This year’s Index of Dependence on Government presented startling findings about the sharp increase of Americans who rely on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid or other assistance.

Another eye-popping number was the percentage of Americans who don’t pay income taxes, which now accounts for nearly half of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, most of that population receives generous federal benefits.

“One of the most worrying trends in the Index is the coinciding growth in the non-taxpaying public,” wrote Heritage authors Bill Beach and Patrick Tyrrell. “The percentage of people who do not pay federal income taxes, and who are not claimed as dependents by someone who does pay them, jumped from 14.8 percent in 1984 to 49.5 percent in 2009.”

That means 151.7 million Americans paid nothing in 2009. By comparison, 34.8 million tax filers paid no taxes in 1984.

See chart and read whole article here: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/19/chart-of-the-week-nearly-half-of-all-americans-dont-pay-income-taxes/

The Daily Caller has obtained documents, emails and communications showing how President Barack Obama’s Federal Communications Commission demolished wireless broadband company LightSquared’s competition through a pattern of regulatory decisions apparently aimed at establishing an “open-access” Internet in the United States.

The FCC successfully green-lighted LightSquared’s corporate formation in 2009 by allowing Wall Street hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners to purchase majority ownership in satellite company SkyTerra. A major obstacle that still remained in LightSquared’s way was competitor GlobalStar.

GlobalStar had a similar operation to the one LightSquared was building at the time. A major difference, though, was GlobalStar’s already-orbiting satellites, and the broadband Internet access it was already providing to Americans in rural areas of the country.

GlobalStar leased terrestrial spectrum to Open Range Communications, a company that provided broadband Internet access to customers in underserved parts of rural America. Open Range’s business model depended on a 2008 loan, worth $264 million, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service.

In 2008 the FCC gave GlobalStar a 16-month waiver from so-called “gating” rules, which required it to guarantee that its satellite service would be continuously available everywhere it offered broadband service, and also required it to maintain spare satellites in case of an urgent need. GlobalStar had said the issues its system faced would be fixed when it could launch 24 new satellites, which it planned to do by July 1, 2010.

The waiver was meant to allow GlobalStar and Open Range to continue building their networks while GlobalStar fixed those issues. Open Range depended on GlobalStar for its continued operation.

Then, the unthinkable happened: On April 6, 2009 an earthquake struck L’Aquila, Italy, damaging a factory that made component parts essential to GlobalStar’s satellites. The factory closed, reopening eight months later in early December 2009.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/22/documents-show-obamas-fcc-used-regulatory-muscle-to-destroy-lightsquareds-competition/

Things around the LightSquared offices have to be looking dim at this point. While the managers of the company continue to fight to get their proposed wireless 4G network approved, denials keep streaming in. LightSquared has announced that is having take rather drastic measures to save money and attempt to stay afloat. The company has announced that it is shedding 45% of its 330 person workforce.

The company called the layoffs a “prudent and necessary” measure to save money. This week LightSquared missed a payment on a $56 million loan to a British company that operates satellites called in Inmarsat. Last week the FCC revoked permission granted LightSquared to move ahead with wireless network plans. The problem with LightSquared’s plan is that the FCC found the service interfered with a significant amount of GPS devices on the market today.

Excessive regulation of financial institutions is squeezing out middle-class consumers who soon will find themselves locked out of the banking system, analyst Meredith Whitney said Wednesday.

That trend already is beginning to manifest itself in terms of who is driving most consumer spending, Whitney, the president and founder of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, said in a CNBC interview.

The latest data show retail sales rose 0.4 percent during the post-holiday season, while Macy’s indicated strong sales growth in the past quarter.

Ray Priest, owner of International Passport Visas in Denver, said your passport isn’t actually yours at all; it belongs to the US government.

“To have a passport is privilege, it’s not entitled to you by citizenship,” Priest said. He said the issue may be with a microchip embedded in the back of all new passports. “They have no reason in the world to let you travel if it’s been damaged,” Priest said. “It’s like cutting your photo out or something if that chip doesn’t work.”

The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will no longer train local law enforcement to check the immigration status of those they arrest, identifying illegal aliens for detention and deportation.

The program, known as 287(g) allows police to investigate a suspect’s immigration status after an arrest had been made for any offense and has been highly effective in identifying criminal aliens at the local level.

In 2009, Wake County (NC) Sheriff Donnie Harrison told The Wall Street Journal: “I think the program is working great. If the highway patrol brings someone to our jail, and they say they are foreign born, then they are flagged for 287g. They have committed a violation of some sort to be brought to our jail...from broken tail lights to murder and rape.”

Since 2006, more than 1,000 law-enforcement officers have been trained and certified by the federal program. At its height, 77 local police departments participated in 287(g). Both Virginia and North Carolina led the country in the number of local departments participating.

This evening, speaking at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said that folks getting and spending unemployment checks is a healthy thing . . . because it stimulates the economy:

"Even though we had a terrible economic crisis three years ago, throughout our country many people were suffering before the last three years, particularly in the black community," Jarrett said. "And so we need to make sure that we continue to support that important safety net. It not only is good for the family, but it's good for the economy. People who receive that unemployment check go out and spend it and help stimulate the economy, so that's healthy as well."

The amount of income tax paid fell sharply last month in the first formal indication that the new 50p higher rate is not raising the expected amount of revenue.

The Treasury received £10.35 billion in income tax payments from those paying by self-assessment last month, a drop of £509 million compared with January 2011. Most other taxes produced higher revenues over the same period.

Senior sources said that the first official figures indicated that there had been “manoeuvring” by well-off Britons to avoid the new higher rate. The figures will add to pressure on the Coalition to drop the levy amid fears it is forcing entrepreneurs to relocate abroad.

The self-assessment returns from January, when most income tax is paid by the better-off, have been eagerly awaited by the Treasury and government ministers as they provide the first evidence of the success, or failure, of the 50p rate. It is the first year following the introduction of the 50p rate which had been expected to boost tax revenues from self-assessment by more than £1billion.

President Obama's 2013 budget is the gift that keeps on giving—to government. One buried surprise is his proposal to triple the tax rate on corporate dividends, which believe it or not is higher than in his previous budgets.

Mr. Obama is proposing to raise the dividend tax rate to the higher personal income tax rate of 39.6% that will kick in next year. Add in the planned phase-out of deductions and exemptions, and the rate hits 41%. Then add the 3.8% investment tax surcharge in ObamaCare, and the new dividend tax rate in 2013 would be 44.8%—nearly three times today's 15% rate.

Keep in mind that dividends are paid to shareholders only after the corporation pays taxes on its profits. So assuming a maximum 35% corporate tax rate and a 44.8% dividend tax, the total tax on corporate earnings passed through as dividends would be 64.1%.

Talk about pain at the pump! Some Florida drivers are spending nearly $6 a gallon to fill up their gas tanks.

According to GasBuddy.com, motorists are shelling out $5.89 for a gallon of regular gas at a Shell station in Lake Buena Vista, topping out at $5.99 a gallon for premium. It doesn’t get better at a Suncoast Energy station in Orlando, where drivers are paying $5.79 for a gallon of regular.

Wal-Mart, the world's top retailer, said on Tuesday its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 15 percent as it cut prices in the United States amid fierce competition for consumer dollars.

Wal-Mart posted $5.1 billion in net income for the three months ending January 31, compared with $6.1 billion in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 5.9 percent in the quarter to $123.2 billion, boosted in part by $2.4 billion from newly-acquired Netto stores in Britain and Massmart in South Africa.

But it also took a $1.0 billion hit from unfavourable currency exchange rates.

Earnings excluding special items were $1.44 per share, missing the average analyst forecast of $1.46.

For the 2012 fiscal year, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company reported earnings fell 4.2 percent from the prior year to $15.7 billion.

Earnings per share for the year were $4.49, in line with market expectations.

Full-year revenue rose 6.0 percent to $447 billion.

"We are pleased with Walmart's earnings performance for both the fourth quarter and the full year," Mike Duke, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. president and chief executive, said in a statement.

"Today, every segment of our business is stronger than it was a year ago, and we're in a great position for fiscal year 2013."

The discount giant estimated earnings per share in the current quarter between $1.01-1.06.

When Paula Symons joined the U.S. workforce in 1972, typewriters in her office clacked nonstop, people answered the telephones and the hot new technology revolutionizing communication was the fax machine.

Symons, fresh out of college, entered this brave new world thinking she'd do pretty much what her parents' generation did: Work for just one or two companies over about 45 years before bidding farewell to co-workers at a retirement party and heading off into her sunset years with a pension.

Forty years into that run, the 60-year-old communications specialist for a Wisconsin-based insurance company has worked more than a half-dozen jobs. She's been laid off, downsized and seen the pension disappear with only a few thousand dollars accrued when it was frozen.

So, five years from the age when people once retired, she laughs when she describes her future plans.

"I'll probably just work until I drop," she says, a sentiment expressed, with varying degrees of humor, by numerous members of her age group.

Like 78 million other U.S. Baby Boomers, Symons and her husband had the misfortune of approaching retirement age at a time when stock market crashes diminished their 401(k) nest eggs, companies began eliminating defined benefit pensions in record numbers and previously unimagined technical advances all but eliminated entire job descriptions from travel agent to telephone operator.

At the same time, companies began moving other jobs overseas, to be filled by people willing to work for far less and still able to connect to the U.S. market in real time.

"The paradigm has truly shifted. Now when you're looking for a job you're competing in a world where the competition isn't just the guy down the street, but the guy sitting in a cafe in Hong Kong or Mumbai," says Bill Vick, a Dallas-based executive recruiter who started BoomersNextStep.com in an effort to help Baby Boomers who want to stay in the workforce.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AGING_AMERICA_CHANGING_WORKPLACE

Standing too many months on the unemployment line is driving Americans crazy — literally — and it’s costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

With their unemployment-insurance checks running out, some of the country’s long-term jobless are scrambling to fill the gap by filing claims for mental illness and other disabilities with Social Security — a surge that hobbles taxpayers and making the employment rate look healthier than it should as these people drop out of the job statistics.

“It could be because their health really is getting worse from the stress of being out of work,” says Matthew Rutledge, a research economist at Boston College. “Or it could just be desperation — people trying to make ends meet when other safety nets just aren’t there.”

As of January, the federal government was mailing out disability checks to more than 10.5 million individuals, including 2 million to spouses and children of disabled workers, at a cost of record $200 billion a year, recent research from JPMorgan Chase shows.

The sputtering economy has fueled those ranks. Around 5.3 percent of the population between the ages of 25 and 64 is currently collecting federal disability payments, a jump from 4.5 percent since the economy slid into a recession.

Mental-illness claims, in particular, are surging.

During the recent economic boom, only 33 percent of applicants were claiming mental illness, but that figure has jumped to 43 percent, says Rutledge, citing preliminary results from his latest research.

His research also shows a growing number of men, particularly older, former white-collar workers, instead of the typical blue-collar ones, are applying.

Unemployment in the U.S. rose to nine percent in mid-February, up from 8.3 percent a month earlier, according to a new Gallup survey. The polling company said this suggests that it is “premature” to assume the economy will not feature prominently in the 2012 election season.

Gallup figures typically provide an indication of what the government will report at the end of the month.

“The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February,” Gallup said in its mid-month unemployment survey, released on February 17. “The mid-month reading normally reflects what the U.S. government reports for the entire month, and is up from 8.3% in mid-January.”

Read more: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gallup-finds-unemployment-climbing-nine-percent-february

Chrysler and Fiat have paid back all but $1.3 billion of Chrysler's $12.5 billion bailout - with taxpayers likely to be out the rest. The Italian automaker got control of Chrysler by buying 23.5 percent of the company from the U.S. and Canadian governments, after receiving an initial 20 percent stake in exchange for management expertise and technology, then 15 percent for meeting performance targets.

The government has recouped more than $22 billion of its nearly $50 billion GM bailout, after agreeing to take stock in return for most of its investment. The government would get an additional $13.5 billion if it sold its remaining stock at current value. It is waiting for the stock price to rise before doing so, meaning the final cost to taxpayers is unknown.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57381536/fact-check-artful-swerves-on-auto-bailout

General Motor’s European arm is facing major job cuts and even entire plant closures as company bosses race to stem the huge losses being suffered by the Opel and Vauxhall divisions.

US-based city analysts are predicting that as many as 4000 jobs could be cut over the next two years. Closing a factory cannot be ruled out, according to industry experts, with Opel’s German Bochum plant most vulnerable on paper.

GM Europe lost around £450m in 2011 after losing £1.2bn in 2010. According to news agency reports, two US-based analysts are predicting that that GM will have to spend between £600m and £760m on ‘restructuring’ Opel-Vauxhall in an attempt to stem the losses.

Dan Akerson, GM’s CEO, said last week that Opel-Vauxhall production collapsed 20 percent in the last three months of 2011, a reflection of impact the crisis around the Euro is having on consumer confidence. With European car sales likely to continue to be weak in 2012, GM bosses will have to move quickly to prevent another year of huge losses.

Wal-Mart Stores plans to buy a controlling stake in the fast-growing Chinese online retailer Yihaodian.

The retail chain has agreed to increase its stake in Yihaodian's holding company to approximately 51%, Wal-Mart (WMT) said late Sunday.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. It still must be approved by Chinese government regulators.

Yihaodian sells more than 180,000 products, including groceries, electronics and apparel. It has expanded rapidly since it was founded in July 2008. It has 5,400 employees and a next-day delivery network across Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu.

Wal-Mart eCommerce executive Neil Ashe said the deal improves Wal-Mart's access to Chinese consumers who use smartphones and social media to shop.

Oil prices jumped to nearly 105 dollars a barrel - a nine-month high - in Asia today, after Iran said it halted crude exports to Britain and France in a dispute over its nuclear programme.

Benchmark crude was up 1.75 to 104.99 dollars a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the day it rose to 105.21, the highest since May. The contract rose 93 cents to settle at 103.24 a barrel in New York on Friday.

Brent crude was up 1.52 at 121.10 dollars a barrel in London.

Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year.

At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.

"You're going to see a lot more staycations this year," says Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. "When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react."

Already, W. Howard Coudle, a retired machinist from Crestwood, Mo., has seen his monthly gasoline bill rise to $80 from about $60 in December. The closest service station is selling regular for $3.39 per gallon, the highest he's ever seen.

"I guess we're going to have to drive less, consolidate all our errands into one trip," Coudle says. "It's just oppressive."

The surge in gas prices follows an increase in the price of oil.

Dame Judi Dench has revealed she is battling to save her eyesight.

The James Bond Star, 77, has been diagnosed with macular degeneration which can lead to blindness.

In a deeply moving interview, Dame Judi said her sight is already so bad she cannot see faces in front of her and friends have to read scripts to her so she can learn her lines.

But she said she is determined not to let the condition beat her and hopes recent treatment has stopped the progressive decline.

She confessed: “I can’t read scripts any more because of the trouble with my eyes.

"And so somebody comes in and reads them to me, like telling me a story.

"It’s usually my daughter or my agent or a friend and actually I like that, because I sit there and imagine the story in my mind.

“I’ve got what my ma had, macular degeneration, which you get when you get old.

"I had wet in one eye and dry in the other and they had to do these injections and I think it’s arrested it. I hope so.”

Iran has stopped selling crude to British and French companies, the oil ministry said on Sunday, in a retaliatory measure against fresh EU sanctions on the Islamic state's lifeblood, oil.

"Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped ... we will sell our oil to new customers," spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying by the ministry of petroleum website.

The European Union in January decided to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1 over its disputed nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building bombs. Iran denies this.

Iran's oil minister said on Feb. 4 that the Islamic state would cut its oil exports to "some" European countries. The European Commission said last week that the bloc would not be short of oil if Iran stopped crude exports, as they have enough in stock to meet their needs for around 120 days.

Sterling Savings Bank laid off scores of employees around the Northwest this week.

The Spokane-based bank gave pink slips to 160 employees. Bank leaders said that is six percent of their workforce.

“Given the challenging interest rate environment and the uncertain economic outlook, Sterling must position itself for continued success, including lowering its operating expenses,” CEO of Sterling Financial Corporation Greg Seibly said. “Sterling has fewer assets today than it did just a few years ago and, although this has been a difficult decision, the bank needs to appropriately reflect that reality.”

The layoffs started on Wednesday and spanned across five states.

Managers cut positions at all levels to lower operating costs.

Owners of 7-Eleven stores are warning of massive layoffs to come, unless the Illinois Lottery protects them from competition from the online sales that are expected to start this year.

As WBBM Newsradio’s John Cody reports, the franchise owners say they online lottery sales could force them to lay off 7,000 employees statewide.

Joe Rossi, the head of the Chicago franchise owners’ association, estimates lottery sales bring in 30 percent of the business at 7-Elevens, because lottery buyers buy an average of $5 in goods on top of their tickets.

Rossi says he is not trying to block internet lottery sales, just suggesting the lottery find a way to protect 7-Eleven lottery business and jobs.

About 100 people in an eastern Arkansas town will lose their jobs after a copper tube company decided not to rebuild part of its plant that was destroyed by fire in September.

Wynne Mayor Bob Stacy said Thursday he received a letter from Mueller Copper Tube Products about the layoffs in the plastics division. Stacy says company officials wrote that "extensive evaluations" about the future of the plant had been conducted, and the decision was made not to rehire the workers.

Being unemployed for too long reportedly is driving people mad and costing taxpayers billions of dollars in mental illness and other disability claims.

The New York Post reported Sunday that as unemployment checks run out, many jobless are trying to gain government benefits by declaring themselves unhealthy.

More than 10.5 million people -- about 5.3 percent of the population aged 25 and 64 -- received disability checks in January from the federal government, the Post wrote, a 18 percent jump from before the recession.

Among those claiming disability, 43 percent are asking for benefits because of mental illness, the Post wrote. A growing number of those people are older, former white-collar workers.

Disability claims come from the Social Security Trust Fund, which is set to go broke in 2018. Congress last week agreed to dip into the revenue stream to give a 2-percentage point tax break to working Americans.

The Post noted that the more people file for disability claims, the better for the unemployment picture since those people are removed from the jobless rolls.

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. warned state regulators Friday that it will be laying off 224 employees across the country, including dozens based at Fort Meade, after losing a contract to provide security for a government agency.

A nickel boost in the first-class stamp price to 50 cents is part of the U.S. Postal Service's latest plan to stop bleeding red ink.

The Postal Service released the 5-year business plan to Congress late Thursday in part to push Congress to pass legislation to help them get through ongoing financial woes. Due in large part to declining first-class mail volume, the service recorded a $3.3 billion loss in the final three months of last year, which is usually a profitable period.

The Postal Service says that, if nothing is done, it faces $18 billion in losses by 2015. Lawmakers have been working on different plans for months, but all of them have controversial aspects and are stalled.

The U.S. Postal Service says its plan would save about $20 billion over the next five years.

Reducing the U.S. nuclear force by 80 percent, a move under consideration by the White House, amounts to unilateral disarmament at a time when “the Iranians are nuking up,” Rush Limbaugh said today on his radio show.

“There are some things happening today that are downright scary,” Limbaugh said. “The regime, led by Barack Hussein Obama, is weighing options for reducing our U.S. nuclear force. Folks, this is staggering. Meanwhile, the Iranians are nuking up.”

The conservative talk-show host said the nuclear weapons reductions will not make the world safer and instead will shift the balance of power away from America.

“We are unilaterally disarming,” he said. “We are not requiring the Russians to go along, and even if the Russians said they would match these reductions, they lie. That is the lesson of the Russians and nukes.”

A report by The Associated Press that Limbaugh read on the air said the United States could reduce the number of deployed weapons to 300.

“The last time we had 300 warheads was in the ’50s,” he said. “If we reduce to 300, we will have fewer nuclear weapons than [China.]”

President Obama’s plan for the Pentagon to cut deployed strategic nuclear warheads by 80 percent is meeting harsh resistance from House Armed Services Committee Republicans on Capitol Hill who called the plan “dangerous.”

In a letter to the president sent Thursday, a group of 34 House members expressed deep concerns about a National Security Council directed plan to reduce strategic warheads to as few as 300 weapons.

“At a time when every other nuclear weapons state has an active nuclear weapons modernization program and many are growing their stockpiles and capabilities, it is inconceivable to us that you would lead the United States down such a dangerous plan,” the lawmakers stated.

According to U.S. officials, the Nuclear Posture Review Implementation Study was ordered in August and is nearing completion.

It called on the Pentagon to examine three levels of deployed strategic nuclear warheads without considering the global threat environment. The three levels are 1,000 to 1,100 warheads; 700 to 800 warheads; and 300 to 400 warheads.

The current U.S. nuclear arsenal includes about 5,000 warheads.

The plan is a reflection of the president’s 2009 speech in Prague when he called for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

Read more: http://freebeacon.com/house-republicans-to-obama-nuke-cut-plan-is-dangerous/

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV is launching its American service this week as part of a major overseas expansion aimed at boosting China's international influence.

The network said Wednesday that Washington-based CCTV America will eventually offer four hours of programming daily. It said content will be produced by about 100 journalists working out of 15 bureaus in North and South America.

CCTV America's initial lineup will feature a business and finance program, Biz Asia America, a panel show called The Heat, and a magazine program, Americas Now. It will target an audience of more than 100 million in 120 countries, competing for viewers with the likes of BBC, CNN, and Qatar's Al-Jazeera.

The network is also opening a studio in Nairobi, Kenya, and hiring scores of new journalists and technical staff around the globe.

The expansion aims to counter negative images of China, especially over issues such as human rights, one-party communist rule, and Beijing's policies in the restive western regions of Xinjiang and Tibet.

While it enjoys top-level access to Chinese officialdom, state control tightly restricts CCTV's reporting about China, leading critics to question what special advantages it can offer over other global networks.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/chinese-state-tv-cctv-american-service_n_1262010.html

"Kung Fu Panda" creator Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc plans to build a production studio in Shanghai with some of China's biggest media companies, a landmark deal that gives the company a foothold in one of the largest untapped markets for Hollywood.

The California-based animation studio behind "Shrek" agreed to form a joint venture with China Media Capital, Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. The deal was announced while Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was visiting Los Angeles and wrapping up a U.S. visit.

The new family entertainment company will develop and produce Chinese animated and live-action content for distribution within China and around the globe, Dreamworks said in a statement on Friday.

The company also will pursue live entertainment, theme parks, mobile, online, interactive games and consumer products, a model similar to media giant Walt Disney Co.

"Our goal is, for five or 10 years from now, to have the leading family-branded entertainment company in China," Dreamworks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said in an interview.

"It's a pretty significant opportunity for us" given the vast Chinese market for entertainment, he added.

The agreement gives Dreamworks Animation far greater access to audiences in China, where foreign-made films are now limited.

Just in time for Presidents Day: get ready for the long holiday weekend's highest prices ever in Southern California as $4 gasoline is expected to arrive in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and probably Orange County, too.

That's what energy analysts are predicting as the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area reached $3.996 a gallon overnight, up nearly 2 cents since Thursday. That was also a jump of 15.9 cents a gallon since last week.

That's according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, a daily record of credit card receipts compiled from more than 100,000 service stations around the U.S. by the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey and by Wright Express.

Not far behind the L.A. area: San Diego is also on the brink at $3.992 a gallon, up 16.2 cents since last week, according to the report. Orange County was also on the cusp, rising 16.2 cents a gallon in the past week to an average of $3.989 a gallon.

"There was quite a paroxysm in the spot market for wholesale gasoline and a confluence of refinery maintenance," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for OPIS. "It's quite noticeable because the price of crude is also over $100 a barrel. And if you live on the East or West Coast, you are dealing with a lot of $115 to $120 a barrel oil, like Alaskan crude and Brent crude."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-four-dollar-gas-20120217,0,7150361.story

Greenies love their wildlife, and go ga-ga over eagles. But they are willing to overlook horrific raptor carnage caused by windmills. According to Louis Sahagun at the L.A. Times, windmill farms have been decimating bird and bat populations nationwide for over a decade.

Nationwide, about 440,000 birds are killed at windfarms each year, according to the (Federal) Wildlife Service.

Finally federal Fish and Wildlife Services authorities are investigating the deaths of golden eagles at the Pine Tree Wind Project in the Tehachapi Mountains outside Los Angeles. Unlike the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest, whose activities were seriously curtailed to protect the spotted owl, or the Alaskan oil pipeline, whose construction was delayed by the propaganda generated by the New York Times in the interest of protecting caribou herds, environmentalist wackos have remained silent about the slaughter of birds by dangerous and unproductive windmill farms.

Wind farms have been killing birds for decades and law enforcement has done nothing about it, so this investigation is long overdue (said Shawn Smallwood, an expert in on raptor ecology and wind farms.) Its going to ruffle wind industry feathers across the country.

Golden eagles are big birds, weighing up to 40 pounds and their large size and wing speed make it difficult for them to navigate amongst wind turbine blades spinning at up to 200 mph, especially when in pursuit of prey. 6 golden eagle deaths have been reported at Pine Tree and an average of 67 golden eagle deaths annually are reported at the larger Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in Northern California. All told, it is estimated that 1,595 birds die each year at the Pine Tree Wind Project.

Local authorities seem inclined to downplay or disregard the deaths as they seek to reach Los Angeles's goal of 35% of its energy generated by renewables by 2020. The American Wind Energy Association, flacks for the windmill brigade, would have us believe that

...far more birds are killed by collisions with radio towers, tall buildings,airplanes and vehicles and encounters with household cats (than with windmills.)

I know I don't want any windmills in my neighborhood. They are unsightly and a preposterous excuse for energy generation. Then again, I don't think I am ready for neighbors with housecats that prey on golden eagles either.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/environmentalists_give_pass_to_eagle-killing_windmills.html

Over the weekend, two more federally protected Golden Eagles were found dead at the Pine Tree wind farm in the Tehachapi mountains.

It's a tough dilemma, green energy and thousands of jobs, or protecting the great raptors of the sky.

Giant wind farms litter the hills of the Tehachapi mountains. Some call them an eyesore, some see them as job creation, and others think they add something unique to the skyline for the small mountain community.

But, bird lovers say they kill too many flying creatures like bats and Golden Eagles hunting in the area.

"They are looking at the ground animals. That's their food source, and that's what they concentrate on, that animal. They are chasing it and the wind tower can be right in there, but they are not seeing it because they are looking at this prey and they hit the blades." said Harry Love from the Kern Audubon Society.

Since the Golden Eagle is a protected bird, it is illegal to kill them, but nothing is happening, according to Love. "Federal agencies are not prosecuting because the one that has the most kills is owned by the City of Los Angeles."

The respective agendas of environmentalists and animal rights groups come into conflict as more endangered, federally protected Golden Eagles are slaughtered -- in this case by windmills in the Tehachapi Mountains.

Amanda Knox has a book deal.

The young exchange student whose conviction and eventual acquittal of murder charges made headlines worldwide has a $4 million agreement with HarperCollins to tell her story. The 24-year-old Seattle resident, imprisoned for four years in Perugia, Italy, has not publicly discussed her ordeal beyond a brief expression of gratitude upon her release last October.

"Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system," HarperCollins said in a statement Thursday.

No one gives a rip about the Italian judicial system. We want sex and violence. Period.

"Aided by journals she kept during her imprisonment, Knox will talk about her harrowing experience at the hands of the Italian police and later prison guards and inmates," says the statement. "She will reveal never before-told details surrounding her case, and describe how she used her inner strength and strong family ties to cope with the most challenging time of her young life."

Please. Get on with the good stuff.

The book, currently untitled, is tentatively scheduled for early 2013.

Unconformedf reports say the deal is worth $4 million.

President Obama rallied with union workers at a Boeing plant in Washington, but he praised the manufacturing conducted by Boeing in South Carolina, even though his National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) tried to close the South Carolina plant at the behest of the Washington union workers.

"This company is a great example of what American manufacturing can do in a way that nobody else in the world can do it," Obama told the assembled workers this afternoon at the Everett, Wash., Boeing plant. "And the impact of your success, as I said, goes far beyond the walls of this plant. Every Dreamliner that rolls off the assembly line here in Everett supports thousands of jobs in different industries all across the country. Parts of the fuselage are manufactured in South Carolina and Kansas," Obama noted before mentioning factories in other states.

The NLRB tried to close that South Carolina plant, though, after union workers in Washington argued that Boeing had built the new factory in the South Carolina -- which is a right to work state -- in retaliation against the Machinist Union strikes that had slowed production in Washington state. The NLRB dropped the complaint in December after Boeing signed a new contract with the machinists

The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein argued that the NLRB "helped unions shake down Boeing" by pushing the complaint, which would have cost over 1,000 non-union jobs in South Carolina, until the union received the new contract.

"What's happening here in Everett can happen in other industries," Obama added today during his discussion of American manufacturing.

News that Google had bypassed privacy settings set by users of Apple’s Safari browser, enabling it to track certain browsing habits, created a storm of controversy, but the search giant said it made the mistake while actually trying to protect users.

An article published by The Wall Street Journal Thursday night uncovered Google’s use of a technical feature in Apple’s Safari Web browser that lets it set so-called “advertising cookies” even when users have turned that feature off in the program’s settings.

These bits of information provide the advertising giant with information on the “types of pages visited or content that [users] viewed” while browsing its sites or others within its search network, according to Google’s advertising and privacy policy. While they track browsing habits, Google stresses that they do not collect personal information.

Cookies are used across a wide variety of Web applications, but in this case, they help Google, and its enormous ad network that stretches across the Web, serve more customized ads. For example, if a user is searching about investments, it may serve ads for brokerage houses.

While cookies are commonplace, Google’s implementation in this case was far from it. Apple’s Safari browser, which is used on Macs, iPhones, iPads and iPods, blocks third-party cookies by default. To get around this block, the Journal revealed, Google had to use a piece of computer code that mimics the user submitting a form, which opened Safari to accepting cookies.

Forms can come in many shapes and sizes, but a good example is when an individual logs into a website by typing their username and password and then hitting “submit.” The browser must pass the fact that the user is logged into the next page, and utilizes a cookie to do that.

Google said it actually leveraged the workaround to create “a temporary communication link“ to see if a user is logged into a Google account, and, if so, it looks to see if the individual had opted into such advertising.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/02/17/googles-safari-workaround-simple-mistake-or-privacy-gaffe/

A Biodiesel-powered El Camino once owned by literal tree-hugger (climbing is like hugging, right?) Daryl Hannah has sold for $2250 in an online auction.

The environmental activist actress had the 1983 Chevy converted to run on biodiesel about a decade ago and used it as her daily driver for four years before selling in on Ebay in 2008 for a reported $15,600. She described the matte black-panted pickup car as the “baddest assest biodiesel 'el camino' ever.”

The “Splash” siren, who was arrested outside the White House this past August during a protest against the Keystone oil pipeline, ran the V8-powered El Camino largely on her own home-brewed fuel. One of several biodiesel vehicles she has owned, Hannah once told Architectural Digest that the car is good for up to 40 mpg.

The El Camino’s current seller, Nashville, Tenn., tech entrepreneur Freddie O'Connell, told the Nashville Scene that the arrival of a baby daughter is forcing him to switch to a larger car with more modern safety features, and is looking to replace it with an electric Nissan Leaf.

A Fort Benning defense contractor has informed Georgia labor officials that it will lay off 359 workers by March 11, though a state official says many of the employees could be rehired by another contractor.

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that Eagle Systems & Services Inc. sent the notice to the Georgia Department of Labor this week. The company told state officials that it has been told by its prime contractor, ITT/Exelis, that its services are no longer needed as a subcontractor.

Georgia Department of Labor spokesman Sam Hall said his office understands a new contractor is expected to fill the void left by Eagle Systems by hiring most of its former workers. Eagle Systems President Rhonda Clemmer declined to comment to The Ledger-Enquirer Thursday.

Almost 50 percent of Americans who work for a private company are employed by a firm with 500 or more employees, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data from March of 2011. That translates into approximately 50 million workers, the BLS said.

About 28 percent, or 30.4 million Americans, are working for a company with 49 employees or less, while about 26 percent, or 28.3 million, are working for a company with 50 to 499 employees.

The big employers also have seen the biggest growth in employment over the past two decades, according to the BLS.
Advertise | AdChoices

As of March of 2011, the smallest companies by employee size were employing about 11 percent more people than in April of 1990, according to the data. Employment at the mid-sized firms is up 13 percent over that time period, while the largest employers have seen employment jump by 29 percent.

Read more: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/17/10427389-nearly-half-of-private-workforce-employed-by-big-companies

North Carolina officials have said there was a misunderstanding when a preschooler’s homemade lunch was sent home for not meeting certain nutritional requirements, but now a second mother from the same school has come forward exclusively to The Blaze to say the same thing happened to her daughter.

Diane Zambrano says her 4-year-old daughter, Jazlyn, is in the same West Hoke Elementary School class as the little girl whose lunch gained national attention earlier this week. When Zambrano picked Jazlyn up from school late last month, she was told by Jazlyn’s teacher that the lunch she had packed that day did not meet the necessary guidelines and that Jazlyn had been sent to the cafeteria.

The lunch Zambrano packed for her daughter? A cheese and salami sandwich on a wheat bun with apple juice. The lunch she got in the cafeteria? Chicken nuggets, a sweet potato, bread and milk.

“She never eats breakfast or lunch at the school,” Zambrano said of her daughter during an interview with The Blaze. “We always wake up early and make her lunch.”

It happens “every so often”

That day, Zambrano said she picked Jazlyn up from school and asked if she ate her lunch.

“She’s not picky about food but you have to be on top of her,” she explained.

When Jazlyn said she didn’t eat what her mother had made her, Zambrano went to her teacher and demanded to know what happened. She said the teacher told her an official had come through that day to inspect students’ lunches and that those who were lacking certain food groups were sent to the cafeteria. After she received her cafeteria food, the teacher told Zambrano, Jazlyn was told to put her homemade lunch back in her lunchbox and set it on the floor.

Read more: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/exclusive-2nd-n-c-mother-says-daughters-school-lunch-replaced-for-not-being-healthy-enough/

Zambrano said the teacher told her it was not the first time student lunches have been inspected, and that officials come “every so often.”

Jim Rogers, the co-chairman and lead fundraiser for the Democratic National Convention host-committee, is well versed in the art of political cronyism.

Rogers, the CEO of Duke Energy Corp., one of the largest utility corporations in the country, has given generously to Democratic politicians over the years. Along with his wife, Mary Anne, he has contributed more than $210,000 to Democratic candidates and committees since 2008, more than double what the couple has given to Republicans. Of that figure, more than $150,000 went to the Democratic National Committee (DNC); $19,200 went to President Obama.

Rogers is co-chairing the host committee with Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx (D), who was elected to a second term in November 2011. Rogers and his wife both contributed $8,000 to Foxx’s campaign, the maximum allowed under state law.

Rogers has also done his part to make sure that the convention has access to plenty of cash. The Charlotte Observer reported that Rogers was “quietly raising” as much as $15 million for the DNC.

Additionally, in an effort to entice the DNC to Charlotte, Rogers and Duke Energy offered to open a $10 million line of credit—guaranteed by Duke shareholders—to help finance the convention.

Duke spokesman Tom Williams told the Washington Free Beacon that the offer of credit was made in the hopes of strengthening Charlotte’s application. “It’s all part of our effort to showcase the city of Charlotte,” Williams said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Read more: http://freebeacon.com/democratic-national-cronyism/

A whopping 19 journalists and media executives, including five from the Washington Post and three each from ABC and CNN, who’ve gone into the administration or center-left groups supporting the president.

Those inside the administration hit 14 this month when the Post’s Stephen Barr joined the Labor Department. That’s a record, say some revolving door watchers, and could even be much higher: The Post reports that “dozens” of former journalists have joined the administration, although Washington Secrets couldn’t verify that tally.

Case-New Holland will lay off 100 employees in the next month at its tractor plant here, the company said Thursday.

CNH issued a written statement that said in part, "In April and May of 2011, CNH added a second shift and increased its hiring by a total of more than 350 employees to accommodate its production timetable." That brought employment to about 850.

But now, the company said, it can meet demand for its Case IH brand tractors with 100 fewer people. "Layoffs are slated for the next month and employees will be eligible for supplemental unemployment and recall opportunities," CNH stated. Employees were notified Feb. 10.

There's a dark cloud on the horizon that could erase any benefit from the payroll tax cut extension: Rising gas prices.

Since the end of 2011, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is up more than 8% to $3.52, according to data released on Monday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Gas prices tend to increase during the first half of the year, but this is the earliest the average price per gallon has surpassed the $3.50 mark. Prices at the pump could break $4 later this year – typically the point where fuel costs start eroding economic growth, says IHS Global Insight economist Chris Christopher.

Last year gas prices approached $4, hitting an average of $3.98 in April before falling. And it was around that time when some economists noticed fuel prices were eating away at consumers.

Though prices haven't reached the $4 mark, consumers are nevertheless feeling the pressures from a higher bill at the pump. In his daily newsletter on Wednesday, Gluskin Sheff chief economist David Rosenberg pointed that one of the big drivers of relatively strong retail sales in January were escalating prices on food and fuel. Gasoline sales rose 1.4%, the steepest increase since last March. Grocery bills also rose 1.3%, the largest jump since August 2010.

President Obama is barnstorming the heartland to boost US jobs in a taxpayer-financed luxury bus the government had custom built -- in Canada, The Post has learned.

The $1.1 million vehicle, one of two that Quebec-based Prevost sold the government, has been tricked out by the Secret Service with state-of-the-art security features and creature comforts.

It's a VIP H3-45 model, the company's top of the line, and is used by major traveling rock bands.

"That's the more luxurious model," Christine Garant of Prevost said. Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/canucklehead_obama_bus_ted_gyztvw89k5MyKNS4B7Qp7O

Central Falls is Rhode Island's smallest city and also one of its poorest. Boarded up homes line many streets and one-quarter of the city's families live below the poverty line.

"The people are not getting better. Five years of tax increases, people who make $14,000 to $20,000 a year," said state Sen. Elizabeth Crowley, D-Central Falls.

But since the city filed for receivership in 2010 and bankruptcy the next year, a few individuals have made a lot of money.

Receiver Robert Flanders is paid by the state. His fee is up to $30,000 a month.

His chief of staff, Gayle Corrigan, bills the city $100 an hour. Her deputy gets $60 an hour.

The total comes to about $56,000 a month.

"Very disturbing because where's all the money coming from? From the residents," said Luis Lubo, a Central Falls resident.

The receiver's goal is to get the city back in fit financial shape and save millions of dollars. That role has extended into the schools.

"We're saving the city on the municipal side alone $6.1 million a year," Flanders said.

The Chicago Teachers Union is asking for raises amounting to 30 percent over the next two years, the opening salvo in heated contract negotiations with school officials who are implementing a longer school day across Chicago Public Schools next school year.

Documents obtained by the Tribune show that in the face of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's expansion of the school day, the union has led with an offer seeking a 24 percent raise in the 2012-13 school year and a 5 percent increase the following year, the net effect being 30 percent.

The United States Department of Treasury will reach the the statutory limit it is allowed to borrow money before election day, according to a new study by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio., former director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

“Following the contentious debt ceiling last August, President Obama promised that he would take action to address the country’s fiscal crisis. He has failed to do that," Portman said. "In fact, his new budget increases spending and projects that Washington will be hitting the debt ceiling again in mid-October – burning through a $2.1 trillion debt limit increase in just over 14 months."

Portman's office notes that according to Obama's budget, total debt subject to the statutory debt will reach limit will reach $16.334 trillion by September 30, 2012. This is just $60 billion below the 16,394,000,000,000 debt limit. Since the federal government is adding to the national debt at a rate of $132 billion a month, the debt ceiling is on schedule to be reached by October 15, 2012.

" This is an unfortunate but clear signal to the American people that Washington is spending too much, borrowing too much, and putting our nation’s fiscal stability at risk," Portman said.

Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown was more than four months delinquent in paying taxes on his Washington, D.C., apartment and had to pay a penalty and interest last week.

This was not the first time, records show.

Brown also was delinquent in 2006 and 2007 and paid penalties and interest, according to tax records from the District of Columbia.

"I was late," he said on a conference call with reporters when asked about the recent delinquency. "I misplaced the bill and I paid it as soon as I found out. I paid a penalty for being late, and it won't happen again."

Irwindale Speedway LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Monday, the same day track management announced that it was canceling the race schedule for 2012.

In paperwork filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District California, Irwindale Speedway LLC owes creditors $331,773.11. One of the creditors is Cantrell Aire Inc. in Santa Clarita. Irwindale Speedway LLC owes $1,379 to Cantrell Aire, which is owned by Jim Cantrell, whose son Connor Cantrell won the NASCAR Super Trucks championship at the track in 2011.

Sun Life Financial Inc., a Toronto company with its U.S. headquarters in Wellesley, Mass., is laying off 153 employees at its Copley site as of March 9, according to a so-called WARN notice filed with the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, which is required when companies plan mass layoffs.

Travelers Co., the insurer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, cut about 1,400 jobs, or 4.4 percent of the workforce, in 2011 as the company had its least profitable year since 2004.

The insurer had about 30,600 employees as of Dec. 31, according to the company’s annual report today, the lowest in seven years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. There were 32,000 workers at the end of 2010 at New York-based Travelers, which provides coverage to businesses, motorists and homeowners.

Sears Holdings Corp., which won approval of a state tax break, is laying off 100 employees from a variety of departments at its Hoffman Estates headquarters.

The layoffs will not endanger the troubled retailer’s $150 million payroll tax credit that the Illinois Legislature approved late last year, said spokesman Chris Brathwaite.

The new tax credit, approved in December and which takes effect in 2013, requires a minimum 4,250 employees at Sears headquarters, and 6,000 will work there after Thursday’s layoff, Brathwaite said.

“If we don’t meet our obligations, we receive no benefits,” Brathwaite said.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is dead after a workplace dispute erupted into gunfire at the agency’s offices in a California federal building, officials said.

In the incident at the Glenn M. Anderson Federal Building in Long Beach, Calif., an ICE agent allegedly opened fire on a colleague Thursday evening, leaving that colleague hospitalized in stable condition with multiple gunshot wounds, ICE officials said.

“This situation began with what we can characterize as an incident of workplace violence,” Steven Martinez, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, told reporters late Thursday Pacific Time.

However, a third ICE agent evidently intervened by firing at the initial shooter, Martinez said.

“This resulted in the death of the shooter,” Martinez said. “At this time, we believe this was an isolated incident and the shooter was acting alone.”

The intervening ICE agent was unharmed, officials said.

John & Ken, the popular KFI-AM (640) radio talk show duo, were suspended by the station Thursday for comments they made about Whitney Houston that some found offensive.

"John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou have been suspended for making insensitive and inappropriate comments about the late Whitney Houston," KFI said in a statement on its website. "Management does not condone, support or tolerate statements of this kind."

In the statement, Kobylt said, "We made a mistake, and we accept the station’s decision. We used language that was inappropriate, and we sincerely apologize to our listeners and to the family of Ms. Houston.”

On the show, the duo talked about Houston's past drug problems, at one point saying she was "cracked out for 20 years," according to a recording on the website Urban Informer.

When talking about her drug problems and death, they said: "Really, it took this long?"

Authorities collected several bottles of prescription drugs from Houston's suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where she was found dead Saturday. But officials have said the amounts of drugs did not seem unusually large, leaving it unclear whether the medications had anything to do with the singer's death.

Officials are waiting for the results of toxicology tests on Houston's body.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office said Wednesday that investigators had asked "a number" of doctors to provide them with Houston's medical information.

“The rate of unemployment in the United States has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, making the past three years the longest stretch of high unemployment in this country since the Great Depression. Moreover, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the unemployment rate will remain above 8 percent until 2014. The official unemployment rate excludes those individuals who would like to work but have not searched for a job in the past four weeks as well as those who are working part-time but would prefer full-time work; if those people were counted among the unemployed, the unemployment rate in January 2012 would have been about 15 percent. Compounding the problem of high unemployment, the share of unemployed people looking for work for more than six months—referred to as the long-term unemployed—topped 40 percent in December 2009 for the first time since 1948, when such data began to be collected; it has remained above that level ever since.”

The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. was actually dropping at the end of the George W. Bush years — but that progress has stopped under President Obama, according to a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies.

With enforcement increasing and the economy souring, CIS said a net of nearly 1 million illegal immigrants left the U.S. from January 2007 to January 2009, as the population went from 11.8 million down to 10.9 million.

But progress has halted since Mr. Obama took office in January 2009 and, if anything, the illegal population in the United States rebounded slightly, to 10.9 million in 2011 — the most recent figures available, according to the study.

CIS, a think tank that argues for stricter immigration limits, uses Census Bureau numbers to make its estimates. The analysts said the numbers show the changes Mr. Obama has made to immigration enforcement appear to be backfiring, and that more people are staying here illegally.

The Homeland Security Department will issue its own official report later this year.

After a year-long reprieve from rising foreclosures, the numbers are going up again.

One in every 624 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in January, up 3 percent from the previous month, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. Foreclosure activity froze in many states in 2011, due to processing delays after fraud, or so-called "Robo-signing," were uncovered in the fall of 2010. The thaw is now on.

"We expect the pattern of increasing foreclosures to continue in the coming months, especially given the finalized mortgage and foreclosure settlement reached in early February between 49 state attorneys general and five of the nation's largest lenders," said RealtyTrac's CEO Brandon Moore in a written release. "Foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than 12 months in Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, following a pattern we saw in late 2011 in states such as California, Arizona and Massachusetts."

While states that do not require a judge to preside over foreclosure proceedings, like California, saw a jump in filings toward the end of last year, judicial states have all but stalled. That will now change, thanks to the $26 billion dollar government-lender/servicer settlement. There will still be some delays on individual state levels, but the wheels are turning again, and that means more bank repossessions and more foreclosed properties heading to the re-sale market.

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/46401756

Examining 250 properties around the U.S., and going through close to 40 client files to project the financial impact of owning real estate versus liquidating it, Rich Arzaga, an adjunct professor in personal finance at the University of California at Berkeley, found that, "100 percent of the time it was better to rent, rather than own."

That's right: 100 percent.

The reason is simple. While a home is the main repository of wealth for many Americans, it comes with numerous hefty expenses. The carrying costs - what's needed to hold and maintain the asset - range from property taxes and home insurance to emergency repairs and renovations. In a rental situation, the landlord covers those costs, leaving the occupant free to invest revenue in other areas.

"I don't have the emotions a lot of people do surrounding real estate," Arzaga says. "I have steely eyes for how investing in real estate works, and I'd better be a prudent investor for my clients."

Owning a dream home, he says, creates a drain on other financial priorities, causing homeowners "not to meet their financial goals. They were going to fail."

Some real estate experts thought there was some truth to Arzaga's argument, albeit with several conditions... http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/us-housing-americandream-idUSTRE81E1LG20120215

The Obama administration gave GM about $10 billion more than was strictly necessary to finance its bankruptcy. The money contributed to GM’s nice $33 billion cash cushion right now. GM could use this money to buy its own stock and bid up prices, mitigating taxpayer losses – or pay dividends. But McAlinden doesn’t believe that’s what GM will do. It could use the money to pay off its obligations to the union health care trust fund, making this a direct infusion of cash from taxpayers to unions.

Or it will use the money toward product development, putting its competitors at a disadvantage. Moreover, because all but $10 billion of the bailout money GM got was in the form of equity, the company has no debt service costs. Ford, by contrast, is still servicing the $23 billion in debt it took to avoid a bailout.

This is unfair, and the Obama administration knows it, which is perhaps one reason it quickly approved a $5.6 billion retooling loan for Ford. That, in turn, elicited howls of protest from Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne. The administration gave Marchionne’s parent company, Fiat, the majority stake in Chrysler without asking Fiat to contribute a single euro of its own.

Yet Marchionne complains that the administration hasn’t been generous enough. In contrast with GM, it forced Chrysler to service the bailout loan. Now it’s dragging its feet in approving Chrysler’s new retooling loans, he claims.

Bailout supporters maintain that it was a one-time deal necessary to shore up companies in acute economic times. In reality, the rush for the bailout’s spoils has produced ripple effects that may well haunt the economy for a long time.

As President Obama campaigns to keep his job, he will spin the bailout as a success story that saved millions of American jobs. But taxpayers should bear in mind that the hit to their wallets will be substantial and will probably grow in years to come.

General Motors Co. (GM) plans to freeze its U.S. pension plan for longtime white-collar workers and give all salaried employees annual bonuses but not pay raises in an effort to hold down expenses, officials announced Wednesday.

The Detroit-based automaker said roughly 19,000 salaried workers hired before 2001 will move from a traditional pension with guaranteed payments to a 401(k)-type plan with contributions based on salary and bonuses. Employees hired after 2001, which represent about 30 percent of the company's salaried workforce, already are in that defined contribution plan.

The changes take effect Oct. 1, and workers will keep all pension benefits they have already accrued, officials said.

GM also said it would offer bonuses to all 26,000 salaried employees and release the amounts when it announces quarterly and full-year earnings Thursday. The company is expected to post a 2011 net profit of around $8 billion -- the best in its 103-year history.

Thomson Airways is set to make up to 600 cabin crew redundant, raising the spectre of job cuts at its Manchester Airport operation.

The airline has begun consulting staff over the redundancies, which are being caused by Thomson replacing its fleet with new planes which require less staff.

Unite said it feared up to 600 jobs could be affected under efficiency plans.

The airline, part of the TUI Travel group, employs around 2,600 UK cabin crew including 650 based out of Manchester Airport.

Luton-based Thomson flies to 71 destinations from Manchester, including Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and the US. Manchester is its second largest operation after London Gatwick,

The company said: “Thomson Airways will be entering a 90-day consultation period with members of the cabin crew this month.

“This is as a result of our continuing drive to become more efficient which includes changes to the aircraft fleet.

Officials at a Sunoco refinery near Philadelphia say about 100 employees are being laid off at the end of the week.

The workers at the company's Marcus Hook plant in Delaware County were given layoff notices saying Friday would be their last day, reports the Delaware County Daily Times.

Sunoco spokesman Thomas Golembeski said Tuesday that the hourly employees were told not to return because the first phase of the plant decommissioning process has been completed. But he says the workers will be paid their wages through the end of the month.

Sunoco said last year that it would idle the refinery and lay off about 490 employees because of deteriorating market conditions. Another Sunoco refinery in Philadelphia is expected to close by July if a buyer isn't found.

The U.S. Mint is facing a problem -- especially during these penny-pinching times. It turns out it costs more to make pennies and nickels than the coins are worth.

And because of that, the Obama administration this week asked Congress for permission to change the mix of metal that goes to make pennies and nickels, an expensive recipe that has remained unchanged for more than 30 years.

To be precise, it cost 2.4 cents to make one penny in 2011 and about 11.2 cents for each nickel.

Given the number of coins that the mint produces -- 4.3 billion pennies and 914 million nickels last year alone, those costs add up pretty quickly: a little more than $100 million for each coin.

But even though Treasury has been studying new metals since 2010, it has yet to come up with a workable mix that would definitely be cheaper, and it has no details yet as to what metals should be used or how much it would save to do so.

Even if a cheaper metal can be used, it might not take the cost of a penny down to less than a penny.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/15/news/economy/pennies_nickels/index.htm

Mars Inc, the maker of Snickers and Twix candy bars, will stop selling chocolate products with more than 250 calories in them by the end of next year, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The company, which also makes M&Ms and Skittles candies and Juicy Fruit chewing gum, said the goal is part of an ongoing effort to improve the nutritional value of its products and to sell them in a responsible way.

The new calorie limit target means fans of the 540-calorie king-size Snickers bar might want to enjoy the big bar while they can. Come 2014, it's going to be gone, part of what Mars says is a broader push for responsible snacking.

Whitney Houston's official death certificate has been filed in L.A. County -- and according to the document the cause of death is still undetermined.

The manner of death is listed as "pending investigation" -- and the immediate cause of death is "deferred."

Whitney's occupation is listed on the document as an "entertainer" who worked in the industry for 33 years -- beginning when she was just 15.

According to the document, Whitney will be laid to rest on Saturday at the Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, NJ -- the same cemetery where her father is buried.

As we previously reported, the L.A. County Coroner's office is awaiting toxicology results in order to determine an official cause of death -- a process that typically takes 4-6 weeks. The autopsy was completed Sunday.

Forget all the happy talk about how Americans, flush with their $1,000 payroll tax cut set to be extended by Congress, will be hitting the mall to spend, spend, spend. That cool grand won't even cover the surge in gas prices under President Obama and will have to be nearly doubled if summer predictions of $5 regular come true.

The math is simple: according to government and consumer group figures, Americans pay an average of $1,010 more a year for gas than they did on President Obama's Inauguration Day in January 2009. The payroll tax cut, which Americans already receive, is a maximum of $1,000. That means the tax cut, which Congress has agreed to extend, falls $10 short of paying American's gas bill even before they hit the malls or pawn shops.

Here's how it breaks down. When Obama came into office, gas averaged about $1.84, according to Consumer Reports. Americans drive an average of 13,476 miles a year, said the Department of Transportation. And the current average American mpg is 22.4 gallons. That means drivers buy an average of 601 gallons of gas a year. Today, a gallon of regular averages $3.52, a three year difference of $1.68, meaning Americans are paying $1,010 more a year than in January 2009.

And if gas surges to $5 as some reports suggest, that means Americans will end up paying $1,899 more than when Obama came into office, nearly twice the value of the payroll tax cut.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday he plans to step down when his term ends on June 30, raising questions whether the United States will insist on holding on to a job that has always gone to an American.

"I'm honored to have led such a world class institution with so many talented and exceptional people," Zoellick said in a statement announcing his plans.

Speculation has been rife in recent months over who might take the job when Zoellick departs. Possible U.S. candidates include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former White House economic adviser Larry Summers.

A former Chicago alderman turned political science professor/corruption fighter has found that Chicago is the most corrupt city in the country.

He cites data from the U.S. Department of Justice to prove his case. And, he says, Illinois is third-most corrupt state in the country.

University of Illinois at Chicago professor Dick Simpson, who served as alderman of the 44th Ward in Lakeview from 1971 to 1979, estimates the cost of corruption at $500 million.

Tim Cook won't say whether Apple Inc. is developing a television, but he dropped a pretty big hint.

In an interview at a Goldman Sachs conference Tuesday, the Apple chief executive dodged a question about whether Apple might be thinking about entering the television business, saying he couldn't talk about future products and didn't want to "make any comment that people would misconstrue along those lines."

But then he went ahead and sort of made one anyway.

In speaking about Apple TV, the firm's set-top streaming movie player and one of its more minor products, Cook said:

"Apple doesn't do hobbies as a general rule. We believe in focus and only working on a few things. And so, with Apple TV, despite the barriers in that market, for those of us who use it, we've always thought that there was something there, and that if we kept following our intuition and kept pulling the string that we might find something that was larger."

Cook didn't say what that "something" was, but did add that "for those people that have it right now, the customer 'sat' [satisfaction rating] is off the chart, but we need something that could go more main market for it to become a serious category for the company."

Speculation about an Apple television (some are calling it the iTV) has ramped up lately, with plenty of observers guessing about what it will look and behave like.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tim-cook-tv-20120214,0,3410225.story

Kellogg Co will buy the Pringles potato chip brand from Procter & Gamble Co for $2.7 billion in cash.

Kellogg said on Wednesday that it would borrow $2 billion to complete the deal and expects to limit its share repurchase program for about two years.

In April, Diamond Foods Inc said it would buy Pringles from P&G, but the deal was delayed by an accounting investigation.

San Antonio-based medical devices and biotechnology firm Kinetic Concepts Inc. announced 127 layoffs on Tuesday, 114 of them in San Antonio, most involving administrative positions, as the company realigns its three business units.

The company employs about 7,100 globally, 2,100 in San Antonio. The layoffs account for a little more than 5 percent of the San Antonio workforce and less than 2 percent companywide. The 13 layoffs outside of San Antonio involved positions within the United States.

The layoffs mainly eliminated positions in finance, human resources, information technology and corporate communications. To a lesser degree, layoffs occurred in marketing and research and development, a corporate spokesman said.

Thirty-nine survivors of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that capsized off Italy last month filed an amended lawsuit in Florida state court Tuesday seeking more than half a billion dollars in damages.

The suit filed against Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines Inc., and its subsidiary Costa Cruise Line -- which owns the Costa Concordia -- seeks $78 million in damages and $450 million in punitive damages.

The defendants "acted in a severely reckless and willful, wanton manner, with complete disregard for the safety, lives and well being of the plaintiffs," said Marc Bern, a lawyer representing the passengers.

The behavior demonstrated "an extreme departure from reasonable care coupled with a conscious awareness of the risk of harm," said Bern, speaking outside the downtown Miami courthouse where the case was filed.

Legal experts say that it could be difficult to win the case in a US court because the Costa Cruise Line tickets stated that any legal action against the company should be taken in Italy.

A charter school network in Chicago praised by Mayor Rahm Emanuel for its academic performance is under fire from parents and advocates for charging students $5 for some disciplinary infractions, including chewing gum, violating the dress code or being more than three minutes late to class.

The Noble Network of Charter Schools, which operates 10 high schools in the city, said it collected nearly $200,000 in discipline fees last year as part of a policy that asks misbehaving high school students to share in the cost of addressing the misbehavior. The money is then used by the school to offset the costs of teachers or staff who stay after school to administer detention.
advertisement

“The goal is to promote positive behavior by staff and students and produce a learning environment that is conducive to learning and college preparation,” Michael Milkie, CEO and superintendent of Noble, said in a statement.

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENER), has voluntarily filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. As part of its bankruptcy plan, ECD intends to sell through separate sales its wholly owned operating subsidiary United Solar Ovonic LLC ("USO") and other assets, including its minority stake in Ovonyx, Inc. The Company has received support for its operating and divestiture plan pursuant to a formal Plan Support Agreement executed by the Company with holders of approximately 70% of the Company's $263.2 million in outstanding 3% Convertible Senior Notes due 2013.

In a statement, the Michigan-based company said it intends to sell its solar power subsidiaries and will continue to operate during the bankruptcy and sale process.

Through its subsidiaries Uni-Solar and Solar Integrated Technologies, the company manufactures flexible silicon solar cells and develops solar projects. The solar collectors can be laid out as sheets on rooftops or integrated into roof tiles.

Energy Conversion Devices was founded in 1960 by Stanford Ovshinsky, a scientist who was also integral to developing nickel metal hydride batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles in the 1990s. That business was sold to BASF this week for $58 million.

The company is filing for bankruptcy protection and will sell off its solar business because it is "burdened by our legacy costs and large amount of convertible debt," the company's director of business development told The Wall Street Journal. Energy Conversion Devices also shut down its manufacturing last year to conserve cash, according to Greentech Media.

The Obama administration is weighing options for sharp new cuts to the U.S. nuclear force, including a reduction of up to 80 percent in the number of deployed weapons, The Associated Press has learned.

Even the most modest option now under consideration would be an historic and politically bold disarmament step in a presidential election year, although the plan is in line with President Barack Obama's 2009 pledge to pursue the elimination of nuclear weapons.

No final decision has been made, but the administration is considering at least three options for lower total numbers of deployed strategic nuclear weapons cutting to around 1,000 to 1,100, 700 to 800, or 300 to 400, according to a former government official and a congressional staffer. Both spoke on condition of anonymity in order to reveal internal administration deliberations.

The potential cuts would be from a current treaty limit of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads.

A level of 300 deployed strategic nuclear weapons would take the U.S. back to levels not seen since 1950 when the nation was ramping up production in an arms race with the Soviet Union. The U.S. numbers peaked at above 12,000 in the late 1980s and first dropped below 5,000 in 2003.

Under Obama, the price of gas climbed by 83 percent.

When Obama entered the White House in January 2009, the city average price for one gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.79, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figures are in nominal dollars: not adjusted for inflation. Five months later in June, unleaded gasoline was $2.26 per gallon, an increase of 26 percent. By December 2011, the price of regular unleaded gas per gallon was $3.28, an 83 percent increase from January 2009.