Northwest, Delta to merge

$17.7B deal creates world's largest carrier; Consolidation prompted by rising fuel costs, intense competition

Nathan Hurst / The Detroit News

Passengers and employees of Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. had mixed feelings after Monday's announcement of a $17.7 billion merger of the two airlines that would create the world's largest air carrier and making Detroit Metropolitan Airport a linchpin in the combined carrier's global network.

The airline will be called Delta, have its headquarters in Atlanta and will be led by Delta CEO Richard Anderson, a former Northwest chief executive. In the stock-swap transaction, Northwest investors will receive 1.25 shares of the new company for each Northwest share, a 16.8 percent premium based on Monday's closing prices.

Harlan Platt, a professor of finance who tracks the airline industry at Northeastern University in Boston, said the deal is a matter of necessity.

"I think it's necessary for these two carriers to survive," Platt said. "They know they need to grow their networks while cutting back capacity. A merger of this scope completes that. It won't be the last merger we see."

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How Celebrities Fly

By Jennifer Merritt04/10/2008

We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture that chronicles Britney’s every follicle and Tiger’s every putt. Consider this the Us Weekly edition of Halogen Guides, where we detail the way celebrities and athletes fly, from outrageous catering requests to the type of jet they prefer.

Plus, such companies often cater to clients every (legal) whim, no matter if it’s a request for green tea onboard each flight or maintaining a 45-page, in-flight catering menu. One celebrity wanted specific meals based on the time of day, and for each meal, there were five different varieties of food, explains Jeffery Menaged, president and CEO of Chief Executive Air, a company specializing in aircraft charters. “I’m always amazed how much time people spend on the catering order,” he says. “These are fit, thin, beautiful people, who you wouldn’t think need that much food.”

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I thought you’d be interested in the story about the growing success of AllWorship.com (www.allworship.com), a free Internet radio service offering Contemporary, Praise & Worship and Spanish language Christian music to people around the world. Started by Bill Hardekopf, a former owner of a Christian radio station in Birmingham, AL, AllWorship offers free Christian music, commercial free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, over the Internet and via 30 radio station affiliates in more than a dozen states and Canada. Access to the basic quality music stream on the Internet is free; for a suggested contribution of only $40, you can have access to three channels of high-quality digital music for one year.

When AllWorship.com opened on the Internet in March of 2004, none of its founders realized how big it would become. All listeners need is a computer and speakers.

"It doesn't matter if you're in Gadsden or Guyana," Hardekopf says. "Anniston or Africa, we're there." He's not kidding. AllWorship.com has received e-mails from around the world. AllWorship.com also sends out free weekly inspirational e-mails to more than 17,000 subscribers.

"In all honesty, it just started to explode. We now have listeners in 208 different countries," Hardekopf says. "We get more than a half million hits on our music stream each month. If we were on the radio that would make us one of the leading radio stations in the state, but we're not just broadcasting in Alabama. We're all over the world for a fraction of what it costs a terrestrial radio station to operate."

The website is loaded with e-mails from unique locales such as Iraq, Malaysia, South Korea, India, Belgium, Taiwan and Thailand. A man from Saudi Arabia wrote: "In an environment where churches do not exist and Christians are desperate to get The Word and fellowship, you are manna from heaven."

This summer, AllWorship embarked on another way to reach people with wonderful Christian music: a syndicated Sunday morning worship program on terrestrial (regular) radio.

“AllWorship now provides the only live syndicated Christian worship show on Sunday mornings from 9am to noon eastern time. The show is called AllWorship and is hosted by Therese Romano, our program director,” Hardekopf says. “It is syndicated, meaning stations anywhere in the country (commercial and non-commercial, Christian and secular) can pick it up and air it live or on a delayed basis.”

There are several benefits of an AllWorship syndicated radio show, among them:

· Syndicated shows on Sunday morning can be picked up by both Christian and secular stations, meaning AllWorship’s music could plant some additional seeds with many nonbelievers.

· AllWorship expects the syndicated show to increase the listening audience of its flagship ministry, AllWorship.com. Throughout the three-hour show, Therese will be saying something like "If you like what you are hearing this morning, you can hear this music without any commercial breaks any time, every day at AllWorship.com".

· A number of stations are already running our Sunday morning syndicated worship program, including stations that cover St. Louis, Knoxville, Scranton and Jacksonville. We also have a station in Canada and the UK that are running the program.

www.allworship.com

Land bank proposal deserves more funds

After two years of declining home prices and rising foreclosures, Capitol Hill is finally churning out proposals that are – nominally at least – aimed at dealing with the Great American Mortgage Crisis.

But if a bill that came out of the Senate last week is any indication, it seems that our friends in Washington are much more interested in helping out the businesses that created the mess than distressed homeowners who are frantically trying to pay their bills before their homes get taken away from them.

In a compromise to gain Republican support for the proposal (the Republicans also pushed for the tax breaks), the Senate agreed to slash that proposal to $4 billion – $2 billion less than the tax break for corporations. And that's bad news for places like San Diego County, which have been hoping for government funding to cope with the rising wave of foreclosures.

“Four billion dollars is not going to do a whole lot,” said Norm Miller, real estate specialist at the University of San Diego.

“I hate to say it, but this proposal seems more like public relations than an actual attempt at a solution,” said Timothy A. Canova, who teaches international economic law at Chapman University in Orange.

Canova said the land bank program and a $10 billion program to establish a bond authority to refinance subprime mortgages were the only pieces of the proposal that seemed directly aimed at resolving the crisis – and they're woefully inadequate.

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Fixing mortgage mess will be slow struggle

By Kevin G. Hall - McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON --

In the nearly four months since Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson challenged mortgage lenders to modify distressed home loans voluntarily to ease record numbers of foreclosures, it remains difficult to gauge the program's success.

McClatchy followed several homeowners as they worked with - and sometimes battled - lenders and loan collectors during the mortgage modification process, called Hope Now.

That just muddied the waters. It included a period well before Hope Now began, and didn't distinguish among one-month payment deferrals, temporary freezes on adjustable rates and modifications into fixed-rate loans.

"The big question is how many real loan modifications are happening, and I don't think they know," said Kurt Eggert, a professor at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif., and a member of a Federal Reserve consumer advisory board. "How can you say you are on top of the problem if you don't know how broadly the 'best solution' is being applied?"

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Solderas Photo Exhibit

It’s apparent that international business programs aren’t always in touch with the “real world” requirements of the business community and the needs of their graduates. All too often, students are trained in business theory and formal language skills, but are left unprepared for immersion in and appreciation of different cultures.

The Bachelor of Science in International Business (BSIB) program offered within the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University is a unique program designed to prepare students in developing foreign language proficiency, gaining technical competence and professional confidence, and thoroughly adapting to new cultures, thus broadening their horizons for success in the global business community.

Kiette Tucker, a senior BSIB student at the College of Business Administration, recently returned from Mexico to share her international experience through an extensive photo exhibit scheduled to open January 16 at Northeastern University’s Curry Student Center. Kiette’s exhibit, entitled Solderas (literally the feminine of “soldiers”), depicts and contrasts the lives of Mexican women of all ages and walks of life, from urban to rural areas.

“The difference in quality of life from one area of Mexico to another can be quite stark,” said Kiette, commenting on her observations while working with the women’s and children’s department of the Human Rights Commission of Puebla, Mexico. “Some of the photos show urban subjects who are practically indistinguishable from women here in the United States; the rural women, however, can appear like those of a developing third-world nation.”

As part of her work in her degree emphasis of Social Entrepreneurship, Kiette worked closely with the Human Rights Commission of Puebla during her BSIB experience, and in the process acquired an understanding and appreciation of the language, the people, and the culture. For any BSIB student, this is a vital key to successfully navigating the global business community.
The BSIB at the College of Business Administration provides a significant career advantage for those interested in global business, and creates international, multicultural and experiential management oriented programs that augment the capacity of students and faculty to operate successfully in a global economy.

Students enter a program track, complete their first three years of study at Northeastern in foreign language courses and culture and international business courses, focusing on a principal field of business: accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, human resources management, management, management information systems, marketing or supply chain management.

Completion of a domestic co-op is required in the third year of the program. Then, students fulfill their junior year academic requirements overseas at one of the College’s partner institutions, followed by a six month co-op placement in the host country. In their senior year they return to the US to finish up their course requirements. Kiette was able to craft a co-op program for herself that uniquely suited her focus on Social Entrepreneurship.

Struggling homeowners find little hope in federal program

By Kevin G. Hall

McClatchy NewspapersPosted on Saturday, March 29, 2008

WASHINGTON — In the nearly four months since Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson challenged mortgage lenders to modify distressed home loans voluntarily to ease record numbers of foreclosures, it remains difficult to gauge the program's success.

At the time of its creation, Hope Now sought to modify up to 1.2 million adjustable-rate mortgages issued to sub-prime borrowers, those with the weakest credit. In a statement March 3 on its Web site, operated by mortgage-industry players, Hope Now said that more than 1 million homeowners had received loan workouts since last July.

That just muddied the waters. It included a period well before Hope Now began, and didn't distinguish among one-month payment deferrals, temporary freezes on adjustable rates and modifications into fixed-rate loans.

"The big question is how many real loan modifications are happening, and I don't think they know," said Kurt Eggert, a professor at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif., and a member of a Federal Reserve consumer advisory board. "How can you say you are on top of the problem if you don't know how broadly the 'best solution' is being applied?"

To read this entire story, please visit: http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/media/placements/strugglinghomeowner.htm