Archive for the 'life' Category

10
Mar

Senate to pass jobless aid, business tax breaks

By alfredlester Closed
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WASHINGTON – Legislation blending help for the jobless with popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is slated to pass the Senate Wednesday over protests from conservatives who say it adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt.

But compassion for the jobless and the political power of an annual package of tax breaks is likely to produce a bipartisan vote to pass the measure, even though it would add more than $130 billion to the budget deficit over the next year and a half.

The bill would provide unemployment benefits of up to 99 months in many states for people mired in joblessness as the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession in decades. The measure easily cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday by a 66-34 vote, with eight Republicans voting with Democrats to break a GOP filibuster.

The measure illustrates the great extent to which direct help for the jobless and the poor makes up a large portion of Democrats’ election-year agenda on jobs — and threatens to squeeze out other items amid concerns about a budget deficit projected at a record $1.6 trillion this year.

The sweeping bill cleans up a host of unfinished congressional business from last year that languished as the Senate focused on health care. It would also prevent doctors from absorbing a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments and extends through December a generous 65 percent subsidy of health insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program, at a cost of $10 billion.

Democrats also hope to finish work this week on a far smaller job-creation measure blending additional highway spending with new tax breaks for companies that hire the unemployed inferred heaters. The Senate could clear the measure for President Barack Obama’s signature by Friday.

Wednesday’s larger bill also provides the annual extension of $26 billion worth of tax breaks for businesses and individuals that are popular with senators in both parties.

The $66 billion cost of providing additional months of unemployment checks — the core benefit is 26 weeks — is added directly to a budget deficit expected to hit $1.6 trillion this year. Federal cash to help states with Medicaid adds about $25 billion more.

“Even though these programs may be good for your state, a senator has an obligation to stand up and say ‘no more,’” said freshman GOP Sen. George Lemieux of Florida. “No more spending our kids’ future. No more bankrupting the promise of this country.”

But Democrats said it would be heartless to cut off unemployment benefits to the long-term jobless and contended that the benefits inject demand into the economy, helping to lift it.

“This is not just some technical bill,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. “This bill helps real people. Failure to enact this bill would cause real hardship. Failure to enact this bill would cost jobs.”

The tax breaks include a property tax deduction for people who don’t itemize, lucrative credits that help businesses finance research and development and a sales tax deduction that mainly helps people in the nine states without income taxes.

Senate to pass jobless aid, business tax breaks

04
Mar

Greece prepares tax rises, debt continues to mount

By alfredlester Closed
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ATHENS (AFP) – Greece, fighting to avert bankruptcy, was to reveal a third wave of tax rises and welfare cuts on Wednesday to win support from the European Union and a reprieve from debt markets.

Prime Minister George Papandreou, who warned lawmakers on Tuesday that the country faced a "wartime situation", was expected to announce the new draconian measures after briefing President Carolos Papoulias.

The latest round of crisis action is believed to include a two-percent increase in sales tax, a pension freeze, heavier benefit cuts for civil servants and steeper tobacco and fuel duties.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, insists that Greeks must sort out their fiscal mess — which includes a public debt of nearly 300 billion euros (407 billion dollars) — before expecting any outside help.

Greece must avoid "a nightmare of bankruptcy in which the state would not be able to pay salaries or pensions," Papandreou told lawmakers in Athens. He said: "We find ourselves today in a wartime situation."

That would create a huge headache for its European partners which are alarmed that Greece's problems could cause lasting damage to the credibility and discipline which underpin the eurozone. Related article:EU unveils 2020 vision

Greece needs more than 20 billion euros (27 billion dollars) by May to redeem old debt falling due. It also needs to borrow heavily to finance a public deficit which is close to 13 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Overall, the government is desperate to improve its downgraded credit rating and thereby reduce the crippling interest rate, currently slightly above 6.0 percent, which it has to pay to borrow from international investment funds.

And time is short. Papandreou has said that financing needs are assured until the middle of March.

A total of 54 billion euros will have to be raised this year to cover the public deficit which has swollen way beyond the three-percent EU limit make quick cash. Moody's rating agency has estimated that about 15 percent of tax revenues will be absorbed by debt charges this year.

A team of analysts from the Standard and Poor's rating agency is currently in Athens for talks with Greek ministers.

Meanwhile, the sentiment on financial markets about the course of events in Greece is highly uncertain, although there is a suspicion that if the latest round of measures satisfies EU authorities, some sort of support for Greece may emerge in the next week or so.

A Greek official told Dow Jones Newswires that Athens would issue a 10-year bond to raise between three and five billion euros "within days of the announcement of the austerity package."

And economist Neil MacKinnon at VTB Capital told AFP that a rescue "has to be agreed, whether it is some sort of loan package contingent on evidence of Greek budget cuts or debt purchases by EU governments and/or state owned entities or some sort of debt guarantees."

The Greek prime minister flies to Berlin on Friday for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, widely regarded as holding the key to any eurozone bailout.

Papandreou has undertaken to use the crisis to restructure the economy, and cure Greece of decades of fiscal mismanagement and deeply entrenched corruption, but statistics released on Tuesday show that he faces a titanic reform task as bribery is on the rise.

The local branch of Transparency International said that bribes last year rose by 50 million euros from 2008 to 790 million euros (1.1 billion dollars), paid to all parts of the economy, from hospitals to tax officials.

Greece prepares tax rises, debt continues to mount

02
Mar

Dividends on the rise after worst-on-record year

By alfredlester Closed
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CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — After 2009 saw companies slashing or eliminating dividend payouts left and right, many American firms are beginning to cautiously reinstate — or even raise — theirs in this period of assumed recovery.

While shareholder payouts still lag versus 2008’s, more than a dozen of the S&P 500 have raised or initiated a dividend this year, while only two have decreased or suspended them. And the firms now offering higher payouts represent a wide range of industries, from Coca-Cola to Tiffany and P.F. Chang’s to T. Rowe Price .

And there could be more to come.

“We expect dividend payments to rebound in 2010, including those from the financial sector, as dividends are reinstated, since some companies now have both the ability and incentive to pay dividends,” said Jeffrey Kleintop of LPL Financial Research. “In the current environment, a boost to the dividend payment may signal more confidence in sustained growth by business leaders than their guidance on the earnings outlook, helping to lift stock prices along with the dividend payout.”

That comes after an especially rough spell as “the past two years have been tough on dividends,” Kleintop added. “In fact, 2009 marked the worst year on record for dividends since 1955, resulting in a 21% decline in dividends per share for the S&P 500 companies as a whole.”

In 2008 and 2009, 32 S&P 500 companies suspended their dividends, while only 11 initiated them, but 49 have raised or initiated dividends so far this year. One of the latest is Qualcomm , which announced late Monday that that its quarterly dividend would increase almost 12% to 19 cents a share.

‘2009 marked the worst year on record for dividends since 1955.’

Jeffrey Kleintop, LPL Financial Research

“The strength of our business model is enabling significant investments in our strategic business initiatives while returning capital to stockholders,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive of the wireless-technologies firm, in announcing the hike. “Since commencing this program in 2003, we have returned $12.6 billion to our stockholders through a combination of dividends and stock repurchases payday advance online.”

For the month of February alone and for all reporting issues — not just the S&P 500 — dividend increases are up 29% from February 2009, although they’re still down 42% from February 2008, noted Howard Silverblatt, senior analyst at S&P Indices.

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“February is typically a good month, and this one has come through,” he said. “Actual cash payments are still down year-over-year, but at least it’s starting to go back up.” He added that he expects it will “most likely [be] 2012-13 until we reach 2008 levels.”

For the S&P 500, “it is the best month in two years, with a very impressive three-month run,” he continued. “I expect more good news, but not as much of it over the next few months; I also expect reductions to start next month.”

Josh Peters, editor of Morningstar’s DividendInvestor, said dividends “really bottomed out last summer after a spate of cutting we hadn’t seen since the Great Depression,” including one from Dow Chemical , for the first time in 97 years. At the same time, he noted that some of the mote stable consumer-focused companies, like McDonald’s and General Mills , “continued to raise theirs even during the crash.”

But over the last couple of months, “we have seen less-traditional payers deciding to raise their dividends,” including retailers, restaurant chains and tech firms, he said. “And assuming we don’t tip back into a double-dip recession, we should continue to see more dividend increases than cuts.”

Many companies will have to do so just to stay competitive against other issues in the stock market, he said, especially as more and more Baby Boomers near retirement.

“They have learned that stock prices don’t just go up, and they will want the reliable income,” Peters said. “Compared to 10 years ago, the idea of trying to live off capital gains is truly frightening.”

Dividends on the rise after worst-on-record year

26
Feb

Visteon turns in 4Q profit

By alfredlester Closed
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VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Auto parts supplier Visteon Corp. posted a fourth-quarter profit Friday, helped by cost-cutting moves and the hints of a recovery in the global auto industry.

Visteon said it earned $276 million, or $2.12 per share, after a loss of $346 million, or $2.67 per share in the year-ago quarter. The 2008 quarter was affected by a $200 million charge related to its business making interior parts for vehicles.

Sales grew 23 percent to $2.03 billion. The company said sales improved across all major regions where it sells parts, a trend Visteon said was a sign that industry and broader economic conditions are getting better.

Visteon, the top supplier to and a former subsidiary of Ford Motor Co sears kerosene heaters., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May following a sharp downturn in the U.S. market for cars and trucks. However, overall sales began to pick up last in 2009.

Cost-cutting measures from Visteon’s restructuring also helped the quarterly results. That included a $133 million gain from terminating some employee benefit programs.

For all of 2009, Visteon earned $184 million, or 98 cents per share.

Shares of Visteon, which trade on over-the-counter markets, more than doubled in morning trading, rising 7.6 cents to nearly 14.8 cents per share.

Visteon turns in 4Q profit

Hot News: Royal Bank of Scotland loses $5.5 billion in 2009

22
Feb

Obama version of health reform expected Monday

By alfredlester Closed
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WASHINGTON – The White House readied its last-ditch effort to salvage health care legislation Sunday while the Senate’s Republican leader warned Democrats against the go-it-alone approach.

The White House was expected to post a version of President Barack Obama’s plan for overhauling health care on its Web site on Monday, ahead of his critical and daring summit at Blair House on Thursday. The plan, which was likely to be opposed by the GOP, was expected to require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies to help many afford the premiums.

Hewing close to a stalled Senate bill, it would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more. The expected price tag is around $1 trillion over 10 years.

The conference at the White House guest residence is to be televised live on C-SPAN and perhaps on cable news networks. It represents a gamble by the administration that Obama can save his embattled overhaul through persuasion — a risky and unusual step.

It was forced on the administration by the Senate special election victory of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown in January. He captured the seat long held by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy, who died last year. Brown’s victory reduced the Democrats’ majority in the Senate to 59 votes, one shy of the number needed to knock down Republican delaying tactics.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday he would participate, but that Obama and congressional Democrats would be wrong to push the bills they wrote in the House and Senate.

“The fundamental point I want to make is the arrogance of all of this. You know, they are saying, `Ignore the wishes of the American people. We know more about this than you do. And we’re going to jam it down your throats no matter what.’ That is why the public is so angry at this Congress and this administration over this issue,” said McConnell, R-Ky.

While the House and Senate had passed its own version of a health overhaul, lawmakers had yet to settle their differences and produce a single bill acceptable to both chambers when Brown won.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, hoped a compromise — “sweet spot,” he called it — was possible No teletrak payday loan.

“If you really want to serve the people and not just your party, I think you will find that sweet spot and you can get it done,” he said.

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania appealed to Republicans to offer their own proposals. “You take some of our ideas. We’ll take some of your ideas. We may not love your ideas, but we’ll take them. If they don’t do that, I think this whole dynamic of this political year could turn around,” he said.

Rendell and Schwarzenegger spoke from the sidelines of the National Governors Association meeting. Four leaders of the group, two Republicans and two Democrats, later summoned the media to a news conference and offered to strike a compromise between the warring factions in Washington.

“We are making an offer to help and are very willing to roll up our sleeves and help if that’s what Congress and the president decided,” said Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat.

The governors’ plea was an implicit acknowledgment that Obama and the Democratic-led Congress have frozen governors out of the process.

The Blair House meeting takes place nearly a year after Obama launched his drive to remake health care — a Democratic agenda item for decades — at an earlier summit he infused with a bipartisan spirit. The president will point out that Republicans have supported individual elements of the Democratic bills.

Under the expected Obama plan, regulators would create a competitive marketplace for small businesses and people buying their own coverage. The plan would be paid for with a mix of Medicare cuts and tax increases. It would also strip out special Medicaid deals for certain states, while moving to close the Medicare prescription coverage gap and making newly available coverage for working families more affordable. The changes would cost about $200 billion over 10 years. It’s unclear what the total price tag for the legislation would be; the Senate bill was originally under $900 billion.

McConnell spoke on “Fox News Sunday.” The governors appeared on ABC’s “This Week.”

Obama version of health reform expected Monday

21
Feb

NAACP elects Brock, 44, as youngest board chairman

By alfredlester Closed
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NEW YORK – The NAACP elected a health care executive as its youngest board chairman Saturday, continuing a youth movement for the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.

Roslyn M. Brock, 44, was chosen to succeed Julian Bond. She had been vice chairman since 2001 and a member of the NAACP for 25 years.

Brock works for Bon Secours Health Systems in Maryland as vice president for advocacy and government relations, and spent 10 years working on health issues for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She joins Benjamin Todd Jealous, the 37-year-old CEO of the NAACP, as leader of the 500,000-member organization.

Brock said she plans to focus on pushing for policy changes to eliminate inequality, strengthening the relationship between the national and local NAACP branches and holding people accountable.

“It’s not always what someone is doing to us, but what we are doing for ourselves,” Brock said in an interview.

The departure of Bond, 70, after 10 years as board chairman marks a turning point for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Pepole.

Bond came of age in the segregated South, helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and was on the front lines of the protests that led to the nation’s landmark civil rights laws. He is a symbol and icon of “the movement,” which was a defining experience for older generations.

In recent years the NAACP has endured criticism that it is old and out of touch. Then Bond brought in Jealous, then 34, as the NAACP’s youngest CEO, and endorsed Brock’s bid for board chairman.

The selection of young leaders “is deliberate, but it’s also fortuitous,” Bond said. “We are lucky to have had this confluence of a young CEO and a young chair. I don’t think we plotted and planned that in 2010 the stars would align this way.”

Jealous said he belongs to a generation “whose greatest accomplishments are in front of them … who are even more hungry for change.”

Bond said the board asked him to run for another one-year term, but he declined.

“Frankly, this is the most difficult nonpaying job I’ve ever had,” said Bond, who has served in the Georgia state legislature, is a member of several corporate boards and a professor at American University and the University of Virginia easy fast payday loans.

Brock was selected in a vote by the 64-person NAACP board. Her opponent was Rev. Wendell Anthony, leader of the NAACP’s Detroit chapter, who withdrew Friday after he was not re-elected to his seat on the board.

Brock graduated from Virginia Union University and has an MBA from Northwestern, as well as master’s degrees in health care administration and divinity.

She described health care as her passion and said the current reform debate hinges on one fundamental question.

“Am I my brother’s and my sister’s keeper?” Brock asked. “That’s the question that we’ve got to ask our legislators. Are we really, really concerned about our neighbors, and about their health, and their children’s health?”

While acknowledging the need to “retool our front line” and develop young civil rights activists, Brock said the wisdom of the older generation is still needed.

“If it were not for that ‘aging’ membership, the NAACP would not be who it is and what it is today,” she said.

Many conservatives question the need for an NAACP and say that an association for the advancement of white people would be considered racist.

Brock said the NAACP has erroneously been classified as a black group: “We are not. We are a multiracial, multiethnic organization. So as we move into our second century, our desire is to cast our net broader.”

“‘People of color’ or ‘colored people’ really speaks to those who are falling through the cracks … who feel locked out,” she said.

She said the nation was at a pivotal moment after electing the first black president.

“I’d be the first to say that at the NAACP we have to acknowledge how far we’ve come as a nation in terms of race relations, but also in that acknowledgment, understanding that we’re not where we ought to be, but we thank God we’re not what we used to be.

“We need to draw a line in the sand and say thank you, America … but also challenge America that we still have much more work to do.”

___

Jesse Washington covers race and ethnicity for The Associated Press. He is reachable at jwashington(at)ap.org or http://www.twitter.com/jessewashington.

NAACP elects Brock, 44, as youngest board chairman

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19
Feb

Fed’s Move Prompts Drop in Asian Stocks, but Dollar Rises

By alfredlester Closed
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HONG KONG — Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region fell on Friday after the U.S. Federal Reserve increased the rate on loans made directly to banks, as the move reminded global investors that the era of cheap money was gradually drawing to a close.

The U.S. currency continued its recent rise against the euro, trading at around $1.35 by mid-morning in Asia, its strongest level against the European single currency in nice months.

Oil and other commodities fell because they are sensitive to higher interest rates, which can tame economic growth. Crude oil prices were down 1 percent at around $78.20 per barrel.

Gold, which tends to sag when the dollar rises and inflation threats recede, eased to $1,107 an ounce.

The Fed’s move, announced after the close of trade in the United States was seen as the first significant step by the Fed to start exiting some of the extraordinary stimulus measures that were announced as the global financial crisis began to escalate in late 2008. It does not affect the benchmark fed funds rate — the rate at which banks lend to each other overnight that determines the cost of borrowing for normal consumers and businesses. That rate remains at a record low.

However, Thursday’s announcement by the Fed prompted investors to focus on an eventual rise in the fed funds rate as confidence in the U.S. economy’s gradual recovery takes hold.

“The move indicates confidence in market stability and economic recovery and will make it easier to raise the Fed funds rate target,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets in Hong Kong in a note no faxing pay day loans.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo eased 0.7 percent by late morning, with the Japanese Finance minister, Naoto Kan, saying the Fed’s move was unlikely to hurt the Japanese economy.

The benchmark Kospi index in Seoul fell 1 percent, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index dropped 2.0 percent.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index in Singapore was 0.5 percent lower in morning trade. In a sign that the Asian region is recovering more quickly than the United States and Europe, the Singapore authorities on Friday said they expected the country’s economy to expand by between 4.5 percent and 6.5 percent this year, more than previously forecast. Last year, Singapore’s economy shrank by 2 percent.

The stock market in Australia, whose economy has been powering ahead thanks in large part to voracious appetite for its natural resources from China, slipped 0.3 percent, amid indications that the central bank there will continue to raise interest rates as economic conditions improve.

The markets in mainland China, Taiwan and Vietnam are closed all week for the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Fed’s increase in its so-called discount rate was by a quarter of a percentage point, to 0.75 percent from 0.50 percent, and is effective Friday.

Fed’s Move Prompts Drop in Asian Stocks, but Dollar Rises

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13
Feb

Euro Hovers Near Nine-Month Lows

By alfredlester Closed
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HONG KONG — European leaders’ declaration of support for Greece may have helped ease global worries of a debt default, but it did little to lift the euro, which hovered around nine month lows against the dollar on Friday.

Any gains in the currency shared by 16 European countries were undermined by lingering concerns about the fragile finances of several nations in the euro zone, analysts said.

The euro has sagged sharply against the dollar and the yen since January, as worries about a potential debt default by Greece began to surface.

At the start of this year, a euro bought around $1.45 and 133 yen; by midday in Asia on Friday, it bought only $1.37, and 122.5 yen.

Friday’s levels were a touch lower than Thursday’s — despite the European support for Greece — meaning the single currency remains around its weakest level against the U.S. currency since May last year. The last time the euro was at such levels against the yen was a year ago.

Stock markets, too, took only limited comfort from Thursday’s news out of Brussels, which was little more than a statement from European leaders to aid Greece during its debt crisis, if needed. Leaders offered no details on what that support would entail.

The main stock market indexes in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed, with muted rises in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, and equally limited falls in South Korea.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was 0.9 percent higher by early afternoon. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong and the Straits Times index in Singapore gained about 0.3 percent, and the benchmark index in Australia edged up 0.1 percent In South Korea, the Kospi index slipped 0 free credit scores.3 percent by around noon.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 105.81 points, or 1.05 percent, to close the day at 10,144.19. European markets ended Thursday mixed.

“Yesterday’s news on Greece did not actually provide much more than had been widely expected. The market was hoping for more specifics, so the reaction is now quite muted,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets in Hong Kong.

Activity across much of the region was also dampened ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which will shut much of the region — notably China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan — on Monday.

“Risk appetite should gradually resume — unless we get massive violence in the streets of Greece,” Mr. Kowalczyk added, referring to worries that the Greek government’s efforts to reduce its deficit will be constrained by mass popular opposition.

Striking civil servants brought public services to a halt across Greece on Wednesday, in a largely peaceful one-day protest against the tough austerity measures that officials have said are necessary to stave off a mounting financial crisis. A much broader strike is planned for Feb. 24. “Feb. 24 will be a day to watch,” Mr. Kowalczyk said.

Better-than-expected news Thursday from the closely-watched U.S. jobs market failed to set spark strong gains. The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell by more than expected last week.

Euro Hovers Near Nine-Month Lows

10
Feb

Earnings Preview: PepsiCo Inc.

By alfredlester Closed
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NEW YORK – PepsiCo Inc., maker of soft drinks and snacks, reports its fourth-quarter results before the market opens Thursday.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Changes in the way consumers are buying snacks and soft drinks as they continue watching their wallets. PepsiCo Inc.’s beverage sales have fallen in North America as people either cut out the expense or started switching to healthier juices and teas. Snack sales have held up better as people buy more food at grocery stores and eat out less often.

Analysts expect PepsiCo to report that its beverage sales remained soft in the fourth quarter. They will focus on the company’s snack division, Frito-Lay, maker of brands like Doritos, where growth could slow in the quarter.

Competition in the snack business is intense, wrote Bill Pecoriello, an analyst who heads ConsumerEdge Research LLC.

“Frito has been losing share even as year-over-year price increases and promotional intensity come more in line with historical norms,” he said short term personal loan.

He said international growth trends need to hold up as well because they have been driving the company’s growth.

WHY IT MATTERS: PepsiCo makes products that people at varying income levels buy, so its results offer a window into how shoppers are spending their money.

WHAT’S EXPECTED: Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect PepsiCo to earn 90 cents per share on revenue of $13.27 billion.

LAST YEAR’S QUARTER: PepsiCo reported profit of $719 million, or 46 cents per share a year earlier. Excluding restructuring and other one-time items, the company earned $1.39 billion, or 88 cents per share.

Earnings Preview: PepsiCo Inc.

08
Feb

CIT names ex-Merrill CEO Thain as chairman, CEO

By alfredlester Closed
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NEW YORK – CIT Group has chosen former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to lead the company as chairman and CEO as the commercial lender continues to restructure its business following a brief stay in bankruptcy protection last year.

CIT Group Inc., one of the nation’s largest lenders to small and mid-sized businesses, says Thain will take the helm immediately. He replaces acting interim CEO Peter J. Tobin, who will remain on CIT’s board.

Thain served as chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch until its sale to Bank of America was completed in January 2009 bad credit payday advance. He resigned under pressure from the combined company after reports he rushed out billions in bonuses to Merrill employees in his final days as CEO, while the brokerage was suffering huge losses and just before Bank of America took it over.

CIT names ex-Merrill CEO Thain as chairman, CEO

02
Feb

Geithner says economy improved from year ago

By alfredlester Closed
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WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (GYT’-nur) says the nation’s economy is stronger than it was a year ago, yet the government must continue to act to stimulate job growth.

Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday that the Obama administration is trying to balance the desire to add jobs with the need to rein in ballooning budget deficits.

President Barack Obama has proposed giving companies a $5,000 tax credit for each new worker they hire in 2010 no credit check payday loan. Businesses that increase wages or hours for their current workers in 2010 would be reimbursed for the extra Social Security payroll taxes they would pay.

Geithner says economy improved from year ago

Hot News: Oil rises above $75 on China, U.S. economy prospects

30
Jan

Davos leaves questions over global bank rules push

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DAVOS, Switzerland (MarketWatch) — Bankers and politicians agreed on little in public during this week’s World Economic Forum gathering of top CEOs and policymakers in the Swiss Alps, other than the desire to see regulations coordinated around the globe.

But some attendees say it’s not clear that’s going to happen.

Bankers and politicians met behind closed doors at the annual meeting Saturday, though the discussions didn’t appear to produce any concrete agreements.

Bankers have acknowledged they are going to see more regulation, said U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, after the meeting.

Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann, who has emerged as an unofficial spokesman for the bankers at this year’s WEF , told an audience at a panel discussion later Saturday that “something has to happen quickly to restore confidence in the banking system.”

Ackerman, who chairs the forum’s committee of finance CEOs, on Friday said the bankers were in favor of higher capital requirements, better liquidity management and improved market infrastructure, as well as measures that would ensure failed banks could be wound up without bringing down the system. Read about Ackermann’s presentation.

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South African President Jacob Zuma goes on a public relations blitz at the Davos economic forum to promote the World Cup in South Africa. WSJ reporter Roman Kessler has more.

Meanwhile, questions surround the ability of regulators to internationally coordinate new banking rules.

Ensuring some degree of uniformity in new banking rules amid intense public anger around much of the world was always going to be a tough task.

The importance of policy coordination was a “key lesson of the crisis,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Saturday. “I’m a bit afraid we’re not going in this direction.”

“The big unknown is the attitude of the United States,” said Barry Eichengreen, an economics professor at the University of California Berkeley, in an interview.

The Obama administration’s introduction last week of the “Volcker rule,” a proposal that would limit the size of commercial banks, barring them from trading for their own account and operating private equity and hedge funds,

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling contends that approach wouldn’t solve the problems that created the crisis fast payday loans. He’s put the emphasis on increased capital requirements and “living wills” that would detail how to close down failed banks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Davos bankers and other luminaries earlier this week that the Obama measures were correct, but that no nation could go it alone. Efforts must be coordinated by the Group of 20 nations, which agreed in April that the Basel, Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board would oversee negotiations. Read about Sarkozy’s speech in Davos.

Banks say that a lack of coordination would make for an un-level playing field. Policy makers say banks would game differences in a damaging round of regulatory arbitrage.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told a Davos audience that failure to coordinate measures “would be a catastrophe.”

Frank has said the Obama plan would be passed within months.

In a panel discussion earlier this week, he dismissed ideas that pressing ahead with the plan threatened efforts to coordinate measures across the globe as a “false dichotomy.”

While Frank was in high demand this week, Obama administration officials were thin on the ground in Davos.

On Saturday, Eichengreen introduced a high-powered panel discussion of central bankers and business leaders on the issue of financial reform, noting that the panel lacked only a representative of the Obama administration. “But why should this panel be any different from others here at Davos this year,” he said.

White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers delivered remarks in Davos Friday, but no other high-profile administration officials were in attendance for the event that began Wednesday.

Eichengreen said a U.S. policy that insists on elements of the Obama plan such as the ban on proprietary trading by commercial banks would make it difficult to reach international agreement.

Davos leaves questions over global bank rules push

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