Stock Market

Jackson Bell Glendale police and firefighters are plenty peeved with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger these days. Presidents of the agencies' unions voiced their frustration Friday with Schwarzenegger's push to cut costs by switching their retirement plans to a 401(k)-style program. They also claim his initiative will eliminate their death and disability benefits. Under the current pension plan, the city contributes money toward its employees' retirement, and the employees know just how much money they will retire with, officials said.

Free business loan seminar to be held The Valley Economic Development Center is slated to host a free business seminar Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Glendale Capital Access Center, 330 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 190, Glendale. The event will address business expansion and equipment or inventory purchases. Officials will cover the basics of applying for small business loans and discuss credit, collateral, cash flow and other loan packaging items. For more information, call (213)

GLENDALE ? A lawsuit filed against a Glendale chiropractor over an alleged $300,000 investment fraud scheme will go to trial Monday. Glendale resident and retired architect Gregor Zargarian first filed the lawsuit in 2005 against Sarkis Mesrobian ? a chiropractor with offices in Glendale and Santa Monica ? and two others for allegedly stealing $300,000 that was paid to Mesrobian under the guise of an insider stock purchase, according to court documents. The civil case will go to jury trial Monday in Glendale Superior Court after it failed a final attempt at mediation last week, said Mary Der-Parseghian, an attorney representing Zargarian.

The foothill community, like counterparts throughout the state, are feeling the pinch at the pump as California oil refineries are being blamed for high prices. According to the Energy Information Administration, gas prices rose from an average of $2.89 per gallon on March 5 to $3.07 March 19. According to reports, fuel experts blamed refinery and pipeline problems as well as high demands by drivers. On the other hand, oil companies do not seem to be taking it in the pocket book like consumers.

While the day after Thanksgiving has always been a high volume shopping event, it's only in recent years that the term “Black Friday” has been used to describe it.  Am I the only one who feels the moniker sounds negative? Describing any day with the adjective “black” conjures up bad connotations. For example, Black Tuesday is the day the stock market crashed in October 1929.  That day was one of the worst in this country's history, so why would we want to assign another day of the week with the same modifier?

Either Allen Brandstater is suffering from mad cow disease, or he thinks his readers are! First, he asserts that the building of 500-plus homes in the hills above Glendale will result in millions of dollars funneled into local schools. We have all seen that the millions of dollars collected in the name of schools by the California lottery have had minimal results in terms of improving school conditions and student skills. I have no confidence that the results would be any better with money based on the demise of our precious hills.

A number of years ago, I invested in a number of speculative stocks. They looked like real winners and I figured I'd make a bundle of money on them. But instead, circumstances have changed and I've lost a bundle of money. Who should compensate me for my unfortunate losses? Who should I sue to recoup my lost thousands? No one, because I was the one who made the risky investments and therefore my losses are no one's responsibility but mine! A number of years ago, the Greggs made a very speculative investment in 238 acres of hard land to build on, mostly steep-sloped, environmentally sensitive hillside land.

Tim Willert CITY HALL -- For years, Ron Borucki sold bank products and financial services to city treasurers and finance directors. Now he sits on the other side of the desk. Borucki left banking in 1999 after 34 years to become Glendale's city treasurer. As such, Borucki is the city's banker, the man who manages the city's $425-million portfolio. Borucki makes investment decisions for the city, following state guidelines. As a result, the city only invests in bonds and does not invest in the stock market.

Steve Marble They were the days of magic; wistful, reckless times; a season of wondrous bounty. The stock market. Last year. Like many Americans, lured by the steroid-like pace of the high-tech industry and the ease of buying stock online, I jumped head first into the stock market craze several years ago. There was Amazon. There was Yahoo! There was Intel. There was Cisco. The stocks went up. And I smiled, knowing that I had invested wisely.