Budweiser beer seeks approval to be called 'America' this summer

   Forget asking for a Budweiser in 2016, soon you'll be grabbing an America.

American currency has long held claim to being the only thing found in bars that boasts the phrase "E Pluribus Unum." This summer, Budweiser wants to change that by rebranding itself as "America" and peppering its packaging with that very phrase, alongside some others like "Liberty and Justice for All" and "Indivisible Since 1776."

That's right. The company wants to replace "Budweiser," the name of the beer, with the word "America," the name of thecountry, for the summer. According to AdAge, Anheuser-Busch InBev has filed the above label for approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

In addition to the aforementioned phrases, the word-heavy label would include, in all capital letters, the following: "Land of the Free," "Home of the Brave" and "From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters this land was made for you and me."

Don't worry - there's more. It's topped with a diamond containing "US" and a smaller "United States of America" and that is topped with the lyrics from the first four bars of the "The Star-Spangled Banner.

It's hard to imagine a more patriotic label, particularly for a brand that's not even technically American. In 2008, Anheuser-Busch was purchased by InBev, a beer conglomerate based in Belgium and Brazil.

Still, Budweiser's advertising team works tirelessly to maintain the beer's image as an American institution. Anyone who has ever tuned into the radio for more than 15 minutes has surely heard "Brewed in St Louis, Missouri." And, heck, having a cold Budweiser was basically all Peyton Manning could talk about just moments after becoming the oldest NFL quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl (even though he wasn't paid to endorse the brand).

Lately, the company's been injecting enough patriotism into their ads to make a Donald Trump-supporting bald eagle blush. One of the cans the beer comes in features stars and stripes in the classically American red, white and blue colour palette. Limited-edition packaging included the Statue of Liberty. In a Super Bowl commercial from 2016, titled "Not Backing Down," the beer is boldly announced as "NOT IMPORTED."


And it's not the only beer that uses American patriotism in its advertising. After news outlets began reporting that Pabst would be sold to the Russian company Oasis - a sale that never actually happened - people around the Internet were outraged, prompting Pabst to tweet an image of a Pabst can saluting and the message "Pabst will remain American owned and operated.":
Beer's origins are certainly important to some drinkers, a lesson Anheuser-Busch InBev learned the hard way. American beer drinkers who thought the company's Beck's Beer was made in Germany received US$20 million (NZ$30 million) in a class action suit against Anheuser-Busch InBev, according to the Associated Press. The beer's packaging stated that it originated in Bremen, Germany. That's true, but the label did not mention that it's now brewed in St Louis. The company was also forced to reimburse customers who thought that Kirin Ichiban was imported from Japan.

Anheuser-Busch InBev US Marketing VP Jorn Socquet declined to comment on the packaging but did tell AdAge that the Fourth of July and the Olympics will play a role in brand's summer advertising.


"You have this wave of patriotism that is going to go up and down throughout the summertime," Socquet said. "And we found with Budweiser such a beautiful angle to play on that sentiment."









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Good news for cruisers: Ships' on-board Internet service is improving and prices are falling

      On-board Internet is improving. (Getty Images)

Ihad been looking forward to an upcoming cruise for weeks. But timing is everything, and mine wasn't good. I had a deadline looming as I boarded the ship. I knew I needed to get busy right away or I'd never make my deadline.  

Then the on-board Internet crashed, and the prognosis wasn’t good. A shipboard tech in the computer room suggested I disembark and use land-based Internet. "We aren't scheduled to depart for hours," he said. "You probably can get a lot of work done." 

As much as I hated leaving so quickly after I'd just arrived, I did so, made my deadline and reboarded the ship.   

I was disheartened. Would I spend the rest of the cruise worried about the Internet or being forced to live without it? Fortunately, no. The ship's connection soon returned, and there were no more problems.

“In our increasingly connected world, it has become incredibly important for travelers to stay connected,” said Thomas P. Ostebo, president and chief executive of Cruise Lines International Assn.  

The cruise industry, it’s said, has turned a corner in terms of connectivity; it's reliable and prices are coming down.

I still hear of users who can't get Internet connectionsESTION: not: can't get Internet connections yes, that's fine too?, especially those who assume they can keep tabs on work or home without any problems. I also hear about fees so high that they make other shipboard purchases seem like a bargain. 

But better times appear to be   on the horizon.

“Historically, cruise line Internet has been notorious for being slow and expensive," said Colleen McDaniel, managing editor of CruiseCritic.com. In times past, the connectivity "wasn’t really an issue for travelers -- it was understood and accepted that you’re at sea and will likely be a bit disconnected,” she said.

"But today, as the Internet becomes more and more ingrained -- and expected -- as part of the travel experience, cruise lines have invested greatly in improving the quality of their on-board Internet."

Leading the charge, Carnival Cruise Line’s new social media Internet packages offer access to a variety of popular websites such as Facebook and Twitter for $5 a day. 

The line’s new mobile app is expected to be available fleetwide by summer. 

“Fast, affordable and reliable social media channels and the Internet have become essential on today’s cruise ships,” said Gabriela Gonzalez, Carnival technology expert. “We have thoughtfully approached this area to ensure we are providing options that guests sailing throughout our fleet find truly valuable and reliable.” 

Disney Cruise Lines is also changing the way passengers access the Internet. Its Connect@Sea service doesn't count the number of minutes you're online; it counts data use, which is good news for cruisers who just want to stay up to date with tasks that don’t consume much data, including simple email.

Many cruise lines offer Internet cafés where charges accumulate by the minute. These Wi-Fi hubs are available on major lines, including Princess Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, that offer a variety of other packages as well.

The charges can add up quickly. One way to defray the cost: You might find Internet deals through a plan that’s a perk of a line's loyalty program.

Many, such as Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society, give members discounts on Internet use. Some, such as Silversea, grant unlimited free Wi-Fi to guests who have suites or penthouses. Other guests may get an hour daily of free Wi-Fi.

Many lines are upgrading their Internet Systems. Norwegian Cruise Line will quadruple current bandwidth for NCL, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises fleets by July to meet rising Internet expectations of passengers, it announced last week.

Rates vary on these fleets, with Norwegian offering an unlimited plan that costs $29.99 a day for cruises up to 12 days or per-minute plans from $75 for 100 minutes. On Regent Seven Seas, the corporation's high end line, passengers receive complimentary WiFi. 

CruiseCritic.com managing editor McDaniel likes the changes. 

''As a travel journalist who constantly has to stay connected at sea, I can vouch that the improvements lines have made in the past couple of years truly are making a difference,” she said. “Prices in general are falling, especially among the mainstream lines, and some luxury and river brands offer free Internet to everyone, which is a trend we love.”

Be sure to check the fine print on Internet use before you set sail next time. It can make a huge difference in your bottom line. 

::

Cruise tip: While onboard, lock in rate for next trip


Do you love the cruise you're on so much that you're contemplating another? Many cruise lines offer to lock in a low rate for passengers who book a future cruise while they're still onboard. Talk to the booker on your ship; you'll probably be offered some very low rates and perhaps some perks as well.









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A Prius For The 2020s: Tesla's 'Hell Bent' Push To Make The Model 3 Affordable

   Tesla Model 3: 400,000 orders. (Credit: Tesla)



Model 3 in, Prius out.

That’s my prediction. The most-prominent symbol to date of the green car, the Prius, could be replaced by the Model 3 — if Tesla can make lots of them. Elon Musk wasted no time this past week, during the company’s earnings conference call, in addressing just that: manufacturing and the laser-like focus  – “hell bent” as he put it — the company needs to make the electric car that it was born to make.  I like companies that obsess about manufacturing. That alone is a good indicator of future success. (The Intel INTC +0.50% of the 90s is a good example. And Toyota of course.) Musk made a great argument — largely overlooked by the numbers-centric media — for obsessing about manufacturing. “We believe that manufacturing technology is itself subject to a tremendous amount of innovation, and in fact we believe that there is more potential for innovation in manufacturing than there is in the design of a car by a long shot.” 

And more obsessing later in the call. “Manufacturing…[is] the thing that we need to obviously solve if we’re going to scale and scale rapidly and make the cars more affordable.” Then it got better. This part of the call was covered widely by the media but that doesn’t make it any less important. “And I’m personally spending an enormous amount of time on the production line. My desk is at the end of the production line. I have a sleeping bag in a conference room adjacent to the production line, which I use quite frequently.”

That’s a Jobsian-like devotion to success and a focus on manufacturing that could some day rival Toyota and General Motors GM +1.38%. The best part is that Tesla Motors TSLA +1.68% already has a brand that millions of Americans want if the price is right (400K reservations is just a sliver of the numbers that Tesla will hit if it can make enough of them with the requisite quality and dependability.) Obviously, there’s risk. If you can ignore the slapdash “contrarian” drivel spewed daily from stock-price-gyration-driven blogs, there is plenty of more thoughtful cautionary analyses.

The Prius was the first mass-market (widely-popular) electrified car. Can the Model 3 be the most popular pure electric? The Prius was introduced globally in 2000. The first mass-produced hybrid vehicle — and for all intents and purpose the first mass-produced electric, or more precisely electrified, car — reached the 1 million vehicle global sales mark in May 2008 and 2 million by September 2010, and passed the 3 million mark in June 2013. I’m betting that more than a few people will trade in their Prius for a $35,000 (starting price sans incentives) Model 3 and that Tesla will hit the million mark way sooner than Toyota did. Why? Consumers see the Model 3 through the same lens they see the Prius: an established (politically correct) green car backed by a coveted brand. But this one’s made in America, and, I would submit, a lot sexier than the Prius ever was.













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OIL JUMPS AS CANADA FIRE, LIBYA VIOLENCE UNLEASH SUPPLY FEARS

NEW YORK: Oil prices jumped about 2 percent on Thursday, resuming their rally from last week, as a raging wildfire cut production from Canada's oil sands region and escalating Libyan violence raised more worries about immediate oil supplies than a longer-term glut.

While the oil sands facilities are not in the fire's path, the wildfire that raged unchecked in the city of Fort McMurray in Alberta knocked out as much as a third of the nation's daily crude capacity and closed some major pipelines.

At least 640,000 barrels per day of capacity was offline as part of precautionary measures on Thursday, according to Reuters' calculations.

In Libya, the state's already crippled oil production was at further risk from a stand-off between eastern and western political factions that prevented a Glencore cargo from loading.

The combined outages appeared to give oil a new lease of life after crude prices lost steam earlier this week from April's 20 percent gain, although some said the relief could be temporary as OPEC continues to pump at or near record highs.

"I'm not sure either of these two events are going to be enough to sustain the rebound off the lows we've seen this week," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

"The Canadian blaze, horrific as it is, is far south of the real producing fields to cause real lasting damage to production there. The Libyan barrels weren't really on the market anyway."

Brent futures were up 78 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $45.40 a barrel by 12:49 p.m. EDT (1649 GMT).

U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures gained $1.04, or 2.4 percent, to $44.81.

Both benchmarks rose more than $2 at the session highs before paring gains on what traders said was likely profit-taking.

Some cited market intelligence firm Genscape's report of a stockpile build of 1.35 million barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for WTI futures.

Concerns over reduced Canadian supplies to the U.S. prompted

Brent's premium over WTI to briefly vanish as the U.S. market traded at a premium, before WTI returned to its narrowest discount in six weeks against the European benchmark.

Prices for prompt supplies of U.S. crude also gained more than barrels for later delivery, with the discount, or "contango", for front-month June over second month July narrowing to its smallest in seven months.

Some analysts said the fallout from the Canadian inferno was being underestimated.

Randy Ollenberger, analyst at BMO Capital Markets in Calgary, said while the fire should affect only about 150,000 bpd piped to the United States, the actual loss in exports could be 400,000 bpd as Canadian producers give priority to domestic refineries by cannabalizing other crude headed to the U.S. as well.

"That will all come out of the U.S., you won't be starving the Canadian refiners," he said.

London-based PVM said of the 4.5 million bpd that Canada produces, 3.4 million goes to the United States. "The situation is clearly very seri






















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Mexico City businesses say smog alert cost US$300m

MEXICO CITY: Traffic bans imposed by Mexico City authorities to reverse an upsurge of smog have cost residents and small businesses more than US$300 million (RM1.19 billion) since April, a trade association said Tuesday.

For the second time in a month, the government banned 40% of cars in the capital on Tuesday after ozone levels exceeded acceptable limits.

The Chamber of Small Services and Tourism Commerce of Mexico City urged the authorities to find other ways to improve the air quality in the city of more than 20 million people and 5.5 million vehicles.

The vehicle ban "clearly does not solve the problem, it generates high costs for the population and it weakens the city's economic activity," the chamber said in a statement.

The government imposed new measures on April 5 that ban 20% of cars every day until June 30, with the number doubling if ozone levels surpass a measurement of 150 points.

The latest alert was activated because levels exceeded 160 points on Monday. It is the second time since April that 40% of vehicles have been kept off the roads.

The chamber said the new measures have so far cost 5.4 billion pesos, or US$300 million, to city residents, small shops and service providers whose transportation has been restricted.

The group said officials should not wait until the end of the extraordinary measures on June 30 to present a strategy to combat air pollution, such as modernising public transport.

The chamber said the city must combat "corruption" at vehicle emission test centres that have allowed polluting cars to stay on the roads. — AFP
















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Warren Buffett’s Epic Rant Against Wall Street

  Warren Buffett unloaded a 'sermon' about hedge funds and                investment consultants at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting

   Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS

The “Oracle of Omaha” went on an epic rant against Wall Street this weekend.

Just before lunch at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday, Warren Buffett unloaded what he called a “sermon” about hedge funds and investment consultants, arguing that they are usually a “huge minus” for anyone who follows their advice.

The Berkshire chairman has long argued that most investors are better off sticking their money in a low-fee S&P 500 index fund instead of trying to beat the market by employing professional stockpickers. He used the annual meeting to update the tens of thousands in attendance—and others watching via a webcast–about his multi-year bet with hedge fund Protege Partners. The bet, initiated by the New York fund back in 2006, was that over a decade, the cumulative returns of five fund-of-funds picked by Protege would outperform a Vanguard S&P 500 index fund, even when including fees.

Mr. Buffett showed a chart comparing the cumulative returns of the two sides of the bet since 2008. As of the end of 2015, the S&P 500 index fund had a cumulative return of 65.7%, outdoing the hedge fund teams’s 21.9% return. The S&P has outperformed in six of the eight individual years of the bet too.

The chart was preamble to the real point Mr. Buffett wanted to make: that passive investors can do better than “hyperactive” investments handled by consultants and managers who charge high fees.

“It seems so elementary, but I will guarantee you that no endowment fund, no public pension fund, no extremely rich person” wants to believe it, he said. “They just can’t believe that because they have billions of dollars to invest that they can’t go out and hire somebody who will do better than average. I hear from them all the time.”

But he was just getting started.

“Supposedly sophisticated people, generally richer people, hire consultants, and no consultant in the world is going to tell you ‘just buy an S&P index fund and sit for the next 50 years.’ You don’t get to be a consultant that way. And you certainly don’t get an annual fee that way. So the consultant has every motivation in the world to tell you, ‘this year I think we should concentrate more on international stocks,’ or ‘this manager is particularly good on the short side,’ and so they come in and they talk for hours, and you pay them a large fee, and they always suggest something other than just sitting on your rear end and participating in the American business without cost. And then those consultants, after they get their fees, they in turn recommend to you other people who charge fees, which… cumulatively eat up capital like crazy.”

Mr. Buffett said he’s had a hard time convincing people of this case.

“I’ve talked to huge pension funds, and I’ve taken them through the math, and when I leave, they go out and hire a bunch of consultants and pay them a lot of money,” he said, earning a laugh from the crowd. “It’s just unbelievable.”

“And the consultants always change their recommendations a little bit from year to year. They can’t change them 100% because then it would look like they didn’t know what they were doing the year before. So they tweak them from year to year and they come in and they have lots of charts and PowerPoint presentations and they recommend people who are in turn going to charge a lot of money and they say, ‘well you can only get the best talent by paying 2-and-20,’ or something of the sort, and the flow of money from the ‘hyperactive’ to what I call the ‘helpers’ is dramatic.”

A passive investor whose money is in an S&P 500 index fund “absolutely gets the record of American industry,” he said. “For the population as a whole, American business has done wonderfully. And the net result of hiring professional management is a huge minus.”

Mr. Buffett has long had a testy relationship with Wall Street, and he’s positioned himself for decades as an outsider to the world of New York finance.  In addition to repeatedly attacking the fees charged by hedge funds and investment professionals, he’s criticized the tactics of activist shareholders, the danger of derivatives and the heavy use of debt by private-equity firms.

The antipathy can run in the opposite direction as well. As our Anupreeta Das noted in an article last year, many on Wall Street believe the Berkshire chairman to be a hypocrite. They accuse him of hiding behind the image of a folksy, benevolent investor while pursuing some of the tactics and investing in some of the companies that are the targets of his attacks.

On Saturday, Mr. Buffett worked in a fresh plug for a book he’s been recommending for decades, “Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?,” by Fred Schwed. The title comes from the story of a visitor to New York who was admiring all the nice boats in the harbor, and was told that they belonged to Wall Street bankers. He naively asked where the bankers’ clients kept their boats. The answer: They couldn’t afford them.

[RELATED: 11 Picks from Warren Buffett’s Bookshelf]

“All the commercial push is behind telling you that you ought to think about doing something today that’s different than you did yesterday,” Mr. Buffett told his shareholders. “You don’t have to do that. You just have to sit back and let American industry do its job for you.”

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger jumped in to offer a counterpoint, of a sort:

“You’re talking to a bunch of people who have solved their problem by buying Berkshire Hathaway,” he said. “That worked even better.”

From 1965 through the end of last year, Berkshire shares have risen 1,598,284%, compared to the 11,355% return on the S&P 500.












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Study: Overqualified Millennials Languish in Low-Wage Jobs

New York City millennials' underemployment woes underscore problems plaguing the country's youngest workers.

   Young workers earnings have languished in the aftermath of the Great Recession, according to a new            study. Elaine Thompson/AP

Young workers in America's largest city make about 20 percent less than the generation before them and may fall forever short of the heights achieved by their predecessors, according to a report from the New York City Comptroller's Office.

The study, which profiled the employment trends of millennials born between 1985 and 1996, supports the widespread notion that today's entry-level employees are worse off than they were in decades past. It shows younger workers are bringing home significantly less than older generations did, even after adjusting for inflation and changes to the cost of living.

"Millennials were applying for jobs in the most difficult economic climate since the Great Depression and as a result, a growing number are now working in low-wage industries and earning less than their predecessors," Scott Stringer, the city's comptroller, said in a statement accompanying the report. "This group of young people is confronting unique economic challenges that their parents did not have to face."

The report also supports the narrative that millennials are becoming increasingly better educated but are being forced to accept positions for which they are overqualified. It found that 72 percent of New York City workers between the ages of 23 and 29 years old in 2014 had acquired at least some college education – up markedly from the 61 percent who had back in 2000.

However, "the linkage between higher education and employment has weakened" in New York City over the last several years, the report says. The share of young workers in low-wage industries like retail, food services and hospitality climbed 4 percentage points between 2000 and 2014.

But the share of such workers in mid-wage positions (like in the media, public sector, or arts and entertainment industries) and high-paying jobs (like in the fields of finance, legal services and technology) each fell by 3 percentage points over the same window.

     Real earnings of young workers in 2014 were consistently lower than what similarly aged employees              made back in 2000, according to the study. Source: Office of the New York City Comptroller

Meanwhile, the percentage of low-wage workers who have earned at least a bachelor's degree climbed from 23 percent in 2000 to 33 percent in 2014. That's particularly bad news for those who took out student loans to pay for that education in the hopes of locking down a higher-paying job – the study estimates city residents under the age of 30 collectively owed about $14 billion in student loans that year.

"This generation is at a crossroads. They worked hard, got an education and then faced roadblocks to getting a good-paying job," Stringer said. "We need to foster an economy here that helps young people get ahead, not one that holds them back."

The report's proposed solutions include a higher minimum wage, developing more affordable housing options and fine-tuning worker training programs. And although some of these types of ideas can lead to intense partisan disagreement, its overall findings mesh with the growing pool of national research suggesting America's youngest workers have gotten a disproportionately raw economic deal.

A report published last month by the left-leaning Center for American Progress found that median compensation for 30-year-olds in 2014 had dropped markedly since 2004 and was roughly equal to what that age bracket made back in 1984, "despite the facts that [today's 30-year-olds] are 50 percent more likely to have finished college and … work in an economy that is 70 percent more productive."

A separate analysis published last month by The Guardian also found that disposable incomes for millennials in the U.S. were "scarcely higher in real terms" than they were 30 years ago.

Still, while wages and job prospects haven't exactly boomed for millennial workers in recent years, other research suggests some of the group's labor market woes are overstated. Young adults' unemployment rates have returned to pre-recessionary norms, for example, and a December report published by staffers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that "while there is some truth behind the popular image of the college-educated barista, this picture is not an accurate portrayal of the typical underemployed recent college graduate."













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