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Almost all software publishers suffer from piracy, companies as diverse as:

• Autodesk, which makes software used by civil engineers and industrial designers to create everything from buildings to cars to movie animation.

• Adobe, which makes the ubiquitous Photoshop, Acrobat Reader, and other Web tools.

• Symantec, which makes antivirus, security and system maintenance software.

• IBM, which makes large database management software, email systems, and development tools.

• Oracle, which makes large database management systems.

• Macromedia, which makes software for Web and multimedia designers and animators.

But Microsoft is the juiciest target for pirates. This is a function of demographics (Microsoft has more kinds of software that run on more computers than any other company), expediency (you can't run 90 percent of the computers in the world without Microsoft's operating system software), culture (these are American monopolists, right?), and envy (Bill Gates won't miss my hundred and fifty bucks).

Sonoco Products is being boxed in by pension costs. The packaging company disappointed investors who thought it would offer positive news in a scheduled presentation, but instead it reduced its outlook, saying its underfunded retirement plan will weigh on 2009 results.

The packaging company's units that serve industrial markets are seeing a much larger than expected decline in volume and profitability as a result of the significantly slowing global economy, according to Charles Hupfer, the Sonoco chief financial officer.

Before the announcement, analysts had been bullish KeyBanc Capital Markets thought the meeting would go so well that it raised its fourth-quarter earnings outlook to 63 cents from 59 cents per share. Citigroup's analyst called the stock one of the most compelling in his coverage universe.

Investors sent shares packing, trading Sonoco Products (nyse: SON - news - people ) down 6.2%, or $1.53, to $22.97.

On average analysts thought Sonoco would pull in 60 cents per share in the fourth quarter, and the company previously expected between 60 and 64 cents. But now the firm expects profit of only 48 cents to 52 cents a share.

The coming year doesn't look much better. Sonoco expects earnings for 2009 to range between $1.95 to $2.05 per share, while Wall Street had hoped for $2.43.

Mid-November asset values and interest rates indicate Sonoco's U.S. pension plan was under-funded by about $138.0 million, the company said. Sonoco estimated a year-over-year increase in 2009 pension expense of about $48.0 million, or 30 cents per share after taxes. Falling stock prices were one likely culprit, and weak interest rates, while in the short run supportive of bond investments, make it hard for pension plans to finance future liabilities in the fixed-income market.

Hefty charges and poor results at its U.S. stores led Sears Holdings Corp. to post a bigger-than-expected loss for the third quarter on Tuesday, and the struggling retailer withdrew its operating profit outlook because of the nation's recession.

The suburban Chicago-based company, led by financier Edward Lampert who is the retailer's chairman, also boosted its stock buyback plan by $500 million to $572 million.

Sears lost $146 million, or $1.16 per share, during the three months ending Nov. 1. That compares with a profit of $4 million, or 3 cents per share, in the same period last year. Excluding a hefty charge related to 14 store closings and gains on Sears Canada hedges, Sears posted a loss of 90 cents per share in the latest period.

Revenue dropped more than 8 percent to $10.66 billion from $11.62 billion as the company's Sears department store's comparable sales slid 10.6 percent in the U.S. Same-store sales at Kmart, the company's discount brand, slipped 7 percent. Total same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, a key retail industry metric, fell 9 percent.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a much smaller loss of 49 cents per share on higher revenue of $10.93 billion.

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama has a sizable lead over Sen. John McCain, polls show, but those numbers could be deceiving if the "Bradley effect" comes into play.

The Bradley effect is named after former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, an African-American who ran for California governor in 1982.

Exit polls showed Bradley leading by a wide margin, and the Democrat thought it would be an early election night.

But Bradley and the polls were wrong. He lost to Republican George Deukmejian.

The theory was that polling was wrong because some voters, who did not want to appear bigoted, said they voted for Bradley even though they did not.

"People will usually tell you how they voted after the election, but we found in the Bradley campaign ... that people were actually not telling us who they voted for," said Charles Henry, who researched

Some analysts say the race could be much closer or even tied if the Bradley effect is factored in. iReport.com: iReporter pleads with voters to 'stop the racism'

"It leaves a question mark over this race, and we won't have the final answer until the votes are counted," said David Gergen, a senior political analyst for CNN.

But there could be an opposite effect, Wilder said.

"There's going to be a reverse Wilder or Bradley effect. ... There are some Republicans who are not going to say out front that they're going to be voting for Obama, but they're going to be, because the economy is what's driving people to consider what's in their best interest," he said.

Some analysts say the Bradley effect can account for 6 percentage points against an African-American candidate.

Michelle Obama told CNN's Larry King that a lot has changed since Bradley lost.

"That was several decades ago, and I think there's been growth and movement," she said. "I just believe that the issues are going to weigh in people's hearts more so as they go into the voting booths this time around."

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said last week that he thinks the Bradley effect could cost Obama several battleground states -- and possibly the presidency.

Race "is still a problem in this country," Brown told CNN. "It goes away when there are other troubles that are more challenging, and right now, whether or not we survive in the economy is more challenging. But race could rear its ugly head. I just hope it doesn't before November 4."

In the past 15 years or so, there's been no indication in the polls that the Bradley effect has been a factor in statewide races.

Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst, said that if there is racism in this year's election, it's probably already showing up in the polls. And Keating Holland, CNN's polling director, pointed out another important caveat:

"We've never had a black presidential candidate as a major nominee, so the polls don't have any history at all when it comes to national elections," he said.