Disaster disrupts supply routes

Disaster disrupts supply routes

The disaster in Japan has exposed a problem with how multinational companies do business: The system they use to keep supplies rolling in is lean and cost-effective — yet vulnerable to sudden shocks.

Factories, ports, roads, railways and airports in northern Japan have been shut down or damaged because of the stricken nuclear plant in the region. So auto and technology companies are cut off from suppliers in the disaster zone. Some have had to stop or slow production.

Subaru of America has suspended overtime at its only North American plant, in Lafayette, Ind. Toyota Motor Corp. has canceled overtime and Saturday production at its 13 North American plants. The two companies are trying to conserve their existing supplies.

Mixed verdict on government bailout

WASHINGTON

The government’s bailout of banks, automakers and insurers helped prevent a more-severe economic crisis but might have sowed the seeds of the next one, a congressional watchdog group said Wednesday in its final report.

The Congressional Oversight Panel said that the government’s rescue fund may have prevented an economic depression by sending billions of dollars to companies crippled in the financial crisis that erupted in 2008. But little has been done to aid homeowners facing foreclosure or others far from Wall Street, it said.

House bill would kill property program

WASHINGTON

Republicans ignored a White House veto threat and pushed a bill through the House on Wednesday halting a federal program that gives state and local governments money to buy and upgrade abandoned buildings.

The Bush-era program has been embraced by the Obama administration at a time of mounting foreclosures as a way to prevent neighborhoods from decaying. Republicans say the initiative has failed and argue that with record federal deficits, taxpayers’ money should be saved.

The measure, approved 242-182 in a mostly party-line vote, would block the spending of about $1 billion.

The bill is the third of four bills ending federal housing programs that Republicans have been moving through the House. They have scant chance of surviving in the Democratic-run Senate. The White House has threatened to veto them all.

Associated Press