Washington-- President Barack Obama asked Congress on Friday for more power to streamline and reorganize the federal government, a move designed to claim the political middle ground in an election likely to be dominated by questions about Washington's role in the economy. The president asked legislators to grant him "consolidation authority" to merge agencies that perform similar functions. If that authority is granted, Congress would be required to hold an up-or-down vote on the president's streamlining plan within 90 days of its submission. (CNN)
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

Here's how Jefferson County borrowed billions to repair and build sewers, then changed that debt from simple interest to complex financial derivatives that blew up in the Great Recession and plunged the county into default. And how, during the same period, the county lost its occupational tax, the source of about one-fourth the county's general fund, through a series of actions by the Jefferson County delegation of the Alabama Legislature. The Birmingham News
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

The Republican National Committee enjoyed a fourth quarter of fundraising in 2011 that shows it is able to compete with the Democrats again. The RNC Friday reported raising $27 million in the final three months of last year, including $11.6 million in December — its best December since 2003. The Democratic National Committee raised $24 million in the fourth quarter. The Washington Times
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

The Justice Department reversed course Thursday and backed President Obama’s move last week to use his recess appointment power to install four top officials even though the Senate was holding meetings every three days and considered itself to be in session. Republicans dismissed the opinion, saying it smacked of politics, but it adds some legal heft to Mr. Obama’s argument that the four appointments — three new members of the National Labor Relations Board and a chief for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — are legal. The Washington Times
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

Staples is now the world’s largest office-supply company, employing 90,000 workers worldwide, but in the 1980s it was a startup having trouble attracting investors — until it came to Bain Capital, an investment firm founded and run at the time by Mitt Romney. Bain was considered the gold standard in venture capital circles, and when Mr. Romney put the firm’s stamp on Staples, money began to flow, said Tom Stemberg, who co-founded the company in 1986. The Washington Times
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Fresh off his win in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney arrived in South Carolina on Wednesday sounding ever more like the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, launching straight into an attack on President Obama. Campaigning with South Carolina Gov. Nikki R. Haley, Mr. Romney said Mr. Obama is in “over his head” and promised to draw stark contrasts on the economy and spending in what is increasingly looking like the general election matchup. The Washington Times
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

In the last years of his life Dr. Martin Luther King expanded his focus from political and civil rights to include economic justice. Noting that the majority of America’s poor were white King decried the already huge gaps between rich and poor, calling for “radical changes in the structure of our society,” including a massive urban jobs program. Forbes
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

1. Auto Expenses: As a small business owner, you are able to deduct some of your automobile expenses. You may be able to expense the cost of a vehicle if you use it for your business. You should always kep track of all your business-related automobile use. You also may be able to deduct a certain amount for mileage. You may also deduct for tolls and parking costs. Forbes
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

Yergin rightly calls attention to the surge in oil prices between June ’07 and June ’08. Oil prices doubled, an increase of $66 which in absolute terms was one helluva oil shock. I’d already forgotten this cyclical magnitude. Institutional memory, where art thee? Oil bottomed in 2009 at $32 a barrel with gasoline at $1.50 a gallon. Does anyone remember all this? Not me. Lest you think China is going to bail out all the demand side bulls, consider this: China is already self-sufficient in overall energy needs. Estimates of undiscovered oil in the South China Sea range between 150 billion to 200 billion barrels, still unproven, but promising. Forbes
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago

Jason Greene can easily predict which customers ask for Ritalin or Adderall. Their faces are new to him, but their anxious looks have become familiar. “The parents do get a little rattled sometimes when they are trying to help their children,” said Greene, a pharmacist at Reeves-Sain Drug Store in Murfreesboro. The independent pharmacy has picked up new customers due to a shortage of ADHD medicines that has parents scurrying from drug store to drug store as if competing in a poker run. This week he ran out of the quick-release version of the pills, and he’s not sure when he can get them back in stock. The Tennessean
Submitted 1 years 157 days ago