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Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Friday, November 14, 2008
There was a death. Their money died
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008
- BARBARA GOLDSMITH,
- a semiretired psychotherapist in Delray Beach, Fla.
Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty | Source: New York Times
People are going to start getting hungry
Quotes of the Day
Friday, Nov. 14, 2008
- CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS,
- U.N. spokesman, on U.N. aid agencies running out of food to distribute to 750,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has blockaded the area, which is controlled by Hamas
Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa | Source: NYT
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
China Unveils Sweeping Plan for Economy
SHANGHAI — China announced a huge economic stimulus plan on Sunday aimed at bolstering its weakening economy, a sweeping move that could also help fight the effects of the global slowdown.
At a time when major infrastructure projects are being put off around the world, China said it would spend an estimated $586 billion over the next two years — roughly 7 percent of its gross domestic product each year — to construct new railways, subways and airports and to rebuild communities devastated by an earthquake in the southwest in May.
The package, announced Sunday evening by the State Council, or cabinet, is the largest economic stimulus effort ever undertaken by the Chinese government.
“Over the past two months, the global financial crisis has been intensifying daily,” the State Council said in a statement. “In expanding investment, we must be fast and heavy-handed.”
The plan was unveiled as finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations met in São Paulo, Brazil, over the weekend.
It came less than a week before President Hu Jintao was scheduled to travel to Washington for a global economic summit meeting hosted by President Bush.
On Saturday, Mr. Hu spoke by telephone with President-elect Barack Obama about a variety of issues, including the global financial crisis and how their countries might cooperate to help resolve economic problems.
Asian markets welcomed news of the stimulus plan. The Japanese Nikkei index rose 5.6 percent in trading early Monday. Stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai rallied strongly, jumping over 5 percent and lifting share prices that have been depressed for much of the year.
Although Beijing has indicated that it will focus on keeping its own economy on track, it is difficult to insulate any economy from a global downturn. After five years of growth in excess of 10 percent, China’s economy is beginning to weaken. Growth in exports and investment is slowing, consumer confidence is waning and stock and property markets are severely depressed.
The stimulus plan, though driven by domestic concerns, represents a fresh commitment by China to keep from adding to the economic and financial woes of the United States and Europe. It is also likely to cheer foreign investors in China’s economy by ensuring that the country remains a source of growth.
China’s package is not comparable to fiscal stimulus measures that are being discussed in Washington. In China, much of the capital for infrastructure improvements comes not from central and local governments but from state banks and state-owned companies that are encouraged to expand more rapidly.
The plan also differs from the $700 billion financial rescue package approved by Congress, which has helped strengthen bank balance sheets but did not directly mandate new lending or support specific investment projects in the United States.
China’s overall government spending remains relatively low as a percentage of economic output compared with the United States and Europe. Yet Beijing maintains far more control over investment trends than Washington does, so it has greater flexibility to increase investment to counter a sharp downturn.
It was unclear how Chinese officials arrived at the $586 billion figure or how much of the stimulus would be spending above what Beijing normally earmarks for infrastructure projects. Beijing said it was loosening credit and encouraging state-owned banks to lend as part of a more “proactive fiscal policy.”
The government said the stimulus would cover 10 areas, including low-income housing, electricity, water, rural infrastructure and projects aimed at environmental protection and technological innovation — all of which could incite consumer spending and bolster the economy. The State Council said the new spending would begin immediately, with $18 billion scheduled for the last quarter of this year.
State-driven investment projects of this kind have been a major impetus to Chinese growth throughout the 30 years of market-oriented reforms, a strong legacy of central planning.
The biggest players in many major Chinese industries — like steel, automobiles and energy — are state-owned companies, and government officials locally and nationally have a hand in deciding how much bank lending is steered to those sectors.
The investment numbers announced by China’s central government often include projects financed by a variety of sources, including state-backed entities and even foreign investors.
Beijing is struggling to cope with rapidly slowing economic growth. A downturn in investment and exports has led to factory closings in southern China, resulting in mass layoffs and even setting off sporadic protests by workers who have complained that owners disappeared without paying them their wages.
With many economists in China now projecting that growth in the fourth quarter of this year could be as low as 5.8 percent, and amid worries that the country’s economy could be walloped by the global financial crisis, Beijing is moving aggressively.
Analysts were expecting China to announce a big stimulus package, but they said they were surprised at its size. “That is much more aggressive than I expected,” said Frank Gong, an economist at J. P. Morgan who is based in Hong Kong. “That’s a lot of money to spend.”
Mr. Gong said that after the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Beijing undertook a similar, but much smaller, stimulus package, earmarking huge sums to build the country’s highway and toll-road system, projects that helped keep the economy growing.
Arthur Kroeber, managing director at Dragonomics, a Beijing-based economic research firm, said the government was concerned because people in China had suddenly pulled back on spending as a precautionary move because of worries about China’s suffering with the global economy.
“The government is sending a signal saying: ‘We’re going to spend in a big way,’ ” Mr. Kroeber said Sunday in a telephone interview. “This is designed to say to the market that people should not panic.”
Quake Hits Remote Area in China
BEIJING (AP) — A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck the remote northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai on Monday, the United States Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The quake struck at a depth of 6.2 miles, the agency said.
China’s far west is fairly earthquake-prone. A 7.9 magnitude earthquake on May 12 devastated parts of Sichuan Province, killing about 70,000 people and leaving millions homeless.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Your $3 trillion bailout
Washington is waging war on the financial crisis. Mr. Obama: You have to see it through.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Congratulations Mr. President-elect. Now get to work. It's a little more than 10 weeks until Jan. 20, and there's an economy in dire need of fixing.
Here's the executive summary: The economy's cracks started showing a year ago. Home prices plummeted and foreclosures soared. Financial institutions carrying mortgage-backed securities on their books took an enormous hit. Banks wanted to take fewer risks, so lending to businesses and consumers froze up.
Then things really broke down in September. The government took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The collapse of Lehman Brothers sent investors worldwide into a cold sweat.
To combat the crisis, Congress and the current administration have taken a number of steps aimed at boosting the housing market - providing critical liquidity to financial institutions and saving businesses from collapse.
Thus far, the government has pledged as much as $3 trillion for the crisis, although the ultimate cost to the federal budget won't be known for years to come since much of that money is effectively investment.
"You'd have to go back to the New Deal to find something similar to what the government has done to stop the credit crisis," said Jay Bryson, economist for Wachovia. "It's because the alternative was unthinkable: If it failed, there was potential for another Great Depression."
So, Mr. President-elect, we thought it might be helpful for you to have a primer on the actions your government has taken so far. Of course, you have plenty of smart advisers who could have done this for you. But we wanted to make sure you hit the ground running. We counted 16 separate categories of actions.
Consumers and their homes
Stimulus: In May, stimulus checks worth up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples made their way to about 140 million American tax filers, costing the Treasury $100 billion for individuals and $68 billion in tax breaks to businesses. In separate legislation, Congress increased unemployment benefits to 39 weeks from 26 weeks, costing $8 billion, and gave $4 billion to states and municipalities to buy up and rehabilitate foreclosed properties.
Stimulus resulted in a sizeable increase in consumer spending in May and June, helping the economy grow 2.8% in the second quarter. But the boost didn't last long, and early government reports show the economy shrank from July through September. Support for a second stimulus package is mounting.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: In early September, Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) were on the brink of failure, having racked up nearly $12 billion in losses from declining home prices, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures.
Federal officials assumed control of the firms and the $5 trillion in home loans they back. The Treasury put up as much as $200 billion to bail them out and placed them in a temporary "conservatorship" overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Housing benefits: With foreclosures soaring, lawmakers in July passed legislation that insured up to $300 billion in new 30-year fixed rate mortgages for at-risk borrowers. In turn, lenders had to reduce the loan balances. The bill also included $16 billion in tax credits for first-time home buyers worth up to $7,500. The law put stronger regulation on Fannie and Freddie, and increased the cap on the size of mortgages guaranteed by the firms to $625,000 from $417,000.
In September, the government allowed the Treasury to buy up mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, so it can try to restructure the loans. The Treasury said it hopes to prevent foreclosures by reducing loans' principals or interest rates.
Money-market guarantees: When the credit crisis hit full tilt in September, investors fled money-market funds - long considered the safest investments - and the funds began to buckle. Days later, the Treasury said it would insure up to $50 billion in money-market fund investments for a year.
The Fed began to lend an unlimited amount of money to banks to finance their purchases of certain corporate debt from money-market funds. The Fed then agreed to purchase up to $69 billion in short-term debt from key money-market investments. Then, in October, the Fed said it would loan up to $600 billion directly to money-market funds through a Money Market Investor Funding Facility to keep the funds afloat.
Student loan guarantees: As a result of reduced subsidies and lower rates from the government, as well as higher borrowing costs due to the credit crisis, student loans became unprofitable for a number of lenders in the spring. Scores of lenders stopped issuing the loans, causing a student loan crisis.
In May, Congress passed legislation that gave the secretary of education authority to purchase loans from private lenders to boost liquidity in the market, and has thus far purchased over $9 billion of the loans. The Fed also started accepting student loan-backed securities as collateral for loans.
Deposit insurance: As part of the financial rescue plan passed in September, The FDIC increased its insurance protection on interest-bearing accounts to $250,000 from $100,000. The temporary limit increase will last through the end of 2009.
In an unprecedented move, the FDIC also said it will guarantee newly issued unsecured debt for banks through the end of January, and it removed caps on insurance for non-interest bearing accounts, which many small businesses use to make short-term deposits.
Banks and Wall Street
Cash injections: With financial institutions desperate for liquidity, the Treasury has sent out about $250 billion worth of checks to banks. In turn, the government will get an equity stake in the banks in the form of senior preferred shares.
Regulators hope that the capital injections will spur lenders to dole out loans to consumers and businesses in need of credit. But some of the biggest, most stable banks got the biggest checks. For instance, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) led the pack with $25 billion in federal funding. Smaller banks are getting far less, and,some banks are using their loans to purchase smaller banks.
Mortgage-backed securities purchases: When the government's rescue plan was first proposed, the major initiative was the purchase of troubled assets from banks. In the wake of the housing crisis, assets backed by mortgages have plummeted in value, making lenders hesitant to lend to companies with "toxic" assets on their balance sheets.
But, following Britain's lead, the Treasury instead focused on cash injections. The Treasury has more than $450 billion left to invest with or buy up troubled assets, and it may use some of the remaining money for that program.
Bear Stearns: When struggling Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns was on the brink of collapse in March, the Federal Reserve orchestrated an 11th-hour deal that allowed JP Morgan to scoop up the company.
The Federal Reserve agreed to guarantee $29 billion's worth of potential losses on Bear's portfolio through a lending facility. The government decided to step in to stop Bear's collapse because it feared the rest of Wall Street would face a severe negative impact.
Rate cuts: Beginning in September 2007, the Federal Reserve began steadily trimming interest rates from 5.25% to 1%, matching the lowest for the overnight bank lending rate ever. The fed funds rate is used to set rates for a wide variety of consumer loans, including home equity lines and credit cards, as well as for many business loans.
By lowering its rate, the Fed said it hopes to encourage lending, easing the recent stranglehold on credit. Though rate cuts tend to be inflationary, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the threat of inflation is minimal now due to the stagnant economy.
Term-auction facility: Since December, the Fed has auctioned off $1.4 trillion in its term auction facility, which accepts financial instruments such as mortgage-backed securities as collateral for lending. The Fed began offering $20 billion per bimonthly auction and has since increased that limit to $300 billion.
Holding droves of hard-to-value assets like mortgage-backed securities, financial institutions have found few lenders other than the federal government, because the unattractive assets on banks' balance sheets raise questions about their overall financial stability.
Discount window: For a long while before the credit crunch, the Fed has offered overnight funding for commercial banks at a rate slightly higher than its targeted funds rate. But after the collapse of Bear Stearns, the Fed for the first time opened its discount window to Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which were in dire need of lending. The discount window has been widely used, as funding needs for commercial banks continue to rise.
Last week, banks borrowed a record $112 billion from the Fed through the discount window. But in an encouraging sign, investment banks have borrowed much less for two straight weeks.
Dollar swap lines: The credit crunch left many banks around the world hoarding dollars to shore up their balance sheets. With dollars -- the "world's currency" -- in demand, the Fed began in December to provide dollars to other central banks through a swap facility. Foreign central banks then lent those dollars to banks in their countries.
What started as a $24 billion cap on swaps with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank ballooned to $620 billion to nine central banks in early October. In mid-October, the total rose to 13 central banks, and the Fed made the unprecedented decision to lend as many dollars as the banks needed.
Bank takeovers: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently said 117 banks were on its so-called "troubled" list -- a 5-year high -- but there have been just 17 bank failures in 2008.
The FDIC, which insures certain deposits, came out relatively unscathed, as 16 of those banks were acquired by other banks willing to assume their deposits and assets. Even Washington Mutual - by far the largest failed bank in history - was acquired by JP Morgan Chase. Just IndyMac failed without a buyer. The total cost to the government is not yet known, but IndyMac had $32 billion in assets and around $19 billion in FDIC-insured deposits at the time of failure.
Corporate America
AIG: American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500), the world's largest insurer with $1.1 trillion in assets and 74 million clients, said in mid-September that it could not raise sufficient capital to stay afloat. The government offered an $85 billion loan to the company, and in subsequent weeks the Fed offered another $37.8 billion.
The insurer has already borrowed more than two-thirds of its allotment. Though it is paying back the original $85 billion at a high rate -- currently more than 11%, the company recently announced that it paid back $20.9 billion of its debt using the Fed's low-interest commercial paper facility -- with rates at less than 4%.
Automakers: With fuel prices soaring to record highs earlier in the year, lawmakers gave $25 billion in low-interest loans to the struggling auto industry to speed its transition to more fuel-efficient vehicles. Sales at General Motors Corp. (GM, Fortune 500), Ford Motor Co. (F, Fortune 500) and Chrysler are down 20% this year.
About 2 million industry jobs are at stake, and tens of billions of dollars in automakers' debt are held by Wall Street firms and banks. GM and Chrysler said a merger between the two companies could help them stay afloat, but the Treasury told the companies in October they'd have to wait until after the election to be considered for funding.
Commercial paper facility: Since Lehman's collapse the market for commercial paper dried up. Big businesses and financial institutions sell the critical short-term debt to finance day-to-day business operations, but they were finding no buyers.
Beginning in late October, the Fed began buying droves of corporate debt through its so-called Commercial Paper Funding Facility. So far, the central bank has purchased $143.9 billion in paper. The Fed's actions have been criticized by some analysts who believe the facility doesn't address the sellers of lower quality paper, who have suffered the most since the credit crisis put a stranglehold on lending.
Did you vote for Obama? How do you think the new president will affect your wallet? What do you think Obama needs to do to fix the economy - both in the short run and the long term? What should be first on the new Congress's agenda? E-mail us your thoughts, including your name, photo and contact info; the best answers will be featured in an upcoming CNNMoney.com article.
Circuit City to stay open in bankruptcy
Beleaguered No. 2 electronics retailer urges budget-conscious consumers not to shun its stores for holiday gifts.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Circuit City Stores Inc., the No. 2 electronics seller after Best Buy, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, hoping the move will allow it to stock its shelves in time for the crucial holiday shopping season.
The move comes about a week after Circuit City said it would close 155 stores as it deals with a worsening economic downturn that has left more consumers with less money to shop. The company intends to keep its remaining stores open through the bankruptcy procedings.
Circuit City (CC, Fortune 500) said consumers should continue to shop at its stores.
"Chapter 11 is not a closing or liquidation," the company said in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com. "We remain committed to doing a better job of taking care of our guests, and making it easier to shop at Circuit City."
For anyone that's on the hunt for a sweet deal on a flatscreen TV, Circuit City spokesman Jim Babb said it's "safe to assume" that consumers can expect deep discounts on TVs and other products in those Circuit City stores that are being liquidated.
In the rest of its stores, Babb said the company's prices will remain competitive with the market over the coming weeks.
Circuit City said it is seeking approval from the bankruptcy court to honor customer programs such as returns, exchanges and gift cards. "Approval of such programs normally is granted," the company said in the e-mail.
The electronics seller said it will still accept credit cards, including Circuit City-branded credit cards, which the company said are not impacted by its bankruptcy.
Circuit City also said it will continue to honor its warranty plans, including its Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans.
Despite these measures, one industry watcher remained unconvinced that Circuit City could still attract shoppers from here on and especially through the holiday season.
"Consumers will be skeptical about buying a $1,000 or $2,000 flatscreen TV with a warranty at Circuit City," said Craig Johnson, retail analyst and president of Customer Growth Partners. "In their mind, there's no guarantee that the company will still be around in the future."
"Regarding gift cards, if you are buying a $50 gift card for Christmas, where would your comfort level be higher? At a Circuit City or a Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500)?" Johnson said.
The company's bankruptcy filing was also made at a crucial time of the year for merchants who are preparing for the year-end holiday shopping season.
The November-December period can account for 50% or more of retailers' annual profits and sales. But this year, many Americans have clamped down on their shopping habits amid a weak economy and a shaky job and credit market.
Industry analysts warn that retailers will have to do whatever they can this year if they hope to have at least decent holiday sales.
Will stay in business for now
According to the company's Chapter 11 filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Richmond, Va., Circuit City has 566 operating stores in the United States and will continue to do business and pay its workers while it restructures debt and its business operations.
In announcing the store closings last week, Richmond-based Circuit City said it would cut about 17% of its 40,000 domestic workers.
Johnson said Circuit City's problems are partly its own making. On the external front, the retailer's competitive landscape has became much more formidable as Best Buy continues to enhance its product offerings and service.
Circuit City has also felt the squeeze from discounters like Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) who has aggressively expanded into electronics over the last few years.
More importantly, Johnson believes Circuit City shot itself in the foot when the company decided last year to fire more than 3,000 of its highest-paid sales staff and replace them with lower-paid workers.
"This was a huge strategic blunder," said Johnson. "People want a knowledgeable sales person when they are spending $2,000 on a TV. They don't want to buy it from some kid at Wal-Mart," he said
The company said it has negotiated a commitment for a $1.1 billion credit line to supplement its working capital. The company said the credit line will replace the company's $1.3 billion asset-based line provided by its lenders.
Circuit City said the credit line will give it immediate liquidity while it works to reorganize the business and enable it to pay its vendors and employees.
"We recently have taken intensive measures to overcome our deteriorating liquidity position," James Marcum, Circuit City's acting president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
"The decision to restructure the business through a Chapter 11 filing should provide us with the opportunity to strengthen our balance sheet, create a more efficient expense structure and ultimately position the company to compete more effectively," he said.
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