London’s Low Taxes Lure Foreign Companies as Banks Retrench

London's corporate tax rate will soon be half the U.S. rate

The Swiss town of Baar boasts clean air, easy access to ski slopes and some of Europe’s lowest personal taxes. London? Traffic and perpetual drizzle

Yet executives at Noble Corp. (NE), a provider of deepwater oil drilling rigs, are in the process of moving headquarters from Baar to the British capital, citing the talented workforce and easy airline connections from Heathrow, Europe’s busiest international airport. On top of that, the U.K. tax rate is now competitive with Switzerland’s historically corporate-friendly tax regime.

Noble is part of a wave of overseas companies moving head offices to London, lured in part by the country’s declining corporate taxes. The relocations underscore Prime Minister David Cameron’s efforts to make the country more attractive to foreign companies -- and may help London become less dependent on the financial services industry, which has been retrenching since the 2008 crisis.

READ MORE:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-17/london-luring-foreign-companies-with-low-taxes-as-banks-retrench.html

Networks blamed shutdown on GOP in 41 stories --- 0 for Dems

Republicans never expected to get a fair shake in the Big Three networks' coverage of the 16-day government shutdown, but the final tally of stories blaming the GOP is stunning: 41 stories blamed Republicans and zero blamed Democrats.

Nightly, 20 million Americans heard “a version of the shutdown story that could easily have emanated from Barack Obama's own White House,” said the new report from the Media Research Center.

The report, provided to Secrets, found that a total of 41 stories blamed Republicans for the shutdown. None blamed the Democrats. Another 17 blamed both sides.

READ MORE:   http://washingtonexaminer.com/networks-blamed-shutdown-on-gop-41-stories-0-for-dems/article/2537363

U.S. surges past Saudis to become world's top oil supplier -PIRA

Oct 15 (Reuters) - The United States has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become the world's biggest oil producer as the jump in output from shale plays has led to the second biggest oil boom in history, according to leading U.S. energy consultancy PIRA.

U.S. output, which includes natural gas liquids and biofuels, has swelled 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) since 2009, the fastest expansion in production over a four-year period since a surge in Saudi Arabia's output from 1970-1974, PIRA said in a release on Tuesday.

It was the latest milestone for the U.S. oil sector caused by the shale revolution, which has upended global oil trade. While still the largest consumer of fuel, the rise of cheap crude available to domestic refiners has turned the United States into a significant exporter of gasoline and distillate fuels.

READ MORE:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/15/us-oil-pira-idUSL1N0I51IX20131015

A Staff of Robots Can Clean and Install Solar Panels

RICHMOND, Calif. — In a dusty yard under a blistering August sun, Rover was hard at work, lifting 45-pound solar panels off a stack and installing them, one by one, into a concrete track. A few yards away, Rover’s companion, Spot, moved along a row of panels, washing away months of grit, then squeegeeing them dry.

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Rover, a robot, placing a solar panel in a track at Alion Energy, which is looking to shave labor costs.

But despite the heat and monotony — an alternative-energy version of lather-rinse-repeat — neither Rover nor Spot broke a sweat or uttered a complaint. They could have kept at it all day. 

That is because they are robots, surprisingly low-tech machines that a start-up company called Alion Energy is betting can automate the installation and maintenance of large-scale solar farms. 

READ MORE:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/business/energy-environment/putting-robots-to-work-in-solar-energy.html?_r=2&

The crisis with an on/off switch

On Thursday, the Treasury Department will have only cash on hand and any money coming in -- which varies day to day -- to pay the U.S. government's bills.

What's up with the debt ceiling?

 

And the bills will exceed the revenue and cash at some point after that. So something will have to give. Someone, perhaps seniors due their Social Security payments, won't get paid on time. It's that simple.
In addition, the reaction in markets will likely be bad. The only question is how bad.

Stocks will probably plunge. The U.S. government's incredibly cheap borrowing costs could jump. In a worst-case scenario, the gears of the financial system could gum up because Treasury debt is such an important lubricant.

Some economists fear a jobs-killing recession if a debt ceiling crisis persists. That's because the effective result of not raising the debt ceiling would be a massive and abrupt cut in federal spending.


The only good news is that this latest Washington-made crisis has an obvious on/off switch. It's not too late -- lawmakers can flip the "off" switch now.

READ MORE:  http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/13/news/economy/debt-ceiling-congress/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Debt-ceiling breach would push economy into free fall, without a government safety net

The Obama administration will have to decide whether to delay — or possibly suspend — tens of billions of dollars in Social Security checks, food stamps and unemployment benefits if negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling are not resolved this week, experts say, one of the many difficult choices officials will have to make at a time when the government will essentially be running on fumes.

The government will begin Monday with about $30 billion cash in the bank and a little more room to borrow as a result of extraordinary measures launched in the wake of the debt-ceiling crisis. By Thursday, administration officials say they will exhaust all borrowing authority and have only that cash on hand.

Experts on federal finances say that money might be enough to make payments for a few days, but certainly not for more than two weeks. In any event, they say, President Obama will have to make untested decisions about who and what to pay because daily tax receipts will make up only about 70 cents of every dollar of necessary spending.

Economists roundly agree that no matter which course Obama chooses, a drop in federal spending that large would exert a huge drag on economic growth. And in contrast to what happens during a traditional downturn — the safety net expands to help the vulnerable — assistance to seniors and low-income people could be delayed or reduced if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling.

READ MORE:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/debt-ceiling-breach-would-push-economy-into-freefall-without-a-government-safety-net/2013/10/13/a4efd588-3287-11e3-8627-c5d7de0a046b_story.html?hpid=z1

Delaware Gov. Markell back on hot seat over economy

As Gov. Jack Markell concludes a series of town hall meetings tonight in New Castle County, a new report echoes recent bad news for Delaware’s economy, which has been a topic at Markell’s earlier public forums around the state.

His final meeting tonight is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the auditorium at Delcastle Technical High School near Newport. Markell will take questions from the public.

Cathy Rossi, a Markell spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the governor looks forward to “discussing his plans to support more start-up and innovation businesses, focus on manufacturing, provide workforce training and expand on our strengths in financial services, agriculture and other key industries.”
READ MORE:  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20131010/NEWS02/310100051/Delaware-Gov-Markell-back-hot-seat-over-economy?nclick_check=1