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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Rat dog micro-cap picks... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (9862)	12/9/2002 9:41:54 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 48461

United Airlines filed for bankruptcy on Monday, the largest such case ever in the global airline industry, after high costs and low air fares left the world's No. 2 carrier with too much debt and not enough cash. United, a unit of UAL Corp. , will continue to fly worldwide as it attempts to reorganize under protection from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Illinois. Judge Eugene Wedoff, chief of the bankruptcy court in Chicago, will preside over the huge bankruptcy case, which the airline said it hopes to complete within 18 months. The airline stressed in a statement it will be "business as usual" for customers. But for employees, suppliers and others, changes are in store, said Chief Executive Glenn Tilton. "During the Chapter 11 process, we will go further and deeper in our efforts to reduce our costs," he said. "We are developing a very compelling plan of reorganization that will enable us to successfully emerge as a stronger company with a competitive cost structure." United, with about 83,000 employees, had two of its Boeing jets commandeered in the devastating attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. Since then it has posted nearly $4 billion in losses, with no end in sight to the red ink. SECOND MAJOR U.S. CARRIER IN COURT Another big U.S. airline, Arlington, Virginia-based US Airways Group , filed for bankruptcy in August, and several smaller carriers have shut down altogether. For United, which has a history of labor troubles and some of the highest wage costs in the industry, the downturn has also proved too difficult to navigate. The U.S. government last week rejected the airline's bid for federal loan guarantees, which had been its last hope for securing fresh capital. The court filing has been widely expected and analysts generally predict a successful although lengthy court process. "The odds clearly favor a reorganization, but that is by no means a foregone conclusion," said Gary Chase, airline analyst at Lehman Brothers. "United and its employees and suppliers have to quickly address the company's heavy cash burn in order to ensure a successful reorganization." Sources familiar with the situation said the government's rejection, which angered unions and some politicians, came despite a last-minute offer of an additional $500 million in annual wage concessions by a group of unions. Leaders of United's key unions agreed to a total of $5.2 billion in wage cuts over 5-1/2 years, but rank-and-file mechanics rejected their $700 million portion the night before Thanksgiving, dealing the bailout plan a blow. United is 55 percent employee-owned, and the pilots and machinists each have a seat on the company's board after a 1994 employee stock ownership plan was put in place. A simple majority vote from the board was required to approve a bankruptcy filing. Bankruptcy usually leaves a company's common stock worthless. "The natural tendency in situations like this is to waste energy placing the blame," Chase said. "Unfortunately, that's the most unproductive thing that United and its employees and creditors can do at this time, given that time is of the essence." UAL shares were trading at 55 cents in preopen dealings on Monday, down from a Friday close at 93 cents on the New York Stock Exchange. FINANCING IN PLACE ((Curious how they didn't need a co-signer for this money))???? United confirmed it arranged with a group of banks for $1.5 billion in financing to see it through bankruptcy. At the final hour, GE Capital pulled out of the group of lenders and was replaced by CIT Group . The other three lenders are JP Morgan Chase , Citibank and Bank One . Bank One, based in Chicago, will take the heaviest exposure at $600 million. Of its share, half or $300 million is a separate credit line. The remaining $1.2 billion of the financing is divided equally among the four institutions. Banks and others are willing to lend United the money in bankruptcy because these particular credit lines get paid back first. United, based in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, has hired two high-profile public relations firms to help it present the bankruptcy in the best possible light and encourage travelers to continue to use the airline.

To: ~digs who wrote (9862)	12/9/2002 9:49:10 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

Snow is a re-hash from the Gerald Ford administration, which was noteworthy for nothing that I can remember... I mean he got beat by a peanut farmer... They need a person of the stature of Robert Rubin. At any rate, he will be a yes man to the Bush clan..

To: ~digs who wrote (9862)	12/9/2002 9:54:35 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 48461

IBM creates tiniest transistor for silicon chips SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. will announce on Monday the smallest ever working silicon transistor to serve as the nerve center in electronics ranging from televisions to PCs and cars. For the past 30 years the industry has been shrinking microprocessors -- the brains of computers -- and other chip components to put more function into smaller and smaller cell phones and other computing devices. Transistors, basically the on-off switches that regulate the flow of electronic signals used for computing and other processes, are key parts of the chip. Reducing the size of the on-off switch in the transistor, known in the industry as gate length, boosts chip performance and speed, and lowers manufacturing cost and power consumption, IBM said. The proof-of-concept transistor measures six nanometers -- about 20,000 times smaller than the width of a single human hair, according to IBM. That's at least 10 times smaller than transistors in use today, which range between 60 to 90 nanometers, said Meikei Ieong, a researcher on the IBM project. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. "Each generation of such scaled devices has historically reduced the cost of doing some function by about 25 percent per year," said Juri Matisoo, vice president of technology for the Semiconductor Industry Assocation trade group. "So what it means, basically, is that things are going to get a lot cheaper and that you'll be able to do things that aren't possible today, from a point of view of performance, such as language translation," Matisoo said. "You could conceive of cell phones that automatically translate from one language to another," he added. However, it could be 10 years or more before the teeny transistors find their way into products on store shelves, Matisoo said. First, researchers must figure out how to handle the increased heat that is generated when more transistors are packed into a smaller area. "You could pack 100 times as many of these transistors in the space of one of today's transistors," said Matisoo. "So, it's a big jump forward." As they get smaller, transistors also are more difficult to turn on and off, so IBM is working on complementary research into how to flip the switches faster, Ieong said. "This allows us to be ahead of the game" on boosting performance of chips, he said. "It opens up a new research area for us that wasn't possible in the past."

To: ~digs who wrote (9862)	12/10/2002 9:23:06 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 48461

More on the Treasury pick, and this will make you puke> AHEAD OF THE TAPE By JESSE EISINGER WSJ Mr. Snow's Job Wall Street was unimpressed by President Bush's appointment of John Snow for Treasury secretary. But in one way, the chairman and chief executive of CSX is a great Wall Street friend. CSX has been raising money steadily from investors because it doesn't generate enough of its own. While CSX's operating income is rising and net income has looked positive, the railroad company actually has been bleeding cash. For the first nine months of this year, cash flow from operations totaled $693 million and capital expenditure was $743 million, for a $50 million hole. (In that period, operating income rose.) The company has shown net income for the past five years. But in those five years, according to a calculation in an October report from the accounting watchdog Center for Financial Research and Analysis, CSX has had cumulative free cash flow -- which is the amount of cash left after taking out capital expenditures and money needed to run the business -- of negative $1.18 billion. And so CSX must rely on the good graces of Wall Street, raising debt even as cash is dwindling. Net debt has risen steadily to $6.82 billion from $5.85 billion in the third quarter of 2000 and is at its highest level in seven years, according to CFRA. Cash is less that half of what it was during the third quarter of 2000. Mr. Snow is clearly a guy who understands deficit spending. Just like most companies that don't generate free cash, CSX used a variety of complicated accounting maneuvers that became standard during the 1990s bull market. CSX has a complex corporate structure relating to its bitter takeover battle with Norfolk Southern over Conrail. CSX securitizes its accounts receivables, a standard financial transaction, but one that should raise eyebrows. The use of such special purposing indicates the company is willing to pay a little for cash today, instead of waiting a couple of months to collect the full value of its customers' bills. In the most recent quarter, it managed an earnings boost from lowering its tax rate. In 2001, CSX reduced its reserves for things like future environmental and employee-injury claims, resulting in a boost to operating income. In the past decade under Mr. Snow's stewardship, CSX's stock price has fallen 17%, while the S&P 500 has risen 111%. John Snow, in other words, didn't preside over a company with a stellar record of clear and strong financial performance. The markets will need a better job from him at Treasury. ______________________ He also gets a $3.3 million walkaway from CSX, based I am sure on his brilliant business savvy.... American business, ain't it great?