The America's Intelligence Wire articles from November 2004

The America's Intelligence Wire archives from November 2004

WILLIAM RADUCHEL: MUSIC AND MOVIES--FREE AND LEGAL.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Soon after advising a student named Scott McNealy, former Harvard professor William Raduchel got a call from him to join his up-and-coming computer maker, Sun Microsystems. For 11 years, Raduchel, 58, was a top adviser...

THIS PIGEON IS REALLY TAKING WING.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) It's tough being a bicycle maker in China these days. The streets are crowded with cars, and cities have banned bikes from some thoroughfares. There's no shortage of competition, either: China was home to just a...

Putting Home Theater In Every Room.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) You have a fancy home-entertainment system that can record and play TV programs, DVDs, show digital photos, and tap into your collection of digital music. If, however, you want to enjoy all this anywhere other than the...

Washington On the Couch.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) HIS EXCELLENCY: GEORGE WASHINGTON By Joseph J. Ellis Knopf -- 320pp -- $26.95 The irony cannot have escaped Joseph Ellis: The historian who famously lied about his own past would investigate a man who, according to one...

How Bush Widened The Wealth Gap.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) During the last half-century the distribution of income and wealth in America has become more and more unequal. Even during the 1990s, a period of sustained expansion, most of the growth in income and wealth was...

He Thinks Different.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) As part of its anniversary celebration, BusinessWeek is presenting a series of weekly profiles of the greatest innovators of the past 75 years. Some made their mark in science or technology; others in management,...

Extreme Makeover.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) What's the top-selling deodorant and antiperspirant among teen guys? How about Old Spice, a brand once associated with a has-been, highly fragrant aftershave whose ivory bottle still gathers dust on medicine-cabinet...

Spiffing Up Men's Wearhouse.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) When George A. Zimmer, CEO of Men's Wearhouse Inc., was pitching his company to investors before its 1992 initial public offering, he showed a picture of a man in a dentist's chair. His point: Most men consider suit...

Hybrids With Plenty Of Pep.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The first Gas-Electric hybrid cars were odd-looking vehicles that advanced the frontiers of auto technology but offered little in the way of horsepower, passenger space, or cargo room. On the other hand, the two newest...

Making The Most Of Your Losses.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) It looks like 2004 will go down as a schizophrenic year for investors. Energy and telecom stocks are recording double-digit gains, but many technology and drug stocks are ailing. Just look at blue-chip losers such as...

Time To Do Your Tax Checkup.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Only two months remain in 2004, which means it's time to start your end-of-year tax planning. There are a few new wrinkles to consider, including one benefit that comes to individuals courtesy of the tax bill that's...

Spending Your Golden Years In The Big Apple.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Irwin and Audrey Greenblatt lived the typical suburban life for more than 27 years, raising two kids in a split-level house on a half-acre outside of Philadelphia. As they neared retirement from a private high school...

CREATING AN INNOVATION POLICY.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Nontechnological innovations contribute as much to productivity and economic growth as technological innovations. Yet our innovation policy fails to recognize that fact. Yes, we have research-and-development and...

A RECIPE FOR PATENT REFORM.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Re ``Are copyright wars chilling innovation?'': The primary ingredients for successful patent reform are threefold: First, more qualified people for software, biotechnology, and business-method patent examination are...

HOPE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Today's world is surging with change and innovation. Those who can cope with it will thrive, and those who cannot will fail. Your ``75 years of covers'' illustrates this graphically, in particular the ``Act of War''...

AN UNTAPPED MARKET SECTOR.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Despite significant advances over the years, the disabled population continues to grow -- 56 million people in the U.S. alone (``Aging is becoming so yesterday.''). Medical advances keep alive people who would not have...

FUZZY NUMBERS AND CREATIVITY.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) I could not escape the irony of reading through your Oct. 4 cover story ``Fuzzy numbers'' and then receiving the Oct. 11 issue on ``The Innovation Economy,'' which contains the real answer to accounting scandals and an...

ACCOUNTING AND EARNINGS AT SBC.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) BusinessWeek got it wrong when it included SBC Communications Inc. in ``Pumped-up pension plays? (Finance, Oct. 25) about companies that are allegedly ``pumping up'' their earnings by manipulating retiree cost and...

Underfed Pensions.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Just when corporate America's pension funds were starting to perk up, a sluggish stock market is knocking them down again. The pension plans of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index will likely end 2004...

A Fool-Proof Wine Stopper With Pizzazz.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Safe or stylish? That's the conundrum top vineyards face when deciding between a traditional cork, which can taint wine, or a screwcap, which many consumers see as too tacky for a good bottle. Aluminum giant Alcoa...

Orange Futures.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The recent hurricanes devastated Florida's orange crop: The harvest is down nearly 30% this season. As a result, frozen orange juice concentrate futures contracts on the New York Board of Trade have jumped 35% since...

Are You Paying Too Much For That Bond?
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Q: I have been buying mortgage bonds from my broker. Most of these I buy in $100,000 denominations. What does my broker make in commissions on each of these? I'm guessing 1% to 2%. -- Eric Gerencser, Myrtle Beach, S.C....

A Hollywood Play For Dreamers Only By Robert Barker, rb@businessweek.com.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) In Shark Tale, DreamWorks Animation's latest hit, a little hustler of a fish named Oscar (voiced by Will Smith) just can't stand the truth. In the ocean's hierarchy, he's below plankton, lower even than whale poop....

U.S.: Will The Latest Oil Shock Bring A Barrel Of Woe?
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Remember the Soft Patch? That's how Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan referred to the consumer-led slowdown in the second quarter. The good news is the ground under the economy firmed up nicely during the third...

Italy: Conflicted Math In Berlusconi's Budget.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is trying to follow through on his pledge to lower taxes. But he must also keep the country's budget deficit from ballooning out of control. Achieving both goals will require a...

Congress 2004: Who Won, Who Lost By Richard S. Dunham.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Congress couldn't get out of town fast enough. After throwing billions of dollars at business lobbyists in a last-minute spree, lawmakers hit the campaign trail for their final election push. Back in the deserted...

'04 Political Fashion: Coattails Are Short By Richard S. Dunham.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) George Bush and John Kerry are so focused on their own election that they're offering little help to down-ballot candidates. Representative Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional...

Birds Of A Political Feather... By Richard S. Dunham.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. Still, Americans tend to share the partisan affiliation of both relatives and buddies. An Oct. 12 Harris Poll found only 15% of Republicans come from...

Net Phone Calls, Free -- And Clear.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Eriksen Translations Inc. is a small business with a big footprint. The Brooklyn (N.Y.) company relies on 5,000 freelancers scattered around the world to help translate business documents into 75 languages for U.S....

This Pep Pill Is Pushing Its Luck.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) It sounds like the ultimate pick-me-up. Provigil, the alertness drug sold by Cephalon Inc. of West Chester, Pa., started out as a niche product to treat symptoms of narcolepsy. But since its launch in 1999, the drug has...

How This Diehard Fan Would Fix Hockey.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) I was chatting with a friend of mine the other day, a guy who is a big sports fan, and I brought up the National Hockey League lockout. His response: ``There's an NHL lockout?'' He's not the only one in the dark. The...

That's One Safe Stock.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Chemical biological masks, advanced combat helmets, and self-contained breathing apparatuses are some of the products driving strong sales at Mine Safety Appliances (MSA), global leader in body protection gear it...

A Sea Change In Transocean's Favor.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) After treading water much of the year, Transocean (RIG) is finally catching up with its peers. Since mid-August, the stock has risen from 23 to 36. Still, shares of the world's largest offshore driller -- mainly...

Betting on the End Of the Sysco Skid.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Since late April, shares of Sysco (SYY), No. 1 marketer of food service products such as vegetables, meats, and kitchen supplies to more than 420,000 customers in the U.S. and Canada, have fallen from 40 to 30. The...

THE WEEK AHEAD.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) CONSUMER CONFIDENCE Tuesday, Oct 26, 10 a.m. EDT -- The Conference Board's October confidence index probably dipped to 94.3, after falling to 96.8 in September. That's according to the median forecast of economists...

Why Insurance Needs a Cleanup.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) We hate most regulation. But even more, we hate corrupt, unethical business people and professionals who bring it down upon us. Bid-rigging, price-fixing and payoffs -- the charges leveled against Marsh & McLennan Cos....

The Stalling of Motor City.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Where is Detroit? The last time energy prices shot up unexpectedly, in the 1970s, it was Japan that led the way with profitable, fuel-efficient small cars. Detroit never did figure out how to make them and chose,...

$40 OIL? THAT'S HISTORY.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Oilman Boone Pickens, who came to prominence as an 1980s corporate raider, has bet big lately on rising oil prices -- and won. His Dallas commodity fund is up 390% this year on his prescient prediction that oil would...

An Uncivic Lesson in Ohio?
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Is the GOP trying to hold down the turnout among Cincinnati's Democratic voters to help President Bush carry swing state Ohio? Since 1980, local businesses have helped fund get-out-the-vote campaigns for a ballot...

MEDIMMUNE: A MISSED SHOT AT THE FLU.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) When Chiro said it would have a shortage of flu vaccine this winter, it could have been a second chance for MedImmune. Last year it rolled out its FluMist nasal spray vaccine to resounding disappointment. The price was...

WHAT A CATCH.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The prized baseball Barry Bonds socked for homer No. 700 this season has turned up in a surprising place: the new auction site of Web e-tailer Overstock.com. The smudged ball, listed on the site along with used...

OUTSOURCING: WORSE THAN YOU THOUGHT.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) U.S. employers have more than doubled the number of factory and white-collar jobs sent overseas since 2001, according to an Oct. 15 report by the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission. It found that in the...

A Glimpse of Hope for Germany...
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Headlines of massive job cuts at retailer KarstadtQuelle. Strikes at Adam Opel by auto workers desperate to avert layoffs and plant closings. And ever-deepening pessimism: Only 35% of Germans expect to be better off in...

...But a Harsh Diagnosis for Europe.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) During his 13-year stint as the head of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus perfected the art of dressing down the world's budget-busters and fiscal profligates. Now it is the turn of Camdessus' native...

CABLE VS. FIBER.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) In the long-running contest for the digital future, cable has been hitting home runs while the telecoms are just coming to bat. In the last eight years, the cable guys have spent $85 billion to tie fast digital pipes to...

Mini-Crowds At the Multiplex.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The most eagerly anticipated holiday movie this year features an out-of-shape ex-superhero living undercover as an insurance adjuster. But for some Hollywood execs, the story line for Pixar Animation Studios' The...

GM: A Dangerous Skid.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer G. Richard Wagoner Jr. never thought the price war he launched three years ago would last this long. GM hoped to boost sales in the wake of the September 11...

How Hybrids Are Going Mainstream.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) When Toyota Motor President Fujio Cho predicted in June, 2001, that cumulative sales of the company's hybrid vehicles would hit 300,000 within four years, many industry watchers heard hype. After all, Toyota sold only...

The Election: Watch These Indicators.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Confused by conflicting polls? Worried that your favorite candidate for President has yet to put away his rival? Given the tightness of the election and the uncertainty over turnout, it's hard for even the most...

HOMEBUILDERS ARE STRETCHED THIN.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) To the casual observer, the homebuilding industry appears to be in remarkably good shape this deep into the housing cycle: Most of the large publicly traded builders such as Lennar Corp. and KB Home are still reporting...

THE GAIJIN GIVE JAPAN A WORKOUT.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) When Jack Rodman first began visiting Tokyo in the early 1990s, he saw it as a gold mine for restructuring and buyout deals. After all, Japan's big banks were saddled with trillions of yen in bad loans to real estate...

ANTEGREN: HYPE OR HYPERDRUG?
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Multiple sclerosis sufferers have not benefited from a new type of drug for more than a decade. That may change by Nov. 26, when the Food & Drug Administration is expected to decide whether to approve Antegren, a...

AYLWIN LEWIS: HAD HIS FILL OF FAST FOOD.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Seeking a leader for the next leg of its turnaround, Kmart on Oct. 18 named restaurant industry veteran Aylwin Lewis, 50, as chief executive. Lewis, a marketing expert, replaces Julian Day, whose finance skills helped...

MOTOROLA: IN THE MONEY.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Motorola's hot streak continued, with its third consecutive quarter of impressive earnings on Oct. 19. The communications giant said net income quadrupled in the third quarter to $479 million, up from $116 million last...

3M'S STICKY SITUATION.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) 3M Chief Executive W. James McNerney Jr.'s worries about whether global demand will remain strong, combined with third-quarter earnings per share that fell a penny short of expectations, weighed on 3M's stock. After 3M...

WHILE THE CITI SWEEPS.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Heads are rolling at Citigroup. A month after Japanese authorities shut down the Citi's private banking operations for lax money-laundering controls, CEO Charles Prince III has cleaned house. On Oct. 19, three of his...

THE SEC PRIES INTO PENSIONS.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The auto and airline industries have been targeted by a Securities & Exchange Commission investigation of accounting for pension and retiree medical plans. General Motors, Ford Motor, auto-parts maker Delphi, and...

Mexico: Will the PRI Be Top Dog Again?
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Postal worker Patricia Herrera Lopez was one of millions of Mexicans who voted in 2000 to elect President Vicente Fox, whose National Action Party (PAN) promised dramatic political and economic change after seven...

EUROTUNNEL'S LATEST FINANCIAL CRUNCH.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) EuroTunnel, the operator of the English Channel tunnel, is expected to propose drastic cost cuts in a bid to renegotiate nearly $11 billion in debt. The company is to unveil a three-year turnaround plan by Oct. 31, the...

THE JUNTA CASTS A NEW SHADOW OVER BURMA.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The dismissal of Burma's Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt and his replacement by hardliner Lieutenant General Soe Win on Oct. 19 likely represents a setback for the country's hopes of moving toward democracy after...

Can EMC Find Growth Beyond Hardware?
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Has any computer company had a more dramatic reversal of fortune in the past three years than EMC Corp.? Sales fell 40% from 2000 to 2002, turning $1.8 billion in profits into $626 million in losses. But on Oct. 19, the...

When Home Buying By the Poor Backfires.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Mildred Wilkins calls it ``falling out the back door.'' It's what happens when low-income families who have bought their first houses are forced out because they can't keep up the mortgage payments. Says Wilkins, an...

MORE THOUGHTS ON AN INNOVATION ECONOMY.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) I have read with interest Michael J. Mandel's ``This way to the future'' (``The innovation economy,'' Oct. 11). I have serious doubt, though I hope for the best, that ``all the right factors are in place'' for the next...

TRAINING FOREIGN STUDENTS -- AND GETTING THEM INTO THE U.S.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) While America's post-September 11 visa-screening procedures are complicated and lengthy, they need not be as slow and cumbersome as those now in place (``Tech's future,'' Cover Story, Sept. 27). The State Dept. could...

THE ABSURDITY OF ARGUING THAT WOMEN SHOULD BE PAID LESS.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) As a Swiss, I am appalled by the assertion from the reader in Gerlafingen, Switzerland, ``Why women's incomes need to be lower than men's'' (Readers Report, Oct. 11, regarding ``Sex-bias suits: The fight gets ugly,''...

COUNTRY FOCUS/CANADA.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The Bank of Canada raised its overnight rate to 2.5% on Oct. 19, the second quarter-point hike in six weeks. The BOC is expected to keep lifting rates over the coming months. The Bank noted that the economy has little...

Saving Germany's Auto Industry.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Could auto manufacturing become the 21st century equivalent of Germany's coal industry, uncompetitive and destined to collapse? General Motors Corp. announced on Oct. 14 that it will shrink its workforce by 20% --...

A Crazy Quilt of Rules.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Eliot Spitzer has done it again. When he filed suit on Oct. 14 against some of the biggest players in the insurance industry, he not only alleged fraud. The New York State Attorney General also uncovered yet another...

The BusinessWeek/Architectural Record Awards.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Each year BusinessWeek joins with Architectural Record, a sister publication at The McGraw-Hill Companies, to run a contest that rewards exceptional architecture around the world. The contest goes beyond the usual...

Hustle, Bustle, And Beauty.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) New Zealand's Britomart Transport Center was designed primarily to restore vitality to public transportation in the Auckland area -- and, in the process, reduce automobile congestion and pollution. The city council...

Made For Mixing And Mingling.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) When General Mills Inc. bought Pillsbury, it wanted to integrate the new people into its world headquarters campus. It also wanted to take the opportunity to increase employee productivity by boosting communication. To...

Distinctive, With A Mellow Aftertaste.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The goal was to build a state-of-the-art winemaking facility that would complement the bucolic serenity of the Napa Valley property while conveying the quality and elegance of the wine. In the past, the owner of...

Sweeping, Stately -- And Secure.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Israel wanted to build a new Foreign Ministry that reflected both its open, democratic society and its need for security. The result is a building that integrates security requirements directly into the design so that...

Letter Perfect.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) A successful partnership between the federal government and a private developer rehabilitated a national landmark building in Washington D.C. First erected in 1842, the Old General Post Office was transformed into the...

``There Can Never Be Enough Real-Life Stories''.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Congratulations on your new magazine! There can never be enough information, advice, or real-life stories to help people manage their business. I think it is important to realize that not everyone who had to ``bounce...

Micromanaging Is The Bane Of Small Business.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) As an itinerant business consultant and occasional business operator, I find micromanaging to be the single most limiting trait of many business owner/operators. Timothy G. Habbershon (``A Little too Hands-on'') did a...

Our Maiden Issue, Thick With Post-It Notes.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) I read and/or skim over 20 trade publications monthly, and I have never enjoyed reading one as much as I did with your new publication SmallBiz. I work for a midsize manufacturer, privately owned and completely managed...

The Crushing Burden Of Health Care.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) As a member of the self-employed and small-business community -- which has been hardest hit by the cost of health insurance -- I feel compelled to write. In each of the past three years, my family health insurance...

A Tax Credit To Offset Insurance Costs.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) I sympathize with the small-business owners who are caught between spiraling health-insurance costs and a desire to provide coverage for their workers. But my heart really goes out to the millions of American workers...

Needed: Tech Advances And Value Shopping.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The continuing focus on health insurance hides the real problem. The cost of health care is driven primarily by two things: the cost of diagnosis and treatment and the growth in demand. Competition to spur technical and...

Uninsured Kids: Red States Have A Lot To Answer For.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The 50 state governments are not doing enough to fund the extension of health insurance to the 45 million uninsured Americans. Much of the blame should go to the mostly Republican-leaning, low-tax ``red'' states that...

Mandatory Insurance: Where's The U.S. Plan?
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) The underlying tenet of health insurance is to spread the risk among ``similarly situated'' individuals and groups. However, the definition of ``similarly situated'' changes as underwriters are better able to forecast...

A Bulging Mailbox.
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) You've probably received that e-mail warning from the shadowy ``systems administrator'' as many times as I have: ``Your mailbox is over its size limit.'' In my case, though, the message is actually quite welcome: I'm...

If the Big Idea Fits...
November 1, 2004... (From BusinessWeek) Are you feeling stymied by your company? For many who lead family-owned companies, the answer is yes. They want to help their company grow, but think their business is too small to use the tools that allow big outfits...