| It takes more green to fill grocery bags
They'll get some tax breaks, too. Businesses will be able to immediately write off 50 percent of purchases of plants and other capital equipment. Small businesses currently are able to take tax deductions on the first $125,000 they spend on new equipment, Marita said. That will be raised to $250,000. In both cases, the deduction eligibility likely will apply to this calendar year and not be retroactive, Marita said, because the government wants to encourage spending. Q: Since mortgages and foreclosures are a big part of the problem with the economy, how will homeowners be helped? A: The stimulus package includes changes in mortgage lending, including a one-year increase in Freddie Mac's and Fannie Mae's conforming loan limits (from $417,000 to a maximum of $729,750), and a permanent increase in the FHA loan limit from $367,000 now up to a maximum of $729,750.
Keep troops in Kandahar until 2011, Manley to recommend
As any successful ventriloquist's dummy could tell you, the act requires you to suspend your disbelief that the cute toy with the mechanical mouth and wood noggin and a man's hand up its back is actually a sentient, independant and free-thinking little scamp, who in encouragement of this hillarious illusion, will saucily mock his master, who in turn, will chastise the imp for his impertinance. Someone should tell our Prime Minister that this schtick went out with Vaudeville in '30s, and having Manley perched on his knee in his cute 'Liberal' shorts to spout earnest nonsense is no more amusing than yet another soldier's funeral.
But even the PM should know from watching his Ed Sullivan reruns, merely talking from both sides of one's mouth is not ventriloquism, and the act really bombs if the puppet and the puppeteer drivel on at the same time and say the same things.
Nehemiah Corporation of America Reaches $1 Billion Milestone in ...
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nehemiah Corporation of America, the oldest and largest provider of private downpayment assistance in the United States, today announced that the non-profit has provided more than $1 billion in mortgage downpayment assistance through The Nehemiah Program(R). Initiated in 1997, The Nehemiah Program(R) has helped over 250,000 minority and low to moderate income families become homeowners to date. The Program reported substantial growth in 2007 as banks and mortgage lenders abandoned risky products once promoted to low and moderate income families and returned to the stability and affordability of mortgage products offered in conjunction with FHA loan insurance. The Nehemiah Program provides private downpayment assistance to homebuyers who qualify for FHA-insured mortgages but are not able to make the downpayment necessary to secure the mortgage.
Bragging Rights At Stake In Broncos-Chiefs Tilt
The Chiefs' Herm Edwards is 2-3 against both Shanahan and the Broncos as a head coach, including 1-2 since arriving in K.C.WHEN THE CHIEFS HAVE THE BALLKansas City has fielded one of the NFL's best rushing attacks over the past few years, but the team has failed to establish a strong run game this season even when Johnson's been healthy. The Chiefs average a meager 85.6 yards per week on the ground (29th overall), although Smith (252 rushing yards, 2 TD) has breathed some life into the offense since taking over as the starter. The fifth-round draft choice ran over the Raiders for 150 yards and two scores two weeks ago and followed up with 83 yards on 21 carries against a tough San Diego defense last Sunday. A shaky offensive line has been partly to blame for the Chiefs' rushing struggles and could be without starting tackles Damion McIntosh (knee) and Chris Terry (personal) this week.
Germany's 'last' WWI veteran dies
The man believed to have been Germany's last World War I veteran has died peacefully at the age of 107. Erich Kaestner, who at 18 was sent to the Western Front but served only four months in the army, died in a Cologne nursing home, his son said. The death on Sunday of Louis de Cazenave, France's second-last World War I veteran, made global headlines. But in a country that keeps no record of its veterans, Kaestner's death on 1 January went largely unnoticed. "That is the way history has developed," said Peter Kaestner, the soldier's son. "In Germany, in this respect, things are kept quiet - they're not a big deal." Erich Kaestner was unrelated to the writer and poet of the same name. End of an era Reports in Die Welt daily and Der Spiegel magazine identified Kaestner as Germany's last World War I veteran, but verification of the claim was difficult as the country keeps no record of its war veterans.
As the Credit Crunch Worsens it Will Send the Gold Price up the $
The problems started with the closure of the commercial paper market as a means of cheap funding for companies in the summer. Banks have to provide standby financing of up to 100% to backstop commercial paper programs. With banks struggling for their sources of financing through the interbank market, drawdowns are having a direct effect on their balance sheets. Several bankers have said Citigroup is one of those most affected and that the bank was asking some clients not to use standby facilities, which are part of the normal relationship banking arrangements made between banks and companies. By the end of the summer, the principal problem facing banks was not U.S. sub-prime or collateralized debt obligation exposure but the drawing down of standby loans and bi-laterals. In some cases banks are seeking to avoid further balance sheet capital pressure by asking clients not to use their standby facilities.
E-mail? C ya ltr; it's a txt world 4 teenz
And teens instinctively gravitate to what is not part of their parents' world. "I text my dad sometimes, but my mom doesn't really understand how it works," says Emily Saunders, a sophomore at Atlanta's Marist School. She says she averages about 50 text messages every day between the time she gets out of school and bedtime, about six hours. She has a Gmail account through Google, "but I haven't used that in a year or so," she adds dismissively. She got the account mainly because an e-mail account was required to register for iTunes. There can even be a little element of rebellion in teens preferring technology that is not part of their parents' lives. "There's not as much of a generation gap today on some things between teens and their parents," says Iconoculture's Robinson, "but there's always going to be a element of 'This is mine and you can't possibly understand it.'" E-mail not as intense Young communicators also view Facebook and Myspace as being more interesting and intense than old-fashioned e-mail.
Toyota still No. 2 in race for world auto sales leader
Toyota still No. 2 in race for world auto sales leader Web Posted: 01/23/2008 09:53 PM CST
San Antonio Express-News TOKYO — Toyota said Thursday it sold 9.366 million vehicles around the world last year, about 3,000 fewer than the tally from General Motors — the world's No. 1 automaker for 77 years. Earlier, Toyota Motor Corp. said it had sold about 9.37 million vehicles worldwide last year, making for an extremely tight race with U.S. automaker General Motors Corp., which said it sold 9,369,524 vehicles. But Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco confirmed the extra digit today. Both companies have denied they are too concerned about the numbers games. Toyota executives even have expressed worries about a possible backlash if they dethrone GM, an American icon.
ARAMARK Recognized by Environmental Protection Agency Company Receives ...
Participating schools report their measurements in pounds recycled per student on a weekly basis. The university that recycles the most waste is awarded the RecycleMania trophy at the end of the 10-week contest. With ARAMARKs help, in 2007 more than 55 partner campuses participated in RecycleMania, accounting for 27 percent of the total 201 participating campuses. These 55 institutions recycled 8.75 million pounds of waste. The EPA credits the national growth of RecycleMania in part to the increase in ARAMARK client participation. The Endorser of the Year Award recognizes endorsers outstanding efforts to promote the WasteWise program to other organizations and their success in recruiting new partners. RecycleMania is endorsed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise program, the National Recycling Coalitions College and University Recycling Council, and the National Wildlife Federations Campus Ecology Program (http://www.recyclemania.org).
|
