Grumpy Editor

SURGE IN BANK MERGERS SEEN FOR 2021

All is not quiet on the banking front.  Look for a surge in bank mergers this year, observes Grumpy Editor.

 

Those financial institutions are on pace to combine at a level not seen since the financial crisis of 2008.

 

Banks so far this year announced more than $54 billion in deals through late last month vs. $17 billion in mergers a year prior, reports The Wall Street Journal.

 

While the economy has recovered in many ways from last year, loan demand continues low while profits from lending are slim.

 

The focus is on major regional banks this year.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

BUMBLEBEES DESTINED FOR ENDANGERED LIST.  Bumblebees in the U.S. soon could be declared an endangered species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a proposed rule.

 

WORKING WOMEN FEEL BURNED OUT.  In a Time magazine survey, 42 percent of women say they have consistently felt burned out at work in 2021 than in the prior year. A new report suggests pressure put on women to balance work and child care is leading to disproportionate levels of strain. 

 

CARGO SHIPS WAIT TO UNLOAD.  Dozens of cargo ships waiting in Los Angeles-Long Beach and New York ports face weeks of delays to unload amid surging demand for goods plus the ongoing impact of the labor shortage and the upcoming Christmas season.

 

PENALTIES IN WORKS FOR KILLING MIGRATIORY BIRDS.  In efforts to protect declining bird populations, the Biden administration moves to restore criminal penalties for accidental killings of migratory birds.

 

RV DEMAND REMAINS STRONG.  Demand for recreational vehicles remains strong.  Elkhart, Indiana-based Thor Industries sales of recreational vehicles in the July quarter jumped 55 percent.

 

THE ONLY WAY TO FLY.  A retired greyhound called Lewis flies business class on Singapore Airlines from Sydney, Australia, to Italy and celebrates his birthday during the journey when the crew throws a party at 33,000 feet.

 

WORLD WAR II VET GETS SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY.  A North Carolina-based club --- CarolinaCruzin4Jeeps --- gives Coy A. Shue, a World War II veteran who just turned 100 years old, a surprise birthday party.

 

 

PANDEMIC INSPIRES THIEVES TO RAID ATMS AROUND THE COUNTRY

 

During the pandemic, ATMs got a higher-than-usual workout from bank patrons last year --- also by thieves, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

With unrest in some cities and ATMs containing more than usual cash, attempts to break into ATMs around the country have more than doubled.

 

With some bank offices temporarily closed, ATMs often contain twice the normal $50,000 to accommodate customers.

 

Inspired by this development, thieves seek access to ATMs by using tools, explosives and driving vehicles into the units.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

WORLDWIDE ICE MELTING FASTER.   The world’s ice, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, is melting faster than ever, finds a global satellite survey indicating a generation of ice lost to rising temperatures.  The survey shows 28 trillion metric tons of ice disappeared between 1994 and 2007 and global melting accelerated 65 percent since the 1990s

 

NEW D.C. STUDIOS FOR NBC.  NBC News debuts state-of-the-art studios inside an expanded Washington bureau that covers six-floors in an 80,000-square foot building.  Seven studios now house NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC plus NBC News Channel, Noticias Telemundo and Sky News Washington.

 

BANK SAVINGS RATES WAY DOWN.  With bank savings rates continuing to bounce around the bottom (with an annual slim 0.05 percent APY), compared to a decade ago, one financial firm hopes to lure savers with a "mighty" 0.50 percent APY.

 

EXPENSIVE BOTTLE OF WHISKY.  A 72-year-old bottle of single malt whisky from Scotland fetches more than $54,000 (in U.S. dollars) in a Hong Kong auction. It marks the first time the 1948 Glen Grant whisky, by independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail, was offered in an auction.

OWL ATTRACTS ATTENTION IN NEW YORK.  A snowy owl, a rare sight in New York’s Central Park, attracts scores of onlookers seeking a glimpse of a bird that is native to the Arctic tundra and migrates south during the winter.  What was so unusual?   It’s the first recorded sighting of a snowy owl in Central Park since 1890.

$1 MILLION BASEBALL BAT?  Baseball great Lou Gehrig’s bat, linked to the 1938 World Series, could sell for as much as $1 million at an upcoming auction, say experts.

BUD WILL MISS SUPER BOWL.  Pitches for Budweiser, synonymous with the Super Bowl, will be absent in next Sunday’s game for the first time in 37 years.

TOM BROKAW RETIRES FROM NBC NEWS.  Legendary Tom Brokaw, 80, is retiring from NBC News after 55 years. Brokaw is the only anchor to lead all three of NBC’s primary news shows and is best known for anchoring the NBC Nightly News from 1993 to 2004.

 

 

 

 

FACEBOOK SEEKS PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION

A scam artist isn’t the only one seeking your personal financial information, observed Grumpy Editor.

Facebook is, too.

The Wall Street Journal revealed that Facebook “has asked large U.S. banks to share detailed information about their customers, including card transactions and checking account balances.”

The reason?  To offer new services to Facebook users.

The WSJ noted three major banks were approached by Facebook but “one large bank pulled away from the talks due to privacy concerns.”

The social media giant told the banks that customer information could be used to offer services that might entice users to spend more time on Facebook Messenger, added the WSJ.

Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion monthly active users.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS TO ZERO IN ON PRESIDENT.  Look for scores of coordinated newspaper editorials across the country on Aug. 16 in response to President Donald Trump’s comments on not being covered fairly by media along with his use of “fake news.”     

BANKS TIGHTEN HOME LOANS.  One key reason home sales are off since the second quarter is because banks tightened lending standards along with credit card applications, according to the Federal Reserve which surveyed loan officers at domestic and foreign banks in late June and early July.

BITTER TASTE IN MOUTH.  When a gang of would-be gasoline thieves in Australia tried to siphon fuel from a tourist bus, they tapped the onboard sewage tank instead.

MAGAZINES UP FOR SALE.  Condé Nast, with the New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines in the family, has put other titles --- Brides, Golf Digest and W --- on the market.

OSCARS TELECAST TO TIGHTEN.  Look for a “tighter” and faster-paced Academy Awards next year.  Certain categories will be eliminated to keep the Oscars live telecast at three hours next Feb. 24.

BURGER OUTLET SET FOR ARMY BASE.  Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Washington will be the first military installation to host Wahlburgers, a casual burger restaurant opening in spring 2020, reported Stars and Stripes.  

SAMSUNG BOOSTS AI OUTLAY.  Samsung plans to invest about $22 billion over the next three years in artificial intelligence, 5G mobile tech, car components and biopharma.

AMAZON STARTS GROCERY PICKUP.  Amazon is launching a grocery pickup service, where Prime subscribers order groceries online for pickup at Whole Foods stores, similar to what Kroger and Walmart already offer. 

HIGHER INTEREST RATES LOOM ON SAVINGS ACCOUNTS…BUT NOT SOON

Not widely touted, there may be better days ahead via higher interest rates for those with savings in banks, sees Grumpy Editor, following the Federal Reserve raising its key short-term interest rate by a quarter point last Wednesday, citing a brighter economic outlook.

It won’t be soon.  But as competition for deposits heats up, banks will have to lift rates as customers seek better deals in parking their cash.

Most banks now pay from zero to about a slim 0.50 percent on savings accounts. Certificates of deposit pay slightly higher rates, depending on the term.

The Fed is on track to make three rate increases this year and three next year.  That would place its key rate at around 3.25 percent, compared to the current 1.5 to 1.75 percent. That’s still low by historical standards but it marks the central bank’s fourth rate increase in a year.

"We're trying to take that middle ground" on rate hikes, boosting rates enough to head off an eventual spike in inflation without derailing the economic expansion, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference. 

Newspaper advertising departments should welcome the upcoming action because financial institutions will be forced to take out ads promoting their rates.

The three largest U.S. banks --- JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. --- have added more than $2.4 trillion in domestic deposits over the past decade.  That’s a 180 percent increase since 2008, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of regulatory data.

Still, savings account rates, for example, will be well below prior years that saw payouts as high as 18 percent during the Jimmy Carter years and 3 percent going way back to the 1950s.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

NEW MEDICARE CARDS DETER ID THEFT.  New Medicare cards --- with randomly assigned numbers replacing Social Security numbers in efforts to deter identity theft --- will be distributed to several states starting next week and continue through year end.

NO SMOKING WHILE WALKING ON NEW YORK CITY SIDEWALKS?  New York City Councilman Peter Koo frowns on folks puffing on cigarettes while walking on city sidewalks and is preparing a bill that would make it a misdemeanor to walk while smoking, likely punishable by a $50 fine.

L.A. TIMES BUSINESS EDITOR RECEIVES AWARD.  Los Angeles Times business editor Kimi Yoshino, overseeing about 30 reporters and editors, is named Los Angeles Press Club’s 2018 Presidents Awardee for Impact on Media.

UNIVERSITY SEEKS TO CUT 13 MAJORS…INCLUDING ENGLISH.  The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point is weighing a plan to eliminate 13 majors including English, philosophy, history and Spanish, focusing on programs that have "clear career pathways,” such as marketing, management, graphic design and computer information systems.

FASTER CHECKOUT LOOMS AT STORES.  Checking out at stores and other places via credit cards will be faster starting April 30.  That's when major credit card networks no longer will require customers' signatures for transactions. 

 

POLICE AID SENIOR CITIZEN SEEKING TO WITHDRAW FUNDS FROM BofA

Picture this:  Police answer a disturbance call at a bank --- and wind up helping an agitated customer.  With no scuffle, no handcuffing and no shots fired, media ignore the event, thus missing a good story, notes Grumpy Editor.

Robert Josett, a Montebello (Calif.) Police Department officer responded to a public disturbance call at a Bank of America branch where he faced a 92-year-old man with a cane who was upset because tellers wouldn’t give him his money.

With a BofA policy requiring a valid government-issued identification card be presented before a customer makes a withdrawal, the problem was that the senior citizen’s ID card had expired and the bank was going by the book.

So officer Josett comforted the white-haired customer and suggested they take a ride, not to the police station, but to the nearest California Department of Motor Vehicles facility to get a fresh ID card.

At the DMV, staffers quickly renewed the bank customer’s ID , then Josett drove him back to the bank where he received his requested funds --- just before bank closing time.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

CONSUMER SENTIMENT AT 13-YEAR HIGH.  Some media are quiet as U.S. consumer sentiment surges to a 13-year high.  Americans’ perceptions of the economy and their own finances rebound following several major hurricanes, shows a University of Michigan survey that also notes repeated record highs for the stock market and a 16-year low in unemployment.

N.Y. TIMES SEEKS TO CUT BIAS.  The New York Times editorial staff gets new guidelines on appropriate use of social media, urging reporters to avoid making any public comments on social platforms that would suggest political view or bias.  “Social media presents potential risks for The Times,” notes the paper.  “If our journalists are perceived as biased or if they engage in editorializing on social media, that can undercut the credibility of the entire newsroom."

FILMLAND PREACHES GUN CONTROL YET PROMOTES VIOLENCE.  Hollywood is calling for more gun control, yet features much gun violence, including 100 uses of automatic weapons in four of its most profitable movies in theaters today, observes Media Research Center President Brent Bozell.  “You just knew the Hollywood celebrity crowd would jump all over that issue in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre. Yet in just four of the biggest movies showing around the country at this very moment – Kingsman: Golden Circle, American Assassin, It, and Mother! – there are no less than 212 incidents of gun violence,” points out Bozell.

STAFF GETTING TRIMMED.  Disney/ABC-TV  layoffs start, triggering insiders to say it is part of a broader restructuring of the broadcast business with rumors that bigger moves, including possible sale of ABC, are coming.

PRINT EDITIONS REDUCED.  Time Inc. reveals it will cut print editions of Fortune to 12 from 16 a year while Money will be reduced to 10 from 11.

STUCK ON RUSSIA.  CNN doesn’t give up on the long-running Russia saga, with a Friday headline and discussion noting “Priebus interviewed by special counsel in Russia probe.”

MOST NATIONAL MEDIA DON’T KNOW VEGAS.  Print and TV stories relating to the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas often refer to the location as city of Las Vegas.  Mandalay Bay hotel and casino, where the shooter was based, along with most of The Strip is in county territory.  Downtown Las Vegas, a few miles north, is in the city of Las Vegas --- which, unlike the county, has a mayor who is delighted to serve as spokesperson for an event outside her domain.

GOODYEAR BLIMP HEADS WEST.  A new Goodyear airship --- Wingfoot Two --- left Akron, Ohio, for its new permanent base in Los Angeles.

Busy days ahead for Wells Fargo's PR department

Think you have a tough job?  Grumpy Editor says consider the folks in the public relations department of Wells Fargo.

Bloomberg figures about 2.1 million fake deposit and credit card accounts were opened by bank employees without authorization.

Aside from irate bank customers, there's a groundswell of pressure for CEO John Stumpf to step down.

But even if he does depart, Stumpf is likely to walk away with a fortune.

A CNNMoney analysis puts the figure at about $200 million, made up of cash, company stock and options, adding, "Even if Stumpf is fired 'for cause,' such as violating company policy, he would have to forfeit only a portion of that sum."

As CNN points out, "Stumpf, 63, has been CEO since 2007 and was at the helm the entire time that the phony accounts scandal was taking place at the bank. Two weeks ago Wells Fargo was penalized $185 million in penalties and admitted to firing 5,300 employees for engaging in these shocking tactics."

Wells Fargo last year rewarded Stumpf for his success in "reinforcing a culture of risk management and accountability across the company."

The San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve says Stumpf resigned from a Fed advisory board. No reason was given, but the resignation is effective immediately.

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

Surprise!  The New York Times on Sunday --- one day before tonight's TV debate --- selects its presidential choice.  In an editorial, it cites "Hillary Clinton has a record of service and a raft of pragmatic ideas, and the other, Donald Trump, discloses nothing concrete about himself or his plans while promising the moon and offering the stars on layaway”…North Korea continues to threaten, last week blasting America for "aggression" in Asia, and threatening the U.S. with "tremendous consequences beyond imagination”…Fox News’ Megyn Kelly is among those behind the scenes of a political comedy called “Embeds.” Six half-hour episodes --- focusing on five reporters on the political trail --- have been ordered…Look, up in the sky! China’s first space laboratory, now 200 miles above Earth, will come to a fiery end at an (so far) unpredicted location late next year, say experts…A Marine Corps pilot ejects safely when his AV-8B Harrier Jump Jet crashed into the waters off Okinawa. It’s the latest in a series of U.S. military aircraft crashes as equipment is getting old. The Marine jet entered production in the early 1980s and continued to be made until 2003…But there’s hope with upcoming aircraft. On drawing boards is a radar-evading B-21 long-range bomber (it will be called the Raider). However, it is not scheduled to enter service until around 2025…Hillary and Bill Clinton are adding to their compound in Chappaqua, N.Y., buying the 3,631-square-foot neighboring house for a reported $1.16 million…Fox News says Sean Hannity won't be appearing in any more campaign videos for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

 

Changing times:

Influenced by same sex marriages, Modern Luxury Brides magazine is changing its name to Modern Luxury Weddings.

Bank grinch makes mark in HSBC season’s greetings

 

A public relations grinch showed up with a season’s greeting --- and more --- posted in the window of a HSBC bank office that shocked some folks, notes Grumpy Editor. 

HSBC is no small-town financial institution.  It's the world’s fourth largest bank 

In the spirit of the season, the message conveyed thanks to London customers “who trusted us in your mortgages this year” then in smaller type warned:  “Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.” 

At the bottom of the message was “Season’s greetings” and HSBC in larger type with its logo.

An editor at London’s The Guardian newspaper spotted the unusual greetings message and tweeted a photo. 

Founded in 1865 to finance trade between Asia and the West, HSBC serves about 52 million customers via around 6,600 offices in 80 countries and territories in North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.

 

FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE... 

In another bank PR blunder, a Florida judge orders Bank of America to pay $1,051,000 to a Tampa couple that received 700 loan collection calls --- sometimes up to five a day --- in four years. The couple’s attorneys sued B of A under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act…Strangely, the CIA was not contacted for input in connection with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s release last week of its whopping 6,000-page report on the agency’s interrogation program (branded “torture report” by media)…No sooner did national media spotlight news that California’s three-year drought produced the worst conditions in 1,200 years (that’s going back to medieval days, or 678 years before Columbus discovered America) when the Golden State is slammed with the biggest storm in years, dumping up to 12 inches of rain --- with another storm on the way today…Latest Pew Research Center survey finds 75 percent of adults say they are “better informed” about national news stemming from daily visits to Web news sites...Forbes, now with Asian ownership and after 97 years based in New York City, this week starts editorial operations from New Jersey…For its “person of the year,” Time magazine didn’t settle on one individual for 2014.  The recognition went to “the ebola fighters”…Shaking up apartment house owners, Los Angeles unveils an earthquake plan that requires vulnerable pre-1980 apartments to retrofit within five years…Seen Family Circle magazine’s staff page lately?  A magnifying glass (or a visit to an ophthalmologist) is required to read names, titles and contacts.

 

UPS AND DOWNS. While last week’s stock market drop is attributed to a slide in oil prices, it wasn’t too far back when higher oil prices was the culprit behind a stock market drop.

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Kudlow: ‘ATMs’ with billions for Obama administration

Grumpy Editor, over the Labor Day weekend, noted that Larry Kudlow's syndicated column advanced some thoughts that business editors of major publications missed:  Where are all those billions of dollars going that the Obama administration got as “settlements” from top U.S. banks?

Most recent, the former CNBC host pointed out Bank of America’s $16.65 billion settlement was for financial-crisis era mortgage securities.

That came after $12 billion was obtained from JP Morgan and $7 billion from Citigroup.

As with BofA, both payments from those top banks to the U.S. government were linked to mortgage-backed securities dealings.

“These huge bank settlements are election year ATMs for the Obama administration,” declared Kudlow, an economist and a former advisory committee member of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac).  “It’s a real shakedown.”

Added Kudlow:  “No one even remotely knows how these penalty-payment numbers are calculated.  And the federal government’s disbursement of these funds is equally mysterious.”

Kudlow was associate director for economics and planning in the Office of Management and Budget in the Reagan administration. 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

CNN correspondent Will Ripley, in Pyongyang, North Korea, managed to interview three American detainees on Labor Day: Jeffrey Fowle, Mathew Miller and Kenneth Bae.  They called for a U.S. representative to go to the communist nation to make a direct appeal for their releases.  “I’m getting desperate for help,” declared Fowle…A recovered “Laptop of Doom” (as CNN called it), containing 35,000 ISIS terrorist files, resulted in interviews from Dubai over the weekend with Jenan Moussa, Foreign Policy contributor. What was interesting to the TV-dial flipper:  CNN and Fox News interviews at the same time on Sunday both were labeled “live” --- but with different backgrounds…Even with the 9/11 anniversary coming up in nine days, top U.S. editors didn’t get very excited about a new English-language al-Qaeda on-line publication that suggested U.S. locations for Muslim extremists to car bomb.  Sites included Times Square in New York, Las Vegas casinos, Georgia Military College, U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and San Diego-based defense contractor General Atomics...U.S. editors, concerned in the past about ice fading from Arctic waters, also yawned at a London Daily Mail revelation that an Aug. 25 satellite reading showed an area the size of Alaska that was open water two years ago is again covered by ice.  Among the few news outlets mentioning this:  The Hyannis (Mass.) News and NewsBusters…Two new national polls not widely reported: a Rasmussen Reports survey found 75 percent of American adults are concerned about inflation.  The tally included 37 percent who are “very concerned” and 22 percent who are “not concerned.”  Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center/USA Today survey revealed 65 percent said the world is more dangerous than it was several years ago, 7 percent felt the world has gotten safer while 27 percent said things have not changed much.  Also, nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats (46 percent vs. 24 percent) now think the U.S. does too little to help solve world problems…Fish get water, farmers don’t:  In the California water battle during a drought, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is releasing water --- through Sept. 14 --- from Trinity Lake to help protect Chinook salmon in low-water conditions.  Irate farmers declare the water release comes when their allocation of federally-managed irrigation water has been cut to zero.  Result?  Higher food prices ahead.

    The federal government plans to spend nearly $1 million to create an online database to track “misinformation” and hate speech on Twitter. 

Private company challenges ‘recess’ appointments, wins

In connection with Friday’s federal appeals court 46-page ruling that President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to appoint three members to the National Labor Relations Board, most media overlooked the source that triggered the action leading to the decision, notes Grumpy Editor.

Noel Canning, a Washington state family-owned contract canning and bottling facility (that includes Pepsi), sued the NLRB, challenging the board’s decision, citing Obama made so-called “recess” appointments without the Senate being in recess. 

It’s noteworthy because Republicans, legal scholars, Constitution experts and editorial page editors were silent in raising eyebrows on the “recess” appointments.

 

Movement with short sale ‘unending nightmare’

Although previously-owned home sales of 4.65 million in 2012 were up 9 percent from the prior year and the best in five years, sales could rise even more --- giving the economy a lift --- without the heavy red tape,  indecisions, complications and paperwork of major banks.

John Taylor in the Las Vegas Sun on Jan. 20 detailed the “unending nightmare.” 

The sale took eight months to wrap up, said Taylor, a senior editor of local news.

His assessment:  “Beware of the not-so-short short sale.”

Read the full article here.

 

Havana’s Sloppy Joe’s bar reopening grabs space

Reopening of a nearby bar may be welcome news in local newspaper sections, but an Associated Press story on the return of Sloppy Joe’s in far-off Havana grabbed up to a quarter page of space, with art, in some weekend editions. 

The bar, in its heyday, attracted Hollywood stars and other celebrities. 

Founded in 1918, it indicates the bar must have a pretty good PR person, Cuban style, to warrant that sort or coverage in the U.S. press.

 

In case you missed these...

One phrase missing from coverage of the deep freeze sweeping the midwest and northeast:  Global warming (or climate change)…Country music is reappearing in New York City via Cumulus Media radio station WNSH, formerly WRXP…The New York Times is trimming its newsroom staff through buyouts and terminations, aiming for a reduction of 30…The Times also made headlines following a report in New York Magazine that real estate mogul Donald Trump has been holding meetings about possibly buying the New York Times Co…On the hiring side, Al Jazeera, which will be replacing Current TV with the launch of Al Jazeera America, has posted 105 available jobs in the United States with 98 based in New York City and seven in Washington…Strange ad in Bloomberg Businessweek and other publications from Toyota.  Under the line, Let’s Go Places, it shows a vehicle with rainbow colors fore to aft in a farm setting --- with no details on what the multi-hues are all about.

Cold/hot air spreads; 141 journalist fatalities; ‘fat’ banks

Two contrasting hot/cold atmospheric reports over the weekend grab the attention of Grumpy Editor as climate change stories continue to gobble space/airtime going into the new year. 

Both meteorological stories made news yesterday (Jan. 6) but few print editors placed them on the same page. 

A study published Jan. 6 in Nature Climate Change notes “a scientific poll of experts” feels melting glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland may lead to global sea levels rising more than three feet by year 2100. 

Jonathan Bamber, a professor in physical geography at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and a co-author of the study, predicts “horrible consequences.”

Meanwhile, China so far this winter is struggling with the lowest temperature in almost three decades, triggering problems ranging from closed highways to power outages.

The China Meteorological Administration says the national average since late November is 25 degrees Fahrenheit, coldest in 28 years.

English-language China Daily reports about 1,000 ships are stuck in Laizhou Bay ice in eastern China's Bohai Sea.

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Reporting overseas becomes dangerous 

Being a journalist is becoming a dangerous profession. 

Last year, 141 journalists were killed in 29 countries, with Syria being the most dangerous for reporters, reports Swiss-based Press Emblem Campaign. 

The number is up 31 percent from 2011. 

In Syria alone, at least 37 journalists, 13 of them working for foreign media, were killed.

In addition, two freelance American reporters are missing in Syria:  James Foley, who has reported for Global Post and Agence France-Presse, among others, was abducted from his car on Nov. 22 in the northwestern part of Syria, and Austin Tice, from Houston, was abducted last August.

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Banks claim 2012 brought best profits since '06 

Not too much was said last week when U.S. banks ended the year trumpeting their best profits since 2006.

Those being nixed in seeking business or personal loans will find it interesting that the financial industry claims more people and businesses are taking out, and repaying, loans since 2009.

Meanwhile, interest paid on savings accounts and certificates of deposit is near zero. 

On one-year CDs, for example, Bank of America pays an ultra-slim 0.03 percent and Wells Fargo pays a scant 0.05 percent. 

Most major banks now focus on fees to boost bottom lines.

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In case you missed these... 

Top overused 2012 phrases, tallies Lake Superior (Mich.) State University, are fiscal cliff and kick the can down the road…Former vice president Al Gore pockets an estimated $100 million as cable channel Current TV, which he founded with business partners seven years ago, is sold to Al Jazeera for $500 million…Maybe more school money management classes are needed:  A Rasmussen Reports survey finds 55 percent of likely U.S. voters think capital gains should be taxed at about the same rate as other income…An Associated Press photo (with a credit line for the photographer) “showing” Hillary Clinton in a car being transported from New York Presbyterian Hospital clearly displays the driver and a male front-seat passenger, but the Secretary of State is not visible somewhere behind the car’s visor, rear-view mirror and dark interior…How to bust into TV:  Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, a Democrat who served prison time on a corruption conviction, stars in an A&E series starting Feb. 27.