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What do you want to see in a passenger bill of rights?
Reuters.com asked our readers to let us know what they would like to see in a passenger bill of rights. We compiled the best suggestions in this poll and would like your vote.
What do you want to see in a passenger bill of rights?
- Extra legroom
- Time stuck on tarmac should not exceed 1.5 hours
- Carry on one bag for free
- Freedom to rebook if flight is delayed over 3 hours
- Restore smoking privileges
Poll: Does Nike’s new Tiger Woods ad help his image?
One the eve of the Masters, Nike aired a television commercial featuring Tiger Woods. The black-and-white spot shows Woods looking directly into the camera while the voice of his late father Earl Woods, in an older recording, speaks in the background, asking “I want to find out what your thinking was, I want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything?” Tiger does not speak in the ad. Watch the full ad here.
Does Nike's new Tiger Woods ad help his image?
- Yes
- No
Lining up for a bailout
The auto industry’s Christmas present from the government — in the form of a $1 billion loan to General Motors and a $5 billion stake in GMAC — may have left other industries hoping that the giving season isn’t over yet.
The steel industry is pressing President-elect Barack Obama to boost the flagging demand for U.S.-made steel by instituting a “buy American” clause in his infrastructure stimulus package, the New York Times reported.
“As steel production goes — and it is now in collapse — so will go the national economy,” writes the New York Times, referencing the maxim once applied to The Big Three automakers.
But why stop at manufacturing industries? Rep. Frank Nicastro of Connecticut and some of his fellow legislators want to save two local papers, The Bristol Press and The Herald, which are hanging by a thread after their publisher said it cannot afford to keep them.
Which companies are really too big to fail? If you were writing the check, who would you bail out?
(Pictured above: Workers secure a steel beam at a construction site on 8th Avenue and 42nd Street in New York, April 21, 2008. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)
The auto manufacturers received a LOAN, not a bailout. When the government made a loan to help Chrysler years ago, the government made money. I still wonder why the auto manufacturers are treated so differently from the way the financial institutions are treated. Not just with the fact that the financial institutions received an outright bailout rather than a loan, but no CEO of a financial institution had to give up a bonus, sell a corporate jet, reduce employee salaries and bonuses, stop throwing pricey corporate parties and retreats. What’s wrong the this picture, people?
Out with the old year, in with the new
Despite the incessant drumbeat of poor economic data — consumer confidence fell to a record low in December and the price of single-family homes plunged in October — the majority of Americans are optimistic about what is in store in 2009.
The Marist College canvassed 1,003 Americans about their expectations for 2009 on December 9 and 10 — days after the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed the United States had been mired in a recession since December 2007.
Expectations for a brighter future were higher among younger generations with 64 percent of those under 45 having an optimistic view compared with 52 percent for those 45 or older.
Based on last year’s results, those who aim to improve their lives in 2009 will have at least partial success. In 2008, 60 percent kept their self-made promises for at least part of the year.
Are you optimistic about 2009? What resolutions will you make to improve your life in 2009?
Pssst: INFRASTRUCTURE. It was ‘plastic’ back in the Graduate movie days. Today, we’ve been given ample warning that tons of money will be spent on infrastructure. I think 2009 will look great for all investors buying steel, cement, copper, construction equipment and other basic materials.
Reaction to shocking jobless data
November’s job losses were the steepest since December 1974, when 602,000 jobs were shed. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a reduction of 340,000 jobs.
“This is a clear employment blowout. Firms are reacting as dramatically as they can to make sure they have cost structures they can survive the recession we are in,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
One reader commenting on the site feels the job losses have not hit bottom. “I predict 30% unemployment by March of 2009. The retailers are gonna tank right after Christmas. Look for some really good deals!” wrote Smacktle.
Not all responses were as dire.
“Well these are pretty bad numbers. This will be a real test to see how much bad news is priced into the markets. Futures are down quite a bit, but I actually expected them to be down a lot more given these terrible recessionary numbers,” says Jeff Kleintop, chief market strategist for LPL Financial in Boston.
“It might be hard in future months to get numbers that are any worse. It might be good that we raced to some of the worst numbers we’ve had because perhaps it can’t get incrementally worse.”
Some of our readers found the data less shocking.
Just keep in mind that many of us are self-employed or otherwise work in small businesses that don’t report layoffs. There are, I’m sure many thousands of Americans like me who don’t show up in the government figures. I’m sad to hear about 1/2 million people losing their jobs, but on the other hand I think, “Welcome to the club.”
Changing of the guard at Yahoo
Jerry Yang, the chief executive of Yahoo, will step down from his role as soon as the board finds a replacement, the company said.
“The company is in desperate need of change and this is clearly one way to do it,” said Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
Sandler said he expects the shares to move higher as investors speculate that Microsoft might make another play for the company, with Yang gone.
“Jerry was the roadblock for the last deal getting done,” he said.
Not everyone believes Yang’s departure bodes well for the beleaguered Internet company.
“I’ve been recommending them as a short. They should have taken the Microsoft deal, and Microsoft probably feels lucky that they didn’t… I don’t see anything there worth buying,” said Jeff Embersits, CIO of Shareholder Value Management. “For me it’s just a business in trouble.
What impact will Yang’s departure have on Yahoo?
When I just started using the internet, the main page on my Microsoft explorer was set as Yahoo.com. Since then many things changed and now my front page on the Mozilla is Google.
I believe what will happen is the company will quickly start restructuring and invest much into advertising campaign. But what really would suggest for yahoo is to find trends since Google always does it. Say like Google Earth or Google Maps and etc. So if yahoo will not find that trend it better be sold to Microsoft since the market is very competitive these days.
Is the bailout enough to right-foot the banks?
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are urging Congress to act swiftly on a $700 billion bailout plan for the financial system.
Politico.com quotes a former Federal Reserve official as saying, “the alternative is complete financial Armageddon and a great depression.”
Hugo Duncan writes in the Evening Standard that if the bailout fails, “banking stocks are likely to drag shares around the world into the mire sparking further panic over the financial system and state of the economy. It would make recession in America and Britain ever more likely, with house prices and standards of living falling and repossessions and unemployment rising.”
Assuming that Congress approves the Bernanke-Paulson bailout plan, do you think it is enough to stabilize the banking sector?
The impact on Main Street from the crisis on Wall Street is another open question. “How long it will take the banks to restore health to their balance sheets, raise capital and start lending money again,” Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, tells Nick Carey. ”That could take a year and credit conditions may start to improve in the second half of 2009.”
For full coverage of the crisis in credit, click here.
Here’s an idea,
America has a population of 303,824,640 give each and ever American 1 million dollars. And let those who caused this mess suffer. Hey even if the Government paid every Hard working American citizen a million, there is more then enough change to give the leftovers to Wall Street.
The people first.
Did Treasury make the right move on Freddie and Fannie?
Equity markets around the world surged on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout as hopes rose that the U.S. plan to take control might put at least a temporary floor under troubled financial markets. Together, the two companies back about half of $12 trillion in mortgages in the U.S.”This is a baby step in the right direction,” William Larkin, fixed income portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts, said about the plan’s effect on housing and the economy.
Not everyone is convinced. “This euphoria might fade, because Fannie and Freddie are not the problem,” said Christopher Low , chief economist at FTN Financial.
“Their woes are a symptom of a worldwide contraction in credit that may not be cured by the decision.” The Prudent Investor cites how the plan potentially doubled U.S. public debt overnight.
Did the U.S. Treasury make the right move? What’s your view?
Feeling lucky? If you think the Fannie and Freddie rescue plan will impact mortgage rates, wager on your prediction here:
Will the 30-year mortgage rate fall this week after the rescue of Freddie and Fannie?
No. They overstepped their boundaries. But they have been doing that for quite some time now. Just following tradition I suppose.
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
It’s become a truism that Americans are driving less due to high fuel prices. Here are five signs that signal a decline in demand:
1. Drop in volume: The fall in U.S. oil demand in the first half of 2008 was the biggest in 26 years, according to the EIA.
2. Less time on the road: Americans are spending less time behind the wheel, according to the Dept. of Transportation
3. Taking the train : A record number of riders are turning to mass transit to get around
4. Fewer buying gas : Retail gas sales have dropped below year-ago levels
5. Safer roads : Fewer drivers mean fewer road accidents, according to Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is the parent company of Geico, one of the largest U.S. auto insurers.
Is the writing on the wall? Share your signs of dropping oil demand.
I live in Sacramento Ca and after watchin”Sons of Anarchy” am curious. WHERE is Charming Ca?
Why do so few women survive in high-profile executive roles?
Lehman Brothers’ ousting of its CFO Erin Callan — who had been the most powerful woman on Wall Street and was once considered a contender for the CEO job — is neither the first nor the last high-profile executive to lose her job as financial firms suffer.
But news that Callan had been demoted prompted groans from several investment managers and researchers who have long bemoaned the small number of women working in finance’s upper echelon.
Why do so few women survive in the financial world’s executive suites?
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