All Posts Tagged With: "billions of dollars"
What rate hikes at UPS will mean for you
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Nov 23 2009 | 0 Comments
The shipping and delivery market is not doing well right now. Companies are facing bigger losses and have to do something about it because they simply cannot lay off any more people.
So now, these companies are going to start raising rates and it’s going to begin with the world’s biggest shipper: UPS.
In 2010, the company has announced that it plans to hike rates an average of almost 5% for ground packages and nearly 7% for air packages. If you thought shipping something “express” was expensive before…it just got even worse.
UPS isn’t the only company to step forward and say that it plans on increasing rates, FedEx has also said that it plans on raising rates by an average of 6% starting in January. However, FedEx didn’t give specifics because it raises rates every year by about 6%.
The only company that has said that it won’t be raising rates so far is the USPS which is odd considering how many billions of dollars it has lost in the past year. Regardless, it has announced that the price of a stamp won’t be going up.
This means that if you want to ship something, it will obviously start to cost you more. At an increase of 7%, the shipping increase is now more expensive than tax in my state. I agree that companies should raise their rates, however. It isn’t like no one knew that they would be raising rates.
At one point, online shopping was cheap because not only were items less expensive than in brick and mortar stores, but because many stores didn’t charge tax and shipping was relatively inexpensive, it was just simple to shop online. There are now stores that have decided to begin charging tax on items and shipping has gotten outrageous. On small items, a $10 shipping charge is a bit much. Recently I purchased a few makeup items and the shipping was actually more expensive than the order!
Related posts:UPS says that the busiest shipping day of the year will be December 21
The change in the way we rent movies is amazing
Bank of America says it won’t raise fees ahead of new regulations
Tags: brick and mortar stores, brick and mortar, billions of dollars
AIG will likely not be able to pay back all their loans
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Sep 23 2009 | 0 Comments
AIG “borrowed” $182 billion from the United States government from the bailout program. On Monday September 21st, a watchdog group sent out a warning to the American public that AIG would likely never be able to pay back the loan.
The Government Accountability Office said that AIG will likely not be able to restructure the company in a way to repay the government and subsequently the taxpayers that funded the bailout. Part of the problem cited by the watchdog group is that the government relies too heavily on the government’s aid as its source for liquidity as well as capital.
The report said, “The sustainability of any positive trends of AIG’s operations and repayment efforts is not yet clear. The government’s ability to recoup the federal assistance money depends on the long-term health of AIG, its sales of certain businesses, and the maturation or sale of assets in the Maiden Lanes among other factors.”
At the beginning of September 2009, AIG still owed the government $120 billion.
A year ago this month, AIG took the first handout from the government TARP fund. The money did help stabilize the company according to the Government Accountability Office. It helped the company stabilize so much that it actually posted a $1.8 billion profit in the second quarter. The profit is the company’s first since 2007.
AIG has continued to prove itself to be a burden on the American taxpayer. Of course everyone had a problem when the company took out a huge loan from the government for $182 billion. If the government were to give that money to the citizens of the country (with 305 million people in the country) they could give every man, woman, and child $596.
I never realized how big AIG really was until the government started spending billions of dollars to bail the company out. This company should be split up so that part of the company can be actually held accountable for its actions per department or division. Parts of this company should be allowed to fail.
Related posts:You Should Not Walk Away From Your Student Loans
AIG may actually be able to repay the government afterall?
Tags: assistance money, government accountability office, taxpayers
Could the stock market turn around on March 12th?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Sun, Mar 08 2009 | 1 CommentA report on the CNBC website states that the stock market could surge on March 12th after the House financial services subcommittee re-examines mark-to-market accounting rules that are blamed for making banks write off billions of dollars.
Jon Najarian is expecting an “explosion” in the financial markets. He said that if the government relaxes the mark-to-market rules for 12 to 18 months, then “you could see financials move 100% in a matter of hours.”
Is there a stock market crash just around the corner?
A Fake Press Release Boosted IMAX’s Stock Price, hmm.
Tags: stock market, financial markets, explosion
GMAC given access to bailout funds
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Dec 26 2008 | 0 CommentsThe Federal Reserve has granted GMAC, a major lender to GM dealers, the status of a bank holding company. This decision effectively gives GMAC access to the bailout funds for the financial sector.
This also came out today:
“While GMAC has not quantified its capital injection request from Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), we estimate the company could have applied for up to about $6.3 billion,” CreditSights analysts Richard Hofmann and Adam Steer said in a report late on Thursday. - Reuters
My question is, what does it take to become a “bank holding company” and be considered for billions of dollars of bailout money? Why can’t we (as taxpayers) know exactly how much money each of these companies is getting??
Related posts:The Fed may lose its ability to bailout huge companies
AIG will likely not be able to pay back all their loans
Ken Lewis Resigns as CEO of Bank of America
Tags: gm, billions of dollars, tarp
Has the government overcompensated for the economic downturn?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Sun, Dec 14 2008 | 0 CommentsThis year we’ve seen the government try to make up for policies and practices used by greedy lenders and firms that have made poor decisions by throwing money at it, passing bits and pieces of legislation, and even giving a “stimulus” to U.S. tax payers…
But has the government overcompensated for the lax regulation of the past? Just as when you run off the road and attempt to right yourself, maybe instead of helping right the economy, it has started a crash…flipping several times along the way.
I believe that throwing money at the situation won’t make it go away, and giving firms like the Big 3 and already corrupt financial institution billions of dollars with out real consequence just sets us up for a bigger problem down the road.
Related posts:AIG may actually be able to repay the government afterall?
Tags: institution, lenders, economic downturn
