Weekend Update

National News

• Allan Greenspan adds a hurdle to the Wal-Mart bank bid Greenspan spoke out in an eleven page letter urging Congress to close the loophole that would allow Wal-Mart to open a bank in Utah. Greenspan recognizes the seriousness of the issue allowing one of the largest and irresponsible companies to have control of a nations financial system...."Federal regulators need to heed Chairman Greenspan's warning and realize that a Wal-Mart bank would pose serious and grave threat to consumers, community banks and the economic health of this nation," Chris Kofinis, communications director for WakeUpWalmart.com This may be one of Greenspans last actions as Chairman, he is scheduled to retire Jan.31 Read the entire article here
• According to Sanford Bernstein analyst Emme Kozloff, Costco, Walmart and other retail giants are looking into "fingerprint" devices to accelerate transactions and reduce costs....Read more of this article here Fingerprinting Towards the Future
• In a recent study conducted by the UFCW, found Wal-Mart scanners rang up the wrong price for 604% of the items purchased for the survey in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan and for 8.3% of the items purchased in California....Read more in the New York Times article by Barbara Whitaker