We've already had an early peek at Facebook's yet-to-be-released Messenger client for Windows, and now you can give it a shot yourself courtesy of a leaked copy that's turned up on the TechIT website. Not much in the way of surprises here, but if you're the sort that prefers desktop applications to websites or mobile apps, you'll be glad to know that it provides access to not just Facebook chat, but status updates and notifications from your friends as well. You can find the download at the source link below (Windows 7 is required).
Update: Facebook has now made an official download available -- you can grab it here, and find additional details on the application here.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods.
The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship.
Bloomberg has defended the NYPD, saying last week it doesn't take religion into account in its policing.
Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser acknowledged Wednesday that about a dozen people turned down the breakfast invitation. But he said "a couple dozen" more said they plan to attend.
The letter to Bloomberg contained the names of several dozen Muslim leaders and organizations and said they believe such police measures "threaten the rights of all Americans, and deepen mistrust between our communities and law enforcement."
"Mayor Bloomberg, the extent of these civil rights violations is astonishing, yet instead of calling for accountability and the rule of law, you have thus far defended the NYPD's misconduct," the letter said.
The Muslim leaders said they appreciate the mayor's staunch support a year ago during an uproar over a planned Islamic center near the World Trade Center site. But they said they were disappointed by what he said after the AP stories since August about the police department's efforts to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer who worked with the department after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The stories disclosed that a team of 16 police officers speaking at least five languages was assigned to use census information and government databases to map ethnic neighborhoods in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that undercover police officers known as rakers visited local businesses such as Islamic bookstores and cafes, chatting up store owners to determine their ethnicities and gauge their views. They played cricket and eavesdropped in ethnic cafes and clubs.
The AP stories also revealed that one of the CIA's most experienced clandestine operatives began working inside the police department in July as the special assistant to the deputy commissioner of intelligence.
The CIA is prohibited from spying domestically. Its unusual partnership with the NYPD has troubled top lawmakers and prompted an internal investigation.
Bloomberg in October defended the arrangement, saying it was necessary in a dangerous world.
"There are people trying to kill us," he said. "And if the CIA can help us I'm all for getting any information they have and then letting the police department use it as ? if it's appropriate to protect you and to protect me."
The letter noted that Muslims comprise at least 10 percent of the city's population. It said the Muslims leaders were seeking a meeting with the mayor to discuss the issues raised by the reports.
"We believe it is unequivocally wrong and fundamentally misguided to invest law enforcement resources in religious or racial profiling, rather than investigating suspicious activity," it said. "We seek your clear, unambiguous, public support for the rights and privacy of all New Yorkers, including Muslims; and a condemnation of all policies that profile and target communities and community groups solely based on their religion or the color of their skin."
It also said: "We are deeply disturbed that to date we have only heard your words of strong support for these troubling policies and violations of our rights. We are equally disturbed by (police Commissioner Raymond) Kelly's denials of what we know to be true as verified by the leaked documents."
Kelly, meanwhile, met Wednesday evening at a Bronx mosque with two imams who weren't listed on the letter and with young fans of an NYPD youth soccer league, whose winners were presented with a trophy.
One of my favorite services to pop in the second half of 2011 is ?If This, Then That,? or if you?re really dorky, IFTTT. Among a small group of faithful nerds on Twitter, IFTTT is a simple yet powerful service that generates warm, fuzzy feelings among those who are hooked. Based in San Francisco, the company has received funding from Betaworks and is closing out 2011 with momentum. Briefly, IFTTT is a service that allows users to set a number of alerts, or ?tasks,? that will ?trigger? a preset function based on what you set. For example, you can set IFTTT to send you an email every time a specific user on Twitter sends a tweet or have a copy of every Instagram photo you snap to be automatically sent to your Dropbox, which I wish I would?ve set before the last iOS5 update wiped clean two months of my pictures. The different permutations of ?triggers? you can set are sort of endless. To help you wade through them, you can browse different IFTTT ?recipes? and browse this thread on Quora.
CARACAS, Venezuela ? A tanker truck filled with gasoline crashed and burst into flames on Thursday in Venezuela, engulfing several cars and a bus and killing at least 13 people.
The tanker truck tipped over and spilled gasoline, which ignited and burned seven vehicles, Caracas fire chief William Martinez said.
Rescue workers pulled victims' bodies from the blackened vehicles.
Martinez said the tanker truck driver apparently lost control on the highway in Caracas but the cause of the accident was unclear.
At least 16 people were injured in the accident, national police chief Luis Fernandez said.
The 30-year-old truck driver, Tulio Estenique, was unhurt and was arrested, prosecutors said in a statement. He is to be arraigned and is under investigation for his responsibility in causing the accident.
Prosecutors said that according to witnesses the truck was speeding.
(Reuters) ? Milwaukee Bucks forward Drew Gooden has been suspended one game without pay for a flagrant foul against Gerald Henderson of the Charlotte Bobcats, the National Basketball Association (NBA) said on Tuesday.
The incident, in which Gooden made excessive contact with Henderson's head, took place in the third quarter of the Bucks' 96-95 loss to the Bobcats in Charlotte on Monday.
Gooden will serve his suspension on Tuesday when the Bucks host the Minnesota Timberwolves in their regular season home opener.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Steve Keating)
High-end, eco-friendly furniture design and manufacturing company with presence in Miami is looking for two qualified interns to join our marketing team for a 4 to 6 months project. The interns will assist in the planning and implementation of the company marketing strategy, which incudes strong social media and online communication presence.
The interns who fill these positions should expect to gain broad professional experience, and will interact with highly qualified professionals in various fields including marketing, technology, printing and web/software development.
Responsibilities: - Edit and proof other team members work and provide constructive feedback - Write effective copy, excelling in correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. - Use alternate forms of communication (including graphic arts), resulting in improved interactions. - Support and expand public relations with professionals in the industry and the general public. - Assist in research, communication and strategy development. - Assist in coordination of online marketing and advertising campaigns and in maintaining website, blog and social media network presence. - Coordinate with teams to utilize technology to improve communication
Qualifications:
Requirements: - Possess skills at initiating innovative ideas and judging correctly what will appeal to target audiences. - Like challenges that involve communication, are people-oriented, promote networking and socializing, and include roles that call for imagination. - Possess excellent written and verbal communication. - Possess skills in writing, presentation, interpersonal relations, and customer management. - Marketing/Hospitality, Business, Interior Design, Web Design, Communications Majors (preferred). - Demonstrate attention to details while maintaining perspective. - Have working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, basic HTML, MS Office Suite.
Paid Internship Info:
Paid
Hours:
Part time
Length/Availability:
4 to 6 months
Start Date:
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End Date:
, 01/30/2011, 07/03/2011
Additional Info:
Responsibilities: - Edit and proof other team members work and provide constructive feedback - Write effective copy, excelling in correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. - Use alternate forms of communication (including graphic arts), resulting in improved interactions. - Support and expand public relations with professionals in the industry and the general public. - Assist in research, communication and strategy development. - Assist in coordination of online marketing and advertising campaigns and in maintaining website, blog and social media network presence. - Coordinate with teams to utilize technology to improve communication
Internweb.com cannot guarantee the validity and accuracy of internship postings.
All persons expressing interest, applying for or accepting internships posted on
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 27, 2011) ? Two vital parts of mentally organizing the world are classification, or the understanding that similar things belong in the same category; and induction, an educated guess about a thing's properties if it's in a certain category. There are reasons to believe that language greatly assists adults in both kinds of tasks. But how do young children use language to make sense of the things around them? It's a longstanding debate among psychologists.
A new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, challenges the predominant answer. "For the last 30 to 40 years it has been believed that even for very young children, labels are category markets, as they are for adults," explains psychologist Vladimir M. Sloutsky, who authored the paper with Ohio State University colleague Wei Deng. According to this theory, if you show anyone an oblong, scaled, limbless swimming thing and say it's a dog (its label), both adults and children will believe it's a dog (in that category of four-legged domesticated mammals) and should behave like a dog -- bark or wag its tail.
The study confirms that many adults do use labels this way. But children do not. "Our research suggests that very early in development labels are no different from other features," says Sloutsky. "And the more salient features may completely overrule the label." You insist the swimming thing is a dog. The child weighs all the evidence -- and "dog" is no more important than scales or swimming -- and concludes it's a fish.
To test their hypothesis, the psychologists showed pictures of two imaginary creatures to preschoolers and college undergraduates. Both animals had a body, hands, feet, antennae, and a head. The "flurp" was distinguished by a pink head that moved up and down; the "jalet" had a blue sideways-moving head. The heads were salient -- the only moving part. During training, the subjects learned what a flurp or a jalet looked like.
Then the experimenters changed some of the features, keeping the head consistent with most of them, and asked participants to supply the missing label. They also showed creatures with characteristics and a name, and the subjects had to predict -- induce -- the missing part. Both adults and children did best when the head was consistent with the name.
The difference arose when the head was a jalet's but label was "flurp," or vice-versa. Then, most of the adults went with the label (we accept that a dolphin is a mammal, even though it looks and swims like a fish). The children relied on the head for identification. Regardless of its name, a thing with a jalet's head is a jalet.
To eliminate the possibility that the participants were flummoxed by the invented names, they researchers called the creatures "carrot-eater" and "meat-eater." The results were the same.
Sloutsky says the findings could inform teaching and communicating with children. "If saying something is a dog does not communicate what it is any more than saying it is brown, then labeling it is necessary but by no means sufficient for a child to understand." Talking with young children, "we need to do more than just label things."
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Journal Reference:
Vladimir M. Sloutsky and Wei Deng. Carrot-Eaters and Moving Heads: Salient Features Provide Greater Support for Inductive Inference than Category Labels. Psychological Science, 2012
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Twitter / The Weather Channel: Tornado warning for Melbou ...Tornado warning for Melbourne Area now cancelled. Severe thunderstorms however remain. Destructive winds, flash flooding, large hail.Il y a environ 21 heuresvia web
Markets were shaken by violent protests in Greece and the death of Libya's Gadhafi.
Apple Still Shines, Buffalo Wild Flies Higher
Apple is a drag but Intel and others with nice surprises give a lift.
Equity Opportunities In Emerging Markets
Riedel Research chief David Riedel's insight on overseas investments.
Apple Crushed But Builders And Banks Bounce
Euro optimism stokes rally but Apple falls short under Cook.
Banks Are Buys, Euro Will Survive
European plan not perfect but it is coming together.
Wall Street Occupied By Earnings
Apple hits new high, Google gains on blowout quarter.
JPMorgan Misses And Wall St Is Occupied!
JPMorgan missed on earnings while Google surged.
Steel, Coal And Google For A Fat Earnings Season
It could also be a time for small and midcap stocks to shine.
Smiles Everyone, Stocks Soar Again
Explosive bullish action could be a turning point or just Fantasy Island.
Warren Stephens Wants Government Out Of The Way
Economic expansion would take hold if regulation and taxes were not so onerous.
Fed Powerless To Prop Up Economy
Reduce regulation and simplify taxes to spark recovery, says former Dallas Fed chief economist.
Europe Gets A Plan, Stocks Come Alive
Chatter about an EU bank plan sparks a late rally.
Banks Whacked, Stocks Lose Support
Big sell-off to start October sends stocks crashing through technical support.
Dividends Still Work After A Crushing Quarter
Look into outperforming sectors like utilities, staples, tech and health care.
Sirius Slammed, Netflix Extends Breakdown
The Dow stays green but look around and you see the color of blood.
Risk Clapper Kills Rally, Bezos Opens Fire On Apple
European angst suffocates stocks as Amazon.com shows off its new Kindle Fire tablet.
Cash And Caution For Muhlenkamp
Blue chip cash machines are selling for cheap. So why is Ron Muhlenkamp holding cash?
European Rollercoaster: Buy The Rumor, Sell The Rumor?
Markets jumped on rumors the EU had solved some problems, then halved its gains on more rumors.
Apple Unbruised, Banks And Boeing Take Flight
Stocks fly higher as a Greek solution appears within reach.
Self-Made Mining Magnate
St. Elias Mines CEO Lori McClenahan shares the secrets of her success.
Bloodbath In Gold And Silver
Stocks stabilize but metals take it in the kisser.
Stocks Smashed As Recession Fears Spike
Weakness in China and Europe and the Fed?s uninspiring twist take markets down.
Behind The Curtain Of College Admissions
Officials from U. Penn and Michigan on applying to (and affording) higher education.
Bernanke Does The Twist
Bernanke announced a $400 billion operation to extend the maturity of the Fed's balance sheet.
Get Ready For Bernanke With Gold Miners
Gold gains ground on the eve of the end of the Fed?s two-day meeting.
Banking On Apple, Stamps And Smokes
Financials pull back on low volume, Apple and Stamps.com hit highs on massive turnover.
RIM And Netflix Tank, Geithner Gives Pierogi Pep Talk In Poland
Two growth stocks flame out as Europe waits to help Greece.
Liquidity Injection To Save Euro Banks Fuels Rally
Global central banks injected US dollar liquidity to save the Euro banks, helping Wall St.
Fire Up The Great Chinese Bailout And Helicopter Ben
Adrenaline for markets as Europe gropes for a solution and the Fed gets ready to meet.
Billionaire Baron Says It's Time To Buy
Billionaire investor Ron Baron says stocks are cheap and opportunities are everywhere.
Ringing Up Fat Yields In Russia's Mobile TeleSystems
The stock yields 6.7% and valuation looks quite modest.
Greek Default Still Looms, Italians Try Chinese Connection
Reports that China may invest in Italy stokes stocks late.
Dumpster Diving As Stocks Get Euro Trashed
European banks fall hard as Greek default talk thickens.
Don't Get Burned By Gold Or Facebook
Ask anybody from 1980 about gold being a safe haven, Facebook has some wild valuation.
The Lost Economic Decade Since 9/11
Stocks have gone nowhere while deficits, oil, gas and gold have soared.
Stocks Take A Dusty, Bernanke Channels Inner Chuck Norris
With no job growth in August, Ben and the president both fight to revive economy.
Jobs, Shocks, and Socks: Obama, AutoZone and the Gap
The jobs report will set the stage for President Obama's Sept. 8 address to Congress.
Obama Pitching Jobs Plan To Congress
This could be hugely bullish for stocks.
Fed Ready To Buy Another Round Of QE
Looks like it's party time after next month's FOMC meeting.
Will Boomers Outlive Their Pensions?
Economist Olivia Mitchell on retirement's new realities and how America can rethink Social Security.
Ben's Speech Pleases, Irene Aims For NYC
Stocks, bonds and gold like Bernanke's message but the dollar falls.
Apple, Bernanke, And Gold? Oh My!
Jobs quits, Buffett buys BofA and gold steadies ahead of Bernanke's speech.
Notes From A Contrarian Investor
Tocqueville Asset Management's CEO on bubbles, emotions in investing and the lessons of 2008.
Holding The Line With Defensive Stocks
Banks and energy are in bear markets but staples and utilities show strength.
Listen To (Jimmy) Buffett, Beat Mr. Market
Stocks go weak. Time to go fishing down at rock bottom again.
There's Lots Of Cheap Stocks With Juicy Dividends
Instead of digging your head in the sand, go out there and buy some sexy dividend stocks.
Burt Reynolds Beats Fabio, Go Long America
U.S. stocks and bonds outperform the rest of the world in 2011. Stick with the home team.
Rebounding With Fat Yields In Cheap REITs
Market turmoil smacked down REITs. The bounce is nice.
Insiders Beat The Bear Market That Never Was
Corporations and their bosses buy stocks hand over fist through the sell-off.
William Rhodes, Banker To The World
Ex-Citi chair spent decades solving sovereign debt crises and details why austerity isn't enough.
Quality Stocks For A Smoother Ride
Jensen fund manager beats the market without getting too fancy or cyclical.
Navellier Biting Into Apple, Chipotle, Deere
Growth guru sees no Armageddon, buys with both hands.
Gurus Pick AT&T And Intel In Bear Market
Top advisors weigh in on what to do now.
Has QE failed?
Has Ben Bernanke lost confidence that monetary policy can bring the economy out of it's slump?
Measuring The Fundamentals
Rob Arnott on sizing up a company's economic footprint and crafting a winning portfolio.
Crashing Into An Eventual Bounce
Stocks get splattered. Here's the good and bad news and a couple of ideas.
Protect Your Portfolio From The 3-D Hurricane
Investing guru Rob Arnott on how debt, deficit and demographics affect investor strategy.
Global Markets Get Butchered, From Equities To Oil
The Dow took a massive, 513 point hit in the chin on Thursday, along with oil and gold.
Another Tech Bubble?
Jeremy Siegel on how people tend to overpay for the next big thing and whether 2011 is the new 2000.
Low-Priced Plays On Gold, Housing Rebound
Marc Gerstein likes Claude Resources and Builders FirstSource
Dig Into Diesel And Dermabrasion
Jim Oberweis has two small-cap growth picks.
Sticking With Sirius But Pandora's Cheaper
Some people prefer to pay for Sirius XM Radio even if other services are free.
Expert Investors On Saving For Retirement
Gurus share their wisdom on investing for an increasingly long retirement period.
No Need For U.S. To Stiff China
What would the U.S. gain by not paying back $1.16 trillion owed to China?
Slam Dunkin' In Restaurant Stocks
Dunkin goes public, Panera goes pop, Buffalo Wild and Chipotle still look good.
No Bubbles In Tech, Take A Seat At OpenTable
Jim Oberweis sees growth still looking good enough to warrant owning OPEN.
Scoring Monsters Like Green Mountain, Baidu
Jim Oberweis looks for accelerating growth in sales and profits and doesn?t sell too early.
Jeremy Siegel Still Invests For The Long Run
Noted author and finance professor advocates tried and true stock strategy for sweet future returns.
Greece & The Domino Effect
Harry Wilson on how public debt-to-GDP can factor in to defaults in the PIIGS crisis...and beyond.
CAT Misses, GE Scores, Mickey D's Cooks
Earnings keep rolling in with McDonald's and Schlumberger coming out big winners.
State Finances Are Worse Than You Think
Harry Wilson explains how bad things are for States and how to get their fiscal houses in order.
Banks Fly Higher, Airlines Still Grounded
Meanwhile Intuitive Surgical surges to new highs and Travelzoo gets eviscerated on soft sales.
Eurozone's Austerity Disaster
Restructuring guru Harry Wilson weighs in on Greece and sovereign debt crises plaguing the EU.
Baidu And Apple Go Boom, Microsoft Steps On Deck
Also on Wednesday, Zillow does nicely on its first day trading.
Playing Earnings Winners And Losers
IBM and Coke blow away forecasts but Goldman and BofA slump again.
Netflix Climaxes, Apple Cooks And Banks Probe Bottom
Selling climax hits Netflix while a rally past Friday?s close this week would be bullish for banks.
Harry Wilson & The Art Of Restructuring
The investor's insights on Greece, the U.S. debt ceiling and fostering economic growth.
Playing Google And Other Earnings Poppers
Google earnings blow past estimates and the stock soars. Who?s next?
A Powerful Force In Investing
Michael Mauboussin on why mean reversion is a crucial concept most people don't fully understand.
JPMorgan Impressed Investors, Will The Other Banks?
Financials have lagged almost every other sector, how will they do this earnings season?
Gold Is Money And So Is China
Bernanke tells Ron Paul gold isn?t money after hitting its high; China is still the king of growth.
Dipping Into Chip Stocks
Semiconductors get hammered on Tuesday, creating bargains in some great names.
How Would Ted Williams Invest?
Michael Mauboussin on how the Hall Of Famer's hot hand on the diamond relates to the markets.
Want To Play Gold? Check Out The Gold Miners
Gold has been on a roll for a while now, but look to miners for safety from commodity volatility.
Paradox Of The Skilled Investor
Legg Mason's Michael Mauboussin on how luck can trump skill when investing in the stock market.
Stick With Strength In Health Care, JPM For Financial Rebound
Expect health care to stay strong this year and JPMorgan looks promising among laggard financials.
Rearview Mirror Investing?
Joel Greenblatt on his stock formula and whether the past is predictive of the future.
Playing The Big Pop In Retail
Urban Outfitters and Quiksilver look solid, but don't get burned in Hot Topic or pinched by Buckle.
Fat Pitch From Portugal: Swing Like Teixeira, Sail Like Da Gama
Look past the downgrade of Portugal's debt and focus on homerun opportunities.
An Investor's Time Horizon
Joel Greenblatt on how individuals can find opportunity while institutions focus on short-term gain.
Macau Casinos Rocked By Hos And Woos
Chinese gambling has made billionaires of Stanley Ho and Lui Che Woo. Here's how you can catch up.
Joel Greenblatt's Market Secrets
The best-selling author shares choice advice for small investors with Steve Forbes.
The U.S.A. Is No Greek Tragedy
America has racked up some huge bills but the world knows we're good for it.
Get Tiffany Twisted, Live Large In Luxury
Fresh breakouts in Coach, Tiffany and LVMH show that the luxury market is still kickin'.
Zeus, Kronos, Coffee And Copper For A Greek Rally
Cyclical stuff like steel and chemicals shoot higher as stocks rally hard for fourth day.
Advice For A Changing World
Highlights from Steve Forbes' interviews with the top investing minds of 2011.
You Can't Say That About Apple!
It's the darling of pundits and analysts. Does that mean Apple's a buy? Marc Gerstein breaks it down
How To Screen Stocks
Low-price stock picker Marc Gerstein on common mistakes of the individual investor.
Weak Dollar, Desperate Fed
Economist David Malpass on Federal Reserve policy, Treasurys and job growth in the U.S.
The Marriage Of Government & Business
Economist David Malpass on how America is becoming a corporatist state.
How The GOP Plays Into Obama's Hands
Economist David Malpass says Congress needs to act to give the president the power to spend less.
Inflation In Asia
Matthews Asia Funds CIO Robert Horrocks discusses inflation concerns for India, China and Japan.
Challenging The China Bears
Matthews Asia Funds CIO Robert Horrocks lays out why investors should be less bearish on China.
Invest For Your Age
Ken Kamen, author of Reclaim Your Nest Egg, has pointers for a well-balanced portfolio.
Spring Clean Your Finances
Reclaim Your Nest Egg author Ken Kamen's tips for getting your financial house in order.
Avoid The Financial News Noise
Why Mercadien's Ken Kamen wants you to tune out talking heads and invest for the long-term.
Political Gridlock: A Good Thing?
Loop Capital CEO Jim Reynolds on divided government and getting America moving forward again.
In Praise Of Chris Christie
Loop Capital CEO Jim Reynolds on New Jersey's governor, Illinois' budget crisis and the end of QE2.
Boutique Firm Vs. Big Banks
Jim Reynolds of Loop Capital Markets on how his firm competes with the nation's banking behemoths.
30-Yr Mortgages Are Root Of All Evil
Why ING Direct chief Arkadi Kuhlmann wants to do away with the 30-yr fixed rate.
Online Banking Hack Attack
ING Direct USA's Arkadi Kuhlmann can attract customers. The hard part is keeping their data safe.
How ING Direct Reengineered Banking
Arkadi Kuhlmann on creating a new banking experience for consumers.
Ken Fisher On Winners In Tech
Nerdsters create the technology, hipsters create the products and the consumer ultimately wins.
Ken Fisher Hates Annuities
Considering annuities? You might as well give the salesperson money to put their kid through school.
Debunking Dollar Cost Averaging
Ken Fisher has little use for the time-tested investing approach. Here's why.
Epoch's Big Party Portfolio
CEO Bill Priest explains how a well-diversified portfolio feeds into the firm's investment strategy.
Investing In Global Champions
Epoch Holding Corp CEO Bill Priest on whether his firm's yield strategy works in emerging markets.
Epoch Chief Sees M&A Rise
CEO Bill Priest says a substantial increase in mergers & acquisitions activity is on the horizon.
Priceline, Netflix Work The Cloud
T. Rowe Price's Dave Eiswert on how well the companies leverage cloud computing functionality.
Investing In The Cloud
T. Rowe Price's Dave Eiswert on outsourcing business to the Web, plus companies to watch in Asia.
Tech Players Create New Paradigm
T. Rowe Price's David Eiswert on companies leading the next wave of growth in computing technology.
Disruption In The Tech Industry
T. Rowe Price's David Eiswert on how innovation is changing technology playing field.
Buying Equities Amid Gov't Debt
Investor John Mauldin reveals which sectors will be strong as governments confront the debt endgame.
Overcoming The Debt Supercycle
Investor and author John Mauldin on government debt and why Paul Krugman is right.
Paul Ryan's Game Changer
John Mauldin and Steve Forbes on how Congress might deal with the congressman's budget template.
TD Ameritrade's Trade Architect
CEO Fred Tomczyk details plans for his company's next big technology push.
The Breakaway Broker
TD Ameritrade's Fred Tomczyk on indexing and the rise of the registered investment advisor channel.
Maintaining TD Ameritrade's Brand
CEO Fred Tomczyk on how a major merger strengthened the firm's brand.
Exercising Caution With REITs
Third Avenue Funds CIO Curtis Jensen surveys the real estate investment landscape.
How To Zig When Markets Zag
Third Avenue CIO Curtis Jensen on the advantages of a small, risk-conscious portfolio.
An Eye For Distressed Debt
Third Avenue Funds CIO Curtis Jensen discusses a time-tested investment sweet spot for the firm.
Sarbox Compliance Woes
Third Avenue Funds CIO Curtis Jensen on small caps and the trouble with Sarbanes-Oxley.
Myth Of The Villainous CEO
Honeywell chief David Cote on the pervasive portrayal of American businesses as evildoers.
Energy Policy Follow Through
Honeywell CEO David Cote on whether cohesive, actionable energy policy will ever become reality.
Is Obama Anti-Business?
Honeywell CEO David Cote, who served on a presidential commission, provides perspective.
Honeywell's Organic Growth
CEO David Cote discusses his company's acquisition agenda and the importance of corporate culture.
Trump Talks Real Estate
Donald Trump says we're long past the date of a predicted commercial real estate meltdown.
Trump, Casinos And Competition
Donald Trump discusses trends and what he believes is a destructive force in the casino industry.
Can The Donald Be The POTUS?
Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump shares some foreign policy ideas with Steve Forbes.
China Is Hoarding Gold
Richard Lehmann has concerns about China establishing a large gold reserve.
QE2's Bait & Switch
Richard Lehmann on Ben Bernanke's hidden intentions.
Lehmann Likes Blue Chip Stocks
Bond guru Richard Lehmann has a hankering for high dividend paying blue chips.
Small Business And Health Care
Howard Dean expects a migration from employer-based insurance to health exchanges.
The Case Against Interstate Health Care
Howard Dean on why crossing state lines for health insurance is flawed policy.
Upsides Of Health Care Reform
Howard Dean says States will begin to innovate and offer more health care choices for consumers.
Attack Of The VC Poverty Pimps
George Gilder says venture capitalists are angling for U.S. subsidies to support their green dreams.
Deep Packet Inspection Is Critical
George Gilder says FCC intervention in this space will prohibit necessary innovation.
The Future Of Carbon Nanotubes
George Gilder on water filtration, space exploration and great expectations for nanotechnology.
What's To Like About Healthcare?
Despite government's overhaul, Gary Shilling sees smart investment opportunities in the sector.
China's Export Excess
Gary Shilling on China's attempts to shift toward a domestically-oriented economy.
The Next Big Thing Is Small
Gary Shilling on small luxuries as status symbols, plus stocks, sectors and a commodities bubble.
Bear Markets & Corporate Profits
Gary Shilling lauds the cost-cutting of American businesses but wonders if profits are sustainable.
Large Caps, Indexes And The Fed
Wealth manager Todd Morgan lays out his investment strategy for Steve Forbes.
Celebrity Investing Master Class
Got millions? Todd Morgan will manage your wealth like you're on the A-List.
What Makes Bel Air So Special?
Todd Morgan details how Bel Air Investment Advisors is unique in a crowded field of wealth managers.
A Thriving Stock Market
As the Dow plays peek-a-boo with 12,000, economist Nouriel Roubini discusses the market's rebound.
Another Real Estate Crisis
Nouriel Roubini on commercial real estate, housing sector insolvency and the coming double dip.
End Of The Eurozone?
Nouriel Roubini on whether the EU as we know it can survive its multiple sovereign debt crises.
Dr. Doom Is A Little Less Bearish
Nouriel Roubini on the Eurozone, real estate and the U.S. states on the verge of bankruptcy.
The Bankrupt States Of America
Economist Nouriel Roubini on whether a number of debt-ridden U.S. states are too big to fail.
America Vs. The World
Former World Bank president James Wolfensohn on how the U.S. can regain its competitive edge.
A Balanced, Bubble-Free China
James Wolfensohn, former World Bank president, says China is managing itself well.
Regulatory Flexibility
Former CFTC head Walter Lukken says fluid market innovation requires flexible rules of the road.
Confessions Of An Ex-Regulator
Former CFTC chair Walter Lukken looks back on how his commission dealt with the financial crisis.
Jack Bogle On ETFs
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Cut out some cardboard from a box and make your own board game! Be creative, have fun, and create a personalized version of any old favorite. Use recycled paper to make cards and create questions based on family memories. This gift can be homemade, personal and long-lasting.
House Republicans, just days after standing their ground, decided instead to head home for Christmas dinner.
So much for the principles that brought them to power in 2010. So much for ending business as usual in the nation's capital.
But their language changed by the end. Gone was the moral outrage, the appeals to end the mindless spending that was bankrupting the nation. This week, the House Republican talking points led with the insistence that America's working men and women deserved more than a two-month payroll tax holiday. Somehow, the Tea Party-spawned House Republicans had morphed into demagoguing Proletarian heroes.
But this was an important moment. After all, when the current House majority seized the reins, they were clear that their mission was to curtail spending as the singular path to curbing massive fiscal deficits, while not impeding the morally righteous task of cutting taxes. Specifically, the House Republicans changed "Paygo" rules that had been in effect for many years -- whereby tax and spending measures must be budget-neutral over a 10-year period, as scored by the Congressional Budget Office -- to provide instead that such constraints should not apply to tax cuts.
This perspective -- that deficits are not a function of the mix of revenues and expenditures but rather a function of spending alone -- is an odd vestige of the Reagan era, when cutting taxes emerged as the sine qua non of the modern Republican Party and liberated the GOP from its stodgy traditions of fiscal prudence and school marmishness. At the time of the Reagan revolution, when marginal tax rates were high, one could make a fairly reasoned argument of the supply-side premise, that cutting taxes would increase revenues. But that argument was bound up in the facts and economics of that era, and only attained that status of a moral imperative in the ensuing years.
But in the debate regarding extending the payroll tax cut, for reasons that are unclear, the House Republicans did not merely forsake their rule that tax reductions are morally self-justifying, they went to the mattresses to demand that they be paid for like any other legislation of Democrat-inspired spending.
Then, suddenly, they got up off the mattresses, changed their votes and went home.
Fast forward to late next year and the implications of the House action looms large. At the end of 2012, the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire just like the payroll tax cut that was just extended. Under the House Paygo rules, Republicans would have no problem demanding that such tax cuts remain permanent, despite the $4 trillion of projected costs over ten years. But the payroll tax debate should cast the stance of the House Republicans in a new light. This month, for the first time in recent memory, the Republicans took a stand against tax cuts because of the fiscal implications of those cuts.
For the first time in recent memory, Milton Friedman and the Republican Party of my grandfather were redeemed. This was a significant point that should not be lost.
Because the simple truth is that to extend the Bush tax cuts is wrong.
Little, if anything, has been said in the public debate over those tax cuts to remind the public about why they had an expiration date to begin with. After all, changes in the tax code tend to be eternal, and ability to rely on the rules of the tax system is a bedrock principle of our economy. But the Bush-era tax cuts had to expire if they were going to comply with the fiscal rules in place when the cuts were enacted into law. To meet the ten-year Paygo scoring rules, the Bush-era tax cut legislation provided for rates to return to the levels in effect in 2001 after seven years in order to pay for the largesse that was bestowed upon taxpayers over the period the cuts were to be in effect.
Oddly, in the debate over extending those tax cuts, up until now the Democrats and Republicans essentially had to act under different political rules. Democrats, because they are the party of wanton over-spending and fiscal profligacy, had to justify how extending the tax cuts would be somehow fiscally justifiable. Republicans, because their brand includes the long-defunct notion that they are the party of fiscal prudence, felt no such constraint, and they have felt free to argue that the cuts be made permanent, whatever the fiscal impact might be.
The argument in Congress that the Bush-era tax cuts should be extended has given the lie to the notion that Congress is subject to any rules, even the ones it places on itself. The argument that tax rates should not be increased in the face of a recession is utterly disingenuous. Those arguing to gut the 2001 and 2003 tax bills now would be doing so regardless of our economic condition.
Look back at the historical record. Even as the Bush-era tax cut legislation was being considered, Republican leaders assured their base that by 2010 those cuts would be made permanent, as the Republicans pledged from the outset to attack as taxers any who would let the cuts expired. That is to say, even at the moment of the original legislation, those who supported those tax cuts eschewed any intention of adhering to the fiscal rules that Congress had imposed on itself. At the time, the cynicism was breathtaking. But as political calculation, it was prescient.
This month, House Republicans veered from the Republican orthodoxy on cutting taxes without offsets in favor of their Tea Party anti-deficit principles when they demanded spending cuts if the payroll tax cut was to be extended. For the first time in recent memory, Republicans returned to pre-Reagan principles and demanded that tax cuts be paid for.
A cynic might argue that this was not a change from the Republican playbook. They might suggest instead that we have seen the emergence of a codicil to the principle that tax cuts are morally self-justifying that suggests that such cuts must be paid for if the benefit accrues to working class Americans. Or perhaps the House leadership simply got caught up in needing to oppose anything that Democrats supported and lost sight of the fact that they were in the odd position of opposing a tax cut.
In acting to demand that the payroll tax cut extension be paid for, will the House Republicans apply the same rule to extending the Bush-era tax cuts? That would be a game changer. But it is more likely that the House Republicans will get their act together, and once again the $4 trillion cost -- and profound hypocrisy -- of extending the Bush-era tax cuts will be subordinate to the higher moral principle of cutting taxes -- without regard to cost.
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One of my favorite services to pop in the second half of 2011 is ?If This, Then That,? or if you?re really dorky, 
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Steve Forbes 