Author: Serkadis

Ripley’s museums have a total of 26 vampire hunting kits, but does anyone really know how to kill the sparkly ones?

(via io9)

Filed under: Videos, Toys/Games

So, you think the new Forza 3 is pretty awesome, huh? Well that’s because it is. But it’s about to get a little bit awesome-er thanks to the combined miracles of the holiday season and the internet.

That’s right, the internet is the modern equivalent of Santa Clause – just as tangible and bearing more gifts – and here’s what it’s got in store for us this year: the Hot Holidays DLC Car Pack from Turn 10 Studios, the game company behind the Forza Motorsport franchise.

The package includes ten new cars, and Turn 10’s already confirmed eight of them (one for each night of Hanukah, if you ask those dreidel-spinning journalists among us): the 2010 Audi S4, Nissan GT-R SpecV, Ferrari 599XX, Ferrari 458 Italia, Mercedes SLR McLaren Stirling Moss, Lamborghini Murcielago MP670-4 SuperVeloce, Jaguar XFR and Porsche Panamera Turbo, plus two of the most devastating Le Mans prototypes – the #2 Audi R15 TDI and #007 Aston Martin Lola. (All links go to gallery of screen shots.)

The car pack is downloadable as of today (December 8) for 400 Microsoft Points directly on XBox Live, a magical place (headquartered at the North Pole, we gather) where no one gives a hoot if you’ve been naughty or nice. Check out the video after the jump and the screen shots in the gallery below, then try to figure out which car you’re most stoked about taking for a virtual test drive.

[Source: Forza Motorsport]

Continue reading Forza Motorsport 3 releases Hot Holidays Pack with 10 new cars [w/VIDEO]

Forza Motorsport 3 releases Hot Holidays Pack with 10 new cars [w/VIDEO] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Christmas slowly getting closer and closer, parents are starting to shop around for games to buy for their kids. In turn, Common Sense Media has published their list of 10 games unfit for younger gamers. They’ve

Filed under: Budget, SUV, Geneva Motor Show, Europe, Renault, Diesel, Off-Road

You know what the problem with Autoblog is? Not enough Romanian cars! To rectify this hateful situation, we present to you the all-new Dacia Duster, a compact SUV that “rewrites the 4×4 rulebook.” What that means is that in Europe, most SUVs are in fact soft roaders. Totally useless in the rough stuff despite their fancy all-wheel drive systems and too expensive for the majority of the people to purchase. The Duster, on the other hand, is going to cost little (hey, it’s a Dacia!) yet be quite capable when the going gets rocky, muddy and/or roadless.

We’ve seen a tricked out, snow-racing version of the Dacia Duster before, but that’s not the borscht and potatoes of the new Duster, so to speak. Designed primarily with emerging markets in mind (Russia, Turkey, Brazil, Maghreb), the Duster will also be badged as a Renault and sold in continental Europe. Never forget that it was Renault who helped Dacia to get off the ground in the mid-Sixties by handing over the tooling to the Renault 8, which reemerged as the Dacia 1100 (and the totally awesome 1100S).

Despite its cute-ute looks, Dacia is claiming that the Duster is the real, all-terrain deal. The stats seem to back that up: eight inches of ground clearance combined with 30 degree approach and 35 degree departure angles reminds us of ye olde Jeep Cherokee (hey, the old AMC-developed Cherokee had a lot of French in it). While missing the Cherokee’s low gears, the Duster gets a three-stage transmission featuring an auto torque-split mode, lock and two wheel-drive. The tranny tech is actually sourced from Nissan (also owed by Renault) and it figures to work really well. in fact, there is some speculation that the Duster is based off Nissan’s Qashqai. Also helpful is that the Duster weighs just 2,816 pounds in 4×4 guise (2,596 pounds as a 4×2). Then you factor in a torquey diesel power plant (105 horsepower, 266 pound-feet of torque) and you’ve got yourself quite an impressive bad road beasty.

Chances of us getting it here? Slimmer than none. First of all, whomever it is that still owns to rights to the Plymouth brand (Chrysler, Fiat, Daimler, the UAW, Obama?) would have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes if a Duster showed up. Then, of course, there’s the undeniable fact that car makers have a sick aversion to giving us cheap, simple, rugged utilitarian diesel trucks. However, you’re more than free to purchase an X5 xDrive35d from BMW, and soon you’ll be able to buy a reworked Infiniti QX56 that halfway resembles a FX. Good stuff, right? We’ll be getting a glimpse of the Duster up close and in the flesh come Geneva, but that’ll be fleeting. Press release can be found after the jump.

[Source: Dacia]

Continue reading Dacia shows off new production Duster 4×4

Dacia shows off new production Duster 4×4 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were just talking about how SOCAN, the Canadian copyright collection society, was going after gymnastics clubs for kids using music in their practice routines. Now they’re getting some well-deserved attention for other antics. Michael Geist explains how SOCAN tried to keep its submission to the government copyright consultation secret. The organization apparently requested that its submission not be posted online, even though that was part of the consultation process. The government made it available anyways, but only by email upon request. Of course, it’s now available online elsewhere [PDF].

SOCAN’s recommendations aren’t surprising. They call for a making available right (article 22 of the submission), a broadening of the private copying levy (article 30), anti-circumvention provisions (55-56), notice-and-takedown (59), copyright term extension (60), and no further exceptions to copyright (34, 48). But rather than outright declaring war on consumers, they copy the language (poorly) of those seeking more effective copyright reform. For example, they claim that the “rights of users and creators” are already “balanced” because “the Copyright Board of Canada provides a fair mechanism to set the royalty” (45) — someone had better tell the gymnastic clubs! Another great example: They want to expand the private copying tax levy to digital audio players so that it’s “technologically neutral.” (11) No word on when they’ll want it to apply to hard drives in general. SOCAN also repeats the ridiculous argument from the Toronto copyright townhall that “unwarranted” fair dealing provisions would mean asking creators to “work for nothing:”

Copyright amendments must not set up unwarranted exemptions, or otherwise limit the copyright royalties paid… If you deprive SOCAN’s members of copyright royalties, you are basically asking over 35,000 Canadian individuals to take risks and work for nothing. That’s not realistic, and it’s not fair. (34-35)

It’s just laughable to suggest that more flexible fair dealing (i.e., something like the American concept of fair use) would mean artists not getting paid. Do artists “work for nothing” in the U.S.? Though, it should be no surprise from an organization that claims that, if you use a Creative Commons license, you “won’t get paid” and your work may become devalued. To a collection society, getting paid can only mean royalties, and the value of music can only mean… well, royalties.

Best of all, they seem nervous about Industry Minister Tony Clement, who’s given some indication that he wants to craft forward thinking policies. SOCAN recommends that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage have sole responsibility for copyright reform (article 66). The Heritage committee is involved in the process, but as Geist points out, this recommendation betrays some discomfort with Clement and the Industry Committee, since the Copyright Act clearly grants the Minister of Industry responsibility for copyright. So, first, we get a laundry list of maximalist demands using the language of “balanced” copyright reform, then a suggestion to ignore the Copyright Act and exclude the ministry they’re not comfortable with (you know, the one focusing on the economic concerns) from having any responsibility in reform? No wonder they wanted to keep the submission secret.

Blaise Alleyne is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Blaise Alleyne and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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Filed under: Hybrid, Japan, Hatchback, Honda

The variable valve-timing obsessives at the Temple of VTEC have scored a leaked brochure of the 2011 Honda CR-Z, and in addition to getting a glimpse of the production version of the hybrid hatch, some specs and trim details were included in the document.

We finally have hard figures on the 1.5-liter engine’s output (in JDM spec), with the diminutive four-cylinder putting out 112 horsepower (at 6,000 rpm) on its own and another 14 hp from its electric motor. Just as importantly, the engine creates 107 lb-ft of torque (at 4,800 rpm) with the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system boosting that by another 57 lb-ft at an oh-so-low 1,000 rpm. Coupled with either a six-speed manual or CVT gearbox, the CR-Z nets a relatively uninspiring 0 to 62 mph time of 9.7 seconds.

The dimensions haven’t changed much from the “concept” we saw at the Tokyo Motor Show earlier this year, with a 160.6-inch overall length, 68.5-inch width, 54.9-inch height and a wheelbase that spans 95.9 inches. Unfortunately, no word on curb weight.

Since efficiency is the name of the game, the CR-Z will benefit from LED daytime running lights and turn signal indicators in the mirrors, along with three driving modes – Eco, Normal and Sport – each controllable from a dash mounted switch and with a different color surrounding the gauges based on the mode.

Check out the pics in the gallery below for more and get the full story in our CR-Z post from Tokyo.

[Source: Temple of VTEC]

Honda CR-Z brochure leaks out, production specs revealed originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average index is taking a beating along with the S&P 500, both of which are down 1%. Earlier, the Dow was down as much as 110 points. Currently, it’s hovering around 10,300, down 96 points.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Laid-Off Stock Brokers Compete For Low-Pay Seasonal Jobs
• Stocks Are 40% Overvalued, Says Smithers
• Rosenberg: The Dow Has Been In A Bear Market Since August

 Tracyandmatt.co.uk’s unboxing of the LG GM750

Pocket-lint have published their review of the LG GM750 and have found the device great value for money. They note the smartphone has a great family resemblance to LG’s other devices, such as the LG Cookie, which sold 10 million in little more than a year. 

They found at 3 inches the screen on the small side, which impacts stylus-free use.  The fact that the screen and resistive rather than capacitive was however seen as a positive due to the small elements that need to be accessed.

They expressed concern however that the device is underpowered, calling the experience laggy and feeling it in need of a faster processor, but note that battery life from the 1500 mAh battery was pretty good. Their second big concern was the  weak WIFI reception, even when very close the access point.

The presence of dedicated power and camera buttons were appreciated, as was the multi-tasking button.

The smartphone features microUSB charging, and although it does not come with a proprietary headphone jack, does come bundled with a 3.5 mm adaptor in the box.  They note the optical trackpad was well calibrated.

The camera was said to be of reasonable quality with good autofocus and short shutter delay, but video captured at VGA resolution had poor frame-rates.

They conclude:

You have to give the LG GM750 an A for effort. What this phone is, is a real work horse. LG has covered all the bases with high-res camera, an in-depth OS, a second option in case you don’t like that one and an easy to use handset that will last even the longest of contracts. What there is little of is style and subtlety.

However, given you’re getting pretty much the power of a top notch phone free for just £25 per month, it becomes a real winner. All too many handsets at the same price promise high-end functionality but seldom deliver the genuine experience. This phone does. Forgive it its sins and you’ll find a mobile of which you grow fonder day-by-day.

Pocket-lint scored the handset a solid 8/10. Read their full review here.

While European analysts' stock-picking was horrible in 2009, analyst picks have actually done very well over the last 20 years according to Citi Investment Research.

Despite the commonly held notion that analyst recommendations are rubbish.

Citi European Portfolio Strategy via FTAlphaville: "We analyse consensus recommendations to judge how analysts have fared in 2009. Mixed report. Good start and finish with dire performance in between would be a fair summary. Analysts have once again struggled at a big turning point.

But, investors should also consider analysts’ track record over the past 20 years. Overall, pretty good, beating cash and equities. We also show how buying analysts’ “most loved” and selling analysts’ “most hated” stocks would have matched performance (pre-fees, post-leverage) from Europe’s long/short hedge funds. Pretty simple strategy, pretty consistent returns."

...

The analysts, Citi notes, fare better when you look at their overall performance over the past 20 years. For instance, €100 invested at the end of 1993 in one of Citi’s analyst recommendation-driven strategies would have produced €397 by 2009. While just investing in equities would have produced a little less than €200.

That's a whopping 100% outperformance. Conveniently, Citi also happens to be launching a new product based on analyst recommendations.

We think that analysts’ recommendations are more likely to add value in 2010 than they did this year. It is therefore timely that Citi has recently launched a new monthly report highlighting the 50 most and 50 least preferred European stocks on a three-month investment horizon according to our analysts.

You have to love these three-month investment horizons. They force analysts to jump through hoops in order to painstakingly justify such near-term trading views with ostensibly 'fundamental' analysis. We're still skeptical about this Citi conclusion that European analysts have been so successful over 20 years, we'd have to see the exact data.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Cash In On Asian Cash Cows With Citi's Top Dividend Stocks In Asia
• Citi: Cost Cutting Is Over, Now Leverage Will Drive Earnings
• Former Citi Chairman Says Geithner Looks Uptight And Needs To Relax

Filed under: Motorsports, Chevrolet, Celebrities

The “Will she, won’t she” debate is over – Danica Patrick is headed for closed-wheel racing in 2010. Patrick will race a partial schedule in next year’s National Nationwide series in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, and she will also participate in one ARCA race. As a driver on the No. 7 team, she will be signed through 2011 to the JR Motorsports team that’s owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Rick Hendrick, Kelley Earnhardt and Tony Eury, Jr. through 2011.

This bit of news is not to say that Danica is eschewing her open-wheel career – she will also continue to race her similarly day-glo green Andretti Autosport IndyCar, also in full GoDaddy.com regalia. The NASCAR events that she will race in will be interlaced with her IndyCar schedule, before, during, and after the open-wheel season.

Danica’s first stock car race will be a February 6 ARCA race in Daytona, the day before the Super Bowl. As usual, her primary sponsors will feature Patrick in a slate of new commercials during the big NFL game, and we’re willing to bet that they’ll have a bit of NASCAR flavor. High-res gallery of her new ride below, official press release after the jump.

[Source: GoDaddy.com]

Continue reading Officially Official: Danica Patrick joining NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010

Officially Official: Danica Patrick joining NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Almost exactly one year ago, on a cold winter’s day, I met with my new economic team at the headquarters of my presidential transition offices in Chicago. Over the course of four hours, my advisors presented an analysis of where the economy stood, accompanied by a chilling set of charts and graphs, predicting where we might end up. It was an unforgettable series of presentations.

Christy Romer, tapped to head the Council of Economic Advisers, and Larry Summers, who I’d chosen to head the National Economic Council, described an imminent downturn comparable in its severity to almost nothing since the 1930s. Tim Geithner, my incoming Treasury Secretary, reported that the financial system, shaken by the subprime crisis, had halted almost all lending, which in turn threatened to pull the broader economy into a downward spiral. And Peter Orszag, my incoming Budget Director, closed out the proceedings with an entirely dismal report on the fiscal health of the country, with growing deficits and debt stretching to the horizon. Having concluded that it was too late to request a recount, I tasked my team with mapping out a plan to tackle the crisis on all fronts.

It was not long after that meeting, as we shaped this economic plan, that we began to see these forecasts materialize. Over the previous year, it was obvious that folks were facing hard times. As I traveled across the country during a long campaign, I often met men and women bearing the brunt of not only a deepening recession, but also years – even decades – of growing strains on middle class families. But now the country was experiencing something far worse. Our Gross Domestic Product – the sum total of all that our economy produces – fell at the fastest rate in a quarter century. $5 trillion of Americans’ household wealth evaporated in just twelve weeks as stocks, pensions, and home values plummeted. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs each month, equivalent to the population of the state of Vermont. The fear among economists across the political spectrum was that we were rapidly plummeting toward a second Great Depression.

So, in the weeks and months that followed, we undertook a series of difficult steps to prevent that outcome. And we were forced to take those steps largely without the help of an opposition party which, unfortunately, after having presided over the decision-making that led to the crisis, decided to hand it over to others to solve.

We acted to get lending flowing again so businesses could get loans to buy equipment and ordinary Americans could get financing to buy homes and cars, to go to college, and to start or run businesses. We enacted measures to stem the tide of foreclosures in our housing market, helping responsible homeowners stay in their homes and helping to stop the broader decline in home values which was eating away at what tends to be a family’s largest asset. To achieve this, and to prevent an economic collapse, we were forced to extend assistance to some of the very banks and financial institutions whose actions had helped precipitate the turmoil. We also took steps to prevent the rapid dissolution of the American auto industry, which faced a crisis partly of its own making, to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs during an already fragile time. These were not decisions that were popular or satisfying; these were decisions that were necessary.

Now, even as we worked to address the crises in our banking sector, in our housing market, and in our auto industry, we also began attacking our economic crisis on a broader front. Less than one month after taking office we enacted the most sweeping economic recovery package in history: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Recovery Act was divided into three parts. One-third went for tax relief for small businesses and 95 percent of working families.

Another third was for emergency relief to help folks who’ve borne the brunt of this recession. We extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 17 million Americans; made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families relying on COBRA; and for state and local governments facing historic budget shortfalls as demand for services went up and tax revenues went down, we provided assistance that has saved the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and public school workers, firefighters and police officers.

The last third is for investments to put Americans to work doing the work America needs done: doubling our capacity in renewable energy like wind and solar; computerizing medical records to save money and lives; providing the largest boost to medical research in history; renovating classrooms and school laboratories; and upgrading roads and railways as part of the largest investment in infrastructure since the creation of the Interstate Highway System half a century ago.

And even as the Recovery Act has created jobs and spurred growth, we have not let up in our efforts to take every responsible action to get the economy growing and America working. This fall, I signed into law more than $30 billion in tax cuts for struggling businesses, extended an effective tax credit for homebuyers, and provided additional unemployment insurance for one million Americans. And the Treasury is continuing to adapt our financial stability plan, helping to facilitate the flow of credit to small businesses and families. In addition, we are working to break down barriers and open overseas markets so our companies can better compete globally, creating jobs in America by exporting our products around the world.

Partly as a result of these and other steps, we’re in a very different place today than we were a year ago. We can safely say that we are no longer facing the potential collapse of our financial system and we’ve avoided the depression many feared. Our economy is growing for the first time in a year – and the swing from contraction to expansion since the beginning of the year is the largest in nearly three decades. Finally, we are no longer seeing the severe deterioration in the job market we once were; in fact we learned on Friday that the unemployment rate fell slightly last month. This is welcome news, and news made possible in part by the up to 1.6 million jobs that the Recovery Act has already created and saved according to the Congressional Budget Office.

But our work is far from done. For even though we have reduced the deluge of job losses to a relative trickle, we are not yet creating jobs at a pace to help all those families who have been swept up in the flood. There are more than seven million fewer Americans with jobs today than when this recession began. That’s a staggering figure and one that reflects not only the depths of the hole from which we must ascend, but also a continuing human tragedy. And it speaks to an urgent need to accelerate job growth in the short term while laying a new foundation for lasting economic growth.

My economic team has been considering a full range of additional ideas to help accelerate the pace of private sector hiring. We held a jobs forum at the White House that brought together small business owners, CEOs, union members, economists, folks from non-profits, and state and local officials to talk about job creation. And I’ve asked people to lead forums in their own communities – sending the results to me – so we are hearing as many voices as possible as we refine our proposals. We’ve already heard a number of good ideas, and I know we’ll learn of many more.

Today, I want to outline some of the broader steps that I believe should be at the heart of our efforts to accelerate job growth – those areas that will generate the greatest number of jobs while generating the greatest value for our economy.

First, we’re proposing a series of steps to help small businesses grow and hire new staff. Over the past fifteen years, small businesses have created roughly 65 percent of all new jobs in America. These are companies formed around kitchen tables in family meetings, formed when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream, formed when a worker decides its time she became her own boss. These are also companies that drive innovation, producing thirteen times more patents per employee than large companies. And, it’s worth remembering, every once in a while a small business becomes a big business – and changes the world.

That’s why it is so important that we help small business struggling to open, or stay open, during these difficult times. Building on the tax cuts in the Recovery Act, we’re proposing a complete elimination of capital gains taxes on small business investment along with an extension of write-offs to encourage small businesses to expand in the coming year. And I believe it’s worthwhile to create a tax incentive to encourage small businesses to add and keep employees and I’m going to work with Congress to pass one.

These steps will help, but we also have to address the continuing struggle of small businesses to get the loans they need to start up and grow. To that end, we’re proposing to waive fees and increase the guarantees for SBA-backed loans. And I am asking my Treasury Secretary to continue mobilizing the remaining TARP funds to facilitate lending to small businesses.

Second, we’re proposing a boost in investment in the nation’s infrastructure beyond what was included in the Recovery Act, to continue modernizing our transportation and communications networks. These are needed public works that engage private sector companies, spurring hiring across the country. Already, more than 10,000 of these projects have been funded through the Recovery Act. And by design, Recovery Act work on roads, bridges, water systems, Superfund sites, broadband networks, and clean energy projects will all be ramping up in the months ahead. It was planned this way for two reasons: so the impact would be felt over a two year period; and, more importantly, because we wanted to do this right. The potential for abuse in a program of this magnitude, while operating at such a fast pace, was enormous. So I asked Vice President Biden and others to make sure – to the extent humanly possible – that the investments were sound, the projects worthy, and the execution efficient. What this means is that we’re going to see even more work – and workers – on Recovery projects in the next six months than we saw in the last six months.

Even so, there are many more worthy projects than there were dollars to fund them. I recognize that by their nature these projects often take time, and will therefore create jobs over time. But the need for jobs will also last beyond next year and the benefits of these investments will last years beyond that. So adding to this initiative to rebuild America’s infrastructure is the right thing to do.

Third, I’m calling on Congress to consider a new program to provide incentives for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient, which we know creates jobs, saves money for families, and reduces the pollution that threatens our environment. And I’m proposing that we expand select Recovery Act initiatives to promote energy efficiency and clean energy jobs which have proven particularly popular and effective. It’s a positive sign that many of these programs drew so many applicants for funding that a lot of strong proposals – proposals that will leverage private capital and create jobs quickly – did not make the cut. With additional resources, in areas like advanced manufacturing of wind turbines and solar panels, for instance, we can help turn good ideas into good private-sector jobs.

Finally, as we are moving forward in these areas, we should also extend the relief in the Recovery Act, including emergency assistance to seniors, unemployment insurance benefits, COBRA, and relief to states and localities to prevent layoffs. This will help folks weathering these storms while boosting consumer spending and promoting jobs.

Of course, there is only so much government can do. Job creation will ultimately depend on the real job creators: businesses across America. But government can help lay the groundwork on which the private sector can better generate jobs, growth, and innovation. After all, small business tax relief is not a substitute for the ingenuity and industriousness of our entrepreneurs; but it can help those with good ideas to grow and expand. Incentives to promote energy efficiency and clean energy manufacturing do not automatically create jobs or lower carbon emissions; but these steps provide a framework in which companies can compete and innovate to create those jobs and reduce energy consumption. And while modernizing the physical and virtual networks that connect us will create private-sector jobs, they’ll do so while making it possible for companies to more easily and effectively move their products across this country and around the world.

Given the challenge of accelerating the pace of hiring in the private sector, these targeted initiatives are right and they are needed. But with a fiscal crisis to match our economic crisis, we also must be prudent about how we fund it. So to help support these efforts, we’re going to wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP – the fund created to stabilize the financial system so banks would lend again.

There has rarely been a less loved or more necessary emergency program than TARP, which – as galling as the assistance to banks may have been – indisputably helped prevent a collapse of the entire financial system. Launched hastily under the last administration, the TARP program was flawed, and we have worked hard to correct those flaws and manage it properly. And today, TARP has served its original purpose and at a much lower cost than we expected.

In fact, because of our stewardship of this program, and the transparency and accountability we put in place, TARP is expected to cost the taxpayer at least $200 billion less than what was anticipated just this summer. And the assistance to banks, once thought to cost the taxpayers untold billions, is on track to actually reap billions in profit for the taxpaying public. This gives us a chance to pay down the deficit faster than we thought possible and to shift funds that would have gone to help the banks on Wall Street to help create jobs on Main Street.

Small business, infrastructure, clean energy: these are areas in which we can put Americans to work while putting our nation on a sturdier economic footing. That foundation for sustained economic growth must be our continuing focus and our ultimate goal. For even before this period crisis, much of our growth had been fueled by unsustainable consumer debt and reckless financial speculation, while we ignored the fundamental challenges that hold the key to our economic prosperity. We cannot simply go back to the way things used to be. We cannot go back to an economy that yielded cycle after cycle of speculative booms and painful busts. We cannot continue to accept an education system in which our students trail their peers in other countries, and a health care system in which exploding costs put our businesses at a competitive disadvantage. And we cannot continue to ignore the clean energy challenge or cede global leadership in the emerging industries of the 21st century. That’s why, as we strive to meet the crisis of the moment, we are laying a new foundation for the future.

Because an educated workforce is essential in a 21st century global economy, we’ve launched a competitive Race to the Top fund through the Recovery Act to reform our schools and raise achievement, especially in math and science. And we’ve made college more affordable, proposed an historic set of reforms and investments in community college, and set a goal of once again leading the world in producing college graduates by 2020.

Because even the best trained workers in the world can’t compete if our businesses are saddled with rapidly increasing health care costs, we’re fighting to do what we have discussed in this country for generations: finally reforming our nation’s broken health insurance system and relieving this unsustainable burden.

Because our economic future depends on a financial system that encourages sound investments, honest dealings, and long-term growth, we’ve proposed the most ambitious financial reforms since the Great Depression. We’ll set and enforce clear rules of the road, close loopholes in oversight, charge a new agency with protecting consumers, and address the dangerous, systemic risks that brought us to the brink of disaster. These reforms are moving through Congress, we’re working to keep those reforms strong, and I look forward to signing them into law.

And because our economic future depends on our leadership in the industries of the future, we are investing in basic and applied research, and working to create the incentives to build a new clean energy economy. For we know the nation that leads in clean energy will be the nation that leads the world. I want America to be that nation. I want America’s prosperity to be powered by what we invent and pioneer – not just what we borrow and consume. And I know that we can and will be that nation, if we are willing to do what it takes to get there.

There are those who claim we have to choose between paying down our deficits on the one hand, and investing in job creation and economic growth on the other. But this is a false choice. Ensuring that economic growth and job creation are strong and sustained is critical to ensuring that we are increasing revenues and decreasing spending on things like unemployment so that our deficits will start coming down. At the same time, instilling confidence in our commitment to being fiscally prudent gives the private sector the confidence to make long-term investments in our people and on our shores.

One of the central goals of this administration is restoring fiscal responsibility. Even as we have had to spend our way out of this recession in the near term, we have begun to make the hard choices necessary to get our country on a more stable fiscal footing in the long run. Despite what some have claimed, the cost of the Recovery Act is only a very small part of our current budget imbalance. In reality, the deficit had been building dramatically over the previous eight years. Folks passed tax cuts and expensive entitlement programs without paying for any of it – even as health care costs kept rising, year after year. As a result, the deficit had reached $1.3 trillion when we walked into the White House. And I’d note: these budget busting tax cuts and spending programs were approved by many of the same people who are now waxing political about fiscal responsibility while opposing our efforts to reduce deficits by getting health care costs under control. It’s a sight to see.

The fact is, we have refused to go along with business as usual; we’re taking responsibility for every dollar we spend. We’ve done what some said was impossible: preventing wasteful spending on outdated weapons systems that even the Pentagon said it didn’t want. We’ve combed the budget, cutting waste and excess wherever we could. I’m still committed to halving the deficit we inherited by the end of my first term. And I made clear from day one that I would not sign a health insurance reform bill if it raised the deficit by one dime – and neither the House nor Senate bill does. We have begun to not only change policies but also to change the culture in Washington.

In the end, the economic crisis of the past year was not just the result of weaknesses in our economy. It was also the result of weaknesses in our political system. For decades, too many in Washington put off hard decisions. For decades, we’ve watched as efforts to solve tough problems have fallen prey to the bitterness of partisanship, to the prosaic concerns of politics, to ever-quickening news cycles, and to endless campaigns focused on scoring points instead of meeting our common challenges.

We have seen the consequences of this failure of responsibility. The American people have paid a heavy price. And the question we’ll have to answer now is if we are going to learn from our past, or if – even in the aftermath of disaster – we are going to repeat it. As the alarm bells fade, and the din of Washington rises, as the forces of the status quo marshal their resources, we can be sure that answering this question will be a fight to the finish. But I have every hope and expectation that we can rise to this moment, that we can transcend the failures of the past, that we can once again take responsibility for our future.

Almost every night, I read letters and emails sent to me from folks across America – people who share their hopes and their hardships, their faith in this country and their frustrations with what’s happened in this economy. I hear from small business owners worried about making payroll and keeping their doors open. I hear from mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who have seen one or two or more family members out of work. The toughest letters are in children’s handwriting: kids who can’t just be kids because they’re worried after mom had her hours cut or dad lost his job and with it the family’s health insurance. These folks aren’t looking for a hand out. They’re not looking for a bail out. They’re hoping for a chance to make their own way, to work, to succeed using their talents and skills. All they’re looking for from Washington is a seriousness of purpose that matches the reality of their struggle.

Everywhere I’ve gone, every stop I’ve made, there are people like this, men and women who have faced misfortune, but who stand ready to build a better future. There are students ready to learn. Workers eager to work. Scientists on the brink of discovery. There are entrepreneurs seeking the chance to open a small business. And once-shuttered factories just waiting to whir back to life in burgeoning industries. There is a nation ready to meet the challenges of this new age and to lead the world in this new century. And as we look back on the progress of the past year, and look forward to the work ahead, I have every confidence that we will do exactly that.

These have been a tough two years. And there will no doubt be difficult months ahead. But the storms of the past are receding. The skies are brightening. And the horizon is beckoning once more.

Thank you.

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See Also:

• Rise In Temp Jobs Is Solid Sign Employment Is Recovering
• Here’s Why There Won’t Be A V-Shaped Recovery In Jobs
• Finally, US Employers Ready To Start Creating Jobs Again

While fans of the first game are likely happy that Sega’s not abandoning one of the most underappreciated console RPGs this generation, the Valkyria Chronicles sequel does raise one important question: why the hell is it

Does your riveter need alignment?
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We had high hopes for Robert Iger when he took over Disney from Michael Eisner (whose views on intellectual property were positively wacky). Iger surprised a lot of people by taking a very progressive view towards digital and online content, as well as recognizing the need for new business models, rather than attacking your fans and customers. In 2006, he noted that the recording industry had screwed up and he intended to respond differently:

“The bottom line is they were not in tune with what their customers wanted and what the world was demanding of them and I think it hurt them significantly.”

So we were disappointed last year when Iger came out strongly in support of rules to force ISPs to kick customers off the internet based on a “three strikes” plan, where accusations, not convictions, are all that matter.

It seems that he’s not giving up. Chris points out that, at President Obama’s recent “Jobs Summit” Iger gave a speech where much of it was focused on the need for stronger intellectual property protection from the government, and no talk about all of the innovative business models that others are creating without relying on governments to prop up their business model. In discussing his talk, he noted:

So when you hear about “stealing intellectual property,” a term that may have little meaning to you, think about it as a means of contributing to unemployment and harming our economy.

Of course, there’s no indication that this is actually true. Even if people are saving money by not spending on Disney content, they are spending that money elsewhere, contributing to jobs in those sectors. If you want to use Iger’s logic, you could just as easily claim that copyright laws allow them to charge monopoly rents on products, thus depriving many other industries of money and jobs. Thus — again, using Iger’s own logic — copyright contributes to unemployment and the harming of our economy. Not sure he really wants to go there.

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McDonald’s (MCD) and 3M (MMM) aren’t having a good day.

The fast food retailer saw its second month of decreases among same-store sales due to a price war involving rivals Burger King and Taco Bell. Currently, the stock is down 2% to $60.63.

3M, meanwhile, gave a 2009 outlook that fell short of the Street’s expectations. 3M also cautioned investors about future earnings in 2010.

And finally, Kroger (KR) got hit hard this morning by reporting lower-than-expected quarterly results and cutting its full-year forecast.

The result? A 10% drop in its share price, sending it down to $20.50.

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See Also:

• Police Track Down Teens For Rapping Their McDonald’s Order
• GameStop Plummets As Wal-Mart Goes Nuclear Cutting Game Prices (GME, WMT)
• Consumer Spending Plummets As Crack Hit From Cash For Clunkers Runs Out

Filed under: Etc., Cadillac, Celebrities

The world’s most infamous 2009 Cadillac Escalade, the one Tiger Woods drove into a hydrant and then a tree early in the morning of November 27, is heading to the body shop for repairs. Interestingly enough, the Escalade isn’t owned by Tiger Woods – it’s part of GM’s promotional fleet. After the golfer’s deal with Buick ended last year, Tiger made a deal with the automaker to keep a few cars for his personal use. His choices included a Buick Enclave and Cadillac Escalade… the black SUV that is now sporting a mangled front end and missing a couple rear windows.

As it’s a promotional/marketing vehicle, the SUV goes back to GM for the automaker to decide its fate. Depending on the severity of the repairs, it may head back into the loaner fleet… or it may be replaced by a new vehicle. If it is replaced, the now-repaired Escalade will be pulled from rotation and sent to auction where it goes to the highest bidder. Of course, we can only imagine what the Cadillac would bring on eBay in its current shattered state.

[Source: Drive On, Photos: Florida Highway Patrol]

Tiger Woods’ Escalade owned by GM, will be fixed and eventually sold originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Econompic highlights how rising temporary employment leads to full-time job growth. Hence the recent sharp spike in temporary help (blue) signals good news for new full-time hiring (red) going forward.

Keep in mind that their data uses the change in jobs over a six-month trailing period. Thus the latest spike we see for temporary help (blue) isn't simply Christmas hiring.

Few relationships are ever guaranteed, but the relationship above makes a lot of sense.

As companies re-hire, first they start with temporary workers in order to minimize their risk. They then begin converting temporary help into full-time positions. Hopefully this historical relationship continues to hold true. Check out more great charts over at Econompic.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Here's Why There Won't Be A V-Shaped Recovery In Jobs
• Imagine If Nearly 20% Of Jobs Just Disappeared... That's The United Arab Emirates
• Finally, US Employers Ready To Start Creating Jobs Again

First there was Hulu, the professional content video site which showed that the web was a real alternative to TV. Then came the Hulu for music videos, Vevo which is set to launch later today. Now we’re getting the so-called “Hulu for magazines” which, in case you haven’t guessed it, aims to do for print magazines what Hulu did for TV. Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. have announced a joint venture which aims to build the standards and technologies to allow users view their favorite magazines on a variety of mobile devices.

“For the consumer, this digital initiative will provide access to an extraordinary selection of engaging content products, all customized for easy download on the device of their choice, including smartphones, e-readers and laptops,” John Squires, the venture’s interim managing director said. “Once purchased, this content will be ‘unlocked’ for consumers to enjoy anywhere, anytime, on any platform.”

The venture, which doesn’t have a name yet, is virtually a no-brainer. Publishers have been bleeding money for the past years and the market is definitely not turning. The only perspective would be online distribution, but the alternatives available don’t really look that interesting from their point of view. Most of the websites setup aren’t making any… (read more)