BUSINESS BRIEFS
Stimulus checks give after-tax incomes big boost
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Millions of economic stimulus payments sent after-tax incomes surging in May by the largest amount since a similar recession-fighting effort by Gerald Ford 33 years ago.
All the extra money helped to push consumer spending up by the largest amount in six months, but economists warned the boost would likely prove short-lived given all the other problems facing consumers at present.
The Commerce Department reported yesterday that after-tax disposable incomes jumped by 5.7 percent in May, the biggest one-month gain since a 6.3 percent increase in May 1975 when Ford was president. He was fighting a recession that year with a program to mail individual taxpayers $50 checks.
This time around individual payments range from $300 to $600 with couples getting up to $1,200. In all, $48.1 billion in rebate payments were made in May. So far, payment total $78.3 billion — three-fourths of the $106.7 billion scheduled to be paid to 130 million households.
NORTHWEST UNION OKS DELTA DEAL
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Leaders in the pilot union at Northwest Airlines Corp. approved a tentative joint contract with Delta Air Lines Inc. to take effect after the two airlines combine.
The next step is a vote by rank-and-file pilots at both airlines.
The Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots Association says its Master Executive Council voted unanimously to send the proposed contract to pilots for a vote.
They still need to work out a merged seniority list, and that can be the toughest part of combining two pilot groups. They have agreed on a process for doing the seniority list, and negotiations are expected to start later this summer.
The airlines are aiming to close Delta's acquisition of Northwest by the end of the year.
TOYOTA MAY EDGE GM SALES IN JUNE
DETROIT — Toyota Motor Corp. could overtake General Motors Corp. in monthly U.S. sales for the first time in June, but the victory could be a hollow one as the weak economy continues to pummel the auto industry and even Toyota struggles to meet U.S. consumers' sudden and insatiable demand for hybrid cars.
Analysts are predicting another double-digit dip in June sales, in large part because buyers are shunning big vehicles. Automakers report sales figures Tuesday.
J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing and consulting company, predicts the annualized sales rate for June — which shows what sales would be if they continued at the same rate for a full year — could be 12.5 million vehicles. If so, that would be the lowest monthly rate since 1992.
BRIBE PLAN GETS ATTORNEY 5 YEARS
OXFORD, Miss. — Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, who became one of the wealthiest civil lawsuit attorneys in the country by taking on tobacco, asbestos and insurance companies, was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison for conspiring to bribe a judge.
Scruggs, 62, nearly fainted as the judge scolded him for his conduct, and people in the courtroom gasped as he swayed side to side. He had to be seated for a time before the sentence was read, but later stood back up.
U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. called Scruggs' conduct "reprehensible" and fined him $250,000. Scruggs will also lose his law license.
The judge handed down the full sentence requested by prosecutors despite arguments from the defense for half that time in prison.
Scruggs was indicted in November along with his son and a law partner after an associate wore a wire for the FBI and secretly recorded conversations about the bribe plan.
Prosecutors said he wanted a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina insurance cases.
