Low rates hurting pension plans
Lower long-term interest rates have begun to hurt pension plans, adding to the funds’ liabilities, according to a report Wednesday from Mellon Financial Corp., which tracks the health of United States pension plans.
Pension liabilities, the amounts the plans will pay retirees, behave like bonds. Like bonds, pension liabilities are a series of cash flows known with a high degree of assurance – think of the monthly payments retirees with a traditional pension get. Also like bonds, the value of the underlying asset goes down as rates go up and vice versa.
As interest rates rose in the first five months of the year, led by Federal Reserve increases of short-term interest rates, pension liabilities shrank.
Washington
Faison admits stealing bills
A former Treasury Department employee admitted Wednesday that he stole more than $67,000 in uncut sheets of $100 bills and tried to launder the money through casino slot machines.
David C. Faison was caught after casinos in Atlantic City, West Virginia and Delaware noticed $100 bills that did not contain government seals or serial numbers. Surveillance video showed him feeding bills into slot machines, playing for a while, then cashing out for new bills.
Faison, of Largo, Md., pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing counterfeiting materials. He faces up to a year in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 12. He also must pay $37,200 restitution, including $1,200 to a Delaware coin collector who purchased three of the stolen bills after Faison put them into circulation.
Seoul, South Korea
U.S. beef sales may resume soon
A South Korean government official said Wednesday that the United States has cleared a key hurdle toward resuming beef sales to Korea by addressing problems at some of its slaughterhouses.
Vice Agriculture Minister Park Hae-sang said South Korea will decide whether to resume U.S. beef imports after a meeting of experts on Thursday. “For now, there is a possibility of resumption,” Park said.
South Korea agreed in January to allow American beef back into the country on a limited basis, ending a two-year ban prompted by fears of mad cow disease. But the actual resumption of imports into what used to be the United States’ third-largest beef market has been delayed over the implementation of measures to ensure meat safety.
Las Vegas
Casino to close two months early
The owner of the aging Stardust hotel-casino says it will close the 48-year-old property on Nov. 1, two months earlier than previously planned, to make room for a new luxury megaresort.
The Stardust will stop taking reservations after Nov. 1 and will continue operating until the end of year.
The 1,500-room Stardust, long home to “Mr. Las Vegas” Wayne Newton, is slated for demolition in the first quarter of 2007, with construction on Echelon Place scheduled for the second quarter.