Business

Toyota, now the world's largest automaker, has said it would halt production at a plant in Aichi prefecture in Japan, reducing total output by a massive 220,000 cars.  This should be seen as a recognition of the over-capacity tat…

Alcohol used to seen as a recession-proof good. This downturn is changing that thinking as evidence of cutbacks in spending, consumption, and on-premise drinking abound.  Back in the Spring of 2008, Nielsen conducted a bunch of surveys…

Back in the 1970s, a Japanese car would be laughed off the road in America as a cheap poor man’s vehicle. But thins changed. Remember the Datsun 240Z? That was a car that showed us the Japanese were for real.  Datsun became Nissan and…

This comes via Liz Pulliam Weston of MSN Money. You probably know that it's not a good idea to make too many claims on your homeowners insurance policy, because your insurer could drop you. What you might not know is that a claim…

Reuters is reporting that the ratings agencies are about to get into some serious legal problems.  You see,during the bubble years, the ratings agencies gave a gold-standard AAA rating to what now seems to be dubious investment…

I have been looking forward to the Alcoa (AA) earnings report, due out later today, because of what it suggests about the economy.  As the economy bottoms, the fortunes of cyclical companies that are leveraged to the overall state of…

Judge Robert Gerber has given General Motors approval to sell its assets under section 363 of the bankruptcy code.  Last month I indicated that this 363 sale was more questionable than Chrysler’s and could meet more resistance in…

You have probably heard the stories about China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) bidding for Repsol YP'F’s Argentine assets in a quest for more natural resources for China. Well, apparently, the Chinese want a lot more than just…

This one is due out tomorrow.  His review is pretty favorable.  But, he does say its not a must upgrade if you already have an iPhone.

You probably saw the mention of Six Flags’ bankruptcy in the links over the weekend (here’s the original article).  It is a shame that the company has gone bankrupt.  However, I was contacted via e-mail by a Six Flags spokesperson…