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Posted
Dec 11 2008, 03:56 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The New York Times debunks the claim that the Big Three auto workers earn $73 an hour. That number came from the car companies themselves during union negotiations, writes David Leonhardt.
But it isn't completely accurate. Yes, the companies do spend about $73 for every hour of unionized work, Leonhardt writes. Not all of that goes to the worker's pocket.
Here's how it breaks down:
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Posted
Nov 14 2008, 09:52 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Chrysler is asking the government for a bailout. It's laying off employees and cutting salaries. It's a company in trouble. Oh yeah, it's also paying $30 million in bonuses to dozens of top executives. That's the end result of a poorly-timed plan to keep Chrysler together as it was being sold. The company didn't want top executives to leave during the transition, so it promised big money for people who stuck around. Now, Chrysler is asking the government for billions of dollars in aid while it writes million-dollar bonus checks out to A-list employees. How's that for awkward?
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Posted
Sep 30 2008, 09:47 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Congress wants to crack down on CEO mega-salaries for banks participating in the bailout. And while the politicians argue how best to do that, Alan Fishman of Washington Mutual is headed for the doors with $19 million in his pocket.
If that wasn't outrageous enough, consider this: Fishman started the job three weeks ago. I never saw the employment ad Fishman answered, but it must have read something like this:
WANTED: Top executive for train-wreck bank about to be seized by federal regulators. Must be able to look busy while FDIC sells business from under you. Previous experience with angry shareholders sitting on worthless stock a plus. Perks: $7.5 million hiring bonus and $11.6 million cash severance.
Fishman got the best temp gig in history.
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Posted
Aug 06 2009, 03:16 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Wal-Mart (WMT) has been called a lot of things, but Destroyer of Girl Scout Funding isn't one of them.
Until now.
One woman who spent years as "Cookie Mom" for her daughter's troop says Wal-Mart is copying two of the most popular Girl Scout cookies -- Thin Mints (pictured) and Tagalongs -- to sell under its own private label. The woman, a scholar and consultant named C.V. Harquail, says Wal-Mart is testing its Girl Scout knockoffs in limited release under the Great Value brand.
"Wal-mart can sell all the hunting equipment, cheap plastic gizmos and clothes made in sweatshops that it wants to sell," Harquail writes on her blog. "But why must they encroach upon the market of a non-profit? Why do they have to go after the Girl Scouts?"
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Posted
Mar 05 2009, 11:00 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Will cigarette smokers have any money left for anything else? Altria Group (MO) says it will soon raise prices on Marlboro and other brands by 71 cents a pack. In less than a month, a federal excise tax will kick in to the tune of 61 cents per pack.
The Altria price hike -- the third in as many months -- is a reaction to the new federal tax. Altria thinks cigarette sales could drop a bit, so it's increasing prices to make up for the loss. Now, analysts at Credit Suisse expect Altria's revenue to grow this year instead of decline. The average price for cigarettes will soon be above $5 a pack, according to Credit Suisse. That probably won't have much of an impact on smokers, the analysts said, since sales volume didn't really change in states where prices have already surpassed that mark. I wonder, then, what is the price level that will finally turn off smokers?
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Posted
Jul 27 2009, 09:58 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Citigroup (C) is considering paying a $100 million bonus -- to one guy.
This is the same Citigroup that received $45 billion in bailout money. The same Citigroup that will soon be 34% owned by the U.S. government. The same Citigroup that has lost 95% of its share value since 2007. Citigroup is in no position to be awarding bonuses of $10 million -- let alone adding another zero to that amount. So why is it mulling such a colossally dumb move? Because the guy demanding it is probably the bank's most valuable employee. Enter Andrew Hall. He's a rock star,
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Posted
Mar 27 2008, 12:58 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
AT&T pledged in 2006 to bring back 5,000 customer service jobs to the U.S. from India, eliminating its low-wage foreign call centers. But CEO Randall Stephenson said this week he can't find enough skilled workers to fill the jobs.
"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio. So far, only 1,400 jobs have been successfully brought back here.
Stephenson gave an especially candid speech, deploring the fact that the high school dropout rate is as high as 50% in some cities.
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Posted
Dec 12 2008, 01:06 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Sirius XM already has a few nails pounded into its coffin. Could Howard Stern's departure be what finally dooms the company? Stern is making some noise about leaving when his contract ends in 2010. "This is my swan song," he said on his show. Granted, this could be a lot of bluster. You never know with Howard Stern. But if he's serious about leaving, then Sirius XM stands to lose a good chunk of its subscribers.
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Posted
Mar 25 2009, 09:37 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Is FedEx (FDX) blackmailing Congress or simply playing hardball? Either way, the shipping company is not making things easy on lawmakers these days.
FedEx is steamed about a bill working its way through Congress, and is threatening to cancel billions of dollars in new plane orders from Boeing (BA) as a result, according to the Wall Street Journal. The bill would make it easier to form unions at FedEx, which has been nearly union-free to this point. That's very different from rival UPS (UPS), where more than half of the employees are union members. Upset by the threat of more unions, FedEx is fighting back by clamping down its pocketbook.
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Posted
Nov 11 2008, 11:29 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
A Deutsche Bank analyst gave General Motors' stock a price target of zero. Even if the company averts bankruptcy, Rod Lache noted, its future is likely to be "bankruptcy-like."
Meanwhile, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman says GM would be better off filing for bankruptcy instead of taking government bailout money.
"It has been hamstrung for years because it has too much debt and it has contracts that are uneconomic," he said on The Charlie Rose Show, according to Bloomberg. "The way to solve that problem is not to lend more money. They should do prepackaged bankruptcy."
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