Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Mar 17, 2014

choi

Brendan Greeley with Mariam Fam, Jessica Brice and Sarah Topol, The Cheap Fuel Trap.
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... -economic-addiction
(paragraph 1: “Once again, Ukraine is turning to Europe and the International Monetary Fund for assistance, this time a $15 billion bailout. For years, negotiations with the IMF had stalled over a single point: Ukraine spends 7 percent of its gross domestic product on natural gas subsidies for consumers. The IMF wants that cut by a third before approving any loans”)

My comment:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Emerging economies worldwide struggle to end budget-busting subsidies
(b)  quotation underneath the title in print: “It’s a failed policy, but we see that many countries continue to follow it”

The speaker was Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency (IEA).
(c) View graphics. There is no need to read the rest of the text.

choi

Thomas Black, A Defense Giant’s Most Potent Weapon.
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... amics-profit-engine

Quote:

“The waiting time for delivery of a $64.5 million G650, the flagship plane of General Dynamics’ Gulfstream Aerospace unit, is almost four years * * * The popularity and profitability of the G650, the first plane Gulfstream has designed from scratch in more than four decades, is powering General Dynamics’ earnings as US defense spending dwindles. * * * Propelled by two Rolls-Royce engines, the G650 can reach 627 miles per hour at 30,000 feet, or about 93 percent of the speed of sound. It can seat as many as 18 people. * * * Its 8,055-mile nonstop range allows transoceanic flying. And there won’t be a competitor that can challenge the G650’s long-range capabilities until 2016, when Bombardier’s Global 7000 is slated to start deliveries.

“Large, luxury aircraft are the lone bright spot in a $21 billion private-jet market still recovering unevenly from the financial crisis. While orders remain weak for small personal planes such as the Citation Mustang from Textron’s Cessna Aircraft division, corporate fleet managers and billionaires are shopping again for big jets able to fly between continents.

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Forget tank. General Dynamics’ profits are fueled by corporate jets
(b) General Dynamics Corp (founded in 1899 by John Philip Holland [1840-1914; born in Ireland, emigrated to US in 1873 (aged 33); privately built world's first submarine in 1897, which US in 1900 both purchased and commissioned as USS Holland]; introduced F-16, which was sold 1993 to (now) Lockheed Martin; In 1999, the company re-entered the airframe business with its purchase of Gulfstream Aerospace [founded in 1958])
(c) Cessna Aircraft Company
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Aircraft
(now a subsidiary based in Wichita, Kansas; 1911: Clyde Cessna, a farmer in Rago, Kansas, built and flew his own aircraft; 1985: became a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamic Corp; 1992: GD announced the sale of Cessna to Textron)
(i) Company History. Textron, undated
www.textron.com/about/company/history.php
(started as a small textile company in 1923, when 27-year-old Royal Little founded the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts; diversified in 1953 when facing yet another decline in the demand for textiles)

is presently based in Providence, Rhode Island.
(ii) Origin of the French surname Cessna is “unexplained.”
Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford Univ Press.

choi

Lorraine Woellert, An Unpalatable Plan to Rescue Failing Pensions.
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... et-may-be-necessary

Quote:

“Thousands of workers have sought shelter from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the small federal agency that oversees the nation’s private plans. Created in 1974, the PBGC is funded by the nation’s 26,000 single- and multiemployer pension plans, which pay premiums to the agency. It uses that money—$3 billion in 2013—to pay workers’ benefits when their employers can’t.

“Overall the agency posted a record $35.6 billion deficit in 2013.

"a coalition of employers and labor * * * wants permission to do what once was unthinkable: cut benefits to retirees before the plans get into trouble. This would be a huge change. By law, employers can’t reduce accrued benefits, which have long been considered untouchable. * * * Unless Congress acts, [however,] distressed companies won’t be able to fulfill their obligations and retirees could be left with nothing, says former Representative Earl Pomeroy, a Democrat advising the employer-labor group. 'A haircut now,' he says, 'beats a beheading later.' Unions are split on whether to go along.

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Business and labor ask congress for power to cut retirees’ benefits
(b) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pension_Benefit_Guaranty_Corporation
(created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA); Headquarters Washington, DC; “During fiscal year 2010, the PBGC paid $5.6 billion in benefits to participants of failed pension plans. That year, 147 pension plans failed, and the PBGC's deficit increased 4.5 percent to $23 billion. The PBGC has a total of $102.5 billion in obligations and $79.5 billion in assets” in 2010)