Metallica, Madonna videos will return to YouTube

Google Inc.'s YouTube reached an agreement with Warner Music Group Corp. that will bring artists including Madonna and Metallica back to the video-sharing site.
Warner Music will be able to sell its own ads on the site and the "vast majority" of the revenue will go to the record label, Chris Maxcy, director of YouTube Partner Development, said Tuesday on a conference call.

With this accord, YouTube now has agreements with all four major record labels. Warner Music Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman pulled his company's videos from YouTube, the world's most popular video-sharing site, in December after discussions over royalties failed.

"It's a win for artists and fans around the world, and it represents many months of hard work for both companies," Maxcy said.

Videos from Warner Music artists will return to YouTube by year-end, Maxcy said. Warner plans to hire outside agencies to sells ads and find partnerships, such as sponsorships of videos and artists.

"Members of the YouTube community will not only be able to access videos and other music-related content from Warner Music Group recording artists and songwriters, but will also gain access to an enhanced user experience on YouTube with a feature-rich, high-quality premium player and enhanced channels," Warner Music saidin an e-mailed statement.

Warner Music rose 44 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $5.60 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. It has advanced 85 percent this year. Google was unchanged at $498.53 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It has gained 62 percent.

Record labels are trying to boost online revenue as sales of compact discs tumble. YouTube, Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and Sony Corp. plan a Web site called Vevo that would host videos. They plan to share advertising revenue.

Video on Google's sites drew more than 10 billion user views in August in the U.S., according to ComScore Inc. of Reston, Va. The views, which were almost all on YouTube, made Mountain View, Calif.-based Google's sites No. 1 with 40 percent market share. Microsoft Corp., based in Redmond, Wash., was No. 2 with 2.2 percent.

Investor Report: Seamless Short SalesWarner Music Group Corp. expands Nashville operations

Waffle House cleared to buy SouthEast Waffles

A Nashville bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday accepted Waffle House's purchase of its largest franchisee, Nashville-based SouthEast Waffles.
Norcross, Ga.-based Waffle House will pay about $20 million to buy the company. Starting on Thursday, the franchise's 105 restaurants spanning four states will operate under Mid South Waffles Inc., a Waffle House subsidiary.

SouthEast Waffles had been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the past year, amid accusations from two banks of missing money through an alleged check-kiting scheme.

SunTrust Bank sued the franchisee's former CEO James Shaub II and its former chief financial officer Rebecca Sullivan, alleging problems. Shaub said he had no knowledge of the alleged scheme, while Sullivan said any actions she took were as a result of following Shaub's orders.

SouthEast Waffles will be closing its corporate headquarters here and eliminating 15 positions, chief restructuring officer Gary Murphey said. The affected employees have been offered positions in Norcross, Ga.

Investor Report: Seamless Short SalesPhil Mickelson loses hunger for SouthEast Waffles

Fed acts to limit hikes on credit card interest

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve proposed rules Tuesday to better protect Americans from sudden hikes in interest rates on credit cards.
The proposal generally would bar rate increases during the first year after an account is opened.

It also would ban — with a few exceptions — increasing the rate on existing credit card balances. For instance, if a customer is behind more than 60 days on a payment, the rate on the existing balance can be boosted.

"This proposal is another step forward in the Federal Reserve's efforts to ensure that consumers who rely on credit cards are treated fairly," said Fed member Elizabeth Duke, the point person on the effort.

The proposal also would require credit card companies to obtain a customer's consent before charging fees on transactions that exceed their credit limit, and would forbid companies from issuing credit cards to people under the age of 21 unless they have the ability to make the required payments or a parent or other co-signer.

The Fed is required to take the action under legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in May.

The public, industry and other interested parties will have an opportunity to weigh in on the Fed's proposal. The provisions are to take effect on Feb. 22, 2010.

Washington Report: Controversial LegislationBest customers fare worst under new credit-card law

Rent increase, lack of sprinklers irk tenants at Nashville apartments for retirees

Fixed-income tenants of the 136-unit Green Hills Apartments for Retired Teachers are struggling to cope with a nearly 60 percent increase in rent over the past 13 months, with some complaining of poor conditions and no fire sprinklers at the property near The Mall at Green Hills.
The latest problems, which have caused some residents to move out, come about 20 months after an 82-year-old tenant died in a fire in one of the apartments after smoking in bed.

That incident in February 2008 led to a court-ordered 24-hour-a-day fire watch at the property. A local judge ruled the safety regimen must continue until a sprinkler system is installed to comply with Metro ordinances.

The apartments' board of directors says it's searching for ways to raise $2.5 million for the sprinklers.

But after an average 53 percent rent increase a year ago, and an additional 6 percent hike last month, some tenants argue that the cost of efficiency, one- and two-bedroom apartments has gotten so expensive that they can no longer afford to live there.

Jon Rhea Bowers, 81, is among tenants who decided to move out. Bowers said she had lived at the apartments for eight years.

"I moved out about six weeks ago because of the poor management," she said.

"You can't imagine what a lovely place that was until they let it run down. Then they raised the rents supposedly to pay for the sprinklers, but still haven't put them in.

"It was nice and very conveniently located," Bowers said. "But it just went down so fast and so bad. A lot of people have moved out, and there are a number of others looking to move."

Rents strain budgets

At the intersection of Hillsboro Circle and Abbott Martin Road, adjacent to The Mall at Green Hills, the 14-story, concrete-and-steel apartments were built in the early 1960s to provide low-cost retirement housing to retired female public school teachers.

The building was later opened to anyone age 62 or older with a maximum annual income of $35,400.

(2 of 3)

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Rent increase, lack of sprinklers irk tenants at Nashville apartments for retirees

Fixed-income tenants of the 136-unit Green Hills Apartments for Retired Teachers are struggling to cope with a nearly 60 percent increase in rent over the past 13 months, with some complaining of poor conditions and no fire sprinklers at the property near The Mall at Green Hills.
The latest problems, which have caused some residents to move out, come about 20 months after an 82-year-old tenant died in a fire in one of the apartments after smoking in bed.

That incident in February 2008 led to a court-ordered 24-hour-a-day fire watch at the property. A local judge ruled the safety regimen must continue until a sprinkler system is installed to comply with Metro ordinances.

The apartments' board of directors says it's searching for ways to raise $2.5 million for the sprinklers.

But after an average 53 percent rent increase a year ago, and an additional 6 percent hike last month, some tenants argue that the cost of efficiency, one- and two-bedroom apartments has gotten so expensive that they can no longer afford to live there.

Jon Rhea Bowers, 81, is among tenants who decided to move out. Bowers said she had lived at the apartments for eight years.

"I moved out about six weeks ago because of the poor management," she said.

"You can't imagine what a lovely place that was until they let it run down. Then they raised the rents supposedly to pay for the sprinklers, but still haven't put them in.

"It was nice and very conveniently located," Bowers said. "But it just went down so fast and so bad. A lot of people have moved out, and there are a number of others looking to move."

Rents strain budgets

At the intersection of Hillsboro Circle and Abbott Martin Road, adjacent to The Mall at Green Hills, the 14-story, concrete-and-steel apartments were built in the early 1960s to provide low-cost retirement housing to retired female public school teachers.

The building was later opened to anyone age 62 or older with a maximum annual income of $35,400.

(2 of 3)

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Employers try to limit rising health plan costs

Pat Stella is pondering his options after being told by an insurance broker that premiums on his employees' health benefits package could increase by as much as 11 percent next year.
"We usually give our employees more than one choice," the chief executive of Fire Sprinkler LLC said. "It could be we don't — maybe we give them one choice."

Stella, whose Nashville-based company installs fire protection systems, isn't alone. Many employers are considering changes, including raising co-pays on prescription drugs to increase their employees' share of costs in a bid to curb growth in medical plan costs.

Such cost-cutting actions should reduce employers' growth in costs next year to just below 6 percent instead of nearly 9 percent otherwise, suggest preliminary results of consultant Mercer's annual benefits survey.

Responses from half of the 3,000 employers ultimately expected to participate show more cuts than usual being made in budgets for next year, with those hardest hit by the recession making the biggest cuts. Roughly 40 percent of respondents said they planned to ask employees to pay a higher portion of monthly premiums or increase co-payments, deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums.

Employers' costs are rising in part from stress-related illnesses tied to economic worries. In some cases workers and their dependents are using more health-care services. They're filling prescriptions, getting preventive care or undergoing previously delayed elective procedures while they're on health plans for fear of losing coverage if laid off later, Mercer said.

Employers consider their options

Edward Scott, a consulting actuary with benefit consultants Bryan Pendleton Swats & McAllister LLC of Brentwood, sees more clients pricing plan options to keep premiums from rising and to avoid passing on too many costs to employees.

Tactics they're using include lowering co-pays to steer employees toward plans with less-costly generic drugs and offering high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts. With those, money is set aside for employees' medical costs that they can keep if they don't use it.

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Employers try to limit rising health plan costs

Pat Stella is pondering his options after being told by an insurance broker that premiums on his employees' health benefits package could increase by as much as 11 percent next year.
"We usually give our employees more than one choice," the chief executive of Fire Sprinkler LLC said. "It could be we don't — maybe we give them one choice."

Stella, whose Nashville-based company installs fire protection systems, isn't alone. Many employers are considering changes, including raising co-pays on prescription drugs to increase their employees' share of costs in a bid to curb growth in medical plan costs.

Such cost-cutting actions should reduce employers' growth in costs next year to just below 6 percent instead of nearly 9 percent otherwise, suggest preliminary results of consultant Mercer's annual benefits survey.

Responses from half of the 3,000 employers ultimately expected to participate show more cuts than usual being made in budgets for next year, with those hardest hit by the recession making the biggest cuts. Roughly 40 percent of respondents said they planned to ask employees to pay a higher portion of monthly premiums or increase co-payments, deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums.

Employers' costs are rising in part from stress-related illnesses tied to economic worries. In some cases workers and their dependents are using more health-care services. They're filling prescriptions, getting preventive care or undergoing previously delayed elective procedures while they're on health plans for fear of losing coverage if laid off later, Mercer said.

Employers consider their options

Edward Scott, a consulting actuary with benefit consultants Bryan Pendleton Swats & McAllister LLC of Brentwood, sees more clients pricing plan options to keep premiums from rising and to avoid passing on too many costs to employees.

Tactics they're using include lowering co-pays to steer employees toward plans with less-costly generic drugs and offering high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts. With those, money is set aside for employees' medical costs that they can keep if they don't use it.

(2 of 2)

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Job losses sap Social Security

WASHINGTON — Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s.
The deficits — $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011 — won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated $2.5 trillion in surpluses from previous years. But they will add to the overall federal deficit.

Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent. Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement but didn't expect such a large increase.

Then the recession hit, and many older workers suddenly found themselves laid off with no place to turn but Social Security.

"A lot of people who in better times would have continued working are opting to retire," said Alan J. Auerbach, an economics and law professor at the University of California-Berkeley. "If they were younger, we would call them unemployed."

Nearly 2.2 million people applied for Social Security retirement benefits from the start of the budget year in October through July, compared with just under 1.8 million in year-earlier period.

Surplus predicted in 2012

The increased early retirements are hurting Social Security's short-term finances, already strained from the loss of 6.9 million U.S. jobs. Social Security is funded through payroll taxes, which are down because of all the lost jobs.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that Social Security will start generating surpluses again in 2012 before permanently returning to deficits in 2016 unless Congress acts again to shore up the program. Without a new fix, the $2.5 trillion in Social Security's trust funds will be exhausted in 2037. Those funds have actually been spent over the years on other government programs. They are now represented by government bonds, or IOUs, that will have to be repaid as Social Security draws down its trust fund.

Unemployed short on opportunities, benefitsKnow Your Buyers; Better Their Lives

Job losses sap Social Security

WASHINGTON — Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s.
The deficits — $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011 — won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated $2.5 trillion in surpluses from previous years. But they will add to the overall federal deficit.

Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent. Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement but didn't expect such a large increase.

Then the recession hit, and many older workers suddenly found themselves laid off with no place to turn but Social Security.

"A lot of people who in better times would have continued working are opting to retire," said Alan J. Auerbach, an economics and law professor at the University of California-Berkeley. "If they were younger, we would call them unemployed."

Nearly 2.2 million people applied for Social Security retirement benefits from the start of the budget year in October through July, compared with just under 1.8 million in year-earlier period.

Surplus predicted in 2012

The increased early retirements are hurting Social Security's short-term finances, already strained from the loss of 6.9 million U.S. jobs. Social Security is funded through payroll taxes, which are down because of all the lost jobs.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that Social Security will start generating surpluses again in 2012 before permanently returning to deficits in 2016 unless Congress acts again to shore up the program. Without a new fix, the $2.5 trillion in Social Security's trust funds will be exhausted in 2037. Those funds have actually been spent over the years on other government programs. They are now represented by government bonds, or IOUs, that will have to be repaid as Social Security draws down its trust fund.

Know Your Buyers; Better Their LivesUnemployed short on opportunities, benefits

Distributor sees gospel music growing on new paths

Vicki Mack-Lataillade is used to overcoming obstacles to sell records.
Sixteen years ago, she borrowed $6,000 from her dad's retirement savings to launch Gospo Centric Records. She later sold it to the Sony BMG family of labels and started Los Angeles-based Lataillade Entertainment, which includes a record label, publishing company and a couple of TV series and properties.

This summer, Mack-Lataillade's company and her husband's company Ruff Town Entertainment Group bought half ownership of Nashville-based Central South Distribution, the largest independent distributor of faith-based records. Central South's annual revenues have been estimated at $16 million, according to Billboard . As one of the company's seven partners, Mack-Lataillade is one of the few African-American women to hold such a position in her industry.

Tennessean staff writer Wendy Lee interviewed Mack-Lataillade and Greg Davidson, Central South's vice president of finance, on the company's goals and gospel music's future.

What are the major challenges facing the gospel music industry right now?

Mack-Lataillade: I think they are the same challenges facing everybody — Internet sales and a younger consumer, keeping them where they understand you have to purchase and pay money for music. We're not only selling music. In the future, we're getting a lot more into books. We've done an incredible line of sermon tapes. We're small and stealthy enough to be able to get involved in a lot of areas of distribution … if we decide we want to. We feel very capable and ready for the challenges in the future.

Will brick-and-mortar stores have any role to play in the sale of music?

Mack-Lataillade: I think digital is going to be bigger and bigger clearly, but we don't feel brick-and-mortar (stores) are going away. Kids are still hanging out in malls. I think you'll get into a lot more special markets. For example, I was buying some lingerie in Nordstrom in Los Angeles, and my favorite CDs were right there on the counter. You have to be more creative.

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Small businesses need freedom to thrive

Each month the National Federation of Independent Business conducts a survey of small business owners to gauge key economic trends.
The September survey shows a slight improvement in owners' optimism. Granted, the index is still very near its all-time low, but small-business owners see some hope over the longer term.

"The gain in the index clearly signals that the worst is likely over, but so far there has been no surge in sentiment as many components still remain at historically low levels," said William Dunkelberg, NFIB's chief economist.

"The small-business sector has taken a real beating over the last year, but owners are seeing some upward movement in both sales and earnings."

The anecdotal evidence I can add to this from my own interactions with small-business people is that since they have "made it through the worst and survived," they see hope for the future.

One thing that should give us pause when we read surveys like this, though, is that entrepreneurs are by their very nature an optimistic lot. My father always told me, "When you look at an entrepreneur's forecast, double the costs and triple the time, and you will probably be closer to the truth."

And remember the old story of how we can spot a budding young entrepreneur — he is the one who on Christmas morning can be found digging in a pile of manure in his backyard exclaiming, "I just know that pony I asked Santa for is in here, if I just dig deep enough."

So, how can policymakers help entrepreneurs realize their goals?

Here is a three-part plan that would help turn the optimism of American entrepreneurs into real economic growth and create jobs:

Cut tax rates. Entrepreneurs need to see that their risk-taking can lead to the opportunity for income and wealth down the road. But with talk of higher marginal tax rates, entrepreneurs are growing concerned that they will keep much less of the fruits of their labors and personal investments in their businesses. Increasing income tax rates has been shown in studies around the globe to put a damper on new business formation and growth.

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Twitter gets $100 million boost

Twitter locked up a significant round of venture funding this week — as much as $100 million by some accounts — despite having little revenue and signs that its growth may be slowing.
The latest cash infusion would nearly triple the total venture capital poured into the 3-year-old Internet messaging start-up, from $55 million to $155 million.

In a blog post, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked the San Francisco company's new financial backers, including investment firm T. Rowe Price and Insight Venture Partners.

"It was important to us that we find investment partners who share our vision for building a company of enduring value," Stone wrote.

"Twitter's journey has just begun."

Stone did not disclose the amount of money Twitter raised, but news reports cited $100 million and noted that investors were valuing the company at $1 billion.

Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.

With celebrities, politicians and media figures using the service, Twitter has enjoyed uncanny growth over the past year, going from a little over
1 million U.S. visitors in August of last year to nearly 20 million last month.

Questions about whether the company could sustain that growth rate were partially answered this month, as data from marketing research company comScore and other Web ratings firms showed the first decrease in the size of Twitter's user base since the company gained mainstream attention last year.

Meanwhile, the company's plan for converting its massive audience into dollars still is not clear. The company continues to cling to one of Silicon Valley's oft-repeated mantras: Audience first, business model second.

Stone emphasized the company's patient approach this week when he was asked about when Twitter might start allowing advertisements — generally considered to be the company's best bet for profits.

"It'll be awhile," he said, and users shouldn't expect to see it before 2010.

Twitter has also said that it would support for-pay commercial accounts for businesses, which likely would offer customers more tools for analyzing what Twitter users were saying about their products. That feature may arrive later this year.

Twitter's last round of funding came in mid-February, when it collected
$35 million from Institutional Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital. Spark Capital and Bezos Expeditions also have invested in Twitter.

In recent days, Twitter has been adding to the slate of sites and services that are allowing users to tweet, including MySpace and AOL's Lifestream platform.

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$650,000 in grants to help fund affordable housing in Middle TN

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati on Friday provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to Pinnacle National Bank to boost local affordable housing projects, as well as grant money to six banks for financial assistance to aid homeowners facing foreclosures.
Pinnacle National Bank received four grants totaling $650,620 to help fund the construction of 37 affordable single-family homes in Franklin, northeast Nashville and Wilson County, as well as the rehabilitation of 10 existing units for very-low-income special-needs residents in Nashville's Germantown.

The single-family homeowners will receive a zero-interest loan with a 30-year mortgage, Pinnacle said. The ones in northeast Nashville at Park Preserve would cost around $70,000, it said.

Six banks also received a $165,000 grant that will help provide counseling through the Wood bine Community Organization and additional financial assistance of up to $2,500 to people unable to make their mortgage payments. A Woodbine official estimated at least 100 people could benefit from the program. Banks participating are Pinnacle, Citizens Bank, Community Bank & Trust, Fifth Third Bank, U.S. Bank and Volunteer State Bank.

Terry Turner, Pinnacle Financial Partners' CEO and president, said the money will help improve the foreclosure situation here. "In the foreclosure process, there aren't any winners," Turner said.

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Nashville PR group offers free help to nonprofits

The Nashville Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America plans a no-cost session at Belmont University's Massey Business Center later this year to help nonprofits get public relations advice.
Volunteers from the PRSA chapter will be on hand to talk with nonprofit leaders. The event is scheduled for Nov. 17. Area nonprofits interested in taking part in one- to two-hour sessions must apply by Wednesday. Applications are available for 501(c)3 groups at www.prsanashville.com or by e-mailing sgbarnes1@bellsouth.net.

The Quality Time with PR Minds Nov. 17 event will start at 8:30 a.m., with a breakfast; followed by sessions at 9 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. PRSA's regular monthly luncheon will start at 11:30 a.m. that day. Cost of the luncheon is $35.

— RANDY MCCLAIN

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People heed recession's money lessons

NEW YORK — If the Great Recession has taught people one thing, it's this: They need to take charge of their finances.
It's a lesson plenty are heeding. People are saving more and spending less. The personal savings rate has risen to more than 4 percent after sinking to near zero in the months before last fall's meltdown. The number of people getting financial counseling is 3.2 million, double the amount two years ago.

In ways big and small — from scrutinizing their bills and joining credit unions to scaling back weddings and college plans — people are finding creative ways to deal with the worst recession in a generation. In short, there's a quiet revolution taking place in the way people save, borrow and spend that represents a retreat from old habits, and the first steps toward new ones.

Saving

For years, the traditional savings account has been a quaint relic of the past. There were just too many other things to do with our money, and most involved spending it. Home improvements — and, for many, a second home — a second car and then a third, overseas vacations. The list went on. Saving meant putting money in a 401(k), and many didn't put as much into those as they could. Then the market plunged and the value of those accounts fell with it.

Now, many people are reassessing their approach to socking money away.

While personal income is down slightly since the recession officially began in late 2007, the personal savings rate is rising. In 2007 the savings rate stood at 1.7 percent of after-tax income. That climbed to 2.7 percent in 2008, and in July — the most recent data available — hit 4.2 percent. As people fear losing their jobs, they will save more: Economists expect the savings rate to top 6 percent in coming months if unemployment — which was 9.7 percent in August — continues to rise.

But people are still saving less than they did in the last major recession, in 1982. Then, the savings rate was 10.9 percent when certificates of deposit were earning more than 12 percent.

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Student loan relief may be available for borrowers who apply

When money is tight and jobs are scarce, repaying your student loans is painful. But if you let your loans go into default, you'll enter a world of hurt.
Defaults on federal student loans rose to 6.7 percent last year from 5.2 percent a year earlier, the highest default rate since 1998.

In general, if you fail to make payments on a federal student loan for nine months, the loan will be considered in default. Your loans probably will be turned over to a collection agency, and your credit report will be trashed. Unlike private lenders, the federal government can garnishee your wages without going to court, said Margaret Reiter, an attorney and co-author of Solve Your Money Troubles . There's no statute of limitations on collection of federal student loans, Reiter added, which means the government can go after you for the rest of your life.

Filing for bankruptcy probably won't solve your problem. Under federal bankruptcy laws, it's not enough to show that you can't afford to repay your loans now. You also must convince the bankruptcy court that you'll be unable to repay them in the future. This standard is extremely difficult to meet, Reiter said.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to avoid default. Options include:

• Deferment. This option is available for borrowers who are still in school, unemployed or experiencing other types of economic hardship. Payments are typically deferred for up to three years.

If you have subsidized federal student loans, which are provided to borrowers who demonstrate financial need, the government will pay the interest during deferment. If you have unsubsidized Stafford loans, interest will accrue during the deferment period. Deferment is not automatic. You must apply for it through your lender.

• Forbearance. In this case, your lender will allow you to postpone payments, or pay a smaller amount, for up to three years. Forbearance is granted at the discretion of the lender, and the requirements are generally less stringent than those for deferment, said Robert Murray, spokesman for USA Funds, a company that guarantees student loans.

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Giarratana tries to sell Nashville properties

The developer who has shaped much of downtown Nashville during the last few years with condo projects such as the Viridian and Encore is trying to market and sell some properties to pay down debt and generate cash.
Tony Giarratana's Symphony Development Co. sold a half-acre parking lot earlier this week next to his Encore condo project to Ridgefield Properties, which is controlled by friend Kermit Stengel, for $1.4 million, or $59 per square foot. The site is on the corner of Fourth and Molloy.

Giarratana had bought the property in 2004 for $1.2 million and had planned to develop it.

Giarratana said in an e-mail that he is marketing for sale some jointly owned properties with co-developer Novare Group, an Atlanta-based developer of high-rise condo buildings. Among the properties for sale are the Cohen Building next to the Viridian condo project, and the space leased by HG Hill Urban Market, a grocery store in the Viridian.

The developers' other downtown development, Signature Tower, previously was scaled down and is on hold. The Encore condo project, however, has sold roughly 250 of its 333 units.

"We plan to continue selling homes at great prices and expect to sell remaining homes within eight to 12 months,'' Giarratana wrote in an e-mail. He had previously hoped to sell out this fall.

Investor Report: Auctions a Growing NicheNashville development dream fades into foreclosure

Nashville development dream fades into foreclosure

One of the signature redevelopment projects for the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency has suffered the collapse of a building, the loss of developers and a foreclosure sale, but the agency is forging ahead with more than $40 million worth of plans for Rolling Mill Hill.
The redevelopment of the former site of the old Nashville General Hospital downtown, more than 10 years in the making, has suffered numerous setbacks over the years, the latest being the forced sale on the Metro Courthouse steps Thursday of 72 newly completed condo units sitting empty on a Hermitage Avenue bluff overlooking the Cumberland River.

"I think the market will come back," said Joe Cain, development director for MDHA, standing Thursday between the 19th-century hospital buildings that have been converted into condos. "We are definitely committed to making this a wonderful neighborhood downtown."

The site already lost one developer — Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse abandoned plans for 42 townhouses and more than 200 apartments when the market softened last year.

MDHA had sold more than an acre of land several years ago to other developers, Green Bay, Wis.-based Direct Development. An affiliate of Direct Development managed to build three of the five buildings planned, one of which collapsed during construction, leaving just an old brick smokestack in the air.

Then the company was unable to close on the sale of the condos in the worst housing crisis in decades and defaulted on its loan. Lead lender Bank of America bought the condo buildings back for $7.28 million Thursday in a foreclosure sale — or roughly $101,000 per unit. That compares to list prices when the condos were on the market of about $200,000 to more than half a million dollars.

The bank will try to market and sell the condos.

MDHA already has spent about $10 million on site improvements such as demolition and environmental cleanup. It plans to continue bringing public and private money into the project, rather than leaving the condos abandoned on the hilltop.

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Nashville Downtown Partnership honors award winners

Upbeat talk of the future of downtown and local awards for a variety of companies and individuals for making the urban core of Nashville more vibrant were highlights of the Nashville Downtown Partnership's annual luncheon on Wednesday.
Philanthropist Martha Rivers Ingram received the Jeannie R. Hastings Vision Award for her commitment to the arts scene here; and Realtor Shirley Zeitlin was honored with the Volunteer Award for working to make Nashville's downtown area more of an around-the-clock destination.

Other awards presented by the business group included:

• Best place to work: Pinnacle Financial Partners.

• Public-private partnership: Davidson County Sheriff's Office for providing help with cleanup crews.

• Community service: Hard Rock Cafe Nashville for dedicating employees to community service work during a restaurant renovation.

• Celebrating food: Nashville Farmers Market.

• Downtown investment: Hermitage Hotel in honor of its 100th anniversary; the Metropolitan Transit Authority for its Music City Center bus hub; and Metro for the Deaderick Street beautification project.

• Environmental sustainable construction: Terrazzo condos.

• Adaptive reuse: Renovation of Noel Court Lofts, 214 Third Ave. N.

— RANDY MCCLAIN

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Analysis: Obama reaches out, but still alone

President Barack Obama delivered a global call to action at the United Nations on Wednesday morning, but it was an expression of apparent frustration that may have best captured the moment in which he finds himself.
His address came during a whirlwind week of international gatherings and diplomacy — a climate change summit and Middle East meetings on Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, a G-20 meeting on the international economy today. Those formal events coincided with an intensification at home over critical choices facing Obama in his Afghanistan policy.

Obama's message to the other national leaders assembled in New York was that his administration represents a clear break with the posture of the Bush administration in its dealings with allies around the world. Hailing what he called a new era in the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world, Obama ticked through the changes he said his administration has undertaken in the first eight months of his presidency.

They included the banning of torture, the order to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the winding down of the war in Iraq, a renewed focus on dismantling and defeating al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the appointment of a special envoy for the Middle East with the goal of a two-state peace agreement, and fresh investment in combating climate change.

In return, Obama said, the United States expects the cooperation of others in addressing these problems. "This cannot be solely America's endeavor," the president said bluntly. "Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone. We have sought — in word and deed — a new era of engagement with the world. Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

That summed up the challenge he faces. Can a different style, a more open hand and expressions of respect prompt the rest of the world to follow along with this administration as it tries to solve many of the same problems that confronted the Bush administration?

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Work to resume on Cool Springs office building

Construction work will resume on the One Greenway Centre in Cool Springs after legal issues between the developer and general contractor were resolved.
The bankruptcy court has approved an agreement to settle a lien and lawsuit brought by the office building’s general contractor Bell & Associates, developer Crescent Resources said today.

The building should be completed late this year, the Charlotte, N.C.-based real estate development company said.

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Christian publisher Howard Books moves to Brentwood

As sales of religious books sag, one of the nation's largest publishers hopes to reinvigorate Christian book sales by moving its religious imprint to the Nashville area.
Howard Books, the religious division of Simon & Schuster, recently moved out of its headquarters in West Monroe, La., to Brentwood. Literary agents say the company may gain better publishing opportunities by moving to the Nashville area, home to religious publishing giants Thomas Nelson and LifeWay.

"There are a lot of opportunities to publish really good books that are Christian books," said Jonathan M. Merkh, 46, the vice president and publisher of Howard Books. "Some of the best-selling books over the last five years are Christian books. We believe there are still authors who have voices that should be heard."

Despite Simon & Schuster's heft, the Howard Books imprint is small, with a staff of 10 employees. Analysts say, however, that being small has allowed the division to nimbly adapt to the recession and give more personal attention to authors. The challenge ahead will be to promote its titles at the nation's biggest bookstores in competition with other religious publishers.

The corporate change of address comes as sales of religious books are declining as a result of cutbacks by consumers and churches, the closure of independent Christian bookstores and publishers' inability to find books that become huge best-sellers, analysts said.

Religious book sales dropped about 7.6 percent in 2008 to $724 million, according to the Association of American Publishers, and national bookstores have cut their inventories of titles in that niche. Last year, only 16,847 new religious titles were published, down 14 percent from 2007, according to Albert Greco, a marketing professor at Fordham University.

"It's a really difficult economy," Greco said. "I don't think the recession is over. People have become far more cautious."

Howard Books plans to publish 40 titles in 2010, Merkh said, compared with about 70 in 2008. "We are cutting back the overall title count in order to adjust to the retail environment," he said.

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Terror probe puts stadiums, hotels on alert

NEW YORK — The government expanded a terrorism warning from transit systems to U.S. stadiums, hotels and entertainment complexes as investigators searched for more suspects Tuesday in a possible al-Qaida plot to set off hydrogen peroxide bombs hidden in backpacks.
Police bolstered their presence at high-profile locations. Extra officers with bulletproof vests, rifles and dogs were assigned to spots such as Grand Central Terminal in New York. Plainclothes officers handed out fliers at a nearby hotel with a warning in large block letters: "If you suspect terrorism, call the NYPD."

The warnings come amid an investigation centering on Najibullah Zazi, 24, a Denver airport shuttle driver who authorities say received al-Qaida explosives training in Pakistan and was found entering New York City two weeks ago with bomb-making instructions on his computer.

Zazi's arrest in Colorado last week touched off the most intense flurry of government terror warnings and advisories to come to light since President Barack Obama took office.

Though Zazi is charged only with lying to the government, law enforcement officials said he may have been plotting with others to detonate backpack bombs on New York trains in a scheme similar to the attacks on the London subway and Madrid's rail system. Backpacks and cell phones were seized in raids on apartments Zazi visited in New York.

"It's not totally clear to us at this point what it is they had in mind, though I think it is clear that something very serious and something very organized was under way," Attorney General Eric Holder told CBS.

The FBI said "several individuals in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere" are being investigated.

"There's a lot more work to be done," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, cautioning that the probe was still in its early stages.

Nashville police 'alert'

In two bulletins sent to police departments Monday and obtained by The Associated Press, federal counterterrorism officials urged law enforcement and private companies to be vigilant at stadiums, entertainment complexes and hotels.

The bulletin on stadiums noted that an al-Qaida training manual specifically lists "blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality and sin ... and attacking vital economic centers." Counterterrorism officials are also advising police officers to be on the lookout for any possible bomb-making at self-storage facilities, noting that terrorists have used such places to build bombs.

"The police department has been very involved in the security, not only of LP Field, but Vanderbilt stadium," Metro police spokes man Don Aaron said Tuesday.

"Without going into specifics, there are a number of measures that have been taken over the years. We will continue to be very alert at these venues as is the Vanderbilt police at Vanderbilt stadium."

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GM to increase output at factories in Michigan, Indiana, Kansas

DETROIT — General Motors Co. will go to 24-hour operations at factories in Kansas, Michigan and Indiana to handle an expected increase in demand and to make up for production lost from a large-scale factory consolidation announced earlier in the year.
The automaker said it will add a third shift at its Fairfax plant in Kansas City, Kan., in January. That will be followed in March or April by third shifts at factories in Delta Township, Mich., near Lansing, and Fort Wayne, Ind.

About 2,400 production workers will be recalled as a result of the added shifts, and an additional 600 will be recalled at parts factories across the country, said Tim Lee, group vice president for global manufacturing.

The increases announced Tuesday, coupled with other production increases unveiled during the summer, will allow GM to raise North American production from about 1.9 million vehicles this year to 2.8 million in 2010, Lee said.

Spring Hill to close

The increase also is necessary because of an expected sales increase next year and because GM's inventory of cars and trucks was at a record-low level of 378,000 at the end of August, said Mark LaNeve, vice president of U.S. sales.

The Fairfax plant makes the midsize Chevrolet Malibu, Saturn Aura and Buick LaCrosse, while Delta Township makes the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook large crossover vehicles. The Fort Wayne factory makes pickup trucks.

GM said in a statement that Fairfax will get all production of the Malibu when a midsize car factory in Orion Township, Mich., closes Nov. 25. It will be converted to a small-car plant and reopen in 2011.

Delta Township will get production of the Chevrolet Traverse large crossover when the Spring Hill, Tenn., factory that makes them closes, also on Nov. 25. That plant will go on standby in case demand increases.

Fort Wayne will add production of heavy-duty versions of the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups that are being made in Pontiac, Mich. That factory is to close at the end of September, the company said in a statement.

Lee said GM would not hire new workers to staff the additional shifts. In-stead, the company generally will first offer the jobs to workers at the plants that will be closed. After that, they will be offered to workers in the region and then across the nation, he said. GM, under its contract with the United Auto Workers union, will pay to move workers from other cities, he said.

Although the company's dealer inventory is low now, it will take a minimum of three months to add the shifts because workers must be moved and because machinery must be disassembled and moved from Spring Hill and Pontiac, the company said.

GM plans to move tooling for the Traverse from Spring Hill later this year and hopes to begin build Traverses by January of next year.

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New open Internet rules proposed

NEW YORK — The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday proposed the most wide-ranging and specific rules so far for regulating how Internet service providers and wireless carriers handle subscriber traffic.
While the FCC has intervened a few times to discipline home broadband providers for blocking or hampering certain types of traffic, the proposal by Chairman Julius Genachowski could result in the first solid rules. It is also aimed at regulating, for the first time, how wireless companies carry Internet traffic to cell phones.

Telecommunications executives warned that the proposal looks like a solution in search of a problem. They said that unless the regulations are carefully implemented, the rules could stifle investment in Internet access.

Dems, GOP are at odds

Reactions to the ideas from Genachowski, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, broke down along partisan lines. Republican senators said there was no need for an unprecedented expansion of Internet regulation. Obama said that on the contrary, well-crafted regulation of the Internet would encourage investment and innovation.

Internet service providers, both wired and wireless, are struggling with the question of how to distribute network capacity among their subscribers. Heavy users can overwhelm cellular towers and neighborhood cable circuits, slowing traffic for everyone.

At the same time, consumer advocates and Web companies like Google Inc. want to safeguard what has been an underlying "Net neutrality" assumption of the Internet: that all types of data are treated equally. If the carriers can degrade or block traffic, they become the gatekeepers of the Internet, able to shut out innovative services, these critics say.

Last year, the FCC sanctioned Comcast Corp. for secretly hampering file-sharing traffic by its cable-modem subscribers. In that ruling, the agency relied on broad "principles" of open Internet access that hadn't previously been put to the test. Comcast sued the FCC, saying the agency didn't have the authority to tell the company how to run its network. The case is still in federal appeals court.

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Workers distinguish themselves with enthusiasm

What is the best way to communicate professionalism?
Jo-Ellan Dimitrius has what she calls "Magic Pills" that do the job for you. They are: eye contact, smiling, handshakes and greetings, posture and enthusiasm.

I rely on Dimitrius' judgment because of her outstanding record of evaluating appearance and behavior for trial lawyers when they are picking juries. Her book Put Your Best Foot Forward isn't new, but it is a gem.

All of us know that eye contact is important, although many people in highly technical or isolated working environments feel uncomfortable making eye contact. Get over it.

It is the fastest way to establish a connection. It matters, just as smiling creates a sense of warmth and openness. As for a good handshake, remember to shake someone's hand web-to-web without regard to gender. As you know, business is genderless. And good posture instantly tells another person how proud you are of yourself and what you do.

But enthusiasm is the classic trait that truly sets a person apart on a daily basis. The very fact that you are on information overload and always pressed for time can easily sap you of your enthusiasm, although a professional never lets that happen.

All of us have issues with workloads and time constraints, and if you let yourself fall into the trap of believing that yours are greater than anyone else's you'll soon find yourself acting out the role of the victim you believe yourself to be.

Don't assume victimhood

Herein lies the rub: If you see yourself as the victim of too much work or not enough time, others can easily assume you can't be the candidate for a prime assignment or a promotion.

Why would someone choose you for a task that can boost your career, if you look like you may not have the energy to make it through the day?

The old adage "Fake it till you make it" is the watchword for attitude. Believe it or not, everyone needs more time and less work, so don't become the poster child for workplace burnout.

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Tom Daschle gives health-care reform 50-50 chance of passing

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, viewed in some quarters as a voice of reason on health-care reform, says there's no better than a 50-percent shot of Congress passing a bill this year that makes major changes in how Americans buy health insurance and get medical care.
"Part of the reason it's so difficult to get there is because arguably the health sector of our economy is the most complicated and the most difficult to deal with for all the reasons related to size, complexity and history that you could imagine," Daschle said Monday at a Nashville health-care conference.

He spoke a day before the Senate Finance Committee was expected to start deliberating in earnest on one of the key bills under consideration in Washington. His appearance in Nashville also came after a weekend media blitz by President Barack Obama and others in support of health-care change.

Daschle, whose nomination to oversee the reform push as U.S. health secretary was derailed by his failure to pay about $146,000 in taxes on time, said how to pay for medical insurance reform, ideological differences among Republicans and Democrats, the actions of stakeholders such as doctors, insurers and drug makers, and legislative strategy would all help determine the outcome.

Daschle said he personally favors a public or government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, but he is willing to accept lesser measures including insurance cooperatives and exchanges envisioned by the latest Democratic proposal put forth by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., last week.

"The public option would be able to leverage better than a co-op," Daschle said in his midday presentation here. "Time will tell. I'd be willing to support the co-op, if the public option is not possible."

Law firm sponsors event

Law firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP was a sponsor of the "Healthcare Deal Making Summit," produced by conference production company Infocast of Canoga Park, Calif. Local business leaders were among more than 140 people who registered for the event. It featured participants from both sides of the aisle in Congress.

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Economy forces private school students' move to public schools

More private school students are seeking free public school educations in the middle of a recession that makes tuition tougher for parents to pay.
As the state's unemployment rate topped 10 percent, several private and parochial schools in Middle Tennessee reported small reductions in enrollment, while others said they kept students by offering more financial aid.

Williamson County's public schools saw a 500-student influx from private schools this year, spokeswoman Lydia Glynn wrote in an e-mail.

The district decided to track the numbers because officials expected economic conditions to bring transfers from private schools. While the district did pick up private school students, it did not have as many new students move into the county as anticipated.

"Unfortunately, we have to do our budget so early that we can't always make major adjustments," said Carol Birdsong, a Williamson County Schools spokeswoman.

"… But since we didn't grow like we projected that we would from people moving in, really, we were just able to absorb the private school kids."

Wilson County reported 85 students coming in from private and home schools, a figure tracked through assessments given incoming students. Representatives from Sumner County, Rutherford County and Metro Nashville schools said they don't track where new students come from.

Still, there are some indicators of movement. Steve Chauncy, principal at Hillwood High School in Nashville, said the school had gained 20 new students from private schools.

It's tough to get a clear picture of movement between public and private schools because private schools typically closely guard information about their enrollment, finances and plans, to protect their image, said Dale Ballou, an economist and associate professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University.

But the effects of past economic downturns were noticeable particularly in Catholic schools, he said.

"This time … there may be an impact in some of the newer Christian schools that's more or less for the same reason: A lot of the people there don't have a lot of money, and the schools are run on pretty tight budgets," he said.

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Nashville business tenants benefit from landlords' deals

Nine months of free rent proved to be the deal clincher for Conservation Services Group as the nonprofit energy services firm scouted Nashville for office space earlier this year.
That generous kicker on a five-year lease for 6,200 square feet is one example of how aggressive some landlords have become to attract or keep business tenants.

"The pendulum has swung from a landlord's market to a tenant's market," said Whit McCrary, a principal with Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, who helped Conservation Services negotiate its lease at Metropolitan Airport Center.

Vacancy rates in a pair of office submarkets near Nashville International Airport stood at 16.8 percent and 22 percent as of June 30, according to real estate firm CB Richard Ellis. Downtown had a similarly high 21.5 percent vacancy rate. Other parts of town have better occupancy.

Amid an economic downturn that has caused real estate values to decline, more businesses with leases expiring are shopping around and winning concessions.

"There's so many great opportunities elsewhere that it's looking like we're going to get better space at a similar or lesser price," said Mac Hardcastle, a senior adviser at NMG Advisers, which is exploring options as its current lease nears an end.

Other businesses are more likely to stay put or seek shorter-term leases. That has put pressure on landlords to start renewal talks earlier, or to offer deals to sign tenants.

The owner of Oaks Tower in the airport area, for instance, is pitching one year's free rent on the top floor for a tenant with good credit willing to commit to seven to 10 years.

"The market's just low right now," said Thomas Frazier Baker V, a Memphis-based commercial leasing adviser working with the property's landlord. "The easier and least expensive option for tenants … is to stay put and see how things go with the economy."

Some submarkets are more full

In lease negotiations, how much leverage each party has is generally determined by the length of the potential lease, the amount of money that must be spent preparing the space for occupancy and a tenant's creditworthiness. Landlords that spend a lot on tenant improvements are less likely to offer free rent on top of that.

Deals, meanwhile, are harder to come by in office submarkets such as the Green Hills/Music Row and West End/Belle Meade areas, where less than 6 percent of space was vacant at midyear.

"There are some tenants looking for airport-type deals in Green Hills and West End, and some landlords are not there yet," said Tom Hooper, a broker with Eakin Partners LLC.

The airport submarkets have more vacant space, in part, because some regional insurance companies with offices near the airport have downsized, and advances in technology make proximity to the airport less important overall, Hooper said.

Developer John T. Rochford, who owns buildings, said landlords should guard against becoming too aggressive with offers of free rent.

For potential tenants, a building's quality, parking and how convenient it is for workers and visitors are other crucial factors, Rochford said. "The best-run organizations are going to focus more on all of the factors and not just price."

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What kind of entrepreneur are you?

Brent Bouchez, David Page and Nancy McNally are no strangers to corporate perks.
They've each worked for top-tier ad agencies in top-tier roles. They've had able assistants, private offices, great retirement and health benefits, and the use of professional car services.

Now the trio sometimes debate who should run out and buy printer paper.

Six months ago, the three opened their own marketing firm, Five0, which focuses on consumers 50 and older. The ad industry bigwigs all share a small, one-room office in Manhattan. There's no swanky lobby, no company lunchroom serving sushi and no cool coffee bar. The door to their office is at the end of a drab hallway. Inside, a shelf holds rows of bottled water bought at Staples. The glossy white conference table, which dominates a good part of the room, was an Ikea steal for $295.

"We change the (printer) ink. We fill out Fed Ex forms and set up the phone system," says Page. "We are the IT team. There is nobody to turn to."

The Madison Avenue veterans are among millions who have gone from working in a corporate culture to running their own small businesses. Three-quarters of company founders toiled for someone else for at least six years before launching their own firms, according to a survey this summer by the entrepreneur-focused Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Nearly half had more than 10 years' of work experience at other firms.

As this recession turns more workers into entrepreneurs, such transitions are becoming more common. Most are trying to persevere without the organizational help of assistants, the tech know-how of an IT department and the use of ample expense accounts. They empty the trash, buy toilet paper, set up utilities, shop for an affordable source of office supplies, and somehow manage to get computer equipment and software installed.

"It's daunting," says management consultant and corporate coach Michelle DeAngelis, who left Bank of America 15 years ago to launch her own consulting and coaching firm, Michelle Inc.

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Consumers' economic clout may be overrated

There's power in our pocketbooks. But how much?
In the U.S., consumer spending — the amount of money we shell out on everything from hammers to homes — fuels our economy. At the end of the federal second quarter in late March, the government said "personal consumption expenditures" climbed to almost 70.7 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, a term for the value of everything produced by labor, plants and properties in the U.S.

Not everyone agrees with that figure, though. Some economists say defining consumer spending as the engine behind more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy is misleading math; they say government spending and other items should be factored out.

Here are some questions and answers about consumer spending and its impact on the economy:

What is consumer spending?

Personal consumption spending — what's commonly called consumer spending — is the dollar value of what's bought every day. It's on pace this year to be just short of $10 trillion.

Federal economists separate the data into dozens of categories, tracking spending on everything from tires and televisions to flowers, fuel and amusement park admission fees. But the figure also includes services like health care and insurance, along with rent and mortgage payments and even checking account fees.

Why don't some people agree that consumer spending is 70 percent of the economy?

Critics note that the official consumer spending figure includes things that aren't paid out of our pockets.

The biggest area of debate is health-care spending, which in 2008 reached $1.56 trillion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That figure includes federal and state government spending on programs like Medicaid and Medicare.

Another federal agency — the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — does its own analysis of the nation's health-care spending, which it says was about $1.88 trillion in 2007, the last year for which it has data available. By CMS estimates, roughly 14 percent of medical costs was paid out of pocket in 2007, while nearly half was paid with money from local, state and federal coffers. Much of the remainder is picked up by private health insurers and other private money.

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Business Bankruptcies

Cajun Sunshine LLC, D/B/A Planet Beach Spring Hill, Spring Hill
Assets: $31,102

Liabilities: $251,539

FILED SEPT. 9

Elements Laser Spa 5 LLC, Clarksville

Estimated assets: $0 to $50,000

Liabilities: $0 to $50,000

FILED SEPT. 11

Equipment Finders of Tennessee Inc., Nashville

Estimated assets: $10 million to $50 million

Estimated liabilities:
$10 million to $50 million

SleepWell Mattress Outlet Inc., Nashville

Assets: $70,920

Liabilities: $513,584

FILED SEPT. 16

Chariot Transportation Inc., Nashville

Assets: $270,680

Liabilities: $437,547

FILED SEPT. 17

Music City Record Distributors Inc., Nashville

Assets: $411,842

Liabilities: $3.93 million

FILED SEPT. 18

Smyrna Motorcoach Services Inc., Smyrna

Assets: $50,000

Liabilities: $170,018

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Workers' fears hinder unions

Workers' shifts were changed willy-nilly. Promised raises never came through. Bosses weren't even letting employees get a drink of water during the workday.
Those were complaints from some of the workers at the American Red Cross who recently asked a local labor union to represent them.

When the election was held earlier this month, though, the union lost in a close vote.

It's not the first time a union has tried to organize blood collection workers in Nashville. This time, though, the weakened economy may have played a part in the organizing effort's defeat, said John Ledwell, membership development coordinator with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 429.

Union activity has slowed down in Middle Tennessee, despite forecasts that workers' fears about layoffs and corporate cost-cutting might actually rejuvenate organized labor. Labor experts say the opposite may be true with workers unwilling to rock the corporate boat when jobs are scarce.

So far this year, local unions have filed just four petitions with the National Labor Relations Board to organize workers in the Middle Tennessee area for collective bargaining.

By this time in 2008, some 19 petitions already had been filed. In collective bargaining, unions negotiate contracts with employers to set wages, hours and other employment conditions.

Furthermore, union membership is shrinking with thousands of union jobs in Tennessee disappearing as factories shut down, said Jack Irby, AFL-CIO labor coordinator for Middle Tennessee.

Already in 2009, nearly 4,000 union jobs have vanished due to plant closures and layoffs, according to an AFL-CIO analysis. The number of workers represented by unions overall has dropped in recent years to about 175,000 statewide, Irby said. The United Steelworkers lost some 800 members at Bridgestone Firestone Inc., for example, as some work has moved overseas since December. The United Auto Workers will lose 140 union jobs at Cummins Filtration in Cookeville, Tenn., as announced layoffs occur in the next few months.

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Federal Reserve moves to regulate banks' pay

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve for the first time would police banks' pay policies to make sure they don't encourage excessive risk taking under a plan the Fed is drafting.
The proposal is the Fed's latest response to criticism that it failed to crack down on lax lending, reckless gambles and other practices that led to the financial crisis.

The central bank's more activist stance carries a risk, though: It could intensify accusations from lawmakers and other critics that the Fed is overstepping its bounds and should be reined in.

The compensation issue probably will surface when President Barack Obama meets with his counterparts from other major industrialized countries in Pittsburgh next week. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is leading a European attempt to rein in banker bonuses at the Group of 20 summit.

G-20 leaders promised at their London meeting in April to pass "tough new principles on pay and compensation." But little progress has been made.

Under its proposal, the Fed would review — and could reject — pay policies that could cause too much risk taking by executives or other employees, according to those familiar with the plan. The Fed would not actually set compensation, however, they said.

The proposal is far reaching. The Fed would review salaries, bonuses and other compensation for CEOs and other senior management, the people with knowledge of the proposal said.

It also would cover certain employees, such as traders, who can take big risks on behalf of a firm, they said. And it would cover some workers whose compensation could affect their risk taking, such as loan officers making mortgages, they added.

Policy would control risk

The Fed could examine not only the compensation level but also how it's structured, such as when it is awarded, the sources said.

The goal is to make sure banks' pay policies don't encourage top managers or other employees to take gambles that could endanger a company, the broader financial system or the economy. The failure of many banks to closely monitor risk and limit compensation that might encourage too much risk contributed to the financial crisis.

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People in Business

Barry Willms is a senior attorney at Counsel On Call's E-Discovery Division. Willms had managed discovery matters for King & Spalding LLP in Atlanta and Bass, Berry & Sims PLC in Nashville.
Brian Zimmerman is manager of the Cool Springs Galleria Jos A. Bank Clothiers store. Zimmerman had been a store manager for the chain in Murfreesboro.

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Sign spinners give Nashville advertisers a new twist

Michael Mello's 2-year-old company helps businesses put a new spin on advertising — literally.
Mello's Murfreesboro-based MGM Advertising provides many of the comical sign spinners whom motorists have started to see more frequently along busy Nashville-area roads, tossing, turning and jumping as the mad men of street corner advertising display hand-held signs touting nearby businesses.

"Where it might cost several thousand dollars for one big ad on TV, we can give them two months of our services, directing customers straight into their businesses," said Mello, who came up with the sign-spinning idea while working at a
T-Mobile store in Murfreesboro. He has since expanded the concept with a partner.

And in the midst of a recession, low-cost, novel ideas have attracted more companies on a budget willing to embrace something different to beef up spotty sales. The sign spinners cost $240 for a six-hour performance, although hourly rates drop the more a company uses the service.

"We've advertised new homes, apartments, wireless-phone companies, orthodontists, haircuts, almost anyone who wants to get a message across," Mello said.

MGM typically hires young people as spinners who have lots of energy and can put some pizzazz into their sidewalk performances. They are taught a variety of tricks, Mello said.

City officials don't always appreciate their presence along busy streets, however. Some municipalities such as Franklin and Brentwood have ordinances that ban signs on public property or any kind of temporary signs.

Mello said he has successfully challenged such ordinances on First Amendment free-speech grounds in some cities, but hasn't tried in Brentwood since being told to stop using the spinners there.

"Under our sign ordinance, we don't permit any signs on the public right of way, which also includes sidewalks," Brentwood City Attorney Roger Horner said. "They are a distraction to drivers."

Brentwood's fine for a violation can be up to $50, Horner said.

Franklin Mayor John Schroer said the city doesn't allow the spinners on public rights of way, including highway medians, but will let them work as long as they stay on private property and they have the property owner's permission.

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Nations' trade restrictions show they're not walking the walk on free trade

WASHINGTON — The world's major powers are repeatedly breaking their pledges not to erect trade barriers, and there's no sign the "protectionist juggernaut" will ease as countries recover from the global downturn, an influential monitoring organization said Friday.
Since first taking a no-protectionism vow at a summit meeting last November, the world's 20 major economies have been responsible for as many as 121 "blatantly protectionist" measures, with 134 more in the pipeline, said Global Trade Alert, a monitoring service overseen by the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research and supported by the World Bank and other international organizations.

The findings, bound to come up at next week's Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, follow a report earlier in the week by the Geneva-based World Trade Organization that cited "continued slippage toward more trade restricting and distorting policies" by the U.S. and its major trading partners.

"The real economy may now be shrinking at a slower rate, and a recovery may be in view, but unemployment will continue to rise for some time to come. Pressures to protect jobs at home will grow and governments will find these pressures difficult to resist," the new report said.

"The protectionist juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down," it said.

U.S.-China is latest dispute

At a meeting last November in Washington to chart a joint strategy for combating the worst global economic downturn in decades, leaders of the 20 largest industrial and developing economies pledged to refrain from erecting new barriers to trade and investment or imposing new export restrictions. They renewed the pledge in April in London.

A U.S.-China dispute that erupted last weekend over Chinese tires and American chicken exports is just the latest example of how hard it has been for leaders to live up to that pledge.

Trade warfare is widely blamed for prolonging and expanding the Great Depression. And while the trade-distorting protectionist measures in the current downturn haven't risen to the level of those of the 1930s, they have caused "pain across large sections of the world economy" and could thwart recovery if allowed to continue, the Global Trade Alert report said.

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Nashville business people

Tommy Allen, PE, is mechanical group manager for Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon Inc., the engineering, planning firm. Allen had been director of engineering for Energy Developments Inc.
James E. (Jim) Varallo is senior managing director for Capital Markets for The March Group. Since 1990, he has owned Varallo Investment Properties.

Insurance

George J. Anderson is a partner at insurance agency Wade & Egbert. Anderson had been president of First Horizon Insurance.

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FedEx sees more global demand

FedEx Corp. reported its smallest drop in international shipments in a year and said those deliveries will increase this quarter, signaling that the worst of the recession may have ended.
Revenue at the second-largest U.S. package-shipping company slid 20 percent to $8.01 billion, trailing the $8.23 billion average estimate of 9 analyst projections compiled by Bloomberg. Net income for the three months ended Aug. 31 was $181 million, or 58 cents a share, the Memphis-based company said.

The 4 percent decline in overseas priority deliveries, the smallest slide in four quarters, reflects returning global demand. FedEx has cut jobs and suspended matching contributions to employees' 401(k) retirement accounts in the recession to lower costs by $3 billion, half of which will be permanent.

"They were a little light on revenue, but it also highlights how effective their cost controls have been," said Don Broughton, an analyst at Avondale Partners in Nashville, who has a "market outperform" rating on the shares.

"International priority has sequentially picked up, and that shows the world economy is starting to recover."

FedEx fell $1.74, or 2.2 percent, to $76.46 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading as U.S. stocks declined.

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Signs buoy Tennessee consumers

First it was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pronouncing the recession near an end earlier this week, and now Nashville-area consumers seem to agree.
A survey by Middle Tennessee State University's consumer research office found that consumers in a three-county area more optimistic about the future than at any time since February 2008, before recession became a scary household word.

It may be that consumers are thinking, "It cannot get much worse, so it has to get better," said Timothy Graeff, director of consumer research.

MTSU's consumer confidence index rose to a score of 142 in September, up from 113 in May and the highest marks since February 2008. The index, which tracks consumers' attitudes, is based on a poll of 450 adults in Davidson, Rutherford and Williamson counties conducted on Monday and Wednesday evenings this week.

One drag on consumer confidence is the weak labor market, according to Graeff, but at least that's showing some signs of stabilizing.

The unemployment rate in Tennessee for August was 10.8 percent, about what it's been all summer, according to the state Labor and Workforce Development Department. That's a sign the jobless rate may be peaking here, officials said.

"It may well be that we're at or near the peak level of unemployment," said Bill Ford, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and a finance professor at Middle Tennessee State University.

The rate could tick up to 11 percent before year's end, he said, and then slowly drift back down in 2010.

One other thing to be cautious about is that retailers in Nashville say they plan to hire fewer people for the holiday shopping season in the weeks ahead, which means Christmas temporary employment opportunities may be scarce.

Outdoor goods retailer Bass Pro Shops in Opry Mills plans to bring on 15 to 20 people to work from November to January, compared with 35 seasonal hires last year.

"We've had a lot less turnover throughout the year, so the need for more is just not there," said Memory Kinslow, the store's human resources manager.

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Real Estate Outlook: Market IndicatorsConsumer confidence improves locally

Consumer confidence improves locally

Confidence among consumers in Middle Tennessee jumped higher in September, and the Murfreesboro college professor who tracks shoppers’ attitudes says residents are more optimistic about the future even though some economic statistics remain weak.
“It cannot get much worse, so it has to get better,” said Dr. Timothy Graeff, director of Middle Tennessee State University’s Office of Consumer Research.

MTSU’s consumer confidence index rose to a score of 142 in September, up from 113 in May and the highest marks since February 2008. The index, which tracks consumers’ attitudes, is based on a poll of 450 adults in Davidson, Rutherford and Williamson counties conducted on Monday and Wednesday evenings this week.

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Former Saint Thomas CEO to run Texas hospital system

Jim Houser, the former chief executive of Saint Thomas Health Services, is returning to running hospitals through an interim CEO role with a hospital system in his hometown.
Houser’s stint begins Monday as Lubbock, Texas-based Covenant Health System prepares for a restructuring to include layoffs and ending or selling off certain programs and services.

He left Nashville-based Saint Thomas seven months ago after medical staff leaders at three of its hospitals cast no-confidence votes in his administration. The doctors were concerned about a review of operations they feared would lead to sharp cuts and reduce their influence.

Covenant is seeking a permanent CEO. Houser, who has a consulting firm, isn’t a candidate, said Holly Kennedy, Covenant’s spokeswoman. “It’s somewhat of a homecoming for him for a little while,” she said.

Houser attended high school and college in Lubbock. He was interim president and CEO of Methodist Hospital System there before its 1998 merger with St. Mary’s Hospital to create Covenant.

Orange, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health System owns Covenant Health System, which operates three hospitals in Lubbock and 15 others across its region.

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Groups make final push to shape climate bill

NEW YORK — Industry, economic and environmental groups are making a final push to influence a climate bill that may go before the Senate within weeks.
Investors managing more than $13 trillion in assets called for new global emissions laws Wednesday, illustrating how the issue has divided even groups that traditionally have opposed new curbs.

Speaking at the International Investor Forum on Climate Change, Lord Nicholas Stern, among Britain's most influential economists, said the global debate over curbing greenhouse gases has reached a critical point.

If the U.S. does not pass substantial climate legislation, few believe other nations, particularly developing countries, will cut emissions on their own.

"We have to act now," said Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. "Some things you can postpone. This is not one of them."

Stern three years ago issued an influential report on the global costs of climate change. Greenhouse gases from burning coal and other fossil fuels are blamed for global warming.

He supports the cap-and-trade system that was passed in the U.S. House in June. The new cap-and-trade rules would, for the first time, place national limits on the amount of carbon dioxide that companies can release into the atmosphere.

The eventual cost to businesses and consumers is at the heart of what has become an intense informational and lobbying campaign on both sides. Environmentalists and some money managers see cap-and-trade as the best way to control carbon emissions, while oil refiners warn the House bill could make foreign petroleum products cheaper and lead to even more imports.

How the U.S. will proceed on climate change legislation was a major topic at the World Economic Forum in China last week, and it is expected to be discussed in coming days when President Barack Obama speaks at a ministerial meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

Todd Stern, the U.S. State Department's special envoy for climate change, said last week that it's crucial for the Senate to pass a climate bill. Doing so would give the U.S. the "credibility and leverage" needed to persuade other countries like China and India to cut their pollution.

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Health insurance premiums ease upward

The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance rose modestly again this year, but researchers predict a return to bigger increases that may eventually produce crippling premiums if left unchecked.
Meanwhile, more workers with single coverage are facing high-deductible plans that make them pay $1,000 or more out of pocket before coverage starts, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, a nonprofit research organization affiliated with the American Hospital Association.

The average annual premium, the amount charged for a fully insured policy, rose 5 percent for the third straight year to surpass $13,000 for employer-sponsored family health coverage.

Employers picked up about 74 percent of that cost, while workers paid the rest. Single coverage remained relatively flat at an average of $4,824, with employers paying 84 percent.

The 2009 increases represent much smaller growth than just a few years ago. Premiums increased anywhere from 10 percent to 13 percent from 2000 to 2004.

But the 2009 numbers still outpaced inflation, which actually fell less than 1 percent, and Kaiser CEO Drew Altman said the slower growth likely would not last.

"We've historically seen these peaks and valleys before, and we always have a bounce back effect," he said.

Experts say premium growth may be slower as a result of the recession and the possibility of health-care reform, both of which make it harder for insurance companies to increase prices. It also may be impacted by growth in high-deductible plans, which generally come with lower premiums, and wellness programs that help employees lead healthier lifestyles in an attempt to pare medical costs.

But Altman said he hasn't seen anything meaningful done to address big drivers behind medical cost increases, like advances in expensive medical technology.

Bigger increases likely

He expects premium increases to return to more typical growth of 7 percent to 9 percent annually, and that could lead to big numbers.

If annual premiums for family coverage grow by an average of 8.7 percent per year over the next decade, as they did from 1999 to 2009, they will increase to more than $30,000, Altman predicted.

"That was a pretty shocking number," he said. "It just underscores the urgency of reaching a stronger consensus about how we're going to tackle the problem of health-care costs."

Premiums track directly with the cost of medical care, according to Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the insurance industry trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans, which was not involved in the study.

"In order to make health care coverage more affordable for families and small businesses, policymakers need to address the underlying cost drivers," he said.

Congress is currently debating several bills that aim to lower costs and cover the uninsured. But benefits consultants have said that if any reform is passed this year, it won't have a major impact for a few years.

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