If this was a Business blog instead of a Fire & Rescue blog, we’d be having a field day today. There are so many things happening on the business front that we’d have to bring in extra help to cover it all.
Leading the headlines would be Microsoft’s announcement that their net income for the quarter ending Dec. 31 rose by 79%. That’ll really torque out the class-envy folks and the Apple Fan Club.
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Microsoft headquarters
Of course, you know that Beer is one of Firegeezer’s passions so we have to mention the sale of Scottish & Newcastle, which is one of Britains few remaining independant brewers. By gobbling S&N up, Carlsberg / Heineken not only acquires the Foster’s label along with it, but they become UK’s largest brewer.
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Beerlabels.com image
In France the country’s second-largest bank, Societe Generale, is on the verge of collapse after it was discovered that a 31-yr.-old rogue employee fraudulently squandered away $7.2 billion in unauthorized stock trading. This is the largest bank-fraud ever, surpassing the $1.3 billion scheme that bankrupted Britain’s Barings Bank in 1995.
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former stock trader
One item that we will be covering in an article today is the FCC auction of the 700 MHz radio spectrums. This will have a definite impact on public service agencies because it will open up a large new frequency for emergency services radios.
And what would an economic circus be without still another collapse of the Italian government? For the 61st time since World War II, it fell yesterday after the prime minister received a no-confidence vote amidst some serious economic turmoil in the country. But not before a rowdy debate in the Senate where one of the senators physically attacked another and left him senseless on the floor of the chamber. Meanwhile, over in Sicily the regional assembly gave a vote of confidence to their governor as he was being led away to begin a 5-year prison sentence.
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Franco Origlia photo
Ah, the business bloggers are having a good day today. But we still have to get the equipment checked out. So let’s get started and I’ll go fix the coffee.
