Archive for the ‘Accounts Payable’ Category

I understand the need to inform customers about the “big switch” that will be pulled in February of 2009, but most people who are buying new televisions already have cable and/or satellite boxes on their sets and therefore, the “big switch” will not affect them in the slightest.

U.S. regulators said on Thursday they imposed fines on retailers such as Wal-Mart and Sears along with two television suppliers for violating curbs on selling TVs that will not work easily after next year’s transition to digital television.

The Federal Communications Commission said the fines against Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O), Target Corp (TGT.N) and eight other companies were for violating rules designed to prevent consumers from unknowingly buying TVs that cannot receive digital signals when broadcasters make the switch on February 17, 2009.

I just find it odd that the FCC is handing out fines for selling legitimate products. Why isn’t the government focusing on the companies who are importing products tainted with lead? Wouldn’t their time and resources be better spent looking for real trouble?

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So, the court has ruled that EchoStar, the owner of DISH netwokr, violated TiVo’s patent. Now they owe about $94 million bucks. They say that they already have a substitute for the software in question and customers like me will not be affected.

EchoStar Communications Corp infringed a TiVo Inc patent in building digital video recorders and must pay nearly $74 million in damages, a court that specializes in patent cases ruled on Thursday.

Once the appeal is final, EchoStar will be barred from selling the infringing devices, the ruling said. EchoStar said it already had a substitute for the software in question, and its customers would be unaffected.

TiVo’s stock soared more than 30 percent to $8.92, and EchoStar’s shares rose just under 1 percent to $28.58 in late trade on the Nasdaq.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the lower court’s damage award of $73,991,964. With interest, the damages would be $94 million, EchoStar said.

My question is, who is going to pay that $94 million bill? How much you wanna bet I won’t be affected by the software upgrade, but my bill will be? Uh huh. Someone has to pay for it.

McDonald’s same store sales seem to be slumping but you can bank on the fact that UK sales will double or even triple as parents show up to purchase items from their kids who are learning on the job.

McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N), the world’s largest restaurant chain operator, on Monday posted flat U.S. same-store sales in December, sending its shares down 8 percent and weighing on the entire restaurant sector.

McDonald’s cited softer consumer spending and severe winter weather for the flat U.S. December sales at restaurants open at least 13 months.

That result, the weakest monthly U.S. sales number since the company posted a decline in March 2003, spooked investors — who worried that consumers had begun cutting back on spending at inexpensive and traditionally recession-resistant fast food chains.

One thing I do love about the new McDonald’s near us, is that they have free wi-fi, and I can sit there and just relax and watch all the different people coming in and out in an effort to clog their arteries. Very cool.

One mistake I see many McDonald’s restaurants making, is their attempt to become more “upscale”. Keep the menu simple. It works.

Attention employees. We’re cutting your pay, but trust us, it’s really a good thing. No really, you have nothing to worry about.

Sit down. It’s not so bad, it’s only 15%. You can handle that if you work your ass off a couple days each week. No, we don’t care what you had planned after work, if you want your money you will bust your ass.

Even as IBM Corp. reports record profits, thousands of its U.S. employees are staring at pay cuts.

It’s the result of IBM’s response to a lawsuit in which the company was accused of illegally withholding overtime pay from some technical employees. IBM settled the case for $65 million in 2006 and has now decided that it needs to reclassify 7,600 technical-support workers as eligible for overtime.

But their underlying salary — the base pay they earn for their first 40 hours of work each week — will be cut 15 percent to compensate.

The spokesman says the employees “overtime” will compensate for the pay cut, yet internal documents prove otherwise. Damn those internal documents.

It amazes me that there is any doubt in anyone’s mind about Ken Lay’s guilt in this case.

On the other hand though, if his convictions were vacated upon his death, does the government really have the right to seize the “proceeds of the fraud” that he was technically not convicted of committing?

A judge says the federal government can proceed with its attempt to seize nearly $13 million from the estate of former Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay.

U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein rejected a request from Lay’s widow to halt the government’s bid for the money, which prosecutors claim were “proceeds of the fraud proven in the criminal case against Lay.”

Kenneth Lay had been convicted in May 2006 of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks in two separate cases. A judge ruled last fall that Lay’s death of heart disease in July 2006 vacated his convictions because Lay couldn’t challenge them.

But Werlein wrote in his ruling Wednesday that prosecutors had “ample allegations” of criminal activity tied to the cash and property to pursue their civil forfeiture case.

Linda Lay, wife of the former Enron head, will continue to fight the attempts to seize the assets, which include the family condominium valued at $6 million, said Samuel Buffone, her attorney.

The government will have to prove his guilt again at a civil forfeiture trial, but the burden of proof is lower than in a criminal case.

Interesting, that’s for sure. There is no doubt Ken Lay did the things he was convicted of, but this seems like a huge technical loophole to me. If his convictions were vacated by the court upon his death, then any monetary fines and “proceeds” should automatically be vacated too, shouldn’t they?

No, I am not taking Ken Lay’s side, but rather pointing out the fact that the government is trying to seize funds from his estate when there has technically not been a conviction. What happens when they seize your home and your assets because of the “proceeds” of your activities, whether or not you were ever brought to trial and/or convicted?

Sure, they are pursuing it through a civil forfeiture trial, but the whole thing reeks if you ask me. His convictions never should have been vacated.

Losses eight times larger than average Wall Street forecasts, and we still depend on those same analysts when it comes to the stock market, economy and other important stuff?

General Motors Corp (GM.N) posted its largest quarterly net loss on Wednesday, reflecting a $39-billion charge related to unclaimed tax credits and a loss at its former finance subsidiary GMAC.

The largest U.S. automaker posted a third-quarter net loss of $39 billion, or $68.85 per share, compared with a loss of $147 million, or 26 cents per share a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, GM reported a net loss of $1.6 billion, or $2.80 per share. The loss on that basis was about eight times larger than the average Wall Street forecast.

Imagine how things would be if those analysts decided to mess with our heads. I can’t imagine losing $39 billion. I get sick when I can’t find the $20 I had on me the night before.

I still find it ironic that everyone waited until the housing market took a dump to do anything about the whole situation.

Major banks including Citigroup Inc are looking at setting up a roughly $80 billion fund to buy ailing mortgage securities and other assets, in a bid to prevent the credit crunch from further hurting the global economy, sources familiar with the matter said.

Representatives from the U.S. Treasury have organized conversations among top global banks, sources said, as financial institutions grow increasingly concerned that a certain type of investment fund linked to banks may have to dump billions of dollars of repackaged loans onto financial markets.

A fire-sale of assets could lift borrowing costs globally, trigger big losses from investors and force banks to further write down some holdings on their balance sheets. Such sales could trigger huge losses for banks, and in the worst-case scenario tip the U.S. or Europe into recession.

Someone should have done something about the lending practices that got them into this mess in the first place. Then again, they got to show a ton of new loans and lots of numbers on their balance sheets so it all made sense in the beginning. Well, it made sense if you’re a bowling ball.

How, exactly, do you go bankrupt when you make Twinkies? And why do companies still lend you money when you’re still in the midst of said bankruptcy? That just doesn’t make sense.

Interstate Bakeries Corp (IBCIQ.PK), the bankrupt maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies snacks, said on Wednesday its lenders reduced the amount the company can borrow as it struggles to stay in business.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Kansas City-based maker of bakery and sweet snack items, said an amendment made to its debtor-in-possession financing agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank and other financial institutions cut the amount the company could borrow by $10 million.

[Source: Reuters via Yahoo! News]

Wow GM made out like a bandit with the strike negotiations…

I have no idea how many members of the UAW actually work for GM, but, for the sake of argument let’s pretend half of them do (which would be approximately 90,000).

Now, based on the following clip from the Associated Press, GM will be able to buy out 24,000 (26.66%) of their “soon to retire” workforce so they can bring in many new people at the new “lower pay package”.

General Motors Corp (GM.N) would be able to buy out as many as 24,000 UAW workers and replace them with lower-paid hires under a tentative contract agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Friday.

Such a potential buyout stems from a move by the union to expand the definition of non-production job classifications, the article said, citing management and union officials briefed on the pact.

GM will be able to hire at a much lower pay package janitors, landscape workers and material handlers, the report said.

How awesome is that deal? I can feel the prices of GM vehicles dropping already.

Is the Fed going to cut rates?

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to chart a new course on Tuesday and cut benchmark interest rates for the first time since mid-2003 to protect the economy from a housing downturn and jittery credit markets.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said late last month the central bank stood ready to act as necessary to limit damage to the broader economy from the housing slump and turbulence in credit markets nervous about a wave of mortgage delinquencies.

Bernanke’s remarks were seen as opening the door to lower rates and a report on August 7 showing the economy shed jobs in August for the first time in four years was seen as cementing the case for cutting overnight borrowing costs from their current 5.25 percent level.

Funny. Have you noticed the markets don’t react as sharply when Bernanke opens his mouth? When Greenspan was the chairman he could burp and send the markets reeling.