Forget big business, this year politicians seem to have all the answers. The forum in this Swiss Alpine hamlet is flooded every year with business leaders, and their solutions to all of life’s ills. But this year, with a shattered world economy, the bailout…

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Go government, boo business in Davos

The director of an Iraqi orphanage says a sculpture honoring an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush has been removed. Fatin al-Nassiri says Iraqi police told her the statue had to be removed from the orphanage in Tikrit…

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Iraq sculpture honoring Bush shoe-thrower removed

The CEO of megascreen producer Imax Corp. said he was confident the movie business would remain “fairly recession-proof” and that his company would benefit this year from the release of the new “Star Trek” film and the latest “Harry Potter” epic. Richard…

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Imax chief bullish despite recession

ZURICH, Jan 31 (,Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche is confident that it will succeed in its bid for U.S. biotechnology group Genentech Inc , the Swiss drugmaker’s chairman was quoted as saying in comments released on Saturday.

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Roche confident of success in Genentech bid: paper

No matter the color of your work shirt, this recession is sparing few. From blue collar construction workers to white collar financial sector employees, the economic crisis has dragged a growing swath of American workers into joblessness. Economic downturns…

Stimulus plan mixes short, long-term job goals

Despite fears of a worsening economy and potential labor problems, commissioner Roger Goodell tried to be upbeat Friday, saying the game was showing signs of being safer and that the league wasn’t done tinkering with overtime. In his state of the NFL address…

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Goodell says NFL union profit claims are ‘fiction’

The 2008 Chevrolet Suburban is a lot of vehicle, perhaps more ideally suited for the U.S. Border Patrol than for the average Bay Area commuter. But Kent Carl, of Carl Chevrolet in San Jose, would like to think it’s too good of a deal to pass up. The…

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Car dealers roll out incentives

Look for these new features in today’s Business section: The Bottom Line: Columnist Andrew S. Ross appears in the Sunday Business section for the first time, telling you what you need to know about Bay Area business. Business Bookshelf: A roundup of what’s…

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WHAT’S NEW / In today’s section

Earnings season has turned into layoff season. Over the past two weeks, as public companies have been reporting their often-dismal fourth-quarter results, many have announced an alarming number of staff reductions, sometimes reaching into the tens of…

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Putting news of job cuts into perspective

Bay Area jobs: … and the ugly So, there’s good news and bad news on the Bay Area employment front. First, the good news. Ten percent of Bay Area companies say they will be hiring in the next month. Now, the bad. Almost half of them, 46 percent, will be…

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Someone in the Bay Area is hiring

Sales success in tough times The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce is hosting sales trainer Gary Wollin, a former stockbroker and full-time commission salesman, for a two-hour talk on Feb. 17 titled “The M.A.G.I.C. Formula for Sales Success in Tough Times.”…

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Bay Area Biz blog

Title: President, chairman and CEO. Company: Ausra Inc., Palo Alto; develops solar power plants. Q: Banks have pretty much stopped lending, and renewable power projects are having a hard time getting financing. How do we break the logjam? A: It’s going to…

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Robert Fishman talks about funding solar

The last thing most of us want to do is spend our days analyzing financial statements, even though we know it would help us pick better stocks. If you’re in that category, here’s some good news: ProfitCents ( www.profitcents.com) will do the heavy lifting for…

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ProfitCents site a big help to stock pickers

Publishers are already churning out books on the causes of the current economic turmoil, as financial beat journalists rush to write “the first rough draft of history.” Two real estate reporters, Paul Muolo and Matthew Padilla, recount the misguided explosion…

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Credit crisis scrutinized by authors

Lydia E. in Solvang (Santa Barbara County) is at a loss over her bond funds, literally and figuratively. She invested in municipal bond funds last year, primarily because she was told they were a “safe investment.” “Understandably,” she writes, “all funds and…

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Selling bond funds now could be a mistake