Biz to Go: Longwood University looks to build relationships at NRF show in New York

Credit: LOUIS LLOVIO/TIMES-DISPATCH

Longwood University's business school dean, Paul Barrett, said he hopes the show will boost the school's programs and its global profile.


Paul Barrett believes his trip to this week's National Retail Federation annual trade show here helps boost Longwood University's business school programs and its international profile.

"This is a good opportunity for us to network and to meet people in the industry," said Barrett, the school's dean.

The show brought about 24,000 retailers, vendors and analysts from around the world. Each represents an opportunity, whether it be as a future student, partner or provider of internships, Barrett said.

This is the second year that Longwood has made the trek from Farmville. But renovations at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center forced the university off the main trade show floor this year and into a separate floor in another part of the building.

"We're not getting as much traffic, but we're getting quality" inquiries, Barrett said.

Longwood is one of 13 colleges that had displays at this year's annual show. The school is a member of the NRF Foundation, the educational arm of the National Retail Federation.

Foundation senior director Angela N. Elder said her organization's aim is to help train people for careers in retail.

Barrett believes education is particularly important for retailers to keep up with the challenges of changing technology.

He points to global supply-chain management as one challenge facing retailers who are now buying products made in one country and shipped through several others before appearing on store shelves.

"You can't do retail today without" knowing about logistics, Barrett said.

The school is one of three universities associated with the Virginia Logistics Research Center, a high-technology research and development center at Fort Lee.

Abigail H. O'Connor, assistant business school dean and MBA director at Longwood, who joined Barrett here, said higher education has a responsibility to prepare students for the changing world.

"We need to grow the next generation of retail leaders," she said. "We're here to help do that."

Louis Llovio

Source: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2012/jan/18/tdbiz03-biz-to-go-longwood-university-looks-to-bui-ar-1618993/

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Former trailblazer Kodak files for Chapter 11 (AP)

ROCHESTER, N.Y. ? Is Kodak's moment past?

The glory days when Eastman Kodak Co. ruled the world of film photography lasted for over a century. Then came a stunning reversal of fortune: cutthroat competition from Japanese firms in the 1980s and a seismic shift to the digital technology it pioneered but couldn't capitalize on. Now comes a wistful worry that this icon of American business is edging toward extinction.

Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, raising the specter that the 132-year-old trailblazer could become the most storied casualty of a digital age that has whipped up a maelstrom of economic, social and technological change.

Already a shadow of its former self, cash-poor Kodak will now reorganize in bankruptcy court as it seeks to boost its cash position and stay in business. The Rochester, N.Y.-based company is pinning its hopes on peddling a trove of photo patents and morphing into a new-look powerhouse built around printers and ink. Even if it succeeds, it seems unlikely to ever again resemble what its red-on-yellow K logo long stood for ? a signature brand synonymous in every corner of the planet with capturing, collecting and sharing images.

"Kodak played a role in pretty much everyone's life in the 20th century because it was the company we entrusted our most treasured possession to ? our memories," said Robert Burley, a photography professor at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Its yellow boxes of film, point-and-shoot Brownie and Instamatic cameras, and those hand-sized prints that made it possible for countless millions to freeze-frame their world "were the products used to remember ? and really define ? what that entire century looked like," Burley said.

"One of the interesting parts of this bankruptcy story is everyone's saddened by it," he continued. "There's a kind of emotional connection to Kodak for many people. You could find that name inside every American household and, in the last five years, it's disappeared. At the very least, digital technology will transform Kodak from a very big company to a smaller one. I think we all hope it won't mean the end of Kodak because it still has a lot to offer."

Kodak has notched just one profitable year since 2004. At the end of a four-year digital makeover during which it dynamited aged factories, chopped and changed businesses and eliminated tens of thousands more jobs, it closed 2007 on a high note with net income of $676 million.

It soon ran smack into the recession ? and its momentum slipped into reverse.

Years of investor alarm over whether Kodak might seek protection from its creditors crescendoed in September when it hired major restructuring law firm Jones Day as an adviser. Its stock, which topped $94 in 1997, skidded below $1 a share for the first time and, by Jan. 6, hit an all-time closing low of 37 cents. Multiple board members recently resigned, and last week the company announced that it realigned and simplified its business structure in an effort to cut costs, create shareholder value and accelerate its long-drawn-out digital transformation.

The human toll reaches back to the 1980s when Tokyo-based Fuji, an emerging archrival, began to eat into Kodak's fat profits with novel offerings like single-use film cameras. Beset by excessive caution and strategic stumbles, Kodak was finally forced to cut costs. Its long slide had begun.

Mass layoffs came every few years, unraveling a cozy relationship of company and community that was perhaps unequaled in the annals of American business. Kodak has sliced its global payroll to 18,800 from a peak of 145,300 in 1988, and its hometown rolls to 7,100 from 60,400 in 1982.

Veteran employees who dodged the well-worn ax are not alone in fearing what comes next. Some 25,000 Kodak retirees in this medium-sized city on Lake Ontario's southern shore worry that their diminished health coverage could be clawed back further, if not disappear, in bankruptcy court.

It's a long cry from George Eastman's paternalistic heyday.

Founded by Eastman in 1880, Kodak marketed the world's first flexible roll film in 1888 and turned photography into an overnight craze with a $1 Brownie camera in 1900. Innovation and mass production were about to put the world into cars and airplanes, the American Century was unfolding, and Kodak was ready to record it.

"It's one of the few companies that wiggled its way into the fabric of American life and the American family," said Bob Volpe, 69, a 32-year employee who retired in 1998. "As someone at Kodak once said, `We put chemicals in one end so our customers can get memories out the other.'"

Intent on keeping his work force happy ? they never organized a union ? Eastman helped pioneer profit-sharing and, in 1912, began dispensing a generous wage dividend. Going to work for Kodak ? "taking the life sentence," as it was called ? became a bountiful rite of passage for generations.

"Most of the people who worked at Kodak had a middle-class life without a college education," Volpe said. "Those jobs paid so well, they could buy a boat, two cars, a summer place, and send their kids to college."

Propelled by Eastman's marketing genius, the "Great Yellow Father" held a virtual monopoly of the U.S. photographic industry by 1927. But long after Eastman was stricken with a degenerative spinal disorder and took his own life in 1932, Kodak retained its mighty perch with a succession of magical innovations.

Foremost was Kodachrome, a slide and motion-picture film extolled for 74 years until its demise in 2009 for its sharpness, archival durability and vibrant hues. In the 1960s, easy-load Instamatic 126 became one of the most popular cameras ever, practically replacing old box cameras. In 1975, engineer Steven Sasson created the first digital camera, a toaster-size prototype capturing black-and-white images at a resolution of 0.1 megapixels.

Through the 1990s, Kodak splurged $4 billion on developing the photo technology inside most cellphones and digital devices. But a reluctance to ease its heavy reliance on film allowed rivals like Canon Inc. and Sony Corp. to rush largely unhindered into the fast-emerging digital arena. The immensely lucrative analog business Kodak worried about undermining too soon was virtually erased in a decade by the filmless photography it invented.

"If you're not willing to cannibalize yourself, others will do it for you," said Mark Zupan, dean of the University of Rochester's business school. "Technology is changing ever more rapidly, the world's becoming more globalized, so to stay at the top of your game is getting increasingly harder."

In November, Kodak warned it could run out of cash in a year if it didn't sell 1,100 digital-imaging patents it's been shopping around since July. Analysts estimate they could fetch at least $2 billion.

In the meantime, Kodak has focused its future on new lines of inkjet printers that it says are on the verge of turning a profit. It expects printers, software and packaging to produce more than twice as much revenue by 2013 and account by then for 25 percent of the company's total revenue, or nearly $2 billion.

CEO Antonio Perez said in a statement Thursday that the bankruptcy filing is "a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak." The company has secured $950 million in financing from Citigroup Inc., and expects to be able to operate its business during bankruptcy reorganization and pay employees.

On its website, Kodak assured customers that the nearly $1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing would be sufficient to pay vendors, suppliers and other business partners in full for goods and services going forward. The bankruptcy filing in the Southern District of New York does not involve Kodak's international operations.

"To be able to hop from stone to stone across the stream takes great agility and foresight and passion for excellence, and Kodak is capable of that. They have some killer stuff in inkjet printing. It's becoming a profitable product line but what they need is the runway to allow it to take off," Zupan said. "As the saying goes, `the best way to anticipate the future is to invent it.'"

The company and its board are being advised by Lazard, FTI Consulting Inc. and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Dominic DiNapoli, vice chairman of FTI Consulting, will serve as chief restructuring officer. Kodak expects to complete its U.S.-based restructuring during 2013.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_us/us_kodak_s_legacy

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Education matters: Did the Times Union have an Epiphany about eductaion?

From the Sun Sentinel

By Kathleen Haughney and Leslie Postal,

TALLAHASSEE ? After two years of hammering away on a K-12 education agenda designed by conservative think tanks, legislators have checked off a number of goals: merit pay, heightened graduation standards and an expanded voucher program.

But even as they wait for these changes to take full effect, lawmakers are confronted by student standardized-test scores that seem to have hit a wall after a decade of improvement and yet another budget shortfall of close to $2 billion next year. Critics say the schools won't get better without more money ? and are pressing a court case that would require higher funding for education.

Rick Scott Lawmakers are presented with a quandary: Should they make more changes in response to the test results, or do they hold off and wait for their recent changes ? such as teacher merit pay ? to take effect?

Right now, legislators seem inclined toward a wait-and-see approach in the session that begins Jan. 12. They're likely to spend far more time on issues such as the budget ? which will determine school funding ? and redistricting.

And outgoing House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Cannon, who has promoted major changes to teacher pay and graduation standards during the past two years, thinks it is time for the Legislature to turn its attention to higher education.

"I'm hoping to begin a conversation that will last beyond my tenure here, and that is in higher-ed reform," Cannon said.

Gov. Rick Scott has expressed interest in looking at higher-education changes, among them a Texas proposal that includes drastically changing the concept of teacher tenure, and promoting science, technology and math (STEM) programs. Some lawmakers also seem interested.

But Cannon said any far-reaching higher-ed changes will require a multiyear effort, just as the public-school reforms did.

Public-school administrators are hoping for a policy moratorium.

Districts are already working to implement the new merit-pay law (requiring new teacher evaluations); new high-school requirements (including end-of-year exams); and reforms required under Race to the Top, the federal grant program that netted the state $700 million last year. Administrators say that's enough.

"We've got our plate full," said Volusia Superintendent Margaret Smith.

"We're asking the Legislature to let us alone a couple of years and let us get our budgets straight, and let us make decisions at the local level," said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.

What school districts would like is more money to hire more teachers and provide more training and support to their current staff. Instead, cuts are a real possibility.

Cannon said last week he is hopeful that the state can maintain its current spending level of $6,269 per student. But that's down $857 ? 12 percent ? from a 2007-08 high of $7,126.

Educators say those budget cuts are why progress the state has made during the past decade in math and reading ? especially for black and Hispanic children ? may have stagnated. Florida students showed no gains in reading and math in recent tests given by the National Assessment of Education Progress.

Districts have laid off staff, put off teacher raises, closed schools and reduced academic offerings.

"In the education arena right now, everything is revolving around the budget ? or lack thereof," Blanton added. "I think we're just trying to hold on."

The statewide teachers' union is also pressing lawmakers to focus on money, not policy.

The current funding level is not enough, and that's before implementing recent changes, said Florida Education Association spokesman Mark Pudlow. He noted that there's no funding to create a merit-pay system ? let alone pay good teachers bonuses ? nor is there extra money to create new standardized exams.

A merit-pay system does not have to be fully implemented until 2014, but Pudlow said schools are already trying to plan for it.

"Really, it all comes back to money," he said. "If you keep it at the same level as this year, that's not good."

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by two advocacy groups, four parents and two students argues that Florida is not meeting a constitutional requirement that it provide a "uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality system of free public schools."

An appellate court last month rejected a request from state officials to throw out the case and asked the Supreme Court to determine whether the constitution proves sufficient parameters for a court to decide whether the state provides "high quality" education. The high court could dismiss the suit ? or send it back to circuit court for a trial.

Cannon, for his part, said he does think the state provides students a good education, even under current budget conditions, citing progress during the past decade in math and reading.

"We've risen dramatically in the national rankings, and we should always be pursuing improvements, but I think we've absolutely seen dramatic improvements," he said.

Staff writer Cara Fitzpatrick contributed to this report. khaughney@tribune.com or 850-224-6214. lpostal@tribune.com or 407-420-5273.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-schools-stagnating-despite-reforms-20111203,0,...

Source: http://feeds.jacksonville.com/~r/jaxcom-activism/~3/RWMSOHvyFNU/florida-legislature-seems-proud-of-all.html

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GOP candidates vie for backing of SC military vets (AP)

BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. ? Mitt Romney has ex-POW John McCain vouching for him. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum highlights his time on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich frequently calls himself an "Army brat" who grew up on military bases.

While Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are the only GOP candidates to have worn a military uniform, all of the Republican presidential contenders are emphasizing their military ties these days in a state that's home to 413,000 veterans and eight military bases, with thousands of people on active duty.

"My purpose in life was to never be the president of the United States," Perry says as he campaigns ahead of South Carolina's primary Saturday. "My purpose has always been to serve my country and my state whenever they need or they call. That's our duty as Americans."

Perry's days as an Air Force pilot in the 1970s and his father's B-17 tail-gunner missions in World War II are staples of his South Carolina message as he looks to right his struggling campaign.

Paul, a flight surgeon in the 1960s who made his name as an antiwar congressman, is filling mailboxes with five-page letters that include a picture of him as a young draftee in a full-brimmed Air Force hat. "Let me begin by telling you that the troops know first and foremost that I am one of them," he writes.

There's a reason for the intensive courting: As long as South Carolina has been instrumental in deciding GOP nominees, the state's voters have rewarded candidates with military service. Every GOP primary winner since Ronald Reagan in 1980 has been a veteran.

This year may end that streak. Polls show Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, leading the pack. With the economy pushing U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts to the back of voters' concerns, some in South Carolina argue that GOP voters aren't pining for the biggest hawk this time.

"Financially, people are in dire straits right now," said state Sen. Lee Bright, a backer of Michele Bachmann before she left the race. "They realize that the more money we spend overseas the less money they are going to spend at home."

Nonetheless, most of the candidates have spent considerable time along the South Carolina coastline, wooing active-duty military members and veterans ? many of whom lean toward the GOP ? clustered around the bases near Charleston that for many years fueled the state's economy.

Perry, for one, has struck an aggressive posture lately, pledging that as president he would send troops back to Iraq to prevent Iran from exerting too much muscle in the region. On one upstate swing, he solemnly inspected a memorial garden and read markers to five Medal of Honor winners. He was accompanied by a former Marine captain with burn scars over half his body from the explosive device that hit his vehicle in Iraq and killed some of his comrades.

That veteran, Dan Moran, delivered a full-throated endorsement of Perry before a rapt audience. "For what it's worth, coming from somebody who had the honor and privilege of being able to spill some blood for his country, this is the man and this is the time," Moran said. "This country needs him."

Perry also has tried the personal touch, at one point pulling up a chair at voter Linwood Mizell's table to share more with the Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient.

Despite the special attention, Mizell held back. "I really haven't totally made up my mind," he said.

Romney, for his part, has campaigned with McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee and Vietnam veteran, and seems to talk up the military everywhere he goes in the state.

"This is a proud military state," Romney said Saturday in Sumter. A day earlier, Romney was on Hilton Head Island for a veterans' event attended by hundreds.

Meanwhile, Santorum has traveled the state arguing that Democratic President Barack Obama is determined to shrink the Pentagon. The Republican insists the cuts will hurt national security and he often seeks out spouses and parents of military members to hear their concerns.

"I will not cut defense," Santorum pledged recently in Charleston. "I will not reduce the budget deficit by cutting the central role of the federal government. In fact, I will allow the Defense Department to grow to make sure that we are not cutting the benefits and the pay of our men and women in uniform."

___

Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Jim Davenport and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_military_pitch

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IDG: 91 percent of business pros use iPad to get things done as ...

January 16, 2012 at 8:09 am


Source: IDG

Research firm IDG on Monday published a new survey called ?iPad for Business 2012,? showing that the iPad is anything but a fad as far as big business is concerned. The global survey, available as a downloadable PDF document, noted that 91 percent of businesses that deployed iPads are using the device primarily for work, even if only approximately a quarter of issued devices were supplied as a corporate tool.?Consumers and pros alike both use the device for media consumption, which in the case of the latter is?predominantly text-based and work-related.

IT and business professionals certainly use their iPads at home. But unlike most consumers, they also use their devices in a similarly intensive way at work. In a further, decisive, break with consumer usage patterns, IT and business professionals use their devices on the road far more frequently than anywhere else.

Some 79 percent of IT professionals ?always? use the iPads on the move and 59 percent ?always? or ?sometimes? use the device in offline mode.?Road use usually entails planes, trains, automobiles, hotel lobbies, coffee shops, conference halls and meeting rooms, IDG noted, even though?only 40 percent of iPads sold incorporate 3G connectivity.

More than three-quarters of polled workers use the iPads to browse the web, and 76 percent of pros said they ?always? use iPads to read content. Meanwhile, 73 percent opted for news consumption and more than half? or 54 percent? use it for work communication. Some 79 percent tap into the iPad on the move and 54 percent use it at home. Social media, personal communication and entertainment follow with 44 percent, 42 percent and 31 percent, respectively.

Corporate iPads rarely supplant notebooks, though:

According to IDC:

The iPad hasn?t prompted the majority of IT and business profes- sionals to abandon any other device. Only 12% say that their iPad has ?completely? replaced their laptop. Just 6% say it has supplanted their PC.

However, the iPad is taking over many tasks traditionally assigned to notebooks. For example, nearly three-quarters of businesses?or 72 percent? said they were using their notebooks less often because of Apple?s tablet. For approximately one in six businesses worldwide replaced their notebooks entirely for the iPad (23 percent in Europe). The Apple brand, which climbed nine spots to become No. 8?most valuable brand in the world, enjoys strong support by iPad-using corporations: A whopping 83 percent describe themselves as being loyal to Apple?s device. This does not bode well for Android tablets that are gaining some traction on the release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software, but not much in the corporate world. Research In Motion?s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet also fell on def ear with businesses and tablets powered by Microsoft?s new Windows 8 software are not expected to make any meaningful affect this year.

Also playing to Apple?s favor, the iPad offered over a hundred thousand native apps as of last June. That number has risen to nearly 170,000 at the time of this writing. Yes, the vast majority of iPad apps are indeed consumer oriented and most businesses deploy their own custom-tailored apps. Nevertheless, this just outlines Apple?s huge lead in the tablet market. Gartner?highlighted the lack of software on Android tablets in September. Although Microsoft does not supply?its Office suite on iPads, the company hinted it could be working on the project. Several virtualization apps exist that tackle this problem, including the recently released OnLive Desktop app?that?streams Office apps running in the cloud onto your iPad using the same video streaming technology used by OnLive?s cloud-gaming platform.

With tablets thrown in the mix, Apple is poised to blow past Hewlett-Packard and become the world?s top computer maker. The company will reveal holiday-quarter iPad sales in?a conference call with analysts scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 24. Apple is expected to report shipments of approximately 14-million iPad units. In the September 2010 quarter, Apple sold?11.12 million iPads?and 9.25 million iPads in the June 2010 quarter.

Source: http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/16/idg-91-percent-of-business-pros-use-ipad-to-get-things-done/

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Paul's flights fly in face of cut-spending theme

Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, of Texas, speaks during a campaign event in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Matt Silfer)

Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, of Texas, speaks during a campaign event in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Matt Silfer)

(AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has been spending large amounts on airfare as a congressman, flying first class on dozens of taxpayer-funded flights to his home state. The practice conflicts with the image that Paul portrays as the only presidential candidate serious about cutting federal spending.

Paul flew first class on at least 31 round-trip flights and 12 one-way flights since May 2009 when he was traveling between Washington and his district in Texas, according to a review by The Associated Press of his congressional office expenses. Four other round-trip tickets and two other one-way tickets purchased during the period were eligible for upgrades to first-class after they were bought, but those upgrades would not be documented in the expense records.

Paul, whose distrust of big government is the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, trusts the more expensive government rate for Continental Airlines when buying his tickets. Paul chose not to buy the cheaper economy tickets at a fraction of the price because they aren't refundable or as flexible for scheduling, his congressional staff said.

"We always get him full refundable tickets since the congressional schedule sometimes changes quickly," said Jeff Deist, Paul's chief of staff. Paul might have to pay out of his own pocket for canceled flights in some cases if he didn't buy refundable tickets, Deist said.

But records show that most of the flights for Paul were purchased well in advance and few schedule changes were necessary. Nearly two-thirds of the 49 tickets were purchased at least two weeks in advance, and 42 percent were bought at least three weeks in advance, the AP's review found.

Paul charged taxpayers nearly $52,000 on the more expensive tickets, or $27,621 more than the average Continental airfare for the flights between Washington and Houston, according to the AP's review of his congressional expenses and average airfares compiled by the Department of Transportation.

The more expensive tickets have other benefits as well, including allowing Paul to upgrade to first class when his staff reserves a flight because his frequent government travel gives him membership in an elite class of Continental customers who earn travel perks. Upgrades to first-class with cheaper fares are possible, at times limited to available seats days before the flight. But those upgrades are not guaranteed and some require ticket changes at the airport, according to the airline's frequent flyer rules.

The AP reviewed congressional travel before the Iowa caucuses for the two members of Congress running at the time ? Paul and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Bachmann later ended her presidential campaign.

House records show Bachmann, like most other congressional members, also paid the more expensive government rate for airfare. But her staff would not provide access to more detailed expense records that show when and what type of tickets were purchased.

Paul's congressional staff provided access to all expense records requested.

Congressional members don't have to pay the government rate for travel, but most do, including many like Paul and Bachmann who advocate cuts in federal spending.

"You could almost always beat the government rate," said Steve Ellis, vice president of the Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense, a federal budget watchdog group. "They need to be walking the walk, and one of the ways they can do that is to be fiscally responsible for how they spend their member office money."

Jesse Benton, Paul's campaign manager, didn't respond to a written request to explain how Paul's use of more expensive airfare, which allows him to fly first class, corresponds with his commitment to cut federal spending. Instead, he sent a statement that started, "No one is more committed to cutting spending than Dr. Paul."

But Paul's congressional travel conflicts with claims in campaign appearances that he's the most frugal and serious deficit hawk in the race.

"The talk you hear in Washington is pure talk, because there is nobody suggesting, the other candidates are not talking about real cuts," Paul said in a speech to supporters last week after his second-place finish in New Hampshire.

He has proposed cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget during his first year as president, and has confronted other candidates in public forums as "big government conservatives."

"You're a big spender, that's all there is to it," Paul told former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania during a GOP debate in New Hampshire.

Paul boasts on his website about declining other congressional perks, such as a pension and all-expense-paid travel "junkets" that other lawmakers take. And he says he regularly returns money from his congressional account to the treasury.

But when it comes to his congressional travel, Paul has opted not to search for cheaper airfares that could mean returning more of his office account to the treasury, which uses any money returned by House or Senate members to help reduce the federal deficit.

Paul paid $51,972 for his government-rate flights between Washington and Houston between May 2009 and March 2011, or more than twice the $24,351 average airfare on Continental for travel between Washington and Houston. The average airfare figure represents the price for all tickets purchased for Continental flights between Washington and Houston, including economy and first-class travel, according to the Transportation Department's Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report, which collects airfare information for the nation's busiest travel routes.

Paul's staff regularly booked him in first class on flights when tickets were purchased, according to expense records. His office paid between $1,217 and $1,311 for each round-trip flight, compared to the average airfare for that trip ranging from $528 to $760, according to the airline fares consumer report.

The period reviewed by the AP was the most recent period for which complete congressional expense records were available.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-16-Paul-Travel/id-3da4816704a64434937250cbeab71291

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Income inequality: It's a problem. Here's why.

Income inequality is strongly correlated with the inability of the next generation to achieve the American Dream. The more income inequality, the fewer people can achieve the 'Dream.'?

The Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, gave a great?talk?on inequality the other day, definitely worth a read (slides?here, though why they?re not in the same doc as the talk is beyond me).

Skip to next paragraph Jared Bernstein

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Before joining the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as a senior fellow, Jared was chief economist to Vice President Joseph Biden and executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class. He is a contributor to MSNBC and CNBC and has written numerous books, including 'Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?'

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What?s particularly notable about Alan?s approach to the issue is his emphasis on the consequences of such high levels of income inequality as have developed here in the US.?? Too often, analysts just cite the problem without explaining?why?it?s a problem.

Alan focuses on inequality?s negative impact on macroeconomic growth, and thus job growth.? That?s obviously extremely important, given our recent history (predating the Great Recession) as shown?here.

But the consequence I wanted to amplify was one I?ve discussed frequently: the link between higher inequality and diminished mobility.? Check out this slide from Alan?s talk (above).

This scatter diagram compares something called the ?intergenerational earnings elasticity? (y-axis) with a measure of income inequality on the x-axis.? The former measure links kids? earnings when they?re adults to that of their parents.? It?s one of those ?how-far-does-the-apple-fall-from-the-tree? metrics, wherein higher numbers represent less mobility.? So, basically, this figure is asking whether countries with higher inequality are countries with less mobility.? Clearly, the correlation is strong.

The points cluster around an upward sloping line, indicating that countries that had more inequality across households also had more persistence in income from one generation to the next?Countries that have a high degree of inequality also tend to have less economic mobility across generations.

This is extremely important in the political debate.? We often hear politicians claim that we shouldn?t worry about growing inequality?Romney?s taken to?calling?such concerns ?the bitter politics of envy??because we?ve got the mobility to offset it.? Not only is that wrong on the facts?you actually need?more?mobility to offset?more?inequality, and mobility has certainly not been increasing.? But it also appears to be the case that higher inequality is itself associated with less mobility.

The transmission mechanisms for this are not well known, but surely have to do with educational access, employment networks, and so many other mobility enhancers that grow further from the reach of the have-nots in a highly unequal society?things like quality pre-school, good libraries, safe neighborhoods, environmental benefits, stimulating vacations and summer camps, and so on.

One of the saddest things is life?and one of the most wasteful, from the economy?s perspective?is a child blocked from realizing his or her potential.? ?That?s what?s embedded in the slope of that graph and it?s something this nation needs to elevate to its top problem.

Here?s a thought: instead of all these budget deficit commissions that never amount to anything anyway, how about we get serious about tackling income mobility?

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on jaredbernsteinblog.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/07gF5Dv7sF8/Income-inequality-It-s-a-problem.-Here-s-why

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Balmy winter brings plenty of economic surprises (AP)

NEW YORK ? Out of a relatively balmy winter have sprung some economic surprises. People have more cash in their pockets because they aren't turning up the thermostat. Airlines don't have to de-ice planes or battle blizzards. And shoppers are finding great deals on coats and boots.

But there are also disappointments. Merchants are stuck with unsold shovels and snow blowers. Drugstores say customers aren't buying cold medicine or getting as many flu shots.

The weather has been so mild that at some hardware outlets, rakes are flying off the shelf, and grass seed is outselling ice-melting salt.

"I haven't seen this mix of sales since I can remember," said David Ziegler, whose family owns nine Ace Hardware stores in the northwest Chicago area. "They're buying rakes ... just because it's warmer and people are not holed up."

This winter has been remarkably tame, especially in regions accustomed to a three-month tussle with freezing temperatures, snow, sleet and ice. In the Northeast, only four Decembers in the last 117 years have been warmer, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather feels especially gentle after two straight seasons of bitter cold and heavy snow. And it will take much more than Friday's relatively moderate snowstorm in the Midwest and Northeast to change that.

For Rocco A. Guadagna, it's been a lazy winter. He owns a lawn care and snow-removal company in Buffalo, N.Y. Because he charges an upfront fee for an entire season of plowing, he's getting paid even though he's hardly had to do any work.

Last year, his plows went out 42 times, more than usual. This year, he went out Friday for just the second time. But he doesn't think customers mind paying for something they barely use.

"Ninety percent, when they pay me, they say `I hope I never see you,'" he said.

He's not the only one saving money. The weather and low natural gas prices have combined to push down home heating costs for the 51 percent of American households that use gas.

A typical bill this winter will be $700, a 3 percent drop from last year and the fourth straight year of declines, according to Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Director's Association.

Jim Cusick, a state employee in St. Paul, has been able to run his radiators less and catch up on an out-of-control home heating bill aggravated by the big, drafty old house where he lives with five of his six kids.

Because of last winter, Cusick said, he owed his utility more than $3,000 in back payments. As of this month, he said, his negative balance is down to $650.

"It's a bummer for the kids. They miss the skating and stuff," Cusick said. "But if winter stays mild, life will be better."

Airlines are enjoying savings, too. During storms, they often lose money because of refunds, delays and added costs for labor and expensive de-icing fluid.

United Continental Holdings Inc., the world's largest airline, said December snowstorms in 2010 hurt its fourth-quarter profit by $10 million and wiped out $25 million in revenue from fares and fees.

Not this season though. There were about 7,000 flight cancelations in the U.S. in December, down from 29,000 the year before, according to FlightStats. On-time performance improved to 79 percent, from 66 percent the year before.

The weather is a mixed bag for stores that offer outdoor gear. Henry Carter, co-owner of 9th Street Cycles, a bike store in Brooklyn, N.Y., said sales of winter equipment have been slow, but bike sales have been surprisingly brisk. And customers are riding more. So instead of the occasional cleaning or adjustment, the repair shop is busy will full tuneups.

"That's usually the stuff of summertime," he said.

For retailers, the weather has been a challenge and an opportunity. They want the weather to be cold, but not too cold. They hope for a few snowstorms that inspire people to buy coats and snow blowers, but not blizzards that keep shoppers inside for days.

So, while more people are out shopping now, they're not buying the bulky winter merchandise. And since they can't sell it, stores have to discount it heavily, which eats away at profit.

Now, instead of clearing out what's left of the cold-weather stuff to make room for spring supplies, they have mounds of winter things for sale at rock-bottom prices.

Coats are the biggest headache. They take up a lot of space, and they are expensive, so big markdowns hurt the bottom line more. Stores are discounting coats by 70 percent on average, and many are slashing prices on entire coat departments.

"Stores can't get rid of the outerwear fast enough," said Scott A. Bernhardt, chief operating officer of Planalytics Inc., a research firm that uses weather patterns to advise stores what they should buy to sell to customers.

Barbara Paschal of Muncie, Ind., recently got a coat at Sears for $48, marked down from $120. Still, she's holding off on buying gloves for three of her four teenage sons.

"There's no reason to buy gloves," said Paschal, noting the temperature is around 40 degrees. "If we get snow, then I will get the gloves."

Drugstore operators Walgreen Co. and Rite Aid Corp. both say the warm weather has hurt sales of cough, cold and flu products compared with last year. They are also giving fewer flu shots and filling fewer prescriptions.

Walgreen administered about 5.3 million flu shots between August and December, down from 6 million over the same period in 2010. In December, prescriptions for cough, cold and flu treatments were down 1.5 percent at established stores.

The temperatures have even stifled good-natured winter humor.

Ellen Shubart, who volunteers for the Chicago Architecture Foundation, recently started guiding a tour of the city's underground walkway system downtown called "Warm Walk, Cool Architecture."

The jokes she devised about gloves, boots and hats have been falling flat.

"We planned it with the idea that it's going to be cold outside," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Anne D'Innocenzio, Samantha Bomkamp and Marley Seaman in New York City; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y.; Barbara Rodriguez in Chicago; and Patrick Condon in St. Paul, Minn., contributed to this report.

___

Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_bi_ge/us_warm_weather_economy

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Romney rivals fight for South Carolina coast

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to members of the media after a GOP forum at Byrnes High School, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in Duncan, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to members of the media after a GOP forum at Byrnes High School, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in Duncan, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum meets with audience members at a GOP forum at Byrnes High School, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in Duncan, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Between the sand sculpted faces of Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry, Team Sandtastic's Patrick Harsch steps back to look at Mt. Myrtle as it takes shape with the Republican presidential candidates' faces and parts of their torsos nearly complete Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C.. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Janet Blackmon Morgan)

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry waits to be introduced at a campaign stop Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns with, from left to right: former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Hilton Head, S.C., Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(AP) ? Call it the fight for the coast.

Mitt Romney's presidential challengers were to campaign up and down the South Carolina shoreline on Sunday as they worked to stymie the GOP front-runner one week before this state's pivotal GOP primary. The former Massachusetts governor was taking a rare day off the campaign trail ahead of a jam-packed week that includes a pair of debates ? one in Myrtle Beach on Monday and another in Charleston on Thursday.

The South Carolina coast is a heavily populated area that's home to many veterans, active military personnel, moderates and fiscal conservatives whose support Romney and his rivals are counting on as they work to cobble together the diverse voting coalition needed to win the state on Jan. 21.

Florida votes just 10 days later, putting pressure on Romney's opponents to dramatically shift the trajectory of the race over the next week.

Three of Romney's challengers ? former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry ? were appearing on national Sunday morning talk shows before making the rounds of churches and prayer breakfasts. The state has a large segment of church-goers and candidates are trying to woo evangelicals who make up a significant number of GOP primary voters.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman also was attending religious services, while another contender ? Texas Rep. Ron Paul ? was returning to the campaign trail for the first time since Wednesday. He has spent several days at home in Texas after his second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary last week. He was set to unveil what his campaign said was a big endorsement.

A week before the primary, polls show Romney leading as he works to capitalize on back-to-back victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to hold contests in the march to the GOP nomination.

The stakes are high in South Carolina, a state that historically has voted for the Republican candidate who eventually won the party's nomination.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-15-GOP%20Campaign/id-74cc5a6a43c142948ba5d257d4ce0d75

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Dolly Parton calls herself 'artificial-looking'

By Randee Dawn

Now in her 60s, legendary country music singer Dolly Parton looks fabulous. But even if you account for great genes, there's something more than natural about her -- as she was happy to discuss with Ann Curry on TODAY Thursday, when she and Queen Latifah stopped in to promote their new film, "Joyful Noise."

"I've been at this so long that people have watched me grow up, and they've watched me grow old and they've watched me do everything in-between," said Parton. "I'm out there for the people. I love the public. And I don't think I have to hide anything from them."

In the film, Latifah and Parton play gospel choir singers who get into arguments and scraps -- including tossing some food at one another -- when their characters butt heads. In the course of things, Latifah's character also lobs some zingers about Parton's character's "procedures."

"You're so honest," said Curry to Parton, to which Latifah added, "She's so earthy."

Parton found it funny to be called that when she sees herself as an "artificial-looking thing."

Latifah recalled that Parton told her, "I had high heels in my high chair and I'll have 'em in my wheelchair."

"That's just who I am, 'cause I'm not a natural beauty like the two of you," the singer said, gesturing at Latifah and Curry.

Natural beauty aside, Parton explained that the appeal of the film is not watching them go at it but rather the music. Watch the two singers perform on the show:

"Anything to do with the music is very uplifting, especially gospel music," Parton said. "So I think people are responding to music these days because we want our souls to resonate, we really feel like we need to be lifted up, and this movie does that."

"Joyful Noise" opens in theaters on Jan. 13.

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/12/10134818-dolly-parton-touches-on-her-touch-ups-calls-herself-artificial-looking

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