- Sign-up is urged for offshore wind farm - David Robinson/The Buffalo News It may be at least four or five years before the New York Power Authority's proposal for a major offshore wind farm takes shape, but supporters say it's not too early for local businesses to start getting ready for the work that will come with the project. With that in mind, the Power Authority on Wednesday outlined an initiative to help local suppliers link up with the developers now working on proposals for wind farms off the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario that would generate 120 to 500 megawatts of electricity. Through the Power Authority's "Get Listed" program, local companies that could supply components or offer services for the proposed wind farm can register through the NYPA Web site at www.nypa.gov and outline their capabilities and qualifications. Sort of related: - Deere mulls possible sale of wind energy business - AP/Buffalo News - Mitsubishi to build £100m UK wind turbine factory - The Guardian - Plan offers gust of wind power - Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald - Bring on the wind - The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Realtors trying to ensure more accuracy- Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News The Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors plans to take extra measures to ensure the accuracy of its closed sales numbers going forward, calling every broker to check on transactions that should have closed.
Attempting to counter this: - Consumer confidence falls off sharply - AP/Buffalo News Americans’ outlook on the economy went into relapse in February. Rising job worries sent a key barometer of confidence to its lowest point in 10 months, raising concerns about the economic recovery. ... The increasing pessimism, which erased three months of improvement, is a big blow to hopes that consumer spending will power an economic recovery. Economists watch the confidence numbers closely because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. With some of this: - Appliance Swap Out program extended - Samantha Maziarz Christmann/The Buffalo News Referred to as an appliance version of Cash for Clunkers, the Great Appliance Swap Out uses federal stimulus money to give rebates to consumers buying eligible Energy Star appliances. The rebate amounts rise when consumers prove they have recycled their old appliances.
To Sacramento: - Anthem Blue Cross executives grilled at state Capitol - The Sacramento Bee Anthem Blue Cross executives, under intense questioning by the state Assembly's Health Committee on Tuesday, defended the company's decision to raise premiums by as much as 39 percent on hundreds of thousands of Californians. [Includes video] - Anthem Blue Cross plans to go ahead with rate hikes in California - The Los Angeles Times ...The testimony came as members of the committee lashed out at Anthem for its proposed rate hikes and its corporate profit a day before the rate controversy moves to Washington, where a congressional subcommittee holds a hearing Wednesday.
And back to Washington: - Insurer blames health costs for Calif. rate hikes - AP/The Buffalo News In prepared testimony for a House investigative subcommittee, Angela Braly, president of WellPoint Inc., blamed the increases on the growing price tags for hospital care and pharmaceuticals. She also cited the ailing economy, which has caused many younger, healthier people to save money by dropping coverage, leaving her company covering an older, sicker population. [Live video available] WellPoint owns Anthem Blue Cross, whose plan to boost rates in California has made it a poster child for Democrats arguing that the nation's health system must be overhauled. Wednesday's hearing comes a day before President Barack Obama hosts bipartisan congressional leaders for a daylong, televised discussion of health care, a session he hopes will provide new momentum to Democrats' stalled legislation.
- Brewery aims for production next week - Samantha Maziarz Christmann/The Buffalo News Things are quiet at Flying Bison Brewing Co., but the brewery is expected to be back up and running under new ownership by Monday. Shareholders at the homegrown Buffalo brewery voted to accept an offer from F.X. Matt Brewing Co., the Utica-based makers of Saranac beer. But the brewery remains in “paperwork limbo.”
- Realtors group’s figures are in question - Jonathan Epstein/The Buffalo News Buffalo Niagara’s housing market is mired in fog again, as record-keeping problems for real estate agents have led to conflicting statistics about the strength of local home sales. The Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors said Monday that pending home sales for the region in January were up 12 percent from the same month a year ago, to 565 from 503. Even more, sales that have been agreed to but not closed rose 34 percent from December. But the association can’t say how many homes have actually closed, because of an ongoing discrepancy in their records that’s resulting in abnormally low figures.
- Buffett on philanthropy - AP/The Buffalo News Billionaire Warren Buffett, who pledged the bulk of his fortune to philanthropy, said Monday that the need for charitable giving is unending. “The demand is unlimited,” said Buffett, the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in an interview Monday on Bloomberg Television. “There are so many people who have gotten short straws in life.” ... Berkshire owns The Buffalo News, and Buffett is the newspaper’s chairman. The Chairman is right, of course. And, besides, whenever we mention his name in this blog, our page views go way up. Here he is:
No sooner did I give the KC Star credit for being the only one raising the question of whether it is fair for the U.S. government to investigate Toyota while it owns General Motors, than The Atlantic Wire found some others who made the same point. - Does the U.S. Government Have It in for Toyota? - John Hudson/The Atlantic Wire While most observers are haranguing Toyota for prioritizing profit over safety, some commentators have paused to ask: is the U.S. government, the largest shareholder in General Motors, intentionally punishing the Japanese automaker?
Can't go with only one source. For example, there is also evidence that others in the government, mostly members of Congress, are plenty cozy with Toyota: - Lawmakers’ Ties to Toyota Questioned at Start of Inquiries - Eric Lichtblau/The New York Times ... Federal disclosure records show that Toyota, with 31 lobbyists in Washington last year, has spent nearly $25 million on federal regulatory and legislative lobbying matters in the last five years, far more than any other foreign automaker. That amount is certain to grow this year, with Toyota in full damage-control mode in the face of myriad federal investigations.
Meanwhile, the feds are closing in. - Toyota apologizes for handling of safety issues - AP/The Buffalo News The president of Toyota's U.S. operations is apologizing for the company's slow handling of sudden acceleration problems in its vehicles, saying it took too long to confront the issue. Toyota's James Lentz, certain to face hostile questioning Tuesday at a congressional hearing, says in prepared testimony [thanks to the Wall Street Journal] that Toyota had poor communications within the company, with government regulators and with its customers. Proceedings to be Webcast here.
- Family killed while riding in an out-of-control Lexus - Justin Hyde/The Detroit Free Press Santee, Calif. -- The Friday night trip began at the end of a week's vacation, a family outing to a women's college soccer game just days before Mahala Saylor, 13, would begin life as a high school freshman. The trip ended in August 2009 with a 911 call and the fiery wreck of a loaner Lexus sedan, killing Mahala, her parents, Mark and Cleofe Saylor, both 45, and her uncle, Chris Lastrella, 38. Even veteran investigators said it was the worst crash they had ever seen. Includes link to a disturbing audio of 911 call.
- Back to Basics for Toyota - Akio Toyoda/Toyota president/in The Wall Street Journal The past several months have been humbling for all of us at Toyota. We are taking this experience to heart, making fundamental changes in the way our company does business. I can assure you that our response will be comprehensive.
It sounds like Toyota deserves all this scrutiny. But.
A few weeks ago, KC Star writer/blogger Yael T. Abouhalkah raised a really good point, one I haven't seen anywhere else: One reason it's a bad idea for the government to own General Motors -- even for a short time -- is that it there might be an appearance, or even the temptation, of one government agency to crack down on Toyota, say, in order to make GM look better, sell more cars, and pay back the money it got from another government agency.
As the evolutionary biologists taught me: You can never do only one thing.
- Small businesses still suffering - Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News ... With major banks still licking their wounds after the financial crisis and ensuing recession, small business owners say it's still very hard to get the credit they need, either to meet existing demand or even to grow, let alone start a company. And when loans are available, rates are higher than before. - Wider role sought for Treasury secretary - Washington Post/Buffalo News
- Credit card law kicks in - AP/Buffalo News The new credit card law is finally here. Starting today, banks will need to abide by new regulations on terms and disclosures. The idea behind the landmark law was to prevent banks from using practices that often dug borrowers deeper into debt.
-Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs - Peter S. Goodman/The New York Times Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.
Boiled down: Big business is trying to fulfill its sole function: To take your money away from you and give it to its stockholders. Big government might, or might not, be doing something to balance that a little bit in your favor. End with some words of wisdom from John Lennon, by way of Green Day:
Upon still further review, it seems that the news that General Motors is not at all dead -- and is spending $500 million of [sort of] your money* on retooling three plants to make a new, more environmentally friendly, engines for American-made cars -- has provoked a surprising dearth of media coverage.
Wonder what the national coverage would have been like if they had announced they were closing the GM Powertrain plant in Tonawanda?
There were a lot of politicians there yesterday, too. They usually are when there's a chance to bask in someone else's success. But, in this case, government rescue is the only reason GM lived to fight another day. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairpoint, Web-posted this statement, along with another celebrating the first anniversary of the Obama stimulus package. It's working, she says.
* And here's some more stuff GM is doing with your money: - GM upset with state lawmakers - AP/The Pueblo (Colo.) Chieftan General Motors Co. is launching a $60,000 radio and print ad campaign against a bill aimed at helping Colorado dealerships terminated by GM and Chrysler Group LLC. The bill — passed in the state House and awaiting state Senate debate — would require carmakers to reimburse the dealers for upgrades they were required to make in the past five years. Some upgrades cost millions of dollars.
- George Pyle/The Buffalo News [Buffalo News photo by Robert Kirkham shows GM VP/Labor Relations Denise Johnson with Gov. David Paterson, Sen. Chuck Schumer, plant manager Steve Finch, and Erie County Executive Chris Collins.]
Maybe it's just because I was there, in the middle of all the celebration. But it seems that the big story in today's Buffalo News should have received more attention in other parts of the country. We all remember how many front pages blared the news when General Motors was in real danger of going out of business. Now, with its federal loans in the bank -- and partly repaid -- the former titan of the manufacturing world seems to be stirring, right here in Tonawanda. Half a billion bucks and 500 jobs, at existing plants in legacy cities, not on plowed Georgia ground or in India. Still, not a lot of coverage is evident from this morning's searching, or the rundown of front pages put up by The Newseum.
Here's what we had: - GM begins rebirth with engine plant in Tonawanda - The Buffalo News [Buffalo News Live] General Motors, on its deathbed just a year ago, announced a half-billion-dollar investment in its U.S. facilities Thursday, with almost all of the money going to its engine plant in the Town of Tonawanda. The $425 million investment is expected to create 470 jobs at the plant and ensure its future as the producer of GM's next-generation engine — the fuel-efficient, four-cylinder Ecotec.
