Obama Bets Re-Election Gave Him Power to Win Fiscal Cliff

President Barack Obama’s hard stance on the “fiscal cliff” talks is a bet that his re-election gave him the political clout to force Republicans to accept higher taxes on upper income Americans as a first step toward reducing the federal deficit. 

Obama’s aggressive posture was shown in the proposal Timothy F. Geithner laid out for congressional leaders last week: a reprise of the president’s prior budget proposals, with $1.6 trillion in tax increases and about $350 billion in health care savings, primarily in Medicare. He also asked for an Aug. 1 deadline for decisions on income tax overhaul and further spending cuts.

“You could see the shock in the Republicans -- this is not what they were expecting from the White House,” said Stan Collender, managing director of Qorvis Communications LLC in Washington and a former staff member for the House and Senate budget committees. “There was almost euphoria among Democrats that the president was playing hardball.”

The two parties are in stalemate over what spending cuts and revenue increases should be approved to cut a budget deficit that’s exceeded $1 trillion for each of the four years Obama’s been in office. The administration says no agreement is possible unless Republicans agree to increase tax rates for the highest earning Americans, a stance underscored by Geithner in a sweep of the Sunday talk shows. Republicans oppose any tax rate increase and demand deeper cuts than Obama has offered, a line that House Speaker John Boehner drew on one show yesterday.

No Compromises

Both administration officials and congressional Republicans say they want a deal before year’s end -- without either side publicly offering any compromises.

“There’s not going to be an agreement without rates going up,” Geithner said in a taped interview that aired yesterday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. Republicans will “own the responsibility for the damage” if they “force higher rates on virtually all Americans because they’re unwilling to let tax rates go up on 2 percent of Americans.”

Obama wants to boost top income-tax rates back to the levels they were when President Bill Clinton left office. The top rate then was 39.6 percent, compared with 35 percent today.
Boehner said Republicans aren’t ready to give in, and the president should take the lead by offering concessions.

House Majority

“They must have forgotten that Republicans continue to hold a majority in the House,” Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “The president’s idea of a negotiation is ‘roll over and do what I ask.’ We need to find common ground, and we need to find it quickly.”

Collender puts the odds of failure at 60 percent, as both sides need to prove their mettle to core supporters.
The risk for Obama is that Republicans will match his brinkmanship and no deal will be reached. The result would be the “fiscal cliff,” the more than $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases that start kicking in automatically at the beginning of the new year.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in an August report said the tax increases and spending cuts would shrink economic output next year by 0.5 percent and push the unemployment rate to about 9 percent.

Moody’s Investors Service said in September it may join Standard & Poor’s in downgrading the U.S.’s credit rating unless the president and Congress reduce the percentage of debt to gross domestic product.

Markets React

Stocks have been whipsawed since the election as Obama and Boehner dueled in public.
The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) increased 0.5 percent to 1,416.18 last week and it extended its rally since Nov. 16 to 4.1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 15.90 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,025.58.

The bond market hasn’t demonstrated the same level of concern. While total national debt has soared to more than $16 trillion from less than $9 trillion in 2007, U.S. borrowing costs have tumbled. The yield on the 10-year note touched a record low 1.379 percent July 25, down from more than 5 percent in mid-2007.
Obama’s strategy is borne, in part, out of lessons Obama and his advisers take from the failed 2011 attempt to reach a grand bargain on long-term debt reduction.

Obama and Boehner tried to forge a compromise in private talks. Instead of clearing the path, their effort collapsed and served to increase resistance among members of both parties in Congress.

Source  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-03/obama-bets-re-election-gave-him-power-to-win-fiscal-cliff

On a Trip to Asia, Obama Can’t Escape Mideast

President Obama flew around the world to visit a giant reclining Buddha and pay a courtesy call on a hospitalized king — all to make a point. 

After too many years of being obsessed with the Middle East, Mr. Obama argues, it is time for the United States to focus on the rise of Asia. The only problem? The Middle East is not cooperating. 

Mr. Obama had not even landed here in Thailand on Sunday before finding his four-day, three-country Asia tour shadowed by the new crisis in Israel and Gaza. Aides have been briefing him on the latest in the conflict, and he has been working the phones with the leaders of Israel, Egypt and Turkey. Even his joint appearance with Thailand’s prime minister was partly consumed by the Gaza question. 

The confluence of events serve as a vivid reminder that the presidency is an exercise in juggling priorities. But the peculiar timing also underscores why Asia has often taken a back seat in American policy to the more volatile areas of the world, not just under this president, but under the past six. 

The logic behind Mr. Obama’s so-called Asia pivot draws little dispute: By many measures, it is the region of the future, the area that will see nearly 50 percent of the world’s economic growth outside the United States over the next five years. To compete globally, the thinking goes, the United States will need to assert itself as an economic and strategic power in the Pacific. 

Inside the Situation Room, though, long-term logic invariably falls victim to short-term crises, which are the specialty of places like the Middle East. 

“One of the great challenges in the implementation and execution of foreign policy is to prevent the daily challenges, cascading crises, from crowding out the development of broader strategies in pursuit of the United States’ long-term interests,” Tom Donilon, the president’s national security adviser, said in a speech before leaving Washington. 

It was in service of that goal that Mr. Obama scheduled his Asia trip. As his first overseas journey after re-election, it was meant to send a signal that his second term would focus on moving beyond the past, particularly the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He visited the region several times in his first term, but twice canceled Asia trips because domestic issues took priority. 

After a day in Thailand, Mr. Obama was to head early Monday to Myanmar for a historic visit highlighting the emergence of that isolated country, long known as Burma, from decades of repressive military rule. He was to land in Yangon to meet with President Thein Sein, who has orchestrated the change, and the opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Along the way, the president planned to announce on Monday that he would send a new mission from the United States Agency for International Development to Myanmar and devote $170 million to aid projects over the next two years, according to aides. 

“One of the things that we can do as an international community is make sure that the people of Burma know we’re paying attention to them, we’re listening to them, we care about them,” Mr. Obama said in Bangkok. “And this visit allows me to do that in a fairly dramatic fashion.” 

Yet not as dramatic as Hamas lobbing rockets into Israel or Israel responding with punishing airstrikes and the threat of invasion. 

Asia is not the only other region that finds it tough to compete for attention. Mr. Obama was in Latin America when he launched the air and naval campaign that helped topple Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi in Libya. 

“There is now war between Israel and Hamas in addition to a proxy war with Iran in Syria; there are huge demonstrations against the king in Jordan; and the I.A.E.A. last week said Iran had doubled its capacity to enrich uranium,” said Elliott Abrams, who was President George W. Bush’s Middle East adviser and is now at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The only way to pivot away from all that is to move to Mars — Myanmar isn’t far enough.” 

Moreover, even Asia is inextricably linked to events in the Middle East, said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

“The reality is this — the more you pivot toward Asia, the more you have to care about the Middle East, because Asia gets so much of its energy from the Middle East,” he said. “Our Asia pivot doesn’t get us out of the Middle East. It just gets us into the Middle East from the other side.” 

Mr. Obama’s advisers say they understand that. Rather than a zero-sum game, they said, Mr. Obama must find ways to focus on Asia even as older conflicts demand his attention. “The rebalancing doesn’t mean our short-term military requirements in the Middle East will diminish,” said Jeffrey A. Bader, the president’s former Asia adviser, who is now at the Brookings Institution. 

Mr. Obama began his trip on Sunday with a stop in Thailand, America’s oldest ally in Asia. Joined by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for their final foreign trip together before she steps down, Mr. Obama visited the Wat Pho Royal Monastery, one of the country’s most revered cultural outposts, where both Americans took off their shoes and inspected the famed giant reclining Buddha. 

Even domestic issues followed the president, as he found himself talking about the so-called fiscal cliff back home with a monk before asking him to pray for his success in resolving the problem. “If a Buddhist monk is wishing me well, I’m going to take whatever good vibes he can give me to try to deal with some challenges back home,” Mr. Obama said lightly. 

The president and Mrs. Clinton then headed to Siriraj Hospital to pay respects to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the 84-year-old monarch, who has been ailing. From there, they went to the Government House for meetings and dinner with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who came to office in 2011, five years after her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed in a military coup. 

“We have historically been an Asia-Pacific power, and I wanted to make sure that all our friends and partners throughout the region understood that we see this as a central region for our growth and our prosperity,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s not one that we can neglect.” 

Even if he has to keep one eye on the Middle East at the same time. 

Source  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/world/asia/obama-asia-trip.html?_r=0

Health and safety tips

A radical revamp of the way small businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber can access advice about health and safety online has been launched.

The new Health And Safety Toolbox is the latest in a package of online guidance, bringing together in one place everything a small, low-risk business could need to manage health and safety.

Written with busy firms in mind, it makes it easy to find relevant guidance on specific risks with a few clicks of the mouse.

The package of guidance, developed by the Health And Safety Executive (HSE) with the support of businesses, will help small business owners and employers avoid wasting precious time reading what they don't need to, spending money on unnecessary bureaucracy or hiring costly consultants.

David Snowball, of HSE, said: "Employers in smaller, lower-risk businesses can feel daunted by what health and safety law requires.

"It doesn't have to be an onerous task and we will be pointing them to the Toolkit for all the advice they need."

Visit www.hse.gov.uk

Source  http://www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk/Health-safety-tips/story-17236853-detail/story.html

Medicare Open Enrollment Tips for 2013

The open enrollment period for 2013 Medicare plans begins October 15 and extends through December 7. This annual ritual asks more than 50 million people, mostly seniors, to venture forth once again into the arcane and complex world of Medicare health insurance—Parts A, B, C, and D, drug formularies, shifting co-pay, coinsurance, and deductible rules, and now, a growing assortment of health reform changes.

Is it any wonder that many seniors shudder at the prospect of actively shopping for new Medicare insurance providers? Instead, they tend to stick with their current insurance plans, while experts and pundits (like me) lament how much money they could be saving if only they shopped around like they do for most other consumer purchases.

"Not a lot of people are switching plans," observes Mary Dale Walters, senior vice president for Allsup Medicare Advisor. Allsup provides fee-based Medicare coverage advice to consumers, and does a lot of its business with disabled people. The bad news about Medicare's complexity has been good news for Allsup, which reports that its advice business has been growing steadily.

Medicare consumers "ride out the price increases," Walters adds. "They don't do the math. They are worried that their doctors won't be covered under a new plan ... People bog down in indecision because they're scared they are going to make a mistake." While many things change about Medicare each year, Walters says, "the only thing that doesn't change under Medicare is that it continues to be complicated."

Avalere Health, a Washington D.C., healthcare research firm and consultancy, has looked at 2013 Medicare plans and found that seven of the 10 most popular plans were raising their drug prices by more than 10 percent. Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere, says it's particularly important for consumers to look at the prices of their prescription drugs, including co-pays, and see if it makes sense to switch plans.

In addition, he adds, more health plans are developing partnerships with preferred pharmacies. "You get your drugs more inexpensively if you purchase them from a preferred provider," Mendelson says. This is yet another reason consumers should look at the drugs they take and compare prices from other health plans.

Health reform changes will reduce the price of drugs for seniors with big drug bills who fall into what's called the doughnut hole. Once drug expenses hit $2.970 in 2013, insurance coverage ceases until a person's out-of-pocket expenses reach $4,750. The health reform law has been lowering the cost of drugs inside the doughnut hole. For 2013, consumers must pay 52.5 percent of the cost of branded drugs and 79 percent of the cost of generic drugs. These percentages will decline in future years under the law.

While the open enrollment period ends in December, Walters notes that this restriction does not apply to plans that have received top marks under the government's relatively new rating system. Plans with a 5-star rating may enroll consumers at any time during the year. Because of the newness of the program, there were few 5-star plans for 2012 enrollments. But the number is expected to increase.

Overall, Mendelson and Walters agree, premiums for fee-for-service Medicare (parts A and B) should not rise much in 2013, and premiums for managed care Medicare Advantage plans (part C) should change very little.

"The general feeling is that there is not going to be major increases in premiums," Walters says. "If your premiums aren't changing much, make sure your co-pays aren't changing much, either."

"It's reasonable to expect that the part B premiums (for physician and outpatient services) will be going up in the range of 5 to 10 percent next year," Mendelson says. Medicare is expected to announce part B costs for 2013 soon, but a spokeswoman declined to specify a date.

Both experts advised consumers with traditional fee-for-service Medicare plans to take a careful look at Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. "The care coordination is often better and the prices are often much more stable," Mendelson says. "People don't have to worry as much about out-of-pocket costs. MA plans structure their premiums differently and you're generally not paying a 20 percent co-pay on physician services." Accepting restrictions on the choice of physicians may be unacceptable for some traditional Medicare users, he notes.

Walters advises people to have their own plan for healthcare services before they begin looking at the plans for the 2013 enrollment process. "You really need to begin with a needs assessment," she says. "Focus on those things that you have already identified as being important to you."

This list usually contains specific prescription drugs but should also include expected medical visits for routine care as well as care for any ongoing illnesses or health needs. Do you need regular blood work and other laboratory services? Are there predictable surgeries? Have you factored in the expanding range of free preventive health services under the health reform law?

Once you've developed your needs list, Walters says, it's much easier to use the Medicare website or specific insurer sites "without being overwhelmed by all the options" that are available.

Source  http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/10/09/medicare-open-enrollment-tips-for-2013

Michelle Obama to speak at Lawrence University

First lady Michelle Obama plans to drum up support among Democratic voters when she speaks Friday at Lawrence University.

Mrs. Obama’s visit to Appleton will be an attempt energize the base, grow the grassroots effort and promote voter registration, according to a campaign release.

The free event will be held in Alexander Gymnasium on the Lawrence University campus. Doors will open at 1 p.m.

Because space is limited, tickets are being issued on a first-come, first-serve basis at three Organizing for America field offices in Appleton, Green Bay and Oshkosh.

Friday’s stop in Appleton will mark Mrs. Obama’s first trip to Wisconsin since August when she visited the families of the Sikh temple shooting near Milwaukee. The trip will also come less than a week after her husband, President Barack Obama, made a campaign stop in Milwaukee on Saturday.

Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said as long as the President Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns continue to invest in Wisconsin, it means both sides think the state is still up for grabs.

USA Today identifies Wisconsin as one of at least 12 swing states that are key to the election’s outcome.

In a Gallup poll released last week, Obama edged the Republican candidate 48 to 46 percent among registered swing-state voters.

Mayer called the first lady an “asset” to the Obama campaign — a person who can reach out to Democratic supporters.

“She’s an important symbol for women,” Mayer said. “She’s a very, very good campaigner.”

Kaukauna resident Cindy Fallona, an Obama campaign volunteer, thinks Mrs. Obama will energize local supporters during her Appleton visit.

“I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have a woman of her stature coming to Appleton,” Fallona said.

The 60-year-old Obama supporter said she had a chance to shake the first lady’s hand during a luncheon for former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold in 2010 ­— a moment she “will always treasure.”

Whenever she sees Mrs. Obama speak, the first lady always carries her message forcefully and in a positive manner, Fallona said.

The Kaukauna resident will not be attending Mrs. Obama’s visit on Friday due to a family wedding in Maine, but she has no doubt the first lady will bring words of wisdom to all voters.

“I know that Appleton will give her a warm welcome,” she said.

Source  http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20120925/APC010402/309250179/Michelle-Obama-speak-Lawrence-University?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p&nclick_check=1

10 Tips For Keeping Your PC Healthy Online

Here’s Some Tips To Help Keep Your PC Healthy!

Tip #1: You’re already doing one of the first “right things right”. You’ve ditched Norton, McAfee and Microsoft Security Essentials in favor of a respected antivirus solution. Generally I recommend something like Avast Pro, Kasperski, or AVG Pro… but Trend Micro doesn’t generally have a bad reputation.

Trend however was one of almost half of all antivirus companies that has been slow in responding to, and protecting you from, the recent Java based exploit.

Tip #2: Your tech is actually right (though it goes against popular belief) about the fact that in the very early days of a particular virus it often evades every virus scanner out there. We routinely deal with ones that go around before the antivirus companies are able to write a corrective file.

It’s kinda like vaccinating for the flu. Someone has to get sick, a sample has to go to the lab, the lab has to analyze it, and a vaccine has to be prepared which unfortunately all takes time! (And in the meantime, more people are catching the darn thing!)

Tip #3: Regarding the ”162″ thing… don’t let that scare you. Viruses are like teenage kids throwing a drunken party… if one can get in, and you’re not home… they invite ALL of their friends. It could have been 1, 7, 83, 162 or 561 just as easy. I’ve cleaned up systems in every realm.

Majority of the time, this is made worst by the fact that the first one in deactivates the antivirus!

Tip #4: I know some others have given you advice about possibly switching to the antivirus known as AVG Pro. Lately, I prefer AVAST Free and Pro over AVG. Trend usually is a pretty decent company and I wouldn’t be fast to fault them as guilty in this situation.

We’ve used both-all in client systems in both retail and enterprise. Everyone has their favorites but the differences are splitting hairs. (Generally though, pro trumps often free for a number of valid reasons in terms of added security.) Currently, I personally use Avast Pro and I put it into “gaming mode” aka silent mode to minimize it’s resources when I’m hosting a webinar event.

Bitdefender, Kaspersky, etc… all of these big name antivirus companies are “generally” good and “good enough”.

Tip #5: One thing is important to note… never try running 2 antivirus programs at the same time. One will stop the other from working and visa versa… but it happens silently. Unfortunately, this is happening a lot lately with people that have enabled Microsoft Security Essentials (which sucks) and then have a real antivirus. The two conflict and you get negative protection.

In this case, unfortunately, the two guard dogs simply end up fighting on the front porch while the burger sneaks in the back door.

Tip #6: Be sure your using a router at home. If your computer is plugged straight into your cable/dsl modem… you’re sitting duck. Go to Walmart/BestBuy, etc and get a router. It goes between your PC and your main internet connection. (Either by a cord from the router to the system or by a wireless connection from the router to the system.)

While yes, it can add wireless, extra ports etc, one of the most important thing it does is make it substantially harder for critters that are literally just roaming around the web to get right up to your PC’s doorstep. Its a rather foolproof layer of easy-to-add security. Most people today are using a router already but if you’re not, thought I’d note it. For this particular use, a midrange router is just as good as a high end router. No need to spend a ton.

Tip #7: A good MALWARE scanner… is different than a virus scanner and may or may not be built into a “pro” version of a virus scanner is something you also want. Malware scanners do not generally in-fight like antivirus scanners do. Three examples are Ad-Aware (they have a free version), Spybot Search & Destroy (free), and Malwarebytes.

These don’t necessarily need to be left running if your system is slow but a good once a month run will head off trouble. (AA and MB both have a real time scanner though I believe that would make you even more safe if your pc is fast enough to not be bogged down by adding it.)

Effective handling of MOST types of malware however has been one of the things I’ve found that Avast Pro is doing a great job at currently. (Check your version of Trend and see if they have a malware scanner built in. If not, get one, if so, then your likely set.)

Tip #8: Several people that responded mentioned a Mac… well… that’s an idea. However, the problem is that while, yes “not virus proof” many of the viruses that DO affect them are “rootkit” and require a complete wipe of the system often including data lose if you don’t have a remote backup (and a remote backup can harbor the nasty buggers).

Rootkits exist in PCs as well but given that you had a “clean up” rather than a full reformat, I’d say you didn’t face one. (I honestly MUCH PREFER a clean reformat, every time possible for a whole list of reasons, but that’s a planned attack.) Now that macs can be affected by “drive by” infections where no user interaction is required, their rate of infection is escalating rapidly. There are plenty of perfectly good reasons that some prefer mac, but you have to consider that option with open eyes and a wide grasp of the bigger picture. All Mac users still require a good antivirus and a healthy dose of common sense.

Tip #9: Regardless of whether you’re on Mac or PC, be sure you have a dual-backup system. (Yup, dual!) As a business owner, you have a lot riding on the data on your system (including tax prep).

Generally, the advice is to have a primary backup “in the cloud” or to an external drive that is not physically in the same geographical region as you are. (Literally, out of state) The reason for this is that you want your primary full backup to be immune to the risks of flooding, tornadoes and other natural disasters. That’s one of the reasons the cloud is convenient.

Two cloud based tools that are industry-grade and worthy of your time to look at include Mozy Backup and Carbonite Backup.

Then as a secondary backup, take your most precious files, including your business documentation, and your kids photos, onto a disk or two… and take them to a family members and get them into a fire proof box there. Offer to do the same for them. (We are not counting on the media to survive in the safe in a fire, most people do not have safe rated high enough for the media to survive.) This gives you a local copy of key critical files.

Today, no mother has to go through the horror that mine did of losing ALL of our baby pictures in a house fire… and having to piecemeal through friends and family to try to re-build the two small albums I have today.

Tip #10: One final tip, if your computer (or more often a laptop) is regularly turned off, it is possible that the antivirus has not been updated and ran in weeks or months due to the system never being on and online at the scheduled time. Particularly with laptops (and desktops that are turned off) you should check that the scanner has been run recently.

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/10-tips-for-keeping-your-pc-healthy-online-0270516#u5RYAt3zocKXZLyk.99

Obama Plans Program to Help African-American Students

President Barack Obama was set to announce an executive order aimed at improving the performance of African-American students as he addresses the Urban League Wednesday night. 

The speech to the civil rights group is an opportunity for the president to reach out to some of his most loyal supporters, African-Americans, who as a group have struggled more than most Americans in the tough economy.

The executive order establishes an interagency initiative aimed at identifying promising programs to improve African-American students’ performance and developing a national network of people and groups to share these ideas and put them into practice. The program, to be housed in the Education Department, is dubbed the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

The order also sets up a commission to advise the initiative and a federal interagency working group to coordinate federal efforts from early childhood education through college and adult schooling.

Source  http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/07/25/obama-plans-program-to-help-african-american-students/