Latest Posts by ronbowlens - Page 5
This is kind of how today went for me.
Remembering Nelson Mandela’s 1993 visit to Chicago:
“It was emotional for all of us. To be in the presence of someone so committed to a cause, you rarely meet people in your life like that.” Via Crain’s Chicago Business
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GMs5DUfCf0&feature=youtu.be
Awesome video and great music of The Weather Machine
http://weathermachinemusic.com/
Lazard CEO Kenneth Jacobs is interviewed on European Debt Crisis
Kenneth Jacobs, chief executive officer of Lazard Ltd., talks about the global economy, the European debt crisis and banking regulations. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's "Conversations With Judy Woodruff,"
EU Lowers Euro-Area Growth Outlook as Debt Crisis Lingers
The European Union trimmed its forecast for euro-area growth next year and raised its unemployment estimate as the economy struggled to regain momentum after a record-long recession.
Gross domestic product in the 17-nation currency bloc will rise by 1.1 percent in 2014, less than the 1.2 percent forecast in May, the Brussels-based European Commission said today. Unemployment, now at its highest rate since the euro was introduced, will be 12.2 percent in 2014, higher than the 12.1 percent predicted six months ago.
“We are seeing clear signs of an economic turnaround, but growth will pick up only gradually and will translate into jobs only with a lag,” EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters in Brussels. “We must not fall into the trap of complacency. Further decisive action to boost sustainable growth and job creation will continue to be necessary in Europe.”
The gloomier outlook deals a blow to the growing sense of optimism that the euro area is emerging from the sovereign-debt crisis and may make it more difficult for European governments to convince financial markets that they are tackling the turmoil through deficit reduction and structural reforms. While the commission’s gauge of economic confidence is at a two-year high, services and manufacturing output unexpectedly slowed in October and unemployment is at a record 12.2 percent.
Euro Rate
The strengthening euro also may drag on the recovery by crimping exports. The common currency is up more than 5 percent against the dollar in the last four months. The euro pared losses after today’s report was released, trading at $1.3504 at 11:53 a.m. in Brussels, down less than 0.1 percent on the day.
Next year’s projected return to growth will come after the euro-area economy contracts an estimated 0.4 percent in 2013, the commission said in today’s report. That follows a decline in GDP of 0.7 percent in 2012, the first time output has fallen in two consecutive years since the introduction of Europe’s single currency in 1999.
Signs of a fragile recovery in 2014 disguise a north-south divide in the euro area, in which the economies of Germany,Belgium, Estonia and Ireland are predicted to gain momentum next year, while Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal are projected to experience much weaker growth rates. The exceptions areFinland and the Netherlands, whose growth figures now lag behind their northern neighbors.
Debt and Deficits
Tension between the EU and national governments on the best way to deal with the debt crisis could resurface on Nov. 15 when the commission will issue opinions on euro-area draft budgets for the first time.
While the euro area has enjoyed a year and a half of relative calm on financial markets, governments are wrestling with how to cut debt and deficit levels while boosting economic output and creating jobs.
“Whereas one and a half years ago a risk of catastrophic outcomes was tangible, and even a break-up of the euro area seemed imaginable, such tail risks have now all but disappeared,” Marco Buti, the head of the commission’s economics department, said in a statement. “But also within the EU, the recovery occurs at multiple speeds, and the previous ‘core-periphery’ pattern has become more diversified. Growth in the coming quarters will still be held back by the deleveraging needs, financial fragmentation, sectoral adjustment and high unemployment associated with the crisis legacy.”
ECB Rates
The commission forecasts euro-area annual inflation to be 1.5 percent in 2014, slowing to 1.4 percent in 2015, adding further pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates further from already record-low levels.
Spain, the fourth-largest economy in the euro area which exited a two-year recession in the third quarter of this year, had its 2014 growth downgraded from a forecast of 0.9 percent in May to 0.5 percent.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who is betting on exports to reignite the economy, has imposed the deepest budget cuts in the country’s democratic history as well as receiving EU loans to shore up its banks.
“Large adjustment needs will constrain the strength of the recovery,” the commission said. “Credit continues contracting, driven to a large extent by weak demand but also by some frictions on the supply side.” The commission said that financing conditions for households and companies remain relatively tight, in particular for smaller borrowers.
Pension Reform
France, the euro area’s second largest economy after Germany, will see growth of 0.9 percent in 2014, according to the commission’s forecast. While this is lower than the 1.1 percent forecast in May, it is in line with the French Finance Ministry’s predictions.
President Francois Hollande, who has clashed with the EU over his resistance to implement pension reform and introduce tougher austerity measures, faces pressure to cut France’s budget deficit, at a time when opinion polls show him to be the most unpopular French president on record.
The commission sees France missing its extended deadline to meet the EU’s 3 percent of GDP deficit target. In May the commission gave the country until 2015 to get the deficit below 3 percent. Today’s forecasts show France will post a deficit of 4.1 percent of GDP in 2013, 3.8 percent in 2014 and 3.7 percent in 2015.
“GDP growth significantly below potential and revenue shortfalls, which may be due to unusually low tax elasticity with respect to GDP, are having a negative impact on the nominal deficit,” the commission said.
Italian Deficit
Italy, the euro area’s third-largest economy, which remains in a record-long recession, is forecast to grow by 0.7 percent in 2014. The commission predicted Italy’s deficit to be 3 percent of GDP in 2013 and below that, at 2.7 percent, in 2014, which may give a boost to the government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
“Improved business confidence since the early summer, mainly driven by a positive assessment of export orders, foretells a gradual mild recovery,” the commission said.
Export-driven Germany is succumbing to some of the problems from the south, as Chancellor Angela Merkel, the euro-area’s dominant politician in handling the euro crisis, negotiates with the Social Democrats over the formation of a new government following a Sept. 22 election. Merkel will oversee growth of 1.7 percent in 2014, according to the commission. In May it forecast it to be 1.8 percent. The commission revised upwards its predictions for Germany’s current account surplus from 6.3 percent of GDP to 7 percent for 2013 and from 6.1 percent to 6.6 percent for 2014.
Looking ahead to 2015, the commission today predicted growth of 1.7 percent in the euro area with no countries in negative territory.
On Managing One’s Bank Account “Don’t get mad at the overdraft charge… No, no — see, there’s your problem. You think of it as a penalty for taking out money you don’t have, but instead, it is mi…
I dearly love to quote Shit My Dad Says, especially about money
VIDEO: World premiere new MINI
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Good problem solvers are good thinkers. They have less drama and problems to begin with and don’t get overly emotional when faced with a problem. They usually see problems as challenges and life experiences and try to stand above them, objectively.
VIDEO: Kaley Cuoco Getting Married on New Years Eve
Kaley Cuoco has set a date for her wedding! The actress will reportedly start 2014 as a married…
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VIDEO: Toyota GT-86 Academy Vallelunga 2013
The appointment of 8 November at Vallelunga for the new stage of the GT86 Academy, has recorded…
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VIDEO: The Economics of Offshore Wind Power
The offshore wind industry is seeking massive investment, but who’s building it and how much…
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Your favorite books, if they were tea. (H/T Meghan E. Morris)
The commodity corn has taken a big hit in 2013. As it has plummeted, many have started to look for a potential bottom, an entry price to go long. It i…
The commodity corn has taken a big hit in 2013. As it has plummeted, many have started to look for a potential bottom, an entry price to go long. It is looking more and more likely that bottom is at hand. Take a look at the weekly chart of Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSEARCA:CORN). This is an ETF that tracks corn. Please note that four weeks ago a bottoming tail was put in, and last week another bottoming tail was put in. It is clear that this commodity is trying to put in a low and upside could be right around the corner. A long at the current $31.00 level appears attractive with downside limited and upside to $34.50 likely. Gareth Soloway InTheMoneyStocks.com
NAF Puts Anti-Zionism on the Table
The New America Foundation(NAF) is one of the most prosperous and influential think tanks in…
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Former Rep. Bill Delahunt applies to open pot dispensaries
According to a report in the Taunton Daily Gazette, former Democratic congressman Bill Delahunt wants in on the medical marijuana business and has filed applications to open dispensaries in three Massachusetts counties.
Delahunt, who served in Congress…
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Thailand: Uprooting Wall Street’s Proxy Regime
Unprecedented protests have taken to the streets in Bangkok, now for weeks, where at times,…
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Kenneth Mehlman, Bush campaign manager comes out as gay
Former Republican National Committee chairman and Bush-Cheney campaign manager Kenneth Mehlman has announced publicly that he is gay, CBS News chief political consultant and politics editor for The Atlantic Marc Ambinder reports.
"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," Mehlman said. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they've been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago, but I didn't."
Mehlman was RNC chairman from 2005 to 2007 after serving as Bush-Cheney campaign manager in 2004. He also served as White House political director during President Bush's first term.
Mehlman told Ambinder that he had recently come to the conclusion that he is gay and was looking to become an advocate for gay marriage. He went public in part because he expected to be asked about his sexuality when it became known he was participating in a fundraiser next month for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), which is supporting a legal challenge to California's Proposition 8 initiative banning gay marriage.
Mehlman said President Bush "is no homophobe" but acknowledged that the Bush administration used antigay initiatives for political gain. In private conversations with senior Republicans, he said, he fought back against attempts to demonize same-sex marriage.
Activist Mike Rogers, as Ambinder notes, has waged a years-long campaign to force Mehlman out of the closet, including confronting him with questions about his sexuality on video. (Mehlman regularly denied that he was gay.) Rogers responded to the news that Mehlman was coming out by awarding him a "Roy Cohn Award" for "managing the most anti-gay presidential campaigns in history."
"Ken Mehlman is horridly homophobic and no matter how orchestrated his coming out is, our community should hold him accountable for his past," Rogers wrote.
Mehlman told Ambinder he understands that some people in the gay community will be upset that he did not come out until he was out of government.
"I can't change the fact that I wasn't in this place personally when I was in politics, and I genuinely regret that. It was very hard, personally," he said. He acknowledged that if he had come to terms with his sexual orientation earlier, "I could have worked against [the Federal Marriage Amendment]" and "reached out to the gay community in the way I reached out to African Americans."
freeskiermagazine:
@JoffreyPV boosting huge @MammothUnbound this spring. See the video, now live on freeskier.com courtesy of @girosnow. #Freeskier #Skiing #GiroSnow (at Mammoth Unbound)
Israeli Team Heads to US to ‘Shape’ Final Iran Deal
Israeli Team Heads to US to ‘Shape’ Final Iran DealAfter Failing to Kill Interim Deal, Netanyahu…
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The Verge Holiday Gift Guide 2013
We’ve got you covered
Syrian Govt, Opposition Agree to Geneva Peace Talks
Syrian Govt, Opposition Agree to Geneva Peace TalksFighters ‘Skeptical’ as Opposition Politicians…
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VIDEO: Brangelina Wine Earns Number One Spot!
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s new Rose Miraval wine just been included in Wine Spectator’s 100…
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Lazard Ltd : Lazard World Dividend & Income Fund Declares Monthly Distribution
Lazard
http://www.4-traders.com/LAZARD-LTD-13358/news/Lazard-Ltd--Lazard-World-Dividend--Income-Fund-Declares-Monthly-Distribution-17474880/
The Board of Directors of Lazard World Dividend & Income Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE:LOR) has authorized the Fund to declare today, pursuant to a level distribution policy, a monthly distribution of $0.07822 per share on the Fund's outstanding common stock. The distribution is payable on December 23, 2013 to shareholders of record on December 12, 2013. The ex-dividend date is December 10, 2013.
Portfolio data as of October 31, 2013, including performance, asset allocation, top 10 holdings, sector weightings, regional exposure, and other Fund characteristics have been posted on Lazard Asset Management LLC's ("LAM") website, www.LazardNet.com. Additionally, the notice required by Section 19(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, which provides information regarding the respective estimated amounts of each monthly distribution derived from net investment income, net realized capital gains (short- and long-term) and return of capital, will also be available on www.LazardNet.com.
The Fund's objective is total return, through a combination of dividends, income, and capital appreciation. The Fund's net assets are invested in a portfolio of approximately 60 to 90 world equity securities, consisting primarily of stocks selected from the current holdings of other accounts managed by LAM. The equity portfolio is broadly diversified in both developed and emerging market countries and across the capitalization spectrum. The Fund seeks enhanced income by investing in short duration (typically less than one year) emerging market forward currency contracts and other emerging market debt instruments.
An indirect subsidiary of Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ), LAM, the Fund's investment manager, offers a range of equity, fixed-income, and alternative investment products worldwide. As of September 30, 2013, LAM and affiliated asset management companies in the Lazard Group managed $176 billion worth of client assets. For more information about LAM, please go to www.LazardNet.com.
The Bronze Age: The Shimmering Alloy Material Is Not Just For Olympians