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International
Monday, January 14, 2013
BUSINESS
Reuters
ZURICH - Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) will cut its bonus pool for 2012 by 20 percent to around 2.3 billion Swiss francs ($2.52 billion), the fourth year in a row the Swiss bank has slashed payouts, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Citing unnamed sources, Der Sonntag newspaper said the 20,000 employees of Credit Suisse’s investment bank were allocated significantly over 1 billion francs, while the 14,000 staff of the private bank would get some 400-500 million francs. allowed to join the scheme. The creation of a new Credit Suisse scheme comes as banks bow to the demands of shareholders and regulators to move away from cash bonuses in favor of alternatives that are more aligned with the risks bankers are taking. Two earlier schemes have helped the bank to transfer $17 billion of troubled loans and derivatives off its balance sheet and have also allowed the bank to save about $1.4 billion on cash or share-based bonus payments. Further details of the Plus Bond, which will have a “similar” structure and composition to the 2011 scheme, will be announced to staff later in January, a spokesman has said.
A logo is seen in front of a Credit Suisse building in Zurich, May 4, 2012.
REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Kuwait wealth fund had The New (Old) Payroll Tax Is Starting to Hit Hard $261 billion assets in March 2012: paper Reuters
KUWAIT - A rainy day fund managed by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) had assets currently worth more than $261 billion at the end of March last year, a local newspaper reported on Sunday citing a government audit. Oil-producing Kuwait, one of the world’s richest countries per capita, puts a percentage of its annual revenues into the Future Generations Fund, a nest egg for when oil supplies diminish or for when the economy suffers other shocks. Daily al-Qabas said 47 percent of the fund was invested in stocks and that its total size was 73.63 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($261.61 billion) at the end of March. This would be $261.47 billion according
to the current exchange rate or $266 billion at the time. The KIA, which does not officially disclose its assets under management, was not immediately available for comment. In September last year, OPEC member Kuwait decided it would start putting 25 percent of revenues into the fund, up from 10 percent previously, in order to invest state money more efficiently. The fund, which invests outside Kuwait, was set up in 1976 and all investment income is reinvested. It is meant to provide for future generations in a country where more than half of nationals are under 25. The KIA also manages a large General Reserve Fund which acts as the main treasurer for the government and receives all revenues.
Bali News
Monday, January 14, 2013
5
To cope with bird flu virus of clade 2.3.2
Credit Suisse to cut bonus pool by 20 percent: paper A Credit Suisse spokeswoman declined to comment. The expected payout of 2.3 billion francs compares to 3 billion francs the bank allotted to bonuses in 2011 and 5 billion it paid in 2010. Der Sonntag said the bonus pool was likely to sink another 20 percent this year to 1.8 billion francs. Credit Suisse, which like other global investment banks has suffered from sluggish markets in the wake of the financial crisis, is axing jobs as it seeks to make 4 billion francs of cost savings by 2015. Reuters reported earlier this month that the bank is preparing to offload more risk exposure to investment bank staff in its 2012 bonus giveaway but significantly fewer managers will be
International
Shortly after Congress passed legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff, with headlines touting that rates had been raised only on those making more than $400,000 per year, some buzz-killing news for the less-wealthy emerged. Workers’ share of the Social Security payroll tax, which had been temporarily cut from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for two years, was immediately snapping back to the higher level. The result is smaller paychecks for all wage earners, with the country’s economic recovery still sluggish and unemployment stubbornly high. A worker making $50,000 in 2013 will take home $38.46 less per two-week paycheck, or $1,000 per year. The payroll tax holiday was never intended to be permanent; at a cost to the government of hundreds of billions of dollars, tax experts widely expected it to lapse. Already, it’s possible that we’re seeing the first impacts. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index—which measures Americans’ views on the economy, their own finances, and whether it’s a good time to make purchases—fell to -34.4, from -31.8, for the week ending
on Jan. 6. The index had been improving fitfully since August. At the same time, jobless claims rose unexpectedly, to 371,000, when economists had expected a drop to 365,000. Workers may not notice the payroll tax’s impact until they get their first paychecks of 2013, but employers have known the increase was likely. Six-point-two percent is just half the Social Security payroll tax. (Employers pay the other half.) That makes the hike especially onerous to the self-employed, who now face a rate of 12.4 percent. The tax stings in other ways, too. In 2013, it applies to only the first $113,700 in wages. A person making $1,000,000 pays $7,049, the same as a person making $10,000,000. In other words, the more you make above the cutoff, the less the payroll tax matters to you in percentage terms. Workers who earn below the cutoff feel the full 6.2 percent bite, making the payroll tax one of the federal code’s more regressive levies. The payroll tax whiplash could be especially hard on upper-middle-class families in which both parents work. Because it affects each earner’s pay, a
husband and wife making $100,000 apiece will end up owing more than would a single breadwinner earning $200,000. President Obama and Congress negotiated the 2 percent tax holiday in December 2010. Their hope was that extra money suddenly appearing in workers’ paychecks would get spent, boosting the economy. Neither side wanted to undercut Social Security funding, though, by making the reduction permanent—and now the result could be a form of antistimulus. Analysts have told Bloomberg News they expect sales at Dollar General, Family Dollar, and other stores that cater to low-income shoppers to fall as the payroll tax increase begins to take hold. It’s “like a splash of cold water,” Credit Suisse analyst Edward Kelly told Bloomberg News. “It represents a direct reduction of spending by the lower-end consumer.” The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group backed by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, has created a calculator that lets filers get an idea as to what they can expect to owe in April 2014.
Government develops new bird flu vaccine Denpasar (Bali Post)—
To overcome the new variant of bird flu virus or the clade 2.3.2 attacking poultry like ducks in a number of regions, the central government is producing a new type of bird flu vaccine for the clade 2.3.2 that will start to be distributed free of charge to farmers in February 2013. A member of Commission II of the Bali House, Nyoman Gede Putra Astawa, said on Friday (Jan 11) the Department of Agriculture of the RI would produce vaccine for the new type of bird flu or the clade 2.3.2. Central government targeted to produce 75 million doses of vaccine in 2013 carried out in stages. In the early stage, 25 million doses of vaccine would be produced. Furthermore, Putra Astawa also asked the Bali provincial government to move quickly in order to find out the more optimal solution against the case of bird flu where one of them was to ask for fund to central government for handling the case of bird flu. Moreover, the more hazardous and deadly bird flu virus of new variant 2.3.2 had been detected in three counties namely Buleleng, Klungkung and Tabanan. He added that on Monday (Jan 14) the Bali House would come to central government to accompany the Livestock Agency with the purpose of applying more funds to tackle the outbreak of bird flu in Bali. But, Putra Astawa did not know about the amount of fund to be sought because it was drafted by the Livestock Agency. “We want the government to move quickly. Next Monday, the Bali House will leave for Jakarta to help the Livestock Agency communicate to the Department of Agriculture and the House of Representatives in order that Bali could receive financial assistance for handling bird flu,” he said. Meanwhile, a lecturer from the Udayana University, Prof. Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika, gladly welcomed the effort of government to create new vaccine that would be ready to be distributed starting next February. But according to him, before the new vaccine existed, it needed studying further whether the old vaccine could not protect the poultry. His party made cooperation with private parties to test whether the old vaccine could not still protect the poultry from the new virus variant. “Before the new vaccine arrives, rather than there was no vaccination, probably the old vaccine can still be used temporarily,” he said. Prof. Mahardika assessed the new type of bird flu virus was most likely originated from the migratory wild birds. Wild birds could migrate across the countries, and they could be geese, flying ducks or whistling duck. They migrated and looked for food like in lakes. Then, it came in contact with local poultry. It could happen directly and indirectly. Their droppings could contaminate the water. Meanwhile, the entry of virus to Bali was alleged to come through illegal poultry delivery to Bali. It was impossible to stop the migration of the wild birds, but at least there was a specific diagnostic tool for the development of the group of influenza viruses. Besides, to avoid the bird flu virus, poultry farmers were encouraged not to raise poultry nomadically in order not to be contaminated by the virus and had no contact with wild birds. Additionally, the water resources for poultry were expected to originate from springs and not from wells, ditches and streams because it had the risk of having contact with wild poultry. (kmb29)
IBP/File
A chicken seller is checking his chickens in the market.
Predicted dragged by current
A man found decaying Semarapura (Bali Post)-
A corpse with no identity was found floating at Dusun Ceningan, Lembongan Village, Nusa Penida, Klungkung last Thursday (10/1) afternoon. The decaying corpse had its head only it skull appearing and after evacuated it was brought to Nusa Penida II Health Community Center, Jungut Batu to be checked then later on moved to Sanglah Hospital. Head of Nusa Penida Police, PC I Wayan Sarjana, last Friday (11/1) stated the corpse was found by a local, Wayan Darsa, around 5 pm local time. From the checking result at the Center, the corpse is a male, predicted to be 36 years old and height 179 cm. When found he is wearing a green t-shirt and blue pants. All parts of head
and neck have been damaged and predicted have been in the ocean for a week. It is not known what nationality is the corpse yet it is expected to be a victim of a huge current, high waves and strong wind that has been happening in Bali recently. Even Sarjana admitted he almost became a victim of it when sending the corpse to Sanglah Hospital as a five meters wave hit the ship he was in. “It seemed Mr. x was dragged just like the corpse found a while ago. On the TV it was reported there were two students missing dragged by current in Java. This could be one of them. The corpse is now at Sanglah Hospital and it a family feels this is their family member can check there straight away,” Sarjana stated. (kmb31)