Carroll County Times

B U S I N E SS Thursday, July 1, 2010, Page C5

Business House OKs sweeping bank rules

Highlights Senate will books. Simple supermarket
purchases and exotic deriva-
KEY LEGISLATION POINTS
tives trades would be subject ■ Creates a new federal ■ Sets new standards
delay its vote to new laws. And the entire fi- agency to police con- for what banks must keep
People and Places nancial system would be sumer lending in reserve to protect
until mid-July placed on a risk watch in
hopes of thwarting the next against losses
threat of a financial crisis. ■ Requires bank holding
ASSOCIATED PRESS The 237-192 House vote companies to spin off ■ Disallows commercial
WASHINGTON — Nearly broke largely along party lines their derivatives business banks to trade in specula-
two years after a Wall Street but attracted more support into self- funded sub- tive investments, but they
meltdown left the economy than in December, when no sidiaries can invest in hedge funds
reeling, the House Wednesday Republicans voted for the
passed a massive overhaul of House version of the bill. The
financial regulations that new legislation combines the attack on capital formation in Senate version last month.
would extend the govern- House bill with one passed by America,” said Rep. Eric Can- Desperate to hold at least 60
ment’s reach from storefront the Senate last month. tor, of Virginia, the second- votes to beat back procedural
thrifts to the high- finance “Never again, never again ranking House Republican. “It hurdles, House Financial
penthouses of New York City. should Wall Street greed bring purports to prevent the next Services Committee Chair-
Senate support for the far- such suffering to our country,” financial crisis, but it does so man Barney Frank, Senate
reaching bill remained in flux, House Majority Leader Steny by vastly expanding the power Banking Committee Chair-
however. The Senate was Hoyer, D-Md., declared. of the same regulators who man Chris Dodd and Obama
forced to delay its vote to Republicans portrayed the failed to stop the last one.” administration officials scra-
mid- July, denying President bill as a vast overreach of gov- As predictable as the House mbled to drop the tax and de-
Barack Obama a victory be- ernment power that would do vote may have been, the Sen- vise another means of financ-
SUBMITTED PHOTO
fore Independence Day. De- little to prevent future bailouts ate was a study in unpre- ing the bill’s cost.
From left are Mike Hodge, of Griffith Energy mocrats struggled to secure dictability. In the end, House and Sen-
of failing financial institutions.
and the vice president of Carroll County Fuel the votes of a handful of Re- They complained that it failed House and Senate negotia- ate negotiators, voting along
Oil Dealers Association; Mike Haines, North publican senators even after to place tighter restrictions on tors were forced to reconvene party lines, agreed to pay for
Carroll graduate; and Charles Colson, in- meeting their demands and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Tuesday to remove a $19 bil- the bill with $11 billion gener-
structor for the Carroll County Career and backing down on a $19 billion the mortgage giants forced lion tax on large banks and ated by ending the unpopular
Technology Center’s HVAC program. tax on big banks and hedge into huge federal bailouts after hedge funds, hoping to over- Troubled Asset Relief Pro-
funds. their questionable lending come objections from Sens. gram — the $700 billion bank
The legislation, swelling to helped trigger the housing Scott Brown, Susan Collins bailout created in the fall of
Fuel Oil Dealers Association more than 2,000 pages, would and economic meltdowns. and Olympia Snowe, all Re- 2008 at the height of the fi-
rewrite the nation’s regulatory “This legislation is a clear publicans who voted for the nancial scare.
recognizes top student at fair
On June 9 the Carroll County Fuel Oil Dealers
Association hosted 50 heating oil technicians at
its annual Tool Fair at Reese fire hall.
This year’s guests of honor were North Carroll
graduate, Mike Haines and Charles Colson, in-
Census worker layoffs to distort jobs data
structor for the Carroll County Career and Tech- ASSOCIATED PRESS
nology Center’s HVAC program. In addition to
being the program’s top student among his WASHINGTON — For the
CCCTC peers, Haines also took first place in the first time in six months, the
Skills USA Regional HVAC contest held in Feb- federal unemployment report
ruary and went on to take third place in the Skills to be released Friday will
USA State HVAC competition. likely show a net loss of jobs.
The Tool Fair is an opportunity for technicians But hold off on the panic
from area heating oil suppliers to learn about new button.
It’s true that employers are
equipment and tools designed for their profes-
expected to have cut more
sion. than 100,000 jobs in June. But
that figure, if accurate, will be
People and Places and New Business briefs deceptive. It will reflect the
offer information about Carroll County- based end of up to 250,000 tempo-
companies, employees and their operations, and rary census jobs. The real
news of awards, promotions, new business open- focus Friday will be on how
ings, new hires, etc. To have your information in- many net jobs private em-
cluded, send your typed, double- spaced press ployers created.
release to Business Briefs, Carroll County Times, “People are looking past the
P.O. Box 346, Westminster, MD 21158; or e- mail census effect,” said Alec
shiela.johnson@carrollcountytimes.com. Phillips, an economist at
Goldman Sachs.
Analysts predict private
businesses added 112,000 jobs
Nation in June, according to a survey
by Thomson Reuters. That
would be a healthy rebound
from May’s 41,000 gain. But
Amazon buys deal-a-day it’s far from enough to signal
website Woot.com a roaring recovery or rapidly
reduce the unemployment
SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com Inc. has pur- rate, now at 9.7 percent. It
chased deal-a-day website Woot.com. would take a net gain of
In a joke-laden message on the company blog, around 200,000 jobs a month
Woot CEO Matt Rutledge said the deal won't to quickly reduce that rate. AP FILE PHOTO
change how the site is run — "with a wall of ideas The plunge in census jobs Census employees gather after a training course in New York in April. Economists
and a dartboard." comes just a month after the forecast that employers cut more than 110,000 jobs in June. But that figure, if
"For Woot, our vision remains the same: some- government added nearly a accurate, will be deceptive. It reflects the end of 250,000 temporary census jobs.
how earning a living on snarky commentary and half- million people to con-
junk," Rutledge wrote. duct door- to- door visits and census jobs could lower per-
Financial terms were not disclosed. Amazon
spokesman Craig Berman said the Seattle-based other tasks. The census began sonal income slightly in June, “People are looking past
online retailer expects to finalize the deal by the
end of September.
hiring more workers last year.
It added about 500,000 this
according to Nigel Gault,
chief U.S. economist at IHS the census effect.”
spring. Global Insight. But “it’s minor
The rapid switch from hir- relative to a lot of other Alec Phillips
Unemployment rates drop ing to firing reflects the things going on,” he said. Economist at Goldman Sachs
in two-thirds of metro areas short- term nature of census Employers boosted pay in
May. Employees also worked
jobs. Most are part time and
WASHINGTON — Unemployment rates in last six to eight weeks. more hours. Together, that Other factors have also rat- could help restore consumer
roughly two-thirds of the nation's largest metro- The decline in census lifted income by a healthy 0.5 tled nerves. China’s economy confidence and spending.
politan areas dipped in May as the gradual eco- workers isn’t expected to percent last month, the Com- is slowing, the U.S. housing On the other hand, Friday’s
nomic recovery spurred some hiring. merce Department said ear- market is sputtering and jobs report might deliver a
An analysis of Labor Department data released have much effect on the job-
less rate. Analysts predict the lier this week. leaders of the world’s richer disappointing surprise. One
Wednesday found that jobless rates dropped in 237 But other recent reports nations have pledged sharp hint that it might: Payroll
of 382 areas in May from April. It rose in 118 areas rate will edge up to 9.8 per-
cent in June from 9.7 percent have raised fears that the eco- cuts in their deficits. company ADP said Wednes-
and was flat in 27. The figures aren't adjusted to ac- day that its tally of private
count for seasonal trends, such as lifeguards hired in May. In part, that’s because nomic recovery is stalling. Given the sour outlook, a
Phillips estimates that about A sharp drop in consumer June employment report that sector employment showed a
during the summer or retail clerks let go after the
holiday shopping season, so they tend to be volatile half the temporary census confidence sent stocks tum- showed a net gain of 112,000 gain of only 13,000 jobs in
from month to month. hires also held other jobs. So bling Tuesday — and the sell- private- sector jobs would be June. That was below the
they won’t be counted as un- ing continued Wednesday. “greeted with a mild sigh of 60,000 that economists had
— Associated Press employed once their census Less- confident consumers relief,” Gault said. Such a gain expected. And it compared
job ends. could rein in their spending, would suggest the recovery is with a gain of 57,000 the pre-
More Business Highlights and stocks /C6 The elimination of 250,000 already at modest levels. still on track, he said, and vious month.

W HERE E VERYTHING H APPENS B EFORE YOUR E YES

Microsoft halts
Kin phone rollout
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — For Mi-
crosoft, there will be no Kin.
The company said
Wednesday it will halt the
Let your paper hear your voice.
E- mail letters to the editor:
jim.lee@carrollcountytimes.com
A N N O U N C IN G
Custom er Appreciation W eek
July 11th thru July 17th
C RIM INAL L AW - DUI/DW I 15% O FF
Closed
July 4th
“W hen It C om es T o L aw In C arroll... W e K now T he C ounty.” YO UR EN TIRE C H EC K
crosoft. Before the Kin, the
company provided phone N o coupon needed. D ine In O nly.
operating software to a large
array of hardware makers. A nnouncing Steakhouse Lunch To Go!
Like the Sidekick, the Kin N O W AV A ILA BLE! O rder any of our Lunch m enu item s to go M onday-Friday only
was manufactured by Sharp M O N DAY & TU ESDAY O N LY

planned rollout of Kin One
and Kin Two phones beyond
the U.S., less than two
months after Verizon Wire-
less started selling them.
Microsoft Corp. unveiled
the two Kin phones in April,
though they were widely an-
ticipated after photos and
details appeared on blogs
last year. Microsoft had also
acquired Danger Inc., the
Corp., but Microsoft con-
trolled the hardware design,
and by doing so would com-
pete with its partners.
The timing of the Kin’s ar-
T hom as E . H ickm an E dw ard M . U lsch
rival was also off. Microsoft
had just announced an over-
haul of its smart phone sys-
tem, Windows Phone 7,
which bore little resem-
blance to the Kin. And dur-
15% O FF
EN TIRE
CH ECK
VA LID FO R DIN N ER O N LY
P hillip W . W right
T raffic • M V A H earings • Felonies & M isdem eanors
Japanese Steak & Seafood H ouse SushiBar
Juvenile • Sex O ffenses • D rug P ossession/D istribution

O ur attorneys include a form er State’s A ttorney,D eputy State’s
Valid M onday & Tuesday O nly.N otvalid on sushibar.Cannotbe com bined w /otheroffers.W ith
CarrollCounty Tim es coupon only.Valid atW estm insterLocation O nly.O fferExpires 8/31/10

SEE OUR AD IN PURCHASIN G POW ER M AGAZIN E FOR M ON EY SAVIN G COUPON S

company behind the original
Sidekick messaging phones
sold by T-Mobile USA Inc.,
in 2008.

ing the years Kin was said to A ttorney and A ssistant State’s A ttorney for C arroll C ounty.
5 W estm inster Shopping Center
be in development, smart atthe Intersection ofRt.140 and EnglarRd.
phones grew more sophisti-
cated. Kin doesn’t have extra F ree C onsultation • F ree P arking Rt.97 rR
d.
gla
En
“apps” for download or a Japanese Steak & Seafood H ouse
H ickm an, U lsch, M cF aul & W right, P .A .
421930_S JS

From the start, the Kin
didn’t seem to fit into Mi-
crosoft’s mobile family. The
phones marked a major
7
GPS mapping function. Yet SA KURA Rt.2 SushiBar
the required $30 monthly 231 E ast M ain Street,W estm inster 410•871•9898
Rt.140
data plan for Kin was identi- 410-751-6500 • 410-876-2330 R e se rva tio ns Sug g e ste d • Gift C e rtific a te s Ava ila ble
cal to plans sold with more
410764

w w w .L aw InC arroll.com M on-Thurs Lunch 11:30 -2pm • Dinner 4:30 -9:30pm FriLunch 11:30 -2pm
4 0 9 113

switch in strategy for Mi- advanced smart phones. Dinner 4:30 -10pm SatDinner 12-10pm Sun Dinner 12-8:30pm