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<title>News: Moldova.org: Economics</title>
<link>http://www.moldova.org</link>
<description>Last news - www.moldova.org</description>
<lastBuildDate>Mon, 12 May 2008 02:55:48 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<language>en-us</language>
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<copyright>© 1997-2008 moldova.org</copyright>
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<title>Report: Public worker pensions threatened</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118307/</link>
<description><![CDATA[U.S. public employee pensions are threatened by skyrocketing healthcare costs and other soaring expenses, analysts warn.Accounting gimmicks used by state and local governments to balance their pension books disguise the extent of the crisis, the Washington Post reported Sunday.State governments have reported they are already confronting a deficit of at least $750 billion to cover the cost of retirement benefits they have promised to their employees. Analysts say the skyrocketing cost of providing retirees' healthcare benefits may soon force government officials to rethink providing retirees some promised retirement benefits.State and local governments say their funds for retiree benefits are falling behind.]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 May 2008 02:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>China welcomes jumbo jet company</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118296/</link>
<description><![CDATA[China Sunday inaugurated its first jumbo passenger aircraft company, Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., officials said.The company will be responsible for researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing large passenger aircraft with more than 150 seats, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.CACC has registered capital of $2.7 billion, the report said. The state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is the fledgling company's biggest shareholder.Other shareholders include China Aviation Industry Corp. I, the country's largest aircraft producer, and China Aviation Industry Corp. II.The company will be chaired by Zhang Qingwei, a former minister of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 May 2008 00:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>Housing crisis spiraling to people's stuff</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118252/</link>
<description><![CDATA[Many Americans who have lost their homes to foreclosure are seeing their belongings auctioned as well because they can't pay the storage costs, analysts say.With foreclosures on the rise, people put their belongings into storage units while they sought new housing. But with the mortgage crisis turning into a general economic crisis, storage companies are auctioning off people's possessions when they can't pay the bills, The New York Times said Sunday.On the flip side, the storage unit business is booming, The Times noted. Stock for U-Store-It is up 33 percent and rivals Extra Space and Public Storage saw 18 percent gains this year.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 16:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>Walkaway homeowners: Trend or myth?</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118231/</link>
<description><![CDATA[U.S. lenders claim people who owe more on their homes than they are worth are simply abandoning them, walking away from high mortgage payments.Bankers say the trend is frightening because homeowners in the past have gone to great lengths to avoid foreclosure.But the Los Angeles Times reports few banks or real estate trade groups have been able to produce hard figures about the phenomenon. Marianne Sullivan, senior vice president at Fannie Mae, said she hears more stories about walkaways but still called them folklore.Bruce Marks of Neighborhood Assistance Corp., a Boston group that helps homeowners, said that to the extent that there are walkaways lenders should take the blame.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 08:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>Ford may say goodbye to Mercury brand</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118172/</link>
<description><![CDATA[Ford Motor Co. may soon retire its Mercury brand to focus its efforts on Ford and Lincoln brands, U.S. auto industry analysts say.Ford officials have denied such reports, but industry analyst Aaron Bragman of the economic forecasting firm Global Insight said the Mercury brand has declined in sales and may soon become expendable, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.Mercury has one more product cycle left in it, and then will almost certainly be retired as a brand, Bragman said.Former auto executive Jerome York -- who now advises the investment company of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian -- said this week the struggling automaker would benefit from retiring the Mercury brand.Kerkorian's company owns 4.7 percent of Ford and is eyeing an increased investment in the U.S.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 01:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>Consumers prepare for postage hike</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118145/</link>
<description><![CDATA[U.S. consumers said they are doing their best to prepare for another budget strain as the postal rate hike approaches.Starting Monday, a first-class stamp will cost 42 cents. For most Americans the one-cent increase in the cost of first-class domestic letter postage is not a huge problem, but as inflation increases, the postage hike is getting a lot of attention, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.For those who use the postal service for more than just paying bills and sending letters, the hike is going to have a stronger impact.I spend $20 to $30 a day on postage. The extra I will have to pay has to come out of somewhere, said Jimmy Moore, 24, a water filtration equipment salesman.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 22:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>Judges affirms Louisville's dog law</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118136/</link>
<description><![CDATA[A judge in Kentucky has upheld the city of Louisville's dangerous-dog law, ruling that it was properly approved by the Metro Council Dec. 20.Jefferson Circuit Judge Martin McDonald in February rejected two older versions of the law, ruling that the council's Democratic caucus met improperly, without notifying the public of a location change, the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal reported Saturday.In his ruling Friday, McDonald said that neither the city nor the Louisville Kennel Club and the League of Kentucky Sportsmen notified the court about the December 2007 ordinance, even though they were aware of its passage.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 22:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>BAMS contract boosts Northrop Grumman</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118118/</link>
<description><![CDATA[Northrop Grumman Corp.'s military contract to build a new robotic plane could be a boon for the company and Southern California, experts say.The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that Northrop Grumman, based in Century City, Calif., won a contract potentially worth nearly $4 billion to build the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aerial System.The contract to build as many as 68 BAMS -- unmanned surveillance planes -- is expected to generate thousands of new jobs in Southern California and help slow the regional housing downturn, the newspaper said.The news is surprisingly optimistic, and if you put everything together this looks fairly encouraging, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 21:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>British Energy sale attracts few offers</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118112/</link>
<description><![CDATA[A requirement that any firm that buys British Energy must sell one of the company's eight nuclear plants has impeded the utility's sale, analysts say.The Times in London reported Saturday that British Energy's nuclear sites at Bradwell, in Essex, and Dungeness, Kent, are widely seen as the most likely candidates for closure.EDF of France was the only company that offered to buy British Energy ahead of Friday's deadline for bids, the newspaper said.RWE and Iberdrola, the German and Spanish utilities, have not ruled out the possibility of making a bid at a later date.Vattenfall, of Sweden, dropped out in the final stages of bidding under pressure from the Swedish government, the report said.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 20:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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<title>UPI NewsTrack Business</title>
<link>http://economie.moldova.org/stiri/eng/118099/</link>
<description><![CDATA[Investment firm buys Sallie Mae stakeWASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Mutual fund manager Dodge & Cox has acquired a 10.5 percent stake in troubled student loan company Sallie Mae after the lender won relief from U.S. lawmakers.San Francisco-based Dodge & Cox revealed it made the stock buy in a disclosure filing made with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, according to a report in the Washington Post, which said the investment firm did not indicate it had any plans to pursue a takeover of Sallie Mae.Dodge & Cox put down its money after Sallie Mae's share price had been battered by turmoil in the credit markets and cuts in student loan subsidies from the federal government.]]></description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 18:05:00 +0300</pubDate>
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