Margaretha blog

Republicans: Report on financial crisis was biased

WASHINGTON – Republicans criticized a government report on the causes of the 2008 financial crisis as biased and political on Wednesday. Democrats fired back that Republicans want to roll back federal regulations of the financial industry.

That exchange came as the House Financial Services Committee examined a study issued last month concluding that the near economic collapse was avoidable and was caused by failures by the financial industry and their federal regulators.

The differences between the two parties underscored the partisan gap as the GOP-run House begins a year in which one goal is to block new regulations required by the financial overhaul law that Democrats and President Barack Obama enacted last summer.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's report was endorsed by the panel's six Democratic commissioners. Its four Republicans dissented, saying the study played down factors such as how federal policies aimed at increasing home ownership encouraged the use of high-risk subprime loans.

Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., said Democrats used the report "to support pre-established political philosophies." Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., said "some members of this commission were more interested in following an ideological agenda."

Some of the harshest criticism came from former Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., who was the top Republican on the commission.

"From the beginning, I thought that the commission was created for political purposes," Thomas told the committee. He said commission staff used their time "to find gotcha documents to support provocative headlines,"and that information was leaked to embarrass commission Republicans.

Thomas was among several Republicans who criticized Democrats, who controlled the House and Senate last year, for approving the overhaul legislation before the commission's report was issued. One reason for that haste, he said, was the impending retirement of then Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., a 35-year veteran of Congress.

"When someone is spending that much time in Congress and wants to move a product, it's very difficult to say no," Thomas said.

The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Democrats pushed the legislation quickly due to pleas from worried Bush and Obama administration officials that "you really need to get this done quickly," and warnings from Wall Street that prolonging the legislative work would create uncertainty.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said GOP criticism was an attempt to undermine the financial overhaul law and "return the financial services industry to a nostalgic age" of less regulation3C/p>

The commission's chairman and top Democrat, former California state treasurer Phil Angelides, said the report was written fairly. He said full implantation of the financial overhaul law "is critical and will help prevent a future crisis."

The mystery behind the metal dog tags on Chicago trees

Jake Malooley, Time Out Chicago

Question: I've noticed that some of the trees in my neighborhood have been "tagged." It looks like a metal dog tag but seems to be some sort of official City of Chicago thing. Does this mean the tree has been treated or has some sort of significance?Meredith Konrad, Ukrainian Village

Answer:Think of that peculiar-looking silver-dollarsize coin screwed into the bark as a guarantee your precious tree won't be destroyed by invasive species any time soon.

Specifically, the tree is protected from the evil clutches of the emerald ash borer (EAB), a tiny green beetle native to Asia discovered in the U.S. in 2002 (and Chicago in 2008) that has the power to take out an adult ash tree in two to four yearswith a little help from its friends. While the adult beetles eat the ash's foliage to little consequence, the larvae feed on the bark and inner wood, cutting off the tree's nutrient flow.

Arborjet, a Massachusetts-based tree injection technology company contracted by the city to control the pests, uses the tags to mark trunks it has pumped full of insecticide. And thank God for that poison, too, considering 20 percent of the area's trees (about 95,000) are ash. To an EAB, Chicago must look like one big Old Country Buffet.

Amazon's Sales Grow 36%; Sells More E-Books than Paperbacks

Amazon reported higher profits and a 36 percent increase in net sales for the fourth quarter of 2010, and noted that the company is selling more copies of Kindle e-books than paperback copies.

Amazon reported net income of of $416 million for the fourth quarter, versus net sales of $12.95 billion. Net income climbed 8 percent on a year-over-year basis, and revenue jumped by a stunning 36 percent.

North America segment sales, representing the company's U.S. and Canadian sites, were $7.21 billion, up 45 percent.

Amazon also said that the company was now selling more e-books via its Kindle platform than physical paperback books. Since the beginning of the year, Amazon said, the company has sold 115 Kindle books for every 100 paperbacks sold - even books where there are no Kindle editions. The sales figures came from Amazon's U.S. sales, the company said. Overall, Amazon has "stocked" 810,000 books including 107 of 112 The New York Times bestsellers.

Amazon sold "millions" of its new , the company said, during the fourth quarter.

For the full year of 2010, Amazon reported $1.15 billion, an increase of 28 percent. Net sales increased by 40 percent to $34.2 billion.

"Thanks to our customers, we achieved two big milestones," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, in a statement. "We had our first $10 billion quarter, and after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com. Last July we announced that Kindle books had passed hardcovers and predicted that Kindle would surpass paperbacks in the second quarter of this year, so this milestone has come even sooner than we expected - and it's on top of continued growth in paperback sales."

Amazon said that it expects to grow 28 percent to 39 percent in the first quarter, to $9.1 billion and $9.9 billion.

Hyundai Motor's 4th-quarter net profit hits record

SEOUL, South Korea – Hyundai Motor's net profit jumped 48 percent in the fourth quarter to a record high as the automaker reaped gains from strong overseas sales.

Hyundai said Thursday that it earned 1.4 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31 after recording 946 billion won in profit a year earlier.

Hyundai Motor Co. is South Korea's largest automaker and has become a major force in the global industry by expanding aggressively overseas with factories in China, India, Turkey, the United States, the Czech Republic and, from late last year, Russia. The company and South Korea's Kia Motors Corp. together form the world's fifth-largest automotive group.

Hyundai, the maker of the Elantra and Sonata sedans and the Tuscon SUV, said total sales during the quarter rose 3.1 percent to 9.94 trillion won from 9.65 trillion won a year earlier.

Company spokeswoman Song Meeyoung said that the net profit and sales figures were all-time quarterly highs.

Sales volume increased 5.1 percent to 943,791 vehicles in the fourth quarter and rose 16.3 percent to a record 3.61 million for 2010.

Global market share for all of last year, however, remained unchanged from 2009 at 5.2 percent, Song said.

Annual net profit in 2010 surged 78 percent to 5.27 trillion won, while sales hit 36.77 trillion won, a gain of 15.4 percent. Both figures were also record highs, according to Song.

Hyundai enjoyed strong profitability last year due to strength in its overseas factories and sales operations, which contribute to its net earnings.

The company did not break down its overseas earnings performance for the fourth quarter alone, but said that its operations in China, India, the United States, the Czech Republic and Turkey all contributed to earnings in 2010.

Among those operations, the most notable performer was the United States, where sales volume increased 53.9 percent from 2009 to 300,000 vehicles, while revenue rose 46.8 percent, according to presentation materials for investors.

Operations in China, the world's biggest auto market, were also strong, with sales volume rising 23.3 percent to 703,000 vehicles and revenue gaining 20.8 percent.

Sales during 2010 from overseas factories totaled 1.88 million vehicles, a gain of 25.9 percent from the year before, Hyundai said. Exports of vehicles made in South Korea increased 17.8 percent to 1.07 million.

Greg Kim, an auto analyst at Mirae Asset Securities in Seoul, said that Hyundai's overseas factory sales during the final three months of last year reached their highest quarterly level ever.

"All the overseas factories, they performed very well," he said.

Hyundai Motor's share price fell 0.8 percent to close at 196,000 won, though remains 13 percent higher so far this year. The company's stock price rose 43 percent in 2010.

Classic Chinese tale to get 3-D film treatment

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) – Monkey King, meet Avatar.

Production has kicked off on a stereoscopic 3-D version of one of the biggest-ever Chinese language adventure tales as local filmmakers hope to match the gigantic success of "Avatar."

The film, "Monkey King," is based on the classic Chinese novel "The Journey to the West," which tells the story of a Buddhist monk's pilgrimage to India to collect religious texts.

One of the best-known stories from Chinese mythology, the popular tale is frequently adapted in for television and movies.

Aaron Kwok, a Hong Kong pop star, is cast as the Buffalo Demon King, while Chow Yun-fat, who starred in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," plays the Jade Emperor.

Other Hong Kong stars such as Donnie Yen, Kelly Chen, Gigi Leung and Peter Ho will also take part.

Kwok told a news conference Sunday that he hoped his character would come off better in the new movie than he does in tradition.

"In Donnie Yen's action design, I hope the Buffalo Demon King can beat Jade Emperor in fights," he said.

To create the 3-D effects needed for Monkey King, the film's producers have employed a Hollywood team including David Ebner, who worked on "Alice in Wonderland" and "Spider-Man 3." Daniel Symmes is cinematographer.

The popularity of 3-D movies has surged in China. James Cameron's Avatar took $206 million in box office revenues in China earlier this year, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Monkey King is budgeted at $40 million and is expected to make a positive return at the domestic Chinese box-office when it opens in July 2012. Approximately a third or more than 1,100 of China's movie screens are 3-D screens, according to Xinhua.

(Reporting by Haze Fan; editing by Elaine Lies)