- Companies find ways to outlast bad economy
Store-brand food, second-hand clothes and fast food offer low-cost versions of items that people are still willing to pay for.
McDonald's same-store sales in the U.S. were up 4.5 percent in November. Wal-Mart's sales were up 3.4 percent, even as retailers generally saw sales fall 7.7 percent.
But in reality, there are virtually no businesses that do better in bad times than good, said economist Stan Longhofer, a professor at Wichita State University.
Wal-Mart may perform better than Neiman Marcus in bad times, he said. But even Wal-Mart, in the long run, does better in good times than bad times.
Almost all businesses are hurt by a recession; the question is how much.
- Buyers lose interest in foreclosures
At a time when foreclosures continue to mount, there's less of an appetite to buy these distressed homes, according a survey released last week.
The November survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for real estate tracking firms Trulia.com and RealtyTrac, showed that 47 percent of U.S. adults would consider buying a home in foreclosure. Seven months ago, 54 percent said they'd like to scoop up a foreclosed property.
The decline is attributed to prospective buyers gradually understanding the negative aspects of dealing in foreclosures or so-called short sales, in which lenders take less than what's owed on the mortgages and forgive the remaining debt. Some buyers cite hidden costs, a difficulty in getting banks' attention and the poor condition of many of the homes.
"It's a little more complicated buying a foreclosure or short sale," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president of Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac. "The banks are overwhelmed with properties, so in many cases it becomes a waiting game, which isn't any fun if you want to buy a home."
Although lenders are modifying loans and issuing foreclosure moratoriums during the holidays, analysts say a second wave of foreclosures will happen next year as more people lose their jobs and more adjustable-rate loans reset.
- Aura of success typical of con men
They're smart and charming. They have an aura of success about them and exude respectability. Above all, they instill confidence.
Which is, after all, why they are called con men.
Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street trader accused of running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history -- $50 billion -- dealt in more astounding numbers than others but shares many of the basic qualities of Ponzi swindlers through history, according to law enforcement authorities and others who have studied such scams.
"They seem trustworthy because of their charm, their command of finance and the unshakable confidence that they portray," said Jacob Frenkel, a former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement lawyer. "The Bernie Madoffs of the world are the people you want to sit next to on an airplane."
Much like the original Ponzi schemer, Charles Ponzi. He was an Italian immigrant to Boston who worked as a waiter, bank teller and nurse before he talked investors into sinking their money into a complex -- and, it turned out, bogus -- scheme involving postal currency.
- Bailed-out banks paid big bonuses
Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.
The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.
The AP compiled total compensation based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. One hundred sixteen banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Among the findings:
- Companies nip, tuck to avoid layoffs
Even as layoffs are reaching historic levels, some employers have found an alternative to slashing their work force. They're nipping and tucking it instead.
A growing number of employers, hoping to avoid or limit layoffs, are introducing four-day workweeks, unpaid vacations and voluntary or enforced furloughs, along with wage freezes, pension cuts and flexible work schedules. These employers are still cutting labor costs, but hanging onto the labor.
And in some cases, workers are even buying in. Witness the unusual suggestion made in early December by the chairman of the faculty senate at Brandeis University, who proposed that the school's 300 professors and instructors give up 1 percent of their pay.
"What we are doing is a symbolic gesture that has real consequences -- it can save a few jobs," said William Flesch, the senate chairman and an English professor.
He says more than 30 percent of faculty have volunteered for the pay cut, which could save at least $100,000 and prevent the layoff of several employees. "It's not painless, but it is relatively painless and it could help some people," he said.
- Feds take action against First National of Anthony
A downturn in housing and commercial real estate in the Kansas City area has hurt First National Bank of Anthony.
So much so that it has led a federal bank regulator to issue one of its strongest enforcement actions against the $169 million bank.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency filed a cease-and-desist order against First National in November. The OCC didn't disclose the order until Friday.
According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data, the bank also posted a loss of $1.09 million in the third quarter of 2008.
Richard Ciemny, the bank's Wichita president, said the troubles stem from doing business in the Kansas City area, where "there's been a tremendous downturn in housing, commercial real estate," Ciemny said Friday.
- Hospice suit alleges contract violation
Hospice Care of Kansas and its parent companies are suing its former owner, alleging he has violated noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements.
The plaintiffs asked for a temporary injunction against Mark Rowe, but a judge declined that request earlier this week.
"We are going to go forward with the lawsuit," said Cindy Keim, regional vice president of Hospice Care of Kansas.
"We do intend to continue the court proceedings in order to ask Mark to abide by the contracts -- and that's with an 's' -- that he entered into with Hospice Care of Kansas when he voluntarily sold his company," she said. The additional plaintiffs are Voyager HospiceCare Holdings LLC and Voyager HospiceCare Inc.
Rowe said Friday that the agreements had expired. His attorney "advised me that I'm free to compete," he said.
- Week's results mixed
stocks boosted by auto bailout
Stocks finished a bumpy session mostly higher Friday, as investors, while still somewhat cautious about the economy, were encouraged by the government's pledge to lend as much as $17.4 billion to U.S. automakers.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished down about 25 points, but both the broader Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes posted moderate advances, finishing higher for the second week in a row. Stocks that rose outpaced those that fell by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Though the session was choppy -- with the Dow rising as many as 182 points in early trading, then moving in and out of negative territory for much of the afternoon -- it was a relatively calm day on Wall Street compared with the wild swings experienced in September, October and early November.
In the early going, investors cheered the government's pledge to provide General Motors and Chrysler with $13.4 billion in short-term financing, and another $4 billion at a later date.
- Wichita's demand for temp workers plunges
Wichita has seen one of the steepest drops in demand for temp workers in the nation, according to local agencies and a national staffing firm.
In a report issued this week, Staffing Industry Analysts of Los Altos, Calif., said Wichita has lost 1,000 of roughly 6,000 total temp jobs in the seven months ending in October.
The number of temp jobs dropped 16.9 percent in September and October.
Temp hiring started dropping in April and the trend has accelerated, according to Jon Osborne of Staffing Industry Analysts.
That squares with what some Wichita temp agencies say about their business.
