Fed's Bullard: watching recent signs of economic weakness closely

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Monday that he was still forecasting 3.5 percent economic growth next year, but acknowledged that recent signals of activity had been weak.

"I am concerned about it and we are watching the data very carefully," Bullard told reporters after delivering remarks here. "Some of the tracking estimates of Q4 (fourth quarter) GDP (gross domestic product) are declining."

He said the estimate for 3.5 percent growth in 2013 was based upon U.S. leaders safely avoiding a year-end fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts, and that he would have to revise his call down if they could not come to an agreement.

(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feds-bullard-watching-recent-signs-economic-weakness-closely-200801142--business.html

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GOP issues a new 'fiscal cliff' offer to Obama

FILE - This Nov. 29, 2012 file photo shows House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Republicans negotiating with President Barack Obama on avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff are proposing to increase the eligibility age for Medicare and to lower cost-of-living hikes in Social Security benefits. Boehner said the GOP proposal is a "credible plan" for Obama and that he hopes the administration would "respond in a timely and responsible way." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - This Nov. 29, 2012 file photo shows House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Republicans negotiating with President Barack Obama on avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff are proposing to increase the eligibility age for Medicare and to lower cost-of-living hikes in Social Security benefits. Boehner said the GOP proposal is a "credible plan" for Obama and that he hopes the administration would "respond in a timely and responsible way." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

In this Nov. 30, 2012, photo provided by CBS News Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answers questions about averting the "fiscal cliff" on an episode of ?Face the Nation? on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 Geithner said Republicans have to stop using fuzzy ?political math? and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Republicans put forth a $2.2 trillion "fiscal cliff" counteroffer to President Barack Obama on Monday, calling for raising the eligibility age for Medicare, lowering cost-of-living hikes for Social Security benefits and bringing in $800 billion in higher tax revenue ? but not raising rates for the wealthy.

The White House declared the Republicans still weren't ready to "get serious" and again vowed tax rate increases will be in any measure Obama signs to prevent the government from the cliff's automatic tax hikes and sharp spending cuts. Administration officials also hardened their insistence that Obama is willing to take the nation over the cliff rather than give in to Republicans and extend the tax cuts for upper-income earners.

With the clock ticking toward the year-end deadline, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Republicans said they were proposing a "reasonable solution" for negotiations that Boehner says have been going nowhere. Monday's proposal came in response to Obama's plan last week to raise taxes by $1.6 trillion over the coming decade but largely exempt Medicare and Social Security from budget cuts.

Though the GOP plan proposes to raise $800 billion in higher tax revenue over the same 10 years, it would keep the Bush-era tax cuts ? including those for wealthier earners targeted by Obama ? in place for now. Dismissing the idea of raising any tax rates, the Republicans said the new revenue would come from closing loopholes and deductions while lowering rates.

Boehner called that a "credible plan" and said he hoped the administration would "respond in a timely and responsible way." The offer came after the administration urged Republicans to detail their proposal to cut popular benefit programs like Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

The White House complained the latest offer was still short on details about what loopholes would be closed or deductions eliminated, and it insisted that any compromise include higher tax rates for upper-income earners.

Asked directly whether the country would go over the cliff unless GOP lawmakers backed down, administration officials said yes. Officials said they remained hopeful that scenario could be avoided, saying the president continues to believe that going over the cliff would be damaging to the economy. And they signaled that Obama wouldn't insist on bringing the top tax rate all the way back to the 39.6 percent rates of the Clinton era. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal White House deliberations.

"Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won't be able to achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit our nation needs," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a statement.

Boehner saw the situation as just the reverse.

"After the election I offered to speed this up by putting revenue on the table and unfortunately the White House responded with their la-la land offer that couldn't pass the House, couldn't pass the Senate and it was basically the president's budget from last February," he said Monday.

The GOP proposal itself revives a host of ideas from failed talks with Obama in the summer of 2011. Then, Obama was willing to discuss politically risky ideas such as raising the eligibility age for Medicare, implementing a new inflation adjustment for Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and requiring wealthier Medicare recipients to pay more for their benefits.

Monday's Republican plan contains few specific and anticipates that myriad details will have to be filled in next year in legislation overhauling the tax code and curbing the growth of benefit programs.

Tine is growing shorter before the deadline to avert the fiscal cliff, which is a combination of expiring Bush-era tax cuts and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that are the result of prior failures of Congress and Obama to make a budget deal.

Many economists say such a one-two punch could send the fragile economy back into recession.

GOP aides said their plan is based on one presented by Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of a deficit commission Obama appointed earlier in his term, in testimony to a special deficit "supercommittee" last year ? in effect a milder version of a 2010 Bowles proposal that caused both GOP and Democratic leaders in Congress to recoil.

Unlike Bowles' official 2010 plan, drafted with former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson, the version released Monday drops the earlier endorsement of Obama's proposal to increase tax rates on family income exceeding $250,000 back to Clinton-era levels, with the top rate jumping from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.

Bowles, in a statement, said he was flattered but the GOP plan does not represent his proposal.

Still, he added, "Every offer put forward brings us closer to a deal, but to reach an agreement, it will be necessary for both sides to move beyond their opening positions."

By GOP math, their plan would produce $2.2 trillion in budget savings over the coming decade: $800 billion in higher taxes, $600 billion in savings from costly health care programs like Medicare, $300 billion from other proposals such as forcing federal workers to contribute more toward their pensions and $300 billion in additional savings from the Pentagon budget and domestic programs funded by Congress each year.

Boehner signaled in discussions with Obama in 2011 that he was willing to accept up to $800 billion in higher tax revenues, but his aides maintained that much of that money would have come from so-called dynamic scoring ? a conservative approach in which economic growth would have accounted for much of the revenue. Now, Boehner is willing to accept the estimates of official scorekeepers like the Congressional Budget Office, whose models reject dynamic scoring.

Under the administration's math, GOP aides said, the plan represents $4.6 trillion in 10-year savings. That estimate accounts for earlier cuts enacted during last year's showdown over lifting the government's borrowing cap and also factors in war savings and lower interest payments on the $16.4 trillion national debt.

Last week, the White House delivered to Capitol Hill its opening proposal: $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade, a possible extension of the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut and heightened presidential power to raise the national debt limit.

In exchange, the president would back $600 billion in spending cuts, including $350 billion from Medicare and other health programs. But he also wants $200 billion in new spending for jobless benefits, public works projects and aid for struggling homeowners. His proposal for raising the ceiling on government borrowing would make it virtually impossible for Congress to block him going forward.

Republicans said they responded in closed-door meetings with laughter and disbelief.

The GOP plan is certain to whip up opposition from Democrats opposed to any action now on Social Security, whose defenders say should not be part of any fiscal cliff deal. And Democrats also are deeply skeptical of raising the Medicare age.

Both ideas were part of negotiations between Boehner and Obama in the summer of last year.

In a letter to the president, Boehner and six other House Republicans insisted that the November election that returned Obama to the White House and the GOP to majority control in the House requires both parties to come together "on a fair middle ground."

"With the fiscal cliff nearing, our priority remains finding a reasonable solution that can pass both the House and Senate, and be signed into law in the next couple of weeks," Republicans wrote.

One of the few things the White House and Capitol Hill Republicans can agree to is a framework that would make a "down payment" on the deficit and extend all or most of the expiring Bush-era tax cuts but leave most of the legislative grunt work until next year.

Signing the letter was Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee and the unsuccessful GOP vice presidential candidate. Rep. Dave Camp, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Fred Upton, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican Conference chair, also signed the letter.

Earlier Monday, Obama answered questions on Twitter for an hour as the White House sought to keep up the pressure on the issue.

In response to a question about his insistence on higher tax rates for the wealthiest earners, Obama said that "high end tax cuts do (the) least for economic growth & cost almost $1T." By contrast, he said, "extending middle class cuts boosts consumer demand & growth."

Obama said he was open to "smart cuts" in spending, "but not in areas like R&D" and education, which "help growth & jobs." He also said he opposes spending cuts that would hurt the disabled or other vulnerable groups.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-03-Fiscal%20Cliff/id-a3aa22533c5f4b80a0d85f571c4ecfc5

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'Twilight' wins weekend, 'Skyfall' trails closely

FILE - This Oct. 22, 2012 file photo shows British actor Robert Pattinson, right, having his photo taken with fans upon arrival for an exclusive fan event for the final chapter of the Twilight Saga "Breaking Dawn Part 2" in Sydney, Australia. Thanksgiving newcomers have been unable to knock off the big three at the box office: Bella, Bond and Abe Lincoln. Kristen Stewart's finale as Bella Swan led the holiday weekend ticket sales. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)

FILE - This Oct. 22, 2012 file photo shows British actor Robert Pattinson, right, having his photo taken with fans upon arrival for an exclusive fan event for the final chapter of the Twilight Saga "Breaking Dawn Part 2" in Sydney, Australia. Thanksgiving newcomers have been unable to knock off the big three at the box office: Bella, Bond and Abe Lincoln. Kristen Stewart's finale as Bella Swan led the holiday weekend ticket sales. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Holdover films remained tops at the weekend box office as the "Twilight" finale finished at No. 1 again with $17.4 million and the James Bond tale "Skyfall" ran a close second with $16.6 million.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 2," Summit, $17,416,362, 4,008 locations, $4,345 average, $254,598,866, three weeks.

2. "Skyfall," Sony, $16,555,894, 3,463 locations, $4,781 average, $245,585,083, four weeks.

3. "Rise of the Guardians," Paramount, $13,388,852, 3,672 locations, $3,646 average, $48,836,105, two weeks.

4. "Lincoln," Disney, $13,376,696, 2,018 locations, $6,629 average, $83,566,169, four weeks.

5. "Life of Pi," Fox, $12,151,853, 2,928 locations, $4,150 average, $48,512,994, two weeks.

6. "Wreck-It Ralph," Disney, $6,948,550, 3,087 locations, $2,251 average, $158,184,813, five weeks.

7. "Killing Them Softly," Weinstein Co., $6,812,900, 2,424 locations, $2,811 average, $6,812,900, one week.

8. "Red Dawn," FilmDistrict, $6,500,245, 2,781 locations, $2,337 average, $31,272,953, two weeks.

9. "Flight," Paramount, $4,479,067, 2,603 locations, $1,721 average, $81,465,903, five weeks.

10. "The Collection," LD Entertainment, $3,104,269, 1,403 locations, $2,213 average, $3,104,269, one week.

11. "Silver Linings Playbook," Weinstein Co., $3,090,131, 371 locations, $8,329 average, $10,740,112, three weeks.

12. "Anna Karenina," Focus, $2,245,570, 384 locations, $5,848 average, $4,106,921, three weeks.

13. "Argo," Warner Bros., $2,010,349, 1,043 locations, $1,927 average, $100,990,766, eight weeks.

14. "Talaash," Reliance Big Pictures, $1,638,706, 172 locations, $9,527 average, $1,638,706, one week.

15. "Taken 2," Fox, $467,975, 496 locations, $943 average, $137,163,554, nine weeks.

16. "Hitchcock," Fox Searchlight, $408,692, 50 locations, $8,174 average, $787,574, two weeks.

17. "Pitch Perfect," Universal, $387,070, 403 locations, $960 average, $63,099,243, 10 weeks.

18. "The Sessions," Fox, $333,315, 226 locations, $1,475 average, $4,582,181, seven weeks.

19. "Cloud Atlas," Warner Bros., $243,338, 194 locations, $1,254 average, $26,181,455, six weeks.

20. "Here Comes the Boom," Sony, $224,797, 334 locations, $673 average, $42,352,250, eight weeks.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-12-03-Box%20Office/id-fbf0bd37531740c2821cb52cc8709129

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Websites in Minutes: Get Your Business Online NOW | Angela ...

These days, creating a website is simple. If you?ve got a couple of minutes, you can create a site.

Too many businesses put off creating their site. They may even hire a graphic designer and look at some concepts. Then they get stuck. Months pass. The content is never delivered. The website isn?t developed.

You?d never do that, would you? :-)

Here are couple of super-easy ways to create a basic website. If you don?t have a site, anything is better than nothing at all. You can tinker with the website later, and make your competitors dark moss green with envy.

First up, there?s Weebly. 4 Easy-to-Use Tools for Building Websites | Inc.com:

?Weebly ****
Our top pick, Weebly was easier to use than Joomla, but the result was just as impressive. We picked a template from about 150 choices and added photos and text using drag-and-drop tools. You can also add a full e-commerce portal, photo galleries, and slide shows, and register your domain right on Weebly.com. Our seven-page site, which looked sleek and professional, was up and running in 30 minutes. Our only complaint? Creating a custom URL on Weebly was a bit confusing.?

Anyone can create a site on Weebly. I?ve created a few, and have recommended the site to my writing students.

Here?s one I created several years ago.

From memory, that site took me less than an hour to create, and that includes writing the content.

Next, there?s Google Sites. This site-creation tool is a little more basic than Weebly, but it gets the job done.

I?ve created a few sites there, too. (What can I say, I love creating websites. :-))

Here?s one.

Another ?site? which took next to no time to create.

Create your website in less than an hour

Let?s say you?ve decided to bite the bullet, and get something, anything, online.

Here?s a fast process:

* Decide what you want the site to do (launch a product, tell your audience about something or other);

* Decide how your site visitors will respond (call you, send you an email, contact you on Twitter);

* Write a brief description of what you want the site to do, and how visitors will contact you (don?t omit this step, or you?ll sit starting at your computer, rather than writing);

* Write your content.

Please don?t get hung up on this final step.

Your content consists of:

1. Your headline;

2. The body of the content;

3. The call to action.

That?s all. Write those three things, and call it done.

Contact me of course, if you need help, but get your business online NOW.

Related posts:

1. SiteKreator: get online and do business in minutes I?m always on the lookout for innovations that make business...
2. Web Content Builds Your Business After Google?s Penguin Updates Many websites were hurt by Google?s Penguin updates. Their traffic...
3. Online Drivel Moves Offline: Web Rubbish in Print Last week I bought a large, bulky magazine. (Yes, a...
4. Article Marketing ? Three Tips to Using Articles to Promote Your Online Business If you?ve started an online business, you know that you...
5. Web Copywriting ? Sell and Make Money Online Every Web site which sells can use the services of...

Tagged as: business, make money, web content

Source: http://angelabooth.com/wp/2012/10/04/websites-in-minutes-get-your-business-online-now/

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Reply - USVI Moving Center

Anybody know or heard of CJM furniture refinishing on St Croix?

A well-known rental mgmt company on Stx withheld $500 of our deposit after we moved --pending the cost to repair a water ring on a table. While I might have argued that a water ring on a wood table in rental condo in the VI is standard wear and tear, I didn't argue.

7 months later I was sent an invoice with the initials "CJM" refinishing but no address or contact info. Looks homemade, and now includes refinishing a dresser and end table (which as you can imagine I also take issue with). Total invoice: exactly $500.

By rental contract, they were supposed to settle any outstanding charges and return our remaining deposit within 60 days, but they took 7 months.

Source: http://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,188831,188831

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Auto Insurance Is About Guarding Against Threat To Your Car ...

If finding low priced car insurance is an inconvenience you?re facing, consider going on line. There you can find several quotes which may be suitable to your needs. The good thing is that it is possible to dispense with the terms and phrases that aren?t suitable to your insurance requirements. And then you may also acquire some of these customised as what you feel might excel for you. At the same time, there are some methods and means where you can lessen your insurance premiums.Shopping around for quotes wouldn?t only give you more choices to think about but additionally a much better concept of what you?re looking for. Different businesses can have different rates, and by finding the best suited deal, you can save countless pounds by bargaining for rates according to what you need but at the same time, saving your self from a needless costly deal.There are some approved techniques to hit on greater insurance discounts. safe driver if you?re seen, there certainly are additional chances to be considered for cheaper bargains, because the insurance companies should have faith your chances of having to create insurance claims is significantly lesser. Give as many details as you are able to with documentary proof. This assists in accumulating your credibility.One another good thing to consider is to raise your deductible volume which may cause lower quality. At the same time, you could consider various other economic copies as and when you require, to create up for the deductible. Installing anti-theft units such as for example car-alarms or some sort of safety tracking method in your car, helps you get discount from insurance companies, since it again works to improve upon your report as somebody safe along with his car.Insurance is, in reality, all about the total amount of risk you?re ready to defend against. Obviously, the lesser the danger, the lesser to guard against. Exactly the same relates to Car Insurance as well.

See our website for more details about right car

Source: http://articlepdq.com/health-fitness/auto-insurance-is-about-guarding-against-threat-to-your-car/

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custompcmax: Swiss railway company says Apple copied its clock design for iPad app – Washington Post http://t.co/6U8iFBTT

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Source: http://twitter.com/custompcmax/statuses/249643027352649729

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