Harold Maass of The Week The Best of Today's Business

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Saudi Arabia promises small oil increase

Saudi Arabia, at an energy summit it convened Sunday, said it would raise oil output by 200,000 barrels a day in July, to 9.7 million barrels. The vague promise was the only concrete result from the summit, attended by 35 nations. (The New York Times, free registration) Everyone agreed that surging demand from countries like China and India was contributing to the sharp rise in oil prices, but oil producing nations said speculative investment was to blame for the size of the increase, while oil consumers clamored for more supply. (AP in Yahoo! Finance) Oil futures rose after the summit. "I don't think we'll see a lot of downward price movement as a result of this meeting," said analyst Mike Wittner at Societe Generale. (Bloomberg)

Bunge buys Corn Products

U.S. agriculture firm Bunge Ltd. agreed to buy Corn Products International Inc. for $4.4 billion, plus $414 million in Corn Products debt. The all-stock deal represents a 31 percent premium over Westchester, Ill.-based Corn Products' closing price Friday. (AP in CNNMoney.com) Corn Products, founded in 1906, makes corn syrup, starches, and other ingredients. Bunge, started in Amsterdam in 1818, is the world's largest oilseed processor. (Bloomberg) The combined company would have about 33,000 employees in 40 countries. The deal comes as big agricultural firms are reaping hefty profits. "Despite the higher commodity prices, customer demand has been firm," said Bunge CFO Jacqualyn Fouse. (Reuters)

Republic takes aim at Waste Management

Waste disposal firm Republic Services agreed to purchase rival Allied Waste Industries in an all-stock deal worth $6.09 billion. The combined company, 52 percent owned by Republic's shareholders, would have a market capitalization of about $12 billion. (Reuters) Republic and Allied are second- and third-largest U.S. disposal firms, following No. 1 Waste Management. Together, with 35,000 employees, they would serve 13 million customers in 40 states and Puerto Rico. The new company would use the name Republic Services and remain based in Republic's current Phoenix headquarters. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

ABC, BlackBerrys, and the definition of overtime

When ABC News handed three new writers a waiver stipulating that after-hours BlackBerry checking did not constitute overtime, nobody there expected the resulting minor fracas. The Writers Guild of America, East, objected to the potential that BlackBerrys could lead to a "24/7 workplace," especially without 24/7 compensation. But both sides say they were surprised when the dispute made its way into newspapers and cable news; it apparently touched on a broader cultural question. "People are entitled to time off the job," says WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson. "BlackBerrys can be liberating," he adds, "but they can also shackle people to their jobs." (The New York Times, free registration)

BEST COLUMNS OF THE DAY

U.S. inflation isn't just a U.S. problem

Painful inflation has "come home to roost" in the U.S., says Tim W. Ferguson in Forbes, where the Federal Reserve woefully "unleashed this unhappy interruption" of two decades of stable prices to "bail out" credit-parched bankers. But a "hypercompetitive" U.S. economy should contain the "inflationary breakout" in America. To the world's misfortune, the pain will be felt more abroad, most significantly in Asia. To survive, Asian nations will have to cut food and fuel subsidies, which could cause unrest. And "the ultimate, unfortunate ramification of the Fed's and Wall Street's binge" would be "if the hangover brings the demise of pro-trade, pro-market globalizers."

What price . . . anything?

Our brains are poorly equipped to "judge the value of the things we buy," says Michael S. Rosenwald in The Washington Post. To cope, we "look for easy comparisons to give us answers." That makes us vulnerable to "pricing tricks." Take the new iPhone -- we think of it as an expensive mobile phone, because its original price was $600, so when it drops to $200, we "get a psychological return of $400." Except the savings are negated by higher monthly fees. Similarly, stock splits make shares seem more affordable, and $50 entrees on a dinner menu make the $30 chicken plate seem cheap. It can work in reverse, too: if your gas "reference point" is $2 a gallon, $4 gas makes the bus awfully attractive.

GOOD DAY FOR: Generous spirits, after U.S. charitable giving rose to a record $306 billion in 2007, despite the financial downturn in the second half of the year. Charities are not optimistic about this year, though, according to Giving USA, which compiled the survey. The bulk of the donations, $229 billion, came from individuals; $102 billion of the donations went to religious groups. (The Washington Post, free registration)

BAD DAY FOR: Teen spirit, after the rising price of gas is forcing touring independent bands to either cancel summer tours or swallow the added costs. It's worse along the West Coast, where the cities are farther apart. "Once I ran the numbers it was a 'There's no (expletive) way' kind of moment," said Steven Garcia, who canceled his band's tour over gas prices. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

NOTED: Citigroup is planning to lay off about 10 percent of its investment bank's 65,000 employees, with the first cuts announced as early as today, The Wall Street Journal reported. The steepest cuts are expected in the mergers and acquisitions division, which was spared in a round of layoffs earlier this year. (MarketWatch) The largest banks and brokerages worldwide have cut more than 80,000 jobs since the subprime meltdown. (Bloomberg)

This column was written by Peter Weber and edited by Harold Maass of TheWeekDaily.com.