Today 26 November in Business History

1832 1st streetcar railway in America starts operating
1983 Heathrow Airport, robbed of 6,800 gold bars worth $38.7 million
1984 John W Mercom Jr announces NO Saints are up for sale for $75 million
1990 Matsushita purchases MCA for $6.6 billion

Today 25 November in Business History

1715 1st English patent granted to an American, for processing corn
1834 Delmonico's, one of NY's finest restaurants, provides a meal of soup, steak, coffee & half a pie for 12 cents
1867 Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
1884 John B Meyenberg of St Louis patents evaporated milk
1983 World's greatest robbery-œ25,000,000 of gold, Heathrow, England
1988 Convention on exploitation of Antarctic mineral resources signed

Ireland Low Tax Rate

Ireland economic success was built on a policy of charging corporations only 12.5 percent in income tax, one of the lowest corporate rates in Europe. That rate, which compares with 28 percent or higher in Britain, France, Germany, and the U.S., has lured multinationals to set up manufacturing, research, and service centers in Ireland over the last 20 years.

Companies such as HP, Google, Bank of America, Microsoft have set up their european headquarters in Ireland employing thousands of employees and making exports that total in billions.

Today 24 November in Business History

1949 Britain nationalizes its steel & iron industry\
1971 Dan "DB" Cooper parachutes from a Northwest AL 727 with $200,000

Today 13 November in Business History

1789 Ben Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes"
1895 1st shipment of canned pineapple from Hawaii
1933 1st modern sit-down strike, Hormel meat packers, Austin, MN

Today 11 November in Business History

1987 Van Gogh's "Irises" sells for record $53.6 M at auction

Today 10 November in Business History

1989 Word Perfect 5.1 is shipped

Why You Should Avoid Free Financial Advisors

You will get what you pay for. Any advisor that offers "goal planning" for free, or claims that the analysis is included in the fee to manage your assets is most likely using the concept of planning as a tool to gather more assets. Be on the lookout for asset gathering tools used by firms offering to "assess your goals." These may simply be masquerades for real financial planning and serve as a conduit for product sales. Advisors lumping "goal analysis" into asset management fees are typically salespeople.

Today 9 November in Business History

1848 Post office at Clay & Pike opens
1864 1st export of goods from Burrard Inlet, BC to a foreign country
1930 1st nonstop airplane flight from NY to Panama
1963 2 high-speed commuter trains collided with a derailed freight

Today 8 November in Business History

1944 25,000 Hungarian Jews are loaned to the Nazis for forced labor
1966 President Johnson signs anti-trust immunity to AFL-NFL merger
1967 Silver hits record $1.951 an ounce in London
1973 Nevada approves pari-mutuel betting on Jai Alai

Steve Ballmer Sells His Microsoft Shares

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has sold $1.3bn (£800m) worth of shares in the firm.

Is it a case of rats running away from a sinking ship?

The CEO claried the sale, he said the sale of shares was made to diversify his investments and help his year-end tax planning. Mr Ballmer said he was "fully committed to Microsoft and its success".

Today 2 November in Business History

1904 British newspaper, "The Daily Mirror," begins publishing
1920 KDKA (Pittsburgh) goes on the air as 1st commercial radio station
1957 1st titanium mill opened, Toronto Ohio
1964 CBS purchases NY Yankees
1988 Computer virus strikes Pentagon, SDI research lab & 6 universities