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November 22, 2005
name='1'>Bankruptcy
Filings Slow Drastically
In the month since a
new
bankruptcy law took effect, the number of Americans filing for
protection from
their creditors has slowed to a trickle, running at one-tenth the
normal number
of filings, the Washington Post reported today. Last week, the
nation’s
federal bankruptcy courts received about 3,600 petitions, according to
Lundquist
Consulting, a California–based financial research firm that
tracks bankruptcy
data from the nation’s courts. In a usual week, about 30,000
cases are filed.
In the week before Oct. 17, the number of cases filed reached 479,430,
Lundquist
said. The previous week, petitions totaled 124,037.That surge explains
why filings
are so low now, Maryland lawyer Brett Weiss said. "Just about
everyone
who was even thinking of filing filed before Oct. 17," he said.
href='http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/business/3476964%20'>Read
more.
id='2'>N.J.
Pension Reform Pushed
The governor’s
Benefits Review
Task Force will recommend an end to state pension abuses that cost
taxpayers
millions of dollars a year, and it may ask that government workers and
retirees
pay more for their health care costs, according to a draft summary of
the report,
the Asbury Park Press reported today. The task force, whose
final report
is to be released this month, is poised to recommend five areas for
lawmakers
to examine, ranging from ending accounting gimmicks that have put the
state’s
five pension systems at least $25 billion in the red to tighter
controls on
future benefits deals.
href='http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051122/NEWS/511220315'>Read
more.
id='3'>Toxic
Exposure Caused Respiratory Disease, Says Railroad Electrician
Arthur Layton filed
a Federal
Employee Liability Act (FELA) suit in Madison County circuit court on
Nov. 14
seeking damages in excess of $200,000 for injuries allegedly received
while
working for Illinois Central Railroad, the Madison St. Clair
Record reported
yesterday. Layton, who worked as an electrician from 1950 through
1980, claims
he was required to work with or around asbestos, diesel exhaust,
environmental
tobacco smoke, toxic dusts, solvents, gases and welding and cutting
fumes that
caused him to suffer permanent injuries to his lungs.
id='4'>GM
Slashing Production and Jobs
General Motors Corp. (GM) said yesterday that it would cut 30,000
North American
manufacturing jobs and close a dozen plants as it struggles to
compete with
fast-growing rivals led by Toyota Motor Corp., Reuters reported
yesterday.
The cuts affect about a quarter of the North American factory work
force at
GM and are the deepest since it eliminated 21 plants and 74,000 jobs
over
four years beginning in December 1991. The latest plan, which
affects factories
in the United States and Canada, allows GM to reduce costs by $7
billion by
the end of 2006—$1 billion above its previous target—and
increases
by 5,000 the jobs the company had said it would cut. The
world’s largest automaker
warned that it would take a "significant restructuring
charge" with
the plan, but did not say how much it would be or when it would be
taken.
This is the largest single U.S. layoff announcement since Kmart said
it would
cut 37,000 jobs in January 2003, according to employment consulting
firm Challenger,
Gray & Christmas.
href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051121/bs_nm/autos_gm_dc'>Read
more.
href='http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/21/markets/markets_nyopen/index.htm'>stocks
were mixed early yesterday as investors welcomed General
Motors’ restructuring
plan but cast a wary eye on rising oil prices. GM shares opened up
more than
two percent, but gave back most of those gains pretty quickly. GM
shares have
gotten pounded over the last few weeks amid bankruptcy speculation.
id='5'>Heading
into Holiday Season, Credit Card Rates Rise Again
With the unofficial
holiday
shopping season opening Friday, consumer credit card rates rose for
the seventh
straight week, according to the IndexCreditCards.com weekly Credit
Card Monitor.
“Top-level” consumer credit cards averaged a 9.91 APR, up
from 9.87
percent last week and 9.51 percent seven weeks ago.
IndexCreditCards.com uses
“top-level" to describe platinum or similarly designated
credit cards
that generally offer the lowest interest rates to eligible
cardholders. Consumer
reward credit cards offered an average 11.23 APR, up from 11.19
percent last
week and 10.75 percent seven weeks ago. Student credit card rates
increased
to an average 14.98 percent, up from 14.96 percent last week and 14.72
percent
seven weeks ago.
id='6'>Delphi
Relief Sought
Pepco Energy
Services filed
a motion seeking a U.S. bankruptcy court order of relief from
automatic stay
to provide a notice of default and terminate a sales agreement between
Pepco
Energy Service and Delphi, or for an order compelling the Delphi to
assume or
reject the sales agreement, BankruptcyData.com reported yesterday. The
court
will consider the motion on Jan. 5, 2006.
id='7'>Loral
Emerges from Chapter 11
Loral Space &
Communications
Inc. today announced that it has officially concluded its
reorganization and
has successfully emerged from chapter 11, according to a PRNewswire
release.
Throughout the chapter 11 process, Space Systems/Loral remained the
premier
manufacturer of commercial satellites, increasing its market share and
winning
more than a third of the dollar value of all contracts awarded over
the last
18 months, more than any other commercial satellite manufacturer.
Loral Skynet’s
fleet is well-positioned to serve areas with high growth potential,
such as
Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the trans-Atlantic
market.
href='http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-22-2005/0004221213&EDATE'>Read
the full release.
id='8'>Bank
That Loaned Money to Ex-Refco CEO Names CEO
The Austrian bank
that lent
hundreds of millions of dollars to the former head of embattled
commodities
brokerage Refco Inc. said yesterday that it has appointed the ex-chief
of the
European Union’s (EU’s) lending institution as its new
CEO. Ewald Nowotny,
a former president of the European Investment Bank, was named to head
the Bank
Fuer Arbeit und Wirschaft, better known by its acronym BAWAG. Nowotny,
who is
vice rector of Vienna’s Economics University and a longtime
economic affairs
consultant to Austria’s opposition Social Democrats, will take
over on Jan.
1, the bank said in a statement. He succeeds Johann Zwettler, who
steps down
as BAWAG chairman and CEO on Dec. 31. Zwettler has insisted that his
departure
should not be seen as an admission of wrongdoing in the affair.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Austria-Refco.html'>Read
more.