WASHINGTON — After nearly a quarter-century of selling pickup trucks and cars in North Dakota, Donovan Berscht had to shut one of his dealerships last year as Chrysler downsized. Now he is worried that a second financial jolt — this time the push for toughened economic oversight in Washington — could batter his remaining Chevrolet-Buick dealership.
If President Barack Obama has his way, loans at auto dealers would be put under the purview of a new federal consumer protection authority to guard against fraud and abuse. The prospect of increased regulations, Berscht said, “could force us out of the financing business,” and it has him so concerned that he traveled to Washington last month to ask Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat and one of his senators, for quick relief.
The financial reforms being debated in the Senate have prompted resistance from a variety of businesses, but perhaps nowhere more intensely than in the already beleaguered auto industry, where dealers find themselves pitted against Obama in their aggressive campaign to exempt themselves from the new rules.
For some 18,000 auto dealers in the United States, who historically have made up a potent political force, the debate presents a critical test of their continued influence in Washington, as they push lawmakers to help them hold on to revenue.
Through their lobbying arm, the National Automobile Dealers Association, the dealers have hired a crisis communication team, taken out full-page newspaper advertisements, and organized trips to Washington for dealers like Berscht to buttonhole lawmakers and make their case.
Their basic message, like those of many other industries threatened by tighter regulation, is that they did not cause the financial crisis, and they should not be penalized for it through a burdensome and costly new regulatory structure.
A vote on the proposed exemption for the auto dealers could come this week on the Senate floor, with neither side predicting victory.
For Obama, the issue is his latest attempt to push through broad legislative changes in Congress partly by singling out powerful players in the private sector.
In his successful campaign for a health care overhaul this year, Obama went after the nation’s major insurance carriers repeatedly as a symbol of why the health system needed to be fixed.
To try to restructure the country’s federal student loan program, Obama portrayed big providers of student loans like Sallie Mae as profiting from a “sweetheart deal” at the expense of struggling students. As in the health care overhaul, he won that debate in Congress, too.
And from the start of the current push for toughened financial regulations, he has cast the fight as an attempt to rein in the big banks on Wall Street, whose “reckless practices” he blames in large part for the economic downturn.
Last week, as the debate over financial regulation neared an end in the Senate, Obama identified a new target in a formal statement: The “auto dealer-lenders” seeking a “special loophole” in the legislation through an amendment pushed by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
“This amendment would carve out a special exemption for these lenders that would allow them to inflate rates, insert hidden fees into the fine print of paperwork, and include expensive add-ons that catch purchasers by surprise,” Obama said. The proposal, he warned, “guts” the bill and encourages “misleading sales tactics.”
The administration also linked the auto dealers exemption to the exploitation of military personnel. Officials released a Pentagon letter saying that many service members, according to an informal military survey, had fallen victim to “bait and switch” tactics and other predatory practices that left them with loans they struggled to pay.
Obama’s condemnation of unfair auto loans was the first time he has weighed in with a formal White House statement on a specific amendment of the sweeping financial regulation, and it caught many dealers and industry executives off guard.
Some dealers brand the White House’s account of auto loan irregularities as “pure fiction,” saying it mischaracterizes the process by which dealers facilitate or package auto loan requests for lending companies. Moreover, they say Obama has unfairly vilified their industry.
“The way the White House is portraying us as evil, it’s just wrong,” said Michelle Primm, the general manager of a family-run import dealership, Cascade Auto Group, about 35 miles south of Cleveland.
Primm made two trips to Washington last month to speak with both of her senators and Congressional staff members about the potential harm from the auto loan provision.
She and other dealers say they are already heavily regulated, mainly at the state level, through regulations that prohibit the loan abuses cited by Obama. They said the new federal regulations would only add costs to the way they arrange loans to buyers for big lending companies like GMAC.
But the administration maintains that the new rules are needed.
An administration official said on Sunday that dealers played a critical and profitable role in arranging the loan rates for many auto buyers, often at a higher rate than they qualified for. The White House also cited industry data showing that dealers made 52 percent of their profits in 2008 from financing and insurance, more than they made on the actual car sales.
The outcome may hinge more on influence than dueling data. On that front, the auto dealers have already proven formidable.
The auto dealers’ association spent $3 million last year on federal lobbying as part of a broader effort by the auto industry as a whole. Auto dealers, their employees and political action committees made political contributions of more than $9.3 million in the 2008 election cycle, most of it to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group.
Perhaps more important than the auto dealers’ money is their deep presence in local communities, which can have a powerful impact on the lawmakers whose communities they represent, political analysts and lawmakers said.
Brian Hart, a spokesman for Brownback, said the dealers’ strong community ties had given them in-person access to many politicians to plead their case.
“Every member was very receptive to talking to their local dealers,” he said, “because they’re truly Main Street. People drive by them every day and know who they are.”
The auto dealers already demonstrated their political muscle on the issue in October, when the House passed its version of the financial overhaul but exempted the dealers from the consumer protection provisions. The exemption was pushed by Rep. John Campbell, a California Republican who is a former car dealer, and it came over the objections of Democratic leaders.
Berscht, the North Dakota dealer, is hoping for a quick resolution.
“I’m not a political guru by any means,” he said, “but there’s a real urgency to get this amendment in there on this major bill and to provide some relief for the auto dealers.”
Christopher Brassard, executive vice-president and director of Albany-based Ten Eyck Group, has been named chair-elect of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York.
Brassard has served on the IIABNY board of directors since 2004, most recently as secretary-treasurer. He has also served on the Public Policy, Industry Practices & Producer Compensation, and Audit committees.
Brassard started his career with the Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Co. and joined the Ten Eyck Group in 1988. He is a 1982 graduate of the state University at Albany School of Business and holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation.
IIABNY, which is based in DeWitt, N.Y., represented more than 1,900 insurance agencies in the state.
Goldman Sachs brought its campaign to improve its image directly to investors Friday as Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the investment bank will do better at "listening to the concerns of our shareholders."
Blankfein also told the company’s annual meeting that Goldman is creating a business standards committee to study its practices as it fights civil fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We need a rigorous self-examination," Blankfein told investors at the meeting, which attracted about 300 people. "Our firm must review our core principles."
The committee, which will report to the Goldman board of directors, will review both services and products Goldman offers, Blankfein said.
Blankfein, who has responded to the SEC charges by saying Goldman has done nothing wrong, offered a softer side Friday. He pledged that the company will be more introspective and listen to issues raised by shareholders quick pay day loan.
Blankfein noted there is a "disconnect" between how the company views itself and how outsiders see Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Blankfein noted that in the last few weeks, questions have been raised about how "we treat our clients."
Regaining the confidence of clients and shareholders is essential, he said.
In the past, Goldman has focused on its big institutional clients and not enough on the public, he said. The company has come under sharp criticism before and after the SEC charges were filed April 16, partly because of the high pay its executives and traders received during the financial crisis and recession.
Higher demand and cost reductions triggered a sharp rise in net income in the first quarter at Astronics Corp., the East Aurora manufacturer said Wednesday.
Profits rose 142.7 percent to $3.4 million, or 31 cents per share, up from $1.4 million, or 13 cents per share, in the 2009 first quarter.
Sales in the 2010 first quarter were down 6.2 percent to $46.9 million from $50 million a year ago. The company noted the figure for Astronics’ DME subsidiary was for the entire period while the 2009 first quarter included DME sales for a nine week period. Astronics acquired DME on Jan. 30, 2009.
“Demand was higher than expected, especially for our in-seat power products, and our aggressive cost cutting over the last year drove solid margins,” said Peter Gundermann, president and CEO.
Astronics (NASDAQ: ATRO) produces lighting, electrical power and automated test systems for the areospace and defense industries.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the city of Sacramento $200,000 to clean up and revitalize the Jibboom Street Power Station in preparation for future development, Rep. Doris Matsui, a Sacramento Democrat, announced Thursday.
Efforts are being made to raise $50 million to build a new Discovery Museum Science and Space Center in the old Pcific Gas & Electric Co. powerhouse there along the Sacramento River.
The award is a part of a $2.6 million package that was awarded to communities across Northern California through the EPA’s Brownfields Program. The program encourages redevelopment of an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.
Attorney General Bill McCollum announced a settlement with Certegy Check Services Inc. over allegations the company did not provide adequate data security for consumer records.
Under the settlement, Certegy will ensure that safeguards are in place to protect consumer data, a release said. The company will maintain a comprehensive “Information Security Program” that assess internal and external risks to consumers’ personal information, implements safeguards to protect that information, and regularly monitors and tests the effectiveness of those safeguards.
Certegy also will contribute $125,000 to the Attorney General’s Seniors vs. Crime Program and will pay $850,000 for the state’s investigative costs and attorney’s fees, the release said.
Certegy reported in July 2007 that a former company employee had stolen customer data. Certegy notified authorities and consumers, the release said. The former employee, William Sullivan, subsequently was convicted of fraud and is serving a 57-month sentence in federal prison.
Certegy, based in St. Petersburg, is a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (NYSE: FIS), headquartered in Jacksonville.
Tax day is Thursday and if you’ve waited until the last minute to file your return, that makes you a prime target for tax preparers.
The days leading up to April 15 are like Black Friday for companies like H&R Block and TurboTax. And they’re all looking for an edge that will get you "in the door."
As more and more taxpayers spend time e-filing and scouring the Internet for tax help, finding ways to optimize online ads is invaluable for tax preparers. And that’s where Google comes in. The search giant’s analytics tools can narrow down when most people are searching for tax help, making it prime time for advertising those services.
Unsurprisingly, Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) says the volume of searches for terms like "tax," "taxes," and "IRS" doubles between February and mid-April. But by using advanced tools like Google Insights, tax preparers can find a much more revealing trend: The majority of people really only care about taxes for about six or seven days a year.
Search traffic for "taxes" surges an average 150% right after W2s are distributed during the first week of February. Those searches quickly die down and stay low until the days leading up to April 15. During the last three- to four-day stretch of tax season, tax-related searches rise an average of 270%. That’s nearly quadruple the amount that occurs during a typical week in the "off-season."
TurboTax, which is a Google Analytics customer, calls the trend "Batman ears": Two exceedingly short periods of time to get it right or pay the price.
"Google is really important to our business because it helps us understand consumers’ behavioral intent so we can serve up the right types of ads in the right places to the right people," said Seth Greenberg, director of national media and digital marketing at TurboTax. "There’s such a small window of time, and the margin of error is so tight."
TurboTax, which is owned by Intuit (INTU), took in just under $1 billion of revenue from its tax products last year, and $780 million of that came during tax season.
"The two peaks make or break tax companies’ years," said Jon Kaplan, head of Google’s financial services industry team faxless pay day loans. "They have to have a sound, focused marketing strategy that takes advantage of those three- to four-day peaks, and they can’t really have a bad day."
Cutting through the noise
As more people file online, competition is growing more intense: A search query for "taxes" on Tuesday returned sponsored ads from 11 of Google’s advertising partners, including TurboTax, H&R Block (HRB), and Jackson Hewitt, all promoting their free online e-file systems. Google said its partners spend tens of millions of search advertising dollars during tax season.
To cut through the noise, TurboTax said Google helps it offer its most relevant taxpayer ads at the most relevant time.
Some of the solutions have little to do with analytics. For instance, Google allows TurboTax to display two different types of ads: one for existing TurboTax customers and one for potential new customers. It also lets TurboTax do "remarketing." That is, showing ads specifically for customers who visited the site but ultimately didn’t use TurboTax’s products.
Other solutions are a little more involved. For example, Google’s data show that searches for "tax refund" soar in early February, when W2s go out, and then taper off. TurboTax says it found a correlation between early filers and those getting refunds, allowing the company to adjust its ads accordingly.
Google also found that most people clicking on TurboTax ads were from a younger demographic, which the company chalks up to the fact that it runs its tax business exclusively on the computer. As a result, TurboTax has turned to social networking to attract customers. It also had a "Tax Rap" competition this year, the winner of which is currently displayed on YouTube’s homepage.
In addition to the usual "taxes," "how to file," and "tax refund" searches, this year is bringing hot searches for "unemployment and taxes," as well as ones related to first-time homebuyer tax credit, new car purchase credit and Energy Star tax credits.
And the top tax-related search this week? "Tax extension."
Apache Corp. is in final discussions to buy Devon Energy Corp.'s assets in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico for some $750 million, Dow Jones is reporting, citing people familiar with the deal.
According to the report, another Houston company, privately held Dynamic Offshore Resources LLC was also interested in the assets and could still try to bid on them at the last minute.
Last fall, Oklahoma City-based Devon (NYSE: DVN) announced an assets sale program, saying it would sell its international and Gulf of Mexico assets to focus on its onshore oil and gas fields in North America.
In March, Houston-based Apache (NYSE: APA) Chief Executive Officer Steven Farris said that the exploration and production firm has $2 billion to spend on projects and acquisitions and was seeking to buy assets internationally and in North America.
Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. CEO Tamara Lundgren on Thursday said Portland is uniquely positioned to profit from the nation’s economic rebound.
In a keynote speech at the Portland Business Journal’s annual Women in Business Awards luncheon, Lundgren said exports and sustainability — both strengths of the Portland economy — will be the “dominant drivers” as the U.S. emerges from recession.
Oregon is the ninth-most trade dependent state in the U.S., Lundgren said, but only accounts for 1.4 percent of the national export total, giving it significant room for economic growth.
“With demand from Asia expected to continue, our region is well-placed to grab a bigger portion of the American export pie,” Lundgren said.
Lundgren also said the city’s reputation as a sustainabilty mecca will continue to provide the region economic opportunities.
“This is not a passing fad that will evaporate at the first sign of an economic rebound,” Lundgren said.
Lundgren also weighed in on a controversial plan to limit development on the north reaches of the Willamette River, where Schnitzer owns a scrap metal export facility.
“I don’t intend to wade into the thicket of the city’s River Plan debate, except to say that in the city’s push to make a short-term political decision, it risks the long-term economic and environmental benefits of a balanced plan.”
More than 700 business executives attended the event. Lundgren was also honored as the Woman Executive of the Year for Large Businesses.
Retail gasoline prices are expected to steadily increase into the summer, thanks to a rise in the price of crude oil as more data indicated the U.S. economy may be on the rebound.
The price of crude oil jumped to $84.87 on Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Meanwhile, a pickup in manufacturing jobs and production was reported in the U.S., China, Japan and Europe, and is viewed as evidence of a rebound in international trade. In addition, U.S. companies added 162,000 jobs in March, with fewer Americans filing for unemployment, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
“We will most likely see crude oil stay above $80 a barrel for quite some time, causing retail gasoline prices to steadily increase into the summer,” said Jessica Brady, manager of public relations at AAA.
The national average price of regular retail gasoline is $2.82, a 2-cent increase from last week. Florida’s average price is $2.84, a 1-cent increase from last week, while Orlando’s average is $2.78, also up 1 cent from a week ago.
Powered by WordPress -- XHTML 1.0