Ford Motor Co. outsold General Motors Co. in February for the first time in more than a decade.

Ford sold 334 more cars than GM in the U.S. It was the first time since August 1998 that Ford outsold GM.

If people are like me, they’ll be buying Ford cars and trucks instead of Government Motors cars and trucks in the future as well.

Have you ever wondered about your internet banking? Is It safe?

Ask your bank how safe it is to do business online and it may tell you it’s more secure than traditional banking. But cyber security experts would disagree.

“That’s a lie,” says Joseph Menn, who reports on cyber security for the Financial Times.

“The banks are stuck because they’ve been telling people it’s safe, and the fraud they’re on the hook for has gone up four-fold in six months,” Menn says.

“The banks have been kidding people about all this because they save money when people bank online.”

Should you be worried? If you’re bank is saving money, everything is okay, right? Don’t you save money when you don’t drive your car? Internet banking is better for the environment too, isn’t it? That makes it a win-win, doesn’t it?

General Motors Co. CEO Ed Whitacre will receive a salary of $1.7 million this year, plus stock awards that will bring his total pay package to $9 million at a later date, the automaker said Friday.

In a surprise announcement, GM also said former CEO Fritz Henderson has been rehired as a consultant. Henderson, who was forced out of the job in December, will work 20 hours a month and will be paid $59,090 a month, the company said.

As a citizen of the United States of America, which is the majority shareholder in Government Motors, I would like to know why Mr. Whitacre will be receiving $9 million of my tax dollars.

Will there be cutbacks at A&F?

Costs to close its Ruehl stores helped push Abercrombie & Fitch Co.’s fiscal fourth-quarter profit lower Tuesday.

Still, adjusted results topped analysts’ expectations as the clothing retailer works on strengthening its business overseas and domestically.

That would give a whole new deifinition to “stripping down” wouldn’t it?

The Goole App Store is coming!

Google may open as early as March an online store to sell third-party software that complements its Google Apps collaboration and communication hosted suite, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Google would let customers purchase the software from its store and charge the third-party developers a commission, according to the Journal, whose article was based on anonymous sources.

A Google spokeswoman reached via e-mail declined to comment specifically on the Journal article, but she pointed out that Google already has a site called Solutions Marketplace where it features applications and professional services from third-party developers that complement Google Apps and other Google enterprise products.

Pardon me while I don’t get too terribly excited. I’ve heard the Nexus One is a nice “entry” model, but several people I know have ditched theirs because it’s too “entry”. If you know what I mean.

Funny thing is, most of these banks were in the same position three months ago that they’re in today.

As Washington pushes banks to mend their finances, the banks are pushing back.

Emboldened by newfound profits and eager to shake off federal control, a growing number of banks are resisting the Obama administration’s proposals for fixing the financial system. Lenders that skirted disaster only months ago with the help of taxpayer dollars are now balking at government prescriptions.

Apparently, the only banks that needed government help were the ones who consider themselves “too big to fail” which translates into “taking the easy way out”.

Great news from one of the nation’s largest banks. Of course, they are waiting to hear from the government as to when they will be allowed to repay the money.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit as improved investment banking performance offset increased losses from credit cards and other consumer debt, sending its shares up as much as 4.5 percent.

A deepening recession and rising unemployment forced the bank to set aside more money against losses in its consumer banking business.

But even amid economic difficulty, Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the bank has the money to repay the $25 billion in taxpayer funds it received from the U.S. government in October.

Well, well, well. It sounds like some banks know what they are doing, and some don’t.

Wells Fargo & Co said it expects to post a record $3 billion first-quarter profit, causing its shares to soar 31.7 percent and providing a welcome jolt to the stock market and a still-troubled banking sector.

The preliminary results suggest that lenders focused on traditional banking activities may handle the recession better than analysts and investors expect, at a time the government is performing “stress tests” on 19 major banks.

I’m not sure which logo they are using anymore, but the smiley face is sure grinning today.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, said Thursday that same-store sales rose 2.1 percent in January as consumers continued to hunt for bargains and bought necessities like groceries.

Sales in stores open at least one year, a key retail metric known as same-stores sales, rose 2.1 percent at the company’s U.S. namesake stores and 2.4 percent at its Sam’s Club warehouses during the four weeks ended Jan. 30.

The worse things get the more their sales will increase too, because people will take the bargain before helping the mom and pops, and that sucks.

While Microsoft tries to justify laying off 5,000 because they didn’t make as much profit (they still made more than $4 billion in profits), Apple does it right.

There’s nothing like a solid quarter to take the market’s mind off bad news elsewhere. That happened on Jan. 21, when Apple (AAPL) released a report showing better-than-expected profit and record revenue and iPod unit sales. Sales in the fiscal first quarter rose 6% to $10.17 billion while profits increased to $1.61 billion, or $1.78 a share, outpacing the average analyst estimate of $1.39.

Heh. Yeah, that’s enough to take mind off things for a bit.