It Won’t Be a Blue Christmas

As was noted in The Times on Saturday, cost-cutting brought on by hard times is forcing some firms to reconsider putting up huge outdoor Christmas decorations.

Glendale Federal Bank trimmed two of the four lighted Christmas trees it traditionally puts up around Southern California, while the tree of lights atop Unocal’s headquarters barely survived the budget ax this year.

One tree that appears in no danger of being eliminated is the 55-foot-tall one the Dodgers have erected for about 20 years overlooking the Pasadena Freeway from the edge of the stadium parking lot.

Not that Dodger President Peter O’Malley is in any position to plead hard times. Within the past two weeks, the club agreed to multi-year contracts with pitchers Tom Candiotti and Orel Hershiser with a combined $25.5-million base salary, and agreed to pay outfield Eric Davis $3.1 million next year.

InfringementProofing

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan waited until last week to officially declare that the recovery is faltering. One firm that researches business and social trends is already prepared.

The Socio-Economic Research Institute of America in Rhinebeck, N.Y., last month received a trademark for the term “RecessionProofing.”

The phrase joins a list of other trend-spotting terms the institute has received trademarks on, including “Globalnomics” and “Environman,” a word it pitched unsuccessfully to a toy company as a name for an environmental action hero.

Director Gerald Celente defines “RecessionProofing” as strategies companies use to shield themselves from hard times. He figures that the phrase has a bright future.

“This recession is going to be around a long time,” Celente said, “so we went ahead and got the trademark.”

Crooks Wanted

The Justice Department, which has an annual budget of $162 million to combat financial institutions fraud, is using a novel method of trying to track down bank or savings and loan crooks: advertising.

Recent ads from the department discuss a program created to allow people who provide information about bank and thrift fraud to keep a portion of the money the government recovers.

There are a couple of catches. The government must use the information provided to recover funds, the ad says.

In addition, the information must be specific and contain “at least one new fact, previously unknown to the government.”

Briefly. . .

Kidder, Peabody bank analyst Ted Paluszek, commenting on a recent report by market commentator Dan Dorfman reviving rumors that a Wells Fargo-First Interstate merger may be near, says, “Bank analysts and Dan Dorfman have predicted 23 of the past two mergers to have taken place in the banking industry.” . . . Bechtel has produced a 29-minute video titled “Kuwait: Bringing Back the Sun” on the San Francisco firm’s work in extinguishing oil well fires set by Saddam Hussein’s fleeing troops. . . . Bad news for phone pranksters: The makers of Prince Albert tobacco issued a reminder last week that the prince is no longer in a can, but in a foil pouch and a sealed plastic humidor.