The Daley news

Two of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s top officials were charged last week with federal fraud in handing out city jobs based on candidates’ political affiliations, a practice banned under the Shakman Act since 1972. Daley’s father Richard J. Daley, mayor from 1955 to 1976, greased the wheels of the earlier Daley administration by such a machine style. In Columbia, of course, where we have a mayor in office for 15 years and two council members for even more, we don’t have any city employee rewarded for political affiliations. Can’t even imagine such a thing.

The good news

Unveiled this week was the news chocolate can be good for you. Mars, the candy company, said cocoa compounds could help treat diabetes, strokes, and vascular disease. The compounds are replicated for medicinal purposes and called flavinols. Harvard Medical School’s Prof. Norm Hollenberg said, “The mounting scientific evidence on cocoa flavinols is extraordinary. This is a scientific breakthrough that could well lead to a medical breakthrough.” Hollenberg participated in the research with Mars. It gets better. Flavinols also occur in red wine.

Hotel snobs follow the news

Starwood Capital, the US property and investment firm, agreed this week to buy France’s Taittinger and its affiliate Société du Louvre for $2.5 billion. Starwood plans to sell off Taittinger Champagne, but Starwood gains control of 14 luxury hotels, to include the Crillon in Paris and the Villa Real in Madrid. Having tested both, your business editor declares the Crillon tops. It’s on the Place de la Concorde next door to the American Embassy and the president’s residence. The food and the crowd in the Crillon’s main restaurant, The Ambassadors, is better than the competition at the Ritz. Starwood competed for Columbia’s convention center headquarters hotel, proposing a Sheraton and losing to Windsor/Aughtry’s Hilton.

Funny money

So far in 2005, 57% of new mortgage originations in San Francisco were interest–only loans. Nationwide just over 25% were interest–only.

The man had a large mouth and denies cheating

A bass fishing tournament in Anderson County invited its top two finishers for lie detector tests performed by a county sheriff’s deputy. Lie detector tests can suggest cheating. Ryan McMurtury was denied the tournament’s grand prize, a fancy fishing boat, because he failed two polygraph tests. McMurtury is suing the tournament organizers.

Earnings

As of last Friday, with 40% of the Standard & Poor’s 500 reporting, second–quarter earnings are at least 10% higher vs. a year earlier. Yahoo showed quarterly profit gains of 63%. Among the energy companies reporting by Friday, the average second–quarter profits are up 37%. For all of last year, S&P 500 profit growth was just over 25%.

Drop tobacco, gain weight

Economists are beginning to blame some of the rise in America’s obesity epidemic on the fall in tobacco use. In 1970, 15% of American adults were obese, and 37% smoked. By 2002, over 30% were obese and just 22% smoked.

Money among us

In the Charleston metro area, 5,740 households have at least $1 million in assets (income–producing or liquid financial, but not the primary residence). In the Columbia area, we have 956 households of comparable wealth. Charlotte has 6,117. The median home price in the Charleston area is $189,300; Columbia, $129,500; and Charlotte/Gastonia/Rock Hill, $169,400. In Washington, DC, the median home price is $369,000.

Gumming up the works

Last year, Americans chewed 50 billion pieces of gum, and 70% of it was sugarless. American retail gum sales in 2004 totaled $3.3 billion.

The future of fuel cells has to be cheaper. Has to.

Fuel cells cost about $500 per kilowatt of energy produced. An internal combustion engine can crank out a kilowatt for $50. Converting 12,000 service stations in the top 100 US cities to handle hydrogen could cost $12 billion.

NC vs. SC

For the year ending this June, NC had a gain of 5,600 jobs in leisure and hospitality, and SC had a 5,400 loss. In manufacturing, NC had a 5,500 gain; SC, a 5,000 loss. In construction, NC gained 8,600 jobs and SC lost 3,200 jobs. While NC gained 14,200 jobs in education and health care, SC lost 11,500. Overall, NC’s jobless rate is 5.3%, and SC’s is 6.3%. SC and Michigan were the only two states to see non–farm employment decline in the past year.