| Buyouts lock in out-of-control school costs
What's worse than school boards that waste precious money on expensive trips to a national school board conference in San Francisco? School boards that give buyouts to teachers that lock in expensive pension and health care benefits that will sock taxpayers in the future. That's what the Ann Arbor school district is proposing to help balance its budget. Pension and health care costs are increasingly gobbling up any increases in state education aid, leaving little or nothing for the students in the classroom. At the rate things are going, schools will be cutting programs for kids to finance the gold-plated benefits of pampered adult retirees. I sympathize with having solid pension and health care benefits in retirement. But the lack or low level of health care co-pays and premium payments gives public school retirees little incentive to economize or prioritize their health concerns.
Russia's energy policy: Should Europe worry?
East-West relations are deteriorating to a level not seen since the Soviet period. Recent cover stories on Russia from The Economist (December 16, 2006) and Der Spiegel (March 5, 2007) present President Vladimir Putin as a gangster with a gasoline pump and a Soviet Commissar wielding Gazproms massive pipeline network. These images illustrate a growing fear in the West that Russia is a threat. Russia, according to this point of view, is using energy as a weapon to rebuild its empire. This article examines to what extent Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil and natural gas supplies, should worry. Real and Perceived Threats What the European consumer of Russian gas and oil worries about is mainly what he or she decides to worry about. A major turning point in Europes perception followed the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute in January 2006: Many European governments and large parts of the media decided that the short-lived shutdown of Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine were something to worry about.
Banks, Companies Urged to Cash In on New Investment Climate - KSA
(MENAFN - Arab News) New investment environment and its impact on Saudi banking services, and the Kingdom's insurance sector after joining the World Trade Organization were the subjects discussed by experts, economists and professors at the ongoing Saudi International Banking and Investment Conference 2007 at the Jeddah Hilton yesterday.
Wahib Binzagr, businessman and banking expert, speaking on the supervisory role of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) in regulating the banking services, said that consumer needs should be taken into consideration while analyzing to what extent the rules and regulations are complied with. "Citizens get affected when the dollar increases or decreases and traders are affected when embezzlements take place in the market because their incomes are not substituted or not substantial.
SL Green Announces Sale of 125 Broad Street
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell its condominium interests at 125 Broad Street in downtown Manhattan to Mack-Cali Realty Corporation. In a related transaction, SL Green has agreed to acquire an office property located at 500 West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut from Mack-Cali. The two transactions are expected to close during the second quarter of 2007. The condominium units at 125 Broad Street are being sold for a total of $273 million, or $520 per square foot. The units include floors 2-16, and collectively comprise 39.6% of the property. 125 Broad Street, which was built in 1970 by renowned architects Kahn & Jacobs and Carson Lundin & Shaw, is a 40-story Class A building located on Broad Street in the heart of the Downtown Financial District of Manhattan.
West Aurora School District 129
Herget has been on the District 129 school board since 1999. She is a mother of two grown children. She is involved with the West Aurora Alumni Association and the Child Welfare Society of Aurora.What are your top priorities if elected?To continue to build and maintain trust between the community and board. With that in place, we can successfully implement our Vision 129, which was designed with the help of Dr. Rydland. The priorities outlined in that vision are: Improved student learning, which drives every decision we make; time, tools and training for teachers; safe, secure facilities; financial responsibility; and active community involvement. Those have been, and will remain my priorities if re-elected.What past decision made by this elected body did you most disagree with and why?During my tenure on the board, the decision that I disagreed with most was to move the construction of the "new" Greenman School from where it was originally planned (in the existing neighborhood) to a site on the far west side of Aurora.
Light bulbs' cost benefits bright
Sometimes we need to turn on our intellectual light bulb to illuminate the smartest spending decisions that aren't obvious. Such is the case with the light bulb itself -- specifically, compact fluorescent bulbs.
Using compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs as the energy-efficient bulbs are called, in home light fixtures is absolutely a good idea. You'll save money, both on the bulbs and on electricity costs. In fact, each bulb will save you at least $30 over its life compared with incandescent bulbs, according to conservative Department of Energy estimates. It's a savings that adds up fast.
Although using CFLs is mostly a no-brainer, for the uninitiated, it requires using your brain.
Many a consumer has stood in the lighting aisle of the hardware store with a CFL in one hand and, in the other, an incandescent that costs five to seven times less.
Citi plans to cut 26000 jobs in major revamp
NEW YORK: Citigroup chief executive Charles O Prince III plans to eliminate or reassign more than 26,000 jobs, or 8% of its work force, when he announces a major overhaul of the financial institution on Wednesday, according to a report in The New York Times. Citigroup's consumer and investment banking businesses are expected to face the most severe cuts, the newspaper said. But across the company, legal and compliance departments are being heavily scrutinised, people who have been briefed on the plans said in the newspaper.In a memo to employees on Monday, Prince said the bank plans to consolidate some back-office, middle-office and corporate functions, move some work to lower-cost areas, and make its technology platforms more efficient. Other published reports have said that Citigroup might eliminate 15,000 jobs, or about 5% of its work force of 327,000.
China paying in euro for Iranian oil
There was this Reuters story published by the International Herald Tribune before Holy Week that China has started to pay for its Iranian oil imports in euro. In a story datelined Beijing, Reuters reports "Iran is pressuring its oil customers to start paying in currencies other than US dollars and many have begun to comply, people in the oil industry here with knowledge of the practice said." According to Reuters, Zhuhai Zhenrong Trading, a Chinese state-run company that is the biggest buyer of Iranian crude oil worldwide, began paying for its oil in euros late last year as Tehran moved to diversify its foreign exchange reserves away from US dollars. "Most of China's purchases have shifted to euro," a Chinese state oil trader told Reuters. Iranian officials have said for months that more than half their customers have switched their payment currency away from the dollar as Tehran attempted to diversify its reserves, but news of the change by Zhenrong is the first outside confirmation.
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