Pig Sales Fly Blind as Data Cut by Shutdown Hampers Firms

Pig Sales Fly Blind as Data Cut by Shutdown Hampers Firms

For Brian Duncan, a 49-year-old hog farmer in Polo, Illinois, the government shutdown is converting the economic fundamentals of his business into a guessing game. Duncan relies on U.S. Department of Agriculture commodity data to price his hogs. That information flow has been cut off with the partial shutdown of the federal government, which entered a fourth day today. The lapse has had a dramatic effect on his operation in north-central Illinois, he said. “Everyone in the food chain relies on the government to be an unbiased source of prices,” said Duncan, who sells 50,000 pigs a year to meat packers, including Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN), Smithfield Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. “We have no clue what the price of hogs is or the price of the pork.” Read more of this post

Swiss Retirees Traverse Pension-Fund Abyss by Dog Walking

Swiss Retirees Traverse Pension-Fund Abyss by Dog Walking

Swiss retirees are soothing concerns over the country’s 42.4 billion-franc ($47 billion) pension-fund deficit by walking dogs, tending bars and giving financial advice. The number of pensioners for hire at Zurich-based Rent a Rentner AG almost doubled to 2,245 this year, said Peter Hiltebrand, who founded the online booking agency in 2009. The retirees, who range from age 60 to 90, set their own fees, starting at a minimum of about 20 francs an hour. “It started out as a crazy idea because I didn’t just want to stay home all day after I retired and wanted to remain active,” said 69-year-old electrician Hiltebrand. “I thought surely there must be other pensioners who’d be interested.” Read more of this post

Construction chaos in Australia: another builder collapses as sector faces 40th straight month in doldrums; 20-year-old Walton Construction handed over to administrators

James Thomson Editor

Construction chaos: another builder collapses as sector faces 40th straight month in doldrums

Published 04 October 2013 08:48, Updated 04 October 2013 10:09

The carnage in Australia’s building sector shows no signs of abating, with yet another major construction group placed in the hands of corporate undertakers yesterday. Craig Walton, managing director of Walton Construction, described Thursday as the toughest day of his life as he handed control of his 20-year-old construction group to administrators. ‘‘It is also the saddest day because of the impact on our employees and their families who have been so loyal and outstandingly professional over the whole journey,” Walton told Fairfax. The company, which at its peak turned over $360 million and had 340 employees, has been buffeted by the seemingly never-ending post-GFC construction sector hangover. Read more of this post

Around 40% of phone numbers that listed companies in China provided to investors go unanswered or are constantly engaged

Under 60% of Chinese listed companies answer the phone

Staff Reporter

2013-10-04

Around 40% of phone numbers that listed companies provided to investors go unanswered or are constantly engaged, according to the China Securities Investor Protection Fund Corporation, a securities supervisory body established by China’s State Council or cabinet. The corporation recently posed as an anonymous client and made three rounds of phone calls to 2,468 companies listed on China’s A-share market and published its results. Of the 7,404 phone calls the company made, around 58.7% were answered and their questions were properly addressed. Around 40.1% of their calls went unanswered while the remainder were busy or had another situation which prevented a satisfactory outcome. The company said it received valid and useful information in 85.3% of calls which were answered and around 91.7% of staff members answering the calls were polite and friendly. The percentage of answered phone calls was highest among companies listed in Hong Kong’s Growth Enterprise Market which allows growth companies to raise capital based on a strong disclosure principle. 73.7% of these companies picked up the phone. They were followed by the Small and Medium Enterprise Board, Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Main Board and Shenzhen Stock Exchange at 63.1%, 52.8% and 52.7%, respectively.

Here comes the spoils society, ready to reap but not sow

Here comes the spoils society

By Robert J. Samuelson, Published: September 30

“To the victors belong the spoils”

— New York Sen. William L. Marcy, 1786-1857, arguing why victorious political parties deserve government jobs

We are, I fear, slowly moving from “the affluent society” toward a “spoils society.” In 1958, Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith published his bestseller, “The Affluent Society,” which profoundly influenced national thinking for decades. To the Great Depression’s survivors, post-World War II prosperity dazzled. Suburbia offered a quiet alternative to crowded and noisy cities. New technologies impressed — television, frozen foods, automatic washers and dryers. Never, it seemed, had so much been enjoyed by so many. Read more of this post

Porsche to BMW Help Bridge East-West German Divide

Porsche to BMW Help Bridge East-West German Divide

On a newly constructed bridge at Porsche AG’s growing factory in eastern Germany, a worker put up a handmade sign this summer with a tongue-in-cheek notice saying “Access to the West,” echoing Cold War language that once marked the former-communist region’s borders. For employees at the facility in Leipzig, a city where protests helped lead to German reunification 23 years ago today, the joke was obvious. With some of the most elite cars in the world rolling off lines there and a nearby Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) factory, the West has arrived. Read more of this post