| Commentary: Truth to Power: What Truth? What Power?
It is human nature to form our opinions out of small bits of available information, a large dose of personal experience, with random bits of stuff we've heard from other sources thrown in; that's how we figure out the world. Unfortunately, all too often we form our opinions based on too little information combined with too much “stuff we've heard"—and that's how we wind up with bigotry and prejudice. For instance, when you drive by Metro Lighting in West Berkeley and see picketers holding signs that say “Union Busters" and the like, you might assume that the owners have been unfair in some way to their employees. Because labor unions are good, right? And only business owners who have mistreated their employees would wind up with picketers, no? However, this is a situation where too few facts are mixed up with too much “stuff"; no employees have been wronged, no union has been busted.
Police Search For Suspected Credit Card Thieves
It appears some credit card thieves are getting a head start on their holiday shopping. Lubbock police issued surveillance pictures Thursday. The women in the pictures are accused of using a stolen credit card inside the Wal-Mart near West Loop 289 on 4th Street. The suspects were last seen driving a Jeep Cherokee with possible primer paint on the right front panel. If you recognize the women, you're urged to call Crime Line at (806) 741-1000. .
Downturn may leave builders bankrupt
Home builders such as Centex Corp. and Pulte Homes Inc. aim to survive an industrywide unraveling by selling houses at bargain prices, slashing jobs, and scrapping growth plans. But as the housing downturn worsens, experts say at least a few major US home builders may end up bankrupt. Builders constructed more than 2 million housing units nationwide in 2005, the year the boom peaked. So far this year, housing starts have fallen to an annual rate of 1.2 million units through September, and economists expect the number to drop to an annual rate of 1 million by mid-2008. Some analysts foresee a shakeout similar to that of the early 1990s, when numerous builders went through bankruptcy, including Reston. Va.-based NVR Inc. and US Home Corp. of Houston, now part of Miami's Lennar Corp.
BankThai board blasted in meeting
Retail investors bitterly attacked the board of BankThai Plc yesterday for allowing the bank's share value to fall sharply in recent years. Shareholders roundly blasted the bank's decision to halve the price and double the size of a new rights offering aimed at raising around 7.7 billion baht in new capital. The bank's board last month agreed to scrap a May proposal to float 2.24 billion new shares at 3.46 baht each in favour of a new offering of 4.44 billion shares at 1.73 baht. The par value of the shares is 3.75 baht each. Sathaporn Tangnirund, a long-time retail shareholder, criticised the Financial Institutions Development Fund, BankThai's largest shareholder, as only considering its own benefits. ''I feel like I have been robbed by the state,'' he said at the bank's extraordinary shareholders' meeting yesterday.
Partnership spurred Exchange building deal
Three-year pact between Venango, ORA renewed; sale of OC property eyed. The Venango County commissioners have renewed a cooperative agreement with the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry and Tourism. The three-year arrangement calls for the county to continue providing a full-time employee for the Alliance at a cost of roughly $45,000 a year and to provide $55,000 in cash as a sort of membership fee to further the work of the Alliance. The county will continue to have a voting seat on the Alliance board of directors. The approval for what is known as a memorandum of understanding came shortly after a press conference Wednesday showcasing one result of the county's partnership with the Alliance - a commitment by Vantage Holding Co. of Meadville to purchase the county's Exchange Bank building and return it to the tax rolls.
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