WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to order companies that received huge U.S. government bailouts last year to sharply cut the compensation of their highest paid executives, according to a person familiar with the decision. The seven companies that received the most assistance will have to cut the annual salaries of their 25 highest-paid executive by an average of about 90 percent from last year, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been announced. This person said Wednesday that the Treasury Department will announce the deep pay cuts within the next few days. Kenneth Feinberg, the special master at Treasury appointed by Obama to handle compensation issues at the seven firms getting exceptional assistance from the government’s $700 billion financial bailout package, is making the pay decisions. The seven companies are: Bank of America Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial. Total compensation for the top executives at the seven firms will decline, on average, by about 50 percent, according to the person familiar with the administration’s decision. At the financial products division of AIG, the giant insurance company which […]
NEW YORK — Jillian Lung says she’s no environmentalist. Still, she couldn’t pass up a chance to install a carpet of solar panels atop her co-op in Queens. ‘At these prices, why not?’ Lung said. The government has plowed so much cash into the solar industry that it’s effectively pulled the luxury tag off of home solar systems. Combined with local incentives, buyers can save up to 90 percent on a system, whether it’s for a single-family home or a 75-unit condo in the city. Thousands of homeowners are finding they can pay off a rooftop solar system in just a few years and then start pocketing the energy savings. Lung, the co-op president, stumbled into solar subsidy programs last year as she priced out roof repairs. City, state and federal incentives covered nearly three-quarters of the tab for a $394,514 solar system. The building flipped the switch on in July and already cut last month’s electric bill in half. ‘This was just icing on the cake,’ Lung said. ‘We had to change the roof anyway.’ Solar power has been getting cheaper for years. Panel prices declined 31 percent from 1998 to 2008 […]
CHIBA, Japan — Futuristic concept cars, ultra-efficient hybrids, zero-emission electric vehicles and even a hydrogen-powered scooter jostled for the limelight as the Tokyo Motor Show kicked off on Wednesday. From a super-skinny Nissan electric car that leans when going around bends, to a lightweight Toyota sports car and a Daihatsu vehicle with a design based on a basket, Japanese makers showed off their visions of the future. While hybrids are still a big feature, electric cars are competing for attention at this year’s show as technological breakthroughs in rechargeable batteries bring mass-produced zero emission cars closer to reality. Despite the success of the hybrid, car makers are still hedging their bets on green technology, with biofuels, clean diesel and fuel cells also seen as potential alternative power sources. With foreign makers almost entirely absent, the show is dominated by the Japanese makers, which are pinning their hopes on growing interest in fuel-efficient automobiles to rescue them from a brutal industry slump. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, is displaying a new version of its electric concept car — the FT-EV II — along with a new lightweight, sporty concept car inspired by the iconic Corolla AE86 […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government’s $700 billion financial bailout program has increased moral hazard in the markets by infusing capital into banks that caused the financial crisis, a watchdog for the program said on Wednesday. The special inspector general for the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) said the plan put in place a year ago was clearly influencing market behavior, and he repeated that taxpayers may never recoup all their money. The bailout fund may have helped avert a financial system collapse but it could reinforce perceptions the government will step in to keep firms from failing, the quarterly report from inspector general Neil Barofsky said. He said there continued to be conflicts of interest around credit rating agencies that failed to warn of risks leading up to the financial crisis. The report added that the recent rebound in big bank stocks risked removing urgency of dealing with the financial system’s problems. ‘Absent meaningful regulatory reform, TARP runs the risk of merely reanimating markets that had collapsed under the weight of reckless behavior,’ the report said. ‘The firms that were ‘too big to fail’ last October are in many cases bigger still, many as […]
SEATTLE — While gradually warming global temperatures long have been seen as an environmental threat, a study released Monday suggested that the forests of the Pacific Northwest could see a substantial gain in productivity as the thermometer climbs. The bulk of the gains from climate change will be seen at higher elevations — above 3,000 feet — and in forests east of the Cascade Mountains, according to researchers at Oregon State University. Lower-elevation forests, where most of the commercial timber is harvested, could see reduced growth as a result of drier conditions. The study, published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, is one of the first to look at a variety of climate change models and predict what might happen to the signature forests that are an economic and ecological mainstay of the West as the climate warms. Already, researchers have found detrimental effects from pest and disease infestation as a result of warmer temperatures that have begun killing off trees such as aspens, white bark pines and Douglas fir. But a warmer climate also could have a positive effect if, for example, more tree growth reduced the amount of carbon in the air, said […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
