| NASCAR Boss Brian France's State of the Sport Address
One aspect that I'm especially proud of is our driver's charitable efforts including childhood health, education, community development, animal welfare and the environment and many others. That's why the NASCAR Foundation now supports over 30 driver charities and more outside the industry. So the one change we are going to make for 2008 is fines based on NASCAR's penalties will go to the NASCAR Foundation for its charitable initiatives. Now that NASCAR Foundation is well-established and supporting dozens of charitable organizations, it's the logical place for fine monies to be distributed. We also want to welcome Garth Brooks this year with the fifth annual and very successful NASCAR Day. Garth will be seen in our promotional spots on behalf of the foundation. He's a big fan. He loves the sport.
Advocacy group seeks fairness in lending
The New York-based consumer advocacy group makes a habit of being a thorn in its side, especially when big banks want to merge.
In the past year or so, Fair Finance has filed nearly 10 regulatory protests contesting proposed bank mergers -- the latest being RBC Centura Bank's pending buyout of Alabama National Bancorp., which has a growing presence in Central Florida with its Florida Choice Bank subsidiary.
Fair Finance's central issue -- over and over again -- is that the banks don't do enough to remedy the wide gap between minority borrowers and non-minorities when it comes to access to conventional financing for home loans.
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Apple's computer, incorporated
At first glance, it might have seemed that the Mac was invisible at Macworld Expo. During Steve Jobs's keynote address, there was no announcement of new Mac hardware, no news about Leopard, no word about iLife or iWork—and to top it all off, Jobs announced that Computer was no longer part of Apple's name. This has led some pundits to conclude—wrongly—that Apple's success in consumer electronics signifies some sort of decrease in its commitment to the Mac. Part of this stems from Apple's recent history as a one-product company; between the eras of the Apple II and the iPod, the Mac was the only product keeping Apple afloat. It's time to spread the news that Apple is no longer a one-product company. The iPod, the iPhone, and the Apple TV are not products that Apple created at the expense of the Mac; it created them in addition to the Mac.
Manufacturing expands moderately in November
NEW YORK — U.S. manufacturing expanded in November as new orders and production improved, but the pace of growth was a touch weaker than the prior month. The Institute for Supply Management, a Tempe, Ariz.-based trade group, said Monday that its manufacturing index registered 50.8 last month, down from 50.9 in October. A reading above 50 indicates growth; below that spells contraction. The results were slightly stronger than the 50.1 expected by analysts polled by Thomson/IFR Markets. ‘‘Manufacturing continued to grow during November, a trend that is now in its 10th month,’’ Norbert Ore, chairman of the institute’s business survey committee, said in a statement. ‘‘While other segments of the economy are struggling, manufacturing continues to grow due to continuing strength in new orders, and a recovery in production from last month,’’ he said.
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