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Regional airlines face closings, bankruptcy - (www.usatoday.com) Passengers hopscotching across the U.S. may
book their trip on one of the major airlines such as United, but it's often
smaller, regional carriers with such names as Colgan
Airthat do the flying. Regional airlines operate half the nation's
scheduled flights and are often the link between smaller communities and the
national air service network. But now, several of those carriers are being
closed or are in bankruptcy court protection. They face significant challenges,
as the big airlines they often fly for are phasing out smaller and costlier
regional jets and cutting some low-traffic regional routes to focus on those
that are more lucrative. As a result, many smaller communities may lose some or
all of their air service, and their residents will have to take longer drives
to find a flight.
Secret Libor Committee Clings to Anonymity After Rigging
Scandal - (www.bloomberg.com) Every two months,
representatives from the world’s largest banks meet at an undisclosed location
to review the London interbank offered rate. Who sits on the British Bankers’
Association’s Foreign Exchange and Money Markets Committee, the
body that governs the benchmark for more than $300 trillion of securities
worldwide, is a secret. No minutes are published. The BBA won’t identify any
members, saying it wants to protect them from being lobbied, and declined to
make the chairman available for interview. The group’s lack of transparency is
symptomatic of a self- regulated system that failed to stop traders around the
world manipulating the world’s most widely used benchmark interest
rate for profit. Martin Wheatley, the British regulator charged
with reviewing Libor after the scandal, is now weighing whether to bring
oversight under the control of regulators.
Chinese city plans $240 billion in investment - (finance.yahoo.com) A major Chinese city has
announced plans for $240 billion in industrial investments, adding to local
spending initiatives that analysts say should help to reverse China's economic
slowdown. The government of Chongqing, a major industrial center in China's southwest,
said in an announcement reported Tuesday by state newspapers that it will
invest 1.5 trillion yuan in seven areas including autos, electronics and
petrochemicals over the next three years. It is the fifth Chinese city to
announce multibillion-dollar investment plans as they try to stimulate economic
growth that has slowed steadily this year. The others are Changsha in central
China, Guangzhou in the south and Nanjing and Ningbo in the east.
U.K. Unexpectedly Posts Deficit As Corporation Taxes Plunge
- (www.bloomberg.com) Britain unexpectedly posted a budget deficit in July as corporation-tax receipts
plunged, partly due to the closure of the Elgin gas field in the North Sea. The
shortfall, which excludes government support for banks, was 557 million pounds
($878 million) compared with a surplus of 2.84 billion pounds a year earlier,
the Office for National Statistics said in London today.
The median of 17 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey was for a
surplus of 2.2 billion pounds. Tax revenue fell 0.8 percent and corporation tax
plunged 19.3 percent. Government spending rose 5.1 percent.
Governments
Everywhere Are Wasting Money On The Dying Auto Industry - (www.businessinsider.com) Like other dying industries
of the past century, the global auto industry has entered decline after having
fully embedded itself in the political complex. Regardless of political
leaning, federal governments from Europe, to Japan, to the United States have
and will continue to do everything possible to save the industry. US automakers
received their first bailout in late 2008 from the Bush Administration.
The bailouts continued in the Obama Administration.
(Both presidencies that could hardly be more dissimilar, but were united in
their assumption of an enduring future for cars). For Republicans — a party
that claims to adhere to free-market principles — releasing a first payment of
over $13 billion to the industry was a classic foxhole-conversion in the midst
of the financial crisis. For Democrats — a party that claims to be concerned
with climate change, the environment, and public transport — the enormous
financial support to the industry was only one part of the current
administration’s continued embrace of the auto-highway complex.
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