Bad timing by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
The federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. shifted most
of its $64 billion in assets from bonds to stocks and real estate last fall—just in time for the crash. The move led to billions of dollars in losses, leaving the agency underfunded as corporate pension-fund failures are rising.
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Latest Videos FromThe Week
The Boston Globe
Credit Crunch bypasses midsize American cities
The credit crunch is bypassing many midsize American cities. Consumer loan balances in Huntsville, Ala., (pop. 376,000), increased 13.2 percent in last year’s fourth quarter, while balances in Yakima, Wash., (pop. 84,300), rose more than 8 percent.
The Wall Street Journal
All is well at Apple’s online App Store
In the year or so since Apple’s online App Store opened, it has sold more than 800 million applications for its iPhone, at prices ranging from free to $10. Apple keeps 30 percent of each sale, with 70 percent going to the application’s developer. Rivals BlackBerry and Palm now plan app stores of their own.
CNNmoney.com
Topps to release cards on hoaxes and hoodwinks
Baseball-card company Topps this year will release a set of cards devoted to “the world’s biggest hoaxes, hoodwinks, and bamboozles.” Among the people and companies featured are Bernard Madoff, Charles Ponzi, and Enron.
Fortune.com
Bad timing by companies in the S&P 500
In 2008, companies in the S&P 500 spent $340 billion repurchasing their own shares. That’s a 42.3 percent decline from 2007, when they spent a record $589 billion, just ahead of a 38.5 percent decline in stock prices.
USA Today
