Finance Blog number 1

A call center for 21st Century Insurance and Financial Services Inc. will be filling 40 positions at a job fair on Monday.

The company, which has about 200 people at its call center in Phoenix that it shares with its parent, Farmers Group Inc., plans to split the positions among customers service and sales, said Deb West, the company’s director of operations.

The jobs will be full-time, and the company also is looking for some people with bilingual skills.

The job fair runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again from 4 to 7 p.m. at the call center, 16001 N. 28th Ave.

Those interested also can apply online at www.farmers.com and clicking on “corporate careers.”

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Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine secured its ninth clinical partner by signing an affiliation agreement with Cleveland Clinic Florida.

The 150-bed hospital in Weston has 922 employees, including 166 physicians on staff. The nonprofit admitted more than 12,000 patients last year.

With the agreement, fourth-year FIU medical students could get clinical training from specialist physicians at Cleveland Clinic Florida.

“We are very excited to be affiliated with such a respected institution that has an excellent national reputation,” FIU College of Medicine Dean Dr. John Rock said in a news release same day payday loans. “Cleveland Clinic is world renowned for providing quality health care at an affordable cost, and we are proud to partner with them to train the next generation of doctors.”

The state university’s medical program also has affiliation agreements with Baptist Health South Florida, Jackson Health System, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Children’s Hospital, Mercy Hospital, Leon Medical Centers, Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System.

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Payday loans no faxing fall on the less risky side simply because the money loaned to you is a percentage of your next paycheck.

The leaders of the Group of Eight global economic powers pledged Saturday to continue working together as the world "begins a fragile recovery from the greatest economic crisis in generations."

In a statement concluding the two-day summit in Muskoka, Canada, the leaders said they were committed to open trade and that they would "resist protectionist pressures."

In addition to the United States, the summit included Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United Kingdom.

The summit immediately preceded a gathering in Toronto of the G-20, which includes the leaders of other important economies, most notably China.

In the run-up to the meetings, President Obama had stressed the need to keep economic stimulus measures in place to prevent a global slowdown. But European nations have been moving toward more conservative fiscal policies as the region grapples with an ongoing debt crisis.

In a letter to G-20 leaders sent earlier this week, the president wrote that safeguarding and strengthening the economic recovery should be "our highest priority in Toronto."

"In fact, should confidence in the strength of our recoveries diminish, we should be prepared to respond again as quickly and as forcefully as needed to avert a slowdown in economic activity," he wrote.

Meanwhile, European nations have been cutting back on public spending and raising taxes to cope with massive budget deficits.

Since Obama issued his call to focus on growth, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called budget cuts "urgently necessary," and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said stronger public finances are part of a "policy which we would call confidence-building."

Last week, the United Kingdom unveiled one of its harshest budgets in decades payday loans.

In a statement Saturday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner acknowledged the differences, while again stressing the need for pro-growth policies: "We all need to act to strengthen the prospects for growth. This will require different strategies in different countries. We are coming out of the crisis at different speeds." Geithner added, "We need to act together to strengthen the recovery and finish the job of repairing the damage of the crisis." (See ‘The great spending debate’)

Also expected to be discussed at the G-20 meeting will be China’s currency, the yuan. China moved last week to begin letting it trade freely against the U.S. dollar, but the move may have been too little to head off debate. Since 2008, China has pegged its currency to the dollar, and many think it is artificially cheap, making it harder for U.S. companies to compete.

The yuan has risen only slightly against the dollar in the past week.

Still, Geithner praised China’s move: "China is acting to allow its exchange rate to appreciate in response to market forces. This is an important step toward helping China better meet its own challenges and providing a more level playing field for all its trading partners."

Separately, President Obama met with the president of South Korea. Obama hopes to complete a free trade agreement with South Korea later this year, according to a senior White House official.

The plan is to double U.S. exports over the next five years, he said. The United States already exports $50 billion worth of goods and services to South Korea, which is the world’s 14th largest economy. 

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St. Louis Brewery, maker of Schlafly craft beer, is for sale. But company founders Tom Schlafly and Dan Kopman say they are in no rush to sell their stakes, and they would strongly prefer a local ownership group that includes current brewery workers.

The main reason for the "for sale" sign outside St. Louis’ largest craft brewer is succession planning, they said. Schlafly, 61, who owns nearly 80 percent of the company, has no family interested in running the business. Kopman, 48, who holds about 20 percent, also does not see his school-age children becoming involved with the brewery.

"At some point, the brewery is going to move to additional ownership," Schlafly said Monday.

And they wanted to begin thinking about that now. So earlier this month they asked the brewery’s senior staff to look for ways they could buy the company.

"We’re exploring this on the basis that we want our employees to have a long-term stake in the company," Kopman said.

St. Louis Brewery joins a generation of craft brewers now confronting questions about what future ownership will look like. Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco, which is considered the brand that launched the microbrew movement, was sold earlier this year to Bay-area entrepreneurs. Rogue Ales in Portland, Ore., is being handed down from the founder-father to son.

St. Louis Brewing, founded in 1991, sells its beer under the Schlafly name and operates two brew pubs, in downtown St. Louis and Maplewood. It posted nearly $12 million in sales last year and ranked No. 41 among the nation’s largest craft brewers, according to the Brewers Association.

James Ottolini, head of brewing operations, is one of the longtime workers whom Schlafly and Kopman hope will lead the buyout effort. Ottolini, who holds a freshly minted Washington University MBA, said he was excited by the opportunity.

"Our efforts will be to put together an investment group" that includes outside investors and workers, Ottolini said.

Schlafly, an attorney not involved in the day-to-day operations, said he hoped to retain a small, unspecified stake in the company. Kopman said he might not sell any of his share. In any case, he planned to stay on as chief operating officer "for the foreseeable future."

They sounded reluctant to sell to venture capital firms seeking outsized returns or to take the company public, with heavy compliance costs and focus on making quarterly numbers.

The most likely scenario, Kopman said, is local investors and some form of employee-stock ownership plan buying a majority stake.

"We don’t want to see what we’ve helped build diminished," Kopman said.

Schlafly said he was motivated to seek a buyer, in part, because the growing company faces a looming decision on building a new brewery, "and I don’t have the appetite for the debt that it would involve."

The brewery could roughly fetch $5 million to $18 million, based on revenue and estimated margins, said Tom Lee, senior vice president with Mercer Capital in Memphis, Tenn.

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Pennsylvania has received a dozen AmeriCorps grants totaling $9 million, which will create up to 2,200 community service positions in the state, the Department of Labor & Industry said Friday.

PennSERVE: The Governor’s Office of Citizen Service will distribute seven state grants totaling more than $5.3 million, which will create more than 1,700 positions. Five national grants totaling more than $3.9 million will also be awarded to multistate programs operating in the state, with the support of PennSERVE, which will create up to 480 additional AmeriCorps positions, the department said.

“These grants create thousands of opportunities for individuals to make a difference in their communities through citizen service,” Labor & Industry Secretary Sandi Vito said. “From tutoring and mentoring, to renovating residences and community cleanup, the work carried out by these organizations will have an immediate and positive effect on our neighborhoods and residents.”

Grants funded through PennSERVE have been awarded to the following, which serve counties in the local area:

• Jumpstart for Young Children Inc. (Allegheny and Philadelphia counties), $320,453 grant, will create 174 positions, AmeriCorps members serve in preschool settings, including Head Start, faith-and community-based centers to engage students in learning activities

• Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, $50,722 grant, will create 287 positions, college students will serve as AmeriCorps members at nonprofit organizations to support local education and other human needs that target various beneficiaries throughout the state, including Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

• City Year Inc., $2,415,000 grant, will create 210 positions, AmeriCorps members provide in-school tutoring and after-school services in Greater Philadelphia area schools.

• Teach For America, $802,497 grant, will create 330 positions, AmeriCorps members will provide classroom instruction and enrichment activities focused on overcoming the achievement gap for schools through education and volunteer generation in under resourced communities in Philadelphia County cash till payday advance.

National direct-funded grants have been awarded to the following, which serve counties in the local area:

• HOPE Worldwide, $298,101 grant, will create 94 positions, AmeriCorps members provide direct service and perform capacity-building activities in three primary programmatic areas that focus on academic enrichment, environmental stewardship and community rebuilding in Delaware County.

• Health Federation of Philadelphia, $1,198,486 grant, will create 94 positions, the National Health Corps promotes health careers and health education in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Florida. Members assist uninsured individuals with accessing health care, resources and assist with enrolling the uninsured in insurance and/or drug prescription programs.

• Philadelphia AIDS Consortium, $374,070 grant, will create 60 positions, AmeriCorps members will provide health education and support services and mobilize volunteers for programs that target low-income minorities living with, and affected by, HIV in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and California.

• Temple University of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education (Philadelphia), $247,619 grant, will create 90 positions, AmeriCorps program addresses health literacy needs of elders, elderly immigrants and refugees through service learning, civic engagement and tutoring. Project assists elderly immigrants and refuges in communication with health-care providers. Members support the target population’s access to health services and strengthen immigrant-serving organizations’ ability to address the needs of this growing population.

AmeriCorps was able to add 500 people to its ranks in Pennsylvania last year through the help of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday it plans to create 500,000 jobs throughout the world in the next five years, saying there is tremendous opportunity for growth globally.

"We need to recruit the best talent and identify the best talent in our ranks," CEO Mike Duke told analysts and investors at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Fayetteville, Ark. It was not immediately clear how many of the jobs would be created in the United States.

Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) also announced a new program to repurchase $15 billion of its shares, which replaces a $15 billion repurchase plan announced a year ago. The company said $10.3 billion in stock had been purchased as a result of the prior program.

Hosted this year by Jamie Foxx, Wal-Mart’s annual meeting was again a star-studded fanfare. Movie stars and musicians such as Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, recent "American Idol" winner Lee DeWyze, and Enrique Iglesias entertained shareholders who traveled far and wide for the annual part-pep rally, part-concert.

Duke said growth would not come easily, highlighting such challenges in the next 20 years as higher energy costs, nimble and innovative competitors, and technology.

The CEO also commented on Wal-Mart’s low-price strategy, saying a "new era of price transparency," brought on by the advent of mobile technologies, would make it more difficult to maintain its leadership position.

Wal-Mart officials called their international business strong, with Duke saying "It’s becoming an even bigger and more important part of our company." He added that more than 60% of the company’s new square footage last quarter was in Wal-Mart’s international unit.

Sales from the company’s international division exceeded $100 billion or about 25% of its $405 billion in total revenue. 

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One in five licensed drivers — some 38 million Americans — lack the knowledge necessary to pass a written driving test, and even more are distracted while driving, according to a survey released Thursday.

The annual GMAC Insurance National Drivers test polled 5,202 licensed drivers from 50 states and the District of Columbia with a 20-question test derived from state department of motor vehicles exams. A passing grade was 70% or better. The survey also asked additional questions about distracting habits such as texting while driving.

Overall scores dropped from a year ago. Licensed drivers posted an average score of 76.2% versus 76.6% in 2009.

"It’s discouraging to see that overall average test scores are lower than last year," said Wade Bontrager, senior vice president of GMAC Insurance, in a prepared statement.

Nearly three out of four couldn’t identify safe following distances and some 85% incorrectly responded to questions about what to do when approaching a steady yellow light. This signals that licensed drivers lack knowledge of fundamental road rules, GMAC Insurance said.

Test performance varied widely by region. Drivers in the Midwest scored 77.5% on average, the highest among all regions, and had the lowest failure rates at 11.9%. Conversely, the Northeast scored the worst with an average score of 74.9% and had the highest failure rate of 25.1%.

Drivers in Kansas topped the nation with an 82.3% average score, while New Yorkers were last on the list with a score of 70% faxless payday advance.

Even more alarming is that Americans are increasingly multi-tasking while behind the wheel, the study found. About 25% of those surveyed admitted to driving while talking on a cell phone, eating, or adjusting their radios or iPods.

While only 5% of drivers said they texted while driving, Bontrager said that the "surprisingly low" number is still higher than it ought to be, adding that drivers may not have responded honestly to this question.

"The really sad thing is that you see [texting while driving] more and more in young drivers," said Bontrager. "They are not only the least experienced, but also need to pay the most attention to the road."

According to Bontrager, historic data supports that women tend to have fewer accidents than men, but the survey found that they were more likely to engage in distracting activities while driving than their male counterparts. And women also scored nearly four percentage points lower on the overall test than men, who averaged a score of 78.1%.

Although complete knowledge of the rules of the road won’t shield drivers from all accidents, being informed helps to ensure that they are more prepared to deal with unexpected events, Bontrager said.

"An informed driver is a safer driver, period," he said.  

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Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner, two key players in the government’s bailout of the financial system, said Thursday that steps should be taken to shed light on the darker corners of Wall Street in order to prevent another crisis from happening.

Paulson, who was Treasury Secretary at the height of the 2008 financial meltdown, and his successor, Geithner, who was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the time, both testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in Washington.

The commission, which is holding a series of hearings this year to investigate the causes of the crisis, is probing unconventional and lightly regulated lending practices known as "the shadow banking system."

"The lesson of this crisis, and of the parallel financial system, is that we cannot make the economy safe by taking functions central to the business of banking, functions necessary to help raise capital for businesses and help businesses hedge risk, and move them outside banks, and outside the reach of strong regulation," " Geithner said in prepared remarks.

Geithner said the parallel, or shadow, banking system grew rapidly over the last few decades, reaching about $8 trillion in assets at its peak and rivaling the traditional banking system.

But the nation’s regulatory framework, which is designed to limit excessive-risk taking in a traditional setting, did not keep pace with the innovations in the shadow banking system, he said.

As the crisis intensified, Geithner added, the system became instable and investors panicked. In response, the government implemented "aggressive policy measures" to avert a second Great Depression, he said.

"This was a pure failure of market discipline," said Geithner, referring to the rapid buildup of risk in the shadow banking system. If regulators had broader authority to curb risky bank behavior, "such a large emergency response would not have been necessary."

"That is a key reason why financial reform is necessary," he said.

The Senate on Wednesday took a major step forward in the push to create a Wall Street reform package by approving a bipartisan deal to unwind big financial firms that are considered too big to fail. But lawmakers are still debating a number of other proposals, including new rules for the derivatives market and new consumer protections.

While Paulson’s testimony echoed many of Geithner’s comments, the former Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs alum cautioned against over-regulating the non-traditional banking system.

The shadow banking system, which he described as large credit and capital markets, helps provide short and long-term funding for municipal governments, corporations and individuals savings account payday loans. These credit markets "have greatly benefited our nation, spurring growth and prosperity at all levels of our economy," he said.

Paulson acknowledged that the system was marred by "global excesses and regulatory flaws," but he said lawmakers should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

"In our haste to deal with the flaws in the non-bank financial system, we should not move ourselves back to a system of consolidated, monolithic commercial banks," said Paulson.

Still, Paulson identified four areas where tighter regulation is needed, including securitization, commercial paper, derivatives and money market mutual funds.

Paulson also took the opportunity to offer his explanation of the factors that led up to the crisis. He said the housing bubble, at the heart of the problem, was exacerbated by government policy and irresponsibility on the part of both borrowers and lenders, namely Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But the crisis was also rooted in imbalances in global capital flows, over-leveraged financial institutions, poor consumer protection and "an archaic and outmoded financial regulatory system," he said.

"Many mistakes were made by all market participants, including financial institutions, investors, regulators, and the rating agencies, as well as by policy makers," said Paulson.

He supported the steps policy makers have taken to safeguard the system, but added that risks remain. "A number of the root causes are not being addressed and remain sources of danger to our country," Paulson said.

The testimony came one day after the commission heard from former Bear Stearns executives, including the former chief executive, James Cayne, who argued that the failure of the Wall Street bank was due to market volatility, spurred by unfounded speculation, and not risky behavior.

In his comments Thursday, Geithner said Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, two of the main casualties of the crisis, were among the main players in the market for overnight repurchase, or "repo," agreements, asset-backed commercial paper and other structured investment vehicles that make up the shadow banking system.

Bear Stearns was crippled in March 2008 as investors and creditors fled the bank amid fears about its exposure to risky mortgage-backed securities. The investment bank was bought by JPMorgan for about $2.2 billion, or $10 a share, in a fire sale orchestrated by the government.

Lehman Brothers, meanwhile, became the largest bank failure in history when it succumbed to losses in September 2008. 

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They’ve never seen a CEO at General Motors Co. quite like Ed Whitacre.

He wanders into small meetings unannounced and, before leaving, asks in stark terms what people can do to sell more cars. He urges them to take risks by making decisions; ask him whether he means it and he’ll probably say, yes, he means it.

Wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, he shows up unannounced at assembly plants — Lansing and Lordstown, Fairfax and Flint — and walks the line, stopping to talk with ordinary auto workers.

”My first impression was kinda ‘wow,’ ” says Ben Strickland, shop chairman for UAW Local 1112 in Lordstown, Ohio, home to the new Chevrolet Cruze compact. ”He definitely left the impression that he was no different than anyone else in that plant. And that went miles.”

Except that Whitacre, appointed chairman of GM’s board by President Barack Obama’s automotive task force, is different from everyone else — which is the point. In interviews with senior executives, union officials and midlevel managers, the CEO emerges as the antithetical GM boss: a serial delegator who loathes process and PowerPoints, who thinks GM’s historic reliance on data can be paralyzing, who cannily meets employees on their own terms.

He grew up in the deal-making of AT&T Corp. and its precursors, not the noble decline of GM. He wants simplicity and accountability, not the contorted self-justifications and endless study of the Detroit auto business. Mindful that there are no third chances for GM, he isn’t likely to give longtime hands the benefit of the doubt that most of them have known too well.

”He can read people in five minutes,” says a ranking executive who requested, as did others, not to be identified when speaking about the boss. ”That’s one of his gifts. ”

It’s Big Ed’s GM now, a work in progress whose return to market credibility and sustainable profitability after a historic bankruptcy is by no means assured. He knows it. GM directors know it. And anyone with a stake in the company’s success should know it.

”Ed’s the first guy to tell you it’s not all figured out yet,” says another GM executive who works closely with him. ”There’s some fear in this company. People are nervous. They don’t know what it means — ‘I get to make my own decisions.’ ”

Simpler, faster answers

For a clue, look to Big Ed himself.

In a place that elevated bureaucracy and ponderous presentations to high corporate art, Whitacre is routinely moving in the other direction. Give him less data, he says, in favor of more facts, more answers and more solutions from the people closest to the problems.

It’s hard to overstate how challenging that turnabout can be to GM’s often-constipated culture, where studying something to death (products, business deals, whether to prepare for bankruptcy) too often was mistaken for actually getting things done. Not in what’s taking shape inside the GM of Whitacre, named CEO last December.

Monday meetings of his 13-member ”Executive Committee” are typically wrapped up in a couple of hours — unless Whitacre is on a tear — compared with the daylong ”Automotive Strategy Board” confabs of old that had a corporate ritual all their own.

Monthly sales reports have been simplified, and hourly updates on the final day of each month were abolished. Forward-looking production plans no longer are reported because Whitacre couldn’t understand why GM routinely aired such competitive information when many rivals did not.

Spending within GM’s multibillion-dollar capital budget now requires fewer approvals once the overall budget is approved. Operating executives, such as North American President Mark Reuss or product development chief Tom Stephens, are encouraged to tap resources already approved in larger budgets by Whitacre and the company’s board of directors.

The goal: Move quicker, empower management, push accountability deeper into the frozen middle of the salaried ranks unsure what to make of this newfound emphasis on autonomy and risk-taking.

Even board meetings are streamlined, according to several executives familiar with the changes. Approvals of routine capital spending have been reduced, as have the number of board actions required to green-light product programs.

Gone are the two-day sessions of old, replaced by crisper, half-day meetings intended to let Whitacre and his team run the company while the directors focus appropriately on big-picture issues. Those include corporate performance and the crucial timetable to sell GM shares to investors, the first step toward extricating the U.S. Treasury from GM.

Homegrown talent works

Whitacre’s GM is not the old GM, partly because he’s nothing like his predecessors.

Until congressional inquisitions prompted GM to dump its corporate jets, former CEOs crossed time zones like most people cross town. Whitacre dislikes travel; he hasn’t yet been abroad as GM CEO, though he and the company’s directors are scheduled to hold their June board meeting in China.

He’s neither a veteran of the auto industry, nor an engineer in the mold of Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally. But Whitacre does share his rival’s obvious preference to unleash homegrown talent instead of import it — primarily in the engineering, development and building of cars and trucks.

Sure, he’s wooed former AT&T colleagues (three of them, actually) to GM, in communications and government affairs. His CFO is a veteran of Microsoft and the new treasurer is coming from Wall Street. In the guts of the operations? Reuss, son of a former GM president; Stephens, a GM engineering veteran; Nick Reilly in Europe, a longtime GM executive; and Tim Lee at GM international.

Whitacre ”is an enormous delegator,” says another executive who has worked closely with him and echoes the assessments of others. ”He doesn’t spend a lot of time in operating meetings. He puts his team in place and they are responsible for doing the work.”

And delivering the results.

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Passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport increased 14 percent in March compared with the same month last year.

However, traffic for the past year was down 13 percent from the prior 12 months.

During March, the Volusia County-operated airport recorded 54,947 passengers, compared to 49,257 travelers in March 2009, according to an airport release.

The traffic increase in March is the result of more seats in the market and higher passenger loads carried by the airport’s principal carriers, Delta and U.S. Airways, said Steve Cooke, the airport’s business development director. During March, 91 percent of available seats were filled, compared to 83 percent in March last year.

The passenger increase is the fifth consecutive monthly increase over the prior year.

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