Am I BANANAS? Chiquita Brands Intl PAID TERRORISTS!? see full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/

Chiquita brands International said Wednesday it has agreed to a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a volatile farming region of Colombia.
BOYCOTT ALL CHIQUITA BRANDS! The company grows, procures, markets, and distributes bananas and other fresh fruits and vegetables under the premium Chiquita brand. Its products are sold in some 70 countries worldwide. Bananas account for approximately 50% of Chiquita’s total sales; other products include whole citrus fruits, melons, grapes, apples, and tomatoes, as well as fresh-cut items and processed fruit ingredients. Chiquita has completed its acquisition of the Fresh Express unit of Performance Food Group; Fresh Express is the leading seller of packaged salads in the US.
.(above from hoovers.com) I am wrting US District Attorney Alberto Gonzales ,Homeland Security and the FDA. Why was no one indicted under some federal law?
NJ–lol. I was worried abut that too, but it was the only US DA attorney I knew of that still had a job….for now..
s t – i would say an apple a day but since Chiquita produces those, too–how about Sunmaid Raisins instead? Also, DON’T BUY ANY FRESH EXPRESS PACKAGED SALADS!! (chiquita owns that, too)

finance exam..commenting on ratios?

In my upcoming exam, I know that I am going to be given a balance sheet and profit and loss figures.
We are going to be asking to calculate:

Gross profit to sales
Net profit to sales
Return on total assets
Acid test

And so on..

However, the question after this will ask us something similar to … “Using your ratios and financial statements provided, draft a commentary for the consideration of the group of existing shareholders reviewing critically the companys current financial performance and position relative to the market sector.
You should group your comments under the following three headings:
Profitability and return on captial
Liquidity and working capital
Share Performance and Financial Risk

I dont understand what to do here?
Would it be a case of looking at the figures of the ratios and comparing them to the average figures?

Im confused with this. I would like to try and understand

thanks

How do you play Basketball?

A few weeks ago, Transport Canada and hundreds of airline passengers across Canada dodged another bullet with the cessation of regular domestic flights by Canjet Airlines. Unlike Jetsgo, which slunk off into financial oblivion without notice, leaving ticketed passengers in the lurch, Canjet arranged for an orderly departure from their service operations. But Canjet didn’t have to be careful in closing down its operations. Like Jetsgo, it could have abandoned passengers to the vagaries of credit card charge backs and travel protection fund schemes in place in only three provinces. For consumers and the travel agencies that serve consumers, that is not right.

The chief obstacle to fixing this problem is the uniform approach of Transport Canada to the regulation of airlines that supposes that the marketplace can police all industry issues such as financial viability of airlines and compensation for jilted passengers. It is unfortunately an approach that ignores the realities of the passenger airline market.

Customers can’t be expected to do a financial analysis of airline operations to determine solvency before purchasing a ticket. Airline financiers should not be able to skip out the door, potentially leaving the industry stakeholders with fewest resources, namely passengers and travel agents who contribute to provincial compensation funds to foot the bill.

Government indifference to consumer issues will not produce a flourishing competitive domestic market for airline travel. The current amendments to the Canadian Transportation Act, Bill C-11, now before the House of Commons Standing Committee do make a tentative first step towards consumer protection. These amendments allow the Minister to make regulations to deal with air carriers that advertise flights at one price, then charge a much higher price in the actual ticket sale after all the mandatory charges and fees are added in. But more is needed to provide a minimum package of passenger safeguards.

By all means, consumers should have the right to fly on their airline of choice. But unless they have the information about airline financial and operational performance, how can they be expected to make a choice? The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at least requires collection and publication of data on customer problems such as airline flight delays, mishandled baggage and oversold flights, the kind of information that is useful in choosing an airline. The abolition of the office the Airlines Consumer Complaints Commissioner, as contemplated by Bill C-11, will also hardly improve passenger welfare, without the implementation of a more proactive response, currently missing from the legislation.

Bill C-11, currently before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transportation and Communications, represents a unique opportunity to address the gaps in Transport Canada’s oversight, by giving the Minister the power and responsibility to monitor airline financial and operational performance. Through amendments to Bill C-11, it is possible to adopt measures that would bolster consumer confidence and promote competition by ensuring a stable market with transparent and measurable standards applicable across the Board.

A coalition of travel industry and consumer groups, styled the Travel Protection Initiative (TPI), has been working for the last two years to modernize the Transport Canada’s rather blasé supervision of the passenger interest in airline regulation. The TPI package of reforms responds directly to the existing industry problems identified above. The TPI-urged response is hardly revolutionary, but its adoption would earn parliamentarians the continuing gratitude of passengers and travel professionals across Canada.

Ex-President Mr.Kalam starting e-paper a good idea?

All wishes Mr. Kalam’s Billion Bits -World’s first ex-president to
launch an e-paper. His art of Management using all the latest
developments in modern technology aiming the progress of the country
with his dedicated service has become a part and parcel of everyday
life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in Government. In
all organizations, where a group of human beings assemble for a common
purpose irrespective of caste, creed, and religion, management
principles come into play through the management of resources, finance
and planning, priorities, policies and practice. Management is a
systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human
effort. Management need to focus more on leadership skills, e.g.,
establishing vision and goals, communicating the vision and goals, and
guiding others to accomplish them. It also assert that leadership must
be more facilitative, participative and empowering in how visions and
goals are established and carried out. Some people assert that this
really isn’t a change in the management functions, rather it’s
re-emphasizing certain aspects of management.
Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their
weaknesses irrelevant, says the Management Guru Peter Drucker who
envisaged social responsibility for the first time. It creates harmony
in working together – equilibrium in thoughts and actions, goals and
achievements, plans and performance, products and markets. It resolves
situations of scarcity, be they in the physical, technical or human
fields, through maximum utilization with the minimum available
processes to achieve the goal. Lack of management causes disorder,
confusion, wastage, delay, destruction and even depression. Managing
men, money and materials in the best possible way, according to
circumstances and environment, is the most important and essential
factor for a successful management

Which of the following statements concerning common stock and the investment banking process is NOT CORRECT?

Which of the following statements concerning common stock and the investment banking process is NOT CORRECT? and why

a.The preemptive right gives each existing common stockholder the right to purchase his or her proportionate share of a new stock issue.
b.If a firm sells 1,000,000 new shares of Class B stock, the transaction occurs in the primary market.
c.Listing a large firm’s stock is often considered to be beneficial to stockholders because the increases in liquidity and reputation probably outweigh the additional costs to the firm.
d.Stockholders have the right to elect the firm’s directors, who in turn select the officers who manage the business. If stockholders are dissatisfied with management’s performance, an outside group may ask the stockholders to vote for it in an effort to take control of the business. This action is called a tender offer.
e.The announcement of a large issue of new stock could cause the stock price to fall. This loss is called “market pressure,” and it is treated as a flotation cost because it is a cost to stockholders that is associated with the new issue.