Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/253893643?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, October 8, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Hard feelings are a backdrop for the presidential debate
But they probably won't be genuine. The moment will likely mark a brief moment of civility between two fiercely competitive candidates in an election that has been defined by increasingly personal attacks.
Not unlike presidential contenders before them, Romney and Obama will take the stage while likely still harboring hard feelings over the blistering attacks their campaigns have traded in recent months.
The low blows still fresh in Romney's mind: An assault on his record as chairman of Bain Capital, including charges from a senior Obama campaign aide that he may have committed a felony in not being forthcoming about when he left the company. Then there's the ad from a super PAC run by former Obama aides that implied Romney might be responsible for the death of a wife of a steelworker who was laid off from a Bain-owned company.
On the flip side, Obama has been stung by Romney's refusal to reject supporters like Donald Trump, who continues to question whether the president was really born in the United States. More recently, the president and his team fumed over Romney's claim that Obama had sympathized with those responsible for the deadly attacks on American diplomatic missions overseas, which resulted in the deaths of four U.S. citizens.
The back-and-forth has soured what was already a cool relationship between Obama and his GOP challenger. The two have met only a handful of times over the years. As the candidates face off as debate opponents for the first time, a major unknown is whether that built-up anger over the negative attacks will show itself onstage.
"Each has been coached to restrain that emotion, but it is undeniably there," a friend of Romney's, who declined to be named talking about the candidate, told Yahoo News.
Aides to both Romney and Obama have downplayed the level of personal animosity between the two candidates?insisting it is, as one Obama aide put it, "overstated."
"It's not about hating him. He, of course, doesn't," the Obama aide, who declined to be named discussing the president's personal views, told Yahoo News. Rather, the staffer insisted, the president is simply "incredulous" about Romney's policies and the effect they would have on the country.
The Romney camp offered a similar explanation, pointing out that the Republican nominee's criticism of the president "isn't personal," as one senior adviser put it. "He just doesn't think Obama should be president of the United States," the Romney aide said.
But the "nothing personal" argument seems hard to believe, especially since the candidates have enthusiastically embraced their roles as attack dogs on the trail, delivering withering critiques of their opponents. That outspoken position is usually left to the surrogates out of fear that the actual candidate could alienate middle-of-the-road voters by spewing nasty attacks.
For months, Romney tempered his criticism of Obama by telling crowds that he believed the president was "a nice guy" who simply didn't understand how to turn the economy around. But as the Obama campaign went after Romney on Bain and his personal wealth, the GOP candidate dropped that line, embracing a tougher stump speech critical of his Democratic rival.
"He demonizes some. He panders to others. His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then cobble together 51 percent of the pieces. If an American president wins that way, we all lose," Romney said of Obama in August. "So, Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago, and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting America."
Romney's speech came just hours after Obama made a joke on the stump about Romney's dog, Seamus, who was famously strapped atop the family car during a vacation years ago. A few days later, Romney struck back again, making a birth certificate joke many interpreted to be about Obama even as his campaign denied it.
Romney has complained about negativity in the race, pointing to a phone call he received from Obama in May after he officially clinched the GOP nomination. He said the president told him he wanted to have a "meaningful debate," not a race dominated by personal attacks.
"I'm still waiting for that to happen," Romney told Fox News in July, a hint of bitterness in his voice.
Even as his campaign insists Romney doesn't hold a grudge against Obama, the GOP nominee has spent weeks in debate prep working to make sure he doesn't lose his temper or get irritated with Obama?a testiness that often showed through during GOP primary debates with rivals Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich.
According to one Romney aide, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who is portraying Obama in Romney's mock debates, was instructed to push Romney's buttons in hopes of making the candidate angry?all to teach him how to keep his cool during the real debates. It's a tactic that has apparently worked, which Romney recently acknowledged during a rally in Portman's home state.
"He plays Barack Obama; he plays him well, too," Romney told supporters at a rally in Dayton, Ohio. "After the, you know, hour and a half or so is over, I'm like, I want to kick him out of the room he's so good."
When Obama and Romney walk onto the debate stage on Wednesday night, they will do so almost as strangers. According to aides, the two have met fewer than five times. Their first meeting occurred in late 2004, when they both participated in an annual dinner sponsored by Washington's Gridiron Club. Obama had just been elected as the new senator from Illinois, while Romney was midway through his one term as governor of Massachusetts.
"We had fun doing that together. He's got a lovely wife. My wife thinks she's just terrific," Romney said of his future rival in an interview with NBC host Jay Leno in 2008.
The two later crossed paths during the 2008 campaign, running into each other while campaigning in New Hampshire and later at a presidential debate sponsored by ABC News.
When Romney's wife, Ann, was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2008, Obama, then the president-elect, phoned his future GOP rival to offer his support.
"He was kind enough to call our home when my wife was ill, and he said that he and Michelle had my wife in their prayers," Romney told CNN in a January 2009 interview. "And I said, 'Mr. President-elect, Ann and I have you in our prayers."
Asked about Romney in an interview with the Associated Press in August, Obama offered some kind words about his GOP rival.
"I don't really know him well," Obama told AP. "I think Gov. Romney obviously has achieved extraordinary success with his businesses, and he's obviously very focused on achieving the presidency. He cares deeply about his family, and I think he cares deeply about his faith."
While Romney and Obama emphasize their differences on the trail, the truth is they have more in common than one might think. Among other things, both are graduates of Harvard Law School and both are known to be intensely competitive. The two have both been criticized for keeping their distance from members of the political establishment, preferring instead to spend time with family and a small circle of loyal friends.
Romney's political rivals have described him as "cool" and lacking emotion?a critique that has been lobbed at Obama more than a few times.
And there's one more thing the two have in common heading into Wednesday's debate: a staunch belief that the other should not be president.
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Peanut butter recall includes major retailers
FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2008 file photo, a customer departs Trader Joe's in Los Angeles. The grocery store chain Trader Joe's is recalling peanut butter that has been linked to 29 salmonella illnesses in 18 states, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012 (AP Photos/Ric Francis, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2008 file photo, a customer departs Trader Joe's in Los Angeles. The grocery store chain Trader Joe's is recalling peanut butter that has been linked to 29 salmonella illnesses in 18 states, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012 (AP Photos/Ric Francis, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A recall of peanut butter and other nut products has some of the country's largest grocery stores pulling store-brand products off their shelves.
New Mexico-based Sunland Inc. has expanded its recall of peanut butter and almond butter to include cashew butters, tahini and blanched and roasted peanut products. The company, which sells its nuts and nut butters to large groceries and other food distributors around the country, recalled products under multiple brand names last month after salmonella illnesses were linked to Trader Joe's Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter, one of the brands it manufactures.
In addition to Trader Joe's, the recall over the past week has included some nut butters and nut products sold at Whole Foods Market, Target, Safeway, Fresh & Easy, Harry and David, Sprouts, Heinen's, Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, Giant Food of Landover, Md., and several other stores. Some of those retailers used Sunland ingredients in items they prepared and packaged themselves.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been 30 salmonella illnesses in 19 states that can be traced to the Trader Joe's peanut butter. No other foods have been linked to the illnesses, but Sunland recalled other products manufactured on the same equipment as the Trader Joe's product.
Some of the brand names included in the recall are Target's Archer Farms, Safeway's Open Nature, Earth Balance, Fresh & Easy, Late July, Heinen's, Joseph's, Natural Value, Naturally More, Peanut Power Butter, Serious Food, Snaclite Power, Sprouts Farmers Market, Sprouts, Sunland and Dogsbutter.
Sunland's recall includes 101 products, and several retailers have issued additional recalls including items made with Sunland ingredients.
Those sickened reported becoming ill between June 11 and Sept. 11, according to the CDC. Almost two-thirds of those who became ill were children under the age of 10. No deaths have been reported.
Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 hours to 72 hours after infection. It is most dangerous to children, the elderly and others with weak immune systems.
___
Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
___
Online:
Full list of recalled items: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/CORENetwork/ucm320413.htm
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Facebook reaches one billion monthly active users
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First Indication that Treasury is Serious about Student Loans Being ...
In discussions with many students, I get the sense that the prevailing thinking seems to be that the government will "do something" to eliminate the student loan burden. Not so fast.
The Treasury has no money to bailout the loans and the banksters will want to get paid. I can see riots and protests down the road on the issue, but for now, the Treasury has fired its first shot indicating that those holding student loans should get serious about paying the loans back.
?The Treasury, the D2D Fund, and Center for Financial Services Innovation today announced the winners of the App Design portion of the MyMoneyAppUp Challenge?a contest offering cash prizes and recognition for the best mobile app ideas and designs "to help Americans make smart financial choices, access high quality financial products and services, and ultimately control and shape their financial futures."
So was the winner someone who came up with a way to balance personal budgets, track banking accounts, etc.? Not quite.
It's almost comedic, but the Grand Prize, "for making smart financial choices" app, ?went to Nicole Kendrot, who designed MoneyApp: Z. From the Treasury release:
z helps to make student loans easy and simple to manage. ?Among other features, the app allows users to: ?link information about all of their student loans in one place; create a payoff plan that syncs with their budget; suggest ways the user can reduce their payment period and total interest paid by making extra payments; learn about managing student loans; and test their knowledge about student loans and personal finance.(ht Bob English)
Source: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/10/first-indication-that-treasury-is.html
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Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Renewable Energy Trust Uses Financial Innovation to Boost Solar
Adapting a well-known and tremendously successful investment vehicle?the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)?to finance solar power projects, San Francisco?s Renewable Energy Trust (RET) sees an opportunity to significantly broaden solar energy investment opportunities for individual, as well as professional, investors while at the same time substantially reducing the cost of capital for project developers.
Significantly for solar power project developers, San Francisco-based RET says applying the REIT structure to the solar power industry can lower the cost of capital for solar power development by as much as 20 percent.
Democratizing solar PV project investment
A similar tax-advantaged renewable energy investment vehicle initiative is under way in Washington, D.C. Senators Christopher Coons (D-Delaware) and Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) on June 7 introduced legislation that would extend master limited partnerships (MLPs)?special purpose investment vehicles that oil and gas companies have used to great effect?to renewable energy projects.
Applying the REIT structure to finance solar power projects, ?would be the ultimate democratization of funding and support for the solar industry,? stated RET president, Karen Morgan, in a press release. ?Individuals can actively invest, knowing their dollars will put up more panels?while buying them a piece of the action in the fast expanding clean energy sector.?
Asset financing for U.S. PV projects?has grown explosively, by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 58 percent since 2004, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which projects that some $6.9 billion in additional capital per year will be invested in developing solar PV projects through 2020. McKinsey & Co. forecasts that another 80-gigawatts (GW) to 130-GW of new solar PV generating capacity will be commissioned in North America by 2020, RET noted.
Opening up tax-advantaged solar projects to individual investors
Required to distribute 90 percent or more of their taxable income, REITs offer investors substantial tax advantages as well as relatively high yields and steday income streams. As they can be listed and traded on the major stock exchanges, they are also liquid.
?RET is extending a mature and fully-developed financing mechanism to a new asset class, in the same way REITs have done over and over. Innovation is a normal part of the REIT industry,? RET?s chief financial officer (CFO) Christian Fong elaborated.
?REITs became the dominant investment vehicle for commercial real estate, and then evolved to include real estate-dependent sectors from cell phone towers to data centers to energy transmission. And through RET, we believe they can soon be a key investment vehicle for accelerating the growth of solar power.?
Supporting RET?s initiative is California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), ?an independent, non-profit corporation working to advance clean energy using tools from finance, public policy and technological innovation.? CalCEF itself employs an innovative ?evergreen? fund-of-funds investment strategy in which profits are reinvested to further realize its objectives, working with partners at the local, state, national and international levels.
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