Beware the New Hazards of Plastic

Beware the New Hazards of Plastic

(Source Yahoo Finance) A recent study finds that more credit card holders are being penalized by their card issuers as companies try to maximize profits and bring balance sheets in line ahead of a law banning unfair practices.

The ink is barely dry on the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act, signed by President Obama in May, but the legislation doesn’t take effect until February 2010. According to the June survey of 1,000 consumers by Credit.com, a card-comparison and informational Web site, one-third of respondents said their card company made one or some combination of changes to their accounts:

* 19 percent said the card’s interest rose (up from 15 percent in a February survey);
* 14 percent said fees increased;
* 14 percent said the firm lowered their credit limit (up from 8 percent in February);
* 12 percent said their minimum payment increased;
* and 9 percent said their rewards program was cut back.

“It’s certainly open season on consumers between now and when the law goes into effect in February,” says Adam Levin, co-founder of credit.com and a former director of the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs. “There may be fee increases that are purely front-running of the law, and you could also have consumers who have run into problems because of the economy.”

Americans carry about $850 billion in credit card debt, which translates to about $17,000 for the roughly 50 million households that don’t pay their credit card balances in full every month, according to the Consumer Federation of America. Among other provisions, the new law prohibits retroactive interest rate increases on existing balances unless a consumer is 60 days late with a payment; bans “universal default” clauses, in which credit card companies raise their rates because the consumer is late paying another creditor; and eliminates over-limit fees, unless the consumer has specifically opted in to allow over-limit transactions. Read article Linda Rowley... http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/moneyhappy/172642

U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace

World
U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace
By JOHN MARKOFF and ANDREW E. KRAMER Published: June 28, 2009 (New York Times Permalink)
The Kremlin’s call for an international treaty to protect computer security is a likely topic for discussion during President Obama’s visit to Moscow next week.

JPMorgan to Charge 5% on Card Balance Transfers, Cash Advances

JPMorgan to Charge 5% on Card Balance Transfers, Cash Advances

(Source LA Times) JPMorgan Chase & Co. is raising some balance-transfer fees on credit cards to 5 percent, the highest among the nation's largest banks, citing increasing regulations and costs after the U.S. put new curbs on the industry.

JPMorgan, the biggest credit-card issuer, disclosed the increase in a notice mailed to customers this month that referred to "new federal regulations." The New York-based lender starts charging more in August, just as the law designed to curb interest-rate increases, fees and marketing practices begins to take effect.
"In the current economic environment, our costs of doing business have been impacted by increased losses," JPMorgan spokesman Paul Hartwick said in an e-mailed statement. "We are increasing balance-transfer fees to reflect the increasing costs for these transactions." The notice didn't specify the current average fee for balance transfers.

The credit-card law President Barack Obama signed May 22 prompted warnings from industry executives that they'd be forced to raise fees, curtail credit and restrict consumer rewards. Discover Financial Services Chief Executive Officer David Nelms said last week his credit-card company will pull back "dramatically" on balance transfers.

The rate increase at JPMorgan also affects cash advances, and fixed rates will become variable, the notice said. Hartwick declined to say how many customers are affected. The agreement says JPMorgan may choose to offer a lower transfer fee; Hartwick declined to elaborate on how customers might qualify.

JPMorgan's 5 percent fee tops the 4 percent that Bank of America Corp. implemented June 1, citing increasing costs. Bank of America ranks third by cards outstanding, according to industry newsletter the Nilson Report.

"This is the highest balance-transfer fee in the industry," said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive officer of LowCards.com, a Birmingham, Alabama research firm. "It is setting a new precedent that I'm afraid other issuers may follow."

Retirees May Well Worry About Health-Care Reform

Retirees May Well Worry About Health-Care Reform
Retirement health-care costs are steep -- are you prepared?

(Source Yahoo Finance, Market Watch) If things weren't bleak before, they certainly are now. Men and women retiring today will need truckloads of money to pay for health-care expenses over the course of their retirement, according to a new study.

And that was the case long before we learned that President Barack Obama plans to cut $313 billion in Medicare and Medicaid spending and reform this nation's health-care system. It's anybody's guess what retirees might need if those reform plans become a reality.
For the time being, at least, the reality is this: Men retiring at age 65 in 2009 will need from $68,000 to $173,000 in savings to cover health-insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in retirement if they want a 50/50 chance of being able to have enough money, and $134,000 to $378,000 if they prefer a 90% chance, according to a study published last week by the Employee Benefits Research Institute.

Meanwhile, women -- with their greater longevity -- will need even more money. A women retiring at age 65 in 2009 will need from $98,000 to $242,000 in savings to cover insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in retirement for a 50/50 chance of having enough money, and $164,000 to $450,000 for a 90% chance, said Paul Fronstin, an EBRI researcher, in the report.

But it gets worse. Many Americans may need even more money than the amounts cited above, Fronstin said, because his "analysis does not factor in the savings needed to cover long-term care expenses, nor does it take into account the fact that many individuals retire prior to becoming eligible for Medicare."

Simply opening one's eyes to the issue is key, said Stephen Huth of CCH Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill., publisher and unit of Wolters Kluwer. "Just knowing this is a problem is a good first step," he said. "Few individuals plan for retirement at all, and a small percentage of those even think about health-care costs.

"Even with all the talk about health-care reform, little has been said about the looming crisis for many older individuals," he said.

Next Steps Depend on How Old You Are.
Read Article... http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/107225/retirees-may-well-worry-health-care-reform.html?mod=fidelity-readytoretire

THE INFLUENCE GAME: Health bills prompt grumbles
THE INFLUENCE GAME: Grumbling gets louder as unveiling of health bills gives lobbyists targets

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For President Barack Obama, the MRIs and other medical scans for Medicare patients that cost the government billions are prime targets for cuts to help finance health care overhaul.

The response from physicians and industry: a lobbying counterattack accusing Obama of denying patients the lifesaving tools they need.

Patients, rural doctors and advocacy groups who back the procedures will gather in the House Wednesday for a panel discussion, part of the campaign.

The industry spearheaded a bipartisan letter to Obama from 57 House members objecting to the cuts. It has staged events in North Carolina and other states where senators face re-election next year. And it is using a Web site and newspaper ads to encourage people to complain to Congress about the proposal.

The fight highlights a pivotal moment for one of Obama's chief priorities, revamping the nation's health care system to reduce costs and cover the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans, while finding the roughly $1 trillion needed to do it over the next decade. As the president and lawmakers translate rhetoric into legislation, it is decision time for groups that so far have backed the concept of improving health care without knowing the fine print.

The specifics have sparked grumbling from interests like the insurance industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who dislike what they see. They have also triggered intensified efforts by would-be winners -- like labor and advocates for low-income people -- to nail down potential gains.

THE INFLUENCE GAME: After 'cow tax' campaign, Congress and EPA steer clear of cattle burps

THE INFLUENCE GAME: Excuse me! Lobby wins on burps
THE INFLUENCE GAME: After 'cow tax' campaign, Congress and EPA steer clear of cattle burps

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One contributor to global warming -- bigger than coal mines, landfills and sewage treatment plants -- is being left out of efforts by the Obama administration and House Democrats to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Cow burps.

Belching from the nation's 170 million cattle, sheep and pigs produces about one-quarter of the methane released in the U.S. each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That makes the hoofed critters the largest source of the heat-trapping gas.

In part because of an adept farm lobby campaign that equates government regulation with a cow tax, the gas that farm animals pass is exempt from legislation being considered by Congress to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA under President Barack Obama has said it has no plans to regulate the gas, even though the agency recently included methane among six greenhouse gases it believes are endangering human health and welfare.

The message circulating in Internet chat rooms, the halls of Congress and farm co-ops had America's farms facing financial ruin if the EPA required them to purchase air-pollution permits like power plants and factories do. The cost of those permits amounted to a cow tax, farm groups argued.

"It really has taken on a life of its own," said Rick Krause, a lobbyist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, which coined the term cow tax and spread it to farmers across the country. "This is something that people understand. All that we have to say is that (cows) are the next step with these proposed permit fees. And people are still talking about it."

Administration officials and House Democratic leaders have tried to assure farm groups that they have no intention of regulating cows. That effort, however, has done little to ease the concern of farmers and their advocates in Congress about the toll that regulating greenhouse gases will have on agriculture. Read Article... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/THE-INFLUENCE-GAME-Excuse-me-apf-2452272823.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

Stimulus Watch: Follow along from home as Obama counts jobs toward 3.5 million stimulus goal

Stimulus Watch: Follow along as Obama counts jobs
Stimulus Watch: Follow along from home as Obama counts jobs toward 3.5 million stimulus goal

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Few things in President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan have engendered as much skepticism or criticism as his oft-repeated promise to create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.
Republicans in Congress have labeled it fuzzy math. Former Republican House Speaker New Gingrich called it a "meaningless metric." And Tony Fratto, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush, said it was a political trick unrivaled in his 20 years in Washington.

The fight over Obama's promise has thrust a mundane economic formula responsible for the jobs estimate into Washington's political spin machine. The formula is being misused by the president, whose advisers acknowledge it was never intended as a way to count jobs. And it's being mischaracterized by Republicans, who previously have used such formulas to promote their own stimulus plans.

There's no black magic at the heart of the formula, just two economic assumptions.

The first is that every dollar the government spends ripples through the economy, causing more than $1 worth of effect, such as: The government builds a highway. Road contractors have more money. They pay for food, rent and entertainment. Grocers, landlords and movie theaters benefit. Now they have more money. And so on.
The White House estimated that $1 in stimulus spending would have about $1.50 in effect on the economy, and that $1 in stimulus tax cuts would have about a 99-cent effect. (Economists predicted workers wouldn't immediately spend their entire tax cut.)

The second assumption is that the U.S. work force expands by about 1 million jobs with every 1 percent increase in the overall economy. If Washington spends enough to send a 1 percent ripple through the economy, the formula says, there will be 1 million more jobs.

Hence the politically savvy term "created or saved."
There are dips and turns in the formula. The $1.50 and 99 cent numbers vary, for instance, depending on how the money gets spent and how quickly it's spent. But the formula is essentially stimulus money times a multiplier, divided by gross domestic product. Come up with 3.5 percent, create 3.5 million jobs.

"This was the right model for February," said economist Christina Romer, the Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman who helped come up with the estimate. "We needed to know: 'How big does this need to be? What's the best way to do it?'"
Conservative economists have argued that the multipliers are flawed. Obama's advisers conceded up front that it was just an estimate. Cutting $288 billion in taxes might create more jobs. Spending $499 billion might create fewer.

Mushy? Definitely. Unprecedented? Hardly.

Bush used essentially the same formula in 2001 when pitching his own stimulus proposal.
"The bipartisan agreement reached this week can save 300,000 American jobs that might otherwise be lost," Bush said in a radio address.
But the economic model was only intended to predict that jobs would be created, not count them. Think of the formula as a weather forecast. Obama is using it as a thermometer.

When White House officials say they've created 150,000 jobs they're arriving at that figure based on how much has been spent, plugging that dollar amount into the formula, and announcing jobs. Under that strategy, as long as the administration spends all the stimulus money, it will hit its job-creation target, regardless of what actually happens in the overall economy.

That's not how economists count jobs, and Romer says it's not how she's counting stimulus jobs. The formula was a prediction, she said, but counting requires actual numbers: unemployment figures, manufacturing and construction data, and county-by-county, state-by-state job reports.
"Once we've spent the money, we can't just assume the model was right," she said, adding, "The proof is going be whether or not the overall economy recovers."

But with unemployment expected to keep rising in the near future, it's not clear that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden plan to stop citing the formula's calculations any time soon. Obama has promised to create 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer, a goal he is certain to hit as long as the government keeps spending money at a speedy clip.
If the economy improves, none of this may matter to voters. But if the economy continues to falter, Obama can expect more criticism about the formula and the 3.5 million-job promise it created. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stimulus-Watch-Follow-along-apf-2360654488.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

The Life Cycle of Trash

Mother Jones: The Life Cycle of Trash

Have you ever wondered what happens to your garbage after you throw it away? Watch this video to follow the life cycle of trash. By Alexandra Bezdikian

Obama's new stimulus plan same as the old

Obama's new stimulus plan same as the old
President Obama's new 'accelerated' recovery plan is neither new nor accelerated

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is promising some exciting coming attractions for his stimulus plan. But it turns out they're just summer reruns.
Obama promised Monday to ramp up spending from the $787 billion stimulus fund and create or save 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer. It was an effort to shift the focus away from persistently rising unemployment and beat back criticism that the money isn't flowing quickly enough.

Those promises aren't new.

Stimulus spending had always been expected to rise sharply this summer, and the White House has been predicting that 600,000 job total for about a month.
Obama faces souring public opinion over his handling of the economy, which has shed 1.6 million jobs since the stimulus was signed in February. That total has far overshadowed White House announcements estimating the effort has saved 150,000 jobs, a figure that is so murky it can never be verified.
Monday's announcement sought to reposition Obama in the driver's seat of America's recovery. It portrayed the president as revving up the engine of the stimulus, but it was something federal agencies were already planning to do anyway.
Obama spoke about "modest progress" in the economy, citing fewer jobs lost last month than expected. He said he hopes to build on that in the months ahead with stimulus programs.
"We've done more than ever, faster than ever, more responsibly than ever, to get the gears of the economy moving again," he said. Read on...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obamas-new-stimulus-plan-same-apf-15473100.html?sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

Obama expedites stimulus
(02:15) Report Reuters Video

Jun. 8 - President Obama is expediting the economic stimulus package that Congress passed in February in order to create 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days.

SOUNDBITES:
# U.S. President Barack Obama
# Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute,Jon Decker reports.

The Failed Promise of Innovation in the U.S.

The Failed Promise of Innovation in the U.S.
During the past decade, innovation has stumbled. And that may help explain America's economic woes

(Source: Business Week)
"We live in an era of rapid innovation." I'm sure you've heard that phrase, or some variant, over and over again. The evidence appears to be all around us: Google (GOOG), Facebook, Twitter, smartphones, flat-screen televisions, the Internet itself.

But what if the conventional wisdom is wrong? What if outside of a few high-profile areas, the past decade has seen far too few commercial innovations that can transform lives and move the economy forward? What if, rather than being an era of rapid innovation, this has been an era of innovation interrupted? And if that's true, is there any reason to expect the next decade to be any better?

These are not comfortable questions in the U.S. Pride in America's innovative spirit is one of the few things that both Democrats and Republicans—from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush to Barack Obama—share.

But there's growing evidence that the innovation shortfall of the past decade is not only real but may also have contributed to today's financial crisis. Think back to 1998, the early days of the dot-com bubble. At the time, the news was filled with reports of startling breakthroughs in science and medicine, from new cancer treatments and gene therapies that promised to cure intractable diseases to high-speed satellite Internet, cars powered by fuel cells, micromachines on chips, and even cloning. These technologies seemed to be commercializing at "Internet speed," creating companies and drawing in enormous investments from profit-seeking venture capitalists—and ordinarily cautious corporate giants. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan summed it up in a 2000 speech: "We appear to be in the midst of a period of rapid innovation that is bringing with it substantial and lasting benefits to our economy." Read Article...
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_24/b4135000953288.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories

Obama's Message to the Muslim World

Obama's Message to the Muslim World
6/4/2009

President Obama delivers a speech the White House hopes will change the relationship between the U.S. and the Muslim world. He speaks to a large audience gathered at Cairo University in Egypt. Video courtesy of Fox News.

Obama to give extra push to climate talks: U.N. official said.

Obama to give extra push to climate talks: U.N. official said.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Barack Obama will give fresh momentum to talks for a new global pact to fight global warming, although countries still need to clear up issues such as funding for developing nations, a top U.N. official said on Wednesday.
About 190 countries are trying to craft a broader climate treaty by December to replace the Kyoto Protocol that only binds wealthy nations to emissions targets between 2008 and 2012.
Rich and poor countries remain divided over funds for clean energy investment and technology transfer, as well as new targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions blamed for causing droughts, floods and disease.
"President-elect Obama has said some very encouraging things about his domestic ambitions and his will to engage internationally," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told Reuters.

Obama: "This is not just another public works program,"

Obama: "This is not just another public works program,"

He said the overwhelming majority of the three million jobs he wants to "save or create" would be in the private sector. (Lawrence Summers, chief architect of the plan and Obama's National Economic Council chair, has promised that 80% of those jobs would be in the private sector.)
Obama promises an "unprecedented" routing of wasteful government spending and a transparency process that will put details of his new spending online for public review. On Wednesday, he appointed a McKinsey & Co. director, Nancy Killefer, as his top cop to monitor the hundreds of billions to be spent.
But the Obama plan is also defiantly long-term: doubling the production of alternative energy, outfitting public buildings with energy efficient windows and insulation, constructing a "smart grid," investing in science and research and schools, building and repairing roads and bridges. The broad sweep of his plan begs the question: Once the federal spigot is turned on for these projects, however worthy each may be, how does it get shut off?
As Washington veterans well know, "temporary" doesn't usually appear in Congress' vocabulary - since every program comes with a built-in, and generally noisy, constituency. It took Congress 108 years to eliminate a 3% excise tax on long-distance calls - a levy imposed on "the wealthy" in 1898 to help fund the Spanish-American War.

Keynesian-style stimulus
A wide range of economists - including conservatives who met with Republican senators Wednesday - agree that the U.S. economy needs a massive injection of Keynesian-style spending to avoid a freefall.

Family members of President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden -- called SIPs (significant inaugural participants) -- might require

Family members of President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden -- called SIPs (significant inaugural participants) -- might require escorts, officials said, as might Cabinet-level nominees or other DIPs (designated inaugural participants).

(From The Washington Post) A panel from the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee on Tuesday wrapped up the intensive, months-long process used to identify the ideal people for the high-profile, high-stress jobs. The candidates had to look sharp, sound intelligent and be articulate, diplomatic and self-confident. They also had to know the city and possess that quality known as "good military bearing."
The military assistants, or MAs, as they are called, have the task of squiring the VIPs through numerous inaugural events, and Washington's inauguration traffic maze, while the world looks on.
It is a once-in-a-lifetime, much-sought-after job, interviewers said, especially this time, for the installation of Obama, the country's first black president. And all of the candidates were excellent, they said.
But only "the best of the best" make the list being submitted for final selection to the committee brass, officials said. The escorts must be requested by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which determines the size and nature of the inauguration.