would sign the legislation now pending in Congress,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. The Senate will vote as soon as Thursday on a House-passed measure to extend unemployment insurance by seven weeks for those without job
This map shows the various age limits the states have written into their "safe haven" laws. Prior to the July enactment of a vaguely written Nebraska law, New Mexico had the largest window. In that state children up to 3 months of age could be delivered, few questioned asked, to hospitals or other designated facilities. (Map created by Nebraska Dept. of Health and Human Services, Geographic Information Systems.) The state of Nebraska faces a situation most parents can’t comprehend. At last cou
Yeah stocks are opening down again. What else is new? So stop fretting about it because other then getting scared, angry, or both what are you gonna do about it? Now if you are near a horsetrack, that's where you should go today. The horses are beautiful athletes. The booze is cold. The characters at the track are amusing. Go. And if you are in the New York City area, you should head to Aqueduct out by JFK airport in Queens. Make sure you get there by 1:52pm eastern time. Because the handsome
