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" Supporting Asian and Minority Businesses" |
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o Wall Street is a collusive enterprise between investment bankers, salespeople, traders and analysts, and between the sell-side (investment banks) and the buy-side (institutional investors). Fund managers willingly accepted the analysts’ wildly optimistic projections which provided cover for their role in the inevitable unraveling of the charade. o We decried the corruption of auditors in the Enron scandal. Doctors are no different in this chain of corruption of professionals. Last year, pharmaceutical companies spent $7 billion to get the doctors to push certain drugs and treatment, e.g., 45 million prescriptions of Celebrex & Vioxx ($3.7 billion) versus 45 million bottles of ibuprofen ($180 million). o The National Rifle Association (NRA) has publicly taken credit for the election of George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential elections Da! o Ethanol provisions in the Energy bill failed to emphasize the stupidity of raising corn to make ethanol. Other crops are far superior for the purpose, e.g., switchgrass. Switchgrass produces 4x the energy return per acre, without pesticides or yearly plowing. Congress either doesn’t know what it’s taking about or is playing games with the American people. o Raising corn to burn on the highway will deplete the soil, threaten grain elevators, pollute rivers and coastal areas and almost certainly increase the acreage of genetically engineered corn. The anticipated benefits for air quality do not come close to compensating for the environmental tragedy that awaits this idiotic program. o Consumer prices in the US rose a modest 0.3% last month despite higher energy costs, while industrial activity jumped by the largest amount in 2 years. Return to Top
o Logitech International, the world’s largest maker of computer peripherals, e.g., mice & keyboards said that it expected to post a 23% higher operating profit of $120 million for the year ending March 2003. o AOL Timer Warner suffered a net loss of $4.24 billion in the 1st Q., the largest in US business history. o Boeing has won a multibillion dollar deal to supply 40 fighter-jets to South Korea which has opted to stay with US military suppliers despite a strong challenge from 3 European makers. The value of the deal has been put at $4.5 billion. o French telecom equipment maker Alcatel reported a net loss in 1st Q sales. Investors did not punish the company as much as expected, in part because they may have been expecting even worse news. Alcatel said it lost $749 million. Return to Top
o The Bush Adm. continued to press a deadlocked Congress to extend the Govt’s authority to borrow $750 billion because the $5.95 trillion debt limit would be reached his summer. o Until the economic outlook is clarified, which Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said should occur in 2 to 4 months, the central bank is unlikely to raise short-term rates in his testimony to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee last month. o DOD cannot keep track of its procurement money, which results in waste, fraud and abuse. There is a need for a separate agency that should handle audits of agency expenditures quarterly or every 6 months to provide accountability to taxpayers’ money. o A senior DOI official has challenged a highly critical report by EPA’s Denver office that could delay the largest domestic energy exploration project to drill for gas in the Powder River Basin. o SSA has stepped up campaign to identify employees whose names don’t match their social security numbers. Losers will be illegal workers. Return to Top
o The surprising resilience of the US economy has executives and investors in this export-driven region, e.g., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China and Malaysia, talking eagerly of an Asian recovery. Experts now predict Asia’s economy will expand more than 6% and do even better in 2003. o US high-tech exports fell 15% last year, except to China, where booming demand for computers, mobile phones and manufactured goods spurred a 25% jump. o Hongkong faces a downgrade of its credit rating unless the Govt can find ways to increase taxation income to plug the budget deficit, warned S&P. o Japan’s personal computer market said its worst slump in 23 years in the 2001-02 business year, is hit by sluggish consumer spending and restrained corporate investment in IT, industry data has shown. o South Korea’s LG Electronics posed a 79% rise in 1st Q net profit as a brisk economy fanned sales at the world’s top maker of air conditioners. o Singapore has taken over Hongkong’s title of best business environment in Asia, with the SAR’s global ranking falling from 5th to 11th in a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). o After 3 months in a row of rising confidence, the Business Confidence Index in the Philippines in early April fell back 8.1 points to 96.4, once more below the 100-point mark. Return to Top |
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