That type of thinking recently led Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute to call the Buffett rule “the stupid rule.” “It’s basically just a back-door way to hike taxes on capital,” he told Bloomberg News . To maximize growth, economists would set the tax rate on capital gains, dividends, interest, and all business profits at zero.

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The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday that the percentage of loans delinquent or already in the foreclosure process during the first quarter was 11.33 percent, the lowest level since 2008. That was a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from a quarter earlier and 0.98 percentage point below the rate 12 months earlier.

“Delinquencies are clearly continuing to improve,” said Michael Fratantoni, the MBA’s vice president for research and economics.

Another hopeful sign is the falling percentage of borrowers who are just getting into trouble, ones who have missed one payment. Full Article…

Toyota Prius V Hybrid Car – Est. MPG 44/40

Whether you’re interested in reducing your carbon footprint or lowering your fuel costs, hybrid vehicles and their 50 mile-per-gallon efficiency claims may seem like a great solution.

Unfortunately, as Heather Peters of California discovered, the claims and the reality do not necessarily match up.

Ms. P

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There has been a lot of discussion about the potential impact of the Amendment should it pass, and I think it’s safe to say that much of it is not entirely true.  This morning a client called to ask what would happen to the estate planning she and her partner had done in the event the Amendment passes.

Here’s my take:  First of all, I think the Amendment is poorly worded and unnecessary.  The sentence about contracts between private parties was added in the second version of the bill, and makes the Amendment somewhat less restrictive of the rights of the citizens of this state.  In terms of estate planning, however, this sentence means nothing.  Black’s Law Dictionary defines a contract as “an agreement between two parties which creates an obligation to do or not do a particular thing.  Its essentials are competent parties, subject matter, a legal consideration, and mutuality of obligation.”  Clearly the standard estate planning documents – wills and powers of attorney – do not qualify as contracts.  Perhaps a trust might under certain circumstances.

Nevertheless, it is my opinion that the Amendment itself would not invalidate existing estate planning documents or bar future documents naming a unmarried partner as a fiduciary or beneficiary.  What I am concerned about however, is that such documents may be more subject to contest by disgruntled relatives, who would have another reason to argue why an estate planning document naming an unmarried partner should not be respected by the court.  It would also make it easier for a conservative judge who disapproves of gay and lesbian (or even unmarried heterosexual) couples to side with the relatives of incapacitated or deceased partner, to the detriment of the surviving partner.

If the Amendment passes, only time will tell how these and other issues possibly affected by the Amendment will play out the courts.  If I were to bring litigation to try to invalidate estate planning documents of unmarried partners, I would certainly use the Amendment as one of my arguments – “Your honor, the constitution of this state provides that this relationship was not valid, and should not be recognized in this state – if the relationship is not valid, how could any documents recognizing that relationship be valid?”

If such arguments were to be successful, that would be a travesty of justice.  I believe in equal rights for all North Carolinians, and the freedom to plan with and for the benefit of whomever they choose.  Let’s hope the Amendment fails.

Asian stock markets traded higher Wednesday after the data showed a steady improvement of Chinese manufacturing sector in April. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 53.3 in April compared to 53.1 in March and 51.0 in February, according to data from the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1%, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% as mainland Chinese traded for the first time this week. Meanwhile Japan’s Nikkei Stock grew 0.41%, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.15% and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.8%.

US stocks climbed Tuesday after a report showing US manufacturing surged in April. The Ins

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Shell’s fire-hit Pulau Bukom oil refinery may remain shut for at least a month. Shell is tight-lipped about how much money is going up in smoke due to the incident at its biggest refinery. But some analysts said disrupted production would affect regional supplies of Shell’s products in the short term. Shell’s declaration on Sun 2 Oct 2011 of force majeure on the supply of oil products to some customers following a fire at its 500,000-barrel-a-day Singapore refinery has done little to provide answers on how long refining operations will remain disrupted.

While petroleum markets have already priced in a short-term supply disruption, with gasoline, middle distillates and fuel oil all up $2-3 per barrel against crude oil prices since the fire, the declaration has exacerbated supply worries.

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(Updated to add details about availability of new ticker in third and fourth paragraph.)

Pimco, the world’s biggest bond fund manager, on April 4 will change the trading symbol on its new and already-successful Pimco Total Return ETF to “BOND” from “TRXT”—a move the Newport Beach, Calif.-based firm hopes will make the fund more recognizable to investors.

“Our aim is to enable investors to access the Pimco Total Return ETF easily and conveniently, and we believe that re-naming the NYSE ticker to BOND is another step toward achieving that objective,” Bill Gross, the manager who runs the Pimco Total Return Fund, said in a press release.

What’s somewhat startling about the news is that no ETF sponsor had yet been marketing a fixed-income with “BOND” as its ticker. Pimco actually had made attempts to register its Total Return ETF using “BOND” as the ticker when it first filed to market the fund last year. However, the ticker wasn’t av

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Robert Cargin, ex-head of de-funct Regis Securities Corp. and current president of Capital City Securities LLC, was mentioned in a story by the Associated Press on March 21 under the headline Massacre suspect’s career in finance tinged with fraud.

The article outlines Mr. Bales’ career in the securities industry from July 1996 to December 2000, when he worked for a handful of small broker-dealers in and around Columbus, Ohio.

But the story also said that the five broker-dealers where Mr. Bales worked a list including Diversified Capital Markets, banned penny stock dealer The Hamilton Shea-Group Inc. and notorious bucket shop Michael Patterson Inc.

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The U.S. d

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One reason a business might want a blog is to demonstrate credibility and expertise.  A blog is a more flexible way to demonstrate that you are up on the latest developments and have a wide knowledge base in your niche.

1. U

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