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Any concession from Sharon has to be viewed as a positive in my opinion. As far as I know, he has never said there will be a Palestinian state or offered to remove any settlements. It may not be much, but it is a step in the right direction.
You have nothing to say about Sharon's concessions? Or Arafat now holding up the new Palestinian PM's cabinet appointments? The path to peace is clear. All Afafat has to do is get out of the way. I guess his power is more important than his people.
Arafat Holds Up New Palestinian Cabinet
Apr 14, 7:22 AM (ET)
By MARK LAVIE
JERUSALEM (AP) - Incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas set out his list of Cabinet ministers, expecting quick approval to trigger the presentation of a U.S.-backed peace plan, but opposition to some of his choices emerged Monday.
Once Abbas takes office, President Bush has said he would present the "road map" plan, starting the clock toward Palestinian statehood in three years. The United States and Israel have demanded that veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat move aside before peace talks resume.
But Arafat and several leading members of his Fatah movement object to some of Abbas' appointments. "There is a very big argument about this Cabinet," said legislator Nabil Amr, a reformer who has been offered the post of information minister. "President Arafat has reservations about some names in this Cabinet."
Abbas is planning a wide-ranging reshuffle of Arafat's Cabinet, moving all but two ministers, demoting several, firing others and bringing in reformers and experts to guide the overblown and corruption-ridden Palestinian regime.
Late Sunday, Fatah's Central Committee postponed at the last minute a session that was to have approved the Abbas Cabinet. The body does not have a formal say over the Cabinet, but Abbas, who is Arafat's deputy in Fatah and the PLO, is seen unlikely to buck the will of his main power base.
Arafat and top Fatha officials dug in over appointment of a new interior minister, in charge of security forces, insisting on retaining Hani al-Hassan, a close aide. Abbas refused, and in the end, decided to keep the ministry for himself, while appointing his favored candidate, Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, as state minister for interior affairs.
That would give Dahlan authority to unite the security services and confront militant groups responsible for attacks on Israel, as Israel and the United States demand.
Other prominent figures in Arafat's regime faced demotion, including the most visible officials - Local Government Minister Saeb Erekat and Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, frequent Arafat spokesmen, and Trade Minister Maher al-Masri. The three have told Abbas they will not join the Cabinet, officials said.
Nabil Shaath, the powerful planning minister, was slated for a new post, state minister for external affairs, tapping his wide contacts with foreign diplomats.
Abbas was hoping to win Fatah approval and present his Cabinet later in the week, but the last-minute maneuvering threatened another delay.
Last week Bush expressed some impatience in the drawn-out Cabinet negotiations, now in their fourth week, postponing presentation of the "road map," a joint project of the "Quartet" of Mideast mediators - the United States, Europe, United Nations and Russia.
The three-phase plan calls for an end to 30 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence and pullback of Israeli forces from forward positions in the West Bank, followed by provisional Palestinian statehood and negotiations over final status issues like borders, Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements.
Israel has presented 15 requests for changes in the plan, insisting on ironclad procedures guaranteeing an end to Palestinian attacks before Israel makes any moves. The Palestinians charge that Israel is trying to sabotage the plan.
However, in a newspaper interview Sunday, Sharon indicated that he would be willing to uproot Jewish settlements in exchange for true peace with the Palestinians.
Though many locations in the West Bank are historically tied to Israel, Sharon told the Haaretz daily, "I know that we will have to part with some of these places."
Sharon also said that a Palestinian state is inevitable. "I do not think we have to rule over another people and run their lives," Sharon said. "I do not think that we have the strength for that."
Sharon's own Likud Party rejects creation of a Palestinian state, and many of his supporters oppose dismantling any of the 150 Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sharon himself oversaw creation of many of them in previous governments.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press.
If we had just taken out the regime in the first Gulf War, no sanctions would have been necessary. And in the future, we should rethink the policy of using sanctions but I doubt that will be done. For some reason, a decade of sanctions is preferable to war for most at the UN. I think a quick and decisive military action is better. The path that leads to less death and human suffering is better and I don't understand why people can't see that.
Yes, it has had a great run. Have you taken any profits yet?
I think this is an extraordinary development. Sure, they are bitching about the "Roadmap" but the fact that Sharon himself says there will be a Palestinian state and that he will remove some Jewish settlements is amazing to me. Of course he still has to actually do it but just the fact that he would say it is a step forward. I don't think he has ever acknowledged that there will be a Palestinian state before, much less removal of some settlements. I think that Pres. Bush is going to push both sides into an agreement. And even if the administration is full of so called "zionists" it won't matter. If anyone thinks they can control Bush they are sorely mistaken. So far he has taken the stance of "I am going to do whatever the hell I want and if anyone doesn't like it, tough". This type of stance is what will be needed to push through a peace agreement and I think he will do it. Whether or not it holds is anyone's guess. Now the Palestinians just need to hurry up and get that PM in place.
Sharon: Israel May Cede Some Settlements
Apr 13, 7:59 AM (ET)
By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel will hand over some Jewish settlements for peace, but the Palestinians must give up their demand that refugees be allowed to return to their former homes in Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview published Sunday.
In a broad interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Sharon said he believes the U.S.-led war on Iraq has shaken up the Middle East and may open the door to new opportunities for negotiations.
A hardliner who played a key role in building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Sharon outlined his reservations with the so-called U.S.-backed "road map" to Palestinian statehood.
An Israeli delegation headed by Dov Weisglass, director-general of Sharon's office, headed to the United States Saturday to present 15 Israeli reservations with the plan.
The plan envisions Palestinian statehood by 2005 and is backed by the Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
The U.S.-led war on Iraq "generated a shock through the Middle East and it brings with it a prospect of great changes," Sharon told Haaretz.
However, whether peace is reached depends on the Palestinians, he said, adding they must first change their leadership and fight terrorism. Viewed by Israel as a moderate, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister-designate, could be the key to a possible peace deal, he said.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said Israel's attempt to change the road map was meant to "sabotage" the project. "It's another way for the Israeli government to say it is rejecting the road map," he said.
Sharon said Israel's main concerns with the road map are security-related, but he gave no details, saying only the differences were in "wording" not in opinion.
In addition, Israel wants progress in the plan to be conditional on implementation - when one step is completed the sides move on to the next phase, Sharon said. The Palestinians want the sides to adhere to a strict timetable.
The third key demand, Sharon said, is the right of return for refugees. "This definitely poses a problem," he added.
An Israeli government official who spoke on condition of anonymity, clarified that Israel wants the Palestinians to give up the right of return in a deal that would grant them a state with provisional borders, one of the steps toward permanent statehood outlined in the road map.
Palestinians demand refugees be allowed to return to homes that they fled during the 1948 Middle East war. Those homes are in what is now Israel.
Israel - which views the right of return as a threat to its existence as a Jewish state - says the hundreds of thousands of refugees, who are spread throughout the world and in camps in the West Bank and Gaza, should only be allowed to return to the new Palestinian state.
The right of return was one of the main reasons peace talks collapsed in July 2000. Two months later, fighting erupted. Since then, 2,262 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 755 on the Israeli side.
Israel and the United States have demanded the Palestinians reform their government and appoint a prime minister. Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, was recently chosen by the Palestinian parliament to fill the role, but his appointment has been delayed by difficulties forming a Cabinet and differences of opinion with Yasser Arafat.
Sharon held out hope that Abbas would take steps to combat terrorism and violence. "Abu Mazen understands that it is impossible to vanquish Israel by means of terrorism," he said.
Sharon repeated in the interview a pledge to make "painful concessions" for peace. Going a little further than usual, he mentioned by name two Jewish settlements, Shiloh and Beit El, West Bank areas that hold biblical and historical significance for Jews.
"I know that we will have to part with some of these places. There will be a parting from places that are connected to the whole course of our history. As a Jew this agonizes me. But I have decided to make every effort to reach a settlement," Sharon said.
Sharon's government includes several extreme-right parties - including some that don't recognize the Palestinian right to statehood and call for a "transfer" of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to Jordan.
If Sharon reaches a deal that would require Israel to dismantle settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, these parties would bolt his government, leaving him with a minority in the 120-seat parliament. But the opposition Labor Party has said it will support a peace deal if Sharon presents it to parliament.
"Eventually there will be a Palestinian state," Sharon said, repeating a statement that contradicts his own Likud party platform.
"I do not think we have to rule over another people and run their lives. I do not think that we have the strength for that," Sharon said, adding that Israel's recent reoccupation of Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank is temporary. "It is not a situation that can persist."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press.
I am whited skinned and I am not an elitist. Such statements should not be made. If sylvester is as you say he is, it is not because of the color of his skin, it is because of who he is inside. The human preoccupation with trivial matters is what causes 99% of conflict. Skin color, religion, etc. are irrelevant in politics. Until we all move beyond such things, we will never know peace. BTW- The video of the Kurds that were gassed is the one thing that caused me the most pain. I would have killed Sadaam myself if I was able. Those people didn't deserve that and it is amazing to me that he held such little regard for those children.
I think the biggest problem with the Iraq situation is that we didn't get rid of Sadaam in 1991. But guess what, we didn't have a UN mandate for that. Only to drive the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. If it were up to the UN, the Iraqi people would never know freedom. Only sanctions that starve their families. I think that now that Sadaam is gone, the UN will lift the sanctions and that will be a wonderful relief to the Iraqi people. The UN sanctions have most likely killed more Iraqi people than Sadaam and our bombs put together. I have lost a lot of faith in the UN through this ordeal and I used to be a very big supporter. Who is at the head of the UN human rights committee now? The answer to that question should explain my point of view. I still think the UN is a viable entity but the whole body really needs to sit down and figure out what role they want to play. Up to this point, they are only a debating society and the only power they are willing to exercise is lip service and sanctions. I think we should be more careful of using sanctions. They only hurt the general population, not the ruling class. It was so for Iraq and has been for Cuba for many years.
Retail Sales Surge 2.1 Percent in March
Friday April 11, 9:00 AM EDT
By Jonathan Nicholson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales rebounded with surprising strength in March, posting their strongest showing since the fall of 2001, the government said on Friday in a report that should ease fears the Iraq war and rising gas prices would keep shoppers from the stores.
The Commerce Department said retail purchases jumped 2.1 percent in the month, well above Wall Street analysts' expectations and the biggest monthly gain since October 2001, when sales were recovering after the Sept. 11 attacks.
March sales excluding autos rose 1.1 percent. In other reassuring news, February's sales slide was revised to a less severe 1.3 percent from the previously reported 1.6 percent.
Analysts had expected sales to bounce back from the drop in February, but the size of the gain was unexpected. Economists polled by Reuters had projected overall retail sales to climb 0.6 percent, and sales excluding autos to advance 0.4 percent.
Financial markets rose on the news. Stocks in London extended gains and the U.S. dollar rose, while prices for safe-haven U.S. Treasury securities dropped sharply.
"It may suggest some momentum may be building as we get into April," said Patrick Fearon, an economist with A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis.
Uncertainty generated by the war in Iraq, along with its related 24-hour television coverage, has taken a toll on some retailers. On Thursday, the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart (WMT), said sales at its stores open at least a year were up a slim 0.7 percent in March, the worst monthly performance since December 2000.
"This is good news for the economy," said Tim O'Neill, chief economist, BMO Financial Group in Toronto.
Commerce said March auto sales advanced 5.3 percent, their biggest increase since December last year. Building materials sales surged a record 7.9 percent, more than making up for a 5.8 percent fall in snowbound February.
Retail sales make up a substantial portion of overall consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. With hiring stalling in recent months, economists have been waiting to see if consumers would respond by tightening their purse strings, putting more pressure on an already fragile U.S. economy.
Elsewhere in the March report, sales of furniture and home furnishings rose 1.5 percent, while apparel purchases were up 1.1 percent. Gasoline station sales fell 0.3 percent, confounding analysts' expectations that they would rise to reflect the increase in prices in the run-up to the Iraq war.
©2003 Reuters Limited.
GE 1st-Quarter Earnings Fall Nearly 9 Pct
Friday April 11, 7:00 AM EDT
BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co. (GE), a conglomerate whose businesses range from television broadcasting to jet-engine manufacturing, said on Friday first-quarter earnings fell nearly 9 percent on sharply reduced gas turbine sales.
GE had said in January that earnings were likely to decline at its power systems unit, which makes gas turbines and had been a huge profit driver in recent years, as capital spending on power-generation facilities has slowed.
The Fairfield, Connecticut, company said it earned $3.2 billion, or 32 cents a share, before a required accounting change, down from $3.5 billion, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier.
The results were in line with GE's own forecast and the analysts' average estimate compiled by research firm Thomson First Call.
GE Chairman Jeff Immelt said he remains comfortable with the company's full-year earnings forecast of $1.55 to $1.70 per share, or 3 percent to 13 percent growth over 2002.
First-quarter revenue declined 1 percent to $30.3 billion because of fewer gas turbine sales and less revenue from NBC television, which in the year-ago quarter benefited from its Winter Olympics coverage.
GE recorded a noncash transition charge of $215 million, or 2 cents a share, for the change in accounting for costs associated with the eventual retirement of some operating facilities.
The company's power systems business shipped 33 heavy-duty gas turbines in the quarter, down from 69 a year earlier.
©2003 Reuters Limited.
Looks like our Marines may have found something nuclear in Iraq. In a bunker system beneath Al Tawaitha, about 14 buildings had radaition levels that were described as "off the charts". Fox News is describing the bunker system as a city within a city and the funny thing is, the site was visited by UN weapons inspectors two months ago. The inspectors never found the bunker system apparantly. Of course, this has yet to be confirmed so I would think that we should wait and see what it turns out to be, but it is interesting that they found high radiation levels underneath a site that was recently inspected by the UN.
Jobless Claims Fall in Latest Week
Thursday April 10, 8:43 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fewer Americans lined up for state unemployment benefits fell last week but the labor market still showed little signs of improvement in a slowing economy.
U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 38,000 to a seasonally adjusted 405,000 for the week ended April 5, the Labor Department said. It was the biggest one-week drop in a year. But the level remained above the key 400,000 level economists consider a weak labor market for the eighth week in a row.
Still, the decline was bigger than expected. Economists in a Reuters poll forecast, on average, that claims would decline to 428,000.
The four-week moving average, considered a more reliable number because it irons out the volatility in the weekly data, declined to a seasonally adjusted 419,500 from 423,250.
©2003 Reuters Limited.
Well, it looks like Baghdad is under U.S. control. I am watching Fox News now and I guess a picture is worth a thousand words. Iraqi citizens and U.S. soldiers standing side by side, arm in arm pretty much says it all.
Thanks Tim! I'll take a look at it.
That's true. I am still looking into it and it doesn't look good. Sometimes, stocks trading near the low are there for a reason.
Yes, the war was forced upon Arjuna after Krishna went to the other side trying to offer a peaceful solution and was rebuked. And yes, it is very deep and it takes not only many readings but a lot of introspection. A lot of the meaning comes from within yourself.
I thought this article posed an interesting idea. I would like to see Palestine as a member of the UN. At least they would then have a voice in the international community. The U.S. should act as a sponser. If we are truly interested in Middle East peace, that step would go a long way towards the goal and help to diffuse some of the anti-American sentiment in the Arab world.
Exclusive: UN Membership for Palestine — Now
John V. Whitbeck, Special to Arab News
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=24813
JEDDAH, 6 April 2003 — Counterintuitive though it may seem while bombs and missiles rain down on Iraq and threats of “transfer” hover over Palestine, now may be the ideal time for the State of Palestine to apply for — and obtain — full United Nations membership.
The State of Palestine was proclaimed, within all the Palestinian territories occupied during the 1967 war, on November 15, 1988 at the historic Palestine National Council meeting in Algiers which formally endorsed the two-state solution and recognized Israel within the 78 percent of historic Palestine which Israel had controlled prior to the 1967 war.
Within two months, the State of Palestine was recognized diplomatically by over 100 other sovereign states. Today, it is recognized by roughly two-thirds of UN member states. Notwithstanding the subsequent Oslo accords, the state has never been renounced or legally ceased to exist.
Indeed, in July 1998, by a 124-4 vote in the General Assembly, the “permanent observer” status of “Palestine” at the UN was upgraded to a unique and unprecedented level, with rights and privileges of participation that had previously been exclusive to member states.
The Palestinian Authority, an anomalous creature of the Oslo accords, legally ceased to exist on May 4, 1999, the date on which the “interim period” pursuant to these accords ended. No one having an interest in insisting upon this legal point, no one did. However, since Ariel Sharon’s onslaught during the spring of 2002, the “Authority” has effectively ceased to exist as a practical force on the ground as well as in legal theory.
The State of Palestine, which does not require a second proclaiming, is available to fill the vacuum.
After his return to Palestine in 1994, Yasser Arafat listed three titles under his signature on his Arabic correspondence — President of the State of Palestine, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President of the “Palestinian National Authority”. However, the state was de-emphasized and, publicly, spoken of more as an aspiration than as the legal and diplomatic fact which it actually was and still is.
There were two good strategic reasons for this.
First, the Palestinian leadership believed that discretion and peaceful negotiations were more likely to produce a warm and open peace based on the two-state solution than thrusting the Palestinian state aggressively in the face of an Israeli state which, after all, still occupied militarily all of Palestine.
Second, the Palestinian leadership believed that, at each point when bringing the state out of the closet was a serious prospect (indeed, on several occasions when President Arafat had solemnly promised to do so), a US veto of UN membership was highly likely and might make the Palestinian position worse than before.
Neither of these concerns is valid today. A warm and open peace is no longer conceivable. It is now almost universally accepted that separation based on the two-state solution and on the pre-June 1967 borders is essential for the peace and security of both peoples. When, in March 2002, the Arab League dramatically reaffirmed this fundamental formula in its Beirut Declaration, inspired by the Saudi Arabian initiative, almost all governments other than Israel and the US publicly embraced it.
Most importantly, with President Bush having repeatedly spoken of his “vision” of a Palestinian state, with the US having so recently expressed outrage over an allegedly “unreasonable” veto threat from France, Russia and China and with the entire Muslim world seething with unprecedented anti-American fury, is it conceivable that the US would veto a Palestinian UN membership application if one were submitted now?
If Palestine, within its internationally accepted pre-June 1967 borders, were a UN member state, not simply “the occupied territories” and no longer even arguably “disputed”, for how much longer could Israel maintain its occupation, which even Kofi Annan has publicly branded “illegal”? The writing would clearly be on the wall for all to see. The end of the occupation, even if not imminent, would instantly become only a question of “when”, no longer of “whether”. No change currently imaginable is more likely than a mutual realization of this inevitability to reverse the cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
The long-awaited but still unpublished “road map for Middle East peace” leads nowhere and has never been intended by the US to lead anywhere.
Particularly after President Bush’s recent public statement that he expects to receive comments on it from Israel (which has about 100 ready), it should be transparently clear that this “road map” is simply another opportunity for Israel to delay, feigning interest in peace while building more settlements and bypass roads and, generally, making a viable Palestinian state even less imaginable.
Dark though the skies may appear, now is not a time for despair, supine resignation and groveling for crumbs. Now is the time for the Palestinian leadership to seize the initiative, change the agenda and do something concrete and constructive to make the end of the occupation inevitable and to hasten the day of its end.
• John V. Whitbeck is an international lawyer who writes frequently on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Yes, I have a little Buffet in there. To me, it is better when the market is like this. When a bull market runs, it is harder to find value. Towards the end of the last bull market, it was a crap shoot as everything was overvalued. For long term investors, this type of market is where you set up your portfolio for the future. On that note, I was hoping to get some opinions on AT&T. I've got net tangible book value at about $9.81. They have $8B in cash and a 4.9% yield. With 2003 and 2004 estimates of $1.92 and $1.52 respectively, it looks like earnings are going in the wrong direction so I suppose there is little reason to get in a hurry as there will likely be ample time to get in and probably at a better price. But I wanted to get some opinions anyway and perhaps some thoughts on where the stock price will bottom out.
5 Year History Splits and Dividends Amount Per Share
03-27-03 Cash Dividend 0.188
12-27-02 Cash Dividend 0.188
11-19-02 Split 1:5
11-19-02 Spin Off 2.438
09-26-02 Cash Dividend 0.188
06-26-02 Cash Dividend 0.188
03-26-02 Cash Dividend 0.188
12-27-01 Cash Dividend 0.188
09-26-01 Cash Dividend 0.188
07-09-01 Spin Off 1.330
06-27-01 Cash Dividend 0.188
03-28-01 Cash Dividend 0.188
12-27-00 Cash Dividend 0.188
09-27-00 Cash Dividend 1.100
06-28-00 Cash Dividend 1.100
03-29-00 Cash Dividend 1.100
12-29-99 Cash Dividend 1.100
09-28-99 Cash Dividend 1.100
06-28-99 Cash Dividend 1.100
04-16-99 Split 3:2
03-29-99 Cash Dividend 1.100
12-29-98 Cash Dividend 1.100
09-28-98 Cash Dividend 1.100
06-26-98 Cash Dividend 1.100
A joke my Mom emailed me.
All of Saddam Hussein's look-a-likes were gathered together for a look-a-like meeting. The look-a-like manager tells them, "I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. The good news is that Saddam is still alive so you all get to keep your jobs. The bad news is...... Saddam has lost an arm and a leg."
Actually, after reading over the post, I realized that I really didn't offer an opinion. In my view, the risk/reward ratio is leaning towards reward for stocks. If you are selective, there are some good values out there. As you know, I am very bullish on dividend stocks that are trading near tangible asset value. If it is near net tangible asset value with a high yield, that usually means it is at the low end of its trading range. You just have to seperate those that are in real trouble and those that are just in a dip. I think if you can uncover these values right now, you will do well going forward long term. A bull market will come eventually and until then, the high yield a low downside risk make certain stocks attractive.
I think there will be rallies on good days and corrections on bad days. It is not going o be easy to say definitively when the war ends IMO. Maybe when we control Baghdad or something but we will be there for a long time to come providing security and will probably be under the threat of terrorist attack for the entire time we are there so there could be days when the market reacts badly to attacks for quite some time. As far as the economic numbers go, yes. The market will soon start paying more attention to economic numbers and less to geopolitical events. That should happen when the next earnings season gets under way, which should be pretty soon as the first quarter just ended. Right now, it is up in the air. There could be more hard times ahead for the economy or we could be looking to recover soon. There is very little visibility right now which is why we have such a choppy market.
I think talk of a double dip recession is premature. The last time I checked, GDP was decent. Unemployment is not very encouraging so we'll have to wait and see.
Basically the same thing as a double bottom in an individual stock. The economy dips into a recession and recovers, only to dip into a recession again.
Wall Street Seen Rising as Data Looms
Friday April 4, 5:44 AM EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Wall Street was seen opening higher on Friday as investors react to news of fresh U.S. advances in the Iraq war, although nagging worries about the health of the U.S. economy could cap gains as key data looms.
PeopleSoft (PSFT) was expected to be among the main fallers after its shares sank in European trade, following a profit warning from the business software maker.
International Paper (IP) is another focus after shares in European peer UPM-Kymmene (UPM1V) slumped to a four-year low after it said first quarter earnings would halve year-on-year.
The closely watched U.S. employment report is due for release before markets open and is expected to show a rise in the number of people out of work.
"The economy could be heading for a double-dip recession, although it's not clear because of the distorting effect of the war," said Shawn Miguel Gallegos, who manages a portfolio of U.S. stocks at Spanish fund manager GesMadrid.
"But the market in the short-term is also prone to overlooking weak economic numbers," he added, citing developments in the 16-day war in Iraq.
U.S. troops took control of Baghdad airport in the first ground attack on the Iraqi capital. A U.S. spokesman also said that a 2,500-strong division of Republican Guards had surrendered.
Shares in PeopleSoft sank to $14.20 on agency brokerage Instinet having closed on Nasdaq at $16.50, after the business software maker warned its first-quarter earnings and revenues would fall short of expectations.
The company blamed delayed corporate purchasing resulting from the war in Iraq.
International Paper (IP) stock fell to 32.30 euros ($34) from their regular close of $34.78 after the world's largest magazine paper maker, Finland's UPM-Kymmene, said its first-quarter profit would halve year-on-year due to low prices and a weak U.S. dollar, sending its stock to four-year lows and hitting sector peers.
By 5:22 a.m. EST, the Nasdaq June futures contract was up 0.4 percent. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average June contract rose 0.9 percent.
The U.S. unemployment rate is expected to inch up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent, while non-farm payrolls are seen falling by 29,000, according to a Reuters poll.
©2003 Reuters Limited.
Lowering the tax rates for high income people is what is needed. When it is more economically feasable to pay accountants large sums of money to avoid taxes than it is to just pay the taxes, the outcome is inevitable. Why should someone pay 39% of their earnings in taxes when they can pay 15-20% with 2-3% going to the accountant? I have often thought a 15-20% tax rate across the board would actually keep government tax revenues about the same if they can close all the looppoles. High income individuals would have a much easier time paying $200K for each $1M earned than $390K.
I wonder what the Iraqis are up to? Something is definitely up and I think they must have something up their sleeve. I just can't imagine what it is.
Military puzzle as US advances
Jonathan Marcus
BBC defence correspondent
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2912759.stm
All the signs are that US troops have been ordered to press on with their rapid advance on Baghdad.
But despite some local counter-attacks, the level of Iraqi resistance has been puzzling.
Is the Republican Guard a phantom army? Has its armour and artillery been destroyed from the air?
Or have its forces simply melted away in the face of the US advance to take up new positions closer to Baghdad?
There is no doubt that the pace and scale of the US thrust on the Iraqi capital has been remarkable.
This movement will be studied in the staff colleges for many years to come, was the comment of one senior British commander here in Qatar.
Key objectives have already been identified on the routes into Baghdad, and these could well be in US hands within the next couple of days if the current rate of progress continues.
But for all the precision and choreographed logistical support, there is one great mystery - where have the Iraqi formations gone?
US commanders are not dropping their guard. As forces converge on the Iraqi capital, they are fearful that they could come under chemical attack.
There is also a wariness about the possibility of US units being drawn into a trap.
There is some evidence from intelligence reports of certain Republican Guard units moving into the outskirts of the capital.
Military spokesmen here say that the Americans have no intention of fighting street to street.
We will not turn Baghdad into Grozny, was the way one source put it; a reference to the Chechen capital, largely levelled by Russian forces.
But it is clear that the fighting over the next few days could be just a preliminary to a lengthy stand-off, where the internal dynamics of the Iraqi regime will be just as important as military factors on the ground.
GE Backs Profit Outlook, Plastics Business Suffers
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
BOSTON — General Electric Co. (GE) Wednesday backed its 2003 profit forecast and said first-quarter earnings per share would fall 8.5 percent from a year ago as the conglomerate battles sharply higher oil prices and the expected decline in gas turbine shipments.
GE Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin said the company still expects to earn $1.55 to $1.70 per share in 2003. Sherin made his remarks during a presentation to investors.
Sherin also said the blue-chip conglomerate, which makes everything from jet engines to light bulbs, expects to earn 32 cents a share in the first quarter, which ended March 31. That's in line with the company's forecast in January, when it said first quarter earnings would fall 5 percent to 10 percent, compared with the year-ago quarter, when it earned 35 cents a share.
Before the presentation, analysts expected GE to earn 32 cents a share in the first quarter and between $1.55 to $1.65 per share for the year, according to Thomson First Call.
GE's power systems business, whose profits are expected to decline sharply this year on slackening demand for gas turbines, is doing better than expected, Sherin said. But GE's plastics business is suffering because of the higher price for oil, a key raw material, which has cut into profit margins.
And the impact of the war in Iraq has been tougher than what had been expected on its NBC television business. NBC's ad revenue is hurt when it pre-empts the broadcast of popular TV programs for war coverage.
I like both of those ideas!
I'll do that. I don't really know anything about that period as it was slightly before my time. I was born in 71.
Division of Iraqi Guard Said Destroyed
Apr 2, 7:52 AM (ET)
By NICOLE WINFIELD
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030402/D7Q5DQ600.html
(AP) Two CH-46's Sea Knights and a UH-60 Blackhawk land on a road near the airstrip at Jalibah, southern...
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CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar (AP) - American forces, which crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital, destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.
The U.S. forces seized the strategic town of Kut and routed the Republican Guard division force that had been guarding the highway leading to Baghdad.
"The Baghdad Division has been destroyed," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks.
He said that two other Republican Guard divisions had been engaged around the city of Karbala and that coalition forces had seized control of a dam on Lake al-Milh. Some analysts had feared the Iraqis would try to destroy the dam and trap U.S. forces with the resulting flood.
"They're in serious trouble, and they remain in contact now with the most powerful force on Earth," Brooks said, referring to the other Republican Guard units.
Brooks showed video of U.S. troops carrying wounded POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch on a stretcher to a waiting helicopter after she was rescued in a daring raid at a hospital in the south-central Iraqi town of Nasiriyah. She had been held as a prisoner of war since her unit was attacked by Iraqis on March 23.
The grainy, green-tinted video taken with night-vision lenses showed her to be alert as she lay on the stretcher.
"Some brave souls put their lives on the line to carry this out," Brooks said.
Brooks said that 11 bodies were recovered in the nighttime raid. Two were found in the morgue of the hospital and a captured Iraqi led U.S. troops to the bodies of nine other people who were buried in the town outside the hospital, he said.
U.S. forensics experts were trying to identify the remains.
The rescue force fought its way into and out of the hospital with Iraqis firing on them from nearby buildings, he said. She was held by paramilitary troops who dress in civilian clothes.
Troops found munitions, mortars, maps and a terrain model in the hospital, indicating it was used as a military command center.
Participating in the raid were Army Rangers, Navy SEALS, Air Force pilots and U.S. Marines, he said.
In Najaf, about 50 miles south of Karbala, the Central Command said U.S. forces were being fired on from the Ali Mosque, one of the most important Shiite Muslim sites.
U.S. commanders are trying to prevent damage to religious sites to avoid angering Muslims in Iraq and abroad.
He said coalition forces "were disciplined ... and chose not to return fire against this mosque to keep it protected."
Brooks described the takeover of the mosque by Iraqi troops as "a detestable example of putting historical sites in danger."
What a crock. We should take racists and do exactly what you wrote to them. This type of thinking will ensure that there are always wars, always hatred, and always misery. Who is next after the Jews? Africans, Asians, Latinos? Statements like yours breed hatred and resentment. Some of us are trying to evolve beyond such small minded ideals, why don't you come along?
LOL! I wasn't really thinking about the budget but that would be great. Getting to vote on what our tax dollars are spent on, down to the cent. I bet I could get our deficit under control in a hurry. First thing I'd do is cut the salries of every politician in office by about 50%. It is called public service for a reason and if you are getting paid a lot to do it, I don't think it is much of a service. Especially with the current retirement structure. That would be out as far as I am concerned. Politicians should have to serve the 20-30 years to get retirement just like everybody else. After those two things were enacted, I think our budget would look a lot better. Then I think I would get some efficiency experts to go through the military. I would want to cut spending, I just want to make sure we squeeze every penny and military waste is notoriously high.
we should study those countries who did manage to break free from tyranny and promote whatever forces that lead to that
Excellent point. And I suppose you are right about the assasination thing. Facilitating a revolt from within is probably the best solution. I am still not certain though. If assasinating the leaders who are responsible for the problem is setting a bad example, then certainly going to war and killing thousands of civilians, tens of thousands of enemy troops, and destroying billions of dollars worth of infrastructure is setting a horrible example. I have often thought that the assasination rule was just to protect the asses of those leaders who are responsible while the leaders themselves rarely hesitate from using force to kill the enemy and the leader's own troops. In other words, the leaders think they are indespensible while we are all just fodder. I am not sure I follow that train of thought. We should go back to the old days where Kings led their Armies into battle. If you are a leader that wants to go to war, your boots should be the first to hit the ground and you should be the first to fire a shot. That might give some of these pencil pushing Presidents a little bit more forebearance, don't you think?
I am actually looking to run or work behind the scenes of local politics where I live. The local politicians have not done anything except collect a paycheck here and we are in dire need of solid leadership. I will either run or support as an independant candidate. I live in the sticks so it doesn't mean much on the grand scale of things, but all politics begins at the local level. On that note, I am out of here for the day. Time to relax a bit. Have a good one!
She is against the war altogether. I don't think we should mock others for believing the way they do. She is a dear internet friend of mine and I respect her opinion even if it is different from my own. One of her big things is tolerance and I am firmly behind that notion. I think her point was that the admin was sugar coating reality. A point that may well be true.
I don't follow that line of thinking. The independant party only needs willing volunteers. Raising money for an alternate party should be quite easy right now. A lot of people are disgusted with the partisan politics right now which makes the time ripe for other party funding. The independant party is probably seeking to gain market share as we speak. They need willing bodies that will work for nothing. They need passionate people like you. You seem to be stuck on what we can't do. An old boss of mine had a saying. "Tell me what you can do, not what you can't" A saying I still live by.
That is an interesting point. I have thought that we should figure out a way to use our technology to figure out a way to allow everyone to vote on everything. Not just the elections but each issue. But since no one even seems to want to vote on the elections, I don;t know how many people would want to vote on every issue before congress. But it would make a good website. Put each bill on the site and let people vote. One per Social Security number. Might give an interesting contrast to what passes and what doesn't.
You have two choices and the ability to bring about as many choices as you wish. Get active. The independant party is alive and would likely appreciate your support.
I have seen a lot of that everywhere. Patience is a four letter word in America. LOL!
Yes, I guess the admin may have contributed but I still blame the media mostly. I think you are right that the Admin thought wrong when they assumed that the Iraqi people were going to automatically revolt. After the last gulf war, they should have known better. The last Bush encouraged revolt then left them to die. I imagine that is hard to forget. We are going to have to prove ourselves. But the signs are looking good. I thought it would take about 3 months to get the regime to fall. Then there would be the problems of a provisional gov't and then turning it over to the Iraqis. As far as I am concerned, we are ahead of the game. Most cities are beseiged and they can only last so long.