BUSINESS BRIEFS
American Samoa needs help too, governor says
Associated Press
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono is asking congressional leaders not to forget the U.S. territory as they consider economic recovery programs.
American Samoa needs help as it suffers from the global economic slowdown, weak per capita domestic gross production and the lowest per capita income of the territories, Tulafono said, citing data collected in 2006.
"With the present economic crisis, I urgently request action on an investment and jobs creation program. Such a national program should also address the economic conditions in the territories, particularly American Samoa. Recovery legislation will help us cope with the current economic difficulties and thus secure future growth," Tulafono said.
The governor wrote to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and six committee chairmen in the Senate and House in letters dated Dec. 10.
Tulafono said American Samoa has a large number of subsistence workers who can't find employment, its young population is growing three times faster than the national growth rate, and recent employment gains have occurred mainly in low-wage sectors.
LAWMAKERS FAILED TO ACT, VP SAYS
WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney blamed Congress for failing to bail out the auto industry.
Cheney said the economy is in such bad shape that the car companies might not have survived without the $17.4 billion in emergency loans that President Bush approved on Friday.
"The president decided specifically that he wanted to try to deal with it and not preside over the collapse of the automobile industry just as he goes out of office," Cheney said in an interview broadcast on "Fox News Sunday."
Lawmakers "had ample opportunity to deal with this issue and they failed," Cheney said. "The president had no choice but to step in."
Congress rejected an auto bailout package after many Republicans and some Democrats opposed it. Some said U.S. auto companies would be better off if they were required to reorganize through bankruptcy.
MANY EATERIES OPEN FOR XMAS
In the midst of one of the restaurant industry's worst-ever downturns, thousands of restaurants nationwide will do something on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year's Day that they've never done before: open their doors.
After a terrible 2008, there is growing sentiment to keep the doors open on Christmas. "It makes perfect sense," said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president at the National Restaurant Association. "This is the toughest environment since the early 1980s."
The NRA projects that restaurant sales nationally will grow an anemic 2.5 percent in 2009. Adjusted for inflation, sales will actually decline 1 percent, Riehle said.
JAPAN'S EXPORTS PLUNGE 26.7%
TOKYO — Japan's exports plunged in November, signaling more factory shutdowns and job cuts are likely as the recession deepens.
Exports fell 26.7 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said yesterday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted a 22.3 percent decline.
The Bank of Japan lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.1 percent last week after business sentiment dropped the most since 1975 and the yen surged to a 13-year high against the dollar. Honda Motor Co. said last week that it may shift manufacturing overseas if the currency strengthens further.
Gross domestic product shrank in the past two quarters, sending the world's second-largest economy into the first recession since 2001. The government last week forecast zero growth for the year starting April 1.
Honda, Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. are among the companies that are shedding thousands of workers and closing production lines as profits dwindle.
