Shot fired at Obama campaign office in Denver

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Overnight Time-Lapse Video: Desolation (Little green footballs)

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Value Investing Congress Day Two - Business Insider

Investors from all over have gathered at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square to hear some of the brightest minds in the hedge fund industry share their best investment picks.?

The event begins at 8:30 a.m. ET. ?

Last year, Einhorn announced that he's shorting Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. ?We're eager to find out what he'll be doing this year. ?

We'll be live blogging throughout the event, so check Clusterstock for all the latest news and investment picks.?

8:41 AM | We're up and running at the Value Investing Congress.

8:41 AM | Lloyd Khaner, of Khaner Capital, is making a bullish case for Jamba Juice $JMBA.

He's talking about the company as a potential turnaround.

He thinks the valuation is currently at the turnaround valuation. ?

9:13 AM | Alex Roepers of Atlantic Investment Management is up next.

Roepers, who runs $1.8 billion Atlantic Investment Management, says he's going to give five investment ideas.

For his investment approach, they use significant mintority stakes (2% to 7%) to enhance shareholder value through "constructive shareholder activism."

9:30 AM | Roepers five investment ideas

1. Energizer Holdings (ENR, $75.43)

2. Rockwood Holdings (ROC, $48.89)

3. ?Clariant

4. FLSmidth

5. Joy Global (JOY)

10:10 AM | It's the morning break. David Einhorn will be on at 10:30 a.m. ET.

10:53 AM | David Einhorn is on Green Mountain Coffee again.

"Here's the story of what they did wrong, and how long they'll do it again."

Einhorn basically said that GMCR has no cashflow...

10:56 AM | We believe GM is much healthier now, says Einhorn.

It's reduced costs extensively... gross cash at about 3.4 of its market cap that could be returned to shareholders. They also won't have to pay US taxes for about a decade.?

Their pensions looks managable, costs contained, balance sheet healthyish.

10:57 AM | Thinks the consensus forecast which shows good growth is too low.

Sees a significant imporvement in product cycle over the next few years... Europe is a problem, but it's a problem for everyone and GM could get it to break even in 3 years.

10:59 AM | Annual improvement of 1 car per 400 drivers would increase demand significantly.

Assuming GM keeps its current market share it would sell more than 300k units more in the coming years.

10:59 AM | GM's pending product refresh cycle should reverse its share loss.

60% new or refresh products in the next few years as opposed to 23% in the last 2 years.

11:01 AM | GM drive 38% of revenue from international ventures

And Latin America is about to see a product refresh cycle much like North America's.?

Europe isn't going to be cured, but it will improve over the next year or so. Einhorn thinks the idea that losses will improve indefinitely is too pessimistic.

11:03 AM | GM: $42 billion market cap, liquidity $38 million

11:03 AM | Upside: Better international results and the sale of the government's stake are huge opportunities.

11:05 AM | New stock... CI, Cigna, health stock.

To understand Cigna, first you have to understand HMOs and Obamacare. Thejn relate that to Cigna and it's businesses that aren't HMOs

11:07 AM | Obamacare has intro'd a lot of uncertainty that adds complexity and reduces profits.

This has had HMOs trading lower, but Einohorn likes them. There's always a demand no matter how the economy is doing and it's growing. Starting an HMO is hard (REGULATORY HURDLES ETC) and the main players in the space have scale.

Cigna is the best performer in the HMO group.

11:09 AM | Why is CI awesome?

Immune to macro events ? PIIG Flu (as Einhorn says).

Earning less is still earning alot.

Trades at a value less than 8 times next year's estimates.

CI handles billings and claims but doesn't assume insurance risk in health care

11:14 AM | CI has just gotten started on Turkey and India, Einhorn sees growth in Asia

High quality, higer reutnr on capital, faster growing than its peers and is a cheap stock in a cheap sector.

11:15 AM | NEW SHORT: Chipotle!

11:16 AM | Chipotle is in its rapid growth phase but the copycats are coming.

1. The summer drought will hurt the company's costs.

2. They'll have to start providing healthcare with Obamacare.

3. Problems with undocumented workers.

4. THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE: TACO BELL

11:19 AM | Chipotle is up 8%, Taco Bell is up 13%.

TB has more locations, is cheaper. Chipotle may have pushed limits of pricing power ? according to Einhorn's survey (yes, he has one).

TB has a new Cantina Bell menu. It's higher ticket item but lower ticket than Chipotle. It looks better, fresher and competes with Chipotle products.

11:20 AM | Einhorn directed us to the nearest Taco Bell.

11:20 AM | 27% of Chipotle customers prefer TB's Catina Bell menu.

11:22 AM | Only 38% of Chipotle frequent customers prefer it to TB's Cantina Bell menu

And most frequent Chipotle eaters plan on cutting their spending.

If TB can siphon of 5-10% of Chipotle customers, it's gonna be a big deal.

11:26 AM | Einhorn: YUM is interesting bc of TB resurgence.

He isn't convinced anything good is happening at Pizza Hut, and KFC is interesting in China but so far he's been on the sidelines.

11:28 AM | Einhorn doesn't see government involvement in GM as a problem.

Thinks that the idea that it's government run is a conspiracy theory and sees the government as a passive investor.

11:40 AM | EINHORN just got asked about St. Joe's

Say there's "absolutely nothing going on at this company". Is shocked that the executive team wasn't on the call... what were they doing?

The value of land/company has fallen. They've cut costs to break even but that's about it. Stock trading at 2-3x what underlying land values are worth.

11:45 AM | Bob Robotti of Robotti and Co. is talking Fracking

His company tends to focus on mid-cap companies with a value-investing style. The most important edge, he says, is the behavioral edge. It's the hardest to explain, teach, learn.

1:55 PM | Glenn Tongue is talking about AIG.

He says that it's even more undervalued than when he presented it last year at the Value Investing Congress.

Tongue says "investors aren't likely to be victimized by unexpected losses as they were when AIG collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis."?

2:11 PM | Glenn Tongue's next investment idea is Iridium (IRDM).

Iridium is a global communications provider of mobile voice and data services. ?He says they're the only provider that covers 100% of the earth's surface.

2:42 PM | Our next speaker: Avoiding Complexity and the VAC Circle of Life Jeffrey W. Ubben, ValueAct Capital

This is 2nd conference.?

He's going to talk about some of the mistakes he's made as a value investor.

2:48 PM | The focus of this speech is running a hedge fund and keeping things simple.

Have a long term view ? don't complicate things with a long/short fund, this fund, that fund...

Everyone should have a stake in the business and there shouldn't be finger pointing when things go wrong.

Basically, you have to fix incentives too and to make sure everyone is on the same page.

2:58 PM | Now on to investing ? He doesn't like financials.

Why?

Financials can grow by making bad loans and then blow up in your face.

A challenge he has: The Fed is making it friendly for financials but he still wants to protect himself. What he does is find what he does like at a cheaper price (focusing on the business model not the industry) in the industry... He likes Moody's, for one.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/value-investing-congress-day-two-2012-10

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Baby bust continues: US births down for 4th year

NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. births fell for the fourth year in a row, the government reported Wednesday, with experts calling it more proof that the weak economy has continued to dampen enthusiasm for having children.

But there may be a silver lining: The decline in 2011 was just 1 percent ? not as sharp a fall-off as the 2 to 3 percent drop seen in other recent years.

"It may be that the effect of the recession is slowly coming to an end," said Carl Haub, a senior demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization.

Most striking in the new report were steep declines in Hispanic birth rates and a new low in teen births. Hispanics have been disproportionately affected by the flagging economy, experts say, and teen birth rates have been falling for 20 years.

Falling births is a relatively new phenomenon in this country. Births had been on the rise since the late 1990s and hit an all-time high of more than 4.3 million in 2007.

But fewer than 4 million births were counted last year ? the lowest number since 1998.

Among the people who study this sort of thing, the flagging economy has been seen as the primary explanation. The theory is that many women or couples who are out of work, underemployed or have other money problems feel they can't afford to start a family or add to it.

The economy officially was in a recession from December 2007 until June 2009. But well into 2011, polls show most Americans remained gloomy, citing anemic hiring, a depressed housing market and other factors.

The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a first glimpse at 2011 birth certificate data from state health departments. More analysis comes later but officials don't expect the numbers to change much.

Early data for 2012 is not yet available, and it's too soon to guess whether the birth decline will change, said the CDC's Stephanie Ventura, one of the study's authors.

Highlights of the report include:

?The birth rate for single women fell for the third straight year, dropping by 3 percent from 2010 to 2011. The birth rate for married women, however, rose 1 percent. In most cases, married women are older and more financially secure.

?The birth rate for Hispanic women dropped a whopping 6 percent. But it declined only 2 percent for black women, stayed the same for whites and actually rose a bit for Asian-American and Pacific Islanders.

?Birth rates fell again for women in their early 20s, down 5 percent from 2010 ? the lowest mark for women in that age group since 1940, when comprehensive national birth records were first compiled. For women in their late 20s, birth rates fell 1 percent.

?But birth rates held steady for women in their early 30s, and rose for moms ages 35 and older. Experts say that's not surprising: Older women generally have better jobs or financial security, and are more sensitive to the ticking away of their biological clocks.

?Birth rates for teen moms have been falling since 1991 and hit another historic low. The number of teen births last year ? about 330,000 ? was the fewest in one year since 1946. The teen birth rate fell 8 percent, and at 31 per 1,000 girls ages 15 through 19 was the lowest recorded in more than seven decades.

"The continued decline in the teen birth rates is astounding," said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health.

Did the economy have anything to do with a drop in teen births?

Yes, indirectly, Santelli said. Teenagers watch the struggles and decisions that older sisters and older girlfriends are making, and what they see influences their thinking about sex and birth control, he said.

"Teens tend to emulate young adults," Santelli said. "They are less influenced directly by the economy than by people."

Studies show that since 2007, larger percentages of sexually active teenage girls are using the pill and other effective birth control. Studies also show a small decline in the proportion of girls ages 15 through 17 who say they've had sex, Santelli noted.

The new birth report also noted a fourth straight decline in a calculation of how many children women have over their lifetimes, based on the birth rates of a given year.

A rate of a little more than 2 children per woman means each couple is helping keep the population stable. The U.S. rate last year was slightly below 1.9.

Countries with rates close to 1 ? such as Japan and Italy ? face future labor shortages and eroding tax bases as they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their aging elders.

Officials here aren't as worried.

The U.S. replacement rate is still close to 2. And it has dropped in the past and then bounced back up again, said Ventura, an official at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

"And we haven't seen any studies that show couples want to have fewer children or no children," she added.

One more report highlight: The U.S. C-section rate may have finally peaked at just under 33 percent, the same level as last year.

Cesarean deliveries are sometimes medically necessary. But health officials have worried that many C-sections are done out of convenience or unwarranted caution, and in the 1980s set a goal of keeping the national rate at 15 percent.

The C-section rate had been rising steadily since 1996, until it dropped slightly in 2010.

"It does suggest the upward trend may be halted," said Joyce Martin, a CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the new report. But CDC officials want a few more years of data before declaring victory, she added.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/baby-bust-continues-us-births-down-4th-041403038.html

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Honda recalls 573,000 Accords to fix faulty hoses

The Detroit Bureau

Honda will have to repair nearly 600,000 Accords due to the latest fire-related recall.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau

Honda appears to be well on its way to again leading the market in terms of the number of recalled vehicles.? The maker has confirmed more than 625,000 of its Accord and Acura TL sedans will be impacted by the latest service action due to a potential fire hazard.

The new development actually expands on an earlier recall involving 52,613 of the Acura models sold during the 2007 and 2008 model-years.? The maker has now added another 573,147 Accords equipped with V-6 engines marketed during the 2003 through 2007 model-years.

Volvo V40 Cross Country Is a Blend of Wagon and Crossover

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the power steering hoses in those vehicles could deteriorate prematurely and lead to a leakage of fluid. If that comes into contact with hot engine parts, such as the catalytic converter, the fluid could catch fire.

So far, federal regulators say they have received one report of an actual vehicle fire ? which did not result in injuries.

The midsize Accord and the Acura TL share many common components ? a practice widespread in the auto industry and one that often leads to recalls involving numerous different nameplates.? The Accord itself is the second-best-selling passenger car nameplate in the U.S.? An all-new model was recently introduced for the 2013 model-year.

Honda Punches Up Performance of 2013 CR-Z

Honda intends to notify owners of the latest recall this month and will make repairs at no cost to consumers. However, the maker has cautioned that due to a need to produce replacement parts in such large volume the repairs might not be completed until sometime in early 2013.

Owners can find out more about the recall by contacting Honda at 800-999-1009 or NHTSA through its vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236.

Chevrolet Makes Trax in Paris

While Honda has built a significant reputation for quality over the years, the maker has experienced a spurt of safety-related recalls in recent years and led the list among all manufacturers in the U.S. market last year.? At the current pace it is on track to top that list again in 2012.

More money and business news:

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Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/01/14170073-honda-recalls-573000-accords-to-fix-faulty-hoses?lite

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Yahoo CEO adds motherhood to list of challenges

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer gave birth to a boy late Sunday, adding motherhood to her challenges as she tries to steer the struggling Internet company in a new direction.

The birth came a week ahead of the Oct. 7 due date that Mayer shared with the public in July. She announced her pregnancy on her social networking accounts just a few hours after Yahoo hired her as its third full-time CEO in less than a year.

The pregnancy news amplified the buzz about Mayer's defection from Google Inc., where she spent 13 years as a key executive overseeing some of the services that helped to drag down Yahoo.

Yahoo's decision to anoint a soon-to-be mom as its CEO was hailed as a breakthrough for women seeking to prove men aren't the only ones who can balance a high-powered executive lifestyle and early parenthood.

The attention surrounding Mayer's pregnancy and the birth of her child intensifies the pressure as she tries to engineer a long-awaited turnaround at one of the Internet's best-known companies. Although Yahoo's website remains one of the Internet's top destinations, the company's revenue has fallen in recent years. At the same time, it fell behind online search leader Google and online social networking leader Facebook Inc. in the race to build compelling services and sell more advertising.

The birth of Mayer's boy comes three weeks before the CEO will share her blueprint for infusing Yahoo Inc. with new life. She plans to make her first extensive public remarks about her strategy in the company's third-quarter earnings call scheduled for Oct. 22.

Mayer, 37, intends to work from home for a brief period while remaining involved in all key company decisions. She will return to her office at Yahoo's Sunnyvale, Calif. headquarters in one to two weeks, company spokeswoman Anne Espiritu said.

No matter how much Mayer may have prepared for her baby's arrival, she is likely to be surprised by some of the difficulties that torment working moms, predicted Kim Smith, a partner with Witt/Kieffer, an executive recruitment firm that has worked with other mothers who have time-consuming jobs.

"You can't chart out what it's like to be a mom," Smith said. "The hardest thing to manage is the unforeseen physical and emotional demands that it places on you when you are striving to be in two places at exactly the same time."

The baby boy and Mayer are doing "great," according to Twitter post Monday morning by Mayer's husband, Zack Bogue, a former lawyer turned Silicon Valley capitalist.

The couple hadn't named the boy as of early Monday. Mayer took some time out early Monday to send out an email to some of her friends and colleagues soliciting suggestions for a name.

"She's crowdsourcing suggestions for Baby Boy Bogue's name!" tweeted New York University journalism professor and blogger Jeff Jarvis, one of the recipients of Mayer's group email "How digital can you get?"

Although she has shared few specifics of her plans for Yahoo, Mayer has indicated she intends to ramp up spending to attract talented employees and burnish Yahoo's products in an effort to keep Web surfers on the company's website for longer periods of time. Analysts also believe she may pursue acquisitions with a portion of the $4.3 billion after-tax windfall that Yahoo is getting in exchange for selling half its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group.

At about the same time Mayer returns to the office, she will start working with a new chief financial officer, Ken Goldman, whose hiring was announced last week. He is replacing Tim Morse, a cost-cutting specialist who apparently no longer fit in with Mayer's future plans for Yahoo.

Yahoo shares fell 15 cents to close at $15.83. The price has been hovering in $15 to $16 range since Mayer's hiring.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yahoo-ceo-adds-motherhood-list-challenges-173328254--finance.html

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Sunflowers and Dogs | The Ranch Wife Chronicles

I took these pictures on my way to work last week.? I have been wanting to stop and capture the big flower heads for a while.??These?sunflowers are?farmed and?raised as a crop in our area.

The sunflowers are still yellow, but are?close to?getting ready for harvest.

It was a bright and pretty morning when I took these shots.

The teeny tiny sunflower seeds are filling and will soon be harvested.? The?crop will be?sold and processed into?sunflower seeds, bird?food?or pressed for oil.

The connections we have with our pets is unique.? The?relationship our pets have with eachother is also distinctive.

When we are getting ready?to start?a bright new day, may our connections bring happiness to our lives.? May we?conquer the teeny tiny problems we face and not let them?become?more than what they really are.? Let us see the big yellow sun and be thankful for the light that spreads upon the earth.

Linking Up With:

Scavenger Hunt Sunday at Ramblings and Photos

Weekly Top Shot #50?at The View From Right Here

Your Sunday Best #37?with Nancy at A Rural Journal and co-host Danielle,
?of Bloom Where You Are Planted.

Source: http://theranchwifechronicles.com/sunflowers-and-dogs/

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Husband died in wife's arms in assisted suicide at Switzerland's ...

A WOMAN has told how her husband died in her arms after he decided to end his life.

Patrick Norfolk, who suffered from motor neurone disease (MND), travelled to Switzerland for an assisted suicide after previous attempts to take his own life failed.

1. Tragic story: Anne Norfolk at home in Swanland.

2. Family: Anne and Patrick Norfolk

He died in the arms of his loving wife Anne, just 16 months after their daughter committed suicide.

Anne said British law robbed her husband of his wish to die in the garden, his pride and joy for 31 years.

"All Patrick wanted was to die in his garden that he cherished so much," she said.

"Instead, he was forced to travel to a foreign place with no meaning to him. He had always said to me he wanted to die in 'Blighty'."

After suffering such heartache, Anne is now backing calls for Britain to introduce powers allowing people with terminal illnesses to be able to take their own lives.

Patrick, 65, was diagnosed with the degenerative muscle-wasting condition in October 2008 and was told he would have two years before the disease stripped him of his ability to feed, bathe and look after himself.

After he tried and failed to commit suicide at the family home in Swanland last December, Anne and her family lived in fear of finding Patrick dead.

Anne said: "When I had to leave the house to go shopping, I never knew if I would come back to find him dead or alive. I was terrified every time I left Patrick alone.

"He was determined to take his own life and the feeling of not being able to help is something I can't describe. It was heartbreaking.

"He felt as if he was making me and his family suffer more than he was himself.

"After his suicide attempt failed he was so upset and cross with himself he had not achieved it but, at the same time, he didn't want to do it because of the police investigation he knew would involve the family."

Patrick's death on June 28 came just months after the body of their daughter, Vicky Norfolk, was found on the banks of the River Humber.

Vicky jumped from the Humber Bridge in February last year after suffering from depression.

However, the loss of their youngest daughter did not affect his decision.

Anne said: "Patrick's decision was not in any way influenced by Vicky's tragic death. His suffering had gone on for four years and he had got progressively worse over that time.

"He desperately wanted to die at home and wasn't prepared to suffer the indignity he felt he would have had as he continued to get worse. We lived for all that time with a cloud over us.

"Patrick was looking at how he could kill himself and it meant we couldn't fully enjoy the rest of his life together.

"If we could have put plans in place for the future, the time we had left together could have been so much more fulfilling."

Patrick took the decision to register with Dignitas, an assisted-dying company, in February and flew out to Switzerland in June.

He was accompanied by Anne and their daughters Colette and Bridget.

"Patrick was so relieved when he was given the green light by Dignitas in May," Anne said.

"The pressure he had put on himself to take his own life was lifted and it was only really then it came home to me just how much stress this was causing him.

"If he wanted to see the rest of his life through in a care home, we all would have been there for him, but that was the last thing he wanted.

"We all wanted him to be relieved of his physical and mental torture and his relief when he knew he could use Dignitas was clear to us all. It was a huge pressure lifted."

The subject of assisted suicide has sparked national debate recently with church leaders labelling the action immoral but now Anne is hoping her husband's story will highlight the struggles families go through.

Source: http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/Husband-died-wife-s-arms-assisted-suicide/story-17014401-detail/story.html

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Before first presidential debate, allies debate stakes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three days before the first presidential debate, allies of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney debated on Sunday how the encounter between the White House contenders will influence the U.S. election.

In typical straight-talking fashion, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie predicted that fellow Republican Romney's performance at Wednesday's debate would alter the course of the campaign, weeks before the November 6 vote.

"This whole race is going to turn upside down come Thursday morning," Christie told CBS' "Face the Nation."

His comments strayed from the script of both campaigns, which have tried to play down their own candidate's chances at the debate in Denver and talk up their opponent, thus making it easer to claim victory or explain a defeat on Wednesday.

"I think what we need is a big and bold performance on Wednesday night, and that's what he's going to give us," Christie said of Romney on ABC's "This Week."

Romney comes into the first of three presidential debates with poor poll figures in important battleground states and as he seeks to recover from a leaked secret video where the former private equity executive described nearly half of Americans as dependents on government who view themselves as victims.

"We've had some missteps, but at the end of the day the choice is really clear," Romney's vice-presidential running mate Paul Ryan told "Fox News Sunday."

Ryan lowered the stakes for Romney's debate performance.

"I don't think any one event is going to make or break this campaign," Ryan said.

Obama departed for Nevada, where he will bunker down with aides in a "debate camp."

But Obama was not focused just on scoring points against his rival, senior adviser David Plouffe told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I think the president's view is, he's not worried about zingers and lines, he's got time with the American people to explain to them his case for re-election," he said.

Obama was joined on Air Force One by Plouffe, chief of staff Jack Lew, economic adviser Gene Sperling, and speechwriter Jon Favreau.

The White House and Obama's campaign are guarding against complacency, with polls showing the Democrat ahead nationally by around 5 points, and much more in some swing states.

"We're not going to win battleground states by 10 or 12 points. This race is going to tighten. We've built a presidential campaign with a belief that it's going to come down to a few votes in a few states," Plouffe said.

A PARTY AND PREP

Romney remained in Boston for private meetings, including debate preparation, at his campaign headquarters.

Not all of Romney's hours have been devoted to studying and sparring with his debate partner, U.S. Senator Rob Portman.

On Saturday evening, Romney attended a party at the Wellesley, Massachusetts, home of his finance chair, Spencer Zwick.

With a stretched Hummer limousine blaring party music and several school buses parked outside the home, chants of "Mitt!" could be heard from within. Romney departs for Denver on Monday.

His wife, Ann, will campaign in Nevada and Ryan will embark on a bus tour of eastern Iowa on Monday.

Both are swing states, critical victories on the path to presidency, where Romney has trailed in recent polls.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason aboard Air Force One and Sam Youngman in Boston, Massachusetts, and Susan Cornwell and Bill Trott in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-presidential-debate-allies-debate-stakes-173310720.html

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