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Toyota is used to being tops in quality or sales. But this newest designation must hurt. Toyota grew quickly, maybe too quickly.
Toyota's 1st in safety recalls for 1st time(Detroit Free Press) WASHINGTON -- In a first, Toyota led the U.S. auto industry in recalled vehicles this year, thanks to its largest safety-related problem since it began selling vehicles in the United States.
Read more on Toyota's recalls.
Vehicle information service Kelley Blue Book released the most-researched new
vehicles of 2009 on the company's Web site, www.kbb.com:
1. Honda Accord
2. Honda Civic
3. Toyota Camry
4. Honda CR-V
5. Toyota Corolla
6. Toyota RAV4
7. Toyota Highlander
8. Toyota Prius
9. Nissan Altima
10. Honda Pilot
11. Ford Escape
12. Chevrolet Camaro
13. Honda Odyssey
14. Ford Fusion
15. Mazda3
16. Ford Mustang
17. Volkswagen Jetta
18. Toyota Sienna
19. Lexus RX 350
20. Chevrolet Equinox
Chevron has a large refinery in El Segundo. Some really tough language from the U.S. Attorney involved in the case.
Chevron Pays $45 Million in Suit(The Epoch Times) The Justice Department recently announced that the Chevron Corporation will pay more than 45.5 million dollars to rectify claims that it underpaid natural gas royalties to the U.S. government and Native American holders.
Read more about Chevron's fine.
I started this installment of Business Casual by referring to the "Great Economic Experiment of 2009" because our nation was in uncharted territory as government tried this, that and the other thing to save the economy.
I think that's the big story of 2009, how government intervened in the economy so dramatically and often desperately. Some results of this experiment will start coming in during 2010. But it will take years to determine how successful the government intervention was.
We have to keep in mind that the economic slump was much deeper than predicted, which explains why many economists now think the initial $787 billion economic stimulus package was too small even though that seemed huge at the time.
But hindsight is always 20/20.
Here's Business Casual my column.
Every so often, I find a business that says something important about the times in which we live. I put Sparkys in Rolling Hills Estates in that category.
The store, which sells sandals, handbags, toys and other items has a maximum price over which it will not charge for any item.
It's not exactly a 99 Cents Only Store, but Sparkys seems to be a novelty on The Hill.
Read my column.
Here's a Time magazine piece on the war on Christmas. It reminds me of my last column on the same subject.
Christian Group Launches New Attack on Christmas Commercialism(Time) If it's December, then there must be frost in the air, gingerbread in the oven, and ... right on time, Bill O'Reilly and the other defenders of Christmas bemoaning the prevalence of "Happy Holidays" - rather than "Merry Christmas" - greetings.
Some blog posts require no comment at all.
'Sexist' and 'incestuous' Toyota Yaris advert dumped(Telegraph) Toyota has been forced to withdraw an advertisement for one of its new Yaris model after a flood of complaints that the video was sexist and made a joke out of incest.
The car firm's first foray into social media in Australia backfired after it invited film-makers to create a new online advertisement for its Yaris model, a small car which is sold mostly to female buyers.
Read more on Toyota's Racy Yaris ad.
In this week's edition of Business Casual, I examine the idea of a war on Christmas.
Or is it two wars on Christmas? Either way, there's a strong business angle.
For many people, the idea of a war on Christmas is a cut and dry issue. Not so fast. Put a little thought into it and you may change your mind.
Here's the Business Casual column.
The foreclosure rate for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale area rose in October, according to First American CoreLogic, which tracks foreclosure activity.
The foreclosure rate among outstanding mortgage loans was 3.69 percent in October, up from October of 2008 when the rate was 1.75 percent. It's also up 0.2 percentage point from September.
Local foreclosure activity was also higher than the national foreclosure rate which was 3.02 percent for October, representing a 0.67 percentage point difference.
In addition, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale saw a rise in its mortgage delinquency rate (delinquncies of at least 90 days) to 10.87 percent of mortgage loans. That's up from 5.86 percent for the same month last year and 10.30 percent in September 2009.
This seems like a reasonable analysis. But you never know until after the fact.
Northrop unlikely to drop Air Force tanker bid, analysts sayNEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Northrop Grumman Corp. says it may pull out of the bidding to win the Air Force's next-generation aerial-refueling contract, but analysts expressed doubt Wednesday that the threat would stick.
"Northrop's decision to abandon the tanker bid versus Boeing is merely a posturing move in our view," said Credit Suisse analyst Robert Spingarn in a note to investors.
Read more on the Northrop-Boeing tanker contest.
A recent report by the state Air Resources Board showed that a Chevron refinery in Richmond fills the No. 1 spot for worst greenhouse gas emitters.
And the Chevron refinery in El Segundo has the No. 4 spot.
The BP refinery in Carson is No. 3
No. 6 is the Exxon refinery in Torrance.
But it seems that Chevron's emissions are getting the most attention. A group called Act for Climate Justice plans to protest in front of Chevron's San Ramon headquarters on Monday Dec. 7, coinciding with the first day of the international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.
Despite producing millions of tons of emissions -- as any large petroleum refinery would do -- Chevron says it's also concerned with the environment and has been recognized for its efforts.
The whole global warming debate is an interesting international phenomenon that pits politician against activist, government against government, refinery against scientist, scientist against politician, and so on.
"With apologies to the band U2, I still haven't found what I'm looking for."
Read Muhammed El-Hasan's Business Casual column today.
The prospect of Northrop passing on a such a lucrative contract seems unlikely. But if it feels the Defense Department's new contest rules heavily favor Boeing, then Northrop may be more than just posturing for advantage in the contest.
Northrop: We'll boycott tanker bidding(AP) Northrop Grumman Corp. said on Tuesday it won't bid on a major contract to make a new Air Force tanker plane unless the Defense Department changes the rules.
Northrop has been tussling for years with Boeing Co. over a contract worth at least $35 billion to build 179 new Air Force tankers.
Read more about Northrop's position on the tanker contest.
I wonder if Northrop's initiative will explore not just ways to protect against cyber attacks, but also new and more efficient ways to launch cyber attacks. What is that saying? The best defense is a good offense.
Northrop links to academics to boost cyber defenseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Northrop Grumman Corp unveiled Tuesday an industry-academic research group to tackle growing cyber threats to U.S. computer networks and to networked infrastructure.
The initiative is the latest by a major U.S. defense contractor aimed at hatching solutions to cyber threats at a time that big-ticket weapons programs are being squeezed by cost-cutting imperatives.
Read more on Northrop's cyber defense initiative.
