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When The Economy Hurts, Allowances Suffer, Too

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Grown-ups aren’t the only ones feeling the global recession…

  • Research shows that the average weekly allowance for kids aged 8 – 15 in the UK has fallen since 2009. This is the first time that the average allowance has fallen below £6 since 2003.
  • The study also showed differences in allowance based on gender (boys scored 40 pence more than girls each week) and location (children from Wales made more than children in London, who made way more than children in the South West of England).
  • Despite the cutback, British children are still saving almost 37% of their pocket money every week!

Facts & Figures

  • In 2005, allowances peaked at about £8.37 per week, in 2009, the average was £6.24, and in 2010 it was down to £5.89
  • Welsh kids take in £7.77 per week; children in the South West of England make £5.05
  • Londoners saw the biggest loss this year – their allowances went down by almost £4 a week

Best Quote

“It is encouraging to see that children are still saving, despite the amount of pocket money falling.” – Flavia Palacios Umana, Head of Savings Products at Halifax

Prudential Turns Veterans’ Death Benefits Into Benefit For Prudential

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Large companies have an obligation to their shareholders, but what happens when that puts them at odds with their obligation to the families of fallen soldiers?

  • Records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that for the past 10 years, Prudential Financial has been withholding lump-sum death benefits from the families of fallen U.S. soldiers.
  • In a verbal agreement with a Veterans Administration director in 1999, Prudential was given permission to issue “retained-asset accounts” to survivors rather than pay out the full amount due to them. According to original contract terms set with the company in 1965, verbal agreements aren’t enough to stand up in court.
  • Prudential keeps those “retained assets” in its corporate general account, where they have earned the company as much as $500 million in interest. These funds are not insured by the FDIC, meaning that if the company went bankrupt, all of the money due to surviving families would disappear.

Facts & Figures

  • Prudential pays survivors an interest rate of 0.5% on money held in retained-asset accounts
  • These retained-asset accounts have earned Prudential a profit of 4.2%
  • 90% of survivors request lump sum benefits from Prudential
  • In June 2010, Prudential had $662 million in money due to survivors in its general account

Best Quote

“Until today I actually believed that the families of our fallen heroes got a check for the full amount of their benefits. This came as news to me.” – U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

Taking Drivers To Task For Destroying Wildlife

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Roadkill is finally acknowledged as a serious environmental and human safety issue.

  • Individuals and state-sponsored research groups are increasingly using GPS technology and the Internet to pinpoint where critters are being mowed down on America’s roads.
  • The California Roadkill Mapping System has created the first website that involves volunteers combing the roads to collect roadkill information.
  • Researchers hope to use the information for two primary purposes: to accurately assess the impact of cars on wildlife and to highlight “hot spots” that would benefit from additional signage or other preventative strategies.

Facts & Figures

  • The Humane Society estimates that 1 million animals are killed on roads each day; the Federal Highway Administration says that 1-2 million large animals are killed every year.
  • Roughly 200 people die each year as a result of hitting animals while driving.
  • There are 4 million miles of public road in the U.S., and about 258 million vehicles using those roads.

Best Quote

“For some people the only contact they have with wild animals is when they run them over,” said Fraser M. Shilling, the lead researcher on the project. “This is the first time people have been able to record roadkill online and I think it will change our understanding of what our road system is really doing to wildlife.” – Fraser M. Shilling, Lead Researcher, California Roadkill Observation System (a research project by the University of California, Davis)

‘Made In Italy’ By Chinese Workers, With Chinese Materials

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Times are changing in Europe, and Italy is struggling to maintain the integrity and marketability of its high-end fashion brand while dealing with an influx of legal and illegal immigrants from China.

  • The city of Prato in Tuscany has always been known for its quality textile production, but recently the industry has been taken over by Chinese companies known to use illegal labor and imported materials to feed a new low-end, “fast fashion” industry.
  • Part of the immigrants’ success in exploiting the local economy involves clever maneuvering around Italian laws and regulations. Companies operating in a “gray market” are not technically breaking any laws – they comply with most regulations – but neither are thy upholding the spirit of the laws. For example, a textile producer may refuse to inquire into whether his subcontractors use illegal labor.
  • The issue is sensitive in Italy, where immigration is a controversial and emotional subject. Some believe the situation in Prato is an intentional attempt at economic colonization by the Chinese government.

Facts & Figures

  • Since 2001, half of Italian-owned textile businesses in Prato have been replaced by Chinese-owned textile businesses.
  • Prato represents 27% of all Italian fabric imports from China.
  • Approximately $1.5 million a day is directed from immigrants in Prato back to China, though it seems that much of that money is not being claimed on tax forms.
  • Prato is home to about 25,000 mostly Chinese illegal immigrants.

Best Quote

“The Chinese are very clever. They’re not like other immigrants, who can be pretty thick. The difficulty is in finding a shared understanding of the rules of the game.” – Riccardo Marini, Head of the Prato branch of Confindustria, the organization of Italian industrialists

Nonprofits Added Jobs During The Recession

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

What?? But yes, it’s true…

  • The Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society released a study showing that nonprofit job openings actually grew from mid-2007 to mid-2009, while employers in the for-profit sector were shedding jobs left and right.
  • One explanation for this surprising trend is stimulus funding, which pumped more money into public programs in response to the economic crisis. But not every area of the nonprofit world grew equally. Social-service nonprofits did relatively well, but that is likely because the whole social-service sector (including for-profits) did well.
  • There is concern that when stimulus funding runs out, the job situation in the nonprofit sector will reverse.

Facts & Figures

  • Nonprofit jobs in the 21 states studied grew by an average of 2.5% each year
  • In the same time frame, those states lost jobs at a rate of about 3.3% each year
  • Job growth in the nonprofit sector actually grew more between 2007-2009 than it had between 2001-2007

Best Quote

“The service area has been growing, historically, pretty fast, much more so than manufacturing.” – Lester M. Salamon, Director of the Center for Civil Society Studies

Flipping Positions, Dividends Paying Out More Than Bonds

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

For the first time in 15 years, a usually-small bonus payout is earning investors more money than long-term corporate bonds!

  • Dividend-paying stocks are handing a higher return percentage to investors than corporate bonds issued by the same companies, in part because in the short-term, companies are pretty flush with cash, but nobody knows what the long term holds.
  • The recession drove down the prices of most S&P 500 companies, but at the same time their profits have soared. This means their stock prices are relatively cheap, considering the health of the companies.
  • Bond yields have been low since the start of the recession for many reasons, including the Fed’s rock-bottom interest rate and uncertainty about the future of the economy.

Facts & Figures

  • Interest on 10-year Treasury bonds was 2.42% last month
  • Kraft dividends are up to 3.82% – that’s 0.18% higher than their bonds expiring in 2018

Best Quote

“The economy is slowing down, but productivity has been so great in this country and companies have been able to make good profits,” said Duessel, the Pittsburgh-based equity market strategist at Federated. “Companies that would have cut their dividends already did so. It’s an unusual time where, yes, their profits are good, their cash is good, they can afford to pay more in dividends.” – Linda Duessel, Equity Market Strategist for Federated Investors

Frankenstein Fish About To Be Approved For Human Consumption

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

A company called “AquAdvantage Salmon” wants people to believe its product is safe. So does the burgeoning genetically-modified food industry.

  • On September 19th, staff from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are expected to deliver a report that says AquAdvantage – a genetically-modified salmon – is as safe as regular Atlantic salmon and should be approved for human consumption in the U.S.
  • The AquAdvantage fish was created with DNA from another, eel-like fish, and added growth hormones from a different species of salmon. The resulting creature grows twice as fast as a normal Atlantic salmon.
  • Critics say the approval process doesn’t allow the public (including independent scientists) to fully understand the implications of allowing this genetically-modified fish into the U.S. food supply. They are also concerned about the potential ecological risks posed by a fish created in a lab.

Facts & Figures

  • The University of Guelph in Canada wants the FDA to approve their genetically-engineered “Enviropig,” which is purported to produce “environmentally friendly manure.”
  • The United States has already approved the cultivation of genetically-modified corn and soybean crops.

Best Quote

“If these genetically engineered salmon are approved, it will be setting worldwide precedent because salmon is a global commodity. It will be the first genetically engineered animal approved for human consumption and for wide-scale farming.” – Anne Kapuscinski, Professor at Dartmouth College and international expert on the safety of genetically modified organisms

For Migrants To The U.S., A Deadly Journey

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Hernando Maquin, a 24 year old father, is the most recent in a pattern of migrant murders plaguing Central America.

  • The Mexican government declared war on the country’s powerful drug cartels in 2006, but the war is far from over. Drug gangs have branched out into human trafficking – profitable for traffickers and extremely dangerous for humans.
  • People – mostly men – from countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras have long risked their lives to travel to America for work. They typically leave impoverished families at home, who depend on their financial support while they are away. That’s assuming they survive the trip to the U.S. and find work without being deported.
  • Illegal migrants are particularly vulnerable, as they must navigate an underworld of traffickers with no police or government protection. Maquin left his pregnant wife in Guatemala to find work in America along with two in-laws. His body was found along with the bodies of 71 other Central and South American migrants in an empty ranch in Tamaulipas, Mexico – about 90 miles from the U.S. border.

Facts & Figures

  • Since 2006, 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico’s drug war.
  • Migrants can pay “coyotes,” as traffickers are called, up to $10,000 to be smuggled into the U.S.
  • There are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in America.

Best Quote

“We were praying for them. We were worried about floods, and by the fact they had no money and no food. But we never thought this would happen.” A relative of Maquin, kept anonymous for protection

More Men Wearing Makeup

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

In the old days, men used wax and powder to perfect their complexions. But today’s man is going for something a little more understated…

  • Despite a social norm that categorizes makeup as “for women only,” men are becoming more comfortable shopping for concealers, tinted moisturizers, and specialized cleansers and lotions.
  • Instead of playing up their features to enhance beauty the way women do, men are mostly interested in hiding dark under-eye circles and evening out their complexions.
  • There are many new cosmetics companies specifically targeting men, though some customers are confident enough to shop at Sephora or other woman-centric beauty shops. The term “makeup” still has an effeminate stigma, so retailers and customers tend to refer to men’s beauty products as “cosmetics.”

Facts & Figures

  • In 1997, Americans spent $2.4 billion on men’s grooming products; in 2009, that number rose to $4.8 billion.
  • In skin care alone, sales rose from $40.9 million to $217 million in the same period.
  • 4Voo sells “Confidence Corrector” for $34, and “Lash and Brow Styling Glaze” for $23. KenMen sells “guy-liner” for $22, and tinted lip balm for $25.

Best Quote

“There is a little bit of that stealth makeup thing going on, where you’re not slapping foundation onto your face but as part of your other routines — it sort of creeps in.” – Jason Chen, Grooming Editor at GQ

Mass Layoffs Fund Raises For Sketchy CEOs

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Tough love, or “tough luck – bwahahahaha”?

  • A study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington think tank, shows that in the 50 companies that laid off the most workers around 2009, CEOs tended to make more money than CEOs of other companies.
  • The companies analyzed were diverse in terms of their health in the wake of the recession. Some were doing fine while others were struggling. But all showed the same trend toward higher CEO pay.
  • Most of these companies were actually laying off workers during a time of increased profit. Layoffs are usually a short-term solution that companies use to increase profits and stay afloat.

Facts & Figures

  • CEOs of high-layoff companies were paid an average of 42% more than their peers – about $12 million
  • Of the 50 companies studied, average CEO pay rose by 7% in 2009
  • Average pay for CEOs in the Fortune 500 decreased 11% in the same period

Best Quote

“We are trying to encourage people to think long-term, that there are all kinds of costs to mass layoffs, in terms of morale problems with remaining workers, in terms of when you may have to rehire and train workers if conditions improve. It was more a way to boost their profits in the short terms and line the pockets of their CEOs.” – Sarah Anderson, study author and Global Economy Project Director at Institute for Policy Studies

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