The World Cup might be over, but for the Los Angeles Galaxy, potential roster moves, or non-moves, are making headlines.
One report from the Associated Press has Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber saying the league will not entertain transfer offers from overseas clubs for Galaxy captain Landon Donovan.
Donovan has recently gone out on loan to German club Bayern Munich and English club Everton. Donovan's time in Everton, along with his performance at the World Cup have made him a more attractive asset for international clubs.
However, it is the World Cup performance, which included a game-winning goal against Algeria that helped the United States win its group, that makes MLS want to keep Donovan stateside.
"MLS needs soccer heroes, and we have a great American soccer hero playing for us in L.A., holding the torch for the sport in our country, and that's very important," Garber said in the AP report payday loans with no fax.
Another potential roster move for the Galaxy could be the signing of Brazlian superstar Ronaldinho, according to an ESPN report. The report cites a radio interview of Real Salt Lake Owner Dave Checketts on KALL, where he hinted that on the heels of New York's signing of Thierry Henry, another club might be looking to lure an well-known player stateside.
“I would imagine this guy is coming to L.A., and you'll all recognize who he is," Checketts said. The interviewer asked if he was Brazilian, and the response was, "I think he might."
The rumors of Ronaldinho signing with the Galaxy have been off-and-on in recent times.
The Galaxy is owned by Los Angeles' AEG.
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Financial snapshot of banks with headquarters based in the St. Louis metro area
Ranked by assets as of March 31, 2009
Dollar figures are in thousands
RELATED: Banks based in St. Louis are turning profit again
NameTotal Assets at end of MarchAverage Assets during first quarterFirst quarter Profit (Loss)Return on Average Assets* (%)Total LoansProblem loansProblem loans / Total loans ** (%)Tier 1 Leverage Ratio *** (%) FIRST BK SOUTHWEST BK AN M&I BK ENTERPRISE BK & TR FIRST NB OF ST LOUIS BANK OF EDWARDSVILLE RELIANCE BK STIFEL B&T MIDWEST BANKCENTRE JEFFERSON B&TC BANK OF WASHINGTON EAGLE B&TC OF MISSOURI FIRST COLLINSVILLE BK ST LOUIS BK BUSINESS BK LINDELL B&TC SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL BK CASS COMMERCIAL BK FIRST NB IN STAUNTON CITIZENS NB ROYAL BK MO TRUMAN BK FRONTENAC BK PEOPLES B&TC FIRST COUNTY BK ROCKWOOD BK GERMANTOWN T&SB CARLINVILLE NB SAINT JOHNS B&TC FIRST NB OF WATERLOO UNITED BK OF UNION LIBERTY BK BANK OF SULLIVAN BANK OF O’FALLON CITIZENS CMNTY BK BREMEN B&TC BANK OF OLD MONROE BANK OF FRANKLIN CTY UNICO BK BRADFORD NB CHAMPION BK BELGRADE ST BK COMMUNITY FIRST BK FIRST ST BK OF ST CHARLES FARMERS & MERCHANTS BK COMMERCIAL BK CITIZENS BK PARKSIDE FNCL B&T TRIAD BK CONCORD BK MISSOURI BK THE NEW FRONTIER BK FIRST NB FORTUNEBANK MERAMEC VALLEY BK STATE BK OF WATERLOO JERSEY ST BK FARMERS ST BK OF HOFFMAN 1ST ADVANTAGE BK WESTBRIDGE BK & TR CO BANK OF KAMPSVILLE BANK STAR MIDWEST RGNL BK COMMUNITY BK OF TRENTON BANK OF BELLEVILLE VILLAGE BK BANK OF CALHOUN CTY SILEX BKG CO SUPERIOR BK CITIZENS ST BK BANK OF HILLSBORO FIRST CMNTY ST BK FIRST ILLINOIS BK STATE BK OF ST JACOB COLUMBIA NB FMB BK BANK OF MODESTO FARMERS ST BK CHESTERFIELD ST BK Sums * RETURN ON ASSETS payday loan lenders. Bank profit as a percent of assets. The higher the number, the better. In good times, the figure is usually above 1 percent.
* RETURN ON ASSETS. Bank profit as a percent of assets. The higher the number, the better. In good times, the figure is usually above 1 percent.
** PROBLEM LOANS TO TOTAL LOANS. The percentage of loans upon which payment is very delinquent or foreclosed upon. The lower the number, the better.
*** TIER 1 LEVERAGE RATIO. A measure of a bank’s capital adequacy. The number must be at 5 percent or better for the bank to be considered “well capitalized.”
Thirty-eight states assess a tax when you sell a home.
Missouri’s real estate agents want to make sure their state never makes it 39.
The "Vote YES to Stop Double Taxation Committee" — funded by state and national real estate trade groups — said it submitted "tens of thousands" of signatures Sunday to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would prohibit transfer or sales taxes on real estate in Missouri.
Spokesman Scott Charton would not say exactly how many signatures the group submitted, but said it was "very comfortable" that it had more than the roughly 160,000 needed to qualify to put an amendment on the ballot.
The measure is preventative. Neither the state nor any cities or counties in Missouri now have a transfer tax. But real estate groups worry that, in a budget crunch, state or local lawmakers may start taxing home sales in a bid to raise revenue.
"As state, county and city revenues decline, politicians are tempted to impose new transfer taxes — just as Missouri citizens are struggling to make it," the group said in a news release. Elizabeth Mendenhall, president of the Missouri Association of Realtors, described transfer taxes as "unfair double taxation," because Missourians also pay property taxes every year.
Still, such taxes are hardly unusual.
They’re in place in 38 states and the District of Columbia, generally at less than 1 percent of the purchase price. Illinois taxes sales at 0.1 percent, though some municipalities, like the city of Chicago, assess taxes of their own. In some cities, the funds are used to pay for open space or affordable housing programs.
But they don’t exist in Missouri. And real estate agents, already battered by the weak housing market, hope to keep it that way.
Chalk up a legal victory for developer Paul McKee and his $8.1 billion NorthSide plan to remake 2 square miles northwest of downtown St. Louis.
Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce has dismissed the suit that challenged the constitutionality of the state’s Distressed Areas Land Assemblage tax credit. On Dec. 31, the state gave McKee $19.6 million of the credit.
Two St. Louis residents, Barbara Manzara and Keith Marquard, had filed a suit claiming that the never-before-used tax credit was unconstitutional.
Joyce ruled Monday that the law passes constitutional muster. She rejected the plaintiffs’ claim that the credit awarded to McKee shifts the risk of loss away from his project and represents improper use of public money. Instead, the sale of the tax credit benefits the redevelopment area, the judge ruled.
McKee’s lawyer Paul Puricelli said Wednesday that Joyce "covered all the issues" in finding the law valid. "The primary basis for her opinion was that the statute makes it explicit that any proceeds from these tax credits have to be used for the underlying redevelopment," he said.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Irene Smith, said she will appeal. Smith said that a tax credit intended merely to assemble property for redevelopment falls short of a legitimate use of taxpayer money.
"It’s the use of public money in a reckless way," she said.
State lawmakers designed the land-assemblage credit in 2007 to encourage lending on speculative projects such as NorthSide. The credit allows full reimbursement for money spent on interest and loan fees to buy at least 50 acres of land in low-income neighborhoods and a 50 percent reimbursement for the cost of land itself.
McKee sold his tax credit in January and used the proceeds to pay down much of his debt to the Bank of Washington, Mo., his main lender so far on the NorthSide project.
"The notion of the land assemblage tax credit is to acquire land," Puricelli said. "It’s appropriate to use the credit to pay off land assemblage costs."
Still pending is a suit claiming the Board of Aldermen and St. Louis officials failed to follow procedure in approving NorthSide’s $390 million tax increment financing, the largest ever in the city. The matter awaits a ruling by St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker, who finished hearing testimony about a month ago.
Gas prices have continued to creep up in Texas as well as nationally, hitting $2.68 for a gallon of unleaded regular today following four week run-up, according to AAA Texas.
In a press release, AAA Corporate Communications Manager Dan Ronan noted that the cost of filling up a typical 14-gallon tank in Texas has reached $37.
However, fears that the cost of crude could put a dent in spring break travel plans are proving unfounded, with a AAA Texas Travel poll finding that 58% of Texans plan on driving to their revelry destination.
Nearly half — 48% — of Texas spring break travelers intend to make their journey to another part of the state personal loans for people with bad credit.
In Texas, the average price for gallon of unleaded regular is up to $2.68 from $2.64, an increase of four cents. Nationally, prices increased three cents from $2.77 to $2.80. Texas continues to remain below the national average, and this week gas prices in the state are 12 cents lower than the national average, according to AAA Texas.
Data from AAA Texas showed the price of gas as of March 18 nationally at $2.80, in Dallas at $2.68 and in Fort Worth at $2.67.
Toyota’s pain is its rivals’ gain.
All major automakers but Toyota reported higher U.S. sales in February, and most took customers from their powerful Japanese competitor, which has been struggling with a series of massive safety recalls.
Toyota Motor Corp. said its U.S. sales fell 9 percent last month, while Ford, GM, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai all reported double-digit growth compared with February 2009, at the depth of the recession.
The gains may have been even higher without the blizzards that paralyzed the East Coast.
Other winners included Kia Motors Corp. and Subaru. Even struggling Chrysler Group LLC saw improvement. Toyota, by contrast, suspended sales of eight popular models in late January. And it spent last week answering questions from Congress about its safety record.
"We feel we’re getting our fair share of the Toyota business," said Susan Docherty, vice president of marketing at GM, whose sales rose nearly 12 percent.
February was the first full month since Toyota’s decision Jan. 26 to halt sales of some of its vehicles in the U.S. because of safety concerns. Those vehicles went on sale again as dealers repaired them, but Toyota’s image suffered.
Ford Motor Co. posted a 43 percent jump in February U.S. auto sales and outsold General Motors Co. for the first time in nearly a dozen years as it grabbed customers from struggling Toyota. Ford sold 334 more cars than GM in the U free credit report online.S. for the first time since August 1998, when GM was in the midst of a strike.
Most automakers reported that sales to rental car companies and other fleet buyers also were strong as companies began buying again after cutbacks last year. Fleet sales generally mean lower profits to automakers than sales to individuals.
Chrysler, for example, said sales rose half a percent, its first year-over-year monthly increase since December 2007. Car sales rose 38 percent, but truck sales dived 28 percent.
Hyundai Motor Co. said its sales rose 11 percent, driven by sales of the new Tucson small SUV. The company’s redesigned Sonata midsize car saw sales rise 58 percent.
The industry was expecting to see gains over February 2009, which was one of the weakest months in a very depressed year. Sales over President’s Day weekend — which traditionally kicks off the spring selling season — were robust, according to automotive website Edmunds.com.
Still, winter storms at the beginning and end of the month hurt sales on the East Coast and in the Midwest.
"Three and a half feet of snow on these cars," Docherty said. "It took our dealers a bit of time to get all that snow off here and get the customers back into the showrooms."
The fat cats were supposed to get their comeuppance.
After Wall Street’s most prominent firms — by their own admission — helped cause the 2008 financial meltdown and got bailed out by the government, they were supposed to stop handing out million-dollar bonuses to employees. No one was supposed to get seven- and eight-figure rewards, not after the Great Recession left one in 10 Americans unemployed. Not after President Barack Obama — who on Thursday called such pay "obscene" — had promised to clamp down on lavish bonuses.
It turns out little actually changed.
Americans will see that starting Friday when JPMorgan Chase & Co. releases its 2009 financial results. The other big banks will follow. The messages will be the same: Compensation is at near-record levels.
The form of the pay is changing. Instead of cash, bonuses will be paid mostly in stock that can’t be redeemed for years. But the numbers are still staggering. Together, the six biggest U.S. banks are on pace to pay $150 billion in 2009, slightly less than the record $164 billion in 2007 before the crisis, according to New York state comptroller’s office.
How this happened is complicated. It involves a remarkable turnaround by the banks, but one fueled by the bailout. It shows the power of the financial lobby. And it highlights the age-old debate about how much U.S. companies need to pay to retain talented bankers and traders.
Scott Talbott of the Financial Services Roundtable says keeping those workers from going to overseas firms is critical. "The market will find a way to pay these people what they’re worth," says Talbott, chief lobbyist for the group representing some of the largest financial firms.
But Douglas Elliott, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former banker, thinks "The way the public sees it is that we wrote a $700 billion check to the banks, and they got to burn through it as they pleased."
THE BAILOUT
The government played a big role in the bonanza by bailing the banks out. In the days after the meltdown, banks were given access to cheap government loans and other federal subsidies. Because the banks weren’t required to put it toward lending, they could use it as they pleased.
Many bet on risky securities that paid off when the markets surged. The result: big profits and big bonuses. Profit at Goldman Sachs nearly doubled to $8.4 billion in the first nine months of 2009 from the previous year, and analysts expect its full-year profits to top $10 billion.
Goldman set aside $16.71 billion from January through September for compensation, including salaries, bonuses and associated costs. That puts it on pace to meet the record $20.2 billion in compensation costs it had for all of 2007.
Should Goldman’s annual compensation go that high, it works out to $600,000 each for its 31,700 employees. It won’t be distributed like that, of course. The best performers and executives stand to earn millions.
The nation’s biggest banks all took money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Some needed it; others were pressured by federal officials to take it. Regardless, the banks weren’t restricted in how to spend it. They faced limits on compensation, but that lasted for only as long as they held the funds, which gave them incentive to pay the TARP back quickly. In total, banks took $245 billion and have paid back $162 billion.
LOBBYING MACHINE
Bonus outrage and the momentum to do something about it peaked last February, when crippled insurer American International Group Inc. moved to pay $165 million in bonuses to hundreds of employees in the same financial unit that brought down the company. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called Wall Street pay "out of whack."
The fact it didn’t happen speaks to the industry’s powerful lobbying machine. In the past decade, no industry has spent more lobbying dollars than Wall Street and its offshoots. From 1998 to 2009, the FIRE lobby — or finance, insurance, real estate — spent $3.8 billion, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. By comparison, the energy and defense industries spent $2.6 billion and $1.08 billion, respectively.
Meanwhile, Wall Street’s generosity to political candidates ramped up even as the industry began careening. Financial firms contributed a record $476 million in the last election cycle. That’s more than double the No. 2 donor, the health care industry, which gave $166 million, even as Congress began to debate landmark health care legislation.
WHAT’S NEXT
Washington is scrambling to get something done to temper the populist anger. The financial lobby still could block those efforts.
The Obama administration is proposing a 10-year tax on the largest banks to cover a projected $117 billion shortfall in the bailout fund.
The Fed is reviewing a plan that would give it more oversight on compensation by reviewing pay practices at thousands of banks. The central bank would be able to veto pay plans if it found them to encourage excessive risk-taking by executives, traders or loan officers.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which regulates most of the nation’s banks, is seeking input on a plan that would tie fees that banks pay for deposit insurance to how much a company’s compensation plan encourages workers to take risks in order to achieve higher returns.
A few in Congress want to go further. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, introduced legislation Tuesday to impose a 75 percent bonus tax.
"What you’re seeing is a public-be-damned attitude from the banks," he said. "They’re rolling in dough while the taxpayer has to sacrifice.
Burlington Coat Factory will set up shop in the former Mervyn’s store in Elk Grove in the spring, Elk Grove Economic Development Corp. officials said Friday.
The New Jersey-based chain of 414 discount department stores opened a new store last March in a former Target store at County Fair Fashion Mall in Woodland.
The Elk Grove store will be located in the Marketplace 99 shopping center at Bond Road and Highway 99 and will employ about 70 people payday loans guaranteed no fax.
Burlington Coat Factory entered this market in 2001 with a store in south Sacramento on Florin Road.
Burlington Coat Factory also has a store in Citrus Heights, located in a former Furniture World.
Consumer outrage about AT&T’s 3G service for iPhones is boiling over, but the dropped calls and spotty service reflect a greater lack of foresight in the wireless industry.
Analysts say AT&T’s problems would have happened on any network that carried Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone because of the overwhelming amount of data downloaded by iPhone users. Over the past three years, AT&T’s data traffic increased 5,000% because of the iPhone.
"The challenges that AT&T has are being faced by a lot of operators around the world: Very rapidly growing usage coupled with dense populations," said Daniel Hays, wireless expert and partner at consultancy PRTM. "Would it have been different on Verizon? Probably not."
AT&T accurately states that it has the nation’s fastest 3G network but it "probably bit off more than it could chew," said Doug Helmreich, program director at consultancy CFI Group. "Now some of their customers are paying the price."
IPhone users in New York and San Francisco in particular have been up in arms about frequent service interruptions. Earlier this month, AT&T’s head of mobility, Ralph de la Vega, admitted at an investors’ conference that the company’s service in those two cities was "below our standards."
It’s not just New York and San Francisco iPhone users who are grumbling. An annual Consumer Reports study recently rated AT&T (T, Fortune 500) the worst in customer satisfaction in 19 cities across the country. (Rival Verizon Wireless rated No. 1 in the study.)
In nearly three-quarters of the surveyed areas, AT&T was rated lowest for availability of service, frequency of dropped calls and quality of voice service.
Verizon vs. AT&T
Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) has had a field day at AT&T’s expense.
"There’s a map for that" commercials have poked fun at AT&T’s smaller 3G footprint. And that has helped Verizon take market share, according to Piper Jaffray.
But studies show that AT&T’s network is actually faster than Verizon’s, and Verizon’s ad campaign may be a bit misleading.
Four recent independent studies from wireless industry analysis firms Global Wireless Solutions and Root Wireless, investment bank Piper Jaffray and tech blog Gizmodo all concluded that AT&T’s 3G network was the fastest in the United States.
"We drove millions of miles across the country, and our data support AT&T’s claim that it has the fastest 3G data network," said Global Wireless CEO Paul Carter.
The map that Verizon shows in its ads is correct, but AT&T’s 3G network still covers nearly 80% of the U.S. population, said Carter. And AT&T’s non-3G coverage is also broader than its 3G network.
With that kind of pedigree, analysts say AT&T was likely the best-equipped network to handle the iPhone.
"For Verizon … we still wonder if the network has the capacity and backhaul to support a device with an adoption curve of the iPhone," said Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen in a client note.
Perception vs. reality
AT&T admits that it has had problems keeping up with the data demands of iPhone users, which has prompted the company to accelerate scheduled improvements in its network.
"There’s more work to be done and a sense of urgency to do it, but we feel like we’re on the right track with our investments," said Fletcher Cook, spokesman for AT&T.
In the next few years, AT&T said it would double its network speed, and Cook said AT&T has already improved overall network quality by 25%. The company has also deployed more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, which it says may help alleviate stress on its 3G network.
PRTM’s Hays applauded the Wi-Fi solution and AT&T’s dedication to improving its network, calling them "critical levers in addressing AT&T’s network performance issues." He expects AT&T to go even further, perhaps by integrating tiered data plans that would force iPhone users to pay for the data they download.
Still, perception has hurt AT&T.
AT&T’s network is the No. 1 hangup for people who are in the market for an iPhone, according to a CFI Group study. The company’s woes have even become the butt of jokes on late-night TV.
"It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cell phone as a challenge to the iPhone," said "Saturday Night Live’s" Seth Meyers on Dec. 19. "Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls."
The building frustrations led some angry consumers to take matters into their own hands. "Operation Chokehold," which took place on Dec. 18, was an attempt to overload AT&T’s network by running data-intensive apps to try and send a message that consumers "are sick of their substandard network." The ploy failed.
"Unfortunately for AT&T, when it comes to network quality, perception is reality and right now Verizon has a more positive public perception," said Larsen. "If AT&T can continue to show improvement in network throughput, it may blunt some of the impact."
Nortel Networks Corp. pensioners reacted with disgust on Friday to reports of new lavish bonuses for the company’s top executives.
It was yet another blow to Nortel’s distressed pensioners, retirees and long-term disabled former employees, who have dealt with financial uncertainty since the former Canadian tech darling declared bankruptcy in January.
“It seems so aberrant, in terms of the executive of the company awarding themselves really, really rich pay raises for doing the job of taking the company apart,” said Tony Marsh, who retired from Nortel in 2000 after 30 years.
“Those of us who built the company up, into arguably the world’s No. 1 telecom company, could never have dreamed of such riches,” Marsh added.
An internal Nortel file “outlines a new compensation scheme for 72 Nortel executives that will see them get a total of $7.5 million U.S. on top of their current salaries in 2009,” according to CBC News.
The company has argued that bonuses are necessary to keep executives aboard what is essentially a sinking ship following Nortel’s filing for bankruptcy protection and the subsequent selling off of the company’s assets.
Nortel would not comment on details of the plan. It issued a statement saying: “As Nortel works through the highly complex tasks of this restructuring, it is critical to have the right specialist resources in place … Any steps taken around these individuals has been within the context of a previously approved compensation plan, taken in consultation with the creditor committees, external legal counsel and the Canadian Monitor.”
Earlier, former CEO Mike Zafirovski claimed $12.3 million (U.S.) for back pay and bonuses. In March, some 100 executives were awarded $45 million in retention bonuses.
The company’s divisions are being auctioned off in a process dragged out by bankruptcy court approvals. Retirees are worried that when Nortel’s various global divisions are entirely sold off, they will be stuck with even less than they are now, which is not much, Marsh said.
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