03/10/2009 : Blue company
Royal Dutch Shell, the oil and gas company, is selling a number of assets, including its European liquid petroleum gas businesses, to fund a £28 billion ($42 billion) capital spending program, The Financial Times reported, citing people involved in the proposed deals.
The Anglo-Dutch giant has said it is looking to divest 15 percent of its global refining capacity as the European oil industry battles a drop in demand for oil products and 15 year-low margins, Reuters noted.
According to The Financial Times, the oil company plans to raise between $2 billion and $3 billion by auctioning off assets that did not contribute to its growth plans, including refining and marketing operations in Europe and mature oil and gas field in the North Sea and Nigeria.
Credit Suisse is advising on the deal, with a number of private equity firms, including Axa Private Equity, Bain Capital and PAI, interested in acquiring the group’s European liquid petroleum gas businesses, the newspaper said.
Go to Article from The Financial Times »
Go to Article from Reuters via The New York Times »
Well FWIW it is a 20 percent increase on those who live off dollar burgers. Plus tax, that's about 21-22 percent increase in food costs for a good portion of America who can least afford it. If you eat these every day it amounts to about $250 dollar increase per person per year.
I eat them all the time, had two of them last night. I've basically lived off them (and other 99cent burgers) the last few months. Didn't have to per se, but it allowed me enough to save for this shiny new i7 920 @ 4ghz I just finished building <1 month ago.
Even worse at least here in AZ, some republicans are trying to lower the minimum wage for people under 22. So, in effect, in an area where youth discrentionary spending and construction account for much of our economy, you're going to see 20 percent increase in this age bracket's food costs (which dollar burgers are a staple of), while seeing their minimum wage (if passed) dropped from 7.25 to about 5.50.
Just wait until they use statistical models to show how this 'helped' employment, rofl. Yeah right.
Don't understimate how much this will impact people. My guess, drop BK, and add McDonalds. Whoever has the dollar menu will win more (or lose less). Margins might be worse, but you'll get the traffic.
It may not affect YOU, but such actions DO affect millions. But this isn't the sky falling, just another example of those who can afford the least, getting screwed even more. (and it won't stop there)
The worst part of the minimum wage decrease, is that there is a 3 month clause in it, which means if the employer doesn't want to pay for the increase (back to normal minimum wage) they can fire them. What a nice way to treat those who are sure to be in even more debt than you were.
Make them feel lucky to work for 5.50/hr, so much so, that they have to prove they are worth the extra money. Of course I can see some real scum bags just making a living of firing people after 3 months to keep labor costs down, regardless of performance.
Also pretty much screws any hard working hs student who is trying to save for college during the summer break (which is gasp…3 months…meaning they would all be working for slave labor every summer).
But most already are, had minimum wage kept up with inflation, it would be 25/hr now. (anyone making 25/hr or less is working for less than minimum wage….and how many would take offense to that…when in reality it's in support of them). It's because they forgot what they are worth.
But this will make you work harder. You make nothing, and are in debt. Thus you need to work harder and be more productive. Except that won't change anything.
One final thing, that 250 dollar increase for double cheeseburgers in a year, is basically a full week of working for slave labor (40-50 hrs) for these poor young suckers. So, if they work 3 months a year, roughly 1 week of that, or 1/12th of what they work for, sucked up by the increase by only 19 cents to a double cheeseburger. Small amounts add up, especially when you work for crap.
Poo-pooing the increase is just bad analysis.
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A bientôt