Consumer Confidential: Cell bill shock. BlackBerry. iPhone sales.

Here's your mama-told-me-not-to-come Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- As my colleague Jim Puzzanghera reported in Monday's paper, wireless companies will finally make it easier for customers to avoid sky-high bills. AT&T, Verizon and other major cellphone providers have agreed with U.S. regulators to begin sending alerts to customers who are approaching monthly voice, text or data limits. The aim is to help them avoid hefty additional charges that cause what consumer advocates call bill shock. Under the voluntary industry guidelines, companies also will send alerts when customers exceed their plans' limits and are subject to overage charges. Customers traveling abroad will be warned that they are about to incur often pricey international roaming fees. The companies  agreed to be customer-friendly only after federal officials made clear that new regulations would be imposed if they didn't.

 -- Speaking of cellphones, BlackBerry customers are being offered some free apps to keep them from fleeing the service after nasty outages last week. Research in Motion says the apps, worth more than $100, will be made available over the coming weeks on BlackBerry App World. They include iSpeech Translator, Bejeweled and Texas Hold'em Poker 2. The offer runs until the end of the year. Research in Motion also will offer its enterprise customers a month of free technical support. Last week's blackout interrupted email and Internet services for tens of millions of users globally and left company leaders apologizing profusely.

-- One last wireless news item (giving me the hat trick): Apple says it sold more than 4 million units of the new iPhone model in three days. It's selling more than twice as fast as the previous model did when it launched last year. Apple and its phone company partners started selling the iPhone 4S on Friday in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain. That's two more launch countries than last year. There are also more phone companies selling the phone. In the U.S., Sprint Nextel is the new carrier. When Apple launched the iPhone 4 last year, it sold 1.7 million in the first three days.

-- David Lazarus

Photo: Cellphone "bill shock" could be become less frequent. Credit: Randi Lynn Beach / For The Times

 

Wall Street: Germans halt stock market rally

Gold: Trading now at $1,683 an ounce, unchanged from Friday. Dow Jones industrial average: Trading now at 11518.55, down 1.1% from Friday.

Scaling back expectations. Stocks are falling this morning after Germany tried to scale back expectations for a European rescue plan  that is in the works.

New bank results. Citi and Wells Fargo both reported profits this morning, but the news out of their Wall Street divisions was not good.

Obama and the protesters. There are signs that President Obama may be ready to harness anti-Wall Street anger to help his campaign.

Fighting with customers. A few big banks have gotten in trouble for apparently stopping customers who came to a branch to shut down their account in protest.

Taxi trader. Scott Curtis is one of a number of laid-off financial industry workers who has taken to driving a New York City taxi -- and pitching himself to potential employers at the same time.

-- Nathaniel Popper

twitter.com/nathanielpopper

Photo: Stan Honda / Getty Images

A leveraged EFSF is pure poison

French banks are vulnerable (Photo: Reuters)

Big snag. If Europe’s leaders do indeed leverage their €440bn bail-out fund (EFSF) to €2 trillion or €3 trillion through some form of "first loss" insurance on Club Med bonds – as markets now seem to assume – the consequences will be swift and brutal.

Professor Ansgar Belke, from Berlin's DIW Institute, said any leveraging of the EFSF would be "poisonous" for France’s AAA rating and would set off an uncontrollable chain of events.

"It counteracts all efforts made so far to stabilize the eurozone debt crisis, which are premised on the AAA rating of a sufficiently large number of strong economies. In extremis, it would probably cause the break-up of the eurozone", he told Handlesblatt.

France is already vulnerable. It has the worst budget deficit and primary deficit of the AAA states in Euroland. (Yes, Britain is worse, but the UK has a sovereign currency and central bank. Chalk and cheese.)

Dr Belke said France is already under pressure. BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole may need €20bn in fresh capital, with knock-on risk for the French state. He warned that France’s public debt (Now 82pc of GDP) would shoot up to 90pc of GDP if the debt crisis rumbles on. Variants of this theme were picked up by other German economists in a Handelsblatt forum.

Thorsten Polleit from Barclays Capital said France’s banking woes could put "massive pressure" on French finances, but the risks do not stop there. Germany itself is at risk. "The bail-out burdens taken on by the German government could lead to a drastic deterioration of our own debt, and put Germany’s AAA in doubt."

Mr Polleit told me Germany’s debt was 83.2pc of GDP at the end of last year (higher than France, but the current deficit is much lower). "Of course there is a danger. We are in a tough situation and there is no easy way out."

We will find out soon enough what EU leaders actually intend to do – rather than what the European Commission would like them to do. As US Treasury Tim Geithner said "the devil is in the details", not in the headlines.

Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to play down the Grand Plan earlier today. "Dreams that everything will be resolved and dealt with by next Monday cannot be fulfilled," said her spokesman. There is no "big bang" miracle cure.

So far there is an ominous silence from the rating agencies. One has to wonder what they think of apparent plans to use the EFSF for "first loss" guarantees of EMU debt — debt to be upheld by states that may or may not be solvent, depending on the trajectory of the world economy and the trigger-happy reflexes of uber-hawks at the European Central Bank.

At the moment the EFSF is a privilleged creditor (or so we assume: this is not contractual).

Banks, life insurers, pension funds, and others who bought Greek debt in good faith will (and Portuguese debt?) take the loss. Only once they are reduced to zero with a 100pc haircut does EFSF debt start to be written down – ie, this is "last loss".

The new "first loss" idea inverts the order. The EFSF would take the first hit. That changes everything. Surely the EFSF deserves no more that BBB rating, or perhaps just CCC, if EU leaders really embark on this course.

The whole discussion has become surreal.

Wal-Mart executives resign in China labeling scandal

Wal-Mart said Monday it was replacing the head of its operations in China, the giant U.S. retailer's latest setback in the country after employees were arrested and detained last week in the western city of Chongqing in connection with a labeling scandal.

The company said in a statement posted on its website that Ed Chan, its chief executive in China since 2007, was leaving the company for personal reasons. Clara Wong, a senior executive for human resources, was also stepping down, the statement said.

Though Wal-Mart did not link the personnel moves to the controversy in Chongqing, the company continues to deal with fallout from charges that it sold about 140,000 pounds of pork over the last two years that was mislabeled as a more expensive organic variety. The added cost to consumers amounted to about $115,000, according to the city government's website.

Wal-Mart executives resign in latest set-back for U.S. retailer in China

Wal-Mart said Monday it was replacing the head of its operations in China, the latest set-back in the country for the giant U.S. retailer after employees were arrested and detained last week in the western city of Chongqing over a labeling scandal.

The company said in a statement posted on its website that Ed Chan, its CEO in China since 2007, was leaving the company for personal reasons. Clara Wong, a senior executive for human resources was also stepping down, the statement said.

Though Wal-Mart did not link the personnel moves to the controversy in Chongqing, the company continues to deal with fallout over charges it sold about 140,000 pounds of pork the past two years that was mislabeled a more expensive organic variety. The added cost to consumers amounted to about $115,000, according to the city government’s website.

Storming the Capitalist Castle

Nancy Folbre is an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Wall Street is not literally a castle, and the small green space of Zuccotti Park claimed by Occupy Wall Street may soon be emptied. But an upstart movement has spray-painted a new slogan onto the ramparts of the economic establishment.

Today’s Economist

Perspectives from expert contributors.

“We Are the 99 Percent” effectively publicizes a message consistent with research on the distribution of income and wealth: the top 1 percent of households in the United States represents an economic aristocracy.

Perspectives from expert contributors.

Over the last 30 years, it has consolidated and amplified its privileged position, making strategic political investments in policies ranging from financial deregulation to cuts in top marginal tax rates.

It took home 21 percent of the nation’s pretax income in 2008, up from 9 percent in 1976. It controlled 36 percent of the nation’s private wealth in 2009.

Some economists argue that inequality has no downside — a view critically dissected by Timothy Noah in a terrific essay, “The United States of Inequality.”

As a poster I admired at the park last Wednesday succinctly put it: “We want democracy, not plutocracy.”

The protesters don’t necessarily demonize the top 1 percent or suggest that taxing them at a higher rate will balance the budget. What brings them together is the conviction that this group exercises disproportionate control over our economic and political life.

Republicans seem to confirm this view when they assert that higher taxes on millionaires would stunt employment growth – as though a small reduction in disposable income would demoralize otherwise mighty job creators.

The very rich are depicted as champions of the people who would graciously repay further tax cuts with economic growth. Yet Republican tax cuts dug much of the budget hole we live in.

A quarter of the millionaires in the United States pay lower tax rates than some middle-class households, vindicating concerns expressed by Warren E. Buffett, the investor king of Omaha now widely considered a traitor to his class.

The posters I saw didn’t propose class war, but they did express class rage. “I paid for your bailout” said one, “and I want a refund.” “Health care, not wealth care,” said another. Several said simply, “I need a job.”

The protestors I heard didn’t pretend to offer a political program. One held up a sign saying, “We’re Here, We’re Unclear, Get Used to It.” He genially described his participation in a week’s worth of workshops and discussions as a “think tank of democracy.”

Another, more discursive poster described the ideals of the “solidarity economy,” starting with: “I don’t have a boss. I’m a worker-owner in a cooperative business,” and ending with, “I joined a credit union so my money stays in the community.”

What seems to be emerging is what the historian Gar Alperowitz described as a process of “evolutionary reconstruction.” It might start by making capitalism more distinct from feudalism.

This idea came to me while reading about a great new product that just hit the market: a $6,400 toilet with its own remote control for water spray and drying fan. Marie Antoinette would have loved it for Versailles.

Whether the ramparts are breached or not, I predict a long and fascinating siege.

Solar energy jobs growing in U.S. and California, study says

One in every four solar energy jobs in the United States is held by a Californian, and growth in the clean-tech industry is burgeoning nationwide, a new study said.

In August, California had an estimated 25,575 of the 100,237 solar-related jobs nationwide, according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2011, scheduled for release Monday by the Solar Foundation, a research and education organization in Washington.

The total for California was four times greater than the runner-up, Colorado, with 6,186 solar jobs as of last summer.

California ranked first in the nation for generating electricity from both photovoltaic solar panels and concentrated solar power systems that use mirrors to focus the sun's energy to create steam to run turbines, the study said.

"This report shows that the solar industry is not only creating green jobs across California but that the industry is forecast to continue growing at a much faster pace than the overall U.S. economy," said MIchelle Kinman, a clean-energy advocate for Environment California. "California industry and policymakers have a tremendous opportunity to build on this solid foundation and make solar a centerpiece of the state's energy policy."

Nationally, employment in all parts of the solar industry -- including manufacturing, installation, residential, commercial and large-scale power generation -- grew 6.8% in the 12 months prior to August, the study said. Overall U.S. job growth was less than 1% for the same period, it said.

Growth is expected to accelerate by 24%, creating 24,000 jobs over the next year, based on a survey of solar employers.

The industry's momentum is expected to continue despite bad publicity it received from a political scandal surrounding the bankruptcy of Northern California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra. The Fremont-based company recently closed after getting a $535-million federal loan guarantee.

"We have to look beyond the failure of one company and see the tremendous success that's occurring here," said Arno Harris, the chief executive of Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco solar developer.

Solar, added David Hochschild, vice president of another Fremont solar panel maker, Solaria Corp, "is on the cusp of playing a large role in mainstream markets."

Here's the census' list of the top 10 states by the number of solar industry jobs:

1. California          25,575

2. Colorado             6,186

3. Arizona               4,786

4. Pennsylvania       4,703

5. New York            4,279

6. Florida                4,224

7. Texas                 3,346

8. Oregon                3,346

9. New Jersey           2,871

10. Massachusetts    2,395

RELATED:

Google to finance rooftop residential solar installations

Obama administration approves two solar loans worth $1 billion

New addendum could help appraisers give credit for green fixtures

-- Marc Lifsher

Photo: Solar panels on the roof of a Fontana warehouse in 2008. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times