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Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat, is calling on the Obama administration to block the use of stimulus funds for a utility-scale wind farm in West Texas that would make use of turbines manufactured largely in China.

KPMG has released its annual global survey of corporate tax systems. For the 10th consecutive year, the average corporate tax rate fell, and it is now down to 25.5 percent — and just 23.2 percent in the European Union! In the United States, unfortunately, the corporate tax rates remains stuck at about 40 percent. Only one developed nation, Japan, has a more punitive regime. That’s something to keep in mind the next time a politician complains that jobs are going to China, where the corporate tax rate is 25 percent.

WASHINGTON --- President Obama has been rolling out the red carpet at the White House during his first term -- playing host to a who's who of business-world bigs and A-list celebs including George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey, newly released records reveal. Also among the Tinseltown drop-ins were megastars Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington, who paid a visit in May, according to visitors logs, which cover January to July. The administration posted the records on its Web site yesterday, two days after a report revealed that some of Obama's top financial backers had gotten White House tours and even use...

Steven MalangaFeral Detroit Nature is reclaiming the Motor City. Autumn 2009 We usually apply the word “feral,” which means “reverting to a wild state,” to domesticated animals that are abandoned and must survive on their own. But in rapidly shrinking Detroit, where tens of thousands of structures have sat empty for years, people are starting to describe houses and neighborhoods as feral—that is, as places where human activity ceased so long ago that nature has reclaimed them. Two Detroit residents writing for the blog Sweet Juniper describe these feral houses as places that “for a few beautiful months during...

NEW YORK (AP) -- YRC Worldwide said Friday it lost money in the third quarter, but the financially fragile trucking company is still working with lenders to stay out of bankruptcy. Despite a weak economy and competitors nipping at its heels, YRC CEO Bill Zollars said in a conference call with analysts that he's confident the company will be able to rightsize itself next year. But he expects the economy to remain weak through the first half of 2010. "I don't think there's anything that would make us think we can't be back there at some point," Zollars said. "The...

Played by veteran actor Chelcie Ross, Conrad Hilton is now advertising man Don Draper's new client on the AMC series, which is set in the early 1960s world of Madison Avenue. To many viewers Hilton may seem unusual—and he does represent a refreshing break from Hollywood's negative depictions of corporate businessmen. The Hilton character in the show, like the real-life man on whom he is based, was a Christian anticommunist who believed that America and capitalism were positive forces in the world. In one scene, Hilton expresses his outlook to Draper: "This country is a force of good because we...

The current debate over Social Security reform is reminiscent of the discussions that occurred in Galveston County, Texas, in 1980, when county workers were offered a retirement alternative to Social Security: At the time they reacted with keen interest and some knee-jerk fear of the unknown. But after 24 years, folks here can say unequivocally that when Galveston County pulled out of the Social Security system in 1981, we were on the road to providing our workers with a better deal than Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The Problem with Social Security. Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system under which taxes...

Congress Repeals Ban on Perpetual Motion Machines Select messages from # through # FAQ [/[]\] The People's Cube -> The Daily Truth #1: Congress Repeals Ban on Perpetual Motion Machines Author: Opiate of the People, Location: People's Republic of NJ, USA, EarthPosted: 10/24/2009, 9:54 pm    — WASHINGTON - In a bold move to lessen our dependence on traditional fuels and decrease carbon emissions, Congress voted to repeal an old Republican ban on perpetual motion machines, clearing the way for the development of self-propelled water wheels, self-flowing flasks, float belts, zeromotors, and other environmentally-friendly industrial equipment. Director of the White House's Office of Science and...

We have previously discussed the dangers of increasing taxation in places like New York city. Now it appears that the city is facing a tax-version of the China Syndrome where over-taxation may be causing wealthier families to flee, which increases the need for higher taxes on those remaining. I remain concerned about the incredible spending in Congress and rising taxes in the states as politicians seem to have lost any sense of proportion or balance in buyouts, recovery bills, and public spending. Even the Washington Post is now warning of a “debt tsunami” as the Administration drives up the deficit...

Corporate CEO salaries have been a target of criticism for a long time, and that criticism increased during the mortgage banking collapse, when bank CEOs also became targeted for doing a lousy job. The heads of large companies do make huge salaries, as shown by this sample from the 2008 AFL-CIO CEO Pay Database: Robert A. Iger, The Walt Disney Company, $51 million; Lloyd C. Blankfein, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., $42.9 million; Mark V. Hurd, Hewlett-Packard Company, $34 million; and Rex W. Tillerson, Exxon-Mobil Corporation, $32 million. There are a few reasons for this criticism, including envy and not...

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence

Economics for Catholics… Exposing the Dangerous Premises of Economic Liberals Brian McCall REMNANT COLUMNIST, Oklahoma (Posted 10/19/09 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) The central assumption underlying all of Liberal Economic Thought (in contrast to Catholic Economic Thought) is greed. Now Economic Liberals (“E Libs”) do not always use that word; they may call it “profit motive” or “self-interest” or “wealth maximization,” but all of these terms boil down to the same thing.  More clever E Libs will mask this principle by saying that it is only valid within the economic “framework.” Once wealth is generated morality may have something to say about what...

Okay, it’s time to finally admit it: Barack Obama hates businessmen. Not just certain businessmen, mind you, but the entire profession. Of course President Obama will deny this. He told Businessweek magazine in a recent interview that he is not anti-business and that he believes in the private sector. But the evidence is overwhelming, and it helps explain why he is pursuing kamakazi-like economic policies that will damage the private sector in America. Obama has demonized just about every business sector in America. Through the 2008 campaign to the present, he has gone after credit card companies, the coal industry,...

I hope you all are paying attention, because if the dollar is no longer the world reserve currency, then we will have no bargaining chips in the diplomatic world. Robert Fisk at the UK Independent opened his article, "the Demise of the Dollar" like this:

In the October 2, 2009 Virginia Attorney General’s debate, my opponent and I had the opportunity to ask each other one question regarding our top priorities. His top priority - “global warming,” which of course comes along with a raft of legislative and regulatory burdens and taxes. At the federal level, this legislation is called “cap and trade.” The (so-called) “Cap and Trade” legislation is meant to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from industry, mainly carbon dioxide from the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas. A better name for this legislation would be “Ration and Tax.” This is because under...

First Dupage Bank, Westmont, IL Riverview Community Bank, Otsego, MN Bank of Elmwood, Racine, WI Hillcrest Bank Florida, Naples, FL Flagship National Bank, Bradenton, FL American United Bank, Lawrenceville, GA Partners Bank, Naples, FL

Nouriel Roubini: Big Crash Coming Written by Dave Nadig October 23, 2009 00:00 AM Dr. Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics and international business at the Stern School of Business at NYU and chairman of RGE Monitor, is perhaps best known for his prescient predictions of the financial market collapse in 2005.Dr. Roubini will be the keynote speaker at IndexUniverse’s upcoming “Inside Commodities” conference on Nov. 4 at the New York Stock Exchange. We sat down with Dr. Roubini ahead of the conference to take his temperature on global markets, the role of oil (NYSEArca: USO) and gold (NYSEArca: GLD) and...

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) lead analyst covering US debt said that the Amercan goverment could lose its “AAA” rating if it cannot cut the deficit and budget gaps in the next three to four years. Steven Hess told Reuters: “The Aaa rating of the U.S. is not guaranteed.” The current rating should be stable for at least 18 months.It was only earlier this year that the UK government got a similar warning from credit agencies.China expressed concern to Secretary Geithner that it does not have an unending appetite for US Treasury paper. At some point the People’s Republic will not be willing to...

Damballa - Small Botnets Pose Big Problems to Enterprises A research by security firm 'Damballa' indicates that it isn't necessary the largest sized botnets, which are responsible for the greatest threat, pose great threat to corporate data. During an analysis of 600 or more active botents, the firm's research experts found that often small sized infected networks were employed for the more targeted and dangerous attacks. Damballa states that although massive botnets like Conficker and Rustock are frequently in seen in the news, its study paper released during September 2009 indicates that many organizations become targets of attacks from even...

After reported currency intervention by Asian economies and Brazil, Europe today reiterated its desire for a strong dollar as well. Bloomberg: French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s counselor, Henri Guaino, said today in Paris that the U.S. is “flooding the world” with dollars and that the currency’s weakness may become “unbearable.” Eric Woerth, France’s budget minister, said the euro’s gains are hurting the region’s competitiveness.“We all note with considerable attention the statements made by American authorities as regards their support in favor of a strong dollar,” Trichet said in Luxembourg yesterday....“We want a strong dollar; we need a strong dollar,” French Finance...

Experts Warn Of 'Deluge' Of Insolvencies To Come In The UKInsolvency experts have warned that there will be a "deluge" of business failures next year. Begbies Traynor said 134,000 business are currently showing "material signs of distress", although this is a fall on the 149,500 in the previous quarter. It said the UK was at the "midpoint of a 'W'- shaped recession, with a deluge of business failures likely in 2010". By Rupert Neate Published: 5:39PM BST 20 Oct 2009 Ric Traynor, executive chairman of Begbies Traynor, said: "The UK may be in the eye of the storm. The well-intentioned...

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut the price targets of federally controlled mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to zero today, saying the government needs to recapitalize the two and wipe out shareholders. Interesting theory, but I think they underestimate the government's willingness to continue throwing good money after bad. Here are more specifics of what KBW says, via the Bloomberg article: "The only viable option to limit taxpayer expense and recapitalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is to set up a Bad Fannie and Bad Freddie," analysts wrote in a research note today. The plan would wipe out existing...

Morton Sloan feels besieged. Over the last several years, the Bronx-based entrepreneur has watched the property taxes on the ten Morton Williams supermarkets he runs in the city swell by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Increasingly aggressive city inspectors now linger in those stores for hours, writing costly citations for items that clerks accidentally mislabel. Some of Sloan’s suppliers say they’ll no longer deliver to New York City because of the Department of Transportation’s frequent parking-ticket blitzes. It gets worse: a new Bloomberg-administration program that encourages fruit and vegetable vendors to set up on street corners has left him scrambling...

Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman - of Princeton and the New York Times - wrote a noteworthy piece this week: "Misguided Monetary Mentalities", published in the New York Times on October 12. "One lesson from the Great Depression is that you should never underestimate the destructive power of bad ideas. And some of the bad ideas that helped cause the Depression have, alas, proved all too durable: in modified form, they continue to influence economic debate today. What ideas am I talking about? The economic historian Peter Temin has argued that a key cause of the Depression was what he...

Warning: Mildly rough language contained herein. Don't gripe, you were warned in advance not to read this if you'll be offended! You have to be kidding me..... From Larry Summers: "Financial institutions that have benefited from government support can, should and must use this moment to think about what they can do for their country -- by accepting the necessary regulation to protect the American people," Summers said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Economist's Buttonwood Gathering in New York. "There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of...

For most retail stores, staying in business for only a few days would be considered a major flop. But a growing number of merchants are opening shops and abruptly shutting them down soon after -- on purpose. These quickie retail operations -- known as pop-ups -- are showing up throughout Southern California and around the nation, filling in the gaps at recession-battered shopping centers for a fraction of the regular rents. Once limited to seasonal shops and dusty liquidation centers, pop-up stores are now being opened by some of the nation's biggest retailers. It's a trend that could reshape the...

Study Backs Open Access to Broadband Networks Stephen Lawson, IDG News ServiceWednesday, October 14, 2009 5:50 PM PDT Almost all of the most successful countries in broadband deployment have opened up the networks of their main carriers to competing service providers, according to a draft report put out for comment on Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.The report (PDF) by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society analyzes findings from a range of market-oriented democracies in an effort to understand what approaches have worked best in making sure citizens have adequate high-speed Internet access. The FCC is seeking...

Reason Foundation http://reason.org http://reason.org/news/show/three-guiding-principles-for-r Three Guiding Principles for Reforming Wall Street Cure the problems, don't create new ones Anthony Randazzo October 12, 2009 In the wake of the massive bank bailouts, nearly everyone is calling for some kind of financial regulatory system overhaul. The Obama administration has outlined what it would like to see and Congress is currently holding hearings on how to best reform the regulatory structure. But the lobbying began long ago. Big banks are squaring off against smaller banks in the debate over consolidating national banking regulatory powers. All banks are lining up against financial institutions like...

One of Big Labor's priorities in Washington is to place allies in key government jobs where they can overturn existing labor policy without battles in Congress. This is a very good reason for the Senate to hold a hearing on the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Mr. Becker is associate general counsel at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which is most recently in the news for its close ties to Acorn, the disgraced housing shakedown operation. President Obama nominated Mr. Becker in April to the five-member NLRB, which has the critical job of...

THE worst may be over for America’s financial markets, but they are still abnormal. Bill Dudley, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, captured the mood in a recent speech, bluntly titled “A bit better, but very far from best”. In a survey released this week, members of the National Association of Business Economics said markets would continue to drag on economic growth until at least mid-2010. For many the big question is whether a lack of credit is holding back America’s nascent recovery. In a sign of easing conditions, usage of the Fed’s special liquidity facilities has...

NEW YORK – Bruce Wasserstein, the CEO of Lazard Ltd., has died, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday, which cited sources familiar with the matter

How to give an economics writer a coronary: Recommend something that has been done twice before, and both times led to disaster, including being a major contributor to The Great Depression. Well guess what: JP Morgan and the other banks are doing exactly that. Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Banks will push the Obama administration to expand its mortgage-modification program to allow interest-only periods on reworked loans, seeking to bring more homeowners into the initiative while recognizing concern that it may only postpone defaults, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. MAY? Can I remind people of history? Prior to the depression...

Intel’s better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday will position the Dow Jones Industrial Average within striking distance of the psychologically important 10,000-point mark when the market opens Wednesday. Futures were also lifted by near stunning results from the banking conglomerate JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM: 45.75, n.a., n.a.%), who beat analysts' estimates by a wide margin. As of 7:20 a.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped 118 points, or 1.2%, to 9927, the S&P 500 futures were up 14.8 points to 1083.50 and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 23.5 points to 1750.25. Shares of the chipmaker jumped...

Major U.S. banks and securities firms are on pace to pay their employees about $140 billion this year -- a record high that shows compensation is rebounding despite regulatory scrutiny of Wall Street's pay culture. Workers at 23 top investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers and stock and commodities exchanges can expect to earn even more than they did the peak year of 2007, according to an analysis of securities filings for the first half of 2009 and revenue estimates through year-end by The Wall Street Journal. Total compensation and benefits at the publicly traded firms analyzed by the Journal...

"Some arrive at Veterans Memorial two hours early" Sometimes Ernest Hayden Jr. forgets he's part of a global recession that has cost millions of workers their jobs. "You compartmentalize and think it's just you," said the 44-year-old Reynoldsburg resident, who was laid off by Limited Stores in May after 23 years with the company. Hayden was reminded yesterday at the Project Hire job fair that he's not alone, as he took his place at the end of a slow-moving line. "It's overwhelming," he said as he stood with about 500 other job seekers. "You get self-absorbed and then you come...

PepsiCo, the soft-drinks and snacks company, and Anheuser-Busch, the US subsidiary of the world’s largest brewer, on Tuesday announced a pact to jointly purchase a range of goods and services in the US. The two companies said the deal – believed to be the first of its kind between two large US corporations – covered information technology hardware, office supplies, travel and transport, as well as repair, maintenance and other services. EDITOR’S CHOICE Mexico is focus of global beer consolidation - Oct-02.PepsiCo expects ‘age of thrift’ to continue - Oct-08..The pact reflects the growing competitive threat posed to Coca-Cola, the...

What did Turbo Timmy and Bendover Bernanke think they were trying to pull? The Fed's "Quantitative Easing" is now basically defunct, with about $6 billion left out of the original $300. Of course the scam of buying Fannie and Freddie Paper (even though it is not full-faith-and-credit, as I have noted repeatedly) will continue through the first quarter of next year. But there looms a larger and more immediate problem for Treasury - their incessant "rolling down the curve" activity over the last few years has led to some real trouble, although Treasury has started to recognize this issue. Currently...

Public Discourse: Our energy secretary applauds and encourages companies to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its position on climate change. Should any Cabinet secretary, with the powers of government behind him, be threatening U.S. companies? Part of the climate-change mantra is that the debate is over and the science is settled. Just to make sure, environmental groups have sought to pressure businesses to go green or at least keep silent. Now it would appear the whole weight of the federal government is being thrown behind this campaign to coerce and silence real and potential opposition. On Thursday, Steven...

I'm going to go back to this quote by Barney Frank of the US House, because it says everything those in state and local governments need to know: Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview that the defaults were, in essence, worth it. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the bad loans occurred,” he said. “It was an effort to keep prices from falling too fast. That’s a policy.” Got it? It's a policy to screw the state and local governments. Huh, you say? It's simple, really:...

SAN FRANCISCO – Marijuana advocates are gathering signatures to get as many as three pot-legalization measures on the ballot in 2010 in California, setting up what could be a groundbreaking clash with the federal government over U.S. drug policy. At least one poll shows voters would support lifting the pot prohibition, which would make the state of more than 38 million the first in the nation to legalize marijuana. Such action would also send the state into a headlong conflict with the U.S. government while raising questions about how federal law enforcement could enforce its drug laws in the face...

Dow 10,000 - Springboard or Final Kiss Good Bye? By Simon Maierhofer On 11:32 am EDT, Friday October 9, 2009 What would you like to hear first, the good news or the bad news? Well, the good news is that we are approaching Dow 10,000. The bad news is that Dow 10,000 may be nothing more than a good selling opportunity. On March 9th, the Wall Street Journal ran an article titled 'Dow 5,000? There's A Case For It.' The Dow (DJI: ^DJI) bottomed that very day at 6,440, along with the S&P 500 (SNP: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC),...

Well, not quite — but it got your attention. Recently, 7-11 delivered 1.6 million petitions to Congress demanding that 7-11 be allowed to charge extra to customers who use credit and debit cards. Never mind that this is asking Congress to rip up a contract 7-11 has signed agreeing not to do this to us. What’s the issue? Whenever we go to the store or online to make a purchase...

Stimulating the economy isn't nearly as important to President Obama as putting federal dollars into the pockets of his union cronies. Because of Obama's PLA Executive Order, thousands of jobs are going to unions in states that have few union members. The Washington Times, for instance, reports that Obama has grandiosely given a $35 million federal construction project to the New Hampshire. But there are strings attached, strings that pull federal pay levers for the exclusive benefit of unions. In February Obama signed Executive Order 13202 that demanded that project labor agreements be forced on every federal construction project. These...

If you want to know why the dollar has been falling this week and gold hit a new high, look no further than the weak jobs numbers last Friday and the weak communique issued over the weekend at the G-7 meeting in Istanbul. Deploring "excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates" isn't exactly a ringing defense of the greenback. And 9.8% unemployment convinced markets that monetary policy will remain loose regardless of dollar weakness. Bond buyer Bill Gross of the Pimco fund summed up the situation nicely in a recent CNBC interview. Asked whether low interest rates will weaken...

Can We Really Trust The Leading Economic Indicators? Thursday, October 08, 2009 Mike Shedlock Leading economic indicators are soaring and inquiring minds are wondering if they signal a strong recovery is in the works. First let's consider the Bullish case from the ECRI. Please consider U.S. recovery 'unlikely to falter' anytime soon-ECRIOct 2 (Reuters) - An index of future U.S. economic growth slipped in the latest week, but its yearly growth rate climbed to a new record high, indicating a smooth recovery in the near-term, a research group said on Friday. The Economic Cycle Research Institute, a New York-based independent...

Why gold could hit $1,500 on back of dollar’s decline: One view is that gold has become a currency of its own – one you can’t print more of The dollar's decline has paused and the record-setting ascent in the value of gold has slowed but now the political pressure is mounting on President Obama to reassure global investors that the US remains a sound financial bet. Republican politicians are looking to make political hay from the currency's slide, depicting it as proof of declining US power. Sarah Palin, the beauty queen turned vice-presidential candidate turned bestselling memoirist, is using...

Siblings Georgia, Jimmy and John Roussos have spent most of their lives working in the kitchen of the restaurant their father opened in 1954. The eatery managed to survive a hurricane and other setbacks, but it wasn't until this August that the recession took its toll, forcing Roussos Restaurant in Daphne, Ala., to permanently shut its doors. After months of slow sales, family businesses are being forced to close, ending legacies and leaving behind a wake of sad customers and loyal employees. "Some family businesses that were just hanging on have said it's time to get out," says Dann Van...

Is SEIU’s Purple Brand Fading to Pink?Posted By Don Loos On October 6, 2009 @ 7:46 am In ACORN, Big Labor, Economics, Featured Story, Politics | 25 Comments Stern’s New Big Labor Same as the Old Big Labor For the past four years, the highest profile Big Labor Boss was Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern.  Stern has deliberately parlayed his controlling style as that of a New Labor Boss, and he has painstakingly worked on the SEIU “purple brand.”  And yet, Stern and the SEIU union have failed to live up to the New Labor Boss identity...

Bankruptcy professionals have a grim view on the U.S. corporate recovery, despite a recent rise in stocks and an uptick in business deals. "I think it's going to be a sad holiday season," said Lynn Tilton, chief executive officer of Patriarch Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in distressed companies. Consumers will be stingy with their spending, keeping malls and resorts empty, bankruptcy professionals said at the Reuters Restructuring Summit in New York this week. Even the wealthy will steer clear of the wild, brand-conscious spending that marked the last few years. "No one is conspicuously consuming they way...

ARAB STATES LAUNCH SECRET MOVES WITH CHINA, RUSSIA, FRANCE TO STOP USING DOLLAR FOR OIL TRADING... DEVELOPING...