The Statue of Liberty | blog

Citigroup Inc. is increasing the base salaries of many employees – reportedly by as much as 50 percent for some workers – as it restructures their compensation amid government restrictions on bonuses.

The higher salaries are not the equivalent of annual raises because bonuses are being lowered, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because the plans have not been made public.

Employee compensation at financial companies, particularly in the form of bonuses, has brought criticism after the government gave the banks hundreds of billions in bailout dollars. Citi and the other companies who still hold bailout funds face limits on bonuses as part of a new government compensation oversight plan. The Treasury Department had no immediate comment about Citi’s change in compensation plans.

By: theolympian.com    Read more >>

Messaging matters in Washington, so why did New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg go mushy when talking to reporters about a government-run insurance program?

Bloomberg privately told lawmakers Wednesday that he supports the public plan option. After a meeting with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), a key vote on the Senate Finance Committee, Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern tweeted, “Lobbying with Mayor Bloomberg on health care. Leaving Senator Snowe. Mayor big proponent of keeping people healthy and the right public plan.”

But later, when Bloomberg got behind the microphone at a press conference with Stern and SEIU health care point man Dennis Rivera, the mayor was noncommittal on a public plan.

“What I support and don’t support is not important. What I care about is how any plan they pass will affect New York City,” Bloomberg said. “I don’t want to go and prejudice their negotiations. In a real world, they have to come up with something that can get a majority of the votes. And to polarize them is just dysfunctional. It may make a great sound bite for you, but it doesn’t help the country.”

By: politico.com      Read more >>

SYMANTEC AND MCAFEE have agreed to pay the state of New York $750,000 as a penalty for renewing customers’ software subscriptions without clearly telling the punters that they would do so automatically.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had accused Symantec and McAfee of having an auto-renewal subscription policy which was about as transparent as the Great Wall of China.

By: theinquirer.net   Read more >>

The New York Times Co., while furiously slashing costs at the Boston Globe, has hired an investment bank to shop the paper around, the Globe disclosed yesterday.

The report, which came after the company cut the pay of Globe journalists by 23 percent, said the information came from two people interested in making a bid for New England’s largest newspaper. But whether a serious buyer emerges for the money-losing daily is an open question.

In another development that could alter the media landscape, Rupert Murdoch is on the verge of selling his conservative magazine, the Weekly Standard, to billionaire Philip Anschutz, owner of the Washington Examiner. A source familiar with Murdoch’s plans, who declined to be identified discussing private negotiations, confirmed a Los Angeles Times report about the pending deal.

By: washingtonpost.com      Read more >>

A new poll indicates New York Gov. David Paterson is less popular than his predecessor Eliot Spitzer who resigned in disgrace for seeing a prostitute.

A telephone sampling of adults throughout the state found only 21 percent of New Yorkers have a favorable view of Gov. Paterson compared to 26 percent who see Spitzer in a positive light, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The poll by the Times, Cornell University and NY1 News found seven in 10 respondents said Paterson did not deserve to be elected New York governor in 2010.

Attorney Gen. Andrew Cuomo, a potential 2010 challenger to Paterson, received overwhelming approval of the way he was handling his job, the Times said.

By: upi.com     Read more >>