OIL: Big Oil to Obama: Hands off our tax breaks
Big Oil is fighting to defend its big tax breaks. “The industry’s chief lobbyist in Washington said raising taxes on the oil and gas companies would stifle job growth and do nothing to lower gasoline prices,” CNN reports. “President Obama and Democrats in Congress are pushing to end $4 billion in subsides, saying that oil companies are profitable enough to bear the burden.”
TECH: TV ownership falls for the first time in 20 years, Nielsen says
At the beginning of the year, 98.9 percent of U.S. households owned a TV set. By next year, ratings firm Nielsen predicts it’ll drop to 96.7 percent. Why? “The economic downturn and the trend among consumers to watch TV programs across other platforms, including computers and tablet devices,” MSNBC reports.
BANKING: Chase scraps $5 ATM fee for non-customers
Talk about an experiment destined to fail: In February, Chase raised its ATM fees for non-customers in two states – from $3 to $4 in Illinois and $5 in Texas. “The fees will drop back to $3, as in the rest of the country,” USA Today reports. “The New York-based bank, part of JPMorgan Chase declined to specify the reason for the decision.”
CARS: Honda recalls 833,000 more cars for dangerous air bags
Honda is expanding a recall because airbags in a half-dozen models can expand too quickly – and possibly kill you instead of save you. “Honda says it is aware of 12 incidents, with 11 injuries and one death,” USA Today reports.
HEALTH: Doctors tracking U.S. hip, knee implants aim to avoid another Johnson & Johnson recall
Recalling a car is a lot easier than recalling a hip or knee implant. That’s why two doctors’ groups are now tracking success rates for those products. “The goal is to track the more than 700,000 total hip and knee replacement surgeries that take place in the U.S. each year,” Bloomberg reports. The move comes after “a Johnson & Johnson unit’s decision last year to recall a hip implant used on 93,000 patients.”
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