For rank and file, wages are falling
LOS ANGELES, May 28 (UPI) -- U.S. workers and the unemployed are finding out the labor market belongs to employers these days, with wages falling, data shows.
With 13.7 million U.S. workers listed as unemployed, there is little pressure on employers to raise wages. "They know so many people want it, they're going to get someone to do the job," said Tangela Ridgeway, an entry-level clerk and mother of three who has taken a cut in pay -- from $18.75 per hour to $14 per hour -- in recent years, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Data shows that entry-level workers that make up 80 percent of the private sector workforce were paid an average of $8.93 per hour two years ago and are now making $8.76 per hour.
In California, private sector rank and file workers pay went up 2 percent in April, but the cost of living rose 3 percent in the same period, the newspaper said.
Nationally, retail workers are making 55 cents less per hour this year then they did in 2006. At HVH Transportation Inc., in Denver, compensation is now $30 per stop and 87.5 cents per mile, less than wages in 2009.
"Workers have no bargaining power at all when unemployment is this high," said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Madoff's estate going, going, sold
NEW YORK, May 28 (UPI) -- The last chance to bid on convicted Ponzi scam operator Bernard Madoff's property will take place next week, federal authorities said.
The U.S. Marshals Service is auctioning 276 lots of Madoff's personal property, the last of the items up for grabs from the swindler's New York and Palm Beach, Fla., homes, CNN reported Saturday.
The auction, which will be broadcast online, will include the last of Madoff's collection of watches, including an Audemars Piguet with a diamond dial, CNN said.
Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence for running a Ponzi scheme that lost billions of dollars.
The auction will include wine, art work and jewelry.
Some of the wine isn't particularly noteworthy, except that it belonged to Madoff.
"Some of the bottles are better viewed as conversation pieces rather than valued for their contents, but conversation pieces they are," said Morrel Wine Auctions said in a news release.
Four more charged in Rothstein fraud case
MIAMI, May 28 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Florida charged four Scott Rothstein associates with aiding and abetting the convicted Ponzi scheme operator with his $1.2 billion fraud.
Prosecutors charged attorney Howard Kusnick, who allegedly helped Rothstein defraud car dealer Ed Morse and his wife out of $57 million, William Corte and Curtis Renie, two information technicians at Rothstein's law firm, and Stephen Caputi, a former owner with Rothstein of a nightclub, Cafe Iguana.
The two information technicians were accused of creating a Web site that gave false information about Rothstein's bank accounts, making it appear that Rothstein's firm had hundreds of millions of dollars in order to dupe investors, The Miami Herald reported Saturday.
Corte's attorney Alvin Entin said his client was just doing what his boss told him to do. Corte and Renie, "didn't know what was the purpose of duplicating the Web site or fudging the bank accounts," he said.
The four were charged by information rather than indictment, which means they are cooperating with authorities, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
They are each expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Rothstein was sentenced to a 50-year prison term in June. He was also ordered to repay 320 fraud victims $363 million.
Fracking accepted with smiles in Texas
CATARINA, Texas, May 28 (UPI) -- Fracking, an oil extraction technique frowned upon by many, is creating a boon in southern Texas, and many locals say they are smiling about it.
"That's oil money," truck company manager Bert Bell said referring to a new pickup truck he purchased with part of the $525,000 earned selling mineral rights under his land to energy companies, The New York Times reported Saturday.
"Oil money just makes life easier," he said.
About a dozen companies have plans to drill 3,000 wells in the area, within the next year, the newspaper said.
Some say fracking will open up vast quantities of oil that will lessen U.S. dependence on imported petroleum.
"What if we have found three of the world's biggest oil fields in the last three years right here in the United States?" asked Chesapeake Energy Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon.
Some estimate that the Eagle Ford shale oil field in Texas is one of 20 fields that could boost U.S. production by 25 percent by 2021.
The problem, many say, is that fracking involves applying pressure underground with water and hazardous chemicals to break up shale rock to make previously unreachable oil accessible. Groundwater and waste water contamination are dangers with the technique.
In Texas, "This is the biggest thing I've ever seen," said retired teacher Jose Gonzalez, 78, who has earned $127,000 from two deals involving shale oil.
"You can see I'm happy," he said.
