| Harkin: Subsidies May Be Cut to Pay for Farm Bill
The Des Moines Register is reporting that some crop subsidies could be cut as lawmakers search for ways to pay for a new farm bill.
"As far as I'm concerned, direct payments are still on the table," said Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, referring to the more than $5 billion in fixed annual payments that grain and cotton farmers receive.
The House and Senate resisted reducing those subsidies in writing their versions of the farm bill and got money instead from increasing corporate tax revenues, prompting a White House veto threat. Harkin will be chairman of a House-Senate panel that will be charged with writing a compromise version of the bill.
Charles Conner, the acting agriculture secretary, has said that the administration would not approve a farm bill funded by new taxes.
Warming to Athens in winter
On Sundays the city's famous flea market spreads this far, where it becomes less of a tourist hotspot and more of a local affair. There are some genuine bargains among the junk and bric-à-brac, but the main appeal is the ambience, with ancient men flogging everything from antiques to knocked-off Rolexes in an atmosphere not unlike an eastern bazaar. In winter the two-mile pedestrianised ancient promenade that links all of the city's principal archaeological sites becomes an exercise circuit for Athenians, filled with families, dog-walkers, joggers and hand-holding couples. The ancient sites themselves are blissfully free of crowds. Wandering around an Acropolis devoid of noisy visitors, or through the somnolent peace of the ancient cemetery of Keramikos by yourself, is an absolute joy.
Expect tight supplies of dry edible beans
FARGO, N.D. 2/15/08 - It's looking like it could be a tight year for dry edible beans.The continuing tug-of-war over commodity acres will probably result in a shrinking carryover supply of dry edible beans in 2008 as producers consider switching over to other crops, said John Thompson, dry bean sales manager for Thompson USA, Ltd. .
Stocks Hold Gains After Fed Minutes
It's been a topsy-turvy day, with stocks sliding at the open after the CPI report, then rebounding in the afternoon as investors toggled their focus to H-P's better-than-expected results. The telecom sector, however, remained firmly in the red amid concerns about a price war. "The Dow is going up because people are seeing through the rest of the year," Brett D'arcy, director of investments at CBIZ Financial Solutions, told CNBC. After H-P's encouraging results, investors are realizing things aren't all bad, he said. But what about that pesky $100 oil? "Oil in my opinion is a speculative bubble," D'arcy said, adding that there really isn't much relation between oil and the stock market. .
Gas could rise to $4 by spring
Eliot," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief analyst of Oil Price Information Service. "If we merely were to see the spring rally in 2008 be average, that would project to wholesale numbers of $3.40 a gallon or more, which would put retail right around $4 a gallon," he wrote in an e-mail Thursday. .
A Tax Rebate Won’t Fix This Mess
When you hear a number like $100 billion (the amount Bush is proposing to give back to people in the form of tax rebates, at about $800 per adult family member) or $145 billion (that $100 billion, plus another $45 billion in business tax breaks-mostly accelerated deductions for capital investment) bounced around, it sounds like a lot of dough, and you might think it would be a good shot in the arm for an economy that is falling into a dead faint. But let's think about it on a micro level. What would my wife and I do with an extra $1600? Well, to be honest, that's not quite one month's mortgage payment. If we were smart, we'd probably use it to pay down some principle on our credit line, which would over time get us out from under on that dreaded monthly bill a lot sooner.
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