Every year, Washingtonians report losses from investment scams of between $50 million to $100 million, according to the state Department of Financial Institutions securities division. And these amounts may only be a small fraction of actual losses.

To help residents avoid falling victim, DFI has just released a list of the state’s 2008 Top 10 investment scams. Most of the schemes are perennial favorites of scam artists who dress them up with the latest investment angle or news of the day.

The 2008 list:

1. Ponzi Schemes
2. Senior Fraud
3. Promissory Notes
4. Unscrupulous Brokers
5. Affinity Fraud
6. Unlicensed Securities Sellers
7. Prime Bank Schemes
8. Internet Fraud
9. Free Lunches and Dinners
10. Telemarketing Fraud

“Investors can protect themselves, and their financial futures, by investing a little more time before investing their money,” DFI Director Scott Jarvis said. “And remember – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Before making an investment, consumers considering investing should first visit www.dfi.wa.gov or call 877-RING-DFI to verify that an investment company is licensed to do business in the state.

The slowing housing market claims another casualty: Weyerhaeuser Co. said it will permanently shut its veneer-drying operations in Junction City, Ore., affecting 56 workers.

The iLevel Veneer Technologies Facility will close today because demand for engineered wood products has declined due to a slowdown in the housing market, the Federal Way company said in a news release.

Affected associates will be counseled on specific details regarding benefits.

Weyerhaeuser employs approximately 3,650 people in Oregon in a variety of businesses and manages approximately 1.1 million acres of timberland.

Washington Mutual Inc. added Stephen I. Chazen to the company’s board of directors.

Chazen has been designated a member of the Board’s Audit and Finance Committees.

Chazen, 61, is president and chief financial officer of Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

Since joining the company in 1994, his responsibilities have included finance, corporate planning and strategy, acquisitions and divestitures, risk management, investor relations, Occidental’s chemical business, and its exploration program.

Chazen earned a Ph.D. in geology from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in finance from the University of Houston and a bachelor’s degree in geology from Rutgers College.

Does your computer give you fits? Did that software upgrade your IT people told you would streamline your job lock up your computer five times a day?

Frustrating, huh?

One night last summer while trying to finish a column at home, I'd just typed an amazingly pithy and entertaining paragraph when I accidentally knocked over a Corona onto the screen and into the keyboard of my company-issued Apple iBook. The screen winked a couple of times, then a multi-colored pixelated line crept up from the bottom of my screen until the entire image was distorted. Our IT tech had to send my laptop to rehab...

...and, for the life of me, I couldn't remember that award-winning point I had typed. Aaaargh!

So I can sympathize with the office workers in this video clip whose computer problems have driven them to the brink. Or, I should say, over the brink.

Thanks to News Tribune reader Frank Hickey for sharing.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced Friday that its endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president.

The union represents thousands of West Coast dock workers including in Tacoma. Other ILWU members work in warehousing, manufacturing, tourism, agricultural, and retail positions.

“America’s working families are ready for a candidate with a fresh approach who will put people first and hold corporations more accountable,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath. “Obama met with us, listened to our concerns, and we think he’ll do the best job on the issues that matter most to working families.”

According to the release:

International Executive Board members made the decision after meeting with different campaigns and examining their positions on key issues that will impact working families in the coming years, including:
- Bringing our troops home safely from Iraq.

Eeek. Gas prices in the South Sound are closing in on record highs. You keep hearing about gas prices hitting $4 a gallon. That seems like a long way off but prices around the South Sound keep inching up, putting us closer to that mythical mark.

Today the average gallon of gas in Tacoma is $3.441. That's 1.8 cents from the record high of $3.459 hit on May 14 of last year.

Drivers are noticing the high prices.

Miguel Caro, 23, pulled up to a Shell Station in Tacoma with his tank on empty. He bought three gallons of gas, instead of filling up.

"I just put in less and try not to travel as much," Caro said.

Today's price is about a half cent higher than yesterday and 43 cents higher than a month ago. The worst part for consumers is that we are still months away from the summer driving season, a time when prices usually hit their peak.

If you drive a car or truck that takes diesel, you already are paying record prices. Diesel hit $3.840 a gallon today.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the surging prices are slowing gas consumption around the country.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

As crude-oil prices climb to historic highs, steep gasoline prices and the weak economy are beginning to curb Americans’ gas-guzzling ways.

In the past six weeks, the nation’s gasoline consumption has fallen by an average 1.1 percent from year-earlier levels, according to weekly government data.

That’s the most sustained drop in demand in at least 16 years, except for the declines that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which temporarily knocked out a big chunk of the U.S. gasoline supply system.

This time, however, there is evidence that Americans are changing their driving habits and lifestyles in ways that could lead to a long-term slowdown in their gasoline consumption.

As supplies have outstripped demand, gasoline inventories have been on the rise for the past four months, reaching their highest levels since February 1994. Yet, in a sign of the growing disdconnect between demand and the market, prices at the pump are being driven higher by a powerful rally in crude oil.