US economy expands at 0.4 percent rate

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster but still anemic rate at the end of last year. However, there is hope that growth accelerated in early 2013 despite higher taxes and cuts in government spending.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was slightly better than the previous estimate of 0.1 percent growth. The revision reflected stronger business investment and export sales.

Analysts think the economy is growing at a rate of around 2.5 percent in the current January-March quarter, which ends this week.

Steady hiring has kept consumers spending this year. And a rebound in company stockpiling, further gains in housing and more business spending also likely drove faster growth in the first quarter.

The 0.4 percent growth rate for the gross domestic product, the economy's total output of goods and services, was the weakest quarterly performance in almost two years and followed a much faster 3.1 percent increase in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was hurt by the sharpest fall in defense spending in 40 years.

For all of 2012, the economy grew 2.2 percent after a 1.8 percent increase in 2011 and a 2.4 percent advance in 2010. Since the recession ended in mid-2009, the economy has been expanding at sub-par rates as a string of problems from higher gas prices to Europe's debt crisis have acted as a drag on the U.S. economy.

Growth appears to be strengthening this year even after taxes increased on Jan. 1 and automatic government spending cuts totaling $85 billion started to take effect on March 1. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the combination of tax increases and spending cuts could trim economic growth this year by about 1.5 percentage points. The CBO is predicting just 1.5 percent growth for 2013.

But so far, the economy is showing signs of holding its own against the fiscal drag.

Employers have added an average of 200,000 jobs a month since November. That helped lower the unemployment rate in February to 7.7 percent, a four-year low.

Economists expect similar job gains in March, in part because a measure of unemployment benefit applications fell this month to a five-year low.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose in February to the highest level in nearly three years, while builders broke ground on more houses and apartments. Annual home prices jumped in January by the most since June 2006, according to a closely watched measure.

Stock prices have surged. On Wednesday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was within two points of its all-time high.

All of that is making consumers feel wealthier, which could lead to more spending. Consumer spending drives 70 percent of economic activity.

The Federal Reserve still thinks the economy needs aggressive measures to bolster growth. Last week it stood by its plan to keep a key short-term interest rate near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent. The Fed also left unchanged its plan to keep buying $85 billion in bonds until it sees a substantial improvement in the job market.

The slowdown in business inventories trimmed 1.5 percentage point from growth in the fourth quarter and the reductions in defense spending cut another 1.3 percentage point from growth.

Consumer spending was growing at a 1.8 percent rate in the fourth quarter, slightly better than the 1.6 percent increase in the third quarter but down from last month's estimate that consumer spending was growing by 2.1 percent.

That revision was offset by upward revisions in business investment spending on structures and equipment and by stronger sales of U.S. exports.

The government first estimated two months ago that the economy had contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, a decline that was erased by the revisions.

The government will release its first look at first quarter growth on April 26.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-economy-expands-0-4-percent-rate-123349960--finance.html

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Burger King's US Twitter Account Hacked, McDonalds Promoted!

Burger King is known to have its share of bloopers as far as social networking is concerned. After the famous "un-friend for a free burger" Facebook campaign, its latest "run in" with adversity comes via Twitter. But this time around, they were the victim of a hack, and not their own stupidity!

A report by the Mirror.co.uk suggests that the fast food company's Twitter account was hacked into by someone calling themselves McDonald's. The rival company made several scathing posts starting with the fake news of a takeover. After quite a bit of damage was done, Twitter finally suspended the account. (Head over to the source site to check out some of the tweets.)

The website is now up and running with all the malicious tweets taken off. Rival McDonald's in response tweeted: "We empathize with our @BurgerKing counterparts. Rest assured, we had nothing to do with the hacking."

We live in an extremely competitive world, where social media can make or break a brand. Hopefully after so many unsavoury incidents, BK will learn to use the medium better.

TAGS: Internet, Security, Twitter

Source: http://techtree.com.feedsportal.com/c/33242/f/624768/s/28b5e765/l/0L0Stechtree0N0Ccontent0Cnews0C30A740Cburger0Ekings0Etwitter0Eaccount0Ehacked0Emcdonalds0Epromoted0Bhtml/story01.htm

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DoorBot lets you see and talk with who's at the door from the comfort of your smartphone (video)

If funding is successful, you'll be able to wave hello to Edison Junior's DoorBot -- an app-enabled, WiFi-connected video doorbell. Sure, it's not exactly the first time we've seen such an idea, but the "weather-resistant," aluminium enclosure makes it one of the best looking concepts we've seen. Better yet, the system is set to work in unison with the Lockitron (a smartphone-controlled keyless door lock that was recently crowd-funded, albeit still yet to ship) allowing you to let welcome visitors inside your abode at the tap of your iOS or Android Device's app screen.

The DoorBot installs with four screws, but it'll have you running through four AA batteries once a year for power (which, based on the video, seem easily removeable by strangers, unfortunately). There's no word on the quality of the camera onboard, however, it's infared-equipped, so you'll be able to see who's there at night. Lastly, the actual doorbell button is wrapped with an LED light, and, as you'd expect, it alerts you via the app when pressed to see and speak with whomever is at the door.

In total, Edison Junior hopes to raise a lofty $250,000 to make the DoorBot more than a concept video, with 45 days to reach the goal. If you're willing to take the gamble as backer, $169 is what'll cost to secure a pre-order, and $319 snags you one bundled with the Lockitron. We're told that we'll see a working prototype in the flesh at CES, but until then, you can catch the full sales pitch at the source link and video demo after the break.

Continue reading DoorBot lets you see and talk with who's at the door from the comfort of your smartphone (video)

Filed under: Household

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Source: Edison Junior (Christie Street)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/06/edison-junior-doorbot-video-doorbell/

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How far over the 'fiscal cliff' could they go?

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks to a closed-door Republican strategy session, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks to a closed-door Republican strategy session, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama gestures as he asks if the back of the room could hear him after the podium microphone stopped working while he was speaking about the fiscal cliff during an address before the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

White House press Secretary Jay Carney listens at left as Jason Furman, assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, gestures as he speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec., 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The dealmakers who warn that a year-end plunge off the "fiscal cliff" would be disastrous don't seem to be rushing to stop it. Why aren't they panicking?

For one thing, the Dec. 31 deadline is more flexible than it sounds. Like all skilled procrastinators, from kids putting off homework to taxpayers who file late, Washington negotiators know they can finagle more time if they need it.

That doesn't mean delay would be cost-free. Stock markets might tank if 2013 dawns without a deal. But Americans could be temporarily spared many of the other ill effects if Congress and President Barack Obama blow past their deadline.

The Obama administration would have power to delay some of the tax increases and spending cuts that would officially take effect as January begins. Then, if an agreement is reached early in the year, it could be applied retroactively to wipe them out.

Some lawmakers even argue that briefly going over the cliff is the best way to force a compromise. The Obama administration on Wednesday indicated it would take the plunge if necessary to ensure that the wealthy end up paying higher tax rates.

Pushing the deadline too far is a risky strategy, however. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the fiscal cliff policies, if left unchecked, would spark a recession later in 2013 and send the unemployment rate above 9 percent by fall.

How long could negotiators balk and bicker before putting the U.S. economy in jeopardy? The calendar becomes less and less forgiving as the weeks pass.

A procrastinator's guide to pushing the deadline:

___

DECEMBER

Democrats led by Obama and Republicans led by House Speaker John Boehner say it's critical to reach a deal this month. Yet both sides appear dug in over taxes. And their two plans are far apart on how much to cut spending while the economy is still recovering from the last recession.

So far, Boehner said, "we're nowhere."

If compromise were easy for this bunch, they wouldn't be in this jam. A good chunk of the fiscal cliff ? the automatic spending cuts known as the "sequester" ? is an artificial deadline created by Congress in hopes of forcing itself to come up with a deficit-cutting plan. It arrives at the same time as the expiration of the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts and other temporary tax breaks scheduled to end unless Congress extends them. Together the taxes and cuts would equal close to $700 billion in deficit reduction over 2013.

Congress could vote to override all this and essentially freeze taxes and spending where they are now while the economy heals. But Obama and lawmakers, especially Republicans bent on budget-cutting, see the fiscal cliff as the critical moment to overcome inertia on the nation's long-term debt crisis.

___

JANUARY

If there's no deal in December, the economy won't fall off a cliff on New Year's Day. But it probably will begin a bumpy downhill ride.

The new Congress that convenes Jan. 3 won't look much different from the one that's deadlocked now, divided between a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-dominated Senate. The lawmakers would feel more heat, however.

Higher taxes for nearly everyone and across-the-board spending cuts would already be law.

"People will get more nervous day by day," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. Still, he thinks the economy could weather a few more weeks of uncertainty as long as negotiators appeared to be working toward an agreement.

If the Bush-era tax cuts expired, that would raise income taxes for the average middle-class family by $2,200 over the course of 2013, the White House says. That's about $42 per week, probably not enough to curtail spending right away and deal an immediate blow to the economy, economists say.

Plus, taxpayers might never have to ante up. The Treasury Department sets withholding tables that determine how much tax comes out of Americans' paychecks. It could hold off raising the withholding if a deal seems to be in the works, said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow of the private Tax Policy Center.

Both Republicans and Democrats say they don't want middle-class taxpayers to pay higher tax rates. They disagree over whether to let tax rates rise on individual income above $200,000, as Obama wants.

Other far-reaching tax changes are more likely to go ahead in January. For example, although Obama proposes extending the temporary Social Security payroll tax reduction, support for that has been weak. So more money might start coming out of workers' pay, whether or not a fiscal cliff deal is reached. That's another $1,000 over the year, or a little more than $19 per week, from a worker making $50,000.

As for the sequester, the White House can direct the Pentagon and federal agencies to husband their resources for a while and hold off on some spending cuts while negotiations continue.

"The more there's an anticipation that there's actually an agreement in the works, the less of an impact any of this should have," said Chad Stone, chief economist for the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He argues that it's OK to miss the fiscal cliff deadline if necessary to achieve a well-designed agreement.

___

FEBRUARY

What might finally get procrastinators moving if nothing else has? Fear of the United States defaulting on its debts for the first time ever.

Unless Congress acts, the government is expected to hit its legal borrowing limit of $16.39 trillion by the end of December. Treasury Department maneuvers should hold off a default for a couple more months, until late February or early March, private economists say.

Congress could raise the debt limit anytime now, if lawmakers agreed, before resolving the fiscal cliff. But it's being discussed as part of the bigger tax-and-spending package. The White House says raising the debt limit must be included in the deal; Boehner says the Republicans want any increase in the government's borrowing to be matched by spending cuts.

Remember the last debt limit showdown? The government came within a whisker of default in August 2011 before a compromise was reached. The financial markets reeled. Standard & Poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating.

Again coming to the edge of default ? an economic crisis that scares investors more than the fiscal cliff ? would probably send markets plummeting and finally shake up lawmakers, too.

"That's a pretty scary thing to watch," Zandi said. "For a policymaker that's real motivation."

___

Follow Connie Cass on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ConnieCass

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-06-Fiscal%20Cliff-No%20Deal%20Impact/id-bfe1679ff3104f5db4c826f25dc656a2

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Creating Early Intervention Strategies For STAAR

Public education in the United States is older, even, than the country itself. The first public school opened in the English colony of Boston, Massachusetts in 1635 and remains today as the oldest public school in the country (Boston Latin School, which boasts five pupils who were signers of the Declaration of Independence). However, mandatory free education provided by the government was not the norm until the late 1800s and early 1900s. By the 1980s, only 1 percent of students in the U.S. were enrolled in schools outside the government education system, and while that number has gone down in subsequent years, the vast majority of students are still part of the free public education system in America.

As the trend toward public education has grown over the years, states have constantly worked to create standardized testing that accurately evaluates students' knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. Texas has recently implemented a new system, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR).

What is STAAR?

In April 2012, Texas switched to the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, replacing the old Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The new system keeps TAKS tests in place in grades 3-8, then implements new end-of-course (EOC) tests for 12 different math, science, English, and history classes beginning in high school.

When the STAAR system was announced, creators acknowledged that the tests are harder than previously administered TAKS assessments, and are intended to push students toward a higher level of achievement. Since the program was rolled out, Texas educators have discovered that the harder tests have resulted in more students who require extra assistance to reach the required level of understanding a comprehension to pass the new EOC tests.

Intervention Strategies

For students who are struggling to keep up with their peers on the new standardized tests, parents, educators, and administrators are looking for effective Response to Intervention strategies (commonly abbreviated as RtI) that will address the specialized needs of those students, aiming to bring them to a higher level of achievement.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) provides educators with student progress monitoring tools, which help identify students who require additional attention. The state RtI system includes three tiers of intervention--beginning with a core curriculum aimed at teaching students the required material to pass the tests.

Students who fall behind are identified for Tier 2, where they receive more individualized attention in groups of 5-10 for 20-30 minutes a day, from either the classroom teacher, a specialized teacher, an external interventionist, or a paraprofessional (as determine by the school). Students who do not respond to this level are moved to Tier 3, where they receive instruction in even smaller groups of up to three students for about an hour each day. Learning strategies are tailored to each individual student for maximum impact.

In addition to the RtI system, many private companies offer products for teachers, educators, and parents that can help identify struggling students and provide strategies that will help students to catch up to their peers on standardized assessments.

Educators hope that the RtI strategies will result in more effective learning and instruction within the classrooms, giving every student access to the best possible education based on their individual needs. Effective RtI strategies help identify students with learning disabilities, creating a better support system as early as possible, and resulting in a more effective system of collaboration among all educators while improving overall school achievement.

Educators hope that the response to intervention strategies will result in more effective learning and instruction within the classrooms, giving every student access to the best possible education based on their individual needs. The STAAR is a helpful tool in identifying where these strategies need to be focused.

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/creating-early-intervention-strategies-for-staar-306021

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Report: Morocco honorary consul in Syria killed

RABAT, Morocco (AP) ? The official Moroccan news agency says the north African country's honorary consul in Aleppo, Syria, has been killed by armed men as he left a hotel in the city.

The MAP agency, citing unspecified relatives of the honorary consul, reported Wednesday that Mohamed Alae Eddinne was killed the previous evening after armed men in a taxi attacked him among a group of his friends.

MAP says another person was also killed during the attack, without elaborating. The report said Eddinne, a Syrian national, was born in 1961 and had been the honorary consul of Morocco since 2001. Such posts are largely ceremonial.

Morocco is preparing to host next Wednesday a meeting of the Friends of Syria, an alliance of countries backing the rebels battling Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-morocco-honorary-consul-syria-killed-220048423.html

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The Walking Dead:Escape from Atlanta

The dead walk, their only thoughts to eat. Their coming to kill us all. Soon we'll all be the walking dead

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