It's where I sit reading it in the morning, and I said they had destroyed it. I still feel that way when I see it because I reali$e it is not for me. I took a couple of steps in today and decided to back out (are you sure it wasn't North Korea?) of the $ection today.
"Ten things you may have missed Monday from the world of business
1. Dunkin’ Donuts says hola to Mexico — again
Dunkin’ is headed south of the border — again. The Canton-based coffee chain entered Mexico in 1992, opening as many as 100 stores before it pulled out in 2009. It blamed the failure on a franchise partner that didn’t understand the brand, poor marketing, and a limited menu. But on Monday, Dunkin’ announced plans to open 100 stores in the country over the next decade, with the first one popping up this year. A new partner, the restaurant management company Sizzling Platter, of Utah, operates 25 Dunkin’ Donuts shops in Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and California, as well as 20 Little Caesars Pizza restaurants in Mexico. Dunkin’ has made a habit of shuttering stores in a market but returning a few years later, which it recently did in California, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Dunkin’ will have to compete against several other US coffee chains in Mexico. Starbucks, for example, has more than 400 shops in the country. — Taryn Luna
Now you know why I'm starting with this post today.
2. Hedge fund founder slain in New York; his son is charged
NEW YORK — A hedge fund founder was shot to death by his son after they argued over the son’s allowance, police said Monday. Thomas Gilbert Jr. was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the death of Thomas Gilbert Sr., 70. He was being held pending arraignment. The law office representing him had no comment. Police said that Gilbert Jr. went to his parents’ East Side home on Sunday and asked his mother to go out for food. About 15 minutes later, she got a ‘‘bad feeling’’ and went back, said Robert Boyce, chief of detectives for the New York police. ‘‘She found Senior on the floor with a bullet hole in the head,’’ Boyce said. He alleged the son tryied to cover up the killing by staging a suicide scene. Gilbert Jr., 30, was in debt, police said. — Associated Press
That caught my attention, and my first thought was is this the official cover story and is there something much deeper we are not being told that called for this guy's elimination?
3. Dish will offer a Net-only subscription that includes ESPN
LAS VEGAS — Dish Network Corp. unveiled an Internet-only subscription plan that includes ESPN and CNN in a package of channels, starting at $20 a month. including ESPN addresses a big reason people why people are loath to ‘‘cut the cord’’ and dump their cable service, Dish said: They want live sports feeds. NFL games will be blocked on mobile devices, however, because Verizon has those rights. The Dish offering, Sling TV, will be launched in a few weeks. About 20 channels will be available, including the Disney Channel, ABC Family, the Food Network, HGTV, the Travel Channel, TNT, TBS, and the Cartoon Network. — Associated Press
What did they call it once, a vast wasteland?
4. Berkshire Hathaway stock soars as Buffett marks 50 years
Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which investor Warren Buffett took over in 1965, were trading close to a record high Monday. And that’s after the stock climbed more than twice as much as the Standard & Poor’s 500 index last year. Not long ago, Berkshire stock was seen as a way to buy into the billionaire’s stock-picking skills. These days, it’s primarily a bet on his ability to make acquisitions and distribute money among the dozens of businesses he has bought, including electric utilities, manufacturers, retailers, and one of the largest US railroads — not to mention Jordan’s Furniture, of Taunton, which Buffett bought in 1999. The outperforming stock should help Buffett, 84, make the case for why Berkshire should hang together once he’s no longer chairman and chief executive. He has promised to outline his vision for the next 50 years in February. Berkshire Hathaway stock closed at $220,980 on Monday, down 1.2 percent. — Bloomberg News
Related: Breakfast Buffett
See anything you like?
5. Vehicle sales expected to hit an eight-year high
DETROIT — Buoyed by a resurgent economy, holiday sales, cheap gasoline, and a love affair with pickups, Americans headed to car dealers in droves last month, pushing full-year sales to what’s likely to be the highest since 2006. Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, Honda, and General Motors all reported strong US sales Monday, with Nissan and Honda hitting record numbers for 2014. Ford faltered but remained the top-selling brand in the nation. Analysts predict sales of 16.5 million vehicles, up 6 percent from 2013, representing a return to prerecession levels. And Americans are expected to continue buying cars in big numbers this year. Sales are forecast to reach 17 million for the first time since 2005, close to the record of 17.3 million, set in 2000. — Associated Press
Yeah, forget about about the defects. I'd say they have been fixed, but there seems to be a daily recall or two, so I've kind of quit covering them. It's been profit over safety for a long time now, which is why most everything you buy is crap -- unle$$ your are part of that elite percentage of their servants in the political cla$$. Then you get well-made stuff.
6. Connecticut brewery apologizes for picture of Gandhi on a beer can
HARTFORD — A brewery apologized to South Asians offended that the company uses Mohandas Gandhi’s name and likeness on its beer. New England Brewing Co. sells an India pale ale it calls Gandhi-Bot. The label features a cartoon image depicting a robot version of the late Indian leader, who favored prohibition. ‘‘We apologize to any Indian people that find our Gandhi-Bot label offensive. Our intent is not to offend anyone but rather pay homage and celebrate a man who we respect greatly,’’ the Woodbridge company said on its Facebook page. Its website promotes Gandhi-Bot, which has been distributed for about five years, as ‘‘fully vegetarian’’ and ‘‘an ideal aid for self-purification and the seeking of truth and love.’’ Gandhi is revered for having led India to independence through nonviolence. — Associated Press
And you can have a burger with it, too!
I suppose I should be grateful just to see his name in print in my war-promoting pre$$, huh?
7. Simulcasting will continue at Suffolk Downs
Governor Deval Patrick has signed a bill extending Suffolk Downs’ simulcasting rights for televised horse races through the end of March. The track’s primary license for simulcasting was scheduled to expire Dec. 31, and the business was scheduled to shut down, because its owners decided to end live racing. That license had allowed betting on simulcast races only if the track also hosted live races. The Legislature passed a bill Wednesday to allow simulcasting through March, in part to give the track’s owners time to reach a lease agreement with horse owners to revive live racing. The horsemen eventually want to find a new place to race. — Jon Chesto
Related: Foxwoods Folds
Haven't played since.
8. Office rents in East Cambridge reach a record high
Office rents in Kendall Square have hit almost $67 per square foot, breaking a record set in 2001, the brokerage Transwestern RBJ says. The average asking rent on a top-tier space in East Cambridge was $66.63 in the final quarter of 2014, it said, beating the previous record of $65.85. The neighborhood’s vacancy rate, 6.7 percent, was lower than in many parts of Boston’s central business district but higher than in the smaller office markets of South Station, North Station, and Longwood, where vacancy rates ranged from 2 to 4.4 percent. — Jack Newsham
It's an office fit only for a king.
9. Sale will let Mortgage Master lend in all 50 states
Walpole-based Mortgage Master Inc.’s sale to loanDepot LLC closed Friday, creating one of the country’s largest nonbank mortgage lenders. The Mortgage Master brand will remain, and the company’s founder and president will continue in their management roles. Financial terms were not disclosed. Mortgage Master, founded in 1988, has 700 employees and operates in 25 states. It is one of the leading mortgage lenders in Massachusetts. The acquisition by loanDepot, based in California and Texas, will allow Mortgage Master to lend in all 50 states and increase employment by about 25 percent this year, said Paul Anastos, president of Mortgage Master. — Deirdre Fernandes
Yeah, thank God the banking system is back functioning as normal.
10. 15 years after mad cow, US resumes importing Irish beef
LONDON — The United States will permit imports of beef from Ireland — the first European Union state allowed to resume sales since the mad cow disease scare more than 15 years ago. Simon Coveney, Ireland’s minister for agriculture, food and the marine, said that US authorities have inspected Ireland’s production systems. Exports could be worth at least $30 million a year for Ireland, he said. The United States lifted its ban on European Union beef in March, but inspections were necessary before exports to American could resume. Mad cow disease kills cows and can cause a fatal brain disease in humans.
Yeah, it was just a scare and never mind that outdate package that stinks bad. It's all good.
After all, doesn't it have Gandhi's thumbs-up?
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Speaking of the Greatest of All Souls, didn't he once say "poverty worst form of violence?"
So jwho put the $alt in my coffee?
"The price of oil plummeted Monday, sending US stocks down and causing a large sell-off. The S&P 500 endured its biggest loss in three months, capping a streak of four days of losses. All 10 of its major industries recorded losses. The Dow fell 331.34 points, or 1.9 percent. In Europe, speculation mounted that Greece might be able to exit the eurozone without much of a splash, as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of Greece said the election campaign could lead to the country leaving the bloc. Europe’s stock markets dropped on the news, and the euro fell against the dollar, at one point hitting its lowest value since March 2006."
Well, that SURE RAISED A SPLASH with ME even if there were no ripples on that IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!
Also see:
Italy saves 970 migrants abandoned by smugglers
Greece, Italy vary wildly on ferry missing numbers
Migrants rescued from pilotless ship
Looks like a burial at sea, and now there is one loose near Britain?
Oh, I almo$t forgot to ga$ up:
Oil price drops to $50 a barrel, lowest in years
All of a sudden it is "spooking global financial markets and causing tremors in stock markets [because] the last time oil and gasoline prices fell this low was in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial collapse."
Could the doom-and gloom bloggers have been right all along?
Gotta take the long view, or $o I am told:
"Signs favor optimism for the economy" by Edward Mason, Globe Correspondent January 04, 2015
At the start of 2014, cold weather blanketed most of the country, chilling retail and auto sales, and dampening hiring.
What, in this age of never-ending fart mi$t about global warming?
The same way 2015 is starting out?
But the economy warmed after winter passed and heated up in the second half of the year as employers added hundreds of thousands of new jobs, consumers opened their wallets, and the stock market soared to new heights.
Took a big dump yesterday.
Now, analysts are optimistic that the momentum will carry into 2015. “Everything is coming together for a breakout year,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, a forecasting firm in West Chester, Pa.
They say that every year!
Signs of the breakout have been increasing over the past several months. Just a few weeks ago, the Commerce Department said the US economy grew by a 5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the strongest growth in more than a decade. US employers added 321,000 jobs in November, the biggest monthly increase in three years and the 10th consecutive month that job gains exceeded 200,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 percent.
As if anyone believed anything that $elf-$erving agency has to say.
Massachusetts gained 13,500 jobs in November and has added 60,000 over the past year, putting 2014 on track to end with the biggest job gains since 2000. The state unemployment rate also was 5.8 percent in November.
No more $alt, thanks.
Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, projects that the unemployment rate will fall to 5.3 percent nationally and 5.5 percent in Massachusetts by the end of this year.
“If I were to pick a theme for 2015, it would be that this is the year the recovery feels like a recovery,” said Rosengren.
That feeling, of course, has been long in coming. The recession ended in June 2009, and most of the past five years have been a long, slow, and painful slog for the US economy and workers.
Not for the 1%, though!
You know, the ones who publish the pre$$ and own the ma$$ media.
Even today, the long-term unemployed — those out of work for more than six months — number 2.8 million, according to the Labor Department. Another 2.1 million workers have given up job searches and are no longer counted as unemployed.
It makes the numbers look good when government forgets you.
Nearly 7 million are working part-time jobs because they can’t find full-time work.
Those numbers, however, have declined significantly over the past year. Analysts expect wages, which have barely kept up with inflation in recent years, to increase as the labor market tightens.
Something like 5 million illegals just got work permits; that's going to create an awful lot of slack.
In November, the Labor Department reported a bigger than expected jump in worker’s average earnings.
(See comment after what Commerce Department said)
“Workers are going to start asking for bigger pay increases, and they’re going to start getting them in 2015,” Zandi said.
Why?
******************
This is all helping to boost consumer confidence and spending — and that’s another good sign. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of US economic activity, rose nearly 3 percent in the third quarter of last year, compared to the same period of 2013, according to the Commerce Department.
SIGH!
Rising home values, soaring stock prices, and lower household debt are supporting consumer confidence and spending, analysts said. Consumers, meanwhile, are getting more help from falling gasoline prices, which have plunged more than $1 a gallon since the summer, both nationally and in Massachusetts.
Somehow that is bad today (many bloggers were warning it was bad when it started, and why it was started).
In 2015, falling prices could be worth the equivalent of a $750 tax cut per household, said Doug Handler, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight, a Lexington forecasting firm.
“It’s pure goodness,” Handler said. “It is on an order [of] magnitude of the tax rebates we got several years ago.”
Don't you mean goodne$$?
Still, not everything is rosy headed into the year.
What, what, what?
Business groups are wary, an increase in the minimum wage, soaring electricity rates and natural gas shortages, “It’s fair to say this has the potential to put a damper on growth.”
Then let 'em build their pipelines.
It's also a convenient excuse as this thing heads $outh.
Despite the risks, most economists feel positive about 2015. “The economy is gaining strength and momentum,” said Clayton-Matthews....
Yeah, you know, “the story for the Massachusetts economy, if you ignore high levels of unemployment and inequality, is the economy has been performing very well.”
I know something I should be ignoring.
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