Friday morning headlines

Toll roads gaining favor?: Let's hope so. The "congestion pricing" plan being pushed by the MTA and Caltrans would mean paying a toll charge for the use of certain carpool lanes in return for faster speed. Toll prices would rise during rush hour. At first, the plan would include carpool lanes on the 110 Freeway in South L.A. as well as the 10 and 210 freeways in the western San Gabriel Valley. Of course, there are the usual whiners. From the LAT:

“I think it's a horrible direction to go and I think it's immoral to sell the diamond lanes," said Charles Tarlow, a Mid-City resident. "I also think it's outrageous that the feds take the position that they'll give us millions of dollars for lanes that exclude people who can't afford to pay for congestion pricing. If they want to help, let's get some mass transit in here -- and if they want mass transit, then let's have taxes for that."

Writers Guild files with feds: This is not a sign of union strength, no matter how hard the guild tries to spin it. The WGA has gone to the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the studios and networks violated federal law by ending contract negotiations last Friday. The media companies say that the writers are desperate (sounds more like a sideshow). The guild has a lot to worry about these days - specifically, the erosion of rank-and-file support after switching gears in the contract talks. It's also quickly losing the PR war; former WGA attorney Jonathan Handel called the NLRB filing "ill-considered and inflammatory." He’s not alone. (LAT)

That crazy economy: Yesterday's report on November retail sales provided some comfort about the economy, but today comes word that November consumer prices rose the most in more than two years, largely because of high energy costs. This will cause Fed officials to think twice before cutting interest rates - and it might help explain a down morning on Wall Street. (Bloomberg)

Falling gas prices: Inflation may have jacked up in November because of higher energy costs, but the numbers will probably stabilize this month. In the latest Auto Club survey, the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.286, which is 5 cents lower than last week, but still 80 cents higher than last year. Keep in mind that gas prices are usually at their cheapest levels this time of year because of lower demand and lower refinery production costs.

Big jump in videogames: North American sales of game software rose 62 percent in November, according to NPD Group. That's very good news for several locally based game publishers, among them Activision. The latest release of its "Call of Duty" franchise moved more than two million units for the month and the company's popular "Guitar Hero" also did very well. (WSJ)

More OC financial woes: And, as in 1994, it involves Merrill Lynch. The brokerage giant was the single largest dealer of complex debt securities to the county that are now at risk of a credit rating downgrade. The securities are tied to those structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, that have been connected to the subprime mess. They represent less than 8 percent of the county's $5.9-billion portfolio. From the LAT:

County fund managers insisted that they developed the investment strategy on their own without input from Merrill and that the brokerage acted as a passive supplier -- much as a supermarket puts food on its shelves for sale. They said the county's relationship with Merrill was drastically different from the pre-bankruptcy days. "We know what we want to buy," said John Byerly, a financial analyst in the treasurer's office. "They've just got really big shelves. If they've got 30% of what's being offered that day, why shouldn't we buy from them?" Officials said Merrill's role in the transactions was largely limited to facilitating contact between the county and the managers of the SIVs. They believed the SIVs were high-quality diversified securities that would give them an opportunity to move away from securities tied to the U.S. mortgage market, which have been hit hard by interest rate and repayment concerns.

Milken's big score: Shares of online education company K12, backed by the former junk-bond king, opened 10 percent above its IPO price and rose even more after that. The company, which creates “virtual classrooms” for students from kindergarten through grade 12, was launched by Milken’s Knowledge Universe Education, which owned a 24 percent stake in the company prior to the offering.
(The Deal.com)

New parental leave policy: The L.A.-based law firm Latham & Watkins is giving birth mothers and adoptive parents who are primary caregivers 18 weeks (that's up from 12 weeks). Other primary caregivers - such as a biological father - can take 10 weeks. Also, associates can return on a reduced schedule for six months after their child's arrival without prior approval. As with salaries, the changes are likely to be followed by other law firms. (The Recorder)