Fannie, Freddie Phaseout Proposed
By NICK TIMIRAOS And ALAN ZIBEL
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration unveiled a proposal Friday for winding down mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, spelling out three options for what could take their place and setting the stage for a debate over the nation's $10.6 trillion mortgage market.
The steps, outlined in a "white paper," are likely to mean higher borrowing costs and more-limited access to home loans for consumers. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said establishing a new system could take five to seven years.
"This is a plan for fundamental reform of the housing market," Mr. Geithner said, cautioning that "we're going to proceed on this path of reform very carefully."
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.All of the administration's proposals envision a scaled-back role for the government, and officials emphasized the goal of restoring the market for mortgage-backed securities issued without the government's guarantee.
The initial reaction on Capitol Hill was positive. Rep. Scott Garrett, (R., N.J.), a frequent critic of the administration, said, "I'm encouraged to see the administration included a number of reform ideas that track closely with my own."
One option proposed by the administration includes a new government backstop of certain mortgages under a federal 'reinsurance' model, while another would proposes a more limited backstop that would scale up primarily during times of economic crisis. The third option proposes no such government backstop beyond existing federal agencies such as the Federal Housing Administration.
.The government took over Fannie and Freddie 2½ years ago and has committed funds to keep the firms solvent. So far, taxpayers are on the hook for $134 billion, and the bailout is likely to be the most expensive legacy from the 2008 financial crisis.
But the companies have played a critical role in healing the nation's housing markets. Together with federal agencies, they accounted for nine in 10 new loans last year.
The proposal outlines steps to shrink the government's outsize footprint in the mortgage market without seeking congressional approval. Those steps could raise hurdles and costs for borrowers.
The paper proposes gradual increases in minimum down payments so that Fannie and Freddie buy loans with a minimum 10% down payment. Currently, borrowers can make smaller down payments if they purchase mortgage insurance. The paper also recommends raising gradually fees that Fannie and Freddie charge to lenders, in order to make mortgages that aren't government-backed more competitive. It calls for slowly reducing the maximum loan limits the firms can purchase but doesn't specify how far those loan limits should drop.
Current federal law allows the companies to guarantee mortgages of as much as $729,750 in some high-home-price areas and will expire Oct. 1. The administration recommends that Congress not renew the law. The move would drop the ceiling to $625,500. While not being specific, the administration's paper calls for further reductions in that ceiling over the next several years. Mortgages above the ceiling are known as jumbo loans and usually require a higher interest rate.
The administration also says banks should be required to hold more capital to withstand future housing downturns, and the paper calls for "more conservative underwriting standards that require homeowners to hold more equity in their homes."
The paper also calls for reducing the role played by the Federal Housing Administration, a New Deal-era agency that has been at the heart of the administration's efforts to help Americans secure low-down-payment mortgages in the wake of the mortgage market's collapse three years ago. The FHA doesn't lend money to home buyers but insures lenders against default; in exchange for that backing, borrowers must pay annual insurance premiums. The administration says it will increase those fees later this year.
Because the housing market remains fragile, those measures would be phased in gradually. The administration believes Fannie and Freddie are past their peak losses, and the vast majority of those have stemmed from loans it bought as the mortgage boom turned to bust. Rapidly withdrawing the firms from the market today could damage the housing sector and risk making those losses more severe.
The paper also calls for a task force to consider merging federal mortgage agencies. Currently, the Department of Housing and Urban Development houses the FHA, the Department of Veterans Affairs runs the VA loan program and the Department of Agriculture administers a rural-housing loan-guarantee program.
The fight over how to restructure the housing-finance system has roiled Washington, but both parties have been hesitant to propose detailed legislation.
For conservatives, Fannie and Freddie played a starring role in the financial crisis, and any solution that is viewed as replicating their function could face opposition from some Republicans. But moderate Republicans may resist such an approach and could join Democrats who have said a federal role is necessary to ensure broad access to homeownership.
Advancing multiple proposals could help the administration build consensus around one option, and analysts say it may help build the case for a continued government backstop that many administration officials are said to privately favor.
Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from banks and other lenders, repackage them for sale as securities and make investors whole when borrowers default.
Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 5:12 pm
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 5:13 pm
Icahn Reports Stake in Clorox
By PAUL ZIOBRO And MAXWELL MURPHY
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed on Friday a 9.08% stake in Clorox Co., comprising mostly stock options, saying the company is undervalued and that he may seek discussions with management.
Clorox shares, which surged following the news, were ahead 7.6% at $71.26 in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Icahn said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that his investment is based on Clorox's "emphasis on 'mega-trends'" and its portfolio of brands that lead their categories. He also said he supports the company's plan to buy back 10 million to 11 million shares by the end of its fiscal year.
Popular Clorox brands include its namesake bleach, Glad garbage bags, Fresh Step cat litter and Kingsford charcoal.
Mr. Icahn's investment comes as Clorox has hit a tough stretch; sales of cleaning and household products have been weak despite a spate of discounting, as consumers remain frugal. Cleaning supplies and garbage bags also face particularly stiff competition from low-priced, private-label brands.
Clorox cautioned last month that weak sales of disinfectants, bleach and cat litter in the U.S. were cutting into earnings. It also recently took a goodwill write-down of about $255 million, related to slower projected growth for its Burt's Bee's business. The devaluations of the Venezuelan bolivar have been another headwind.
On top of that, commodity costs are rising, especially on resin, a key component of Clorox's packaging and containers. Clorox earlier this month said input costs were expected to rise $70 million this fiscal year, more than previously projected, putting pressure on Clorox to further increase prices. Any higher prices will come even as Clorox, like other consumer-products companies, expects consumer spending to remain strained.
"These guys are very good operators, you can't squeeze Clorox in terms of cost savings," said Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Schmitz. "But there's a lot of value to create if you take the dogs out, those non-core businesses like Hidden Valley Ranch dressing or KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce."
Funds controlled by Mr. Icahn reported beneficially holding 12.5 million Clorox shares, including one million common shares, which he bought on Thursday and Friday, and 11.5 million shares underlying call options. Assuming the exercise of the stock options, he is now Clorox's largest holder.
Mr. Icahn bought all of his common stock on Thursday and Friday at an average price of about $66.35 a share. He purchased his options, which expire in late 2012 and have an exercise price of $41 apiece, in privately negotiated transactions between Dec. 21 and Wednesday. The average per-share cost of the options was about $22.23 and they are in the money at prices between $61.17 and $66.26 apiece.
Neither a Clorox representative nor Mr. Icahn was immediately available for comment.
By PAUL ZIOBRO And MAXWELL MURPHY
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed on Friday a 9.08% stake in Clorox Co., comprising mostly stock options, saying the company is undervalued and that he may seek discussions with management.
Clorox shares, which surged following the news, were ahead 7.6% at $71.26 in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Icahn said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that his investment is based on Clorox's "emphasis on 'mega-trends'" and its portfolio of brands that lead their categories. He also said he supports the company's plan to buy back 10 million to 11 million shares by the end of its fiscal year.
Popular Clorox brands include its namesake bleach, Glad garbage bags, Fresh Step cat litter and Kingsford charcoal.
Mr. Icahn's investment comes as Clorox has hit a tough stretch; sales of cleaning and household products have been weak despite a spate of discounting, as consumers remain frugal. Cleaning supplies and garbage bags also face particularly stiff competition from low-priced, private-label brands.
Clorox cautioned last month that weak sales of disinfectants, bleach and cat litter in the U.S. were cutting into earnings. It also recently took a goodwill write-down of about $255 million, related to slower projected growth for its Burt's Bee's business. The devaluations of the Venezuelan bolivar have been another headwind.
On top of that, commodity costs are rising, especially on resin, a key component of Clorox's packaging and containers. Clorox earlier this month said input costs were expected to rise $70 million this fiscal year, more than previously projected, putting pressure on Clorox to further increase prices. Any higher prices will come even as Clorox, like other consumer-products companies, expects consumer spending to remain strained.
"These guys are very good operators, you can't squeeze Clorox in terms of cost savings," said Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Schmitz. "But there's a lot of value to create if you take the dogs out, those non-core businesses like Hidden Valley Ranch dressing or KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce."
Funds controlled by Mr. Icahn reported beneficially holding 12.5 million Clorox shares, including one million common shares, which he bought on Thursday and Friday, and 11.5 million shares underlying call options. Assuming the exercise of the stock options, he is now Clorox's largest holder.
Mr. Icahn bought all of his common stock on Thursday and Friday at an average price of about $66.35 a share. He purchased his options, which expire in late 2012 and have an exercise price of $41 apiece, in privately negotiated transactions between Dec. 21 and Wednesday. The average per-share cost of the options was about $22.23 and they are in the money at prices between $61.17 and $66.26 apiece.
Neither a Clorox representative nor Mr. Icahn was immediately available for comment.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 7:46 pm
SPANISHFEBRUARY 11, 2011, 7:14 P.M. ET
El futuro de Egipto, y las dudas sobre la deuda soberana asechan al euro
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Por Stephen L. Bernard
NUEVA YORK (Dow Jones)--Todas las señales apuntan a que el dólar se fortalecerá y el euro se debilitará en los próximos días al tiempo que una serie de temas que van desde el futuro de Egipto tras la salida de Hosni Mubarak hasta la deuda de la eurozona permanecen no haber sido resueltos.
Con las dudas que aún persisten sobre la era post Mubarak en Egipto y el Medio Oriente, así como los persistentes problemas de deuda de la zona del euro, las monedas y los activos de refugio podrían seguir siendo favorecidos, señalaron los analistas.
El franco suizo, el yen y el oro son considerados algunos de los activos de refugio más tradicionales que también podrían verse favorecidos junto con el dólar por los operadores que prefieren errar por el lado de la cautela.
En un comienzo, los operadores vendieron algunas posiciones de refugio después de la renuncia de Mubarak el viernes. Pero esas transacciones se desvanecieron rápidamente a medida que los inversionistas se trasladaron hacia activos más seguros como el dólar debido a que aún existen dudas sobre las repercusiones que esto tendrá en el Medio Oriente.
Y la mayoría de los operadores cree que la transición hacia los activos de refugio tradicionales continuará. El euro cayó a US$1,3548 el viernes por la tarde, más de un 1% por debajo de su nivel más alto de la semana, según EBS vía CQG.
"Yo no diría que hay un reajuste en gran escala del riesgo", dijo Omer Esiner, analista jefe de mercado de Commonwealth Foreign Exchange en Washington.
El aire de cautela probablemente se extenderá al mercado cambiario en el corto plazo, afirman los analistas.
"En el corto plazo, la incertidumbre probablemente aumentará en lugar de disminuir" ahora que Mubarak se ha ido, dijo Aroop Chatterjee, jefe de estrategia cambiaria cuantitativa de Barclays Capital en Nueva York. "No está claro cuándo se realizarán elecciones. En realidad no está claro quién tiene el control".
No sólo la transición del poder será un asunto clave para los operadores, sino que las potenciales repercusiones que esto podría tener en la región también son una fuente importante de incertidumbre.
"¿Y si este fuego atraviesa la línea de contención y enciende a un productor de petróleo del Golfo?", pregunta David Gilmore, socio de Foreign Exchange Analytics en Essex, Conneticut. Gilmore indicó que de producirse, esto representaría un serio problema para la economía mundial debido al potencial impacto en los precios del petróleo. Si el tema se mantiene limitado a Egipto, el efecto en los mercados financieros podría ser mínimo en el futuro, señaló.
En el futuro inmediato, la historia de Egipto podría verse algo minimizada debido a que ya pasó el impacto inicial, lo que permite que otros temas tengan un efecto mayor en las monedas. Los analistas dijeron que los problemas de la deuda soberana europea probablemente volverán a ser un factor determinante en las negociaciones.
El euro ha sido golpeado recientemente y probablemente continuará atravesando dificultades debido a la incapacidad de las "autoridades para alcanzar un acuerdo sobre las medidas para resolver los problemas de deuda", dijo Esiner de Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.
Los rendimientos de la deuda soberana de algunos de los países más débiles de la zona del euro como Portugal y España serán observados de cerca para ver cómo se sienten los operadores sobre la situación de la deuda del bloque de 17 naciones. Si suben los rendimientos de la deuda portuguesa o española, eso indicará que los inversionistas no confían en la capacidad de estos países para hacer crecer sus economías y manejar sus déficit, lo que sería negativo para el euro y beneficiaría al dólar.
Los analistas dijeron que el Banco Central Europeo ingresó recientemente al mercado a comprar deuda portuguesa, una señal segura de que las preocupaciones sobre la salud fiscal de la zona del euro están resurgiendo.
Los rendimientos de la deuda portuguesa a 10 años se han mantenido sobre el 7%, que es considerado un nivel clave de tolerancia para determinar si un país puede seguir cumpliendo con sus pagos de deuda. Un aumento adicional en los rendimientos podría hacer que el tema de la deuda soberana vuelva a un primer plano en la mente de los operadores.
Los especuladores redujeron la semana pasada sus apuestas alcistas sobre el euro, según los datos más recientes de Commodity Futures Trading Commission, otra señal de que la moneda única está perdiendo atractivo.
El futuro de Egipto, y las dudas sobre la deuda soberana asechan al euro
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Por Stephen L. Bernard
NUEVA YORK (Dow Jones)--Todas las señales apuntan a que el dólar se fortalecerá y el euro se debilitará en los próximos días al tiempo que una serie de temas que van desde el futuro de Egipto tras la salida de Hosni Mubarak hasta la deuda de la eurozona permanecen no haber sido resueltos.
Con las dudas que aún persisten sobre la era post Mubarak en Egipto y el Medio Oriente, así como los persistentes problemas de deuda de la zona del euro, las monedas y los activos de refugio podrían seguir siendo favorecidos, señalaron los analistas.
El franco suizo, el yen y el oro son considerados algunos de los activos de refugio más tradicionales que también podrían verse favorecidos junto con el dólar por los operadores que prefieren errar por el lado de la cautela.
En un comienzo, los operadores vendieron algunas posiciones de refugio después de la renuncia de Mubarak el viernes. Pero esas transacciones se desvanecieron rápidamente a medida que los inversionistas se trasladaron hacia activos más seguros como el dólar debido a que aún existen dudas sobre las repercusiones que esto tendrá en el Medio Oriente.
Y la mayoría de los operadores cree que la transición hacia los activos de refugio tradicionales continuará. El euro cayó a US$1,3548 el viernes por la tarde, más de un 1% por debajo de su nivel más alto de la semana, según EBS vía CQG.
"Yo no diría que hay un reajuste en gran escala del riesgo", dijo Omer Esiner, analista jefe de mercado de Commonwealth Foreign Exchange en Washington.
El aire de cautela probablemente se extenderá al mercado cambiario en el corto plazo, afirman los analistas.
"En el corto plazo, la incertidumbre probablemente aumentará en lugar de disminuir" ahora que Mubarak se ha ido, dijo Aroop Chatterjee, jefe de estrategia cambiaria cuantitativa de Barclays Capital en Nueva York. "No está claro cuándo se realizarán elecciones. En realidad no está claro quién tiene el control".
No sólo la transición del poder será un asunto clave para los operadores, sino que las potenciales repercusiones que esto podría tener en la región también son una fuente importante de incertidumbre.
"¿Y si este fuego atraviesa la línea de contención y enciende a un productor de petróleo del Golfo?", pregunta David Gilmore, socio de Foreign Exchange Analytics en Essex, Conneticut. Gilmore indicó que de producirse, esto representaría un serio problema para la economía mundial debido al potencial impacto en los precios del petróleo. Si el tema se mantiene limitado a Egipto, el efecto en los mercados financieros podría ser mínimo en el futuro, señaló.
En el futuro inmediato, la historia de Egipto podría verse algo minimizada debido a que ya pasó el impacto inicial, lo que permite que otros temas tengan un efecto mayor en las monedas. Los analistas dijeron que los problemas de la deuda soberana europea probablemente volverán a ser un factor determinante en las negociaciones.
El euro ha sido golpeado recientemente y probablemente continuará atravesando dificultades debido a la incapacidad de las "autoridades para alcanzar un acuerdo sobre las medidas para resolver los problemas de deuda", dijo Esiner de Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.
Los rendimientos de la deuda soberana de algunos de los países más débiles de la zona del euro como Portugal y España serán observados de cerca para ver cómo se sienten los operadores sobre la situación de la deuda del bloque de 17 naciones. Si suben los rendimientos de la deuda portuguesa o española, eso indicará que los inversionistas no confían en la capacidad de estos países para hacer crecer sus economías y manejar sus déficit, lo que sería negativo para el euro y beneficiaría al dólar.
Los analistas dijeron que el Banco Central Europeo ingresó recientemente al mercado a comprar deuda portuguesa, una señal segura de que las preocupaciones sobre la salud fiscal de la zona del euro están resurgiendo.
Los rendimientos de la deuda portuguesa a 10 años se han mantenido sobre el 7%, que es considerado un nivel clave de tolerancia para determinar si un país puede seguir cumpliendo con sus pagos de deuda. Un aumento adicional en los rendimientos podría hacer que el tema de la deuda soberana vuelva a un primer plano en la mente de los operadores.
Los especuladores redujeron la semana pasada sus apuestas alcistas sobre el euro, según los datos más recientes de Commodity Futures Trading Commission, otra señal de que la moneda única está perdiendo atractivo.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 7:47 pm
SPANISHFEBRUARY 11, 2011, 7:19 P.M. ET
Las juntas de NYSE y Deutsche Boerse se reunirán el lunes para negociar su acuerdo
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Por Aaron Lucchetti y William Launder
Los juntas directivas de NYSE Euronext y Deutsche Boerse se reunirán a inicios de la próxima semana para dar el visto bueno al histórico acuerdo trasatlántico entre las dos compañías, dijeron el viernes personas con conocimiento de la situación.
El acuerdo sobre el pacto podría ser anunciado tan pronto como el martes, dijeron las fuentes.
Las compañías indicaron el miércoles que se encontraban en conversaciones avanzadas sobre una fusión, y las negociaciones están avanzando al mismo ritmo que lo hacían antes de que los rumores sobre el acuerdo motivaran la divulgación de la información al público.
El directorio de NYSE Euronext tiene programado reunirse el domingo para realizar una actualización sobre el acuerdo, y podría votar sobre el mismo tan pronto como el lunes, dijo una persona con conocimiento del proceso. Se espera que el directorio de Deutsche Boerse se reúna el martes, agregó otra fuente.
Los votos y la presentación formal del acuerdo son algunos de los pasos iniciales para hacer realidad la unión. Las bolsas necesitarían los votos de los accionistas y convencer al mercado y a las autoridades antimonopolio tanto de Europa como de Estados Unidos.
Las juntas de NYSE y Deutsche Boerse se reunirán el lunes para negociar su acuerdo
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Por Aaron Lucchetti y William Launder
Los juntas directivas de NYSE Euronext y Deutsche Boerse se reunirán a inicios de la próxima semana para dar el visto bueno al histórico acuerdo trasatlántico entre las dos compañías, dijeron el viernes personas con conocimiento de la situación.
El acuerdo sobre el pacto podría ser anunciado tan pronto como el martes, dijeron las fuentes.
Las compañías indicaron el miércoles que se encontraban en conversaciones avanzadas sobre una fusión, y las negociaciones están avanzando al mismo ritmo que lo hacían antes de que los rumores sobre el acuerdo motivaran la divulgación de la información al público.
El directorio de NYSE Euronext tiene programado reunirse el domingo para realizar una actualización sobre el acuerdo, y podría votar sobre el mismo tan pronto como el lunes, dijo una persona con conocimiento del proceso. Se espera que el directorio de Deutsche Boerse se reúna el martes, agregó otra fuente.
Los votos y la presentación formal del acuerdo son algunos de los pasos iniciales para hacer realidad la unión. Las bolsas necesitarían los votos de los accionistas y convencer al mercado y a las autoridades antimonopolio tanto de Europa como de Estados Unidos.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 8:26 pm
Republicanos EEUU, molestos por lentitud de pactos comerciales
viernes 11 de febrero de 2011 17:44 GYT Imprimir
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - El "fracaso" de Barack Obama en diseñar un cronograma para la aprobación de los tratados comerciales con Colombia y Panamá ha bloqueado la renovación de programas para la región andina y para los trabajadores estadounidenses desplazados, dijo un legislador republicano.
"El fracaso del Gobierno en definir acciones específicas y un plazo claro para resolver cualquier tema relacionado con los tratados comerciales con Colombia y Panamá es el obstáculo más significativo para avanzar en el resto de nuestra agenda comercial", dijo el viernes el presidente de la Comisión de Medios y Arbitrios de la Cámara de Representantes, Dave Camp.
"Sin este compromiso del Gobierno, otros convenios comerciales como el TAA (siglas en inglés para Asistencia por Ajuste del Comercio) y el ATPDEA (Tratado de Preferencias Arancelarias Andinas), que tratamos de extender esta semana, están ahora en un limbo y los trabajadores estadounidenses sufrirán las consecuencias", dijo Camp.
Camp reiteró su llamado para una decisión sobre los tratados con Colombia y Panamá para el 1 de julio, así como sobre un acuerdo con Corea del Sur que el Gobierno de Obama adelantó que enviaría al Congreso en las próximas semanas.
El tratado con Colombia, particularmente, es impopular para muchos demócratas por la férrea oposición de grupos laborales estadounidenses, que sostienen que el país sudamericano no hace lo suficiente para impedir los asesinatos de sindicalistas ni por llevar los culpables a la justicia.
Esta semana, el representante comercial de Estados Unidos, Ron Kirk, dijo que Obama le había dado instrucciones para que intensificara las conversaciones con Colombia y Panamá a fin de resolver los temas pendientes.
En el caso de Panamá, el Gobierno de Estados Unidos presiona por reformas laborales adicionales y por la implementación de un acuerdo de intercambio de información tributaria entre los dos países firmado el año pasado para manejar el tema de paraísos fiscales.
Mientras tanto, el debate para renovar el programa que busca ayudar a los trabajadores estadounidenses despedidos por la competencia desde el extranjero y el acuerdo de preferencias andinas se encuentra estancado, condicionado al momento en que el Congreso someterá a votación los pactos de libre comercio con Colombia y Panamá.
Ambos programas expiran este sábado. A fines del año pasado fueron extendidos por seis semanas.
viernes 11 de febrero de 2011 17:44 GYT Imprimir
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - El "fracaso" de Barack Obama en diseñar un cronograma para la aprobación de los tratados comerciales con Colombia y Panamá ha bloqueado la renovación de programas para la región andina y para los trabajadores estadounidenses desplazados, dijo un legislador republicano.
"El fracaso del Gobierno en definir acciones específicas y un plazo claro para resolver cualquier tema relacionado con los tratados comerciales con Colombia y Panamá es el obstáculo más significativo para avanzar en el resto de nuestra agenda comercial", dijo el viernes el presidente de la Comisión de Medios y Arbitrios de la Cámara de Representantes, Dave Camp.
"Sin este compromiso del Gobierno, otros convenios comerciales como el TAA (siglas en inglés para Asistencia por Ajuste del Comercio) y el ATPDEA (Tratado de Preferencias Arancelarias Andinas), que tratamos de extender esta semana, están ahora en un limbo y los trabajadores estadounidenses sufrirán las consecuencias", dijo Camp.
Camp reiteró su llamado para una decisión sobre los tratados con Colombia y Panamá para el 1 de julio, así como sobre un acuerdo con Corea del Sur que el Gobierno de Obama adelantó que enviaría al Congreso en las próximas semanas.
El tratado con Colombia, particularmente, es impopular para muchos demócratas por la férrea oposición de grupos laborales estadounidenses, que sostienen que el país sudamericano no hace lo suficiente para impedir los asesinatos de sindicalistas ni por llevar los culpables a la justicia.
Esta semana, el representante comercial de Estados Unidos, Ron Kirk, dijo que Obama le había dado instrucciones para que intensificara las conversaciones con Colombia y Panamá a fin de resolver los temas pendientes.
En el caso de Panamá, el Gobierno de Estados Unidos presiona por reformas laborales adicionales y por la implementación de un acuerdo de intercambio de información tributaria entre los dos países firmado el año pasado para manejar el tema de paraísos fiscales.
Mientras tanto, el debate para renovar el programa que busca ayudar a los trabajadores estadounidenses despedidos por la competencia desde el extranjero y el acuerdo de preferencias andinas se encuentra estancado, condicionado al momento en que el Congreso someterá a votación los pactos de libre comercio con Colombia y Panamá.
Ambos programas expiran este sábado. A fines del año pasado fueron extendidos por seis semanas.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 8:29 pm
Apple está trabajando en un iPhone más pequeño: medio
viernes 11 de febrero de 2011 12:51 GYT Imprimir [-] Texto [+]
1 de 1Tamaño Completo
SAN FRANCISCO, EEUU (Reuters) - Apple está trabajando en una versión más pequeña y barata del iPhone, informó Bloomberg el jueves.
El prototipo de aparato es alrededor de un tercio más pequeño que el iPhone 4, según la información, que cita a una persona que lo ha visto.
Apple ha considerado vender el nuevo iPhone por 200 dólares sin un contrato inalámbrico de dos años, dijo Bloomberg.
Apple quiere presentar el dispositivo hacia mediados de año, pero el lanzamiento podría retrasarse o incluso cancelarse, añadió.
Apple no respondió a una pedidos de comentarios. La compañía a menudo desarrolla productos que no llega a sacar al mercado.
viernes 11 de febrero de 2011 12:51 GYT Imprimir [-] Texto [+]
1 de 1Tamaño Completo
SAN FRANCISCO, EEUU (Reuters) - Apple está trabajando en una versión más pequeña y barata del iPhone, informó Bloomberg el jueves.
El prototipo de aparato es alrededor de un tercio más pequeño que el iPhone 4, según la información, que cita a una persona que lo ha visto.
Apple ha considerado vender el nuevo iPhone por 200 dólares sin un contrato inalámbrico de dos años, dijo Bloomberg.
Apple quiere presentar el dispositivo hacia mediados de año, pero el lanzamiento podría retrasarse o incluso cancelarse, añadió.
Apple no respondió a una pedidos de comentarios. La compañía a menudo desarrolla productos que no llega a sacar al mercado.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 8:34 pm
ENTREVISTA-EEUU sin interés en lucha antinarco en Perú:canciller
viernes 11 de febrero de 2011 17:47 GYT Imprimir [-] Texto [+]
1 de 1Tamaño Completo
Por Marco Aquino
LIMA (Reuters) - Estados Unidos muestra un "profundo desinterés" hacia la lucha contra el narcotráfico en Perú, al reducir en un 30 por ciento su escaso presupuesto de apoyo al país sudamericano para combatir las drogas ilegales, dijo el viernes el canciller peruano, José García Belaunde.
En una entrevista con Reuters, el diplomático afirmó que el país andino recibirá este año de la nación más rica del mundo y donde más se consume cocaína unos 28 millones de dólares, frente a los al menos 37 millones de dólares del año pasado.
Perú, que registra desde hace años una de las mayores tasas de crecimiento económico del mundo, se ha convertido según Naciones Unidas en el mayor productor de hoja de coca, insumo base para elaborar cocaína, droga que tiene como principales mercados a los países desarrollados como Estados Unidos.
"Lamentablemente quiero decir que cada día hay menos apoyo en la lucha contra las drogas y para el presupuesto (de este año) de los Estados Unidos todavía se va reducir en un 30 por ciento más, según me han informado", dijo García Belaunde.
De acuerdo a analistas, el país andino podría convertirse también en el primer productor mundial de cocaína -ahora segundo después de su vecina Colombia- si no combate con éxito el narcotráfico y aumenta la erradicación de la hoja de coca.
Estados Unidos ha priorizado su apoyo a Colombia, país que recibe anualmente 500 millones de dólares de Estados Unidos para la lucha contra el narcotráfico, la guerrilla, programas de asistencia social y fortalecimiento de la justicia.
García Belaunde dijo que el problema del narcotráfico -que mueve miles de millones de dólares que ingresan ilegalmente a las economías- debe ser afrontado de forma integral.
"Es una mala señal, es una señal de profundo desinterés o de asumir que la responsabilidad es sólo de los países productores, como si no hubiera responsabilidad del otro lado de la cadena, la del consumidor", afirmó.
AGENDA A ONU
En los últimos años, el narcotráfico ha crecido fuertemente en Perú bajo la influencia de los cárteles de droga de México, que operan en la producción y exportación de cocaína.
Junto a eso, el crimen en torno al narcotráfico se ha vuelto notorio con el aumento de asesinatos a personas vinculadas o acusadas de colaborar con las bandas, muchos de ellos de origen colombiano y mexicano, según la policía.
El canciller peruano dijo que Europa también se ha relajado respecto a su apoyo en la lucha contra el narcotráfico.
"Europa tampoco ha mejorado su ayuda, no hay mecanismos efectivos, creo que Europa necesita asumir un compromiso más efectivo de cooperación en la lucha" contras drogas, indicó.
"Los países consumidores, donde más de consume y que además son los países ricos, se están desatendiendo. Yo lamento profundamente el poco interés que se está demostrando en hechos concretos, que es la colaboración que se deben prestar los países que demandan consumo", agregó el funcionario.
El diplomático dijo que el problema del narcotráfico es global y que Naciones Unidas (ONU) también debería involucrarse para un combate frontal contra las drogas.
Perú espera el 15 de febrero la visita del secretario general de la ONU, Ban Ki-moon, quien se reunirá con el presidente Alan García, cuyo mandato culmina en julio.
"Creo que la ONU, el secretario general de ONU, tiene una responsabilidad internacional y una autoridad para hacer sentir su voz de preocupación (en el tema)", dijo el canciller.
"Es uno de los temas de agenda internacional y lo vamos a plantear", refirió el funcionario.
(Reporte de Marco Aquino, Editado por Silene Ramírez)
viernes 11 de febrero de 2011 17:47 GYT Imprimir [-] Texto [+]
1 de 1Tamaño Completo
Por Marco Aquino
LIMA (Reuters) - Estados Unidos muestra un "profundo desinterés" hacia la lucha contra el narcotráfico en Perú, al reducir en un 30 por ciento su escaso presupuesto de apoyo al país sudamericano para combatir las drogas ilegales, dijo el viernes el canciller peruano, José García Belaunde.
En una entrevista con Reuters, el diplomático afirmó que el país andino recibirá este año de la nación más rica del mundo y donde más se consume cocaína unos 28 millones de dólares, frente a los al menos 37 millones de dólares del año pasado.
Perú, que registra desde hace años una de las mayores tasas de crecimiento económico del mundo, se ha convertido según Naciones Unidas en el mayor productor de hoja de coca, insumo base para elaborar cocaína, droga que tiene como principales mercados a los países desarrollados como Estados Unidos.
"Lamentablemente quiero decir que cada día hay menos apoyo en la lucha contra las drogas y para el presupuesto (de este año) de los Estados Unidos todavía se va reducir en un 30 por ciento más, según me han informado", dijo García Belaunde.
De acuerdo a analistas, el país andino podría convertirse también en el primer productor mundial de cocaína -ahora segundo después de su vecina Colombia- si no combate con éxito el narcotráfico y aumenta la erradicación de la hoja de coca.
Estados Unidos ha priorizado su apoyo a Colombia, país que recibe anualmente 500 millones de dólares de Estados Unidos para la lucha contra el narcotráfico, la guerrilla, programas de asistencia social y fortalecimiento de la justicia.
García Belaunde dijo que el problema del narcotráfico -que mueve miles de millones de dólares que ingresan ilegalmente a las economías- debe ser afrontado de forma integral.
"Es una mala señal, es una señal de profundo desinterés o de asumir que la responsabilidad es sólo de los países productores, como si no hubiera responsabilidad del otro lado de la cadena, la del consumidor", afirmó.
AGENDA A ONU
En los últimos años, el narcotráfico ha crecido fuertemente en Perú bajo la influencia de los cárteles de droga de México, que operan en la producción y exportación de cocaína.
Junto a eso, el crimen en torno al narcotráfico se ha vuelto notorio con el aumento de asesinatos a personas vinculadas o acusadas de colaborar con las bandas, muchos de ellos de origen colombiano y mexicano, según la policía.
El canciller peruano dijo que Europa también se ha relajado respecto a su apoyo en la lucha contra el narcotráfico.
"Europa tampoco ha mejorado su ayuda, no hay mecanismos efectivos, creo que Europa necesita asumir un compromiso más efectivo de cooperación en la lucha" contras drogas, indicó.
"Los países consumidores, donde más de consume y que además son los países ricos, se están desatendiendo. Yo lamento profundamente el poco interés que se está demostrando en hechos concretos, que es la colaboración que se deben prestar los países que demandan consumo", agregó el funcionario.
El diplomático dijo que el problema del narcotráfico es global y que Naciones Unidas (ONU) también debería involucrarse para un combate frontal contra las drogas.
Perú espera el 15 de febrero la visita del secretario general de la ONU, Ban Ki-moon, quien se reunirá con el presidente Alan García, cuyo mandato culmina en julio.
"Creo que la ONU, el secretario general de ONU, tiene una responsabilidad internacional y una autoridad para hacer sentir su voz de preocupación (en el tema)", dijo el canciller.
"Es uno de los temas de agenda internacional y lo vamos a plantear", refirió el funcionario.
(Reporte de Marco Aquino, Editado por Silene Ramírez)
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por Maricielo » Vie Feb 11, 2011 9:00 pm
De que sirve que los gringos manden tanto dinero por acá para combatir la droga, si los policías peruanos van a dejar que se filtren insumos a las zonas cocaleras. De nada sirve. En cambio en Colombia la corrupción es menor comparada a nuestro país.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por Victor VE » Vie Feb 11, 2011 10:04 pm
EEUU anuncia un plan para eliminar las hipotecarias Fannie Mae y Freddie Mac
El Gobierno de Estados Unidos ha anunciado un plan para eliminar gradualmente los gigantes hipotecarios Fannie Mae y Freddie Mac, como parte de una extensa reforma del mercado hipotecario nacional, valorado en 10,6 billones de dólares.
En un informe entregado al Congreso, el Departamento del Tesoro traza el camino para la desaparición de las entidades, creadas durante la Gran Depresión del siglo pasado e intervenidas en 2008 tras el colapso financiero causado por las hipotecas de alto riesgo.
El Tesoro, que desde entonces ha inyectado en ellas unos 148.000 millones de dólares, recomienda usar "una combinación de políticas" que permitan cerrar el ciclo vital de esas compañías al tiempo que minimizan el impacto del Gobierno en la financiación de las viviendas, según informó en un comunicado.
"Este es un plan para la reforma fundamental (del mercado hipotecario): eliminar paulatinamente las empresas patrocinadas por el Gobierno, reforzar la protección a los consumidores y preservar el acceso a la vivienda asequible para aquellos que lo necesitan", dijo el secretario del Tesoro, Timothy Geithner.
Apoyar la recuperación económica
Añadió que ese proceso comenzará "ahora", pero deberá hacerse "de forma responsable y cuidadosa" para que suponga "un apoyo para la recuperación económica y la reparación del mercado de vivienda", por lo que podría alargarse entre cinco y siete años.
Para iniciar el proceso, el Gobierno propone la aprobación de aumentos graduales en los depósitos mínimos de entrada, para que cualquier hipoteca que garanticen Fannie Mae y Freddie Mac en un futuro próximo requiera, al menos, un 10% de entrada.
También aconseja subir paulatinamente los intereses que esas entidades cobran a los prestamistas, para eliminar las "ventajas injustas" otorgadas a esas compañías y "abrir espacio al capital privado", con el fin de elevar la competitividad de las hipotecarias no respaldadas por el Gobierno.
Otra de las recomendaciones es la reducción de los límites máximos de los préstamos que pueden garantizar Freddie Mac y Fannie Mae.
No se permitirá respaldar hipotecas de hasta 730.000 euros
Para ello, el Tesoro pide al Congreso que no renueve una ley que expira el 1 de octubre y que permite a ambas firmas respaldar hipotecas de hasta 730.000 dólares en algunas áreas de alto valor inmobiliario, lo que bajaría el listón hasta los 625.500 dólares.
Ese límite debería seguir reduciéndose en los años siguientes, según la agencia federal, que sin embargo no especifica hasta qué punto.
La propuesta establece también la posibilidad de exigir a los bancos que retengan más capital para que sean capaces de "soportar futuros reveses en el mercado de la vivienda", y establecer reglas "más conservadoras" para la suscripción a los créditos.
Además, insta a "devolver a su papel original" a la Administración Federal de Vivienda (FHA), una agencia creada en los años 30 que durante esta recesión se ha convertido en una herramienta para garantizar la continuidad de las hipotecas de bajo coste.
El Tesoro seguirá inyectando capital
La función de la FHA en el escenario posterior a la crisis de crédito consiste en asegurar a los prestamistas contra el impago, una garantía por la que recibe primas cuyo coste recomienda aumentar ahora el Gobierno.
Tanto Fannie Mae como Freddie Mac, que respaldan en torno a 30 millones de préstamos hipotecarios con un valor superior a los 5,5 billones de dólares, han superado ya el peor momento de sus pérdidas, según el Tesoro, que se compromete a seguir suministrándoles capital durante la transición.
Pese al déficit que han generado, las entidades han desempeñado también un papel importante en la recomposición del mercado: el año pasado, nueve de cada diez préstamos hipotecarios procedieron de sus arcas.
El Gobierno de Estados Unidos ha anunciado un plan para eliminar gradualmente los gigantes hipotecarios Fannie Mae y Freddie Mac, como parte de una extensa reforma del mercado hipotecario nacional, valorado en 10,6 billones de dólares.
En un informe entregado al Congreso, el Departamento del Tesoro traza el camino para la desaparición de las entidades, creadas durante la Gran Depresión del siglo pasado e intervenidas en 2008 tras el colapso financiero causado por las hipotecas de alto riesgo.
El Tesoro, que desde entonces ha inyectado en ellas unos 148.000 millones de dólares, recomienda usar "una combinación de políticas" que permitan cerrar el ciclo vital de esas compañías al tiempo que minimizan el impacto del Gobierno en la financiación de las viviendas, según informó en un comunicado.
"Este es un plan para la reforma fundamental (del mercado hipotecario): eliminar paulatinamente las empresas patrocinadas por el Gobierno, reforzar la protección a los consumidores y preservar el acceso a la vivienda asequible para aquellos que lo necesitan", dijo el secretario del Tesoro, Timothy Geithner.
Apoyar la recuperación económica
Añadió que ese proceso comenzará "ahora", pero deberá hacerse "de forma responsable y cuidadosa" para que suponga "un apoyo para la recuperación económica y la reparación del mercado de vivienda", por lo que podría alargarse entre cinco y siete años.
Para iniciar el proceso, el Gobierno propone la aprobación de aumentos graduales en los depósitos mínimos de entrada, para que cualquier hipoteca que garanticen Fannie Mae y Freddie Mac en un futuro próximo requiera, al menos, un 10% de entrada.
También aconseja subir paulatinamente los intereses que esas entidades cobran a los prestamistas, para eliminar las "ventajas injustas" otorgadas a esas compañías y "abrir espacio al capital privado", con el fin de elevar la competitividad de las hipotecarias no respaldadas por el Gobierno.
Otra de las recomendaciones es la reducción de los límites máximos de los préstamos que pueden garantizar Freddie Mac y Fannie Mae.
No se permitirá respaldar hipotecas de hasta 730.000 euros
Para ello, el Tesoro pide al Congreso que no renueve una ley que expira el 1 de octubre y que permite a ambas firmas respaldar hipotecas de hasta 730.000 dólares en algunas áreas de alto valor inmobiliario, lo que bajaría el listón hasta los 625.500 dólares.
Ese límite debería seguir reduciéndose en los años siguientes, según la agencia federal, que sin embargo no especifica hasta qué punto.
La propuesta establece también la posibilidad de exigir a los bancos que retengan más capital para que sean capaces de "soportar futuros reveses en el mercado de la vivienda", y establecer reglas "más conservadoras" para la suscripción a los créditos.
Además, insta a "devolver a su papel original" a la Administración Federal de Vivienda (FHA), una agencia creada en los años 30 que durante esta recesión se ha convertido en una herramienta para garantizar la continuidad de las hipotecas de bajo coste.
El Tesoro seguirá inyectando capital
La función de la FHA en el escenario posterior a la crisis de crédito consiste en asegurar a los prestamistas contra el impago, una garantía por la que recibe primas cuyo coste recomienda aumentar ahora el Gobierno.
Tanto Fannie Mae como Freddie Mac, que respaldan en torno a 30 millones de préstamos hipotecarios con un valor superior a los 5,5 billones de dólares, han superado ya el peor momento de sus pérdidas, según el Tesoro, que se compromete a seguir suministrándoles capital durante la transición.
Pese al déficit que han generado, las entidades han desempeñado también un papel importante en la recomposición del mercado: el año pasado, nueve de cada diez préstamos hipotecarios procedieron de sus arcas.
- Victor VE
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 10:17 pm
Pandora lanza su oferta publica por $100 millones.
Pandora Media Files for $100 Million Public Offering
By Ari Levy and Adam Satariano - Feb 11, 2011 7:34 PM ET
Pandora Media Inc., the biggest Internet-radio company, will raise as much as $100 million in an initial public offering, seeking to benefit from its growing audience and rekindled demand for dot-com investments.
Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co., William Blair & Co. and Stifel Nicolaus Weisel will handle the IPO, Pandora said today in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Oakland, California-based company didn’t say how many shares it would offer or at what price.
Founded in 2000 by Tim Westergren under the name Savage Beast, Pandora’s ad revenue surged over the past two years as its music application became one of the most popular on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s Android devices. Sales more than doubled to $55.2 million in the year ended January 2010 and then jumped to $90.1 million in the first three quarters of the following year. The service has more than 80 million users.
“They are almost a household name at this point,” said Brian Zisk, co-founder of the Future of Music Coalition, a Washington-based nonprofit that advocates for artists. “The whole concept that you can go out and have an IPO as an Internet music company is a great thing.”
Freescale’s IPO
Pandora follows Freescale Semiconductor Inc. in filing for an IPO today. Freescale, a maker of chips for cars, phone networks and consumer devices, plans to raise $1.15 billion -- an amount that would make it the biggest U.S. technology IPO since Google in 2004.
More Internet companies also are moving toward IPOs. LinkedIn Corp. announced plans last month to raise $175 million in an offering. HomeAway.com Inc., the vacation-rental website, is choosing bankers for an IPO, people with knowledge of the plans said this week. And the daily-deal site Groupon Inc. is in talks with banks about going public, people familiar with the matter said last month.
Pandora’s growth has helped bring it closer to profitability. Its net loss for the nine-month period ended in October was $328,000, compared with $18.6 million in the year- earlier period.
Pandora offers its service for free and makes most of its money by selling advertisements to marketers such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and MillerCoors LLC, which target users based on age, gender, home ZIP code and musical taste. The company generates more than 86 percent of its revenue from ads, though it also has a subscription for users who prefer to pay for an ad-free service.
Music Rivals
As more music goes online, Pandora faces increased competition from companies such as CBS Corp.’s Last.fm, as well as startups like Slacker Inc., Spotify Ltd. and Rdio Inc. Pandora also said in the filing that Apple, Facebook Inc. and Google could offer competing services in the future.
The company’s biggest shareholder is venture firm Crosslink Capital in San Francisco, which owns 23 percent of the company. Walden Venture Capital, also in San Francisco, owns 19 percent, and Menlo Park, California-based Greylock Partners controls 14 percent. Westergren owns 2.4 percent, and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kennedy has 2.7 percent.
Earlier this month, the company added former News Corp. President Peter Chernin and former Netflix Inc. Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy to its board.
Dark Days
Pandora’s IPO marks a recovery from the brink of bankruptcy. In 2007, a ruling by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board increased song royalty rates -- a cost the company struggled to absorb. Westergren lobbied the government to allow the rates to be renegotiated, saying Pandora would go out of business without the change.
New terms were reached in July 2009, when online-radio companies agreed to pay a per-song royalty or 25 percent of revenue, whichever is greater, for music they stream. The money is paid to SoundExchange, a nonprofit group for music labels.
From its early days as a song-recommendation site, Pandora has emerged as a top Internet service, said David Pakman, a New York-based partner at venture capital firm Venrock Associates and the former CEO of digital music company EMusic.com.
“It’s a great service, an important Internet brand, and a company that has made a great transformation over 10 years,” Pakman said in an e-mail.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5
Pandora Media Files for $100 Million Public Offering
By Ari Levy and Adam Satariano - Feb 11, 2011 7:34 PM ET
Pandora Media Inc., the biggest Internet-radio company, will raise as much as $100 million in an initial public offering, seeking to benefit from its growing audience and rekindled demand for dot-com investments.
Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co., William Blair & Co. and Stifel Nicolaus Weisel will handle the IPO, Pandora said today in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Oakland, California-based company didn’t say how many shares it would offer or at what price.
Founded in 2000 by Tim Westergren under the name Savage Beast, Pandora’s ad revenue surged over the past two years as its music application became one of the most popular on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s Android devices. Sales more than doubled to $55.2 million in the year ended January 2010 and then jumped to $90.1 million in the first three quarters of the following year. The service has more than 80 million users.
“They are almost a household name at this point,” said Brian Zisk, co-founder of the Future of Music Coalition, a Washington-based nonprofit that advocates for artists. “The whole concept that you can go out and have an IPO as an Internet music company is a great thing.”
Freescale’s IPO
Pandora follows Freescale Semiconductor Inc. in filing for an IPO today. Freescale, a maker of chips for cars, phone networks and consumer devices, plans to raise $1.15 billion -- an amount that would make it the biggest U.S. technology IPO since Google in 2004.
More Internet companies also are moving toward IPOs. LinkedIn Corp. announced plans last month to raise $175 million in an offering. HomeAway.com Inc., the vacation-rental website, is choosing bankers for an IPO, people with knowledge of the plans said this week. And the daily-deal site Groupon Inc. is in talks with banks about going public, people familiar with the matter said last month.
Pandora’s growth has helped bring it closer to profitability. Its net loss for the nine-month period ended in October was $328,000, compared with $18.6 million in the year- earlier period.
Pandora offers its service for free and makes most of its money by selling advertisements to marketers such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and MillerCoors LLC, which target users based on age, gender, home ZIP code and musical taste. The company generates more than 86 percent of its revenue from ads, though it also has a subscription for users who prefer to pay for an ad-free service.
Music Rivals
As more music goes online, Pandora faces increased competition from companies such as CBS Corp.’s Last.fm, as well as startups like Slacker Inc., Spotify Ltd. and Rdio Inc. Pandora also said in the filing that Apple, Facebook Inc. and Google could offer competing services in the future.
The company’s biggest shareholder is venture firm Crosslink Capital in San Francisco, which owns 23 percent of the company. Walden Venture Capital, also in San Francisco, owns 19 percent, and Menlo Park, California-based Greylock Partners controls 14 percent. Westergren owns 2.4 percent, and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kennedy has 2.7 percent.
Earlier this month, the company added former News Corp. President Peter Chernin and former Netflix Inc. Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy to its board.
Dark Days
Pandora’s IPO marks a recovery from the brink of bankruptcy. In 2007, a ruling by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board increased song royalty rates -- a cost the company struggled to absorb. Westergren lobbied the government to allow the rates to be renegotiated, saying Pandora would go out of business without the change.
New terms were reached in July 2009, when online-radio companies agreed to pay a per-song royalty or 25 percent of revenue, whichever is greater, for music they stream. The money is paid to SoundExchange, a nonprofit group for music labels.
From its early days as a song-recommendation site, Pandora has emerged as a top Internet service, said David Pakman, a New York-based partner at venture capital firm Venrock Associates and the former CEO of digital music company EMusic.com.
“It’s a great service, an important Internet brand, and a company that has made a great transformation over 10 years,” Pakman said in an e-mail.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 10:28 pm
La tecnologia es una prueba muy grande para los dictadores
El Viernes en la tarde el ejecutivo de Google que se ha convertido en el rostro de la llamada Revolucion 2.0, tweeted es hora de que el Presidente Mubarak renuncie.
Pocas horas mas tarde, el pais mas grande del mundo Arabe - despues de solo 18 dias de protestas - vio que el Mr. Mubarack, en el poder por 30 anios, precisamente habia hecho eso.
Bienvenidos a Egipto, Mr. Ghnim escribio en Twiiter despues que la noticia se anuncio y las calles de El Cairo eruptaban en celebracion.
Las redes sociales, mas notablemente Twitter y Facebook se han convertido en las herramientas de la oposicion e insurreccion contra los dictadores quienes estaban acostumbrados a dominar los medios de comunicacion formales como los diarios y la television.
La chispa fue encendida por los medios de redes sociales.
Twitter y Facebook son las ultimas herramientas, exponencialmente mas poderosas que todo lo utilizado anteriormente.
Technology Poses Big Test for Regimes
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS
CAIRO—On Friday afternoon, Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who has become the face of Egypt's so-called Revolution 2.0, tweeted it was time at last for President Hosni Mubarak to resign.
A few hours later, the largest country in the Arab world—after just 18 days of protests—learned Mr. Mubarak, in power for three decades, had done just that.
"Welcome back Egypt," Mr. Ghonim posted on Twitter shortly after the news was announced as the streets of Cairo erupted in celebration.
A laptop is held up as protesters celebrate in Tahrir Square.
.Social media, most notably Facebook and Twitter, have featured prominently in recent years as tools of the opposition in insurrections against entrenched regimes, accustomed to controlling what their citizens know through an iron-tight grip on their country's newspapers and television.
But in most of those uprisings—from Iran in 2009 to Myanmar in 2007—the regimes were able to crush the opposition, in some instances by co-opting the new technology and using it as a way to monitor and identify dissidents.
Not this time. Mr. Ghonim was arrested by security police and held for 12 days likely for his Facebook activities, but it was not enough to stem the tide of Egypt's revolution.
"It was just huge," said Baher Esmat, a former official in Egypt's communications ministry and now a member of an organization that promotes Internet usage in the Middle East.
"In the end, it came down to the people who were willing to take great risk and stay in the square, that was the main thing," he added. "But the spark came from social media."
Facebook concurred that technology played a role. "Mr. Ghonim is a hero and, like all true heroes, he diminishes his own role and gives credit to others. We've witnessed brave people of all ages coming together to effect a profound nonviolent change in their country. Certainly, technology was a vital tool in their efforts but we believe their bravery and determination mattered most," said Elliot Schrage, Facebook Inc.'s vice president of communications, policy and marketing.
A Google spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Ghonim's personal beliefs, but added: "Googlers are a passionate bunch, and they believe strongly in broader values of the web like accessing information and communicating freely. We're always proud of people who take a stand."
The use of technology in political upheaval isn't new. The fax machine played a critical role in 1989 in spreading information among dissidents during the fall of the former-Soviet bloc countries. Organizers of the 1979 Iranian Revolution relied to a degree on smuggled cassette tapes of inspirational speeches from opposition leaders.
Twitter and Facebook are just the latest tools, albeit exponentially more powerful than anything before.
That increased the impact on the Egyptian opposition from the recent ouster of the Tunisian leader, and in turn, could blow more winds of change from Egypt across the Arab world. Turkey, Yemen and other nearby countries recently have held demonstrations sympathetic to the Egyptian uprising, no doubt benefited by social media.
"I think we will enter a phase where reform will accelerate," said Mohammed Bin Essa Al-Khalifa, chief executive of the Economic Development Board of the Kingdom of Bahrain, in an interview in New York. "Countries will adapt to the new realities. Banning things is no longer a solution," he said.
For many Egyptian protesters, social media allowed them to be heard first online, and then to organize so they could be heard on the streets.The other factor is the complementary nature of new media with mainstream media, how old media practitioners can work synergistically with users of new media. Many journalists in Cairo found sources and stories through Twitter and Facebook, enabling Egyptians to get their information out faster and farther than otherwise possible.
"Technology has been a supportive tool and an amplifier of revolutions for some time," said John Palfrey, a co-director of Harvard University's Berkman Center for the Internet and Society. But the difference with social media is that "they are globally connective, not just in Cairo, but with the region and the world."
"What you see is the ability of these tools to let individual citizens express their opinion, and groups to coordinate," said Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody," a book on the organizing power of social media. "That is what gives these revolutions a novel character."
"There is a bridge quality to mainstream media from social media that leads to greater transparency on the ground, and greater connectivity globally," added Mr. Palfrey.
For Abdul Busin, a 27-year-old Internet security analyst, and his friend Omayr McAdam, also in the technology field, seeing the information coming out of Egypt from their home in London prompted them to action.
They helped organize similar protests in London, one near the Egyptian Embassy, what they called their own Tahrir Square to show support. Then, a week ago, they flew to Cairo, along with what they described as hundreds of people of Egyptian-descent living abroad, to participate in the real Tahrir Square.
They set up a live-stream video link on an iPad from the square to beam back what they were experiencing in Cairo to their friends and supporters back in London, and around the globe, said Mr. McAdam. "When we heard the Internet went down here, we wanted to come to see if we could put our tech skills to work," he said. "But we wouldn't have gotten so involved without first having all this information getting out to us," he said.
The regime of President Hosni Mubarak wasn't blind to the powers of new media. It was so aware of them, in fact, that it took the highly unusual step of shutting down the Internet for five days, starting at midnight on Jan. 27.
Only one network, called Nour, remained functioning, serving primarily government ministries, the stock exchange and some businesses. Otherwise, the country had gone dark.
But by that time, the organizing power of social media had already been unleashed: the revolution was under way.
—Geoffrey A. Fowler contributed to this article.
El Viernes en la tarde el ejecutivo de Google que se ha convertido en el rostro de la llamada Revolucion 2.0, tweeted es hora de que el Presidente Mubarak renuncie.
Pocas horas mas tarde, el pais mas grande del mundo Arabe - despues de solo 18 dias de protestas - vio que el Mr. Mubarack, en el poder por 30 anios, precisamente habia hecho eso.
Bienvenidos a Egipto, Mr. Ghnim escribio en Twiiter despues que la noticia se anuncio y las calles de El Cairo eruptaban en celebracion.
Las redes sociales, mas notablemente Twitter y Facebook se han convertido en las herramientas de la oposicion e insurreccion contra los dictadores quienes estaban acostumbrados a dominar los medios de comunicacion formales como los diarios y la television.
La chispa fue encendida por los medios de redes sociales.
Twitter y Facebook son las ultimas herramientas, exponencialmente mas poderosas que todo lo utilizado anteriormente.
Technology Poses Big Test for Regimes
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS
CAIRO—On Friday afternoon, Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who has become the face of Egypt's so-called Revolution 2.0, tweeted it was time at last for President Hosni Mubarak to resign.
A few hours later, the largest country in the Arab world—after just 18 days of protests—learned Mr. Mubarak, in power for three decades, had done just that.
"Welcome back Egypt," Mr. Ghonim posted on Twitter shortly after the news was announced as the streets of Cairo erupted in celebration.
A laptop is held up as protesters celebrate in Tahrir Square.
.Social media, most notably Facebook and Twitter, have featured prominently in recent years as tools of the opposition in insurrections against entrenched regimes, accustomed to controlling what their citizens know through an iron-tight grip on their country's newspapers and television.
But in most of those uprisings—from Iran in 2009 to Myanmar in 2007—the regimes were able to crush the opposition, in some instances by co-opting the new technology and using it as a way to monitor and identify dissidents.
Not this time. Mr. Ghonim was arrested by security police and held for 12 days likely for his Facebook activities, but it was not enough to stem the tide of Egypt's revolution.
"It was just huge," said Baher Esmat, a former official in Egypt's communications ministry and now a member of an organization that promotes Internet usage in the Middle East.
"In the end, it came down to the people who were willing to take great risk and stay in the square, that was the main thing," he added. "But the spark came from social media."
Facebook concurred that technology played a role. "Mr. Ghonim is a hero and, like all true heroes, he diminishes his own role and gives credit to others. We've witnessed brave people of all ages coming together to effect a profound nonviolent change in their country. Certainly, technology was a vital tool in their efforts but we believe their bravery and determination mattered most," said Elliot Schrage, Facebook Inc.'s vice president of communications, policy and marketing.
A Google spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Ghonim's personal beliefs, but added: "Googlers are a passionate bunch, and they believe strongly in broader values of the web like accessing information and communicating freely. We're always proud of people who take a stand."
The use of technology in political upheaval isn't new. The fax machine played a critical role in 1989 in spreading information among dissidents during the fall of the former-Soviet bloc countries. Organizers of the 1979 Iranian Revolution relied to a degree on smuggled cassette tapes of inspirational speeches from opposition leaders.
Twitter and Facebook are just the latest tools, albeit exponentially more powerful than anything before.
That increased the impact on the Egyptian opposition from the recent ouster of the Tunisian leader, and in turn, could blow more winds of change from Egypt across the Arab world. Turkey, Yemen and other nearby countries recently have held demonstrations sympathetic to the Egyptian uprising, no doubt benefited by social media.
"I think we will enter a phase where reform will accelerate," said Mohammed Bin Essa Al-Khalifa, chief executive of the Economic Development Board of the Kingdom of Bahrain, in an interview in New York. "Countries will adapt to the new realities. Banning things is no longer a solution," he said.
For many Egyptian protesters, social media allowed them to be heard first online, and then to organize so they could be heard on the streets.The other factor is the complementary nature of new media with mainstream media, how old media practitioners can work synergistically with users of new media. Many journalists in Cairo found sources and stories through Twitter and Facebook, enabling Egyptians to get their information out faster and farther than otherwise possible.
"Technology has been a supportive tool and an amplifier of revolutions for some time," said John Palfrey, a co-director of Harvard University's Berkman Center for the Internet and Society. But the difference with social media is that "they are globally connective, not just in Cairo, but with the region and the world."
"What you see is the ability of these tools to let individual citizens express their opinion, and groups to coordinate," said Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody," a book on the organizing power of social media. "That is what gives these revolutions a novel character."
"There is a bridge quality to mainstream media from social media that leads to greater transparency on the ground, and greater connectivity globally," added Mr. Palfrey.
For Abdul Busin, a 27-year-old Internet security analyst, and his friend Omayr McAdam, also in the technology field, seeing the information coming out of Egypt from their home in London prompted them to action.
They helped organize similar protests in London, one near the Egyptian Embassy, what they called their own Tahrir Square to show support. Then, a week ago, they flew to Cairo, along with what they described as hundreds of people of Egyptian-descent living abroad, to participate in the real Tahrir Square.
They set up a live-stream video link on an iPad from the square to beam back what they were experiencing in Cairo to their friends and supporters back in London, and around the globe, said Mr. McAdam. "When we heard the Internet went down here, we wanted to come to see if we could put our tech skills to work," he said. "But we wouldn't have gotten so involved without first having all this information getting out to us," he said.
The regime of President Hosni Mubarak wasn't blind to the powers of new media. It was so aware of them, in fact, that it took the highly unusual step of shutting down the Internet for five days, starting at midnight on Jan. 27.
Only one network, called Nour, remained functioning, serving primarily government ministries, the stock exchange and some businesses. Otherwise, the country had gone dark.
But by that time, the organizing power of social media had already been unleashed: the revolution was under way.
—Geoffrey A. Fowler contributed to this article.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 10:36 pm
Iran prohibe la celebracion de Valentine's Day
La postura del regimen piensa que el menor gesto es un acto de subversion
Todos los simbolos de corazones, medios corazones, rosas rojas y todas las actividades relacionadas estan prohibidas. Se tmaran medidas legales contra los que ignoren la disposicion, dijo el gobierno.
El 70% de la poblacion de Iran es menor de 30 anios.
Iran Bans Valentine's Day
The regime's posture turns the smallest gestures into thrilling acts of subversion.
By MELIK KAYLAN
In another sign of its ever more improvisational approach to governance, the Iranian regime has outlawed Valentine's Day. "Symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses, and any activities promoting this day are banned," announced state media last month. "Authorities will take legal action against those who ignore the ban."
Some 70% of Iran's population is said to be under the age of 30, so it seems natural that Valentine's Day has caught on in a country where the young keep trying to find non-state-mandated rituals to call their own. The state, for its part, continues to respond with a Whack-a-Mole approach to any social ripple not dreamt of in its philosophy.
Theocratic regimes invariably suffer from the same besetting sin: As the world evolves, they must either revise their antiquated doctrines or try to hold the world rigidly in stasis. Iran's ruling mullahs keep choosing the latter option. And with mosque and state firmly conjoined, there's no stray detail of daily life so arcane that the scriptures can't be mobilized to rein it in.
The Iranian state has pronounced against unauthorized mingling of the sexes, rap music, rock music, Western music, women playing in bands, too-bright nail polish, laughter in hospital corridors, ancient Persian rites-of-spring celebrations (Nowrooz), and even the mention of foreign food recipes in state media. This last may sound comically implausible, but it was officially announced by a state-run website on Feb. 6. So now the true nature of pasta as an instrument of Western subversion has been revealed.
The regime's posture turns the smallest garden-variety gestures into thrilling acts of subversion. Slipping a Valentine card to a girlfriend takes on the significance of samizdat. Every firecracker set off during Nowrooz diminishes the police state's claims to omniscience. The mullahs have appointed themselves the enemy of fun; as a result, wherever fun herniates into view, it is a politicized irruption of defiance.
In "Rock 'n' Roll," the playwright Tom Stoppard proposes that rock music more than anything else—the arms race, dissident intellectuals, economic decay—brought down the communist system because it came from an unanticipated source for which the politburo theorists had no answer. Their enforcers could counter explicit resistance, but their ideologues never prepared defenses against the onslaught of pure fun. No one in charge knew how to neutralize this entirely new category of opting out through the delirium of music. In the play, the rigid communist edifice crumbles in the face of a mysteriously apolitical impulse to freedom embodied by young folk who simply "don't care about anything but the music."
Iran's theocrats scramble daily to apply systemic tourniquets to spontaneous outbursts of nondenominational fun. They must find—or conjure up—an authoritative category of evil for each unforeseen flare-up. Indecency, immodesty, un-Islamic behavior, alien Western customs, insulting God, insulting the Supreme Leader—the ideological fabric is made to stretch way beyond its natural limits.
The mullahs can offer no specific dogma against the widespread underground rock scene in the suburbs of Tehran and elsewhere. They often arrest those at basement shows or garage performances with improvised expedients—for the blasphemous nature of their gyrations, or for illicit socializing between the sexes. In being able to justify their prohibitions on religious grounds they have an advantage over their communist counterparts of old.
But under what rationale could the consumption of foreign dishes constitute an offense? Nationalism, we are told. Yet the regime expends considerable energy suppressing the Persian, as opposed to Islamic, identity by discouraging Nowrooz and other elements of the culture that date from the pre-Muslim era of jahiliyya, the so-called time of ignorance.
In the end, Iran's rulers face an impossible task. Their genesis myth of a society based on a codified schema of sacred laws looks neither codified nor sacred. It convinces no one. Instead, the regime seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidentally arise—a sour, paranoid struggle against irrepressible forces of nature, change, the seasons, music, romance and laughter. The Iranian people can take comfort: No earthly authority has won that particular contest for long.
Mr. Kaylan is a writer in New York.
La postura del regimen piensa que el menor gesto es un acto de subversion
Todos los simbolos de corazones, medios corazones, rosas rojas y todas las actividades relacionadas estan prohibidas. Se tmaran medidas legales contra los que ignoren la disposicion, dijo el gobierno.
El 70% de la poblacion de Iran es menor de 30 anios.
Iran Bans Valentine's Day
The regime's posture turns the smallest gestures into thrilling acts of subversion.
By MELIK KAYLAN
In another sign of its ever more improvisational approach to governance, the Iranian regime has outlawed Valentine's Day. "Symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses, and any activities promoting this day are banned," announced state media last month. "Authorities will take legal action against those who ignore the ban."
Some 70% of Iran's population is said to be under the age of 30, so it seems natural that Valentine's Day has caught on in a country where the young keep trying to find non-state-mandated rituals to call their own. The state, for its part, continues to respond with a Whack-a-Mole approach to any social ripple not dreamt of in its philosophy.
Theocratic regimes invariably suffer from the same besetting sin: As the world evolves, they must either revise their antiquated doctrines or try to hold the world rigidly in stasis. Iran's ruling mullahs keep choosing the latter option. And with mosque and state firmly conjoined, there's no stray detail of daily life so arcane that the scriptures can't be mobilized to rein it in.
The Iranian state has pronounced against unauthorized mingling of the sexes, rap music, rock music, Western music, women playing in bands, too-bright nail polish, laughter in hospital corridors, ancient Persian rites-of-spring celebrations (Nowrooz), and even the mention of foreign food recipes in state media. This last may sound comically implausible, but it was officially announced by a state-run website on Feb. 6. So now the true nature of pasta as an instrument of Western subversion has been revealed.
The regime's posture turns the smallest garden-variety gestures into thrilling acts of subversion. Slipping a Valentine card to a girlfriend takes on the significance of samizdat. Every firecracker set off during Nowrooz diminishes the police state's claims to omniscience. The mullahs have appointed themselves the enemy of fun; as a result, wherever fun herniates into view, it is a politicized irruption of defiance.
In "Rock 'n' Roll," the playwright Tom Stoppard proposes that rock music more than anything else—the arms race, dissident intellectuals, economic decay—brought down the communist system because it came from an unanticipated source for which the politburo theorists had no answer. Their enforcers could counter explicit resistance, but their ideologues never prepared defenses against the onslaught of pure fun. No one in charge knew how to neutralize this entirely new category of opting out through the delirium of music. In the play, the rigid communist edifice crumbles in the face of a mysteriously apolitical impulse to freedom embodied by young folk who simply "don't care about anything but the music."
Iran's theocrats scramble daily to apply systemic tourniquets to spontaneous outbursts of nondenominational fun. They must find—or conjure up—an authoritative category of evil for each unforeseen flare-up. Indecency, immodesty, un-Islamic behavior, alien Western customs, insulting God, insulting the Supreme Leader—the ideological fabric is made to stretch way beyond its natural limits.
The mullahs can offer no specific dogma against the widespread underground rock scene in the suburbs of Tehran and elsewhere. They often arrest those at basement shows or garage performances with improvised expedients—for the blasphemous nature of their gyrations, or for illicit socializing between the sexes. In being able to justify their prohibitions on religious grounds they have an advantage over their communist counterparts of old.
But under what rationale could the consumption of foreign dishes constitute an offense? Nationalism, we are told. Yet the regime expends considerable energy suppressing the Persian, as opposed to Islamic, identity by discouraging Nowrooz and other elements of the culture that date from the pre-Muslim era of jahiliyya, the so-called time of ignorance.
In the end, Iran's rulers face an impossible task. Their genesis myth of a society based on a codified schema of sacred laws looks neither codified nor sacred. It convinces no one. Instead, the regime seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidentally arise—a sour, paranoid struggle against irrepressible forces of nature, change, the seasons, music, romance and laughter. The Iranian people can take comfort: No earthly authority has won that particular contest for long.
Mr. Kaylan is a writer in New York.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 10:38 pm
Nreviosismo en Teheran
Iran teme el contagio
Ayer tambien fue el 32th aniversario de la caida del shah's de Iran.
Nervous in Tehran
Iran's mullahs fear contagion.
As it happens, yesterday was also the 32nd anniversary of the Shah's downfall in Iran. The hard men of Tehran are now seeking to tap into Egypt's revolutionary fervor, hailing Hosni Mubarak's downfall as "a great victory." Earlier on this Islamic Revolution's Victory Day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Arabs to "free" themselves from the "arrogant powers" (i.e., the U.S. and Israel) in the spirit of Ayatollah Khomeini.
The regime's words were all about 1979, but its actions suggested their minds are far more focused on 2009. Recall the Cairo-like scenes from Tehran two summers ago, when hundreds of thousands rose up over a stolen presidential election. Their uprising was brutally put down. The frustrations with a crony authoritarian regime that is far more savage than Mubarak's Egypt continue to fester.
Iran this week jammed the BBC Persian TV's coverage of the Egyptian uprising. According to the Guardian, the Iranians acted after the BBC brought together Iranian and Egyptian callers on air to exchange ideas.
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who challenged Mr. Ahmadinejad for the presidency, asked permission to stage a rally in solidarity with the people of Egypt and Tunisia this Monday. It was a clever idea to get around the long-standing ban on public gatherings. The government turned them down. At least eight opposition activists and journalists have been detained since Wednesday. Clearly the mullahs are nervous about contagion
Iran teme el contagio
Ayer tambien fue el 32th aniversario de la caida del shah's de Iran.
Nervous in Tehran
Iran's mullahs fear contagion.
As it happens, yesterday was also the 32nd anniversary of the Shah's downfall in Iran. The hard men of Tehran are now seeking to tap into Egypt's revolutionary fervor, hailing Hosni Mubarak's downfall as "a great victory." Earlier on this Islamic Revolution's Victory Day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Arabs to "free" themselves from the "arrogant powers" (i.e., the U.S. and Israel) in the spirit of Ayatollah Khomeini.
The regime's words were all about 1979, but its actions suggested their minds are far more focused on 2009. Recall the Cairo-like scenes from Tehran two summers ago, when hundreds of thousands rose up over a stolen presidential election. Their uprising was brutally put down. The frustrations with a crony authoritarian regime that is far more savage than Mubarak's Egypt continue to fester.
Iran this week jammed the BBC Persian TV's coverage of the Egyptian uprising. According to the Guardian, the Iranians acted after the BBC brought together Iranian and Egyptian callers on air to exchange ideas.
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who challenged Mr. Ahmadinejad for the presidency, asked permission to stage a rally in solidarity with the people of Egypt and Tunisia this Monday. It was a clever idea to get around the long-standing ban on public gatherings. The government turned them down. At least eight opposition activists and journalists have been detained since Wednesday. Clearly the mullahs are nervous about contagion
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Vie Feb 11, 2011 10:45 pm
800,000 menos trabajos
"La libertad de no tener un trabajo"
Friedman no pudo haberlo puesto mejor: "La libertad de elegir no tener un trabajo"
El Congressional Budget Office Director estimo que el seguro de salud de Obama reducira la fuerza laboral en 0.5% o eliminara 800,000 puestos de trabajo.
Para pagar por el seguro de salud, los impuestos tendran que subir poniendo un peso mas grande sobre la economia total de manera que la economia se estancara y producira menos empleos, asi como lo que ha ocurrido en Europa debido a la expansion a sus programas de beneficencia. El verdadero peligro es que las obligaciones del gobierno lideren a un nivel de desempleo mas alto y un incremento en la dependencia en el gobierno por parte de los individuos.
800,000 Fewer Workers
'The freedom to choose not to get a job.
One of the main Republican arguments against ObamaCare is that it will "destroy jobs," which is true, but perhaps not for the reasons usually cited. The issue could use a little nuance after Douglas Elmendorf's headline-grabbing testimony that the new entitlement will reduce employment by about 800,000 workers.
Speaking Thursday before the House Budget Committee, the Congressional Budget Office director estimated that ObamaCare will cause the labor force to shrink by about half a percentage point by the end of the next decade. That isn't the same as claiming that there will be 800,000 fewer jobs available, but rather, as Mr. Elmendorf said, that the law will reduce "the propensity to work." As with any other government subsidy, people receiving "free" health care won't have as much incentive to search for a job or work full time.
But Republicans don't need to appeal to the CBO's authority, and shouldn't. For one, Mr. Elmendorf doesn't think the law's multiple new taxes on business and investment will increase labor costs or dampen entrepreneurial spirits. The larger issue is that this middle-class entitlement is designed to expand over time and will result in much higher levels of taxation across society.
As these liabilities consume an ever-larger share of private wealth, the overall economy will stagnate and there will be many fewer new jobs, much as Europe has experienced as its welfare states have expanded. The real danger is that such welfare-state obligations lead to a high structural jobless rate along with a vast increase in government dependency.
On that score, Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, asked Mr. Elmendorf a leading question about "the freedom to choose to not get a job." Milton Friedman couldn't have put it better.
"La libertad de no tener un trabajo"
Friedman no pudo haberlo puesto mejor: "La libertad de elegir no tener un trabajo"
El Congressional Budget Office Director estimo que el seguro de salud de Obama reducira la fuerza laboral en 0.5% o eliminara 800,000 puestos de trabajo.
Para pagar por el seguro de salud, los impuestos tendran que subir poniendo un peso mas grande sobre la economia total de manera que la economia se estancara y producira menos empleos, asi como lo que ha ocurrido en Europa debido a la expansion a sus programas de beneficencia. El verdadero peligro es que las obligaciones del gobierno lideren a un nivel de desempleo mas alto y un incremento en la dependencia en el gobierno por parte de los individuos.
800,000 Fewer Workers
'The freedom to choose not to get a job.
One of the main Republican arguments against ObamaCare is that it will "destroy jobs," which is true, but perhaps not for the reasons usually cited. The issue could use a little nuance after Douglas Elmendorf's headline-grabbing testimony that the new entitlement will reduce employment by about 800,000 workers.
Speaking Thursday before the House Budget Committee, the Congressional Budget Office director estimated that ObamaCare will cause the labor force to shrink by about half a percentage point by the end of the next decade. That isn't the same as claiming that there will be 800,000 fewer jobs available, but rather, as Mr. Elmendorf said, that the law will reduce "the propensity to work." As with any other government subsidy, people receiving "free" health care won't have as much incentive to search for a job or work full time.
But Republicans don't need to appeal to the CBO's authority, and shouldn't. For one, Mr. Elmendorf doesn't think the law's multiple new taxes on business and investment will increase labor costs or dampen entrepreneurial spirits. The larger issue is that this middle-class entitlement is designed to expand over time and will result in much higher levels of taxation across society.
As these liabilities consume an ever-larger share of private wealth, the overall economy will stagnate and there will be many fewer new jobs, much as Europe has experienced as its welfare states have expanded. The real danger is that such welfare-state obligations lead to a high structural jobless rate along with a vast increase in government dependency.
On that score, Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, asked Mr. Elmendorf a leading question about "the freedom to choose to not get a job." Milton Friedman couldn't have put it better.
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Re: Viernes 12/02/11 Egipto se levanta!!
por admin » Sab Feb 12, 2011 8:29 am
Charles Plosser, el presidente del Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank es ampliamente conocido por velar contra la inflacion. Este anio, el tiene voto en el Federal Open market Committee (FOMC). El es el hombre a mirar.
Mr. Plosser no piensa que la deflation sea un riesgo para la economia de US en estos momentos. Aun los que estaban preocupados de la deflation hace 6 meses ya han cambiado de tono. Lo que significa que con moderado crecimiento del PBI (GDP) y baja inflacion, la unica excusa que queda para el QE2 es el alto desempleo. Puede la politica monetaria facil solucionar ese problema?
Mr. Plosser dice que no: "Esta crisis fue creada por la sobre inversion en la vivienda, y disminuir el desempleo va a ser proceso gradual. "Tu no puedes cambiar a un carpintero y volverlo enfermero con facilidad, y tu no puedes cambiar al broker de hipotecas y volverlo un experto en manufactura de la noche a la maniana. Los trabajadores seran re entrenados y ellos trataran de encontrar trabajos en otras industrias. Pero la politica monetaria no puede entrenar a los trabajadores. La politica monetaria no puede solucionar ese problema"
The Fed's Easy Money Skeptic 'Monetary policy can't retrain people. Monetary policy can't fix those problems.
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
Philadelphia
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was on Capitol Hill this week to answer critical questions about monetary policy, amid rising bond yields and sharply higher commodity prices. Mr. Bernanke showed no self-doubt, and Friday's resignation of Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, one of the board's inflation watchdogs, means that Mr. Bernanke's easy-money inclinations will have even fewer internal checks.
Enter Charles Plosser, the president of Philadelphia's Federal Reserve bank. A former dean of the William E. Simon School of Business at Rochester University, Mr. Plosser is widely known as an inflation hawk. And this year he has a vote on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets monetary policy. He's now a man to watch.
One of the most perplexing questions for the Fed these days concerns the continuation of "QE2," its second round of quantitative easing, which will dump $600 billion in new money into our banking system over the first half of this year.
Mr. Plosser doesn't see a deflation risk for the U.S. economy right now. Even those who were worried about deflation six months ago, he says, have begun to change their tune. That means that, with moderate GDP growth and low inflation in the mix, the only thing left as an excuse for QE2 is high unemployment. Can lax monetary policy change that picture?
Mr. Plosser's answer is unequivocal: This mess was caused by over-investment in housing, and bringing down unemployment will be a gradual process. "You can't change the carpenter into a nurse easily, and you can't change the mortgage broker into a computer expert in a manufacturing plant very easily. Eventually that stuff will sort itself out. People will be retrained and they'll find jobs in other industries. But monetary policy can't retrain people. Monetary policy can't fix those problems."
Mr. Plosser reminds me that when QE2 was first proposed last year, he wasn't in favor. "I didn't think it was necessary and I thought that the costs outweighed the benefits." He says he thought that "it carried some very significant risks" that "would not be borne today but would be borne down the road when the time comes to unwind what we've been doing."
But last month, when Mr. Plosser got his first chance to vote on the FOMC, he didn't dissent. When I ask why, he launches into a summary of his four principles of good policy-making: "clear communication of objectives," "credible commitments toward achieving those objectives," "transparency" and "independence."
Credibility demands that the bank not "stomp on the brakes and then floor the accelerator," he says. "Why do you want to signal something and then yank it out from under the market? That's just not a good way to conduct policy."
I'm skeptical that policy makers will know when to change course, so I ask Mr. Plosser what signals he'll be looking for. He begins by cautioning that "with food and commodity prices, as well as oil prices for that matter, the challenge you always face is distinguishing relative price movements from price-level movements." For this reason, he tries "to get a feel for the underlying trends."
And how does he do that? By examining changes in the consumer price index's headline and core inflation, in the growth of the economy, and in employment figures. But he also pays a lot of attention to inflation expectations "because they can be a source of inflationary pressure all on their own."
Mr. Plosser says he likes to look at surveys, one of which, the Philadelphia Fed's "business outlook survey," is particularly "interesting" right now. The survey asks manufacturers about the prices they pay for their inputs and the prices they charge for their products. Businesses often feel, Mr. Plosser points out, that they are getting squeezed on inputs and yet can't raise prices. But over the last three months, the survey indicator has gone from "negative in November, minus-3, to plus-3 in December, [and then] to plus-17." In other words, "manufacturers are beginning to raise their prices."
But might it be too late to stop an inflation spiral if the committee waits too long for confirmation of pricing pressure? "That's why I focus on growth rates," says Mr. Plosser. "Many people like to focus on output gaps"—a measure of slack in the economy—"and stuff like that, which I don't believe in. I'd rather focus on the growth rate of the economy, the growth rate of employment, and the growth rates of prices and expectations of prices. By looking at growth rates, you react earlier."
Speaking of reacting, I'd like to know what is to be done when all this newly created money starts chasing too few goods. One possibility is to stop QE2. Another is to stop reinvesting the cash flow from the Fed's portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, so that the balance sheet shrinks naturally. "Or you can raise the interest rate on [excess] reserves" in the banking system.
Those reserves are another signal that Mr. Plosser is watching closely. "We have all these excess reserves sitting in the banking system, a trillion-plus excess reserves," he says. This is money that banks choose to hold rather than lend out. "As long as [the excess reserves] are just sitting there, they are only the fuel for inflation, they are not actually causing inflation. But they could, because when banks convert those excess reserves into loans . . . we could see a very rapid increase in liquidity," he says. "That would be a very important signal, to me, that we are going to have to start reining in those excess reserves. Otherwise, if they flow out too rapidly, we will potentially face some serious inflationary pressures.
"If banks suddenly decide that there are loan opportunities out there that are attractive and they'd rather make those loans than keep the money [for a .25% annual return] at the Fed, what we don't know is how quickly we'll have to raise those rates in order to prevent all those reserves from flowing out. Maybe it will be just gradual. But the risk is that we'd have to raise rates really quickly."
If that happens, says Mr. Plosser, the Fed would be "faced with a dilemma" because "some people will be worried that we will stifle the recovery."
Are there other ways out? "We could sell assets," he says, and thereby take dollars out of circulation. But that too sounds risky. "It depends on how rapidly rates go up and how rapidly we have to sell [the bonds]." He points out that selling them before rates go up would allow the Fed to avoid capital losses. That's because when interest rates go up, bond prices go down.
Could selling assets also stifle the recovery? Mr. Plosser says it might work out fine, but it might not. Dumping all those securities on the market would push bond prices down and interest rates up. "Suppose then the political hue and cry comes up and says 'Oh, you can't do that, you're disrupting the housing market, you're driving mortgage rates up.'"
In other words, the Fed would feel political heat for not letting the good times roll. "So then the Fed is faced with a situation whether it's either going to fight that political battle and say 'We don't care, we have to do this.' Or it's going to tolerate more inflation" by refusing to act. (I should note that Mr. Plosser says that inflation expectations "are not out of line yet" and that "they have been fairly stable over the course of the crisis.")
The Fed has enormous discretion, and it has not even been clear what its end game is for QE2. And as it turns out, there isn't one end game. There are two.
"When the FOMC came out for QE2, we had two different explanations for what we were doing," Mr. Plosser explains. "One was that we were trying to raise inflation expectations. And the other was that we were trying to lower real interest rates. So, okay, if those were our objectives, how would we determine if we were successful? Were you really worried about deflation or were you really worried about unemployment?"
To stop this kind of thing from recurring, Mr. Plosser would like to see a rules-based Fed. "One of the things we have learned about policy is that rules dominate discretion. Limiting discretion— tying the hands of policy makers to only behave in limited dimensions—is usually a good thing."
He adds that the Dodd-Frank banking-reform bill failed to deal with this problem, especially regarding banks considered too big to fail. "There's still lots of discretion in Dodd-Frank," he says. Then he dreams out loud: "It'd be nice if we could get into a debate about what's the best rule to follow. We may disagree, but just getting to the point where we could discuss the various benefits of different rules" would be progress.
His personal pick would be an inflation target. This gets back to credibility, one of his four principles of policy making. "The central bank in a country with a fiat currency is the only entity capable and responsible for ensuring price stability. Nobody else can do it. That's why the central bank exists. So it's got to be that that's job one."
Ms. O'Grady writes the Journal's Americas column.
Mr. Plosser no piensa que la deflation sea un riesgo para la economia de US en estos momentos. Aun los que estaban preocupados de la deflation hace 6 meses ya han cambiado de tono. Lo que significa que con moderado crecimiento del PBI (GDP) y baja inflacion, la unica excusa que queda para el QE2 es el alto desempleo. Puede la politica monetaria facil solucionar ese problema?
Mr. Plosser dice que no: "Esta crisis fue creada por la sobre inversion en la vivienda, y disminuir el desempleo va a ser proceso gradual. "Tu no puedes cambiar a un carpintero y volverlo enfermero con facilidad, y tu no puedes cambiar al broker de hipotecas y volverlo un experto en manufactura de la noche a la maniana. Los trabajadores seran re entrenados y ellos trataran de encontrar trabajos en otras industrias. Pero la politica monetaria no puede entrenar a los trabajadores. La politica monetaria no puede solucionar ese problema"
The Fed's Easy Money Skeptic 'Monetary policy can't retrain people. Monetary policy can't fix those problems.
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
Philadelphia
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was on Capitol Hill this week to answer critical questions about monetary policy, amid rising bond yields and sharply higher commodity prices. Mr. Bernanke showed no self-doubt, and Friday's resignation of Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, one of the board's inflation watchdogs, means that Mr. Bernanke's easy-money inclinations will have even fewer internal checks.
Enter Charles Plosser, the president of Philadelphia's Federal Reserve bank. A former dean of the William E. Simon School of Business at Rochester University, Mr. Plosser is widely known as an inflation hawk. And this year he has a vote on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets monetary policy. He's now a man to watch.
One of the most perplexing questions for the Fed these days concerns the continuation of "QE2," its second round of quantitative easing, which will dump $600 billion in new money into our banking system over the first half of this year.
Mr. Plosser doesn't see a deflation risk for the U.S. economy right now. Even those who were worried about deflation six months ago, he says, have begun to change their tune. That means that, with moderate GDP growth and low inflation in the mix, the only thing left as an excuse for QE2 is high unemployment. Can lax monetary policy change that picture?
Mr. Plosser's answer is unequivocal: This mess was caused by over-investment in housing, and bringing down unemployment will be a gradual process. "You can't change the carpenter into a nurse easily, and you can't change the mortgage broker into a computer expert in a manufacturing plant very easily. Eventually that stuff will sort itself out. People will be retrained and they'll find jobs in other industries. But monetary policy can't retrain people. Monetary policy can't fix those problems."
Mr. Plosser reminds me that when QE2 was first proposed last year, he wasn't in favor. "I didn't think it was necessary and I thought that the costs outweighed the benefits." He says he thought that "it carried some very significant risks" that "would not be borne today but would be borne down the road when the time comes to unwind what we've been doing."
But last month, when Mr. Plosser got his first chance to vote on the FOMC, he didn't dissent. When I ask why, he launches into a summary of his four principles of good policy-making: "clear communication of objectives," "credible commitments toward achieving those objectives," "transparency" and "independence."
Credibility demands that the bank not "stomp on the brakes and then floor the accelerator," he says. "Why do you want to signal something and then yank it out from under the market? That's just not a good way to conduct policy."
I'm skeptical that policy makers will know when to change course, so I ask Mr. Plosser what signals he'll be looking for. He begins by cautioning that "with food and commodity prices, as well as oil prices for that matter, the challenge you always face is distinguishing relative price movements from price-level movements." For this reason, he tries "to get a feel for the underlying trends."
And how does he do that? By examining changes in the consumer price index's headline and core inflation, in the growth of the economy, and in employment figures. But he also pays a lot of attention to inflation expectations "because they can be a source of inflationary pressure all on their own."
Mr. Plosser says he likes to look at surveys, one of which, the Philadelphia Fed's "business outlook survey," is particularly "interesting" right now. The survey asks manufacturers about the prices they pay for their inputs and the prices they charge for their products. Businesses often feel, Mr. Plosser points out, that they are getting squeezed on inputs and yet can't raise prices. But over the last three months, the survey indicator has gone from "negative in November, minus-3, to plus-3 in December, [and then] to plus-17." In other words, "manufacturers are beginning to raise their prices."
But might it be too late to stop an inflation spiral if the committee waits too long for confirmation of pricing pressure? "That's why I focus on growth rates," says Mr. Plosser. "Many people like to focus on output gaps"—a measure of slack in the economy—"and stuff like that, which I don't believe in. I'd rather focus on the growth rate of the economy, the growth rate of employment, and the growth rates of prices and expectations of prices. By looking at growth rates, you react earlier."
Speaking of reacting, I'd like to know what is to be done when all this newly created money starts chasing too few goods. One possibility is to stop QE2. Another is to stop reinvesting the cash flow from the Fed's portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, so that the balance sheet shrinks naturally. "Or you can raise the interest rate on [excess] reserves" in the banking system.
Those reserves are another signal that Mr. Plosser is watching closely. "We have all these excess reserves sitting in the banking system, a trillion-plus excess reserves," he says. This is money that banks choose to hold rather than lend out. "As long as [the excess reserves] are just sitting there, they are only the fuel for inflation, they are not actually causing inflation. But they could, because when banks convert those excess reserves into loans . . . we could see a very rapid increase in liquidity," he says. "That would be a very important signal, to me, that we are going to have to start reining in those excess reserves. Otherwise, if they flow out too rapidly, we will potentially face some serious inflationary pressures.
"If banks suddenly decide that there are loan opportunities out there that are attractive and they'd rather make those loans than keep the money [for a .25% annual return] at the Fed, what we don't know is how quickly we'll have to raise those rates in order to prevent all those reserves from flowing out. Maybe it will be just gradual. But the risk is that we'd have to raise rates really quickly."
If that happens, says Mr. Plosser, the Fed would be "faced with a dilemma" because "some people will be worried that we will stifle the recovery."
Are there other ways out? "We could sell assets," he says, and thereby take dollars out of circulation. But that too sounds risky. "It depends on how rapidly rates go up and how rapidly we have to sell [the bonds]." He points out that selling them before rates go up would allow the Fed to avoid capital losses. That's because when interest rates go up, bond prices go down.
Could selling assets also stifle the recovery? Mr. Plosser says it might work out fine, but it might not. Dumping all those securities on the market would push bond prices down and interest rates up. "Suppose then the political hue and cry comes up and says 'Oh, you can't do that, you're disrupting the housing market, you're driving mortgage rates up.'"
In other words, the Fed would feel political heat for not letting the good times roll. "So then the Fed is faced with a situation whether it's either going to fight that political battle and say 'We don't care, we have to do this.' Or it's going to tolerate more inflation" by refusing to act. (I should note that Mr. Plosser says that inflation expectations "are not out of line yet" and that "they have been fairly stable over the course of the crisis.")
The Fed has enormous discretion, and it has not even been clear what its end game is for QE2. And as it turns out, there isn't one end game. There are two.
"When the FOMC came out for QE2, we had two different explanations for what we were doing," Mr. Plosser explains. "One was that we were trying to raise inflation expectations. And the other was that we were trying to lower real interest rates. So, okay, if those were our objectives, how would we determine if we were successful? Were you really worried about deflation or were you really worried about unemployment?"
To stop this kind of thing from recurring, Mr. Plosser would like to see a rules-based Fed. "One of the things we have learned about policy is that rules dominate discretion. Limiting discretion— tying the hands of policy makers to only behave in limited dimensions—is usually a good thing."
He adds that the Dodd-Frank banking-reform bill failed to deal with this problem, especially regarding banks considered too big to fail. "There's still lots of discretion in Dodd-Frank," he says. Then he dreams out loud: "It'd be nice if we could get into a debate about what's the best rule to follow. We may disagree, but just getting to the point where we could discuss the various benefits of different rules" would be progress.
His personal pick would be an inflation target. This gets back to credibility, one of his four principles of policy making. "The central bank in a country with a fiat currency is the only entity capable and responsible for ensuring price stability. Nobody else can do it. That's why the central bank exists. So it's got to be that that's job one."
Ms. O'Grady writes the Journal's Americas column.
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