By Hibah Yousuf CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- House lawmakers on Thursday approved a $6 billion measure that aims to provide rebates to homeowners who invest in energy efficiency improvements -- but not without a fight from Republicans.
The bill, officially known as the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act but better known as "cash for caulkers," has been touted by President Obama since December as one of the signature pieces of his administration's larger job-creation strategy.
The act "is a common-sense bill that will create jobs, save consumers money, and strengthen our economy," President Obama said after the House passed the measure. "We have workers eager to do new installations and renovations, and factories ready to produce new energy-efficient building supplies."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., estimates that the legislation will create nearly 168,000 jobs in construction, manufacturing, and retail.
The House vote of 246-161 went through with support from the Democrats and overwhelming rejection from the Republicans. The vote simply authorizes the creation of the program; it does not appropriate the funds needed to run it.
The Senate is expected to take up the legislation this summer and determine how to pay for the program, which is likely to be controversial.
How will homeowners cash in?
The bill would fund rebates of as much as 50%, up to $3,000, for energy-saving efforts such as insulation improvements and the replacement of windows, doors, heating and cooling systems. The installations will have to be completed by qualified contractors.
Homeowners that choose to make improvements on their own will receive rebates of up to 50%, to a maximum of $250, on air sealing and insulation products.
The bill also includes reimbursements for those who conduct comprehensive energy audits and reduce their home's total consumption. Homeowners who trim their energy usage by at least 20% can receive up to $8,000 in rebates.
Pelosi said that the bill will cut energy bills by up to $500 a year for some 3 million families.
The bill will also distribute $600 million to states for grants to help mobile homeowners replace pre-1976 models with energy-efficient ones.
Political wrangling
Through a motion to recommit, a political maneuver used by lawmakers to send a bill back to the committee that drafted it, House Republicans added their own conditions to the legislation.
They incorporated language that forbids the program's financing from expanding the federal deficit and bars the bill's funds from being allocated to contractors who have sex offenders as employees.
The Republican stipulations also disqualify from the program homeowners with an annual income of more than $250,000 from the program and require that the rebates be sent directly to homeowners instead of being provided through stores, contractors or other parties.
House Energy and Commerce committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., accepted the changes so that the bill can move forward for a vote in the Senate.
Pelosi called the Republican changes a "poison pill" and said House members would "work with the Senate to fix this flawed language."
vineri, 7 mai 2010
AIG Posts $1.45 Billion Profit as Writedowns Narrow (Update1)
By Hugh Son Bloomberg
May 7 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc., the insurer rescued by the U.S., posted profit for the third time in the past four quarters as writedowns narrowed and investment income climbed. The stock advanced in early trading.
First-quarter net income of $1.45 billion, or $2.16 a share, compares with a loss of $4.35 billion, or $39.67 a year earlier, AIG said today in a statement. Profit excluding some investment results was $1.21 a share, beating the average 48- cent estimate of two analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. AIG opted for the time in four quarters against extending the period in which it is committed to supporting plane-leasing and consumer- lending units, citing their renewed access to private funding.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche has said AIG is “now on a path” to repaying loans in the insurer’s $182.3 billion rescue after announcing deals in March to sell two life divisions for about $51 billion. Results have stabilized at remaining insurance units and the company may recover by year- end from junk status assigned to its stand-alone credit, Standard & Poor’s said last month.
“The underlying fundamentals are improving,” said Bill Bergman, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. “There’s a little more confidence in their public message, which is worth respecting.”
LBO, Hedge Funds
Writedowns on securities narrowed to $309 million from about $3.7 billion a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Investment income surged as alternative assets, including private-equity and hedge-fund investments generated $384 million, compared with a loss of about $1 billion a year earlier.
The insurer advanced 3.4 percent to $38 at 7:35 a.m. in New York. AIG climbed about 23 percent this year through yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, rewarding investors betting on a rebound, including Bruce Berkowitz, who runs Fairholme Capital Management. Fairholme owned about 15 million shares as of March 31, the biggest stake after the U.S. government. The insurer slipped 4.5 percent in 2009 and plunged 97 percent in 2008.
AIG said today it “intends to provide support” to plane lessor International Lease Finance Corp. and consumer lender American General Finance Corp. through Feb. 28, 2011, the same date the company gave in its annual report 10 weeks ago. “At the current time AIG believes that any further extension of such support will not be necessary,” the insurer said in the regulatory filing.
Bailed Out
AIG, once the world’s largest insurer by assets, needed a bailout in 2008 after losses from soured housing bets sapped the parent company of cash. The rescue includes a $60 billion Federal Reserve credit line, a Treasury Department investment of as much as $69.8 billion and up to $52.5 billion to buy mortgage-linked assets owned or backed by the company.
Treasury is considering a plan to convert AIG preferred shares into common stock and sell the holdings on the open market over two years, a person with knowledge of talks with the insurer said last month. If AIG consents to the strategy and there is sufficient investor demand, the sales could be announced as early as the fourth quarter, the person said.
Donald H. Layton, the former CEO of E*Trade Financial Corp., and Ronald A. Rittenmeyer, the retired chairman and CEO of Electronic Data Systems Corp., were named to AIG’s board last month. Treasury selected the directors after AIG missed four dividend payments. Henry Miller, co-founder of investment bank Miller Buckfire & Co., was elected to the board after Dennis Dammerman resigned for health reasons.
AIG is under the jurisdiction of Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master for executive compensation, who instituted a $500,000 salary cap for most managers. Feinberg may have put AIG at a “competitive disadvantage,” by shifting more executive compensation to stock rather than cash, the insurer said last month in a regulatory filing.
May 7 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc., the insurer rescued by the U.S., posted profit for the third time in the past four quarters as writedowns narrowed and investment income climbed. The stock advanced in early trading.
First-quarter net income of $1.45 billion, or $2.16 a share, compares with a loss of $4.35 billion, or $39.67 a year earlier, AIG said today in a statement. Profit excluding some investment results was $1.21 a share, beating the average 48- cent estimate of two analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. AIG opted for the time in four quarters against extending the period in which it is committed to supporting plane-leasing and consumer- lending units, citing their renewed access to private funding.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche has said AIG is “now on a path” to repaying loans in the insurer’s $182.3 billion rescue after announcing deals in March to sell two life divisions for about $51 billion. Results have stabilized at remaining insurance units and the company may recover by year- end from junk status assigned to its stand-alone credit, Standard & Poor’s said last month.
“The underlying fundamentals are improving,” said Bill Bergman, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. “There’s a little more confidence in their public message, which is worth respecting.”
LBO, Hedge Funds
Writedowns on securities narrowed to $309 million from about $3.7 billion a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Investment income surged as alternative assets, including private-equity and hedge-fund investments generated $384 million, compared with a loss of about $1 billion a year earlier.
The insurer advanced 3.4 percent to $38 at 7:35 a.m. in New York. AIG climbed about 23 percent this year through yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, rewarding investors betting on a rebound, including Bruce Berkowitz, who runs Fairholme Capital Management. Fairholme owned about 15 million shares as of March 31, the biggest stake after the U.S. government. The insurer slipped 4.5 percent in 2009 and plunged 97 percent in 2008.
AIG said today it “intends to provide support” to plane lessor International Lease Finance Corp. and consumer lender American General Finance Corp. through Feb. 28, 2011, the same date the company gave in its annual report 10 weeks ago. “At the current time AIG believes that any further extension of such support will not be necessary,” the insurer said in the regulatory filing.
Bailed Out
AIG, once the world’s largest insurer by assets, needed a bailout in 2008 after losses from soured housing bets sapped the parent company of cash. The rescue includes a $60 billion Federal Reserve credit line, a Treasury Department investment of as much as $69.8 billion and up to $52.5 billion to buy mortgage-linked assets owned or backed by the company.
Treasury is considering a plan to convert AIG preferred shares into common stock and sell the holdings on the open market over two years, a person with knowledge of talks with the insurer said last month. If AIG consents to the strategy and there is sufficient investor demand, the sales could be announced as early as the fourth quarter, the person said.
Donald H. Layton, the former CEO of E*Trade Financial Corp., and Ronald A. Rittenmeyer, the retired chairman and CEO of Electronic Data Systems Corp., were named to AIG’s board last month. Treasury selected the directors after AIG missed four dividend payments. Henry Miller, co-founder of investment bank Miller Buckfire & Co., was elected to the board after Dennis Dammerman resigned for health reasons.
AIG is under the jurisdiction of Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master for executive compensation, who instituted a $500,000 salary cap for most managers. Feinberg may have put AIG at a “competitive disadvantage,” by shifting more executive compensation to stock rather than cash, the insurer said last month in a regulatory filing.
joi, 6 mai 2010
America's Green Innovation Problem
By Rob Atkinson and Devon Swezey Businessweek
As clean energy technology has globalized, innovation has followed. Government officials need to pay attention
As has been widely reported, U.S. company Applied Materials (AMAT), the world's biggest manufacturer of equipment used to make solar cells, recently decided to construct the world's largest, most advanced nongovernment solar energy research and development facility in Xian, China. Applied Materials also relocated its chief technology officer, Mark Pinto, to China—the first such case of a top U.S. technology executive moving there.
According to Pinto, researchers in the U.S. and Europe must be willing to move to China if they want to do cutting-edge work on solar manufacturing research. Thus, unlike most R&D in developing markets—adapting products to meet local needs—China's growing clean energy market is cultivating the sector's most advanced R&D.
Applied Materials is not alone. IBM (IBM) has announced it will invest $40 million to create the company's first "energy-and-utilities-solution lab" to develop innovative new technologies for smart grid and other applications. The new lab will also be located in China. These decisions suggest that investment is starting to flow not just to low-cost manufacturing in China, but to high-value R&D as well, threatening the U.S.'s historical "comparative advantage" in innovation.
We shouldn't be surprised at these developments. They represent a trend that has been going on for at least a decade. Such other U.S. companies as GM, Dow Chemical (DOW), and Intel (INTC), have constructed high-tech research labs in China. According to Chinese government statistics, there are now 750 foreign-funded R&D centers in China—up from 50 in 1997. In comparison, the decade from 1995 saw the share of corporate R&D sites in the U.S. decline from 59 percent to 52 percent, with the share in China and India increasing from 8 percent, to 18 percent, according to a 2006 report by Booz Allen Hamilton and INSEAD.Overall, as we pointed out in the February 2009 Information Technology & Innovation Foundation report "The Atlantic Century," the U.S. no longer leads the world in innovation-based competitiveness. The country ranks sixth—behind such nations as Singapore, South Korea, and Sweden—and it ranked last among 40 nations in progress on innovation and competitiveness in the most recent decade. China placed first.
Innovation is Globalizing, too
Even as the U.S. continues to slip further behind economic rivals in the production and deployment of clean energy technologies, many commentators still cling to the comforting belief that, as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has written, America will "specialize in research and innovation."
Yet it is clear that we are moving into an era in which the supposed choice between locating for low-cost manufacturing and locating for innovation is revealed as a false one. As clean energy technology has globalized, innovation has followed manufacturing and markets, something that many in the U.S. have yet to appreciate fully. The globalization of innovation has led many multinationals to become truly global in their R&D, manufacturing, and marketing as they increasingly collaborate with foreign companies and governments.
That's not happening by chance. The Chinese government has aggressively employed a comprehensive technology-based investment strategy to attract private investment and encourage leading companies to locate high-value research operations in the country. They have also erected a host of global welfare-reducing mercantilist policies to spur green-industry production and exports. These include turning a blind eye to intellectual-property theft, making access to Chinese markets contingent on U.S. firms expanding R&D activities in China, and blatantly manipulating currency values so as to subsidize exports of green products.
China offers low wages, high science
China's policies are working. Major government investment has allowed China to attract more private investment in clean energy than any other nation. According to a recent Pew study, China attracted $34.6 billion in private capital in 2009. The U.S. came in a distant second, attracting a little more than half as much.
China doesn't need to develop strong domestic companies to have a more innovation-based economy as long as the country manages to attract innovation-based activities from abroad. Low wages (supplemented by an artificially low currency and significant other subsidies) and high science are a powerful combination.
These new developments are particularly troubling because they suggest, as Brookings' Mark Muro writes, "the impending lock-in of a powerful feedback loop of market creation, production, and innovation." Cleantech clusters are being created in China, but not in the U.S. That's why U.S. government officials who are supporting the importation of heavily subsidized Chinese cleantech products need to recognize that this Chinese "gift" is actually a Trojan horse—cheaper products now, dramatically fewer high-wage U.S. jobs later.
As such, the federal government must start the important work of facilitating the development of its own clusters of clean energy innovation in the U.S. To succeed, the U.S. must do two key things. First, it should prioritize major public investments in clean energy innovation, advanced manufacturing, and market creation, something it has been unwilling to do in any of the climate and energy bills currently before Congress. Second, it needs to significantly step up efforts to challenge Chinese mercantilism, whether in green industries or any high value-added industry critical to the country's future.
As clean energy technology has globalized, innovation has followed. Government officials need to pay attention
As has been widely reported, U.S. company Applied Materials (AMAT), the world's biggest manufacturer of equipment used to make solar cells, recently decided to construct the world's largest, most advanced nongovernment solar energy research and development facility in Xian, China. Applied Materials also relocated its chief technology officer, Mark Pinto, to China—the first such case of a top U.S. technology executive moving there.
According to Pinto, researchers in the U.S. and Europe must be willing to move to China if they want to do cutting-edge work on solar manufacturing research. Thus, unlike most R&D in developing markets—adapting products to meet local needs—China's growing clean energy market is cultivating the sector's most advanced R&D.
Applied Materials is not alone. IBM (IBM) has announced it will invest $40 million to create the company's first "energy-and-utilities-solution lab" to develop innovative new technologies for smart grid and other applications. The new lab will also be located in China. These decisions suggest that investment is starting to flow not just to low-cost manufacturing in China, but to high-value R&D as well, threatening the U.S.'s historical "comparative advantage" in innovation.
We shouldn't be surprised at these developments. They represent a trend that has been going on for at least a decade. Such other U.S. companies as GM, Dow Chemical (DOW), and Intel (INTC), have constructed high-tech research labs in China. According to Chinese government statistics, there are now 750 foreign-funded R&D centers in China—up from 50 in 1997. In comparison, the decade from 1995 saw the share of corporate R&D sites in the U.S. decline from 59 percent to 52 percent, with the share in China and India increasing from 8 percent, to 18 percent, according to a 2006 report by Booz Allen Hamilton and INSEAD.Overall, as we pointed out in the February 2009 Information Technology & Innovation Foundation report "The Atlantic Century," the U.S. no longer leads the world in innovation-based competitiveness. The country ranks sixth—behind such nations as Singapore, South Korea, and Sweden—and it ranked last among 40 nations in progress on innovation and competitiveness in the most recent decade. China placed first.
Innovation is Globalizing, too
Even as the U.S. continues to slip further behind economic rivals in the production and deployment of clean energy technologies, many commentators still cling to the comforting belief that, as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has written, America will "specialize in research and innovation."
Yet it is clear that we are moving into an era in which the supposed choice between locating for low-cost manufacturing and locating for innovation is revealed as a false one. As clean energy technology has globalized, innovation has followed manufacturing and markets, something that many in the U.S. have yet to appreciate fully. The globalization of innovation has led many multinationals to become truly global in their R&D, manufacturing, and marketing as they increasingly collaborate with foreign companies and governments.
That's not happening by chance. The Chinese government has aggressively employed a comprehensive technology-based investment strategy to attract private investment and encourage leading companies to locate high-value research operations in the country. They have also erected a host of global welfare-reducing mercantilist policies to spur green-industry production and exports. These include turning a blind eye to intellectual-property theft, making access to Chinese markets contingent on U.S. firms expanding R&D activities in China, and blatantly manipulating currency values so as to subsidize exports of green products.
China offers low wages, high science
China's policies are working. Major government investment has allowed China to attract more private investment in clean energy than any other nation. According to a recent Pew study, China attracted $34.6 billion in private capital in 2009. The U.S. came in a distant second, attracting a little more than half as much.
China doesn't need to develop strong domestic companies to have a more innovation-based economy as long as the country manages to attract innovation-based activities from abroad. Low wages (supplemented by an artificially low currency and significant other subsidies) and high science are a powerful combination.
These new developments are particularly troubling because they suggest, as Brookings' Mark Muro writes, "the impending lock-in of a powerful feedback loop of market creation, production, and innovation." Cleantech clusters are being created in China, but not in the U.S. That's why U.S. government officials who are supporting the importation of heavily subsidized Chinese cleantech products need to recognize that this Chinese "gift" is actually a Trojan horse—cheaper products now, dramatically fewer high-wage U.S. jobs later.
As such, the federal government must start the important work of facilitating the development of its own clusters of clean energy innovation in the U.S. To succeed, the U.S. must do two key things. First, it should prioritize major public investments in clean energy innovation, advanced manufacturing, and market creation, something it has been unwilling to do in any of the climate and energy bills currently before Congress. Second, it needs to significantly step up efforts to challenge Chinese mercantilism, whether in green industries or any high value-added industry critical to the country's future.
RBS First Quarter Loss Narrows on Lower Bad Debts (Update1)
By Andrew MacAskill and Jon Menon Bloomberg
May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest government-owned bank, reported a narrower first-quarter loss on lower bad debt charges as the economy emerged from recession.
The net loss was 248 million pounds ($363 million), compared with 902 million pounds in the year-earlier period, the Edinburgh-based lender said today in an e-mailed statement. Impairments dropped to 2.68 billion pounds in the period from 3.1 billion pounds in the last quarter of 2009. “Economic recovery is benefiting our customers and thereby ourselves,” Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said. “We remain conscious of the economic imbalances still to be tackled globally and of the risk of specific events -- such as those affecting Greece -- with the associated danger of contagion.”
RBS is the only publicly traded British bank still reporting a loss after Lloyds Banking Group Plc said last month it returned to profit. The U.K. government, which owns 83 percent of the bank, has a 1.5 billion-pound paper loss on its 45.5 billion pound investment in the bank after providing bailout funds
May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest government-owned bank, reported a narrower first-quarter loss on lower bad debt charges as the economy emerged from recession.
The net loss was 248 million pounds ($363 million), compared with 902 million pounds in the year-earlier period, the Edinburgh-based lender said today in an e-mailed statement. Impairments dropped to 2.68 billion pounds in the period from 3.1 billion pounds in the last quarter of 2009. “Economic recovery is benefiting our customers and thereby ourselves,” Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said. “We remain conscious of the economic imbalances still to be tackled globally and of the risk of specific events -- such as those affecting Greece -- with the associated danger of contagion.”
RBS is the only publicly traded British bank still reporting a loss after Lloyds Banking Group Plc said last month it returned to profit. The U.K. government, which owns 83 percent of the bank, has a 1.5 billion-pound paper loss on its 45.5 billion pound investment in the bank after providing bailout funds
Ethanol Report on Oil Spill Response
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman
Addressing the tragedy hitting the Gulf of Mexico and coastal areas requires both an aggressive short term response and an equally aggressive long term energy and environmental strategy. Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen is asking the Obama administration to take action to help increase the use of ethanol, starting with immediately allowing up to 12 percent ethanol in gasoline. This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features Dinneen’s comments on actions to promote increased ethanol production and use that could be taken in response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In this edition of “The Ethanol Report,” Renewable Fuels Association Vice President for Research Geoff Cooper talks about the current price differential between gasoline and ethanol and how much could be saved if the blend level were higher than the current ten percent.
Fundrasing Consultant today business startup project
Hi everyone my name is Seit Eren and today I'll present you Fundrasing consultant business starup project,let see what you need for start this business.
Use your sales and financial experience to be a fundraising consultant.
Fundrasing Consultant
Startup costs 50 000-100 000 euro
Home Bassed: Can be operated from home
Parte time: Can be operated part -time
Business Overview
Acting on behalf of charities as a fundraising consultant can earn you as much as $100,000 per year, of course providing you have the skills and abilities to raise funds for the charities that your service represents. The first step required for establishing a fundraising service is to build alliances with local or national charities to represent the charities as a fundraising specialist. The next step is to establish a fundraising program for the charity, similar to a business plan. The plan or program should outline how the funds will be raised, as well as the fee you will charge for your service. Typically, fundraising consultants charge a commission for services based on a percentage of the total amount of money raised, and the commission rate will range from 10 percent on amounts in excess of $100,000 to percentages as high as 50 percent for amounts under $1,000. As lucrative as the business sounds, remember the cost to establish, advertise, and manage the fundraising program comes directly from the fees charged for providing the service.
Use your sales and financial experience to be a fundraising consultant.
Fundrasing Consultant
Startup costs 50 000-100 000 euro
Home Bassed: Can be operated from home
Parte time: Can be operated part -time
Business Overview
Acting on behalf of charities as a fundraising consultant can earn you as much as $100,000 per year, of course providing you have the skills and abilities to raise funds for the charities that your service represents. The first step required for establishing a fundraising service is to build alliances with local or national charities to represent the charities as a fundraising specialist. The next step is to establish a fundraising program for the charity, similar to a business plan. The plan or program should outline how the funds will be raised, as well as the fee you will charge for your service. Typically, fundraising consultants charge a commission for services based on a percentage of the total amount of money raised, and the commission rate will range from 10 percent on amounts in excess of $100,000 to percentages as high as 50 percent for amounts under $1,000. As lucrative as the business sounds, remember the cost to establish, advertise, and manage the fundraising program comes directly from the fees charged for providing the service.
Facebook Privacy Policies Draw Criticism by 15 Consumer Groups
By Douglas MacMillan Businessnews
May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc., the largest social networking site, is facing renewed criticism from consumer groups that it’s not doing enough to protect information after a security flaw exposed private messages between friends.
Recent changes at Facebook “violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook’s own representations,” said Marc Rotenberg, who runs the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of 15 groups that complained about Facebook in a filing with the Federal Trade Commission late yesterday.
Signers urged the FTC to investigate Facebook’s privacy practices and force it to take steps to better guard against security breaches. The complaint follows an effort led by New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer last week to get the FTC to review how the social network deals with user data.
Consumer groups stepped up criticism of Facebook earlier this month after the company added features that let users tell their friends about products and other Web sites they favor. The program builds on an existing feature that lets people click “like” when a friend posts a status update, photo or Web link.
While adding those tools, Palo Alto, California-based Facebook altered how a user’s profile information is classified and disclosed, according to the complaint. The result, EPIC says, is that “Facebook now discloses personal information to the public that Facebook users previously restricted.”
Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company wouldn’t be able to comment until after it reviewed the complaint to the FTC. A message left after regular business hours with the FTC’s office of public affairs wasn’t immediately returned, nor was a call to FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell.
Shutting Down Chat
Earlier in the day, Facebook temporarily shut down its “chat” feature after discovering a security flaw that let users see friends’ messages that were not meant to be shared.
The software error, reported initially by technology blog TechCrunch, exposed the chat conversations and friend requests of people within a user’s network when they clicked on an option in the site’s settings.
“When we received reports of the problem, our engineers promptly diagnosed it and temporarily disabled the chat function,” Facebook spokeswoman Malorie Lucich said in a statement.
After Schumer’s public remarks last week, company officials met with representatives of the senator and agreed that Facebook users should control public access to personal information and that the company should explain how to accomplish that, Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president of global communications and public policy, said at the time.
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