Senate minority leader from Upper Peninsula replaces Schauer, who was elected to Congress.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

LANSING -- Maybe no state lawmaker better understands Michigan's blue-collar workers than new Senate Minority Leader Mike Prusi, who mined iron ore in his native Upper Peninsula for more than 20 years.

He filed for unemployment benefits when the cyclical steel industry slumped in the 1980s. He got workers' compensation after being scalded by steam and going to the hospital for 10 days.

"I've done the work that a lot of other people in this state have done," Prusi, a Democrat, said in a recent interview. "I've lived through the ups and downs of layoffs and on-the-job injuries, and fought for people's jobs and fought for people's rights on the job."

January 16, 2009

The ideological differences between Russia and Ukraine are affecting their shared commercial interests. Previous disputes have centered on Ukraine drifting ever closer to the West -- a battle that resulted in Russia cutting natural gas shipments to Europe two years ago by as much as 30 percent.

While the issues today are similar, both sides say they want to assure that Europe gets the gas it needs. The incident, though, is already affecting supplies to the continent. But the difference between today's flare up and that of the one in 2006 is that the European nations recognize the fragility of the situation and have therefore banked enough natural gas to survive -- for the time being.

January 09, 2009

Revelers have bid adieu to 2008. But many folks are having difficulty saying goodbye to some gems of the American economy. Long-standing investment banking and automotive names that been knocked down are being pulled back to their feet.

The federal government has determined that some institutions are "too big to fail" and that any bankruptcy would be unduly disruptive. In other instances, though, the feds are letting the laggards pay the ultimate price. The decisions appear arbitrary but the general thinking among policymakers is that a dour business cycle would become even worse if taxpayers sat idle.

Siemens AG's $1.6 Billion Penalty for Bribing Foreign Officials is a Warning to the International Energy Industry

January 6, 2009

For over 30 years, companies operating in the global energy arena have had to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). During the past 10 years, other countries have enacted their own versions of the FCPA. International energy companies that have thus far discounted or ignored these anticorruption laws recently received a $1.6 billion warning from the U.S. and German governments.

December 19, 2008

Recall the windfall profits tax? No, not the one implemented as part of the Jimmy Carter presidential administration. It's the one proposed by candidate Barack Obama earlier in the year -- the one that would make Big Oil pay a tax on their "excessive" profits and the one that would shift that money over to ordinary folks to pay energy bills.

Well, it died. President-elect Obama had a change of heart. When he made that proposal in the spring, the price of oil was well over $100 a barrel and Americans were pretty peeved. Their investment portfolios were taking a big hit while they read about Exxon reporting quarterly profits in the multi-billions.