Greg's Stack-of-Stuff

[Greg]

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TSP life-cycle investors won't let go of other funds

December 20, 2005

By Karen Rutzick
govexec.com

Many investors in the Thrift Savings Plan's life-cycle funds are tempering their effectiveness by continuing to invest in traditional stand-alone funds too, officials said at a board meeting Monday.

The 401(k)-style retirement savings plan for federal employees began offering life-cycle funds in August. The funds automatically move from a more aggressive to a more conservative mix of investments as participants approach their target retirement dates.

But TSP officials said they are finding that 55 percent of participants still have money in at least one of the five stand-alone funds too. The life-cycle funds were designed to hold the entire balance.

The most striking number may be this: 16 percent of life-cycle investors also have money in all five of the TSP's stand-alone funds. Those funds are the government securities (G) fund, fixed-income securities (F) fund, common stocks (C) fund, international stocks (I) fund and the small- and mid-sized companies (S) fund.

Six percent of life-cycle participants also have money in four stand-alone funds, 11 percent have money in three, 9 percent have money in two and 13 percent also have money in one additional fund.

One of the primary reasons TSP officials developed the life-cycle option was to wean participants from their overdependence on the G fund. That fund has no risk because its returns are guaranteed by the government, but it also doesn't offer an opportunity for the high returns that are important to funding a comfortable retirement.

Participants still seem attached. Of investors with one stand-alone fund in addition to the life-cycle option, 74 percent were in the G fund.

That instinct is understandable, said Andrew Saul, chairman of the TSP board.

"[The G fund] is such a great investment, let's be honest," Saul said. "It gives you such a great rate at no risk at all. So you'll always have more investors in the money market than you would in other plans."

There is another reason the G fund may still be popular, said Gary Amelio, executive director of the TSP. For new participants, the first month's assets go directly into the G fund regardless of fund selection. Participants might unknowingly be keeping one month's investments in that fund.

TSP officials said they will consider sending targeted educational mailings to investors who are using the life-cycle funds improperly.

The good news is that 95 percent of life-cycle investors are putting their money into just one of the five life-cycle options, as intended. The TSP offers distinct life-cycle funds for federal employees planning retirement around the year 2040, 2030, 2020, 2010 or in the next few years. Employees are meant to choose the one that most closely matches their target retirement date.

Participation in the life-cycle funds has been very strong. To date, about 214,000 investors have poured $7.3 billion into the funds. In less than five months, those figures already have surpassed the TSP board's goal for the first year.

©2005 by National Journal Group Inc.

 

[Greg]

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It's a lucrative time of year for top federal managers

December 18, 2005

THIS YEAR, federal workers may have noticed that many members of the senior executive service, the government's top managers, had a little extra spring in their step. It could have been caused by the bonuses they received.

The Office of Personnel Management recently reported that about 60 percent of the government's almost 6,000 career executives received an average bonus of over $13,000.

Not all departments recognized their executives the same way. Here are the top 10 ranked by average bonuses, and the percentage of executives receiving them:

Agriculture: $15,861, with 81.4 percent of 280 eligible executives receiving a bonus.

Commerce: $12,299, with 77.9 percent of 263 eligible executives getting an award.

Defense: $16,968, with 43.4 percent of 1,049 eligible executives receiving a bonus.

Education: $10,325, with 67.8 percent of 60 executives getting an award.

Energy: $8,863, with 64 percent of 347 eligible executives receiving a bonus.

Homeland Security: $16,424, with 46.6 percent of 204 eligible executives getting an award.

HUD: $8,092, with 60.9 percent of 69 eligible executives receiving a bonus.

Interior: $13,017, with 30.1 percent of 219 eligible executives getting an award.

Justice: $11,858, with 56.5 percent of 523 eligible executives receiving a bonus.

Labor: $11,999, with 89.4 percent of 141 eligible executives getting an award.

OPM reported that the Small Business Administration topped the independent agency list with 100 percent of its 30 senior executives receiving an average bonus of $9,512.

I know that to the average federal worker and to many taxpayers, these bonuses might seem excessive. However, they pale in comparison to what many executives receive in the private sector and are a modest way to reward career executives who do a good job. These bonuses also serve as an essential recruitment and retention tool. If you want the "best and the brightest" to run your government--you have to pay for it.

KEVIN WILKINSON of Spotsylvania County is a veteran federal employee.
Copyright 2005 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.

 

[Greg]

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from December 26, 1938 issue of Life Magazine

THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS

Portraying Christ as if He were born and raised in New England, a devout artist proves that His life is timeless and universal

Out of her deep desire to bring home the beauty of Christ and His teaching to the modern world, Lauren Ford has created the following scenes Here in the familiar setting of her farm near Bethlehem, Connecticut, among barns and silos, pumps, and rail fences, she has depicted the birth and boyhood of Jesus. And far from sacrificing any of its majesty, she has bought new truth and universality to the immortal story. By painting the Holy Family as if they were country neighbors, Miss Ford follows the old masters who portrayed the Son of God as if He lived in their own towns and times. Her paintings are supplemented by text from Matthew and Luke.

 

[Greg]

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Job cuts dash blue-collar dreams

Poornima Gupta / Reuters
December 23, 2005

FLINT - For nearly three decades, Charles Coe has made a good living as a worker for General Motors Corp. and Delphi Corp. in Flint.

Coe, 60, planned to retire comfortably in two years with his sizable pension, a benefit that is still a cornerstone of blue-collar workers' compensation in the auto industry.

But that dream is unraveling as Delphi, which filed for bankruptcy protection in October, is now demanding unprecedented wage and benefit concessions from the United Auto Workers union.

"I stand to lose everything I have worked a lifetime for," Coe said as he arrived for an afternoon shift at Delphi's Flint East plant.

Delphi wants to cut jobs, slash paychecks in half and free itself from the pension obligations of tens of thousands of employees it inherited from GM when it was spun off in 1999.

The mood in Flint, a factory town that has been in economic malaise since GM closed its Buick City complex six years ago, is grim. Families are now staring at the prospect of losing their comfortable middle-class lifestyles.

Delphi's move, combined with the plant closing and layoff announcements from mighty GM and Ford Motor Co., may have far-reaching consequences beyond the industrial city, say local union officials.

"This is bigger than us," said Steve Grandstaff, chairman of UAW Local 651, which represents workers at the Delphi-Energy and Chassis Systems facility in Flint.

"It's almost like there is this wildfire that's going to take down the middle class," Grandstaff said.

Working-class Americans have long been able to lift themselves into the middle class through well-paid jobs in the auto industry. UAW-represented workers have enjoyed benefits that are the gold standard of industrial America.

Some Detroit auto executives even call them "Cadillac-style" benefits.

"I think what we are looking at here are exit roads from the middle class," said Harley Shaiken, a University of California-Berkeley professor who specializes in labor issues.

"Economic growth in the United States in the 20th century was based on building entrances to the middle class, from Henry Ford in 1913 to strong unions in the '50s and '60s," Shaiken said.

The 21st century is marking a reversal of that logic and Delphi's showdown with organized labor symbolizes the reversal, Shaiken added.

"They want us to go back 20-something years (on wages)," said Russ Reynolds, president of UAW local 651, which represents Delphi workers. "It's going to devastate everything."

GM and Ford made the United States an industrial force through much of the 20th century.

Ford founder Henry Ford was credited with a stroke of genius in creating a whole new group of consumers for his company's vehicles back in 1914. He doubled the pay of his workers saying he wanted them to be able to afford the Model Ts they built.

Now, GM and Ford are in a cost-cutting spiral, battling decades of market share losses. In recent months, the two Detroit automakers have worked out deals with the UAW to roll back some of the health care benefits of retired workers.

GM plans to cut 30,000 blue-collar jobs and close 12 facilities. Ford has said it will announce its list of plant closures and worker layoffs in January. The automaker is already in the process of cutting 4,000 white-collar jobs and scaling back some of the salaried benefits.

"Ford and GM are now in a race to shrink," Merrill Lynch analyst John Casesa said in a recent note, adding that Detroit is entering an increasingly volatile and difficult environment as labor and management tensions come to a head.

In a bright spot for workers, Delphi in recent days dropped its aggressive stance and said it is willing to work with the union, citing talks with largest customer GM.

Delphi also said it will delay filing motions in bankruptcy court to reject current labor contracts.

But union officials are still skeptical as the company has not totally scrapped its steep cost-cutting proposal.

"We hope the company's announcement results in a meaningful change in its position, but only time will tell if that is the case," the UAW said.

 

[Greg]

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Stocks Barely Budge in Light Trading

Friday December 23, 7:16 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks barely moved Friday, even though durable goods orders jumped by the largest amount in six months.

Volume was light on Wall Street, as it often is before Christmas. With little in the way of year-end gains to lock in, traders yawned their way through one of the final sessions of the year.

The major economic news came from the Commerce Department, which reported factory orders for big-ticket items were up 4.4 percent to a record $223 billion last month, following a 3 percent gain in October. The data reflected soaring demand for commercial aircraft; durable goods numbers would have fallen had the aircraft figures been removed. So the biggest one-month advance since last May was treated on Wall Street as a non-event.

In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.17, or 0.06 percent, to 10,883.27.

Broader stock indicators were nearly unchanged. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.54, or 0.04 percent, to 1,268.66, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.93, or 0.13 percent, to 2,249.42.

For the week, the Dow is up 7.68, or 0.07 percent, the S&P has risen 1.34, or 0.11 percent and the Nasdaq is down 3.06, or 0.14 percent.

Bonds rose, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.37 percent from 4.43 percent late Thursday. The dollar was higher against other major currencies in European trading. Gold prices also rose.

Crude oil futures rose slightly. A barrel of light crude settled at $58.43, up 15 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In company news, General Motors Corp. rose 19 cents to $18.83. GM said it is expanding a recall of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks with possible antilock brake corrosion to include another 553,000 vehicles in six states and the District of Columbia. The automaker said in August that it was recalling about 800,000 of the vehicles in 14 northern states. The recall will be expanded to include Delaware, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

UPS Inc. rose 30 cents to $77.14 after the federal mediator overseeing negotiations between UPS Inc. and its pilots union called for an indefinite recess in contract talks. The recess comes a day after the Independent Pilots Association threatened to ask to be released from federal mediation so it can strike, citing three years of contract negotiations with the world's largest shipping carrier that have failed to produce an agreement.

Fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger Corp. agreed to be purchased by Apax Partners, a private investment company, for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, in cash. The offer is a 5 percent premium to Hilfiger's Thursday closing stock price of $16 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock closed unchanged at $16.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell 26 cents to $48.34 after California court awarded $172 million to thousands of employees who claimed they were illegally denied lunch breaks. A jury on Thursday found the world's largest retailer violated a 2001 state law that requires employers to give 30-minute, unpaid lunch breaks to employees who work at least six hours. Wal-Mart said it will appeal.

Affiliated Computer Services Inc. rose $2.92 to $61 after a New York Times report that a consortium of private-equity firms are in talks to buy the information-technology outsourcing company for $62 a share, or about $8 billion. A deal could be reached as early as next week, the paper said.

Drug maker AstraZeneca PLC rose 13 cents to $48.53 after it said it will buy a privately held biotech company with a cancer compound, underscoring its commitment to bolstering its thin pipeline of future pharmaceuticals. AstraZeneca said it will pay $210 million to purchase British company KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Boeing Co. rose 17 cents to $71.49 after it said it has booked 870 net jetliner orders so far this year, which may put it on track to beat a record set in 1988. Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, which have since merged, booked 877 net orders that year.

Advancing issues led decliners by roughly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where final consolidated volume was 1.33 billion shares, down from 1.91 billion at the same time Thursday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.36, or 0.35 percent, to 686.44.

Overseas, Japan's stock market was closed for Emperor Akihito's birthday, a national holiday. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.03 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 0.38 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.12 percent.

The Dow Jones industrials ended the week up 7.68, or 0.7 percent, finishing at 10,883.27. The S&P 500 index gained 1.34, or 0.11 percent, to close at 1,268.66.

The Nasdaq fell 3.06, or 0.14 percent, during the week, closing Friday at 2,249.42.

The Russell 2000 index closed the week up 3.35, or 0.49 percent, at 686.44.

The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index — a free-float weighted index that measures 5,000 U.S. based companies — ended the week at 12,711.690, up 23.00 points from last week. A year ago, the index was 11,933.81.

 

[Greg]

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Japan's population starts shrinking

Wed Dec 21,11:28 PM ET

Japan's population fell for the first time in 2005, the government said, calling it a "turning point" that will force the world's second largest economy to adapt to a rapidly aging society.

With its young people increasingly finding children a burden to their careers and lifestyles, Japan joins Germany and Italy among a club of nations whose populations have started to shrink.

Deaths are likely to outnumber births by about 10,000 this year, the first decline since 1899 when Japan began compiling the data, health ministry figures showed.

"Our country is now standing at a major turning point in terms of population," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki told a news conference.

"We must take countermeasures against the falling birthrate along with measures to support and foster our future generations," Kawasaki said.

Japan's population stood at 127,687,000 as of October 2004. The health ministry said births were set to fall by 44,000 to 1,067,000 this year, with deaths going up 48,000 to 1,077,000 year-on-year.

"Although there may be some temporary gains in population in the future, it cannot be helped to foresee a further decline in the mid- and long-run," a health ministry official said.

The declining population fuels fears for the pension system as a smaller workforce supports a mass of pensioners.

Historically homogeneous Japan has so far rejected wide-scale immigration, accepting only foreign workers with particular skills.

The latest study shows the population is dropping at a faster pace than thought. Just last week the Cabinet Office forecast the population would start shrinking in 2006 -- itself a revision to a previous estimate that the decline would begin in 2007.

The Cabinet Office predicted that the population will halve to 60 million people by 2100.

Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse.

 

[Greg]

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Wall St Week Ahead: Dow's gain down to the wire

Fri Dec 23, 2005 06:12 PM ET
By Jennifer Coogan

NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) - In the final week of 2005, the U.S. stock market will be banking on last-minute investments in retirement accounts and other equity funds, with traders hoping the infusion will help the Dow end the year in positive territory.

If the blue chips can hang onto their meager year-to-date gains, it will mean a three-year winning streak for all three major stock indexes -- something that could set the stage for a bullish 2006.

"The last week of December and the first few weeks of January will be a clue to how the market will act next year," said Bernie Myszkowski, executive vice president and director of equity investments at ABN Amro Asset Management in Chicago.

Traders expect volume to be low, with many market players taking a week off between Christmas or Hanukkah and New Year's Day.

Corporate news will be thin since no major companies are scheduled to report earnings.

"The influence (on the stocks) will be that at the end of the year, there's lots of bonus money that goes toward profit-sharing plans and retirement and some of that money will go into the market," said Carl Birkelbach, founder and chief executive of Birkelbach Investment Securities in Chicago.

For the week, stocks were mixed. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average eked out a gain of just 0.07 percent, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.11 percent. But the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index finished the week down 0.14 percent.

For the year to date, the Dow is up only 100.26 points, or 0.93 percent. The S&P 500 is up 56.74 points, or 4.68 percent, for the year so far, while the Nasdaq is up 73.98 points, or 3.40 percent.

"I think we'll end higher (on the Dow). It's been a tough year with a lot of negative news -- the hurricanes, the war in Iraq, the strike in New York," said Victor Pugliese, managing director and head of New York equity trading at First Albany Corp. "People will be a little disappointed. But all in all, it wasn't terrible."

DOW MAY CLIMB ON MOUNTAINS OF CASH

In the Dow's favor, analysts point out that corporations are sitting on excess cash and are likely to spend some of it next year replacing old equipment. This forecast, if it comes true, may help nudge the Dow average of 30 large-capitalization industrial shares climb safely into positive territory for the year.

In addition to watching to see whether the Dow finishes 2005 in the black, investors will stay tuned to see if the blue-chip average can cross the 11,000 milestone.

"There's all this money sitting out there, with individuals and corporations, plus from countries," Birkelbach said, referring to foreign governments looking for places to invest their piles of cash. "They're sitting there ready to buy into the market.

"But I would guess that the Dow will have to break above 11,000 in order for this whole thing to transpire," he added.

"I know it's only psychological. But that's what we humans are -- emotional."

Still, with so little news expected during the holiday lull, investors may have to wait until after New Year's to see the Dow take a crack at beating 11,000.

"It seems like we can't get through that number," Pugliese said. "Maybe we can on an intraday basis, but it doesn't seem like there's that much of a reason to hold."

A CHRISTMAS SNAPSHOT

Coming on the heels of Christmas, a weekly report on U.S. chain store revenue may get special attention. Independent firm Redbook Research will report sales for the week ending Dec. 24 on Wednesday.

"People are still concerned with Christmas sales. We get mixed reports," ABN Amro's Myszkowski said.

"We're not going to have all the final data on retail sales, but we'll have an indication of who did well."

The consumer confidence index for December also is set for release on Wednesday from the Conference Board, a private research group.

On Thursday, December purchasing managers' data from New York and Chicago will give a glimpse of business growth in two major U.S. regions.

The National Association of Purchasing Management-New York, also known as NAPM-New York, is scheduled to release its December report at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT). The NAPM-Chicago report, also known as the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index or Chicago PMI, is due an hour later.

Of the two reports, the market pays more attention to the Chicago PMI and looks at it as a preview of what to expect in the monthly Institute for Supply Management data. The ISM's December report on U.S. manufacturing activity will be released in the first week of January.

Thursday's round of data will include U.S. existing home sales for November.

The forecast calls for November sales of existing homes to have slowed slightly to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 7.00 million units from 7.09 million units, according to economists polled by Reuters.

 

[Greg]

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[Greg]

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Disappearing Dividends

By Karen Rutzick
govexec.com

Let's solve a mystery about the Thrift Savings Plan: What happens to the dividends earned from stocks in the TSP funds?

Dividends are a share of company earnings paid out to investors. They are declared by a company's board of directors and are often paid quarterly.

The reason TSP participants never see dividends on their statements even though some of the funds earn them, is they are automatically reinvested into holdings. So the fund's value increases, but the dividends' contribution is hidden.

The TSP is the federal employee version of a 401(k) retirement savings plan. Not all the funds are composed of publicly traded stocks. In fact, the five stand-alone funds in the plan get their earnings from a blend of sources.

Only the common stocks (C) fund, the small- and mid-sized companies (S) fund, and the international stocks (I) fund make part of their earnings from dividends. The rest of the earnings for the C and S funds are derived from fluctuations in the market value of the stocks making them up. I Fund earnings stem from both these factors and from changes in value of American currency relative to foreign currency.

The government securities (G) fund's earnings are derived solely from interest, paid by the U.S. government. The fixed-income (F) fund's earnings come from changes in market prices as well as interest. Neither of those funds have any dividends.

The earnings of the F, C, S and I funds are reduced by administrative costs (which are the lowest anywhere, by a wide margin) and management costs from Barclays Global Investors, which runs the investments. Share prices are calculated after deducting these costs.

Automatic reinvestment of dividends in the TSP means federal employees, perhaps unknowingly, are investing more in their retirement.

Did you ever notice that returns on the C Fund are sometimes higher than the returns on the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, which the C Fund tracks? That's because the S&P 500 does not include reinvestment of dividends, and the TSP does.

Don't confuse the TSP's system of reinvesting dividends with DRIPs (dividend reinvestment plans). DRIPs are programs where an individual company automatically reinvests dividend earnings for stockholders by providing additional shares of stocks, often with no extra charge.

Thirty years ago, retirees often lived off of dividends alone, keeping their principal intact, according to certified financial planner Karen Schaeffer. Longer retirements make that practice rare today. TSP participants should worry much more about the funds in which they invest, than they should about how those funds make their earnings, Schaeffer said.

"Generally, what we're trying to get people to focus on when we're looking at their investment is not so much the difference between dividends, capital gains and interest, but the difference between what they invest in and what is worth--total return," Schaeffer said. "It's the total return that gives us the confidence that we're keeping pace with, or maybe even staying ahead of, inflation."

©2005 by National Journal Group Inc.

 

[Greg]

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U.S. business spending seen on upswing in 2006

By Mark Felsenthal

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - U.S. business investment will pick up in 2006 as companies spend on buildings and inventories, helping propel economic growth and offsetting an expected slowdown in consumer spending, economists said on Friday.

Businesses have cash to invest as economic growth has strengthened, economists said.

"The fundamentals suggest that despite the higher energy prices and somewhat higher interest rates, at least on the short end, that spending pace remains above trend," said Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick.

Economists played down a November drop in orders for U.S. durable non-transportation goods, expensive products built to last three years or more, which they said reflects setbacks from the storms that battered the United States and disrupted energy supply in the early fall.

"I'm not convinced the decline was all that great, because the hurricane effect may have been reported in November rather than October," said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, Inc.

The durable goods report also showed that unfilled orders in November rose by the highest level since mid-2000, suggesting higher factory output in store for months ahead.

Before the report came out, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Jeffrey Lacker had forecast earlier this week that business spending growth would outpace output in 2006.

"Business investment should expand substantially faster than overall output and residential investment should expand more slowly, perhaps even falling in real terms," he said in Washington on Thursday.

Businesses were slow to resume making big investments after the 2001 recession, as uncertainty about corporate scandals and the Iraq war clouded the outlook. Meanwhile, free-spending consumers, buoyed by fast-rising home values, spurred much of the early stages of economic recovery.

But business investment grew by about 6.5 percent in 2005 and should gain by between 7 percent and 9 percent in the coming year, based on hurricane recovery and income growth, said David Huether, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers.

"Once people saw the recovery had legs, people started spending," he said.

Much of that growth is likely to come from investment in structures, with mining and utilities leading the way as the Gulf Coast rebuilds and as the high cost of energy makes it economical to pursue harder-to-reach oil and gas, Meckstroth said.

But as the economy grows, business inventories, which include the components of unfinished goods, and are another component of investment, will also expand, he said.

In addition, businesses are likely to have beef up technology or invest in new equipment to keep up with growth, Huether said.

© Reuters 2005

 

[Greg]

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Woman Swallows Cell Phone After Argument

December 24, 2005

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) - A lovers' dispute over a cell phone ended suddenly when the woman swallowed the phone whole, police said.

Police said they received a call at 4:52 a.m. Friday from a Blue Springs man who said his girlfriend was having trouble breathing. When they arrived at the house they found the 24-year-old woman had a cell phone lodged in her throat.

"He wanted the phone and she wouldn't give it to him, so she attempted to swallow it,'' Detective Sgt. Steve Decker of the Blue Springs Police Department. "She just put the entire phone in her mouth so he couldn't get it.''

Police said an ambulance transported the woman to St. Mary's Medical Center in Blue Springs. A hospital spokeswoman said she couldn't give details about the woman's health since police have not released her identity.

 

[Greg]

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NORAD Marks 50th Year of Tracking Santa

Sun Dec 25, 1:45 AM ET

For half a century, the military agency dedicated to detecting threats against the United States and Canada has reported Santa's sleigh ride to curious youngsters around the world.

With help from several civilian companies, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, reports Santa's progress on a Web site in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. It also answers telephone calls and e-mails as part of the Christmas Eve tradition.

The reported track began at the North Pole, of course, and NORAD said Santa Claus was spotted in North America — on Canada's eastern coast — followed by New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Nepal and India.

Last year, the tracking Web site at http://www.noradsanta.org received 912 million hits from 181 countries, and the Santa Tracking Operations Center answered nearly 55,000 phone calls on Christmas Eve.

According to NORAD lore, the tradition began in 1955 when Sears-Roebuck placed an ad in The Gazette in Colorado Springs telling kids to dial a number if they wanted to talk to Santa.

But the number was one digit off. When the first call came to NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command, Col. Harry Shoup told an eager child he would check the radars for Santa.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press.

 

[Greg]

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Researchers Seek to Bring Back Chestnuts

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Dec 23, 5:50 AM ET

A group of researchers have a message for those who want to confine the chestnut to a holiday open fire: They aren't just for Christmas anymore.

Agricultural researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia's Center for Agroforestry are experimenting with more than 50 varieties of chestnuts at a research farm. The goal is to create a new nut industry and bring back the American chestnut.

"I don't think there's an image problem or a misperception," said Mike Gold, associate director of the center. "I think there's just a flat-out unfamiliarity."

A century ago — before an Asian blight devastated most of the country's millions of chestnut trees — marketing the chestnut wasn't necessary. Chestnuts were a staple of American diets, particularly for recent immigrants. The trees' rot-resistant timber was used to build barns and beams, its bark providing tannin for leather.

While the chestnut remains a oddity for most Americans, commercial production of a heartier, disease-resistant Chinese variety is increasing as growers struggle to keep up with demand.

"Usually, by the end of October all the chestnut growers start calling each other looking for chestnuts because we're all sold out," said Greg Miller, a commercial grower in Carrollton, Ohio.

Still, domestic production is just a fraction of the global market, said Gold, who estimates that American chestnut growers produced 1.5 million pounds last year, compared to 200 million pounds worldwide.

A university-sponsored market survey earlier this year of 90 growers in 50 states showed that most producers generate less than $5,000 annually — with 35 percent yet to realize their first sale from trees that take up to 10 years to produce commercial amounts.

"There's room to greatly expand the market," Miller said. "But first we have to prime the pump."

To do that requires a public relations campaign of sorts for the chestnut. It can be a hard sell, with a starchy taste that is decidedly acquired, and a shell that's tough to crack.

As a food source, the chestnut is high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamin C and unsaturated fatty acids, more akin to a grain, such as brown rice, than other nuts. Some call it the "un-nut."

As a crop, it is more profitable than walnuts and pecans, its closest rivals, with wholesale prices of $3 to $3.50 per pound. The other nuts fetch 80 cents to $1.40 per pound on average.

The nut also deserves a place on the cultural mantle as a symbol of fall harvest alongside pumpkins and maple syrup, said Gold. It's also lovingly crooned by Nat King Cole and Perry Como's versions of "The Christmas Song."

"It tends to have an Old World sensibility," he said. "The song, linked to the holiday, creates an image. It means family."

While the notion of chestnut bisque, chestnut-stuffed quail and other such dishes might make finicky eaters recoil, Gold said it wasn't long ago that Americans made similar observations about "exotic" avocados and kiwis.

In addition to an annual fall harvest festival, researchers also plan to offer seminars for prospective chestnut growers, said Gold, who is also an associate professor of forestry at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"Our focus is really on creating a new nut industry," he said.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press.

 

[Greg]

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Stock markets in Japan and Europe make double-digit gains in 2005

Stock markets in Japan and across Europe traded lower on Friday but finished the year with double-digit gains, significantly outperforming U.S. stock markets.

(AP) December 31, 2005


For the year, the Nikkei gained 40.24 percent -- the biggest annual gain since 1986 amid encouraging signs of an economic recovery in Japan.

European stock indexes ended the year with smaller double-digit gains, propelled by buyout activity, a weaker dollar and corporate restructurings. The FTSE 100 climbed over 16 percent, Germany's DAX 30 gained 28 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped around 24 percent.

By way of comparison, the Dow Jones industrials fell 0.61 percent for the year, closing in the negative territory for the first time since 2002, while the S&P rose 3 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.37 percent.

On Friday, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 232.77 points, or 1.42 percent, to finish Friday's half-day session at 16,111.43. The broader Topix index of all shares on the Tokyo Stock exchange's first section shed 13.99 points, or 0.83 percent, to 1,649.76.

European markets slipped on the last working day of 2005 because of profit taking in a thin market.

The German DAX 30 fell 1.1 percent at 5,398; the French CAC 40 fell 1.2 percent at 4,718; and the U.K. FTSE 100 index dipped 0.5 percent at 5,609 in a half-day of trading before the New Year's holiday. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 dropped 0.7 percent at 309.57.

"We are just having a dipping day," said Bob van Wijk, equity strategist at Dutch broker Wesa Effecten.

Despite the Nikkei's gains, Japan's benchmark index is far below its all-time closing high of 38,915.87 set Dec. 29, 1989. The plunge that followed in the early 1990s contributed to the economy's nearly 15-year slump.

Trading was also very active this year, with both trading volume and turnover in value terms marking record highs on the exchange's first section. The total market capitalization on the section came to 522.07 trillion yen (US$4.46 trillion) as of Dec. 30, up 48 percent from the previous year's 353.56 trillion yen.

On Friday, Japanese stocks fell as investors took profits in such issues as banks, retailers, machinery markers that led the year's strong rally. The Nikkei rose nearly 1 percent on Thursday to finish at 16,344.20, its highest close since Sept. 20, 2000.

After hovering around the 11,000-point level for the first seven months, the Nikkei gradually gained ground in August, when the benchmark index moved to above the 12,000. It further accelerated in September on the back of growth in corporate earnings and a strengthening economy.

Adding to the upbeat outlook was the government's forecast this week that the economy would pull out of deflation sometime next year, ending the spiral of declining prices that has undercut corporate profits, harmed wages and prolonged the economic slump.

Japan's central bank has kept a low interest rate policy for four years to help spur a recovery after nearly 15 years of slow or no economic growth. Lower interest rates make it easier for businesses to borrow money to expand.

By way of comparison, the U.S. economy remained strong, which encouraged the Federal Reserve to raise rates, creating uncertainty for investors and pressuring stocks.

Analysts remain positive about the Japanese market's movement in the coming year.

Masayoshi Yano, senior market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, is more bullish. "It wouldn't be surprising if the Nikkei targeted 20,000 next year," Yano said.

Copyright 2004-2005 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS.

 

[Greg]

 

[Greg]

Fed's Moskow says more rate hikes still likely
Thu Jan 12, 2006 07:17 PM ET

By Ros Krasny

CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Michael Moskow on Thursday called for more rate hikes to snuff out any potential for higher inflation, even though rates are now at the bottom end of a neutral range.

"Appropriate monetary policy ... likely entails some further policy action," said Moskow, who is not a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year.

"If inflation or inflation expectations were to rise persistently, then policy clearly would have to be tightened further," he added at a University of Chicago Graduate School of Business outlook meeting.

A neutral level on fed funds is one that neither stimulates or hinders growth.

U.S. year-on-year core inflation eased in November but for most of the past year has been "close to 2 percent, which is at the upper end of the range that I feel is consistent with price stability," Moskow said

Still, the central banker said he was confident that inflation would stay contained, even given possible pass-throughs of high energy costs to other goods, and a tight labor market that has little slack remaining.

Moskow said the policy outlook was less certain now than when the fed funds rate was very low -- consistent with ideas that the bank is depending more on incoming data as the monetary tightening cycle progresses.

"Future policy will not be a mechanical reaction to the next number on inflation or employment," he said. "The policy firming that is likely to be appropriate over the near term is less certain now than it was earlier."

Moskow said the United States has "self-sustaining economic growth" and that a Blue Chip consensus forecast for real GDP growth averaging about 3.25 percent over the next two years was "reasonable."

December's U.S. jobless rate of 4.9 percent was "roughly consistent with an economy operating at potential," Moskow said. Labor force participation, which has lagged in the current expansion compared with past economic cycles, is not likely to have a large increase, he said.

The Fed has raised benchmark interest rates 13 times over the past 1-1/2 years, pushing the fed funds rate to 4.25 percent. Financial markets are pricing in a rate hike at the Fed's Jan. 31 meeting, with a strong chance that another increase in March will be the final installment in the tightening cycle.

© Reuters 2006

 

[Greg]

COMMON LAW SPOUSES ELIGIBLE FOR TSP BENEFITS
1/13/2006
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is clarifying criteria needed for it to recognize a common law marriage.

According to regulations published in Thursday’s edition of the Federal Register, the Board will rely on a Thrift Savings Plan participant’s marital status stated on a federal income tax reform.

If a TSP participant dies without having withdrawn his or her account and without designating a beneficiary, the Federal Employees Retirement System Act of 1986 stipulates the account will be paid to the surviving spouse, if any.

The Board determines spouses “by the law of the state in which the participant was domiciled at the time of death” when determining if the participant was married. Most states require a valid marriage license, but 15 states and the District of Columbia recognize common law marriages in some form. Every state, however, is required to recognize as valid a common law marriage that was recognized in another state.

To determine if a TSP participant has a valid common law marriage, the Board can base its decision on the participant’s most recent federal income tax form. FRTIB decided to use the tax form because “such a form is submitted to the Internal Revenue Service under penalty of perjury and, therefore, is presumed to be reliable.”

The regulations can be found at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-207.htm.

 

[Greg]

'Divine mission' driving Iran's new leader

By Anton La Guardia
(Filed: 14/01/2006)

As Iran rushes towards confrontation with the world over its nuclear programme, the question uppermost in the mind of western leaders is "What is moving its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to such recklessness?"

Political analysts point to the fact that Iran feels strong because of high oil prices, while America has been weakened by the insurgency in Iraq.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

But listen carefully to the utterances of Mr Ahmadinejad - recently described by President George W Bush as an "odd man" - and there is another dimension, a religious messianism that, some suspect, is giving the Iranian leader a dangerous sense of divine mission.

In November, the country was startled by a video showing Mr Ahmadinejad telling a cleric that he had felt the hand of God entrancing world leaders as he delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly last September.

When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."

The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.

One of the first acts of Mr Ahmadinejad's government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well.

All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour - denied by the government but widely believed - is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.

Iran's dominant "Twelver" sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.

He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.

Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.

The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?

The 49-year-old Mr Ahmadinejad, a former top engineering student, member of the Revolutionary Guards and mayor of Teheran, overturned Iranian politics after unexpectedly winning last June's presidential elections.

The main rift is no longer between "reformists" and "hardliners", but between the clerical establishment and Mr Ahmadinejad's brand of revolutionary populism and superstition.

Its most remarkable manifestation came with Mr Ahmadinejad's international debut, his speech to the United Nations.

World leaders had expected a conciliatory proposal to defuse the nuclear crisis after Teheran had restarted another part of its nuclear programme in August.

Instead, they heard the president speak in apocalyptic terms of Iran struggling against an evil West that sought to promote "state terrorism", impose "the logic of the dark ages" and divide the world into "light and dark countries".

The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to "hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace".

In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN.
"I felt it myself too," Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. "I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink…It's not an exaggeration, because I was looking.

"They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic."
Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that "they couldn't believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad".

Their sneaking suspicion is that Iran's president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and - who knows - speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam.

Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited

 

[Greg]

Consultants advise TSP not to change investment mix

By Karen Rutzick
January 17, 2006
govexec.com

An outside consulting firm on Tuesday advised Thrift Savings Plan administrators to stay the course with all investments.

The TSP, which is a 401(k)-style retirement savings plan for federal employees with assets of almost $175 billion, hired Chicago-based consulting firm Ennis Knupp & Associates to perform the first-ever external review of the plan's investment practices.

The consultants presented the first of what will be four recommendations to the TSP Board at a monthly meeting Tuesday. The initial review focused on the indexes that the TSP tracks for its common stocks (C), small- and mid-size companies (S), fixed income securities (F) and international stocks (I) funds.

The TSP is managed passively, meaning its holdings simply mirror indexes as opposed to using mutual fund managers to attempt to beat the market. For each of the four funds reviewed, the consultants told the board its current indexes remain the best choice.

The TSP board subsequently passed a resolution to retain the indexes.

The C Fund, which follows the S&P 500 Index of the top 500 stocks, and the S Fund, which tracks the Dow Jones Wilshire 4500 Index of the next 4,500 stocks, cover the universe of domestic stocks for TSP participants, consultants said.

Ennis Knupp advisers Russell Ivinjack and Neeraj Baxi told the board this combination is optimal for investors because the indexes are widely-followed and provide access to all U.S. markets.

The consultants also said switching to the next-best option, the Russell 1000 and Russell 2000 for the C and S funds respectively, would cost about $225 million.

For the F Fund, Ennis Knupp recommended sticking with the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index. The consultants noted that it is the most widely accepted index and provided the most diversification. Switching to another index would cost about $15 million, they said.

The I Fund was perhaps the toughest decision for the board and its consultants. The current index used -- the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia, Far East Index -- does not include Canada or emerging markets like Latin America.

"In the theoretical world, the all-inclusive fund is better because it is more diversified," TSP Executive Director Gary Amelio said.

But a number of factors stand in the way of switching to an index that includes stocks from these countries. The current index is valued daily, as are all of the other TSP funds, allowing participants to change the makeup of their holdings on a daily basis. But indexes which include emerging markets and Canada are valued monthly. Switching to monthly valuation of the I fund would require a change in policy and could create confusion and inconvenience for investors.

Also, the current index is the largest, and the board favors larger indexes so that nonfederal investors can carry the weight if TSP participants move their billions of dollars around dramatically.

Once indexes with emerging markets and Canada become daily-valued and grow larger, the board will reconsider the I Fund's index, TSP Board Chairman Andrew Saul said. The growing economies of China, India and other countries eventually will be too valuable of an investment opportunity for TSP participants to miss out, he said.

"We're going to have to look at this thing," Saul said. "I think we'd be remiss not to."

Future presentations from Ennis Knupp will cover potential changes in asset management, which is currently performed by Barclays Global Investors.

The consultants also will review the possibility of adding funds such as a real estate investment trust, which is an option some lawmakers are advocating. Amelio said key staffers on the House Government Reform Committee called a meeting Friday to discuss progress on the REIT option.

The TSP also announced at Tuesday's meeting that it is retaining the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to provide annuities for TSP participants. TSP participants have the option, upon retirement, of converting their savings into a stable annuity. About 11,000 retirees now have such annuities, officials said.

2005 by National Journal Group Inc.

 

[Greg]

Milkman stole cash from his round to go to France http://icsurreyonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0500dorkingleatherhead/tm_objectid=16599909&method=full&siteid=50101&headline=milkman-stole-cash-from-his-round-to-go-to-france-name_page.html