Thursday, November 3, 2011

Brightbridge Wealth Management Online Magazine

http://brightbridgewealthmanagement-mag.com/category/economy-update/


Zurich, Switzerland, October 30, 2011 –(PR.com)– Prior to joining Swiss International Commodities and Futures Exchange, Mr. Wilson McWood has a successful commodity and financial career at one of the most successful commodity brokerage firms for more than 12 years. During those times, he mostly spent his years of trading experience as Global Head for Emerging Markets. And lately, he was assigned as the Head of Forex Sales and Liquidity and assisted supervise the introduction of Forex products to the business entities’ global client base.
“I am very happy to be with this very promising commodity brokerage and trading firm at the same time excited to be helping the firm expand globally their foreign exchange business. Swiss International Commodities and Futures Exchange now allows its traders to undertake trade multi-asset under single trading platform. With my specialized expertise and knowledge in foreign exchange, I hope to expand Swiss International Commodities and Futures Exchange existing knowledge and expertise in the equities market to the foreign exchange market,” said Mr. Wilson McWood.

Brightbridge Wealth Management

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brightbridge-Wealth-Management/256600707688190


Friday, August 19, 2011

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post - Saeo

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post - Saeo


Former St. Thomas University president Dennis Cochrane has accepted a two-year position as the president of Atlantic Education International, an appointment geared at boosting the provincial government’s foreign education program.

Cochrane, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and a member of Premier David Alward’s transition team, has already started in the new position, which is a two-year appointment that pays $30,000 annually.

Education Minister Jody Carr said Cochrane’s experience in building relationships will be important in his new position in growing the institute.

“There is a lot of growth potential for AEI but growth needs to be done strategically and with a coordinated approach,” Carr said in a statement.

“Dennis Cochrane’s experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI’s mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick.”

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Province sees dollars and ‘sense’ in partnerships with China

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/


Education Minister Jody Carr says appointing Dennis Cochrane as president of Atlantic Education International for the next two years will help the company grow educational partnerships on the international stage.
Cochrane, a former educator, provincial Progressive Conservative leader and interim president at St. Thomas University, has already started the part-time position that pays $30,000 annually.
“There’s a lot of growth potential for AEI, but growth needs to be done strategically and with a co-ordinated approach,” Carr said in an email.
“Dennis Cochrane’s experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI’s mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick.”
In addition to the N.B. International Student Program and a teaching abroad initiative, Atlantic Education International oversees operations at the Confucius Institute in New Brunswick and maintains partnerships with schools in China that use New Brunswick curriculum.
The first partnership was put in place in 1998 under the Liberal government. Since then, five schools have started teaching New Brunswick curriculum, including one that opened in July with a capacity for 3,000 students.
But while department officials say Cochrane’s appointment will be good for Atlantic Education International, one man said he wonders what selling educational services to countries such as China means for the integrity of the New Brunswick curriculum.
Charles Burton, a professor at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ont., has had two postings in China as a diplomat.
In the past, Burton has spoken about the curriculum compromises made at the New Brunswick Confucius Institute, a program that teaches New Brunswick students the Chinese language and culture, but under the terms of the Chinese Ministry of Education.
He’s never taught at a school that buys New Brunswick curriculum, but Burton said the unified nature of Chinese education would mean even though Chinese students walk away with a New Brunswick diploma, that doesn’t mean they’re educated the same way as New Brunswick students.
“Anyone who has gone through the schools you’re talking about has to have had the Chinese curriculum, and that includes a few things like the politics and that interpretation of history that the Chinese government requires the children learn,” he said in an interview with The Daily Gleaner.
“There’s no question about it, it is a bit problematic that they’re not getting the same education as New Brunswick students get in New Brunswick because New Brunswick students in New Brunswick are not learning the things about how the Communist party saved China from Western colonialism and that kind of thing. And certainly free democracy is not going to be taught. The civics content is not going to be the same.
“There’s no way that they would allow that aspect of the curriculum to be dominant in the education of the Chinese children in China.”
Christina Windsor, communications director for the Department of Education, said students at the Concord colleges in China are required to take a number of courses in English, including social studies, as part of their New Brunswick diploma requirements.
But speaking on behalf of Atlantic Education International, Windsor said the goal of the courses is to focus on meeting New Brunswick curriculum outcomes – that means the student’s ability to learn what the course is designed to teach.
“Course content is a vehicle for reaching the curriculum outcomes, therefore many of the materials used can be adapted to suit the interests and needs of the students,” she said.
Windsor said in addition to receiving positive feedback from teachers and students who have participated in the China experience, the provincial government also made $3 million in revenue last year.
Upon returning from a trip to China in July, Carr said $3 million isn’t a lot of money but it’s some.
Carr said he expects to see more revenue from the partnership as a result of his visit, where he officially opened the fifth school and attended meetings about potential future partnerships.
“But (South Korea is) interested in having us partner with them in teacher training. Teacher training and culture experience. So they would like to send some of their teachers in South Korea to our schools here in New Brunswick.”
Carr said he also met with representatives from Cambodia who are interested in buying N.B. curriculum.
But while Burton sees benefits to the partnership, he questions leaving out the less favourable elements of Chinese history but still giving students a New Brunswick diploma.
“It does give students a New Brunswick diploma who are not getting the same education as in New Brunswick,” he said.

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: MGM gets more time to sell 50 percent ownership in Borgata casino

http://atlanticinternationalpartnershipnews.com/

ATLANTIC CITY – MGM Resorts International is getting more time to sell its 50-percent stake in Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa as part of a settlement with New Jersey gaming regulators to leave the Atlantic City market.
The state Casino Control Commission voted Monday to extend the sale deadline by 18 months, from Sept. 24, 2011, to March 24, 2013.
MGM representatives told the commission that the company simply needs more time to sell the casino amid the weak regional and national economy. They said New Jersey’s recent regulatory overhaul of the casino industry, combined with Gov. Chris Christie’s creation of a new state-run Tourism District to make Atlantic City safer and cleaner, should help to entice potential buyers in the future.
“We’re very optimistic that all of the changes implemented in the last six months or so will be very helpful,” MGM attorney Nicholas Casiello Jr. said.
MGM has agreed to sell off its Atlantic City holdings after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement objected to the company’s partnership in a Macau casino with a Hong Kong businesswoman whose father has alleged ties to Chinese organized crime. Pansy Ho and her father, Stanley Ho, have denied any mob links.
The DGE supported the commission’s vote to extend the Borgata sale deadline, but reiterated the findings of its 2009 investigative report that called Pansy Ho an “unsuitable” business partner for MGM.
“We want people to understand that nothing has changed with our opinions in that report,” said George Rover, an assistant state attorney general who represents the DGE.
The remaining 50 percent of Borgata will continue to be owned by Boyd Gaming Corp. Up to this point, Boyd has not shown any interest in buying MGM’s share.
Last October, MGM announced it had received a $250 million offer from an undisclosed potential buyer for a half-share of Borgata, but that deal fell through. The Press of Atlantic City and the Bloomberg news agency reported that the offer came from the Los Angeles-based buyout company Leonard Green & Partners LP.

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post - Saeo

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post - Saeo

Former St. Thomas University president Dennis Cochrane has accepted a two-year position as the president of Atlantic Education International, an appointment geared at boosting the provincial government’s foreign education program.

Cochrane, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and a member of Premier David Alward’s transition team, has already started in the new position, which is a two-year appointment that pays $30,000 annually.

Education Minister Jody Carr said Cochrane’s experience in building relationships will be important in his new position in growing the institute.

“There is a lot of growth potential for AEI but growth needs to be done strategically and with a coordinated approach,” Carr said in a statement.

“Dennis Cochrane’s experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI’s mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick.”

Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post

http://atlanticinternationalpartnershipreviews.com/


Former St. Thomas University president Dennis Cochrane has accepted a two-year position as the president of Atlantic Education International, an appointment geared at boosting the provincial government’s foreign education program.
Cochrane, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and a member of Premier David Alward’s transition team, has already started in the new position, which is a two-year appointment that pays $30,000 annually.
Education Minister Jody Carr said Cochrane’s experience in building relationships will be important in his new position in growing the institute.
“There is a lot of growth potential for AEI but growth needs to be done strategically and with a coordinated approach,” Carr said in a statement.
“Dennis Cochrane’s experience, knowledge and proven track record make him well suited to oversee the execution of AEI’s mandate and the development of a business and expansion strategy for international education in New Brunswick.”
Atlantic Education International is an arm’s length organization that offers international learning opportunities. It has a series of partnerships, including the China partnership, N.B. International Student Program, a teaching abroad initiative and overseeing the operations of the Confucius Institute.
While AEI has a board of directors, its sole shareholder is the Department of Education.
Last year, the institute made $3 million for the provincial government.
The institute has four schools in China with roughly 3,000 students. The Anhui Concord College will open in September and has a projected student population of 400.
Cochrane has a long background in the education sector. He was a high school principal in Moncton and he also served as the deputy minister of education in both the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments.
His political resume includes terms as a city councillor, the mayor of Moncton, federal Progressive Conservative MP and a Progressive Conservative MLA. He served as the provincial party leader from 1991 to 1995.
Cochrane returned to New Brunswick in 2009 as the interim president of St. Thomas University, the Fredericton-based liberal arts institution.
Cochrane provided two years of leadership after a period of labour unrest under the previous president, Michael Higgins.
As president, he also raised the university’s profile in many public policy issues.
After the Alward government won the 2010 election, he was asked to be a part of the transition team.
He has also been a proponent of moving toward four-year funding plans for universities, which is being adopted by the Alward government.
Other members of Alward’s political circle have moved into government positions. Robert MacLeod, Alward’s campaign co-chair, is the new president of Invest New Brunswick, and Daniel Allain, the other campaign co-chair, is the president of NB Liquor.


Sunday, August 14, 2011

atlantic international partnership: About the Coldwell Banker Commercial® Blue Book.

http://www.cbcatlantic.com/


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Monday, August 8, 2011

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Madrid and Istanbul set to enter 2020 Olympics bidding race

http://your-story.org/atlantic-international-partnership-headlines-madrid-and-istanbul-set-to-enter-2020-olympics-bidding-race-254092/


The Spanish capital of Madrid and Istanbul in Turkey are set to join the race to host the 2020 Olympics after the two cities moved a step closer to submitting official bids on Wednesday.
At a press conference, Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, flanked by spokesmen for the two main political parties in Spain, said he would present a bid proposal to city legislators for a vote on July 20. Madrid came desperately close to securing the hosting rights in the tenders for the 2012 and 2016 Games. Although there are serious concerns about Spain’s economy, and the country’s Sports Minister has admitted “if this (financial downturn) did not exist, our support would have been automatic”, Ruiz-Gallardon insisted that the Games could provide a timely boost.
“Madrid has finished an extremely high percentage of the infrastructure needed for the organisation of the Olympics and Paralympics and can count on the experience of the previous two bids and the recognition of the Olympic family,” Gallardon said, according to Reuters. “The completed work means the cost of the bid will be significantly less, following criterion of austerity and efficiency with the highest possible return for the image of Madrid and Spain.”
Turkey’s Sports Minister, Suat Kilic, told CNN-Turk television on Wednesday that Turkey was set to make its bid for the 2020 Games official, and added: “We are one of the rare countries that can shoulder the financial burden of the Olympics.” Kilic said that a final decision would be made by July 29 after a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, although the International Olympic Committee’s deadline for applicant city nominations is September 1.
Istanbul mounted four consecutive failed bids for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. If Turkey does confirm Istanbul’s applicant city status, it will face competition from Southern Europe in the form of Italy, with Rome the only city so far to confirm it has entered the bidding. Berlin could also provide competition on the continent, with the city’s Mayor Klaus Wowereit telling Der Tagesspiegel newspaper on Wednesday: “Berlin is ready for the Olympic Games and Berlin has all the requirements.”
However, the German National Olympic Committee, which saw Munich lose out to PyeongChang in last week’s vote for the 2018 Winter Olympics, has suggested there may not be enough time to table a bid for 2020. A bid from the Qatari capital of Doha may materialise, though, according to Olympic Council of Asia president Sheik Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah. “I hear Doha have an interest,” Sheikh Ahmad told Japan’s Kyodo news agency. “This is what I’m hearing, but we don’t have anything officially announced yet.” The Japanese capital of Tokyo is also expected to announce a formal bid in the coming days after missing out on the 2016 Games.

What is Ocean Atlantic International Partnership?

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2485289


 

Answers. 3 helpful answers below.

Click here to find out more!
  • by sheenaoneal on April 26th, 2011
    sheenaoneal

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    Selected by the asker, karenmichigan. (What's this?)
    It acts as a local developer allowing execution and deal sourcing for international institutional investors.
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What other services does Atlantic International partnership Freight Services provide?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110428012043AAtMIn2


Ignazio Walker by Ignazio Walker
Member since:
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Total points:
112 (Level 1)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Aside from freight services, they also offer Customs Clearance, Marine Cargo Insurance and Supply Chain Management.

Source(s):

http://www.atlanticintl.co.uk/
Asker's Rating:
5 out of 5
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atlantic international partnership: Dennis Cochrane lands in education post

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/08/05/nb-cochrane-atlantic-education-international-149.html



Former St. Thomas University president Dennis Cochrane has accepted a two-year position as the president of Atlantic Education International, an appointment geared at boosting the provincial government's foreign education program.
Cochrane, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and a member of Premier David Alward's transition team, has already started in the new position, which is a two-year appointment that pays $30,000 annually.




Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Atlantic International Partnership Review: Is Japan Heading for Yet another ‘Lost Decade’?

http://www.your-story.org/atlantic-international-partnership-review-is-japan-heading-for-yet-another-%E2%80%98lost-decade%E2%80%99-245296/
It absolutely was supposed to become just an additional earthquake, only it registered a scale of 9.0 – and triggered a devastating tsunami.
March 11, 2011 would unquestionably not be forgotten at any time soon by the Japanese men and women since the northern piece on the technologically-advanced nation was thrown into distress. Tsunami waves as higher as ten meters hit the coast and washed absent anything it passed inside of a frightening pace. Aftershocks of smaller sized scales would keep on shaking them for the following number of days.
Obviously, the entire globe was left dumbstruck.
And as in case the earthquake/tsunami combo wasn’t plenty of, a further dilemma sets in: a nuclear plant’s received an issue. Like an overnight sensation, Fukushima grew to become a family name, albeit for every one of the wrong motives.
Now, just after weeks of hanging on the harmony, lots of are worried what would turn out to be of Japan afterwards. Particularly of curiosity would be the foreseeable future state of their economic climate.

Services Finance Planning: atlantic international partnership

http://atlanticinternationalpartnership.com/services/finance-planning.html

Let AIP provide you with the financial planning needed to reach your goals. At AIP we know just how important a good financial plan is. We understand the need for a plan which helps you to utilize all of your resources in the most effective way. Our advisers will help you to identify any potential shortcomings or excesses in your financial situation. We will show you what you need to do in developing a strategy designed to reach your financial goal.

AIP understands the importance of financial planning, we know how a good plan will serve as a solid foundation to build upon as you set off down the road to your financial future. A good financial plan will try to counter against effects of inflation and fluctuations in global markets. You want to construct a financial plan which will endeavor to produce the very best financial returns for your future plans or retirement needs. A good plan will also need to account for the rising cost of education and changes in taxation law.

Your first meeting wit AIP’s financial advisors will help you to build a financial plan designed just for you. No products or services are suggested to you. What you receive is the personalized financial information and guidance you need to get you on track to achieving those goals and aspirations that we all have.

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Robotics morphs into more-mainstream investment

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/2011/05/atlantic-international-partnership-headlines-robotics-morphs-into-more-mainstream-investment/

BEDFORD, Mass. — Top scientists around the world are trying to improve upon robots, which can already detect bombs, perform surgery and even go into battle.
At iRobot Corp., they’re trying to make a better vacuum.
Of course, iRobot’s scientists do other things too. The company, best known for its Roomba floor vacuum, recently sent machines to Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster to help detect radiation, to the war zone in Afghanistan to find bombs, and to the Gulf of Mexico to locate spilled oil in the water.
But home robots — dominated by vacuums — make up 55 percent of the company’s revenue and are part of the reason iRobot is on a tear. Shares are up 43 percent since the start of the year, and the company earned a profit of $26 million on sales of $401 million last year, up from $3 million on $299 million in revenue the year before.
The company recently announced it had won a contract to make bomb disposal robots for the Navy.
That iRobot, the only public company that focuses purely on robotics, is getting attention from investors indicates that this young industry is becoming more mainstream. As analysts and consumers get more comfortable with robots, more companies might succeed in the space.
“It’s almost like buying Internet companies in the 1990s,” said Alex Hamilton, an analyst with Early Bird Capital who covers iRobot. “The sky’s the limit.”
Not everyone is a fan. A 2008 Consumer Reports review of vacuums found that the Roomba 560 “was among the worst performers at cleaning edges and corners.” On consumer tech site CNET, comments ranged from “always broken, warranty poor” to “It’s awesome! Great for what it costs.”
The company is now trying to boost sales of secondary items, such as pool and gutter cleaners, to go along with its bestselling Roomba and Scooba robots.
Next up: a device on wheels that can follow you around the house like Rosie from “The Jetsons” and someday maybe even bring you a beer. The company predicts an expanding market in robots that assist the country’s aging population.
“No one has ever made money with robots before,” said Chief Executive Colin Angle, a freckle-faced 43-year-old who happens to be married to Erika Ebbel, Miss Massachusetts 2004. “But ours create more value than they cost to build.”
The growth is evident at the company’s headquarters in a Bedford, Mass., office park, where young men in ties and white shirts follow a tour on their first day of orientation. Awards from the last decade sit along the walls: gold-plated and silver Roombas, a crystal Entrepreneur of the Year award for Angle. IRobot now employs about 650 people.
The success is new for a company that teetered on the edge of survival for its first decade and a half. Founded in 1990 by Angle, MIT professor Rodney Brooks and graduate student Helen Greiner, the company’s mission was initially vague: to make practical robots that could be useful in everyday lives.
At the time, few investors believed this was a profitable venture, so the three put company expenses on their credit cards, and struggled.
“We were unfundable,” said Angle, walking through an exhibit in the company’s headquarters of experiments from iRobot’s past — a baby doll robot, a Zamboni-like vacuum, a furry creature that runs away from humans when it senses anger.
IRobot didn’t receive its first venture funding until 1998. Even then, its endeavors were disjointed, spread across eight divisions: robots that could vacuum floors, entertain children and work on oil wells, to name just a few. It sent robots to work in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the government contracts weren’t profitable enough to support the flailing consumer side.
The company nearly went under in 2002 as it tried to find retailers that would stock the newly completed Roomba. Just when its founders had given up hope, the Brookstone retailing chain called, saying that a test run of the machines had gone well and that consumer demand was increasing.
“We went from the lowest of the low to the most exciting time,” Angle said. “Suddenly, things started to work.”
Even after the company went public in 2005, its financial problems continued. Its stock slid, precipitously at times, to a low of $7 in 2009 as the company burned through cash because of manufacturing issues and the high price of nickel, which is used to make batteries.
A new chief financial officer, John Leahy, has helped the company better manage its finances, analysts say, as has a focus on what it does best: robotic vacuums. Demand is growing overseas as the company expands into Latin America and Europe. International sales grew 70 percent in 2010, and international home robot revenue made up two-thirds of the company’s home robot sales.
The military machines have been a success too: IRobot is one of only two companies that provided robots to the military that have actually ended up on the ground, said Barbara Coffey, managing director at Brigantine Advisors, an investment research company. And the contracts keep coming in. Aside from the Navy deal, the Army said in March that it had ordered 76 small unmanned ground vehicles from iRobot.
“The company during that period really did grow from focused on the next flashy thing to the nuts and bolts of running a business,” Coffey said. “Things like quality assurance and all the heavy lifting stuff came to bear.”
IRobot hopes next to enter the health care field with Ava, essentially a device on wheels that works with existing tablet computers and can follow people around, sensing walls and other obstacles. If someone is trying to reach a senior citizen who isn’t answering the phone, for example, Ava can go find the person, Angle said.
The company is inviting iPad developers to get into the game, designing apps for Ava.
It’s just one way the company is expanding outside of cleaning products to make robots a more common presence in our lives.
“Nearly 100 percent of robots are going to help us do more and more and be part of a better life,” Angle said. “It’s the stuff of dreams.”

Atlantic International Partnership Funding Group Builder Stocks Fall as Home Price Decline Persists

http://www.blochure.com/atlantic-international-partnership-funding-group-builder-stocks-fall-as-home-price-decline-persists-3542/

AIFG has established a unique and innovative concept in the mortgage industry (Partnership Servicing) that is ideally suited to a challenging economy and real estate market. If you don’t know about our concept, then here’s an opportunity to learn more.
Analysts expect further price declines heading into the summer season, which could further slow the recovery for an industry which is coming off the worst two years for home construction dating to 1959.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday shows that home prices dropped in 19 cities from December to January, the sixth consecutive month that the index fell. A majority of the metro areas tracked by the index now have home prices at levels dating back to 2003, just as the housing boom began. In four cities -- Atlanta, Las Vegas, Detroit and Cleveland -- home values are at their lowest point in 11 years.
The report followed a Commerce Department announcement on Friday that new-home sales plunged in February for the third month in a row.
However, an analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets found some positive news in the S&P/Case-Shiller report. With seasonal adjustments factored in, just 12 of the 20 cities in the index experienced month-over-month price declines, compared with 19 of 20 cities three months earlier, analyst Kenneth Zener said in a research note.
Zener said that statistic suggests that a partial recovery is under way. However, he expects home prices to continue declining on a month-to-month basis into June, "as sellers court tepid buyers amid a still-large supply of inventory."
The housing market has recently been slower to recover than other areas of the economy, in part due to the expiration of government programs to spur more homebuying. Zener said he doesn't expect further government moves to encourage buying through tax credits. However, he expects indirect government support to continue through lending agencies, loan modification programs, and government purchases of mortgage-backed securities.
Shares of Lennar Corp. saw the steepest decline among major homebuilder stocks, dropping 68 cents, or 3.4 percent, to close at $19.07. Lennar on Tuesday posted a surprise fiscal first-quarter profit, but also reported that it delivered fewer homes and saw a decline in new home orders.
A look at the performance of other major homebuilder stocks:
D.R. Horton Inc. lost 20 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $11.95.
MDC Holdings Inc. fell 53 cents, or about 2 percent, to $25.84.
KB Home declined 25 cents, or 2 percent, to $12.94.
Ryland Group Inc. dropped 30 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $16.41.
Standard Pacific Corp. fell 9 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $3.74.
Toll Brothers Inc. fell 4 cents to $20.44, while PulteGroup Inc. dipped a penny to $7.65.
Meritage Homes Corp. rose 8 cents to $24.27. Beazer Homes USA Inc. slipped 3 cents to $4.66 and Hovanian Enterprises Inc. lost 3 cents to $3.58.
Meanwhile, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index finished up 0.7 percent on the day.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Right man for the job? Gordon Brown gets new economics post to try to save the world from another financial crisis

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/2011/04/hello-world/

New job: Gordon Brown will work at the World Economic Forum
Gordon Brown accepted a new international economic job yesterday – and said his task is to save the world from the next financial crisis.
The former prime minister was handed a post co-ordinating strategy for the World Economic Forum, a collection of leading politicians and businessmen.
The unpaid position will come with a staffing allowance of £750,000 a year.
It comes after David Cameron and George Osborne made clear they would veto any move to make Mr Brown the £270,000-a-year head of the International Monetary Fund, a job for which he has been lobbying.
Mr Brown’s spokesman was quick to say that his new role will be to ‘stop the next financial crisis’. His remarks echoed Mr Brown’s assertion that he ‘saved the world’ after the international credit crunch of 2009.
Tory deputy chairman Michael Fallon said Mr Brown has yet to face up to the legacy of debt that he bequeathed to taxpayers. ‘This is a case of putting the arsonist in charge of the fire station,’ he said.
‘It beggars belief that somebody who is yet to apologise for the mess he made in our finances should be advising the rest of the world.’
Mr Brown will join the World Economic Forum as chairman of the Policy and Initiatives Co-ordination Board.

Strategy: Irish rock star Bono talks with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo about African poverty at the World Economic Forum in January 2006
Critics will point out that the role will be an addition to Mr Brown’s duties as an MP, a job he intends to retain. Since he quit as PM last May, he has not attended any of the major budget debates in the Commons and has one of the worst voting records of any MP.
Mr Brown’s new job, unlike the IMF post he craved, lacks concrete powers. The WEF is a private organisation and while Mr Brown can cajole politicians and businessmen to work together, he has little leverage. By contrast, the IMF post would have put him in charge of a worldwide organisation charged with distributing billions to the developing world.

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Why Jaguar gives us reasons to be cheerful

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/2011/04/atlantic-international-partnership-headlines-why-jaguar-gives-us-reasons-to-be-cheerful/

Many years ago, when the Bay City Rollers were still described as “heart-throbs” and Margaret Thatcher had just replaced Edward Heath as Conservative Party leader, there was a joke in America about Jaguar cars.

Such was their atrocious build quality you had to buy them two at a time – one to drive while the other one was in the garage being fixed.
The demise of the British car industry became a metaphor for the decline of the UK. The fact that we couldn’t make the door fit on a sludge brown Austin Allegro (renamed the “All-aggro” and voted the UK’s worst car ever) said a lot about our inability to run world-class businesses. Strikes, poor material and build quality and failing management came together in a toxic virus that left us the Sick Man of Europe.
Roll forward four decades and we see a much healthier picture – and no more Bye, Bye, Baby complete with tartan scarves and the infamous “mullet” hairstyle either. The automotive renaissance is well embedded in the UK, although often unsung. We now build 1.4m vehicles a year, below the 2m (badly produced) in the early 1970s but well up on the dark days of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Japanese giants Nissan, Toyota and Honda have made significant commitments to the UK and their plants – in Sunderland, Burnaston, Derbyshire, and Swindon – are some of the most productive in the world. The automotive sector contributes more than 10pc of UK exports with a value of $25bn (£15bn) over the last five years.
When it was announced in March 2008 that the Indian conglomerate Tata was taking over Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in a £1.15bn deal, concerns were raised that the well-surfaced motorway of automotive progress was about to hit a speed bump. Surely Tata would announce the mother of all Indian takeaways, sending Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing eastwards and out of the UK?
The opposite has been the case, with Tata Motors investing heavily in its UK business. Yes, Jaguar Land Rover is in talks with potential Chinese partners about building some assembly capability in China but that is a sensible move given the import cost of bringing wholly finished goods into the country. China is a huge growth market for luxury cars and Jaguar sold 30,000 cars there last year.
Even with the China plan, Jaguar Land Rover is a positive UK story. Last year Tata Motors, after plunging into the red as it was caught up in the consumer slump following the financial crisis, dropped plans to close one of its three major factories already operating in Britain. Such was the surge in orders and revenue, the company decided that far from retrenchment the story was all about expansion.
As we reveal today, that expansion is hopefully about to hit a higher gear. Jaguar Land Rover is well advanced in planning for a new engine plant in either the Midlands or South Wales. Although an as yet unnamed site in India could still overcome the two UK favourites, the fact that it would mean shipping the engines back to the UK to be put together with the cars that are assembled here must make it an outsider.
It is unlikely that Jaguar Land Rover will be looking for direct Government support for the plant. After getting entangled in a turf war between the then trade secretary Lord Mandelson’s business department and the Treasury over a £290m rescue package in 2008, it would be well advised to raise any money needed this time in the markets. As Sheffield Forgemasters found to its cost, relying on public grants is a risky game.
What Jaguar Land Rover does need is the type of business-friendly environment conducive to growth. That means more from the Government than simply saying you are business friendly.
It must be hoped that George Osborne and Vince Cable – who have both visited Jaguar Land Rover plants in the past year – do all they can to ensure Tata Motors does choose to bring at least 1,000 new employment opportunities to the UK. Beyond that headline number there are, of course, all the extra supply-chain jobs at local firms which will be linked to the new factory. Do not underestimate either the “good news” boost of a global firm committing to Britain.
There is much talk from the Government about the need to “rebalance the economy” away from an over-reliance on the financial sector and towards manufacturing. This is an opportunity to put such talk into action.

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: The United States faces a crisis not seen since the Depression

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/2011/04/atlantic-international-partnership-headlines-the-united-states-faces-a-crisis-not-seen-since-the-depression/

The poisonous atmosphere surrounding the role of the state and taxation allows no realistic budget  bargaining
Will Hutton in America
The Observer, Sunday 24 April 2011
Maybe it’s because Boston is different, a semi-detached city in one of the US’s most liberal states. But the news that the world’s biggest economy had had its creditworthiness challenged for the first time by the upstart rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) hardly seemed to register with the locals.
No one I met fulminated about loss of economic sovereignty or that S&P, whose purblind approval of junk mortgage debt as triple A was one of the causes of the financial crisis, had finally over-reached itself. Bostonians seemed unconcerned. Perhaps this was because it was just one more surreal moment in the pantomime that is American economic and political life.
That was how the markets judged the news. There was a momentary tremor in the Dow Jones. Some analysts shrugged it off; others thought it profoundly serious. But soon the markets were on the rise again as if nothing had happened.
The Obama administration played it down. Tim Geithner, the secretary of state for the Treasury, said that S&P was behind the political curve; the prospects for a bipartisan deal were now better than they had been for months. If the hope was to provoke a change in the debate about the US’s record budget deficit, S&P must have been disappointed.
The Republicans rehearsed their battle cry that Obama was mortgaging the future and that the only plan in town to respond to the agency’s “wake-up call” was their own – to take federal spending back to pre-modern levels, while offering further tax relief to the rich. To all this Democrats are ferociously opposed.
You can see why. The Republican position, set out in detail by Paul Ryan, the Republican chair of the congressional budget committee, is not really a budget plan at all. It is a map for dismantling the US state so that it would do little more than provide threadbare pensions and healthcare for the very poorest and almost nothing else, with even defence in the line of fire. Democrats believe in a different role for the state and that the boom story with no role for public spending on science and infrastructure is a nonsense. It is a battle for the very soul of the United States.
For months, President Obama has played the conciliator. In December, he agreed to extend the Bush 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that have so grievously undermined the US’s long-run budgetary position, once again giving ground and so implicitly accepting the logic of the Republican position.
But to general surprise, 10 days ago he showed unexpected spine in a set-piece speech. Turning on his tormentors, he declared that the state was essential to economic growth and what he described as the US’s social compact. Its dismantlement was off-limits on his watch. There would be painful cuts under his deficit-reduction plan, including cuts to defence, but it would involve tax increases for the rich. Warren Buffett, he declared, did not need another tax cut.
The battle is about to become very real. On 16 May, the US will exceed the legal $14.3 trillion limit for its national debt. There has to be a vote to allow it to rise. What worries S&P is that the two parties are still far apart, with the Republicans taking positions that seem to allow no room for reason or compromise.
The threat of the US government closing down will probably be averted, but the poisonous atmosphere surrounding the role of the state and taxation allows no realistic budget bargaining. In the gap, debt and deficits will carry on rising unsustainably, hence the first “negative watch” on US public debt.
The Republican position is part sheer lunacy, but in part it also draws on deep roots and it is hard to disentangle the two. For lunacy, look no further than the debate about whether or not Barack Obama was born in Honolulu and thus eligible to be president. I arrived in the US as billionaire property dealer and publicity-hungry Donald Trump, plainly positioning himself for the Republican presidential nomination race, was saying that his newly employed investigators into Obama’s birth were discovering some interesting material, although he refused to say quite what. Obama’s birth certificate is on public release and Dr Chiyome Fukino, former director of health in Hawaii, has repeatedly said that it is genuine .
Trump must know it is a slur but can’t resist it because a segment of the public is so hungry for such material, even if it is a palpable lie. His approval ratings have soared. And this is where the debate about the debt intersects with the daffy birther movement (those who question whether Obama really is an American and thus eligible for the presidency). A large constituency in the US is disoriented by the continual squeeze on middle-class American living standards, the fall-out of the banking crisis and the rise of China. Taken together, they spell a US in decline and it is felt personally. For them, the US’s problems stem from having strayed from the ideals of the founding fathers and the lessons from the frontier .
This is why Sarah Palin’s homespun, God-fearing philosophy formed in the last American frontier – Alaska – has such political resonance. Her TV series, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, has her climbing rock faces and cooking in the wild, relying on her own capabilities and faith to get her through. No dependency culture here. More of that is what is now needed, not Obama’s cleverness and moderate faith in government. Obviously he can’t have been born an American.
It is powerful, but it is deluded and self-delusion runs deep in the US. Even the smart people at MIT, where so much US innovative technology originates, buy the cultural assertion that their success is all about individual entrepreneurship and brilliance; the cumulative trillions of US government grants are a side-show. Too few see growing federal debt as the necessary flipside of the banking crisis. The state is cast as the public enemy, not its friend.

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Teaching new dogs old tricks

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/2011/04/atlantic-international-partnership-headlines-teaching-new-dogs-old-tricks/

AP/Susan Walsh
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio delivers the oath of office to Republican members of the House of Representatives during the first session of the 112th Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011.
Remember that scene in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” when Jimmy Stewart arrives in the capital for the first time? The freshman senator shakes off his handlers in Union Station and jumps onto a sightseeing bus, eager to see all the statues and monuments honoring the greats of American history.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so thrilled in my life,” he says afterward. “And that Lincoln Memorial — gee whiz! Mr. Lincoln, there he is. Just looking straight at you as you come up those steps. Just sitting there like he was waiting for somebody to come along.”
For all their talk of the Founding Fathers, the Constitution and core principles, you’d have thought that the current freshman class of Congress, the sprouted seed of Tea Partyers and the 2010 midterms, would have made a similar tour their first priority on arrival. And for all I know, many of them did just that. But for some, the siren song of cash and influence has proven stronger, already luring them onto the rocks of privilege and corruption that lurk just inside the Beltway. They’ve made a beeline not for the hallowed shrines of patriots’ pride but for the elegant suites of K Street lobbyists, where the closest its residents have been to Lincoln is the bearded face peering from the $5 bill — chump change. So much for fiercely resisting the wicked, wicked ways of Washington. These new members were seduced faster than Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate.”
In an April 2 editorial, the New York Times reported:

Since last year’s Republican victories, nearly 100 lawmakers have hired former lobbyists as their chiefs of staff or legislative directors, according to data compiled by two watchdog groups, the Center for Responsive Politics and Remapping Debate. That is more than twice as many as in the previous two years.
In that same period, 40 lobbyists have been hired as staff members of Congressional committees and subcommittees, the boiler rooms where legislation is drafted. That again dwarfs the number from the previous two years. While some of those lobbyist-staffers were hired by Democrats, the vast majority are working for Republicans… In many cases, those hiring lobbyists were Tea Party candidates who vowed to end business as usual in Washington.
The revolving door between government and lobbyists has never spun faster. Then there’s this, from Wednesday”s Washington Post:

Many of the Republican freshmen in the House won election vowing to shake up Washington, so it’s a little surprising that many of them seem to be playing an old Washington game: raising much of their campaign money from corporate political action committees.
More than 50 members of the class of 87 GOP freshmen took in more than $50,000 from PACs during the first quarter of 2011, according to new campaign disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Eighteen of the lawmakers took in more than $100,000.
For example, freshman star Kristi Noem of South Dakota — one of the two newbies anointed as liaison to the Republican House leadership — raised $169,000 in PAC money, including cash from General Electric, Boeing, Raytheon, Wells Fargo, Fedex, AFLAC, Altria (the parent company of Philip Morris and Kraft Foods) and pharmaceutical giants Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline.
According to the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, Rep. Noem, who pledged to voters not to make Washington her home, held at least 10 fundraisers in D.C. during that first quarter, her first months as a member of Congress. They included two dinners at the Capital Grille, at which attendees donated between $1,500 and $2,000 apiece, and lunch at We, the Pizza on Pennsylvania Avenue.
A CQ MoneyLine study reports that during the first three months of the year the 87 Republican freshmen pulled in a total of $14.7 million from individuals as well as PACs. Leading the crowd was Diane Black of Tennessee with $926,000, but more than two-thirds of it was her own money. In second place was West Virginia’s David B. McKinley, with $540,000.
Rep. McKinley was one of nine new GOP members spotlighted this week by the website Politico as members who have done things “the Washington way, using a legislative process they once railed against to try to assist donors, protect favored industries or settle scores with their political enemies.”
Three weeks after his swearing in, McKinley introduced a bill to overturn an Environmental Protection Agency ruling that vetoed an Army Corps of Engineers water permit for mountaintop mining, the practice that blasts the tops off mountains and sends debris raining down on communities, streams and rivers. The bill has ramifications for the entire mining industry, but the specific mine in question is owned by Arch Coal. Its PAC contributed $2,500 to McKinley’s 2010 election campaign and another thousand so far this year.
The mining industry was McKinley’s largest corporate campaign contributor — $51,751. And a month after he took office, Politico reported, he introduced another bill “that would block a proposed EPA regulation against coal-ash bricks and drywall, materials architectural and engineering firms — such as one founded by McKinley — routinely recommend in construction project bids.”
Others cited by the Politico investigation include freshmen Bill Johnson of Ohio and Morgan Griffith of Virginia. They, too, have been going to bat for mine executives. The mining sector was Johnson’s biggest corporate donor at $25,146; same with Griffith, who received $40,450.
Texas freshman Bill Flores has been going after the Interior Department’s procedures for offshore oil drilling permits, trying to get the department to impose tighter deadlines and pay back billions in leasing rights to oil companies whose permits are denied. He’s the former president and CEO of an exploratory oil firm. Its employees were his second largest campaign contributor and the oil and gas industry threw in more than $200,000.
In rebuttal, the office of each congressman has generated the appropriate, high-minded spin. “West Virginia is coal, and coal is West Virginia,” said McKinley’s spokeswoman. “He’s doing what he said he would — fighting tooth and nail to stop the EPA’s war on coal …” Rep. Flores told Politico, “This is an issue that is very important to me as I have been involved in finding solutions to America’s long-term energy independence for the last thirty years.”
And so it goes. At this rate, if the Abraham Lincoln so venerated by the idealistic Mr. Smith is still at his memorial hoping for someone to come along, someone with integrity and dedication to the people and not the almighty dollar, he’s going to have a long wait.
The new dogs have learned the old tricks of Capitol Hill with remarkable speed, and their big business masters, armed with their Supreme Court-sanctioned ability to throw bottomless bags of money around, have more control of the leash than ever.
Michael Winship, senior writing fellow at Demos and president of the Writers Guild of America, East, is former senior writer of “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS.

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Robotics morphs into more-mainstream investmentAtlantic International Partnership Headlines: Robotics morphs into more-mainstream investment

http://altlantic-internationalpartnership.com/2011/05/atlantic-international-partnership-headlines-robotics-morphs-into-more-mainstream-investment/

BEDFORD, Mass. — Top scientists around the world are trying to improve upon robots, which can already detect bombs, perform surgery and even go into battle.
At iRobot Corp., they’re trying to make a better vacuum.
Of course, iRobot’s scientists do other things too. The company, best known for its Roomba floor vacuum, recently sent machines to Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster to help detect radiation, to the war zone in Afghanistan to find bombs, and to the Gulf of Mexico to locate spilled oil in the water.
But home robots — dominated by vacuums — make up 55 percent of the company’s revenue and are part of the reason iRobot is on a tear. Shares are up 43 percent since the start of the year, and the company earned a profit of $26 million on sales of $401 million last year, up from $3 million on $299 million in revenue the year before.
The company recently announced it had won a contract to make bomb disposal robots for the Navy.
That iRobot, the only public company that focuses purely on robotics, is getting attention from investors indicates that this young industry is becoming more mainstream. As analysts and consumers get more comfortable with robots, more companies might succeed in the space.
“It’s almost like buying Internet companies in the 1990s,” said Alex Hamilton, an analyst with Early Bird Capital who covers iRobot. “The sky’s the limit.”
Not everyone is a fan. A 2008 Consumer Reports review of vacuums found that the Roomba 560 “was among the worst performers at cleaning edges and corners.” On consumer tech site CNET, comments ranged from “always broken, warranty poor” to “It’s awesome! Great for what it costs.”
The company is now trying to boost sales of secondary items, such as pool and gutter cleaners, to go along with its bestselling Roomba and Scooba robots.
Next up: a device on wheels that can follow you around the house like Rosie from “The Jetsons” and someday maybe even bring you a beer. The company predicts an expanding market in robots that assist the country’s aging population.
“No one has ever made money with robots before,” said Chief Executive Colin Angle, a freckle-faced 43-year-old who happens to be married to Erika Ebbel, Miss Massachusetts 2004. “But ours create more value than they cost to build.”
The growth is evident at the company’s headquarters in a Bedford, Mass., office park, where young men in ties and white shirts follow a tour on their first day of orientation. Awards from the last decade sit along the walls: gold-plated and silver Roombas, a crystal Entrepreneur of the Year award for Angle. IRobot now employs about 650 people.
The success is new for a company that teetered on the edge of survival for its first decade and a half. Founded in 1990 by Angle, MIT professor Rodney Brooks and graduate student Helen Greiner, the company’s mission was initially vague: to make practical robots that could be useful in everyday lives.
At the time, few investors believed this was a profitable venture, so the three put company expenses on their credit cards, and struggled.
“We were unfundable,” said Angle, walking through an exhibit in the company’s headquarters of experiments from iRobot’s past — a baby doll robot, a Zamboni-like vacuum, a furry creature that runs away from humans when it senses anger.
IRobot didn’t receive its first venture funding until 1998. Even then, its endeavors were disjointed, spread across eight divisions: robots that could vacuum floors, entertain children and work on oil wells, to name just a few. It sent robots to work in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the government contracts weren’t profitable enough to support the flailing consumer side.
The company nearly went under in 2002 as it tried to find retailers that would stock the newly completed Roomba. Just when its founders had given up hope, the Brookstone retailing chain called, saying that a test run of the machines had gone well and that consumer demand was increasing.
“We went from the lowest of the low to the most exciting time,” Angle said. “Suddenly, things started to work.”
Even after the company went public in 2005, its financial problems continued. Its stock slid, precipitously at times, to a low of $7 in 2009 as the company burned through cash because of manufacturing issues and the high price of nickel, which is used to make batteries.
A new chief financial officer, John Leahy, has helped the company better manage its finances, analysts say, as has a focus on what it does best: robotic vacuums. Demand is growing overseas as the company expands into Latin America and Europe. International sales grew 70 percent in 2010, and international home robot revenue made up two-thirds of the company’s home robot sales.
The military machines have been a success too: IRobot is one of only two companies that provided robots to the military that have actually ended up on the ground, said Barbara Coffey, managing director at Brigantine Advisors, an investment research company. And the contracts keep coming in. Aside from the Navy deal, the Army said in March that it had ordered 76 small unmanned ground vehicles from iRobot.
“The company during that period really did grow from focused on the next flashy thing to the nuts and bolts of running a business,” Coffey said. “Things like quality assurance and all the heavy lifting stuff came to bear.”
IRobot hopes next to enter the health care field with Ava, essentially a device on wheels that works with existing tablet computers and can follow people around, sensing walls and other obstacles. If someone is trying to reach a senior citizen who isn’t answering the phone, for example, Ava can go find the person, Angle said.
The company is inviting iPad developers to get into the game, designing apps for Ava.
It’s just one way the company is expanding outside of cleaning products to make robots a more common presence in our lives.
“Nearly 100 percent of robots are going to help us do more and more and be part of a better life,” Angle said. “It’s the stuff of dreams.”