Canada Trade 2013 Canada Forex 2013

Rogers was shocked at the fuss over the U.S. downgrade, which he didn't think it was newsworthy: 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:21:00 +0000

Rogers was shocked at the fuss over the U.S. downgrade, which he didn't think it was newsworthy: 2013

He said :: "I know you have to report, you've got a lot of viewers. This isn't even old news. This is not news. Everybody in the markets knew this. Markets aren't going down because of this. Markets are going down for many fundamental reasons. America's got staggering problems, Europe has problems, China is slowing down."

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Jim Rogers owns gold and isn't looking to sell it now 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:20:00 +0000

Jim Rogers owns gold and isn't looking to sell it now
2013

He has also said that he wouldn't buy gold at these prices, but that he would be more interested if prices fell below the $1,600 per ounce mark. He does however think it is due for a correction because gold prices have been up 11 years in a row:

"It will end in a bubble when this is over. The way bull markets work is they go up and up and then by the end they turn into a bubble and that will happen to gold.

...…That could be five years, 18 years or six years.">> By canada For trade

"Give the guy 2013 a printing press, he’s going to run it as fast as he can.canada TRade

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:17:00 +0000

"Give the guy 2013 a printing press, he’s going to run it as fast as he can.canada TRade

Jim Rogers has long been critical of Fed Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and quantitative easing:

"Dr. Bernanke unfortunately does not understand economics, he does not understand currencies, he does not understand finance. His whole intellectual career has been based on the study of printing money."

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New 2013"If you can find ways to invest in Myanmar you will be very, very rich Really 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:15:00 +0000

New 2013"If you can find ways to invest in Myanmar you will be very, very rich Really 2013

Myanmar, according to Rogers, has an attractive small stock market and few public companies that are still being developed. This is a long bet for Rogers who said that if people find a way to invest in Myanmar now, they will be rich over the next 20 - 40 years

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Jim said 2013 If you vote for a Turkey, they'll send you a Turkey Read more

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:12:00 +0000

Jim said 2013 If you vote for a Turkey, they'll send you a Turkey Read more

Rogers may have moved to Singapore but he is still an American voter. Ahead of the elections he said he is voting the protest vote because neither president Obama nor Mitt Romney could save America.

"I don't want to waste my vote. If we keep voting for turkeys, they'll keep sending us turkeys. Why would you vote for these guys, they don't have a clue what's going on

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"If the world economy gets better, 2013 commodities are very good place to be in Find More Here

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:04:00 +0000

"If the world economy gets better, 2013 commodities are very good place to be in Find More Here

even if the world economy does not improve, commodities are still a fabulous place to be

Rogers said that commodity prices have always gone up when a country is printing money. And every government is printing money now.

Jim Rogers 2013 Swim your own races canada For trade 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:56:00 +0000

Jim Rogers 2013 Swim your own races canada For trade 2013

Jim Rogers said that early in his career as an investor, he assumed others knew more than he did, and he would try to mimic them. Over time, he found that when he disagreed with them, he ended up being right. So he began listening to himself over others.

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Jim Rogers say "India is not a place for investors, but it's found more 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Jim Rogers say "India is not a place for investors, but it's found more 2013

Rogers is not as optimistic on the other Asian giant, India. He believes the country needs to open up its retail market and make its currency convertible. He argues that politicians need to address the nation's problems now instead of pushing them into the future:

"India has a horrible economic system. Indian politicians are of course now talking the right concepts and are trying to implement them, but a lot goes wrong when they are put into practice and run up against the country's thoroughly anti-capitalist bureaucracy."

jim Rogers said "I was poor once, I didn't like it, I don't want to be poor again" News 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:50:00 +0000

jim Rogers said "I was poor once, I didn't like it, I don't want to be poor again" News 2013

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Rogers thinks the U.S. has already had a lost decade in terms of the stock market, employment, or industrial production. He doesn't think the U.S. economy is picking up:

"There is apparently a bit of a housing recovery but that's not unusual when you have a collapse, there's always a rebound to some extent …manufacturing renaissance. Please are you kidding me? Yes things are up some but what manufacturing renaissance I mean most of the rest of the world is still running circles around us. I don't particularly like saying this since I'm an American citizen, American taxpayer, American voter but I have to face reality or I'll go bankrupt too. I was poor once, I didn't like it, I don't want to be poor again"

12 Insights From The Always 2013 Charming Commodities canada4trade Jim Rogers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:40:00 +0000

12 Insights From The Always 2013 Charming Commodities canada4trade Jim Rogers

insights , always 2013 , charming , commodities , Jim Rogers

Jim Rogers started on Wall Street back in the 60s and went on to co-found the Quantum Fund with George Soros.

Then he packed up and moved to Singapore, essentially shorting the west.

Now he's heavily invested in agriculture, gold, and silver, and he is training his children to speak Mandarin because he thinks the balance of power is shifting to Asia.

Rogers never minces his words when he talks about investments, politics, and life in general.

We've put together 12 brilliant quotes from Rogers that every investor will find helpfu

Laugh From your Heart with Canada to World Trade 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:31:00 +0000

Laugh From your Heart with Canada to World Trade 2013

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Is a decline in midlevel jobs 2013 hurting the U.S. recovery?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:41:00 +0000

Is a decline in midlevel jobs 2013 hurting the U.S. recovery?

Some economists and U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers worry that a declining market for middle-skilled jobs exacerbated unemployment during the Great Recession and is now hurting the recovery.

But a new paper on "job polarization" from the Boston Federal Reserve Bank punches some holes in that theory. Among other things, it finds that the disappearance of midlevel jobs is not behind the troubling mismatch between the skills workers have and the skills employers seek.

The paper, published last week as the Fed gathered to decide its next move, may undermine hard-line policymakers who warn that high unemployment could be the new normal and that the central bank has gone too far in its efforts to get Americans back to work.

Job polarization has been spreading for decades.

Employment opportunities have eroded for factory workers, kindergarten teachers and others in the "middle" of the skills spectrum. At the same time, opportunities have become more plentiful for higher-skilled professionals, such as engineers, and lower-skilled workers, like groundskeepers.

The paper highlights this troubling trend, which could get more attention now that the central bank has said it plans to keep interest rates near zero at least until the unemployment rate drops down to 6.5 percent, from 7.7 percent last month.

Some economists have argued that polarization went into overdrive in the 2007-2009 recession and left a lasting scar on the labor market.

If they are right, the jobless rate may not return to pre-recession levels around 5 percent, and the Fed's unprecedented steps to boost employment might be wrong and risky.

'STRUCTURAL' VS. 'CYCLICAL' UNEMPLOYMENT

The Fed's decision last week to tie interest rates to achieving a specific jobless level underscored how closely monetary policy will hinge on achieving progress in the labor market.

With policymakers trying to determine why employment growth is so sluggish, the findings of the Boston Fed paper might turn some heads.

Examining the job-finding prospects for those in the troubled "middle-skill" category, the paper's authors concluded that polarization had little to do with the slow U.S. recovery and was not responsible for a skills mismatch seen in the so-called Beveridge curve, which shows unemployment has remained high even while job openings are plentiful.

Further, the paper finds, the salesmen and construction workers and others who lose their middle-skill jobs in recessions are no more likely to move to high- or low-skilled jobs, or to leave the labor force, than they are in boom times.

"If unemployment today is structural - so that some workers are doing well while others are not - the classification of the winners and losers doesn't line up neatly with the classification stressed in the polarization literature," said Christopher Foote, a Boston Fed senior economist and policy adviser who wrote the paper with bank research associate Richard Ryan.

Essentially, the findings are a blow to those who argue that the labor market has undergone longer-term "structural" changes due to the deep 2007-2009 recession and who attribute at least part of that to polarization.

And they could provide support to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and others who argue that an accommodative monetary policy can help repair the shorter-term "cyclical" damage to the market.

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

Automation and the transfer of U.S. jobs to other countries, particularly in manufacturing, partly explain the hollowing out of middle-skilled employment over the last 30 years and the growing divide between the nation's wealthy and poor.

While automation can replace routine jobs like car assembly, demand has grown for those adept at new technologies. On the low end of the skills spectrum, jobs in areas like child care and food preparation cannot be shipped overseas.

Among central bank policymakers, the effect of polarization on unemployment is a hot topic.

A Fed policy meeting in September included a discussion on the "ongoing process of polarization in the labor market," which suggested "a lower level of potential output and thus reduced scope for combating unemployment with additional monetary policy stimulus," according to minutes of the meeting.

Later that month, Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said monetary policies could not cure the "frictions" and "structural adjustments" that are holding back the labor market.

In a notable paper published earlier this year, economists Nir Jaimovich of Duke University and Henry Siu of the University of British Columbia concluded that polarization was behind the "jobless recoveries" in the last three U.S. recessions.

But the Boston Fed paper disputes that finding and argues that polarization did not accelerate during recent recessions. Some 75 percent of middle-skilled workers who lost their jobs ended up back in that category, more than workers who lost high- or low-skilled jobs, the paper said.

"We don't find micro-level evidence for the type of link between jobless recoveries and polarization" that Jaimovich and Siu offer, Foote said.

Reporting By Canada For trade For all world

Obama rejects Boehner 2013backup plan on "fiscal cliff" 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:36:00 +0000

Obama rejects Boehner 2013backup plan on "fiscal cliff" 2013

news about economy

Reporting By canada4tradeThe White House on Tuesday rejected House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's "fiscal cliff" backup proposal, saying it fails to meet President Barack Obama's call for a balanced approach and does not put enough of a tax burden on the wealthiest Americans.
The White House weighed in after an aide to Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said the speaker would begin work on "Plan B" legislation, which would simply extend lower tax rates for incomes below $1 million a year, while negotiations proceed with the White House on a broader tax and spending deal.
"He (Obama) is not willing to accept a deal that doesn't ask enough of the very wealthiest in taxes and instead shifts the burden to the middle class and seniors," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. "The president is hopeful that both sides can work out remaining differences and reach a solution so we don't miss the opportunity in front of us today."

Fed's Fisher says 2013 quantitative easing insufficient to boost U.S. jobs 2013 canada trade

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:32:00 +0000

Fed's Fisher says 2013 quantitative easing insufficient to boost U.S. jobs 2013 canada trade

"Quantitative easing is a necessary but insufficient tool to spark job creation," Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said at the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. "Employers will not deploy the cheap and abundant capital on hand toward job creation while there is so much uncertainty surrounding final demand for the goods and services they sell."

Businesses are also holding back because of uncertainty over the so-called fiscal cliff, he said, because they do not know what their taxes will be or how government spending patterns will affect them.

Fisher compared U.S. businesses, with access to liquidity provided by an accommodative Fed, to a 2,200-pound bull named Too Big to Fail that lives on Fisher's East Texas farm and whose job is to breed the farm's Longhorn cows.

"Too Big has plenty of liquidity at his disposal; he's fully equipped to do what we pay him to do," Fisher said. "But if we put him on the opposite side of the fence from those pretty cows, he's unable to perform."

"All the monetary accommodation we've made possible... will not be used unless we get clarity and a reduction of uncertainty through a resolution of the fiscal cliff," Fisher said.

The Fed last Wednesday said it would keep interest rates near zero until unemployment -- now at 7.7 percent -- fell at least to 6.5 percent, as long as inflation does not rise above 2.5 percent. It was the first time the Fed had picked a specific marker for unemployment to guide policy.

It also said it would buy $45 billion in longer-term Treasuries each month, on top of its monthly purchases of $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities, until it sees a substantial improvement in the outlook for the U.S. labor market.

The Fed will fund the new Treasury purchases with an expansion of its $2.9 trillion balance sheet. Under the expiring "Operation Twist" program, the Fed bought an identical amount, but paid for them with proceeds from sales and redemptions of short-term debt.

The program is expected to swell the U.S. central bank's balance sheet to more than $3 trillion.

The sheer size of the Fed's holdings is "compounding the difficulty of exit" from the Fed's current super-easy monetary policy, Fisher told reporters after a speech here. "It might even impair our balance sheet."

Under current low Treasury yields, the Fed books gains on its bond holdings, and remits profits to the Treasury. If yields rise, the Fed may no longer be able to remit profits to the Treasury, he said.

"I worry that if we were to get into that situation -- please stress the word 'if' -- we might have more efforts to politically interfere with our independence," he said. "I'm not willing to tolerate that risk."

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Additional reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Fed rejects idea 2013 of consensus forecasts, "maybe forever": canada4trade

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:26:00 +0000

Fed rejects idea 2013 of consensus forecasts, "maybe forever": canada4trade

The U.S. Federal Reserve, which last week for the first time adopted specific economic guideposts to help shape expectations for how long rates will stay low, has for now dropped the idea of coming up with a collective forecast for the economy.

Fed policymakers will instead continue to make their individual best guesses on what's ahead for inflation, unemployment, and GDP growth, which the Fed publishes quarterly in a so-called summary of economic projections, or SEP.

"It's an exercise that we have played with as a committee," Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher told reporters after a speech here, when asked about the Fed's efforts to develop a consensus forecast. "And we have for the time being -- and maybe forever, maybe -- decided to keep with this SEP exercise that we have."

The Fed spent time at least two meetings looking at the mechanics of developing a joint view on the economic outlook.

But Fed officials seem to have concluded that coming to a consensus on overall policy is hard enough, let alone getting all 19 policymakers to agree to every nut and bolt on the thinking that goes into it. Each forecast in the SEP has its own underlying assumptions on the appropriate path of policy.

The Fed last Wednesday said it would keep interest rates near zero until unemployment - now at 7.7 percent - falls at least to 6.5 percent, as long as inflation does not rise above 2.5 percent. The vote was 11 to 1, with only Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker dissenting; several non-voters, including Fisher, also objected.

At least one top Fed official, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, has said that having a collective Fed view on inflation and other important economic metrics would be an essential part of adopting thresholds.

If there is no known collective view on the economy from Fed policymakers, he worried before last week's meeting, investors will be unable to judge whether the Fed believes its thresholds have been breached, and therefore will find it difficult to anticipate when rates will rise.

Fisher, however, suggested that the market can rely on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to show the way, even without consensus forecasts. Bernanke gives quarterly press conferences that give him the chance to explain and expand on policy decisions.

"Ben's press conferences are the most important,

House Republicans 2013 to vote on "fiscal cliff" bill Thursday: Cantor

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:20:00 +0000

House Republicans 2013 to vote on "fiscal cliff" bill Thursday: Cantor 2013

U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor said he expects a vote on a Republican offer to avert the "fiscal cliff" on Thursday, and he expects to have enough votes to pass the measure.

Cantor spoke on Tuesday, a day after top Republicans rejected the latest White House offer to avert some $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts looming at year's end, known as the fiscal cliff.

Instead, Republicans plan a vote on a bill to raise taxes on income above $1 million while extending low rates for other taxpayers.

Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:06pm EST

Fitch warns fiscal 2013cliff could cost U.S. its AAA rating canada trade

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:16:00 +0000

Fitch warns fiscal 2013cliff could cost U.S. its AAA rating canada trade

Ratings firm Fitch said on Wednesday it is more likely to strip the United States of its triple-A status if a political deal is not reached to halt $600 billion of spending cuts and tax hikes set for early next year.

"Failure to avoid the fiscal cliff ... would exacerbate rather than diminish the uncertainty over fiscal policy, and tip the U.S. into an avoidable and unnecessary recession," Fitch said in its 2013 global outlook, published on Wednesday.

"That could erode medium-term growth potential and financial stability. In such a scenario, there would be an increased likelihood that the U.S. would lose its AAA status."

Fitch currently assigns the United States its highest rating but with a negative outlook. Peer Standard & Poor's has already downgraded the world's biggest economy, lowering the United States to AA+ in August 2011 - a move which appears to have done little to dull the attraction of U.S. bonds for investors.

Fitch added that an agreement on a multi-year deficit reduction plan to stabilize U.S. debt and public finances was likely to see the country keep its triple-A rating.

However, it went on to say that: "failure to put in place a credible fiscal consolidation strategy during 2013 would be likely to result in the U.S. losing its AAA status."

(Reporting by Canada4trade )

US money market 2013 assets down in latest week: canada4trade

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:53:00 +0000

US money market 2013 assets down in latest week: canada4trade

U.S. money market fund assets fell by $9.72 billion to $2.619 trillion in the week ended December 18, the Money Fund Report said on Wednesday.

Taxable money market fund assets fell by $12.44 billion to $2.341 trillion, while tax-free assets rose by $2.72 billion to $278.44 billion, according to the report, published by iMoneyNet.

Yields on taxable money market funds were unchanged from the previous week at 0.02 percent, according to the report.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Dan Grebler

U.S. home building permits 2013 permits approach four News canada trade

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:47:00 +0000

U.S. home building permits 2013 permits approach four News canada trade

U.S. homebuilding permits touched their highest level in nearly 4-1/2 years in November, pointing to strength in the housing market, even though groundbreaking activity dropped.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday building permits increased 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 899,000 units, the highest since July 2008. That was well above economists' expectations for an 875,000-unit pace.

In contrast, construction starts fell 3.0 percent to an 861,000-unit pace, but that followed three straight months of solid gains and a three-month moving average showed a firming trend.

"The trend is definitely up. Housing is going to make a small contribution to economic growth in 2012 and I would expect that home building will continue to improve through 2013," said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data as attention remained fixed on budget talks in Washington. Stocks were little changed, while prices for U.S. Treasury debt were trading higher. The dollar was broadly weak.

The housing market, one of the few bright spots in the economy, has regained some footing after a historic collapse that ignited the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The recovery is broad-based, with sales, home building and prices all showing gains. A report on Tuesday showed builders' confidence in the market for new single-family homes reached its highest level this month since April 2006.

While last month's decline in groundbreaking prompted some economists to trim already meager growth forecasts for the fourth quarter, homebuilding is expected to add to economic growth this year for the first time since 2005.

In the 12 months through November, housing starts were up 21.6 percent, while permits had gained 26.8 percent.

"More and more, the recovery is widespread. It is nice to see it happen," said Barry Rutenberg, a home builder from Gainesville, Florida, and chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.

SHIFT IN PSYCHOLOGY

Mortgage rates remain near record lows, helped by a program launched by the Federal Reserve in September to purchase mortgage-backed securities.

A separate report from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed demand for home loans fell last week as mortgage rates ticked higher. Applications for loans to buy a home had risen in each of the prior five weeks.

Though residential construction only accounts for about 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, economists estimate that for every single-family home built at least three full-time jobs are created.

Last month, permits to build single-family homes dipped 0.2 percent to a 565,000-unit pace. Permits for multi-family homes increased 10.6 percent to a 334,000-unit rate, reflecting buoyant demand for rental apartments.

"Longer term, we may have seen a shift in psychology, which is putting an extreme pressure on builders to provide multi-family homes. Young families are no longer clamoring to buy," said Lindsey Piegza, economist at FTN Financial in New York.

The step down in residential construction last month reflected a 5.2 percent drop in the Northeast, which was slammed by Superstorm Sandy in late October. Starts also tumbled in the West, where they were down 19.2 percent.

Last month, groundbreaking for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, fell 4.1 percent to a 565,000-unit pace. Starts for multi-family homes slipped 1.0 percent to a 296,00-unit rate.

Economists said the pace of home construction was not keeping up with the bounce in household formation from recession lows, creating potential for upward momentum.

"We haven't been putting up enough housing to keep up with the expanding population. Given that, I would expect to see further improvement in home building in 2013," said PNC Financial's Faucher.

(Additional reporting by Ellen Freilich and Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Tim Ahmann) By Canada For Trade

Obama and plan B to 2013 fiscal cliff: White House

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:38:00 +0000

Obama and plan B to 2013 fiscal cliff: White House

President Barack Obama would veto the House Republican "Plan B" tax proposal designed to avert January 1 tax hikes, the White House said on Wednesday, saying the plan does not do enough to balance spending cuts and tax increases.

The veto threat comes less than two weeks before a series of tax hikes and automatic budget cuts that could push the U.S. economy toward a so-called fiscal cliff and trigger another recession.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives could vote on Thursday on a "Plan B" tax bill that House Speaker John Boehner said would extend low tax rates, except on income of $1 million and above.

The White House has said Obama would accept a deal that puts the threshold for income tax hikes at $400,000, a higher threshold than his initial offer.

"The President urges the Republican leadership to work with us to resolve remaining differences and find a reasonable solution to this situation today," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a statement.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick, Mark Felsenthal and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Alistair Bell and David Brunnstrom)

Economy U.s Fiscal cliff" talks turn sour, Obama threatens veto 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:31:00 +0000

Economy U.s Fiscal cliff" talks turn sour, Obama threatens veto 2013

Talks to avoid a U.S. fiscal crisis stalled on Wednesday as President Barack Obama accused opponents of holding a personal grudge against him while the top Republican negotiator called the president "irrational."

As a year-end deadline nears, Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner are locked in intense bargaining over a possible deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff of harsh tax hikes and automatic spending cuts that could badly damage an already weak economy.

Obama said he was puzzled over what was holding up the talks and told Boehner's Republicans to stop worrying about scoring "a point against the president" or forcing him into concessions "just for the heck of it."

"It is very hard for them to say yes to me," he told a news conference in the White House. "At some point, you know, they've got to take me out of it."

The rise in tensions threatens to unravel significant progress made over the last week.

Boehner and Obama have each offered substantial concessions that have made a deal look within reach. Obama has agreed to cuts in benefits for seniors, while Boehner has conceded to Obama's demand that taxes rise for the richest Americans.

However, the climate of goodwill has evaporated since Republicans announced plans on Tuesday to put an alternative tax plan to a vote in the House this week that would largely disregard the progress made so far in negotiations.

On Wednesday, Obama threatened to veto the Republican measure, known as "Plan B," if Congress approved it.

Boehner's office slammed Obama for opposing their plan, which would raise taxes on households making more than $1 million a year and is a concession from longstanding Republican opposition to increasing any tax rates.

"The White House's opposition to a backup plan ... is growing more bizarre and irrational by the day," Boehner said through his spokesman, Brendan Buck.

Boehner expressed confidence the House would pass the legislation on Thursday. He urged Obama to "get serious" about a balanced deficit reduction plan.

Wall Street is on edge over the fiscal cliff talks although investors still expect a deal. The S&P 500 stock index slipped 0.76 percent on Wednesday.

Business leaders have descended on Washington to lobby for a deal to avoid going over the cliff while putting public finances on a more sustainable path. Without an agreement to narrow deficits over the long run, the United States could eventually lose investors' trust, triggering a debt crisis.

An acrimonious presidential campaign that culminated in Obama's re-election on November 6 has added to the bad blood in Washington between Obama and congressional Republicans.

The two sides also clashed bitterly last year over the government's limit on borrowing - known as the debt ceiling - an episode that nearly led the nation to default on its debt.

On Wednesday, Obama said the fiscal cliff must not get bogged down with negotiations over the debt ceiling, an issue that must be dealt with again early next year.

But Boehner's offer to raise the debt ceiling enough for another year of borrowing is facing opposition from a large group of Republicans, a House Republican aide said.

LITMUS TEST

Any fiscal cliff agreement by Obama and the Republican leadership would need the support of their parties' rank and file in Congress, and Thursday's vote on Plan B will be a test of Boehner's ability to deliver votes on any eventual deal.

Boehner faces opposition from Republican Tea Party conservatives over his concession to raise tax rates. But in a sign some conservatives are coming around to Boehner's position, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist gave his blessing to the bill.

Other conservative groups, including the influential Club for Growth, are urging Republicans to vote against Plan B.

Obama and Boehner appear to have bridged their biggest ideological differences but remain hung up on the mix of tax hikes and spending cuts meant to narrow the budget gap.

"What separates us is probably a few hundred billion dollars," Obama said.

The White House wants taxes to rise on household incomes above $400,000 a year, a concession from Obama's opening proposal for a $250,000 income threshold.

If a deal is not reached soon, some $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts are set to begin next month.

Senior administration officials described negotiations as at a standstill and Obama warned he would ask everyone involved in the talks, "what it is that's holding it up?"

Still, the top Republican in the Senate said a resolution to the stalemate could come by the end of the week.

"There's still enough time for us to finish all of our work before this weekend, if we're all willing to stay late and work hard," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Many Democrats dislike the president's offer to reduce benefits to seniors, although some political allies of Obama have given signs they feel they could swallow this concession.

"I don't like these particular changes," said Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen, a member of the House leadership from Maryland. But he added: "What people are seeing is the president willing to compromise in order to get things done."

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Thomas Ferraro and Vicki Allen; Kim Dixon and Richard Cowan; Writing by Jason Lange; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech) By : canada for trade

we are sorry ::Dressed in "cute kid stuff," all 20 died when a heavily armed 20-year-old gunman forced

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:23:00 +0000

Dressed in "cute kid stuff," all 20 died when a heavily armed 20-year-old gunman forced2012

Twelve girls and eight boys. One had celebrated her seventh birthday just four days before her death. They were Charlotte and Jack, Noah and Grace.

Dressed in "cute kid stuff," all 20 died when a heavily armed 20-year-old gunman forced his way into their school, Sandy Hook Elementary, and shot them and six women in an act of violence that has shattered their once-tranquil suburban town.

"They were first-graders," said Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, before releasing the names of all the victims of the school shootings on Saturday.

Asked to describe the attack, Carver, who oversaw the autopsies of all the victims and conducted many himself, called it "the worst I have seen."

The shooter, identified by law enforcement officials as Adam Lanza, killed his mother Nancy on Friday, then drove to the school where he gunned down another 26 people before taking his own life in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

He fired a rifle, shooting his victims multiple times. Parents identified their children through pictures, a process intended to minimize their shock, Carver said.

Police did not officially identify Lanza or his mother.

Members of the close-knit community went into public mourning on Saturday as the depth of the tragedy became clear.

"I don't know how to get through something like this," said Robbie Parker, a 30-year-old physician's assistant whose 6-year-old daughter Emilie was among the dead.

"My wife and I don't understand how to process this and how to get our lives going," Parker told reporters. Emilie, the oldest of his three children, Parker said, "could just light up a room."

While Americans have seen many mass shootings in the past decades, the victims have rarely been so young. On Saturday, some Democratic lawmakers called for sweeping new gun-control measures, a move certain to run up against stiff opposition from the nation's powerful pro-gun lobby.

President Barack Obama, who a day earlier was moved to tears on national television by the tragedy, called for "meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this," but stopped short of specifically calling for tighter gun-control laws.

CHRISTMAS TREE MEMORIAL

Townsfolk packed into the church memorial services held throughout the day. On Saturday night, the pews at St. Rose of Lima were packed with parishioners standing at the rear of the church.

At least one person was missing - 6-year-old Olivia Engel, who was to have had a role in the Nativity concert.

"She was supposed to be an angel in the play," said Revered Robert Weiss. "Now she's an angel up in heaven."

Town fire officials set up 26 Christmas trees, decorated with stuffed animals, near the school as a memorial to the victims - many of whom were children who may have been hoping for such toys as their own holiday presents. Churches held memorial services.

"Those innocent little boys and girls were taken from their families far too soon," said Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. "Let us all hope and pray those children are now in a place where that innocence will always be protected."

One of the victims, Josephine Gay, had celebrated her seventh birthday on Tuesday.

Rabbi Shaul Paver said he had spent time with Veronika Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah, was among the victims.

"She said that she didn't know how she was going to go on, and we encouraged her to focus on her other four children that need her and not to try to plan out the rest of her life, just take a deep breath right now," Paver said.

The adult victims, some of whom died defending the students, ranged in age from 27 to 56. Carver, the medical examiner, said all the bodies had examined had been shot with a rifle. He said he and his staff had not yet examined the shooter or his mother.

MOTIVES EMERGING

Police earlier said they had assembled "some very good evidence" on the killer's motives.

"Our investigators at the crime scene ... did produce some very good evidence in this investigation that our investigators will be able to use in, hopefully, painting the complete picture as to how - and more importantly why - this occurred," Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance told reporters.

Yale-New Haven Hospital opened a crisis-intervention center in the wealthy suburb of 27,000 people about 80 miles from New York City.

The killer's mother, Nancy Lanza, legally owned a Sig Sauer and a Glock, both handguns commonly used by police, and a military-style Bushmaster .223 M4 carbine, according to law enforcement officials, who also said they believed Adam Lanza used at least some of those weapons.

The death toll exceeded that of one of the most notorious U.S. school shootings, the 1999 rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where two teenagers killed 13 students and staff before fatally shooting themselves.

Around the nation communities took small steps to mark the tragedy.

At Virginia Tech, a Blacksburg, Virginia university where in 2007 a gunman killed 32 people in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, an announcer extended sympathies to the residents of Newtown before a basketball game.

"This campus ... shares a deep sense of grief," the announcer said. "We share that pain and we open our hearts to that community."

(Additional reporting by Edward Krudy, Edith Honan, Chris Kaufman, Dave Gregorio, Colleen Jenkins and Chris Francescani; Writing by Scott Malone and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Walsh)

by canada 4 trade

canada trade :Mexico's ethnic Maya unmoved by 2012 'Armageddon' hysteria 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:09:00 +0000

canada trade :Mexico's ethnic Maya unmoved by 2012 'Armageddon' hysteria 2013

End of a 5,125-year cycle in Maya Long Calendar

* Majority of today's Maya people are Roman Catholic

By canada4trade

IZAMAL, Mexico, Dec 19 (canada4trade( Thousands of mystics, New Age dreamers and fans of pre-Hispanic culture have been drawn to Mexico in hopes of witnessing great things when the day in an old Maya calendar dubbed "the end of the world" dawns on Friday.

But many of today's ethnic Maya cannot understand the fuss. Mostly Christian, they have looked on in wonder at the influx of foreign tourists to ancient cities in southern Mexico and Central America whose heyday passed hundreds of years ago.

For students of ancient Mesoamerican time-keeping, Dec. 21, 2012 marks the end of a 5,125-year cycle in the Maya Long Calendar, an event one leading U.S. scholar said in the 1960s could be interpreted as a kind of Armageddon for the Maya.

Academics and astronomers say too much weight was given to the words and have sought to allay fears the end is nigh.

But over the past few decades, fed by popular culture, Friday became seen by some western followers of alternative religions as a day on which momentous change could occur.

"It's a psychosis, a fad," said psychologist Vera Rodriguez, 29, a Mexican of Maya descent living in Izamal, Yucatan state, near the center of the 2012 festivities, the site of Chichen Itza. "I think it's bad for our society and our culture."

Behind Rodriguez, her two children played in a living room decorated with Christmas trees and Santa Claus figurines.

Mexico's government forecast around 50 million tourists from home and abroad would visit southern Mexico in 2012. Up to 200,000 are expected to descend on Chichen Itza on Friday.

"It's a date for doing business, but for me it's just like any other day," said drinks vendor Julian Nohuicab, 34, an ethnic Maya working in the ruins of the ancient city of Coba in Quintana Roo state, not far from the beach resort of Cancun.

Watching busloads of white-haired pensioners and dreadlocked backpackers pile into their heartland, Maya old and young roll their eyes at the suggestion the world will end.

"We don't believe it," said Socorro Poot, 41, a housewife and mother of three in Holca, a village about 25 miles (40 km) from Chichen Itza. "Nobody knows the day and the hour. Only God knows."

FOREIGN INVADERS

Tracing its origins to the end of the 4th millennium BC, the ancient Mesoamerican civilization of the Maya reached its peak between A.D. 250 and 900 when they ruled over large swathes of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize.

Famed for developing hieroglyphic writing and an advanced astronomical system, the Maya then began a slow decline, but pockets of the civilization continued to flourish until they were finally subjugated by the Spanish in the 17th century.

Today, ethnic Maya are believed to number at least 7 million in Mexico, Guatemala and other parts of Central America.

The vast majority are nominally Roman Catholics, though many still uphold elements and rites of their old beliefs. According to a 2000 Mexican census, there were also a few hundred Jews and handful of Buddhists among the Maya.

Tales of human sacrifice, pioneering architectural feats and an interest in the stars burnished the Maya's supernatural reputation. So too, say experts, has the misguided notion that the Maya died out with the arrival of the conquistadors.

"That idea that they disappeared culturally back in the deep past is one of these things that feeds into this idea that they are mysterious, that they are otherworldly," said David Stuart, a Maya expert at the University of Texas.

The reality is that many Maya live in rural areas where water can be scarce, communications poor and education patchy.

Even as some shrug their shoulders at the awe and reverence December 21 has inspired, others worry it has become a free meal ticket for sharp-witted businessmen.

"There's the legend and there's the reality," said Yolanda Cornelio, 21, a tourism official in the city of Merida, whose mother speaks Maya at home. "Some people take the legend and abuse it, using it to make money. There's a lot of con artists."

With scores of old Maya ruins, temples and monuments dotting the landscape between southern Mexico and Central America, locals have plenty of opportunities to impress foreign visitors.

One of the most popular attractions lies in a leafy grove near the crumbling pyramids of Coba, where a large stone tablet records the Maya creation date of August 13, 3114 BC - quite literally the cornerstone of the 2012 phenomenon.

"This is a very powerful, sacred place," said Jonathan Ellerby, 39, a writer from Canada. "I feel something energetic, emotional, and I feel I'm in the right place. I really do." this news by canada trade

news 2013 in canada White House readies gun-control plan 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 05:40:00 +0000

White House readies 2013 gun-control plan as more children laid to rest 2013

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama assigned Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday to find ways to curtail gun violence in America and try to avoid tragedies like the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, where the town buried one of its heroes on Wednesday.

With Newtown still in mourning from last Friday's shooting, when a 20-year-old gunman shot dead 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School and then himself, Biden took the assignment to produce recommendations and report back to Obama in time for the president's State of the Union address in late January.

Obama's initiative addressed national outrage over the shootings in Connecticut, which have prompted longtime gun-rights supporters to reconsider their positions and a major private equity firm to put its gun-making business up for sale.

Funerals or wakes were held for four of Newtown's children on Wednesday, as well as the school principal. Teacher Victoria Soto, who is credited with saving half her class of 6- and 7-year-olds by diverting the shooter and hiding the children in a closet, was also laid to rest.

"Vicki achieved in her 27 years what many of us will never achieve if we live to be a hundred," the Reverend Meg Boxwell Williams told the funeral service. "Her last act was absolutely selfless, Christ-like, laying down her life for her children."

Gunman Adam Lanza, 20, shot his mother at home and then killed 20 children and six adults at the school before shooting himself in the head, officials said.

Soto hid her students in a closet when she heard the shooting start early Friday morning, and when Lanza entered Soto's classroom she tried to throw him off by telling him the students were at the other end of the school in an auditorium, the Hartford Courant reported, citing unnamed law-enforcement officials.

Lanza shot six of the children when they tried to run, and police later found the remaining seven students still hiding in the closet, the Courant said. Those children told law enforcement officials what had happened, the Courant reported.

The account provided Newtown with a positive story to cling to following the horrible events that left the nation stunned.

Soto's death "mixed with the glad knowledge that her sacrifice saved so many children," Williams said.

MOURNERS LINE THE STREETS

Some 30 police motorcycles from surrounding towns led the hearse carrying Soto's body to the service in Stratford, Connecticut. About 200 mourners lined the streets outside the church, including a mother and daughter from Maryland who never met Soto but made the long drive because they were touched by her bravery in trying to protect the children in her class.

The family of the school's slain principal, Dawn Hochsprung, invited mourners to visit a local funeral home on Wednesday. Her burial was due to be private at an undisclosed time.

Hundreds braved a bitter wind to pay their respects to the fallen principal, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

After the service for Daniel Barden, 7, a bagpiper played "America the Beautiful," as hundreds of police officers and firefighters, some from New York City and distant towns, stood in formation outside.

The little boy loved his family, riding waves at the beach, playing drums, foosball, reading and making s'mores around a bonfire at his grandfather's house, said an obituary in the Newtown Bee newspaper.

Funerals were also held for for Charlotte Bacon and Caroline Previdi, both 6, and a wake for Chase Kowalski, 7.

The massacre prompted some Republican lawmakers to open the door to a national debate about gun control.

That may give an opening to Obama, who said he hoped the National Rifle Association gun lobby would reflect on the tragedy as it awaits Biden's recommendations.

"The vast majority of responsible law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war," Obama said.

Connecticut's U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator-elect Chris Murphy met on Wednesday evening with a group of about 40 Newtown residents who are pushing for strengthened gun control and calling themselves Newtown United.

Blumenthal said, as he asks people in town if there is anything he can do, they tell him: "Yes. Do something about guns."

(Additional reporting by Edith Honan and Mark Felsenthal; Writing by Barbara Goldberg and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Christopher Wilson and Todd Eastham) this news By canada For national trade online 2013

Canadian hidden camera 23/2/2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:39:00 +0000

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