“WWU Fall Family Open House this weekend - Bellingham Herald” plus 4 more |
- WWU Fall Family Open House this weekend - Bellingham Herald
- Saudi Ambassador Hosts Future Business Leaders - Stockhouse
- George Will - Chicago Tribune
- U.S. unveils broad effort to limit executive pay - Washington Examiner
- Lutefisk and loot: Tax records open in Norway - Beaver County Times
| WWU Fall Family Open House this weekend - Bellingham Herald Posted: 22 Oct 2009 07:24 PM PDT FRIDAY "The Sounds of Cells Dividing" exhibition at the Western Gallery, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. "The Mistakes Madeline Made," 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center main stage, $12 for adults, $9 for students and WWU faculty, staff and seniors. Due to language and nudity, this show is for mature audiences. Arthur Hicks Piano Scholarship Recital, 8 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center Concert Hall. SATURDAY Opening reception with Provost Catherine Riordan, 10 a.m. in the Academic Instructional Center. "What Did We Learn from the Ancient One? A Twisted Tale of Cultural Patrimony," by anthropology professor Daniel Boxberger, Science Lecture 110, 11 a.m. "Military Service and Long-term Health," by sociology professor Jay Teachman, Science Lecture 120, 11 a.m. "Can Asian Men be American Action Heroes? Breaking the Racial Barrier in Action Films," by professor Midori Takagi, Science Lecture 130, 11 a.m. Departmental open houses, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Includes chemistry, engineering technology, geology and behavioral neuroscience departments, Huxley College of the Environment, international programs and exchanges, Viking Union Outdoor Center, Wilson Library, Woodring College of Education. "Seeing the Forest for (More Than) the Trees," by environmental studies professor Grace Wang, Science Lecture 110, noon. "One Foot in Nature, One Foot in a Crazy World: How the Study of Nature Can Lessen Our Environmental Impact and Improve Our Quality of Life," by Fairhaven College professor John Bower, Science Hall 120, noon. "Internships - How Valuable Are They?" by Effie Eisses from the Academic Advising and Career Development Services office, Science Lecture 130, noon. Men's basketball game, Carver Gym, 3 p.m. Filipino Heritage Dinner, Viking Union Multipurpose Room. Tickets $10 for students, $15 for general admission. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Women's soccer vs. Montana State University-Billings, 7 p.m., Orca Field at Whatcom Community College. "The Mistakes Madeline Made," 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center. See prices above. SUNDAY "The Mistakes Madeline Made," 2 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center. See prices above.
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| Saudi Ambassador Hosts Future Business Leaders - Stockhouse Posted: 22 Oct 2009 06:56 PM PDT WASHINGTON, Oct 22, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ -- Today, Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir hosted a farewell reception at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC to honor participants of the Arab & American Business Fellowship Program (AABF). This program, launched in 2007, is a joint effort between the National U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC), U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, Business for Diplomatic Action, and Young Arab Leaders. "Saudi Arabia is honored to host this delegation of emerging business leaders from the region," said Ambassador Al-Jubeir. "Fostering business to business relationships is a critical part of building a foundation of mutual understanding for the future generation of Arab and American business communities." The AABF initiative was developed to create opportunities and encourage cross-cultural dialogue and opportunities between Arab business executives and their American counterparts. Participants are between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five. This year's program included 12 fellows from the U.S. and 16 Fellows from the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia. SOURCE Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office http://www.saudiembassy.net Copyright (C) 2009 PR Newswire. All rights reservedThis content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Posted: 22 Oct 2009 07:32 PM PDT Three years before Rep. Wilbur Mills, the Arkansas Democrat who then chaired the Ways and Means Committee, had his fling with a stripper named Fanne Foxe, a.k.a. The Argentine Firecracker, he decided to seek the Democrats' 1972 presidential nomination. So in an almost admirably straightforward attempt to buy the votes of the elderly, he successfully championed an automatic cost-of-living adjustment -- COLA -- for Social Security. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| U.S. unveils broad effort to limit executive pay - Washington Examiner Posted: 22 Oct 2009 07:32 PM PDT The government zeroed in on corporate excess and recklessness Thursday with deep, unprecedented cuts in executive compensation at companies living on taxpayer money and a move to wield veto power over pay policy at thousands of banks to limit risk-taking. Banks cut back on emergency loans from Fed The Treasury Department ordered seven big companies that haven't repaid their government bailout money to cut their top executives' average total compensation — salary and bonuses — in half, starting in November. Under the plan, cash salaries for the top 25 highest-paid executives will be limited in most cases to $500,000 and, in most cases, perks will be capped at $25,000. The Federal Reserve came at the issue from another direction. It proposed to monitor pay packages at thousands of banks — even those that never received bailout money — to ensure they don't encourage reckless gambles. Neither plan, though, is expected to kill Wall Street's culture of lavish pay. The Fed proposal doesn't set specific limits on executive compensation, so it's unclear how it would actually affect pay. And the Treasury plan covers only 175 people, with the pay limits lasting only until the companies repay what they received from the $700 billion bailout fund. For the already struggling companies, it also introduces a new concern: brain drain. The executives targeted by "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg are among the most talented and productive at their companies. "These people are considered the brains of the machine," said Steven Hall, who runs an executive compensation firm bearing his name. "They are who can pull you through the tough times. This will give them reason to leave." The Treasury plan is limited to the seven bailed-out companies — Bank of America Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial. The Fed's proposal is much broader in scope, covering nearly 6,000 banks and a wider range of employees — from executives to traders to loan officers. Rather than set pay levels at specific banks, the Fed would review — and could veto — pay policies. The plan is subject to a 30-day public comment period. David Yermack, a finance professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, called Treasury's pay curbs a "symbolic" act. "I think the government is trying to make examples of some banks and hoping others will follow," Yermack said. "I think that's naive. Wall Street bankers and traders are motivated by money, and they're going to work for whoever pays them the most." He predicted the seven firms would find ways to bypass the curbs through implicit promises that aren't written in contracts. "They could say to someone, 'I'll give you a really big bonus three or four years from now. Just be patient,'" Yermack said. "There's an understanding that if you play the game, you'll be taken care of. That's been going on as long as there have been businesses, and Feinberg isn't going to be able to stop that." Feinberg restructured the pay packages for top executives to provide a base salary and a portion described as "stock salary." The employees must hold the stock for two years. They can then sell only one-third of the stock payment each year for three years. Feinberg said his goal was to tie compensation more closely to the long-term performance of the company. In one pay plan, the three highest earners at Citigroup will receive a base salary of $475,000. Each executive also will be paid between $5.6 million and $5.8 million in company stock to be redeemed beginning in 2011. The third category of long-term restricted stock will equal $3 million for each executive. The Feinberg plan provides an escape clause that might let some executives avoid the restrictions: It says the rules allow for "exceptions where necessary to retain talent and protect taxpayer interests." According to Feinberg, base salaries above $1 million were approved for the new CEO of AIG, and for two employees of Chrysler Financial. Under a package approved by Feinberg over the summer, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche will get a pay package of about $10.5 million. Feinberg became pay czar earlier this year as Congress was responding to outrage about huge bonuses being paid to AIG. Lawmakers amended the bailout law to require that executive compensation at companies getting exceptional assistance be curbed. Feinberg has been reviewing compensation packages since August. President Barack Obama welcomed Treasury's decision and urged Congress to pass legislation to give shareholders a voice in executive pay packages. "It does offend our values when executives of big financial firms that are struggling pay themselves huge bonuses even as they rely on extraordinary assistance to stay afloat," Obama said. In an interview with CNBC, Feinberg was asked if he thought the restrictions would influence pay at other Wall Street firms outside his authority. "I hope so, but that would be voluntary," he said. "It's not the government's business." Some observers said the changes could have a broader influence on pay beyond the seven companies. "It's going to put them in a position of having to be more aggressive in defending their arrangements now that you've got an alternative out there that's been blessed by the government," said Mark Borges, a principal with Compensia, a Northern California compensation consulting firm. It's also possible the restrictions could help govern pay at the thousands of banks that would be affected by the Fed's plan, said Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. "It's highly probable that the Fed could use this as a model in their own guidelines, and yes, I think that would have a significant impact on pay," he said. Some analysts saw the potential for restrictions to backfire. Yermack said linking pay to long-term incentives like deferred stock can encourage more excessive risk-taking, not less. "If you want people to take more risks, pay them more in stock," he said. "It holds out the possibility of very big gains in a way that fixed contracts do not." Others said the restrictions reinforced what many financial observers see as a banking system divided between the haves and have-nots. They wondered whether pay caps could jeopardize taxpayer money by making it harder for bailed-out firms to retain and hire top talent. "You have got the companies that are unencumbered and can offer anyone anything they want, and you've got the other companies that are stuck with what they have," said David Schmidt, a senior consultant on executive pay at James F. Reda & Associates. "It creates a bit of a dilemma in banks' efforts to repay taxpayers." A Bank of America spokesman complained that the restrictions would hurt its competitiveness. "Competitors not subject to the pay restrictions already are exploiting this situation by identifying our top performers and using pay concerns to recruit them away for fair market compensation," spokesman Scott Silvestri said. GM said it will adopt the compensation changes outlined by Feinberg by shifting its pay packages toward non-cash compensation tied to company performance. CEO Fritz Henderson's base salary was cut 30 percent to about $1.3 million earlier this year when GM accepted government loans. Henderson received compensation valued at about $8.7 million in 2008, but much of that included stock and options that now are nearly worthless due to GM's bankruptcy filing. Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne and other Fiat executives who work for both Chrysler and Fiat were exempted from the pay cuts as part of the agreement with the U.S. government to take over management control of Chrysler. Executives who work solely for Chrysler could be affected, but many of the top earners under Chrysler's former owner have left the company. Under the Fed proposal, the 28 biggest banks would develop their own plans to make sure compensation doesn't spur undue risk-taking. If the Fed approves, the plan would be adopted and bank supervisors would monitor compliance. At smaller banks — where compensation is typically less — Fed supervisors will conduct reviews. Those banks don't have to submit plans. The Fed refused to identify the 28 banks that will have to submit plans. But Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. are usually included on such lists. Nearly 6,000 banks regulated by the Fed would be covered. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Lutefisk and loot: Tax records open in Norway - Beaver County Times Posted: 22 Oct 2009 07:32 PM PDT It's the moment nosy Norwegian neighbors have been waiting for _ the release of official records showing the annual income and overall wealth of nearly every taxpayer in the Scandinavian country. In a move that would be unthinkable elsewhere, tax authorities in Norway have issued the "skatteliste," or "tax list," for 2008 to the media under a law designed to uphold the country's tradition of transparency. It's Norwegians' way of keeping up with the Johansens _ from fishermen on the western fjords and Sami reindeer herders in the north to members of the committee that awarded President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. To non-Scandinavians, it would seem to be a gross violation of privacy. The tax list stirs up a media frenzy, with splashy headlines revealing oil-rich Norway's wealthiest man, woman and celebrity couple. The data shows that former cross-country skiing great Bjoern Daehlie, who has eight Olympic gold medals, also has plenty of cash _ 29.3 million kroner ($5.4 million). Actress and director Liv Ullmann, for instance, earned $17,300 in Norway, and has a wealth of $2.5 million. Income earned or kept abroad, or otherwise in some sort of tax shelter, is not included. Pioneering women's long-distance runner Grete Waitz, a nine-time New York City Marathon champion, earned $13,500 in Norway, and has a wealth of $90,000. Many media outlets use the tax records to produce their own searchable online databases. In the database of national broadcaster NRK, you can type a subject's name, hit search and within moments get information on what that person made last year, what was paid in taxes and total wealth. It also compares those figures with Norway's national averages for men and women, and that person's city of residence. Defenders of the system say it enhances transparency, deemed essential for an open democracy. "Isn't this how a social democracy ought to work, with openness, transparency and social equality as ideals?" columnist Jan Omdahl wrote in the tabloid Dagbladet. He acknowledged, however, that many treat the list like "tax porno" _ furtively checking the income of neighbors or co-workers. Critics say the list is actually a threat to society. "What each Norwegian earns and what you have in wealth is a private matter between the taxpayer and the government," said Jon Stordrange, director of the Norwegian Taxpayer's Association. Besides providing criminals with a useful tool to find prime targets, he said the list generates playground taunts of my-dad-is-richer-than-your-dad. "The children of people with low wages are being teased about it in the schools," Stordrange said Thursday. "People with low salaries are being met with comments at the grocery store, 'How can you live on these low wages?'" The information had been available to media until 2004, when a more conservative government banned the publication of tax records. Three years later, a new, more liberal government reversed the legislation and also made it possible for media to obtain tax information digitally and disseminate it online. Norway's 2007 law emphasized that "first and foremost, it's the press that can contribute to a critical debate" on wealth and the elaborate tax scheme that, along with the country's oil wealth, keeps Norway's extensive _ and expensive _ welfare system afloat. The country of 4.8 million people had the third-highest income tax among industrialized countries in 2007, behind Denmark and New Zealand, according to the latest statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Since the latest tax data was released Wednesday, national media have scrambled to analyze it, building top-10 lists and graphic breakdowns of income differentials between sexes, age groups and residences. So who's Norway's richest man? Tobacco mogul Johan Henrik Andresen, worth $2 billion, has surpassed last year's No. 1, industrialist Kjell Inge Roekke, according to Dagbladet. Andresen now owns the Ferd investment group, whose assets include the Elopak packaging company and ski wax maker Swix Sport. Roekke is chairman of Aker ASA, a holding company in the fishing, construction and industrial sectors. Norway's richest woman is stock market investor Tone Bjoerseth-Andersen, whose wealth of $107 million placed her behind 24 men, the paper said. Members of the royal family are not on the list because they don't pay taxes. Also excluded are the homeless and people whose details are kept secret for security reasons. NRK's online edition compared the income of Norwegian celebrity couples _ called "super-duels" _ while newspaper Aftenposten's Web site ranked common Norwegian first names by wealth under the headline "How rich is your name?" It found that men named Terje tend to do very well, while among women, Marit is a winner. Most other Europeans, including residents of Britain, Italy and the Netherlands, have very different attitudes toward transparency and privacy and would be horrified at such a setup. Last week, the Spanish government for the first time released information on how much each Cabinet member is worth, but data on ordinary citizens is still private. In neighboring Sweden, anyone can order a printed edition of the Taxation Calendar, which lists the earnings of people in mid- to upper-income brackets. The information is also available online, although Swedes whose financial information has been searched are notified by mail of who checked their details. Christine Ingebritsen, a professor at the University of Washington, said the Norwegian tax list exemplifies a time-tested, distinctly Scandinavian custom of egalitarianism. "This is how you make sure that you're being legitimate in the eyes of the community _ you show that the wealth of a CEO isn't off the charts," she said, adding that unlike the U.S., Norway "places the wealth and health of all as a priority above the individual success stories." Still, there are plenty of opponents of the list in Norway. A 2007 survey by research group Synovate revealed that only 32 percent of the Norwegian public wanted the tax list published, and 46 percent were against it. Georg Apnes, director of Norway's Data Inspectorate and a member of the Conservative Party, called publishing and combing through the tax list "repulsive" and "disgusting." "It reflects very poorly on our culture and on our society," he said on an NRK morning news program. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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