Jim Berlin, chief executive of Erie-based Logistics Plus Inc., said an upcoming honor prompted his company to take an accounting of all the countries to which it has arranged exports.
It’s a list that includes Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalum, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Domenica Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazahkstan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papau New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, UK, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.
Feel free to count them, but there are more than 100 countries on the list, substantially more than the number that participated in the recent Winter Olympics.
It doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to suggest that this list is a testament to the ability of Logistics Plus and Erie as a whole to do business anywhere and with anyone.

General Electric Co. this afternoon released the following:

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — GE’s on-line annual report 2009 titled “Renew” is now available on the Company’s Web site at www.ge.com/annualreport.

The report focuses on the Company’s solid 2009 performance amid continued global economic pressure and its execution against four strategic priorities: keeping GE safe and secure; executing and positioning our infrastructure businesses to perform through the cycle; creating financial flexibility; and protecting our franchise and brand. The report also details a roadmap for GE’s renewal, characterized by: a simplified portfolio focused on infrastructure; investing in profitable growth; creating market solutions to tough societal problems; an energized and accountable team; and attractive growth in earnings, cash and returns.

The report consists of Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt’s letter to investors; pictorial chapters on the key elements of the GE renewal model; a letter from the Board’s Presiding Director Ralph Larsen on the Company’s compensation philosophy; an overview on governance; and a comprehensive financial section. The online version features video stories about customers, including AEP and Petrobas.

“In 2008 – 09, a period many considered the most difficult economic crisis since the Great Depression, GE earned about $30 billion and generated $36 billion of cash. And we finished this period much stronger than we started,” GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt writes in his letter. “The world has been reset. Today’s uncertainty feels like the ‘new normal.’ We will not return to the relative tranquility of the pre-crisis world. Growth will be harder to come by, trends will be more volatile and constituent voices will be louder. We see this environment as an opportunity to renew GE.

“GE is an innovative technology and services company that can solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, grow earnings and have substantial cash available to reinvest in the Company or return to shareowners. In the markets we have chosen, we will have a meaningful competitive advantage,” Immelt writes, driven by unique GE strengths that include broad technical leadership, service expansion, emerging-market growth, valuable partnerships, strategic financial services and a legacy of leadership development. “We expect 2010 earnings to be flat with 2009. In 2011 and beyond, we expect GE to generate solid earnings growth, even if the economic recovery is uneven. We will achieve this growth while generating substantial ‘free cash’ that could further enhance investor returns.”

GE has begun distributing more than four million reports and proxy statements in preparation for its annual shareowners meeting on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, in Houston, Texas.

“We worked hard during the crisis to prepare the Company for the future,” Immelt says. “We are emerging as a ‘Renewed GE,’ a company that is more competitive and positioned for long-term growth.”

Time Warner Cable subscribers are getting used to the latest changes to their lineup.

Those changes became evident Monday when the HD channels moved from the 400 level to the 1000 level. The company had warned back in February that it would be doing this.

The reason is that the cable company was running out of room for HD programs at the 400 level.

The cable has said it will not increase its rates with the move to the new level or when it adds HD channels.

Time Warner does not charge extra for HD programming, except for four channels that cost a total of $5 per month, Reynolds said. Those channels are Smithsonian Channel HD, Universal HD, MGM HD and MavTV HD.

Erie Indemnity Co., the management arm of the Erie-based Erie Insurance Group, is expanding its board of directors.
The company, which ranks as Erie County’s third largest employer, has announced it will add two new directors for a total of 13.
The new candidates are Martin Sheffield, owner of Sheffield Consulting LLC, and Richard L. Stover, managing principal of private equity fund Birchmere Capital LP, according to an Associated Press report.
The company’s board of directors, including the two new nominees, will be voted on during the company’s annual meeting to be held April 20 in Erie.

General Electric Co. said Friday that Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt did not receive 2009 bonus, the second straight year he gave up extra pay as the industrial and financial conglomerate struggled with one of its worst years on record, according to the Associated Press.

However, GE did not leave Immelt empty-handed. He was paid a $3.3 million salary, the same as a year ago, and granted him 150,000 performance share units worth $1.8 million that will convert to GE stock if the company meets certain financial goals. GE also gave Immelt 2 million in stock options Thursday worth between $7 million and $8 million, though those options do not appear on his 2009 pay package.

The number of homeowners, both in Erie and throughout the United States, that are seriously delinquent on their mortgages continues to grow.
For the ninth month in a row, the percentage of Erie County homeowners who were 90 days or behind on their mortgages climbed in January.
At 5.68 percent — a little more than one in 20 — the rate is still below the national average of 8.66 percent. While the delinquency rate in Erie County is up from 4.64 percent a year earlier, the national delinquency rate jumped from 5.53 percent.
Those figures are according to First American CoreLogic Real Estate News and Trends.

Thousands of employees of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., including employees at 24 branches in Erie and Crawford counties, are expected to collect $1,000 bonuses later this month.
According to a report in the Pittsburgh Business-Times, full bonuses would be paid to all employees making less than $100,000 who were with the company as of Dec. 1, 2009. Part-time employees were expected to receive bonuses of $500.
The company’s chairman, James Rohr, said in a memo that he wanted to reward employees for their efforts over the past year.
His memo, a copy of which was obtained by the Pittsburgh business weekly, said in part, “In 2009, we earned $2.4 billion, our second-highest net income total ever. You — our 56,000 employees — made these and other special achievements possible … and we believe that deserves special recognition.”
A spokesman for the Pittsburgh-based company declined additional comment.

Erie Insurance Group heir Samuel P. “Pat” Black III, who is the owner of Hero BX and Erie Management Group, was also the founder in 2006 of Blackstone Ranch Institute in Taos, N.M.
The institute is described on its Web site as a “nonprofit organization whose purpose is to support those who are engaged in solution-oriented conversations about the most important environmental challenges of our time.”
But now the institute, which has worked in the past with the Clinton Foundation and the National Geographic Society, is up for sale.
The following is a link to a report in the Taos News: http://www.taosnews.com/articles/2010/02/13/news/doc4b7596d40e405900570233.txt

The Associated Press just reported that General Motors Co. will shut down Hummer after its bid to sell the brand to a Chinese company collapsed.

Heavy equipment maker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. pulled out of the deal for Hummer, known for its hulking, military-like SUVs, because it was unable to get clearance from Chinese regulators within the proposed deal timeframe, the company was quoted as saying.

GM said it will continue to honor existing Hummer warranties.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has postponed a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday to discuss proposed changes to the 814 area code.
The hearing has been delayed because of a snowstorm that’s expected to hit much of Pennsylvania, said Jennifer Kocher, press secretary for the PUC.
The commission is looking for input on plans to split the 814 area code, which is expected to run out of new numbers in 2012.
The hearing, which had been scheduled for 6 p.m. at Quality Inn & Suites, 8040 Perry Highway, Summit Township, will be rescheduled.
– Jim Martin