http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/business-news/ en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:31:16 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050426/posts In any partnership, the coin of the realm is trust and responsibility - in other words, saying what you mean and doing what you say. In the dramatic rescue on July 2 of 15 hostages, including three Americans, held captive for many years by guerrillas and terrorists, deep in the Colombian jungles, we saw a powerful reminder that the United States has no better partner in South America than the government and people of Colombia. Colombia's leaders, especially President Uribe, had promised us that our three abducted citizens would be treated no differently than the many Colombian men and women... Real Clear Politics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050426/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:31:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050414/posts Inflation reaches critical levels in Zimbabwe German supplier cuts of African country's mintIn Zimbabwe on Wednesday, a Z$100-billion note would just about buy you two loaves of bread - if you were lucky enough to find them. The country's biggest bakery was forced to shut down this month after it ran out of flour. The new denomination banknote was issued on Monday in an attempt to keep up with the country's roaring hyperinflation, which has reached an official rate of more than 2.2 million per cent. Economists estimate it is actually closer to 12.5 million per cent. At the beginning... National Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050414/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:33:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050408/posts NEW YORK (Reuters) - Commodity markets slumped broadly Wednesday, dragged by crude oil prices that dropped below $125 a barrel after the government reported a big rise in gasoline stocks, suggesting high pump prices were hitting U.S. fuel usage. Gold prices sank almost 3 percent while industrial metals such as aluminum and copper tumbled to five-week lows. Soybeans and wheat fell, giving back most of Tuesday's rebound. Corn slumped too as investors fretted about demand for biofuel products that had until June enjoyed a boom competing with the rally in oil. The broad sell-off pushed the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index ,... Reuters Via Forbes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050408/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:26:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050393/posts The collapse this week of SemGroup LP, a little known private oil-marketing firm, may have played a role in crude oil's 14% drop over the past 10 days. The Tulsa, Okla., company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, citing among other financial woes a loss of at least $2.4 billion in crude-oil futures. Changes in its hedging strategies coincided with big moves in oil recently. The company had taken out short positions, or bets that crude prices would fall, as a hedging strategy for oil it intended to move through a subsidiary's pipelines and sell to refiners, according to... WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050393/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:58:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050383/posts Delicacies such as carpaccio of Elk and blue cheese spread on gingerbread are among the dishes that Sweden is hoping will knock France off its culinary pedestal. Eskil Erlandsson, Sweden's Agriculture Minister, has launched a campaign to make his country the haute cuisine leader of the world. "We are going to put Sweden on the world map as a country of good food," he said earlier this week. "We are in a good position to conquer the rest of the world." Mr Erlandsson is not afraid of taking on legendary French gastronomy or incurring the wrath of the country's leader... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050383/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:07:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050370/posts Attorney General Jerry Brown sued the county in April 2007, charging that a general plan update approved a month earlier would worsen global warming. The general plan, a blueprint for growth through 2030, projects more homes and increased traffic as the county's population continues to increase. It was the first time the state sued a public agency for not taking into account global warming. State and county officials hailed the greenhouse reduction plan that the county agreed to as groundbreaking. Julie Rynerson Rock, the county's director of land-use services, said the county's plan will be the most far-reaching in the... Press Enterprise http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050370/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:37:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050349/posts After years of false starts, a new industry selling motor fuel made from waste is getting a big push in the United States, with the first commercial sales possible within months. Many companies have announced plans to build plants that would take in material like wood chips, garbage or crop waste and turn out motor fuels. About 28 small plants are in advanced planning, under construction or, in a handful of cases, already up and running in test mode. For decades scientists have known it was possible to convert waste to fuel, but in an era of cheap oil, it... NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050349/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:39:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050347/posts The Biz Flog for July 23 covers the cost of jet fuel to the airline industry. While reports like to use the phrase "nickel-and-dime" to describe airline fees, the real story about oil and airlines gets buried. Business & Media Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050347/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:30:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050319/posts The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. A decision is expected in the next few weeks. Mr. Perry says the billions of bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed than as fuel. Feed prices have soared in the last two years as fuel has begun competing with... NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050319/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:25:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050300/posts Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and Janet Robinson reported grim second-quarter results today—ad revenue down another 10 percent versus the second quarter last year, net income down to $21 million versus the $118 million they made this quarter last year—and just dropped a small bombshell: "We plan to increase the daily newsstand price of the Times from $1.25 to $1.50," said Ms. Robinson on a conference call with investors this morning. It goes into effect on August 18. The paper last raised newsstand prices last July. NY Observer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050300/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:55:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050296/posts WASHINGTON -- The competing tax plans laid out by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain would both add trillions of dollars to the national debt and could add to the tax system's complexity, a nonpartisan tax research group concluded Wednesday in a newly released report. Both campaigns have asserted that their plans to continue many Bush-era tax cuts and offer new reductions would aid the economy without requiring massive new spending. But the Washington-based Tax Policy Center warned that under either candidate, "the debt would likely continue to rise as it has over the past eight years." Obama's plan --... The Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050296/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:51:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050281/posts Washington, D.C (AHN) -- Minimum wage in the United States will see the second of three planned increases. Thursday, the federal minimum wage for workers will increase $0.70 cents to $6.55 per hour, as mandated by the Fair Minimum Wage Act passed by Congress. The third increase is slated for July 2009, when the minimum wage will jump to $7.25 an hour.According to the Labor Department, a half a million Americans currently work for minimum wage. Most of these workers are young, teens and in their early twenties.The increase approved in 2007 is the first in a decade. In 1997... All Headline News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050281/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:19:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050254/posts NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The House on Wednesday voted 272-152 to pass sweeping legislation that will offer up to $300 billion in assistance to troubled homeowners and throw government support behind mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The nearly 700-page measure will now go back to the Senate, where final passage is expected. But it's not clear when the vote will occur because of a Republican filibuster threat. -snip- CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050254/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:32:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050248/posts Economy: Everyone agrees the economy's in the tank and headed for recession — if not already in one. The first quarter was weak, and the second quarter will be weaker, the argument goes. Hold on just one minute.We said in December 2007 that the economy's not in recession, that it has plenty of momentum that will be helped if the Fed aggressively cuts interest rates to keep the housing mess and high oil prices from dragging us into a downturn. No need to panic. So far, so good. To be sure, the first three months of this year were weak,... IBD Editorials http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050248/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:16:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050247/posts Things wouldn't be so bad now if we had listened to Frank Field By Simon Heffer Last Updated: 12:01am BST 23/07/2008 Have your say Read comments When one talks to older politicians they often observe that their lives consist of cyclical re-runs of the same old film. After 15 years of boom, the cycles have become somewhat extended. Now, the impending bust brings back to our screens a rather scary old favourite: unemployment. Barely a day passes that some analyst doesn't pitch in with a projection for the additional numbers that will go on the dole in the next year... Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050247/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:14:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050239/posts “Dr. Q” has a theory about how to cure cancer that he can’t wait to tell me. I look around at his lab assistants, their faces a rainbow of colors — intense, smart, listening. Their parents come from many parts of the world. Dr. Q has chosen them to test his theory: that a team of scientists from a diversity of backgrounds might find a cure for cancer more quickly, because each would see the problem differently. The lab at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore we’re all gathered in belongs to Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa — “Dr. Q.” He is... TODAY.MSNBC.MSN.COM http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050239/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:57:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050229/posts The Fed's "beige book," a roundup of reports from the 12 regional Fed banks released every six weeks, shows economic activity is weak across most of the U.S. and companies are increasingly worried about growth in the coming months. Despite the $107 billion in economic-stimulus checks that have been doled out to millions of Americans since late April, the report said consumer spending was reported as mixed, weak or slowing in nearly all districts. In the Philadelphia region, for example, "despite what one store executive termed 'very large markdowns' on many types of merchandise, total sales have fallen below the... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050229/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:40:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050179/posts With the five-week August recess just nine days away, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her colleagues in the Democratic leadership are doing everything they can to keep Members from having to vote on more American energy production to help lower gas prices.  Their months-long campaign of inaction in the face of soaring gas prices not only pits Democratic leaders against the American people – who support more production as part of any comprehensive energy plan – but it also pits them against an increasing number of rank-and-file Members of their own party.  This morning’s Politico details the Democrats’ strategy... House Republican Leader http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050179/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:22:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050139/posts Congressman John Boehner of Ohio is set to introduce The American Energy Act, which will most importantly increase America’s energy supplies. The bill calls for leasing regulations for offshore natural gas by 2010, removing restrictions for outer continental shelf drilling, and opening up sections of ANWR for drilling.As The Heritage Foundation’s Senior Policy Analyst Ben Lieberman has been arguing this even when gas prices were around $1 a gallon. More energy supplies, not more taxes and regulations, are what this country needs. It’s economics 101: expanding supply is the surest way to lower energy prices, and the quicker Congress moves... The Heritage Foundation/The Foundry http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050139/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:59:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050137/posts Former Vice President Al Gore recently took his climate-change show on the road for the benefit of liberal bloggers, Sunday morning TV aficionados and other innocent bystanders. This week he laid out his demand for a miraculous transformation in U.S. energy use over a mere 10 years. As for drilling for more oil? "Absurd," the Nobel Laureate scoffed. "When you're in a hole, stop digging." The same might be said for Mr. Gore. For while his message hasn't changed, the political realities of the energy debate have. Suddenly, Mr. Gore's inconvenient speechifying only tightens the vise Democrats find themselves in... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050137/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:57:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050135/posts WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. stock market would fare better in the first year after a victory by Republican presidential candidate John McCain than by his Democratic rival Barack Obama, according to a majority of economists at U.S. banks and research groups polled by Reuters. But the survey of 29 firms taken alongside a regular Reuters economic poll also found that economists had mixed views on the two candidates' economic plans. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "very good," 12 economists gave McCain's proposals higher marks, while nine rated the two candidates equally and eight preferred... Reuters on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050135/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:49:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050123/posts SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre said on Wednesday he had filed a lawsuit against Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and its Countrywide unit to prevent the mortgage lenders from foreclosing on homes in his city, which he aims to make a "foreclosure sanctuary." Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050123/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:17:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050120/posts The difference between a politician and a statesman is the breadth of their horizons. But have we ever seen people with horizons as limited as our modern Congress? Of course their ratings are low – we return their judgment of us. They think we have no sense of deferred gratification; they think we are children – and not very bright, not very disciplined children at that. We return the compliment. Chicagoboyz http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050120/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:14:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050109/posts FR does not allow this magazine to be excerpted. Conde Nast Portfolio http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050109/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:52:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050095/posts Oil prices continued to decline Wednesday, after a government report showed stronger-than-expected inventories and a Federal Reserve report showed a weakening economy. Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $3.98 to settle at $124.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has tumbled nearly $23 since setting a record of $147.27 just eight trading days ago on July 11. Prices have not been this low since June 4. The September futures contract became the so-called front-month contract as the August contract, which fell $3.09 to settle at $127.95 a barrel in the previous session, expired Tuesday. Oil settled... cnn. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050095/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:31:51 GMT