A state appeals court in Kansas City on Tuesday sided with the casino company in a lawsuit filed last fall against Missouri casino regulators. The three-judge panel reversed a Missouri Gaming Commission order that Pinnacle could neither replace nor repair the aging Admiral riverboat without applying for a new casino license.

That order essentially stripped the license from the President, which is widely expected to fail a mandatory hull inspection in July.

In its order, the panel called the Gaming Commission’s approach "confusing," and said "such confusion raises concern that this was a contested case without sufficient process." It sent the matter back to the commission, "for further proceedings free credit report."

The ruling has no direct bearing on the Gaming Commission’s more recent effort to strip the President’s license over its weak financial performance. In that matter, Pinnacle has requested a hearing, which is likely to happen later this spring.

But it could open a window for Pinnacle to propose improvements to the President, or even, potentially, to move it to a new site.

The Las Vegas-based gambling company had no comment Tuesday. Through a spokeswoman, Gaming Commission Executive Director Gene McNary said the ruling was only "seeking clarification," and that it is "really of no consequence."

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If you click on the link to related pages and wade through the legalese, you’ll learn that "product partners" paid Edward Jones $156 million in 2008, half the firm’s profit for the year. (No figure had been posted for 2009 when I looked.)

"Product partners" are companies that pay Edward Jones when it sells their products, including mutual funds, college savings plans and annuities that account for virtually all of Edward Jones’ sales in those areas. These payments, called revenue sharing, create a "potential conflict of interest" for Edward Jones and its financial advisers, the firm acknowledges on its website.

In plain English: When Edward Jones brokers recommend a product, you can’t be sure it’s because it’s best for you or best for them.
To be fair, Edward Jones is no different from many other brokerage firms in this regard. The revenue sharing arrangement — which went undisclosed before a class-action investor lawsuit — is just an example of why consumer groups and others are pushing for a "fiduciary standard" for brokers and anyone who gives investment advice.

Fiduciary standard means putting clients’ interests first, as registered investment advisers are legally required to do. Brokers generally are held to a less strict "suitability" standard, meaning recommendations must be suitable to the client but don’t have to be the best for them.

There is "really no dispute" that the fiduciary standard is higher, said Mercer Bullard, professor of securities law at the University of Mississippi and founder and president of Fund Democracy, an investor advocacy group.

Bullard, who used Edward Jones as an example, said under the suitable standard brokers are free to pick the fund that pays them the biggest commission from among a group of suitable funds, even if it is "less suitable easy payday loans." A fiduciary standard also would require brokers to prominently disclose any conflicts of interest.

Bullard said Edward Jones’ small-print, "back alley" website posting "does not even come close to meeting the disclosure requirements" of fiduciary duty.

Besides Bullard, representatives of the Consumer Federation of America, AARP and North American Securities Administrators Association support a provision of the proposed Restoring American Financial Stability Act extending the fiduciary standard to brokers, insurance agents and others who give financial advice. They are urging Congress to resist what they call lobbying efforts by the brokerage and insurance industries to water down or stall the fiduciary standard provision.

"Investors rarely research recommendations they receive from trusted advisers, and may not realize the so-called advice is tainted, or that there are better alternatives," such as lower-cost funds, said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for CFA.

A fiduciary standard "would also provide meaningful investor protection" in the sale of variable annuities, said Denise Voigt Crawford, Texas securities commissioner and president of NASAA, a group of state regulators. An adviser recommending a variable annuity — a product that often comes with high costs but pays above-average commissions to sellers — would have to show not just that it’s suitable but that of all available products it would be best, Crawford said.

"To us, it’s just common sense" about applying the fiduciary standard to all advisers, said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP, the advocacy group for people 50 and over.

"We don’t need any more studies. We need action."

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Until now known as C2, Target’s largest and newest office in Bangalore will be called the Gregg W. Steinhafel Center, according to a company press release.

Minneapolis-based Target (NYSE: TGT) on Thursday renamed the Indian office after Steinhafel, who became CEO in 2008 and chairman of the company in 2009 fast cash without a hassle.

The new name is Target’s latest attempt to demonstrate commitment to its business in that country. For months, Target has battled rumors of a sale of its Indian operations, calling them “ridiculous speculation” and “unequivocally not true” as recently as January.

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Bredenkamp had visited Marion just once, nine years ago, to look over the Bermuda grass fairways and 96 sand bunkers at the Kokopelli Golf Club he was about to buy. He flew out the same day. A low-profile owner, he sold the course to a Florida group in 2006. He kept only a right to split future profits if the course sold again, his one tenuous tie to this Southern Illinois city.

His name might have been forgotten, except for what took place two years later.

"It’s just so absurd," said Fritz Archerd of Gainesville, Fla., head of the group that bought the course from Bredenkamp. "And it’s all because of him."

Just as the golf course was to change hands, the U.S. Department of Treasury blocked the sale — indefinitely. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control had named Bredenkamp to its roster of terrorists and others deemed so undesirable they are targets of economic sanctions. They are called Specially Designated Nationals. Most of al-Qaida is on there. So are Colombian drug kingpins. Their U.S. assets are frozen. U.S. citizens are forbidden from conducting business with them.

Now Marion’s only golf course has been frozen, too, stuck in a perplexing legal limbo for the last 15 months. The current owners are desperate to unload the club, but can’t. Last week, it effectively closed its doors. Seventy-five workers were let go. Just the golf pro remains, left to keep an eye on golf shirts and hats marked down 70 percent.

Meanwhile, the owners and politicians are rushing to hash out a deal with Treasury before the fairways turn, in the horrified words of the local chamber of commerce, to wheat fields.

"Hard to believe that what he did has reached all the way to Southern Illinois," said David Hays, a local restaurant owner who leads a group of investors still hoping to buy the golf course. Hays added he had done some research on Bredenkamp since this all happened.

"He’s a bad dude."

A MAN OF MYSTERY

Bredenkamp, 69, is still barely known in the United States.

He was born and reared in Africa. He was captain of the Rhodesian national rugby team in his younger days. He built a tobacco leaf company from scratch into one of the world’s largest. He made the 1996 list of Great Britain’s richest people (No. 76). His fortune was pegged at several hundred million.

About that time, he made a heavy foray into sports, at one point managing the careers of star golfers Ernie Els and Nick Price. Rumors of misdeeds swirled around Bredenkamp even then. But little was known for sure. Sports Illustrated called him "the most mysterious man in golf."

"He’s a charmer," said Steve Smyers, a noted golf course architect from Florida who designed Kokopelli and knew Bredenkamp.

Smyers got Bredenkamp interested in buying the course in 2001. But Bredenkamp was not a golfer. After several years, the pair decided to sell the struggling Kokopelli.

Archerd’s investment group saw an opportunity. They structured a deal to buy out Bredenkamp and Smyers while giving them the right to share profits if Archerd’s group made a killing. But Archerd said his group has taken a hit on Kokopelli. With the economy tanking, it was not a good time to invest in a golf course. So in late 2008, they were close to selling it to Marion-area investors.

The exact terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but both sides said it would have been a wash. The Marion group would pay off about $330,000 debt and tax liens, plus other expenses of Archerd’s group. No profit remained. Archerd said he expects his investors will lose about $750,000 on the deal.

"We are getting nothing out of this. Bredenkamp would get absolutely nothing out of this," Archerd said. "They’re blocking a guy’s interest that is worth zero."

But they didn’t get the deal done before Treasury’s letter arrived in November 2008.

The Treasury called Bredenkamp a crony of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, a pariah leader whose government in the war-torn nation has been criticized for land seizures and corruption. "Bredenkamp has financially propped up the regime and provided other support to a number of its high-ranking officials," Treasury said in its letter. Treasury described Bredenkamp as a businessman with dealings in "tobacco trading, gray-market arms trading and trafficking … and diamond extraction."

Treasury officials declined to talk about Bredenkamp or the golf course sale for this article.

But news reports and investigations over the years paint a colorful picture.

Bredenkamp has admitted that he evaded United Nations economic sanctions in the early 1970s when he bought aircraft for the Ian Smith-led white Rhodesian government during a civil war with black citizens. (Rhodesia would later become Zimbabwe.) A British TV documentary in 1994 claimed Bredenkamp was deep in the illegal arms trade, his companies selling land mines to Iraq and anti-aircraft guns to Iran. A 2002 U.N. National Security Council interim report looking into the diamond trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused a Bredenkamp company of supplying parts for Zimbabwean troops and war planes for missions in the Congo. He also was linked to questionable deals for rights to Congo diamond mines, home to so-called conflict or blood diamonds.

Last year, the European Union joined the United States in blacklisting Bredenkamp.

Bredenkamp has not taken the criticism lightly. He frequently writes letters to British and African publications to complain about the stories detailing his alleged exploits. He also maintains JohnBredenkamp.com, which is aimed squarely at refuting the official record. He did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.

On his site, Bredenkamp complains that he has never been given the chance to defend himself against the actions by U.S. and EU governments.

MARION ENLISTS AID

How someone gets on the list is difficult to discern, according to attorneys familiar with Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control. But once you get on the list, it is almost impossible to get off. And the evidence can be a national security secret.

"They make it a complicated process," said Clif Burns, an economic sanctions attorney with Bryan Cave in Washington.

Burns, who is not involved in the Bredenkamp case, said the sanctions list serves a worthy purpose, but can overreach. That appears to be the case with Kokopelli, Burns said, because it seems certain Bredenkamp would not benefit from the golf course’s sale.

"There is no reason on Earth why the people in this town should be caught up in this," Burns said.

Archerd said he has struggled to get Treasury officials on the phone. He and others recently enlisted the help of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello and Sen. Dick Durbin.

Thanks to their help, Archerd is flying to Washington this week to talk with Treasury officials. He sounded hopeful.

Hays, the restaurant owner, said he still wants to buy the golf course. He would run the restaurant. Another investor plans to build 90 homes on some unused acres. They want to retain the club’s 200 dues-paying members. And there are some big tournaments coming up: a state open qualifier in June and PGA sectional in September.

But they need to move quickly, Hays said.

"Otherwise," he said, "the golf course is going to be in a true ‘Twilight Zone.’"

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Allen McDonald, a principal with Baker Storey McDonald Properties, said he was glad to see a return to deals involving things like more equity and saner underwriting. Getting by today means asking the fundamental questions.

“You have to look at the dirt,” McDonald said. “Has it stood the test of time? Will it continue to stand the test of time.”

Marty Heflin, a principal with developer M2H Group, says you must consider all potential outcomes when navigating a deal. If you can’t weather the potential worst-case scenario, don’t force the deal.

Moderator and keynote speaker Cindy Spivack, an Illinois based real estate advisor and business coach, stressed another fundamental — getting to know those you might do business with. By assessing potential clients early on, Spivack told brokers, they will save time by not getting involved with clients who will never be approved to close a deal.

Dave McGahren, a senior vice president and principal at the Nashville office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, said he is seeing signs that capital “is freeing up a little bit,” and has even seen activity in the commercial mortgage backed securities market. Speaking of the industrial sector, McGahren said it will be some time before transaction activity increases.

“We’re going to have to see some change in value to get the transaction flow going,” he said, adding that values need to rebound further before owners will be willing to let go of property. As industrial activity increases, McGahren said it will not be through speculative construction, which he expects to be nonexistent for three to five years.

Networking is another basic, but audience members were reminded to use today’s technological tools to do so — be it through Facebook and LinkedIn, electronic newsletters or Craigslist. Heflin said taking advantage of new media is especially important for residential developers and landlords as they seek tenants.

“You have got to have a strong electronic presence to be in the game,” he said.

Much of this electronic work can be outsourced, a theme that Spivack spent some time on.

Spivack said she employees five people, three of whom work in the Philippines (for $3 an hour, she noted several times). By delegating work, Spivack told her real estate audience they could focus on the basics of their jobs, like getting out of the office, returning all their phone calls and staying in touch with existing clients.

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It’s the NBA club’s first partnership in the airline category.

The team declines to comment on the value of the deal, but an industry source values it at six figures annually.

US Airways (NYSE:LCC) already enjoys a commanding presence in Charlotte, where it operates the largest of its three hubs. With the Bobcats’ sponsorship, the carrier will be the official airline of the team and of Time Warner Cable Arena, the team’s home building.

In addition, the deal calls for display of the airline’s brand on signs beneath the arena’s center-hung scoreboard and on the basketball goal pole pads, digital displays on LED ribbon boards and on-court promotions.

Part of the US Airways’ ticket counter at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport will be rebranded with a combination of the airline and team logos and the words “Dream Team,” says Fred Whitfield, the team’s president and chief operating officer.

The Bobcats had a small trade deal with American Airlines in 2006-07, in which the team provided club-seat tickets in return for airline vouchers to use in promotions.

The Bobcats’ deal follows sports marketing relationships US Airways has forged in its two other hub cities, Phoenix and Philadelphia. The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline owns the naming rights to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns’ downtown arena and has a smaller deal in place with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers at Wachovia Center.

US Airways Center in Phoenix was known as America West Arena after that airline paid $26 million over 30 years to name the facility when it opened in 1992 free business cards. It changed names in 2005 after US Airways bought America West and signed a new, 10-year deal with the Suns.

In other sports, US Airways has deals with NFL teams in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Phoenix tied to developing themed airplanes with their logos and colors. Those partnerships include stadium signs in those markets.

The Bobcats’ deal is to be announced Wednesday at the Charlotte airport.

In a separate sponsorship, the Bobcats organization has signed a three-year marketing partnership with Horizon Eye Care to become the official team ophthalmologist of the Bobcats.

The deal provides Horizon Eye Care with a full-page color advertisement in the team’s game program, in-arena recognition on the LED boards, digital presence on bobcats.com, e-mail marketing opportunities, radio advertisements and co-branding in a public-awareness campaign about glaucoma.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

“Horizon has been Charlotte’s leader in eye care for decades now because they take care of their patients the right way,” Whitfield says. “As we continue to forge partnerships with business leaders in this community, local companies continue to look to us as a platform for delivering their message to an ever-growing market of Bobcats fans.”

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Gross domestic product rose an annualized 3.6 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31, following a 1.3 percent expansion in the third quarter, according to the median forecast of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Cabinet Office report is due on Feb. 15 at 8:50 a.m. in Tokyo.

Nissan Motor Co. and Canon Inc. are among companies benefitting from stronger global demand as countries poured more than $2 trillion into their economies to spur growth. Those gains have failed to reach consumers at home, where wages are tumbling and household outlays have been propped up by government incentives that are starting to wear off.

“Japan may be able to stave off a double-dip recession given exports have done better than expected,” said Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Still, it’s questionable whether a recovery in domestic demand without the stimulus is possible and the economy is still highly dependent on overseas demand, underscoring the fragility of the recovery.”

Gains in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average stalled this year after a 19 percent advance in 2009, reflecting concerns about the global recovery. The gauge rose 0.8 percent in Tokyo morning trading, paring the year’s losses to 4.8 percent. The yen was little changed at 89.70 per dollar, and has gained more than 3 percent in 2010, threatening exporters’ profits.

Sales to Asia

Asia spearheaded Japan’s revival at the end of 2009. Shipments to the region surged 31 percent in December, the fastest pace in almost a decade, helping China overtake the U.S. as Japan’s largest foreign customer on an annual basis. Demand from the U.S. is also improving after the nation’s GDP expanded the most in six years last quarter.

“The Asian economy is growing at a fast pace while the U.S. economy is picking up, a sign the global recovery is becoming more resilient,” said Yoshiki Shinke, senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.

Nissan, Japan’s third-largest carmaker, this week forecast a return to profit for the year ending March 31, citing government incentives that boosted sales in China and Japan. Canon, the world’s largest camera maker, is predicting its biggest annual profit increase in a decade amid revived global demand.

Export-Driven

Japan’s economy expanded 0.9 percent from the previous quarter, the survey showed. Overseas shipments increased 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, analysts surveyed said paydayloan. Net exports, or shipments minus imports, may have added 0.5 percentage point to growth.

The Cabinet Office said last week that it will change the way it calculates exports and imports on a seasonally adjusted basis to account for the anomaly created by the financial crisis in 2008. The announcement prompted economists to cut their annualized GDP forecasts by about 1 percentage point.

The faster growth may not be enough to convince Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama that the recovery is sustainable. The premier, facing upper house elections in July, is implementing a 7.2 trillion yen ($80 billion) stimulus package that his administration estimates can boost growth by about 0.7 percentage point next fiscal year.

More Stimulus

Even if GDP is strong, “Hatoyama may compile an additional stimulus as he wants to lure voters ahead of the election, especially when his popularity is sliding,” said Susumu Kato, chief economist at Calyon Securities in Tokyo.

Central bankers aren’t confident that growth is durable. Kazuo Momma, the Bank of Japan’s top economist, this month said “there is still a long way to go” before the expansion becomes sustainable. Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and his policy board will hold a rate-setting meeting two days after the GDP report is released.

Japan’s wages slumped at a near-record pace in December, when household sentiment fell to a six-month low. In a sign that stimulus measures are fading, retail sales fell 1.2 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the largest drop a year, as customers purchased fewer cars and appliances.

Nevertheless, consumer spending probably contributed to the growth in the fourth quarter. The 0.3 percent increase predicted by economists would be a third of the pace of the previous quarter. Capital investment may rise 1.5 percent, the first positive reading in seven quarters.

Economists including Calyon’s Kato said the business investment figure may be revised down when the government updates the GDP report next month to reflect additional data.

“The domestic economy remains fundamentally weak as the positive cyclical loop between income and expenditure has yet to kick in,” said Ryutaro Kono, chief economist at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. “Although we believe the worst is over for corporate earnings, the return on capital remains so low that companies will continue to restrain labor costs for some time.”

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Berkshire’s rating was cut to "AA+," down one notch from "AAA," S&P said Thursday. The downgrade came on the same day Berkshire filed to sell $8 billion worth of bonds to help finance its $26 billion acquisition of Burlington.

"We believe that the railroad acquisition will reduce what historically has been extremely strong capital adequacy and liquidity, and that investment risk with sizable concentrations remains very high," S&P said in a statement.

Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune 500) was placed on credit watch in November, shortly after the company announced plans to buy Burlington. (BNI, Fortune 500) The deal is scheduled to close early this year.

S&P said the outlook for Berkshire was stable.

"Albeit weakened, we view the company’s liquidity position and balance sheet as still very strong," S&P said. "However, we see meaningful exposure to adverse development of reserves held for long-term insurance liabilities, and uncertainty remains regarding management succession."

Berkshire had already lost its "AAA" rating at Fitch and Moody’s, the two other main credit rating agencies, last year. In March, Fitch said Berkshire’s diversified business model wasn’t enough to offset its exposure to risky derivatives contracts.

The Omaha-based holding company has a variety of subsidiaries including auto insurer Geico, See’s Candy and Fruit of the Loom. It also has investments in an array of companies ranging from Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) to Johnson & Johnson. (JNJ, Fortune 500)

With Berkshire’s rating cut, there are now only four publicly traded U.S. companies that have a "AAA" credit rating, according to S&P.

Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Fortune 500) and Automatic Data Proccesing Inc. (ADP, Fortune 500) still maintain the highest possible credit rating. Assured Guaranty, LTD., a privately held bond insurer, also has a "AAA" rating at S&P.

Among the other major corporations to have lost their pristine credit ratings from S&P recently are Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) and General Electric (GE, Fortune 500).

Pfizer was downgraded in October due to its acquisition of rival drugmaker Wyeth. S&P cut General Electric’s rating in March amid concerns about the company’s struggling finance unit GE Capital.  

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“We’re not going to be out of the woods by any stretch, but I suspect six months from now people are going to feel that this recovery is better established than they do today,” Summers said in an interview to be broadcast on Bloomberg Television’s “Conversations with Judy Woodruff” at 6 p.m. New York time today.

Summers added the nation is not “too far” from the beginning of a rebound in jobs. He said economic recoveries normally play out “in a sequence” that begins with growth in gross domestic product and then the length of the average work- week, both of which have already occurred. Growth in payrolls follows and eventually the unemployment rate drops, he added.

A Labor Department report today may show that nonfarm payrolls rose by 15,000 in January, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Employment has grown in only one previous month since the end of 2007, by 4,000 jobs last November.

Summers also pressed the case for passage of the Obama administration’s financial regulatory overhaul this year.

“American consumers will be much more vulnerable to being ripped off than they need to be” if the plan isn’t passed, he said. “Taxpayers would be at greater risk of having to be called on again for bailouts.”

Bank Tax

He defended the tax the president has proposed on large banks to recover the costs of rescuing financial firms. Summers said it’s not “punitive” for the government to “seek to recoup just its direct outlays of cost, that’s a small, small fraction of their profits or market value.”

Summers said he supported Obama’s proposal last month to bar commercial banks from using their own capital to conduct proprietary trading or from owning hedge funds and private equity funds. Still, he said he didn’t regret promoting legislation, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1999, that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act’s separation of commercial from investment banking.

Summers pointed to the performance during the financial crisis of banks in Canada, which permits banks to combine commercial and investment banking.

“If you ask which country’s been most successful in weathering these financial problems, Canada has a banking system with so-called universal banking,” Summers said.

Regulatory Failures

He attributed the crisis to the failures of regulators who supervised the banking system.

“The failures took the full form of regulators who were asleep at the switch, who didn’t recognize the erosion of capital and liquidity positions,” Summers said.

Summers downplayed friction between the U.S. and China, including charges that a recent computer attack targeting Google Inc. came from China. The relationship between the two nations is resilient enough to withstand occasional dust-ups, he said.

“This is a mature relationship,” Summers said. No one is under the “illusion that there’s going to be agreement in every area.”

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The new ads posted in January increased 3.4 percent from the 14,500 new ads posted the prior month and 40 percent from the 10,700 new ads posted at the beginning of 2009, The Conference Board reported Monday.

“You picked up 500 or so ads between December and January, which is not a month where you typically see increases,” said June Shelp, who worked on the report and is a vice president with The Conference Board. “To me, that’s a pretty positive sign.”

Total online advertised job vacancies for the metro area rose 7.9 percent compared with 24,100 in December and 28.7 percent compared with 20,200 in January 2009. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Nationwide, job demand rose by 382,000 in January to 4.02 million in January, using seasonally adjusted numbers. The number follows a 255,000 increase in December and a 107,000 increase in November. The Conference Board called those numbers consistent with the gross domestic product results for the fourth quarter.

“The last three months have shown a sharp upturn in employer demand for workers,” Gad Levanon, associate director for macroeconomic research at The Conference Board, said in a release. “These increases have brought us back near the labor demand levels that existed in November 2008 just prior to the huge losses resulting from the financial turmoil in the last quarter of 2008.”

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