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<p /> <p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy annual report</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The story behind Cheniere Energy makes for a pretty good read. In less than 20 years, the company has completely transformed its business model twice, and its current iteration as an liquefied natural gas exporter from the U.S. seemed like an absolute long shot only a few years ago. Now, it has loaded its first LNG cargoes and is on pace to become a major global supplier of the fuel by the end of the decade. To help investors wrap their heads around all this, let's take a look at three charts that help explain where Cheniere Energy can go from here.</p> <p>LNG is going to be big in the coming decadesAs investors in the U.S., we have a tendency to want to translate our experiences here onto the global stage in ways that may or may not apply. A great example of this can be seen in energy trends. In this country, overall consumption of fossil fuels is flat to declining, and domestic natural gas is cheap and plentiful. These conditions are far from the case globally; nations that aren't as well endowed with natural resources will have vast and growing appetites for natural gas in the coming years.</p> <p>The constraints involved with moving natural gas overseas means that there is an immense opportunity for those with excess LNG production capacity to export to both Europe and Asia.</p> <p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy investor presentation</p> <p>This appetite for LNG explains how Cheniere has about 87% of its total production capacity already locked intosupply contracts. More than 80% of that is in 20-year contracts, providing the company with a stable revenue and cash flow stream that should give it ample opportunities to expand its LNG export capacities over the next decade.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>We're very well suited to serve that marketLNG exports have been a hot topic around the globe. For about a decade, integrated oil and gas companies have been making huge bets on LNG exports, building facilities in places like Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. However, many of the investment decisions for these facilities were made before the industry really cracked the code on shale drilling in the U.S. Now that it has done so and have natural gas prices in the $2 to $3 per thousand cubic feet range, the U.S. has become one of the cheaper sources for LNG.</p> <p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy investor presentation</p> <p>There are a couple of inherent advantages that U.S.-based LNG facilities have that Cheniere can tap. First, the U.S. already has an extremely robust energy infrastructure that can deliver immense quantities of gas to the Gulf Coast. Second, there are lots of independent producers all selling the same commodity, so Cheniere can shop around for the cheapest gas possible and not get locked into unfavorable contracts. And third, the existing infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region also means construction costs are lower than in more remote locations like Western Canada and Northwest Australia.</p> <p>When the next wave of LNG facilities is needed to meet increasing demand, the Gulf Coast will likely be a top candidate, giving Cheniere a leg up over producers in other parts of the world.</p> <p>But first, it needs to pay down some debtLooking back on it, Cheniere Energy actually looked like one of the least likely candidates to pull off what it did. The company started as an oil and gas producer, transformed to an LNG importer, and then transformed again into an LNG exporter; all the while not making any money, but making major capital investments. Because of its failure to generate cash, Cheniere has had to get very creative with its finances. On top of spinning off its Sabine Pass LNG facility into Cheniere Energy Partners , it spun off Cheniere Energy Partners Holdings -- an entity that just owns shares of Cheniere Energy Partners -- and took on a huge pile of debt.</p> <p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy investor presentation</p> <p>Under the leadership of former CEO Charif Souki, it seemed that debt wasn't too big a deal and the company could start investing in greater expansion. However, after the ouster of Souki by activist investor Carl Icahn, new management has hit the pause button on expansion until the company starts to generate some operational cash flow. Once that happens and it starts to manage its debt load, it won't be surprising to see Cheniere pounce on opportunities to gain greater market share in the LNG export business.</p> <p>What a Fool BelievesCheniere Energy is one of the more unusual investing opportunities in the energy space. It's an investment in the natural gas boom in the U.S. and the cost advantage that this country has compared to other natural gas producers worldwide. At the same time, the structure of its LNG supply contracts also means that Cheniere's not as subject to commodity price fluctuations as other natural gas investments are.</p> <p>For the patient investor who is considering LNG as an opportunity, the charts above pretty much spell out how Cheniere will be able to profit in the business.There will be an opportunity over the next decade to supply the growing need for LNG, and a U.S. Gulf Coast-based supplier like Cheniere has a lot of advantages in capturing a piece of that market. But it will likely need to prove it is a reliable operator of LNG facilities and start to clean up its debt situation before it can take on any major new projects.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/06/cheniere-energys-outlook-explained-in-3-charts.aspx" type="external">Cheniere Energy's Outlook Explained in 3 Charts Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Tyler Crowe Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.You can follow him at Fool.comor on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TylerCroweFool" type="external">@TylerCroweFool Opens a New Window.</a>.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

image source cheniere energy annual report continue reading story behind cheniere energy makes pretty good read less 20 years company completely transformed business model twice current iteration liquefied natural gas exporter us seemed like absolute long shot years ago loaded first lng cargoes pace become major global supplier fuel end decade help investors wrap heads around lets take look three charts help explain cheniere energy go lng going big coming decadesas investors us tendency want translate experiences onto global stage ways may may apply great example seen energy trends country overall consumption fossil fuels flat declining domestic natural gas cheap plentiful conditions far case globally nations arent well endowed natural resources vast growing appetites natural gas coming years constraints involved moving natural gas overseas means immense opportunity excess lng production capacity export europe asia image source cheniere energy investor presentation appetite lng explains cheniere 87 total production capacity already locked intosupply contracts 80 20year contracts providing company stable revenue cash flow stream give ample opportunities expand lng export capacities next decade advertisement well suited serve marketlng exports hot topic around globe decade integrated oil gas companies making huge bets lng exports building facilities places like australia africa middle east however many investment decisions facilities made industry really cracked code shale drilling us done natural gas prices 2 3 per thousand cubic feet range us become one cheaper sources lng image source cheniere energy investor presentation couple inherent advantages usbased lng facilities cheniere tap first us already extremely robust energy infrastructure deliver immense quantities gas gulf coast second lots independent producers selling commodity cheniere shop around cheapest gas possible get locked unfavorable contracts third existing infrastructure gulf coast region also means construction costs lower remote locations like western canada northwest australia next wave lng facilities needed meet increasing demand gulf coast likely top candidate giving cheniere leg producers parts world first needs pay debtlooking back cheniere energy actually looked like one least likely candidates pull company started oil gas producer transformed lng importer transformed lng exporter making money making major capital investments failure generate cash cheniere get creative finances top spinning sabine pass lng facility cheniere energy partners spun cheniere energy partners holdings entity owns shares cheniere energy partners took huge pile debt image source cheniere energy investor presentation leadership former ceo charif souki seemed debt wasnt big deal company could start investing greater expansion however ouster souki activist investor carl icahn new management hit pause button expansion company starts generate operational cash flow happens starts manage debt load wont surprising see cheniere pounce opportunities gain greater market share lng export business fool believescheniere energy one unusual investing opportunities energy space investment natural gas boom us cost advantage country compared natural gas producers worldwide time structure lng supply contracts also means chenieres subject commodity price fluctuations natural gas investments patient investor considering lng opportunity charts pretty much spell cheniere able profit businessthere opportunity next decade supply growing need lng us gulf coastbased supplier like cheniere lot advantages capturing piece market likely need prove reliable operator lng facilities start clean debt situation take major new projects article cheniere energys outlook explained 3 charts opens new window originally appeared foolcom tyler crowe opens new window position stocks mentionedyou follow foolcomor twitter tylercrowefool opens new windowthe motley fool position stocks mentioned try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window copyright 1995 2016 motley fool llc rights reserved motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>For most of 2015, shares of JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) managed to fly high above most other airline stocks. JetBlue posted double-digit revenue growth for the full year due to strong growth in revenue per available seat mile (RASM) in Q1 2015 and flattish RASM through the rest of the year.</p> <p>Unfortunately, JetBlue's unit revenue performance began to hit turbulence last fall and <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/13/jetblue-cuts-its-revenue-guidance-and-slashes-grow.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">took a turn for the worse Opens a New Window.</a> in the first half of 2016. As a result, the stock plunged from a high around $27 last September to a low near $15 late last month.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>JetBlue Stock Performance 2015-present data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>However, JetBlue posted better-than-expected Q2 earnings results this week. Furthermore, the company forecast that unit revenue trends will improve in Q3, contradicting the outlook offered by its largest domestic rival, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV). This was a rare piece of good news for airlines.</p> <p>JetBlue Airways generated earnings per share of $0.53 last quarter, up about 20% from its EPS of $0.44 a year earlier. This comfortably beat the average analyst estimate of $0.49.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>JetBlue's strong earnings performance came despite a steep drop in unit revenue. RASM fell 8.2% year over year, even worse than the roughly 7% decline that management had predicted three months ago.</p> <p>The primary driver of JetBlue's earnings growth was a 33% decline in the average fuel price it paid, driven by lower market prices for jet fuel and the absence of any hedging losses. But JetBlue also did an impressive job of controlling its non-fuel expenses. Cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel and profit sharing, declined 1% year over year in Q2 -- 1.5 percentage points better than the midpoint of JetBlue's guidance.</p> <p>Investors got even better news from JetBlue's revenue outlook. The company expects RASM to decrease just 2.5% to 3% in July. That represents a huge improvement from JetBlue's 8.2% Q2 RASM decline. It's even better than the 4.5% decline registered in the month of June.</p> <p>JetBlue expects its unit revenue trajectory to improve in Q3 relative to Q2. Image source: JetBlue Airways.</p> <p>JetBlue's management did say that unit revenue will probably fall at a faster pace in August and September than in July. However, it still expects the declines to be more moderate than in the second quarter.</p> <p>By contrast, Southwest Airlines indicated last week that its RASM trajectory will weaken from 0.6% growth in Q2 to a <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/25/southwest-airlines-gets-burned-by-fuel-hedges-agai.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">3% to 4% decline in Q3 Opens a New Window.</a>. About 2.5 percentage points of this sequential weakening comes from lapping the impact of Southwest's new credit card agreement. But even excluding that issue, Southwest expects its unit revenue performance to be 1 to 2 percentage points worse this quarter than it was in Q2.</p> <p>JetBlue executives suggested during the company's earnings call that the discrepancy may be related to JetBlue's leisure focus. Leisure travel demand has been strong this year, so even with industry capacity up significantly year over year, JetBlue hasn't had to discount much during the summer peak season.</p> <p>By contrast, Southwest Airlines has increased its appeal to business travelers in recent years. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly noted last week that fares for close-in bookings (typically for business travel) have weakened in the past month.</p> <p>Whatever the cause, JetBlue's unit revenue trajectory is poised for solid sequential improvement. And while the year-over-year fuel tailwind will be much smaller in Q3 than it was in Q2, it will still be substantial. JetBlue has estimated its Q3 average jet fuel cost at $1.52 per gallon, compared to $1.85 per gallon a year earlier. The actual savings may be greater, as jet fuel prices have fallen significantly since JetBlue made its estimate on July 15.</p> <p>As a result, there is a good chance that JetBlue will deliver Q3 EPS roughly in line with the $0.58 it earned a year ago. That's better than what analysts have been expecting lately -- and it suggests that JetBlue is set to thrive as industry capacity growth starts to slow later this year.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;amp;ftm_pit=2691&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGemHunter/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levine-Weinberg Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of JetBlue Airways and is long January 2017 $17 calls on JetBlue Airways. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

2015 shares jetblue airways nasdaq jblu managed fly high airline stocks jetblue posted doubledigit revenue growth full year due strong growth revenue per available seat mile rasm q1 2015 flattish rasm rest year unfortunately jetblues unit revenue performance began hit turbulence last fall took turn worse opens new window first half 2016 result stock plunged high around 27 last september low near 15 late last month continue reading jetblue stock performance 2015present data ycharts opens new window however jetblue posted betterthanexpected q2 earnings results week furthermore company forecast unit revenue trends improve q3 contradicting outlook offered largest domestic rival southwest airlines nyse luv rare piece good news airlines jetblue airways generated earnings per share 053 last quarter 20 eps 044 year earlier comfortably beat average analyst estimate 049 advertisement jetblues strong earnings performance came despite steep drop unit revenue rasm fell 82 year year even worse roughly 7 decline management predicted three months ago primary driver jetblues earnings growth 33 decline average fuel price paid driven lower market prices jet fuel absence hedging losses jetblue also impressive job controlling nonfuel expenses cost per available seat mile excluding fuel profit sharing declined 1 year year q2 15 percentage points better midpoint jetblues guidance investors got even better news jetblues revenue outlook company expects rasm decrease 25 3 july represents huge improvement jetblues 82 q2 rasm decline even better 45 decline registered month june jetblue expects unit revenue trajectory improve q3 relative q2 image source jetblue airways jetblues management say unit revenue probably fall faster pace august september july however still expects declines moderate second quarter contrast southwest airlines indicated last week rasm trajectory weaken 06 growth q2 3 4 decline q3 opens new window 25 percentage points sequential weakening comes lapping impact southwests new credit card agreement even excluding issue southwest expects unit revenue performance 1 2 percentage points worse quarter q2 jetblue executives suggested companys earnings call discrepancy may related jetblues leisure focus leisure travel demand strong year even industry capacity significantly year year jetblue hasnt discount much summer peak season contrast southwest airlines increased appeal business travelers recent years southwest ceo gary kelly noted last week fares closein bookings typically business travel weakened past month whatever cause jetblues unit revenue trajectory poised solid sequential improvement yearoveryear fuel tailwind much smaller q3 q2 still substantial jetblue estimated q3 average jet fuel cost 152 per gallon compared 185 per gallon year earlier actual savings may greater jet fuel prices fallen significantly since jetblue made estimate july 15 result good chance jetblue deliver q3 eps roughly line 058 earned year ago thats better analysts expecting lately suggests jetblue set thrive industry capacity growth starts slow later year secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window adam levineweinberg opens new window owns shares jetblue airways long january 2017 17 calls jetblue airways motley fool position stocks mentioned try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>Stanley Fischer could soon be the only person ever nominated as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve who is actually overqualified.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>His resume is impressive, to say the least: former chief of the Bank of Israel, ex-official at both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and a key confident of European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and current Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, who recently called him a &#8220;role model.&#8221;</p> <p>In fact, Fischer himself was reportedly a long-shot candidate to take over for Bernanke at the Fed.</p> <p>All of this raises the question: Could a policy heavyweight and central bank superstar like Fischer actually overshadow incoming Fed chief Janet Yellen?</p> <p>&#8220;I do think that&#8217;s a risk they should be concerned about,&#8221; said Drew Matus, an economist at UBS (NYSE:UBS). &#8220;You&#8217;re putting in someone who truly could step into the top job at a moment&#8217;s notice. He&#8217;s as well-known as Janet Yellen and that might complicate people&#8217;s perceptions.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;He&#8217;s got stature with the markets and people around the world that I think will be an asset."</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Signs that Fischer has agreed to be Yellen&#8217;s No. 2 have been greeted mostly positively by Fed watchers and market participants alike. It shows Yellen is comfortable working with another high-powered policymaker and strengthens the debate over future Fed action.</p> <p>But Fischer&#8217;s nomination could also create problems down the line as Fed officials debate the delicate task of unwinding quantitative easing.</p> <p>&#8220;What if they disagreed on policy and Yellen went one way and Fischer went the other? Which way would the market go?&#8221; Matus asked.</p> <p>Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx, said &#8220;any visible public disagreement at the Fed would cause the market concern&#8221; and make it appear that &#8220;Janet Yellen is not starting her tenure with a cohesive policy.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8216;Wonderful Addition to the Family&#8217;</p> <p>People who have worked with Yellen and Fischer believe these concerns are overblown. Both have a track record for working to build consensus in a collegial manner (read: not Larry Summers).</p> <p>&#8220;He&#8217;s been a No.1 and a No. 2. He knows how to handle himself,&#8221; said Edwin Truman, who has known both Fischer and Yellen for more than 25 years. &#8220;As long as the place runs in a collegial way there will be no problem. I&#8217;m sure he will be a wonderful addition to the family.&#8221;</p> <p>Jeffrey Shafer, who helped recruit Fischer to Citigroup (NYSE:C) last decade, said he doesn&#8217;t believe appointing Fischer &#8220;undercuts the choice&#8221; of Yellen at all.</p> <p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure they would not have done this without her blessing. I think it says something about Janet that she is comfortable with someone on her team with his eminence. I think they will get along and make a very good team,&#8221; said Shafer, who previously worked at the Fed and the Treasury Department.</p> <p>From a philosophical perspective, Fischer and Yellen have far more to agree on than not.</p> <p>They have both been supporters of the Fed&#8217;s controversial $85 billion bond buying exercise and super low interest rates. In fact, Fischer oversaw a QE program of his own at the Bank of Israel.</p> <p>&#8220;We see little daylight between Fischer and the current core FOMC leadership with respect to their basic paradigm for thinking about the economy,&#8221; Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) economists Jon Hatzius and Kris Dawsey wrote in a note to clients this week.</p> <p>Forward Guidance Fight?</p> <p>In a lecture, Fischer said the QE experiment shows that &#8220;there is a lot that the central bank can do to run an expansionary monetary policy even when it has cut&#8221; rates essentially to zero. He said asset purchases &#8220;increase liquidity&#8221; and longer-term asset purchases, such as in QE2, may help central banks boost private sector demand for long-term assets like mortgages and corporate investment.</p> <p>One possible area of contention could be over forward guidance, for which Fischer recently expressed some skepticism. &#8220;If you give too much forward guidance you do take away flexibility,&#8221; Fischer said in September. &#8220;We don&#8217;t know what we&#8217;ll be doing a year from now. It&#8217;s a mistake to try and get too precise.&#8221;</p> <p>While Fischer is skeptical about calendar-based forward guidance, Yellen has been one of its biggest proponents. As the Fed begins to dial back QE, it is expected to lean heavily on forward guidance, which indicates the expected path of monetary policy in the future.</p> <p>Still, this isn&#8217;t seen as a major stumbling block for the likely new Fed leadership.</p> <p>&#8220;We have little doubt that Yellen and Fischer would see eye to eye on the need to prevent a large tightening of financial conditions anytime soon, so the slightly greater uncertainty that might result from his nomination is mainly about tactics, not strategy,&#8221; Hatzius and Dawsey wrote.</p> <p>Making the Fed More Democratic?</p> <p>Adding Fischer to the Fed would seemingly only enhance the central bank&#8217;s reputation, especially overseas where the former Israeli central banker carries great weight.</p> <p>&#8220;He&#8217;s got stature with the markets and people around the world that I think will be an asset,&#8221; said Shafer.</p> <p>Fischer&#8217;s appointment has yet to be announced by the White House and he would still need to be approved by the Senate.</p> <p>While relations in Congress have improved dramatically in recent weeks (see: budget compromise), Matus wondered whether some lawmakers will object.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a very senior government appointment in the United States and he&#8217;s a dual citizen. I don&#8217;t know how that will fly,&#8221; said Matus.</p> <p>Goldman said it&#8217;s &#8220;very likely&#8221; Fischer would be confirmed, noting the recent change in Senate rules means he would only need a simple majority.</p> <p>Colas sees another benefit in adding someone of Fischer&#8217;s status to the Fed to sit alongside the equally well-respected Yellen.</p> <p>&#8220;It does make the Federal Reserve look a little more democratic. At least you have the optics of real debate and not autocratic&#8221; rule like under former Fed chiefs Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, said Colas.</p> <p>&#8220;This might make it more complex (for the markets), but I think it does make it look more consistent with American values,&#8221; said Colas.</p>

stanley fischer could soon person ever nominated vice chairman federal reserve actually overqualified continue reading resume impressive say least former chief bank israel exofficial international monetary fund world bank key confident european central bank president mario draghi current fed chair ben bernanke recently called role model fact fischer reportedly longshot candidate take bernanke fed raises question could policy heavyweight central bank superstar like fischer actually overshadow incoming fed chief janet yellen think thats risk concerned said drew matus economist ubs nyseubs youre putting someone truly could step top job moments notice hes wellknown janet yellen might complicate peoples perceptions hes got stature markets people around world think asset advertisement signs fischer agreed yellens 2 greeted mostly positively fed watchers market participants alike shows yellen comfortable working another highpowered policymaker strengthens debate future fed action fischers nomination could also create problems line fed officials debate delicate task unwinding quantitative easing disagreed policy yellen went one way fischer went way would market go matus asked nicholas colas chief market strategist convergex said visible public disagreement fed would cause market concern make appear janet yellen starting tenure cohesive policy wonderful addition family people worked yellen fischer believe concerns overblown track record working build consensus collegial manner read larry summers hes no1 2 knows handle said edwin truman known fischer yellen 25 years long place runs collegial way problem im sure wonderful addition family jeffrey shafer helped recruit fischer citigroup nysec last decade said doesnt believe appointing fischer undercuts choice yellen im sure would done without blessing think says something janet comfortable someone team eminence think get along make good team said shafer previously worked fed treasury department philosophical perspective fischer yellen far agree supporters feds controversial 85 billion bond buying exercise super low interest rates fact fischer oversaw qe program bank israel see little daylight fischer current core fomc leadership respect basic paradigm thinking economy goldman sachs nysegs economists jon hatzius kris dawsey wrote note clients week forward guidance fight lecture fischer said qe experiment shows lot central bank run expansionary monetary policy even cut rates essentially zero said asset purchases increase liquidity longerterm asset purchases qe2 may help central banks boost private sector demand longterm assets like mortgages corporate investment one possible area contention could forward guidance fischer recently expressed skepticism give much forward guidance take away flexibility fischer said september dont know well year mistake try get precise fischer skeptical calendarbased forward guidance yellen one biggest proponents fed begins dial back qe expected lean heavily forward guidance indicates expected path monetary policy future still isnt seen major stumbling block likely new fed leadership little doubt yellen fischer would see eye eye need prevent large tightening financial conditions anytime soon slightly greater uncertainty might result nomination mainly tactics strategy hatzius dawsey wrote making fed democratic adding fischer fed would seemingly enhance central banks reputation especially overseas former israeli central banker carries great weight hes got stature markets people around world think asset said shafer fischers appointment yet announced white house would still need approved senate relations congress improved dramatically recent weeks see budget compromise matus wondered whether lawmakers object senior government appointment united states hes dual citizen dont know fly said matus goldman said likely fischer would confirmed noting recent change senate rules means would need simple majority colas sees another benefit adding someone fischers status fed sit alongside equally wellrespected yellen make federal reserve look little democratic least optics real debate autocratic rule like former fed chiefs alan greenspan paul volcker said colas might make complex markets think make look consistent american values said colas

<p /> <p>Image source: Moodboard via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/67835627@N05/7301112196/" type="external">Flickr</a>.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The amazing power of compounding makes it easier to grow wealth the earlier in life you start investing. So, perhaps you want to help give your grandkids the financial leg up in life that you wish someone had given you, by buying stocks for them.</p> <p>We asked three of our contributors to name a stock that he or she believes would make a great investment for a child. Find out below why American Water Works , Synaptics , and NextEra Energy could be tickets to your grandkids' financial head start in life.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMcKenna/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Beth McKenna</a>American Water Works, the largest investor-owned water and wastewater utility in the United States, would make a great stock to buy for a child if your goals are:</p> <p>American Water Works is not a stock you or your grandchild will have to closely monitor. While many things will change in the decades to come, it's a certainty that your grandkid will grow up in a world where water remains the most essential commodity on the planet.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>You'll be hard-pressed to find a stock that offers this type of stability while generating superior long-term gains. Since its April 2008 IPO, American Water Works stock has returned (including dividends) 320% through March 29, crushing the S&amp;amp;P 500's return of 77%. Moreover, this so-called "stodgy" utility also beat the returns of many stocks commonly recommended for kids, such as Walt Disney (245%), McDonald's(173%), Mattel (144%), andCoca-Cola (96%) over this period. There are some potentially attractive stocks among this bunch (I'm partial to Disney), but none of them sell a product guaranteed to be in demand -- or even in existence -- decades from now.</p> <p>American Water Works has solid future growth potential, which should lead to continued market-beating long-term returns. It's the 800-pound gorilla in a very fragmented industry, which provides it with the resources to continue to grow through acquisitions. Moreover, it has pricing power in its nonregulated business.</p> <p>Choosing a stock your grandchild can relate to should go a long way in sparking his or her interest in investing. All kids can highly relate to a water company -- just turn on your tap and tell your grandchild that whenever one of an estimated 15 million people in more than 45 states and parts of Canada does the same, his or her company makes money.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/timbrugger/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Tim Brugger</a>A great stock to take advantage of your grandkids' long time horizon for investing, and to get in on the Internet of Things (IoT) -- a multitrillion-dollar market opportunity -- is Synaptics.</p> <p>Synaptics develops displays, touchscreens, and fingerprint security solutions primarily for mobile devices. Of last quarter's record $471 million in revenue, approximately 87% was mobile-related, and the balance was from Synaptics' PC-related products. Now, Synaptics is ready to grow its mobility business via one of the fastest-growing areas of IoT: connected cars.</p> <p>Image source: Synaptics.</p> <p>How big is in-car technology? According to a recent study, new car buyers are more interested in an automobile's infotainment system than actual driving performance. Synaptics boasts a suite of solutions to win the connected-car wars, and it has already inked deals with some of the world's largest auto parts manufacturers.Better still, despite Synaptics' early wins, it's only scratched the surface of a market that will become as commonplace as a radio by the time today's grandkids become adults.</p> <p>Synaptics was recently the recipient of a rumored $110 buyout offer earlier this year, its second in four months. The inquiry was notable because Synaptics was trading at just $62.05 a share at the time. It may fly under many investors' radars, but pundits certainly recognize the potential Synaptics offers.</p> <p>Synaptics is an absolute bargain, too. Trading at just 10 times future earnings compared to its current 23, the Street clearly expects Synaptics' impressive revenue growth to continue. The grandkids of today already live in an IoT world, and Synaptics gives them an opportunity to grow their portfolios right along with the next trillion-dollar market.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Sean Williams</a>If you're looking for a "set it and forget it"-type stock for your grandchildren, my suggestion would be to consider utility giantNextEra Energy.</p> <p>NextEra Energy supplies power to more than 4.8 million residents in Florida and is best known for its subsidiary Florida Power &amp;amp; Light Company, or FPL. What makes FPL unique is that it's one of the largest rate-regulated utilities in the country. While rate regulation might give shareholders the desire to pull their hair out from time to time since rate hikes require permission from regulators, it also means less exposure to wholesale electricity cost fluctuations, and very predictable cash flow.</p> <p>More important, NextEra Energy is the United States' utility kingpin when it comes to alternative energy investments. Although investing in wind and solar isn't cheap -- through 2014, NextEra had shelled out $20 billion to develop its wind business -- the long-term rewards could be huge. As the U.S. government begins pushing cleaner emissions standards on electric utilities, NextEra looks primed to be in great shape, with 32 million megawatt-hours of wind generation and approximately 700 MW of solar-power generation in 2014. Both figures are tops in the country for electric utilities. As the cost to provide alternative energy drops, it means NextEra could have a clear cost advantage over its peers. As a bonus, it also means FPL's customers could see smaller price hikes since FPL's costs remain under control.</p> <p>Despite its heavy investment in alternative energy, the company is also paying out a market-topping 3% yield. With EPS growth looking to remain steady in the 4%-7% range for the foreseeable future, and NextEra selling a basic-need product (electricity), investing in this stock could be a smart way to give your grandkids' savings accounts a jolt.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/03/3-top-stocks-to-buy-your-grandkids.aspx" type="external">3 Top Stocks to Buy Your Grandkids</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMcKenna/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Beth McKenna</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Sean Williams</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/timbrugger/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Tim Brugger</a> owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Coca-Cola and Walt Disney. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>

image source moodboard via flickr continue reading amazing power compounding makes easier grow wealth earlier life start investing perhaps want help give grandkids financial leg life wish someone given buying stocks asked three contributors name stock believes would make great investment child find american water works synaptics nextera energy could tickets grandkids financial head start life beth mckennaamerican water works largest investorowned water wastewater utility united states would make great stock buy child goals american water works stock grandchild closely monitor many things change decades come certainty grandkid grow world water remains essential commodity planet advertisement youll hardpressed find stock offers type stability generating superior longterm gains since april 2008 ipo american water works stock returned including dividends 320 march 29 crushing sampp 500s return 77 moreover socalled stodgy utility also beat returns many stocks commonly recommended kids walt disney 245 mcdonalds173 mattel 144 andcocacola 96 period potentially attractive stocks among bunch im partial disney none sell product guaranteed demand even existence decades american water works solid future growth potential lead continued marketbeating longterm returns 800pound gorilla fragmented industry provides resources continue grow acquisitions moreover pricing power nonregulated business choosing stock grandchild relate go long way sparking interest investing kids highly relate water company turn tap tell grandchild whenever one estimated 15 million people 45 states parts canada company makes money tim bruggera great stock take advantage grandkids long time horizon investing get internet things iot multitrilliondollar market opportunity synaptics synaptics develops displays touchscreens fingerprint security solutions primarily mobile devices last quarters record 471 million revenue approximately 87 mobilerelated balance synaptics pcrelated products synaptics ready grow mobility business via one fastestgrowing areas iot connected cars image source synaptics big incar technology according recent study new car buyers interested automobiles infotainment system actual driving performance synaptics boasts suite solutions win connectedcar wars already inked deals worlds largest auto parts manufacturersbetter still despite synaptics early wins scratched surface market become commonplace radio time todays grandkids become adults synaptics recently recipient rumored 110 buyout offer earlier year second four months inquiry notable synaptics trading 6205 share time may fly many investors radars pundits certainly recognize potential synaptics offers synaptics absolute bargain trading 10 times future earnings compared current 23 street clearly expects synaptics impressive revenue growth continue grandkids today already live iot world synaptics gives opportunity grow portfolios right along next trilliondollar market sean williamsif youre looking set forget ittype stock grandchildren suggestion would consider utility giantnextera energy nextera energy supplies power 48 million residents florida best known subsidiary florida power amp light company fpl makes fpl unique one largest rateregulated utilities country rate regulation might give shareholders desire pull hair time time since rate hikes require permission regulators also means less exposure wholesale electricity cost fluctuations predictable cash flow important nextera energy united states utility kingpin comes alternative energy investments although investing wind solar isnt cheap 2014 nextera shelled 20 billion develop wind business longterm rewards could huge us government begins pushing cleaner emissions standards electric utilities nextera looks primed great shape 32 million megawatthours wind generation approximately 700 mw solarpower generation 2014 figures tops country electric utilities cost provide alternative energy drops means nextera could clear cost advantage peers bonus also means fpls customers could see smaller price hikes since fpls costs remain control despite heavy investment alternative energy company also paying markettopping 3 yield eps growth looking remain steady 47 range foreseeable future nextera selling basicneed product electricity investing stock could smart way give grandkids savings accounts jolt article 3 top stocks buy grandkids originally appeared foolcom beth mckenna position stocks mentioned sean williams position stocks mentioned tim brugger owns shares walt disney motley fool owns shares recommends cocacola walt disney try foolish newsletter services free 30 days fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy copyright 1995 2016 motley fool llc rights reserved motley fool disclosure policy

<p>Rael&amp;#160;Jean&amp;#160;Isaac Interviews Donna Laframboise, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Delinquent-Teenager-Mistaken-Worlds-Climate/dp/1466453486/ref=tmm_pap_title_0" type="external">The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World&#8217;s Top Climate Expert</a>,&amp;#160; available from Amazon or, a digital edition, from IvyAvenue.com, 2011.</p> <p>This is a book about&amp;#160;the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an outfit&amp;#160; few know much about if indeed they have heard of it at all.&amp;#160; That&#8217;s unfortunate because the IPCC is having a huge impact on all our lives.&amp;#160; The IPCC has fashioned the so-called &#8220;scientific consensus&#8221; that man-made global warming threatens the future of the planet. Its periodic&amp;#160; weighty Reports (literally, they are in the range of 800 pages and up) are the basis for the efforts by the governments of developed countries to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions and in the process make the energy our economy depends&amp;#160; on to function, and we depend on to drive our cars, heat our homes and power our appliances,&amp;#160; vastly more expensive.</p> <p /> <p>Journalist Donna Laframboise has exposed the full range of deceptive techniques, at times descending into outright fakery,&amp;#160;practiced by the IPCC.&amp;#160; While her sprightly title may suggest a flippant take on the issues, Laframboise has performed an astonishing feat of investigative journalism.&amp;#160; It is all the more impressive&amp;#160; given that she had retired from her journalistic career and was working&amp;#160; as a solitary blogger,&amp;#160; with none of the resources of the literally thousands of journalists worldwide who have covered the IPCC reports with mindless, slavish adoration.</p> <p>Laframboise contrasts the claims made for its reports by IPCC chairman&amp;#160;Rajendra Pachauri&#8211;the claims on which the reports&#8217; status as the repository of a vast scientific consensus&amp;#160; rests&#8211; with the wildly different reality.&amp;#160; Pachauri&amp;#160;says those chosen to contribute to the reports are &#8220;people who are at the top of their profession,&#8221; &#8220;almost four thousand of the world&#8217;s best specialists.&#8221;&amp;#160; In fact, not only are some of the world&#8217;s leading experts in fields covered by the reports left out, but many of those who are &#8220;in&#8221; have no credentials to speak of.</p> <p>Laframboise identifies a number of graduate students&amp;#160;(at least one without so much as a Masters degree at the time) who served as coordinating lead authors (the most important role, in charge of the entire chapter) or lead authors (responsible for large segments of text).&amp;#160; Half of&amp;#160; those &#8220;four thousand of the world&#8217;s best specialists&#8221;&amp;#160; were chosen on the basis of affirmative action criteria, above all geographic diversity, so that &#8220;the developing world&#8221; would be fully represented.&amp;#160; One of those chosen on this basis said candidly &#8220;we were out of our intellectual depth as meaningful contributors to the process.&#8221;&amp;#160; Many of the anointed experts were activists with close ties to environmental lobbies like the World Wildlife Federation, openly wedded to the proposition &#8220;It is nearly impossible to overstate the threat of climate change.&#8221;</p> <p>Pachauri has boasted that &#8220;you can&#8217;t think of a more transparent process than what we have at the IPCC.&#8221; &amp;#160;In fact, Laframboise shows, it is opaque, with no one outside the inner circle having any idea how key decisions are made.</p> <p>Pachauri declares &#8220;The IPCC studies only&amp;#160;peer-reviewed science.&#8221;&amp;#160; Anything else, he says, can just be thrown &#8220;in the dustbin.&#8221;&amp;#160;&amp;#160; Laframboise reveals&amp;#160;that this too is a fairy tale.&amp;#160;&amp;#160; She focussed on the 2007 IPCC Report which had 18,531 references.&amp;#160; These were far too many for a single person to monitor so Laframboise called out the troops, in the form of readers of her blog.&amp;#160; She worked out a system where three people, working independently, would examine the references at the end of each chapter to see how many were peer-reviewed.&amp;#160;&amp;#160; If their findings differed (the IPCC did not always include complete information and it&#8217;s difficult to tell whether some journals are peer-reviewed or not), the result most favorable to the IPCC would be used.&amp;#160;&amp;#160; It turned out that 30% of the references were to non peer-reviewed sources, including newspaper and magazine articles, discussion papers, Greenpeace and other activist literature&#8211; even press releases!</p> <p>There is much, much more. Laframboise describes how the IPCC manufactured peer- reviewed literature.&amp;#160; She quotes an IPCC insider who reported that when governments wanted questions covered for which there was little peer-reviewed literature, lead authors would try to have material published in peer reviewed journals while they were drafting the chapter so the article could be cited at least as &#8220;in press&#8221; by the time the final draft was ready. Laframboise notes that journals run by IPCC insiders could be counted on to cooperate.</p> <p>What Laframboise shows beyond a reasonable doubt is that&amp;#160; UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was grossly distorting reality when, on the release of the final segment of the 2007 IPCC Report, he said: &#8220;Today the world&#8217;s scientists have spoken, clearly and with one voice.&#8221; Rather, as Laframboise writes, &#8220;a highly politicized body&#8211;cloaking itself in the prestige and authority of science&#8211;has spoken.&#8221;</p> <p>It is a pleasure to interview the author.</p> <p>Questions for Donna Laframboise: &#8211;</p> <p>Rael Jean Isaac: Has the IPCC or any of those closely associated with it responsed to your book? What response have you had from global warming adherents or have they hoped to minimize your impact by ignoring you? What about critics of man-made global warming?&amp;#160; Do you see them making use of the ammunition you have provided?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: The IPCC appears to be doing its best to ignore my book. However, a mere 10 days after the Kindle edition appeared &#8211; and prior to the publication of the paperback shortly afterward &#8211; the World Wildlife Fund&#8217;s head office in Switzerland issued a <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wwf-refutes-ludicrous-allegation-it-infiltrated-ipcc-2011-10-23" type="external">press release</a> denouncing it. I find that rather interesting given the close relationship between the IPCC and the WWF which is documented in my book.</p> <p>The response of climate change partisans to The Delinquent Teenager is perhaps best illustrated by the 17 one-star reviews (versus the 96 five-star reviews, as of this writing) of my book on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Delinquent-Teenager-Mistaken-Worlds-Climate/dp/1466453486/ref=tmm_pap_title_0" type="external">Amazon.com</a>. One of those reviews is authored by <a href="http://www.pacinst.org/about_us/staff_board/gleick/" type="external">Peter Gleick</a>, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He declares (twice) that people &#8220;don&#8217;t need this book&#8221; and says it will appeal to those who hate and fear science. Which is rather odd since the book is about a UN organization. Although Gleick accuses me of &#8220;lies and misrepresentations&#8221; when he was publicly <a href="http://hro001.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/odes-for-peter-gleick/" type="external">challenged</a> to provide evidence of this (by economist Richard Tol who read early drafts and provided an endorsement), he failed to do so. For its part, the climate skeptic community around the world has been enthusiastically supportive of my book. Readers are eager to see it translated it into other languages, and people in several countries have expressed an interest in getting copies into the hands of their elected representatives.</p> <p>RJI:&amp;#160; You give many examples of the IPCC&#8217;s malfeasance in your book, including outright fakery. Is there something you would single out as the worst example?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: I find it particularly alarming that the IPCC doesn&#8217;t describe its own personnel, its own reports, or its own procedures accurately. These are basic, minimum standards that anyone who wants to be taken seriously surely has to meet. I mean, if a child care center makes untrue claims about the qualifications of its staff, I&#8217;m not going to leave my child there. Period. We&#8217;ve been told that IPCC reports are written by the world&#8217;s finest scientific minds, but that&#8217;s simply not the case. Among IPCC lead authors we find graduate students 10 or more years away from completing their doctorates. We find employees of activist groups such as Greenpeace and the WWF. We find unqualified personnel from the developing world who are there for window-dressing so that the IPCC can appear to be internationally diverse.&amp;#160; What&#8217;s astonishing is that even though the IPCC fails this basic test, people still think its conclusions about horrendously complicated matters can be relied on.</p> <p>RJI: How do you evaluate the outcome of the Durban meetings and the &#8220;consensus document&#8221; that came out of it?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: I didn&#8217;t pay a great deal of attention to the climate summit in Durban, and haven&#8217;t looked at the document it produced. But this tiresome UN process &#8211; in which thousands of people fly off to exotic places at regular intervals and pretend for the TV cameras that a global emissions treaty is achievable &#8211; may finally be running out of steam. Much of the world is currently facing grave economic challenges &#8211; which means governments have real problems to deal with (as opposed to hypothetical ones that may or may not emerge over the coming decades). But the biggest obstacle to the sort of emissions treaty the UN has been pursuing is the simple fact that the US Senate voted 95-0 back in 1997 against having anything to do with the Kyoto Protocol.&amp;#160; Let me repeat that: the vote was 95-0. It was unanimous. It was bi-partisan. Democrats as well as Republicans made it clear that the world&#8217;s largest economy would not be party to an agreement of that sort.&amp;#160;</p> <p>According to the UN, climate change is a planetary emergency and time is running out. And yet, rather than abandoning the idea of an emissions treaty and pursing Plan B, UN bureaucrats and green activists have spent the past decade and half pretending that such a treaty is actually attainable. I mean, what have they been smoking? It&#8217;s difficult not to conclude that UN climate summits are 100% political theatre &#8211; and that the only reason they haven&#8217;t already wound down is because the individuals involved enjoy partying in Bali and frolicking on the beach in Cancun.</p> <p>RJI:&amp;#160; It seems clear that the IPCC&#8217;s forthcoming 5th Assessment Report will be more of the same. What are the prospects of reform of the IPCC or substitution by a genuinely scientific body rather than a political body disguised as a scientific one?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: I think it&#8217;s unlikely that the IPCC can be redeemed or reformed. But it&#8217;s also true that many good, smart, sincere people have worked on IPCC reports over the years. Many of them were simply na&#239;ve &#8211; oblivious to the fact that they were being used by UN officials like pawns in an international chess game. Bureaucracies strive to expand their scope, their budget, and their prestige. It therefore isn&#8217;t difficult to understand why a grand global emissions treaty is attractive to UN bureaucrats. Such a treaty places those people at the center of the action. Nevertheless, I was genuinely shocked when I discovered that IPCC officials freely admit that the primary purpose of IPCC reports is to make emissions negotiations possible &#8211; to achieve &#8220;buy in&#8221; from all the countries of the world.</p> <p>&amp;#160;First and foremost, therefore, the IPCC serves UN bureaucrats &#8211; bureaucrats who decided more than 20 years ago that emissions reduction was required. It&#8217;s important to understand the sequence of events, to realize that the cart was put before the horse. The UN campaign to regulate greenhouse gas emissions officially launched back in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. That was long before climate science was anywhere near mature. Because the IPCC was designed by bureaucrats to serve the interests of bureaucrats, I think it&#8217;s unlikely it can be transformed into a body that serves the public.</p> <p>RJI: There seems to be a radical disconnect between the public, which is growing more skeptical of global warming claims, thanks partly to the efforts of many bloggers like yourself, and many governments which seem to dig themselves deeper into man-made global warming dogma every day. For example I saw that the new Danish government has just promised to phase out the use of fossil fuels entirely by 2050. How do you see the conflict over climate change &amp;#160;playing out in the years ahead?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: Rather than thinking for themselves journalists and politicians are prone to following the intellectual fashion of the day. Since at least the first Earth Day in 1970 it has been fashionable to believe that the planet is fragile, that human beings are reckless and rapacious, and that we are on the verge of an eco-apocalypse. Rather than treating these ideas with one-tenth the normal journalistic skepticism, the mass media has endorsed and promoted these ideas for decades. The result is that enormous numbers of educated, affluent people across the world assume/believe that Nature is static, that any change in the natural world must therefore be alarming, and that these changes must somehow be the fault of humanity. When, for example, is the last time anyone was quoted in your local newspaper reminding you that planet Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years, that she was dancing to her own drummer, passing through one perfectly natural phase after another &#8211; some cooler, some warmer &#8211; billions of years before we humans turned up? &amp;#160;</p> <p>I live in Canada. Twenty-thousand years ago my country was 98% covered with ice. That ice has been melting and retreating all on its own for twenty thousand years. The Egyptians, remember, only came into the picture 5,000 years ago. The Romans ruled 2,000 years ago. So if the ice at the Northern end of the globe has been shrinking for the past 20,000 years why do we suddenly imagine that what&#8217;s going on at this very moment is our fault? And yet when&#8217;s the last time you&#8217;ve seen a talking head on the television ask that question? I mean, the level of debate and public discourse on these issues is pathetic. It&#8217;s beyond lame.&amp;#160; &amp;#160;</p> <p>While I am heartened by the growing levels of climate skepticism reflected in opinion polls around the world, I fear that many of us are slow learners. It may take a dreadful number of expensive boondoggles before people wake up to the fact that electric cars and solar panels aren&#8217;t yet ready for prime time. It may take the grim news that wind turbines have wiped out bat populations (and therefore dramatically disrupted the ecosystems in which those mammals play an important role). It may take blackouts in which operating rooms and intensive care units go dark and people lose their lives, before we abandon our childish fantasies that it&#8217;s possible, with our current level of technology, to power modern industrial societies with nothing more than intermittent, low-density energy sources such as solar and wind.</p> <p>The reason those kinds of tragedies may come to pass is because politicians like fighting climate change. It appeals to their egos. It casts them as heroes. It&#8217;s more gratifying and glamorous to rail against climate change than to spend one&#8217;s time balancing the budget or fixing the school system. Here, for example, is a <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/once-a-major-issue-in-florida-climate-change-concerns-few-in-tallahassee/1169860" type="external">quote</a> from a recent newspaper article regarding Florida governor Charlie Crist:</p> <p>Crist&#8217;s climate-change crusade got him national attention, with a write-up in Time magazine and an interview on the CBS Early Show. He shared a stage with singer Sheryl Crow and met with Robert Redford. California&#8217;s then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called him &#8220;another great action hero.&#8221;</p> <p>In a world in which politicians are popularly regarded as scumbags and pathological liars, fighting climate change casts them as admirable. They aren&#8217;t going to give that up easily. &amp;#160;Politicians who do begin to express more reasoned views on energy matters will need support from ordinary people. The only thing groups such as Greenpeace have to do all day is lobby for their point-of-view. Those groups are capable of making a lot of noise whenever a politician steps out of line, so to speak. Far too often these days, environmentalists behave like bullies, as though their particular point-of-view is the only one worth considering. We need to start standing up to them. We need to point out that they aren&#8217;t elected by &#8211; or accountable &#8211; to anyone. Like anyone else they have a right to be heard, but they have no right to choose our path for us.</p> <p>RJI: The Canadian government has said it is pulling out of Kyoto but signed on to the Durban document. What is the situation in Canada which, given its heavy resource base, has an awful lot to lose in the wholly decarbonized future contemplated by Denmark?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: At the national/federal level Canada is now ruled by the Conservative Party, which enjoys a majority of members/votes in Parliament and won&#8217;t be required to call an election for another four years. The announcement that Canada will withdraw from Kyoto was a welcome one, in my view. But, by and large, this is a government that continues to pay lip-service to the idea that human-induced climate change is a serious threat even though this belief relies on reports written by the scandal-ridden IPCC. Canada is a large country with a small population. Given our harsh winters and the long distances between our communities there is no way Canadians can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to the levels that may be achievable by geographically tiny, high-population density, temperate-climate-zone European countries. Our situation is totally different and it&#8217;s time everyone admitted this.&amp;#160; When all is said and done Canadians are sensible and practical. Yes, we like to think of ourselves as environmentally responsible. But we aren&#8217;t going to let our children freeze to death in their beds because someone over in Europe thinks our emissions are too high.</p> <p>RJI: When people hear about the science backing up the&amp;#160;warnings of unimaginable disaster if global warming is not halted, most do not realize that the warnings are not based on science, but on computer modeling.&amp;#160; Could you expand on this a little?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: We all know there are no crystal balls, that the future cannot be predicted. The fact that we currently have access to large, powerful computers doesn&#8217;t change that. The IPCC is a sneaky organization. On the one hand, it points to the results of computer modeling and says such modeling reveals that horrible things will happen if the greenhouse gas content in the atmosphere climbs marginally higher over the coming decades. Ergo, we should all be alarmed. Ergo, drastic action must be taken now that will fundamentally disrupt our economic and social lives. On the other hand, the IPCC&#8217;s own climate modelers insist that none of their results should be regarded as &#8220;predictions.&#8221; These results, they caution us, are merely &#8220;projections,&#8221; merely &#8220;story lines,&#8221; merely expressions of possible outcomes.&amp;#160;</p> <p>At the beginning of my book there&#8217;s a quote from a Y2K skeptic. In mid-1999, when many of his colleagues were predicting dire consequences at the end of the year since computers wouldn&#8217;t be able to calculate the date correctly, a man named Danny Hillis wrote an opinion piece in Newsweek that contained theses lines: &#8220;There are no real experts. Only people who understand their own little pieces of the puzzle. The big picture is a mystery&#8230;&#8221; In my view, that is how we should think of climate modeling.&amp;#160;</p> <p>RJI:&amp;#160; You make what seems to me a very important point in your book: we have been told the &#8220;science is settled&#8221; and the &#8220;debate is over,&#8221; before there was any debate.&amp;#160; The debate is only now getting started. Given the huge importance of this issue for everyone&#8211;going forward, will we have abundant energy at an affordable price?&#8211;what can our readers do, apart from reading your book so as to be better informed, &amp;#160;if they want to be part of the debate and have an impact on it?</p> <p>Donna Laframboise: We all have busy lives. Most of us don&#8217;t have time to delve deeply into topics that are in the news. We simply assume the media is reporting on them reasonably accurately. But when it comes to environmental issues, that is not a safe assumption. Far too many journalists cease being hard-nosed reporters and instead behave like PR flaks for green groups. They routinely interview only activists &#8211; as if no other perspectives were worth exploring. It&#8217;s therefore important to be skeptical about any environmental news story, to remember that we&#8217;ve been told a long list of environmental tall tales over the years. Global cooling, over-population, acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer &#8211; all of those things were supposed to end in catastrophe unless (according to the activists) we fundamentally changed our lifestyles and adopted a fundamentally different value system. But the catastrophes didn&#8217;t materialize &#8211; nor will you find any activist who will agree that we&#8217;ve already made the lifestyle changes they said were absolutely necessary to save the planet. In other words, some people are drama queens. For them, the glass is always half empty. For them, everything is a crisis rather than a problem to be managed.</p> <p>I&#8217;d encourage people to seek out alternative points-of-view regarding environmental questions. On <a href="http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2010/06/04/bp-greenpeace-the-big-oil-jackpot/" type="external">my own blog</a>, on the right-hand side of the page, I link to a long list of moderate voices. The people who write those blogs represent a diversity of perspectives. They don&#8217;t all agree with one another &#8211; and that is a healthy state of affairs. I think the drama queens need to be challenged. I think each of us needs to ask, quietly and politely during the course of our daily lives, why we should believe the current environmental doom story when so many of the others turned out to be wildly exaggerated.</p>

rael160jean160isaac interviews donna laframboise author delinquent teenager mistaken worlds top climate expert160 available amazon digital edition ivyavenuecom 2011 book about160the international panel climate change ipcc outfit160 know much indeed heard all160 thats unfortunate ipcc huge impact lives160 ipcc fashioned socalled scientific consensus manmade global warming threatens future planet periodic160 weighty reports literally range 800 pages basis efforts governments developed countries sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions process make energy economy depends160 function depend drive cars heat homes power appliances160 vastly expensive journalist donna laframboise exposed full range deceptive techniques times descending outright fakery160practiced ipcc160 sprightly title may suggest flippant take issues laframboise performed astonishing feat investigative journalism160 impressive160 given retired journalistic career working160 solitary blogger160 none resources literally thousands journalists worldwide covered ipcc reports mindless slavish adoration laframboise contrasts claims made reports ipcc chairman160rajendra pachaurithe claims reports status repository vast scientific consensus160 rests wildly different reality160 pachauri160says chosen contribute reports people top profession almost four thousand worlds best specialists160 fact worlds leading experts fields covered reports left many credentials speak laframboise identifies number graduate students160at least one without much masters degree time served coordinating lead authors important role charge entire chapter lead authors responsible large segments text160 half of160 four thousand worlds best specialists160 chosen basis affirmative action criteria geographic diversity developing world would fully represented160 one chosen basis said candidly intellectual depth meaningful contributors process160 many anointed experts activists close ties environmental lobbies like world wildlife federation openly wedded proposition nearly impossible overstate threat climate change pachauri boasted cant think transparent process ipcc 160in fact laframboise shows opaque one outside inner circle idea key decisions made pachauri declares ipcc studies only160peerreviewed science160 anything else says thrown dustbin160160 laframboise reveals160that fairy tale160160 focussed 2007 ipcc report 18531 references160 far many single person monitor laframboise called troops form readers blog160 worked system three people working independently would examine references end chapter see many peerreviewed160160 findings differed ipcc always include complete information difficult tell whether journals peerreviewed result favorable ipcc would used160160 turned 30 references non peerreviewed sources including newspaper magazine articles discussion papers greenpeace activist literature even press releases much much laframboise describes ipcc manufactured peer reviewed literature160 quotes ipcc insider reported governments wanted questions covered little peerreviewed literature lead authors would try material published peer reviewed journals drafting chapter article could cited least press time final draft ready laframboise notes journals run ipcc insiders could counted cooperate laframboise shows beyond reasonable doubt that160 un secretary general ban kimoon grossly distorting reality release final segment 2007 ipcc report said today worlds scientists spoken clearly one voice rather laframboise writes highly politicized bodycloaking prestige authority sciencehas spoken pleasure interview author questions donna laframboise rael jean isaac ipcc closely associated responsed book response global warming adherents hoped minimize impact ignoring critics manmade global warming160 see making use ammunition provided donna laframboise ipcc appears best ignore book however mere 10 days kindle edition appeared prior publication paperback shortly afterward world wildlife funds head office switzerland issued press release denouncing find rather interesting given close relationship ipcc wwf documented book response climate change partisans delinquent teenager perhaps best illustrated 17 onestar reviews versus 96 fivestar reviews writing book amazoncom one reviews authored peter gleick member us national academy sciences declares twice people dont need book says appeal hate fear science rather odd since book un organization although gleick accuses lies misrepresentations publicly challenged provide evidence economist richard tol read early drafts provided endorsement failed part climate skeptic community around world enthusiastically supportive book readers eager see translated languages people several countries expressed interest getting copies hands elected representatives rji160 give many examples ipccs malfeasance book including outright fakery something would single worst example donna laframboise find particularly alarming ipcc doesnt describe personnel reports procedures accurately basic minimum standards anyone wants taken seriously surely meet mean child care center makes untrue claims qualifications staff im going leave child period weve told ipcc reports written worlds finest scientific minds thats simply case among ipcc lead authors find graduate students 10 years away completing doctorates find employees activist groups greenpeace wwf find unqualified personnel developing world windowdressing ipcc appear internationally diverse160 whats astonishing even though ipcc fails basic test people still think conclusions horrendously complicated matters relied rji evaluate outcome durban meetings consensus document came donna laframboise didnt pay great deal attention climate summit durban havent looked document produced tiresome un process thousands people fly exotic places regular intervals pretend tv cameras global emissions treaty achievable may finally running steam much world currently facing grave economic challenges means governments real problems deal opposed hypothetical ones may may emerge coming decades biggest obstacle sort emissions treaty un pursuing simple fact us senate voted 950 back 1997 anything kyoto protocol160 let repeat vote 950 unanimous bipartisan democrats well republicans made clear worlds largest economy would party agreement sort160 according un climate change planetary emergency time running yet rather abandoning idea emissions treaty pursing plan b un bureaucrats green activists spent past decade half pretending treaty actually attainable mean smoking difficult conclude un climate summits 100 political theatre reason havent already wound individuals involved enjoy partying bali frolicking beach cancun rji160 seems clear ipccs forthcoming 5th assessment report prospects reform ipcc substitution genuinely scientific body rather political body disguised scientific one donna laframboise think unlikely ipcc redeemed reformed also true many good smart sincere people worked ipcc reports years many simply naïve oblivious fact used un officials like pawns international chess game bureaucracies strive expand scope budget prestige therefore isnt difficult understand grand global emissions treaty attractive un bureaucrats treaty places people center action nevertheless genuinely shocked discovered ipcc officials freely admit primary purpose ipcc reports make emissions negotiations possible achieve buy countries world 160first foremost therefore ipcc serves un bureaucrats bureaucrats decided 20 years ago emissions reduction required important understand sequence events realize cart put horse un campaign regulate greenhouse gas emissions officially launched back 1992 rio earth summit long climate science anywhere near mature ipcc designed bureaucrats serve interests bureaucrats think unlikely transformed body serves public rji seems radical disconnect public growing skeptical global warming claims thanks partly efforts many bloggers like many governments seem dig deeper manmade global warming dogma every day example saw new danish government promised phase use fossil fuels entirely 2050 see conflict climate change 160playing years ahead donna laframboise rather thinking journalists politicians prone following intellectual fashion day since least first earth day 1970 fashionable believe planet fragile human beings reckless rapacious verge ecoapocalypse rather treating ideas onetenth normal journalistic skepticism mass media endorsed promoted ideas decades result enormous numbers educated affluent people across world assumebelieve nature static change natural world must therefore alarming changes must somehow fault humanity example last time anyone quoted local newspaper reminding planet earth around 45 billion years dancing drummer passing one perfectly natural phase another cooler warmer billions years humans turned 160 live canada twentythousand years ago country 98 covered ice ice melting retreating twenty thousand years egyptians remember came picture 5000 years ago romans ruled 2000 years ago ice northern end globe shrinking past 20000 years suddenly imagine whats going moment fault yet whens last time youve seen talking head television ask question mean level debate public discourse issues pathetic beyond lame160 160 heartened growing levels climate skepticism reflected opinion polls around world fear many us slow learners may take dreadful number expensive boondoggles people wake fact electric cars solar panels arent yet ready prime time may take grim news wind turbines wiped bat populations therefore dramatically disrupted ecosystems mammals play important role may take blackouts operating rooms intensive care units go dark people lose lives abandon childish fantasies possible current level technology power modern industrial societies nothing intermittent lowdensity energy sources solar wind reason kinds tragedies may come pass politicians like fighting climate change appeals egos casts heroes gratifying glamorous rail climate change spend ones time balancing budget fixing school system example quote recent newspaper article regarding florida governor charlie crist crists climatechange crusade got national attention writeup time magazine interview cbs early show shared stage singer sheryl crow met robert redford californias thengov arnold schwarzenegger called another great action hero world politicians popularly regarded scumbags pathological liars fighting climate change casts admirable arent going give easily 160politicians begin express reasoned views energy matters need support ordinary people thing groups greenpeace day lobby pointofview groups capable making lot noise whenever politician steps line speak far often days environmentalists behave like bullies though particular pointofview one worth considering need start standing need point arent elected accountable anyone like anyone else right heard right choose path us rji canadian government said pulling kyoto signed durban document situation canada given heavy resource base awful lot lose wholly decarbonized future contemplated denmark donna laframboise nationalfederal level canada ruled conservative party enjoys majority membersvotes parliament wont required call election another four years announcement canada withdraw kyoto welcome one view large government continues pay lipservice idea humaninduced climate change serious threat even though belief relies reports written scandalridden ipcc canada large country small population given harsh winters long distances communities way canadians reduce greenhouse gas emissions levels may achievable geographically tiny highpopulation density temperateclimatezone european countries situation totally different time everyone admitted this160 said done canadians sensible practical yes like think environmentally responsible arent going let children freeze death beds someone europe thinks emissions high rji people hear science backing the160warnings unimaginable disaster global warming halted realize warnings based science computer modeling160 could expand little donna laframboise know crystal balls future predicted fact currently access large powerful computers doesnt change ipcc sneaky organization one hand points results computer modeling says modeling reveals horrible things happen greenhouse gas content atmosphere climbs marginally higher coming decades ergo alarmed ergo drastic action must taken fundamentally disrupt economic social lives hand ipccs climate modelers insist none results regarded predictions results caution us merely projections merely story lines merely expressions possible outcomes160 beginning book theres quote y2k skeptic mid1999 many colleagues predicting dire consequences end year since computers wouldnt able calculate date correctly man named danny hillis wrote opinion piece newsweek contained theses lines real experts people understand little pieces puzzle big picture mystery view think climate modeling160 rji160 make seems important point book told science settled debate debate160 debate getting started given huge importance issue everyonegoing forward abundant energy affordable pricewhat readers apart reading book better informed 160if want part debate impact donna laframboise busy lives us dont time delve deeply topics news simply assume media reporting reasonably accurately comes environmental issues safe assumption far many journalists cease hardnosed reporters instead behave like pr flaks green groups routinely interview activists perspectives worth exploring therefore important skeptical environmental news story remember weve told long list environmental tall tales years global cooling overpopulation acid rain hole ozone layer things supposed end catastrophe unless according activists fundamentally changed lifestyles adopted fundamentally different value system catastrophes didnt materialize find activist agree weve already made lifestyle changes said absolutely necessary save planet words people drama queens glass always half empty everything crisis rather problem managed id encourage people seek alternative pointsofview regarding environmental questions blog righthand side page link long list moderate voices people write blogs represent diversity perspectives dont agree one another healthy state affairs think drama queens need challenged think us needs ask quietly politely course daily lives believe current environmental doom story many others turned wildly exaggerated

<p>Mae West once said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."</p> <p>The late actress wasn't referring to investing, but her sentiment is still applicable. It makes sense to buy more shares of stocks that present the greatest opportunities. Legendary investor Warren Buffett, who has also quoted Mae West in the past, expressed it well: "When it&#8217;s raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble."</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>One biotech stock that is a good thing, in my view, is Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), which I think could metaphorically "rain gold" over the next several years.&amp;#160;Here's why you can back up the truck and load up on Celgene stock.</p> <p>The three most prevalent types of blood cancer are leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Nearly 1.3 million Americans have one of these forms of cancer. Close to 200,000 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. And Celgene stands as the clear leader in treating blood cancer.</p> <p>Revlimid made nearly $7 billion last year and is on track to generate in the ballpark of $8 billion in 2017. Market research firm EvaluatePharma predicts that Revlimid will be <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/10/these-5-cancer-drugs-will-be-the-biggest-winners-5.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=855ea048-89a7-11e7-87b9-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">the top-selling cancer drug in the world in 2022 Opens a New Window.</a>, with sales totaling more than $14 billion. The drug is currently approved for treating multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and mantle cell lymphoma. Celgene hopes to secure approvals for additional MDS and lymphoma indications in the next few years.</p> <p>Joining Revlimid in Celgene's current blood cancer lineup are Pomalyst, Vidaza, Istodax, Thalomid, and recently approved Idhifa. Pomalyst is by far the biggest moneymaker of the group, generating sales of $1.3 billion last year. Sales for the multiple myeloma drug are growing even faster than Revlimid's, with a 27.5% year-over-year revenue jump in the first half of 2017 for Pomalyst, compared with 19.7% growth for Revlimid.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Better yet, Celgene's pipeline includes several candidates that should extend the biotech's position in the blood cancer market. High on that list is luspatercept, which is being evaluated in late-stage studies targeting MDS and beta-thalassemia. Celgene thinks the experimental drug could reach peak sales of more than $2 billion if approved.</p> <p>Celgene isn't just focused on blood cancer, though. The biotech has quickly become a major player in the inflammation and immunology area.</p> <p>Otezla is currently Celgene's fastest-growing drug of all. The drug is approved for treating psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Otezla generated more than $1 billion in revenue in 2016 and could reach annual sales more than double that amount in the coming years with expansion in international markets and the potential for approval in new indications.</p> <p>Three inflammation and immunology pipeline candidates could join Otezla in the not-too-distant future. Celgene hopes to win approval for ozanimod in 2018 for treating relapsing multiple sclerosis. Ozanimod is also in a late-stage study targeting treatment of ulcerative colitis and in a phase 2 study for Crohn's disease. Mongersen (GED-0301) is also being evaluated in studies for both of these indications. In addition, Celgene is studying CC-220 in treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).</p> <p>Celgene believes that all three drugs could be mega-blockbusters.&amp;#160;Ozanimod could reach peak annual sales of more than $4 billion if approved for all targeted indications -- and possibly as much as $6 billion.</p> <p>Potential growth in blood cancer and in inflammation and immunology would be enough to make Celgene an appealing stock to buy. However, there are even more reasons to like Celgene.</p> <p>The biotech currently has one solid-tumor drug, Abraxane, which is knocking on the door of the $1 billion sales mark. Celgene has a couple of pipeline candidates that could also be blockbuster solid-tumor treatments in the coming years -- CC-486 and marizomab.</p> <p>Celgene's research-and-development strategy includes both an internal and external focus. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) drug Idhifa stemmed from the company's partnership with small biotech Agios (NASDAQ: AGIO). The two companies are also collaborating on an early-stage AML candidate. Several of Celgene's other pipeline candidates are <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/09/billions-of-dollars-on-the-line-for-celgene-with-t.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=855ea048-89a7-11e7-87b9-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">partnered programs Opens a New Window.</a>. Ozanimod came from Celgene's 2015 acquisition of Receptos. Expect the company to continue to fuel growth through use of partnerships and acquisitions.</p> <p>Thanks to its strong product lineup and pipeline, Celgene expects to grow earnings by 22% over the next few years. That level of growth seems quite attainable, in my opinion. Celgene stock currently trades at less than 15 times expected earnings. Factoring in the company's growth prospects, the biotech sports one of the most attractive valuations in the healthcare sector.</p> <p>As I said, back up the truck and load up. I think you'll be glad you did in a few years.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than CelgeneWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=35b48bf7-738b-4a07-9709-9e85886d7ab1&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=855ea048-89a7-11e7-87b9-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now&#8230; and Celgene wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=35b48bf7-738b-4a07-9709-9e85886d7ab1&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=855ea048-89a7-11e7-87b9-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFishBiz/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=855ea048-89a7-11e7-87b9-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Keith Speights Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Celgene. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=855ea048-89a7-11e7-87b9-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

mae west said much good thing wonderful late actress wasnt referring investing sentiment still applicable makes sense buy shares stocks present greatest opportunities legendary investor warren buffett also quoted mae west past expressed well raining gold reach bucket thimble continue reading one biotech stock good thing view celgene nasdaq celg think could metaphorically rain gold next several years160heres back truck load celgene stock three prevalent types blood cancer leukemia lymphoma myeloma nearly 13 million americans one forms cancer close 200000 new cases diagnosed us year celgene stands clear leader treating blood cancer revlimid made nearly 7 billion last year track generate ballpark 8 billion 2017 market research firm evaluatepharma predicts revlimid topselling cancer drug world 2022 opens new window sales totaling 14 billion drug currently approved treating multiple myeloma myelodysplastic syndromes mds mantle cell lymphoma celgene hopes secure approvals additional mds lymphoma indications next years joining revlimid celgenes current blood cancer lineup pomalyst vidaza istodax thalomid recently approved idhifa pomalyst far biggest moneymaker group generating sales 13 billion last year sales multiple myeloma drug growing even faster revlimids 275 yearoveryear revenue jump first half 2017 pomalyst compared 197 growth revlimid advertisement better yet celgenes pipeline includes several candidates extend biotechs position blood cancer market high list luspatercept evaluated latestage studies targeting mds betathalassemia celgene thinks experimental drug could reach peak sales 2 billion approved celgene isnt focused blood cancer though biotech quickly become major player inflammation immunology area otezla currently celgenes fastestgrowing drug drug approved treating psoriasis psoriatic arthritis otezla generated 1 billion revenue 2016 could reach annual sales double amount coming years expansion international markets potential approval new indications three inflammation immunology pipeline candidates could join otezla nottoodistant future celgene hopes win approval ozanimod 2018 treating relapsing multiple sclerosis ozanimod also latestage study targeting treatment ulcerative colitis phase 2 study crohns disease mongersen ged0301 also evaluated studies indications addition celgene studying cc220 treating systemic lupus erythematosus sle celgene believes three drugs could megablockbusters160ozanimod could reach peak annual sales 4 billion approved targeted indications possibly much 6 billion potential growth blood cancer inflammation immunology would enough make celgene appealing stock buy however even reasons like celgene biotech currently one solidtumor drug abraxane knocking door 1 billion sales mark celgene couple pipeline candidates could also blockbuster solidtumor treatments coming years cc486 marizomab celgenes researchanddevelopment strategy includes internal external focus acute myeloid leukemia aml drug idhifa stemmed companys partnership small biotech agios nasdaq agio two companies also collaborating earlystage aml candidate several celgenes pipeline candidates partnered programs opens new window ozanimod came celgenes 2015 acquisition receptos expect company continue fuel growth use partnerships acquisitions thanks strong product lineup pipeline celgene expects grow earnings 22 next years level growth seems quite attainable opinion celgene stock currently trades less 15 times expected earnings factoring companys growth prospects biotech sports one attractive valuations healthcare sector said back truck load think youll glad years 10 stocks like better celgenewhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right celgene wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns august 1 2017 keith speights opens new window owns shares celgene motley fool owns shares recommends celgene motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>What the frilly heck is George Pataki doing running for President?!</p> <p>This guy, for those who don&#8217;t know, was the last Republican governor of New York State. He hasn&#8217;t been in office since 2006.</p> <p>And, need I remind you, a Republican in New York is what a Democrat is in Texas.</p> <p>So, as it stands, the &#8220;declared&#8221; and &#8220;will be declaring soon&#8221; list of Republican Presidential hopefuls now includes: Ted Cruz Rand Paul Marco Rubio Carly Fiorina Scott Walker Jeb Bush John Kasich Ben Carson Chris Christie Rick Santorum George Pataki Lindsey Graham Mike Huckabee Bobby Jindal</p> <p>Now, that&#8217;s fourteen off the top of my head. I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ve missed a few dozen.</p> <p>Look, let&#8217;s be honest here. The idea that &#8220;the more the better,&#8221; makes no sense.</p> <p>The GOP field needs some population control imposed on its lumbering rat&#8217;s nest of candidates.</p> <p>Looking at the above list, I can winnow things down in a New York Minute.</p> <p>First: Jeb Bush, George Pataki, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum should find a hobby like needlepoint or extreme sports and stay out of this race.</p> <p>Now, I like Rick Santorum. I supported him in 2012. His desire to reach out to the blue-collar Reagan Democrats is spot-on and one that needs to be embraced by the GOP if they wish to win in 2016. But, honestly, I do not believe that Rick is bringing to this campaign anything that isn&#8217;t already addressed by another candidate. I think Rick Santorum would be better off spending his time as King Maker &#8212; using his appeal among Evangelical Christians and working class voters to draw them to the best conservative candidate.</p> <p>Bush, Pataki and Huckabee have not served in public office in years. None of them are particularly strong in terms of conservatism, Federalism or standing up for the Constitution. Bush and Huckabee love Common Core. Bush is so obsessed with Amnesty and &#8220;reaching across the aisle,&#8221; he&#8217;ll make Mitt Romney look like a winner. Pataki, again, is a NORTHEAST LIBERAL REPUBLICAN. We do not need to run another Northeast Liberal Republican former governor. Didn&#8217;t Romney teach us anything?</p> <p>If Pataki really wants to make a difference, maybe he should be focusing on promoting and expanding the Republican party within New York State and countering the far-Left agenda of the Liberal Democrats who are destroying this beautiful state.</p> <p>Now, with those four out, I would also jettison John Kasich.</p> <p>We need to run someone who stands in stark contrast to the Big Centralized Government Leftists of the Democrat Party. Kasich is one of the Republican governors who embraced Obamacare&#8217;s Medicaid expansion. And, in a few years, Ohioans are going to take it in the shorts because of it. He&#8217;s spineless and will not stand up against the radical Marxism of the modern-day Democrat Party.</p> <p>Chris Christie is a loudmouth bumbler who has led New Jersey like a Liberal Democrat. Obnoxious bluster against teachers&#8217; unions aside, Christie has overseen credit downgrades, rising property taxes and refused to join the fight against Obamacare in 2011. Give him a job as the Dallas Cowboys&#8217; color commentary if for no other reason than to prevent him from actually running for President.</p> <p>Lindsey Graham is clearly vying for the Dennis Kucinich &#8220;out in left field&#8221; vote. He belongs in the White House like I belong in a fighter jet. This election is too crucial to make room for the &#8220;joke candidate.&#8221;</p> <p>Okay, I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ll piss some people off, but I don&#8217;t stand with Rand.</p> <p>There are things I like about Rand Paul, but his kooky, all-over-the-place foreign policy makes him a no-sale in my book. The United States is facing far too many threats in the world to have someone in the Oval Office who can&#8217;t get his crap together.</p> <p>I&#8217;ve managed to thin the herd by 57%. That leaves six:</p> <p>Ted Cruz Scott Walker Marco Rubio Carly Fiorina Ben Carson Bobby Jindal</p> <p>I&#8217;d keep Carly Fiorina because her dogging Hillary&#8217;s every step is all manner of entertaining.</p> <p>I have mixed feelings about Rubio mostly because his Gang of Eight days left a really bad taste in my mouth. Though I believe he is sincere in his regret for his involvement in the Gang of Eight, it still makes me nervous about his willingness to defend US national sovereignty.</p> <p>Jindal hasn&#8217;t declared and may very well not. At this point, the Dianny jury is still out on him.</p> <p>Ben Carson I&#8217;m sort of meh on. I like to listen to him speak. But speeches don&#8217;t necessarily make for good leaders. Case in point, Obama. I&#8217;m not saying he&#8217;s in the &#8220;no&#8221; pile for me. And, though I do not believe that one has to have served in elected office to run for President, I&#8217;m just still not sure about Dr. Carson.</p> <p>Of the six remaining, I confess, I am very impressed with Governor Scott Walker and do very much like Senator Ted Cruz.</p> <p>Walker, in my opinion, has a lot going for him. A proven record of accomplishment in leading a state from failure to success. A proven record of standing up for conservative principles in the face of some seriously hateful opposition. Courage, stamina, commitment. There&#8217;s a lot to like about Scott Walker. Plus, he makes the Liberals crazy and that&#8217;s always fun.</p> <p>Likewise, Ted Cruz is a courageous. unapologetic conservative. He has a record of fighting for the Constitution, for the rights of states, and standing up against big, centralized Liberal government.</p> <p>Mark Levin is right. The sooner we conservatives can coalesce behind one candidate, the better. Having a grab-bag of people running will only splinter the conservative vote and, more than likely, we will have a repeat of 2012 where the Establishment candidate with the deepest pockets wins the nomination by default.</p> <p>And we cannot let that happen.</p> <p>This overpopulated field &#8212; especially one littered with absolute duds &#8212; will only benefit the Establishment &#8212; and by extension, the Democrat candidate &#8212; to the detriment of the nation.</p> <p>&#8212;</p> <p>Hit the tip jar DONATE button in the side bar. Even a few bucks can make a world of difference!</p>

frilly heck george pataki running president guy dont know last republican governor new york state hasnt office since 2006 need remind republican new york democrat texas stands declared declaring soon list republican presidential hopefuls includes ted cruz rand paul marco rubio carly fiorina scott walker jeb bush john kasich ben carson chris christie rick santorum george pataki lindsey graham mike huckabee bobby jindal thats fourteen top head im sure ive missed dozen look lets honest idea better makes sense gop field needs population control imposed lumbering rats nest candidates looking list winnow things new york minute first jeb bush george pataki mike huckabee rick santorum find hobby like needlepoint extreme sports stay race like rick santorum supported 2012 desire reach bluecollar reagan democrats spoton one needs embraced gop wish win 2016 honestly believe rick bringing campaign anything isnt already addressed another candidate think rick santorum would better spending time king maker using appeal among evangelical christians working class voters draw best conservative candidate bush pataki huckabee served public office years none particularly strong terms conservatism federalism standing constitution bush huckabee love common core bush obsessed amnesty reaching across aisle hell make mitt romney look like winner pataki northeast liberal republican need run another northeast liberal republican former governor didnt romney teach us anything pataki really wants make difference maybe focusing promoting expanding republican party within new york state countering farleft agenda liberal democrats destroying beautiful state four would also jettison john kasich need run someone stands stark contrast big centralized government leftists democrat party kasich one republican governors embraced obamacares medicaid expansion years ohioans going take shorts hes spineless stand radical marxism modernday democrat party chris christie loudmouth bumbler led new jersey like liberal democrat obnoxious bluster teachers unions aside christie overseen credit downgrades rising property taxes refused join fight obamacare 2011 give job dallas cowboys color commentary reason prevent actually running president lindsey graham clearly vying dennis kucinich left field vote belongs white house like belong fighter jet election crucial make room joke candidate okay im sure ill piss people dont stand rand things like rand paul kooky allovertheplace foreign policy makes nosale book united states facing far many threats world someone oval office cant get crap together ive managed thin herd 57 leaves six ted cruz scott walker marco rubio carly fiorina ben carson bobby jindal id keep carly fiorina dogging hillarys every step manner entertaining mixed feelings rubio mostly gang eight days left really bad taste mouth though believe sincere regret involvement gang eight still makes nervous willingness defend us national sovereignty jindal hasnt declared may well point dianny jury still ben carson im sort meh like listen speak speeches dont necessarily make good leaders case point obama im saying hes pile though believe one served elected office run president im still sure dr carson six remaining confess impressed governor scott walker much like senator ted cruz walker opinion lot going proven record accomplishment leading state failure success proven record standing conservative principles face seriously hateful opposition courage stamina commitment theres lot like scott walker plus makes liberals crazy thats always fun likewise ted cruz courageous unapologetic conservative record fighting constitution rights states standing big centralized liberal government mark levin right sooner conservatives coalesce behind one candidate better grabbag people running splinter conservative vote likely repeat 2012 establishment candidate deepest pockets wins nomination default let happen overpopulated field especially one littered absolute duds benefit establishment extension democrat candidate detriment nation hit tip jar donate button side bar even bucks make world difference

<p>FBN&#8217;s Senior Correspondent Charlie Gasparino reports on Anthony Scaramucci&#8217;s delayed appointment amid turf war with Counselor to POTUS Steve Bannon, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Omarosa Manigault, Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison.</p> <p>The official appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as a senior adviser to President Trump has been delayed over possible conflicts involving his past work on Wall Street, even as people inside the White House say an announcement of his role could come as early as today, the FOX Business Network has learned.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Scaramucci's swearing in as assistant to the President and director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs was initially scheduled for the second week in January. A senior Trump official described the delay as being related to "conflict of interest issues he's having from his previous business life."</p> <p>The official added, "He hasn&#8217;t resolved all of his issues that prohibit him from working with the government."</p> <p>The official would not elaborate on the nature of the conflicts or when Scaramucci might be sworn in for the job, which will coordinate administration policy with key members of the business community.</p> <p>Even so, Scaramucci continues to have the support of the President for the liaison job and his swearing in could come imminently, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.</p> <p>Scaramucci's delayed appointment underscores some of the tensions building inside the Trump White House that began shortly after the President's come-from-behind victory in the November election as various aides and advisers continue to jockey for his attention and to retain and expand their power.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Scaramucci is a long-time fixture on Wall Street and a prolific fundraiser mainly for GOP candidates, including Trump. He may be best known for his role as creator and moderator of the popular SALT Conference &#8211; a yearly confab that brings together leaders of business and Wall Street with top politicians and celebrities.</p> <p>During his 30-year career, he has worked at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Lehman Brothers and more recently, he started his own hedge fund-related business SkyBridge Capital, which he sold this month to a Chinese conglomerate. The terms of the deal were not disclosed but people with direct knowledge of the sale say the price tag is nearly $200 million.</p> <p>Despite his role as a political fundraiser, Scaramucci hadn&#8217;t served in government until Trump tapped him for the adviser post, and has since been caught up in an internal political battle between competing factions inside the new administration.</p> <p>Scaramucci is said to have been aligned with powerful Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who is jostling for power with Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. Bannon is said to be pushing for Scarammucci's appointment to be made official this week, while Priebus has pushed for continued vetting of his business ties.</p> <p>Scaramucci is also said to have butted heads with another Trump adviser, Omarosa Manigault, a longtime confidant of the President known mainly for her role in his reality TV show "The Apprentice." People close to the Trump White House say Manigault, who technically works for Scaramucci as director of communications for the public liaison office, also covets the top job in the office.</p> <p>Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks denied any internal issues between Scaramucci and Manigault, adding "the confirmation delay is purely stemming from Scaramucci&#8217;s past business conflicts."</p> <p>Scaramucci could not be reached for comment; Manigault through a spokeswoman had no comment.</p> <p>During the long and bitter presidential campaign and through the transition, Scaramucci helped Trump raise tens of millions of dollars from the business community. He was a daily presence in the Trump's transition headquarters at Trump Tower in Manhattan, as well as a fixture on cable TV defending the President's often controversial statements on everything from a possible trade war with China, to whether global warming exists. He was also, until recently, a FOX contributor.</p> <p>At times, Scaramucci caused some controversy himself. At one point, he compared a Department of Labor rule that designates brokers as "fiduciaries" who have a heightened responsibility to clients to the infamous Supreme Court "Dred Scott" ruling that for a time legalized slavery.</p> <p>Scaramucci's hedge-fund business, SkyBridge, is a so-called fund-of-funds portfolio that is sold to small investors through brokers who now may be less likely to offer it to their clients given the DOJ rule.</p> <p>Then, in supporting the president's position questioning global warming, he told CNN: &#8220;There was overwhelming science that the earth was flat and there was an overwhelming science that we were the center of the world. We get a lot of things wrong in the scientific community."</p> <p>His business practices have recently come under scrutiny as well after it was revealed that he met with Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $10 billion state-run investment wealth portfolio that is on the State Department&#8217;s sanctions list.</p> <p>Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) have&amp;#160; called for an investigation into his meeting with the Russian businessman.</p> <p>In order to join the Trump White House and overcome conflict of interest regulations, Scaramucci needed to unload SkyBridge, which has $12 billion in assets and recently suffered from poor returns.</p> <p>The price tag for SkyBridge raised some eyebrows, as did the buyer, given president Trump's criticism of China as a currency manipulator and its alleged use of unfair trade practices.</p> <p>That said, Trump is said to be still in favor of Scaramucci's appointment given his role in the campaign and his support of the President in the press. "For all the internal bickering, he's likely to get sworn in pretty soon," said the person with knowledge of the matter.</p>

fbns senior correspondent charlie gasparino reports anthony scaramuccis delayed appointment amid turf war counselor potus steve bannon white house chief staff reince priebus omarosa manigault director communications office public liaison official appointment anthony scaramucci senior adviser president trump delayed possible conflicts involving past work wall street even people inside white house say announcement role could come early today fox business network learned continue reading scaramuccis swearing assistant president director white house office public liaison intergovernmental affairs initially scheduled second week january senior trump official described delay related conflict interest issues hes previous business life official added hasnt resolved issues prohibit working government official would elaborate nature conflicts scaramucci might sworn job coordinate administration policy key members business community even scaramucci continues support president liaison job swearing could come imminently according person direct knowledge matter scaramuccis delayed appointment underscores tensions building inside trump white house began shortly presidents comefrombehind victory november election various aides advisers continue jockey attention retain expand power advertisement scaramucci longtime fixture wall street prolific fundraiser mainly gop candidates including trump may best known role creator moderator popular salt conference yearly confab brings together leaders business wall street top politicians celebrities 30year career worked goldman sachs nysegs lehman brothers recently started hedge fundrelated business skybridge capital sold month chinese conglomerate terms deal disclosed people direct knowledge sale say price tag nearly 200 million despite role political fundraiser scaramucci hadnt served government trump tapped adviser post since caught internal political battle competing factions inside new administration scaramucci said aligned powerful trump adviser steve bannon jostling power trumps chief staff reince priebus bannon said pushing scarammuccis appointment made official week priebus pushed continued vetting business ties scaramucci also said butted heads another trump adviser omarosa manigault longtime confidant president known mainly role reality tv show apprentice people close trump white house say manigault technically works scaramucci director communications public liaison office also covets top job office trump spokeswoman hope hicks denied internal issues scaramucci manigault adding confirmation delay purely stemming scaramuccis past business conflicts scaramucci could reached comment manigault spokeswoman comment long bitter presidential campaign transition scaramucci helped trump raise tens millions dollars business community daily presence trumps transition headquarters trump tower manhattan well fixture cable tv defending presidents often controversial statements everything possible trade war china whether global warming exists also recently fox contributor times scaramucci caused controversy one point compared department labor rule designates brokers fiduciaries heightened responsibility clients infamous supreme court dred scott ruling time legalized slavery scaramuccis hedgefund business skybridge socalled fundoffunds portfolio sold small investors brokers may less likely offer clients given doj rule supporting presidents position questioning global warming told cnn overwhelming science earth flat overwhelming science center world get lot things wrong scientific community business practices recently come scrutiny well revealed met kirill dmitriev chief executive officer russian direct investment fund 10 billion staterun investment wealth portfolio state departments sanctions list senators elizabeth warren dmass ben cardin dmd have160 called investigation meeting russian businessman order join trump white house overcome conflict interest regulations scaramucci needed unload skybridge 12 billion assets recently suffered poor returns price tag skybridge raised eyebrows buyer given president trumps criticism china currency manipulator alleged use unfair trade practices said trump said still favor scaramuccis appointment given role campaign support president press internal bickering hes likely get sworn pretty soon said person knowledge matter

<p><a href="" type="internal" />Twentynine Palms <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentynine_Palms_Base,_California" type="external">Base</a>&amp;#160;is a United States Marine Corps base adjacent to the city of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, southern California.</p> <p>Around 2 a.m. on Sunday, July 14, 2013, mere hours after a Florida jury had delivered a verdict of &#8220;not guilty&#8221; in the trial of George Zimmerman for the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin, a &#8220;white&#8221; Marine named Steve was beaten and stabbed by a group of black males, numbering 15 to 20, in the 6000 block of Ocotillo Avenue in Twentynine Palms.</p> <p>Local law enforcement has classified this vicious assault as &#8220;gang violence,&#8221; but there is every reason to call it an instance of black-on-white &#8220;hate crime.&#8221;</p> <p>Why?</p> <p>Aside from the racial identities of the victim (white) and his attackers (black), here&#8217;s the clincher:</p> <p>The &#8220;white&#8221; Marine was accompanied by two friends, one white, one black. The white friend was assaulted first, then the thugs attacked the white Marine when he tried to help his friend. Only the black friend was spared: He was neither confronted by nor attacked by the gang of black thugs.</p> <p><a href="http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/san_bernardino_county.png" type="external" />Map of California: San Bernardino County is colored red.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s an account of the attack, posted by the Marine&#8217;s step-dad on <a href="http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?/topic/89266-not-guilty/page-7" type="external">Saiga-12.com</a>, a pay membership forum. The account is republished on&amp;#160; <a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/hate-crime-marine-beaten-and-stabbed-by-group-of-african-american-males_072013" type="external">The Daily Sheeple</a>. Spelling/grammatical/typing mistakes are those of the step-dad.</p> <p>On the morning of the 14th (sunday) my step son, a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps , was out with two other friends off base in 29 Palms CA. &amp;#160;One was a Marine the other a Civillian. &amp;#160;Steven and the other Marine are both white, and they&#8217;re mutual friend is black. &amp;#160;The three men observed a large group (15-20) African American males walking down the street making a lot of noise, shouting, causing a scene. &amp;#160;Many were carryintg weapons, ie&#8230;batons, and at least one tire iron.</p> <p>The mob notices the three men sitting on the porch smoking and talking and proceeded to make they&#8217;re way up the drive. &amp;#160;At this point Steven, the other Marine and they&#8217;re civilian friend told them to leave. &amp;#160;The mob attacked the other Marine first. &amp;#160;Steven, seeing his friend being assaulted attempted to intervene. &amp;#160;Stevens black friend also stepped in demanding they stop. &amp;#160;The mob ignored Stevens black friend and attacked Steven instead.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;They struck him in the head with a tire iron, punched him repeatedly, kicked him repeatedly and then stabbed him in the right side of his chest. &amp;#160;Once they had him on the ground and unconscious they continued to beat him. &amp;#160;The other Marine was able to get away while Steven was eventually robbed&amp;#160;while he lay helpless and unable to defend himself.</p> <p>The police did arrive along with an ambulance to transport Steven to the Desert Palms hospital where he received multiple stitches, and staples to his chest and head. &amp;#160;It should be noted that&amp;#160;the mob that attacked Steven was composed entirely of black men, 15 to 20 of them. &amp;#160;At no time did they attack Stevens black friend.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;All this took place Sunday the 14th following the George Zimmerman verdict.</p> <p>Here are a couple of side notes. &amp;#160;I have talked to the Sheriffs Dept. and have promised on multiple occasions to have a detective call me back. &amp;#160;It has not happened.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;My wife was able to speak to a detective Silva who stated he didn&#8217;t see this as a hate crime. &amp;#160;Merely gang activity. &amp;#160;It was 20 black men trying to murder a white man who had done nothing to warrant the aggression.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;I gave the authorities information on where my sons stolen credit cards were being used and the only response we have gotten was. &amp;#160;&#8221;well, it probably is not the person or persons who committed the assault.&#8221; &amp;#160;I am more then a little outraged. &amp;#160;How is this not a hate crime? Why are they trying to sweep this under the rug? &amp;#160;Have we fallen so far that our Service men and women must now fear for they&#8217;re own lives on native soil and not be given the treatment and respect deserved? &amp;#160;I wont even go into details on the treatment he received from the hospital or how they treated my wife when she called to ask about the condition of her son. &amp;#160;If i get any more info guys i will let you know. &amp;#160;I hope this helps. &amp;#160;Spread the word. &amp;#160;It appears that&amp;#160;whites can not be victims of hate crimes only commit them.</p> <p>The &#8220;Law Enforcement&#8221; is this instance is the San Bernardino Sheriffs Dept.</p> <p>Steven&#8217;s step-dad then followed his account with this update:</p> <p>Here is an update on my son. &amp;#160;After being beaten with a tire iron by a mob of 15 plus black men, stabbed in the chest and kicked unconscious and robbed,&amp;#160;the police have absolutely no leads. &amp;#160;Even though his credit/debit card along with his wallet was stolen and is being used at local stores the &#8220;detectives&#8221; still have nothing.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;Zero, zilch&amp;#160;and are not returning my or my wife&#8217;s calls&amp;#160;what so ever. &amp;#160;To say I&#8217;m disappointed is an understatement. &amp;#160;i suspect&amp;#160;my family will get little or no justice since our son was not a minority.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;This fits the criteria for attempted murder along with a hate crime. &amp;#160;This is not in any way acceptable. &amp;#160;The local sheriffs department for 29 palms is not even cooperating with the 29 Palms Provost Marshals Office.</p> <p>&#8230;&#8230;.</p> <p>a new update.&amp;#160;the San Bernardino Sheriff&#8217;s Department did not collect any evidence at the scene of the crime.&amp;#160;they did not take any photos or take his blood soaked clothing at the hospital. the detective in charge of the case said to my son that unless they solve this case in the next few days it would probably go unsolved. due to the fact that he was going on a month long vacation. We are filing multiple complaints.</p> <p>&#8230;&#8230;.</p> <p>contact email:&amp;#160;[email protected]</p> <p>Two days after the vicious attack, on July 16, 2013, a local radio station <a href="http://www.kcdzfm.com/news/fullstory071613.html#a02" type="external">KCDZ 107.7 FM</a>&amp;#160;reported that&amp;#160;police arrested one man&amp;#160;in &#8220;a brawl&#8221; in Twentynine Palms early Sunday shortly before 2 a.m., in which &#8220;an unidentified Marine was seriously injured when he was hit with a tire iron and then possibly stabbed.&#8221; The wounded Marine was taken to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs.</p> <p>The &#8220;fight&#8221; or &#8220;brawl&#8221; took place in the 6000 block of Ocotillo Avenue, and involved 20 to 30 people.</p> <p>&#8220;During the course of the investigation,&amp;#160;Melvin Peters, 23, of Twentynine Palms was arrested on multiple warrants out of Orange County and for resisting arrest and being drunk and disorderly. According to&amp;#160;Sheriff Sergeant James Porter,&amp;#160;the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.&#8221;</p> <p><a href="http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/sheriff-sgt-james-porter.jpg" type="external" />Sheriff Sgt. James Porter is 5th from the left. ( <a href="http://www.hidesertstar.com/news/article_fd8f2c1d-d9da-5909-9dd6-8d21e8e5b425.html?mode=image&amp;amp;photo=0" type="external">Source</a>)</p> <p>Sheriff: John McMahon Address: 655 E Third St, San Bernardino, California 92415 Phone: (909)387-3545</p> <p>H/t FOTM&#8217;s WildBillAlaska</p> <p>~Eowyn</p> <p>Dr. Eowyn is the Editor of <a href="http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/marine-beaten-stabbed-by-15-20-blacks-day-after-zimmerman-verdict/" type="external">Fellowship of the Minds</a> and a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline.</p> <p /> <p />

twentynine palms base160is united states marine corps base adjacent city twentynine palms san bernardino county southern california around 2 sunday july 14 2013 mere hours florida jury delivered verdict guilty trial george zimmerman second degree murder trayvon martin white marine named steve beaten stabbed group black males numbering 15 20 6000 block ocotillo avenue twentynine palms local law enforcement classified vicious assault gang violence every reason call instance blackonwhite hate crime aside racial identities victim white attackers black heres clincher white marine accompanied two friends one white one black white friend assaulted first thugs attacked white marine tried help friend black friend spared neither confronted attacked gang black thugs map california san bernardino county colored red heres account attack posted marines stepdad saiga12com pay membership forum account republished on160 daily sheeple spellinggrammaticaltyping mistakes stepdad morning 14th sunday step son lance corporal united states marine corps two friends base 29 palms ca 160one marine civillian 160steven marine white theyre mutual friend black 160the three men observed large group 1520 african american males walking street making lot noise shouting causing scene 160many carryintg weapons iebatons least one tire iron mob notices three men sitting porch smoking talking proceeded make theyre way drive 160at point steven marine theyre civilian friend told leave 160the mob attacked marine first 160steven seeing friend assaulted attempted intervene 160stevens black friend also stepped demanding stop 160the mob ignored stevens black friend attacked steven instead160160they struck head tire iron punched repeatedly kicked repeatedly stabbed right side chest 160once ground unconscious continued beat 160the marine able get away steven eventually robbed160while lay helpless unable defend police arrive along ambulance transport steven desert palms hospital received multiple stitches staples chest head 160it noted that160the mob attacked steven composed entirely black men 15 20 160at time attack stevens black friend160160all took place sunday 14th following george zimmerman verdict couple side notes 160i talked sheriffs dept promised multiple occasions detective call back 160it happened160160my wife able speak detective silva stated didnt see hate crime 160merely gang activity 160it 20 black men trying murder white man done nothing warrant aggression160160i gave authorities information sons stolen credit cards used response gotten 160well probably person persons committed assault 160i little outraged 160how hate crime trying sweep rug 160have fallen far service men women must fear theyre lives native soil given treatment respect deserved 160i wont even go details treatment received hospital treated wife called ask condition son 160if get info guys let know 160i hope helps 160spread word 160it appears that160whites victims hate crimes commit law enforcement instance san bernardino sheriffs dept stevens stepdad followed account update update son 160after beaten tire iron mob 15 plus black men stabbed chest kicked unconscious robbed160the police absolutely leads 160even though creditdebit card along wallet stolen used local stores detectives still nothing160160zero zilch160and returning wifes calls160what ever 160to say im disappointed understatement 160i suspect160my family get little justice since son minority160160this fits criteria attempted murder along hate crime 160this way acceptable 160the local sheriffs department 29 palms even cooperating 29 palms provost marshals office new update160the san bernardino sheriffs department collect evidence scene crime160they take photos take blood soaked clothing hospital detective charge case said son unless solve case next days would probably go unsolved due fact going month long vacation filing multiple complaints contact email160breid1970gmailcom two days vicious attack july 16 2013 local radio station kcdz 1077 fm160reported that160police arrested one man160in brawl twentynine palms early sunday shortly 2 unidentified marine seriously injured hit tire iron possibly stabbed wounded marine taken desert hospital palm springs fight brawl took place 6000 block ocotillo avenue involved 20 30 people course investigation160melvin peters 23 twentynine palms arrested multiple warrants orange county resisting arrest drunk disorderly according to160sheriff sergeant james porter160the investigation ongoing arrests expected sheriff sgt james porter 5th left source sheriff john mcmahon address 655 e third st san bernardino california 92415 phone 9093873545 ht fotms wildbillalaska eowyn dr eowyn editor fellowship minds regular contributor dc clothesline

<p /> <p>"I'm kind of comfortable with getting older because it's better than the other option, which is being dead. So I'll take getting older."-- George Clooney</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Getting older isn't fun in many ways, such as when your vision starts to deteriorate or your hip starts giving you trouble. There's a silver lining, though, in the many <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/30/senior-discounts-save-thousands-of-dollars-startin.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">senior discounts</a> available to older Americans. There are even special tax breaks for retirees.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Here are a big bunch of tax breaks that are directly for older taxpayers or that will simply benefit many retirees along with other taxpayers.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>When preparing your tax return each year, you get to choose between taking the <a href="https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/02/05/what-is-the-standard-deduction-for-2017.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">standard deduction</a> or itemizing your deductions if they total more than the standard deduction. Those aged 65 or older can use a higher standard deduction than the rest of us. For the 2017 tax year, the standard deduction is$6,350 for a single filer, $12,700 for those married and filing jointly, and $9,350 for heads of households. If you're 65 or older by the end of 2017, though, you can add an extra$1,250 if you're married or $1,550 if you're unmarried.</p> <p>Retirees are often more generous than the rest of us, having accumulated ample assets over their lives that they're willing to share with others. Uncle Sam rewards that by offering tax deductions for charitable contributions. There are rules, of course. For example, the donations must be made to qualifying organizations. You'll need to be able to support your claimed deductions with evidence such as receipts or cancelled checks. For donations valued at $250 or more, a timely receipt from the receiving organization is required. Donations don't have to be monetary, either. You can also donate goods such as clothing and household items to charities, as long as they're in good and usable condition. You'll need to have a receipt of your donation, and you'll need to estimate the fair market value of each item instead of, say, deducting how much it originally cost you.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Deductions are also allowed for <a href="https://www.fool.com/taxes/2017/04/16/can-i-claim-a-deduction-for-medical-expenses.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">qualifying medical expenses</a> you incur, and while this is equally available to all taxpayers, retirees are generally going to face heftier medical bills, because of their age. (Indeed, Fidelity Investments has estimatedthat a 65-year-old couple retiring today will spend, on average, a total of $260,000 out of pocket on healthcare during their retirement.) Again, there are rules and restrictions. For example, you can only deduct the portion of your qualifying medical expenses that exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). So if your AGI is $60,000 and you have $6,000 or less in qualifying medical expenses, you'll get no tax relief. If you have $7,500 in qualifying medical expenses, though, you can take a $1,500 deduction. That 10% threshold used to be 7.5%, but beginning with the 2017 tax year, it's 10% for everyone.</p> <p>If you're 65 or older by the end of the tax year, or you're retired on permanent and total disability with taxable disability income, you may be able to claima hefty <a href="https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/01/12/what-is-the-tax-credit-for-the-elderly-or-the-disa.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">tax credit</a> of between $3,750 and $7,500 if your income is sufficiently low and you haven't received more than $5,000 in non-taxable Social Security or pension benefits if you're unmarried or more than $7,500 if you are married and filing jointly. What's sufficiently low? It's an adjusted gross income of less than $17,500 if you're single or $25,000 if you're married and filing jointly. Ideally, you'll enjoy an income too great to qualify you for this generous credit, but if your means are modest, these thousands of dollars can really help.</p> <p>There's a powerful tax break available for anyone selling a home if they lived in it for at least two out of the five years preceding the sale. Retirees will often sell their home in order to move closer to their children or to a retirement community or simply to a less expensive home or region. The break lets you exclude up to $250,000 of the gain on the sale of your home from your taxable income -- and up to $500,000 of the gain if you're married and filing jointly. If you realize a gain of $300,000 on your home when you sell it, you can avoid paying taxes on $250,000 of that gain and only count a gain of $50,000. If your tax rate is 15%, you're saving a whopping $37,500!</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>More retirees own stocks than do twenty-somethings, and with investing come some tax breaks. For example, qualifying dividends and long-term capital gains get taxed at the lower tax rate of 15% for most people instead of being taxed at your ordinary income tax rate, which can be 25% or 28% or higher. On top of that, if you pay financial professionals for investment advice or other services, those expenses(along with others, such as subscriptions to investment periodicals) may be deductible, to the extent that they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income.</p> <p>Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s offer big tax breaks, too. For starters, once you're 50 or older, you can contribute an extra $1,000 to your IRA on top of the regular limit for 2017 of $5,500. And with 401(k)s, you can chip in an extra $6,000 on top of the regular 2017 limit of $18,000, giving you a total contribution limit of $24,000. Retirees with Roth IRAs can enjoy their tax benefit -- tax-free withdrawals -- when taking out funds in retirement.</p> <p>One of the biggest tax-related benefits for retirees is receiving Social Security benefits -- if you've paid Social Security taxes into the system for many years during your working life. Accordingto the Social Security Administration, retirement benefits for those with average earnings will likely replace about 40% of your pre-retirement earnings. Those who had above-average earnings in their working years can expect a lower replacement rate, and vice versa. This makes it especially valuable to learn more about Social Security strategies such as when the best age would be for you to start collecting benefits.</p> <p>So while getting older isn't always fun, it does offer some financial perks and benefits. And as George Clooney noted, it certainly beats the alternative.</p> <p>The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies</a>.</p> <p>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>

im kind comfortable getting older better option dead ill take getting older george clooney continue reading getting older isnt fun many ways vision starts deteriorate hip starts giving trouble theres silver lining though many senior discounts available older americans even special tax breaks retirees image source getty images big bunch tax breaks directly older taxpayers simply benefit many retirees along taxpayers advertisement preparing tax return year get choose taking standard deduction itemizing deductions total standard deduction aged 65 older use higher standard deduction rest us 2017 tax year standard deduction is6350 single filer 12700 married filing jointly 9350 heads households youre 65 older end 2017 though add extra1250 youre married 1550 youre unmarried retirees often generous rest us accumulated ample assets lives theyre willing share others uncle sam rewards offering tax deductions charitable contributions rules course example donations must made qualifying organizations youll need able support claimed deductions evidence receipts cancelled checks donations valued 250 timely receipt receiving organization required donations dont monetary either also donate goods clothing household items charities long theyre good usable condition youll need receipt donation youll need estimate fair market value item instead say deducting much originally cost image source getty images deductions also allowed qualifying medical expenses incur equally available taxpayers retirees generally going face heftier medical bills age indeed fidelity investments estimatedthat 65yearold couple retiring today spend average total 260000 pocket healthcare retirement rules restrictions example deduct portion qualifying medical expenses exceed 10 adjusted gross income agi agi 60000 6000 less qualifying medical expenses youll get tax relief 7500 qualifying medical expenses though take 1500 deduction 10 threshold used 75 beginning 2017 tax year 10 everyone youre 65 older end tax year youre retired permanent total disability taxable disability income may able claima hefty tax credit 3750 7500 income sufficiently low havent received 5000 nontaxable social security pension benefits youre unmarried 7500 married filing jointly whats sufficiently low adjusted gross income less 17500 youre single 25000 youre married filing jointly ideally youll enjoy income great qualify generous credit means modest thousands dollars really help theres powerful tax break available anyone selling home lived least two five years preceding sale retirees often sell home order move closer children retirement community simply less expensive home region break lets exclude 250000 gain sale home taxable income 500000 gain youre married filing jointly realize gain 300000 home sell avoid paying taxes 250000 gain count gain 50000 tax rate 15 youre saving whopping 37500 image source getty images retirees stocks twentysomethings investing come tax breaks example qualifying dividends longterm capital gains get taxed lower tax rate 15 people instead taxed ordinary income tax rate 25 28 higher top pay financial professionals investment advice services expensesalong others subscriptions investment periodicals may deductible extent exceed 2 adjusted gross income retirement accounts iras 401ks offer big tax breaks starters youre 50 older contribute extra 1000 ira top regular limit 2017 5500 401ks chip extra 6000 top regular 2017 limit 18000 giving total contribution limit 24000 retirees roth iras enjoy tax benefit taxfree withdrawals taking funds retirement one biggest taxrelated benefits retirees receiving social security benefits youve paid social security taxes system many years working life accordingto social security administration retirement benefits average earnings likely replace 40 preretirement earnings aboveaverage earnings working years expect lower replacement rate vice versa makes especially valuable learn social security strategies best age would start collecting benefits getting older isnt always fun offer financial perks benefits george clooney noted certainly beats alternative 16122 social security bonus retirees completely overlook youre like americans youre years behind retirement savings handful littleknown social security secrets could help ensure boost retirement income example one easy trick could pay much 16122 year learn maximize social security benefits think could retire confidently peace mind simply click discover learn strategies motley fool disclosure policy

<p /> <p>RUSH: You know, we had the story the other day about the gross domestic product. By the way, stand by sound bites 1 and 2. We had the news that GDP, revised GDP 3% economic growth and job creation, real jobs, not part-time jobs, real job creation now skyrocketing. You know where the Washington Post put that story? They put it on page A-18.</p> <p>On CNN yesterday, the infobabe Brooke Baldwin was talking to the noted Wall Street Journal writer and economist Stephen Moore, what brought the subject up, who brought up the idea that the gross domestic product in just seven months has outdistanced anything we saw in eight years of Obama. This led to the CNN infobabe to begin shouting and cutting away from Stephen Moore and doing everything she could to prevent him from elaborating and continuing to make the point.</p> <p>She just would not allow him to point out that we never even got to 2% growth under Obama for eight years. Now already seven months into Trump, we&#8217;re up to 3%. So what&#8217;s happening is that the Drive-Bys are keeping that news as secret as they can. They&#8217;ve got a built-in excuse now with Hurricane Harvey and the recovery efforts to totally ignore and abandon the story, which they are doing.</p> <p>But the economy is growing and it&#8217;s growing at a rapid rate, and this is exactly why the time is precisely right to do tax cuts and tax reform. Now, <a href="" type="internal">at the end of the program yesterday &#8212; let me just play for you what I said</a>. Audio sound bite number 1. This was near the end of the program. I had to get in there, get it, and get out pretty quick, but this is essentially it.</p> <p>RUSH ARCHIVE: Okay. Trump has begun his speech in Springfield on tax reform, just now getting into it. There are three lies that the media and the Democrats say after every Republican tax proposal. They are this: The Reagan or Bush tax cuts didn&#8217;t work. They then say the rich are not gonna be paying their fair share in this. And that it has to be revenue neutral. Those are the three things. You watch. After Trump finishes, those three lies will be part of the media reaction to whatever he says.</p> <p>RUSH: That was at the end of the program yesterday. And now we have a montage of reaction to Trump&#8217;s speech in Springfield, once again illustrating that I know who these people are, and I know what they say. I know what they&#8217;re gonna say before they say it. I accurately can predict them. Our montage here is of Austan Goolsbee, Brian Klaas, Robert Wolf, Julia Chatterley, Anna Edgerton, Ron Insana, and Jared Bernstein, and these are all economic advisers, CNBC, CNN.</p> <p>These are authors, these are people who&#8217;ve had contact one way or the other with the Obama administration. There are three things. They&#8217;ll say the Reagan or Bush tax cuts didn&#8217;t work, which of course they did. In fact, there&#8217;s a stunning stat about the Reagan tax cuts. They will say the rich are not gonna be paying enough, the rich are getting a break, the rich are not paying their fair share, and any proposal must be revenue neutral or we cannot support it. Now let&#8217;s listen to see if we hear any of that in this montage.</p> <p>AUSTAN GOOLSBEE: Let us return to reality, okay? The last time the country did this was when George Bush cut taxes for high-income people and big corporations.</p> <p>BRIAN KLASS: It&#8217;s just a complete lie that it&#8217;s going to have this trickle-down effect and massively create jobs. There&#8217;s no evidence to suggest it happens.</p> <p>AUSTAN GOOLSBEE: If he&#8217;s just going to keep stating that he wants to cut taxes by something like $6 trillion, somebody somewhere has got to say how they&#8217;re going to pay for it.</p> <p>ROBERT WOLF: This isn&#8217;t going to be corporate tax reform. It&#8217;s really a tax cut. It&#8217;s not going to be revenue neutral.</p> <p>JULIA CHATTERLEY: Is there any consensus here on whether or not this is going to be revenue neutral? And of course it&#8217;s critical.</p> <p>ANNA EDGERTON: It has to be revenue neutral.</p> <p>RON INSANA: More tax cuts to wealthy individuals, to corporations, but not to middle class individuals.</p> <p>JARED BERNSTEIN: These benefits go to households in the richest part of the income scale.</p> <p>RUSH: What does it mean, folks, when I can totally, accurately predict the reaction and response of liberal Drive-Bys and economists whenever a Republican tax cut is proposed? What does it mean that I can almost predict word-for-word what they&#8217;re gonna say? What does it mean?</p> <p>It means they&#8217;re speaking from a script. It means they are totally politicizing. It means they&#8217;re not even paying attention to the specifics of what&#8217;s been proposed. All it means is they want no part of a tax cut, and they&#8217;re gonna do everything they can to try to convince the American people that a tax cut would be the worst thing &#8217;cause it&#8217;s gonna cost the federal government money &#8212; not being revenue neutral &#8212; the rich are gonna get the lion&#8217;s share of the tax cut, and they&#8217;re not gonna trickle it down. They&#8217;re not gonna share with anybody so you&#8217;re gonna get worse off.</p> <p>It&#8217;s what they&#8217;ve been saying since the 1980s and Ronaldus Magnus. And yet every time tax cuts like this have been tried, they have worked, and that&#8217;s why these people are really panicked. Same reason they&#8217;re panicked over Trump. Trump cannot be seen as successful. They can&#8217;t permit it. They cannot permit. So Trump&#8217;s 3% economic growth, put it on page A-18 and ignore it on cable news, don&#8217;t even report it.</p> <p>Trump&#8217;s tax cut, &#8220;It&#8217;s typical. It&#8217;s the same as Bush. It&#8217;s the same as Reagan. It&#8217;s a tax cut for the rich. It blows through the federal budget deficit, and it&#8217;s not revenue neutral, and it doesn&#8217;t help the middle class.&#8221; What it ought to tell you is that the people on the left mounting this opposition are entirely dishonest and nothing but robots reading from talking points and a script right out of the Democrat left-wing playbook on how to deal with the subject of tax cuts.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: So Trump goes to Springfield, Missouri, yesterday to pitch tax reform. You know what? There&#8217;s a story in <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/30/trump-can-win-september-tie-infrastructure-bill-hurricane-harvey-aid/" type="external">Breitbart</a> today that says what Trump ought to do is combine the rescue efforts, the FEMA and all that rescue efforts in Houston with his infrastructure bill. I said that the day we came back, Monday. It was Monday where I came up with that idea. It&#8217;s a brilliant idea. I saw it in Breitbart yesterday.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>Anyway, Trump goes and he mentions his proposal. And Terry Jeffrey at Cybercast News Service last night put together some numbers that were released by the government, the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the upshot of it is this: &#8220; <a href="https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/bls-average-family-tax-bill-increased-411-4-years" type="external">Americans Spend More on Taxes Than Food and Clothing Combined</a>.&#8221; And you know what? I&#8217;ve got the numbers here. I&#8217;ll bet you most Americans don&#8217;t know that. I&#8217;ll bet you most Americans would come across this story, they wouldn&#8217;t know it.</p> <p>You know what strikes me? Whenever tax cuts comes up as an idea, I am always, still to this day, shocked that a great majority of Americans do not join the effort. Really. I expect whenever the idea of tax cuts come up that this is something all &#8212; now, I understand, look, I&#8217;ve had calls from seasoned citizens. I&#8217;ll never forget this one call from an elderly woman in Boston. And she did not want her sons and her grandsons to have a tax cut because a tax cut meant less welfare for her.</p> <p>Now, I know that there are people like that out there, but I&#8217;m talking about the vast majority of people who work. And I think the reason most people don&#8217;t join this call for tax cuts is they have no idea how much they&#8217;re paying in taxes, &#8217;cause they never see the money. All they see &#8212; and they may not even get a check anymore. There may not even be a paycheck with a stub. With automatic deposit, an amount of money every pay period just shows up in the checking account, and that&#8217;s it. And they never take the time to look at what has been withheld.</p> <p>So they don&#8217;t know what federal taxes they&#8217;re paying. And when it comes to filing their federal taxes, most of them don&#8217;t have to pay anything because they&#8217;re already so overtaxed that they get a refund. So when April 15th comes around or whenever they file, they expect a refund, and they think they&#8217;re screwing the government, and they love to brag to people, &#8220;Yeah, my refund, I&#8217;m getting $1,200 back this year. I&#8217;m really taking it to them.&#8221;</p> <p>You&#8217;re not screwing anybody. They&#8217;re screwing you!</p> <p>If you get a tax refund, it means that way more money was withheld from you than you were required to have withheld . Now, a lot of people like getting a refund because it&#8217;s the one time of year that they have a big bundle of cash, like a thousand dollars or $1,200 or whatever it is to go spend on whatever they want to spend it on. But smart money management would say plan your taxes so that you don&#8217;t get a refund and so that you don&#8217;t owe anything, or owe a little.</p> <p>But there&#8217;s no reason to give the government control of your money when they&#8217;re not paying you any interest on it. So getting a big tax refund is not smart. It may make you feel good. Bottom line is people don&#8217;t know how much they&#8217;re paying in taxes. They never have to write the check. They never actually have possession of the money and have to give it away. They never see it because of withholding.</p> <p>But you go talk to people that pay their own taxes who have to file quarterly estimates, and you&#8217;ll not find a single one of them that thinks they&#8217;re undertaxed. Anybody who literally writes the check and pays their taxes knows the score. They know how overtaxed everybody is. And this is a great way now to finally illustrate it.</p> <p>&#8220;Americans Spend More on Taxes Than Food and Clothing Combined.&#8221; But that&#8217;s even a little misleading, because Americans don&#8217;t spend on taxes. You don&#8217;t have the option of spending money on taxes. You never see the money that goes to taxes. It is withheld. Your payroll tax, your FICA, the state income tax, the federal income tax, whatever the hell else tax, it&#8217;s withheld. And you never see it. And so when the tax cut calls come around, &#8220;Well, I&#8217;m doing fine, I don&#8217;t need it.&#8221; You don&#8217;t even know what you&#8217;re paying in taxes. Now when somebody tells, &#8220;You know what, the amount of money taken from you in taxes is more than you&#8217;re spending on food and clothing,&#8221; and food and clothing are mandatory. You can&#8217;t go without food. You have to spend that money. Clothing, arguably the same thing.</p> <p>The fastest way to get to real tax reform is to end withholding for a year and force everybody to actually write the check to the federal government four times a year or once. Then to the state government, however often, four times a year or at once. And then send the check off to the payroll tax people. And then send the check off to Medicare. That&#8217;s a separate category now. And then your property tax, make sure you pay that. Don&#8217;t put that in your mortgage payment. Make sure you pay your property taxes, a separate payment.</p> <p>And if people had to do this, there would be a tax rebellion. One of the reasons there isn&#8217;t a tax rebellion and one of the reasons there is such a docile attitude about this is precisely because of withholding. But this is outrageous. Americans have more money deducted from them to pay taxes than they are spending on food and clothing combined. I have the actual numbers here from the latest BLS data.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: Mark in Tallahassee, Florida. I&#8217;m glad you waited, sir. What&#8217;s happening?</p> <p>CALLER: Well, I&#8217;m a longtime &#8212; my wife and I longtime listeners, first-time caller.</p> <p>RUSH: Thank you, sir.</p> <p>CALLER: I wanted to know&#8230; I was watching this tragedy unfold out there in Texas, and I kept looking for the snowflake and the Antifa navies to come in and lend a hand. Seems like they&#8217;re really good at, you know, tearing things down and pointing the finger on how bad things are, but when we&#8217;re in a crisis, I don&#8217;t &#8212; did you see their boats or anything?</p> <p>RUSH: No, but don&#8217;t jump to conclusions. Antifa will move in after the fact. If there are ever any reports that, say, African-Americans were passed over by rescuers or cops &#8212; and those reports might happen, might be made up &#8212; then you&#8217;ll hear from Antifa. I&#8217;m not predicting it, but don&#8217;t be surprised, folks, if days, weeks ago from now something like that happens. That&#8217;s exactly the kind of stuff they do.</p>

rush know story day gross domestic product way stand sound bites 1 2 news gdp revised gdp 3 economic growth job creation real jobs parttime jobs real job creation skyrocketing know washington post put story put page a18 cnn yesterday infobabe brooke baldwin talking noted wall street journal writer economist stephen moore brought subject brought idea gross domestic product seven months outdistanced anything saw eight years obama led cnn infobabe begin shouting cutting away stephen moore everything could prevent elaborating continuing make point would allow point never even got 2 growth obama eight years already seven months trump 3 whats happening drivebys keeping news secret theyve got builtin excuse hurricane harvey recovery efforts totally ignore abandon story economy growing growing rapid rate exactly time precisely right tax cuts tax reform end program yesterday let play said audio sound bite number 1 near end program get get get pretty quick essentially rush archive okay trump begun speech springfield tax reform getting three lies media democrats say every republican tax proposal reagan bush tax cuts didnt work say rich gon na paying fair share revenue neutral three things watch trump finishes three lies part media reaction whatever says rush end program yesterday montage reaction trumps speech springfield illustrating know people know say know theyre gon na say say accurately predict montage austan goolsbee brian klaas robert wolf julia chatterley anna edgerton ron insana jared bernstein economic advisers cnbc cnn authors people whove contact one way obama administration three things theyll say reagan bush tax cuts didnt work course fact theres stunning stat reagan tax cuts say rich gon na paying enough rich getting break rich paying fair share proposal must revenue neutral support lets listen see hear montage austan goolsbee let us return reality okay last time country george bush cut taxes highincome people big corporations brian klass complete lie going trickledown effect massively create jobs theres evidence suggest happens austan goolsbee hes going keep stating wants cut taxes something like 6 trillion somebody somewhere got say theyre going pay robert wolf isnt going corporate tax reform really tax cut going revenue neutral julia chatterley consensus whether going revenue neutral course critical anna edgerton revenue neutral ron insana tax cuts wealthy individuals corporations middle class individuals jared bernstein benefits go households richest part income scale rush mean folks totally accurately predict reaction response liberal drivebys economists whenever republican tax cut proposed mean almost predict wordforword theyre gon na say mean means theyre speaking script means totally politicizing means theyre even paying attention specifics whats proposed means want part tax cut theyre gon na everything try convince american people tax cut would worst thing cause gon na cost federal government money revenue neutral rich gon na get lions share tax cut theyre gon na trickle theyre gon na share anybody youre gon na get worse theyve saying since 1980s ronaldus magnus yet every time tax cuts like tried worked thats people really panicked reason theyre panicked trump trump seen successful cant permit permit trumps 3 economic growth put page a18 ignore cable news dont even report trumps tax cut typical bush reagan tax cut rich blows federal budget deficit revenue neutral doesnt help middle class ought tell people left mounting opposition entirely dishonest nothing robots reading talking points script right democrat leftwing playbook deal subject tax cuts break transcript rush trump goes springfield missouri yesterday pitch tax reform know theres story breitbart today says trump ought combine rescue efforts fema rescue efforts houston infrastructure bill said day came back monday monday came idea brilliant idea saw breitbart yesterday anyway trump goes mentions proposal terry jeffrey cybercast news service last night put together numbers released government bureau labor statistics upshot americans spend taxes food clothing combined know ive got numbers ill bet americans dont know ill bet americans would come across story wouldnt know know strikes whenever tax cuts comes idea always still day shocked great majority americans join effort really expect whenever idea tax cuts come something understand look ive calls seasoned citizens ill never forget one call elderly woman boston want sons grandsons tax cut tax cut meant less welfare know people like im talking vast majority people work think reason people dont join call tax cuts idea much theyre paying taxes cause never see money see may even get check anymore may even paycheck stub automatic deposit amount money every pay period shows checking account thats never take time look withheld dont know federal taxes theyre paying comes filing federal taxes dont pay anything theyre already overtaxed get refund april 15th comes around whenever file expect refund think theyre screwing government love brag people yeah refund im getting 1200 back year im really taking youre screwing anybody theyre screwing get tax refund means way money withheld required withheld lot people like getting refund one time year big bundle cash like thousand dollars 1200 whatever go spend whatever want spend smart money management would say plan taxes dont get refund dont owe anything owe little theres reason give government control money theyre paying interest getting big tax refund smart may make feel good bottom line people dont know much theyre paying taxes never write check never actually possession money give away never see withholding go talk people pay taxes file quarterly estimates youll find single one thinks theyre undertaxed anybody literally writes check pays taxes knows score know overtaxed everybody great way finally illustrate americans spend taxes food clothing combined thats even little misleading americans dont spend taxes dont option spending money taxes never see money goes taxes withheld payroll tax fica state income tax federal income tax whatever hell else tax withheld never see tax cut calls come around well im fine dont need dont even know youre paying taxes somebody tells know amount money taken taxes youre spending food clothing food clothing mandatory cant go without food spend money clothing arguably thing fastest way get real tax reform end withholding year force everybody actually write check federal government four times year state government however often four times year send check payroll tax people send check medicare thats separate category property tax make sure pay dont put mortgage payment make sure pay property taxes separate payment people would tax rebellion one reasons isnt tax rebellion one reasons docile attitude precisely withholding outrageous americans money deducted pay taxes spending food clothing combined actual numbers latest bls data break transcript rush mark tallahassee florida im glad waited sir whats happening caller well im longtime wife longtime listeners firsttime caller rush thank sir caller wanted know watching tragedy unfold texas kept looking snowflake antifa navies come lend hand seems like theyre really good know tearing things pointing finger bad things crisis dont see boats anything rush dont jump conclusions antifa move fact ever reports say africanamericans passed rescuers cops reports might happen might made youll hear antifa im predicting dont surprised folks days weeks ago something like happens thats exactly kind stuff

<p>(Rush Limbaugh) &#8211; RUSH: So yesterday I was openly complaining, some might even say whining, that I was gonna have to watch the State of the Union show.&amp;#160; It was gonna be sickening to listen to what was being said and then to watch members of Congress stand up and essentially applaud the destruction of the country.&amp;#160; And I talked to a bunch of people who said, &#8220;I&#8217;m not watching.&amp;#160; I&#8217;m not gonna watch it.&amp;#160; Not gonna spend any time on it.&#8221;&amp;#160; And I said, &#8220;Well, I have to.&#8221;&amp;#160; It reminds me of the days when I was in school and everybody told me they weren&#8217;t doing their homework, so I didn&#8217;t, either.&amp;#160; Turns out they were lying.&amp;#160; They all did their homework and I got D&#8217;s and F&#8217;s.&amp;#160; Well, everybody that told me they weren&#8217;t gonna watch the State of the Union ended up watching it.</p> <p><a href="https://payments.paysimple.com/PaySimple/buyer/checkoutformpay/T7LPWO1u--49Jw0QOI6qgRBYFyo-" type="external">SPECIAL: Bypass the Lame Stream Media! Expose The Truth About &#8216;America&#8217;s Fraud President&#8217; to UNLIMITED Households!</a></p> <p>I&#8217;ll tell you what I thought of it, folks.&amp;#160; I disagreed with everything the president said pretty much, in terms of his policies.&amp;#160; I disagreed with everything he said, but it was a great speech.&amp;#160; I liked the speech and you know what I really liked?&amp;#160; I liked that part where he said that we all have to get along and work together to help people.&amp;#160; I really liked that.&amp;#160; That really scored with me.&amp;#160; And I was watching the Frank Luntz focus group after the State of the Union speech and after Marco Rubio&#8217;s response, it was on Hannity on the Fox News Channel.&amp;#160; He had this focus group, and, if you didn&#8217;t see it, it&#8217;s too bad.&amp;#160; If you did, you were looking at the very definition of low-information voters.&amp;#160; It&#8217;s amazing.&amp;#160; They had the same reaction I had.</p> <p>They disagreed with pretty much everything Obama said, policy-wise, but they supported him, and they thought it was a great speech, and they liked the part about everybody working together to get along.&amp;#160; They liked the fact that he&#8217;s gonna tackle the deficit. They liked the fact that he&#8217;s gonna create jobs.&amp;#160; They didn&#8217;t agree with how he was gonna do it, but they liked that he&#8217;s going to.&amp;#160; They liked that he&#8217;s gonna reduce the deficit.&amp;#160; They liked the fact that he&#8217;s gonna bring the debt down.&amp;#160; They liked the fact that health care costs are gonna come down.&amp;#160; Did you know that?&amp;#160; Health care costs are already coming down and I found myself agreeing.&amp;#160; I thought it was cool.&amp;#160; I disagreed with, you know, how the president said he&#8217;s gonna do it.</p> <p>Look, I had a bit of a problem with the president on global warming where he basically said that if Congress doesn&#8217;t act, he will.&amp;#160; But I do think we need to deal with global warming.&amp;#160; Everybody knows that.&amp;#160; I didn&#8217;t agree with much, but I liked the speech.&amp;#160; I was very, very supportive.&amp;#160; And Obamacare, the costs are coming down.&amp;#160; That&#8217;s good.&amp;#160; I&#8217;m very happy about that.&amp;#160; The debt, deficit is coming down.&amp;#160; We&#8217;re already over halfway to the targeted debt reduction of $4 trillion.&amp;#160; So at least somebody&#8217;s working on this stuff and somebody&#8217;s trying to make it happen.&amp;#160; I wasn&#8217;t crazy about some of the things I heard the president say on taxes, but I had to acknowledge that the rich have been getting away with murder all these years. It&#8217;s about time somebody tried to make everything fair, and who could oppose fairness.</p> <p>You know, yesterday we had the Gallup poll, and on every issue except one &#8212; and I forget what the one issue was &#8212; every issue, every policy, by vast majority numbers, the American people disagree with Obama.&amp;#160; A vast majority disagree with Obama on every policy.&amp;#160; I mean, it&#8217;s not close.&amp;#160; In some cases, the numbers of people that disagree are in the 60 percentages, and the people agree with Obama are in the forties.&amp;#160; But they liked the speech last night.&amp;#160; They thought it was exactly what was called for.</p> <p>Now, the New York Times has a story today.&amp;#160; &#8220;Polls Show Dissatisfaction With Country&#8217;s Direction, but Support for Obama&#8217;s Agenda &#8212; Just ahead of President Obama&#8217;s State of the Union address Tuesday night, new polls find continued public dissatisfaction with the direction of the country, yet support for several of the policies the president has said he will push in his second term.&#8221; And that&#8217;s what I saw in the focus group last night on Frank Luntz.&amp;#160; They don&#8217;t like the way the country&#8217;s going but, man, they love what Obama&#8217;s doing about it.&amp;#160; Well, I know folks, don&#8217;t ask me.&amp;#160; I&#8217;m just telling you what I saw, what I heard, and what&#8217;s in the news.&amp;#160; It&#8217;s a little conflicting.&amp;#160; The Gallup poll people do disagree with Obama issue by issue by issue.</p> <p>The New York Times says there is support for Obama&#8217;s agenda but dissatisfaction with the way the country&#8217;s going. See, those are two separate things. This is what we are going to have to learn to understand. Obama&#8217;s agenda doesn&#8217;t have anything to do with the country&#8217;s direction. As far as the low-information voter is concerned, they&#8217;re two separate things: support for Obama&#8217;s agenda but dissatisfaction with the country&#8217;s direction.</p> <p>Now, you and I might say, &#8220;Well, wait a second now. The country&#8217;s direction is precisely related to Obama&#8217;s agenda.&#8221; But no! We would be terribly wrong. Obama&#8217;s agenda has nothing to do with the country&#8217;s direction. Obama&#8217;s agenda is about fixing it, and people support it. Now, this is also a mendacious media at work because this is exactly the opposite of what Gallup reported the day before that we discussed.</p> <p>According to Gallup, the American public disapproves of every Obama policy except for his handling of defense. But the New York Times has this story that&#8217;s just the exact opposite. Polls show dissatisfaction with country&#8217;s direction but support for Obama&#8217;s agenda. Two separate things. The Frank Luntz focus group was pretty much the same thing. They pretty much disagreed with what they heard last night in policy, but they liked the speech and they like what Obama said.</p> <p>They like that somebody&#8217;s working on it and they want everybody to work together. The Obama claim that the Affordable Care Act is already slowing health care costs? Now, you and I would hear something like that that the president said that last night&#8230; &#8220;Already the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs.&#8221; I know your reaction was probably the same as mine when you heard that. It&#8217;s just another bald-, bold-faced lie. The truth of the matter is that Obamacare has not even been fully implemented!</p> <p>How can you give credit to Obamacare for slowing health care costs when it&#8217;s yet to be enacted? What is slowing health care costs, to the extent that they&#8217;re slowing down, is the recession &#8212; and that&#8217;s even debatable. But, you know, in a couple of isolated areas, not very many, you can see where health care costs a little bit less than it has been costing. But that&#8217;s due to the recession. It has nothing to do with Obama. But this is way too much information to the low-information voter. You can&#8217;t persuade them with that.</p> <p>So what I decided to do, ladies and gentlemen, is we got hold of Paul Shanklin and we decided to do a condensed version of last night&#8217;s State of the Union. This is an honest, condensed version of last night&#8217;s State of the Union&#8230;</p> <p>JOHNNY DONOVAN: (Hail to the Chief) And now, the honest, condensed version of President Obama&#8217;s State of the Union Address.</p> <p>PAUL SHANKLIN AS OBAMA: My fellow Americans, fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy said something profound at his State of the Union. I&#8230; will not. Thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there isn&#8217;t enough progress to my agenda. Corporate profits are evil, and we need a middle class to tax. It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country: The idea that if you work hard, you can get ahead no matter whatcha look like or how you sneaked in or who you love in a cheap motel &#8212; or whether you have a thing for feathers, high heels, or wigs with bangs.</p> <p>Now, the American people don&#8217;t expect us to solve every problem. I haven&#8217;t solved any, so don&#8217;t worry. But they do expect us to put the nation&#8217;s interests before our party. You first! In 2011, Congress passed my plan to have sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts called a &#8220;sequester&#8221; that would jeopardize our military readiness, and would most certainly slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. So let&#8217;s set party interests aside, and work to pass a solution to end the sequester crisis I manufactured right here in America.</p> <p>The biggest driver of our long-term debt is old people. The Unaffordable Care Act is slowing their access to medical care, but not fast enough. We must do more! Now, our government shouldn&#8217;t make promises we can&#8217;t keep, but we must keep the ones we already made &#8212; unless it was to turn a budget in on time after four years. Every day I ask myself three questions about this nation: &#8220;How do we attract more jobs to our shores?&#8221; &#8220;How do we equip our people with skills they need to get those jobs?&#8221; and &#8220;How to do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?&#8221;</p> <p>Well&#8230; Well, how do we?</p> <p>We now produce more oil and gas right here in America, so we must do more to combat climate change &#8212; and if Congress won&#8217;t act, I will do what I want, whenever I want. Why does Congress even exist? We need more infrastructure like roads and bridges! (Sorry. Heh, heh. I couldn&#8217;t help myself.) Today, too many families with solid credit are being turned down for home loans because of unnecessary regulation, and I just now noticed.</p> <p>So, uh, free pre-school for everybody! Now&#8230; Now, we all know what needs to be done. Send me a comprehensive immigration bill, in Spanish, and I will sign it. There are still places in America where you can&#8217;t get ahead, like Chicago. America will run away in Afghanistan and declare victory no matter what happens. Today, the organization that attacked us on 9/11 &#8212; no, not Benghazi; the other 9/11 &#8212; is a shadow of its former self.</p> <p>Cyber attacks are bad. There are many places where people live on little more than a dollar a day. Ask my brother George. Now, women deserve combat duty. And honestly, people: Just give up your guns and we&#8217;ll protect you about as well as we can protect a small child on a playground in Chicago where they have plenty of gun control already. In closing, my fellow Americans, we are citizens. Honest. I have the birth certificates for both of us! God bless you, and God help the United States of America, because I won&#8217;t.</p> <p>(Hail to the Chief)</p> <p>Thank you.</p> <p>RUSH: And there you have it, my friends, our State of the Union condensed version for those of you who missed it last night. (interruption) No, I&#8217;m being entirely serious. Snerdley is scratching his head, saying, &#8220;What are you up to?&#8221; I&#8217;m not up to anything. I&#8217;m telling you exactly how the speech was perceived last night. A majority of Americans, depending on where you look, either do or don&#8217;t like Obama&#8217;s policies.</p> <p>But they really liked the speech and they liked that he&#8217;s working on this stuff. They like that he&#8217;s attacking the deficit. They like that he&#8217;s fixing health care. They like that he&#8217;s doing all this and they hope everybody works together on it. That&#8217;s what they really want. They want everybody to join hands. I saw it in the Luntz focus group. They want everybody to work together &#8212; everybody come together &#8212; get along and fix these problems, because we have a debt problem.</p> <p>Obama&#8217;s working on it, and that&#8217;s good. We&#8217;ve got a health care problem and Obama&#8217;s working on it. We&#8217;ve got a unemployment problem. Obama&#8217;s working on it. He&#8217;s got a program for it. But the thing that you gotta take away, the thing that you must understand about last night that defines everything: There is massive dissatisfaction with the country&#8217;s direction. The vast majority of the American people do not like the direction in which the country is going, while at the same time there is overwhelming support for Barack Obama&#8217;s agenda.</p> <p>Which means that, to the vast majority of American voters, there is no relationship whatsoever between Obama&#8217;s agenda and the direction of the country.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: I realize in the opening segments of the broadcast that I had a little fun with this, but I do want to tell you something here that has been sort of an eye opener for me.&amp;#160; Now, it may have been something that you understood long ago. It may have been something you put together long ago.&amp;#160; I must confess that I only just realized this today.&amp;#160; And it&#8217;s about trying to understand how could so many people say they disagree with Obama&#8217;s policies and yet reelect him.&amp;#160; I know that you and I have expressed our puzzlement and our curiosity over the great disconnect there is in this country. The people that vote for Obama don&#8217;t like where we&#8217;re going, the direction of the country, the policies of Obama, yet he wins elections.</p> <p>So we&#8217;ve all been taking our stabs at trying to explain why.&amp;#160; Well, he won reelection because he did such a good job of demonizing Romney that he made everybody afraid to vote for Romney and they settled and just voted for Obama, vote for the guy who&#8217;s already there, at least he&#8217;s a known quantity.&amp;#160; But the New York Times story today finally opens my eyes to what we&#8217;re dealing with, at least for me.&amp;#160; And as I say, you may have understood this long ago.&amp;#160; &#8220;Polls Show Dissatisfaction With Country&#8217;s Direction, but Support for Obama&#8217;s Agenda.&#8221;</p> <p /> <p>Now, you and I, in what I would call the high-information voter sector, understand what a giant disconnect that is.&amp;#160; How in the world can people be dissatisfied with the country&#8217;s direction while at the same time support the very agenda that&#8217;s causing it?&amp;#160; This just doesn&#8217;t compute to you and me.&amp;#160; We recognize that it is Obama&#8217;s agenda which is leading to the problems this country has and thus the dissatisfaction that people have of the country&#8217;s direction.&amp;#160; But the majority of people who vote, there is no connection of those two things whatsoever.&amp;#160; They support Obama&#8217;s agenda, and they are terribly unhappy about the direction of the country, and therefore they do not associate Obama&#8217;s agenda or his policies with the direction of the country.</p> <p>They do not associate Obama&#8217;s policies with what has happened to the country.&amp;#160; They don&#8217;t associate all the spending and all the debt with the lack of jobs.&amp;#160; They don&#8217;t make that connection, they don&#8217;t see any connection, they don&#8217;t see it at all.&amp;#160; Now, to me this is an eye opener, and it&#8217;s going to force me to assess exactly how to go forward here in dealing with these people.&amp;#160; The idea is to persuade them.&amp;#160; I mean, they are the low-information voters.</p> <p>Now, if they&#8217;re unhappy with the economy, if they&#8217;re unhappy with jobs, if they&#8217;re unhappy with the debt, if they&#8217;re unhappy with the housing market and yet support Obama&#8217;s agenda, then they obviously do not connect Obama&#8217;s policies as being in any way related to or responsible for the country&#8217;s direction that they don&#8217;t like, which means a number of things.&amp;#160; It means that they see Obama as working really hard to try to fix everything, rather than Obama as the reason for things worsening.&amp;#160; They just do not see that.&amp;#160; And to you and me it&#8217;s a slam dunk.&amp;#160; It&#8217;s one plus one is two.&amp;#160; These are people, outcome-based education, two plus two is five and we&#8217;ll give &#8217;em an A for trying.&amp;#160; They don&#8217;t see it.</p> <p>So Obama is not at all connected to the tragic destruction of this country.&amp;#160; He is seen as somebody who wants to fix it.&amp;#160; It&#8217;s the same thing as people seeing Colonel Sanders as a guy running a hospital to save chickens.&amp;#160; Wouldn&#8217;t compute.&amp;#160; It wouldn&#8217;t make any sense.&amp;#160; But that&#8217;s how he&#8217;s viewed.&amp;#160; Now, maybe one reason is that he&#8217;s successfully blamed Bush all these years and the exit polling data last November, vast majority of people still do blame Bush for the economy, but it&#8217;s more than that.&amp;#160; It&#8217;s that Obama never, ever allows himself to be seen as governing.&amp;#160; He is constantly campaigning.</p> <p>Obama is constantly seen as in competition with what&#8217;s happening in Washington.&amp;#160; It is though there are straw men. There are men behind curtains. There are invisible, evil people doing all this to the country.&amp;#160; He&#8217;s trying to expose them and he&#8217;s working very hard. Romney is one of them.&amp;#160; Bush was one of them.&amp;#160; There are a bunch of other people, we don&#8217;t know who they are. But Obama is trying to find them. He&#8217;s trying to expose them and trying to fix all this.&amp;#160; Obama is not seen as the guy behind the curtains pulling the levers. Obama is not seen as the guy who does not like the way the country was founded and is trying to take this country in a different direction. He&#8217;s not seen at all in the way he really is.&amp;#160; It can&#8217;t all be because of the media.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: You may have figured this out long ago, but it just hit me &#8212; and if you figured it out long ago and you&#8217;ve been trying to get through here and tell me, I wish you&#8217;d have gotten through. For those of you who figured it out and I didn&#8217;t, I&#8217;m just now getting to it. I apologize for being a late arrival to the party, but now &#8212; now &#8212; it all makes sense. For five years Obama has never once allowed himself to be seen as governing.</p> <p>He is constantly campaigning against mysterious forces who have ill intentions trying to harm you and this great country. There are these figures behind the screen, behind the curtain. Romney was one. Bush was one. There are others. Obama&#8217;s trying to expose them. Throughout history dictators, for example, have never really been blamed for the bad things that happened in their countries. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, none of them were blamed by the rank-and-file citizenry.</p> <p>They were, instead, the leaders of the revolution!</p> <p>They were the great figures trying to change all the evil that was happening to everybody. Here&#8217;s Obama. Let me prove this to you. I have for you a little sound bite, 36 seconds, of people from the Frank Luntz focus group on Fox last night. Every one of these people voted for Mitt Romney. These are swing voters in Santa Monica. Now, Santa Monica&#8217;s a liberal hotbed, but every one of these people that you hear voted for Mitt Romney, and they are talking about their perception of last night&#8217;s State of the Union speech.</p> <p>LUNTZ: From the Romney people, what did you like about Barack Obama&#8217;s State of the Union Address? A couple of you&#8230;</p> <p>WOMAN: I liked his immigration that he talked about putting people at the back of the line and so that they didn&#8217;t get preferential treatment just because they were here.</p> <p>MAN: I think education, the reform he was talking about &#8212; affordability and making it efficient &#8212; I think that&#8217;s gonna&#8230; Education all starts from education, really. (sic)</p> <p>LUNTZ: One more&#8230;</p> <p>WOMAN: I like how he spoke of bipartisanship and working with Congress and moving the country forward by working together.</p> <p>LUNTZ: Does he mean it?</p> <p>WOMAN: I believe he means it.</p> <p>LUNTZ: How many of you believe he means it, that he&#8217;s gonna be more bipartisan this term than he was before?</p> <p>WOMAN: He means it!</p> <p>RUSH: Those people all voted for Romney, and they &#8212; even the people that voted for Romney &#8212; do not associate Obama with any of the problems in the country. This is what you and I are gonna have to learn and learn fast. No matter what is said, no matter what evidence happens, no matter what&#8217;s reported, it will not be possible to connect Obama to the negativity that&#8217;s happening in the country today because he&#8217;s campaigning against it himself. That&#8217;s the reason for the perpetual, never-ending campaign. It is why, in eight years, he will never allow himself for even one day to be seen as actually governing or presiding over any of this.</p> <p>He&#8217;s always going to be running against the very things he&#8217;s doing.</p> <p>END TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/02/13/it_finally_hit_me_barack_obama_will_never_be_held_responsible_for_anything</p>

rush limbaugh rush yesterday openly complaining might even say whining gon na watch state union show160 gon na sickening listen said watch members congress stand essentially applaud destruction country160 talked bunch people said im watching160 im gon na watch it160 gon na spend time it160 said well to160 reminds days school everybody told werent homework didnt either160 turns lying160 homework got ds fs160 well everybody told werent gon na watch state union ended watching special bypass lame stream media expose truth americas fraud president unlimited households ill tell thought folks160 disagreed everything president said pretty much terms policies160 disagreed everything said great speech160 liked speech know really liked160 liked part said get along work together help people160 really liked that160 really scored me160 watching frank luntz focus group state union speech marco rubios response hannity fox news channel160 focus group didnt see bad160 looking definition lowinformation voters160 amazing160 reaction disagreed pretty much everything obama said policywise supported thought great speech liked part everybody working together get along160 liked fact hes gon na tackle deficit liked fact hes gon na create jobs160 didnt agree gon na liked hes going to160 liked hes gon na reduce deficit160 liked fact hes gon na bring debt down160 liked fact health care costs gon na come down160 know that160 health care costs already coming found agreeing160 thought cool160 disagreed know president said hes gon na look bit problem president global warming basically said congress doesnt act will160 think need deal global warming160 everybody knows that160 didnt agree much liked speech160 supportive160 obamacare costs coming down160 thats good160 im happy that160 debt deficit coming down160 already halfway targeted debt reduction 4 trillion160 least somebodys working stuff somebodys trying make happen160 wasnt crazy things heard president say taxes acknowledge rich getting away murder years time somebody tried make everything fair could oppose fairness know yesterday gallup poll every issue except one forget one issue every issue every policy vast majority numbers american people disagree obama160 vast majority disagree obama every policy160 mean close160 cases numbers people disagree 60 percentages people agree obama forties160 liked speech last night160 thought exactly called new york times story today160 polls show dissatisfaction countrys direction support obamas agenda ahead president obamas state union address tuesday night new polls find continued public dissatisfaction direction country yet support several policies president said push second term thats saw focus group last night frank luntz160 dont like way countrys going man love obamas it160 well know folks dont ask me160 im telling saw heard whats news160 little conflicting160 gallup poll people disagree obama issue issue issue new york times says support obamas agenda dissatisfaction way countrys going see two separate things going learn understand obamas agenda doesnt anything countrys direction far lowinformation voter concerned theyre two separate things support obamas agenda dissatisfaction countrys direction might say well wait second countrys direction precisely related obamas agenda would terribly wrong obamas agenda nothing countrys direction obamas agenda fixing people support also mendacious media work exactly opposite gallup reported day discussed according gallup american public disapproves every obama policy except handling defense new york times story thats exact opposite polls show dissatisfaction countrys direction support obamas agenda two separate things frank luntz focus group pretty much thing pretty much disagreed heard last night policy liked speech like obama said like somebodys working want everybody work together obama claim affordable care act already slowing health care costs would hear something like president said last night already affordable care act helping slow growth health care costs know reaction probably mine heard another bald boldfaced lie truth matter obamacare even fully implemented give credit obamacare slowing health care costs yet enacted slowing health care costs extent theyre slowing recession thats even debatable know couple isolated areas many see health care costs little bit less costing thats due recession nothing obama way much information lowinformation voter cant persuade decided ladies gentlemen got hold paul shanklin decided condensed version last nights state union honest condensed version last nights state union johnny donovan hail chief honest condensed version president obamas state union address paul shanklin obama fellow americans fiftyone years ago john f kennedy said something profound state union thanks grit determination american people isnt enough progress agenda corporate profits evil need middle class tax unfinished task restore basic bargain built country idea work hard get ahead matter whatcha look like sneaked love cheap motel whether thing feathers high heels wigs bangs american people dont expect us solve every problem havent solved dont worry expect us put nations interests party first 2011 congress passed plan sudden harsh arbitrary cuts called sequester would jeopardize military readiness would certainly slow recovery cost us hundreds thousands jobs lets set party interests aside work pass solution end sequester crisis manufactured right america biggest driver longterm debt old people unaffordable care act slowing access medical care fast enough must government shouldnt make promises cant keep must keep ones already made unless turn budget time four years every day ask three questions nation attract jobs shores equip people skills need get jobs make sure hard work leads decent living well well produce oil gas right america must combat climate change congress wont act want whenever want congress even exist need infrastructure like roads bridges sorry heh heh couldnt help today many families solid credit turned home loans unnecessary regulation noticed uh free preschool everybody know needs done send comprehensive immigration bill spanish sign still places america cant get ahead like chicago america run away afghanistan declare victory matter happens today organization attacked us 911 benghazi 911 shadow former self cyber attacks bad many places people live little dollar day ask brother george women deserve combat duty honestly people give guns well protect well protect small child playground chicago plenty gun control already closing fellow americans citizens honest birth certificates us god bless god help united states america wont hail chief thank rush friends state union condensed version missed last night interruption im entirely serious snerdley scratching head saying im anything im telling exactly speech perceived last night majority americans depending look either dont like obamas policies really liked speech liked hes working stuff like hes attacking deficit like hes fixing health care like hes hope everybody works together thats really want want everybody join hands saw luntz focus group want everybody work together everybody come together get along fix problems debt problem obamas working thats good weve got health care problem obamas working weve got unemployment problem obamas working hes got program thing got ta take away thing must understand last night defines everything massive dissatisfaction countrys direction vast majority american people like direction country going time overwhelming support barack obamas agenda means vast majority american voters relationship whatsoever obamas agenda direction country break transcript rush realize opening segments broadcast little fun want tell something sort eye opener me160 may something understood long ago may something put together long ago160 must confess realized today160 trying understand could many people say disagree obamas policies yet reelect him160 know expressed puzzlement curiosity great disconnect country people vote obama dont like going direction country policies obama yet wins elections weve taking stabs trying explain why160 well reelection good job demonizing romney made everybody afraid vote romney settled voted obama vote guy whos already least hes known quantity160 new york times story today finally opens eyes dealing least me160 say may understood long ago160 polls show dissatisfaction countrys direction support obamas agenda would call highinformation voter sector understand giant disconnect is160 world people dissatisfied countrys direction time support agenda thats causing it160 doesnt compute me160 recognize obamas agenda leading problems country thus dissatisfaction people countrys direction160 majority people vote connection two things whatsoever160 support obamas agenda terribly unhappy direction country therefore associate obamas agenda policies direction country associate obamas policies happened country160 dont associate spending debt lack jobs160 dont make connection dont see connection dont see all160 eye opener going force assess exactly go forward dealing people160 idea persuade them160 mean lowinformation voters theyre unhappy economy theyre unhappy jobs theyre unhappy debt theyre unhappy housing market yet support obamas agenda obviously connect obamas policies way related responsible countrys direction dont like means number things160 means see obama working really hard try fix everything rather obama reason things worsening160 see that160 slam dunk160 one plus one two160 people outcomebased education two plus two five well give em trying160 dont see obama connected tragic destruction country160 seen somebody wants fix it160 thing people seeing colonel sanders guy running hospital save chickens160 wouldnt compute160 wouldnt make sense160 thats hes viewed160 maybe one reason hes successfully blamed bush years exit polling data last november vast majority people still blame bush economy that160 obama never ever allows seen governing160 constantly campaigning obama constantly seen competition whats happening washington160 though straw men men behind curtains invisible evil people country160 hes trying expose hes working hard romney one them160 bush one them160 bunch people dont know obama trying find hes trying expose trying fix this160 obama seen guy behind curtains pulling levers obama seen guy like way country founded trying take country different direction hes seen way really is160 cant media break transcript rush may figured long ago hit figured long ago youve trying get tell wish youd gotten figured didnt im getting apologize late arrival party makes sense five years obama never allowed seen governing constantly campaigning mysterious forces ill intentions trying harm great country figures behind screen behind curtain romney one bush one others obamas trying expose throughout history dictators example never really blamed bad things happened countries hitler stalin mao castro none blamed rankandfile citizenry instead leaders revolution great figures trying change evil happening everybody heres obama let prove little sound bite 36 seconds people frank luntz focus group fox last night every one people voted mitt romney swing voters santa monica santa monicas liberal hotbed every one people hear voted mitt romney talking perception last nights state union speech luntz romney people like barack obamas state union address couple woman liked immigration talked putting people back line didnt get preferential treatment man think education reform talking affordability making efficient think thats gon na education starts education really sic luntz one woman like spoke bipartisanship working congress moving country forward working together luntz mean woman believe means luntz many believe means hes gon na bipartisan term woman means rush people voted romney even people voted romney associate obama problems country gon na learn learn fast matter said matter evidence happens matter whats reported possible connect obama negativity thats happening country today hes campaigning thats reason perpetual neverending campaign eight years never allow even one day seen actually governing presiding hes always going running things hes end transcript httpwwwrushlimbaughcomdaily20130213it_finally_hit_me_barack_obama_will_never_be_held_responsible_for_anything

<p /> <p>Under Armour gets a lot of press as the new(er) athletic apparel company on the block, butNike's third-quarter results show how its growth story is far from over. Success in China and Japan, and with its capital allocation plan, leaves Nike in a strong position and gives Under Armour shareholders a possible glimpse into the bright future of their company.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>LEBRON JAMES AND YAO MING IN CHINA. IMAGE SOURCE: NIKE.</p> <p>China"China" has been a synonym for "huge international growth opportunity" for as long as I can remember. The population size and growing middle class made its rise to economic superpower status seem inevitable. Now we're seeing this promise turn into profits for a wide range of consumer brands.</p> <p>Nike grew revenue 23% in China in the third quarter. The region should overtake Western Europe, which currently generates about 50% more revenue but is growing much slower, sooner rather than later. Exluding currency effects, footwear sales were up 10% in Western Europe compared with 33% in China. High-margin basketball and running shoes, including the Jordan brand, helped to lift China into the No. 2 slot for earnings by region.</p> <p>A few more years of 40%-plus earnings growth and North America might lose its spot as Nike's most important region. China's becoming the biggest contributor to earnings even while North America continues to show high-single-digit growth shows the tremendous opportunity available in the Middle Kingdom. Under Armour currently generates only about 13% of its revenue from outside North America. Seeing Nike's success internationally over the past few decades should excite Under Armour shareholders. Not only does the company have a long way to go to catch up to where Nike is today, but it also has decades of growth ahead of it once it gets there.</p> <p>JapanI remember a book from my childhood that had 30 compartments approximately the size of pennies. On the first day of the month you put one penny in the first slot. On the second day you put in two pennies, doubling each day, until you got to day 30. At this point you were a millionaire -- many times over, in fact. Whether this was a genius way to teach children about compound interest or just a way to make a quick buck, it shows that even a small number, if growing fast enough, can become huge in a hurry.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>SAVE ENOUGH OF THESE, OR JUST BUY NIKE STOCK AND HOLD ON. IMAGE SOURCE: PIXABAY.</p> <p>Earnings from Japan are not doubling every year for Nike, but it has been the fastest growing region. For the quarter, earnings rose 64% to $36 million. The second smallest contributor, Central and Eastern Europe, rose 33% to $69 million. Japan is an interesting parallel to China. China is the future of the company, while Japan will probably remain the last or second to last region in terms of importance. The growth in futures orders for the two Asian countries, excluding currency effects, are the highest at 36% (China) and 24% (Japan). Japan wasn't mentioned once on the earnings conference call but should soon be contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to Nike's bottom line.</p> <p>Capital allocationDuring the third quarter, Nike wrapped up a four-year, $8 billion share repurchase plan that was authorized in 2012. The average price for repurchased shares was $40.58, and Nike currently trades north of $60. Shareholders have already benefited from these buybacks, and the decision will look even more prudent as the share price moves even higher over the years to come.</p> <p>A four-year, $12 billion plan kicked in this quarter as well. This plan is 50% larger than the previous one, and Nike is more than twice the size, by market capitalization, than it was in 2012. All of the organic growth, from China and elsewhere, is the engine that drives the company, but efficient capital allocation has a huge impact on per-share returns. These repurchases, combined with a growing dividend (around 1%), show how a more mature company can use its excess cash to improve shareholder returns. Earnings per share should outpace overall earnings growth over the next four years as buybacks continue to work their magic.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/NKE" type="external">NKE</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a></p> <p>Under Armour has increased its outstanding share count by over 25% over the past five years. Stock-based compensation and capital raises have diluted existing shareholders. You don't mind some dilution when your shares are up fivefold over five years, but this dilution will end eventually. When there are fewer growth opportunities for Under Armour to gobble up, it will announce a dividend, beef up its share repurchase program, or both.</p> <p>Nike continues to astound and its success makes me even more confident in Under Armour's long-term future. I plan to hold my shares in both companies for decades and recommend taking a look to see how they might fit in your portfolio.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/28/3-takeaways-from-nike-incs-earnings.aspx" type="external">3 Takeaways From Nike Inc.'s Earnings</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/BuffettBuffet/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">James Sullivan</a> owns shares of Nike and Under Armour. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nike and Under Armour. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>

armour gets lot press newer athletic apparel company block butnikes thirdquarter results show growth story far success china japan capital allocation plan leaves nike strong position gives armour shareholders possible glimpse bright future company continue reading lebron james yao ming china image source nike chinachina synonym huge international growth opportunity long remember population size growing middle class made rise economic superpower status seem inevitable seeing promise turn profits wide range consumer brands nike grew revenue 23 china third quarter region overtake western europe currently generates 50 revenue growing much slower sooner rather later exluding currency effects footwear sales 10 western europe compared 33 china highmargin basketball running shoes including jordan brand helped lift china 2 slot earnings region years 40plus earnings growth north america might lose spot nikes important region chinas becoming biggest contributor earnings even north america continues show highsingledigit growth shows tremendous opportunity available middle kingdom armour currently generates 13 revenue outside north america seeing nikes success internationally past decades excite armour shareholders company long way go catch nike today also decades growth ahead gets japani remember book childhood 30 compartments approximately size pennies first day month put one penny first slot second day put two pennies doubling day got day 30 point millionaire many times fact whether genius way teach children compound interest way make quick buck shows even small number growing fast enough become huge hurry advertisement save enough buy nike stock hold image source pixabay earnings japan doubling every year nike fastest growing region quarter earnings rose 64 36 million second smallest contributor central eastern europe rose 33 69 million japan interesting parallel china china future company japan probably remain last second last region terms importance growth futures orders two asian countries excluding currency effects highest 36 china 24 japan japan wasnt mentioned earnings conference call soon contributing hundreds millions dollars nikes bottom line capital allocationduring third quarter nike wrapped fouryear 8 billion share repurchase plan authorized 2012 average price repurchased shares 4058 nike currently trades north 60 shareholders already benefited buybacks decision look even prudent share price moves even higher years come fouryear 12 billion plan kicked quarter well plan 50 larger previous one nike twice size market capitalization 2012 organic growth china elsewhere engine drives company efficient capital allocation huge impact pershare returns repurchases combined growing dividend around 1 show mature company use excess cash improve shareholder returns earnings per share outpace overall earnings growth next four years buybacks continue work magic nke data ycharts armour increased outstanding share count 25 past five years stockbased compensation capital raises diluted existing shareholders dont mind dilution shares fivefold five years dilution end eventually fewer growth opportunities armour gobble announce dividend beef share repurchase program nike continues astound success makes even confident armours longterm future plan hold shares companies decades recommend taking look see might fit portfolio article 3 takeaways nike incs earnings originally appeared foolcom james sullivan owns shares nike armour motley fool owns shares recommends nike armour try foolish newsletter services free 30 days fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy copyright 1995 2016 motley fool llc rights reserved motley fool disclosure policy

<p>TOP STORIES</p> <p>Value Meals Drive McDonald's Sales - 2nd Update</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>McDonald's Corp. gained sales again by luring core customers to its cheapest meals and drinks.</p> <p>The burger giant attributed U.S. sales growth in the fourth quarter to a "McPick 2" meal deal and low-price beverages, as well as to higher-priced Buttermilk Crispy Tenders. The chain introduced a new nationwide value menu this month with items priced at $1, $2 and $3, hoping consumers drawn in for cheap sodas and burgers will also order more expensive items.</p> <p>STORIES OF INTEREST</p> <p>Food Union Hails USDA Move on Chicken Plants -- Market Talk</p> <p>12:06 ET -- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents meat plant employees, claims victory after the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a U.S. chicken industry petition to eliminate poultry processing line speed caps in meat plants. The organization and other consumer groups opposed the request, saying it could make food less safe and pose risks to meat plant workers, who already deal with higher rates of injury than other industries. The union says it remains "concerned" that the USDA plans to let some chicken plants apply to run processing lines at speeds up to 175 birds a minute, with most currently capped at 140. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>USDA Pumps Brakes on Faster Chicken Processing -- Market Talk</p> <p>12:01 ET -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture denies a request by the National Chicken Council to lift all limits on how fast poultry plants can process birds--but the agency says it does plan to let some plants speed up. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says the chicken industry group's Sept. 1 petition to eliminate speed limits in chicken plants didn't demonstrate that inspectors could effectively check each carcass for safety at speeds beyond 175 birds a minute--nearly three chickens a second. But FSIS said that the agency plans to lay out criteria for poultry plants, most of which are limited to processing 140 chickens each minute, to run at speeds up to 175, as long as they demonstrate how they will assess food safety and meet other criteria. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p> <p>Wheat Futures Pop on Plains Drought</p> <p>A drought in the Great Plains sparked a rally in wheat prices on Tuesday.</p> <p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the condition of the hard red winter wheat crop, primarily grown in southern Plains states like Kansas, dropped sharply as farmers in the region struggle through dry conditions.</p> <p>FUTURES MARKETS</p> <p>Live Cattle Futures Ease</p> <p>Cattle futures were mixed on Tuesday, easing off multimonth highs.</p> <p>The futures market started the week by hitting a two-month high, after cash prices for physical cattle rose more than expected. But analysts say futures bumped up against selling pressure after falling from those highs, with chart signals suggesting to traders that prices were headed lower.</p> <p>CASH MARKETS</p> <p>Zumbrota, Minn Hog Steady At $44.00 - Jan 30</p> <p>Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today are steady at $44.00 a hundredweight. Sow prices are steady. Sows weighing 400-450 pounds are at $43.00, 450-500 pounds are $43.00 and those over 500 pounds are $45.00-$47.00.</p> <p>The day's total run is estimated at 180 head.</p> <p>Prices are provided by the Central Livestock Association.</p> <p>Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jan 30</p> <p>This report reflects U.S. pork packer processing margins. The margin indices</p> <p>are calculated using current cash hog or carcass values and wholesale pork</p> <p>cutout values and may not reflect actual margins at the plants. These</p> <p>estimates reflect the general health of the industry and are not meant to</p> <p>be indicative of any particular company or plant.</p> <p>Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations</p> <p>All figures are on a per-head basis.</p> <p>Date Standard Margin Estimated margin</p> <p>Operating Index at vertically -</p> <p>integrated operations</p> <p>*</p> <p>Jan 30 +$20.58 +$ 45.01</p> <p>Jan 29 +$20.88 +$ 45.57</p> <p>Jan 26 +$22.51 +$ 45.96</p> <p>* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.</p> <p>A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of</p> <p>production of the animals.</p> <p>Beef-O-Meter</p> <p>This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite</p> <p>values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.</p> <p>Beef</p> <p>For Today Choice 108.5</p> <p>(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 108.2</p> <p>USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports</p> <p>Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds, to $209.69, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds, to $204.37. The total load count was 109. Wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents, to $81.34 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>January 30, 2018 17:31 ET (22:31 GMT)</p>

top stories value meals drive mcdonalds sales 2nd update continue reading mcdonalds corp gained sales luring core customers cheapest meals drinks burger giant attributed us sales growth fourth quarter mcpick 2 meal deal lowprice beverages well higherpriced buttermilk crispy tenders chain introduced new nationwide value menu month items priced 1 2 3 hoping consumers drawn cheap sodas burgers also order expensive items stories interest food union hails usda move chicken plants market talk 1206 et united food commercial workers international union represents meat plant employees claims victory us department agriculture rejected us chicken industry petition eliminate poultry processing line speed caps meat plants organization consumer groups opposed request saying could make food less safe pose risks meat plant workers already deal higher rates injury industries union says remains concerned usda plans let chicken plants apply run processing lines speeds 175 birds minute currently capped 140 jacobbungewsjcom jacobbunge advertisement usda pumps brakes faster chicken processing market talk 1201 et us department agriculture denies request national chicken council lift limits fast poultry plants process birdsbut agency says plan let plants speed usdas food safety inspection service says chicken industry groups sept 1 petition eliminate speed limits chicken plants didnt demonstrate inspectors could effectively check carcass safety speeds beyond 175 birds minutenearly three chickens second fsis said agency plans lay criteria poultry plants limited processing 140 chickens minute run speeds 175 long demonstrate assess food safety meet criteria jacobbungewsjcom jacobbunge wheat futures pop plains drought drought great plains sparked rally wheat prices tuesday us department agriculture said condition hard red winter wheat crop primarily grown southern plains states like kansas dropped sharply farmers region struggle dry conditions futures markets live cattle futures ease cattle futures mixed tuesday easing multimonth highs futures market started week hitting twomonth high cash prices physical cattle rose expected analysts say futures bumped selling pressure falling highs chart signals suggesting traders prices headed lower cash markets zumbrota minn hog steady 4400 jan 30 barrow gilt prices zumbrota minn livestock market today steady 4400 hundredweight sow prices steady sows weighing 400450 pounds 4300 450500 pounds 4300 500 pounds 45004700 days total run estimated 180 head prices provided central livestock association estimated us pork packer margin index jan 30 report reflects us pork packer processing margins margin indices calculated using current cash hog carcass values wholesale pork cutout values may reflect actual margins plants estimates reflect general health industry meant indicative particular company plant source usda based wall street journal calculations figures perhead basis date standard margin estimated margin operating index vertically integrated operations jan 30 2058 4501 jan 29 2088 4557 jan 26 2251 4596 based iowa state universitys latest estimated cost production positive number indicates processing margin cost production animals beefometer report compares usdas latest beef carcass composite values percentage respective yearago prices beef today choice 1085 percent yearago select 1082 usda boxed beef pork reports wholesale choicegrade beef prices tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds 20969 according usda selectgrade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds 20437 total load count 109 wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents 8134 hundred pounds based omaha neb price quotes end dow jones newswires january 30 2018 1731 et 2231 gmt

<p /> <p>No. 1: Plan The Transition</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>As life transitions go, retirement ranks way up there among the most challenging, both financially and emotionally.</p> <p>Many decisions carry financial and life-planning implications: Should you sell the house and downsize? Will you have enough money to pursue travel plans and hobbies? How do you want to spend your time?</p> <p>"Set goals," says Leslie Tayne, an attorney in New York. "Plan out what you want your retirement to be like to determine if you have the funds to make it happen."</p> <p>After a lifetime of work, you may have mixed emotions about retirement -- looking forward to not working but nervous about leaving your work identity behind.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Because retirement can be so stressful, Jeff Vollmer, a financial adviser with Hyde Park Wealth Management in Cincinnati, advises clients to begin planning 5 years in advance. If that isn't possible, a one-year time frame can work if you are focused and decisive.</p> <p>Here's how to get started.</p> <p>RATE SEARCH: Stretch your retirement income with a CD ladder. <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/cd-investments/cd-investment-results.aspx?pid=p:foxbz?ic_id=Content_CTA1_/finance/retirement/countdown-to-retirement-one-year-1.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Compare CD rates today Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>No. 2: Time Social Security</p> <p>The decision about when to take Social Security is tricky, especially for couples. There can be a major benefit to delaying benefits at least until full retirement age -- between 65 and 67, depending on your year of birth. But some retirees who are forced to retire earlier than planned may need to take it as early as 62.</p> <p>"Know your Social Security benefit at key ages, such as your full retirement age and at age 70, and consider whether it makes sense to wait and receive the much higher benefit available at age 70," says Paul T. Murray, president of PTM Wealth Management in Chalfont, Pennsylvania. <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/planners/benefitcalculators.html" type="external">The Social Security Administration's website offers calculators Opens a New Window.</a> that help with the decision-making process and show the impact of retiring at various ages on your monthly benefit.</p> <p>If you're married and at full retirement age, you <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/financing/retirement/social-security-changes-devil-is-in-the-details/?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">may have the option to file and suspend Opens a New Window.</a> -- apply for benefits, and then ask that payments be suspended so that your spouse can receive a spousal benefit while you earn additional retirement credits up to age 70 -- but that strategy was discontinued this year.</p> <p>You must apply for Social Security benefits 3 months in advance of when you want to begin receiving them, says Tayne.</p> <p>No. 3: Plan Medicare And Supplements</p> <p>After Social Security, enrolling in Medicare is one of the biggest decisions facing retirees, says Murray. Medicare is complex, and enrollment dates differ depending on which part of Medicare you are enrolling in. Here's an overview.</p> <p>Medicare Part A covers hospitalization; as long as you've worked and paid Medicare taxes long enough, that coverage is free. Medicare Part B covers medically necessary services such as lab tests and doctor visits. If you are already signed up for Social Security or Railroad Retirement Board benefits before you turn 65, you will automatically begin receiving Part A and Part B at that time. If not, sign up for both 3 months before your 65th birthday.</p> <p>Medicare Part C refers to Medicare Advantage plans, under which you receive health care services through a health maintenance organization or preferred provider organization. Medicare Part D is the prescription drug benefit program. The initial enrollment period for both programs begins in the three months before you turn 65, including the month you turn 65, and ends 3 months later. There are exceptions to these dates, which are outlined in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' tip sheet, <a href="http://www.medicare.gov/pubs/pdf/11219.pdf" type="external">Understanding Medicare Part C and D Enrollment Periods Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>No. 4: Create A Post-Retirement Budget</p> <p>Many people believe their post-retirement expenses will be significantly lower than their pre-retirement expenses, but that isn't usually the case, says Vollmer. For example, while you won't have to dress up for work, you will likely be traveling more. And while you probably won't go out to lunch with former colleagues or clients, you may go out to dinner more often.</p> <p>By taking a close look at your current and expected future expenses, you can be better prepared to match your spending with your post-retirement income. "Determine how much you will need for general expenses -- mortgage, utilities, food -- as well as medical expenses and insurance," says Tayne.</p> <p>Keep detailed track of what you spend before retirement because that will give you an idea of the expenses that aren't likely to change in retirement, such as food, car repairs and home maintenance. Also, remember to have money set aside for bigger expenses that come up infrequently, such as the replacement of a roof or major appliances.</p> <p>ADVISER SEARCH: Need help planning for retirement? <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/certified-financial-planner/cfp.aspx?pid=p:foxbz?ic_id=Content_CTA2_/finance/retirement/countdown-to-retirement-one-year-1.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Find a certified financial planner at Bankrate Opens a New Window.</a> today.</p> <p>No. 5: Pay Down All Debt If Possible</p> <p>Debt payments, whether from credit cards, a mortgage, a car loan or a child's student loan, can burden a post-retirement budget, leaving less room for the kinds of activities that you want to enjoy in retirement. If you still have debt during the year before retirement, pay down as much as you possibly can -- at least the debt outside of a mortgage, says Larry Luxenberg, partner with Lexington Avenue Capital Management in New City, New York.</p> <p>Entering retirement mortgage-free is ideal if that's possible, says Vollmer. "Absolutely pay off your mortgage if you are in a position to do so," he says.</p> <p>No. 6: Dial Back Investment Risk</p> <p>The recent financial crisis showed that the risk of a major downward movement of the market just before retirement is all too real, says Jeffrey Sica, founder, president and chief investment officer of Sica Wealth Management in Morristown, New Jersey. Surrendering 15%, 20% or even 25% of the value of your retirement portfolio in the year before you retire can torpedo the best-laid retirement plans. It can result in having to postpone retirement or cutting back on the post-retirement lifestyle.</p> <p>That's why it makes sense to revisit asset allocation in your company retirement plan, says Murray. "Become more conservative in your company retirement plan," he says. "You don't want a major market decline to set you back financially."</p> <p>No. 7: Update Legal Docs And Policies</p> <p>Retirement is an opportune time to review major legal documents and insurance policies and consider adding or subtracting coverage. "Update or prepare legal documents for estate planning or retirement years such as wills, advance directives including health care proxies and power of attorney, and review beneficiaries on retirement plans and insurance," says Tayne.</p> <p>Make sure those documents are kept in a secure place and that your heirs are aware of their location in case something happens to you. Keep an updated list of passwords for online banking, investment accounts, email and other accounts where your spouse or children can find it in case of an emergency.</p> <p>If you don't already have a long-term care insurance policy, this may be the time to explore adding one, as nursing home and home care expenses aren't covered by Medicare, adds Murray.</p> <p>No. 8: Design Your Portfolio For Income</p> <p>As you count down to retirement, you will move from accumulating funds to withdrawing funds on which to live. Designing a post-retirement investment portfolio that can provide enough income while appropriately managing risk is a major challenge, especially as life spans are increasing. This requires a balance of growth assets such as stocks and more conservative assets, such as bonds and cash.</p> <p>Vollmer stress-tests client portfolios to ensure that, to the greatest degree possible, they can last throughout a long retirement and avoid major losses in the event of a sudden or prolonged market downturn. "We look at various scenarios and run simulations so that market events don't derail client goals and plans," he says.</p> <p>ADVISER SEARCH: Need help planning for retirement? <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/certified-financial-planner/cfp.aspx?pid=p:foxbz?ic_id=Content_CTA3_/finance/retirement/countdown-to-retirement-one-year-1.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Find a certified financial planner at Bankrate Opens a New Window.</a> today.</p>

1 plan transition continue reading life transitions go retirement ranks way among challenging financially emotionally many decisions carry financial lifeplanning implications sell house downsize enough money pursue travel plans hobbies want spend time set goals says leslie tayne attorney new york plan want retirement like determine funds make happen lifetime work may mixed emotions retirement looking forward working nervous leaving work identity behind advertisement retirement stressful jeff vollmer financial adviser hyde park wealth management cincinnati advises clients begin planning 5 years advance isnt possible oneyear time frame work focused decisive heres get started rate search stretch retirement income cd ladder compare cd rates today opens new window 2 time social security decision take social security tricky especially couples major benefit delaying benefits least full retirement age 65 67 depending year birth retirees forced retire earlier planned may need take early 62 know social security benefit key ages full retirement age age 70 consider whether makes sense wait receive much higher benefit available age 70 says paul murray president ptm wealth management chalfont pennsylvania social security administrations website offers calculators opens new window help decisionmaking process show impact retiring various ages monthly benefit youre married full retirement age may option file suspend opens new window apply benefits ask payments suspended spouse receive spousal benefit earn additional retirement credits age 70 strategy discontinued year must apply social security benefits 3 months advance want begin receiving says tayne 3 plan medicare supplements social security enrolling medicare one biggest decisions facing retirees says murray medicare complex enrollment dates differ depending part medicare enrolling heres overview medicare part covers hospitalization long youve worked paid medicare taxes long enough coverage free medicare part b covers medically necessary services lab tests doctor visits already signed social security railroad retirement board benefits turn 65 automatically begin receiving part part b time sign 3 months 65th birthday medicare part c refers medicare advantage plans receive health care services health maintenance organization preferred provider organization medicare part prescription drug benefit program initial enrollment period programs begins three months turn 65 including month turn 65 ends 3 months later exceptions dates outlined centers medicare medicaid services tip sheet understanding medicare part c enrollment periods opens new window 4 create postretirement budget many people believe postretirement expenses significantly lower preretirement expenses isnt usually case says vollmer example wont dress work likely traveling probably wont go lunch former colleagues clients may go dinner often taking close look current expected future expenses better prepared match spending postretirement income determine much need general expenses mortgage utilities food well medical expenses insurance says tayne keep detailed track spend retirement give idea expenses arent likely change retirement food car repairs home maintenance also remember money set aside bigger expenses come infrequently replacement roof major appliances adviser search need help planning retirement find certified financial planner bankrate opens new window today 5 pay debt possible debt payments whether credit cards mortgage car loan childs student loan burden postretirement budget leaving less room kinds activities want enjoy retirement still debt year retirement pay much possibly least debt outside mortgage says larry luxenberg partner lexington avenue capital management new city new york entering retirement mortgagefree ideal thats possible says vollmer absolutely pay mortgage position says 6 dial back investment risk recent financial crisis showed risk major downward movement market retirement real says jeffrey sica founder president chief investment officer sica wealth management morristown new jersey surrendering 15 20 even 25 value retirement portfolio year retire torpedo bestlaid retirement plans result postpone retirement cutting back postretirement lifestyle thats makes sense revisit asset allocation company retirement plan says murray become conservative company retirement plan says dont want major market decline set back financially 7 update legal docs policies retirement opportune time review major legal documents insurance policies consider adding subtracting coverage update prepare legal documents estate planning retirement years wills advance directives including health care proxies power attorney review beneficiaries retirement plans insurance says tayne make sure documents kept secure place heirs aware location case something happens keep updated list passwords online banking investment accounts email accounts spouse children find case emergency dont already longterm care insurance policy may time explore adding one nursing home home care expenses arent covered medicare adds murray 8 design portfolio income count retirement move accumulating funds withdrawing funds live designing postretirement investment portfolio provide enough income appropriately managing risk major challenge especially life spans increasing requires balance growth assets stocks conservative assets bonds cash vollmer stresstests client portfolios ensure greatest degree possible last throughout long retirement avoid major losses event sudden prolonged market downturn look various scenarios run simulations market events dont derail client goals plans says adviser search need help planning retirement find certified financial planner bankrate opens new window today

<p /> <p>Jo&#227;o Perre Viana is the mastermind behind the&amp;#160; <a href="https://keepwalkingwith.me/" type="external">Walking Mentorship Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;program, an innovative one-week experience that helps people face their personal and&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/career.html" type="external">professional Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;challenges while taking a&amp;#160;120-kilometer (74.5-mile) hike along&amp;#160;the Camino de Santiago.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>"The purpose of this methodology is to help gain perspective on what is important (both personally and professionally), update our reality maps, and create an action plan for the future," Viana says.</p> <p>On Sunday, August 28, Viana embarked on his latest hike.&amp;#160;Over the course of the week, he journaled about the&amp;#160;journey he and his participants were on.&amp;#160;This is the final entry in the series. Read the previous entries&amp;#160;here:&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/i/the-walking-mentorship-day-0-backpack/" type="external">part 0 Opens a New Window.</a>,&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/i/the-walking-mentorship-day-1-speed-time-and-curiosity/" type="external">part 1 Opens a New Window.</a>,&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/i/the-walking-mentorship-day-2-no-one-walks-in-your-shoes/" type="external">part 2 Opens a New Window.</a>,&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/i/the-walking-mentorship-day-3-change-is-the-only-constant/" type="external">part 3 Opens a New Window.</a>,&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/i/the-walking-mentorship-day-4-projecting-change-in-front-of-myself/" type="external">part 4 Opens a New Window.</a>, and&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/i/the-walking-mentorship-day-5-focus-on-the-change-you-want-to-become/" type="external">part 5 Opens a New Window.</a>, and <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/i/the-walking-mentorship-day-6-a-strategic-architecture-for-your-life/" type="external">part 6 Opens a New Window.</a>. &#8211;&amp;#160;Ed. Note.</p> <p>&#8211;</p> <p>From Outeiro, we could practically smell Santiago de Compostela. During the first hours of the day, the omnipresent Pico Sacro was&amp;#160;our constant companion on the horizon, standing at more than 500 meters above sea level and overlooking the surrounding landscape.</p> <p>Today, we had a little surprise &#8211; like we did every single day during this journey. Any path can be walked in a group, but "The Way" is always an individual process. For that reason, I had&amp;#160;each member of the&amp;#160;group start the&amp;#160;last section of the hike&amp;#160;on their own, walking alone until they reached the Cathedral in Santiago. I told them where and when we were to meet, and then I let them go.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>It was time to enjoy our last challenge.</p> <p>Aside from walking the&amp;#160;last 16 kilometers of our hike, we also knew that we had to use this final day to consolidate our individual action plans before returning to our homes. That was the only way we'd be able to successfully seize the opportunities we had identified for ourselves this week.</p> <p>A busy morning!&amp;#160;Such ambitious objectives and so few&amp;#160;kilometers left.</p> <p>On my own, I enjoyed the magic first hours of the day in total silence, interrupted only by the breathtaking views of the valley below engulfed by mist and fog. In what felt like the blink of an&amp;#160;eye,&amp;#160;I covered roughly&amp;#160;seven kilometers, which brought me to A Susana, a small village alongside the national road. I made a&amp;#160;quick stop for coffee and toast in the restaurant Rosende.</p> <p>One of the best feelings in the world is the pleasure of reuniting with your friends after you've been away for some time. Even though we had only parted a few hours ago, I was so happy when I found my fellow travelers in the cafe.&amp;#160;It was one of&amp;#160;those moments in which one clearly understands the intensity of what the group had lived during the preceding week.</p> <p>I once heard that we actually don't experience seven days on the Walking Mentorship. Instead, we experience something beyond normal time. We spend more than 14 hours a day on average with one another, talking, sharing, paying attention, and giving the best of ourselves. Rarely do we spend so much time with our loved ones! (Which is unfortunate, and probably something to revise in our own lives.)</p> <p>As we approached Santiago, we had to double our attention on the road ahead of us because the yellow arrows pointing the way became extremely scarce.</p> <p>I had time to reflect on a few more&amp;#160;thoughts and sing a few more songs inside my head before&amp;#160;the pinnacles of the cathedral appeared in front of my eyes. I knew then that the city &#8211; our final destination &#8211; was no more than four kilometers away, but I also knew from my many previous walks that the first and last kilometer of any path are always liars.</p> <p>After crossing the bridge over the river Sar, we had to make our final push:&amp;#160;the steep climb up R&#250;a do Sar and R&#250;a do Castro Douro. We passed the arch of the Porta de Mazarelos, the only gate that remains of the old city wall, and a few minutes later, we were walking into the old town.</p> <p>Our journey reached its destination.&amp;#160;I entered the Praza do Obradoiro and took a seat on the ground, where I could face the end of the road &#8211; and the beginning of another route in my life.</p> <p>After more than 120&amp;#160;kilometers,&amp;#160;we arrived at&amp;#160;Santiago, but the personal work we had been doing&amp;#160;along the way was truly just starting.</p> <p>The next step was to detail the implications of&amp;#160;our&amp;#160;future strategies in the short and medium terms and how we were&amp;#160;going to operationalize them with clear action plans. Even with thousands of people around, it was easy to stay focused on the&amp;#160;shining smiles of my traveling friends &#8211; a moment sealed in silence and deep happiness.</p> <p>The afternoon in Santiago gave us a&amp;#160;great opportunity to break down our&amp;#160;individual initiatives into sets of actionable tasks that we could each follow as we returned to our lives and strove to be better.</p> <p>After the traditional power nap, each of us&amp;#160;walked around, got lost in the different corners and alleys of the magnificent town, and lay down on the grass of many different parks.&amp;#160;Some opted to have a quiet talk inside the cathedral.</p> <p>Our journey was drawing close to an end, and it was time to collect all the pieces of the puzzle we had been gathering along the way.</p> <p>Many of the thoughts and ideas we end up revisiting are "old friends" in a way, but if we dare to challenge them, we might discover new angles to explore.</p> <p>Each route is unique and unrepeatable, even when we return again and again, but the signs (remember the yellow arrows!) are always in&amp;#160;the same places, indicating the direction we must follow.</p> <p>Now, on the way back home, I feel a mixture of feelings: happy to return to my family, friends, and work, but also nostalgic for the long walks in silence and the connections I created&amp;#160;with the others participants, who are now my new friends.</p> <p>I hope you enjoyed following our literal and metaphorical&amp;#160;journeys, and I thank you for making it even more unique by sharing your comments during the last week.</p> <p>I hope you end up repeating some of the exercises we did. I hope you discover new paths and goals. I hope&amp;#160;you continue to walk into a better you!</p> <p>Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace camino al andar.*</p> <p>Keep walking with me,</p> <p>Jo&#227;o</p> <p>* Wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking.</p> <p>Photos from the final day:</p> <p>Jo&#227;o Perre Viana founded&amp;#160;the&amp;#160; <a href="https://keepwalkingwith.me/" type="external">Walking Mentorship Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;program.</p>

joão perre viana mastermind behind the160 walking mentorship opens new window160program innovative oneweek experience helps people face personal and160 professional opens new window160challenges taking a160120kilometer 745mile hike along160the camino de santiago continue reading purpose methodology help gain perspective important personally professionally update reality maps create action plan future viana says sunday august 28 viana embarked latest hike160over course week journaled the160journey participants on160this final entry series read previous entries160here160 part 0 opens new window160 part 1 opens new window160 part 2 opens new window160 part 3 opens new window160 part 4 opens new window and160 part 5 opens new window part 6 opens new window 160ed note outeiro could practically smell santiago de compostela first hours day omnipresent pico sacro was160our constant companion horizon standing 500 meters sea level overlooking surrounding landscape today little surprise like every single day journey path walked group way always individual process reason had160each member the160group start the160last section hike160on walking alone reached cathedral santiago told meet let go advertisement time enjoy last challenge aside walking the160last 16 kilometers hike also knew use final day consolidate individual action plans returning homes way wed able successfully seize opportunities identified week busy morning160such ambitious objectives few160kilometers left enjoyed magic first hours day total silence interrupted breathtaking views valley engulfed mist fog felt like blink an160eye160i covered roughly160seven kilometers brought susana small village alongside national road made a160quick stop coffee toast restaurant rosende one best feelings world pleasure reuniting friends youve away time even though parted hours ago happy found fellow travelers cafe160it one of160those moments one clearly understands intensity group lived preceding week heard actually dont experience seven days walking mentorship instead experience something beyond normal time spend 14 hours day average one another talking sharing paying attention giving best rarely spend much time loved ones unfortunate probably something revise lives approached santiago double attention road ahead us yellow arrows pointing way became extremely scarce time reflect more160thoughts sing songs inside head before160the pinnacles cathedral appeared front eyes knew city final destination four kilometers away also knew many previous walks first last kilometer path always liars crossing bridge river sar make final push160the steep climb rúa sar rúa castro douro passed arch porta de mazarelos gate remains old city wall minutes later walking old town journey reached destination160i entered praza obradoiro took seat ground could face end road beginning another route life 120160kilometers160we arrived at160santiago personal work doing160along way truly starting next step detail implications of160our160future strategies short medium terms were160going operationalize clear action plans even thousands people around easy stay focused the160shining smiles traveling friends moment sealed silence deep happiness afternoon santiago gave us a160great opportunity break our160individual initiatives sets actionable tasks could follow returned lives strove better traditional power nap us160walked around got lost different corners alleys magnificent town lay grass many different parks160some opted quiet talk inside cathedral journey drawing close end time collect pieces puzzle gathering along way many thoughts ideas end revisiting old friends way dare challenge might discover new angles explore route unique unrepeatable even return signs remember yellow arrows always in160the places indicating direction must follow way back home feel mixture feelings happy return family friends work also nostalgic long walks silence connections created160with others participants new friends hope enjoyed following literal metaphorical160journeys thank making even unique sharing comments last week hope end repeating exercises hope discover new paths goals hope160you continue walk better caminante hay camino se hace camino al andar keep walking joão wanderer road road made walking photos final day joão perre viana founded160the160 walking mentorship opens new window160program

<p /> <p>Modern businesses use cloud-based applications for all manner of daily communication and tasks, from <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2489110,00.asp" type="external">online collaboration Opens a New Window.</a> to <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/roundup/346016/the-best-erp-software" type="external">enterprise resource planning Opens a New Window.</a> (ERP). Not only that but today's administrators and employees interact with these services via smartphones and other connected devices sometimes more often than they do through their desktop. So, when it comes to an everyday business process as fundamental as printing, why should your organization remain mired in an analog age of local print jobs and tangled wires?</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Any printer with a network connection can connect to the web. For this article, we're focusing on wireless printers that are enabled for <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/63229/cloud-printing" type="external">cloud-based printing Opens a New Window.</a>, which can sync a computer, mobile device, or even your browser to a cloud-connected printer through an internet connection. To learn how to do this, there are several different <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411967,00.asp" type="external">ways to connect Opens a New Window.</a> and send secure files from your device to a cloud-connected printer. The <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379649,00.asp" type="external">best wireless printers Opens a New Window.</a> on the market tend to use a combination of Wi-Fi, Near-Field Communication (NFC), and secure virtual network connections including services such as Google Cloud Print to send and print files over the web from anywhere.</p> <p>A seamless connected print experience provides a host of benefits for businesses and their employees. Below, we highlight five of the most significant ways your organization could benefit from ditching the old office clunker in favor of a modern, cloud-connected printer.</p> <p>The first thing you'll notice when setting up a printer connected to Google Cloud Print or another one of the cloud services offered by major printer vendors is that there are no drivers to install and configure. Printers come "cloud-ready" out of the box, and many services also come with Android and iOS apps to print directly from your smartphone or tablet. The web-connected printers also eliminate the need for manual updates, automatically updating drivers and firmware without human intervention.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>All of the files you print are sent over the web through the cloud-based printing service, so your computer doesn't even need to communicate with the printer directly. Simply log into a machine or mobile device with an internet connection, log into your account on a given cloud-based printing service, and start printing.</p> <p>This also facilitates more convenient print content and document sharing. Most cloud-based printing services let you "share" access to your cloud-connected printer with another trusted party as easily as sharing an online document with them, including the ability to manage sharing rights. So, if an out-of-town employee or client is working out of your office and needs to quickly print their boarding pass for the flight home, then you can share cloud printer access with them and they can print right from their smartphone or laptop.</p> <p>Aside from cloud-ready printers, cloud-based printing services can also sync with the existing network-connected printer at your home or office. Once your device is synced with the cloud server, it doesn't matter from where you're printing or even if the printer is hundreds or more miles away.</p> <p>This is a major boon for home office workers and telecommuters. If you're giving a virtual presentation during a meeting using a <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388678,00.asp" type="external">video conferencing service</a> and want everyone sitting around the conference table to have your report in their hands, then you can print copies of the report from your home office directly to that printer in the corner of the conference room. An employee whose desk is right next to the printer is no different from a user printing to that machine from another country.</p> <p>Connected printing is also an easy way to centralize and streamline your company's printing operations, particularly for startups and small to midsize businesses (SMBs). Rather than installing and maintaining several printers plugged into the network throughout your office layout, using a connected printer and cloud service can cut down significantly on maintenance, ink, and toner costs if all machines in the office are printing to one or two cloud-connected printers (rather than having one printer for every computer or cluster of workstations in the office).</p> <p>Depending on your organization's size and floor plan, you may still need several printers. But wireless cloud-ready printers in particular give you a lot more flexibility. The newer the connected printer in which you invest, the better its energy-saving features will be as well. The vast majority of wireless printers now come with one or more power-saving or econo-modes that cut down overall printing cost and energy usage when the printer is not actively in use.</p> <p>The first objection your IT administrator will raise when considering the switch to cloud printing is security. People are naturally more comfortable with wired connections than wireless file sharing and syncing when it comes to the perception of security, particularly when sending and printing confidential business information over the internet.</p> <p>Cloud printing has this covered end-to-end with <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/44515/https" type="external">HTTPS</a> web connections, securing documents and files with SSL encryption from the moment they're sent to the moment they print. The files don't sit on a server afterward, either. After a job is processed and completed, the associated documents are deleted from the server of the cloud-based printing service.</p> <p>Connected printers allow your company's printing operations to scale as fast as your business grows, from a startup or SMB up to large enterprise organizations. Google even uses its cloud-based printing service in-house. As your operations scale up and you hire more employees or open new offices, investing in a cloud-based connected printing infrastructure can save you a lot of money in the long run.</p> <p>It also takes some of the pain out of expanding your workforce. Connected printers give IT admins one less headache to worry about when setting up a new employee's company desktop or laptop, provisioning their mobile device with <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article/342695/the-best-mobile-device-management-mdm-software-of-2016" type="external">mobile device management Opens a New Window.</a> (MDM) software, or a laundry list of other tasks ensuring that a user's endpoints are secure and compliant with company policy. When it's time to set up that employee's printer access, it just works.</p> <p>This article <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article/351234/5-great-things-connected-printers-can-do-for-your-business" type="external">originally appeared Opens a New Window.</a> on <a href="http://www.pcmag.com" type="external">PCMag.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

modern businesses use cloudbased applications manner daily communication tasks online collaboration opens new window enterprise resource planning opens new window erp todays administrators employees interact services via smartphones connected devices sometimes often desktop comes everyday business process fundamental printing organization remain mired analog age local print jobs tangled wires continue reading printer network connection connect web article focusing wireless printers enabled cloudbased printing opens new window sync computer mobile device even browser cloudconnected printer internet connection learn several different ways connect opens new window send secure files device cloudconnected printer best wireless printers opens new window market tend use combination wifi nearfield communication nfc secure virtual network connections including services google cloud print send print files web anywhere seamless connected print experience provides host benefits businesses employees highlight five significant ways organization could benefit ditching old office clunker favor modern cloudconnected printer first thing youll notice setting printer connected google cloud print another one cloud services offered major printer vendors drivers install configure printers come cloudready box many services also come android ios apps print directly smartphone tablet webconnected printers also eliminate need manual updates automatically updating drivers firmware without human intervention advertisement files print sent web cloudbased printing service computer doesnt even need communicate printer directly simply log machine mobile device internet connection log account given cloudbased printing service start printing also facilitates convenient print content document sharing cloudbased printing services let share access cloudconnected printer another trusted party easily sharing online document including ability manage sharing rights outoftown employee client working office needs quickly print boarding pass flight home share cloud printer access print right smartphone laptop aside cloudready printers cloudbased printing services also sync existing networkconnected printer home office device synced cloud server doesnt matter youre printing even printer hundreds miles away major boon home office workers telecommuters youre giving virtual presentation meeting using video conferencing service want everyone sitting around conference table report hands print copies report home office directly printer corner conference room employee whose desk right next printer different user printing machine another country connected printing also easy way centralize streamline companys printing operations particularly startups small midsize businesses smbs rather installing maintaining several printers plugged network throughout office layout using connected printer cloud service cut significantly maintenance ink toner costs machines office printing one two cloudconnected printers rather one printer every computer cluster workstations office depending organizations size floor plan may still need several printers wireless cloudready printers particular give lot flexibility newer connected printer invest better energysaving features well vast majority wireless printers come one powersaving economodes cut overall printing cost energy usage printer actively use first objection administrator raise considering switch cloud printing security people naturally comfortable wired connections wireless file sharing syncing comes perception security particularly sending printing confidential business information internet cloud printing covered endtoend https web connections securing documents files ssl encryption moment theyre sent moment print files dont sit server afterward either job processed completed associated documents deleted server cloudbased printing service connected printers allow companys printing operations scale fast business grows startup smb large enterprise organizations google even uses cloudbased printing service inhouse operations scale hire employees open new offices investing cloudbased connected printing infrastructure save lot money long run also takes pain expanding workforce connected printers give admins one less headache worry setting new employees company desktop laptop provisioning mobile device mobile device management opens new window mdm software laundry list tasks ensuring users endpoints secure compliant company policy time set employees printer access works article originally appeared opens new window pcmagcom opens new window

<p /> <p>Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is putting some pep back in its step these days. On Friday, Reuters pointed out that the software giant's market cap has risen above $500 billion for the first time since March 2000.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>I'm all for celebrating neat milestones, including this 17-year benchmark. And it's no secret that Microsoft really is <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/23/why-microsoft-corporations-management-shake-up-is.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">doing Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/16/google-inc-feels-the-heat-as-microsoft-corporation.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a lot Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/01/01/will-microsoft-corporation-raise-its-dividend-in-2.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">of things Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/19/why-microsoft-stock-gained-12-in-2016.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">right Opens a New Window.</a> these days. Large-cap stocks don't post market-crushing 55% returns in two years for no reason.</p> <p>That being said, I would like to argue that the Microsoft you see today is miles removed from the $500 billion beast you knew 17 years ago.</p> <p>Horace Chow, Microsoft's general manager of Hong Kong operations, illustrating "transformation" on stage. Image source: Microsoft.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>First, let me point out that $500 billion ain't what it used to be. The inexorable march of inflation hollows out the value of your dollar over time, and 17 years of that action can do a lot of damage. To wit:</p> <p>Okay, nobody sets up milestones and goalposts at $697 billion. We want nice, round numbers. But if you don't consider inflation-based erosion over the long run, you're doing a disservice to your investments. <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/15/looking-to-beat-inflation-check-out-these-3-stocks.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">It's real Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Market cap is the easy way out. You simply multiply current share prices by the number of shares outstanding. Handy for discussion and popular at every cocktail party, market cap is one of those metrics you can lean on for quick comparisons.</p> <p>But it's also an overly simplistic measurement in many ways. Let's say you actually wanted to buy all of Microsoft. You (or the cabal of multi-billionaires and cash-rich companies you're working with) would then have to take over all of Microsoft's debts, because lenders and bondholders won't just drop their claims when the takeover happens. On the upside, you also get to keep all of Microsoft's cash equivalents, which is kind of like buying a nice wallet and finding a hundred-dollar bill inside.</p> <p>Now we're looking at the <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-enterprise-value-and-why-is-it-important.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">enterprise value Opens a New Window.</a> instead. The market cap is just a starting point, followed by adding the company's debt balances and subtracting its cash reserves. This (plus an appropriate buyout premium) would be the true price tag in a takeover.</p> <p>As it turns out, Microsoft comes with more cash equivalents than debt. Today, this metric stops at $459 billion -- a few bucks short of the magic $500 billion waterline. Here's how Redmond's enterprise value has developed over the last 17 years compared to the simpler market cap:</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MSFT/market_cap" type="external">MSFT Market Cap Opens a New Window.</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Honestly, there's always more to say about a business as complex as Microsoft. I'm not here to write a book today, so let's keep this short and sweet.</p> <p>Before I go, let me just point out that Microsoft has done a lot of growing up since the dot-com boom and bust. Trailing sales have nearly quadrupled, while free cash flows doubled:</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MSFT/revenues_ttm" type="external">MSFT Revenue (TTM) Opens a New Window.</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>The company's dividend policy is just 13 years old, but now provides a decent 2.4% yield. And Microsoft's balance sheet was free of long-term debt 17 years ago, but that changed in 2009. The current statement of financial accounts has very little in common with the lean, low-capital version it wielded in 2000. Cash and debt balances have skyrocketed in recent years, and Microsoft has started amassing a generous chunk of plant, property, and equipment assets (PP&amp;amp;E in the chart below).</p> <p>If I didn't know better, this almost looks like the balance-sheet antics of an industrial manufacturing conglomerate:</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MSFT/net_ppe" type="external">MSFT Net PP&amp;amp;E (Quarterly) Opens a New Window.</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Any way you slice it, the rejuvenated version of Microsoft shares few characteristics with the older owner of a $500 billion market cap. The world has changed, the software industry never stops changing, and Microsoft is forever busy adjusting to new realities.</p> <p>So if your opinions and investment thesis regarding Microsoft haven't changed in 17 years, I'm sorry to say that the company did not just hop in a time machine to skip the last 17 years. You'll have some <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/24/how-how-microsoft-has-changed-in-the-last-5-years.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">reading Opens a New Window.</a> to do if you want to keep up.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Microsoft When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=dff7fbd9-ce74-4dce-8c9e-42baf3e8ac21&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Microsoft wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=dff7fbd9-ce74-4dce-8c9e-42baf3e8ac21&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p> <p>Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's Board of Directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFZahrim/info.aspx" type="external">Anders Bylund Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

microsoft nasdaq msft putting pep back step days friday reuters pointed software giants market cap risen 500 billion first time since march 2000 continue reading im celebrating neat milestones including 17year benchmark secret microsoft really opens new window lot opens new window things opens new window right opens new window days largecap stocks dont post marketcrushing 55 returns two years reason said would like argue microsoft see today miles removed 500 billion beast knew 17 years ago horace chow microsofts general manager hong kong operations illustrating transformation stage image source microsoft advertisement first let point 500 billion aint used inexorable march inflation hollows value dollar time 17 years action lot damage wit okay nobody sets milestones goalposts 697 billion want nice round numbers dont consider inflationbased erosion long run youre disservice investments real opens new window market cap easy way simply multiply current share prices number shares outstanding handy discussion popular every cocktail party market cap one metrics lean quick comparisons also overly simplistic measurement many ways lets say actually wanted buy microsoft cabal multibillionaires cashrich companies youre working would take microsofts debts lenders bondholders wont drop claims takeover happens upside also get keep microsofts cash equivalents kind like buying nice wallet finding hundreddollar bill inside looking enterprise value opens new window instead market cap starting point followed adding companys debt balances subtracting cash reserves plus appropriate buyout premium would true price tag takeover turns microsoft comes cash equivalents debt today metric stops 459 billion bucks short magic 500 billion waterline heres redmonds enterprise value developed last 17 years compared simpler market cap msft market cap opens new window data ycharts opens new window honestly theres always say business complex microsoft im write book today lets keep short sweet go let point microsoft done lot growing since dotcom boom bust trailing sales nearly quadrupled free cash flows doubled msft revenue ttm opens new window data ycharts opens new window companys dividend policy 13 years old provides decent 24 yield microsofts balance sheet free longterm debt 17 years ago changed 2009 current statement financial accounts little common lean lowcapital version wielded 2000 cash debt balances skyrocketed recent years microsoft started amassing generous chunk plant property equipment assets ppampe chart didnt know better almost looks like balancesheet antics industrial manufacturing conglomerate msft net ppampe quarterly opens new window data ycharts opens new window way slice rejuvenated version microsoft shares characteristics older owner 500 billion market cap world changed software industry never stops changing microsoft forever busy adjusting new realities opinions investment thesis regarding microsoft havent changed 17 years im sorry say company hop time machine skip last 17 years youll reading opens new window want keep 10 stocks like better microsoft investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right microsoft wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns january 4 2017 teresa kersten employee linkedin member motley fools board directors linkedin owned microsoft anders bylund opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool position stocks mentioned motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>It's becoming clear that the auto industry is at the beginning of a period of dramatic, transformative change. New technologies like electric drivetrains and autonomous-driving systems, and the new shared-mobility business models enabled by technology, seem set to bring sweeping changes to our cars, the way we own them, and the ways in which we get around, particularly in cities.</p> <p>Of course, there are opportunities for investors whenever an established industry undergoes a period of sweeping changes. That's true in autos right now. It's likely that some new entrants will become huge (and hugely profitable) companies in time. And it's also likely that not all of the legacy auto-industry players will survive, much less thrive amid the changes.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>So who will be the winners and losers in this period of transformative change? Many investors will make cases for technology companies such as&amp;#160;Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), and possibly Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and its recently acquired Mobileye subsidiary.</p> <p>There's merit to the idea of looking to Silicon Valley for opportunities to profit on all of these coming changes. But plenty of investors have already caught on to that. What if we could identify the likely winners within the group of legacy auto companies? We might find equally compelling opportunities -- at better prices.</p> <p>That's what I've done here. I think Aptiv PLC (NYSE: APTV), a new company formed from part of an old one, and Detroit stalwart General Motors (NYSE: GM) are worth close consideration by investors looking to profit from the auto industry's transformation.</p> <p>One note: For both companies, I think there are good fundamental reasons to buy, but there are also some timing-related reasons to consider waiting a bit. I've summed those up at the end of each following section.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Never heard of Aptiv? That's no surprise: It's a brand-new name for part of the company that used to be giant auto-industry supplier Delphi Automotive. As of Dec. 5, the former Delphi is now two companies -- and that's where it gets interesting for investors.</p> <p>Delphi has long been known as a major supplier of what the auto industry calls "powertrain components," parts and systems for internal-combustion engines. In recent years, Delphi had also built a major business around parts and services that help automakers integrate advanced technology into their vehicles, including everything from complex wiring harnesses to software.</p> <p>That's highly relevant to the trends I mentioned: In fact, the former Delphi recently <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/29/delphi-automotive-takes-another-step-towards-becom.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=b4be86f2-d9eb-11e7-89ba-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">acquired self-driving software start-up nuTonomy Opens a New Window.</a>, giving it a center of artificial-intelligence expertise that will be leveraged to expand its product portfolio further in the future.</p> <p>As the amount of computing power in autos steadily increases, that line of business -- and the related businesses that Delphi had recently built up around it -- has become more and more important. Delphi's management also thought the company was becoming more valuable, but the company's overall valuation was held back by its legacy business, and its legacy image.</p> <p>Hence the split. Delphi <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/27/why-delphi-automotive-will-soon-have-two-new-names.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=b4be86f2-d9eb-11e7-89ba-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">spun off its internal-combustion powertrain unit Opens a New Window.</a> and gave it a version of its legacy name: Delphi Technologies (NYSE: DLPH). The technology portions of the business, and most of old-Delphi's senior management, stayed behind, and that company has been renamed Aptiv.</p> <p>So, what is Aptiv, post-split? It's a major global supplier of the pieces that help integrate computer controls into vehicles. That starts with what the company often describes as a car's "nervous system," the network of wires and switches that conduct data and electricity throughout a vehicle, and includes other pieces like touchscreens and sensors, all designed to integrate seamlessly into mass-produced vehicles.</p> <p>Aptiv is already a major player in self-driving. Among other initiatives, it has joined Intel and Mobileye in a series of partnerships working to develop self-driving vehicle systems, including an important one led by German luxury-car giant BMW AG.</p> <p>Reasons to buy now: If self-driving turns out to be big business (very likely), and if at least some of the traditional automakers do well in this new world (also likely), then Aptiv probably stands to grow significantly.</p> <p>Reasons to hesitate: As I write this, Aptiv is a brand-new stock. It's not yet clear how the market will value the new company. There might be benefit to waiting a few months to see -- but there might turn out to be more benefit to getting in early. Look before you leap.</p> <p>If you haven't been paying close attention over the last few years, the idea of buying General Motors might seem laughable. After all, GM was the automaker that Americans loved to hate for years, the poster child for everything that had gone wrong with arrogant old Detroit.</p> <p>But here's my message to you now: Things have changed in a very big way at GM. Under CEO Mary Barra, GM has emerged as a leader -- yes, a leader -- in electric vehicles and autonomous-driving technology. On top of that, Barra has GM positioned to become a major -- possibly dominant -- player in car-sharing and ride-hailing. Consider:</p> <p>The takeaway here is that when it comes to all of this future tech, GM has more pieces than any of the other major players:</p> <p>From an investment perspective, GM's stock looks pretty good too. It has had a good run in 2017, but it's still fairly cheap at about 7.4 times expected 2017 earnings. Its dividend yield is an attractive 3.5%, and that dividend should be sustainable through a recession.</p> <p>Reasons to buy now: GM is exceptionally well positioned for the future, and healthy and quite profitable in the present. Its management team is very strong, and it pays a solid and sustainable dividend. As it will probably be able to sell its highly profitable trucks and SUVs for many years to come, its future-mobility businesses will add to -- not replace -- its profits. Long story short: GM's leading position on future tech means substantial profit growth is likely over the next several years.</p> <p>Reasons to hesitate: The majority of GM's profits still come from selling trucks and SUVs in the United States. That's a very profitable business at the moment, but there are growing signs that the U.S. new-car market has passed its cyclical peak. When the U.S. slides into a recession, GM's sales, profits, and in all likelihood its stock price will fall. History suggests that's likely to happen before GM's future-tech efforts really start to pay off. If so, that could be a better opportunity to buy than we see today.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than AptivWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=5baae5e5-1cb1-4592-8963-90e76c3dd4c7&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=b4be86f2-d9eb-11e7-89ba-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Aptiv wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=5baae5e5-1cb1-4592-8963-90e76c3dd4c7&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=b4be86f2-d9eb-11e7-89ba-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of December 4, 2017</p> <p>Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMarlowe/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=b4be86f2-d9eb-11e7-89ba-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">John Rosevear Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=b4be86f2-d9eb-11e7-89ba-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

becoming clear auto industry beginning period dramatic transformative change new technologies like electric drivetrains autonomousdriving systems new sharedmobility business models enabled technology seem set bring sweeping changes cars way ways get around particularly cities course opportunities investors whenever established industry undergoes period sweeping changes thats true autos right likely new entrants become huge hugely profitable companies time also likely legacy autoindustry players survive much less thrive amid changes continue reading winners losers period transformative change many investors make cases technology companies as160tesla nasdaq tsla nvidia nasdaq nvda possibly intel nasdaq intc recently acquired mobileye subsidiary theres merit idea looking silicon valley opportunities profit coming changes plenty investors already caught could identify likely winners within group legacy auto companies might find equally compelling opportunities better prices thats ive done think aptiv plc nyse aptv new company formed part old one detroit stalwart general motors nyse gm worth close consideration investors looking profit auto industrys transformation one note companies think good fundamental reasons buy also timingrelated reasons consider waiting bit ive summed end following section advertisement never heard aptiv thats surprise brandnew name part company used giant autoindustry supplier delphi automotive dec 5 former delphi two companies thats gets interesting investors delphi long known major supplier auto industry calls powertrain components parts systems internalcombustion engines recent years delphi also built major business around parts services help automakers integrate advanced technology vehicles including everything complex wiring harnesses software thats highly relevant trends mentioned fact former delphi recently acquired selfdriving software startup nutonomy opens new window giving center artificialintelligence expertise leveraged expand product portfolio future amount computing power autos steadily increases line business related businesses delphi recently built around become important delphis management also thought company becoming valuable companys overall valuation held back legacy business legacy image hence split delphi spun internalcombustion powertrain unit opens new window gave version legacy name delphi technologies nyse dlph technology portions business olddelphis senior management stayed behind company renamed aptiv aptiv postsplit major global supplier pieces help integrate computer controls vehicles starts company often describes cars nervous system network wires switches conduct data electricity throughout vehicle includes pieces like touchscreens sensors designed integrate seamlessly massproduced vehicles aptiv already major player selfdriving among initiatives joined intel mobileye series partnerships working develop selfdriving vehicle systems including important one led german luxurycar giant bmw ag reasons buy selfdriving turns big business likely least traditional automakers well new world also likely aptiv probably stands grow significantly reasons hesitate write aptiv brandnew stock yet clear market value new company might benefit waiting months see might turn benefit getting early look leap havent paying close attention last years idea buying general motors might seem laughable gm automaker americans loved hate years poster child everything gone wrong arrogant old detroit heres message things changed big way gm ceo mary barra gm emerged leader yes leader electric vehicles autonomousdriving technology top barra gm positioned become major possibly dominant player carsharing ridehailing consider takeaway comes future tech gm pieces major players investment perspective gms stock looks pretty good good run 2017 still fairly cheap 74 times expected 2017 earnings dividend yield attractive 35 dividend sustainable recession reasons buy gm exceptionally well positioned future healthy quite profitable present management team strong pays solid sustainable dividend probably able sell highly profitable trucks suvs many years come futuremobility businesses add replace profits long story short gms leading position future tech means substantial profit growth likely next several years reasons hesitate majority gms profits still come selling trucks suvs united states thats profitable business moment growing signs us newcar market passed cyclical peak us slides recession gms sales profits likelihood stock price fall history suggests thats likely happen gms futuretech efforts really start pay could better opportunity buy see today 10 stocks like better aptivwhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right aptiv wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns december 4 2017 suzanne frey executive alphabet member motley fools board directors john rosevear opens new window owns shares general motors motley fool owns shares recommends alphabet shares alphabet c shares nvidia tesla motley fool recommends intel motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>In a vote of 81 to 18, the Senate on Wednesday evening passed a measure to re-open the partially shutdown government, and raise the debt ceiling, staving off a potential default after Thursday.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The deal, floated by the same body on Tuesday night, includes a continuing resolution to fund the government through Jan. 15, increase the nation&#8217;s borrowing limit through Feb. 7, continue to provide the Treasury Department with the ability to enact &#8220;extraordinary measures,&#8221; to pay America&#8217;s bills during future Congressional debt ceiling debates, and a provision for income verification for people who receive subsidies on the Affordable Care Act&#8217;s medical insurance exchanges.</p> <p>The bill also includes instructions to assemble a bipartisan committee to gather and report by mid-December a way forward on the nation&#8217;s fiscal issues to avoid similar situations like the one lasting the last few weeks, in the future.</p> <p>With the Senate&#8217;s blessing, the bill now heads from the Democratic-controlled body to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives for final approval before it lands on President Barack Obama&#8217;s desk for a signature.</p> <p>Once the bill lands on the other side of the Capitol, it will move immediately go to the floor for a one-hour debate &#8211; skipping the House Rules Committee &#8211; and then move to a vote.</p> <p>At this point, the legislation is expected to pass the chamber.</p> <p>Earlier in the day, House Speaker John Boehner all but raised the white flag of defeat when he issued a statement saying the House would not block the Senate&#8217;s proposal from a vote on the floor.</p> <p>&#8220;In addition to the risk of default, doing so would open the door for the Democratic majority in Washington to raise taxes again on the American people and undo the spending caps in the 2011 Budget Control Act without replacing them with better spending cuts,&#8221; he wrote.</p> <p>Still, Boehner pledged to continue to stop the &#8220;train wreck that is the president&#8217;s health care law.&#8221;</p> <p>Wall Street was Right</p> <p>Though the nation was captivated by the goings-on at the Capitol for the last few weeks leading up to Thursday&#8217;s deadline &#8211; a time in which the Treasury Department said it would exhaust its extraordinary measures and rely on $30 billion in cash reserves to pay the nation&#8217;s bills &#8211; Wall Street took the tumult in stride.</p> <p>Even after talks broke down and hope seemed all but lost on Tuesday afternoon and evening, U.S. stock-index futures rallied sharply, believing a deal was in sight. The U.S. equity markets followed suit Wednesday throughout the day, with every major index ending the day more than 1% higher, and every major sector washed in green.</p> <p>Essentially, Wall Street said it wasn&#8217;t worried about the threat of default, and continued to believe, despite repeatedly failed attempts, that Congress would come to a resolution to resolve the government shutdown and avoid the potential default.</p> <p>But really, all the legislation does at this point, Michael Block, chief strategist at Rhino Trading Partners said, &amp;#160;is &#8220;kick the can down the road,&#8221; and package-up the fiscal fights to be re-opened early in the new year.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a bit perverse really,&#8221; he wrote in a note to clients Wednesday afternoon. &#8220;(Wall Street says,) &#8217;Well, we are going to new highs because we are relieved that the government shutdown only lasted seventeen days and we somehow managed to avoid defaulting on our debt. This is so bullish.&#8217;&amp;#160; Someday we are going to look back on this and it won&#8217;t seem funny.&#8221;</p> <p>Beyond Wall Street</p> <p>The very public drawn-out debate over the borrowing limit and government funding weighed on more than just American sentiment and individual Wall Street traders.</p> <p>IHS Global Insight Director of Federal Economics Paul Edelstein and Chief U.S. Economist Doug Handler told clients Wednesday the &#8220;win&#8221; from Congress really isn&#8217;t a win for the economy.</p> <p>&#8220;With Treasury&#8217;s borrowing authority set to expire tomorrow, the US economy dodged a bullet today. But the reprieve will be short as lawmakers only agreed to a three month funding of the government and suspension of the debt ceiling. Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on fiscal policy and the stage is set for another showdown in January,&#8221; the pair wrote.</p> <p>Further, IHS noted the U.S. economy is elastic enough to withstand, what it calls, a short-term episode like this fight, but a longer-term situation could cause Treasury to run out of borrowing authority, miss debt payments, and cause &#8220;catastrophic&#8221; results.</p> <p>&#8220;Even if we avoid these scenarios, the US&#8217;s prestige in global financial markets and world capitals will continue to deteriorate if we lurch from crisis to crisis,&#8221; Edelstein and Handler warned.</p> <p>In its Beige Book report Wednesday, the Federal Reserve said economic activity in September, and the start of October &#8211; the entire duration of the partial government shutdown -- grew at a &#8220;modest to moderate pace.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;Contacts across Districts generally remained cautiously optimistic in their outlook for future economic activity, although many also noted an increase in uncertainty due largely to the federal government shutdown and debt ceiling debate,&#8221; the Fed said.</p> <p>Digging into the central bank&#8217;s report, Deutsche Bank said the shutdown negatively impacted business confidence and job growth, which it says reflects a &#8220;slightly more cautious tone&#8221; than the Fed has taken in the past.</p> <p>To that point, Standard and Poor&#8217;s in a press release Wednesday said it expects the shutdown to have cut about $24 billion out of the U.S economy.</p> <p>&#8220;In the summer of 2011, as we approached the last debt ceiling standoff, consumer confidence plummeted and hit a 31-year low in August when the debt ceiling issue came to a head. Given that this round of debt-ceiling negotiations is occurring after two-plus weeks of a government shutdown, the total impact on the economy will likely be even more severe,&#8221; the ratings firm said.</p> <p>Advertisement</p>

vote 81 18 senate wednesday evening passed measure reopen partially shutdown government raise debt ceiling staving potential default thursday continue reading deal floated body tuesday night includes continuing resolution fund government jan 15 increase nations borrowing limit feb 7 continue provide treasury department ability enact extraordinary measures pay americas bills future congressional debt ceiling debates provision income verification people receive subsidies affordable care acts medical insurance exchanges bill also includes instructions assemble bipartisan committee gather report middecember way forward nations fiscal issues avoid similar situations like one lasting last weeks future senates blessing bill heads democraticcontrolled body republicancontrolled house representatives final approval lands president barack obamas desk signature bill lands side capitol move immediately go floor onehour debate skipping house rules committee move vote point legislation expected pass chamber earlier day house speaker john boehner raised white flag defeat issued statement saying house would block senates proposal vote floor addition risk default would open door democratic majority washington raise taxes american people undo spending caps 2011 budget control act without replacing better spending cuts wrote still boehner pledged continue stop train wreck presidents health care law wall street right though nation captivated goingson capitol last weeks leading thursdays deadline time treasury department said would exhaust extraordinary measures rely 30 billion cash reserves pay nations bills wall street took tumult stride even talks broke hope seemed lost tuesday afternoon evening us stockindex futures rallied sharply believing deal sight us equity markets followed suit wednesday throughout day every major index ending day 1 higher every major sector washed green essentially wall street said wasnt worried threat default continued believe despite repeatedly failed attempts congress would come resolution resolve government shutdown avoid potential default really legislation point michael block chief strategist rhino trading partners said 160is kick road packageup fiscal fights reopened early new year bit perverse really wrote note clients wednesday afternoon wall street says well going new highs relieved government shutdown lasted seventeen days somehow managed avoid defaulting debt bullish160 someday going look back wont seem funny beyond wall street public drawnout debate borrowing limit government funding weighed american sentiment individual wall street traders ihs global insight director federal economics paul edelstein chief us economist doug handler told clients wednesday win congress really isnt win economy treasurys borrowing authority set expire tomorrow us economy dodged bullet today reprieve short lawmakers agreed three month funding government suspension debt ceiling democrats republicans remain far apart fiscal policy stage set another showdown january pair wrote ihs noted us economy elastic enough withstand calls shortterm episode like fight longerterm situation could cause treasury run borrowing authority miss debt payments cause catastrophic results even avoid scenarios uss prestige global financial markets world capitals continue deteriorate lurch crisis crisis edelstein handler warned beige book report wednesday federal reserve said economic activity september start october entire duration partial government shutdown grew modest moderate pace contacts across districts generally remained cautiously optimistic outlook future economic activity although many also noted increase uncertainty due largely federal government shutdown debt ceiling debate fed said digging central banks report deutsche bank said shutdown negatively impacted business confidence job growth says reflects slightly cautious tone fed taken past point standard poors press release wednesday said expects shutdown cut 24 billion us economy summer 2011 approached last debt ceiling standoff consumer confidence plummeted hit 31year low august debt ceiling issue came head given round debtceiling negotiations occurring twoplus weeks government shutdown total impact economy likely even severe ratings firm said advertisement

<p /> <p>The market has barely reacted to Pioneer Natural Resources' (NYSE: PXD) fourth-quarter results, which is a surprise because they were nothing short of remarkable. The Permian Basin driller blew past analyst estimates, reporting adjusted income of $85 million, or $0.49 per share, which was $0.15 per share ahead of expectations. On top of that, the company's forecast for future growth continues to brighten after it unveiled an ambitious 10-year plan that will transform it into a top-tier U.S. oil producer, even if crude prices barely budge.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Pioneer Natural Resources produced an average of 242,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/D) during the quarter. That was 3,000 BOE/D more than last quarter and at the top end of its guidance range. This quarter marked the seventh in a row that Pioneer increased its output since the oil-market downturn began in late 2014. Overall, the company's full-year production was up 15% versus 2015's average rate.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Pioneer Natural Resources' ability to grow even as oil prices collapsed was a rare feat, as many top-tier shale producers couldn't keep up. In the third quarter of last year, for example, Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) only delivered 550,000 BOE/D of production from its retained assets, down from 591,000 BOE/D in the same quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, Devon Energy expected output from retained assets to slump to a range of 524,000 to 546,000 BOE/D during the fourth quarter.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) also could not maintain its output last year. The company expects its full-year production to average between 215,000 to 220,000 BOE/D, which would be down from 221,700 BOE/D in 2015.</p> <p>One of the reasons why Pioneer Natural Resources has been able to grow while its rivals have not is due to its lower costs. Last year, the company pushed its production costs per barrel down 29% compared to 2015 due to a combination of cost-reduction initiatives and production growth from its low-cost Permian Basin assets. It's that strategic location along with the company's cash-rich balance sheet that has proven to be a critical competitive advantage during the downturn.</p> <p>For example, through the first nine months of last year, Continental Resources paid $244.9 million of interest on its debt, which stood at $6.8 billion at the end of the third quarter. Contrast this with the similarly sized Pioneer, which only carried $2.7 billion of debt and had $2.5 billion of cash. As a result, it paid a net $175 million in interest last year.</p> <p>That interest savings alone provided the company with more money to invest in additional wells. Add to that the fact that its Permian wells can deliver internal rates of return ranging from 50% to 100% at $55 oil compared to 40% returns for Continental's Bakken wells at that same oil price, and Pioneer can produce more than its rivals at current prices.</p> <p>Image source: Pioneer Natural Resources, Sands Weems.</p> <p>As a result of its lower costs and higher returns, Pioneer Natural Resources expects to grow its production by 15% to 18% this year. That blows Continental's growth out of the water because it's only planning to boost its full-year average daily production by 3.4% versus last year's average daily rate, though it does see its exit-to-exit rate rising a robust 19% to 24%. Meanwhile, Devon Energy only sees its companywide output increasing by a low- to mid-single-digit rate this year.</p> <p>Pioneer's 2017 growth rate, however, isn't nearly as impressive as its new long-term forecast. The company had been on a trajectory to boost output by a 15% compound annual rate through 2020, while living within cash flow starting next year, at flat $55 oil. However, the company has extended that forecast out to 2026, which would push its production up to roughly 1 million BOE/D a decade from now.</p> <p>No rival comes close to matching that forecast. Continental Resources, for example, believes it can support a 20% average annual production growth rate from 2018 to 2020, as long as crude is between $60 to $65 per barrel. Meanwhile, Devon Energy could grow its oil production by double digits next year as long as crude tops $60 per barrel.</p> <p>Even shale leader EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) isn't projecting growth out as far as Pioneer. Currently, EOG sees its output rising between 15% to 25% annually through 2020 as long as crude remains between $50 to $60 per barrel. Clearly, Pioneer Resources' long-term plan puts it in a class of its own.</p> <p>Pioneer Natural Resources reported standout fourth-quarter results due to its efforts to push down costs, as well as its strategic location in the low-cost Permian Basin. That resource-rich position has the company dreaming big, as its current trajectory puts it on pace to become a million-barrel-a-day producer within a decade. That would push it up the leaderboard as one of the largest producers in the country.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Pioneer Natural ResourcesWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=35f75613-2c66-4fa7-861f-92fea0b13db2&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Pioneer Natural Resources wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=35f75613-2c66-4fa7-861f-92fea0b13db2&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Devon Energy and EOG Resources. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

market barely reacted pioneer natural resources nyse pxd fourthquarter results surprise nothing short remarkable permian basin driller blew past analyst estimates reporting adjusted income 85 million 049 per share 015 per share ahead expectations top companys forecast future growth continues brighten unveiled ambitious 10year plan transform toptier us oil producer even crude prices barely budge continue reading pioneer natural resources produced average 242000 barrels oil equivalent per day boed quarter 3000 boed last quarter top end guidance range quarter marked seventh row pioneer increased output since oilmarket downturn began late 2014 overall companys fullyear production 15 versus 2015s average rate image source getty images pioneer natural resources ability grow even oil prices collapsed rare feat many toptier shale producers couldnt keep third quarter last year example devon energy nyse dvn delivered 550000 boed production retained assets 591000 boed quarter prior year meanwhile devon energy expected output retained assets slump range 524000 546000 boed fourth quarter advertisement continental resources nyse clr also could maintain output last year company expects fullyear production average 215000 220000 boed would 221700 boed 2015 one reasons pioneer natural resources able grow rivals due lower costs last year company pushed production costs per barrel 29 compared 2015 due combination costreduction initiatives production growth lowcost permian basin assets strategic location along companys cashrich balance sheet proven critical competitive advantage downturn example first nine months last year continental resources paid 2449 million interest debt stood 68 billion end third quarter contrast similarly sized pioneer carried 27 billion debt 25 billion cash result paid net 175 million interest last year interest savings alone provided company money invest additional wells add fact permian wells deliver internal rates return ranging 50 100 55 oil compared 40 returns continentals bakken wells oil price pioneer produce rivals current prices image source pioneer natural resources sands weems result lower costs higher returns pioneer natural resources expects grow production 15 18 year blows continentals growth water planning boost fullyear average daily production 34 versus last years average daily rate though see exittoexit rate rising robust 19 24 meanwhile devon energy sees companywide output increasing low midsingledigit rate year pioneers 2017 growth rate however isnt nearly impressive new longterm forecast company trajectory boost output 15 compound annual rate 2020 living within cash flow starting next year flat 55 oil however company extended forecast 2026 would push production roughly 1 million boed decade rival comes close matching forecast continental resources example believes support 20 average annual production growth rate 2018 2020 long crude 60 65 per barrel meanwhile devon energy could grow oil production double digits next year long crude tops 60 per barrel even shale leader eog resources nyse eog isnt projecting growth far pioneer currently eog sees output rising 15 25 annually 2020 long crude remains 50 60 per barrel clearly pioneer resources longterm plan puts class pioneer natural resources reported standout fourthquarter results due efforts push costs well strategic location lowcost permian basin resourcerich position company dreaming big current trajectory puts pace become millionbarreladay producer within decade would push leaderboard one largest producers country 10 stocks like better pioneer natural resourceswhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right pioneer natural resources wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns february 6 2017 matt dilallo opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares devon energy eog resources motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The safest stocks are those that are least likely to produce permanent losses in the long run. While many investors get caught up in the euphoria of chasing the next big thing, those who stick to safe stocks bought at reasonable prices can make big money over the span of decades without all the drama. We asked five of our contributors to make their case for a safe stock to buy today. Here's what they had to say.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBargainBin/info.aspx/" type="external">Tim Green Opens a New Window.</a>: There are two things that must be true for a stock to be truly safe. First, the company must have a rock-solid business model with competitive advantages that minimize the risk that it will be disrupted. Second, the share price must be reasonable. Paying dozens of times trailing earnings for even the best company isn't a particularly safe thing to do.</p> <p>The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), founded nearly a century ago, checks both boxes. Disney owns ABC and ESPN, operates a highly successful movie business with franchises includeing Marveland Star Wars, runs amusement parks and resorts around the world, and generates billions of dollars of revenue from consumer products each year. Disney is posting strong growth: It increased its total revenue by 9% year over year during the latest quarter. Over the past 12 months, Disney generated $56 billion in revenue.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Disney is also wildly profitable: It managed an operating margin in excess of 25% in fiscal 2015. Analysts expect the company to produce adjusted earnings of $5.79 per share this year, putting the P/E ratio at about 16. Disney isn't the cheapest stock in the world, but it's hard to argue that it's not a safe pick.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a>: Though no stock is a sure thing, one of the safest stocks long-term investors have to choose from right now is electric utility powerhouse NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE).</p> <p>NextEra Energy's attractiveness essentially boils down to two factors. First, a critical aspect of NextEra's success has been its focus on alternative-energy projects. Understand that while most electric utilities have begun to address the need for non-fossil-fuel electricity generation, NextEra has been commissioning these projects proactively for years. In fact, NextEra Energy is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. Though these projects may seem costly now, NextEra's long-term costs should actually be lower than many of its peers' because it has taken these proactive steps to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.</p> <p>NextEra's recent acquisition is another reason to feel confident about its future. In July NextEra Energy outbid its rivals for the rights to purchase Oncor for $18.4 billion. Oncor is the now-bankrupt TXU Corp.'s regulated electric utility business. It has generated steady and predictable growth for quite some time. The deal thrusts NextEra into a large market (Texas), and it will substantially boost the company's revenue tied to regulated businesses. While regulated electric businesses require approval to raise rates, they typically generate very predictable cash flow with little to no exposure to wholesale markets.</p> <p>As icing on the cake, NextEra Energy is also paying out a superior 2.9% dividend yield, and its payout has essentially doubled since 2008. There's a lot for the risk-averse investorto like here.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFEBCapital/info.aspx" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a>: Safety is relative, but investors who like to buy low and pocket dividends in the process might want to cozy up to Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD).</p> <p>Gilead Sciences shares have tumbled 50% from their peak on concern that competition is cutting into the company's dominance in treating hepatitis C. Unquestionably, new hepatitis C drugs are impacting prices and causing sales growth to flatline, but investors shouldn't be shortsighted on this one.</p> <p>That's because Gilead Sciences has proven it knows how to navigate competitive indications and use innovation to maintain its market share. The company has been the leading maker of HIV drugs for over a decade, and lessons learned in that market could help it successfully maintain its market share in hepatitis C, too.</p> <p>This summer, the company won FDA approval for its latest hepatitis C drug, Epclusa, and positioning that drug as the go-to treatment for genotype 2 and 3 patients may shore up sales in the indication by year-end.</p> <p>Gilead Sciences is also in the midst of a refresh of its HIV drug lineup that propelled HIV drug sales more than 15% higher in the first half of this year. Efforts to expand into treating autoimmune disease and to develop a drug for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, an increasingly common cause of liver failure, could pay off down the road as well.</p> <p>Overall, Gilead Sciences is undeniably facing headwinds, but it boasts one of biotech's best balance sheets, and its shares are yielding a competitive 2.3%, so I think it's one of the best bargains in biotech right now.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Nehams/info.aspx" type="external">Neha Chamaria Opens a New Window.</a>: A "safe" stock should ideally be one that offers you value in terms of both growth and dividends. One stock that fits the bill is 3M (NYSE: MMM).</p> <p>3M has displayed solid earnings power over the years and should continue to do so thanks to a diverse product portfolio that serves nearly every major industry, including consumer goods, healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, electronics, oil and gas, and aerospace. This chart illustrates 3M's substantial growth in the past decade.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MMM/net_income_ttm" type="external">MMM Net Income (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>What's more, 3M expects to grow just as strongly in coming years. Management is eyeing 8%-11% growth in earnings and 100% "free cash flow conversion" through 2020, which should also bring in rich rewards for shareholders. The company has paid a dividend for 100 years now and has raised its dividend for 58 consecutive years. That includes periods of severe economic turbulence, including the global financial crisis, which is proof of 3M's solid financial standing and responsible management.Given the strong growth potential of 3M's earnings and FCF, along with its moderate current payout ratio of about 50%, there's no reason the conglomerate shouldn't be able to increase its dividends further in the years to come.</p> <p>So whether you're looking for a growth stock or a dividend stock, 3M offers you the best of both worlds today.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a>: One thing everyone needs is protection against the threat of unexpected healthcare expenses, and Aflac (NYSE: AFL) has made it its business to meet its customers' needs on two continents. The company, known best in the U.S. for its spokesduck, offers supplemental insurance products domestically, including coverage that's tailored to offer benefits related to specific diseases and medical conditions, as well as unpredictable events like accidents. Yet what many don't know is that Aflac has larger exposure to the Japanese insurance market, where it offers an even wider range of products.</p> <p>Aflac has a number of factors that make it a safe stock. First, its valuation is fairly inexpensive right now: The stock trades at just 12 times its trailing earnings. Moreover, after years of U.S. dollar strength that has hurt the financial performance of the insurer's Japanese business, the Japanese yen has started to climb, and that should give Aflac a near-term bump to its earnings. Perhaps most importantly, Aflac has demonstrated its commitment to shareholders through generous dividends, and for 33 straight years, the insurer has boosted its quarterly payouts each and every year. With a 2.2% dividend yield and solid prospects for business growth in both of its key markets, Aflac is about as safe a stock as you'll find in today's market.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;amp;ftm_pit=2518&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger</a> owns shares of Walt Disney. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Nehams/info.aspx" type="external">Neha Chamaria</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBargainBin/info.aspx" type="external">Timothy Green Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/EBCapitalMarkets/info.aspx" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Gilead Sciences and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has the following options: short October 2016 $85 calls on Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool recommends Aflac. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

image source getty images continue reading safest stocks least likely produce permanent losses long run many investors get caught euphoria chasing next big thing stick safe stocks bought reasonable prices make big money span decades without drama asked five contributors make case safe stock buy today heres say tim green opens new window two things must true stock truly safe first company must rocksolid business model competitive advantages minimize risk disrupted second share price must reasonable paying dozens times trailing earnings even best company isnt particularly safe thing walt disney company nyse dis founded nearly century ago checks boxes disney owns abc espn operates highly successful movie business franchises includeing marveland star wars runs amusement parks resorts around world generates billions dollars revenue consumer products year disney posting strong growth increased total revenue 9 year year latest quarter past 12 months disney generated 56 billion revenue advertisement disney also wildly profitable managed operating margin excess 25 fiscal 2015 analysts expect company produce adjusted earnings 579 per share year putting pe ratio 16 disney isnt cheapest stock world hard argue safe pick sean williams opens new window though stock sure thing one safest stocks longterm investors choose right electric utility powerhouse nextera energy nyse nee nextera energys attractiveness essentially boils two factors first critical aspect nexteras success focus alternativeenergy projects understand electric utilities begun address need nonfossilfuel electricity generation nextera commissioning projects proactively years fact nextera energy worlds largest generator renewable energy wind sun though projects may seem costly nexteras longterm costs actually lower many peers taken proactive steps reduce reliance fossil fuels nexteras recent acquisition another reason feel confident future july nextera energy outbid rivals rights purchase oncor 184 billion oncor nowbankrupt txu corps regulated electric utility business generated steady predictable growth quite time deal thrusts nextera large market texas substantially boost companys revenue tied regulated businesses regulated electric businesses require approval raise rates typically generate predictable cash flow little exposure wholesale markets icing cake nextera energy also paying superior 29 dividend yield payout essentially doubled since 2008 theres lot riskaverse investorto like todd campbell opens new window safety relative investors like buy low pocket dividends process might want cozy gilead sciences nasdaq gild gilead sciences shares tumbled 50 peak concern competition cutting companys dominance treating hepatitis c unquestionably new hepatitis c drugs impacting prices causing sales growth flatline investors shouldnt shortsighted one thats gilead sciences proven knows navigate competitive indications use innovation maintain market share company leading maker hiv drugs decade lessons learned market could help successfully maintain market share hepatitis c summer company fda approval latest hepatitis c drug epclusa positioning drug goto treatment genotype 2 3 patients may shore sales indication yearend gilead sciences also midst refresh hiv drug lineup propelled hiv drug sales 15 higher first half year efforts expand treating autoimmune disease develop drug nonalcoholic steatohepatitis increasingly common cause liver failure could pay road well overall gilead sciences undeniably facing headwinds boasts one biotechs best balance sheets shares yielding competitive 23 think one best bargains biotech right neha chamaria opens new window safe stock ideally one offers value terms growth dividends one stock fits bill 3m nyse mmm 3m displayed solid earnings power years continue thanks diverse product portfolio serves nearly every major industry including consumer goods healthcare automotive manufacturing electronics oil gas aerospace chart illustrates 3ms substantial growth past decade mmm net income ttm data ycharts opens new window whats 3m expects grow strongly coming years management eyeing 811 growth earnings 100 free cash flow conversion 2020 also bring rich rewards shareholders company paid dividend 100 years raised dividend 58 consecutive years includes periods severe economic turbulence including global financial crisis proof 3ms solid financial standing responsible managementgiven strong growth potential 3ms earnings fcf along moderate current payout ratio 50 theres reason conglomerate shouldnt able increase dividends years come whether youre looking growth stock dividend stock 3m offers best worlds today dan caplinger opens new window one thing everyone needs protection threat unexpected healthcare expenses aflac nyse afl made business meet customers needs two continents company known best us spokesduck offers supplemental insurance products domestically including coverage thats tailored offer benefits related specific diseases medical conditions well unpredictable events like accidents yet many dont know aflac larger exposure japanese insurance market offers even wider range products aflac number factors make safe stock first valuation fairly inexpensive right stock trades 12 times trailing earnings moreover years us dollar strength hurt financial performance insurers japanese business japanese yen started climb give aflac nearterm bump earnings perhaps importantly aflac demonstrated commitment shareholders generous dividends 33 straight years insurer boosted quarterly payouts every year 22 dividend yield solid prospects business growth key markets aflac safe stock youll find todays market secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window dan caplinger owns shares walt disney neha chamaria position stocks mentioned sean williams position stocks mentioned timothy green opens new window position stocks mentioned todd campbell opens new window owns shares gilead sciences motley fool owns shares recommends gilead sciences walt disney motley fool following options short october 2016 85 calls gilead sciences motley fool recommends aflac try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>In late 1946, Admiral Richard E. Byrd led troops from the U.S., Britain and Australia on a mission to <a href="" type="internal">Antarctica</a> called &#8220; <a href="http://www.rense.com/general35/op.htm" type="external">Operation Highjump</a>&#8220;. This mission involved 4700 soldiers, 13 ships, and 33 aircraft in what was officially called a research expedition.</p> <p>The part of the story that is seldom told outside of official circles is what Byrd encountered there. While conventional knowledge of World War II states that Germany was defeated&amp;#160;in Europe, which is true, little is often said&amp;#160;about the Nazi escape South to their <a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/antarctica/antartica24.htm" type="external">bases</a> in Antarctica. While the Allied powers won World War II on the ground in Europe due to their industrial might, the Nazi&#8217;s had far more advanced technology, and many members of Hitler&#8217;s regime reportedly fled to the icy continent after the war.</p> <p>It is highly likely Operation Highjump was a military operation to engage these enemy forces, and was apparently unsuccessful, as Byrd and his battle group suffered heavy losses and retreated to South America. A Chilean newspaper, the &#8216;El Murico&#8217;, ran an article detailing Operation Highjump on March 5th, 1947, where Admiral Byrd stated in an interview:</p> <p>&#8220;It is necessary for the USA to take defensive actions against enemy air fighters which come from the polar regions&#8230;[America could be] attacked by fighters that are able to fly from one pole to the other with incredible speed.&#8221;</p> <p>German secret societies, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society" type="external">Thule</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vril" type="external">Vril</a>, are believed to already have had access to electrogravitic, or <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/11/05/resonance-nazicia-antigravity-drones/" type="external">antigravity</a>, technologies, and had&amp;#160;created what is known as the &#8220; <a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_vril08.htm" type="external">Bell craft</a>&#8221;, named after it&#8217;s bell like shape. These craft, with their <a href="http://wakingtimesmedia.com/impossible-quantum-space-engine-breaks-laws-physicsis-tested-space/" type="external">advanced propulsion systems</a>, are thought to have been effective in neutralizing the 13 ship battle group. In the years after World War II, many Nazi scientists immigrated into America to work within the medicine, aerospace, and intelligence corporations. This situation makes one wonder if American hands were essentially forced to accept these refugees.</p> <p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/www.wakingtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Nazi-Bell-Craft.jpg" type="external" /></p> <p>The world then entered the&amp;#160;Cold War years, but the mystery surrounding Antarctica persists.</p> <p>In 1959, the <a href="http://www.ats.aq/e/ats.htm" type="external">Antarctica Treaty</a> was signed by 12 nations, including Argentina, Chile, the UK, the US, and the Soviet Union, who had scientists operating in and around Antarctica. Fast-forwarding nearly 60 years, another Antarctic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/28/worlds-largest-marine-park-created-in-ross-sea-in-antarctica-in-landmark-deal" type="external">protection deal</a> was recently ratified in October 2016, this time signed by 24 different nations&amp;#160;along with the European Union. This set aside the largest marine conservation area in the world.</p> <p>Now the question is, why are America,&amp;#160;China and Russia&amp;#160;cooperating on the preservation of the wildest regions of planet when so many of their current policies are producing increased enmity and tension, and the rest of the world has become an expendable war zone?</p> <p>At the same time, there has been a rise in reporting on events in Antarctica, albeit mostly from tabloid journals.&amp;#160;On November 21st, an <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2232032/mysterious-pyramid-is-buried-in-the-icy-wastes-of-antarctica/" type="external">article</a>&amp;#160;in The Sun, reported on &#8220; <a href="" type="internal">mysterious new pyramids</a>&#8221; found buried on the icy continent, largely discussing a video showing&amp;#160;Google Earth images detailing geometric, pyramidal structures in the icy tundra. Another <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/734186/snow-pyramid-Antarctic-human-history-discovery" type="external">article</a>, this time by The Express, also detailed these pyramid structures, while outlining&amp;#160;scientific evidence supporting the theory&amp;#160;that Antarctica used to harbor vegetation and life. Lastly, The Daily Star published an <a href="http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/568409/antarctica-atlantis-found-ancient-city-pyramids-plato-hapgood-civilisation-giza" type="external">article</a> also describing how an ancient civilization would have been possible due to the scientific discoveries that Antarctica was possibly ice-free in the past, also touching on the intriguing&amp;#160; <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/10/22/500-year-old-map-shatters-official-history-human-race/" type="external">Piri Reis map</a>, a 500-year-old document showing Antarctica on it, centuries before the official discovery of the icy continent.</p> <p>Oddly enough, several significant figures have recently traveled to the Antarctic region in recent months, and under mysterious or vaguely defined circumstances. During the election, Secretary of State <a href="http://people.com/human-interest/buzz-aldrin-south-pole-trip-worth-it/" type="external">John Kerry</a> flew down to the continent to &#8216;study global warming.&#8217; Former Astronaut <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/science/antarctica-john-kerry-global-warming.html?_r=0" type="external">Buzz Aldrin</a> also visited in recent weeks, and was forced to cut short his journey due to a sudden medical emergency.</p> <p>Furthermore, other notable researchers have been&amp;#160; <a href="http://divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1209-endgame-pt-2" type="external">reporting</a> in recent weeks on the potential for a &#8220;partial disclosure scenario&#8221; involving Antarctica,&amp;#160;with the potential to reveal hidden technologies, information on ancient civilizations, and elite plans for maintaining their powerful grip on planet earth, however, such speculation is above and beyond what we can actually prove at this point.</p> <p>Nevertheless, continuing Antarctic research expeditions, combined with Antarctica&#8217;s suspicious political past, today&#8217;s reported findings of megalithic structures on the barren continent, recent high-profile visitations, and updated political treaties for Antarctica, are giving rise to a growing public curiosity about what may really be happening on the uninhabited continent.</p> <p>What is really taking place in Antarctica?</p> <p><a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/category/contributors/jordan-sather/" type="external">Jordan Sather</a> is a health coach and truth seeker from Washington State. His mission is to assist with the evolution of consciousness that humanity is currently undergoing. He runs two youtube channels along with his writing and coaching endeavors. His <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/JSather7" type="external">Conscious Strength</a> channel offers cutting edge health and wellness advice, and his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMVTRzCXvIbdK0Y1ZxD-BlA" type="external">Realfake News</a> brings you conscious commentary on breaking news stories that you need to know. You can reach him by his <a href="http://www.jaysather.com/" type="external">website</a>, or his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jordan.sather.9" type="external">facebook</a>.</p> <p>This article ( <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/12/22/secrecy-mysteries-challenge-official-history-antarctica/" type="external">Secrecy and Mysteries Challenge the Official History of Antarctica</a>) was originally created and published by&amp;#160; <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/" type="external">Waking Times</a> and is printed&amp;#160;here under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" type="external">Creative Commons</a>&amp;#160;license with attribution to Jordan Sather&amp;#160;and <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/" type="external">WakingTimes.com</a>. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution and author bio.&amp;#160;</p> <p /> <p />

late 1946 admiral richard e byrd led troops us britain australia mission antarctica called operation highjump mission involved 4700 soldiers 13 ships 33 aircraft officially called research expedition part story seldom told outside official circles byrd encountered conventional knowledge world war ii states germany defeated160in europe true little often said160about nazi escape south bases antarctica allied powers world war ii ground europe due industrial might nazis far advanced technology many members hitlers regime reportedly fled icy continent war highly likely operation highjump military operation engage enemy forces apparently unsuccessful byrd battle group suffered heavy losses retreated south america chilean newspaper el murico ran article detailing operation highjump march 5th 1947 admiral byrd stated interview necessary usa take defensive actions enemy air fighters come polar regionsamerica could attacked fighters able fly one pole incredible speed german secret societies thule vril believed already access electrogravitic antigravity technologies had160created known bell craft named bell like shape craft advanced propulsion systems thought effective neutralizing 13 ship battle group years world war ii many nazi scientists immigrated america work within medicine aerospace intelligence corporations situation makes one wonder american hands essentially forced accept refugees world entered the160cold war years mystery surrounding antarctica persists 1959 antarctica treaty signed 12 nations including argentina chile uk us soviet union scientists operating around antarctica fastforwarding nearly 60 years another antarctic protection deal recently ratified october 2016 time signed 24 different nations160along european union set aside largest marine conservation area world question america160china russia160cooperating preservation wildest regions planet many current policies producing increased enmity tension rest world become expendable war zone time rise reporting events antarctica albeit mostly tabloid journals160on november 21st article160in sun reported mysterious new pyramids found buried icy continent largely discussing video showing160google earth images detailing geometric pyramidal structures icy tundra another article time express also detailed pyramid structures outlining160scientific evidence supporting theory160that antarctica used harbor vegetation life lastly daily star published article also describing ancient civilization would possible due scientific discoveries antarctica possibly icefree past also touching intriguing160 piri reis map 500yearold document showing antarctica centuries official discovery icy continent oddly enough several significant figures recently traveled antarctic region recent months mysterious vaguely defined circumstances election secretary state john kerry flew continent study global warming former astronaut buzz aldrin also visited recent weeks forced cut short journey due sudden medical emergency furthermore notable researchers been160 reporting recent weeks potential partial disclosure scenario involving antarctica160with potential reveal hidden technologies information ancient civilizations elite plans maintaining powerful grip planet earth however speculation beyond actually prove point nevertheless continuing antarctic research expeditions combined antarcticas suspicious political past todays reported findings megalithic structures barren continent recent highprofile visitations updated political treaties antarctica giving rise growing public curiosity may really happening uninhabited continent really taking place antarctica jordan sather health coach truth seeker washington state mission assist evolution consciousness humanity currently undergoing runs two youtube channels along writing coaching endeavors conscious strength channel offers cutting edge health wellness advice realfake news brings conscious commentary breaking news stories need know reach website facebook article secrecy mysteries challenge official history antarctica originally created published by160 waking times printed160here creative commons160license attribution jordan sather160and wakingtimescom may reposted freely proper attribution author bio160

<p>China's economy grew at its slowest in nearly three years in the first three months of 2012, with a weaker than expected reading raising investor concerns that a five-quarter long slide has not bottomed and that more policy action would be needed to halt it.</p> <p>The annual rate of GDP growth in the first quarter slowed to 8.1 percent from 8.9 percent in the previous three months, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, below the 8.3 percent consensus forecast of economists polled by Reuters.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The GDP data headlined a flurry of indicators published on Friday showing March industrial output expanded 11.9 percent, March retail sales rose 15.2 percent and quarterly fixed asset investment, one of the principal drivers of China's economy, grew 20.9 percent.</p> <p>They were broadly in line with the conservative expectations of investors who have grown concerned in recent weeks that the bottom of China's economic cycle would extend into the second quarter of the year as it struggles to escape its worst sequential slowdown since the 2008/09 global financial crisis.</p> <p>"What's clear is that the economy is still decelerating and the property sector clearly is deflating," said Yao Wei, China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.</p> <p>"Looking at the property data, it seems that property investment has finally started to correct. I think this trend will continue and will drag growth even lower in coming months so we don't think this is the bottom yet. It means more monetary easing will be needed to prevent a sharper deceleration."</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Residential real estate investment in March grew at its slowest annual rate since mid-2009, when policymakers in the world's second-biggest economy were rolling out 4 trillion yuan ($635 billion) of stimulus to escape the grip of a financial crisis that had driven global trade to a virtual halt.</p> <p>Real estate investment was worth about 13 percent of China's gross domestic product in 2011 and the sector directly affects more than 40 industries, making Beijing's two year-long campaign to curb rampant property speculation one that has been felt across the economic spectrum.</p> <p>"The reading of 8.1 percent is lower than expected, and that's why Chinese Premier Wen has been urging policy fine-tuning," Xu Biao, an economist at Industrial Securities in Shanghai said.</p> <p>"But Beijing is unlikely to roll out any big stimulus as a growth rate of 8 percent won't hurt employment badly."</p> <p>PAIN THRESHOLD</p> <p>Growth of 8 percent is widely regarded as the threshold at which China struggles to create enough jobs for new entrants to its 800 million-strong workforce, raising the risk of social instability that Beijing abhors and so increasing the likelihood of stimulus measures being rolled out.</p> <p>But as the government cut its official full year growth forecast to 7.5 percent last month, there is a growing view that Beijing's opinion of the pace that might constitute a hard landing - which remains far from the market's consensus expectation - has moved significantly lower.</p> <p>That means money managers who anticipate a policy response to a fall below 8 percent would be disappointed.</p> <p>Economists polled by Reuters had forecast annual growth of 8.3 percent for the first quarter, with the 8.1 percent outcome the lowest since the 8.1 percent seen in Q2 2009.</p> <p>China's economy expanded by 9.2 percent in 2011, a two-year low. Economists polled by Reuters expect growth in 2012 to ease further to 8.4 percent, which would be its slackest since 2002.</p> <p>The risk of sluggish global demand for China's exports persisting into mid-year, with much of the euro zone seen in recession and weak jobs data last week reviving concerns about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, is a red flag to many in financial markets.</p> <p>The euro and the Australian dollar eased after the data wrongfooted traders positioned for a strong showing in the wake of persistent overnight market talk of a positive surprise. Brent crude oil slipped back towards $121 a barrel and London Metal Exchange copper fell about 1 percent.</p> <p>China's economic performance is widely read as a proxy for global commodity demand and the strength of international trade.</p> <p>"The main downside was with exports and some in terms of consumption," Kevin Lai, an economist at Daiwa in Hong Kong, said.</p> <p>"In general, I think the first quarter export results have disappointed the consensus. We still believe there should be more policy relaxation to add to growth domestically and offset weakness in exports."</p> <p>China's statistics agency said on Friday the country still faced difficulties stabilising export growth.</p> <p>REBOUND HOPED FOR</p> <p>But March money supply data released on Thursday suggested that a recovery might be gaining traction, with new loans made in the month topping 1 trillion yuan ($158.55 billion) for the first time since January 2011, coming in about 25 percent ahead of expectations after two straight months of underperformance.</p> <p>That data, coupled with a bounce in the index of China leading indicators calculated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), leaves some economists more confident that growth was likely to rebound in coming months.</p> <p>The OECD leading indicator has successfully forecast previous turning points in China's business cycle, meanwhile quarter on quarter seasonally adjusted growth of 1.8 percent in Q1 came in ahead of the 1.6 percent consensus.</p> <p>"We are comfortable with our 8.6 percent annual GDP growth forecast, and we expect year-on-year GDP growth to rebound to 8.5-8.6 percent in coming quarters. We don't think Beijing has an appetite for higher growth because that will raise prices of raw material imports and re-ignite inflation," Ting Lu, China economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, said.</p> <p>"With the strong new loans data and the rebound of production in March, most investors will accept March is the turning point, and we are now on the upturn of the cycle," he wrote in a note to clients.</p>

chinas economy grew slowest nearly three years first three months 2012 weaker expected reading raising investor concerns fivequarter long slide bottomed policy action would needed halt annual rate gdp growth first quarter slowed 81 percent 89 percent previous three months national bureau statistics said friday 83 percent consensus forecast economists polled reuters continue reading gdp data headlined flurry indicators published friday showing march industrial output expanded 119 percent march retail sales rose 152 percent quarterly fixed asset investment one principal drivers chinas economy grew 209 percent broadly line conservative expectations investors grown concerned recent weeks bottom chinas economic cycle would extend second quarter year struggles escape worst sequential slowdown since 200809 global financial crisis whats clear economy still decelerating property sector clearly deflating said yao wei china economist societe generale hong kong looking property data seems property investment finally started correct think trend continue drag growth even lower coming months dont think bottom yet means monetary easing needed prevent sharper deceleration advertisement residential real estate investment march grew slowest annual rate since mid2009 policymakers worlds secondbiggest economy rolling 4 trillion yuan 635 billion stimulus escape grip financial crisis driven global trade virtual halt real estate investment worth 13 percent chinas gross domestic product 2011 sector directly affects 40 industries making beijings two yearlong campaign curb rampant property speculation one felt across economic spectrum reading 81 percent lower expected thats chinese premier wen urging policy finetuning xu biao economist industrial securities shanghai said beijing unlikely roll big stimulus growth rate 8 percent wont hurt employment badly pain threshold growth 8 percent widely regarded threshold china struggles create enough jobs new entrants 800 millionstrong workforce raising risk social instability beijing abhors increasing likelihood stimulus measures rolled government cut official full year growth forecast 75 percent last month growing view beijings opinion pace might constitute hard landing remains far markets consensus expectation moved significantly lower means money managers anticipate policy response fall 8 percent would disappointed economists polled reuters forecast annual growth 83 percent first quarter 81 percent outcome lowest since 81 percent seen q2 2009 chinas economy expanded 92 percent 2011 twoyear low economists polled reuters expect growth 2012 ease 84 percent would slackest since 2002 risk sluggish global demand chinas exports persisting midyear much euro zone seen recession weak jobs data last week reviving concerns strength us economic recovery red flag many financial markets euro australian dollar eased data wrongfooted traders positioned strong showing wake persistent overnight market talk positive surprise brent crude oil slipped back towards 121 barrel london metal exchange copper fell 1 percent chinas economic performance widely read proxy global commodity demand strength international trade main downside exports terms consumption kevin lai economist daiwa hong kong said general think first quarter export results disappointed consensus still believe policy relaxation add growth domestically offset weakness exports chinas statistics agency said friday country still faced difficulties stabilising export growth rebound hoped march money supply data released thursday suggested recovery might gaining traction new loans made month topping 1 trillion yuan 15855 billion first time since january 2011 coming 25 percent ahead expectations two straight months underperformance data coupled bounce index china leading indicators calculated organisation economic cooperation development oecd leaves economists confident growth likely rebound coming months oecd leading indicator successfully forecast previous turning points chinas business cycle meanwhile quarter quarter seasonally adjusted growth 18 percent q1 came ahead 16 percent consensus comfortable 86 percent annual gdp growth forecast expect yearonyear gdp growth rebound 8586 percent coming quarters dont think beijing appetite higher growth raise prices raw material imports reignite inflation ting lu china economist bank americamerrill lynch hong kong said strong new loans data rebound production march investors accept march turning point upturn cycle wrote note clients

<p /> <p>Model S. Image source: Tesla Motors.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The U.S. electricity industry has been in a no-growth mode for a decade now, and that's had some wide-ranging impacts on utilities and power producers. Wholesale power producers like Dynegy (NYSE: DYN), NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG), and Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) have <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/17/energy-revolution-electricity-growth-stalls-as-cus.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">seen net income drop as renewable energy replaces formerly expensive peak electricity demand Opens a New Window.</a> and wholesale power prices fall. The dynamic has caused utilities to acquire more regulated competitors and even move into natural gas distribution.</p> <p>No growth in electricity demand is also cutting back the potential for renewable energy to really take off in the U.S. When there are enough power plants to keep the grid running, there's no need to build more power plants for growth. As a result, most utilities aren't bidding for large new power plants unless they're shutting down a coal or nuclear plant. Wind and solar energy, which are winning competitive bids against fossil fuels around the world, may be cost effective versus other forms of new electricity generation today, but if you don't need new electricity generation, that doesn't matter.</p> <p>But one emerging industry could boost demand for electricity and renewable energy: electric vehicles.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>First, let's look at how much electricity U.S. consumers use and how slowly it's growing. From 2006 to 2015, the U.S. consumed about 3.7 billion MWh of electricity annually, or 3,700,000 thousand MWh, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports their figures. And demand has been flat.</p> <p>Image source: U.S. Energy Information Administration.</p> <p>With energy efficiency becoming more important for consumers and the economy growing slowly, I don't see why this no-growth dynamic will change without moving vehicles to the grid.</p> <p>The impact EVs could have on electricity demand could be substantial if they grow to a large percentage of vehicle sales. Below I've built out some examples of the growth in electricity consumption if 100,000 to 50 million EVs were added to the roads in the U.S. each year. The calculations were based on an average of 13,500 milesdriven per year and an efficiency of 3.1 miles per kWh, the best performance a Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model S is rated at.</p> <p>Calculations by the author.</p> <p>According to <a href="http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/" type="external">InsideEVs Opens a New Window.</a>, 116,099 EVs were sold in the U.S. in 2015, so we're already beyond the first figure already. But with 17.5 millioncars and light trucks sold in 2015, there's a lot of room for growth. And in a decade, it's possible 10 million EVs will be sold annually.</p> <p>If that's the case, U.S. electricity demand would grow at least 1.2% each year. Remember, I'm using a best-case scenario for miles per kWh, so demand growth would probably be closer to 2% annually. And the effect of EV sales each year is cumulative, so the 50 million sales figure shows how big the impact could be over time.</p> <p>The cascading effect of electricity demand growth from EVs could be significant in the U.S. If 43.5 million MWh of new energy production is needed to service 10 million EVs, it could be a boon for energy suppliers and renewable energy. If we assume solar or wind plants generate energy 25% of the time, 20 GW of new capacity will need to be built to meet new demand each year. In 2015, 15.9 GW of wind and solar were installed in the U.S. and that was just replacing other forms of energy production, so EV demand could be additive to that figure.</p> <p>EVs also have the ability to respond to market signals more easily than most energy devices, which could be helpful to the grid. Through the charger, a utility could lower charging during peak hours of the day and move more charging time to low-demand evening hours. Or if solar energy floods the market with supply, as it has in some parts of California, EVs could be charged during the day. In this way, EVs actually add flexibility to the grid.</p> <p>The U.S. electricity market is in a real funk right now, and it's driven by the fact that electricity demand hasn't grown for a decade. EVs could change that in a big way, which could be helpful for everyone from your local utility to the solar developers building projects in the middle of the deserts of Arizona.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;amp;ftm_pit=2692&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of NRG Energy. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. 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model image source tesla motors continue reading us electricity industry nogrowth mode decade thats wideranging impacts utilities power producers wholesale power producers like dynegy nyse dyn nrg energy nyse nrg exelon corporation nyse exc seen net income drop renewable energy replaces formerly expensive peak electricity demand opens new window wholesale power prices fall dynamic caused utilities acquire regulated competitors even move natural gas distribution growth electricity demand also cutting back potential renewable energy really take us enough power plants keep grid running theres need build power plants growth result utilities arent bidding large new power plants unless theyre shutting coal nuclear plant wind solar energy winning competitive bids fossil fuels around world may cost effective versus forms new electricity generation today dont need new electricity generation doesnt matter one emerging industry could boost demand electricity renewable energy electric vehicles advertisement first lets look much electricity us consumers use slowly growing 2006 2015 us consumed 37 billion mwh electricity annually 3700000 thousand mwh us energy information administration reports figures demand flat image source us energy information administration energy efficiency becoming important consumers economy growing slowly dont see nogrowth dynamic change without moving vehicles grid impact evs could electricity demand could substantial grow large percentage vehicle sales ive built examples growth electricity consumption 100000 50 million evs added roads us year calculations based average 13500 milesdriven per year efficiency 31 miles per kwh best performance tesla motors nasdaq tsla model rated calculations author according insideevs opens new window 116099 evs sold us 2015 already beyond first figure already 175 millioncars light trucks sold 2015 theres lot room growth decade possible 10 million evs sold annually thats case us electricity demand would grow least 12 year remember im using bestcase scenario miles per kwh demand growth would probably closer 2 annually effect ev sales year cumulative 50 million sales figure shows big impact could time cascading effect electricity demand growth evs could significant us 435 million mwh new energy production needed service 10 million evs could boon energy suppliers renewable energy assume solar wind plants generate energy 25 time 20 gw new capacity need built meet new demand year 2015 159 gw wind solar installed us replacing forms energy production ev demand could additive figure evs also ability respond market signals easily energy devices could helpful grid charger utility could lower charging peak hours day move charging time lowdemand evening hours solar energy floods market supply parts california evs could charged day way evs actually add flexibility grid us electricity market real funk right driven fact electricity demand hasnt grown decade evs could change big way could helpful everyone local utility solar developers building projects middle deserts arizona secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window travis hoium opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends tesla motors motley fool owns shares nrg energy try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>Anyone paying higher education expenses might want to study his or her tax return. The 1040 and 1040A contain a valuable lesson on how to write off up to $4,000 of college costs without having to itemize.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The tuition-and-fees deduction's immediate attraction is that it doesn't require you to itemize your expenses on Schedule A. It's one of the income adjustments, also commonly called above-the-line deductions, found directly on the first page of tax return <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/forms/tax-form-1040.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Form 1040 Opens a New Window.</a> and <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/forms/tax-form-1040-a.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Form 1040A Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>In addition to counting qualified education expenses paid for academic periods the previous tax year, you also can claim eligible expenses you paid last year to cover school sessions that begin during the first three months of this tax year. For example, if you paid $1,500 last December for course work that begins March 1, that prepayment can count in figuring your current deduction amount.</p> <p>This tax break can be claimed on 2013 returns, but unless Congress renews it, it's no longer in effect for the 2014 tax year or beyond.</p> <p>Applies only to specific expenses</p> <p>The deduction, however, is not without limits.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Note the name. Only payments for tuition and fees count. No room, board or, in most cases, book costs are eligible.</p> <p>Also, be sure your courses pass Internal Revenue Service inspection. In addition to being college-level, they must be for legitimate educational reasons. Sport, hobby or noncredit courses don't qualify unless the class is required as part of a degree program; for example, an archery class necessary to earn your bachelor's in physical education.</p> <p>Did you use other tax-advantaged education funds to pay your schooling costs? Those distributions could reduce, or possibly eliminate, this tuition-and-fees tax deduction. If you used money from a state tuition plan, a Coverdell educational savings account or interest on savings bonds you cashed to pay for class, you have to subtract those amounts from your expenses to arrive at the allowable deductible amount.</p> <p>Some filing-status issues need to be considered. Married couples, for example, must file a joint return to take this deduction.</p> <p>If you're a college student who is claimed as a dependent on your parents' return, be careful when it comes to this tax break. You can't take the deduction yourself even if you paid your tuition with your own money. In this case, neither you nor your parents get the deduction. And even if your parents don't claim you as a dependent, if they can, that possibility alone means you can't take the tuition-and-fees tax break.</p> <p>Money limits</p> <p>Then there are the money limits.</p> <p>The tuition-and-fees deduction could be as much as $4,000. This amount, however, applies to all qualified expenses paid last year, not paid per student.</p> <p>So you can't claim the $4,000 spent toward your MBA course work and another $4,000 you paid for your daughter's freshman year at State U. (However, if your course work is employment-related, you might be able to claim it as a miscellaneous expense on Schedule A. Remember, though, you'll have to meet the 2% of adjusted gross income threshold for the schooling costs to be of any itemized tax benefit.)</p> <p>There also are income limits. Single filers who make less than $65,000 or married joint filers earning less than $130,000 can take the full four-grand deduction. If you make more than those amounts, but less than $80,000 as a single filer or $160,000 when married filing jointly, you can deduct up to $2,000 in tuition and fees.</p> <p>Earn more than the top limits for your filing status, and you're out of tax deduction luck.</p> <p>Only one tax break per filer</p> <p>The IRS also frowns on double dipping in the tax-break pool. You can't claim the tuition-and-fees deduction if you also take the lifetime learning credit or the American opportunity credit for the same student in the same tax year.</p> <p>In addition, in deciding which tax break to use, make sure you choose the optimal one if you qualify for several education-assistance options. You might be tempted to go for the tuition-and-fees deduction. After all, it's worth $4,000 and relatively easy to claim.</p> <p>The credit amounts, meanwhile, are less: a maximum of $2,000 for the lifetime learning and $2,500 for the American opportunity credits. Those figures mean the larger tuition-and-fees deduction is the way to go, right?</p> <p>Not so fast. You're comparing an apple (a tax deduction) to oranges (tax credits).</p> <p>A tax deduction reduces your taxable income, while a credit reduces your actual tax bill. In almost every instance, a credit is preferable.</p> <p>For a quick comparison of the educational tax breaks, multiply your deductible schooling costs by your tax rate to see how it matches up with the credits. For example, a $4,000 deduction for a taxpayer in the 25% tax bracket comes to an actual tax break of only $1,000.</p> <p>So, if you have a choice of how to take your education tax break, run the numbers both ways to make sure you take the one that saves you more.</p> <p>Additional tax-filing homework</p> <p>While the tuition-and-fees deduction is available for taxpayers who don't itemize their expenses, there is a bit more paperwork involved in taking this deduction.</p> <p>If you claim this education expenses deduction, either on Form 1040 or Form 1040A, you must now fill out <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/forms/tax-form-8917.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Form 8917 Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Once you complete Form 8917 and transfer the appropriate amount to your 1040 or 1040A, be sure to send the form along with your final tax return.</p> <p>In addition to the information found in the Form 8917 instructions (which are part of the downloadable form itself), you can learn more about the tuition-and-fees deduction and other education tax breaks in <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/forms/irs-publication-970.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">IRS Publication 970 Opens a New Window.</a>, Tax Benefits for Education.</p> <p>Copyright 2014, Bankrate Inc.</p>

anyone paying higher education expenses might want study tax return 1040 1040a contain valuable lesson write 4000 college costs without itemize continue reading tuitionandfees deductions immediate attraction doesnt require itemize expenses schedule one income adjustments also commonly called abovetheline deductions found directly first page tax return form 1040 opens new window form 1040a opens new window addition counting qualified education expenses paid academic periods previous tax year also claim eligible expenses paid last year cover school sessions begin first three months tax year example paid 1500 last december course work begins march 1 prepayment count figuring current deduction amount tax break claimed 2013 returns unless congress renews longer effect 2014 tax year beyond applies specific expenses deduction however without limits advertisement note name payments tuition fees count room board cases book costs eligible also sure courses pass internal revenue service inspection addition collegelevel must legitimate educational reasons sport hobby noncredit courses dont qualify unless class required part degree program example archery class necessary earn bachelors physical education use taxadvantaged education funds pay schooling costs distributions could reduce possibly eliminate tuitionandfees tax deduction used money state tuition plan coverdell educational savings account interest savings bonds cashed pay class subtract amounts expenses arrive allowable deductible amount filingstatus issues need considered married couples example must file joint return take deduction youre college student claimed dependent parents return careful comes tax break cant take deduction even paid tuition money case neither parents get deduction even parents dont claim dependent possibility alone means cant take tuitionandfees tax break money limits money limits tuitionandfees deduction could much 4000 amount however applies qualified expenses paid last year paid per student cant claim 4000 spent toward mba course work another 4000 paid daughters freshman year state u however course work employmentrelated might able claim miscellaneous expense schedule remember though youll meet 2 adjusted gross income threshold schooling costs itemized tax benefit also income limits single filers make less 65000 married joint filers earning less 130000 take full fourgrand deduction make amounts less 80000 single filer 160000 married filing jointly deduct 2000 tuition fees earn top limits filing status youre tax deduction luck one tax break per filer irs also frowns double dipping taxbreak pool cant claim tuitionandfees deduction also take lifetime learning credit american opportunity credit student tax year addition deciding tax break use make sure choose optimal one qualify several educationassistance options might tempted go tuitionandfees deduction worth 4000 relatively easy claim credit amounts meanwhile less maximum 2000 lifetime learning 2500 american opportunity credits figures mean larger tuitionandfees deduction way go right fast youre comparing apple tax deduction oranges tax credits tax deduction reduces taxable income credit reduces actual tax bill almost every instance credit preferable quick comparison educational tax breaks multiply deductible schooling costs tax rate see matches credits example 4000 deduction taxpayer 25 tax bracket comes actual tax break 1000 choice take education tax break run numbers ways make sure take one saves additional taxfiling homework tuitionandfees deduction available taxpayers dont itemize expenses bit paperwork involved taking deduction claim education expenses deduction either form 1040 form 1040a must fill form 8917 opens new window complete form 8917 transfer appropriate amount 1040 1040a sure send form along final tax return addition information found form 8917 instructions part downloadable form learn tuitionandfees deduction education tax breaks irs publication 970 opens new window tax benefits education copyright 2014 bankrate inc

<p /> <p>As she was ushered into surgery eight years ago, Paula was confident that doctors at Washington's Howard University Hospital would find the cancer that had been growing in her right breast for months. She was less certain about where she would wake up the next day.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>"I felt scared because of the stories in other states ... It was always in the back of my mind that a doctor, or an immigration officer dressed as a doctor, could take me," said Paula, 60, of the fear that she would be exposed as an undocumented immigrant and deported.</p> <p>Still cancer-free, Paula, who asked to have her last name withheld, waits in the tiny chapel of La Clinica Del Pueblo, a community health clinic in Washington, DC, where she receives routine care.</p> <p>She and other cThe reform requires all U.S. citizens and permanent residents to obtain health insurance, either through the government-run Medicaid program for the poor or by purchasing private insurance via state exchanges starting in 2014.</p> <p>It also bars undocumented immigrants from participating. As more low-income citizens receive insurance, the fear is that many of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants will be easier to identify just because they lack coverage.</p> <p>"It's my 3 a.m. nightmare," said Alicia Wilson, La Clinica's executive director. "While we do not collect information about the immigration status of our patients, the fact that they will be uninsured could be taken as &#8216;code' for also being undocumented."</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Paula is one of thousands of undocumented immigrants who benefit from the DC Health Care Alliance, one of the most generous taxpayer-funded health plans in the country for patients regardless of income or immigration status. Looking out at La Clinica's crowded waiting room, she firmly clasps the card that gives her membership in the program.</p> <p>"This is the card that opens a lot of doors ... This clinic has protected us and it is helping us to get the help we need regardless of the risks," said Paula, who entered the United States from Mexico on foot nearly 10 years ago.</p> <p>In recent years, funding for both the clinic and the healthcare alliance has come under fire from conservative groups who oppose using tax dollars to pay for the care of illegal immigrants, as local governments already struggle with budget cuts in a weak economy.</p> <p>Wilson and other advocates see that opposition gaining momentum once the healthcare law takes effect, particularly in states where anti-immigration sentiment runs high.</p> <p>THE PARADOX OF MIXED STATUS</p> <p>The 4 million U.S.-born children of such immigrants are also vulnerable when policies on immigration and healthcare collide.</p> <p>According to the Urban Institute, nearly 1 in 10 U.S. families with children are of "mixed status," with at least one parent who is undocumented and one child who is a citizen.</p> <p>These children are likely to be eligible for insurance, including the government-sponsored Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). But many remain out of the system because of their parents' dread that the undocumented spouse will be identified and deported, since U.S. immigration authorities, part of the Department of Homeland Security, must verify a child's residency status.</p> <p>"You've got a community that's caught in the nexus, the crossroads of two different laws," said Jennifer Ng'andu, a lawyer and deputy health policy director at the National Council of La Raza - a national Latino civil rights and advocacy group.</p> <p>According to Ng'andu, 8% of children from families where both parents are U.S. citizens don't have insurance, compared with 25% in households where children live with at least one undocumented parent.</p> <p>Robert Rector, a senior researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that making it easier for such families will set an unwelcome precedent that the country cannot afford, even if their children were born within its borders.</p> <p>"These kids are very expensive. They are getting on average $10,000 a year in public education and welfare and other services that their parents are really going to never earn enough to pay for," Rector said. "If you say this child was born in the U.S. and therefore gets to stay and we're not going to do anything about it, you're kind of creating an unlimited open avenue for future illegal immigration."</p> <p>FEAR OF EXPOSURE</p> <p>Elisabeth, 26, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico City, is a single mother with three children, two of them U.S. citizens. Her worry that government authorities might split up her family is present each time she takes them to the doctor.</p> <p>"I have a fear of hospitals, questions about my status and am always worried that the police will intervene, that my children will be taken away from me," she said. "I live in the fear with every document I fill out, that it all goes to immigration."</p> <p>Elisabeth, who also asked for her full name to be withheld, said her own health has been compromised as a result. For two years she suffered in silence as a victim of domestic violence, enduring repeated beatings by her then partner and having her ribs broken while pregnant with her youngest child. The couple has since separated.</p> <p>The healthcare she has received - such as giving birth to her children in the hospital - has been organized by Mary's Center, another community clinic in the Washington area, and through the DC Health Care Alliance.</p> <p>While immigrants do have legal protections that allow them to receive care from hospitals and other providers without endangering their status, even the slightest chance of exposure can be terrifying. In the first half of 2011, 46,486 who claimed to have at least one U.S. citizen child were deported, U.S. Immigration and Customs reported.</p> <p>SPREADING THE RISK</p> <p>Ezekiel Emmanuel, a senior Obama healthcare advisor, acknowledges the concern that the law may expose immigrants.</p> <p>"We were all aware of it," he says. "Is that a negative tradeoff for getting universal coverage? Yes ... It's a visible consequence that we couldn't do anything about given the politics of the situation."</p> <p>As the political debate over healthcare becomes increasingly focused on cutting costs, experts expect more scrutiny on the fate of undocumented immigrants.</p> <p>"We're in a time of fiscal austerity where you have 8% unemployment among predominantly legal citizens and yet you continue to have a system that openly invites illegal immigrants to come and stay," says the Heritage Foundation's Rector. "The first solution to the healthcare costs is to enforce the law (barring employment to illegal immigrants)."</p> <p>Some health policy experts disagree, saying U.S. citizens would benefit even more if the health law included undocumented immigrants within its requirements.</p> <p>Even when immigrants have insurance, their health costs amount to only half or two-thirds of the expenditures seen with U.S.-born citizens, according to a 2009 study by Leighton Ku, director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University.</p> <p>"Many people think immigrants are overusing and overtaking emergency rooms, yet all the data shows they use emergency rooms less than citizens. They use everything less than citizens," he said.</p> <p>Broadening the pool of insured people to include those who use less health care means a larger population can help shoulder the costs of sicker Americans. State health insurance exchanges, which will allow individuals to buy subsidized health plans starting in 2014, exclude illegal immigrants, leaving out millions of young, healthy people who could otherwise spread the risk.</p> <p>Health insurers are seeking a way around the problem, according to a senior official at one of the largest U.S. insurance companies.</p> <p>"Here you've got a law which says everybody has to have coverage, but you have classes of people without access to coverage," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "Washington makes it very difficult for us to do the right thing.</p> <p>"Obviously, we're capitalistic and we want to make money, but at the same time we want the health system to work better, and the health system works better when people have access to coverage."</p> <p>An estimated 600,000 undocumented workers have private insurance plans through employer-sponsored programs. But they may lose out if their employers can't manage those same plans within the state health insurance exchanges, or if premiums rise. The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles, which provides affordable health coverage to 75,000 undocumented restaurant workers, is trying to figure that out.</p> <p>"It's not merely that they are not eligible for the subsidies, but that they cannot even get a policy from the health insurance exchanges even if they wanted to pay the full cost themselves," Ku said. "If you're an undocumented alien, we still let you go to the store and buy cereal or go to a car dealer and buy a car."</p>

ushered surgery eight years ago paula confident doctors washingtons howard university hospital would find cancer growing right breast months less certain would wake next day continue reading felt scared stories states always back mind doctor immigration officer dressed doctor could take said paula 60 fear would exposed undocumented immigrant deported still cancerfree paula asked last name withheld waits tiny chapel la clinica del pueblo community health clinic washington dc receives routine care cthe reform requires us citizens permanent residents obtain health insurance either governmentrun medicaid program poor purchasing private insurance via state exchanges starting 2014 also bars undocumented immigrants participating lowincome citizens receive insurance fear many estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants easier identify lack coverage 3 nightmare said alicia wilson la clinicas executive director collect information immigration status patients fact uninsured could taken code also undocumented advertisement paula one thousands undocumented immigrants benefit dc health care alliance one generous taxpayerfunded health plans country patients regardless income immigration status looking la clinicas crowded waiting room firmly clasps card gives membership program card opens lot doors clinic protected us helping us get help need regardless risks said paula entered united states mexico foot nearly 10 years ago recent years funding clinic healthcare alliance come fire conservative groups oppose using tax dollars pay care illegal immigrants local governments already struggle budget cuts weak economy wilson advocates see opposition gaining momentum healthcare law takes effect particularly states antiimmigration sentiment runs high paradox mixed status 4 million usborn children immigrants also vulnerable policies immigration healthcare collide according urban institute nearly 1 10 us families children mixed status least one parent undocumented one child citizen children likely eligible insurance including governmentsponsored childrens health insurance program chip many remain system parents dread undocumented spouse identified deported since us immigration authorities part department homeland security must verify childs residency status youve got community thats caught nexus crossroads two different laws said jennifer ngandu lawyer deputy health policy director national council la raza national latino civil rights advocacy group according ngandu 8 children families parents us citizens dont insurance compared 25 households children live least one undocumented parent robert rector senior researcher conservative heritage foundation said making easier families set unwelcome precedent country afford even children born within borders kids expensive getting average 10000 year public education welfare services parents really going never earn enough pay rector said say child born us therefore gets stay going anything youre kind creating unlimited open avenue future illegal immigration fear exposure elisabeth 26 undocumented immigrant mexico city single mother three children two us citizens worry government authorities might split family present time takes doctor fear hospitals questions status always worried police intervene children taken away said live fear every document fill goes immigration elisabeth also asked full name withheld said health compromised result two years suffered silence victim domestic violence enduring repeated beatings partner ribs broken pregnant youngest child couple since separated healthcare received giving birth children hospital organized marys center another community clinic washington area dc health care alliance immigrants legal protections allow receive care hospitals providers without endangering status even slightest chance exposure terrifying first half 2011 46486 claimed least one us citizen child deported us immigration customs reported spreading risk ezekiel emmanuel senior obama healthcare advisor acknowledges concern law may expose immigrants aware says negative tradeoff getting universal coverage yes visible consequence couldnt anything given politics situation political debate healthcare becomes increasingly focused cutting costs experts expect scrutiny fate undocumented immigrants time fiscal austerity 8 unemployment among predominantly legal citizens yet continue system openly invites illegal immigrants come stay says heritage foundations rector first solution healthcare costs enforce law barring employment illegal immigrants health policy experts disagree saying us citizens would benefit even health law included undocumented immigrants within requirements even immigrants insurance health costs amount half twothirds expenditures seen usborn citizens according 2009 study leighton ku director center health policy research george washington university many people think immigrants overusing overtaking emergency rooms yet data shows use emergency rooms less citizens use everything less citizens said broadening pool insured people include use less health care means larger population help shoulder costs sicker americans state health insurance exchanges allow individuals buy subsidized health plans starting 2014 exclude illegal immigrants leaving millions young healthy people could otherwise spread risk health insurers seeking way around problem according senior official one largest us insurance companies youve got law says everybody coverage classes people without access coverage official told reuters condition anonymity washington makes difficult us right thing obviously capitalistic want make money time want health system work better health system works better people access coverage estimated 600000 undocumented workers private insurance plans employersponsored programs may lose employers cant manage plans within state health insurance exchanges premiums rise restaurant opportunities center los angeles provides affordable health coverage 75000 undocumented restaurant workers trying figure merely eligible subsidies even get policy health insurance exchanges even wanted pay full cost ku said youre undocumented alien still let go store buy cereal go car dealer buy car

<p /> <p>The year now ending could well be characterized as one in which a whole lot happened -- but not a lot got done.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>One need look no further than U.S. stock market for proof of this assertion. Despite 12 months of wild gyrations, the S&amp;amp;P 500, one of the broadest and most widely-watched indexes used to gauge the health of publicly traded U.S. companies, is essentially unchanged for the year.</p> <p>Stocks rose early in 2011 on optimism for a strengthening economic recovery in the U.S., only to plunge in the second half as that recovery stalled. Frustrations with political dysfunction in the U.S. and fear of an economic meltdown in Europe contributed to the downturn. In the end, markets finished the year almost precisely where they began.</p> <p>U.S. labor markets also hardly budged: economists are predicting the December unemployment rate will likely hold steady at around 8.6%, down from the 9% rate at the start of 2011.</p> <p>It&#8217;s been that kind of year.</p> <p>For investors, 2011 began much as it ended, with eyes focused warily on events overseas.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>In late January protesters began amassing in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, demanding the resignation of long-time President Hosni Mubarek, who stepped down on Feb. 11. Tahrir Square became the epicenter of sorts for pro-democracy uprisings across the <a href="" type="internal">Middle East</a>, soon dubbed the &#8220; <a href="" type="internal">Arab Spring</a>,&#8221; which saw authoritarian governments overturned in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.</p> <p>The upheavals briefly pushed the price of oil higher on fears that worldwide distribution would be impacted, but those fears were mostly unfounded. In Egypt, Mubarek was quickly replaced by military leaders and democratic reform remains a long way off. The same is true in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi&#8217;s four decades of oppressive rule ended with his violent death in October.</p> <p>The entire world&#8217;s focus turned to Japan on March 11 when an offshore earthquake caused a tsunami that crashed ashore Japan&#8217;s northeastern coast, killing an estimated 20,000 people and causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damages to homes and businesses. A nuclear plant took a direct hit from the 20-foot high wall of water, raising fears of an environmental disaster on a scale of the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown in the Soviet Union.</p> <p>The widespread devastation severely disrupted manufacturing distribution channels, notably for Japan&#8217;s powerful automotive sector, an impediment that put an additional strain on an already-stumbling U.S. recovery. For months, the U.S. <a href="" type="internal">Federal Reserve</a> cited the Japanese natural disaster as one of a handful of temporary causes for rising global commodity prices.</p> <p>The dysfunction in Congress that would come to epitomize 2011 in Washington, D.C., picked up steam in April, when a battle over a spending bill threatened to shut down the federal government. Republicans had taken control of the House of Representatives during the 2010 mid-term elections and, emboldened by the popularity of the tea party movement, fought for steep spending cuts. Democrats opposed cuts to education and popular entitlement programs such as Medicare and <a href="" type="internal">Social Security</a>. Following a weeks-long standoff, a last-minute compromise kept government offices open.</p> <p>The April squabble served as a template for three more Congressional standoffs over fiscal policy related to taxing and spending.</p> <p>The second began shortly after the first ended. The summer of 2011 was consumed by the debate over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, normally a formality. Many Republicans opposed in principle the idea of borrowing more money to pay off the already-staggering U.S. debt load. The Obama administration said the U.S. would lose standing around the world if the debt ceiling wasn&#8217;t raised and the U.S. was forced to default on some of its debts.</p> <p>Another last minute compromise staved off defaults, but the damage inflicted by months of political bickering was already done. On Aug. 6, a few days after the debt ceiling compromise was reached, ratings firm Standard &amp;amp; Poor&#8217;s downgraded the U.S. credit rating. The unprecedented move rocked financial markets for weeks.</p> <p>Standard &amp;amp; Poor&#8217;s specifically cited the dysfunction in Washington for its historic decision to cut the U.S. rating to a notch below the coveted triple-A status. S&amp;amp;P asserted in a statement announcing the downgrade that &#8220;the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges &#8230;&#8221;</p> <p>One of the big stock stories of the year came courtesy of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), the mail order and online movie company whose stock was the biggest gainer of 2010. That was not the case in 2011. In July the company raised its prices by 60%. Then, amid cries of outrage from its customers, the company in September inexplicably decided to split its business into two units: mail order and online. Droves of once loyal members fled, <a href="" type="internal">Wall Street</a> analysts grew skeptical, lambasting CEO Reed Hastings, and Netflix&#8217; stock plunged. From a high of $304 in July, just before the pricing debacle, the stock has fallen 77% to $69.</p> <p>On Sept. 17 hundreds of people, mostly college-aged or in their 20s, gathered near Wall Street in Lower Manhattan to protest what they decried as corporate greed and an uneven playing field. After setting up an encampment in Zuccotti Park, a block from Wall Street, the group dubbed itself Occupy Wall Street and a movement was born. Over the next two months, similar groups established themselves around the country and the movement seemed to be gaining momentum in a fashion similar to the tea party a few years earlier. On Nov. 15, New York police swept the group from its de facto headquarters in Zuccotti Park, leaving its future as a mass movement in doubt.</p> <p>Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs died on Oct. 5 at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Comparisons to Thomas Edison were just one element of a wave of tributes to the man who, according to the lore that surrounded him, almost single-handedly changed the way people use computers, talk on telephones, listen to music and watch movies. He was indisputably a visionary and one of the most effective salesmen and CEOs in the history of corporate America. Steve Jobs was Apple and Apple was Steve Jobs.</p> <p>The long-running European debt crisis, which had been roiling global markets for the better part of two years, came to a head in late October. With Greece on the verge of default, European fiscal leaders put together a rescue package contingent on approval of austerity measures by Greece. Within days the focus had shifted to Italy, a much larger economy than Greece, and then Spain. Concerns then arose that the contagion could spread to Austria and France, and the future of the 12-year-old, single currency eurozone appeared in doubt.</p> <p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a voice of authority as leader of the healthiest economy in Europe, has pushed for austerity in lieu of more government bailouts, one larger than the next. Her position seemed to be gaining traction as 2011 came to a close, but the crisis is far from over.</p> <p>As part of the last-minute compromise to settle the debt limit battle in August, Congress created a so-called Super Committee to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. The 12-member group comprised of Republicans and Democrats from the House and the Senate had until Thanksgiving to agree on a plan. A loud and acrimonious standoff ensued, the third such quarrel over U.S. tax and spending policy this year. To almost no one&#8217;s surprise, by its Thanksgiving deadline the committee was forced to acknowledge its abject failure.</p> <p>The year in Washington ended with a fourth Congressional standoff, this time over a payroll tax extension. As with each of the previous three, this one ended with a last-minute compromise &#8211; a two-month extension of the tax holiday in this case -- but not before a string of dueling press conferences, replete with finger pointing and casting of blame.</p> <p>Much like unsettled Europe and the U.S. stock and labor markets, still volatile and weak, respectively, Congress ended 2011 much as it began.</p>

year ending could well characterized one whole lot happened lot got done continue reading one need look us stock market proof assertion despite 12 months wild gyrations sampp 500 one broadest widelywatched indexes used gauge health publicly traded us companies essentially unchanged year stocks rose early 2011 optimism strengthening economic recovery us plunge second half recovery stalled frustrations political dysfunction us fear economic meltdown europe contributed downturn end markets finished year almost precisely began us labor markets also hardly budged economists predicting december unemployment rate likely hold steady around 86 9 rate start 2011 kind year investors 2011 began much ended eyes focused warily events overseas advertisement late january protesters began amassing tahrir square cairo egypt demanding resignation longtime president hosni mubarek stepped feb 11 tahrir square became epicenter sorts prodemocracy uprisings across middle east soon dubbed arab spring saw authoritarian governments overturned tunisia egypt libya upheavals briefly pushed price oil higher fears worldwide distribution would impacted fears mostly unfounded egypt mubarek quickly replaced military leaders democratic reform remains long way true libya muammar gaddafis four decades oppressive rule ended violent death october entire worlds focus turned japan march 11 offshore earthquake caused tsunami crashed ashore japans northeastern coast killing estimated 20000 people causing hundreds billions dollars damages homes businesses nuclear plant took direct hit 20foot high wall water raising fears environmental disaster scale 1986 chernobyl meltdown soviet union widespread devastation severely disrupted manufacturing distribution channels notably japans powerful automotive sector impediment put additional strain alreadystumbling us recovery months us federal reserve cited japanese natural disaster one handful temporary causes rising global commodity prices dysfunction congress would come epitomize 2011 washington dc picked steam april battle spending bill threatened shut federal government republicans taken control house representatives 2010 midterm elections emboldened popularity tea party movement fought steep spending cuts democrats opposed cuts education popular entitlement programs medicare social security following weekslong standoff lastminute compromise kept government offices open april squabble served template three congressional standoffs fiscal policy related taxing spending second began shortly first ended summer 2011 consumed debate raising us debt ceiling normally formality many republicans opposed principle idea borrowing money pay alreadystaggering us debt load obama administration said us would lose standing around world debt ceiling wasnt raised us forced default debts another last minute compromise staved defaults damage inflicted months political bickering already done aug 6 days debt ceiling compromise reached ratings firm standard amp poors downgraded us credit rating unprecedented move rocked financial markets weeks standard amp poors specifically cited dysfunction washington historic decision cut us rating notch coveted triplea status sampp asserted statement announcing downgrade effectiveness stability predictability american policymaking political institutions weakened time ongoing fiscal economic challenges one big stock stories year came courtesy netflix nasdaqnflx mail order online movie company whose stock biggest gainer 2010 case 2011 july company raised prices 60 amid cries outrage customers company september inexplicably decided split business two units mail order online droves loyal members fled wall street analysts grew skeptical lambasting ceo reed hastings netflix stock plunged high 304 july pricing debacle stock fallen 77 69 sept 17 hundreds people mostly collegeaged 20s gathered near wall street lower manhattan protest decried corporate greed uneven playing field setting encampment zuccotti park block wall street group dubbed occupy wall street movement born next two months similar groups established around country movement seemed gaining momentum fashion similar tea party years earlier nov 15 new york police swept group de facto headquarters zuccotti park leaving future mass movement doubt apple nasdaqaapl cofounder steve jobs died oct 5 age 56 long battle pancreatic cancer comparisons thomas edison one element wave tributes man according lore surrounded almost singlehandedly changed way people use computers talk telephones listen music watch movies indisputably visionary one effective salesmen ceos history corporate america steve jobs apple apple steve jobs longrunning european debt crisis roiling global markets better part two years came head late october greece verge default european fiscal leaders put together rescue package contingent approval austerity measures greece within days focus shifted italy much larger economy greece spain concerns arose contagion could spread austria france future 12yearold single currency eurozone appeared doubt german chancellor angela merkel voice authority leader healthiest economy europe pushed austerity lieu government bailouts one larger next position seemed gaining traction 2011 came close crisis far part lastminute compromise settle debt limit battle august congress created socalled super committee cut 12 trillion deficit next decade 12member group comprised republicans democrats house senate thanksgiving agree plan loud acrimonious standoff ensued third quarrel us tax spending policy year almost ones surprise thanksgiving deadline committee forced acknowledge abject failure year washington ended fourth congressional standoff time payroll tax extension previous three one ended lastminute compromise twomonth extension tax holiday case string dueling press conferences replete finger pointing casting blame much like unsettled europe us stock labor markets still volatile weak respectively congress ended 2011 much began

<p /> <p>Charge 2. Image source: Fitbit.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The fourth quarter remains an open question for Fitbit (NYSE: FIT). Fitbit's <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/03/breaking-down-fitbit-incs-awful-guidance.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">guidance Opens a New Window.</a> for the holiday shopping season left quite a bit to be desired. Channel inventories could also potentially be a bit high, which would <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/12/22/1-bad-sign-at-fitbit-inc.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">affect first-quarter results Opens a New Window.</a> if retailers don't need to restock all that much.</p> <p>Given an environment of pessimism, a little bit of good news could go a long way. Shares jumped by a solid 7% yesterday on hopes that Fitbit devices proved to be popular gifts over the Christmas weekend. <a href="http://www.recode.net/2016/12/25/14079362/fitbit-tops-christmas-ios-apps" type="external">Recode Opens a New Window.</a> reported on Christmas day that Fitbit's free app had soared to the top of the App Store charts, potentially suggesting that its products fared particularly well. Recode's Ina Fried noted that the other top apps had nothing to do with physical gifts.</p> <p>Fitbit's app falls to No. 6. Image source: App Store screenshot.</p> <p>Of course, the charts fluctuate quite a bit, and as of this writing, Fitbit's ranking has fallen to No. 6. While not really a meaningful metric, for what it's worth the number of reviews has tripled. Directionally, those are good signs, even if they lack specificity.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The optimism was short lived, however, as shares gave back much of those gains today. While there's no obvious company-specific news to explain the decline, CFRA Research (which recently acquired S&amp;amp;P Global Market Intelligence's research division) analyst Scott Kessler released a research note yesterday during market hours (via <a href="http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2016/12/27/fitbit-wasnt-a-winner-in-amazons-holiday-press-release-notes-cfra/" type="external">Tech Trader Daily Opens a New Window.</a>) that threw some cold water on the hopes.</p> <p>While acknowledging the seemingly bullish evidence, Kessler also points out that Fitbit failed to make Amazon.com's holiday best-seller list. The e-commerce giant put out a press release yesterday to brag about how well it did over the holidays, noting that it shipped over 1 billion items through Prime and <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/10/26/ever-wonder-how-amazoncom-pays-for-all-that-free-p.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">FBA Opens a New Window.</a>. The company noted the top sellers within a wide range of categories, and for wearable technology Garmin earned several mentions with its Vivofit activity tracker and Vivoactive GPS-enabled smartwatch.</p> <p>Fitbit certainly has many distribution partners, but it's safe to say that the e-commerce giant is a global destination for gift shopping; Fitbit's absence doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, despite a surge in App Store rankings. Three (unnamed) retailers accounted for 37% of revenue last quarter, according to Fitbit's most recent 10-Q.</p> <p>Investors have a little bit of good news alongside a little bit of bad news. The conflicting data points are both somewhat anecdotal, so investors shouldn't put too much weight on either of them. The good news is that within a couple of months, investors will get some useful data points regarding the user base. Fitbit discloses active users in its annual reports, so seeing how this number changes will be quite important, even if the company downplays the importance of the metrics. (In its filings, Fitbit says, "We believe that the active user and registered device user metrics are indicators of the potential size of our community, but currently we do not believe that these have a direct effect on our revenue and operating results."</p> <p>Shortly after its IPO last year, I noted <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/24/1-red-flag-that-fitbit-inc-investors-cant-ignore.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a big (and growing) gap Opens a New Window.</a> between active users and registered users, suggesting that a lot of Fitbit devices go unused shortly after purchase. For reference, here's how the two figures have compared over the past three years, and active users have unquestionably surged.</p> <p>Data source: 2015 10-K.</p> <p>The 2015 10-K, which was filed in late February of 2016, was Fitbit's first annual report as a public company, so presumably the company will file its 2016 10-K around late February in 2017. Getting in better shape is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions, which naturally plays into Fitbit's strengths. Sadly, it's also incredibly common for people to give up on that goal within a matter of months (usually around February). This drop off won't be captured in the 10-K, since the filing will be dated as of the end of December 2016.</p> <p>Either way, Fitbit's fourth-quarter release can't come soon enough.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Fitbit When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=ee7fba77-baed-482f-a1fa-70fe4af5070d&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Fitbit wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=ee7fba77-baed-482f-a1fa-70fe4af5070d&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewCow/info.aspx" type="external">Evan Niu, CFA Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com and Fitbit. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

charge 2 image source fitbit continue reading fourth quarter remains open question fitbit nyse fit fitbits guidance opens new window holiday shopping season left quite bit desired channel inventories could also potentially bit high would affect firstquarter results opens new window retailers dont need restock much given environment pessimism little bit good news could go long way shares jumped solid 7 yesterday hopes fitbit devices proved popular gifts christmas weekend recode opens new window reported christmas day fitbits free app soared top app store charts potentially suggesting products fared particularly well recodes ina fried noted top apps nothing physical gifts fitbits app falls 6 image source app store screenshot course charts fluctuate quite bit writing fitbits ranking fallen 6 really meaningful metric worth number reviews tripled directionally good signs even lack specificity advertisement optimism short lived however shares gave back much gains today theres obvious companyspecific news explain decline cfra research recently acquired sampp global market intelligences research division analyst scott kessler released research note yesterday market hours via tech trader daily opens new window threw cold water hopes acknowledging seemingly bullish evidence kessler also points fitbit failed make amazoncoms holiday bestseller list ecommerce giant put press release yesterday brag well holidays noting shipped 1 billion items prime fba opens new window company noted top sellers within wide range categories wearable technology garmin earned several mentions vivofit activity tracker vivoactive gpsenabled smartwatch fitbit certainly many distribution partners safe say ecommerce giant global destination gift shopping fitbits absence doesnt inspire lot confidence despite surge app store rankings three unnamed retailers accounted 37 revenue last quarter according fitbits recent 10q investors little bit good news alongside little bit bad news conflicting data points somewhat anecdotal investors shouldnt put much weight either good news within couple months investors get useful data points regarding user base fitbit discloses active users annual reports seeing number changes quite important even company downplays importance metrics filings fitbit says believe active user registered device user metrics indicators potential size community currently believe direct effect revenue operating results shortly ipo last year noted big growing gap opens new window active users registered users suggesting lot fitbit devices go unused shortly purchase reference heres two figures compared past three years active users unquestionably surged data source 2015 10k 2015 10k filed late february 2016 fitbits first annual report public company presumably company file 2016 10k around late february 2017 getting better shape one popular new years resolutions naturally plays fitbits strengths sadly also incredibly common people give goal within matter months usually around february drop wont captured 10k since filing dated end december 2016 either way fitbits fourthquarter release cant come soon enough 10 stocks like better fitbit investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right fitbit wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns nov 7 2016 evan niu cfa opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends amazoncom fitbit try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>After much buildup and posturing, the Obama administration has officially unveiled its plan to "punish" Russia for its "pattern of harassment of our diplomats overseas" and "interference in the U.S. election" &#8212; or ,to be more precise, probably helping Donald Trump get elected. If you were expecting crippling sanctions or global humiliation that would finally bring Russia in check, however, you might be disappointed.</p> <p>Here is the statement released by the State Department on Thursday:</p> <p>Statement <a href="https://twitter.com/StateDept" type="external">@StateDept</a> on response to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Russia?src=hash" type="external">#Russia</a> harassment. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VOAalert?src=hash" type="external">#VOAalert</a> <a href="https://t.co/eYvwoJNn6H" type="external">pic.twitter.com/eYvwoJNn6H</a></p> <p>In short, the U.S. is expelling 35 Russian diplomats &#8212; for "acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic or consular status" &#8212; and shutting down two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland.</p> <p>"By imposing costs on the Russian diplomats in the United States, by denying them access to the two facilities, we hope the Russian government reevaluates its own actions, which have impeded the ability and safety of our own embassy personnel in Russia," the statement concludes.</p> <p>The U.S. Treasury Department has also issued its retaliatory measures: <a href="https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20161229.aspx" type="external">sanctions on five Russian entities and four individuals</a> (details below).</p> <p>The Obama administration is accusing the Russians of having hacked into U.S. political institutions, including the Democratic National Committee, and launching an online campaign in order to damage the Democratic party, particularly its presidential candidate. On Friday, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security released <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/312132-fbi-dhs-release-report-on-russia-hacking" type="external">a report</a> detailing their findings on Russian hacking operations.</p> <p>Trump has largely dismissed the claims, portraying the administration's accusations as politically motivated and an attempt to redirect blame for Clinton's loss and delegitimize Trump's presidency.</p> <p>Whether or not the administration's response today will "send a clear message" to Russia remains to be seen, but most expect the relationship between the Trump administration and that of Putin to be far more friendly &#8212; for better or worse &#8212; than the complete meltdown that has occurred between the Kremlin and the Obama administration over the last year.</p> <p>Here is the complete <a href="https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20161229.aspx" type="external">list of amended sanctions</a> announced Thursday by the Treasury Department, which targets six individuals, two government agencies and three companies that helped provide material support to the government:</p> <p>ALEXSEYEV, Vladimir Stepanovich; DOB 24 Apr 1961; Passport 100115154 (Russia); First Deputy Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE). BELAN, Aleksey Alekseyevich (a.k.a. Abyr Valgov; a.k.a. BELAN, Aleksei; a.k.a. BELAN, Aleksey Alexseyevich; a.k.a. BELAN, Alexsei; a.k.a. BELAN, Alexsey; a.k.a. "Abyrvaig"; a.k.a. "Abyrvalg"; a.k.a. "Anthony Anthony"; a.k.a. "Fedyunya"; a.k.a. "M4G"; a.k.a. "Mag"; a.k.a. "Mage"; a.k.a. "Magg"; a.k.a. "Moy.Yawik"; a.k.a. "Mrmagister"), 21 Karyakina St., Apartment 205, Krasnodar, Russia; DOB 27 Jun 1987; POB Riga, Latvia; nationality Latvia; Passport RU0313455106 (Russia); alt. Passport 0307609477 (Russia) (individual) [CYBER2]. BOGACHEV, Evgeniy Mikhaylovich (a.k.a. BOGACHEV, Evgeniy Mikhailovich; a.k.a. "Lastik"; a.k.a. "lucky12345"; a.k.a. "Monstr"; a.k.a. "Pollingsoon"; a.k.a. "Slavik"), Lermontova Str., 120-101, Anapa, Russia; DOB 28 Oct 1983 (individual) [CYBER2]. GIZUNOV, Sergey (a.k.a. GIZUNOV, Sergey Aleksandrovich); DOB 18 Oct 1956; Passport 4501712967 (Russia); Deputy Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE). KOROBOV, Igor (a.k.a. KOROBOV, Igor Valentinovich); DOB 03 Aug 1956; nationality Russia; Passport 100119726 (Russia); alt. Passport 100115101 (Russia); Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE). KOSTYUKOV, Igor (a.k.a. KOSTYUKOV, Igor Olegovich); DOB 21 Feb 1961; Passport 100130896 (Russia); alt. Passport 100132253 (Russia); First Deputy Chief of GRU (individual) [CYBER2] (Linked To: MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE). The following entities have been added to OFAC's SDN List: AUTONOMOUS NONCOMMERCIAL ORGANIZATION PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DESIGNERS OF DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS (a.k.a. ANO PO KSI), Prospekt Mira D 68, Str 1A, Moscow 129110, Russia; Dom 3, Lazurnaya Ulitsa, Solnechnogorskiy Raion, Andreyevka, Moscow Region 141551, Russia; Registration ID 1027739734098 (Russia); Tax ID No. 7702285945 (Russia) [CYBER2]. FEDERAL SECURITY SERVICE (a.k.a. FEDERALNAYA SLUZHBA BEZOPASNOSTI; a.k.a. FSB), Ulitsa Kuznetskiy Most, Dom 22, Moscow 107031, Russia; Lubyanskaya Ploschad, Dom 2, Moscow 107031, Russia [CYBER2]. MAIN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE (a.k.a. GLAVNOE RAZVEDYVATEL'NOE UPRAVLENIE (Cyrillic: &#1043;&#1051;&#1040;&#1042;&#1053;&#1054;&#1045; &#1056;&#1040;&#1047;&#1042;&#1045;&#1044;&#1067;&#1042;&#1040;&#1058;&#1045;&#1051;&#1068;&#1053;&#1054;&#1045; &#1059;&#1055;&#1056;&#1040;&#1042;&#1051;&#1045;&#1053;&#1048;&#1045;); a.k.a. GRU; a.k.a. MAIN INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT), Khoroshevskoye Shosse 76, Khodinka, Moscow, Russia; Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Frunzenskaya nab., 22/2, Moscow 119160, Russia [CYBER2]. SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY CENTER (a.k.a. STC, LTD), Gzhatskaya 21 k2, St. Petersburg, Russia; 21-2 Gzhatskaya Street, St. Petersburg, Russia; Website stc-spb.ru; Email Address [email protected]; Tax ID No. 7802170553 (Russia) [CYBER2]. ZORSECURITY (f.k.a. ESAGE LAB; a.k.a. TSOR SECURITY), Luzhnetskaya Embankment 2/4, Building 17, Office 444, Moscow 119270, Russia; Registration ID 1127746601817 (Russia); Tax ID No. 7704813260 (Russia); alt. Tax ID No. 7704010041 (Russia) [CYBER2].</p> <p>This article has been updated to include details on the amended sanctions and the joint FBI/DHS report.</p>

much buildup posturing obama administration officially unveiled plan punish russia pattern harassment diplomats overseas interference us election precise probably helping donald trump get elected expecting crippling sanctions global humiliation would finally bring russia check however might disappointed statement released state department thursday statement statedept response russia harassment voaalert pictwittercomeyvwojnn6h short us expelling 35 russian diplomats acting manner inconsistent diplomatic consular status shutting two russian compounds new york maryland imposing costs russian diplomats united states denying access two facilities hope russian government reevaluates actions impeded ability safety embassy personnel russia statement concludes us treasury department also issued retaliatory measures sanctions five russian entities four individuals details obama administration accusing russians hacked us political institutions including democratic national committee launching online campaign order damage democratic party particularly presidential candidate friday fbi department homeland security released report detailing findings russian hacking operations trump largely dismissed claims portraying administrations accusations politically motivated attempt redirect blame clintons loss delegitimize trumps presidency whether administrations response today send clear message russia remains seen expect relationship trump administration putin far friendly better worse complete meltdown occurred kremlin obama administration last year complete list amended sanctions announced thursday treasury department targets six individuals two government agencies three companies helped provide material support government alexseyev vladimir stepanovich dob 24 apr 1961 passport 100115154 russia first deputy chief gru individual cyber2 linked main intelligence directorate belan aleksey alekseyevich aka abyr valgov aka belan aleksei aka belan aleksey alexseyevich aka belan alexsei aka belan alexsey aka abyrvaig aka abyrvalg aka anthony anthony aka fedyunya aka m4g aka mag aka mage aka magg aka moyyawik aka mrmagister 21 karyakina st apartment 205 krasnodar russia dob 27 jun 1987 pob riga latvia nationality latvia passport ru0313455106 russia alt passport 0307609477 russia individual cyber2 bogachev evgeniy mikhaylovich aka bogachev evgeniy mikhailovich aka lastik aka lucky12345 aka monstr aka pollingsoon aka slavik lermontova str 120101 anapa russia dob 28 oct 1983 individual cyber2 gizunov sergey aka gizunov sergey aleksandrovich dob 18 oct 1956 passport 4501712967 russia deputy chief gru individual cyber2 linked main intelligence directorate korobov igor aka korobov igor valentinovich dob 03 aug 1956 nationality russia passport 100119726 russia alt passport 100115101 russia chief gru individual cyber2 linked main intelligence directorate kostyukov igor aka kostyukov igor olegovich dob 21 feb 1961 passport 100130896 russia alt passport 100132253 russia first deputy chief gru individual cyber2 linked main intelligence directorate following entities added ofacs sdn list autonomous noncommercial organization professional association designers data processing systems aka ano po ksi prospekt mira 68 str 1a moscow 129110 russia dom 3 lazurnaya ulitsa solnechnogorskiy raion andreyevka moscow region 141551 russia registration id 1027739734098 russia tax id 7702285945 russia cyber2 federal security service aka federalnaya sluzhba bezopasnosti aka fsb ulitsa kuznetskiy dom 22 moscow 107031 russia lubyanskaya ploschad dom 2 moscow 107031 russia cyber2 main intelligence directorate aka glavnoe razvedyvatelnoe upravlenie cyrillic ГЛАВНОЕ РАЗВЕДЫВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УПРАВЛЕНИЕ aka gru aka main intelligence department khoroshevskoye shosse 76 khodinka moscow russia ministry defence russian federation frunzenskaya nab 222 moscow 119160 russia cyber2 special technology center aka stc ltd gzhatskaya 21 k2 st petersburg russia 212 gzhatskaya street st petersburg russia website stcspbru email address stcspb1mailru tax id 7802170553 russia cyber2 zorsecurity fka esage lab aka tsor security luzhnetskaya embankment 24 building 17 office 444 moscow 119270 russia registration id 1127746601817 russia tax id 7704813260 russia alt tax id 7704010041 russia cyber2 article updated include details amended sanctions joint fbidhs report

<p>Buying and holding solid high-yield dividend stocks is arguably the best way to predictably generate wealth over the long term. But finding the best dividend stocks our market has to offer is easier said than done -- unless you know where to look.</p> <p>To that end, we asked three top Motley Fool investors to discuss some of their favorite stocks with high dividend yields. Read on to learn what they had to say about Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), AT&amp;amp;T (NYSE: T), and Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI).</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSymington/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Steve Symington Opens a New Window.</a> (Verizon Communications): With shares down around 7% so far in 2017, Verizon isn't exactly a market darling right now. After all, the company <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/20/verizon-loses-postpaid-wireless-customers-for-firs.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">lost postpaid wireless subscribers</a> for the first time ever in Q1 with competition bearing down.</p> <p>But Verizon quickly turned things around in the second quarter with the <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/27/unlimited-plans-help-boost-verizon-subscriber-figu.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">introduction of its new unlimited plans Opens a New Window.</a>, while maintaining strong loyalty as evidenced by postpaid phone churn of 0.7% (its ninth straight quarter below 0.9%). And with the impending rollout of its 5G network over the next couple of years -- a move supported by its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/11/why-straight-path-communications-inc-stock-plunged.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">recent acquisition Opens a New Window.</a> of wireless spectrum asset owner Straight Path Communications -- Verizon should be able to keep its loyal customers hooked for the foreseeable future.</p> <p>At the same time, Verizon closed on its acquisition of Yahoo! last quarter to form a new media subsidiary called Oath, which will serve roughly a billion unique monthly users around the world through more than 50 brands including Huffington Post, Yahoo Sports, AOL.com, MAKERS, Tumblr, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Mail. Oath will add roughly $7 billion to Verizon's consolidated top line, and -- keeping in mind Yahoo! had already&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/18/yahoo-inc-turns-a-profit-just-before-joining-veriz.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">turned the corner to profitability Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;just prior to joining Verizon -- should further bolster the bottom line, as Verizon expects to realize around $1 billion in annualized operating expense synergies through 2020.</p> <p>Earlier this month, Verizon also increased its dividend for the 11th consecutive year, bringing its quarterly payout to $0.59 per share for an annual yield of 4.7% at today's prices. In the end, as Verizon continues to become a more ubiquitous part of our lives, I think Verizon stock is an excellent portfolio candidate for investors willing to take advantage of the recent pullback and let that dividend compound.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p><a href="https://my.fool.com/profile/TMFLifeIsGood/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Danny Vena Opens a New Window.</a> (AT&amp;amp;T):&amp;#160;Having evolved from its days as a landline provider, AT&amp;amp;T has grown to become the second largest US wireless carrier with 33% of the market. It brings in plenty of cash to pay its generous dividend, which currently yields 5.3%. The company is also a <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-a-dividend-aristocrat.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Dividend Aristocrat Opens a New Window.</a>, having increased its dividend in each of the last 32 years.</p> <p>While some might be concerned about the payout ratio of 90%, it's important to put that into context. High non-cash expenses like amortization and depreciation tend to skew earnings. AT&amp;amp;T produced free cash flow of $15.8 billion over the last year, higher than its $13.15 billion in net income, so it has plenty of cash to pay the dividend.</p> <p>AT&amp;amp;T has been increasingly interested in adding content to its bundle. It's acquisition of DirecTV helped make it the second largest provider of pay TV in the country&amp;#160;and its DirecTV Now streaming service is nearing 500,000 subscribers.&amp;#160;Wireless customers can also stream video on their mobile devices without it counting toward their data limits. AT&amp;amp;T is one of the first carriers actively rolling out 5G service, which will provide the company with another competitive edge.</p> <p>It plans to branch out even further with its $85.4 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), home of HBO, CNN, TNT, TBS, and Warner Bros. Studios. That deal is expected to close by year-end and gains the company a vast library of high-quality original content.</p> <p><a href="http://www.fool.com/author/2431/index.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Cory Renauer Opens a New Window.</a> (Omega Healthcare Investors Inc.): Adults over 65 are the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. and UK. Odds are they're going to drive demand for the facilities in this <a href="https://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/2017/08/03/the-best-way-to-invest-in-real-estate.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">real estate investment</a> trust's portfolio steadily higher for the foreseeable future.</p> <p>Omega Healthcare Investors collects rent from 77 different operators that manage around 1,000 long-term care and skilled-nursing facilities. A few operators that have fallen behind on their rent are making investors nervous enough to drive this stock down to a price that offers a 7.9% yield.</p> <p>Normally yields this high signal big financial trouble, but Omega's distribution appears on some&amp;#160;solid ground. This top REIT stock has been able to raise its dividend for 15 consecutive years and during each of the past 20 quarters. Despite constant raises, four more quarterly dividend payments would only eat into around 75% total <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/ffo.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">funds from operations Opens a New Window.</a> management expects the REIT to generate this year.</p> <p>Investors will want to know that this year's adjusted FFO expectations are predicting year-to-year growth to be flat to slightly positive. If Omega needs to evict more than one major tenant in the quarters ahead, it could lead to a temporary dividend freeze. With an aging population steadily raising demand, though, there's a good chance the stock at this price will provide a market beating total return over the long run.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Verizon CommunicationsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=4c786453-4a40-4241-87e3-c28f3b3f6e5b&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Verizon Communications wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=4c786453-4a40-4241-87e3-c28f3b3f6e5b&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFang4apples/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Cory Renauer Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Omega Healthcare Investors. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFLifeIsGood/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Danny Vena Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSymington/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Steve Symington Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends Time Warner. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=f7e1c92e-9fd7-11e7-96f7-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

buying holding solid highyield dividend stocks arguably best way predictably generate wealth long term finding best dividend stocks market offer easier said done unless know look end asked three top motley fool investors discuss favorite stocks high dividend yields read learn say verizon communications nyse vz atampt nyse omega healthcare investors nyse ohi continue reading steve symington opens new window verizon communications shares around 7 far 2017 verizon isnt exactly market darling right company lost postpaid wireless subscribers first time ever q1 competition bearing verizon quickly turned things around second quarter introduction new unlimited plans opens new window maintaining strong loyalty evidenced postpaid phone churn 07 ninth straight quarter 09 impending rollout 5g network next couple years move supported recent acquisition opens new window wireless spectrum asset owner straight path communications verizon able keep loyal customers hooked foreseeable future time verizon closed acquisition yahoo last quarter form new media subsidiary called oath serve roughly billion unique monthly users around world 50 brands including huffington post yahoo sports aolcom makers tumblr yahoo finance yahoo mail oath add roughly 7 billion verizons consolidated top line keeping mind yahoo already160 turned corner profitability opens new window160just prior joining verizon bolster bottom line verizon expects realize around 1 billion annualized operating expense synergies 2020 earlier month verizon also increased dividend 11th consecutive year bringing quarterly payout 059 per share annual yield 47 todays prices end verizon continues become ubiquitous part lives think verizon stock excellent portfolio candidate investors willing take advantage recent pullback let dividend compound advertisement danny vena opens new window atampt160having evolved days landline provider atampt grown become second largest us wireless carrier 33 market brings plenty cash pay generous dividend currently yields 53 company also dividend aristocrat opens new window increased dividend last 32 years might concerned payout ratio 90 important put context high noncash expenses like amortization depreciation tend skew earnings atampt produced free cash flow 158 billion last year higher 1315 billion net income plenty cash pay dividend atampt increasingly interested adding content bundle acquisition directv helped make second largest provider pay tv country160and directv streaming service nearing 500000 subscribers160wireless customers also stream video mobile devices without counting toward data limits atampt one first carriers actively rolling 5g service provide company another competitive edge plans branch even 854 billion proposed acquisition time warner inc nyse twx home hbo cnn tnt tbs warner bros studios deal expected close yearend gains company vast library highquality original content cory renauer opens new window omega healthcare investors inc adults 65 fastest growing demographic us uk odds theyre going drive demand facilities real estate investment trusts portfolio steadily higher foreseeable future omega healthcare investors collects rent 77 different operators manage around 1000 longterm care skillednursing facilities operators fallen behind rent making investors nervous enough drive stock price offers 79 yield normally yields high signal big financial trouble omegas distribution appears some160solid ground top reit stock able raise dividend 15 consecutive years past 20 quarters despite constant raises four quarterly dividend payments would eat around 75 total funds operations opens new window management expects reit generate year investors want know years adjusted ffo expectations predicting yeartoyear growth flat slightly positive omega needs evict one major tenant quarters ahead could lead temporary dividend freeze aging population steadily raising demand though theres good chance stock price provide market beating total return long run 10 stocks like better verizon communicationswhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right verizon communications wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns september 5 2017 cory renauer opens new window owns shares omega healthcare investors danny vena opens new window position stocks mentioned steve symington opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends verizon communications motley fool recommends time warner motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1WbrVdp" type="external" />Were you sickened by the Republican debate the other night? The hype leading up to the debate was unbelievable. Never before had there been so much interest in a debate this early in an election season, and it turned out to be the most watched program on Fox News ever. A record-shattering 24 million Americans tuned in, and what they witnessed was an expertly orchestrated assault on <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a>. From the very first moments, every question that was launched at Trump was an &#8220;attack question&#8221;. And then the laughable &#8220;focus group&#8221; that followed was specifically designed to show that &#8220;ordinary people&#8221; were &#8220;changing their minds&#8221; about <a href="" type="internal">Trump</a>. By the end of the evening, it was abundantly clear that <a href="" type="internal">Fox News</a> had purposely intended to try to destroy Trump&#8217;s candidacy.</p> <p>And of course Fox News is far from alone. Every mainstream news outlet in the entire country is running anti-Trump news stories every single day. Virtually every other presidential candidate in <a href="" type="internal">both parties</a> is attacking him, and virtually every &#8220;political expert&#8221; from across the political spectrum is trashing his chances of success.</p> <p>So why is this happening?</p> <p>Normally, candidates that are not part of the &#8220;establishment&#8221; do not pose much of a threat. In order to win elections in this country, especially on a national level, you need name recognition and you need <a href="" type="internal">lots and lots of money</a>.</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a> has both, and no matter what you may think of him you have to admit that he has star power.</p> <p>And he was never supposed to run for president. You see, the truth is that only members of &#8220;the club&#8221; are allowed to play. The elite very carefully <a href="" type="internal">groom their candidates</a>, and they are usually able to maintain a very tight grip on both major political parties.</p> <p>This two-headed abomination that we call a &#8220;two party system&#8221; is in reality just a <a href="" type="internal">one party system</a>. Yes, many Democrats and many Republicans really do hate one another, but at the end of the day there is very little difference between the two parties. That is why nothing ever really seems to change no matter who gets elected. George W. Bush continued almost all of Bill Clinton&#8217;s policies, and Barack Obama has continued almost all of George W. Bush&#8217;s policies. When they are running for office, they tell us what they think we want to hear, but once they get to D.C. they do exactly what the establishment wants them to do.</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a>, whether you love him or you hate him, is <a href="" type="internal">a threat to this system</a>. He is not controlled by the elite, and he does and says all sorts of things that drive the elite absolutely nuts.</p> <p>If he was polling below 5 percent that wouldn&#8217;t be a problem. At first, the mainstream media attempted to portray him as a joke that would never get any real support.&amp;#160; But since then, <a href="" type="internal">Trump has proven that he is a serious candidate</a> with some <a href="http://amzn.to/1WbsYKs" type="external">very serious ideas about how to fix this country</a>.&amp;#160; Now that he is receiving far, far more support than the establishment choice ( <a href="http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/republican-operatives-plot-to-sabotage-trump-but-that-could-turn-him-into-their-worst-nightmare" type="external">Jeb Bush</a>), he must be destroyed.</p> <p>I can promise you right now that the Republican establishment will pull out every dirty trick in the book to keep Donald Trump from getting the Republican nomination.</p> <p>And if Donald Trump runs <a href="http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/republican-operatives-plot-to-sabotage-trump-but-that-could-turn-him-into-their-worst-nightmare" type="external">as an independent</a>, the elite will move heaven and earth to keep him out of the White House.</p> <p>This isn&#8217;t even just about Trump.&amp;#160; If Ben Carson starts getting too much support, he will be destroyed too. This is how presidential elections in America work.</p> <p>What we witnessed during the Fox News debate the other night was not an accident. The goal was to make Jeb Bush look good and to make Donald Trump look bad. The following comes from <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/050697_Fox_News_debate_fraud_Donald_Trump.html" type="external">Mike Adams</a>&#8230;</p> <p>But the one thing that really stood out was the total fraud of what Fox News pulled off. It was clear from the first five minutes that Fox News had pre-arranged softball questions for Jeb Bush to highlight his &#8220;heroic actions&#8221; and accomplishments. Meanwhile, the kinds of questions directed to Donald Trump were all thinly veiled accusations and insults, designed to attack Trump on issues that had nothing to do with running the country.</p> <p>The typical questions went something like this: (paraphrased)</p> <p>Fox News: &#8220;Jeb Bush, how did you get to be such an amazing leader?&#8221;</p> <p>Fox News: &#8220;Donald Trump, why do you hate women?&#8221;</p> <p>As if a debate with totally contrived questions wasn&#8217;t enough, Fox News also had a pre-arranged assembly of apparently &#8220;ordinary citizens&#8221; who were asked, after the debate, how many of them now hated Donald Trump.</p> <p>And even when &#8220;the debate&#8221; was over, the assault continued. If you have not seen the disgraceful &#8220; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpg28vLUPlg" type="external">focus group interview</a>&#8221; which Frank Luntz orchestrated, you can check it out below&#8230;</p> <p /> <p /> <p>Virtually everyone in the &#8220;focus group&#8221; that Frank Luntz put together supposedly had a positive view of Donald Trump before the debate, and then almost every single one of them supposedly become Trump haters during the course of the two hour debate.</p> <p>I am sure that they were hoping that everybody in the viewing public would &#8220;come to their senses&#8221; and become Jeb Bush supporters.</p> <p>But of course post-debate polling shows that is not happening at all.</p> <p>The Drudge Report conducted a flash poll immediately following the debate, and a whopping 44.67 percent of those that responded said that Trump won the debate.</p> <p>Ted Cruz was in second place with 14.31 percent.</p> <p>Jeb Bush got a measly 2.07 percent.</p> <p>A <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/drudge-poll-donald-trump-wins/2015/08/07/id/666039/" type="external">Newsmax survey</a> came up with similar results&#8230;</p> <p>And a survey <a href="http://time.com/3988073/republican-debate-fox-first-gop/" type="external">conducted by Time Magazine</a> also produced similar findings. Donald Trump got 47 percent, Ben Carson was in second place with 11 percent, and Jeb Bush got 4 percent.</p> <p>But Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee.</p> <p>Unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong for the Republican establishment, Jeb Bush is going to be the nominee.</p> <p>We have a system that is deeply, deeply broken and that does not reflect the will of the people.</p> <p>This was illustrated by one of the questions that Trump was asked <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/07/trumps-triumph-billionaire-blowhard-exposes-fake-political-system/" type="external">during the debate</a>&#8230;</p> <p>BAIER: Mr. Trump, it&#8217;s not just your past support for single-payer health care. You&#8217;ve also supported a host of other liberal policies&#8230;.You&#8217;ve also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, and Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, &#8220;When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.&#8221;</p> <p>TRUMP: You&#8217;d better believe it.</p> <p>BAIER: &#8212; they do?</p> <p>TRUMP: If I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I&#8217;ve given to, just so you understand, a lot of money.</p> <p>TRUMP: I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. And that&#8217;s a broken system.</p> <p>The really amazing thing is that nobody up on that stage disputed that what Trump was saying was true.</p> <p>It is very well understood by our politicians that when they get big checks from the elite for their campaigns that certain things are expected from them in return.</p> <p>Our government does not reflect the will of the people and it hasn&#8217;t for a very long time.</p> <p>Instead, it reflects the will of the elite, and the American people are getting sick and tired of it.</p> <p>Right now, surveys show that Donald Trump has far more support than any other Republican candidate.</p> <p>But he is not going to be the Republican nominee. <a href="" type="internal">The Republican establishment will make sure of that</a>.</p> <p>There is still the possibility that <a href="" type="internal">Trump could run as an independent</a>. That would be an extremely tough road, but on Sunday he sounded <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/08/09/-political-hurricane---donald-trump/31376365/" type="external">very open to the possibility</a>&#8230;</p> <p>The political hurricane that is Donald Trump didn&#8217;t recede over the weekend, even in the face of a rising tide of criticism from Republican rivals about his attack on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.</p> <p>Instead, the celebrity billionaire insisted in a string of interviews on Sunday TV shows that he had done nothing wrong, that &#8220;only a deviant&#8221; would interpret his words in an offensive way, and that he is leaving open the possibility of running an independent campaign for the White House if the GOP doesn&#8217;t treat him &#8220;fairly.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;I do have leverage and I like having leverage,&#8221;Trump declared on CBS&#8217; Face the Nation on a morning that also included interviews with ABC&#8217;s This Week, CNN&#8217;s State of the Union and NBC&#8217;s Meet the Press.</p> <p>This is a scenario that I discussed in my previous article entitled &#8220; <a href="http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/republican-operatives-plot-to-sabotage-trump-but-that-could-turn-him-into-their-worst-nightmare" type="external">Republican Operatives Plot To Sabotage Trump &#8211; But That Could Turn Him Into Their Worst Nightmare</a>&#8220;.&amp;#160; Personally, I believe that Donald Trump will decide to run as an independent when it becomes clear to him that <a href="" type="internal">the Republican establishment is going to prevent him from winning the nomination</a> at all costs.</p> <p>But I could be wrong.</p> <p>So what do you think?</p> <p>Please feel free to join the discussion by posting a comment below&#8230;</p> <p>Courtesy of <a href="http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-assault-on-donald-trump-shows-that-our-2-party-system-is-really-a-1-party-system" type="external">End of the American Dream</a>.</p> <p /> <p />

sickened republican debate night hype leading debate unbelievable never much interest debate early election season turned watched program fox news ever recordshattering 24 million americans tuned witnessed expertly orchestrated assault donald trump first moments every question launched trump attack question laughable focus group followed specifically designed show ordinary people changing minds trump end evening abundantly clear fox news purposely intended try destroy trumps candidacy course fox news far alone every mainstream news outlet entire country running antitrump news stories every single day virtually every presidential candidate parties attacking virtually every political expert across political spectrum trashing chances success happening normally candidates part establishment pose much threat order win elections country especially national level need name recognition need lots lots money donald trump matter may think admit star power never supposed run president see truth members club allowed play elite carefully groom candidates usually able maintain tight grip major political parties twoheaded abomination call two party system reality one party system yes many democrats many republicans really hate one another end day little difference two parties nothing ever really seems change matter gets elected george w bush continued almost bill clintons policies barack obama continued almost george w bushs policies running office tell us think want hear get dc exactly establishment wants donald trump whether love hate threat system controlled elite says sorts things drive elite absolutely nuts polling 5 percent wouldnt problem first mainstream media attempted portray joke would never get real support160 since trump proven serious candidate serious ideas fix country160 receiving far far support establishment choice jeb bush must destroyed promise right republican establishment pull every dirty trick book keep donald trump getting republican nomination donald trump runs independent elite move heaven earth keep white house isnt even trump160 ben carson starts getting much support destroyed presidential elections america work witnessed fox news debate night accident goal make jeb bush look good make donald trump look bad following comes mike adams one thing really stood total fraud fox news pulled clear first five minutes fox news prearranged softball questions jeb bush highlight heroic actions accomplishments meanwhile kinds questions directed donald trump thinly veiled accusations insults designed attack trump issues nothing running country typical questions went something like paraphrased fox news jeb bush get amazing leader fox news donald trump hate women debate totally contrived questions wasnt enough fox news also prearranged assembly apparently ordinary citizens asked debate many hated donald trump even debate assault continued seen disgraceful focus group interview frank luntz orchestrated check virtually everyone focus group frank luntz put together supposedly positive view donald trump debate almost every single one supposedly become trump haters course two hour debate sure hoping everybody viewing public would come senses become jeb bush supporters course postdebate polling shows happening drudge report conducted flash poll immediately following debate whopping 4467 percent responded said trump debate ted cruz second place 1431 percent jeb bush got measly 207 percent newsmax survey came similar results survey conducted time magazine also produced similar findings donald trump got 47 percent ben carson second place 11 percent jeb bush got 4 percent donald trump going republican nominee unless something goes horribly horribly wrong republican establishment jeb bush going nominee system deeply deeply broken reflect people illustrated one questions trump asked debate baier mr trump past support singlepayer health care youve also supported host liberal policiesyouve also donated several democratic candidates hillary clinton included nancy pelosi explained away donations saying get businessrelated favors said recently quote give whatever hell want trump youd better believe baier trump ask need know people stage ive given understand lot money trump tell system broken gave many people two months ago businessman give everybody call give know need something two years later three years later call thats broken system really amazing thing nobody stage disputed trump saying true well understood politicians get big checks elite campaigns certain things expected return government reflect people hasnt long time instead reflects elite american people getting sick tired right surveys show donald trump far support republican candidate going republican nominee republican establishment make sure still possibility trump could run independent would extremely tough road sunday sounded open possibility political hurricane donald trump didnt recede weekend even face rising tide criticism republican rivals attack fox news anchor megyn kelly instead celebrity billionaire insisted string interviews sunday tv shows done nothing wrong deviant would interpret words offensive way leaving open possibility running independent campaign white house gop doesnt treat fairly leverage like leveragetrump declared cbs face nation morning also included interviews abcs week cnns state union nbcs meet press scenario discussed previous article entitled republican operatives plot sabotage trump could turn worst nightmare160 personally believe donald trump decide run independent becomes clear republican establishment going prevent winning nomination costs could wrong think please feel free join discussion posting comment courtesy end american dream

<p>As airplane makers gathered outside Paris to show off their newest high-tech jetliners on Monday, a less-heralded technology story was unfolding back home on the factory floors of the world's leading aerospace companies.</p> <p>The planned introduction of at least half a dozen new plane designs that push the boundaries of flight performance has given the industry its biggest opportunity in a decade or more to automate factories, add new techniques and reduce costs.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>In five years, airplanes entering service may have an engine with parts delicately fabricated by an industrial 3-D printer, a paint job applied by a robot and rivets installed by machines.</p> <p>"The big next leaps will come on the production side - how do we actually produce these airplanes faster, more efficiently, with more automation?" Ray Conner, CEO of Boeing's commercial airplane division, asked at the Paris Air Show on Monday.</p> <p>Unlike the car industry, aerospace has been slow to automate. Relatively low production - Boeing and Airbus produce about 1,200 jets a year - often does not justify the big investments required. Complexity and regulation also limit change, meaning much of a jet is still handmade.</p> <p>But now, flush with a record number of jet orders, the industry is gearing its factories to produce at high volume and low cost. More than 35,000 jets worth $4.8 trillion will be sold in the next 20 years, according to Boeing's forecast.</p> <p>Cutting costs is the only way to improve margins in a business where steep price discounts can mean selling at slim profit or a loss to win orders.</p> <p>Since 60 percent to 70 percent of a plane's materials come from suppliers, manufacturers also are pushing them to innovate, and rewarding those that do by splitting the gains.</p> <p>Military suppliers, under pressure from government spending cuts, are streamlining their factories, too. Blackhawk helicopter market Sikorsky , for example, hired German automaker Porsche to advise it on production three years ago.</p> <p>"It's going to really rip through the industry in the next five to 15 years," as next-generation planes enter production, said David Fitzpatrick, leader of the North American aerospace and defense practice at AlixPartners, a consulting company.</p> <p>3-D PRINTERS</p> <p>In Cincinnati, GE Aviation is designing engines for next-generation jets that will burn 15 percent to 20 percent less fuel than existing models. Among the innovations to achieve that savings, GE is testing 3-D printers that build up thin layers of nickel-metal alloy into fully functioning parts.</p> <p>GE aims to print an advanced fuel nozzle tip that can withstand temperatures of 3,000 degrees inside the CFM International LEAP engine by the time the engine enters service in 2016 on the Airbus A320. It also will power Boeing's rival 737MAX. CFM, a joint venture of GE and Safran of France , says this will be the first production use of so-called additive manufacturing technology in commercial aviation.</p> <p>With nearly 3,500 of the planes sold, CFM is committed to producing about 1,700 engines a year by 2020. Pratt &amp;amp; Whitney also is producing engines and is using printing technology.</p> <p>Printing would eliminate the need to mill the nozzle down from a larger piece of metal, which often removes 90 percent of the material, and to add 25 braise joints, dramatically reducing cost and cutting manufacturing time from months or more to hours or days, said Gareth Richards, LEAP program manager for CFM International.</p> <p>More importantly, printing allowed GE engineers to design the nozzle without the constraints milling and braising imposed, allowing a better part that increased the fuel savings.</p> <p>"This manufacturing technology that we're putting in place is required because we couldn't create the designs without it," said David Joyce, CEO of GE Aviation.</p> <p>PAINTING ROBOTS</p> <p>In a World War Two-era factory near Seattle where Boeing makes its best-selling 737, the company has used Toyota lean manufacturing principles and a moving assembly to nearly triple production to 38 jets a month since 2000. Higher production gives the plant more capacity using the same space and helps lower the cost of each plane.</p> <p>Another 10 percent improvement is due by mid-2014, as Boeing ramps up to 42 737s per month, the equivalent of two every working day. Boeing aims to do this while reconfiguring the plant to build its next-generation 737MAX, which has 1,441 orders, after picking up 60 firm orders Monday.</p> <p>"We're going to keep working with the supply chain to see if we can go even faster," said Beverly Wyse, 737 program manager.</p> <p>At its massive factory north of Seattle, Boeing adopted a moving line for its 777 plane, boosting production nearly 19 percent since 2006, Boeing says.</p> <p>Now it is using robotic arms to paint wings for its 777 minijumbo, adapting machines long used in the auto industry. The switch from humans allows more consistent paint thickness and is expected to result in significant savings, said Jason Clark, manager of the 777 production line. Eventually the entire plane could be painted robotically.</p> <p>Airbus also still paints planes by hand.</p> <p>Conner declined to say how much Boeing expects to save through the measures, but acknowledged it has targets. He does not want Wall Street to monitor them, he said.</p> <p>Boeing's factory overhauls include even tiny parts. Plastic zip-ties that hold bundles of wire together on the 737, for example, were replaced with tape to eliminate chafing and speed installation of the bundles, saving production time and the need for costly repairs if the wire insulation is damaged.</p> <p>AIRBUS MULTITASKING</p> <p>Airbus has honed the processes in its assembly plant in Toulouse, allowing it to clone the system at plants in Hamburg, Germany; Teijin, China; and Mobile, Alabama, where it broke ground for a $600 million plant in April.</p> <p>Airbus uses stationary lines, with most jets assembled four abreast in parallel bays, to avoid stopping production if a problem halts a line.</p> <p>The company focuses on doing as many tasks as possible at the same time, a strategy that has cut assembly time 30 percent.</p> <p>Wings used to go on center fuselage sections first, for example, then other fuselage sections were added, and finally internal systems were turned on and tested. Airbus realized that building the fuselage first allowed workers to power up the internal systems while the wings were going on, so the work could progress in parallel and cut time.</p> <p>"We're always trying to find more ways of doing more things in parallel, faster," said Alan Pardoe, head of marketing communications at Airbus.</p> <p>Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier is due this month to make a first flight with its new CSeries plane, the first all-new single-aisle jetliner made with advanced materials. It says it is on track to get the jet into service next year, as planned.</p> <p>In planning the factory, it took advantage of automotive technology, said Guy Hachey, COO of Bombardier's aerospace division, who is a veteran of General Motors.</p> <p>Once again, it planned for growth. It installed tooling to build 120 planes a year but designed a factory to produce double that number.</p> <p>"We have the land, the plans and the scale of the program to go twice that," Hachey said.</p> <p>(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-esa; Editing by Patricia Kranz, Mary Milliken and Bill Trott)</p> <p>(This story corrects 13th paragraph to say Pratt &amp;amp; Whitney is using printing technology; original version said P&amp;amp;W was not using the technology)</p> <p>Advertisement</p>

airplane makers gathered outside paris show newest hightech jetliners monday lessheralded technology story unfolding back home factory floors worlds leading aerospace companies planned introduction least half dozen new plane designs push boundaries flight performance given industry biggest opportunity decade automate factories add new techniques reduce costs continue reading five years airplanes entering service may engine parts delicately fabricated industrial 3d printer paint job applied robot rivets installed machines big next leaps come production side actually produce airplanes faster efficiently automation ray conner ceo boeings commercial airplane division asked paris air show monday unlike car industry aerospace slow automate relatively low production boeing airbus produce 1200 jets year often justify big investments required complexity regulation also limit change meaning much jet still handmade flush record number jet orders industry gearing factories produce high volume low cost 35000 jets worth 48 trillion sold next 20 years according boeings forecast cutting costs way improve margins business steep price discounts mean selling slim profit loss win orders since 60 percent 70 percent planes materials come suppliers manufacturers also pushing innovate rewarding splitting gains military suppliers pressure government spending cuts streamlining factories blackhawk helicopter market sikorsky example hired german automaker porsche advise production three years ago going really rip industry next five 15 years nextgeneration planes enter production said david fitzpatrick leader north american aerospace defense practice alixpartners consulting company 3d printers cincinnati ge aviation designing engines nextgeneration jets burn 15 percent 20 percent less fuel existing models among innovations achieve savings ge testing 3d printers build thin layers nickelmetal alloy fully functioning parts ge aims print advanced fuel nozzle tip withstand temperatures 3000 degrees inside cfm international leap engine time engine enters service 2016 airbus a320 also power boeings rival 737max cfm joint venture ge safran france says first production use socalled additive manufacturing technology commercial aviation nearly 3500 planes sold cfm committed producing 1700 engines year 2020 pratt amp whitney also producing engines using printing technology printing would eliminate need mill nozzle larger piece metal often removes 90 percent material add 25 braise joints dramatically reducing cost cutting manufacturing time months hours days said gareth richards leap program manager cfm international importantly printing allowed ge engineers design nozzle without constraints milling braising imposed allowing better part increased fuel savings manufacturing technology putting place required couldnt create designs without said david joyce ceo ge aviation painting robots world war twoera factory near seattle boeing makes bestselling 737 company used toyota lean manufacturing principles moving assembly nearly triple production 38 jets month since 2000 higher production gives plant capacity using space helps lower cost plane another 10 percent improvement due mid2014 boeing ramps 42 737s per month equivalent two every working day boeing aims reconfiguring plant build nextgeneration 737max 1441 orders picking 60 firm orders monday going keep working supply chain see go even faster said beverly wyse 737 program manager massive factory north seattle boeing adopted moving line 777 plane boosting production nearly 19 percent since 2006 boeing says using robotic arms paint wings 777 minijumbo adapting machines long used auto industry switch humans allows consistent paint thickness expected result significant savings said jason clark manager 777 production line eventually entire plane could painted robotically airbus also still paints planes hand conner declined say much boeing expects save measures acknowledged targets want wall street monitor said boeings factory overhauls include even tiny parts plastic zipties hold bundles wire together 737 example replaced tape eliminate chafing speed installation bundles saving production time need costly repairs wire insulation damaged airbus multitasking airbus honed processes assembly plant toulouse allowing clone system plants hamburg germany teijin china mobile alabama broke ground 600 million plant april airbus uses stationary lines jets assembled four abreast parallel bays avoid stopping production problem halts line company focuses many tasks possible time strategy cut assembly time 30 percent wings used go center fuselage sections first example fuselage sections added finally internal systems turned tested airbus realized building fuselage first allowed workers power internal systems wings going work could progress parallel cut time always trying find ways things parallel faster said alan pardoe head marketing communications airbus canadian plane train maker bombardier due month make first flight new cseries plane first allnew singleaisle jetliner made advanced materials says track get jet service next year planned planning factory took advantage automotive technology said guy hachey coo bombardiers aerospace division veteran general motors planned growth installed tooling build 120 planes year designed factory produce double number land plans scale program go twice hachey said additional reporting andrea shalalesa editing patricia kranz mary milliken bill trott story corrects 13th paragraph say pratt amp whitney using printing technology original version said pampw using technology advertisement

<p>TIDMTSCO</p> <p>FORM 8.3</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY</p> <p>A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE</p> <p>Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")</p> <p>1. KEY INFORMATION</p> <p>(a) Full name of discloser: Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. ("Dimensional"), in</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>its capacity as investment manager and on behalf its</p> <p>affiliates who are also investment managers. Dimensional</p> <p>and its affiliates expressly disclaim beneficial ownership</p> <p>of the shares described in this form 8.3</p> <p>(b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions</p> <p>disclosed, if different from 1(a):</p> <p>The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient.</p> <p>For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries</p> <p>must be named.</p> <p>(c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant Tesco Plc</p> <p>securities this form relates: (GB0008847096)</p> <p>Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree</p> <p>(d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree,</p> <p>state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:</p> <p>(e) Date position held/dealing undertaken: 30 January 2018</p> <p>For an opening position disclosure, state the latest</p> <p>practicable date prior to the disclosure</p> <p>(f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the YES</p> <p>discloser making disclosures in respect of any other If YES, specify which:</p> <p>party to the offer? Booker Group Plc</p> <p>If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state (GB00B01TND91)</p> <p>"N/A"</p> <p>2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE</p> <p>If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than</p> <p>one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c),</p> <p>copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of</p> <p>relevant security.</p> <p>(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of</p> <p>the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the</p> <p>dealing (if any)</p> <p>Class of relevant security: 5p Ordinary Shares</p> <p>Short</p> <p>Interests positions</p> <p>Number % Number %</p> <p>(1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 45,536,399* 0.56</p> <p>(2) Cash-settled derivatives:</p> <p>(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options)</p> <p>and agreements to purchase/sell:</p> <p>TOTAL: 45,536,399 0.56</p> <p>*Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and / or its affiliates do not control</p> <p>voting discretion for 308,537 shares.</p> <p>All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.</p> <p>Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded</p> <p>options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should</p> <p>be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).</p> <p>(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors'</p> <p>and other employee options)</p> <p>Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription</p> <p>right exists:</p> <p>Details, including nature of the rights concerned</p> <p>and relevant percentages:</p> <p>3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE</p> <p>Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant</p> <p>securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b),</p> <p>(c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant</p> <p>security dealt in.</p> <p>The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.</p> <p>(a) Purchases and sales</p> <p>Class of relevant Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit</p> <p>security</p> <p>Ordinary shares Purchase 9,192 GBP 2.1052</p> <p>(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions</p> <p>Class of Product description Nature of dealing Number of Price</p> <p>relevant e.g. CFD e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing reference per</p> <p>security a long/short position securities unit</p> <p>(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)</p> <p>(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying</p> <p>Class of Product Writing, Number of Exercise Type Expiry Option</p> <p>relevant description purchasing, securities price e.g. American, European etc. date money</p> <p>security e.g. call selling, to which per paid/</p> <p>option varying option unit received</p> <p>etc. relates per</p> <p>unit</p> <p>(ii) Exercise</p> <p>Class of Product description Exercising/ Number of Exercise</p> <p>relevant e.g. call option exercised securities price per</p> <p>security against unit</p> <p>(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)</p> <p>Class of Nature of dealing Details Price per unit</p> <p>relevant e.g. subscription, conversion (if</p> <p>security applicable)</p> <p>4. OTHER INFORMATION</p> <p>(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements</p> <p>Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or</p> <p>any agreement or understanding, formal or informal,</p> <p>relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement</p> <p>to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the</p> <p>person making the disclosure and any party to the</p> <p>offer or any person acting in concert with a party</p> <p>to the offer:</p> <p>Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should</p> <p>not be included. If there are no such agreements,</p> <p>arrangements or understandings, state "none"</p> <p>(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to</p> <p>options or derivatives</p> <p>Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding,</p> <p>formal or informal, between the person making the</p> <p>disclosure and any other person relating to:</p> <p>(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under</p> <p>any option; or</p> <p>(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal</p> <p>of any relevant securities to which any derivative</p> <p>is referenced:</p> <p>If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings,</p> <p>state "none"</p> <p>(c) Attachments</p> <p>Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO</p> <p>Date of disclosure: 31 January 2018</p> <p>Contact name: Joann Kong</p> <p>Telephone number: 020 3033 4876</p> <p>Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory</p> <p>Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at</p> <p>[email protected]. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is</p> <p>available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure</p> <p>requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.</p> <p>The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at</p> <p>www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.</p> <p>This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf</p> <p>of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.</p> <p>The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely</p> <p>responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information</p> <p>contained therein.</p> <p>Source: Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. via Globenewswire</p> <p>https://www.dimensional.com/</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>January 31, 2018 05:36 ET (10:36 GMT)</p>

tidmtsco form 83 continue reading public opening position disclosuredealing disclosure person interests relevant securities representing 1 rule 83 takeover code code 1 key information full name discloser dimensional fund advisors ltd dimensional advertisement capacity investment manager behalf affiliates also investment managers dimensional affiliates expressly disclaim beneficial ownership shares described form 83 b owner controller interests short positions disclosed different 1a naming nominee vehicle companies insufficient trust trustees settlor beneficiaries must named c name offerorofferee relation whose relevant tesco plc securities form relates gb0008847096 use separate form offerorofferee exempt fund manager connected offerorofferee state specify identity offerorofferee e date position helddealing undertaken 30 january 2018 opening position disclosure state latest practicable date prior disclosure f addition company 1c yes discloser making disclosures respect yes specify party offer booker group plc cash offer possible cash offer state gb00b01tnd91 na 2 positions person making disclosure positions rights subscribe disclose one class relevant securities offeror offeree named 1c copy table 2a b appropriate additional class relevant security interests short positions relevant securities offeror offeree disclosure relates following dealing class relevant security 5p ordinary shares short interests positions number number 1 relevant securities owned andor controlled 45536399 056 2 cashsettled derivatives 3 stocksettled derivatives including options agreements purchasesell total 45536399 056 dimensional fund advisors ltd affiliates control voting discretion 308537 shares interests short positions disclosed details open stocksettled derivative positions including traded options agreements purchase sell relevant securities given supplemental form 8 open positions b rights subscribe new securities including directors employee options class relevant security relation subscription right exists details including nature rights concerned relevant percentages 3 dealings person making disclosure dealings one class relevant securities offeror offeree named 1c copy table 3a b c appropriate additional class relevant security dealt currency prices monetary amounts stated purchases sales class relevant purchasesale number securities price per unit security ordinary shares purchase 9192 gbp 21052 b cashsettled derivative transactions class product description nature dealing number price relevant eg cfd eg openingclosing longshort position increasingreducing reference per security longshort position securities unit c stocksettled derivative transactions including options writing selling purchasing varying class product writing number exercise type expiry option relevant description purchasing securities price eg american european etc date money security eg call selling per paid option varying option unit received etc relates per unit ii exercise class product description exercising number exercise relevant eg call option exercised securities price per security unit dealings including subscribing new securities class nature dealing details price per unit relevant eg subscription conversion security applicable 4 information indemnity dealing arrangements details indemnity option arrangement agreement understanding formal informal relating relevant securities may inducement deal refrain dealing entered person making disclosure party offer person acting concert party offer irrevocable commitments letters intent included agreements arrangements understandings state none b agreements arrangements understandings relating options derivatives details agreement arrangement understanding formal informal person making disclosure person relating voting rights relevant securities option ii voting rights future acquisition disposal relevant securities derivative referenced agreements arrangements understandings state none c attachments supplemental form 8 open positions attached date disclosure 31 january 2018 contact name joann kong telephone number 020 3033 4876 public disclosures rule 8 code must made regulatory information service must also emailed takeover panel monitoringdisclosureorguk panels market surveillance unit available consultation relation codes disclosure requirements 44 020 7638 0129 code viewed panels website wwwthetakeoverpanelorguk announcement distributed nasdaq corporate solutions behalf nasdaq corporate solutions clients issuer announcement warrants solely responsible content accuracy originality information contained therein source dimensional fund advisors ltd via globenewswire httpswwwdimensionalcom end dow jones newswires january 31 2018 0536 et 1036 gmt

<p /> <p>General Electric(NYSE: GE) has invested a lot of resources in becoming "the digital industrial company." Its flagship digital industrial project is Predix, a cloud-based industrial operating system that can analyze and manage data and operations of GE equipment, facilities, and systems. That sounds great, but what can Predix actuallydo?</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Here are three ways GE and its partnersMicrosoft(NASDAQ: MSFT) and Exelon (NYSE: EXC) are using Predix to improve their customers' bottom lines...and their own.</p> <p>GE's Predix analytical software can improve plant performance and reduce maintenance costs. Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Industrial machinery is incredibly complex. Even a single steam turbine -- one of GE's major products -- has thousands of variables like heat, pressure, friction, temperature, and speed that all need to be programmed, monitored, and adjusted, often in real time while the machine is running. Small wonder, then, that such machines can generate an incredible number of data points. According to GE, a single plant can generate two terabytes of data in a single day.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>As a cloud-based system, Predix can collect and analyze that data to provide critical information about how a machine is operating. This is good, since it can reveal inefficiencies in the machine and detect problems as they occur. But Predix can go one step further and actually detect potential problems before they occur -- sometimes months in advance.</p> <p>Exelon, the largest utility in the U.S., is seeing this value first-hand. At GE's recent Minds + Machines conference in San Francisco, Exelon demonstrated how it used the Predix Asset Performance Management app to identify increased temperatures on a pair of bearings inside a machine, which led to diagnosis of a faulty cooling system valve elsewhere in the machine. Without Predix, the problem might not have been discovered until the bearings failed, or until the faulty valve caused other, more serious problems.</p> <p>This can add up to big savings for customers like Exelon. In fact, Ganesh Bell, GE Power's Chief Digital Officer, estimates that deploying this one APM app could save GE Power's customers $390 billion over 10 years.</p> <p>Predix has capabilities beyond simply identifying problems. It can even recommend solutions.</p> <p>To do this, Predix creates a "digital twin" of a real-life machine. By comparing the actual data coming from the machine as it operates with the theoretical data being generated by the digital version, Predix can catch discrepancies between how the machine is actually operating and how it should be operating. It can also simulate how different potential solutions might affect the machine's future operations.</p> <p>For example, at Minds + Machines, GE's Vice President of Software Research Dr. Colin J. Parris demonstrated a situation in which a single D11 turbine rotor in southern California was experiencing a small amount of damage. Predix was able to identify the problem and diagnose that, if left uncorrected, the machine's useful lifespan would be cut by 69%.</p> <p>Predix also utilized the machine's historical data, data from other D11 turbines around the world, and nearly 60,000 digital simulations to propose the optimal solution, which involved digitally aligning ramp rates and thermal pressure, and it also had the side effect of burning less fuel and, of course, avoiding a $12 million equipment failure.</p> <p>So, Predix can optimize the lifespan and operations of individual machines. That's valuable, of course, but through GE's partnership with Microsoft, Predix can also revolutionize an industry.</p> <p>Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Intelligent Cloud and Internet of Things Business Development Kevin Dallas demonstrated one way in which this is occurring at Minds + Machines. Microsoft and GE teamed up to use Predix to help an (unnamed) power transmission company client. The client has more than 50,000 miles of "transmission assets," including lines, towers, clamps, and transformers. Up until now, the company needed to maintain a crew of more than 2,000 people to inspect the lines, a costly process involving helicopters in remote areas.</p> <p>However, through a Predix app developed by Microsoft, the company is now able to use a fleet of drones to travel autonomously along the lines, photographing each asset from multiple angles along the way. The app then analyzes the photos and other transmission data to identify problems such as a missing bolt pin. When a problem is identified, the system flags it so a live operator can check for a false positive. If the problem is confirmed, the system automatically creates a work order and sends it to a repair crew.</p> <p>This sounds revolutionary, and it is. But the most amazing part is that the app took just six weeks for Microsoft to develop. Yes, you read that right: just six weeks to create an entire autonomous system that can save a company millions of dollars a year.Microsoft -- which used to be an "as-is" software provider -- has now found an additional revenue stream by working with its clients to create these tailored apps.</p> <p>Predix's capabilities are impressive, there's no doubt about it. Better yet, they create value for GE clients like Exelon. Given the amount of cost savings Predix can offer, it's clear there is a big market opportunity here waiting to be tapped by GE and its partner, Microsoft. GE predicts that in just three years, the industrial internet will be nearly 50 times larger than the consumer internet.</p> <p>Of course, a big untapped market usually means competitors will emerge, and both GE and Microsoft have competition aplenty in their respective fields. And certainly, there are many Internet of Things software platforms in various stages of development.But with its unique ability to manufacture huge industrial machinery with a software component, and its proven real-world applications of that technology, GE looks to have a clear lead among its peers in this lucrative space.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than General Electric When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=ec7abc84-39d6-4fa1-b30e-e3514457981a&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and General Electric wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=ec7abc84-39d6-4fa1-b30e-e3514457981a&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Truth2Power/info.aspx" type="external">John Bromels Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Microsoft. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

general electricnyse ge invested lot resources becoming digital industrial company flagship digital industrial project predix cloudbased industrial operating system analyze manage data operations ge equipment facilities systems sounds great predix actuallydo continue reading three ways ge partnersmicrosoftnasdaq msft exelon nyse exc using predix improve customers bottom linesand ges predix analytical software improve plant performance reduce maintenance costs image source getty images industrial machinery incredibly complex even single steam turbine one ges major products thousands variables like heat pressure friction temperature speed need programmed monitored adjusted often real time machine running small wonder machines generate incredible number data points according ge single plant generate two terabytes data single day advertisement cloudbased system predix collect analyze data provide critical information machine operating good since reveal inefficiencies machine detect problems occur predix go one step actually detect potential problems occur sometimes months advance exelon largest utility us seeing value firsthand ges recent minds machines conference san francisco exelon demonstrated used predix asset performance management app identify increased temperatures pair bearings inside machine led diagnosis faulty cooling system valve elsewhere machine without predix problem might discovered bearings failed faulty valve caused serious problems add big savings customers like exelon fact ganesh bell ge powers chief digital officer estimates deploying one apm app could save ge powers customers 390 billion 10 years predix capabilities beyond simply identifying problems even recommend solutions predix creates digital twin reallife machine comparing actual data coming machine operates theoretical data generated digital version predix catch discrepancies machine actually operating operating also simulate different potential solutions might affect machines future operations example minds machines ges vice president software research dr colin j parris demonstrated situation single d11 turbine rotor southern california experiencing small amount damage predix able identify problem diagnose left uncorrected machines useful lifespan would cut 69 predix also utilized machines historical data data d11 turbines around world nearly 60000 digital simulations propose optimal solution involved digitally aligning ramp rates thermal pressure also side effect burning less fuel course avoiding 12 million equipment failure predix optimize lifespan operations individual machines thats valuable course ges partnership microsoft predix also revolutionize industry microsofts corporate vice president intelligent cloud internet things business development kevin dallas demonstrated one way occurring minds machines microsoft ge teamed use predix help unnamed power transmission company client client 50000 miles transmission assets including lines towers clamps transformers company needed maintain crew 2000 people inspect lines costly process involving helicopters remote areas however predix app developed microsoft company able use fleet drones travel autonomously along lines photographing asset multiple angles along way app analyzes photos transmission data identify problems missing bolt pin problem identified system flags live operator check false positive problem confirmed system automatically creates work order sends repair crew sounds revolutionary amazing part app took six weeks microsoft develop yes read right six weeks create entire autonomous system save company millions dollars yearmicrosoft used asis software provider found additional revenue stream working clients create tailored apps predixs capabilities impressive theres doubt better yet create value ge clients like exelon given amount cost savings predix offer clear big market opportunity waiting tapped ge partner microsoft ge predicts three years industrial internet nearly 50 times larger consumer internet course big untapped market usually means competitors emerge ge microsoft competition aplenty respective fields certainly many internet things software platforms various stages developmentbut unique ability manufacture huge industrial machinery software component proven realworld applications technology ge looks clear lead among peers lucrative space 10 stocks like better general electric investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right nowand general electric wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns nov 7 2016 john bromels opens new window owns shares microsoft motley fool owns shares general electric try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new 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<p /> <p>Donald Trump rode into the Oval Office with one simple campaign promise: to make America great again. Yet, nearly three months into his presidency, Trump is learning that making America great again takes time.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Trump's agenda is jam-packed with reforms, many of which have yet to be tackled. For example, Trump's cornerstone reform involves rethinking individual and corporate taxes. He campaigned for a lower tax for individuals and corporations, as well as a simplified tax code. These measures are designed to allow corporations to keep more income to reinvest and hire, as well as put more money back into the pockets of consumers to boost our consumption-driven economy.</p> <p>Image source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Flickr.</p> <p>In addition, Trump would like to deregulate the banking and energy industries, promote domestic shale production, pass a decade-long infrastructure package, and reform healthcare. The latter point has turned into a sore spot for Trump and Congress, with an initial bill, dubbed the American Health Care Act, failing to garner enough support from Republicans in the House.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>However, the Trump presidency is indeed making something great again: gold.</p> <p>Earlier this week, the lustrous yellow metal hit a five-month high, closing above $1,270 an ounce for the first time since early November. A quick review of the 27 gold-mining stocks with market caps of $300 million or more as of April 11 shows that 23 are up year-to-date, with 20 of those gold stocks up by a minimum of 10%.</p> <p>Though Donald Trump isn't the only reason gold stocks are up this year -- as a whole they've drastically reduced their costs, focused on their most profitable mines, and benefited from global growth -- he's certainly played a key role in pushing physical gold prices higher.</p> <p>Even if President Trump hasn't successfully passed any of his major reforms thus far, the simple fact that he's working toward a number of policies that would reignite growth is exciting for the gold market.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Now I know what some of you might be thinking: "Wait a minute, higher growth rates mean the Federal Reserve will probably tighten monetary policy, hurting the price of gold, right?" To some extent you're completely right. Higher interest rates increase the opportunity cost of owning gold by making it more appealing to own safer interest-bearing assets, such as U.S. Treasuries or bank CDs. However, a growing economy can also offer counterbalances to the negative impact of higher interest rates.</p> <p>To begin with, a growing economy usually spurs inflation. In general, higher levels of inflation coincide with a more positive environment for gold. As the economy heats up, the Fed will expand the monetary supply, which makes each dollar already in circulation worth a little bit less, and makes buying an ounce of gold costlier. The expectation of higher inflation under a Trump presidency is keeping the negative impact of higher interest rates in check.</p> <p>Also, a growing economy likely signals a growing demand for commodities, including gold, which has industrial and jewelry-related uses. Supply and demand may be an oft-overlooked driver of gold prices, but with the U.S. economy humming along, and supply from mining companies staying somewhat constrained following a four-year downtrend in precious-metal prices between 2011 and 2015, gold prices are benefiting.</p> <p>In an almost ironic twist, even if Trump's policies don't come to fruition, physical gold can still benefit. This is because gold has been feeding off of the uncertainties caused by Trump's inexperience in political office.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Being president of the United States involves a learning curve for all who've held the title, but it's an especially steep curve for an individual who has no prior political or military experience. Trump approving attacks of a Syrian airfield last week and regularly questioning the actions of other nations, including allies of the United States, are the ammo that skeptics need to push gold prices higher.</p> <p>Should Trump be unable to put his campaign promises into action and the U.S. economy flounders, then gold will probably thrive as it has in the past as a safe haven for investors to consider parking their money in until things improve. When it comes to Trump's policies, less truly can be more for gold.</p> <p>Trump has also been hypercritical of a handful of foreign countries, especially China. In particular, the president has suggested that countries like China have purposefully manipulated their currencies in order to devalue them against the dollar, encouraging Americans to import foreign goods, while making it more expensive for foreign countries to import U.S. goods. Long story short, Trump blames currency devaluations for a good chunk of our national trade deficit.</p> <p>Interestingly enough, though, Trump also doesn't view the U.S. dollar as a true global currency -- at least he didn't in a February speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he proclaimed there was "no such thing as a global anthem, a global currency or a global flag." In a roundabout way, Trump could be implying his favorability toward a currency-backed system that can't be manipulated. Namely, gold.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Last year, Trump wasn't so ambivalent about his feelings toward gold. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/27/would-donald-trump-really-put-america-back-on-the.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">In an interview with GQ Opens a New Window.</a> Trump said, "Bringing back the gold standard would be very hard to do, but boy would it be wonderful. We'd have a standard on which to base our money."</p> <p>Now, let's be perfectly clear: the gold standard has an infinitesimally small chance of coming back. In most respects it doesn't make economic sense, so you gold opportunists just stay seated in your chairs. However, Trump's commentary is a clear indication that he favors gold.</p> <p>A little over three months ago, <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/06/put-me-on-record-gold-will-see-2000-before-1000.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">I went on record Opens a New Window.</a>suggesting that, with gold at $1,170 an ounce, it had a far better chance of rising $830 an ounce and hitting $2,000 than it had of losing $170 an ounce and falling back to $1,000. The lustrous yellow metal is already $100 closer to $2,000, and with Trump in the Oval Office it has more than enough catalysts to continue marching higher.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better thanWal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and TomGardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter theyhave run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tomjust revealed what they believe are the <a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>for investors to buy right now... and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- theythink these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*StockAdvisor returns as of April 3, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p> <p>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

donald trump rode oval office one simple campaign promise make america great yet nearly three months presidency trump learning making america great takes time continue reading trumps agenda jampacked reforms many yet tackled example trumps cornerstone reform involves rethinking individual corporate taxes campaigned lower tax individuals corporations well simplified tax code measures designed allow corporations keep income reinvest hire well put money back pockets consumers boost consumptiondriven economy image source us department homeland security flickr addition trump would like deregulate banking energy industries promote domestic shale production pass decadelong infrastructure package reform healthcare latter point turned sore spot trump congress initial bill dubbed american health care act failing garner enough support republicans house advertisement however trump presidency indeed making something great gold earlier week lustrous yellow metal hit fivemonth high closing 1270 ounce first time since early november quick review 27 goldmining stocks market caps 300 million april 11 shows 23 yeartodate 20 gold stocks minimum 10 though donald trump isnt reason gold stocks year whole theyve drastically reduced costs focused profitable mines benefited global growth hes certainly played key role pushing physical gold prices higher even president trump hasnt successfully passed major reforms thus far simple fact hes working toward number policies would reignite growth exciting gold market image source getty images know might thinking wait minute higher growth rates mean federal reserve probably tighten monetary policy hurting price gold right extent youre completely right higher interest rates increase opportunity cost owning gold making appealing safer interestbearing assets us treasuries bank cds however growing economy also offer counterbalances negative impact higher interest rates begin growing economy usually spurs inflation general higher levels inflation coincide positive environment gold economy heats fed expand monetary supply makes dollar already circulation worth little bit less makes buying ounce gold costlier expectation higher inflation trump presidency keeping negative impact higher interest rates check also growing economy likely signals growing demand commodities including gold industrial jewelryrelated uses supply demand may oftoverlooked driver gold prices us economy humming along supply mining companies staying somewhat constrained following fouryear downtrend preciousmetal prices 2011 2015 gold prices benefiting almost ironic twist even trumps policies dont come fruition physical gold still benefit gold feeding uncertainties caused trumps inexperience political office image source getty images president united states involves learning curve whove held title especially steep curve individual prior political military experience trump approving attacks syrian airfield last week regularly questioning actions nations including allies united states ammo skeptics need push gold prices higher trump unable put campaign promises action us economy flounders gold probably thrive past safe investors consider parking money things improve comes trumps policies less truly gold trump also hypercritical handful foreign countries especially china particular president suggested countries like china purposefully manipulated currencies order devalue dollar encouraging americans import foreign goods making expensive foreign countries import us goods long story short trump blames currency devaluations good chunk national trade deficit interestingly enough though trump also doesnt view us dollar true global currency least didnt february speech conservative political action conference proclaimed thing global anthem global currency global flag roundabout way trump could implying favorability toward currencybacked system cant manipulated namely gold image source getty images last year trump wasnt ambivalent feelings toward gold interview gq opens new window trump said bringing back gold standard would hard boy would wonderful wed standard base money lets perfectly clear gold standard infinitesimally small chance coming back respects doesnt make economic sense gold opportunists stay seated chairs however trumps commentary clear indication favors gold little three months ago went record opens new windowsuggesting gold 1170 ounce far better chance rising 830 ounce hitting 2000 losing 170 ounce falling back 1000 lustrous yellow metal already 100 closer 2000 trump oval office enough catalysts continue marching higher 10 stocks like better thanwalmartwhen investing geniuses david tomgardner stock tip pay listen newsletter theyhave run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tomjust revealed believe ten best stocks opens new windowfor investors buy right walmart wasnt one thats right theythink 10 stocks even better buys click opens new windowto learn picks stockadvisor returns april 3 2017the authors may position stocks mentioned motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>Muslim YouTube star and known prankster Adam Saleh captured headlines when he posted videos claiming that <a href="" type="internal">he and his friends were kicked off a Delta Airlines flight</a> for simply speaking Arabic. However, many are questioning Saleh's account of the incident and believe that the whole thing is a hoax. Saleh and his friends are insisting that it's real.</p> <p>Here are seven things you need to know about Saleh.</p> <p>1. Saleh has pulled off pranks that cross the line.</p> <p>Here's video of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoycottDelta?src=hash" type="external">#BoycottDelta</a> "hero" Adam Selah making a kid cry by 'prank' threatening him in a park and calling a man the N-word. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/awful?src=hash" type="external">#awful</a> <a href="https://t.co/p9lUJkYJwW" type="external">pic.twitter.com/p9lUJkYJwW</a></p> <p>In the first part of the video, Saleh shouts Allahu Akbar twice at a kid and makes a hand motion that mimics a stabbing&#8211;which would naturally cause the kid to cry. In the second part, Saleh starts pushing a black man and says, "Say one more thing, n***a" repeatedly.</p> <p>2. Saleh orchestrated a stop-and-frisk hoax in 2014. Saleh and video producer Sheikh Akbar released a video at the time showing the two men loudly arguing with each other near a police officer, who seemed to ignore them. When the two men walked by the same officer "wearing keffiyeh scarves and traditional long shirts," the officer proceedd to push "them against a wall and searches them for weapons," according to the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/21/nypd-frisk-muslim-clothes_n_6014964.html" type="external">Huffington Post</a>. The video was paraded around by organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to highlight the supposed racial profiling that Muslims endure on a regular basis.</p> <p>There was one problem: the video was fake.</p> <p>"This video is a Dramatization of previous events that occurred with us in our tradition clothing while filming in NYC," Saleh and Akbar later wrote in the video's description. "This video is not against the NYPD, it&#8217;s just an example of what we have to go through sometimes when filming in NYC. This is to raise awareness for Racial Profiling."</p> <p>Their manager was not aware that the video was fake. CAIR even demanded an apology, although the organization's New York director said that "the video illustrates the very real discrimination that Muslims in New York often face at the hands of the NYPD." In other words, the <a href="https://nypost.com/2015/09/30/wacko-dan-rather-movie-still-insists-forged-bush-national-guard-documents-were-real/" type="external">fake but accurate</a> excuse.</p> <p>3. Saleh also released a video that purportedly showed him being flown from Melbourne to Sydney, Australia in a suitcase. This was also a hoax. The video shows Saleh being stuffed into a suitcase that is seen going down a conveyor belt, the suitcase comes out on the other end and Saleh pops out. Saleh can also be seen saying while supposedly in the suitcase, "I am so scared, I don't know if I'm going to survive."</p> <p>However, the Melbourne Airport's security video proved that Saleh boarded the flight with his friends and was not in a suitcase. A spokesperson from Tigerair also pointed out that it would have been impossible for Saleh to have been on the flight in the suitcase to begin with, given that the size of the suitcase he was supposedly in would have been stopped by the airport staff. If Saleh had somehow been on the flight in the suitcase, he would have frozen to death due to the decline in temperature that would have occurred.</p> <p>Saleh's manager tried to downplay the stunt as good fun, but the Melbourne Airport was not amused.</p> <p>"While this video is clearly a publicity stunt, it promotes behaviours that are dangerous and life threatening," the airport told <a href="http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/tigerair-slams-youtuber-adam-saleh-over-worlds-stupidest-prank/news-story/b9c7d2dc51d38896a3c606d7bbd96583" type="external">news.com.au</a>. "Airport safety and security are serious matters, and not appropriate targets for humour."</p> <p>4. Saleh is a 9/11 truther. Saleh has sent out numerous tweets promoting bizarre conspiracy theories about 9/11 being an inside job as well as distasteful jokes about the horrific day, via <a href="http://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2016/12/22/6-times-adam-saleh-went-911-truther-or-acted-like-a-douche-that-the-msm-wont-tell-you-about/" type="external">Twitchy</a>:</p> <p>RIP to everyone who passed away on the planned event on 9/11. It's 24/7 in the Middle East but no one seems to care. :|</p> <p>these kids were talking about how Muslims were the cause of 9/11..haha..it cracks me up! Even the blind can see that 9/11 was an inside job!</p> <p>awkward moment when you check the time and its 9:11</p> <p>RIP to all the innocent people that died because of the INSIDE JOB in 9/11..</p> <p>Bush is the hacker and he did 9/11</p> <p>NEW VLOG IS UP! RACIST MAN ON PLANE! DAY BEFORE 9/11! Hope you all have a great day much LOVE! RT <a href="https://t.co/JG5Unh5ns9" type="external">https</a> <a href="https://t.co/JG5Unh5ns9" type="external">://t.co/JG5Unh5ns9</a></p> <p>5. Saleh has also tweeted sympathy for the Boston Bomber. The tweet has since been deleted, but the Internet is forever:</p> <p>Sorry <a href="https://twitter.com/omgAdamSaleh" type="external">@omgAdamSaleh</a>, but you can't delete your defense of a guy on death row for waging jihad at the Boston Marathon finish line. <a href="https://t.co/t68FWwdvsO" type="external">pic.twitter.com/t68FWwdvsO</a></p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/ElliottRHams" type="external">@ElliottRHams</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/omgAdamSaleh" type="external">@omgAdamSaleh</a> According to him, he won't believe it unless there's video... which is ironic bc there's no video to support his allegations against delta <a href="https://t.co/QfBYDvY1vK" type="external">pic.twitter.com/QfBYDvY1vK</a></p> <p>"Jahar" is a reference to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/15/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-trial-boston-marathon" type="external">Dhozkar Tsarnaev</a>, one of the two brothers involved in the bombing who was sentenced to death for his heinous act of terror. The <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/boston-marathon-bombings" type="external">bombing</a> killed three people and injuring over 260 others.</p> <p>6. Saleh is also anti-Israel.</p> <p>I remember my Professor mentioned Israel..and I said whats that?? he said 'Thats a country' and I was like OOOOOOOOOOH you mean Palestine :D</p> <p>This is a truly asinine tweet since <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2012/02/there_was_never_a_country_called_palestine.html" type="external">Palestine has never existed as a country</a>.</p> <p>7. Saleh's Delta Airlines video appears to be yet another hoax. Two people who were on the flight told a different story on social media:</p> <p>&#8220;The YouTube guy was trying to get his friend to shout something in Arabic which he did a total of 4 times,&#8221; one person wrote alongside a picture of their plane ticket. &#8220;A couple of passengers after the second time said they were making themselves and their young children uncomfortable and could they shut up.&#8221;</p> <p>Another shared their boyfriend&#8217;s account of the same episode to Facebook.</p> <p>&#8220;The entire thing was planned. He wasn&#8217;t on the phone with his mom speaking in Arabic,&#8221; Roderick J. Edens wrote, also sharing a snap of a plane ticket. &#8220;He and his friends were shouting in Arabic with their fists balled up in the air. They were removed from the plane for being loud and disruptive.&#8221;</p> <p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live/video/passengers-react-to-youtube-star-being-removed-from-flight/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&amp;amp;linkId=32641623" type="external">CBS News</a> interviewed some passengers on the flight&#8211;some felt that it seemed staged, one said that it looked like Saleh was simply saying a prayer and someone reported it. However, Delta Airlines spokeswoman Morgan Durant basically confirmed that Saleh was disrupting the flight..</p> <p>"The customers who were removed sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behavior, including shouting," Durant said in a statement to the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/delta-passengers-dispute-adam-saleh-discrimination-claims-article-1.2920048" type="external">New York Daily News</a>. "This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight."</p> <p>Legal Insurrection's <a href="http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/12/adam-saleh-viral-video-removed-from-plane-for-speaking-arabic-or-horrible-hoax/" type="external">Aleister</a> has speculated that Saleh pulled off this stunt to promote his upcoming Middle East tour based on these tweets:</p> <p>This is the guy who you guys think actually got kicked off a plane for speaking Arabic. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/boycottdelta?src=hash" type="external">#boycottdelta</a> <a href="https://t.co/ORqHxla1Kp" type="external">pic.twitter.com/ORqHxla1Kp</a></p> <p>Oh weird.. Selling merchandise for a "World wide tour" <a href="https://t.co/QntG9dOsiO" type="external">https://t.co/QntG9dOsiO</a></p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Adoomies?src=hash" type="external">#Adoomies</a> who wants a limited edition <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AdamSaleh?src=hash" type="external">#AdamSaleh</a> t-shirt?! See picture for more details. Last few VIP tickets left - <a href="https://t.co/MJoDPFvX8g" type="external">https://t.co/MJoDPFvX8g</a> <a href="https://t.co/KsP3qi2UM3" type="external">pic.twitter.com/KsP3qi2UM3</a></p> <p>Given Saleh's penchant for hoaxes and immature tweets and actions, Aleister's theory seems plausible.</p>

muslim youtube star known prankster adam saleh captured headlines posted videos claiming friends kicked delta airlines flight simply speaking arabic however many questioning salehs account incident believe whole thing hoax saleh friends insisting real seven things need know saleh 1 saleh pulled pranks cross line heres video boycottdelta hero adam selah making kid cry prank threatening park calling man nword awful pictwittercomp9lujkyjww first part video saleh shouts allahu akbar twice kid makes hand motion mimics stabbingwhich would naturally cause kid cry second part saleh starts pushing black man says say one thing na repeatedly 2 saleh orchestrated stopandfrisk hoax 2014 saleh video producer sheikh akbar released video time showing two men loudly arguing near police officer seemed ignore two men walked officer wearing keffiyeh scarves traditional long shirts officer proceedd push wall searches weapons according huffington post video paraded around organizations like council americanislamic relations cair highlight supposed racial profiling muslims endure regular basis one problem video fake video dramatization previous events occurred us tradition clothing filming nyc saleh akbar later wrote videos description video nypd example go sometimes filming nyc raise awareness racial profiling manager aware video fake cair even demanded apology although organizations new york director said video illustrates real discrimination muslims new york often face hands nypd words fake accurate excuse 3 saleh also released video purportedly showed flown melbourne sydney australia suitcase also hoax video shows saleh stuffed suitcase seen going conveyor belt suitcase comes end saleh pops saleh also seen saying supposedly suitcase scared dont know im going survive however melbourne airports security video proved saleh boarded flight friends suitcase spokesperson tigerair also pointed would impossible saleh flight suitcase begin given size suitcase supposedly would stopped airport staff saleh somehow flight suitcase would frozen death due decline temperature would occurred salehs manager tried downplay stunt good fun melbourne airport amused video clearly publicity stunt promotes behaviours dangerous life threatening airport told newscomau airport safety security serious matters appropriate targets humour 4 saleh 911 truther saleh sent numerous tweets promoting bizarre conspiracy theories 911 inside job well distasteful jokes horrific day via twitchy rip everyone passed away planned event 911 247 middle east one seems care kids talking muslims cause 911hahait cracks even blind see 911 inside job awkward moment check time 911 rip innocent people died inside job 911 bush hacker 911 new vlog racist man plane day 911 hope great day much love rt https tcojg5unh5ns9 5 saleh also tweeted sympathy boston bomber tweet since deleted internet forever sorry omgadamsaleh cant delete defense guy death row waging jihad boston marathon finish line pictwittercomt68fwwdvso elliottrhams omgadamsaleh according wont believe unless theres video ironic bc theres video support allegations delta pictwittercomqfbydvy1vk jahar reference dhozkar tsarnaev one two brothers involved bombing sentenced death heinous act terror bombing killed three people injuring 260 others 6 saleh also antiisrael remember professor mentioned israeland said whats said thats country like ooooooooooh mean palestine truly asinine tweet since palestine never existed country 7 salehs delta airlines video appears yet another hoax two people flight told different story social media youtube guy trying get friend shout something arabic total 4 times one person wrote alongside picture plane ticket couple passengers second time said making young children uncomfortable could shut another shared boyfriends account episode facebook entire thing planned wasnt phone mom speaking arabic roderick j edens wrote also sharing snap plane ticket friends shouting arabic fists balled air removed plane loud disruptive cbs news interviewed passengers flightsome felt seemed staged one said looked like saleh simply saying prayer someone reported however delta airlines spokeswoman morgan durant basically confirmed saleh disrupting flight customers removed sought disrupt cabin provocative behavior including shouting durant said statement new york daily news type conduct welcome delta flight legal insurrections aleister speculated saleh pulled stunt promote upcoming middle east tour based tweets guy guys think actually got kicked plane speaking arabic boycottdelta pictwittercomorqhxla1kp oh weird selling merchandise world wide tour httpstcoqntg9dosio adoomies wants limited edition adamsaleh tshirt see picture details last vip tickets left httpstcomjodpfvx8g pictwittercomksp3qi2um3 given salehs penchant hoaxes immature tweets actions aleisters theory seems plausible

<p /> <p>Source: Facebook.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Facebook did it again. Coming off back-to-back earnings blowouts, it's hard to imagine that the sprawling social-media powerhouse could have the wind more squarely to its back.</p> <p>And if you're CEO Mark Zuckerberg, this ebullient environment is also the perfect time to make a bold request from the fawning investing masses, like last week, when the company said the board is seeking approval to issue a new class of non-voting stock in a move that would ensure Zuckerberg's control of the company while allowing him to pursue philanthropic activities.</p> <p>Zuck's feeling charitableAs part of the company's Q2 earnings announcement, Facebook unveiled a proposal to create a new three-tiered stock structure.The company currently operates under a two-tiered structure, with Class A and Class B shares. Class B shares are each allowed 10 votes in all corporate governance matters, while Class A stock casts only a single vote per share.</p> <p>Under the proposed structure, Facebook would pay all Class A and Class B shareholders a one-time dividend of two newly created Class C shares. These newly minted Class C shares would carry all the economic benefits due to Facebook investors but, crucially, carry no voting power.</p> <p>So why is Facebook doing this, you ask?</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>In two letters accompanying the earnings release, Zuckerberg and Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch argue that the new share structure will allow Facebook to maintain its laudable long-term vision while allowing Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, to accelerate their philanthropic pursuits. As they note, Facebook's long-term vision has enabled the company to make some of its most successful decisions, such as acquiring Instagram for a then-preposterous $1 billion. As such, separating Zuckerberg's financial stake from his voting control will allow him and his wife to accelerate their plans to give away 99% of his Facebook shares over his lifetime, while maintaining his ability to control and manage Facebook. Though I believe Zuckerberg is the right man to lead Facebook, it's worth noting that the stock split plan could create a few long-term risks at Facebook.</p> <p>Source: Facebook.</p> <p>For better or worse ... The value Zuckerberg has brought to Facebook is beyond dispute. But when the time comes for Zuckerberg to step down, that's when his disproportionate control over Facebook could grow fractious.</p> <p>The share structure at Facebook -- whether the current one or the proposed one -- is only a good deal for retail investors for as long as Zuckerberg continues his winning streak. However, should any normal scenario arise in which a company might ordinarily remove its CEO, Zuckerberg will be effectively institutionalized and unremovable under the new share structure. What's more, this could hypothetically lead to Zuckerberg running the company while also having little to no vested interest in its financial health or performance as he could give away C shares to meet his philanthropic promises and keep B shares.</p> <p>What if he makes a cataclysmic product decision? What if, as so often happens as technology executives age, he fails to properly prepare Facebook to deal with a generational shift in technology?</p> <p>Or what if Zuckerberg becomes fatally ill?</p> <p>History tells us that one of these scenarios will arise, maybe more. In every one of these adverse circumstances, it will be up to Zuckerberg, and Zuckerberg alone, to be the bigger man.</p> <p>Note, too, that according to research, such non-egalitarian voting structures on average tend to underperform by a host of relevant metrics. A recent study from corporate-governance watchdog Institutional Shareholder Services found: "Controlled companies generally underperformed non-controlled firms over all periods reviewed in terms of total shareholder returns, revenue growth, and return on equity, according to a new study. The study also finds that average chief executive (CEO) pay is significantly higher at controlled companies with multi-class stock structures."</p> <p>Facebook is the exception to these criticisms in every regard today, but the long-term risks still remain.</p> <p>But in the end, sounding any alarms is probably irrelevant. According to Facebook's annual report, Zuckerberg currently owns over 418 million of Facebook's Class B shares, which gives him alone nearly 54% of the company's total voting power. So Zuckerberg can basically do as he pleases, including force this proposal on outside shareholders, whether they like it or not.</p> <p>So, like it or not, "In Zuck We Trust" may well become Facebook investors' favorite motto.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/04/is-facebooks-stock-split-idea-good-for-investors.aspx" type="external">Is Facebook's Stock Split Idea Good for Investors? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTheDude/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Andrew Tonner Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

source facebook continue reading facebook coming backtoback earnings blowouts hard imagine sprawling socialmedia powerhouse could wind squarely back youre ceo mark zuckerberg ebullient environment also perfect time make bold request fawning investing masses like last week company said board seeking approval issue new class nonvoting stock move would ensure zuckerbergs control company allowing pursue philanthropic activities zucks feeling charitableas part companys q2 earnings announcement facebook unveiled proposal create new threetiered stock structurethe company currently operates twotiered structure class class b shares class b shares allowed 10 votes corporate governance matters class stock casts single vote per share proposed structure facebook would pay class class b shareholders onetime dividend two newly created class c shares newly minted class c shares would carry economic benefits due facebook investors crucially carry voting power facebook ask advertisement two letters accompanying earnings release zuckerberg facebook general counsel colin stretch argue new share structure allow facebook maintain laudable longterm vision allowing zuckerberg wife priscilla chan accelerate philanthropic pursuits note facebooks longterm vision enabled company make successful decisions acquiring instagram thenpreposterous 1 billion separating zuckerbergs financial stake voting control allow wife accelerate plans give away 99 facebook shares lifetime maintaining ability control manage facebook though believe zuckerberg right man lead facebook worth noting stock split plan could create longterm risks facebook source facebook better worse value zuckerberg brought facebook beyond dispute time comes zuckerberg step thats disproportionate control facebook could grow fractious share structure facebook whether current one proposed one good deal retail investors long zuckerberg continues winning streak however normal scenario arise company might ordinarily remove ceo zuckerberg effectively institutionalized unremovable new share structure whats could hypothetically lead zuckerberg running company also little vested interest financial health performance could give away c shares meet philanthropic promises keep b shares makes cataclysmic product decision often happens technology executives age fails properly prepare facebook deal generational shift technology zuckerberg becomes fatally ill history tells us one scenarios arise maybe every one adverse circumstances zuckerberg zuckerberg alone bigger man note according research nonegalitarian voting structures average tend underperform host relevant metrics recent study corporategovernance watchdog institutional shareholder services found controlled companies generally underperformed noncontrolled firms periods reviewed terms total shareholder returns revenue growth return equity according new study study also finds average chief executive ceo pay significantly higher controlled companies multiclass stock structures facebook exception criticisms every regard today longterm risks still remain end sounding alarms probably irrelevant according facebooks annual report zuckerberg currently owns 418 million facebooks class b shares gives alone nearly 54 companys total voting power zuckerberg basically pleases including force proposal outside shareholders whether like like zuck trust may well become facebook investors favorite motto article facebooks stock split idea good investors opens new window originally appeared foolcom andrew tonner opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends facebook try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window copyright 1995 2016 motley fool llc rights reserved motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>Tencent Holdings (NASDAQOTH: TCEHY) is already one of the world's largest companies. The Chinese tech and multimedia giant boasts a <a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/market-capitalization.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=d6bda3d0-9f1c-4aac-be07-45a814a49151&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">market cap Opens a New Window.</a> north of $550 billion, and it's delivered impressive returns for shareholders who got in early. Tencent's share price has climbed roughly 4,000% from its market-close price on its IPO day back in 2005.</p> <p>That means that $2,500 invested in the company roughly 13 years ago would be worth north of $100,000 today. Add another zero to your initial investment and your Tencent stock would be worth over $1 million. That's an incredible return in less than 15 years, but for new investors, the question is whether the stock still has big upside potential. I think the answer to the question is "yes," and here's why.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>In addition to its myriad business strengths, Tencent is on track to benefit from powerful growth that's shaping China's tech sector and the broader Chinese economy. Roughly 40% of the country's population has yet to connect to the internet, but urbanization is happening at a rapid pace, expanding access to the internet and spurring the growth of the middle class.</p> <p>McKinsey estimates that annual disposable income for those in the Chinese middle class will have risen from about $4,000 in 2010 to $8,000 in 2020. That's only one part of the growth equation, however. Investment bank Credit Suisse estimates that the size of China's middle class will have grown by 850 million people from 2009 to 2030. These are trends that bode very well for Tencent, which provides products including social networks, online payment options, and entertainment and information platforms.</p> <p>One of the characteristics that I look for when identifying companies with great long-term growth potential is a high degree of synergy between business segments. If a company can derive a competitive advantage from the interplay among units, even a small one, that edge has the potential to become more pronounced with time. It's the type of advantage that can play a defining role in market position and stock returns. And Tencent has that kind of beneficial synergy in spades.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The company owns and operates <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/24/can-tencent-monetize-wechat.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=d6bda3d0-9f1c-4aac-be07-45a814a49151&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">WeChat Opens a New Window.</a>, a messaging platform that has over 1 billion monthly active users and one that also acts as an all-in-one app. In addition to its messaging features, the service can be used for ride-hailing, ordering food, payment processing, and a wide range of other purposes. With a massive user base and far-reaching applications, WeChat benefits from its own network effect and extends this advantage to other Tencent businesses.</p> <p>This synergy is evident in its gaming unit, with WeChat being tied into marquee titles and also serving as its own content platform. This advantage has helped Tencent rise to the top of the video game industry, with the company standing as the world's largest publisher by revenue and possessing a selection of franchise properties, development resources, and social media integration that position it to take advantage of ongoing growth in interactive entertainment.</p> <p>Titles like League of Legends and Honor of Kings are hugely popular and rank among the world's most-played games. (Tencent created Honor of Kings and the company owns Riot Games, which is responsible for League of Legends.) These are titles with massive global audiences and long product life cycles that arm the company with high-margin revenue streams that last for years and become more profitable with time. Strength in the video game space also positions the company to take advantage of big growth opportunities in esports and mixed reality -- rising product categories that feed into expansion potential in social media and online payment services.</p> <p>The tech giant has also built one of China's most successful video-streaming platforms -- an asset that adds to the theme of beneficial synergies between its products. For example, users might upload a League of Legends gameplay video, which might then be discussed through WeChat. That social media engagement is likely to feed attention back to the game, paving the way for more videos and online discussion. There are a variety of permutations for this type of relationship, and they're generally going to work in Tencent's favor and help the company continue on its stellar sales trajectory.</p> <p>Tencent is also ramping up its presence in the cloud services space, a development that's promising on multiple levels. The September-ended quarter saw revenue for its "other businesses" segment (which primarily consists of its cloud and payment processing units) climb 143% year over year to comprise 18% of total sales. Ramping up strength in the cloud is a move that's likely to create far-reaching benefits for the company's other businesses as well.</p> <p>The cloud unit gives Tencent added resources for its artificial intelligence initiatives and a built-in and expanding customer base for AI features and services. Technologies developed within the cloud business could tie into the social media and gaming businesses, and vice versa, adding new dimensions to the synergistic loops already at play.</p> <p>Tencent also <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/13/tencent-owns-stakes-in-these-4-us-companies.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=d6bda3d0-9f1c-4aac-be07-45a814a49151&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">owns a significant stake Opens a New Window.</a> in a wide range of growth stocks. To give you a small snapshot of its portfolio, it owns roughly 5% of Activision Blizzard, 21% of JD.com, 5% of Tesla Motors, and 21% of Glu Mobile. That further diversifies the company and positions it to benefit from the growth of the overall tech sector.</p> <p>Big expectations are factored into Tencent's stock price, with shares trading at 62 times trailing earnings and 18 times trailing sales, but the company has built a series of competitive advantages that position it to thrive over the long term. The stock's most explosive growth may be behind it, but it's not too late to get in on what still looks to be a very promising long-term trajectory.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Tencent HoldingsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=1f1a1ca2-ba3f-4068-bb0f-58e33bc7a4c2&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=d6bda3d0-9f1c-4aac-be07-45a814a49151&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Tencent Holdings wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=1f1a1ca2-ba3f-4068-bb0f-58e33bc7a4c2&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=d6bda3d0-9f1c-4aac-be07-45a814a49151&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of March 5, 2018</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNoons/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=d6bda3d0-9f1c-4aac-be07-45a814a49151&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Keith Noonan Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Activision Blizzard. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Activision Blizzard, JD.com, Tencent Holdings, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=d6bda3d0-9f1c-4aac-be07-45a814a49151&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

tencent holdings nasdaqoth tcehy already one worlds largest companies chinese tech multimedia giant boasts market cap opens new window north 550 billion delivered impressive returns shareholders got early tencents share price climbed roughly 4000 marketclose price ipo day back 2005 means 2500 invested company roughly 13 years ago would worth north 100000 today add another zero initial investment tencent stock would worth 1 million thats incredible return less 15 years new investors question whether stock still big upside potential think answer question yes heres continue reading addition myriad business strengths tencent track benefit powerful growth thats shaping chinas tech sector broader chinese economy roughly 40 countrys population yet connect internet urbanization happening rapid pace expanding access internet spurring growth middle class mckinsey estimates annual disposable income chinese middle class risen 4000 2010 8000 2020 thats one part growth equation however investment bank credit suisse estimates size chinas middle class grown 850 million people 2009 2030 trends bode well tencent provides products including social networks online payment options entertainment information platforms one characteristics look identifying companies great longterm growth potential high degree synergy business segments company derive competitive advantage interplay among units even small one edge potential become pronounced time type advantage play defining role market position stock returns tencent kind beneficial synergy spades advertisement company owns operates wechat opens new window messaging platform 1 billion monthly active users one also acts allinone app addition messaging features service used ridehailing ordering food payment processing wide range purposes massive user base farreaching applications wechat benefits network effect extends advantage tencent businesses synergy evident gaming unit wechat tied marquee titles also serving content platform advantage helped tencent rise top video game industry company standing worlds largest publisher revenue possessing selection franchise properties development resources social media integration position take advantage ongoing growth interactive entertainment titles like league legends honor kings hugely popular rank among worlds mostplayed games tencent created honor kings company owns riot games responsible league legends titles massive global audiences long product life cycles arm company highmargin revenue streams last years become profitable time strength video game space also positions company take advantage big growth opportunities esports mixed reality rising product categories feed expansion potential social media online payment services tech giant also built one chinas successful videostreaming platforms asset adds theme beneficial synergies products example users might upload league legends gameplay video might discussed wechat social media engagement likely feed attention back game paving way videos online discussion variety permutations type relationship theyre generally going work tencents favor help company continue stellar sales trajectory tencent also ramping presence cloud services space development thats promising multiple levels septemberended quarter saw revenue businesses segment primarily consists cloud payment processing units climb 143 year year comprise 18 total sales ramping strength cloud move thats likely create farreaching benefits companys businesses well cloud unit gives tencent added resources artificial intelligence initiatives builtin expanding customer base ai features services technologies developed within cloud business could tie social media gaming businesses vice versa adding new dimensions synergistic loops already play tencent also owns significant stake opens new window wide range growth stocks give small snapshot portfolio owns roughly 5 activision blizzard 21 jdcom 5 tesla motors 21 glu mobile diversifies company positions benefit growth overall tech sector big expectations factored tencents stock price shares trading 62 times trailing earnings 18 times trailing sales company built series competitive advantages position thrive long term stocks explosive growth may behind late get still looks promising longterm trajectory 10 stocks like better tencent holdingswhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right tencent holdings wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns march 5 2018 keith noonan opens new window owns shares activision blizzard motley fool owns shares recommends activision blizzard jdcom tencent holdings tesla motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>At Apple's iPhone 7 unveiling in San Francisco on Wednesday, the tech powerhouse revealed a host of new and updated hardware and software, including a new type of headphone jack and souped-up camera. Here's a rundown of the biggest announcements.</p> <p>APPLE AIRPODS</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>As expected, iPhone is removing the standard analog headphone jack and forcing headphones to use its "Lightning" connector, which plugs into the phone's charging port. The iPhone 7 will come with an adapter so older earphones can still be used. But Apple is pushing Apple AirPods, which CEO Tim Cook says are a "breakthrough design," wireless headphones that sync across all Apple devices and respond to touch that can access Siri. The AirPods are shipping in late October and cost $160.</p> <p>IPHONE 7 AND 7 PLUS</p> <p>Apple's new iPhone is getting a faster processor, an updated home button and will come with water and dust protection. Apple says the iPhone 7 home button is now force sensitive, so responses can differ based on how hard you press it. It's similar to what Apple has done with a trackpad in a slimmer MacBook model last year. The iPhone 7 will have stereo speakers for the first time, with twice the volume of iPhone 6S speakers. The phone's battery life is improved, too; Apple estimates that the 7 Plus will have an additional hour of battery life compared to the 6S.</p> <p>CAMERA</p> <p>Camera improvements include a new flash with four rather than two shades of color to match ambient light. High-end photographers can get images in RAW format, which allows for more versatile editing, matching what many leading cameras now have.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The iPhone 7 Plus will have two cameras with different lenses that will boost the zoom capabilities of the camera. The camera can now zoom in up to 10 times the original size of the photo. Both cameras take 12 megapixel photos. The two lenses will also sense depth and allow users to blur backgrounds in images, mimicking an effect that typically requires changing the lens aperture in stand-alone cameras.</p> <p>Other smartphone makers such as LG and Motorola are also starting to offer models with dual lenses to improve picture quality. The difference is the wide angle on LG G5 has lower resolution with 8 megapixels.</p> <p>PRICING AND STORAGE</p> <p>The iPhone 7 will start at $650, the same as the 6s it replaces. The larger Plus model is increasing to $770, instead of $750. They come in silver, gold, rose gold, black and the new jet-black finish. Storage has been doubled, so Apple joins rival phone makers in making the starter model 32 gigabytes, rather than 16 gigabytes before. Apple is doubling storage in higher-priced models, too &#8212; to 128 and 256 gigabytes.</p> <p>The new phones will ship Sept. 16, with orders to start this Friday. Older iPhones will get price reductions, and last year's models are also getting double the storage.</p> <p>iOS 10</p> <p>The latest software update, available on Tuesday, will add more intelligence to Apple services like Maps, Photos, the iPhone keyboard and Siri, the voice-activated digital assistant. There's a new Home app to control appliances. In a big change for Apple, the company is also opening Siri and its iMessage service to work with apps created by independent developers.</p> <p>Apple is also allowing developers to build apps for iMessage, although the options so far appear to mostly involve sending payments or ordering food. It's also adding bigger emoji and other visual effects for iMessage, including what it calls "Invisible Ink," which blurs an image in a message until a recipient swipes a finger across the screen. Apple announced many of the features in June.</p> <p>APPLE WATCH SERIES 2</p> <p>Apple introduced a "swim-proof" watch, the Apple Watch Series 2. The new watch has built-in GPS, a brighter display and faster processor than the previous Apple Watch. There's also new ceramic watch-face. The price starts at $370. The original model will get a faster processor price cut to $270, down from $300. The updates are coming Sept. 16.</p> <p>Existing watches can get new operating software on Sept. 13. In addition, there's a new Apple Watch Nike +, a Nike-branded Apple Watch in four colors that's designed for runners. It is also priced at $369 and is available late October. Battery life, which has been a weak spot of the watch, was not mentioned.</p> <p>POKEMON GO</p> <p>A Pokemon Go app is coming to Apple Watch. The app lets you collect items from Pokestops, hatch eggs and alert you to nearby Pokemon (you still need your phone to catch actual Pokemon). It will be shipping before the end of the year.</p> <p>NEW MARIO GAME</p> <p>Nintendo debuted a new Super Mario game for iOS called Super Mario Run. It's the first iOS game featuring Nintendo's Mario characters. Nintendo has long resisted bringing Mario to mobile phones, relying on it instead to sell its hand-held DS gaming systems. The new game, which can be played one handed, will be released in time for the holidays. The game will have a fixed price which is being kept under wraps for now. The news sent Nintendo shares soaring on Wednesday.</p> <p>APPLE PAY</p> <p>Apple Pay will come to Japan in October with a new wireless technology called Felica to be included in iPhones and Apple Watches there. Apple Pay will also come to New Zealand in October and Russia in the fall.</p> <p>In the U.S. and elsewhere, mobile payments use a wireless technology called NFC. A transit feature in Apple Maps will also launch in Japan.</p> <p>IWORK IN REAL TIME</p> <p>Apple iWork suite of software, including word processing, processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs, will include real-time collaboration features for the first time. It's something Google and Microsoft already offer in some form. Although Apple's iWork package allows syncing through iCloud, it's has been primarily for one person to work on documents at a time. The software is available for iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, with a web version for Windows users.</p>

apples iphone 7 unveiling san francisco wednesday tech powerhouse revealed host new updated hardware software including new type headphone jack soupedup camera heres rundown biggest announcements apple airpods continue reading expected iphone removing standard analog headphone jack forcing headphones use lightning connector plugs phones charging port iphone 7 come adapter older earphones still used apple pushing apple airpods ceo tim cook says breakthrough design wireless headphones sync across apple devices respond touch access siri airpods shipping late october cost 160 iphone 7 7 plus apples new iphone getting faster processor updated home button come water dust protection apple says iphone 7 home button force sensitive responses differ based hard press similar apple done trackpad slimmer macbook model last year iphone 7 stereo speakers first time twice volume iphone 6s speakers phones battery life improved apple estimates 7 plus additional hour battery life compared 6s camera camera improvements include new flash four rather two shades color match ambient light highend photographers get images raw format allows versatile editing matching many leading cameras advertisement iphone 7 plus two cameras different lenses boost zoom capabilities camera camera zoom 10 times original size photo cameras take 12 megapixel photos two lenses also sense depth allow users blur backgrounds images mimicking effect typically requires changing lens aperture standalone cameras smartphone makers lg motorola also starting offer models dual lenses improve picture quality difference wide angle lg g5 lower resolution 8 megapixels pricing storage iphone 7 start 650 6s replaces larger plus model increasing 770 instead 750 come silver gold rose gold black new jetblack finish storage doubled apple joins rival phone makers making starter model 32 gigabytes rather 16 gigabytes apple doubling storage higherpriced models 128 256 gigabytes new phones ship sept 16 orders start friday older iphones get price reductions last years models also getting double storage ios 10 latest software update available tuesday add intelligence apple services like maps photos iphone keyboard siri voiceactivated digital assistant theres new home app control appliances big change apple company also opening siri imessage service work apps created independent developers apple also allowing developers build apps imessage although options far appear mostly involve sending payments ordering food also adding bigger emoji visual effects imessage including calls invisible ink blurs image message recipient swipes finger across screen apple announced many features june apple watch series 2 apple introduced swimproof watch apple watch series 2 new watch builtin gps brighter display faster processor previous apple watch theres also new ceramic watchface price starts 370 original model get faster processor price cut 270 300 updates coming sept 16 existing watches get new operating software sept 13 addition theres new apple watch nike nikebranded apple watch four colors thats designed runners also priced 369 available late october battery life weak spot watch mentioned pokemon go pokemon go app coming apple watch app lets collect items pokestops hatch eggs alert nearby pokemon still need phone catch actual pokemon shipping end year new mario game nintendo debuted new super mario game ios called super mario run first ios game featuring nintendos mario characters nintendo long resisted bringing mario mobile phones relying instead sell handheld ds gaming systems new game played one handed released time holidays game fixed price kept wraps news sent nintendo shares soaring wednesday apple pay apple pay come japan october new wireless technology called felica included iphones apple watches apple pay also come new zealand october russia fall us elsewhere mobile payments use wireless technology called nfc transit feature apple maps also launch japan iwork real time apple iwork suite software including word processing processing spreadsheet presentation programs include realtime collaboration features first time something google microsoft already offer form although apples iwork package allows syncing icloud primarily one person work documents time software available iphones ipads mac computers web version windows users

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Tax planning isn't something most Americans want to think about as we head into the holidays, but having a year-round plan that takes into account the various tax laws can save you a lot of hassle and a little green come tax time. It can be especially helpful when considering that roughly 80% of all taxpayers wind up receiving a refund from the federal government.</p> <p>However, what you know about the U.S. tax code may be changing in the upcoming year. Just a few weeks ago the Internal Revenue Service released its tax changes for 2017, and there are quite a few updates you'll want to be aware of.</p> <p>But before we dive into what's different in 2017, keep in mind that the tax changes for 2017 aren't pertinent to the taxes you'll file in the coming months for fiscal 2016. The tax changes for 2017 pertain to the tax preparation you'll do in 2018 for calendar year 2017, so don't confuse the two.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The big change, obviously, is that the individual income tax brackets have been adjusted for inflation. The good news is that inflation has been nominal, meaning there wasn't a large shift upwards in the tax schedule.</p> <p>Here's what the 2016 tax bracket looks like now (the bracket you'll be using when preparing your taxes in a few months):</p> <p>Data source: IRS.Table by author.</p> <p>And here's the 2017 tax bracket:</p> <p>Data source: IRS.Table by author.</p> <p>You'll note the differences are very minute, meaning you probably won't need to make any year-over-year tax changes unless you expect significant changes in your salary or a large bonus. Inflation tends to dictate tax bracket changes, and we've been trending well below the long-term average for inflation for many years.</p> <p>Here's some good news from the IRS: Your standard deduction will go up a smidge in 2017. Individual filers and heads of household will receive a standard deduction of $6,350 and $9,350, respectively, in 2017, up $50 from 2016. Couples filing jointly get a $100 year-over-year lift to $12,700 in 2017. Although this change isn't liable to put a lot of extra money in your pocket, anything that can reduce your tax liability without having to lift a finger is good news.</p> <p>Among the various retirement tools at your disposal, the traditional IRA is among the most popular. Traditional IRAs are tax-deferred accounts, meaning you'll pay tax once you begin making withdrawals during retirement. But, they can also provide an ancillary benefit of lowering your current-year tax liability. In 2017, the phase-out range for taking this deduction increases $1,000 to $62,000 to $72,000 for single taxpayers, and $99,000 to $119,000 for married couples filing jointly.</p> <p>For those of you investing with a Roth IRA -- a retirement account with no upfront tax deduction, but which has the ability to grow tax-free for life -- the individual phase-out to be able to contribute rose $1,000 for single filers to a range of $118,000 to $133,000, while it jumped $2,000 for married couples filing jointly to a range of $186,000 to $196,000. In other words, a few extra people should be able to contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA in 2017 because of these modest increases.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Another tax change in 2017 relates to itemizing your medical expenses with the hope of deducting them.</p> <p>For the vast majority of Americans in 2016, your medical expenses would have had to surpass 10% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) before you could take a deduction. However, taxpayers 65 and older are able to use a previous threshold of just 7.5% of their AGI when itemizing and taking a deduction in 2016. Beginning in 2017, everyone is on the same playing field. If you're 65 and older, your medical expenses will have to top 10% of your AGI before you can claim itemized medical expenses.</p> <p>Finally, for those of you who've been diligent long-term investors or perhaps think of yourselves as barons, the estate tax exemption is increasing modestly in 2017. Estates of individual decedents who pass away in 2017 will be exempt up to $5.49 million, a $40,000 increase from 2016 levels. Estate taxes generally affect a small swath of the population, but that hasn't stopped President-elect Donald Trump from suggesting that they should be scrapped in their entirety.</p> <p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?source=irreditxt0000002&amp;amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a>has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/tmfultralong.aspx" type="external">TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/TMFUltraLong" type="external">@TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a>makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

image source getty images continue reading tax planning isnt something americans want think head holidays yearround plan takes account various tax laws save lot hassle little green come tax time especially helpful considering roughly 80 taxpayers wind receiving refund federal government however know us tax code may changing upcoming year weeks ago internal revenue service released tax changes 2017 quite updates youll want aware dive whats different 2017 keep mind tax changes 2017 arent pertinent taxes youll file coming months fiscal 2016 tax changes 2017 pertain tax preparation youll 2018 calendar year 2017 dont confuse two advertisement big change obviously individual income tax brackets adjusted inflation good news inflation nominal meaning wasnt large shift upwards tax schedule heres 2016 tax bracket looks like bracket youll using preparing taxes months data source irstable author heres 2017 tax bracket data source irstable author youll note differences minute meaning probably wont need make yearoveryear tax changes unless expect significant changes salary large bonus inflation tends dictate tax bracket changes weve trending well longterm average inflation many years heres good news irs standard deduction go smidge 2017 individual filers heads household receive standard deduction 6350 9350 respectively 2017 50 2016 couples filing jointly get 100 yearoveryear lift 12700 2017 although change isnt liable put lot extra money pocket anything reduce tax liability without lift finger good news among various retirement tools disposal traditional ira among popular traditional iras taxdeferred accounts meaning youll pay tax begin making withdrawals retirement also provide ancillary benefit lowering currentyear tax liability 2017 phaseout range taking deduction increases 1000 62000 72000 single taxpayers 99000 119000 married couples filing jointly investing roth ira retirement account upfront tax deduction ability grow taxfree life individual phaseout able contribute rose 1000 single filers range 118000 133000 jumped 2000 married couples filing jointly range 186000 196000 words extra people able contribute traditional roth ira 2017 modest increases image source getty images another tax change 2017 relates itemizing medical expenses hope deducting vast majority americans 2016 medical expenses would surpass 10 adjusted gross income agi could take deduction however taxpayers 65 older able use previous threshold 75 agi itemizing taking deduction 2016 beginning 2017 everyone playing field youre 65 older medical expenses top 10 agi claim itemized medical expenses finally whove diligent longterm investors perhaps think barons estate tax exemption increasing modestly 2017 estates individual decedents pass away 2017 exempt 549 million 40000 increase 2016 levels estate taxes generally affect small swath population hasnt stopped presidentelect donald trump suggesting scrapped entirety 15834 social security bonus retirees completely overlook youre like americans youre years behind retirement savings handful littleknown social security secrets could help ensure boost retirement income example one easy trick could pay much 15834 year learn maximize social security benefits think could retire confidently peace mind simply click discover learn strategies opens new window sean williams opens new windowhas material interest companies mentioned article follow caps screen name tmfultralong opens new window check twitter goes handle tmfultralong opens new window motley fool position stocks mentioned try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new windowmakes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>There's little question that the stock market is currently expensive. The S&amp;amp;P 500 sports a price-to-earnings ratio in the mid-20s, well above its historical average, and many high-quality stocks trade for even loftier multiples. Cheap stocks in this environment are few and far between.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>But if you look hard enough, there are still some bargains to be found. Bed Bath &amp;amp; Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY), Acacia Communications (NASDAQ: ACIA), and Chicago Bridge &amp;amp; Iron (NYSE: CBI) are all trading at depressed valuations. All three stocks come with significant risks, and all three could burn you if things go wrong. But there's plenty of upside if the worst-case scenarios fail to play out.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Bed Bath &amp;amp; Beyond is doing better than many other retailers. Fourth-quarter comparable sales grew by 0.4%, driven by 20% growth in online sales. The stores suffered a low single-digit decline,but an overall increase in sales makes Bed Bath &amp;amp; Beyond's results look stellar compared to some parts of the retail sector, particularly department stores.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The bottom line, however, is different story. As Bed Bath &amp;amp; Beyond shifts sales online, and as it continues to send out an unending stream of its ubiquitous "20% off" coupons, margins are taking a hit. Both gross and operating margins have been in decline since 2012, and net income has slumped by 34% from its peak. Share buybacks have boosted per-share earnings, but the company expects <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/07/bed-bath-beyond-inc-sales-rise-profits-fall.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">EPS to fall Opens a New Window.</a>by as much as 10% in 2017.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/BBBY" type="external">BBBY</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Slumping earnings have dragged down the stock price, creating an interesting situation for investors looking for cheap stocks. Assuming EPS does fall by 10%, the stock currently trades for just 8.5 times forward earnings. The market is betting that things keep getting worse, and they very well may. But if Bed Bath &amp;amp; Beyond can stabilize the bottom line, that valuation will look overly pessimistic in retrospect. There's significant risk here, especially if sales begin to decline. But the valuation makes opening a small position tempting.</p> <p>Acacia Communications makes optical interconnect products, counting cloud infrastructure providers and communication service providers as customers. Like with any small tech company, predicting the future is next to impossible. But Acacia has enjoyed both strong growth and impressive profitability over the past few years, and the stock is priced at what looks like a pessimistic level.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/ACIA" type="external">ACIA</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a>.</p> <p>Shares of Acacia are down about 60% from their peak, and they recently took a big hit when the company guided for a significant revenue decline during the second quarter. The culprit is weak demand in China, which is affecting not only Acacia but the entire industry. The company expects this to be a temporary slowdown, with growth returning during the second half.</p> <p>Acacia's market capitalization is now around $1.85 billion, about 15 times last year's adjusted earnings and 22 times analyst estimates for 2017 adjusted earnings. If the China slowdown turns out to be truly temporary, the stock could soar as the company returns to revenue and earnings growth in 2018. But if weak demand persists for longer than expected, the stock could tumble further. If a cheap small-cap tech stock is what you're after, Acacia is one to consider.</p> <p>Shares of Chicago Bridge &amp;amp; Iron, a century-old engineering and construction company, have been hammered over the past few years. The stock is down a whopping 77% from its peak in early 2014, <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/17/why-chicago-bridge-iron-is-a-fantastic-buy-today.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">driven by a couple of factors Opens a New Window.</a>. First, an ongoing legal dispute between CB&amp;amp;I and Westinghouse over CB&amp;amp;I's sale of its nuclear construction business could cost the company billions of dollars. Second, weak demand for its services, particularly in the energy sector, has led to slumping revenue and profits.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/CBI" type="external">CBI</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a>.</p> <p>Revenue tumbled 17.4% in 2016, and CB&amp;amp;I reported a $313 million net loss, its second consecutive year of losses. Adjusted net income was $438 million last year, with the discrepancy due to various charges related to cost-to-complete estimates for its projects. The company expects to produce adjusted EPS between $3.50 and $4.00 in 2017, putting the stock price at just 5.4 times the midpoint of that range.</p> <p>The Westinghouse lawsuit creates a lot of uncertainty, especially since CB&amp;amp;I's market capitalization is now just $2 billion, the same amount Westinghouse claims it's owed. On top of that, the company will need to turn its business around and return to earnings growth. A new CEO is taking the helm on July 1, with a challenging task ahead.</p> <p>If the lawsuit doesn't go terribly wrong for CB&amp;amp;I, the stock could soar due to its beaten-down valuation alone. There's a lot of uncertainly and a lot of risk, but a single-digit earnings multiple should put the stock on your radar.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Acacia CommunicationsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=89fd82f5-27da-42d3-a598-31fde9f65a4c&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Acacia Communications wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=89fd82f5-27da-42d3-a598-31fde9f65a4c&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of May 1, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBargainBin/info.aspx" type="external">Timothy Green Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Bed Bath &amp;amp; Beyond. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

theres little question stock market currently expensive sampp 500 sports pricetoearnings ratio mid20s well historical average many highquality stocks trade even loftier multiples cheap stocks environment far continue reading look hard enough still bargains found bed bath amp beyond nasdaq bbby acacia communications nasdaq acia chicago bridge amp iron nyse cbi trading depressed valuations three stocks come significant risks three could burn things go wrong theres plenty upside worstcase scenarios fail play image source getty images bed bath amp beyond better many retailers fourthquarter comparable sales grew 04 driven 20 growth online sales stores suffered low singledigit declinebut overall increase sales makes bed bath amp beyonds results look stellar compared parts retail sector particularly department stores advertisement bottom line however different story bed bath amp beyond shifts sales online continues send unending stream ubiquitous 20 coupons margins taking hit gross operating margins decline since 2012 net income slumped 34 peak share buybacks boosted pershare earnings company expects eps fall opens new windowby much 10 2017 bbby data ycharts opens new window slumping earnings dragged stock price creating interesting situation investors looking cheap stocks assuming eps fall 10 stock currently trades 85 times forward earnings market betting things keep getting worse well may bed bath amp beyond stabilize bottom line valuation look overly pessimistic retrospect theres significant risk especially sales begin decline valuation makes opening small position tempting acacia communications makes optical interconnect products counting cloud infrastructure providers communication service providers customers like small tech company predicting future next impossible acacia enjoyed strong growth impressive profitability past years stock priced looks like pessimistic level acia data ycharts shares acacia 60 peak recently took big hit company guided significant revenue decline second quarter culprit weak demand china affecting acacia entire industry company expects temporary slowdown growth returning second half acacias market capitalization around 185 billion 15 times last years adjusted earnings 22 times analyst estimates 2017 adjusted earnings china slowdown turns truly temporary stock could soar company returns revenue earnings growth 2018 weak demand persists longer expected stock could tumble cheap smallcap tech stock youre acacia one consider shares chicago bridge amp iron centuryold engineering construction company hammered past years stock whopping 77 peak early 2014 driven couple factors opens new window first ongoing legal dispute cbampi westinghouse cbampis sale nuclear construction business could cost company billions dollars second weak demand services particularly energy sector led slumping revenue profits cbi data ycharts revenue tumbled 174 2016 cbampi reported 313 million net loss second consecutive year losses adjusted net income 438 million last year discrepancy due various charges related costtocomplete estimates projects company expects produce adjusted eps 350 400 2017 putting stock price 54 times midpoint range westinghouse lawsuit creates lot uncertainty especially since cbampis market capitalization 2 billion amount westinghouse claims owed top company need turn business around return earnings growth new ceo taking helm july 1 challenging task ahead lawsuit doesnt go terribly wrong cbampi stock could soar due beatendown valuation alone theres lot uncertainly lot risk singledigit earnings multiple put stock radar 10 stocks like better acacia communicationswhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right acacia communications wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns may 1 2017 timothy green opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool recommends bed bath amp beyond motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>The R-rated spy comedy "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" displaced the horror sensation "It" as the No. 1 film in North America, while the second "Lego Movie" spinoff of the year didn't assemble the expected audience.</p> <p>The 20th Century Fox release opened with a weekend-leading $39 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. But "It" still continues to pull in record crowds. With $30 million over the weekend, "It" is now the highest-grossing horror film of all time, not accounting for inflation, with $266.3 million thus far. (1973's "The Exorcist" grossed $232.9 million domestically, or more than $1 billion in 2017 dollars.)</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Twentieth Century Fox's "Kingsman" sequel sought to expand on the 2015 original's $36.2 million opening, and its $414 million worldwide take. Matthew Vaughn's sequel returned stars Taron Egerton and Colin Firth, while adding Channing Tatum, Halle Berry and others. Made more for audiences than critics, reviews for the gleefully distasteful spy romp were poor, at 51 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.</p> <p>Fox could celebrate an uptick the second time around, albeit a small one. "The Golden Circle" also debuted with $61 million overseas, giving it a $100 million global weekend. Vaughn is planning a third "Kingsman" film.</p> <p>"We're seven percent bigger than the last one, which opened on a holiday weekend," said Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Fox. "We grew the franchise. We're very happy."</p> <p>The Stephen King adaptation "It," from Warner Bros. and New Line, may have slightly eaten into the ticket sales for "Kingsman." Few believed "It" would still be such a draw in its third week of release; horror films usually drop severely after release. But the film has already established itself as the biggest hit ever in the month of September &#8212; a welcome relief to Hollywood after a dismal August.</p> <p>The "Lego Movie" spinoff "The Lego Ninjago Movie," was further off expectations, debuting with $21.2 million. Phil Lord and Chris Miller's "The Lego Movie" &#8212; the 2014 hit that made $469 million worldwide &#8212; kicked off a bustling franchise. "Ninjago," though, is the second spinoff of the calendar year, following February's "The Lego Batman Movie."</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>That release opened with $35 million and grossed $312 million in total &#8212; marks that "Ninjago" appears will fall well short of. It may be two "Lego" movies in a year were too many.</p> <p>"I was hoping we'd do more. I'm disappointed this weekend didn't come in a little higher," said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution head. "We know that each one of these 'Lego' movies are different properties. This one played young."</p> <p>In its second week of release, Darren Aronofsky's already infamous psychological thriller "mother!" failed to turn the tide. The film, made for $30 million, last week became one of the few movies to receive an "F'' CinemaScore on release. The horror parable, starring Jennifer Lawrence, slid to sixth place with $3.3 million, bringing its two-week haul to $13.4 million. Paramount has proudly defended the film as intentionally divisive, daring filmmaking, the kind seldom produced by major studios.</p> <p>The week also saw the first wave of fall awards contenders in specialty release. The Billie Jean King-Bobby Riggs drama "Battle of the Sexes," with Emma Stone and Steve Carell; the Boston Marathon bombing survivor tale "Stronger," with Jake Gyllenhaal; and the Queen Victoria drama "Victoria &amp;amp; Abdul," starring Judi Dench, all debuted in limited release.</p> <p>Lionsgate's "Stronger" grossed $1.7 million on 574 screens. Focus Features' "Victoria &amp;amp; Abdul" scored a per-theater average of $37,933 on four screens, along with a two-week international total of $12.4 million. And Fox Searchlight's "Battle of the Sexes" earned $525,000 on 21 screens.</p> <p>Theaters are suddenly flush again. Though the year is still 4.6 percent behind the pace of 2016, the month of September is up 20 percent, according to comScore.</p> <p>"The fact that we're sitting here in September on the verge of what looks like a record-breaking month, powered by the unprecedented success of 'It,' tells you how quickly box-office fortunes can rise and fall in this marketplace," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.</p> <p>Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.</p> <p>1. "Kingsman: The Golden Circle," $39 million ($61 million international).</p> <p>2. "It," $30 million ($38.3 million international).</p> <p>3. "The Lego Ninjago Movie," $21.2 million ($10.5 million international).</p> <p>4. "American Assassin," $6.3 million ($2.7 million international).</p> <p>5. "Home Again," $3.3 million.</p> <p>6. "mother!" $3.3 million ($4.6 million international).</p> <p>7. "Friend Request," $2.4 million.</p> <p>8. "The Hitman's Bodyguard," $1.9 million ($15.4 million international).</p> <p>9. "Stronger," $1.7 million.</p> <p>10. "Wind River," $1.3 million.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore</p> <p>1. "Kingsman: The Golden Circle," $61 million.</p> <p>2. "It," $38.3 million.</p> <p>3. "War for the Planet of the Apes," $19.3 million.</p> <p>4. "The Hitman's Bodyguard," $15.4 million.</p> <p>5. "The Lego Ninjago Movie," $10.5 million.</p> <p>6. "The Invisible Guest," $6.5 million.</p> <p>7. "American Made," $6 million.</p> <p>8. "Spider-Man: Homecoming," $6 million.</p> <p>9. "I Can Speak," $4.8 million.</p> <p>10. "mother!" $4.6 million.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP</p>

rrated spy comedy kingsman golden circle displaced horror sensation 1 film north america second lego movie spinoff year didnt assemble expected audience 20th century fox release opened weekendleading 39 million debut according studio estimates sunday still continues pull record crowds 30 million weekend highestgrossing horror film time accounting inflation 2663 million thus far 1973s exorcist grossed 2329 million domestically 1 billion 2017 dollars continue reading twentieth century foxs kingsman sequel sought expand 2015 originals 362 million opening 414 million worldwide take matthew vaughns sequel returned stars taron egerton colin firth adding channing tatum halle berry others made audiences critics reviews gleefully distasteful spy romp poor 51 percent fresh rotten tomatoes fox could celebrate uptick second time around albeit small one golden circle also debuted 61 million overseas giving 100 million global weekend vaughn planning third kingsman film seven percent bigger last one opened holiday weekend said chris aronson distribution chief fox grew franchise happy stephen king adaptation warner bros new line may slightly eaten ticket sales kingsman believed would still draw third week release horror films usually drop severely release film already established biggest hit ever month september welcome relief hollywood dismal august lego movie spinoff lego ninjago movie expectations debuting 212 million phil lord chris millers lego movie 2014 hit made 469 million worldwide kicked bustling franchise ninjago though second spinoff calendar year following februarys lego batman movie advertisement release opened 35 million grossed 312 million total marks ninjago appears fall well short may two lego movies year many hoping wed im disappointed weekend didnt come little higher said jeff goldstein warner bros distribution head know one lego movies different properties one played young second week release darren aronofskys already infamous psychological thriller mother failed turn tide film made 30 million last week became one movies receive f cinemascore release horror parable starring jennifer lawrence slid sixth place 33 million bringing twoweek haul 134 million paramount proudly defended film intentionally divisive daring filmmaking kind seldom produced major studios week also saw first wave fall awards contenders specialty release billie jean kingbobby riggs drama battle sexes emma stone steve carell boston marathon bombing survivor tale stronger jake gyllenhaal queen victoria drama victoria amp abdul starring judi dench debuted limited release lionsgates stronger grossed 17 million 574 screens focus features victoria amp abdul scored pertheater average 37933 four screens along twoweek international total 124 million fox searchlights battle sexes earned 525000 21 screens theaters suddenly flush though year still 46 percent behind pace 2016 month september 20 percent according comscore fact sitting september verge looks like recordbreaking month powered unprecedented success tells quickly boxoffice fortunes rise fall marketplace said paul dergarabedian senior media analyst comscore estimated ticket sales friday sunday us canadian theaters according comscore available latest international numbers also included final domestic figures released monday 1 kingsman golden circle 39 million 61 million international 2 30 million 383 million international 3 lego ninjago movie 212 million 105 million international 4 american assassin 63 million 27 million international 5 home 33 million 6 mother 33 million 46 million international 7 friend request 24 million 8 hitmans bodyguard 19 million 154 million international 9 stronger 17 million 10 wind river 13 million ___ estimated ticket sales friday sunday international theaters excluding us canada according comscore 1 kingsman golden circle 61 million 2 383 million 3 war planet apes 193 million 4 hitmans bodyguard 154 million 5 lego ninjago movie 105 million 6 invisible guest 65 million 7 american made 6 million 8 spiderman homecoming 6 million 9 speak 48 million 10 mother 46 million ___ follow ap film writer jake coyle twitter httptwittercomjakecoyleap

<p>When hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb needed help making a $3.5 billion wager on Nestl&#233; SA, he turned to the man who is behind some of Wall Street's biggest activist bets: Gregg Hymowitz.</p> <p>The chief executive of EnTrustPermal in May approved a $650 million investment in Nestl&#233; alongside Mr. Loeb's Third Point, a huge sum for a single investor.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Mr. Hymowitz's willingness to write such large checks on short notice makes the 51-year-old a potent weapon when managers are quietly trying to amass meaningful stakes in companies.</p> <p>The New York investment firm this year has backed Trian Fund Management's $3.3 billion Procter &amp;amp; Gamble Co. stake and Mantle Ridge's $1 billion CSX Corp. investment, among others. The $650 million Nes tl&#233; investment, which includes money from sovereign wealth funds and state pensions, is its biggest co-investment to date, giving EnTrustPermal a total of more than $6 billion tied up in such single-bet wagers, or co-investments.</p> <p>EnTrustPermal, with $24.5 billion in assets under management, is primarily a fund-of-hedge-funds firm; it pools clients' money and invests in a range of hedge funds, charging a layer of fees on top of the fees charged by hedge-fund managers themselves. Increasingly, EnTrustPermal is focusing on co-investments, including activist campaigns and corporate debt restructurings.</p> <p>Such concentrated wagers can offer clients fatter returns at lower fees, though they also carry more risk and lock up investors' money for years. Some investors say they don't try to source these deals themselves because their staffs are already stretched thin.</p> <p>EnTrustPermal's emphasis on co-investments is intended to help it survive a shakeout among funds-of-hedge-funds. Investors have been pulling money from these funds each year since 2007, according to research firm HFR, and their number has slumped by 40% over that period to roughly 1,500 at the end of March. The hedge funds they invest in have posted disappointing returns on average, and clients' willingness to pay an additional layer of fees has shrunk.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>EnTrustPermal hasn't been immune to the pressures. Its assets under management through the end of March dropped about 15% since January 2016; the firm's co-investment funds have fared better than its traditional funds-of-hedge-funds.</p> <p>Clients in its traditional funds-of-hedge-funds also make co-investments through EnTrustPermal, and the co-invests have drawn new clients to the firm, Mr. Hymowitz said.</p> <p>Critics say co-investments require investors to pay extra fees to hold easily accessible stocks, then lock up their money for years. There also are risks to taking concentrated bets. EnTrustPermal lost more than 5% on its co-investment with Corvex Management LP in energy-pipeline operator Williams Cos., after an agreed upon sale to Energy Transfer Equity failed last year. EnTrust later backed Corvex's bet on Yum Brands Inc. and more than recouped the losses, according to people familiar with the matter.</p> <p>Firm executives say some activists stay quiet, and clients can benefit from changes managers make behind the scenes. The firm also partners on less-accessible deals and tries to protect clients by negotiating fees.</p> <p>Mr. Hymowitz hails from Bellmore, on Long Island, and speaks with a New York accent. He and three of his daughters sport "H" tattoos, a nod to their last name, a person familiar with the matter said.</p> <p>Formerly on a team of private managers to the wealthy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., he and two others left in 1997 to start EnTrust Capital. One partner later retired; Mr. Hymowitz bought out the other.</p> <p>He says he found his business motto when he met the singer Usher in 2012 at a friend's wedding weekend. Seated at Usher's table, Mr. Hymowitz says he asked the performer how he made the transition from child artist to adult star. Usher, he recalls, told him his philosophy: "Evolve or evaporate."</p> <p>"Ever since that lunch, I've used that," Mr. Hymowitz said. "You have to evolve or evaporate with this business."</p> <p>When an activist pitches a new idea, Mr. Hymowitz doesn't grill him on valuations or specifics, managers said. He leaves the detailed vetting to others at the firm and focuses on the manager and the idea. "He's there to smell you," one activist said.</p> <p>He agreed in 2016 to combine his then-$12 billion firm with Legg Mason's roughly $17 billion fund-of-hedge-funds business, Permal Group. Legg Mason paid about $400 million for a 65% stake in the combined entity.</p> <p>EnTrust's recent surge in co-investments coincides with ramped-up activist activity, as the biggest funds go after giant companies. Third Point's Nestl&#233; bet and Trian's P&amp;amp;G investments are their biggest wagers and rank among the largest-ever activist campaigns.</p> <p>Many of Mr. Hymowitz's clients are pension funds that oversee money for private and public workers. These investors can balk at the idea of helping Wall Street activists, who often turn to cost cutting to improve a company's results.</p> <p>One such client, the $7 billion United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, based in Washington, D.C., said it steers clear of co-investing in activist campaigns targeting food companies because they might result in job losses or pay cuts for some of its members. But the multiemployer pension has co-invested in other activist bets offered by Mr. Hymowitz.</p> <p>"It helps us juice the returns a little bit without necessarily increasing our risk profile too much," said UFCW President Marc Perrone, which has roughly $100 million with EnTrustPermal.</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>July 14, 2017 09:14 ET (13:14 GMT)</p>

hedge fund manager daniel loeb needed help making 35 billion wager nestlé sa turned man behind wall streets biggest activist bets gregg hymowitz chief executive entrustpermal may approved 650 million investment nestlé alongside mr loebs third point huge sum single investor continue reading mr hymowitzs willingness write large checks short notice makes 51yearold potent weapon managers quietly trying amass meaningful stakes companies new york investment firm year backed trian fund managements 33 billion procter amp gamble co stake mantle ridges 1 billion csx corp investment among others 650 million nes tlé investment includes money sovereign wealth funds state pensions biggest coinvestment date giving entrustpermal total 6 billion tied singlebet wagers coinvestments entrustpermal 245 billion assets management primarily fundofhedgefunds firm pools clients money invests range hedge funds charging layer fees top fees charged hedgefund managers increasingly entrustpermal focusing coinvestments including activist campaigns corporate debt restructurings concentrated wagers offer clients fatter returns lower fees though also carry risk lock investors money years investors say dont try source deals staffs already stretched thin entrustpermals emphasis coinvestments intended help survive shakeout among fundsofhedgefunds investors pulling money funds year since 2007 according research firm hfr number slumped 40 period roughly 1500 end march hedge funds invest posted disappointing returns average clients willingness pay additional layer fees shrunk advertisement entrustpermal hasnt immune pressures assets management end march dropped 15 since january 2016 firms coinvestment funds fared better traditional fundsofhedgefunds clients traditional fundsofhedgefunds also make coinvestments entrustpermal coinvests drawn new clients firm mr hymowitz said critics say coinvestments require investors pay extra fees hold easily accessible stocks lock money years also risks taking concentrated bets entrustpermal lost 5 coinvestment corvex management lp energypipeline operator williams cos agreed upon sale energy transfer equity failed last year entrust later backed corvexs bet yum brands inc recouped losses according people familiar matter firm executives say activists stay quiet clients benefit changes managers make behind scenes firm also partners lessaccessible deals tries protect clients negotiating fees mr hymowitz hails bellmore long island speaks new york accent three daughters sport h tattoos nod last name person familiar matter said formerly team private managers wealthy goldman sachs group inc two others left 1997 start entrust capital one partner later retired mr hymowitz bought says found business motto met singer usher 2012 friends wedding weekend seated ushers table mr hymowitz says asked performer made transition child artist adult star usher recalls told philosophy evolve evaporate ever since lunch ive used mr hymowitz said evolve evaporate business activist pitches new idea mr hymowitz doesnt grill valuations specifics managers said leaves detailed vetting others firm focuses manager idea hes smell one activist said agreed 2016 combine then12 billion firm legg masons roughly 17 billion fundofhedgefunds business permal group legg mason paid 400 million 65 stake combined entity entrusts recent surge coinvestments coincides rampedup activist activity biggest funds go giant companies third points nestlé bet trians pampg investments biggest wagers rank among largestever activist campaigns many mr hymowitzs clients pension funds oversee money private public workers investors balk idea helping wall street activists often turn cost cutting improve companys results one client 7 billion united food commercial workers international union based washington dc said steers clear coinvesting activist campaigns targeting food companies might result job losses pay cuts members multiemployer pension coinvested activist bets offered mr hymowitz helps us juice returns little bit without necessarily increasing risk profile much said ufcw president marc perrone roughly 100 million entrustpermal end dow jones newswires july 14 2017 0914 et 1314 gmt

<p>CANBERRA, Australia--A contest to equip Australia's military with new armored vehicles is emerging as an economic battleground for regions hit by mining and manufacturing downturns, with one bidder pledging to revive a pivotal part of the country's former auto industry.</p> <p>British defense giant BAE Systems PLC said this week that it would build 225 wheeled combat vehicles in a former Melbourne car factory that until recently was one of Australia's manufacturing jewels, if it wins the opening part of bidding against Germany's Rheinmetall AG.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>At roughly US$11.2 billion, the armored-vehicle contract is among the most lucrative deals of its type at the moment. The country's conservative government will decide the winner early next year.</p> <p>Australia was the world's fifth-largest arms importer last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, accounting for 3.6% of global weapons imports.</p> <p>The country has embarked on a US$156 billion plan to reshape its military into one of the most potent small forces in Asia-Pacific, a region facing security challenges such as North Korea's nuclear and ballistic-missile program, China's growing naval strength, and uncertainty about U.S. defense policy.</p> <p>Over the next decade, Australia's military will receive new warships, advanced submarines, stealth warplanes and amphibious forces, in part to safeguard South China Sea and Indian Ocean sea routes that carry around one-third of global maritime traffic.</p> <p>The defense-hardware splurge is being viewed as a bonanza by Australian state governments anxious to tap new sources of growth and jobs as the economy struggles to adjust to a slowdown in resource exports and a global shift toward cheaper manufacturing centers.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>"Victoria is the traditional home of vehicle manufacturing, and this project would create thousands of jobs at a time when our automotive sector is in transition," said Daniel Andrews, premier of the southeastern state, after BAE's announcement Tuesday. He pledged unspecified backing for the company from his center-left state Labor government.</p> <p>BAE sought to bolster its candidacy by offering to build vehicles at a former car plant operated by Holden, a General Motors Co. subsidiary.</p> <p>Holden was once a symbol of Australia's postwar manufacturing success, while Victoria was the country's answer to Detroit: an industrial heartland now losing traditional manufacturing jobs. This year, Holden followed Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. in ending production in Australia due to competition from lower-cost imports. GM had said the pullout would result in more than 2,900 job losses.</p> <p>BAE said it would build a defense center in Holden's former Fishermans Bend engine plant that would manufacture its AMV35 armored vehicle, offered in partnership with Finland's Patria, if the company wins the contract. "We can be part of Victoria's ambition to develop a defense industry that is globally focused," said BAE Systems Australia CEO Glynn Phillips.</p> <p>The armored-vehicle project, known as Land 400, is the largest undertaken by Australia's army, which has fought alongside U.S. forces in every major conflict involving Washington since World War I. The program aims to replace, in stages, a range of wheeled reconnaissance vehicles and Vietnam War-era troop carriers.</p> <p>The second, larger phase involves replacing an additional 450 tracked troop carriers with vehicles featuring advanced armor, lower profiles and remote gun turrets.</p> <p>The project is expected to create several thousand direct and indirect jobs, according to state and federal government projections and the manufacturing sector.</p> <p>Last month, Rheinmetall chose Queensland state--where 20,000 jobs have been lost since 2015 in a mining downturn, according to the state's resource industry--as its preferred site to build its Boxer armored vehicle should it win the contract battle. The Queensland government, which also offered unspecified backing to create jobs in defense, said the German company's move was a vote of confidence in the state's defense-industries sector.</p> <p>While details of regional incentives aren't usually made public, state governments offer enticements such as preferential tax treatment to attract investment. The arms companies have been courted by various states in return for local manufacturing involvement, while state and federal lawmakers have lobbied for contracts in job-starved constituencies.</p> <p>Rheinmetall, already the largest supplier of military vehicles to the Australian military, said that if successful, it would establish a production line in southeast Queensland to design, build and export military vehicles, turrets and tactical equipment, creating advanced manufacturing jobs.</p> <p>Australia's government plans to lift military spending to 2% of output by 2021 and has pledged to spread construction of naval frigates, submarines and patrol ships to help struggling regions protect jobs and prolong a record 25-year growth streak.</p> <p>BAE is also in that contest, putting forward its Type 26 frigate against designs from Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia and Italy's Fincantieri SpA.</p> <p>The Asia-Pacific is expected to be the main growth area for armor over the next decade. China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand all have armored-vehicle replacements under way. Middle East nations including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are re-equipping as conflict continues in Syria and Iraq.</p> <p>Write to Rob Taylor at [email protected]</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>August 02, 2017 05:18 ET (09:18 GMT)</p>

canberra australiaa contest equip australias military new armored vehicles emerging economic battleground regions hit mining manufacturing downturns one bidder pledging revive pivotal part countrys former auto industry british defense giant bae systems plc said week would build 225 wheeled combat vehicles former melbourne car factory recently one australias manufacturing jewels wins opening part bidding germanys rheinmetall ag continue reading roughly us112 billion armoredvehicle contract among lucrative deals type moment countrys conservative government decide winner early next year australia worlds fifthlargest arms importer last year according stockholm international peace research institute accounting 36 global weapons imports country embarked us156 billion plan reshape military one potent small forces asiapacific region facing security challenges north koreas nuclear ballisticmissile program chinas growing naval strength uncertainty us defense policy next decade australias military receive new warships advanced submarines stealth warplanes amphibious forces part safeguard south china sea indian ocean sea routes carry around onethird global maritime traffic defensehardware splurge viewed bonanza australian state governments anxious tap new sources growth jobs economy struggles adjust slowdown resource exports global shift toward cheaper manufacturing centers advertisement victoria traditional home vehicle manufacturing project would create thousands jobs time automotive sector transition said daniel andrews premier southeastern state baes announcement tuesday pledged unspecified backing company centerleft state labor government bae sought bolster candidacy offering build vehicles former car plant operated holden general motors co subsidiary holden symbol australias postwar manufacturing success victoria countrys answer detroit industrial heartland losing traditional manufacturing jobs year holden followed ford motor co toyota motor corp ending production australia due competition lowercost imports gm said pullout would result 2900 job losses bae said would build defense center holdens former fishermans bend engine plant would manufacture amv35 armored vehicle offered partnership finlands patria company wins contract part victorias ambition develop defense industry globally focused said bae systems australia ceo glynn phillips armoredvehicle project known land 400 largest undertaken australias army fought alongside us forces every major conflict involving washington since world war program aims replace stages range wheeled reconnaissance vehicles vietnam warera troop carriers second larger phase involves replacing additional 450 tracked troop carriers vehicles featuring advanced armor lower profiles remote gun turrets project expected create several thousand direct indirect jobs according state federal government projections manufacturing sector last month rheinmetall chose queensland statewhere 20000 jobs lost since 2015 mining downturn according states resource industryas preferred site build boxer armored vehicle win contract battle queensland government also offered unspecified backing create jobs defense said german companys move vote confidence states defenseindustries sector details regional incentives arent usually made public state governments offer enticements preferential tax treatment attract investment arms companies courted various states return local manufacturing involvement state federal lawmakers lobbied contracts jobstarved constituencies rheinmetall already largest supplier military vehicles australian military said successful would establish production line southeast queensland design build export military vehicles turrets tactical equipment creating advanced manufacturing jobs australias government plans lift military spending 2 output 2021 pledged spread construction naval frigates submarines patrol ships help struggling regions protect jobs prolong record 25year growth streak bae also contest putting forward type 26 frigate designs spanish stateowned shipbuilder navantia italys fincantieri spa asiapacific expected main growth area armor next decade china india malaysia pakistan philippines singapore south korea thailand armoredvehicle replacements way middle east nations including saudi arabia united arab emirates reequipping conflict continues syria iraq write rob taylor robtaylorwsjcom end dow jones newswires august 02 2017 0518 et 0918 gmt

<p>The Latest on Republican-pushed legislation to repeal Obama's health care law (all times local):</p> <p>2:50 p.m.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>President Donald Trump says Congress should have approved legislation to repeal the Obama-era health law after working on it for seven years. But he says "you can't have everything."</p> <p>Trump referred to Washington as "the swamp" before pledging that "we're going to get it done."</p> <p>Three Republican senators -- Arizona's John McCain, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Maine's Susan Collins -- voted to kill the GOP drive to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.</p> <p>Trump says he said from the beginning to "let Obamacare implode" and then repeal it. He says "I turned out to be right."</p> <p>Trump spoke Friday in Suffolk County, New York.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>___</p> <p>2:10 p.m.</p> <p>A Republican congressman is lashing out at two Senate Republicans who helped defeat the Senate GOP health care bill.</p> <p>Iowa's Steve King says in a statement that the Affordable Care Act is a "law that ought not exist, and I will continue to advocate for its complete repeal."</p> <p>He singles out Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, saying she "was initially appointed to her position by her father," and that her write-in campaign in 2010 "was essentially a revolt against GOP primary voters."</p> <p>Murkowski won election to a fourth term last year.</p> <p>Of Arizona Sen. John McCain, King says McCain recently told the Senate "he would return and 'give all of you cause to regret the nice things you said about me.' He kept his word."</p> <p>The two senators along with Maine's Susan Collins joined Democrats in defeating the bill.</p> <p>___</p> <p>2:05 p.m.</p> <p>A powerful House Republican says the tax increases in the Obama health law will not be addressed in the tax reform bill.</p> <p>The Obamacare taxes hit mostly corporations and high-income families. Eliminating them would reduce tax revenues by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.</p> <p>Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas says addressing them in the tax bill would mean higher tax rates for families and local businesses.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Brady said House Republicans will explore ways to fix some of Obamacare's problems. That contradicts administration officials who say they want to let it fail.</p> <p>Brady doesn't offer specifics. He says, "Right now, we're just assessing the situation."</p> <p>Brady chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.</p> <p>___</p> <p>12:26 p.m.</p> <p>Senator John McCain is calling on the Senate to "start fresh" on health care after he cast the decisive vote killing the GOP's "Obamacare" repeal effort.</p> <p>McCain says that "it is now time to return to regular order with input from all of our members &#8212; Republicans and Democrats."</p> <p>In a statement Friday, McCain calls on lawmakers of both parties "to trust each other, stop the political gamesmanship, and put the health care needs of the American people first."</p> <p>McCain says that the Senate's essential qualities of trust and bipartisanship have been missing in recent years as senators have succumbed to "partisan rancor and gridlock."</p> <p>And he concludes: "We can do this."</p> <p>___</p> <p>11:45 a.m.</p> <p>Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is praising the three Republicans who broke with their party to reject the GOP health care bill, especially John McCain.</p> <p>Schumer told reporters at a news conference Friday, "I have not seen a senator who speaks truth to power as strongly, as well and as frequently as John McCain."</p> <p>Schumer also praised Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski as tough women.</p> <p>His comments came just hours after the three Republicans joined all 48 Senate Democrats in voting against the so-called "skinny repeal" bill, a loss that dealt a severe blow to President Donald Trump's agenda and GOP's years-long effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.</p> <p>Schumer also said he spoke to Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday about working on bipartisan legislation.</p> <p>___</p> <p>11:40 a.m.</p> <p>A spokesman for former President Barack Obama says that the Affordable Care Act "has always been about something bigger than politics."</p> <p>In a statement, Kevin Lewis says that Obama "has always said we should build on this law, just as members of both parties worked together to improve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."</p> <p>Lewis says tens of millions of people have benefited from improvements under the law including free preventive care such as mammograms and vaccines.</p> <p>And it remains that way, Lewis says, "because of everyone who mobilized, organized and made their voices heard."</p> <p>___</p> <p>11 a.m.</p> <p>House Speaker Paul Ryan says he's "disappointed and frustrated" by the failure of health care legislation in the Senate.</p> <p>But Ryan says "we should not give up" after promising for years to repeal and replace "Obamacare."</p> <p>At the same time, the speaker says in a statement Friday that overhauling the tax code is at the top of the House's list of priorities.</p> <p>Ryan is pledging to pursue "historic tax reform" in the fall.</p> <p>He issued his statement as the House prepared to leave Washington for its annual August recess.</p> <p>The House passed legislation repealing and replacing "Obamacare" in May. But after a failed vote early Friday in the Senate, it's not clear GOP leaders will be able to resuscitate the efforts.</p> <p>___</p> <p>10:10 a.m.</p> <p>President Donald Trump says that if the Senate wants to pass legislation, it "must immediately go to a 51 vote majority," but his math is off.</p> <p>His morning tweet is puzzling, since the Republican majority failed to even reach 51 votes to overhaul the nation's health care laws. Instead, they got 49 votes.</p> <p>Typically, legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes or more to avoid a filibuster. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly rejected Trump's proposal to lower the threshold.</p> <p>Trump has also complained that three Republican senators voted with Democrats to block the way. They are Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and, providing the decisive vote, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.</p> <p>Trump advocated for a lower threshold, adding that "so many great future bills &amp;amp; budgets" ought to be able to pass with only 51 votes.</p> <p>___</p> <p>7:40 a.m.</p> <p>Rep. Mo Brooks says the "failure" of the GOP health care overhaul is ultimately Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's responsibility.</p> <p>The Alabama Republican said Friday on CNN that McConnell should press the Senate to pass a rewrite of President Barack Obama's signature law &#8212; or step aside.</p> <p>Brooks said, "If they're going to quit, well then, maybe by God they ought to start at the top with Mitch McConnell leaving his position."</p> <p>He added that "The leadership at the top is responsible. The buck stops there."</p> <p>Brooks also questioned whether McConnell can accomplish Trump's other priorities, such as tax and infrastructure reform. The defeat early Thursday morning of the health care bill, Brooks said, is potentially "a killer" for the rest of the Trump agenda.</p> <p>___</p> <p>5:40 a.m.</p> <p>House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has taken comfort in the defeat in the Senate of a Republican-pushed measure aimed at scaling back, or partially repealing, former President Back Obama's Affordable Care Act.</p> <p>In a statement following defeat of the measure on a 49-51 vote, the California Democrat says, "The American people have spoken loud and clear against the higher costs and monstrous cruelty of Trumpcare."</p> <p>She adds, "Now, Congress must finally pivot to the long overdue bipartisan work to update and improve the Affordable Care Act and to continue to lower Americans' health costs." Her counterpart in the Senate, Chuck Schumer of New York, said after the votes that Democrats who resisted the GOP legislation "are not celebrating." But he also said that he's "relieved" the measure didn't pass.</p> <p>___</p> <p>3:39 a.m.</p> <p>Dealing a serious blow to President Donald Trump's agenda, the Senate early Friday rejected a measure to repeal parts of former President Barack Obama's health care law after a night of high suspense in the U.S. Capitol.</p> <p>Unable to pass even a so-called "skinny repeal," it was unclear if Senate Republicans could advance any health bill despite seven years of promises to repeal "Obamacare."</p> <p>"This is clearly a disappointing moment," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "I regret that our efforts were not enough, this time."</p> <p>"It's time to move on," he said. The vote was 49-51 with three Republicans joining all Democrats in voting 'no.'</p> <p>McConnell put the health bill on hold and announced that the Senate would move onto other legislation next week.</p> <p>Trump responded on Twitter: "3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!"</p>

latest republicanpushed legislation repeal obamas health care law times local 250 pm continue reading president donald trump says congress approved legislation repeal obamaera health law working seven years says cant everything trump referred washington swamp pledging going get done three republican senators arizonas john mccain alaskas lisa murkowski maines susan collins voted kill gop drive repeal replace affordable care act trump says said beginning let obamacare implode repeal says turned right trump spoke friday suffolk county new york advertisement ___ 210 pm republican congressman lashing two senate republicans helped defeat senate gop health care bill iowas steve king says statement affordable care act law ought exist continue advocate complete repeal singles alaska sen lisa murkowski saying initially appointed position father writein campaign 2010 essentially revolt gop primary voters murkowski election fourth term last year arizona sen john mccain king says mccain recently told senate would return give cause regret nice things said kept word two senators along maines susan collins joined democrats defeating bill ___ 205 pm powerful house republican says tax increases obama health law addressed tax reform bill obamacare taxes hit mostly corporations highincome families eliminating would reduce tax revenues nearly 1 trillion next decade congressman kevin brady texas says addressing tax bill would mean higher tax rates families local businesses meanwhile brady said house republicans explore ways fix obamacares problems contradicts administration officials say want let fail brady doesnt offer specifics says right assessing situation brady chairs powerful house ways means committee ___ 1226 pm senator john mccain calling senate start fresh health care cast decisive vote killing gops obamacare repeal effort mccain says time return regular order input members republicans democrats statement friday mccain calls lawmakers parties trust stop political gamesmanship put health care needs american people first mccain says senates essential qualities trust bipartisanship missing recent years senators succumbed partisan rancor gridlock concludes ___ 1145 senate democratic leader chuck schumer praising three republicans broke party reject gop health care bill especially john mccain schumer told reporters news conference friday seen senator speaks truth power strongly well frequently john mccain schumer also praised maines susan collins alaskas lisa murkowski tough women comments came hours three republicans joined 48 senate democrats voting socalled skinny repeal bill loss dealt severe blow president donald trumps agenda gops yearslong effort repeal replace obamacare schumer also said spoke speaker paul ryan friday working bipartisan legislation ___ 1140 spokesman former president barack obama says affordable care act always something bigger politics statement kevin lewis says obama always said build law members parties worked together improve social security medicare medicaid lewis says tens millions people benefited improvements law including free preventive care mammograms vaccines remains way lewis says everyone mobilized organized made voices heard ___ 11 house speaker paul ryan says hes disappointed frustrated failure health care legislation senate ryan says give promising years repeal replace obamacare time speaker says statement friday overhauling tax code top houses list priorities ryan pledging pursue historic tax reform fall issued statement house prepared leave washington annual august recess house passed legislation repealing replacing obamacare may failed vote early friday senate clear gop leaders able resuscitate efforts ___ 1010 president donald trump says senate wants pass legislation must immediately go 51 vote majority math morning tweet puzzling since republican majority failed even reach 51 votes overhaul nations health care laws instead got 49 votes typically legislation senate requires 60 votes avoid filibuster majority leader mitch mcconnell repeatedly rejected trumps proposal lower threshold trump also complained three republican senators voted democrats block way lisa murkowski alaska susan collins maine providing decisive vote sen john mccain arizona trump advocated lower threshold adding many great future bills amp budgets ought able pass 51 votes ___ 740 rep mo brooks says failure gop health care overhaul ultimately senate majority leader mitch mcconnells responsibility alabama republican said friday cnn mcconnell press senate pass rewrite president barack obamas signature law step aside brooks said theyre going quit well maybe god ought start top mitch mcconnell leaving position added leadership top responsible buck stops brooks also questioned whether mcconnell accomplish trumps priorities tax infrastructure reform defeat early thursday morning health care bill brooks said potentially killer rest trump agenda ___ 540 house minority leader nancy pelosi taken comfort defeat senate republicanpushed measure aimed scaling back partially repealing former president back obamas affordable care act statement following defeat measure 4951 vote california democrat says american people spoken loud clear higher costs monstrous cruelty trumpcare adds congress must finally pivot long overdue bipartisan work update improve affordable care act continue lower americans health costs counterpart senate chuck schumer new york said votes democrats resisted gop legislation celebrating also said hes relieved measure didnt pass ___ 339 dealing serious blow president donald trumps agenda senate early friday rejected measure repeal parts former president barack obamas health care law night high suspense us capitol unable pass even socalled skinny repeal unclear senate republicans could advance health bill despite seven years promises repeal obamacare clearly disappointing moment said senate majority leader mitch mcconnell rky regret efforts enough time time move said vote 4951 three republicans joining democrats voting mcconnell put health bill hold announced senate would move onto legislation next week trump responded twitter 3 republicans 48 democrats let american people said beginning let obamacare implode deal watch

<p>Mayor Eric Garcetti recently envisioned a scenario where Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are aggressively confronted by &#8220;swarming&#8221; teenagers while making an arrest on a Los Angeles sidewalk. The faceoff would be captured on video - sparking a &#8220;tinderbox&#8221; that results in days of looting, arson, and several lives lost.</p> <p>&#8220;We just commemorated 25 years since the urban unrest, and we know how quickly things can explode,&#8221; Garcetti told host Maria Hinojosa during a recent episode of NPR&#8217;s &#8220; <a href="http://latinousa.org/2017/05/26/not-backyard-l-mayor-eric-garcetti/" type="external">Latino USA</a>.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;If something goes wrong I fear a tinderbox out there, where people will suddenly say &#8216;no,&#8217; and try to defend, keep that person from being taken,&#8221; Garcetti said. &#8220;That&#8217;s a very dangerous situation.&#8221;</p> <p>The &#8220;urban unrest&#8221; to which Garcetti refers were the 1992 riots, suggesting the chain of events he foreshadowed could escalate beyond his control &#8211; just like in &#8216;92 - when Mayor Tom Bradley was forced to rely on assistance from the California National Guard and President George H. W. Bush. More than 1,100 Marines and 600 Army soldiers were deployed to the streets of Los Angeles.</p> <p>Partial transcript as follows:</p> <p>HINOJOSA: &#8220;As the Mayor of L.A., it has crossed your mind, like, &#8216;Oh my God. The next tinderbox might not be black-white relations, but might end up being immigrant-police-ICE confrontations?&#8217; And then that could lead to an ugly, ugly chapter in L.A.&#8217;s life?&#8221;</p> <p>GARCETTI: &#8220;Imagine a parent who&#8217;s dropping off their child. As we&#8217;ve seen, ICE officers, ICE agents take that parent away, and it&#8217;s videotaped. Imagine if that&#8217;s on the sidewalk and students start swarming, and they&#8217;re teenagers. It&#8217;s dangerous for those agents. It&#8217;s dangerous for our city.</p> <p>The hot button in 1992 was not immigration enforcement. It was police brutality.</p> <p>Four white officers from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had been acquitted of beating Rodney King, a black motorist who tried to evade law enforcement during a high-speed pursuit. As the Los Angeles Times <a href="http://timelines.latimes.com/los-angeles-riots/" type="external">reported</a>, amateur video &#8220;showed officers delivering repeated baton blows and kicks as King rolled on the ground. Its images have been seared into the minds of viewers the world over who have watched the tape broadcast repeatedly.&#8221;</p> <p>Garcetti&#8217;s criticism of ICE comes after the agency recently announced more than 41,000 arrests during President Donald Trump&#8217;s first 100 days in office &#8211; a 37.6% increase from that same period last year. <a href="https://www.ice.gov/features/100-days" type="external">According</a> to ICE, nearly 75 percent of those detained &#8220;are convicted criminals, with offenses ranging from homicide and assault to sexual abuse and drug-related charges.&#8221; ICE agents were also part of a recent <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/17/us/ms-13-raids-los-angeles/index.html" type="external">operation</a> in Los Angeles targeting MS-13 gang members &#8211; some of whom have links to the Mexican Mafia. 50 predawn raids on May 17 resulted in 44 arrests. More than half of those detained were in the country illegally.</p> <p>In February, Garcetti wrote a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4LPJUXS8W49QU94ZUJBQnFaWVU/view?usp=sharing" type="external">letter</a> to a District Director at ICE urging that &#8220;agents operating in Los Angeles immediately stop representing they are &#8216;police&#8217; officers.&#8221; The request cited a two-day-old article published by the Los Angeles Times claiming that ICE agents &#8220; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-immigration-deportation-ruses-20170219-story.html" type="external">pretend to be police officers</a>&#8221; to trick people. The story went on to mention documentation collected by a George Soros-funded advocacy group which alleges to show ICE agents using &#8220;deceit while targeting people for deportation.&#8221;</p> <p>Five days after Garcetti&#8217;s letter, ICE agents with the word &#8220;POLICE&#8221; prominently displayed across their backs detained an unlawfully present immigrant with multiple criminal convictions as he as he dropped off his daughters at school in Los Angeles. <a href="http://abc7.com/news/video-undocumented-dad-taken-by-ice-while-dropping-kids-off-at-school/1782230/" type="external">Video</a> of the incident went viral, prompting LAPD Commissioner Steve Soboroff &#8211; a Garcetti appointee &#8211; to react by <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveSoboroff/status/837812725778534400" type="external">tweeting</a>, &#8220;SHAME ON YOU POTUS.&#8221; Nearly two weeks earlier, Soboroff had <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveSoboroff/status/833034111400808449" type="external">asked</a> whoever mans the official ICE Twitter account to define &#8220;criminal.&#8221;</p> <p>However, the Garcetti administration&#8217;s defiance of ICE did not begin with the inauguration of Donald J. Trump.</p> <p>In the summer of 2014, Garcetti <a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/07/lapd-to-no-longer-comply-with-feds-on-immigration-hold-requests/" type="external">announced</a> that LAPD would no longer comply with ICE requests to detain unlawfully present immigrants for possible deportation without judicial review.</p> <p>A month later, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck attended the &#8220; <a href="http://www.ndlon.org/en/pressroom/press-releases/item/1080-asamblea-7" type="external">ICE Out of L.A. Workers&#8217; Rights Town Hall</a>,&#8221; sponsored by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) &#8211; a group considered to be part of the &#8216;open-borders lobby&#8217; that has received <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about/programs/us-programs/grantees/national-day-laborer-organizing-network-0" type="external">funding</a> from Soros&#8217; Open Society Foundations. Beck promoted several LAPD policy changes implemented to accommodate the region&#8217;s unlawfully present population.</p> <p>&#8220;When we stopped honoring ICE detention requests in every instance, it was not about doing what was popular or easy,&#8221; LAPD Chief Charlie Beck a <a href="http://nearchaosblog.com/post/96016975813/lapd-chief-beck-panders-to-afl-cios-durazo" type="external">told</a> a church sanctuary filled with mostly organizers and day laborers. &#8220;It was about doing what was right.&#8221;</p> <p>The ICE Out of L.A. Coalition is an alliance of 23 social justice groups, including NDLON, which &#8220; <a href="http://iceoutofla.org/en/about-us/" type="external">aim</a> to create an open source campaign where people push for ICE out of L.A. and full civil and human rights through diverse and innovative tactics.&#8221;</p> <p>Staff attorneys from the NDLON &#8211; which <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/20/immigrant-rights-groups-sue-ice-dhs-for-information-on-new-deportation-program.html" type="external">sued</a> ICE last year &#8211; make themselves readily available for media interviews to shape ICE detainment narratives for various outlets from <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/undocumented-father-detained-drops-daughter-school-article-1.2987664" type="external">New York</a> to <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/social-affairs/20170303/ice-stepped-over-line-detaining-immigrant-dad-near-daughters-school-lawyer-says" type="external">L.A.</a> Meanwhile, activists affiliated with NDLON <a href="https://twitter.com/stacysuh/status/866028639501955072" type="external">pressure</a> California politicians to <a href="https://twitter.com/gilcedillocd1/status/867917725846220800" type="external">advocate</a> on its behalf. One such NDLON-led drive references Garcetti, <a href="http://action.ndlon.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=24343" type="external">stating</a> &#8220;the L.A. Mayor&#8221; supports the cause.</p> <p>As Garcetti&#8217;s 15-minute segment with Hinojosa came to an end, he addressed whether Los Angeles should be categorized as a &#8220;sanctuary city.&#8221; The mayor deemed the phrase to be a broad term that evokes an inaccurate caricature from &#8220;fifty percent of the country&#8221; as &#8220;places that invite dangerous criminals&#8221; who are &#8220;given bonus points if they&#8217;re undocumented.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;If a &#8216;sanctuary city&#8217; means that your police force will not be deputized or take it upon themselves to enforce immigration law, then absolutely we are and proudly so,&#8221; Garcetti prevaricated.</p> <p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not doing these things because we&#8217;re a bunch of lefties,&#8221; the mayor continued. &#8220;We&#8217;re proud of our politics being progressive out here. We&#8217;re doing it because it&#8217;s the right thing to do.&#8221;</p> <p>NPR&#8217;s Latino USA is a weekly show created by the <a href="http://futuromediagroup.org/about/" type="external">Futuro Media Group</a>, a nonprofit founded by Hinojosa &#8220;committed to producing ethical journalism from a POC (people of color) perspective and representing the new American mainstream.&#8221;</p> <p>Coincidentally, the company is <a href="http://latinousa.org/our-funders/" type="external">financed</a> by part of the same global conglomerate of foundations that have bankrolled the NDLON, including Unbound Philanthropy and the Ford Foundation. From 2010-2015, Hinojosa&#8217;s Futuro Media Group received $9,764,142 in grants and contributions to produce programming like last week&#8217;s interview with Mayor Garcetti.</p> <p>You can listen to Garcetti's interview with NPR <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/05/26/530211610/not-in-my-backyard-l-a-mayor-eric-garcetti" type="external">here</a>.</p>

mayor eric garcetti recently envisioned scenario immigrant customs enforcement ice agents aggressively confronted swarming teenagers making arrest los angeles sidewalk faceoff would captured video sparking tinderbox results days looting arson several lives lost commemorated 25 years since urban unrest know quickly things explode garcetti told host maria hinojosa recent episode nprs latino usa something goes wrong fear tinderbox people suddenly say try defend keep person taken garcetti said thats dangerous situation urban unrest garcetti refers 1992 riots suggesting chain events foreshadowed could escalate beyond control like 92 mayor tom bradley forced rely assistance california national guard president george h w bush 1100 marines 600 army soldiers deployed streets los angeles partial transcript follows hinojosa mayor la crossed mind like oh god next tinderbox might blackwhite relations might end immigrantpoliceice confrontations could lead ugly ugly chapter las life garcetti imagine parent whos dropping child weve seen ice officers ice agents take parent away videotaped imagine thats sidewalk students start swarming theyre teenagers dangerous agents dangerous city hot button 1992 immigration enforcement police brutality four white officers los angeles police department lapd acquitted beating rodney king black motorist tried evade law enforcement highspeed pursuit los angeles times reported amateur video showed officers delivering repeated baton blows kicks king rolled ground images seared minds viewers world watched tape broadcast repeatedly garcettis criticism ice comes agency recently announced 41000 arrests president donald trumps first 100 days office 376 increase period last year according ice nearly 75 percent detained convicted criminals offenses ranging homicide assault sexual abuse drugrelated charges ice agents also part recent operation los angeles targeting ms13 gang members links mexican mafia 50 predawn raids may 17 resulted 44 arrests half detained country illegally february garcetti wrote letter district director ice urging agents operating los angeles immediately stop representing police officers request cited twodayold article published los angeles times claiming ice agents pretend police officers trick people story went mention documentation collected george sorosfunded advocacy group alleges show ice agents using deceit targeting people deportation five days garcettis letter ice agents word police prominently displayed across backs detained unlawfully present immigrant multiple criminal convictions dropped daughters school los angeles video incident went viral prompting lapd commissioner steve soboroff garcetti appointee react tweeting shame potus nearly two weeks earlier soboroff asked whoever mans official ice twitter account define criminal however garcetti administrations defiance ice begin inauguration donald j trump summer 2014 garcetti announced lapd would longer comply ice requests detain unlawfully present immigrants possible deportation without judicial review month later lapd chief charlie beck attended ice la workers rights town hall sponsored national day laborer organizing network ndlon group considered part openborders lobby received funding soros open society foundations beck promoted several lapd policy changes implemented accommodate regions unlawfully present population stopped honoring ice detention requests every instance popular easy lapd chief charlie beck told church sanctuary filled mostly organizers day laborers right ice la coalition alliance 23 social justice groups including ndlon aim create open source campaign people push ice la full civil human rights diverse innovative tactics staff attorneys ndlon sued ice last year make readily available media interviews shape ice detainment narratives various outlets new york la meanwhile activists affiliated ndlon pressure california politicians advocate behalf one ndlonled drive references garcetti stating la mayor supports cause garcettis 15minute segment hinojosa came end addressed whether los angeles categorized sanctuary city mayor deemed phrase broad term evokes inaccurate caricature fifty percent country places invite dangerous criminals given bonus points theyre undocumented sanctuary city means police force deputized take upon enforce immigration law absolutely proudly garcetti prevaricated things bunch lefties mayor continued proud politics progressive right thing nprs latino usa weekly show created futuro media group nonprofit founded hinojosa committed producing ethical journalism poc people color perspective representing new american mainstream coincidentally company financed part global conglomerate foundations bankrolled ndlon including unbound philanthropy ford foundation 20102015 hinojosas futuro media group received 9764142 grants contributions produce programming like last weeks interview mayor garcetti listen garcettis interview npr

<p>Intuit Inc., the maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks, said Tuesday that Chief Financial Officer R. Neil Williams will step down from his post next year after spending nearly 10 years with the company.</p> <p>He will be replaced by Michelle Clatterbuck, a senior finance executive at Intuit.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Mr. Williams is slated to step down in January, with Ms. Clatterbuck taking the reins Feb. 1.</p> <p>She is currently senior vice president of finance for Intuit's consumer tax group and acting finance leader for the company's small business group. She joined Intuit in 2003 from General Electric Co., according to her LinkedIn profile. Compensation details weren't immediately available.</p> <p>Mr. Williams joined Intuit in 2008 after serving as CFO at Visa USA Inc., a subsidiary of Visa Inc., according to Intuit's website.</p> <p>"Neil has decided to step away and embark on a new chapter, freeing him up from full-time employment to pursue other personal goals," Brad Smith, Intuit's chief executive, said in a statement.</p> <p>During his time at Intuit, Mr. Williams "built a deep bench of strong financial leaders," Mr. Smith added. Just last month, Ned Segal, the company's senior vice president of finance for the $2.5 billion division that delivers QuickBooks to customers, was named CFO of Twitter Inc.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Intuit also said Tuesday in its latest quarter, it earned 20 cents on an adjusted per-share basis, which is better than the 17 cents expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Revenue for the period rose 12% to $842 million, better than the $804.6 million expected by analysts.</p> <p>Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [email protected]</p> <p>Intuit Inc., the maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks, said Tuesday that Chief Financial Officer R. Neil Williams will step down from his post next year after spending nearly 10 years with the company.</p> <p>He will be replaced by Michelle Clatterbuck, a senior finance executive at Intuit.</p> <p>Mr. Williams is slated to step down in January, with Ms. Clatterbuck taking the reins Feb. 1.</p> <p>She is currently senior vice president of finance for Intuit's consumer tax group and acting finance leader for the company's small business group. She joined Intuit in 2003 from General Electric Co., according to her LinkedIn profile. Compensation details weren't immediately available.</p> <p>Mr. Williams joined Intuit in 2008 after serving as CFO at Visa USA Inc., a subsidiary of Visa Inc., according to Intuit's website.</p> <p>"Neil has decided to step away and embark on a new chapter, freeing him up from full-time employment to pursue other personal goals," Brad Smith, Intuit's chief executive, said in a statement.</p> <p>During his time at Intuit, Mr. Williams "built a deep bench of strong financial leaders," Mr. Smith added. Just last month, Ned Segal, the company's senior vice president of finance for the $2.5 billion division that delivers QuickBooks to customers, was named CFO of Twitter Inc.</p> <p>As for Ms. Clatterbuck, Mr. Williams said, "she's ready for the role."</p> <p>"I'm leaving Michelle with a very good team, but this is another place where she will put her own stamp on things," Mr. Williams said in an interview with CFO Journal Tuesday.</p> <p>And he is ready to move on.</p> <p>"It's time...I'll be 65 in January and I've got a bunch of other things I want to do," he added. "It's been the best job of my career but I'm about three years past the normal shelf-life of a public company CFO."</p> <p>The average age of sitting CFOs is 52, according to the Crist|Kolder 2017 Volatility Report, which measures various demographics across the C-suite. Less than 10% of finance chiefs are over age 60. Mr. Williams's time at Intuit also exceeds the average tenure of finance chiefs in the S&amp;amp;P and Fortune 500 -- at 4.9 years -- according to Crist|Kolder. The average tenure of technology CFOs is 4.5 years.</p> <p>Mr. Williams said he plans to participate on boards and spend time with immediate and extended family. "I'm not going to do anything else full-time," he said. He is currently on the boards of software solutions company RingCentral Inc. and renewable products company Amyris Inc.</p> <p>For its latest quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings on a per-share basis of 20 cents, better than the 17 cents expected by analysts cited by Thomson Reuters. Revenue for the period rose 11.7% to $842 million, better than the $804.6 million expected by analysts.</p> <p>A repeat of strong financial performance next year could be a potential challenge for Ms. Clatterbuck as she takes over the reins, Mr. Williams said. Ms. Clatterbuck also will need to spend more time getting to know the investors and analysts that cover Intuit.</p> <p>"She's not an unknown entity by any means," Mr. Williams said. "But clearly there's opportunity to spend more time for people to get to know her better and her views and opinions without me sitting in the chair next to her," he said.</p> <p>Write to Tatyana Shumsky at [email protected] and Ezequiel Minaya at [email protected]</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>August 22, 2017 19:03 ET (23:03 GMT)</p>

intuit inc maker turbotax quickbooks said tuesday chief financial officer r neil williams step post next year spending nearly 10 years company replaced michelle clatterbuck senior finance executive intuit continue reading mr williams slated step january ms clatterbuck taking reins feb 1 currently senior vice president finance intuits consumer tax group acting finance leader companys small business group joined intuit 2003 general electric co according linkedin profile compensation details werent immediately available mr williams joined intuit 2008 serving cfo visa usa inc subsidiary visa inc according intuits website neil decided step away embark new chapter freeing fulltime employment pursue personal goals brad smith intuits chief executive said statement time intuit mr williams built deep bench strong financial leaders mr smith added last month ned segal companys senior vice president finance 25 billion division delivers quickbooks customers named cfo twitter inc advertisement intuit also said tuesday latest quarter earned 20 cents adjusted pershare basis better 17 cents expected analysts polled thomson reuters revenue period rose 12 842 million better 8046 million expected analysts write ezequiel minaya ezequielminayawsjcom intuit inc maker turbotax quickbooks said tuesday chief financial officer r neil williams step post next year spending nearly 10 years company replaced michelle clatterbuck senior finance executive intuit mr williams slated step january ms clatterbuck taking reins feb 1 currently senior vice president finance intuits consumer tax group acting finance leader companys small business group joined intuit 2003 general electric co according linkedin profile compensation details werent immediately available mr williams joined intuit 2008 serving cfo visa usa inc subsidiary visa inc according intuits website neil decided step away embark new chapter freeing fulltime employment pursue personal goals brad smith intuits chief executive said statement time intuit mr williams built deep bench strong financial leaders mr smith added last month ned segal companys senior vice president finance 25 billion division delivers quickbooks customers named cfo twitter inc ms clatterbuck mr williams said shes ready role im leaving michelle good team another place put stamp things mr williams said interview cfo journal tuesday ready move timeill 65 january ive got bunch things want added best job career im three years past normal shelflife public company cfo average age sitting cfos 52 according cristkolder 2017 volatility report measures various demographics across csuite less 10 finance chiefs age 60 mr williamss time intuit also exceeds average tenure finance chiefs sampp fortune 500 49 years according cristkolder average tenure technology cfos 45 years mr williams said plans participate boards spend time immediate extended family im going anything else fulltime said currently boards software solutions company ringcentral inc renewable products company amyris inc latest quarter company posted adjusted earnings pershare basis 20 cents better 17 cents expected analysts cited thomson reuters revenue period rose 117 842 million better 8046 million expected analysts repeat strong financial performance next year could potential challenge ms clatterbuck takes reins mr williams said ms clatterbuck also need spend time getting know investors analysts cover intuit shes unknown entity means mr williams said clearly theres opportunity spend time people get know better views opinions without sitting chair next said write tatyana shumsky tatyanashumskywsjcom ezequiel minaya ezequielminayawsjcom end dow jones newswires august 22 2017 1903 et 2303 gmt

<p>Tonight&#8217;s Conspiracy Theory to expose toxins in water, population control motives and water privatization schemes worldwide; Premieres FRIDAY, DEC. 3 AT 10 PM EST/ 9 PM CST</p> <p>Aaron Dykes <a href="" type="internal">Infowars.com</a> December 3, 2010</p> <p>As producer <a href="" type="internal">Michael Braverman announced yesterday</a>, what was once an episode just dealing with schemes to profit off the Great Lakes has now expanded into a startling expos&#233; of the dangerous toxins being added to our water by design. Now known as the &#8220;Worldwide Water Conspiracy,&#8221; tonight&#8217;s episode of <a href="http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/episodes/index.html" type="external">Conspiracy Theory with Gov. Jesse Ventura</a> will take on water privatization, false scarcity profit schemes, the effects of fluoride, lithium and uranium in drinking water and much more. &#8220;WORLDWIDE WATER CONSPIRACY&#8221; PREMIERES TONIGHT, FRIDAY DEC. 3 AT 10 PM EST / 9 PM CST.</p> <p>Scarcity, perceived or real, drives the value of commodities, and many people say water is the next oil. The Great Lakes consist of more than 20% of Earth&#8217;s surface fresh water, but the levels are dropping. Some streams and groundwater sources have already dried up, and a shortage of clean drinking water could prove to be one of the 21st Century&#8217;s greatest bubbles.</p> <p>Now, Gov. Ventura&#8217;s investigation reveals that foreign companies are stealing water from the Great Lakes, imposing upon one of the American public&#8217;s greatest assets. Already, the scale of schemes to privatize water and make big profit on a clear necessity are astounding. The TruTV team has learned that the Nestle Corporation is one of the firms tapping this water to sell in bottled water and other products. Moreover, it has circumvented public access points to the lakes by stashing its pumps 12 miles away from the shore of Lake Michigan&#8211; in a private game preserve where no one can see them and little scrutiny is likely to arise.</p> <p>Moreover, Ventura has uncovered a novel way of siphoning this &#8220;blue gold.&#8221; Giant floating water bags have been implemented to create huge &#8220;water trains&#8221; and profiteers are using them to ship America&#8217;s fresh water to foreign countries like China. If the multinational corporations are not stopped, they&#8217;ll take our &#8220;champagne water&#8221; and leave us to drink the toilet water. Think it can&#8217;t happen here? In countries <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochabamba_protests_of_2000" type="external">like Bolivia</a>, where private companies have taken control of the water, ordinary people have already had to protest against the police state in order to simply collect rainwater for basic needs. Now, the right to collect rainwater has been challenged <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html" type="external">here in the United States</a> as well.</p> <p>But the Conspiracy Theory episode stumbles upon an even greater danger lurking in the water. Testing shows that numerous deadly toxins have been found in the majority of America&#8217;s tap water, and it&#8217;s no accident. Could population control through forced mass medication in water be underway? This form of control was discussed in sitting-White House Science Czar <a href="http://zombietime.com/john_holdren/" type="external">John P. Holdren&#8217;s book Ecoscience</a> as far back as 1977.</p> <p>The team learns that male birth rates are dropping all over the world. To find out why, Ventura &amp;amp; co. speak with radiation exposure expert Leuren Moret who drops the bombshell that uranium&#8211; <a href="http://www.khou.com/news/texas-drinking-water-radiation-levels" type="external">yes uranium</a>&#8212; is found in our drinking water and is triggering a mass-feminization in the population via a hormonal-chemical assault. The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08water.html" type="external">New York Times reported in 2009</a> that some 49 million Americans are drinking water contaminated with chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium. Further, in 2010, the <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/texas-tap-water-contaminated-radiation-independent-tests-find/" type="external">State of Texas was caught covering up</a> dangerous and illegal levels of uranium in its water supplies that can cause cell mutations and cancer. Other chemicals including fluoride further raise suspicions about who is controlling what goes into our bodies, and why.</p> <p>There is every reason to believe that Big Brother wants ordinary Americans calm and docile, unable to resist their system. Is that why <a href="" type="internal">government experts</a> and <a href="" type="internal">leading bio-ethicists</a> are advocating adding dose amounts of lithium to municipal water districts? Lithium is commonly to used to sedate patients suffering from bi-polar disorder, and the agenda has been put forward <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8025454.stm" type="external">ostensibly to reduce suicides</a> in the population. However, issuing a mass dose to the population is not only dangerous, as the amount affects people differently, but a form of true medical tyranny.</p> <p><a href="http://www.efoodsdirect.com//index.html?aid=13&amp;amp;adid=43" type="external">Fresh food that lasts from eFoodsDirect (AD)</a></p> <p>These issues and other aspects of the over-arching Eugenics agenda have been covered in films <a href="http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/endgamedvd.html" type="external">like Alex Jones&#8217; Endgame</a>, but never before has any such expos&#233; warning the public about the full-on chemical war being waged against them been seen on television.</p> <p>Don&#8217;t take this programming for granted. As we have <a href="" type="internal">already reported today</a>, powerful forces have targeted the show from behind the scenes, and other episodes like &#8220;Police State&#8221; are already being suppressed and censored. Please support this show, get everyone you know to tune in and make sure that this platform for informing the populace is used to the fullest.</p> <p>From <a href="http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/index.html" type="external">TruTV</a>:</p> <p>&#8220;Great Lakes&#8221; &#8211; NEW! &#8212; a.k.a. &#8220;Worldwide Water Conspiracy&#8221; Premieres Fri, December 3 at 10P They call it &#8220;Blue Gold.&#8221; Water is the new oil. Once a human right, it&#8217;s now a valuable commodity, and corporations and super-rich oil dynasties are believed to be buying up water rights, controlling nations and populations. Jesse looks into the possibility of these activities finding their way to American shores and uncovers what may be a plot to literally steal the Great Lakes.</p> <p>Michael Braverman: &#8220;Worldwide Water Conspiracy&#8221; &#8211; Part 1/2</p> <p>Michael Braverman: &#8220;Worldwide Water Conspiracy&#8221; &#8211; Part 2/2</p>

tonights conspiracy theory expose toxins water population control motives water privatization schemes worldwide premieres friday dec 3 10 pm est 9 pm cst aaron dykes infowarscom december 3 2010 producer michael braverman announced yesterday episode dealing schemes profit great lakes expanded startling exposé dangerous toxins added water design known worldwide water conspiracy tonights episode conspiracy theory gov jesse ventura take water privatization false scarcity profit schemes effects fluoride lithium uranium drinking water much worldwide water conspiracy premieres tonight friday dec 3 10 pm est 9 pm cst scarcity perceived real drives value commodities many people say water next oil great lakes consist 20 earths surface fresh water levels dropping streams groundwater sources already dried shortage clean drinking water could prove one 21st centurys greatest bubbles gov venturas investigation reveals foreign companies stealing water great lakes imposing upon one american publics greatest assets already scale schemes privatize water make big profit clear necessity astounding trutv team learned nestle corporation one firms tapping water sell bottled water products moreover circumvented public access points lakes stashing pumps 12 miles away shore lake michigan private game preserve one see little scrutiny likely arise moreover ventura uncovered novel way siphoning blue gold giant floating water bags implemented create huge water trains profiteers using ship americas fresh water foreign countries like china multinational corporations stopped theyll take champagne water leave us drink toilet water think cant happen countries like bolivia private companies taken control water ordinary people already protest police state order simply collect rainwater basic needs right collect rainwater challenged united states well conspiracy theory episode stumbles upon even greater danger lurking water testing shows numerous deadly toxins found majority americas tap water accident could population control forced mass medication water underway form control discussed sittingwhite house science czar john p holdrens book ecoscience far back 1977 team learns male birth rates dropping world find ventura amp co speak radiation exposure expert leuren moret drops bombshell uranium yes uranium found drinking water triggering massfeminization population via hormonalchemical assault new york times reported 2009 49 million americans drinking water contaminated chemicals like arsenic radioactive substances like uranium 2010 state texas caught covering dangerous illegal levels uranium water supplies cause cell mutations cancer chemicals including fluoride raise suspicions controlling goes bodies every reason believe big brother wants ordinary americans calm docile unable resist system government experts leading bioethicists advocating adding dose amounts lithium municipal water districts lithium commonly used sedate patients suffering bipolar disorder agenda put forward ostensibly reduce suicides population however issuing mass dose population dangerous amount affects people differently form true medical tyranny fresh food lasts efoodsdirect ad issues aspects overarching eugenics agenda covered films like alex jones endgame never exposé warning public fullon chemical war waged seen television dont take programming granted already reported today powerful forces targeted show behind scenes episodes like police state already suppressed censored please support show get everyone know tune make sure platform informing populace used fullest trutv great lakes new aka worldwide water conspiracy premieres fri december 3 10p call blue gold water new oil human right valuable commodity corporations superrich oil dynasties believed buying water rights controlling nations populations jesse looks possibility activities finding way american shores uncovers may plot literally steal great lakes michael braverman worldwide water conspiracy part 12 michael braverman worldwide water conspiracy part 22

<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p> <p>RUSH: The latest Trump controversy. (laughing) They&#8217;re saying Obama founded ISIS, and people have had Trump on, they&#8217;ve talked to Trump. (paraphrased) &#8220;You want to walk that back?&amp;#160; Don&#8217;t you really mean to say that it was Obama&#8217;s negligence in getting out of Iraq that established the circumstances for ISIS to begin and flourish?&#8221; &#8220;No! He founded ISIS.&amp;#160; He and Hillary founded it.&#8221; &#8220;Mr. Trump, don&#8217;t you really kind of want to walk that back and rephrase it?&#8221; &#8220;No! They &#8212; he &#8212; founded ISIS.&#8221;&amp;#160; He&#8217;s not walking it back.&amp;#160; He&#8217;s saying, &#8220;I&#8217;m telling the truth!</p> <p>He will not walk back the fact that Obama founded ISIS.&amp;#160; Now, we all know&#8230; Those of us and you in the audience, of course, we know exactly what he&#8217;s talking about.&amp;#160; And he&#8217;s right. Now, Obama didn&#8217;t go over there and convene a meeting and have negotiations with the ISIS leaders. His name&#8217;s not on any of the founding documents or any of that.&amp;#160; But Trump is saying what he&#8217;s saying, hoping to shock people into realizing just who Obama is, because the point is, since Obama became president, terrorism is expanding around the world.&amp;#160;</p> <p>It&#8217;s expanding. The Middle East was&#8230; Well, you can never say the Middle East was relatively peaceful, but it&#8217;s on fire now as a result of Obama and Hillary Clinton policy.&amp;#160; Whether there are scandals involved in that policy, who knows &#8212; such as the reason for Benghazi being to fund guns to the Syrian rebels. Who knows?&amp;#160; It&#8217;s a pretty good bet on that, too.&amp;#160; So the question becomes: How many people are gonna learn of these scandals and how many people are gonna actually learn of these vulnerabilities that Hillary and Obama have?</p> <p>But Trump is obviously serious about continuing to tell the truth as he sees it, as he understands it, as he wants people to know it.&amp;#160; And let&#8217;s look at the result of that.&amp;#160; Let&#8217;s assess, as they say, the situation on the ground.&amp;#160; Every time Trump opens his mouth with something, the Drive-Bys go into their predictable, hysterical, unbelievable reaction to it.&amp;#160; They say Trump&#8217;s unfit&#8230; This is the entire Democrat Party case, by the way.&amp;#160; Trump gave an economic speech that in and of itself was very good in terms of what the country needs.&amp;#160;</p> <p>But there is no such in-and-of-itself analysis in the Drive-By Media or elsewhere.&amp;#160; They have to portray Trump as this raging lunatic, maniac, dangerous, incompetent, unfit.&amp;#160; And that is their entire campaign.&amp;#160; They do not dare tackle&#8230; They don&#8217;t tackle any of us on the issues.&amp;#160; They always try to disqualify anybody on the right who is effective at anything, effective at communicating, affecting at getting votes, effective at winning elections, they become targeted for destruction.&amp;#160;</p> <p>In fact, you know who Seth Lipsky is, Mr. Snerdley?&amp;#160; Seth Lipsky is the husband of Amity Shlaes, the former Wall Street Journal writer. She&#8217;s expert on the Great Depression. She&#8217;s written a couple books on it, and he himself is a renowned conservative intellect, and he has a piece in the New York Post today that is just&#8230; I mean, it&#8217;s bull&#8217;s-eye. Here&#8217;s the headline: <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/08/10/liberal-attacks-on-trump-are-so-unhinged-it-might-get-him-killed/" type="external">&amp;#160;&#8220;Liberal Attacks on Trump Are So Unhinged It Might Get Him Killed.&#8221;</a>&amp;#160; Meaning that the left, here &#8212; including the media &#8212; are echoing the ridiculous assertions that Hillary is making.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>He&#8217;s unfit. He&#8217;s this and that.&amp;#160; You know, we&#8217;re always told&#8230; Hell, we&#8217;re not told; we&#8217;re accused.&amp;#160; Whenever somebody shoots up a movie theater, what do they do?&amp;#160; They try to first find out if the guy listens to Rush Limbaugh.&amp;#160; Then they try to find out if he listens to talk radio.&amp;#160; Then they try to find out if he&#8217;s Tea Party.&amp;#160; They do everything they can to try to convince people that &#8220;the gun nuts,&#8221; as they describe them, who commit these mass murders are somehow tied to right-wingers &#8212; and it turns out they never are.&amp;#160;</p> <p>They&#8217;re always attached to fringe progressive movements, if anything.&amp;#160; And then they chide us, and they blame us. For example, Gabby Giffords.&amp;#160; Sarah Palin was accused of being responsible for Gabby Giffords being shot because on her website she had a graphic of crosshairs in a rifle scope.&amp;#160; And that was said to unhinge people looking at her website and inspiring them to wanting on out and shoot Gabby Giffords.&amp;#160; Seth Lipsky is turning that around here in the New York Post, and accusing the Democrats in the media &#8212; with some of their outrageous charges and claims against Trump &#8212; of actually doing the same thing.&amp;#160;</p> <p>I mean, the headline again:&amp;#160; &#8220;Liberal Attacks on Trump Are So Unhinged It Might Get Him Killed,&#8221; and he backs it up.&amp;#160; We&#8217;ll share the details with you as the program unfolds.&amp;#160; But all Trump is doing is telling the truth the way he speaks. And within the confines of our political system that have evolved over the decades where propriety and impropriety are clearly denoted, Trump is outside the bounds of propriety. And, as such, he&#8217;s unfit, he&#8217;s unsuited. He&#8217;s dangerously, perhaps, deranged and all of this.</p> <p>But yet, what has been inserted into the debate because of what Trump has said? Well, a Muslim terrorist who targeted gays at a nightclub in Orlando, the Pulse nightclub &#8212; that terrorist, Omar Mateen. His crazy terrorist dad who professes love for Hillary Clinton, shows up at one of other rallies sitting right behind her, carrying big signs.&amp;#160; This has been discovered; it&#8217;s pointed out.&amp;#160; What&#8217;s the reaction the Drive-Bys?&amp;#160;</p> <p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t say that Hillary had anything to do with the guy! You can&#8217;t blame Hillary for that.&amp;#160; You can&#8217;t use this guilt-by-association business,&#8221; even though this guy&#8217;s out singing her praises, saying he was invited to show up, that that&#8217;s what democracy means, that he&#8217;s free to go wherever he goes. Plus, he was invited.&amp;#160; I dare say that story would not have been much at all.&amp;#160; Then we have Hillary&#8217;s oft-stated desire to ditch the Second Amendment and remove as many guns from homes as she can, and Trump is highlighting that.&amp;#160;</p> <p><a href="" type="internal" />That&#8217;s his, &#8220;Second Amendment people, I don&#8217;t know&#8230;&#8221; That&#8217;s out in the domain. It&#8217;s out in the public domain.&amp;#160; It&#8217;s no question that Hillary Clinton has often stated her desire, even her willingness to use executive actions to stop &#8220;gun violence&#8221; if necessary.&amp;#160; The only thing Hillary Clinton can do, the only thing the left can do where guns are concerned is take them away from law-abiding people!&amp;#160; That&#8217;s all they can do.&amp;#160; And they want to, by the way, folks.</p> <p>So that&#8217;s being discussed, despite the fact that Trump is unsuitable, he&#8217;s unfit, he&#8217;s intemperate, he&#8217;s just dangerous. These things are out there being discussed when they normally are glossed over and covered up, or the people who say them are so shamed that they shut up.&amp;#160; Trump does not shut up.&amp;#160; He doubles down.&amp;#160; He keeps the debate in the public domain.&amp;#160; The left is not used to it, Democrats are not used to it, politically correct people are not used to it.&amp;#160;</p> <p>Trump says, &#8220;I&#8217;m gonna keep going.&amp;#160; This is what the truth sounds like.&amp;#160; This is what the truth looks like.&amp;#160; This is how strange the truth seems to so many people because it&#8217;s been covered up for so long.&#8221;&amp;#160; Now, Trump&#8217;s comment about Obama founding ISIS, there is a very smelly and there have been some very crazy, cozy decisions made by this administration that have led to the rather sudden blooming of this terrorist group.&amp;#160;</p> <p>We abandon Iraq.&amp;#160; We make idle threats in the Middle East and don&#8217;t follow up on them.&amp;#160; We allow our people to get killed in the Middle East and Benghazi and don&#8217;t avenge it, and don&#8217;t even try to stop it. So our enemies are free to continue marching.&amp;#160; And our administration won&#8217;t even call them by their actual name!&amp;#160; He will not even refer to them as &#8220;militant Islamic terrorists.&#8221;&amp;#160; What do you think they&#8217;re gonna do?&amp;#160; They are continuing to march.&amp;#160; Many people would have been intimidated and threatened into shutting up about it.&amp;#160;</p> <p>But not Trump.</p> <p>After an entire Democrat convention without one mention of the Clinton Foundation&#8230; Here&#8217;s a Democrat convention where they tried to make it out like Mrs. Clinton is the most charitable, the most loving, the most caring woman. She has built her career on doing things for children &#8212; and they wouldn&#8217;t even mention what they do at the Clinton Crime Family Foundation! Which is the focal point of their &#8220;charity.&#8221;&amp;#160; So now that pops up in the news today.&amp;#160; All of this stuff is popping up in the news because somebody is continuing to talk about it and keep it out there.&amp;#160;</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH:&amp;#160; That&#8217;s right, my friends. The truth&#8230; The truth has been so suppressed, so buried under the avalanche of political correctness that when somebody speaks it &#8212; anywhere, not just Trump. When anybody speaks the truth, it makes people shudder.&amp;#160; &#8220;Oh, my God, you&#8217;re not supposed to say that! No, no, no! You not supposed to say that.&#8221;&amp;#160; This is what it looks like.&amp;#160; Trump it is the things you&#8217;re not supposed to say.&amp;#160; In his mind are the truth.&amp;#160; That&#8217;s what he says he&#8217;s doing: Speaking the truth.&amp;#160;</p> <p>Truth is being covered up. Truth has been buried. Truth has been so reshaped, made to look like public opinion, popular opinion, that it&#8217;s been obscured.&amp;#160; &#8220;The truth&#8221; itself, even as a concept, has been corrupted.&amp;#160; Somebody comes along and articulates it and it&#8217;s, &#8220;Oh, my God! Oh, my God! No, you can&#8217;t say that! You can&#8217;t say that!&#8221; People shudder. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t say it! Don&#8217;t associate me with that.&#8221;&amp;#160; People even are afraid to agree with it sometimes.</p> <p>Even though they do, they are afraid to publicly acknowledge that they agree with it, such is the fear.&amp;#160; In fact, the truth is such a&#8230; The longer the truth is buried, the more it is corrupted &#8212; and the more somebody who comes along and actually has the courage to utter the truth is gonna be feared, gonna be hated, gonna be disliked. &#8220;Oh, my God, this is a troublemaker.&#8221;&amp;#160; And that&#8217;s what the Clintons and the Obamas &#8212; the Democrats &#8212; are trying to do in terms of casting Trump.&amp;#160; He says he&#8217;s not gonna stop.&amp;#160; We shall see.</p>

rush latest trump controversy laughing theyre saying obama founded isis people trump theyve talked trump paraphrased want walk back160 dont really mean say obamas negligence getting iraq established circumstances isis begin flourish founded isis160 hillary founded mr trump dont really kind want walk back rephrase founded isis160 hes walking back160 hes saying im telling truth walk back fact obama founded isis160 know us audience course know exactly hes talking about160 hes right obama didnt go convene meeting negotiations isis leaders names founding documents that160 trump saying hes saying hoping shock people realizing obama point since obama became president terrorism expanding around world160 expanding middle east well never say middle east relatively peaceful fire result obama hillary clinton policy160 whether scandals involved policy knows reason benghazi fund guns syrian rebels knows160 pretty good bet too160 question becomes many people gon na learn scandals many people gon na actually learn vulnerabilities hillary obama trump obviously serious continuing tell truth sees understands wants people know it160 lets look result that160 lets assess say situation ground160 every time trump opens mouth something drivebys go predictable hysterical unbelievable reaction it160 say trumps unfit entire democrat party case way160 trump gave economic speech good terms country needs160 inandofitself analysis driveby media elsewhere160 portray trump raging lunatic maniac dangerous incompetent unfit160 entire campaign160 dare tackle dont tackle us issues160 always try disqualify anybody right effective anything effective communicating affecting getting votes effective winning elections become targeted destruction160 fact know seth lipsky mr snerdley160 seth lipsky husband amity shlaes former wall street journal writer shes expert great depression shes written couple books renowned conservative intellect piece new york post today mean bullseye heres headline 160liberal attacks trump unhinged might get killed160 meaning left including media echoing ridiculous assertions hillary making hes unfit hes that160 know always told hell told accused160 whenever somebody shoots movie theater do160 try first find guy listens rush limbaugh160 try find listens talk radio160 try find hes tea party160 everything try convince people gun nuts describe commit mass murders somehow tied rightwingers turns never are160 theyre always attached fringe progressive movements anything160 chide us blame us example gabby giffords160 sarah palin accused responsible gabby giffords shot website graphic crosshairs rifle scope160 said unhinge people looking website inspiring wanting shoot gabby giffords160 seth lipsky turning around new york post accusing democrats media outrageous charges claims trump actually thing160 mean headline again160 liberal attacks trump unhinged might get killed backs up160 well share details program unfolds160 trump telling truth way speaks within confines political system evolved decades propriety impropriety clearly denoted trump outside bounds propriety hes unfit hes unsuited hes dangerously perhaps deranged yet inserted debate trump said well muslim terrorist targeted gays nightclub orlando pulse nightclub terrorist omar mateen crazy terrorist dad professes love hillary clinton shows one rallies sitting right behind carrying big signs160 discovered pointed out160 whats reaction drivebys160 cant say hillary anything guy cant blame hillary that160 cant use guiltbyassociation business even though guys singing praises saying invited show thats democracy means hes free go wherever goes plus invited160 dare say story would much all160 hillarys oftstated desire ditch second amendment remove many guns homes trump highlighting that160 thats second amendment people dont know thats domain public domain160 question hillary clinton often stated desire even willingness use executive actions stop gun violence necessary160 thing hillary clinton thing left guns concerned take away lawabiding people160 thats do160 want way folks thats discussed despite fact trump unsuitable hes unfit hes intemperate hes dangerous things discussed normally glossed covered people say shamed shut up160 trump shut up160 doubles down160 keeps debate public domain160 left used democrats used politically correct people used it160 trump says im gon na keep going160 truth sounds like160 truth looks like160 strange truth seems many people covered long160 trumps comment obama founding isis smelly crazy cozy decisions made administration led rather sudden blooming terrorist group160 abandon iraq160 make idle threats middle east dont follow them160 allow people get killed middle east benghazi dont avenge dont even try stop enemies free continue marching160 administration wont even call actual name160 even refer militant islamic terrorists160 think theyre gon na do160 continuing march160 many people would intimidated threatened shutting it160 trump entire democrat convention without one mention clinton foundation heres democrat convention tried make like mrs clinton charitable loving caring woman built career things children wouldnt even mention clinton crime family foundation focal point charity160 pops news today160 stuff popping news somebody continuing talk keep there160 break transcript rush160 thats right friends truth truth suppressed buried avalanche political correctness somebody speaks anywhere trump anybody speaks truth makes people shudder160 oh god youre supposed say supposed say that160 looks like160 trump things youre supposed say160 mind truth160 thats says hes speaking truth160 truth covered truth buried truth reshaped made look like public opinion popular opinion obscured160 truth even concept corrupted160 somebody comes along articulates oh god oh god cant say cant say people shudder didnt say dont associate that160 people even afraid agree sometimes even though afraid publicly acknowledge agree fear160 fact truth longer truth buried corrupted somebody comes along actually courage utter truth gon na feared gon na hated gon na disliked oh god troublemaker160 thats clintons obamas democrats trying terms casting trump160 says hes gon na stop160 shall see

<p /> <p>Donna Dye saw the coal truck come barreling over the horizon and her head started spinning with that familiar, desperate urge to end it all.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>She thought of the disconnect notices, the engagement ring she pawned to keep the lights on, the house she loved and would probably lose. Life insurance was the only bill that was up to date; this way, she thought, it might look like an accident.</p> <p>Months had passed since the letter arrived from the Social Security Administration. "We are suspending your disability benefits," it had said.</p> <p>She thought of her husband, a proud man with a body broken from 26 years mining coal, and the fights over money they never had &#8212; until now. "Fraud," the agency had written, and the humiliation consumed them.</p> <p>She thought about veering across the yellow line and slamming head-on into that truck.</p> <p>For more than a year, Dye's family and hundreds of others in the coalfields of Kentucky and West Virginia have been fighting the federal government to keep their Social Security Disability checks. They have one thing in common: They hired attorney Eric C. Conn, a flamboyant master marketer who billed himself "Mr. Social Security." For years he clogged the highways with neon yellow billboards promising to help people get what they deserved from the government.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Dye thought they could trust him.</p> <p>Now federal officials allege he funneled $600 million in fraudulent claims to this impoverished pocket of Appalachia, and the government has turned off the spigot. It suspended disability payments to hundreds of Conn's former clients, propelling them into an unprecedented, yearlong battle with the federal government. They must prove once again that they deserved disability years ago.</p> <p>If they lose, their checks stop and they are billed for tens of thousands of dollars they received over the years, money the government now believes they never deserved.</p> <p>The government has good reason to ferret out disability fraud. Critics call it a secret welfare program that morphed over the decades from serving the truly disabled to aiding the unemployable: the uneducated, the frail, the unfortunates who live in places where a rotting economy relies on back-breaking labor. Burgeoning claims &#8212; in Floyd County, Kentucky, 15 percent are on disability &#8212; have pushed the disability fund to the brink of insolvency.</p> <p>The government has squeezed other programs for the poor, leaving many in these crumbling corners of blue-collar America with few good options. The mass suspensions laid bare their absolute dependence on disability.</p> <p>Three people have killed themselves. Others caught themselves in quiet moments wondering whether they'd be better off dead.</p> <p>Donna Dye didn't crash her car into the coal truck. Instead, she pulled over to the shoulder of the road and sat for an hour, her temples pulsing with panic, her thoughts racing. Disability had been her family's safety net; now, she thought, there was nothing to save them from flailing toward impact.</p> <p>"It's like sitting in a tub of water, floating, nothing's wrong," she said. "And then somebody pulls the cork, you get sucked out and everything's gone."</p> <p>___</p> <p>Eric C. Conn opened his law practice 23 years ago in a trailer in his hometown of Stanville, Kentucky, population 500. There, he built the third most lucrative disability firm in the nation.</p> <p>When the Dyes went looking for a lawyer in 2008, Conn was everywhere.</p> <p>He paid young women he called "Conn's hotties" to attend events across the region with his 1-800 number printed across their tank tops. He erected a 19-foot replica of the Lincoln Memorial in the parking lot of his law complex at a cost, he claimed, of a half-million dollars. He commissioned life-sized Conn effigies to sit atop billboards on the highways; in an online ad, he bragged that he had sent a local boy with terminal cancer to Disney World, and closed with a preacher's benediction giving thanks to God for Conn's kindness.</p> <p>Tim Dye hurt his back in the mines years ago and a car wreck in 2008 aggravated his injuries. He had surgery for ruptured discs and disintegrating cartilage. He resisted applying for disability, his wife said, until it got to where he couldn't push in the clutch in his truck or bend over to tie his shoes.</p> <p>His application was denied.</p> <p>About three-quarters of applicants' initial claims are rejected, and many turn to lawyers to help them appeal. That means big money for attorneys doing disability claims in bulk. If they win on appeal, applicants are entitled to payments dating back to when they became unable to work and lawyers get a chunk of that money, paid directly by the agency.</p> <p>Conn racked in more than $20 million in fees.</p> <p>Media reports in 2011 questioned his relationship with government-employed Administrative Law Judge David Daugherty, who approved nearly all of Conn's clients for disability. In 2013, former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, led an investigation into abuse of the disability program. He entitled his report, "How Some Legal, Medical and Judicial Professionals Abused Social Security Disability Programs for the Country's Most Vulnerable: A Case Study of the Conn Law Firm."</p> <p>For 161 pages, it described an elaborate system in which Conn paid doctors and Daugherty to rubber-stamp disability claims, using phony medical evidence.</p> <p>Years passed. Conn was not criminally charged, and he remained in good standing with the Kentucky Bar Association. Donna Dye says she and her husband were unaware of any improprieties &#8212; the Social Security Administration has acknowledged there's no evidence Conn's clients were involved in the scheme. The Dyes took him their records, went to the appointments he arranged and trusted he took care of the rest.</p> <p>But in May 2015, 11 months before Conn was formally accused of any crime, the Social Security Administration contacted his clients. The letters said their lawyer was suspected of having colluded with a judge and their doctors to file claims using fraudulent medical evidence. It told them their benefits were suspended, and gave them 10 days to collect their medical records from years before and prove once again they had been disabled.</p> <p>Local attorney Ned Pillersdorf's phone started ringing. He heard a hundred letters were sent out and panicked. Then he heard it was several hundred, then 900. Before the scope of the chaos settled into focus, a colleague made an ominous prediction.</p> <p>"There will be suicides," he said.</p> <p>Within weeks, three people took their own lives, including Melissa Jude, on disability for a decade for anxiety and depression. She was on her way to Pillersdorf's office when she pulled over to the side of the road and shot herself in the head.</p> <p>The death toll startled Republican Congressman Hal Rogers, whose district includes the hardest-hit counties of eastern Kentucky. He convinced the Social Security Administration to allow Conn's clients to keep their checks as they struggled in a series of hearings to prove they deserved them all along. The Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, a legal aid organization in eastern Kentucky, grew so worried they recruited the largest network of volunteer attorneys since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.</p> <p>Now led by Pillersdorf, the band of 150 lawyers &#8212; some of the best disability attorneys in the nation &#8212; has become a sort grassroots suicide prevention network. "We are fighting for you," they tell people over and over. "You are not alone against the government."</p> <p>Still, at least once a week, Pillersdorf fields a suicide threat. They plead publicly on Facebook that they want to die. They call his office. They call his home.</p> <p>"Why live?" Kevin Robertson wrote him.</p> <p>Robertson, a 41-year old with an anxiety disorder, a bad back and an eighth-grade education, lost his $1,035 monthly draw. He hadn't worked in a decade and says his anxiety is so crippling he can barely leave his bedroom. He lost his house and everything in it.</p> <p>"I know some people killed theirselves," he wrote. "To be honest, Ned, I've had some crazy thoughts myself."</p> <p>Another man told him he's now sleeping in his pick-up truck. A woman wrote that she and her children kept only their camping gear and went out to live in the woods.</p> <p>The stress is beginning to wear on Pillersdorf now, too. His wife begged him to see a doctor. His colleagues worry he's coming undone.</p> <p>"I want this nightmare to be over," he said, the fraying hems peeking from the leg of his trousers and the framed diplomas crooked on his office wall. "I don't remember what life was like before this started. And I don't know if we're at the end or the beginning."</p> <p>___</p> <p>Grocery stores in Floyd County, Kentucky, are overrun when the disability checks arrive the first week of the month. Traffic backs up on the main drag in downtown Prestonsburg, the county seat. Even the Papa John's doubles its number of delivery drivers.</p> <p>The payments prop up an economy that struggled, then collapsed in recent years along with the coal industry.</p> <p>One of every six working-aged adults here gets a check, more than three times the American average.</p> <p>Coburn attributes that to a broken system abused by those who don't truly deserve it, yet grow dependent on government benefits. They should have known better than to hire a "shyster lawyer," he said, and those who didn't deserve benefits in the first place shouldn't draw another dime. Government dependency, he believes, is the first step toward tyranny.</p> <p>"Do I feel sorry for them? Yes," he said. "Do they have hardships? Yes. But do they meet the qualifications for Social Security Disability? Absolutely not. Here's what the law says: if you can do any job in the economy you don't qualify for disability. Rules have to mean something, and life isn't fair."</p> <p>The disability program was not designed to be welfare. It is an insurance program. Every American worker pays a premium out of their paycheck under an agreement with the government that a percentage of their salary will be paid to them if one day they become too disabled to work.</p> <p>Tim Dye started working in the mines when he was 17. He thought when he hired Conn 26 years later, he was collecting what he was due.</p> <p>His family grew entirely dependent on that check. His wife worked for the county government for nearly 18 years, until she was laid off in 2015. She didn't worry too much then about losing her job. Her husband's disability check came every month, around $2,200. It wasn't a lot for a couple with a son still in high school and two granddaughters living with them. But it was stable and they made do, and expected life to go on the way it always had in their yellow house on the edge of a mountain.</p> <p>Earlier this year, her husband went to the Social Security office for his initial re-determination hearing, thinking that his inclusion on the suspension list must have been some sort of mistake. But a vocational expert told the judge Dye's back problems wouldn't prevent him from working a desk job. He was denied, and the checks stopped coming seven months ago.</p> <p>They wonder who would want to hire an old coal miner for a sit-down job, with nothing more than a high school diploma, a crippled back and an eight-year gap on his resume.</p> <p>"In a month or two, we won't have nothing," he said. "We're losing everything."</p> <p>___</p> <p>The volunteer lawyers representing Conn's former clients say the deck is stacked against them: The agency is assuming fraud without having to prove to any court that any of them committed it. The Office of the Inspector General identified applications that included Conn's suspect medical evidence. But the report is confidential, no one has seen the evidence the agency relied on to determine why this particular pile of claims was assumed to be fraudulent.</p> <p>Citing a 1994 law, the agency is forbidding Conn's clients from using any medical evidence from the doctors alleged to have been involved in his scheme.</p> <p>Pillersdorf said many of his clients were on disability for mental illness and cognitive disabilities. Now they are expected to recall the names of the other doctors they saw 10 years ago and pray they still have the records, Pillersdorf said.</p> <p>They can't go back to original files they handed over to their lawyer. Conn is alleged to have destroyed millions of pages of documents. Coburn's investigation found that he shredded 26,000 pounds of paper when the senate started to investigate. His former employees testified he burned more in a bonfire behind his office that grew so big it smoldered for four days.</p> <p>He was charged with 18 crimes, including mail fraud, wire fraud, destruction of records, money laundering, making false statements and conspiracy.</p> <p>Conn's attorneys did not respond to calls requesting an interview. He was released on bond pending his trial scheduled for next summer. His bail was secured by his $1.5 million estate in Pikeville.</p> <p>Of the hundreds of his clients initially suspended, about half have won their cases. The other half, including the Dyes, were cut off. Their cases are entangled now in a series of lawsuits in federal court.</p> <p>At least one judge agreed that the procedure is unfair. U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar &#8212; on President-elect Donald Trump's short list for the U.S. Supreme Court &#8212; issued an opinion last month that found a number of Conn's clients were afforded fewer protections than suspected terrorists and ordered the Social Security Administration to reconsider its process. But another federal judge sided with the agency. The question will now likely be settled by a federal appeals court. The agency declined to talk about the process.</p> <p>In the meantime, many of those who lost are living with no income.</p> <p>The Dyes couldn't pay the water bill, so Donna Dye designed a system of hoses and barrels to collect run off from the hill that juts up behind her house, "the old-fashioned mountain way," she says.</p> <p>Then a man came to switch off the lights. He gave her enough time to get to the pawn shop, cash in her engagement ring and pay the bill.</p> <p>She signed up for food stamps. But her husband is too proud to spend them. To him, disability was earned; food stamps are welfare.</p> <p>She had hoped to find a job that paid almost as much as she made with the county, $12.45 an hour. She's 49 years old, with only a GED. They live in rural Floyd County, 23 miles from the county seat, and just putting gas in their old truck to get to and from town eats up a couple hours of minimum wage work. But she gave up and put in 40 applications, from the Dollar Store to cleaning rooms at a cheap motel. She posted advertisements all over town offering babysitting or housecleaning for $10 an hour. She's had no takers.</p> <p>They raised their kids in a hollow nearby in a rickety two-bedroom house with no heat. When Tim was still working, about 10 years ago, they bought this bigger place for $85,000 and thought it meant they'd made it to the middle class. She said it was one of the happiest days of her life, and she went out and got the big dining room table she always wanted, with eight chairs so she could have the whole family over for dinners.</p> <p>The mortgage got behind by three months. The bank called to collect and she panicked. She put a sign in her yard. "Open house, everything must go." Her neighbors picked through her belongings. She sold her couch, her dishes and every television they owned. A woman offered her $20 each for five of her eight dining room chairs.</p> <p>"This has been pure hell. Worry, just worry, that's all I do," she said and slumped into one of the three chairs she has left.</p> <p>"I'm almost out of stuff to pawn."</p> <p>___</p> <p>Most people &#8212; even Conn's former clients &#8212; believe fraud is rampant in the disability system. They point to a distant relative or a man down the street, who seems healthy and able to work but still draws a check. Pillersdorf calls them "fakers," people knowingly gaming the system, and said he hasn't met one in his stack of Conn's former clients yet. The reality is much more complicated.</p> <p>The very definition of disability is open for debate. Mental illness is hard to measure. Pain is impossible to see.</p> <p>"There is no medical condition called disability," said David Autor, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "You can't go to a doctor and have them say, 'I've got bad news for you, son, you've got a disability.' Disability is a social construct; it's how much we want you to be suffering before you shouldn't have to work."</p> <p>The nature of disability has evolved since its inception in the 1950s, when it was designed to support people with severe physical limitations &#8212; blindness, paralysis, heart disease. The program rapidly expanded in the 1970s and the federal government clamped down and kicked nearly a half-million people off the rolls. But it backfired: The public was incensed at the thought of suffering people cut off. Congress in 1984 responded by writing a more generous definition of disability which required that the agency consider pain, mental illness and combinations of less serious ailments in awarding disability.</p> <p>The number of Americans in the program has skyrocketed since, from 1.8 million people in 1970 to more than 10 million today, only some of which can be attributed to aging baby boomers and more women in the workforce. Nationwide, 4.7 percent of Americans rely on Social Security Disability. But in some pockets, that number is far higher. Autor calls it the "disability belt," a swath across the South and Appalachia, where levels of education are among the lowest in the nation and jobs in mining or manufacturing have disappeared.</p> <p>Dan Black, an economist at University of Chicago, studied how the rate of disability shot up when the coal industry declined. He pointed to a system tied more to economics than to physical impairments. But he doesn't believe that translates to fraud.</p> <p>"I'm not sure what we mean by fraud," he said. "Obviously it's fraud if I have no health problems that prevent me from working. But there are big gray areas in between. If I have significant pain in my back, is that enough to keep me from working? Maybe. But maybe not. It is a very, very difficult line to draw."</p> <p>Black has a colleague who uses a wheelchair. If he were a coalminer, he would be disabled. But he has advanced degrees and works as an economist at a university. The very definition of disability is inherently tied to education and skill and the labor market.</p> <p>Americans have tasked administrative law judges employed by the Social Security Administration with choosing who deserves disability and who does not.</p> <p>The stakes are high. A tiny fraction of those who enter the disability program ever leave it for a job, said David Stapleton, who runs the Mathematica Center for Studying Disability Policy. The government spends an average of $300,000 in lifetime benefits for each person in the system. The disability fund is going broke. Congress routed money last year from the retirement fund into the disability fund, a move he likened to "robbing Peter to pay Paul when Peter's already in trouble."</p> <p>But the solution, he said, is to work with people on the front end to keep them in the workforce, not kick them off after they've been out of the labor market for too many years to be reasonably expected to return to it.</p> <p>"Just throwing them off the rolls without considering what that means for them," he said, "seems pretty irresponsible."</p> <p>___</p> <p>Donna Dye looked in the mirror not long ago and was stunned by the bags under her eyes, the frayed edges of her long curly ponytail.</p> <p>Just a year ago, she would have never left the house without fixing her hair and putting on lipstick.</p> <p>Somewhere along the way, she thought, she had run out of pride. She doesn't know exactly when it happened. Maybe it was on one of the trips to the pawn shop. Or maybe when her mother gave her all she could &#8212; four piggy banks, labeled "quarters," ''dimes," ''nickels," ''pennies" &#8212; and she took them.</p> <p>She told herself to accept it, resign to a life of poverty, and move back to that rickety old house in the hollow with no heat because she couldn't stand the stress of caring anymore.</p> <p>She fixates now on the dents in the drywall, the peeling paint, the cracks in the concrete porch. She trained herself to hate this house she had loved so much. She will not weep when the bank comes to take it away.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Associated Press writer Mike Schneider contributed to this report. Find Galofaro on Twitter at @clairegalofaro.</p>

donna dye saw coal truck come barreling horizon head started spinning familiar desperate urge end continue reading thought disconnect notices engagement ring pawned keep lights house loved would probably lose life insurance bill date way thought might look like accident months passed since letter arrived social security administration suspending disability benefits said thought husband proud man body broken 26 years mining coal fights money never fraud agency written humiliation consumed thought veering across yellow line slamming headon truck year dyes family hundreds others coalfields kentucky west virginia fighting federal government keep social security disability checks one thing common hired attorney eric c conn flamboyant master marketer billed mr social security years clogged highways neon yellow billboards promising help people get deserved government advertisement dye thought could trust federal officials allege funneled 600 million fraudulent claims impoverished pocket appalachia government turned spigot suspended disability payments hundreds conns former clients propelling unprecedented yearlong battle federal government must prove deserved disability years ago lose checks stop billed tens thousands dollars received years money government believes never deserved government good reason ferret disability fraud critics call secret welfare program morphed decades serving truly disabled aiding unemployable uneducated frail unfortunates live places rotting economy relies backbreaking labor burgeoning claims floyd county kentucky 15 percent disability pushed disability fund brink insolvency government squeezed programs poor leaving many crumbling corners bluecollar america good options mass suspensions laid bare absolute dependence disability three people killed others caught quiet moments wondering whether theyd better dead donna dye didnt crash car coal truck instead pulled shoulder road sat hour temples pulsing panic thoughts racing disability familys safety net thought nothing save flailing toward impact like sitting tub water floating nothings wrong said somebody pulls cork get sucked everythings gone ___ eric c conn opened law practice 23 years ago trailer hometown stanville kentucky population 500 built third lucrative disability firm nation dyes went looking lawyer 2008 conn everywhere paid young women called conns hotties attend events across region 1800 number printed across tank tops erected 19foot replica lincoln memorial parking lot law complex cost claimed halfmillion dollars commissioned lifesized conn effigies sit atop billboards highways online ad bragged sent local boy terminal cancer disney world closed preachers benediction giving thanks god conns kindness tim dye hurt back mines years ago car wreck 2008 aggravated injuries surgery ruptured discs disintegrating cartilage resisted applying disability wife said got couldnt push clutch truck bend tie shoes application denied threequarters applicants initial claims rejected many turn lawyers help appeal means big money attorneys disability claims bulk win appeal applicants entitled payments dating back became unable work lawyers get chunk money paid directly agency conn racked 20 million fees media reports 2011 questioned relationship governmentemployed administrative law judge david daugherty approved nearly conns clients disability 2013 former us senator tom coburn republican oklahoma led investigation abuse disability program entitled report legal medical judicial professionals abused social security disability programs countrys vulnerable case study conn law firm 161 pages described elaborate system conn paid doctors daugherty rubberstamp disability claims using phony medical evidence years passed conn criminally charged remained good standing kentucky bar association donna dye says husband unaware improprieties social security administration acknowledged theres evidence conns clients involved scheme dyes took records went appointments arranged trusted took care rest may 2015 11 months conn formally accused crime social security administration contacted clients letters said lawyer suspected colluded judge doctors file claims using fraudulent medical evidence told benefits suspended gave 10 days collect medical records years prove disabled local attorney ned pillersdorfs phone started ringing heard hundred letters sent panicked heard several hundred 900 scope chaos settled focus colleague made ominous prediction suicides said within weeks three people took lives including melissa jude disability decade anxiety depression way pillersdorfs office pulled side road shot head death toll startled republican congressman hal rogers whose district includes hardesthit counties eastern kentucky convinced social security administration allow conns clients keep checks struggled series hearings prove deserved along appalachian research defense fund legal aid organization eastern kentucky grew worried recruited largest network volunteer attorneys since aftermath hurricane katrina led pillersdorf band 150 lawyers best disability attorneys nation become sort grassroots suicide prevention network fighting tell people alone government still least week pillersdorf fields suicide threat plead publicly facebook want die call office call home live kevin robertson wrote robertson 41year old anxiety disorder bad back eighthgrade education lost 1035 monthly draw hadnt worked decade says anxiety crippling barely leave bedroom lost house everything know people killed theirselves wrote honest ned ive crazy thoughts another man told hes sleeping pickup truck woman wrote children kept camping gear went live woods stress beginning wear pillersdorf wife begged see doctor colleagues worry hes coming undone want nightmare said fraying hems peeking leg trousers framed diplomas crooked office wall dont remember life like started dont know end beginning ___ grocery stores floyd county kentucky overrun disability checks arrive first week month traffic backs main drag downtown prestonsburg county seat even papa johns doubles number delivery drivers payments prop economy struggled collapsed recent years along coal industry one every six workingaged adults gets check three times american average coburn attributes broken system abused dont truly deserve yet grow dependent government benefits known better hire shyster lawyer said didnt deserve benefits first place shouldnt draw another dime government dependency believes first step toward tyranny feel sorry yes said hardships yes meet qualifications social security disability absolutely heres law says job economy dont qualify disability rules mean something life isnt fair disability program designed welfare insurance program every american worker pays premium paycheck agreement government percentage salary paid one day become disabled work tim dye started working mines 17 thought hired conn 26 years later collecting due family grew entirely dependent check wife worked county government nearly 18 years laid 2015 didnt worry much losing job husbands disability check came every month around 2200 wasnt lot couple son still high school two granddaughters living stable made expected life go way always yellow house edge mountain earlier year husband went social security office initial redetermination hearing thinking inclusion suspension list must sort mistake vocational expert told judge dyes back problems wouldnt prevent working desk job denied checks stopped coming seven months ago wonder would want hire old coal miner sitdown job nothing high school diploma crippled back eightyear gap resume month two wont nothing said losing everything ___ volunteer lawyers representing conns former clients say deck stacked agency assuming fraud without prove court committed office inspector general identified applications included conns suspect medical evidence report confidential one seen evidence agency relied determine particular pile claims assumed fraudulent citing 1994 law agency forbidding conns clients using medical evidence doctors alleged involved scheme pillersdorf said many clients disability mental illness cognitive disabilities expected recall names doctors saw 10 years ago pray still records pillersdorf said cant go back original files handed lawyer conn alleged destroyed millions pages documents coburns investigation found shredded 26000 pounds paper senate started investigate former employees testified burned bonfire behind office grew big smoldered four days charged 18 crimes including mail fraud wire fraud destruction records money laundering making false statements conspiracy conns attorneys respond calls requesting interview released bond pending trial scheduled next summer bail secured 15 million estate pikeville hundreds clients initially suspended half cases half including dyes cut cases entangled series lawsuits federal court least one judge agreed procedure unfair us district judge amul thapar presidentelect donald trumps short list us supreme court issued opinion last month found number conns clients afforded fewer protections suspected terrorists ordered social security administration reconsider process another federal judge sided agency question likely settled federal appeals court agency declined talk process meantime many lost living income dyes couldnt pay water bill donna dye designed system hoses barrels collect run hill juts behind house oldfashioned mountain way says man came switch lights gave enough time get pawn shop cash engagement ring pay bill signed food stamps husband proud spend disability earned food stamps welfare hoped find job paid almost much made county 1245 hour shes 49 years old ged live rural floyd county 23 miles county seat putting gas old truck get town eats couple hours minimum wage work gave put 40 applications dollar store cleaning rooms cheap motel posted advertisements town offering babysitting housecleaning 10 hour shes takers raised kids hollow nearby rickety twobedroom house heat tim still working 10 years ago bought bigger place 85000 thought meant theyd made middle class said one happiest days life went got big dining room table always wanted eight chairs could whole family dinners mortgage got behind three months bank called collect panicked put sign yard open house everything must go neighbors picked belongings sold couch dishes every television owned woman offered 20 five eight dining room chairs pure hell worry worry thats said slumped one three chairs left im almost stuff pawn ___ people even conns former clients believe fraud rampant disability system point distant relative man street seems healthy able work still draws check pillersdorf calls fakers people knowingly gaming system said hasnt met one stack conns former clients yet reality much complicated definition disability open debate mental illness hard measure pain impossible see medical condition called disability said david autor economics professor massachusetts institute technology cant go doctor say ive got bad news son youve got disability disability social construct much want suffering shouldnt work nature disability evolved since inception 1950s designed support people severe physical limitations blindness paralysis heart disease program rapidly expanded 1970s federal government clamped kicked nearly halfmillion people rolls backfired public incensed thought suffering people cut congress 1984 responded writing generous definition disability required agency consider pain mental illness combinations less serious ailments awarding disability number americans program skyrocketed since 18 million people 1970 10 million today attributed aging baby boomers women workforce nationwide 47 percent americans rely social security disability pockets number far higher autor calls disability belt swath across south appalachia levels education among lowest nation jobs mining manufacturing disappeared dan black economist university chicago studied rate disability shot coal industry declined pointed system tied economics physical impairments doesnt believe translates fraud im sure mean fraud said obviously fraud health problems prevent working big gray areas significant pain back enough keep working maybe maybe difficult line draw black colleague uses wheelchair coalminer would disabled advanced degrees works economist university definition disability inherently tied education skill labor market americans tasked administrative law judges employed social security administration choosing deserves disability stakes high tiny fraction enter disability program ever leave job said david stapleton runs mathematica center studying disability policy government spends average 300000 lifetime benefits person system disability fund going broke congress routed money last year retirement fund disability fund move likened robbing peter pay paul peters already trouble solution said work people front end keep workforce kick theyve labor market many years reasonably expected return throwing rolls without considering means said seems pretty irresponsible ___ donna dye looked mirror long ago stunned bags eyes frayed edges long curly ponytail year ago would never left house without fixing hair putting lipstick somewhere along way thought run pride doesnt know exactly happened maybe one trips pawn shop maybe mother gave could four piggy banks labeled quarters dimes nickels pennies took told accept resign life poverty move back rickety old house hollow heat couldnt stand stress caring anymore fixates dents drywall peeling paint cracks concrete porch trained hate house loved much weep bank comes take away ___ associated press writer mike schneider contributed report find galofaro twitter clairegalofaro

<p>TOP STORIES</p> <p>Value Meals Drive McDonald's Sales - 2nd Update</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>McDonald's Corp. gained sales again by luring core customers to its cheapest meals and drinks.</p> <p>The burger giant attributed U.S. sales growth in the fourth quarter to a "McPick 2" meal deal and low-price beverages, as well as to higher-priced Buttermilk Crispy Tenders. The chain introduced a new nationwide value menu this month with items priced at $1, $2 and $3, hoping consumers drawn in for cheap sodas and burgers will also order more expensive items.</p> <p>STORIES OF INTEREST</p> <p>Food Union Hails USDA Move on Chicken Plants -- Market Talk</p> <p>12:06 ET -- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents meat plant employees, claims victory after the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a U.S. chicken industry petition to eliminate poultry processing line speed caps in meat plants. The organization and other consumer groups opposed the request, saying it could make food less safe and pose risks to meat plant workers, who already deal with higher rates of injury than other industries. The union says it remains "concerned" that the USDA plans to let some chicken plants apply to run processing lines at speeds up to 175 birds a minute, with most currently capped at 140. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>USDA Pumps Brakes on Faster Chicken Processing -- Market Talk</p> <p>12:01 ET -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture denies a request by the National Chicken Council to lift all limits on how fast poultry plants can process birds--but the agency says it does plan to let some plants speed up. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says the chicken industry group's Sept. 1 petition to eliminate speed limits in chicken plants didn't demonstrate that inspectors could effectively check each carcass for safety at speeds beyond 175 birds a minute--nearly three chickens a second. But FSIS said that the agency plans to lay out criteria for poultry plants, most of which are limited to processing 140 chickens each minute, to run at speeds up to 175, as long as they demonstrate how they will assess food safety and meet other criteria. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p> <p>Wheat Futures Pop on Plains Drought</p> <p>A drought in the Great Plains sparked a rally in wheat prices on Tuesday.</p> <p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the condition of the hard red winter wheat crop, primarily grown in southern Plains states like Kansas, dropped sharply as farmers in the region struggle through dry conditions.</p> <p>FUTURES MARKETS</p> <p>Live Cattle Futures Ease</p> <p>Cattle futures were mixed on Tuesday, easing off multimonth highs.</p> <p>The futures market started the week by hitting a two-month high, after cash prices for physical cattle rose more than expected. But analysts say futures bumped up against selling pressure after falling from those highs, with chart signals suggesting to traders that prices were headed lower.</p> <p>CASH MARKETS</p> <p>Zumbrota, Minn Hog Steady At $44.00 - Jan 30</p> <p>Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today are steady at $44.00 a hundredweight. Sow prices are steady. Sows weighing 400-450 pounds are at $43.00, 450-500 pounds are $43.00 and those over 500 pounds are $45.00-$47.00.</p> <p>The day's total run is estimated at 180 head.</p> <p>Prices are provided by the Central Livestock Association.</p> <p>Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jan 30</p> <p>This report reflects U.S. pork packer processing margins. The margin indices</p> <p>are calculated using current cash hog or carcass values and wholesale pork</p> <p>cutout values and may not reflect actual margins at the plants. These</p> <p>estimates reflect the general health of the industry and are not meant to</p> <p>be indicative of any particular company or plant.</p> <p>Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations</p> <p>All figures are on a per-head basis.</p> <p>Date Standard Margin Estimated margin</p> <p>Operating Index at vertically -</p> <p>integrated operations</p> <p>*</p> <p>Jan 30 +$20.58 +$ 45.01</p> <p>Jan 29 +$20.88 +$ 45.57</p> <p>Jan 26 +$22.51 +$ 45.96</p> <p>* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.</p> <p>A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of</p> <p>production of the animals.</p> <p>Beef-O-Meter</p> <p>This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite</p> <p>values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.</p> <p>Beef</p> <p>For Today Choice 108.5</p> <p>(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 108.2</p> <p>USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports</p> <p>Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds, to $209.69, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds, to $204.37. The total load count was 109. Wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents, to $81.34 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>January 30, 2018 17:31 ET (22:31 GMT)</p>

top stories value meals drive mcdonalds sales 2nd update continue reading mcdonalds corp gained sales luring core customers cheapest meals drinks burger giant attributed us sales growth fourth quarter mcpick 2 meal deal lowprice beverages well higherpriced buttermilk crispy tenders chain introduced new nationwide value menu month items priced 1 2 3 hoping consumers drawn cheap sodas burgers also order expensive items stories interest food union hails usda move chicken plants market talk 1206 et united food commercial workers international union represents meat plant employees claims victory us department agriculture rejected us chicken industry petition eliminate poultry processing line speed caps meat plants organization consumer groups opposed request saying could make food less safe pose risks meat plant workers already deal higher rates injury industries union says remains concerned usda plans let chicken plants apply run processing lines speeds 175 birds minute currently capped 140 jacobbungewsjcom jacobbunge advertisement usda pumps brakes faster chicken processing market talk 1201 et us department agriculture denies request national chicken council lift limits fast poultry plants process birdsbut agency says plan let plants speed usdas food safety inspection service says chicken industry groups sept 1 petition eliminate speed limits chicken plants didnt demonstrate inspectors could effectively check carcass safety speeds beyond 175 birds minutenearly three chickens second fsis said agency plans lay criteria poultry plants limited processing 140 chickens minute run speeds 175 long demonstrate assess food safety meet criteria jacobbungewsjcom jacobbunge wheat futures pop plains drought drought great plains sparked rally wheat prices tuesday us department agriculture said condition hard red winter wheat crop primarily grown southern plains states like kansas dropped sharply farmers region struggle dry conditions futures markets live cattle futures ease cattle futures mixed tuesday easing multimonth highs futures market started week hitting twomonth high cash prices physical cattle rose expected analysts say futures bumped selling pressure falling highs chart signals suggesting traders prices headed lower cash markets zumbrota minn hog steady 4400 jan 30 barrow gilt prices zumbrota minn livestock market today steady 4400 hundredweight sow prices steady sows weighing 400450 pounds 4300 450500 pounds 4300 500 pounds 45004700 days total run estimated 180 head prices provided central livestock association estimated us pork packer margin index jan 30 report reflects us pork packer processing margins margin indices calculated using current cash hog carcass values wholesale pork cutout values may reflect actual margins plants estimates reflect general health industry meant indicative particular company plant source usda based wall street journal calculations figures perhead basis date standard margin estimated margin operating index vertically integrated operations jan 30 2058 4501 jan 29 2088 4557 jan 26 2251 4596 based iowa state universitys latest estimated cost production positive number indicates processing margin cost production animals beefometer report compares usdas latest beef carcass composite values percentage respective yearago prices beef today choice 1085 percent yearago select 1082 usda boxed beef pork reports wholesale choicegrade beef prices tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds 20969 according usda selectgrade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds 20437 total load count 109 wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents 8134 hundred pounds based omaha neb price quotes end dow jones newswires january 30 2018 1731 et 2231 gmt

<p>TOP STORIES</p> <p>Value Meals Drive McDonald's Sales - 2nd Update</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>McDonald's Corp. gained sales again by luring core customers to its cheapest meals and drinks.</p> <p>The burger giant attributed U.S. sales growth in the fourth quarter to a "McPick 2" meal deal and low-price beverages, as well as to higher-priced Buttermilk Crispy Tenders. The chain introduced a new nationwide value menu this month with items priced at $1, $2 and $3, hoping consumers drawn in for cheap sodas and burgers will also order more expensive items.</p> <p>STORIES OF INTEREST</p> <p>Food Union Hails USDA Move on Chicken Plants -- Market Talk</p> <p>12:06 ET -- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents meat plant employees, claims victory after the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a U.S. chicken industry petition to eliminate poultry processing line speed caps in meat plants. The organization and other consumer groups opposed the request, saying it could make food less safe and pose risks to meat plant workers, who already deal with higher rates of injury than other industries. The union says it remains "concerned" that the USDA plans to let some chicken plants apply to run processing lines at speeds up to 175 birds a minute, with most currently capped at 140. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>USDA Pumps Brakes on Faster Chicken Processing -- Market Talk</p> <p>12:01 ET -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture denies a request by the National Chicken Council to lift all limits on how fast poultry plants can process birds--but the agency says it does plan to let some plants speed up. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says the chicken industry group's Sept. 1 petition to eliminate speed limits in chicken plants didn't demonstrate that inspectors could effectively check each carcass for safety at speeds beyond 175 birds a minute--nearly three chickens a second. But FSIS said that the agency plans to lay out criteria for poultry plants, most of which are limited to processing 140 chickens each minute, to run at speeds up to 175, as long as they demonstrate how they will assess food safety and meet other criteria. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p> <p>Wheat Futures Pop on Plains Drought</p> <p>A drought in the Great Plains sparked a rally in wheat prices on Tuesday.</p> <p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the condition of the hard red winter wheat crop, primarily grown in southern Plains states like Kansas, dropped sharply as farmers in the region struggle through dry conditions.</p> <p>FUTURES MARKETS</p> <p>Live Cattle Futures Ease</p> <p>Cattle futures were mixed on Tuesday, easing off multimonth highs.</p> <p>The futures market started the week by hitting a two-month high, after cash prices for physical cattle rose more than expected. But analysts say futures bumped up against selling pressure after falling from those highs, with chart signals suggesting to traders that prices were headed lower.</p> <p>CASH MARKETS</p> <p>Zumbrota, Minn Hog Steady At $44.00 - Jan 30</p> <p>Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today are steady at $44.00 a hundredweight. Sow prices are steady. Sows weighing 400-450 pounds are at $43.00, 450-500 pounds are $43.00 and those over 500 pounds are $45.00-$47.00.</p> <p>The day's total run is estimated at 180 head.</p> <p>Prices are provided by the Central Livestock Association.</p> <p>Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jan 30</p> <p>This report reflects U.S. pork packer processing margins. The margin indices</p> <p>are calculated using current cash hog or carcass values and wholesale pork</p> <p>cutout values and may not reflect actual margins at the plants. These</p> <p>estimates reflect the general health of the industry and are not meant to</p> <p>be indicative of any particular company or plant.</p> <p>Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations</p> <p>All figures are on a per-head basis.</p> <p>Date Standard Margin Estimated margin</p> <p>Operating Index at vertically -</p> <p>integrated operations</p> <p>*</p> <p>Jan 30 +$20.58 +$ 45.01</p> <p>Jan 29 +$20.88 +$ 45.57</p> <p>Jan 26 +$22.51 +$ 45.96</p> <p>* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.</p> <p>A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of</p> <p>production of the animals.</p> <p>Beef-O-Meter</p> <p>This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite</p> <p>values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.</p> <p>Beef</p> <p>For Today Choice 108.5</p> <p>(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 108.2</p> <p>USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports</p> <p>Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds, to $209.69, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds, to $204.37. The total load count was 109. Wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents, to $81.34 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>January 30, 2018 17:31 ET (22:31 GMT)</p>

top stories value meals drive mcdonalds sales 2nd update continue reading mcdonalds corp gained sales luring core customers cheapest meals drinks burger giant attributed us sales growth fourth quarter mcpick 2 meal deal lowprice beverages well higherpriced buttermilk crispy tenders chain introduced new nationwide value menu month items priced 1 2 3 hoping consumers drawn cheap sodas burgers also order expensive items stories interest food union hails usda move chicken plants market talk 1206 et united food commercial workers international union represents meat plant employees claims victory us department agriculture rejected us chicken industry petition eliminate poultry processing line speed caps meat plants organization consumer groups opposed request saying could make food less safe pose risks meat plant workers already deal higher rates injury industries union says remains concerned usda plans let chicken plants apply run processing lines speeds 175 birds minute currently capped 140 jacobbungewsjcom jacobbunge advertisement usda pumps brakes faster chicken processing market talk 1201 et us department agriculture denies request national chicken council lift limits fast poultry plants process birdsbut agency says plan let plants speed usdas food safety inspection service says chicken industry groups sept 1 petition eliminate speed limits chicken plants didnt demonstrate inspectors could effectively check carcass safety speeds beyond 175 birds minutenearly three chickens second fsis said agency plans lay criteria poultry plants limited processing 140 chickens minute run speeds 175 long demonstrate assess food safety meet criteria jacobbungewsjcom jacobbunge wheat futures pop plains drought drought great plains sparked rally wheat prices tuesday us department agriculture said condition hard red winter wheat crop primarily grown southern plains states like kansas dropped sharply farmers region struggle dry conditions futures markets live cattle futures ease cattle futures mixed tuesday easing multimonth highs futures market started week hitting twomonth high cash prices physical cattle rose expected analysts say futures bumped selling pressure falling highs chart signals suggesting traders prices headed lower cash markets zumbrota minn hog steady 4400 jan 30 barrow gilt prices zumbrota minn livestock market today steady 4400 hundredweight sow prices steady sows weighing 400450 pounds 4300 450500 pounds 4300 500 pounds 45004700 days total run estimated 180 head prices provided central livestock association estimated us pork packer margin index jan 30 report reflects us pork packer processing margins margin indices calculated using current cash hog carcass values wholesale pork cutout values may reflect actual margins plants estimates reflect general health industry meant indicative particular company plant source usda based wall street journal calculations figures perhead basis date standard margin estimated margin operating index vertically integrated operations jan 30 2058 4501 jan 29 2088 4557 jan 26 2251 4596 based iowa state universitys latest estimated cost production positive number indicates processing margin cost production animals beefometer report compares usdas latest beef carcass composite values percentage respective yearago prices beef today choice 1085 percent yearago select 1082 usda boxed beef pork reports wholesale choicegrade beef prices tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds 20969 according usda selectgrade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds 20437 total load count 109 wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents 8134 hundred pounds based omaha neb price quotes end dow jones newswires january 30 2018 1731 et 2231 gmt

<p /> <p>Hops are one of four essential ingredients in the production of beer, but the growth of the craft beer industry has strained supplies. Unfortunately, that hasn't been an issue for Boston Beer, which means its many troubles lie elsewhere. Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Don't pin Boston Beer's (NYSE: SAM)ongoing decline on the growing hops shortage. Although the key brewing ingredient is becoming increasingly difficult to come by, due in no small part to the burgeoning growth of the craft beer industry, the leading craft brewers' woes can't be tied to that excuse.</p> <p>A recent report from theThe Wall Street Journal indicated that despite near-record hops harvests, craft brewers are having trouble getting supplies. Almost 92 million pounds of hops will be produced this year, up 16% from last year and second only to the 94.7 million pounds produced in 2009. But there are also more craft brewers in existence today than ever before. The Brewers Association reports there were more than 4,300 breweries operating at the end of last year, 4,225 of them craft breweries, which exceeds the 4,100 breweries that existed in 1873.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Craft beer accounts for 12% of all the beer brewed in the U.S., some 24 million barrels in all. Where the overall beer market grew just 0.2% in 2015, the craft beer segment surged 12.8% from the year-ago period.</p> <p>Yet the industry is starting to slow. The industry trade group's midyear assessment showed that production volume rose 8% over the first six months of 2016, about half the rate of increase seen in the prior-year period. Others say growth is even slower than that, with market researchers pegging industry expansion at just 6.5% through May, almost a third of the better-than-17% growth seen last year.</p> <p>However, growth -- or decline -- isn't even. The Brewers Association points out that if you remove the beers made by the largest brewers, such as Anheuser-Busch InBevand Molson Coors, or even the largest craft brewers like Boston Beer, New Belgium Brewing, and Sierra Nevada Brewing, the industry is still <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/18/dont-believe-the-hype-craft-beer-isnt-dying.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">showing significant growth Opens a New Window.</a> and health, say market researchers at IRI.</p> <p>Taking out just Blue Moon (owned by MillerCoors, a joint venture of Molson Coors and SABMiller) and Shock Top (owned by AB InBev) from the IRI data, we see craft beer growing 9% over the period, while industry site BevNet says eliminating the three big craft brewers puts growth at 16%. It's not craft beer that's going flat, just the biggest names, which indicates beer drinkers are still seeking out true craft brews and shunning the mass-produced offerings.</p> <p>That's part of the reason you could blame Boston Beer's problems on not being able to get hops. Along with D.G. Yuengling &amp;amp; Son, the maker of the Samuel Adams brand is the largest true craft brewer that meets the Brewers Association definition of size and volume.</p> <p>In its second quarter earnings report in July, Boston Beer said revenue fell 2.7% as the number of barrels sold fell 4% from last year. Depletions, or sales from distributors to retailers, which are considered a reliable proxy for consumer demand, were down 5%.</p> <p>But unlike its smaller brethren that are having trouble getting hops supplies, affecting their ability to brew enough product, Boston Beer uses "noble hop" varieties for many of its Samuel Adams beers -- the flagship brand critical to its success.</p> <p>Noble hops are known for their superior taste and aroma, of which there are largely four varieties: Hallertau (Hallertauer), Tettnang (Tettnanger), Hersbrucker, and Spalt (Spalter), all of which come from Germany. Boston Beer identifies a fifth that it uses, Saaz, that comes from the Czech Republic.</p> <p>While the brewer does use U.S. hops, which are grown primarily in the Pacific Northwest, and it acknowledges the existence of a hops shortage due to the growth of the craft beer industry, which has also led to an increase in prices, Boston Beer has purchase agreements with eight primary hops dealers and got its full complement of U.S. hops. It did have an underdelivery of European hops, but it also maintains a two-year supply of essential hops varieties in inventory for just such circumstances, so the shortage isn't the cause of its woes.</p> <p>Boston Beer has simply gotten too big for its own good and needs to pay more attention to its beer. It has to come up with new ways to refresh the Samuel Adams brand while extending its own name in ways that hew closer to its roots as a craft brewer. A shortage of hops, though perhaps real, isn't a concern right now.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;amp;ftm_pit=2667&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCop/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Duprey Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Boston Beer. The Motley Fool recommends Anheuser-Busch InBev. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

hops one four essential ingredients production beer growth craft beer industry strained supplies unfortunately hasnt issue boston beer means many troubles lie elsewhere image source getty images continue reading dont pin boston beers nyse samongoing decline growing hops shortage although key brewing ingredient becoming increasingly difficult come due small part burgeoning growth craft beer industry leading craft brewers woes cant tied excuse recent report thethe wall street journal indicated despite nearrecord hops harvests craft brewers trouble getting supplies almost 92 million pounds hops produced year 16 last year second 947 million pounds produced 2009 also craft brewers existence today ever brewers association reports 4300 breweries operating end last year 4225 craft breweries exceeds 4100 breweries existed 1873 advertisement craft beer accounts 12 beer brewed us 24 million barrels overall beer market grew 02 2015 craft beer segment surged 128 yearago period yet industry starting slow industry trade groups midyear assessment showed production volume rose 8 first six months 2016 half rate increase seen prioryear period others say growth even slower market researchers pegging industry expansion 65 may almost third betterthan17 growth seen last year however growth decline isnt even brewers association points remove beers made largest brewers anheuserbusch inbevand molson coors even largest craft brewers like boston beer new belgium brewing sierra nevada brewing industry still showing significant growth opens new window health say market researchers iri taking blue moon owned millercoors joint venture molson coors sabmiller shock top owned ab inbev iri data see craft beer growing 9 period industry site bevnet says eliminating three big craft brewers puts growth 16 craft beer thats going flat biggest names indicates beer drinkers still seeking true craft brews shunning massproduced offerings thats part reason could blame boston beers problems able get hops along dg yuengling amp son maker samuel adams brand largest true craft brewer meets brewers association definition size volume second quarter earnings report july boston beer said revenue fell 27 number barrels sold fell 4 last year depletions sales distributors retailers considered reliable proxy consumer demand 5 unlike smaller brethren trouble getting hops supplies affecting ability brew enough product boston beer uses noble hop varieties many samuel adams beers flagship brand critical success noble hops known superior taste aroma largely four varieties hallertau hallertauer tettnang tettnanger hersbrucker spalt spalter come germany boston beer identifies fifth uses saaz comes czech republic brewer use us hops grown primarily pacific northwest acknowledges existence hops shortage due growth craft beer industry also led increase prices boston beer purchase agreements eight primary hops dealers got full complement us hops underdelivery european hops also maintains twoyear supply essential hops varieties inventory circumstances shortage isnt cause woes boston beer simply gotten big good needs pay attention beer come new ways refresh samuel adams brand extending name ways hew closer roots craft brewer shortage hops though perhaps real isnt concern right secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window rich duprey opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends boston beer motley fool recommends anheuserbusch inbev try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>Mike&amp;#160;Flynn, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, resigned Monday as he was under increasing fire over his conflicting statements about his contacts with Russian officials before the inauguration, the White House said.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn's resignation was accepted by Mr. Trump after information about his Russia contacts continued to emerge while the president was "evaluating" whether to keep him in his post.</p> <p>The move caps an unusually short tenure in the White House -- less than a month -- for one of Mr. Trump's earliest loyal campaign supporters.</p> <p>The White House said in a statement late Monday that Keith Kellogg, the chief of staff at the National Security Council who advised Mr. Trump during the campaign, would serve as interim national security adviser.</p> <p>Mr. Trump is considering Mr. Kellogg as a possible permanent replacement, as well as former Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus and retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward.</p> <p>Mr.&amp;#160; <a type="external" href="" />Flynn&amp;#160;said in a resignation letter released by the White House that during the transition before Mr. Trump's inauguration he had apologized to Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>"Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador," Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;said in the letter. "I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology."</p> <p>For a White House that has been in nearly constant damage control, Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;was a consistent flashpoint.</p> <p>He clashed with several members of Mr. Trump's cabinet, including Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The disagreements, particularly over some of Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn's hires, grew so heated at one point that two of Mr. Trump's top advisers -- Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon -- flew from New York to Washington before the inauguration to meet with the incoming president's nominees, said two people familiar with the meeting.</p> <p>The resignation is a blow to Mr. Trump just weeks into his time in office. It came just hours after White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr. Trump was evaluating whether to retain Mr.&amp;#160; <a type="external" href="" />Flynn&amp;#160;given he discussed the issue of U.S. sanctions against Moscow in phone calls with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., contrary to Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn's earlier denials.</p> <p>Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn's contacts with the Russian envoy are part of a U.S. counterintelligence investigation into Russian government contacts with people close to Mr. Trump. Lawmakers in Congress also have begun investigations into U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusion that the Kremlin engaged in hacking Democratic Party organizations and individuals in an attempt to influence November's election in favor of Mr. Trump.</p> <p>Senior Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday said Mr. Trump had "full confidence" in Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn, but that changed amid new reports the White House was warned by the Justice Department that Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;had made misled officials, including Mr. Pence, about his contacts with Russian officials.</p> <p>The Justice Department warned the Trump administration last month that U.S. intercepts contradicted Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn's denials that he had discussed sanctions with a Russian ambassador, according to a person familiar with the matter. The message was meant both to advise the administration of the apparent contradiction and to let them know that the discrepancy could, in theory, be used as blackmail by Russia against Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;someday, according to this person.</p> <p>The warning from the Justice Department came from Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover who was later fired by Mr. Trump for her refusal to defend in court his executive order temporarily blocking visitors from some countries, this person said.</p> <p>The warning was first reported by the Washington Post.</p> <p>The turmoil comes as the new administration is trying to formulate its foreign policy and is just beginning to confront multiple global challenges.</p> <p>The White House is in the midst of a review of its North Korea policy as Pyongyang launched a ballistic missile test over the weekend while Mr. Trump was hosting the prime minister of Japan at his Florida golf club.</p> <p>Mr. Trump also is stepping up the pace of his meetings with foreign leaders, hosting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday and planning to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;was on hand for Mr. Trudeau's visit.</p> <p>Mr. Kellogg's name first surfaced as a Trump campaign adviser in March 2016, when the candidate, under pressure to name people he consulted for foreign policy advice, identified the retired general in a meeting with the Washington Post editorial board.</p> <p>Mr. Kellogg has been serving on the National Security Council as chief of staff and executive secretary, a crucial position responsible for ensuring the timely and coordinated flow of memos, directives and briefing papers. That process has been beset by dysfunction, with key organizational responsibilities and lines of authority left undefined, said a U.S. official who has worked with Gen. Kellogg.</p> <p>Mr. Kellogg was among the first American personnel sent into Iraq following the U.S.'s 2003 invasion. Then a contractor for Oracle Corp., he served in Baghdad as the chief operating officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority, set up to govern the country, for five months.</p> <p>The CPA's tenure was marked by controversial policy decisions, including to disband the Iraqi army.</p> <p>Mr. Petraeus commanded U.S. forces in Iraq and was credited with quelling an insurgency in 2007. He later served as director of the CIA but resigned his position in 2012 following revelations that he disclosed classified information to Paula Broadwell, who was writing an authorized biography of the general and with whom he was having an extramarital affair. Mr. Petraeus later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling government information after lying to federal investigators about the disclosures to Ms. Broadwell.</p> <p>Retired Navy Vice Adm. Harward served as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees all U.S. forces in the Middle East. He served on the NSC during the George W. Bush administration and has served in the National Counterterrorism Center.</p> <p>The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador were under investigation by U.S. officials.</p> <p>Mr. Spicer said Mr. Trump had "absolutely not" been aware Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;was discussing sanctions with the Russian ambassador.</p> <p>Other senior members of Mr. Trump's team, in addition to Mr. Pence, said publicly during the period between Mr. Trump's election in November and his inauguration in January that Mr. Flynn&amp;#160;told them he didn't discuss the issue of U.S. sanctions against Russia in his call to Sergey Kislyak, the ambassador.</p> <p>Current and former officials, however, have said transcripts of the calls, which the White House has reviewed, show sanctions were discussed in phone calls between Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;and Mr. Kislyak on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration adopted new sanctions against Moscow in response to its alleged use of cyberattacks to interfere in the U.S. election. Russia has denied the hacking.</p> <p>Mr.&amp;#160;Flynn&amp;#160;had maintained there was only one phone call with Mr. Kislyak that day, and that it was solely focused on arranging a conversation between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. White House officials now concede there was more than one phone call that day.</p> <p>Write to Carol E. Lee at [email protected], Michael C. Bender at [email protected] and Devlin Barrett at [email protected]</p>

mike160flynn president donald trumps national security adviser resigned monday increasing fire conflicting statements contacts russian officials inauguration white house said continue reading mr160flynns resignation accepted mr trump information russia contacts continued emerge president evaluating whether keep post move caps unusually short tenure white house less month one mr trumps earliest loyal campaign supporters white house said statement late monday keith kellogg chief staff national security council advised mr trump campaign would serve interim national security adviser mr trump considering mr kellogg possible permanent replacement well former central intelligence agency director david petraeus retired vice adm robert harward mr160 flynn160said resignation letter released white house transition mr trumps inauguration apologized mr trump vice president mike pence advertisement unfortunately fast pace events inadvertently briefed vice president elect others incomplete information regarding phone calls russian ambassador mr160flynn160said letter sincerely apologized president vice president accepted apology white house nearly constant damage control mr160flynn160was consistent flashpoint clashed several members mr trumps cabinet including homeland security secretary john kelly secretary state rex tillerson disagreements particularly mr160flynns hires grew heated one point two mr trumps top advisers jared kushner steve bannon flew new york washington inauguration meet incoming presidents nominees said two people familiar meeting resignation blow mr trump weeks time office came hours white house press secretary sean spicer said mr trump evaluating whether retain mr160 flynn160given discussed issue us sanctions moscow phone calls russias ambassador us contrary mr160flynns earlier denials mr160flynns contacts russian envoy part us counterintelligence investigation russian government contacts people close mr trump lawmakers congress also begun investigations us intelligence agencies conclusion kremlin engaged hacking democratic party organizations individuals attempt influence novembers election favor mr trump senior trump counselor kellyanne conway monday said mr trump full confidence mr160flynn changed amid new reports white house warned justice department mr160flynn160had made misled officials including mr pence contacts russian officials justice department warned trump administration last month us intercepts contradicted mr160flynns denials discussed sanctions russian ambassador according person familiar matter message meant advise administration apparent contradiction let know discrepancy could theory used blackmail russia mr160flynn160someday according person warning justice department came acting attorney general sally yates obama administration holdover later fired mr trump refusal defend court executive order temporarily blocking visitors countries person said warning first reported washington post turmoil comes new administration trying formulate foreign policy beginning confront multiple global challenges white house midst review north korea policy pyongyang launched ballistic missile test weekend mr trump hosting prime minister japan florida golf club mr trump also stepping pace meetings foreign leaders hosting canadian prime minister justin trudeau monday planning meet israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu wednesday mr160flynn160was hand mr trudeaus visit mr kelloggs name first surfaced trump campaign adviser march 2016 candidate pressure name people consulted foreign policy advice identified retired general meeting washington post editorial board mr kellogg serving national security council chief staff executive secretary crucial position responsible ensuring timely coordinated flow memos directives briefing papers process beset dysfunction key organizational responsibilities lines authority left undefined said us official worked gen kellogg mr kellogg among first american personnel sent iraq following uss 2003 invasion contractor oracle corp served baghdad chief operating officer coalition provisional authority set govern country five months cpas tenure marked controversial policy decisions including disband iraqi army mr petraeus commanded us forces iraq credited quelling insurgency 2007 later served director cia resigned position 2012 following revelations disclosed classified information paula broadwell writing authorized biography general extramarital affair mr petraeus later pleaded guilty misdemeanor charge mishandling government information lying federal investigators disclosures ms broadwell retired navy vice adm harward served deputy commander us central command oversees us forces middle east served nsc george w bush administration served national counterterrorism center wall street journal reported last month mr160flynns contacts russian ambassador investigation us officials mr spicer said mr trump absolutely aware mr160flynn160was discussing sanctions russian ambassador senior members mr trumps team addition mr pence said publicly period mr trumps election november inauguration january mr flynn160told didnt discuss issue us sanctions russia call sergey kislyak ambassador current former officials however said transcripts calls white house reviewed show sanctions discussed phone calls mr160flynn160and mr kislyak dec 29 day obama administration adopted new sanctions moscow response alleged use cyberattacks interfere us election russia denied hacking mr160flynn160had maintained one phone call mr kislyak day solely focused arranging conversation mr trump russian president vladimir putin white house officials concede one phone call day write carol e lee carolleewsjcom michael c bender mikebenderwsjcom devlin barrett devlinbarrettwsjcom

<p /> <p>Credit card rewards are meant to inspire customer loyalty in the form of points for travel and cash back when consumers use their cards. But some cardholders shun loyalty in favor of chasing rewards by opening and closing multiple accounts. While the practice, called flipping, may lead to free travel for some, it could backfire by causing credit troubles in the long run.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>A card issuer's goal is to be "the top card in the wallet," says Nessa Feddis, senior vice president, consumer protection and payments for the American Bankers Association. So it will use rewards as a means to encourage the use and retention of the account.</p> <p>Some consumers take advantage of issuer competition by opening one or more credit cards offering generous promotions, and once those bonus awards points are used or acquired, closing those accounts and flipping their business to another set of cards to get more perks. While issuers typically don't mind the practice, Feddis says, it does pose a number of risks to your credit score if you don't play the game right. If you are going to flip credit cards for rewards, take heed of the following rules.</p> <p>Rule No. 1: Understand the process. Card flipping differs from two similar practices. Credit card churning is the process of opening and closing the same account multiple times to get the same sign-up bonuses or promotional rewards over and over again. Card issuers have been taking some steps to curb this practice. For example, <a href="http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/churning-crackdown-worries-rewards-chasers-1263.php?aid=52aae854" type="external">American Express won't offer sign-up bonuses</a> to anyone who has ever had a particular card before.</p> <p>Another practice, rotating balances from card to card (also known as a balance transfer), is primarily used to take advantage of promotional low-interest rates as you pay down a high balance. While this practice can be a smart idea if you're actually whittling down your debt, it can hurt you if you're not careful, says Anthony Sprauve, a spokesman for FICO. "If you're just moving the balance around but not paying it down, you'll be penalized," Sprauve says.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Flipping is primarily done to reap multiple rewards at once, utilizing as many credit cards as you can easily manage, and then eventually closing the cards to repeat the process again.</p> <p>Rule No. 2: Start with a clean slate. If you're walking around with credit card balances, flipping credit cards isn't for you. The interest you pay each month will negate any rewards you get for using the card, says Todd Zino, an entrepreneur whose company Wallaby Financial created an app to manage credit card rewards. (Disclosure: CreditCards.com has partnered with Wallaby to offer a similar app, <a href="https://walletup.creditcards.com/app" type="external">WalletUp Opens a New Window.</a>.)&amp;#160; Zino has amassed more than 130,000 points by flipping cards.</p> <p>In order to cash in on rewards, you typically must meet certain spending requirements. For example, you may be required to spend several thousand dollars on the card in 90 days. Zino pays the majority of his monthly expenses using credit cards, averaging between $3,000 and $4,000 a month, and then pays the entire balance off when it's due. That way he's qualifying for travel points without shelling out cash on interest or buying things he doesn't need in order to meet that spending threshold.</p> <p>Rule No. 3: Keep card utilization low. One of the practices that can hurt your credit score is using more than 30 percent of your credit lines, says Sprauve.</p> <p>So make sure you have a credit limit that makes flipping worth your while, says Zino. If you have a low credit limit and you're maxing out the card each month to qualify for rewards, you could be shooting yourself in the foot. But if you're spending, say, $3,000 a month on a card with a $10,000 limit -- and paying it off each month -- your credit score shouldn't take too much of a hit.</p> <p>Rule No.4: Consider the cost of closing a card. One of the biggest questions card flippers must ask themselves is when it makes sense to close a card account. The main reason for doing so is to avoid an annual fee, Zino says.</p> <p>But saving money on an annual fee can hurt your credit. If you close an account and reduce your amount of available credit, your <a href="http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/fico-credit-score-account-amounts-owed-1270.php?aid=52aae854" type="external">credit utilization ratio</a> could rise, which could also ding your score. "You need to think about how it impacts your whole credit picture," Sprauve says.</p> <p>Rule No. 5: Time new accounts carefully. Creditors want to know that you only apply for credit when you need it, so opening a card account one month and another card account the next can signal trouble. Issuers will check your credit (called a hard inquiry) to evaluate your creditworthiness before granting you a card, which temporarily knocks down your score a few points for each inquiry. &amp;#160;If you open accounts too frequently, a card issuer may even deny your application or give you a low credit line. To get around this, some card flippers open multiple credit card accounts on the same day so they end up with several new cards before the damage shows up on their credit score, Zino says. Then they pay their balances responsibly and rack up rewards points for a few months until their credit scores recover and they can apply for new cards again.</p> <p>However, this practice carries ample risk, Sprauve says. For example, if you are in the market for a car loan or mortgage, you may not qualify for the lowest rates.</p> <p>Rule No. 6: Plan to invest time. Zino has to track card balances, due dates and looming annual fees each month. You also have to understand the rules of each rewards program. For example, issuers could require cardholders to have an account open for a minimum amount of time in order to receive a reward, Feddis says. "If people want to take advantage of the opportunities, they need to take the time to read the terms and conditions."&amp;#160;</p> <p>See related: <a href="http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/churning-not-smart-while-house_hunting-1433.php?aid=52aae854" type="external">Credit card churning: Not a game to play while house-hunting</a></p>

credit card rewards meant inspire customer loyalty form points travel cash back consumers use cards cardholders shun loyalty favor chasing rewards opening closing multiple accounts practice called flipping may lead free travel could backfire causing credit troubles long run continue reading card issuers goal top card wallet says nessa feddis senior vice president consumer protection payments american bankers association use rewards means encourage use retention account consumers take advantage issuer competition opening one credit cards offering generous promotions bonus awards points used acquired closing accounts flipping business another set cards get perks issuers typically dont mind practice feddis says pose number risks credit score dont play game right going flip credit cards rewards take heed following rules rule 1 understand process card flipping differs two similar practices credit card churning process opening closing account multiple times get signup bonuses promotional rewards card issuers taking steps curb practice example american express wont offer signup bonuses anyone ever particular card another practice rotating balances card card also known balance transfer primarily used take advantage promotional lowinterest rates pay high balance practice smart idea youre actually whittling debt hurt youre careful says anthony sprauve spokesman fico youre moving balance around paying youll penalized sprauve says advertisement flipping primarily done reap multiple rewards utilizing many credit cards easily manage eventually closing cards repeat process rule 2 start clean slate youre walking around credit card balances flipping credit cards isnt interest pay month negate rewards get using card says todd zino entrepreneur whose company wallaby financial created app manage credit card rewards disclosure creditcardscom partnered wallaby offer similar app walletup opens new window160 zino amassed 130000 points flipping cards order cash rewards typically must meet certain spending requirements example may required spend several thousand dollars card 90 days zino pays majority monthly expenses using credit cards averaging 3000 4000 month pays entire balance due way hes qualifying travel points without shelling cash interest buying things doesnt need order meet spending threshold rule 3 keep card utilization low one practices hurt credit score using 30 percent credit lines says sprauve make sure credit limit makes flipping worth says zino low credit limit youre maxing card month qualify rewards could shooting foot youre spending say 3000 month card 10000 limit paying month credit score shouldnt take much hit rule no4 consider cost closing card one biggest questions card flippers must ask makes sense close card account main reason avoid annual fee zino says saving money annual fee hurt credit close account reduce amount available credit credit utilization ratio could rise could also ding score need think impacts whole credit picture sprauve says rule 5 time new accounts carefully creditors want know apply credit need opening card account one month another card account next signal trouble issuers check credit called hard inquiry evaluate creditworthiness granting card temporarily knocks score points inquiry 160if open accounts frequently card issuer may even deny application give low credit line get around card flippers open multiple credit card accounts day end several new cards damage shows credit score zino says pay balances responsibly rack rewards points months credit scores recover apply new cards however practice carries ample risk sprauve says example market car loan mortgage may qualify lowest rates rule 6 plan invest time zino track card balances due dates looming annual fees month also understand rules rewards program example issuers could require cardholders account open minimum amount time order receive reward feddis says people want take advantage opportunities need take time read terms conditions160 see related credit card churning game play househunting

<p /> <p>Warren Buffett-run Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) has a portfolio filled with the stocks of some of the best companies in the U.S. As we head into 2017, here are two examples from Berkshire's holdings that pay strong dividends with room for growth that could be great choices for your dividend portfolio right now.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Image source: The Motley Fool.</p> <p>I mentioned in a recent article that one of the investments I'd like to see Buffett and company make in 2017 is to double-down on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Currently, Berkshire's Apple stake is relatively small, in comparison with some of its other stock investments, but I feel it represents one of the best values among all of Berkshire's stocks.</p> <p>Image source: The Motley Fool.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Apple is one of my biggest stock investments, and there are several reasons why. First, it's cheap. I know that argument has been overused when discussing Apple, but it's true. At just 13.2 times 2017's expected earnings, the market isn't pricing in too much future growth, but Apple's earnings per share is projected to grow by 8% in 2017 and 12% in 2018. Apple's free cash flow grew 23% year over year in the most recent quarter, and the portion of its revenue coming from services such as Apple Music and Apple Pay continues to climb at impressive rates.</p> <p>Plus, with a massive pile of cash parked overseas and an incoming president who pledged to offer a foreign-profit repatriation discount to corporations, Apple could be on the prowl for value-adding acquisitions in the coming years. In fact, CEO Tim Cook said in September that billions of dollars in foreign profits were already planned to be transferred home in 2017, and that was before Donald Trump was elected.</p> <p>As far as the dividend goes, it's completely understandable that Apple's 1.9% yield doesn't get many income seekers excited, but it's important to realize that the current payout represents just 28% of Apple's trailing-12-month earnings. This means that there is a lot of room for the dividend to grow, and Apple has made it clear that it intends to increase its dividend every year, which it has done at an impressive 10.7% annualized rate since it started paying dividends in 2012.</p> <p>Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is one of Berkshire's largest stock investments, with a stake valued just shy of $26 million as of this writing. It is one of the best dividend payers in the banking industry with a yield of 2.8%.</p> <p>Image source: The Motley Fool.</p> <p>The bank was also among the sector's worst performers in 2016 -- rival Bank of America rose by 33% and U.S. Bancorp rose by 20%, while Wells Fargo managed to increase by a paltry 1.4%, mainly due to its fake-accounts scandal that was revealed in September. Wells Fargo has experienced a considerable drop in new accounts and customer confidence in the months that followed, but it's unclear how much of a lasting impact the scandal will have once it becomes more of a distant memory.</p> <p>About two months after news of the scandal broke, Buffett <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/17/why-wells-fargo-is-still-a-warren-buffett-stock.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">said Opens a New Window.</a> that he had not sold a single share of the bank, nor did he plan to. This caught many people by surprise, as Buffett has been quick to get out of investments in the past when he felt a company's reputation was compromised.</p> <p>While Buffett acknowledges that the scandal and the incentive system that caused it were big mistakes, he calls the bank an "incredible institution." When it comes to Wells Fargo, Buffett simply believes the good outweighs the bad, and I'm in complete agreement.</p> <p>The company took appropriate measures to learn and recover from the scandal, including leadership changes, termination of its unhealthy sales culture, and firing the 5,300 employees who participated in the wrongdoing. The bank remains the best of the "big four" in terms of asset quality and profitability. It has earned consistently better returns on equity and assets than peers, and there's no reason to believe the fallout from the scandal will change that.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/WFC/return_on_equity" type="external">WFC Return on Equity (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Warren Buffett has famously said that "our favorite holding period is forever" in reference to Berkshire's stock investments. Of course, Buffett doesn't hold all of his stocks forever -- in fact, Berkshire sells stocks all the time. If his reasons for buying a stock no longer apply, or if there's some other reason he's no longer interested in a stock as an investment, Buffett is completely willing to cash in his chips.</p> <p>The point is that you should approach these investments as if you're going to hold them forever. Buying high-quality, dividend-paying stocks is perhaps the most certain path to wealth you can take, so buy these with the long haul in mind.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Apple When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=a688b31d-3e75-4c04-af1b-cbf616618cea&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Apple wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=a688b31d-3e75-4c04-af1b-cbf616618cea&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/KWMatt82/info.aspx" type="external">Matthew Frankel Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Apple, Bank of America, and Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

warren buffettrun berkshire hathaway nyse brka nyse brkb portfolio filled stocks best companies us head 2017 two examples berkshires holdings pay strong dividends room growth could great choices dividend portfolio right continue reading image source motley fool mentioned recent article one investments id like see buffett company make 2017 doubledown apple nasdaq aapl currently berkshires apple stake relatively small comparison stock investments feel represents one best values among berkshires stocks image source motley fool advertisement apple one biggest stock investments several reasons first cheap know argument overused discussing apple true 132 times 2017s expected earnings market isnt pricing much future growth apples earnings per share projected grow 8 2017 12 2018 apples free cash flow grew 23 year year recent quarter portion revenue coming services apple music apple pay continues climb impressive rates plus massive pile cash parked overseas incoming president pledged offer foreignprofit repatriation discount corporations apple could prowl valueadding acquisitions coming years fact ceo tim cook said september billions dollars foreign profits already planned transferred home 2017 donald trump elected far dividend goes completely understandable apples 19 yield doesnt get many income seekers excited important realize current payout represents 28 apples trailing12month earnings means lot room dividend grow apple made clear intends increase dividend every year done impressive 107 annualized rate since started paying dividends 2012 wells fargo nyse wfc one berkshires largest stock investments stake valued shy 26 million writing one best dividend payers banking industry yield 28 image source motley fool bank also among sectors worst performers 2016 rival bank america rose 33 us bancorp rose 20 wells fargo managed increase paltry 14 mainly due fakeaccounts scandal revealed september wells fargo experienced considerable drop new accounts customer confidence months followed unclear much lasting impact scandal becomes distant memory two months news scandal broke buffett said opens new window sold single share bank plan caught many people surprise buffett quick get investments past felt companys reputation compromised buffett acknowledges scandal incentive system caused big mistakes calls bank incredible institution comes wells fargo buffett simply believes good outweighs bad im complete agreement company took appropriate measures learn recover scandal including leadership changes termination unhealthy sales culture firing 5300 employees participated wrongdoing bank remains best big four terms asset quality profitability earned consistently better returns equity assets peers theres reason believe fallout scandal change wfc return equity ttm data ycharts opens new window warren buffett famously said favorite holding period forever reference berkshires stock investments course buffett doesnt hold stocks forever fact berkshire sells stocks time reasons buying stock longer apply theres reason hes longer interested stock investment buffett completely willing cash chips point approach investments youre going hold forever buying highquality dividendpaying stocks perhaps certain path wealth take buy long haul mind 10 stocks like better apple investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right apple wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns january 4 2017 matthew frankel opens new window owns shares apple bank america berkshire hathaway b shares motley fool owns shares recommends apple berkshire hathaway b shares motley fool following options long january 2018 90 calls apple short january 2018 95 calls apple motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>For many families, the astronomical cost of college tuition coupled with a lack of savings, has created a massive debt load for students after graduation.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>According to a <a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1993/survey-is-college-degree-worth-cost-debt-college-presidents-higher-education-system" type="external">2011 Pew Research Center report Opens a New Window.</a>, a four-year private college education tripled in price between 1980 and 2010 and student loan debt for a bachelor's degree now averages more than $23,000 per student borrower.</p> <p>With college costs expected to steadily rise, the task of paying for college is going to become even more burdensome.</p> <p>&#8220;The key event that happens in a person&#8217;s life is when parents have children and that&#8217;s when the defining moment takes place: what are we going to do for our child&#8217;s education?&#8221; says Tim Harrington, CEO of <a href="http://www.fipath.com/" type="external">FiPath Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>To help cover tuition costs, families and students are increasingly turning to crowd-funding, where individuals join in a collaborative effort to pool their resources for a cause.</p> <p>&#8220;Our mission is to help families start saving because if they don&#8217;t start saving money now, it&#8217;s really going to be difficult to pay for college in 18 years from now,&#8221; says Marcos Cordero, CEO of <a href="http://gradsave.com/home" type="external">GradSave Opens a New Window.</a>. &#8220;A big part of how we think about it is the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child and we have a similar sort of form.&#8221;</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Here are different forms of crowd-funding for college and how students can benefit from online donations.</p> <p>Investing in a Future</p> <p>Sites like FiPath and GradSave use investment vehicles to encourage donations will be used as intended.</p> <p>GradSave directs donors to contribute directly into a user&#8217;s <a href="" type="internal">529 plan Opens a New Window.</a>, an education savings plan operated by either a state or higher education institution designed to help families save for college.</p> <p>&#8220;We call it a &#8216;scholastic promise&#8217; so the contributor knows that the funds are going to be used for higher education expenses,&#8221; says Cordero. &#8220;In a 529 plan, there are ways to pull out the funds and not use it for college but they incur penalties.&#8221;</p> <p>Although FiPath allows parents to direct the funds into a savings account without paying fees for early withdrawal, Harrington explains that &#8220;collective peer pressure&#8221; prevents anyone from dipping into the account.</p> <p>&#8220;If you create a goal for all of your friends and family for your child to go to college, you can see how you&#8217;re progressing towards that goal,&#8221; he says. &#8220;If all of a sudden that goal is dropping down, everyone is going to be asking &#8216;what&#8217;s going on here?&#8217;&#8221;</p> <p>Friends and family members can receive customized emails requesting donations in lieu of gifts and presents, which can account for a third to half of the total cost of school by the time the child graduates high school, says Harrington.</p> <p>&#8220;If you have 20 friends and family members who give gifts three times a year at $100 per gift and if you start when the child is two years old, you&#8217;ll have almost $100,000 saved for a college education,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Most private schools 15 years out are going to be upwards of $300,000 for the four years and in-state schools will be more like $200,000, so it&#8217;s such a practical way of getting to the end goal.&#8221;</p> <p>Giving Students a Voice</p> <p>Some students are running their crowd-funding pages beyond covering tuition costs, which provides a sense of responsibility and provides good budgeting and saving skills.</p> <p>&#8220;We&#8217;re seeing more and more people turn to the internet for tuition and all kinds of causes,&#8221; says Naomi Ketcher, marketing director for <a href="http://www.youcaring.com/" type="external">YouCaring.com Opens a New Window.</a>. &#8220;[Students] are finding that there are people that actually want to help them, and friends, family and people outside of their immediate circle will actually give money to these types of causes to see people benefit and get educated.&#8221;</p> <p>YouCaring.com lets users set up free fundraising pages for a variety of causes and students can share their pages with donors around the world through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.</p> <p>&#8220;Friends and family can then come online and donate in a couple of minutes and the money is paid directly to the fundraiser into their secure account,&#8221; Ketcher says. &#8220;It&#8217;s simple and quick, the money is paid straight away and your story is online, so anybody around the world can access it and donate.&#8221;</p> <p>The recently-launched site <a href="http://scholarshipproz.com/" type="external">ScholarshipProz Opens a New Window.</a> provides students with a platform to make their needs known and turn their education into a family, friend and community event, says vice president of marketing, Orlando Espinosa.</p> <p>&#8220;We call ours &#8216;cause-funding&#8217; because there&#8217;s a specific cause--we want to make sure our students have an opportunity to let their voices be heard,&#8221; he says.</p> <p>Espinosa explains the purpose of ScholarshipProz is to help students cover gaps in their abilities to pay their college expenses rather than relying on funds for a full-ride.</p> <p>Students are in charge of their own fundraising efforts through social media campaigns and approaching local businesses and members of the community.</p> <p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t want them to just create an account, we want them to be interactive and be their own spokesperson,&#8221; he says. &#8220;What we&#8217;re seeing right now with social media is that there are so many students out there who are creative in their promotion of everything and anything---the more creative you are and the more that you push your cause, the more information is going to be out there for people to make the decision on whether to help you.&#8221;</p> <p>Families and students interested in crowd-funding to pay for school should research any site fees and consult a tax professional about owing taxes on any donations received.</p>

many families astronomical cost college tuition coupled lack savings created massive debt load students graduation continue reading according 2011 pew research center report opens new window fouryear private college education tripled price 1980 2010 student loan debt bachelors degree averages 23000 per student borrower college costs expected steadily rise task paying college going become even burdensome key event happens persons life parents children thats defining moment takes place going childs education says tim harrington ceo fipath opens new window help cover tuition costs families students increasingly turning crowdfunding individuals join collaborative effort pool resources cause mission help families start saving dont start saving money really going difficult pay college 18 years says marcos cordero ceo gradsave opens new window big part think old adage takes village raise child similar sort form advertisement different forms crowdfunding college students benefit online donations investing future sites like fipath gradsave use investment vehicles encourage donations used intended gradsave directs donors contribute directly users 529 plan opens new window education savings plan operated either state higher education institution designed help families save college call scholastic promise contributor knows funds going used higher education expenses says cordero 529 plan ways pull funds use college incur penalties although fipath allows parents direct funds savings account without paying fees early withdrawal harrington explains collective peer pressure prevents anyone dipping account create goal friends family child go college see youre progressing towards goal says sudden goal dropping everyone going asking whats going friends family members receive customized emails requesting donations lieu gifts presents account third half total cost school time child graduates high school says harrington 20 friends family members give gifts three times year 100 per gift start child two years old youll almost 100000 saved college education says private schools 15 years going upwards 300000 four years instate schools like 200000 practical way getting end goal giving students voice students running crowdfunding pages beyond covering tuition costs provides sense responsibility provides good budgeting saving skills seeing people turn internet tuition kinds causes says naomi ketcher marketing director youcaringcom opens new window students finding people actually want help friends family people outside immediate circle actually give money types causes see people benefit get educated youcaringcom lets users set free fundraising pages variety causes students share pages donors around world social media sites like facebook twitter pinterest friends family come online donate couple minutes money paid directly fundraiser secure account ketcher says simple quick money paid straight away story online anybody around world access donate recentlylaunched site scholarshipproz opens new window provides students platform make needs known turn education family friend community event says vice president marketing orlando espinosa call causefunding theres specific causewe want make sure students opportunity let voices heard says espinosa explains purpose scholarshipproz help students cover gaps abilities pay college expenses rather relying funds fullride students charge fundraising efforts social media campaigns approaching local businesses members community dont want create account want interactive spokesperson says seeing right social media many students creative promotion everything anythingthe creative push cause information going people make decision whether help families students interested crowdfunding pay school research site fees consult tax professional owing taxes donations received

<p /> <p>Image source: IBM.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>International Business Machines has been a prolific buyer of its own shares. The company has reduced its outstanding share count by about 37% over the past decade, and in the past five years alone, Big Blue has poured $59 billion into share buybacks. The stock has risen about 80% over the past 10 years, but it's down considerably from highs reached in 2013.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/IBM" type="external">IBM</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>IBM's heavy buyback activity in the past five years hasn't helped the stock, but that doesn't necessarily mean the company made a mistake. The short-term performance of a stock should not act as a litmus test for whether a past buyback was reasonable. Instead, investors should ask whether the buyback made sense at the time.</p> <p>IBM spent over $10 billion on share buybacks annually from 2011 through 2014, a staggering sum, to be sure. The slump in the stock price over the past few years would suggest that this money was wasted. But the purpose of share buybacks shouldn't be to boost the stock price, despite many companies buying their own shares for exactly that reason. The purpose is to deploy capital in a way that generates the best possible rate of return.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>IBM generates a tremendous amount of free cash flow, so much that it can't possibly invest it all back into the business at a reasonable rate of return. In 2011, for example, the company reported about $15.2 billion of free cash flow. That was after spending $4.1 billion on capital expenditures and $6.3 billion on research and development. Even backing out the $1.8 billion IBM spent on acquisitions that year, the company still generated around $13.4 billion in excess free cash flow.</p> <p>Now, one could argue that the company should have ramped up R&amp;amp;D spending, or that more acquisitions should have been made to drive growth. But IBM has generally been able to avoid making genuinely bad acquisitions in recent years. Think Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's phone operations, which led to a $7.6 billion writedown. Or Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of Autonomy, which led to an $8.8 billion writedown. IBM usually opts for smaller acquisitions with the goal of building out its product offerings, instead of transformational acquisitions that often end with a big write-off.</p> <p>Having billions of dollars left over each year isn't enough to ensure that using that cash for buybacks makes sense. The price of the stock has to be reasonable -- otherwise, the rate of return would be poor. Graphics chip company NVIDIA offers a good example of a share buyback program gone wrong. NVIDIA's stock has soared in recent years, pushing its valuation to inflated levels, but the company continues to pour money into its own shares. <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/12/nvidia-is-making-a-500-million-mistake.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">I estimated in a recent article Opens a New Window.</a> that NVIDIA's $500 million share buyback program would generate an equivalent pre-tax return on investment of less than 4%. NVIDIA's buybacks are almost certainly going to destroy shareholder value, not create it.</p> <p>Even when IBM's stock was hitting new highs in 2013, the company never paid an unreasonable price for its own shares. The highest P/E ratio IBM stock managed at the time was around 16.5, certainly not an obvious bargain, but also not obviously overpriced. NVIDIA, in contrast, currently trades for nearly 40 times last year's earnings.</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/IBM/pe_ratio_annual" type="external">IBM P/E Ratio (Annual)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a>.</p> <p>IBM's per-share operating income was 31% higher in 2015 than it would have been if the company's share count had remained flat since the start of 2011. If the $59 billion that was spent on buybacks during that time was instead invested back into the company, IBM would have needed to generate an 8.2% pre-tax return on investment in order to match the boost provided by buybacks. Since there's no way IBM could possibly invest that much excess cash and get a reasonable rate of return, buybacks were an attractive option.</p> <p>The best time for a company to buy its own shares is when the stock is depressed. IBM has suffered from falling revenue and profits over the past few years, and the stock now trades for just 11 times expected 2016 earnings of $13.50 per share. However, a significant component driving this decline has been currency. In 2015, while IBM reported a 12% decline in revenue, sales slumped by just 1% adjusting for currency and divestitures. IBM estimated during its fourth-quarter conference call that 2016 pre-tax profits would be reduced by $1.3 billion because of currency issues alone.</p> <p>Another factor is IBM's ongoing transformation. Growth businesses like analytics and cloud computing aren't quite offsetting declines in legacy businesses, and that's putting additional pressure on the company's profits. IBM's strategy of focusing on high-value areas where the company can carve out a competitive advantage makes sense, and while the success of the transformation is far from guaranteed, I like the company's chances.</p> <p>The tens of billions of dollars IBM has spent on share buybacks over the years have not been wasted, despite the recent decline in the stock price. IBM paid reasonable prices for its shares over the past five years, and with the stock price currently at depressed levels, the company should continue to buy back shares going forward.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/17/do-ibms-share-buybacks-make-sense.aspx" type="external">Do IBM's Share Buybacks Make Sense? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBargainBin/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Timothy Green Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of International Business Machines. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends NVIDIA. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

image source ibm continue reading international business machines prolific buyer shares company reduced outstanding share count 37 past decade past five years alone big blue poured 59 billion share buybacks stock risen 80 past 10 years considerably highs reached 2013 ibm data ycharts opens new window ibms heavy buyback activity past five years hasnt helped stock doesnt necessarily mean company made mistake shortterm performance stock act litmus test whether past buyback reasonable instead investors ask whether buyback made sense time ibm spent 10 billion share buybacks annually 2011 2014 staggering sum sure slump stock price past years would suggest money wasted purpose share buybacks shouldnt boost stock price despite many companies buying shares exactly reason purpose deploy capital way generates best possible rate return advertisement ibm generates tremendous amount free cash flow much cant possibly invest back business reasonable rate return 2011 example company reported 152 billion free cash flow spending 41 billion capital expenditures 63 billion research development even backing 18 billion ibm spent acquisitions year company still generated around 134 billion excess free cash flow one could argue company ramped rampd spending acquisitions made drive growth ibm generally able avoid making genuinely bad acquisitions recent years think microsofts acquisition nokias phone operations led 76 billion writedown hewlettpackards acquisition autonomy led 88 billion writedown ibm usually opts smaller acquisitions goal building product offerings instead transformational acquisitions often end big writeoff billions dollars left year isnt enough ensure using cash buybacks makes sense price stock reasonable otherwise rate return would poor graphics chip company nvidia offers good example share buyback program gone wrong nvidias stock soared recent years pushing valuation inflated levels company continues pour money shares estimated recent article opens new window nvidias 500 million share buyback program would generate equivalent pretax return investment less 4 nvidias buybacks almost certainly going destroy shareholder value create even ibms stock hitting new highs 2013 company never paid unreasonable price shares highest pe ratio ibm stock managed time around 165 certainly obvious bargain also obviously overpriced nvidia contrast currently trades nearly 40 times last years earnings ibm pe ratio annual data ycharts ibms pershare operating income 31 higher 2015 would companys share count remained flat since start 2011 59 billion spent buybacks time instead invested back company ibm would needed generate 82 pretax return investment order match boost provided buybacks since theres way ibm could possibly invest much excess cash get reasonable rate return buybacks attractive option best time company buy shares stock depressed ibm suffered falling revenue profits past years stock trades 11 times expected 2016 earnings 1350 per share however significant component driving decline currency 2015 ibm reported 12 decline revenue sales slumped 1 adjusting currency divestitures ibm estimated fourthquarter conference call 2016 pretax profits would reduced 13 billion currency issues alone another factor ibms ongoing transformation growth businesses like analytics cloud computing arent quite offsetting declines legacy businesses thats putting additional pressure companys profits ibms strategy focusing highvalue areas company carve competitive advantage makes sense success transformation far guaranteed like companys chances tens billions dollars ibm spent share buybacks years wasted despite recent decline stock price ibm paid reasonable prices shares past five years stock price currently depressed levels company continue buy back shares going forward article ibms share buybacks make sense opens new window originally appeared foolcom timothy green opens new window owns shares international business machines motley fool owns shares recommends nvidia motley fool owns shares microsoft try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window copyright 1995 2016 motley fool llc rights reserved motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Often referred to as the "silent killer," diabetes in the U.S. is soaring.As of 2012, 29 million people had diabetes, up from 26 million in 2010. The majority were type 2 diabetics, which means their disease, which is caused by the body's inability to use insulin properly to convert sugar into energy, develops over time. Type 2 diabetics and prediabetics are often encouraged to change their eating and exercise habits to slow the progression of their disease.</p> <p>A much smaller percentage of the population -- 1.25 million children and adults -- have what's known as type 1 diabetes. Those with type 1 diabetes have little to no insulin production from their pancreas, and as the Mayo Clinic notes, it's often caused by genetics or perhaps exposure to specific viruses. Type 1 diabetics also, according to a recent study in Australia between 1997-2003 and 2004-2010, have a life expectancy that's 12.2 years less than the general population.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The overwhelming number of type 2 diabetes cases compared with type 1 often seems to overshadow the seriousness of type 1 diabetes, as well as the struggles and inconveniences type 1 diabetics face in constantly monitoring their blood sugar levels. Per Reuters, more than a third of type 1 diabetics are utilizing an insulin pump to help regulate their blood sugar.</p> <p>Life as a type 1 diabetic isn't easy. However, that could be about to change thanks to what could be described as the biggest breakthrough ever gaining clearance well ahead of schedule from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.</p> <p>As announced by medical device powerhouse Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) on Wednesday, the FDA has approved the company's "artificial pancreas" device known as the MiniMed 670G six months ahead of schedule. The device is the world's first closed loop system to be approved by a regulatory agency which is no small feat considering that European regulators almost always beat U.S. regulators to approval.</p> <p>MiniMed 670G. Image source: Medtronic.</p> <p>The device, which was approved for those aged 14 and up, measures a patient's blood glucose levels every five minutes and administers insulin on an as-needed basis. The device uses a sensor with a protruding needle that's slipped under the skin and measures insulin levels, while a smartphone-sized insulin pump worn on the abdomen delivers the insulin via tubes that lead to a catheter.</p> <p>Is it perfect? Not exactly. Users will still have to instruct the device to deliver extra insulin during meal time, and will have to make adjustments when exercising, which can affect insulin levels. Additionally, patients must recalibrate the device every 12 hours, change out the glucose sensor on a weekly basis, and refill their insulin reservoir every three days. But, compared to the frequent number of times type 1 diabetics are required to check their blood sugar levels daily, this is a major improvement.</p> <p>In particular, the study that led to the MiniMed 670G being approved tested the device on more than 10-dozen patients. Following the conclusion of the study, the average HbA1c blood sugar level of the patients had fallen from a baseline of 7.4% to 6.9%, with nearly 3 in 5 patients (58%) achieving an HbA1c below 7%.</p> <p>It's worth pointing out that even with the surprisingly early approval, the MiniMed 670G won't be available until spring of 2017, which is subsequently when it's likely to gain approval in Europe.</p> <p>Also absent was any pricing expectations from Medtronic concerning this revolutionary closed loop system. Jefferies' covering analyst Raj Denhoy is estimating a cost of between $5,000 and $8,000 for the device, with the disposable sensors costing an additional "few thousand dollars" a year. I don't foresee Medtronic having issues getting insurance covering for its game-changing device, but the added expense associated with the MiniMed 670G could price some consumers out of purchasing the device.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Medtronic is also likely to maintain its pricing power for the immediate future with its MiniMed 670G since competitors DexCom (NASDAQ: DXCM), which is known for its glucose monitoring devices, and Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson, are still years away from potentially bringing a closed loop system to market. It's possible DexCom could actually lose what market share it's gained because of Medtronic's major advancement in personalized type 1 diabetes care.</p> <p>Just how big could the MiniMed 670G be? JDRF estimates that annual type 1 diabetes costs tally about $14 billion. While it's tough to estimate how well the MiniMed 670G could fare without exact pricing and insurer coverage information, an assumption of $1 billion-plus in annual sales as its peak seems achievable.</p> <p>But most importantly, type 1 diabetics are just months away from gaining access to a device that could greatly improve their quality of care and reduce their chances of a hypoglycemic event.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;amp;ftm_pit=2518&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a>has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/tmfultralong.aspx" type="external">TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/TMFUltraLong" type="external">@TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>The Motley Fool owns shares of Medtronic, and recommends Johnson and Johnson. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

image source getty images continue reading often referred silent killer diabetes us soaringas 2012 29 million people diabetes 26 million 2010 majority type 2 diabetics means disease caused bodys inability use insulin properly convert sugar energy develops time type 2 diabetics prediabetics often encouraged change eating exercise habits slow progression disease much smaller percentage population 125 million children adults whats known type 1 diabetes type 1 diabetes little insulin production pancreas mayo clinic notes often caused genetics perhaps exposure specific viruses type 1 diabetics also according recent study australia 19972003 20042010 life expectancy thats 122 years less general population image source getty images advertisement overwhelming number type 2 diabetes cases compared type 1 often seems overshadow seriousness type 1 diabetes well struggles inconveniences type 1 diabetics face constantly monitoring blood sugar levels per reuters third type 1 diabetics utilizing insulin pump help regulate blood sugar life type 1 diabetic isnt easy however could change thanks could described biggest breakthrough ever gaining clearance well ahead schedule us food drug administration announced medical device powerhouse medtronic nyse mdt wednesday fda approved companys artificial pancreas device known minimed 670g six months ahead schedule device worlds first closed loop system approved regulatory agency small feat considering european regulators almost always beat us regulators approval minimed 670g image source medtronic device approved aged 14 measures patients blood glucose levels every five minutes administers insulin asneeded basis device uses sensor protruding needle thats slipped skin measures insulin levels smartphonesized insulin pump worn abdomen delivers insulin via tubes lead catheter perfect exactly users still instruct device deliver extra insulin meal time make adjustments exercising affect insulin levels additionally patients must recalibrate device every 12 hours change glucose sensor weekly basis refill insulin reservoir every three days compared frequent number times type 1 diabetics required check blood sugar levels daily major improvement particular study led minimed 670g approved tested device 10dozen patients following conclusion study average hba1c blood sugar level patients fallen baseline 74 69 nearly 3 5 patients 58 achieving hba1c 7 worth pointing even surprisingly early approval minimed 670g wont available spring 2017 subsequently likely gain approval europe also absent pricing expectations medtronic concerning revolutionary closed loop system jefferies covering analyst raj denhoy estimating cost 5000 8000 device disposable sensors costing additional thousand dollars year dont foresee medtronic issues getting insurance covering gamechanging device added expense associated minimed 670g could price consumers purchasing device image source getty images medtronic also likely maintain pricing power immediate future minimed 670g since competitors dexcom nasdaq dxcm known glucose monitoring devices johnson amp johnson still years away potentially bringing closed loop system market possible dexcom could actually lose market share gained medtronics major advancement personalized type 1 diabetes care big could minimed 670g jdrf estimates annual type 1 diabetes costs tally 14 billion tough estimate well minimed 670g could fare without exact pricing insurer coverage information assumption 1 billionplus annual sales peak seems achievable importantly type 1 diabetics months away gaining access device could greatly improve quality care reduce chances hypoglycemic event secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window sean williams opens new windowhas material interest companies mentioned article follow caps screen name tmfultralong opens new window check twitter goes handle tmfultralong opens new window motley fool owns shares medtronic recommends johnson johnson try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>Choosing between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) is a bit like having to choose your favorite parent, considering the two companies work together.</p> <p>In fact, Apple announced in May that it would give $200 million to Corning as part of its one billion dollar Advanced Manufacturing Fund to help encourage American manufacturing innovation.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>For those unfamiliar with Corning, it makes the glass screens for Apple and other smartphone manufacturers. However, it makes the bulk of its money from manufacturing optical fiber for telecom companies and internet service providers.</p> <p>Granted, comparing Apple and Corning is also a bit like comparing Mt. Everest to your favorite neighborhood sledding hill. Apple has a market cap of $873 billion, while Corning's market cap is a significantly more modest $27.2 billion.</p> <p>However, Corning is nothing to balk at considering its stock is up 29% in 2017 and up 165% in the past five years. Apple, which just released a new iPhone lineup, is up 46% in 2017 and up just 96% in the past five years.</p> <p>Let's take a closer look at Apple and Corning.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said during&amp;#160;an interview on&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/27/billionaire-warren-buffett-more-than-doubled-his-holdings-in-apple-in-2017.html" type="external">CNBC Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;in February that he thinks Apple will be the first company to reach a $1 trillion valuation.</p> <p>When you look at its growth story since it went public in 1980, it's easy to see why. If you bought 23 shares of Apple in 1980 and held onto them until today, <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/17/the-best-time-to-buy-apples-stock-was-yesterday.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">you'd be sitting on Opens a New Window.</a> a healthy cash pile of $217,723.52.</p> <p>Apple has managed to create fans out of its customers, or people who will sleep in a tent on the sidewalk just to be one of the first people to hold the newest iPhone. It's safe to say that Apple's smartphone business has been a phenomenon. In July 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company had sold its one billionth iPhone in less than ten years since its initial 2007 release.</p> <p>An estimated 715 million iPhones are currently being used around the world, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said in a recent note. That means Apple has 715 million people to push its services onto, including Apple Music subscriptions, App Stores sales and iCloud sales. The Apple ecosystem is the lifeblood of Apple.</p> <p>Apple's enormous reach means its balance sheet is impressive. Period.</p> <p>The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant has a cash pile of over $261.5 billion to play with compared with $256.8&amp;#160;billion in the previous quarter. That cash hoard will most likely continue to grow at an impressive rate with the release of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X this fall, just in time for holiday gifting.</p> <p>While the company tends to be stingy with its M&amp;amp;A activity, it has also been known to give out generous dividends. Last quarter it declared a 63 cents per share dividend, which was the same as the previous quarter.</p> <p>Apple also provided positive guidance last quarter, predicting gross margin between 37.5% and 38% in addition to its ambitious revenue guidance between $49 billion and $52 billion.</p> <p>Corning, New York-based glass manufacturer Corning has been around since 1851, more than 100 years before the young Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976.</p> <p>While Corning may not have the 'cool' brand factor that draws in millions to its ecosystem, it's still reaping the benefits by providing the glass screens for those millions of iPhone users.</p> <p>On Oct. 24, Corning <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/10/24/corning-shines-again-on-strong-specialty-m.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">released its third quarter financial results Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;that beat slightly on the top and bottom line. The company reported a 6% year-over-year increase in core sales to $2.7 billion. Earnings per share grew 2% year-over-year to 43 cents per share. Apple reported its latest figures on Nov. 2.</p> <p>But when you look at specific segments, Corning's display technologies business suffered a 9% year-over-year decrease in core sales to $860 million due to the declining price of LCD glass. However, this was offset by Corning's optical communications business which saw sales increase 15% year-over-year to $917 million.</p> <p>Looking ahead, Corning said it expects optical communications to be a $5 billion per-year business by 2020. The company also <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/10/24/corning-shines-again-on-strong-specialty-m.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">anticipates growth Opens a New Window.</a> in its display technologies, specialty materials and life sciences sales.</p> <p>Clearly, Corning has room to run -- maybe even another 165 years.</p> <p>It's also worth noting that Corning is still on track to fulfill its goal unveiled in late 2015 to return $12.5 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends by 2019. In addition, the company remains committed to investing $10 billion in research and development between the end of 2015 and 2019 to ensure that it stays on top of new growth opportunities.</p> <p>Apple reigns supreme over one of its many suppliers, Corning.</p> <p>While Corning has proved that it can adapt to changing technologies by surviving 165 years of business and still managing to grow nearly 30% this year, it can't beat the prospects Apple has ahead of it.</p> <p>Apple is often criticized for being overly reliant on iPhone sales. And while the new iPhone lineup should further increase the liquidity of this cash king, the company has a number of other growth opportunities.</p> <p>Apple is <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/21/a-foolish-take-apple-plans-to-invest-1-billion-in.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">investing $1 billion in original content Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;to help increase its Apple Music subscribers, who pay $9.99 per month. A boost in Apple Music subscribers would help the company&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/02/finally-apple-incs-growth-isnt-just-about-iphone.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">hit its&amp;#160;goal Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;of $50 billion in services revenue by 2020.</p> <p>In addition, the company is working on technology that can be integrated into cars to make them drive themselves. This is a worthwhile project considering the self-driving car market is expected to hit $42 billion in 2025, according to the&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.bcg.com/en-us/expertise/industries/automotive/autonomous-vehicle-adoption-study.aspx" type="external">Boston Consulting Group Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>In other words, move over Grandpa, Apple is in the driver's seat.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than&amp;#160;Wal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom&amp;#160;Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they&amp;#160;have run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom&amp;#160;just revealed what they believe are the&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;amp;source=isaipptxt0000004&amp;amp;ftm_cam=the-motley-fool&amp;amp;ftm_pit=7287&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;for investors to buy right now... and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- they&amp;#160;think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;amp;source=isaipptxt0000004&amp;amp;ftm_cam=the-motley-fool&amp;amp;ftm_pit=7287&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>&amp;#160;to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/NatalieWalters/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Natalie Walters Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Corning. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=49bd4ec4-be34-11e7-89e3-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

choosing apple nasdaq aapl corning incorporated nyse glw bit like choose favorite parent considering two companies work together fact apple announced may would give 200 million corning part one billion dollar advanced manufacturing fund help encourage american manufacturing innovation continue reading unfamiliar corning makes glass screens apple smartphone manufacturers however makes bulk money manufacturing optical fiber telecom companies internet service providers granted comparing apple corning also bit like comparing mt everest favorite neighborhood sledding hill apple market cap 873 billion cornings market cap significantly modest 272 billion however corning nothing balk considering stock 29 2017 165 past five years apple released new iphone lineup 46 2017 96 past five years lets take closer look apple corning advertisement billionaire investor warren buffett said during160an interview on160 cnbc opens new window160in february thinks apple first company reach 1 trillion valuation look growth story since went public 1980 easy see bought 23 shares apple 1980 held onto today youd sitting opens new window healthy cash pile 21772352 apple managed create fans customers people sleep tent sidewalk one first people hold newest iphone safe say apples smartphone business phenomenon july 2016 apple ceo tim cook announced company sold one billionth iphone less ten years since initial 2007 release estimated 715 million iphones currently used around world bmo capital markets analyst tim long said recent note means apple 715 million people push services onto including apple music subscriptions app stores sales icloud sales apple ecosystem lifeblood apple apples enormous reach means balance sheet impressive period cupertino califbased tech giant cash pile 2615 billion play compared 2568160billion previous quarter cash hoard likely continue grow impressive rate release iphone 8 iphone 8 plus iphone x fall time holiday gifting company tends stingy mampa activity also known give generous dividends last quarter declared 63 cents per share dividend previous quarter apple also provided positive guidance last quarter predicting gross margin 375 38 addition ambitious revenue guidance 49 billion 52 billion corning new yorkbased glass manufacturer corning around since 1851 100 years young steve jobs steve wozniak founded apple 1976 corning may cool brand factor draws millions ecosystem still reaping benefits providing glass screens millions iphone users oct 24 corning released third quarter financial results opens new window160that beat slightly top bottom line company reported 6 yearoveryear increase core sales 27 billion earnings per share grew 2 yearoveryear 43 cents per share apple reported latest figures nov 2 look specific segments cornings display technologies business suffered 9 yearoveryear decrease core sales 860 million due declining price lcd glass however offset cornings optical communications business saw sales increase 15 yearoveryear 917 million looking ahead corning said expects optical communications 5 billion peryear business 2020 company also anticipates growth opens new window display technologies specialty materials life sciences sales clearly corning room run maybe even another 165 years also worth noting corning still track fulfill goal unveiled late 2015 return 125 billion shareholders repurchases dividends 2019 addition company remains committed investing 10 billion research development end 2015 2019 ensure stays top new growth opportunities apple reigns supreme one many suppliers corning corning proved adapt changing technologies surviving 165 years business still managing grow nearly 30 year cant beat prospects apple ahead apple often criticized overly reliant iphone sales new iphone lineup increase liquidity cash king company number growth opportunities apple investing 1 billion original content opens new window160to help increase apple music subscribers pay 999 per month boost apple music subscribers would help company160 hit its160goal opens new window160of 50 billion services revenue 2020 addition company working technology integrated cars make drive worthwhile project considering selfdriving car market expected hit 42 billion 2025 according the160 boston consulting group opens new window words move grandpa apple drivers seat 10 stocks like better than160walmartwhen investing geniuses david tom160gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter they160have run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom160just revealed believe the160 ten best stocks opens new window160for investors buy right walmart wasnt one thats right they160think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window160to learn picks stock advisor returns october 9 2017the authors may position stocks mentioned natalie walters opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends apple motley fool following options long january 2020 150 calls apple short january 2020 155 calls apple motley fool 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<p>Upon Prince&#8217;s death, followers unearthed an unreleased track titled &#8220;Donald Trump (Black Version).&#8221; Here are the lyrics:</p> <p>Donald Trump (black version), maybe that&#8217;s what you need.</p> <p>A man that fulfills your every wish, your every dream.</p> <p>Donald Trump (black version), come on take a chance.</p> <p>A 1990s love affair, the real romance.</p> <p>Prince hit the nail on the head: for many Americans, buying into the Trump campaign is pure wish fulfillment. People wear &#8220;MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN&#8221; hats for the same reason they wear Heisenberg &#8220;SAY MY NAME&#8221; t-shirts: Trump&#8217;s a man who breaks all the rules and gets away with it. He&#8217;s a swaggering bully who can order his people to punch those who disagree; he&#8217;s a vitriolic sexist who can abuse women but have a trophy on his arm at all times; he&#8217;s insanely wealthy and has only the most impeccably terrible taste. He&#8217;s Tony Montana.</p> <p>America has always treated its most flamboyant villains as anti-heroes. Trump&#8217;s getting that same treatment.</p> <p>Take, for example, Piers Morgan simpering column today talking about Trump&#8217;s appeal to women. Sounding a good deal like a high school nerd hero-worshipping the idiot quarterback, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3562002/PIERS-MORGAN-comes-women-s-card-Donald-holds-Trumps-knows-Women-Want-isn-t-Hillary.html" type="external">Morgan writes</a>:</p> <p>&#8216;They say every powerful man is good in bed,&#8217; I once asked Donald Trump. &#8216;That true?&#8217; He smirked. &#8216;I think there is a certain truth to that, yes. Put it this way, I&#8217;ve never had any complaints. A lot of it is down to The Look. It doesn&#8217;t mean you have to look like Cary Grant, it means you have to have a certain way about you, a stature. I see successful guys who just don&#8217;t have The Look and they are never going to go out with great women. &#8216;The Look is very important. I don&#8217;t really like to talk about it because it sounds very conceited&#8230; but it matters.&#8217;&#8230;. He was also extremely charming when he wanted to be, especially with the female contestants. Many of them, including sports stars, actresses, supermodels and rock stars, ended up melting like fawning putty in Mr. Trump&#8217;s famously delicate hands&#8230;. I watch how the women behave at his gigantic rallies in all parts of America and I don&#8217;t see much hatred in those ecstatic eyes; I see fevered adoration.</p> <p>The polls say differently. And, of course, Trump has a horrific history with allegations surrounding abuse of women.</p> <p>Trump&#8217;s first wife apparently accused Trump of quasi-rape in their divorce case, as <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3562002/PIERS-MORGAN-comes-women-s-card-Donald-holds-Trumps-knows-Women-Want-isn-t-Hillary.html" type="external">reported by Harry Hurt III</a> in Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald Trump: &#8220;Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than sixteen months. Ivana is terrified. According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, &#8216;he raped me.&#8217;&#8230;.As she looks in horror at the ripped-out hair scattered all over the bed, he glares at her and asks with menacing casualness: &#8216;Does it hurt?&#8217;&#8221; When these accusations resurfaced last year, Trump&#8217;s special counsel stated, &#8220;You cannot rape your spouse. And there&#8217;s very clear case law.&#8221;</p> <p>In 1992, one of Trump&#8217;s business partners in a beauty pageant sued him. According to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/donald-trump-scandals/474726/" type="external">The Atlantic</a>:</p> <p>After years of attending beauty pageants&#8212;Trump seems to have always enjoyed the company of beautiful, scantily clad women&#8212;he decided he wanted to get in on the business himself, meeting with George Houraney and Jill Harth, a couple that ran the American Dream pageant. It was an ill-fated effort. Harth and Houraney alleged that Trump started making passes at her almost immediately. On one occasion, Trump allegedly asked them to bring some models to a party. Harth alleges Trump groped her at the party. In a limo afterwards, another model said she heard him say that &#8220;all women are bimbos&#8221; and most &#8220;gold diggers.&#8221; Trump reportedly joined another model in bed, uninvited, late at night. On other occasions, he forced Harth into bedrooms and made passes at her, she said. But after the contest, Trump broke off dealings. Harth sued Trump, alleging sexual misbehavior, while the couple together sued him for breach of contract. In the suit, they also alleged that Trump had kept black women out of the pageant.</p> <p>In 1997, Trump was accused of abusing a beauty pageant contestant. According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/25/donald-trump-sexual-assault-125-million-lawsuit" type="external">The Guardian</a>:</p> <p>[S]he alleged that Trump had forced her into a bedroom at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, following a business meeting in January 1993 and &#8220;subjected [her] to [Trump&#8217;s] unwanted sexual advances, which included touching of [her] private parts in an act constituting attempted &#8216;rape&#8217;&#8221;, the lawsuit stated. Trump then implied she should &#8220;keep her mouth shut&#8221;, she alleged. As she tried to leave, Trump again touched her sexually and made &#8220;Svengali-type proclamations of &#8216;love&#8217;&#8221;, she said, prompting her to vomit.</p> <p>But for those who experience a proxy wish fulfillment by dreaming of Trump wooing women with Don Juan-esque debonair, Morgan&#8217;s words spark. Allegations of Trump taking women by force or foisting himself on unwilling participants fall by the wayside; instead, Trump's most pathetic followers pant along as he tells them fairy tales about the magic of his golden tongue rather than the blas&#233; truth about his golden wallet.</p> <p>When it comes to violence, it&#8217;s the same deal. A certain coterie of Trump supporters thrill to the &#8220;strength&#8221; of Trump threatening his opposition repeatedly. It shows that he&#8217;s not bound by the rules of regular men; he&#8217;s a Nietzschean ubermensch who can throw the rules aside to empower those who follow him. The pansy losers who cheer at Trump&#8217;s ridiculous Big Man On Campus routine &#8211; the people who plaster their Twitter pages with pictures of eagles and Trump hats and Trump as dictator and frog-Trump &#8211; are simply channeling their own pathetic desires for themselves into Trump&#8217;s candidacy.</p> <p>Their life sucks, but Trump's is great -- and Trump says he'll stand up for them. Every time he nails a supermodel, he's fulfilling the destiny that should rightfully be theirs.</p> <p>JFK&#8217;s ardent supporters termed his sex-ridden scandal house &#8220;Camelot.&#8221; Trump&#8217;s ardent supporters know that his administration will be a Vegas penthouse, and they couldn&#8217;t be more excited about it. They&#8217;re hoping desperately for an invite &#8211; and if they can&#8217;t get that, at least they can fantasize about what their leader is doing up there, romancing this starlet and beating that opponent with a baseball bat.</p>

upon princes death followers unearthed unreleased track titled donald trump black version lyrics donald trump black version maybe thats need man fulfills every wish every dream donald trump black version come take chance 1990s love affair real romance prince hit nail head many americans buying trump campaign pure wish fulfillment people wear make america great hats reason wear heisenberg say name tshirts trumps man breaks rules gets away hes swaggering bully order people punch disagree hes vitriolic sexist abuse women trophy arm times hes insanely wealthy impeccably terrible taste hes tony montana america always treated flamboyant villains antiheroes trumps getting treatment take example piers morgan simpering column today talking trumps appeal women sounding good deal like high school nerd heroworshipping idiot quarterback morgan writes say every powerful man good bed asked donald trump true smirked think certain truth yes put way ive never complaints lot look doesnt mean look like cary grant means certain way stature see successful guys dont look never going go great women look important dont really like talk sounds conceited matters also extremely charming wanted especially female contestants many including sports stars actresses supermodels rock stars ended melting like fawning putty mr trumps famously delicate hands watch women behave gigantic rallies parts america dont see much hatred ecstatic eyes see fevered adoration polls say differently course trump horrific history allegations surrounding abuse women trumps first wife apparently accused trump quasirape divorce case reported harry hurt iii lost tycoon many lives donald trump jams penis inside first time sixteen months ivana terrified according versions repeats closest confidantes raped meas looks horror rippedout hair scattered bed glares asks menacing casualness hurt accusations resurfaced last year trumps special counsel stated rape spouse theres clear case law 1992 one trumps business partners beauty pageant sued according atlantic years attending beauty pageantstrump seems always enjoyed company beautiful scantily clad womenhe decided wanted get business meeting george houraney jill harth couple ran american dream pageant illfated effort harth houraney alleged trump started making passes almost immediately one occasion trump allegedly asked bring models party harth alleges trump groped party limo afterwards another model said heard say women bimbos gold diggers trump reportedly joined another model bed uninvited late night occasions forced harth bedrooms made passes said contest trump broke dealings harth sued trump alleging sexual misbehavior couple together sued breach contract suit also alleged trump kept black women pageant 1997 trump accused abusing beauty pageant contestant according guardian alleged trump forced bedroom maralago estate palm beach florida following business meeting january 1993 subjected trumps unwanted sexual advances included touching private parts act constituting attempted rape lawsuit stated trump implied keep mouth shut alleged tried leave trump touched sexually made svengalitype proclamations love said prompting vomit experience proxy wish fulfillment dreaming trump wooing women juanesque debonair morgans words spark allegations trump taking women force foisting unwilling participants fall wayside instead trumps pathetic followers pant along tells fairy tales magic golden tongue rather blasé truth golden wallet comes violence deal certain coterie trump supporters thrill strength trump threatening opposition repeatedly shows hes bound rules regular men hes nietzschean ubermensch throw rules aside empower follow pansy losers cheer trumps ridiculous big man campus routine people plaster twitter pages pictures eagles trump hats trump dictator frogtrump simply channeling pathetic desires trumps candidacy life sucks trumps great trump says hell stand every time nails supermodel hes fulfilling destiny rightfully jfks ardent supporters termed sexridden scandal house camelot trumps ardent supporters know administration vegas penthouse couldnt excited theyre hoping desperately invite cant get least fantasize leader romancing starlet beating opponent baseball bat

<p>Not since the 1980 contest between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter has an election presented us with so clear a choice on our nation's economic future. How do we best return our economy to growth and prosperity? Shall we pursue the American economic model that created the most prosperous nation in history or the European socialist model that produced Europe's current economic crisis?</p> <p>Only the private sector can create sustained job growth. All public sector jobs rely on the creation of private sector wealth to support them. Economies create jobs when business owners are willing to risk their capital in a new business or grow an existing business. Business owners invest when they believe they will make a profit sufficient to justify risking their capital, time and energy. To determine whether to take the risk, business leaders create models that forecast what revenues the business will generate and the expenses it will incur to generate that revenue.</p> <p>The object is obviously to have revenues exceed expenses, resulting in profits.&amp;#160; If these profits provide a sufficient return on investment, people will readily invest. This investment is what creates employment. The greater the certainty with respect to revenues and expenses, the greater the investor's confidence when deciding whether to invest. In this respect, government policy can significantly encourage or hinder investment by job creators. Four economic policies essential to any business decision, and on which President Obama and Gov. Romney differ materially, are taxes, healthcare, energy and labor. The question is which candidate's policies advance the interests of job creation and economic growth?</p> <p /> <p>Tax policy and small business&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;</p> <p>Job creators look to after-tax dollars because that's what they get to keep.&amp;#160; Most small businesses operate as pass-through entities known as Subchapter S corporations or LLCs.&amp;#160; Business owners use these corporate structures so they can report business income on their personal tax returns and avoid paying both an income tax and a corporate tax on the same income. This is an important tool that President Obama apparently fails to grasp, as his proposal to raise personal income tax rates for people making over $200,000 would raise the tax rates for these businesses and reduce the after tax return on investment that is so vital to employment growth.</p> <p>Gov. Romney, on the other hand, understands this dynamic because, unlike the president, he has lived it. He proposes lowering marginal income tax rates while preserving tax revenues by eliminating deductions.&amp;#160; He understands that intelligent tax policy seeks to maximize government revenues and minimize distortion of private investment decisions, rather than redistributing wealth. The higher the tax rate on the next dollar earned, the lower the incentive to earn it. Therefore, the president's crusade to increase marginal tax rates will discourage productive economic activity and employment. It is exactly the wrong thing to do if the object is to create jobs.</p> <p>Healthcare policy&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&amp;#160;</p> <p>American businesses are deeply concerned about the significant increase in health insurance costs that will take effect in 2014 under Obamacare.&amp;#160; It is very difficult for any labor intensive business - and particularly small businesses that do not keep legions of lawyers and accountants on the payroll - to calculate the Obamacare cost increases because the legislation is so difficult to understand. Both the anticipated cost increases and the uncertainty of their magnitude inhibit the level of business investment.</p> <p>Gov. Romney has committed to repeal Obamacare and replace it with solutions that address healthcare without crippling the ability of American businesses to grow. He advocates more market-based, consumer-focused improvements in the health care system, which is precisely the opposite of what Obamacare seeks to do.&amp;#160; Repealing Obamacare and moving to more effective and economically feasible healthcare solutions would have a tremendously positive impact on job creation and the health of our economy.</p> <p>Energy policy</p> <p>Under President Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency has waged a war on carbon fuels in an effort to drive up their costs and make alternative energy sources more attractive. To date, he has only succeeded in increasing traditional energy costs.</p> <p>Obviously, the heating, air conditioning and transportation costs a business must incur have a direct impact on any business model. For manufacturers and other industrial businesses, an affordable and reliable supply of electricity and natural gas often means the difference between moving jobs overseas and moving them back home.&amp;#160; In addition, the price of gasoline impacts what consumers have available to spend and, as such, the amount of revenue a business may anticipate generating in sales.</p> <p>Gov. Romney has committed to rationalize the approval process for energy exploration and development and to approve the Keystone pipeline. An end to the EPA's war on fossil fuels would have a positive impact on energy costs and, therefore, on businesses deciding whether to expand and create jobs.</p> <p>Labor unions</p> <p>President Obama's unabashed support of labor unions has also had a dampening impact on job creation.&amp;#160; By appointing former union officials and affiliates to the National Labor Relations Board, he has turned it from a neutral board of arbiters to an advocate for big labor.</p> <p>Individuals considering starting or expanding businesses see an NLRB that is discouraging businesses from moving to right-to-work states while attempting to eliminate the secret ballot in union elections and fast track the unionization process.&amp;#160; The contemplated result is higher labor costs and reduced productivity. &amp;#160;This may be good politics, but it is very misguided economics.&amp;#160; If the goal is to create employment, it defies logic to consistently engage in policies that make labor more expensive and less flexible. Gov. Romney has committed that he will appoint to the NLRB experienced individuals with an even-handed approach to labor relations. He has also committed to defend the secret ballot in union elections.</p> <p>Obama's big policy contradiction</p> <p>Given its economic policies, the Obama administration's apparent surprise that its stimulus package failed to generate growth is disconcerting. It is unreasonable to tell businesses that you are going to increase their healthcare, labor and energy costs while also increasing their taxes, and then expect that they will invest in growth because of temporary government stimulus spending. That neither makes sense nor is it how business works in the real economy.</p> <p>Yet, much like President Carter in 1980, President Obama now offers more of the same policies that have failed over the past four years: More government spending, more regulation, and more taxes. When you invest in government, you get, unsurprisingly, more government.&amp;#160; That may or may not be a good thing - government does perform necessary functions. But, as the last four years aptly demonstrate, it is far different than creating economic growth and jobs.</p> <p>Gov. Romney's economic policies are based on his extensive experience in the private sector and offer a consistent, investment-friendly approach designed to promote growth by relying on our free enterprise system. This is reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan's approach when dealing with the great economic crisis of the early 1980s, and we have every right to expect that it will be just as successful if Gov. Romney is given the opportunity to implement it.</p> <p>Andrew Puzder is CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., which employs about 21,000 people at Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants. He is an economic adviser to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.</p> <p />

since 1980 contest ronald reagan jimmy carter election presented us clear choice nations economic future best return economy growth prosperity shall pursue american economic model created prosperous nation history european socialist model produced europes current economic crisis private sector create sustained job growth public sector jobs rely creation private sector wealth support economies create jobs business owners willing risk capital new business grow existing business business owners invest believe make profit sufficient justify risking capital time energy determine whether take risk business leaders create models forecast revenues business generate expenses incur generate revenue object obviously revenues exceed expenses resulting profits160 profits provide sufficient return investment people readily invest investment creates employment greater certainty respect revenues expenses greater investors confidence deciding whether invest respect government policy significantly encourage hinder investment job creators four economic policies essential business decision president obama gov romney differ materially taxes healthcare energy labor question candidates policies advance interests job creation economic growth tax policy small business160160160160160160160160160 job creators look aftertax dollars thats get keep160 small businesses operate passthrough entities known subchapter corporations llcs160 business owners use corporate structures report business income personal tax returns avoid paying income tax corporate tax income important tool president obama apparently fails grasp proposal raise personal income tax rates people making 200000 would raise tax rates businesses reduce tax return investment vital employment growth gov romney hand understands dynamic unlike president lived proposes lowering marginal income tax rates preserving tax revenues eliminating deductions160 understands intelligent tax policy seeks maximize government revenues minimize distortion private investment decisions rather redistributing wealth higher tax rate next dollar earned lower incentive earn therefore presidents crusade increase marginal tax rates discourage productive economic activity employment exactly wrong thing object create jobs healthcare policy160160160160160160 american businesses deeply concerned significant increase health insurance costs take effect 2014 obamacare160 difficult labor intensive business particularly small businesses keep legions lawyers accountants payroll calculate obamacare cost increases legislation difficult understand anticipated cost increases uncertainty magnitude inhibit level business investment gov romney committed repeal obamacare replace solutions address healthcare without crippling ability american businesses grow advocates marketbased consumerfocused improvements health care system precisely opposite obamacare seeks do160 repealing obamacare moving effective economically feasible healthcare solutions would tremendously positive impact job creation health economy energy policy president obama environmental protection agency waged war carbon fuels effort drive costs make alternative energy sources attractive date succeeded increasing traditional energy costs obviously heating air conditioning transportation costs business must incur direct impact business model manufacturers industrial businesses affordable reliable supply electricity natural gas often means difference moving jobs overseas moving back home160 addition price gasoline impacts consumers available spend amount revenue business may anticipate generating sales gov romney committed rationalize approval process energy exploration development approve keystone pipeline end epas war fossil fuels would positive impact energy costs therefore businesses deciding whether expand create jobs labor unions president obamas unabashed support labor unions also dampening impact job creation160 appointing former union officials affiliates national labor relations board turned neutral board arbiters advocate big labor individuals considering starting expanding businesses see nlrb discouraging businesses moving righttowork states attempting eliminate secret ballot union elections fast track unionization process160 contemplated result higher labor costs reduced productivity 160this may good politics misguided economics160 goal create employment defies logic consistently engage policies make labor expensive less flexible gov romney committed appoint nlrb experienced individuals evenhanded approach labor relations also committed defend secret ballot union elections obamas big policy contradiction given economic policies obama administrations apparent surprise stimulus package failed generate growth disconcerting unreasonable tell businesses going increase healthcare labor energy costs also increasing taxes expect invest growth temporary government stimulus spending neither makes sense business works real economy yet much like president carter 1980 president obama offers policies failed past four years government spending regulation taxes invest government get unsurprisingly government160 may may good thing government perform necessary functions last four years aptly demonstrate far different creating economic growth jobs gov romneys economic policies based extensive experience private sector offer consistent investmentfriendly approach designed promote growth relying free enterprise system reminiscent president ronald reagans approach dealing great economic crisis early 1980s every right expect successful gov romney given opportunity implement andrew puzder ceo cke restaurants inc employs 21000 people carls jr hardees restaurants economic adviser presidential candidate mitt romney

<p><a href="//videos/37/49208" type="external" /></p> <p>RUSH: I actually think as everybody&#8217;s trying to figure out what happened in Boston, who did it, and why, let me just say something here at the top on this.</p> <p>I have stated countless times &#8212; there&#8217;s nothing new today &#8212; I have stated countless times, the left politicizes everything. You recall me saying this. You recall me offering evidence of this. And they already are. I mean, yesterday, within moments of this happening, the left began to politicize it and began drooling, in some cases, and I&#8217;ve got the examples, drooling over the possibility that a right-wing extremist in the same vein as Timothy McVeigh did this. You see, it would be very bad, bad, bad for the regime if it turned out that that Saudi national was responsible. It would be very, very bad for Obama and the regime, believe me.</p> <p /> <p>Folks, some of this might seem unsettling, but I don&#8217;t know any other way to do this. I mean, I can&#8217;t come in here and fake it. I react to what I hear, and when I hear the people, the institutions, the principles I believe in under assault, I&#8217;m gonna stand up and defend &#8217;em. I can&#8217;t come in here and fake it even for a day, and I&#8217;m telling you that the effort is on to politicize this. You may have heard many of the efforts that some in the Drive-By Media, what is called the mainstream media, have already begun speculating. Already; they began immediately speculating and hoping. I kid you not. And I&#8217;ll give you examples of this as the program unfolds.</p> <p>I don&#8217;t think you can rule out that we&#8217;re in an economic disaster in this country. There are people who are at their wits&#8217; end over what to do economically. They can&#8217;t find work, can&#8217;t find a job, no apparent hope of it. This leads to all kinds of anger and chaos. So I wouldn&#8217;t rule out the fact that the sociology of a depressed and in-ruins economy is leading to all kinds of frustration in all kinds of people all over this country. Now, nobody knows what happened.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: Now, no one knows at this time who&#8217;s responsible for the bombs in Boston. Yesterday the president made a point of not calling it terror. Today he did. His former campaign aide, now commentator at MSNBC, says it&#8217;s probably related to tax day. Another bunch of people, a whole bunch of people from the left are saying, &#8220;Well, you know, it was Patriots Day.&#8221; One guy actually said, somebody at Slate or Salon or some such place, might have been somebody at CNN. Let me separate the papers here. Some guy named Paul Fisher (paraphrasing), &#8220;Today&#8217;s Patriots Day, important day to militia movements in our country, the same day Tim McVeigh chose to bomb Oklahoma City.&#8221;</p> <p>These tweets and these items of speculation are all over Twitter and Facebook and the mainstream media. And nobody knows at this time who&#8217;s responsible. At least if they do know, they haven&#8217;t said so. In a vacuum like this, you&#8217;re gonna have all kinds of people try to fill it. So if they say they don&#8217;t know who it is you&#8217;re gonna have people say, &#8220;Oh, yes, they do. They know exactly who it is, and because of the political nature of these people, they&#8217;re gonna hold the information &#8217;til they can make it as useful to them as possible.&#8221; Now, whether that&#8217;s right or wrong, the fact that a large enough number of people think that is a testament to how politicized virtually everything in this country has become.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>Nobody knows at this time who&#8217;s responsible for the bombs in Boston. Who planned, who executed the act of terror? Where did the terrorists come from? Are they Americans? Did they come from somewhere else? How&#8217;d they get here? Student visa is an avenue being discussed. What are we gonna do if we find out that one or more terrorists crossed our border undetected? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do if we find out that it is Al-Qaeda? What are we gonna do if we find out it&#8217;s homegrown domestic terror?</p> <p>By the way, the Oklahoma City was April 19th, not the 15th. So this whole Patriots Day comparison to Timothy McVeigh is all wet anyway. But I&#8217;ve got a whole list, I&#8217;ve got sound bites here of people speculating on the fact that it&#8217;s a right-wing Tea Party group that did this, just like every other act of terror. The mainstream media doesn&#8217;t wait, they start launching. I&#8217;m making a point of this because I don&#8217;t want anybody accusing me of politicizing this. What do I do here? I simply get up every day, I look at and I absorb, I see the people, the traditions, the institutions I believe in under assault, and I stand up and defend &#8217;em.</p> <p>&#8220;How do you do that, Mr. Limbaugh?&#8221;</p> <p>Okay, I&#8217;ll give you an example. Has anybody blamed a video for this? What, is that too impolitic to say? The president didn&#8217;t blame a video for this? Really? Like he did in Benghazi? There&#8217;s not a video that worked somebody up into a frenzy that caused this?</p> <p>&#8220;Mr. Limbaugh, why are you saying that?&#8221;</p> <p>Hey, I&#8217;m just joining the circus here. I didn&#8217;t lead off with this stuff. How about this: You know this is how <a href="" type="internal">Bill Ayers got his start</a>" Bill Ayers is now responsible for educating American kids. He got his start blowing up the Pentagon. Ditto his wife, Bernardine Dohrn. We just learned that Kathy Boudin, who murdered a cop, is now a professor at Columbia. So could we say that whoever did this has just helped their effort to get hired by a major university"</p> <p>Could we?</p> <p>I mean, it&#8217;s how Bill Ayers got his start. It&#8217;s how Kathy Boudin got her start. There are a bunch of celebrated Americans today &#8212; former terrorists, Bill Ayers, Kathy Boudin, any number of them &#8212; who began just this way, and they are now heralded. They are exalted. The left politicizes everything, but is it untrue to say that this how Bill Ayers got his start? No. Is it untrue to point out that a professor at Columbia did something similar to this?</p> <p /> <p>It was a resume enhancement, apparently, for the American university system. So don&#8217;t be surprised. So if the left politicizes everything &#8212; which they do and which we&#8217;ve documented and which I have further documentation for in this incident now &#8212; is it reasonable to ask, &#8220;How might the left be calculating this incident to be of the greatest use to them?&#8221; &#8216;Cause everything to them is politics, and the evidence of that is how quickly they launched into trying to blame people like us, folks.</p> <p>People who I&#8217;m simply showing up here and defending. A bunch of people are being maligned, impugned, character assassinated, or assaulted today who had nothing to do with this. We don&#8217;t know who did it, just like back in the Sandy Hook first days. Remember all of the news that was wrong? I mean, it was legendary how wrong it was. I mean, inaccurate wrong, and it was all rooted in speculation &#8212; and it was rooted in the speculation of hope that there would be a way to advance the left&#8217;s political agenda.</p> <p>So why would this be any different, as far as they are concerned? So all I, El Rushbo, am saying is that my antennae are raised and I&#8217;m keeping a sharp eye for this. Let&#8217;s see. Peter Bergen, CNN, in a tweet said, &#8220;Right-Wing Groups Might Have Something to do with This.&#8221; A blogger at the Huffing and Puffington Post, &#8220;We don&#8217;t know anything yet, of course, but it is Tax Day, and my first thought was all these anti-government groups. But who knows.&#8221; Well, yeah, it&#8217;s Monday, too, when this happened.</p> <p>So what happens on Monday that we can blame on right-wingers?</p> <p>Paul Fisher: &#8220;Worth noting today&#8217;s Patriots Day, an important day to militia movements in our country, same day (sic) Tim McVeigh chose to bomb Oklahoma City,&#8221; except the Oklahoma City bombing was on April the 19th. Nicholas Kristof. Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times: &#8220;Explosion is a reminder that ATF needs a director. Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking appointment.&#8221;</p> <p>So what happened in Boston is the Republicans&#8217; fault. Barney Frank is out saying, &#8220;No tax cut would have prevented this from happening.&#8221; I kid you not, folks. I haven&#8217;t said a word. &#8220;No tax cut would have prevented this from happening.&#8221; So is it appropriate to say, &#8220;Is it true this is how Bill Ayers got his start? This is how Bernardine Dohrn got her start. This is how Kathy Boudin got her start. This is how Kathy Boudin got hired as an adjunct professor at Columbia.&#8221;</p> <p>I also am holding here my formerly nicotine-stained fingers (shuffling paper) a piece in the National Journal by Ron Fournier. (He might pronounce it Fourn-i-er. I&#8217;m not certain, and I don&#8217;t mispronounce it on purpose.) Headline: &#8220;Why Boston Bombings Might Be Scarier Than 9/11.&#8221; Now, you want to hear this from Ron Fournier, the former White House AP reporter? He might have been the DC bureau chief for AP, I&#8217;m not sure, but he was a ranking AP guy.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>His theory in this two-page piece is, it&#8217;s scarier to kill people &#8220;pursuing happiness&#8221; such as running a marathon than killing Wall Street employees. It&#8217;s all evil! Don&#8217;t misunderstand, folks, it&#8217;s all evil. But one group is Wall Street or the Pentagon, and the other was people, the marathon. &#8220;[T]he Boston attack is notable not for the number of deaths, but for its social significance. It&#8217;s one thing &#8211;a dastardly, evil thing &#8212; to strike symbols of economic and military power,&#8221; Wall Street and the Pentagon.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#194;&#8217;s another to hit the heart of America. Death at the finish line in Boston makes every place (and everybody) less secure. &#8230; They targeted life. They targeted liberty. Now somebody has attacked pursuit of happiness.&#8221; I guess the 9/11 attackers were not attacking the pursuit of happiness &#8212; and the people that blew up the Pentagon, they were not attacking the pursuit of happiness. He actually says this. &#8220;It&#8217;s one thing &#8212; a dastardly, evil thing &#8212; to strike symbols of economic and military power.&#8221;</p> <p>That&#8217;s 9/11, and the &#8220;symbols&#8221; are Wall Street and the Pentagon. Well&#8230; (interruption) No, no. No, they&#8217;re not people. See, corporations are not people. The left tells us this. Corporations are not people. Wall Street&#8217;s not people. The Pentagon&#8217;s not people. They are symbols. But the Boston Marathon, the finish line at the Boston Marathon is the heart of America. It&#8217;s scarier to kill people pursuing happiness in Boston than killing Wall Street employees or Pentagon employees. I&#8217;m just giving you examples, folks, of how this is already being politicized, and it all started yesterday.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times: &#8220;Explosion in Boston is a reminder that the ATF needs a director. Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking the appointment.&#8221; Well, how many of George W. Bush&#8217;s cabinet appointees were held up because of the Florida aftermath? How many of Bush&#8217;s cabinet appointees were held up? How many vacancies were there unfilled at the time 9/11 happened, at which point we could today blame the Democrats for 9/11, simply learning from the way Kristof is looking at what happened in Boston.</p> <p /> <p>It&#8217;s gotta be Republicans&#8217; fault because the ATF is vacant, doesn&#8217;t have a leader, doesn&#8217;t have a director. I tell you, it&#8217;s sickly, sickly absurd. Let&#8217;s go to the audio sound bites. CNN, The Lead yesterday afternoon. Jake Tapper spoke with the national security analyst Peter Bergen about the Boston Marathon bombings. Tapper said, &#8220;Peter, obviously we don&#8217;t want to speculate,&#8221; but we will. No, he didn&#8217;t say that. I just added that, because that&#8217;s what they&#8217;re doing. &#8220;Peter, obviously we don&#8217;t want to speculate.</p> <p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t know what this was. But is there reason for people who deal in counter-terrorism to think that this is an act of terrorism? Or suspect it strongly, at least?&#8221; Of course it&#8217;s terrorism! You have <a href="" type="internal">two bombs in pressure cookers</a>with shrapnel in there. They were in pressure cookers in black bags. Of course this is terrorism, regardless who did it. So, &#8220;Peter, obviously we don&#8217;t want to speculate. We don&#8217;t know what this was. But is there reason for people who deal in counter-terrorism to think that this is an act of terrorism? Or suspect it strongly, at least?&#8221;</p> <p>BERGEN: If it was hydrogen peroxide, this is sort of a signature of Al-Qaeda. If it was more conventional explosives, which are much harder to get hold of now, that might be some other kind of, uh, right-wing extremist. We&#8217;ve also seen other extremist groups, right-wing groups attacking, for instance &#8212; trying to attack &#8212; the Martin Luther King parade in Oregon in 2010.</p> <p>RUSH: Do you know who the most militant extremist groups in America are today, folks? Do you know who it is? Environmental wacko groups are the number one group. They are leftists, and the environmentalist wackos are the number one (or close to it, anyway) terror group. Now, you just heard Mr. Bergen here on CNN. It&#8217;s either Al-Qaeda &#8212; but we really don&#8217;t think so, and we really hope not &#8212; or &#8220;other&#8221; right-wing extremists. Just like the groups that tried to attack the Martin Luther King parade in Oregon in 2010.</p> <p>The Martin Luther King parade in 2010?</p> <p>It is just not possible that any left-wing, Occupy Wall Street radicals or environmental radicals or people unhappy with the economy did this. Not even possible, you see.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: I was not making it up. Other e-mails say, &#8220;Come on, Rush! You&#8217;re exaggerating here to make it a point on this Ron Fournier.&#8221; I&#8217;m not.</p> <p>Ron Fournier actually said it&#8217;s scarier to kill people pursuing happiness than killing the Pentagon or Wall Street. He says it&#8217;s all evil, but Wall Street and the Pentagon are just buildings. They&#8217;re just symbols. The marathon was people pursuing happiness. That&#8217;s worse; that&#8217;s scarier. Bombing the Boston Marathon is scarier than bombing Wall Street, scarier than bombing the Pentagon. The Politico just tweeted something. &#8220;Did you catch our most-read story? &#8216;Gun Control Bill in Peril.'&#8221;</p> <p>(Gasp!) Oh, no! Because of this, the gun control bill is in peril. Why would that be? I&#8217;ll get into that in mere moments. I&#8217;ll tell you what else might be in peril right now is the immigration bill, or it could be the opposite and both could be being set up to be ramrodded through. Back to the audio sound bites. Peter King. Peter King, congressman from New York, was on CNN&#8217;s Starting Point this morning. The host John Berman interviewed him, and this is what Peter King said&#8230;</p> <p /> <p>KING: One thing positive can come out from this horrible event should be to alert people, especially people in the Congress, that the war against terrorism is far from over. Whether it&#8217;s Islamic jihadists or whether it&#8217;s, eh, right-wing extremists, no matter it is, they will say use terror. That&#8217;s their weapon of choice.</p> <p>RUSH: So a Republican congressman even holds out the possibility that it was, quote, &#8220;right-wing extremists.&#8221; Nowhere is anybody talking about the possibility of left-wing extremists &#8212; and let me ask you a question, again based on my observation in recent years. If you are a Muslim listening to this program, and it turns out that a Muslim did bomb the Boston Marathon, how do you feel? I dare say that if you are a Muslim, you can be pretty certain, you can rest assured that everybody in the media will circle the wagons and say, &#8220;This is not because of Islam. This is a lone bad actor, lone wolf.</p> <p>&#8220;This in no way says anything about Islam. It in no way says anything about Muslims. It&#8217;s just a lone nut,&#8221; and they will remind us that the vast majority of people denounce this kind of terrorism, the vast majority of Muslims. So if you&#8217;re a Muslim and it turns out to be a Muslim bomber, you will be in no way associated with it. Which is fair. However, folks, if you are a conservative out there today, and it turns out that whoever did this has either a real or imagined connection to conservatives?</p> <p>Everybody in the media will unite to denounce your whole group.</p> <p>There will not be the same treatment. If this turns out to be some crazy extremist, domestic terrorist, everybody thought to be in that guy&#8217;s group is gonna be tarred and feathered as well. And, believe me, that&#8217;s what they&#8217;re all hoping for on the left. They are the ones saying so. They are the ones indicating that. Not me. Back to the audio sound bites. We have here a montage of media people going out of their way to clear the Saudi student.</p> <p>It&#8217;s exactly what I was just saying. &#8220;Hey, hey, hey! No, no, no! It can&#8217;t be. Let&#8217;s not rush to conclusions here.&#8221;</p> <p>JOE KERNEN: (outdoor noise) It just is weird. It sounds like it could be profiling! They see a Saudi guy&#8230;</p> <p>TAHMAN BRADLEY: (outdoor noise) It&#8217;s not clear his connection on this. He&#8217;s not a suspect.</p> <p>BRIAN ROSS: Authorities stressed he is not considered a suspect.</p> <p>RICH EDSON: (outdoor noise) There&#8217;s really nothing yet leading them to believe that there are any serious concerns about him.</p> <p>PETE WILLIAMS: (outdoor noise) He might turn out to be an innocent bystander.</p> <p>FRAN TOWNSEND: (outdoor noise) I was told that the Saudi was, eh, completely cooperative.</p> <p>MEGYN KELLY: A guy from Saudi Arabia, he doesn&#8217;t necessarily look like the other guys there. We&#8217;ve been trained to sort of do some racial profiling.</p> <p>RUSH: That&#8217;s Megyn Kelly there at the end. She was on Fox this morning. So you see the point? Originally there was a Saudi man. He was caught by bystanders in Boston, he was taken and he was questioned, and the authorities say, &#8220;He&#8217;s clear. There&#8217;s nothing here. He was very cooperative.&#8221; The moment that happened, there was a race in the media to make sure that nobody jumped the gun and racially profiled; to make sure nobody thinks this has anything to do with Al-Qaeda, nothing to do with Saudi Arabia, nothing to do with Muslims.</p> <p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s just make sure to get that out there right now, front and center,&#8221; while at the same time speculating that this has to be some right-wing group. Folks, I&#8217;m just reminding you what I do. I get up, I look, I listen, I read. I see the things, the people and institutions I believe in under assault again, and I come here and defend them. I am purely in a defensive posture today, as is the case every day. I&#8217;m not attacking anybody.</p> <p /> <p>I&#8217;m simply defending what is being said irresponsibly by loads of others. Barney Frank was also on CNN today. The cohost John Berman said, &#8220;The response yesterday was so remarkable, congressman. They stopped the marathon midpoint; they calmly moved some 5,000 people from the racecourse. There were moments of chaos right there, but they were able to clear the scene fairly well. What are your impressions of the response here in Boston so far?&#8221;</p> <p>FRANK: Let&#8217;s be very grateful that we had a well funded, functioning government. It is very fashionable in America, it has been for some time, to criticize government, to belittle public employees, talk about their pensions, talk about what people think is their excessive health care. Here we saw government in two ways perform very well. I never was, as a member of Congress, one of the cheerleaders for less government, lower taxes. No tax cut would have helped us deal with this or will help us recover. This is very expensive.</p> <p>RUSH: You believe that? Do you believe what you just heard? &#8220;No tax cut would have helped us deal with this or will help us recover. This is very expensive.&#8221; What, a tax increase is what we need in response to the Boston Marathon attack? But besides that, forget that. Congressman, what are your impressions of the response so far? The response was amazing. Everybody in Boston forgot everything and simply did what was called for. It was great to see. It was amazing to watch. And so they go to Barney Frank and they ask him about that and it&#8217;s a great opportunity to praise everybody in Boston who was involved in keeping level heads, cool heads, getting to the injured as quickly as possible, getting them to the hospital. There was a lot that went right yesterday in the aftermath.</p> <p>What does he first say? &#8220;Let&#8217;s be very grateful we had a well funded, functioning government&#8221;? This is obscene. &#8220;It&#8217;s very fashionable in America, it has been for some time, to criticize government, to belittle public employees and their pensions and their excessive health care.&#8221; This is the first thing that comes to his mind, Barney Frank, when asked for his impressions of the response in Boston? Don&#8217;t ever tell me that these people don&#8217;t politicize everything. From the get-go they politicize it. It&#8217;s important to me because, folks, as long as we&#8217;ve been around we&#8217;ve been trying to persuade people to our side of things. And I&#8217;ve often thought if we could just somehow convince people that all of this on the left is not big-hearted compassion, but it is pure, raw politics.</p> <p>It is pure raw ideology. And that if we could make more people understand what liberalism is, what socialism is, how it functions, what its purpose is, then all of this or much of this would be much more easily understood. Let&#8217;s be very grateful we had a well funded, functioning government? You mean the doctors? You mean the first responders? You mean the average citizens on the street who did everything they could? It&#8217;s just mind-boggling to me here.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: Barney Frank, after saying that we should all be grateful for a well funded government, that was his first statement. Asked for his impressions on the response in Boston, Barney Frank told everybody that we need to be grateful for a well-funded government and we need to stop criticizing government people and their pensions and their health care, he said this.</p> <p /> <p>FRANK: We&#8217;re not asking people, &#8220;Well do you have private health insurance or not? Could you afford this or not?&#8221; Maybe the government&#8217;s going to have to pay for it. And this is an example of why we need, if we want to be a civilized people, to put some of our resources into a common pool so we are able to deal with this. So on the whole I would say this is a terrible day for our society, but a day when I hope people will understand the centrality of having a government in place with the resources. At a time like this no one thinks about saving pennies.</p> <p>RUSH: I sit here and I marvel. This guy is living in a real panic over the thought that his precious government might be reduced. Over 150 people are injured, some people died at the Boston Marathon, and Barney Frank, asked for his impressions, starts worrying about tax cuts and making sure that people realize we&#8217;re gonna have to put our resources into a common pool so we are able to deal with this and that people understand the centrality of having a government in place with resources.</p> <p>Say, anybody want to talk about maybe stopping this kind of stuff from happening, as we used to be able to do? The Times Square bomber didn&#8217;t succeed. The shoe bomber didn&#8217;t succeed. There are a number of attempts that failed. This one didn&#8217;t. Barney Frank also said, get this: &#8220;I&#8217;m saying that if the sequester had gone through and we had not had enough money, we couldn&#8217;t be able to do this. I&#8217;m making an argument about reality, and that&#8217;s the only responsible response.&#8221;</p> <p>Well, but the sequester did go through, and we still had a response. We still had minuscule budget cuts. That&#8217;s what he&#8217;s worried about. If the sequester had gone through and we had not had enough money, we couldn&#8217;t be able to do this. No amount of money or lack of it was gonna stop this response from taking place yesterday. So Barney Frank takes the occasion of this bombing to once again make his pitch for more government spending, more government growth, as they do indeed politicize everything on the left.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: You know, folks, about Barney Frank and his unbelievable comment, big federal government redistributing wealth through class warfare has nothing to do with protecting people from terrorists and criminals. Zip, zero, nada. I would think most sane people would view this terror attack as a failure of the federal government, not a success. Barney Frank looks at this as a success, a successful example of the federal government. Really? That&#8217;s his takeaway, folks. Don&#8217;t doubt me.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: Have you noticed that the Drive-Bys are going out of their way, and that the authorities are going out of their way to assure us that this is not Al-Qaeda? &#8220;There&#8217;s no way it&#8217;s Al-Qaeda! It&#8217;s not that Saudi guy. No, no, no. Don&#8217;t make any connection. That Saudi guy was 100% innocent. He came in and fully cooperated. No, no, it&#8217;s not Al-Qaeda.&#8221;</p> <p>They don&#8217;t know who did it but they know it wasn&#8217;t Al-Qaeda? How do they know it wasn&#8217;t Al-Qaeda? &#8220;Why can&#8217;t it be Al-Qaeda?&#8221; is the question. Do you know why it can&#8217;t be Al-Qaeda? It&#8217;s because Al-Qaeda&#8217;s on the run, and the reason it can&#8217;t be Al-Qaeda is &#8217;cause nobody said that there was a video that ticked them off enough to make them do this. I don&#8217;t think. At the beginning of the program, nobody had blamed a video for this, right, and there hasn&#8217;t been any yet? It still could happen.</p> <p>Well, that filmmaker is still in jail but there could have another video filmmaker out there. There could be a video we don&#8217;t know about yet. Folks, if it happened once, it can happen again. If a video caused Benghazi, a video not yet discovered could have caused this. Well, I&#8217;m just throwing out ideas. (interruption) I&#8217;m not kidding. Again, what in do I do? I show up here every day, I take note of what I read, see, and hear. When I hear absurdity, I comment on it. When I hear the things that I hold dear attacked, I defend them.</p> <p>Same thing with people that I hold dear.</p> <p>What do I do here? I come here every day and defend things that I love that are under assault that are being attacked, which is happening today. The left is hell-bent on finding some right-winger or right-wing organization to blame this on, folks. They couldn&#8217;t wait! And just to remind you, right here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers I have Ron Fournier, writing in the National Journal: It is scarier to kill people pursuing happiness, as in a marathon, than it is to kill people working on Wall Street.</p> <p>I kid you not. Let me read from his piece. &#8220;But the Boston attack is notable not for the number of deaths, but for its social significance. It&#8217;s one thing &#8212; a dastardly, evil thing &#8211;to strike symbols of economic and military power.&#8221; I mean, it&#8217;s one thing to attack Wall Street on 9/11. It&#8217;s one thing to attack the Pentagon on 9/11. &#8220;It&#8217;s another to hit the heart of America. Death at the finish line in Boston&#8221; is the heart of America. Because that was people pursuing happiness. And that makes it worse than 9/11, and that&#8217;s what he is saying. Can you believe it?</p> <p>You see, corporations aren&#8217;t people, and Wall Street is corporations.</p> <p>So the 3,000 people that died in 9/11, many of them on Wall Street? Pfft! Symbols. Symbols of corporate greed! Symbols of economic and military power. But runners at the Boston Marathon? Those are people! I am not making this up. This man actually wants to make a comparison of which acts are more grievous and which acts are worse, and it turns out the Boston Marathon bombing is far worse than 9/11 because the attacks on 9/11 just attacked symbols: Wall Street, the World Trade Center (evil corporations work there) and the Pentagon.</p> <p>But the Boston Marathon? That&#8217;s people pursuing happiness, the heart of America!</p> <p>Frankly, running has never made me happy, but that&#8217;s another thing.</p> <p>Running is the most arduous thing anybody&#8217;s ever made me do. But that&#8217;s just me.</p>

rush actually think everybodys trying figure happened boston let say something top stated countless times theres nothing new today stated countless times left politicizes everything recall saying recall offering evidence already mean yesterday within moments happening left began politicize began drooling cases ive got examples drooling possibility rightwing extremist vein timothy mcveigh see would bad bad bad regime turned saudi national responsible would bad obama regime believe folks might seem unsettling dont know way mean cant come fake react hear hear people institutions principles believe assault im gon na stand defend em cant come fake even day im telling effort politicize may heard many efforts driveby media called mainstream media already begun speculating already began immediately speculating hoping kid ill give examples program unfolds dont think rule economic disaster country people wits end economically cant find work cant find job apparent hope leads kinds anger chaos wouldnt rule fact sociology depressed inruins economy leading kinds frustration kinds people country nobody knows happened break transcript rush one knows time whos responsible bombs boston yesterday president made point calling terror today former campaign aide commentator msnbc says probably related tax day another bunch people whole bunch people left saying well know patriots day one guy actually said somebody slate salon place might somebody cnn let separate papers guy named paul fisher paraphrasing todays patriots day important day militia movements country day tim mcveigh chose bomb oklahoma city tweets items speculation twitter facebook mainstream media nobody knows time whos responsible least know havent said vacuum like youre gon na kinds people try fill say dont know youre gon na people say oh yes know exactly political nature people theyre gon na hold information til make useful possible whether thats right wrong fact large enough number people think testament politicized virtually everything country become nobody knows time whos responsible bombs boston planned executed act terror terrorists come americans come somewhere else howd get student visa avenue discussed gon na find one terrorists crossed border undetected gon na gon na find alqaeda gon na find homegrown domestic terror way oklahoma city april 19th 15th whole patriots day comparison timothy mcveigh wet anyway ive got whole list ive got sound bites people speculating fact rightwing tea party group like every act terror mainstream media doesnt wait start launching im making point dont want anybody accusing politicizing simply get every day look absorb see people traditions institutions believe assault stand defend em mr limbaugh okay ill give example anybody blamed video impolitic say president didnt blame video really like benghazi theres video worked somebody frenzy caused mr limbaugh saying hey im joining circus didnt lead stuff know bill ayers got start bill ayers responsible educating american kids got start blowing pentagon ditto wife bernardine dohrn learned kathy boudin murdered cop professor columbia could say whoever helped effort get hired major university could mean bill ayers got start kathy boudin got start bunch celebrated americans today former terrorists bill ayers kathy boudin number began way heralded exalted left politicizes everything untrue say bill ayers got start untrue point professor columbia something similar resume enhancement apparently american university system dont surprised left politicizes everything weve documented documentation incident reasonable ask might left calculating incident greatest use cause everything politics evidence quickly launched trying blame people like us folks people im simply showing defending bunch people maligned impugned character assassinated assaulted today nothing dont know like back sandy hook first days remember news wrong mean legendary wrong mean inaccurate wrong rooted speculation rooted speculation hope would way advance lefts political agenda would different far concerned el rushbo saying antennae raised im keeping sharp eye lets see peter bergen cnn tweet said rightwing groups might something blogger huffing puffington post dont know anything yet course tax day first thought antigovernment groups knows well yeah monday happened happens monday blame rightwingers paul fisher worth noting todays patriots day important day militia movements country day sic tim mcveigh chose bomb oklahoma city except oklahoma city bombing april 19th nicholas kristof nicholas kristof new york times explosion reminder atf needs director shame senate republicans blocking appointment happened boston republicans fault barney frank saying tax cut would prevented happening kid folks havent said word tax cut would prevented happening appropriate say true bill ayers got start bernardine dohrn got start kathy boudin got start kathy boudin got hired adjunct professor columbia also holding formerly nicotinestained fingers shuffling paper piece national journal ron fournier might pronounce fournier im certain dont mispronounce purpose headline boston bombings might scarier 911 want hear ron fournier former white house ap reporter might dc bureau chief ap im sure ranking ap guy theory twopage piece scarier kill people pursuing happiness running marathon killing wall street employees evil dont misunderstand folks evil one group wall street pentagon people marathon boston attack notable number deaths social significance one thing dastardly evil thing strike symbols economic military power wall street pentagon itÂs another hit heart america death finish line boston makes every place everybody less secure targeted life targeted liberty somebody attacked pursuit happiness guess 911 attackers attacking pursuit happiness people blew pentagon attacking pursuit happiness actually says one thing dastardly evil thing strike symbols economic military power thats 911 symbols wall street pentagon well interruption theyre people see corporations people left tells us corporations people wall streets people pentagons people symbols boston marathon finish line boston marathon heart america scarier kill people pursuing happiness boston killing wall street employees pentagon employees im giving examples folks already politicized started yesterday break transcript rush nicholas kristof new york times explosion boston reminder atf needs director shame senate republicans blocking appointment well many george w bushs cabinet appointees held florida aftermath many bushs cabinet appointees held many vacancies unfilled time 911 happened point could today blame democrats 911 simply learning way kristof looking happened boston got ta republicans fault atf vacant doesnt leader doesnt director tell sickly sickly absurd lets go audio sound bites cnn lead yesterday afternoon jake tapper spoke national security analyst peter bergen boston marathon bombings tapper said peter obviously dont want speculate didnt say added thats theyre peter obviously dont want speculate dont know reason people deal counterterrorism think act terrorism suspect strongly least course terrorism two bombs pressure cookerswith shrapnel pressure cookers black bags course terrorism regardless peter obviously dont want speculate dont know reason people deal counterterrorism think act terrorism suspect strongly least bergen hydrogen peroxide sort signature alqaeda conventional explosives much harder get hold might kind uh rightwing extremist weve also seen extremist groups rightwing groups attacking instance trying attack martin luther king parade oregon 2010 rush know militant extremist groups america today folks know environmental wacko groups number one group leftists environmentalist wackos number one close anyway terror group heard mr bergen cnn either alqaeda really dont think really hope rightwing extremists like groups tried attack martin luther king parade oregon 2010 martin luther king parade 2010 possible leftwing occupy wall street radicals environmental radicals people unhappy economy even possible see break transcript rush making emails say come rush youre exaggerating make point ron fournier im ron fournier actually said scarier kill people pursuing happiness killing pentagon wall street says evil wall street pentagon buildings theyre symbols marathon people pursuing happiness thats worse thats scarier bombing boston marathon scarier bombing wall street scarier bombing pentagon politico tweeted something catch mostread story gun control bill peril gasp oh gun control bill peril would ill get mere moments ill tell else might peril right immigration bill could opposite could set ramrodded back audio sound bites peter king peter king congressman new york cnns starting point morning host john berman interviewed peter king said king one thing positive come horrible event alert people especially people congress war terrorism far whether islamic jihadists whether eh rightwing extremists matter say use terror thats weapon choice rush republican congressman even holds possibility quote rightwing extremists nowhere anybody talking possibility leftwing extremists let ask question based observation recent years muslim listening program turns muslim bomb boston marathon feel dare say muslim pretty certain rest assured everybody media circle wagons say islam lone bad actor lone wolf way says anything islam way says anything muslims lone nut remind us vast majority people denounce kind terrorism vast majority muslims youre muslim turns muslim bomber way associated fair however folks conservative today turns whoever either real imagined connection conservatives everybody media unite denounce whole group treatment turns crazy extremist domestic terrorist everybody thought guys group gon na tarred feathered well believe thats theyre hoping left ones saying ones indicating back audio sound bites montage media people going way clear saudi student exactly saying hey hey hey cant lets rush conclusions joe kernen outdoor noise weird sounds like could profiling see saudi guy tahman bradley outdoor noise clear connection hes suspect brian ross authorities stressed considered suspect rich edson outdoor noise theres really nothing yet leading believe serious concerns pete williams outdoor noise might turn innocent bystander fran townsend outdoor noise told saudi eh completely cooperative megyn kelly guy saudi arabia doesnt necessarily look like guys weve trained sort racial profiling rush thats megyn kelly end fox morning see point originally saudi man caught bystanders boston taken questioned authorities say hes clear theres nothing cooperative moment happened race media make sure nobody jumped gun racially profiled make sure nobody thinks anything alqaeda nothing saudi arabia nothing muslims lets make sure get right front center time speculating rightwing group folks im reminding get look listen read see things people institutions believe assault come defend purely defensive posture today case every day im attacking anybody im simply defending said irresponsibly loads others barney frank also cnn today cohost john berman said response yesterday remarkable congressman stopped marathon midpoint calmly moved 5000 people racecourse moments chaos right able clear scene fairly well impressions response boston far frank lets grateful well funded functioning government fashionable america time criticize government belittle public employees talk pensions talk people think excessive health care saw government two ways perform well never member congress one cheerleaders less government lower taxes tax cut would helped us deal help us recover expensive rush believe believe heard tax cut would helped us deal help us recover expensive tax increase need response boston marathon attack besides forget congressman impressions response far response amazing everybody boston forgot everything simply called great see amazing watch go barney frank ask great opportunity praise everybody boston involved keeping level heads cool heads getting injured quickly possible getting hospital lot went right yesterday aftermath first say lets grateful well funded functioning government obscene fashionable america time criticize government belittle public employees pensions excessive health care first thing comes mind barney frank asked impressions response boston dont ever tell people dont politicize everything getgo politicize important folks long weve around weve trying persuade people side things ive often thought could somehow convince people left bighearted compassion pure raw politics pure raw ideology could make people understand liberalism socialism functions purpose much would much easily understood lets grateful well funded functioning government mean doctors mean first responders mean average citizens street everything could mindboggling break transcript rush barney frank saying grateful well funded government first statement asked impressions response boston barney frank told everybody need grateful wellfunded government need stop criticizing government people pensions health care said frank asking people well private health insurance could afford maybe governments going pay example need want civilized people put resources common pool able deal whole would say terrible day society day hope people understand centrality government place resources time like one thinks saving pennies rush sit marvel guy living real panic thought precious government might reduced 150 people injured people died boston marathon barney frank asked impressions starts worrying tax cuts making sure people realize gon na put resources common pool able deal people understand centrality government place resources say anybody want talk maybe stopping kind stuff happening used able times square bomber didnt succeed shoe bomber didnt succeed number attempts failed one didnt barney frank also said get im saying sequester gone enough money couldnt able im making argument reality thats responsible response well sequester go still response still minuscule budget cuts thats hes worried sequester gone enough money couldnt able amount money lack gon na stop response taking place yesterday barney frank takes occasion bombing make pitch government spending government growth indeed politicize everything left break transcript rush know folks barney frank unbelievable comment big federal government redistributing wealth class warfare nothing protecting people terrorists criminals zip zero nada would think sane people would view terror attack failure federal government success barney frank looks success successful example federal government really thats takeaway folks dont doubt break transcript rush noticed drivebys going way authorities going way assure us alqaeda theres way alqaeda saudi guy dont make connection saudi guy 100 innocent came fully cooperated alqaeda dont know know wasnt alqaeda know wasnt alqaeda cant alqaeda question know cant alqaeda alqaedas run reason cant alqaeda cause nobody said video ticked enough make dont think beginning program nobody blamed video right hasnt yet still could happen well filmmaker still jail could another video filmmaker could video dont know yet folks happened happen video caused benghazi video yet discovered could caused well im throwing ideas interruption im kidding show every day take note read see hear hear absurdity comment hear things hold dear attacked defend thing people hold dear come every day defend things love assault attacked happening today left hellbent finding rightwinger rightwing organization blame folks couldnt wait remind right formerly nicotinestained fingers ron fournier writing national journal scarier kill people pursuing happiness marathon kill people working wall street kid let read piece boston attack notable number deaths social significance one thing dastardly evil thing strike symbols economic military power mean one thing attack wall street 911 one thing attack pentagon 911 another hit heart america death finish line boston heart america people pursuing happiness makes worse 911 thats saying believe see corporations arent people wall street corporations 3000 people died 911 many wall street pfft symbols symbols corporate greed symbols economic military power runners boston marathon people making man actually wants make comparison acts grievous acts worse turns boston marathon bombing far worse 911 attacks 911 attacked symbols wall street world trade center evil corporations work pentagon boston marathon thats people pursuing happiness heart america frankly running never made happy thats another thing running arduous thing anybodys ever made thats

<p /> <p>Over the past 12 months, the S&amp;amp;P 500 rallied 25% and the NASDAQ climbed 33%. Those gains -- which propelled both indexes to record highs -- are impressive, but a few other stocks crushed even those returns with triple-digit gains.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Three such stocks -- Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV), Paycom Software (NYSE: PAYC), and Proofpoint (NASDAQ: PFPT) -- all develop cloud-based software. Let's take a look at why these three cloud stocks surged, and whether investors should consider buying them this year.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Veeva Systems provides a cloud-based CRM (customer relationship management) platform for healthcare companies. It uses Salesforce's SFA (Sales Force Automation) tools as the foundation of its CRM platform for drug companies. Its core products include the Veeva Vault, which tracks prescribing habits, clinical trials, regulatory filings, and industry regulations; and the Veeva Commercial Cloud, which helps companies manage customer relationships.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Shares of Veeva have soared more than 110% over the past year, fueled by four straight quarters of 30%+ annual sales growth and rising profitability. Veeva's revenue rose 34% annually to $142.8 million last quarter, and its non-GAAP earnings surged 83% to $0.22 per share. GAAP earnings more than doubled to $0.15 per share.</p> <p>Veeva attributes all that growth to the growth of new cloud services and new companies signing up for its Commercial Cloud. Intense competition between drugmakers and new regulatory pressures have also sparked fierce demand for Veeva's industry-tracking services. For fiscal 2017 (which ended on Jan. 31), Veeva expects its revenue and non-GAAP earnings to respectively grow 32% and 79%. For fiscal 2018, analysts expect Veeva's revenue to rise 21%, and for its earnings to grow another 18%.</p> <p>Paycom Software provides cloud-based tools for payroll processing and human resources. It runs five main businesses -- Talent Acquisition tools for streamlining the recruiting process, Time and Labor Management tools for managing employee work schedules, Payroll tools for automated payments, Talent Management tools for monitoring performance and setting employee goals, and HR Management tools for organizing virtual documents.</p> <p>Paycom stock has surged more than 110% over the past 12 months. Its revenue growth rate has remained well above 30% ever since its IPO in 2014, and its profitability has gradually improved. Last quarter, its revenue rose35% annually to $87.8 million, and its non-GAAP earnings grew 80% to $0.18 per share. Its GAAP earnings rose 67% to $0.15 per share, and its adjusted EBITDA nearly doubled to $20.7 million.</p> <p>Paycom attributed that growth to its higher brand visibility, expansion into new cities, new client wins, and market share gains. For fiscal 2017 (which started on Jan. 1), Paycom expects its revenue to rise 29% and for itsadjusted EBITDA to grow about 20%.</p> <p>Proofpoint is a cloud-based security-as-a-service provider that serves medium and large enterprises around the world. Its platform includes a suite of threat protection, incident response, regulator compliance, email archiving, electronic discovery, and secure communication tools.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Shares of Proofpoint more than doubled over the past 12 months, thanks to its robust earnings growth and improving non-GAAP profitability. Its revenue has risen more than 40% annually over the past three quarters -- which CEO Gary Steele attributed to"robust demand for advanced threat solutions, high competitive win rates, traction with new products, robust add-on activity, and consistently high renewal rates."</p> <p>Like many of its cybersecurity peers, Proofpoint has great top line numbers but wobbly bottom line ones. Revenue rose43% annually to $106.8 million last quarter, and billings grew 42% to $138.4 million; but GAAP net loss only narrowed slightly from $27.4 million in the year-ago quarter to $22.9 million. But on a non-GAAP basis, it reported a net profit of $8.5 million, compared to a loss of $0.4 million a year ago.</p> <p>Proofpoint faces fierce competition from rival cloud security players like FireEyeand bigger bundled players like Cisco, but it remains confident in its growth prospects. For fiscal 2017 (which started on Jan. 1), it expects revenue to grow 30% and non-GAAP earnings to improve 36%.</p> <p>Veeva, Paycom, and Proofpoint all boast impressive revenue growth, but their valuations have also been inflated by their year-long rallies. Veeva trades at nearly 100 times earnings and Paycom has a P/E of 77 -- which are both much higher than the industry average of 54 for application software companies.</p> <p>Proofpoint has a negative P/E due to its uneven profitability, but it trades at 90 times forward earnings and 10 times sales -- which is double the industry average P/S ratio of 5 for software companies. Therefore, investors interested in these three hot stocks should do some more homework to see if their future growth potential can be justified by these lofty valuations.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than ProofpointWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=0cf3406c-ee85-46c8-94b7-b14d870ac182&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Proofpoint wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=0cf3406c-ee85-46c8-94b7-b14d870ac182&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSunLion/info.aspx" type="external">Leo Sun Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Cisco Systems. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends FireEye, Paycom Software, and Veeva Systems. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems and Salesforce.com. 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past 12 months sampp 500 rallied 25 nasdaq climbed 33 gains propelled indexes record highs impressive stocks crushed even returns tripledigit gains continue reading three stocks veeva systems nyse veev paycom software nyse payc proofpoint nasdaq pfpt develop cloudbased software lets take look three cloud stocks surged whether investors consider buying year image source getty images veeva systems provides cloudbased crm customer relationship management platform healthcare companies uses salesforces sfa sales force automation tools foundation crm platform drug companies core products include veeva vault tracks prescribing habits clinical trials regulatory filings industry regulations veeva commercial cloud helps companies manage customer relationships advertisement shares veeva soared 110 past year fueled four straight quarters 30 annual sales growth rising profitability veevas revenue rose 34 annually 1428 million last quarter nongaap earnings surged 83 022 per share gaap earnings doubled 015 per share veeva attributes growth growth new cloud services new companies signing commercial cloud intense competition drugmakers new regulatory pressures also sparked fierce demand veevas industrytracking services fiscal 2017 ended jan 31 veeva expects revenue nongaap earnings respectively grow 32 79 fiscal 2018 analysts expect veevas revenue rise 21 earnings grow another 18 paycom software provides cloudbased tools payroll processing human resources runs five main businesses talent acquisition tools streamlining recruiting process time labor management tools managing employee work schedules payroll tools automated payments talent management tools monitoring performance setting employee goals hr management tools organizing virtual documents paycom stock surged 110 past 12 months revenue growth rate remained well 30 ever since ipo 2014 profitability gradually improved last quarter revenue rose35 annually 878 million nongaap earnings grew 80 018 per share gaap earnings rose 67 015 per share adjusted ebitda nearly doubled 207 million paycom attributed growth higher brand visibility expansion new cities new client wins market share gains fiscal 2017 started jan 1 paycom expects revenue rise 29 itsadjusted ebitda grow 20 proofpoint cloudbased securityasaservice provider serves medium large enterprises around world platform includes suite threat protection incident response regulator compliance email archiving electronic discovery secure communication tools image source getty images shares proofpoint doubled past 12 months thanks robust earnings growth improving nongaap profitability revenue risen 40 annually past three quarters ceo gary steele attributed torobust demand advanced threat solutions high competitive win rates traction new products robust addon activity consistently high renewal rates like many cybersecurity peers proofpoint great top line numbers wobbly bottom line ones revenue rose43 annually 1068 million last quarter billings grew 42 1384 million gaap net loss narrowed slightly 274 million yearago quarter 229 million nongaap basis reported net profit 85 million compared loss 04 million year ago proofpoint faces fierce competition rival cloud security players like fireeyeand bigger bundled players like cisco remains confident growth prospects fiscal 2017 started jan 1 expects revenue grow 30 nongaap earnings improve 36 veeva paycom proofpoint boast impressive revenue growth valuations also inflated yearlong rallies veeva trades nearly 100 times earnings paycom pe 77 much higher industry average 54 application software companies proofpoint negative pe due uneven profitability trades 90 times forward earnings 10 times sales double industry average ps ratio 5 software companies therefore investors interested three hot stocks homework see future growth potential justified lofty valuations 10 stocks like better proofpointwhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right proofpoint wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns february 6 2017 leo sun opens new window owns shares cisco systems motley fool owns shares recommends fireeye paycom software veeva systems motley fool recommends cisco systems salesforcecom motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>A home automation system is any series of devices -- such as home appliances, lights and even security cameras -- wirelessly connected to a central hub that can be remotely accessed, controlled and monitored. The technology controls these products using voice activation or input from a smartphone or notebook. Automated functions might include lighting, heating, air conditioning, and appliances.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Home automation is no longer the preserve of science fiction and the sector is enjoying something of a renaissance. While historically these systems were an inclusion in high-end homes -- with similarly high-end price tags -- recent advances have put this technology within reach of most consumers. Home automation systems have become much more cost effective, and are now available as entire systems or a la carte for the do-it-yourself (DIY) market.</p> <p>Home automation is a growing trend. Image source: <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/communication-internet-1439187/" type="external">Pixabay Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>The home automation industry falls into three very broad categories. Let's look at these:</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>These are traditional systems that include lighting and environment controls, entertainment, security systems and networks to monitor them all. These systems can cost anywhere between a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars for the equipment and installation, and may contain dozens, if not hundreds of connected devices.</p> <p>Lighting and environment automation can take a number of forms, such as turning lights on and off automatically when you enter or leave a room. They may have voice controls, can include colored lights for mood lighting, and they can also be used to achieve a level of energy efficiency. Home automation can allow homeowners to control blinds or thermostats in person, automatically, or remotely.</p> <p>Entertainment systems include TV, video games, and streaming videos and music. These systems will typically integrate with streaming services such as Netflix, Roku, Apple's AppleTV, Amazon'sPrime video, etc. and may be controlled from a single remote, manually, or through voice controls.</p> <p>Home automation can connect many devices. Image source: Pixabay.</p> <p>Security systems may be a bit of an over-simplification. While these systems include the stereotypical alarm, control pads, and police notification, they do much more. Users can be alerted for such diverse things as when the alarm is activated, if the garage door is left open, if someone opens a door, or the system detects leaking pipes. They can include smoke detectors and CO2 monitors, that will automatically notify the fire department in the event of an alarm. The systems can be controlled remotely via a smartphone to do things like turn the lights on and off, or open and close blinds to give the illusion that you are home -- even when you are not. Users can also access live video monitoring of their homes.</p> <p>Networks are the fiber connecting these systems. Many of the aforementioned components may be wireless, while things like lighting and security may be hardwired. Wireless connections require sophisticated home networks and broadband optimization, to ensure that these devices and others have the necessary bandwidth to provide optimum functionality.</p> <p>This category encompasses any service that provides monthly monitoring for a fee. Examples include Comcast's Xfinity Home, ADT and AT&amp;amp;T's Digital Home Life. These systems are usually security based, but may include other features such as door controls and video monitoring. Such services might mean paying an installation fee and can cost from $500 to $1,000 per year and contain 5-10 devices.</p> <p>This is the fastest growing segment of home automation. According to Statista, the home automation segment in the US is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17% between 2017 and 2021. The most visible participants in the category include voice activated assistants such as Amazon's Alexa, Alphabet's Google Assistant and Apple'sSiri. You can use any of these services to control any number of separately purchased individual components, such as lights, thermostats, locks and smoke/CO2 detectors. These components can be used without the benefit of a built-in system (so no installation cost), and provide consumers with a vast array of devices to choose from. Most consumers in this category spend between $100 and $500 per device and have an average of between 1 and 3 devices.</p> <p>The evolution of the concept and practice of home automation gives consumers many choices. Recent innovations provide an array of options at almost every price point, and the composition of these systems is limited only by the imagination and budget of the buyer. These systems, especially in the DIY category, will increasingly become part of everyday life with the introduction of popular virtual assistants like Alexa. The home automation segment will only become more significant in years to come. Now, if I could only get a system that would do my laundry for me!</p> <p>Find out why Amazon.com is one of the 10 best stocks to buy now</p> <p>Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. (In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market!*)</p> <p>Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. 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Opens a New Window.</a></p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p> <p>Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/dvena/info.aspx" type="external">Danny Vena Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Alphabet (A shares), Amazon.com, Apple, and Netflix. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/dvena/info.aspx" type="external">Danny Vena</a> has the following options: long January 2018 $85 calls on Apple, short January 2018 $90 calls on Apple, long January 2018 $640 calls on Alphabet (C shares), and short January 2018 $650 calls on Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon.com, Apple, and Netflix. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. 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home automation system series devices home appliances lights even security cameras wirelessly connected central hub remotely accessed controlled monitored technology controls products using voice activation input smartphone notebook automated functions might include lighting heating air conditioning appliances continue reading home automation longer preserve science fiction sector enjoying something renaissance historically systems inclusion highend homes similarly highend price tags recent advances put technology within reach consumers home automation systems become much cost effective available entire systems la carte doityourself diy market home automation growing trend image source pixabay opens new window home automation industry falls three broad categories lets look advertisement traditional systems include lighting environment controls entertainment security systems networks monitor systems cost anywhere thousand tens thousands dollars equipment installation may contain dozens hundreds connected devices lighting environment automation take number forms turning lights automatically enter leave room may voice controls include colored lights mood lighting also used achieve level energy efficiency home automation allow homeowners control blinds thermostats person automatically remotely entertainment systems include tv video games streaming videos music systems typically integrate streaming services netflix roku apples appletv amazonsprime video etc may controlled single remote manually voice controls home automation connect many devices image source pixabay security systems may bit oversimplification systems include stereotypical alarm control pads police notification much users alerted diverse things alarm activated garage door left open someone opens door system detects leaking pipes include smoke detectors co2 monitors automatically notify fire department event alarm systems controlled remotely via smartphone things like turn lights open close blinds give illusion home even users also access live video monitoring homes networks fiber connecting systems many aforementioned components may wireless things like lighting security may hardwired wireless connections require sophisticated home networks broadband optimization ensure devices others necessary bandwidth provide optimum functionality category encompasses service provides monthly monitoring fee examples include comcasts xfinity home adt atampts digital home life systems usually security based may include features door controls video monitoring services might mean paying installation fee cost 500 1000 per year contain 510 devices fastest growing segment home automation according statista home automation segment us expected grow cagr 17 2017 2021 visible participants category include voice activated assistants amazons alexa alphabets google assistant applessiri use services control number separately purchased individual components lights thermostats locks smokeco2 detectors components used without benefit builtin system installation cost provide consumers vast array devices choose consumers category spend 100 500 per device average 1 3 devices evolution concept practice home automation gives consumers many choices recent innovations provide array options almost every price point composition systems limited imagination budget buyer systems especially diy category increasingly become part everyday life introduction popular virtual assistants like alexa home automation segment become significant years come could get system would laundry find amazoncom one 10 best stocks buy motley fool cofounders tom david gardner spent decade beating market fact newsletter run motley fool stock advisor tripled market tom david revealed ten top stock picks investors buy right amazoncom list opens new window nine others may overlooking click get access full list opens new window stock advisor returns january 4 2017 suzanne frey executive alphabet member motley fools board directors danny vena opens new window owns shares alphabet shares amazoncom apple netflix danny vena following options long january 2018 85 calls apple short january 2018 90 calls apple long january 2018 640 calls alphabet c shares short january 2018 650 calls alphabet c shares motley fool owns shares recommends alphabet shares alphabet c shares amazoncom apple netflix motley fool following options long january 2018 90 calls apple short january 2018 95 calls apple motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>Twitter may not be for everyone but thanks to its users it has turned news reporting on its head.</p> <p>From <a href="http://gigaom.com/2010/09/08/like-it-or-not-twitter-has-become-a-media-outlet/" type="external">GigaOm</a></p> <p>There's been plenty of debate lately about whether <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-mainstream-2010-9#ixzz0yVfCy5PG" type="external">Twitter has become "mainstream" or not</a>, but examples continue to pile up of how the social network/microblogging platform has worked its way into our lives, to the point where it has become a form of media unto itself. Whether it will ever become mainstream in the sense that it gets used by your aunt or grandmother is almost irrelevant - the reality is that, for all its flaws, Twitter is a publishing tool, and an increasingly powerful one. And it can be used by anyone, journalist and non-journalist alike.</p> <p>One of the most recent examples came several days ago, when a Japanese journalist who was kidnapped in Afghanistan <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gOlT87M5VhheA1HKq45Bt8ly1cAQD9I3FHA01" type="external">managed to trick his captors into letting him post a message</a> about his location to Twitter. It's not clear from the news reports whether his tweets helped get him released or not, but it is yet another example of how easy Twitter makes it to broadcast that kind of news - and not just to one or two people, the way email or text messaging does, but to potentially hundreds or even thousands (in 2008, Twitter helped American photojournalist James Buck spread the news that he <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/" type="external">had been arrested by Egyptian police</a> while covering an anti-government protest).</p> <p>Two other examples of Twitter as a news platform are the recent hostage-taking and shootout at Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland, and the earthquake that hit near New Zealand last week. In the first case, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090105987.html?tid=nn_twitter" type="external">reports about a gunman in the Discovery building</a> started coming in before the news was on a mainstream news outlet. And in the case of the earthquake - as in similar cases involving earthquakes in China and <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/online_citizen_journalism_mainstream.php" type="external">forest fires in California</a> - reports flooded the Twitter network while most mainstream media outlets were still unaware that it had even occurred. One resident said she <a href="http://twitter.com/kalena/status/22909823819" type="external">relied on news she got from Twitter</a> more than the radio, because it was a lot faster (although it should be noted that she is a Twitter fan and web consultant).</p> <p><a href="" type="internal" /></p> <p>Obviously, Twitter reports aren't going to contain a complete accounting of an event like an earthquake or a shooting, but it has become just as obvious that they can be a powerful tool for "man on the street" or eyewitness accounts, whether it's the fires in California or <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/01/twitter_first_off_the_mark_with_hudson_p.php" type="external">a plane landing in the middle of the Hudson River</a>. In the case of the Discovery Channel situation, reporters <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090105987.html?tid=nn_twitter" type="external">described how useful this was</a> because it acted as "an early alert system" on what was happening. In fact, earlier this year researchers looked at the flow of content on the network and found that Twitter is <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/195374/twitter_more_a_news_medium_than_social_network.html" type="external">far more of a news medium</a> than it is a traditional social network.</p> <p>Since the protests in Iran last year, there has been a lot of debate about <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/09/iran-twitter-revolution-protests" type="external">how important Twitter was during those demonstrations</a>, and whether it was actually used by dissidents or merely by sympathizers in the West. But there's no question that it helped spread the news of events such as the shooting death of protester Neda Soltan - which many saw as a key moment in the protests - and that it was important enough that the Obama government contacted the company to ask that it <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWBT01137420090616" type="external">delay scheduled maintenance on the network</a> while the protests were going on. The network has been used in a similar way in protests in Burma and elsewhere.</p> <p>The thread that ties all of these events together is simple: Twitter, like blogging did before it, puts the tools of publishing in anyone's hands. And yes, that means the information flowing through the network is not always accurate - hoaxes are <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100831/sp_yblog_upshot/washington-post-suspends-columnist-for-twitter-hoax" type="external">a routine part of the stream</a> - but it also means that there are thousands more eyeballs and brains studying those reports than there would be at any mainstream media outlet. The bottom line is one that journalism professor Jay Rosen reiterated during <a href="http://jayrosen.posterous.com/the-journalists-formerly-known-as-the-media-m" type="external">a recent address to journalism students in Paris</a>: the "people formerly known as the audience" have the tools to become part of the media now, and that is changing our society in ways that we are only beginning to appreciate.</p> <p>The rapid growth of Twitter has as Rosen said turned the audience into a part of the media.&amp;#160; Not everyone using the platform reports what would be considered news but as Twitter has grown so have the reports of breaking events far faster than the traditional media.</p> <p>This has led to some unusual methods of tweeting.&amp;#160; In addition to the instances mentioned above there was a report the other day of a journalist who tweeted a 1,000 word story on a verdict against Ford Motor that he said had been ignored by the mainstream media.&amp;#160; What makes this interesting is that due to Twitter's 140 character (not word) limit it took him 50 tweets over two hours to tell his story.</p> <p>Frankly that's way too much work to get the story out and even then you have to get people to read all 50 tweets in order to get the full story so I don't think Twitter can replace long form journalism.</p> <p>However the value in a platform like Twitter is the ability of the user to get the news out in seconds to a potential worldwide audience through the multiplier effect of retweets.&amp;#160; This means that as each of my 4900 followers retweets something that I posted the potential exists for that one simple tweet to be read by tens of thousands of people and all at little or no cost.</p> <p>What Twitter and other social media platforms have done is feed the demand for a 24/7 news cycle.&amp;#160; It used to be a newspaper would put an edition to bed at 10 or 11 at night and deliver yesterday's news early the next morning.&amp;#160; In the pre-web world no one really complained because there wasn't an alternative with the exception of television news but they were tethered to a cycle of a.m., mid-day, evening and late night to fill in the gaps but that amounted to less than four hours a day in total of news.</p> <p>In an effort to compete newspapers have extended their deadlines and television news has added several hours to their schedules with some programs airing news beginning at 4 a.m. to capture a larger audience but nothing can compete with the ease and convenience of receiving a brief short tweet with a link on a mobile device that gives the user instant news wherever and whenever the want.</p> <p>Yes, Twitter may have its flaws and critics but there is no denying that they have in a very short time become a news platform and is a threat t supplant much of the traditional media in the future.</p> <p>Think of it as USA Today on steroids.</p>

twitter may everyone thanks users turned news reporting head gigaom theres plenty debate lately whether twitter become mainstream examples continue pile social networkmicroblogging platform worked way lives point become form media unto whether ever become mainstream sense gets used aunt grandmother almost irrelevant reality flaws twitter publishing tool increasingly powerful one used anyone journalist nonjournalist alike one recent examples came several days ago japanese journalist kidnapped afghanistan managed trick captors letting post message location twitter clear news reports whether tweets helped get released yet another example easy twitter makes broadcast kind news one two people way email text messaging potentially hundreds even thousands 2008 twitter helped american photojournalist james buck spread news arrested egyptian police covering antigovernment protest two examples twitter news platform recent hostagetaking shootout discovery channel headquarters maryland earthquake hit near new zealand last week first case reports gunman discovery building started coming news mainstream news outlet case earthquake similar cases involving earthquakes china forest fires california reports flooded twitter network mainstream media outlets still unaware even occurred one resident said relied news got twitter radio lot faster although noted twitter fan web consultant obviously twitter reports arent going contain complete accounting event like earthquake shooting become obvious powerful tool man street eyewitness accounts whether fires california plane landing middle hudson river case discovery channel situation reporters described useful acted early alert system happening fact earlier year researchers looked flow content network found twitter far news medium traditional social network since protests iran last year lot debate important twitter demonstrations whether actually used dissidents merely sympathizers west theres question helped spread news events shooting death protester neda soltan many saw key moment protests important enough obama government contacted company ask delay scheduled maintenance network protests going network used similar way protests burma elsewhere thread ties events together simple twitter like blogging puts tools publishing anyones hands yes means information flowing network always accurate hoaxes routine part stream also means thousands eyeballs brains studying reports would mainstream media outlet bottom line one journalism professor jay rosen reiterated recent address journalism students paris people formerly known audience tools become part media changing society ways beginning appreciate rapid growth twitter rosen said turned audience part media160 everyone using platform reports would considered news twitter grown reports breaking events far faster traditional media led unusual methods tweeting160 addition instances mentioned report day journalist tweeted 1000 word story verdict ford motor said ignored mainstream media160 makes interesting due twitters 140 character word limit took 50 tweets two hours tell story frankly thats way much work get story even get people read 50 tweets order get full story dont think twitter replace long form journalism however value platform like twitter ability user get news seconds potential worldwide audience multiplier effect retweets160 means 4900 followers retweets something posted potential exists one simple tweet read tens thousands people little cost twitter social media platforms done feed demand 247 news cycle160 used newspaper would put edition bed 10 11 night deliver yesterdays news early next morning160 preweb world one really complained wasnt alternative exception television news tethered cycle midday evening late night fill gaps amounted less four hours day total news effort compete newspapers extended deadlines television news added several hours schedules programs airing news beginning 4 capture larger audience nothing compete ease convenience receiving brief short tweet link mobile device gives user instant news wherever whenever want yes twitter may flaws critics denying short time become news platform threat supplant much traditional media future think usa today steroids

<p>Gold prices continued climbing Monday, buoyed by a weaker dollar after a recent meeting of global central bankers offered few clues about the future of monetary policy.</p> <p>Gold for December delivery was recently up 0.4% at $1,303.50 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The precious metal closed at its highest level Friday since early June after speeches by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at the Jackson Hole, Wyo., economic symposium didn't specifically address the timing of future rate increases.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Division among Fed officials about when to raise rates amid sluggish inflation has been one of the factors supporting gold prices this year, as gold struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets such as Treasurys when borrowing costs rise.</p> <p>Some investors and analysts said they had hoped for some clues from Jackson Hole about plans to unwind monetary stimulus, driving the dollar lower. A weaker dollar makes gold less expensive to foreign buyers. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 16 others, was recently down 0.1%.</p> <p>Still, with gold prices up more than 12% this year, some investors and analysts cautioned against reading too much into Monday's move higher, with markets in the U.K. closed for a public holiday.</p> <p>Many think it will be tough for the precious metal to climb much higher unless geopolitical tension between the U.S. and North Korea escalates. Threats by the two countries had supported gold prices in recent weeks, as many investors favor gold during times of political uncertainty.</p> <p>"Unless we get some real tensions going, there's no real reason for gold to move up," said Christopher Ecclestone, mining strategist at research firm Hallgarten &amp;amp; Co.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Many investors and analysts are waiting to see whether gold can stay above $1,300, a key psychological and technical barrier, in the coming days. Personal-consumption expenditures inflation data and the monthly jobs numbers are due later this week, which could affect some investor views about the possibility of a third interest-rate increase in 2017.</p> <p>Among base metals, copper for September delivery was recently up 1.1% at $3.0660 a pound. Earlier in the session, the industrial metal hit $3.0820 -- its highest price in almost three years.</p> <p>Chinese economic strength and supply disruptions have boosted the outlook for copper this summer, and many investors will be closely watching economic data out of China later in the week to see whether the recent rally can continue. China accounts for nearly half of the world's copper consumption.</p> <p>Write to Amrith Ramkumar at [email protected]</p> <p>Gold prices continued climbing Monday, buoyed by a weaker dollar after a recent meeting of global central bankers offered few clues about the future of monetary policy.</p> <p>Gold for December delivery closed up 1.3% at $1,315.30 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Monday's advance marked the most actively traded gold contract's largest one-day advance since May 17 and its highest close since September 2016. The precious metal closed at its highest level Friday since early June after speeches by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at the Jackson Hole, Wyo., economic symposium didn't specifically address the timing of future rate increases.</p> <p>Division among Fed officials about when to raise rates amid sluggish inflation has been one of the factors supporting gold prices this year, as gold struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets such as Treasurys when borrowing costs rise.</p> <p>Some investors and analysts said they had hoped for some clues from Jackson Hole about plans to unwind monetary stimulus, driving the dollar lower. A weaker dollar makes gold less expensive to foreign buyers. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 16 others, was recently down 0.3%.</p> <p>Gold prices spiked around 11 a.m. Eastern time, jumping from roughly up 0.5% to up 1%, before continuing to tick higher.</p> <p>"You caught a group of buys there," said Ira Epstein, a strategist at the Linn Group. "Gold is spiking because the central bankers really didn't do anything," he said.</p> <p>U.S. political uncertainty has also supported gold prices in recent sessions, with worry about the federal debt ceiling creeping into the market.</p> <p>Still, with gold prices up 14% this year, some investors and analysts cautioned against reading too much into Monday's move higher, with markets in the U.K. closed for a public holiday.</p> <p>Many think it will be tough for the precious metal to climb much higher unless geopolitical tension between the U.S. and North Korea escalates. Threats by the two countries had supported gold prices in recent weeks, as many investors favor gold during times of political uncertainty.</p> <p>"Unless we get some real tensions going, there's no real reason for gold to move up," said Christopher Ecclestone, mining strategist at research firm Hallgarten &amp;amp; Co.</p> <p>Many investors and analysts are waiting to see whether gold can stay above $1,300, a key psychological and technical barrier, in the coming days. Personal-consumption expenditures inflation data and the monthly jobs numbers are due later this week, which could affect some investor views about the possibility of a third interest-rate increase in 2017.</p> <p>Among base metals, copper for September delivery settled up 1% at $3.0630 a pound -- its highest close since November 2014.</p> <p>Chinese economic strength and supply disruptions have boosted the outlook for copper this summer, and many investors will be closely watching economic data out of China later in the week to see whether the recent rally can continue. China accounts for nearly half of the world's copper consumption.</p> <p>Write to Amrith Ramkumar at [email protected]</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>August 28, 2017 15:34 ET (19:34 GMT)</p>

gold prices continued climbing monday buoyed weaker dollar recent meeting global central bankers offered clues future monetary policy gold december delivery recently 04 130350 troy ounce comex division new york mercantile exchange precious metal closed highest level friday since early june speeches federal reserve chairwoman janet yellen european central bank president mario draghi jackson hole wyo economic symposium didnt specifically address timing future rate increases continue reading division among fed officials raise rates amid sluggish inflation one factors supporting gold prices year gold struggles compete yieldbearing assets treasurys borrowing costs rise investors analysts said hoped clues jackson hole plans unwind monetary stimulus driving dollar lower weaker dollar makes gold less expensive foreign buyers wsj dollar index tracks us currency 16 others recently 01 still gold prices 12 year investors analysts cautioned reading much mondays move higher markets uk closed public holiday many think tough precious metal climb much higher unless geopolitical tension us north korea escalates threats two countries supported gold prices recent weeks many investors favor gold times political uncertainty unless get real tensions going theres real reason gold move said christopher ecclestone mining strategist research firm hallgarten amp co advertisement many investors analysts waiting see whether gold stay 1300 key psychological technical barrier coming days personalconsumption expenditures inflation data monthly jobs numbers due later week could affect investor views possibility third interestrate increase 2017 among base metals copper september delivery recently 11 30660 pound earlier session industrial metal hit 30820 highest price almost three years chinese economic strength supply disruptions boosted outlook copper summer many investors closely watching economic data china later week see whether recent rally continue china accounts nearly half worlds copper consumption write amrith ramkumar amrithramkumarwsjcom gold prices continued climbing monday buoyed weaker dollar recent meeting global central bankers offered clues future monetary policy gold december delivery closed 13 131530 troy ounce comex division new york mercantile exchange mondays advance marked actively traded gold contracts largest oneday advance since may 17 highest close since september 2016 precious metal closed highest level friday since early june speeches federal reserve chairwoman janet yellen european central bank president mario draghi jackson hole wyo economic symposium didnt specifically address timing future rate increases division among fed officials raise rates amid sluggish inflation one factors supporting gold prices year gold struggles compete yieldbearing assets treasurys borrowing costs rise investors analysts said hoped clues jackson hole plans unwind monetary stimulus driving dollar lower weaker dollar makes gold less expensive foreign buyers wsj dollar index tracks us currency 16 others recently 03 gold prices spiked around 11 eastern time jumping roughly 05 1 continuing tick higher caught group buys said ira epstein strategist linn group gold spiking central bankers really didnt anything said us political uncertainty also supported gold prices recent sessions worry federal debt ceiling creeping market still gold prices 14 year investors analysts cautioned reading much mondays move higher markets uk closed public holiday many think tough precious metal climb much higher unless geopolitical tension us north korea escalates threats two countries supported gold prices recent weeks many investors favor gold times political uncertainty unless get real tensions going theres real reason gold move said christopher ecclestone mining strategist research firm hallgarten amp co many investors analysts waiting see whether gold stay 1300 key psychological technical barrier coming days personalconsumption expenditures inflation data monthly jobs numbers due later week could affect investor views possibility third interestrate increase 2017 among base metals copper september delivery settled 1 30630 pound highest close since november 2014 chinese economic strength supply disruptions boosted outlook copper summer many investors closely watching economic data china later week see whether recent rally continue china accounts nearly half worlds copper consumption write amrith ramkumar amrithramkumarwsjcom end dow jones newswires august 28 2017 1534 et 1934 gmt

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>One thing you can pretty much count on in the oil refining business is that market conditions can change very quickly. This time last year, HollyFrontier (NYSE: HFC) was riding high on the hog thanks to slumping oil prices and high demand for gasoline. This year, though, rising crude prices and higher gasoline inventories cut heavily into the company's second quarter earnings. Here's a quick look at the company's earnings and operational results and what it means over the longer term.</p> <p>Source: HollyFrontier earnings release</p> <p>One thing to keep in mind with this quarter is that the company took a $654 million charge related to asset and goodwill impairments. If we strip out those charges, net income per share was a slightly better looking $0.28 per share.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The big issue for HollyFrontier and other refiners this quarter was declining refining margins and costs of RINs -- compliance credits for the US EPA's Renewable Fuel Standards. Gross margins, which is the net sale price minus cost of product and is before a refiner does anything with it, was cut in half to $8.88 per barrel. Rising crude oil prices, higher levels of gasoline in inventory, and $57 million in RIN costs were the driving factors that led to the decline.</p> <p>Although income results were less than stellar, the companymaintaineda pretty solid balance sheet that should help it get through these tough times. At the end of the quarter, HollyFrontier generated $303million in operational cash. Despite a $500 million build in working capital since the beginning of the year, the company has increased its cash on hand to $533 million and a total debt load exclusive of Holly Energy Partners is $595 million.</p> <p>From an operational standpoint, there isn't much to complain about in these results. HollyFrontier's utilization rate remained high at 96% even while it completed major modernization work at its Cheyenne refinery; its gasoline and diesel yields remained high at 87%; and it's increasing its use of cheaper feedstocks such as heavy sour and black wax crude.</p> <p>The one place where we saw a small slip in operational performance was in operational costs per barrel produced.Refinery operating expenses per throughput barrel increased slightly from $4.83 this time last year to $5.18. That's still a relatively low cost compared to some of its peers, but with margins as thin as they are as of late, every penny of operational cost counts.</p> <p>With the modernization work at Cheyenne and the expansion of the Woods Cross refineries complete, management has said that its major capital spending projects are complete and the company plans to spend on various smaller projects. As cash from operations is going to be a little tighter with lower refining margins, management has decided to defer $40 million of these smaller projects planned for 2016.</p> <p>In this lower commodity environment, some investors are likely going to have some concerns whether or not HollyFrontier will be able to maintain its dividend that currently pays a very attractive 5% today. When CFODouglas Aron was asked about the long term sustainability of its dividend, he gave a pretty frank answer.</p> <p>There are some good and bad things to extract from this. The first is that the company seemscommittedto maintaining the dividend and that it has thebalancesheet strength to preserve it for a while as it rides out these tough times and brings new projects online. Management isn't completely blind to the realities of the market, though, and even gave investors a timeline of when it thinks it would need to make some big decisions related to its payout.</p> <p>Clearly the market for refiners is not good right now. Like so many other refiners, HollyFrontier is still putting up some strong operational results during these down times. For the market to improve, though, some refiners are going to have to pull back such that the glut of refined products can be cleared. HollyFrontier's management doesn't think they will need to do so because there are other refiners that are not in as strong of a position.</p> <p>Now that the work has been completed on the Cheyenne and Woods Cross refineries, investors should be on the lookout next quarter to see if the company can deliver on its promises of higher EBITDA. Earnings will likely be muted again next quarter as margins and RIN costs continue to weigh on the market. It's always important to remember, though, that the refining market can change pretty quickly.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! 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image source getty images continue reading one thing pretty much count oil refining business market conditions change quickly time last year hollyfrontier nyse hfc riding high hog thanks slumping oil prices high demand gasoline year though rising crude prices higher gasoline inventories cut heavily companys second quarter earnings heres quick look companys earnings operational results means longer term source hollyfrontier earnings release one thing keep mind quarter company took 654 million charge related asset goodwill impairments strip charges net income per share slightly better looking 028 per share advertisement big issue hollyfrontier refiners quarter declining refining margins costs rins compliance credits us epas renewable fuel standards gross margins net sale price minus cost product refiner anything cut half 888 per barrel rising crude oil prices higher levels gasoline inventory 57 million rin costs driving factors led decline although income results less stellar companymaintaineda pretty solid balance sheet help get tough times end quarter hollyfrontier generated 303million operational cash despite 500 million build working capital since beginning year company increased cash hand 533 million total debt load exclusive holly energy partners 595 million operational standpoint isnt much complain results hollyfrontiers utilization rate remained high 96 even completed major modernization work cheyenne refinery gasoline diesel yields remained high 87 increasing use cheaper feedstocks heavy sour black wax crude one place saw small slip operational performance operational costs per barrel producedrefinery operating expenses per throughput barrel increased slightly 483 time last year 518 thats still relatively low cost compared peers margins thin late every penny operational cost counts modernization work cheyenne expansion woods cross refineries complete management said major capital spending projects complete company plans spend various smaller projects cash operations going little tighter lower refining margins management decided defer 40 million smaller projects planned 2016 lower commodity environment investors likely going concerns whether hollyfrontier able maintain dividend currently pays attractive 5 today cfodouglas aron asked long term sustainability dividend gave pretty frank answer good bad things extract first company seemscommittedto maintaining dividend thebalancesheet strength preserve rides tough times brings new projects online management isnt completely blind realities market though even gave investors timeline thinks would need make big decisions related payout clearly market refiners good right like many refiners hollyfrontier still putting strong operational results times market improve though refiners going pull back glut refined products cleared hollyfrontiers management doesnt think need refiners strong position work completed cheyenne woods cross refineries investors lookout next quarter see company deliver promises higher ebitda earnings likely muted next quarter margins rin costs continue weigh market always important remember though refining market change pretty quickly secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window tyler crowe opens new window position stocks mentionedyou follow foolcomor twitter tylercrowefool opens new window motley fool position stocks mentioned try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>___</p> <p>How Facebook was able to siphon off phone call and text logs</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>News that Facebook's Android app has been collecting call and text histories is another black eye for the social media giant. One big reason it happened: Google allowed it. The company set up Android privacy permissions that were easy for app makers like Facebook to exploit. Newer Android versions make it easier for users to reject access to those logs. But not all Android phone users have access to newest versions, because carriers are slow to push out updates.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Expert says Brexit campaign used data mined from Facebook</p> <p>LONDON (AP) &#8212; The computer expert who alleges a trove of Facebook data was improperly used to help Donald Trump's White House bid says he strongly believes the information was also used by the Brexit movement. Chris Wylie testified before a parliamentary committee in Britain on Tuesday.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Tech stocks pull market sharply lower, erasing early gains</p> <p>A steep, late-afternoon sell-off in technology companies is pulling U.S. stocks sharply lower, erasing modest gains from earlier in the day. Banks are also weighing on the market as bond yields decline. Safe-play stocks like utilities and real estate companies are holding up best. The market is coming off its best day in more than two years following a steep slide last week.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Apple aims to school rivals with new iPad, education apps</p> <p>CHICAGO (AP) &#8212; Apple wants to play a more prominent role in education, but it isn't willing to cut prices to make the grade. The company made that point clear Tuesday when it introduced a variety of features tailored for teachers and students while keeping the price for the latest model of its cheapest iPad unchanged, even though Google has supplanted its rival as the market leader in U.S. classrooms with a low-cost line of laptop computers known as Chromebooks.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Watchdog: FBI could have tried harder to hack iPhone</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; The Justice Department's watchdog says FBI officials did not try as hard as possible to unlock an iPhone as part of a terrorism investigation. This was even as its director told Congress the bureau had expended its options and needed Apple's help. The Justice Department fought Apple in court to try to force it to hack the phone. The FBI later paid a third party to open the device. The agency's inspector general says communications failures among FBI officials delayed the search for a solution.</p> <p>___</p> <p>AP-NORC Poll: Trump's approval rating up from historic lows</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; President Donald Trump is still unpopular with the majority of Americans according to a new survey, but his approval ratings have rebounded a bit from historic lows. Forty-two percent of those surveyed say they approve of the job he's doing. That's up seven points from a month ago. The poll, by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, indicates that at least some of the improved standing is tied to the economy, which has continued to grow steadily and add jobs.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Waymo to buy 20,000 Jaguars for robotic ride-hailing service</p> <p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; Self-driving car spinoff Waymo will buy up to 20,000 electric vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover to help realize its vision for a robotic ride-hailing service. The commitment announced Tuesday marks another step in Waymo's evolution from a secret project started in Google nine years ago to a spin-off that's gearing up for an audacious attempt to reshape the transportation business. The Jaguar deal will expand upon a fleet of self-driving cars that Waymo has been building with Fiat Chrysler.</p> <p>___</p> <p>White House denies probe into loans to Kushner company</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; The White House is denying that senior adviser Jared Kushner is under investigation by the White House Counsel's office over possible ethical or criminal violations in connection with more than $500 million in loans made last year to his family real estate company. The head of the government's ethics agency had told a Democratic House member that White House lawyers had acknowledged they "had already begun the process" of looking into possible ethics and legal issues spawned by the loans.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Heineken pulls light beer commercial after racism complaints</p> <p>WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) &#8212; Heineken has removed a commercial for its light beer after some complaints that it was racist. The ad featured a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken light past black people to a light-skinned woman. The tag line: Sometimes lighter is better. In a statement, Heineken says while the ad was referencing Heineken Light, "we missed the mark."</p> <p>___</p> <p>Appeals court finds Google infringed on Oracle's Java</p> <p>MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) &#8212; A federal appeals court has overturned a decision in a long-running legal battle over whether Google infringed on Oracle's Java programming language to build its hugely popular mobile operating system, Android. The court said Google's use of Java was "not fair" and sent the case back to trial to determine damages.</p> <p>___</p> <p>The Standard &amp;amp; Poor's 500 index fell 45.93 points, or 1.7 percent, to 2,612.62. The Dow tumbled 344.89 points, or 1.4 percent, to 23,857.71.</p> <p>Benchmark U.S. crude declined 30 cents to settle at $65.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped a penny to close at $70.11.</p>

___ facebook able siphon phone call text logs continue reading news facebooks android app collecting call text histories another black eye social media giant one big reason happened google allowed company set android privacy permissions easy app makers like facebook exploit newer android versions make easier users reject access logs android phone users access newest versions carriers slow push updates ___ expert says brexit campaign used data mined facebook london ap computer expert alleges trove facebook data improperly used help donald trumps white house bid says strongly believes information also used brexit movement chris wylie testified parliamentary committee britain tuesday ___ advertisement tech stocks pull market sharply lower erasing early gains steep lateafternoon selloff technology companies pulling us stocks sharply lower erasing modest gains earlier day banks also weighing market bond yields decline safeplay stocks like utilities real estate companies holding best market coming best day two years following steep slide last week ___ apple aims school rivals new ipad education apps chicago ap apple wants play prominent role education isnt willing cut prices make grade company made point clear tuesday introduced variety features tailored teachers students keeping price latest model cheapest ipad unchanged even though google supplanted rival market leader us classrooms lowcost line laptop computers known chromebooks ___ watchdog fbi could tried harder hack iphone washington ap justice departments watchdog says fbi officials try hard possible unlock iphone part terrorism investigation even director told congress bureau expended options needed apples help justice department fought apple court try force hack phone fbi later paid third party open device agencys inspector general says communications failures among fbi officials delayed search solution ___ apnorc poll trumps approval rating historic lows washington ap president donald trump still unpopular majority americans according new survey approval ratings rebounded bit historic lows fortytwo percent surveyed say approve job hes thats seven points month ago poll associated press norc center public affairs research indicates least improved standing tied economy continued grow steadily add jobs ___ waymo buy 20000 jaguars robotic ridehailing service new york ap selfdriving car spinoff waymo buy 20000 electric vehicles jaguar land rover help realize vision robotic ridehailing service commitment announced tuesday marks another step waymos evolution secret project started google nine years ago spinoff thats gearing audacious attempt reshape transportation business jaguar deal expand upon fleet selfdriving cars waymo building fiat chrysler ___ white house denies probe loans kushner company washington ap white house denying senior adviser jared kushner investigation white house counsels office possible ethical criminal violations connection 500 million loans made last year family real estate company head governments ethics agency told democratic house member white house lawyers acknowledged already begun process looking possible ethics legal issues spawned loans ___ heineken pulls light beer commercial racism complaints white plains ny ap heineken removed commercial light beer complaints racist ad featured bartender sliding bottle heineken light past black people lightskinned woman tag line sometimes lighter better statement heineken says ad referencing heineken light missed mark ___ appeals court finds google infringed oracles java menlo park calif ap federal appeals court overturned decision longrunning legal battle whether google infringed oracles java programming language build hugely popular mobile operating system android court said googles use java fair sent case back trial determine damages ___ standard amp poors 500 index fell 4593 points 17 percent 261262 dow tumbled 34489 points 14 percent 2385771 benchmark us crude declined 30 cents settle 6525 barrel new york mercantile exchange brent crude used price international oils slipped penny close 7011

<p>CLEVELAND &#8212; <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Ted Cruz</a> rolled the dice on his political future Wednesday night by refusing to endorse <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a>, firmly planting himself in a camp with other establishment <a href="/topics/republican-party/" type="external">GOP</a> holdouts and setting himself up for a 2020 run at the White House &#8212; but the early betting is that his risk won&#8217;t pay off.</p> <p>The morning after he was jeered off the stage, <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> defended his decision, telling the Texas delegation to the convention Thursday that his beef with <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a> is personal, not political. He said the billionaire businessman had bullied his wife and father during the campaign.</p> <p>Strategists said <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> appears to be counting on a <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Trump</a> loss this year, and the Texas senator hopes he&#8217;ll be the early front-runner in four years. Delegates, though, said there&#8217;s fat chance of that happening after this week.</p> <p>&#8220; <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Cruz</a> is finished,&#8221; said New York delegate Sal Calise, who said the Texas senator had been his second choice in the presidential primary behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich. &#8220;His speech was pathetic, absolutely pathetic. I will never, ever, support him.&#8221;</p> <p>On Wednesday <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> mentioned <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a> just once in his speech, congratulating the victor on his win. <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> then urged voters to vote their &#8220;conscience&#8221; &#8212; a word that, during the <a href="/topics/republican-party/" type="external">GOP</a> convention, has been code for snubbing <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a>.</p> <p>Within hours of his speech, <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> was fundraising off it, vowing that his own political movement will continue. He still has two years left before he needs to seek re-election to the Senate.</p> <p>Speaking to the Texas delegation Thursday morning, <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> said he&#8217;d already told <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a> earlier in the week no endorsement would be coming. He said he deserves credit for showing up when other presidential candidates who&#8217;ve refused to back <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a> stayed home from the convention.</p> <p>And he also challenged the notion that his remarks were detrimental.</p> <p>&#8220;In that speech last night, I did not say a single negative word about <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a>,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I&#8217;ll tell you this morning and going forward, I don&#8217;t intend to say negative things about <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a>.&#8221;</p> <p>Still, he did little to tamp down the notion that he&#8217;s laying the groundwork for a 2020 bid. Indeed, earlier Wednesday, he basked in the chants of &#8220;2020&#8221; from supporters at a rally outside the convention site.</p> <p>Ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a two-time presidential hopeful, said <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> damaged his brand.</p> <p>&#8220;I think he did far more damage to himself than the party,&#8221; Mr. Huckabee told The Washington Times. &#8220;I thought here was a guy who started out with a great speech, could have landed and had a wonderful accolade, and instead crashed it right in the middle of the airshow.&#8221;</p> <p>Mr. Huckabee said some of <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a>&#8217;s strongest supporters have since said the Texan committed political suicide. &#8220;They are embarrassed by him,&#8221; Mr. Huckabee said.</p> <p>J. Todd Inman, a delegate from Kentucky, said four years is a long time in politics, and <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> could work to rehabilitate himself, but some hard-core <a href="/topics/republican-party/" type="external">GOP</a> activists won&#8217;t ever forgive him for the snub. &#8220;You don&#8217;t sass a man in his own house,&#8221; he said.</p> <p><a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> isn&#8217;t the only Republican candidate to refuse to endorse <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a>. Mr. Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have been outspoken in saying they cannot vote for him and are publicly pondering their alternatives.</p> <p>But <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> is the only one who showed at the convention &#8212; and accepted a prime speaking slot.</p> <p>As badly as <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> may have played within the arena though, those watching at home were more forgiving. Drew Margolin, a Cornell University professor who tracks Twitter reactions, said the Texas senator didn&#8217;t burn bridges with the broad spectrum of Republican voters who have been reluctant to back <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a>.</p> <p>&#8220;My gut sense is that <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Cruz</a> enabled them to express their true feelings,&#8221; Mr. Margolin said. &#8220;The convention crowd may have booed <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Cruz</a>, but the Republicans at home that <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Trump</a> is reaching out to were cheering, according to our data.&#8221;</p> <p>Michael McKenna, a <a href="/topics/republican-party/" type="external">GOP</a> strategist, said those people could be the opening <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> needs.</p> <p>&#8220; <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Cruz</a> was speaking to the 70 percent of the nation that has serious reservations about <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Trump</a>. He positioned himself as the leader of the anti- <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Trump</a>&#8221; Republicans, Mr. McKenna said. &#8220;That&#8217;s going to be a good place to be, even if [ <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Trump</a>] wins. He did what most of the elected officials in the party want to do but don&#8217;t have the nerve.&#8221;</p> <p>Going in <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a>&#8217;s favor is that the <a href="/topics/republican-party/" type="external">GOP</a> has traditionally loved &#8220;repeat&#8221; candidates. The party&#8217;s nominee in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012 &#8212; every election but two in the modern primary system &#8212; was someone who already had run for president in a previous cycle.</p> <p>The only modern exceptions are President Gerald Ford, who assumed office only after the resignation of President Richard Nixon; President George W. Bush, whose father had been president; and now <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Mr. Trump</a>.</p> <p><a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> appears to be explicitly crafting his strategy after that of President Reagan, who lost the nomination to Ford in 1976 but won it four years later. <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a>&#8217;s speech Wednesday even adopted the same rhetorical conceit in his speech, saying the future will judge the results of this election.</p> <p>Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer, said <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Mr. Cruz</a> delivered &#8220;a hell of a speech and one that could have served as his own acceptance remarks.</p> <p>&#8220;But it also elicited strong reactions in the hall, both supportive and in opposition. Reagan&#8217;s, on the other hand, were pretty uniformly praised,&#8221; he said. &#8220;One thing is for sure. The <a href="/topics/republican-party/" type="external">GOP</a> is just as divided today as it was in 1976.&#8221;</p> <p>After Reagan&#8217;s speech, there was a sense among some Republicans that they&#8217;d nominated the wrong man.</p> <p>&#8220;I am not sure <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Cruz</a> elicited that same response tonight, but had Ford won in the fall, Reagan&#8217;s speech would probably have melted into the ether of history,&#8221; Mr. Shirley said. &#8220;So it remains to be seen if <a href="/topics/donald-trump/" type="external">Trump</a> wins or loses to see if <a href="/topics/ted-cruz/" type="external">Cruz</a>&#8217;s speech becomes a launch pad or landing pad.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8226; Seth McLaughlin contributed to this article.</p> <p>Copyright &#169; 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2016/jul/21/ted-cruz-banking-on-donald-trump-loss-2020-front-r/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

cleveland ted cruz rolled dice political future wednesday night refusing endorse donald trump firmly planting camp establishment gop holdouts setting 2020 run white house early betting risk wont pay morning jeered stage mr cruz defended decision telling texas delegation convention thursday beef mr trump personal political said billionaire businessman bullied wife father campaign strategists said mr cruz appears counting trump loss year texas senator hopes hell early frontrunner four years delegates though said theres fat chance happening week cruz finished said new york delegate sal calise said texas senator second choice presidential primary behind ohio gov john kasich speech pathetic absolutely pathetic never ever support wednesday mr cruz mentioned mr trump speech congratulating victor win mr cruz urged voters vote conscience word gop convention code snubbing mr trump within hours speech mr cruz fundraising vowing political movement continue still two years left needs seek reelection senate speaking texas delegation thursday morning mr cruz said hed already told mr trump earlier week endorsement would coming said deserves credit showing presidential candidates whove refused back mr trump stayed home convention also challenged notion remarks detrimental speech last night say single negative word donald trump said ill tell morning going forward dont intend say negative things donald trump still little tamp notion hes laying groundwork 2020 bid indeed earlier wednesday basked chants 2020 supporters rally outside convention site exarkansas gov mike huckabee twotime presidential hopeful said mr cruz damaged brand think far damage party mr huckabee told washington times thought guy started great speech could landed wonderful accolade instead crashed right middle airshow mr huckabee said mr cruzs strongest supporters since said texan committed political suicide embarrassed mr huckabee said j todd inman delegate kentucky said four years long time politics mr cruz could work rehabilitate hardcore gop activists wont ever forgive snub dont sass man house said mr cruz isnt republican candidate refuse endorse mr trump mr kasich former florida gov jeb bush outspoken saying vote publicly pondering alternatives mr cruz one showed convention accepted prime speaking slot badly mr cruz may played within arena though watching home forgiving drew margolin cornell university professor tracks twitter reactions said texas senator didnt burn bridges broad spectrum republican voters reluctant back mr trump gut sense cruz enabled express true feelings mr margolin said convention crowd may booed cruz republicans home trump reaching cheering according data michael mckenna gop strategist said people could opening mr cruz needs cruz speaking 70 percent nation serious reservations trump positioned leader anti trump republicans mr mckenna said thats going good place even trump wins elected officials party want dont nerve going mr cruzs favor gop traditionally loved repeat candidates partys nominee 1968 1972 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2004 2008 2012 every election two modern primary system someone already run president previous cycle modern exceptions president gerald ford assumed office resignation president richard nixon president george w bush whose father president mr trump mr cruz appears explicitly crafting strategy president reagan lost nomination ford 1976 four years later mr cruzs speech wednesday even adopted rhetorical conceit speech saying future judge results election craig shirley reagan biographer said mr cruz delivered hell speech one could served acceptance remarks also elicited strong reactions hall supportive opposition reagans hand pretty uniformly praised said one thing sure gop divided today 1976 reagans speech sense among republicans theyd nominated wrong man sure cruz elicited response tonight ford fall reagans speech would probably melted ether history mr shirley said remains seen trump wins loses see cruzs speech becomes launch pad landing pad seth mclaughlin contributed article copyright 2018 washington times llc click reprint permission 160

<p /> <p>Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) is a behemoth when it comes to energy infrastructure in North America. It's the largest independent transporter of petroleum products in North America, transporting 2.1 million barrels per day. The company is also the biggest transporter of carbon dioxide on the continent, moving 1.3 billion cubic feet per day. Furthermore, it's the largest independent terminal operator with 152 million barrels of liquids storage capacity across its 155 terminal sites. It operates the only oil sands pipeline service to Canada's west coast as well.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>It, however, makes the bulk of its money on its natural gas pipeline network, which unsurprisingly is also the largest in North America. Overall, it operates 70,000 miles of pipeline, which is almost enough to circle the globe three times. Here's a closer look at the business that does most of Kinder Morgan's heavy lifting.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>As the chart on the slide below shows, 55% of Kinder Morgan's projected $7.7 billion in earnings before depreciation and amortization (EBDA), or more than $4.2 billion, will come from its natural gas pipeline segment this year:</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Data source: Kinder Morgan investor presentation.</p> <p>That segment consists of three business lines: interstate pipelines; intrastate pipelines and storage; and gathering, processing, and treating assets. The largest portion of its revenue comes from interstate pipelines, which are long-distance pipelines that carry gas from production basins to market centers, similar to the U.S. highway system. The company owns stakes in several large interstate systems, including the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), which it jointly owns with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. These are backbone systems that support the country's gas demand. NGPL is the largest transporter of natural gas to the Chicago market and one of the biggest interstate gas systems in the country at 9,200 miles. Overall, 73% of the company's natural gas pipeline earnings comes from its interstate pipelines, which supply steady income due to the take-or-pay capacity contracts underpinning the assets, limiting its exposure to volume fluctuations.</p> <p>The next largest revenue generator for Kinder Morgan's gas pipeline segment consists of its gathering, processing, and treating assets, which supply 18% of its earnings. While 88% of that cash flow is from fixed-fee contracts, only 27% are take-or-pay, so it does have some volume exposure with these assets. It operates several midstream systems across the country, including a system supporting the Bakken shale, which it bought for $3 billion from the CEO of Continental Resourcesin 2015. That system consists of 1,800 miles of gas-gathering lines, four processing plants, two treating facilities, three NGL fractionation facilities, and several other oil-related assets.</p> <p>Finally, the company operates several intrastate gas pipelines and storage assets, which account for 9% of its gas pipeline segment revenue. These assets operate within state borders and are similar to a state highway system, transporting gas from an interstate system to local markets. One such system is the Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline system, which consists of two pipelines that originate at the Cheniere EnergySabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana. The 135-mile system moves gas from NGPL to the Cheniere facility while the other pipeline connects to a separate interstate system in Louisiana.</p> <p>Image source: Kinder Morgan.</p> <p>Not only does Kinder Morgan's natural gas pipeline segment supply an outsized portion of its current income, but it will be one of the company's leading growth drivers in the future. Currently, the company has $12 billion of growth projects in its backlog, including $3.5 billion related to the natural gas pipeline segment. That suggests the division will contribute about 30% of its growth going forward, though it could become a higher percentage given some of the <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/22/kinder-morgan-incs-future-growth-just-got-a-bit-cl.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">strategic initiatives Opens a New Window.</a>it is working on at the moment.</p> <p>The largest project in that pipeline is the nearly $2 billion Elba Island LNG export facility in Georgia, though the company did recently <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/01/kinder-morgan-inc-takes-another-strategic-step-clo.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">find a 49% partner Opens a New Window.</a> to help fund a portion of that project. That said, the company expects the first phase of the project to enter service in the middle of next year, with the final phase starting up in early 2019. The company has 100% of the facility's capacity under 20-year contracts with Royal Dutch Shell, which will supply it with steady cash flow for those two decades. Another major project is a capacity expansion at the other end of NGPL, supporting demand in the Gulf Coast region, which should enter service next year. NGPL's growth projects should support an 11% compound annual earnings increase on the system over the next five years according to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. In addition, Kinder Morgan is expanding its Louisiana Pipeline to support a planned capacity expansion at Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass facility. These are just some of the many projects the company currently has underway to expand its gas pipeline empire, which should continue to grow as it adds more projects to its backlog.</p> <p>While Kinder Morgan is a behemoth in the energy infrastructure space, more than half of its profits come from natural gas pipelines. That's not expected to diminish anytime soon because the company has a large backlog of projects coming down the pipeline. Given the relatively stable nature of these assets, it suggests that Kinder Morgan's income should grow, and with it, an ability to steadily increase its dividend in the future.</p> <p>Find out why Kinder Morgan is one of the 10 best stocks to buy now</p> <p>Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. (In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market!*)</p> <p>Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. Kinder Morgan <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;amp;impression=77acee3e-be75-4292-aa7e-501223de8bf2&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">is on the list Opens a New Window.</a> -- but there are nine others you may be overlooking.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;amp;impression=77acee3e-be75-4292-aa7e-501223de8bf2&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here to get access to the full list! Opens a New Window.</a></p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short January 2018 $30 puts on Kinder Morgan and long January 2018 $30 calls on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

kinder morgan nyse kmi behemoth comes energy infrastructure north america largest independent transporter petroleum products north america transporting 21 million barrels per day company also biggest transporter carbon dioxide continent moving 13 billion cubic feet per day furthermore largest independent terminal operator 152 million barrels liquids storage capacity across 155 terminal sites operates oil sands pipeline service canadas west coast well continue reading however makes bulk money natural gas pipeline network unsurprisingly also largest north america overall operates 70000 miles pipeline almost enough circle globe three times heres closer look business kinder morgans heavy lifting image source getty images chart slide shows 55 kinder morgans projected 77 billion earnings depreciation amortization ebda 42 billion come natural gas pipeline segment year advertisement data source kinder morgan investor presentation segment consists three business lines interstate pipelines intrastate pipelines storage gathering processing treating assets largest portion revenue comes interstate pipelines longdistance pipelines carry gas production basins market centers similar us highway system company owns stakes several large interstate systems including natural gas pipeline company america ngpl jointly owns brookfield infrastructure partners backbone systems support countrys gas demand ngpl largest transporter natural gas chicago market one biggest interstate gas systems country 9200 miles overall 73 companys natural gas pipeline earnings comes interstate pipelines supply steady income due takeorpay capacity contracts underpinning assets limiting exposure volume fluctuations next largest revenue generator kinder morgans gas pipeline segment consists gathering processing treating assets supply 18 earnings 88 cash flow fixedfee contracts 27 takeorpay volume exposure assets operates several midstream systems across country including system supporting bakken shale bought 3 billion ceo continental resourcesin 2015 system consists 1800 miles gasgathering lines four processing plants two treating facilities three ngl fractionation facilities several oilrelated assets finally company operates several intrastate gas pipelines storage assets account 9 gas pipeline segment revenue assets operate within state borders similar state highway system transporting gas interstate system local markets one system kinder morgan louisiana pipeline system consists two pipelines originate cheniere energysabine pass lng export terminal louisiana 135mile system moves gas ngpl cheniere facility pipeline connects separate interstate system louisiana image source kinder morgan kinder morgans natural gas pipeline segment supply outsized portion current income one companys leading growth drivers future currently company 12 billion growth projects backlog including 35 billion related natural gas pipeline segment suggests division contribute 30 growth going forward though could become higher percentage given strategic initiatives opens new windowit working moment largest project pipeline nearly 2 billion elba island lng export facility georgia though company recently find 49 partner opens new window help fund portion project said company expects first phase project enter service middle next year final phase starting early 2019 company 100 facilitys capacity 20year contracts royal dutch shell supply steady cash flow two decades another major project capacity expansion end ngpl supporting demand gulf coast region enter service next year ngpls growth projects support 11 compound annual earnings increase system next five years according brookfield infrastructure partners addition kinder morgan expanding louisiana pipeline support planned capacity expansion cheniere energys sabine pass facility many projects company currently underway expand gas pipeline empire continue grow adds projects backlog kinder morgan behemoth energy infrastructure space half profits come natural gas pipelines thats expected diminish anytime soon company large backlog projects coming pipeline given relatively stable nature assets suggests kinder morgans income grow ability steadily increase dividend future find kinder morgan one 10 best stocks buy motley fool cofounders tom david gardner spent decade beating market fact newsletter run motley fool stock advisor tripled market tom david revealed ten top stock picks investors buy right kinder morgan list opens new window nine others may overlooking click get access full list opens new window stock advisor returns february 6 2017 matt dilallo opens new window owns shares brookfield infrastructure partners kinder morgan following options short january 2018 30 puts kinder morgan long january 2018 30 calls kinder morgan motley fool owns shares recommends kinder morgan motley fool recommends brookfield infrastructure partners motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>With corporate chieftains fleeing, President Donald Trump abruptly dismantled two of his White House business councils Wednesday &#8212;an attempt to manage his increasing isolation and the continued fallout from his combative comments on racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.</p> <p>Trump announced the action via tweet, although only after one of the panels had already agreed to disband earlier in the day. A growing number of business leaders on the councils had openly criticized his remarks laying blame for the violence at a white supremacists rally on "both sides."</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>"Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council &amp;amp; Strategy &amp;amp; Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!" Trump tweeted from New York.</p> <p>The decision came as the White House tried to manage the repercussions from Trump's defiant remarks a day earlier. Presidential advisers hunkered down, offering no public defense while privately expressing frustration with his comments.</p> <p>Some Republicans and scores of Democrats denounced Trump's statements as putting white supremacists on equal moral footing with counter-protesters in Charlottesville and called for an apology. Most of those Republicans, including congressional leaders, did not specifically criticize the president.</p> <p>Leaders of the four major branches of the military &#8212; who typically avoid political debate &#8212; have all issued statements decrying racism and extremism.</p> <p>Trump himself stayed out of sight, tweeting occasionally about a primary in Alabama, the stock market and, once, his campaign slogan. Midday, he traveled from New York to his golf club in New Jersey for the night.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The president told associates he was pleased with how his press conference went, saying he believed he had effectively stood up to the media, according to three people familiar with the conversations who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about them.</p> <p>Business leaders felt differently.</p> <p>Denise Morrison, chief executive of Campbell Soup, declared she was leaving Trump's manufacturing council, saying, "The president should have been &#8212; and still needs to be &#8212; unambiguous" in denouncing white supremacists.</p> <p>CEOs had begun tendering their resignations from White House panels after Trump's initial comments following the Saturday violence. The first to step down, Kenneth Frazier of Merck, drew a Twitter tongue-lashing from the president. Later, Trump called those who were leaving "grandstanders" and insisted many others were eager to take their places.</p> <p>On Wednesday, he appeared to be pre-empting the CEOs own decision to disband.</p> <p>Members of the Strategy and Policy group, led by Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, concluded after a 45-minute conference call in the morning that they would end the council and announce their decision in a statement, according to two people familiar with the discussions. They insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.</p> <p>In a subsequent call with Trump, the president agreed it was the right course of action. He tweeted before they could announce the decision they'd reached &#8212; making it appear it was his choice.</p> <p>Publicly criticizing the president and resigning from his councils is a significant step for big-name corporate leaders. Though the policy influence of such advisory groups is sometimes questionable, simply meeting with Trump with TV cameras going is valuable face-time for the executives &#8212; and for the president.</p> <p>Though not as outspoken as the business leaders, some fellow Republican leaders are going after Trump forcefully, too.</p> <p>South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday the president "took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency" between the marching white supremacists and the people who had been demonstrating against them.</p> <p>Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney tweeted a similar slap shortly after the president's explosive press conference on Tuesday: "No, not the same. One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi. The other opposes racism and bigotry. Morally different universes."</p> <p>Other leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, made forceful anti-racism statements &#8212; but steered clear of mentioning Trump and his comments.</p> <p>Meanwhile on a trip through South America, Vice President Mike Pence skirted questions about whether he agreed with Trump's assessment that some "fine people" participated in the Charlottesville rally. However, he said he stands by the president.</p> <p>Under pressure, Trump made his condemnation of the Charlottesville violence more specific on Monday, naming white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. But he returned to his defiant self on Tuesday, effectively erasing the statement he'd read a day earlier.</p> <p>In an impromptu press conference in the lobby of his skyscraper, he said there were "some very bad people" among those who gathered to protest Saturday. But he added: "You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides."</p> <p>Several White House aides told colleagues they were dismayed with Trump's return to the Charlottesville episode on Tuesday. But no one moved to leave the administration.</p> <p>Chief strategist Steve Bannon told associates he thought Trump's performance would electrify his conservative base, according to a person who spoke to Bannon and insisted on anonymity. Bannon's job has been in question, with Trump refusing Tuesday to say he had confidence in him.</p> <p>In an interview posted online Wednesday by The American Prospect, a liberal magazine, Bannon dismissed white nationalists, calling them "losers," ''a fringe element" and "a collection of clowns."</p> <p>As Trump navigates this latest controversy, the White House on Wednesday said his longtime aide Hope Hicks would temporarily step into the role of communications director. Hicks is White House director of strategic communications, and a near-constant presence at the president's side.</p> <p>She served as spokeswoman for Trump's presidential campaign and worked for years in public relations for the Trump Organization and his daughter's fashion and lifestyle brand.</p> <p>Trump had no public appearances on Wednesday, yet made his presence felt online.</p> <p>In addition to announcing the dissolution of the business councils via tweet, he congratulated Sen. Luther Strange for advancing to a runoff in the Alabama special election to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions' seat.</p> <p>He also retweeted someone complimenting him on the stock market's gains and consumer confidence highs and wrote that Heather Heyer, the woman mowed down by a car during the Charlottesville violence, was "beautiful and incredible."</p> <p>Trump said Tuesday that he had planned to call her family to offer condolences. The White House did not answer questions Wednesday about whether he'd yet done so.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Bykowicz reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Bridgewater, new Jersey, and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.</p>

corporate chieftains fleeing president donald trump abruptly dismantled two white house business councils wednesday attempt manage increasing isolation continued fallout combative comments racially charged violence charlottesville virginia trump announced action via tweet although one panels already agreed disband earlier day growing number business leaders councils openly criticized remarks laying blame violence white supremacists rally sides continue reading rather putting pressure businesspeople manufacturing council amp strategy amp policy forum ending thank trump tweeted new york decision came white house tried manage repercussions trumps defiant remarks day earlier presidential advisers hunkered offering public defense privately expressing frustration comments republicans scores democrats denounced trumps statements putting white supremacists equal moral footing counterprotesters charlottesville called apology republicans including congressional leaders specifically criticize president leaders four major branches military typically avoid political debate issued statements decrying racism extremism trump stayed sight tweeting occasionally primary alabama stock market campaign slogan midday traveled new york golf club new jersey night advertisement president told associates pleased press conference went saying believed effectively stood media according three people familiar conversations demanded anonymity authorized speak publicly business leaders felt differently denise morrison chief executive campbell soup declared leaving trumps manufacturing council saying president still needs unambiguous denouncing white supremacists ceos begun tendering resignations white house panels trumps initial comments following saturday violence first step kenneth frazier merck drew twitter tonguelashing president later trump called leaving grandstanders insisted many others eager take places wednesday appeared preempting ceos decision disband members strategy policy group led blackstone ceo stephen schwarzman concluded 45minute conference call morning would end council announce decision statement according two people familiar discussions insisted anonymity discuss private conversations subsequent call trump president agreed right course action tweeted could announce decision theyd reached making appear choice publicly criticizing president resigning councils significant step bigname corporate leaders though policy influence advisory groups sometimes questionable simply meeting trump tv cameras going valuable facetime executives president though outspoken business leaders fellow republican leaders going trump forcefully south carolina sen lindsey graham said wednesday president took step backward suggesting moral equivalency marching white supremacists people demonstrating former gop presidential candidate mitt romney tweeted similar slap shortly presidents explosive press conference tuesday one side racist bigoted nazi opposes racism bigotry morally different universes leaders including senate majority leader mitch mcconnell house speaker paul ryan made forceful antiracism statements steered clear mentioning trump comments meanwhile trip south america vice president mike pence skirted questions whether agreed trumps assessment fine people participated charlottesville rally however said stands president pressure trump made condemnation charlottesville violence specific monday naming white supremacists ku klux klan neonazis returned defiant self tuesday effectively erasing statement hed read day earlier impromptu press conference lobby skyscraper said bad people among gathered protest saturday added also people fine people sides several white house aides told colleagues dismayed trumps return charlottesville episode tuesday one moved leave administration chief strategist steve bannon told associates thought trumps performance would electrify conservative base according person spoke bannon insisted anonymity bannons job question trump refusing tuesday say confidence interview posted online wednesday american prospect liberal magazine bannon dismissed white nationalists calling losers fringe element collection clowns trump navigates latest controversy white house wednesday said longtime aide hope hicks would temporarily step role communications director hicks white house director strategic communications nearconstant presence presidents side served spokeswoman trumps presidential campaign worked years public relations trump organization daughters fashion lifestyle brand trump public appearances wednesday yet made presence felt online addition announcing dissolution business councils via tweet congratulated sen luther strange advancing runoff alabama special election fill attorney general jeff sessions seat also retweeted someone complimenting stock markets gains consumer confidence highs wrote heather heyer woman mowed car charlottesville violence beautiful incredible trump said tuesday planned call family offer condolences white house answer questions wednesday whether hed yet done ___ bykowicz reported washington associated press writers darlene superville bridgewater new jersey josh boak washington contributed report

<p /> <p>NASA's path to Mars -- and Boeing's -- looks anything but straightforward compared to SpaceX's. Image source: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars" type="external">NASA Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>SpaceX wants to go to Mars -- by now, <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/05/elon-musks-mars-plan-is-much-bigger-than-just-the.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">that's common knowledge Opens a New Window.</a>. But did you know that Boeing (NYSE: BA) wants to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/20/boeing-explains-how-to-go-from-earth-to-mars-in-6.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">go to Mars, too Opens a New Window.</a>" And that it plans to get there before SpaceX"</p> <p>It's true. And now, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has thrown down the gauntlet before SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, declaring: "I'm convinced the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding a Boeing rocket."</p> <p>Boeing's CEO made this declaration while speaking at The Atlantic's "What's Next?" tech conference in Chicago last week, and it came as a bit of a surprise -- mathematically speaking.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>You see, whereas SpaceX plans to send humans to Mars on its own, Boeing's intention is to provide the technology NASA needs to put U.S. astronauts on the Red Planet. Accordingly, Boeing's plan depends entirely on when NASA itself intends to go to Mars -- and last we heard, that wasn't likely to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/17/interview-with-orbital-atks-charlie-precourt-4-tim.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">happen before 2033 Opens a New Window.</a> (with arrival scheduled for 2034).</p> <p>Compare this to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/18/elon-musk-tells-you-his-plan-for-mars.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Elon Musk's plan for Mars Opens a New Window.</a>: Earlier this year, at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Musk promised to put an unmanned Dragon 2 spaceship on Mars by 2018 -- then follow that up with a manned mission to Mars departing in 2024, and landing in 2025.</p> <p>2034 minus 2025 equals SpaceX beating Boeing to Mars by nine years.</p> <p>Now, Boeing has been doing this "space thing" a whole lot longer than SpaceX has. It has an established reputation in the field, beginning with the Apollo missions and stretching to present day. At last report, Boeing and its United Launch Alliance partner Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) jointly hold the record for most consecutive rocket launches without mishap: <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/17/its-a-blowout-ula-111-ariane-73-spacex-0.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">111 missions and counting Opens a New Window.</a>. (In contrast, the last rocket SpaceX tried to send into orbit blew up <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/03/spacexplosion-spacexs-success-streak-goes-up-in-sm.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">before it was even ready to launch Opens a New Window.</a>!)</p> <p>All of that said, SpaceX insists its rockets will be flying again soon, and perhaps as early as November. Unless Boeing and NASA move their timetable significantly forward, SpaceX could once again be on track to beat them.</p> <p>Where does this leave us? SpaceX says it will get to Mars first; Boeing begs to differ. The truth remains to be seen. But here's one thing both companies agree on: Mars aside, there are some pretty exciting prospects for aerospace right here on Earth.</p> <p>You see, while Muilenburg's Mars proclamation got all of the headlines last week, what really caught my interest was his mention of other initiatives Boeing is working on. These range from efforts to promote <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/17/1000-astronauts-spacex-isnt-the-only-company-with.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">space tourism Opens a New Window.</a> to the development of " <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/18/suddenly-scramjet-tech-is-everywhere.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">hypersonic aircraft Opens a New Window.</a>" flying around Earth at speeds much faster than the norm today.</p> <p>Muilenburg toutedthe prospect of "supersonic, hypersonic travel, the ability to connect anywhere in the world in a couple hours," through vehicles similar to Boeing's WaveRider hypersonic vehicle (which has been clocked at Mach 5.1). Boeing's ULA partner, Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, is developing a "Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle" that it says could one day fly passengers from New York to Los Angeles in 12 minutes, at speeds up to Mach 20.</p> <p>This idea jibes with something Elon Musk mentioned as a potential new field of business for SpaceX: point-to-point transport of passengers and cargo via spacecraft.</p> <p>After listing the businesses SpaceX is already using in order to raise capital for its Mars mission, Musk observed that, in theory at least, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets could be used not only to loft satellites into space (and keep them there), but, now that SpaceX has mastered the process for launching and also landing rockets safely, to transport passengers from Earth... back to Earth.</p> <p>Mused Musk: "Maybe there is some market for really fast transport of stuff around the world, provided we can land somewhere where noise is not a super big deal," such as on a drone ship stationed several miles off the coast.</p> <p>After all, a rocket that <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/12/26/did-spacex-launch-just-put-boeing-lockheed-martin.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">accelerates to Mach 23 Opens a New Window.</a> to put a satellite in orbit can just as easily use that speed to traverse the globe in minutes -- and land somewhere other than where it started from. "We could transport cargo to anywhere on Earth in 45 minutes at the longest," said Musk. "If we had a floating platform off the coast of, say, New York ... you could go from New York to Tokyo in 25 minutes, or cross the Atlantic in 10 minutes."</p> <p>Musk's discussion of point-to-point rocket travel in September sounded a lot like what Muilenburg mentioned in October. Different emphases and different vehicles, to be sure -- but the point is the same: Sure, we'll get to Mars eventually. Meantime, if SpaceX, Boeing, and Lockheed keep going the way they're heading, then the idea of booking an hours-long international airline flight could soon seem as silly as boarding an ocean liner to cross the Atlantic.</p> <p>Hypersonic travel is coming to Earth. And Boeing, Lockheed, and SpaceX are the companies bringing it.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;amp;ftm_pit=2691&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a>does not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him on <a href="http://caps.fool.com/" type="external">Motley Fool CAPS Opens a New Window.</a>, publicly pontificating under the handle <a href="http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01002844399633209838" type="external">TMFDitty Opens a New Window.</a>, where he's currently ranked No. 282 out of more than 75,000 rated members.</p> <p>The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

nasas path mars boeings looks anything straightforward compared spacexs image source nasa opens new window continue reading spacex wants go mars thats common knowledge opens new window know boeing nyse ba wants go mars opens new window plans get spacex true boeing ceo dennis muilenburg thrown gauntlet spacex ceo elon musk declaring im convinced first person step foot mars arrive riding boeing rocket boeings ceo made declaration speaking atlantics whats next tech conference chicago last week came bit surprise mathematically speaking advertisement see whereas spacex plans send humans mars boeings intention provide technology nasa needs put us astronauts red planet accordingly boeings plan depends entirely nasa intends go mars last heard wasnt likely happen 2033 opens new window arrival scheduled 2034 compare elon musks plan mars opens new window earlier year code conference rancho palos verdes musk promised put unmanned dragon 2 spaceship mars 2018 follow manned mission mars departing 2024 landing 2025 2034 minus 2025 equals spacex beating boeing mars nine years boeing space thing whole lot longer spacex established reputation field beginning apollo missions stretching present day last report boeing united launch alliance partner lockheed martin nyse lmt jointly hold record consecutive rocket launches without mishap 111 missions counting opens new window contrast last rocket spacex tried send orbit blew even ready launch opens new window said spacex insists rockets flying soon perhaps early november unless boeing nasa move timetable significantly forward spacex could track beat leave us spacex says get mars first boeing begs differ truth remains seen heres one thing companies agree mars aside pretty exciting prospects aerospace right earth see muilenburgs mars proclamation got headlines last week really caught interest mention initiatives boeing working range efforts promote space tourism opens new window development hypersonic aircraft opens new window flying around earth speeds much faster norm today muilenburg toutedthe prospect supersonic hypersonic travel ability connect anywhere world couple hours vehicles similar boeings waverider hypersonic vehicle clocked mach 51 boeings ula partner lockheed martin meanwhile developing falcon hypersonic technology vehicle says could one day fly passengers new york los angeles 12 minutes speeds mach 20 idea jibes something elon musk mentioned potential new field business spacex pointtopoint transport passengers cargo via spacecraft listing businesses spacex already using order raise capital mars mission musk observed theory least spacexs falcon 9 rockets could used loft satellites space keep spacex mastered process launching also landing rockets safely transport passengers earth back earth mused musk maybe market really fast transport stuff around world provided land somewhere noise super big deal drone ship stationed several miles coast rocket accelerates mach 23 opens new window put satellite orbit easily use speed traverse globe minutes land somewhere started could transport cargo anywhere earth 45 minutes longest said musk floating platform coast say new york could go new york tokyo 25 minutes cross atlantic 10 minutes musks discussion pointtopoint rocket travel september sounded lot like muilenburg mentioned october different emphases different vehicles sure point sure well get mars eventually meantime spacex boeing lockheed keep going way theyre heading idea booking hourslong international airline flight could soon seem silly boarding ocean liner cross atlantic hypersonic travel coming earth boeing lockheed spacex companies bringing secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window rich smith opens new windowdoes shares short company named find motley fool caps opens new window publicly pontificating handle tmfditty opens new window hes currently ranked 282 75000 rated members motley fool position stocks mentioned try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>Investors have been bracing for a Venezuela debt default for more than a year, but fallout from the country's widely criticized election last weekend could prove to be the tipping point.</p> <p>The government and state-owned oil company Petr&#243;leos de Venezuela SA together owe $5 billion in principal and interest payments due between now and the end of the year, according to Caracas Capital Markets. The country has $725 million due this month alone, the Venezuelan investment bank said.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The problem: Venezuela only has about $3 billion of its foreign reserves in cash, according to S&amp;amp;P Global Ratings. That means the country is dependent on oil exports to make up the difference.</p> <p>The U.S. government has been threatening tough sanctions to punish President Nicol&#225;s Maduro for what Washington and other governments have called an illegal vote on Sunday, designed to advance the president's power. Mr. Maduro has said that the vote was necessary to give the government power to fix Venezuela's political and economic crises and put an end to antigovernment protests.</p> <p>While the Trump administration on Monday imposed new sanctions against Mr. Maduro personally, it hasn't ruled out restrictions on Venezuelan oil trade that could deprive the government of its only real source of cash.</p> <p>The Venezuelan government didn't respond to requests for comment Tuesday.</p> <p>"There's a huge dependency on exports to the United States at a time of profound economic turbulence. It would be basically cutting off the single most important source of revenue. It would significantly raise the risks of default," said Roberto Simon, lead analyst for Latin America in the geopolitical intelligence team at FTI Consulting.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Venezuela exports 780,000 barrels of oil a day to the U.S., accounting for 49% of its oil exports, according to Torino Capital LLC. The U.S. is also weighing restrictions on Venezuela's imports of U.S. oil, which would impede Venezuela's ability to produce oil for export.</p> <p>In a sign of growing investor nervousness, Venezuela's credit-default swap spreads -- -a form of insurance on the possibility of a default -- spiked on Friday, with the probability of default within a year reaching 62%, the highest since February 2016, when oil fell below $30 a barrel, according to Victor Fu, an emerging-market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus &amp;amp; Co.</p> <p>Prices for PdVSA bonds due in November have dropped 3.5% since the last trading day before Sunday's election, according to Thomson Reuters data. The bonds are down 16.4% since the beginning of July. Venezuela's bonds due in 2038 have dropped 4.5% since before the election and are down 11% since the beginning of July.</p> <p>Not everyone is convinced a default is forthcoming, even if there were additional U.S. sanctions. "If only sanctions to exports of oil from U.S. to Venezuela are enacted we think the downside will be limited as we think that would not be enough by itself to trigger a default this year," Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note Monday.</p> <p>But if Venezuela does miss a payment, some experts say the default would likely make it among the largest in history. While it is difficult to know exactly how much Venezuela owes in external debt, some estimates say the figure approaches $150 billion.</p> <p>A default would likely cause oil prices to spike, though it is unlikely to spill over to other bond markets because Venezuela's economy isn't closely linked with others and many investors have already gotten out of Venezuelan bonds in preparation for a default, some analysts say.</p> <p>A default could also free up more cash for the government to spend on desperately needed food and medical imports. Yet it could soon exacerbate the country's economic crisis, as creditors seek to seize oil assets and cut off the country's remaining supplies of financing, according to risk consultancy Eurasia Group.</p> <p>Venezuelan bonds have been widely held by both passive investors and active money managers because they are in the major emerging-market bond indexes, with $342 billion tracking the J.P. Morgan EMBI bond indexes that contain Venezuelan bonds.</p> <p>Venezuela's bonds have outperformed the benchmark index by a wide margin through much of the country's economic crisis. Venezuela's portion of that benchmark returned 121% from a trough in February 2016 through early March of this year, according to UBS Wealth Management. They were the largest contributors to emerging-market bond returns last year.</p> <p>Part of the reason is Mr. Maduro has been determined to pay Venezuela's debts, fearing that any default could enable creditors to seize the country's oil shipments and energy assets. Short on cash, Venezuela has been ravaged by food shortages, high inflation and violent clashes with protesters.</p> <p>The country's international reserves briefly dipped below $10 billion in recent days -- its lowest in 15 years, according to Venezuela's central bank. S&amp;amp;P estimated about $7 billion of those reserves are in gold, which wouldn't be easy to sell in bulk to meet debt interest payments.</p> <p>A white paper from sovereign debt attorney Lee Buchheit and Duke Law's Mitu Gulati warned off bondholders who have been buying into PdVSA debt in Venezuela with the expectation that they will be able to hold out for a big payday post-default.</p> <p>The bonds don't have collective-action clauses that force the minority of bondholders to go along with a supermajority of holders, which has led some legal experts to say that a default could lead bondholders to seize assets and hold up restructuring efforts. Messrs. Buchheit and Gulati say Venezuela has several legal maneuvers available to it that could make collecting on those debts difficult.</p> <p>Still, some investors are betting that the worst-case scenarios won't come to pass, and their investment will continue to pay off.</p> <p>Mr. Fu at Stifel was encouraging investors to snatch up certain PdVSA bonds as well as Venezuela's bonds due 2023, which have slumped, in the case that the U.S. doesn't sanction imports of Venezuelan oil.</p> <p>--Ryan Dube contributed to this article.</p> <p>Write to Julie Wernau at [email protected] and Carolyn Cui at [email protected]</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>August 02, 2017 11:27 ET (15:27 GMT)</p>

investors bracing venezuela debt default year fallout countrys widely criticized election last weekend could prove tipping point government stateowned oil company petróleos de venezuela sa together owe 5 billion principal interest payments due end year according caracas capital markets country 725 million due month alone venezuelan investment bank said continue reading problem venezuela 3 billion foreign reserves cash according sampp global ratings means country dependent oil exports make difference us government threatening tough sanctions punish president nicolás maduro washington governments called illegal vote sunday designed advance presidents power mr maduro said vote necessary give government power fix venezuelas political economic crises put end antigovernment protests trump administration monday imposed new sanctions mr maduro personally hasnt ruled restrictions venezuelan oil trade could deprive government real source cash venezuelan government didnt respond requests comment tuesday theres huge dependency exports united states time profound economic turbulence would basically cutting single important source revenue would significantly raise risks default said roberto simon lead analyst latin america geopolitical intelligence team fti consulting advertisement venezuela exports 780000 barrels oil day us accounting 49 oil exports according torino capital llc us also weighing restrictions venezuelas imports us oil would impede venezuelas ability produce oil export sign growing investor nervousness venezuelas creditdefault swap spreads form insurance possibility default spiked friday probability default within year reaching 62 highest since february 2016 oil fell 30 barrel according victor fu emergingmarket strategist stifel nicolaus amp co prices pdvsa bonds due november dropped 35 since last trading day sundays election according thomson reuters data bonds 164 since beginning july venezuelas bonds due 2038 dropped 45 since election 11 since beginning july everyone convinced default forthcoming even additional us sanctions sanctions exports oil us venezuela enacted think downside limited think would enough trigger default year bank america merrill lynch said note monday venezuela miss payment experts say default would likely make among largest history difficult know exactly much venezuela owes external debt estimates say figure approaches 150 billion default would likely cause oil prices spike though unlikely spill bond markets venezuelas economy isnt closely linked others many investors already gotten venezuelan bonds preparation default analysts say default could also free cash government spend desperately needed food medical imports yet could soon exacerbate countrys economic crisis creditors seek seize oil assets cut countrys remaining supplies financing according risk consultancy eurasia group venezuelan bonds widely held passive investors active money managers major emergingmarket bond indexes 342 billion tracking jp morgan embi bond indexes contain venezuelan bonds venezuelas bonds outperformed benchmark index wide margin much countrys economic crisis venezuelas portion benchmark returned 121 trough february 2016 early march year according ubs wealth management largest contributors emergingmarket bond returns last year part reason mr maduro determined pay venezuelas debts fearing default could enable creditors seize countrys oil shipments energy assets short cash venezuela ravaged food shortages high inflation violent clashes protesters countrys international reserves briefly dipped 10 billion recent days lowest 15 years according venezuelas central bank sampp estimated 7 billion reserves gold wouldnt easy sell bulk meet debt interest payments white paper sovereign debt attorney lee buchheit duke laws mitu gulati warned bondholders buying pdvsa debt venezuela expectation able hold big payday postdefault bonds dont collectiveaction clauses force minority bondholders go along supermajority holders led legal experts say default could lead bondholders seize assets hold restructuring efforts messrs buchheit gulati say venezuela several legal maneuvers available could make collecting debts difficult still investors betting worstcase scenarios wont come pass investment continue pay mr fu stifel encouraging investors snatch certain pdvsa bonds well venezuelas bonds due 2023 slumped case us doesnt sanction imports venezuelan oil ryan dube contributed article write julie wernau juliewernauwsjcom carolyn cui carolyncuiwsjcom end dow jones newswires august 02 2017 1127 et 1527 gmt

<p>Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Alteryx (NYSE: AYX), and Core Labs (NYSE: CLB) all have at least one thing in common: Each one was picked by a Motley Fool investor who thinks its stock can generate market-beating returns. In fact, our Fools are so confident in these companies, they'd assert that they have what it takes to outperform the likes of NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA). That's a tall order: With NVIDIA's graphics processing units powering everything from artificial intelligence platforms to next-generation gaming consoles to cryptocurrency mining rigs, the tech company has in the past couple of years been one of the market's best performers.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/tmfditty/info.aspx?source=iapsitlnk0000002&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> (Applied Materials): I admit it: I'm a fan of NVIDIA. It's not often you find a company producing strong profits ($2.6 billion over the last 12 months), backing them up with even stronger <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/free-cash-flow.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free cash flow Opens a New Window.</a> ($2.6 billion-plus), and also growing those profits rapidly, with Wall Street projecting better than 16% long-term annualized growth.</p> <p>That being said, at a price-to-free-cash-flow ratio of nearly 50, I have to say I find NVIDIA's valuation somewhat less than attractive today. Mightn't it be better to invest in a stock with similarly strong quality of earnings, similar growth prospects -- but a less heady valuation?</p> <p>I think it might be. And I think Applied Materials might be that better-priced stock.</p> <p>Like NVIDIA, Applied Materials operates in the semiconductor sector, but as a maker of chip manufacturing equipment rather than as a manufacturer of chips per se. Like NVIDIA, it boasts strong earnings ($3.4 billion), strong free cash flow ($3.3 billion), and a strong 13% growth rate that some analysts predict could go as high as 30%.</p> <p>What really sets Applied Materials' stock apart, though, is that at a market capitalization of just $50.8 billion, its valuation is less than half of NVIDIA's. For example, it sells for not 50 times free cash flow, but less than 15 times. With a similar growth rate and a higher dividend yield (0.8%, versus NVIDIA's measly 0.25%), Applied Materials seems like a much better value in my book.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFEBCapital/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a> (Core Labs): NVIDIA is a top performer for good reason (hey, I own it), but investors might find that energy service stocks, including Core Labs, generate greater returns from here.</p> <p>NVIDIA shares are flirting with new highs: The stock is trading at 15 times sales, and its P/E to growth (PEG) ratio is 4.2. That's a bit rich. Energy services stocks, however, are relative bargain-basement buys now because of the steep declines in crude oil prices since 2014.</p> <p>Although Core Labs isn't the cheapest energy service stock, it's a top-shelf player that's trading at only 7 times sales and that has a PEG ratio of just 1.19. It provides oil and gas exploration and production companies with intelligence tools that boost well production and extend well life, and importantly, there's evidence that demand for its services is beginning to increase again.</p> <p>Since OPEC extended its production cuts last year, the number of active oil and gas rigs has been expanding. That's boosting demand for Core Labs solutions. In the fourth quarter, its sales increased 14.9% year over year to $171.8 million, its operating margin swelled 4 percentage points to 19%, and its net income jumped 41% to $21.7 million. If these trends continue, I think Core Labs' performance could give NVIDIA a <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/02/if-i-had-to-buy-1-stock-in-february-it-would-be-th.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">run for its money Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSymington/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Steve Symington Opens a New Window.</a> (Alteryx): Alteryx isn't exactly a household name yet. But with over 3,000 customers including the likes of Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson, and Verizon, the data-analytics specialist won't be able to stay out of the spotlight forever.</p> <p>Alteryx is already growing quickly thanks to the relative simplicity of its self-service data-analytics platform. Revenue last quarter soared 52% year over year to $34.2 million, and revenue this year is expected to arrive at roughly $129 million. Admittedly, Alteryx has yet to achieve sustained profitability, but it's relatively common for hungry young tech companies to forsake profits as they invest heavily to drive revenue growth and take market share.</p> <p>Speaking of markets, Alteryx believes its total addressable market stands at around $28 billion -- a staggering estimate that could mean life-changing returns for shareholders if the company captures even a fraction of that total in the coming years. At the very least, considering that its share price has nearly doubled since shortly after its IPO last March, I think Alteryx is worth adding to your watch list -- either to wait on in hopes of the chance to take advantage of a pullback, or to buy soon and bet that this winner will keep on winning.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than AlteryxWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=2b92baac-7634-4dee-a278-23135ecd6d9c&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Alteryx wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=2b92baac-7634-4dee-a278-23135ecd6d9c&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 5, 2018</p> <p>Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSymington/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Steve Symington Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Nvidia. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFEBCapital/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Microsoft and Nvidia. His clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson, Nvidia, and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends Alteryx and Core Laboratories. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=223a3b6e-11d6-11e8-afbc-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

applied materials nasdaq amat alteryx nyse ayx core labs nyse clb least one thing common one picked motley fool investor thinks stock generate marketbeating returns fact fools confident companies theyd assert takes outperform likes nvidia nasdaq nvda thats tall order nvidias graphics processing units powering everything artificial intelligence platforms nextgeneration gaming consoles cryptocurrency mining rigs tech company past couple years one markets best performers continue reading rich smith opens new window applied materials admit im fan nvidia often find company producing strong profits 26 billion last 12 months backing even stronger free cash flow opens new window 26 billionplus also growing profits rapidly wall street projecting better 16 longterm annualized growth said pricetofreecashflow ratio nearly 50 say find nvidias valuation somewhat less attractive today mightnt better invest stock similarly strong quality earnings similar growth prospects less heady valuation think might think applied materials might betterpriced stock like nvidia applied materials operates semiconductor sector maker chip manufacturing equipment rather manufacturer chips per se like nvidia boasts strong earnings 34 billion strong free cash flow 33 billion strong 13 growth rate analysts predict could go high 30 really sets applied materials stock apart though market capitalization 508 billion valuation less half nvidias example sells 50 times free cash flow less 15 times similar growth rate higher dividend yield 08 versus nvidias measly 025 applied materials seems like much better value book advertisement todd campbell opens new window core labs nvidia top performer good reason hey investors might find energy service stocks including core labs generate greater returns nvidia shares flirting new highs stock trading 15 times sales pe growth peg ratio 42 thats bit rich energy services stocks however relative bargainbasement buys steep declines crude oil prices since 2014 although core labs isnt cheapest energy service stock topshelf player thats trading 7 times sales peg ratio 119 provides oil gas exploration production companies intelligence tools boost well production extend well life importantly theres evidence demand services beginning increase since opec extended production cuts last year number active oil gas rigs expanding thats boosting demand core labs solutions fourth quarter sales increased 149 year year 1718 million operating margin swelled 4 percentage points 19 net income jumped 41 217 million trends continue think core labs performance could give nvidia run money opens new window steve symington opens new window alteryx alteryx isnt exactly household name yet 3000 customers including likes microsoft cocacola johnson amp johnson verizon dataanalytics specialist wont able stay spotlight forever alteryx already growing quickly thanks relative simplicity selfservice dataanalytics platform revenue last quarter soared 52 year year 342 million revenue year expected arrive roughly 129 million admittedly alteryx yet achieve sustained profitability relatively common hungry young tech companies forsake profits invest heavily drive revenue growth take market share speaking markets alteryx believes total addressable market stands around 28 billion staggering estimate could mean lifechanging returns shareholders company captures even fraction total coming years least considering share price nearly doubled since shortly ipo last march think alteryx worth adding watch list either wait hopes chance take advantage pullback buy soon bet winner keep winning 10 stocks like better alteryxwhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right alteryx wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns february 5 2018 teresa kersten employee linkedin member motley fools board directors linkedin owned microsoft rich smith opens new window position stocks mentioned steve symington opens new window owns shares nvidia todd campbell opens new window owns shares microsoft nvidia clients may positions companies mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends johnson amp johnson nvidia verizon communications motley fool recommends alteryx core laboratories motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>When you've got that proverbial "set of wheels," you need to know how much, or how little, insurance coverage is best for protecting them.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Shopping for the right amount of car insurance requires some homework and an evaluation of how much coverage your wallet can handle.</p> <p>What insurance is required?</p> <p>When determining how much insurance you need, start by investigating the insurance that you must have.</p> <p>Every state, with the exception of New Hampshire, requires a vehicle owner to carry auto liability insurance. It includes bodily injury coverage, which takes care of other people's medical bills and related costs when they're injured in an accident you've caused, and property damage coverage, which pays for damage to other people's cars or other property when you're at fault.</p> <p>Liability coverage has limits often expressed by three numbers in a policy. For example: 100/300/50. The first number is the limit on bodily injury coverage for one person hurt in an accident; the second number is the total payout limit for everyone who was injured; and the third number represents the total amount of property damage coverage available per accident. Each number is expressed in thousands of dollars.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Most states have a minimum bodily injury liability coverage requirement of $20,000 to $25,000 per person and $40,000 to $50,000 per accident, says Bob Passmore, senior director of personal insurance lines for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. State minimums for property damage liability coverage range from $5,000 to $25,000 per accident, according to Edmunds.com.</p> <p>However, you probably want more than just the bare minimum.</p> <p>"If you have assets to protect, like if you have a home or any sort of other assets like that, those are things that if you don't have enough insurance (and) you cause an accident where someone's seriously injured ... you could wind up with some of those assets being exposed," Passmore says.</p> <p>Are there any other musts?</p> <p>Some states also require drivers to have personal injury protection and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Personal injury protection covers medical expenses and lost wages for you and your passengers injured in an accident, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage pays for injuries you sustain if you're hit by a motorist with inadequate car insurance.</p> <p>You can find out what coverage you are required to carry by checking with your state insurance department.</p> <p>But wait, you say. Isn't there anything else that must be included in a car insurance policy? Maybe you've heard of "collision," "comprehensive" and "transportation expense coverage." Isn't any of that stuff mandatory? And, if not, would a person need it anyway?</p> <p>"Everything else you might not need to purchase, so you really have to know what your own desires are and (your) needs are," says Jim Whittle, chief claims counsel for the American Insurance Association.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/insurance/insurance-rate-quote.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Compare auto insurance rates to get the best deal Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Car insurance rules of thumb</p> <p>Factors to consider when evaluating your car insurance needs:</p> <p>To help decide how much to spend on coverage:</p> <p>Source: Insurance industry experts.</p> <p>How about comprehensive, collision?</p> <p>If your vehicle is financed, your lender generally will require you to have collision and comprehensive coverage. But once your loan is paid off, you may choose to forgo one or both types of coverage, depending on the age, make and model of your car.</p> <p>Collision coverage pays for damage your car sustains in an accident; comprehensive coverage pays for damage caused by something other than a collision, such as hail or theft.</p> <p>"If your car is older, then you have some decisions to make ... and really what you want to think about is: 'What's my financial position? What's the premium going to be if I carry those coverages? And would I be able to financially take the hit of a loss if I didn't carry those coverages?' " Passmore says.</p> <p>Use online tools, such as Kelley Blue Book, to assess your car's worth, he adds. This will help you determine whether it still makes sense to carry collision and comprehensive coverage.</p> <p>Do I want other add-ons?</p> <p>Many insurers offer "roadside assistance," including towing and labor coverage, in the event that your car breaks down, runs out of gas or faces a similar emergency. If you already pay membership fees to AAA or a similar auto club, then it may be financially savvy for you to decline this optional coverage.</p> <p>MedPay -- short for medical payments coverage -- pays medical bills for you and your passengers if you're injured in an accident, regardless of who is at fault. The coverage is required in some states, but if you have health insurance you may decide to go without it.</p> <p>Rental car reimbursement, or "transportation expense" coverage, also is optional. You may decide to go without it if you have a second car and wouldn't need a rental while your primary one is in the shop after a crash.</p> <p>Other ways to cut your premium costs include increasing your deductibles and seeking out any and all discounts that may be available to you.</p> <p>"As a customer, you have a lot of control over the cost of the insurance, probably more than you think," says Nationwide's Thursby.</p> <p>Ultimately, how do you determine whether you have too little, or too much, car insurance?</p> <p>Work with the experts, your insurance agent and insurer, says Whittle, of the American Insurance Association. "They're trained to ask questions to make sure that they're giving you the coverage you need."</p> <p>Copyright 2014, Bankrate Inc.</p>

youve got proverbial set wheels need know much little insurance coverage best protecting continue reading shopping right amount car insurance requires homework evaluation much coverage wallet handle insurance required determining much insurance need start investigating insurance must every state exception new hampshire requires vehicle owner carry auto liability insurance includes bodily injury coverage takes care peoples medical bills related costs theyre injured accident youve caused property damage coverage pays damage peoples cars property youre fault liability coverage limits often expressed three numbers policy example 10030050 first number limit bodily injury coverage one person hurt accident second number total payout limit everyone injured third number represents total amount property damage coverage available per accident number expressed thousands dollars advertisement states minimum bodily injury liability coverage requirement 20000 25000 per person 40000 50000 per accident says bob passmore senior director personal insurance lines property casualty insurers association america state minimums property damage liability coverage range 5000 25000 per accident according edmundscom however probably want bare minimum assets protect like home sort assets like things dont enough insurance cause accident someones seriously injured could wind assets exposed passmore says musts states also require drivers personal injury protection uninsuredunderinsured motorist coverage personal injury protection covers medical expenses lost wages passengers injured accident uninsuredunderinsured motorist coverage pays injuries sustain youre hit motorist inadequate car insurance find coverage required carry checking state insurance department wait say isnt anything else must included car insurance policy maybe youve heard collision comprehensive transportation expense coverage isnt stuff mandatory would person need anyway everything else might need purchase really know desires needs says jim whittle chief claims counsel american insurance association compare auto insurance rates get best deal opens new window car insurance rules thumb factors consider evaluating car insurance needs help decide much spend coverage source insurance industry experts comprehensive collision vehicle financed lender generally require collision comprehensive coverage loan paid may choose forgo one types coverage depending age make model car collision coverage pays damage car sustains accident comprehensive coverage pays damage caused something collision hail theft car older decisions make really want think whats financial position whats premium going carry coverages would able financially take hit loss didnt carry coverages passmore says use online tools kelley blue book assess cars worth adds help determine whether still makes sense carry collision comprehensive coverage want addons many insurers offer roadside assistance including towing labor coverage event car breaks runs gas faces similar emergency already pay membership fees aaa similar auto club may financially savvy decline optional coverage medpay short medical payments coverage pays medical bills passengers youre injured accident regardless fault coverage required states health insurance may decide go without rental car reimbursement transportation expense coverage also optional may decide go without second car wouldnt need rental primary one shop crash ways cut premium costs include increasing deductibles seeking discounts may available customer lot control cost insurance probably think says nationwides thursby ultimately determine whether little much car insurance work experts insurance agent insurer says whittle american insurance association theyre trained ask questions make sure theyre giving coverage need copyright 2014 bankrate inc

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Silver and gold prices were at their peak during the third quarter, which allowed precious metal producers to generate gobs of free cash flow. That said, as good as the quarter has been for miners, it could be even better for streaming company Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW)since its unique cost structure positions it to capture a boatload of cash flow in a rising price environment. Needless to say, investors cannot wait to see how much money the company hauled in during the quarter.</p> <p>Most precious metal producers have spent the past couple of years focused on getting their costs down, which would allow them to generate more cash flow at lower prices. Because of that, leading gold producer Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), for example, can generate free cash flow as long as gold is over $1,000 an ounce. Another benefit of driving costs down is that it also positioned the gold miner to produce substantial cash flow if prices improved, which was certainly the case during the third quarter:</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/indicators/new_york_silver_price" type="external">New York Silver Price</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>In Barrick Gold's case, it produced $674 million of free cash flow <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/27/barrick-gold-corporation-q3-report-leaves-no-quest.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">during the third quarter Opens a New Window.</a>, which was $400 million higher than the previous quarter. That surging cash flow allowed Barrick to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/02/1-barrick-gold-corp-number-you-dont-want-to-miss.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">stay on pace with its debt reduction target Opens a New Window.</a> without needing to sell any additional assets.</p> <p>Likewise, America's largest silver producer,Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE), <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/27/3-impressive-numbers-from-coeur-mining-incs-third.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">reported Opens a New Window.</a> a 20% sequential increase in its free cash flow, which rose to $14.6 million. That is despite the fact that Coeur Mining's production declined 10% sequentially thanks to several issues. Further, Coeur Mining had also increased its second-half exploration budget by $8 million and its capex budget by $10 million, which consumed some of its free cash flow.</p> <p>Finally, precious metal streaming and royalty company Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD) reported record quarterly revenue and earnings thanks to the higher prices. Further, Royal Gold's operating cash flow exploded higher, jumping from $2.5 million in the year-ago quarter to $55.1 million this quarter thanks to a 19% increase in its realized gold price and a 34% improvement in volume.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Because of these strong reports, Silver Wheaton's investors are expecting the company to report asimilarly robust result. That is especially true after the glimpse into the future CEO Randy Smallwood provided in the company's second-quarter report. He said Silver Wheaton's portfolio of streaming contracts positions it to "reap even more robust cash flows when commodity prices turn." In fact, Smallwood went on to boast that the company looks "forward to demonstrating to investors how powerful our cash flow generation can be in an environment of increasing precious metals prices."</p> <p>Driving that view is the fact that Silver Wheaton's streaming contracts lock in ultra-low fixed costs, which allows it to convert higher prices directly into cash flow. In fact, the company has secured its costs at $4.52 per ounce of silver and $403 per ounce of gold through 2020. For perspective, that's a fraction of Coeur Mining's $11.96 cash cost for silver and Barrick Gold's $704 per ounce all-in sustaining cost of gold last quarter.</p> <p>In addition to those low costs, the company should also benefit from its recently completed acquisition of an additional 25% of the gold from its key Salobo mine, which will boost its output at just the right time. That was certainly the case at Royal Gold during the quarter, which benefited from investments it made over the past six quarters to bolster its output and drive record financial results.</p> <p>Silver Wheaton's investors are looking forward to seeing just how powerful its cash flow generation was in the third-quarter report. They expect the company to report a substantial increase in operating cash flow as it captures higher prices and benefits from the incremental production at Salobo. The company's ability to cash in during the third quarter will put it in the position to create even more value in the future because it can reinvest that bounty into new precious metal streams.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;amp;ftm_pit=2692&amp;amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Silver Wheaton. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

image source getty images continue reading silver gold prices peak third quarter allowed precious metal producers generate gobs free cash flow said good quarter miners could even better streaming company silver wheaton nyse slwsince unique cost structure positions capture boatload cash flow rising price environment needless say investors wait see much money company hauled quarter precious metal producers spent past couple years focused getting costs would allow generate cash flow lower prices leading gold producer barrick gold nyse abx example generate free cash flow long gold 1000 ounce another benefit driving costs also positioned gold miner produce substantial cash flow prices improved certainly case third quarter new york silver price data ycharts opens new window advertisement barrick golds case produced 674 million free cash flow third quarter opens new window 400 million higher previous quarter surging cash flow allowed barrick stay pace debt reduction target opens new window without needing sell additional assets likewise americas largest silver producercoeur mining nyse cde reported opens new window 20 sequential increase free cash flow rose 146 million despite fact coeur minings production declined 10 sequentially thanks several issues coeur mining also increased secondhalf exploration budget 8 million capex budget 10 million consumed free cash flow finally precious metal streaming royalty company royal gold nasdaq rgld reported record quarterly revenue earnings thanks higher prices royal golds operating cash flow exploded higher jumping 25 million yearago quarter 551 million quarter thanks 19 increase realized gold price 34 improvement volume image source getty images strong reports silver wheatons investors expecting company report asimilarly robust result especially true glimpse future ceo randy smallwood provided companys secondquarter report said silver wheatons portfolio streaming contracts positions reap even robust cash flows commodity prices turn fact smallwood went boast company looks forward demonstrating investors powerful cash flow generation environment increasing precious metals prices driving view fact silver wheatons streaming contracts lock ultralow fixed costs allows convert higher prices directly cash flow fact company secured costs 452 per ounce silver 403 per ounce gold 2020 perspective thats fraction coeur minings 1196 cash cost silver barrick golds 704 per ounce allin sustaining cost gold last quarter addition low costs company also benefit recently completed acquisition additional 25 gold key salobo mine boost output right time certainly case royal gold quarter benefited investments made past six quarters bolster output drive record financial results silver wheatons investors looking forward seeing powerful cash flow generation thirdquarter report expect company report substantial increase operating cash flow captures higher prices benefits incremental production salobo companys ability cash third quarter put position create even value future reinvest bounty new precious metal streams secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window matt dilallo opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares silver wheaton try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>Shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) fell more than 3% on Feb. 3 after the tech giant posted mixed fourth quarter earnings andsoft guidance for the first quarter. Revenue rose 22% annually to $43.7 billion, but thatmissed expectations by $980 million. The company was hit hard by currency headwinds, which reduced its top line by about $558 million. Amazon's closely watched AWS (Amazon Web Services) revenue rose 47% annually to $3.54 billion, but that also missed expectations of $3.6 billion and represented a slowdown from 55% growth in the third quarter.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>For the first quarter, Amazon expects 14.1% to 22.7% year-over-year sales growth, which missed analyst forecasts for 23.4% growth. But on a currency neutral basis, which excludes an expected currency impact of $730 million, Amazon expects its revenue to rise 17% to 25%.</p> <p>Image source: Amazon.</p> <p>Some negative reports about Amazon focused on those headline numbers, but they glossed over many of the positive growth figures. Let's take a look at six incredible numbers from that report that investors shouldn't overlook.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>During the fourth quarter, Amazon's net income rose 55% annually to $749 million, or $1.54 per share -- which beat expectations by $0.19. For the full year, its net income surged over 300% to $2.4 billion.</p> <p>That incredible growth was mostly attributed to the rapid growth of AWS' high-margin business, which gives Amazon much more freedom to expand its e-commerce ecosystem with low-margin hardware like its Echo speakers, loss-leading services like Amazon Video and Prime Now, and logistics solutions like new fulfillment centers and drones.</p> <p>AWS finished last quarter with an operating margin of 26%, compared to 24% in the year-ago quarter. That margin expansion indicates that AWS' massive scale is offsetting tough price competition across the cloud platform market, which caused Amazon and its rivals to reduce their prices throughout the year.</p> <p>Amazon announced that AWS had achieved an annual run rate of $14 billion, indicating that it maintains a commanding lead over Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Azure in the cloud platform race.</p> <p>Microsoft claimed that its "commercial cloud" had achieved an annual run rate of over $14 billion last quarter, but most of that total came from SaaS platforms like Office 365 and Dynamics CRM. Azure -- which competes directly against AWS in the IaaS/PaaS "cloud platform" markets -- accounts for a much smaller percentage.</p> <p>Microsoft doesn't disclose how much revenue Azure generates, butcombining earlier industry estimates and its reported growth rateover the past few quarters indicates that its annual run rate could be around $3 billion.</p> <p>Amazon already serves massive customers like NASA, the CDC, and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) with AWS, but it's continuously widening the platform's competitive moat against rival platforms like Azure with new features. Amazon added over1,000 new features and services to AWS in fiscal 2016, compared to about 700 in 2015.</p> <p>It also opened eleven new AWS Availability Zones across five geographic regions in 2016, bringing AWS' total coverage to 42 Availability Zones across 16 regions globally. That massive data center expansion will help AWS reach more companies and developers, all while supporting the expansion of its e-commerce and digital ecosystem into new markets.</p> <p>A big part of that digital ecosystem expansion is Prime Video, the company's streaming answer to Netflix. Amazon has made the platform a "free" perk for Prime subscribers and a stand-alone subscription service that costs slightly less than Netflix.</p> <p>Like Netflix, Amazon is investing heavily in original content, and popular shows like Transparent and Man in the High Castle helped it become the third largest video streaming platform in the U.S. after YouTube andNetflix last year, according to research firm Sandvine. Amazon is also following Netflix's lead and investing heavily in localized original content in key markets like Japan and India, which could helpexpand its Prime user base worldwide.</p> <p>Amazon also taught its voice recognition platform Alexa 4,000 new skills since last October. It noted that "tens of thousands of developers" are building new skills for the platform -- which powers the Echo, Kindle, and Fire TV devices -- and that it was working with "a lot of major companies" to integrate their products with that ecosystem.</p> <p>The expansion of the Alexa ecosystem is important, because it can give Amazon control of users' connected homes via Dash buttons, DRS-enabled appliances, and other connected devices. In addition to boosting its e-commerce revenue with "frictionless" orders, that platform can process data through AWS andwiden its moat in the smart home race against Alphabet'sGoogle, which is trying to establish its own home-based ecosystem around its Home smart speaker.</p> <p>Amazon's fourth quarter report was lumpy, but investors shouldn't overlook these positive numbers. Analysts still expect Amazon's revenue andearnings to respectively rise 22% and 53% next year -- so its overall growth won't peak anytime soon. Therefore, I believe that investors should take advantage of Amazon's temporary swoon and pick up a few more shares for the long term.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Microsoft When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=f15a49b5-2683-49e9-a382-516c3db21fdf&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Microsoft wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=f15a49b5-2683-49e9-a382-516c3db21fdf&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p> <p>Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's Board of Directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSunLion/info.aspx" type="external">Leo Sun Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon. 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shares amazoncom nasdaq amzn fell 3 feb 3 tech giant posted mixed fourth quarter earnings andsoft guidance first quarter revenue rose 22 annually 437 billion thatmissed expectations 980 million company hit hard currency headwinds reduced top line 558 million amazons closely watched aws amazon web services revenue rose 47 annually 354 billion also missed expectations 36 billion represented slowdown 55 growth third quarter continue reading first quarter amazon expects 141 227 yearoveryear sales growth missed analyst forecasts 234 growth currency neutral basis excludes expected currency impact 730 million amazon expects revenue rise 17 25 image source amazon negative reports amazon focused headline numbers glossed many positive growth figures lets take look six incredible numbers report investors shouldnt overlook advertisement fourth quarter amazons net income rose 55 annually 749 million 154 per share beat expectations 019 full year net income surged 300 24 billion incredible growth mostly attributed rapid growth aws highmargin business gives amazon much freedom expand ecommerce ecosystem lowmargin hardware like echo speakers lossleading services like amazon video prime logistics solutions like new fulfillment centers drones aws finished last quarter operating margin 26 compared 24 yearago quarter margin expansion indicates aws massive scale offsetting tough price competition across cloud platform market caused amazon rivals reduce prices throughout year amazon announced aws achieved annual run rate 14 billion indicating maintains commanding lead microsofts nasdaq msft azure cloud platform race microsoft claimed commercial cloud achieved annual run rate 14 billion last quarter total came saas platforms like office 365 dynamics crm azure competes directly aws iaaspaas cloud platform markets accounts much smaller percentage microsoft doesnt disclose much revenue azure generates butcombining earlier industry estimates reported growth rateover past quarters indicates annual run rate could around 3 billion amazon already serves massive customers like nasa cdc netflix nasdaq nflx aws continuously widening platforms competitive moat rival platforms like azure new features amazon added over1000 new features services aws fiscal 2016 compared 700 2015 also opened eleven new aws availability zones across five geographic regions 2016 bringing aws total coverage 42 availability zones across 16 regions globally massive data center expansion help aws reach companies developers supporting expansion ecommerce digital ecosystem new markets big part digital ecosystem expansion prime video companys streaming answer netflix amazon made platform free perk prime subscribers standalone subscription service costs slightly less netflix like netflix amazon investing heavily original content popular shows like transparent man high castle helped become third largest video streaming platform us youtube andnetflix last year according research firm sandvine amazon also following netflixs lead investing heavily localized original content key markets like japan india could helpexpand prime user base worldwide amazon also taught voice recognition platform alexa 4000 new skills since last october noted tens thousands developers building new skills platform powers echo kindle fire tv devices working lot major companies integrate products ecosystem expansion alexa ecosystem important give amazon control users connected homes via dash buttons drsenabled appliances connected devices addition boosting ecommerce revenue frictionless orders platform process data aws andwiden moat smart home race alphabetsgoogle trying establish homebased ecosystem around home smart speaker amazons fourth quarter report lumpy investors shouldnt overlook positive numbers analysts still expect amazons revenue andearnings respectively rise 22 53 next year overall growth wont peak anytime soon therefore believe investors take advantage amazons temporary swoon pick shares long term 10 stocks like better microsoft investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right microsoft wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns january 4 2017 suzanne frey executive alphabet member motley fools board directors teresa kersten employee linkedin member motley fools board directors linkedin owned microsoft leo sun opens new window owns shares amazon motley fool owns shares recommends alphabet shares alphabet c shares amazon netflix motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pushing to enforce new rules that would require existing power plants to reduce carbon emissions, raising more questions over the future of the coal industry and electricity rates.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Coal has already faced significant pressure from low natural gas prices in recent years.&amp;#160; The fossil fuel accounts for roughly 40% of the country&#8217;s electricity generation, down from 45% in 2009. With the shale boom causing gas supplies to swell, prices sank to record lows and spurred utilities to use more natural gas to generate electricity.</p> <p>Many companies, most notably Patriot Coal, have turned to bankruptcy amid the industry&#8217;s struggles. Meanwhile, shares of coal miner Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) are down 17% over the last year.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s probably not a death knell, but definitely more bad news,&#8221; Jim Fielding, a senior director at Standard &amp;amp; Poor&#8217;s, said of the EPA proposal. &#8220;The environment is very tough for coal miners in the U.S. They&#8217;re facing a lot of challenges. One of them is the regulatory environment, and also natural gas.&#8221;</p> <p>Many states like Indiana and Kentucky still count on coal to provide more than three-quarters of electricity, in addition to thousands of mining jobs. The Energy Information Administration, a division of the EPA, has projected that coal will account for 32% of U.S. electricity by 2040.</p> <p>The EPA believes its proposal, which was announced on Monday, will bring coal&#8217;s share of the electricity market to 30% by 2030.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>&#8220;We were just starting to see signs of demand picking up. That basic trend is going to reverse if these rules survive,&#8221; Fielding said.</p> <p>Under the draft rule, states will be required to lower carbon emissions by a combined 30% from 2005 levels. Using an earlier base year eases the path to compliance, since the actual reduction would be smaller than if the EPA had sought a 30% cut from more recent levels.</p> <p>States must submit plans by June 2016 but have the option to extend that deadline by one year. The EPA proposal, which is slated to be finalized next year, sets emissions goals for each state and provides guidelines for developing and implementing reduction plans.</p> <p>Some states, including Washington, Oregon, Arizona and South Carolina, were given higher reduction targets compared to others. Those targets are subject to change.</p> <p>The EPA suggested that states could meet reduction targets through more renewable-energy generation or programs that increase energy efficiency, among other options.</p> <p>Analysts widely expect the final rule to give states the option of joining or creating cap-and-trade programs, which allow companies to trade credits for emissions. The draft released on Monday does not discuss that possibility.</p> <p>&#8220;There are no commercially viable [carbon capture and storage methods]. That&#8217;s why we expect cap-and-trade,&#8221; said Michael Ferguson, an associate director at S&amp;amp;P who covers merchant energy producers.</p> <p>After cap-and-trade legislation was defeated by Congress in 2010, President Barack Obama directed the EPA to work on rules that would regulate carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA opened the door to regulating carbon in 2009, when it declared that &#8220;greenhouse gases&#8221; are harmful to human health and the environment. As a result, the EPA has sought to reduce carbon emissions through the Clean Air Act.</p> <p>Legal challenges to the Obama administration&#8217;s carbon rules are widely expected, with opponents of the move arguing the Clean Air Act was not passed to regulate carbon emissions.</p> <p>In April, the Supreme Court gave the green light to the Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) -- referred to phonetically as &#8220;Casper&#8221; -- after the rule was struck down by lower courts. CSAPR seeks to reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions.</p> <p>Ferguson said it remains unclear whether the new EPA proposal will see implementation in its current form. The comment period and legal challenges &#8220;could affect the implementation and structure&#8221; of the rule.</p> <p>&#8220;What we do know is the Casper rule was a significant step. It was an endorsement of the EPA and its regulatory authority,&#8221; Ferguson explained.</p> <p>In a note to clients sent before the EPA draft was released, Morgan Stanley analysts said they expect litigation to challenge what could be seen as a broad interpretation of the Clean Air Act.</p> <p>&#8220;Depending on the makeup of the government post-2016, Congress could be in a position to introduce carbon legislation,&#8221; the analysts added.</p> <p>Criticism from Coal and D.C.</p> <p>The proposal received sharp criticism from Republicans and coal-state Democrats on Capitol Hill.</p> <p>Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), issued a statement saying the EPA&#8217;s proposal shows &#8220;little regard for rising consumer prices, the effects on jobs and the impact on the reliability of our electric grid.&#8221; Manchin also cited data from the Energy Information Administration, which has forecasted that coal will account for nearly a third of electric generation through 2040.</p> <p>In an interview with FBN&#8217;s Rich Edson, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the latest effort to restrict carbon emissions is &#8220;bound to be challenged in court.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;My point is, why did they think it took legislation in 2010 and it doesn&#8217;t take legislation now?&#8221; McConnell asked. &#8220;This is the kind of executive branch overreaction to everything, and the belief that they can do anything by themselves.&#8221;</p> <p>Peabody Energy also came out swinging. The St. Louis-based company called coal &#8220;the most reliable and affordable baseload fuel,&#8221; adding that coal provided 90% of America&#8217;s increased electricity needs during the cold winter months.</p> <p>&#8220;Energy inequality in the U.S. is an enormous challenge, and access to low-cost energy is a basic need. Yet proposed regulations will make energy more scarce and more expensive without any material improvement in emissions,&#8221; Peabody said in a statement.</p> <p>Peabody offered an alternative policy path that would increase investments in energy efficiency and promote research and development toward new coal technologies like carbon capture.</p> <p>Future for Utility Bills?</p> <p>S&amp;amp;P&#8217;s Jeffrey Panger, who covers public sector utilities, noted how companies will have less flexibility to manage volatility in energy prices without coal to fall back on.</p> <p>He also said rate increases in the past have been fairly manageable, but unlike other emissions, there is no commercially viable way to remove carbon. Under a cap-and-trade system, companies would then be required to pay for excess carbon emissions.</p> <p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll probably see more coal retirements and an increased move toward natural gas and renewables to meet reductions,&#8221; Panger added. &#8220;Overall, the impact is going to be fairly significant in terms of their ability to balance out fuel diversity.&#8221;</p> <p>Utilities and their customers are keeping a close eye on carbon regulations. The EPA believes electricity rates will decline 8% by 2030 if its proposal moves forward, but higher costs for utilities and a heavier reliance on natural gas could create upward pressure on energy prices and electricity bills.</p> <p>&#8220;There will likely be cost recovery through rates,&#8221; said S&amp;amp;P director Gerrit Jepsen, adding that utilities could turn to mergers in order to spread out operating costs.</p> <p>The S&amp;amp;P analysts said it remains too early to determine if the carbon regulations will have a negative impact on credit quality for utilities and miners.</p> <p>Prior to the proposal&#8217;s release, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned of heavy costs to the EPA&#8217;s carbon rules, saying they would cost the economy an average of $51 billion and 224,000 jobs a year through 2030. The group also sees up to $28.1 billion a year in costs for utilities and customers.</p> <p>The EPA is projecting compliance costs of $8.8 billion a year by 2030, under the assumption that energy consumption will decline.</p> <p>Analysts at Goldman Sachs suggested the direct economic effects of compliance &#8220;do not appear to be large.&#8221; In a note sent to clients on Wednesday, the investment bank said utility-related construction and equipment investment, as well as a rise in retail utility prices, should help offset a GDP decline of 0.1% or less.</p> <p>However, Goldman Sachs also expects much of the costs to get passed down to consumers.</p> <p>&#8220;Regulated utilities are typically able to pass through the costs of complying with environmental rules to rate paying consumers,&#8221; the analysts wrote. &#8220;Some of the higher utility costs could be passed through indirectly through higher prices for other goods and services, which would increase the effect somewhat.&#8221;</p>

us environmental protection agency pushing enforce new rules would require existing power plants reduce carbon emissions raising questions future coal industry electricity rates continue reading coal already faced significant pressure low natural gas prices recent years160 fossil fuel accounts roughly 40 countrys electricity generation 45 2009 shale boom causing gas supplies swell prices sank record lows spurred utilities use natural gas generate electricity many companies notably patriot coal turned bankruptcy amid industrys struggles meanwhile shares coal miner peabody energy nysebtu 17 last year probably death knell definitely bad news jim fielding senior director standard amp poors said epa proposal environment tough coal miners us theyre facing lot challenges one regulatory environment also natural gas many states like indiana kentucky still count coal provide threequarters electricity addition thousands mining jobs energy information administration division epa projected coal account 32 us electricity 2040 epa believes proposal announced monday bring coals share electricity market 30 2030 advertisement starting see signs demand picking basic trend going reverse rules survive fielding said draft rule states required lower carbon emissions combined 30 2005 levels using earlier base year eases path compliance since actual reduction would smaller epa sought 30 cut recent levels states must submit plans june 2016 option extend deadline one year epa proposal slated finalized next year sets emissions goals state provides guidelines developing implementing reduction plans states including washington oregon arizona south carolina given higher reduction targets compared others targets subject change epa suggested states could meet reduction targets renewableenergy generation programs increase energy efficiency among options analysts widely expect final rule give states option joining creating capandtrade programs allow companies trade credits emissions draft released monday discuss possibility commercially viable carbon capture storage methods thats expect capandtrade said michael ferguson associate director sampp covers merchant energy producers capandtrade legislation defeated congress 2010 president barack obama directed epa work rules would regulate carbon dioxide emissions epa opened door regulating carbon 2009 declared greenhouse gases harmful human health environment result epa sought reduce carbon emissions clean air act legal challenges obama administrations carbon rules widely expected opponents move arguing clean air act passed regulate carbon emissions april supreme court gave green light cross state air pollution rule csapr referred phonetically casper rule struck lower courts csapr seeks reduce nitrogen oxide sulfur dioxide emissions ferguson said remains unclear whether new epa proposal see implementation current form comment period legal challenges could affect implementation structure rule know casper rule significant step endorsement epa regulatory authority ferguson explained note clients sent epa draft released morgan stanley analysts said expect litigation challenge could seen broad interpretation clean air act depending makeup government post2016 congress could position introduce carbon legislation analysts added criticism coal dc proposal received sharp criticism republicans coalstate democrats capitol hill senator joe manchin dwva issued statement saying epas proposal shows little regard rising consumer prices effects jobs impact reliability electric grid manchin also cited data energy information administration forecasted coal account nearly third electric generation 2040 interview fbns rich edson senate minority leader mitch mcconnell rky said latest effort restrict carbon emissions bound challenged court point think took legislation 2010 doesnt take legislation mcconnell asked kind executive branch overreaction everything belief anything peabody energy also came swinging st louisbased company called coal reliable affordable baseload fuel adding coal provided 90 americas increased electricity needs cold winter months energy inequality us enormous challenge access lowcost energy basic need yet proposed regulations make energy scarce expensive without material improvement emissions peabody said statement peabody offered alternative policy path would increase investments energy efficiency promote research development toward new coal technologies like carbon capture future utility bills sampps jeffrey panger covers public sector utilities noted companies less flexibility manage volatility energy prices without coal fall back also said rate increases past fairly manageable unlike emissions commercially viable way remove carbon capandtrade system companies would required pay excess carbon emissions well probably see coal retirements increased move toward natural gas renewables meet reductions panger added overall impact going fairly significant terms ability balance fuel diversity utilities customers keeping close eye carbon regulations epa believes electricity rates decline 8 2030 proposal moves forward higher costs utilities heavier reliance natural gas could create upward pressure energy prices electricity bills likely cost recovery rates said sampp director gerrit jepsen adding utilities could turn mergers order spread operating costs sampp analysts said remains early determine carbon regulations negative impact credit quality utilities miners prior proposals release us chamber commerce warned heavy costs epas carbon rules saying would cost economy average 51 billion 224000 jobs year 2030 group also sees 281 billion year costs utilities customers epa projecting compliance costs 88 billion year 2030 assumption energy consumption decline analysts goldman sachs suggested direct economic effects compliance appear large note sent clients wednesday investment bank said utilityrelated construction equipment investment well rise retail utility prices help offset gdp decline 01 less however goldman sachs also expects much costs get passed consumers regulated utilities typically able pass costs complying environmental rules rate paying consumers analysts wrote higher utility costs could passed indirectly higher prices goods services would increase effect somewhat

<p>The controversial land buy of sugar farmland south of Lake Okeechobee continues to be a hot button issue entering another session in the Florida Legislature.</p> <p>This is issue isn&#8217;t new, as environmentally-friendly groups like the Everglades Foundation have long been pushing the state to buy up land from sugar farmers in order to allow nutrient-filled water to flow further south.</p> <p>Representatives from the sugar industry, along with South Florida Water Management District representatives and state business groups like the Florida Chamber, have contended that the agreed upon Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan will more than suffice to meet the ongoing clean-up efforts.</p> <p>Of course, environment groups like Everglades Foundation don&#8217;t agree, and that is why we are still arguing about a land buy they say is necessary to build a water storage reservoir on sugar cane farmland south of Lake Okeechobee.</p> <p>Senate President Joe Negron (R) is pushing SB 10, a bill introduced by Senator Rob Bradley (R) that proposes the buying of 60k to 165k acres of farmland from sugar farmers, including giants like U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals.</p> <p>U.S. Sugar and others are being pressed to sell their land to build a storage reservoir to hold dirty water coming from the north.</p> <p>If the bill is signed into law, the cost to buy the land and build the proposed reservoir is estimated to cost taxpayers $2.4 billion.</p> <p>That&#8217;s $2.4 billion. The center-right <a href="https://www.jamesmadison.org/publications/detail/sticker-shock" type="external">James Madison Institute</a> says the bill will kill more than 4,000 jobs and cost Florida $700 million in revenue.</p> <p>Keep in mind that there are already <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1999-01-09/news/9901090126_1_everglades-restoration-talisman-everglades-agricultural-area" type="external">two water storage reservoirs</a> being built on government land and more than 60,000 acres that were purchased in 1999 south of Lake Okeechobee for the purpose of building a reservoir roughly the same size as the one Negron is proposing.</p> <p>During a two-hour hearing of the&amp;#160; Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday, arguments supporting and disapproving of the bill were heard by committee members, but in the end, state Senators voted 5-1 in favor of Bradley&#8217;s bill.</p> <p>Opponents of the bill like Everett Wilkerson of Palm Beach County, say that senators need to &#8220;kill this bill immediately,&#8221; while proponents of SB 10 argue that many jobs will saved, if the dirty water is allowed to move further south.</p> <p>The Martin County Democratic Party is siding with Negron and Bradley in support of SB 10, a move that could leave Republicans asking why liberal Democrats would be supporting this bill when they are virtually in complete opposition to every other bill Republicans are, or will be offering up this legislation session.</p> <p>Bradley, who coined the term &#8220;Guacamole&#8221; to describe the green and slimy algae bloom that has polluted many of Florida&#8217;s waterways, sat down with the Shark Tank in his Tallahassee office to further discuss the controversial issue that has environmentalists and pro-Conservative groups pitted against each other.</p> <p>Bradley says that &#8220;the next phase&#8221; in the clean water process planning should have already been occurring, adding that &#8220;the planning leads us to an idea where using existing government-owned land is sufficient to handle southern storage and provide treatment-if the best scientists in the world reach that conclusion, then God bless America and that&#8217;s good for us.&#8221;</p> <p>Senator Bradley: It is the most difficult issue I&#8217;ve ever dealt with..Thats some of the best farmland in the world. Its very rich, that muck is gorgeous farmland-its very productive.</p> <p>We have an obligation, I think, that if we use private lands that we don&#8217;t use one foot more than we need to because that it is very valuable land not just for the businesses who own it, that thankfully do good work and employ a lot of people&#8230;I am very respectful, you never speak, I don&#8217;t speak in any derogatory way, I have a great deal of respect for all of the people there at those companies.(sic)</p> <p>This wasn&#8217;t invented out of whole cloth, the idea of southern storage being one element of a larger picture. This is a very difficult picture trying to find a landing place where everyone is accounted for.</p> <p>It&#8217;s very early. We are in the second day of session,and so I think, I hope, we are going to be judged on&amp;#160; where we end up and that&#8217;s all I can ask for.</p> <p>JM: You are a Republican, how do you guys justify the money, the tax dollars that are being spent, the billions tax dollars that are being spent to buy the land from US Sugar who say they don&#8217;t want to sell it? How do you justify that?</p> <p>Bradley: I&#8217;m a proud Conservative. Americans Conservative Union, you know, top rating. To me, the fundamental job of a Conservative is to exhibit fidelity to the Constitution. It is a part of our Constitution. We can disagree, by the way, I voted &#8216;no&#8217; on Amendment 1 in 2015 &#8216;cause I think that is probably not something that should be embedded in our Constitution.</p> <p>With that being said, its part of our Constitution now and it demands that we use this pot of money in very specific ways, and included in that is purchases of &#8216;necessary lands.&#8217; Now, the Conservative approach to that, In my mind, is to make sure that we put it to the ultimate test, that it is absolutely necessary for public purpose.</p> <p>Then the Constitution also talks about just compensation.</p> <p>JM: Isn&#8217;t that kind of like Eminent Domain?</p> <p>Bradley: Here me out. It talks about just compensation in the context of Eminent Domain, but that&#8217;s not what we are talking about here. But embedded in that is the idea that if there is property that is owned by a private company or individual, and the government feels like the greater good needs it for utilization, you don&#8217;t call it a wetland and do a regulatory taking and not give that individual or company just compensation.</p> <p>You either work it out, or you go to the next step of Eminent Domain. In this case, we are not even contemplating going to the next step, but we certainly own whoever owns the property whatever the land is worth-the fair market value of it.</p> <p>The government paying a private individual a fair market value for their land to me is not an idea that is not Conservative as long as you don&#8217;t try to regulate it. That to me is a liberal approach.</p> <p>It is fair discussion to have whether the amount to be contemplated absolutely necessary to accomplish the goal to be achieved,not one inch more, not one foot more.</p> <p>That&#8217;s the debate we are having right now.</p> <p>JM: But again, back to what I said. U.S. Sugar, they own the land. They are one of many, hey don&#8217;t want to sell the land. Why force them to sell the land?</p> <p>Bradley: We are not forcing them to sell the land. If they don&#8217;t want to sell the land then we will move on to, you know, whatever is contemplated in the process.</p> <p>JM: Basically, this whole exercise of passing a bill to allow the state buy the land if they are willing to sell it.</p> <p>Bradley: If they are willing to sell it</p> <p>JM: So, in other words, they may say &#8216;hey, we looked at the deal, and we are not going to sell and guess what, its over and done with.&#8217;</p> <p>Bradley: Well then we move to the next phase to begin the planning of where southern storage is going to be, and that is already suppose to happen now. We&#8217;re just talking about moving it up. And if, and I mean this in the context of the process we are in right now, if the planning leads us to an idea where using existing government-owned land is sufficient to handle southern storage and provide treatment-if the best scientists in the world reach that conclusion, then God bless America and that&#8217;s good for us.</p>

controversial land buy sugar farmland south lake okeechobee continues hot button issue entering another session florida legislature issue isnt new environmentallyfriendly groups like everglades foundation long pushing state buy land sugar farmers order allow nutrientfilled water flow south representatives sugar industry along south florida water management district representatives state business groups like florida chamber contended agreed upon comprehensive everglades restoration plan suffice meet ongoing cleanup efforts course environment groups like everglades foundation dont agree still arguing land buy say necessary build water storage reservoir sugar cane farmland south lake okeechobee senate president joe negron r pushing sb 10 bill introduced senator rob bradley r proposes buying 60k 165k acres farmland sugar farmers including giants like us sugar florida crystals us sugar others pressed sell land build storage reservoir hold dirty water coming north bill signed law cost buy land build proposed reservoir estimated cost taxpayers 24 billion thats 24 billion centerright james madison institute says bill kill 4000 jobs cost florida 700 million revenue keep mind already two water storage reservoirs built government land 60000 acres purchased 1999 south lake okeechobee purpose building reservoir roughly size one negron proposing twohour hearing the160 appropriations subcommittee environment natural resources wednesday arguments supporting disapproving bill heard committee members end state senators voted 51 favor bradleys bill opponents bill like everett wilkerson palm beach county say senators need kill bill immediately proponents sb 10 argue many jobs saved dirty water allowed move south martin county democratic party siding negron bradley support sb 10 move could leave republicans asking liberal democrats would supporting bill virtually complete opposition every bill republicans offering legislation session bradley coined term guacamole describe green slimy algae bloom polluted many floridas waterways sat shark tank tallahassee office discuss controversial issue environmentalists proconservative groups pitted bradley says next phase clean water process planning already occurring adding planning leads us idea using existing governmentowned land sufficient handle southern storage provide treatmentif best scientists world reach conclusion god bless america thats good us senator bradley difficult issue ive ever dealt withthats best farmland world rich muck gorgeous farmlandits productive obligation think use private lands dont use one foot need valuable land businesses thankfully good work employ lot peoplei respectful never speak dont speak derogatory way great deal respect people companiessic wasnt invented whole cloth idea southern storage one element larger picture difficult picture trying find landing place everyone accounted early second day sessionand think hope going judged on160 end thats ask jm republican guys justify money tax dollars spent billions tax dollars spent buy land us sugar say dont want sell justify bradley im proud conservative americans conservative union know top rating fundamental job conservative exhibit fidelity constitution part constitution disagree way voted amendment 1 2015 cause think probably something embedded constitution said part constitution demands use pot money specific ways included purchases necessary lands conservative approach mind make sure put ultimate test absolutely necessary public purpose constitution also talks compensation jm isnt kind like eminent domain bradley talks compensation context eminent domain thats talking embedded idea property owned private company individual government feels like greater good needs utilization dont call wetland regulatory taking give individual company compensation either work go next step eminent domain case even contemplating going next step certainly whoever owns property whatever land worththe fair market value government paying private individual fair market value land idea conservative long dont try regulate liberal approach fair discussion whether amount contemplated absolutely necessary accomplish goal achievednot one inch one foot thats debate right jm back said us sugar land one many hey dont want sell land force sell land bradley forcing sell land dont want sell land move know whatever contemplated process jm basically whole exercise passing bill allow state buy land willing sell bradley willing sell jm words may say hey looked deal going sell guess done bradley well move next phase begin planning southern storage going already suppose happen talking moving mean context process right planning leads us idea using existing governmentowned land sufficient handle southern storage provide treatmentif best scientists world reach conclusion god bless america thats good us

<p>Although there has been scuttlebutt that some electors who were designated to vote for Donald Trump might reject that and vote for someone else without stepping down, it was only scuttlebutt among Republican electors&#8212;until Monday.</p> <p>A Texas Republican elector, Art Sisneros, resigned last week rather than vote for Trump, but he will be replaced. But Texas GOP elector Christopher Suprun, a paramedic who was a first responder to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, stated he will not vote for Trump - and he is not stepping down.</p> <p>Writing in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/why-i-will-not-cast-my-electoral-vote-for-donald-trump.html?_r=5" type="external">The New York Times</a>, Suprun asked other electors to reject Trump and to instead unify behind &#8220;a Republican alternative, an honorable and qualified man or woman such as Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.&#8221;</p> <p>Suprun would be the first "faithless elector" since 2004, according to fairvote.org. Roughly three dozen electors would have to join Suprun for Trump to be denied the presidency. A <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/308843-electoral-voters-trying-to-block-trump-presidency-pick-kasich" type="external">group</a> in Colorado and Washington state <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/news/308885-republican-texas-elector-wont-vote-for-trump" type="external">wants</a> Electoral College voters to abandon Trump and vote for Kasich.</p> <p>Texas has no laws requiring electors to vote for whomever won its electoral votes.</p> <p>Suprun said, "I'm expecting backlash, but that has been par for the course this campaign. People are unhappy. They're angry. But I'm angry, too,&#8221; adding that the Electoral College system "is fine as it currently exists &#8230; I was told if we elected Donald Trump he would transform his personality into being presidential. He isn't. I wanted him to be presidential, but since the election he hasn't grown into our institution, he's attacked them. I am here to elect a president, not a king."</p> <p>Suprun&#8217;s full statement below:</p> <p>I am a Republican presidential elector, one of the 538 people asked to choose officially the president of the United States. Since the election, people have asked me to change my vote based on policy disagreements with Donald J. Trump. In some cases, they cite the popular vote difference. I do not think president-elects should be disqualified for policy disagreements. I do not think they should be disqualified because they won the Electoral College instead of the popular vote. However, now I am asked to cast a vote on Dec. 19 for someone who shows daily he is not qualified for the office.</p> <p>Fifteen years ago, as a firefighter, I was part of the response to the Sept. 11 attacks against our nation. That attack and this year&#8217;s election may seem unrelated, but for me the relationship becomes clearer every day.</p> <p>George W. Bush is an imperfect man, but he led us through the tragic days following the attacks. His leadership showed that America was a great nation. That was also the last time I remember the nation united. I watch Mr. Trump fail to unite America and drive a wedge between us.</p> <p>Mr. Trump goes out of his way to attack the cast of &#8220;Saturday Night Live&#8221; for bias. He tweets day and night, but waited two days to offer sympathy to the Ohio State community after an attack there. He does not encourage civil discourse, but chooses to stoke fear and create outrage.</p> <p>This is unacceptable. For me, America is that shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan envisioned. It has problems.</p> <p>It has challenges. These can be met and overcome just as our nation overcame Sept. 11.</p> <p>The United States was set up as a republic. Alexander Hamilton provided a blueprint for states&#8217; votes. Federalist 68 argued that an Electoral College should determine if candidates are qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence. Mr. Trump shows us again and again that he does not meet these standards. Given his own public statements, it isn&#8217;t clear how the Electoral College can ignore these issues, and so it should reject him.</p> <p>I have poured countless hours into serving the party of Lincoln and electing its candidates. I will pour many more into being more faithful to my party than some in its leadership. But I owe no debt to a party. I owe a debt to my children to leave them a nation they can trust.</p> <p>Mr. Trump lacks the foreign policy experience and demeanor needed to be commander in chief. During the campaign more than 50 Republican former national security officials and foreign policy experts co-signed a letter opposing him. In their words, &#8220;he would be a dangerous president.&#8221; During the campaign Mr. Trump even said Russia should hack Hillary Clinton&#8217;s emails. This encouragement of an illegal act has troubled many members of Congress and troubles me.</p> <p>Hamilton also reminded us that a president cannot be a demagogue. Mr. Trump urged violence against protesters at his rallies during the campaign. He speaks of retribution against his critics. He has surrounded himself with advisers such as Stephen K. Bannon, who claims to be a Leninist and lauds villains and their thirst for power, including Darth Vader. &#8220;Rogue One,&#8221; the latest &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; installment, arrives later this month. I am not taking my children to see it to celebrate evil, but to show them that light can overcome it.</p> <p>Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump&#8217;s pick for national security adviser, has his own checkered past about rules. He installed a secret internet connection in his Pentagon office despite rules to the contrary. Sound familiar?</p> <p>Finally, Mr. Trump does not understand that the Constitution expressly forbids a president to receive payments or gifts from foreign governments. We have reports that Mr. Trump&#8217;s organization has business dealings in Argentina, Bahrain, Taiwan and elsewhere. Mr. Trump could be impeached in his first year given his dismissive responses to financial conflicts of interest. He has played fast and loose with the law for years. He may have violated the Cuban embargo, and there are reports of improprieties involving his foundation and actions he took against minority tenants in New York. Mr. Trump still seems to think that pattern of behavior can continue.</p> <p>The election of the next president is not yet a done deal. Electors of conscience can still do the right thing for the good of the country. Presidential electors have the legal right and a constitutional duty to vote their conscience. I believe electors should unify behind a Republican alternative, an honorable and qualified man or woman such as Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. I pray my fellow electors will do their job and join with me in discovering who that person should be.</p> <p>Fifteen years ago, I swore an oath to defend my country and Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. On Dec. 19, I will do it again.</p>

although scuttlebutt electors designated vote donald trump might reject vote someone else without stepping scuttlebutt among republican electorsuntil monday texas republican elector art sisneros resigned last week rather vote trump replaced texas gop elector christopher suprun paramedic first responder sept 11 2001 terrorist attacks stated vote trump stepping writing new york times suprun asked electors reject trump instead unify behind republican alternative honorable qualified man woman gov john kasich ohio suprun would first faithless elector since 2004 according fairvoteorg roughly three dozen electors would join suprun trump denied presidency group colorado washington state wants electoral college voters abandon trump vote kasich texas laws requiring electors vote whomever electoral votes suprun said im expecting backlash par course campaign people unhappy theyre angry im angry adding electoral college system fine currently exists told elected donald trump would transform personality presidential isnt wanted presidential since election hasnt grown institution hes attacked elect president king supruns full statement republican presidential elector one 538 people asked choose officially president united states since election people asked change vote based policy disagreements donald j trump cases cite popular vote difference think presidentelects disqualified policy disagreements think disqualified electoral college instead popular vote however asked cast vote dec 19 someone shows daily qualified office fifteen years ago firefighter part response sept 11 attacks nation attack years election may seem unrelated relationship becomes clearer every day george w bush imperfect man led us tragic days following attacks leadership showed america great nation also last time remember nation united watch mr trump fail unite america drive wedge us mr trump goes way attack cast saturday night live bias tweets day night waited two days offer sympathy ohio state community attack encourage civil discourse chooses stoke fear create outrage unacceptable america shining city hill ronald reagan envisioned problems challenges met overcome nation overcame sept 11 united states set republic alexander hamilton provided blueprint states votes federalist 68 argued electoral college determine candidates qualified engaged demagogy independent foreign influence mr trump shows us meet standards given public statements isnt clear electoral college ignore issues reject poured countless hours serving party lincoln electing candidates pour many faithful party leadership owe debt party owe debt children leave nation trust mr trump lacks foreign policy experience demeanor needed commander chief campaign 50 republican former national security officials foreign policy experts cosigned letter opposing words would dangerous president campaign mr trump even said russia hack hillary clintons emails encouragement illegal act troubled many members congress troubles hamilton also reminded us president demagogue mr trump urged violence protesters rallies campaign speaks retribution critics surrounded advisers stephen k bannon claims leninist lauds villains thirst power including darth vader rogue one latest star wars installment arrives later month taking children see celebrate evil show light overcome gen michael flynn mr trumps pick national security adviser checkered past rules installed secret internet connection pentagon office despite rules contrary sound familiar finally mr trump understand constitution expressly forbids president receive payments gifts foreign governments reports mr trumps organization business dealings argentina bahrain taiwan elsewhere mr trump could impeached first year given dismissive responses financial conflicts interest played fast loose law years may violated cuban embargo reports improprieties involving foundation actions took minority tenants new york mr trump still seems think pattern behavior continue election next president yet done deal electors conscience still right thing good country presidential electors legal right constitutional duty vote conscience believe electors unify behind republican alternative honorable qualified man woman gov john kasich ohio pray fellow electors job join discovering person fifteen years ago swore oath defend country constitution enemies foreign domestic dec 19

<p>Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) got off to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/25/sears-holdings-just-offered-more-proof-its-doomed.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=213ad3b0-8737-11e7-9777-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a terrible start Opens a New Window.</a> in 2017. Comparable-store sales plunged by 11.9% in the first quarter, and the company posted an adjusted loss of $222 million before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. The combined impact of declining sales and margin pressure more than offset the savings from Sears Holdings' cost-cutting plan.</p> <p>Surprisingly, Sears Holdings' stock price has increased in the three months since it released its first-quarter earnings report -- even as shares of other retailers like J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) have continued to plunge.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>However, there's no reason to expect that the second quarter was much better for Sears than the first. In fact, recent earnings reports from Bon-Ton Stores (NASDAQ: BONT) and J.C. Penney suggest that Sears Holdings probably had another dreadful quarter.</p> <p>Sears' management has been fairly quiet for the past three months, aside from announcing a deal to start selling Kenmore smart appliances through Amazon.com and the opening of a new Sears concept store that sells only appliances and mattresses.</p> <p>In June, the company laid out the next step of its cost-cutting plan: another organizational restructuring. At the time, Sears Holdings confirmed that it is on track to implement $1.25 billion of annualized cost savings by year-end.</p> <p>Sears also closed on more than $200 million of asset sales during June, allowing it to pay down some of its debt. Most of that came from a $187 million deal to sell its store and surrounding land at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, to the mall owner. Sears will lease back the store for now, but the property will eventually be redeveloped.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>If Bon-Ton's second-quarter results are any indication, investors shouldn't get too excited about Sears' upcoming earnings report. Bon-Ton and Sears have frequently been mentioned alongside one another recently as the two department stores most likely to file for bankruptcy within the next year. In an industry that's really struggling, these two companies are having by far the most trouble.</p> <p>Comparable-store sales fell by an unseemly 8.8% at Bon-Ton Stores in the first quarter. Bon-Ton's underperformance continued last quarter, with comp sales down 6.1% year over year. Even if Bon-Ton's sales trends improve dramatically in the second half of the year, the company will report another steep loss in 2017.</p> <p>This performance persistence seems to indicate that certain retailers -- like Bon-Ton -- have lost their relevance with consumers, causing them to routinely underperform the industry. Sears Holdings surely fits in this category as well.</p> <p>In early January, Sears Holdings announced that it would close 150 stores during the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Since then, Sears has identified <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/10/sears-holdings-chooses-downsizing-over-bankruptcy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=213ad3b0-8737-11e7-9777-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">more than 150 additional locations Opens a New Window.</a> to shutter. This later wave of store closings is being split between the second quarter and the third quarter.</p> <p>Sears hopes that store closures will help it reduce its losses, while also freeing up some cash in the near term from inventory liquidation. However, J.C. Penney's second-quarter results demonstrated the significant financial impact of closing stores en masse.</p> <p>J.C. Penney reported a larger than expected adjusted loss of $0.09 per share last quarter, as gross margin plunged by a full 2 percentage points. Management blamed the decline on the <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/21/5-highlights-from-jc-penney-company-incs-q2-earnin.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=213ad3b0-8737-11e7-9777-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">sheer number of store liquidation sales Opens a New Window.</a> going on during the quarter.</p> <p>Sears Holdings' dreadful first-quarter results also support the notion that closing more than 100 stores within a short period of time is bound to cause some pain. With liquidation sales running at numerous stores during the second and third quarters, this headwind will continue for Sears.</p> <p>J.C. Penney also reported strong growth in the appliance business last quarter. Its market share gains are probably coming at the expense of Sears, the only other department store that sells major appliances.</p> <p>Sears Holdings bulls typically note that the company has lots of assets, including still-popular brands like Kenmore and DieHard, along with millions of square feet of owned real estate. Yet this collection of assets is steadily shrinking. Sears has already sold most of its best real estate; the South Coast Plaza store was one of its few remaining gems. The company also sold its Craftsman tool brand earlier this year.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Sears continues to hemorrhage cash at an alarming rate. The company burned nearly $1 billion of cash in the first quarter alone. Furthermore, the company has more than $12 billion of liabilities on its books. Sears Holdings may be able to stave off bankruptcy for another couple of years, but in the long run, shareholders are likely to see their investments wiped out.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Sears HoldingsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=2507814f-c2a0-4ad8-8fa9-5698a7f1f29d&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=213ad3b0-8737-11e7-9777-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Sears Holdings wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=2507814f-c2a0-4ad8-8fa9-5698a7f1f29d&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=213ad3b0-8737-11e7-9777-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGemHunter/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=213ad3b0-8737-11e7-9777-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Adam Levine-Weinberg Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of J.C. Penney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=213ad3b0-8737-11e7-9777-0050569d4be0&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

sears holdings nasdaq shld got terrible start opens new window 2017 comparablestore sales plunged 119 first quarter company posted adjusted loss 222 million interest taxes depreciation amortization combined impact declining sales margin pressure offset savings sears holdings costcutting plan surprisingly sears holdings stock price increased three months since released firstquarter earnings report even shares retailers like jc penney nyse jcp continued plunge continue reading however theres reason expect second quarter much better sears first fact recent earnings reports bonton stores nasdaq bont jc penney suggest sears holdings probably another dreadful quarter sears management fairly quiet past three months aside announcing deal start selling kenmore smart appliances amazoncom opening new sears concept store sells appliances mattresses june company laid next step costcutting plan another organizational restructuring time sears holdings confirmed track implement 125 billion annualized cost savings yearend sears also closed 200 million asset sales june allowing pay debt came 187 million deal sell store surrounding land south coast plaza costa mesa california mall owner sears lease back store property eventually redeveloped advertisement bontons secondquarter results indication investors shouldnt get excited sears upcoming earnings report bonton sears frequently mentioned alongside one another recently two department stores likely file bankruptcy within next year industry thats really struggling two companies far trouble comparablestore sales fell unseemly 88 bonton stores first quarter bontons underperformance continued last quarter comp sales 61 year year even bontons sales trends improve dramatically second half year company report another steep loss 2017 performance persistence seems indicate certain retailers like bonton lost relevance consumers causing routinely underperform industry sears holdings surely fits category well early january sears holdings announced would close 150 stores first quarter fiscal 2017 since sears identified 150 additional locations opens new window shutter later wave store closings split second quarter third quarter sears hopes store closures help reduce losses also freeing cash near term inventory liquidation however jc penneys secondquarter results demonstrated significant financial impact closing stores en masse jc penney reported larger expected adjusted loss 009 per share last quarter gross margin plunged full 2 percentage points management blamed decline sheer number store liquidation sales opens new window going quarter sears holdings dreadful firstquarter results also support notion closing 100 stores within short period time bound cause pain liquidation sales running numerous stores second third quarters headwind continue sears jc penney also reported strong growth appliance business last quarter market share gains probably coming expense sears department store sells major appliances sears holdings bulls typically note company lots assets including stillpopular brands like kenmore diehard along millions square feet owned real estate yet collection assets steadily shrinking sears already sold best real estate south coast plaza store one remaining gems company also sold craftsman tool brand earlier year meanwhile sears continues hemorrhage cash alarming rate company burned nearly 1 billion cash first quarter alone furthermore company 12 billion liabilities books sears holdings may able stave bankruptcy another couple years long run shareholders likely see investments wiped 10 stocks like better sears holdingswhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right sears holdings wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns august 1 2017 adam levineweinberg opens new window owns shares jc penney motley fool owns shares recommends amazon motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>When the robots came to online retailer Boxed, dread came, too: The familiar fear that the machines would take over, leaving a trail of unemployed humans in their wake.</p> <p>"I had a lot of people asking me, 'What is going to happen to us?'" says Veronica Mena, a trainer for the e-commerce startup, recalling the anxiety that rippled through her co-workers after company executives announced plans to open an automated warehouse in nearby Union, New Jersey.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Yet their fears didn't come to pass.</p> <p>When the new warehouse opened this spring, workers found that their jobs were less physically demanding than at the older, manual warehouse in Edison, New Jersey. Instead of walking thousands of steps a day loading items onto carts, employees could stand at stations as conveyor belts brought the goods to them.</p> <p>And rather than cutting jobs, the company added a third shift to keep up with rapidly growing demand.</p> <p>What happened at Boxed &#8212; and has occurred elsewhere &#8212; suggests that widespread fears about automation and job loss are often misplaced. Automation has actually helped create jobs in e-commerce, rather than eliminate them, and stands to create more in the years ahead. By accelerating delivery times, robotics and software have made online shopping an increasingly viable alternative to bricks-and-mortar stores, and sales have ballooned at online retailers.</p> <p>The surge in e-commerce has required the rapid build-out of a vast network of warehouses and delivery systems that include both robots and human workers. The robots didn't take jobs from people, because many of the jobs didn't exist before.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>"We're not looking to do the same work with half the people," said Rick Zumpano, vice president for distribution at Boxed. "Since we're growing, we need everyone."</p> <p>Newer robotic technologies do loom as a threat to some e-commerce jobs. Startup robotics companies are developing robot arm prototypes, for example, that can pick goods from shelves. Those devices may replace some workers over the next decade.</p> <p>But the explosion of e-commerce and the ease of automation are leading e-commerce companies to build more warehouses. So even if each warehouse employs fewer workers, the proliferation of new warehouses is projected to generate hiring across the industry.</p> <p>In the meantime, jobs have been lost at storefront retailers, which have suffered under the e-commerce onslaught. Venerable chains such as Toys "R'' Us, RadioShack, and Payless Shoesource have all filed for bankruptcy this year.</p> <p>There are widespread fears that things will get only worse for the nation's 16 million retail workers. Self-checkout kiosks and experimental stores like Amazon's Go , which has no cashiers, could theoretically eliminate millions of retail jobs.</p> <p>But worries about a "retail apocalypse" have missed a more important trend: E-commerce actually leads to more jobs by paying people to do things we used to do ourselves.</p> <p>When people shop online, tasks that once filled their days &#8212; driving to a store, searching through aisles for a product, bringing it to a cashier and paying for it &#8212; are now done by warehouse employees and truck drivers. People spend less time shopping than in the past, research shows.</p> <p>Joe Song, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch who has studied government data, has found that working women are spending less time shopping &#8212; nearly 25 hours less per year compared with a decade earlier. Song attributes the time savings mainly to e-commerce. Families increasingly outsource shopping to e-commerce employees, just as many have long outsourced other household tasks to child care workers or house cleaners. In each case, jobs are created.</p> <p>That means the bankruptcies and store closings in the retail sector aren't the complete picture. While jobs have been lost in stores, many more have been gained from online shopping. Michael Mandel, an economist at the Progressive Policy Institute, calculates that the number of e-commerce and warehousing jobs has leapt by 400,000 in the past decade, easily offsetting the loss of 140,000 brick-and-mortar retail jobs.</p> <p>Amazon accounts for much of the additional employment. Yet it's also at the vanguard of automation. Since 2014, Amazon has deployed 100,000 robots in 25 warehouses worldwide. At the same time, it's nearly tripled its hourly workforce, from roughly 45,000 to nearly 125,000.</p> <p>Its use of robotics has shaved the operating costs for a warehouse by about 20 percent, according to a report by Deutsche Bank. Such savings, in turn, have lowered the cost for Amazon to open new facilities &#8212; and hire more workers.</p> <p>Mandel points out that it's a lot like what happened more than a 100 years ago, when Henry Ford's installation of assembly lines &#8212; an early form of automation &#8212; helped reduce the price of cars, which boosted demand so much that Ford needed more workers.</p> <p>Robots have displaced many manufacturing workers in the past two to three decades, enabling factories to produce more with fewer employees.</p> <p>Yet e-commerce and warehousing are growing far faster than manufacturing is &#8212; a crucial difference that lessens the impact of automation. E-commerce sales are surging roughly five times as fast as storefront retail sales, according to market research firm Forrester. By 2022, they're expected to account for 17 percent of all retail sales, up from 13 percent this year.</p> <p>From a handful of distribution centers in 2000, Amazon now has more than 240 warehouses and smaller delivery facilities, according to MWPVL, a consulting firm. Those warehouses have created tens of thousands of jobs and boosted wages in some communities, which many local employers call "the Amazon effect."</p> <p>But Amazon is not the only company that has experienced growth due to e-commerce.</p> <p>Walmart, the world's largest retailer, recently opened its sixth e-commerce campus near Orlando, Florida. Like the others, it includes a million square foot warehouse.</p> <p>Walmart is also expanding its online grocery pickup service to 2,000 stores, double the 1,000 where it is now available. It allows Walmart's customers to order groceries online, but requires more workers, not fewer. Ravi Jariwala, a spokesman, says Walmart has created a new job classification &#8212; "personal shopper" &#8212; to do what customers once did themselves: Pick and package orders.</p> <p>And XPO Logistics, which ships mostly appliances and other heavy goods, has hired 3,000 warehouse workers in the past year to keep up with growing e-commerce, bringing its total to 26,000. It's adding a million square feet of warehouse about every four to six weeks, says Ashfaque Chowdhury, president of XPO's supply chain in the Americas and Asia.</p> <p>Chowdhury says items that many people wouldn't have felt comfortable buying on the internet not long ago &#8212; from refrigerators to treadmills to furniture &#8212; are becoming routine online purchases. And the company is also planning to open a million square foot warehouse in the Midwest exclusively to handle returns.</p> <p>All these trends have been helped by automation's ability to hold down costs, such as Walmart's use of drones to help track its warehouse inventory.</p> <p>Still, a tour of Boxed's gleaming new warehouse in Union makes it easy to see why people worry that automation costs jobs. Everywhere you look you see machines and rows of neatly organized pallets of goods.</p> <p>But not so many workers. Through the 140,000-square-foot building, two miles of conveyor belts quietly whisk plastic bins containing customers' orders. One machine stamps mailing labels on boxes. Spread thinly along the conveyor belts, roughly three dozen workers operate on the floor.</p> <p>Among the first stops on the conveyor is a four-story-high robotic contraption known as "Perfect Pick." It enables one employee filling orders to choose from 700 items. An automated container, the iBOT, zips up and down and back and forth among the Perfect Pick's shelves, where products are stored.</p> <p>The iBOT retrieves small items &#8212; health and beauty products and snack foods &#8212; and brings them to the employee, who places them in bins.</p> <p>At Amazon's much larger warehouse in Baltimore, there are more workers, but also a lot more robots. They lift shelves of goods and roll them to the company's pickers, who select items that customers have ordered before the robots return the shelves to storage.</p> <p>Even so, there are still jobs at both warehouses for people to do. At Boxed, the bins glide from the Perfect Pick to other employees, who select additional items to complete an order. A separate group, the packers, puts everything in pastel-hued boxes for shipment. Fitting multiple items of different shapes and textures into a box is something people still do much better than robots.</p> <p>Barbara Ward, 56, is a packer at Boxed, and like all her colleagues, she writes a thank-you note for each order she packages. It's part of Boxed's effort to preserve some aspects of the conventional shopping experience. When a customer has ordered diapers, a packer might write a congratulatory note.</p> <p>At Amazon's Baltimore warehouse, employees called "stowers" are needed to stock the shelves that are carried by robots. And that requires human judgment: Software suggests to workers where each item should be placed. But it's an employee's responsibility to make sure the shelves, which are tall and narrow, remain balanced.</p> <p>There are also "problem solvers" who position themselves near a scale on a conveyor belt that weighs each package as it whizzes by. If the weight isn't consistent with what's supposed to be in the box, the package is set aside for a problem solver, who opens the box to see whether the order was filled correctly.</p> <p>The warehouse covers the equivalent of 17 football fields and was opened in 2015, one of the first to be designed with robots in mind. Still, it employs 5,000 people.</p> <p>Amazon and Boxed say their automated warehouses actually employ more workers than their non-automated warehouses do, because they handle far more volume.</p> <p>And many employees say all the technology and machinery has made their jobs better.</p> <p>Mena, 34, vastly prefers Boxed's new facility to the manual warehouses where she previously worked. At one warehouse, owned by a medical equipment manufacturer, Mena says she would walk 15,000 steps a day to fill orders, according to her Fitbit. That's about 7.5 miles.</p> <p>"There's less lifting to do," she adds, now that goods are moved by conveyor belt rather than carts. "There are a lot of little things that make the job better."</p> <p>And with Boxed growing rapidly, she was promoted to trainer less than a year after starting as a temporary employee picking orders.</p> <p>Ward, meanwhile, says she expects to be able to work longer at Boxed because her job is less physically demanding, thanks to automation.</p> <p>Jobs are growing off the warehouse floor, as well. The explosion of online commerce is also building demand for higher-paying jobs in software and robotics. Nearly 14 percent of software job listings are now posted by retailers, according to data analyzed by Glassdoor, the job recruitment website. That share has doubled from 2012, says Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor's chief economist.</p> <p>And the software jobs are not as concentrated in places like Silicon Valley. Dallas, for example, has experienced a surge in software jobs, partly because of greater hiring by Home Depot.</p> <p>"That's a huge change," Chamberlain said. "Software-related jobs are a bellwether of automation."</p> <p>Amazon's career website lists nearly 5,000 open software jobs and 250 in machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence. Walmart is advertising 475 software and technology jobs, including data analysts, programmers, and software engineers.</p> <p>These aren't folks who just maintain websites.</p> <p>When a customer shops on Boxed's website, software calculates what size box will be needed and how much empty space it will contain, Zumpano said. Just before checkout, the website will recommend products that would fill the box's empty space, yet not so many that the order would require another box.</p> <p>Automation and robotics will only get more sophisticated in the future, which will threaten some jobs.</p> <p>Amazon runs an annual "picking" contest in which mostly startup firms and universities compete to see which team's robot can most efficiently pick items from a shelf and place them in a box.</p> <p>"What's going to happen next is robotic arms, combined with vision technology and suction technology," says Marc Wulfraat, president of MWVPL, a consulting firm. "You can be darn sure that Amazon will take the first swing at it."</p> <p>But it could take several years for such robots to be put into widespread use. For now, they work mostly with items in boxes and other rigid shapes, Wulfraat says. They can't yet handle bulkier items such as basketballs or softer items like clothes.</p> <p>"Robotic hand technology is still pretty far off," Boxed's CEO, Chieh Huang, says. The company recently installed robots in its three other manual warehouses to transport goods to workers, as an alternative to conveyor belts. They didn't lay off any employees.</p> <p>And Mandel argues that if additional automation, such as robotic pickers, lowers costs further, it could create new markets for products and services, such as custom-made goods.</p> <p>Wulfraat predicts that hundreds of smaller warehouses will be built in large cities to shorten delivery times to as low as an hour, particularly for groceries. Amazon already has 53 such facilities, and its competitors will be forced to follow suit.</p> <p>"You're going to need distribution facilities in the backyard of every city," Wulfraat says. Those facilities will be smaller and cheaper and won't be worth fully automating.</p> <p>Automation is also more likely in the coming years to make up for labor shortages rather than replace workers, Wulfraat says. Companies such as Target and Walmart have had to announce widespread pay increases in the past two years to attract and keep employees, a sign of a tighter job market.</p> <p>Many warehouse operators he works with anticipate the problem will only grow worse as baby boomers age and increasingly retire, Wulfraat says. Any warehouse workers displaced by automation will easily find jobs elsewhere.</p> <p>"I don't see hundreds of thousands of workers unemployed and on the street," he said.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Contact Christopher Rugaber on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber</p>

robots came online retailer boxed dread came familiar fear machines would take leaving trail unemployed humans wake lot people asking going happen us says veronica mena trainer ecommerce startup recalling anxiety rippled coworkers company executives announced plans open automated warehouse nearby union new jersey continue reading yet fears didnt come pass new warehouse opened spring workers found jobs less physically demanding older manual warehouse edison new jersey instead walking thousands steps day loading items onto carts employees could stand stations conveyor belts brought goods rather cutting jobs company added third shift keep rapidly growing demand happened boxed occurred elsewhere suggests widespread fears automation job loss often misplaced automation actually helped create jobs ecommerce rather eliminate stands create years ahead accelerating delivery times robotics software made online shopping increasingly viable alternative bricksandmortar stores sales ballooned online retailers surge ecommerce required rapid buildout vast network warehouses delivery systems include robots human workers robots didnt take jobs people many jobs didnt exist advertisement looking work half people said rick zumpano vice president distribution boxed since growing need everyone newer robotic technologies loom threat ecommerce jobs startup robotics companies developing robot arm prototypes example pick goods shelves devices may replace workers next decade explosion ecommerce ease automation leading ecommerce companies build warehouses even warehouse employs fewer workers proliferation new warehouses projected generate hiring across industry meantime jobs lost storefront retailers suffered ecommerce onslaught venerable chains toys r us radioshack payless shoesource filed bankruptcy year widespread fears things get worse nations 16 million retail workers selfcheckout kiosks experimental stores like amazons go cashiers could theoretically eliminate millions retail jobs worries retail apocalypse missed important trend ecommerce actually leads jobs paying people things used people shop online tasks filled days driving store searching aisles product bringing cashier paying done warehouse employees truck drivers people spend less time shopping past research shows joe song economist bank america merrill lynch studied government data found working women spending less time shopping nearly 25 hours less per year compared decade earlier song attributes time savings mainly ecommerce families increasingly outsource shopping ecommerce employees many long outsourced household tasks child care workers house cleaners case jobs created means bankruptcies store closings retail sector arent complete picture jobs lost stores many gained online shopping michael mandel economist progressive policy institute calculates number ecommerce warehousing jobs leapt 400000 past decade easily offsetting loss 140000 brickandmortar retail jobs amazon accounts much additional employment yet also vanguard automation since 2014 amazon deployed 100000 robots 25 warehouses worldwide time nearly tripled hourly workforce roughly 45000 nearly 125000 use robotics shaved operating costs warehouse 20 percent according report deutsche bank savings turn lowered cost amazon open new facilities hire workers mandel points lot like happened 100 years ago henry fords installation assembly lines early form automation helped reduce price cars boosted demand much ford needed workers robots displaced many manufacturing workers past two three decades enabling factories produce fewer employees yet ecommerce warehousing growing far faster manufacturing crucial difference lessens impact automation ecommerce sales surging roughly five times fast storefront retail sales according market research firm forrester 2022 theyre expected account 17 percent retail sales 13 percent year handful distribution centers 2000 amazon 240 warehouses smaller delivery facilities according mwpvl consulting firm warehouses created tens thousands jobs boosted wages communities many local employers call amazon effect amazon company experienced growth due ecommerce walmart worlds largest retailer recently opened sixth ecommerce campus near orlando florida like others includes million square foot warehouse walmart also expanding online grocery pickup service 2000 stores double 1000 available allows walmarts customers order groceries online requires workers fewer ravi jariwala spokesman says walmart created new job classification personal shopper customers pick package orders xpo logistics ships mostly appliances heavy goods hired 3000 warehouse workers past year keep growing ecommerce bringing total 26000 adding million square feet warehouse every four six weeks says ashfaque chowdhury president xpos supply chain americas asia chowdhury says items many people wouldnt felt comfortable buying internet long ago refrigerators treadmills furniture becoming routine online purchases company also planning open million square foot warehouse midwest exclusively handle returns trends helped automations ability hold costs walmarts use drones help track warehouse inventory still tour boxeds gleaming new warehouse union makes easy see people worry automation costs jobs everywhere look see machines rows neatly organized pallets goods many workers 140000squarefoot building two miles conveyor belts quietly whisk plastic bins containing customers orders one machine stamps mailing labels boxes spread thinly along conveyor belts roughly three dozen workers operate floor among first stops conveyor fourstoryhigh robotic contraption known perfect pick enables one employee filling orders choose 700 items automated container ibot zips back forth among perfect picks shelves products stored ibot retrieves small items health beauty products snack foods brings employee places bins amazons much larger warehouse baltimore workers also lot robots lift shelves goods roll companys pickers select items customers ordered robots return shelves storage even still jobs warehouses people boxed bins glide perfect pick employees select additional items complete order separate group packers puts everything pastelhued boxes shipment fitting multiple items different shapes textures box something people still much better robots barbara ward 56 packer boxed like colleagues writes thankyou note order packages part boxeds effort preserve aspects conventional shopping experience customer ordered diapers packer might write congratulatory note amazons baltimore warehouse employees called stowers needed stock shelves carried robots requires human judgment software suggests workers item placed employees responsibility make sure shelves tall narrow remain balanced also problem solvers position near scale conveyor belt weighs package whizzes weight isnt consistent whats supposed box package set aside problem solver opens box see whether order filled correctly warehouse covers equivalent 17 football fields opened 2015 one first designed robots mind still employs 5000 people amazon boxed say automated warehouses actually employ workers nonautomated warehouses handle far volume many employees say technology machinery made jobs better mena 34 vastly prefers boxeds new facility manual warehouses previously worked one warehouse owned medical equipment manufacturer mena says would walk 15000 steps day fill orders according fitbit thats 75 miles theres less lifting adds goods moved conveyor belt rather carts lot little things make job better boxed growing rapidly promoted trainer less year starting temporary employee picking orders ward meanwhile says expects able work longer boxed job less physically demanding thanks automation jobs growing warehouse floor well explosion online commerce also building demand higherpaying jobs software robotics nearly 14 percent software job listings posted retailers according data analyzed glassdoor job recruitment website share doubled 2012 says andrew chamberlain glassdoors chief economist software jobs concentrated places like silicon valley dallas example experienced surge software jobs partly greater hiring home depot thats huge change chamberlain said softwarerelated jobs bellwether automation amazons career website lists nearly 5000 open software jobs 250 machine learning type artificial intelligence walmart advertising 475 software technology jobs including data analysts programmers software engineers arent folks maintain websites customer shops boxeds website software calculates size box needed much empty space contain zumpano said checkout website recommend products would fill boxs empty space yet many order would require another box automation robotics get sophisticated future threaten jobs amazon runs annual picking contest mostly startup firms universities compete see teams robot efficiently pick items shelf place box whats going happen next robotic arms combined vision technology suction technology says marc wulfraat president mwvpl consulting firm darn sure amazon take first swing could take several years robots put widespread use work mostly items boxes rigid shapes wulfraat says cant yet handle bulkier items basketballs softer items like clothes robotic hand technology still pretty far boxeds ceo chieh huang says company recently installed robots three manual warehouses transport goods workers alternative conveyor belts didnt lay employees mandel argues additional automation robotic pickers lowers costs could create new markets products services custommade goods wulfraat predicts hundreds smaller warehouses built large cities shorten delivery times low hour particularly groceries amazon already 53 facilities competitors forced follow suit youre going need distribution facilities backyard every city wulfraat says facilities smaller cheaper wont worth fully automating automation also likely coming years make labor shortages rather replace workers wulfraat says companies target walmart announce widespread pay increases past two years attract keep employees sign tighter job market many warehouse operators works anticipate problem grow worse baby boomers age increasingly retire wulfraat says warehouse workers displaced automation easily find jobs elsewhere dont see hundreds thousands workers unemployed street said ___ contact christopher rugaber twitter httptwittercomchrisrugaber

<p>Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson said Tuesday that Donald Trump recently accepted Christ.</p> <p>"I believe he really made a commitment," said the highly influential evangelical leader. "But he&#8217;s a baby Christian. We all need to be praying for him, especially if there&#8217;s a possibility of him being the next executive officer."</p> <p>Dobson's comments came in an <a href="http://www.godfactor.com/blog/exclusive-interview-with-dr-james-dobson-did-donald-trump-recently-accept-christ" type="external">interview</a> following the "historic" meeting between Trump and about 1,000 evangelical leaders on Tuesday. Pastor Michael Anthony, president of <a href="http://www.godfactor.com/#what-you-believe" type="external">Godfactor</a> and founder of the <a href="http://www.revivalmatters.com/#about-the-week" type="external">National Week of Repentance</a>, caught up with Dr. Dobson to get his thoughts on the event and Trump, whose <a href="" type="internal">strained relationship with evangelicals</a> has resulted in him ramping up his <a href="" type="internal">Christian outreach efforts</a>.</p> <p>Asked what he thought about the meeting, Dobson described it as "historic" and an event the likes of which he had "never" seen in all his years of ministry.</p> <p>"I feel like it was historic," said Dobson. "Only God knows where we&#8217;re heading as a nation, but this gathering of God's people sincerely, actually on their knees, a thousand people, praying together&#8212;that's a good thing."</p> <p>Dr. Dobson agreed with Pastor Anthony that Trump seemed to conduct himself at the event in a far different manner than the public is used to seeing, and said that what was particularly important was the chance to ask him some pointed questions.</p> <p>Trump, said Dobson, can be "sometimes kind of obscure in the way he answers questions," but the Christian leaders were able to ask him direct, sincere questions that day.</p> <p>"He did accept a relationship with Christ. I know the person who led him to Christ. And that&#8217;s fairly recent."</p> <p>Dr. James Dobson</p> <p>"I was in a smaller group this morning at Trump Tower ... and got the chance to interact with him," said Dobson. "And he's soft, he&#8217;s a lot nicer guy than you realize."</p> <p>Anthony agreed, saying it was something he was personally taken aback by.</p> <p>"Well, I was too. And I think he is listening," said Dobson. "There are a lot of people ministering to him personally. ... He did accept a relationship with Christ. I know the person who led him to Christ. And that&#8217;s fairly recent."</p> <p>"How recent?" asked Anthony, clearly surprised and encouraged by Dobson's statement.</p> <p>"I don&#8217;t know when it was, but it has not been long," replied Dobson. "I believe he really made a commitment. But he&#8217;s a baby Christian. We all need to be praying for him, especially if there&#8217;s a possibility of him being the next executive officer."</p> <p>Dobson underscored that Trump as a "baby Christian" simply doesn't yet know how to speak about his faith.</p> <p>"I think that he&#8217;s open," he continued. "He doesn&#8217;t know our language. ... We had 40 Christians together with him, he used the word hell four or five times. He doesn&#8217;t know our language&#8212;he really doesn&#8217;t. He refers a lot to 'religion' and not much to 'faith' and 'belief' in Christ."</p> <p>"I&#8217;m sure Saul when he became Paul didn&#8217;t know much of the language either," said Anthony.</p> <p>"Yeah, you got to cut him some slack," said Dobson. "He didn&#8217;t grow up like we did. I think there&#8217;s hope for him, and I think there&#8217;s hope for us. I have great concerns about the next election."</p> <p>LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW <a href="http://www.godfactor.com/blog/exclusive-interview-with-dr-james-dobson-did-donald-trump-recently-accept-christ" type="external">HERE</a>.</p> <p>In a follow-up <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2016/06/22/pastor-god-was-speaking-through-trump-at-meeting-n2181900" type="external">interview with Cortney O'Brien</a>, Pastor Anthony discussed the change he had witnessed in Trump at the evangelical meeting.</p> <p>"The meeting had an effect that I did not expect on me. I saw a different Trump than I&#8217;d seen on television," said Anthony. "His posture said it all. He sat the whole time and had his hands to his side for the majority of time. I saw a gentler demeanor here."</p> <p>"There was a palpable humility in the room that gets me kind of emotional to talk about it," Anthony told O'Brien. "It was really unique.&#8221;</p> <p>As for what Trump spoke most about, Anthony said, he was "very big on religious liberty," and stuck mainly to discussion of First Amendment rights.</p> <p>"In a very calm, quiet way, with his arms folded, he said, 'you religious leaders,' he called us, 'have every right to speak up and express yourselves, and you don&#8217;t. The First Amendment protects that right and yet you don&#8217;t,'" said Anthony.</p> <p>Everyone there, he added, knew that Trump was right: "He&#8217;s exhorting us and yet we know he&#8217;s right when he said it ... I think God was speaking through him at that moment, to the church, to tell us why are you being silent about the most important thing about your lives?"</p> <p>Trump also spoke about the importance of selecting Supreme Court justices who would defend those constitutionally protected rights, comments that left Anthony convinced he would make good appointments.</p> <p>Anthony said Trump was particularly passionate about ending the ban on endorsing political candidates from the pulpit, a law introduced by Lyndon Johnson, saying, "When I get in, we&#8217;re going to change that."</p> <p>At the end of the event, when they all got on their knees and prayed for the country, Anthony said there was "an energy, there was a palpableness in the room, a tangible sense of seriousness about what we&#8217;re here for," adding later, "If we can do this in a room of 1,000, I think there&#8217;s hope for the nation."</p> <p>UPDATE: After news of Trump's alleged conversion broke, Dobson felt compelled to clarify his comments, issuing a statement walking back his comments somewhat and providing the name of the pastor who supposedly led Trump to conversion: <a href="https://twitter.com/sullivanamy/status/747878523776307200" type="external">Paula White</a>, as Erick Erickson describes her, a " <a href="http://theresurgent.com/james-dobson-walks-back-the-story-of-trumps-conversion/" type="external">noted prosperity gospel heretic</a>."</p> <p>"Only the Lord knows the condition of a person's heart," said Dobson in the statement. "I can only tell you what I've heard. First, Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit. I also hear that Paula White has known Trump for years and that she personally led him to Christ. Do I know that for sure? No. Do I know the details of that alleged conversion? I can't say that I do."</p> <p>Here's Dobson complete follow-up <a href="http://www.charismanews.com/politics/elections/58066-after-donald-trump-s-salvation-dr-james-dobson-reminds-how-to-deal-with-baby-christians" type="external">statement</a> on Trump's alleged conversion:</p> <p>"Only the Lord knows the condition of a person's heart. I can only tell you what I've heard. First, Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit. I also hear that Paula White has known Trump for years and that she personally led him to Christ.</p> <p>"Do I know that for sure? No. Do I know the details of that alleged conversion? I can't say that I do.</p> <p>"But there are many Christian leaders who are serving on a faith advisory committee for Trump in the future. I am among them. There are about 45 of us that includes Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Jack Graham, Ben Carson, James Robison, Jerry Johnson, and many others whom you would probably know.</p> <p>"We've all agreed to serve. How will that play out if Trump becomes president? I don't know. It is a good start, I would think.</p> <p>"If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn't have a clue about how believers think, talk and act. All I can tell you is that we have only two choices, Hillary or Donald. Hillary scares me to death.</p> <p>"And, if Christians stay home because he isn't a better candidate, Hillary will run the world for perhaps eight years. The very thought of that haunts my nights and days. One thing is sure: we need to be in prayer for our nation at this time of crisis."</p> <p>Article first published June 24, updated June 29.</p>

focus family founder dr james dobson said tuesday donald trump recently accepted christ believe really made commitment said highly influential evangelical leader hes baby christian need praying especially theres possibility next executive officer dobsons comments came interview following historic meeting trump 1000 evangelical leaders tuesday pastor michael anthony president godfactor founder national week repentance caught dr dobson get thoughts event trump whose strained relationship evangelicals resulted ramping christian outreach efforts asked thought meeting dobson described historic event likes never seen years ministry feel like historic said dobson god knows heading nation gathering gods people sincerely actually knees thousand people praying togetherthats good thing dr dobson agreed pastor anthony trump seemed conduct event far different manner public used seeing said particularly important chance ask pointed questions trump said dobson sometimes kind obscure way answers questions christian leaders able ask direct sincere questions day accept relationship christ know person led christ thats fairly recent dr james dobson smaller group morning trump tower got chance interact said dobson hes soft hes lot nicer guy realize anthony agreed saying something personally taken aback well think listening said dobson lot people ministering personally accept relationship christ know person led christ thats fairly recent recent asked anthony clearly surprised encouraged dobsons statement dont know long replied dobson believe really made commitment hes baby christian need praying especially theres possibility next executive officer dobson underscored trump baby christian simply doesnt yet know speak faith think hes open continued doesnt know language 40 christians together used word hell four five times doesnt know languagehe really doesnt refers lot religion much faith belief christ im sure saul became paul didnt know much language either said anthony yeah got cut slack said dobson didnt grow like think theres hope think theres hope us great concerns next election listen interview followup interview cortney obrien pastor anthony discussed change witnessed trump evangelical meeting meeting effect expect saw different trump id seen television said anthony posture said sat whole time hands side majority time saw gentler demeanor palpable humility room gets kind emotional talk anthony told obrien really unique trump spoke anthony said big religious liberty stuck mainly discussion first amendment rights calm quiet way arms folded said religious leaders called us every right speak express dont first amendment protects right yet dont said anthony everyone added knew trump right hes exhorting us yet know hes right said think god speaking moment church tell us silent important thing lives trump also spoke importance selecting supreme court justices would defend constitutionally protected rights comments left anthony convinced would make good appointments anthony said trump particularly passionate ending ban endorsing political candidates pulpit law introduced lyndon johnson saying get going change end event got knees prayed country anthony said energy palpableness room tangible sense seriousness adding later room 1000 think theres hope nation update news trumps alleged conversion broke dobson felt compelled clarify comments issuing statement walking back comments somewhat providing name pastor supposedly led trump conversion paula white erick erickson describes noted prosperity gospel heretic lord knows condition persons heart said dobson statement tell ive heard first trump appears tender things spirit also hear paula white known trump years personally led christ know sure know details alleged conversion cant say heres dobson complete followup statement trumps alleged conversion lord knows condition persons heart tell ive heard first trump appears tender things spirit also hear paula white known trump years personally led christ know sure know details alleged conversion cant say many christian leaders serving faith advisory committee trump future among 45 us includes franklin graham robert jeffress jack graham ben carson james robison jerry johnson many others would probably know weve agreed serve play trump becomes president dont know good start would think anything man baby christian doesnt clue believers think talk act tell two choices hillary donald hillary scares death christians stay home isnt better candidate hillary run world perhaps eight years thought haunts nights days one thing sure need prayer nation time crisis article first published june 24 updated june 29

<p>House Republicans, seeking the biggest transformation of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years, aim to permanently chop the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, compress the number of individual income tax brackets, and repeal the taxes paid by large estates starting in 2024, according to a detailed summary of the plan reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.</p> <p>The GOP plan repeals the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes. It allows a deduction for property taxes, but caps it at $10,000. That limit applies to married filers and individuals.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>To partly offset that lost revenue, Republicans plan to curtail the deductions individuals take for state and local tax payments and the ones businesses get for the interest they pay on debt. But the plan being released Thursday morning stops short of touching other popular tax breaks that were being considered for change, such as the ability of individuals to park up to $18,000 a year in pretax funds into 401(k) savings accounts.</p> <p>The plan, named the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, calls for leaving the top individual tax rate at 39.6%, but pushing the income threshold for that rate to $1 million for married couples. The House Ways and Means Committee plans to consider the bill next week with the aim of turning it into law by Christmas and having most of it take effect in 2018.</p> <p>Republicans view the tax bill as essential to their political futures and their best chance for a legislative victory in President Donald Trump's first year in office. Mr. Trump will likely argue the bill meets many of his goals, but it still faces a challenging path to completion in a Congress contending with many competing interests.</p> <p>The tax bill, revised repeatedly in the final days before its release, already bears the marks of political compromises large and small, in addition to budgetary contortions needed to avoid creating larger and long-lasting budget deficits. For example, incentives for business investment lapse after five years and so does a new $300 per person credit for filers, their spouses and non-child dependents such as college students. Those expirations mean the tax cuts would shrink in future years unless Congress acts.</p> <p>Those moves were necessary because a budget blueprint agreed upon by the Senate and the House constrains the tax overhaul to a cost of $1.5 trillion over a decade. They need to hit that target and avoid higher budget deficits beyond that to qualify for fast-track rules that could let them pass a bill without Democratic votes. But Republicans are seeking more than $5 trillion in rate cuts over a decade and need to find offsetting provisions, and critics will label some of their decisions as budgetary gimmicks. Republicans have spent months trying to solve that math problem, looking for tax breaks to repeal without disturbing the slim political coalition they need to pass a bill.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Republican leaders will now begin the hard work of selling their plan, starting with a meeting of lawmakers Thursday morning and a White House event in the afternoon. They are soliciting reaction from business groups, particularly on complicated and novel changes to the taxation of corporate foreign income and pass-through businesses such as partnerships. Those areas contain huge potential problems.</p> <p>They intend to work quickly. The first crucible is in the House Ways and Means Committee, which will begin considering the plan next week. That theoretically shouldn't be too hard, because Ways and Means Republicans have been huddling all week to hammer out the plan.</p> <p>After that come the tougher challenges of cobbling together a House majority and melding this bill with a separate Senate plan scheduled for release as soon as next week. Democrats are likely to attack the plan as a budget-busting giveaway to the rich, and estimates, projections, and analyses will be debated furiously in the coming weeks.</p> <p>"We'll be in listening mode all throughout the code," said the bill's author, Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R., Texas). "We are following the Reagan example here. Go bold. Listen. Make adjustments, but keep the process going forward."</p> <p>The plan hits many Republican goals. It nearly doubles the standard deduction, pushes people away from itemizing their deductions, lowers business tax rates, repeals the alternative minimum tax, and eliminates many tax credits, deductions, and exclusions, such as breaks for moving expenses and employee achievement awards.</p> <p>Republicans used at least a few budgetary maneuvers to squeeze the plan inside its constraints. For instance, different inflation measures limit some costs. They also changed some provisions during negotiations to add revenue. A new one-time tax rate on U.S. companies' stockpiled foreign profits will be significantly higher than in previous Republican plans, generating money to meet the $1.5 trillion target. The bill would apply a 12% tax rate to cash in foreign subsidiaries and a 5% tax rate to illiquid investments.</p> <p>INCOME-TAX RATES</p> <p>The bill collapses the current seven individual tax brackets into four: 12%, 25%, 35% and 39.6%. For married couples, the 25% rate starts at $90,000, the 35% rate starts at $260,000 and the top rate starts at $1 million. For individuals, those break points are $45,000, $200,000 and $500,000.</p> <p>The new bottom tax rate covers more income than the current 10% and 15% brackets do, meaning lower taxes for many middle-income households. But many upper-income households could face a higher marginal tax rate under the House bill, which pushes some from a 33% bracket into 35%. Whether they see actual tax increases would depends on particulars, and full estimates aren't available yet.</p> <p>POLITICAL LAND MINES</p> <p>Meantime, there are political land mines scattered in the plan, some easy to see and others that businesses and advocates will likely unearth in the coming days.</p> <p>For example, the proposal repeals an itemized deduction for medical expenses, a crucial provision to households with extraordinary health-care costs. It also repeals the tax credit for adoption and the deduction for student-loan interest.</p> <p>The bill also limits the home mortgage-interest deduction. For new home purchases, interest would be deductible only on loans up to $500,000, down from $1 million today; existing loans would be grandfathered.</p> <p>Because of the larger standard deduction, fewer people would have a tax incentive to make charitable donations. Many charity groups had pushed for a more widely available deduction, but Republicans decided not to expand the charitable deduction to people who don't itemize their deductions.</p> <p>Businesses would lose the ability to deduct certain executive compensation above $1 million, which they can now do for performance-based pay. Life insurers would lose some tax breaks. Banks with assets exceeding $50 billion would get no deduction for certain payments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission.</p> <p>Tax-exempt bonds could no longer be used to build professional sports stadiums. Private universities with assets exceeding $100,000 a student would pay a new 1.4% excise tax on their net investment income. Businesses would no longer be able to deduct entertainment expenses, though today's rules for business meals would remain.</p> <p>PASS-THROUGH BUSINESSES</p> <p>One of the most closely watched areas is the taxation of pass-through businesses such as S corporations and partnerships. Republicans promised them a 25% rate, but also said they would create guardrails to prevent people from turning what would otherwise be wage income taxed at up to 39.6% into business income taxed at a lower rate.</p> <p>Passive owners of pass-through businesses would get the 25% rate, but those actively involved in the business would have a different standard. The bill starts with the presumption that 70% of that pass-through income is attributable to labor and would be taxable at higher individual income-tax rates. For some that would create a blended top tax rate of about 35%, which those businesses and their influential trade groups may argue isn't low enough.</p> <p>For professional services firms, including lawyers and financial-services professionals, the default rate would be 100% labor income, meaning they would get none of the benefit of the 25% tax rate for pass-through businesses.</p> <p>That proposal may add new layers of complexity to the tax code. Business aren't bound by those default rates, and they will hire tax lawyers and accountants who will be allowed to argue to the IRS that the firms contain capital investments. That could entitle them to more income at the lower business rates.</p> <p>MULTINATIONALS</p> <p>There are big changes in store for multinational companies. U.S. companies would, generally, no longer pay taxes on their active foreign income, a move corporations and Republicans say is important in a competitive international landscape. To prevent companies from shifting profits abroad, the bill creates a new 10% tax on U.S. companies' high-profit foreign subsidiaries, calculated on a global basis.</p> <p>The plan also imposes new restrictions on foreign companies operating in the U.S. They would face a tax of up to 20% on payments they make abroad from their U.S. operations. That is designed to prevent them from loading up their U.S. operations with deductions and pushing profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Companies could lower those taxes by agreeing to have more of their operations in the U.S. tax system.</p> <p>Many companies would face a new limit on their interest deductions, which would be capped at 30% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which is a measure of cash flow. Real-estate firms and small businesses would be exempt from that limit.</p> <p>CHILD-TAX CREDIT</p> <p>For individuals, one potential flashpoint is an expanded child tax credit, which isn't as large or generous to low-income families as a version proposed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah). The child credit, along with the larger 12% bracket, is crucial to limiting the number of low-income and middle-income families who see tax increases due to the bill. One reason they might see higher bills is because the bill eliminates personal exemptions, which filers can now use to reduce their tax bills.</p> <p>The House bill takes the child credit from $1,000 to $1,600, below the $1,800 or $2,000 that Messrs. Rubio and Lee want. The House bill also creates a new $300 credit for each person in a filer's family who isn't a child, including the primary taxpayer and non-child dependents such as college students. Those $300 credits expire after 2022.</p> <p>HOW A FAMILY FARES</p> <p>Under current law, in 2018, a married couple with two children making $60,000 would get a $13,000 standard deduction and four personal exemptions each worth $4,150. That means they would pay taxes on $30,400 of taxable income. Their base tax bill of $3,608 would be reduced by $2,000 in child tax credits for a total income tax of $1,608.</p> <p>Under the House plan, the same married couple with two children would get $3,800 in tax credits, $3,200 for the two children and $600 for the two parents. The same family would get a $24,400 standard deduction but no exemptions, for $35,600 of taxable income. Their base tax bill of $4,272 would be reduced by the $3,800 in credits for a total income tax of $472.</p> <p>The House bill also expands the child credit for the upper-middle class. Currently, the credit starts phasing out for individuals with incomes above $75,000 and married couples with incomes above $110,000. Under the House bill, those thresholds move up to $115,000 and $230,000.</p> <p>ESTATE TAX</p> <p>The estate tax provisions also contain wrinkles. The estate-tax exemption, set for $5.6 million per person and $11.2 million per married couple, would double immediately. The tax would get repealed starting in 2024.</p> <p>Even after repeal, heirs would continue to get something known as a "step-up in basis." That means they would only owe capital-gains taxes on the difference between the sales price of an asset they inherit and the value of the asset at the previous owner's death. Previous versions of estate-tax repeal had limited that benefit.</p> <p>Write to Richard Rubin at [email protected]</p> <p>WASHINGTON -- House Republicans, seeking the biggest transformation of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years, aim to permanently chop the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, compress the number of individual income tax brackets, and repeal the taxes paid by large estates starting in 2024, according to a detailed summary of the plan reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.</p> <p>The GOP plan repeals the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes. It allows a deduction for property taxes, but caps it at $10,000. That limit applies to married filers and individuals.</p> <p>To partly offset that lost revenue, Republicans plan to curtail the deductions individuals take for state and local tax payments and the ones businesses get for the interest they pay on debt. But the plan released Thursday morning stops short of touching other popular tax breaks that were being considered for change, such as the ability of individuals to park up to $18,000 a year in pretax funds into 401(k) savings accounts.</p> <p>The plan, named the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, calls for leaving the top individual tax rate at 39.6%, but pushing the income threshold for that rate to $1 million for married couples. The House Ways and Means Committee plans to consider the bill next week with the aim of turning it into law by Christmas and having most of it take effect in 2018.</p> <p>Republicans view the tax bill as essential to their political futures and their best chance for a legislative victory in President Donald Trump's first year in office. Mr. Trump will likely argue the bill meets many of his goals. The bill still faces a challenging path to completion in a Congress contending with many competing interests.</p> <p>In comments from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump praised the proposal, saying it would act as a "gift" for the American people, as he put the White House squarely behind the bill.</p> <p>"We are working to give the American people a giant tax cut for Christmas, we are giving them a big, beautiful Christmas present in the form of a tremendous tax cut," Mr. Trump said. "It will be the biggest cut in the history of our country. It will also be tax reform, and it will create jobs."</p> <p>A lone lawmaker flanking the president was Kevin McCarthy, the GOP House majority leader, who was warmly greeted and then praised by Mr. Trump.</p> <p>The tax bill, revised repeatedly in the final days before its release, already bears the marks of political compromises large and small, in addition to budgetary contortions needed to avoid creating larger and long-lasting budget deficits. For example, incentives for business investment lapse after five years and so does a new $300 per person credit for filers, their spouses and non-child dependents such as college students. Those expirations mean the tax cuts would shrink in future years unless Congress acts.</p> <p>Those moves were necessary because a budget blueprint agreed upon by the Senate and the House constrains the tax overhaul to a cost of $1.5 trillion over a decade. They need to hit that target and avoid higher budget deficits beyond that to qualify for fast-track rules that could let them pass a bill without Democratic votes. But Republicans are seeking more than $5 trillion in rate cuts over a decade and need to find offsetting provisions, and critics will label some of their decisions as budgetary gimmicks. Republicans have spent months trying to solve that math problem, looking for tax breaks to repeal without disturbing the slim political coalition they need to pass a bill.</p> <p>Republican leaders will now begin the hard work of selling their plan, starting with a meeting of lawmakers Thursday morning and a White House event in the afternoon. They are soliciting reaction from business groups, particularly on complicated and novel changes to the taxation of corporate foreign income and pass-through businesses such as partnerships. Those areas contain huge potential problems.</p> <p>They intend to work quickly. The first crucible is in the House Ways and Means Committee, which will begin considering the plan next week. That theoretically shouldn't be too hard, because Ways and Means Republicans have been huddling all week to hammer out the plan.</p> <p>After that come the tougher challenges of cobbling together a House majority and melding this bill with a separate Senate plan scheduled for release as soon as next week. Democrats are likely to attack the plan as a budget-busting giveaway to the rich, and estimates, projections, and analyses will be debated furiously in the coming weeks.</p> <p>"We'll be in listening mode all throughout the code," said the bill's author, Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R., Texas). "We are following the Reagan example here. Go bold. Listen. Make adjustments, but keep the process going forward."</p> <p>The plan hits many Republican goals. It nearly doubles the standard deduction, pushes people away from itemizing their deductions, lowers business tax rates, repeals the alternative minimum tax, and eliminates many tax credits, deductions, and exclusions, such as breaks for moving expenses and employee achievement awards.</p> <p>Republicans used at least a few budgetary maneuvers to squeeze the plan inside its constraints. For instance, different inflation measures limit some costs. They also changed some provisions during negotiations to add revenue. A new one-time tax rate on U.S. companies' stockpiled foreign profits will be significantly higher than in previous Republican plans, generating money to meet the $1.5 trillion target. The bill would apply a 12% tax rate to cash in foreign subsidiaries and a 5% tax rate to illiquid investments.</p> <p>INCOME-TAX RATES</p> <p>The bill collapses the current seven individual tax brackets into four: 12%, 25%, 35% and 39.6%. For married couples, the 25% rate starts at $90,000, the 35% rate starts at $260,000 and the top rate starts at $1 million. For individuals, those break points are $45,000, $200,000 and $500,000.</p> <p>The new bottom tax rate covers more income than the current 10% and 15% brackets do, meaning lower taxes for many middle-income households. But many upper-income households could face a higher marginal tax rate under the House bill, which pushes some from a 33% bracket into 35%. Whether they see actual tax increases would depend on particulars, and full estimates aren't available yet.</p> <p>POLITICAL LAND MINES</p> <p>Meantime, there are political land mines scattered in the plan, some easy to see and others that businesses and advocates will likely unearth in the coming days.</p> <p>For example, the proposal repeals an itemized deduction for medical expenses, a crucial provision to households with extraordinary health-care costs. It also repeals the tax credit for adoption and the deduction for student-loan interest.</p> <p>The bill also limits the home mortgage-interest deduction. For new home purchases, interest would be deductible only on loans up to $500,000, down from $1 million today; existing loans would be grandfathered.</p> <p>Because of the larger standard deduction, fewer people would have a tax incentive to make charitable donations. Many charity groups had pushed for a more widely available deduction, but Republicans decided not to expand the charitable deduction to people who don't itemize their deductions.</p> <p>Businesses would lose the ability to deduct certain executive compensation above $1 million, which they can now do for performance-based pay. Life insurers would lose some tax breaks. Banks with assets exceeding $50 billion would get no deduction for certain payments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.</p> <p>Tax-exempt bonds could no longer be used to build professional sports stadiums. Private universities with assets exceeding $100,000 a student would pay a new 1.4% excise tax on their net investment income. Businesses would no longer be able to deduct entertainment expenses, though today's rules for business meals would remain.</p> <p>PASS-THROUGH BUSINESSES</p> <p>One of the most closely watched areas is the taxation of pass-through businesses such as S corporations and partnerships. Republicans promised them a 25% rate, but also said they would create guardrails to prevent people from turning what would otherwise be wage income taxed at up to 39.6% into business income taxed at a lower rate.</p> <p>Passive owners of pass-through businesses would get the 25% rate, but those actively involved in the business would have a different standard. The bill starts with the presumption that 70% of that pass-through income is attributable to labor and would be taxable at higher individual income-tax rates. For some that would create a blended top tax rate of about 35%, which those businesses and their influential trade groups may argue isn't low enough.</p> <p>For professional services firms, including lawyers and financial-services professionals, the default rate would be 100% labor income, meaning they would get none of the benefit of the 25% tax rate for pass-through businesses.</p> <p>That proposal may add new layers of complexity to the tax code. Business aren't bound by those default rates, and they will hire tax lawyers and accountants who will be allowed to argue to the IRS that the firms contain capital investments. That could entitle them to more income at the lower business rates.</p> <p>MULTINATIONALS</p> <p>There are big changes in store for multinational companies. U.S. companies would, generally, no longer pay taxes on their active foreign income, a move corporations and Republicans say is important in a competitive international landscape. To prevent companies from shifting profits abroad, the bill creates a new 10% tax on U.S. companies' high-profit foreign subsidiaries, calculated on a global basis.</p> <p>The plan also imposes new restrictions on foreign companies operating in the U.S. They would face a tax of up to 20% on payments they make abroad from their U.S. operations. That is designed to prevent them from loading up their U.S. operations with deductions and pushing profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Companies could lower those taxes by agreeing to have more of their operations in the U.S. tax system.</p> <p>Many companies would face a new limit on their interest deductions, which would be capped at 30% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which is a measure of cash flow. Real-estate firms and small businesses would be exempt from that limit.</p> <p>CHILD-TAX CREDIT</p> <p>For individuals, one potential flashpoint is an expanded child tax credit, which isn't as large or generous to low-income families as a version proposed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah). The child credit, along with the larger 12% bracket, is crucial to limiting the number of low-income and middle-income families who see tax increases due to the bill. One reason they might see higher bills is because the bill eliminates personal exemptions, which filers can now use to reduce their tax bills.</p> <p>The House bill takes the child credit from $1,000 to $1,600, below the $1,800 or $2,000 that Messrs. Rubio and Lee want. The House bill also creates a new $300 credit for each person in a filer's family who isn't a child, including the primary taxpayer and non-child dependents such as college students. Those $300 credits expire after 2022.</p> <p>HOW A FAMILY FARES</p> <p>Under current law, in 2018, a married couple with two children making $60,000 would get a $13,000 standard deduction and four personal exemptions each worth $4,150. That means they would pay taxes on $30,400 of taxable income. Their base tax bill of $3,608 would be reduced by $2,000 in child tax credits for a total income tax of $1,608.</p> <p>Under the House plan, the same married couple with two children would get $3,800 in tax credits, $3,200 for the two children and $600 for the two parents. The same family would get a $24,400 standard deduction but no exemptions, for $35,600 of taxable income. Their base tax bill of $4,272 would be reduced by the $3,800 in credits for a total income tax of $472.</p> <p>The House bill also expands the child credit for the upper-middle class. Currently, the credit starts phasing out for individuals with incomes above $75,000 and married couples with incomes above $110,000. Under the House bill, those thresholds move up to $115,000 and $230,000.</p> <p>ESTATE TAX</p> <p>The estate tax provisions also contain wrinkles. The estate-tax exemption, set for $5.6 million per person and $11.2 million per married couple, would double immediately. The tax would get repealed starting in 2024.</p> <p>Even after repeal, heirs would continue to get something known as a "step-up in basis." That means they would only owe capital-gains taxes on the difference between the sales price of an asset they inherit and the value of the asset at the previous owner's death. Previous versions of estate-tax repeal had limited that benefit.</p> <p>--Louise Radnofsky contributed to this article.</p> <p>Write to Richard Rubin at [email protected]</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>November 02, 2017 13:49 ET (17:49 GMT)</p>

house republicans seeking biggest transformation us tax code 30 years aim permanently chop corporate tax rate 35 20 compress number individual income tax brackets repeal taxes paid large estates starting 2024 according detailed summary plan reviewed wall street journal gop plan repeals deduction state local income sales taxes allows deduction property taxes caps 10000 limit applies married filers individuals continue reading partly offset lost revenue republicans plan curtail deductions individuals take state local tax payments ones businesses get interest pay debt plan released thursday morning stops short touching popular tax breaks considered change ability individuals park 18000 year pretax funds 401k savings accounts plan named tax cuts jobs act calls leaving top individual tax rate 396 pushing income threshold rate 1 million married couples house ways means committee plans consider bill next week aim turning law christmas take effect 2018 republicans view tax bill essential political futures best chance legislative victory president donald trumps first year office mr trump likely argue bill meets many goals still faces challenging path completion congress contending many competing interests tax bill revised repeatedly final days release already bears marks political compromises large small addition budgetary contortions needed avoid creating larger longlasting budget deficits example incentives business investment lapse five years new 300 per person credit filers spouses nonchild dependents college students expirations mean tax cuts would shrink future years unless congress acts moves necessary budget blueprint agreed upon senate house constrains tax overhaul cost 15 trillion decade need hit target avoid higher budget deficits beyond qualify fasttrack rules could let pass bill without democratic votes republicans seeking 5 trillion rate cuts decade need find offsetting provisions critics label decisions budgetary gimmicks republicans spent months trying solve math problem looking tax breaks repeal without disturbing slim political coalition need pass bill advertisement republican leaders begin hard work selling plan starting meeting lawmakers thursday morning white house event afternoon soliciting reaction business groups particularly complicated novel changes taxation corporate foreign income passthrough businesses partnerships areas contain huge potential problems intend work quickly first crucible house ways means committee begin considering plan next week theoretically shouldnt hard ways means republicans huddling week hammer plan come tougher challenges cobbling together house majority melding bill separate senate plan scheduled release soon next week democrats likely attack plan budgetbusting giveaway rich estimates projections analyses debated furiously coming weeks well listening mode throughout code said bills author ways means chairman kevin brady r texas following reagan example go bold listen make adjustments keep process going forward plan hits many republican goals nearly doubles standard deduction pushes people away itemizing deductions lowers business tax rates repeals alternative minimum tax eliminates many tax credits deductions exclusions breaks moving expenses employee achievement awards republicans used least budgetary maneuvers squeeze plan inside constraints instance different inflation measures limit costs also changed provisions negotiations add revenue new onetime tax rate us companies stockpiled foreign profits significantly higher previous republican plans generating money meet 15 trillion target bill would apply 12 tax rate cash foreign subsidiaries 5 tax rate illiquid investments incometax rates bill collapses current seven individual tax brackets four 12 25 35 396 married couples 25 rate starts 90000 35 rate starts 260000 top rate starts 1 million individuals break points 45000 200000 500000 new bottom tax rate covers income current 10 15 brackets meaning lower taxes many middleincome households many upperincome households could face higher marginal tax rate house bill pushes 33 bracket 35 whether see actual tax increases would depends particulars full estimates arent available yet political land mines meantime political land mines scattered plan easy see others businesses advocates likely unearth coming days example proposal repeals itemized deduction medical expenses crucial provision households extraordinary healthcare costs also repeals tax credit adoption deduction studentloan interest bill also limits home mortgageinterest deduction new home purchases interest would deductible loans 500000 1 million today existing loans would grandfathered larger standard deduction fewer people would tax incentive make charitable donations many charity groups pushed widely available deduction republicans decided expand charitable deduction people dont itemize deductions businesses would lose ability deduct certain executive compensation 1 million performancebased pay life insurers would lose tax breaks banks assets exceeding 50 billion would get deduction certain payments federal deposit insurance commission taxexempt bonds could longer used build professional sports stadiums private universities assets exceeding 100000 student would pay new 14 excise tax net investment income businesses would longer able deduct entertainment expenses though todays rules business meals would remain passthrough businesses one closely watched areas taxation passthrough businesses corporations partnerships republicans promised 25 rate also said would create guardrails prevent people turning would otherwise wage income taxed 396 business income taxed lower rate passive owners passthrough businesses would get 25 rate actively involved business would different standard bill starts presumption 70 passthrough income attributable labor would taxable higher individual incometax rates would create blended top tax rate 35 businesses influential trade groups may argue isnt low enough professional services firms including lawyers financialservices professionals default rate would 100 labor income meaning would get none benefit 25 tax rate passthrough businesses proposal may add new layers complexity tax code business arent bound default rates hire tax lawyers accountants allowed argue irs firms contain capital investments could entitle income lower business rates multinationals big changes store multinational companies us companies would generally longer pay taxes active foreign income move corporations republicans say important competitive international landscape prevent companies shifting profits abroad bill creates new 10 tax us companies highprofit foreign subsidiaries calculated global basis plan also imposes new restrictions foreign companies operating us would face tax 20 payments make abroad us operations designed prevent loading us operations deductions pushing profits lowtax jurisdictions companies could lower taxes agreeing operations us tax system many companies would face new limit interest deductions would capped 30 earnings interest taxes depreciation amortization measure cash flow realestate firms small businesses would exempt limit childtax credit individuals one potential flashpoint expanded child tax credit isnt large generous lowincome families version proposed sens marco rubio r fla mike lee r utah child credit along larger 12 bracket crucial limiting number lowincome middleincome families see tax increases due bill one reason might see higher bills bill eliminates personal exemptions filers use reduce tax bills house bill takes child credit 1000 1600 1800 2000 messrs rubio lee want house bill also creates new 300 credit person filers family isnt child including primary taxpayer nonchild dependents college students 300 credits expire 2022 family fares current law 2018 married couple two children making 60000 would get 13000 standard deduction four personal exemptions worth 4150 means would pay taxes 30400 taxable income base tax bill 3608 would reduced 2000 child tax credits total income tax 1608 house plan married couple two children would get 3800 tax credits 3200 two children 600 two parents family would get 24400 standard deduction exemptions 35600 taxable income base tax bill 4272 would reduced 3800 credits total income tax 472 house bill also expands child credit uppermiddle class currently credit starts phasing individuals incomes 75000 married couples incomes 110000 house bill thresholds move 115000 230000 estate tax estate tax provisions also contain wrinkles estatetax exemption set 56 million per person 112 million per married couple would double immediately tax would get repealed starting 2024 even repeal heirs would continue get something known stepup basis means would owe capitalgains taxes difference sales price asset inherit value asset previous owners death previous versions estatetax repeal limited benefit write richard rubin richardrubinwsjcom washington house republicans seeking biggest transformation us tax code 30 years aim permanently chop corporate tax rate 35 20 compress number individual income tax brackets repeal taxes paid large estates starting 2024 according detailed summary plan reviewed wall street journal gop plan repeals deduction state local income sales taxes allows deduction property taxes caps 10000 limit applies married filers individuals partly offset lost revenue republicans plan curtail deductions individuals take state local tax payments ones businesses get interest pay debt plan released thursday morning stops short touching popular tax breaks considered change ability individuals park 18000 year pretax funds 401k savings accounts plan named tax cuts jobs act calls leaving top individual tax rate 396 pushing income threshold rate 1 million married couples house ways means committee plans consider bill next week aim turning law christmas take effect 2018 republicans view tax bill essential political futures best chance legislative victory president donald trumps first year office mr trump likely argue bill meets many goals bill still faces challenging path completion congress contending many competing interests comments oval office mr trump praised proposal saying would act gift american people put white house squarely behind bill working give american people giant tax cut christmas giving big beautiful christmas present form tremendous tax cut mr trump said biggest cut history country also tax reform create jobs lone lawmaker flanking president kevin mccarthy gop house majority leader warmly greeted praised mr trump tax bill revised repeatedly final days release already bears marks political compromises large small addition budgetary contortions needed avoid creating larger longlasting budget deficits example incentives business investment lapse five years new 300 per person credit filers spouses nonchild dependents college students expirations mean tax cuts would shrink future years unless congress acts moves necessary budget blueprint agreed upon senate house constrains tax overhaul cost 15 trillion decade need hit target avoid higher budget deficits beyond qualify fasttrack rules could let pass bill without democratic votes republicans seeking 5 trillion rate cuts decade need find offsetting provisions critics label decisions budgetary gimmicks republicans spent months trying solve math problem looking tax breaks repeal without disturbing slim political coalition need pass bill republican leaders begin hard work selling plan starting meeting lawmakers thursday morning white house event afternoon soliciting reaction business groups particularly complicated novel changes taxation corporate foreign income passthrough businesses partnerships areas contain huge potential problems intend work quickly first crucible house ways means committee begin considering plan next week theoretically shouldnt hard ways means republicans huddling week hammer plan come tougher challenges cobbling together house majority melding bill separate senate plan scheduled release soon next week democrats likely attack plan budgetbusting giveaway rich estimates projections analyses debated furiously coming weeks well listening mode throughout code said bills author ways means chairman kevin brady r texas following reagan example go bold listen make adjustments keep process going forward plan hits many republican goals nearly doubles standard deduction pushes people away itemizing deductions lowers business tax rates repeals alternative minimum tax eliminates many tax credits deductions exclusions breaks moving expenses employee achievement awards republicans used least budgetary maneuvers squeeze plan inside constraints instance different inflation measures limit costs also changed provisions negotiations add revenue new onetime tax rate us companies stockpiled foreign profits significantly higher previous republican plans generating money meet 15 trillion target bill would apply 12 tax rate cash foreign subsidiaries 5 tax rate illiquid investments incometax rates bill collapses current seven individual tax brackets four 12 25 35 396 married couples 25 rate starts 90000 35 rate starts 260000 top rate starts 1 million individuals break points 45000 200000 500000 new bottom tax rate covers income current 10 15 brackets meaning lower taxes many middleincome households many upperincome households could face higher marginal tax rate house bill pushes 33 bracket 35 whether see actual tax increases would depend particulars full estimates arent available yet political land mines meantime political land mines scattered plan easy see others businesses advocates likely unearth coming days example proposal repeals itemized deduction medical expenses crucial provision households extraordinary healthcare costs also repeals tax credit adoption deduction studentloan interest bill also limits home mortgageinterest deduction new home purchases interest would deductible loans 500000 1 million today existing loans would grandfathered larger standard deduction fewer people would tax incentive make charitable donations many charity groups pushed widely available deduction republicans decided expand charitable deduction people dont itemize deductions businesses would lose ability deduct certain executive compensation 1 million performancebased pay life insurers would lose tax breaks banks assets exceeding 50 billion would get deduction certain payments federal deposit insurance corporation taxexempt bonds could longer used build professional sports stadiums private universities assets exceeding 100000 student would pay new 14 excise tax net investment income businesses would longer able deduct entertainment expenses though todays rules business meals would remain passthrough businesses one closely watched areas taxation passthrough businesses corporations partnerships republicans promised 25 rate also said would create guardrails prevent people turning would otherwise wage income taxed 396 business income taxed lower rate passive owners passthrough businesses would get 25 rate actively involved business would different standard bill starts presumption 70 passthrough income attributable labor would taxable higher individual incometax rates would create blended top tax rate 35 businesses influential trade groups may argue isnt low enough professional services firms including lawyers financialservices professionals default rate would 100 labor income meaning would get none benefit 25 tax rate passthrough businesses proposal may add new layers complexity tax code business arent bound default rates hire tax lawyers accountants allowed argue irs firms contain capital investments could entitle income lower business rates multinationals big changes store multinational companies us companies would generally longer pay taxes active foreign income move corporations republicans say important competitive international landscape prevent companies shifting profits abroad bill creates new 10 tax us companies highprofit foreign subsidiaries calculated global basis plan also imposes new restrictions foreign companies operating us would face tax 20 payments make abroad us operations designed prevent loading us operations deductions pushing profits lowtax jurisdictions companies could lower taxes agreeing operations us tax system many companies would face new limit interest deductions would capped 30 earnings interest taxes depreciation amortization measure cash flow realestate firms small businesses would exempt limit childtax credit individuals one potential flashpoint expanded child tax credit isnt large generous lowincome families version proposed sens marco rubio r fla mike lee r utah child credit along larger 12 bracket crucial limiting number lowincome middleincome families see tax increases due bill one reason might see higher bills bill eliminates personal exemptions filers use reduce tax bills house bill takes child credit 1000 1600 1800 2000 messrs rubio lee want house bill also creates new 300 credit person filers family isnt child including primary taxpayer nonchild dependents college students 300 credits expire 2022 family fares current law 2018 married couple two children making 60000 would get 13000 standard deduction four personal exemptions worth 4150 means would pay taxes 30400 taxable income base tax bill 3608 would reduced 2000 child tax credits total income tax 1608 house plan married couple two children would get 3800 tax credits 3200 two children 600 two parents family would get 24400 standard deduction exemptions 35600 taxable income base tax bill 4272 would reduced 3800 credits total income tax 472 house bill also expands child credit uppermiddle class currently credit starts phasing individuals incomes 75000 married couples incomes 110000 house bill thresholds move 115000 230000 estate tax estate tax provisions also contain wrinkles estatetax exemption set 56 million per person 112 million per married couple would double immediately tax would get repealed starting 2024 even repeal heirs would continue get something known stepup basis means would owe capitalgains taxes difference sales price asset inherit value asset previous owners death previous versions estatetax repeal limited benefit louise radnofsky contributed article write richard rubin richardrubinwsjcom end dow jones newswires november 02 2017 1349 et 1749 gmt

<p /> <p>Fears that baby boomers haven&#8217;t saved enough for retirement are constantly dominating headlines, but there&#8217;s also the flipside of that problem that can also be a financial disaster: outliving our savings.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>According to a recent study by Ernst &amp;amp; Young, almost three out of five new middle-class retirees will outlive their financial assets if they attempt to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. Finding the right spending balance and developing a financial plan leading up to and in retirement is an arduous process and often requires assistance from a professional.</p> <p>When choosing a financial expert, it&#8217;s important to check their credentials&#8212;but where do we begin looking? To help boomers find a pro to help evaluate and plan their retirement picture,&amp;#160; The American College launched The Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) credential will help advisors master retirement income planning. I had a chance to speak with Director of the New York Life Center for Retirement Income at <a href="http://www.theamericancollege.edu/retirement-income-center/" type="external">The American College Opens a New Window.</a> David&amp;#160; Littell, who is in charge of designing the program curriculum. Here is what he had to say:</p> <p>Boomer: What is the Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) credential and how will it help advisors with retirement income planning?</p> <p>Littell: The RICP is an advanced professional designation for financial advisors who assist clients with retirement income planning. It helps advisors address the specific tasks, such as when to retire, choosing a claiming age for Social Security benefits, how to elect company sponsored retirement benefits and how to convert assets into sustainable income during retirement. The program provides advisors with a comprehensive planning process, to help them create customized plans to meet their client&#8217;s specific retirement goals.</p> <p>Boomer. What&#8217;s included in the coursework consist and who is getting this designation?</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Littell: Students are required to take three, college-level courses. The courses are online, self-study courses, followed by completion of a final exam at a testing center.</p> <p>The first course (HS 353 Retirement Income Process, Strategies and Solutions) focuses on how to build a retirement income plan&#8212;what has to be considered, what steps are involved and what are some of the strategies and solutions to solve client problems. This course addresses new retirement risks like tax and legal issues that can undermine a plan, and some of the common approaches being used to generate income from assets.</p> <p>The second course (HS 354 Sources of Retirement Income) reviews things like the Social Security claiming issue, distribution options from retirement plans, annuity products used in retirement income planning and building a retirement portfolio. The third course, (HS 355 Managing the Retirement Income Plan) begins with important retirement decisions including choosing appropriate Medicare and other health insurance options, addressing long-term-care needs and housing decisions. It also addresses retirement portfolio management and issues that arise as clients&#8217; age.</p> <p>To earn the designation students must also satisfy a three-year experience requirement, ongoing CE requirements and abide by the College&#8217;s ethic pledge.</p> <p>Boomer: Why did The College decide to offer this course, and what is included in the program?</p> <p>Littell: About a year ago, we brought together a group representing the industry to a "retirement income summit" at the College and discussed our concerns over gaps in knowledge. One concern was simply that advisors come at this issue from a particular perspective, and don&#8217;t have a full range of options and solutions. Retirement planning requires different solutions in different situations, a cookie cutter or one product solution is not appropriate.</p> <p>We also identified that advisors needed help with framing the retirement income issue with their clients and required a clearer planning process. Retirement planners need some knowledge of health insurance planning as medical expenses and long-term planning become a larger part of retirees&#8217; budget.</p> <p>Boomer: How does one determine their retirement readiness beyond the number?</p> <p>Littell: Retirement readiness is less about a specific savings number and more about proper on-going planning and careful consideration of the many decisions that have to be made before, at and after retirement has begun. Decisions like when to retire and when to claim Social Security benefits are typically critical to a successful retirement plan. Other decisions impact readiness as well, including taking the right distribution option from the company&#8217;s retirement plan, electing the right Medicare and other health care choices and planning for long-term care needs. All of these decisions need to be part of a comprehensive, coordinated retirement income plan. The plan takes into consideration the client&#8217;s risk tolerance, income needs, income sources, legacy goals and other unique and individual concerns. Finally, this is not a one-time review, this is a regular, ongoing process that begins well before retirement and continues throughout the retirement period.</p> <p>Boomer: What are some of the contingencies that retirees need to plan for when it comes to retirement income?</p> <p>Littell: What&#8217;s hard about retirement is that we haven&#8217;t lived through it before,so the risks and contingencies are new potential roadblocks to retirement readiness that retirees need to learn about. We have identified 25 risks, but a few key issues include: the uncertainty of life expectancy, the loss of purchasing power due to inflation, the risks of investing, including changing market values, shifting fixed income returns and sequence of returns risk.</p> <p>Aging can also result in the need for additional spending on health care, spending on services that are no longer easy to perform and the costs of needing care for help with the daily tasks of living. The retirement income plan planning process needs to help the individual prioritize these risks and determine appropriate strategies for addressing them.</p> <p>&#8220;The Boomer&#8221; is a column written for adults nearing retirement age and those already in their &#8220;golden years.&#8221; It will also promote reader interaction by posting e-mail responses and answering reader questions. E-mail your questions or topic ideas to <a href="http://[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]. Opens a New Window.</a></p>

fears baby boomers havent saved enough retirement constantly dominating headlines theres also flipside problem also financial disaster outliving savings continue reading according recent study ernst amp young almost three five new middleclass retirees outlive financial assets attempt maintain preretirement standard living finding right spending balance developing financial plan leading retirement arduous process often requires assistance professional choosing financial expert important check credentialsbut begin looking help boomers find pro help evaluate plan retirement picture160 american college launched retirement income certified professional ricp credential help advisors master retirement income planning chance speak director new york life center retirement income american college opens new window david160 littell charge designing program curriculum say boomer retirement income certified professional ricp credential help advisors retirement income planning littell ricp advanced professional designation financial advisors assist clients retirement income planning helps advisors address specific tasks retire choosing claiming age social security benefits elect company sponsored retirement benefits convert assets sustainable income retirement program provides advisors comprehensive planning process help create customized plans meet clients specific retirement goals boomer whats included coursework consist getting designation advertisement littell students required take three collegelevel courses courses online selfstudy courses followed completion final exam testing center first course hs 353 retirement income process strategies solutions focuses build retirement income planwhat considered steps involved strategies solutions solve client problems course addresses new retirement risks like tax legal issues undermine plan common approaches used generate income assets second course hs 354 sources retirement income reviews things like social security claiming issue distribution options retirement plans annuity products used retirement income planning building retirement portfolio third course hs 355 managing retirement income plan begins important retirement decisions including choosing appropriate medicare health insurance options addressing longtermcare needs housing decisions also addresses retirement portfolio management issues arise clients age earn designation students must also satisfy threeyear experience requirement ongoing ce requirements abide colleges ethic pledge boomer college decide offer course included program littell year ago brought together group representing industry retirement income summit college discussed concerns gaps knowledge one concern simply advisors come issue particular perspective dont full range options solutions retirement planning requires different solutions different situations cookie cutter one product solution appropriate also identified advisors needed help framing retirement income issue clients required clearer planning process retirement planners need knowledge health insurance planning medical expenses longterm planning become larger part retirees budget boomer one determine retirement readiness beyond number littell retirement readiness less specific savings number proper ongoing planning careful consideration many decisions made retirement begun decisions like retire claim social security benefits typically critical successful retirement plan decisions impact readiness well including taking right distribution option companys retirement plan electing right medicare health care choices planning longterm care needs decisions need part comprehensive coordinated retirement income plan plan takes consideration clients risk tolerance income needs income sources legacy goals unique individual concerns finally onetime review regular ongoing process begins well retirement continues throughout retirement period boomer contingencies retirees need plan comes retirement income littell whats hard retirement havent lived beforeso risks contingencies new potential roadblocks retirement readiness retirees need learn identified 25 risks key issues include uncertainty life expectancy loss purchasing power due inflation risks investing including changing market values shifting fixed income returns sequence returns risk aging also result need additional spending health care spending services longer easy perform costs needing care help daily tasks living retirement income plan planning process needs help individual prioritize risks determine appropriate strategies addressing boomer column written adults nearing retirement age already golden years also promote reader interaction posting email responses answering reader questions email questions topic ideas thefoxboomergmailcom opens new window

<p>Investing in dividend stocks and holding them for decades at a time can be a great way for investors to build wealth. The compounding returns of reinvested dividends can do wonders for a portfolio over a very long time horizon. This kind of investing only works, though, if a stock can reliably pay dividends for an extraordinarily long time. A significant payout cut, on the other hand, can erase years of returns in one fell swoop.</p> <p>So when picking potential candidates for a dividend portfolio you plan to hold over the super long term, you want to avoid stocks for which the dividend payouts are uncertain. That's why, for now, Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL), Suburban Propane Partners (NYSE: SPH), and Covanta Holding (NYSE: CVA) don't look like the best dividend stock investments. Here's why.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The reason most master limited partnerships are good investments is that they build big-ticket infrastructure projects that require little to no maintenance capital for decades and can, therefore, throw off lots of cash. To fund those projects, they have three avenues: issuing debt, issuing equity, or using excess cash from operations. A well-run master limited partnership will try to use all three of these options to fund growth because it gives management flexibility. Once one or two of those options get taken away, though, things start to get a little hairy.</p> <p>As things stand today, it looks like Buckeye Partners' funding options are running thin. With a distribution yield of 11.9%, it's prohibitively expensive to issue new shares -- each new share gets a distribution in cash, so it's kind of like paying an 11.9% coupon rate. Also, the company ended 2017 with a distribution coverage ratio around 1, so every dollar coming in the door is pretty much going out in the form of distribution payments and little is retained for capital spending.</p> <p>That leaves debt as the only viable option right now. While the company has relatively good debt metrics for a master limited partnership and an investment-grade credit rating, having to pay for a year of capital spending entirely with debt could seriously compromise its balance sheet.</p> <p>Buckeye Partners did just absorb a major acquisition, which could boost cash flow in the coming quarters and allow this issue to blow over soon. Also, Buckeye has an <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/03/19/4-reasons-to-be-hopeful-for-a-buckeye-partners-lp.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=349a1767-8b9d-4016-889d-352b2f50c1a3&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">impressive track record of maintaining capital discipline and rewarding shareholders Opens a New Window.</a> with consistent dividend increases. However, we have seen this story play out with other master limited partnerships before, and few have been able to get through without a distribution cut. So until management can deliver higher cash flow and ease some of these funding concerns, it's best to shy away from this high-yield stock.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The propane distribution business is a weird one. Selling propane to residential and commercial customers is a relatively simple business that has little to no commodity exposure, which is great if you want consistent revenue. There are a couple problems with this business, though. One is that fewer and fewer homeowners take propane or other heating fuel deliveries because they get hooked up to a line or elect for another form of heating. Large propane distributors like Suburban have historically been able to offset the loss of customers by making bolt-on acquisitions.</p> <p>The other issue has been rising winter temperatures in Suburban's primary markets. Despite the short periods of extremely cold weather, winter temperatures as measured in degree heating days have been much higher than historical averages over the past few years. That means customers are using less propane and taking fewer deliveries in the winter months, when Suburban's business is strongest. The trouble Suburban faces is that a few poor winters have chewed through any extra cash on the books, which severely restricts management's ability to make those small acquisitions to grow the top line.</p> <p>Suburban's management already cut its payout last year, but winter weather didn't really do the company any favors this past year, and it <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/08/suburban-propane-partners-revenue-jumps-on-colder.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=349a1767-8b9d-4016-889d-352b2f50c1a3&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">hasn't been able to trim down its debt load Opens a New Window.</a>. Barring some weather anomalies, Suburban could be a headed for another distribution cut sooner rather than later.</p> <p>Covanta Holding may be approaching a major inflection point in its business that could make or break its dividend. Its business -- handling waste -- has historically been conducive to generating returns. Also, since Covanta's waste facilities burn waste for electricity and recover recyclables from the waste stream, the company's land requirements for ultimate disposal are lower than those of conventional landfills. These qualities should make Covanta a great business.</p> <p>Unfortunately, the company's promise so far hasn't translated into robust value delivered to shareholders. Like conventional waste handlers, it takes a lot of capital to get a new facility up and running, and the company's debt levels are a little too high for comfort. As it stands today, the company's interest expenses are equivalent to 64% of its annual EBITDA, and the company has been burning through cash for years as it builds new facilities, the largest of which is in Dublin, Ireland.</p> <p>According to management, the <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/12/26/2-hated-dividend-stocks-you-should-love.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=349a1767-8b9d-4016-889d-352b2f50c1a3&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">completion of Dublin will significantly boost EBITDA Opens a New Window.</a> in fiscal 2018 and its leverage metrics will come down to more reasonable levels. If that is that case, then perhaps the Covanta's leverage concerns will blow over and the company will turn into a great dividend investment. Any snags with Dublin, though, would be a significant blow to the company's earnings power and could make its dividend even more questionable than it is today.</p> <p>There is a chance that Covanta could turn things around in 2018, but the company needs to prove over the next few quarters that Dublin is running smoothly and leverage ratios need to start dropping. Until then, you may want to sit on the sidelines with this dividend stock.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Covanta HoldingWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=703ee5e2-31b2-4ae5-bb15-976628d7538d&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=349a1767-8b9d-4016-889d-352b2f50c1a3&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Covanta Holding wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=703ee5e2-31b2-4ae5-bb15-976628d7538d&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=349a1767-8b9d-4016-889d-352b2f50c1a3&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of March 5, 2018</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=349a1767-8b9d-4016-889d-352b2f50c1a3&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Tyler Crowe Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;referring_guid=349a1767-8b9d-4016-889d-352b2f50c1a3&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

investing dividend stocks holding decades time great way investors build wealth compounding returns reinvested dividends wonders portfolio long time horizon kind investing works though stock reliably pay dividends extraordinarily long time significant payout cut hand erase years returns one fell swoop picking potential candidates dividend portfolio plan hold super long term want avoid stocks dividend payouts uncertain thats buckeye partners nyse bpl suburban propane partners nyse sph covanta holding nyse cva dont look like best dividend stock investments heres continue reading reason master limited partnerships good investments build bigticket infrastructure projects require little maintenance capital decades therefore throw lots cash fund projects three avenues issuing debt issuing equity using excess cash operations wellrun master limited partnership try use three options fund growth gives management flexibility one two options get taken away though things start get little hairy things stand today looks like buckeye partners funding options running thin distribution yield 119 prohibitively expensive issue new shares new share gets distribution cash kind like paying 119 coupon rate also company ended 2017 distribution coverage ratio around 1 every dollar coming door pretty much going form distribution payments little retained capital spending leaves debt viable option right company relatively good debt metrics master limited partnership investmentgrade credit rating pay year capital spending entirely debt could seriously compromise balance sheet buckeye partners absorb major acquisition could boost cash flow coming quarters allow issue blow soon also buckeye impressive track record maintaining capital discipline rewarding shareholders opens new window consistent dividend increases however seen story play master limited partnerships able get without distribution cut management deliver higher cash flow ease funding concerns best shy away highyield stock advertisement propane distribution business weird one selling propane residential commercial customers relatively simple business little commodity exposure great want consistent revenue couple problems business though one fewer fewer homeowners take propane heating fuel deliveries get hooked line elect another form heating large propane distributors like suburban historically able offset loss customers making bolton acquisitions issue rising winter temperatures suburbans primary markets despite short periods extremely cold weather winter temperatures measured degree heating days much higher historical averages past years means customers using less propane taking fewer deliveries winter months suburbans business strongest trouble suburban faces poor winters chewed extra cash books severely restricts managements ability make small acquisitions grow top line suburbans management already cut payout last year winter weather didnt really company favors past year hasnt able trim debt load opens new window barring weather anomalies suburban could headed another distribution cut sooner rather later covanta holding may approaching major inflection point business could make break dividend business handling waste historically conducive generating returns also since covantas waste facilities burn waste electricity recover recyclables waste stream companys land requirements ultimate disposal lower conventional landfills qualities make covanta great business unfortunately companys promise far hasnt translated robust value delivered shareholders like conventional waste handlers takes lot capital get new facility running companys debt levels little high comfort stands today companys interest expenses equivalent 64 annual ebitda company burning cash years builds new facilities largest dublin ireland according management completion dublin significantly boost ebitda opens new window fiscal 2018 leverage metrics come reasonable levels case perhaps covantas leverage concerns blow company turn great dividend investment snags dublin though would significant blow companys earnings power could make dividend even questionable today chance covanta could turn things around 2018 company needs prove next quarters dublin running smoothly leverage ratios need start dropping may want sit sidelines dividend stock 10 stocks like better covanta holdingwhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right covanta holding wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns march 5 2018 tyler crowe opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool position stocks mentioned motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Thanks to a two-year slide across the energy industry, there is a cornucopia of companies that are sporting absurdly high yields. The idea of a company paying a dividend yield greater than 15% sounds too good to be true. Well, in the case of the 10 highest-yielding energy dividend stocks, it is too good to be true. Let's take a look at the 10 highest-yielding dividend stocks in the energy industry today (caveat -- they have to have a market capitalization greater than $200 million), why their yields have been pushed so high, and why they are all probably not the best investment to make today despite that high yield.</p> <p>Data source: <a href="https://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>If you look at all of the names on this list, there are two common themes. Seven of the companies here are listed as master limited partnerships, which means that they are set up to pay out a set amount of their cash flow to investors. The other three that aren't structured this way -- Frontline, DHT Holdings, and Teekay Tankers -- own and operate fleets of crude-oil-carrying vessels. Typically, vessels like these operate under either long-term charters or spot contracts, and those with a high number of long-term charters typically have predictable cash flows that can make a decent dividend payout possible.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Even though all of these companies are set up as businesses that are supposed to support a decently high yield, the payouts for these companies are all abnormally high, and it looks as though Wall Street is pricing in a pretty sizable dividend cut for each. There are three common reasons that in one way or another are influencing why investors have such a dour attitude with each of these companies, and why they are pricing in a dividend cut.</p> <p>A company is biting off more than it can chew: The energy industry can be very cyclical, but the underlying theme is that oil and gas demand increases modestly over time. The problem for too many companies in this industry, though, is that a new growth opportunity can make companies overpursue that market and it quickly becomes saturated. A great example of this today is offshore oil tanker companies and offshore drilling equipment. For years, the underlying theory was that demand from China would continue to grow at high-single-digit rates for decades, so companies were building lots of new vessels to meet that anticipated demand. Unfortunately, Chinese growth stalled, and it has left the market for oil cargo vessels and offshore equipment oversupplied. So today, companies like Frontline, DHT Holdings, Seadrill Parnters, Capital Product Partners, Teekay Offshore Partners, and Teekay Tankers are all competing on price for contracts, all while trying to pay for new vessels or rigs still under construction.</p> <p>It is overpromising on payouts: Many master limited partnerships insulate themselves from the price of oil and gas because of they are intermediaries that charge a fixed fee. This can make cash flows pretty consistent, but they aren't 100% immune from the effects of higher and lower commodity prices. The wise thing for a company to do to protect against this commodity sensitivity is to leave some wiggle room between how much cash is coming in the door and what it pays out. Unfortunately, there are too many companies that pay out all or very close to all of their cash each quarter. That makes their payouts very suspect if there is even the most modest decline in revenue or cash flow. JP Energy Partners, Midcoast Energy Partners, and CNX Coal Resources are in this position as the three aren't generating enough cash to cover all that is going out the door in distributions to their investors. The only reason that Midcoast has been able to meet its obligations is because its parent organization is covering any cash shortfalls for the time being.</p> <p>It is being painted into a corner: The other issue so many of these companies face is that they are almost wholly reliant on external sources of capital to grow the business. This means that they need to issue either debt or new shares to meet their funding needs. With yields that high on their stocks, however, it's prohibitively expensive to issue new shares. There is almost no project any company can do today that would generate a rate of return greater than 16%-20%. Without equity, the only option is debt, and most of the companies already have too much debt on the books to add any more.</p> <p>Data source: <a href="https://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;amp;P Global Market Intelligence</a>.</p> <p>If debt is no longer an option -- the most guilty of this are Seadrill Partners, Teekay Offshore Partners, Midcoast Energy Partners, and CSI Compressco -- then the only viable options are to sell assets or cut dividends so that the dividend payments don't demand such a high return to make them viable.</p> <p>These 10 companies serve as a lesson as to why high yield should be a major red flag before making any investment. Every company on this list is suffering in one way or another that suggests they will be cutting their dividends in the near future. This doesn't mean that all high-yield investments are destined to get cut, but keep in mind that the higher the yield, the deeper you need to dig to determine why the market is sour on the company or if the business fundamentals don't add up. In the case of these 10 stocks, chances are it will be best to avoid them while they work out their respective issues.</p> <p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! 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image source getty images continue reading thanks twoyear slide across energy industry cornucopia companies sporting absurdly high yields idea company paying dividend yield greater 15 sounds good true well case 10 highestyielding energy dividend stocks good true lets take look 10 highestyielding dividend stocks energy industry today caveat market capitalization greater 200 million yields pushed high probably best investment make today despite high yield data source sampp global market intelligence opens new window look names list two common themes seven companies listed master limited partnerships means set pay set amount cash flow investors three arent structured way frontline dht holdings teekay tankers operate fleets crudeoilcarrying vessels typically vessels like operate either longterm charters spot contracts high number longterm charters typically predictable cash flows make decent dividend payout possible advertisement even though companies set businesses supposed support decently high yield payouts companies abnormally high looks though wall street pricing pretty sizable dividend cut three common reasons one way another influencing investors dour attitude companies pricing dividend cut company biting chew energy industry cyclical underlying theme oil gas demand increases modestly time problem many companies industry though new growth opportunity make companies overpursue market quickly becomes saturated great example today offshore oil tanker companies offshore drilling equipment years underlying theory demand china would continue grow highsingledigit rates decades companies building lots new vessels meet anticipated demand unfortunately chinese growth stalled left market oil cargo vessels offshore equipment oversupplied today companies like frontline dht holdings seadrill parnters capital product partners teekay offshore partners teekay tankers competing price contracts trying pay new vessels rigs still construction overpromising payouts many master limited partnerships insulate price oil gas intermediaries charge fixed fee make cash flows pretty consistent arent 100 immune effects higher lower commodity prices wise thing company protect commodity sensitivity leave wiggle room much cash coming door pays unfortunately many companies pay close cash quarter makes payouts suspect even modest decline revenue cash flow jp energy partners midcoast energy partners cnx coal resources position three arent generating enough cash cover going door distributions investors reason midcoast able meet obligations parent organization covering cash shortfalls time painted corner issue many companies face almost wholly reliant external sources capital grow business means need issue either debt new shares meet funding needs yields high stocks however prohibitively expensive issue new shares almost project company today would generate rate return greater 1620 without equity option debt companies already much debt books add data source sampp global market intelligence debt longer option guilty seadrill partners teekay offshore partners midcoast energy partners csi compressco viable options sell assets cut dividends dividend payments dont demand high return make viable 10 companies serve lesson high yield major red flag making investment every company list suffering one way another suggests cutting dividends near future doesnt mean highyield investments destined get cut keep mind higher yield deeper need dig determine market sour company business fundamentals dont add case 10 stocks chances best avoid work respective issues secret billiondollar stock opportunity worlds biggest tech company forgot show something wall street analysts fool didnt miss beat theres small company thats powering brandnew gadgets coming revolution technology think stock price nearly unlimited room run early intheknow investors one click opens new window tyler crowe opens new window position stocks mentionedyou follow foolcomor twitter tylercrowefool opens new window motley fool position stocks mentioned try foolish newsletter services free 30 days opens new window fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights opens new window makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>Two-time failed presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has blamed everything and everyone other than the old lady looking back at her in the mirror for her 2016 presidential election loss. The politically irrelevant former politician began whining and complaining about her stunning loss to Donald Trump soon after Election Day, and shows no signs of letting up.</p> <p>Here's a full list of all the people, organizations, government entities, and abstract concepts Hillary Clinton has blamed for her loss thus far:</p> <p>1. <a href="" type="internal">Former FBI Director James Comey&#8203;</a></p> <p>"[A]s I explain in my book, you know, the Comey letter, which was, now we know, partly based on a false memo from the Russians. It was a classic piece of Russian disinformation &#8212; comprimat, they call it. So, for whatever reason, and I speculate, but I can&#8217;t look inside the guy&#8217;s mind, you know, he dumps that on me on October 28th, and I immediately start falling," said Hillary.</p> <p>She later added: "Remember, Comey was more than happy to talk about my emails, but he wouldn&#8217;t talk about the investigation of the Russians."</p> <p>2. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/31/15719342/hillary-clinton-2016-excuses" type="external">Sexism</a></p> <p>"Men got paid for the speeches they made, and I got paid for the speeches I made. It was used, I thought it was unfairly used, and all of that, but it was part of the background music," whined Hillary.</p> <p>She also said, "I never said I was a perfect candidate, and I certainly have never said I ran perfect campaigns, but I don't know who is or did. And at some point it sort of bleeds into misogyny."</p> <p>3. <a href="" type="internal">The electoral system</a></p> <p>"I beat them both," Hillary told New York Magazine, speaking of her irrelevant popular vote win against Trump and her primary win-by-Super-Delegates to Bernie Sanders.</p> <p>4. <a href="" type="internal">WikiLeaks</a></p> <p>&#8203;NY Magazine reports: "Clinton says she thinks she 'underestimated WikiLeaks and the impact that had, because I thought it was so silly.' Those hacked emails, dripped out over weeks, says Clinton, 'were innocuous, boring, inconsequential. And each one was played like it was some breathless flash. And so you got Trump, in the last month of the campaign, talking about WikiLeaks something like 164 times..."</p> <p>5. <a href="" type="internal">"Minions"</a></p> <p>"Clinton says she thinks she 'underestimated WikiLeaks and the impact that had, because I thought it was so silly.' Those hacked emails, dripped out over weeks, says Clinton, 'were innocuous, boring, inconsequential," reported New York Magazine. "And each one was played like it was some breathless flash. And so you got Trump, in the last month of the campaign, talking about WikiLeaks something like 164 times; you&#8217;ve got all his minions out there, you&#8217;ve got the right-wing media just blowing it up. You&#8217;ve got Google searches off the charts.'"</p> <p>6. <a href="" type="internal">Right-wing media</a></p> <p>"They have a mission," said Hillary of right-wing media. "They use the rights given to them under the First Amendment to advocate a set of policies that are in their interests, their commercial, corporate, religious interests. Because the advocacy media occupies the right, and the center needs to be focused on providing as accurate information as possible. Not both-sides-ism and not false equivalency."</p> <p>7. <a href="" type="internal">Mainstream media</a></p> <p>Hillary complained, "But what was really interesting, since the mainstream media covered that, as I say like Pearl Harbor, front pages everywhere, huge type, etc."</p> <p>8. <a href="" type="internal">Democratic National Committee</a></p> <p>"I had to inject money into it -- the DNC -- to keep it going," she said.</p> <p>9. <a href="" type="internal">Democrat Party</a></p> <p>"Let me just do a comparison for you. I set up my campaign and we have our own data operation. I get the nomination. So I&#8217;m now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party," cried the former secretary of state. "I mean it was bankrupt, it was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it."</p> <p>10. <a href="" type="internal">1,000 Russian agents</a></p> <p>"If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the news items posted were fake. They were connected to, as we now know, the 1,000 Russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages," she said.</p> <p>11. <a href="" type="internal">Vladimir Putin</a></p> <p>"Putin wants to bring us down," she said. "And he is an old KGB agent. I had, obviously, run-ins with him, because that in large measure prompted his animus toward me, and his desire to help Trump."</p> <p>12. <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a></p> <p>When Hillary was asked if she believed Trump was colluding with the Russians, she replied: "Yes ... yes. I&#8217;m leaning Trump. I think it&#8217;s pretty hard not to."</p> <p>13. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hillary-clinton-blames-voter-suppression-for-losing-a-state-she-didnt-visit-once-during-the-election/article/2624620" type="external">Republican-enabled voter suppression</a></p> <p>"You had effective suppression of votes. Those of us who can remember the Voting Rights Act, the expansion of the franchise, and then I was in the Senate when we voted 98 to nothing under a Republican president, George W. Bush, to extend the Voting Rights Act," said Hillary.</p> <p>"And the Supreme Court said, 'Oh, we don&#8217;t need it anymore,' throws it out, and Republican governors and legislatures began doing everything they could to suppress the vote."</p> <p>14. <a href="" type="internal">Citizens United</a></p> <p>"You had Citizens United come to its full fruition. So unaccountable money flowing in against me, against other Democrats, in a way that we hadn&#8217;t seen and then attached to this weaponized information war," complained the failed candidate.</p> <p>15. <a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a></p> <p>"And there have been some studies done since the election that if you look &#8212; let&#8217;s pick Facebook. If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the news items posted were fake."</p> <p>16. <a href="" type="internal">"Millions" of Twitter bots</a></p> <p>"We see now this new information about Trump&#8217;s Twitter account being populated by millions of bots," said Hillary.</p> <p>17. <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/05/31/hillary-still-blaming-everyone-but-herself-for-losing-the-election/" type="external">Steve Bannon</a></p> <p>"So Bannon, who&#8217;d been running the Breitbart operation, supplying a lot of the ... untrue, false stories," Hillary said.</p> <p>18. <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/5/31/15716226/watch-live-hillary-clinton-code-conference-today" type="external">Netflix</a></p> <p>Yes, Hillary even blamed Neflix: "Go to Netflix and say you want to see a political documentary, eight of the top 10 &#8212; last time I checked a few weeks ago &#8212; were screeds against President Obama or me, or both of us."</p> <p>"Now, I love Netflix. We&#8217;re not making the documentaries that we&#8217;re going to get onto Netflix," she added.</p> <p>19. "Alt-right" media like <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/05/31/hillary-still-blaming-everyone-but-herself-for-losing-the-election/" type="external">Infowars</a></p> <p>"And they began to have some of their allies within the internet world, like Infowars, take out pieces and begin to say the most outrageous, outlandish, absurd lies you could imagine," whined Hillary.</p> <p>20. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/heres-a-list-of-everyone-hillary-clinton-blamed-this-week-for-2016-shes-not-on-it/article/2619745" type="external">Bernie Sanders</a></p> <p>The Washington Examiner reports:</p> <p>"To what extent do you assign blame to Bernie Sanders, to media for focusing on emails &#8211; " Kristoff started to ask.</p> <p>"How much time do we have?" Clinton laughed after checking her watch.</p> <p>21. <a href="" type="internal">Suburban women</a></p> <p>22. Racism/Xenophobia</p> <p>"Trump does have a visceral grasp of the American politcal underbelly; he really understands how to inflame people," explained Hillary, "whatever resentment, or point of anger you may have, he can get into it -- whether it's race, xenophobia, or Islamophobia, whatever it is."</p> <p>23. <a href="" type="internal">"Anti-American forces"</a></p> <p>"I take responsibility for every decision I made, but that's not why I lost," she said. "Anti-American forces are going after our economy and they are going after our unity as a nation."</p> <p>24. <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/05/31/hillary-still-blaming-everyone-but-herself-for-losing-the-election/" type="external">Bad polling</a></p> <p>"Guided by Americans and guided by people who had polling and data information," Hillary said.</p> <p>25. <a href="" type="internal">Low-information voters</a></p> <p>26. <a href="" type="internal">Content farms in Macedonia</a></p> <p>"You know, there&#8217;s all these stories of guys over in Macedonia who are running these fake news sites and I&#8217;ve seen them now and you sit there and it looks like a sort of low-level CNN operation," Hillary said, after decrying these Macedonia's "content farms."</p> <p>27. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hillary-clinton-expands-list-of-election-loss-excuses-to-include-dnc-assumption-she-would-win/article/2624653" type="external">Fake news</a></p> <p>"The other side was using content that was just flat-out false, and delivering it in a very personalized way, both sort of above the radar screen and below. And you know, look, I&#8217;m not a tech expert by any stretch of the imagination. That really influenced the information that people were relying on," Hillary said.</p> <p>28. <a href="" type="internal">Colluding Trump campaign officials</a></p> <p>"We're getting more information about all of the contacts between Trump campaign officials and Trump associates with Russians before, during and after the election," said Hillary.</p> <p>29. <a href="" type="internal">Stupid Americans who can't tell the difference between real and "fake news"</a></p> <p>30. The " <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hillary-clinton-expands-list-of-election-loss-excuses-to-include-dnc-assumption-she-would-win/article/2624653" type="external">broad assumption I was going to win</a>"</p> <p>"I also think I was the victim of a very broad assumption I was going to win. 'It doesn&#8217;t matter what you do to her ...'"</p> <p>31. <a href="" type="internal">Goosefer</a></p> <p>"You know, basically the group running this was the GRU which is the military intelligence arm of the Russian military and they have a very sophisticated cyber operation, in bed with WikiLeaks, in bed with Goosefer, in bed with DC Leaks," said Hillary.</p> <p>32. <a href="" type="internal">DCLeaks</a></p> <p>"&#8203;And you know, DC Leaks and Goosefer, which were dropping a lot of this stuff on me, they haven&#8217;t done anything since early January. Their job was done," she said. "They got their job done."</p> <p>33. <a href="" type="internal">Data from the Republican National Committee</a></p> <p>"I think that the marriage of the domestic fake news operations, the domestic RNC Republican allied data, you know, combined with the very affective capabilities that the Russians brought," said the Democrat.</p> <p>34. <a href="" type="internal">Technology</a></p> <p>"And what we saw was, in the election particularly, and I appreciate what Walt said, the first time that you had the tech revolution really weaponized politically &#8212; before it was a way to reach voters, you know, collect fundraising, do things that would help the candidate who was behind the messaging &#8212; that changed this time, and it changed for a number of reasons we should talk about," said Hillary.</p> <p>35. <a href="" type="internal">The FBI</a></p> <p>36. <a href="" type="internal">The GRU</a></p> <p>"You know, basically the group running this was the GRU which is the military intelligence arm of the Russian military and they have a very sophisticated cyber operation," complained Hillary, "in bed with WikiLeaks, in bed with Goosefer, in bed with DC Leaks."</p> <p>37. <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/5/31/15722218/hillary-clinton-code-conference-transcript-donald-trump-2016-russia-walt-mossberg-kara-swisher" type="external">Deplorables</a></p> <p>"And all of the Trump people go around screaming, 'Lock her up, lock her up,' and all of that," cried Hillary.</p> <p>38. <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/5/31/15722218/hillary-clinton-code-conference-transcript-donald-trump-2016-russia-walt-mossberg-kara-swisher" type="external">Team Hillary was too honest</a></p> <p>"And we did not engage in false content," she said. "We may have tried to put every piece of information in the best possible light, and explanations, but we weren&#8217;t in the same category as the other side."</p> <p>Hey, look! I found the actual reason Hillary lost:</p> <p /> <p>Watch Hillary making endless excuses, below:</p> <p>H/T <a href="https://twitter.com/SociallySherri/status/870277784681172992/photo/1" type="external">Fox News</a></p>

twotime failed presidential hopeful hillary clinton blamed everything everyone old lady looking back mirror 2016 presidential election loss politically irrelevant former politician began whining complaining stunning loss donald trump soon election day shows signs letting heres full list people organizations government entities abstract concepts hillary clinton blamed loss thus far 1 former fbi director james comey explain book know comey letter know partly based false memo russians classic piece russian disinformation comprimat call whatever reason speculate cant look inside guys mind know dumps october 28th immediately start falling said hillary later added remember comey happy talk emails wouldnt talk investigation russians 2 sexism men got paid speeches made got paid speeches made used thought unfairly used part background music whined hillary also said never said perfect candidate certainly never said ran perfect campaigns dont know point sort bleeds misogyny 3 electoral system beat hillary told new york magazine speaking irrelevant popular vote win trump primary winbysuperdelegates bernie sanders 4 wikileaks ny magazine reports clinton says thinks underestimated wikileaks impact thought silly hacked emails dripped weeks says clinton innocuous boring inconsequential one played like breathless flash got trump last month campaign talking wikileaks something like 164 times 5 minions clinton says thinks underestimated wikileaks impact thought silly hacked emails dripped weeks says clinton innocuous boring inconsequential reported new york magazine one played like breathless flash got trump last month campaign talking wikileaks something like 164 times youve got minions youve got rightwing media blowing youve got google searches charts 6 rightwing media mission said hillary rightwing media use rights given first amendment advocate set policies interests commercial corporate religious interests advocacy media occupies right center needs focused providing accurate information possible bothsidesism false equivalency 7 mainstream media hillary complained really interesting since mainstream media covered say like pearl harbor front pages everywhere huge type etc 8 democratic national committee inject money dnc keep going said 9 democrat party let comparison set campaign data operation get nomination im nominee democratic party inherit nothing democratic party cried former secretary state mean bankrupt verge insolvency data mediocre poor nonexistent wrong inject money 10 1000 russian agents look facebook vast majority news items posted fake connected know 1000 russian agents involved delivering messages said 11 vladimir putin putin wants bring us said old kgb agent obviously runins large measure prompted animus toward desire help trump 12 donald trump hillary asked believed trump colluding russians replied yes yes im leaning trump think pretty hard 13 republicanenabled voter suppression effective suppression votes us remember voting rights act expansion franchise senate voted 98 nothing republican president george w bush extend voting rights act said hillary supreme court said oh dont need anymore throws republican governors legislatures began everything could suppress vote 14 citizens united citizens united come full fruition unaccountable money flowing democrats way hadnt seen attached weaponized information war complained failed candidate 15 facebook studies done since election look lets pick facebook look facebook vast majority news items posted fake 16 millions twitter bots see new information trumps twitter account populated millions bots said hillary 17 steve bannon bannon whod running breitbart operation supplying lot untrue false stories hillary said 18 netflix yes hillary even blamed neflix go netflix say want see political documentary eight top 10 last time checked weeks ago screeds president obama us love netflix making documentaries going get onto netflix added 19 altright media like infowars began allies within internet world like infowars take pieces begin say outrageous outlandish absurd lies could imagine whined hillary 20 bernie sanders washington examiner reports extent assign blame bernie sanders media focusing emails kristoff started ask much time clinton laughed checking watch 21 suburban women 22 racismxenophobia trump visceral grasp american politcal underbelly really understands inflame people explained hillary whatever resentment point anger may get whether race xenophobia islamophobia whatever 23 antiamerican forces take responsibility every decision made thats lost said antiamerican forces going economy going unity nation 24 bad polling guided americans guided people polling data information hillary said 25 lowinformation voters 26 content farms macedonia know theres stories guys macedonia running fake news sites ive seen sit looks like sort lowlevel cnn operation hillary said decrying macedonias content farms 27 fake news side using content flatout false delivering personalized way sort radar screen know look im tech expert stretch imagination really influenced information people relying hillary said 28 colluding trump campaign officials getting information contacts trump campaign officials trump associates russians election said hillary 29 stupid americans cant tell difference real fake news 30 broad assumption going win also think victim broad assumption going win doesnt matter 31 goosefer know basically group running gru military intelligence arm russian military sophisticated cyber operation bed wikileaks bed goosefer bed dc leaks said hillary 32 dcleaks know dc leaks goosefer dropping lot stuff havent done anything since early january job done said got job done 33 data republican national committee think marriage domestic fake news operations domestic rnc republican allied data know combined affective capabilities russians brought said democrat 34 technology saw election particularly appreciate walt said first time tech revolution really weaponized politically way reach voters know collect fundraising things would help candidate behind messaging changed time changed number reasons talk said hillary 35 fbi 36 gru know basically group running gru military intelligence arm russian military sophisticated cyber operation complained hillary bed wikileaks bed goosefer bed dc leaks 37 deplorables trump people go around screaming lock lock cried hillary 38 team hillary honest engage false content said may tried put every piece information best possible light explanations werent category side hey look found actual reason hillary lost watch hillary making endless excuses ht fox news

<p>So, Michelle Fields wasn&#8217;t lying.</p> <p>Of course.</p> <p>I wasn&#8217;t conspiring, utilizing both chemtrails and my vaunted Bilderberg connections (as well as my magical JOOOOOOO!!!! powers), to somehow take down the Trump campaign by falsifying a simple battery accusation.</p> <p>Of course.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the tape released by the Jupiter Police Department from Trump&#8217;s own facility at Mar-a-Lago &#8211; the tape that his own people suggested didn&#8217;t exist in order to slander Michelle as an attention whore.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>Michelle alleged the following in her original report at Breitbart:</p> <p>Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken. The Washington Post&#8217;s Ben Terris immediately remarked that it was Trump&#8217;s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who aggressively tried to pull me to the ground. I quickly turned around and saw Lewandowski and Trump exiting the building together. No apology. No explanation for why he did this.</p> <p>Michelle tweeted this picture of her bruises:</p> <p>I guess these just magically appeared on me <a href="https://twitter.com/CLewandowski_" type="external">@CLewandowski_</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" type="external">@realDonaldTrump</a>. So weird. <a href="https://t.co/oD8c4D7tw3" type="external">pic.twitter.com/oD8c4D7tw3</a></p> <p>Here was Ben Terris&#8217; eyewitness account as reported in The Washington Post:</p> <p>As security parted the masses to give him passage out of the chandelier-lit ballroom, Michelle Fields, a young reporter for Trump-friendly Breitbart News, pressed forward to ask the GOP front-runner a question. I watched as a man with short-cropped hair and a suit grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way. He was Corey Lewandowski, Trump&#8217;s 41-year-old campaign manager. Fields stumbled. Finger-shaped bruises formed on her arm.</p> <p>Nobody alleged a crowbar beat-down. Nobody alleged an MMA-style ground and pound. Michelle alleged a grab, a yank, and a bruise. So did Terris. All true. All backed by video evidence, audio evidence, and witness accounts. A quick apology would have fixed this. Instead, the Trump campaign did what they do: they responded like lying thugs.</p> <p>Here are seven lessons to learn from the Michelle Fields incident.</p> <p>The Trump Campaign Is Filled With Liars. Here is Lewandowski&#8217;s initial response to the Fields allegation:</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleFields" type="external">@MichelleFields</a> you are totally delusional. I never touched you. As a matter of fact, I have never even met you.</p> <p>He then tweeted, &#8220;professional reporting or attention seeking?&#8221; This became the playbook for the Trump campaign, including Katrina Pierson, who then appeared on national television to say that Lewandowski had nothing to do with it.</p> <p>The Lying Comes Straight From The Top. Upon being apprised of Fields&#8217; accusation, here was Trump&#8217;s response:</p> <p>VIDEO: Trump to <a href="https://twitter.com/DylanByers" type="external">@DylanByers</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleFields" type="external">@MichelleFields</a> incident. "I think she made it up." <a href="https://t.co/VUB5LnbrTM" type="external">pic.twitter.com/VUB5LnbrTM</a></p> <p>&#8220;Nobody saw it happened. Nobody complained&#8230;.I think [she] made it up.&#8221;</p> <p>Except she didn&#8217;t. Trump knew that, of course, as did Lewandowski. But none of that mattered. Lewandowski, for being a good soldier in defense of Trump, received the high honor of standing alongside The Great Man himself after Trump&#8217;s super Tuesday victories, and receiving the rhetorical medal of honor from Trump: &#8220;</p> <p /> <p>So, has Trump changed his tune now that the new video is out and the Jupiter Police are pressing charges?</p> <p>Wow, Corey Lewandowski, my campaign manager and a very decent man, was just charged with assaulting a reporter. Look at tapes-nothing there!</p> <p>Why aren't people looking at this reporters earliest statement as to what happened, that is before she found out the episode was on tape?</p> <p>Of course not. He just kept lying about Michelle Fields, who hasn&#8217;t changed one phrase of her story from the first moment. As Michelle tweeted:</p> <p>Because my story never changed. Seriously, just stop lying. <a href="https://t.co/1fz9cBHOuT" type="external">https://t.co/1fz9cBHOuT</a></p> <p>Because Trump is a garbage heap of a human being.</p> <p>The Trump Campaign Lies Audaciously. The Trump campaign&#8217;s original response to the Fields allegation was this statement from Hope Hicks:</p> <p>The accusation, which has only been made in the media and never addressed directly with the campaign, is entirely false&#8230;.In addition to our staff, which had no knowledge of said situation, not a single camera or reporter of more than 100 in attendance captured the alleged incident.</p> <p>Now it&#8217;s all on tape. And originally, the incident was reported by Ben Terris of the Washington Post. But truth means nothing to these people. Documenting even a single day worth of the Trump campaign&#8217;s lies would fill a decent-sized book.</p> <p>The Trump Campaign Is Thuggish. In response to the release of the police tape today, Katrina Pierson, spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said that Lewandowski had Trump&#8217;s &#8220;total confidence&#8221; and that he would &#8220;absolutely&#8221; remain in his role. Pierson added that Lewandowski will remain on the Trump campaign even if convicted. No shock there. She also said that perhaps the press should pay the price for Lewandowski&#8217;s problems: &#8220;Perhaps campaigns &#8211; particularly presidential campaigns &#8211; should begin to change the rules of the type of access the press gets from now on.&#8221;</p> <p>Trump&#8217;s comments about roughing people up have lit up talk show caller boards for months; no need to recap them here. But suffice it to say that the Trump campaign has always been quite tolerant of thuggish behavior in defense of The Donald, to the point of The Donald himself pledging legal defense for those who assault protesters.</p> <p>The Trump Campaign Has a Peculiar Adoration For Smearing Women. The attack on Michelle Fields as an attention whore is no exception for the Trump campaign. Just last week, Trump supporter Adriana Cohen appeared on CNN and accused political writer Amanda Carpenter of having an affair with Ted Cruz. Now a Trump aide has done the same via <a href="https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/714836630071328770" type="external">Twitter</a>. Trump quasi-surrogate Roger Stone called the National Enquirer story about Cruz&#8217;s affairs true, implicating Pierson herself in the process, since she was outed in the story. Trump himself slammed Heidi Cruz as ugly because he didn&#8217;t like that Liz Mair ran an ad showing his wife naked from an old GQ photo shoot. Trump supporters have accused virtually every powerful anti-Trump conservative woman of some nefarious sexual activity with a rival candidate. And of course Trump himself has attacked prominent media females including Dana Perino and most egregiously Megyn Kelly (&#8220; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/07/trump-says-foxs-megyn-kelly-had-blood-coming-out-of-her-wherever/" type="external">blood coming out of her wherever</a>&#8221;). Some of those attacks are purely political and within normal boundaries. But many of them are far more personal, obviously. This is a pattern, now, not merely a few isolated events.</p> <p>The Media Play Along For Their Own Benefit. After Michelle Fields told her story, here are the number of Sunday show hosts who asked Trump about it: zero. That&#8217;s leaving aside media outlets that downplayed or pretended Michelle lied in the first place.</p> <p>Trump Supporters Will Never Accept Reality. So, now that the tape is out, will Trump supporters at least acknowledge that Michelle Fields wasn&#8217;t lying? Of course not! Their argument has mutated, like a rhetorical Doomsday, from &#8220;she was never touched&#8221; to &#8220;there&#8217;s no tape&#8221; to &#8220;she hasn&#8217;t filed a police report&#8221; to &#8220;she shouldn&#8217;t have filed a police report&#8221; to &#8220;she had it coming.&#8221; Of course, these same people believe that Trump is winning in all the polls (HINT: FALSE).</p> <p>So, no big shock here: not much will change for Trump supporters. But for everyone else, if it wasn&#8217;t already clear, decency should be a serious barrier to backing Donald Trump and his campaign of lying thuggery.</p>

michelle fields wasnt lying course wasnt conspiring utilizing chemtrails vaunted bilderberg connections well magical jooooooo powers somehow take trump campaign falsifying simple battery accusation course heres tape released jupiter police department trumps facility maralago tape people suggested didnt exist order slander michelle attention whore michelle alleged following original report breitbart trump acknowledged question could answer jolted backwards someone grabbed tightly arm yanked almost fell ground able maintain balance nonetheless shaken washington posts ben terris immediately remarked trumps campaign manager corey lewandowski aggressively tried pull ground quickly turned around saw lewandowski trump exiting building together apology explanation michelle tweeted picture bruises guess magically appeared clewandowski_ realdonaldtrump weird pictwittercomod8c4d7tw3 ben terris eyewitness account reported washington post security parted masses give passage chandelierlit ballroom michelle fields young reporter trumpfriendly breitbart news pressed forward ask gop frontrunner question watched man shortcropped hair suit grabbed arm yanked way corey lewandowski trumps 41yearold campaign manager fields stumbled fingershaped bruises formed arm nobody alleged crowbar beatdown nobody alleged mmastyle ground pound michelle alleged grab yank bruise terris true backed video evidence audio evidence witness accounts quick apology would fixed instead trump campaign responded like lying thugs seven lessons learn michelle fields incident trump campaign filled liars lewandowskis initial response fields allegation michellefields totally delusional never touched matter fact never even met tweeted professional reporting attention seeking became playbook trump campaign including katrina pierson appeared national television say lewandowski nothing lying comes straight top upon apprised fields accusation trumps response video trump dylanbyers michellefields incident think made pictwittercomvub5lnbrtm nobody saw happened nobody complainedi think made except didnt trump knew course lewandowski none mattered lewandowski good soldier defense trump received high honor standing alongside great man trumps super tuesday victories receiving rhetorical medal honor trump trump changed tune new video jupiter police pressing charges wow corey lewandowski campaign manager decent man charged assaulting reporter look tapesnothing arent people looking reporters earliest statement happened found episode tape course kept lying michelle fields hasnt changed one phrase story first moment michelle tweeted story never changed seriously stop lying httpstco1fz9cbhout trump garbage heap human trump campaign lies audaciously trump campaigns original response fields allegation statement hope hicks accusation made media never addressed directly campaign entirely falsein addition staff knowledge said situation single camera reporter 100 attendance captured alleged incident tape originally incident reported ben terris washington post truth means nothing people documenting even single day worth trump campaigns lies would fill decentsized book trump campaign thuggish response release police tape today katrina pierson spokesperson trump campaign said lewandowski trumps total confidence would absolutely remain role pierson added lewandowski remain trump campaign even convicted shock also said perhaps press pay price lewandowskis problems perhaps campaigns particularly presidential campaigns begin change rules type access press gets trumps comments roughing people lit talk show caller boards months need recap suffice say trump campaign always quite tolerant thuggish behavior defense donald point donald pledging legal defense assault protesters trump campaign peculiar adoration smearing women attack michelle fields attention whore exception trump campaign last week trump supporter adriana cohen appeared cnn accused political writer amanda carpenter affair ted cruz trump aide done via twitter trump quasisurrogate roger stone called national enquirer story cruzs affairs true implicating pierson process since outed story trump slammed heidi cruz ugly didnt like liz mair ran ad showing wife naked old gq photo shoot trump supporters accused virtually every powerful antitrump conservative woman nefarious sexual activity rival candidate course trump attacked prominent media females including dana perino egregiously megyn kelly blood coming wherever attacks purely political within normal boundaries many far personal obviously pattern merely isolated events media play along benefit michelle fields told story number sunday show hosts asked trump zero thats leaving aside media outlets downplayed pretended michelle lied first place trump supporters never accept reality tape trump supporters least acknowledge michelle fields wasnt lying course argument mutated like rhetorical doomsday never touched theres tape hasnt filed police report shouldnt filed police report coming course people believe trump winning polls hint false big shock much change trump supporters everyone else wasnt already clear decency serious barrier backing donald trump campaign lying thuggery

<p /> <p /> <p>The Obama administration and the political left in America are hell-bent on political correctness. And it&#8217;s making us all-the-more vulnerable. This refusal to call Islamic terrorism what it is, is beyond irresponsible.</p> <p>This administration, which has taken steps such as ending our Space Shuttle program and using <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/07/07/nasas_muslim_outreach_106214.html" type="external">NASA</a> to engage in outreach to Muslim nations, conferring constitutional rights and privileges to non-U.S.-citizen terror suspects, and <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/21/obama-administration-pulls-references-to-islam-from-terror-training-materials-official-says/" type="external">stripping language</a> such as &#8220;terrorist&#8221; and &#8220;jihad&#8221; from military documents and training materials, either simply doesn&#8217;t understand or refuses to publicly admit what we all know to be true.</p> <p>There are people on this planet who believe the world is inhabited by infidels and that they are called by their god to destroy the infidels.&amp;#160; This may be an over-simplified summation, but the elements of truth are known to everyone in America.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Yet there are those who believe the true root issue is not jihad but rather understanding and mutual respect.&amp;#160; They naively think that if we just treat these jihadists well, understand them and encourage them to understand us, acknowledge contributions of Muslims to human culture and science, and as stated this week by Attorney General Loretta Lynch show them more &#8220; <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/21/loretta-lynch-most-effective-response-to-islamic-t/" type="external">love</a>&#8221;, then they&#8217;ll stop blowing people up.</p> <p>Frighteningly, people who believe this are running our country, and are responsible for protecting us.&amp;#160; With the cooperation of a complicit media, they have successfully carried out a PR campaign that says if you do not agree with their worldview it&#8217;s because you are a frightened bigot.&amp;#160; You are so hateful of people with darker skin than your own that you are not rational in your assessments of the world in which we live.</p> <p>This position now more dangerous than ever before.&amp;#160; Why?</p> <p>The most recent acts of Islamist terror in the USA beg the question: &#8220;Is the face of terror threats in the United States changing?&#8221; &amp;#160;It is. Small-scale, &#8216;lone-wolf&#8217; type attacks are becoming our new normal.</p> <p>Having lost the element of surprise, the days of massive scale operations like 9/11 are gone. America has been awakened and taken measures to protect itself.&amp;#160; Hence the Islamists have adopted an approach employed in much of the rest of the world.</p> <p>In combat sports, it&#8217;s a technique known as &#8220;stick-and-move.&#8221; Employed when confronting a larger, more powerful opponent, the idea is to get in a small shot, get out, stay away, look for an opening to land another, sooner or later wearing the behemoth down.</p> <p>Death by a thousand cuts.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>In isolation, each individual blow does not inflict a significant amount of damage, it&#8217;s the cumulative effect that fatigues the opponent. In this scenario the USA is the behemoth, Islamic terrorism the smaller combatant.</p> <p>Citizens in many other nations live in an almost constant state of awareness over when and where the next attack may be lurking, though until recently, we in America hadn&#8217;t really been forced to think about it.&amp;#160;</p> <p>These smaller scale attacks can come from anywhere. They&#8217;re typically carried out in a very public place and kill a relatively small number of people, sometimes just one or two, and maim a dozen or so.</p> <p>This is clearly the tactic Islam is pivoting to in the USA.&amp;#160; From the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood_shooting" type="external">Ft.&amp;#160;Hood shootings</a> to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombings" type="external">Boston Marathon bombing</a> to last weekend&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/" type="external">massacre in Orlando</a> &#8211; smaller attacks, smaller numbers killed, carried out by one or two individuals. This is not the massive, global-scale, 9/11-type attacks that require coordination across oceans, dozens of people involved, complex communications networks and years of architecture.</p> <p>In certain cities and nations of the world (Beirut, Jerusalem, etc.) random, small-ish terror attacks are a fact of life.&amp;#160; In such places going to the market, getting on a city bus or any number of activities you and I take for granted are a leap of faith that could well be the last thing you ever do.&amp;#160;The killers are in many cases homegrown, they look like everyone, blend in with everything and you never really know what&#8217;s in the backpack that young man is wearing.</p> <p>Yes you read right, &#8220;young man.&#8221; There is a general description nearly all Islamic terrorists fit.&amp;#160; Like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Mateen" type="external">Omar Mateen</a>, they are males, between 20 and 40 years of age, dark hair, dark eyes, middle-eastern/Arab features and names.&amp;#160;</p> <p>But&#8230; If you point this simple fact out, you&#8217;re a racist.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>The 19 hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks fit this description, as did <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidal_Hasan" type="external">Nidal Malik Hasan</a>, as did <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Chattanooga_shootings" type="external">Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez</a>, as did those who carried out the Charlie Hebdo and November 2015 Paris massacres, and those responsible for the 2016 bombings in Brussels, and the 19 and 26 year old <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/boston-marathon-bombings" type="external">Tsarnaev</a> brothers. On and on it goes. But according to the left, you simply cannot point this fact out.</p> <p>By some estimates there are as many as 15,000 people in America from nations where Islam is the predominant faith on visas to attend college but who never showed up for classes. They simply got here then dropped off the grid.&amp;#160;</p> <p>Many of these &#8220;students&#8221; fit the general description of the perpetrators of most Islamic terrorist attacks. Where are they and what are they doing? Is it time to take a more careful look at the student visa program and begin putting more tight restrictions in place?</p> <p>These are common sense questions, but most on Capitol Hill will not ask them. Why?&amp;#160;For fear of the R-word be used against them. The business of labeling racists is very real, very effective. But continuing to do so could ultimately result in cities of America becoming like cities of other nations &#8212; giant paranoia zones where we&#8217;re on count down to the next attack, and sending your kids to a movie or ballgame is absolutely nerve-wracking.</p> <p>The progressive left&#8217;s insistence on blind political correctness is pushing us there at light speed.</p> <p /> <p />

obama administration political left america hellbent political correctness making us allthemore vulnerable refusal call islamic terrorism beyond irresponsible administration taken steps ending space shuttle program using nasa engage outreach muslim nations conferring constitutional rights privileges nonuscitizen terror suspects stripping language terrorist jihad military documents training materials either simply doesnt understand refuses publicly admit know true people planet believe world inhabited infidels called god destroy infidels160 may oversimplified summation elements truth known everyone america yet believe true root issue jihad rather understanding mutual respect160 naively think treat jihadists well understand encourage understand us acknowledge contributions muslims human culture science stated week attorney general loretta lynch show love theyll stop blowing people frighteningly people believe running country responsible protecting us160 cooperation complicit media successfully carried pr campaign says agree worldview frightened bigot160 hateful people darker skin rational assessments world live position dangerous ever before160 recent acts islamist terror usa beg question face terror threats united states changing 160it smallscale lonewolf type attacks becoming new normal lost element surprise days massive scale operations like 911 gone america awakened taken measures protect itself160 hence islamists adopted approach employed much rest world combat sports technique known stickandmove employed confronting larger powerful opponent idea get small shot get stay away look opening land another sooner later wearing behemoth death thousand cuts isolation individual blow inflict significant amount damage cumulative effect fatigues opponent scenario usa behemoth islamic terrorism smaller combatant citizens many nations live almost constant state awareness next attack may lurking though recently america hadnt really forced think it160 smaller scale attacks come anywhere theyre typically carried public place kill relatively small number people sometimes one two maim dozen clearly tactic islam pivoting usa160 ft160hood shootings boston marathon bombing last weekends massacre orlando smaller attacks smaller numbers killed carried one two individuals massive globalscale 911type attacks require coordination across oceans dozens people involved complex communications networks years architecture certain cities nations world beirut jerusalem etc random smallish terror attacks fact life160 places going market getting city bus number activities take granted leap faith could well last thing ever do160the killers many cases homegrown look like everyone blend everything never really know whats backpack young man wearing yes read right young man general description nearly islamic terrorists fit160 like omar mateen males 20 40 years age dark hair dark eyes middleeasternarab features names160 point simple fact youre racist 19 hijackers carried 911 attacks fit description nidal malik hasan muhammad youssef abdulazeez carried charlie hebdo november 2015 paris massacres responsible 2016 bombings brussels 19 26 year old tsarnaev brothers goes according left simply point fact estimates many 15000 people america nations islam predominant faith visas attend college never showed classes simply got dropped grid160 many students fit general description perpetrators islamic terrorist attacks time take careful look student visa program begin putting tight restrictions place common sense questions capitol hill ask why160for fear rword used business labeling racists real effective continuing could ultimately result cities america becoming like cities nations giant paranoia zones count next attack sending kids movie ballgame absolutely nervewracking progressive lefts insistence blind political correctness pushing us light speed

<p /> <p>Although the concept behind <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27520267" type="external">smart gun Opens a New Window.</a> technology is sound, the feeling among the majority of gun owners for its adoption seems to run along the lines of "no way, no how." While there are many good reasons for the hesitation to embrace it, one ofthe biggest limitations to their adoption has been a lack of firepower.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>A firearms manufacturer has finally overcome that hurdle, and it believes that if it can get its nose under the tent, we'll see smart guns become commonplace. That's still a tall order considering the depth of resistance to the technology, and it faces more hurdles created by those who think they're helping.</p> <p>Image source: Armatix.</p> <p>Smart guns are manufactured with several types of limiting designs built into them, whether it's RFID chips that connect wirelessly with a watch or wristband to activate them, PIN codes that need to be punched in before a gun can be fired, or some other personalized locking mechanism.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>For example, when President Obama signed his executive orders on firearms last year, he touted the potential for biometric recognition by saying, "if you can't unlock your phone unless you've got the right fingerprint, why can't we do the same thing for our guns?"</p> <p>But there are lots of problems with smart gun technology, regardless of whether it's typing in a PIN code or an advanced " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/25/the-last-thing-we-need-is-an-iphone-of-guns.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">iPhone of guns Opens a New Window.</a>" solution. While the biggest concern may be the technology failing just when it's needed most, such as a watch battery going dead, a circuit shorting out, or the device getting hacked, it's also possible the gun and its enabling device will simply be stolen together.</p> <p>Also, because some smart guns can still be fired by someone not authorized to use the weapon if it's in the vicinity of the limiting device -- if a gun is taken from a homeowner, for example, it could still be fired if the weapon is near the activating watch or wristband -- they're <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/05/06/smart-guns-are-a-dumb-idea.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">not as foolproof Opens a New Window.</a> as some people might think.</p> <p>Image source: Armatix.</p> <p>Another problem is they haven't been particularly powerful weapons, either. The smart gun that gained the most notoriety in recent years, the Armatix iP1, was a .22 LR pistol that lacks the kind of stopping power people look for in a personal defense firearm.</p> <p>It also meant virtually no police department would ever adopt them as a duty weapon. While police unions generally object to officers being used as test subjects on unproven technology, Obama's executive orders tasked the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/12/will-law-enforcement-be-the-key-to-getting-smart-g.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">compile a report Opens a New Window.</a> on how to effectively jump-start smart gun usage, and the solution was to use the power of the purse. They recommended product improvements that would meet the rigorous needs of protecting both officers and the communities they serve.</p> <p>Perhaps sensing an opening, Armatix has now developed a more powerful 9mm version of its smart gun, the iP9, that incorporates several enabling technologies, including wristbands, PIN codes, anda smartphone app.</p> <p>According to gun control advocacy site The Trace, Armatix's CEO told it, "The 9mm is the most popular caliber of handgun in the world. Now that we have this new model, we can get smart guns out to the world."</p> <p>Possibly, but it's still not going to be an easy sell, regardless of the firepower it packs. Although some police departments may try them, at $1,365 each, they're about twice as expensive as other 9mm guns on the market, and individual gun buyers will be even harderto convince.</p> <p>That's because of laws like the one in New Jersey that would come into effect as soon as smart guns are available in the U.S. It would begin a 30 month countdown that would ban traditional firearms sales. Massachusetts is considering a law that would ban them six months after smart guns were commercially available.</p> <p>Image source: Armatix.</p> <p>When the Armatix iP1 was heading for market, two gun stores that said they would carry them faced a ferocious backlash from some gun owners that nearly cost them their businesses because of the fear that it would trigger New Jersey's law. Since it is believed by some that the smart gun would crowd out traditional firearms, there are a number of gun owners who refused to support it, or those who sold them, and the New Jersey attorney general was forced to perform some linguistic gymnastics to declare the iP1 was not a firearm that would trigger the law.</p> <p>None of the 5,000, $1,300 smart guns Armatix made were ever sold.It should be noted that Armatix doesn't support laws like New Jersey's because it feels politics cloud the technology. "We are not here to replace [conventional guns]," its CEO told Computerworld. "If people would take that approach, there would be far fewer political issues."</p> <p>Over the years, other gunmakers have also faced blowback from the gun community for pursuing smart gun technology. Colt's CEO essentially lost his job after the storied gunmaker started developing its chip-embedded Z40 model, a project that was eventually killed after the outpouring of opposition to it. And American Outdoor Brands' (NASDAQ: AOBC) Smith &amp;amp; Wesson suffered a boycott at the hands of the National Rifle Association after it embraced President Bill Clinton's call for smart guns.</p> <p>So long as laws are on the books that mandate smart gun technology be implemented, it makes it more difficult for them to be embraced by the gun-buying public, and puts gun stores that offer to sell such weapons at risk.</p> <p>There's nothing inherently wrong with smart gun technology existing in the marketplace and competing alongside traditional firearms. If people are willing to place their trust in technology during a critical time when it's needed, that should be their right. However, in their attempts to create a market for smart gun technology, politicians have actually killed it.</p> <p>Armatix and other gunmakers are also free to pursue such technological advancements, but in today's market, it seems foolhardy to do so, and in the current environment, it does not look like there will be a market for smart gun technology in the near future.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than American Outdoor Brands CorporationWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=865be96b-d584-40c8-933b-4b636ceef0d4&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and American Outdoor Brands Corporation wasn't one of them! 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The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

although concept behind smart gun opens new window technology sound feeling among majority gun owners adoption seems run along lines way many good reasons hesitation embrace one ofthe biggest limitations adoption lack firepower continue reading firearms manufacturer finally overcome hurdle believes get nose tent well see smart guns become commonplace thats still tall order considering depth resistance technology faces hurdles created think theyre helping image source armatix smart guns manufactured several types limiting designs built whether rfid chips connect wirelessly watch wristband activate pin codes need punched gun fired personalized locking mechanism advertisement example president obama signed executive orders firearms last year touted potential biometric recognition saying cant unlock phone unless youve got right fingerprint cant thing guns lots problems smart gun technology regardless whether typing pin code advanced iphone guns opens new window solution biggest concern may technology failing needed watch battery going dead circuit shorting device getting hacked also possible gun enabling device simply stolen together also smart guns still fired someone authorized use weapon vicinity limiting device gun taken homeowner example could still fired weapon near activating watch wristband theyre foolproof opens new window people might think image source armatix another problem havent particularly powerful weapons either smart gun gained notoriety recent years armatix ip1 22 lr pistol lacks kind stopping power people look personal defense firearm also meant virtually police department would ever adopt duty weapon police unions generally object officers used test subjects unproven technology obamas executive orders tasked departments justice homeland security defense compile report opens new window effectively jumpstart smart gun usage solution use power purse recommended product improvements would meet rigorous needs protecting officers communities serve perhaps sensing opening armatix developed powerful 9mm version smart gun ip9 incorporates several enabling technologies including wristbands pin codes anda smartphone app according gun control advocacy site trace armatixs ceo told 9mm popular caliber handgun world new model get smart guns world possibly still going easy sell regardless firepower packs although police departments may try 1365 theyre twice expensive 9mm guns market individual gun buyers even harderto convince thats laws like one new jersey would come effect soon smart guns available us would begin 30 month countdown would ban traditional firearms sales massachusetts considering law would ban six months smart guns commercially available image source armatix armatix ip1 heading market two gun stores said would carry faced ferocious backlash gun owners nearly cost businesses fear would trigger new jerseys law since believed smart gun would crowd traditional firearms number gun owners refused support sold new jersey attorney general forced perform linguistic gymnastics declare ip1 firearm would trigger law none 5000 1300 smart guns armatix made ever soldit noted armatix doesnt support laws like new jerseys feels politics cloud technology replace conventional guns ceo told computerworld people would take approach would far fewer political issues years gunmakers also faced blowback gun community pursuing smart gun technology colts ceo essentially lost job storied gunmaker started developing chipembedded z40 model project eventually killed outpouring opposition american outdoor brands nasdaq aobc smith amp wesson suffered boycott hands national rifle association embraced president bill clintons call smart guns long laws books mandate smart gun technology implemented makes difficult embraced gunbuying public puts gun stores offer sell weapons risk theres nothing inherently wrong smart gun technology existing marketplace competing alongside traditional firearms people willing place trust technology critical time needed right however attempts create market smart gun technology politicians actually killed armatix gunmakers also free pursue technological advancements todays market seems foolhardy current environment look like market smart gun technology near future 10 stocks like better american outdoor brands corporationwhen investing geniuses david tom gardner stock tip pay listen newsletter run decade motley fool stock advisor tripled market david tom revealed believe 10 best stocks opens new window investors buy right nowand american outdoor brands corporation wasnt one thats right think 10 stocks even better buys click opens new window learn picks stock advisor returns february 6 2017 rich duprey opens new window position stocks mentioned motley fool position stocks mentioned motley fool disclosure policy opens new window

<p>___</p> <p>Zuckerberg testimony reveals lawmaker confusion on Facebook</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged Wednesday that regulation of social media is "inevitable" and disclosed that his own personal information has been compromised by malicious outsiders. But after two days of congressional testimony, what seemed clear was how little Congress seems to know about Facebook, much less what to do about it.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Fed in March discussed 'slightly steeper' future rate hikes</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; Federal Reserve officials at their March meeting, the first under new Chairman Jerome Powell, decided to stick with a gradual approach to rate hikes. But officials also discussed the possibility that the future course of rate hikes might need to accelerate to a "slightly steeper" path.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Russian ruble roiled by Trump missile threat, US sanctions</p> <p>MOSCOW (AP) &#8212; The Russian ruble has recovered ground after being shaken by U.S. sanctions and President Donald Trump's threatened missile strike on Syria. The ruble fell 2 percent against the dollar in morning trading in Moscow and dropped to a new lowest point since 2016 after Trump tweeted that missiles "will be coming." However, the currency bounced back and by evening traded slightly down on the day at 62.8 to the dollar.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Speaker Ryan will leave behind new tax code, busted budget</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; House Speaker Paul Ryan spent a career talking about reining in government spending but then pushed policies that sent the deficits soaring. The Wisconsin Republican proved adroit in drawing up budget plans that didn't get beyond the hypothetical. Under his leadership, Republicans never tried to implement the deep cuts his budget called for. Instead, the House passed steep tax cuts while increasing spending. He announced Wednesday that he would retire next year.</p> <p>___</p> <p>US budget deficit rose 18.4 percent in March</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; The federal government recorded a budget deficit of $208.7 billion in March. This was an increase of more than $32 billion from a year ago. Higher benefit expenditures as well as President Donald Trump's tax cuts drove the shortfall last month.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Mulvaney insists consumer watchdog is still doing its job</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; Mick Mulvaney tried Wednesday to reassure Democrats on a House finance panel that he's committed to punishing unscrupulous financial companies, while agreeing with Republicans that the watchdog agency he runs needs to be reined in and refocused. Mulvaney will appear before a Senate finance panel Thursday where he will face his biggest critic, Sen. Elizabeth Warren.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Consumer agency spends $6,000 on frosting windows in new HQ</p> <p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; Documents obtained by The Associated Press show the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has spent more than $6,000 frosting the windows of its senior staff in recent months. The spending on window frosting comes only months after the CFPB moved into completely renovated offices, at a cost of more than $240 million.</p> <p>___</p> <p>US consumer prices rise at faster 2.4 pct. from year earlier</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; U.S. consumer prices rose 2.4 percent in March from a year earlier, the fastest annual pace in 12 months. The Labor Department says that on a monthly basis, the consumer price index declined 0.1 percent in March. The index's yearly gain, however, suggests that inflation pressures may be picking up.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Insurers look to pass drug price breaks straight to consumer</p> <p>Some major health insurers plan to take a little sting out of prescription drug prices by giving customers rebates at the pharmacy counter. Aetna and UnitedHealthcare both say they will begin passing rebates they get from drugmakers along to some of their customers starting next year. They could spark a trend: It's an idea championed by President Donald Trump, and it's something other bill payers like major employers might consider.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Banks and technology stocks fall; oil rises to 3-year high</p> <p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; U.S. stock indexes finish mostly lower as banks and technology and health care companies fall, but energy companies rise as oil prices hit a three-year high. That came as investors focused on tensions in the Middle East. Facebook made up more ground as CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress for a second day.</p> <p>___</p> <p>The Standard &amp;amp; Poor's 500 index fell 14.68 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,642.19 after it surged 1.7 percent Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 218.55 points, or 0.9 percent, to 24,189.45. The Nasdaq composite lost 25.27 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,069.03. But the Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 3.37 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,546.80, and most of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange finished higher.</p> <p>U.S. crude climbed 2 percent to $66.82 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 1.4 percent to $72.06 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 1.3 percent to $2.07 a gallon and heating oil added 1.4 percent to $2.09 a gallon. Natural gas edged up 0.7 percent to $2.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.</p>

___ zuckerberg testimony reveals lawmaker confusion facebook continue reading washington ap facebook ceo mark zuckerberg acknowledged wednesday regulation social media inevitable disclosed personal information compromised malicious outsiders two days congressional testimony seemed clear little congress seems know facebook much less ___ fed march discussed slightly steeper future rate hikes washington ap federal reserve officials march meeting first new chairman jerome powell decided stick gradual approach rate hikes officials also discussed possibility future course rate hikes might need accelerate slightly steeper path ___ advertisement russian ruble roiled trump missile threat us sanctions moscow ap russian ruble recovered ground shaken us sanctions president donald trumps threatened missile strike syria ruble fell 2 percent dollar morning trading moscow dropped new lowest point since 2016 trump tweeted missiles coming however currency bounced back evening traded slightly day 628 dollar ___ speaker ryan leave behind new tax code busted budget washington ap house speaker paul ryan spent career talking reining government spending pushed policies sent deficits soaring wisconsin republican proved adroit drawing budget plans didnt get beyond hypothetical leadership republicans never tried implement deep cuts budget called instead house passed steep tax cuts increasing spending announced wednesday would retire next year ___ us budget deficit rose 184 percent march washington ap federal government recorded budget deficit 2087 billion march increase 32 billion year ago higher benefit expenditures well president donald trumps tax cuts drove shortfall last month ___ mulvaney insists consumer watchdog still job washington ap mick mulvaney tried wednesday reassure democrats house finance panel hes committed punishing unscrupulous financial companies agreeing republicans watchdog agency runs needs reined refocused mulvaney appear senate finance panel thursday face biggest critic sen elizabeth warren ___ consumer agency spends 6000 frosting windows new hq new york ap documents obtained associated press show consumer financial protection bureau spent 6000 frosting windows senior staff recent months spending window frosting comes months cfpb moved completely renovated offices cost 240 million ___ us consumer prices rise faster 24 pct year earlier washington ap us consumer prices rose 24 percent march year earlier fastest annual pace 12 months labor department says monthly basis consumer price index declined 01 percent march indexs yearly gain however suggests inflation pressures may picking ___ insurers look pass drug price breaks straight consumer major health insurers plan take little sting prescription drug prices giving customers rebates pharmacy counter aetna unitedhealthcare say begin passing rebates get drugmakers along customers starting next year could spark trend idea championed president donald trump something bill payers like major employers might consider ___ banks technology stocks fall oil rises 3year high new york ap us stock indexes finish mostly lower banks technology health care companies fall energy companies rise oil prices hit threeyear high came investors focused tensions middle east facebook made ground ceo mark zuckerberg testified congress second day ___ standard amp poors 500 index fell 1468 points 06 percent 264219 surged 17 percent tuesday dow jones industrial average slid 21855 points 09 percent 2418945 nasdaq composite lost 2527 points 04 percent 706903 russell 2000 index smallercompany stocks rose 337 points 02 percent 154680 stocks new york stock exchange finished higher us crude climbed 2 percent 6682 barrel new york brent crude used price international oils gained 14 percent 7206 barrel london wholesale gasoline rose 13 percent 207 gallon heating oil added 14 percent 209 gallon natural gas edged 07 percent 268 per 1000 cubic feet

<p>This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (October 3, 2017).</p> <p>When the iPhone X goes on sale next month, Apple's Inc.'s rival, Samsung Electronics Co., has good reason to hope it is a roaring success.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The South Korean company's giant components division stands to make $110 from the parts it sells Apple for each top-of-the-line, $1,000 iPhone X sold.</p> <p>The fact reflects a love-hate dynamic between the phone makers that is one of the more unusual relationships in business. While each company vies to get consumers to buy its gadgets, Samsung's parts operation also stands to make billions of dollars supplying screens and memory chips for the new iPhone -- parts that Apple relies on for its most important product.</p> <p>"These are two of the largest companies on the planet deeply tied at the hip and directly competitive," said David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School, who has studied Apple and serves on Intel Corp.'s board. "That makes this stand out compared with almost any relationship you can think of."</p> <p>An analysis conducted by Counterpoint Technology Market Research for The Wall Street Journal finds Samsung is likely to earn roughly $4 billion more in revenue from iPhone X parts than from components made for the Galaxy S8 in the 20 months after the new iPhones go on sale Nov. 3. The majority of sales for a new smartphone occur in the first 20 months after its debut.</p> <p>Apple and Samsung are expected to be the world's two most-profitable companies in 2017, excluding Chinese banks, according to S&amp;amp;P Global Market Intelligence. And they will depend on each other to get there. Apple needs Samsung's parts to make the iPhones that accounted for two-thirds of the Cupertino, Calif., company's $215.64 billion in revenue in fiscal 2016, according to investment bank CLSA. Samsung needs Apple's orders to fuel a component business that delivered about 35% of the South Korean firm's total revenue of about $195 billion last year and more than half of its $25.6 annual operating profit.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Samsung and Apple declined to comment for this article.</p> <p>Business rivals sometimes depend on each other. LG Electronics Inc., for example, produced its own home appliances while simultaneously working with General Electric Co. Major oil companies Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp. compete for drilling rights in some markets and collaborate in others.</p> <p>But the complex relationship between Apple and Samsung is unique.</p> <p>Their close association started more than a decade ago. Lee Jae-yong -- the grandson of Samsung's founder -- personally negotiated with Apple founder Steve Jobs to provide flash memory for iPods, according to people familiar with the matter.</p> <p>The relationship grew after Apple moved into selling smartphones. Apple's immense demand for parts -- it sells more than 200 million iPhones a year -- limits the field of possible suppliers. Samsung is one of a handful of semiconductor makers that can make a small-sized chip crammed with extra memory capacity. And it is the only significant manufacturer of the organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, displays Apple has adopted to create the iPhone X screen.</p> <p>At meetings, Samsung executives are known to tell attendees who pull out iPhones: "It's OK. They're our best client," according to people familiar with the matter.</p> <p>Samsung employees often refer to Apple with code names. One of the most popular is "LO," short for "Lovely Opponent," people familiar with the matter said. Apple's descriptor for Samsung, meanwhile, is Samsung, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Employees at the iPhone maker are often critical of its rival's devices, pointing out software and hardware flaws behind closed doors.</p> <p>The relationship took an acrimonious turn in 2011, when Apple sued Samsung over alleged patent infringement, accusing the Galaxy S of ripping off the iPhone's design. Samsung countersued Apple with its own patent-infringement allegations. Steve Jobs called it a "thermonuclear" legal war.</p> <p>Six years on, the U.S. lawsuit is unresolved. A federal appeals court is set to determine this month whether a new jury trial is necessary to resolve a case in which Samsung is challenging a nearly $400 million award to Apple for design patent-infringement damages.</p> <p>Samsung Electronics is run by three chief executives, a separation the company has said creates a sufficient firewall between the smartphone and components units. The smartphone unit buys parts from the components division, operating like they were two separate businesses.</p> <p>Apple will look to reduce its supply-chain reliance on Samsung, according to industry analysts, and is working to diversify OLED production by 2019 at the latest.</p> <p>Apple has encouraged others to build out OLED production operations, according to people familiar with its efforts, including Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Inc. It is supporting Bain Capital's bid for Toshiba Corp.'s memory-chip business, which would give it an alternative supplier in that market.</p> <p>But for now, the two remain close.</p> <p>Apple and Samsung vacuum up nearly 95% of the smartphone industry's profits, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. They can plow those earnings into research-and-development and marketing, giving them an edge over smaller smartphone players, said Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics. Apple also can use its size to buy up components, making it tougher for others to get the supplies they need.</p> <p>"Sleeping with the enemy," said CW Chung, a Seoul-based analyst at Nomura, "might be a better strategy for them than hating each other."</p> <p>Write to Timothy W. Martin at [email protected] and Tripp Mickle at [email protected]</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>October 03, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)</p>

article republished part daily reproduction wsjcom articles also appeared us print edition wall street journal october 3 2017 iphone x goes sale next month apples incs rival samsung electronics co good reason hope roaring success continue reading south korean companys giant components division stands make 110 parts sells apple topoftheline 1000 iphone x sold fact reflects lovehate dynamic phone makers one unusual relationships business company vies get consumers buy gadgets samsungs parts operation also stands make billions dollars supplying screens memory chips new iphone parts apple relies important product two largest companies planet deeply tied hip directly competitive said david yoffie professor harvard business school studied apple serves intel corps board makes stand compared almost relationship think analysis conducted counterpoint technology market research wall street journal finds samsung likely earn roughly 4 billion revenue iphone x parts components made galaxy s8 20 months new iphones go sale nov 3 majority sales new smartphone occur first 20 months debut apple samsung expected worlds two mostprofitable companies 2017 excluding chinese banks according sampp global market intelligence depend get apple needs samsungs parts make iphones accounted twothirds cupertino calif companys 21564 billion revenue fiscal 2016 according investment bank clsa samsung needs apples orders fuel component business delivered 35 south korean firms total revenue 195 billion last year half 256 annual operating profit advertisement samsung apple declined comment article business rivals sometimes depend lg electronics inc example produced home appliances simultaneously working general electric co major oil companies royal dutch shell plc exxon mobil corp compete drilling rights markets collaborate others complex relationship apple samsung unique close association started decade ago lee jaeyong grandson samsungs founder personally negotiated apple founder steve jobs provide flash memory ipods according people familiar matter relationship grew apple moved selling smartphones apples immense demand parts sells 200 million iphones year limits field possible suppliers samsung one handful semiconductor makers make smallsized chip crammed extra memory capacity significant manufacturer organic lightemitting diode oled displays apple adopted create iphone x screen meetings samsung executives known tell attendees pull iphones ok theyre best client according people familiar matter samsung employees often refer apple code names one popular lo short lovely opponent people familiar matter said apples descriptor samsung meanwhile samsung according people knowledge situation employees iphone maker often critical rivals devices pointing software hardware flaws behind closed doors relationship took acrimonious turn 2011 apple sued samsung alleged patent infringement accusing galaxy ripping iphones design samsung countersued apple patentinfringement allegations steve jobs called thermonuclear legal war six years us lawsuit unresolved federal appeals court set determine month whether new jury trial necessary resolve case samsung challenging nearly 400 million award apple design patentinfringement damages samsung electronics run three chief executives separation company said creates sufficient firewall smartphone components units smartphone unit buys parts components division operating like two separate businesses apple look reduce supplychain reliance samsung according industry analysts working diversify oled production 2019 latest apple encouraged others build oled production operations according people familiar efforts including sharp corp japan display inc supporting bain capitals bid toshiba corps memorychip business would give alternative supplier market two remain close apple samsung vacuum nearly 95 smartphone industrys profits according market researcher strategy analytics plow earnings researchanddevelopment marketing giving edge smaller smartphone players said neil mawston strategy analytics apple also use size buy components making tougher others get supplies need sleeping enemy said cw chung seoulbased analyst nomura might better strategy hating write timothy w martin timothymartinwsjcom tripp mickle trippmicklewsjcom end dow jones newswires october 03 2017 0247 et 0647 gmt

<p /> <p>Growing a business is a labor of love. Sometimes there&#8217;s plenty of cash on hand, and other times &#8230; well, there&#8217;s just not. And often as you&#8217;re growing, there&#8217;s trial and error involved as you figure out your cash rhythms. You can&#8217;t always control your circumstances, and planning ahead to have extra cash on hand is of course your best bet.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>So for those of us in the &#8220;real&#8221; world of running a small business with its ups, downs, and sleepless nights, here are five ideas to help increase your small business cash flow ASAP:</p> <p>1. Have a Sale or Special Promotion</p> <p>While you may think of sales as something only for big-box or retail stores, consider how you can feature a special promotion for your business. Offering a discount on significant purchases, or a special bonus to incentivize clients to hire you now, can drive more sales than sitting and waiting.</p> <p>Of course you don&#8217;t want to have sales every week, and you have to be careful how you position your promotion, but when done occasionally and done right, running a special offer can be just the boost you need. Email or call your clients or customers to let them know about the special promotion. And remember to add a deadline to your offer, otherwise they have no reason to take action now.</p> <p>MORE ALLBUSINESS:&amp;#160;</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>2. Raise Your Prices, but Do This First &#8230;</p> <p>It&#8217;s probably time to increase your fees, if it&#8217;s not long overdue! But don&#8217;t do it quietly. Announce to your current and past clients and customers that prices are going up as of a certain date, and explain why. Then give them the chance now to renew their contracts or stock up and save, before they&#8217;ll have to pay more.</p> <p>Example: A blow-dry bar I frequent here in Scottsdale recently announced their prices were going up by $5 per service. But they gave me the chance to prepay for as many future sessions as I wanted at the current price &#8230; if I did so&amp;#160;now. While it wasn&#8217;t a huge price increase, I love their services, so I stocked up. (And I now have a year&#8217;s worth of blow-drys waiting for me!)</p> <p>3. Borrow for Tomorrow, or Apply for a Grant Today</p> <p>The biggest barrier to small business growth is funding. Some business owners are dead set on not taking on ANY debt in their business. Hey, if you can do that, good for you. But I advocate debt as a fantastic tool when used smartly. In my early days as a business owner, I built my little enterprise from my kitchen table using many a credit card. Today, even with a multimillion-dollar company, I still use debt as a tool when it makes sense. Whether it&#8217;s credit cards or a small business loan, consider if it&#8217;s the right time for you to take that on, to help you through a rough spot.</p> <p>Also, be aware that small business grants are rare, but they do exist! And it&#8217;s not only the government that runs these programs. I&#8217;m working with Chase on Mission Main Street(SM) Grants, a program which is awarding grants of $250,000 each to 12 small businesses across the country. A small business owner could use the grant to grow the business including hiring new staff, purchasing larger orders of inventory, and more. While the deadline for small business applications was October 31, 2013, anyone can show their support by voting. Businesses must receive at least 250 votes by November 15 to be eligible for the grant. Visit <a href="http://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com" type="external">www.missionmainstreetgrants.com Opens a New Window.</a> to vote for your favorite small business.</p> <p>4. Move from One-Shot Services to Packages</p> <p>The owner of a personal training business came to me for coaching one fall season, wanting to increase revenue by end of year. But he insisted that the holidays were a terrible time for him to market. (&#8220;No one wants to get in shape when they could be eating pie at holiday parties,&#8221; he explained.) After further discussion, I learned he was doing a lot of single sessions with his clients. Together we put together a special package offer of 12 sessions which gave his clients a significant discount for booking multiple sessions in advance.</p> <p>He promoted it during the holidays, with the spin &#8220;Commit to Your Weight Loss Success Now, but Don&#8217;t Work Out Until Later!&#8221; His clients were delighted to pre-pay now but still enjoy their pie, and know they were going to get back on track after the holidays. Best of all, this business owner got a huge cash windfall during his typical &#8220;dry season.&#8221;</p> <p>5. Sell or Lease Unused Assets</p> <p>Take a close look around your offices, home, and storage units for things you really don&#8217;t need access to regularly. Do you have excess materials, inventory or equipment? Don&#8217;t discount personal items as well. (Is it time to unload that boat you use just twice a year?) If you have extra office space, consider subletting it to someone who could use the workspace.</p> <p>Example: Last year my team and I went through our company storage unit and found we had tons of video equipment that we just weren&#8217;t using. (We&#8217;d purchased it all two years ago when I was convinced we should do our own video shoots. Well, we were terrible at it! I swore from then on to hire pros instead. So now all this equipment was just sitting there.) I had my team sell the equipment online, and after that experience I looked at everything else we weren&#8217;t using regularly &#8212; trade show equipment, copiers and computers, etc. We were able to get rid of our expensive storage unit, while netting some cash too.</p> <p>Lightening your financial load (and just clearing your clutter) can net you some cash to get you through a tough spell, and it feels great energetically too. When you sleep better at night, you&#8217;ll be able to focus more on growing your business..</p> <p><a href="http://www.alibrown.com/" type="external">Ali Brown Opens a New Window.</a> is currently serving on the&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/" type="external">Mission Main Street(SM) Grants</a>&amp;#160;panel of experts, which will review this year&#8217;s applications and select the grant recipients. Brown is an award-winning entrepreneur, one of Forbes&#8217; Women to Watch, a mentor to thousands of small business owners, and has been featured on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;Secret Millionaire.&#8221; Her most recent business has ranked on the Inc. 500 list.</p>

growing business labor love sometimes theres plenty cash hand times well theres often youre growing theres trial error involved figure cash rhythms cant always control circumstances planning ahead extra cash hand course best bet continue reading us real world running small business ups downs sleepless nights five ideas help increase small business cash flow asap 1 sale special promotion may think sales something bigbox retail stores consider feature special promotion business offering discount significant purchases special bonus incentivize clients hire drive sales sitting waiting course dont want sales every week careful position promotion done occasionally done right running special offer boost need email call clients customers let know special promotion remember add deadline offer otherwise reason take action allbusiness160 advertisement 2 raise prices first probably time increase fees long overdue dont quietly announce current past clients customers prices going certain date explain give chance renew contracts stock save theyll pay example blowdry bar frequent scottsdale recently announced prices going 5 per service gave chance prepay many future sessions wanted current price so160now wasnt huge price increase love services stocked years worth blowdrys waiting 3 borrow tomorrow apply grant today biggest barrier small business growth funding business owners dead set taking debt business hey good advocate debt fantastic tool used smartly early days business owner built little enterprise kitchen table using many credit card today even multimilliondollar company still use debt tool makes sense whether credit cards small business loan consider right time take help rough spot also aware small business grants rare exist government runs programs im working chase mission main streetsm grants program awarding grants 250000 12 small businesses across country small business owner could use grant grow business including hiring new staff purchasing larger orders inventory deadline small business applications october 31 2013 anyone show support voting businesses must receive least 250 votes november 15 eligible grant visit wwwmissionmainstreetgrantscom opens new window vote favorite small business 4 move oneshot services packages owner personal training business came coaching one fall season wanting increase revenue end year insisted holidays terrible time market one wants get shape could eating pie holiday parties explained discussion learned lot single sessions clients together put together special package offer 12 sessions gave clients significant discount booking multiple sessions advance promoted holidays spin commit weight loss success dont work later clients delighted prepay still enjoy pie know going get back track holidays best business owner got huge cash windfall typical dry season 5 sell lease unused assets take close look around offices home storage units things really dont need access regularly excess materials inventory equipment dont discount personal items well time unload boat use twice year extra office space consider subletting someone could use workspace example last year team went company storage unit found tons video equipment werent using wed purchased two years ago convinced video shoots well terrible swore hire pros instead equipment sitting team sell equipment online experience looked everything else werent using regularly trade show equipment copiers computers etc able get rid expensive storage unit netting cash lightening financial load clearing clutter net cash get tough spell feels great energetically sleep better night youll able focus growing business ali brown opens new window currently serving the160 mission main streetsm grants160panel experts review years applications select grant recipients brown awardwinning entrepreneur one forbes women watch mentor thousands small business owners featured abcs secret millionaire recent business ranked inc 500 list

<p /> <p>The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its foot on the easy-money gas pedal, maintaining its stimulus programs at their current levels in the face of a rash of economic headwinds.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Yet despite recent sluggishness in labor and housing markets, among other economic bellwethers, the Fed, choosing to highlight the positive, &amp;#160;kept alive the chance of a December tapering of its massive bond purchase program known as quantitative easing.</p> <p>That possibility moved to traders to sell off stocks, pushing the major averages down following the 2 p.m. release of the Fed&#8217;s statement. The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 90 points at 2:30 p.m.</p> <p>Wednesday&#8217;s move &#8211; or lack of a move &#8211; was widely expected, unlike last month&#8217;s surprise decision to hold off on reducing the Fed&#8217;s $85 billion monthly asset purchases.</p> <p>The Fed had telegraphed for months the likelihood of scaling back its bond purchases beginning in September, then backed away citing, among other things, the strong possibility of a government shutdown and potential U.S. default in October due to political strife in Washington, D.C.</p> <p>While a default was averted a partial shutdown was not, and the economy &#8211; and by extension the Fed -- is now dealing with the consequences.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>In its statement, the Fed said &#8220;fiscal policy is restraining economic growth.&#8221;</p> <p>Other parts of the statement reflected policy maker&#8217;s belief that a return to sustained growth is imminent. &#8220;The Committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic growth will pick up from its recent pace and the unemployment rate will gradually decline toward levels the Committee judges consistent with its dual mandate,&#8221; the statement read.</p> <p>&#8220;What the Fed has to do now is gauge the state of the economy post-government shutdown,&#8221; said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com, ahead of the Fed&#8217;s 2 p.m. announcement.</p> <p>The need for that assessment tabled any chance that the Fed would begin tapering in October, according to McBride.</p> <p>McBride said the 16-day partial shutdown, which furloughed 800,000 Federal employees and harmed countless private businesses directly impacted by the closures, is forcing the Fed to play catch up on economic data that wasn&#8217;t released during the shutdown.</p> <p>For instance, the release of the September jobs report by the Labor Department, scheduled for Oct. 4, was postponed by the shutdown until last week. And then it disappointed, revealing an anemic 148,000 jobs were created last month.</p> <p>The September unemployment rate ticked lower to 7.2% from 7.3%, but once again the drop was caused by thousands of Americans leaving the workforce out of frustration with their inability to find a job. September&#8217;s labor force participation rate held steady at 63.2%, the lowest rate in four decades.</p> <p>Economists have speculated the shutdown could have a significant negative impact on the October labor numbers.</p> <p>&#8220;It will likely take another full month of economic data in November before the Fed can get a true read on what, if any, damage fiscal policy has done to the economy,&#8221; said McBride.</p> <p>Indeed, the headwinds that have emerged since summer led to predictions ahead of the Fed&#8217;s announcement that an increase in asset purchases might be in the cards. Analysts at investment bank Societe Generale raised the idea of the Fed boosting bond purchases in a note to clients last week. &#8220;Although we assign a very low probability to a decision by the FOMC to increase asset purchases at its October meeting, it is not a possibility we can ignore,&#8221; the analysts wrote.</p> <p>The next meeting of the policy setting Federal Open Markets Committee is scheduled for mid-December.</p> <p>Still, the weak September jobs report combined with softening housing data and less-than-stellar third quarter earnings has most analysts convinced that a decision on tapering will likely not come until early 2014.</p> <p>&#8220;While the statement sent a message of reassurance that the economy was set to rebound from its recent bout of weakness, it seems likely that the Fed will need to wait several months before the picture clears sufficiently, meaning no tapering of the stimulus programme until next year,&#8221; said Chris Williams, chief economist at research firm Markit.</p> <p>That&#8217;s bad news for Americans trying to find a job, but good news for investors. Stock markets have surged since the recent recession ended in 2009 as investors have gorged on excess cash created by the Fed&#8217;s easy money policies &#8211; namely quantitative easing and near-zero interest rates.</p> <p>Conversely, investors have initiated sharp pullbacks whenever the Fed has hinted in the past that its stimulus policies won&#8217;t last forever.</p> <p>Consider: the Dow Jones Industrial average has closed at record highs 32 times since early March of this year, most recently on Tuesday. And the broader S&amp;amp;P 500 notched its 33rd record this year in Tuesday&#8217;s session.</p> <p>The problem with this, as many economists have noted, is that the markets are rising despite the sluggish economic growth and stubbornly high unemployment, a situation that strongly suggest that much of the Fed&#8217;s stimulus is finding its way into assets such as stocks rather than capital expenditures that would stimulate growth and create jobs.</p> <p>Indeed, policy hawks (those who oppose continued stimulus), including several members of the FOMC, have warned that endless stimulus will eventually lead to runaway inflation and asset bubbles.</p> <p>That&#8217;s a topic sure to be raised next month during Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen&#8217;s Senate confirmation hearings to name a replacement for current Chair Ben Bernanke, who is stepping down Jan. 31 after serving two terms.</p> <p>The bull market in stocks has coincided with an unprecedented ballooning of the Fed&#8217;s balance sheet, from less than $1 trillion in 2008 to over $3.7 trillion today. At the same time, the Fed has held interest at a record low range of 0%-0.25% since December of 2008.</p>

federal reserve wednesday kept foot easymoney gas pedal maintaining stimulus programs current levels face rash economic headwinds continue reading yet despite recent sluggishness labor housing markets among economic bellwethers fed choosing highlight positive 160kept alive chance december tapering massive bond purchase program known quantitative easing possibility moved traders sell stocks pushing major averages following 2 pm release feds statement dow jones industrial average 90 points 230 pm wednesdays move lack move widely expected unlike last months surprise decision hold reducing feds 85 billion monthly asset purchases fed telegraphed months likelihood scaling back bond purchases beginning september backed away citing among things strong possibility government shutdown potential us default october due political strife washington dc default averted partial shutdown economy extension fed dealing consequences advertisement statement fed said fiscal policy restraining economic growth parts statement reflected policy makers belief return sustained growth imminent committee expects appropriate policy accommodation economic growth pick recent pace unemployment rate gradually decline toward levels committee judges consistent dual mandate statement read fed gauge state economy postgovernment shutdown said greg mcbride senior financial analyst bankratecom ahead feds 2 pm announcement need assessment tabled chance fed would begin tapering october according mcbride mcbride said 16day partial shutdown furloughed 800000 federal employees harmed countless private businesses directly impacted closures forcing fed play catch economic data wasnt released shutdown instance release september jobs report labor department scheduled oct 4 postponed shutdown last week disappointed revealing anemic 148000 jobs created last month september unemployment rate ticked lower 72 73 drop caused thousands americans leaving workforce frustration inability find job septembers labor force participation rate held steady 632 lowest rate four decades economists speculated shutdown could significant negative impact october labor numbers likely take another full month economic data november fed get true read damage fiscal policy done economy said mcbride indeed headwinds emerged since summer led predictions ahead feds announcement increase asset purchases might cards analysts investment bank societe generale raised idea fed boosting bond purchases note clients last week although assign low probability decision fomc increase asset purchases october meeting possibility ignore analysts wrote next meeting policy setting federal open markets committee scheduled middecember still weak september jobs report combined softening housing data lessthanstellar third quarter earnings analysts convinced decision tapering likely come early 2014 statement sent message reassurance economy set rebound recent bout weakness seems likely fed need wait several months picture clears sufficiently meaning tapering stimulus programme next year said chris williams chief economist research firm markit thats bad news americans trying find job good news investors stock markets surged since recent recession ended 2009 investors gorged excess cash created feds easy money policies namely quantitative easing nearzero interest rates conversely investors initiated sharp pullbacks whenever fed hinted past stimulus policies wont last forever consider dow jones industrial average closed record highs 32 times since early march year recently tuesday broader sampp 500 notched 33rd record year tuesdays session problem many economists noted markets rising despite sluggish economic growth stubbornly high unemployment situation strongly suggest much feds stimulus finding way assets stocks rather capital expenditures would stimulate growth create jobs indeed policy hawks oppose continued stimulus including several members fomc warned endless stimulus eventually lead runaway inflation asset bubbles thats topic sure raised next month fed vice chair janet yellens senate confirmation hearings name replacement current chair ben bernanke stepping jan 31 serving two terms bull market stocks coincided unprecedented ballooning feds balance sheet less 1 trillion 2008 37 trillion today time fed held interest record low range 0025 since december 2008

<p /> <p>Image source: Halliburton.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>If it's not one thing, it's another forHalliburton(NYSE: HAL). Not only is the price of oil wreaking havoc on their customers, but the U.S. Justice Department is also holding up its proposed acquisition of rivalBaker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) over antitrust concerns.</p> <p>Now the European Union has also joined the fray by launching a probe into the deal. This might seem like a minor speed bump compared with some of the roadblocks the merger is facing, but it couldn't come at a worse time.</p> <p>The proposalThe deal would merge the second and third largest oil-services providers by market cap -- Halliburton and Baker Hughes, respectively -- to create a single company, which would rivalSchlumberger(NYSE: SLB). The original plan, announced in November 2014, was for Halliburton to pay a premium to acquire Baker Hughes through a mix of cash and stock. Today, the deal is worth about $26 billion, thanks to the companies' plunging share prices. Schlumberger has fallen as well:</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/HAL" type="external">HAL</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a></p> <p>Beyond the efficiencies of scale that the acquisition would generate, the companies have complementary product lines and global footprints. The sale was expected to close in the second half of 2015. And then Uncle Sam got involved.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Regulators: can't live with 'em ...A year ago, the Justice Department officially requested further information about the acquisition, which the companies played off as "expected" and "a standard part of the regulatory review process." ("Nothin' to see here, folks!")</p> <p>But in the last year, the deadline for closing the deal has been pushed back three times. It's now set for April -- but don't hold your breath, because the Justice Department isn't commenting on what the companies could do to satisfy its antitrust concerns.In late September, Halliburton offered a cornucopia of businesses and business units for sale and offered to sell even more if needed. But all its efforts seem to have fallen on deaf ears.</p> <p>Halliburton is desperate to get this deal done, because if it falls through, it will owe Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee, which it would have to take on debt to afford. Baker Hughes investors stand to benefit from the deal, too. The company is the smallest of the top three and thus currently at a competitive disadvantage. The deal also offers shareholders a premium for their stock.</p> <p>But there doesn't appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel, because now Europe is involved.</p> <p>Why Europe mattersHalliburton has the largest share of the North American market. Its merger with Baker Hughes would not only increase this share, but would also threaten Schlumberger's leadership status in the Europe/Africa region:</p> <p>Source: Company earnings releases, chart by author</p> <p>So it's hardly surprising that Europe wants to launch a more thorough probe, which could last well into May. Naturally, this relieves pressure on the Justice Department to move quickly: no point in rushing if the deal is being held up in Europe! But the pressure only increases for Halliburton as its April 30 deadline edges closer and closer.</p> <p>Halliburton and Baker Hughes have tried to put a positive spin on the enhanced EU review: "a normal step in the ... process." ("We mean it! Nothin' to see here, folks!") But they have to be getting worried at this point. And even if the EU does eventually approve a plan, the companies' US market share is much greater, meaning the scrutiny is also likely to be much greater. An extended EU review is a harbinger of an extended U.S. review.</p> <p>Between a (shale) rock and a hard placeMeanwhile, oil prices continue to slide and smaller oil services companies are beginning to fold. While this might be a silver lining for the companies' sales departments, it's not good for the prospective merger.</p> <p>Every time a smaller competitor closes up shop, it results in Halliburton and Baker Hughes commanding a higher overall market share. For example, Halliburton and Baker Hughes controlled a combined 47% of the global market in well completion equipment in November 2014, when the merger was announced. Today theycontrol 52% of said market, according to industry consultant Spears &amp;amp; Associates.</p> <p>This creates a vicious spiral: the larger the companies' market shares, the less inclined regulators will be to approve the deal without significant concessions. Concessions which take time to formulate, propose, and review. Meanwhile, their market share continues to increase. And 'round again we go.</p> <p>At the end of the day -- or yearThe lack of a swift regulatory ruling by the EU means the process will drag on further, increasing the likelihood that the companies will be forced to either make extraordinary concessions or call the whole thing off. Neither is good for Halliburton or Baker Hughes investors.</p> <p>Ultimately, Halliburton and Baker Hughes want to do whatever it takes to make the sale go through. However, it's unclear if they will gain much advantage. If regulators force the companies to sell off too many parts, the combined company won't have much larger a market share than when it began the merger talks. And, depending on who's buying, they may create new competitors.</p> <p>As if that's not enough, the weak energy markets are a threat regardless of whether the deal goes through. Buying either company now would be a risky proposition indeed. Even big dog Schlumberger is going to be hurting as long as oil prices remain low.</p> <p>Things aren't pretty in oil services in general these days. For Halliburton and Baker Hughes, though, they're getting downright ugly.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/22/another-step-backward-for-halliburton-and-baker-hu.aspx" type="external">Another Step Backward for Halliburton and Baker Hughes -- and Their Shareholders</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Truth2Power/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">John Bromels</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Halliburton. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>

image source halliburton continue reading one thing another forhalliburtonnyse hal price oil wreaking havoc customers us justice department also holding proposed acquisition rivalbaker hughes nyse bhi antitrust concerns european union also joined fray launching probe deal might seem like minor speed bump compared roadblocks merger facing couldnt come worse time proposalthe deal would merge second third largest oilservices providers market cap halliburton baker hughes respectively create single company would rivalschlumbergernyse slb original plan announced november 2014 halliburton pay premium acquire baker hughes mix cash stock today deal worth 26 billion thanks companies plunging share prices schlumberger fallen well hal data ycharts beyond efficiencies scale acquisition would generate companies complementary product lines global footprints sale expected close second half 2015 uncle sam got involved advertisement regulators cant live em year ago justice department officially requested information acquisition companies played expected standard part regulatory review process nothin see folks last year deadline closing deal pushed back three times set april dont hold breath justice department isnt commenting companies could satisfy antitrust concernsin late september halliburton offered cornucopia businesses business units sale offered sell even needed efforts seem fallen deaf ears halliburton desperate get deal done falls owe baker hughes 35 billion breakup fee would take debt afford baker hughes investors stand benefit deal company smallest top three thus currently competitive disadvantage deal also offers shareholders premium stock doesnt appear light end tunnel europe involved europe mattershalliburton largest share north american market merger baker hughes would increase share would also threaten schlumbergers leadership status europeafrica region source company earnings releases chart author hardly surprising europe wants launch thorough probe could last well may naturally relieves pressure justice department move quickly point rushing deal held europe pressure increases halliburton april 30 deadline edges closer closer halliburton baker hughes tried put positive spin enhanced eu review normal step process mean nothin see folks getting worried point even eu eventually approve plan companies us market share much greater meaning scrutiny also likely much greater extended eu review harbinger extended us review shale rock hard placemeanwhile oil prices continue slide smaller oil services companies beginning fold might silver lining companies sales departments good prospective merger every time smaller competitor closes shop results halliburton baker hughes commanding higher overall market share example halliburton baker hughes controlled combined 47 global market well completion equipment november 2014 merger announced today theycontrol 52 said market according industry consultant spears amp associates creates vicious spiral larger companies market shares less inclined regulators approve deal without significant concessions concessions take time formulate propose review meanwhile market share continues increase round go end day yearthe lack swift regulatory ruling eu means process drag increasing likelihood companies forced either make extraordinary concessions call whole thing neither good halliburton baker hughes investors ultimately halliburton baker hughes want whatever takes make sale go however unclear gain much advantage regulators force companies sell many parts combined company wont much larger market share began merger talks depending whos buying may create new competitors thats enough weak energy markets threat regardless whether deal goes buying either company would risky proposition indeed even big dog schlumberger going hurting long oil prices remain low things arent pretty oil services general days halliburton baker hughes though theyre getting downright ugly article another step backward halliburton baker hughes shareholders originally appeared foolcom john bromels position stocks mentioned motley fool owns shares recommends halliburton try foolish newsletter services free 30 days fools may hold opinions believe considering diverse range insights makes us better investors motley fool disclosure policy copyright 1995 2016 motley fool llc rights reserved motley fool disclosure policy

<p>On Sunday, The Daily Wire had an opportunity to chat with 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina about topics ranging from the current controversies roiling America&#8217;s campuses to the perils of media bias.</p> <p>Fiorina ripped into Hillary Clinton and President Obama for their belief that conservatism is the greatest threat facing the country rather than foreign enemies like ISIS. She characterized her own enemies as &#8220;the Supreme Leader of Iran, ISIS,&#8221; and said &#8220;I hope they&#8217;re paying attention to what I say. They are the enemies.&#8221; She added, &#8220;Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are similar in this respect. Their core is about political advantage. Their core is not about principle. And that&#8217;s why you see Hillary Clinton saying Republicans are our enemies. It&#8217;s why you see Hillary Clinton lying about Benghazi. It&#8217;s why you see Barack Obama from the Philippines talking about how Republicans are un-American. Their core is political advantage, no more, no less.&#8221;</p> <p>Fiorina also talked at length about the threat of leftism to the country&#8217;s foundation. &#8220;Progressivism,&#8221; she said, &#8220;weakens our country because it weakens the foundation of our country. It weakens the fundamental principle that dignity comes from work; they&#8217;re weakening the family; they&#8217;re weakening opportunity, whether by crushing small business or ensuring that every child doesn&#8217;t have a good education because they&#8217;re protecting the teachers unions; they&#8217;re clearly prepared to weaken the national defense. Progressivism undermines the character and function of this nation. We have to educate people about the truth of that statement, and why the fundamental principles of conservatism work better to lift everyone up and strengthen the nation. If we can&#8217;t make that case we will lose.&#8221;</p> <p>She explained that she believes that many Americans truly don&#8217;t understand the difference between the rhetoric of the left and the rhetoric of the right. &#8220;I have a lot of Bernie Sanders people who come to my events,&#8221; Fiorina stated. &#8220;I ask them when they come up to me and admit they follow Bernie Sanders, why they&#8217;re there; they say, &#8216;you talk about crony capitalism.&#8217; Sanders talks about crony capitalism, too, but he says that more government involvement in the economy is the fix, while I talk about how that&#8217;s the cause of crony capitalism in the first place. People walk out of my events and say, &#8216;big and powerful advantages big and powerful. That&#8217;s true for government, too.&#8217;&#8221;</p> <p>Our conversation then turned to racial controversies breaking out at America&#8217;s college campuses. &#8220;This is what happens when we no longer provide the perspective of history,&#8221; Fiorina stated. &#8220;When people don&#8217;t have the perspective of history, they lose sight of the difference between real racism and something else. When we say to college students, &#8216;You can have a trigger warning in case you&#8217;re offended&#8217; and we begin to rewrite our own history, we&#8217;re not helping prepare young people for their role as citizens.&#8221; She said with regard to student debt, education and information are the keys for students: &#8220;Most students don&#8217;t know that the federal government took over the student loan business. They don&#8217;t know that the reason loan debt has skyrocketed is because the Obama administration took it over, buried in pages of the Affordable Care Act, and there&#8217;s no competition for their business. They don&#8217;t know that the government charges somewhere between 4.5 and 6.5 percent when the government pays 1.5 and 2.5 percent on their own debt. Their own federal government is making money on them. Government has contributed to the soaring cost of college education with all the requirements, and the fact that government isn&#8217;t supportive of alternatives. They don&#8217;t know the government owns their debt and the government tells them what kind of school they can apply to. They&#8217;re kind of appalled when they learn that.&#8221; Fiorina said that the technology industry provides a fantastic case study for the power of the market: &#8220;It&#8217;s the least regulated, most hypercompetitive industry, and these students expect cooler features, better apps, prettier products at lower prices every year. There&#8217;s a cause and effect relationship there. When I can get young people to get thinking about why technology works the way it works -- innovation is prized, risk-taking rewarded -- and compare it to student loans, I hope they start to think.&#8221;</p> <p>Fiorina went on to rip Obama&#8217;s economy, saying it was moving in &#8220;the wrong direction in every conceivable way. We have government enmeshed in more and more industries, we are destroying the engine of economic growth and job creation, entrepreneurship, innovation, small businesses. That&#8217;s why we have so many people out of work, so many who&#8217;ve give up looking for work, because we&#8217;re not creating enough jobs. It&#8217;s why middle class wages are stagnant. We&#8217;re creating webs of dependence that make it easy for people to say they don&#8217;t need to work; we&#8217;ve created structural problems in the economy, structural problems in the banking industry. Sadly, both the Republicans and the Democrats have contributed to this.&#8221;</p> <p>Asked about her widely-praised performance in debate and why she hadn&#8217;t been able to capitalize long-term in the polls, Fiorina demurred. &#8220;I would say when I launched my campaign in May, I was 17 out of 16. The pollsters didn&#8217;t even have my name. Nobody in the punditry gave me any chance at all. In August I wasn&#8217;t on the stage and in September I had to fight my way onto the stage, and I&#8217;ll be on the main stage on December. There is not other candidate that&#8217;s had that kind of trajectory with my level of name ID. A lot of people still don&#8217;t know me. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s about being a woman versus a man. I think people are still getting to know me.&#8221;</p> <p>She said that she hoped other Republicans would continue to take on the media juggernaut by appearing wherever and whenever they can: &#8220;I take every question as it comes, and I explain to people why they&#8217;re wrong if they&#8217;re wrong. And I&#8217;m not afraid to do that. That&#8217;s why I went on The View. If we cannot handle the misconceptions and biases of the liberal media, we can&#8217;t win this election.&#8221; Fiorina continued, &#8220;OK, they&#8217;re biased, but you still have to tackle and answer the questions. I think to win we must speak to people who don&#8217;t yet know they agree with us. To win and to lead, we have to educate and inform, as well as inspire. I take every media interview as an opportunity to answer real questions and educate people.&#8221;</p> <p>I asked Fiorina if she could have one Constitutional amendment, what it would be; she said we don&#8217;t need to amend the Constitution, we just need to &#8220;go back to it; the Constitution gives us what we need.&#8221;</p> <p>Asked about the potential nominees, she said, &#8220;I think our nominee has to truly unify the party. I think only a conservative can unify the party, and I start with that because we have to have everybody in our party excited and motivated to vote. We didn&#8217;t accomplish that in 2008 and we didn&#8217;t do it in 2012 either. We have to appeal to those Democrats and independents who know that government isn&#8217;t working for them anymore. Gallup tracks this, but 75 percent of the American people think government is corrupt. There are a lot of voters in there who can be persuaded that reducing the size and scope of government will help them in their live.&#8221;</p> <p>If she were to win the nomination, I asked, who would she consider for vice president? &#8220;I have ideas but one of the reasons I&#8217;m not prepared to be specific is because I think character is revealed over time and under pressure. A presidential campaign is a long time and lot of pressure. I want to see how people do over time and under pressure.&#8221; I joked, &#8220;So not Donald Trump.&#8221; She responded, &#8220;Hey, you said it, not me.&#8221;</p>

sunday daily wire opportunity chat 2016 presidential candidate carly fiorina topics ranging current controversies roiling americas campuses perils media bias fiorina ripped hillary clinton president obama belief conservatism greatest threat facing country rather foreign enemies like isis characterized enemies supreme leader iran isis said hope theyre paying attention say enemies added hillary clinton barack obama similar respect core political advantage core principle thats see hillary clinton saying republicans enemies see hillary clinton lying benghazi see barack obama philippines talking republicans unamerican core political advantage less fiorina also talked length threat leftism countrys foundation progressivism said weakens country weakens foundation country weakens fundamental principle dignity comes work theyre weakening family theyre weakening opportunity whether crushing small business ensuring every child doesnt good education theyre protecting teachers unions theyre clearly prepared weaken national defense progressivism undermines character function nation educate people truth statement fundamental principles conservatism work better lift everyone strengthen nation cant make case lose explained believes many americans truly dont understand difference rhetoric left rhetoric right lot bernie sanders people come events fiorina stated ask come admit follow bernie sanders theyre say talk crony capitalism sanders talks crony capitalism says government involvement economy fix talk thats cause crony capitalism first place people walk events say big powerful advantages big powerful thats true government conversation turned racial controversies breaking americas college campuses happens longer provide perspective history fiorina stated people dont perspective history lose sight difference real racism something else say college students trigger warning case youre offended begin rewrite history helping prepare young people role citizens said regard student debt education information keys students students dont know federal government took student loan business dont know reason loan debt skyrocketed obama administration took buried pages affordable care act theres competition business dont know government charges somewhere 45 65 percent government pays 15 25 percent debt federal government making money government contributed soaring cost college education requirements fact government isnt supportive alternatives dont know government owns debt government tells kind school apply theyre kind appalled learn fiorina said technology industry provides fantastic case study power market least regulated hypercompetitive industry students expect cooler features better apps prettier products lower prices every year theres cause effect relationship get young people get thinking technology works way works innovation prized risktaking rewarded compare student loans hope start think fiorina went rip obamas economy saying moving wrong direction every conceivable way government enmeshed industries destroying engine economic growth job creation entrepreneurship innovation small businesses thats many people work many whove give looking work creating enough jobs middle class wages stagnant creating webs dependence make easy people say dont need work weve created structural problems economy structural problems banking industry sadly republicans democrats contributed asked widelypraised performance debate hadnt able capitalize longterm polls fiorina demurred would say launched campaign may 17 16 pollsters didnt even name nobody punditry gave chance august wasnt stage september fight way onto stage ill main stage december candidate thats kind trajectory level name id lot people still dont know dont think woman versus man think people still getting know said hoped republicans would continue take media juggernaut appearing wherever whenever take every question comes explain people theyre wrong theyre wrong im afraid thats went view handle misconceptions biases liberal media cant win election fiorina continued ok theyre biased still tackle answer questions think win must speak people dont yet know agree us win lead educate inform well inspire take every media interview opportunity answer real questions educate people asked fiorina could one constitutional amendment would said dont need amend constitution need go back constitution gives us need asked potential nominees said think nominee truly unify party think conservative unify party start everybody party excited motivated vote didnt accomplish 2008 didnt 2012 either appeal democrats independents know government isnt working anymore gallup tracks 75 percent american people think government corrupt lot voters persuaded reducing size scope government help live win nomination asked would consider vice president ideas one reasons im prepared specific think character revealed time pressure presidential campaign long time lot pressure want see people time pressure joked donald trump responded hey said

<p>In an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/opinion/25th-amendment-trump.html" type="external">opinion piece</a> this week, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ross-douthat?action=click&amp;amp;contentCollection=Opinion&amp;amp;module=ExtendedByline&amp;amp;region=Header&amp;amp;pgtype=article" type="external">Ross</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ross-douthat?action=click&amp;amp;contentCollection=Opinion&amp;amp;module=ExtendedByline&amp;amp;region=Header&amp;amp;pgtype=article" type="external">Douthat</a>, one of the only New York Times columnists that occasionally utters something that even sounds conservative-ish, offered up a creative idea for how to oust Donald Trump: use the 25th Amendment to deem Trump unfit to continue as president.</p> <p>The 25th Amendment addresses the replacement of the president or vice president in the event of resignation, removal, death, or incapacitation. Douthat's idea is to invoke Section 4 of the amendment, "which allows for the removal of the president if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet informs the Congress that he is 'unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office' and (should the president contest his own removal) a two-thirds vote by Congress confirms the cabinet&#8217;s judgment." Here's the full text of Section 4 of the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxxv" type="external">25th Amendment</a>:</p> <p>Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.</p> <p>Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.</p> <p>While Douthat's idea is preposterous, and would set a dangerous precedent in this context, the columnist's earnest effort to try to figure out how to rid America of the "omni-incompetence" of the unorthodox president is at least morbidly entertaining, so below are a few excerpts.</p> <p>First, Douthat makes clear that he does not believe Trump is actually guilty of "high crimes," only "simple omni-incompetence." But because the presidency is now "semi-monarchical," incompetence poses too great a risk to the nation:</p> <p>The presidency is not just another office. It has become, for good reasons and bad ones, a seat of semi-monarchical political power, a fixed place on which unimaginable pressures are daily brought to bear, and the final stopping point for decisions that can lead very swiftly to life or death for people the world over.</p> <p>One does not need to be a Marvel superhero or Nietzschean &#220;bermensch to rise to this responsibility. But one needs some basic attributes: a reasonable level of intellectual curiosity, a certain seriousness of purpose, a basic level of managerial competence, a decent attention span, a functional moral compass, a measure of restraint and self-control. And if a president is deficient in one or more of them, you can be sure it will be exposed.</p> <p>"Trump," writes Douthat, "is seemingly deficient in them all." Citing David Brooks, Douthat describes Trump as exhibiting a "basic childishness," which he suggests is already doing grave damage to the country. "A child cannot be president. I love my children; they cannot have the nuclear codes," he writes. "But a child also cannot really commit 'high crimes and misdemeanors' in any usual meaning of the term."</p> <p>Douthat predicts that despite all of the buzz around impeachment and the special prosecutor, Trump will not be found guilty of anything impeachable. "I do not believe that our president sufficiently understands the nature of the office that he holds, the nature of the legal constraints that are supposed to bind him, perhaps even the nature of normal human interactions, to be guilty of obstruction of justice in the Nixonian or even Clintonian sense of the phrase," he writes.</p> <p>So what to do with this unimpeachable but dangerously incompetent semi-monarch? Use the 25th Amendment, which would require the vice president and a majority of his cabinet deeming him unfit on purely subjective terms. When Trump would inevitably reject that claim, a full two-thirds of Congress would then have to back Trump's cabinet's subjective determination. Douthat admits that he's encouraging officials to misuse the amendment:</p> <p>The Trump situation is not exactly the sort that the amendment&#8217;s Cold War-era designers were envisioning. He has not endured an assassination attempt or suffered a stroke or fallen prey to Alzheimer&#8217;s. But his incapacity to really govern, to truly execute the serious duties that fall to him to carry out, is nevertheless testified to daily &#8212; not by his enemies or external critics, but by precisely the men and women whom the Constitution asks to stand in judgment on him, the men and women who serve around him in the White House and the cabinet.</p> <p>As "evidence" that his cabinet would be willing to do this, Douthat cites anonymous quotes from members of his inner circle to the press. "They have no respect for him, indeed they seem to palpitate with contempt for him, and to regard their mission as equivalent to being stewards for a syphilitic emperor," he writes. Though he acknowledges that he's asking for something rather extreme, Douthat says it's the Republican leaderships' patriotic responsibility to stage this 25th Amendment-coup:</p> <p>Meanwhile, from the perspective of the Republican leadership&#8217;s duty to their country, and indeed to the world that our imperium bestrides, leaving a man this witless and unmastered in an office with these powers and responsibilities is an act of gross negligence, which no objective on the near-term political horizon seems remotely significant enough to justify.</p> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/opinion/25th-amendment-trump.html" type="external">Read Douthat's piece here</a>.</p>

opinion piece week ross douthat one new york times columnists occasionally utters something even sounds conservativeish offered creative idea oust donald trump use 25th amendment deem trump unfit continue president 25th amendment addresses replacement president vice president event resignation removal death incapacitation douthats idea invoke section 4 amendment allows removal president vice president majority cabinet informs congress unable discharge powers duties office president contest removal twothirds vote congress confirms cabinets judgment heres full text section 4 25th amendment whenever vice president majority either principal officers executive departments body congress may law provide transmit president pro tempore senate speaker house representatives written declaration president unable discharge powers duties office vice president shall immediately assume powers duties office acting president thereafter president transmits president pro tempore senate speaker house representatives written declaration inability exists shall resume powers duties office unless vice president majority either principal officers executive department body congress may law provide transmit within four days president pro tempore senate speaker house representatives written declaration president unable discharge powers duties office thereupon congress shall decide issue assembling within fortyeight hours purpose session congress within twentyone days receipt latter written declaration congress session within twentyone days congress required assemble determines twothirds vote houses president unable discharge powers duties office vice president shall continue discharge acting president otherwise president shall resume powers duties office douthats idea preposterous would set dangerous precedent context columnists earnest effort try figure rid america omniincompetence unorthodox president least morbidly entertaining excerpts first douthat makes clear believe trump actually guilty high crimes simple omniincompetence presidency semimonarchical incompetence poses great risk nation presidency another office become good reasons bad ones seat semimonarchical political power fixed place unimaginable pressures daily brought bear final stopping point decisions lead swiftly life death people world one need marvel superhero nietzschean Übermensch rise responsibility one needs basic attributes reasonable level intellectual curiosity certain seriousness purpose basic level managerial competence decent attention span functional moral compass measure restraint selfcontrol president deficient one sure exposed trump writes douthat seemingly deficient citing david brooks douthat describes trump exhibiting basic childishness suggests already grave damage country child president love children nuclear codes writes child also really commit high crimes misdemeanors usual meaning term douthat predicts despite buzz around impeachment special prosecutor trump found guilty anything impeachable believe president sufficiently understands nature office holds nature legal constraints supposed bind perhaps even nature normal human interactions guilty obstruction justice nixonian even clintonian sense phrase writes unimpeachable dangerously incompetent semimonarch use 25th amendment would require vice president majority cabinet deeming unfit purely subjective terms trump would inevitably reject claim full twothirds congress would back trumps cabinets subjective determination douthat admits hes encouraging officials misuse amendment trump situation exactly sort amendments cold warera designers envisioning endured assassination attempt suffered stroke fallen prey alzheimers incapacity really govern truly execute serious duties fall carry nevertheless testified daily enemies external critics precisely men women constitution asks stand judgment men women serve around white house cabinet evidence cabinet would willing douthat cites anonymous quotes members inner circle press respect indeed seem palpitate contempt regard mission equivalent stewards syphilitic emperor writes though acknowledges hes asking something rather extreme douthat says republican leaderships patriotic responsibility stage 25th amendmentcoup meanwhile perspective republican leaderships duty country indeed world imperium bestrides leaving man witless unmastered office powers responsibilities act gross negligence objective nearterm political horizon seems remotely significant enough justify read douthats piece