DailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comDailyFinance.comhttp://o.aolcdn.com/os/df/2013/img/2-dailyfinance_logo_m.pngDailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comen-usCopyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Is GM About to Recall More Than 100,000 Chevrolet Corvettes?http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/10/gm-corvette-recall-headlight-problem-nhtsa-investigation/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/10/gm-corvette-recall-headlight-problem-nhtsa-investigation/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/10/gm-corvette-recall-headlight-problem-nhtsa-investigation/#commentsFiled under: , ,

2007 Chevrolet Corvette
General Motors 2007
By

The Chevrolet Corvette is a beloved favorite of thrill-seeking Baby Boomers who have had a lifetime love affair with the car first introduced in 1953, but drivers of more than 100,000 of the sixth-generation Corvette might want to be careful driving at night -- at least for now.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into 30 reports of a sudden loss of low beam headlight power to the Corvette and the Corvette Z06 coupe manufactured between 2005 and 2007. The agency estimates that 103,374 vehicles could be affected.

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According to a statement from the country's traffic safety regulator: "In one of the 30 reports, a driver allegedly ran over a discarded tire while attempting to pull off the road. Some complainants reported that the problem is intermittent and some reported that low beam headlight functionality returns after a period of time, typically after the vehicle has been parked."

Oddly enough, the sports car's fog lights and high beams aren't affected by the alleged glitch, but of course tooling around with your brights on means a different safety issue: blinding other drivers.

One of the complaints submitted to the traffic safety watchdog on May 4 by an owner of the vehicle suggests the source of the problem:

"I later determined that the intermittent connection is circuit No. 1970, within the main fuse/relay back plane itself. The circuit opens at operating temperatures, but works when the car fuse box is cold, making diagnoses more difficult. The backplane cannot be serviced and must be replaced."


In other words, the engine-savvy car owner says when the fusebox heats up due to its proximity to the engine heat source, the low beam headlights shut down; but at resting temperatures the problem is undetectable. Another complaint said mechanics quote the cost of repair at a huge range, between $600 and $1,200.

No accidents or fatalities have been reported. The preliminary investigation was launched on Monday and announced on the government agency's website on Friday.

"GM is cooperating with the investigation," a representative from the vehicles' manufacturer, General Motors (GM) wrote in an e-mail to Automotive News.

Earlier this year GM unveiled the seventh generation 2014 Corvette C7. Deliveries of the much anticipated new design are expected by the fall.

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]]>IBTimesFri, 10 May 2013 16:16:00 ESTSaving America's Workers: Employers Are Getting More, Paying Lesshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/12/saving-americas-workers-employers-are-getting-more-paying-les/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/12/saving-americas-workers-employers-are-getting-more-paying-les/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/12/saving-americas-workers-employers-are-getting-more-paying-les/#commentsFiled under:

at Facebook Inc.'s office in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011.
(Scott Eells, Bloomberg via Getty Images)

By Angelo Young

U.S. companies have been getting more out of fewer employees, but those workers aren't enjoying a corresponding increase in their wages.

Consider the stats: The country's economic activity is 2.5 percent higher than it was before the last recession, which began in December 2007, but there are 3 million fewer employees today than there were in 2005, according to the conservative D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute.

The left-leaning D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute points out that while the average hourly employee's productivity increased 80 percent between 1973 and 2011, the median compensation for an hour's worth of work grew 11 percent.

"A bigger share of what businesses in the U.S. are producing is going to the owners of the firms and the people who lent money to the firm, and a smaller share is going to workers," Gary Burtless, senior fellow in economic studies at The Brookings Institution, told CNN in a report published Thursday.

Up until 1975, wages typically accounted for more than half of the country's gross domestic product, but in 2012 that share hit a record low 43.5 percent, according to The New York Times.

There are numerous reasons for this widening disparity between the growth of productivity and wages, according to labor economists.

Increased workplace efficiencies certainly play a role as technology allows fewer workers to do more, but this doesn't tell the whole story. For example, according to a study late last year by the National Employment Law Project, mid-wage occupations were hit hardest but have not come close to recovering their pre-recession levels; they've instead been replaced by lower-wage level positions.


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Your Stories of Bad Bosses and Co-WorkersShe Doesn't Miss A BeatGarlic LadyCommunist Dictator


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]]>ecomotiveemployers are paying workers lessemployersarepayingworkerslesssavingsavingsworkersIBTimesTue, 12 Mar 2013 13:00:00 ESTSequester Saves Money...By Taking It Away From Women and Childrenhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/08/sequester-saves-money-by-taking-it-away-from-women-and-childre/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/08/sequester-saves-money-by-taking-it-away-from-women-and-childre/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/08/sequester-saves-money-by-taking-it-away-from-women-and-childre/#commentsFiled under: ,

Sequester effects black women and childrenby Ashley Portero

The sequester, a new "crisis" resulting purely from congressional inaction, is officially in effect. And with every passing day, it appears that lawmakers - who once said allowing $85 billion in automatic budget cuts to go into effect would be economically devastating - are content to let the cuts remain in place.

According to some lawmakers, the budget cuts currently in place will have the largest impact on the most disadvantaged sectors of American society. Low-income women (particularly, women of color) with children will likely be the hardest-hit.


Women's Health Is Disposable

A total of $86 million has been slashed from key women's health programs that primarily serve lower-income women, who often lack access to quality health care coverage.

The automatic budget cuts remove $4 million from the Safe Motherhood Initiative, which helps prevent pregnancy-related deaths (a bigger problem than one would think in the U.S., where between two and three women die from pregnancy-related complications every day); $8 million from the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program, which provides cancer screenings to poor women; $24 million from the Title X family planning and reproductive services; and $50 million from the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant.

The Title V block grant provides prenatal care for low-income, at-risk pregnant women, provides access to preventive child care services, and provides funding to reduce infant mortality.

Sequestration also cuts $20 million from the recently reinstated Violence Against Women Act, and another $9 million from the Family Violence Prevention Act. The latter is the primary source of funding for shelters that provide a safe haven to women and children who have fled a violent home.


More than 70,000 Kids Lose Access To Head Start, Child Care Services

An increasing number of children are growing up in single, female-headed households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Approximately 31 percent of those households were poor in 2010, compared to 15.8 percent of households headed by single men and 6.2 percent of those led by married couples.

One of the main obstacles for single moms in this position is finding child care services that free them up to find work. But sequestration cuts $424 million from Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which provide health and education services to low-income families.

Cuts are also hitting the Department of Health and Human Services' Child Care Development Fund, ending child care subsidies for another 30,000 children.


More Than Half A Million Will Lose Food Stamps

About $600 million is set to be cut from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants and Children, which provides nutritious food subsidies to poor pregnant women, as well as poor women with infants and children under the age of 5.

Anywhere from 575,000 to 750,000 low-income women and children who qualify for the program, which serves about 9 million people, will now be turned away.

"That would mark a dramatic break in a longstanding and laudable bipartisan practice, dating back to 1997, under which administrations and Congresses of both parties have provided sufficient funding to ensure that WIC can serve all eligible low-income pregnant women, infants and young children who apply," reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.


Cuts to Public Sector Jobs Disproportionately Affect Women

The sequester is expected to cost about 750,000 federal jobs in 2013, primarily affecting public sector workers, such as teachers. According to the Department of Labor, more than 50 percent of those positions are held by women.

On a side note, Congressional lawmakers and the president are obviously exempt from those federal job losses. And despite the House of Representatives' so-called "No Budget, No Pay" Act - intended to freeze pay for U.S. senators until they pass a budget - there is no sign that it is actually going to take effect. So, despite the cuts they are imposing on the American public because of their inability to compromise on deficit reduction, congressional lawmakers will continue to receive their $174,000 salary.



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Photo Credit: Spencer Platt, Getty Images

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]]>childrenfood stampsheadstartmotherssequestersequestrationVAWAviolence against womenwomenwomens healthIBTimesFri, 08 Mar 2013 12:00:00 ESTMeet the Female Forbes Billionaires Who Made It On Their Ownhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/06/forbes-billionaires-list-2013-women/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/06/forbes-billionaires-list-2013-women/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/06/forbes-billionaires-list-2013-women/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Meg Whitman
By

The Forbes magazine annual list of the world's billionaires has always been scant of women, but 35 more women did join this year's record-length list of 1,426 global über-rich. They now number 138, or 9.7 percent of the total. Last year, they represented 8.5 percent of the list of 1,226 billionaires.

The world's richest women continue to be heiresses or inheritors of wealth, but every year there appear women who acquired their fortunes largely on their own.

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The women in the top 40 are regulars to the list. They include Liliane Bettencourt of the L'Oreal clan, two Waltons -- relatives of Walmart Stores, Inc. (WMT) founder Sam Walton -- the widow Iris Fontbona of the Chilean copper mining giant Antofagasta, Australian mining magnate Georgina Rinehart and Jacqueline Mars of the candy giant Mars, Inc.; the latter two inherited their fortunes and responsibilities when their fathers passed away.

But three women joined the club this year without the help of a family empire or a massive inheritance. These three entrepreneurs join a small sub-set inside Forbes annual list of self-made women.

Take a look at the Forbes list of self-made women billionaires:

Gallery: Forbes List Of Self-Made Women Billionaires

Pollyanna ChuTory BurchSara BlakeleyElena BaturinaMeg Whitman



Photo Credit: Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images

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]]>Antofagasta PLCDoris FisherElena Baturinafemale billionairesFinanceForbesforbes billionairesforbes rich listGina RinehartL'OréalLiliane BettencourtMaRS Discovery DistrictMeg WhitmanOprah WinfreyPollyanna ChuRosalia MeraSam WaltonSara BlakeleyTory BurchWal-Martwomen billionairesZhang XinIBTimesWed, 06 Mar 2013 05:00:00 ESTFacebook Posts Record $1.1 Billion Profits But Still Gets Huge Tax Breakhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/18/facebook-stock-option-tax-break/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/18/facebook-stock-option-tax-break/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/18/facebook-stock-option-tax-break/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Facebook IPOBy Eric Brown

Last year, Facebook went public and brought in record profits exceeding $1.1 billion. And yet, not only will the ubiquitous social network not be paying any taxes, it will be getting a huge tax break.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Facebook reported earning $1.1 billion in profit throughout 2012, but after some nifty accounting, it will not be paying a cent in either state or federal taxes. Instead, the federal government will provide Facebook with a $429 million tax refund. How does that work exactly?

Thanks to creative use of a tax deductibility on stock options, the government will be paying Facebook just shy of half a million as a refund on taxes paid in 2010 and 2011.

Using stock option tax breaks, Facebook was able to give its executives the ability to purchase stock at dirt-cheap prices. And when the executives use those options, the company can write off the difference in prices as a loss and deduct it from corporate taxes for the year, according to Citizens For Tax Justice, which predicted Facebook would make a move like this.

According to CTJ, this won't be the last time Facebook embraces stock option tax breaks to avoid paying taxes.

"Facebook is also carrying forward another $2.17 billion in additional tax-option tax breaks for use in future years," CTJ writes on a multi-page report about the latest tax findings.

So essentially, over the next several years, Facebook stands to pay absolutely zero California or federal taxes, all while using stock options from its IPO to receive a total of $3.2 billion in tax refunds from the government.

While all of this seems crazy, it's important to note that Facebook isn't the only company that makes use of these stock option tax breaks. A 2011 CTJ report states that 280 Fortune 500 companies use similar methods to shield or entirely write off their tax payments.

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]]>corporate taxesfacebookFacebook IPOfacebook profitsFacebook tax breakstock optionsIBTimesMon, 18 Feb 2013 15:30:00 EST