Dimon survives votes on pay, chairmanship

Protestors hold signs outside the gate of JP Morgan Chase annual stockholders meeting held Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, facing shareholders five days after the bank disclosed a $2 billion trading loss, said Tuesday that the company's mistakes were "self-inflicted." (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)

Protestors hold signs outside the gate of JP Morgan Chase annual stockholders meeting held Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, facing shareholders five days after the bank disclosed a $2 billion trading loss, said Tuesday that the company's mistakes were "self-inflicted." (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)

Hillsborough Sheriff deputy patrols outside the gate of JP Morgan Chase annual stockholders meeting held Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will speak to shareholders five days after disclosing a $2 billion trading loss. (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)

A poster of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is covered with eggs thrown by protesters, outside the gate of JP Morgan Chase annual stockholders meeting, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will speak to shareholders five days after disclosing a $2 billion trading loss. (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)

Hillsborough Sheriff deputies patrol outside the gate of JPMorgan Chase annual stockholders meeting held Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will speak to shareholders five days after disclosing a $2 billion trading loss. (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)

An employee checks in outside the gate of JPMorgan Chase annual stockholders meeting held Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will speak to shareholders five days after disclosing a $2 billion trading loss. (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)

(AP) ? The CEO of JPMorgan Chase survived a shareholder push Tuesday to strip him of the title of chairman of the board, five days after he disclosed a $2 billion trading loss by the bank.

CEO Jamie Dimon also won a shareholder endorsement of his pay package from last year, which totaled $23 million, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory filings.

Dimon, unusually subdued, told shareholders at the JPMorgan annual meeting that the company's mistakes were "self-inflicted." Speaking with reporters later, he added: "The buck always stops with me."

Most of the shareholder ballots were cast in the weeks before Dimon revealed the trading loss.

His pay package passed with 91 percent of the vote. The vote to strip him of the chairman's title won only 40 percent support. The bank did not announce separate results from before and after the loss was revealed.

Dimon was confronted at the meeting by shareholders upset about the trading loss, which has rattled investor confidence in the bank and complicated JPMorgan's efforts to fight tougher regulation of Wall Street.

Rev. Seamus Finn, representing shareholders from the Catholic organization Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, said that investors had heard Dimon apologize before for the foreclosure crisis and other problems.

"We heard the same refrain: We have learned from our mistakes. This will never be allowed to happen again," Finn said. "I can't help wondering if you are listening."

Lisa Lindsley, director of capital strategies for an influential union of public employees that is also a major JPMorgan shareholder, said independent board leadership was in shareholders' best interest.

"An all-powerful CEO is his own boss," she said. "Looking for an infallible CEO is a fool's errand."

Most large American companies combine the jobs of chairman and CEO, but shareholders have pushed in recent years to separate them. About one in five Standard & Poor's 500 companies separate the jobs.

Supporters argue that an independent chairman can provide a check on the CEO's power. Shareholders also frequently push for separation at turbulent times for a company.

In JPMorgan's case, the move to separate the jobs was put on the ballot before the $2 billion loss was unearthed. It was also on the ballot last year, but it received far less support then, 12 percent.

JPMorgan stock climbed throughout the morning and was up 3 percent by midday, on a day when the broader stock market was up only slightly. Investors pummeled JPMorgan stock in the first two trading days after the loss was revealed, driving it down 12 percent and wiping out almost $20 billion in market value.

Dimon said he did not expect the trading loss to jeopardize JPMorgan's quarterly stock dividend, which is 30 cents per share.

A law enforcement official said that the FBI's New York office is heading an inquiry by the Justice Department into the JPMorgan loss. The official, who was not authorized to speak about the decision, spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official characterized the inquiry as preliminary.

There was a heavy police presence at the meeting, in an office park east of downtown Tampa. Protesters were there as well, including some who threw eggs at a poster with Dimon's picture on it.

"We wanted to let Jamie Dimon know how we feel about what big banks have done to our economy," said Marilyn Lyday, a member of the protest group Occupy Orlando.

Dimon got something of a vote of confidence from President Barack Obama, who appeared on ABC's "The View" for an episode airing Tuesday. Obama used the appearance to press for tighter regulation of Wall Street.

"JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is," the president said. "Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got, and they still lost $2 billion and counting."

Obama has reason to tread carefully on the JPMorgan trading debacle. Four years ago, when he captivated Wall Street during his first presidential run, JPMorgan employees were among his most ardent financial backers.

People who said they worked for JPMorgan Chase gave more than $800,000 to Obama in 2008, compared with $340,000 for his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Obama is struggling with Wall Street's resentment this year. His campaign has received barely more than $75,000 in donations from JPMorgan employees, while Mitt Romney has attracted more than $370,000.

Obama said the bank was "making bets" in the market for the complex financial instruments known as derivatives. Dimon has said the bank was hedging against financial risk.

A part of the 2010 financial overhaul legislation known as the Volcker rule is designed to prevent banks from placing bets for their own profit, a practice known as proprietary trading.

The idea is to protect depositors' money, which is insured by the government. If a bank's losses wiped out those deposits, the government would be on the hook.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, for whom the rule was named, wanted speculative trading by investment banks to be separated from the deposit-taking and lending business of traditional commercial banks.

Dimon and critics of the industry have disagreed over whether JPMorgan's trading would have violated that rule.

In Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said JPMorgan's trading loss strengthens the case for tougher rules on financial institutions, as regulators continue writing rules from the 2010 law.

Geithner said that the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Obama administration are "going to take a very careful look" at the JPMorgan incident as they implement the rules.

"I'm very confident that we're going to be able to make sure those come out as tough and effective as they need to be," Geithner said. "And I think this episode helps make the case, frankly."

At the annual meeting for the investment bank Morgan Stanley, which took place Tuesday in upstate New York, CEO James Gorman appeared to allude to the JPMorgan trading loss when he said: "Events of the last few days remind us that risk levels remain high in the global markets."

He noted twice that Morgan Stanley has jettisoned or is in the process of dumping all of its businesses that do proprietary trading, or trading for the bank's own profit.

Gorman also said, unprompted, that the bank maintains the right to take back pay from executives who act improperly. Gorman was confronted by shouting protesters who said the loss at JPMorgan was proof that banks are out of touch with their customers.

On Monday, Ina Drew, JPMorgan's chief investment officer and one of the highest-ranking women on Wall Street, left the bank. Drew oversaw the trading group responsible for the $2 billion loss.

___

Pallavi Gogoi reported from New York. AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode in New York and Associated Press writers Tom Hays in New York and Stephen Braun, Jack Gillum and Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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'The Voice' Moving To The Fall

After taking on 'American Idol' over the winter, 'The Voice' will now take on 'X Factor.'
By Gil Kaufman


"The Voice" coaches Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton
Photo: NBC

Fans of NBC reality singing competition "The Voice"
 will get a double-dose of spinning chairs and clashing mentors this year, as the show is being moved to the fall for its upcoming third season.

The just-wrapped singing competition whose panel is anchored by country star Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and jousting judges Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine, will move to the fall, where it will vie for eyeballs with another singing reality show, Simon Cowell's "X Factor." According to Billboard magazine, "The Voice" will benefit from Sunday night NFL promotions in its new slot, where it will run on Mondays from 8-10 p.m. and Tuesdays from 8-9 p.m. The "X Factor" will air on Wednesday from 8-10 p.m. and Thursday 8-9 p.m. Neither show has announced a firm return date.

Unnamed sources close to "The Voice" told the magazine that there are a number of revisions in store for the program that could make it look much different from the first two seasons. Among them could be more air time for the top finalists instead of a renewed focus in season two on the blind audition rounds.

As "The Voice" has grown into a consistent ratings generator for NBC, executives believe it will become a go-to place for labels looking to push their big fall and holiday releases in the fourth quarter during the show's live November and December shows.

It's unknown how the double-dip this year will impact the careers of its stars, as Aguilera is working on new music, Levine and his band, Maroon 5, are preparing to release the new disc Overexposed on June 26 and Green has said he's working on his next solo album and prepping a return from his hip-hop crew, Goodie Mob.

The only hiccup from the "Voice" move is that Cowell may steal their thunder on Monday (May 14) when he is expected to announce that Britney Spears and Demi Lovato will join the judging panel of "Factor" for season two.

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Amazon's Next Kindle Will Be Front-Lit and Its Next Kindle Fire Will Be Bigger [EReaders]

Reuters is reporting that the next Kindle will be front-lit and will be coming out in July. It's a smart move because it'll let users read their Kindles in the dark and an obvious one for Amazon to make as Barnes and Noble already has a front-lit Nook. More »


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Akamai: Global Average Connection Speed Dropped 14% In Q4 2011, Down 5.3% in U.S.

state_of_the_internetAccording to Akamai's latest State of the Internet report, the average Internet connection speed around the world was 2.3 Mbps by the end of 2011. That's down about 14% from the previous quarter. In the U.S., which ranks thirteenth in this report, the average connection speed in the last quarter of 2011 dropped 5.3% to 5.8 Mbps. In total, eight out of the top 10 countries in Akamai's report saw their average connection speed decline compared to Q3 2011. Worldwide, speeds declined in 93 of the countries included in this report and only increased in 41 countries.

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Car Auto Insurance ? Blog Archive ? Saving on Classic Motor Car ...

If you choose the right policy, the insurance on classic cars should not be as expensive as you might think. Insurance companies know that the car is a collector?s item is insured, and these cars are generally better maintained and driven less frequently than the vehicles of the modern suburb. Unfortunately, selecting the right policy is where many owners of cars are bad. More than half of all classic cars are a car insurance company general public, rather than a specialist who deals in the insured motor vehicle.

The problem with the traditional policy that is reimbursed in most cases, claims on an actual cash value loss (LCA), which means you pay for what you paid for the car, perhaps by subtracting depreciation. When the Chevrolet Corvette you bought in 1977 was achieved for 7,200 $, is what you will be paid by the insurance company, or less if the depreciation is applied, even if their market value is $ 16,000.

If your car is a collector?s item to the standard car insurance, should be avoided when possible. For cars, your best bet is to use a different two types of insurance available: stated value and agreed value. Under an agreement declared value, the insurer can give you the value of the car, and in most cases, the amount to be refunded in case of damage. However, the depreciation will be taken into account, and you need to read the fine print of your policy to ensure that coverage is, in fact, declared for the value. It is also likely that you will make a deductible under a claim of compensation.

The regime most favorable to the agreed value auto insurance. Since the agreed value is a peer review between you and your insurer, it may not be as high as what you are declared on the value. On the other hand, you will refund 100% of the agreed value, and there is no deductible.

Hot rods and custom cars are to be avoided, when to save money on insurance is a major factor. If you modify a car, be sure to document the parts and labor from all over carefully, and bring this record of your agent in obtaining a quote. More than other cars, custom built by insurance companies must be made available to specialize to know what are the major manufacturers, and increase your modded vehicle valuation, if found to have the rare options. The experts are almost always the best option to get cheap car insurance.

If you insure the car is an import, you always want to deal with a specialist insurance company, but there are other facts mentioned, get the best deal. Find out how to get cheap auto insurance import.

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UFO Spotted Near the Sun By NASA ... or Totally Not


An image from NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has renewed fascination over UFOs after capturing what appears to be an image of something large and artificially constructed hovering close to our solar neighbor.

See below. The NASA video shows something that looks like a huge, sectioned object with some sort of lengthy attached mechanical arm near the sun:

As the NASA video spreads around the Internet, UFO believers are claiming the object is an alien spaceship. Of course, that's probably very unlikely.

Any spaceship getting that close to the sun, with temperatures nearing 10,000 degrees, would surely burn up right then and there ... or would it?

IF the aliens were equipped with a technology we don't have yet, and could withstand enormous heat, they could pull it off though. Think about it.

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