| Dollar Thrifty stock plunges
The stock of Tulsa-based Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group plunged Monday, after the company sharply lowered its earnings estimate late Friday. The stock of the rental-car firm had its biggest drop in more than 10 years, falling $9.62 a share to $16.40 in New York Stock Exchange Trading. Dollar Thrifty officials estimated Friday that 2007 profit could be 90 cents to 95 cents a share, down from their November forecast of $1.75 to $1.85. Demand over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays was below expectations, CEO Gary L. Paxton said in a press release Friday. The company will report earnings on Feb. 28. .
CEO Mulally says Ford can weather economic downturn
Ford Motor Co. has sufficient liquidity to weather an economic downturn, even if the economy worsens this year, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said Tuesday. Mulally said the automaker initially believed it would need $17 billion for restructuring and to cover losses, but was able to raise $23 billion, giving it enough of a cushion. Mulally said he doesn't know if he has enough time to fix Ford, although he is confident in its restructuring plan that calls for a return to profitability in 2009. "The plan we put in place is absolutely the right plan," he said during an appearance at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. "We're going to create an exciting and viable company." The CEO's comments came only two days before the company announced the details of another round of buyout and early retirement packages for hourly workers and released its 2007 earnings and projections for the future.
Cape Cod History
Power was lost at 11:14 a.m. and not restored in the business district of the Whaling City until 7:30 p.m. Officials with the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Co. attributed the outage to insulator failure at a power plant.Faced with the specter of the next day without a newspaper, an editor in New Bedford "gathered up page mats and news copy and flew to Hyannis where the edition was completed on the presses" of the Cape Cod Standard-Times.(illustration credit, www.metaltype.co.uk) .
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His powder-searching ways continued after college, landing him in Vail for a few years before it eventually became too crowded, too trendy. A move to Aspen ended with the same claustrophobic result. And so it went, Royall's quest for a quiet skiing sanctuary going on for years, taking him to places like Steamboat Springs, Taos, Sun Valley. And it always ended the same: moving out when the crowds moved in. The nomadic journey seemed to come to an end about 20 years ago when he arrived in Jackson, Wyo., a place still oozing that dusty-floor saloon charm of the Old West. But, like all the other ski towns that had lured Royall with their charms, Jackson changed, attracting fuzzy-jacket-wearing out-of-towners to the slopes and trendy shops with pricey paintings and sparkly T-shirts.
Clintons' InfoUSA Ties Scrutinized
Last year, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton took the unusual step of renting out some of her lists. The transaction once again highlights the Clintons' connections to a businessman who now faces questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reports from Clinton's campaign show that on Dec. 3, it collected payment for renting out three mailing lists, the sale of which netted them $8,225. It was an unusual transaction, according to Roger Craver, a liberal guru of the political direct-mail industry. "As a general rule, a campaign will not let its donor list out into the markets until the campaign is over," he said. "This is the mother's milk of small-gift fundraising, and they use these lists frequently." There are no records that any other presidential candidates rented out mailing lists last year.
Travel junk fees are out of control
There's a lawsuit in California right now that's concerned with junk fees not being revealed until after you get to the car rental counter. This makes Internet comparison shopping very difficult. The lowest price you see online may be fake because it doesn't reflect junk fees. With airfare, the actual price is usually about 20 percent higher than the advertised price. What kind of junk fees are most common? For air travel, the passenger facility charge (PFC) is a biggie. This is where the terminal charges you for walking their halls -- a completely bogus charge that they convinced Congress to approve. Then you have a charge per flight segment, a federal security service charge and others. .
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