| Earnings roundup: Parker Hannifin
CLEVELAND (AP) _ Parker Hannifin Corp., which makes motion-control systems, said Thursday its second-quarter profit rose 9.8 percent on higher industrial sales in North America and internationally. MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ Regional bank First Horizon National Corp. swung to a loss during the fourth quarter due to rising loan-loss reserves, a reduction in the value of mortgage servicing rights and charges stemming from an earnings enhancement plan. DALLAS (AP) _ Business and consumer banking services provider Comerica Inc. said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit fell 60 percent year-over-year as bad debt more than quadrupled on the continued downturn in Michigan and California real estate development markets. NEW YORK (AP) _ BlackRock Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings surged as investors shifted money to safer harbors and increasingly sought financial advice amid the ongoing credit crisis, the investment management firm said Thursday.
Balancing cheap cars, pricey gas and the environment
Whichever it is, cars that cost less than a cheap vacation make a mockery of the already pathetic changes Canadian and American citizens have made to compensate for federal governments that don't give a damn about climate change. There I was: taking the subway, doing laundry in the off-peak dark hours and mulching yard waste like it mattered. But that effort is made irrelevant by someone out to crush his next-door neighbour's self-esteem in Delhi's version of keeping up with the Joneses. Viral affluenza There's a disease called affluenza. The British psychologist Oliver James has written about it extensively (and so shall I this coming year). He says it's a virus that causes victims to "place a high value on acquiring money and possessions, looking good in the eyes of others and wanting to be famous." We in the West are soaked in it, which is why our greatest complaint is not something reasonable like hunger or a sore foot, but depression, anxiety, narcissism … Every disease has a social fallout.
UAE should curb rising inflation
There could be other ways of controlling our lending. One is to set a ceiling for lending for sectors which are experiencing high growth. Since we cannot use interest rates to control inflation, we have to find other ways, basically limiting lending." The UAE is one of the six Gulf Arab countries preparing for monetary union as early as 2010. They have agreed to keep their dollar pegs but some officials have suggested Gulf oil producers might consider revaluing their currencies. Al Ghurair said the government recently adjusted salaries for central government employees and added: "If you do revaluation, their income will be less. "Should they adjust the [exchange rate]? This also sends some speculation that every time there is pressure on the dollar the government will step in to adjust." Family-controlled mash-req plans to buy banks in the Arab region and spend at least $1 billion per purchase.
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