A Week's Worth

• Fly in the ointment? All eyes turn to the Fed this week as it decides whether to raise interest rates. It's expected to, because the economy still looks strong: New-home sales shot to a record high in May; a widely watched consumer sentiment index rose slightly. But not all is rosy. US factories recorded their second straight monthly decline in orders. And the Commerce Department revised its first-quarter estimate of economic growth downward - from an annual rate of 4.4 percent to a solid but unspectacular 3.9 percent.

• What severance does the chief deserve when his board calls for "a change of leadership due to a loss of confidence?" For Philip Watts, former chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell, it comes to nearly $2 million, plus stock options and an annual pension. He resigned after Shell said it overstated oil reserves.

• Does your résumé stink? A job-search service called TheLadders.com has launched a contest for the worst résumé. The winner gets a free professional rewrite. Intrigued? Consider peppering your entry with "communication skills," "team player," and "organizational skills" - the top three vague and meaningless phrases that consulting firm ResumeDoctor.com found in a survey of more than 160,000 résumés.

• Follow up: Last week we reported on charities offering their executives low- or no-interest loans - a topic of Senate committee hearings on practices of philanthropic groups. Now the Internal Revenue Service plans to investigate this and other compensation practices. It has identified at least 100 charities paying salaries of more than $1 million.

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