Pentagon East

The number of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan should come under a reduction beginning next spring. Still, the Pentagon is spending $1.2 billion in construction upgrades throughout Southwest Asia and the Middle East.

Trade it yourself, cheap

E*Trade customers with less than $50,000 in assets pay only $12.99 per trade of stock; more than $50,000, $9.99 per trade. Scotttrade’s fee is down to $7.

Tax cut in Singapore

By 2007, the top income tax rate in Singapore is set to become 20%, down from 22%. As citizens in a city–state Singaporeans pay one income tax. The corporate tax rate is to remain at 20%. In Hong Kong the personal income tax rate is 18%. By mid–April, Singapore should decide on whether to allow casinos, further lowering demands on income tax. According to Canadian think tank Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Index, Hong Kong rates the highest in the world; Singapore, second; and the US, third.

Migration of the educated

Columbia is putting together something of a “cool commission” to find ways to attract and keep college graduates in the 25–40 range. The commission, fortunately, appears to be composed of similar sorts. This is not the typical Columbia think tank made up of the grey ghosts on city or county council with Marvin Chernoff (retired) as their leading idea man and Bob Royall (retired) as chief fund raiser. From 1995 until 2000, the greatest in–migration of college graduates over 25 was in Atlanta: 76,443 educated newcomers. The greatest out–migration was in greater New York City: 122,000 gone. For the next 25 years, Nevada is forecast to gain 100% in its under–25 population, while North Dakota and West Virginia should lose about 25% each.

US commercial real estate in demand down under

Australians purchased $6.8 billion in US commercial properties in the past year; the Germans, $3.5 billion. The rest of Europe combined bought $2.8 billion. The Australian dollar is up 10% against its American counterpart since June 2004. The Australians paid over the past year an average of $203 a square foot for US commercial properties.

Business magazines misunderstand business

According to Publishers Information Bureau, the number of advertising pages in major American business magazines is down, way down. Business Week , for instance, had 6,000 advertising pages in 2000; in 2004, 3,200. Forbes and Fortune suffered similar drops of almost 50%.

Top oil consumers

The US consumes over 20 million barrels of oil in a day, the most in the world, by far. China is second with almost 7 million barrels, one–third the US consumption with four times the population. France, one–fifth the US population, consumes less than 2 million barrels a day, one–tenth the US consumption. On a per capita basis, the US consumes twice as much oil as the French. Maybe that’s partially because France’s electric power sources are 80% nuclear, while US power is 20% nuclear. Also, only about 6% of the US takes mass transit to work, while it appears practically all of Paris does. On the other hand, in lower Manhattan and the Wall Street area, 98% take mass transit to work. In Columbia, less than 1% take the bus to work. Deep–sea proved oil reserves worldwide are 180 billion barrels, although offshore SC is yet to be searched or proved.

BPL: broadband over power lines

Duke Power is looking into offering broadband high–speed Internet service over electric power lines. Currently, Duke is introducing the service to 15,000 NC homes. SCE&G has no plans for similar service.

$$$ for K–12

The Foundation Center tracks and analyzes foundation giving. According to the Foundation Center, in 2003, large foundations put $1.23 billion in grants to elementary and secondary schools, outpacing grants totaling $1.12 billion to higher education.

Finance company outpaces manufacturing at GM

Struggling GM is about to spin off successful finance arm General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) for almost $15 billion. As the automobile business floundered, the finance company last year earned $2.9 billion, which was 80% of GM’s total net income. That 80% of the GM income was made by 10% of the GM employees. As part of GM, GMAC is stuck with GM’s junk bond status, raising its borrowing rates and the overall cost of doing business. Once separated from GM, the finance company’s bonds reach their own rate.

Wachovia profit up 32%

Charlotte–based bank Wachovia reported a 32% gain in third–quarter profit: from $1.26 billion in the third quarter of 2004 to $1.67 billion in same quarter for 2005.