Iron Man

Opening weekend box office of $98.6 million. The film scored the 2nd highest grossing debut for a non-sequel behind Spiderman.

Fresh off Iron Man's imposing performance at the box office, Marvel Studio announced four new comic-book movies. Including an Avengers film that will team Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor.

The lineup includes....

Iron Man 2, April 2010.
Thor, June 2010.
The First Avenger: Captain America, May 2011.
The Avengers, July 2011.

Plus, Ant-Man, with no release date yet.

The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton, is due June 13th, 2008.

BnB, Sentence of the Week

When nobody has your back, you gotta move your back.

Warren Buffett

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said the global credit crunch has eased for bankers, and the Federal Reserve probably averted more failures by helping to rescue Bear Stearns Cos.

``The worst of the crisis in Wall Street is over,'' Buffett said today on Bloomberg Television. ``In terms of people with individual mortgages, there's a lot of pain left to come.'' Buffett was interviewed before the Omaha, Nebraska-based company's annual meeting, attended by about 31,000 people.

Buffett, the world's richest man according to Forbes magazine, said the Fed acted properly when it arranged a $2.4 billion buyout in March of New York-based Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase & Co. The billionaire said he turned down the opportunity because he lacked enough capital and time to craft a solution. More failures and wider panic may have resulted if the regulators didn't halt the run on Bear Stearns, he said.

``The worry was that there would be contagion; it was a very real worry,'' Buffett said. ``If Bear Stearns had gone, the next day, somebody else would have gone. It could've been a very, very, very chaotic situation.''

Buffett, 77, said he was contacted in March before JPMorgan, the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets, agreed to buy Bear Stearns. The person calling him, whom he wouldn't identify, was ``someone responsible'' and wasn't from the Federal Reserve or the Treasury. The call lasted about half an hour, Buffett said.

Too Big for Buffett

``As I understand it, Bear Stearns had $65 billion due on Monday and I didn't have $65 billion,'' Buffett said. ``I couldn't get my mind around that situation in the required time.'' New York-based JPMorgan was the right buyer for Bear Stearns, he added.

Berkshire had about $35 billion in cash as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.

JPMorgan agreed in mid-March to acquire Bear Stearns, once the fifth-biggest U.S. securities firm, after customers grew concerned about the company's health and pulled out their money, leaving Bear Stearns short on cash. JPMorgan, which got financial support from the Federal Reserve, raised the purchase price a week later to $10 a share from $2 to mollify Bear Stearns shareholders who said they weren't getting enough.

The 24-company KBW Bank Index has advanced 14 percent since the Bear Stearns bailout was announced in March, and the 11- company Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index has climbed 30 percent.

Credit Losses

In a question-and-answer session at the shareholder meeting, Buffett said that from a risk perspective, some banks got ``too big to manage.''

The world's largest banks and investment firms have recorded more than $300 billion of losses and writedowns tied to mortgages, bonds and loans.

Berkshire's own investment in derivative contracts recovered $500 million to $600 million of lost value since the end of March, Buffett said. The company will make ``significant money'' on the derivatives over the long term, he said at the meeting. Berkshire said yesterday the value of the investments had declined by $1.7 billion in the first quarter. The entire company's quarterly profit plunged 64 percent to $940 million.

Buffett is scheduled to embark on a four-city European trip this month to scout potential acquisitions, including family- owned companies. He has been investing in China, Israel and the U.K. to spur profit growth after saying that U.S. investments meeting his criteria have become scarce.

International Earnings

``Over time we'd like to develop more international earnings,'' Buffett said. ``If it's a $2 billion deal, fine; if it's a $20 billion dollar deal, fine.''

Buffett, who made his first non-U.S. acquisition in 2006, paying $4 billion for 80 percent of Israel-based Iscar Metalworking Cos., said he can't predict the location of the next company Berkshire will acquire.

``They can come from Europe, they can come from the United States, you just never know,'' he said. ``Somebody, someplace is going to have a situation where we fit. They're going to call me; I want to make sure I'm on their radar screen.''

Buffett said during the meeting he'd like to buy businesses in India and China, and that he wanted to acquire one or two non- U.S. companies in the next three years. He is looking as competition forces down insurance rates in the U.S. for Berkshire, which typically gets about half its profit from insurance units including National Indemnity, General Re Corp. and Geico Corp.

The U.S. dollar will keep weakening and Buffett feels ``no need to hedge'' against currency risk when buying large companies outside the U.S., he said.

Landing From Mars

``If I landed from Mars today with a billion of Mars dollars, or whatever they call them on Mars, and I was thinking about where to put my money,'' he said. ``I don't think I'd put the entire billion in U.S. dollars.''

Berkshire Hathaway has spent $4 billion investing in the municipal auction-rate bond market, taking advantage of payouts that topped 10 percent after regular bidders fled the market. Markets were so disrupted, Buffett said, that bonds from the same issue were selling simultaneously from the same broker with yields of 6 percent and 11 percent.

Berkshire has risen about 22 percent in New York Stock Exchange composite trading during the past 12 months and gained about 4,700 percent in 20 years through Dec. 31, about six times more than the Standard & Poor's 500 Index including dividends.

Buffett took shareholder questions for more than five hours on dozens of issues.

Other topics Buffett addressed include:

-- There's ``no guarantee'' Berkshire Hathaway won't be a buyout target after his death, though such a takeover is unlikely.

-- He said he's in good health because of his diet, ``some Wrigley, some Mars, some See's, some Coke.'' Berkshire this week committed $6.5 billion to help finance candy company Mars Inc.'s takeover of Wm. Wrigley Jr., the world's biggest maker of chewing gum. Berkshire owns See's Candies and is the top shareholder of Coca-Cola Co.

-- He doesn't support a push for companies or countries to boycott the Olympics in China based on that country's human rights record.

-- He would buy shares of PetroChina Co. again if they are at a level he considers cheap, Buffett said. Berkshire sold a stake in the company last year.

-- Factories in China have different norms for working conditions than those in the U.S., and he won't ``tell the world how to run'' their businesses.

Fed Funds Rate

• 4/30/08: CUT of ¼% to 2%

• 3/18/08: CUT of ¾% to 2.25%

• 1/30/08: CUT of ½% to 3%

• 1/22/08: EMERGENCY CUT of ¾% to 3.5%

• 12/11/07: CUT ¼% to 4.25%

• 10/31/07: CUT ¼% to 4.5%

• 9/18/07: CUT ½% to 4.75%

• 6/29/06: UP ¼% to 5.25%

• 5/10/06: UP ¼% to 5%

• 3/28/06: UP ¼% to 4.75%

• 1/31/06: UP ¼% to 4.5%

• 12/13/05: UP ¼% to 4.25%

• 11/1/05: UP ¼% to 4%

• 9/20/05: UP ¼% to 3.75%

• 8/9/05: UP ¼% to 3.5%

California Home Price Decline

The California Association of Realtors is forecasting that the median price of a California house will fall 24% this year to $424,000 — a price not seen since 2003.

In March, CAR was forecasting a 9.5% price drop statewide, to $505,100. The median price of an existing single-family house in California has been above $500,000 since 2005.

“This 24% decline just has no precedent,” said CAR Deputy Chief Economist Robert Kleinhenz, who delivered CAR’s latest forecast today at the annual expo at the Disney Hotel by the Pacific West Association of Realtors. He said afterward that association economists still are unsure how much the median home price will fall this year. The 24% drop is CAR’s best figure at this point, he said.

Here are CAR’s median price figures for existing single-family homes:

Year	Price	Vs. 06
2000	$241,350	11.0%
2001	$262,350	8.7%
2002	$316,130	20.5%
2003	$372,700	17.9%
2004	$450,770	20.9%
2005	$524,000	16.2%
2006	$556,640	6.2%
2007	$558,100	0.3%
2008*	$424,000	-24.0%

*Forecast / Source: California Association of Realtors

Kleinhenz repeated earlier CAR predictions that the number of home sales in California may have bottomed out and are starting to pick up in recent months. CAR forecasts that 332,100 single-family homes will sell this year, down 6% from last year. Sales peaked at 625,000 house sales in the state in 2005, CAR figures show.

“I know I’m the bearer of bad news. I’m just trying to give you a sense of how we got here,” Kleinhenz said. “The housing market fundamentally needs one thing to move forward, and that’s jobs.”

Other highlights from Kleinhenz’ presentation:

• The market will bottom out sometime later this year, with the latter half of 2008 stronger than the first half.
• Foreclosures represent about 2.2% of all home loans in the state. “It’s not like everybody’s losing their house. Still, we have a huge number of distressed properties on the MLS, and it’s driving prices down. So it’s not like it’s not a problem.”
• Adjustable-rate mortgage resets peaked in late 2007 and early 2008. Hence foreclosures likely will peak later this year and decline in 2009.
• “We do think this is the year we’re going to see our low point for sales. … Monthly sales have already bottomed out.”
• “All these numbers are going to stabilize and slightly improve. … We’re basically climbing above the liquidity crunch to pre-liquidity numbers.”

Berkshire Hathaway - 1st Quarter 2008

Reported $1.7 billion in unrealized derivatives losses. However, the company believes the contracts that led to the losses will "prove profitable over the 15-20 year periods they cover, but could lead earnings to swing widely because of reporting rules."

FIRST QUARTER 2008

• Investment Gains.....$115 million
  
• Insurance Underwriting.....$181 million
• Insurance Investments.....$802 million
• Non-insurance businesses.....$894 million

Share Price: $133k

What's Subprime's Magic Number?

No one really has a clue how much money will be lost on subprime mortgages. Estimates range from $400 billion to $1 trillion and more. The banks, hedge funds and insurers whose financial futures depend on those final numbers are focusing most intensely on monthly data on delinquencies, housing prices, interest-rate resets, and the "roll rate", which shows how many borrowers are falling further and further behind on their payments.

"Right now, we're still right in the middle of it, and so you have enormous variation using very small differences in assumptions about what's going to happen", says Jay Brown, chiefs executive of MBIA, Inc - a bond insurer that sold protection on mortgage-linked bonds, and took a write-down of more than $3 billion in 2007.

For typical subprime mortgages issued between the second half of 2005 and the first half of 2007, when underwriting standards were at their weakest, between 25% and 40% of borrowers on average are more than 60 days behind on their payments.

Nearly 15% of subprime borrowers who took out mortgages in 2006 were 60 days late within a year. It took nearly twice as long for loans from 2000 and 2001 to look that bad. Overall, the number of delinquencies is still rising each month. Will the loans follow the same path as in previous years? In 2000 and 2001, the growth in the 60-day delinquency rate slowed when those subprime loans were about three years old and peaked after a little more than four years, then started to fall.

Oracle of Omaha - Annual Meeting

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Billionaire Warren Buffett's shareholders always look forward to the time he spends answering questions at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, a chance to learn from one of the world's most successful investors.

Buffett said the question-and-answer period, when he and Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger field any and all queries, is his favorite part of the meeting too because he likes to know what's on shareholders' minds.

"Our attitude is partnership. These people are our partners," Buffett said during interviews about three hours before he was scheduled to take the stage.

Buffett and Munger spoofed the presidential campaign in Berkshire's annual cartoon, which is part of the humorous movie at the start of the meeting.

The cartoon depicted Munger running for president as a write-in candidate. Munger's fictional "Financial Independence Party" was born over a lunch between Munger, Buffett and Bill Gates, who is a Berkshire board member.

At a campaign event, the cartoon Munger delivered real change by offering a boy two dimes for a quarter. Munger had an answer for all the nation's ills, and all of them involved products made by Berkshire subsidiaries.

Global warming? Munger recommended eating a Dairy Queen Blizzard a day. Health care? Munger said eat more See's Candy.

Economic problems? Munger promised to put Buffett in charge of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department.

Cartoon versions of the real Democratic presidential candidates scoffed at the notion of Munger's candidacy. An animated Hillary Clinton simply laughed while Barack Obama lamented that he thought he was the candidate of change.

But the cartoon of Republican John McCain celebrated Munger's candidacy: "Excellent! A candidate older than I am."

At the meeting later Saturday, shareholders will likely ask about the state of the economy as well as Berkshire's latest earnings report.

On Friday Berkshire reported first quarter net income of $940 million, or $607 per share, in the quarter ended March 31. That's down significantly from the net income of $2.6 billion Berkshire generated a year ago.

The biggest reason for the drop in net income was an unrealized $1.6 billion pretax loss Berkshire recorded on its derivative contracts.

Including the derivative losses, Berkshire's net investment losses in the quarter totaled $991 million. A year ago, the Omaha-based company recorded a $382 million investment gain.

Berkshire officials predicted the crowd at the Qwest Center Omaha would top 30,000 Saturday. The crowd has grown bigger every year as shareholders bring family and friends to hear Buffett and Munger, and more business school groups make the trip to Nebraska an annual pilgrimage.

Some shareholders, like Jack Smith, are attending the Berkshire meeting for the first time. Smith said he traveled from Springfield, Ill., partly out of curiosity and partly for the "entertainment value" of the weekend.

"And for the opportunity to listen to Warren and Charlie," Smith said.

But the age of the two men has some shareholders wondering how many more times they'll be able to listen to Berkshire's chairman and vice chairman hold court. Buffett is 77, and Munger is 84.

That's part of why Michel Paquet and Lorie Armstrong made their second trip to the annual meeting from Calgary in Canada. "We came here to support Warren," Armstrong said.

But that doesn't mean shareholders are all that worried about what will happen to Berkshire once Buffett is gone because of the strong corporate culture Buffett and Munger have established.

"I will expect some volatility on the transition, but I'm ready for that," said Paquet, who plans to hold his Berkshire stock for many years to come.

Smith said the key question is how will the public and the stock market judge Berkshire whenever the transition happens.

"I'm pretty comfortable the company is in good hands once they're (Buffett and Munger) no longer here," Smith said.

To replace Buffett, Berkshire plans to split his job into three parts -- chief investment officer, chief executive officer and chairman.

In his letter to shareholders, Buffett said the company's board now has three internal candidates for CEO and four external candidates who could take over managing the company's $75 billion stock portfolio and $35.6 billion cash.

Berkshire's board knows who to choose for the jobs once Buffett can no longer do the job. Buffett has refused to publicly identify the candidates.

Buffett has said previously that when he dies, his son will take over as chairman to ensure Berkshire's culture is preserved. Howard Buffett already serves on the board.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com

Bill Gross - All Quiet on the Western Front

"He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still
on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the
single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front. He had fallen forward
and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw
that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression
of calm, as though almost glad the end had come."

Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 masterpiece quoted above stands tall in its eloquent soliloquizing of the horrors of war. "The wisest were just the poor and simple people," he wrote. "They knew the war to be a misfortune, whereas those who were better off…were beside themselves with joy." His description of WWI’s life in the trenches could not envision the multipartheid fronts of modern-day Iraq with its randomly spaced IEDs and computer-directed flying drones, yet the carnage is the same and probably just as futile. Remarque’s Western Front has migrated to the Middle East, but the human condition with its conflicted politics remains unchanged: there are combatants – each with God on their side and a cause to die for. Yet for the soldiers, only survival and camaraderie seem to prevail once in the trenches. "We have lost all sense of other considerations," wrote Remarque in describing the horrors of his day’s impenetrable line. "Only the facts are real and important to us. And good boots are hard to come by." They remain so, I suppose, although in recent years the scarcity has morphed to bulletproof vests and steel-plated Humvees. Still, they die, and we are the poorer because of their loss. May the living fly home in their boots and plant them once again on American soil.

There have been multiple fronts in the investment markets in recent years with varying strategies – much like we are witnessing in Iraq. For PIMCO though, at least from the standpoint of my biased and vulnerable memory bank, there has been a consistent and easily definable plan ever since late 2006:

1. Avoid the subprime mortgage meltdown and prepare portfolios for the consequences of a housing downturn. (Mission accomplished!)
   
2. Anticipate the monetary policy changes of the Fed by purchasing high quality front-end investments that would benefit from Fed Funds cuts to as low as 2%. (Mission nearly accomplished!)
   
3. Reinvest in high-quality financial institutions which suffer capital impairment during the anticipated recession. (Mission uncertain!)
   
4. Ultimately invest in lower quality bonds as corporate defaults rise to peak levels. (Mission for the future.)
   
5. Be mindful at all times of the effects of a globalized economy/financial marketplace and its consequences for real interest rates, inflation, and currency levels. (Mission ongoing.)

While this plan has obviously been quite successful to date, it hasn’t come without risk nor sleepless nights. The first half of 2007 was fraught with self doubt and hundreds of "expletives deleted" amongst the PIMCO platoon pinned down in the trenches of a bulled-up credit market where seemingly nothing could go wrong to shake the confidence of levered investors. In order to avoid getting our heads shot off, we had to go without the plentiful L+ 25 basis point rations that were feeding an entire universe of soldiers strung out along the same impenetrable trench of risk taking. Ah, but then the pivotal turning point – the collapse of the Bear Stearns hedge funds in June of 2007, the horrific days of mid-August, and now the aftermath of another Bear Stearns debacle one year later. We have not only survived, but gained territory and are eager for further advances.

It is here, however, where battlefield generals have to pause and consider whether to mount an all-out attack or wisely assess the enemy’s flank in addition to its hollowed center. PIMCO has two CIO generals now, and for several months, Mohamed El-Erian has been counseling to at least consider a fat-tail possibility that could stop us in our tracks at #3 on the list of our strategic battle plan.

Mohamed suggests the possibility, not the probability, that recent euphoric moves in equity prices and credit market spreads might be premature. The market’s justification may rest on the two-barreled conclusion that, 1) the delevering of the financial system is reaching a natural culmination as prices stop going down and banks and investment banks recapitalize their balance sheets, and 2) that numerous and previously unthinkable policy responses have restored enough liquidity to relubricate our finance-based economy. That may well be the case he counsels, but these are changes centered on Wall Street and "The City." Life on Main Street, U.S.A. and its English counterpart may be another matter. Recession, and its vicious-cycle effect on employment and consumer spending, remains a threat and this recession, although currently mild and as of yet not even officially validated, may not be your garden-variety, father’s Oldsmobile-type of downturn.

To that possibility, PIMCO’s Investment Committee (IC) turns to member Paul McCulley whose Keynesian roots are fertilized even more so by the less famous Hyman Minsky, himself a Keynesian but with a financial system orientation. In retrospect, it was McCulley who introduced PIMCO’s IC to Minsky’s Stabilizing an Unstable Economy back in 2002, and thus laid the groundwork for step #1 in our strategic plan – avoiding the subprime mortgage meltdown. That book, Paul’s endorsement, and a lot of collective commonsense and internal research have been worth billions. But to the point: Main Street instability in the form of consumer spending – itself a function of a destabilizing downward spiral in home prices – must be contained, or else the current giddiness of the markets’ premature armistice may remorph into the guns of August (2007). Home prices and their real economic fallout are the financial markets – and PIMCO’s – vulnerable flank. And it is Minsky with his analysis of prior 20th century financial crises who serves as a key observer from his outpost of decades past.

To be brief and blunt, the reason that home prices are so critical, he would claim, is that they are at the forefront of potential asset deflation. Because the U.S. and selected other economies are now substantially asset-based and dependent on stable and upward tilting prices, a deflation of an economy’s primary financial asset can be ruinous. Its deflationary thrust must be countered, wrote Minsky, or else the battle might be lost. If so, the real economy as Mohamed El-Erian suggests, might become so shell-shocked that financial markets once again turn down instead of up.

Minsky, McCulley, El-Erian, Gross, Feldstein, Summers, and a host of others would likely argue that additional policy measures are required to support home prices which have fallen by 10% over the past 12 months and are set for a repeat by this time in 2009. Lower Fed Funds? They would, in PIMCO’s opinion, likely do more damage than good from this point forward. Foreign and domestic investors are being fleeced with negative real interest rates, and the weak dollar, stratospheric commodity prices and steadily rising import inflation are the result. The better alternative is to initiate a limited mark-to-market write-down of private mortgage debt as envisioned in the Dodd-Frank Congressional proposal combined with government-subsidized loans at below market rates. Look at it this way: you can allow a home to fall in price from $400,000 to $300,000 and force an upside-down "short sale" foreclosure, or you can reduce the homeowners’ $400,000 mortgage to $350,000, refinance the loan through the FHA at 4% and stabilize the neighborhood and its home prices. Surely Republicans, Democrats, AND Wall Street mortgage holders (PIMCO included) can recognize that stability as opposed to freefall market clearing is the better alternative, especially if the pain is shared by all parties. It is our best chance to cushion Minsky’s asset-based deflation.

Other policy initiatives such as the Bank of England’s 100 billion dollar term funding of their own mortgage market as well as the continued potential for U.S. agencies or the Fed to participate in similar maneuvers are promising alternatives with a unified objective in mind: support home prices. A continued housing deflation of several trillion more dollars now threatens to impact the real economy which in turn might produce a reversal of financial market fortunes. For now, all is quiet on our investment front and the war appears to be winding down. We remain on the alert however as we seek to implement step #3 and eventually step #4 of our investment battle plan. Remarque wrote of his WWI soldiers: "We live in the trenches…we fight. We try not to be killed. Sometimes we are. That’s all." At PIMCO, with a much less dangerous but perhaps equally probabilistic occupational outcome, we will keep our heads low in hopes of fighting for another day.

William H. Gross
Managing Director

Warren Buffett

Financier invited to join candy deal by Goldman Sachs.

Mars Inc's planned acquisition of Wm. Wrigley Jr. & Co. carries a familiar script for Warren Buffett, who during a previous market rout said he felt like a kid in a candy store. The $23 billion deal will create a company that will reshape the global sweets business and got done because the three strongest financial firms in the US wrote the checks.

Last month, JP Morgan Chief Executive James Dimon encouraged clients to seek financing. "Leveraged finance is still there, give us a call," Mr. Dimon urged. Bankers are willing to lend, albeit to good clients. It isn't just talk. Mr. Dimon himself approved a $11 billion loan package to longtime client Mars to help the candy maker capture Wrigley.

Approval, wasn't accompanied by a lot of hand-wringing; this one took the approval of only about five people and just five days to arrange.

Goldman Sachs banker, Byron Trott, an adviser to Wrigley and a longtime adviser to Mr. Buffett, made the connection.

Wrigley had rebuffed Mars several times because the price wasn't high enough. The financing let the buyers pay a premium - 28% over the current share price, that the sellers accepted.

Buffett is in for $6.5 billion. His company throws off so much cash, that despite investments such as the $4 billion for 80% of Iscar, an industrial group based in Israel, and last year's $4.5 billion purchase of 60% of Marmon Holdings - Berkshire's cash balances has held stubbornly between $43 billion and $45 billion at the end of each of the past three years. Mr. Buffett concedes the problem is, the company prefers to invest $5 billion to $20 billion in its deals.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) $128k per share - up 18% the past year.

Kitchen-Table Talks.......

On April 11th, Bill Wrigley Jr. - the 4th generation to lead the company, goes to Virginia for a meeting with Paul Michaels and Oliver Goudet, both of Mars. They ate sandwiches. By the early hours of Monday, they had finalized a deal. Wrigley shareholders will receive $80 per share. Paying 32 times Wrigley's expected earnings for 2008.

Chocolate Confectionary Rankings ($74 billion):

1. Mars...$11 billion
2. Nestle...$9 billion
3. Hershey...$6 billion
4. Kraft Foods...$6 billion
5. Cadbury Schweppes...$5 billion

Sugar Confectionary Rankings ($43 billion):

1. Cadburry Schweppes...$3 billion
2. Perfetti Van Melle...$3 billion
3. Nestle...$1 billion
4. Haribo...$1 billion
5. Mars...$1 billion

Gum Rankings ($19 billion):

1. Wrigley...$7 billion
2. Cadbury Schweppes...$5 billion
   

NFL Draft Database

www.nfl.usatoday.com

Covers past 20 years - 5395 players drafted.

Food Costs A Major Worry

Consumer food inflation has been running at a 5.3% annual rate in the past three months, the Labor Department says. The largest price increases are white bread 16%, milk 13%, eggs 35%, bananas 17% in 12-months.

Economists predict a third of the US corn crop will be diverted to government subsidized ethanol production.

Americans devote about 10% of take-home pay for food.

Online Learning has greater credibility

Online education is booming, and is becoming increasingly accepted by employers. A survey by Zogby International finds that 83% of CEO's and small-business owners who are familiar with online education (also called "distance learning") believe that online degrees are as credible as those earned on a college campus.

Online courses are now offered by more than two-thirds of all US colleges and universities, and 35% of schools offer programs that are entirely online, according to the 2007 Sloan Survey of Online Learning.

About 20% of the USA's 17 million college students say they have taken at lease one course online.

New Conforming Loan Limit

So what is it? Done, all but signed. Right? High cost areas to be mapped out, complicated mathematical calculations to be done. New conforming loan limits, up to $730,000. To be in effect, beginning July 1st and ending December 31st.

Overseas Voting: Online

LONDON (AP) - Americans seeking a change in foreign policy and a new national image abroad flocked to churches in Rome, town halls in England and an Irish pub in Hong Kong on Tuesday to vote in a Democrats Abroad primary.

The voting will determine who gets the 11 votes allocated to Democrats Abroad at the Democratic National Convention in August. The group is allowing online voting—a first for voters overseas—that will continue for one week.

Porchester Hall in central London was jammed with high-spirited voters Tuesday evening as rival groups backing Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama chanted and waved banners for their candidates.

Republicans, meanwhile, made their Super Tuesday choices known through absentee ballots and predicted their party would unite behind whomever is nominated and keep control of the White House.

Most Democrats abroad focused on the razor's edge contest between Clinton and Obama.

"I'm voting for Hillary. I'd like to see a woman in the White House," said Alison Kurke, who was first in line to vote at the American Episcopal Church of St. Paul's in Rome. "I think she can hit the ground running. She's got the experience, she's got the brains."

But James McGuire, a 24-year-old Web site developer from Massachusetts who traveled to Rome from the Umbrian town of Orvieto, favored Obama.

"I think it's one of the most important in years," he said of the 2008 election. "If we do not get Barack Obama in the presidency, then we will have two families for over 20 years in the American political system. And I think that's unacceptable."

Americans voting overseas on Super Tuesday said they were particularly influenced by the candidates' foreign policy credentials. Democrats said they wanted a president who would steer the U.S. away from the Bush administration's foreign policies, which have alienated many allies.

"We need a dramatic change in tone and tenor, and we need someone who truly, genuinely understands other cultures and can project that to the world," said Clifford Aron, 50, a businessman from Brooklyn who lives in Warsaw, Poland.

Turnout for the Democrats Abroad primary was expected to be high and results will be announced later this month.

Robert Bell of Democrats Abroad in Canada said he voted online. He expects a record turnout in Canada, in part because of the online option. He said an independent company is managing the online vote.

"It's quite secure," Bell said. "Each participant who is on our database is given a random number with which they can access this third party site and then they have to sign in with the particular information that they would know, so I feel it's quite secure."

Because of unreliable mail service in certain countries, many Democrats were excited about using the Internet to be sure their vote would be counted, said Christine Schon Marques, the International Chair of Democrats Abroad.

Daniel Wolf, a composer from California who has lived in Germany and Hungary since 1989, said voting online was a "real success" for him after years of difficulties with absentee ballots.

Wolf said he often had trouble getting his ballot in for elections, including in 2000 when his ballot didn't arrived in Budapest at all, despite phone calls to his voter registrar.

"It's clear and fast and you can print out a hard copy of your ballot," Wolf said in an e-mail to The Associated Press from Frankfurt.

Voters who cast their ballot online went to the http://www.votefromabroad.org Web site by Jan. 31 to request an online ballot. There, information such as the voter's former stateside address was requested. Once authenticated, the voter received a pin or ballot number.

Harvey Manning, a New York city native who has lived in Canada since said he found the process to be user friendly and secure.

"When the ballot appeared I clicked the box for the one I voted for and printed it out. That was it," he said.

But Mary Wilson, president of the League of Women Voters, warned that the new system could lead to confusion in the general elections when online voting is not an option.

"They're creating this new system for voting in the primaries outside of the system that will be used in the general election," said Wilson. She said voters must not forget they need to fill out absentee ballots for the general election.

Republicans Abroad did not have live or online voting. Republicans Abroad U.K. chairman Miki Bowman conceded the Democrats seem more energized now but predicted this would change after the candidates are chosen.

"I think our candidates are much less polarizing than the Democratic candidates and we're confident whoever gets nominated has the likelihood of winning the presidency," she said.

Mary Jo Jacobi, a longtime Londoner and former adviser to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, predicted the GOP would get a lift if Clinton is nominated.

U.S. voters who want to vote in the primaries of their home states may do so by absentee ballot, with the deadline for voting varying from state to state. For most Super Tuesday primary states, the deadline was Tuesday.

Risk of property defaults

There is a growing risk of defaults on loans on commercial property this year, in a trend that could spill over into tumbling values and create more jitters in the credit world, analysts and bankers warn.

US property companies that took out big short-term loans to finance acquisitions in the past couple of years at low-interest rates are now struggling to refinance this debt, as banks curb lending and commercial property prices fall.

In recent days, Harry Macklowe, the New York developer, has failed to refinance $5.8bn in short-term loans he used to buy seven Manhattan office towers from Equity Office Properties last February. Deutsche Bank, which provided the loan, has taken control of the buildings and will put them up for sale, a person familiar with the matter said.

Analysts warn of a pattern that could spread. US commercial property prices have fallen 10 per cent in some markets since August, after rising more than 90 per cent since 2001, according to Real Capital Analytics.

“For [recent] loans coming to maturity this year . . . it will be very difficult to acquire refinancing,” said Sam Chandan, chief economist at Reis, a property re-search company.

Signs of growing stress also exist in the UK commercial property sector. Tomorrow, UK group British Land is expected to announce a sharp writedown in the value of its commercial property. The Bank of England highlighted its unease in its recent quarterly bulletin, noting that “commercial property prices fell sharply” in recent months, and “returns on commercial property slowed significantly”.

Most analysts think the scale of problems building in the commercial property sector are far smaller than in the subprime loans market. However, if the sector produces tangible losses this year, this will be deeply unwelcome for banks and investors in commercial mortgage-backed securities

One area of concern revolves around property companies that have taken out floating rate loans in the past couple of years.

This year $22bn out of a total $38bn in outstanding floating rate CMBS is coming due, according to Wachovia Capital Markets data, of which $2bn faces the greatest risk of default because it has a final maturity this year with no option to extend.

Vacation Rental - San Diego

www.TastyWave.com

A 2-bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1,141 square foot beach house for rent.

Microsoft & Yahoo

Microsoft bid $44.6 billion for Yahoo last Friday. The bid still needs approval by Yahoo and regulators. The proposed merger brims with potential. Yahoo would bring legions of loyal users of its Internet e-mail, chat, search, news, shopping and dating services. Microsoft would contribute engineering prowess and its deep presence in home PC's and corporate servers. By joining forces, the companies could reach 86% of US Internet users and control 59% of the online display ad market.

Yahoo and Microsoft.

Net Income: Yahoo $751 million, Microsoft $14.1 billion.
Employees: Yahoo 14300, Microsoft 79000.
Market Capitalization: Yahoo $38 billion, Microsoft $283 billion.

Super Bowl 42 - The Ads

1. Budweiser - dalmatian trains Clydesdale to make beer wagon team.
2. FedEx - FedEx beats giant carrier pigeons.
3. Bridgestone - Critters scream with squirrel missed by car.
4. Doritos - Giant rat goes for guy's bag of chips.
5. Bud Light - Fire breather heats up romantic dinner.
6. Bud Light - Men sneak beer into wine and cheese party.
7. Coca-Cola - Cartoon character parade balloons go after Coke Classic.
8. Diet Pepsi Max - Star studded cast stops dozing.

The key to a top-ranked Super Bowl Ad? The Top 4 all involve animals.

Top Box Office for 2008?

Which of these 16 - will earn the highest domestic box office in 2008?

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Sex and the City: The Movie
Mamma Mia!
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystall Skull
The X-Files
Star Trek
Quantum of Solace
Iron Man
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Madagascar: The Crate Escape
Speed Racer
The Incredible Hulk
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Journey to the Center of the Earth

NFL Dynasty

Head Coaches of the 3 Top Teams - records over a similar amount of time (7 years).

1. Bill Belichick, New England 2000-2007, 91-37, 71%, 14-3 in playoffs, 3 titles.
2. Bill Walsh, San Francisco 1979-1986, 69-51-1, 57%, 7-3 in playoffs, 2 titles.
3. Chuck Noll, Pittsburgh 1969-1976, 65-46-1, 58%, 8-3 in playoffs, 2 titles.
   

Quarterbacks of the 4 Top Teams

1. Tom Brady 2000-2007 Patriots, 86-24, 14-2 playoffs, 26370 yards, 197 td's, 4 pro bowls, 3 titles
2. Joe Montana 1979-1994 49ers/Chiefs, 117-47, 16-7 playoffs, 40551 yards, 273 td's, 8 pro bowls, 4 titles
3. Terry Bradshaw 1970-1983 Steelers, 107-51, 14-5 playoffs, 27989 yards, 212 td's, 3 pro bowls, 4 titles
4. Troy Aikman 1989-2000 Cowboys, 94-71, 11-4 playoffs, 32942 yards, 165 td's, 6 pro bowls, 3 titles
   

1994, Robert Kraft bought the New England Patriots for $172 million. The team had never won a home playoff game. After his relationship with then coach Bill Parcells fizzled, and a three-year stint with Pete Carroll ended. Kraft traded a first-round pick to the New York Jets to secure Belichick - a moved he calls "the best deal of my life." In his first draft, Belichick picked Tom Brady, a University of Michigan star. Without Brady, Belichick was 42-58, including postseason. With Brady, he's 100-26. The franchise is currently valued by Forbes at $1.2 billion. A one-billion dollar increase in value over 14 years.

New Home Sales Sets Record

Sales of newly built homes sank last year at the steepest pace since record keeping began in 1963 - and home builders expect their worst recession in decades to persist until at least the middle of this year.

New home sales totaled 774,000 in 2007, off a staggering 26% from 2006. The median price was nearly flat at $246,900. Since peaking in July 2005, new home sales have plunged nearly 57%, and construction permits have fallen to half the level they were then.

For December 2007, adjusted annual rate, of 604,000 homes sold - down 41% from last December.
Prices are down 10%, to $219,200.

The National Association of Home Builders says about 4% of builders were guaranteeing home values, 58% were offering price cuts, more than half were paying some buyers closing costs and 61% were offering free upgrades, according to its November survey of about 400 builders nationwide.

Weekly Box Office

Opening week for each:
#1 Meet the Spartans $18.5 million
#2 Rambo $18.2 million

#7 Juno, total $100 million in 8 weeks
#8 National Tresure, total $205 million in 6 weeks

Countrywide - Regulatory Crackdown

The fear of potential regulatory crackdowns helped drive Countrywide Financial Corp into the arms of acquirer Bank of America Corp, people familiar with the situation say. Though the big home mortgage lender faced large and unpredictable losses on defaults, the more immediate danger was pressure from regulators, politicians and rating firms. The $4 billion deal was announced Jan 11th.

Countrywide could no longer raise money through short-term borrowings in the capital markets or sales of mortgages other than those that could be guaranteed by government sponsored investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That forced Countrywide to rely much more heavily on two other sources of funding: deposits at its savings bank unit and borrowings - so called advances from the Federal Home Loan Banks system. In 2007, 1st quarter $26.5 billion, 2nd quarter $28.8 billion, $51.1 billion, $47 billion. Countrywide was already near a cap on the amount of FHLB borrowings it could obtain under rules that limit those to 50% of assets held by the borrower.

Toilet Tattoo

www.toilet-tattoos.com

Adorn the lid with a vinyl film that is removable, reusable and wipes clean. They're $10 each and come in a slew of patterns.

Autographed decals are being auctioned on Ebay beginning Feb. 11th, to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Cool Cat

www.ModernCat.com

Cat owners, and cats, are purring over a recent onslaught of stylish cat furniture and accessories.

Litter-pan covers that double as benches, cabinets or planters (www.Kattbank.com). Wall-mounted scratching pads that look like low-hanging art works. Curvy kitty beds, chaises and perches that look like modern sculpture. Stainless-steel food dishes perfectly suited to a stainless-steel kitchen (www.FivePetPlace.com).

Home Sales Plummet

Sales plummeted 13% in 2007, the steepest annual dive in 25 years. The most severe real estate recession in a generation. And the median US home price fell, probably for the first year since the Great Depression. The 2008 outlook remains equally grim. Chief Economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, Doug Duncan, says sales could fall a further 13% this year.

Bank of America

Yesterday, BofA sold $12 billion of preferred stock, twice as much as planned. Sold to bolster capital and help it absorb acquisitions after 4th quarter profit fell 95%. The 2nd largest US bank said it sold $6 billion of perpetual preferred shares and $6 billion of perpetual preferred shares convertible into stock. Perpetual shares do not have a maturity date. The preferred shares carry an 8% dividend. The convertible preferred shares carry a 7.25% dividend and a $50 conversion price, which is 25.3% above the bank's closing price. The shares fell 1.7%, to close at $39.90.

San Clemente - Land for Sale

It's hard to come by land in San Clemente.

25 acres are for sale off Avenida Presidio, $6.5 million.

The land is located just north of City Hall. The broker says, "We already have legal parcels for homes, or a single compound, and that some engineering has been done that shows three development opportunities: a 7-lot plan, a 24-unit cluster plan or a 28-lot plan."

Marcus & Millicap (949) 851-3030

Billionaire, Sheldon Anderson

The 3rd wealthiest man in America is days away from the Friday debut of his splashy 50-story Palazzo Resort-Hotel-Casino, in first new hotel on the Las Vegas strip in three years.

The $1.9 billion, 3000 room hotel casino, with the attached 4000 room Venetian and Sands Expo and Convention Center. The Palazzo will be part of a 19-million square foot edifice that Las Vegas Sands says is the largest hotel convention complex under one roof in the world.

With an estimated net worth of $28 billion, the 74-year old goes full throttle with new casinos. In the 1980's he owned the nation's biggest computer trade show, Comdex. He first bought the old Rat Pack haunt of the Sands Hotel in 1989, and then attaching it to the largest privately owned convention center in the nation. In the mid-1990's he demolished itm abd sikd Comdex for $862 million to help finance the all-suite $1.5 billion Venetian, which opened in 1999.

The Venetian and Palazzo are the only Strip properties without unions. His company provides free car washes and on-site day care to employees, among other amenities.

Adelson and Wynn were the only Las Vegas gamers to win licenses to build casinos in the former Portuguese colony of Macau when Beijing decided in 2001 to end the crime-riddled gambling monopoly of Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho. But their approaches, couldn't be more different. Alderson racing to open the casino-only Sands Macao by 2004 to start cashing in on the Asian appetite for gambling. Wynn has trodden more carefully. With the success of Sands Macao, Adelson has able to finance a string of nearby resort casinos known as the Cotai Strip, "Asia's Las Vegas".

$10 billion loss - Citigroup

New CEO ofCitigroup, Vikram Pandit, promised better results. "Unacceptable, we need to do better, and we will do better."

The nation's biggest bank announced a $10 billion 4th quarter loss, primarily because of an $18 billion write-down of assets related to subprime mortgages. The size of the write-down dwarfed Citigroup's October estimate of $11 billion.

A cut in its quarterly dividend, from 54 cents to 32 cents, saves $5 billion a year. The recent cash infusions include: $12.5 billion from a group of investors, plus an earlier $7.5 billion from Abu Dhabi, and plans to sell $2 billion of new shares to the public. Layoffs of 4,200 employees, out of 300,000 worldwide. Further layoffs could be ahead. Last spring, 17,000 were laid off.

Investors

Citigroup and Merrill Lynch each have lined up billions of dollars in financing from around the world.

Kuwait Investment Authority

Founded in 1953, one of the most experienced of the petrodollar-rich Middle East government investment funds. With assets at more than $200 billion, KIA will provide part of the $12.5 billion capital infusion into Citigroup, plus a portion of the $6.6 billion injection into Merrill. KIA is smaller than neighboring Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which some estimate controls just under $1 trillion and which snapped up a $7.5 billion stake in Citi last year.

Mizuho Financial Group

Created when three big, battered Japanese lenders merged in 1999 amid Japan's long banking crisis. Based in Tokyo, one of the world's largest banks by assets, with $1.4 trillion in assets as of September 30, 2007. Investing $1.2 billion in Merrill.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed

52-years old, nephew of Saudi King Abudullah, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is one of the world's wealthiest men, with assets estimated at more than $20.3 billion. Based in Riyadh, he is providing part of the capital infusion in Citigroup. In 1991, he ponied up $590 million, becoming one of Citi's biggest investors.

Government of Singapore Investment Corp.

Set up in 1981 to run the tiny but rich nation's foreign exchange reserves. Oversees well above $100 billion in assets. Reportedly investing $6.88 billion in Citigroup. Last month, it snapped up 9% of UBS AG, joining an unidentified Middle Eastern investor to inject $11.5 billion into the Swiss bank, GIC chipped in $9.6 billion of that.

Korean Investment Corp.

Seoul based, one of the newest and smallest sovereign wealth funds with $30 billion in assets. Bought $2 billion of Merrill Lynch preferred shares. The investment is the latest sign the world's #13 economy is maturing.

Olayan Group

Family-owned, taking part in a $6.6 billion investment in Merrill Lynch. Founded in 1947, it is a diversified empire of some 50 companies and affiliates.

Capital Research & Management

Founded in 1931, Los Angeles based, has quietly grown to be the largest manager of stock and bond mutual funds in the US with more than $1.1 trillion under management. It is taking part in the $12.5 billion capital infusion in Citigroup.

New Jersey Division of Investment

Runs the state's $81 billion pension fund, the 9th largest public fund in the country. It invested $400 million in Citigroup preferred stock and $300 million in Merrill Lynch preferred stock.

T. Rowe Price Group

The 6th largest US mutual fund company and long-time player in the 401(k) market. Manages nearly $400 billion. It is taking part in the Merrill investment.

Make It Right - New Orleans

On their website, is a rolling honor roll of donors totals, $9.9 million of the $22.5 million has been raised to date. Enough to sponsor 66 of the 150 homes.

www.makeitrightnola.org

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight

OFHEO analyzed possible impacts from a House bill and a Senate bill.

The House bill, H.R. 1427, would allow higher-cost areas a new limit that would be the lower of either the median area home price or 150% of the current limit — that equates to $625,500, which is the current limit in Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands and Guam.

The Senate bill is similar but the increase would only be for the year after it was enacted.

www.ofheo.gov/media/research/MMNOTE11108.pdf

MySpace Celebrity Channel

A marketing and PR Tool aimed at the 110 million users of MySpace.

www.celebrity.myspace.com

By personally managing their site, information, photos - celebrities can exert greater influence over their own image.

Insuring Debt Against Default

The annual cost of insuring $10 million of debt against default, has been on the rise. Bear Stearns, in October 2007 was paying $76,000 for such protection. Three months later, this amount has tripled to $234,000. Citigroup debt protection for five years jumped to $94,000, up from $67,000 in December, and $27,000 in October. Merrill Lynch debt is $164,000, up from $140,000 at years end and $60,000 in October.

Such protection is less expensive for debt issued by the troubled nation of Pakistan than it is for debt issued by MBIA or Countrywide.

Cattle Farmers - Dry Season

Last year, precipitation in the Southeast region of the US was the lowest its been in a decade, it was the 2nd-driest year since 1895.

The Southeast, defined as Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida - accounts for 25% of calf production in the US. But without rain to nourish pastures, hay and forages, the cost of feeding cows is becoming untenable.

A cattle farmer in Georgia says he used to pay about $25 per roll of quality hay, now the price is double.

Beef prices have risen 5% to $3.81 in November 2007, from $3.63 in January 2007.

Countrywide - Overdue Loans

Countrywide reports another rise in overdue loans. The Calabasas, California company was the nation's largest home-mortgage lender in terms of loan volume for the first nine months of last year. Shares of the company fell to $5.12, their lowest close since May 1996.

In a monthly update, Countrywide said payments in December were overdue on 7% of the total loans it services, up from 5% a year ago, and 6.3% in November. Foreclosures were pending on 1% of all loans serviced, up from 0.65% a year earlier.

Foreign Capital

Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.

Merrill is expected to get $3 billion to $4 billion, much of it from a Middle Eastern government investment fund. Citi could get as much as $10 billion, likely all from foreign governments.

Such large investments, are the latest sign big banks are undergoing a rapid recapitalization to stabilize their shaky financial foundations. Already, foreign governments have invested about $27 billion in Merrill, Citi, UBS, AG and Morgan Stanley.

UBS (GIC, Singapore) $9.8 billion
Citigroup (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) $7.5 billion
Morgan Stanley (China Investment Corp) $5.0 billion
Merrill Lynch (Temasek Holdings, Singapore) $4.4 billion
Bear Stearns (Citic Securities, China) $1.0 billion

San Clemente - Land for Sale

Residential Land, in San Clemente.


Just under 3 acres, tract map is approved for 9 custom estate size lots (13,000 to 15,000 square foot each).

Price: $10.5 million

Movies - Weekly Top 10

"National Treasure: Book of Secrets" continues its reign at the box office for the 3rd week in a row.

1. National Treasure ($171 million)
2. Juno
3. I Am Legend ($228 million)
4. Alvin and the Chipmunks ($176 million)
5. One Missed Call
6. Charlie Wilson's War
7. PS I Love You
8. The Water Horse
9. Sweeney Todd
10. Atonement
    

Hotel School

Cornell's prestigious hotel school, founded in 1922 and the nation's oldest, was once one of few academic options for students wanting to be managers at hotel or other hospitality companies. But the thriving Cornell institution no longer has the corner on the training of the USA's innkeepers. About 200 schools now offer bachelor's degrees to students majoring in hospitality management, a five-fold increase over the past 25 years.

San Diego State's School of Hospitality & Tourism Management started with 13 students in 2001 and now has 500. At the University of Central Florida, the number of students majoring in hospitality management rose from about 85 in 1999 to 2,000 today.

A board member of an association which represents schools with hospitality programs, says a record number of students - 50,000 - are currently enrolled nationwide.

According to San Diego State dean of the program, "We're going from an accidental industry to one where there's an explosion of hospitality schools, and the bar is getting raised."

The $133 billion US industry grew from 32,000 hotels in 1987 to 49,000 hotels today, and the number of hotel brands has increased significantly.

This spring, most hospitality school graduates looking for hotel jobs will get multiple job offers at an annual salary of at least $40,000. Many graduates have annual salaries above $70,000 within three years (according to University of Memphis interim director Richard Zurburg).

John Howie, owner of a hotel in Buffalo first pitched the idea to Cornell in 1912. Howie believed that many hotels could be improved by college-educated managers, and that American travelers deserved better than sleeping on straw mattresses in drafty inns above noisy taverns.

Marriott, the nation's largest hotel company, has a 10-person staff that recruits at more than 75 hospitality schools. It expects to hire 300 to 400 hotel school graduates annually during the new few years.

Henry Diltz

A new book, gathers his finest work.

"A musician's life is hanging out, and I knew how to hang out." - Henry Diltz

Diltz fell into photography when his music career faltered in the mid-1960's. He bought a $20 used camera while on tour and a sold a shot o the Lovin Spoonful to Teen Set magazine for $100. Forty years later, his archives comprise "California Dreaming" a 344-page, large-format book of more than 500 photos taken between 1966-1975. Price: $450

www.genesis-publications.com

He has shot more than 200 album covers, and never took a photography class.

Break on through.
Morrison Hotel, a transient hotel in downtown Los Angeles provided the cover image for The Doors 1970 album, "Morrison Hotel". Though a young clerk behind the front desk nixed a photo shoot, the group rushed back into the lobby after he slipped into an elevator. Diltz says, "They - the Doors - ran in, got behind the window, and I took one roll of film before anyone noticed. Then Jim (Morrison) said, Let's get a drink. We went to a place called the Hard Rock Cafe in skid row. He loved the stories the old winos told him. That photo, on the back cover, showing the group at the bar, gave rise to the London-based chain of Hard Rock Cafes.

DVD Sales

For the first time since the format was launched in 1997, consumers spent less on DVD's than in the previous year. Total sales and rentals of DVD's amounted to $23.4 billion in 2007, about 3% lower than 2006. Broken down, rentals remained steady at $7.5 billion while sales of new DVD's declined $600 million.

Oil - $100 a barrel

Crude oil prices rose above $100 per barrel and closed just below $100 yesterday. That, is a first.

The price of oil accounts for roughly two-thirds of the pump price of gasoline, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

January 2, 2008 $99.62
January 2, 2007 $61.05

Movies - # of Sequels

In 2008, only 16 sequels are slated for the big screen. Far below the annual average of 25, since 2003. Five of the six biggest movies of last year, were sequels.

• January 25 - Rambo
• May 2 - Iron Man
• May 22 - Indiana Jones