Motor Trend editor-in-chief

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Chrysler Group's Dodge Ram Heavy Duty won Motor Trend magazine's coveted "Truck of the Year" award in a unanimous vote, the magazine announced Thursday.

"Much of what is so impressive about the Ram Heavy Duty is not only how easily it does all the tasks it's built for, but also how easy it is on the driver," Angus MacKenzie, Motor Trend editor-in-chief, said in a statement. "The Ram is quieter, more comfortable and people-friendly than before without sacrificing its considerable capability."

The award was open to pick-ups and vans that were all-new or substantially redesigned in the past year. Besides the Ram Heavy Duty, the three other contenders for this year's award were the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, which is a high-performance off-road truck, the Ford Transit Connect, a small commercial cargo van, and the Toyota Tundra 4.6-liter truck.

The Ram Heavy Duty, unlike the more familiar Dodge Ram 1500, is built strictly for work and isn't intended as a vehicle someone might drive for personal use. It has a 17,500 towing capacity and is available with a powerful diesel engine.

"No automotive segment has been left untouched by the economic downturn, but the truck market has been especially hard hit," said MacKenzie. "With many casual personal-use truck buyers having deserted the market, the industry has been forced to tightly focus its products on the specific needs of truck users."

Motor Trend editors judged the trucks based on design, engineering, efficiency, safety,and value, as well as on how well the vehicle fills its intended function. As part of the judging process, the trucks are put through a series of driving tests on test tracks and on ordinary roads, both empty and fully loaded.

Motor Trend gives three vehicle awards annually. The Subaru Outback won the magazine's SUV of the Year award in October, the second year in a row that a Subaru product won that award, and the in November.

"The Motor Trend Truck of the Year Award is like a standing ovation for the Chrysler Group designers, engineers and planners who developed this incredible Ram Heavy Duty Truck," said Fred Diaz, president and chief executive officer of Chrysler Group's Ram truck brand, in a statement.

Chrysler Group recently named Diaz to head the Ram truck brand, a newly distinct brand within Chrysler. Car designer Ralph Gilles now heads a separate Dodge car brand.

Since emerging from bankruptcy, Chrysler has been under the leadership of Sergio Marchionne, who also runs Italy's Fiat Group. Fiat now owns 20% of Chrysler.

Chrysler is struggling to turn around its precipitously falling sales and reinvigorate an aging product line-up. Chrysler sales were down more than 25% in November, compared to last year, a much worse showing than domestic rivals General Motors and Ford.

Financial markets

That's well below the $176 billion recorded for October and about $5 billion less than recorded in November of last year.

But the November shortfall, reported Thursday by the Treasury Department, brings the total deficit for the first two months of fiscal year 2010 to $296.7 billion, or about $16 billion more than the deficit accrued in the same period a year ago, when the economy and financial markets were falling apart.

The major reason for the increase in the deficit: Even though spending for the first two months of this fiscal year actually fell roughly $25 billion compared to what it was in the prior year-to-date period, tax revenue fell more -- by $41 billion.

Interest paid on the debt in November was $18 billion - or 7% of federal outlays for the month.

For the full fiscal year 2010, the Treasury is estimating the annual deficit will reach $1.502 trillion, or just slightly more than the up in fiscal year 2009.

Economists and deficit hawks worry less about the near-term deficits accrued since they're the direct result of efforts to combat an economic meltdown. Of greater concern to them is the total debt accumulation, which is building rapidly and could top $20 trillion within 10 years under current policy.

U.S. economy

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The odds aren't on its side, but a bonus tax could happen in the United States too.

The United Kingdom this week slapped a 50% tax on bankers' bonuses above about $40,000. The one-time tax will be paid by all banks with employees in the country. France pledged it would adopt the same policy, while Germany's chancellor called the idea "charming."

Still, the bonus tax seems like a long shot on this side of the Atlantic, where bankers wield immense power. But when Wall Street starts handing out at a time of 10% unemployment, all the campaign donations in the world may not keep legislators facing tough re-election fights from turning on their banker chums.

We "could very well get a political backlash against the banks and bank bonuses during 2010," said Desmond Lachman, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "This would be especially the case were the U.S. economy to stall, as I certainly expect it to once the positive effect of stimulus begins to fade."

The megabanks see this dynamic too. Goldman Sachs (, the bank that stands to hand out the most at year-end, has gone on a belated .

Goldman said Thursday its top 30 executives, led by CEO Lloyd will cash bonuses this year. The move comes on the heels of decisions at the New York-based firm to and donate more to .

Undercutting any good cheer, told a British magazine last month the firm is " even as it rakes in billions of dollars in profits on trading."The bankers are so entitled, it's just astonishing," said Lee A. Sheppard, a tax attorney and contributing editor at the tax journal Tax Notes. "It only took them two years to wake up to the shame over this mess."The main danger to this sense of entitlement comes from the House of Representatives. In March, it passed a bill that would have the bonuses paid at through a 90% tax.

That measure received a frosty reception from the Obama administration and was shelved by the Senate. But if foreclosures and unemployment remain uncomfortably high, ideas like a bonus tax could gain steam, said Benn Steil, director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

The House is "our most radical political institution," Steil said. "Some House legislation is deliberately provocative. It can be a good way for congressmen to grandstand."

Of course, even if the House passes a bonus tax, it would face an uphill battle in the Senate and with the administration. Unlike the United Kingdom, which faces an acute budget crisis, U.S. leaders seem to have some breathing room, despite the mounting deficit.

And if enacted, a bonus tax may or may not be effective in holding down runaway pay. Sheppard said the European bonus tax seems less likely to hold down bonuses than to punish bank shareholders who already foot outrageous bills for their trading and banking "talent."

Because the tax is to be paid by banks rather than by individuals, the end result may be that "the shareholders who stupidly failed to restrain the bankers from taking a huge share of the profits will get penalized again," Sheppard said.

Championship game

HOUSTON (AP) -- Ndamukong Suh picked up another honor Wednesday night, taking home the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman.
But in this week of picking up trophies, he took some time away from the celebration to apologize to fellow Lombardi Award finalist Jerry Hughes of TCU for not knocking off Texas in the Big 12 Championship game on Saturday.
Suh was chasing Colt McCoy with seconds left in the game and he threw the ball away as the clock ticked to zero. But a review ruled there was a second remaining and the Longhorns kicked a field goal for the 13-12 win.
A loss could have given undefeated TCU a spot in the national championship game. Instead Texas is headed to the game against Alabama.
"I wish I didn't get to him," Suh said. "I pushed him down and forced him to throw that ball away. I should've let him run around a little bit longer, then we wouldn't have had to worry about trying to block a field goal."
Suh delivered his regrets to Hughes earlier in the week when the two were up for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. Suh also won the Nagurski Trophy as the nation's top defensive player, and is a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
"I told him, 'No apology needed, you did everything you could,"' Hughes said. "We were all rooting for Nebraska, obviously. One second from probably going to the national championship game, that's not too bad, you know? TCU has come a long way and for us to even be mentioned in the conversation with the national championship is a great honor."
Alabama's Terrence Cody and Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma were the other finalists.
Suh finished the regular season with 82 tackles, 23 tackles for losses and 12 sacks. In the Big 12 championship game, he had a career-high 12 tackles, including a school-record seven tackles for losses and 4 1/2 sacks.
Suh wasn't sure how much his performance against the Longhorns contributed to the number of individual honors he's received this week.
"I went out in that game and all I wanted to do was come out with the Big 12 championship ring and unfortunately it ended the way it did and I didn't get a chance to do that," he said. "I don't know exactly how much that weighed into it, maybe a little bit, maybe a lot. I don't know."
The Big 12 defensive player of the year also is up for the Walter Camp Award, the Lott Trophy, the Bednarik Award and the Outland Trophy.
Suh is the first Nebraska player to win the Lombardi Award since Grant Wistrom nabbed the honor in 1997 and the fifth overall.
Suh said Nebraska's history of having great defenses was one of the major reasons he chose the school.
"We were kind of in the dumps when I was getting recruited, a couple of bad years had come before ... I wanted to be part of a unit or a class that started to bring that program back," he said. "My class leaving this year, I think, has helped that process tremendously. I hope we have. We're not quite there, but you're starting to see the 'Blackshirts' again, for sure."
Suh's voice shook as he accepted the award and afterward he said winning it was a "total surprise."
"In my eyes this is a very huge one, especially at my position," he said. "The guys that are the unsung heroes in college football and football all-around, guys that just do the dirty work and get the job done for everybody else are the defensive linemen and offense linemen."
The Rotary Club of Houston has presented the award annually since 1970. Voting totals from the award are not released.

Future of world

Gold for December delivery rose as high as $1,199.30 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex, marking a record.
The front-month contract gained $13, or 1.1%, to $1,194.10 an ounce in recent trading.
Gold futures gained 0.6% on Monday, marking one of the best months in 10 years.
"Equity and broader risk sentiment has been more upbeat this morning, with markets buoyed by solid manufacturing data from China and the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to increase interest rates for a third straight month," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London.
Australia's central bank raised its policy cash rate Tuesday, as widely expected, by 0.25 percentage point to 3.75%, marking its third rate increase since September.

Dubai world

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan issued a statement saying the UAE economy was in a good condition.
He also praised Dubai's leader, saying he managed daily "achievements". The Sheikh's comments come after almost a week of market turmoil.
It was sparked when Dubai World, Dubai's highest-profile company, said it would reschedule part of its debts.
Markets across the UAE have fallen sharply. The markets in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi fell by about 6% for the second day in a row. Qatar's main index closed down 8.3%.
But major Western markets appear to be steadying, with all the main European stock markets higher in morning trade on Tuesday.
Debt restructuring
The UAE president said the Gulf region would not slip due to what he called the global financial crisis.
Sheikh Khalifa also praised the ruler of Dubai - who is also his UAE vice president, prime minister and defence minister - saying Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and his cabinet "face every morning challenges, but plan and remove all obstacles to score achievements".
WHAT IS DUBAI WORLD?
The emirate's flag bearer in global investments
Has a central role in the direction of Dubai's economy
Assets include DP World, which caused a storm when trying to take over six US ports
Property arm Nakheel built The Palm Islands and The World developments
Dubai World has unveiled plans to restructure $26bn (£15.8bn) in debt, its first comment since the crisis began last Wednesday.
In a statement, the firm said that it "intends to adopt a policy of regular communication and will provide further updates as the process develops".
The proposed restructuring process will only include its main property firms, but leave other companies, which it described as "on a stable financial footing", untouched.
Hassaim Arabi, chief executive at Gulfmena Alternative Investments said the statement was good news.
"It shows they are still committed to their payments and it removes all fears that this is a complete default," he said.
On Sunday, the central bank of the UAE stepped in and announced a facility to provide banks with extra liquidity.
The liquidity will be available to all UAE banks as well as foreign banks operating in the Emirates.
On Monday, Dubai's government distanced itself from Dubai World's problems saying that it would not guarantee the company's debt.
"[Creditors] think Dubai World is part of the government, which is not correct," said finance minister Abdulrahman al-Saleh.

Divine capital market

Outside stocks, commodity prices also rose. The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index was up 0.9% despite slight pullbacks in oil and gold.
The dollar fell against both the euro and the yen, while Treasurys were little changed. The 10-year note was up 3/32 to yield 3.198%.
Investors' confidence that banks will benefit from continued efforts by governments around the world to prop up the global economy was bolstered Monday afternoon by reports that the troubled state-owned conglomerate Dubai World was taking steps to restructure tens of billions of dollars in debt.
But participants are also worried about weakness in the non-financial sectors of the global economy. Now that Black Friday, which marks the unofficial start of the U.S. holiday-shopping season, has passed, some money managers are particularly worried that earlier buying in the consumer sector might have been overdone.
"We're still bullish over the long run, but it is a little disconcerting to see the way breadth in the rally has fallen away lately," said strategist Steve Charest, of Divine Capital Markets.
Narrowly based gains traditionally signal that a market is nearing a top, due either for a correction or a full-blown bear market.
Several new economic reports showed improvements. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that its index of general business activity moved to 0.3 from -3.3 the month before. The Midwest Manufacturing Index compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago rose 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted level of 82.9, its fourth consecutive advance. Other major stock indexes managed slight gains Monday. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.3%. The Russell 2000 was up 0.4%.
On the month, the S&P /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,096, +4.14, +0.38%) gained 5.7%, while the Dow was up 6.5%. Both posted their biggest November gains since 2001. The Nasdaq /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,145, +6.16, +0.29%) was 4.9% higher on the month.

Financial sector

The late gains salvaged what had been a gloomy session through most of the day. Declines in consumer stocks kept major indexes in the red through most of the session amid concerns that the U.S. holiday-shopping season could be lackluster.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (INDU 10,345, +34.92, +0.34%) broke into positive territory for good with 45 minutes to go in Monday's session and ended with a gain of 34.92 points, up 0.3%, at 10,344.84, helped by gains in all its financial names. Bank of America /quotes/comstock/13*!bac/quotes/nls/bac (BAC 15.85, +0.38, +2.46%) rose 2.5%, J.P. Morgan Chase /quotes/comstock/13*!jpm/quotes/nls/jpm (JPM 42.49, +1.16, +2.81%) was up 2.8%, American Express /quotes/comstock/13*!axp/quotes/nls/axp (AXP 41.83, +0.99, +2.42%) rose 2.4%, and Travelers Group /quotes/comstock/13*!trv/quotes/nls/trv (TRV 52.39, +0.74, +1.43%) rose 1.4%. But the average's retail components fell, with Home Depot /quotes/comstock/13*!hd/quotes/nls/hd (HD 27.36, -0.25, -0.91%) off 0.9% and Wal-Mart Stores /quotes/comstock/13*!wmt/quotes/nls/wmt (WMT 54.55, -0.08, -0.15%) down 0.2%.
The S&P 500's financial sector leapt 2.7% -- more than triple that of the next best-performing category. That rally left the index with an overall gain of 0.3%

Bank of japan

The central bank unanimously voted to keep its overnight call rate target unchanged at 0.1%, but also set up a new 10 trillion yen ($120 billion) lending facility, which will accept as collateral Japanese government bonds, corporate bonds commercial paper, and deeds on loans.
"While Japan's economy is picking up, there is not yet sufficient momentum to support self-sustaining recovery in business, fixed investment and private consumption," the BOJ said in its statement, adding the recovery will likely "remain moderate" through late 2010.
The bank pledged to cooperate with the government to do all it can to pull Japan out of deflation, which the bank has said it expects to last for three fiscal years. Fighting deflation with "quantitative easing" has worked sooo well in Japan these past 20 years - that now the US is doing it... ~:-/What's that old saying about insanity being defined as repeating the same action over and over expecting a different result?Not to mention the absurdity of US futures and Euro viewing this as a good thing (as evidenced by its rise since that announcement in after hours trade).Anyone care to ask "why?" Japan is suddenly more concerned about its banks?